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Monday - October 31, 2005

Homecoming 2005

Lara and I went to Boone over the weekend for Homecoming. ASU won 35-25, which brings them to a conference leading record of 6-2. It should also push ASU into the top 10 in the USA Today coaches poll. The crowd at the game was probably the largest I've seen. I think every seat was full, and most of the grass was covered too. I have a picture of the fans pouring in here. Next week's game is at LSU, which is undeniably the toughest of the season.

We hit the standard restaurants while in town (Macado's, Our Daily Bread, and Mellow Mushroom). And on the way home, we took a little drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have a handful of pictures here. Overall it was a great trip, and ended too soon as always.

Posted by jcraven at 9:56 AM | Sports

Thursday - October 27, 2005

Go Canes

Last night we went to the Carolina Hurricanes game vs the Boston Bruins. We bought $10 tickets and then weaseled our way into "The Deck" restaurant area. The game was incredibly entertaining, and included a Carolina rally that resulted in a win in overtime. Game highlights can be found here. There was a pretty good crowd of over 13,000 too. I'm glad to see hockey is making a pretty good comeback.

Posted by jcraven at 9:46 AM | Sports

Wednesday - October 26, 2005

Mmmmmm Canadian goodness

Some of my coworkers from Canada are in town, and brought me a handful of Nestle Coffee Crisp bars on my request. These things are great, and unfortunately not exported to the US, although you can pick them up from Amazon.com now.

Posted by jcraven at 2:17 PM | Comments (2) | Food

Monday - October 24, 2005

I'm back

I'm back home from San Jose. Sorry, I don't have any exciting pictures. We'll be going to Boone for ASU Homecoming next weekend, so hopefully I should make up for it then......

Posted by jcraven at 9:26 AM | Misc

Thursday - October 20, 2005

Just wrong

The Wall Street Journal has a story here about The Simpsons translation for Arabic TV. The name of the show is "Al Shamshoon", staring Homer (Omar Shamshoon), Bart (Badr Shamshoon), and the rest of the family. Omar no longer eats donuts, bacon, or drinks beer. Although it's a good sign that some Western culture is being spread into non-traditional areas, I'd be curious to hear the general reactions to the show from new viewers, and those familiar with original version.

Posted by jcraven at 6:23 PM | Television

California food rocks

I haven't had a bad meal in San Jose yet, and last night was no exception. We went to E&O Trading Company in downtown San Jose. Even though the menu was fairly small, everything was amazing. I had the Indo Peanut Chicken Satays along with rice and green beans. The Indonesian Corn Fritters and Calamari were also great. For dessert, I had a Banana Spring Roll with gelato that was phenomenal. If you're ever in California or Hawaii, I would highly recommend it.

Posted by jcraven at 12:15 PM | Food

Wednesday - October 19, 2005

Storm Squad

Just for Mike.... the Hurricanes have a link to the 2004-2005 Storm squad here. Mostly safe for work.

Posted by jcraven at 7:13 PM | Sports

Tuesday - October 18, 2005

Sunny California

Arrived in San Jose last night. I'll be here for a couple days of training. So far nothing terribly exciting, except Mike sweet talked the lady at Hertz and got us a free upgrade to a Jaguar X-Type.

Posted by jcraven at 12:54 PM | Misc

Friday - October 14, 2005

Ewwww

I was flipping through the channels, and PBS had a special about Geoduck Clams. These have to be one of the nastiest creatures on earth. Check out some pictures here. Strangely enough people actually eat these things. It is also known as the horseneck clam, and in Japanese (just for Andy) it is called mirugai.

Posted by jcraven at 8:02 AM | Comments (1) | Misc

Wednesday - October 12, 2005

Yet another new iPod

Apple introduced the new iPod today. New features include video support, a smaller form factor, and availability in black. 30GB and 60GB models start at $299.

As an experiment, I also registered the domain Free Black iPod (I had a free registration from my hosting company anyway.)

Posted by jcraven at 2:59 PM | Tech

Baby shower

Pictures of Julie's baby shower are posted in the Baby Patton folder.

Posted by jcraven at 9:34 AM | Misc

Tuesday - October 11, 2005

Decisions, decisions

Yesterday, I had a consultation with the Duke Center for Vision Correction. My doctor is Dr. Carlson. Supposedly he's one of the premiere eye doctors in the country. After several hours of tests, he concluded that I would be a perfect candidate for LASIK vision correction. I've scheduled my surgery for January of 2006. I'm still not 100% sure I'll go through with it, but I have a month or so to decide. Wish me luck.

Posted by jcraven at 9:33 AM | Comments (2) | Misc

Sunday - October 9, 2005

Freakin rediculous

The Dolphins had a franchise record 18 penalties, and 5 turnovers. I can't imagine how they lost. Just to make things even better, Vinatieri won yet another game for the Pats with less than a minute to play versus the Falcons. Blah.

Posted by jcraven at 4:24 PM | Comments (1) | Sports

Thursday - October 6, 2005

Trauma Center

Last night I picked up Trauma Center: Under the Knife, for the Nintendo DS. I've been waiting for this one since they showcased it at E3. So far, it's pretty good, but the difficulty does ramp up very quickly. I guess they didn't want to give the impression that surgery is an easy process. :) You can check out screen shots on the developers website here. I'll give a more in depth review as I progress through the game.

Posted by jcraven at 9:48 AM | Comments (1) | Video Games