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last weekend wasn’t particularly exciting. i managed to strain a muscle in my upper back thursday by doing some unusual twisting in my seat. i was trying to crack my back… like how you crack a knuckle. i guess if you’ve never done, it’s hard to understand. anyway, this was a downer on my plans for the weekend. friday night i was supposed to go out and celebrate a friend’s 26th birthday at a lounge and then a club in downtown san jose, but that didn’t happen because advil wasn’t doing much to quiet my back.

i ended up taking it easy friday night after katie drove down from berkeley. we hung out and watched some tv. saturday i had to wake up nice and early for a school meeting which dragged on for about 3 hours. it’s just been unexpected how much work we’re having to complete in the final two weeks of this class and it sucks. during that meeting, we figured out that we needed to meet every single day up until our final presentation on wednesday, and possibly the day after as well! i wasn’t too enthused by this news, but i’m always willing to do whatever it takes to turn in high quality deliverables.

after the meeting on saturday, i crashed for a long two and a half hour nap. i felt sooo good after waking up from that. that in and of itself was a bit strange because i usually wake up from naps feeling rested but out of it, that’s why i typically avoid them. anyway, post-nap katie and i hit up costco to pick up amc movie tickets (2 for $15), tofu house in santa clara for bibimbop and soon doo boo, and amc mercado to catch flightplan starring jodie foster.

quick blurb about the movie: i liked the movie overall. peter sarsgaard plays a prominent role in the movie, and ever since i saw him in shattered glass, i’ve liked his acting. he was also in garden state. anyway, back to the movie. in short, this is almost like panic room, but on a plane. there are definitely some good thrills, but i think the plot could have had a bit more depth. the movie clocks in at about an hour and a half, so they had about half an hour to play with if they wanted to evolve the story one more level. the characters were well acted and jodie foster plays a very believable mother. i like the way the movie was shot as well as the director brings you into the plane, making you feel its cramped quarters. i won’t spoil the ending, but there were some things that didn’t make sense in the end (like the random guy in the window at the beginning of the movie), but katie felt they were intentional red herrings. i can buy that.

(btw, congrats to IMDB on 15 years of existence! it’s been so useful for such useless information :P)

we came back from the movie and found to sir, with love on late at night, so we decided to stay up and watch it. my mom has been telling me about this movie for years, so i figured i should watch it eventually. the jist of the movie is that sidney poitier plays an engineer who decides to teach some high school kids. the movie takes place in the late 60’s in england, so there are some obvious cultural things to get over, but i liked the movie. not a whole lot has changed in 35-40 years.

crashed late, woke up late on sunday. sunday was a pretty crappy day. i ended up doing homework until 3 in the afternoon, then katie and i went shopping at the macy’s in sunnyvale. that whole downtown shopping mall area has been pretty decrepit for a while. according to local papers, downtown sunnyvale is due for major renovation to be completed in two years. we’ll see about that. i think they’ve started doing some work, but since the dot com bubble burst, it seems like no company has been interested in pouring money into such a project. who knows tho, it may overtake valley fair and santana row for uber-yuppie shopping central. i picked up a new pair of jeans (silvertabs are my favorites) and a nice new shirt. much to katie’s chagrin, we were unable to find a nice green sweater. ah, to shop another day…

came back from the shopping venture and entered a three hour long phone conference with my team for school. i swear, if i’m not the man with the whip in my hand, these conferences could last twice as long. sometimes my attention fades as well and i’m not really able to concentrate like i would if the meetings were in person. we have a major presentation on wednesday and there are lots of things to pull together before then. next week we have off from school and i’m thinking about taking a day off of work as well to really just kick back.

i managed to have the seahawks game on, muted in the background of the phone conference, so i saw us trounce the texans 42-10. alexander had 4 tds, and the seahawks played a near perfect football game except for hasselbeck’s pick right before halftime. i fully expect the rams to lose to the colts tonight, so i think the seahawks can start pulling away from the rest of the nfc west teams and earn themselves a spot in the playoffs. their other priority should be signing alexander to a 4-5 year deal as soon as possible. he’s 28, and if he can stay healthy like curtis martin, he’s got at least 4-5 good years ahead of him. with his knack for scoring touchdowns in the red zone and his overall production, they HAVE to secure him. i’ll be pretty disappointed otherwise…

that’s about it for now. oh yeah, if you haven’t heard from me about russell peters being in town at the end of the month, you can pick up tickets here:

Russell Peters tickets @ Sulekha i went el cheapo and picked up the $30 tickets. if you’re going, let me know.