请客

去年在Judy家吃火锅的时候，发现那种白白的粗粗的长长的帽子很小的蘑菇很好吃。于是发明了用这种蘑菇切成的丝炒猪肉丝的菜，佐以辣椒酱和葱丝，味道鲜美，无与伦比。

今天晚上Judy和Paul来吃晚饭，点名要这道菜。Biajee昨晚趁我睡觉的时候，将杂乱无章的一楼收拾干净。我们已经很久没有请客人来家里做客了。大阿诺对此的贡献罄竹难书。

每次阿诺吃晚饭，满地满桌以及他自己全身都是食物，令人作呕，不堪入目。在我们来不及打扫的时候，阿诺会爬到地上捡自己扔掉的东西吃，野蛮之至。

想到曾经有洁癖的我现在每天生活在垃圾堆里，不由得感叹自己的堕落。有时候Biajee 建议隔一段时间应该请几个朋友（最好不多于四个）来家里玩，这样我们收拾房间就变成了必须节目。但我们的收拾只是把楼下的垃圾搬到楼上，客人走后不到十分钟又恢复原样。

所幸今晚可以在雪白的桌布上吃晚餐了。很怀念以前单身时候高朋满座，良友入云的情景。

Step

Biajee and I have been to the Step class in 24 Hour Fitness for a while.

We have found out several factors:

1) Neither of us are co-ordinated very well;
2) We have no sense of rythym or music;
3) We only go there because I insist that we need to sweat every day to lose weight.

"I don't think we're built for this." Biajee complained last night. We almost fainted during the class because we could not keep up. "You're always half a rythym slower than the instructor."

"Then we should go more. Don't you want to learn something that you're not built for? It's a challenge. In fact, I am doing worse and worse in this class. I remember I was in line with everyone else the first time I was there. It's just like staring at a Chinese character. The more you look at it, the more it doesn't seem like the character it is."

No Crocs

My VP emphasized to me about not wearing Crocs shoes to work the other day.

"Pei, I wouldn't wear them if I were going to see an executive." He joked about it.

I suddenly felt like an unmade bed. Worst of all, after I walked into Benihana, he saw my backpack, the donkey we bought in Disney World.

Needless speaking, he had an informal conversation with my boss about my outfit that afternoon, which I got a briefing on later in the day.

I'm fully aware now that some people don't get promoted because they do not dress properly. To show how obedient I was, I wheeled into the office on high heels the next day. My feet felt like burning afterwards.

I think high heels are once in a year thing. You only wear them to banquets and hopefully you don't walk much in them. If you have to make 10 pee stops on high heels, your day would be completely ruined.

Arnold's First Birthday

We celebrated Arnold's first birthday just by ourselves since it happened to be the day after we got back from Greece.

Biajee got an icecream cake from Dairy Queen and we bought him an Elmo for his birthday gift. Elmo is supposed to be the most annoying toy of the year because of the laugh it lets out. We thought it was cute, other people just couldn't stand it. Biajee helped Arnold opened up his birthday gift. Arnold was scared by his new friend a bit.

We cooked some noodles for Arnold and had him taste some cream on the cake. Biajee and I ate most of the cake later on. We're thinking of bringing a cake to school next year so that he could share his big day with all his classmates.

American people tend to spoil their kids with big parties and tons of gifts. We were just worried that if Arnold gets used to all those, who is going to pamper him after he grows up? He should not take anything for granted. His birthday is Mommy's sacrifice day.

Greece Trip (6/6/2007 Visit of the Cemetery)

早上我们被船上的广播叫醒。 7：30之前得下船.

在前台退了房间，我们便领着行李和大阿诺上岸搭巴士。 免费的巴士将我们送到地铁站门口。地铁不必换线就回到Omonia广场。旅馆很灵活，准许我们在7：30 Check in, 并让我们用了早餐（因为明天的飞机是早上6：50起飞，无法在旅馆吃免费早餐了。）我们每天的生活就是在考虑吃什么，去那里吃，和准备吃的过程中度过的。

我们又去妈妈墓前吊唁了。这次买了一些鲜花，要明年才能来看妈妈了。树欲静而风不止，子欲养而亲不在。人生苦短，华年易逝，在拥有的时候应该好好珍惜。

又和律师通了电话，证实９６０欧要不回来了。殡葬公司大概都是这样的吧，他们见过太多死亡了，也不在乎下不下地狱了。冥冥之中一切自有安排。

我们早早在大富豪酒店吃过饭，这次留了很多小费，有５０％。明年才能再见到这里的朋友了，不免有些伤感。希腊的餐馆是开摩托车送外卖的，比起纽约的骑自行车效率高些。

Greece Trip (6/5/2007 Knossos Palace, Hirakleo and Back to Athens)

We got up early in the morning to catch the No. 2 Bus to Knossos Palace. It's about 40 minutes ride even including the traffic.

Knossos Palace is one of the most famous ruins on Crete. It's considered a must-go if you are on Crete. It's the largest ruin we have seen in Greece so far. The amazing part of the palace is that it showed how ancient Greeks handled plumbing system so well.

That Tuesday happened to be a religious holiday in Greece. There were so many groups in Knossos Palace that it reminded Biajee and me of crowded NYC, Forbidden City and downtown Los Angeles. It even rained a bit so the umbrella turned out really worth bringing because we at least should shelter Arnold.

We finished the tour of the palace by lunch time and dined at a very expensive restaurant outside the Palace. One thing we need to emphasize: originally the Palace cost 6 euros per person for entrance fee, but since it was a holiday, nobody was there collecting money so we got in for free.

After we got back to Hirakleo, we found that we had the whole afternoon to kill because we were booked on the night ship to Athens and it wouldn't depart till 9 pm.

Biajee, Arnold and I went to every places of interest in Hirakleo. There was this castle right next to the port, a fountain, a church that was originally orthodox, but converted itself to Christian after The Turks invaded and went back to Orthodox again after The Turks left. The highest point that could have a panaromic view of the city was a graveyard that we walked up to.

Greeks are not very good at wars as what was told in the legend. They destroyed a lot of buildings and constructions by themselves when Romans and Turks invaded. Delphi's Apollo Temple is a great example.

Our ship back to Athens cost us 77 euros per person because I booked a cabin so that we all could sleep for the night. It was scheduled to arrive in Athens at 5 am. It's the biggest ship Biajee had ever got on so we toured around the cabin a bit. I successfully sold Biajee the idea of taking a cruise for future vacations. Most likely it was a hotel for us that could travel. We got two beds in our room and a bathroom as well so we all took a shower and cleaned up. The ship is named after Knossos Palace in memory of the great ancient city we visited.

If you want to travel cheap, you could also pay only 53 euros per person and get a couch in the cabin for the night. But most people were smoking, drinking and watching soccer. Traveling with a baby gave us a lot of excuses for being luxurious. I almost forgot how spendthrift we were before we had Arnold. Of course, the most important thing was that we used to have carry-on bags only and no diaper bags. Those days were gone for a while. We'll always have more to worry about when we take a vacation.

Greece Trip (6/4/2007) Chania

Chania is a city located to the west of Crete. It takes 2.5 hours by bus from Hirakleo to get there. Never have we missed Il so much. No one would help us carry the diaper bag or camera or Arnold any more. We were all on our own.

There is a lighthouse and a castle museum in Chania. We arrived there too late to go to the museum. Lunch place was a restaurant on a busy street in Old Town area. I ordered a mixed meat platter that contained pork, beef, lamb, sausage and ham. It was the best grilled meat we'd had during the trip.

Biajee ran out of clothes to change because we didn't do any laundry in Crete so he had to buy a T shirt on our way back to the bus stop. It has a saying of Socrates on it in Greek: "The only thing I know is that I don't know anything."

We met a girl from New Zealand who had been living in England for 15 years. She said Knossos Palace would be a place that we could go to on the 2nd day.

We got back in Hirakleo at 9:30 and dined at a place that has high chair. One thing about Europe is that it's not a kid-friendly place. Most restaurants do not have baby chairs so Biajee and I had to take turns holding Arnold. Europeans do not go out to eat the way Americans do. We suddenly became very very homesick.