Arlington Cinema And Drafthouse

Okay, so I went to this place called "Arlington Cinema 'n' Drafthouse" Monday night. It's a place laid out like a comedy club, with couches and tables, but instead of a stage up front, it's a big screen, like the ones they have in the theaters.

I went to see Clerks II and I thought it was hilarious. It made me think of what we perceive as "social norm" and "social success", but that usually doesn't involve "personal happiness". I moved to DC trying to advance my "social success" of boosting my career. Society trains us to think "if I have a good career, I will be successful in the eyes of others". The general idea is "This guy has a good job; he is more successful than I am and I would like to be more like him". Where in the equation factors in "personal happiness"?

I remember my first job out of college, making $25k/year, and I remember being a lot happier then. I was surrounded by friends, hanging out with them every weekend, paying my $300/month rent in an apartment with a lot of roommates, and having nothing to worry about. Have I really made the right decisions in life like I thought I did?

But back to Arlington Cinema 'n' Drafthouse, I took advantage of the $1 Monday night movie special, but ordered a Margarita that cost me around $7 after tips. Yeah, funny how things work out.

Gas Price At $2.59 Per Gallon

Gas price is at $2.59/gallon. I'm sure it's a lot cheaper where I'm from (NC), but being used to $2.95 in Northern Virginia and $3.05 in DC, I'm really glad to see $2.59 again. Today is the first time in months that cost me less than $30 for a full tank of gas (11 gallons).

I guess life is all about expectations. A while back, I would've been super annoyed at $2.59/gallon for gas, but now that I expect it to be around $3, I'm happy about the current gas price.

Anyone else have something like this happen? Being happy about something that isn't that great in the first place, but happiness just comes from low expectations and whatever that is, exceeded your low expectations?

Baidu The Chinese Search Engine

I was reading a New York Times (yes, the competition) article yesterday and it talked about the rise of Baidu, the #1 Chinese search engine. As the 4th most visited website in the world (due to the number of Chinese people in the world), its market share and revenue are both increasing, and I think that's great news.

I remember working with baidu.com almost two years ago, when I was involved in the Chinese portion of the "Motorola Project". One of my earliest successes in SEO was getting Motorola's Chinese website, http://www.motorola.com.cn/pcs/index.asp ranked #1 in Baidu for the Chinese characters "Cell Phone".

Bungee Jumping in Six Flags Maryland

So I went to Six Flags in Maryland on Sunday. My buddy Eddie had free tickets from his company, and I decided to tag along with his group of friends, especially with the tickets being free. At the end of the trip, I looked at the bungee jumping thing, and said to myself, “This is something I wanted to do sometime in life, so why not now”. I got up there, and found out that there were no lines and it only cost $15.

I backed out at the last minute, right before buying the ticket for it. I was under the thing and saw how high it really was. I guess need to reevaluate my bravery. Now looking back, I’m kicking myself in the @$$ for it.

Remember 9/11

Just a friendly reminder, for those who don't read the news or watch much TV. Today is the 5 year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, so please be extra considerate to those whose lives are dramatically changed 5 years ago.

Also a friendly warning, do not say anything anti-patriotic or pro-muslim today, it would piss off a lot of people around you. I'm not saying we shouldn't say those things, because I've always believed in speaking our minds (tactfully), but just not today. Please be considerate to all those that are sharing the same country as you.

Trip to Charlotte NC

I had a great trip to Charlotte over the labor day weekend. I'm not going to bore everyone with details of it, I basically drove from DC to Charlotte and back to DC over the labor day weekend, stopping in Raleigh and Greensboro.

One of the stops on the way there was bar hopping in Raleigh with my buddy Andrew. We walked around downtown Raleigh, going to different bars and getting one drink at each one. The most expensive drink I had that night was $8.50 for a Mojito martini, the cheapest drink was a bottle of Suki in Sushi Blues for $5, I think both Andrew and myself got 4 shots each out of that bottle. Ahhhh.........good times.

My Greensboro friends are doing well, and I also had a blast in Charlotte. It feels good to hang out with old friends.

Just wanted to thank everyone that made my trip magnificent.