Slow Down
I’ve been seeing a lot of CHP out on the freeways lately. They hide behind bushes waiting for their prey. Some even have their radar guns pointed towards traffic. This week I saw two such cops with radar guns active on 101 in the Brisbane area, on both north and southbound shoulders. So slow down everyone.

I’ve actually already been driving slower lately, regardless of the CHP. With gas prices so high, I’m doing anything I can to save a few drops. I’ve been trying to drive 55 mph as most people suggest as the most fuel-efficient speed. But let me tell ya, it’s very hard to do. I feel like grandma going at 55 with people passing me at “regular” speeds. Sometimes I succeed. Other times I just give in and drive 65.

I did notice, however, a couple of good things with my slow driving crusade. (1) Some people actually slow down with me. They don’t mind going slow either! (2) Those who continue to go at their regular speeds do not honk at me to get out of the way. They simply change lanes to pass. This makes me think people are very aware of the benefits of driving slower and they do not mind that other people do it. No more roadraging assholes forcing people to go fast with them. That is amazing.

Anyone else driving slower lately to save a few drops of gas?

This is a good idea, but let's just see if it works. I hope so.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/14/BADA11J69S.DTL

Here's a picture of the charred south side of San Bruno Mountain. The fire line actually went even lower on the mountain (which means the fire got even closer to us!) than I thought. Yikes!

Good Idea
This may be something all parents out there should do.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/24/national/a213405D63.DTL&tsp=1

Good job Madelyn! Smart thinking Jessica.

Another Close Call
We had another close call last night when a wildfire broke out on San Bruno Mt. at about 7:20pm. While the grass fire that broke out on May 21st burnt 7 acres and was contained within a couple hours, last night’s fire grew to 5-alarm and burnt over 200 acres. It was declared under control at midnight but full containment wasn’t declared until 11am this morning, 16 hours after it started. Cause of the fire is still undetermined.

Our house is about 0.5 to 1 mile from the fire site. We had a clear vantage point of it from our kitchen window and our backyard. Here is a picture I took from the backyard. You can see the fire outlining the mountain ridge.

Fortunately for us and especially for all the people in the surrounding neighborhoods, weather conditions last night favored firefighting efforts. Relative humidity was high and winds were considerably calm. With winds blowing to the east and our house being to the south and west, we were confident we were not in the path of the fire. Actually, RF was more confident than me. I was a bit nervous to be honest. Just one wild gust of wind can blow an ember any which way to spark another fire totally unexpectedly. Thank goodness that didn’t happen.

Here is a SF Chronicle report of this fire and all the other fires in the Bay Area over the weekend:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/23/BAS011DN5B.DTL&tsp=1

Every generation is probably going to have a different version of this. Comparing generations may give insights on how the country progressed, or in some (most?) cases, regressed.

Here’s a look at what the folks in 1955 said:


- I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.00.

- Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $2,000.00 will only buy a used one.

- If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.

- Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?

- If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.

- When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.

- Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.

- I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.

- I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.

- Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President.

- I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.

- It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.

- It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.

- Marriage doesn't mean a thing any more, those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat.

- I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.

- Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress.

- The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.

- No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $35.00 a day in the hospital it's too rich for my blood.

- If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.

Vietnam
Although I didn’t dare to the ride a bike in Vietnam when I visited almost two years ago, I can relate to a lot of the things touched upon by this article. The descriptions of the sceneries, of the people, of the lifestyle along with accompanying pictures, all brought back images from my trip. Reading this article brings the whole trip back to life. Enjoy.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/15/TRFB10URQ6.DTL

What If?
As most of you know, my husband and I purchased our home about two months ago in April. We actually didn’t mean to purchase a home that early. Our original plan was to get married in January, go on our honeymoon in May, then start looking for a home in June. But in February we got teased by the declining prices and decided to jump the gun on our home purchase. By April we found and purchased our current home. At that time we heard all sorts of opinions on the timing of our purchase. “Buy now…it’s a buyer’s market.” “Wait a little longer…prices are still falling.” Yadi Yada. After 2 months, we sometimes wonder “WHAT IF we had waited another two months like we originally planned?” With home prices continuing to drop, would we have gotten a better deal now? That is hard to say. But both my husband and I are very happy with our decision to buy at the time we did and here is why.

The real estate bubble started to burst last August. By April of this year the market had already accumulated a large inventory of unsold homes. With that, prices had already gone down significantly. It’s true prices are still falling as we speak, but how much speculating can one do? We are not property flippers looking for the best deal. Like many middle class workers out there, we’re merely normal citizens who were bitterly priced out of the real estate market since the early 2000s but finally saw a glimmer of hope as the market waned. By April, prices were finally affordable enough for us to consider paying mortgages, property taxes, and whatever expenses that may come with homeownership.

Since the down turn of the real estate market, the country has been on pins and needles about a looming recession. This led the Feds to slash interest rates by 3% in the matter of months. This was another important factor to drive us to buy - interest rates were lower than they had been in a long time. So at that point in time, we enjoyed the benefits brought on by the combined factors of lower home prices and lower interest rates.

Then little did anyone (including us) could predict, mortgage rates have actually been steadily rising again since April. Today the rate is 0.875% higher than the day we locked in our mortgage rate. Do not under estimate the difference of 0.875%. This equates to $235 more a month in mortgage payments. That’s a significant amount.

To analyze if we made a good decision to purchase our home two months ago compared to purchasing one today, let’s put these two factors together - decreasing home prices and rising interest rates. With mortgage rates 0.875% higher than two months ago, a comparable deal today would require a purchase price that is 10% lower than our purchase price two months ago. I don’t know what the statistical numbers are but from what I see in the market nowadays, there isn’t a comparable house similar to ours that is selling for 10% cheaper. Houses in our area that are listed for that price level all require a substantial amount of work to bring up to par. So in retrospect, we made a wise decision to purchase our home two months ago versus now. Versus one year from now? Who knows. The bottom line is we are happy with our purchase and we thank all the forces that came into play to make it happen.

Call Me Skeptical
I was at Costco again yesterday. Although I wasn’t there for gas (I learned my lesson already), I couldn’t help but take a peak at their gas prices to compare. A gallon of regular unleaded went for $4.40 a gallon. Compared to $3.99 on May 27 (the last time I bought gas there), the price had gone up $0.41 in 2.5 weeks. 41 cents in 2 and a half weeks!! That’s beyond ridiculous. Call me skeptical, but I cannot ignore any suggestion of price fixing in the oil industry.

Miracle Baby
This is the kind of stories I like to read. The kind that leaves me smiling. The kind that leaves me to believe in miracles and hope.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24999650/?GT1=43001

Costco Gas
Costco is raking in the money as drivers flock to their gas stations for their lower-priced fuel. Since moving to our new home, we’ve been considering fueling up at the nearby Costco to save a few pennies at the pump. At our old place we never made a point to go to Costco for gas. We would get it if we were there, but never did we purposely go there for it. But now that we are so much closer to a Costco, we thought we can now fuel up at Costco purposely.

Last night we made our first trek to Costco for gas. Bad idea! The line was 20 minutes long! I’ve never waited more than 2 minutes at a regular corner gas station. The line to get into the fueling area snaked around the warehouse’s parking lot. I had to do a double take to make sure I was in the correct lane to be in line rather than to get into the parking lot. It was ridiculous. We almost decided to leave when we saw the line. We probably should’ve.

What we saved - $2.56. Yes, we saved a measly $2.56 while waiting idle in line for 20 minutes. Instead of paying $4.15 a gallon for regular at the Chevron near work, we paid $3.99 at Costco. I’m wondering if we SPENT the $2.56 we saved just for being in idle for 20 minutes! Then add to that the 20 minutes we could’ve spent doing something else. That’s an opportunity cost that I don’t even know how to calculate. Not to be snobby, I don’t think it’s worth the agony to save $2.56. So lesson learned for us. Forget Costco. Just fuel up at the corner gas station and save ourselves the agony.

For Costco though, they are laughing to the bank with this fuel crisis we are in. Look at our case last night for example. Within the 20 minutes we were there, I estimate the line was 4 cars deep at each of the 10 pumps (that’s 40 cars) plus another 20 cars snaking around the parking lot. That’s 60 cars, each fueling an average of let’s say $65 per tank. That’s $3900 in 20 minutes. I can’t even fathom how much they make a day!

Shopping to Save the World

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24622958/

The title of this article drew me to read it. It’s about what small choices we can make to be more environmentally friendly. One big insight the article offers is that spreading the word about being eco-friendly is probably the first big thing we can do for the environment. Hence I am here spreading the word.

While I am not the biggest tree hugger on the block, I am taking baby steps towards this worldly cause. I recently brought a reusable mug to work so I don’t have to use a paper cup everyday. Next I’ll be bringing in a set of reusable utensils so that I can also cut out my plastic fork and spoon usage. As the supply buyer for our company, I’ve been searching out recycled products as best I can. Over the weekend, my husband and I opted to buy a Brita water pitcher instead of a new case of bottled water to cut down on plastic bottles. We sometimes use a reusable shopping bag when we go grocery shopping to cut down on plastic bags. Yes, I said “sometimes” because here lies one of our biggest weaknesses. We cannot totally cut out plastic bags from our household. We still prefer to use plastic bags in our garbage bins. They’re just cleaner and more convenient. If anyone can suggest a better way to go about handling our garbage, please do not hesitate to educate us.

Close Call
A grass fire broke out on the northeastern end of San Bruno Mountain yesterday, just a couple miles from our home. Though I didn't think the fire would reach us, it was a bit too close for comfort.

Here's a link to The Chronicle's report of the incident.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/20/BA1210PQ45.DTL&tsp=1

All Moved In
We are all moved in! Yesterday, May 7, was our official move-in day at our new house. Since we were previously in a one-bedroom apartment, we didn’t have much to move. Therefore the move was fast and easy. From the time RF left the apartment to pick up the rental truck (8am) to the time he returned the truck after the move (1pm), it was only 5 hours. That includes going to 3 cities and crossing a bridge. That’s fast. We even got a lot of unpacking done. There’s still more to do but at least the vital ones are done. We can do the rest as we continue to settle in.

Now the painful part starts. We have to look into a couple of repairs soon. That’s the downside of homeownership that everyone wants to ignore but can’t. Oh well, it comes with the territory and we have no regrets.

This Is Our House
We did it! We bought a house. We chased the All American Dream. Escrow closed on Friday (not without drama of course) and we immediately started to work on the house to prep it for move-in. We really didn't have to do anything as the house was in move-in condition, but we thought we give it a little of our own touch before settling in.

On Saturday a few of our dear friends came to help us paint the entire interior, install various items, and cut the over-grown grass in the front lawn. It was a very successful work day. We accomplished everything we wanted to do plus more. With just a few more minor touches, we will be ready to move in in about a week.

We cannot wait until the day the house is complete and we take everything in and say "This is our house."

My Fairy Tale Wedding



I could not have asked for a better wedding. It was beautiful, warm, and blessed with sunshine and happy faces. A heartfelt THANK YOU to those who attended and to those who helped make it turn out the way it did. Here I'm sharing a portion of the ceremony with everyone.

Alicia Keys
I don't usually post my own pics on my blogs, but I thought I'd share this one.

Alicia Keys stopped by our studio for an interview and a short meet & greet with the staff yesterday. She took pics with everyone and signed autographs as well. From my short time with her, I would say that she's very down to earth and nice. Lately I've been hooked on her song "No One", which she said she wrote out of the blue. The song just suddenly hit her and it wrote itself. Wish songs would suddenly "hit" me like that.

Brain Gyms
There is an interesting article in today's SF Chronicle about an emerging industry - the Brain Gym. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/13/MNMETNGMV.DTL

In summary, as our population age and continue to work later into our senior years, we need to keep our brains as physically fit as we try with our bodies. The physical gyms where people go to exercise their bodies have been in service for many years, but now there is an emergence of "Brain Gyms". Like conventional gyms, seniors can pay for a membership with these brain gyms and go regularly to exercise their brains by participating in cognitive activities. As the article says, this is sort of like WD-40 for the brains.

Kudos to the people behind this idea. I think it's wonderful. Sure one can say it's just another gimmick to earn money from the vulnerable, in this case seniors. Seniors can exercise their minds for free by playing chess, crossword puzzles, or otherwise engage themselves in cognitively beneficial activities without paying a dime. But isn't that the same with the conventional physical gyms? Sure we can simply walk more each day and do more physical stuff to keep fit. Who needs a gym? Those who don't have enough self-discipline to walk more each day and be more active on their own. That's who. Some people just very well need to join a gym, pay the dues, and then make a point to go for a workout however many times a week to make their gym dues worthwhile. I see the same thing happening with these Brain Gyms. I can see some seniors going for their cognitve workouts (however reluctantly) because they paid money for it. But in the end, they reap the benefits of a fitter brain.

I also see this as a form of recreation and companionship for seniors as (1) their life partners pass or (2) their children "abandon" them as they live their own lives with their own families. Brain Gyms have much to offer to lonely seniors as these.

I look forward to seeing how this new concept will take shape. In the meantime, since I'm not admitting to being a senior (and frankly I'm not), I shall engage myself in more MJ games to exercise my brain.

Only a baby unaffected by the stress of life can laugh this whole-heartedly and genuinely. So very precious. If the video doesn't come up, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttF5HVYtlQ

The Excused Absence Network
This is an actual product that people can buy and use, and frankly, I think it’s ridiculous. It’s a computer software that let’s you print out a fake doctor’s note, jury duty summons, or something of the sort to get you excused from going to work. What has this world come to? It’s appalling that people will go to this extent of dishonesty and fabrication. I put this in the same category as people who use a mannequin to use the carpool lane. And one word describes them all – shameful.

Click on this link to read more about this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21459535/

Jalapeno Burn
I’m almost embarrassed to tell this story, but hey, there may be people out there as clueless as me about cooking with/handling jalapeno peppers. I learned it the hard way last night and I want to prevent others from having to go through it. While the following blog entry is sort of a crybaby’s whining, it is also a spreading of information for the otherwise clueless. So the story goes…

I made a stuffed jalapeno dish last night similar to one that my mom makes every so often. She cores the jalapeno peppers and stuffs them with fish or shrimp paste. Since RF likes spicy food, I thought I’d try making that dish.

I cut up about 10-12 large jalapeno peppers. Cored and seeded them. Stuff them with a mackerel paste I bought from R99. Then I pan fried all of them on high heat and added oyster sauce, garlic power, minced onions, and chicken bouillon for flavor. The dish came out pretty tasty and spicy. Just like mom’s.

BUT! Of course there’s a “BUT” with an “!”. This is an “almost embarrassing” story remember? So what did I do wrong to turn this otherwise happy story of a successful cooking venture sad? The answer is… I handled the jalapenos with my bare hands all through the cutting, coring, seeding, and stuffing process. 3 hours later my hands started burning...intensely. It felt like a 1st degree burn. Not that I know what a 1st degree burn feels like, but it might as well have been a 1st degree burn. My hands were just flaming with heat. To clarify, my hands FELT like they were burning and in heat. But in actuality they weren’t any higher in temperature than the rest of my body. RF touch my hands and he said it felt normal. But to me, my hands were surrounded by fire.

I put ice on them to soothe them but that served only as a temporary relief, not a cure. Another thing that gave me instant relief was running it under cold water. But less than a minute after I took my hands out from under the faucet and my hands began to dry, the burning came back again. RF and I had no idea what to do to take the burning sensation away. I thought of tiger balm, but we didn’t have any. RF offered to go to the drug store to get me some. But right before he was about to leave, he decided to look online for information regarding this type of burning. Sure enough he found a plethora of information regarding this thing called a Jalapeno Burn.

The first link that came up on the search was, believe it or not, Yahoo Answers. Apparently a lot of fellow Yahoo users had suffered this condition before and wrote about it on this site. Isn’t the WWW amazing? Anywa, back to the subject. RF read about several home remedies people suggested for dealing with Jalapeno burns. Many of them suggested soaking and washing the affected area with milk. Milk acts as a base to counter the acid in the oil of the pepper. So he poured some milk into a large bowl for me to soak my hands for 5 minutes. I did as the “doctors” ordered. After that I rinsed my hands in cold water. A minute later the burning came back.

Next he read that rubbing alcohol helps to wash the oil away. Someone on Yahoo Answers said he called the paramedics and the paramedics washed his hands out with rubbing alcohol. RF confirmed this method by looking at some paramedic site. So he poured rubbing alcohol into the bowl for me to soak and wash. 5 minutes of soaking and a rinse later, the burning sensation came back.

Next he read that vinegar also helps to dissolve the pepper oil. You guessed it, 5 minutes of soaking in vinegar and a rinse with water. Same result. Burning came back.

As I was about to give up and decided to give sleeping a try, he said a lot of people also suggested coating my hands with a mixture created with baking soda and water. He made me the pasty mixture and I coated my hands with it. I didn’t leave it on too long because the grainy texture of the baking soda did not do anything to taper off the heat. My hands were so tender and sensitive at that point that the grains felt 100% larger that they were. So I quickly rinsed off my hands and declared a lost battle.

I went to bed with stockings on my hands to prevent myself from rubbing my face in the middle of the night. The last thing I wanted was to transfer the oil from my hands to my face or eyes. No more than 5 minutes after I got into bed, my hands were flaming like mad. There was no way I could’ve slept with the burn. RF pulled the stockings off my hands saying I need to let my hands breathe.

Unable to sleep, I went out to the living room to apply an ice pack on my hands once again and laid on the couch to watch TV. I usually fall asleep watching TV so I was hoping that might do the trick. But it didn’t. The burning was too intense. I got up every half an hour to run cold water on my hands. By about 1am I made RF go to sleep without me. He wanted to stay up with me and keep me company. But knowing how tired he gets at work if he doesn’t get enough sleep, and knowing that the top CEOs of his company are in town this week from their parent company Australia, I told him he needs his rest. Since there wasn’t anything he could do to help my situation anyway, better just one person lose sleep over it than two. He reluctantly listened to me and went to sleep.

I continued to ice my hands and intermittently ran cold water over them for another 2 hours or so. It finally got too cold in the living room and I became really sleepy. So I took a brand new ice pack with me and crawled into bed. It was difficulty to refrain from moving too much in fear of waking up RF. Through the rest of the night I heard the neighbors’ automatic sprinklers spraying and by early morning, I heard a car pull up and then several thump thumps. It was the newspaper person tossing newspapers to people’s doorsteps. That was the first time I heard the newspaper delivery person while living in this apartment.

Eventually I fell asleep. I had no idea I fell asleep until I heard my alarm clock. I estimate I got about 1.5 hours to 2 hours of sleep. RF was still sleeping when I dozed off and he usually wakes up an hour before me. From that I am positive I got at least an hour of sleep. But how much more than that? I’m not sure. When I came to, my hands felt warm. The hot burning sensation had subsided to a warm feeling. As I got up to get ready for work, everything I touched felt amplified. The ribbed cap on the tube of toothpaste felt like rough sandpaper. My tea thermos felt hotter than it normally does. Even at work right now, freshly printed paper from the printer feels hot to my touch. My hands, especially my finger tips, are extremely tender and sensitive right now. But at least it’s not burning anymore.

From about 9:30pm when my hands started feeling the effects of the jalapeno burn to now, it has been a long 13 hours. The most intense feeling probably subsided about 7 hours into the ordeal. That’s a very very long time to endure such excruciating pain. But to think of it the “glass half-full” way, RF read on those links that most people cited 18 hours for the pepper oil to dissolve/evaporate out of the body. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining compared to them. But I did suffer through the night. So I am entitled to complain for as least a bit. In this case, for almost 3 blog pages worth.

To those of you who know about jalapeno burns and feel I was stupid to have handled them with my bare hands, stop laughing. To those of you who didn’t know such pain can come from cooking with jalapenos, beware and be warned. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

Life Was Hard for the Over 30
The following passage was forwarded to me from a friend. It’s one of the funniest email forwards I’ve received in awhile. It’s also one of the few that I can really relate to. I guess this dates me as an Over 30 huh? :P

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways … yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help butlook around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves,…in the card catalog!!

There was no email! ! We had to actually write somebody a letter ...with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music? You had to hitch-hike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like " Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there was no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled!!!!!!!!!

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

Why I'll Never Live In LA
RF and I went to LA over the weekend for a friend’s birthday. While I like LA to the extent of visiting for a couple of days every now and then, I would never want to live there. Every time I go I get reminded of why - the smog, the traffic, the people.

The smog…you can see it with your bare eyes. Not a pretty sight. In fact, it’s pretty disgusting when you can see what you are breathing in.
The traffic…there’s no beating/avoiding/getting rid of it. It just comes with the territory. As RF’s friend says, everything in LA is 20 minutes apart…until you hit traffic. At that time it’s anyone’s guess how long it will take to get anywhere. LA’s traffic is so notorious that even Google Maps indicates a travel time with traffic and a travel time without traffic when you ask it for driving directions. From RF’s friend’s place in Valley Village to my friend’s place in San Gabriel, with a total distance of 22 miles, it takes 28 minutes without traffic or 1 hour and 30 minutes with traffic. Yes, Google Maps told us that.

The people…they are too superficial, artificial, self-centered, snobby, and ghetto. I really don’t like using this word but alas, it totally fits the bill in this situation. People do not care about you, your feelings, or what you think because it’s all about them. The world revolves around them. I can raise a few cases from this trip and a previous trip to illustrate.

Case #1 - Ghetto and Self-Centered: I was waiting in a long line to use the bathrooms at Venice Beach. If you haven’t been there before, Venice Beach has two or three bathroom facilities that each has 8 or so unisex bathroom stalls. Each facility often has a line of 10-15 people deep. Since I needed to go pretty badly, I got in line. About 10 minutes my wait, a guy walked up to the stalls and started shopping for an open one. Everyone in line called out to him that there is a line and he needs to get in it like everyone else. He ignored all the screams. Then a gentleman stepped out of one of the stalls and this guy went over and stepped right in. Noticing that the guy wasn’t the next in line, the gentleman who had just gotten out attempted to stop him by telling him “buddy, there’s a line”. The buddy didn’t care. He proceeded into the stall and closed the door behind him to do his business. We all gasped in disbelief. But what could we do? He could’ve pulled out a gun if we pressed further.

Case #2 – Ghetto and Self-Centered: Shortly after witnessing the guy cut us off and still waiting for my turn, an elderly woman (I’m guessing she’s in her late 50s) walked up to the front of the line and said out loud to everyone, “I really need to go. Can I go first?” Still irritated by the previous guy, people ignored her. Someone said softly but audibly, “We all need to go too, so get in line”. Normally I would’ve let her go ahead of me seeing that she’s an elderly person, but since I was already irritated by my surroundings and the previous happening, the situation got the best of me.

Case #3 – Ghetto/Rude/Self-Centered: As my friend was driving along Valley Blvd, a pick-up truck was stopped in the middle of the road blocking all lanes. He seemed to have backed out of a driveway and stopped there diagonally for some reason. My friend stopped up close to the truck and honked. The truck started to back up slowly, inching towards my friend’s car. I was sitting in the front passenger seat and saw that the driver wasn’t even looking as the truck was backing up. His head was down as if he was adjusting the stereo. My friend honked more vigorously seeing that he was about to get hit. The truck driver finally looked up and stopped. He looked back at us and then sped forward. My friend started driving forward as well. Then the truck suddenly stopped dead in front of our tracks. Luckily my friend was able to stop in time to avoid rear-ending him. We looked up at the driver and he laughed and drove off. This case shows how people drive as if they own the road.

Case #4 – Rude: We were walking across a relatively busy street at a two-way-stop intersection. We were already halfway thru the intersection as a car that could’ve and SHOULD’VE stopped to yield to pedestrians drove by right in front of us, narrowly missing our toes. So much for pedestrian rights.

All four cases above happened in one day. In just one day I got a good thorough look at what Los Angeles people are like.

The superficiality and artificiality of people in the LA area can be seen every which way you look. People sporting brand name clothing, the latest trends, the newest gadgets, the most expensive cars, the best figures, the cleanest shaves, the nicest hair styles, the brightest teeth, etc. I saw the most Hummers in one day in LA in a previous trip. In this trip, RF pointed out to me that practically all cars, whether new or old, nice or trashy, have a nice set of rims. Why? To show off of course. For example, we saw an old trashy Corolla that is probably worth no more than $1000 with a set of shinny rims that can probably fetch $2000 or more. The rims are more expensive than the car itself. Go figure.

In a previous trip, I noticed that all girls in Studio City had big boobs. I’m sorry to say, but they caught my eyes, especially those that were attached to a body of a girl no older than 16 years old! No friggin way EVERY girl in LA can be born with nice boobs. Unless you want to tell me the smog-filled atmosphere somehow trickles into the water system which somehow causes the human gene pool to naturally produce big boobs, I’m gonna have to say they are all fake! Those must have been artificially Pamela Anderson boobs on those 16-year-olds hanging out at the Cold Stone Creamery! Maybe I’m just jealous. But I’m pretty sure I’m not.

Anyway, enough of my LA encounters. I need to go eat now. I don’t care if my waist line grows as a result.

Jasmine Lime Iced Cooler
Wanwanha and another friend of mine recommended Peet’s Jasmine Lime Iced Cooler to me as I’m a tea addict. Peet’s describes it as follows: “Jasmine scented green tea is mixed with refreshing limeade and served over ice.” I tried it for the first time today and sure enough, I like it. I like it a lot. It’s very refreshing. As it enters your mouth, the limeade dominates your taste buds. But after you swallow, the tea comes up strong and crisp. It’s an interesting blend of flavors. My only complaint is that they put too much ice. Maybe it’s just the girl who made it for me this time that put too much ice. The ice filled about 90% of the cup and left room for just 10% tea. After a few swigs of my Small cup, I ran out of tea already. I was a little disappointed cuz I was still craving for more. Since I like this drink so much, I’m definitely buying it again. Next time I’ll ask for more ice.

Transformers
If you are looking for a good time at the movies this summer, I highly recommend Transformers. For the price of admission, you get 2 hours and 20 minutes of action, fun, and humor. As a kid in the 80s, I loved the Transformers cartoons and action figures. Heroic Optimus Prime and adorable Bumblebee were my favorite and probably many people’s favorites. They’re back in this 2007 summer blockbuster and to no disappointment to this old time fan. From the very beginning scene to the last, the movie is action packed and humor packed. While I expected the action, I didn’t expect the witty humor. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Besides the action and humor, other elements of a good movie such as realistic CG, good acting (especially from young Shia LaBeouf), and fitting soundtrack, all came together in this one and gave me the best time I’ve had at the movies in a long time. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Half a star is subtracted for the overuse of product placements. The entire movie is a Chevy commercial. Even Bumblebee somehow became a Chevy Camero instead of the VW Buggy. That aside, there were also numerous references to Ebay and a few shots of its website. Apple’s MacBook laptop appeared onscreen two or three times. Then there was a reference to a Nokia cell phone and a quick shot of a Panasonic SD card. If your Marketing 101 instructor gives you an assignment to point out some of the products placed into this film, you will have no trouble coming up with all I’ve mentioned. They were just too blatantly obvious.

As Chevy was a big sponsor of the film, it was not surprising that some of the cars that ended up being destroyed happened to be BMWs, Mercedes Benzes, and Volvos. Figure that.

Though there was a bit of a “cheesy” factor in some of the dialogue, it didn’t amount to much. It was not enough to take away from all the positives that made this movie as good as it is.

Abuse of Executive Power
Here we go again, another blatant disregard of the law. Bush insists his executive authority trumps all else. (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/20/MNG52R3U681.DTL) After using executive power to commute Libby, he once again abuses his authority, this time to prevent the Justice Department from pursuing contempt charges against White House officials involved with the wrongful firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year. Bush once again tells the U.S. public, “Screw all of you. Whatever I say goes.”

Words to describe my general feelings right now: Astonished, Annoyed, Disbelief, Frustrated, and most of all PISSED OFF.

I don't know much about laws and politics. My question now is how and when can we charge Bush for contempt. Forget about his friends and pawns in the White House, we need to go after him.

The Wii
My fiancé and I have been hooked on the Wii since he bought it about three weeks ago. Every night after dinner and before going to bed we are playing on the Wii. In place of surfing the web and watching TV, we play tennis, baseball and bowling; we train on various training exercises; and we take a daily fitness test to find our “Wii Age”. So rather than sitting motionless in front of the computer or TV, we are swinging our arms in response to the various sporting requirements. Clicking on a mouse or a television remote doesn’t constitute as bona fide motion if you ask me. Swinging your arm with the Wii controller to simulate sports play doesn’t constitute as bona fide exercise either if you ask real athletes, but at least the motion is bigger AND sometimes we actually do break out in a sweat, especially when we engage ourselves in a heated match of tennis. It’s heated because I get mad at him every time he beats me, but that’s beside the point. The point is that we actually are moving more because of the Wii. It’s sad, but it’s true. And I dare say this is true for many of the other Wii owners out there. I highly praise Nintendo for developing this console and all its interactive games.

Now I patiently but eagerly await the release of a new game called Wii Fit. Combined with a new controller called the Wii Balance Board, players can engage themselves into heart-healthy activities as:

• Yoga exercise
• Step aerobics, including a game in which the player steps on and off the Wii Balance Board in rhythm to the background music
• Hitting on-coming soccer balls by leaning forward
• Press ups
• Hula hoopping
• Ski Jumping, in which the player squats as low as possible while maintaining balance and then quickly stands as fast as possible to gain a good jump

The steps aerobics game sounds similar to the Sony PlayStation’s old Dance Dance Revolution. The concept of stepping to a musical rhythm sounds similar even though one has a dancing connotation while the other simulates aerobic exercise. If this is true, I definitely will be playing the Wii steps aerobics often. Back in the heydays of DDR, I was a hard-core fan and “danced” out a sweat almost every night. I still have that game tucked behind our main entertainment unit and I can switch out the Wii for the PlayStation anytime I fancy a good dance. But if I can get the same sort of exercise/satisfaction with the Wii, why go through the trouble of switching? On this note, I hope Nintendo develops more active games for the health of all its gamers.

My oh my. It's been almost a year since I last blogged. I'm surprised this account is still active. I'm glad it is. Would definitely hate to lose everything I posted in the past.

I was writing a review on Yelp today and thought, "this review sounds like my old rants on Blogger". So here I am, logging in for the first time in a year and about to rant once again. Here goes...

I'm a big fan of the original Osha on Geary, but I have to express my disappointment with the one on 2nd Street. This one serves the same kind of food but for couple bucks more. While that eats into my pocketbook, it's understandable given the posher location in the SOMA area. What is NOT understandable or tolerable is the poor management demonstrated at this location. I was there with 5 friends a couple of weeks ago for lunch. The place was packed and we had to wait for a table for 6. No problem. We waited, and waited, and saw smaller parties after smaller parties pass us by and get seated first. The final straw was 30 minutes later when two 4-seater tables opened up right next to each other and the most obvious thing to do was to pull them together to seat the 6 of us hungry and late-to-return-to-work souls. Nope, the manager didn't think so. He let 3 women who just walked through the doors take one of those tables and left the other one empty! Empty! While we continued to wait to be seated! After already waiting 30 minutes! It was another 5 minutes or so before we finally got seated. I wanted to complain really badly but refrained from doing so in fear of retribution from the kitchen crew.

Mr. Manager at Osha on 2nd Street: Three blocks from you is City College's downtown campus. Enroll yourself in the Hotel/Restaurant Management course cuz you sure have lots to learn in that realm.

A little ingenuity stretched out with the power of the internet and broadcast brought great returns to a Montreal man. On July 12, 2005, a man started his quest through his online blog site (http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/) to barter up from a red paper clip to a house. The man first traded his red paper clip for a pen. From the pen he moved on to things like a camp stove, a beer keg, a snowmobile, a truck and so on. As his venture gathered more steam, he eventually got himself booked for appearances on national television. 14 trades and exactly a year later on July 12, 2006, he is trading for a house in the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan.

Several factors took part in making this man's venture a success – the power of the internet, the power of broadcast, the power of marketing, the power of negotiation, and the power of creativity. The question now is can I exercise these powers to my benefit as this man did? Like any other Netizen, I have the power of the internet at my finger tips. I have a B.A. in Broadcasting and am currently working in the field. I have a Minor degree in Marketing. Creativity is obscure. It happens when it happens. As to negotiating, if that's the same as bargaining, I really didn't show much of a bargaining flair when I was overpaying for rubbish souvenirs in China.

Let's work on my negotiation skills shall we? Does anyone want to trade a house for my…my…hmmm…my pretty little bird paper clip magnet??? It's colorful and it even chirps when you move it.



… … … Alright, I'm probably better off getting back to work instead. :P

The Power Of A Penny
Oh the power of a penny. Actually, in this case a woman's power was cut off when per payment to the power company was short one cent. After going to the power company to pay the penny, the woman's power was turned back on - seven hours after she was blacked out. How much is a penny worth? In this case, seven hours of power outage and immeasurable amount of agony. Poor woman.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/05/16/national/a061601D50.DTL

Recognizing Grandmothers on Mother's Day
Over Mother's Day weekend, I had the joy of watching one of the most heartfelt movies I've ever watched. This is a Korean film called "The Way Home (Jibeuro)". A brief synopsis on the film: Sang-Woo, a spoiled little South Korean boy, is spending the summer with his mute grandmother who lives up in the mountains. Over the course of the summer, Sang-Woo gets used to his grandmother, whom he used to make fun of, calling her a "retard." He also gets used to the simpler ways of life in the country and learns the importance of love and respect for one's family and elders.

This movie made me laugh and it made me cry. It's cute and it's touching. The best family comedy I've seen. Best of all, I happened to have watched it on Mother's Day. In no way was this planned. The movie was recommended to me based on the fact that I like foreign films. In a bizarre coincidence this all happened around Mother's Day, a day for us to celebrate not only our mothers, but also our grandmothers. As I watched this film, I remembered my grandmother and how she cared for me in my childhood years.

If you want to watch a funny and warm movie, go for "The Way Home". No matter what age, gender, or nationality you are, I promise you will love it. It's in Korean with English subtitles. But since one of the two main characters is mute, there is not much dialogue to scramble to read. If you have children, I highly recommend watching it with them. They can surely benefit from it also.

The California High School Exit Exam
I am amazed by all the recent oppositions to the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Today, an Alameda County judge threatens to rule the exam to be unfair and strike down its implementation (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/05/09/MNGSVIO7NI1.DTL).

The two strongest arguments against the exam I've heard so far are (1) it deprives a diploma to students taught by substandard teachers/school systems and (2) it discriminates against English-learners who do not have enough command of the English language to perform competently on the exam. (For information on the CAHSEE, click on here)

An attorney who brought on the lawsuit challenging the exam said, "There is overwhelming evidence that students throughout the state have not been taught the material on the test. And many students have been taught by teachers not credentialed in math and English." From this argument, we can see that the problem lies not in the exam itself but in the substandard education some students in this state are receiving. The exam tests students on 7th to 10th grade-level English and math skills. If our 12th graders cannot pass an exam that tests them on things they should have already been taught, then something is wrong with our education system. Given this, energy should be put on ways to improve our schools, not on the alarm-sounding exam itself. The exam is a good wake up call for us to step up our education standards. Perhaps hire better qualified teachers? Impose higher quality curriculums? Shunning an exam that tells us our students are not properly taught is not a fix to our problem. It's an avoidance of our problem.

I rarely agree with the Governator but here I have to agree with him. The Governator said he was "disappointed" at the tentative ruling and said that "delaying the exam's implementation does a disservice to our children by depriving us of the best tool we have to make sure schools are performing as they should be."

As to the argument that the English-based exam discriminates against English-learners, my counterargument is that this is, after all, America. The primary language used here is English. One should have a basic level of English proficiency to succeed in this society. The CAHSEE is not asking for Shakespearian literacy in our students. It asks only for a 7th to 10th grade level of proficiency in reading and writing, a bare minimum of prerequisite for the next levels of challenges our high school students are bound to face, first from college-level courses and then from the dog-eat-dog world of employment. If they can't pass the CAHSEE, then frankly I'm not sure if they are ready for the "real world". And to further support the CAHSEE, it recommends procedures for English-learners to take to acquire enough skills to pass the exam and to ultimately attain the diploma.

True the CAHSEE is still new (it was first used in 2004) and its effectiveness is still being tested. But I do not agree with these two primary arguments being used against it.

The Moussaoui Verdict
Zacarias Moussaoui, who admitted to conspiring on the September 11 attacks, is sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. The jury chose this in lieu of the death penalty, which supposedly would cost the US more money to execute than the life prison term. Here I still don't understand how a one-time execution costs more than years of food and life support.

Anyhow, when asked "Did the jury get it right?", no one said it better than A. Wright of Redwood City. "There was no 'right' to be had. If they chose death he became a martyr, achieved his goal and we became guilty of the same crime he attempted: murder. By choosing life they have demonstrated that you can come to our country, conspire to kill thousands and in exchange we will commit to paying thousands of dollars to house you for the rest of your life in better conditions than you faced before you came here." (SF Chronicle Two Cents)

I can't agree with this comment more. Moussaoui won in all directions.

How Appropriate?
The judge presiding over the Da Vinci Code plagiarizing case had embedded a puzzle of his own creation into his ruling of the case. The judge spent 40 minutes to create the puzzle utilizing the Fibonacci sequence and another 40 minutes to embed it into his ruling using randomly placed italicized letters. A lawyer not involved in the case noticed the puzzle while studying the ruling and solved it in a day. But this came nearly a month after the ruling was originally handed down. How appropriate it was to have such a good-humored judge preside over such a case. Here's a link to the article.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2006-04-28T133451Z_01_L28316444_RTRUKOC_0_US-DAVINCI.xml

The Da Vinci Code Quest
For all you Da Vinci Code fans like myself, Sony Pictures and Google are hosting a game online to test your intellect, skills, and perseverance. I am a big fan of the book and eagerly await the movie’s release on May 19th. From now until then, I am participating in this online challenge. Skeptical as I am of my skills and intellect, I will persevere. If you think you have what it takes to crack the code or if you simply want to partake in the fun, visit http://flash.sonypictures.com/movies/davincicodequest/

6.5 Billion & Counting
A lot of babies have been born lately. Sure many babies are born in the world everyday, but here I'm talking about babies born within my immediate circle. In the last two months, a small bundle of joy had been born each to my sister-in-law, a friend, a coworker, and a cousin. That's four in two months. A fifth and a sixth are arriving soon as another friend and another coworker are pregnant. Talk about population growth! According to the United States Census Bureau, the earth's population hit 6.5 billion on February 25, 2006. Three of the four babies I mentioned above were born before that date, thereby contributing to that number. The other one is contributing to the estimated 6.8 billion by 2010. Cheers to all these little ones-in-a-billion! Ones-in-6.5billion-and-counting actually.

To top this off, even my boyfriend's two guppies gave birth to three baby guppies this past weekend. Babies everywhere! Even in the fish tank!

Here is my result from the How Evil Are You test Bpsnake directed us to. Beware...I am "the most dangerous kind of evil". :P

You Are 30% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

Geez, I haven't logged on to this site so long that I even forgot my login.

Have a little time free at work today so decided to read Wanwanha's stories of her trip to Switzerland. Of course now I want to go too. I always have a big travel bug in me and reading about other people's travels stirs it up big time.

My next destination is to travel to Vietnam, the country where I was born. Ever since immigrating to the US with my family at the age of 4, I have never gone back to Vietnam. Since I left at such a young age, I do not remember anything about the place. Furthermore, I don't even speak the language or know the relatives who still live there. My parents are planning a trip back "home" this October to take care of some business. This would be a good opportunity for me to tag along and take advantage of their company. For starters, they can help me commmunicate with the locals. Secondly, they can reintroduce me to the relatives I no longer remember. Their help in those two areas would definitely make the trip more enriching.

Although I am looking forward to this trip, at the same time I am also a little apprehensive about it. Vietnam's climate is very hot and humid. Having grown up in the Bay Area, I am used to dry and pleasant weather and thus do not handle humidity well. Fortunately I've always preferred warmer weather over colder weather, therefore the warmness may not be an issue. It's the stickiness of humidity I fear. Second, I do not like dirty areas/situations. With Vietnam still being a developing country, I predict I may have some sanitation problems to deal with, either with the environment, the practices of the people, and/or the food.

Having said this however, I pro of this trip (refamiliarizing myself with the place where I was born) still outways the cons (temporary humidity and insanitation). With a little preparation (mainly mental) I should be able to tackle those two "obstacles". I really look forward to this trip.

I tried the link that Wanwanha provided to see which American city best fits me. I would have never imagined the result. Here it is:

American Cities That Best Fit You:

70% Austin

65% Atlanta

65% Honolulu

60% San Diego

55% Denver

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

The top city that best fits me is one I have never been to, Austin. I have no idea what that city is like. Maybe I should pay Austin a visit to see if I truly will like it as this test reveals. I do agree with one of the cities, however, and that's San Diego.

I had just gone to San Diego for the first time last weekend. I really enjoyed the atmosphere in San Diego. It is warm and relaxed. With its beautiful beaches, pleasant weather, charming neighborhoods, polite people, cultural diversity, and abundance of activities, San Diego should be a comfortable place to live in. Although I like San Francisco a lot, I really wouldn't mind living in San Diego for a change.

Sorry I never got around to finishing up my tattoo story. Will try to get back to it if I can. But I think I'm just gonna move on to other topics for now.

I Got My Tattoo - Ep I

I finally did it. I finally got my tattoo. After three years of talk, I finally put some solid action to my words. Those who know the story know that the original inspiration which prompted me to want a tattoo happened one night about 3 years ago when I saw a bright, clear, beautiful crescent moon caressing a lone star in the sky. That spectacular sight inspired me to tattoo the scene onto my body. But due to various reasons, there had only been talk of the subject and no real action. Granted I did research the facts relating to tattoos (the procedure, the care, the possible dangers, etc) and I did look around for specific designs, nothing substantial happened for 3 years.

Finally this year, as time drew closer and closer to my 30th birthday, I finally told myself that this state of NATO (no action, talk only) cannot drag on any longer. Either I do it this year or never talk about it ever again. I basically told myself to do it or shut up about it. And so I did it. The ultimatum I gave myself worked.

As I credit my ultimatum for giving me the final push, I also want to credit my friend for agreeing to get a tattoo along with me. I never knew she too had been thinking about this. So that we can urge each other on, we decided we’ll get it together. A “pact” was formed.

With the “pact” in place, I renewed my research into the subject. Once again I looked online for designs. This time I actually found a few that struck my fancy. Whereas in the past everything I saw were good but not good enough. I guess with my determination, everything just came together better.

I also asked around for recommendations on good and, more importantly, clean tattoo shops. I was recommended a place on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. Two weeks ago, my friend and I walked right into that shop ready to do it right there and then. However, that place was really busy. So we made appointments to come back the next week.

While we were in Berkeley, we moseyed into other tattoo shops along Telegraph to see what kind of designs the other shops have to offer. That was when I found THE design that I wanted. I took a picture of it with my handy-dandy little digital camera so that I can show the tattoo artist at my appointment next week. Then as we walked pass a corner flower shop, I saw some orchids that were dyed a beautiful indigo and blue palette. I’d never seen orchids in that color scheme before. It was just striking. From that, I decided I wanted my tattoo to be in that color scheme – blue/indigo.

At that point, I had everything in line - the design, the color, the appointment. I was all ready to get my tattoo! My friend was ready also. She too found the design and color she wanted. And since we made the same appointment to get it done on the same day, we were both ready for our tattoos! We both went home that day excited about the appointment next week.

To be continued…(aka I better get back to work.)

My grandmother passed away over the weekend. She was 96 years old. This was the grandmother who raised me when I was little as my parents were always busy working. She made breakfast for me and my brothers every morning before school. She made us snacks when we came home after school. She took me to the park. She favored me and sided with me every time I argued with my brothers. She slept in the same room with me all through my childhood and because of that, she was the one I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom with me as I was scared of the long dark hallway. Needless to say, I am saddened by her departure. But as sad as my family and I are about losing her, we also feel it is a relief for her. She had led a pretty harsh life. It just might be a good thing for her to move on to a better place.

My grandmother led a hardworking life from childhood up through her middle age. Her family was poor. She started working in the plantations at a very early age. Things didn’t improve much after she married my grandfather because he too was poor. They worked really hard to sustain life for the large family they made. My grandfather had two wives and together they had eight children. That was a lot of mouths to feed. One might think that my grandmother’s burden would have been eased from the help she should have gotten from my grandfather’s other wife. That wasn’t the case. My other grandmother was weak in a lot of ways – health, strength, personality. My grandmother had to care for her as if she was another dependent. To this day I’m still not clear whether my grandmother held any grudges towards her husband’s other wife. Back then in the villages, it was common for a man to have multiple wives. But still, it must not have been a happy affair for a woman to have to share her husband. For sure I know my elder uncles did not, and to this day still do not, like their stepmother nor their half-siblings. They shunned her for being a mistress and discriminated against their half-siblings as being “wild kids”, as illegitimate. Unlike her older brothers, my mother has a bigger heart. She respected her stepmother as she did her birth mother and treated her half-siblings as if they were from the same mother. I commend my mother for that.

Back to my grandmother who had led a hardworking life up until her middle age. As my grandfather’s health started to decline, my grandmother bore most of the burden of keeping the family together. The family’s economic condition started improving after my mother got married. My parents started to own businesses and money was starting to be less of a problem. Thus my grandmother was finally able to relax her responsibilities. Life was finally getting better, or at least easier, for her. From there she was able to live a calmer life of babysitting her grandchildren while her children worked to support the family.

Here I’m missing some pieces of the puzzle. I don’t know what my mother’s older brothers did in terms of helping the family. It seems to me they didn’t do anything besides holding grudges against their stepmother and half-siblings. My mother pretty much took over the burden from my grandmother when it came to supporting the family. My mother also had an older sister, but she married off to another village really early so she was no help.

Eventually my grandfather died and my grandmother went on to live with our family instead of with my uncles’ or aunts’. She looked after me and my brothers as my parents ran their businesses. When my family immigrated to America, my grandmother came with us. My brothers and I were very young then, ages 4 to 12. Being new immigrants, my parents had to work very hard to put food on the table. My grandmother was great help to them as far as taking care of us kids while they worked all day. As such, my grandmother played a big role in our family as we were growing up. And we loved and respected her very much for that.

About 10 years ago, my mother’s second brother immigrated to America as well. At that time my grandmother’s health was starting to decline. She especially started to lose her mobility. She could no longer walk and needed to be transported everywhere with a wheelchair. Even the simple act of going to the bathroom was a problem. As such, she needed a lot of care and attention on a daily basis. Since my parents had to run the family restaurant and my brothers and I either had to work or go to school, we couldn’t give her the kind of attention she needed. Therefore it was fortunate that my uncle came to America because he then took over the task of taking care of my grandmother. At first my uncle lived with us at our home and cared for my grandmother there. Then a couple of years later he and my grandmother moved into an apartment closer to downtown where it was more convenient for him to take care of her. From then on, my grandmother was under my uncle’s care at his apartment. Once in awhile we visited them and once in awhile my uncle would take my grandmother, in her wheelchair, to “walks” as far as to our restaurant as a small little field trip.

Then a few years ago, my grandmother had a stroke which rendered her bedridden ever since. She could not even sit in a wheelchair. Therefore in the last few years she was always in her bed. With her poor vision, poor hearing, and poor memory, she pretty much didn’t know what was going on around her. She couldn’t recognize us when we visited. She probably couldn’t even feel her own existence. But she hung on. My grandmother was a strong woman. From her early years of working hard to take care of her family to her latter years of fighting to keep her life, my grandmother was a strong and amazing lady. Her strength, her will, her capabilities, none of these can be slighted.

Then last Tuesday, May 3, 2005, my grandmother suddenly coughed like mad. We sent her to the hospital. The doctors told us she had some internal bleeding in her lungs. She was in critical care for two days and then she was transferred back to a regular room after her condition stabilized. I visited her as often as I could while she was there. Then on Saturday, May 7, 2005, her kidneys failed. Shortly after that, she stopped breathing and passed away peacefully in her sleep. My brother and my uncle were there with her when she passed. My mother had just stepped away from the hospital to drive a visiting relative home when it happened. Therefore she wasn’t able to be at my grandmother’s side at the moment of her passing. I myself also wasn’t there at that moment. To be honest, none of us expected her to leave so suddenly. We all thought she could overcome this episode. When I visited her on Friday evening, I had asked the nurse on duty for her assessment of my grandmother’s situation. The nurse told me that she looked pretty stable and that after a few more days of monitoring, she may be able to go home. And that’s exactly what we all thought – that she might be able to overcome this one and go home in a few days. She had always been able to “go home in a few days”. Why shouldn’t she this time? Banking on that, I had planned to visit my grandmother later in the evening on Saturday so that I could do some stuff in the earlier part of the day. Unfortunately, I missed the chance to see her one more time before she left. It was more unfortunate for my mother though. She was there all morning and had just stepped out for about an hour and still she missed her mother’s last moment.

I’m sure my grandmother fought very hard this time around just like she always did in the past. It may just probably be the time for her to let go and free herself. She should be at a better place now, a place where she can have peace and comfort to rest her tired, overworked soul.

She will be missed.

I had a very eventful week last week. Went to many places. Did many things. It was fun while it lasted. But like always, all fun eventually comes to a stop. Reality always finds its way back in to ruin things. This time was no exception. The fun ended and reality is kicking in.

It’s so ironic that sometimes the more fun you have, the more consequences you have to suffer later. Does this take away from the initial enjoyment? I don’t know. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn’t. If only fun and enjoyment can come with absolutely no strings attached. But we all know that’s not possible.

An interesting question was posed to me while I was in London. First allow me to list the facts involved.

(1) The normal liquor license in London (or maybe in England as a whole) allows pubs to sell alcohol until 11pm. With a 15-minute allowance to wrap up all drinking, pubs usually kick customers out by 11:15pm.

(2) Certain clubs and/or restaurants have extended liquor licenses allowing them to serve alcohol later into the night, till as late as 2am.

(3) Because of items 1 and 2, there has been a long standing problem in London where people kicked out of pubs at 11:15pm migrate over to clubs with extended licenses in attempt to continue drinking. But seeing that most of these people are already half drunk or have had enough to drink for the night, bouncers at the clubs deny them entrance. With both sides persisting on their stands, fights often break out between the two groups.

The question posed to me during a casual conversation at a pub was, “If London extends drinking hours to 2am for all pubs to match up with the clubs, do you think that would alleviate the problem with fights between club bouncers and pub-to-club hoppers?”

I was asked this question because the person knew I was from San Francisco where drinking hours end at 2am uniformly for all establishments. He wanted to know if doing what we do here in SF would help them with the problem of fights they have there. My answer was no, it wouldn’t help their problem. It would only create other problems instead. Everywhere there is drinking, there are problems. For us, the problem is at 2am when the streets are filled with drunks who are at least loud and raucous if not fighting or driving. The threats of these problems are as troublesome, if not worse, than the problem London currently faces. Also, with their culture of hitting pubs earlier in the evening than we do, extending the drinking hours will only increase the amount of alcohol they will consume in one evening. That just creates drunker people on their streets by the time the pubs close. I think I have some valid points here. Feel free to comment.

After quitting my last job and before starting at my new job, I went to London for a week. This was the first time I stepped foot into Europe. I’ve been to Canada, Mexico, and all around China, but never Europe. Wish I had the time and money to go to more European destinations, like Paris and Italy, but at least I got to go to London. It was a long overdue trip. I have a friend there and he’s been bugging me to visit him for two years. And finally I did.

Overall the trip was good. It wasn’t the best trip I’ve ever taken, but it was definitely worth my while. The history, the architecture, the culture were all new and/or different to me somehow. London is one of the oldest modern cities I’ve been to. At the same time that it is a modern metropolis with a bustling economy, it is also a city full of history. Everywhere you go you see old buildings still standing from eons ago. For me this was good because I enjoy looking at old architecture. London definitely has lots of that to offer. Westminster Abbey, for example, is one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen. And with all the royal coronations done on location and with so many important figures buried or memorialized there, I would also call it powerful. Other than Westminster Abbey, I was also impressed by Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and the London courthouse. London Bridge, on the other hand, was a disappointment. Having heard about the bridge so much and with the old nursery rhyme that pays tribute to it, I expected a beautifully designed bridge. To the contrary, it is the most boring of all bridges with no design aesthetics whatsoever.

The most beautiful area we visited was the city of Bath, which is two and a half hours west of London. On the last day of our trip, we joined a tour for a day-trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. The city of Bath was built around the hot springs that the Romans discovered in the area in 90AD. The Roman Baths occupied a huge area of the city. To the present day only a small portion of it has been dug up. The bulk of the area still lies underground yet to be unearthed. Anyhow, with a beautiful river running across town, a charming little bridge lined with shops, and the entire city built with one single façade of yellow brick houses, Bath looks absolutely gorgeous. It is as picturesque as any scene you find on jigsaw puzzles. I can imagine myself visiting Bath often for weekend trips if I were to live in London.

The one biggest problem I had on this trip was the weather. London is too darn cold!!! I don’t deal with cold weather too well. This has always been the case throughout my life. I don’t know why. Maybe my body just can’t generate enough heat to warm me up when the surrounding is cold. For me to be in London in early March was not the smartest idea. But when that’s the only time I can go, what can I do? Nothing really. So I roughed the cold. It wasn’t fun, but I survived. The way I consoled myself at the time was to constantly remind myself that at least it wasn’t snowing or raining like it did the week before my visit. That was a blessing I counted.

Another thing that posed as a little of a problem was the poor exchange rate we got for the dollar. The 2:1 (dollar to pound) ratio we got really deteriorated our buying power. All the numeric values posted in pounds in London looked the same as those in the US in dollars. BUT…we had to multiply all the pounds by two to get the equivalence in dollars. As a result, everything was essentially double the price as in the US. That really hurt. Given that, we didn’t spend much on this trip. Maybe I should rephrase that. We didn’t “buy” too much but we still spent a lot of money. How’s that for Econ 101?

A lot have changed since I last blogged. I no longer work at the TV station where I slaved for over six years. I am now working at a radio station as an operations assistant. This is the sister station to the station I’ve worked at part-time since college. Throughout my nine years as part-time board operator for the station, I built up a strong rapport with the company and its employees. They like my work ethics and I like the company’s stability. So when we mutually decided we needed each other’s help – they needed a new assistant and I needed a new job – both sides came together naturally.

I’ve now been here two weeks. The work is easy. Not to be bragging, but I’m a fast learner. They didn’t expect me to catch on so quickly. There’s still some stuff they haven’t transferred to me yet. Those seem to be the more complicated stuff. Can’t wait to take on those responsibilities too because there’s just not enough for me to do now. (Hence, the free time to blog again.) I rather have things to do instead of sitting around all day waiting for stuff to come my way. Another reason why I want more work is that I’m afraid upper management might think this newly created position is not so needed after all. They created this position with me in mind, thinking I will be of great help to the Director of Operations who has too much on his plate. Which he does. I’m amazed by how much he handles in a day and how he managed to get by without an assistant in the past. This year he was finally able to convince corporate headquarters that he needs a full-time assistant. Hence I’m on board. I just hope he can continue to convince them there’s enough work to justify keeping me full-time. But like I said, there’s still stuff waiting to be transferred to me. Hopefully once those get going all will be fine. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my stress-less work days. Such a thing was nonexistent at my previous job.

I submitted a piece to the Sorry Everybody site, but I don't think they posted it. It was probably too hateful for their liking. Oh well. I had to do what I had to do...vent. I'll share it with you folks here when my internet connection at work works better. It's been flaky lately.

2 weeks ago (about a couple days after the election) my friend had told me about the Sorry Everybody site, which Bpsnake mentioned in his blog yesterday. At the time that my friend told me about it, there was only 1 page of photo submissions by visitors to the site. Now there are 543 pages and counting. Each page has multiple photos of people apologizing to the world for the state of our presidency, his incompetence and our failure to vote him off. These submissions do not just come from our fellow disgruntled citizens of the US Of A, but also from people of other countries sympathetic with our situation. This site really shows the extent of our people's hatred of Bush. Having said this, I am still at a shock that he actually won enough votes for a re-election. What happened? I still don't understand. Or maybe I just refuse to.

A commentary by Joan Ryan on today's SF Chronicle is really dead on about the presidential election. I would like to share it with everyone.


We Barely Recognize Each Other
By Joan Ryan

Like others in the Bay Area, I was huddled with friends around the television set Tuesday night, my son pressing a blue-donkey or red-elephant sticker on each state as the returns rolled in. As we held out hope for Ohio, one friend related a story that, in retrospect, helped me understand Bush's convincing victory as well as any I have heard.

A young man, my friend said, was walking door to door on her street a few weeks ago to raise money for the Kerry-Edwards ticket. When he knocked on the door of one house, the owner responded to the young man in a huff.

"I'm a Republican!'' she said. "Didn't you see my flag?''

That, in the end, is what it boiled down to.

Somehow, as Bush and his party cut taxes to the rich, sent young Americans to their deaths in a war based on untruths (and managed with stunning incompetence), reneged on its financial commitment to education, and plunged the nation into crushing debt, they became symbols of morality and patriotism. They sold themselves as the party of God and country, offering comfort to people who wouldn't need comforting if the Bush administration had not created the very problems for which it then offered spiritual refuge.

Give them credit. They are like PG&E nabbing the candle concession for a blackout the company caused itself.

It is a confounding time to live in a place like the Bay Area. Watching the returns Tuesday night, and listening to voters across the country, I saw that John Edwards was right about the two Americas. But the two Americas are not divided by money but by belief systems that have drifted so far apart we barely recognize each other anymore.

In exit polls Tuesday, morals topped the list of voter concerns, and an overwhelming majority believed Bush is more moral than Kerry. Thus the resounding victory for the incumbent.

Here in the Bay Area, we, too, place a high priority on values and morality. But clearly, many of us define morality differently from much of America. It is not about church membership. The evidence of morality is in one's actions, not one's Sunday-morning rituals. Morality means more than prayer and more than proclaiming a personal relationship with God.

It is social as well as religious. Is it moral to wage war on a country that did not attack us, and to wage it on false pretenses? Is it moral to stuff more money into the pockets of the wealthy while teachers buy their own crayons and patch their own classroom walls, and while people with mental illness live on the streets and in prison cells for lack of services?

Is it moral to deny two people the joy of committing their lives to one another in marriage? Is it moral to prevent scientists from pursuing cures to devastating diseases because of our leaders' personal religious convictions?

Our country has always included a mix of religious and political beliefs. But we shared a foundation of certain "truths to be self-evident'' that allowed us to meet on common ground. Today, I don't know. Our belief systems - - what is right and wrong, what is patriotic and what is not, what is truth and what is not -- are so different and so dramatically shape how we interpret news and information that we seem no longer to be living within the same culture.

I can't for the life of me, for instance, figure out how anyone could watch those three presidential debates and even entertain the thought that Bush is qualified to lead the free world.

I am puzzled, too, by the reaction to the bin Laden tape. When bin Laden showed up on a video just days before the election, I figured it would remind Americans that Bush had yet to capture the man responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, that he got us sidetracked in Iraq, which had nothing to do with Sept. 11. Instead, the tape seemed to deepen many Americans' belief that ... what? Bush is doing such a good job on terrorism that we should renew his contract?

Some have suggested that the Democratic Party needs to reconnect with middle America and its values, that we should take a page from the Republican playbook and talk more about God and faith. Yes, the Democrats need to revamp their strategy. But I would hate to think we would try to win next time around by emulating politicians who get away with destructive and amoral acts by passing them off as directives from God.

Faith and flags won this election. But I haven't lost my belief in another f-word -- facts. They're bound to come back into fashion sooner or later.


E-mail Joan Ryan at joanryan@sfchronicle.com.

SF Chronicle - Thursday, November 4, 2004
Page B - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/11/04/BAGOK9LGGR1.DTL

Googi went to Cancun last week.
Googi had a lot of fun.
Googi did a lot of water sports (swimming, snorkeling, jet skiing) even though Googi can't swim well.
Googi swam at the beaches.
Googi swam in the hotel pools.
Googi played beach volleyball.
Googi jet skiied in the waters of Bahia De Mujeres (Bay Of Women).
Googi sunbathed.
Googi got a tan.
Googi got bitten by mosquitos.
Googi habla Espanol muy mal (speak Spanish very badly).
Googi spoke Spanglish.
Googi ate a lot of ceviche.
Googi ate a lot of seafood.
Googi ate a lot of spicy food.
Googi likes spicy food now.
Googi drank good margaritas with her dinner at Gory Tacos.
Googi ate Yucatan food at Labna in El Centro.
Googi ate Creole/Cajun food while listening to live jazz at Blue Bayou.
Googi ate lobster at Lorenzillo.
Googi ate good burrito at Burrito Shack.
Googi ate seafood at Italian restaurant called Casa Rolandi.
Googi ate a lot of Mexican food.
Googi missed Chinese food.
Googi drank good tequila.
Googi bought a bottle of tequila.
Googi went shopping at El Centro (Downtown).
Googi hated the annoying vendors who tried to pull Googi into their shops.
Googi hated the annoying timeshare agents who kept bugging Googi to listen to their timeshare pitches.
Googi visited the Mayan ruins at Chichen-Itza.
Googi climbed the 90 ft tall pyramid called El Castillo at Chichen-Itza.
Googi did not eat chicken pizza at Chichen-Itza.
Googi went to Isla Mujeres (Island Of Women).
Googi snorkeled at Isla Mujeres.
Googi did the Zip Line at Isla Mujeres on top of the waters of Bahia De Mujeres.
Googi was afraid to do the Zip Line because Googi is afraid of height and cannot swim well. But Googi went through with it. Googi is proud of herself.
Googi slept on hammock at Isla Mujeres.
Googi smoked her first cigar.
Googi hated the cigar.
Googi should try Cuban cigars.
Googi went drinking every night (now you know why Googi is writing like this - Googi killed a lot of brain cells).
Googi said "I'm not gonna drink tonight" every night but ... Googi drank every night.
Googi got a lot of freebies.
Googi likes freebies.
Googi should be careful of freebies.
Googi can get in a lot of trouble with freebies.
Googi said goodbye to paradise and came back to reality last night.
Googi is back to work today.
Googi doesn't want to work.
Googi wants to go back to paradise.
Googi is dreaming.

Bye Superman. Your legacy lives on.

I recently watched two movies on DVD. I liked one of them a lot. But the other, I didn't. I'll talk about the one I didn't like first so that I can end this blog entry with a more cheerful note later.

What was the point of "Passion Of The Christ"? Besides raking in millions at the box office, what did Mel Gibson try to accomplish by making this film? Was there a "for the record" statement that he wanted to make? Or did he want to point fingers at a certain group of people for the sufferings that Jesus endured? I am not a religious person. I do not have a religious background. I'm not sure if it's my lack of biblical knowledge that prevented me from appreciating this film. To me, it was merely a gruesome portrayal of the torture cast upon one man. I saw it as two hours worth of a whip-by-whip, nail-by-nail account of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Do people, followers or not, need such a graphic depiction of this biblical event in order to appreciate Jesus' sacrifice for mankind? There is a growing argument that the material carried on the mainstream media is becoming too violent and/or graphic for the good of the audience. This film feeds into that argument completely. For that, I didn't appreciate this film.

Unlike "Passion Of The Christ", I really enjoyed watching "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind". The plot is about a man wanting to erase the memories of his ex-girlfriend. But during the procedure he changes his mind and a struggle to hang on to the memories ensues. Rolling Stone calls it "a smart, sexy, and seriously funny comedy" and I totally agree. It's smart because of the complexity and uniqueness of the script. It's sexy because of the bizarre romance shared by the characters. It's serious because of the heartbreak that was experienced by the characters but felt by viewers. It's funny because of all the lighthearted dialogue and witty images. Writer Charlie Kaufman wrote this unique love story and director Michel Gondry immaculately transferred it onto film. Gondry created beautiful visuals to carry the story along. He accomplished this not with fancy special effects, but simply with creative camera angles and transitions. The success of this film owes very much to Gondry's creative visions. The acting in this film cannot be slighted either. Jim Carry and Kate Winslet deserve much praise for succeeding in roles they don't normally play. Overall, this is an excellent movie. I recommend it to all.

What a month. 2 projects came and gone. Fortunately they were completed rather successfully. Completing projects always gives me a great sense of accomplishment, but unfortunately I'm starting to feel tired. Not physically, but mentally. How much more stress can I handle? How much more frustration can I swallow? How much more advantage can I let my bosses take of me before I go insane? Being conscious of all the flaws in the system does not help me turn my back on all these nuisances either. Either it's time for me to leave or I need to take a long break. So what if I take a long break? Who could guarantee improvements when I return? The underlying problems in the company cannot be changed easily, if even possible. Guess my best bet is to find a new job. Honestly, I really wouldn't mind changing jobs, even if it means going into a new industry and starting off all over again from the bottom rung. But knowing how sluggish the current job market is, I know it will take some time for me to find something. No problem. However long it may take, I'll continue to believe there's light at the other end of the tunnel. In the meantime, I'll take short breaks here and there to help keep my sanity in check. Last month I took a few days off to retreat to Las Vegas and Santa Barbara. Next month I'm going to Cancun for a week. Hopefully these short breathers will help carry me through.