Trip Report: Denver, 2010-04-16 to 2010-04-19

Attendees: Ajay, Alex, Azim, Fu, Kanna, Zhi

- Thanks to Alex for letting us make use of his house, and for planning an awesome weekend full of fun activities.

- Great turnout for a normally impromptu trip. This is how traditions are born, Fellas!

- Quote of the weekend: "Do you have Vaseline... For my nipples?" --Anonymous

- I've never learned so much about beer. And drinking. And more beer.

- Almost being kicked out of an intramural indoor soccer game is one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Particular because I felt my heckling was sub-par.

- You know what's a great idea? Cooking! Let's cook something on one of the nights!

- Investment club. I recall Kanna and Fu discussing this during the weekend. Why haven't we ever considered pooling some funds together and forming a little investment club? I certainly do not currently use my money wisely, and there are few people I trust more than you folks.

- Pooled travel costs. One idea that was thrown around, and which I'll expand upon for a later post, is the idea of pooling travel costs in the future.

It could be for something as simple as just flights, where in people from further away pay the same for their ticket as someone closer. Obviously, we'd make exclusions against those assholes travelling from someplace super far away. Like Australia. But for instance, instead of:

EWR->SIA: $1200
3xSFO->SIA: $3300
JNB->SIA: $500
BOM->SIA: $400
SYD->SIA: $200

If it was only $800 for each person, would that make you more likely to come?

Trip Report: Las Vegas, 2010-04-02 to 2010-04-04

Hey Kids, Guess what time it is? That's right, it's time for half-assed bullet-point post time from Uncle Lazy Jerk!

Attendees: Ajay, Alex, Azim, Fu, Zhi, plus guests: Austin, Cinar, and Mike

- Good work Tak for organizing this trip and handling the logistics

- Never play craps at the Wynn or Encore. Nice places to stay, just gamble somewhere else.

- We can avoid some future frustrations by doing a bit more planning beforehand, but impromptu fun is also welcome.

- Hangovers can apparently last for more than 24 hours.

Post Updates

Please put any updates in either the comments or a new post. I only added my first few comments in order to port the email thread over to blogger. Updating a post usually does not bring it to everyone's attention as it should.

Gracias.

Vegas, baby Vegas!

Boys,

Apologies for the delay on this. As you may have heard, Chinky McGee is jetting off to the sunny beaches on the east coast of Australia in the very near future, and we need to ensure that we have time for proper debauchery before then. Vegas was the natural choice.

The plan is to arrive on Friday 4/2 and leave on Sunday morning, 4/4. Zhi has already bought his ticket, I am buying mine today. I just booked a suite at the Encore with 2 queens. The hotel reservation can be modified till March 30 so we can adjust if necessary based on who else wants to go and how much space we need.

The first weekend in April is the weekend of the NCAA final four, so expect it to be crazy. We wouldn't have it any other way though, for Zhi. Feel free to add anybody else I missed to this thread, and send me any requests of what you'd like to do. I am currently investigating a restaurant reservation for Saturday as well as a show.

Cheers,
Ajay


********** Update from Zhi (2010-02-22) **********
When we were discussing this trip, there were only 2 rules for who to invite and why:
1. Dudes only. No GF's. No wives. No chicks you want to bang. No exceptions.
2. We ain't changing shit. Not the date. Not where we are staying. Not what we're doing. No exceptions.

Don't want to sound like a dick, but this is not going to be a cat herding expedition.



********** Update from Kanna (2010-02-22) **********
hey guys

sounds fun....i will look into whether or not i can make it, though i
think that i can. in regards to looking for airfare, what time are
people thinking of arriving on friday and leaving on sunday?

thanks
kanna



********** Update from Zhi (2010-02-22) **********
Zhi's Flights:
SFO->LAS: Fri, Apr 2, 5:10PM
LAS->SFO: Sun, Apr 4, 2:25PM

Summer Trip

So Kanna made an excellent point the other day: traditions may be created through spontaneity, but it takes effort to keep the worthwhile ones alive. If we skip out on one, it just makes it easier to make excuses in the future. In light of that, and because it takes all of us approximately 6 weeks to answer a friggin email, I'd like to start planning this summer's trip.

Owing to the fact some of us have already made other arrangements for the Fourth of July, we also need to consider available dates as a dimension this year.

What are some good time frames for people? What are some possible destinations? Should we do a unified activity like camping, or some random debauchery like we always do?

Trip Report: Tahoe, 2009-12-29 to 2010-01-03

Attendees: Alex, Fu, Kanna, Zhi, plus guests: Emily, Ian, Joel, Marnie, and Rawi

In my traditional bullet point narrative:

- What a great way to ring in the new year, chilling out on the slopes and in the hot tub with some of my best bros.

- A cabin concept definitely works for future trips. It was cheaper than finding separate hotel rooms and it was more convenient. We were are coordinated in terms of location, we had the amenities and storage space, and the kitchen was a major boon.

- Speaking of the kitchen, cooking is also a great idea for future trips. On top of being cheaper and the meals being delicious, it was actually really fun to cook with the fellas. Especially when we were all high as a kite; never has stirring risotto looked so appealing.

- Thanks to Alex for bringing those nice bottles of wine, Honorary Beeler St Member Joel for organizing all the cooking, Kanna for brining his exemplary knowledge of the ganga, and everyone for making it a sweet ass time.

- Alex, your concept of "drinking champagne on New Year's Day" is gay. And I hope we continue it.

- I don't know about you guys, but I felt like this trip was a good experiment in how to organize future trips. I believe in the concept that you plan democratically, but execute autocratically. Did this work for you guys?

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments or in another post. This blog needs some action!

Loyalty

Not to steal an idea, but this was brought to my attention via a friend's blog. Amusing little list of things important to one Tom Chiarella, some of which I find overlapping with my own list. One in particular stuck out:

23. Be loyal. You will fail at it. You have already. A man who does not know loyalty, from both ends, does not know men. Loyalty is not a matter of give-and-take: He did me a favor, therefore I owe him one. No. No. No. It is the recognition of a bond, the honoring of a shared history, the reemergence of the vows we make in the tight times. It doesn't mean complete agreement or invisible blood ties. It is a currency of selflessness, given without expectation and capable of the most stellar return.

Just a thought.

Tale of an American Chinese

There once was a Chinese man who did not like his home country very much. He decided he would move to America. As soon as he landed in the States, he loved it. He loved the environment, the people, the culture, the food; everything. He loved it so much, and because he saw it to be in so many ways to be better than China, he immediately renounced his own country. He said, "From now on, I am no longer Chinese. I am an American."

This man got an American job, bought an American car, married an American wife, and became an American citizen. He spoke only English, raised his kids to be American, and never associated with anything or anyone Chinese. When he died, he was buried in an American cometary, with an English inscription.

And when people walk past his grave site, they say, "Here lies buried a Chinese man."

My cousin told me that anecdote when I was in China.

Scathing...

video

...but so true.

Trip Report: Chicago-Town, 2009-07-02 to 2009-07-05 [ADDENDUM]

I forgot to mention something when I posted the original post:

- We determined the optimal angle-of-attack when wiping one's own ass is from the side.

- The body-positioning, either standing, or still seated, with a half-forward roll, is a matter of preference.

If you guys remember anything else about the trip, it would be awesome to post it here so our grandkids can see it someday...or something.