自残

我准备在今天下午一点钟自残。换言之，我准备切脚脚了。脚脚上长了一个筋包，完全是因为两年前的一双靴子。最近开始疼痛难忍，我决定忍痛割之，永绝后患。所以从今天早上到现在我都不能吃喝，如今喉咙已经开始冒火了。好像这是因为麻醉后有可能呕吐，所以不能吃喝任何东东。我天真地以为切完之后还可以自己开车回家，结果被护士阻止。护士说动了手术你还想自己开车，得找人陪你来。于是Biajee就得当车夫了。医生还建议我手术后休息一两天，这当然要看疼不疼了。以我现在的状态，还是上班更舒服。

因为只是脚脚，所以只需局部麻醉，整个手术大概需要20分钟，但我们却得在11：30之前到医院报到。麻醉师大概需要75分钟。医生说手术风险很小，唯一的风险是大出血。开车去医院路上的风险比手术本身的风险要大。这个医生叫做库尼，是个光头，好像眉毛也很淡。他的太太生了三个孩子，每次怀孕也害喜，但没有吐过，一直要到第20周才好。所以他很佩服我。Biajee说医生可能有“无毛症”，今天见了之后就可以确认了。这件事给我的教训是以后一定要买最贵最好的鞋子，否则受害无穷。

今天发现终于在科罗拉多大学选上了会计系统和数据处理的课。8月11日正式上课，每周二和周四晚上5：30到6：45。这是一门本科生的课，我被逼着读很不甘心。从教材上看，我都能教这门课了，但为了拿会计的学分，为了将来高兴时拿第二个硕士学位或者考注册会计师，只好“大丈夫能屈”了。好在所有学费，书费和停车费都可以由公司报销，不学白不学。

还是没有人来修我的电脑网络，这个公司技术部门的人每天都在做什么？已经一个星期了。幸亏我有两台电脑。

Terrible Two

I just realized this weekend that Arnold had been in the Terrible Two stage for a while already. Whenever his needs don't get satisfied immediately, he'll start to make all kinds of noises and fussy faces. Fortunately we have someone named Biajee in our house who constantly talks to Arnold, soothes his needs and cleans up the mess Arnold creates. I don't remember me going through Terrible Two Stage at all. I'd probably get a box at my ears if I started to scream. My mom used to spank me with a broomstick and my dad would hit my hand.

We walked to Jamba Juice together yesterday afternoon. It's about a 2.5 mile walk from the house. I almost fainted because of starvation on our way there. Then we decided to go to IHOP after Jamba Juice. It started to rain cats and dogs while we were eating. Biajee decided to run home and get the car. We finally got home safe and dry and hungry again. So the three of us had to share one bowl of congee. I felt like we were back in the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward periods.

We played soccer in our master bedroom together before we all went to bed. It's a blessing to have a huge master bedroom. Arnold enjoyed it so much, but he could hardly touch the ball because Biajee and I were dominating the ball on purpose. We cannot wait till the four of us can play soccer together. The two younger ones will eventually be much better and stronger than us.

蒜泥茄子

昨天超声波的结果出来了。宝宝得唐氏综合症的概率为1/1800，第13对和18对染色体坏掉的概率为1/10000。这就是说我生1800个孩子才会有一个傻子，生10000个孩子才会有一个怪胎。所以这个婴儿应该不会有问题。

昨天做了蒜泥茄子，典型的北京做法。茄子香而不腻，幼滑多汁，非常润口开胃。我精心腌制的咸肉这一两天就要出关了。Biajee前天想偷看，被我大声制止：“不许偷看我的肉！”他恨恨地做了个鬼脸。现在得抓紧时间吃咸而有味的东东，等生完孩子就会有很多忌口了，比如茄子，西兰花，菜花，西红柿，奶制品就全在禁食之列了。

昨晚这个家伙突然想吃意大利甜点“提拉马酥”了，我说咱们家有材料，我给你做，是用天使蛋糕，朗姆酒，奶油和摩卡咖啡粉做的。“可是我现在就想吃。”Biajee有时候比阿诺更像小孩子。

"你出去买吧，超市里都有。" 他说懒得出门了，干脆吃点哈根大支冰冰淋解馋吧。我睡眼朦胧地见他坐在床边吃冰激淋。今天早上问他：“冰激淋好吃吗？”

”凑合”他没精打采地说。

“为什么？你不是很爱吃哈根大支吗？”

“可它不是提拉马酥。”Biajee很沮丧地说。看来美食和泡妞一样，吃不着最香。

“我们买猪手吃吧。”Biajee提议。他馋猪手好久了，非要吃到那种烂而不散，粘而不腻的胶状物才满足。只可惜美国的猪手都是切过的，没有整只的爪爪俱全的猪手，好在做得好还是可以用来对付这个欲壑难填的大饕客的，秘诀是千万不能用高压锅。幸亏猪手是产后的大补之物，到时候Biajee会天天吃都吃不腻的。

热干面

去过武汉的人都知道，热干面，豆皮和灌汤包子是那里最有名的小吃。 我是大学二年级第一次去武汉玩的，那时候的热干面还很便宜，才一块钱一碗。 昨天模仿着做了一下，简直不及热干面之万一。 以前在佛罗里达做的还有几分形似，自从嫁给Biajee之后，发现他确实很容易满足，只要饭做熟了，他准能全吃下去。于是全家的伙食标准江河日下，人心不古。

热干面要用那种黄色的类似油面的圆柱形面条，煮好之后淋上香油，拌上芝麻酱，葱花，榨菜丁，加点蒜蓉和醋，简直是面中极品。 当然没有武汉大街上卖得好吃，因为我觉得他们还有不传之秘，是我揣摩不出来的。不过看了《功夫熊猫》之后觉得也可能没有什么秘密。现在在武汉也很难吃到正宗的热干面了。为了多卖钱，小贩们开始向面里加肉，加海鲜，这样可以卖到十几元一碗。殊不知越是花里胡哨的东东越不好吃。 昨晚我们用的是上海粗面，色香味完全不对，榨菜又被阿诺空口吃完了，所以没有我预期的好吃。

等面条全都下肚了，Biajee突然说他一吃凉面就胃疼。我说你怎么不早讲，我们这么多年吃炸酱面的时候你也胃疼吗。他说是啊，但是好吃的时候就忘记了。这个家伙真奇怪，不过他的老胃好像不大灵光了，毛病越来越多，大概是经常喝冰水喝冰可乐造成的。

我由于贪嘴，吃掉一大碗面条，造成整晚呕吐，直到半夜才在疲惫中入睡。那么好吃的面条吐出来就都有苦又酸了，一股味酸和胆汁的味道。我觉得世界末日快到了，肚子饿的时候大吐不止，吃多了的时候亦如火山喷发一般地做呕。哎，不吃点苦怎么能当妈妈呢？难怪孩子得管我叫“妈”，这是九个月的肉体折磨换来的。

剁椒全鱼

昨天晚上作了久违的剁椒全鱼，原本应该叫做剁椒鱼头，但这里实在没有那么大的鱼头，只好用整条活鱼了。最重要的一定得用活鱼。做法实际上很简单，将活鱼洗净整好之后，用一点点盐均匀抚摸一下，再放上剁椒，清蒸10分钟即可。味道鲜美无比，我们很快就吃得精光，还不过瘾。Biajee实际上是不太能吃辣的，但还非要逞强，最后胃终于受不了啦。我们总共买了两条活鱼，一条清蒸，一条剁椒。清蒸的给阿诺吃，剁椒的我们两个享用。下次回国一定要多买些剁椒回来，虽然自己做的没有国内的餐馆好吃，但也足以一解乡愁了。

肚里的娃娃已经8厘米了。Biajee说可能又是个男孩，因为他从超声波里看到了一些东东。到底看到了什么我也不知道，因为他总能看到我看不见的东东，大概学物理的人就是这么善于观察吧。希望这个上传的超声波录像可以供大家享用。

今天公司的电脑又不好好工作啦。我总给IT打电话，他们都烦我了。经过辗转的足球式传递，现在的最新诊断是我的网络接口坏了，自然管网络的队伍会在有空时来帮我修。幸亏有两台电脑，否则我简直不用上班了。

中午的时候布龙飞市部分地区停电了，从商用到民用甚至连交通灯都不亮了，可惜没有波及我们公司。而且我们公司自己有发电机，就算停电还是会屹立不倒。不过今天大部分人都不在上班。本周是我们的夏日娱乐周。今天的节目是全公司排球大赛。我老板参加的那个队伍输了，幸亏没有去看，否则又浪费两个小时。

昨天还吃了免费的冰激淋，造成了整个下午的不舒服和整个晚上的呕吐。 我总是忘记自己不能吃甜的，一吃就吐，真惨呀！

今晚应该吃芝麻酱和黄瓜丝拌面，我每天的日子就是在吃，做饭和琢磨下一顿吃什么，怎么吃之中度过。Biajee一定会有些后悔娶了我，每天都得换花样吃，累也累死了。可是生活就是柴米油盐，不做柴米夫妻，怎么成为神仙眷侣呢？当然我现在的一切作为都是激素导致的，等孩子生下来之后我就不应该如此饕餮了。大部分时间我的行为被肚里的小生命控制着，所以非常身不由己。

订书器

从7月15日开始，我就正式成为一名订书器公司的雇员了，只是不知道这种不稳定状态能够持续多久。订书器给我们的官方通知是今年10月1日以前所有的公司改组都将结束，不过我觉得我们部门很可能在此之前被全部扫地出门。订书器的首席执行官星期三将会莅临我们公司向全体员工发表演说。如今我们公司早已人心惶惶，能干的人不是被裁了，就是早已另谋高就。我仗着自己又怀孕了，只好在这里苟延残喘，希望能捱到生完小孩。

现在更加感受到真正的男女平等根本不可能，比如我现在去面试就不会有公司雇用我。没有人愿意支付12周产假的全部费用。我也不可能继续每天工作12个小时。眼下的一切，我们只好听天由命，希望还能继续工作，最重要的是有医疗保险。Biajee的公司没有医疗保险，所以如果我在生孩子之前丢了工作，我们也许需要花大价钱生孩子，有可能是上万美元。当然我可以去科罗拉多大学选一门硕士课程，这样就可以买学生的医疗保险，虽然没有公司的福利好，但总不至于让我们倾家荡产。

星期五的超声波结果这周就会出来，届时我们将知道婴儿有先天疾病的可能性。从超声波上根本看不出这个婴儿和阿诺小时候的区别，同样的大脑袋，同样照着手，同样蹬着腿。也许以后不用给新生儿照相了，只要拿出阿诺小时候的照片重新冲洗一下就可以了。我们家的一台相机和两台摄像机都已经被阿诺玩坏了。真不知道该拿这个任性的小人怎么办。 对于Biajee这种喜欢更新摄影器材的人这也许是一件好事，但对于我们的钱包来说，简直太残酷了。

Deal with Shit

Our morning started with "Dealing with Shit" today. Arnold pooped on the carpet in the master bedroom after I took off his diaper this morning. There were 3 piles of poop near the bathroom door. I started to scream and call Biajee. He was still half asleep when he got there so he almost stepped onto one pile.

Fortunately these are high quality and high density stool so it wasn't that hard to pick them up and remove them. Biajee used the carpet stain remover to clean the carpet and now it's spotless. Arnold doesn't want to poop in the diaper these days, but he doesn't want to poop in his little toilet either. As a matter of fact, he's never used his little toilets yet. Maybe his younger sibling will be potty trained earlier than him.

Amazingly, Biajee still looks at his son with love, care, proud and an addicted smile as Arnold is the only thing worthy of his love in this world. He would soothe to Arnold's every need, be dragged up and downstairs by that little brat without any complaints. Had Arnold been a little girl, he would definitely be Biajee's mistress.

Las Vegas Trip (Day 5, July 1, 2008)

We checked out the cabin early in the morning and were on our way to Zion National Park. Zion in Hebrew means Sacred. One of the morman leaders named this place years ago. The scenery was spectacular, except that we had to take a bus ride offered by the National Park due to heavy traffic of the tourists.

In 1936, Zion National Park only hosted 3,600 people a month. Today, there are 2 million visitors every month. The famous scenic spot includes the weeping rock in the park, which was a 30 minute hike from the bus stop. Biajee and I were running out of time so we didn't visit it. The water dripping from the rock was from 1600 years ago, that's how amazing things get accumulated.

Biajee had to admit that every park here is better than the Grand Canyon, but the Grand Canyon is just some place everyone has to go to.

We had T Bone steak for lunch on our way back. Biajee just had enough time to drop me off for my flight. Then their flight was canceled so they had to get onto the next one and didn't get home till 11:30 pm.

Las Vegas Trip (Day 4, June 30, 2008)

We got up early and finished all the scenic spot in Grand Canyon around 2 pm. I finally convinced Biajee that it was really not that impressive. We decided to go to Lake Powell in the afternoon. I've been there 8 years ago and it's just amazingly beautiful.

The drive was like a paradise road, except that we encountered traffic and road construction in the end. It took us over 2 hours to get there and I found the previously free place had become a National Rec Area that'll charge $15 entrance fee per vehicle. Fortunately we have the National Park Annual Pass on us.

We took a 1.5 hour boat tour to see the dam. It is nothing compared to the whole day boat tours into the canyon, but it's still magnificent.

We then had dinner at the Lake Powell Resort, but the waitress forgot my order of pizza so we stayed there till 10 pm. By the time Biajee drove us back to Jacob Lake Inn, it was past 1 am in the morning.

Las Vegas Trip (Day 3, June 29, 2008)

Biajee took Arnold to Hoover Dam while I was in the IECSC today. And he lost his way on the way back to Vegas so I had to stand in the sun waiting for them for 30 minutes. I felt so desperate then. We immediately got on our way to Grand Canyon. It was a 4 hour drive and we had to eat before we really hit the savaged land.

The amazing thing about Las Vegas is that there is nothing when you get out of Las Vegas Blvd, not even a decent restaurant. We had some fast food in the middle of nowhere, which later proved to be a smart decision. We didn't see any more restaurant in the next 50 miles.

Our lodging is at Jacob Lake Inn, a little cabin motel 45 miles outside the Grand Canyon. Every room inside the National Park was fully booked months ago. This is the closest spot we could find. Dinner only lasted till 8:30 pm and we got there at 8:15 pm, just in time to put in our order. I was still hungry and nauseaous. We ordered two large milk shakes for ourselves, which ended up to be a huge waste later on. We were all exhausted from the sun and the drive.

Las Vegas Trip (Day 2, June 28, 2008)

Our 2nd day was fruitful. We both went to the Las Vegas Convention Center. I participated in the IECSC while Biajee took Arnold to the Western Truck Show. It must have been 150 degrees outside. I felt like cooked most of the time and I was nauseaous all through the show.

IECSC is really cool for girls, but it's open to professionals only. I had to use some relationship to get in there. But once you are inside, you'll find a different world and I'm pretty sure most women could stay there for days and spend thousands of dollars. I only spend less than $400 for 2 days. Biajee kept saying I should have bought more products and put them on eBay for sale. Well, eBay just had this fiasco of selling fake LV bags. Rules and regulations will be put in place soon to verify that all the brand names are genuine in future.

We went to MGM afterwards had the famous Grand Buffet there. MGM must have the most expensive Chinese restaurant we've ever seen so far. An entree of spicy beef tripe could cost you $39. Biajee and I finally decided to go to the buffet so Arnold could eat for free and we only need to pay $30 each plus tip.

Biajee and Arnold were fascinated about the live lions inside MGM. Lions are symbols of the studio.

Las Vegas Trip (Day 1, June 27, 2008)

We both worked full day on Friday before going to the airport. We finally decided to drive instead of taking the bus. It's much more convenient this way, otherwise we'll have to drag 2 check-in bags, one diaper bag and a 2 year old boy onto the bus. The round trip will cost us $36. By driving, we paid $42 for parking and the gas and car depreciation to and from the airport.

My blackberry broke the day before we left. I ordered a new one, but I didn't choose the Next Day Delivery Service, which is pure dumb on my side. I was thinking I could save $14.97 for the company, but it caused us so much inconvenience. So I was without a phone for 4 days.

I took United and got there an hour later than Biajee and Arnold. They used my free tickets from Southwest so that they could get there early and rent the car first. Southwest can check in 2 bags for each person for free, the way it used to be for all the airlines, but now a luxury for everybody.

Las Vegas airport is a crazy place. The first things you saw after getting off the plane are slot machines and flocks of people. Outside temperature is over 100 degree at 10 pm.

"I don't like this place at all." Biajee said.