I just have to brag. My husband is sexier than ever. After 5 months of working out at the gym 3-4x a week, this is how he has done.

Since I've been losing inches(more muscle, less fat), I'm not at the same level but there's definitely some definition showing up. Sooner or later we'll be gracing the cover of Muscle Mag.

Had a blast last night with the HK UPA folks and guest of honor Peter Merholz. Finally met Kevin Cheng of Ok/Cancel too! These folks here in HK are truly an inspiration and I'm getting the sense that my calling is still in IA.

Just when I thought I slipped quietly away and the knocking gets louder at the door. Fleshing out a gig with possibly 2 more afterwards. Argh and I have only 3 weeks left here. Hmm, maybe I'll stay a little while longer?

IA Friends: I will be officially available in mid-April for the full spectrum of IA projects.

Not me...at least not yet. A fellow alumnae from UIUC-GSLIS just shared a resource site of material she uncovered while putting together her thesis together.

Having Babies in Hong Kong: A Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth & Raising Kids in Hong Kong

The funny thing is that this was the kind of stuff I was hunting around. She also points out various online communities around the topic here in HK.

Big White Guy

Daai Tou Lam Diary
Diaspoir
Discombobulated
Fumier
Madame Shutterfly
Misohoni
SeeLai
Shaky Kaiser
Shandyman
Spirit Fingers
Sweet Chariots
Waah!
Chase Me Ladies
Flyingchair

Hemlock's Diary
batgung
Ordinary Gweilo
Simon World

East South West North

...they make reading come alive for kids...

New Libraries Making New York Schools Come Alive (NY Times Free Reg Required)

The article is a great inspiration and organizations like Robin Hood and the book publishers mentioned should be commended. It's just a shame that not all the school libraries can be renovated, stocked with new books, and staffed properly.

My mom was a school librarian in Compton/Lynwood in the greater LA County area for many years in elementary schools. She expressed similar concerns of funding and what not but charities such as Riordon's Foundation were able to provide resources for encouraging students to use the library. This made my mom's work a little bit easier since the newness didn't have to be marketed to the kids. I used to visit her school on my days off and it was just amazing to see the kids duck in and out before school, during recess, lunch and after school.

She kept in close contact with many of the children even until they graduated high school. I figured she had a profound effect on those kids especially the ones who liked to help her in the library. Being a librarian isn't just about the books, it's about relationships centered around storytelling. Maybe it's the same reason I sort of followed in her foot steps and went to library school.

After a 2 hour workout, I was super hungry and didn't want to stand in line waiting for a table or food near the gym. So I headed home to a cafe close to home with good food at a cheap price and hoping the lunch crowd was back at their offices.

I've been to Red Mountain Cafe several times with Jeff. Of course in many situations Jeff always orders for us since he knows Chinese and I don't. But this time I was on my own. I was scared but I knew what I wanted in Chinese and I was really really hungry, so I made my attempt to order. I already knew the set menu is only in chinese and the staff only spoke in Chinese. I'd mess up but I tried my hardest. So in my mixed up tones/pronunciation I ordered my lunch and thankfully the waiter repeated the choices a few times...it helped since after the third time I actually understood what he asked me.

I've noticed recently as well that I'm no longer translating what I hear into English in my head...it's like I know what it means. To get to the 7th floor where the restaurant was, the elevator guy asked me what floor I wanted in Chinese...and I automatically said "chaat" exactly how it should be said...I didn't even have to think "7." I'm wondering if we stay another year that living in Chinese will really sink into my head.

Hopfully going back to the US won't mess up all that I've learned in the past 6 months. So if I know you know Cantonese, I WILL speak to you in Cantonese. Please oblige and speak to me in Cantonese as well. I've worked too hard to learn this language and I don't want to lose it.

Chinese New Year
Eating in HK
HKU Science and Technology
Photos in and around Causeway Bay
Product and Brand Expo
December School Outreach

Sorry these are like 3 months old but you know how you forget to develop film in your camera...well not uploading is the same experience. It just sits in your camera until you notice the next time you use it that you have lots of stuff.

Our time is winding down here but it hasn't stopped me from meeting more interesting people. For instance I took a day trip to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Clearwater Bay. I had a marvelous time chatting with VC about HKUST Library/life and it turned out she knew one of my colleagues at GSB Jackson Library. What a small world!

I'm really going to miss this place. While HK is small on the map there is just so much to do here. It turns out that a few more miles north of Clearwater Bay is Sai Kung where there is great windsurfing. Jeff hasn't had a chance to go but our friends G &S went a while ago and enjoyed it.

Ooh..and we just found a HK edition of Monopoly! We're buying a copy and bringing it home to stack on top of our Dotcom edition.

I can't believe this...it's in the 70s with lots of humidity/showers...you would think it's summer already. I decided to check Yahoo weather for Hong Kong and from mid-70s the last couple of days to mid-50s this coming weekend. Midwest folks can probably relate but more like in the middle of summer not late winter!

Date: February 24, 2005 - Thursday
Time: 7:30pm
Place: TBD
Guest of Honor: Peter Merholz of Adaptive Path
Details to follow...

I just couldn't pass this one up. A NYPL librarian reveals the secrets of organizing her own private library.

A Bibliophile, 3600 Friends and a System (NY Times, Free Reg Req)

I used to have open bookcases of all my books collected since middle school but after moving from place to place(including the Midwest) I have reduced it to several boxes. Even before we packed everything up before we left my books were in a makeshift closet bookcase. In feng shui, having open book cases represent not resolving the past. Also with the mix of paperbacks falling apart with nice signed IA books I just had to start weeding( of course I kept the signed ones). Just the same the article is kind of interesting and I know my bibliophile friends out there would appreciate it.

Re:Modern

My friend has just opened up her ecommerce furniture website. I just browsed and enjoyed many of the designs from emerging designers with sustainability and earth friendliness in mind. Re:Modern also does design consultation in the SF Bay Area.

Congratulations Mona!

Last night over a family dinner for CNY we had snake. So it wasn't like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where a snake was cut open and eaten uncooked. It was more like a chicken soup with lots of different things in it including snake meat. I can't say that I didn't like it since I couldn't really tell what was in the soup except the chicken broth and pieces of chicken and other stuff.

Did I mention that while we were in Beijing we had camel. Nothing interesting, just camel meat in some kind of sauce with vegetables. We didn't know we were eating it until the waitress told us all the dishes which happened to be all cold. Very chewy but the flavor was unmemorable.

Never got a chance to have scorpian or any of the interesting meals that they serve on a snack street in Beijing, but I'm not that adventureous.

It's Chinese New Year and Causeway Bay is party central. The Victoria Park Festival has begun where there are rows and rows of toys, rooster theme stuff, and of course the famous flower market.

I'll post more photos of the festival shortly. But it's very difficult to really capture how many people have descended upon CWB except LOTS O' PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. There's a 3 days public holiday and most people have just taken the whole week off. With end of the year sales and CWB being shopping mecca, you can only imagine the density of people who are on holiday just hanging out, shopping for new clothes(you have to wear new clothes/shoes on the first day of the new year), flowers(each flower has a significance for what kind of virtue you want upon yourself or your family) and chocolates/fruits for visiting gifts. Also since it's the end of the year there are SO MANY sales because it's a bad omen for your business to keep goods from last year. So I've been eyeing some things to buy on New Year's Eve when they slash prices to 75-80% off. There are so many traditions for the new year that Jeff is kind of overwhelmed but he has been diligent about finding out we need to do.

So over the next few days we'll be eating out alot with relatives, I'm going to get a new pair of shoes since it's a tradition(CWB is shoe heaven), and probably have to go to the gym more since there will be lots of sweets served over the whole week. Oh God, please help me from gaining the weight I just lost... 45lbs and counting...

I'll post more photos and traditions as I encounter them. Oh btw, SFGATE has a story on some traditions going on in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Happy chinese new year everyone!

PS: It's my mom's 60th birthday the day of Chinese New Year. Happy birthday mom!!!!