My B-day: April 1st...No April Fool's Joke

Thanks to my family and friends for celebrating with me! I can't remember the last time I celebrated with a big group of people. It was a last minute decision.

I started the day working out at 24 Hour Fitness. Need to exercise to keep my body young...LOL). Didn't do weights 'cuz I spent the nite before cleaning my house. I think that's enough lifting for one day. Don't you? I did the treadmill for 40 minutes (not bad for someone like me...out of shape).

We met up with my family for lunch. We originally planned to have Korean at a place my friend Lily recommended, but who would have guessed they're closed for lunch Saturdays?? Last minute we had to change it to our usual Korean restaurant, Lee's Tofu House. I've never taken my parents for Korean, so I wanted them to try it--something different. I was pretty nice to them 'cuz I didn't choose an expensive place. We spent $60, including tax, for the six of us. Not bad, right? Afterwards, everyone came over to my place and spent some time relaxing and watching my nephew running around my small townhouse. My nephew's place (my brother's) is double in size.

After they left, we headed to Union City to check out speakers, receivers, and flat screen TV's. We had planned a remodeling project for our home but put it on hold 'cuz we weren't sure how long we'll stay. We've since refinanced our place for a 15 yr. fixed loan and decided to start remodeling, now that we know we'll be around for at least 5 more yrs.

First thing on the list was supposed to be hardwood floors and repainting, but I couldn't resist the 24-Months, No Interest deal I saw at BOSE at Valley Fair, while having lunch w/Mike's cousins. I walked out with a nice set of 6.1 surround sound speakers. This meant we had to upgrade our receiver I've had since my early Intel days. And with the speaker installation (hidden wall mount to hide the wires), we decided it's also time to get our first flat screen T.V. Hopefully we'll have everything done by early summer.

After a long day, we decided to relax at our favorite bookstore, Border's, get a drink and catch up on magazines. Yet, it was going to be a long nite (in a nice way) and we want to be ready.

Finally the party at the Tea Station: We were the 1st to arrive (on time of course). Judy and Chao following shortly. After most of my friends arrived, we ordered our drinks and meals. I'm sooooo disappointed that there are no more free drinks with your meals (changed 3-4 weeks prior). That was one of the reasons that I suggested that place (aside from being a cool place to just hang out w/out someone trying to kick you out after an hour or so). I didn't want people to spend so much on dinner 'cuz the main purpose was to spend some quality time with friends. Still, the evening went pretty well considering it was the first time I mixed my friends: friends from college, internship, and work (different stages of my Intel days).

After the wonderful dinner, we headed over to the bowling alley. Who'd have guessed people are still into bowling? The place was packed. We headed over to my place for poker nite. I think 'cuz I had a previous blog entry about winning 2nd place and Mike losing a lot, I ended losing more than half my money (no, it's not that much...just ~$5). Consider we would have had spent $5 per game of bowling; I actually ended the evening with extra money. ;) Until next time...good nite!…