お間抜け面？

This cat is so goofy looking it makes me laugh!! I would not mind him hanging out in my backyard. But unfortunately it's a racoon visiting us tonight near our shed. :-(

同潤会青山アパート

I was reading about these apartments on Omotesando near Aoyama and came across this website. It dawned on me that I have a picture taken there back in April 2000 because I just really love the look and location of it. So while I looked for that picture, my husband helped me take out the bulky, dusty scanner to bring you this image I was thinking of all day:

I wonder how those buildings look now. Did they take out all the vines that were growing so nicely while remodeling (or were they torn down?) to match the look of Omotesando Hills or? The last time I was there, in March 2005, I don't remember seeing any leaves and the whole street was boarded up with some kind of construction work going on. It was drizzling, cold and a bit gloomy. I must go back to take a look next time.

Here is a site with some more pictures of the old Doujunkai Aoyama Apartment.
http://kioku.info/kioku/apartment.html

It would be nice if those apartments are fully furnished and available for rent on a monthly basis.

Read more Chinese

I read an article recently on how Chinese language is slowly becoming the second most learned language after English. There are Chinese Toefl and Chinese Language Proficiency Test that are popular among foreigners that I have never heard of.

Growing up in Hong Kong, we have a bad reputation of sprinkling English in our daily conversations in Cantonese. It's sort of inevitatble as it is often easier to express what we want to say in those English words along with the speed of Cantonese we are accustomed to, which is pretty fast. But come to think of it, it really makes us look bad in terms of our literacy and cultural level as compare to Taiwan or China. This is especially true these days when I am reading some Hong Kong Cantonese blogs. The Chinese language used is not something a Mandarin speaker could understand and it's often very poorly written and full of crude slangs.

I can read, write, speak in Cantonese and Mandarin (and some Shanghainese and some Taiwanese) but I could not write at the same expressive level as someone who grew up in Taiwan. I could not even express to someone "I am preparing a presentation for this Wednesday." How to say 'presentation' in Chinese?? My friend from Taiwan thinks I am too harsh on myself because he thinks my Chinese is already very good (as I helped him spotted some Chinese typos in the GUI). But I think it's time I read more well written Chinese and learn to speak the language better without mixing in any English. One good way will be to work with our counterparts in Taiwan or China but unfortunately I am not working on those projects. I really would not mind transferring to Beijing or somewhere similar for 6 months to a year.

Hostile Email

It is standard procedure at work that we ask other teams to review and comment on technical documents, codes and implementations we came up with before actually committing it. Because of my title, I especially, have to review a lot of technical documents that other people wrote and I don't usually have a problem with it. Recently, my team finished a long 3-year project which came out with highly respectable quality and revenues, so as a lead I am very proud of what we have established and proven to work well. Another team just came up with a similar project and we were asked to review and comment on their docs. Since no one is giving them any feedback, I decided that as a Lead, I will provide my feedback first and hope others with follow suit. This was what happened last week.

This morning, I got a hostile email back replying to my review feedback. Once again, I couldn't help to be shocked by people as such within our reputatble company that was ranked high as one of the best companies to work for. His choice of words were just plain rude and with many justifications such as 'we only have 2 resources working on this project unlike your project' and 'our project is just going to leverage what your project has already established' and 'we are still in the early phase of the project and it is only inevitable that some of the points [I mentioned] are left to be determined'. Basically the document is incomplete and not ready for review. If the person seeking for feedback is not ready to take any questions or advices, please don't even send it out and waste my time. This is actually the first time I work with this person and he sits 2 cubes down mine. We always nodded to each other in a friendly manner (at least that's what I thought!) and my impression was he is a really mellow guy. Now I know better.

People like this really ruin my day. I think they need to go back to school or have some training on what is acceptable work behavior and tone of voice to use. I am not going to reply or say anything about his email but I would like any future work collaboration with this guy to be kept at a minimal. This project in my mind can basically fall flat or be shelved for all I care.

1988

I listen to the news on the radio while driving to and from work everyday. The same news gets repeated over and over from morning to evening. Today, the big news seems to be about Apple's recalling 1.8 million laptop batteries and the real estates market hits a new low in terms of home sale in July. Then upon getting home, I turned on the TV and it's News at 7pm. But interestingly, the 2 pieces of news that stayed with me all day are from reading some random blogs during the day.

First, the majority of students going to college this year were born in the year 1988!! If you ask them who Paul Newman is, their answer is "that Salad Dressing guy" or "that Spaghetti sauce guy". Born in 1988!! My god! That's a very special year for me, but that's beside the point.

Second, there is this girl who just went through 7 weeks of flight attendant training abroad and it's her first time being in a foreign country. I had a fun time reading her blog about the training (which is definitely more than just asking people "Tea or Coffee?"). Part of what they'll learn is how to politely fend off unwanted socializing or gifts during the flight. I think most young girls at one point or another must have thought of being a flight attendant when they grew up, reading the blog serves to provide a good glimpse to their lives. But I guess for men, especially those who would love to date a flight attendant, they would also be interested in reading their blogs to maybe fulfill their fantasies/curiosity. ;-)

The new Japanese word I learned today:
もろこし = corn (I love corn!!!)

By the way, here is a great sushi place near Narita Airport frequented by flight attendants:

店名：江戸っ子寿司

成田市花崎町536-10

0476-22-0530

居酒屋

今日仕事の後に、以前の仕事仲間と一緒に居酒屋に行きました。 Since he will be poking around to find my blog, I have decided not to mention the restaurant name and just try to use as much Japanese as I can for a while. We used to be better friends until I got married, but I guess it's understandable. I just shouldn't expect too much. But when keeping a conversation interesting becomes an effort (or at least an one-sided effort), I pretty much should get the hint that 1) we should meet less frequent and/or 2) it's time to make new acquaintances for 鮨と刺身. It's a little bit sad but I think it's ok since he and my husband don't get along on day one.

It's hard to find someone to go to a 鮨屋 with, especially one who would not be tempted to order a 照焼き定食 . And this person must not need you to give her a ride or tell you she forgot her checkbook at home when the bill comes and asked you to cover for her. (What lame excuse!! Who uses a check at a restaurant anyway?) But yup, I have encountered both requests before. One female high school friends of mine even called me one evening to join her when she is already done eating upon my arrival. I am a bit fed up with these women treating me like a substitute boyfriend. Another female friend from my high school was a possibility but she is divorced and a bit bitter. I have to be careful with what I say and sometimes even tiptoeing around ordinary topics that turned out to be sensitive to her like traveling. So that is no fun either. *Sigh Sigh* Have to stick with male friends but then now that I am married, I think this "What's the point?!" sign is probably lit when my name comes into mind. And another problem with new male acquaintances is that they are getting younger and younger. Even though we get along fine but thinking that they were in their diapers when I was already in high school is just a little too much. So I guess married people should only hang out with married people?? Geez...and talk about big mortgages and health coverage and living trust? That's just too much fun.


Oh man, for 居酒屋, I should have just gone with my husband, duh!

What's for dinner?

Chicken and daikon miso soup


Romaine lettuce with cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, artichoke hearts, corn and grated Parmessan cheese. (With lot of salad dressing not shown here.)


Chicken with bamboo shoots, shitake mushrooms, potatoes, cauliflower, and boiled eggs.


Baked spare ribs with secret sauce!


Steamed broccoli with mayo on the side.

EAT WELL!!

Day off

I took today off because I really don't feel like doing any company work. But I did not sit around at home doing nothing. I have decided to try being a full-time housewife for one day. So I had a quick lunch at home and researched on what to cook.

Last Friday I made a mistake when I found the recipe for 鶏と栗のうま煮. I drove around to different stores trying to get kuri but could not find any. It turns out kuri is only available during autumn and winter. :-( But nonetheless I made chicken with shitake, bamboo shoots, potatoes, cauliflower and boiled eggs. It turns out great!

Today, I decided to make 鶏肉と大根の味噌汁 and スペアリブのオーブン焼き. I went first to Raley's to get some short ribs but no, they don't have it. Then I went to Trader Joe's to get some Orangina and red wine for cooking. I was not sure which one to get so I got some more other drinks and went to Pak'n Save. They again don't have short ribs!! So I went to Asian market to get both daikon and ribs and green onions. Then I remembered I forgot the red wine which is a must to marinate the ribs. So I went to Whole Foods. That's definitely a lot of driving. I guess part of being a housewife is to know where to go for what. So I went home and made the soup first. I made enough for 10 people! And same with the spare ribs since the butcher would not let me buy less then 2 pounds of ribs. We are not really a big meat eater plus who knows how the ribs will turn out. (It's still in the oven as I am blogging.)

I will post some pictures once they are ready. Being a housewife for 1 day is not bad but the only thing is you don't get paid for all the hard work.

Saw a few good movies over the weekend:

V for Vendetta - Excellent
Cache - Quite good, keeps you thinking
Final Cut - not bad, though don't like the ending
Munich - pretty good
恋の門 - I don't like it, a little too weird

Kurihara Harumi

Who is 栗原はるみ? She is a 56-year old homemaker, who is also known as Japan's Most Famous Housewife or Martha Stewart of Japan when she was promoting her cookbook in New York. She endorses many household goods and even real estates in Japan.

Her book (see above) is on sale at Amazon.com so don't get it from anywhere else.

Here are a few links with her recipes and books:
http://mbs.jp/dosukoi/recipe/
http://www.suteki-recipe.com/index2.html
http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/manyyokatta/25009

There are actually many other 料理研究家 , and many of them are just as good if not better. I look forward to try out some recipes this weekend or soon! :-p

New Vocabulary:

茹で卵 (ゆでたまご) = boiled egg

Coupa Cafe

One Caffe Latte at 7pm completely messed me up. I have not been able to sleep for the past 12 hours and the sun is already up. Their coffee raised my heartbeat, cranked up my brain and kept me high-strung all through the night while lying in my bed. I kind of knew it's too strong when I saw a trail of coffee grind along the side and on the bottom of the cup. :-( That's it! No more walking into cafes after dinner!!

Godzilla

Here is a cat with all the great qualities of a dog!

Dinosaur Egg

今日のおやつ。

☆プルオット (pluot = 3/4 Plum, 1/4 Apricot)☆

I have been mistaken all along until now. I have always thought this is a plum and apple crossed fruit, fooled by its appearance. It's a bit too sour for my taste but my husband gobbled one up within seconds. I would rather eat a nectarine to be honest, and this is not because it's given to us by my mother-in-law. ;-) So try and see if you like it.

According to Wikipedia, pluot is also sometimes marketed with the name, 'Dinosaur Egg'. I wonder if it's available around the world. I would be interested to know if you are not living in the US and see it at your local grocery stores.

Suffocating

Me had meeting with 5 managers inside a small (13' x 14') conference room. I am the only female there and I am the only one who is not a manager. This is not a weird picture considering the work environment I am in. Even when I was attending some industry-related conference, I am always the oddball because everyone else around me is almost always over 40 with a big belly and a bald spot. Anyway, the meeting went on and I suddenly realized that I was suffocating with 5 different scents of strong cologne. I personally don't wear any perfume or deordorant because I don't like or need to wear any of those artifical fragrances. I felt uncomfortable for a split second and then I thought to myself, "hey, at least it's not b.o. I am being imposed to smell!" So the meeting went on for almost 1.5 hour and I came out with a slight headache.

Road

This is a road leading to our house in Hong Kong. I sometimes have dreams speed running along this road and roads leading up and down the mountain all the way to my school. Of course in my dream, I am a very good runner and can fly down a flight of stairs by just touching the edge of every few steps. These roads and stairs do exist in real life so it's very real for me so my dreams are sometimes more amazing than movies! This road might look scary but actually it's not, at least for me. But some 20 years ago, some very notorious Taxi Driver Serial Killer did dump some bodies down this road. But that's some 20-25 years ago.

万事は夢, なむあみだぶつ (南無阿弥陀仏)。

Busy but

Even though I don't have time to blog in Japanese right now, I am still reading some Japanese related material here and there.

I found a good JLPT related site today:
http://www.jlptstudy.com/

But if you are going for JLPT 1, well then, you are on your own. :-P

Logic

Alan, Bob, Carl, Dan, Eric are good friends and they each own a business:
Bakery, Hair Salon, Meat Vendor, Liquor Store, Importer.

Here are the hints for you to figure out who is in which industry:
1. Carl and Dan are not in the Bakery business.
2. Alan and Dan are not in the Liquor business.
3. Carl and Eric lives at the same apartment building across the Importer's house.
4. Carl married the Salon Owner's daughter and Bob was the one who introduced them.
5. Alan and Carl will meet up with the Meat Vendor and the Baker to play golf on weekends.
6. Dan and Eric will have their hair trimmed by the Salon Owner every 2 weeks.
7. The Importer cuts his own hair and never need to visit the Hair Salon.

So who is in what business? Try to solve it within 10 minutes.

*This is one of the interview test questions at a large Semi Conductor company.

Wasabi

WASABI (2001)
ジャン・レノと広末涼子が主演する映画
採点：

I have maxed out saving my vacation hours so I have to start taking time off every 2 weeks, hence I decided to take 8/8 off from work and do nothing. I guess I love to stay up late for no good reason, so we went out to rent 4 movies from BlockBuster tonight. There aren't that many interesting new movies to be rented lately, so we started looking at old movies. We have not heard of this movie "Wasabi" ever but I like Jean Reno (who doesn't?) and it's another Luc Besson movie, so why not? We first saw the movie in English and I think Jean did the English dub so we thought that's what you get from renting through BlockBuster. But then the voice for Ryoko Hirosue in English was just unbearable so we started looking at other language options. We restarted the movie in French and it's so much better. Surprisingly, Ryoko speaks fluent French in this movie while trying to act, so it's pretty impressive!! All in all, it's just a simple, watchable movie that is mildly entertaining. My husband dozed off for 40 minutes... Hopefully the rest of the 3 movies will be better. Will see.

Moving

I have been wanting to move my cube since my new cube neighbor moved in. (He talks too much and too loud.) And yesterday, we were told that we will be moving to another building and we did a random drawing for the cube space. And despite given the chance to draw first, I got the worst cube (closest to my manager). Everyone laughed at the fact but actually it's not that bad. It's just a cube!

Anyway, today I decided to start working at my new cube instead of waiting for September 7 to come. Even though the cube now is smaller (8' x 8') as compared to what we had before (8' x 10') I already quite like it. I won't have a 4th floor view to the greens and the levy anymore but at least I will be sitting next to people I work closely with. (Yes, I am sometimes anti-social.) The ergonomics at the new cube is better because the table top is lower (finally!) and the tables can be easily rearrange to whatever way you want because they are the new rollerable type that are no longer stuck to the cube partition.

Also, it will be closer to the baseball and volleyball fields next to the basketball courts. Cafeteria is a nice walk across the playfield and fountains to the building across. The restaurants will be also be so close by that no driving will be necessary!

But knowing that I will be stuck working on a 2 year long project ... arrrgh!!

Time

I wish I have time to read a book from cover to cover (and this one has a really nice cover*)! The last 3 books I bought - one is misplaced and I don't know where it is now. The other one is next to my bed with only a few pages read. The 3rd one is also next to my bed with just a selected few chapters read on weekends. But the one I really need to finish reading for work is an electronic book on my laptop. Mine is the first edition and today I found out my co-worker is reading a hard copy of the 3rd edition! Man, looking back this book has been sitting on my computer since early 2004!! :-( Really ashame of myself!!

* I especially like the legs!! :-)

Working offsite

This week, my favorite co-worker and I drove 30 miles away from our usual building to work with one of our vendors for 2 days. Because we already went there once the week before and everything went well, so going there this week was no stress and just completely hassle free. It feels more like meeting a good friend for a school project. The 3 of us just have so much to talk about from school to parents to travel experiences (and this is while we were working - we are all very proficient with the equipment and can really do it with our eyes closed hitting all the necessary key strokes to generate the report according to the certification requirements) that the topic of age inevitably came into the picture. So the impression for our vendor is that we were all not more than 5 years apart. (Ha! Ha ha!!) Upon hearing the truth, our vendor can't help but gaped for maybe some 5 seconds. It was interesting at first and we joked more about it but it felt depressing afterwards - after I got home. And then the stupid question of whether I would trade what I have experienced and gained the past 10 years to start afresh and be younger again came to mind. The answer was an immediate "No!" but then I wonder if it is because it has been a tiring 10 years or was it because all was well?

This restaurant we went to for lunch is not bad:
Pasta's Trattoria