Author: Ruel

Day 235: Couch Potato

Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead

With the Galaxy hosting the New York City Football Club, Tiger Woods in contention at the Wyndham Championship, and the premiere of Fear the Walking Dead, my Sunday was booked solid.

Unfortunately, Tiger quickly dropped out of contention, but that allowed me to get out of the house after the Galaxy game. The Galaxy looked like MLS Cup contenders again, thanks to Robbie Keane’s continued MVP form and Giovanni Dos Santos’ all-around excellence. Although I missed out on the game today (I tried to buy tickets after Gio had signed, which meant that it was already sold out), it was still fun watching the Galaxy dominate the game and I expect to go to the StubHub Center later this year for another championship game.

Fear the Walking Dead is on right now as I type this, but my wife and I are both finishing up some work before AMC reruns it. I hope it lives up to the hype, but I still prefer binging on shows 2-4 episodes at a time so we’ll probably watch tonight’s pilot before taking a few weeks off to stockpile episodes.

Nothing says couch potato better than zoning out on a bunch of zombie shows.

Day 233: Alfajor

Alfajor.

Alfajor.

My family had dinner at our favorite Peruvian restaurant tonight and for dessert we had a few alfajores. An alfajor is basically a cookie sandwich filled with dulce de leche and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

In other words, it’s AMAZING.

Day 232: Throwback Tree Thursday

Baguio, Philippines

Baguio City, Philippines

For Throwback Thursday (and a belated Tree Tuesday), here’s a photo from my trip to the Philippines five years ago.

Most people’s first thoughts on the Philippines are of heat and beaches … and Manny Pacquiao. When I was there, I felt the heat, hung out at a few of the beaches, but never saw the Pac Man. I missed him by a few months; he trains in Baguio City before finishing his camp in Los Angeles.

The high altitude of Baguio is perfect for training; fighters in the U.S. do the same thing at Big Bear, California. Baguio reminds me of Lake Tahoe, with its plethora of trees and mild weather. It’s just one of many beautiful places in the Philippines; one I miss a lot and I can’t wait to see again.

Day 231: Happy Hoppy Hour

Hamilton Family Brewery.

Hamilton Family Brewery.

I’m not much of a beer drinker anymore, but I make an exception whenever it’s fantasy football time.

Tonight I met my buddy who’d invited me into his league, which will be my second league this season. We had excellent craft beers at Hamilton Family Brewery in Rancho Cucamonga.

I’m a huge fan of Hamilton’s Double Mango IPA, but wanted to change things up this time around, so I went with a Gold Rush (nice and easy blonde ale) and a 909 (wheat beer with oranges). Pictured above is my 909 next to my buddy’s Double Mango IPA.

We’re still a few weeks away from the draft, but like the NFL, you have to start with the preseason first.

 

Day 230: Reading Is Fundamental

Reading Is Fundamental

Reading Is Fundamental

I ran across the photo above via my Google Photos. It’s from a few years ago, on a cold winter day when my wife and I were reading in bed. She’s reading on her tablet while I was reading an actual printed book.

We both agreed that books are still our preferred method of reading, but we’re not anti-technology, either. Any reading is better than none.

As the old saying goes, Reading Is Fundamental.

Day 229: 7 Wonders

7 Wonders

7 Wonders

After a few rounds of solo play to get acquainted with the rules, I played 7 Wonders with my niece and nephew. We’d played plenty of rounds of  Sushi Go!, which turned out to be the perfect segue to 7 Wonders since both share a similar card-drafting mechanic (play one card from your hand, then pass the hand to your opponent).

7 Wonders is currently my favorite game. I love the civilization-building theme. Players build their cities and score victory points based on their city’s structures, treasury, military, science and technology, commerce, guilds, and their wonders (for example, Giza’s wonder is the pyramids). The cards represent the structures and players accumulate points based on the cards and other factors.

A player’s city is built up during three ages and each age consists of six turns. With how simple the game is and how quickly it can be played (30-45 minutes), there’s a surprising amount of depth here. Different strategies yield different results; for example, you can focus on strengthening your military or trying to improve your science and technology. Sometimes during an age, you can try to build your wonder while others build their civilian structures.

So far this year, my top three games are Pandemic, 7 Wonders, and Ticket to Ride. Each one takes less than an hour to play and are terrific for players of all levels. For newbies, I’d recommend Ticket to Ride first. But no collection would be complete without Pandemic or 7 Wonders.

Day 228: Sunday Fun-Day

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Jason Day was getting close to holding the uncoveted title of Best Player to Never Win a Major. He’d nearly won several times, but couldn’t seal the deal.

I’ll never forget his 2011 Masters run. My brother, a friend, and I had just completed 18 holes when we went to a restaurant that was showing the Masters. Day was in contention throughout, but Charl Schwartzel went on a late birdie binge to snag the green jacket away from Day.

We were crushed.

Fast forward to today. I’m not golfing or even watching golf as much as I’d like, but there was no way I was going to miss the final round of the PGA Championship. Day had the 54-hole lead and was paired up with the two-time major winner, Jordan Spieth. If Day was going to finally break through, it would have to be against the world’s best golfer.

Thankfully, Day didn’t wilt under the pressure and today’s round was the storybook ending he wanted, as he captured his first major championship. He also did it in record-setting form, posting the first -20 ever in a major.

But most importantly for me and many others, Day was the first Filipino to win one of golf’s major championships. He’s a Filipino-Australian and I always take pride when a kababayan becomes the “first” to do so something. It was a long-time coming, but it’s nice crossing off another “Filipino first” from the list.

 

Day 227: Nisei Week

Manichi Ramen

Manichi Ramen

We did a family trip to Little Tokyo today to celebrate Nisei Week. It’s the 75th celebration and even though we’re in the middle of a heatwave, we had a fantastic time.

Admission to the Japanese American National Museum was free today, so we checked out the current exhibitions. First was Sugar/Islands: Finding Okinawa in Hawai’i – The Art of Laura Kina and Emily Hanako Momohara, which featured paintings and photographs documenting the migrant workers in Hawai’i. Next was Before They Were Heroes: Sus Ito’s World War II Images, a fantastic collection of candid photographs of Japanese Americans fighting in WWII. I really liked this exhibition, since it showed the day-to-day lives of the soldiers and it also touched on the dilemma facing most of the soldiers: they were fighting for a country that sent most of their families into concentration camps.

Of course, in between all of the sightseeing and museum-ing, we did some eating. On our way there, we stopped at 85 Degrees for pastries and ice coffees, then noshed on ramen, mochi, poke, and ice cream. Yes, even the heatwave didn’t stop us from scarfing down bowls of hot ramen from Manichi Ramen, as shown above.