For some reason, I decided to make hella things today. And everything is mostly homemade.

Bulgogi, to bring over to Elway's on Wednesday for the Warriors Spurs game. Bought thinly sliced rib eye from the market. I made the marinade myself this time, instead of buying the pre-mixed one.

Chicken Tenders, for dinner tonight & lunch tomorrow. I bought boneless chicken breasts at Costco, then slices them up. I made the batter from scratch.

Chocolate chip & white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I used Alton Brown's "The Chewy" recipe. I like making it myself because whenever I buy the pre-made cookie dough, it always bakes hella flat and looks like a coaster or CD. When I make the cookie dough myself, it looks like an actually cookie, and I can mix & match the flavors.

Cheese & Berries (strawberry & blueberry) Rolls, since it's been a while since the last time I made them. The puff pastry is store-bought, but I made the cream cheese filling from scratch. I was a bit rusty, as I kind of burnt them a bit. And I accidentally bought the Safeway-brand cream cheese instead of Philadelphia, so the cream filling was soft & soupy. But I still think they came out ok.

I also managed to do 2 loads of laundry, and download today's TV shows, too. Super productive day!! And now I'm gonna pass out.

So....the mini is having issues. Again. Last week, it was kind of hot in Sac, so naturally, it would be normal for the mini to be running a little hotter than usual. But on the weekend, when it wasn’t hot anymore, it was still running hot. So I pop the hood and I see that there was an explosion of coolant that came from the top radiator hose. I had seen this same exact thing back in September 2009, and it was a cracked freakin’ radiator. Some design genius at BMW had the brilliant idea of idea of connecting the aluminum radiator core to plastic inlet & outlet hose ends. If either of those hose ends cracks or breaks, you have can’t repair it, you have to replace the ENTIRE radiator.

What made it worse was that this occurred on a Friday night and absolutely needed my car fixed asap (the reason escapes me, but I know it was important), and my normal shop, Edge Motorworks in Dublin, is closed on weekends, so I had to take it in to the stealership, which totally lived up to it’s name. Damn their high labor rates!

Without even thinking twice about it, I had it replaced with the same exact oem radiator, thinking it was just some kind of fluke accident and wouldn’t happen again. Well, fast forward 3.5+ years later, and it appears to have happened again. It looks exactly the same. But this time, I’m bringing it into Edge. When I called to make the appointment, they said they’ve never even heard of radiators cracking, that they’ve never seen one crack. I was kind of surprised, but I trust them, and it made me wonder if the freakin’ stealership pulled a fast one on me. I do have coolant leaking from somewhere, cause I have to add water every time I drive it, and it totally looks like it’s coming from the top radiator inlet hose end. I guess I’ll find out for sure when I take it in on Friday.

To be safe, I ordered an aftermarket, all aluminum radiator. It costs about the same as the stock radiator, it has no plastic parts to crack or break, and if it does somewhere crack or leak somewhere, it comes with a “no questions asked” lifetime warranty. Worse-case scenario, I have another cracked radiator, that’ll be replaced with a better one. Best-case, it’s some kind of repairable leak and I have to pay for the return shipping cost of the aluminum radiator. I’m fine either way, I just want my car running normally again.

Here’s a list of parts, not part of normal wear & tear like spark plugs or tires, that I’ve replaced on the mini after 159,300 miles:

front windshield (x2) - due to its sharp angle & bad luck
thermostat & housing (x2) - bad gasket
power steering pump & fan - fan failed, causing pump to overheat & fail
radiator (x2) - bad luck?

Next major maintenance is the clutch, since I’m still on the factory original. How long they last depends on the driver. Since a bulk of my miles were from my Fresno commute, all highway, I should be good. But I’m still kind of scared to floor it or anything cause once the clutch is gone, it’s gone. There’s no more “go”, can’t move the car, and you’re stuck wherever you are. I’m dreading the day that it goes, cause it’ll cost an arm & a leg, even at my shop, but at least I’m kind of prepared for it. The sucky part is not knowing exactly when it’ll go.

And I’ll also have to get new tires soon. Tires for the mini are not cheap, as with everything else. But I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth on my current set. I think they were only supposed like between 50-60,000 miles and I have almost 70,000 miles on them. To extend the life, I had the tires flipped. But with so little tread left, I will not drive in the rain, won’t risk it. That right there should be enough to get new tires, but it hasn’t rained all that much lately, so I’m not that worried about. I’m hoping to squeeze at least another month out of them.

Hung out with Kev & Justin today. It had been a really long time since the 3 of us had been together, maybe over a year, I think, right before Justin moved to New York. I really missed just hanging out and talking about random stuff. It reminded me of how we were back in high school and college, which seems like ages ago. Justin plans on going back to New York in 2 months, so hopefully we can hang out some more before he leaves again.

I think it started on Sunday, just a little cough. Then for the next 2 days, while using all the over-the-counter stuff that I could (ibuprofen, robitussin, cough drops, lots of fluids), it got progressively worse. It turned into a sore throat and a painful cough. Then on Wednesday, when I got to work, I felt like I had a fever, so I said "F this. I gots a ton of sick hours. I'm going home."

So I finally get home, I take my temp and it's freakin 104.7!!

Am I sick enough now, Kaiser?!? I don't ever remember having a fever that high before. It's times like this that I wish I had a significant other to take care of me. I set up a side table next to my bed for a bowl of ice cold water to soak face towels, and 2 large cups of water to down. I also took a cold shower to try and get my temp down, and I'm not even sure that worked.

They should really put some kind of comedy bit, like a blooper or gag reel, at the end of sad, cry-cry-cry korean dramas, so that the viewers aren't just an emotional wreck after watching it. Seriously, a cute love story and then she starts forgetting everything due to Alzheimer's?!?! Why do I even watch these things?! And yet, I've watched so many, and I'll probably continue to watch more......ugghhh!!

......@ me for not wanting to post my 2 cents on love & marriage. I scurd.

Maybe for the past year or so, my boss has been constantly reminding me to take the Staff Programmer Analyst (Staff PA)  test, to get a high enough score to be “reachable” (which means to be in the top 3 scoring ranks). I first took the test last April, but only got an 85%, which was rank 5. I had to wait 6 months to retake the test. I was eligible to retake in October, and ever since, my boss would constantly ask if I had re-taken it. I don’t know why, but I had always just pushed it back, thinking it’s not really that important and that I could just do it later. And the more he told me to take it, the more I didn’t want to do it. (I’m like that with other things, like every time anyone said that Avatar is the greatest movie ever and that I HAVE to go see it, it made me not want to watch it that much more. Same thing with Pitch Perfect). And plus, I was still getting job notices in the mail for Staff PA openings, and have been regularly applying, so I thought my current score was good enough.

Wednesday morning, my boss comes into my cube, again asking if I’m on the Staff PA list. I tell him yes, but only rank 5 cause I haven’t retaken the test yet. He insisted that I retake it immediately because there is going to be a Staff PA opening in our department very soon. So I finally cave and retake the test. I got a 95% this time, so now I’m rank 3, which is “reachable”, and I don’t have to worry about the test for at least another year (score is only good for 1 year).

A couple hours later, I got a call from the Department of Developmental Services (DDS). Two weeks prior, I had received a job notice in the mail for a Staff PA position there, so I sent in an application. I receive a bunch of notices for various state openings, and I apply to most of them, but I never get a reply, so this phone call was a pleasant surprise. I set up an interview for next week. And their building is nearby, about 5 blocks away (I’m on 5th & O, they’re on 9th & P).

So I go and tell my boss about my interview and he has a worried look on his face. He says “they’re going to like you”, as if it was bad thing. I ask him how soon that opening he mentioned earlier was going to be available, and he said 2 weeks. Apparently there is a guy retiring in 2 weeks, so his position, a Staff PA, would be open. Right before I leave his office, he asks “So you really want out of here, huh?” and I respond, “No, not really, I just want the promotion.” I guess he immediately went and told his boss about my interview, because soon after, his boss comes into my cube with a concerned look on her face. She said this opening “has my name written all over it”, so then I ask if I should cancel my interview, and she said “I can’t promise you anything” because the position has to be advertised to everyone and they still have to go through the normal screening & interview process.

I guess it’s just really bad timing (for my boss), but great for me. It feels good to be wanted. I’m still going forward with the interview with DDS. I don’t have a history of good interviews, so you never know. A new challenge and/or a change of scenery would be very nice, but there are some interesting projects coming up at my current job, so I’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. I’m pretty sure it’ll all work out, one way or another. It almost always does.

The following songs both have 'Dance' in their titles, and their music videos are both funny & unique in their own ways. Both put a smile on my face.

Crayon Pop - Dancing Queen

Macklemore x Ryan Lewis - And We Danced

Crayon Pop's got a dope choreographer, and Macklemore.....well, he's just a fool, but he's dope. I like them both so much that I even got the instrumental versions on my playlist.

My Grandma passed away earlier this morning. I got the text around 430am, and I kind of just stared at it for a while. I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. I tried to remember the last time that I spoke to her. I tried really hard, and it took a while, but I remember. I don't want to forget so I'm going to right it down.

I had visited her right after her surgery on Thursday, the night before we left for the Cabin Trip, but she was still in recovery and sedated, so I don't know if she even heard me. I'd like to think that she did. I said "Hi Grandma, it's Eric. You get better soon, ok? Next time I see you, you'll be fine, so get better soon, ok?"

My last conversation with her was the prior Saturday. I was our typical short conversations, where I would say "Hi Grandma. How are you?" and she would do a little head nod and say "I'm ok". and then I'd say "Ok, that's good." Sometimes, if she was up for it, she'd go on and complain about something (too cold, can't sleep, etc.), but this time, she seemed tired, so it ended at that.

Our last two real conversations were maybe two weeks ago on a Saturday when she was still in the ICU at Sutter Solano. The first one, it was me & Uncle Pete in the room. Seemingly out of nowhere, she started telling me about her mom (my great grandma) shortly before she passed away and about her will. I won't go into detail, but you tell by the sound of her voice and the look in her eyes as she was talking that she was kind of bitter about it still, even after all these years. I had heard this story several years ago, but never directly from her.

The second was on that same day, and she was opening Valentine's Day/Get Well Soon cards that she had been given. It was me & Lianne in the room, and someone else who I can't remember. So Lianne handed her a sealed envelope, and Grandma opened it and immediately looked for money. She did even read the card, she held the card upside and put her hand underneath expecting money to fall. Then she checked the empty envelope, then turned to Lianne and asked, "Lianne, what did you do with the money?" Lianne was like "Grandma, it was sealed!" LOL....oh, Grandma.

It's comforting to know that she's no longer suffering, no longer in any pain, that's she watching over us with Grandpa now.

The weird thing is, I can't even go on Facebook right now. A lot of the fam are posting about Grandma, and for some reason it bothers the hell out of me. Everyone deals with grief in their own way, and I guess I can't deal with that at the moment.

Grandma & her kids, all of them except for Uncle Rey in the PI. Pic taken on Father's Day June 19, 2011.

And some of the grandkids. Missing Chris, Nate, Gabe, Katie, Jeff, Don, & Rem.

Thank you for everything, Grandma. You will be missed.

I had been volunteering at the SF Food Bank and Glide a bunch of times in the past couple months, and the madre wanted to see what it was all about, so this last time, she tagged along. We kind of had it easier, since we worked the "coffee house", the separate section for the disabled or people with families, which is way less hectic than working in the main dining hall. She enjoyed it and would probably do it again if she has the day off. Now my other uncles & aunties want to do it too.

Hairnets!

One Brick group pic