The Trip to Kansas

We went to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. We had great Chinese food every meal. Biajee got a stomache flu throughout the four days we were there so he wasn't able to enjoy the gourmet food very much.

We went to Union Station in downtown. There were toy trains set up for running for the holidays, which got Arnold very excited. We also stopped by Hallmark Visitor Center, which is at the headquarters of Hallmark. We saw how a greeting card was made and even asked for one.

We stopped by Nebraska Furniture Mart and Restaurant Depot.

Nebraska Furniture Mart is such a perfect example of a retail store that it killed all the furniture business in the Kansas area. I would cry if I had to compete directly with them.

Restaurant Depot is similar to Home Depot, but targeting the restaurant business. It is still a private firm with 75 stores. Every store is staffed with previous restaurant owners or chefs. They certainly have a market niche.

I'm scheduled to go for the Oath Ceremony for US citizenship on Dec. 16th in Fort Smith. What a busy month.

感恩节前

今年的感恩节全家去堪萨斯城购物。Biajee星期五带孩子去市中心玩，我则去山姆俱乐部工作一天，这样就可以不用年假了。希望可以买到称心的西装和羊绒衫。

上周末大学同学邱育和携妻子蒋玉清路过我家，吃了正宗的重庆火锅，还去购物了。我们自从大学毕业之后就没见过面，算来已经有十五年了。他们夫妇取道美国，去阿根廷做生意，能经过阿肯色是很不容易的。这都是因为以前邱育和在阿肯色的拉瑟村住过八年，此次专程访友，顺便来看看我们。世事沧桑，感觉老同学一点都没有变，好怀念无忧无虑的大学生活。现在想起来恍若隔世。

这几天工作非常辛苦，大概因为快过节的缘故，所有的事情都赶在一起了。我们的新房子12月8日交货。之后Biajee会蚂蚁搬家，在12月底之前把家搬好。我们还得买些家具。这辈子第一次买新房子，很是开心。只希望不要再被公司裁员就好。

Biajee今晚带儿子们上体操课去了。我下班晚，索性回家做饭。明天下午3点就可以下班了，得好好利用。房间收拾得非常干净。Biajee是百分之百的好丈夫。有时候我只想休一星期假，在家和他在一起，就这么对坐着发愣，说很无聊的话，就很满足了。

前几天晚上开车Biajee看到流星了，可是没有来得及许愿，好可惜。他问我要许什么愿，我说：“很简单吗，但愿人长久，就好了，多念几遍。我们还能在一起过3000多个星期呢。”

Citizenship Test

I passed the citizenship test yesterday. I'll receive an appointment letter for ceremony in 30 to 45 days.

I finished my Christmas shopping as a secret Santa after the citizenship test. We stopped at Shogun in Fayetteville for lunch. I don't recommend this a good restaurant. The variety of fish is quite limited and service is not that good. Biajee and I were concerned that they spent too much money on the building and overhead.

Our new house will close on December 8th. We found out that our current Bose speakers will not work with the new structure. The new house is pre-wired with in wall speakers. We need two pairs of them, one for downstairs and the other for upstairs bonus room. Biajee is already studying what types of speakers we should purchase. Chances are we'll buy Bose as well.

I'm volunteering this afternoon at Sunshine School in Benton County. The weather is icy cold, but I have to dig up playground outside.

Offer

We put down an offer on a brand new home last Sunday. Obviously the builder would not come down on price. I was a bit nervous because the house is still under construction. If I negotiate the price too hard, they could deliver a crappy piece of finished work.

We got a 2nd counter offer today. The builder will buy us a new side by side refrigerator and a set of top line side-by-side washer and dryer and write us a rebate check. Basically he doesn't want to sacrifice his comparable sales per square foot so that when he sells to other customers, he could still make money.

Now the ball is in our field. We have to decide whether to buy the house or not. Biajee and I will meet for lunch to talk about it as the builder would like to know today. He is holding up the painting job and other work for my decision.

My boss told me he would never buy a house in Bentonville because his salary and bonus already ties to the performance of Walmart. He cannot have such a large investment as a house tie to the same company. It's like putting all the eggs in one basket.

Then I asked him whether he'd fire me. He said he'd guarantee that I wouldn't be fired in 2 years, but cannot guarantee as long as 10 years. Of course, the relocation contract says that I would have to give back all the money they paid for if I leave the company in 2 years so I should at least stay here for 2 years.

It's a very hard decision.

Halloween

We took the boys to my company on Friday for Trick-or-Treat. We got the same amount of candies as we got from Corporate Express in the previous years. The decorations in the office was amazing. Our people were very efficient. They turned the buildings into haunted places within 2 hours.

Yesterday we went shopping in Promenade Mall, an outdoor mall that imitates the mall in LA. Biajee bought a shirt from Jos A Bank and I bought a pair of Yoga pants from Victoria's Secret. Our redemption coupon of a small beauty item expired so we didn't get a free lip gloss for me.

It feels great to walk outside. We went to Runa's house for a Halloween party. Most people dressed up and the food she provided were amazing. Everything was vegetarian but delicious.

We left Runa's house at 8:30 and went for Trick-or-Treat for a while. It wasn't long enough for Arnold. Arnold would rather go Trick-or-Treat for the whole night than a Halloween party. We need to remember that starting from next year we'll block Halloween night for Trick-or-Treat only. No parties or any other plans.