<小酒窩> Little Dimple Cantonese Version

Cantonese version of <小酒窩> ... I still like the Mandarin version better.

Hot Hot G, I miss your 小酒窩 ^3^

Pre-Halloween

I just had my first pumpkin carving experience! I know it's a child type of activity but I had never celebrated Halloween in Hong Kong when I was young, so I had never carved any pumpkin. Here's my pumpkin ... Next time, I'll remember to save the lid @_@









Hot Hot G's secret recipe clam chowder -- Best of the Best, of course!!! Hahaha ... I wish I had taken some back home so I can eat it for dinner now. Nicely done, Hot Hot G!!!









And pizza too ... Pumpkin shape Jack-O-Lantern pizza has become a Santa Claus after additional mozzerella cheese and mushroom and sausage! Yummy Yummy ^^

My stay in San Diego

I'm in San Diego!!! Actually, this is already my 4th night here ...

The hotel was such a nightmare. Here I'm, at the Country and Town Resort Hotel. What a nice name ... a "resort hotel." I didn't do any research on hotels prior to my reservation as the conference was taken place at the hotel and it made a whole lot of sense to reserve my room at the same place. Once I checked into my room ... I was like ... Gosh, is this where I have to stay, by myself, in the next 5 nights? Here's a description of the room:

1. The design of the room was old -- The carpet, the comforters, the curtains, the chairs were all dark blue in color.
2. There's no air circulation in the bathroom, so I needed to leave the door open during shower.
3. The TV was one of the smallest you could imagine ... 15 or the max 17 inch.
   
4. Internet connection was charged 10 dollars per day, and the signal was weak and unstable.
5. Light bulbs did not work well. One of the lamps went on and off.
6. Statics in the alarm clock. Whenever the cell phone rang or was placed nearby, it made this scary static noises.
7. Half of the wall behind the TV was a mirror.
8. A huge drawing of a little girl, in a 1920's dress, dark blue in color, was hung on the other half of the wall behind the TV.
9. Food at the restaurants in this hotel was ridiculously expensive! One egg costs 5 dollars on the breakfast menu. I believe you could get 2 cases of eggs at Costco with this price.
   

So, here's my choice. There were two beds in my room. Which one should I picked to sleep on? The one facing the little girl's picture or the one facing the mirror? I chose the one facing the mirror.

I guess seeing myself was better than seeing the little girl every morning when I woke up. No matter which direction I went, the girl's eyes seemed to follow. Well, I wasn't the unlucky one that got placed in such a room because all my coworkers' rooms were oriented the exact same way and with the exact same picture of the girl hanging on the wall. This drawing of the little girl had become one of the hottest topics we discussed during our social hangouts after the conference. Haha, one of my coworkers had hung a towel over it since the first night she arrived.

I'm usually pretty okay to be in the hotel by myself, but this one has scared me off quite a bit. I had a hard time falling asleep the first night. My last stay in San Diego was phenomenal, in terms of hotel experience. I stayed at the Omni Hotel in downtown SD last time and it was the nicest one I had ever stayed for my life! Here's the blog I wrote during my stay.

Last night for me in this hotel. I can't wait to get out. Don't get fooled by the view. It's just a snapshot outside the balcony of my room.

<小酒窩> Little Dimple

For my Hot Hot G ... I know U will like this MTV ... >3<

Benny and the Red Bird

Don't you like these little figures? I think they're very cute and pretty, though I have no intention in starting a collection of them. Haha ... but my brother did. He had already set up a collection cabinet in the house. Honestly, I really don't think any of these worth the money each of it costs. For me, I get to enjoy looking at them without a cost out of my pocket ... though he won't let me touch any of them >.< |||

Spanish Feast

Spanish feast in SF ... The tapas are small, but all of them are quite yummy.

From left to right: Croquette, Crab cakes, Shrimps, Potato with squid, Calamari, Escargots

















Woo --aa--la ... of course, my favorite has to be this seafood paella!

Touma Dunny or AC

It's steaming hot today ... over 100 degree.

When the house was built, my mom wanted to save a few thousand dollars and decided not to wire it with AC because it is situated next to the shore so it is quite windy most of the days. For all these years, we didn't really feel a need of having air conditioning. There might be a day or two in the year that the area was stroke by a heatwave, but it's still tolerable with an electrical fan. Thanks to global warming that my house seems to get warmer and warmer during some of the days in the summer. It, indeed, has gotten a little unbearable ... especially in the rooms upstairs. The rooms have trapped the heat during the day time and it takes forever to cool down. By the time they're cooled, it's already sunrise again. So earlier today, my brother and I were talking about buying a portable air conditioner.

He did a quick search on the internet and realized that it's a bit pricey. The cost for an average one is over 300. He was joking that he should have exchanged his newly acquired 20 inch limited edition Touma Dunny figure for an AC. Heck Yeah, I totally agree. This thing costs 300 and it's really doing nothing but sitting at the end of the hallway outside his room. Not only this one, he had purchased an extra one and it's still sitting inside the box by the entry area.

How would you pick?

AC or Touma Dunny ?

Happy Birthday to my Brother

Happy Birthday to my little brother!!! Happy Happy Birthday To U ...

This year on his birthday, I had gotten my little brother a kidsrobot Touma Dunny Tee and the next season DirectTV NBA pass. Hope you like it and all the very BEST to come!

Company Picnic

I have been lazy doing updates here ... Hopefully Honey Bee hasn't lost most of her visitors. Let's see what has happened to me lately that is worth noting ... Uhmm ...

I guess the company picnic took place earlier this month was definitely one. Since this was the first time I attended the company picnic after joining this company, I had no idea what to expect. When people talk about picnic, I thought of hot dogs, burgers, BBQ ... or the most, live music. Woah-la, when I saw it, I wouldn't believe what my eyes had seen. It's more like a carnival than a picnic. It's amazed how everything just took place in one of the company parking lots.

The theme of this year was "pirate." There were unlimited food, snacks, candies, cookies, ice-creams, etc. Once I stepped into the picnic area, I already felt the excitement of being in a carnival. I couldn't help but to check out what other activities were available. There were face and tattoo paintings, balloon twisters, inflatable jumpers and slides, scientific magic show, craft centers, carnival games, palm tree climbing and bumper cars!!!

The piggy bank was a product I made from the craft center.

Go Go China

I spent the last 3 hours sitting in front of the TV watching the Olympics opening ceremony on NBC. Ever since the show started, I couldn't move my butt away from the TV. Such an amazing and spectacular event!!! Creatively done. Nicely directed. Perfectly organized. I couldn't imagine how great it could be if I was watching it live in BJ. It's definitely the best opening ceremony in history.

I tried to post some videos from YouTube but they're all removed by a "third party" due to copyright. I could only find one with a slide show. I believe clips are available on nbc.com. The performances prior to the national parade were fantastic and the lighting of torch at the end was creatively done. Each one came as a surprise. I'm very very impress. Go Beijing! Go China!

GOoooooD TRiP

Don't be so silly as this bear bear. If you see one of them, remember to run as quickly as possible or pretend to be a bush ^.^ ... Catch some fish, enjoy the beef stew and ice-cream. Take some pictures to show me.

Be safe ... have fun ... and I will be missing U ^3^ ...

AIDS Walk 2008

It's a cold morning. I managed to wake up and participate in the AIDS Walk at Golden Gate Park last Sunday. It's a good 6 mile walk, though my left leg was a bit sore, and I finished it in 2.5 hours. There were plenty of munchies during the whole way and that included chips, banana, power bars, frozen bars, and Gatorade. Overall, it's a wonderful experience and I think I'll do it again next year!

Xmas Party 08

It’s a little too early to write about this …

I haven't been with this company for a full calendar year yet. I heard that last year was the first year the company decided to hold individual Christmas parties among departments. For mine, it’s a luncheon on a weekday in the Carnelian Room on top of Bank of America in downtown. No doubt about it … The view was fantastic; yet food was disappointing. It’s a very rush lunch to include the commute time. It didn't provide enough time for employees to mingle and chill and catch up with each other. And the only thing we got from the company was a bag of assorted candies. With the overall experience, I wouldn’t give it a very high rating.

Early this year, I received an email requesting everyone to vote for the type of Christmas party we would have this year. The options were as follow:
1. Dinner with employees + guests on a weekend night but only hors d’oeuvres will be served.
2. Dinner with employees only on a weekday night.
3. Luncheon on a weekday.
4. … which I forgot …
I decided to give up my vote because none of the option was too attractive.

Today, I got another email announcing the final decision for the Xmas party this year for my department. SO DISAPPOINTING … It’s option 3 and it will be held in the exact same place as last year @*#$#*& ...

So some of my coworkers said they thought the department had inadvertently sent out the same email as last year; some of them said the Carnelian Room must have offered 50% off for a 2nd time reservation; and some said that we should just go on a strike and not show for the event.

I mean, I don’t hate option 3 too much, but come on, give it a little more effort and find a new restaurant for this new year.

Feeling Lazy ...

I am feeling so lazy lately. Maybe I should blame it all to the heat wave. We’re already half way through the summer. I originally thought that it’s a perfect time to slack off during the summer because most people would be taking summer time off and things should be slow. Yet things just happen in the exact opposite way. Because of more people taking time off, workload for each person becomes heavier due to the need of covering others’ responsibilities …

It’s like a never-ending cycle. Well, I guess work is supposed to be like this. I’m not sure why I’m complaining. I should feel blessed to be employed when the world-wide population is suffering from this recession.

Holidays are never enough. It is not too much of an entertainment when I find myself stuck here at work once again. I know, there’s always a next holiday to look forward. In the meantime, I need some motivation to put me back on track. OH boy, it must be the heat again.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday To my Dear Daddy, Happy Birthday to YOU !!! ^.^

Wishing you happiness, longevity, uncountable fortune, and all the very BEST to come!

Love U Always.

One of those moments ...

I know, I know ... It's been quite sometime since I last updated.

I had been kinda busy with a lot of family activities in the past few weeks. I agree that I do treasure very much of the time shared with my folks. I love them a whole lot. Yet at the same time, I do find them a little annoyed when they're around. In a way, I understand that kids are always "kids" in parents' eyes. So beforehand, I had told myself to have extra tolerance in some of their daily annoying reminders such as "Go to bed early" and "Drink more water," etc.

After spending a couple of weeks with them, I probably have gotten a bit used to having them in the house. I do find the house has become a lot quieter everyday when I return home from work. Sigh, this surely is not something new that I am experiencing. This is just a post-feeling that strikes me almost every visit of my parents. Well, it's just one of those moments that I will get over soon ...

It's Too Early ...

It’s only 5:30am and I’m here at work. I was here since 5am and tried to fall asleep again but I wasn’t able to because it’s freaking cold in my office. So I decided to come up here and update Honey Bee. To rationalize this, I seriously don’t think my brain is functioning fully yet at this moment to avoid mistakes made at work. More likely, I don’t think I should put in an additional 4 hours of work knowing that I will have a meeting to attend later in the afternoon that I can’t escape early.

Very sleepy now … ZZzzzZZzz … but I am looking forward for the weekend. I haven’t camped once in my life so I’m actually quite excited to explore how it would be like sleeping in a tent and hanging out in nature for 2 days. While on the other hand, I do feel a little anxious as I am not sure what to expect ... but I had already prepared myself in doing some internet searches.

I always have all the different scenarios that could happen to me in the wild. Such as:












After all, I am still pretty excited ... ^.^ Yeah Yeah Yeah ~

I Miss You

^3^ Hot Hot G

Interview someone

It has been half a year since I firstly started my job at this position. When I think back of how I have gotten myself into the company, I still sweat it. To make it sounds nicer, it’s a good and valuable experience, but I certainly do not want to go through the same process again (or at least in the near future). I haven’t changed too many jobs since I graduated but I had gone through interviews with 7-8 different companies in the past. The interview processes in GS are one of the toughest ones. Ever since I was on board and every time when we saw other candidates having luncheon interviews in the cafeteria, my coworkers would joke with me saying that when the next position opened in our group, it would be my chance to tolerate the next candidate. Finally, my chance is coming soon …

But I gave up this idea after seeing the CV of the candidate awhile ago. Dude, seems like this person is way more qualified than me with a 3.7 GPA and a bunch of awards and scholorships … Maybe I should just play nice … First time I get to interview someone, but doesn't seem it's going to be as fun as what I initially imagined.

"X"

Dealing with parents can be quite killingly amazing sometimes.

I inherit a lot of features from my father. This is one thing most people point out when they see my family pictures – Woah, you really look like your dad! I take it as a compliment. I’m proud to be looking like my father … except one thing. I don’t want to explicitly point out what it is and I will use a symbol “X” to represent it here, but you should be smart enough to figure what this thing is after finish reading this.

X’s on my dad’s legs are relatively denser and longer than the general Chinese population. I’m not sure if it’s the testosterone or he always claims it’s a consequence of being an active soccer player when he was young. Unfortunately, I inherit this part of the gene from him as well. Ever since high school, when I was old enough to care more about my appearance, I had started getting rid of the X. The story actually began when I had joked with my dad one time and I blamed on his gene. He then started to make a tremendous effort to get me all the commercially available “get-rid-of-X” items – And that include X-removal cream, gel, aerosol, wax, roll-on foams, chemical depilatory, and “get-rid-of-X” electronic items. Basically, you name it, I have tried it. I always feel embarrassed for my father to go to a women sanitary section to pick up all these items. And most of the times, as talkative as he can be, he would openly discuss with the sales girls that he’s getting it for his daughter. The bottom line is, I have never asked him to do so and I do not want him to waste money to get me these fancy stuffs because I like to go by the very simple and traditional way to get rid of X. Well, if you know my father, he never listens and he likes to do things on his own way ... and he is very forgetful as well. Awhile back, he had gotten me an electronic X-remover, but I think I had only used it a few times and I went back to use the traditional kind. I guess he has completely forgotten about it and yesterday, in a very exciting tone, he told me he purchased a newly released electronic X-remover for me, which just came out in Japan a week ago.

Sigh, such a waste of money … but I think by the time he gives it to me, I still have to act all excited about it.