ACK! so much stuff to do and so little time to do it. I always do this to myself--procrastinate with packing. It's about 1pm and my flight's in 7 hours and I have yet to even open up my suitcase. I need to pack like crazy and prep my condo so that it's not a dirty place to come home to----I have coming home to a dirty place.



Off to L.A. tonight to meet with the entire family--I'm really looking forward to it. Good food and just seeing everyone. I can't wait to give Christmas gifts too.



Speaking of---I got the most wonderful gift from Pierre: a weekend spa vacation sometime in January or February at the destination of my choice. I researched the other day and found the coolest place but it's a bit $$$. We'll have to see....



China doesn't seem that much colder than Seattle..which is good. I can basically just pack what I wear every day here. In fact, the weather forecast over this next week in Beijing is much nicer than Seattle--sunny and in the 40's.

whoa. It's been a whole month since I last posted---so much to tell. Well, I'll just start where I left off:



portland

It was an awesome trip over there for Thanksgiving--and indeed, I got the plasma tv I wanted for a really great deal. We all woke up at 5am the day after Thanksgiving and were at Best Buy by 6am only to see that the parking lot was completely full and the line to get into the store was about 2 blocks long. Once we got in, the line to checkout wrapped around the entire store. Complete insanity. I got a new cell phone while I was there--an upgrade to my older phone--the SPH i500--very cool. I really wanted a flip version of the pda phone because I hated how the screen and buttons were always exposed in the i300 version. This one is also much more compact. Besides, my i300 was falling apart after over 2 years with it. After leaving Best Buy, Pierre and I went cruising around town with Matt's little brother comparing plasma tvs in a hurry (a lot of the great deals were expiring at noon sharp). I ended up with a fantastic Zenith 42" EDTV Plasma Monitor from Circuit City---here it is on sale at Circuit City today: $3799.99. How much did I pay for it? $2340. Hot damn! Talk about the deal of the century. On 11/28, this TV was on special sale for $2599--which is already a great deal. And--since I had just recently moved, I got all these "welcome to your new home" coupons, including a 10% coupon from Circuit City--that's $260...bringing a grand total of $2340. AND keep in mind that I made my purchase in the great state of Oregon where there's no sales tax---I probably saved about $250 right there. Boy, I'm so excited---I just recently mounted the TV and it looks fantastic. I was seriously prepared to spend close to $4000 on a TV...and got away with half the price.



work

The first two weeks of December was pretty intense for me as I tried to launch the very last expansion store on the site for 2003---and that I did, only 8 days late! Quite an accomplishment considering that most of our launches this year slipped on average of 1.5-2 months. Check it out--the new Health & Personal Care store. Now you can buy anything from wheelchairs to vitamin C to condoms to makeup to hairdryers. Basically anything that you could buy at any local drugstore. It's pretty neat---this project wrapped up so fast, it's amazing. Ten thousand times easier than Sporting Goods was. Anyhow--support the new store and check it out!



dsl & itunes

I finally caved in and decided to get some high-speed internet at home instead of dial-up that I've been doing for the last 4.5 years. Isn't that funny? Here I am, working at Amazon but I've been dialing up at home all this time. I still have a land line because if I want to log into work from home, I have to dialup---so I figured that was all I really needed. Boy--am I excited...I've been missing out. Now I can finally get all those massive Windows software updates and patches that I get notification for...but couldn't download before because it was so massive. And the first thing I did was download iTunes for windows----what a DIFFERENCE it has made. It's way too easy to buy a song. But the best part is the software for synchronization with my iPod. With Musicmatch, it took FOREVER to put any song on my iPod---like, longer than it takes to burn a CD...which made putting music on my iPod a total pain and not something I really looked forward to doing. Now---it's like "zi-i-i-p!", done in less than 5 seconds for a whole album. I was just floored. I couldn't believe it and checked my iPod multiple times..but sure enough, those songs were there. Another great thing -- I can create playlists directly on my iPod...before, with Musicmatch, I had to create the playlist on my computer and then synchronize it. Remember what I was saying about how long it took to synchronize? You can see how I was deterred from creating playlists. And lastly, it's no time to put my iPod in and eject it..with Musicmatch, I'd have to start it over a few times just to get the damn thing to recognize my iPod..and when it did, it'd take eons to really load it up and see what songs were on it so that I could transfer more. I'm going to really get this thing loaded up before I head to China.



china

oh, so I'm going to China for the holidays with my family. I'll spend Xmas in L.A. and then take off the next day for a whirlwind tour of northern China. I really can't wait because I've never been to any of those places (beijing, shanhai, sian, the great wall). I'm so excited about this---gotta pack gotta pack...

I'm in Portland today---this is the first time in my life that I'm not in Kansas for Thanksgiving (my parents aren't even there). Jigna & Matt invited me & Pierre down to celebrate this holiday with Matt's family....I'm really looking forward to it as I've never had the opportunity to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. My family has always just shown up at the Wongs, around 6 or 7pm with lots of Chinese dishes. Lately, we've incorporated some sliced turkey and pumpkin pie...but for the most part, my Thanksgiving dinner has always evolved around Chinese dishes galore. This year, there's the turkey and the mashed potatoes and the stuffing....yumm...and we're eating at around 4pm! And tomorrow, we're going to wake up at an insane hour to take advantage of any 6-hour sales. I really really really want to get a plasma tv for my place---it would look so awesome in the huge space I have. Let's see....



Anyhow, Happy Turkey Day everyone!

i'm pooped. i spent much of the weekend painting my half bathroom downstairs and i'm still not done. I finally got all the walls done with at least a coat or two by this evening and i don't want to pick up the paintbrush again til tomorrow. this is so sad--it's just my puny little half bath...i thought it wouldn't be too much work. now i'm thinking why i didn't just hire a painter..especially with all the tricky pipes to paint around and my attempt at painting behind my toilet (i've got a nice little white spot that i couldn't reach) i guess it's just the thrill of painting my own place. overall, i think it's not too shabby of a job...but see, those are the chilling words: "not too shabby". it should be great! but no, i decided to paint myself..what was i thinking. i started off completely wrong, buying a roller with longer nap than i really wanted (1/2"), creating a more textured effect than desired...but now, I'm left with the look on one wall (i switched rolls). ack. although, i must say, I do love the color that i picked out. for the rest of this place, i'm hiring someone--both to pick colors for me and to do the freakin' job.



my project at work has just started going downhill. ugh..the stress.

Sorry, it's been awhile. Honestly, I hadn't really opened up my computer in awhile being in the new place...and since I sold my desk in pursuit of a much better one, I haven't really had a chance to have an "office space" to sit down and update my blog.



Most of my days have been spent figuring out how to arrange my new place and shopping around for new furniture and ideas for making my place as hip as it can be. My most exciting purchase---a queen size Tempur-Pedic bed. I'd always told myself that the minute I bought a place, the first thing I would do would be to upgrade to a queen tempur-pedic. My new mattress arrived about a week after moving in...and shortly after, I bought the Ikea Malm bed to compliment my new mattress. Love it. Today, I finally bought an area rug for my living room--it's a really cool Toulemonde "perle" colored slightly "fuzzy" rug. I got a great deal for it too...as I hopped in the store JUST as they were starting to mark up the prices..but I caught the price before they changed...and got a 15% discount since it was the floor sample. There's still so much potential for this place and so much I need to do...especially in my 2nd bedroom/office. Right now, it's just holding my old bed and random stuff.



I picked out some red paint ("red drum") to paint my half bathroom downstairs from Home Depot over the weekend--can't wait to paint! I'm such a nerd...I know absolutely nothing about where to begin and even bought two books on painting at home.



Work hasn't been too bad lately either--at least compared to Sporting Goods. The current project I'm working on has its ups and downs and hurdles to cross...but overall, I'd say that I'm working with a great project team and we definitely have less drama to deal with. Thank goodness.



I need more books. I have this MASSIVE floor-to-ceiling bookshelf and it's really sad how few books I have. Honestly, I never really had much room for books in the past and just limited myself from buying many books. Now, I can just go crazy. I already spent over a hundred dollars on some books last week. Will have to hit Twice Told Tales some time to get more.

I just took a shower for the first time in my condo. My bathroom---like, I can paint it red or change all the tile if I want to...because it's mine! What a cool feeling: ownership. I spent most of yesterday moving---thanks to Phoebe, Ray, Peter, Gilles, Rabah, Dave & Fred for helping me out! It was all done in about 4 hours. Whew. Had a lil' 10 footer from UHaul and we did it all in 2 trips. I brought Misha over last night after the move to introduce him to the new place...he's still flipping out a bit...walking everywhere, exploring, meowing a lot. He's figured out where the litterbox is. Good. Now I've got tons and tons of unpacking to do. I don't even know where to begin....



Last night, headed out to dinner with Eugene, Juli & Todd at Il Terrazo Carmine in Pioneer Square--boy, it was yummy...and boy, it was expensive. Afterwards, we headed over to the Stadium Exhibition Center to see The Strokes, this NYC punk band for some good 'ol fun music. There, I saw Gary! Random. Anyhow, it was fun to catch up with everyone--we had a lot of good laughs. The Strokes were fun to listen to also.....that's the only word I can use to describe it..fun. Y'know, music where most people around you are just nodding their head like crazy in rhythm in addition to shaking their bodies. Just pure fun.

Whoa--this is trippy. Check this out--it's a non-animated gif...just an optical illusion. A friend of mine just sent this over.



Last night, I went salsa dancing for the first time in MONTHS. It was great! I can't wait to start up classes again next week. It was pretty eventful---around midnight, some girl's nose got broken. A crowd started forming in the corner and next thing I know, there's a girl lying on the floor with blood all over her white pants. She was likely doing some insane spin and got elbowed in the face. She was kinda small and short--so vulnerable. Ugh...I felt so bad for her. What a shock. I'm not surprised though--it gets so crowded there and I've had so many close calls...spinning around, almost running into someone. Lord knows how many times my feet have been stepped on and vice versa.

Wow, my life's been eventful lately. After the craziness of all the family during the month of September, I finally got my life back together....and *finally*---bought a condo! I am now officially a homeowner. I LOVE my new place---moving in 2 weeks. It can't get any better than this: loft, deep tub, great kitchen, Capital Hill, hardwood floors...I'm absolutely ecstatic and scared at the same time. It's been crazy dealing with all the financing and the papers that I have to sign---the numbers are mind-boggling. Locking in a rate was like a big gamble: "Should I do it now? or should I bet it'll be better tomorrow?" I ended up with a 5.375% rate--not bad...still low..could've been better had I tried earlier. Ah well. Now on to the exciting world of furniture shopping--my current furniture isn't quite "hip" enough for this new place--not that I'm selling everything..but I definitely need new furniture for the extra 700 sq ft that I'm not accustomed to living in.







Vancouver was sad but wonderful at the same time. I really didn't know how I'd react at the funeral---but it was sadder than I expected. Everyone was crying...it was just so heartbreaking. The wake was the most difficult---seeing him there in that open coffin was too much. He looked nothing like the last time I saw him, full of energy and all smiles. The wonderful part of Vancouver was meeting all these relatives I'd never met--especially a first cousin, Anthony. We hung out a lot for those 2 days and it was just so nice to catch up with someone that I'm so close to in lineage yet never knew. I also met many of the "sons of the oldest brother of my grandmother--but had a different mother than my grandmother"--way complicated once you go back a few generations.......

My entire life, I've been fortunate enough to not really know anyone to pass away---either a friend or family relative that is remotely close. This past Monday, my great uncle Season in Vancouver passed away after battling cancer for months. So sad. He was such an active, healthy man for his age, running the marathon as often as he could. But this cancer hit him hard. I'm only happy that he's no longer suffering. He's one of the few relatives I have that actually spoke English...making it easier for me to converse with him and talk about things that I never have the ability to talk about with my other non-English-speaking relatives. My parents flew up here immediately, thinking that the funeral would be sooner than later...but it's not til Tuesday morning. I'll be attending the wake and funeral...both being the first of such events for me. It'll be interesting...I'm not sure how sad I may be...it may surprise me.

i'm so sick. i've been sick for the last 4 days and haven't been able to go to work at all this week. blegh. what bad timing too---i feel bad that my manager has had to deal with the very last minuteness of the craziness of my 2 projects. all i've been doing has been sleeping or sitting on my couch, drinking tea and taking sudafed. this cold just won't go away. a visit to the doctor yesterday didn't help much either...he just told me to just continue drinking fluids and taking sudafed. ugh. i actually haven't been sick for awhile. i was in fairly good health all year long. funny how i got sick just as the weather took a turn for the cold here in seattle. well...it's not that coincidental. doesn't surprise me. my body doesn't take the changing of the seasons very well.



this last week has been hard in regards to my condo-hunt. i finally found another place that i really like...as did pierre! we both put out an offer on the same day. mine was a bit tough because it was already sold contingent...but it'd been like that since april. apparently, the first buyers have had a hard time selling their house. strangely--they sold their house the same day i put out my offer! now, i have to sit through their inspection...but if all goes well, i lose the place. ugh. but pierre got his condo--i'm happy for him. it's a great unit.



all in all, i've put out 3 offers and they've all fallen through. i'm so tired of all of this. buying a place is tiring.

Unfortunately, I didn't get that place I put an offer on...er...well, they countered with a price I wasn't willing to pay. So back to the drawing table. With parents in town, we've been zipping from condo to condo...mind boggling. I'm so tired of all of this. I just want to find a place to call home. We've found some nice ones...it's just a matter of deciding on neighborhoods.



I forgot to mention that one of my very first friends in Seattle--Jon Pak--moved back to Philly to start med school. Wow. I spent so much time with Jon back in the early days of Seattle, going to Ikea together, getting drinks at the Baltic Room or dancing at I-Spy, finding our first apartments only blocks from each other. At his going away party, Jon reminded me that I gave him a ride back to his corporate housing at Harbor Steps on his first day at work. He's such a good man and will always be surrounded by love and good friends no matter where he goes. Best of luck in med school, Jon. Keep in touch.

One week later and I'm still battling jet lag. I can't sleep at night for the life of me. Well, I can sleep but I'm falling asleep super late...making it incredibly hard to wake up in the mornings. Argh.



Crazy week--catching up with work, actively looking at condos.



I found a place that I just love--put an offer out there today. Ah---the nervousness of it all. My parents are flying out tomorrow to go up to Vancouver to visit my sick uncle. They're stepping with all this condo business and getting my mind racing. It's killing me. The stress of it all. I'm really excited about this place---should find out tomorrow what the story is with it. It's so different than all the other places I looked at. My parents are trying to convince me otherwise...[sigh]



Anyhow, I don't know why I'm working so late. It's 10pm and I need to eat dinner.

it's really late (4:41am) and i can't sleep for the life of me. i tried so hard to readjust myself during my entire trip back...sleeping when it was night time in seattle, staying awake when it was daytime. it was so easy for me to adjust and sleep when i first got to bangkok...not much luck coming back i guess. poor misha--he keeps trying to sleep and cuddle up next to me..but i keep tossing and turning. i may have to pop in a dvd and see if that puts me to sleep. argh--i don't want to be all groggy at work tomorrow.

in the entire 11 days i spent in thailand, i never saw the moon. how odd.



i'm now in the tokyo-narita airport...not quite sure what i'm going to do over the next 7 hours. i'm kinda hoping they have one of those excursion things for passengers with long layovers, much like in amsterdam...but i have a feeling tokyo is quite far away from this airport. ah well...i'll figure something out. i decided to check my bag in, with the assumption that there's a snowball's chance in hell that i'm going to be able to jump on an earlier flight to seattle. it's so sad---anna arrives in nyc only 13 hours after i arrive in seattle--and she leaves 24 hours after i do and has much farther to travel. i'm kicking myself for not spending a bit more and getting the more direct flight. what kills me even more is that i have over 35,000 miles with northwest--enough to upgrade to business class; however, because i spent so little on my flight, i'm not allowed to upgrade, even with my miles. ridiculous. that's why i like southwest--they don't care how much, how little, you've spent on a flight--if you've earned the miles, you've earned the reward. plain and simple.

for our first day back in bangkok, we just shopped shopped shopped. we headed to siam center where there are malls galore and wandered around for a few hours. at one point, all the lights went out in the building we were in, reminding anna of the blackout in nyc a couple weeks ago. in the evening, we ate dinner at our favorite restaurant in the hotel, hamilton's, and then headed out for the famous Suam-Lum Night Bazaar. There are over 3,000 stalls there and there were beer gardens and concerts all over, complete with fireworks due to the celebration of some sort of festival. We didn't last long, however, since we had to wake up early the next day.



In the morning, Anna & I bid our goodbye to Julia to go on a day excursion to Kanchanaburi. We first headed to a war cemetery where thousands of foreign soldiers (mostly British & Australian) are buried from World War I, after helping the Japanese to build the railroad from Thailand to Burma. All in all, over 16,000 soldiers died during the building of this railroad--quite morbid. We then headed to the actual railroad--specifically the part that is the "bridge on the river kwai". After that, we took a bamboo raft ride down a river over to some Elephant Trekking! Anna & I got on top of an elephant and took a short ride around the area, even for a little swim along the river! What a touristy thing for us to do eh? Anyhow, we then saw a short elephant show where the two of us got "elephant massages" (the elephant essentially lightly tapped us on our backs)...then we ate some lunch, took a train ride for half an hour along the railroad, & then sat in the mini-van for the long 3 hour journey back to Bangkok....



Surprise! Julia was still in the room! For a more complete goodbye, the 3 of us headed up to the fancy schmancy Tiara restaurant for a final toast. Anna & I then literally crashed and didn't wake up til the next day.



Today, Anna & I went shopping again---to the much larger Chatuchak Weekend Market. Whew--that place was overwhelming but quite enjoyable to go to. The bargains there were incredible---Anna & I both got a small lamp that we LOVE for less than $10.



[sigh] I have to wake up quite early in the morning (3am) to catch my 6am flight--I might as well not sleep. Not really looking forward to my journey---I spend a good 10 hours of it just in layovers: 7 hours in Tokyo and 3 hours in Hawaii. ugh. It's going to be a looooong day tomorrow. Sadly, I get in late in Seattle--10pm--and so won't have much time to recuperate before heading back to work the next day. Ah well. This has been such a wonderful, restful, peaceful trip. I had great company, ate great food, indulged in more massages than I think I have ever received in my life and really caught up in all my lost sleep from the past few months. This is absolutely what I needed after my crazy project launch. Time to head back to work and launch another store!

btw--all my entries are still in seattle time..although i'm in thailand. if you're confused by the timestamp, that's why.

well. today was quite the adventurous day. for the first time in the history of my web log, i'm going to have a guest writer---ms. julia cassaniti--to describe today, as she is such a beautifully verbose writer......



A nine-transport kind of day



The day started out like any other - a knock on our pastel bungalow well before 6 am, a sunrise over the silent water of the Gulf of Thailand, a non-swim in the curvy pool and we're off, missing the songtauw pickup and hailing a cab to the dock, to go to the mainland of Surat Thani. Of course, the dock we go to is (of course) not the one we're actually to leave from, and the bus scheduled to bring us to it is 5 minutes gone - the three of us jump on the back of waiting motorbike taxis and speed bond-like across the island [Audrey: "Anna & I FEARED for our lives"; Anna: "I was thinking about my funeral and who would speak and if my mother would be mad at me for dying in such a stupid way"], cutting ahead of the bus barrelling down just as we spot water. The slowboat of two hours meanders its way past some spectactular islands as Audrey's magazine flies out of her hand in the wind and Julia climbs over the fence with the sign NOT ENTRY to retrieve it, waiing to the disgusted bridge-man leaning out watching. The transport continues as we're shuttled onto our aircon bus for an hour to town - on getting there many people are looking out for our welfare, asking us "Where you go?" and "You go Samui? You go Phuket? Bangkok? OK Tuk-tuk - 10 baht". Disoriented the three intrepid, burnt explorers find our way (via pickup) to a vegetarian restaurant, where we point and nod to noodles and ginger, ready again to brave the throbbing chaos of early morning Surat Thani. Two hours later a phone card has actually been procured, Julia and Audrey walking the streets as Anna valiently guards the luggage and chats it up with the lady-boy at the internet cafe.



The Wat Son Mok Forest Monastery is the destination, a renouned sprawling center an hour away, where Julia will spend a 10 day retreat at the first of September and her kind and benevolent friends have come to drop her off for a night. On arriving via large orange bus with many flowers and hacking smoking women we arrive at the grounds. The grounds are sprawling and strange, with robed monks wandering around distantly, and we wander around confusedly until we collide, figuratively, into each other. We're then led into the Women's Quarters, which should be more appropriately entitled the Women's Ward: Barbed-wire fences, thick gates around cement, bars on windows in the cement cell, a cement bed and wooden pillow. The accomodation is fine, mosquito net and all, almost charming in its rustic minimalism - it's the barbed wire and heavy locks, the obvious inferiority of the women (head warden: don't walk alone. Don't go to the meditation hall. Don't think you're equal to the men, who have the rest of the 5/6 of the place to themselves.) - as this is accompanied by a dramatic rape story of a couple of weeks ago we look at each other and, after laughing near tears back in the room at our sorry position, leave. Julia doesn't have to be there until the 31st, 4 days away, and Anna and Audrey are ready to never set sight on the place again, so we think, what should we do? The thought comes in a flash: Bangkok, a good 15 hour train-ride but only 45 minute flight away. And, pickup truck ride later, we're at the airport, booking Royal Executive Class tickets on the economy-full flight to our favorite 5-star city. The flight is, as they say on Thai, smooth as silk. At this point we're beyond tired, that absurd time when everything, just one step off, seems purposefully bizzare. At the baggage claim we tromp around restlessly, only to realize everyone else had gotten their bag but Audrey. It's lost! We ask the belt-man desperately, as he points quietly to the next baggage belt over, where Audrey's bag sits silently alone, the whole flight come and gone. A taxi ride and then we're Home: The Dusit Thani, our favorite all-inclusive suite with three rooms and vases and bed-side air-control and crystal glasses and swimming pool, spa, buffet breakfast and stunning vista in the heart of the Thai capital.



Of course we don't sleep, as any sane person would, and instead, after captivated for a full two hours by a castaway tom hanks, trip over furniture and find our way outside, across the street, to the tourist-crazed, redlight-district, "you wanna buy a rolex? polo shirt? ping-pong show?" Pat Pong. We've wandered around now for a few hours, well after midnight, too energized even to sit down for a drink. Weaving in and out of streets, it is time for Anna, Audrey and Julia to go to sleep.

we were out in chaweng until midnight last night---that was late for us! amazing how on vacation, we've been going to bed so early and waking up pretty early (usually around 8). lots of shopping in the chaweng district last night--it was a pretty hoppin' place.



this morning, we jumped in our jeep (i must say, one of the better decisions we made on our trip---i love the freedom of having this jeep) and drove out to na muang waterfalls which was gorgeous, though it was quite the hike to get up there in our flimsy flipflops. i've gotten really used to driving on these roads...though a bit scary at times. i never know when a motorbike is around me..and people pass each other all the time, so i often see another car coming straight onto me.



we've returned the jeep and are just going to lazily enjoy the rest of the day. we have to wake up very early tomorrow morning to jump on a boat to surat thani and then bus it to the forest monastery with julia--should be really interesting!

yesterday was brutal for all of us. well...not that it was a horrible day at all...it's more that we are *feeling* the activities of yesterday. the day started off with us jumping on a speedboat, first to pick up some other people at koh pha ngan and then off to the marine park. we were all riding at the front of the boat, with julia & i sitting on top, catching the cool breeze. little did we know how rough the trip would be---we were going against the current and hitting some major waves. anna would bounce above her seat like a foot before landing hard back down. julia & i were constantly getting splashed by water. it was crazy! anyhow, after enduring that for a bit, we finally landed at the marine park's headquarters, which was this island paradise, for lunch. ah--what an oasis this place was, especially after our long, bouncy boat ride. after eating, we jumped in some kayaks for a not-as-exciting-as-we-had-expected-it-to-be kayak trip around the park...which was really just going in a big circle around a smaller island. after getting back, we just swam and lay in the very soft, white sand. we then jumped back in the boat to head to another small island (the whole marine park is made up of 42 small islands) where we climbed up to the top for a gorgeous view of the islands, in addition to viewing the "Emerald Lake", a lake whose source of water comes from a small tunnel fed from the water. This lake was the "inspiration" for The Beach. Afterwards, we got back in the boat for a much nicer, cruising ride back to Koh Samui.



In the evening, Anna & I indulged in another massage at this place that we have now called the "Temple of Love"--really, there's just a lot of red light and red curtains. Very nice.



This morning, we all woke up completely in pain and soreness. Julia & I headed into town to rent a jeep (originally, we were going to get motorbikes...but i freaked out a bit for my own safety)---I'm the driver since a) I know how to drive, and b) I know how to drive manual. But it's so crazy! That is--everyone drives on the left side of the road here, so the whole car is flipflopped around...takes a bit getting used to. The drivers' seat is on the right side of the car, the gear shift is to my left, etc....but it's not too bad. Pretty impressed with myself. Anyhow, so we took the jeep and drove to see the "big buddha"....unfortunately, I started feeling really really faint. The heat plus my soreness plus my sunburns just made me feel awful. perhaps I was dehydrated. Well, whatever it was, we had to go back to our bungalow where I had to pass out for about 2 hours. Ugh. But it was much needed.....after waking up, Anna & I headed to the Peace Tropical Spa for....



...another massage! Ooooh, this one was fabulous. We both got an "oil massage" with some essential oils. This place was just an oasis of relaxation. It was just what we needed....Anna & I were so sore...and after the massage, we felt so much better.



We've been joking with how often we've been getting massages...ah, the luxury. I'm getting spoiled here since it's so freakin' cheap!



Anyhow, we're in Chaweng right now, waiting to get our plane tickets from Surat Thani back to Bangkok (after Anna & I drop Julia off at the Forest Monastery just north of Surat Thani)....and then get dinner and check out the nightlife here.



Whew.

It's really heaven here--the scenery is just ridiculously gorgeous. The three of us spent all day just relaxing and lounging around. It started early with a complimentary breakfast..and then we headed to the beach. The ocean water is fantastic to swim in. From where we are, we can see the island's golden Buddha afar--it's really shiny in the sun. We then changed to a different bungalow where there were 3 separate beds...much nicer...and then spent the rest of the day at the pool. Tough life. Anna and I splurged--we both got not one but TWO massages today! hey--at $5-$10/hour, it's hard not to! The one we just got after dinner was surreal...it was in this candlelit place with gorgeous red thai silk hanging on the walls. This is a life I can get used to....



Admittedly, I'm still trying to get my mind off of work. It's hard...but it'll come.



Tomorrow, we're going to go snorkeling and kayaking at the Ang Thong National Marine Park...can't wait!

yay! i'm in thailand right now..and i feel like we've been doing so much. anna & i arrived late late on thursday night, greeted by a "sawadee" by julia at the airport, who quickly whisked us off to the very fancy & nice Dusit Thani Hotel in downtown bangkok. the next morning, we headed to khao san road -- the "backpackers' ghetto" -- and check our email really quickly. then--it was off to wat po in a tuk-tuk where we indulged in an hour long thai massage---oh so wonderful. after that, anna & i walked around the grand palace for an hour....we then headed back to the hotel, took a swim in the pool and then had dinner. today, after eating our free breakfast at the hotel, anna & i checked out the spa--she got a pedicure and got a themoactive mudwrap...and then it was off to the airport to our where i am now...



Ko Samui! It's a gorgeous island in the south of Thailand. We're currently in a small little village called Bophut staying at a bungalow called "Peace". The water, the sun, it's so beautiful. We'll be here for a few days....absolutely delighted.

last saturday night, pierre and i had the most amazing dinner at The Herbfarm--the theme was "A Basil Banquet": Nine courses, Six different wines, Five hours. Whew. The food ranged from yellow corn soup to lamb to salmon, etc etc...Highly recommend this to anyone in the area.



Work was super hard upon coming back. This project is just dragging on and on....of course, we want it to be the best and it will be a kick-ass store...we just have some bugs to work out and want to increase the selection.



Anyhow, I'm finally on vacation. I'm in the Narita airport in Japan right now with a 3-4 layover before heading to Bangkok. It's been a long trip---I started at 8am this morning (er..yesterday..since I crossed the Int'l Date Line) in Seattle and went to Honolulu. Now, I'm just waiting for Anna to get here eventually..and together, we'll meet Julia. So tired...want to sleep...must stay up.

Wow. What a week. Let me recap:



Saturday, 8/9

As I expected, I got over to Pierre's around 4:30am to find him barely packed. We finally left his apartment around 5:20am, arriving at the ExtraCar parking lot---a service I hadn't tried before (I usually go with SeaTacpark.com), but they had some good rates so I was curious. Wrong. Their customer service was horrible. I had to give them all this information which was already previously supplied on the website. Really poor. Very disappointed. As a result, they wouldn't wait to take me to the airport and we had to wait 10-15 minutes for the next shuttle to pick us up. We arrived in the terminal around 5:55am (for our 6:15am international flight) to, of course, find out there was no way we would make our flight. Even if we had arrived an hour before that, I don't know if we would have made it. We then spent about 45 minutes with a ticket agent, finally deciding to try standby all the way there via Los Angeles. We first attempt the 8am standby to L.A. (the "harder" flight to get on) and get on! Yay! One down, one more to go. We hang out in LAX for a few hours...and well...we never make it on the flight, although (we find out later) that our bags continued onto Mexico. So there we were, in L.A. for a night, without our bags. No problem. We got a "distressed passenger voucher" to stay at the Westin, which was really nice. Then we rented a car and got lunch, going to Greenfield's Brazilian Bar-B-Q Steakhouse upon recommendation of the Thrifty guy. Oh my god--it was incredible food. For $21/person, we had all you can eat buffet--it was okay. But the best part--the waiters kept walking around with HUGE skewers of meat to serve you: chicken, sausage, t-bone, filet, ribs, etc.... all slowly cooked over an open fire. It was sooo delicious. After lunch, we drove over to Monterey Park to surprise my grandparents--boy, they were surprised to find out I was standing right outside their door! After spending some time there and stumbling over my Chinese, we headed out for a drive around Hollywood, Rodeo Dr. and Beverly Hills just to drive around...and eventually headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, 8/10

We finally arrive in San Jose del Cabo! The hot weather slaps us so hard--but it feels good. I was immediately conned into thinking the timeshare guy was actually the shuttle guy. After spending way too much time with the guy and eventually refusing his offer, we realize we missed the shuttle out to the hotel and are left with only the option of an expensive $65 "private taxi" to our hotel. Not happy with this, we consider renting a car---only to be "helped" by an airport employee who, in the end, just drove us over to the other terminal to show us that there were other shuttles--thus "saving us a lot of dinero" and then expecting a tip. [sigh] welcome to mexico. We jump on the shuttle and get to the Westin Regina Hotel which was just gorgeous. It was an open air lobby and just so bright. The room was incredible and spacious with a balcony facing out to the ocean. After settling in, we changed and headed out to one of the seven pools at the resort to finally sit down, have a strawberry colada and relax. We finished the evening with a fancy schmancy dinner at Arrecife, the fancy schmancy restaurant at the resort...and fell asleep really quickly with such good food in our stomachs.



Monday, 8/11

Happy birthday to us! If I haven't mentioned it already, Pierre and I bizarrely share the same birthday. It started off a bit rocky unfortunately. Once again, we were led into being invited into a "first time visitors' breakfast" (coupled with 50% off all activities). We realized soon after that it wasn't just a breakfast but another skillfully operated attempt at getting us to buy some 43 year vacation package. ugh. After about 2 uncomfortable hours of that, I saw Pierre storm off angrier than I had ever seen him in my life. Ah well--we recovered fast and immediately took advantage of the activities discount and booked an ATV tour trip for later in the afternoon. After resting by the pool again for a bit, we headed out for an ATV Tour out in the desert. It was soooo much fun! It was a 3 hour guided tour with so much freedom to drive around and explore on our own. After getting more comfortable, I drove as fast as 65 km/hr! (although very briefly--it was a bit scary) It just felt incredible to ride through the wind like that, out in the open desert. After that completed, we headed back to the hotel, changed and went out to Cabo San Lucas, the larger of the two "Cabos", about 21 miles from the hotel. We grabbed a seafood dinner at a restaurant recommended by our taxi driver---saw the biggest oysters ever--the kind that you can only eat by chewing and chewing..ew. I eventually had to just cut it up because I'm the "slithering down the throat" sort of oyster eater only. But I got a lobster tail that was so yummy. Together, we ate so much food. Great birthday dinner. Finished off the evening getting a drink at a club called Kaboo.



Tuesday, 8/12

Woke up early to catch the 9am shuttle back into Cabo to join a snorkeling tour which also just amazing. We saw pelicans, sea lions, a manta ray flip flop out of the ocean, and of course lots and lots of fish. We fortunately joined a very small tour---me, pierre, 2 others and our 2 tour guides. Throughout the day, I was so happy that I wasn't part of the 60+ person snorkeling tour boats that we saw. It was a lot nicer to just hang back with a smaller group. After snorkeling, we saw someone on the marina carrying a large marlin that they had just caught--it was huge! We then grabbed some lunch (i was loving all the guacamole I was eating) and then walked around town for a bit, shopping for jewelry and random things. Headed back to the hotel to chill next to the pool again. I then decided I wanted an oceanview massage as the sun set. They have these tents propped up right on the cliffside--quite private. My god--I'll never forget this massage. There's nothing like relaxing like that while the wind blows by and the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks. [sigh] Finished off the evening with a dinner at one of the hotel buffet restaurants where there was all you can eat steak and lobster tails! I ate so much good food on this trip...



Wednesday, 8/13

Time to leave! We spent the morning getting some breakfast and chilling by the pool a bit more. It was oh so hard to leave. Caught our flight in the afternoon and was back in Seattle by 8pm, having dinner at Figaro. We found Ludo and Jean-Michael there---Jean-Michael had apparently recently started working there and was our waiting for the evening. Anyhow, delicious food again. Came home. Found Misha eagerly waiting for me. I love my cat.



Thursday, 8/14

Got to work at 9:30am to hear a "Finally!!! She's back!!" No wonder. Crazy things happened with my project while I was gone. I ended up getting SLAMMED at work, working until 2am. Nothing exciting about the day except to get a phone call from my brother since he was in NYC and the huge East Coast Blackout had occurred and he wanted to know if I could check on the internet about any eta for electricity to be back up since his car was stuck in a parking garage. He told me people were climbing out of sewers from the subways below...crazy.



Friday, 8/15

...which brings me to today. Crazy day at work again. It's 9:48pm and I'm still at work, working on some crazy bug, feeling like I'm still in an intense launch mode. I'm not happy and I'm hungry. I should leave. Pierre and Jaiss are hanging out at the Cactus Club Restaurant. Yeah, I should leave. See how exciting my real life is?



I am soooo happy that I already have my tickets and have planned to be out of here, yet again, for Thailand this coming Wednesday. My mind still needs some clearing up before I can really get back into full work mode again--or else I'll scream.

It feels good to have launched. We have a big bug today---and I'm proud to say that I enabled the fix--wahoo! So far, so good--site looks good. We just have some small things to clean up. Our selection is going to get bigger and bigger. So exciting.



but i'm really tired right now. the flight to mexico leaves in less than 4 hours. we're supposed to leaving seattle in about 2.5 hours to go to the airport. i'm worried as pierre's not picking up his phone...so i'm really scared he's going to sleep through all this and i end up scrambling trying to wake him up last minute. argh. i get too nervous when it comes to the night before a trip. i've probably packed too much. ah well.



i just can't wait to close my eyes and sleep. the idea of laying on a beach in cabos sounds so wonderful.

i'm very tired. i just got home from work. should expect the site up and online in about an hour. [knock on wood] now this is the real drama of a project launch--staying there til late into the night, making decisions about whether or not to go/no go near midnight. ha ha. i want so much to stay up and watch this flip online. i'm too tired to do that though--and i still have to run a conference call in about 6 hours.



came home and found a stray cat in my apartment's garage. felt bad for it. it had the most bizarre meow...it was like a really really loud MUHEOW!! and a fairly low tone (quite annoying if you ask me)---which is completely opposite to Misha's cute little high pitched "meow". I went up to it and it was rubbing against me like crazy hungering for someone to pet it and scratch its back. way more hyper than what i was used to with misha. went upstairs and got some cat food and brought it back down so it wouldn't starve.



speaking of cats, i completely missed misha's vet appointment tonight. bummer. this project launch just killed everything. i also missed betina's going away party. argh. (she's moving to san francisco)



okay--i need to sleep.

we're finally launching. content is pushing. it'll be online by 5am hopefully. it's been a loooong day. i can't wait to go on vacation.



speaking of, pierre and i booked a last minute flight to los cabos, mexico for this saturday--it was a great deal. i cannot wait until I am sitting on a beach, reading a book.

i'm really tired. i've been working a lot. this weekend was probably THE sunniest, warmest weekend seattle has seen all year and i spent most of it in my window-less office. i just can't wait til my launch actually gets out the door....it's so close....i can feel it. it's going to be a rockin' store. i can't wait.



the one time i did get out was on saturday to attend olke & eileen's wedding out on bainbridge. oh...it was so beautiful and simple and serene and perfect. they had the wedding in their very very large backyard and the setting was just perfect. the weather was great, everyone was relaxed, happy, and laidback. the food was great, the ceremony was gorgeous---it was difficult to hold back tears as eileen broke down while reading out her vows to olke. those two are completely in love and i am so happy for them. i remember hanging out with olke all the time when i first moved here---one of the first friends i had in seattle. we would all watch him go from one short relationship to another...but eileen was totally different. he definitely fell in love with her right off the bat..and we could all see it. they compliment each other so well. best wishes to them both. i'll post pictures when i get the chance.



i'm planning on taking some big-time vacation in august since i've been working non-stop. already, i have a trip to thailand planned at the end of the month with anna & julia. it's going to be so much fun! our first trip together since college. i cannot wait to be sitting on some beach, getting a foot massage and soaking in the sun. pierre and i are also trying to plan a little something to celebrate our birthdays together (yeah--trippy isn't it? we have the same birthday. my dad also. ) i'm really really leaning towards belize right now....

My friend, Wil, in Baghdad---he's coming back to the states next week!

This is sad. It's 8:01pm, July 3rd and I'm probably the only one in this entires stinkin' building still sitting behind my desk in my dark office. What a rough day.

I'm so excited---the National Do Not Call Registry finally opened up---telemarketers will be subject to a fine of up to $11,000 if they call any number on this list after October 1, 2003.



I watched an awful movie last night--28 Days Later. The premise of the story is that some virus spreads across the earth quickly, causing human beings to turn into these crazed plagued blood-sucking zombies. The main guy wakes up from a coma to find Earth in this state and seeks to find the answer to infection among other survivors. Going into it, I thought it had potential...but god, it was bad. The story went nowhere & changed mid-stream. It didn't make sense. The end was horrible--suddenly everyone is happy and free. It wasn't even that scary (and I get scared pretty easily).

blogger recently changed their entire UI...much cleaner-looking and overall pretty spiffy. but damn it, my archive page is still messed up. it doesn't link to anything beyond last year...even though I have postings up til now. if you want to see any archive postings in the last 7 months, you have to just hardcode the url.



i'm so happy with misha. each day he gets more and more comfortable. i took him to the vet last week and got him checked him...he has a bit of drippage in one eye so i have to feed him some medicine via mouth every day for 3 weeks. boy, this is tough. have any of you ever tried shooting a bunch of fluid up a cat's throat? it's tough. at first, i tried to pick him up and keep him on his back and hold his mouth open from behind..but that really required the aid of pierre. yesterday; however, we discovered a better technique...holding him down on the floor and then grabbing the mouth to shoot the liquid in. man, i feel so bad. but really, it's no big deal. as much as he hates it, right afterwards, he acts as if nothing happens.



went down to portland this last weekend to watch pierre race in the regional regatta in vancouver, wa. it was actually quite exciting seeing everyone so pumped up. sadly, his 8-person boat fell in last place due to an equipment problem. 200 meters into the race, the rigger broke for the guy in the bow of the boat--so he pretty much couldn't row because there was nothing keeping his oar in place. that in turn threw their entire boat off balance, losing control and losing speed. so many weeks of practice to have something like that happen at race time. ah well.



portland was really a big little city. population-wise and land-mass-wise, it's much larger than seattle...but it felt so much more quaint. i loved walking along NE 23rd street where there are little boutique shops next to each other. there's nothing like that at all in seattle, really. there's no one single place where you can find lots of cute, little unique boutique shops for several blocks down the street. and the fact that there's no sales tax wasn't too bad either....



but back to work for another hellish week. it's been tough lately as i've started working on my next 2 projects concurrently with the one i'm working on now. the 3 combined is a bit much to handle...but i'm just hanging in. i'm not sure what keeps me going anymore aside from the fact that it's super challenging and i get a thrill off of things like that...but my overall love of what I do is slowly dwindling. at the end of the day, i just feel like there are much more meaningful things i could do with my life. i just don't know what. i love the team i'm on--they're all rockin' people. they definitely keep me going. it's just hard to do what i'm doing now...i'm constantly the middleman, the messenger. while one person may be happy, the other person is bitching...in the end, someone's always not happy with me. ugh. but that's the way the job goes, really.



anyhow, it's late. i need to sleep.

Oh man, I've been working a lot...and killing my health too. My officemate, after a couple months off, came back earlier this week only to pick up her stuff and leave the company. The stress of the job was getting to the point where it was taking a negative toll on her health....something I worry about doing to myself often. Too many times in this past month I ate lunch after 3pm or dinner after 10pm. I don't know why...but I really need to watch out for myself.



For a couple of weeks now, I've been looking for a cat. I thought it was about time that I took responsibility of another small life. Plus, selfishly, I wanted to really have a good reason to want to leave work and be home early. I looked in several shelters...and last weekend, I found a cat! He's probably about 1.5-2 years old, grey with white paws and a white belly. Came with the name Smokey but I've renamed him Misha....and he's so beautiful. He has the most gorgeously silky coat of fur and is so fun to pet. He's been using the litterbox like a champ and been so well behaved. Yay! so so cute....



The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) just passed. All in all, I saw 5 movies: Valentin, Musa the Warrior, Infernal Affairs (which I just found out was picked up for American adaptation with Brad Pitt to star), Ping Pong, and Traces of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family. I really want to somehow get a copy of the last documentary (on Jackie Chan) and send it to my grandparents to watch. It was truly fascinating to get a better sense of what they perhaps went through, having lived in China and fleeing to Hong Kong after the Sino-Japanese war. They sometimes talk about some "lost" brothers and sisters in China..and this documentary makes me want to learn more.



I need a vacation. Hmm.



Pierre's racing at Regionals this weekend---can't wait as this'll be my first time seeing him row!



I have the condo bug again. Should I?

A friend of mine sent this over to me yesterday--- the new Honda Accord commercial, which is so fascinating to watch. It's even more fascinating once you understand the engineering feat it took by reading this article.



After almost 4 years of living in Seattle, I've never traveled up to the San Juan Islands--for shame. Today, I will finally do so---Pierre and I are just heading up to Orcas Island for a day to get away from the city and check out island life...really looking forward to it.



Went to a party last night at Stephane's Spanish teacher's place, whose roommate is the belly dancer in the group, Children of the Revolution--most of the group was there. It was such a fun party to be at--with such creative, musical people---there was live music, belly dancing, flamenco dancing, shisha going--Pierre was in heaven!

Damn, it's been a long time since I've written in here. And so much has happened: We've had a war, I witnessed a friend getting shot in Iraq on Fox News, my project slipped by a month, I got a paycut, then got a payraise so that I would make as much as I did last year, got food poisoning from one of my favorite Malaysian restaurants, flew home to surprise mom for Mother's Day, discovered that I'm taking salsa classes with one of the conductors of the Seattle Symphony, Kansas lost to Syracuse at the National Championships (boo hoo), a tornado hit my hometown for the first time in over 20 years, found out a childhood friend is now engaged (congratulations Becky), exercised my stock options for the first time...the list goes on. It's been a busy month...mainly because of work. Most of my friends (especially Phoebe) have wondered what has happened to me. I'm really trying to get that work/life balance going right so that I don't go crazy. It was pretty bad last month.



I'm not sure why I'm up right now. It's late. I'm just thinking a bunch. Specifically, I've been thinking a lot about the relationship I'm in and the happiness it sometimes brings me. I know something's there when, no matter how angry I can get with him, it all goes away when I hear his kind, gentle voice again. It's just hard. Relationships are hard.



I'm also at that weird point when I'm thinking about what I want to do with my life. See, my lease is up in a few months...and I'm once again debating whether or not to buy a condo. Naturally, in contemplating such a major move, I've been thinking about how much longer I want to be at Amazon..and in Seattle...and how happy I am in my job. It's no doubt a very challenging job...and that is the main reason why I've stayed here. But I've no idea what it is like elsewhere....or what it would be like to just do something totally different....like arts management or setting up my own small business---two things I talk about often.



I need to sleep.

Kansas beat Duke tonight!!!!! Heh heh!!!!! Yay!!!! Next up: Arizona...



work is killing me.



wade from kansas is coming to seattle this weekend. random. i haven't seen him in YEARS. i first met this guy when i was maybe 11 or 12 because he worked for my parents. fast forward 13 years. we're actually friends now. funny the people that you stay in touch with throughout life.



omg, i forgot to mention: CONGRATULATIONS LINDA SIU!!! i can't believe that girl is engaged now.



argh, i really need to get a freakin' emissions test for my car. it's the one thing that's prevented me from easily mailing in my annual check to renew my tabs. and the fact that the closest emissions testing station is, like, in the middle of nowhere doesn't help. argh.



i miss singing.

WAHOO!!! Adrien Brody won Best Actor for The Pianist...how exciting! Ever since I saw that film in Paris, I've been cheering it on. If you look at my desktop wallpaper right now, you'll see Adrien on there playing the piano--it's been like that for a couple of months now. Wow. How satisfying to see such a brilliant performance rewarded like so. Yay Adrien!



Weekend was pretty ho-hum...but I welcomed it so...as I've been away for the last 3 weekends in a row. Friday, Pierre and I went to see Bowling for Columbine---I'll have to agree with everyone I've talked to that it's good. If you haven't seen it yet, go. Although Michael Moore is usually quite blunt and direct with his statements (as many of you may've witnessed with his acceptance speech for Best Documentary at the Oscars), he's very good at stepping back here and leaving a bunch of open questions for the audience to ponder. On Saturday--oh what a beautiful day it was--I went to see Aaron Copland's Exhuberant Symphony No. 3 with Fred at Benaroya. Damn. Great performance. It left us breathless. We also got to see Hilary Hahn, a young 22 yr. old violinist perform a Meyer concerto. Her accomplishments were impressive: already a Sony Classical recording artist, she had her professional debut at the age of 11 with the Baltimore Symphony.

this is funny



while i had a great time at whistler, it wasn't the powder heaven that i was expecting it to be. All the snow went up top, creating a crazy snowstorm with winds so strong that it closed most of the peak lifts. saturday was okay but we couldn't go any higher than the top of the gondola. and sunday...well, i'll admit that after 3 straight days of snowboarding the weekend before and the experience on saturday made me lose my motivation and energy to get up early for fresh tracks. that said, by the time we went up to seventh heaven, we had to jet down because the winds were knocking us over and visibility was next to nothing. a bit scary. regardless, i still had a really fun time with all the people I went with.



otherwise, i've just been bogged down at work. ugh. this project is on a tight, super aggressive schedule and it just overwhelms me. very exciting--but it overwhelms me. i just can't wait to take a nice vacation in the summer...although my sense of travel has been augmented by the suggestion of war lately...



just found out that Wil is definitely heading into Iraq next month. :-( I wonder if Aaron is still in Kuwait....

i had an AMAZING time up at whistler last weekend...the weather was just perfect and we hit powder almost everywhere we went. The most memorable time was on Sunday, going through the backcountry of Creekside with Jigna, Matt, Sri and Noemi---it was just a winter wonderland! [sigh] Check out some of the pictures I took. I got a chance to meet Tito, Pierre's best friend from Montreal--really great guy. Anyhow, loved it so much that I'm going back up AGAIN this weekend. Check out the snow report though--it's sick:



New snow: 11 in.

24 hours: 19 in.

48 hours: 47 in.

7 days: 61 in.



Powder powder--here we come!



This whole "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" thing---it's stupid. I can't think of anything more ridiculous. This is an amusing article: English Sans French



Jeff B. was in a helicopter crash last week---read about the pilot!

Forecast for Whistler next 3 days:



Friday..Cloudy. 60 Percent Chance Of Flurries. Alpine High Minus 15. Snowfall Accumulation 1 To 3 Cm. Freezing Level.. Surface.

Saturday..Mainly Cloudy. 60 Percent Chance Of Flurries.

Snowfall Accumulation 3 To 5 Cm. Freezing Level Surface.

Sunday.. Snow. Snowfall Accumulation 25 To 35 Cm. Freezing Level 800 Metres.



wahoo! we are going to get DUMPED on this weekend. i can't wait! leaving in 5 hours.... big group again: me, pierre, his friend tito, matt, jigna, sri, noemi, hemant, sindya and some of sri's college friends.

this is crazy. no, it's ridiculous.

120,190 -- my new high score on bejeweled. For the last year, I've been obsessively playing this game that I downloaded onto my palm...and was challenged about a year ago to get over 100,000...a task I deemed nearly impossible. Last week, I just went on a streak and that's what I ended up with. Wahoo! Sadly, it's nowhere close to the All-Time high for the Timed game as posted on the Astraware site of 40,943,880. How in the WORLD do they do that?



las vegas was a lot of fun--took lots of pictures which'll i'll post later. it's been YEARS since i've been back...and i was sad to see a lot of the major arcade areas in hotels replaced by more slot machines. saw a total of 10 hotels: Mandalay Bay (where we stayed), Paris (Rabah felt so at home), Bally's, Caesar's Palace, Monte Carlo (where we saw Lance Burton), Excalibur, New York New York (where we rode the Manhattan Express, Venetian (gorgeous), Treasure Island, and the Mirage. It was a crazy weekend full of Nascar fans (huge race) and boxing fans (for the Ruiz vs. Jones fight). gambled a bit but not too much...overall, lost a little bit--but i guess that's what you pay for "entertainment" if you call it that. i want to go back when the weather is nicer...never got a chance to indulge in the 11 acres of pool area at the hotel....



i saw how to lose a guy in 10 days with betina last week...and i'll admit: i loved it! not oscar-worthy...but oh so fun.



cartoon tributes to mr. rogers...how sad.



last friday, got a chance to see rockapella perform at work (our music team's been rocking this week with fun performances!)...ah...how it took me back to the days of a cappella...



this is just not right. about a year ago, i traveled to napa valley and got a very cool corkscrew from the robert mondavi store...only to have it snatched from me at the airport! how upsetting to know that california has profitted from that...but I guess there's nothing better they can do with all of this stuff. i wish they had a more efficient way of handling confiscated items.



Interesting story on the decline of literacy due to SMS text messaging. I know myself that my grammar has shot down the tube simply from writing emails and Instant Messaging. my blog alone is full of horrible grammatical mistakes (i.e. lowercase letters, random 'dot-dot-dots..")

all in all, my parents' visit went well--we just did the usual shopping, eating, relaxing. they even came out to century ballroom to watch me salsa dance with my friends! it was great! and they enjoyed meeting pierre and the other new friends they'd never met.



valentine's day went well--pierre completely surprised me with a bouquet of roses...awwww....and made me dinner for a nice, laid-back evening at his place.



last weekend, matt planned a surprise birthday party for jigna...sri and I were in charge of getting her out of the apartment while the party set up occurred. We had her completely fooled until the moment that we arrived at the apartment and jigna saw betina and her boyfriend justin holding a bouquet of flowers inside her apartment lobby. ah well...she was still pleasantly surprised by all the people and all the effort that matt put into it.



heading to las vegas this weekend---yay!! god, i haven't been there in years. i used to go pretty often with my family. pierre, rabah and i are going there for coffee fest---more so for pierre....can't wait to get away for a few days and explore the hotels that i haven't seen yet: mandalay bay, paris, venetian, aladdin....



this morning, i got to meet and see dar williams perform for some amazon employees. it was great! her music often reminds me of college...as we would all sit around, studying or talking about whatever.

Whistler was so much fun! I love that mountain. Admittedly, the snow up there was the least amount I had personally ever seen; however, it was still absolutely a blast. With no new snow, it was sunny and clear both days we were there, making the scenery most breathtaking. Here are some of the pictures that I took over the two days. The group I went with was a lot of fun---and surprisingly, we stuck together pretty well considering our size. I'd love to go back again when the snow is better later this season. There's nothing like cruising along Seventh Heaven...



A visual thesaurus. Someone sent this to me today--pretty neat.



My parents arrive today to hang out in Seattle for a few days..got to think of things to do. I'm bummed--a bunch of friends are heading to Mt. Baker on Sunday--the one mountain I haven't visited yet this season....and I can't go since my parents are in town. Oh well. Ooooo...Pierre gets to meet them :-) Not a big deal, honestly.



Had lunch with Thomas yesterday---it was the second time I've seen him since we broke up last May. It actually went really well, catching up and everything. We were even comfortable updating each other on the people we were currently dating. (Ha! I've started a trend--he's dating another Chinese girl now..his mom must be so proud)

argh..my website was down for awhile..so i created a webforward to my weblog. now, my friend who hosts my website is back..and all the websites that he hosts are working..except for mine. i've already tried reversing my webforward and reinstating the IP address and everything..but it's still redirecting to this weblog. argh. so i apologize for all the broken images, links and strange behavior.

All Look Same? Someone sent this to me a few years ago..and I forgot about it until I was talking to another Chinese co-worker about how she always gets mistaken for being Korean. I didn't do too well on this test---only 7/18, which is average I guess. For the most part, I think people can tell I'm Chinese. During the summer, when I'm more tan, I get mistaken for being from one of the more southern Asian countries, like Thailand. A lot of Asians get really offended when they are mistaken for another Asian ethnicity....I think it's interesting when that happens to me. I want to know what features make me Chinese...or look like another ethnicity.



Ha! Melissa is off of Joe Millionaire--I predicted it with some friends. All that's left is Zora and Sarah....it has to be Zora. She's the only one between the two that can probably take the "news" of his actual net worth pretty well considering how psychic she's appeared to be.



For the last few weeks, I've been trying to arrange a team ski trip with some other PMs on my team...in the end, I got 4 others to join me for an awesome day at Crystal---it was snowing the entire time, we definitely caught some powder, and it was just overall a great day for snowboarding. Check out some of the pictures I took that day.

For you iPod users out there, I just discovered this --- iSkins. Nice way to personalize your iPod and protect it. I must say, the carrying case that came with my iPod is kind of useless except to simply protect it when I'm not using it. It completely covers the device up and you can't change songs or anything unless you take the entire iPod out of the carrying case. (although I could use the remote control..but then that's another accessory to drag along) I've been so incredibly happy with my iPod. So far, I've downloaded about 6GB of music..and have so much more to go. I recently bought one of those cassette tape adapters so I can attach my iPod in the car...no more need to find a bunch of CDs for a long road trip--I just have to bring my iPod and I'm set. Love it.



Some scandalous news about Sarah from Joe Millionaire---ha ha!

blegh. what a rainy, icky day it is in seattle today. and my website is down--and my friend that hosts my website is in africa....i'll just have to wait.



i'm finally back in the swing of things at work and starting into my new project in addition to taking care of my annual self-evaluation. it really took me awhile to get my mind out of vacation mode.



on a good note, i've had the time to go snowboarding again. since coming back from paris, i've gone to steven's and snoqualmie with friends. Check out the pictures I took when we went to Snoqualmie. This weekend, I'm going snowboarding with team members from work...and then for a weekend trip to Whistler the following weekend! Wahoo! Heading to the mountain is really the only thing that gets me through a Seattle winter.



i just found out that wil has to stay in germany for a possible 6 more months :-( he told me recently that the only reason why he would have to stay would be because they're going to deploy him....eeks...



so Joe got rid of Mojo! I was surprised---thought it'd either be Melissa or Zora that would get the axe next. I guess that $1MM check really freaked him out. My predictions: Melissa will get kicked off next, Zora will win and it'll turn out that Joe really is a millionaire--causing a surprise to the TV viewers. ha ha. wouldn't that be great?

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted...been a bit overwhelmed coming back from Paris and settling back into my regular 'ol Seattle life.



Suffice it to say, Paris was a blast. I met a lot of really great people, ate yummy food, visited a lot of places--all at a reasonable pace. I actually spent a lot of time on my own since I'd been there before and didn't want to go to some of the sites that the group was going to (as I had seen it before). All in all, it was fabulous. Other sites visited: the Catacombs (creepy), Musee Rodin, Musee Picasso (very good), the Latin Quarter, Galeries Lafayette (shopping!) and a Tour of the Sewers with Marissa on the last day!



I have one negative comment about Paris: the airport security seriously concerns me. There is absolutely no proof in my passport that I was ever in France--same goes with the other friends I traveled with. I walked off the plane, picked up my luggage and walked out on the street. No customs, nada. And when I left Paris, not a single soul asked me the usual "Did you pack your bags? Have your bags been in your possession the entire time? etc etc." I was surprised considering how major of a city it was. At least security was tough in Amsterdam.



Check out my photos from Paris here.



Since coming back, I've been hanging with the boy, catching up with work email and trying to get myself back on track with things pre-Holiday. This last weekend I killed my body: went to the gym for the first time in weeks on Saturday, snowboarded on Sunday, and went salsa dancing for the first time in almost 3 weeks yesterday. My body aches.



While in Paris, got a chance to catch The Pianist, which was so moving. I loved it. Adrien Brody carries the entire film from scene to scene. It's heavy emotionally...but oh so good. I highly recommend seeing this. I'd like to watch it again here; the last half of the movie is all in German...and since I watched it in Paris, it was only subtitled in French...so I had to rely on my romantic language skills to guess the content.



Have you checked out Joe Millionaire? It's awful...yet, it freakin' draws me! The basic premise is that some construction worker who makes $19,000/year poses as a guy that's just inherited $50MM and is looking to settle down. In come the bachelorettes who are all going to get set up to be gold diggers no matter what their reason may be for not liking the guy in the end---uh...like, the fact that it's one big fat lie! It's one thing if everything was true except for this guy's net worth...but they're lying about EVERYTHING, including his actual name...and the guy is such a horrible liar..he stumbled over coming up with a middle name when asked. I didn't expect to find the funniest element in the show to be "Evan".



One of these days, I'm going to have to get out to CES in Vegas. I'm such a gadget girl--my whole family is (except for my mom). Jon reminded me today how many gadgets I have...and I must admit, I love my toys. Have I mentioned my newest toy? A 20MB ipod. Oh yeah...love it. I'm slowly uploading my entire CD collection onto this thing...no more finding CDs to take on road trips or leaving CDs at work...I'll have it all in the palm of my hand.

I've done so much in the past few days here in Paris (luggage is all safe btw)....now I'm sitting in an Internet cafe near my hotel IM-ing with my family. Brrr--it's freezing. The weather suddenly turned cold today and a snowstorm swept into the city today, leaving it white everywhere. My legs are so weary from the amount of walking I've been doing---a lot of sites I hadn't visited from the previous times I've been here: St. Chapelle, Basilique du Sacre Coeur, Centre Pompidou, Opera to name a few. Asides from sightseeing, I've been getting to know a lot of Jigna's college friends who are all awesome and fun to hang out with. We have a good group of people here--usually about 8 of us...though on New Year's, we had 13...including Jaume and Tove who drove down from Brussels---so nice to see them and catch up. I've been taking a ton of pictures and have a whole 60 min. worth of video footage from this entire trip.



Anyhow, gotta run..will write more later...but everything's been great. I can't believe I have to return to work in 2 days (I'm insane..I plan on going into work after I get off the airplane) So nice to have put my brain on vacation mode for so long. I need to take more of these 2 week vacations.