Category: entertainment

Acura vs. Lexus … just to get a quote …

I ask the acura guy …
how much for the car
he writes back …

Special Financing available for all 2008 Acura TL’s in stock for .9% for 36 months and 2.9% for 60 months on approval of credit.

2008 TL Navi for $30,000+ Tax + Licensing Fees (MSRP $36,940).

idiot from lexus …
Catherine: i’m thinking of getting a used bmw
Because there are so much variation in equipment options, in order to put together most aggressive and accurate price possible, I was wondering if you could either send an email or give me a phone call with options you want on your new vehicle.  I will be calling you soon and/or emailing you. To contact me you can call me directly at (650)994-2255. I look forward to serving you.
then …
I copy acura’s quote
and say I want something similar
he writes back …

If you compare to the price, for sure Acura is cheaper, but I want you to understand the more you pay, more you get. Lexus use the finest material to build our cars, so you can find that vehicle dependability report we’re always No.1, our vehicle will be much more luxury than a acura, engine much smooth and quite. Is all your decision, acura is a nice car too, if you want something more budget, I think is a good choice. If you want to get the finest and luxury vehicle, Lexus is your choice!
my response …
I don’t want to come in and look first. I’m not only considering price. I’ll test drive the two after I get a quote.

According to this: http://www.newcars.com/lexus/es350/reviews/acura-tl.html

The prices should be comparable.
he comes back with … what equipment that you interested to have it in the ES350?
I was like … what the hell!
finally! he goes …

If you want navigation this is the package you will get for 2008:
P             Z1             Trunk Mat, Cargo Net and Wheel Locks
F             BE             Rear Seat Side Airbags                               F             HH             Heated and Ventilated Front Seats                               F             NV             Navigation System Includes:                               F             PM             Premium Package Includes:

MSRP: $39615 + fees, and you can have it for $34423 + fees, color is limited for 2008.Please let me know when is the better time for you to come! Thanks
and of course, I come back with what I forgot …

Ok. Which colors are available and do you have any special financing like Acura does?

it took 4 emails from lexus what it took 1 from acura!

The Next Food Network Star Season 4

After the last episode, a few of my picks are gone – Kevin Roberts and Nipa Bhatt– both of whom I thought had a chance are out of the competition. Aaron McCargo Jr.… eh … maybe. He’s hit and miss. Sometimes, he can have some showmanship, but I think he’s a better cook than a TV star. I think the most complete package still is with Kelsey Nixon. I’ll be very surprised if she’s eliminated anytime before the final two. I wanted to say final four, but we’re almost already there!

My pick for The Next Food Network Star Season 4

Wow!

This show’s awesome! I think I’d watch a show from almost any of these stars. All of the people are very beautiful – they all have great potential.

Who am I picking to win this? (Please bear in mind this is just from watching 1 show.) Well, here are those that I like (not in order):

Aaron McCargo Jr. – great food – 2 iron chefs liked it.

Kelsey Nixon – excellent personality, great energy and stage presence – definitely has what it takes to be on TV. The way she handled the judges questions, it was awesome! She’s also VERY HOT!

Kevin Roberts – the guy is funny … can’t say much more, but have the feeling that he’s got a shot.

Nipa Bhatt – I actually have the feeling she’s NOT going to win, but I feel that she has great potential. Her confidence I think is great. She’s got good answers to judges questions and could handle being put on the spot … but seeing her say “I can’t handle this anymore,” we’ll see what happens. She, like Kelsey, is also very beautiful.

Shane Lyons – I think this young kid’s got a good shot as well – seeing him breakdown in episode 1 I think helped him – it showed his love for food and his pride in his work.

Of these guys … I’m picking Kelsey.

Toyo Sushi on Sloat Blvd in San Francisco

This is yet another, Chinese owned sushi restaurant. We sat at the bar and the chef had a scared look on his face when my buddy asked me if we should do “omakase”. I’m fairly certain he didn’t know what that meant. This place is okay. Their “shari” (rice) really sucks. It had no taste – not salty, not sweet, not sour. Their fish though that day was very fresh and tasted very good. After one piece of nigiri, we did sashimi for the rest of the night. The chef at the bar was lame. We tried ordering from him and he seemed to acknowledge our orders, but never fulfilled them. He told us that he was very busy and we would have better luck ordering with the waiters. That was pretty disappointing. We took 3% off of his tip for that and I don’t expect to go there again.

2001 Infiniti G20 – NOT a transmission problem!

Strange problem, but it seems that it was reproduced by another car other than mine, so I would expect that it will happen to a lot of others as well. There’s an intermittent problem where car will just rev and not move very quickly as if it doesn’t get into gear or something. It won’t go past 60mph or so and it’s revved very high at that speed, so you’re wasting a ton of gas. If you stop and restart the car, it’ll run fine again. It’s really frustrating as you don’t know when you’ll run into this problem and when you won’t. It will get worse and worse as time goes on. Turns out, the problem is with the battery. If you just change the battery, it’ll run just fine again! Just $50 fixes the problem!

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Shokudo Japanese Restaurant & Bar – Honolulu, HI

This place is really friggin’ good! We were on Oahu just for 4 days or so and went to this place twice for dinner! Well, one of the reasons for this is because we knew that after leaving, we wouldn’t be able to revisit it very easily.

Of the two times we were there, we usually started with the premium Sake…don’t remember the exact name of it – it was one of the Junmais – the premium is the sweeter one though they’re both good. We’ve had the Sushi Pizza, which was pretty original and not bad. I’d prefer crispy seaweed, but it was still good. Unagi and Rice – the hot plate was very good – should wait until the rice gets harder before serving – rice from the bottom of the bowl is excellent. Yukari French Fries – taste like regular fries, but they’ve got a little twist – a little different taste that makes it just a little value add over some of the other places. The Rock Shrimp – it was good, but I didn’t find it was that good; better than most fried shrimps as the quality of the shrimp wasn’t too bad – you know how you can get fried shrimp from some places and they give you mostly batter – not this place. The Gyoza – awesome quality! Not too big, tasted good. Albacore Tuna Carpaccio – it was seared and was a little weird for me since I’m used to having it raw, but it was definitely good. Chicken Karaage with Spicy Tartar Sauce – the chicken was good; I didn’t need the tartar sauce. :) It’s optional. Stir-Fried Omelet Noodle – eh … friends thought it was really good. I thought it was okay – not something that I would have again because the tangy taste was a little weird for me. Albacore Tuna on Crispy Rice – definitely original, definitely good – must try. Beef Tataki with Balsamic Sushi – I liked the Tuna better, but this wasn’t bad – another original. For dessert, we tried the Chocolate and Cinnamon Honey Toasts and the baked banana. The honey toast is something that everyone gets. The baked banana was alright; tastes like your typical pan fried banana you can get at other places. Overall, A++ – I’ll definitely go back when I visit Hawaii again!

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Sushi Dai is way better than Sushi Yamato in Tsukiji (Japan)

It’s really ridiculous how different the two sushi places are in terms of service while they’re right next to each other and look the same as well. They both have similar amounts of traffic as well.

Here’s a good review of Sushi Dai:
http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides … 4654633758

Another review for Sushi Dai:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/As … -BR-1.html

    Sushi Dai had better service as even though we did the set (omakase), we were asked if there was anything that we didn’t eat. (I don’t like octopus or uni.)
    The egg in at Sushi Dai was hot and fresh where the one at Yamato was cold and looked like it sat there for a while.
    At Sushi Dai, we were given the items one at a time and told what they were. At Yamato, they just kept throwing stuff in front of us making it feel rushed.
    At Sushi Dai, we were offered different tastes for example, the choice between salt and soy sauce and a citrus flavored piece whereas at Yamato, they were all soy sauce flavored.
    At Sushi Dai, I was able to use chopsticks to eat all of my pieces. At Yamato, my pieces kept falling apart.

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Wasabi & Ginger – San Francisco, CA

Wasabi & Ginger
2299 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94109

This is yet another Chinese owned Japanese restaurant. The food isn’t bad.

Spider roll was awesome +10

Nabeyaki Udon was okay +5

Raw fish was okay, but not fresh as I thought it would be according to other reviews -5

Bathroom was typical, but faucet was broken -1

No “irashaimase” (Welcome at the door) -1

Waitress didn’t know what shichimi was (flavor for Udon) -1

Boss was around, so service was good +5

Free ice cream! +5

So overall, I’d say, this place is pretty good. It deserves 4 stars.