Guess What??

I already guessed it. I already knew what Tony was getting me for Christmas before he even knew it!

I knew he was getting me noise canceling headphones because he talked about wanting them and then I jumped in and said, "me too!" just because I wanted to be included (and obnoxious). I didn't really think he'd get them for me until we were out Christmas shopping and we decided to try on a bunch of them at different stores. I told him it wasn't worth buying big oversized headphones unless they cancel noise, which made me sound like some sort of expert; or, in Tony's opinion, someone who does research on what they want before they buy, and therefore, must really, really want it. Anyways, I look like a dork, but they're really cool.


He also got me the cool Conair blow dryer/straightner thing that they keep running TV spots on. I didn't really think Tony would spend the money on something like this, given I have ridiculously short hair and it's overpriced. Totally guessed this one too. I think he was kind of pissed. Oh well.

It's Been a Long Time

It's been a while since I posted, mostly because there hasn't been much to report. But Meichih reminded me that I'm "really not busy and have nothing better to do," so I thought it would be good to give you guys an update.

Here's what's been going on:

• On my birthday weekend, a bum peed on my car so Tony kicked him in the ass. I was so disturbed I didn't want to go out.
• It's been really cold. Thanksgiving was "warm" around 60 degrees.
• I was daydreaming on the bus one morning and missed my stop. When I realized it, I ran to the front of the bus but the driver ignored me (probably because I ran, but didn't yell) and took off. I had to wait for the next stop to get off.
• I'm going to the Ritz-Carlton in South Beach in January for a sales meeting.
• Tony has been working and/or studying a lot. We spend weekends studying at his school. (I don't have anything to study for).
• Tony's high school reunion took place Thanksgiving weekend. I met one of his ex-girlfriends and was not-so-secretly happy that she's become pudgy.
• I went through the five stages (denial, bargaining, anger, despair, acceptance) and am finally okay with my hair. I was religiously taking hair vitamins when we got back from China but the bottom part of my hair was growing really fast (read: mullet) so I had Tony trim it for me. I stopped taking the vitamins when Tony started getting "creative" on me. He started having his own yi-jien and wanting to do this and that with my hair. I finally made the jump and found a salon to go to. They had a big autographed poster of Ms. America on their door (cheesy=Roslyne) and I liked their receptionists hair. My appointment is next week so we'll see how it goes.
• La Tina's finally opened. It's not that great though. Chipotle tastes more like the Mexican food we get in California.
• Tony either snores or steals my blanket at night so I have huge bags under my eyes everyday. That's right, I said MY blanket. He was stealing THE blanket so we each got our own and now he's also taking MINE.

So have you guys figured out what my life has been like? Bad hair, puffy eyes, cold weather, drunk bums, average Mexican food and boring weekends!! The fat ex doesn't nearly make up for it -- but it doesn't hurt! =) I can't wait for California!

Planning and Lists

As you probably already know, I like to make lists and calendars. I usually have a calendar on me, and I must have four or five at my desk at work. I tried doing the palm pilot thing a while back, and it just didn't work for me. I like writing things down and being able to make random lists or doodle.

I came across this AWESOME website today: www.pocketmod.com. It's so cool! You basically customize a one-sheet planner that folds up. I'm totally going to be playing with it at work tomorrow.

Meichih (and half of New York) must be ovulating a lot

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Women dress to impress when they are at their most fertile, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday in a study they say shows that signs of human ovulation may not be as mysterious as some scientists believe.

A study of young college women showed they frequently wore more fashionable or flashier clothing and jewelry when they were ovulating, as assessed by a panel of men and women looking at their photographs.

"They tend to put on skirts instead of pants, show more skin and generally dress more fashionably," said Martie Haselton, a communication studies and psychology expert at the University of California Los Angeles who led the study.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/10/women.fertile.fashion.reut/index.html

To Eat

Yesterday Jessica and I stumbled into a restaurant called City Bakery (http://thecitybakery.com/) and had lunch. It was delicious! I had caramelized French toast and mac and cheese. Yum! The food is sold per piece or by the pound (9.99/lb) and is organic. So it’s good for you AND for the environment! They are from LA, so you guys need to check them out.

The inside kind of looked like something from the 1940s. It felt like I was at the farmer’s market in Santa Monica – which is where I wished I was because I’ve been craving food from home (i.e. chain restaurant cuisine). When we’re back, Tony and I will be hitting up these joints:

- In N Out
- Del Taco
- Claim Jumper
- California Pizza Kitchen
- Souplantation
- See’s Candy
- Curry House
- SuperMex or Albertacos

This is just a tentative list… but you get the idea.

Note to Tony - FYI, we will also be going to the Cerritos Mall, Target, and TJ Maxx, so be prepared to shop til you drop!

California, Here I Come! (Right Back Where I Started From..)

Tony and I bought tickets for our trip home! We'll be back 12/21-12/31. I can't wait to see you all! Unfortunately we are flying AA (LAX, no food, no TV), but who cares! I'll be home!

It's 59 degrees today and as my coworker and I walked out of work together, I said, "Wow, it's really starting to feel like winter." She looked at me like I was retarded and reminded me that it's only fall. Duh... I've already busted out the "winter" coats that I used to wear (today I wore the reddish-orange one). Guess it's time for another shopping trip! =)

Am I Turning Into a New Yorker?

So there's this really annoying girl at work. She is very needy and constantly demands attention. She also doesn't do her work and makes a lot of personal phone calls during the day. I'll be working and she'll say, "Hey, wanna know something funny/weird/strange/scary?" And I now know better than to respond because it's usually something stupid, like a picture of cat holding a machine gun, or a funny forward that she wants to read to me, or a story about some guy she met at a dive bar that she wants to share with me. Now I repond, "No!" but she DOESN'T HEAR ME and still goes on to tell me her stupid stories (and cracks herself up while telling them - yeah, one of those).

Anyway, her birthday is this weekend and her one friend shipped her the new green ipod Nano. Had she been a normal co-worker, this would have been very cool and I would be happy for her. However, Annoying Girl would not stop talking about it and showing it off to everyone at every opportunity she got. So this is what happened:

AG: Look at my ipod!
Me: Cool.
AG: It's green!
Me: (Silence, while I continue to work.)
Other co-worker: (Silence, while she continues to work.)
AG: Green's my favorite color! I can't believe that she got this for me!
Me: (Silence, while I continue to work.)
Other co-worker: (Silence, while she continues to work.)
(Someone walks by)
AG: Look what I got for my birthday!!! It's a nano!!
Me: Don't you already have an ipod...??
AG: NOoo!!! I'm soooooo excited!

I told this story to Meichih, just to point out how annnoooooying my coworker is, and she said that I was BITCHY. Does that seem bitchy? I guess it was, a little, but the fact that I didn't notice that I was being a snarky b-word to begin with makes me question my good hearted California wholesomeness. What's happening to me? I still say good morning, excuse me, and thank you in appropriate situations to random people and I pride myself on being a friendly Californian stuck in New York. AHHHHH!!!

But I do have to say -- Meichih, it takes one to know one.

Meichih and I were at Kmart on Astor Place and she got so mad that the security guard wanted to see our receipts that she declared, "THIS IS SO RETARDED!" to the guy, snatched her receipt, and stormed out.

Meichih also told me about a time that a guy walking behind her was saying dirty things while she was out and about and she turned around and told him to SHUT THE F*** UP. Whaaaaaaaaa---? This is the same girl whose best come back before this to shout "Go home and eat your macaroni salad!" to racist guys in Newport Beach when they asked us for fried rice.

So, in conclusion, I don't think that I'm turning into a b-word just yet and I miss Meichih already.

Wah!

I had to say goodbye to Meichih today. We had a wonderful lunch at Chipotle, where we talked about nonsense and random things. It was so surreal, meeting up for a meal, eating, chatting, all while we're supposed to be saying goodbye. It was as if we would do it again next week, or some time soon.

I forget that simple things like meeting for lunch are things that are going to be hard to come by in the future. From here on out, it's going to hard (but worth the effort!) to meet up with my friends. I try to remind myself that even if I hadn't moved away, it would still be hard to get together, but it doesn't make it easier to accept. Everyone has to grow up and have their own life. Can't hang out because I have to cook dinner/watch the kids/clean the house. It's like what Frank said in Old School:

Frank: I told my wife I wouldn't drink tonight. Besides, I got a big day tomorrow. You guys have a great time.
College Student: A big day? Doing what?
Frank: Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.

Life is constantly evolving, isn't it?

A California Sunday

Tony took me to California Pizza Kitchen (the only one in the city) for dinner on Sunday night. As you all know, I LOVE the Original BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad and I've been fiending for it ever since we left California. It was so "California" and it made me feel so good to be there. Our server even turned out to be a homeboy from South Central. And Tony even played "Lisa" and ordered the Kung Pao Spaghetti with Shrimp (no chicken). Yum!

The Weather is Weird

The weather has been really weird. It's been cold and rainy this past week so I've been wearing coats and boots. It's so difficult to gage what to wear because I end up getting hot and sweaty from walking and the subway is really warm. I thought that the girls wearing skirts in 60 degrees with wind and rain were so dumb, but now I get it.

I finally bought rainboots too. It was so hard deciding on a pattern, since they're all rainboots and therefore ugly, regardless of color. I ended up getting some green plaid one - sounds pretty hideous, right?

More Glamour Pics

Per Emmy's request, more glamour pictures..

I like this one. We look like hobo singers on the road or something.

I wasn't supposed to be smiling. It was so hard. We found some purple sunglasses so Tony decided to wear them, again, in a serious pose.

Tony loves this one:

My Life List

Alright, here's on-going life list.

1. Buy a house.

2. Become vice president of marketing for a globally recognized consumer packaged good brand.

3. Start my own company.

4. Travel for pleasure around the world! Top on my list: Hawaii, Norway, England, Australia.

5. Start a family. I'm thinking three kids, but Tony says two.

6. Live and work in a foreign country, for a short period of time.

7. Work, but only because I want to, after the age of 50.

8. Figure out my finances and actually know my net worth.

9. Cook food that my family thinks is delicious.

10. Become a wise matriarch that imparts a love for books, reading, and accumulating knowledge to her family.

11. Stay in touch with family and friends.

12. Live a healthy lifestyle by eating fresh foods and exercising more.

13. Become a better public speaker.

14. Vote in every election, and know exactly what I'm voting for.

15. Master knitting and crocheting and make sweaters and blankets for children.

16. Volunteer.

17. Learn how to use my sewing machine.

18. See David Sedaris live.

19. Learn world history. What's going on in the Middle East?

20. Support Asian-American history.

21. Get published.

22. Stand up on a surf board in the ocean.

23. Attend a People's Court taping.

Glamour Pics Are In!

Our glamour pictures arrived yesterday. Can you believe that we took these about five weeks ago in Shanghai and we already have them in hand? I don't even have my wedding album yet! Go Chuech!

Here are a few of my favorites: We are supposed to be gypsies here:
Can you believe that this setting was supposed to be serious and Tony wore a fro (for some of the pictures)? It was so hard keeping a straight face.My handsome husband!
Here I am in a Tang Dynasty dress:
Love the lashes!

Agassi's Last

On Sunday, 09/03, Tony and I were lucky enough to catch Andre Agassi's last game at the US Open. To be honest, I wasn't that excited about going to the US Open and was secretly happy when it got rained out on Saturday. Then, much to my dismay, Tony's dad got replacement tickets for Sunday and we ended up going.

Everyone was tennis-crazy. Tony was so happy that we were sitting at Agassi's game, whereas I was somewhat bored and pulled out an old issue of Us Weekly that Meichih gave me to read. I started to pay attention because everyone was cheering and clapping for Agassi, and I'm glad I did. In the end, it was very emotional, I couldn't help but tear up when he finally lost and gave his speech.

Here are a hodgepodge of pictures, including one of the scoreboard right before Agassi lost.

Meichih is a COMEDIAN

Meichih came to my work today to have lunch with me. When she came, I took her to my company store so she could by some Lancome eye cream for her invisible wrinkles. After our purchase, we went to McDonald's (Meichih's choice, by the way) and sat down to eat. We were talking for a while when out of nowhere:

Meichih: I saw that they also have eye cream for dark circles and puffiness.
Me: Uh huh, Lancome makes lots of eye creams.
Meichih: (silence)
Me: Oh. Are you saying I need it???
Meichih: (Nods with a sad, grimacing face) Yeah, you do.

When did Meichih turn into a comedian?

Books on Google!

Google announced yesterday that they were going to make books available to download whose copywrites have expired. From their blog:

Download the classics
8/30/2006 09:38:00 AM
Posted by Adam Mathes, Associate Product Manager, Google Book Search

Starting today, you can go to Google Book Search and download full copies of out-of-copyright books to read at your own pace. You're free to choose from a diverse collection of public domain titles -- from well-known classics to obscure gems.

Before the rise of the public library -– a story chronicled in this 1897 edition of The Free Library – access to large collections of books was the privilege of a wealthy minority. Now, with the help of our wonderful library partners, we're able to offer you the ability to download and read PDF versions of out-of-copyright books from some of the world’s greatest collections.

Using Google Book Search, you can find The Free Library and many other extraordinary old books, such as:
* Ferriar's The Bibliomania
* A futurist from 1881's 1931: A Glance at the Twentieth Century
* Aesop's Fables
* Shakespeare's Hamlet
* Abbott's Flatland
* Hugo's Marion De Lorme
* Dunant's Eine Erinnerung an Solferino
* Bolívar's Proclamas
* Dante's Inferno

To find out-of-copyright books that you can download, simply select the "Full view" radio button when you search on books.google.com. (Please note that we do not enable downloading of any book currently under copyright. Unless we have the publisher’s permission to show more, we display only small snippets of text –- at most, two or three sentences surrounding your search term -– to help you determine if you’ve found what you’re looking for.)

Of course, this is just the beginning. As we digitize more of the world's books -- whether rare, common, popular or obscure -- people everywhere will be able to discover them on Google Book Search.

I downloaded Great Expectations and Pride and Prejudice to read secretly at work.

Feeling Old

I walked to work today in new shoes. I thought that I had already broken them in, so I decided not to wear flip flops and change at work -- I thought that I could make it all the way to work in them. Halfway there, the back of my right foot started hurting. Since it was raining and I had a big bag on my shoulder, I decided to wait until I got to work to put a bandaid on. When I got to work, I saw that my foot was bleeding! I've gotten plenty of blisters, but I've never made my foot actually bleed from shoes before.

I bandaided myself up and limped around work all day. Then my back started to hurt so I started doing (old lady) streches in my lame shared, currently cubicle-less office.

On my way home, my bag was super heavy from all the free makeup and magazines that I swiped at work. PLUS my back was sore and stiff, so I was leaning as I was walking. PLUS I had my gimp foot from the bloody blister. What's wrong with me? I'm getting old.

New Likes and Dislikes

Hello, long time no blog. I wanted to share some of my new likes and dislikes.

I've been liking the show "Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic Channel for sometime now. It is SO good! Tony and I can't stop watching it, even though we don't have a dog.

I also like bittorrent.com. I've been downloading albums at a time. I was able to download a bunch of songs by artists playing at SXSW - 127 songs! Woohoo! This works so much better than limewire, where I was downloading each song at a time, along with viruses (viri?) and spyware. I haven't tried downloading movies or TV shows yet, but I hear it's pretty easy.

Now to the dislikes. So far, it's been work. I don't like it. As a matter of fact, I kind of dislike it. I've been having to commute to New Jersey for the past two weeks to train with someone leaving on maternity leave. While in New Jersey, I haven't been able to sit down and go through thing with HR, I haven't seen my cubicle, I don't have a computer, and I don't have a phone. On top of all this, the commute is sometimes up to two hours each way. I finally get to start in New York on Monday, so I hope things get better.

One of the worst things about the job is that now that the person training me has officialy left on maternity leave, I've stepped in and started doing my job. I get complimented on the most asinine things. I've been told that I write good emails and I'm good at handling things. What kind of retarded people did they have working there before? If I'm stepping in and knocking their socks off after minimal training... what is there left to conquer?

Oh, and I also dislike that it's supposed be summer still but it's started to cool down. Blah blah east coast seasons.

Days 11-13 of Honeymoon

Here's what we did for the last bit of our honeymoon:

Wednesday, 08/02

Glamour pictures! Tony and I went to Chuech Studio in Shanghai to take pictures. I had been to the Chuech in Taiwan six years ago, so I was really happy to use them in Shanghai. Tony wanted to wear a 'fro for our gypsy set but we didn't realize that we were supposed to be serious in the poses. I couldn't keep a straight face! We'll get our album in a month or so, but here's a sneak peak:

After seven hours of mostly waiting to get our pictures taken, we finally finished and went to check out XinTianDi, a really modern ex-paty shopping/drinking/eating place. They have a new Din Tai Fung there, so we had delicious shiaolongbaos for dinner - yum! We had black sesame buns for dessert.

Elyse Sewell, from the first season of America's Next Top Model (who was robbed of first place), has her face plastered everywhere for this jewelry/diamond company.

Thursday, 08/03

This was pretty much our last day because we had to wake up super early the next day to catch our flight home.

We went to check out the Shanghai Development Museum. They have a huge model of the whole city and displays about their plan for growth.

After that, we went exploring and did some last minute shopping.

Friday, 08/04

Goodbye, China!

Day 9 and 10 of Honeymoon

So on Monday and Tuesday, Cyrus was with us and we had plenty of time to slow down and do whatever we wanted in Shanghai. We checked into the Crowne Plaza and were lucky enough to get bumped up twice and get access to the club floor (woohoo! open bar and free food!). Our hotel was in a pretty good area - old British/French Concession and near Hwa hai, Shanghai's Fifth Ave.

On Monday we went to visit the Shanghai Museum, one of China's finest. It's fascinating to see their exhibits because their artifacts are all so old, yet advanced. In California, I've seen stuff that was maybe 1000 years old, but looked primitive. At the Shanghai Museum we saw stuff that was super advanced for its time. Here's a wine vessel that's over 2000 years old - the tag says early 6th century - 476 B.C.

After the museum we walked across the street to Capitaland, a huge mall. It was like, 9 stories and completely filled with shoppers.

Guess what store this is:

For dinner we met up with Cyrus' friend at a nice restaurant in the French Concession. It was one of our pricer meals at about US$50 for the four of us.

On Tuesday we went to visit the Shanghai Aquarium, with the world's longest underwater tunnel. To be honest, I really wasn't looking forward to going, but I'm so glad we went. We got to see a lot of stuff that I've never seen in the US.

This is a weird albino turtle:

And here is a very frank story that they had on a huge display:

Afterwards we decided to be adventurous and wandered over to a place called "Insect Kingdom" which turned out to be a really sad wannabe zoo that sold the animals it had on display.

Cooling off in McDonald's with a taro pie! Yum!

Me and my bro in Pudong, with the Huangpu and Puxi behind us.

Day 8 of Honeymoon

The tour is over and Tony and I finally have time to sleep and explore on our own. We are in Shanghai, on the last leg of our trip, waiting for Cyrus to fly in to spend a couple of days with us.

Tony and I woke up early in the morning, had breakfast at the hotel, and went exploring. We found a big market, similar to Walmart. Here is a picture of their sloped walkway. People can push their grocery carts, strollers, anything with wheels onto the walkway. It's kind of dangerous because there aren't brakes on the grocery carts, but maybe I am just an overly concerned American. Outside of America, I haven't seen that much public concern with every little detail of safey.
Here I am inside the store in front of a huge display of Crest toothpaste. I thought it was so bright and colorful! It was cool to see where the locals shop. It's so much cheaper than the States and they have all the same brands.

Here's the McDonald's where Tony and I had a snack. The Big Mac, cheeseburgers, and chicken nuggets taste the same! Good job, McDonald's! The combo meals are about US$2-3. Cheap! The service was really slow, though. They took their time with everything.

We met up with Cyrus and went to Nanjing Lu, a famous shopping area that is across the street from the Bund.

For dinner, we went to a Mongolian hot pot place. It was really good. We had lamb, pork, even quail eggs. For the three of us, the meal cost less than US$15. Amazing!

I look sad because I have to eat lamb tail. And I am a lamb.

After dinner Cyrus took us to a beautiful lounge called Face Bar, located in the French Concession. It was the former residence of a British businessman and then was used as political offices. I was kind of surprised by the prices - US$6 for a mixed drink, but mostly expats with American/British salaries frequent the place.