Our nation's gas situation

I'm sure most of us are experiencing the gas prices right now. With oil at over $116/barrel, filling up our vehicles hurt more than ever before. Last I checked a gallon of regular unleaded cost $3.49. That's a huge increase from last April. I've been seeing prices go up throughout the year so when I purchased my replacement vehicle, I decided on a 4-cylinder instead of the V6's I've been driving since my first car.

Now lately, the presidential candidates are taking stances on the gas issue. McCain and Clinton both are pressing to lift gas taxes during the summer season. We're talking about less than $0.20 per gallon. Obama and Congress studies show this would save the average person less than $30.00. Come on. Let's be serious. Do you think lifting the tax is going to do anything? Prices will still go up, and probably by more than twenty cents. I'm not going to comment on the presidential race, because obviously McCain and Clinton are focusing on an issue that they know affects middle class America. But the way we are handling this gas issue is ridiculous.

We should be making changes to our dependency on oil in general. You can't expect me to think it's okay for people to complain about gas prices but huge SUV's are still on the road. You want to save twenty cents a gallon? How about dropping from a V8 to a V6? Or what I did and go from a V6 to a 4-cylinder. I am getting an average of 25mpg versus my 18mpg before with my old car. That's an average of 70 extra miles per fill up - five round trip drives to Boston for me. People are too quick to look for an easy fix to their situation and do not realize the bigger perspective of things. We need to step back and realize that there are other ways to make it better. There's public transportation, bicycles, motorcycles (even larger motorcycles get better mileage than the average car). But lifting the tax does nothing.

Furthermore, the gas tax also funds public roads maintenance. Where are we going to find the extra money to fund that part of our lives? Some suggests taxing the petroleum suppliers, which isn't a bad idea. Some suggest find money from other government expenditures. Why should we even resort to looking for money. Keep the tax, maintain our roads, and let the citizens make better choices to help with the elevating prices. I know people who walk more and drive less because of this. So suck it up and do what should be done anyway.

Kung Fu class, $1 oysters

I wound up not going to the Aikido open house on Saturday. I had a birthday BBQ to go to, but it was also because I thought it over pretty hard and decided kung fu is the right martial arts class to be in right now for me. I had a discussion with a friend who helped me realize again that my main focus at the moment is to be in good shape again. And the intensity of the kung fu training coupled with some supplemental weights at home will help me reach that more than aikido. So that's the conclusion of that dilemma.

After a week of trying to figure out what was happening on the weekend, I found my the first half of my Sunday open again. So I decided I should go to kung fu class. When I woke up at 11:45AM that day, that was not what I was feeling. But I got up, chowed down some Cheerios, got dressed, and got my butt to class. It was again pretty intense for me, probably because I'm still trying to get used to a high intensity workout that lasts 1hr 15min. But afterwards I felt great.

After showering and unwinding after class, I got ready to meet some friends at 28 Degrees (http://www.28degrees-boston.com/flash.html) on Appleton Street for a birthday celebration we were throwing for a friend. 28 Degrees is a pretty cool place, but the main reason we were there is for the oysters. M-Su, 5-7, they serve oysters on the half shell for $1 each. It's a pretty good deal and they're quite fresh and tasty. Six of us eventually would up eating 10 dozen plus 5 other dishes of food. The liquor was flowing a bit too. The eventual bill wound up pretty pricey, but it was good food, good friends, and good times. If you want a cool sleek place to unwind and eat, this would be the place to go. If your wallet's a little light, then I suggest going there for the oysters and maybe a drink then head elsewhere to fill your tummies.

Sushi in Chinatown

So after kung fu class on Tuesday, I was naturally hungry and wanted something light. I grabbed a friend and tried to figure out where to go. I originally wanted sushi at Kyotoya in Stoneham, but it was nearly 9:30PM, and they close at 10PM. Same goes for the pricier Chung Ki Wa in Medford. After a while of deliberating where we could go alternatively, I decided that I still wanted sushi and that we should just go to Chinatown. I knew the Korean restaurant, Apollo, on Harrison St. opens pretty late so we head towards there. The sushi is pretty decent there, but I don't like the atmosphere. It looks like a restaurant that was just left to deteriorate from it's probably once nice opening.

After I parked, the atmosphere thing was kinda getting to me, so we decided to walk to this place that I always walk by, Suishaya Restaurant on Tyler St. We got there and notice no menu put up. I was thinking, "Boy, must be an expensive place or something." I started thinking maybe we should shell up some extra money and go to Ginza instead, but my friend persuaded me to go in and look at the menu. It turned out it wasn't bad at all and we went in and sat down.

Right away, I noticed the staff was speaking Chinese, but it wasn't a surprise. I don't think there's a sushi place in Chinatown that's run by anybody but Chinese people. Anyway, Suishaya apparently has these great "Midnight" specials starting at 10PM from Sundays through Thursdays. I wound up ordering two combos from the specials for about $24.00 (22 pieces total). My friend ordered a bento box type of meal from the kitchen menu, chicken bulgogi or something like that. Anyhoot, the experience was overall pretty good. I was a little scared when the miso soup came out lukewarm, but the sushi was better than what I would've gotten at Apollo and Kyotoya. The chicken bulgogi was excellent. It was definitely a "find" for us as we now know where to go if we wanted Japanese/Korean food after 10PM. In total, we spent $33 plus tips, which is pretty good at a Korean restaurant. I was stuffed!

So go check it out next time you're in Chinatown - Boston.

Back to class!

So after taking three weeks off of my kung fu class due to my wisdom teeth extraction, I finally went back to class last night. It was pretty intense. I didn't lose much of my flexibility and strength mainly because I continued to do my stances and stretching while I was out. However, I lost a lot of my endurance. Training involves 45 minutes of fundamentals, 15 minutes of instructor's choice, and 15 minutes of forms. It requires stamina, endurance, and good cardiovascular health. It fits to say that the class kicked my butt. But it was good to be back.

I've been taking kung fu for about three months now. The thing is I did aikido before, and I still miss it a lot. After college, I stopped my martial arts classes and only relied on my weight training for fitness purposes. Then I got lazy there. Last summer, I did a hike and realized how poor my fitness was and I went back to a workout regimen at the local YMCA. I worked out 2-3 times a week with cardio and weight training. But then I did a kenpo training video at home and realized how poor my endurance was. So I decided to go back to martial arts. I picked kung fu because of its external (hard) nature. Aikido is an internal (soft) art and wouldn't stress my body as much. I was right in this area.

However, I'm disappointed by the lack of self-defense application of the style of kung fu I am in. I love the workout, but I feel incomplete. My aikido mentor showed us a lot of self-dense applications with out techniques and I loved how I could apply it in real-world situations if I needed to. Well, lately this feeling can be pretty overwhelming to the point where I am considering switching back to aikido. Unfortunately, aikido doesn't give me the workout that I like. I'm already supplementing my kung fu workout with weights at home. Kung fu class is only three times a week, with me making 1-2 per week. The aikido class I looked at would have classes six times a week at more reasonable times. This would allow me flexibility to make it to more classes. I just wish I either have more cash to sign up for both or there's an art/school that would combine both.

There is an open house for the aikido school this Saturday, so I'll probably go to that and see how their classes operate. Maybe their training is just as intense and I wouldn't feel like I'm losing one part of my training to gain another. We'll see

Polly's Pancake House

I went to Polly's Pancake Parlor in NH on Sunday. It's pretty much a family tradition to try to go up every year, so there I was. I was looking forward to it all week, and it didn't disappoint. I ordered eggs, bacon, home fries, toast, and (of course) pancakes. What's nice is that the orders are six pancakes, and the server actually is the one making them for you. They offer batters in various types and gives you choice of add-ins. I had three blueberry and three chocolate chip in buttermilk batter (they also have plain, whole wheat, even gingerbread). They serve them three at a time to you so they are always fresh and warm (although they served mine all at once because I split my order with a friend). Afterwards, we went to The Basin to just walk around. There was still snow on the trails and it was 65F+ up there. Crazy!

But it was a pretty good day. Check out Polly's here: http://www.pollyspancakeparlor.com/

Jerks in Quincy Market

I just got off the phone with my friend. Apparently, she just walked by some guys at Quincy Market who were telling some homeless guys to do pushups for their money. In the meantime, people around were laughing. Now I don't know the whole story, but if someone is abusing other people for laughs, that's just wrong. I don't care whether or not those homeless guys are real or not, or if they were going to use the money for alcohol and smokes. What I have a problem with is the fact that the guys with the money thought they were better than the homeless guys. No one is above anyone to humiliate them like that. If you don't want to give the money, then just walk away. No one forced to you give up that $1, quarter, or whatever. What boils me more is that no one stopped them. People don't care enough in the world.

Another time, I was going to Chinatown for a late dinner with a friend. It was raining and cold. As we walked by Imperial Seafood Restaurant by the Gate, I noticed a mound on the ground. Turns out to be some guy dressed in all black facedown in the rain. I was a little disturbed, but I heard him groan a bit. We walked to our destination, but the image disturbed us both, and I ran back to call 911. I reported his location and how he was dressed. I went back to my friend. Within minutes an ambulance and a police cruiser were there. BUT, what annoyed me was while I was making the 911 call, a guy walking through almost stepped on him. He looked down, realized it was a man (possibly homeless), and left! I mean, what the heck! Who does that? Just walk by a guy facedown in the rain.

People are just too into themselves.

Welcome to my life

Well, having finally started a blog a week or so ago (passiveincomeproject.blogspot.com), I decided to create a personal one for my thoughts and stuff. So here it is. I anticipate I'll be writing about where I go and what I do. Probably throw some of my thoughts on restaurants (I LOVE FOOD), movies, current events and stuff. You know, just a sprinkling of my life for my stalkers out there...which probably isn't much...well, there're probably none. Whatever. So stay tuned!

In case you're wondering why there are ads on my personal blog, please see my project at my other blog.