Thursday, May 21, 2009

Samot-samot, May 2009

On our way home from Irvine, my wife and I decided to have lunch at a Korean resto a friend of ours was glowing about. While we were looking for it, I saw a Japanese resto with an interesting name so I told my wife let's try this one instead. I had sashimi and beef teriyaki. The tuna was so fresh that if it were any fresher it will still be swimming in the sea. Everything there was fine except for the name of the restaurant....Taiko LOL.

My wife and I attended the wedding of an old friend's son last Saturday. The bride is a Vietnamese he met at a medical school back east where they were both students. My friend's son wants to go to Philippines or a third world country and work as a doctor for the needy for a few years but the father of the bride wants his daughter to take-over his practice (he is a pediatrician) here. I'm sure they'll work out their divergent goals to their mutual satisfaction. Here's wishing the bride and groom a happy and enduring marriage!
I parked my pick-up on a busy major street and took a walk for a couple of hours inside a park. I had my bike inside the cab but I decided to just go ahead and walk instead of bike so I can take advantage of the shades complement of the trees. When I returned after two hours of walking, I was astounded to find that somebody stole the tailgate of my pick-up! Can you believe that!!! What is more unbelievable is the s.o.b. did not take my bike, the gps and stereo or just drive off with my vehicle! A replacement tailgate will set me back $550 plus the cost of a paint job so this may be as good a time as any to replace the old clunker, afterall it is already 12 years old. I will certainly miss it..... I may just hang on to it just to debunk one of the geometric theorems I learned in high school that the "whole is greater than any of its part" or words to that effect. In the case of my pick-up, the part is more expensive than the whole LOL.

12 comments:

docgelo said...

LOL at the name of the resto!
I almost fell off my seat when I read that it's Taiko, hihihi...

What a conflict you shared with your second photo here. Funny it may sound that most local doctors here (excluding me yet) have taken nursing as their 3rd/4th course just to be there and work. I even had a reviewee before who bid goodbye to his law practice of 7 years just to become a nurse in the US. And here's a story of a doctor there wanting to serve the marginalized people of a TB/malaria/gossip/politics-inflicted country. How heroic! Seriously, I always go for whatever my heart desires, whatever will inspire others, and where ever my love ones will be happy. After all, as the movie night at the museum 2 imparted, "happiness is doing what we love with the people we love."

Your third is rather a more serious one! It might be a blessing in disguise for you to get a new one. But I'm sure the whole scenario took you in shock.

RJ said...

Hahaha! Ano kaya ang ibig sabihin ng TAIKO?! U

Regarding the story of the newly wed, or specifically, the groom... It reminds me of the Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards theme- Pinoy Expats at OFW: Pag-asa ng Bayan, Handog sa Mundo!

Geometric theorem?! Mahina po ako sa math pero sa example na ito sa ute niyo, whew naunawaan ko tuloy. Hindi nga lang ito geometry. o",)

bertN said...

docgelo, that's the thing that caught my attention! I wanted to make sure it was not the thing it said it was LOL.

The kid (I refer to him as a kid although he is already 32 years old), for whatever reasons, always have in mind the deprived people of the world. That is what got him in medical school in the first place, but it is a long story.

It would not have shocked me as much if the s.o.b. just drove off with my truck!

RJ, I do not know what it means in Japanese but I know what it means in Tagalog LOL.

The groom was born in US but his parents took him to Pinas many times while he was growing up and he probably saw what many of our kababayans based abroad do not see.

It is a big time business here to buy vehicles and resell them for parts...a very profitable business if you have the space to keep your inventory. The junk sellers always get their investments back after a couple of sales. As an example, today, I went to an auto junkyard and bought a tailgate for my pick-up (I paid $200 installed, as opposed to buying a new one for $550 plus tax, plus installation at a dealership.) The auto junkyard probably got the pick-up for a song and he is getting rich selling off its parts, as he does with all the junked cars in his yard. It is an excellent business if time and space is in your hands.

Joy said...

3 different scenarios, Bert. Love Korean food! What's your favourite?

As for the wedding, I'm sure that was a very moving ceremony.

Your tailgate - wow. That is a bummer. Hope you've got your insurance taking care of that now.

Thanks for visiting Norwich Daily Photo and leaving your comment. Hope you're enjoying the weekend. Come back tomorrow for more of Norwich!


joy
A Pinay In EnglandYour Love CoachI, Woman

bertN said...

Joy, I don't have a single favorite - I love Pinoy, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese food. I lean slightly toward Japanes food.

My truck is already 12 years old so I only have liabity and uninsured motorist insurance on it.

Sidney said...

What about Belgian food? ;-)
it is not bad...you should try it ! :-)

Too bad about your car... what a shame... by the way... your car looks brand new!

bertN said...

Sidney, I'll try Belgian food when I get a chance. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen any resto in our area that offers Belgian cuisine.

My car actually needs a new paint job. Now that I got a replacement tailgate from the auto junkyard, I'll see how much it will set me back to have the car repainted and the dinks removed. It will beat buying a new car even with the Obama stimulus package thrown in.

The Nomadic Pinoy said...

It's funny how some itchy hands can be very selective with what they want to steal. Who knows, you'll see that missing tailgate in someone's car at the next traffic gridlock?

Anonymous said...

I don't eat much Japanese foods except California Maki.

So theft does not only happen in third world countries, it can be considered Hostis humani generis
(enemy of mankind).

Btw, I will link your blog to mine. Thanks.

bertN said...

The Nomadic Pinoy, every single time I see a white Nissan pick-up, I try to find any telltale sign that its tailgate was once mine LOL.

walkwithmetothemoon, theft or crime in general, happens wherever it does....no country, rich or poor, is immune to it. It may be that that it is more frequent in countries where law and order is not a prime consideration.

I'm not too cool with Japanese food myself until I was exposed to it unrelentingly for half a year when I was a government trainee in Japan - I fell in love with Japanese food and, even more so, with Japanese girls; unfortunately, the Japanese girls did not feel the same way about me LOL.

BlogusVox said...

Have you considered, maybe the guy who stole your tailgate sold it to the junkyard where you got your replacement? It this notion is true, you probable end up buying your tailgate.: D

bertN said...

BlogusVox, actually that was the first thing that entered my mind LOL.

Usually auto junkyards here limit their purchases to the whole vehicle - damaged, intact, running or non-operational. Hihimayin nila ito then sell them piece by piece.