Craig List

We may be able to buy a sandbox for Arnold from Craig List. Biajee has emailed the seller so that we could take a look at what they have for sale. We may need to buy sand from Home Depot for $3 per bag, otherwise the sandbox will be too heavy to move.

Arnold's school is closed tomorrow so I'll take the day off to play with him. I haven't decided what to do yet. We'll go to the gym in the morning, visit my Chinese doctor afterwards, then we could either change engine oil or go to the zoo together. I start to realize that I need to spend more quality time with Arnold as we don't have too many hours to throw away during the day.

We're going to a friend's house to party on Sunday night. Both Arnold and Biajee are due for a haircut - maybe I can take care of both of their heads tomorrow.

We could go to the mountains and have some fun during this long weekend. Of course, we'll make sure not to disturb Arnold's nap schedule.

Call from Gym

I finally received a phone call from the service manager of 24 Hour Fitness in Broomfield. To my surprise, he didn't even apologize in the beginning. Instead, he had to question me on what happened. -- Did he not read my letter of complaint?

I briefly explained to him and told him that since I pay my membership fees, I have the same right to the machines as any other customer and it should be on a first come, first served basis. He rumbled around about how people should share the machine for a while and how people misbehave themselves sometimes.

I told him I went to the gym to work out, not to get yelled at. He said he'd called all his employees for a meeting already that for such customer conflicts, they should always call for a manager.

I said that the purpose for my complaint letter was to notify them that such things should not happen again to me or any of their customers. Then he suddenly realized who I was since he saw me every day when I walked into the door. And he apologized that his staff employee was not trained well to handle this professionally.

Biajee and I do not think highly of this gym at all. Nor will we refer any more friends and coworkers to go there and work out. The only reason we're still going there is because they open 24 hours a day. When I was still pumping milk for Arnold, I sometimes woke up during midnight and could not go back to sleep again. This gym becomes convenient in that sense.

Something is wrong with their culture and management that they dare to treat customers so illy.

沙箱

我的好朋友小崔告诉我要去给阿诺买个沙箱。小孩子应该玩沙子和水。流体可以开发智力。Biajee 和我周末时去了ToysRus和沃尔马，被告知所有沙箱已售罄。沙箱在此地是有季节性的，一般从每年四月至七月是沙箱的季节。

我只好上网搜索，很容易找到了我们要的沙箱，只是运费要100刀，沙箱本身60刀。天气开始渐渐转凉了，这种室外的玩具不知道阿诺还能玩几天。我总是怕因为自己不尽心尽责耽误阿诺的教育。

刚刚给Kmart打了电话碰碰运气，沙箱已售罄。还有一个办法就是自己在后院里做一个。这个比较费时间，需要把我们的菜地整个端掉。 Biajee 已经明确表示他不会承包这项工程。嫁给一个读书人就不能指望他做体力活。

也许我们可以等到明年春天再买沙箱，现在可以多带阿诺去游泳。我从小就是和男孩子玩沙子长大的，深知玩沙土对小孩子的魅力有多大。在土山上挖砂坑，在泥地上剁刀子的乐趣是什么昂贵玩具都代替不了的。

No Beckham

We had anticipated to see David Beckham yesterday at the Colorado Rapids vs LA Galaxy soccer game here in Commerce City. All the tickets to this game were sold out. 500 standing only tickets were added because everyone here wanted to see David Beckham.

On Friday night, however, there was a news release that Beckham would not come to Colorado because he had played 3 games before this weekend and needed rest. Dick's Sporting Goods Park Stadium announced that no refunds would be available for the tickets sold.

Fortunately, our tickets were free since my department got 44 tickets to give away to employees. We still went to the game despite the disappointing news. We got to the stadium an hour and 15 minutes early. The gate wouldn't open till 1 hour before the scheduled game.

Susan bought Biajee and me each a draft Budweiser to cool down the summer heat. Arnold behaved really well. Once we entered the stadium, the guards told us we couldn't go out because they didn't have a re-entry policy. Biajee was livid because he was going back to the car to fetch the sunscreen for Arnold. I had to used the sunscreen from my coworker Shannon on Arnold.

The Rapids swept the game 3-0 in the first half. LA Galaxy didn't have a good strategy in either defense or offense. What a pity that Beckham had to play for such a mediocre team! We don't think Galaxy would win even when Beckham was there. It was a complete one-sided game.

Biajee snatched a free Colorado Rapids T-Shirt during the half-time. We never had such luck of grabbing any free goodies during the previous sports games we watched. "It's different when you have a baby." I said to him later. "You have to get one for your son."

We left at 80 minutes and the score was still 3-0. We decided to beat the traffic although the stadium only seats 18,000 people.

Eye

I'm going blind. At least I think so.

My right eye has been sore and dry for 3 months. I would wake up at midnight in pain and tears and couldn't go back to sleep.

Finally I went to the doctor's on Tuesday. He examined it and found a little piece of hair about 0.75 cm in the socket of my right eye. He took it out with a cutip and showed it to me.

"Do you want to take it home as a souvenier?" He asked with a smile.

"No, no." I said, thinking it could look cool on a key chain.

I felt like heaven for the rest of the day and started to wear contact lens yesterday. I woke up in pain again at 3 am. I don't think the eye problem has completely gone away. Or what is a chance another piece of hair went in again?

Shoe Drive

Our company has a shoe drive yesterday and today. People are encouraged to donate used and new shoes. This is organized by soles4souls, which is a 501(c)3 recognized by the IRS, and donating parties are eligible for tax advantages. Online donation by credit card is welcome at http://www.soles4souls.org/.

My company also has a $25 visa gift card raffle for all the donators. Biajee and I each donated two pairs of shoes.

"All my shoes cost over $25." He complained.

"But you're never wearing them. If you let them sit there and collect dust, you might as well donate them so someone else in this world can wear them." I snapped back.

I only got two raffle tickets though. I don't think I'll win the $25 anyway. I've never won any lucky draw thing my whole life. Fate directs me to obtain money in a hard way.

Royal Crest Farm

We've been subscribing from Royal Crest Farm for "fresh organic farm milk" for 2 weeks. People in our neighborhood subscribe to milk from two places: Royal Crest Farm and Longmont Dairy. Eating organic and healthy food becomes the most important thing in American life.

Royal Crest delivers for once or twice a week. Since our milk consumption is not outrageous, we chose the once a week delivery pattern. We also ordered a dozen organic eggs along with the milk. Food was stored in a cooler every Monday morning around 2 am at our doorsteps. Biajee pick them up after we get up on Monday.

"I don't think the milk is fresher than what we get from grocery stores." He finally burst out. "And the eggs look the same as what we get from King Sooper."

I cannot object to his opinion. But my doula told me that the milk and egg were supposed to be so fresh that you could immediately tell the difference. How can we win? Maybe we should try some other local farms?

New SIM Card

I got a new SIM Card for my blackberry. We had to call singular to activate the new card before I can make phone calls. My plan was upgraded from 800 minutes to 900 minutes per month. It's all the same to me since everything is paid by the company.

International functions haven't been activated since I'm not traveling wildly internationally yet. It'll be $64.99 extra per month once those functions were triggered.

We have a 6 to 7 pm conference call tonight with a consulting firm on the east coast. They'll be presenting to our executives on Thursday so we hope the presentation preview goes well tonight.

I'm having bad luck with Outlook for the whole day. It keeps kicking me out and freezing my screen. I was able to use an online version of Outlook as a temporary solution.

Denver Zoo

Biajee and I became official members of Denver Zoo yesterday.

Our GPS mapped out a route for us to drive from our home to Denver Zoo that takes less than 20 minutes. We had to pass a very deteriorated neighborhood that we had never dreamed of though. Arnold's entrance to the zoo is free till he is 3 years old. Biajee and I will each have to pay $11 if we buy the one time ticket. The annual membership for the two of us is only $55. We figured we'd go more than 3 times in a year.

Biajee had Arnold in the child carrier in the beginning, but it later turned out too heavy for him. We took turns holding Arnold while exploring the zoo.

The most impressive scene is when they feed and wash the elephants. Mimi and Daly are the two female elephants there who have lived there since 1961. They're 48 and 38, weigh 10,000 lbs and 8,000 lbs. After being washed thoroughly, they usually go put mud on their body, which acts as a sun screen and bug repellent since elephants have sensitive skin.

The Difference Between Frozen Yogurt and Sundae

The difference between frozen yogurt and sundae is 33 cents in Costco.

Biajee ordered the frozen yogurt after we bought grocery. I went to pick up lunch with this dessert in the mean time.

The sales assistant knew us already because we go there for lunch every week. "Two Polish, one combo cut into two pieces and a sundae, right?"

"Yeah, how do you know?" I pretended to be very impressed.

"I know, I know." He started to prepare our food. I think he looks a bit like Rowan Atkinson, the famous Mr. Bean.

After he saw the receipt Biajee handed over, he said, "Oh, you ordered yogurt today, not sundae. The difference is 33 cents."

Biajee had to dig up his pocket to find a dollar bill. I was furious. "What is the difference between this sundae and the yogurt we used to get?"

"This one has strawberry sauce." Biajee glanced at it.

"You mean chocolate is cheaper than strawberry?"

"Actually they're almost the same price here in Costco. For the same amount of money, you get similar quantities of strawberries and chocolates."

"All right. I learned something today: Frozen Yogurt is different from Sundae." I emphasized. "It's 33 cents."

Bear

We cannot calculate or estimate how much money we have lost in the stock market over the past 3 weeks. As I've always told Biajee, "There is no lowest price, there is only lower price." The bear market could last through the end of this year. We do not see any signs of its rebouncing in the near future.

People are panicking about credit market and subprime lending. Every stock we own is hurt drastically. It's more difficult than ever to obtain a refinance on houses these days. We're only lucky in the way that we do not need to cash out our stocks immediately. If we don't sell now, we're not real losers. The red numbers are only on paper so far.

However, if you have cash on hand, it's the golden opportunity to chip in. I've tracked a few top performing companies whose stocks have been beaten down by the market lately. It's easy to gain 30 - 50% on these stocks in a few months, even a few weeks.

I keep looking at our portfolio with amusement every day, like it's not part of our life any more.

Dentist

My dentist appointment was at 1 pm today. Biajee and I had our lunch date at Wahoo's Fish Tacos. We each ordered a large Maui Bowl with white beans.

"Should have ordered black beans. I have my dentist appointment afterwards." I said.

We each had a venti size mocho Frappucino from Starbucks after lunch. "I'll be late for my appointment." I said while waiting for our coffee drink. "But I always got there early and had to wait for them. It's about time that they wait for me once."

I had a full mouth X ray done today. Such service was performed every 5 years to check on cavities. I had a new dental hygienist working on me today. Her name is Aileen. She liked to ask questions while she was working on my teeth so that I couldn't give any answer.

After we were almost done with cleaning, she said, "What would you like most, pepper mint, mocha mint or cinnamon mint?"

I blinked with confusion.

"Oh, it's for your teeth polish." She said gleefully and then glanced at me. "Doesn't matter which flavor? I'll use cinnamon mint then." A bloody red jello box was poked open before she put the sauce on the polisher.

"Take a tooth brush and some floss." She took out her treasure box before I left.

This would be good for Biajee. He was always amazed by the goodies I got from my dentist.