Merry Christmas, everyone.

We just returned from a trip to Las Vegas. Sadly, it rained half the time we were there. Still, we had a lot of fun. No Cirque du Soleil this time, but we did see Rita Rudner's show at New York New York and "V - The Ultimate Variety Show" at the Venetian.

Christmas dinner was a utensil-free chicken dinner at the Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur. Being the troglodyte that he is, Arnon thought the meal was great. My bird's legs were positioned in such a way that clearly indicated that its last act alive was a karate kick. It creeped me out, so I had a difficult time, mentally that is, dismembering the bird with my fingers.

We were deeply annoyed by all the people taking pictures of the most senseless things. At the Excalibur, I saw a man take a photograph of the McDonald's sign. WHY?? Isn't McDonald's everywhere?!?!

A couple of nights ago, we saw "Bad Santa", starring Billy Bob Thornton. I think it was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I highly recommend it.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

This year, we spent Thanksgiving with my family. We spent the whole day stuffing ourselves with delicious food and simply relaxing.

Most years, we have a formal Thanksgiving dinner with a full turkey at the table with all the works. Typically what happens is that the bird crumbles in its last moments in the oven, so we have to slice up the bird before presenting it at the table. Damn oven.

This year, we decided to have a buffet-style turkey lunch, thereby avoiding any embarassing issues with the turkey. Once again, the damn oven spited us by producing a beautiful, golden, and most importantly, intact bird, which had no presentation value since we had to slice it up for the buffet. Damn oven.

We've just returned from a relaxing 5-day trip to sunny San Diego. The weather was perfect. We visited the typical tourist attractions, such as Sea World and the San Diego Zoo, the shopping areas in La Jolla and Del Mar, the harbor, and UC San Diego.

We also spent a lot of time drinking and watching sports at Seau's, a sports bar and grill near the Chargers' stadium. Excellent food.

One night at Seau's, we found ourselves seated at a table with Matthew Modine and Carlos Santana at the table to my left, and two Aryan Nation guys, with proper insignia and everything, behind me. The skinheads were scary, so Arnon and I tried to look as non-Jewish and non-Asian as possible, so as not to draw their attention.

I also tried to eavesdrop on Modine-Santana's conversation. At one point, Modine looked over at us, and then made a comment to Santana about how it was smart of "the guy", that would be Arnon, to bring his date to Seau's so as to win points with "the chick", me, for going out and having a nice dinner while catching up on sports at the same time. How rude.

Congratulations, Sarah,
on passing the California Bar Exam!

Here's a lawyer joke: (no offense, Sarah)

A woman went to her doctor for advice. She told the physician that her husband had developed a penchant for anal sex, and she wasn't sure it was such a good idea.

The Doctor asked, "Do you enjoy it?" She said that she did.

He asked, "Does it hurt you?" She said no.

The Doctor then told her, "Well, then, there's no reason that you shouldn't practice anal sex, if that's what you like, so long as you take care not to get pregnant."

The woman was mystified. She asked, "You can get pregnant from anal sex?"

The Doctor replied, "Of course. Where do you think lawyers come from?"

Last night, we went with some friends to watch the San Jose Stealth defeat the Anaheim Storm in a free exhibition game at the Shark tank. I'm not sure if the others would agree, but I think lacrosse is more violent than NHL hockey, at least in terms of the number of fights that broke out. More often than not, the fights were over absolutely nothing. Simply ridiculous.

Plus, the players looked so funny with their padded shoulders and chicken legs, as though the torso of a football player was placed on top of a marathon runner's legs.

Unfortunately, Arnon is hooked and is looking to buy season tickets ... for both of us. Oy vay!

Last night, Arnon and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary with a scrumptious dinner at Le Papillon. Afterwards, we spent time with Cho and Victoria, looking through their old photo albums, leaving us both happy and misty-eyed.

To our utter shock, we came across an old photo of Cho looking lean and ripped in his speedo ... SPEEDO! Who knew that the Buddha-bellied man we all love and adore was once a hot stud!

It's our 4-year anniversary today ...

	Happy Birthday, Guy!

Ever since Arnon finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone last August, he has been whining that JK Rowling is taking too long to publish book 6. I've picked up several other books for him to read in the meantime, but nothing's appealed to him ... until recently.

Thanks to David, who gave us a copy of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Arnon has rediscovered the joy of reading. He enjoyed it so much that he went out last night and bought three other books by Brown. That should keep him quiet and out of my hair for a while.

Beast's annual birthday BBQ

Yum!

My family and I celebrated my birthday at Yong Lo Garden in Saratoga. Afterwards, we went back to Sia's place for cake, as well as to look at old pictures of ourselves and reflect on how much we've all aged. Not a happy activity.

Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me
Happy Birthday to Me-ee
Happy Birthday to Me.

Friends, I've reached the big 3-0.

A friend who turned 30 last spring went through a quarter-life crisis, so I expected to do the same, but I feel exactly the same as always. Perhaps I'm in shock and it'll hit later. Or, perhaps I'll end up like Cho ... acting and feeling like I'm 20 well into my 60's. That would be nice.

We're still sick!! Tears, tears ...

After every major release at work, Arnon comes down with a cold/flu. It always hits him very hard. It's almost as though his body senses when he's busy and waits patiently until the project is completed, and then hits him with a vengeance.

Unfortunately, Arnon always passes it on to me. This is the third time in a year.

We saw the new Cuba Gooding, Jr. movie "Radio" today. Quite moving. It was playing in a tiny theater and there were only about ten people in the theater, including the two of us.

The two people sitting in the same row as us were the two rudest movie-goers I have ever encountered. They talked loudly throughout the entire movie in a foreign language that made them sound like two squirrels fighting. Arnon asked them to be quiet but they simply death stared him.

At one point, during a very quiet scene in the movie, digital music played and I was confused as to where it was coming from. It turned out to be one of the rude guy's cell phone. I watched him as he pulled out his phone, stared at it, and then started discussing the ringing phone with his friend. Finally, he answered the phone and started talking. While on the phone, he got up and left, and I was relieved, until I realized that he had just moved down to the door, where he proceeded to laugh and talk with the fool who called. Unbelievable.

Last night, Sarah and Stephen took us to see Margaret Cho at the Berkeley Community Theatre for my birthday. Cho was hilarious. She even mentioned Hello Kitty in her act!

Unfortunately, Arnon had come down with the flu, so he was feeling too miserable to appreciate or enjoy Cho's comedic genius. However, he did laugh heartily when Cho told a poo joke. Men!

Hello Kitty mouse ...

	Happy Birthday, Beast!

For the first time since the 80's, I hung out with my parents on a week-day. We drove to Sausalito, had a nice lunch at Spinnaker Restaurant, and did some shopping. We decided to drive north on Hwy 1, but less than fifteen miles into the drive, we had to turn around at Stinson Beach because we were all suffering from motion sickness. Fortunately, we hit rush hour traffic on our way home and moved very little, allowing us to recover.

We had a fun time yesterday at the annual Fleet Week celebration in San Francisco with Dror and Adi ... officially known as "Fleet Week San Francisco Presented by AT&T" (damn greedy sponsors). We missed the Canadian Snowbirds but didn't miss a moment of the amazing Blue Angels. Only five of the six Hornets flew, but it was simply thrilling. Check out these photos of the Blue Angels from another air show: Blue Angels photos.

A nice woman working in a booth took free polaroid pictures of us, one for each person. So kind. Afterwards, we had a nice seafood dinner at the Franciscan and finished out the day by catching the 49er-Seahawks game while lounging at the Hyatt. I know nothing about football, so I entertained myself with liquor instead.

We had a wonderful dinner with the Cottinghams at the Drying Shed in San Jose. If you're looking for a truly delicious steak, give the Drying Shed a try.

Election Day! Do you think Californians will be stupid enough to vote for Arnold? I'm afraid so.

I only know one person who has admitted that he will vote for Arnold, but I won't reveal his name, to protect him from certain death ... but his initials are ... and his address is ...

	Happy Birthday, Beni!

Two strange things ... the first is an origami figure of a dog taking a dump ... the second is a bath mat in the shape of underwear. There's nothing more to say.

We saw "Jesus Christ Superstar" tonight at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. It was fantastic. Natalie Toro was simply amazing as Mary Magdalene.

We've been to four other musicals together in the last few years. Unfortunately, all but the first were performances in theaters that didn't carry sound well, leaving us with headaches from listening to distorted sound all evening long. At the start of this evening's performance, Arnon declared that if he ended up hating this musical, in the future, he would accompany me to shows, but would sleep through them ... just as Cho accompanies Victoria to symphonies, but starts snoring the moment the first note is played.

Fortunately for me, he was very moved by Jesus Christ Superstar. "Lion King", here we come.

	Happy 24th, Ryan!

Krispy Kreme Wedding Cakes ... Yum!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

We're back from a coastal driving trip down to Morro Bay. The weather there was absolutely wonderful, and we stayed in a great room with a view of the water. We wanted to kayak, but ended up taking a boat trip around the bay instead. So much to look at ... but Arnon was most eager to relax in the room and finish reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

On the way back, we stopped at Hearst Castle in San Simeon and took the basic tour. There was a small boy of about three years of age in our tour group who had a difficult time managing his boredom. Normally, we can't stand to be around irritable kids, but we couldn't stop looking at this particular boy because he looked exactly, and I mean EXACTLY like Arnon did when he was of a similar age to the little boy.

Arnon said, with great amusement, that the little boy was behaving exactly as he used to. Used to? He clearly didn't remember his trantrum from earlier that morning when he was hungry.

	Happy Birthday, Dad!

Last night, we attended "Mars Mania" at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland with Sarah and Steve. Unfortunately, the fog started rolling in when we got there, and by the time it was our turn to go up to the telescopes, around midnight, it was so fogged in that the staff wouldn't even allow people to look through the telescopes.

There were some cool exhibits, however, so it wasn't a complete waste. And we did see Marvin the Martian walking around.

Boaz, Guy, and Omer joined us for a gluttonous evening at La Fondue, where we shared a pot of melted white chocolate with amaretto and another of milk chocolate. To dip, we had Snickers pieces, rice krispy treat balls, pound cake squares, piccolo stick cookies, cheese cake balls, marshmallows, banana slices, strawberries, grapes, cantaloupe, pineapple, orange, and apple slices. Dee-lish!

We've done this for the last three summers, in what we hope will be a lifelong tradition. We would go more often, but it takes us about a year to recover from chocolate OD.

Last night, we were walking through Chinatown in San Francisco, and we spotted a perfect Fiat 500L in a metallic raspberry color. By far the smallest car I've ever seen. The newer Minis are behemoths in comparison.

I want one! Unfortunately, it's top speed is 59 mph ... although, I doubt I would want to go any faster than that since it's basically a death trap. I would NEVER take it on the freeway. Some jerk sitting high in a SUV would probably not even see me and plow over me.

	Welcome back to California, Sarah!

I finally added a Guest Book to this site. Please take a moment to sign it.

I have determined that the flakiest people on the planet work in the roller hockey business. More than a year ago, Arnon bought skates from a roller hockey shop in the south bay, and within a couple of months, the chassis on one skate broke. He contacted the shop about having the skate repaired and it only took them a few months to come up with a solution for fixing it, which was to return it to the manufacturer for repair. Ummm ... why did it take so long? Clearly, the employees there have taken one too many pucks to the head.

It took yet another month for the shop to actually mail the skate to the manufacturer. Arnon waited and waited ... impatiently I might add ... and then about a month ago, he got word that the skate was fixed and was being returned to the shop. Unfortunately, the manufacturer mailed it to Florida. Oy vay!

So, another couple of weeks pass by, and he's told that the manufacturer will send a pair of brand new skates to replace the lost skate. GREAT!

A few days ago, the skates actually arrived at the shop. AMAZING!. Brand new size 8 skates! Too bad Arnon wears size 10.

Fortunately, the shop offered to exchange them for a pair in the correct size. And it didn't take them months of debate to decide to do that. That's progress!

Happy Birthday, Willie!

We had a fabulous dinner with Sia at the Tonga Room in San Francisco, complete with indoor thunder and rain storms. Great food ... best chicken potstickers ever.

Although we didn't actually end up paying for it, there is a $3 per person charge for entertainment, which is in the form of a live band floating on a barge in the pond. Arnon commented that he would rather pay $3 for the band not to play.

Check out the match books with our photos on them. The photographer nearly blinded us with his flash. Seriously the most painful flash ever.

We actually got to see fireworks this year!

Dror, Adi, Arnon, and I had planned on seeing fireworks at "The Singing Flag" show in Concord. En route, the fireworks started ... before the scheduled time! So we quickly pulled into a Safeway parking lot to park and watch from there.

Fortunately, there were other people standing around in the middle of the parking lot viewing the fireworks, so we weren't out of place. Some even brought their lawn chairs. Frankly, it's never occurred to me before to hang out in a parking lot, let alone bring furniture for comfort.

Ahhh ... the first day of vacation. We have the week off, so we're going to relax, hang out with friends, catch some movies, and do a few things we haven't done before. After all this time, we still haven't gone to Carmel together, so we plan on doing the whole tourist thing down there. We also want to go to Marine World. The last time I went, it was still located in Redwood City.

Friday is Independence Day, so we're going to try to see fireworks. For the last few years, we've either missed fireworks altogether or seen them only from the car, stuck in traffic, as we tried to get to the place they were being launched from. So we're anxious to see them this year.

It's Father's Day today. We gave Cho a new printer ... and he gave us a DVD player. Hmmmm ... perhaps he forgot that Father's Day is for him, not us. But we're not complaining.

He also gave us this porcelain piggy bank ... filled with coins. Yay! I hope this helps us to actually start saving money.

We were in Sausalito today and came across some funny cards. Click here to take a look.

	Happy Birthday, Richard!

Arnon and I spent the day in Davis ... stopping by the two apartments we once lived in ... passing mournfully by the newly-built basketball court that exists only because the outdoor roller hockey rink that used to be there was torn down ... remembering good times and bitterly cold winters. We had lunch at the fabulous Ciocolat and saw "Bruce Almighty". Funny movie. I loved the Yahweh (like Yahoo) email account Bruce had.

Afterwards, we drove to Berkeley to watch "Nowhere in Africa", a German film. I love these slow-paced movies with breathtaking scenery. The last movie I saw that I enjoyed as much as this one was "The Road Home", a Chinese film.

Arnon loved the German film as well. I've been trying for the last few years to encourage him to see more artsy films and fewer films like "Tommy Boy". It's a slow process.

Today is our one-year wedding anniversary. Naturally, I want to be wined and dined. However, I may have to pamper him, since I'm in the dog house right now. For some reason, I keep forgetting the correct date of our anniversary. It's typically the man who forgets such details, but not in our case.

This is actually very peculiar ... most days, Arnon can't even remember if he woke up or not ... but he remembers our wedding date, and I don't.

After months of heated debate, often coming to blows behind the liquor store around the corner, Guy and Arnon finally met up at Diablo Bowl in Concord to settle a very important issue ... who is the better bowler?

In preparation, Guy had been taking a year-long course in bowling, and for his part, Arnon drove by the local bowling alley at least once every other week. Still, Arnon was confident in his delusion that he was a better bowler than Guy.

The outcome?

Sadly, Guy slaughtered Arnon in 3 matches. You would think that the humbling experience would silence Arnon, but it hasn't. He is demanding a rematch, claiming a full stomach prevented him from playing his best game.

Given that he had eaten at Claim Jumper beforehand, his claim would be taken seriously, if it wasn't for the fact that Guy, too, had eaten at Claim Jumper and played quite well.

We saw "A Mighty Wind" today. So funny ... we loved it.

I used to think that Cho was the oddest of the oddballs ... 'totally out there in the ether' ... surpassing even fictional characters. But Eugene Levy's character takes the cake.

Happy Birthday, Coyote!

Last night, Richard, Kevin, Arnon, and I went to the Erasure concert at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. They played a lot of their old stuff, which I like much better than their newer songs. Before going, I was a little afraid that I'd be the oldest person there, but when I got there, I was relieved to see that the crowd was generally older.

It must be strange for Andy Bell and Vince Clark to look down at the audience and see that the fresh teen-aged faces of the past have been replaced with the fatigued and bitter faces of disgruntled software developers. Of course, I'm just assuming that everyone there works in the tech sector. But what are the odds that I'm wrong?

	Happy Birthday, Lorraine!

Good hockey game for Arnon tonight ... he had a natural hat trick. Somehow, I just don't share in his excitement.

I'm so jealous. Last night, Cho gave Arnon an 18" flat-screen monitor for his birthday. I only got a 15" flat-screen for mine. Hmph! I thought I was his favorite child.

Later this afternoon, we're meeting up with a group of Arnon's friends to celebrate his birthday at Claim Jumper. I'll need to stretch out my stomach before we go to hold all the food they give.

Last night was Arnon's 24th birthday. To celebrate, we had a wonderful seven-course meal at Le Papillon in Saratoga, which included quail mousse with bacon, compliments of the chef. It came in the cutest little bowl with the tiniest spoon I've ever seen. It was like eating with doll-house silverware.

During dessert, I surprised Arnon with VIP tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Varekai show for the same night. Normally, he savors ever bite of the Berries Corbeille we order for dessert whenever we dine at Le Papillon, but last night, he was so anxious to get to the show that he inhaled his dessert and half of mine.

I should have waited until dessert was finished to give him his present.

With our VIP passes, we got to enter the Tapis Rouge tent for refreshments, hors d'oeuvres, and pre-show entertainment. The hors d'oeuvres looked wonderful, but we were too full from dinner to partake. During the intermission, we were led back to the tent where we pigged out on miniature desserts. Dee-lish! As for the show, it was simply breath-taking.

	Happy 24th, Troggy!

Arnon's company relocated over the weekend. As if a ninth of a mile wasn't close enough, now they're literally across the street from our apartment. He drove to work today just to be an ass.

We had a Super Bowl party at our place today, and a couple of friends we haven't seen in years also showed up. Clark ... nearly 6 years. And Andy ... almost 11 years. Wow! I barely recognized them.

Long before play-offs began, Stan had been boasting that the Tampa Bay Bucs would take the whole thing, and sure enough they did. At the time, we just laughed at him, but now ...

	Cho and Victoria ... 30th Wedding Anniversary!

Arnon, Guy, Omer, and I spent the last two days in South Lake Tahoe. The skiing at Heavenly was great, and we met some nice people at the lodge. However, the truly amazing part of the trip was that Arnon actually ate 2 hamburgers at In-n-Out Burger. Those of you who know him know how significant this is.

Later this evening, Sia will be hosting an anniversary dinner party for our parents. Our parents have been poking fun at them because this will be their first dinner party despite four years of marriage.

Only the second game of the new season for the Stikniks, and Dror broke his two front teeth.

Oy vay.

Careful Dror ... you don't want to end up looking like this guy.