:-)

This past weekend

I had a good time hanging out with my sister and grandpa back in Houston! We really didn't do too much, just grocery shopped, watched Chinese t.v. shows, played mahjong, and walked my sister's dog.
I had a sense that grandpa was really bored and was not interested in going out to do things such as strolling in the park, window shopping, etc. I think he still misses grandma a lot and it's just not the same without her around. He's planning to goto my aunt's house in NJ for a while, at least there are people there 24/7, and with the summer coming up, the heat won't be as much of a problem over there.
I also got the feeling that I don't feel grandma's presence as much in the house. Whatever people have said about the departed having moved on, I can almost say that it feels true in this sense. Oh, she's always going to be in my memories, and unless I get some major problems with my brain, nothing will change that. I hope she's having a blast wherever she is!
Now it's back to the daily grind! I'm grateful that I got to be in Houston! Not the best place in the world, but it's familiar and it's in Texas! (Best reason of all!)

Memorial Day

So far....

We're watching the season finale of "Heroes", definitely one of the best shows of this season! I think the rest of the major t.v. shows are crap, with the exception of "Friday Night Lights", and "How I met your mother" (Even though that show suffers from overacting).

I spent the whole day at work today, feeling a kind of invisible. No one said much of anything to me, I just pretty much sat in front of my desk, typing away and consistently checking the clock to see if time is close enough for me to dash out of the office and go home. While I am grateful for this job, I really cannot picture myself spending more than another 6-9 months in that office. Where there's a constant battle of those who wanted to get ahead by ass-kissing, those who are so steeped in the old ways of doing things that they simply refuse to hear of anything new and different, and of course, lots and lots of really smart and ambitious people whose sense of ambition is strong enough that you almost feel like you are chocking.

The GF is doing well at her job, with a combo of different personalities, and some body aches to go with it too.

We'll see how things go, but for now, I'll keep on typing away at my desk.

Floyd Landis

Dude, I'd love to believe that you didn't dope while you were biking your ass of during the tour, but I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what went on and if there were serious infractions by the authorities against you. If you're right, then I wish you all the luck and justice in the world, and then you can come back to competition again.

For now though, things don't look too good....

Greg LeMond

I don't know if any of y'all have heard about the
fiasco that have taken place during Floyd Landis's
pre-trial trial. Greg LeMond had testified yesterday
as a witness for the prosecution. Was the testimony
bizzare or what?
Look on just about any of the major news sites and there will be an detailed description of the whole event which took place.
I doubt that Mr. LeMond's testimy will have a lot of weight to the entire trial, since he never took part in any of the testing done on Mr. Landis.
I did feel sad for Mr. LeMond though, I got a sense that this was a man, whom, despite of his achievements, endorsements, and a sound business (He had his own bicycle company which he sold to Trek for a large amount of $), this man is still not satisfied. He gave me the impression that he just have to be in the limelight again. He just have to have his say in doping scandals of other athletes who had nothing to do with him whatsoever.
Okay, he had also claimed that he was sexually abused when he was six years old. If that was true, then I'm deeply sorry that he had to go through that ordeal. Perhaps that was something that should have stayed between him and his therapist. He might have felt that he needed to tell Mr. Landis this secret so that Mr. Landis would be courageous enough to admit to doping, but I fail to see the relevance. If Mr. Landis did indeed practice doping, that was on his own accords, wheras, Mr. LeMond's ordeal was probably not something that he had wanted to happen.

Happy mother's day grandma!

For your first mother's day in heaven!

I can't believe....

that I've just gave up on a job that'll pay me 80 grands a year! It was from one of those defense contracting firms who pimps out linguists to government agencies.(I can read and speak Chinese). After a lot of talking back and forth between the hiring company, the GF, me going to "interview" the site manager for that gig, and some people in my family, I decided that I'd rather take less $ for a bit more stability, and the chance to learn more about things in this job.... even if it meant feeling like a second fiddle for a bit longer.

I saved the offer letter as a souvenir, because who really knows when someone might offer me lots of $ again? Granted, my company is cheap, but I've got a good manager who makes sure that people get taken care of, and that's rare....so I'll stick around for a bit longer.

It's a cool Saturday night with a hint of a rainstorm, rather nice. We took the dog to the local dog park and had him running around off-leash. The dog greeted everyone and tried to keep up with the other dogs...you see, our dog don't exercise much (and that's my fault) and it shows. Now that we know where the dog park is, we'll try to make it a weekly treat for him!

Later this afternoon, we met up with my friend Chong, her hubby, and baby Constantine. They took us to the local Korean grocery store that she likes and I was really happy to know that someplace like that is in the area. We got some groceries and then some bread from the Korean bakery, with a delicious Korean lunch in between.

I was hoping that Chong would bring her family to see our humble apt., but then Constantine had to get his nap on, so we took a raincheck.

It was a good Saturday. :-)

To my GF

I just wanted to say that kudos to my GF for going through the rigors for returning to the workforce, trying to wake up early, and bravely dealing with all sorts of different people, not all of them easy to deal with.

Even if I may seem so tired lately, I still wanted to let her know that she's still the funniest, smartest, and the nicest GF there is!

MmmmMMmMmMmmmm!

For your eyes only

But I think some republicans think this way too....

Lately....

Life has been quite full, with a new cell phone, the GF starting a new job, longer walks with the dog, finally getting into some kind of rhythm at work, and finally getting to meet and hang out with Doc and Tragic from the famous "Doc in the Box" blog! They were in town for the Milbloggers' conference and got a lot of press coverage, do look at his interviews on CNN, and other media outlets! (I've enclosed their picture so y'all could marvel at what a gorgeous couple they are! Not only are they great looking, but they're funny as well as kind!....I'm not kidding!)

It's such a departure from the first several weeks of our lives in the D.C. area, with the broken down apartment, and the worries over jobs and money. I still haven't gotten reimbursed from my move yet, nor did I have been paid yet for my reserve drill, but life is definitely better now!

The GF finally found a job that she thinks that she'll enjoy, and I'd like to welcome her to the traffic and the hustle and bustle of working in the city!

Will post in more details later...right now I need to catch up on some sleep and get this crick out of my neck!