Today I learned that cafeteria opens at 7:30

This week, I've attempted to wake up early so that I have time to finish work, and stuff that requires the focus of an awake person. As, by the end of the day - I am about to call it quits. I've come into work earlier too. Mainly due to the early morning meeting sessions that I have, which are inconvenient to do over my must-be-upgraded-soon cellphone.

Today, was no exception. I have an 9am, which means its a pain to go thru traffic and try to get to work right before then. And, today, I got into work at 7:15am. Traffic was light and really nice :) Figure I should have some food in my stomach before I start the day, I walked over to the cafe, and to my amazement - it is closed!! Woah. That had never happened. Never. Never in my whole entire IBM life.

Next time - I'll know. And knowing is 1/2 of the battle.

The unspoken girl rule

Soccer again tonight. The game was at 6pm, and I almost forgot!! I mean, I didn't forget this morning, but it was 5:39 when I realized that I should be running off and get ready!

We were against a team that was suppose to be top notch. They are. Its amazing how well they can control the ball - and that the fact that the two girls in the team really can play!! I ended up chasing the other team left and right. :( not good. I need to be better at guarding.

I took a break after a while - and just hangout chatting with my teammate. He said - the girl from the other team pushed him and went for the ball. So he pushed back - and then that girl and the other team complained about it. He said - he'll be nice to girls but - if they want to play rough - then no excuses and no complains.

So.. ah ha - an unspoken rule for girls. Tho my other teammates said that the other team doesn't play nice at all. We are the nice guys. Nice guys tied the game with a 3~3 score! Yeah!

"Do u want to know me?"

I get spams thru all the different email accounts that I registered with. Most of times, I am not even sure how the spammer's found the email.

The spams comes in different categories: The phishing type, such as : you've won something, your account is changing, your unknown relatives has left you millions. The advertisement type: buy these drugs online and save, go to this site for xxx stuff... and the last type - the looking for a good man letters.

For some reason, I've been getting the "looking for a good man letters" thru google, and only google. I must have somehow sent an google email out to something somewhere..

These are particularly funny b/c inevitably, there is a link pointing to a Russian site. And, all looking for a nice man... (which - I am not ) . They always sounds kinda nice. I think :)

This is the latest sample :

"Greetings to you!

I know that you are a very attractive man, and I hope for our future relationships, I want you to know that it is very important for me, so please tell me much more about you in your letters, I'll be waiting for your answer impatiently at web site deleted

And now I'll tell you something about myself, I believe in faith in my life and I will meet my real second half when the time comes. However if you don't take any action in life nothing is going to happen, right?

I have heard that some people on the net always use prepared notes to make a communication easier which I really don't like and I don't think it is good for both parties involved. I'm really interested in you and expect the same
in return:
Have a nice day"

Nice huh ? apparently the writer believes I am an attractive man.... heh

We won!!!

Yeah !!!!!!!!!! We won!! with a 2-1 win.

While I didn't did anything to impact that result.... (ie - didn't made the goal) it was still really cool to watch it happen!

This was a perfect night for soccer. Cool enough, not cold. And we got most of the team members there - ie - 2 extra girls and 2 extra guys for subbing. Yeah! I got in a bit late but I still made it in time for the girl to sub out. BTW - its all about subbing - it really gets tiring and not fun when you are on the field all the time....

I got in sometimes in the middle of the first half.. Left Center. Ok. I know what to do there. The ball didn't come by my side too often.. and remembered that I just go back and forth a bit. But this was the half where we got 2 goals. :) Yeah!!!!

Breaktime! The girls talked about boots and fall fashion while the guys probably was talking about how to improve the game. I took some sips of water.... ack..

The second half comes around, we got a great game going. .. I was on the bench watching the game with Lauren ... then Chris K came back after a sub and said - think its time for you guys to go out - since Lan is limping a bit. We were both like sure! Lauren was getting chilly!!

Got out in the field and got assigned as Center forward. I was like - huh? what do I do there? I am not totally sure what that does but I think I try to stay in the center a bit more rather than being on the side.... I found that - I don't like being in the center. I have this fear that if I have the ball and everyone comes to me.. I would freak out. Besides - I like running sideways .. and that's perfect for being on the side.

In the middle of that game... a ball came straight at me, and it was an easy catch. But I was clueless what to do next. Before I can think about it, a lady from another team got close and kick my ball away!! just like that!! but then I chased after it and kicked it back out to someone in my team.... thank goodness.....

We let one in accidentally b/c we were all kinda tired.. and decided that three people should be enough to defend the goal. The other team didn't even bother to gather everyone closer. But someone - somehow, got the goalie away on to one side.. and the big gap happened... *darn*

Oh well. But hey ! we kept to the last minutes and keep the points out! Yeah!!!

Its sooo cool :) I wasn't even that tired... woah!

Watch out for #29 !!

#29 - that's me !!!

Another soccer game today - and while we had one extra girl in the team, we were short on guys. (ie no extra bodies to switch out). I was lucky enough to be sitting out early beginning - then after I got switched in, I didn't get to switch out again.

Tired, but not as much as last time. Probably all those walking in NYC.

But - it was fun. While we didn't win... my highlights :) (pure Ying ego boost right here )

Highlight 1 : The lady guarding me, when my team was close to the goal, getting ready to pass the ball in . She yells "Watch out for # 29 ! " . Woah. I didn't figure anyone would be "watching out" about me.

Highlight 2: As I tried to get the ball away from the attacking team... the guy on the other side said to the other teammate - "guard her" . Same stuff. Crazy huh ?

Highlight 3: My favorite. Near the end of the game, I was playing defense. The goalie on the other team has the ball, and kicked it all the way - right toward me. It looked like I can actually kick it.... and I did. (to my own amazement). And it went right to someone on my team :)

There were definitely mistakes, missed catches... There was a time where I actually got the ball from the other team, but not quite sure what to do with it... but hey !! Remember the good stuff!!

Ants in the house

I don't like ants too much. At least those that tried to bite me, or crawled on me.

So, when I got home today, I saw a bunch of ants: by the sink, on the counter, on the walls, in my plants , and my oven! Ack !!! I tried to figure out what is getting them interested, because generally there are only a few scouts... or if they found food - there will be a line formed. Its sort of like in between scouting and food find. Think they are confused by bad information.

Not sure where they are coming in either :(

The attempt to get ride of them involves:

• Squeezing them individually. That was too slow.
  
• Spraying them with Chlorx
• Sqeezing them - after Chlorx was sprayed. They were still alive.
  
• Spaying them with those insect spray.
  

That worked. Tho its pretty poisonous. So I scrubbed the counter top with soap before i forget and eat stuff off it.

I left some ants in my garbage and tossed it out. Now I feel a bit bad. Is it better to have them killed than leaving them living in the garbage and die of a slow death? Sometimes I think about molds like that too...

Food food food...

Dumplings!!!

Getting the place ready - a tub of fillings and pan:


Filling the pan with dumplings


After putting it in boiling water and cook it - finished!


Add a bit of soy sauce + vinegar ..... good stuff!

I think I might have ate a worm...

In which Chris replies - what about me ??? (as he took a bite off the peach I was working on)

Its peach season in the Chen family, and yeah - Dad's peach tree yielded a lot of peaches. While its not as much as last year, but these were much larger, and sweeter. And there was plenty.

(see the other veggies behind the peaches ? Dad grew those too... )

Dad doesn't believe in pesticides. Besides fighting his daily fight against the evil black squirrel that pillages his veggies and fruit with water, he wraps each peach in a plastic bag to really prevent bugs from getting at them.

That really took a lot of time. But he likes it. Tho, there are sneaky little worms that still manages to get inside the peach... I saw Mom this morning using a magnifying glass to check for worms after she cut the peaches out. She said - earlier on she saw a long skinny pink worm that went really fast, up the kitchen wall (which she then kills) , and so she has been checking the peaches ever since.

At least all the sliced ones have been Mom approved. But not the one I was working on...


One of the perks of working at home in NYC is being with my dog and my family. Here is a picture of the old girl.

and being able to just head into the city and check things out... good food. Grass anyone ?