Life Un-edited

Becoming a Snob

2012-02-11T22:40:00.000-08:00

I should get a cup that says " I heart coffee"

I used to buy coffee beans from Starbucks, have them grind before bringing them home, and then store them in the freezer....forever....

I used to add cream and sugar to my coffee.

Though I never liked the American drip coffee (out of those coffee machine), my French press wasn't done in a sophisticated way either.

Then, I went to Bouchon in Las Vegas. I had my first black coffee and didn't not find it bad at all. Instead, I found the coffee crisp and had a sweet aroma to it. All in a sudden, I understood why some people loved to have their coffee black.

I came back, and told myself that I'll always start my coffee black. If its bad, then I'll add my cream and sugar to it to make it more drinkable (at that point, it's purely a source of caffeine).. I painfully realized, how Starbucks coffee isn't really not meant to be drunk black, coz it's so over-roasted and it tastes burnt!

Then, I stumble upon this small coffee shop in East Hollywood, where people (on yelp and four square) were raving about their single origin pour over. Uh....what?! A, I don't know what single origin mean; and B, what is a pour over? A quick stop to our loyal friend Google yielded the definition of all beans from one source (i.e. SINGLE origin), and a hand drip technique that's similar to the drip coffee machine but only better.

The reviews were right! The coffee was amazing, and I have since embarked on my coffee education journey.

To be continued......

Happy Chinese New Year (It's Been a While)

2012-01-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

First of all, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

I know it's been a while since I last wrote something here. Many things happened, yet not much has changed either.

As part of my new year resolution, I wanted to do better at expressing myself, be more observing. So....here I am again: typing my thoughts away.

All I Want

2010-09-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I just want to be heard.

All I want is someone to listen to me, and be sympathetic.

How hard is that?

I don't need you to tell me what to do, coz I didn't ask for it.

I don't need you to tell me what I did wrong, coz I already realized it.

I just need a pair of ears...

I just need a shoulder to lean on.

So please, shut up and listen to me.

Where am I in the Income Bracket (really...where do I belong)

2010-03-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

Every now and then, I'd fill out a survey. Maybe I just signed up for some membership, maybe it's required by some agency. There's one question that always got me thinking, and since now is Tax season, it got me thinking even more.

So, in the question, where they ask you about the household income, there're usually 4 categories:
A) below $50,000 (or something like that)
B) $50,000 to $75,000
C) $75,000 to $150,000
D) $150,000 or above

When I was a student, I would resentfully check (A), and imagine how nice it'd be if I can check the better options. As I graduate, and start earning REAL money, every time I fill out my choice, I'd think about how far I am from the top of the bracket, and subsequently when I'll move into the bottom of another bracket.

Then the Great Reccession started, and people started losing jobs, and cutting back on spending. I suddenly learned that, my tiny paycheck that comes with mediocre raises (as compared to those Wall Street giants, otherwise I really shouldn't be complaining much, since I still have a job and still receive a raise) is suddenly the top 50% earning group of the entire population.

Seriously?! Do I even look remotely like someone who earns more than half of the population? (BTW, to be qualified, you can be sitting very comfortably in the choice (A) in the questionnaire above) I live in one of the highest taxed state, with one of the highest unemployment rate, with the poorest government (who doesn't know how to manage money, yet tax us so much) that is on the edge of going bankrupt! On top of that, I live in one of the biggest metro area in the country, where $700 can't even get you a decent room, and forget about living alone if you're not willing to sacrifice more than half of your monthly paycheck to pay rent.

Seriously! Is that a life my income would bring? I guess just not in California. My girlfriend who live comfortably in the state of Illinois, told me that she gets a luxury 1 bedroom (or maybe 2 bedrooms) apartment, the best complex in town, with gym and everything: $700 with change. She also happens to be able to save more than me too, since she's not being taxed almost 10% every time she decides to go shopping. (just to name a few)

Now I wonder....why I can't get out of this state?

p.s. if you're interested, here's a link to the article.

New Ski Season

2010-01-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

To motivate myself to become better at skiing (and to satisfy my need to spend money), I bought a pair of skis and poles.

Unlike my clueless ski boot purchase, I asked many of my co-workers before clicking on the "submit" button. I bought another Rossignol product too, in addition to my boots. Interestingly, they're both blue, so everyone on the slope has been complimenting my skis.

Maybe it's just psychological, but I found myself performing better this time with my own skis than last time. My beloved Voodoo did got her first scratch thanks to some rude careless skier who ran into me while I was standing on the slope. (I still cannot forgive him, especially the fact that he doesn't seem to care about the fact that he RAN into a stationary object! He also left my nice shiny ski with scratches and plastic threads peeling off)

Oh well....I guess there is always a first time. I need to examine my skis though, I haven't taken a look at them since my trip, as I had a minor accident where I hurt my right hand wrist.

No skiing for now, but I sure will come back.

When Southern California Got Too Much Rain

2010-01-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

On not being able to make it to work.

We've been getting a lot of rain lately. Not just drizzles, but pours, as if some one kicked a bucket full of water.

Monday, 6:30am I got up and start getting ready

7:05am, as I was cooking my oatmeal on my gas stove, the kitchen light suddenly went out

7:10am, the light came back briefly and went out again

7:15am, the light came back again, but in a weird way: a 100W light bulb is only illuminating the brightness of a 25W one

I decided to eat breakfast in the dark, as my flash light decided to the battery is too weak to make it working

7:25am, I tried to study my water heater in the dark, using my cell phone as a flash light. I decided to take a chance and take a shower, hoping the warm water stored in the heater before power went out was sufficient.

7:30am, after a quick shower, I quickly got ready and was ready to leave the house. Everywhere was dark.

7:35am, I stood in front of the garage door, clicking on the remote, but there was no response.

7:40am, I went upstairs and knocked on the door of the apartment manager.

7:50am, the apartment manager couldn't open the garage door as well. It just so happened, it was a public holiday too (and my company happen to not observe this one), so he has to call the emergency line of the landlord to get some help.

I texted my manager, and said I couldn't come to work because I couldn't get my car out of the garage.

My manager's reply, 'Sorry to laugh, but LOL. Just get in when you can'

8:10am, the apartment manager returned, and said the emergency person would come in about an hour to unlock the garage door for us

I went back to my dark apartment, and decided to go to bed. There's nothing else to do anyways: I had limited cell phone battery left, there was no internet, no heater, no nothing.

10:xx am, I woke up, and the garage door was open. So I finally left for work.

10:xx am, as I drove out of the garage, I found one side of the street with lights still on, and the other side completely dark. Then I drove a bit further, and found a lot of service vans and trucks lined up. A tree had apparently fell down and knocked down a power line.

I got to work, and realized I forgot to bring my cell phone.

6:05pm, I got home. The power was still out.

To cope with the situation, and avoid smell like a pig the next day going to work. I decided to go to the gym, and use the gym shower instead.

Zagat Airline Rating

2009-11-24T23:26:00.000-08:00

Zagat Survey

I doubt anyone would be surprised to find out that consumers in the US are not very happy with their own carriers.After reading some of the outtakes, I can't help but laughing.

Here's the list. I hope you'd enjoy it as much as I did.

Look elsewhere unless Sully is your captain.

Treats occasional fliers like dirt, and treats frequent fliers like a better class of dirt.

Basks in its adequacy.

You have a better chance winning the lottery than trading in your miles for a flight.

The only strongpoint is their website...because it is not human.

Old worn-out birds staffed with old worn-out birds.

Lining up to board, I couldn't tell if I was at the DMV or the draft board.

I expected a coin slot for the toilet.

Spectacularly unspectacular.

Another contender for the highly prized 'Passengers Come Last' award.

Asked why we didn't have blankets, the steward said, 'so they could give the executives bonuses.'

The miracle airline…23 wheelchair passengers pre-boarded but only four need them after landing.

If there was any less legroom, I’d have to check my legs.

Watched the seagulls out the window passing us.

Are the seats smaller, or my seat bigger?

The planes are so old the only entertainment is people praying.

At least you don’t have to pay extra to have your luggage delayed.

The way they have synthesized all the bad things about airline travel is practically performance art.

At least cattle are put out of their misery at the end of their trip.

For peanuts and nothing but peanuts, this is your airline.

They still serve bad airline food, so retro!

You're never #1, but at least you know it from the start.

Cabin staff has been on duty since Sherman sacked Atlanta.

Didn't know that candy bars qualified as a meal.

Mean people like working here.

Should I have to pay extra for my knees?

The new first-class food is the old economy-class food.

Planes are younger than the crew.

The seat space makes an MRI seem spacious.

Death of a Marine -- Truth about the war

2009-09-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

As we mark the coming of the 9/11 anniversary, I can't help but think about the war this government is still fighting out in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Being a foreigner who just barely arrived in the country, I was sitting in front of the TV eating breakfast, watching people running for their lives in the middle of NYC. At the moment, I thought Arnold was making another movie, but wondered why it's covered by CNN. Only hours later, I found out, it's 9/11.

Shortly after that, Bush declared war on terrorism, and we started this painful "Vietnam War #2". Every once a while, we get a coverage of young soldiers who lost their lives overseas, and never come back home to their beloved family. But it never gets personal, and never gets me thinking much.

A while back, AP covered a story about a Marine who died in mission in Afghanistan. The journalist embedded documented the short period of time that transformed his life. One of the pictures, was him laying on the ground suffering, while two of his comrades trying to help him.

Apparently, this picture has gotten a lot of controversy. On one side, we have the pentagon and the family begging AP not to publish the photo; on the other side, we have the journalists, some of the military, and liberals argue that: this is war! There's nothing pretty about it, and people in this country needs to get educated about the consequences of wars.

Personally, I don't understand why there's such a big fight over this between AP and Pentagon, the picture wasn't that great to be published nor was the story. I read the story, it isn't that great. Though, the NY Times' blog covering the photo's author, Julie Jacobson's diary actually tells a much better story, and made a very compelling case of why this picture is so valuable to the whole story. I think she wrote a much better diary than coverage story.

War is ugly. It's unfortunately a very horrible chess game played with real human, and by horrible players. It is a sad truth that many times, these young men died unnecessarily, because of some politicians' poor judgment. As someone who come from a country/ethnicity that suffered a lot in the last century, I can say for sure that war is not an answer to everything.

Think about all those wars/battles fought after WWII, how many of them were well fought, well received? Yes, it all started with a great mission: to save the locals from XXXXX. But did the local really appreciate what was done? Not really. It's not the case in Korea, it's definitely not the case in Vietnam, not to mention Serbia. Yet, we suffered great losses. Family lost their dear ones for good, for a "good cause".

Then fast-forward to x years/months later. The enemies in the wars start talking, and all in a sudden, it seems like: all that was suffered during the war is down the drain, and doesn't matter anymore. The dear price paid by all those family who lost their beloved ones seem to go to waste.

An ancient Chinese scholar once said, "there's no 'friends-for-ever', and there's no 'enemies-for-ever'". Losing a life over an temporary "enemy" is so not worth it.

What Happens When the State is About to Bankrupt?

2009-08-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Being a resident in California, you know, I know, we're not the best drivers in the universe. We'd drive at 75mph (limit 65mph), making illegal U-turns, turning into the wrong lane, rolling stop at a STOP sign, not yield to fire trucks etc, just to name a few common minor offenses. On the other hand, how often were we caught in act? Not very often. (Maybe just those days of the month, when the road is all in a sudden full of cops)

So when I was driving the other day, 6:30am on a weekend, and noticed 2 highway patrol car passed me (within 5 min), I was SHOCKED! One of them apparently just came back onto the freeway after ticketing someone, and immediately the lights went on and went after a Hummer H3. I quickly glanced at my speedometer, thank goodness, I'm only at 70mph. Plus I'm driving a very understated car, just blends right into the background; unlike that Hummer, the brand new silverish hue is probably shouting "ticket me! ticket me!".

Then couple days ago, I was coming home from Thousand Oaks. I took a detour and went for a less "popular" freeway to go home. The road was pretty empty, and I was talking to my mom while driving. Then I looked to my left, and noticed a CHP right by my side. My first reaction is to glance and check my speed. Lucky me! I was at 65mph again. I guess I was talking to my mom, so I just drive slower than normal. Anyways, the cop passed me, and went on and hunt for other preys. 10 minutes later, in the middle of a valley, the car in front of me suddenly hit the brake. I whined and hit the brake as well, only to realize in 2 min, a cop was on the shoulder and ticketing someone.

I guess.....with the states now starving for money, these cops are just fishing for the easy money...afterall, it seems like they can catch someone doing something wrong almost every 10 minutes.

A quote from Elenor Roosevelt

2009-07-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

Many people will walk in and out of your life,
But only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
To handle yourself, use your head;
To handle others, use your heart.

Anger is only one letter short of danger.
If someone betrays you once, it is his fault;
If he betrays you twice, it is your fault.
Great minds discuss ideas;
Average minds discuss events;
Small minds discuss people.
He who loses money, loses much;
He, who loses a friend, loses much more;
He, who loses faith, loses all.
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,
But beautiful old people are works of art.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

Friends, you and me….
You brought another friend….
And then there were three.
We started our group….
Our circle of friends….
And like that circle….
There is no beginning or end..
Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is mystery.
Today is a gift.

Is It Worth It?!

2009-07-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

I did a charity bake sale at work couple weeks back. I baked cookies, I also asked my co-workers to donate delicious sweets to raise money.

One of the manager's wife donated a bunch of panna cotta (per my request...hahaha....she's very famous for her dessert). At the sale, I maked it $3 a piece.

Stranger 1: What's this?!

Helper 1: It's panna cotta, we have different toppings. $3 a piece.

Stranger 1: What?! $3 for such a small cup, while the cookies are $1 a piece? It's so expensive.

(Stranger 1 walked away with cookies. )

Later, Stranger 2, 3...etc all walked away with something else, commenting panna cotta is too expensive.

Helper 1: The panna cotta is not selling. Should we lower the price?

Helper 2: Yeah, $3 items on bake sale is a bit expensive, no?

Me: But it's panna cotta!! It's so pretty!! Hm....I wonder how it taste like, I can't even describe it to people. Let me try one.

(I grabbed a mango toppinged panna cotta and start digging in)

Helper 3: But then we'll have one less to sell, if you just start eating like this.

Me: Just put it on my tab! Then we won't be wasting food.

(Several bites later)

Me: Oh...this is SOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!! It's really creamy...and the mango is a little bit tangy and sweet at the same time. Anyone wanna try it?

(The cup was passed around, and many helpers had a bit too)

Me: It's too good to mark the price lower.

Helper X: Yeah...I agree. We should have this at a higher price range. Otherwise it's not fair for this delicious and pretty dessert.

Me: Worst come to worst, we now all know that it's really good. We can just buy them ourselves and take them home.

Helper X: I'd totally buy everything.

Me: I have a feeling that you won't take it home, hahaha.....

A little bit later, some more people stopped by and started asking questions about what we have.

Stranger x: What's this? (pointing at panna cotta)

Me: Oh this is called panna cotta, it's an Italian dessert, like a cream pudding. It's very creamy and silky. We have 3 different types of toppings here: XX, YY, and mango. They are all very good.

Stranger x: Yeah, they look really pretty.

Me: Of course! They're not only pretty and delicious too. They're $3 each. They're kinda expensive, but think of it this way, these are high end dessert made from scratch. If you go to those really fancy bakeries, they'll charge you at least $5 each. Here, we only charge you $3, which is steep discount. Plus, all your money goes to charity, for a very meaningful cause. You should try it.

Stranger x: Hm....really?! Are they that expensive?

Me: Trust me. These are not cheap. Just look at the presentation, it's so nice. I just bought one myself, and I really loved it. In fact, a few of our helpers tried it, and bought some already. It's very smooth, and creamy. The topping has a nice contrast to the creamy flavor, and gives a very refreshing note.

Stranger x: You made it sound so delicious. Okay, let me try it, and see if it's as good as you described.

Me: Hey! I mean it. And I can guarantee that you'll come back and want more.

(Stranger X walked away with a mango topping panna cotta)

Before long, more people are convinced that the $3 panna cotta is a very good bargain, and started buying multiples of panna cotta.

Some of the earlier crowd came back.

Me: Did you like the panna cotta?

Stranger Y: Oh yeah....it's just as you described. Do you have more?

Me: Sorry, it's all sold out now.

Stranger Y: That fast? With a $3 price-tag?!

Me: It's really delicious, and it's still a bargain compare to the out-side bakery. Of course people will start buying as many as they can.

Stranger Y: Okay....next time then....I won't only buy one.

Me: Yeah....next time you should trust what I tell you.

(After the bake sale, the manager called me to ask how it went)

Manager: So did you sell them all?

Me: Yeah, of course. Yours were among the first to be sold out.

Manager: Yeah? How much did you charge?

Me: $3 a piece

Manager: What?! And you sold them all?!

Me: Yeah...every single one of them.

Manager: I was expecting you to tell them for like $1.50 or something like that

Me: Hehehe...we sold every single one of them for $3 each

Manager: I need to tell my wife. We can't believe you can market it for so much.

Me: It's really delicious, isn't it?! Of course it's worth more. By the way, thanks for the donation. We made more than $500 in 2 hours, and we sold every single piece we have.

Manager: No problem. Good job.

(Couple days later, I ran into the manager again)

Manager: I told my wife, and she cannot believe you charged so much and people actually bought them all either.

Me: Hahaha....you should tell her to sell it for this much should she decided to ever start her own dessert business

Manager: Yeah...now you have totally got her thinking

Is the panna cotta worth $3?!

Well, it all depends on how you look at it.

If you look at it as the regular cream pudding you find in grocery market isles, then most likely, it's not worth the $3 I charged.

On the other hand, I marketed those panna cotta as a discounted high-end dessert. I know, perfectly well, that this is probably a little bit too expensive. But with a catchy exotic name of panna cotta (Italian), it already gives off the impression of being something very special.

With the persuasion of a good sales person (i.e. Me! =p), many of the buyer truly agree that this is indeed a high-end dessert at bargain price.

p.s. For the bake sale, I actually raised $602 for American Cancer Society, thanks to everyone's generous support and donation. I'm very happy that things turned out so well. I even got people telling me that they'll totally help out for the next charity bake sale. =D

I Got Carded, and Rejected at the Door

2009-06-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

~I AM ABOVE 21!!!~

And NO, I did not use any fake ID or what-so-ever.

I simply.....forgot to bring my ID. Period.

Yes, that's exactly what happened to me today.

So the story goes, a friend of mine is leaving town, and moving to the Big Apple. I got invited for happy hour/dinner to say goodbye. As usual, I got stuck at work, and didn't leave until much later that I want to. By the time I rushed to the bar, I was already almost 2 hours late from the start of the "happy hour".

As I rush to the bar entrance, I was stopped by the bouncer (or whatever they are called), asking for ID. I was like...."sure." digging into my bag for my wallet. As I opened my wallet, I noticed that one of my credit cards is missing. My mind goes...."%$@! I probably don't have my ID with me"

Sure enough, the slot for my ID is occupied by a business card of a frozen yogurt place. I quickly dig through it, and my ID is nowhere to be found. I then remember I took my ID and credit card out during the weekend, because I didn't want to carry a heavy wallet around.

So I go..."Sorry, I think I forgot my ID"

Mr Bouncer: "Then sorry, I can't let you in without an ID"

Me: "Okay, I think I'll go back home and get it"

Mr Bouncer (laughing a bit): "Take your time, I'll be here when you come back"
(BTW Mr Bouncer, don't I look older than 21 to you?! I know I'm Asian, but I'm not THAT type of ageless Asian, right?)

I started walking away, and decided to call my friend, just to make sure that they haven't left (and won't leave any time soon)

The call went straight to the answering machine.

My mind: "Great....that's exactly what I need at this moment...the person I want to reach is not reachable"

I walked back, Mr Bouncer got all "in the working mode"

Me: "Uh....before I leave, can you check for me if my friend's party is actually here. I don't want to make a trip for nothing. My friend's name is XXXX"

Mr Bouncer nodded, and went inside to check. As I was peeking through the narrow alley of where he went, I saw a girl (back facing me) sort of look like my friend. BUT, Mr Bouncer passed her, and went into another room.

My mind: "Hm.....what is he doing? There's a big group right in front of him. Why he didn't ask them?"

Couple minutes later (which seemed like forever, and I look so lame standing in front of a bar and cannot go in), he came back.

Mr Bouncer: "Nope, We didn't have any reservation made under your friend's name"

Me: "But.....I think I just saw her right there....."

Mr Bouncer: "You can come inside if you want, and I can look for her with you. I just can't let you stay"

So me and my "bodyguard" -- Mr Bouncer entered the place. Sure enough, that girl that I suspect being my friend, is whom I'm looking for. She got all excited that I was able to make it, only to find out seconds after that I can't stay stay due to ID issues.

My friend to Mr Bouncer: "But we're all over 21, and legal."

Me: "Yeah, I'm way past that border line underage look, right?"

Mr Bouncer: "But I can't admit you without proof."

My friend: "But we're not even drinking now anymore, and we promise we won't drink"

Mr Bouncer shaked his head

Me: "Fine...I'll go home and get my ID."

I said goodbye to everyone at the table, walked out with my "bodyguard", and went home to find my ID.

When I got back with the ID, Mr Bouncer just skimmed it, and let me in.

All that trouble for almost nothing!!!

p.s. But I'm very glad that I didn't get into any trouble today. I drove without an ID to and from work, 25 miles!!

Work Life Balance

2009-05-21T23:40:00.001-07:00

So last week, I had my annual check up. As I was sitting across the room from my doctor, getting ready for the close up, I casually mentioned that I have sleeping problems. Soon enough, she concluded that it's because I'm too stressed out from work. She also added that, loyalty to company these days doesn't really pay off as well anymore, as it's like a marriage without a pre-nup. In conclusion, I decided that I need to love myself more.

Today, for the first time in my career, I visited Costco during my work hours.

And it feels pretty good to be a slacker.

Only I don't how I'd feel when the deadline hits me.

The Honeymoon Period

2009-04-27T19:52:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my honeymoon period for my new job only lasted me 6 months. I thought I'm getting into something that I truly want to pursue as a career, but now I'm not sure anymore.

Etiqutte / Deal Breakers

2009-03-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

I usually set Yahoo as my home page, and occasionally, it'll give me some interesting articles. So, I run across this article about etiquette, although it has nothing to do about dates, I can't help but to list some of my deal breakers.

Eating with your hand/fingers
I can understand if you are eating pizza, or wings etc. But...during proper dinner, using your fingers to help your fork to pick up food? HELLO?! Aren't we pass stone age already?

The utensils are there for a reason, and please make good use of them. If you can't properly handle a plate of food, I can't help but put you on the "black list" for my parties.
No RSVP
Yes, I understand sometimes some invitation just doesn't sound that interesting. But...please man it up, and tell me that you aren't coming. I'm old enough to handle that. Plus, if you play the silence game, I will still get the message, and remove you from future invitee list. To make it worse, because of the silence game, I'll drop you faster than you think.

We're all busy people, and I want to be able to turn to my backup plan. The sooner you tell me, the sooner I can attend to my Plan B, and the less mad I'll be with you. Let's just get over it, and move on!
Non-chevalier behaviors (for guys)
I am no sexist, and I won't expect that there's true equalities between the two sexes. We can work for a relative equality, but I just don't believe that we can ever replace each other. Men and Women are just not built the same way.

As a result, I'll be more than happy if a guy opens the door for me, and I think it's very considerate if a guy walks me to my car/home. I think it's just simply being considerate, instead of "not trusting my ability for self-protection".

Hm....sorry for the bitterness, but I'm really tired of all these already.

Black Friday

2008-11-28T14:14:00.000-08:00

Despite it's a Black Friday, and things are "supposed" to be in steep discount, so far I haven't bought much at all. The main reason is of course because the economy is not the best, and I've come to realize that the deals really aren't that good anyways for most stuff.

If it weren't that my friend wanted to go to Dick's to buy her expensive elliptical machine, I wouldn't even get this pair of ski boots. I had to wait for her, and started wandering around. I mean....gym machines just don't look too attractive to me. So I decided to check out some ski equipment, as I've been very into skiing ever since my last year's first trial and season is almost around the corner by now. I don't plan on buying the skis, as I don't think I've decided what I want. But I definitely don't want to keep on wearing the rental boots that's heavy, and god knows how badly other people sweat in them.

The salesperson was very nice, and since it's freaking 5am in the morning, there aren't so many customers around anyways. So he took the time and explained to me what I need to look for in a boot etc, and tell me about the different models. At first I was going to buy boots on line, but then I was like....I need to try the models first before I know which ones to order. The next thing I know, I liked my boots a lot, and because he's so helpful I felt bad if I don't do business with him. In the end, when he asked me if I want to buy it, I was like...."I really like it, but my decision depends on how big of a deal you can do." So he went to the manager, and we convinced the manager to give me a 20% off.

Gosh.....I still can't believe I just paid ~$240 (tax included, I have my 8.25% tax, should've went to OC to buy and pay 7.75% only) for sports gear. I mean...more than $200 for a pair of boots...Ouch! But then...when it comes to tech gear, I have to admit, you get what you paid for. All these years, my more expensive quality tech gears have all paid off themselves very well. For example, my GORE-TEX hiking boots, they lasted me a good 12 years before they finally decided they don't do water-proof anymore. Then, there's my friend, who kept telling me, it's a extremely good deal for a current year model.

After we got home,

my friend: "Which brand and model did you buy? Let's check and see if there's a better deal on internet."

me: "Uh....I donno....I don't know what I got"

my friend: "WHAT?! Baby! You just spend more than 200 bucks on something you don't know what you got out?!!!! Is it Solomon?"

me: "I wasn't paying attention to the brand name. Is it Progressive? Definitely not Solomon. I know Solomon. Let me check their website, and find it out."

my friend: "Yeah...it's bad that you really don't even know what you got."

me: "Man! I thought you were there, and you'd know better!"

my friend: "But I snowboard, I don't ski!"

A few minutes later, as it turned out Dick's Sporting Goods' online store doesn't even have the one I have. I then venture to REI, and finally saw the brand that sounds familiar, and start checking out the brand's website.

me: "It's Rossignol! I had the Xena X8!"

my friend: "Really?! They are good brand. Man, you have expensive taste! Even without knowing, you still picked the good ones."

me: "Sorry..."

Update

2008-11-27T08:48:00.001-08:00

It's been such a long time since my last post, many things have happened.

I changed job, so I no longer get paid to stay up the whole night
I finally got my social life back again, that I can hang out with friends now
I spend awfully lot of time in the kitchen experimenting new dessert from cook books...

Now it's almost the end of the year already...time really flies....

My "Freshmen Fifteen"

2008-10-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

My "freshmen fifteen" turned out to be more like "freshmen twenty five", I just ballooned into this "giant monster". Don't start screaming, this is by Asian standard. I look perfectly fine in the eyes of a Midwesterner. So my friend and I would feel so great, and keep on munching when we were in Wisconsin, and keep on wearing clothes that show off our fat arm -- until we went back to Hong Kong. I still remember, the first few days in Hong Kong, as I was still in my Wisconsin mode, I'd go out in the same old clothes, and then I'd be on the subway, and be totally in the mode of digging a hole on the ground for hideout. Girls in Hong Kong are just really really skinny (maybe should say the entire Asia, almost), and my Wisconsin-standard body definitely seem enormous. Even my high school teacher, when he first saw me after I went abroad, he was shocked by my weight gain. (That just proves that my freshmen twenty five was a sad reality)

Of course, despite my many "claims" to be on diet, which I really wasn't; my love for ice cream, and the proximity that I had to our student union ice cream shop, made my "claims" to be unsuccessful. Bottom line...i simply never went on a diet, I was lucky enough that my freshmen twenty five didn't become senior thirty five.

Then comes my SoCal time, the abundance of great Asian food finally made my diet back to normal of eating healthy and eating right. But I wasn't eating in, I was eating out all the time. So the "freshmen twenty five" continued....and continued.....until I started my night shift.

Apparently, for me at least, I have no appetite when I'm on night shift. I often just pass out when I get home and sleep till late afternoon, more than 12 hours after my last meal. My body is so tired that I just eat a little bit and go to work again. So after 2 months of working graveyard shift, my pants starts to get loose. Now after several graveyard shifts that I have worked, I've finally lost majority of my "freshmen twenty five".

Only 6 years later.....

On Money

2008-09-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

I know, I know....the economy is really bad now. Why I'd be writing an entry to remind everybody how bad the situation is?

Well...honestly this entry isn't really about that...it's more just sharing of some of my thoughts about how to handle money during this difficult time, given that some of my friends have found it quite useful.

Well...I have to say, growing up in a city which is one of the world's financial centers has been really important, in a sense that I can see the market in a more rational way. Maybe because of all the crisis that I've witnessed, I really don't like spending days and nights worrying about my stocks in the market, or my option that's due soon. I simply want to have a good night sleep, no matter what kind of market I'm in.

Here are my 2 cents on money:

Always invest with your own money!

I don't care how much potential profits that you can make out of the borrowed money. As long as you are not a pro, and you don't do this for full-time, it's not worth the stress and the good-night sleeps.

During the financial crisis Hong Kong went through, during late 90s, many filed for bankruptcy or even committed suicide because they can no longer afford to pay back the loan they took out for buying more stock.

On the other hand, had this been your own money...you'll just write it off your little balance book, and (given that these are good quality stocks) wait for the stock to be good again. You might be unhappy that you are losing money, but you'll never be desperate.
Pay yourself FIRST!

This is a lesson I learned from the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". It is probably the only one, unfortunately, just to show how "useless" these books are.

By definition, "pay yourself first", means when your paycheck comes in to your checking account, before you pay any bill or spend any money at all, you set aside a fixed amount of money as saving, and that's the end of it.

By doing so, you'll effectively limits the amount of money that you'll end up spending for the month, because you've essentially created this psychology where you "think" you don't have that much to spend. Plus, most of the time, if it's out of sight, it's out of mind.

I've always been amazed of how much I've managed to save through this little trick. I usually set my savings account to be some bank that's different from my checking account bank, so that I will be less likely to dip into the account (again....out of sight!). So when I occasionally (like once every 4-5 months) check my savings account balance, I'm usually very surprised. Did I starve myself by saving so much? NO! Did I had a hard time to not touch that account? Not really....

So the conclusion is that, if you don't let yourself have access to as much money, then you'll end up saving more. Don't worry about starving, you'll do just fine! Afterall, you survived just as well before your last raise or promotion anyways.
Diversify your investment

No matter which language you speak, which cultural background you come from, most likely you'll have a saying similar to this: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". In Chinese, we say something similar to "Don't hang yourself on one tree". Oh well, let's not go into too much details of how horrible that metaphor is etc...but the old wisdoms have a very good lesson to teach: the importance of diversifying!

Given that the economy is doing so badly in the past (almost) 12 months, there are actually some industries that were out-performing the market. Namely, the oil industry (marked by their record revenue, and the price tag we pay at the pumps), and the biotech industries. Of course, had you bought financial industry stocks, you'd be mopping your tears secretly. (Okay, just to make you feel better, I bought an index fund for financial industry a little more than a year ago, and it's now only less than 50% of the price I paid)

On the other hand, there're good reasons why certain industries are still doing so well. Given the price we pay at the pump, of course, that means the big oil companies will be having a chunk of our $4.50 per gallon price tag. Its investors get another bite too. Also, for biotech industry, yeah, the economy is bad.....but that doesn't stop people from getting sick (knock on the wood)...so of course they are still seeing strong sales. Afterall, for diseases we have today getting more and more complicated, the medical bills are only gonna go up, because of all the research that one company has to go through in order to release one drug to the market. Plus, all these documentation pain that we have to go through, someone will need to pay for it. It ain't gonna be me! Though I'm already giving the company a steep discount by working no-pay overtime.

Well...well....well....these are just some of my thoughts. Of course I don't think it'll be as good as many of those given out by those famous columnist. But it's a tried and working one, from my own experience. Maybe that'll give it a little bit more credibility.

How Daring am I When It Comes to Food?

2008-09-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

I found this when I was surfing Vigo Baby's blog. It's really quite entertaining, and I decided to do my own list as well to document my culinary adventure.

Here are the rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (items will be "painted")
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

Venison
Nettle tea
Huevos rancheros
Steak tartare
Crocodile
- It actually taste quite good, surprisingly
Black pudding
- I have to say, I'm not a big fan of it.
Cheese fondue - I think chocolate fondue is better
Carp
Borscht
Baba ghanoush
- It's very delicious!!! I think I finished the whole big bowl in one sitting.
Calamari
-I doubt anyone in the US and been to an Italian restaurant haven't tried this
Pho
- What can I say, it's SOOOOOOO good!!!
PB&J sandwich
Aloo gobi
Hot dog from a street cart
- Yes, sometimes street food tastes better, maybe because of all the dusts that I've eaten
Epoisses
Black truffle
Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
Steamed pork buns
- Esp barbecue pork buns are super good!!
Pistachio ice cream
Heirloom tomatoes
Fresh wild berries
Foie gras
- it is SOOOOO goood!!
Rice and beans
Brawn, or head cheese
Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
Dulce de leche
- It is really good, esp with latte
Oysters
- The best is from France, enjoyed with its own sea water and a little bit of lemon
Baklava - My only complaint?! It's too sweet and sticky on my teeth, other than that, it's fantastic!
Bagna cauda
Wasabi peas
- It's actually very good, despite how it may sound. I even got some of my American co-workers to like it.
Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl - a San Francisco classique! Though I have to say, it's hard to come across the perfect soup with the perfect sourdough
Salted lassi
-I'm a big fan of mango lassi, but I have to confess, I did not try salted ones yet
Sauerkraut
- Tastes exceptionally good in the dish choucroute
Root beer float
- I don't like root beer, for its disgusting medicine taste. But root beer float actually tastes like coffee, in a good way
Cognac with a fat cigar
Clotted cream tea
Vodka jelly/Jell-O
- I once had one box lying around in my apartment, but I actually never tried it.
Gumbo
Oxtail
Curried goat
Whole insects
- I can't stand even the thought of it!
Phaal
Goat’s milk
Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
Fugu
- Uh.....I should be grateful that I'm still alive. As for the taste, it's okay.....
Chicken tikka masala
Eel
- Freshwater or seawater, I like them all!
Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
- Can't say I like it though, all I can taste is the sugar.
Sea urchin
- this thing should not be cooked!! It tastes so wonderful when raw!!
Prickly pear
Umeboshi
- If you want to save money, then this is a good one to have in pantry. I can finish a big bowl of rice with just a little bit of it.
Abalone
- Guess it's a staple item in Chinese cooking. It tastes great of course!
Paneer
- Thanks to my Indian co-workers, I now know what it is
McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - Yes, I had it before, when I was still too young to know how hard it is to lose weight.
Spaetzle
Dirty gin martini
Beer above 8% ABV
- I don't like beer. Do you think I'll like it more, just because it has more alcohol content?
Poutine
Carob chips
S’mores
- It's absolutely a must-have for any BBQ event!
Sweetbreads
Kaolin
Currywurst
Durian
Frogs’ legs
- If you get past the fact that it comes from some cold-blooded animal, it actually tastes like chicken
Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
- My poor waistline....that's all I can say
Haggis
Fried plantain
- Taste surprisingly different from banana, despite the similar look of them.
Chitterlings, or andouillette
Gazpacho
Caviar and blini
Louche absinthe
Gjetost, or brunost
Roadkill
- Just FYI, in Wisconsin, there's a law stating that, the first car that killed the deer may not take it; But the following car can take it. (A typical Chinese response to it: Then people should travel in groups of cars -_-| )
Baijiu
- It's really not very enjoyable experience. Not sure why people love it so much
Hostess Fruit Pie
Snail
- Another great tasting food, as long as you don't try to remember how it looks like when it's still alive =p
Lapsang souchong
Bellini
Tom yum
- SPICY!!!!! HOT!!! HOT!! HOT!!!
Eggs Benedict
- Don't stare at me! It just never crossed my mind to order it.
Pocky
- Chocolate, strawberry, and chocolate coated with almond are my all time favorite.
Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
- Anyone volunteering footing the bill?! Anyone?!
Kobe beef
Hare
Goulash
Flowers
Horse
Criollo chocolate
Spam
- It's soooo good with instant noodle and fried egg. It's like a all time tea-time favorite in Hong Kong
Soft shell crab
- No matter it is Japanese style, or Thai....as long as it's deep fried, it's GOOD!!!
Rose harissa
Catfish
Mole poblano
Bagel and lox
Lobster Thermidor
- Cantonese restaurant offers it too, surprisingly
Polenta
- For a while, my mom used to make it for breakfast. I have to admit, I'm a born Shanghaiese -- I NEED RICE!!!!
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
Snake
- Don't give me that weird look, it actually tastes good. Especially when it's deep fried and dusted with chili, pepper, and salt.

Result: I have tried 44 items!!! (Not bad, not bad! I thought I'd do worse)

Les Miserables at Hollywood Bowl

2008-08-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Although I alway say I like NorCal better than SoCal in general, there's one thing that here in SoCal (esp Los Angeles) definitely has better to offer -- the Hollywood Bowl!

For those who aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, Hollywood Bowl is a outdoor venue that's only open to public in the summer, where the LA Philharmonic Orchestra perform (almost) every night rain or shine. The event is very affordable, and offers some of the best performers in the world. They also offer a wide variety of performances, from pop to classical to jazz to movie musics etc. For residents in SoCal, it's like a tradition that everybody looks forward to in the summer, the famous picnic and the performances. (Yeah...they allow you to bring food and alcohol to the venue, so we always have wine while we are enjoying the shows)

At first when I saw the concert for Les Miserables, I thought it's just a concert of the songs featured in the musical, as the title clearly stated "Les Misérables In Concert". Though I was more interested in watching the whole musical, I figured if it were a concert of the best songs in it, why not?

I was SURPRISED (in a very good way). They actually performed the WHOLE musical, with some of the best performers in the industry!!! Of course, with the LA Phil doing the music part, it's even better than seeing the actual musical on Broadway. How often do you get the world class orchestra performing for a musical, on top of top performers in the industry to sing for you?

In conclusion? This is an excellent concert, and an excellent performance delivered.

p.s. If you ever visit LA during the summer, you should definitely arrange to see one of these concerts. You will not be disappointed.

How I Know I'm a Californian.....

2008-08-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

The moment of truth -- I realized I'm a Californian when

Driving:
1. I consider driving for 15min on Freeway for grocery shopping is a short trip

2. I almost want to honk at people, when less than 2 cars turned left when light turned red

3. I consider speed limit (anywhere) is for reference only. On freeway, the left most lane should be for people driving 80+ mph, middle lane should be for people driving 10 mph above speed limit, and only right lane is for people who drive the speed limit.

4. I speed up when I see the light turns yellow

5. I almost mastered the art of parallel parking, and get it done beautifully in one shot

6. I can drive at least 55mph on a curly hilly road, and not even blinking my eyes or get scared. In fact, the only reason I'm driving 55, is because the car in front of me.

7. I don't have a heart attack when I'm at the pump paying more than $4.50 a gallon, once a week. I've seen it coming for a while already.

8. I still consider a good day for driving 40mph on a 65mph speed limit busy freeway, at least it's not 5mph yet.

Living:
9. I will order a breakfast burrito for breakfast, a fish taco for lunch, and a vegetable quesadilla for dinner.

10. I can spot out Spanish names in the middle of a pile of English sentence and names, and pronounce them correctly. For example, Mission Viejo is Mission "Vieho" in pronunciation.

11. I layer my clothes, and I always have a jacket on hand. Just in case it gets too cold at night.

12. I don't take people's "let's hang out sometimes" seriously, unless they start talking about details of when and where and what to do.

13. I can tell which nationality/ethnic group people are from, from their last name and appearances.

14. I go to Hollywood Bowl every year, and I bring food and wine there to munch on.

15. The fact that I'm writing this, and summarizing this.....

Shaken

2008-07-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

Um, seriously I can't believe I just had my first encounter with earthquake yesterday.

I was at work, in Glendale, sitting in the control room trying to get things done. There were only 3 of us in the room, me and my partner staring at the computer, and the intern talking on the phone. I first felt my table was shaking, and screen started shaking too. I felt kinda weird, and try to reach for the screen to feel it. Then I heard the cabinets in the room started making noises, because their doors were opening and closing. Me and my partner turned around and looked at each other, not knowing what's going on. Then she reached over, and put her hand on me, rather puzzled.

Before we both realized anything, everything stopped. We looked at each other, kinda not knowing how to react, and then just focus back at work. Then our intern suddenly shouted, 'Was that an earthquake?!'

Oh yeah! EARTHQUAKE!! Now I remember. And my equally-earthquake-inexperienced partner was like, 'That was it?!'

The intern then got really excited, 'XXXX (put my name here) just experienced her first earthquake! How do you feel, XXXX?'

Me: 'Uh....it's okay.'

My partner: 'I thought it was the machine next door on the edge of breaking down.'

Me: 'But we were not running that machine at the time!'

My partner (scratch her head): 'Oh year, how come I didn't realize?'

Then the security made announcement in the inter-com and asked everybody to evacuate to open area immediately. We then realized, we were all just sitting around chatting as if nothing has happened.

p.s. I was fine, I am still fine, please don't worry. My apartment was fine too, all the pictures on the walls stayed put, and I was really glad and grateful about that. I hope everybody else was fine too.

SF Trip Day 2: Millennium Restaurant

2008-07-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

My friend is a vegetarian, I am a vegetable lover, and Millennium Restaurant is one of the best rated vegetarian (actually vegan) restaurant in the country. As a result, even though on a Friday night, there's no vacancy, and we have to eat at the bar, we still went for it!

The appetizer is a "pseudo fried calamari", deep fried oyster mushroom with specialty sauce.

Hm...what should I say about this dish.... I think texture wise, it does resemble calamari pretty well, and the sauteed shallots are really nice and sweet. The "specialty" sauce is so-so, me and my friend aren't too crazy about the wasabi sauce. Afterall, the sweetness of oyster mushroom does shine through the dish, but the deep fry is a bit too oily for both of us. In a sense, I think the deep fried mushroom sort of hindered the original flavor instead of highlight it.

For main dish, I order summer squash. It sure looks very summery and refreshing on the plate. The squash was very sweet and juicy, though I have to admit, the use of too much cream kind of cut out the freshness of the squash.

Then here's my friend's dish of lentils. It's very fall-feeling, with the dark color and the roulade. It's pretty tasty, just a bit out of season. =p

I know I know, so far I haven't given any good comments on them yet. I think the restaurant is trying to resemble a lot of the meat dishes, while I rather prefer the simple vegetable dish that show off the sweetness and freshness of the ingredient. Also, I'm Asian, where vegetarians are abundant in our culture, so I already have a stereotype of how things should go. My friend wasn't as disappointed as I was at all, in fact she enjoyed her dishes very well.

Overall, it's still a good restaurant with good deco and good service. Don't come in expecting the Asian style of cuisine, try compare it to the traditional western cooking, then you'd be much happier than I was.

Millennium Restaurant
580 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel: 415-345-3900
Fax: 415-345-3941

SF Trip Day 1 (Cont'd): Half Moon Bay

2008-07-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

I actually rented the cheapest car type on the menu, but luckily they gave me a Honda! I guess being a girl does come into playing in my favor, as the manager gave me a nice Civic, without any extra charge or even me asking for it =p He didn't tell me what he's giving me, just told me that I'll instead get a nicer car. I was actually more scared than happy when I got it, as "higher-end" cars = more gas. With gas price so expensive these days, I'd rather drive a crappy car, and save money on gas. It's not my car afterall anyways. But when I saw my "nicer car" is actually a Civic that I've been wanted to test drive for the longest time, I was really excited.

So here comes my nice little white Civic:

So after I finally got my car, I took my tour book out, and flipped through to find a destination. BTW, this is usually how I travel. I'd buy one of those very colorful tour books, and then based on the picture, distance, and time allowed, I pick where I'd go. At the time, it's already almost rush hour, I figured I should avoid 101 as much as possible, so that I don't spend 2 hours just hitting the brake, like how I'd be doing if I am in LA. Half Moon Bay then seem like a perfect location: I can take the 280 to get there, plus it's still very close to my friend's house in San Mateo, so I can take 19 to go back.

My good and faithful Garmin GPS did not disappoint me, of course I make sure that I have "fuel" for it the whole time. =p

I got to Half Moon Bay, a pretty little town, it seems so remote that it almost reminds me of my Wisconsin days. I got to the beach side, and found myself in front of a toll station. I didn't want to pay, afterall I'm from SoCal, where ocean is abundant, why should I pay for the view. =p

So as I talked to the toll service guy, he gave me a little pamphlet and directed me to a "better" view place 3 miles away. As it's a hand-drawn map, I then spend the next 5 minutes studying the map, and key the intersection into my GPS.

I arrived at a quiet little port/bay. It's very pretty and calm. I can see the nearby (probably expensive) houses overlooking the bay. There are people sitting around doing picnic, as well as walking their dogs.

On the side of the trail, there was a gigantic piece of wood. At first i didn't pay too much attention, but on my way back to my car, I realized it's actually carved with a picture on it. The bay is famous for having whales coming around from time to time, I think, so on the picture, there are all sorts of big and little whales. It's very cute.

Overall, I guess I live beside the ocean for too long already. With the gorgeous view Santa Monica, Malibu, or Santa Barbara have, it's hard to get me excited. But Half Moon Bay is still a very pretty place, I'd want to visit their town center next time during pumpkin harvest time. =)

And this marked the end of my touristy events, I then spend the rest of my trip behaving and doing activities like a local. =p

SF Trip Day 1: LAX + Delta Airline = Wait after Wait

2008-07-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

My flight from LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) to SFO (San Francisco International Airport) was around 11am. I had no check-in luggage, and I already checked in online using Delta Airline's website. The only thing I did not do, was that I did not print my boarding pass. I figured, I can always just get it printed at the kiosk, since they usually have those computers available for customers with carry-on only.

WRONG!!!!!

I got to the airport, 2 hours before my departure time, like how I should be. I walked around, and found out Delta Airline does not have that service for customers like me. Instead, I ended up lining up for almost 45 minutes, just to get through with all passengers who did not check-in online ahead of time, and have check-in luggage, I got my boarding pass printed out in 3 seconds eventually when it's finally my turn.

I figured, it's okay, "I still have 1 hour to clear security, and the line doesn't look that bad at all."

WRONG AGAIN!!!

What I didn't see, as all I saw was the short line leading to the person who check your ID, is that there's another line, starting from the entrance of the door leading all the way out side, to the curb, just to queue to get to that ID check point.

After 45 minutes, I'm not even at the ID check point yet. I only went from out side of the air-conditioned room, to the inside. I got anxious, and talked to people working at the airport, asking if I can move to the priority line reserved for First Class people, and I managed to go to that line instead.

Oh well....when it's the time of my flight's departure, I'm still lining up trying to X-ray my stuff. When I finally got to the gate (which happened to be the one closest after security), my flight was already in the air. %$#@#

I talked to the airline employee, and he re-booked me, on a flight 5 hours later. All the flights before that were fully booked. At this point, by the way, had I decided to drive up north instead of flying, I'd be somewhere in Carmel or Monterey already, only 2 hours away from my destination.

I begged the guy to help me look for earlier flight, and he ended up booking me for a flight to Oakland airport instead.

GREAT! Now I have a car rental waiting to be picked up at SFO, and I'm arriving on the other side of the Bay. I'll have to take BART all the way from East Bay and go to SFO to pick up my car, because that's my departing airport on the way back. Meanwhile, had I decided to drive up, I wouldn't even need a car rental, I'll have a car anyways.

So, after all the struggle, I finally picked up the car around 4pm. 4 hours later than my original scheduled arrival, and all exhausted and ready to yell at any executive at Delta Airline and LAX!

p.s. My trip was still very very pleasant despite all this happening. However, I think I won't fly with Delta Airline anymore, horrible company. United is so much better than them.

Alcoholic?!

2008-06-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

I admit, I went to a top 10 party school back in college, and now I'm surrounded by people who drinks (and drinks a lot!). Our jobs are so stressful that we always call for parties, and start drinking. (Don't worry, I haven't been drunk yet, and don't plan on getting drunk anytime soon)

I never thought, actually, probably the entire biotech industry is full of alcoholics!

So, I was in the Bay Area, hanging out with my friend. After our dinner (with wine), we decided that we'll get something to drink. In order to prevent us from crossing the bridge while under the influence, we decided to head to bars in Berkeley area. We went to this small bar, and the staffs are very friendly, and they make great drinks.

As our conversation goes, I found out she has never tried tequila before! So I insisted that she should try it at least once, and decide if she likes it. Afterall, in my opinion tequila has much more personality than vodka drinks. I told the bartender that it's gonna be my friend's first trial, and the bartender got really excited. (She is a very very cool person!) While I didn't take my shot fast enough, she poured us all another shot of her favorite tequila, and "demonstrated" the correct "speed" of shot taking. (Indeed, her tequila is really nice...though I now have completely forgotten the brand name)

The guy sitting next to my friend then become curious about the whole tequila thing, and started talking to us. He then mention that his company would do Friday happy hour, providing drinks and snacks, and a cab to fetch people home in case they are too drunk to drive. I was like.....despite the company paid for part, we do happy hour thing very often too! I asked him what he does, and as it turned out he's in the biotech industry. I immediately guessed which company he works for, and of course I was right.

We then started sharing stories of our crazy parties, drunk co-worker stories etc. It was a great fun conversation, and my friend was amazed by our craziness. (Apparently, her industry is totally not as "fun" as ours)

I came back, and was telling my co-workers about that interesting encounter. One of them made a remark, 'Oh well....alcohol is the only thing that can keep us sane here...If you don't drink, most likely you'd be very unhappy.'

Unfortunately....it's a very true remark.

p.s. How come the IT programmers aren't like that?!

The Accumulation of "Assets"

2008-06-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Amount of "Assets" I own:

First arrival in Madison, WI: 3 suitcases
1. study materials
2. clothes + 3 pair of shoes + 2 handbags
3. kitchen stuff: 2 bowls + 2 spoons + 2 pair of chopsticks + 1 rice cooker
4. random stuff

At the end of 1st semester: 3 suitcases + 1 laundry basket
1. clothes + 3 pair of shoes + 3 handbags
2. kitchen stuff: 1 pot + 1 pan + 5 bowls + 2 plates + 2 spoons + 2 pair of chopsticks + 1 rice cooker
3. study materials, textbooks, stationary
4. small furniture like table lamps
5. random stuff
6. Food

At the end of 1st year: 3 suitcases + 1 laundry basket + 5 boxes
1. clothes + >5 pair of shoes + 5 handbags
2. kitchen stuff: 2 pots + 1 pan + some china + 2 spoons + 2 pair of chopsticks + rice cooker + hand-held mixer + blender
3. study materials, textbooks, stationary
4. small furniture like table lamps
5. random stuff
6. Food

At the end of 2nd year: 3 suitcases + 1 laundry basket + 10 boxes
1. clothes + >5 pair of shoes + 5 handbags
2. kitchen stuff: 2 pots + 1 pan + some china + some silverware + 2 pair of chopsticks + rice cooker + hand-held mixer + blender + cookie sheets + slow cooker
3. study materials, textbooks, stationary
4. small furniture like table lamps + book shelf + small end table + floor lamp
5. random stuff
6. Food

At the end of 3rd year: 3 suitcases + 1 laundry basket + 15 boxes
1. clothes + >7 pair of shoes + 7 handbags
2. kitchen stuff: 2 pots + 1 pan + some china + some silverware + 10 pair of chopsticks + rice cooker + hand-held mixer + blender + cookie sheets + slow cooker + cake and loaf pans
3. study materials, textbooks, stationary
4. small furniture like table lamps + 2 book shelves + small end table + floor lamp
5. random stuff
6. Food

At the end of 4th year, move to Los Angeles, CA: 3 suitcases + 22 boxes (Stuff brought to LA)
1. clothes + >10 pair of shoes + >10 handbags
2. kitchen stuff: some china + some silverware + 10 pair of chopsticks + rice cooker + hand-held mixer + cookie sheets + cake and loaf pans etc
3. study materials, textbooks, stationary
4. random stuff
5. Food

Stuff gotten rid of in Madison, WI:
1. some shoes
2. all small furniture
3. kitchen stuff: slow cooker + blender etc
4. Food

At the end of 6th year: 3 suitcases + 35 boxes + 3 closet boxes + random containers
1. clothes + >20 pair of shoes + >15 handbags
2. kitchen stuff: some china + some silverware + 10 pair of chopsticks + rice cooker + hand-held mixer + cookie sheets + cake and loaf pans + ice cream maker etc
3. study materials, textbooks, stationary
4. furniture: mattress and box + bookshelf + study table + chair + end tables + printer + shoe rack + floor lamp
5. random stuff
6. Food

I haven't moved since, so I have yet to do an analysis of what I have now. I'm sure it'll be more than before, as now I have a job, I don't restrict myself as much when shopping.

Before the end of last year, I went through my closet roughly, and cleared out 2 big bags of clothes that I would definitely never wear again. I donated them to Goodwill. At the time, I was very hesitant of giving away items that were never worn (and has been there for more than 2 years).

This year, during one of those sleepless nights, I revisited my closet as it's getting over-crowded. I told myself that I'd set aside anything that I'll hesitate wearing out to the public. I tried on everything that I haven't worn for a while, or not work related. I went through my pile of handbags and shoes too. The result was amazing, and the charity bag was filled in hours.

Gosh....I think I should do this process more often, so that I don't end up need a whole truck to move next time.

Fiesta Shrimp Queso Dip

2008-06-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

Right before I started my graveyard shift this year, I decided to host a dinner party so that I can hang out with my friends, and say goodbye to my social life for 2 months. The party was great, and we had a lot of fun.

This is a dish that I served as an appetizer, and the recipe is actually from Costco. When I visited Costco on Black Friday last year, they were handing out Costco recipe books at door. As it turns out, free recipes can be good too. This recipe is simple to make, and yet very delicious too. To make it even better, a lot of the prep work can be done ahead of time!

Fiesta Shrimp Queso Dip
1 Tbsp butter or oil
1/2 lb shrimp, chopped
1/2 Tbsp chopped garlic
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1 lb Queso Cheese Dip

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and garlic, and saute briefly.
2. Add bell peppers and cook until tender.
3. Stir in the dip and warm over low heat until hot.
4. Serve this dip warm with your favorite crackers, bread or tortillas.

Note:
1. When I was looking for Queso Cheese Dip in the supermarket, they were a little over 1 lb, but I just poured everything in there. And it turned out just as fine. I think the exact amount isn't very important in this case, as it's just a mixture of everything anyways.

2. I had it with naan too, and it's very good.

Experiment I -- Classic Madeleines (Madeleines Classiques)

2008-06-05T12:49:00.001-07:00

I am a big fan of dessert, and out of all the cookbooks that I own, more than 80% are dessert/baking cookbooks. In the past, I've always hesitate trying recipes from those "masters", fearing that my skills are not good enough. Also, a lot of the tools and ingredients, I simply don't have in the kitchen. (Even with this said, I still can't resist buying those cookbooks -_-|| )

Madeleines are those fancy looking shell-shaped cake/cookie that requests special mold. Everytime I go to Sur La Table, I'd linger in front of the shelf where they stock madeleine mold. I'd take one, then put it back 20 min later, because I can't justify to pay the price tag of $30+ just for a mold made in France. I wanted to buy something cheaper, though I now learnt that the product quality is directly proportional to the amount of money invested in the tools (all else held constant). Finally, in one spring afternoon, on one of my retail therapy trips to Sur La Table, I gave in and bought the mold. (Unfortunately, my impulse buying didn't come at a very good timing. US Dollar has been very weak, and my madeleine mold has thus become more expensive too) Nonetheless, I tried making madeleines the first time, the following night. It tasted really good!! Only would have been even better if I hadn't over-baked it, as I didn't use a timer.

Since this week, I have majority of the week off, and I'm finally in the mood for massive cleanup after baking again, I decided to try out different recipes of variations of madeleines from my collection of cookbooks. This first experiment is a second try of my first attempt. The result is fantastic!! The smell of a mixture of caramelized sugar and lemon filled the apartment, and traveled all the way from the kitchen to my bedroom. The madeleines have a nice and crisp crust, and the center is very soft and lemony. They were only a little bit "over-weight", as I was too greedy when I scoop them onto the baking sheet. :">

Recipe from Paris Sweets, by Dorie Greenspan.

Classic Madeleines / Madeleines Classiques
Adapted from Patisserie Lerch

3/4 cup (105g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
5 Tbsp (2 1/2 ounces, 70g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Yields 1 dozen madeleines

1. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Beat eggs and sugar together with mixer on medium-high speed until they thicken and lighten in color, 2 to 4 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. With a spatula, gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Cover the batter with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal, and chill for at least 3 hours, preferably longer -- chilling helps the batter develop its characteristic crown, known as the hump or bump. (The batter can be kept tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days)

Note: The two times that I made it, the first time I used a whisk, while second time using hand held mixer. I have to admit, it's much easier with a mixer, mainly as it really takes a while for the egg and sugar mixture to become light and thick (yet a bit fluffy). Sometimes some recipe calls for a mixer, just because it's convenient. Well...this one, unless you want a good workout, otherwise, mixer is a much easier choice.

2. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F (200C). If your madeleine pan is not nonstick, generously butter it, dust the insides with flour, and tap out the excess. If the pan is nonstick, you still might want to give it an insurance coating of butter and flour.

Note: I have a non-stick madeleine pan. The first time I did it, I didn't butter nor flour it, and the madeleine still came out quite fine. I just used a toothpick to "help" it along so that it'll unmold. This time, I sprayed the pan with those non-stick oil spray, but didn't flour it. As it turned out, spraying it alone really wouldn't make madeleine more "non-stick". I had the same result, in terms of "non-stick". But because there's oil, and it kinda burns a little bit, the madeleine crust is darker than last time. I didn't taste anything though. Maybe next trial, I'll "spray + flour" it, to complete all the possibilities.

3. Divide the batter among the molds, filing them almost to the top. Don't worry about smoothing the batter, it will even out as it bakes.

Note: It WILL even out as it bakes, but it's still a good idea to give it a tap before entering the oven. Otherwise, there might be air bubble at the bottom of the pan, and that'll make the madeleine looks less attractive.

4. Bake large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes, small ones for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed and golden and spring back when touched. Pull the pan from the oven and remove the cookies by either rapping the pan against the counter (the madeleines should drop out) or gently running a butter knife around the edge of the cookies. Allow the madeleines to cool on a cooling rack. They can be served ever so slightly warm or at room temperature.

Note: I think toothpick is a better tool to get madeleines out of the mold. This recipe is a little bit on the sweet side, if you follow exactly the portions of sugar requested by the recipe. So, I think I'd cut 1/3 of the sugar amount the next time, it'll probably be more "figure friendly" and "Asian friendly". =p

Movie - Sex and the City

2008-06-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most talked about movie in the office, especially among all the girls. Everyone was all excited, and determined to see it.

After seeing it, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, it's still a very entertaining movie, that I think people should go see. It's just that....it's missing a lot of the Ah-Ha moments that the series used to have. It's like, 'I knew this was going to happen!', quite often when I was watching it.

Still, the wardrobe is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! Gosh, I wish I can have so much money, and buy all those clothes. So, for the sake of all the beautiful clothes and labels, and the humor, GO SEE IT!!

Terra Cotta Warriors @ Bowers Museum

2008-05-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

The first emperor of Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang, also often referred to as the First Emperor of China, united the country, language, measuring, money, etc. He built the Great Wall to protect his country from foreign invaders, a great palace to live in, and a magnificent army of terra cotta warriors to accompany him on the road to heaven.

His Great Wall was long eroded by the wind and rain, and the Great Wall that's flooded with tourists today was actually built in Ming Dynasty (more than 1000 years after the original one). His luxurious palace was burned down to ashes soon after his death, by riot leader Xiang Yu. We can only imagine how it would have looked like from old historians stories. The terra cotta warriors had, however, survived all the years of wars and dynasties, and remained almost untouched. It was only until the end of 1970s, that they were discovered.

It was said that there are no warriors look the same, and there are more than 7000 of them. The attention to details was unsurpassed, and even the hairlines were carved with great thoughts behind. It was referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World, it is afterall, almost the only thing that Qin Shi Huang has left behind.

The exhibit at the Bowers Museum is one of the largest loan of terr cotta ever traveled to the US. I was blown away by the incredible craftsmanship demonstrated by workers more than 2000 years ago. The amount of thoughts put into these warriors, and imagining this being done in a much more primitive setting, I totally admire those workers. They appear so lively, that I can almost make a guess of their personality from their features, and their appearance.

If you are in the area, you should definitely check it out. It's worth the price.

The Bowers Museum

2002 North Main Street
Santa Ana, CA 92706

Spring Break 2006, Part I -- Mono Lake, CA

2008-05-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

For my first and last spring break in LA, my father came to visit with his friend, and we went on a road trip for his beloved photography. Because of his love for photography, road trip with him is always very different from how my other road trips are with my friends. With him, the car is always stocked with food, and water, because we have no idea when we'll get to sit down and eat in a restaurant. It all depends on when and where we are. We'd get up super early, like 4am in the morning, so that we can catch the sun rise. We would go for breakfast after the morning photo actions are done, and get on the road making sure that we'll get to our next stop before sun set. So lunch is usually on the road, super simple, if not fast food. We call it a day, when they finish shooting sun set, have a simple dinner, and go to bed super early.

When I first started going on road trip with my father, I would complain about getting up early, no good food on the road, or even harsh conditions during the trip (which is more common when the trip is in China). However, when I got home, and look at all the pictures that we've taken (his are of course WAY better than mine), all the natural beauty that I've experienced, I start falling in love with this travel style. Afterall, if I had wanted comfort, I wouldn't have left my cozy home in the first place. Also, many true beauties, that are not yet spoiled by modern civilizations, are still hiding deep in the hard to reach areas. The moment I see those magnificent sceneries, I'd forget all the inconvenience I have to endure to get to that point.

Coming back to my road trip during spring break in 2006, we rented a SUV and toured around national parks in California, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada.

Mono Lake is on the way to Yosemite, if you leave from Death Valley. However, this route is usually closed during the winter, and won't re-open until summer comes. As a result, it become sort of a hard to reach area, since it sits right out side of the east entrance of Yosemite.

My father saw a picture of a famous photographer, years ago, about Mono Lake. He had always thought of it as part of a national park, however, and was never able to find it. So when I handed him my colorful California tour guide, after his arrival, he asked me to see if I can find out where that lake is. Thanks to the Index that came with the book, and a very detailed AAA map (BTW, AAA rocks!!! But I'll tell the story later), we finally was able to locate this place.

The only problem is that it's sort of out of the way from everything. We were going to Death Valley, but the most sensible route from Death Valley to Yosemite is closed in winter. That means, it becomes a BIG detour just to go there. Luckily, my father's friend was very interested in that area, and he said he wouldn't mind the driving, and persuaded us to include Mono Lake as one of our stops.

We got there in a chilly March afternoon, after a long drive, we were all exhausted. The lake shore was about 2 miles from the parking lot, so we carried all our equipment (i.e. my father's and his friend's) and brought everything down there to scout for the perfect spot. The lake was very quiet, and the water had a perfect reflection of the sky. With the mountains in the background, the tufas looked very rustic. Then as the sun started setting, the sky turned red and purple, everything became much much more interesting.

We stayed there until it was dark, and were all really hungry and freezing cold. Hahaha...it was so beautiful that nobody wanted to bother with the walk back to get more food and clothes. My father was especially happy, because he finally saw this place, and captured its beauty on film. He later told me that, the pictures he got that day, was even better than the original one that he saw in the first place (which inspired him to check out this spot)

A little bit of a info about Mono Lake, it's actually a geology wonder itself, in addition to the beauty it provides. It's a lake with no outlet, and the only source of water is the snow water from mountains nearby. In spring, the snow water on the mountains start flowing down, and gets into the fresh water bed. Whereas the bottom of the lake has a lot of tufa, which is basically a chimney like structure, allows the water to enter the lake. Over time, due to alkaline nature and rich carbonate source of the lake itself, the calcium carbonate compound in the water start precipitate out, making tufa grows. (Gosh....I'm too much into the chemistry details....hope people still knows what I'm trying to say)

Due to earlier years' water projects, Mono Lake's water level fell significantly, and exposed these tufas. Once the tufa is exposed to the air, it'll stop growing, as there's no exchange of chemical taking place anymore. So there has been on on-going effort to preserve this nature's wonder, and resume the water supply to the lake.

Wikipedia resource: Mono Lake

p.s. All these pictures were taken using my very "1st generation" digital camera, Nikon E995. Had I been able to lay my hand on the more advanced SLRs, it'd probably look even better. Oh well....still I'm already very happy with the results. Nikon is a good brand, and E995 has delivered good results over the years, despite its low resolution (compare to the ones we have these days)

The "Benefit" of Working Night Shift

2008-05-19T03:26:00.001-07:00

My job requires me to work different schedules from time to time, and only have half of the weekend. Of course, that also means, I gets 3-4 days off at a time, per week. I'm not going to discuss how this affect me in a bad way, since that will become a very very long essay.

Recently, I started working my rotation of night shift. i.e. I would sleep during the day (if I manage to get myself very very tired), and stay up the whole night. This is my 3rd time rotating to night shift, and I seem to find some "benefit" to this odd schedule.

First of all, work wise, it's actually not bad, as there're less people around at night, and you don't have a bunch of opinionated people bossing you around, telling you what they think you should do. You can therefore, take the time, and do the job the way you want. Moreover, in the morning, nobody would ask you to stay, all rushing you to go home; as if staying up the whole night must have drained all your brain power and emotions.

So, I think I've been very very productive the last few weeks that I was working graveyard shift. I almost finished all the investigation cases that me and my partner have, and now just need to finish the paper work (which I dread, of course....it's way less fun than the investigation part).

Then, of course, my paycheck is better too. We get a "shift differential" when we work off shifts. Graveyard shift is among the ones that offer higher differentials. I'm not saying that it's a lot, but like one of my co-workers said, at least it pays for some extra noodle soup. In my own words, it'd become: it'd pay for extra clothes that I can buy, extra kitchen stuff that I can buy etc....

Because I have to stay up when everybody else is asleep, I have less distractions. I ended up reading more (books, magazines, and recipes), which I used to have a hard time finding a good time to sit down and enjoy. I can clear my thoughts, and clean the house, and tidy up my room. My room mate almost jokingly said I'm a house-cleaning fairy now, cleaning our apartment when everybody is asleep.

Well....the only problem? I now can't sleep during night and day.

The Best Advice I Ever Got -- Fortune Article

2008-05-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the best advice I found among the "best advice I ever got" article from Fortune. The ones that I especially liked are highlighted.

The entire story is online at FORTUNE

Gen. David Petraeus
Commanding general, multinational force - Iraq

In the early 1980s, I was a captain with nearly eight years [of service] in the army, all in the infantry, and was weighing various options. My boss at the time, then-Maj. Gen. Jack Galvin, said "I think you ought to look for an out-of-your intellectual comfort zone experience." So that's what I did. After attending the command and general staff college at Fort Leavenworth, I went to the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, where I got a Ph.D. in international relations.

I found the truth in those years about what Gen. Galvin occasionally described as "the grindstone cloister" existence of military officers, that we keep tend to keep our noses to the grindstone and don't look up as often as we might. At the time at Leavenworth, one of the debates in the strategic studies elective, for example, was about the number of MX missiles the U.S. needed; one officer would argue that we needed 200, another might say 100, and that was seen as a big disagreement.

At Princeton, there were people who argued that we didn't need any ground-based, multiple warhead missiles at all. And others would contend, with at least arguable logic, that there should be no ground-based missiles of any type, a declaratory policy of "no first use," or even no nukes at all. The bottom line is that seriously bright folks thought very differently about important issues, and the debates on various topics were wonderful. All in all, in fact, the experience was invaluable. It may sound trite, but experiencing that not everyone saw the world at all remotely the same was good preparation for many of the experiences I've had since then.

I have also found since then that a basic knowledge of political philosophy and economics is a useful grounding for working in developing countries. That background provided knowledge that helped here in Iraq in the beginning and also when I was in Haiti and Bosnia That kind of academic knowledge at least forces one to think about the very basic organizing concepts like majority rule, minority rights, basic freedoms, limits to avoid infringing on the rights of others, the virtues of market-based economics, incentive structures, and so on. Presumably, any citizen will have given such topics some thought; however, studying them in grad school required a reasonable understanding of how and why such concepts evolved and have been applied in various places.

Finally, grad school also gives most folks a healthy dose of intellectual humility. That was certainly the case for me, and that's not a bad thing either.

Mark Hurd
Chairman and CEO, Hewlett-Packard

Nine years after starting at NCR, I moved to a head-office job in Dayton in 1988. An NCR executive was giving a presentation; he had great slides and an even better delivery. The CEO, Chuck Exley, listened to the entire presentation in his typically gracious, courteous manner. At the conclusion, he nodded and said something brief but profound: "Good story, but it's hard to look smart with bad numbers." And as I reflected on it, the presenter, articulate as he was, as good as his slides were, simply had bad numbers.

That comment has always stayed with me. You have to focus on the underlying substance. There's just no way to disguise poor performance. I've tried to follow that advice throughout my career. Deliver good numbers and you earn the right for people to listen to you.

Indra Nooyi
Chairman and CEO, Pepsico

My father was an absolutely wonderful human being. From him I learned to always assume positive intent. Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent. You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or problem becomes very different. When you assume negative intent, you're angry. If you take away that anger and assume positive intent, you will be amazed. Your emotional quotient goes up because you are no longer almost random in your response. You don't get defensive. You don't scream. You are trying to understand and listen because at your basic core you are saying, "Maybe they are saying something to me that I'm not hearing." So "assume positive intent" has been a huge piece of advice for me.

In business, sometimes in the heat of the moment, people say things. You can either misconstrue what they're saying and assume they are trying to put you down, or you can say, "Wait a minute. Let me really get behind what they are saying to understand whether they're reacting because they're hurt, upset, confused, or they don't understand what it is I've asked them to do." If you react from a negative perspective - because you didn't like the way they reacted - then it just becomes two negatives fighting each other. But when you assume positive intent, I think often what happens is the other person says, "Hey, wait a minute, maybe I'm wrong in reacting the way I do because this person is really making an effort."

Sam Palmisano
Chairman and CEO, IBM

Some of the best advice I ever received was unspoken. Over the course of my IBM career I've observed many CEOs, heads of state, and others in positions of great authority. I've noticed that some of the most effective leaders don't make themselves the center of attention. They are respectful. They listen. This is an appealing personal quality, but it's also an effective leadership attribute. Their selflessness makes the people around them comfortable. People open up, speak up, contribute. They give those leaders their very best. When it comes to specific advice, the best was from a former boss, who told me, "Don't view your career as a linear progression." He advised me to take horizontal rather than vertical steps: to try out situations that are unstructured, to learn different ways of working, and to get outside of headquarters and experience different cultures. I've applied this advice many times - most notably, taking a decidedly unstructured job at IBM Japan and then joining the fledgling IBM services business. After those experiences, I had the confidence that I could manage pretty much anything.

Tony Robbins
Performance coach

In 1979, when I was 19, I had all these people giving me conflicting advice. Jim Rohn, a personal-development speaker, said, 'Tony, think about it this way. If your worst enemy drops sugar in your coffee, what's going to happen to you? Nothing. But what if your best friend drops strychnine in your coffee? You're dead. You have to stand guard at the door of your mind." He was saying that the selection of [my friends and advisors] will matter more than anything else, and that you can't take anybody's approach as sacrosanct

Homemade Radish Cake

2008-05-04T21:38:00.001-07:00

I guess a lot of foreigners living in the States would understand my pain, that it's really not easy to find good authentic cuisines, like those back home. After a while, to satisfy our taste buds, we become experts in recreating those childhood favorites. My friend Vicky taught me this radish cake. I always thought it's hard, but after she showed to me, it's actually really simple. Her recipe is so good, that I can hardly find any store-bought ones equally as good.

Ingredient:
~500g of radish
1/4 cup of diced shitaki mushroom (after soaking)
2 Tbsp diced dried shrimp (soak overnight before dicing)
3 slices of ham, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 lb of rice flour
3 cup of cold water
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
~2 tsp of salt and 1/3 tsp of white pepper (or to taste)

Instruction:

Remove radish skin with vegetable peel, then cut it to short slices about 3mm x 6mm x 3mm, roughly.
Fill a pot with cold water, covering radish slices, and cook until radish is cooked (~15 min after boiling). Drain water, and set aside.
Mix rice flour with water, whisk until there's no lump. Then add in salt, pepper, and cooked radish slices.
Heat up a non-stick pot, add oil. Add garlic and stir fry until garlic turns golden brown. (Garlic tends to burn easily, so don't wait till pot is very hot to add garlic, add it while it's just warm). Then add ham, dried shrimp and shitaki mushroom, stir fry for about 2 minutes on high heat.
Add in the radish-flour mixture, and stir constantly. After the mixture start boiling, lower the heat, and continue stirring.
Turn off the heat, when mixture starts to dry up, and become kind of dough like. Pour batter into pre-oiled mold.
Steam the batter for about 30 minutes, after water start boiling.
Remove from heat, and let it cool down completely, without any covering. The surface will dry up a bit, which is fine. Run a knife around the rim of the mold, and unmold the cake
Cover the cake with plastic wrap, and store in fridge over night before consuming.

Radish cake are best served when pan fried with a little bit oil, so the out side is crisp, and inside is soft. However, microwaving it for 2 min is a healthier alternative, just as tasty.

Enjoy!

p.s. I had this post in Chinese before, elsewhere. As I pretty much abandoned my other Chinese blog, I figure I should repost the recipe in English.

Ted Baker

2008-04-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

As I get older, I start to like shopping at the not so widely seen brands and stores. Why? Well, just because I don't want to walk on the street, and find out there are a lot of people wearing the same thing as I am.

Ted Baker is one of my recent favorite stores. It's a British brand, so in the States, there aren't so many stores. There are actually several stores here in Southern California, but I've only been to the one at South Coast Plaza. (BTW, I LOVE South Coast!) The store decoration is quite funky, and the sales there are super friendly. Literally, as soon as me and my girlfriend had picked out one outfit that we wanted to try, the sales would come over and bring the clothes to the dressing room. Later on, when I was trying on a dress (super cute, and I ended up buying too. But I couldn't find a picture of it), I was wearing flat sandals. So, the sales suggested trying on with a pair of heels to see a different effect. The shoes that he brought, we instantly fell in love with:

It went very well with the dress, and I was in the end, debating if I should get the shoes as well.

My other items in the shopping bag:

It's rather bohemian feeling, but sophisticated as well.

The one I got is actually the same style, but different color. I got it in navy blue, and the collar is yellow patterned. I like that one better than this one.

In general, I think their clothes are really well designed, and tailored. My only complaint is their price tag, and all these clothes are hand wash only or dry clean only! But I guess there's a price to pay to look good.

SUMPRODUCT

2008-04-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Okay I admit, I was never good at programming. Back in school, when I took programming class (compulsory of course), if there were several ways to program, I always end up with the longest and most confusing way. Sometimes, I just simply don't get why my brain doesn't seem quite to function right, that even my own debugging takes forever. Why? Because code sometimes simply just doesn't work, and I ended up rebuilding the exact same blocks again from scratch. Though the two does not look any different to me, apparently, the new one is the charm.

I had this mini-project at work, that I had to create a counter (using excel). The counter is sorting the groups' deadlines among several major worksheets. At first, I told my manager that it should be easy, because in the back of my mind the logic is only count the number of occurrence that both condition A and condition B are satisfied. Or in simpler format count((conditionA)AND(conditionB)).

How hard can that be? Apparently, I under-estimated the extensive amount of functions that excel offer. I actually had a really hard time finding how to expressive AND condition, without it returning a TRUE/FALSE answer. I resorted to the "answer for everything" --> Google, but still couldn't find the right answer. This time again, there is a harder way to do it, but I just really don't want to go down that route. As I don't want to just create an ever-growing excel worksheet just to do the TRUE/FALSE logic compare for the ever growing deadlines.

In the end, thanks to some help from a "true-programmer" (as compares to me of course...hehe), I finally learnt the trick to the right keyword, and found out that the correct function should be "SUMPRODUCT"!

So, the correct expression, as in excel would be
=SUMPRODUCT((conditionA)*(conditionB))

Finally, I found what I was looking for! I'm super happy, because seriously, it gets to a point where I want it to work more than because it's for work. I just really want to know, how to make this thing to work.

Habitat for Humanity

2008-04-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

Since I did not grow up in the States, I actually have never painted anything, let alone work on any home project in my life. A lot of time, I'd hear my co-workers talk about those improvement projects that they are working on, and I'd be like....uh.....I grew up hiring someone to do it instead. Not to say that I'm from those very super rich family, just that back in Hong Kong, people simply wouldn't move into a not-decorated-home at all. We'd hire a team of people, get the walls painted, things fixed, if not having an interior designer try to put some nice touches to it. As these contractors are professionals, I pretty much grew up knowing almost next nothing about all the construction terms.

My co-worker friend invited me to participate in volunteering at Habitat for Humanity today. It's an organization which builds affordable housing for lower-income families, so that they can have their own home. The construction is mainly by volunteers, and almost a skeleton crew of full-time people. The one we helped out on, is in South LA, not the area that we'd normally wander into. The construction is almost finished, with only last little bits and pieces left to complete the whole project. We were assigned to do some painting jobs, just to touch up any remaining parts that's not painted properly.

The girl who gave the instruction, specifically said that the finishing products should look "egg-shell white", but not "bleachy white". At the time, both of us were like..."I can't tell the differences at all, why are you making such a big deal about it?" She gave us paint and brushes, and left us work on the units. At first, we were just wandering around the first unit, looking for stuff needed to be painted. We turned on all the lights, and let the sun shine into the room, just so that we can have better clue about the difference in two colors. After a while, we looked back, and finally the "egg-shell white" starts to registering in our brain. We were laughing so hard, that we can finally be anal about the color differences.

As soon as the color differentiating problem got solved, our pace got much faster. It's my first time ever paint anything, but I have to say, it's a lot of fun. It's rather selfish to say so, but I have to say, I'm glad that these people are allowing me to get trained with their homes. Because, I wouldn't want to experiment like this with my own home, knowing my complete lack of experience. :-)

Towards the end of the day, we pretty much completed all the units that needs work done. My arm was so sore, and my poor ankle almost start to hurt too. But it's a lot of fun, especially we get to talk at the same time work. We share gossips at work, make fun of each other, and totally had a blast.

One really interesting thing is our lunch. As the area we were in is really technically not the most desirable area in LA, we didn't know how we should deal with our lunch problem. There's another volunteer who's not part of the regular crew, so he suggested that we can take his car, and drive around for food. As we were getting ready, a crew member told us that there's a fry chicken place within walkable distance. So we set off for this place, only to find a tiny little store looking rather shady. When we walked inside, the store actually doesn't have any seat etc, it's only a to-go place. The register is all behind thick glass wall, and there's a little box, with 2 doors. So the customer is supposed to put money in the box, close his/her side of the door. Then the cashier would open his/her side, and reach over to the money, and return the order and any changes. The set up almost reminds me of my company's gowning room, where doors are pressure controlled and cannot be opened at both sides at the same time.

Despite the shady looking deco, and heavy security measures, the food is actually really cheap and delicious. We even found a bullet hole in the glass wall out side of the store on our way out. The hole itself is really smooth and round, as if someone has ironed it out. Then the triggering effect make the rest start to have the rippling. I guess for kids like me, never been in these type of environment, it almost is like an adventure. (Glad that it's during the day though, everything still looks really peaceful)

If you have time, you should try it too. It's meaningful, and a ton of fun. To make it even better, you get to learn how to do home improvement project for free, with practice included!! :-D

Work Related Injury -- WAITing....4ever.....

2008-04-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

I just had my very last doctor's visit today for my work related injury happened last month.

I never thought I'd be "injured" at work. At least, what I had this time is really not-expected. Believe it or not, apparently, my skin is allergic to silicon dioxide. This is one of the chemicals that is used at work, and though I followed the guideline thoroughly for protective gear etc, I still got chemical burnt afterwards.

I guess my skin is just really sensitive, because apparently, I wasn't in that room alone, and yet I was the only one having this reaction. Any body parts that were not covered by the protective gear, developed rashes and burnt-like symptoms. I went back to see company nurse after it did not get better, and I was then sent to see company doctor. Hence began my long and painful wait in the waiting room.

The first visit, which my company nurse scheduled me for 6pm, turned out that I didn't see anyone until 7:30pm at least. They said that it's because I came in at the "shift transition time", so there's nobody around. By the time I got out of the clinic, it was already more than 2 hours since my arrival. I complained to one of nurses there, that how come there weren't much patients, and yet still took me so long. The response I got, "Don't compare us to your own family doctor." Duh..... -_-|||

Then my second visit, which is just a check-up to see if situation has improved. This time, they scheduled me for the "day-time" doctors, and got me the last slot of 5pm. I arrived at that place a little bit before 5, thinking that I'd be out of there in 1 hour. I waited again 30 min to go into the examination room, another 30 min to see the doctor. The doctor spoke with me for 5 min, stepped away to get me medication, returned in 20 min with a bottle of pills. Without any explanation of the side-effects etc, I was discharged.

Lastly, my third and last visit. It was actually my day off today, so I figure I'd just bring my NDS with me, so that I can kill some time. As it turned out, I waited for 2 hours, just to see the doctor. Again, doctor talked to me for 3 min, asking if everything is good, and discharged me right there. The whole time that I was waiting, I finished 4 training games on Brain Age 2, and almost 1 sudoku game. (Yes...that's how bad it got)

Oh, did I mention that when they had to draw blood on me for titer, they actually got the vein wrong too? The first technician was going to use my right arm, and I told him that my left arm is easier. So he tried the left arm, that easiest spot, and poked in the needles. After 10 sec, the blood already "refuse" to come out, so he took out the needles and went to find some help. I was trying to be silent, as I could see clearly that he didn't get the vein at all!! Good thing that the next nurse came around, looked closer, and determine it's a difficult case, hence went ahead and find some more experienced nurse. The last one came along, and looked all around to find an easier spot, and finally gave up after concluding the first poke spot was the best. She poked at the exact same spot, but this time finally got to the vein. I went home with an extremely sore arm, and foreseeably a big bruise later.

The conclusion?! Despite the benefit of not paying anything, this is one of the worst medical experience that I've had.

Jitlada

2008-03-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last entry. I've always have ideas of things I want to post, but I just never had the chance. Partly also because for the past month or so, I wasn't working shift, so I don't have much time to recover from work, and post anything.

Thai food is one of those "exotic" cuisines that I was exposed to after I came to the States. After I started working, I got to know some Thai people, and hence really started my adventure. Although I'm not very good with spicy food, the food is so good that, my friends always find me ordering huge glass of thai iced tea while "attacking" those hot dishes.

Jitlada is my latest great finding. I heard about it online, that it's one of the rare restaurants who serves southern Thai cuisine. The restaurant is located in the Thai town, but rather off the main Hollywood strip, where majority of the Thai restaurants concentrate. When I first drove by it, I didn't even realize its existence. My GPS announced "Arrive at xxxxxx, on right", and I was like, where is it? It's at the corner of a small plaza, and with a very modest entrance.

The inside of the restaurant was divided into two rooms. The menu offers vast variety of choices, with the popular pad thai, to the more authentic thai cuisine. Our table ordered quite a lot of food. Luckily, everyone agreed that we were going to order mild dishes, I needed not to fight for my own mild dish (this is normally the case when I go with my co-worker, I'm the only one who doesn't take spicy food well. I'll be ordering one particular mild dish, just to give my pallets a break).

The food were all really really good. There were two that were particular memorable. One was called Coco Mango Salad, sort of like a spin off of the traditional Thai restaurant menu item Papaya Salad. The mango is shredded, mixed with shrimp, and to add a little twist, there's lime pickled chili pepper in it. The sweetness of the mango, saltiness of shrimp, and the sourness/hotness of lime and chili pepper, all blended together, gave this dish a very refreshing taste. It's funny, because this was the only dish that we ordered that everyone all jump for their drinks right after first bite, because it's too hot for our taste. However, once that spiciness got washed off a bit by our drink, we all went straight back to it, because we couldn't resist it. We all agreed that, it's spicier than we can take, and yet it's so good that we couldn't resist it.

The other dish was one of their signature dish. I don't remember the name, as I didn't order this one. But it's deep fried soft shell crab with basil, then drizzled with curry sauce. The result is a crisp meaty soft shell crab with delicious sauce that would make you want to lick your fingers (or anything you used to pick it up from the plate).

To make things even better, the tab was not bad at all!! Between 8 of us, and more than 8 dishes (including appetizers), we ended up only about $25 per person. It's very very reasonable, as I've definitely paid way more for less before.

After I got home, as I was preparing to write this entry, I realized that LA Weekly also did a story about this restaurant. Of course, theirs entry is better than mine, so I figured, I should share it here too.

Jitlada Thai Cuisine
5233 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-3104

p.s. The picture posted above is from LA Weekly, as I didn't bring my camera that night.

Vienna Boys Choir

2008-03-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

The Vienna Boys Choir is probably the most well-known treble choir in the world. Its original formation dated back to 1498, as Emperor Maximilian I requested the imperial court to form a choir consisted of a singing master, two basses and six boys. The boys sang mainly for the royal family, and to church masses. So, before the end of the Habsburg Empire in 1918, this choir performances were not open to public. Nowadays, these boys still sing at the Sunday Mass in Vienna's Imperial Chapel, as they have done so since 1498 (and there's never a Sunday missed so far!!). In addition to that, they also tour around the world to provide concerts, and children opera shows.

I have long heard of the beauty of these boys' voice. Luckily, they just had a concert in LA area. Though the venue is all the way in Santa Clarita, i.e. almost 1.5 hr of drive with the Friday traffic, and there's only 1 show too, I still decided that this is a must-see event. The show was almost sold-out, with a handful of seats left when we arrived at the venue.

Despite the long drive, and hunger (due to not enough time to grab dinner before hand), I really really enjoyed the show. The performance was a mix of variety of music, from traditional church hymn to folk songs, to more contemporary pieces. Some of the pieces they treated more seriously, while some they had a lot of fun with.

The video clip above is the commercial clip for European Football Championship 2008. It's an award winning commercial for "Best Commercial" at ITB Berlin. There's a better resolution clip at the Vienna Boys Choir's own official website, so I'm including the link here.

For more information about the choir, the wikipedia link is as follows: Vienna Boys Choir

Forever Tango

2008-03-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

I've meant to talk about this performance that I saw couple weeks ago, but I was so busy that I didn't get a chance to. At first I wanted to wait till I finish my trip entries, but then now I think it won't happen any time soon, so I decided to get this done before the excitement fades out.

Tango has always been one of the most interesting ballroom dance. It's very intense, yet it still has that sense of distance that many traditional ballroom dances have. When I learnt that back in college, I find it to be very uncomfortable. As I have to be so close to my partner, and yet so stiff for my upper body. Unlike swing, or salsa etc, tango doesn't really show off the individual, instead it's about the couple. So when I saw Forever Tango, a originally Argentinian production, was in town for just 1 weekend, I couldn't miss it.

Indeed, I have to say, I totally agree with the producer, Luis Bravo's interpretation of tango. That, unlike popular beliefs that tango is a dance between lovers, he believes that it's more of a dance of lust and sadness -- portrays the relationship between prostitutes and her clients. This interpretation totally explains the stiffness of upper body, because the couple are not really couple, they are merely strangers who got a little too intimate. The closeness of lower body, and the abundance of tricks that you can do with your lower body, is another portray of the intimacy between the two person.

To make things even sweeter?! The show I saw was actually by the original cast!! All the way from dancers to orchestra, they are the original cast who started the production back in the old days. I wasn't expecting a lot out of this show, as there weren't any reviews that I can rely on, but surprisingly it's really one of the best shows I've ever seen in a very long time.

From the pamphlet, there is this really nice article that tells the story of the producer, and I'm typing them out, to share with everybody. It's definitely worth a read, especially if you are into cultures etc, it's quite touching.

The FOREVER TANGO Story

"The tango," says Luis Bravo, the Argentine born creator of FOREVER TANGO, " is the music of the emigrant, someone who is always leaving and never finds home."

The tango is a feeling, an emotion and the culture created by the thousands of men who were forced to leave their homes and families during the last 25 years of the nineteenth century by the desperate poverty of a disintegrating Europe. They boarded crowded steamers in many European cities to seek their fortune in America.

Instead of their dreams, they found the horror of the packing houses in Buenos Aires. They worked from dawn to sundown in the heat and the stench of the docks of the mud colored Rio de Plata. At night the Italian, French, Irish and German immigrants crowded into the bars and street corners of the "arrabales" where they drank and sang the mournful Neopolitan and Andalucian love songs to the women left behind. "The tango belonged in the night," says Bravo. Knife wielding toughs. Many of the early tangos tell stories of violent confrontations. Eventually women, many of them prostitutes, came to the ports. They too, found their way into the tango. The brothels where they plied their trade around the turn-of-the century became the show place for the tango.

"The tango is known as a music of passionate love," says the Argentine philosopher Ricardo Gomez. "It is not. It is actually the music of loneliness and lust. Look closely at the dancers and you'll see the relationship between prostitutes and her client. The dance is intricate, legs intertwine, but all the movement is from the waist down," he says. If properly dances, the upper body is stiff, the look between dancers intense but distant. It is the intensity of lust and power.

Initially, the moralistic Argentine high society rejected tango. Then, shortly after World War I, a group of Argentine intellectuals on their annual sojourn to Paris decided to have fun by teaching the "incident" tango to their friends. To their surprise, the tango quickly became the craze of the Parisian ballrooms. Always looking towards Europe, Argentina society eventually reimported the tango back to the shores of the Rio de la Plata. And with time, the tango changed. As the tango continued to evolve, it entered the better dance halls of Buenos Aires. The dramatic hat and silk neckerchief were replaced by the black tuxedo, patent leather shoes, spats and silk top hat.

FOREVER TANGO harkens back to the days of immigrant despair, recapturing those raw emotions, revisiting those historic ghettos. Listen to the pain of the bandoneon. Feel the sadness of the dancers "You'll see everything is a lie," says Luis Bravo. "You'll see nothing is love. You'll see the world doesn't care. It just keeps turning, turning."

"All my life," he says. "I too have been leaving somewhere. I was an immigrant in my own country. The tango feels like my destiny."

My Trip Home - Drink, Drink, Drink

2008-03-07T06:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, I didn't drink THAT much. Just that it's Chinese New Year, almost every meal (other than breakfast) is served with some sort of alcohol. Then, there's the after-hour drink that I had in Beijing. Looking back, I felt that I almost was constantly drinking.

One of the best thing about bars in Beijing, is that the drinks are really cheap, compare to US/LA standard. Like in the picture above, the bar is called Bar Blu. We each ordered a lychee martini and it came up to be about USD 25 and they gave us a free shot of tequila for each drink. The lychee martini was pretty good, not the best I had, but decent enough. However, their tequila was one of the worst I've ever had. I would not go into details of what happened after the tequila shot, I wasn't drunk (no worries), but I didn't feel too good.

My friend, Carol, then took me to another bar (her favorite in Beijing) the night after. It's a very cute bar, I'd say it's way better than those in the States. Even though it's rather bar setting, but I'd consider it more as a lounge with no cover, than a bar.

From the out side, the building actually used to be a primary school! Now the owner has turned it into a 3-story night entertainment gathering spot. The first floor is the bar, second floor Thai food, and third floor Indian food. The deco from out side is very Chinese, with the bamboo and red lanterns. It almost feels like you have walked through a tunnel of time, and has come out from the other end. Indoor, the deco is more of a mix of East and West. There're the oil paintings of Chinese dolls, next to a display of French pastry.

There's also the ancient Chinese bed next to an English snooker table. The Chinese bed has been used as a sitting place, where people would climb into this huge wooden box. Inside, there're pillows, and a small table for drinks. There're also a lot of little drawers that you can store things, and it almost feel like you are secluded from all the other people around you in that bar.

We didn't order much for drinks, as we were there mainly to chit chat. I have to say, environment alone, it's one of the best that I've been to. Service is not bad too, though there are quite some drinks they don't have on the menu list. If you can remember how to make it, they'll be more than happy to make the drink according to your specifications. (And yes, we did that for our pineapple malibu) One of the interesting drinks that we ordered is buttery nipple.

So far, though I'm not too much of a drinker, from my own experience, I've always gotten this drink come pre-shaken. The bar tender would prepare the shot in the mixer, and then pour out the final result. The taste is of course excellent (i.e. this is one of my most favorite drinks), but you lack the visual factor. In Beijing, they prepare it the other way, by slowly pouring one ingredient on top of the other. This way, the end result is a very cute shot glass with two layers of liquors.

Taste-wise, I'd prepare the pre-mixed better, as it's chilled and mixed already. The pretty version needs to be mixed with a stick yourself, and it's a bit too warm for my taste. But it's fun and enjoyable to serve the pretty one though.

Guess I should stop at my bragging of my drinking experience in China. Except one last discovery that I had, towards the end of my trip, I found out that if I drink the Chinese rice wine like Shaoxing, I actually don't get my Asian syndrome. (Asian syndrome = where my face would turn red upon intake of alcohol, even though I am nowhere close to my limit) Maybe I should drink this type of wine instead from now on, so that I'd look better in my party pictures. :-p

My Trip Home - Temple Fair in Beijing

2008-03-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

I went to a temple fair at one of the "temples" in the old days. The temple is called "Temple for the Earth". And yes....there's the Temple for the Heaven, Moon, and Sun respectively. Almost everything in Beijing matches.

Temple fair was traditionally held in front of the temple, i.e. hereby the name of it. You'd find booth selling different kind of stuff, especially traditional crafts and food, so that people can prepare for the festival/New Year. These days, of course, as commercialization has spread everywhere, we're now finding a lot more of non-traditional items/booths there. But anyways, the essence of the fair was just like a farmer's market, you buy directly from the vendor. I found some cute stuff to bring back here as souvenirs for my co-workers.

These are bottle openers with Chinese opera character faces. When I saw it, I instantly knew that this would be perfect for all my male co-workers. Like most American office, male co-workers usually like to have a bottle or two. Then, my office area, and my team members, they are rather young, so they drink even more. The Chinese opera part is a good introduction of Chinese culture, so they'll find this small gift rather exotic. And, I was totally right, everyone was very happy to get this as their souvenirs, and they laugh when they saw it. It's just way too convenient for them. :-D

My Trip Home - Push, Push, Push

2008-02-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

One thing I've noticed whenever I go to China -- It seems like if you follow the rules and line up, it'll never be your turn. I don't understand why it is so hard to form a line, and follow the rules?

For example, when I was going to Beijing, I took a flight. As soon as the plane landed at its destination, people would start standing up and try to collect their items from the overhead bins, despite the fact that the plane was STILL taxing. Then when it's time to get off the plane, people try to push the person in front of them to go faster, while trying avoid the people who are still in their seats to join the line.

Honestly, I don't understand what's the rush? Even if you get off sooner (like 1 min sooner), your luggage is still not at the baggage claim waiting for you. You'd need to wait anyways. So, why is it so hard for you to just be courteous, and just get off the plane orderly?

The picture above, was taken at an airport (by me, though I hope I didn't witness this kind of behavior), when the plane was boarding. People just seem to rush to the gate, pushing against each other, just so that they can board the plane earlier. The airport staff was shouting 'Please don't push, and please line up' constantly, but apparently nobody was listening. The seats were already assigned, and the plane was already waiting at the end of that walkway. I really don't see why they have to push each other forward, so that they can get on the plane 30 seconds or so earlier. They'll still get to their destination the same time, if they had lined up and boarded orderly.

It seems like, there's a rush, people are so afraid that they're going to miss something if they let other people be in front of them. Some people may draw the generalization that all Chinese are like that, but they are not. The other day, I was in a MTR (subway) station in Central, Hong Kong. It was rush hour, people were getting off work to go home. There were about 8 ticketing machine to admit passengers, while about 100 people were trying to get through. Almost everybody automatically formed a line, and just waited until it's their turn to get through the machine. One of the machine was broken, so whoever was in that line would end up having to switch to another. The people in the line next to them would just automatically allow one person at a time to merge into their line to go through the machine. There weren't even a single MTR staff at the scene to co-ordinate the crowd!

I can't help but wonder, is it because Hong Kong people were ruled by the British before, that we become so good at following rules, and playing fair games?

My Trip Home - Hong Kong (Part I)

2008-02-03T07:03:00.000-08:00

After my arrival in Hong Kong on Jan 27th, it has been exactly 7 days already. The initial couple days were super busy, as I practically applied for virtually every single pass available in Hong Kong, in addition to my H-1B VISA stamp. My Hong Kong Identity card expired, my Hong Kong passport is about to expire, and moreover, my frequent pass to China is expiring in 5 months too. So I was basically juggling between all those government agencies: Hong Kong, China, and the US.

It's actually around Chinese New Year time here in Asia, so it's virtually red everywhere. And to my surprise, it's sale everywhere too. I used to think that things aren't really very cheap in Hong Kong, despite its claim as a "shopping paradise". Now, I finally have to admit that I understand why it receive such name. In fact, with the conversion, things in Hong Kong really IS much cheaper, especially when there's sale going on. I bought a pair of suit pant from Esprit (a local brand which is relatively famous in Europe and some part of the American continent), for 30% off, and it ended up to be about USD 40. Honestly, even Express never has such a good price, not to mention, Express' tailorship isn't that good at all.

So as one can imagine, I pretty much went crazy in those malls. They have Zara here with European style (and it's SOOOOO much better than what we have been offered in the US), and a lot of European brands as well....all on sale!!

p.s. Too bad I'm leaving for Beijing tomorrow, otherwise I'll probably be broke before I leave here.

Reasons to Love

2008-01-29T06:20:00.000-08:00

There can be a thousand reasons why you love someone, but there's only one reason when love is gone.

I heard this a long time ago, when I was much younger. I never gave much thought about it until my childhood friend asked me if I gave much thought about my love life, and to my surprise, I think I honestly never thought much about it.

Then I start thinking about it, thinking about how we usually ask people what they like about their significant others, and they can usually list a lot of good qualities that they find admirable. When we ask the newly singled people, why the relationship doesn't work out, though the break ups can be in many forms and have many triggering points, the ultimate reason is really one of them fell out of love. Because they are not in love anymore, that's why it's easy to let go, and easy to give up on the other person, and to not care about the other person's feeling.

The Higher the Hope.....

2008-01-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

The deeper the disappointment......

After being with T-mobile for almost 6 years, I finally made the important decision to switch to Cingular (now AT&T) despite its higher price tag, because I want a better phone, yet keep my phone number. I poked around, and settled down with P1i, thanks to my friend's suggestion.

While I was shopping for the perfect price for my phone, I was given the "bad" news. I can't keep my number no matter what. As it turned out, due to lower price and better deal in SoCal, AT&T now does not allow its agent to handle NorCal number. I have to switch number anyways, as my number is a SF area code.

It's hard to say goodbye to my number which has been with me for almost 6 years, but they made me a really really good deal. So I finally become localized, carrying a local number. In other words, I sacrificed my exotic number for an exotic phone.

Is the phone worth it?! YES!!! So far I LOVE this phone, it's everything I have asked for if not more. All my co-workers were really envious when they saw it the first time, and I even got some people asking me to help them buy phone when I'm in Hong Kong. So despite I feel weird that I saw the "Emergency Call Only" message on my phone when I got up in the morning, I went ahead and sent out massive text message telling everyone I have changed my phone number.

Only I wish the story ends right here. As tonight, I was talking to my mom when I was walking into my apartment, my call got dropped. Then I saw that "Emergency Call Only" message again, and it's there everywhere I go in the entire apartment building. On the other hand, the service provider that I was going to call to ditch them, T-mobile, is the proud provider for that "Emergency Call" with a full bar of service. At first, I thought it's because my new phone is a 3G phone, and AT&T does not have full coverage for 3G phones yet. So I swapped the SIM card to my old phone, hoping to see some good signal coming up. Unfortunately, I got exactly the same thing!!

So, I guess, as it turned out, I might have to say good-bye to AT&T, because I can't imagine having a service plan which I cannot use at home. Especially when I don't even have a home phone, and I don't plan on having one. Now the only problem is the complicated withdrawal thing, I don't know how it'll work out, especially since I'm leaving US in 2 days, and I only have Friday to take care of this.

Ah!!!! I'm so worried!!

Market Value

2008-01-15T14:52:00.000-08:00

As my mother, like any Asian mother, always try to tell me: The market value of a woman only depreciates over time, so you better get yourself a buyer before it hits rock bottom. (And unfortunately, the same token does not apply to guys, it goes the opposite way for guys)

Like all relativity in Asian identity, being an Asian girl, when you are judged by traditional Asian parents/elders, you are not valued by how much you have achieved, but rather how well your marriage is. It seems to them, it's more important that your husband has great achievements, your children are over-achieving super genius kids on the way to Ivy League, you are a super mom who cooks very well and juggles between a career and a family (of course family is the emphasis here), than you are a successful woman yourself.

As a result, your relatives and parents, and whoever your parents' generation, pay a keen interest in helping you getting married before it's too late. (Translation: Force marketing you so that you are off the market before you reach the age of 30) They'll discourage you to do anything that'll depreciate your market value any further, as if it's not already at an alarming low value:

1. Having too much education:
It's very important to have some education, but unfortunately men are often intimidated by those who have "too much", a.k.a. higher education than them, or better schooling than them. So, if you are a graduate from a top-league college, your chance for finding a husband from a school below your rank is rather small, because he doesn't want to be reminded how dumb he was. As a result, your pool shrinks to guys from the same rank; while their selections are much broader than yours, they have no trouble getting together with girls from lower rank schools, girls who aren't as smart as they are; after all, they won't be intimidated easily.

So, when relatives/elders/parents try to market girls who are smart; they usually try to make it as a bonus to the whole package of good-wife-material, rather than one of the selling points. They'd say, 'XXX is a very good girl. She is very obedient to her family, can take good care of a family, and she's very good looking too. Oh...did I mention, she graduated from a good school, so she'll sure be a good supporting wife.' Whereas, if the same package is presented for a guy, the they'd say 'XXX is a smart boy. He graduated from an elite school, and has bright future ahead.'

(The ironic thing is, girls were discouraged to have boyfriend during schooling, because they fear we would be too distracted to perform well in school. And then, as soon as we graduate, they want us to have a boyfriend on the track to get hitched soon.)

2. Had previous relationship with "out-sider":
Traditional Asian families do not like having an "out-sider" as their daughters' significant other. Here, the definition of "out-sider" is someone who's not the same ethnicity. And of course, within the category of "out-sider", it has many sub-categories, some better than others.

All in all, they prefer their daughters to be together with a familiar face. So, the very fact that we had a fling with someone they don't approve, and probably won't approve for a very long time, is almost a disgrace to the family --> evidence that we are not as obedient as they've marketed us.

So, if very "unfortunately" (this is of course a very subjective word, and I'm going to leave it the way Asian parents see it) we had dated an out-sider, they pretty much bluntly deny the existence of that relationship when they are marketing. They proclaim that their girls were just fooling around at the time, had nothing serious.

(Hey! How can you say an exclusive relationship is just fooling around? Yeah, maybe it didn't work out the way you didn't want it to, i.e. down the isle, but still it's a relationship!)

3. Height matters:
Okay, I'll use myself as an example. I'm taller than average Asian girls, almost reaching (or maybe I have already reached) the average Asian guys' height. Growing up, many elders/relatives expressed their concern over my height, 'Oh Mrs XXX, your daughter is really tall, I hope it won't be a problem when she's at her market age.'

Of course, I'm not THAT tall at all. I just can't wear high heel when I'm beside an average height Asian guy, which BTW I love high heels. I'm just tall enough that when I buy jeans/suit pants etc, I don't need to take them to a tailor and have them readjusted. Nor am I too tall that I have to go for the extra long section, and having a hard time finding something that doesn't look like a capri on me.

Still, to Asian elders/relatives/whoever is concerned about my marital status, I'm too tall. (which I really don't care that much anyways, I'm not anywhere near ready to settle down, let alone wanting to participate in their match making activities) Anyways, my height has decreased the size of the pool of candidates according to those who's concerned.

4. Age:
One of our Asian mothers' favorite phrases to their daughters (I've verified with my cross-ethnicity Asian girl co-workers) is, 'When I were at your age, I was already married to your father. Why is it so hard for your to settle down?'

Apparently, age 30 is the ultimate deadline that our parents have given us. As we are getting closer every day, their urge for us to settle down gets stronger. It seems like, we'll become an unmarketable spinster if we don't get married before that.

To them, every year there're more younger girls out in the market, and guys of our age have more choices. Why would men want to settle down with someone like us, old and bitter and no longer look at them with total admiration, when they can easily find someone who is much younger and would be more than happy to worship them?

In my opinion, if that's what whoever they want me to marry wants out of me, then I would be better off becoming a old bitter spinster. Afterall, he's not marrying me because of me, but rather because of what he wants out of me. And I believe that, I won't be happy, and neither would him. It's doomed for a failure, which BTW, did I mention that divorce is a worse market value killer than staying spinster?

Ski Trip #2 - Big Bear Lake, CA (Day 2)

2008-01-13T17:56:00.001-08:00

Despite my experience on the first day, I decided to give it another try on the second day.

Majority of my gang bailed for the second day, as they all played until very late the night before. Some didn't even go to bed till cracking of dawn, so when my alarm clock started ringing, they just fell asleep not for long.

In the end, only 4 people (including me) went for the second day. Again, I went for the bunny slope. I was a bit traumatized after my first day experience on the green trail. I had never fallen so many times in one day, let alone on one trail, one trial. I needed to go back to comfortable bunny slope to rebuild my confidence.

To my surprise, after my intermediate trail trial, I was able to glide down the bunny slope with very ease. I even was able to find some rhythm down the slope, and went down the hill with speed. Though my intent was to stick with bunny slope, just enjoy the time going up and down, my fellow co-workers again tried to talk me into taking the risk.

They said the bunny slope is way too easy for me. Since I can turn and stop already, I should try to go to the harder ones, and challenge myself. Afterall, I survived my first trial on the green trail, even though it took me a very long time, but I did manage to arrive at the bottom by myself.

It was a landsliding 3 to 1, meaning everyone was going to the intermediate trail. So I figured, it can't be worse than my first day. I've tried it already, I already know the trail, and where the harder slopes are. I fell almost every turn, which was as bad as it can get. Why not? Afterall, I can only improve when I challenge myself.

Just for illustration, I've highlighted the trails that I did at Big Bear. The very long trail highlighted on the right hand side was the Summit Run, an intermediate trail that runs from top to the bottom of the mountain, which I tried and fell many times. On the left hand side, it's the beginner bunny slope.

There I went again, up on the mountain, scared (not as bad as the first time, but still...) and cold. Amazingly, this time I only fell 4 times going down the trail and it only took me 1 hour. When I hit my 2/3 mark, my super advanced co-worker was coming down for the second time. I saw that as an improvement...hehehe....

I continued practicing what I learnt on the first day, using my pole to slow me down, and turning at a pre-set point. I still always fell at the steepest slope, but I discovered several technique to get up easier. As it turned out, it'll be much easier to turn the skis and put them onto the same sides if I basically lay down on the slope, and do the switching in the air. Otherwise, I'd have my knees twisted the whole time, and I really don't have the strength and flexibility to move my body around freely.

One time I fell, I had my skis on one side of my body (which is a good thing), but because the slope was super steep, I was afraid to just get up. So I wanted to take off at least one of the skis, so that I can have more stability. There was this snowboarder on the other side of the slope resting, he asked me if I needed help, and I said I just couldn't get up. He told me to use my poles to support my body when I get up, so that I won't need to get off the skis. At first I couldn't do it, since I don't know where I should put my poles. Then he told me to put my poles on the uphill side, so to be more stable. After a few struggle, I made it!! This was the firs time that I was able to get up on a steep slope without getting off my skis!! (Thank you, whoever you are, for your advice and help!!)

When I run into my co-workers half way down the trail, they told me that they'll wait for me at the top of the mountain so that we can have a group pictures. Then I realize, it's really a bad idea for them to wait for me, since it takes me super long time to get down. But it's too late to tell them already, since I have no cell phone. I figured, they'd be smart enough to not wait for me, after waiting for a while. Hahahaha.....and I was right, when I finally got down to the bottom, they were no-where in sight. I only needed to wait for 10 minutes, and they came down, and stopped right in front of where I was sitting. (I wish I can be so good.....sigh.....next year!!)

One of the gang got crashed into by a snowboarder who was trying to avoid a skier. It's already after 2 o'clock when we finished our lunch, so I decided to keep her company, and just call it a day. Afterall, I don't want to rush myself down the intermediate trail in 1 hour either. We got back to our car, and changed back to normal shoes (what a great RELIEVE!!!). Then we drove back up to pick the other two up, before heading back to the cabin and meet with the rest of the gang and start returning to LA.

Throughout the trip, people have been trying to convince me to switch to snowboarding. I have also come to realize, when it comes to really steep slopes, snowboarders would have more peace of mind because of the way they balance themselves. When snowboarders go downhill, they put their weight on one side of the body to brake. So, if they are facing downhill, their balancing point is actually the heel, and they lean their body towards the slope. Whereas, for skiers, they actually lean forward down the slope to balance themselves, and our body is perpendicular to the skis. Also, when snowboarders fall, they can easily get up; but for skier to get up from falling, it's much harder.

People say that the initial learning is harder for snowboarders, as it's a new way of balancing and controlling, but after that, things just get much easier. Unlike skiing, people normally don't fall much at the beginning, because of slow speed etc. However, it's not very easy advancing their techniques, and people tends to fall more. Take myself as an example, I fell 5 times my first ski trip, more than half not my fault. This times, I fell 10 times on one trail, one trial, all my own fault.

Sometimes, I'd look at people coming down from those black diamond trails, watching their elegant moves, wishing I could one day be like them. Then my co-workers would comfort me, saying I'd be just like these people next year. (Yeah right...if I go every week throughout this season, maybe.....) I know I still have a long way to go, before I can do that. My first priority is really to conquer my fear of the height and speed, as my co-workers pointed out for me, technically I'm ready for the intermediate slope, I'm just not psychologically ready.

Ski Trip #2 - Big Bear Lake, CA (Day 1)

2008-01-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

My second ski trip in my life!!

This time I went with my co-workers as a team building trip, though it's not funded by my company (I won't go in details here, since I don't want to be all bitter...). The group divided into two batch, those who ski/snowboard and those who don't. We the skier/snowboarders decided that we want to get to Big Bear early, so that we can spend as much time on the slope as possible.

We left LA at 6:30am, and the weather was really cloudy and cold. By the time we got to the mountain, it became really foggy, the visibility was so bad that we couldn't even see much of the car around the turn. We became worried that it'll be like this up at the ski resort. And then, almost miraculously, as we drove further into the fog, after one turn, the sky just opened up. We were above all that clouds and fogs, and it's soooo pretty. We couldn't help but stop our car at the nearest turn out, and take some pictures.

The entire mountain was immersed in a big sea of clouds, and all those peaks/summits look as if they were small islands in between. As we were driving up the mountain, we were like a submarine emerge from underwater. The sky was so blue, and without a trace of cloud (as the clouds were all below us forming a sea of it). We were all super excited, because the weather would definitely be very nice up on the slope.

We were not disappointed. The parking lot was rather empty, in fact we were able to park only a few car distance away from the shuttle bus stop. When we finally arrived at the beginner bunny slope, we were thrilled to see there weren't many people up there either. Out of 6 of us, I am the only skier, everyone else snowboard. Interestingly, we all sort of fit into 3 levels, the super advance, the intermediate, and the beginner. The only two girls (me included) in the gang have only done this sport once before. So we happily decided to stick together, and be the perfect partner in crime.

We tested water with bunny slope, just to get ourselves familiar and comfortable with the gears. Then as the boys proceed to more difficult slopes, we girls decided to stick with bunny slope and practice some more. Though this is my second time skiing, maybe because I took lessons last time, I was actually very comfortable going down the slope. So over lunch, as my other gang members persuaded me to try the intermediate slope with them, I gladly agreed to challenge myself.

Oh well, I forgot my fellow guy gangsters have no fear, and they were much better than me in this sport. As we went on the express lift, and arrived finally at the top of the mountain... yes, it goes all the way from the top of the mountain to the bottom... I finally realized it probably wasn't as easy as I thought.

Unfortunately, lifts only carry people up the mountain, so the only way down is by yourself. Not that you can't just refuse to get off, and go all the way back down with the lift, it just looks really lame on you, and I refuse to embarrass myself this way. So here I was, starring at these steep slope that I had never tried before, and freaking out because I know that it's a super long trail.

As I learnt from Youtube videos before I went on this trip, to balance oneself on ski, one should lean forward and put the weight towards the front of the ski. I came to realize this too, as I tried it out when I was on the bunny slope, losing my balance several time due to leaning backwards. I was able to quickly adjust myself back then, so I didn't fall. This time around, with the super steep slope, I find it hard to lean forward naturally. Leaning forward actually make me more scared, due to the gaining of speed (even though I would be perfectly balanced this way).

So there I was, going across the slope, trying to remember to lean forward, and asking myself constantly, 'Turn here? Or turn later?' As I get closer and closer to the other end of the trail, I started to realize the urge to turn, so that I don't hit the hard slope, and people who were resting. So I turned, drastically, and guess what? The next thing I know, I landed on my back, and kissed the cold cold snow on the ground. To make it worse, I fell on one of the steeper slopes that I had great fear of, so getting up wasn't easy at all!

My fellow gangsters were very nice at first, as they waited for me. So the first few times that I fell, one of the super good ones (with snowboard) came to rescue me and helped me to get back up again. He hopped up the slope with his snowboard, and helped me to get off my skis, and balanced me as I was getting back onto them. Then as I fell almost every single turn I make, I told them not to wait for me, since I was totally dragging everyone down.

I told myself, I would NOT go down the slope with one of those motor sleds driven by the patrol people just because I lost my courage to go down. (This was my ultimate bottom line) So I was determined to go down the slope myself, and make it before the last shuttle bus departs. As I fell over and over, and my fear just grew bigger and bigger. Some strangers were very nice, and they offered to help me getting up. However, after one particular nasty fall, which I landed head pointing downhill, I finally decided that I wanted an extended break, and didn't get up right a way but remain sitting/lying on the snow. (I guess I should thank my very nice Northface ski pant for letting me only feel the coldness but no wetness of the snow, and my beloved roomie's Gore-Tex jacket for the same function as my ski pant)

As it's getting late, the number of people coming downhill decreased. I sat there, and watched people passing me. Some children were doing really well, and didn't even need their poles. This made me feel really embarrassed, as I was sitting there doing nothing but debating if I should break my bottom line that I drew earlier. Then one of the intermediate gang members of mine came along. He fell not far from where I was sitting, and came to accompany me for a little while. He told me that I was already 2/3 done with the slope, and the slopes weren't as bad as I think of them. He left after a while, and I promised him that I'll follow him soon.

I looked at the clock, it's already almost 4pm, and the last shuttle bus leaves at 4:30pm. Those patrols were making rounds, and asking if people need a ride down the hill. I refused the help, and decided that I would go down myself. I would go slowly, but I would get there eventually.

As I was going downhill this time, I focused at a particular point, and turned there. So there was no more 'turn, no turn' discussions, I just went forward and turn at that point. Moreover, I finally discovered the use of pole to slow myself down. Throughout my lessons, and up till now, I never really needed to use poles. They seemed like only a tool to get myself off the ski, and push myself when I landed on some flat surface. I realized, when I was up the slope watching people, they used the pole to drag themselves slower as they turn. For me, I dragged it the whole time when I was going downhill. I just dragged the pole that's uphill, and this way, I was able to not accelerate too much when I go downhill. It seemed to work magic for me, since this time around I didn't fall at all until I got to the final big steep slope.

By then, everybody was at the end of the trail, waiting for me. I fell twice on that last steep slope, but I was able to fall the nice way, where both of my feet were on the same side, so I could easily get up without getting off my skis. And I finished my one and only intermediate trail in 2.5 hours, falling 10 times. (My fellow super good gangsters usually make it in at most 20 min, just to give some idea of contrast, and how horrible I am...hahaha)

I was super tired after I got off. My fellow gangsters were very nice, and the guys helped me carry my gears. So that I only need to worry about dragging myself and my heavy brick like ski boots onto the shuttle bus, and back to our cars.

Every body muscle aches...

p.s. Ski Trip # 2 (Jan 9th 2008 -- Jan 10th 2008)

Movie - The Bucket List

2008-01-12T02:15:00.001-08:00

I saw the trailer of this movie a while back when I went to see August Rush. I immediately decided that this will be a good movie, since it has 2 very very good actors on-board.

It did not disappoint me...It is indeed a very good movie. I have to admit, it's very predictable, as the storyline pretty much unfold like how the trailer has presented, and it fits into the typical format of heart-felt touching movie. One lesson I learnt from August Rush was to carry a package of tissue paper with me when I go see movies. I was very glad that I did this, as I was totally reaching for it towards the end of it.

The storyline was very simple. Jack Nicholson is the man with all the power and money, but no family love; he's almost a bit cold blooded as he only cares about making money and nothing else. On the other hand, Morgan Freeman has a loving family, but he's poor. The two from two ends of the social background, shared a room at Jack Nicholson's hospital. They grew fond of each other, and when Jack Nicholson found out about the Bucket List that Morgan Freeman was making, he decided to add on his own and make it happen for the two of them.....

I have to say, even though there's nothing new about this movie, almost everything is very predictable, the fact that Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman starred in it made it a very very good movie. The way these two actors act just make the whole story so much more believable and more lively. Sometimes, just a gesture they show seems to convey a lot of information. It makes the audience believe what they are doing, and get more drawn into the story.

If you have a chance, you should definitely go see it. At least put it on your Netflix queue.

Aftermath of My Ski Trip (Part II)

2008-01-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

I'm going skiing AGAIN!!! Yay!! Second time in a month!

Moreover, I'm going right after the storm. It'll be a LOT of new snow up in the mountains.

Gosh, I'm soooo excited already. Hehehe....

Fagor Pressure Cooker

2008-01-05T02:27:00.000-08:00

Can I classify pressure cooker as gadget? Hm....I kind of think of it as a pretty fancy gadget. Not many people has it at home, but those who do use it, usually love it.

The best thing about pressure cooker? It can cook food to perfection with the shortest amount of time. Especially things that requires long time of stewing on stove, with pressure cooker, 30 min is how much you need.

I recently bought a Fagor pressure cooker with duo pressure setting, and I've since loved it. When I was in NorCal, at my friend's place, they use pressure cooker for soups, congee, sweet soups etc, you name it. I then learned to use it as well, and totally fell in love with it. If something is hard to cook, just dump it into the pressure cooker for 20 min for so, it'll be as tender as you want.

The only problem with pressure cooker that usually scares people off, is the thought of pressure build up in the pot and eventually leads to blow up. But these days, the cooker is much much better built than the old days, the valve doesn't clog as easily, and they usually have a safety valve as well, just to relieve pressure in case of emergency. They also have pressure indicator, so that you know when it's okay to open the pot.

I've made delicious soup out of it already, and it's one of my best so far since I've arrived here in US. Give it a try!!

p.s. Fagor is a Spanish brand. I've now tried both European and Chinese pressure cookers, and I have to admit the European ones are better. It's easier to clean, and better built. So...if you are considering one, get an European brand one. It's a bit more expensive, but it's definitely worth its price tag.

Video Game - The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass

2008-01-04T00:55:00.000-08:00

This game came bundled with my Nintendo DS, but I didn't touch it until yesterday. Compare to Brain Age 2, Zelda got me hooked even worse. (In fact, the very reason why I'm writing this blog is because my Nintendo DS has just died due to no battery power....how sad....) I started playing it yesterday night, after work. I was sitting there for 2 hours just playing it, figuring out how to get little Link to pick up the treasures, and how to get around.

This is my first action game on Nintendo DS, so it took me a while to get use to how the control works. For the longest time, I was like....how come I couldn't get him to jump, and at last, I gave in, and started reading the instruction manual which came with the game (how lame -_-|| ). Unfortunately, even after reading the manual, I still couldn't get him to jump onto the table to get his treasure, which I slammed on the wrong direction....maybe it's just not meant to be, I should have broken the box at a better direction. :-(

I stopped yesterday, because I was a bit scared of the monsters, given the fact that little Link still got no weapon to protect himself yet. So, I freaked out, and left. Today, with better strength, I set off to restart the game, this time I told myself that I will not just give up. As it turned out, once I entered the dangerous area again, the little guide Ciela already told me that I cannot proceed, and we need to get her grandfather's sword. Of course, I got it, and her grandpa even taught me how to use the sword. (uh hum...that I'm still not too good at yet....)

Then, as I entered the dangerous area again, this time with much more confidence that I can kill those monsters, my beloved Nintendo DS died on me...... -_-||

This is the exact scene when it died on me....Duh....

p.s. It's still a good game though.... I don't know when I'll finish this game. If I do get to finish the game, I'll probably really celebrate it. Hahahaha....

Video Game - Brain Age 2

2008-01-04T00:42:00.000-08:00

I think I'm hooked on video games. Ever since I got my Nintendo DS, I can't wait to go home and play my games. Brain Age 2 was recommended by my co-worker, and he said it's a fun game. Then my other co-workers keep telling me their family members are hooked on it, so I decided to give it a try.

Guess what?! I'm hooked too now!!!! Good thing that Brain Age 2 doesn't really allow you to play too long, coz after all the categories that you can play, whatever you play doesn't count towards the daily score anymore.

This is a fun game! Especially for video game newbie like me, who hasn't played video games for a long long time. The games is more like mind exercises, where you train your memory and calculations etc.

Since work has been very tranquil recently, maybe I can play that during breaks too. (Maybe....maybe it's not that good of an idea.....)

One Republic - Stop & Stare

2008-01-01T04:16:00.000-08:00

Another great song by One Republic. Lyrics are very catchy, and good rhythm too. I just totally love listening to this.

Board Game - Cranium WOW

2008-01-01T03:54:00.000-08:00

I have to work on New Year's Eve, and by the time I get off work, it's almost midnight already. At first my co-workers suggested us to go to Universal City for the count down, but after they checked the price, we just don't think it's worth that much of our money just to spend 30 min in there.

Instead, we decided to have a mini house party. So, we had all the drinks, finger food, sweets etc. We even got 2 cute huskies to pet for entertainment. (How cute!!) After the New Year has arrived, and couple rounds of drink, it's time to start playing games. Of course, like all American people, the drunker the player, the more fun the game. We purposely left this game, Cranium, to be played after we all have at least 4 rounds of alcohol in our system.

Since we have 7 players, we were divided into 2 teams. Each picked a figure, and start rolling our dice. The color of the dice decide how many steps we can advance, and also what type of questions we have to answer correctly in order to roll the dice again.

There are word games, where you have to guess the definition of a word; creative game, where you have to use clay and sculpt the object your team mate has to guess correctly; star game, where you have to impersonate some famous start, and have your team mate to guess..... It's SOOO much fun, especially when more alcohol start to kick in, and people start to do crazy things to hint their team mates.

In the end, my team lost; but we all had a lot of fun. I'll definitely play it again, maybe not buying one, since 2 of my co-workers have it already. But I'd definitely recommend others buying it.

Je te manques!

2007-12-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

My co-worker walked into work today and asked if any of us speaks French, moments after me and my partner were discussing differences between Spanish and French.

His wanted a translation for : 'Je te manques'.

Do you see anything wrong here, in this sentence? This sentence actually means 'You miss me', minus the wrong conjugation. I guess not many people would tell other people in certain that 'You miss me.', we usually tell people how much we miss them. :-p

Apparently he got a text message from a girl, and she wrote this in French. Unfortunately, the fact that she wrote 'Je te manques' gave her away.

If you want to say 'I miss you' in French, the correct phrase should be

'Tu me manques'.

Literally, it translates to 'You are missed by me'.

Chocolate Brownie

2007-12-30T17:38:00.001-08:00

For some reasons, I was craving for brownies last week. Maybe because the holiday free lunch I got from work ran out of chocolate cake for me to choose, not that their chocolate cake is that great, just....you know....girls usually can't resist chocolate.

So I searched for recipes online for brownie, and started making it despite it's already 11pm at night. (Talk about craziness.....)

This is a recipe from Food Network, and I used much less sugar than what was called for, and substituted half of the sugar with Splenda. Splenda has been my new best friend in the dessert department, since it gives the same sweetening effect without the calories. ^_^ One thing to note though, completely substituting sugar with Splenda will generally give some problems, since sugar is not just a sweetening agent. Sometimes, it provides other functions as well, so if it's all taken out, then you might have a lot of trouble getting the browning effect, the holding effect etc. Plus, I still think artificial sugar tastes kind of funny when they are the only sweetening agent. If they are blended with real sugar, then their artificial funny taste can be successfully masked. :-p

Anyways, I think in general, this recipe is okay. Not super exciting, but not bad either. Next time, if I make it again, I'll put nuts in it to have a little bit of crunch. Right now, all I can taste is the creaminess from chocolate etc.

p.s. I just had it with Taiwanese tea, it actually taste pretty good. Before I thought it's still too sweet, but with the tea cutting the extra sweetness, it become just right.

p.p.s. But in general, I still think it seems more like a chocolate cake than a chocolate brownie to me.

Year-End Self Marketing Campaign

2007-12-29T02:33:00.000-08:00

a.k.a. End of Year Performance Review (Self-Assessment)

I guess anyone who works in a company, knows that you get a performance review at the end of the year. It just happens that the way my company does it, is that
1. Self-assessment
2. Management comment
3. Management and employee discuss comments on performance goals

So, for the past few days (okay for the past week), I've been stressing out on this. This is my first performance review ever since I graduated. Of course I'd love to say I over-achieved all my goals, and did an excellent job in the past year. But, if my manager disagree with me, then I'm in big trouble.

As it turns out, filling out self-assessment is just like writing a resume, it's a self marketing campaign. You should not use too many fancy words, because then your credibility would be compromised. Then you shouldn't be too humble either, because then your manager might not always see your shine, you need to remind him/her as well. Being humble can sometimes => your manager thought you underachieved, and promote everyone else but you, or give you less bonus than everyone else. So there needs to be a fine balance between truth and those over-promoting fancy words.

I think I'm lucky that I asked quite some experienced co-workers on what they'd say in their assessment. They gave me quite some ideas. I can't believe that being able to communicate with cross-functional groups can be one of the items. I'm assuming everyone can do that, well....apparently not quite so....

So I was stuck at work, procrastinating my self-assessment report until 2am...15 hours after I arrived at work, and finally hit that "send to manager" button. I pretty much re-created a much longer version of my resume (just in paragraphs), on all the achievements that I had, and all the extra stuff that I did. I tried to give detailed examples, so that my manager will believe what I said. However, based on earlier conversation with my manager, I also have to keep everything short, because apparently no manager likes to read long assessment reports.

At the very end, I was asked about future development. I made a list of things I want, basically are a list of trainings that I want to receive, or courses I want to get paid to take; and elaborated on my justifications.

Weeks later, I'll be able to find out how well my manager buys my arguments. And several months down the road, I'll be able to find out how much my manager likes me as it reflects on the amount of bonus I'm getting.

So, I figured...if I can consistently sell my ideas to others, and convince my manager to promote me (or get me what I want), then maybe I should consider concentrating on Marketing when I consider MBA then.

p.s. My mind is still so conformed to the thinking of self-assessment, that I noticed some traits of these resume type words popping up here and there.

p.p.s. No...I did not spend 15 hours working on this report today. I spend only 5.

p.p.p.s. Maybe I should go to bed instead of keep babbling

Aftermath of My Ski Trip (Part I)

2007-12-27T01:34:00.000-08:00

Aside from all the bruises, muscle pains, and walking funny etc.... I fell madly in love with outdoor clothing! If you knew me, then you'd know I'm a girl with minimum sporting gear and clothes...or should say I spend less than 10 minutes in a sports shop a year. If you open my closet, you'd find at least 4 trench coats in different colors and fabrics, but you won't find a single functional out doorsy jacket.

After I test drove Lilian's Gore-Tex jacket, and amazed by how light and warm it can be. I'm now determined to get one myself too. (Of course, one of the selfish main reason would be I don't want to wear my nice/fashionable only-dry-cleanable coats in the wilderness...I rather dirty something else) So, like magic, all my cravings for shopping just came back all in a sudden in full blast.

I started looking through websites for deals, because....MAN!! These technical gears a REALLY REALLY expensive!! A good Gore-Tex jacket can easily cost $350+ here online!! By coincidence, I found out that REI is having a sale on Marmot brand, up to 50% off. I poked around, and found this 3-layer Gore-Tex jacket on sale for 50% off. With the coupon that I found, I ended up paying only $200 for it!! ^_^

Of course, there's no such thing as free lunch in this world, as I long learned this inconvenience truth back in High School from my Economics teacher. There's 1 little problem with this jacket, it's ORANGE color!! Not just the subtle one you see here in the picture, but a much much "brighter" orange. I told my mom about it, she joked, at least the rescuer would have no problem spotting me in the middle of snow. -_-|| That's kinda another not so comfortable, but true statement too. So I decided that I'm going to keep this order for now, will see how it looks like once it arrives in REI store for pick-up. Then I'm going to shop again in Hong Kong, see if I can find something of a better deal.

Once again, I very sincerely appreciate the fact that there's a Return/Refund/Exchange policy here in the US. Otherwise, an impatient shopper like me would be in such a bad mood by the time I get to the store and find this jacket in the middle of a pile of racks, and realize I still have to try it on. YES, I'm one of the rare species among women who does not even have patience to go through racks. I'm usually in and out of a store in 5 minutes, if I'm not going to buy anything. I just go in there, and decide whether I like the style of that season, hence whether I'm staying for an extra 10 minutes to pick out something to try.

p.s. According to my room mate, Marmot is a very good brand.

p.p.s. To my very delight, I just found out that REI has since raised the price again. So I'm in a super good mood now...hohoho ^_^

p.p.p.s. REI is actually having a sale right now. Shopaholics, you might want to check it out. They do sell very good quality gears. A bit on the expensive side compare to Big 5, but much much better quality in product and service.

p.p.p.p.s. No more p.s.' I'll shut up now

Bryan Adams - Everything I Do

2007-12-27T01:24:00.000-08:00

I really don't remember when I was first introduced to this song. I guess it's my early days of college, when I was still a big fan of Celine Dion.

Anyways, even to date, I'd still be moved by this song. The sandiness in his voice is really sexy in a sense, making the song even more believable. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!!!

2007-12-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!! & Happy New Year!!!

I hope that everybody is having a great time with family and friends, enjoying plenty of warmth and laughter. May all your wishes come true in the coming year!

Happy Holidays!!!

BTW....my favorite Christmas song by Celine Dion -- Happy Christmas.

Ski Trip to Big Bear Lake, CA

2007-12-17T12:02:00.000-08:00

To many people's surprise, even though I went to school in Wisconsin for 4 years (where it snows heavily), and has been in LA for more than 2 years, I actually have NOT skied/snowboarded in my entire life. Well, it's really not that I didn't want to go, it's more that I never got the chance to go. Every time people are going, I always had some pre-arranged commitment already, or I had to work (even worse...). So this year, even though the timing of this ski trip still isn't ideal, right after my last day on night shift, I still decided to join my friends, and test the water to see how it goes.

The whole trip had a rough start for me, as I have no clothing at all. In addition, I was working night shift, I had no time to shop. I ended up squeezing some time in, and bought some ugly ski pants the day before we left. I hated that not quite well-fitting, and ugly dark green color pant, but as it's the only one that's my size, and I really had no time to shop elsewhere, I bought it anyways.

Then the next problem was water proof jacket....due to technical miscommunication (wireless company sucks!!), my room mate never got my sms confirming that I wanted to borrow her jacket. As a result, I came home the day I was supposed to leave, and found no jacket in sight in the living room. I ended up calling another friend who lives nearby, and borrowed hers 3 hours before our departure time. (Lilian, thank you SOOOOO much for your kindness....your jacket turned out to be a life saver!!)

Luckily, we had to rent our equipment before departure. So, we all went to Sports Charlet in Beverly Hills. While I got my equipment rental done 3rd to the last of our bunch, I took the time and did some emergency clothing shopping. All the guys were scared, given their impression for how girls usually shop. I came back 5 minutes later, ready to try 5 pants on, and eventually settled for a pair of North Face one. All done in 10 minutes, and the last 2 person weren't even done with their rental. I was sooooo relieved that I won't be the ugliest on the lift. Plus, dark green really isn't a good color for snow, is it?

Everything went well from there....with my beloved GPS, the car I was in was the first to arrive at the cabin. (yay!!!) The next day, me and 2 other friends purchased our ski lessons, while others start going to their lift. Some decided to learn from our friend, who's really good. I just felt, I rather pay the money, and demand the service I want. I can't do that, if my teacher were my friend.

my package was a guarantee package, which they guarantee after 4 hours of lessons, I'd be ready to go on a lift and ski my way down. The teachers were very patient, though my fellow classmates weren't the best students they can have. As a result, my class was moving much much slower than it should be, and at the end of the 4-hours, I didn't go on lift at all. Though, because of our slow progress, I was able to practice those very basic techniques over and over again, and I can say now I'm rather comfortable with the skis. My teacher was a very nice lady called Anita, she gave me back my afternoon 2-hour session ticket, and told me I can come back the next day and have 2 hours of lesson free. How wonderful!!??

Our day finished, and after we got back to our cabin, I asked my fellow non-classmates, how they were doing with their lessons. Of course, they learnt some techniques, but they all admit that they should have paid for the lesson as well. The night went on with a lot of good wines, and great food. We were all too relieved that we were walking around with much lighter boots/shoes, that we weren't dreading our ski boots around anymore. (Hahahaha.....walking around alone is a great work out already...)

The next morning, I went back for my free 2-hour lesson alone. My other fellow classmates decided to bail, and return to LA. This time again, it's practicing the basic techniques at the beginning. Then they took us all up the lift, and for the first time, I realized the slope really isn't as easy as it seems to be. When I was downhill, looking up, it seemed like people were coming down with ease. Until I was there ready to ski my way down, I had not realize it's actually quite steep (despite it's still beginner's slope). Then I had my control issues...I can't seem to stop!! For some reasons, I was able to go VERY VERY fast, yet my braking technique wasn't quite there yet. So I'd be passing my teacher screaming, and trying to brake, and I'd still rush all the way downhill. My teacher had to shout me instructions to brake harder, open up my legs bigger (as if I hadn't opened as much as can).... and I finally got to a stop before going all the way downhill and ran into people.

The whole morning was all about me screaming coming downhill, and trying to stop. (sigh.....guess I have too much momentum.... lol) Then at the end of the class, Anita told me that she'd love to see me in the intermediate class, and refine my skills. She then gave me another ticket so that I can go to the afternoon class, for free. (Yay!!!! :-D)

Of course, I showed up on time for the afternoon class, where they tried to teach us controlling our speed and turning. This time around, they took us to a even higher spot, and try to teach us to ski down from there. Good thing we had 4 instructors present, making sure everyone was safe. I still had my stopping problem, but this time, miraculously, I seem to always managed to stop right at the last minute, right in front of my instructor. I guess to a point that all my instructors were amazed by my "natural ability". -_-||

Towards the end though, I seem to grasp some of the tricks, and actually really manage to ski downhill myself. Though still going faster than I want, but at least I can stop now ^_^||

I have to say, after this trip, I fell in love with this sports. I'd definitely go again. I guess it's a blessing that I'm in California now. Everything is so close by, with a lot of opportunities to explore. ^_^

p.s. The price of skiing non-stop for 2 days, 8 hours a day was: I was walking funny for the next 2-3 days, side-stepping up and and down the stairs. All my co-workers were laughing at me.

p.p.s. So if you are wondering about the math, as it turned out....I paid $6x for 8 hours of lessons that I got in total, including lift tickets. (The package comes with lift ticket, and as long as I'm with my instructor, I can go on the lift even for the second day)

Bad Boys and Good Boys

2007-12-13T09:28:00.001-08:00

"If you had a choice between good boy and bad boy for your boyfriend/husband, which one would you pick?" This is a question my guy friend asked me during a recent road trip.

If I were several years younger, I'd say I want the good boy, coz I want someone that I can settle down with. Yet, nowadays I'd give a very different answer. The reason for this change of position is simply because I realize a lot of times, the apparent good boys are the worst boyfriend/husband. (Don't worry my friend, I'm very sure you are not one of these jerks)

I just happen to know quite some guys, they appear to be very "safe", and mama's boy, are actually jerks who cheated on their girlfriends, and are of one of the worst "friends" I have had. They are very nice, they always say they have to take their family into account etc, and they appear to be very considerate, always willing to give in their positions.

However, the flip side is:
- They have "friends with benefits" when they are here, while their girlfriends are far far away

- The very fact that they are "considerate" turns out, they take no stand at all, and try to be everybody's friend. i.e. They'll say whatever and do whatever to be everybody's friend.

- They have no ambitions, and goals and etc. The only reason they are doing something is usually out of peer pressure, or family pressure. They buy a car, because everybody around them are buying one.

- They usually turn out to be very spoiled. Maybe because they have been so well-behaved, everybody has rewarded them by treating them well. So they are very used to give people what they want, in order to get what THEY want

So as a potential mate, I don't want to settle down with someone who appears to be very safe. They haven't partied hard, they go home on time, they follow whatever "perfect boyfriend" guideline out there. The parents adore them, everybody thinks they are good catch despite the lack of fun factor. And then in the mid-life, they wake up one morning, realizing their life is down the drain, and they haven't even had a chance to have a hang-over. So, they decide to leave everything, and re-live their crazy twenties. And I'm stuck with a piece of divorce paper, kids to feed, and a lot of debts, plus a big mess in life.

On the other hand, I assume, if a bad boy (not the real kind, of course, just someone who has been there, done that) decide to settle down, he must be better at handling the temptations. Afterall, he has had that in his crazy twenties and knows exactly what that is. When he settle down, it's because he wants to settle down, not because someone else wants that.

I think that there are things that is right for that age. It's like, high school is supposed to be all about "You are so lame" popularity game; college is about "how many shots can you take without being all wasted" and "how many parties can we crash one night"; early work life is about "let's check out this hip new night club"..... If you missed it, and try to re-live it, everything just doesn't quite fit in as well. It's like I still feel awkward to see older people in a hip young club, it just looks so out of place....

Anyways, my point is, a lot of times, if you miss something, you missed it. Trying to go back and get it back, doesn't really work. Even if you managed to get it kinda work, it still doesn't quite feel right. The good boys a lot of times are missing those important life lessons, they never learnt how to say "no" when it's the 3rd shot in 20 minutes without looking lame. They never felt the loneliness in the middle of a crowded party dancing next to strangers. Of course, they never realized that life is about making choices, living with these choices, and make the best out of a bad choice.

Uh....I think I drifted from my original point, and seems it's impossible to get back. Yet I liked my BS, so I decided to live with it.

Anyways, I think for a girl as opinionated as I am, those good boys probably are too intimidated already. I don't think I'll need to choose.

Oh...also....though my friend is a good boy type, he's not one of those who fit into the "good boys" that I just discussed. He's a very good catch, and one of the best guys that I know of.

p.s. I've always like George Clooney, he kinda reminds me of the best possible combination between good boy and bad boy -- the good boy with a bad boy flare. ^_^

Lady M Cake Boutique

2007-12-12T04:01:00.000-08:00

I first heard of Lady M from Food Network. They had a show about desserts around the country, and featured a cake from Lady M -- Mille Crepes.

This cake is made of more than 20 layers of thin crepes, and sandwiched with nice and airy cream custard filling. And to top that off, sugar is sprinkled over the top, and the cake is "ironed"!! Yes, literally, a hot round iron goes on top, and caramelize the sugar, making the cake having a crispy shell.

So when I was in New York visiting, I made a point to visit this store. Me and my friend, Erica, skipped lunch, and traveled there all the way from downtown new York. The store is very elegantly designed (so do the price tag...sigh....), since it's situated near Park Ave. The whole room is a narrow long rectangle, with a white background. It looks rather cold, but at the same time very elegant and in style. With the trees out side, and the quiet streets, it almost gives you a feeling that you are not in the States, but somewhere in Paris.

We were very lucky that there was available tables at the time. We sat across from the counter, and all the menu items were displayed behind the glass window. The waitress wore a uniform almost similar to that of a French maid (which I find it kinda funny). All the menu dessert items are in French with tiny English translation underneath. I guess things sound fancier in French than in English, so even though those cakes' French names are pretty literate, they do sound better than their English counter parts.

We ordered the famous thousand crepe cake, and a cheesecake. and I counted, there were 24 layers of crepes in that cake! The crepes were very thin, and with the airy creamy custard, it feels like it's almost going to melt in your mouth. And the little bit of crisp from the caramelized sugar, it gave a very nice contrast to the cake. Hence, a very complex texture and taste.

Erica and I quickly finished the piece that we ordered, and then ordered one more. (That went down very very fast too) When we left to go to our dinner, we were so full from cake already. Good thing that we didn't eat lunch before.

Guess what's the price tag on those cakes?! $65.00 for a cake!!! I have never had cakes that expensive in US ever!!

Uh hum....I later actually ordered 3 more small crepe cakes to give it to my friends and take back to LA. I counted again in LA, it's still 24!! The cakes still taste very good after taking home, though I think Erica's would taste better than mine without all the traveling involved. But overall, the cakes taste much better in store than take out. Maybe as time goes, and custard sets, it doesn't taste as airy as before, though the creaminess remains.

So, the conclusion? I totally recommend going there, just be psychologically prepared of the price tag. And be prepared of the snobby New Yorker too!

Lady M Cake Boutique
41 E. 78th St., New York, NY 10021
between Park and Madison Aves.
212-452-2222

p.s. The store specifically said no photo taking allowed. So the pictures posted here are actually from New Yorker Magazine and their own website.
p.p.s. I'm filling back in of my vacation diary....

Blocked

2007-12-12T03:56:00.001-08:00

To my surprise (or maybe not so surprised...), Google blog is blocked by my company. Of course Youtube is now on the blocked list too.

I guess I saw that coming for a long while already. In fact, I was surprised that I was able to access Youtube for the longest time, and never had any trouble until this past week.

I guess my company has finally reviewed their list again.

Conscious Awareness

2007-12-07T14:47:00.001-08:00

Have you ever had this feeling? Once you make a decision, things are just popping up left and right to reinforce that decision?

For me, it's my headache. I almost never got headache before, but since I started working, I started getting headache. At first it's occasional, then it become almost everyday. My co-worker said that's conscious awareness. Because I was not that aware of my stress triggered headache at first, so I wasn't getting much. Or maybe should say, I wasn't feeling it much. Then I started being aware of it, then my brain sort of become wired to detect headache more quickly, thus even a tiny bit of headache, now become a much bigger issue.

In this case, my conscious actually dictates my symptom. I'm not saying that the triggering factor isn't there, but because I treat is as something negative, I actually made my symptom appears worse.

Movie - August Rush

2007-12-06T03:44:00.001-08:00

I have to admit, I went to see August Rush without knowing anything about it. Afterall, the only reason me and my friends chose it was because the other movie we wanted to see did not have a favorable show time, and we were already standing in front of the ticket office when we realized that.

To my surprise, this is a very touching movie. I was crying the whole time, because it's just so sad. I can totally understand the emotion that the actors were having, and they really did tell a very good story.

Too bad I didn't bring any tissue paper with me, I couldn't cry as free as I wanted to. So make sure you have a packet of tissue or napkins when seeing this movie.

August Rush

Tells the story of a charismatic young Irish guitarist (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and a sheltered young cellist (Keri Russell) who have a chance encounter one magical night above New York’s Washington Square, but are soon torn apart, leaving in their wake an infant, August Rush, orphaned by circumstance. Now performing on the streets of New York and cared for by a mysterious stranger (Robin Williams), August (Freddie Highmore) uses his remarkable musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth.

Film Clip (2:03)
Drama
Rating: PG
In Theatres: November 21st, 2007

Kristen Sheridan (dir.)
Freddie Highmore
Keri Russell
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Terrence Howard
Robin Williams

Overtime

2007-12-06T03:09:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I wonder how much overtime is justified? The fact that we are salaried worker, means we don't really get compensated for the overtime that we do, although the law said we should.

If I look at my working hours, it seems like despite getting to work earlier and earlier, my exiting time is really the same.

	Arrival Time	Leaving Time
Intern	930	1830
Current position (in training)	800	1830
Current position (day shift)	600	1830

Though I'm working longer hours, sadly, I'm actually a cheaper labor. Because I was an hourly back when I was an intern, so the more I work, the more I receive. Not to mention all the overtime pay rate, and holiday pay rate. Sigh....nowadays, since I'm salary worker, working overtime brings no extra financial benefit. Guess I'm actually made poorer, since I receive one flat paycheck.

Also because of the long working hours, my energy level after work is just super low. I used to be a night owl, and go to bed super late. Now, by 10pm, I can barely open my eyes already. I still remember when I was in college, I used to laugh at people who eats dinner at 5pm and goes to bed at 10:30pm. Unfortunately, nowadays I'm one of them too. Guess I shouldn't have laughed so hard back then.

Nintendo DS Lite

2007-12-04T16:54:00.000-08:00

I bought my very first video game console in my life!!!! This is going to be my Christmas gift to myself!! :-)

I never thought I'd buy things like this, but I guess as my bank account grew fatter every two weeks, my desire grew bigger too. I used to think I'm only crazy about clothes, and those girly things. But, as I work longer beside guys, I kinda inherit their interest too --> Gadget & Video Game. I recently bought my GPS, and now I'm buying this.

What's next? Wii

Lost (yes...again....)

2007-11-30T22:17:00.000-08:00

I guess one of the worst kind of getting lost experience, is to be lost in the downtown of a city that you've never driven/been to. And of course that happened to me, today....

I got lost in downtown San Francisco, near Chinatown area, in the middle of the rush lunch time. I guess it can't get any worse than that.... One might wonder, where's the GPS that I bragged about just a while ago....well, I forgot to charge it, so the battery died 2 streets after I reached my destination, when trying to find parking. I guess I should be grateful that it didn't die on me before I reach my destination, coz then I'll never be able to know where to find that address. As it turns out, Arlene's car did not have ANY map AT ALL of San Francisco, or even Bay Area.

I was so confused by all those triangular intersections, and the one way streets. There was people everywhere, and street was really narrow, that I hardly had a chance to make a U-turn. Not to mention, with the slopes and everything, my (already not so good) sense of orientation got even worse. I tried to go to the oceanside, but after I make the turn, as it turned out, I was going towards the hill. -_-|||

Good thing that I have some vague idea of which direction I turned into, and the streets I was on. So I was able to go back to the original destination, and after lunch, I was able to follow the signs and reach home before gas running out (yeah.....it's super super low now....I doubt it'll last for another 5 miles)

Lesson Learned: Always have GPS car charger in the vehicle!!!! And a full tank of gas as well....

Graveyard Shift Work Linked to Cancer

2007-11-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

I saw this in news, and now I'm scared.....really scared....I seem to fit into the worst category: switching shifts every now and then, and I can't really sleep very well during the day anymore....

Graveyard shift work linked to cancer
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

LONDON - Like UV rays and diesel exhaust fumes, working the graveyard shift will soon be listed as a "probable" cause of cancer. It is a surprising step validating a concept once considered wacky. And it is based on research that finds higher rates of breast and prostate cancer among women and men whose work day starts after dark.

Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, will add overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen. The American Cancer Society says it will likely follow. Up to now, the U.S. organization has considered the work-cancer link to be "uncertain, controversial or unproven."

The higher cancer rates don't prove working overnight can cause cancer. There may be other factors common among graveyard shift workers that raise their risk for cancer.

However, scientists suspect that overnight work is dangerous because it disrupts the circadian rhythm, the body's biological clock. The hormone melatonin, which can suppress tumor development, is normally produced at night.

If the graveyard shift theory eventually proves correct, millions of people worldwide could be affected. Experts estimate that nearly 20 percent of the working population in developed countries work night shifts.

Among the first to spot the night shift-cancer connection was Richard Stevens, a cancer epidemiologist and professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In 1987, Stevens published a paper suggesting a link between light at night and breast cancer.

Back then, he was trying to figure out why breast cancer incidence suddenly shot up starting in the 1930s in industrialized societies, where nighttime work was considered a hallmark of progress. Most scientists were bewildered by his proposal.

But in recent years, several studies have found that women working at night over many years were indeed more prone to breast cancer. Also, animals that have their light-dark schedules switched develop more cancerous tumors and die earlier.

Some research also suggests that men working at night may have a higher rate of prostate cancer.

Because these studies mostly focused on nurses and airline crews, bigger studies in different populations are needed to confirm or disprove the findings.

There are still plenty of skeptics. And to put the risk in perspective, the "probable carcinogen" tag means that the link between overnight work and cancer is merely plausible.

Among the long list of agents that are listed as "known" carcinogens are alcoholic beverages and birth control pills. Such lists say nothing about exposure amount or length of time or how likely they are to cause cancer. The American Cancer Society Web site notes that carcinogens do not cause cancer at all times.

Still, many doubters of the night shift link may be won over by the IARC's analysis to be published in the December issue of the journal Lancet Oncology.

"The indications are positive," said Vincent Cogliano, who heads up the agency's carcinogen classifications unit. "There was enough of a pattern in people who do shift work to recognize that there's an increase in cancer, but we can't rule out the possibility of other factors."

Scientists believe having lower melatonin levels can raise the risk of developing cancer. Light shuts down melatonin production, so people working in artificial light at night may have lower melatonin levels.

Melatonin can be taken as a supplement, but experts don't recommend it long-term, since that could ruin the body's ability to produce it naturally.

Sleep deprivation may be another factor in cancer risk. People who work at night are not usually able to completely reverse their day and night cycles.

"Night shift people tend to be day shift people who are trying to stay awake at night," said Mark Rea, director of the Light Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, who is not connected with the IARC analysis.

Not getting enough sleep makes your immune system vulnerable to attack, and less able to fight off potentially cancerous cells.

Confusing your body's natural rhythm can also lead to a breakdown of other essential tasks. "Timing is very important," Rea said. Certain processes like cell division and DNA repair happen at regular times.

Even worse than working an overnight shift is flipping between daytime and overnight work.

"The problem is re-setting your body's clock," said Aaron Blair, of the United States' National Cancer Institute, who chaired IARC's recent meeting on shift work. "If you worked at night and stayed on it, that would be less disruptive than constantly changing shifts."

Anyone whose light and dark schedule is often disrupted — including frequent long-haul travelers or insomniacs — could theoretically face the same increased cancer risk, Stevens said.

He advises workers to sleep in a darkened room once they get off work. "The balance between light and dark is very important for your body. Just get a dark night's sleep."

Meanwhile, scientists are trying to come up with ways to reduce night workers' cancer risk. And some companies are experimenting with different lighting, seeking a type that doesn't affect melatonin production.

So far, the color that seems to have the least effect on melatonin is one that few people would enjoy working under: red.

Collective Soul -- Run

2007-11-27T23:20:00.000-08:00

Have you had a urge to run, the feeling that you just want to leave everything behind, and be free?

I have, and recently this has been a growing urge, and I don't even know what I'm trying to run away from....

Lyrics:
Are these times contagious
Ive never been this bored before
Is this the prize Ive waited for
Now with the hours passing
Theres nothing left here to insure
I long to find a messenger

Have I got a long way to run
Have I got a long way to run
Yeah, I run

Is there a cure among us
From this processed sanity
I weaken with each voice that sings
Now, in this world of purchase
Im going to buy back memories
To awaken some old qualities

Have I got a long way to run
Have I got a long way to run
Yeah, I run
Yeah, I run

Have I got a long way
Have I got a long way
Have I got a long way to run
Have I got a long way to run

Yeah, I run (have I got a long way to run)
Yeah, I run (have I got a long way to run)
Yeah, I run (have I got a long way to run)
Yeah, I run (have I got a long way to run)

Healing

2007-11-27T22:25:00.001-08:00

When we get hurt, it's our first instinct not to touch the wound, and just let it heal itself. However, that put us in risk of infections, and other problems. So hydrogen peroxide is usually used to disinfect the wound, and remove all the bad tissues around it, so that the good healthy tissues can grow from beneath.

The disinfecting process usually hurts more than the hurting process. Because the wound is only topical, but hydrogen peroxide goes deeper than just the wound, and beyond the area of it too. But, after a few times, as the amount of bad tissues decreases, the disinfecting process hurts less too. Eventually, with the new tissues growing out, scars forming, hopefully, the wound would appear as if it were never there.

I'm very good being an ostrich, ignoring the problems I have. I pretend for a long time that as long as I don't touch the problem, it never exists. However, with this, my healing was never complete, and it still hurts from time to time. Facing the problem itself, it hurts at first, and it hurts badly...very badly... But as my revisits to the problem continues, strangely enough, it hurts less, and I realize, after all, it really is not that much of a big deal.

When Shopaholic Doesn't Shop

2007-11-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

I think I'm pretty famous for my shopping. I don't shop very often, but I do go shopping at least once a month to check out the latest trends. I usually ended up buying some nice pieces too (often not on sale, unfortunately). As a result, I always tell my closer friends if they need any clothes, esp for party or dress up occasion, they can always come shopping in my closet before heading to the stores. I just have a lot of clothes, plus I have a rule of not repeating dresses after I've worn it, unless I'm sure nobody from the first occasion would be going to the second one.

Recently, I just don't seem to have much mood of shopping. It seems like everything is not attractive, and I don't even want to go to the store and wait in the line for changing room. Carol said it's a bad sign, because that means I'm really stressed, that nothing seems interesting anymore.

Maybe she's right.... It was Black Friday yesterday. For the first time in 3 years, I didn't go shopping AT ALL. I didn't even want to go shopping. (Okay, I wanted to buy a Wii, but I figured with my laziness, I probably won't get a good deal at this time of the year. Better just wait till after the holiday season)

Now I'm worried....

My Chinese

2007-11-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

My Chinese sucks. It takes a lot of effort, and yet I still cannot write a decent paragraph. Let alone that my Chinese calligraphy is still grade school level, i.e. it still looks like a kid is writing, even though I'm already a grown adult.

When did this get so bad? Was it because I went to an English high school, and everything was taught in English? Or was it because I have stayed in the States for too long....

The Devlins - Waiting

2007-11-22T00:26:00.000-08:00

I got introduced to many good music last summer, since I bought an iPod, and desperately need to fill up the 30GB space. I was asking around my co-workers for songs, and I have to say my co-workers really have very good tastes. I've been very into indie rock, thanks to them.

The Devlins is an indie rock band originated from Dublin, Ireland (hm.....seems many of my favorite bands are Irish....). "Waiting" is probably their most well known songs, as it was featured in "Six Feet Under".

p.s. I couldn't find the music video of this song, but I think this is a decent one.

LA vs Bay Area

2007-11-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

I've arrived in Bay Area for a week already, been driving around a little bit. I have to say, this time around, maybe because I actually get to drive, it feels very different than my previous visits. I've always thought I like Bay Area more than LA, but now it seems like LA has many advantages too.

1. Living Environment
I think Bay Area is better than LA. Mostly because it's greener here than LA, there are more trees around, therefore fresher air. LA is next to desert, it only rains like 7 days max throughout the year. As a result, the pollutants and particulates in the air can never be washed off. There's always a layer of smog over the downtown area.

2. Driving
Maybe because I'm used to LA traffic already, but I cannot believe that in Bay Area, at least the streets/101 freeway that I've driven, people actually obey the speed limit! I mean, if the speed limit is 65mph, people actually drives 65 mph on the fast lane. It's unbelievable, coz in LA, only the slowest lane people would obey the speed limit. Whereas the middle lane is pretty much 10+ speed limit, and fast lane is like don't even dare go over there unless you are driving at least 80mph. And people are driving 65 on fast lane here!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!

It seems like in LA, speed limit is really guideline only. People usually drive at least 10 mph above the limit, given there's no police. (This is VERY important!!) Since I like speeding, so I'd say I like driving in LA better.

3. Transportation
Bay Area rules!! The BART and Cal Train is so convenient! Maybe because I grew up using public transportation, so even though it might take longer to get to the destination, but still, the time spent on the train can be used to do other stuff. Whereas, the time spent in the car can only be used to hit the brake and talk on phone. So taking the train definitely is better use of time, and more environmentally friendly too.

4. Starbucks and Peet's Coffee
Bay Area's coffee seems to be cheaper. There are more Peet's Coffee shops than LA too. Peet's Coffee is my favorite coffee shop, since there aren't so many of them in LA, so I usually go to Starbucks. I've noticed that the Starbucks here in Bay Area is actually cheaper than those in LA. Guess that's a good and bad news for me, good that it's better for my wallet, bad that I'll probably go get it more often.

5. Living Cost
Hm....since they are both big cities, there aren't much difference. But I think Bay Area is a little bit more on the expensive side. Maybe because people here earns more, maybe because LA has a big population of starving actors.... But the neighborhood here seems safer though....

6. Cars
It seems like there aren't many nice cars in Bay Area. I haven't encountered many Porsche, or those super high end exotic cars yet. There are just plenty plenty of Japanese cars. People really drive very modest cars here in Bay Area... Guess that's less eye candy for me. :-p

R. Kelly - If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time

2007-11-19T22:53:00.000-08:00

If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time is an old song from R Kelly, my recent favorite. I don't remember who gave me this song. It must be one of those CDs/DVDs that people burned me when I first got my iPod.

Like the lyrics, sometimes I wish I can turn back the hands of time, maybe I can do things differently, maybe everything would turn out different. Of course, it's only my wish.... Life must go on, and I must learn from my mistakes.

p.s. The official music video is not available for "borrowing", so I settled for the cartoon one.

Shanghaiese Wonton

2007-11-18T00:22:00.001-08:00

People who know me from Wisconsin times would know that I'm quite picky when it comes to food. I don't really pick on the food, but rather on how they are prepared. Back then, the Chinese restaurants in Madison was super horrible, that I even told my friends that if they chose to go to those worst ones, I'd rather not hang out. Of course, I also ended up calling my mom a lot for recipes, as she's a good cook. i.e. I blame it all on her for making me so picky about food, it's all because I'm spoiled by her good cooking!

Since I'm on vacation, I can cook all the dishes that I've been craving for. Shanghaiese wonton is definitely one of them, as the prep time takes a long while. So I spent majority of the night washing, blanching, and chopping vegetables. The whole process is really very mechanical, but yet somehow it's kind of meditating too. Of course, the wonton tastes really good. :-)

Shanghaiese Wonton is very typical comfort food back in Shanghai area. It's like the southern version of the dumplings, or Chinese version of ravioli. Each family has their own way of making it, as well as their own recipe. Even my parents make it differently, since my father inherits his family's recipe, and my mother has hers. Growing up, I was always welcomed to participate in the wonton wrapping section when my mother or my grandmother was making it. So I was taught the Chu family way of wrapping wonton. It's rather funny, but even the way people wrap their wonton is very distinct. Each family, even each member has their own way. My mom can easily tell which ones were hers and which ones were mine (of course, the sloppy ones were mine). Learning how to make the filling involves all the senses, as chinese family cooking usually has no quantitative recipe. It's all about remembering how it should taste like, and the combination of ingredients. As for the actual portions, it's up to the cook. So learning involves tasting each stage of the cooking, smelling how it's like before and after, watching the cooking process, and memorizing the whole thing. Then, every time the dish is made, it's a recreation. As there's no recipe like western ones to follow, every time is a little bit different. It adds the uncertainty, but also allows creativity.

Queen of Getting Lost --> No More Getting Lost (Hopefully)

2007-11-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

I never really admitted how bad I am at direction until I moved to LA couple years ago. Of course I have a pretty good sense of direction, but that's only for places that I've been to. So I guess I should classify that as having good memory of direction instead.

The worst getting lost story happened when I first moved to LA. Back then I was living in Santa Monica, less than 20 blocks from the beach and the 3rd St Promenades. One time I went to the T-Mobile retail store on 4th St, which was 17 blocks away from my place, very straight forward to get there and back too. However, I tried not to make U-turn to go home, so I turned north, thinking that I'll be able to hit Santa Monica Blvd and go home. BTW, Santa Monica Blvd is actually south from Wilshire, where I was on. So several wrong turns later, I ventured into some unknown streets, and as I was going towards the mountains, the streets get narrower and curlier. To make it worse, it was peak traffic time in the late afternoon, so U-turn was definitely impossible, as it's not allowed and there's cars everywhere. I ended up in Pacific Palisade, and had to take PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and then change to 10 freeway to go home. I later checked, my original distance was less than 2 miles, and I ended up about 7 miles away from home. -_-||

After 2 years of getting lost due to bad direction, or bad judgment calls, I finally gave in and bought a GPS. I have to admit, so far it seems to be one of my smartest purchase ever! My GPS even has a list of destinations, like grocery stores, so I don't need to go to store website to get the address. It has proved to be super useful right now, as I am in a city I'm not familiar with. It's so nice just sit in the car, scroll through the menu to find the stores/restaurants I need to go to, and wait for that "Please drive to highlighted route" voice.

The model I bought is Garmin Nuvi 350. I have to say it's a bit on the pricey side, as Garmin is one of the best brand in the market. But it's really worth the money! The machine itself is super small, and it comes with both car charger and regular charger. The map display is very big, and the route calculated is really good. I tried to go to Target today, which I went to with Arlene the other day using a different route. As it turned out, the route Garmin suggested was way better and easier than the one Arlene told me to use.

I guess my only complaint is that Costco is now doing a Thanksgiving promotion, Nuvi 650 is $299.99 after rebate. That's way cheaper than what I paid for my lower model, even though I got mine on a promotion too. :-( Anyways, I've enjoyed it for a month already. Guess I should count the amount of time it saved me in not getting lost as well.

Firefox

2007-11-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I just lost all my saved bookmarks on Firefox over a matter of wrong button pressed!!!

Okay, I admit I wasn't very awake yet, but I was merely trying to turn off my computer the lazy way, i.e. pressing the power button. Apparently, I totally forgot that if I press it too long, it become a force shut down button. So I basically unplugged my power when my battery was running super low....

When I restart my computer, all the bookmarks that I've saved on Firefox was gone already. All I saw was the blank look it had, even worse than one that was freshly installed, as the toolbar links were gone now too. I tried to re-install firefox one more time, but apparently, it's exactly the same. I also tried to find the directory in the computer, see if it's still there, so maybe I can just manually put it back. Of course, there's no luck too.

Good thing that I had some of my old bookmarks in my IE. So I'm kinda switching back to using IE now.

Stupid Firefox!!! Stupid me....

Is there any computer experts around to show me a clue at 6am? Maybe I'm pushing the limit a bit..... :-(

Kids (a.k.a. Sweetest Little Devils)

2007-11-14T11:16:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's because I'm not ready for kids, maybe because these kids are just not mine, but seriously they seems like the sweetest little devils to me.

They are cute for a second, luring you into give everything they want, then they turn around and start screaming... becoming totally unreasonable....

Gosh....

(I'm currently having my vacation in Bay Area, staying with my family friends. They have a 2 year old, and all their friends are married with kids. So I'm always surrounded by kids...)

The Stinking Rose

2007-11-07T02:20:00.000-08:00

Due to my shift schedule, especially since I have to work night shift nowadays, I haven't seen my girlfriends for a long while. So we decided that we are going to do a get-together, ditching all the guys, and just enjoy some good conversation without any hold-back. ^_^

Since there's no guys around, it's perfect chance to go home with a garlic breath without worrying too much. ;-) So off Stinking Rose we go!!! :-D

They had aisles of tables under little tents, it offer perfect privacy for people to enjoy their meal without worrying about strangers poking around. Almost everything was served with garlic, except water I guess. It's SOOOOOO good!!!

They served us roasted garlic and garlic bread. We pretty much immediately finished it all, and we asked the bus boy to gave us more (which as he's bringing it out, told us not to tell our server. So....guess it's not free-refill...but we got it free anyways!! Perks of having an all-girl table...hahaha)

Our main dishes were roasted rabbit, and baked portobello mushroom. Of course, garlic mashed potato was the side dish. It's my first time having rabbit, have to say I'm not a big fan of it. Maybe it's a cook's problem, coz I found it a little over cooked. (Hm....do I sound like those Top Chef judge now?) But the portobello mushroom was great, especially with the roasted vegetables. Good thing that we did family style, we were so full afterwards.

Guess what?! We got dessert too!!! The servings of ice cream were huge! I thought we were going to share, but everybody ordered. So we did share, but we all have a lot in front of us.

By the time we walked out of the restaurant, they were preparing to close already. We literally spent the whole night there. And we didn't even realize that it's so late! Guess that's the power of good company. :-D

The Stinking Rose
55 North La Cienega Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 652-7673

A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover

2007-11-06T01:41:00.001-08:00

Gosh! I felt like it's a sign!! Yesterday, I saw a clip on Youtube of this song used as a background music of Daughters & Wives, and I almost cried! It's so sad.... (sobbing....) Then, today I heard the news of my girlfriend's breakup with her boyfriend, and on my way home, the radio was playing it again!!

I think the song's lyrics tells a very good story. It's like the perfect breakup song, that provides an outlet for all the rages and bitterness.

Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy

Your fingertips across my skin
The palm trees swaying in the wind
Images
You sang me Spanish lullabies
The sweetest sadness in your eyes
Clever trick

I never want to see you unhappy
I thought you'd want the same for me

[Chorus]
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

We walked along a crowded street
You took my hand and danced with me
Images
And when you left, you kissed my lips
You told me you would never, ever forget
These images

I'd never want to see you unhappy
I thought you'd want the same for me

[Chorus]
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean
I cannot drive the streets at night
I cannot wake up in the morning
Without you on my mind
So you're gone and I'm haunted
And I bet you are just fine

Did I make it that
Easy to walk right in and out
Of my life?

[Chorus]
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

One Republic -- Apologize (featuring Timberland)

2007-11-06T00:55:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would be hooked onto a Justin Timberland song. I never really liked his vocal, but apparently, ever since I heard this at Circle Bar, I am HOOKED!! I'd stay in the car for extra couple minutes if the radio is playing it, just so that I can finish the song....

Maybe because it's only featuring him in there.....

DIWALI -- The Festival of Lights

2007-11-05T23:51:00.000-08:00

Diwali is an important indian festival celebrated by more than 1 billion Indians. It usually falls on October/November period of time, depends on the Hindu calendar. The celebration usually lasts for 4-5 days, and every day is dedicated to a special kinda of human relationship: brother & sister, husband & wife etc.

My Indian co-worker told me that an upscale Indian restaurant in Beverly Hills, called Tanzore, is having some Diwali celebration event this week, and asked if we want to check it out together.

Luckily there was no traffic at all, going from Pasadena to Beverly Hills, so we arrived earlier than Madhura and her husband. While we waited for them, we decided to check out the back room, where some vendors were showing some Indian culture (trade show too, but for non-Indians like us, it's more educating than advertising...hahaha).

There was this booth, and the lady was doing henna for guests. As me and Jen never got it before, we decided to try it out. The dye was all natural from dried and grounded henna leaves. The girl had it in a conical foil tube, and just piped pattern on our hand. To be honest, henna smelled pretty bad to me. It felt cool when she applied, and it looks like this dark icing (though I bet it's not tasty at all). After a while, the paste started to dry, and my hand started to itch a little bit. By then, Madhura and her husband, Indra, arrived already, and we were sitting at the table. I kept forgetting that I shouldn't scratch myself, and ended up rubbing my henna off. Sometimes, both me and Jen's left hands would reach out to the right hand side, and then realized later that we just scraped off some more henna. Not long after, my henna was all scraped off. Luckily, I have allowed enough time, that the pigment stayed. (Yay!! I'm going to show it to Ed when I go back to work on Wednesday :-D )

The dinner was very nice. We left the ordering task to Madhura and Indra, as they are native, and they ordered a LOT!! Luckily, like all upscale restaurant, the serving size was small, so we didn't end up with a over-sized belly. But, it's so funny, that I have never been to an Indian restaurant that has such a small serving size!!! The food was very nice, and the well cooked. They were all in those nice curly plates and bowls, and maybe because it's Diwali, we kept being served food that's on the house. First, the waiter brought us a basket of bread over and ask us if we'd like to have them, on the house of course. Then the restaurant manager brought us a nicely plated trio of chicken, again on the house. Lastly, they messed up our order, so when we told them, they brought the correct food over, and that was on the house too.

The restaurant was very well decorated, and I saw some famous face there. The doctor from Dr 90210 was there. (Unfortunately, not the good looking ones, but the arrogant weird looking one) I think I also saw that judge from American Idol, he was sitting just around the corner from where we were sitting. The restaurant had some Indian fashion and jewelery show, and a little intensive dance performance.

By the end of the meal, we were so full that we couldn't even order dessert!! I felt like I finally had a normal dinner in a long time, coz when we walked out, it's more than 10:30pm already. It felt so good!! hahaha....

Better yet, when we left, we were all handed a little gift basket for the celebration!! Yay!!

Tanzore Restaurant & Lounge,
50 North La Cienega Blvd,
Beverly Hills, California, 90211

Time Flies

2007-11-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

I was busy moving my xanga posts to blogspot today. (Of course not all of them, only those I think is worth moving, those that are not "blah blah blah" ones)

I was kinda going through my previous posts, and cannot believe that I have been in the States for 6 years, and I actually survived all my schooling. Quite some of my xanga posts were simply whining about how hard exams were, how stressful study life was, and how tired I was from juggling between all that was happening.

Looking back, those entries captured different kinds of emotions of mine, during all these years. There were posts about first classes, my award, my trips, and all those life events. Some were happier than others, while all are precious memories that will easily slip between fingers.

photo © Christof Wittwer for openphoto.net CC:NoDerivs-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Diet Coke + Mentos = ?

2007-11-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

James showed me this a while back. It's really quite fascinating, not to mention the chemistry/physics theory it used was really simple.

Do you know why this happens?

Answer:
1. One of the main ingredient of coke is carbonic acid, i.e. storage reservoir for carbon dioxide gas
2. Mentos breaks the surface tension of the liquid, which leads to all the carbon dioxide dissolved in coke trying to come through the bottle opening --> the water fountain effect
3. Why diet coke? The clean up is easier, and diet coke has lower surface tension to start with.

Okay, I'll admit, these are James' answer. Since he actually did carry out similar experiment in his company's research lab with his co-workers. And the water fountain shoot all the way to the ceiling. ;-)

Corteo

2007-11-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

I guess this is a past-due event. I went to see this back in September, when Cirque du Soleil came out to LA to do this show.

The show was GREAT!!! It was very entertaining, and we went to it on a Sunday afternoon, so it wasn't too crowded either.

Some highlights of the event:

Crystal Glasses and Tibetan Bowls

Paradise

Lastly, the event was full of celebrities too!!! I ran into one of my favorite actress, Kate Blanchett with her son. She even smiled at me, as her son really literally ran into me. (Okay, I guess I'm really star struck now....I better stop right here)

p.s. Source of pics: Cirque du Soleil

The Bunny Suit

2007-10-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

As someone work in the pharmaceutical industry, it is part of job description to wear the clean-room overall, which I nickname it "The Bunny Suit".

I couldn't find a better pictures than the ones above. However, in pharmaceutical industry, at least at the company that I work at, the requirement for gowning up is more stringent than what's shown here. Basically, we are covered top to toe, including wearing safety glasses to cover the opening in the hood. This is exactly like the essence of a bunny suit, you are covered top to bottom, and nothing is exposed to the air. :-(

Bunny suits are worn by personnels working in areas where particulates have to minimized, so it's usually worn by people in the semi-conductor and pharmaceutical industry. Intel has a tutorial on the history and how to put on a bunny suit : Link

It's funny that in the tutorial, it says, people takes as much as 30-40 min to put on one. On the other hand, a trained personnel takes about 5 min. Oh well...I take 5 min to complete the whole process, but my fellow co-worker, some of them only 2 min.

Hm....I wonder how long it will take me one year from now?

"New Year" Resolution

2007-10-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

I used to write blogs on xanga, for quite a long time. (Okay, more than 3 years) There were periods of time that I just didn't feel like writing anything there, as I felt I was just telling every single detail of my life without a focus. Afterall, to me, xanga seems more like a diary.

This time around, I stopped updating my xanga for more than 6 months. I think, not long after I graduated and started working, that I just got so busy and so tired of telling every single details. So, as part of my "new year" resolution after my birthday, I decided that I'm going to start a blog. A real blog, where I'll categorize stuff, and have a little theme for each post.

No more "I did blah blah blah today".

Interesting Analogy

2007-07-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

I saw this online, in Chinese, and figured it's really quite humorous, and decided to do my crappy translation. Hopefully, it's still funny.

Human = Eat + Sleep + Work + Enjoyment
Pig = Eat + Sleep
Therefore,
Human = Pig + Work + Enjoyment
In other words,
Human - Enjoyment = Pig + Work
In conclusion, Human who doesn't know hot to enjoy life = Pig working

Man = Eat + Sleep + Earn Money
Pig = Eat + Sleep
Therefore,
Man = Pig + Earn Money
In other words,
Man - Earn Money = Pig
In conclusion, Man who cannot earn money = Pig

Woman = Eat + Sleep + Spend Money
Pig = Eat + Sleep
Therefore,
Woman = Pig + Spend Money
In other words,
Woman - Spending Money = Pig
In conclusion, Woman who doesn't spend money = Pig

To summarize,
In order to prevent a woman from turning into a pig, man needs to earn money
In order to prevent a man from turning into a pig, woman needs to spend money
Man + Woman = 2 Pigs!

For someone like me, who happened to spend tons of "wasted" time proving theories, this is really quite interesting. I hope you like it as well.

p.s. Source of pic: http://www.e-jason.net

Language Confusion

2007-07-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

As usual, my driving time is usually when I reconnect with my friends and family members. I called up my friend, and we had this whole conversation about how we assume a different sets of norms when we are speaking different languages.

I think especially for us, since we were brought up in the Asian culture, we learnt to respect the elders and authorities. When we are in the US, now we have to learn to be more vocal and more aggressive, just so that we don't look like those timid Asians who can be easily taken advantages of. For me, to fit in, I'll switch to another operating system depending on where I am. So I'd be very polite and obedient when I'm in Hong Kong; and (comparatively) loud and blunt when I'm here in the States. It normally work just fine, until I meet some fella just like me --> someone who have substantial experience in both cultures, and have been adjusting to both cultures. It's not too bad, if that someone is my generation, then things can be very easily sorted out. However, if it happens that person is an older generation who has spent a long time here in the States, then I'm in deep trouble. Theoretically, according to Asian culture, I should pay respect to that person, for example calling them by their hierarchy title (according to Asian society norm), like aunty May or uncle John. However, in the States, people usually just refer them by their names, May or John. So I would have this confusion, not knowing what system they'd expect me to treat them. As it turns out...usually they wouldn't mind being called just May or John, but treating-wise, they want the old traditional Asian way!

Anyways...just a thought...it's quite interesting when I pointed out to my friend that, even though we were high school classmates, we actually speak English to each other. It just seems like, the topics available for chatting is very different according to different language channels.

p.s. Source of image: http://donaldb.files.wordpress.com

New York Trip (Part II)

2007-06-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

Finally, I got time to write the remaining of my travel journal. (But I guess I have already forgot a lot of what I wanted to say....sigh)

2 June 2007 (Sat)
We came home at 5am (I think....) after such a long night of fun. Since I was still under the influence of california time zone, I was totally alert. Anyways, we crashed into the bed, and passed out.

We got up in the afternoon, and went to a Theory sample sale. It was filled with tons of Theory clothes, at a much discounted price. (Karmen, thank you for telling us ) Too bad I don't do very well with shopping with tons of people lining up for fitting room, so Erica and I left shortly after.

We went to Lady M, a cakery place featured in Food Network before. I heard about their crepe cake, called Mille Crepes. It's a cake made of a stack of individual crepes, with pastry cream filling.

It is SOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! The crepe is very thin and light, the cream filling is not over poweringly sweet (unlike the regular American cakes), and with the crisp sugar caramelization on top. It's one of the best cakes I have ever tasted in the States. (i.e. whoever is still in NYC should definitely try it out!!) In fact, I liked it so much that I ordered some to bring back to LA.

After finishing 3 pieces of cakes between the two of us, we headed to SOHO for a little bit of my favourite activity --> Shopping!! Then we went for our dinner celebration for getting our H1 visa. The restaurant is called Aki, and it's kind of a fusion between caribbean and Japanese cuisines. I absolutely adore their appertizers, and the environment is quite cozy.

3 June 2007 (Sun)
I was supposed to wake up early and go listen to Erica singing....but......when she called me right before they start, I was still sleeping....so that pretty much became impossible. (Sorry, Erica....) Since we were going to Aquagrill for brunch, I figured I would go there myself, and do a little bit of shopping. NYC's weather has been absolutely out of my expectation. I guess I've been in CA for too long, that I forgot how to pack for humid hot weather. By now, I was pretty much down to my last outfit, and I still have one more day to go. Anyways, I grabbed my map, and headed to SOHO.

I think I started to get a hang of the whole NYC subway system, that I was able to get to Spring St station without any problem. When I first arrived, I always hop on the wrong direction of the train, and had to go back afterwards. Now, I think I kinda start to ride like a real New Yorker. Anyways...to make myself even more proud, I was asked for direction!!! And I KNEW it!!! Hahaha.....I guess I really started to look like a New Yorker. I learnt how to pronounce those names right the night before from Erica, and now I also learnt the streets.

After the delicious delicious brunch with my friends, we headed back to SOHO for more shopping. One of my goals was to buy some kitchenware. However, the store was closed down, and the weather was pouring. We ended up sitting in a coffee shop and chit chatting, which I totally had a great time. As the rain got smaller, we moved from the coffee shop to our dinner restaurant, and continued chit chatting. By the time we were finally getting ready to go home (not that we really wanted to, but the restaurant was closing), it was pouring really heavily outside. The owner was very nice, that he told us to wait inside of the restaurant for the rain to get smaller. So Karmen pulled out her phone, and called for a town car. Gosh, I felt like I am such a heung-ha person, that I have always thought those town cars are very expensive. Anyways, I had my first ride in my life in one of those black Lincoln, and it's really pretty neat.

4 June 2007 (Mon)
My last day in NYC. I didn't do much, just had lunch with Joel and his gf, and picked up my cakes from LadyM. My flight was delayed, so they rescheduled me to an earlier one so that I can catch my Chicago connection. That totally freaked me out, because my Lady M cakes needed to be kept cool at all times. When I finally arrived in Chicago, I had dinner at an airport restaurant and asked the nice waitress to put the cakes in freezer for me.

As if it's not enough to be delayed once, my Chicago flight was delayed too. Luckily my very nice waitress had already put my cakes in the freezer, so I didn't need to worry about them.

I really had a great time in NYC. I only wish that the trip can be longer, and the weather can be nicer. I guess the best case scenario would be sharing our nice CA weather with NYC, then every thing would be perfect.

New York Trip (Part I)

2007-06-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'm back!! Finally, I made it, and my cakes made it too!! I really have to thank all my friends who "squeezed" time out of their busy schedule to see me and show me around.

My trip was great, though my touristy activities only lasted a mere 7 hours.

31 May 2007 (Thur)
After an exceptionally long day, I finally got off at 6:30pm, jammed all the way back home. I had only 2 hours to pack and get to the airport. At the same time, for some reasons I was extra popular that night. Got people calling me regarding my trip, regarding their trip to Hong Kong (i.e. need advice etc), and just chit chat to catch up.....etc...

I literally ran out of my door by 8:30pm. Drove to the airport, and parked my car. Then one of the shuttle bus drivers was very nice, that even though he wasn't going to the airport, he still did a trip for me. So I showed my appreciation by giving a fat tip.

Whew!! I made it just in time for my flight!

1 June 2007 (Fri)
After a horribly long flight (despite I slept for the most part), I landed in Boston and found out I only have 15 min to run from one terminal to another since I'm connecting from UA to US Airways. The connection is normally done by passenger getting out of the security, hop onto a bus that will carry him/her across the airport to the other side. Me?! I ran the whole time, since I have no time to wait for the bus nor do I know where it is. I made it to the other end completely exhausted, only to find out (actually to my relief) that my flight was canceled.

So I ended up on the flight one hour later, and arrived in NYC finally. On the plane, I finally got a chance and started reading my tour book (yeah....that's how late I started...my Boston to NYC flight). I highlighted a bunch of places I'd like to visit, and also found out that most cabs in NYC do not take cards. I have only $4.00 in bills in my wallet!!

Luckily, the cab I took takes card, so I didn't need to be dumped by the cab driver on the freeway. After putting down my stuff and get myself ready for going out, I bought myself a subway ticket that finished all the cash I have.

My first stop was the UN. But before that, my most important mission was to find myself a Bank of America ATM machine and get CASH!! I tried couple blocks with no luck, and started to get desperate. I was almost ready to pay extra surcharges and just get cash from any ATM. Luckily, right at the corner, I saw the bright red sign...and rushed over there like a vampire saw its victim. Unfortunately, BoA has always been my piggy cash bank, so I really don't have much that I can withdraw on. Anyways, I got enough to last me for 2 days (as I thought at the time...and couple cabs and subways later, I went back the same night).

I actually visited NYC almost 14 years ago, the UN was closed during our visit because it was a weekend. So this time, I was determined to make a visit and send out a postcard from there!! After some brutal long walks, I was all hot and tired when I got to the gate, only to find out I have to go through security check in a TENT with no AC!! When I got out of that, I think I was almost ready to have a heat stroke.

Anyways, I did my guided tour, and headed to send my postcard. Then I went to Morgan Library Museum. It is an awesome museum, especially for people who loves books and music (in my opinion). The most interesting collection was the composers' handwritten draft/manuscript. They show you the original version, and compare it side by side with the printed version pointing out the differences. Apparently, when the "copier" copy the draft for publication, he did not just copy everything blindly. He made modifications here and there, whenever he sees the composer's work is hard to perform or not very smooth. So the museum had both the original version and the modified version performed and recorded, so that visitors can compare side by side. It was really interesting to hear that. The differences were subtle, but it's there. Since I'm not super good with music, I won't comment on which one is better. But my fellow music lover friends should definitely check this place out, and remember to bring your STUDENT ID!!!

I did not have dinner the night before, and nothing so far for the day. (For some reasons, I just had no appetite at all!!) But I decided I needed something to fuel my long walks, and esp get some air conditioning (the weather is way TOO humid in NYC). So I got down to the Grand Central, and get some Junior's cheesecake. Then I walked around the train station a bit, and without knowing it, concluded all the touristy activity I had for the entire trip!

As unprepared as I was, I texted Karmen when I was in Boston asking her out for dinner. Instead, she invited me for dinner with her friends. One of her friends cooked!! (Very fancy meal, with very fancy plating!! ) We had great food on the roof of her apt building under the moonlight, with nice candlelight, champagne, and tasty dessert! Gosh...people in NYC really knows how to enjoy life!

After leaving Karmen's place, I headed out to a club (and started my club hopping). Apparently, I tipped too much. I just wasn't thinking, I think I tipped the cab driver more than 30%. As I was later told by my New Yorker friends, I should only give at most 2 dollars.

The clubs were a lot of fun (James, thank you for the invitations). By the time we started heading home, it's already dawn. (Luckily I had jetlag, otherwise I don't think I can party for so long after such a long day) To make things even better, people takes cab so nobody needs to worry about DUI!!

(This is getting really long....I'll continue the rest of my trip next time)

p.s. Source of image: http://wwp.new-york-usa.com

Does Birth Order Determine Success?

2007-05-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

I saw this article on msn.com just now, it seem really really fun...It's about how birth order of one can influence one's chance on success and social status. I think some part of it is really rather true. From my observations in USC (since I didn't have that much free time to analyze people when I was back in Madison), the youngest ones in family usually click better with other youngest born, while the first borns click better too. I always thought it's just because of personality, but indeed...our birth order has some impact on our personality.

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Does Birth Order Determine Success?

By Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com Editor

All men may be created equal; but a look at their pay stubs will tell you that their incomes are not. Blame it on social class, education -- even luck, but according to Dalton Conley, New York University professor of sociology and public policy, inequality begins at home.

In his book "The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why," Conley says that 75 percent of the income inequality between individuals in the United States occurs between siblings in the same families. He points to the diverse fortunes of Bill and Roger Clinton, and Jimmy and Billy Carter as examples.

Research shows that first borns (and onlys) lead the pack in terms of educational attainment, occupational prestige, income and net worth. Conversely middle children in large families tend to fare the worst. (Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!)

"A child's position in the family impacts his personality, his behavior, his learning and ultimately his earning power," states Michael Grose, author of "Why First Born Rule the World and Last-borns Want to Change It." "Most people have an intuitive knowledge that birth order somehow has an impact on development, but they underestimate how far-reaching and just how significant that impact really is."

Conley concedes that birth order is significant in shaping individual success, but only for children of large families -- four or more siblings -- and in families where finances and parental time are constrained. (In wealthy families, like the Bushes and Kennedys, it has less effect.)

Here's a look at what impact your birth-order may have on you:

First Borns:
More conscientious, ambitious and aggressive than their younger siblings, first borns are over-represented at Harvard and Yale as well as disciplines requiring higher education such as medicine, engineering or law. Every astronaut to go into space has been either the oldest child in his or her family or the eldest boy. And throughout history -- even when large families were the norm -- more than half of all Nobel Prize winners and U.S. presidents have been birst born. Famous eldest children include: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, J.K. Rowling and Winston Churchill. And macho movie stars are First Born, too, including Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and all the actors who have played James Bond.

Middles:
Middle children are more easy going and peer-oriented. Since they can get lost in the shuffle of their own families, they learn to build bridges to other sources of support and therefore tend to have excellent people skills. Middle children often take on the role of mediator and peacemaker. Famous middle children include: Bill Gates, J.F.K., Madonna and Princess Diana.

Youngest:
The youngest child tends to be the most creative and can be very charming -- even manipulative. Because they often identify with the underdog, they tend to champion egalitarian causes. (Youngest siblings were the earliest backers of the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment.) Successful in journalism, advertising, sales and the arts, famous youngest children include Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal.

Only Children:
Only children have similar characteristics to first borns and are frequently burdened with high parental expectations. Research shows they are more confident, articulate and likely to use their imagination than other children. They also expect a lot from others, hate criticism, can be inflexible and are likely to be perfectionists. Well-known only children include Rudy Guiliani, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Alan Greenspan, Tiger Woods, tennis' teen queen Maria Sharapova and Leonardo Da Vinci.

Twins:
Because they hold equal status and are treated so similarly, twins turn out similarly in most cases. Consider advice columnists "Dear Abby" and "Ann Landers" (Abigail and Esther Friedman), and Harold and Bernard Shapiro, who became presidents of Princeton University and Canada's McGill University respectively.

Dr. Frank Sulloway, a behavioral scientist and visiting professor at the Institute of Personality and Social Research at University of California, Berkeley and author of the book, "Born To Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics and Creative Lives," says first borns are more similar in personality to first borns in other families than they are to their own younger siblings and that youngest children are often more similar to the youngest child in another family than his or her own elder siblings. He says this is because the family is not as much a "shared environment" as a set of niches that provide siblings with different outlooks.

Conley agrees, but stresses that these are just general trends -- and that the whole birth-order theory can be turned on its head depending on the child's personality, the age gap between siblings and the family circumstances each child experiences during his or her formative years.

Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.