:-)

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!

Cold and rainy in the East Coast this weekend. For some, I guess it's a welcomed event, since part of the state (Va.) has been in a somewhat dry condition.

The GF and I have finally found ourselves another apt. to live in, and of course, with better quality of residence, there will be higher rent price too. Nothing an extra job or a miraculous promotion won't take care of. Most of all, I hope that we'll find a peace of mind finally.

Last night, the GF and I went to a friend's place to have dinner. We were supposed to have dinner at the local Koreatown, but on the way there, her baby threw up...and he threw up a lot! So, we had to goto her apt., where her husband cooked up some good pork chops for us to enjoy. Unfortunately, her baby did not get better with the vomiting and could not keep down pedialyte, so they called an ambulance and off we all went to emergency room. I hope that they're all doing a lot better now. These stomach viruses are just nasty to deal with, especially in babies.

I don't really know what it takes to live even semi-comfortably in this town, it looks like that unless you're earning in the 6 figures, then everything is a struggle. My friend and her husband, despite of both being highly educated and competent adults, still are struggling with monetary issues even with both working and doing what they can not to overspend and going into debt.

Will update more as long as internet access is obtainable.

In the meanwhile, feel better, little Constantine!

Update

We've all moved to DC and I've started work at my old/new workplace. Being the new kid at the job again is beginning to get a bit to old for my taste.

We've got a little dilemma that we're trying to deal with right now, and that is we are trying to move from one apt. to another. In the effort to trying to go cheap, we've landed ourselves on a ticking timebomb of a apt. No hot water, bugs, noisy neighbors, and a seemingly clueless managment are making us feel that we should (especially me) try to get the heck out of here as soon as we can!

Since we don't have internet access right now (I'll explain why later), we're at this diner near where I work and trying to use their free wi-fi so we can check on stuff. I promise that I'll give a more detailed update once things calm down a bit.

Hat tip to the pets and the GF, for all the stuff that they put up with from me!

Goodbye, J-Town!

I miss them

Happy birthday to my PQ

To the smartest, cutest, and the best smelling PQ on the planet, I love you! Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Ramen dog!

Update

Today's my 35th. birthday, and while I don't feel 35 mentally, I think physically, I am already feeling 35 and beyond!

The GF took me out on her motorcycle and we rode around town for a bit. The weather was really nice and that made the motorcycle ride really relaxing. Then we got some steaks and stuffed mushrooms for a great steak dinner! Thank you my PQ for a great birthday!

I also need to mention that we've found a ghetto apt. that we could maybe afford to rent in Va. This whole transition at work thing is happening really fast, and it was made more complicated by the fact that we had limited time to look for a place to live and make all the other arrangements. I don't know how my job will be from this point on, but I hope it'll get better from this point on. Both my GF and I are still longing to live back in Tx....and if I can somehow manage to find something to do back there, we'll be on the first U-Haul back!

The last few days has been stressful for us because of looking for a place to live, and fighting the nagging feelings of insecurity and the frustration of navagating the complicated roads of the DC Metro area....but the hotel bed was comfy and we had our faithful dog with us, so it wasn't completely that bad.

BTW, today is also the faithful dog's birthday! Well, we're not exactly sure when he was born, but it was 5 years ago today that we adopted him from Townlake Animal Shelter in Austin, Texas, so, happy birthday, Ramen dog!