Worst Gym Experience

I had the worst gym experience yesterday. A fat woman was trying to tell me not to use a workout equipment after I just positioned myself on it and tried to work on my legs. The staff was not helpful at all.

Biajee had had the same experience with two other women previously. We think 24 Hour Fitness is deteriorating. I wrote a letter to their CEO and Member Services Dept complaining about the terrible management of the Broomfield location.

"Nobody cares, Pei." My coworker told me this morning. "Last time when I was on an equipment, a personal trainer came by and told me to get off. I refused to do so and he called the manager over. I still didn't get off and told the manager to wait till after I finished my workout. Just ignore them. Pretend you do not understand English."

We're all thinking out finding another gym that opens 24 hours a day now.

Housing

We toured around Boulder with a realtor on Saturday. I'd never seen such shabby homes ever since I came to the United States, yet every one of them is more expensive than our current house. I don't think we can invest in real estate in Boulder at all, judging that the current population there drops by 4.9% every year.

Yesterday we happened to be at 144th and Clay in Broomfield and discovered a whole new luxurious neighborhood of customized million-dollar houses. Each of these houses sit on at least 1 acre lot and look like a palace from outside. There were several up for sale. Biajee took a flyer. It was a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom, over 4,600 sq ft with an outbuilding of 2,400 sq ft, sitting on a 5 acre lot. The price is $1.496 million.

"That's my dreamed house." I looked at Biajee eagerly.

"I'll buy you one of those in 10 years." He assured me.

But its price will probably go up five times in 10 years...

Dragon Boat Race - Practice

I received a mysterious email from Ramon this morning indicating a great opportunity for me and requested that I call him back upon my arrival at the company. It took me a while to realize that they may need more people for their Dragon Boat Race team. Their team took the 2nd place last year and everyone on the team was antsy to win the championship this coming Sunday.

Our Saturday is already fully booked, but I did agree to go to practice with them after work today. Ramon will decide whether I'd be a paddler or the flag catcher. There'll be one race on Saturday and possibly three more on Sunday.

I told Biajee about it during lunch.

"You sprained your leg the other year right before the Dragon Boat Race. Don't you remember?" He winked at me.

As I was still limping, I realized it was true. But it's been 2 years since I last participated in the Dragon Boat Race. It's so much fun. Usually someone tall and thin is needed for the flag catcher position. Of course the person would hop on the Dragon's head at the right moment so that the boat could still advance at full speed for the longest time. It's very scientific.

Global Warming

Global Warming is definitely having an effect on Colorado. It's raining cats and dogs outside. I've never seen so much rainfall in Colorado in the previous years. We have had 90 degree weather every day for over a month now. We'd all be toast if we hadn't got air conditioning installed in the house in March.

Al Gore's movie didn't come out of nowhere. People should absolutely start to watch environment or our offsprings will suffer years later. I've heard that Texas got really bad flooding this summer.

Biajee and I had Frappuccino from Starbucks after lunch today. They do have those specialty coffee made in Decaf. Coffee house is a very good business model. The margin is pretty high and consumers are not that brand sensitive at all.

The stock market had the steepest decline in the past 4 months today. It's a good time to invest.

End of Novel

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at 0:35 am today. The story was so well written, so touching. Now I've lost my goal in life again - no other good books to catch my eye any more.

Fortunately I could still drive Arnold around and tease him. He has a good character, very independent, loving and caring. Maybe it's time to sign him up for swimming classes? I have watched too many movies and read too many books to find that swimming is a necessary skill to have if one ever needs to run away from something.

Of course, there is this tiny detail that I sprained my leg yesterday at the gym while taking the SET class with Biajee. This time it's very serious. Every move causes enormous pain.

The best thing I did on Saturday was to have two cleaning ladies over to our house. They spent four hours here, scrubbing the kitchen, bathtubs and shower. Our house looks like brand new afterwards. I think it's a wonderful investment because neither Biajee nor I have time to clean, especially after I hurt my back. I'd rather spend money on hiring someone than go through the process myself. This way, we, as a family, can spend more quality time together vs blaming each other on littering around.

Harry Potter

We didn't know whether preordering the book was a good idea until we found it lying in our mailbox on Saturday.

Biajee had read the story plot midnight Friday night, but I refused to listen to him on what happened. This is something to enjoy and I don't want to spoil the experience.

I'm 555 pages into the book now. There are 200 more pages so I think I'll be done either tonight or tomorrow night, depending on how much time I could spare at night after taking care of Arnold.

Biajee is still reading Book Six. There was a moment yesterday while Biajee and I were both sitting on the couch reading. Arnold came by with a little picturebook of different car models in his hand, joining the reading club. I think this is some positive effect on Arnold. He never fancied reading or my reading a book or story to him.

Starbucks

I went to Starbucks with Nancy yesterday. She's pregnant with their 2nd baby.

"How is the 2nd pregnancy comparing with the first?" I asked eagerly.

"It's a lot harder." She said."You feel a lot heavier and more tired."

Most people had told me that having 2 kids would be better because Arnold would then have some company to play with and wouldn't hang up to my apron's strings forever. I guess it's not true. You won't have time to breathe till the younger baby turns one.

One year old is a shiny milestone. The baby is somewhat independent, can be reasoned with and can go around by himself. He won't get sick that often and will start to appreciate different toys.

My dad sent over a whole set of children's learning books of Chinese and math. We know that we won't ever have to worry about children's educational materials.

Someday

Someday we see the first snowflakes falling from the sky and melt on your face.
Someday you smile at me, cuddle to my body and you're my baby.
Someday I watch your dream... And I dream with you.
Someday you start walking by yourself and you're my child.
Someday you'll hear something so joyful that your eyes will shine with awe.
Someday you'll learn something so sad that your body will fold with sorrow.
Someday you walk into the woods alone exploring nature.
Someday you'll look back at the house and wonder why a house so big looks so small.
Someday I'll stand on the doorsteps of the house watching you wave goodbye and never come back.
Someday I'll watch you comb your own baby's hair.
Someday you'll feel a little weight on your back and that'll be your own kid.
Someday your hair will become silver. My love, by that time, you'll remember me.

First Pee on Potty

While I was still pregnant, Biajee said he would start to potty-train Arnold from 6 months old. Of course he ate his words as usual.

We finally got a potty for Arnold from BabysRus 2 weeks ago. Arnold simply refused to co-operate and he hates sitting on it most of the time. Two nights in a row, he had peed in his bath water on purpose to protest.

"What shall we do?" Biajee had that sad expression on his face.

"Just keep putting him on the potty every time we change his diaper. He'll like it eventually. He never liked rice cereal when we first introduced solid food, but now he is fine with it. He needs time to adjust."

This morning Arnold peed while he was sitting on the potty! Well, he was still sleepy when he woke up at 5:30 am. He was half leaning on Biajee while sitting on the potty. We think he'll slowly get the concept of using a Human toilet.

Pizza

We have a coupon from Costco - $3 off for a 16 inch pizza. An 18 inch pizza in Costco usually costs $9.99. We decided to use this coupon for lunch today.

It ended up that Biajee and I each had 5 slices of pizza for lunch. We saved two slices for Arnold's dinner. We're pigs, especially me. I used to be able to eat a whole 14 inch pizza by myself. Biajee was always amazed by my appetite. He still doesn't understand how I could fit all those food into my body.

"Why do American people like cheese pizza so much?" I always complain. "Look at those people who are eating pepperoni pizza - isn't it boring? Pizza should have everything on it: sausage, green pepper, pepperoni, mushroom, bacon, beef, meatball, cheese...And very sadly, they cost the same amount of money so why do people not want toppings?"

There was an advertising in TV showing some woman who lost 50 lbs. And they showed 50 lbs worth of butter next to her. This year's eating champion finished 66 hotdogs in 12 minutes.