Mr Al Young Dot Com

One of my favorite hobbies is reading.  I have always loved reading, but now I don’t have the time to read many books.  So my reading now is mostly limited to newspapers and magazines.  I am always looking for new magazines at the supermarket or the coffee shop.  We even subscribe to a few sports and celebrity gossip magazines.  Great for traveling and of course bathroom reading.  Stan has pointed out some free magazines you can get here. You can’t beat free but almost free is the next best thing.

At Mag A Day there is one magazine deal a day.  The good thing about Mag A Day is that all the magazines are popular ones such as US magazine, People, or Forbes.  They are not free but it is a very good deal.  The discount varies but it usually costs about the price of 1 or 2 issues at the newsstand for an entire year.  For example the deal for US magazine is $28.94 for an entire year.  It costs $3.99 at the newsstand and it comes every week.  Most monthly magazines are around $5 for the year.  So if you need more bathroom reading material or want to take a break from reality TV check out Mag A Day. There is sure to be a magazine in there suited for your interests.

Last weekend my brother in law Mike got married.  It was a beautiful day and a spectacular wedding.  Everyone had a great time as we welcomed Kay into our family.   It seems like anyone can become a semi pro wedding photographer these days.  Just buy a camera from Costco and Photoshop and you are set to go.  Wedding photographers are like the real estate agents from a few years ago.  Everyone was selling real estate or doing loans on the weekend.  Now its wedding photography.  With the advancement of technology wedding pictures look much better than when I got married 8 years ago.  Of course it helps to have good looking subjects such as Mike and Kay.

I sometimes think anyone with a decent camera and proper software can take pretty good pictures.  Than you see some amazing pictures that “wow” you and you can see the difference between a true professional and your office mate part time photographer.  The photographer for Mike and Kay’s wedding was Jasmine Wang. I actually introduced Mike and Kay to Jasmine.  I met Jasmine last year when she assisted a photographer at another wedding I attended.  Jasmine sat next to me at dinner and we were talking about her experiences.  She is a long time photo journalist who has travled the world working for the Wall Street Journal among major publications.  She has now settled in San Francisco doing weddings and portraits.  I put her in touch with Mike and Kay and they ended up choosing them as their photographer.   Her pictures certainly has the extra “wow” factor in them.  If I was getting married I would certainly consider Jasmine.  She may even be able to make me look good.  Here are some pictures from Jasmine’s website of Mike and Kay’s engagement session and wedding.  Congrats to Mike and Kay.

Engagement Session

Wedding

Even though I was rooting for the underdog Arizona Cardinals, it was a a great Super Bowl finish.  Very exciting and entertaining.  For many people the Super Bowl ads is a big highlight and highly anticipated.  This year’s commercials had its share of funny moments, but I thought it was not as creative or original as prior year.  It also seemed to me that the commercials were a bit on the violent side or after a cheap laugh rather than something original.  Here is one example the Doritos crystal ball commercial.  On a Simpson’s episode Homer remarked “a football to the groin video is always funny”  So is a crystal ball video.  It did get a laugh out of me and was memorable, but not particularly creative.

Doritos Crystal Ball

At a recent meeting of young families at church a survey was taken.  Each couple was asked “What would your dream date be?”  An open ended question with thousands of possibilities.  Sadly the overwhelming number one answer was “Anywhere without the kids”.  It is a sad commentary of how low our expectations are of a dream date once we have kids, but those with kids understand the sentiment.  We are lucky that we get more than our fair share of time away from the kids thanks to our generous and willing babysitters, the Grandparents.

One event that we always look forward to each year with 3 to 4 other couples is Dine About Town. Dine about town happens every January in which participating restaurants offer fixed priced 3 course meals.  Dinner this year cost $34.95 up a few dollars, but still a bargain compared to the regular price at some of the best restaurants in the City.  It is a chance to try out new restaurants at a very cheap price.  More importantly it is a time to enjoy adult conversation and a good meal.  Of course without kids.

This year we chose Forbes Island Restaurant.  The unique thing about Forbes Island is that it is actually on an island in the San Francisco bay across from Pier 39.  It has its own boat service.  You just call them from pier 39 and they pick you up.  On a clear day the views must be spectacular.  Unfortunately, on the day of our dinner was not a clear day.  It was raining all day so we were not anxious to venture into the bay in such stormy weather.  So we decided to make a last minute change of plans and phoned around trying to secure a dinner reservation from the Dine About Town choices.  We got a reservation a little later at the Grand Cafe in the theater district.   I ate there a few years ago but did not remember much about it.  I was still a little disappointed in not being able to go to Forbes Island, but Grand Cafe was a very pleasant surprise and the quality of food did not disappoint.

We arrived with another couple about an hour before our reservation which was fine because the other couple was running late anyways.  So we had an hour of appetizers and drinks.  The appetizers of clams and bread was excellent.  It bought back good memories of a trip to France and Belgium many years ago before kids where we had clams almost every day.  The appetizers almost filled us up too much….almost.

Moving on to the Dine About menu, it was one of the better selections among the Dine About Town restaurants.  Most Dine About menus have a choice of 1 or 2 entrees, but this one had 4 and we were able to pick any dessert off the regular menu.  Here is the regular menu.  As you can see the Dine About meal is an excellent value.  I forgot to take pictures of our entrees which was excellent because I was too busy enjoying the food and the company, but here are some pictures of the appetizers and dessert.

Flammenküche:wood oven crispy flatbread, tri-pepper gastrique, Fuyu persimmon, walnuts, goat cheese cream.  This was a big winner.

Tarte Tatin aux Pommes

Baked upside down Granny Smith apple tart, honey vanilla ice cream

Tarte de Meringue de Citron Meyer lemon meringue pie

Friandises
Assortment of small cookies & treats (easily boxed “to go for the show”)

A very fun and relaxing evening and we look forward to next year’s dinner….also without kids.

For many people who fly regularly they know the routine when the stewardesses makes the preflight safety instructions.  We know exactly what they are going to say so we keep reading and our ipods remain on.  I’m guilty of this as well.  I know they are giving some instructions about what to do in the event of a water landing, but when have you ever heard of a 747 having a successful water landing?  Most likely if something were to go wrong the plane would plummet out of control into the water from 30,000 feet making survival impossible anyways.  Well the successful water landing and survival of all the passengers aborad the US Airways flight yesterday will have me paying attention on what to do in the event of a water landing on my future flights.  It can happen and if it does I want a pilot as skilled as the one piloting the US Airways flight on my plane.  Not only was this the first successful water landing of a commercial jetliner that I have ever heard of, have you ever heard of a flock of geese taking down an airliner?

A few months ago my daughter Mia was in her first wedding as a flower girl. She did well but did not smile which was almost too much to ask for.  We were happy that she just fulfilled her duties.  Here is a professional picture taken of her by professional photographer Eric Fung. You can find great pictures of the wedding here. Although Mia is not smiling, I think this picture captures her mood well.  She is not smiling but also not scared.  Just focused and businesslike with her “game face” on  and with Dad looking on behind her hoping for the best.

Happy New Year.  Just 3 days into the new year I already had a first time experience.   It was the first time I have ever been invited to a wedding ………on less than 24 hours notice. On Friday night we got a call inviting us to a wedding the next day.  The next day???   I was already in my pajamas.  Most people would be insulted by such a late invitation, but my wife quickly accepted and we had to go.   I wasn’t insulted but didn’t really want to go to a wedding especially a last minute one.  Since my wife already accepted the invitation,  I had no choice but to quickly make childcare plans for the next day and we were set.

I’m no expert on wedding etiquette but I’m pretty sure inviting someone with 19 hours notice breaks all the rules of etiquette and wedding planning.  To be fair it was a wedding planned on fairly short notice and supposed to be a small gathering of friends and family only.  The groom and family is also long time friends of  my wife.  So obviously they felt comfortable extending an invitation on short notice.  It was also the second wedding for both the groom and bride if that makes any difference in wedding etiquette.

The wedding itself was very nice and I’m glad I went.  It had all the ingredients of a good wedding.

1. Short ceremony
2. Open bar
3. Excellent Food:  It was a catered buffet and it was good.  The highlight was the bacon wrapped fillet Mignon done just right.  Contrary to popular opinion weddings are all about the food not the bride.  A few days later I don’t even remember what the bride looked like but the sight of the expansive buffet and bacon wrapped around the beef still lingers in my memory……beautiful.

My only concern was that they would run out of food on me since we got invited so late.  Who knows how many other people got invited at the last minute?   Probably just us.  As it turned out thee was plenty of food.  While I know that it is not considered good form to make such a last minute invitation, this situation brings up a few other etiquette questions for me such as:

• When someone invites you to a wedding with less than 24 hours notice should you accept the invitation?
• If you accept do you still get them a gift?  If so, what gift would be appropriate?
• Do you still give a gift if it is a second wedding and you attended their first wedding only a few years ago?

These are all questions that Miss Manners can answer.  I read the Miss Manners column in the paper regularly.  In her column Miss Manners answers difficult etiquette questions posed by her readers on what to do in various social situations.  A lot of people ask if this is rude or if that behavior is acceptable.  While I have not posed my questions to Miss Manners, she has a common theme to all her answers.  Miss Manner’s message regarding etiquette is this “You don’t respond to boorish behavior or poor etiquette with equally poor etiquette.”  In other words you are supposed to set an example for others by your own behavior or manners regardless of how others around you act.  Many people will write to Miss Manners and say “I can’t believe so and so would be so rude to do this so I did this in response.  Who is more rude?”  It does not matter what someone else did.  You should act appropriately and be above it.  Taking a cue from Miss Manners I think I got my answers.

The award for the World’s Greatest Business Mind was just announced.

Click here to see who won.

I finally reached the milestone of 100 friends on Facebook.  That is probably not a big deal to many of you who reached 100 FB friends the same week you joined FB.  However I have been on FB for awhile and new friends have been far and few in between.

With 100 friends in sight I set a goal to reach a 100 by the end of the year.  I had to lower my standard of being a “FB friend” to reach my goal.  A flurry of friend requests from long lost acquaintances pushed me over the magic 100 mark.  Some “friends” I don’t really remember but I accepted anyway to get me to 100.

Its not really a true 100 friends a few I have never actually met in person such as USC football coach Pete Caroll but 100 is 100.  The ironic thing is that my 100th friend is actually more like my wife’s friend, but close enough.  I doubt that I will ever get to 200 so 100 is it unless I start losing friends.

My daughter Mia was a flower girl for the first time a few weeks ago at the age of 4. It was the first time being a flower girl for her. The special wedding was my cousin’s Lawrence to Mandy. Having a child under the age of 6 in a wedding is always risky. You never know what you are going to get. Sure its cute to have kids in a wedding but you run the risk having a screaming and crying child right in the middle of your special day.

Even though I recommend that kids be at least 6 years old before they participate in a wedding my son Marcus has been a ring bearer twice before he was even 5 years old. The first time he was only 2. It turned out well but I still don’t recommend it. Our experience with being in a wedding helped this time with Mia.

Originally Mia did not want to do it. Just refused and I thought she would never agree to do it since she can be so stubborn. Eventually she warmed up to the idea as she saw the dress and she could not say know to Teacher Lawrence. Still you never no and it would come down to a “game time” decision.

Well she had a few “Diva” moments before the wedding. She refused to wear a wreath on her head because “I DO NOT wear things on my head”. She also did not toss the flower petals as she walked down the aisle and she certainly did not smile much. The important thing is she made it down the aisle without incident and that’s good enough for me. Here are some pictures.