boon's log 5105.02: Accounting time...

After the shopping spree that happened ~2 weeks ago during the ThanksGiving weekend, last weekend was a weekend of accounting and rebates. I spent almost the entire Saturday matching the receipts with the rebate forms and then the barcodes. Before sending the rebates off, we also need to make sure that stuffs works!

And the credit card bills finally came in (oh, did I mentione that I just woke up from a coma from the credit card bills???) Gosh, I tell you, there is a "time for everything". A time to swipe your credit card like nobody's business and a time to faint (when you receive the bills a few weeks later...)

Between that ThanksGiving weekend up until Christmas, everyone seems to be in a rush, mostly gifts and presents. We were at Roseville last Sunday and man, is the place packed! Like money is not really an issue. "Buy now, pay later - no worries! Just make sure that you have a big fat paycheck coming in soon to pay off those bills, buddy... else you're mine!"

The forecast? Well, anywhere except your own home - expect to be in some sort of a long queue; be it in the carpark, or paying for your food, or even taking a leak - even in places where you're pretty sure there's no queue... fa la la la la la la la la...

boon out...

boon's log 5005.04: SF again...

We went to down to the bay area again last weekend - this time with a bigger group of friends. And this time, we bought the tickets online a week before just to make sure that we secure our trip to Alcatraz Island. We missed it the last time we were there, because you can almost never get the tickets for the same day at the ticket booth on the spot. So, our suggestion to those who want to "go to jail" while in San Francisco, get the tickets online here.

And the weather was truly a blessing! Not to mention that the Weather Channel was quite accurate as well (for once!!!).


SF Weather

It was a really beautiful day... we went to most of the places that we could not go and take pictures the last time due to the foggy weather. Here are some of the pictures...




Golden Gate Bridge





Palace of Fine Arts




Within Alcatraz

As the Alcatraz Park Ranger explained, a lot of time, the inmates of Alcatraz prison were tormented psycologically - because they are so near the bay area, that they can see and hear the busy-ness of the people living and enjoying their daily lives, but they are stuck within the "impenetrable" walls of Alcatraz. The cruel mind game, apparently was one of the toughest to bear... To a certain extent, it does have sort of a divine relevence to the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.





Views from Alcatraz





Making our way back from Alcatraz... Appreciating the "freedom" a little more than before...

The Alcatraz trip was well worth it. This is the second time I've been there. And surprisingly, there was a "Behind the Scenes" guided tour. We were led into the laundry area - where the movie The Rock shot the last scene where Nicholas Cage did the "flare" thingy. Anyway, the trick to getting the "behind the scenes" tour is to ask the park rangers - and this tour will only happen when the group is small enough (~50 people).

The rest of the trip was filled with food and shopping... fruitful trip.

boon out...