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September 04, 2011 08:18 PM Whine  |   Link
When Spouse Readies for B-School

So J is applying to just one program, the eMBA program at Wharton West. It's a pretty impressive program. I'm trying to find information on how family support plays a role in the sucess of the applicants/students.

The reason I'm trying to find other families that will potentially enter the same time as J is that it is a very time intensive program. Classes are Friday/Saturday every other week for 20 months. There are occassional travel to Philadelphia and other countries. The only information I haven't found is what happens to the families. Are there family events or even support groups for family members to feel plugged into the bigger community? It's a big investment on the student's time and money and I would imagine there would be support resources for their family.

Application for first round is due December 1st. J is already in study & writing mode for the past several weeks. I hope we make it through to December. Results come in early January. This is when prayers are definitely needed to reduce stress and for J to succeed during this process of writing and GMAT.



December 30, 2010 09:28 AM Whine  |   Link
2011New Year's Resolution

The typical items:
1. lose weight(i can definitely get on this when I stop nursing)
** a. eat healthy(cut back on sweets)
** b. work out(back to the gym!)
** c. think positive!
2. organize paperwork(labels/binders/sorters)
3. focus on financial investments(workshops/books/watch the market more closely)

New Items:
1. look for new neighborhood/house
2. get organized for looking for work(portfolio/website/conferences/workshops)
3. improve photography & cooking skills
4. work on 1 new story each month



June 19, 2010 01:03 PM Whine  |   Link
Sometimes Emotional Eating is the Only Way

B woke up several times last night(she even fell asleep in the hallway clutching her book) and gave me and J just a few hours of sleep(maybe 4). We decided to lock our door and just hope that C didn't wake up. Around 4:30am C woke up and we just let him CIO neither one of us had the energy/clarity/strength to pick him up and he eventually went back to sleep 5 minutes later. When you're really tired and baby is crying sometimes it's better that you don't pick them up since you are not coherent enough to be balance or awake enough to even hold properly. So all morning we've been walking around the house in a daze, too scared to even walk outside. So we just ate many of the treats I bought for Father's day and eating through snacks and other processed food. We sort of feel better but I know we're going to hit a crash from all the "bad" food pretty soon. I'm so ready to take a nap but C is just having just as bad a morning with no naps.



October 26, 2009 10:05 PM Whine  |   Link
Mostly Tired, but Always Here

I haven't written in a while because I've been mostly writing one line updates on Facebook. I post to Flickr and Facebook for photos and mostly behind passwords. I guess right now I'm not much to a public face and I'm not at all active in the IA/UX community so haven't seen a need to write up anything. However I am writing, just more along the lines of stuff for children's books and journaling for personal use. I'm sorry I'm just not motivated to write here, but if I do it will probably be something really important. If you want to hook up on Flickr, FB or twitter, just email me.



September 02, 2009 02:57 PM Whine  |   Link
Interesting Sleep Patterns

B has been going to sleep around 7pm now and waking close to 7am. Then she sleeps from about 11:30am-1:30. Now I need to get her to sleep closer to 12:30 or 1 since she'll be starting nursery school pretty soon. Otherwise she'll be falling asleep once I put her in the carseat when we head home.



August 25, 2009 07:45 PM Whine  |   Link
Recovering & Catching Up

Just got back from 2 weeks in Europe. One week as a family vacation hanging out with our friends Joan & Paul. Second week was work for J, so B and I went wandering around Stuttgart/Fellbach. So now we're recovering from jet lag which hasn't been as bad compared to when we got out there. B is sleeping somewhat normally now.

So it's taking me a while to catch up on FB, twitter, emails and voicemails. However work takes precendence...sorry, but you know we just need those paychecks coming in.

On the pregnancy front, I'm at 18 weeks now. Due late January and right now don't know yet if the baby is a boy or girl. We may find out this coming Friday.

We'll post photos & videos shortly(when our heads aren't in the clouds) either on FB or Flickr.



July 17, 2009 02:40 PM Whine  |   Link
Nausea subsides

Well I'm into 12 weeks I believe and the nausea has subsided. I'm pretty excited that I can get through the day without having to hurl :) However it doesn't mean I can eat everything. I have to eat several really small meals a day and can't get too stuff or the heartburn comes back with a vengence.

Oh the joys of pregnancy :)



July 09, 2009 10:54 AM Whine  |   Link
Please Nausea Go Away!

Week 11 and nausea still there but not as bad as the earlier weeks. I have 2 more weeks to go until my part of the project is done. Then we head to Illinois and then France/Germany in August. We are just so excited to introduce B to European food and to our European friends!



July 07, 2009 09:57 AM Whine  |   Link
Week 11...nausea is still bad

Yes we're pregnant and the 1st trimester is quite a challenge on top of working and making sure I spend quality time w/ B. We won't know until around week 18 if boy or girl. Remember it takes about 38-40 weeks of gestation so we're still a ways away. Due date around mid-end January.

B is growing quite big and getting heavier to carry around. I'm glad she prefers to walk wherever we go.



October 23, 2008 09:58 AM Whine  |   Link
No Microwave

J had a great time recently trying to research the possible options for replacing our dead microwave. So much for making huge batches for dinner to last 2 nights, now I have to cook daily and B pretty much eats everything room temp. I'm glad she's not so picky.

First we discovered it was from 1989 and I'm not surprised it looked really old skool. Also since it's inset in the wall we had to get a trim kit which actually doubles the price of getting a microwave. Oh and somehow all the models that would actually fit in the hole in the wall were all backordered by over a week. What a challenging week on top of planning for B's birthday.

Staring into the kitchen, we have a big hole and the kitchen really looks dingy. Now I'm trying to convince J to remodel. Yeah right in this economy :)



August 02, 2008 09:42 AM Whine  |   Link
Day 8 & 9: AM Nap Training

Wow. 2 Days in a row now, B has been going down to nap in the crib at 9am. She sleeps for an hour and is fully rested for the rest of the morning. She is just amazing. She fusses for about 30 seconds like I put up the rail, but then she's out. I'm hoping she's used to her new routine.

Up between 6-6:30am. Breastfeed, diaper change, play, eat cereal/fruit, diaper change, read book, rock in glider with quiet songs and maybe breastfeed and down just at 9. I hope I can keep up the uninterrupted routine.



August 01, 2008 09:46 AM Whine  |   Link
Day 5, 6, 7...

So same things happened on Day 5 & 6. She fed and then fell asleep in my arms. Kept her for 30 minutes then when I tried to put her down in her crib. Wah!!!!! Argh. So for two days the afternoons were a bit rough because she was tired but didn't want to go down. She was going to sleep at 5:30-6pm and totally asleep for 12-13 hours straight.

Day 7 happened to coincide with her 9month birthday. I cheated and let her sleep in my arms for an hour. She was so happy that day. Alot better during the day compared to previous days.

Let's see what happens Day 8 :)



July 25, 2008 08:31 PM Whine  |   Link
Day 2: Naps

The AM nap was a doozy. She slept 12 hours last night and woke up around 6:30 so we were impressed how well rested we all were. However when we put her down for her AM nap, it was a no go. She cried for an hour. I held her and she fell asleep in my arms for a good 30 minutes and then I tried to put her down again. It didn't work. So we decided to just eat and play the rest of the morning.

The PM nap was just as bad. She was already half asleep sort of sleeping and I put her down. She cried for 19 minutes and then fell asleep. Then the gardener came around with the leafblower near her bedroom window. She woke up after sleeping for 25 minutes. Argh! She wouldn't go back down. So she ate her snack and we went to the park. On our way back, she fell asleep in the stroller and slept for about 45 minutes.

She went down easily for sleep tonight at 6:30. Just a little whimper when I put her down and put the rails up. We'll try again tomorrow.



July 24, 2008 06:24 PM Whine  |   Link
Day 1: PM Nap Training

Well today was a doozy. I put her down at 12:30 because she was extremely tired from not having much of a nap in the AM. She cried for 30 minutes and then I couldn't stand it any longer. I picked her up at 1pm to soothe her and she fell asleep right away. I put her down in her crib and she slept for 30 minutes. I didn't want her to cry again so I picked her up and continued with our activities. She ate lunch, played for a little while and then we headed out to meet up with E at Red Mango. She was full of energy greeting everyone entering the yogurt joint.

She started fussing around 4:30pm so we headed home where I tried to feed her solids and she refused. Nursed her for over 30 minutes and changed her diaper and into her pjs. I nursed her for another 20 minutes and she was still asleep when I put her down and stayed alseep for 15 minutes and then woke up. Now she's just fussing in the crib. This has been a difficult day :(



Whine  |   Link
Day 1: AM Nap Training

For the most part, B does a good 11-12 hours of sleep at night. No problems putting her down anywhere from 5:30-7pm depending on how the PM nap goes. We used the Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child book to get us to this point which we started when she hit around 5 months old. Usually around 4 months old & baby is double their weight when they can sleep through the night(which according to textbook is at least 6 hours straight). We could have started her sleep training earlier but we were co-sleeping and she is still exclusively breastfed, so it was a slow start out the gate.

Recently though J was holding her for her AM nap. Eventually being held is all she expects now. PM naps are a challenge now for me b/c she then expects to be held for more than an hour. I used to put her down for the PM nap and she'd whimper for a few seconds and just fall asleep for a good hour.

For anything this long we definitely put her in the Moby wrap. So today after a good night of 12 hours of sleep, we put her down at 8am since she was showing signs of tiredness around 7:30am. She cried/whimpered for close to an hour and now she is asleep. I hope she sleeps for at least an hour.


Update: She cried for almost an hour and then slept for 30 minutes. She woke up crying and we decided to ck on her. It turned out that she had a dirty diaper and we decided to change her, play quietly in the living room and take a walk to the park.



June 19, 2008 07:40 AM Whine  |   Link
Last Night Was a Challenge of the Ears & Heart

I only got maybe 4 hours continuous sleep. B woke up at 9 and cried until 12:30am. We tried everything, feeding, rocking, singing, dancing, the swing, turning on the fan, turning on the heater, white noise, co-sleeping, and changing her diaper. Nothing worked and she was wide awake the whole time. Argh. She finally went down to sleep when I turned on a combination of fan and white noise and put her in the crib after rocking her for 15 minutes. Then she got up again around 4am to eat. Another day and hoping she sleeps better during the day.



June 06, 2008 07:58 AM Whine  |   Link
I just need more time

to be able to do this...



May 26, 2008 08:36 PM Whine  |   Link
Geek Meets Librarian



December 24, 2007 05:31 PM Whine  |   Link
What's Worse Than Being Sick?

Having a sick newborn and husband .

We're celebrating Christmas very low key this year. We somehow caught a cold perhaps at a wedding we attended last weekend. It's been more than a week and poor B is also suffering. Both B and I can't take anything for it so we rely on J alot. He's getting much better and so he runs the errands and makes our meals. I help around when I'm not tending B.



November 29, 2007 09:10 PM Whine  |   Link
My Status Post Pregnancy

I've been lucky to have J at home with B at 4 weeks old I'm a bit tired, sleep is quite a luxury here...or at least sleep that is more than 4 hours. I was able to eat my lox on my bagels, went out with a friend for sushi without B, attended Thanksgiving dinner with B happy in family arms, J and I went out to dinner and brunch w/ B sleeping through the whole meal, and I've had a chai/latte/cap a couple of times. I'm waiting to having wine at Michelle's wedding in a few weeks. As for the foods/drinks I've missed, it was exciting to eat/drink them again but somehow I think these things will just be special treats and not something to indulge in. I notice caffeine messes me up, even a hot chocolate kind of puts me of in an overload feeling.

My next goal is to go drive on my own, go out with B on our own, and have a romantic dinner with J without B in the next month. Our first family road trip will be around the holidays.



October 23, 2007 10:11 AM Whine  |   Link
Finally a changing pad that fits

We were having a challenge finding the right size changing pad to put on the Ikea Hemnes Changing Table.

Since it's not the typical 16x32 shape we had to check out all the baby stores for the different dimensions. Well after returning to BRU for God knows how many times and found the baby mattresses area stocked, we finally found Simmons Kids Vinyl Basket Pad in 13x29, a perfect fit. We'll just have to improvise on changing pad covers but it's it still wipes clean and is non-allergenic and the foam is pretty sturdy. The room is almost done so stay tuned for photos as we slowly get rid of more "stuff."



October 20, 2007 09:20 PM Whine  |   Link
2 Weeks to Go

I'm into the long stretch of this 40 week journey. I can't believe I'm only 2 weeks away from being a mommmy. We're totally excited and can't wait. We went to my weekly prenatal visit and baby's heartbeat is healthy, she moves around quite a bit and definitely knows how to count the beat to the song Straight Cats(courtesy of J guitar practices). So all is well on the baby front.

Everyone I know who was due in October have had their babies already and I even have another friend who was due the day after me already in the process of having her baby earlier than expected. My health is pretty good with good scores on blood pressure and no weight gain. I've been taking it pretty slow these days. I think I can only handle about one big thing a day. Even attending a baby shower today for a friend I was so wiped out, I crashed when I got home. The biggest challenge right now is my carpal tunnel so holding a fork, pen, knitting needles, or anything small that requires that type of dexterity really hurts and I have to really concentrate to make something look somewhat legible or creative.

My projects were completed earlier this week and so I've been resting alot lately. I just have to get cracking on my B&A article so that I can hand it over before the baby arrives.

We're both in just a waiting pattern and getting pretty anxious. The bags are packed, we've read up on a few baby/sleep books, the carseat is installed, we've met with our doula, and have the freezer stocked with frozen meals. We still haven't really picked out "the" name but we know we'll figure it out when the baby is born.

So rest assured friends and family that we will email you details when the baby is born. The website is all setup courtesy of Babysites.com and we'll have baby photos and maybe even video up when everything is set in motion. We wish we could call everyone personally but that would be quite a challenge on top of just figuring out this thing called parenthood.



October 13, 2007 03:21 AM Whine  |   Link
I'm Wide Awake

Waaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was tired so I went to bed early...about 9pm. I woke up hungry and wide awake at 2am..it's about 3:30am...will try to sleep again. A bit frustrating but I guess just in training for when Jeli arrives in perhaps 3 weeks!

Nursery pictures coming soon.



October 11, 2007 09:53 PM Whine  |   Link
Ok so maybe I am a geek

Ok do I buy more clothes for the baby or do I buy myself this tshirt?



October 06, 2007 06:06 AM Whine  |   Link
Weird Sleeping Patterns

Awwww! I've been awake since 5AM. I woke up with my hands hurting alot. So I decided to get up and watch early morning TV with my laptop closeby. Tried to eat breakfast and just take it easy but I feel super anxious, almost like I want to scrub the kitchen floor and all the kitchen pots & pans that need a little bit more of a shine. Who knows maybe I'll crash around 8AM. I can't believe I'm 4 weeks away...however a few have reminded me that it could be just as short as 2 weeks if Jeli is early.



October 03, 2007 07:53 PM Whine  |   Link
It Hurts to Knit

I bought some great yarn with the intention of knitting Jeli a hat, booties and a kimono shirt. Unfortunately with my carpal tunnel pains my hands can't grasp knitting needles. Sometimes it's even difficult to grasp my fork and knife when eating. Argh! I wish I did the knitting months ago but I was hoping to use some free time to knit. Now I'm not sure what to do with myself while I wait 4 weeks. I guess baby laundry and organizing the room is all I really can do. Oh well.



September 19, 2007 11:24 AM Whine  |   Link
Numb Hands

Wearing splints on my wrists at night to reduce the arthritic pains in my hands, but it doesn't really help with the swelling. My feet are somewhat ok, no pain just can't get into my fun shoes, basically flip flops or open sandals the whole summer. I can't believe I've got less than 7 weeks to go.

We had a super fun baby shower last weekend with my church group. We even played games I didn't know this group would be really in to. All in all really fun and such cute presents for the baby.



September 04, 2007 12:53 PM Whine  |   Link
On Baby's Schedule Now

Ok I've figured her all out now. I can tell my internal sleep clock has completed adjusted to the baby's clock. It seems that she definitely keeps me up every few hours at night, basically feels like she's training me to be on her schedule. So she starts moving around 11:30 until 1am, then again she's up around 4am for about 30 minutes, then up around 6:30am. I try to get a little more sleep and then she's up again around 9 or 9:30am. During the day I feel her moving around again after eating. This morning she obviously was up when I could feel my whole tummy area moved, as though she was doing some kind of whole body stretch. I felt 4 sides move at the same time. Woah what a way to be motivated to get up. So these days I'm probably getting 8 hours sleep in probably 2-3 hour intervals. It doesn't help that she's been kicking my bladder too. Jeff is convinced she may be into drumming and found a really funny onesie with a squirrel on the drums. I've thought of getting it but I'm trying to hold off on that type of stuff. Not very practical especially since the onesie is $17!

I was able to switch OBs in a different group so having a doula will not be a problem. I'm pretty excited about it and the stress went away very quickly. Been doing my pre-natal exercise classes on top of going to PAC. It's been really helping me keep my weight from getting out of hand and will hopefully help when I go into labor.

Yesterday we put the crib together. We've started piling all the gifts in there. We're still debating about the trundle still sitting in the room. With a glider/ottoman and changing table, the room is going to be super tight. My desk is in there still too and will be until I'm officially done with my work which will hopefully be end of Sept or early Oct. We were thinking of buying a car but I changed my mind since I'd rather have J stay home a few extra months after the baby is born. The Lexus is definitely more than enough space for the baby. But maybe when J goes back to work we'll upgrade the Civic ;) He's sill chugging along at LM.

More prayers for my friend who had her baby early. Baby M is doing super well and is in the NICU room that is for fattening up the baby. Hopefully she'll get to her target weight and accomplish certain skills to get her home soon to be with her family. Thanks everyone for praying for her.



August 24, 2007 04:58 PM Whine  |   Link
Stress is Mounting

I need prayers and good thoughts. Trying to get into a really good OB group that delivers at a really good hospital. Been stressed trying to get the process of transition from my current group and praying that insurance covers everything.



August 22, 2007 10:38 AM Whine  |   Link
Keeping up with 18 year olds

I've started going back to the gym on top of my pre-natal exercise class. Yesterday was a doozie, there were lots of young guys working out and I didn't even feel intimidated while working out. I felt like I could keep up with some slight modification. I didn't even feel sore when I woke up today. I guess I'm not so out of shape. I hope I can keep that kind of endurance when in labor!

A little stressed out since I've decided to switch OBs at 29 weeks. I really want to have a doula during delivery and the group I'm with have a policy of not working with doulas. It's quite strange since there are many good reasons to have one present. I know many women out there have had deliveries without one, but reading as much as I have recently I feel it would be beneficial for me, J and the baby.

I have a prayer request for my girlfriend who had her baby at 31 weeks gestation last week. Her baby was originally due just about 2 weeks before me. The baby girl is doing well and progressing quickly in NICU, but I figured more prayers for them will keep them moving along.



August 16, 2007 02:25 AM Whine  |   Link
Yes It's Past 2am

Argh!!!!! I really can't sleep with little one running a marathon when I should be sleeping!



August 15, 2007 02:06 AM Whine  |   Link
Future Gymnast

Yes it is past 2am. I am awake. Very tired. However Baby Jeli seems to be practicing for the 2008 Olympics with all the sumersaults and tumbles she has been doing the past 2 hours. Of course it didn't help that I had frozen yogurt around 9pm. This is frustrating but I guess I will have to get used to these late night activities.



August 07, 2007 07:45 PM Whine  |   Link
Hip Maternity Clothes

Don't limit yourself to maternity stores. Current fashions really are generous in cut for mothers to be. Some great finds recently have been H&M as well as Forever 21 in San Francisco. I would also recommend that you don't buy too many pieces at one time. You definitely grow in ways you'd never expect. Also don't get rid of pieces too quickly since after the baby is born in most cases you really can't get back into pre-preg clothes. Some women have been recommending I hold on to 2nd trimester clothes since those would be the most comfortable right after having a baby. However depending on the style and if you breastfeed, 2nd tri clothes could be a challenge.

I'm at 27 weeks and back working out in the gym including a pre-natal exercise class. I'm still doing consulting and a myriad of other activities. The baby has definitely setup a wake/sleep pattern and will need to document and compare for when she is born.

Been very tired after hosting 2 weeks of cousins from IL on top of writing an article for Boxes and Arrows and doing a couple projects. Just selling stuff to clear up space for the baby room and getting excited to start assembling the crib and other baby furniture. I've been tempted to buy the really good stuff but I also know that if they get scratched or damaged I'd be very upset. So trying to stay within a budget and surfing Craigstlist.



July 09, 2007 05:07 PM Whine  |   Link
Rude Awakening

Don't get me wrong. It's not like I want to just whine and complain all the time about my pregnancy. I love my baby and I really like some of the fringe benefits of being pregnant...BUT yesterday and this morning were bad. I went to bed with swollen ankles and feet.

Of course the root cause was attending J's cousin's wedding in SF. Amazing chinese wedding....lots of food, lots of drinks, lots of lion dancing, some dancing...lots of waiting. I didn't get a chance to take a nap or get my feet elevated and I ended up with really swollen feet and ankles. It was a very LONG day. Lucky for me, J massaged my feet as I went to sleep.

...then the rude awakening at 7:45am a massive leg cramp. I was crying out in pain and you know how leg cramps go, you know what you have to do but it hurts so bad you don't want to move or relax...once again J came to the rescue to hold my foot straight to release the tension in my calf. After all that happen I realized that I'm such a whimp and if I can't even handle these slight discomforts(almost forgot the increasing backpain) I'm going to be a wuss when it comes to labor and delivery. Aiyaaa!!!!



June 26, 2007 10:54 AM Whine  |   Link
Challenge of Naming a Baby

So J and I decided we wanted to name our child starting with "B." It's been quite a challenge since we just don't know what the baby would like. I want to call her Tigger sometimes since she tends to bounce alot. But I thought I had a challenge. There's one little girl near London who has a middle names of famous boxing champs and another a kid whose parents want to name him '4real.' So we'll just wait until that moment arrives to see if one of several names fit.



June 14, 2007 10:25 AM Whine  |   Link
It's Hot and I'm Pregnant

Ok it was 8am and the house was already 78. Argh!

Top 10 places to hang out with A/C:
- Blossom Birth
- Movie Theatre
- Library
- Bookstore
- Indoor mall
- Friend/family house with a/c.
- BaySix Massage
- Drive around in car with a/c full blast
- Ice cream store
- Tea bar

Oh this is going to be a rough summer :(



April 23, 2007 04:50 PM Whine  |   Link
Key Ordeals

So we began our vacation to Hawaii two weeks ago with some frustration. Enroute from home to the airport gate, I had lost the house keys. I was the last to leave the house. I know it was somewhere in my bag, or was it? We were the last group to board so I had J contact his sister and one of our neighbors to double check that I did not leave it on the door or dropped in on the driveway. So for two weeks I didn't know where they were. When we arrived at the airport I checked lost and found. A whole drawer full of Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, key fobs, including some key fobs that resembled security passes for buildings. Wow a whole drawer of 2 weeks worth of lost keys. To no avail mine were not there.

So we got a lift home and luckily J had his house key. We brought in all our stuff and headed out for late dinner. Unfortunately when we returned we had no house key and the door to the kitchen was locked. So J tried to get into the house and to our satisfaction the house is completely secure! But how do we get in, we called J's sister and we picked up our extra set at her house and came back home. What a crazy series of events, we start our trip losing a key and even after getting into the house we still had to face being locked out.

Well the last place to check was the transport shuttle we used, they had my keys. I'll be picking them up tomorrow.

Btw, 24 hour locksmith goes for about $125 in our area, which we didn't want to pay.



April 05, 2007 02:01 PM Whine  |   Link
Bad News on B-School

So far J has been declined at Wharton and Stanford. We're super bummed but now all we can do is pray and wait for Cal & Harvard.



April 02, 2007 08:48 PM Whine  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Maternity/Pregnancy Advice

Ok to my friends and family who have had children and would like to provide any kind of advice...please do so by clicking on the comments!



March 01, 2007 04:25 PM Whine  |   Link
Weekly Papercuts

Oh the pain. I just can't stand it. I use letter openers and slather on the moisturizer, but somehow every week for the past 6 months I've been getting papercuts!!! Argh.



January 31, 2007 07:27 PM Whine  |   Link
American Capitalism

Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City
Krispy Kreme in Hong Kong

:)



January 29, 2007 06:10 PM Whine  |   Link
Grease & Childhood Memories

Last Sunday I tuned in(online with tv tuner card) to a new reality contestant type show to cast the next Sandy & Danny for a Broadway release of Grease. I was pretty much just knitting and needed some background noise since J was out and I had free reign to make noise in the house. As I was getting halfway through a row, I hear the name Chad Doreck. "Hey!" I thought out loud. "I know that name." I looked up to see who was on the screen. It was someone who looked familiar but not quite.

I went to a Catholic parochial school in Long Beach, CA in the late 80s. Chad's brother Stephen was in my class. I think the last time I saw Chad he was probably in the 2nd grade? Well it doesn't matter, but the next day went online to look up his profile and it sure did confirm that this was the same Chad I knew when he was a little kid. I can't believe he's all grown up now.



January 26, 2007 08:53 AM Whine  |   Link
Green Clothes?

Well I guess finally someone has stepped up to the plate to remind us that being good to the earth is not just about global warming and SUVs/car emissions but it could also mean all the fashions that end up in the landfills. I hope you take a moment to read about how throw away fashions are contributing to killing the earth. I think the biggest things that's difficult for me is drycleaning. I still have a few items that require drycleaning, but for the most part I hang dry many of our bulky items. I guess one thing I'm going to try this year is to loose weight(so I don't have to buy new clothes), and try to reduce the use of the dryer and not purchase items that require special washing care.

Can Polyester Save the World?(free reg required NYTimes)



January 10, 2007 12:40 PM Whine  |   Link
Halfway there..

So J just turned in GSB apps today. He's printing out his receipt as I type. I'm halfway on my knitting project too but battling a really bad right now. Argh! I doubt I'll be able to celebrate.



January 06, 2007 08:01 PM Whine  |   Link
For the most part...

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense". - Gertrude Stein



January 04, 2007 04:20 PM Whine  |   Link
WSJ January 3, 2007

In the past few months I've been actively reading Wall Street Journal. I wouldn't subscribe to it on my own since I was already reading IBD, however there are some really good articles and editorials in there and it didn't hurt that we were getting it for free since J took Kaplan GMAT classes. Oh and we also get Rolling Stone magazine. Thinking about it, that's a strange combination.

Well yesterday there was a really interesting editorial/commentary type article regarding the state of public libraries. If you're a librarian I think you'd get alot about what the writer was trying to say. He had alot of good points and I can really envision the library still being relevant but taking interesting topics in a community and developing a forum for discussion with speakers talking about things that matter. Sort of like the Greek philosophers teaching forum but heavy on bringing communities together. Almost like a mash up of TED conferences and community activism. Yup the books are useful but the value is really the ideas and how people come together to share and improve on those ideas and ultimately take action on those ideas to improve the community. If librarians become equated to stockboys stocking books on the shelves which is what the writer mentioned then it's a pretty sad fate for librarianship as a profession. You think they don't get paid well today, it will be worse in the future.

Citation: 1/3/07 WSJ In the Fray: Should Libraries' Target Audience Be Cheapskates With Mass-Market Tastes?



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25% Done

Ok one school down...3 more to go. Upenn went off yesterday and Stanford GSB is next Thursday...then Cal, and Harvard...woah! I haven't seen J work so hard and so passionately for something. I'm super proud of where he is in his career path and super excited of where he wants to go next. I'm dreading living where there is snow...and this time it really is a 2 year stint. IL was really cold and I never thought I'd ever consider living in it again...but you know Ivy league schools are where the snow and cold weather is. And of course everyone wishes for us to stick around; We just hope J gets into any of the schools. As soon as we find out in April, we'll post here for sure so stay tuned!

As for me, 25% done with a knitting project. 2 first cousins will be having babies this year one in early March and another one in mid-May...so I'm knitting up a storm. If you're one of those cousins then you know you're getting something handmade and truly from my heart. Did I mention I was in a knitting craze for holiday gifts for my friend, sisters-in-law, my mom and a cousin. At one point I knitted for 5 hours stretch, which gave me a bad trip afterwards. I couldn't eat or drink, like I had a really bad hangover, a pounding headache and just couldn't stand reading or surfing the net. That had to be the worst trip I've ever had.

Mental note, pace holiday knitting projects throughout the year and not in 2 week marathon. Scope out sales and save up to buy in bulk! Also don't hesitate to mail me some yarn if you'd like me to make a scarf/baby blanket...will start learning how to make sweaters shortly.



December 27, 2006 09:34 PM Whine  |   Link
What Santa Didn't Get Me

I think I've written about the library comic book Unshelved. Well here are some items that Santa did NOT get me this year.



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Holiday Detox

Ok, so I need to drop the 5lbs from the holidays, on top of the 10lbs I gained this past year. I'm beating myself about gaining weight again since when I first lost 50 lbs a couple years ago. It was quite a dramatic lose. Now I'm finding myself trying things on and very disappointed in myself. So I'll be hitting up WW soon to get that 15+lbs off before we hit HI in April.

In addition to the usual sweets we had amazing homemade tamales and enchiladas for Christmas, courtesy of the Rodriguez familia in Lakewood. Two rounds of dim sum with the Chan clan and my immediate family. It didn't help that we found a "Beard Papa's" shop in Monterey Park, we had to get a dozen to share with the M/S families. Ohh was it so good with a cup of fresh ground coffee courtesy of the Ellen Degeneres Show(K and her mom were on the show for 12 days of Christmas, lucky for them they got a Melitta coffeemaker with weather). To top off the M family visit, we got some chorizo omlette burritos. Yummy!!!

Had a great time with the G Clan in San Diego(horror movie, great food, bonding time, gift xchange) and even had some great quality time with cousins and friends transitioning into new phases of their lives.

Unfortunately J didn't get as much time writing as he was hoping while we were in SoCA. Today he is writing like crazy. He's got about one week for Upenn and two weeks for Stanford. Please pray that I don't go crazy over the next couple of weeks. At least one of us has to stay sane!

As for the tv that died in the bathroom, well for Christmas J got a tv tuner/cable card for our media machine. Our media machine has become our pure entertainment machine from music, pictures, videos(more of me from Mt Fuji at 6 months old), dvds, games, and now tv! Woah too extreme, can't handle it.

Gifts were quite interesting this year since we spent many gatherings where children were the main focus. The scariest so far is the Dora Explorer that moved around even if you weren't playing with it. The noisiest has to go to the Toy Story Star Command Blaster gun with no volume control. With a 3 year old blasting away I had no choice but to hide her "favorite toy." Oh no, I think her mom will have to figure out how to disarm her after she finds the toy again. Thanks J for putting packing tape over the speaker of the blaster to soften the blasting. My favorite part of this holiday was playing Santa by preparing all tlhe toys that had to be "delivered" to the little ones where we were staying. It was quite fun and gave me some insights on what little kids like for Christmas. Just the cuteness factor alone in their reaction on Christmas morning was something to be treasured.

Returning to SoCA? Well we looked at some model homes near J&J's house, you really do get ALOT more for your money compared to the value of our house. While the space was nice, we feel somehow that we're more urbanites and living in MP is just temporary. Yes we miss living in HK and now we're wondering where we'll be next. Oh and it didn't help that when we left SJC it was around 55 and arriving in SD it was 75.

Our own gift exchange was very simple, I knitted a scarf for J and we both agreed to sponsor a child in Sri Lanka as a perpetual Christmas gift. She lives in Colombo, a region that was hit by the Boxing Day Tsunami. She's 4 years old and her birthday is in October. Hopefully someday we'll get a chance to meet her. Right now we're trying to figure out what pictures to send her and what to write in our first letter to her.

Pictures to follow shortly!



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Power to Be Ineffective

Generation Y + workforce = mediocrity

Talk amongst yourselves (Despair Inc.)



November 30, 2006 11:24 PM Whine  |   Link
Official Certificate in the Mail

It's all done. I just got an email that my certificate in Business Administration from UC Berkeley Extension is on its way. J thinks we should celebrate. Does this mean party at Chez Chan? Not sure since the holidays are around the corner and everyone's dance card is full. Perhaps a meld of book swap and certificate celebration? We'll see. I just wanted to just write that I'm glad to be done with it and let's see where it takes me next...

angel investing
investment banking
product management

Email me (lchan at mywhine.com) what you think...



November 27, 2006 08:25 PM Whine  |   Link
Lots o' Photos

It took me a while to get the photos off the camera...oh well here are some to pass the late fall day...

ePhysician get together at the Elephant Bar, October 2006
Always fun to see a fun bunch of folks from J's previous company.

SF Auto Show, November 2006
Not as exciting this year however it was nice to see the new lines of hybrids. As you went down the escalators at Mascone the Tesla was on display, the electric sports car famous because the Google boys funded it. One booth advertising electric two passnger vehicles even had a George W impersonator with his own secret service type bodyguards. Overall auto shows are not as fun as they used to be...or better yet nothing like the Detroit Auto Show we went to a few years ago. Or it could be that we're really not into cars as we used to.

Peter White Christmas at the Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay, November 2006
Video will be posted shortly. Need to edit and upload. Looks can be deceiving, I thought Mindy wasn't going to be able to keep up with Rick & Peter. I was so wrong. She really knew how to jam and had a great voice too. We're going to hunt down some of her music, it was a great medley of holiday tunes and some of each of the musicians signature pieces. A nice intimate indoor setting, and we were only 3 rows back center. The show was really a nice way to get into the holiday season.



November 22, 2006 12:10 PM Whine  |   Link
Librarian Tattoos

Archie McPhee has temporary Librarian Tattoos

Pretty funny description...

"It used to be that librarians were considered the quiet mousy type, but not anymore! Today's librarians are a rough and rowdy crowd of rugged individualists that are as unique as they are unstereotypical! These Librarian Temporary Tattoos will allow them to show the world exactly how idiosyncratic they are and then, after seeing the world's confused look, they can help the world look up idiosyncratic in the dictionary at the reference desk. Literate 4 Life!"



November 18, 2006 05:25 PM Whine  |   Link
Furiously Cleaning

I don't know who is more nervous, me or J? He's doing his GMAT test right now and all day I've been cleaning like crazy. I put things away in the garage, broke down some boxes, cleaned up the carpet and put things away. In the bathroom I was going to start scrubbing the marble and tile. I was even considering hand scrubbing the linoleum(which I really hate because it makes my forearms hurt alot). When I'm stressed, anxious or nervous I tend to clean alot...during my finals in college I would scrub the grossest pots and floors to a nice shine. Perhaps I have elements of obsessive compulsive behaviors but there's definitely a zen quality to cleaning. It's all about control too and as you know me already I always want to have things organized into cute little categories or in their own place. Well in an hour J should be getting home and now my tummy is always starting to act up. It feels like I'm taking the test right now! I wonder if J and I have that Elliott/ET thing going on where we're super connected.



November 15, 2006 08:08 AM Whine  |   Link
Addicted to Google Game

There are moments when I'm waiting for a reply, a returned call, or something to print and I click Guess-the-Google to pass the couple of minutes. It's addictive and quite amuzing since the goal is to reverse engineer the image results for Google by identifying the keywords.



November 01, 2006 03:34 PM Whine  |   Link
Cops & Agents Roaming Around

We're on the border of Atherton and sometimes we cut through a particular street to get to Middlefield to get to our neighborhood. Somehow today I turned into this street and there were several cop cars at either ends of the street. At first I thought it was something horrible that happened. But no ambulances or roadblocks. I was imaginging that in one of those mansions there was some political campaigner or bigwig executive having a fundraiser lunch or something. They had me stop and I told them I lived in the neighborhood. Yeah right me in my little dinky Honda just passing through Atherton to go to Menlo Park. It looked like there were a couple "agent" looking folks. I figured they were agents because of the earpieces dangling from their ear. And no it was not an ipod thing. The last time I saw these types of folks was when Chelsea was still on campus. I'm so curious to hear who was the celebrity in my neighborhood requiring all the security detail. I'll scour the news tomorrow. There has to be some write up somewhere.



October 06, 2006 01:55 PM Whine  |   Link
It's all done!!!!

I'm done with my final. I had great time management the past 2 weeks and didn't have to do work this week!!!! I know many have been praying for me since I really felt peace in the morning. 3 hours and 30 questions turned out to be ok. I actually only used a little over 2 hours and recognized many of the questions from the unit quizzes. I have to wait about a week for the results, but I felt really good about it. Celebrated with J over lunch and now I'm going to go crash.



October 05, 2006 03:43 PM Whine  |   Link
This is a difficult month...

...would have been due towards the end of this month. So if I choose not to hold your baby I hope you understand. I LOVE babies and kids. Just still a tough time for me.



October 04, 2006 09:21 PM Whine  |   Link
Final Exam in Managerial Accounting

I'm getting closer to completing the certificate in business administration...and J is ramping up applying for b-school. We've been both sitting at the kitchen table the last several days. The final exam is 2 days away and I've been studying all day today, and actually for the past 2 weeks. My brain is going to explode soon. I've skimmed the chapters, reviewed all my quizzes, did extra problem sets, reread formulas, and reviewed objectives. I'm so anxious right now. I guess I should skip the latte(which I don't really drink) before the exam which of course is 3 hours with 30 multiple choice questions. I should schedule a nice lunch and spa treatment afterwards... details after Friday on results.

I'm really excited to get this done and over with. I can get back to my knitting projects, visiting with friends, maybe take some cooking lessons, and best of all get back to working on my cover letters to the publishers and revising my lizard story. I'm hoping to start submitting to the publishers by Thanksgiving or even try submitting to some children's writing contests. We'll see. I'm taking everything one step at a time.



September 15, 2006 07:47 PM Whine  |   Link
Big Warehouse Type Stores Make Me Sick

I don't know why but whenever I enter a store that is full to the brim of goods I get really nauseous. I remember a recent trip to Home Depot and even Z Gallery and I just felt like throwing up. I don't know if it is the off-gases of new goods or places with lots of stuff gets me all dizzy. Maybe it's like a reverse vertigo. I remember a few years ago I had difficulty going up stairs. I would have to grip the railing and stare hard for each step. Perhaps it's just nature's way of telling me not to go shopping. Sometimes I even get overwhelmed stepping into the department that has a major sale like when Nordstrom's has their half-yearly or anniversary sale, lots of racks out and lots of people. Strange, I think maybe that's why I don't really like shopping.



August 25, 2006 11:36 PM Whine  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
RIP: Bathroom TV

Menlo Park, CA (August 20, 2006) - Born sometime in the late 1980s T.V. was mounted in the master bathroom of ML & J's house. This past week T.V. met it's untimely demise when somehow its circuits got fried. Fortunately the surge tripped the breaker no big harm to the house however it did cause some lights to go out while nobody was home.

T.V. had a very productive career entertaining house guests, surprising visitors when taking house tours, and keeping the owners well informed of worldly events. T.V. graduated from Hitachi University in Japan where it garnered many awards for price and quality assurance.

No funeral arrangements have been made since it will have to take a couple of strong people to dismount it from the ceiling and wall.

T.V. is survived by its two owners ML & J and remote. They officially have no T.V. in the house now. T.V. will be sorely missed. If you would like to contribute to the T.V. Memorial Fund, please contact me.



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The People are Everywhere

SU students are probably starting to return...even though classes probably don't start until the end of September. I wonder why so many kids around? Earlier this week we dined off Uni and had a pleasant evening strolling the avenue. Today we went back for dessert, but got mobbed by a few hundred college students celebrating their "reunion" with friends who went away for the summer. Parking was hellish and just when we were about to head somewhere else a free spot appeared within a couple storefronts of where we were headed.

With the nice cool summer evening we decided to have dessert and just chill outside of the cafe. It was quite noisy with Nola & Old Pro having their loud and obnoxiously fun clientele. Funny thing I could watch Old Pro's flat panel screen from where I was sitting. If someone saw me from the sidewalk they would have thought I was just staring blankly at nothing. But the scene turned quite exciting when some girl with a cowboy hat jumped on a table at Old Pro and started shaking her groove to the people around. I was starting to get sick of the music though, I coulnd't handle 2 Michael Jackson songs in 30 minutes. Also "Thriller" in August is not as fun as in October. People watching wasn't as exciting with my accounting textbook being such a distraction. However there was the usual spectrum of people, double dates where one person obviously was dragged out including the "emergency save me from this date from hell" cell phone call, a couple of people having a heated argument (at one point I was waiting for the water over the head scene), a younge couple very much in love just staring at each other and holding hands exchanging kisses and not even caring about anything around (nope it wasn't me and J), we were people watching or aimlessly studying accounting or sheet music( J's actively involved with a garage band...I'll be joining shortly after my voice returns from a trip to bronchitis).

Overall a nice time out and I'm definitely feeling much better. I had my spicey cocoa again, which I think I can drink all by itself...I hate to see the summer slip away but I'm glad to see my project ending soon. I can't wait to start hanging out with friends for lunch and delving into more books, starting submitting my children's book manuscripts and catching up on my knitting and starting up painting...and of course the garage band. Now I need to get some freshly sharpened pencils, a notebook, and maybe some peechee folders to feel like I'm "back to school."



August 24, 2006 11:30 PM Whine  |   Comments (1)  |   Link
Sure does bring back memories...

Beloite College produces this list of cultural trends that incoming freshman are familiar with...this one definitely brought back some interesting memories.

Up late as usual, the past week have been horrible with bronchitis and more in recovery mode. The coughing keeps me from having a restful sleep. What's frustrating is that I have another week coming up of long days...both for work and for BSF...and then a mini-vacation near Pebble Beach...and then full on with BSF as the new year begins. I'm on Unit 8 of 10 and so accounting is almost over! I'm planning to do the final at the end of September and then hopefully get some weekend travels in October and another mission trip during Thanksgiving. I miss the mission field. I feel more at peace doing community and spiritual service. Just a few more days of work and hopfully I will find that peace again.



August 10, 2006 09:13 AM Whine  |   Link
First Coffee, Now Alcohol

I can't believe it...it's coming to a reality. I have to face the truth, alcohol makes me sick now. First it was coffee, now it's alcohol. I remember when I first started my summer project I was drinking lattes and coffee but always had a stomachache and hated the after taste, now I'm starting to feel the same with wine. What is this world coming to.



August 04, 2006 09:10 AM Whine  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Tweeny Concert

So we arrived a little late, not too interested in the opening act...and then when we tried to scope out some place to park our buns all we saw was a sea of tweeners...bubbles floating above, perhaps the occassional puff of smoke, and tweeners holding up banners, placards and posters proclaiming their devotion to Kelly Kelly Kelly. It was quite a fun concert, definitely a 180 from the D Mode concert a few months ago. I think her pop songs are pretty fun, learned that Break Away was written by Avril L. I like her music as well, but what I really enjoyed was Kelly's bluesy type songs. Somehow her voice was more comfortable with that genre of music. Last row in lawn was ehh...lots of families around and easy access to drinks and exit. Overall definitely a party concert but with lots of 12 year olds :)



August 03, 2006 08:09 AM Whine  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Echo Earthquakes

I don't know what it is but sometimes I feel like I'm going nuts. Last night I was sitting at my computer doing some work(yup it's back to the old grind of ol') around 8 last night. In one moment, I get these feelings that my desk shook. I turned to J and he didn't feel anything. He said he was just bouncing his leg to the tune of a song. So I look at other signs if there was just an earthquake, you know swaying lights any echoes of swaying. So this morning I checked my local news, part of my daily ritual, and found a quick blurb about an earthquake in Santa Rosa.



July 12, 2006 05:58 PM Whine  |   Link
What's the worst you can say to a French man?

So I'm guessing everyone saw the finals of the World Cup...everyone is trying to figure out what would have provoked Zidane so much that he would risk being fouled out after his head butt into Materazzi.

My guess..

Materazzi: "Hey Zidane, your mother drinks California wine."
Zidane: ..walks and then head butts Materazzi in the chest...

This article "Zidane says Materazzi insulted his family" almost lends itself to my guess.



July 08, 2006 01:00 PM Whine  |   Link
Ok not too bad

Accounting really kicked my tush, well I took a nap after staring at the numbers and woke up fresh and was able to solve the imbalance in 5 minutes. I guess taking naps really calms you down. I got my score and did really well compared to the first 3 units. I'm pretty excited. So now I'm on unit 5...I'll be halfway done once I get this unit completed...and hopefully everything gets easier! Just in time to take a break with friends on July 4th before one family headed off to Taiwan. We'll miss them alot!

The consulting gig has been absolutely awesome. I'm glad I have a partner and hopefully it will be done when we planned since BSF ramps up in September and being the class administrator comes a lot of to do lists and responsibilities...I'm praying for peace and protection and safety for everyone this summer and coming fall!



July 01, 2006 10:54 PM Whine  |   Link
Oh How I'm So Frustrated with Accounting

I should be doing my Unit 4 quiz which I've been sitting on for a little over a week. I know I should be churning out the units every week so that when August comes I'm done with my certificate. But somehow I'm sitting here singing and playing on the piano STP's "Plush" andPearl Jam's "Black as J is learning the tabs on the guitar. It's actually quite fun to listen and play music while we're taking our music theory class. Who knows maybe we'll be the next songwriting duo :)

Speaking of songwriting, I've been listening to Michelle Chappel's music again. I found out after her return from Europe that her song "So Disappointed" made it close to the finals for a songwriting contest. She's really an amazing person on so many levels. Check out her music while you're at her site.

Ok so about the accounting, while I'm pretty up on the personal accounting stuff, this e-course is really grating on my brains to put together balance sheets and justifying expenses with a budget...come on I'm so sick of pretending to do the books for a wholesale distrubitor of premium european chocolates. Heck, I stopped for a break to eat toaster oven smores and a cup of hot chocolate...see what this unit has done to me...I'm more interested in the products then the numbers. Maybe I should consider a career in quality assurance for a high end chocolate company.



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Children & the Internet: The Next Generation

During our trip to LA/OC/SD last weekend we had some interesting conversations with parents of really small kids and kids themselves about the Internet. One mother said that her 2-yr-old already understood how to navigate her favorite Disney sites and could tell when "the Internet was down." I remember hearing from another friend, "Daddy, reboot." Ok what a vocabulary for a young kid. I remember my nephew even asking his uncle about making paper airplanes. My brother told him to go Google it. Amazingly enough the 7 year old was off and running over to Google to find some paper airplane designs. I was still getting to know him and showed off my paper airplane skills and flew them a few times in the backyard. It's quite amazing and I'm still impressed about the really small ones navigating and knowing the cause of why their sites weren't working properly. I can't even imagine what it will be like for us when we have kids...we already don't watch TV so it will be quite interesting.



June 17, 2006 06:05 PM Business & Finance  |   Link
Work at SBUX = Gain Weight

Interesting article regarding high transfats in Starbucks food and beverages. Sounds like a consumer watch group is going to sue Starbucks about the unhealthy qualities of their drinks and especially their snacks.

Starbucks targeted over high-fat products
I remember writing about this a while ago regarding the high calorie and high fat contents.



May 08, 2006 06:22 PM Whine  |   Link
Procrastination and Accounting

So I'm into the 2nd week of my online accounting class. I was surfing like crazy to research the clothing industry's manufacturing process which was kind of fun. Now I'm on a problem that requires that I create a report from scratch. I'm probably doing all the typical things to procrastinate. You know keep getting a glass of water, go to the bathroom, rearrange my desk, rearrange the cupboard, get rid of expired products in the fridge, and even consider doing situps and pushups. I know it sounds pathetic. I know I'm feeling bloated too. So I sit here writing this entry instead of pencil to spreadsheet and just write out the report. Ok I know I have friends and family in accounting but how can you guys do this kind of work? I know for my personal finances I'm pretty much focused but when I have to write a production report for a grinding department for some company that manufactures industrial cleaning compound it's difficult to say I'm really excited. Can you hear the cheerleaders in the background? Quite deafening! Oh well I should definitely finish this up since I need to get into week 3 reading and assignments ahead of the Wallace's visist for several days.

Please think good thoughts for me. This is the LAST class for my certificate in business. I've been dragging so long on this already...just need to get it done and over with...and hopfully will be retained in my brain when I actually need to track costs for consulting/contracting.



April 29, 2006 01:34 PM Whine  |   Link
Depeche Mode: still a black celebration

I guess mainly I want to whine...there was a low level fog over Shoreline Amph on Thursday night. The low laying fog was of course the sweet smell of some folks' favorite (insert drug of choice). Depsite the nice 80s weather the 80s band(actually started in 1975) failed to lift the spirits of the dead. Ok I'm exaggerating. The band played a few sonds from the latests album and splattering of some hits from previous albums. But I wished they played "blasphemous rumors" "somebody" or even "people are people." Oh well. What was even stranger and very different from the typical concert-goer of the 80s. A nice big parking lot of brand new cars and a stable of mercedes benz/bmws. The crowds really did represent a mix of inter-generational and economic spectrum. And some even looked like possible 2nd generation dmode followers where parents and kids enjoyed the music side by side with cup of beer in one hand and possibly smoking something in their other hand. Definitely great fun to sing along, band had a fun stage presence. I wasn't too impressed with martin's jumping around on stage, but music and vocals definitely still very strong after so many years. Preshow act was just not what I would have expected, each song sounded like it was going to be a cover of either BeeGees, No Doubt, and some other mix of 70s disco/80s new wave/90s electronic or trance scene. Of course I was underdressed, I didn't wear black nor did I wear black eye-liner...2 things that looked like were required for entry.

Some photos of us there.



April 19, 2006 04:50 PM Whine  |   Link
In Honor of the Roller

So of the 2 out of 3 times I've been at Stanford Blood Donation, I've been a roller. Not to be confused with "rolling" (the act of being high on the drug ecstasy). Unfortunately today of all the nice days of the week so far I get a big fat roller in the left arm. The LVN felt so bad she gave me a t-shirt and since I was the last patient they offered the dozen or so cookies left on the table. I'll survive, it's the challenge of having "shy" veins.

Despite the "trauma" of that first sting of the needle, I'm still glad I'm doing this. I've known so many in the past months who have had to have blood transfusions and so it is a very personal task for me. I challenge you in your workplace to get a blood donation drive together or perhaps you try to donate some blood. There is always a need for donation. You will definitely make a difference in so many lives.

Stanford Blood Donation



March 29, 2006 02:04 PM Whine  |   Link
No Sun!

Ok hard to believe but Daylight Savings begins this weekend. With all the rain recently it's even harder to believe that we're in spring. My biggest challenge right now is getting out of my dark days...with all the bad weather I'm wondering if it's affecting my mood and add to that my miscarriage...ok someone tell me I'm not just having a bad nightmare.



March 22, 2006 09:28 PM Whine  |   Link
Redwood City Blues Jam

Went to Little Fox Theatre's bi-monthly blues jam session and had a wonderful time. A nice mix of young and old performers. I was just happy to be enjoying live music in the middle of the week. Reminded me of my fun days with K/D and others hanging out at Spag's.

In all my many days of attending blues and jazz fesitvals today was the first time I saw a woman perform in a blues jam session. And what was more interesting was she as playing the drums in a long skirt. I would have never guessed she was a drummer by the way she dressed or looked. She looked more like a librarian or grandmother type and she was pretty good. I hope to see her perform again it was quite fun.



March 21, 2006 04:18 PM Whine  |   Link
Not feeling well...

So we took a 2 day vacation into the city since J was off for the whole week and we wanted to spend some quality time together since the miscarriage. It's been a very challenging few weeks but I'm actually having a difficult time trying to get out of a funk with a cold layered on with food poisoning or motion sickness. I wanted so bad to just spend a quiet day hanging in the city but couldn't shake the nausea. All in all it was a nice time with our former housesitter, J's cousin who put us up at the Hotel Nikko, and quiet time together. Now I need to catch up on housework and laundry ;)



March 08, 2006 01:40 PM Whine  |   Link
Forgot to Mention

I guess I needed something to feel like in control during the ordeal of the past few weeks. So I chopped my hair shorter than shoulder length. It was just past the middle of my back but always tied it into a ponytail since I was always at the gym, running around doing errands with little or no time to "fix" it up. So now that's it short I just literally wash and go. I think I want it a little shorter but not sure yet.



February 10, 2006 05:18 PM Whine  |   Link
Ok Ex-AV'ers You'll Love this One

Remember way back when in 1999-2001, Altavista ventured into portal land to go up against Yahoo and created "Live!"

Well guess who's rebranding their portal and renaming it "Live!"?

Microsoft Rebrands MSN to Focus on Content

How funny!



February 09, 2006 05:25 PM Whine  |   Link
When It's Coming Down There's Still More To Keep it Going Down

Gosh this week didn't start well and it seems that it only got worse over time...there are of course some highlights of spending quality time with some women I've gotten to know more over the last 6 months. But the negatives are definitely a heavier burden when there are 3 big things you want so bad to turn out right.

In other areas of my life it seems that God is listening and watching out for folks in my life...I pray that continues...I'm just hoping that things turn out better for me in the next few days or I'll really turn into a mess. I think I'm at the lowest and I'm hoping that something will turn around.

Update on car accident: things were settled and a cut was check...I can't remember if I wrote about it. J and are fine and the car will be getting new doors shortly. J is of course looking for good deals and plans to replace them himself.

PS: The book exchange was a success and some have highly suggested of having another one before summer...you know before you head off for those nice long vacations to get away from work(sorry I can't relate) and stock up on a new batch of books.



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All the Words are Mixed Up

Don't get me wrong I totally enjoy many cultures and languages but I've come to this point when I can't find the right words in one language I remember it in another language. I can definitely get my Cantonese, Spanish, and even a bit of Tagalog and Hebrew all mixed up.

I'm confused.



February 07, 2006 10:47 AM Whine  |   Link
When It's Coming Down

I can be up 100% and in 2 weeks down to 20%...argh.

On top of bad news from client side...this past week has been horrible.

On the happy side, the book exchange was a really fun event. I have thoughts for next time but all around it was great to see the books and pick up a few for myself. It was a blast.



January 25, 2006 11:17 AM Whine  |   Link
My Laptop and Me

I've been with my laptop for over 2 years. Yup it's pretty out of date but I figured by now my expectations is it would know what I want. Yes ubiquitous computing is big. It has been for several years since I was in grad school. But what I'm wanting is not "clippy" I want my machine to understand my habits. I'm a creature of habit when it gets to using my laptop. Every morning pretty much the same except when I'm on the road. But I just realized why doesn't my computer "learn" my habits and anticipate those needs...and I'm not implying the anticipated needs that MS Word or Excel does for you...it's beyond that...but why couldn't really learn? I'm wondering if I'm at the point where I should swap out to a new machine but I like my stickers on my laptop, all the goofy things that I've grown to love about this machine. I'm not materially obsessessed with it just that it's like a sort of world lifeline...it keeps me connected to things beyond the 5 blocks around my house. I'd probably have a dull life since I don't really watch tv either. Oh well.



January 10, 2006 10:05 AM Whine  |   Link
Combo Stores

First it was video rentals at the supermarket. Well most folks are doing Netflix now and most of these small video rental spaces or machines don't carry much. Then we started to see small bank branches at the front. There are some supermakets with drycleaners too but with a load of laundry and cart full of food, it's a tricky balance.

However the one combo that I think would be more convenient is Starbucks and drycleaners. Most folks are at Starbucks every day, what a great way to pickup/dropoff your laundry while getting your coffee in the morning. It's quite easy one hand coffee(or fill in your brew of choice) and one hand drycleaning. How easy is that!



January 06, 2006 02:01 AM Whine  |   Link
The Challenge of Insomnia

...or am I really back on Hong Kong time?

The last few nights have been such a challenge getting to bed early. Each night I was creeping later and later to bed. It's 2AM and I'm somewhat wide awake and in a few hours I'll have to get J to the train station around 6:30. I've tried alot of things short of taking sleeping pills. Maybe I need to get back to taking my sleepy time tea after dinner. Let's see what happens later today.



January 02, 2006 04:30 PM Whine  |   Link
Trials with Origami or Opportunity for Paper Ornaments

So much for ornaments this year...used my Hallmark ornament collection and received a couple over Christmas and of course the inexpensive gold and red balls from Ikea. Next year's challenge...a tree full of origami. I'm hoping to try to make a couple dozen this year. The challenge is that for the last 10 years I can't seem to put a crane together. I've surfed websites, I've borrowed library books and bought a range of pretty paper from the local Japanese paper store. No luck :( So I'm hoping to find among friends or family a teacher to show me some of the basics.



December 22, 2005 01:56 PM Whine  |   Link
Update on Workouts and Stuff

Ok I've hit a plateau. It's not the exercise necessarily as much as the holiday desserts and snacks. It's quite dangerous since I don't want to wipe out the past 10 weeks(before knee injury) of boot camp for the slice of dessert. I've maintained really well without doing WW points or exercise since Thanksgiving. However when the weather gets better I'm going to give the water aerobics class a try. I went to the gym yesterday and had a good workout on the elliptical but at half the resistance. I was able to do about 20 minutes of ab work and boy can I feel it today!

I wasn't planning to donate blood again since I had a painful experience last time(a bruise the size of a grapefruit on my arm). But after repeated calls for my particular type/etc. blood I relented and begged for a kinder, gentler needle. So I went and while the prick still stung...no bruise and they got their bag of blood to help someone in need. I think I need to find better distractions for while they take the blood. The ipod and reading scripture is just not cutting it. Btw, thanks to the nurse who gave me the shiny jingling bracelet...it helped take my mind of things.

Tree is up with some decorations. Thanks again for the many Christmas/Hanukkah/Holiday cards. They have added a festive cheer to our living room.

We just hosted a family of 1 dad with 4 kids (2 of which were twin 8 year old boys) and had a wonderful time. The house was a bit tight but it was a first to host that many folks for a sleep over. I can't wait for them to come over again :) Thanks for coming S. family!

Piano playing is coming along. Will be looking for an instructor again but needs to be closer to home. J's playing on the guitar has really improved recently so we're hoping to entertain at our family get together on Sunday.

Trying to finish 2 websites by the end of the year. Hopefully I can share them as well when I'm done.



December 16, 2005 11:55 AM Whine  |   Link
Domestic Life and the Challenge of Not Being Martha Stewart

Wow this past week has been chock full of domestic activities. I just finished a light-hearted book on nesting.

It's definitely a fun book full of ideas, tips, vignettes of women living a domesticated type life and feeling a little bit more accomplished. Of course I realize it all goes out the door when you have kids as I have heard from close friends. However the recipes and short-cuts for entertaining or even gardening will prove useful someday.

So this past week I learned how to make cookie-cutter sugar cookies and with the lack of artistic abilities was able to decorate them for a community outreach activity. I was also able to do various baking activities involving recipes not found on the back of the Toll-House Chocolate Chip bag, banana nut bread, chili from scratch, and corn bread from scratch.

In addition, I was able to hem my own pants which has saved me some good money since I'm shorter than most petite sizes on the market. I'm starting to get a bit more familiar with my sewing machine and can claim 2 successful projects, even though they were just 2 aprons from Sewing for Dummies.

The garden is a mess but will definitely weed and mulch in the next week or so. Will be planning to add lighting and a better system for the fountain. It's been neglected for the most part this past year because of the redesign of the interior which as I speak is short of a couple of pieces of furniture and some lighting. Did manage to borrow a Christmas tree this year, with just 5 ornaments it's kind of sad looking right now, but hope to hit up Ikea or Kmart shortly for more. Feel free to send us ornaments if you have no clue what to give us.

While at times I envy Martha Stewart's abilities at making domestic life exciting and fun, I still fall short of the eye for detail, patience and creativity to really fully pull it off. I don't have all the entertainment ware and haven't even pulled out our nice stemware for get togethers. Although wine or champagne in styrofoam is definitely a path I won't go down.

Do you mind if I just serve salad in a bag sometimes? Or just get the pre-mixed cookie dough? And maybe oatmeal is the only thing good right now while the weather is chilly. I'll probably have to solicit the help of domestic experts shortly to help with adding the finishing touches at home, but for now I'm content and happy to serve up all the meals and doing laundry.



December 07, 2005 12:57 PM Whine  |   Link
Babysitting...literally

It's been a while since I've watched a little one(1 month old) and it has definitely brought back memories from my high school and college days making an extra buck. I think in the old days I used to freak out when the tike freaked out like no holds bard(after all means of known soothing) but I think the last few times of watching toddlers and babies have been a great learning experience in peace and patience. I don't think it phases me. From what I've learned you can't show fear or even think it or feel it because the baby can sense it too and realizes hey that the lady holding him is not his mom and I'm going to get louder so that my mommy comes back.

I guess when we get our own it will really change our idea of what communication means. I can already imagine us get all Type A to get them to communicate to us in plain English. I've often wondered how soon someone will invent the baby translator that was featured in The Simpsons. In one episode Homer's brother(played by the voice of Danny DiVito) invents this machine that is able to translate little Maggie's gabs and cries.



November 18, 2005 03:05 PM Whine  |   Link
Activities That Kick My Butt

1. I've already mentioned Boot Camp and Circuit Training in previous posts but somehow it never gets easier just more difficult. I'm doing much better on the chin up bar and I think I'm down to 8 or 9 minute mile. I'm excited but still hoping to be a faster runner. I've lost inches all around and I'm alot stronger. I can lift the mattress on my own and to a certain extent even the couch.

2. Biblical Hebrew really kicked my butt. I took 7 of 10 classes which was more than what I expected. So it's not at all like modern hebrew as the teacher told us on the first day but can read the characters and sound out words. I'm not too good on translation but that what's dictionaries are for. There are many grammar rules that are starting to make sense but everything was going too fast during class especially since many of my classmates were already somewhat familiar with hebrew from their bar/bat mitzvah days. What I really liked about this class was our weekly translation of actual biblical scripture from hebrew to English. I really enjoyed that. I feel a bit accomplished after each class. Also after each chapter there are about a 12 hebrew scripture to translate and I found myself looking forward to get to the end just so I can sit and translate.

3. BSF: I knew I needed structure in studying the bible but didn't know there could be such a disciplined program. I'm glad I'm doing it and it gets me out of the house to meet more people. I love it! I'm pretty excited and look forward to the daily homework. I'm learning so many new things.

All in all I think I'm a sucker for self-torture both intellectually, spiritually and physically. I hope I can keep it up but I'm starting to feel rundown. I don't want to loose momentum but there are so many other things going on that it's hard to know where to slow down.



October 28, 2005 09:29 AM Whine  |   Link
Be Green at the Checkout

This was recommended to me by my sister-in-law. My canvas bags are starting to show lots of wear after their many uses and run through the washer. I've also started to experiment with some bag designs because of my own dissatisfaction with my everyday bags. We'll see, maybe I'll take MOB route and start my own company.

My Own Bag

Locally created and made. I've put in 2 orders for some funky styles. I'll probably replace my canvas bags over time. Save the environment and start using reuseable bags and please recycle.



October 26, 2005 06:18 PM Whine  |   Link
How difficult to learn Catonese?

What I learned in Cantonese?

Ugly = Naahn Tai

Literal translation:= difficult(naahn) to look at(tai).



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Eyes Wide Open...Ha Choo!

When you sneeze do you somehow close your eyes? Well think about when you're driving and you suddenly have a sneeze attack. I noticed today trying to keep one eye open when I know I'm going to sneeze...it's quite a challenge. Maybe I'm just weird that way. It can be really scarey though because anything can happen in a split second.



October 13, 2005 11:33 AM Whine  |   Link
Missing HK

It's one of those days that something from a Podcast of our church services from HK just touch off emotional memories of who we were before. I've been trying hard to keep going like we're still there but it's completely impossible. While culturally of course it can't but you know the car gets in the way...the church is not the same spiritually for us...and we've become complacent. We miss HK...not just the place but who we were when we were there. Only a short time but we were really striving to be the people we wanted to be...spiritually, phyisically and intellectually growing. Here it's all blah. What's missing? The interesting mix of international ideas, beliefs, a spiritually moving group of friends who really taught us what it means to share Christ with everyone, anywhere on the street, the convenience of living in the city where a variety of public transportation was available and useful. Life without a car, and a small apartment can really change your outlook on life. I don't think we can really do that where we live. So between the Godcast, emails from 2 very dear friends from HK, missing out on life milestones of close friends/family, yesterday was an emotional rollercoaster of missing what we left behind in HK. Maybe someday we'll be back there again...



October 06, 2005 04:00 PM Whine  |   Link
A Character in His Own Right

So my brother is considered an actor according to this movie site. He actually does the voice over for the character Leper Gnome in the game World of Warcraft. He's been there for a few years now in their game testing division. So you can imagine our surprise getting real goodies from Blizzard Software every once in a while and now hearing about my brother's part in the game both from the acting standpoint and the technical. Yeah!



October 03, 2005 12:04 PM Whine  |   Link
From Purses to Shoes

I'm trying really hard but I definitely need to pray about this...I'm a shoe fanatic. In the past month I've got several pairs. I need to stop...how many pairs do you really need? I'm not shooting to reach Imedla Marcos' shoe collection but somehow I'm all about comfort and style...but they come in 2 different shoes. I really need to stop. No more shoes for the next 6 months. And that goes for purses and clothes too. I need to stop but it's very addicting...perhaps not going near stores that sell any of them will help.



October 01, 2005 07:26 PM Whine  |   Link
My Local Library

While weeding all my IA books and other types of books I realized I spent so much to acquire books. However with the reduced income and constant discipline of reducing stuff at home I've started going to my local library more often. And if the book doesn't exist in their system I take advantage of the service where they will take book purchase requests. So far I've only made one purchase request however I just got a notice they will purchase it.

I was really spoiled working for academia with the awesome access to many online resources. I forgot that as part of the community I can still use their resources a few times a year and that our local library has some of the same resources. I guess my book/research budget can probably go away in the business expenses report.



September 22, 2005 08:07 AM Whine  |   Link
From Pencil to Pen

Do you remember while in elementary school the day the teacher said it was ok to start writing in pen? There was a period in third or fourth grade I can't remember which one exactly when the teacher pointed out a few students who were given permission to write their assignments in pen. At that time erasable pens were the rage. Strange that pens were exciting to me even back then. My side interest is collecting fine pens...you know even coveting that Levenger pen display case. But I remember the day the teacher said it was ok after halfway through the fall's handwriting assignments. Writing in pen I felt accomplished and what I had to write was important since pen was alot more permanent.

I find handwriting quite fascinating. My dad has wonderful handwriting, very unusual for men. I wanted to write my name similar to how he did. Of course I couldn't sign Gonzales the same way anymore since I changed my name. But there was always something beautiful about nice handwriting. Maybe it was just the nuns way of beating into us that we should all have consistently the same writing style. While on the other hand, my mom's handwriting is like chicken scratching. I remember working for a doctor in high school and reviewing the day's charts to double check the billing codes. I could hardly make anything out. How do pharmacists understand doctor's handwriting? Just the other day we got a postcard from our friend vacationing in Hawaii. Her handwriting in cursive was absolutely beautiful on the tiny postcard. It's like art to me.

I guess the reason why I'm thinking about this is just that in the Hebrew and Greek culture the "word" was very special. Word spoken and written have a power or even imply action or contained its own energy(according to JB). We also learned yesterday in our study of John that the precision of words was valuable to the ancient Greek culture. For example there are 4 words to specify love. Love of the Divine, love of friend, romantic love and natural affection (wikipedia entry). So thinking about words and my strong interest writing, I'm wondering now how I can be more meticulous about the words I choose when writing my stories? How can I get the most impact of the selectively chosen words to convey the emotions behind the story? This is truly the power behind being an author. Hopefully I can rise to that challenge. Is there truly power in the hands of a writer? With all the blogs out there trying to make a difference, I guess the people's word could be.

For today I'll write it in pen just to make it feel more permanent and maybe feel more empowered.



September 14, 2005 12:32 PM Whine  |   Link
Masochist for a Day

I can't believe I donated blood and after the first try at finding a vein...where the aid went digging around for my "rolling" vein...I still said sure I'll give blood. And then get my eyebrows waxed 2 hours later. I didn't even think about how much pain I was subjecting myself to. Argh! So with a really bruised arm and the other arm still a little sore and somewhat red skin around my eyebrows, I look like someone beat me up yesterday.



September 12, 2005 09:31 AM Whine  |   Link
Whirlwind Weekend

Coming back from SA was quite a challenge. Woke up 4:30AM central time to catch a 6:30AM flight. Jeff took a non-stop 8AM flight. We arrived about 30 minutes difference. Came home to settle down and have lunch. Then we were off to SF again to dine with friends at Vino e Cucina. Our friend was having a private screening of a movie he has been working on for about 3 years. Then off to Kabuki at 9pm for the screening. Met lots of folks and enjoyed seeing others we haven't seen since Stef's 16F9 private screening. We're really proud of Stef. He's very successful and very disciplined about his accomplishments. He's also just a great friend. So we were probably up until around 12AM. So we were super tired coming home. Argh! And poor J had to limp around.

Sunday was just as tiring but very interesting. Hung out with our friends before service and then headed home for light lunch. Again we headed to the city for dinner at North Beach with another set of friends before enjoying Bebel Gilberto at Bimbo's. The music was awesome, very sensual and romantic. We had a wonderful time and again it was pretty late.

We were driving maybe 75mph on 101S just before Oyster Point when we blew a tire on the Civic. Boy was that a scarey experience. I thought I was going to lose control of the car but managed to get to the right side shoulder. Sitting there late at night I was pretty aware that most highway accidents happen when folks are driving to fast late at night and don't see cars with hazard lights on the side of the road. We sat for about 20 minutes waiting for AAA. J would have changed that tire but with his broken ankle it would have been a very long and painful experience. Since the spare was not a full size we decided to drive down El Camino from Millbrae. When we came home we noticed the spare looked like it was going to fall apart as well.

Decided to sleep in since we got home super late after 2 late nights and lots of jet lag. We're ok now...just need to get a new tire for the car. I'm glad I wasn't freaking out if anything I didn't even feel my heartrate go up. I really did feel at peace and in control.



September 06, 2005 01:53 PM Whine  |   Link
Pitcher of Sangria and Teaching Someone T9 Don't Mix



September 01, 2005 11:18 AM Whine  |   Link
Katrina and the Waves

The photos documenting the after effects of Katrina on New Orleans are just so devastating. I've been reading about the civicl unrest as well at the Superdome. I can't believe this...it's all so depressing.

Please donate to the American Red Cross directly. You can also use Amazon.Com.



August 29, 2005 03:15 PM Whine  |   Link
My Left Foot Conquers

J's left ankle is healing somewhat. He's hobbling around now. He tried to drive his miata the other day around the block and he said it was truly painful. But then he's got a special sports clutch on his car. He drove my civic and did well to downtown PA.

The other day we headed up to the city to go see Vienna Teng and The Animators. But before the concert we headed to Nob Hill to pick up a futon. Kind of looks like a nice version of the one I had growing up. Strange since J was the one who found it online, courtesy of Craigslist. Well Nob Hill vs. the newbie manual shift driver, aka ME. I survived and did well. Of course with my trusty parking brakes I did ok. Of course my heart was racing especially since this lady lived on Mason/Sacramento I thought I was going to slide back into the taxi that was tailgating me. Even the volvo wagon in front of me was sliding back and it was an automatic! Argh! But I survived and feel a little confident too about where things are since we had to navigate to Noe Valley to hang with J's sister and brother-in-law. We had a ton of fun hanging out and J/P survived the Teng concert. It was a strange venue, The Indepedent, for a cafe style Vienna Teng. Oh well The Animators were awesome, even got their CD. Can't wait to get their next one which was just being recorded the week before.



August 26, 2005 03:13 PM Whine  |   Link
When the oven isn't hot anymore

I got myself an oven thermometer since I had this strong feeling the oven didn't get as hot as it used to. So I made lasagna yesterday and preheated the oven. Looked at the new gadget and it was off by 50degrees. Now that's odd...so I crank up the oven and it still didn't get there even when I cranked it up by 50 degrees. Maybe my oven feels it doesn't want to be hot anymore. Maybe it's jealous of the bbq grill. I didn't know appliances could be so tempermental. Oooh...I feel a new kid story on the verge of being born...

First the microwave sibling rivarly...the oversized fridge that sometimes I even need a step ladder to get to the top shelf....and the floor that doesn't stay white...argh. Hoping to redo the kitchen next year...



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Respect My Time

10 minutes turns into 45 minutes that turns into 2 hours...people who want to run a service business really can't afford to let potential new clients to wait for that long. I'm more than willing to cross you off my vendor list if you're that long. What kind of first impression is that and to even think you'll get any business from me is just short out of luck. Even doctor's offices these days are more mindful of you waiting even 10 minutes. The other industry doing better is delivery services. They used to give a 4 hour window now it's 2 hours and they even call you when they are 30 minutes away. I think cable and utilities are still the long wait folks. But how long are you willing to wait? 15 minutes with a call...as long as the person honestly tells me they will be 2 hours late i just reschedule. What do they think that everyone just sits around and wait?



August 24, 2005 06:03 PM Whine  |   Link
I want my own Trippens

Waaaaahhhh!!!!

I don't want to buy it off their site...point me to a SF Bay Area Trippen retailer.



August 23, 2005 04:52 PM Whine  |   Link
Remedy for headaches

Some folks swear by it. You know the folks who have extreme migraine headaches who opt out of the self-injections but go for the medically prescribed stuff. I remember reading somewhere that it's like the gold ticket for curing migraine headaches. Well for me I think it induces headaches. My neighbor's house guest (no it's not Kato) smokes his special stuff every afternoon around 3 or 4pm.

My desk is by the backdoor so I definitely get a nice whiff of it and my headaches start to act up. I don't know what it is. In college, most folks smoked it and it didn't do anything for me...but now my headaches put me into a tailspin and I have to keep the windows shut all afternoon. I can't even enjoy my backyard. I'm super bummed. Can't someone just make him some special brownies!!!!



August 19, 2005 10:22 PM Whine  |   Link
Are you going to eat all those calories?

I hate it when people make those kinds of comments when you're buying desserts for a party.

There was a guy at Safeway impatient to get a price check at the bakery section. I didn't say much...just that it wasn't for me...J said I should have asked him if he was going to eat all those nitrites since he had a package of ham and sausages in his hand.

I mind my own business when I shop...



August 15, 2005 02:39 PM Whine  |   Link
What I want for Christmas

There's a new deluxe librarian action figure available!

Comes with her own computer and a more diverse set of books...and yes she still shushes!

UPDATE: I got my own in the mail last week. I'm super excited. I've put it on top of my bookcase.



August 11, 2005 07:10 PM Whine  |   Link
God Seems to Always Have Reason for Things

All these past couple of weeks I was a bit frustrated...actually frustrated sounds too negative. I guess I was just a bit thrown out of the loop when my intended project got pushed out a few more months. I was kind of expecting to get started part-time and then go full-time in the fall. Sort of ease into things since I haven't worked since I quit last summer.

Well life at home has been really fun. You know redecorating and playing general contractor to minor projects. I'm really amazed at the differences in just 3 months. We're still getting new doors and adding windows shortly. But the thing is everything is winding down and I was hoping to work to challenge myself in a different way.

Well God had a reason for that change in my work situation. Last weekend J got into a vball accident and at first we thought he sprained his ankle. Nope, confirmation from podiatrist today said that it looks more like a fracture. So looks like several weeks in crutches with a couple weeks in a cast after a surgery to put Ti pins in his ankle. Sounds painful. What about going through the airport screening? It's his left foot, so that means with our manual shift cars that he won't be able to drive for several weeks. Which comes back to why I think God had reasons for me not working. It would have been quite frustrating to drive him all the way up to SSF and then come all the way back down to Milpitas for my project. More reason I have trust in Him for all things that happen in my life. So every day I've been praying to find out what's planned for me, to make itself real. And then "BAM!" I realize it's to serve in any way to anybody anywhere.



August 03, 2005 05:48 PM Whine  |   Link
When You're Definitely Not in Control

I think the whine is back!

So I keep thinking I can get back into the saddle of IA work, but somehow the writing projects come to the front. I'm not sure if I'll ever be back in IA when the track record seems to be directing me closer to the writing. Ok I put my arms up in the air and just remind myself, "I"M NOT IN CONTROL."

I can be pretty overconfident sometimes about my abilities but it's not documented in the same way as traditional IA folks are. Like I can show you a great excel spreadsheet of a taxonomy project I did last year and then describe the card sort exercises we did on business topics, but heck my IA and interaction design portfolio is of some really old stuff like 4 years old. Gosh who would have thought that 3.5 years doing management work would challenge me getting a job in the trenches. And then I remind myself that maybe it's not the trenches where I should be, perhaps it's more project management and relationship building in the context of product development...who knows. I think this week is going to be a contemplation week, aka whine.

I guess I can tap the IA network again but my heart seems to be growing more towards the 2 picturebooks I have in hand. Now I guess I need to rewrite/edit/review and start my assembly line for publshing house submissions and attending the many workshops and get togethers in the SCBWI community.

It's starting all over again. The excitement of meeting new people, finding out who are the stars, reading up on the "how to's" and of course attending my annual conferences. Maybe I should do websites in the next month, one for my IA portfolio and one for my writing. Right now I think whining is helping me get through this.

Or maybe I should accept the fact that I'm a comfortable housewife dabbling in the stock market. Yes with a hired housekeeper. "Ngoh haih tai-tai" Now I just need to find a group of housewives who are free for book clubs/hikes during the day/lunch/or afternoon tea. Perhaps Hong Kong is really where I need to be, dim sum every other day, tai chi at the local park, tea in the afternoon, life drawing classes at the Y, writing workshops at the local club... It also seems that there are more tai-tai in HK.

So if you're a stay-at-home mom, unemployed, in between projects, housewife, or indepedently wealthy, I'm free for day activities or travels to NY/HK/Europe j/k :)



August 01, 2005 05:48 PM Whine  |   Link
Highs and Lows

Highs:
Hung out with cousin doing a program in DC.
Hung out with best friend in DC.
Lunch with best friend at the Department of State Dining Hall...and no this wasn't just your cafeteria...this was really swank dining room with view of The Mall.
International Spy Museum - pretty cool
Taking public transportation and missing Hong Kong again.
Getting lots done at the house.
Great pasta dinner made by 3 girls from church.
Will probably start drawing sessions again next week.

Lows:
Project put on hold for 3 months, would like to find some contract work again. However no work means I can travel with Jeff to TX and NM.
Need to put my business website/potfolio together.
Spiders everywhere around the house!
One day garage sale = $35 in sales.



July 30, 2005 08:17 AM Whine  |   Link
Cleaning out the garage

So we're trying to clear out the garage before the storage organizer folks come in to put cabinets in next week...it took an exhausting day to put stuff together to be disposed of when I figured heck why not do a garage sale and then if it doesn't sell just give away or donate...so here I am siting outside with my wireless laptop and waiting for someone to come and just buy up everything including the car for maybe $6600. Oh well I know I can dream. However there have been 2 people who have already stopped, someone picked up a free "Club" security lock for your car and someone bought one of my desk lamps for $1. The biggest selection is of my IA books.



July 28, 2005 11:31 AM Whine  |   Link
Momentary Flashback

While I was drinking my green tea this morning, I had a flashback of my various experiences with green tea flavored products...

green tea hot... yummy
green tea ice cream... wow
green tea moshi ice cream... awesome
green tea tempura ice cream...really good
green tea toothpaste...argh!!!!

While in Hong Kong, the local Wellcome grocery store stuffs your bag with promotional items. Sometimes these items are just little toy trinkets, seasonal holiday tokens, and in our last days they stuffed our bag with Crest Toothpaste. Fairly innocent looking package, thought it was very useful and stuffed my travel bag one weekend to San Diego. Boy was I in for a rude awakening..green tea flavored toothpaste. I grew up with the minty after aste and still not used to citrus flavored toothpaste but green tea. It was so gross and was too embarrassed to make a run to the liquor store for minty flavored gel toothpaste. Oh well it was definitely a flavor that would require acquired taste and for 2 days I dreaded brushing my teeth.



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New Concept for Reality TV Show

I couldn't pass this one up. I found this from KeptUpLibrarian.com

The Next Hit Reality Show by Donald Heller, Inside Higher Ed

I think folks who have pursued/completed graduate level(PHD) programs would appreciate this.



July 12, 2005 08:13 PM Whine  |   Link
Sign at Gym Today, Too Gross!

Saw several signs posted around the gym today on how you can prevent pool closures:

1. Don't swim after eating, at least 60 minutes.
2. Please ensure your toddler and babies are wearing the appropriate swimming diapers.

The trials of sharing a community pool at the gym. I just can't imagine being the lifeguard on duty there. It's summer and the gym and pool are packed. I usually go around 9 or 10...packed parking lot and packed locker room. I tried 5pm and same. Good to know folks really use the gym.



July 08, 2005 11:30 AM Whine  |   Link
More free time yoohoo

My project start date has been delayed by 3 weeks....a couple of side trips perhaps to San Antonio and DC...as much as I'd like to start working again I'm still enjoying taking care of home and traveling with Jeff to his companies many offices. I guess working with big corporations always has delays, lots of layers of paperwork and signoffs. I'm not too worried. It's totally not in my control...maybe I should just concentrate my stock portfolio. It's alot easier to manage and learn.



June 23, 2005 07:31 PM Whine  |   Link
Boy He Looks Familiar

Last week at the gym, I decided to go every other day to the weight training section. You know 11am hardly anyone around except stay at home mom's trying to get back to their pre-pregnancy weight. But each time I went there was this big fit guy who looked so familiar. Amazing strong resemblance to Jerry Rice. I mentioned this to Jeff and he heard from someone that Jerry Rice did work out at our gym. Kind of intimidating...especially when you see folks with really big muscles working their butts off.



Whine  |   Link
My Life in Gym Clothes

So I start working again after July 4th. This past year I've pretty much shed all my big clothes and started to get very casual in and around places. Basically, I live in my gym clothes. In Hong Kong, I was pretty much at the gym every day and would be in my gym clothes all morning and afternoon until I got to the gym, I would then shower and be in regular clothes, but it was still travel clothes or the local Giordano or Bosini ware...aka Old Navy stuff. I've enjoyed this carefree lifestyle with clothes to match the laziness.

Now I'm heading back to work and hardly have any work type clothes. Just when I thought I was able to clear out 90% of the closet and work has me headed for the malls and outlets. I dread shopping. It's like a constant reminder that I haven't lost that last 15lbs yet. So gym clothes or the cutesy sweatsuits are definitely out at least for now...don't even mention jeans to me...they just don't look right on me for some reason.



June 21, 2005 12:01 PM Food & Wine  |   Link
Did Ya Know...

I was bored waiting for my non-fat chai the other day at Starbucks(SBUX). So I was staring at the wall and found a brochure of the "nutritional" facts for each drink combination they serve there. I wish they had one for the food. However, I was totally amazed to see the calorie and fat content for the drinks.

Online Nutritional Information for Drinks | Food

So here are the top 5 unhealthy drinks at SBUX:
1. Vanilla Creme, with whipped cream, Venti, Breve: 890 cal, 70 g fat
2. Hot Chocolate, with whipped cream, Venti, Breve: 870 cal, 64g fat
3. Caffe Latte, Venti, Breve: 710 cal, 62g fat
4. Vanilla Creme, without whipped cream, Venti, Breve: 790 cal, 61g fat
5. White Chocolate Mocha, with whipped cream, Venti, Breve: 900 cal, 61g fat

My tall nonfat chai is 170 cal, 0g fat. I was really surprised with #5. That's like all your fat for a day and half of your calories for the day...all in just one drink. That's like 2 hours on a treadmill going 4mph or you can take a jumprope class for an hour which burns about 1000 calories an hour. I think I'll stick to tea which has 0 cal and 0 fat...or my nonfat chai here and there!



June 10, 2005 10:44 PM Whine  |   Link
I'm an Aunt Again

I'm so excited and so overjoyed. My best friend since 6th grade just had her second baby...another little girl. I can't wait to see them when I'm down in a couple of weeks. The baby was actually a bit early and it was kind of funny that K called me in the middle of her contractions to tell me that she was early. Of course the big sister was wearing her "I'm the big sister!" t-shirt. It's just too cute!

Praise God for beautiful babies!



June 06, 2005 10:00 AM Whine  |   Link
Remembering Tiananmen

Last weekend was the anniversary of the tragedy that happened in Tiananmen Square when college students demonstrated against the government. Many died, including the one scene that struck at me on live tv of the student standing in front of the tank one moment and then crushed the next moment. Over Christmas we stood at the square, watching long lines of people paying their respect to Mao on one end, the entrance to the Forbidden City with all its tourists and snow, and us standing in front of the countdown clock at the square...it was difficult to stand there and look at everything in any positive way when I knew that so many died in that very spot I was standing at. BBC has an article mentioning the minor vigil held in Hong Kong, the only such event commemorating the event. US/China relations have been quite interesting recently. Many criticisms from the US side questioning the build up of an army, and accounting for the undocumented numbers who were killed or were arrested during the Tiananmen Massacre...of course China retorts with something along the lines of mind your own business, you have your own human rights issues to deal with...they have a point. I think US and China both have a responsbility to all the alleged human rights violations. How do we expect to move forward as a society/economy if we can't even take care of basic human rights?



May 31, 2005 06:58 AM Whine  |   Link
Jazz Attack, Collaboration of 4 Jazz Musicians

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday at Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay for the KKSF Concert on the Coast Series featuring Jazz Attack. This ensemble is a collaboratoin of four great jazz musicians; Jonathan Butler, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Peter White. We had a wonderful time especially since we were only 4 rows back on aisle seats. Jeff even was within a foot of Peter White when they started coming down the aisles to dance while they were playing. Many great hits, and of course they each played a tune from their "latest" CD. The weather was totally awesome and the fog didn't even roll in until after the concert ended. The encore performance was one of many tunes by Earth, Wind, and Fire. We purchased the dinner package so we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening over dinner at the hotel and just relaxing before we headed back home.

Photos from the concert.



May 25, 2005 01:53 PM Whine  |   Link
Woohoo My Brother Mark Eloped Last Week in NYC

I'm so excited for Mark and Maria who tied the knot in NYC.

Some fun photos of the happy event.



May 23, 2005 02:14 PM Whine  |   Link
a musical baton: music nut? no not really

Michael Angeles just passed me a musical baton that was passed to him from Tanya.

Total volume of music on my computer
2640 songs, 8.3 days, 11.99 GB
Not really that much but then again I'm not really into that much music.

The Last CD I Bought
Jonathan Butler, Jonathan

Song Playing Right now
Star Me Kitten, REM Automatic for the People

Five songs I listen to a lot, according to iTunes "Most listened to" Smart List
Refiner's Fire
These Ordinary Days - Jarys of Clay, The Eleventh Hour
Something Beautiful - Jars of Clay, The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour - Jars of Clay, The Eleventh Hour
Everyday

Ok, yes I'm into Christian oriented music :) I also make my playlists on iTunes for our worship band since I'm one of the singers and have to practice and listen to new music often.

Who am I passing this on to?
don't really plan to since I know many folks don't like chain letters



May 18, 2005 08:32 PM Whine  |   Link
Hi to My Hong Kong Visitors

I miss you guys!!!!!

What I miss about Hong Kong:
everything outside my doorsteps of my building
great food on every single corner
don't have to drive/ great public transportation
friends and family live within a 15 minute walk or 15 minute bus ride
fun people all around
cultural diversity from many walks of life
everyday is a new adventure



May 08, 2005 09:45 PM Whine  |   Link
Great Stuff Earlier this Week, Ended in Low

Had a great 31st earlier this week and some great homemade molasses ginger cookies at a friend's house.

Went down to LA to see Basia with my girlfriend and had a blast dancing to old favorites and spending time with her whole family. I saw an ultrasound of her baby and heard "his" heartbeat who is soon to be due in 7 weeks. I "think" it's going to be a boy. It was great to be part of this family for so many years, through good times and bad.

Was totally sad to hear more about one of my childhood friends dying from a liver disease a few weeks ago. Strangely my friends just saw her a couple months ago at the funeral of a friend's mom. Argh. Some friends are still coping with the event and for me it's just difficult to know people die so young.

Spent some great time with my brothers and mom for an early Mother's Day at Villa Nova in Newport Beach. Great food and dessert. The wine list was very impressive but my family isn't really into wine so I had one on my own. A really nice 2003 Hess Select Cabernet.

Had a great time meeting new people at a gathering of church friends. Service at Sequoia Church was totally awesome. I can't wait to dig into the Vine's last message on Fasting.

I also had a great workout. When I loose 8lbs this month, I will have reached my first big goal...but I actually want to loose another 20 lbs by the end of summer.

...but then things just got really bad at dinner. I prayed for patience all day and I forgot to pray for peace instead. TC reminded me to pray for peace because if you ask for patience, God really does gives you a situation for patience to play out. Boy did I really learn my lesson for 2 hours.

Looking forward to starting the house projects this week as well as meeting up with more friends.

Photos from down in LA



May 04, 2005 02:19 PM Whine  |   Link
What Another Year Can Do To You?

I really can't believe it's been a year since I spent my month off in Napa. My life has in a big way gone 180 from where I was before. I can't seem to stop reflecting or know where to start understanding the changes in my life and the way I approach my life. It's weird. So yesterday I celebrated with friends at Milagros after not seeing many of them for close to 7 months. It's been a great adventure this past year. I've done things I never thought were possible...from living alone in the hills for a month, moving to a foreign country, and serving in a missionary trip.

So here's some photos from the party last night.

There were definitely more people there sorry Jeff did not get carried away with the photos this time. We'll take more later when I connect again with everyone!



April 28, 2005 03:19 PM Whine  |   Link
Birthday Soon

I'm officially into my 30-something starting next Tuesday. I stumbled upon this at Chiara's website today. So I couldn't help doing it for my own birthday. Could I just say it is so true...



Your Birthdate: May 3
Being born on the 3rd day of the month is likely to add a good bit of vitality to your life.

The energy of 3 allows you bounce back rapidly from setbacks, physical or mental.

There is a restlessness in your nature, but you seem to be able to portray an easygoing, "couldn't care less" attitude.

You have a natural ability to express yourself in public, and you always make a very good impression.

Good with words, you excel in writing, speaking, and possibly singing.

You are energetic and always a good conversationalist.

You have a keen imagination, but you tend to scatter your energies and become involved with too may superficial matters.

You are affectionate and loving, but sometimes too sensitive.

You are subject to rapid ups and downs.




April 27, 2005 09:47 AM Whine  |   Link
Procrastination and Human Resources

My last day of my Management and HR class is this Saturday. I have a 20 minute presentation and some essays to complete, but what do I decide to do instead? I organize my bookmarks in IE to transfer to de.icio.us. But then in a sudden move to beat the clock so I can walk over to Starbuck's for hot cocoa I bang away at both the essays and presentation outline in 20 minutes. Wow that's a total change for me.

After this class is done I'll more than likely do an essay to relate the challenges HR has faced and continues to face and how the IA field could also face similar situations. Each time I read something new about an organization development concept, I could easily see how IA as a human resource is facing the challenge of proper utilization in both tactical and strategic work.



April 24, 2005 06:29 PM Whine  |   Link
A Marriage 10 Years in the Making

This isn't really a whine but wanted to share the photos of a very special couple. Pete and Lynne tied the knot at Boundary Oak in Walnut Creek yesterday...right at Hole 1. Here are some snapshots of the happy event.

We turned in early after a long day. Funny enought it was only a quarter to 10 and we were so tired. I think we're getting old.

A Lifetime of Happiness Pete and Lynne!



April 04, 2005 09:35 AM Whine  |   Link
The Challenge of Being Home

My official whine now I'm back:

Isn't it strange that when you think you're home you feel that you aren't. Somehow we're both really missing our friends and family back in Hong Kong. I didn't think 6 months could have such an impact on us. There are of course things that we won't miss, like the pollution, but there are so many more things that we do miss. For instance, we both really dislike long commutes and looking for parking. Walking everywhere was so much more enjoyable. The weather is definitely alot more cooler here and wet! But I guess when summer hits HK it would be a bit miserable. The other thing that we noticed is how where we live is definitely NOT culturally diverse. I thought the US was supposed to be the melting pot of the world, if anything I felt like it was more of a melting pot in HK. I've never met so many different kinds of folks concentrated in a small area. Maybe it's where we live, maybe SF would have more cultural diversity but it's definitely eerie when you're the only minority in a room of 200 people. The other thing now that Jeff is back at work in a real office, I feel super isolated in the suburbs. From thousands of people around my neighborhood to feeling like the only person on the street. I haven't seen anybod on the streets and seeing all these SUVs reminds me of our dependence on middle east oil.

I'll probably notice more of the differences over the next few weeks but I'm really excited to see friends and family again here on this side of the Pacific. It will definitely be a challenge not to miss HK but who knows where our path will lead us.



April 01, 2005 04:51 AM Whine  |   Link
My T41 Died Tonight

I'll be without my computer for at least a week. It turns out that IBM T41s have a known issue with their video cards. The heat of the board ends up screwing it up and you get a garbled screen at bootup. I'm just glad I did a backup before we left HK and Jeff did another backup of the machine last night. Argh.

More info: http://www.thinkwiki.org/Problem_with_garbled_screen



March 30, 2005 06:26 PM Whine  |   Link
Home...home in the suburbs

We're back after a sleepless 11 hour flight back. We're already missing so many of our friends there!!!! Also we went to a restaurant today and we were missing the toothpicks. Oh and we hate driving!!!!!

MARCO!!!!

I'll be traveling again to San Diego for a seminar and visiting a new addition to the family. Debrief on trip will happen shortly.



March 02, 2005 05:27 AM Whine  |   Link
When I Can Only Say Thank You So Many Times

Not so much as a whine as much as a thanks to everyone who has touched my life in some many ways. Just read PDL's Devotional for today and was inspired to just THANK each and every one of you who has changed my life in some way even if it was to smile or give me a hug in the past when you knew it was something that could help.



February 25, 2005 06:01 AM Whine  |   Link
Having a Baby in HK?

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.



February 22, 2005 05:41 PM Whine  |   Link
Another Reason Why School Libraries are Important

...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.



January 28, 2005 05:19 PM Whine  |   Link
Another Joins the 30-Something Club

Had a blast last night in Lan Kwai Fong for a 1970s 30th Birthday celebration. Most folks went all out for the 70s look. Even Andrew's mom came as a pregnant woman depicting her condition during the 70s. Very funny. Jeff had his share of polyester. I didn't do much except wear my contacts and wear make-up. You know me, nothing too fancy. We had a blast with The Andy G Experience and possibly 60 of his closest friends and family.

Some of the 70s flair...lots of polyester, big hair, messy hair, mix of early and late 70s, polaroid camera, and some left over hippies confused about which decade they were in. Somehow we had mix of John McEnroes.

Happy Birthday Andrew...welcome to the 30-something club.



January 18, 2005 07:19 AM Whine  |   Link
From the Vineyards in Napa to The Vine in Hong Kong

It still amazes me that God had plans for me in the vinyeards of Napa last May and to actually find myself settled down here in Hong Kong in The Vine. I wasn't thinking about it at first when Jeff found their website, but tonight when recounting my story about the dead lizard it hit me. Strange coincidence but I think it's divine intervention.

Coming here to HK has been a continuation of my spiritual and emotional growing from Napa. I have been able to slowly incorporate my analysis in my daily life and in some perhaps spread it to others. I feel refreshed here(despite the pollution of our neighborhood) and I don't feel so anxious about returning to the US. I feel stronger both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I have learned that for everything that might appear bad it may reveal something actually good. I can't do everything on my own.

I actually don't want to leave but we have obligations and responsibilities that require us to return. However I do see us coming back in the near future. Perhaps new opportunities will present themselves when we return? But whatever happens, I have so much faith that there is a purpose to it.



January 15, 2005 05:29 AM Whine  |   Link
Yes I have an accent, you do too!

I had such a lovely time on Friday night at a new book club I just joined. While we were hanging out we were talking about idioms, slangs, and accents in English. It was so funny when my aussie friend said to me..."You have an accent." I started to laugh and said you do too! Then we started to talk about how certain people pronounce various words like pin and pen. I started to remember a conversation I had with an ex-officemate about "pie." It was just really funny to think about how English is not the same around the world.

So another example was what do you call riding on your bike with someone else riding on the bike as well? Australia: dinking, New Zeland: doubling/dubbing, and Jeff said to me today that in the US: doubles. The funny part was I started to giggle when NP said dinking because yes I had my mind in the gutter...then she relayed an innocent story about a misunderstanding of the term and it making a colleague uncomfortable.

I can't wait to add to my vocabulary of "English" when/if we return. ;o)



January 11, 2005 07:43 AM Whine  |   Link
Beware: Librarian with Boxing Gloves

I've taken up boxing. This time it's not the cardio kickboxing stuff. Let's just say I love it. Yes I know for the folks from GSB, it was kind of funny to see me show up to work with boxing gloves. I think someone even joked that I brought them to meetings to spar with the other managers.

I think it is a great way to get into shape and release tension in the body. I'm just having a wonderful time this turn around...so I definitely was bummed out that I didn't bring my own gear from back home but I can get some good stuff here...even hand made gloves. Boy those sound serious. But what's really funny was when I was trying to look up the email about my gear from back home I found this quote in my inbox:

"They are subversive. You think they're just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them." -- Michael Moore talking about librarians (Buzzflash, March 2002).

I started to laugh. Here I am a trained librarian(thinking of going back to librarianship) and I'm enjoying the heck out of beating up my trainer. Gosh I wonder what it will be like when I enter the ring. I'll have to get Jeff to take photos or video.



January 05, 2005 10:32 PM Whine  |   Link
Quit your job!

I'm all for what this article talks about.

"Ways to fix your life: Quit your job"

It wasn't that life at work was horrible...it just seemed like there were other things pulling me aside to take a breather. Right now I'm exploring new cultures and writing about my experiences and maybe at some point my investments will really replace my full salary. I just hope that people out there don't work at jobs they hate because it just effects your personal life.



January 04, 2005 09:19 PM Whine  |   Link
Fond memories as a Girl Scout

I just got a sad IM today from one of my childhood friends. Our girl scout troop leader just died in a car crash. It's been such a long time since I've thought about Jackie Johnston, but every year when I see the Girl Scouts and Brownies selling their cookies at the local supermarket I get all nostalgic and remember how we had to sell as well under Mrs. Johnston's leadership.

Switching schools between 5th and 6th grade many moons ago was kind of traumatic for me. I was just getting into swing of things with friends and after school activities when my parents had us move schools. The only people familiar to me where my friends Jeff and Jennifer who made the move as well. But one after school activity that gave me some normalcy was Girl Scouts. For 2 hours once a week I could hang out and do some cool things like who can pitch the tent fastest or some crafts activity. I remember Mrs. Johnston waiting for us after school to shuffle us off to her house where I think a dozen of us girls would hang out. I also remembered a fond weekend trip we took to San Diego for camping; Playing Trivial pursuit late into the night, making smores over the campfire, and trying to figure out when I could let my guard down.

Mrs. Johnston made it all happen along with a few other moms who helped out. It makes me sad to think that God has plans for everything that happens and all I can do is understand what it means and not question why.

Even with the tsunami tragedy, the war in Iraq, the civil unrests around the world, I am still at lose of what to think and all I can do is pray. Pray that there is some kind of peace that comes out of this.



January 01, 2005 05:49 AM Whine  |   Link
Greetings to a new year

...our thoughts and prayers are with all those effected by the earthquake/tsunamis in Asia.

We just arrived from our 2 week trip in China where we heard of the devastating tsunamis in Asia. It has been an emotional/physical roller coaster these past several days while I was battling out food poisining, a bad head cold in minus 10C weather, staying tuned in to hear more about the aftermath of the earthquake, and standing at Tiannamen Square thinking about democracy. There's so much to think and pray about and I'm too exhausted to know where to start. I will share more thoughts over the next few days.

Happy new year, world!



December 13, 2004 05:34 AM Whine  |   Link
Holding myself accountable

Ok, I'm officially writing this here(even though I know I could easily delete this entry at a future date). Over the next few months I will write about my month off in Napa Valley last May. The time off was originally called A Life Review Retreat (a reference to Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life) but I think this time I'm calling it _30 Days after Turning 30: Finding Myself in Time_ Sounds a bit cheesy I know. The title will more than likely change but I have to start somewhere. I have endless pages of notes and thoughts from that time off but now it's a matter of structuring it into a story that most people can relate to and perhaps become a testimonial of how Jesus has changed my life in the last year. If you know me, you probably understand where I'm coming from with the title.



December 12, 2004 07:06 AM Whine  |   Link
Jeff a Librarian?

I know this sounds pretty odd, but the guy really knows how to do research online. For me I have to admit I hate doing online searching, surfing, or shopping. Even though it was my profession to care about search online it really doesn't appeal to me for personal aspects. It was pretty funny that Jeff would relate his story of doing research for homeopathic remedies for allergies for a few hours this afternoon. He's pretty good at searching for these things and especially electronic gadgets. Not only does he find the reviews of these products, he finds coupons randomly online. He's like the ultimate online junkie. I bet he would make a better reference librarian than me. I may know where the answers are in a book, but he would definitely find the answer online really quick.

Speaking of online shopping. It's pretty rare here to find ecommerce sites. Living in the middle of shopping mecca folks here really like to touch, feel, and play with the things they want to buy. Jeff has been trying to find something like an online Amazon equivalent here but no luck. The only places where ecommerce sites come in handy are for folks who don't live closeby to CWB or TST/Mongkok.

Speaking of shopping mecca...today being Sunday...was a total chaotic zoo in and around our area. Not only is it the "amahs" day off but there was a product and brands expo at Victoria Park. It will be going on through Jan 3. This expo has been going on every year for 39 years now. So I have this strange feeling life around our neighborhood will be quite hectic.



December 09, 2004 06:09 AM Whine  |   Link
Ironic Tanning

Ok this has got to be the funniest thing here. Remember I wrote about how the locals love to use products with skin whitening? Well I completely forgot that our gym has a tanning booth and recently the spa just added tan in a can services to their list of offerings. I have never seen the booth used and our trainers at the gym just got a free tiral of the tan in the can service. I was kind of grinning when I saw my trainer after he got his done. I doubt this is going to be something the locals will be lining up for even if it is the first place in HK offering the service. It's just so contrary to the whole skin care regimen of "whitening" your skin. Now does the gym really know their target audience? Perhaps the gym's market are all the expats living here...but it's kind of a small population and not all of them have the kind of money to maintain that type of service. I'll be curious to see how many folks emerge from the spa with that special kind of "glow." I think for most Asians these things just turn you orange.



November 11, 2004 05:16 AM Whine  |   Link
Iris Chang, Chinese-American Author Commits Suicide

Official Website of Iris Chang

According to SFGate.com, she died of self-inflicted gunshot. She was an amazing Asian-American writer. Her website contains more information about her background and the books she wrote.



October 27, 2004 09:26 PM Food & Wine  |   Link
Minimal Cooking

So you might not remember but our place is really small. I have no oven or dishwasher or even a microwave. Just a 2 burner stove. Here's a photo of the kitchen. After finding CitySuper we bought some groceries(some, since our fridge is just a little bigger than a dorm fridge) I started to really get into cooking. Yesterday I made an omellete and today for lunch I made our favorite lentils with rice. It was ok. I remember back in Napa in May I just had a hot plate, microwave, mini convection/toaster oven in a room the size of a small closet with a little sink. I was able to cook some elaborate dinner. I guess sometimes we get spoiled with all the gadgets that Williams Sonoma and other cookware stores sell you. We also have become dependent on modern appliances. But it comes back down to is what are you trying to make and what tools are really necessary to make it. Also with the dinky fridge I shop more often which means the ingredients are fresher. Which brings me back to kitchens and cooking technique.

Before I left for Napa in May I was really thinking of renovating the kitchen for more space. After Napa and especially after living here in HK, I don't think it's about space. It's about getting rid of junk. I probably have lots of things I only take out once a year and then it's really just for decorative reasons. But I remember watching tv shows about Galley kitchens on boats. Aesthetics are important as well to create a mood, but with simple dishware and stemware I think you can still pull off a nice dining experience.

What I noticed that with minimal space you can really cook up a storm. It's all about efficiency of tools and not wasting. I can imagine in Japan and other places with dense living space that's the case as well. Hopfully with more practice cooking here, I'll probably still remodel the kitchen back home but to modernize the space and increase the dining/socializing area. I'll have to read up on Galley kitchens as well.



September 01, 2004 08:39 AM Whine  |   Link
Finished Second Tour of Duty

Yesterday was my last day at Stanford GSB. The casual mood for the day was set at lunch with some jokers posing as colleagues. I was given a nice casual ice cream send off with many in attendance. It was great to see some new additions to the GSB IT family. DT and JN brought their new arrivals and everyone had a fun time playing and holding the new bundles of joy. I saw someone taking photos so perhaps that will be posted shortly. After having been gone for 2 weeks on vacation, it was kind of strange to just show up for "work" on my last day.

After the sendoff, I picked up the last paycheck and headed to Malibu Grand Prix for a discounted deal of $20 for unlimited laps. Sessions lasted at least 30 minutes each time with a nice 5 or 10 minute break in between. We were there for about 2.5 hours. It was a nice way to end day...riding into the sunset.



July 19, 2004 09:57 AM Whine  |   Link
New Music...Clouds

Just when I was loosing interest in electronic music and Jeff stumbles upon Johan Kivi's Clouds. It's pretty amazing and I'm looking forward to more to be released.

More at Digitally Imported.



June 27, 2004 08:56 PM Whine  |   Link
Renewal of my Faith

I was baptized at Sequoia Christian Church on Sunday June 27, 2004 in front of the congregation. We've been attending SCC for about 1.5 years now and I recently joined the worship team. I am so happy to be able to share this special occasion of my life with everyone.

Photos from the submersion and group photo of family.



June 03, 2004 09:24 PM Whine  |   Link
On turning 30



June 01, 2004 12:37 PM Whine  |   Link
Rested, Relaxed, Renewed

I am back.

Digital photos are up. Film being developed and will be put up later.

Articles in the pipeline to describe the experiences.

Details about my cottage.



April 18, 2004 04:50 PM Whine  |   Link
Countdown continues

32.4lbs



April 15, 2004 10:09 PM Whine  |   Link
Carnegie Hall is a Bust

Unfortunately the production company could not get enough participants to create the full ensemble of 150 choral singers from various choral groups across the US. They have cancelled the production even though Stanford had a nice showing. I was looking forward to this opportunity. Perhaps in the future. For now I will continue my vocal training, continued participation in the Stanford Symphonic Choir, and perhaps at our church.



Whine  |   Link
Life Review Retreat

Interestingly enough I'm reading Purpose Driven Life for the second time and with a group of folks. Last night I read Chapter 32 and it dawned on me..."Life Review Retreat" that's what my whole time off in May is about.

I'm taking stock on what has happened to me the first 30 years of my life and refocusing my energy to utilize the skills and experiences I have had to benefit my community. I've read so many books like PDL in my lifetime and somehow I have never had the chance to really internatlize the books mean. Slowly but surely many of their lessons are permeating my life; if that be my relationships with family, friends, co-workers, and even in my attitude for how I approach my work.

I'm looking forward to my time off not because I'm not at work or have to take care of anything at home or stuff. I'm looking forward to the time I can really work through what I know deep down is the real me wanting to come out and just "be."



April 05, 2004 10:10 PM Whine  |   Link
Caring for your introvert

So in some way you know a little bit more on how to interact with me:

Caring for your Introvert

Another rational that my seclusion in May is actually something I look forward to since I won't have a phone or computer.

//infp



March 26, 2004 10:12 AM Whine  |   Link
Dear Reader program

Sometimes it gets difficult to be on top of the current literature of our days...stumbled on this resource today(argh can't remember where):

Dear Reader

Basically they provide snippets of chapters to people as part of an email list service. She gets the approval of the publisher and it ends up being a nice book club online.



March 24, 2004 08:59 PM Whine  |   Link
So close to 30 and so close to loosing 30

gsb_lisa.jpg.jpg

David Tom took this camera pic of me while at work the other day...didn't realize I'm starting to look so different. The pic on the right is of me last May 2003 at my cousin Jackie's wedding (30lbs heavier).



February 02, 2004 04:47 PM Whine  |   Link
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Well I think it's semi-official. I put in my reg fees committing to sing with the Stanford Symphonic Choir at Carnegie Hall next January 2005. Boy is this going to be an amazing opportunity. I've been singing since the 1st grade in various school and church choirs and this opportunity has come up. I'm so excited. I'll post more information about the concert as the time gets closer.

Hopfully no ice or snow storms to prevent me from enjoying New York.



January 26, 2004 10:07 AM Whine  |   Link
Possible Home Away from Home

I'll be taking four weeks from work for a personal break from life. It'll probably be in Napa in May. So if you're trying to get a hold of me then, I will not be able to attend to any emails.



January 22, 2004 07:55 PM Whine  |   Link
Family over the holidays

I forgot to take pictures every day and with every set of friends and family. Next time around we'll take more.

Christmas 2003, palm trees, warm weather, new additions to the families(babies & marriages) and back in da hood(Cerritos,CA).



December 02, 2003 05:48 PM Whine  |   Link
A Cold IA in Paris

The end of November took me to France to enjoy the sites and smells of Parisian living. We were in town for the wedding of our close friend, Joan Minor, to her loving husband, Paul Grayson. The extravagent reception was held at a chateau outside of Paris, Chateau des Conde.

Got a chance to hook up with Paul Kahn of Kahn & Associates and just hang out around town doing the American in Paris touristy thing. Came back the day after Thanksgiving with a cold I caught from Jeff.



October 02, 2003 09:37 AM Whine  |   Link
Librarian Action Figure: Here Now!

I can't help but share that I've finally placed my own order for the Librarian Action Figure. It's pretty fun. As a trained librarian, I don't see this as offensive. I think a while back there was a vote going on at the Mattel website on the next Barbie doll...architect, librarian, and archeologist wwere just some of the options and boy did I tell folks to vote for librarian. I'll probably get a few for some folks I know who'll appreciate it :)



October 01, 2003 10:34 PM Whine  |   Link
The Pains of Email

Major whine right now:L1ast week if you sent email it probably ended up in the email blackhole...or my email client is currently choking on it. I didn't realize how much I rely on email so please be patient if you're waiting for a response.



July 21, 2003 08:55 AM Information Retrieval  |   Link
Amazon to provide full text search of books

Just read in NYTimes, "Amazon Plan Would Allow Searching Texts of Many Books"(free registration required).

This is really fascinating news. Just imagine if they are successful in negotiating access to the actual content of all the books they already have in their catalog. There are definitely issues, like having to secure the access to the full text content, a business model(like subscriptions) for allowing portions of the text to be accessible online. I can see publishers benefiting from this as well with perhaps some micropayments, greater access for their potential readers.

One of the shortcomings of our basic library catalogs, is that there is a definite separation of physical and online. What Amazon plans to do will probably effect how people do their research for homework, evaluate for purchasing a book online, and who knows whatever else.

I wonder what search technology they are planning to use. We already know that a parametric search technology(with good metadata) defintiely differs from full-text searching of unstructured information.



July 10, 2003 03:52 PM Whine  |   Link
Recovering & Reving Up

I guess I can't complain about being busy when I've just returned from a wonderful and relaxing trip to Florence. It was a great time to reflect on life, write poetry, spend time with my friend, and figure out what I should do with my life.

But I have to whine, it's the point of this site. I have a ton of weddings coming up and I am just so excited, I'm also anxious and I'm still recovering from the jet-lag...it's all going to feel like jet-lag again...dios mio!

Sandra & Wade
July 12, 2003
Portala Valley, CA
Photos

Leslie & Phil
August 2, 2003
Woodside, CA
Photos

Kirstin & Tom
September 20, 2003
Sonoma, CA

Joan & Paul
November 22, 2003
Paris, France



June 21, 2003 10:05 AM Information Architecture  |   Link
Just when I thought I was out of User Experience stuff

I have to be honest with myself, I am NOT so much part of that User Experience stuff anymore...unless you count developing search products and management metadata standards...but the more I want to get out of the scene(because of navel-gazing), there's always something pulling me back in...

MORE...


June 10, 2003 08:57 AM Information Architecture  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Gardening & Taxonomies

I've been developing a garden in my backyard these past few months and one of the big challenges is knowing what to plant. The other day I was talking to my friend Lee Cline about how I think many gardening related websites need to implement a taxonomy. Yes I know taxonomies are from the botany world, but what I was thinking was a multi-faceted taxonomy in locating flowers that I don't know about. For example, Lee had shared a technique in tracking information about flowers...color, height, seasonal bloom, and what type of lighting it needs. I got all excited since I had been reading so many books about plants & flowers. I started to track all the flowers in a spreadsheet. But the disconnect was when I didn't know about a particular flower and I just wanted to locate flowers based on attributes. So to the IAs out there who work for a nursery website or gardening publication, would it be possible to provide access through search & taxonomy capabilities that let me select the various attributes of the flowers & plants and not just the botanical or common name?



May 02, 2003 03:51 PM Whine  |   Comments (0)  |   Link
Birthday Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You

Shameless plug for my Amazon Wish List.



April 24, 2003 08:45 AM Information Architecture  |   Link
Software Programmers Innovate

I wish I was at the Emerging Technology Conference(ETCON)...it's only about 20 minutes from where I live. Hundreds of people from the around the world coming to Santa Clara to look at technology and innovative wares of the future...Keynote speaker Howard Rheinhold was featured recently in Wired News, "Futurist Fears End of Innovation." The piece was on his keynote address regarding the government's control over the sharing of new technologies. Although I wasn't there, I agree that we have a responsibility to share and constantly challenge ourselves to push our thinking about the use and usefulness of technology.

In the IA community there is always a need to find standards and to find best practices, are we doing our share to innovate the landscape of information access, architecture, management, retrieval, and user experience? Who are the folks? What are they saying now?



April 10, 2003 09:16 PM Whine  |   Link
Update #2 on Foot

It's pretty much all healed. Saw the doctor and he was impressed at how well the wound has healed. I'm pretty active now. Venturing around campus and walking all over Portland, OR last month. I'm even doing kickboxing and yoga right now. I'm so excited I'm all back 100%.

Before foot surgery
After foot surgery

Previous notes on foot:
Update: Foot
My Left Foot

I highly recommend using Mederma after surgeries. There is no scar in the after surgery photo. I applied the cream every day for 6 weeks and kept it covered. I'm really happy with the product.

I am so grateful I'm healed and I so appreciate the ability to walk and get around on my own.



March 11, 2003 10:07 PM Whine  |   Link
Update: Foot

The foot is healing nicely. I was in a wheelchair fo 2.5 weeks and crutches for 1.5 weeks. Last week was the first week walking without an aid and with real shoes, but I suffered greatly with fatigue and limitations to walking distance. The stitches came out sometime the end of February. The wound has healed and I'm just trying to gain more energy to go further around campus.



February 15, 2003 09:16 PM Whine  |   Link
My Left Foot

I must have told this story about a hundred times now so I figured I'll just write the basic story.

On February 6, 2003 I had a birthmark on the bottom of my left foot removed. Personally I was devasted to hear from 3 doctors that I needed to get it out. This blob of black mark that resembled a watermelon seed has always been a part of who I am. You know when you fill out those identification cards and there's a prompt asking if you have any distinguishing marks, I always filled it out; Small black watermelon shaped birthmark on the bottom of left foot. It's been over a week and now I know I can't write that down on forms anymore.

When I was quite young and I had many sleepovers with family, one of my cousins would tease me in the morning by pushing the "wake up" button. Of course that button being my birthmark. I saw those same cousins a couple weeks before the operation and told them all. It was kind of a brief conversation remembering the "old days." We're all adults now but thinking back to when we were 4 and 5 year olds was kind of fun.

So the outcome of having stitches on the bottom of my foot is I can't walk. Even with crutches I tend to loose my balance once in a while and I end up almost putting the left foot down. I took it easy for a long weekend, but I rushed quickly back to work since I got bored hanging out at home. My husband has been great in helping around the house and making meals. When we go out we use the wheelchair and that has been a totally new experience. At first I was unable to maneuver around with it at work especially frustrating is that the floors weren't quite level, I would start to roll to one side of the hallway.

Everyone has been very friendly, even people I didn't know on the floor. The experience of everyone being super helpful is different, and with too much pride I don't ask for help. Then I get tired and so wiped out by the end of the day, I just crash at night. Some of the fallout of going to work too soon is my foot has begun to swell. Rushing in and out of meetings and typing for too long at the machine has been really tiring for me. While I'm at home I'm probably on the machine for only 10 minutes a day, which is totally different from my routine. So next week I'm taking it super easy. I'm praying every night that the sutures can come out next Friday, but that would mean just staying off my foot for another week so it can really heal.

I want to thank everyone out there for their warm wishes and funny anecdotes from their similar experiences. It's been reassuring and comforting.

Photo before the surgery.
Photo during recovery. Coming soon!
Photo after sutures are out. Coming soon!



January 25, 2003 10:11 PM Whine  |   Link
Music from the heart

I'm not going to whine, just mention that a friend has just released a new cd.

Michelle Chappel Simple Graces(2003)

Go check it out. She's done a couple other cds as well as wrote music for a movie. Her lyrics and music definitely come from the heart. A nice balance of falling in love, discovering self, break ups, and just plain vanilla enjoying life to its fullest.



January 02, 2003 08:32 PM Whine  |   Link
Margaritas & Volleyball

Mental note: they don't mix well.



Whine  |   Link
Life Questions

Christina Wodtke wrote this up at her blog and we chatted about it Monday night. The article is "What Should I Do With My Life?" by Po Bronson.

I found the article very profound and thought provoking. Hopfully I can reflect on this article more over the next few days.

Find more information about Po Broson at his website.



December 28, 2002 04:50 AM Information Architecture  |   Link
IA on my mind

Where is IA these days? I keep asking myself this over the past 6 months. Just when I thought I was going to ramp up again with the community I had to really step back and take inventory. I was confused and wondering where is this all taking me? Where is what I'm doing taking the community? Where is the value-add when I watch the SIG-IA list almost dissintegrate before our eyes. I'm frustrated and I'm trying really hard to be patient with what I see. I'm burned out and I'm totally out of the loop. Do I want back in? Is it worth it? Is it where I want to be?

...

MORE...


December 20, 2002 03:46 PM Whine  |   Link
Be True to Your School

Attended one of two 10 year high school reunions recently. The one I attended was from an all girl Catholic high school. The reason I attended this one and not the reunion of the high school I actually graduated from was because of the number of years I knew many of my classmates. I went to Catholic schools since the first grade and many of the girls from elementary and junior high also went on to the local Catholic high school. Let's just say, I survived Catholic school and didn't become a nun as my mother expected...and never really continued practicing Catholicism since I left that school.

So...

MORE...


December 13, 2002 04:07 PM Cars  |   Link
Porsche & Cayenne

The New York Times did an article describing Porsche enthusiasts reaction to Porsche deploying SUVs.* I found it very interesting both from a business standpoint as well as from a Porsche owner's perspective.

1. Porsche needs to continue as a business
2. Porsche is jeopardizing their brand.

I have to agree that in order for Porsche to survive, they need to expand their offerings and sell SUVs(Cayenne). But at the same time, Porsche may be missing the segmentation opportunities by starting with SUVs. Deep down, I'm a bit disappointed, but Porsche has to do what they have to do in order to stay in business. I'm definitely not one of the ones first in line to get the Caynne since I'm really not a fan of SUVs. Hopfully it does become successful so that Porsche can put their concentration on winning more races.

* free registration required

A more heated discussion is happening at Rennlist (a very active Porsche enthusiast newsgroup)



December 03, 2002 12:45 PM Whine  |   Link
Mistaken Identity

I just wanted to inform friends & family that I am NOT the woman identified in the following article.

Fremont woman sentenced for copying software. (SF Chronicle)



October 28, 2002 09:05 AM Information Architecture  |   Link
Wanted: Wait Staff with PDA Experience

Just came back from breakfast at Stacks in Menlo Park. Just your typical Monday morning breakfast with my husband. With coffee in hand and menu in the other hand, our waitress approached us with PDA in hand to take our order. This isn't just your ordinary PDA, it was a PDA with wireless connection. Just moments earlier I had noticed hubs around the restaurant with blinking lights. From my experience they did not look like a security system. So when the waitress took our order, it made sense and I immediately saw the PDA/wireless hub connection.

So as she was taking our order, it looked a little cumbersome to see her go through the menu screens. The hostess said it was definitely faster since in most cases many restaurants only had 2 terminals to enter order with several wait staff members. I could see how this could save time; For instance a typical scenario is a wait staff taking your order on a paper and then heading over to the order entry terminal where there could be 2 folks ahead of you. By taking your order once, and having it sent directly to the kitchen it could save time.

This is my first exposure to a new venue for PDA use to improve efficiency. It was kind of weird seeing our wait staff trying to fill our order one person at a time. If we were a party of 6 or 8, it may have taken longer. How much time is really saved? Yes the restaurant is innovative and possibly the first to implement this type of system, but what about the customer experience? I'm very patient, but to see the wait staff just stare really(concentrate) hard at the PDA screen, I wasn't sure if she was really listening to me.

Here are some interesting potential challenges:
a) software is still new, lots of bugs
b) the battery dies
c) the pda freaks out, the cursor doesn't go where it should
d) someone wants something that isn't on the menu
e) you spill food/drink on the pda
f) parties of more than 6, could take longer than expected. Backup system should be used.
g) the internal network goes down, does your staff(wait & kitchen) know how to take orders the old fashion way?

Thoughts?



October 23, 2002 08:15 PM Business & Finance  |   Link
MBA or Bust

An interesting controversial journal article was published recently by a Stanford GSB professor on the value of an MBA. Somehow the business press really had a field day with this article especially with its timely print during all the CEOs being indicted for one thing or another.

Busines 2.0 Article on the topic: What's an MBA Really Worth?
By Andy Raskin

Citation to Pfeffer & Fong Article:
Pfeffer & Fong, "The End of Business Schools? Less Success Than Meets the Eye," Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2002, Vol. 1, No.1, 78-95.

Some of the issues includes the following:
Practitioner vs. research, bar-crawls, networks, direct application of textbook learning, does an MBA actually equate to success..

For me, I think I'm going to hold off on pursuing that "dream" of an MBA. I'm beginning to learn that experience really gets you far, and any piece of paper to tell me that I'm special won't really help. Also based on my previous GMAT, I have no chance for those top tier schools...he he he. Maybe someday I will, just not right now.



October 10, 2002 10:47 PM Whine  |   Link
Whining Part 2: Find, Locate, Search, Look For It...

It's been a few years now since I first got hooked onto the web and first entered my first search query into a web search box. So Google gets me what I want most of the time, but it's not always the only search engine I go to. Just like newspapers, I like to go to a few other engines to get a good mix of what I'd like to get.

My search experience...

MORE...


August 19, 2002 09:01 PM Whine  |   Link
LINE - Scap

I guess we have a good balance of left and right brains in the Gonzales family. My cousin Rod is currently a finalist in the Perrier USA Fashion award. Here's a sampling from Perrier.

This past summer, I donned Rod's latest creation during a dinner outing. I know it looks better on the models, but I think it's cute and I plan to wear it up and down the streets of San Francisco this coming Fall/Winter.



August 03, 2002 11:58 AM Whine  |   Link
HBO Docs & No Dumb Questions

Want to hear more about what's been going on with Melissa Regan's "No Dumb Questions"?

www.nodumbquestions.com

MORE...


July 21, 2002 11:25 AM Whine  |   Link
Liz Cummings and Art

Went strolling through one of Menlo Park's many wine and art festivals downtown. Discovered an artist who really had a beautiful eye and hand for capturing scenes from Italy(mainly Tuscany). Definitely breathtaking imagery. At first glance, you feel like you are looking out the window of your villa onto a beautiful landscape of Tuscany life. She's from Laguna and you can find more information and a sample of work at her website.



July 19, 2002 08:57 PM Whine  |   Link
Whining Part 1

The other day someone came to my site I guess after following my sig file. She wrote me back and said, cute site, but where's the whining? Well I wrote back, that at some point I'll start to whine. I guess today's the day.

Up until now I've been lurking on listservs and occassionally wandering through the IA/UE blogs out there. I've found the right mix of frustration and I'm ready to erupt with a ton of whining...

The web really doesn't hold my attention anymore. I'm sick and tired of all the variations of ads showing up on a site. I feel like my experiences have been hijacked. Then there are days that it's kind of exciting, like when CW has something cool at Elegant Hack or perusing the NY Times. I don't know what it is but I'm bored. I'm bored about my own experience on the web. I'm bored with what certain folks have to say on any of the lists. I'm bored with all the things that used to push me into late night frenzies trying to think through some new innovative thought(despite someone probably saying something on the topic already more succintly than what I would have).

So I've taken a few weeks to step back from all the things I'm doing and I figured out why I'm bored. I forgot to keep in touch with myself. I forgot to stay in touch with the things that got me excited about our profession. I got so sucked into trying to do something one way or another and forgot to step back and understand the big picture. I guess I forgot that I should just stop watching and start talking.

Now I'm into my sabbatical for a couple weeks and I'm starting to appreciate what IA means to me; I'm starting to see things I didn't see, and things are beginning to click.

Next steps for me or as they say in the business world, "my action items" for the coming weeks is to be more proactive about my learning, teaching, and helping folks grow to achive their goals. These are 3 things I'll probably continue to be passionate about for a very long time.

Another reason I'm probably more in touch with my thoughts...it's got to be the yoga.



June 08, 2002 06:51 PM Whine  |   Link
16F9

16F9

If you missed Stefano Moris' showing of his short film at the Sundance Film Festival, you can now purchase your own copy of 16F9 directly at this site.



Whine  |   Link
21st Century Librarian Award

21st Century Librarian Award: Home

I did not win the award, but I am very honored to have been nominated. Looking at the winner's accomplishments and my fellow nominees, this was a really challenging group to be in company with.



May 28, 2002 08:46 PM Whine  |   Link
Be prepared for messy sauces

Went to the local(Palo Alto) PF Changs this evening. Lots of great food and drinks. We had the coconut curry vegetables and crunchy shrimps with rice. For dessert, we had this wonderful sweet treat of fried bananas(wrapped in spring roll wrapper) with ice cream sprinkled with some berries and strawberries and drizzled with caramel sauce.

After dinner as I was signing the check, a serving spoon full of some nice plum sauce came flying from an adjacent table and splattering my purse and my husband's trousers. Two seconds later the manager is standing next to me apologizing with his card in hand and to contact him if there was any "damage." Pretty good attention to service and care. Everything was just fine.

The real reason I'm writing is that the women from where the spoon came from handed my husband a "Shout" wet wipe. Let me just say that the wet wipe is one of the best products by Shout. The stain was cleaned up and it didn't get a chance to set-in. The pants are doing well :)



May 01, 2002 02:15 PM Whine  |   Link
Shameless Plug for My WishList

Some family members have asked what I wanted for my birthday(may3) and so I figured I'll just share my Amazon Wish List.



April 15, 2002 09:33 PM Whine  |   Link
No Dumb Questions: A Short Documentary

My colleagues film, No Dumb Questions, which won an honorable mention at Sundance Festival will be showing at a few venues in the Bay Area over the next couple of weeks....

MORE...


January 02, 2002 12:41 PM Whine  |   Link
Disney Designs an Experience

Just got back from a whole day of visiting Disneyland. I haven't been there in years and so much has changed. All I can say is that they still preserved my fond memories with such rides as "It's A Small World" and "Space Mountain" but they have redesigned some fond ones such as "Haunted Mansion," "America Sings," and of course our all time favorite "Captain EO." So why change? I guess it's to bring into the fold a whole new series of memories for the next generation. There are many out there who probably still remember the "e-tickets" but now the kids are wanting "fast pass." I guess the crowded freeways of Southern California and "fastrack" concept has infiltrated our beloved theme parks.

So back to my blog title: Disney & Designing an Experience...well the strangest thing about wandering through the park is I had an idea of where things were right away; at least for the big rides. Of course it's a physical experience, but somehow even after several years, I still knew where I could go next. Also I still find it eerie that everything is manufactured for your Disney experience. Employees are cast members, and park clients are guests; so what is the Disney experience: creating memories for you to cherish and to relive them as you return to the park later in life...I wonder what it'll be like when I start bringing my kids there...

Despite the long lines I had a wonderful time and went along to venture "Downtown Disney" upscale restaurants and shops where parking lots used to be...didn't get a chance to hit up California adventure, but it's ok I've lived both in So. and No. CA for most of 27 years.



December 16, 2001 01:43 AM Whine  |   Link
B-52 at the Skylark

Shot of Grand Marinier, Bailey's, & Kaluha....3 layers enjoyed separate or together...yummy!

Went to the CD Release party for a close family friend: Stefano Moris of his latest creation called Grand Caravan.



December 10, 2001 10:39 PM Whine  |   Link
What's Lisa Up to These Days

Learning:
1. Got an "A" on my midterm
2. Will be doing my final presentation on evaluating Saturn Corporation's marketing campaign. I will post the ppt after I do my presentation on Saturday.
3. Will be having a final on Saturday.

Will probably apply what I learned to help out my new project Boxes & Arrows. Had a fun Saturday evening with B&A folks. Photos available at emdezine.

Other projects on the board:
CHI 2002 Workshop:HCI & IA: Information, Interaction, Interface and Usability Architects Share Deliverables

IA Summit 2002 Panel: The Intersection of IA and Business in Content Management

Work: Metadata Standardization project for educational materials.

Life: Winter Holiday Parties, cousin visiting from NYC, reunion with Gonzales cousins, catch up on my HBR reading, celebrating with new members of the family, and paint my office.

Wanted: Need to also get an html/designer to do the Chan web properties using our brand. We are also looking for an interior decorator.




December 05, 2001 06:06 PM Whine  |   Link
Sundance Festival

Wow. I have 2 friends from 2 differnt spheres of networks who have short films accepted for Sundance Festival.

Best wishes and congratulations!

Stefano Moris - 16F9

Melissa Regan - No Dumb Questions

I am so happy for them both. Stefano Moris is my husband's childhood friend and was also our best man at our wedding.

Melissa Regan is a colleague from Stanford GSB, where I work.

I will more than likely head out to Sundance to support these great aspiring filmakers.



November 21, 2001 09:47 AM Whine  |   Link
All I Need to Know I Learned in the DMV Line

I had a strange revelation the other while standing in line at the DMV. *I should be on vacation, but I needed to get some things done there.* So they give you the option of setting up an appointment at their website. Which was a nice change from having to call and getting a busy signal. The only frustrating part is that the line for the appointments was just as long as the line for walk-ins. OH well...

MORE...


November 13, 2001 09:13 PM Whine  |   Link
Using New Blog

Just wanted to mention that I'm using MoveableType for my blog and if you notice anything quirky just email me.



November 01, 2001 07:38 PM Whine  |   Link
Store Catalogs

I was flipping through a Restoration Hardware catalog today. I came to a section of some book ends that were really cute(pg 5 Holiday 2001)...I guess they were the two ends of a suspension bridge. I was pretty surprised when I saw the titles of the books in the photo: Edward Tufte's two famous books, Visual Explanations and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, a Macromedia Dreamweaver 3 Documentation Manual, and a couple others things such as Naked by Sclaris and Photography from 1839 to today...I thought it was amusing because I'm guessing who ever was involved with that photo shoot must have grabbed this from their personal library since I don't know too many people who would have an interesting set of books except for those in the IA/UX/HCI community.

I know you're thinking, "Gosh she's strange for bringing it up"...but I think you'd be surprised if you saw books in a product catalog as part of a display of which you have some of the books in your own collection.



August 25, 2001 11:39 AM Whine  |   Link
So today is the first

So today is the first day of thinking online rather offline in my journal. I hope this becomes a nice resource center for those interested in information architecture, experience design, metadata, information retrieval, and whatever crosses my mind that day. Enjoy!