Ho-Ho-Ho

Work off at 2pm. I decided to go down to Union Square to do some people watching. It has been a while since I'm part of this excitment, or rather, hectic commercialism.

People are here and there... Everyone is busy shopping for Christmas gifts but I wonder how many of them will be back the day after Christmas to return the stuff they bought today...

Cold Blue Sky

Out in the Cold: I took a little walk to the Ferry Building during lunch today. It was very cold and most people huddled inside the building. Very few chose to go outside even though the sun was out and they sky was a pretty blue. I got to enjoy the empty plaza with a handful of people and one lonesome sea gull. It was quiet... A big contrast to the "busyness" of the financial district a block away.

Ferry Away: the ferry was about to leave. I wished I could have just jumped on and took off with it. It was a cold but beautiful day to play hooky. Out at the sea...fresh air... awesome view and a cup of good old Peet's coffee...

I Promised You a Kahlua Cake

Here's the story: Once upon a time, two complete strangers struck up a conversation about baking and traded cake recipes on the spot in the houseware section of Macy's Cellar. I happened to have the apple nut coffee cake recipe with me (thanks Carol, it was your recipe) that day, but the lady didn't have her killer chocolate cake recipe, which she said I must have. She took my address and promised to mail it to me (the era before emails). Did she? You guessed it... If she didn't, I wouldn't be telling the story today.

Totally Delectable: a stranger kept her words to another when she did not really need to. It makes this chocolate cake extra sweet and scrumptious.

Pretend It's Winter

Somehow, 60 degree-ish weather, sunny blue sky, palm trees and ice skating just don't seem to go together. But here we are, ice skating ring ready and holiday music blasting... We are forced to enjoy this artificial winter.

Here's reality: the winter holidays season starts in early November. It doesn't matter that winter is still more than a month away, or that we haven't even had our Thanksgiving turkey. We have to hurry because we need more time for shopping - no I mean- to enjoy the holidays.

Street Cars of San Francisco

San Francisco Muni has street cars, trolleys and trams. So, which one is this? A quick google yielded enormous amount of info.

This particupar streetcar is part of the Milan, Italy tram fleet built in 1928. It even kept its original Milan car number 1818 and original orange color.

This tram was in operation before Dad was born. I wonder who had ridden in it and what stories happend on those rides...

Want to be part of its history? Ride the San Francisco Street Cars.

Back in the City

I could feel the charge in the air as I came up from the BART station. It was an energy that only could be found in the city. It might have been the people, the cars, the noise, the pollution... together, they pumped me up. After being away from the financial district for 3 years, it's almost like being back home.

Things have not changed all that much. Most of the stores that I was familiar with and used to frequent are still in business. I am, however, older and hopefully a little wiser. Not sure where I will be in a few more years - things do happen - but for now, I'm glad to be back in the hustling and bustling of things.

I'm Running Away

Well, after 2 years, I'm leaving my team. It has been a great ride though our team has gone through some bumpy roads.

We started with 3 and ended up with 7 - and we made a good name for HR and Payroll.

Our biggest goof was when we had to stuff checks for 2,000+ employees in 235 stores (the very first time) before the UPS truck showed up. We worked frantically and even had a plan to block the UPS truck from leaving if push came to shove. We stuffed all the checks in time but found empty envelopes and checks that had no envelopes... that was not a very pretty sight.

Our greatest accomplishment was when we had to sort 5,000+ W-2s by store numbers manually. Oh, the pains, the agonies, and the cursing... but we made it and pulled it through at the end.

Over the past two years, we lost 2 original team members and added a new one. Now I'm going, and someone will replace me... I know that she or he will be welcomed with open arms.

I wish my team the very best. They will forever have a place in my heart.

Fusion Friday

RK and I had fusion food last Friday, 9/22/06 at E&O Trading.

I made the reservation on Open Table. I love Open Table! What a great place to review and select restaurants. It really helps with fulfilling another one of my 1,000 goals - to try out the top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area.

OK, I digress... RK went along for fusion food because he wanted to do studies for his restaurant designs. Normally, nothing can drag him to a shi-shi place.

For the study, RK and I were eyeing the decors, trimmings, materials, displays, furnitures, people, etc... E&O did good fusing East and West. Fried calamari was served with Asian dipping sauce; Indian bread was served with funky sides and coffee cream poured from a sake bottle.

E&O Trading had a energetic ambience. People were chatting, drinking, eating and really enjoying the night. It has pretty good food and our waitress was very knowledgeable. Love it! However, I was kind of disappointed with their cocktails and food presentation - little creativity. Nonetheless the overall experience was very nice. RK agreed to go back again. Now, that’s a stamp of approval and we shall have a real date next time.

Good Bye Summer

So summer has come and almost gone. Did we really have a summer? Yes, there were few extremely hot days here and there. But overall, this has been a pretty mellow summer in our neck of the woods.

Not willing to let the summer slip by, we had an End of Summer Party for our buddies on 9/7/06. RK cranked up the heat for the pool so the kids were able to enjoy one last dip.

The adults had the usual indulgence of fine food and wine. Many thanks to Sandra's generosity, we always got to taste different wines - what a blast to be able to have 8 bottles of different red and white in one tasting. Of course, the rest of the girls brought enough food to feed the army again.

Fall is only two days away and holidays are just around the corner. We will soon be hearing ho-ho-hos and jingle bells. However, they will also pass by before we have a chance to immerse in the holiday spirits.

Oh well, this is life and we have to go along for the ride.

Surrounded by Beauty

When going too fast, we ignore the small but beautiful things around us.
So, one of the 1,000 things to do after graduation is to ask myself to pay a little bit more attention to the smaller things and appreciate their existence.

"Everything is beautiful in its own way." It is the simple beauty that enriches our lives...

The Street Divide

I had to go to SF downtown today. I got off at the Civic Center Station and walked eastward. It was like in two completely different places after I crossed 4th Street on Market. On one side, I saw a city dead and hopeless; across, the city was filled with actions and activities. I saw wanderers on one side and saw tourists on the other; people moved around aimlessly at one side and people moved around with a sense of purpose on the other. How can store fronts closed and locked down with iron gates on one side of the street and across 4th street, the stores had loud displays and filled with shoppers...

It bothered me because I didn't understand how it could be nights and days merely by crossing a street. It was like crossing the border from one country to another. It made me sad yet I did not know if there was anything I could do.

A Pleasanton Surprise!

Robert and I took a little drive to downtown Pleasanton on Saturday (7/15/06). I wanted to visit Downtown again because I didn't have a chance to explore it while there for business last Tuesday.

I always thought of Pleasanton as a dry, bland, ordinary town with cookie-cutter houses. I didn't know it had a very different downtown - it was lined with tall trees and old buildings with charming characters.

We took a little stroll through the area. The neighborhood had a comfortable old town feel. It was quiet and relaxing... It was hard to image that this area sits between Highway 580 and 680 - two of the busiest freeways in the bay area. Wow!

Right on Main Street, there were street signs showing the distances to Pleasanton's sister cities. I had never heard of these cities. So, must google!

Tulancingo, 2,300 miles south, is located in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico. It is the second most important city in that state. Blairgowrie, 5,020 miles east, is in Scotland by the Ericht River. According to Google, Fergus, Onatario, Canada, is the third sister city. No idea why it is not posted...

So, a little field trip taught me something about Pleasanton. I would not have learned about it if we didn't have this afternoon outing. It was a pleasant surprise.

Crawfish and More

How many crawfish is in 30 pounds? I posed the question at the crawfish party but no one cared -- hey, the more the merrier.

RK and I hosted a crawfish party for his friends last Saturday (6/3). Most of them had not tried it and they were curious as to what it was.

We ordered 30 pounds of crawfish and they were delivered early Saturday. RK's buddies were normally late to parties but this time they all showed up pretty early. Everyone brought something to make the feast complete. Steven and Russell even found Louisiana beer for the occasion. That was very nice!

We did it Cajun style with the seafood boiler. It was an impressive sight when we dumped the crawfish onto the table along with corns and potatoes. This year, I added a little surprise to the bucket. When the crawfish was poured onto the table, out came two dungeness crabs! They really liked that! I called it the delight factor...

Beside the crawfish, we also had other food. Everyone ate, went swimming and ate some more. A good time was had by all.

The crawfish feast is becoming an annual event for us. We really enjoy all the woos and ahhs! It is exciting that food can bring so much joy. So, we will have one more crawfish party for the family before the season ends in early July.

I'm Done!

OK. I can finally say that I've graduated because I was hooded by the Dean of the SFSU Business College on Friday, May 26, 2006. It will be officially official when I get my diploma in the mail.

It was quite exciting walking down the aisle with my fellow students. It made me want to cry because I realized that not everyone had this opportunity and I was one of the lucky ones.

So, celebration got started way before Friday. Thursday (5/25) night was dinner at Moonstar. Jean took me, Robert, Sharon, Kurt and Kurt's father, mother, sister and brother-in-law out. It was supposed to be Sharon's birthday but I'll take the credit for it.

Friday (5/26) was dinner at Little Henry's. Jason bought dinner. I brought my graduation cap along. Everyone got to wear it and had picture taken. The kids looked great in it. I hope they will go for a Master when they grow up.

On Saturday (5/27), Robert, Jesse and I checked out T-Rex in Berkeley and tried their BBQ baby back ribs and short ribs. I'll give it a 3.5 out of 5.0. The BBQ was the specialty but it was not a BBQ joint. I heard Bo's BBQ on Mt. Diablo Blvd. is good. It's a must try.

Sunday (5/28) was dinner at McCormick and Kuleto's at Fisherman's Wharf. Robert's second sister, Jenny and brother-in-law, Bob, bought dinner for 11 of us. I am sure that it cost them a arm and a leg.

Monday (5/29) was BBQ and seafood boil at Robert's. It was supposed to be my party (again, taking credit) but I was the chef for most of the day. I must say I did a pretty good job especially with the oysters. I BBQ them a little to get the shells opened. I then put butter, garlic and green onion on top. I topped it off with cheese and put them back on the grill for few more minutes until they were bubbly. It was quite tasty.

Tuesday (5/30), I picked up salad, shrimp cocktail and chicken alfredo from Costco and had a quiet dinner with Mommy and Daddy.

It's nice that I don't have to worry about school anymore.