Friday, May 25, 2007

Entry #32 - Crab Bread

Em Em has moved her picture from the left to the right thus forcing me to follow suit.

I really want one of these crab bread from Boudin Bakery. Evidently they only make them in January. :( I hope Hubby will remember to get me one in January.

Honey: There's a branch of Boudin Bakery in the food court of the shopping mall by us. :D You don't even have to go all the way to San Francisco to get them. :D

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Entry #31 - Another Em Entry -- Pondering

I've been "neglecting" my blog for a while now. Soon Em will be complainting about it again, so I thought I'll throw in a filler blog before she goes wah wah wah at me.

***

A few things that I ponder about occasionally (yes, sometimes I actually USE my brain and no, it doesn't hurt) :-

(1) Folks to go onto those game show, are they aware of the income tax that they have to pay? I mean, think about it, most of those folks do not live in expensive places like California. They don't make a whole lot and they probably have a few kids (I believe I've seen 6 or 8 kids before). So it's fair to assume that they get all their withholdings from their paycheck back. $1 million might sound like a lot of money, but 35% is going to go to federal tax... and than another 6% or so for state tax. I wonder about the moment of shock when these winners file their income taxes the subsequent year.

What's worse is prize instead of real cash. If you won a fancy car, you'll still have pay tax base on it's value. So you'll either have to sell the fancy car... or risk tax evation.

(2) "Played through once" -- lately I've been selling all my used games on eBay. I like having money in my Paypal account. When I make purchases with reserve in PayPal, it feels like free money. :D

By the same token, I also like to buy used games from eBay -- buying an used game on eBay, play it through once (or more than once) then selling it back on eBay is actually cheaper than renting, assuming you don't wait a few years to sell your game.

Regardless, I never did quite understand why people like to stress the fact that they have "played [the game] through once" in their advertisement. In case you don't know what a video game nowadays look like, it's a disc, much like a CD or a DVD. Playing it through once or many time doesn't cause wear and tear on the disc. It's not like cassette tapes or VHS in old days. In fact, so long as you don't scratch the disc, what's going to make it look old is whether you kick the box around a lot, or flip the living daylight out of the instruction booklet. I just don't get the claim that the game has only "been played through once."

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Entry #30 - Piggies

Piggies from Old Navy. Can't remember if the center one is from Old Navy or Ikea. Recently I discovered a pink one with white snout in a Chinese book shop. Probably made in the same factory in China. Hahaha. But I think I have enough piggies, no need to acquire another one.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Entry #29 - More Wall Hangings

Mimicking Em's style of having the picture on the upper left hand corner of the blog. It just looks classier.

These are what I have hanging by the front door. The one on the right I stole from my Ex when we broke up. Hahaha. We put mail in it so we remember to grab them with us when we leave the house. The left one I also bought in Kunming. It's also for mail but its a tad shy to fit a netfix disc in. :( I guess they didn't take netflix into consideration when they made it. What a shame. :P

Monday, May 21, 2007

Entry #28 - Filler Blog - Wall Hanging I

Despite the fact that Em said blog entries should consist of words... she also wanted me to start posting some of my knick knacks... I think Em has a very conflicting personality and is very difficult to please... Remind me again why I started a sister blog for her?

This is my wall hanging I brought back from Kunming, China. I guess it was suppose to be some sort of words with some sort of meaning, but this one didn't come with a sticker on the back so I have no idea what it meant. I hope it's something good, health, wealth, or something along that line. But until I figure that out (probably never), it's just an awesome wall hanging in its own merit.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Entry #27 - Memory Sticks, Literally

I think Em Em needs to learn the concept of "a picture is worth a thousand words."

***






And you can get these pretty memory sticks at OOOMS.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Entry #26 - The Road to Destruction Is Paved with Good Intentions

This is going to be an evil entry. Em is evil. Therefore Em will like this entry.

***

The road to destruction is paved with good intentions:-

Example #1 - Gifts, specifically useless gifts

I'm Asian. I'm not above accepting cold, hard cash as gifts. It makes a wonderful gift. Truly, you should try it next time. Unless you know for certain that I've said at some point in time I wanted a specific item AND that you are certain I STILL want that item, cash is a fantastic alternative. After that, gift certificates (to some places that I will USE, like Amazon or eBay) are almost just as good. (And thanks for that Amazon gift certificate, Em. It turned into our wonderful panini grill that Hubby loved. :D)

Every time we move we rediscover this try and true fact:- almost every gift we received are bulky and useless. It takes up space and waste the movers time, whom by the way, we paid hourly.

What's more annoying than bulky useless gifts are gifts given by friends for Christmas after they specifically said, "Let's not exchange gifts this year." Followed by, "It's just something small." Thanks for making me feel like a moron.

Nobody who knows me remotely would argue with you that I'm vindictive. I live by it. In addition to being vindictive, I also have a very good memory, so I hold grudges for, like, forever. My tip to any new acquaintances are usually: "just don't cross me."

So, my solution to friends who give me nongift gifts are:- return their favor -- buy them a gift. Make sure it's the BIGGEST (as in size) you can find within your price range. Something that's meant to be displayed in the living quarters but mortifying. And make sure that's its ABSOLUTELY useless.

Example #2: "Oh, c'mon."

I don't like kids. Kids annoy to me. Kids always seem to be under the impression that they can get whatever they want (because that's the belief their parents instill in them). For the good ones who don't make that ear piercing screetching sound, they go "please, please, please, please, please." Because they believe that "please" will get them what they want.

The adult version of "please please please please please" is "oh, c'mon." A mature adult will understand that a no is a no. And it doesn't just apply when a male is making a move on a female. A no is always a no. I know the word "yes." When I meant to say "yes," you will hear "yes."

I hate having pictures taken. For some reasons others just seem to have a difficult time comprehending that. Hence the "oh, c'mon." "Oh, c'mon, I just want a picture of you." "Oh, c'mon." I just hate "Oh, c'mon."

Going forward I should just make faces in all pictures till they give up. I'll show you Oh, c'mon.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Entry #25 - The Homework Assignment

Another wordy blog for Em Em. I certainly hope she likes this one. :P

***

Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix: The professor told his class one day: "Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students: Rebecca and Gary.

THE STORY

First Paragraph by Rebecca:
At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

Second Paragraph by Gary:
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out! Then out of nowhere it blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

Rebecca:
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel", Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

Gary:
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid, Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the conference table. "We can't allow this! I'm going to veto that treaty! Let's blow 'em out of the sky!"

Rebecca:
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

Gary:
Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of FRIGGIN' TEA??? Oh no, I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!"

Rebecca:
Asshole.

Gary:
Bitch.

Rebecca:
SCREW YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!

Gary:
Go drink some tea, whore.

Teacher:
A+ I really liked this one!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Entry #24 - Em Em Is Very Hard to Please

First Em complainted that I'm neglecting my blog and to throw in some pictures as filler entries. I did exactly as instructed (which doesn't happen very often). THEN she said one picture per entry was too over the top and that a blog entry should have WORDS. There ARE words, Em. The words on the sign. :D Else they won't be all that funny eh?

So anyway, in an effort to appease my sister blog blogmate in the blogosphere. Here her entry with W-O-R-D-S.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Monday, May 14, 2007

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Friday, May 11, 2007

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Monday, May 7, 2007

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Entry #13 - More Filler (aka Cop Out) Post

Em said fillers are acceptable, so here goes. This is the massive Ikea shelf Hubby and I are perhaps going to buy over the weekend. My coworker JJ (same name as Em's panda :) asked if I have enough stuff to fill the shelf. Hah! She obviously doesn't know me well enough. :D I have enough chit to fill the entire shelf... and then some.



Did I mention that the shelf is 72" x 72"?

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Entry #12 - The Bistro Is Open for Business

Per Em's, very persistent if I may add, request, here's a picture of the patio furniture that Hubby and I have recently acquired.

Our corner(?) bistro is now officially open for business. :) (Somehow it just sounds classy when you call it a corner bistro. :D)

Friday, May 4, 2007

Entry #11 - Jing Jing

This is my complaint that Em Em did not replace or chubby panda bear mascot with Jing Jing, the 2008 Olympic panda.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Entry #10 - Blog of the Day: Indexed

I feel that putting the link to Indexed, a simply gorgeous blog doesn't do it justice. So I'll dedicate an entire entry for it. Everybody please swing by and check out INDEXED.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Entry #9: Air Force Test

Since Em demanded that I put in filler blogs when I have blogger's block, anything goes. This is a link from an email that Em sent me today. (I'm so glad I called this her sister blog. At least folks will understand my incessant reference to EM.)

See if you have what it takes to be an Air Force Pilot here.

And since I'm too lazy to write my own description, here's the content of her email:

This will drive you nuts!! Have fun and send it on to your friends! The
object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes. Give it a try but be careful...it is addictive!!

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Entry #8: Em

I titled this entry Em because, well, Em has been complainting that I've been neglecting my blog. Yes, I said MY blog. Before that she complainted that I didn't leave enough feedback on her blog. Sheesh. Anyone get the feeling that Em is a very high maintenance friend? :)

She said even filler blog is okay, so here goes.

Must read this blog, Em. I absolutely love it.

Indexed

Monday, April 30, 2007

Entry #7: Irk

Couple things irk me in my life. Okay, I'm being overly humble, many things irk me, but I am only going to discuss a few here:

(1) People who doesn't eat Chinese food but claim they do.

Look, there's no shame in it. I've never had Polynesian food or Moroccan food. I'm not ashame to admit to that. And when and if opportunity arise, I'd love to try it. Only until recently have I tried Mediterranean food. I've had Cuban a few times, not my cup of tea. Again, no shame in that. Even if you are the kind of people who likes to stick with what you like and never try anything out of your comfort zone, I can respect that. Just don't say you do when you don't.

"But how do I know (that it's not real Chinese food)?" was a common defense from these folks. Well, let me share a few tips:

- if you walk into the hole in the wall Chinese restaurant where most patrons are caucasian, and in extreme cases, the only Asian looking guy is the waiter, it's probably not authentic.
- if they serve lunch combo with fried rice or chow mein with fried wonton or egg rolls as appetizer, it's probably not authentic.
- if they serve chicken dishes with white meat, it's probably not authentic.
- Panda Inn is to Chinese food like Taco Bell is to Mexican food (Yes, Taco Bell is not authentic Mexican food, what a shocker. But I'm not Mexican, I'll leave the critique up to some real Mexicans).
- PF Chang is a fusion place at best, you are paying for it ambience, not authenticity. More expensive doesn't mean more authentic.

(2) Which is really quite similar to point (1). People who watches only kung fu and maybe even ghost movies and claim that they "like Chinese movies."

Ugh. Will you say you like Hollywood if you only watch Western? Kung fu is a genre. And frankly, most kung fu movie that made it to US has US audience in mind. They use an exobitant amount of wire work to please the American audience. The entire movie has practically no content but people flying all over the place thoughout the entire movie. They should just produce a Chinese Peter Pan.

Ghost movies are another genre. People who watches ghost movies in additon to (or instead of) kung fu movies are better than those who only watches kung fu. At least Asian ghost movies are not yet produced specifically for the American taste. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with those folks who enjoy only kung fu. It's a genre and to each their own. But don't claim that "I like Chinese movies." Shocking, there's actually more than these two genres in Chinese movies!! Folks in Asia no longer live in the dark age portrayed in kung fu movies (in fact, directors don't even bother researching proper outfits for kung fu films catered towards American taste. The costumes are more fantasy than historic).

Matrix's choreography/action was done by a Hong Kong crew, do most fans know that? I think not. Yet over 80% of those who owns DVD own a copy of Matrix. "The Departed" was borrowed from a Hong Kong movie "The Infernal Affair." The director was honest about this movie being borrowed from the get-go. Again, do people know that? I think not. God forbid us Asian have movie genres other than kung fu and horror.

This ignorance is no different than assuming folks in Asia still live in the dark ages wearing bizarre costumes and being very uncivilized. No, look at that Asian women that you work with everyday. "Submissive Asian women" is already a thing in the past. So please try to keep up with the progress of the rest of the world. Thank you.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Entry #6 - From Scratch, The OTHER Sister Blog

So my rekindling of my blogging spirit has further inspired S to start a blog of her own -- From Scratch. And since we never defined what exactly qualifies as a "sister blog," I am going to call S's blog my other sister blog. LOL

S is, by the way, the girl who enlighted me of what dough hooks are. I was debating long and hard as to whether to refer to her as DHG (for Dough Hook Girl) or GWTMWADHI (for Girl Who Told Me What A Dough Hook Is), but since she is posting her real name on her blog, I guess I can just conveniently referred to her as S.

Unlike Em & S, I like my perceived anonimity when blogging. Had Em not already referred to me as L on her blog, I was going to pick S (for Scarlett) as my alias. No reason, just the first name that pops into my head. :)

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Entry #5 - Jing Jing

Em! I request that you post a picture of Jing Jing on your blog!

(Yes, this count as a blog entry. Speaking of a cop out entry. :D)

Friday, April 27, 2007

Entry #4 - Sister Blog II

TWO days pre-dated. I'm SO much ahead of Em in this blogging game (competition, see what I mean?).

***

When I said I was going to start a sister blog, Em asked me, "What is a sister blog?"

Frankly, I had no idea. I just meant I'll have a blog concurrent to hers. Now I think I'll just randomly mention her in my blog and call this her sister blog. LOL How'd you like that, Em? ;)

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Entry #3 - Bread Mix

Even though this entry is also done on 4/25, but in an effort to fulfill (compete with?) Em's goal of one blog a day, I am going to pre-date this for tomorrow. And going forward, any extra blog entries of a day will automatically increment in one day interval. :D

***

So once upon a time I bought two boxes of bread machine mix for my husband ("Hubby"). But because Hubby is such a big admirer of the greatest American hero, he decided to lost the instruction manual that came with the bread machine. And since we couldn't figure out whether it is a 1 lb or 1.5 lb bread machine, the two bread mix just sat in the kitchen pantry and endured at least two moves with us. Finally I said to myself one day, "Screw it! I am just going to proceed as if it's a 1.5 lb bread machine" and made these what I think was God awful tasting bread. Hey, don't judge me. I'm Asian. I'm more the rice kind of gal if you know what I mean. ;) Regardless, Hubby just loved it. Then he turned into Belle (in Disney's rendition of Beauty & the Beast), "But daddy (wifey in this case), all I want is just a rose (bread mix)." And for reasons beyond understand, bread machine mix is obviously a rare commodity in my area. :O

So yesterday I surfed to this wonderful website that offers some 50+ kinds of bread machine mix -- The Prepared Pantry. I absolutely refused to pay shipping and handling that cost more than the item I purchase. That's just ludicrous. BUT the wonderful The Prepared Pantry offers free shipping with $60 worth of purchase. Here comes the quandry, do I really want to buy 20 boxes of bread mix... from a place that I have never tried before? I tossed and I turned and started filling out my shopping cart with stuff (typical woman). After I hit "purchase," I had second thought about $60 with free S&H versus <$25 + $5.95 S&H. So I idled on that page went about doing other stuff (typical procastination personality). Low and behold, an hour later I received an email from Dennis from The Prepared Pantry whom I assumed is the owner... or a VERY loyal employee cause this was 10:35 at night. Dennis said to me "We can see your order, can we help you?" LOL

I imagine that must be like dangling a piece of meat in front of some animals. :D "Oh c'mon, are you going to do it or not." LOL

I emailed him back to inform him of my situation: "Dear Dennis, I was debating long and hard about $60 w/ free S&H v. <$25 + $5.95 S&H. Then I got distracted by the stainless steel egg timer." Translation: "Somehow I don't think you can quite help me with my ADD, Dennis."

This one:



Isn't that just a perfect addition to my kitchen collection? I almost need to purchase a stainless fridge to go with my stainless steel egg timer. WHO doesn't need a cute STAINLESS STEEL egg timer?

Dennis, the loyal employee, wasn't going to let this big fish get away. In Chinese we call that "fat meat at the mouth" (yes, in the old days, fat meat was very precious). He emailed me back a link to inform me that I qualify for a FREE GIFT with my purchase. Little did he know, ADD L already had a new page open and had the free-with-$25-purchase egg timer in my shopping cart. :D

Long story short. We closed the $60 deal without further ado... mostly because of the stainless steel egg timer... and the extra free gift, my dear, loyal, readers, is my sixth cutting board. :D