盗まれた?

Who took President Bush's watch? Watch how it disappeared!!

飲み物

I read that this new Pepsi Ice Cucumber is really nasty tasting and it's only available in Japan. Is it because people there are more willing to try any new taste? I probably will not buy it since we don't buy soda in general. We get all the soda we want from work but I don't drink any. I just go for the bottled water or V8.

ささいな

At work, whenever someone asks me a question, it would be most effective that I show him or her how to do it on my own laptop because usually each of us have our work environment in UNIX set differently and personally with all the handy alias and shortcuts. But often times, people will ask me to show them on their laptop which then I can also log on to my environment and all, but the problem is, I don't really like to use other people's keyboard.
For laptops, the keyboards are usually black in color but we still have a lot of desktop with the white keyboards which then you can see how dirty and gross they are. With that knowledge, I don't need to see the color of the keyboard to know how dirty these hardworking keyboards are. But the only good thing I could think of using other people's laptop is that I can avoid them pointing around on my laptop screen. I wish everyone is conscious about their laptop hygiene.
I like to nit-pick, don't I?

無性に食べたくなったり

I think Bovril (the original flavor, not the new chicken or the veggie alternatives) has to be the comfort food for people from my generation.

When we were sick, lack of appetite, had our tooth pulled out, had plan cancelled due to the rain, typhoon season, etc. etc. The only thing to eat is really congee mixed with Bovril. There is just no replacement for it. Lately, I have been trying to find it here in the US but to no avail. I talked to my mom about it on the phone and she also immediately wanted one in her kitchen! So, she called dad in Hong Kong and now my dad is on the mission to find it.

Today, I did a search on the web to make sure it's still in production and Thank God! it still is. But I found out they have new alternative flavors which no one has anything good to say. So, I quickly called my mom and let her know that it should still be available and also told my dad not to get anything else but the original beef flavor. My brother is currently in Vietnam on business and will be stopping over in Hong Kong for a few days. He should be able to help us bring back the 2 large bottles we ordered! Isn't life sweet?

Never had it before? You've just gotta try it!

気怠い一日

Eat, sleep, groom, looking out the window, catching bugs around the house - that's what they do every day while we are at work. And that's what I do, too, on weekends.

Having bugs around the house is rather common when you live in the suburb surrounded by trees and shrubs. The most common bugs we have around the house are the skinny spiders. The cats are great catching or alerting you there is a spider somewhere. We always capture it using a glass bottle and then dump it down the toilet. Never try to crush a bug as I was told you never know if it's a female with lots of ready-to-hatch-little-ones inside or not.

Also one time, we had a squirrel (or was it a small cat?) that found its way into our attic through some opening somewhere. It was Bagel who jumped on the top of our old tube TV and started meowing at the ceiling that we figured out we had a visitor. The opening from the outside to the attic was then located and fixed. Cats might not be useful guarding the house but they do help around the house in their own ways. :-)

食べ放題じゃないよ!

Tonight we refilled the cat food container from the 25 lb bags. Because Bagel (see picture) was sick last year and the doctor ordered him to be on a special cat diet, so the food on the left is his. The food on the right is for Bebe, the female cat not shown here. Bagel would much prefer the food on the right because it's more fatty and tasty.

Here I left the container opened which he came rushing over immediately. It's obvious that he wants to dive into the food on the right side, but because my husband was staring at him so he knows it's not buffet time. The poor guy just sat there pondering what to do. Of course, once my husband walked away to take the trash out, I rewarded Bagel for his good manners with a few bites from the right side!

Cats are really so much fun!! They are perfect companions for people living alone or not planning to have kids. Whenever I am alone with them, I really kind of forgot who is missing in the house! :-P

This litter of kitties are handsome looking!

生活選択

Slides, presentation and now posters to be created and posted around different buildings at work to generate interest on the presentation. I never wanted to be in the spotlight and speak to a crowd of 200. But it's becoming part of my job responsibility these days. I want to look for something else.

I talked to my dad last night twice and once this morning. It's not that we have anything urgent to talk about but I sense that he is quite lonely and bored living by himself in Hong Kong. I called my mom from time to time and she gets happy. She is living by herself in Vancouver and she wonders why every now and then. My parents are married and together still. They just prefer to be in different countries during the months of late spring to early fall. He can't leave the bustle and hustle in Hong Kong and she enjoys her walk near Stanley park and the fresh air. I unfortunately have to be here in the Valley to make a living doing things I don't particularly enjoy. I can't help but wonder if it's time that we all live in the same city? We are not getting any younger and where is THIS place that we can all be happy about?

頑固な

I am a strong believer of simple, direct to the point kind of person. So my PowerPoint slides are never full of colors, pictures or animations. But recently, after talking to my mentor, someone whom I have a lot of respect for at work, I have decided that some animations are good to have to build a point and set the audience focus to what I am talking about without them reading ahead.

It's very strange. My boss has been telling me to put some more twists to spice up my slides with animations and I have always just ignore his suggestions. He has sent me examples of other people's slide decks as a reference but I just thought those people have too much time on their hands.

So the solution to working with a stubborn person is really to find someone whom the stubborn person has a lot of respect for to deliver the message to get the same end result.

Over the weekends, saw 2 really entertaining movies.

Edward Norton is always great. And so is John Cleese! Highly recommended!!