San Fran/NorCal: A Photo Essay

Greetings from California! What follows are some select photos of my family trip out to San Francisco and its surrounding areas. We've had some great weather, so these amazing sights are only accentuated by beautiful blue skies. All the photos are thumbnails so I don't freeze up your computer, so click to see a larger version. Enjoy!

View of the Bay from Sausalito, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. You can see SF in the distance if you look closely.

The Ferry Building at night.

Family photo for my B-day dinner at Slanted Door.

Me and my mom in Napa at the Silverado Vineyard.

View of the 18th hole at Half Moon Bay, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Huan (after his round of golf) with Molly, Auddie, my mom, and me in our hotel robes. (Yes, we definitely got a few funny looks for roaming around the resort in that garb.)

Well, that's all for now! I may post more upon return to the East Coast, but I think that's a nice summary of the trip for now... Stay tuned.

Just checking in.

Apologies for another long break between updates. I suddenly found myself very busy or otherwise distracted from the blog, which also means I have a lot to update... that's the catch-22 though isn't it? Anyway, I'll try to be brief as possible, and hopefully bullet points will help me be succinct.

-I spent almost all of last weekend "cooing" (what is cooing, after all?) over the new baby, Kyle. He's so adorable and after only a month he's developed these unique personal habits, like pursing his lips after a big yawn, or this wheezy snore while he sleeps (Uh oh! that's the Tran in him..) More pics to come as soon as I can get them up.

-While Kyle napped, we killed over a dozen hours by reviving the Playstation with old games Kim successfully Ebayed before she came down. For the record, Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Bust-A-Groove are new official favorites, and both come highly recommended with my seal of approval and a certified top tier addiction rating. Despite the lovely weather, we treated the weekend as if we were snowed in and aside from playing video games, we basically had a 2-day long feast with all my favorite foods (Ca Kho, Thit Kho Chung, Thit Nguoi sandwiches, etc...).

-Monday night, I dragged a bunch of my friends with me to see Thao Nguyen play a gig at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington. She had actually emailed me to give me a head's up about a DC-area show, which I found to be a nice gesture and impressive personal fan attention. In any case, the show was a good time, and despite any initial misgivings about the Galaxy Hut atmosphere-- it gave off a bit of a "too cool for school" attitude (but what else is to be expected of an artsy indie venue that holds 48 people?)-- it turned out to be a nice, intimate place to enjoy new music. It's always interesting and somewhat refreshing to hear that really raw and gritty garage-band sound that comes through in these tiny rooms with less polished live acts.

Thao was impressive; I can't remember the last time I saw a female artist jam out on the guitar the way she did. She's got a great mix of bluesy, folksy, alternative with a voice that is calming and reminds me of French music. I picked up her new CD at the show so I'll be able to see how the rest of her studio work sounds. After seeing The Waifs last week, it was another great moment of feminist inspiration for me... I must be on a roll!

-To starkly contrast my typical indie-crap-schpeel as seen above, tonight I returned to my pop roots and attended the American Idol concert at the MCI Center. Indeed, this experience proved to be at the opposite extreme of my night at the Galaxy Hut. When Co Chau offered us her company tickets, my initial reaction was "There's no way I'm going." While I did watch the show, taking the next step and actually attending the concert and dealing with thousands of screaming kids and their moms did not seem particularly appealing. But after hearing about the Nextel executive suite and realizing that I did, in fact, enthusiastically watch the entire season of Idol, I figured I was not being sensible. When Auddie, Skelbs, Alli and I arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find popcorn, chips & salsa, hot dogs, buffalo wings, a fruit plate, and all sorts of other goodies waiting for us in the suite. I felt like Macaulay Culkin in the "Home Alone" scene when he discovers he's got the house to himself and raids the family kitchen. It was not a bad setup at all, and I thank Co Chau for hooking us up with the Nextel connection (no pun intended! hah!). As for the concert, I was expecting it to be mostly cheesy musical numbers with the whole Top 10 crew on stage together. But it turned out to be two or three songs performed by each person, with a couple duets and other fun highlights (Nikko did a nice version of "Like I Love You" that evoked JT/Usher.) Despite the total awkwardness and cheesiness of Anthony Federov, who kept blowing kisses and waving to the audience, and the continued unlikeability factor of Jessica Sierra (strange, but true, unfortunately), I'm not about to lie and say I didn't get on my feet and scream a couple "whoos!!" tonight. Snake-eyes, eye-liner Constantine did another impressive version of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and his stage presence was unmatched by any of the other idols--well, except for Bo of course, who easily got the biggest crowd reaction.

I'm sure a very small majority of my blog readers (you know who you are) are interested in all the other details of this concert experience, so I'll stop there in order to retain even the slightest shred of my music credibility ;) Hehe.

But hey, at the least, in ten years I'll be able to say I participated in this ridiculously huge cultural phenomenon. (Hmmm, I think I used the same justification when I saw the Backstreet Boys on their Millenium tour...)

-I'm off to Cali tomorrow with the fam, so expect another hiatus for about a week...

Cheers.

Happy National Hot Dog Day!

As a self-professed lover of hot dogs (and chili dogs in particular), I feel foolish for not knowing until today that July is National Hot Dog Month, and today, July 21, is National Hot Dog Day.

Molly informed me via e-mail that she'd heard about a free chili dog giveaway at "Hard Rock Café" in honor of the event. Since I was up at the Smithsonian today and Auddie happened to be with me, we strolled a few blocks up to the DC location to see if the exciting rumor was true. Unfortunately, the staff there had no idea what we were talking about and we ended up walking back in the sweltering heat, chili dog-less and dejected.

It turns out that the promotion was actually at Hard Times Café (which Molly had never heard of), which actually made perfect sense considering they are known as chili connoisseurs.

Since Auddie and I were still dreaming of free chili dogs and craving them even more after the misunderstanding, we stopped by the Springfield Hard Times location this evening to make our quest a success.

The only catch was that the free chili dog only came with a purchase, so naturally we ended up gorging ourselves on other junky but delicious food before enjoying our dogs. And boy were they delicious and worth the trip! Special thanks to Hard Times for honoring one of my favorite foods today. Mmm, mmm...

(Honestly, when was the last time you saw a chili dog photo posted in a blog?)

Current Music: Mushaboom, by Feist (a recent $8.99 CD purchase)
Current Mood: pleasant

The WAiFs

Tonight I went to The Birchmere with Auddie, Meevs, and TV to see The WaiFs. It was a great experience for a number of reasons: 1) it was the first time I took Auddie to see live music with me, 2) it was one of those last-minute decisions to see a band I really wasn't very familiar with, and 3) it ended up being a totally awesome show that turned me on to a new band!

I remembered hearing from Meevs many months ago about how The WAiFs had become one of her new favorite bands. Upon discovering they'd be at the Birchmere this week and that Meevs was actually on the east coast, I thought I'd give her the head's up! Always up for a concert experience, I asked Meevs to send me some sampler tracks to convince me I should go. She was feeling that pressure of having to pick only a few tracks to sell someone on the music; only a little while ago did I do the same thing for her with Ryan Adams.

Well, it turns out she did a great job because Auddie and I listened, liked what we heard, and agreed to go! I personally was sold after hearing the first few bars of "Bridal Train" -- there's something about hearing Aussie accents come through in music that is just so cool. (I can't think of anyone but Aussies who can make "Australia" and "Sailor" rhyme so well!)

Having not been to the Birchmere for a few years, I'd forgotten what a nice little venue it is. The whole concept is pretty simple but innovative: sit at dining tables, order food & drink, enjoy music in calm and casual setting. Despite battling some bad rush-hour traffic and arriving after the crowds had poured in to claim their seats, we still managed to get a great spot up front at the corner of the stage!

The Waifs are some combination of folk, country and blues, with drippings of pop. I think recently I've been getting turned on to the sounds of folk/alt-country, and this was a great next stage in that progression! With beautiful harmonies, incredible guitar riffs, and the ever-underrated harmonica throughout, the Waifs had it covered.

Ok, so the craziest part of the show was the fact that Vikki and Donna, sisters who make up two-thirds of the Waifs (Josh being the last member) walked out on stage and both appeared to be the same "amount" of pregnant. Meevs had mentioned that another time she saw them play, one of them was pregnant. So here I'm thinking, ok, is this a gimmick? Two pregnant gals in a band? What is going on here? Anyway, we found out that they were both 6 1/2 months pregnant, both due on the same day! How wild is that? Apparently the babies were conceived on some joyous occasion back in January when they had a break from touring...

If anything, this pregnancy thing seemed to add to their stage presence and overall charisma. To see two women with their big bellies, dancing around the stage, shaking tambourines, working to balance on a stool while playing guitar, playing long and ridiculous jams on the harmonica, and singing all the while...it was, to put it simply, badass. When Vikki broke out an unbelievable harmonica jam that lasted at least a few minutes during "Crazy Train," I was officially obsessed (i.e, I had that brief "I want to be you" moment). We all agreed she's gonna have no problem with lamaze classes...

Never one to really be into female artists (which I somewhat regret), this concert was a rare and awesome moment in which I felt a dose of feminist inspiration, feeding off the energy of the women I was watching. (Credit is also due to Josh, the third official band member, who plays a really mean guitar.)

Of course, I wouldn't expect you all to read through my long and blabbering concert review without offering you a music track, right?

I've selected one track written by Vikki and another written by Donna, just to illustrate at least two thirds of the writing range of the band. Apparently they no longer write together after some embarassing attempts that made their first album. So they each write their own songs, which I think is interesting, and gives the band some added depth.

Bridal Train (by Vikki, the younger sis and harmonica player)
hxxp://s49.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3O5AC20C06YH12YXYTQAYIENIG

London Still (by Donna)
hxxp://s49.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0ACJKO2DPGWP701O4ABL3A1XRV


Hope you like what you hear. One last shout-out to Meevs for introducing me to a new band!

Shuler for Congress!

Well, this is news! For those of you who have wondered, "Whatever happened to that Heath Shuler, the Heisman trophy runner-up who showed so much promise when he was drafted as QB for the Redskins in 1994?"... here's your answer. Big Heath is making a run for the House! That's right, Shuler (D-NC) has announced his intentions to run for a Congressional seat representing North Carolina's 11th district. I guess when football fails you, you head for politics! Now, if only Huan had held onto his Shuler jersey... that'd make for some great memorabilia right about now.


Current Music: Hide and Seek, by Imogen Heap
Current Mood: pensive

Wedding Crashers

I caught a Saturday night showing of "Wedding Crashers," the latest flick in the Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn/Ben Stiller-ish genre. It was pretty hilarious. It was one of those nights when all I wanted to do was go in and watch a good comedy and have some laughs, and this was a reliable pick.

With movies like this, you can't go in expecting a great plot. So despite the fairly creative concept of two guys who crash weddings in search of women, the other elements are rather cliché and some character sketches were superficial and stereotypical, but perhaps that's the point. I also think the movie ran a little long for one of these comedies (pushing 2 hours is a bit much), but the jokes saved it from never dragging on...

Vince Vaughn was impressive and hilarious-as-ever with his minute-long seemingly improvised bursts of dialogue and usual dirty humor. Though I have to admit, something about the Vaughnster makes me uncomfortable. It might be his size-- the 6'5 hugeness factor is a bit much for me-- or the fact that I feel like he's never too far off from the characters he plays... the one who's always a bit more shallow, sleazy, and dirty than his friends.

Owen Wilson, though, what a guy. Crooked nose, chapped lips and all, I can't get enough of him. This movie just sealed the deal with his argyle sweater, Sperry Topsider sailing shoes, and his goofy blonde hair sweeping across his forehead. I like him for the same reason I am uncomfortable with Vince Vaughn; that is, I feel like he's as goofy, awkward and genuine as the characters he plays. He's the soft, introspective, geekier counterpart to his friends.

All in all, this was another great addition to the "Old School" & Co. comedy collection, guaranteed to entertain and make you laugh.

Another great thing about this flick is that it is accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack. It's another indie-tastic compilation (call it this year's "Garden State," though likely not quite as popular...) featuring tunes by The Flaming Lips, Rilo Kiley, and Death Cab, just to name a few. It's a great bonus, because everyone knows that good music always makes a movie that much better.

Here are some final comments, unrelated to the movie, but very relevant to all you moviegoers out there:

People, people, is it so much to ask that when you're attending a sure-to-be sold out showing of a very popular movie on its opening weekend, that you bypass the obligatory "buffer" between seats and just squeeze on in right by the stranger next to you? For the quadrillionth time, I was subjected to the front row of a movie, neck craned the whole time, while there were a number of individual seats in the same rows that could have easily been condensed into nice "2 person" slots. Sure, I could ask people to shimmy over (as I've done before), but sometimes you just don't feel like being that "rude person" (though I don't think this would be a rude request at all) or disturbing someone while they're having their overpriced movie meal of nachos and popcorn. Sigh. Enough on that. I should show up an hour early next time and shut my mouth.

Congrats, Tiger.

Hats off (again) to Tiger Woods on winning the British Open today after having gone wire-to-wire and completely dominating the field. Love him or hate him, the guy's unbelievable and one of those rare iconic figures in all of sports.

Those of you who missed the coverage probably didn't get a chance to see the incredible commercial put together by Nike, featuring the song "Ooh La La" by The Faces. I could watch it over and over and get that warm and fuzzy feeling combined with that chilling goosebump sensation that I relate to super athletes and their amazing sports feats.

I'm still here.

Yikes, I'm back. I forget about cyberspace for a while. Everyone knows that means I've actually been interacting with people-- how novel!

Anyway, I'll now attempt an update on all things I deem relevant to you, faithful readers:

Me:

Well, I've been at the Smithsonian these days. I'm basically saying this so you all don't think I'm sleeping in and sitting at home and still not blogging. In keeping with my Professional Intern status--clearly getting a real full-time job is not yet in the cards for me-- I've been doing this gig with the Asian Pacific American office at the Smithsonian. It's been pretty awesome thus far. We're working on a Vietnamese American Exhibit that will (hopefully) debut at one museum or another in late 2006. In another attempt to make myself feel special and on the "inner circle," I must remain relatively hush-hush about it for now. Just know that I've been given some pretty cool responsibilities and tasks and keeping relatively busy. The people are great, the office is fun, and besides all that, I get to traverse through a series of underground tunnels to get to my office. It's quite fun! I've also been able to get back to some writing, which is always nice...

Linkworthy:

-This may only be of interest to local readers, but the Washington Post reported yesterday that the mysterious "Borf" has been arrested! For those out of the loop, Borf was a graffiti figure that appeared in all sorts of places downtown with random, often nonsensical sayings. Despite the whole "defacing public property" aspect, it was all rather amusing and it's exciting local news to hear that they've finally caught up with him.

-So I just saw the first episode of the new ABC show, "Hooking Up." (Hey-- it's summer, I don't need an excuse to watch embarassing reality TV.) Anyway, I actually found it fairly entertaining and I'll fully admit that I intend to watch it again. I just think it's great that the show is reminding us how common online dating is, despite the fact that no one really talks openly about it, and still others worry about the "loser" or "desperation" stigma associated with it.... yet there are millions of people who do it and almost everyone I know knows a couple who met/dated/married through it. (Clearly this is my way of saying--Umm, don't laugh if I announce one day that I've met my future husband on match.com) Haha- Ok but seriously, if you're flipping channels, check it out (ABC Thurs, 9 pm). At the least, it's better than the Real World and you'll have some laughs at some of these first date encounters...

-I just discovered emusic, this new delightful music downloading site. What makes it delightful, actually, is the free trial they offer which includes 50 free downloads. You test 'er out, and if after 14 days you aren't sold, you just cancel your sign-up and get to keep all the free music you picked. Sounds too good to be true, right? I'll let you know if I get scammed, but so far it seems legit! The site mostly focuses on independent labels (imagine that..) and some other cool stuff, like jazz and blues. The free trial could be a great way to introduce yourself to some new tunes!

-One last thing. To make up for my lag in updates, here's a new musical track for your enjoyment:

Ray Lamontagne :: Trouble
hxxp://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2FZ88QSILK6B601KTH148MSBLD

This is the title track from a quiet fellow with a big voice, whose album Trouble (2004) made my Top 10 of 2004. His raw, sandpapery voice and heartfelt lyrics make this an incredibly soulful, genuine, and honest album. Ray is another guy who you can tell means every word he sings, and as this is only his debut album, I'm sure we can look forward to a lot more where that came from. Other significant info: This album was produced by Ethan Johns, whose name you may recognize from Ryan Adams production fame, as well as some Counting Crows and Rufus Wainwright work. (Who is this Ethan guy, right?? Um.. nice work)

Enjoy!


Current Music: Lullaby, by Starsailor
Current Mood: completely pooped.

March of the Penguins

I just came back from seeing "March of the Penguins," an incredibly well-done documentary on emperor penguins and the story of their journey and rituals in Antarctica over the course of one year. Not only was it immensely fascinating by offering us a glimpse into the lives of these fairly mythic-like creatures, but it was a truly touching story about family and survival, and a reminder that however different we all may seem, there are some things that are truly universal among all living things. Anyway, I definitely recommend this one. If nothing else, the baby penguins are too cute to resist!

Newest member of the fam!

I'm a little late on this post, but I've been waiting for just the right photo in order to present the newest member of the family: my first cousin, once removed (I think I got that right...) and the first great-grandchild of my grandparents. How exciting!

So without further ado, here is Kyle Hieu Vukhac who came into the world on June 22. Congrats to his folks, Loc & Lan, on their cute lil' bundle of joy...

Technical difficulties

I apologize for those of you who seem to be experiencing "large-print book" size fonts, though I have no explanation for the problem. Everything seems to be fine on my computer, and still normal on others, so I really don't know how to correct the problem yet. All attempts to be tech-savvy have failed me thus far. Just know that I'm working on it...

Well, I shuffled through the city on the 4th of July...

So I'm a little tardy on this one, but it's not too late for me to make a nice patriotic music recommendation-- Ryan Adams, Gold (2001).

Ok, so the album cover is probably the most overtly patriotic part about it, but there are plenty of other snippets within the music that you should also enjoy. For you Ryan Adams naysayers, I've attached a couple samplers.

The first is the obviously appropriate tune, "Firecracker," a nice little upbeat song highlighted by lots of harmonica:
hxxp://s45.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2EKR1E2FN5PAM3UFK4MFU93NVF

Next we have my favorite song on the disc, "La Cienega Just Smiled," a heart-wrenching ballad with some of the best lyrics around:
hxxp://s45.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=11V0AC84W376L2ACZP23HIZ8CU

Here's my favorite bit:

And I hold you close in the back of my mind
Feels so good but damn it makes me hurt
And I'm too scared to know how I feel about you now
La Cienega just smiled..."see ya around"
And I hold you close in the back of my mind
And raise my glass 'cause either way I'm dead
Neither of you really help me to sleep anymore
One breaks my body and the other breaks my soul
La Cienega just smiles as it waves goodbye


If you like what you hear, do yourself a favor and get this album. It was kind of written off as his "mainstream" album, a bit more poppy and produced than his prior work, but that doesn't mean it's still not fantastic. In fact, it actually means this album comes highly recommended as a nice introduction to his music if you've never heard it before. And you should. But you probably don't need (or want) to hear me say that again...

Happy 4th of July!

Oh, what a great summer holiday! I hadn't seen the fireworks downtown in at least five years or so, and tonight reminded me just how great it is. This year's experience was particularly breathtaking because of our location right on 17th street (facing one of the sides of Constitution Hall). When the fireworks started shooting off, we immediately realized how close we were-- the crackling and exploding sounds were echoing in our ears, and the fireworks seemed to be raining down on us. It's really amazing to get the 3-D effect from the fireworks-- almost as if they're going to touch you-- which is less apparent if you're watching them from afar or even on TV. While I'm not usually one to be super patriotic, I actually was feeling a lot of American pride during the show... I guess there's something about celebrating in your nation's capital that evokes those feelings. Or maybe I'm a huge cheeseball.

Here's a shot from where we were sitting...

Current Music: America, by Simon & Garfunkel
Current Mood: patriotic