Paleo Diet: Day 11

11 days ago, I started myself on the Paleo diet.  There was no cheating in these 11 days, as I ate nothing but the diet allowed and restricted myself from all the things I could not eat.  I was very determined to remain disciplined and was rewarded by losing 7 pounds in the first 5 days! 

During the diet, I mostly baked and grilled meats like chicken, pork, steak, and salmon while adding only peppers, Mrs. Dash, and parsley/cilantro leaves as my seasoning.  I'd prepare a big bowl of salad with raw mushrooms and tomatoes thrown in that I could add to my meals throughout the week.  I'd fry eggs with olive oil and add them to the salad to add some extra flavor, since I wasn't allowed to use any dressing.  Other sides included steamed broccoli and cauliflower or corn on the cob.  I'd have one freshly sliced orange every morning, a banana for an afternoon snack, and grapes or apples late at night if I wanted a snack.   As for drinks, I didn't have anything but water.  Some people recommended tea, but I just don't like tea and couldn't find anything else I would rather drink...so I drank tons of water, lol.

In the first week, I had already noticed that the fat around my face was gone.  Mentally and physically, I felt fine.  I didn't have any cravings to eat any of the foods I was abstaining from.  In fact, I felt like I couldn't eat as much in a single sitting and after my meals, my stomach never felt bloated.  I also noticed that I didn't have to 'deuce' as often, and when I did, it wasn't as much. I could really tell how effective the diet was in terms of eating healthy and losing fat.  One thing I did notice however is that my body became sore from workouts more easily, but this was probably due to the drastic change in nutrition.

After 5 days, I had lost 7 pounds, but I noticed my waist wasn't trimming as quickly as I hoped.  In addition, I didn't continue to lose weight as quickly like that first major decrease and I continued to hover around 183 lbs the next 5 days.  While I had lost an inch around my waist, it was becoming apparent that the fat around the stomach requires a lot more time to trim.  As stated by my friend Matt, "the belly is the place we retain the most fat" and so it will take the longest to reduce.

Day 11: front view (right)- 183 lbs, 35.5" waist

Day 11: side view (right)- 183 lbs, 35.5" waist

Nonetheless, I have been very happy with the results.  However, in light of my discovery that I probably won't be able to lose that much more weight through December 20th (which was my original goal), I have decided to back off the hardcore Paleo diet and transition into what I will call the "Palineo Diet!"  Thanks Matt for the name suggestion.  Pandeo was another choice, but sounded too much like a diet for a panda bear.

The Palineo diet will consist of a normal diet without as much restriction, which some Paleo insight.  For example, it all starts at the grocery store for me.  In the past I would buy lots of breads like hot dog and burger buns and also a lot pastas to make things like spaghetti and fettuccine.  The Palineo diet will not allow me to make these purchases individually for myself.  I will continue to just shop the meats, fruits, and vegetable aisles for my home cooking.  Rice will become my main grain if I want to compliment meals.

Palineo will allow me to have salt and sugar.  Sugar has never been a problem for me, but it is an additive in many drinks and sauces.  My old seasonings will return and there won't be any restriction on that.  In additional, I will cook with only olive oil and will no longer be using vegetable oil.

As for drinks, beer is allowed again, and I celebrated my success (and diligence on such a challenging diet) with a couple Bud Lights last night.  I am allowed to drink milk again, but will alternate my morning glass of milk with fresh fruit.  Sodas will also have a restriction.  Instead of soda everyday, I will limit myself to one can every other day.

I should expect to have some of the weight I lost come back, but my hope is that in time, I can continue to lose weight or maintain what I have lost with a renewed perspective on the way I eat.  190 lbs and the way my face had pudged up was just too much, and personally I felt a diet was necessary.  I'm proud that I was able to stick with it for 11 days,  and I'm ready to move forward toward a healthier and thinner me!

Out with the Old, In with the New

When I bought my house in 2005, it came with 3 brand new stainless steel appliances.  There was a refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a stove/oven - all Kenmore products.  I had never really used a glass-top surface electric range before, but over the years I learned to enjoy its convenience and efficiency.

A couple weeks ago, I pressed the Bake button on the top-left part of the control panel and the side of the panel snapped.  Apparently the panel was held in by some plastic pieces that pressing it hard enough over the years caused it to snap.  The right side was still in tact, but it was just more difficult to press the buttons.  I continued to use the stove and oven as so until finally the right side collapsed as well.  The panel was now sitting inside the top part of the range, making it very difficult to access the buttons.  I decided to pull the panel out so that I could access it easier.  Everything still seemed to function this way.  However, when I tried the Bake button, there was a big spark and the circuit board was shorted and fried.  I guess the wires in the back were touching each other.  Whoops!  Rather than go through the hassle of trying to get it repaired (one would have to replace the panel and the top of the oven, but this thing is pretty old), I decided to just go looking for a new range.

Old Range - 2005 Kenmore

Since I cook pretty much every day and am also on this Paleo diet that even more so requires home-cooking, I wanted to get a replacement as soon as possible.  I went to three stores and looked at models.  I started at Lowes and found a GE and a Samsung I liked for $600 and $650 respectively.  I then went to Home Depot and they pretty much had the same inventory.  Sears was my last stop and they had the same as both of the previous stores, but they also had Kenmore models, but not for very cheap.  I decided I wanted to get the Samsung model.  Since I was at already at Sears and each place had the same thing, I asked them when was the earliest they could deliver the range.  Sears told me Dec 23...  I then went to Home Depot and they told me Dec 11th... Lowes turned out to be the winner since they were able to deliver the next morning!

New Range - 2014 Samsung

I installed the new range myself, using the old hookup cord.  I also learned during installation that I can have a gas range if I had wanted.  The new range has some cool new features, like convection baking, which baked my salmon perfectly the other day.  You can also set a cook time so that the oven will turn off automatically.  There's multiple cooking surface areas on the front two elements, so it nicely fits the pot you are using.  And finally there is a warming center...I guess that's kind of neat too.  I was lucky to get the stove at the end of the Black Friday sale that continued through Wednesday after Thanksgiving.  The range was $650 for me and apparently it's back up to $900 today online.

Although my old range was a good one and probably could have worked for longer if not for the poor panel design, it's nice to have a new range to play with!

Paleo Diet: Day 1

When I first learned that LeBron James had gone on the Paleo diet, I thought to myself, "why would LBJ need to go on a diet?"

For a while now, I have noticed an increase in my body's weight over the years.  I'm simply not as young as I used to be (now 31-years-old) and my metabolism probably isn't as fast.  And for anyone, as you get older it just becomes more difficult to exercise as easily due to life's other priorities, or perhaps your body just can't handle vigorous workouts as often as it used to.  I measured myself on the scale the other day and I now come in at 190 lbs and my waist measures 36.5" (+/- a half inch). In summation, I feel like a Fatty McFatty. :/ So I've been thinking, if the greatest athlete in the world feels the need to go on a diet every once in a while, why can't I?

I didn't spend too much time researching diets.  Over the months, I've read enough about the gist of these new era diets (gluten free, wheat belly, Atkins, etc) to understand the simple concept: cut out the crap and eat healthier.  Enough of my friends have tried some variation of some diet and it's worked for them in whatever way they chose.  And so begins my time on the Paleo diet...

DAY 1:

First things first, I had to make a list of the things I could eat and the things I couldn't and put it on my fridge so that I was reminded every time I got hungry.  This is my first time ever attempting a real diet, so it's a little intimidating at first.

DON'T EAT:
• wheat, grains, pastas, breads
• dairy, cheese
• potatoes
• soda, sugar, salt
• BEER
• vegetable oil

DO EAT:
• meats, fish, poultry
• eggs
• vegetables, fruits
• olive oil

This list is based off the Paleo website and is altered slightly based on foods I personally enjoy eating.

All of the items in the "DON'T EAT" section were hard to give up.  I noticed right of the bat that salt is in almost everything: my seasonings and my sauces. :(  And of course, beer is going to be tough to abstain from drinking, but I've gone weeks without drinking to prove to myself that I could, so it shouldn't be that bad.

Day 1: side view- 190lbs, waist 36.5"

Day 1: front view- 190lbs, waist 36.5"

On my first day, I had pork chops for lunch and a steak for dinner.  I used pepper and parsley seasoning, so fortunately it didn't taste bland.  I had a couple fried eggs using olive oil and then raspberries for my late night snack.  I then steamed enough cauliflower and broccoli to have for a few days to be added to the leftover meats I'm bringing to work for lunch.  Orange slices for breakfast, banana for afternoon snack.

I'll continue to maintain my normal workout schedule at the gym, which consists of lifting weights twice a week and running/playing ball another 2-3 times the rest of the week.  My goal is to knock off 10 lbs and at least 1.5" off my waist and do it all by December 20th, in time for the holidays back in Scottsdale, since maintaining the diet would be tough to do at my parents' house and there will be several of festivities where I'll want to enjoy an alcoholic beverage.  I'll return with updates after the 10th and 20th days.  Wish me luck!

Enabling Do-Not-Disturb on my iPhone 6!

For those of you who know me well, you know that I work flexible hours and prefer a later schedule in life.  In general, it's rare that I'll be in bed before 2am and even more rare that I would be up before 10am on a daily basis.  I maintain a pretty regular sleeping schedule for both weekdays and weekdays and I almost never set an alarm clock.

I'm thankful that I have a job that allows me to work a flexible schedule, but at the same time if my job needs me earlier in the day, I will make myself available.  One way of maintaining a flex schedule is leaving my cell phone on while I sleep so that my manager can contact me if they need me early in the morning.  However, it's challenging when someone else contacts me while I'm sleeping and being a light sleeper, if I receive a text message I will wake up from hearing the sound.  It's analogous to someone calling you at 4am in the morning if you usually get up around 6am...

In the past I had to tell my friends not to text me before 10am, but it would continue or happen with new friends who didn't know this.  Fortunately for people like me, there is a Do-Not-Disturb feature with iPhone 6 (or maybe it's just the iOS, whatever)!  I started using it and it works perfectly!

"Do Not Disturb" is accessed via Settings and I've set mine to automatically enable between the hours of 2am and 10am, my usually sleeping period.  One thing I had trouble with is making it so that just a select people (like my manager or my family) can contact me.  The default options are Favorites, No One, and Everyone.

 

So I found this app called "Groups" that is free and you can make groups and add contacts to them.  I created one called Emergency and it is now an option that is selectable.

Already Do-Not-Disturb has helped, as I received a text from my friend on the east coast at 4am but didn't hear it. So wonderful!  Sleep (especially uninterrupted sleep) is so invaluable for a stress-free life.  Thank you iPhone!!!

Raytheon Basketball A-League: Playoffs!

NEW UPDATE ON 11/10!

Last year, Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson invited IBM to play in their basketball league.  Raytheon is the largest employer in Tucson, supplying over approximately 10,000 engineering-related jobs.  Their basketball league is therefore a formidable one that must be separated into 3 leagues: A, B, and C.  In 2013, Raytheon invited us to be a team that plays occasionally teams from both A and B league.  We were simply a filler team and thus they asked us not to send an all-star team and implied that we wouldn't be eligible to actually win their tournament.  As such, we sent an average team and went about 50% playing mostly teams from both A and B league.

This year, Raytheon told us that there was a full spot open in A League, their highest league.  There were no restrictions this time, so at IBM I invited everyone who wanted to play a chance to play, and we ended up sending a lot of better players this time around.  The A-League in Raytheon is still very challenging (I'd say it's as good as your average city league) and the challenge most of the season has just been having all of our players available to play each night.

Tonight begins the 3-week single elimination tournament in Raytheon Basketball's A-League!  We'll already be down one key player, which makes it tough, but it's now win or go home.  Good luck to team IBM representing in the Raytheon League!

FIRST ROUND RESULTS:

Unfortunately, team IBM was not only without it's starting power forward but also it's starting point guard on this night, leaving us without 2 of our top players and scoring options.  IBM fell into a double-digit hole in the first half.  A good run by yours truly hitting three 3-pointers in a row cut the lead down to single digits with minutes to spare, but the opponent hit their free throws to close the game out and IBM lost 44-54.  Thus ends our run in the Raytheon A-League. :( It was still a lot of fun for me to be able to play alongside my friends when I don't usually get the opportunity to!

Jeremy's Wedding in Scottsdale

This past weekend I attended Jeremy and Alyssa's wedding, which was held at the McCormick Ranch Golf Resort in Scottsdale.  I've been friends with Jeremy for over ten years, meeting him through my friend Sam who was in his wedding.  While I wasn't in Jeremy's wedding, I attended his bachelor party last month in Phoenix and I was good friends with most of the people that were part of his wedding party.

It's been a while since I've attended a wedding in Arizona, so not having to travel far was a plus.  I've actually never been to McCormick Golf Ranch before and it's gorgeous venue.  It was early October, so the weather was not ideal and it was a little warm outside for the ceremony on the golf course with the sun shining in everyone's eyes.

They kept the ceremony fairly short, lasting about 25 minutes and then it was off to cocktail hour!  I've never seen Cornhole or Bocce Ball at a wedding before, so when they had both I had to get in on the action!  About an hour later we were seated for dinner and I got seated with all the groomsmen, who I had known for as many years as Jeremy.  It was a nice perk because I was second in line to the buffet for dinner. :)

The rest of the wedding was pretty standard.  Open bar, photo booth, dancing, and desserts!  Unfortunately I didn't get to stay too long for this wedding.  Congratulations to Jeremy and Alyssa and best of luck to the newlyweds!

Justin's Wedding in Seattle

This past weekend I attended Justin's wedding in Seattle!  I was also honored to be invited as a groomsman.  I hadn't seen Justin since I visited him and Chris in Kansas City (Justin was living in Wichita at the time), so it had certainly been a while.  But like all great, long-lasting friendships, even time is not enough to separate the bond!

I arrived in Seattle on a direct flight from Tucson (thank goodness for Alaska Air!) on Thursday night, getting in around 6pm.  Justin picked me up at the airport and dropped me off at the Quality Inn near downtown Seattle, a good location in my opinion if you want to walk to restaurants and bars at night or do some jogging around the city and waterfront.  Hilariously, I was the only one to take advantage of his wedding rate at the hotel.  Apparently everyone else that was attending the wedding had friends or family in Seattle that they were staying with.

On Thursday night, I ventured alone into Belltown, a popular area for Seattle nightlife.  One of the perks of traveling alone is that you get to be super picky with the restaurants you want to eat at and don't have to worry if anyone else would enjoy them as much as you would.  So on Thursday night, I felt like treating myself to a legit meal.  I ended up eating at The Grill at Impanema, which featured all-you-can-eat Brazilian barbecue.  If you've never had, the servers bring up huge pieces of meat and carve it onto your plate and you just keep eating until you don't want anymore. :)  After dinner, Chris (who lives in Seattle now), Justin, and Justin's fiancé Mary joined me for drinks at the Rabbit Hole.  This was my first time meeting Mary and she was very cool, complimenting Justin's personality very well!

At the end of the night, I had to get me a Seattle Dog.  This was my third time visiting Seattle, so I am no stranger to the area.  I LOVE the Seattle Dog and will actually put cream cheese on my hot dogs when I'm home in Tucson.  I was making sure to get the authentic thing as much as possible while I was in Seattle and got 3 Seattle Dogs while I was there! :)

On Friday, Chris picked me up and took me to Paseo for lunch to grab a famous Caribbean Roast sandwich.  It's a pork sandwich that he feels you can't really get anywhere else in the world (and Chris travels more than I do!).  It was quite delicious and very messy.  I joked that Chris was courting me, taking the sandwiches to go and eating them at a park along the beach.  How romantic...until I threw a quarter in the sand hoping the old guy with the metal detector would find it LOL.  However, the old guy ended up stopping to break for lunch and I didn't feel like waiting for him to finish to see if he'd find my gift for him.

After lunch, Chris took me to the 2nd most touristy place in Seattle: the harbor Locks.  This is where they keep the freshwater from mixing with the seawater.  There was also a fish ladder where you can see a bunch of salmon swimming.  Apparently they do a lot of mating here.

The Locks were really close to "The Canal" where Justin and Mary's wedding would be held and the rehearsal was that afternoon.  It only took us 40 minutes to practice our roles and afterwards we all met up for dinner at the Italian restaurant Pasta Freska.  For dinner they ran out plates to you every so often, so you were literally wined and dined by just sitting there.  And now for the sole embarrassing part of this weekend... A girl that worked there would also sing Italian opera to all the tables.  She had an amazing voice and the bride and groom requested "A Whole New World" from Disney's Aladdin, but she would not do it solo since there is both a male and female part in the duet.  No one wanted to step up and sing Aladdin's part, but here I was all drunk and joking, how hard could it be, shouting out the beginning "I can show you the world..."  They all volunteered me to do it and after much hesitation, I complied, seeing as it was for the bride and groom.  Obviously I'm not a great singer but I think I hit the keys alright, and then the girl blew everyone away during Jasmine's part.  It was fun singing the duet and I got a lot of props for having the balls to do it.

Saturday was a lonely day for me.  I really only knew Justin and Chris at this wedding and they were both busy doing their own thing that day.  I started my day off by having lunch at Green Leaf in Belltown, a Vietnamese restaurant with a tasty Spicy Beef Noodles Soup bowl.  I grabbed some hyped up Top Not doughnuts and while they are huge and good quality, I didn't go crazy over them.  I had gotten 6 and only ate 4 on the weekend.  In the afternoon I went jogging around Seattle, figuring it would be my only chance on this 4-day weekend to get some exercise in.  I jogged through downtown and into Olympic Sculpture park, then along the waterfront and into Myrtle Edwards park.  Eventually I found myself in the Seattle Center, the top tourist location in Seattle where the Space Needle is.  There was a beerfest going on at the time and I thought about venturing inside, but going to a beerfest alone is not that fun.  I toured the area a little more and eventually headed back to the hotel to shower.  The next plan was to have some seafood at Taylor Shellfish Farms, but I felt this place was overrated; good but not at all filling.  I ended up in Capitol Hill that night, which is a pretty happening area for nightlife.  I barhopped a little, getting beers at a few different bars, but drinking at a bar alone is very boring.  I found a Buckhunter game at the last place I stopped, had two Seattle Dogs since dinner wasn't filling, and then left around 11pm.  And hence why friendseeing will always be superior to sightseeing in my opinion!  What good are all these experiences if you have no one to share them with?

The wedding was on Sunday, so while Saturday had left me wanting to leave Seattle, the best part of the trip was still to come!  I met up with Chris for lunch at Lunchbox Laboratory, where Justin had mentioned the Dork sandwich (Duck + Pork = Dork).  It sounded good, but I didn't really like the real thing.  It's just duck meat and pork meat ground up together into a burger patty.  It was kind of disappointing, but maybe we can just blame it on the hype.

The wedding was at 5pm, but Chris and I got to The Canal at 2:30pm to take pictures around the railroad tracks and gardens with the rest of the wedding party.  The ceremony was short and concise, lasting only 10 minutes and followed by cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing!

And so concluded my trip to Seattle for Justin and Mary's wedding!  I'm really honored that Justin invited me to be a groomsman for his wedding and it was great to see both him and Chris, friends from college that I have not seen in so long but have shared so many memories with. 'Til next time, although hopefully I am done traveling to Seattle for a while!

Andy Lin's Lickity List (Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson)

Welcome to Andy Lin's Lickity List!  Only restaurants that are unique to Tucson can be found on this list.  The other great part is that it's all very cheap - $10 for an amazing meal!  I usually stick to the same item off the menu at these places to satisfy the craving of a meal I haven't had in a while.

This list will be a running log that I will update whenever I go to one of my several favorite restaurants in Tucson, so be sure to check back for my latest recommendations via the link under my Hot Topics section!

Andy Lin's Lickity List
Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson

BK Tacos & Hotdogs
5118 S 12th Ave
Tucson, AZ 85706
Date Visited: August 21, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: Large Caramelo Asada
Price: $6.78 including tax

Raves: There are two "fast-food" Mexican restaurants in Tucson that are famous for their Sonora Dogs.  One is already on this list (El Guero Canelo) and the other is BK, not to be confused with Burger King.  BK offers a variety of great choices, but my Go-To-Lick here is the Caramelo with Carne Asada meat.  If you haven't figured it out by now, the carne asada in Tucson is really good.

The Caramelo is like having two cheese quesadillas that sandwich a bunch of carne asada meat.  While you could get two small ones here, you get as much food with a large and you'll save a little bit on price.  I like to add from the self-serve salsa bar: guacamole, pico de gallo, and a couple hot sauces.  Ask for a yellow pepper if you want to indulge in something very spicy, and you can throw in a Mexican soda for $2.68.

The best thing about all these Mexican restaurants in Tucson is that the carne asada is slightly different at each location.  Each place uses cooks and seasons it differently and while no place stands far ahead of any other, the winner is the consumer who gets plenty of variety.  If you decide the caramelo is not for you, the Sonora dog is also a popular choice here.

The location I went to is one of the original locations.  However, there is another one that is no different in quality, located more central in town at 2680 N 1st Ave.

Saing Thai Cuisine
9136 E Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ 85747
Date Visited: June 19, 2014
Style: Thai
Go-To-Lick: Pad Kee Mao
Price: $8.59 including tax

Read this Review.

Frog & Firkin
874 East University Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85719

Date Visited: May 12, 2014
Style: English Pub
Go-To-Lick: The Firkin Burger with Cheese
Price: $9.13 including tax

Read this Review.

El Guero Canelo
2480 North Oracle Road
Tucson, AZ 85705 

Date Visited: May 3, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: 2x Carne Asada Burro Jr. with Extra Cheese
Price: $9.27 including tax

Read this Review.

Andy Lin is your typical Tucson resident and is a not food connoisseur.  He is simply a man who knows what pleases his tastebuds and belly.   Special thanks to Nate M. and Matt H. for help with coming up with a title for this list.

Drinkline Makes its Debut on My Birthday

My 31st birthday was on Saturday, and even though my 30th was the "last hurrah", I still decided to hold a small party in my favor.  You only get one day a year to celebrate yourself, so I guess you should try to. :)

For my birthday, I invited people to come over to my place to play a game I thought up with my friend Tyler and that I've been creating over the past couple weeks.  It's called "Drinkline" and it's based on the card game Guillotine and is an extension of King's Cup, with some original content and pop culture references thrown in.  The goal is to make it as popular as Cards Against Humanity, so you have some idea of how big I'm dreaming right now.

Before Drinkline was debuted, I got a taco bar catered from Micha's in Tucson.  About 15 people showed up for dinner and luckily I had enough food for everyone without being short or having an excess of leftovers.  Afterwards, it was time to unveil Drinkline!  Here are some examples of the cards: 

Card Backs:

Character Cards (these represent players playing the game):

Drinkling Cards (these move your Character card in the Drinkline):

Action Cards (these are played on other players to get them to drink):

Rule Cards (these are bestowed on other players to get them to act in a funny behavior):

The alpha test group provided a lot of feedback and results.  We played 3 games of Drinkline, altering the game each time and I took down several suggestions.  Already Drinkline v2.0 has been printed and is ready for testing.  I've lined up my friend Sam from college to prepare artwork and designs for the final product.  After a few more test runs with Drinkline, I will eventually get it officially printed and published!

Drinkline is a game created by Andy Lin.  Copyright 2014.

The rest of my birthday was great and about 20 people showed for it.  One of them is this girl named Heather from Phoenix who I've been dating since June.  She's pretty, awesome, and pretty awesome to me.  Thanks to everyone who made it a wonderful birthday!

New Bowling Ball!

Today I ordered a new bowling ball, the BYTE from Storm Bowling.  The last ball I purchased, the Storm Gravity SHIFT, was my first reactive ball I ever owned and I was really happy with it for the 6 years I had been bowling with it.  However, bowling balls do reach an end of life eventually after so many rolls down the lane.  I had taken my Gravity Shift to be revitalized a couple years ago, and while I have still seen my average go up since owning the ball, I felt like it was time for a new ball.

The Gravity SHIFT was an entry level ball at the time, which I bought for $100 off bowlingball.com (no drilling included).  The BYTE is a $250 ball that was $160 on bowlingball.com and included free shipping, so I was very happy with the price.  I figure it is time to take my game to the next level, and equipment definitely contributes to success.  I am so excited to try it out this season, which starts on September 11th!

It's been a while since our team has won a championship in the IBM & Friends bowling league, mostly because my team's player averages have somewhat peaked, so we are receiving less pins of handicap to help boost our score.  I'm hoping to advance my game with this new ball, which has nearly identical specifications as my previous ball, and get back into the winner's circle!  And while a 200 average might not happen right away, that is also another goal for this ball's lifetime!

4th of July with Mike in Alexandria

It had been a while since I've left town for the 4th of July.  It had also been a couple years since I visited my friend Mike in D.C.  He actually had additional reasoning why this 4th of July in D.C. would be more special than others, but we'll get to that...

I arrived in D.C. late on Wednesday night, having scheduled a long trip to visit Mike who now owns a townhouse in Alexandria, living with his girlfriend Keri of 4 years.  Mike had asked if I'd be hungry when I landed and I told him I was good, but I'd probably be very thirsty.  I asked him to get a 12-pack of Yeungling for us.  Even though it's really nothing special, they don't sell this beer on the west coast, so I'm always inclined to get it when I'm on the east coast.  When we got to his house that night at around 11pm, we hung outside on his back patio, having some beers, catching up, and discussing the weekend planned ahead.  We ended up killing the 12-pack of Yeungling and an additional 6-pack of Sweet Water Pale Ale before calling it a night at 4am. LOL.  So much for an easy first night...

On Thursday morning, Mike's friend Steven stormed into his house, trying to wake both of us up.  I felt like I was in college again: shortened sleep after a night of heavy drinking, being awoken by a very loud man with way too much energy, screaming that it was time to get up. LOL. Since Keri was away at work, this was the only time Mike had time to go to Costco and grab supplies for the weekend.  Steven and Mike ended up getting about $900 in food and booze for the couple of parties they had planned the next two days.

After stocking up and storing everything at Steven's place, Mike and I went to Ted's Montana Grill for lunch.  Out of all the places Mike took me to the last time I visited, no other restaurant's food stood out like Ted's, known for their bison burgers!  I got one with guacamole, jalapenos, and pepperjack, cooked rare to perfection and it was phenomenal.  I also had forgotten how amazing their fries were.

The rest of Thursday, Mike and I took things pretty chill.  Mostly we just hung out at his place playing Halo 4 and watching baseball.  We figured we'd take it a little easier that night since there was a lot coming up in the next day.

The 4th of July was on a Friday and part of Mike's plan all along was to use the holiday as an opportunity to propose to Keri, a fairly influential factor in my decision to come out here this weekend.  His plan was to go to the waterfront near King Street and do the asking there.  My story was supposed to be that I was gonna meet up with my friend Ben in Chinatown to get some drinks while this was all going down.  The 3 of us got on the metro and they got off at King Street Station, where I was supposed to get off on the next stop and head to Joe Theismann's for happy hour (the eventual destination after the proposal).  Unbeknownst to Mike, my plan was to actually snipe pictures of the proposal without him knowing it.  So instead, I took an Uber immediately after I got off the train and went to the location where Mike had told me the asking would go down.  I waited for 40 minutes with camera in hand, but never saw them. :( I even had my friend Chris (who was coming down from Jersey for the weekend as well) drive around to try and spot them for me.  Later I would find out that Mike changed the location and he didn't tell anyone because he didn't think anyone would be following him.  Oh well, I got some nice pictures of the waterfront anyway...

Chris, his wife Priya, and I met up with Mike, Keri, and a bunch of their friends at Joe's later that afternoon.  Several people had come out for the "engagement party", including a couple of Keri's friends from Pennsylvania without her knowing.  When asked if Keri had an idea, she said she had no clue whatsoever.  The only thing that might've tipped her off was why I was coming to D.C. this weekend.  Nonetheless, Mike's plan all came together almost perfectly and we enjoyed several drinks at Joe's followed by a house party back at Mike and Keri's later that night.  Shoutouts to Herman, Aaron, Head, Meg, Brian, Steph, Matt; several people who came out for Mike and Keri's party.

The next day there was a BBQ at Steven's place, which is at most a mile away from where Mike and Keri's home is.  We pretty much spent the whole day there, eating burgers, brats, boiled mussels, and fish fry, watching World Cup, and playing drinking games.  Steven invented Connect Four Flip Cup, which requires a player to finish their cup and flip it successfully before being able to place a chip in the Connect Four board.  The day went by pretty fast as one could imagine.

Sunday was mostly a day set for recuperation.  While there was some talk of going to the Nationals game, Mike and I felt it would be more relaxing to just hang out at his place for most of the day, watching the Wimbledon Championship and some baseball.  I had already been to a Nats game the last time out, so I wasn't dying to go.  Hey, these days of relaxation are my kind of vacation anyway.  And I didn't travel out to D.C. to see the city, I really just traveled there to see Mike.  It felt like the times we're back in Scottsdale at the same time, to just hang out, only that it was Alexandria instead.  After grabbing some sushi out in town for dinner, Mike and I ended the night by finishing the Halo 4 co-op campaign.

On Monday I was set to fly back home to Tucson, but with a 3pm departure from D.C., Mike and I went to get lunch at Pasara Thai in the city.  However, right after we put in our order, the fire alarm goes off!  We're like, is this for real?  Is it a drill?  Everyone in the restaurant proceeds to evacuate and turns out the entire building's fire alarm was going off.

I began to worry that I would not have enough time to eat lunch and make it in time for my flight, but Mike was confident that the alarm would be resolved shortly and the food would be prepped quickly.   The fire trucks would follow soon after, only to realize that it was a false alarm.  Nonetheless, we did wait for our food, but had to get it to go and I ended up eating my lunch in the car, lol.  Anyway, an interesting end to yet another memorable weekend with one of my best friends!

2014 USBC Open Championships in Reno

This year I participated in the USBC Open Championships in Reno for my first time.  I went with a big group of bowlers from the IBM bowling league here in Tucson, several of us touting 190+ averages in our house league.  My teammate Chris and I drove to Phoenix to get a cheaper and direct flight to Reno, but our flight was delayed a couple hours (Southwest has been pretty bad lately!), so by the time we made it to the Silver Legacy in Reno, it was 2am and late enough to cash in right away...a big weekend was ahead of me.

On Friday morning, Chris and I walked the city a little, grabbed lunch at Hash House A Go Go and got worked at the Craps and Blackjack tables at Harrah's.  By 1pm we were ready to go to the National Bowling Center, check-in, get our equipment checked.  There was a good amount of down time before we were ready to bowl at 3pm, but the bowling center was pretty cool to check out.  They built this center just for USBC Championships anyway.

At 3pm, we marched onto the lanes, which was definitely one of the highlights of the trip!  Everyone lines up inside the orientation room based on their lane assignment and we march through the tunnel down the center of the lanes in 2 single-file lanes.  As you walk out onto the lanes, there is a big spotlight shining at you, music playing, and everyone is clapping to the beat of the song lol.  A TV overhangs from above the tunnel showing everyone who is walking through.  It actually made me feel like a semi-pro!

It was on to the bowling event.  Friday was our Team Event and we had two 5-player teams from Tucson.  I was on the Red Team (we did Blue and Red and represented U of A), which had some pretty legit bowlers on it.  The lane conditions were really tough as expected.  I ended up bowling a 130 my first game, a 178 my second, and a 138 my last.  Everyone struggled however, as these lanes were just that tough.  If you even made the slightest mistake in your approach or delivery, your ball would take off and just not end up anywhere where you wanted it to.  I definitely have more respect for professional bowlers I see on TV, knowing it's not easy to bowl some of these harsh lane conditions that change very rapidly.

It was interesting to see that most of the people participating were much older and I'd say the average age was around 50.  There definitely weren't many people my age bowling in this event.  One of my teammates feels like bowling is a lost sport that will continue to go downhill as generations pass.  I really hope not, because I do love bowling...

That evening, most of us got together to have dinner at Brew Brothers inside Silver Legacy.  Chris and I signed up for the players club to get coupons for buy-one-get-one-free pizza and wings.  I ended up eating a ton of food, polishing off a full medium pizza, a dozen wings, and two 22-pint beers LOL.  Vacation stomach strikes again!  That night, we spent some time gambling, playing Pai Gow Poker and Blackjack, but called it a night at 11:30pm since we had to be at the bowling center very early in the morning... UGH.

On Saturday we were scheduled to bowl our Doubles AND Singles event...and at a 7am start time! :/ Unfortunately this slot was the only time available during registration months ago.  Nonetheless, we proceeded with the events starting with Doubles where Chris was my partner.  I started off with a bang, bowling a 181 game, but struggled afterwards to keep it up, ending up with 130 and 127. :( Immediately after bowling the 3 games for Doubles, we started the Singles Event to bowl 3 more games.  Chris told me that the Team Event is all about focus while the Double and Singles are all about endurance.  Fortunately, I woke up a little for the Singles event, stringing together my best series: 158, 190, and 167.  I was able to break 500 in one of my series, which was my weekend goal!

That pretty much concluded the Open Championships for us.  Chris and I grabbed the buffet lunch at El Dorado before heading back to Phoenix that afternoon.  This experience was a lot of fun for me.  I like traveling for competition; it's a nice change as opposed to traveling for weddings, bachelor and birthday parties, or just to visit friends.  It is definitely something I would consider trying again.

I'm also thinking of purchasing a new bowling ball before the 2014-15 season.  I think it's about time, since I've had my Storm Gravity Shift for over 5 years now.  Woohoo, I love bowling!

Andy Lin's Lickity List (Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson)

As the Andy Lin's Lickity List continues to grow, I appreciate the feedback from friends and strangers on how I can improve my reviews.  I don't want to be interpreted as a food connoisseur however.  The list contains places I personally go back to often and I almost always will get the same item.  I guess that's how I operate sometimes.  If I find something I love at a certain place and I go back to that place just for that dish I love!

This list will be a running log that I will update whenever I go to one of my several favorite restaurants in Tucson, so be sure to check back for my latest recommendations via the link under my Hot Topics section!

Andy Lin's Lickity List
Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson

Saing Thai Cuisine
9136 E Valencia Rd
Tucson, AZ 85747
Date Visited: June 19, 2014
Style: Thai
Go-To-Lick: Pad Kee Mao
Price: $8.59 including tax

Raves: There's not a whole lot of authentic choices around the IBM Tucson office as most of the restaurants near Rita Ranch are fast food chains.  However, there is a one gem at the corner of Nexus and Valencia that everyone knows about: Saing Thai.  I usually pack my lunch and eat at the office, but occasionally when a co-worker or client wants to grab lunch, I will recommend Saing Thai first.  I only come here for lunch, so the price I'm quoting above is the Lunch special  (I think the dinner price is $9.95).

Every lunch special starts out with their hot and sour soup.  Then you have a bunch of specials to pick from.  My Go-To-Lick is the Pad Kee-Mao (L16).  Once you pick your dish, you get to choose if your main meat ingredient (pork, beef, or chicken) or a meatless option.  I always go for the pork, but my friends say the beef or chicken are just as good.  Pad Kee-Mao is a somewhat spicy dish (3 out of 3 peppers on the menu), a pan-fried "drunken" noodle dish cooked in their special roasted chili sauce.  I always ask them to bring me a spice rack so that I can personally kick the spicyness up a notch (4 out of 3 peppers haha).

The dish comes served with white rice and a spring roll.  After finishing the spring roll, I mix the rice and noodles together and then it all goes down the hatch pretty quickly. :)

My friends have tried L13 (aromatic curry), and I hear L12 and L14 are classic favorites as well (my apologies for not remembering the actual dish names; since I only get one thing here I don't really look at other items that often).  The curries come in a bowl and are more liquidy than your Indian curries, so just be ready what to expect.  I don't think you can ever go wrong with noodles here though.  Enjoy!!!

Frog & Firkin
874 East University Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85719

Date Visited: May 12, 2014
Style: English Pub
Go-To-Lick: The Firkin Burger with Cheese
Price: $9.13 including tax

Read this Review.

El Guero Canelo
2480 North Oracle Road
Tucson, AZ 85705 

Date Visited: May 3, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: 2x Carne Asada Burro Jr. with Extra Cheese
Price: $9.27 including tax

Read this Review.

Andy Lin is your typical Tucson resident and is a not food connoisseur.  He is simply a man who knows what pleases his tastebuds and belly.   Special thanks to Nate M. and Matt H. for help with coming up with a title for this list.

APA 2014 City Tournament

NEW UPDATE!

This weekend is the City Tournament for 8-Ball APA in Tucson.  Last year, we got knocked out in the semifinals, having to play our way through the losers bracket to get there.  A lot has changed since then and I think my team's roster has improved since last year, but unfortunately a couple key players are missing (Tyler is missing all weekend and Dustin cannot be there for a lot of Saturday).  Nonetheless, we have to just show up and play our best.  Wish us luck!

FYI we are "Cereal Killers" listed below.  I still don't know how they pick which teams receive byes or not...

TOURNAMENT RESULTS:

On Friday night we played "That's What She Said" but unfortunately we got worked.  The key trio of Anthony, Chris, and myself all lost, losing the match 0-7.  OUCH!  We argue that if one of the "big three" loses, it will be a struggle to win the match.  It would've helped to have Dustin there earlier that night, but unfortunately he had work and by the time he made it, the match was over.

On Saturday afternoon we played South Tucson Deadstrokes.  This is the same team we played last year (where I beat their 5 in the 3rd match and they were forced to forfeit the remaining 2).  It ended up being a very close match that came down to sudden death between two 6'es: Dustin from my team (61% win-percentage) versus this other 6 with a 72% win-percentage.  It was super exciting and you could tell both players were a little nervous, missing shots that they wouldn't normally miss.  Dustin was able to close it out in an exciting finish and we advanced the the next round!

The next match on Saturday night would be against a fellow team from Fox and the Hound: Pog Mo Thoin.  We have played them several times and beat them in playoffs.  However, they were the better team that night, getting key victories against myself and Dustin, which basically put them on top.  We were eliminated after that point.

I personally didn't play as well as I would've liked to, struggling to close out games and letting my opponent have a chance to run out the table.  It was very important to our team that I play well, being the lone 4 in the lineup. Oh well, it's still a fun event to play in and there'll be future tries!

Friend-Seeing in San Francisco

Some people like to go sight-seeing when they travel to a new city.  I for one am a different type of traveler: the friend-seer.

I planned my most recent trip to San Francisco to see a bunch of friends of mine that live out in the bay area.  I have been to San Francisco before, but usually I stay in Redwood City with my parents while visiting my grandparents and I rarely actually get to experience anything fun in San Fran.  So this time around I decided to make it a trip where I go to the city, get a hotel and not have to cater to someone else's schedule, and just do whatever it was that I wanted to do...and I did exactly that!

 

I arrived in San Francisco on Thursday night.  I booked 3 nights at the Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf, which I felt was an ideal location in terms of walking distance to places I'd like to go.  It was also a really good deal for a Hyatt in San Francisco, largely due to my IBM discount (remember I used the same discount for my massive 30th birthday in Scottsdale last year).  On Thursday night, I met up with Ashley, her coworker Kelley, and my friend Brian for dinner at E Tutto Qua, a quaint Italian restaurant along Columbus Ave in North Beach.  I was able to catch some of the Heat - Spurs game there, sadly witnessing LeBron cramp up in the 4th quarter and the Heat would eventually lose game 1 of the 2014 Finals. :(  Most of Thursday night was spent bar hopping around the Mission area and I was very drunk by the end of the night. :D

I spent most of Friday afternoon (yes, I maintained my sleeping habits this trip and would wake up around 11am everyday) exploring the city on my own while my friends were working during the day.  I walked to Chinatown and grabbed fusion-styled lunch at The House, recommended to me by friend Tony.  The meal was alright, but I think I should've gotten the salmon roll appetizer instead of sashimi.  However, the grilled sea bass was amazing.  I don't think I've ever had such a flaky, tender, and juicy fillet of fish before.  I walked some more around the city looking for a jacket since I had stupidly forgotten to pack one and I knew I would want one at the Giants baseball game later that night.  Most of the shops around Fisherman's Wharf were tourist shops where all the jackets had a SF logo on it. :/ Fortunately, I found one shop called San Frantastique that sold jacket/hoodies that were logoless and perfect for my taste! WOOHOO!

Later that evening, I had some drinks in the Financial District during happy hour while I waited for dinnertime.  It was funny to see people all dressed up professionally in downtown and I felt a little out of place with my casual v-neck t-shirt and blue jeans.  For dinner, I met up with Brian at Hog Island Oyster Co. where we had a table along the bay and enjoyed 24 fresh raw oysters! :P

Food is a big thing for me.  I love trying food and will eat almost anything.  Unfortunately my interests don't always line up with my friends who have a less broad palette of tastes, so traveling alone is sometimes better so I can actually try everything I'd like to.  I'm glad Brian is a fan of raw oysters like myself. :) After dinner, Brian, James, and I went to the San Francisco Giants game where I treated my friends to the game.  I got us tickets on the lower deck behind the Giants' bullpen and the seats were great!  I also had Matt Cain pitching for one of my fantasy teams, which made cheering for the Giants even easier.

After the game, we got some drinks and then met up with some of Brian's friends.  Although I think I drank too much throughout the day and had to call it a night at 1am. UGH.  Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe it was too much food and drinking and not enough exercise.  *shrug*

On Saturday I grabbed lunch with Sam who lives in Los Gatos.  He drove up for the day to hang out and we did lunch at Tony's Pizza Napoletana.  My friend Matt had actually recommended this place and I stumbled upon it on Foursquare with it's high 9.6 rating.  We walked over at noon and waited in line shortly because we were okay with eating outside.  Funny, only in San Francisco will you have a table that's slanted while you eat, lol.  Sam and I share similar adventurous tastes, so we got the Guanciale pizza with quail eggs. :)

After lunch, Sam took me to one of his favorite little bars in Chinatown called Li Po Cocktails.  It's really something you would probably miss if you walked by, but they have really strong Mai-Tai's there that were delicious.  After a drink, I had plans to meet up with James and Mariana for dinner at Burma Superstar (yes, even after a full lunch I had a huge dinner just 4 hours later LOL).  Burma Superstar is famous for their Tea Leaf Salad, which I tried and was pleasantly satisfied.  I also got some spicy lamb curry and it was delicious.

Later that night, I had plans to meet up with Tony at Raven nightclub.  I got there just before 10pm while Brian and Tony had not arrived yet.  It was hilarious though.  There were 3 large bachelorette parties going on and for a short while I was the only guy near the dance floor with maybe 20 or 30 ladies going crazy.  You'll find a picture below.  I drank 4 A.M.F.s that night and didn't feel that drunk...maybe my tolerance is too high.

And so concluded my last night in San Francisco.  At this point I had seen 6 of the 9 friends I hoped to see (Ime was out of town, Vinh doesn't like going out, and Varian was too busy with family).  On Sunday, I walked over to Brian's place near Polk street, which was a mile away from the Hyatt.  I decided to take the scenic route though Lombard street on my hike over, which turned out to be a very challenging idea.  The whole neighborhood around Lombard is so steep, and trying to haul my luggage around up and down the steep slopes was a workout.  I ended up taking plenty of water breaks haha, and eventually I made it to his place after 30 minutes.  For lunch, we grabbed sandwiches at Blue Barn, one of his favorite places to eat around his apartment.  One thing I enjoy doing is visiting a friend, seeing how they live, and going to places they like to eat.  That to me is the way to go; this is friend-seeing travel anyway!  After lunch, my flight didn't leave for a few hours, so I did some work from Brian's apartment, played some PS3, and then left San Francisco in the evening.

This was a good trip for me since it was what I wanted to do and not so much what someone else wanted to do.  So many trips I travel are for weddings, bachelor parties, birthdays, etc.  And while that is all fun too, it's nice to be a little selfish when I can.  Seeing my friends out here made me happy, 'cause without friends I think the city would've been boring (I'm just not into sight-seeing).

Anyhoo, upcoming I have...
Jun 13-15: City Pool Tournament in Tucson
Jun 27-28: USBC Open Championships in Reno
July 4th: Visiting Mike in Washington DC
...so expect more blogging to come in the near future!!!

Oh and by the way, I just coined the term "friendseeing" on Urban Dictionary. :P

Andy Lin's Lickity List (Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson)

Sometimes the best food in the world isn't served at a 5-star restaurant with menu items so complex to read that you feel like you're reading another language.  I hope you are enjoying Andy Lin's Lickity List, dedicated to authentic meals in Tucson for around $10.  This list features meals not about crazy and creative ingredients, but about great tasting food.  When the food is just so good, nothing else really matters!

This list will be a running log that I will update whenever I go to one of my several favorite restaurants in Tucson, so be sure to check back for my latest recommendations via the link under my Hot Topics section!

Andy Lin's Lickity List
Amazing $10 Authentic Meals in Tucson

Frog & Firkin
874 East University Blvd
Tucson, AZ 85719

Date Visited: May 12, 2014
Style: English Pub
Go-To-Lick: The Firkin Burger with Cheese
Price: $9.13 including tax

Raves: The "Frog" has been around in Tucson for several years and sits along University Blvd, a high traffic area close to the University of Arizona with several restaurants and bars.  I won't usually comment on the atmosphere at restaurants on this list since it's all about the food, but hey, having some beautiful college girls walking by to look at while you're enjoying your food and a beer at an outdoor table is always a welcome perk!

At Frog & Firkin, my Go-To-Lick is the Firkin Burger with Cheese.  All the ingredients in their burgers seem homemade, from the tasty bun, to the burger meat, and the American cheese.  This burger does not disappoint, and the fries are great (they have several options on fries that are pretty popular, but I just like the original ones).  I recommend getting the normal bun and if you're feeling up for it, why not be adventurous with one of the specialty burgers.

 
El Guero Canelo
2480 North Oracle Road
Tucson, AZ 85705 

Date Visited: May 3, 2014
Style: Sonora Mexican
Go-To-Lick: 2x Carne Asada Burro Jr. with Extra Cheese
Price: $9.27 including tax

Read this Review.

Andy Lin is your typical Tucson resident and is a not food connoisseur.  He is simply a man who knows what pleases his tastebuds and belly.   Special thanks to Nate M. and Matt H. for help with coming up with a title for this list.