Year 2008

It's the holiday season again. Feels like we were just at the Christmas eve mass at church, catching up with old friends. I feel like time is moving super fast, and when we do glance up and look, it has come and gone. People say the older you are, the faster time goes. It seems true so far, and if it keeps up, I am not sure what it will be like when I am 60. Maybe the whole year will be gone in a blink of an eye.

Although it feels like time flew by, if I really counted, we did have every single day of the year, and we accomplished quite a lot of things.

Jan 08: Celebrated Wei's 31st birthday. 

Feb 08: Joined the PHS Wind ensemble

            and started playing the bassoon again.

            Office move to White Oak is canceled, on hold indefinitely!

Mar 08: Maternal grandmother passed away in Taiwan
Apr 08: RESTING!
May 08: Decided we should check out single houses

             found the last lot at Potomac Edge
             signed purchase contract
Jun 08:  House cleaning
             PHS COA conference in Tuscon, AZ
             Visit Grand Canyon
Jul 08: Open house!
           Dad's 60th Birthday party
Aug 08: Cousin and family from Taiwan visit
             House under contract!!
Sept 08: First deployment for Hurricane Gustav, Hanna, Ike
             Taiwan!
Oct 08: Hokkaido, Japan!
            Moving/Cleaning/Packing
            House is SOLD!
Nov 08: Move into new home!
            more moving/cleaning/unpacking
Dec 08: even more moving/cleaning/unpacking
            curtains, blinds, and rods

So you see, we really experienced and had each and every single day of the year. I might have to do this every year to remind myself that I am not going crazy, a whole year really has come and gone.

Merry Christmas!

Homeless

We are officially homeless now. Signed the papers this morning, and moved in with my parents. It's so sad to leave our first house together, it's like our baby. We saw it being built, furnished it, and had many great gatherings and memories at the house. Just when we were all done with improvements and ready to really sit back and enjoy, we had to sell it.

Let me first say, I had no idea one can accumulate so much in 4.5 years. Granted I've always suspected that I have too many clothes. But other miscellaneous junk? Like I have 10 different flower vases all in different sizes and shapes. And the number of times I've had to use a vase? Less than 5 in the whole 4.5 years. Then cables, Wei's got cables for computer, TV, speakers, Internet, phone, game consoles, enough for 5 boxes full of them. Think they multiple on its own?

Then it's the packing process. We started sorting through things in July, in preparation for open house. I packed away things we don't usually need, ie junk. I think I am too good at storing things with limited space. I must have packed 30 boxes of "non-essential" things before open house. Then once the house went under contract, I started to pack more and more. And things will materialize, and we would have to ask for more and more boxes. In total, I think we must have packed at least 100 boxes. We stored most of them with family and friends, but we still have furniture to pack and store. In comes the POD. We originally requested a 12 feet long unit, not sure if longer ones will fit the driveway. Ended up with a 16 feet unit, courtesy of the company. Thank goodness! We (by "we", I meant Wei and his brother), jam packed the unit end to end, floor to ceiling. And? It still didn't fit everything. Extra trips to parents house were made, and by the end, I just threw everything in boxes or bags and practiced "out of sight, out of mind".

Last night being our last night at the house, I thought maybe we can have some time to "say goodbye" to our house. We didn't finish cleaning/packing till 2 AM. Buyer were coming over at 8 AM for the final walk through. Needless to say, we were exhausted. We had a quick walk around the house, and bid it farewell this morning. At the settlement office, we handed our keys over, and it was official, the property is no longer our home. We are going to miss you 307 Oak Knoll Terrace!!

So, we are temporarily settled in with my parents. The new place should be ready in 3 weeks, can't wait!

Hokkaido Japan

We just finished our 5 days tour of Hokkaido. It's our second tour to Japan, and second tour with Signet Tour. As usual, food was wonderful, lodging was great, and hot springs hot

Hokkaido is known for its dairy products and seafood. After the milk scare in Taiwan, we went a little crazy. Had ice cream daily, fresh milk daily, and bought 10bags of soft milk candy (Hokkaido specialty) to bring back with us. Every meal was like a feast. We had all kinds of fish, scallops, crabs (grilled, steamed, stewed, fried, and raw), squid, sea urchin (there's a special type of sea urchin called, and I kid you not, "horse shit sea urchin", it actually looks like a black donut with tiny spikes).

This time, we stayed at hot spring hotels for 3 nights. And for 2 of those 3 nights, we slept on traditional tatami. In Japanese culture, hot spring equals to naked public bath. I had a hard time last year with my first Japanese hot spring experience. Basically, you stripe naked in the "locker room", and take with you a tiny hand towel to the public bath area, and shower yourself while seating down. Then you go into the hot spring "bath" all naked, with no towels to hide anything. Why do people do that? Well, in traditional Japanese homes, and in our hotel rooms, the actual shower/bath tub is tiny. One hotel we stayed at had the sink, toilet, and bath tub all in a tiny closet sized room. Not the most comfortable showering/cleansing setting. And then there's the special body scrub, hair shampoo and conditioner, lotions, etc, that's available for use at the public bath area. Wei and I both scrubbed ourselves from head to toe with the peeling gel, and have our skins feeling soft and silky. Then there are different types of hot springs. There is iron spring, salt spring, sulfur spring, dead sea spring, and some other that I couldn't understand. They all benefit different parts of our body, and supposedly promotes good health. So, we would bath once when we check into the hotel, once before bedtime, and once more before breakfast the next day. Result? I am no longer conscious of myself naked in front of strangers.

Taiwan High Lights

We finished our week long vacation in Taipei on Monday. High Lights are:

We were interviewed and broadcasted on Taiwan news! Saturday morning, we were walking around, and went into a grocery type of store by our hotel. TV crew were there interviewing people about the tainted milk products. The lady asked us if we eat "peanut milk". I took that to mean literally, peanut flavored milk. Wei was smarter than me, and understood correctly that she meant candies make of peanut milk. The whole 3 minutes, I was laughing at Wei's awkward Mandarin. I thought they'd just delete our section. Guess no one else was willing to talk to them, so they aired us. Need to find the clip and download it somehow.

Eva Air upgraded us to first class! Monday morning was our flight from Taipei to Hokkaido. Guess we were kind of early, when we checked in, the lady told us she made some arrangements to our seating. We didn't pay much attention to it, since we didn't have seat numbers before, we thought she just gave us seats together close to the front. So being assigned row 7, we boarded the plane towards the end. Wei was wondering how come our seats were H and K, they don't seem to be next to each other or even close. When we got on, we were shown to the first class section. Apparently, rows 6-9 are first class. Of course we didn't complain. Wei seems to think the lady at the checkin counter thinks he's cute, so upgraded us at no charge. In any case, it was so nice!! They fed us all the time, had "tray clothe" for meals, and food was served in real china. We had food menu and drink menu. The best part was the seat. It reclines all the way so I can sleep like in a bed! Too bad the flight was only 3 hours. I told Wei that's the only way to travel from now on.

Typhoon Jangmi

Greetings from Taipei! After 24 hours of travel, we are in Taipei. Just in time for the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan this year. The bus ride from the airport to Taipei was a little bit like rides at amusement parks. Because it's 2 levels, we could feel the bus swaying on the road due to high winds. Once we got off the bus, we had to walk 5 mins to Wei's grandparents' place. Within seconds, we were both wet, and could not keep walking while holding our umbrellas and luggages. The wind is something out of this world, blowing like crazy. Wei's umbrella is the first casualty. We went out for lunch with his grandmother, i had a $3 odon! After showering, 4 hours nap, we put on dry clothes and came out of the hotel. Only to find most businesses are closed. That includes some convenient stores, restaurants, and shops. Thank goodness for Comic King!

Post Deployment

So, I survived my first deployment. Compared to the other officers that were sent down to Louisiana or Texas, I consider myself lucky. Although the 12 hours shift tires me out, at the end of the shift, I get to sleep in my own house, in my own bed. I've heard several horror stories about the living conditions in Texas. I feel sorry for the officers working down there, and even more so for the affected people living in Texas.

Things I learned:

Freezing temperatures keep you awake
People do stare at officers in camouflage uniforms (although they try to hide it)
Nothing gets done with politics
Football is very important
Metro does not run at 4 AM
Fast food is not real food

All in all, I am glad it's done and over with. Now I have something to put on my CV.

EMG at HHS SOC

So I am on deployment. To the far away location of Washington DC, more than 1000 miles away from Louisiana where Gustav landed. Why? One theory is that someone saw a picture of me, and decided I am too weak to work in a trying environment. Another theory is they wanted to use my organizational skills and help out at the headquarters. Regardless of the reason, I am being stationed at the SOC (Secretary's Operation Center). Sound impressive? You bet. It's like in the movies, with a whole front wall covered with screens of area maps, and multiple TVs showing CNN and the weather channel. SOC prepares reports for the president! My job? I am the little liaison that sits here in the middle of the night, to do nothing. Well, not nothing, I answer phone calls, if any, that comes in, in the middle of the night. I am not complaining though. I've heard some officers got deployed to the affected areas, and have to work 12 hour shifts, sleep on floors or on buses, being shuffled between places.

This whole ordeal has been a little bit disappointing. First, I was all anxious to go where ever Gustav made landfall. Half of the people from my office are there, vs me being all alone in the SOC. Then the whole scheduling of the shifts. I was told initially my shift is 7 PM to 7 AM, everyday. But the need for coverage changes daily, so I get multiple phone calls a day, changing from you are on today, no you are off, no, sorry you are on, to finally, no, stay home today. I feel like I've spent the last couple of days trying to sleep, all day long. At least I am at home though, sleeping in my own comfy bed. The crazy thing is, for the next 3 days, I am to work at the travel help desk, from 6 PM to 4 AM. Metro doesn't even run at 4 AM!! Going to need a chauffeur =)

I am surprised I am still awake at 3 AM. Guess the AC is keeping me frozen, so harder to fall asleep.

Keep your fingers crossed for Ike, it might be another bad one.