Tahiti - Bora Bora

This is why we should sell everything we have, quit our jobs and move to Bora Bora. Click on the picture above to get to my photo gallery. More pictures (from Moorea) to come.

(Sorry, no pictures of us, you gotta pay us a house visit to for that.)

Maternal Instinct?

Contrary to what most people believe, up until recently, I was never too fond of babies. Sure they are cute to look at with their big heads and chubby cheeks but that's all, I just want to look at them. Touch them? Um..no thanks. I would go to the extent to holding them but once they start crying, it's time to return them to the parents. To understand why this is so, here's a little history.
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I was 16 when my brother was born. Anyhow, the first thing I learned about babies was that they don't sleep when you sleep and their cries are the loudest when you're most sleepy. And oh, make no mistake, baby's crap stinks! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Not exactly very fun. I learned early on that baby equals dirty diapers and lots of bottles. But that wasn't what bothered me the most. What bothered me the most were the stares I would get from people thinking that I was a teenage mother...um...how about thinking that I am aunt or sister or even a babysitter eh?.....people are so pessimistic! UGH!
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So perhaps, this experience has pushed me away from babies/toddlers/young kids for a while. Babies? No thanks, I had my fun. Don't need one of those for another lifetime. But strangely, this has not been the case for me in the past year. Every time I see a baby, I have this strange desire to want to make them laugh. Why are their laughs so cute? ARGGH?!! What's happening to me? Are babies just getting cuter? Scary!

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Going off topic here...I can't help but feel a little guilty when I see my bird, dawg, sitting on 2 wooden eggs. I read that a lovebird will keep having eggs until they feel that there are enough to start incubation period. So, if you keep taking the egg out, the lovebird will keep having them, which is not healthy as producing an egg requires a lot of calcium. Plus, they need to go through an incubation period before they can go back to their normal activities. So, if you disrupt this cycle, the bird will keep having eggs and never get out of the laying egg cycle. Not good cuz during this egg laying mode, the bird gets very moody. Mr. P used to take the eggs out and boil them and then return them to the bird and let her sit on it. Last Sunday, I found some wooden egg at Michael's so now, we just exchange them. Does Dawg not know that her egg is white while the eggs from Michael's is brown? hmmm...she is currently sitting on them. It's kinda funny..but kinda sad in a way...but it's important to provide birdy-birth control...

New Year Resolution

Must be the new year because there were tons of people at the gym on Friday night and tons of people at the gym on Saturday morning. I wonder how long before it goes back to normal, when the gym is empty on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. My guess is that in 2 weeks or so.hehe..sorry for be so pessimistic but history is likely to repeat itself and soon I won't have a problem finding a parking spot at the gym. Yes! Anyhow, 21 days after new year, I finally have my resolutions . Let's see how long mine will last.

My new year resolution is to
1)Conserver Water - turn off water when I'm shampooing etc.
2)Conserve Energy - yes Mr. P, that means turning off the lights when I leave a room
3)Keep my plants alive and - yes, that means watering them..I know.
4)Get my resting heart rate below 80 - Did you know that Lance Armstrong's resting heart rate is 32 per minute? That is insane!

Am I insane? Apparently so, well, that is according all those who drove by while I was jogging this morning. Today's not so bad, not like last week, but it was still cold. But that's motivation to run faster right? I think I should get a pair of ear muffs though cuz for some reason, the ears just don't warm up even when the rest of the body does. Every once in a while I would pass by a little chirp standing on a bare branch. Poor thing! Where do they live? Don't they usually live in trees to keep warm? But there are no leaves now!!! I couldn't help but wonder how the little friends are doing this winter since it's particularly cold. Winter is so harsh on little animals. If I were a little bird, I would migrate south. I hope winter ends soon, cuz these poor little friends, they must be cold and hungry!

They say that looking at stars (the constellation type) is like looking at the past. This is because it takes a very long time to for their light to reach earth. It could be that the stars you were staring at last night are already dead - and are now white dwarfs, neutons, or black holes. Whoa! Well, if you would like to freeze, after twilight, when it's dark enough, you can see the winter constellation Orion (picture on the left), and below that, the Orion's dog, Canis Major (picture on the right). Actually, I'm not sure if you can see the entire dog, but for sure, you can see the big bright star Sirius.

Have you been good this year? hehehehe....

For your enjoyment..it's a one of a kind Christmas Tree by me!
Happy Holidays!

Click to see more, username is dylan's last name and password is dylan's birthday (format is mmddyy).

Note to self: Never buy any furniture unless delivery is complimentary. Seriously, folks, if you think your wife wants to buy furniture all the time, the way to see it stop is go buy it with your wife and then say no to delivery service. This works really well ya know.

The someone (don't wanna mention names hahaha....we all know who you are) and I bought a bedroom set but since delivery is $140, someone said no to delivery. So today, we brought a 1988 VW van with us to pick up the 6 piece bedroom set. I'm not kidding you. And then of course, the headboard wouldn't fit in the van. We tried it sideway and every which way we can think of but it just wouldn't fit. Am I surprised? NO!!! Was he surprised?...Yes! Amazing....and then when we got home.......well, I can tell you, I was so frustrated I started crying..well that was after we went up one flight of stairs where one of the corners of the dressser hit me in the temple and then one of the dresser's legs ran over my toes......why oh why did I want new furniture? They are currently sitting in the living room...and the bedroom is one more flight of stairs...I don't want to think about it....I have a feeling my back is gonna hurt tomorrow.

after this experience I don't ever want new furniture ......how about when we got the sofa? our coffee table? our the buffet table? Yup, we also moved that ourselves too...but this experience was the worst ever! Is it really worth it to save the delivery fee?

It's been over 2 years since we visited the squirrels at the Golden Gate Park. 2 years ago, there was this one special squirrel who followed us around and was super friendly. I named him (it looked like a him) Willis. I wonder if Willis is still alive or whether it was Willis that we saw on Sat. Could this be Willis?



It sure looked like Willis. Well, kinda hard to tell cuz Willis and his friends and family and extended family all look alike.

They were, as always, super friendly, sweet, and adorable! 2 years ago, there weren't any signs prohibiting the feeding of squirrels. Now, it's all over the place. That's too bad! If we don't feed the squirrels, where are they gonna find food? They need (unsalted) nuts and acorns to help them get through the winter. *wink* *wink*

I hope they had a great thanksgiving.

This photo archiving/restoring project started off because I miss home. Now, I miss home even more. It's been over 3 years since I moved to the bay area yet somehow I still get super homesick.

Can you see an upside down heart in this picture?

Tis the season to be thinking of turkey. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la :)
Advice: from 1 to 2 weeks before thanksgiving till hmm.... new years day...forget about dieting....that should be umm...next year's resolution. Enjoy the eggnogs, the deserts..and whatever your heart desires!

hehe...well, some things to think about before the 23rd arrives if you're planning to make make a turkey...
- confirm the # of ppl who will be eating the turkey
- order the turkey
- make a shopping list.

My Cubicle

It's not the eastern sierra but it's got some fall color. Did you know that Mount Diablo is the highest mountain in the bay area? It's a got a great view from up top.

Dahlia...Dahlia...Dahlia. Fall & Dahlia go together hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. I had to fight this lady at the farmer's market for them. I was there first. I asked the sales person if I can get the rest of the Dahlias for a discount. The price said "$3 a bunch". He said he'll give the rest of the Dahlias to me for $3 and before I can say ok or grab them, this lady got her hands on them and said, "I'll take them for $3!" Usually, I wouldn't fight for it cuz I'm kinda timid that way but I really wanted them so I said, "um..excuse me, I was getting those" and she just looked at me. Then the sales guy said, ok, you ladies work it out. 3 bunches is a lot so I suggested that we split them so in the end, I got 1 bunch and she got 2 bunches, I paid $1 and she paid $2. Not exactly what I had in mind, but better than nothing wouldn't you say? Click on the picture get to my gallery of Dahlias and Strawberries.

Stars of Bethlehem, that's what this flower is called. I saw a bunch of them at today's wedding. Each little bulb really looks like a star. A bunch of stars, how pretty! What do I know about it? Absolutely nothing, well, other than that they are originally from southern europe and that it's a perenial.

OK, who ate my lunch? I can't believe there's a lunch thief at work. Someone took my beef stew (ate half of it) and rice (ate all of it - the tupperware was empty) and returned it to the fridge at the exact same spot that I had put them. How rude is that? Doesn't that somebody think that if he/she took someone else's lunch, that will leave someone else hungry?!!!! That's it, I'm looking into buying a mini fridge.

Flying in a small private jet is like umm, let's see, sitting on a swing except there's no chains holding it up. I forgot when but when my boss mentioned he could fly but when he did, I was like, "oh neat!". And somehow, I got myself committed for a flying tour. Probably because I was the most excited of all my coworkers.

Right before my coworker and I got on the plane, my boss said, "OK, this is so you know, this plane is a single engine plane and doesn't have a parachute. So if it fails, that's it. You can still back out if you want." Haha...well, I came so far, I might as well go through with it. Let me tell you, I was so scared!!!

Here's some pictures.

Biking from Fisherman's Wharf to Sausalito and/or Tiburon, is not just for tourists. If you haven't done that and you live in the Bay Area, it is something you should definitely put on your to do list. If you don't have a bike, do what the tourists do, rent it at a place like Bay City Bike. It's about $27 to rent a bike for a whole day. Great deal for whole day of fun!

Favorite Shots from the ride: