california, here i come...

well, actually i'm already here-- in san francisco. we flew in wednesday night-- thursday morning, technically, after a 2 hour delay and a 40-minute wait for the shuttle. so far, we've been to: golden gate park, the conservatory of flowers (butterfly exhibit), haight-ashbury (and the giant robot store, of course), japantown, chinatown, italian area, fisherman's wharf, golden gate bridge, pier 39 and the marina (where we're staying). tomorrow we'll take a day trip out to muir woods and point reyes.

things we hope to do before we leave: find the tanner residence (you know, uncle jesse, uncle joey and the family from full house) and any scene that looks like it's from monk. oh, and if i can get some in-n-out and beard papa's, i'll be one happy roboto.

my secret identity...

i'm assuming most of the people that frequent my site are people that know me personally: my name, what i look like, etc. but for some reason, i like referring to myself as "roboto" and rarely cite specifics of my identity (name, location, age, ssn...). i dunno... it makes me feel more comfortable.

despite my fear of big brother and identity theft, technology is advancing rapidly before me. there are podcasts, vlogs (video blogs) and i'm still relying on the alphabet. so i'm debating whether or not to start posting pictures and/or video content on this blog. i mean, i create video art for a living... it only makes sense that i start to express myself publicly using my medium of choice. but i'm still paranoid. am i being silly?

+3 lbs...

i know, it's not much, but late spring is not a good time to be putting on weight... especially if mrs. roboto and i will be doing some beaching this summer. which reminds me... we're thinking about going away for our one-year. any suggestions? some locations won't be comfortable for a late-august getaway... and we're on a budget too.

i'm thinking spain. they have beaches... museums... culture... good food...

laurence fishburne mania...

we watched two movies this weekend, both starring morpheus, himself: MI:III and Akeelah and the Bee. both were pretty entertaining, one was cute and heart-warming... the other one was about a spelling bee. =)
three robotic thumbs up each (mr. roboto has 4 thumbs total).

in addition to the double-feature, i participated in a pure, gluttonous gorge-fest. the weekend's menu included a chinese buffet (including kalbi, fresh lychee, and a trio of my favorite ice cream flavors: green tea, red bean and banana), soft-shell crab and lobster bisque and mother's day dim sum. the all-you-can-eat choice was exceptionally good- yet quite possibly one of the biggest mistakes i've ever made. i had an incredibly difficult time breathing and was seriously considering bulimia.

creative juices...

i gotta get them flowing. every once in a while, i hit a block that sucks up every last drop of my creative mojo-- see i'm even mixing my metaphors. that's my least favorite part of being a designer... there's always a need to come up with innovative, cutting-edge work-- and sometimes the well is just dry.

i need some inspiration.

what i need to do is turn off my tv, sit in a quiet room and just think, but i'm having a hard time turning off G4 (it's a cable station about video games).

carnivore...

i've consumed so much red meat in the last few days.
today dinner: bulgogi
today lunch: 1/2 pound burger
yesterday dinner: chadolbegi
yesterday lunch: portillo's hot dog and italian beef
saturday dinner: korean buffet (lotsa kalbi)
saturday lunch: costco hot dog
friday dinner: tonkatsu (chicken, but it's deep-fried)
friday lunch: pastrami sandwich
thursday dinner: mongolian beef
thursday lunch: steak burrito

since i don't eat breakfast, i'm 10 for 10. i feel gross. and i don't know if i've gained weight, but i look a little bloated.

potential energy -> kinetic energy

some of my potential energy is finally starting to convert into kinetic energy...

i started an on-site freelance gig today and it seems to be going well. hopefully, i'll land something full-time, permanent soon. now that i have to start commuting into the city again, i want to buy a bike to ride to the train station every morning. "roboto, you already have a nice bike..." my wife and others might say... well, my bike is too nice to endure the abuse of daily commuting and being chained to a bench for 9+ hours a day. so i wouldn't be buying a "new" bike... i want to find a solid, bmx style bike that i could put a few hours of work into-- a simple one-gear fixer-upper. oooooh... a sweet, track bike would be nice. track bikes are really, basic bikes, but light-weight and fast... alot of hardcore, new york bike messengers ride track bikes.

hmmm... bmx-style or track bike?
or ?

no mexican food (almost)...

i was craving mexican food last night... (mexican food is roboto's fuel of choice)... so the mrs. and i drove out to chipotle (not very authentic, but good, nonetheless). it was closed because they didn't have enough employees to open the store due to the immigration rallies. so we walked down the road to santiago's... also closed. we had to settle for a place called "casa margarita." ugh.

i'm thinking of reorganizing my basement/office. i have to clean-up for the in-law visit this weekend, might as well move some furniture around while i'm at it.

oh yeah, and the in-law visit. dad-in-law wants to have a talk with me about my career (or lack thereof). i am not looking forward to that talk. howard schultz, ceo of starbuck's, tells a story about when he was first getting involved with the small coffee company. at the time, starbuck's was a local distributor of gourmet coffee. schultz had the idea of turning it into the walk-in, one-on-every-block coffe house that it is today, but it took a couple years to get it off the ground. anyways, during that planning/early-development phase, schultz's father-in-law asked howard to go on a walk with him. and on that walk he asked him when he was going to give up his "coffee hobby" and find a "real job."

it would be nice if i was in the middle of incubating a multi-million dollar idea for my own father-in-law lecture. i have three days... any ideas?