The Blog of Rudy Amid » olympics

Lunch Bits – Edition 24

rudyamid — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:02:48 +0000

We went to PF Chang and Islands last week. The days were sunny and cool, when we talked about:

Beijing Olympics
- Track and Field: Jamaican runners ruled. Also, the #1 marathon runner from Kenya must have felt good during the last 10 miles in the stadium with 10,000+ people cheering on.
- Volleyball: watch indoor volleyball or beach volleyball? Split 50-50.
- Badminton: Indonesia actually won a gold medal!
- Gymnastics: the Chinese team seem too young (14 year olds). Clearly violating the IOC rules.
Vacation plans and destinations. Co-worker explored the mid-west. I plan on visiting Seattle and Vancouver.
Irvine housing market. Time to buy when median home prices dropped as much as 34% since last year. Or wait until ARM foreclosures hit in early 2009.

rudyamid — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:05:41 +0000

We went to Curry House Irvine. It was a warm sunny day when we talked about:

New car smell. Apparently there’s a “new car” fragrance we can buy to simulate the smell in an older car.
Beijing 2008 Olympics. We all agreed it was a spectacular show, even though the “Footprint” fireworks were mostly computer graphics.
Conflict between Georgia and Russia.
The Bob Costas interview with President George W. Bush in Beijing. The president handled the delicate questions quite nicely.

rudyamid — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:44:26 +0000

We went to California Pizza Kitchen yesterday. We also saw The Dark Knight in IMAX theater Irvine Spectrum. It was a warm sunny day when we talked about:

The Dark Knight: we all like this new version of Batman, adapted from Frank Miller’s comics.
Heath Ledger is potentially an Oscar nominee, maybe winner for his role as The Joker.
Not watching the Olympics 2008. Too many world records broken. Way too commercialized.
Chinese TV satellite feed possibly broadcast the opening/closing ceremonies live. Unlike their world counterparts. Even if it’s live, there will be 10-seconds delay and censorship imposed by the Chinese government.
The use of the words “Sir” or “Ma’am”. It’s polite, but results may vary. some people like it, some people don’t.
The IMAX Experience: amazing ground pounding sound, huge dramatic screen with stunning detail, breathtaking cinematography with the sweeping aerial shots of the sky scraper.
The movie’s Gotham City is actually a mixture of Chicago and London.