baobaobebe

国庆节

2011-07-01T14:43:00.004-06:00

明天就是国庆节周末了。我们全家准备去沃斯堡的动物园。传说是全美排名前十名的动物园。希望很好玩。今天我2：30就下班了。前几天晚上每天都8：30才离开公司。Biajee已经开始抱怨了。

刚才把积压几天的衣服整理一下。家里非常零乱，主要是因为有两个混世魔王。我们准备把冰箱里的食物大清洗一番，所以今晚煮猪骨汤喝。

Biajee和我发现我们是大城市长大的人，似乎很难融入红脖子世界。所以在奔腾村住了两年，还是没有很多知心的朋友，不由令人觉得做人很失败。记得巴菲特说过：“如果你改变不了周围的人，就应该去改变周围的人。”真是至理名言。

孩子们今天在学校会玩水。阿瑟很喜欢游泳。如果好好培养，也许会有所成就。这几年在奔腾村住，托儿费用节省了不少，移民的身份也都解决了，还算是没有白白在红脖子世界转一圈。

阿诺很快就得上中文学校和钢琴课了。我们还没有找到很好的钢琴老师和课程。据说飞也特村的铃木课程不错。但上星期Biajee带我们去看的老师不是正式的铃木课程的老师，所以一切调查研究都得重新开始。大概得下周末才能再去看学校和课程了。

GMail

2011-06-28T19:43:00.003-06:00

My gmail was locked up today because someone was trying to access my account from Spain. Somehow I couldn't retrieve anything from iPhone and had to come home and verify my account.

Biajee said Windows Phone is a good product as well. It came to the market too late though. Most manufacturers are using iPad and Android and most software developers are too lazy to develop apps for Windows Phone. However, Microsoft launched Office 365 today, which is an Office suite that can be accessed online, through smart phones and anywhere in the world. This should be a huge win for Microsoft as the more time people spend on using their software, the more potential they'll have making money.

We went boating on Beaver Lake the past Sunday. We rented a striper fishing boat for 4 hours, which cost $130 plus $10 in gas. Biajee and I will never want to own a boat. It's a lot of work to maintain and we won't go on water every week. We didn't catch any fish, but the kids had a great time.

We're planning on going to Fort Worth Zoo during July 4th weekend. Last year we went to Dallas Zoo and were very disappointed. It is said that Fort Worth Zoo ranks top 10 in the country and is a lot better than Dallas Zoo. We have very high expectations and hopefully can eat some genuine Chinese food as well.

时差

2011-06-18T22:12:00.004-06:00

原来大家都有时差。阿瑟从下午一点税卡去以后就没醒过。我很怕她半夜两点又醒了，那昨天我们为倒时差付出的努力将付之东流。

我们已经连续两个学期没能给阿瑟报上游泳课了，所以很希望明天能全家一起去游泳，当然是在父亲节的午餐之后。Ｂｉａｊｅｅ很喜欢Ella's, 是我们去年母亲节去吃过，味道不错，是自助餐，有很棒的羊排。

阿诺的跆拳道课进展很好，他现在已经是桔色腰带了。８月１５日阿诺就要上小学的学前班了。时间过得真快。我很希望能尽快让阿诺学钢琴。很多我自己小时候没有机会接触的东东要多给孩子创造机会。中文课过了暑假也可以开始了。很快我们的周末就会排得满满的。

最近和东岸的朋友聊过天，觉得孩子们还是在大城市长大比较好，机会多一些，环境好一些，当然竞争也非常激烈。阿肯色确实是很封闭的州。如果没有沃尔玛的存在，这里不知比外面要落后多少年。当年住在丹佛的时候，就有朋友因为受不了丹佛的落后而举家搬到东岸去。现在发现如果受不了丹佛，那么阿肯色简直是人间地狱。这里没有中餐，没有很好的国家公园，没有动物园，没有博物馆，没有很大的购物中心，当然也无法滑雪。我们全家就像苦行僧一样的活着。怪不得大多数人周末都去教堂与上帝交流。

暑假回国

2011-06-17T09:59:00.005-06:00

时间过得真快。距离上次写博客已经半年多了。我们全家又回北京探亲，6月14日刚回美国。

北京变化实在很大。贫富差距悬殊，有钱人真多呀。

这次我们住在美华世纪公寓，在建国门附近。这是私人出租的公寓，所以没有人打扫房间。我几乎每天早上去塞特俱乐部游泳。北京的公园6点才开门，给喜欢晨练的我带来很多不便。记得小时候老人们4点左右就去公园了，现在发现老人们5点多就聚集在公园门口，等着进去晨练。这个城市整体来说比20年前要晚了，也许大家夜生活太丰富了吧。

我们带着孩子去天安门三次，照了很多相。阿诺最喜欢天安门，在纪录片上看过很多次，一定要去。孩子们倒时差花去一星期，这段时间我们每天2点起床，之后便带孩子们去天安门或奥林匹克公园完，6：30吃早饭，非常充实。

北京的交通比去年没有好转，去景山公园那天，Biajee和我把阿诺留在公园门口和爷爷奶奶姑姑一起，我们找车位花了两个小时，最后决定把车开回公寓再坐出租车上街。

这次吃到王府井小吃街，东华门夜市和前门的门框胡同。爆肚是王府井小吃街的最好吃，一定要选清真地点。东华门夜市多半是做给老外看的，食物并不好吃。门框胡同已经拆得差不多了，只剩一家爆肚冯，还没有王府井小吃街的好。炉煮火烧一定要吃小碗的，多加几个汤底。
最好玩的是北京动物园。孩子们得到许多玩具，还在海洋馆喂鱼，看了海狮海豚表演。推荐最好吃的冰棍是双棒，雪人，大红果和奇彩旋。

全家还一起爬了八达岭长城，在长城脚下吃了很贵很难吃的饭菜，全家都很失望。

最好的川菜是新川办餐厅，最好的淮扬菜是无名居和张生记。包子是鼎泰丰的最好吃。狗不理也不错，但一定要去金元mall.

我们在回程的飞机上还吃了其他乘客带的芝麻烧饼和酱牛肉，听说是在北京的超市买的，好好吃。老家肉饼的早饭也不错，比前几年大有长进。

现在我们又回到阿肯色，过起苦行僧的日子了。

Trip to China

2010-11-28T17:14:00.015-07:00

Our trip to China started from November 15th, when I had to go to the company at 6 am and come home by 11 am. I　promised the vice president prior to leaving that I'd be available through email or phone call throughout the vacation. Biajee and I were under a lot of pressure and were really not in much mood for vacation during the beginning of the trip.

The boys, though, were having a great time since the very beginning. We had dumplings at home before Biajee picked up the kids. We left home at about 1 pm, precisely 2 hours prior to departure. There were some playground in Bentonville airport and they had a great time crawling in and out of the castle. Biajee forgot to add the mileage to our AA One World account when obtaining the boarding pass.

I decided to correct this mistake during the transit in Chicago. We even created an AA One World account for Arnold. He'll start to have accumulated mileage from this trip and many trips in upcoming years. We ate some bar food at O'Hare airport because Biajee didn't want to eat at Chili's. The transit time was four hours so we even had enough time to get 2 strawberry vivano from Starbucks after dinner.

The flight from Chicago to China is about 13.5 hours long. The flight was very empty so our family occupied two rows in the middle. The boys slept lying down most of the time. Biajee and I slept lying down for a few hours. I watched Despicable Me and Twilight Saga: Eclipse during the flight.

It was very cold in Beijing when we landed. Both families were waiting for us at the airport. My in-laws rented a car for us so that we could drive to our hotel. We stayed at an apartment hotel on the east 3rd ring in Beijing. The location is absolutely very convenient and there are tons of restaurants around the place. It's also next to a subway station so transportation was very convenient.

My father-in-law prepared a lot of cash for us this time. Everything we do in Beijing was on him. This was a gift of love to all four of us. We hadn't been back to Beijing for 6 years due to Biajee's immigration status. Our future plan is to go back to see everyone annually.

The minute we opened the hotel room, the kids saw a red toy car and a toy police motorcycle that are both drivable in the room. There are two boxes of other toys and tons of clothes and even a baby crib. Our families had checked in for us earlier during the day and arranged the room to the best condition.

Both boys had jet lag and refused to sleep during the night. We were very lucky that we didn't stay home, otherwise there would be no rest for the whole house. Our flight arrived at around 11:18 pm so we didn't get back to our hotel till 1:30 am on November 16th.

I went with dad to the beauty center near Kunlun hotel the next morning to make an appointment for facial and massage on Friday, then we went to a salon close to the hotel to get my hair done. The whole family waited for us till 2 pm to have lunch together. Arthur was asleep then so my sister-in-law had to stay in the hotel room with him.

We went to the Fuli plaza across the street. Downstairs there are different kinds of fast food called 大食代。　We ordered wonton, steamed buns, pan-fried buns, noodles, cold veggie appetizers and 凉皮。 Everything was delicious and I felt I ate too much.

The only issue was it was very hard to find public restrooms in Beijing. Even if you found one, there would be no toilet paper so it's recommended that you bring your own toilet paper whenever you go out and always go to the restroom at home before you decide to go out. Most restrooms are squat-style vs. sit-style so it was very hard for Arnold to adjust in the beginning and generally speaking, most restrooms are quite dirty. I had to make a fair comment that the condition of public restrooms in Beijing was a zillion times better than when I was a kid. I still have nightmares these days about dirty restrooms whenever I had too much stress from work. Dirty restrooms are my pain points during the years I grew up in Beijing. I don't think I could ever forget about them in my life.

My father-in-law took all of us to the Pangu Seven Star Hotel for dinner the first night. It was right across the street from the bird nest and the water cube. The service was top notch and food was delicious. The price was sky-rocketing high as well. We ordered a fish that cost 2,500 yuan (around $400) and the rest of the dishes were 2,500 yuan. Everything they served us were delicate, artistic and soothed the taste-bud very well.

There was even private restroom inside the room we dined. The kids walked around the hotel after they finish the majority of their dinner. We took a lot of family pictures in the hotel as well. My father-in-law said that we'd come back again next year during summer. He had very good taste in delicacies and had dined in a lot of different restaurants in Beijing and other cities in China.

I went to the stock exchange and the bank with my dad on the morning of the 3rd day. Biajee went with us and waited for us in the bookstore in Xidan. This was the day we utilized the subway systems together and we had Sichuan food for lunch prior to going to the tailor's shop to make a Chiong-san for me. We bought some books for Arnold to study Chinese. We also went to Walmart in Beijing and bought a lot of DVDs and food.
We also went to my father's home and bought me a winter coat in the clothing market.

On Thursday evening, we went to the national theatre, shaped like an egg, to watch Don Quixote, performed by Royal Dutch Ballet Team. The performance was better than any of the ballet I'd ever saw in my life. It took us a while to find the entrance to the theatre though since we had to go under the ground. It was a wonderful experience recommended strongly by my father-in-law. We were lucky that we caught this performance since they only perform twice in Beijing.

On Friday morning, Biajee tried to take the boys to the day care opened by my sister-in-law. They got stuck in traffic for 2 hours and Arthur missed the toddler class. I went to treat myself in the morning via subway so I managed my time really well. Biajee came to pick me up at 1:50 pm and we drove to my in-laws' home for lunch. They steamed a fish and made some mushrooms for us. The boys ate a lot.

It was decided that we couldn't go to Water Cube that afternoon since we didn't pick up the tickets. My father-in-law ordered some tickets for us via phone, but we had to pick them up in the military museum in Beijing. Everyone suggested that we go by car at 4 pm in the afternoon.

The next thing Biajee and I knew was that we got stuck in traffic for 3 hours and there was almost no gas in the car. We couldn't find a gas station and we circled around Beijing West Station 3 times. Biajee even went into a taxi lane by accident and had to back out in the middle of the street. There were 3 taxis behind us, waiting patiently while we performed all the above. Fortunately, my father-in-law loaned us his iPad so we were able to reboot it and then search for the locations of gas stations. We finally refilled the gas and I went to a public restroom. Then we decided to pick them up and go out for dinner.

We went to a place called 江南赋。It was located near Zhongguancun. The food was not bad, but it was very cold there. We later found out that they turned off the heater at 8:30 pm every day and we arrived at about 8:30 that evening. Arnold was sleeping all night long. Arthur ate quite a bit. The beauty of this restaurant is if you spend over 100 yuan, they will give you back a 50 yuan gift certificate that you can use next time.

The next day was Saturday and we decided to go to China Science and Technology Museum for the whole day. Arnold and Arthur had a great time in there. We spent the morning in the Kid's Area and then had buffet lunch. The yogurt and soymilk were the best ever at the buffet restaurant. The only embarrassing thing we ran into was when I took Arnold pooping, there was no toilet paper in the restroom so I had to rush back to the restaurant and ask for a handful of napkins to wipe his butt. The lesson learned again: bring your own toilet paper whenever you go outside your home in Beijing.

We then watched the IMAX movie of cave exploration for 40 minutes. Afterwards, my in-laws watched Arnold and Arthur for a while and let Biajee and me walk around the 4th floor. The museum closed at 4:30 pm and Arnold missed the opportunity to ride the mockup roller coaster. We decided to come back next year.

We took the kids directly to dinner with Biajee's college classmates. The restaurant was 眉州东坡酒楼　near the airport. Everyone arrived really late so the boys were starving till 7 pm before we placed orders. The food was mostly Sichuan style, but all the veggie dishes tasted the same.

On Sunday morning, we dropped off the boys at my in-laws' home and then drove to University of Science and Technology Beijing to visit the former department head of Economy Management. He taught me during college and we had a very close relationship. We took him, his wife and another teacher (Ms. Xu Changmin) to lunch in a canteen in school. We then toured the new building of Economy Management Institute.

Biajee and I then called back home and decided that we need to go watch Harry Potter prior to having dinner. We went to the theater across the street from Shuangan Shangchang. The earliest seats we could get was for 4 pm. The beauty of the theatres in Beijing was that we had to sit according to assignment so there was no worry of losing good seats.

We went to Shuangan Shangchang and bought some undershirt and pants for the boys. I had to say that everything in Beijing was very expensive, from food to clothes to housing. I started to wonder how people could survive in Beijing. One interesting fact was that during our get-together with Biajee's classmates and my classmates, we had to pick up all the bills. Nobody was willing to pay for anything. I believe everyone was under a lot of pressure to make more money.

The movie was wonderful. It was Part I of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The director of this movie was as good as the director of the first Harry Potter movie. There were a few episodes in between that were not well made. But this one was worth seeing for sure.

We met our families in 鼎泰丰　for steamed buns. These were the best buns we'd had for a while. Arnold must have had at least 15 buns. Arthur ate a lot as well. The dessert and the side dishes were very tasty too. Again, this was a recommendation by my father-in-law.

We decided to go to Tianjin on Monday via the high speed railway. It only took us 30 minutes to get there. My dad went with us. We toured the Old Culture Street and bought some brushes and papers for the boys to practice Chinese calligraphy. We then went to the original store of 狗不理　for lunch. It was located on 山东路，quite a distance from the Old Culture Street. We utilized taxi in Tianjin. The steamed buns there were the best. We strongly recommend pork and cabbage stuffing for the best buns in China in any good restaurant. Other flavors would not be as good.

We took the train back to Beijing and went to rest in the hotel, waiting for my uncle's family to come and have dinner with us. I had a massage while waiting. We went to the restaurant across the street from our hotel. The name is 松鹤楼。The food was great, but I didn't think my dad ordered the right dishes and Biajee had diahrrea afterwards. My aunt and uncle prepared two red-packets for the boys, along with toys and food. I believe the boys would be spoiled if they stay in China for too long.

We went to visit Sam's Club, Autie Zhao Peng's home on Tuesday. Sam's Club Yi Zhuang opened on November 14th. It felt a lot bigger than the Sam's Club in US. It was a very high end place in China, targeting middle and upper class consumers. We bought some bottled water drinks there.

Auntie Zhao Peng took us for hot pot. Arthur slept for the whole time while we ate and talked. We went to her home afterwards, watched TV, ate more and drank more soymilk. We left there at 3:30 pm and headed to my dad's home so that we could avoid rush hour traffic.

We had dinner at my dad's place. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law joined us as well. My father-in-law departed for a meeting in Huairou on Monday afternoon. We had crabs for dinner, along with fish, shrimp and other veggie dishes. Auntie Cao did most of the cooking. We also played badminton with dad in the house.

Daddy went to see the doctor on Wednesday morning. Biajee drove us to the tailor shop to try the Chiong-san. It was decided that we could pick it up on Friday. We then went to Xidan Transportation Bank to meet with dad again and drove to Xiaochang Chen to meet with Li Tianze for lunch.

The Xiaochang Chen Biajee picked out was located on Nanheng Jie, in a very shabby building. The price had gone up to 20 yuan per bowl. The food was delicious though, even the boys ate a lot of them. I decided that we need to get some more food in Hong Zhuangyuan.

We met my in-laws in Military Museum afterwards. Arnold was able to play with the tanks and planes. It was too cold outside. I strongly recommend not to purchase the extra tickets in Military Museum. The entrance to the Museum was free. All you need to do is to show your ID to get the tickets.

We drove to 江南赋 on 光华路　after the military museum to meet with my high school classmates. The gathering was very pleasant although not a lot of people showed up. Niu Hongtao arranged the whole thing and she is the one I'd missed a lot over the years.

On Thursday morning, we went to Beijing Hospital to visit Dr. Li Guozhen. She is 95 years old now, living with a nanny in her original home. She is Huanhuan's grandma and has always been very kind to me since Huanhuan and I became high school classmates. We had breakfast downstairs in 田野家。　Everything was really good there. Biajee was very impressed with the steamed buns and the pan-fried dumplings.

Granny was a bit lonely lately and she wanted very much to have lunch with us in Xinqiao Restaurant next door. We decided to visit the next day to have lunch with her. We met our families at 晋阳饭庄　for lunch and then toured 纪晓岚故居　next door. The food was so-so, but the tour was most interesting. The public restrooms are very cold in China during winter. I realize I'm complaining about restrooms everyday, but it's the reality if you plan on visiting China. Be prepared for it. Or you could pick very high end restaurants so that you won't run into such problems.

We tried to go the Nature Museum, but it was under construction and needs appointment for tour. We decided to skip it for this trip since we were running out of time. We went to our hotel with my in-laws and rested for a while. Biajee's high school classmates would join us for dinner in 巴国布衣　that evening.

Around 20 people showed up for dinner. Biajee had great conversations with old friends. I was able to socialize a bit as well as learn about all the silly things Biajee did when he was a kid. Wuyi shared with me the true life of diplomats in China. It feels like there are a lot of sacrifices in family life if you decide to be a diplomat.

Friday was the last day we were in Beijing. We went to pick up the Chiong-san only to find out that they were late and they delivered it to us on Friday evening. We went to Hong Zhuangyuan again for breakfast. It was not as good as the first time. Then we drove to Dr. Li's home to take her out to lunch. We had dim sum in Xinqiao restaurant. It was the best dim sum we'd had for years. Granny ate a lot of steamed buns and other food. She missed Huanhuan a lot. I sincerely hope Huanhuan and I could be back annually to see her. All she need was some attention from family.

Biajee taught my dad how to use iPod in the afternoon. We then went to dinner in Shuangjing Xuan. Two of my classmates from college joined us. Our luggage was packed afterwards. We bought 3 full priced plane tickets and were able to bring 6 check-in bags and we did check in six bags. Most of the luggage were toys and books for the boys. There were also some food we purchased as well.

The coming back flight was full so I didn't sleep at all. Biajee and the boys slept a bit. There was no headset in this sector of flights and the service was horrible. I got sick when I was in Beijing so I had a running nose and was coughing all way long. We arrived in Bentonville on time. We all slept in the afternoon to catch up the time zone change.

I woke up at 4:30 pm to start unpack and finally finished by midnight. Biajee blow dried two of my cashmere sweater and permanently damaged them. Right now everyone in the house is fast asleep except for me. I'll need to get ready for tomorrow's work day.

文山会海

2010-10-04T20:12:00.002-06:00

现在才发现作预算时非常繁琐的工作。这本身是一个非常漫长的项目，尤其是在沃尔玛，长达一年，其间要与各个部门沟通，简直无法有一刻安宁。一年之后就得立刻开始下一年的预算，就像希腊神话里的西习坲斯，永无休止地搬石头。

每天白天开很多会，每个会结束时都会有一堆工作要做，但又没有时间马上做，所以只好等大家都下班之后做，造成了加班的现状。

今天中午差点没来得及吃午饭，幸亏试食了肉糜面包和烤肉饼，又买了一个冷冻金枪鱼三文治，再加一包膨化食品，算是过关了。Biajee说很快鱼就要全部变成转基因的了，多么可怕！我要在它们转基因之前多吃一些。想不到生物科学以及高科技就被这样滥用了，简直堪称人类的悲哀。

上周末看了《车》这部动画片，非常好看，是迪斯尼下属的皮卡萨公司制作的。想不到现在的动画片已经达到炉火纯青，登峰造极的水平了。

下星期一就要去俄克拉荷马城给阿瑟看病了。真希望他快点好起来。这次我们星期六就出发，可以在那里玩一天，星期一再去医院。希望能在那里的中餐馆吃到活鱼。Biajee已经研究好要去那些景点了。现在Biajee已经成为旅行计划主管了。

Beijing

2010-08-28T17:09:00.004-06:00

We booked our trip back to Beijing. It'll be 2nd half of November. We'll start the visa process in October. Since it's so expensive, we decided that it'll be best for us to be able to use it again next year.

Biajee took the boys to Rogers downtown today for a train event. We're completely adopting the midwest living style these days. I met 2 coworkers in Spa Estitheque. Apparently today is a spa day for girls.

Today is also the last day of this season's Taekwondo and swimming class. We have to register for the next swimming class in a week or two. I've pre-registered Arnold's Taekwondo class already. We need to buy him the outfit, which will cost $50.

I　went to volunteer for Youth Bridge Inc on Friday. The facility helps with youths and at risk youths with different problems, mostly focused on and related to substance abuse. At risk youth is a big social problem in the United States. The population of United States in 2% of the world, but consumptions of drugs are 2/3 of the world.

云吞

2010-07-17T16:48:00.002-06:00

这两周每周末都包一些云吞给大家吃。主要是猪肉鲜虾油菜馅，所以味道十分受大家欢迎。孩子们宁愿吃皮所以我就吃很多馅，听上去好像我在虐待儿童一样。不过把馅包进皮里，煮好了再把皮和馅分开始很大的工程呢。有时候觉得还不如给孩子们煮片汤。

今天全家一起去开了星期六早会，顺便带大家参观了我的新办公室。有自己的办公室很惬意，这听上去很幼稚，但我长这么大，还是第一次有自己的办公室呢。由于我们公司以节俭著称，很多和我同级别或者比我级别高的人都没有自己的办公室。有没有办公室确实对工作影响不大，我实际上并不太在意。

阿瑟现在上游泳课，阿诺上跆拳道，所以周末时全家很忙碌。中午去山姆俱乐部购物并吃了比萨饼，路过勃拉姆斯还吃了汉堡包和冰激淋。回家之后Biajee坚持把剩的云吞全煮掉。吃完午饭已经下午三点了。全家午睡，现在才大概起床。

两星期前去照了全家福，沃尔玛内的照相馆很贵。明年不去那里了。

Biajee的新工作进展顺利。我给了他很多建议，譬如打印项目清单，与老板一对一谈话，和同事拉关系之类。Biajee颇觉受益匪浅。我觉得自己应该可以当很好的辅导员。现在的工作和曲妮娜不一样，主要得建立良好的人际关系。发现最好的交流不是发电子邮件，而是去和大家面对面谈话。

Washing Machine

2010-06-23T12:20:00.002-06:00

Our washing machine has not been working properly for a few weeks. I called National Home Center, where it was purchased and the technician came to fix it today.

So far he has identified the problem. There was a plastic filter prior to the drain pump filled up by Arnold's socks, hairpins he brought from school, rockets from his transformer, etc. The socks smelled quite moldy already. These things were stuck there, causing the drain pump not able to pump water out, resulting in failure of spinning.

Right now, Brandon, the technician, is trying to put everything back in place. He said this was a main problem of the front load washers. Although front load saves water in comparison to top load washing machines, you may run into such technical problems.

The way to avoid this is to put all the little stuff into a wash bag and put it into the washer as a whole. I need to stop by Walmart today to get it before we can do laundry again. In other words, this would never have happened if had not had babies. So a tip for all our friends who have babies: use wash bag for baby stuff.

父亲节

2010-06-20T17:12:00.005-06:00

今天是Ｂｉａｊｅｅ的第五个父亲节了．我们全家去密苏里／阿肯色火车公司搭乘了父亲节特别列车．列车发车站在斯普林代尔，一个位于奔腾村和费耶特村之间的城市．我们十一点从家出发，大概十一点半抵达车站．在剪票台取票，并特别询问了头等舱和普通舱的区别．原来普客是１９２０年建的车厢，头等是１９５０年建的车厢．普客更加适合我们，因为座位是一整排的，可以给小孩子睡觉．

１１：４５准时登车，发现头等的座位其实就是一些单人沙发，未必舒服，还是普客好．１２：００　整火车出发．网站上说这班车要去番布伦市，来回一趟就奔晚上７点了．实际上我们３：３０左右就回来了．中途经过了一个叫做文思录的地方，有一个１７００尺的隧道．过了隧道之后就找机会将车头调至车尾，往回开了．

上车之后就发午饭，每人有一个免费饮料，其余饮料一刀一份．午饭是典型的南方菜，烤猪肉，土豆沙拉和烤豆子．甜点是苹果馅饼．我们四个人吃了四份，主要是我在吃．Ｂｉａｊｅｅ星期五港刚拔完智齿，不能大吃，我只好一个人吃了四份午餐．当然味道相当不错了．

饭后服务员还进行了知识问答，我因为答对了题目还赢了一顶棒球帽，非常不错．路上经过了一架长７００尺的桥．之后阿诺就在Ｂｉａｊｅｅ身上尿了，造成的状况好像是Ｂｉａｊｅｅ尿裤子了．我们给阿诺带了替换的衣服，却没有Ｂｉａｊｅｅ的衣服，所以Ｂｉａｊｅｅ只好穿着有尿臊味的衣服直到回家．

Ｂｉａｊｅｅ昨天拿到了绿卡，所以我们可以计划回国了．

James at the Mill

2010-06-05T03:46:00.002-06:00

Biajee received the offer from Walmart on June 2nd. He'll start the new job on June 14th. We went to James at the Mill on the night of June 2nd to celebrate.

James at the Mill is a restaurant with a long history. It's located in Fayetteville, but you actually exit at #62 on I-540 south to get there. It's a location that I used to eat a lot at years ago when I worked for a Walmart vendor.

The restaurant belongs to a hotel. There is a huge wooden mill outside erected in the 1900s. The pond and little waterfall are very entertaining to Arnold. Lots of fish are swimming in the pond, reminding us of West Lake in Hangzhou, China. We fed some leftover dinner bread to the fish there afterwards.

I ordered white Zinfindal for us. It's sort of a cheap white wine, but tastes very good and sweet. We had house salad, crab cake and a full rack of baby back ribs for dinner. Biajee was able to finish most of the ribs. The flavor was phenomenal. Dessert was most impressive. We had chocolate pyramid with raspberry sherbet and vanilla icecream, sided with fresh strawberries and pineapple.

I started a weight loss program the next day. The shirts I ordered from Ann Taylor arrived yesterday. They are all size 00 and fit me beautifully. The only disappointing thing was I paid for shipping when I ordered and now they started a Free Shipping with Orders over $150 special again. If you are a fan of Ann Taylor, I strongly recommend ordering clothes on line now. Size 00 is not carried in stores and is sold exclusively on line.

安泰乐

2010-05-24T20:53:00.005-06:00

上星期五和Biajee一起去安泰乐的厂家直销店买了衬衫，西装和短裙，直销点的东东40%折扣，比上网买要便宜，非常好看。这次购物进一步确认了我只能穿零号衬衫和西装。Biajee说零号还是太肥，最好能买零零号的。这周末我们带孩子们去布兰森，再买几件上班穿的衬衫，最好所有的衣服都是零号的，而不是存货最多的10号。

现在才发现以前买的衬衫全都太肥了，而且并不是正式的西装衬衫，真是很弱智。这都是从小家境太贫寒，根本不懂着装的缘故。这个社会对女人太歧视了，所以女人一定要穿戴得体，还得比男人聪明能干才能事业有成。当然这只是我在商场上的经验教训，别的行业也许不需要太重视外表。

今天中午和Biajee一起去吃将军日本料理了。我们每次都点一份生鱼片，再加两份寿司，怪不得两个人都越来越胖。我最近正在鼓动全家吃完晚饭出去散步以达到减肥的目的。从这里走一迈就到健身房了，健身房旁边有儿童游乐场，孩子们玩一会儿在集体回家。值得一提的是阿诺是骑三轮车来回的，非常了不起。

六月的第一个星期六我们在校校体育馆举行阿诺的生日会。到目前为止只有两个孩子确认来参加。六月份是暑假，大家都去度假了，所以没空来和阿诺玩了。希望他不要太伤心。生日会很贵，如过来的孩子小于15人，需付192美元，比萨饼，礼品包和蛋糕还要另外准备。前几年阿诺还小，我们又经常出去旅行，所以一直没有能够给他开生日会，今年是第一年，要好好珍惜。

Wild Life

2010-05-22T14:17:00.003-06:00

There was a bird nest on our fence. Biajee found it earlier this week. There were four blue eggs in the nest. Biajee accidentially dropped two of them and one was broken. He placed the fallen egg back into the nest. The mother bird has been sitting on the eggs every day.

We were eating hot pot for lunch today while Biajee found a snake right outside of our dining room window. It was about four feet long and 3 inches in diameter. We called the Bentonville police twice, but the lady who answered the phone told us that they didn't deal with snakes. She said that snakes were dormant during the day and would walk away at night.

The snake was waiting under the bird nest to eat the bird eggs and birds. Biajee took a shovel and went outside to kill the snake. We bagged the body of the dead snake into a woven shoebag and threw it in a dumpster.

It appeared to be a rattlesnake. Biajee followed it around our yard. If it had gone away by itself, Biajee wouldn't have gone ahead and killed it. He was just worried about the kids and me going out to the yard and being attacked.

Such was our excitement this weekend.

面试

2010-04-27T19:04:00.004-06:00

Biajee今天受到移民局的通知，6月1日就要进行绿卡面试了。看来整个过程非常紧凑，一点没有耽误时间。我们现在还没有收到Biajee的工卡和回美证。这两样东西在收到绿卡时是要被销毁的，以免被不必要的人利用。

Biajee上个星期被人追尾。肇事者无驾照，无保险，我们的车昨天已经送修，大概要2500美元。我们自己可能需要付200美元，这一切都取决于保险公司如何向对方索赔。Biajee昨天租了一辆本田雅阁，接送孩子们上下幼儿园。总体来讲，Biajee不认为雅阁是非常好的车车。

我的新工作渐渐进入正轨。新老板不怎么管我，致使我更加战战兢兢。大概是以前被虐待惯了。今天Biajee炒了非常好吃的土豆丝，我做了阿拉斯加白鱼和沙拉，还有很好吃的牛骨汤面，粥，香菇菜心，哈密瓜等等。总之，我们的饭量越来越大了，这么多菜都被一扫而光。减肥计划再次破产。

阿诺自从星期六淋了雨，就开始发烧，今天也没全好。看来以后不能只顾自己参加跑步，还要多为孩子们考虑。阿瑟今天进行了15个月检查，28磅4盎司，90%，身高31.5寸，75%。医生说他之所以还不会走路有两个原因：1）他太胖了；2）他太懒了。反正将来他总会走路的，所以不必着急。阿瑟现在能推着椅子和其他滑行物品走路，非常有趣。他的样子和阿诺小时候很像。Biajee说不能再生了，否则又会出现和他们两个一样的小孩，我们会招架不住的。

Race for the Cure

2010-04-24T18:48:00.002-06:00

Our family ran the Race for the Cure in Rogers today. The race was supposed to start at 8 am, but was actually delayed for 30 minutes due to heavy rain.

Biajee and I got up at 4:30 am, showered and made breakfast and then woke up the kids. I even wore the rain pants and the rain-proof jacket, but was still soaked after the race.

We got to Pinnacle Hills Mall and loaded the boys into the jogger stroller in the rain. Then we parked the stroller inside the Food Court. Most people were there just hanging out and getting in line for the restrooms. We later learned that there were temporary restrooms next to the starting point with nobody lining up in front of them.

We started at 8:30. The route cut through some very nice neighborhoods in Rogers and the scene was extremely beautiful. The whole race took me 33 minutes and 4 seconds. I could have done better without the rain and the kids. Biajee was about a minute later than me, because he had to push the stroller.

There were tons of food and beverages after the race. The most impressive thing we ate was the watermelon from Georgia. It was so fresh, crisp and sweet that we kept going back for more. The gentleman who passed it out told us it would be in the local Walmart stores from next week. How exciting!

We also went shopping in the Loft after lunch. I bought a black skirt with the $15 off coupon for my birthday. It looks great on me. I hope I can wear it to work. Biajee thinks it may be too short to wear to work though.

We're going back to the mall tomorrow to get Arnold a set of pajamas with Lightening McQueen on it. He was very excited about it. We're going to use the JC Penny coupon for this pajama. It was sent for Mother's Day and I'll be a good mother and honor it to my son.

The origin of Texas Longhorn

2010-04-21T14:45:00.007-06:00

As written in Jared Diamond's book (right, yet another Jewish) Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, originally, native Americans do not farm big mammals except the spitting[1] alpaca (and/or llama, whatever). No doubt these Texas Longhorns are not native at all. So, what are they? They are Hispanic.

No, they don't speak Spanish. But originally, they were brought to Santa Domingo by, by THE Columbus, the Spanish, in 1493. And within the next 2 to 3 centuries their descendents were grazing (living) in Mexico and Texas. With all the battles between humans, these cattles were abandoned and were on their own. (Talking about the only animals that fight each other when there are plenty of foods.) After Civil War, people came to Texas and find those wild cattles, as many as 10 million heads. The ranger said to me, "think about how much beef steak are there..." You would've already seen the dollar sign if you business blood. (Well, at that time, it's silver coin.) Bingo, people translated these cattles North, all the way from places like Ft Worth into Kansas where there was railroad to ship them to the East. And this is where the name "Cowboy" originated.

[1] This is a common knowledge if you read Tintin to your child.

Quiz: Has Tintin been to Cambodia? How about Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days?

The cattle in Ft Worth

2010-04-13T08:20:00.003-06:00

Quiz, where did this kind long horn come from, originally?

Spring Break

2010-03-28T17:08:00.002-06:00

I took last week off and went on vacation with the family. Biajee was the driver all through the week. We went to Little Rock first to visit President Clinton's library, Little Rock Central High School Historical Museum, the State Capitol of Arkansas, the Science and Discovery Museum and the Old Mill.

Each president builds a library in their hometown after they retire and this library will tell the biography of the president and what they had done during their serving period in the White House. Arnold and Arthur had a great time there. We learned a lot more about William Jefferson Clinton. His biological father died 3 months before he was born and he was raised by his mother. He was born in a little town called Hope in Arkansas and then later moved to Hot Springs after his mom got remarried.

There was an exhibition about Queen Elizabeth and they got her age wrong. Biajee was very upset about it. The exhibition said Queen Elizabeth was over 100 years old while she was born in 1926 as a matter of fact.

There was a Chinese restaurant called Chi's in Little Rock. We had Dim Sum there one day and it was very expensive. We spent $75 on the Dim Sum, which normally would have been half the price if we were to dine in Denver or any other city in the United States.

The Little Rock Central High School is the largest high school in the United States and looks absolutely gorgeous from the outside. We didn't get to go in because we went to visit at 9 am on Sunday morning.

The Little Rock Central High School is the largest high school in the United States and looks absolutely gorgeous from the outside. We didn't get to go in because we went to visit at 9 am on Sunday morning. The State Capitol of Arkansas was a a lot of fun to visit. They open on Sundays at 10 am. We toured every floor of the building. In my personal opinion, it has a lot more to offer to tourist than the State Capitol of Texas in Austin. We learned about the meaning of the state flag. Arkansas was the 25th state that was claimed to be a state of the United States, which was reflected in the 25 stars circling the diamond. Diamond digging used to be a huge business here, which is why there is a huge white diamond on the flag. There were a lot of fun facts about Arkansas and the building was fabulous.

晋升

2010-03-07T14:51:00.005-07:00

俗语说:"春困,秋乏,夏打盹,睡不醒的冬三月".我们全家都在春困的阶段.

上周六去健身之后,到山姆会员俱乐部花了170块钱,便回家大吃海鲜,之后全家集体睡午觉至下午四点.醒来后带孩子们去这里绝无仅有的购物中心玩耍.

本周六去公司带全家开早会,健身,下午回家又睡到4点.奥斯卡最佳女主角桑德拉布拉克来到奔腾村闪亮登场.沃尔玛公司各个会场挤得水泄不通,大家都兴奋异常.要目睹这些名演员的芳容的最佳地点显然是奔腾村,而不是好莱坞. 我们还拿了一些世界杯足球的小纪念品.沃尔玛今年是世界杯产品的指定销售公司,吉祥物是一只绿色的小狮子,好可爱的.

巴菲特说过,"世界杯足球是广告的高速公路.当有高速公路存在的时候,谁都不应该再走乡村小道." 可见在世界杯足球运动做广告的重要性.

周五下午收到了通知,自己已被晋升为山姆会员俱乐部的财政计划与预测总监.这一消息将在周一以电子邮件的方式通知山姆会员俱乐部财务部门所有雇员. 9个多月的扛长工终于没有白费,摆在我面前的是一大堆更头疼的工作.我希望这一变动不会影响我早已计划好的休假.

Counting

2010-03-01T11:36:00.003-07:00

We taught Arnold how to count from 1 to 10 last night. He was finally able to remember all the numbers. The challenge we faced was that Arnold thought everything was a joke. It is the right time to educate him on what is serious matter at the moment.

Statistics showed that decades ago, only 10% of women were making more money than their husbands. Today, about 35% of women are making more money than their spouses. This trend will likely grow in the coming years, mainly because women in the country are better educated than men. We obviously do not want Arnold to be too far behind his future wife.

The earthquake in Chile was devastating. My boss returned from Chile to the US on Friday night. He narrowly missed the big catastrophe. There is definitely a guardian angel watching out for him. He said there was a big earthquake there in 1985 when he was living there. Grade 8.8 is very severe earthquake. Fortunately the country was long and thin so not too many people died from the disaster.

DGTC

2010-02-22T15:34:00.003-07:00

On Friday, Biajee went to the David Glass Technology Center (DGTC) for his interviews. We spent 10 minutes in the morning to help him get his tie right. He hasn't been using his tie for a while.

He met 3 teams and they were all very nice techy people. Biajee really loved them. "The question is whether they love you as well." I said to him after he got back home.

Biajee has an amazing memory. He was able to send out Thank You cards to most of the people he talked with. And of course, they teased him about his outfit. "You should dress up like that every day." One of the guys said. Everyone in DGTC was in jeans on Friday, a typical IT environment.

We also went to the Saturday morning meeting of Walmart. Walmart's comp store sales dropped 2% in Q4. Biajee and I were really disappointed at the news. Someone else stole Walmart's market share. There are all kinds of articles flying around in Wall Street at the moment about "Has Walmart Hit the Wall?"

It is still hard to tell. We want to see how our competitors did in Q4. Target will release their Q4 numbers this week. My gut tells me Walmart didn't do very well at all. Sam's Club had a great Q4 and so did Costco. Retail is an industry that really drives people to work their neck off. And it's so easy for insiders and outsiders to tell whether you've done a good job or not.

The Year of Tiger

2010-02-17T07:29:00.002-07:00

We're entering the Year of Tiger. I think good luck will start to flow into our family. After two tough phone interviews, Biajee finally got an onsite interview with Walmart this coming Friday.

We have the suit ready. I'll prepare him for some soft skill questions, but he is the one who has to step up on technical questions. We decided that it was not the best time to have him take Spanish classes or accounting classes at the moment.

My Spanish class started last night and it went so well. The teacher is a linguist and holds a master's degree. Both her daughters are bi-lingual.

I'm also exploring opportunities in taking Six Sigma class in the company. I registered for a Tax Accounting class on line yesterday. Biajee ordered the books for me last night so that I could start learning very soon. We'll have a very busy year in the Year of Tiger, but hopefully it's fruitful, happy and with a lot of good results.

Elmo's Potty Time

2010-01-21T16:03:00.003-07:00

My coworker loaned me a DVD called Elmo's Potty Time. This DVD is supposed to help potty train Arnold. There is another DVD called Go Potty Go, which is about a panda going to potty. Go Potty Go is supposed to be more effective than Elmo's Potty Time, but we're willing to try both at this point.

We have moved into the Sam's Club Building. It's very pretty. Everything is ergonomic. We can use dry erase marker on our windows. The carpet looks very dotcomish. We have a huge cafe that serves a lot of varieties of good food now. We even have windows and balconies. It's a huge improvement from our warehouse-like building before.

I have to commute a bit longer to work though, but that's all right since I've been working from 7 am to 8 pm this week. Traffic is really not that bad at these odd hours, but Biajee had to take care of making dinner.

Arthur had 2 loose bowel movements at school today. We need to feed him starch and banana for dinner only. If he has another loose bowel movement, the school will have to send him home. Fortunately, we're almost at the end of the day and the opportunity of that is miniscule.

冰冷的阿肯色

2010-01-09T16:02:00.004-07:00

我们终于深切地体会到阿肯色荸荠科罗拉多来，气候要恶劣很多。这个星期阿肯色连下几场雪，气温降到华氏零度，当地学校和健身房关门好几天，给我们的生活和工作造成很多不便。

Biajee过生日我们去骨鱼烧烤屋吃了很多海鲜，当然是在华氏十度左右的低温下出门，还带着两位小少爷。幸亏菜做得很好吃，还算值得出门一游。我在一月五日早上五点多时试图给儿子们注册游泳课失败，真正的注册始于一月四日早上五点，而且所有课程在一个小时之内全部满员，只好等下一学期了。好在游泳课学期是十周一循环，所以三月底四月初的时候可以再试。

经验教训是一定要在课程开始注册的第一天早上五点钟打电话，否则将痛失荆州。我的同事大大抱怨说这里的人简直是法西斯，非要逼大家早起。怎么办？只好入乡随俗。下一轮游泳课我们一定得注册上。小小体育馆的课程下个星期就结束了，我不打算再给孩子们继续上体操课，因为时间有可能与未来的游泳课冲突。体操的一学期从1月18日到5月29日，还有可能与星期六早会撞车，所以由我们带孩子们游泳比较好。

阿肯色人对雪是很惧怕的，因为这里没有铲雪设施，下过雪之后路面就结冰，导致开车很危险，使大家有借口在家工作。我也只好装得很害怕的样子啊，好象每天出生入死开车上班似的，非常有趣。不过前几天我们小区结的冰完全可以开溜冰场了。今天家门口的世界体育馆的儿童乐园发大水了，我们只好去J街的体育馆，学习了桑巴舞。Biajee跳得很认真。不过好像跳桑巴舞需要身材胖，否则不好看。

圣诞节

2009-12-27T15:13:00.009-07:00

刚刚修好的木地板好像又有问题了，这个项目要交给Biajee去做，所以他会给盖房子的人打电话。Biajee说这很正常。

我们的电视和电视柜改为明天送货了，所以这周末并没有看到新电视，但孩子们都很开心。圣诞节的时候下了雪，这是奔腾村自1975年以来的第一次白色圣诞节。

我们又去了当地的家具店，发现有一套餐桌和椅子非常适合我们的早餐餐厅。但是桌面是不平的，有点波浪一样的微微有纹路，据说这是最新潮的趋势，这样子如果孩子们将餐桌弄出凹陷就看不出来了。Biajee和我商量着要不要也新潮一把。而且现在的趋势是沙发前面都不摆放咖啡桌了，要放那种搁脚的奥托曼，这样客人来了还可以坐，又不必使客厅里充满家具。而且还可以买一个盘子，将看电视时喝的饮料放在上面。

总之，Biajee受了现代派家具的教育之后，有点觉得自己落伍了。

早上阿诺发烧了，大概是这几天冻着了。圣诞节那天我们全家去好风景的小公园散步，当时气温只有华氏26度，风也很大，我们一定是疯了。今天一天还没有出过家门，好像应该出门去购物，否则会得“山洞狂”的心理疾病，好可怕的。

我们已经选好种什么样的灌木了，春天就可以去买来破土了。一切都是为了风水。

White Christmas

2009-12-23T08:48:00.003-07:00

We filed Biajee's green card application to the attorney's office today. It was sent by FEDEX ground so they should get it around next Wednesday. We hope it'll be officially filed to US Department of Homeland Security some time in January.

It is also said that we're going to get about 6 to 8 inches of snow starting from noon tomorrow. It'll be a true white Christmas then. Nobody should be driving on the road then since it could be very dangerous. We had some heavy rain this morning, which made us feel the ceiling of our office was about to drop on our head.

We made a nice try to to the Circuit Court of Benton county yesterday applying for Arthur's passport. The office was closed between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm since everyone went to a Christmas dinner.

We took Arthur to Table Mesa for lunch instead. It's a modified style Mexican restaurant and their food is definitely first class. They even used Shanghai Bok Choi for both fish entrees we ordered.

Biajee finished cleaning up the rental house and setting up Christmas tree in the new house yesterday. His big project today is to throw away our old queen size bed and mattress. We can no longer stand mattresses. We only sleep on hardwood bed, i.e., tatami beds these days.

Crawling Forward

2009-12-22T07:47:00.003-07:00

Arthur officially started to crawl forward on Dec. 20th. He seems to not realize that he has the super ability to crawl forward at this moment. He is only crawling for it only when something extremely attractive is in front of him.

The Zhu Zhu Pets are very well received amongst my coworkers. It is a very cool toy for kids and adults. The Zhu Zhu can run around, squeal or turn according to a computer chip built inside it.

We're planning on applying for a passport for Arthur during lunch today. His picture was taken at Sam's Club a few weeks ago. We just didn't find the time to take him to the County Clerk. Yes, we do not have to go to the postoffice to do it. The county clerk can seal the application, check our IDs and send it to US Department of State. I don't think we're going to the postoffice to apply for passport any more in future.

Biajee's plan today is to clean out the rental house since our utility and water will be stopped by Dec. 23rd. We went to BestBuy last night and picked out a TV console. The store opens till 10 pm for holidays.

Zhuzhu Pet

2009-12-21T15:39:00.003-07:00

We got up early today and bought a lot of Zhuzhu pets since I was going to give everyone in my department a Zhuzhu pet for Christmas. Two of the people have left the office for the holiday so maybe they'll not receive anything from me. It'll be weird for them to see something sitting on their desks after they come back from the holiday.

Biajee and I returned the TV and the TV stand we bought from Sam's Club. The Philips TV is nothing compared to Samsung. We ordered a Samsung 52 inch LCD from BestBuy, which will be delivered and installed on Dec. 26th. Now we need to order a TV stand for it. We are still eyeing BestBuy for the TV stand. There is one that costs around $500 that'll probably soothe our needs.

There will be a storm and snow hitting Bentonville starting from tomorrow so we may even have a white Christmas. The weather is beautiful today, but Christmas will be cold. Helen Walton is closed on Christmas Eve so Biajee will have to watch the kids for half of the day since I didn't take any time off.

减价

2009-12-19T22:33:00.003-07:00

今天去圣诞聚会之后顺便去山姆俱乐部买了些过节的食品，发现有些东东已经开始减价，于是买了两个箱包准备送给同事。Biajee已经决定星期一早上跟着任潮去抢购猪猪宠物，今年最热的圣诞礼物。我们准备多买几个，送一个给阿瑟当生日礼物。

早上带孩子们去了小小体育馆学习体操。Biajee基本上已经把所有破烂搬进新房子了，只不过大部分东东都还在箱子里。拆箱子大概又要花一个星期的时间。好在我既经决定下星期请假，和Biajee一起去堪萨斯城买家具，还可以在家睡觉，出去吃饭和看电影。

早知道自己这么辛苦，应该多休几周假。我的美国护照申请已经交上去了。现在我们在等待税务局的2007和2008年的缴税收据，拿到之后就可以帮Biajee申请绿卡了。这段时间过节，公司里大部分同事都休假了，很多人已经离开本地，回乡过年了。想不到这里在节日时会如此冷清。

我们的新电视看上去也很好，只是希望山姆俱乐部不要将它减价，否则我们会义不容辞地退货的。我们现在正在搜寻好看的原子钟，其实需要好几个，只好慢慢买。

刚才在网站上发现我最喜欢的护肤品商店买礼品卡打折，于是我用上次打折的礼品卡买了新的打折礼品卡，增加了生前的数量。Biajee建议我再多干几次，没准能将礼品卡的价格减少到最低，多么可怕的物理专业人才。

Hair Business

2009-12-18T08:13:00.003-07:00

I went to Brian's home for his birthday party last night after doing my hair.

The salon I go to has 3 hair dressers worked on me so far. The first one was a nice girl. It took her about 2.5 to 3 hours to do my hair. She left a few months ago. Then I got a young girl who was an apprentice. It took her 3 to 4 hours to do my hair. She quit 2 months ago so now the owner of the salon does my hair and I can usually be out of there within 2 hours.

The amazing thing is I used to pay $120 for the first girl, $80 for the 2nd girl. Now I'm paying $75 for the owner. Salon is an interesting business. The markup of products and labor can be so high that it's easy to cut price in half or offer something to customer for free.

I also got a clear understanding of this year No 1 Christmas wish list for kids: Zhu Zhu Pet. Amazon is selling it for $30, eBay is selling it for $50. Starting from next Monday, Walmart stores will sell it for $8 from Monday to Wednesday, starting from 7am. Maybe we should get one for Arthur's birthday. Biajee will have to decide whether he'd like to fight the crowd in the stores next week.

LCD

2009-12-17T07:42:00.002-07:00

Biajee bought a new LCD TV and a TV stand from Sam's Club yesterday. This happened at the same time when I was in the oath ceremony for my citizenship. I had to go to the courthouse of Western District of Arkansas in Fort Smith. There were about 50 people taking the oath yesterday and I was the only person from China.

The appointment letter said I need to arrive there at 8:30 am, but I got lost again as usual so I was late for about 20 minutes. The way it was set up was everyone had to sign in first and then the ceremony began. So even if I had arrived earlier, I would still have to wait for all the people to sign in.

Then everyone had to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance together. We each got a Certificate of Naturlization. Now we can apply for a US passport. Right after the ceremony, I found a parking ticket on my car and I had to go to the Police Department of Fort Smith to pay for it. I parked my car at meter parking, which only takes enough money for an hour. I put more money in, but the time on the meter will not change. This is just a gift of being an American citizen - I contribute to tax dollars.

Trash Can

2009-12-15T15:26:00.003-07:00

Our new trash can and recycle can arrived at the new house today. Biajee took Arthur to The Little Gym this morning to make up for last Saturday's class. We're thinking about signing Arthur up for the swimming class in the Walton Fitness Center next semester.

I'll have to join the Walton Fitness Center as a member first. At this point, it's all about Arthur because Arnold is enrolled in four classes at school. We went to his Christmas dance recital last Saturday and he did pretty well.

Biajee forgot to move the hair dryer yesterday so I came to work with wet hair today. Judging that I already caught a cold, it really won't have extra negative effects on me.

Commute from the new house to the company is better than the rental home. It only takes 7 minutes for me to get to work every morning. It's a bless that we live in a small town. I'm really tired of the metropolitan area at this stage of my life.

Virgin Night

2009-12-14T13:19:00.003-07:00

I talked to Biajee on the phone. He was making strides moving us. All the beds are in the new house now, which means we're going to sleep our virgin night in the new house.

The downside is that Arthur is sick. He is having diahrrea and is throwing up. Biajee had to go to Hellen Walton and pick him up. We will not have a TV today because all these crisis leave Biajee no time to go shopping for the TV. The Cox guy won't come to switch our service till Thursday so even if we have the new TV, there will be no signals yet.

We unpacked some boxes of books on Sunday and there will be a lot of throw away trash for our family. If anyone needs a superior mover, I would strongly recommend Biajee. He moved the whole family all by himself, without renting a U haul or hiring extra hands. Talking about Every Day Low Cost, the motto of Walmart, nobody has stood by it as firmly as Biajee.

We bought 2 bar stools from Sam's Club yesterday. The were close to cherry wood color, perfect match to our kitchen. We have decided to buy our kitchen table from Nebraska Furniture Mart as well. We look forward to our trip to Kansas City on Dec. 28th, our wedding anniversary date.

Homeowner

2009-12-09T09:45:00.002-07:00

We're homeowners now. Today is 13 degrees on the low end and wind chill is close to zero. Biajee is moving in this weather. I told him we could hire a moving company if he doesn't want to move us. But he said he could do it by himself.

We're going to sign the paper work for home owner's insurance during lunch. The house doesn't have insurance yesterday and today so if it catches on fire, we're totally hosed.

I'm thinking of taking the last week of the month off as vacation days and stay home. I need to cool down and recharge and enjoy the new house. We could take a day to go to Kansas City and buy some furniture during that week. And we can go out to eat, shop and just enjoy the time with only two of us. It's been a while since we did that.

I've copied some of the documents for Biajee's green card application. There are still more to be printed. Hopefully I'll get a citizenship card next week so we can file everything to the attorney.

Closing

2009-12-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

We are closing on our new house at Elite Title Company in Rogers at 4 pm this afternoon. Our appraisal came out to be exact the same price as the contract price of the house. This sounds a bit weird. But since the house has 90% of what we need, we should not be mad at paying a bit more for it.

It's going to be rainy and cold this whole week and Biajee is going to move us all. It took 4 Walmart associates 2 hours to move all our stuff from Colorado so we assume it'll take Biajee about a week to move most of the things. Biajee had to arrange everything besides moving. It's a huge project.

Biajee went to get a Bentonville Library card yesterday. All our books are packed and in boxes so he had to go to the library to read good books. Our goal is to have everything unpacked and all the boxes emptied and thrown away by Christmas. We need to set up the tree and the gifts for the boys.

Arnold is getting an F-22 transformer and Arthur is getting a train/track set. Santa Claus will bring these to them from the chimney of the new house.

检查

2009-12-05T14:21:00.002-07:00

昨天对新房子进行了彻底检查，没有发现大毛病。洗衣机，烘干机和电冰箱都已经运到了。这周末工人们会将木地板重新整修一遍，有松动的地方都会重新刷胶。Biajee星期一下午会再去做一次检查。马上就要搬新家了，我们都很兴奋，想到还要花很多钱添置家具和电器，不由得有些发愁。不过一切都可以慢慢来，先安顿了再说。

非常希望能在新家里住到孩子们上大学。希望Biajee能早些找到工作，我们就可以不用为任何事担忧了。一会儿得帮他把简历改写一遍。现在的问题是Biajee的简历寄出去，根本拿不到面试，所以希望朋友们能把简历寄给他，让他借鉴借鉴，知道该怎么写才能表现自己的价值。

我决定把乔治佛曼的烧烤机送给卡拉了，反正我们也用不到，美国人比较喜欢烧烤。我的秘密圣诞老人上星期送了我一些巧克力和垃圾，不知道下个星期会出什么花样。下星期二房子买下来之后Biajee就会开始搬家，扔东西，想到他一个人要搬我们四个人的东东很是心疼，于是告诉他，所有懒得搬的东东全丢掉算了，反正我没有恋物癖。

我们希望能够买一台新电视，沃尔玛的价钱不错。房子的卖方经纪人会给我800块钱买电视，正好可以买一台50寸的松下平面超薄的，大概可以凑合看了。本来想在楼上装投影机和幕布的，但总觉得那间阁楼太小了，装个大幕不会给人头晕目眩的感觉。

Lost

2009-12-01T10:39:00.002-07:00

I lost Biajee today. He wouldn't pick up the cell phone and he is with Arthur. I have no idea where he is at the moment and I was going to go to lunch with them.

Arthur had a fever yesterday and was separated from other infants at school. Biajee was supposed to take Arthur to the doctor's to make sure it's nothing related to kidney problems. We think the cause may be that Arthur got tired of our Thanksgiving trip to Kansas City.

It's freezingly cold in Arkansas these days. It's going to rain this afternoon through tomorrow. I have to scrape ice for 15 minutes every morning before I can drive the car. Can't wait to move into our new house so that we can park in the garage.

My secret Santa at work still hasn't given me any Christmas gift. I've given up hope of receiving gifts this year. At the end of the game, we're supposed to find out who our secret Santa is and I could punch the person in the nose at that time.

The Trip to Kansas

2009-11-30T16:18:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-24T18:03:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-18T08:46:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-10T09:02:00.003-07:00

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

2009-11-01T04:40:00.003-07:00

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.

繁忙的星期六

2009-10-25T04:23:00.002-06:00

美联储的利率如果不涨，经济便没有真正复苏。失业率仍然是9.7%，所以房地产市场不会很快上扬。不过现在应该已经渡过经济危机的最低谷了，因为再也不会有那么多例如里曼兄弟公司和AIG之类的大公司破产了。

Biajee现在算是正式失业了，所以全家的生计又落到我一个人肩膀上了。现在沃尔玛总部又贴出很多技术部门的工作，Biajee申请之后被告知不合格，所以我正逼着他改写简历。简历写得不好，连面试都拿不到。他终于同意我的意见了。

阿瑟现在已经会叫阿诺的名字了，但还不会叫爸爸妈妈呢。他觉得爸爸妈妈很好，但是哥哥很酷。昨天早上带阿诺和阿瑟去上体操课，之后阿诺去踢足球，还进了球。我们回家吃了火锅，下午出去给阿诺买了一双新的足球鞋，是“山猫”牌的，他非常喜欢。试鞋的时候，Biajee更喜欢一双耐克的白色足球鞋，我不得不提醒他我们是在给阿诺买鞋，应该尊重阿诺的意见。儿时的可怕记忆充满了我的脑海，想起以前爸爸妈妈带我去挑衣服，买的衣服全都是他们喜欢的，从来没有我真正喜欢的，所以到今天我也不会给自己买衣服。当然另一个原因是，我喜欢的衣服一般都是最贵的，以前的经济状况下根本买不起。

晚饭在山姆俱乐部吃了热狗和比萨饼，回家已经困得睁不开眼，阿瑟醒来了，于是赶快为他吃奶，吃香蕉和小星星饼干，之后全家睡睡。希望今天下午能去看红叶。

Immigration Interview Appointment

2009-10-16T21:22:00.002-06:00

I received the immigration interview appointment today. The big date is November 17. I have to be there at 10 am and be prepared to answer all kinds of questions of American history and politics.

There is a CD in my car at the moment so that I could listen to the questions and answers every day to be prepared for this interview. I'll have to give up Chinese citizenship soon. Part of me will be empty forever.

Tomorrow is gymnastics and soccer day. Biajee is still in Colorado. I've had a long and exhausting week. Can't wait for Biajee to get home and shoulder off some of the parenting burdens.

It's been rainy and cold lately. We should go shop for some pants or suits for me. I need pants that go with suits and pitifully I don't even know which brands are nice and where to buy them. I definitely would welcome any advice. The theme for work clothing should be boring and conventional.

快速阅读

2009-09-27T19:17:00.002-06:00

我们组的副总裁建议大家学习快速阅读。每个学习了快速阅读的人都可以和他共进午餐，并且由他承担午餐费用。第一个学习完《快速阅读》的人可以挑选自己最喜欢的餐馆。我们花了十几块钱从网上订购了全套教材，包括6盘磁带，一本书和一盘录像带。

由于上述物品全部属于上个世纪，我们只好去沃尔马买了一台磁带播放机，今天听完了六盘磁带，赶快把磁带播放机退了。现在我们在俄克拉何马城的旅馆里试图用自带的录像机播放录像，不幸的是机器绞带子了，而且只有两个台是可以放录像的，第三台和第四台。第三台只能放出声音，第四台只能放出图像。我们选择了第三台，因为这种录像带主要是听声音，看到的图像是无聊的培训员的脸。

明天早上阿瑟在医院做检查的时候我可以把那本书读完，之后就可以预约和副总裁吃午饭了。我还得把这套教材借给下属，她用完之后我们再放到网上卖掉，以得到最大的投入产出比。学习这么落后的技能实在是一种挑战，就连起码的设施都不存在。看来让副总裁请吃午饭也不那么容易的，真是命运多舛。

今晚住的旅馆和上个月一样，是从网上订的拉群塔旅馆，最低价格，用的是我们公司的员工优惠价。明天早上8：30就得到医院报到，9：00开始第一个检查，之后是10：00的检查，11：00的检查。下午4点钟看医生，大概就能决定阿瑟需不需要做手术。我心里很紧张，这么可爱的心肝宝贝儿舍不得被医生来回摆弄，但这完全是为了他的健康。希望一切顺利。

Cricket

2009-09-09T15:07:00.003-06:00

A cricket was in our master bedroom last night and it was singing all night long. I got up at 4:30 in the morning, couldn't stand it any more. After taking a shower, I found it on the bathroom floor. Then I killed it with toilet paper and flushed it.

Arnold didn't sleep well either because of the noise. Arthur had a bit of cough this morning. I'm suspecting that he picked up some bugs from Helen Walton Children's Enrichment Center. The kids love the new school, especially Arnold. He is learning so much every day.

I have to prepare bottled milk vs frozen milk in the morning. It's more like Montessori standard. I'll do notary this afternoon when I pick them up and sign both boys up for photography. The sitting fee is $10 per person.

It's been raining all day. I need to leave the house earlier tomorrow so that I could go to the gym in the morning after dropping them off. Arnold is already unhappy with me. "It's still dark outside." He said yesterday when we started the car at 6 am. Well, they wake me up and I need to wake them up as well. We're a family and we share the burden.

Car Insurance

2009-09-01T13:24:00.003-06:00

Our car insurance went up $220 for half a year after we moved to Arkansas. It's quite dangerous to drive here. Police cars are hiding at every corner of the road and will stop you even if you're one mile above speed limit.

There are a lot of trucks on the road as well, which makes driving more stressful. Biajee went to the DMV today and was told we didn't have sufficient documents to get our registration processed.

We're running out of vegetables soon. Maybe we can survive with bean sprouts and carrots today, but we may need to make a grocery shopping trip tomorrow. I don't think I need anything while Biajee is in Colorado next week. I'll just try to survive.

The seller asked us to fix a list of things after home inspection and I refused. My realtor suggested that I drop the price of the house for $1,200 more. I refused again. We don't know whether the house could be closed by end of this month yet, but at least the buyer has paid for inspection.

The Little Professor

2009-08-30T18:37:00.004-06:00

Ms. Linda is Arthur's teacher at Roger's ABC Happy Kids. She was almost in tears when she learned that Arthur would be transferred to Helen Walton Day Care Center. "He'll be a professor when he is 3 years old." She said.

Helen Walton Day Care was set up by Sam Walton's wife and has been a highly regarded and accountable place for infant and pre-school care. When we picked up the kids last Friday, I saw Ms. Linda's comment on Arthur's Daily Activity Sheet, "I'll miss my little professor."

It breaks my heart to have to move the children to another school since they just got used to the current one. However, it's for their best interest and my best interest. I cannot have any more speeding ticket in the mornings and cannot waste time in traffic court or traffic schools any more.

Arthur had had his first taste of icecream in the past weekend and apparently was very fond of it. Although we should not give him any citrus, I still let him lick the orange cone we got from Braum's. At least I didn't give him true ice cream with dairy in it. That would be devastating.

公民

2009-08-29T05:42:00.004-06:00

今天早上4：30就被阿诺吵醒了，他又发烧了，看来猪流感非常盛行。只好接着已经起床的这股东风，把申请公民的文件搞齐，星期一去公司复印之后就可以寄出了。

两个孩子劳动节之后就转学去海伦沃顿幼儿园了。学费会比现在昂贵一些，但学校设施非常好，而且离家和公司都非常近。阿瑟今天上午8：45去试上小小体育馆的课，主要是练习爬行和走路。阿诺11：45去试上体操课，下午1点去踢足球。之后我们会给阿瑟注册一个学期的小小体育馆，但阿诺已经参加了足球队，所以就不上体操课了。

晚上我们会去朋友家聚餐，每人带一个菜。我们准备带的菜还在山姆俱乐部呢。今天准备烤三文鱼，等两个孩子的活动结束之后就去买鱼。这里的朋友很多是华人教会的，好在他们并没有极力逼我们信教，所以还是可以一起吃饭聊天的。大部分人都在沃尔玛工作，今天聚会的主办家庭是潘统升家，他在沃尔玛国际部投资策划部做高级财务经理，非常聪明的一个人。沃尔玛分舵和国际部分舵的人好像都比山姆俱乐部分舵的人聪明，每次和他们谈话都有“听君一席话，胜读十年书”的感觉。

Biajee正在剪草，下个星期六他就要回科罗拉多了，我又要一个人带着孩子过苦日子了。上次他申请的四份工作有两个职位被取消了，另外两个职位已经招了别的人。今年初技术部门裁了1000人，所以再找人的时候一定会先从这1000人里筛选，除非Biajee是程序界的泰斗，否则很难与这些人竞争。能被招进沃尔玛公司的人全都是天才，需要经过严格考试，简直和进微软差不多。

Selling the House

2009-08-22T22:08:00.002-06:00

We got an offer on our house yesterday and we countered back. The buyer has signed the contract today. Now we're selling the house at $18,000 below the price we bought at. In today's market with the double digit unemployment rate, I am not too upset about it.

We have to go through inspection and then seal the deal. I don't think I'll pay for anything if the buyer finds out a list of things of the house that need to be fixed. They've already got a sweet deal and if they don't want to invest any more money, we'll just break the deal.

I feel like part of me has gone blank. After the house is closed, which will be at the end of September, if the buyer has no problem getting the loan, we totally cut our connection with the state of Colorado. Arkansas will be our permanent and only home going forward. If I ever get laid off again, the same amount of money will last us longer in Arkansas as the day care and housing is cheaper.

I'm taking Dale Carnegie class at the moment for 12 weeks. We meet every Monday evening for 4 hours. I am learning a lot about confidence, communication, public speaking and managing stress.

暗度陈仓

2009-08-02T16:00:00.002-06:00

从我上班的第一天起，老板和同事就信誓旦旦地告诉我山姆俱乐部坚决反对加班和周末加班。但后来老板的种种举动让我觉得他实际上是非常需要我周末加班的。尤其是着周末他开始给我发电子邮件，我的下属也开始给我打电话询问工作事宜。原来他们说得那么漂亮的工作生活两不误的话全都是幌子，所谓“明修栈道，暗渡陈仓”讲的就是这班人马的所作所为了。

我其实并不反对加班，但对心口不一的人和事非常反感。我宁愿接受丑陋的现实，也不愿意为加班的理念和精神困扰。山姆俱乐部去年被员工们评为最糟糕的部门，所有人都不堪忍受这里的工作小时和强度，纷纷跳槽去了沃尔玛和国际部，导致现在部门里的大部分人都是新面孔，加入公司超过两年的人寥寥无几。

Biajee今晨又踏上了回科罗拉多的旅程。这次走之前，他帮我将垃圾桶移到前院了。明天晚上倒垃圾的时候我会省很多力气。昨天早上他剪了所有的草，只有我们和邻居公用的草坪没有剪。我问为什么，他说邻居星期四刚刚剪过。可是如果是我还会再剪一遍，因为下周末Biajee要加班，可能星期六赶不回家。而我们全家要在星期天下午去俄克拉荷马城给阿瑟看病。

这个星期我真正上班的日子只有三天。星期四全天培训如何领导不同种族的人。星期五幼儿园放假，我也请了假。星期一全家在俄克拉荷马州给阿瑟看病，自然也请了假。终于可以好好休息一下了。

Half Grass

2009-07-25T09:24:00.003-06:00

Biajee cut only half of the lawn today because Arnold woke up and required to be held. We had egg rolls and sesame glutinous balls for breakfast. Then we all went to the gym, took 15 minutes of the leftover Yoga class and 30 minutes of the spinning class.

Biajee decided that he'd mow the rest of the lawn tomorrow. We walked around the neighborhood last weekend and found few of our neighbors even mow the lawn so our grass is absolutely the model of lawn mowing in the area.

We bumped into our real estate agent in Braum's last night. I told her we were now interested in buying a house in Bell View Elementary School neighborhood. Bell View is the best elementary school in Bentonville and Rogers area. The best high school is Bentonville High School. There is no open enrollment here in Arkansas so we may have to move to Bentonville after the kids reach the age to go to high school. It is amazing how our lives and priorities revolve around the boys.

林园

2009-07-11T14:54:00.011-06:00

成功渡过第二个单身妈妈周。我改为每天早上5点钟起床，为两个孩子准备上学的尿片，奶瓶，母奶，衣物，并将他们喂饱，穿戴整齐，搽好防晒霜，放进车里。之后将自己上班的皮包，吸奶器，水，午饭装车，然后在疯狂的上班交通大战中冲到幼儿园，放下两个孩子以及他们的一应用具，签到，付他们的学费，和他们的老师寒暄并嘱咐几点钟喂孩子等等之后，跳上车，再杀回来时的方向，在早上7：30之前准时将车停进山姆俱乐部的停车场，并以崭新自信的姿态走进办公室。

上个星期吃了有生以来第一张超速罚单。星期二的早上送完孩子才7：05，我的小心一阵窃喜，以为终于可以在7：15之前抵达公司了，便踩了一脚油门，不到30秒钟就被警车拿下。这里的警察个个都是抓超速的高手，而且专门在上下班高峰时抓，我所有的同事都警告过我。可惜我“年年打雁，今年却被老雁钳了眼。”只好下个星期打电话付罚款，并注册上驾驶学校以避免记点。所谓“欲速则不达”，说的就是这个道理吧。

不过我后来发现自己有两次下班接孩子的时候都在不能左转的地方左转了，但没有警察在场。所以吃一张超速罚单并不是人生中最为低调的时刻。现在我时时提醒自己：人生苦短，不要每时每刻都以90迈的速度行驶，也不要指望在各个方面都比别人强。要经常停下来，闻闻路边的玫瑰。人比人，气死人，只要自己，孩子和Biajee能够丰衣足食，安度此生，就没有遗憾了。

今晨阿诺吃了一整张地瓜煎饼，之后我带他们去体育馆锻炼，然后去美景镇的小公园走了两迈，阿诺骑着他的小三轮车跟在我和阿瑟后面。阿诺这个孩子非常厉害，才三岁已经可以骑三轮车走两迈了。我三岁的时候还懒得动呢。不过他今天骑了一半就累了，他累的时候就找借口停下来喝水，聊天，撒泼耍赖，如果Biajee在，他就会缠着要抱。Biajee不在，他无法要求我抱，就只好硬着头皮走完两迈。

作为奖赏，我带两个孩子吃了林园的自助中餐。这实际上是阿诺一早钦点要吃的，只可惜他们不供应早饭，我只好为阿诺作了地瓜煎饼，并告诉他中午一定去吃自助餐。餐馆的中国服务员看我一个人带着两个孩子，换尿片，喂奶，喂孩子，都帮我拿食物，陪我聊天，还夸我是女超人。嗨，超个头，当生活逼你入绝境的时候，再不愿意也得硬着头皮上了。

林园是这里面积最大的中餐馆了。这里实在没有好的中餐馆，很多同事都问我去那里吃正宗川菜，我只好说我的厨房实在是最佳选择，或者他们可以去越南店买调料自己做，要么去P。F。张吃美式四川烧烤。林园的好处是不贵，而且小孩子总能找到好吃的，比如今天阿诺就吃了炒面，炸蟹饺，排岔，冰激淋，果冻等等。

现在两个孩子都在睡午觉，我也刚睡醒。阿瑟的作息时间很规律，每天下午必须睡长觉。阿诺不想睡，但很困，所以我睡下之后他就在地毯上睡着了。我终于借着这个机会付了手机帐单，查看了银行账号，并上网订购了马上即将告罄的洗发水--居然没有减价促销，气死人了。下次减价的时候非得买多几只不可。所有的衬衫也熨烫完毕，现在得开始做晚饭了。根据最新报告，Biajee可能在一小时之后就到家了。吃完饭我们要去山姆俱乐部卖西瓜和婴儿食品，去勃拉姆斯买牛奶，吃冰激凌。

生活多么琐碎和美好呀，真希望每一分钟都是永远，因为每一秒钟都值得回味，即使最艰苦，最黑色的阶段也是人生的一部分，也是美的一部分，因为生命本身就是一种美，每一小块都是美的一部分。

Shogun Express

2009-06-28T13:26:00.003-06:00

I had lunch with my boss today at Shogun Express, our favorite restaurant in town. Both of us could eat sushi for every meal every day. It's just a bit pricy. I found myself liking the crunchy rolls a lot lately.

Brian's wife baked a huge fresh home made carrot cake for the whole department and then we had taste panels to try some smoked salmon in the afternoon. Sam's Club really keeps all the employees nice and full every day. Because we don't have windows in the office at all, it's really easy to get depressed, over eat and gain weight.

New York State had transferred a lump sum amount of money from my checking account because we forgot to file Biajee's state income tax for the portion he lived in New York in 2005. We immediately filed the form, but still don't know when we'll get the money back. We'll probably use H&R Block to file our income taxes going forward.

We're planning on going to Sam's Club for lunch tomorrow. Every once in a while we crave for hot dogs, pizza, soda and chocolate milk shake, especially when all these things add up to less than $7 for a meal for both of us.

复活

2009-06-27T20:53:00.004-06:00

人死不能复生，手机死了却可以复活。我昨天发现新诺基亚的手机并没有把以前黑莓手机的通讯联络地址和电话下载之后，不由得非常沮丧。Biajee建议再将经过水洗的黑莓手机充电试一下，结果发现黑莓手机又可以使用了。

我们俩都非常兴奋，决定我昨天去过健身房之后直接将诺基亚手机和耳机退回给AT&T.一下子节省了180多美刀是很让人兴奋的事。回家以后赶快上网下载了黑莓手机的软件，将所有电话和抵制全部存入电脑，以免将来又有飞来横祸。网上的AT&T在做促销，买黑莓手机是免费的，看来以后一定要从网上订购手机。

我自从到了阿肯色州就成为世界健身房的会员了。这里的人都很懒，健身房早上5点钟才开门，周末更晚，星期六早上８点开门，星期天下午１２点开门。难怪这里大胖子多多。

今天中午去吃了红龙虾. Biajee昨晚睡得太晚了,现在又在睡午觉了.我早上起来给全家做了三蛋早餐,非常美味.吃午饭之前去取西装.上星期给Biajee买了约瑟夫A银行的西服,并且让商店将裤长改到正合适. 这个牌子的西装是美国最好的品牌之一,Biajee去面试一定要穿这种西服.

阿瑟现在每天睡17个小时,和猫的作息时间非常相像.他醒来的大部分时间都在吃,所以现在越来越胖了,每顿大概得吃四盒婴儿食品,连幼儿园的老师都叹为观止.

自从搬到阿肯色之后，阿诺，阿瑟和我就轮着生病，现在已经到第二轮了。阿瑟今天又发烧了，我的喉咙又开始不舒服。Ｂｉａｊｅｅ已经定好过了国庆节就得去科罗拉多出差。他不在的日子我又要过单亲妈妈的生活了，想起来一点都提不起精神。

Business Cards

2009-06-26T14:25:00.002-06:00

I haven't ordered business cards for myself yet, mainly because I don't know how. But I'm starting to get things in order these days.

Every service related business in northwest Arkansas area is very expensive and crowded. I called the dentist to make my appointment earlier this week and the earliest they could get me in is end of October.

Biajee and I are working at least 9 hour days since we moved here. We don't have a lot of spare time at all. Shopping for groceries on weekends became a huge entertainment activity for our family.

We did find out that Braum's serves the best icecream and milk in the local area. This is a privately held company that has 280 locations in the four midwest states. It originated in Kansas. I strongly recommend everyone to go taste their icecream when visiting Arkansas, Kansas, Oklohoma or Missouri. Now we have converted from Dairy Queen to Braum's. It's cheaper price, better quality and without any RBGH.

Immigration

2009-06-23T16:33:00.002-06:00

I just found out from the INS website that I still cannot apply for US Citizenship yet because we just moved to Arkansas. I need to be living in the current state for at least 3 months to be able to qualify for the application. Since we've moved on May 26th, I'll at least wait till end of August to apply.

I paid the fee to order application though and filled out all the forms and printed them out. I'll wait till August to sign and date them and enclose the money and documents with the form to send it to Texas. In the mean time, if Biajee finds a job in Arkansas, the employer would have to sponsor his work visa.

Fortunately Wal-mart sponsors work visas for qualified employees so we're lucky in that sense. Biajee will have an initial phone screen with Wal-mart's HR recruiter this Thursday. We picked out a nice suit for him in case he gets to the 2nd round. Well, I'm confident he'll get to the 2nd round. He is very smart and has all the credentials an employer could look for. A lot of spouses in my group are trying to find a job in Wal-mart.

Sam's Club

2009-06-19T12:15:00.003-06:00

We're going to Sam's Club at least 3 times a week at the moment. We do all our grocery shopping there and eat pizza, drink chocolate milk shake or soda with kids. The pizza at Sam's Club here are really delicious, but sometimes the quality is not the same throughout the week. The weekend pizzas are of the best taste. This is all due to chef changes throughout the week.

I also learned yesterday that Braums here not only sell icecream, but also sell very good milk and fresh groceries. Biajee and I will take the kids there this weekend to test them out. We picked Bizy's restaurant in Fayetteville for our Father's Day brunch. It looks like a wild American food place so that we won't be embarrassed even if Arnold start to scream.

I've lost 6 lbs since I started my job. The pressure to get the work done is pounding at me every day while I was hardly given any time for learning the system and database. Got to jump to a delayed meeting now.

梦里不知身是客

2009-06-12T17:08:00.009-06:00

梦里不知身是客，醒来天水一般秋.

终于有时间在周末的早上起床上一会儿网了。公司不让用私人电子邮件，所有的私人电子邮件网站都被屏蔽了。我每天早上4点起床之后草草看一下自己的电子邮件，凡是和卖房子没关系的全删。每天都得删除上百封电子邮件，生活真是很辛苦的。赶快把丹佛的朋友们为我们开的告别晚会的照片贴出来，以后再回丹佛的时候找大家喝酒，打牌去。

阿诺和我好像的了猪流感了。我们俩的症状都一样，已经持续一个星期了，只不过我不发烧，阿诺每天都发烧。索性我们用药把温度压下去了，所以学校也没太在意。好在下星期二就要带阿诺去看医生了。希望医生能提供一些抗生素。最好是不要让学校知道阿诺生病，否则Biajee就得在家看孩子了。他现在的工作任务就很艰巨，加班都做不完。如果请假，老板势必非常不高兴。

我们的生活现在比以前有规律了，每天早上5点钟把Biajee叫起来，晚上9点以前全家就睡睡了。在家上班比在公司上班要辛苦，因为老板重视的是出活。星期六的早上Biajee也无法睡懒觉，他得起床去剪草。这里每天都下雨，所以草长得极快，，每星期都得剪。我们的新剪草机用这还算顺手，不过如果让我去剪，还得戴帽子和手套，否则碎草都飘到脸上了。

Resume

2009-06-10T12:27:00.002-06:00

I've given Biajee's resume to my boss, EVP in my group (my boss' boss' boss) and the chef in Comfort Suites we stayed at who knows someone working at Wal-mart's ISD Department. My goal is to have his resume on the desk of every senior manager, executive and recruiter I can network with inside Wal-mart. We need to move his job to Arkansas so the whole family can be together.

Biajee has been home since Saturday and I finally can sleep for a few more hours every day. He's installed the Pur water filler in the kitchen and has already mowed the lawn and trimmed the edges. We bought the John Deere lawn mower and edge trimmer last Saturday after he came home. It took him 2 hours on Sunday morning to get the grass cut. Our yard looks great in comparison to the neighbor's yard.

Biajee has strict dead line working from home as well. We're both working average 9 hours days not including lunch time. We bought some Mayonnaise and salad dressing from Sam's Club today. Never thought we would ever eat that, but they would make great quick dinner if we are on time crunch.

Work

2009-06-04T16:16:00.003-06:00

I'm a single mom at the moment. Biajee went back to Colorado on May 31st. I need to get up at 4 am every day, shower, prepare the kids for school, nurse Arthur and then get onto the road. I feel exhausted all the time.

My company blocked out hot sites like gmail.com, hotmail.com, etc and I don't have Chinese settings on my computer at all. All the future blogs will be English only then.

Work has been progressing well so far. I've been in a lot of meetings in the past 4 days. Tomorrow I'm going to the annual shareholders' meeting in Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The meeting starts at 7 am, but I'll be late for it since my kids' day care opens at 7 am. Some of my coworkers will be saving a seat for me if allowed.

We have a monthly meeting on the first Saturday of every month, but I could take the boys there for that one. A celebrity from Hollywood will be invited for every such meeting. Basically you see a lot more celebrities in Bentonville than in LA.

Moving

2009-05-15T15:36:00.006-06:00

We have been in the hell of moving since I accepted the job offer. I've thrown away a lot of things, mostly my clothes, Biajee's clothes from high school and kids' clothes and toys.

Biajee is the notorious packrat I've ever known in my life. His junk filled up most of the boxes. And if I tell him I'm going to toss something in the trash can, he'll squeeze out an expression like I'm giving away both his sons. I think I'll need to just do certain things quietly on my own without informing him.

I had to turn down a couple more job interviews in the Denver area after I said Yes to Wal-mart. I think it's worth it though. It's the No. 1 retailing machine in the world that has no competition at all. I could go there and have a very successful career for myself, kids and Biajee.

The final moving date will be 8 am on May 26th. I'm trying to schedule going away get-togethers with friends in Denver area before that so we do not have to cook. We go to Bentonville to look at houses for rent from May 19th to May 23rd. And I start working on June 1st. We are under real time crunch at the moment and we averagely only sleep 4 hours per day.

情归阿肯色

2009-05-06T14:20:00.007-06:00

命里有时终须有，命里无时莫强求．

经过四轮面试，两次阿肯色之旅，与十几位高级副总裁，副总裁和高级财务总监的比武过招，华山论剑，车轮战般的讨价还价和七个半月的漫长等待，我终于决定接受沃尔玛公司山姆会员俱乐部市场及独家品牌高级财务经理的职务．怀孕时被裁员的委屈，大着肚子去面试被歧视的泪水，全家没有医疗保险的担惊受怕，不能为两个孩子提供最好教育的忐忑不安，都随着这纸来之不易的招聘书在谈笑间，樯橹灰飞烟灭．

我们全家将在两个星期之内搬到沃尔玛公司的世界总舵，美丽迷人的阿肯色州奔腾村，开始崭新的生活．我终于又挑起了养家糊口的千钧重担．现在的当务之急是卖房子，利用夫妻关系帮Ｂｉａｊｅｅ在沃尔玛公司拿到一个面试．下个月申请公民之后帮Ｂｉａｊｅｅ办绿卡．如果一切如我所愿，＂王子和公主从此就幸福快乐地生活在阿肯色州了＂．

由于沃尔玛公司以节俭著称，给的搬家费用非常有限，我们此次只能自断一臂，割肉搬家。所幸我订书器公司的遣散费能拿到８月份，无疑为我们的财政状况作了一些贡献。被资本家剥削了这么多年，咱也拿一回双薪，宰一把美帝。

今晚的任务就是帮Ｂｉａｊｅｅ修改简历，争取能明天递到沃尔玛技术部门的招人经理手中。希望我的博客读者们今后全部加入山姆会员俱乐部，取消ＣＯＳＴＣＯ的会员卡，多在沃尔玛公司花钱消费。

Birthday

2009-04-29T17:04:00.002-06:00

It's my birthday today. I'm older and wiser now. It's also my first gym day since Arthur was born. Everything has been going on smoothly this year.

We're going to O's Restaurant in the Westin Hotel in Westminster to celebrate. It is said that the chefs in the restaurant are scientists who utilize very abstracted ways in cooking, such as liquid nitrogen in sorbet demonstration. I definitely hope the food tonight worths the calories as I got up at 4 am this morning and went to the gym.

I went to JC Penny this morning and picked up a black tank top for myself. I noticed that most clothes these days are made in Vietnam. China-made apparel products no longer have a cost advantage in the United States any more.

I also found that the price of groceries in Safeway is almost twice as much as Wal-mart. I should definitely go to Wal-mart for food from now on. The thing is, they only carry Horizon Organic milk, which tastes horribly nasty.

Generally it's been a great day. I don't need to cook or do any work today. This is the least reward I could give myself.

出关

2009-04-24T09:13:00.002-06:00

今天是蓓蓓出关大喜的幸福日子.我的体重终于恢复到生孩子,怀孕之前的水准了.怀孕对一个女人来说就像天山童姥散功一样,特别是生孩子,非常伤身体.这一点作为男人永远也理解不了.下个星期杨天骐(阿瑟)就要满三个月了,这就意味着我终于可以回健身房锻炼了.当然这种锻炼已经不再是为了减肥,而是为了让肌肉修长好看.Biajee决定下个星期我过生日的时候帮我拍摄大量性感内衣写真集.我们越过越象新婚夫妇,越过越离谱了.

为了老公，为了孩子，为了读书，为了找到好工作，我一定要再接再厉，百尺竿头，更进一步，让自己的体型日趋完美。经过体重的几次反复，我得出的结论是，凡是减肥减不下来的人根本就是从内心里不想减。只要功夫深，铁杵磨成绣花针。人有多大胆，地有多大产。不怕做不到，就怕想不到。人心齐，泰山移，蚂蚱还有四两肉。傻小子坐凉炕，全凭火力壮。

今天下午有加州的朋友来丹佛面试,之后我们会带阿瑟去这里的厂家直销店狂购一些教练牌皮包，大概最便宜的要300多美元一个。还得把上次爸爸给Biajee买的GAP的一条裤子退掉。Biajee的腿太粗了，居然穿着很紧，这和他常踢足球不无关系。

这次生完孩子休闲在家才深切体会到购物对女人的身心健康非常重要，为什么活了这么大，以前居然没有发现呢？今后要经常去各种名牌高档商店购物，不买最好，只买最贵，让自己的钱包经常快意恩仇一把，才不枉此生。

ARRA

2009-04-20T15:51:00.001-06:00

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on February 17th, 2009. The law gives "Assistance Eligible Individuals" the right to pay reduced COBRA premiums for periods of coverage beginning on or after February 17, 2009 and can last up to 9 months.

I received the letter from our COBRA provider yesterday and talked to them this morning. There is a form I have to submit for us to qualify under this plan. COBRA would then recalculate our health care premium and send us bills with the new amounts starting from next month. All the money I had over paid previously will remain credit on our account.

I must say I like president Obama a lot. He's issuing policies to help people from all aspects. I don't think we'll get this benefit if president Bush was still serving his term.

Quarter 1 sales results came out for most companies and the numbers still looked gloomy. Stock market will probably crash again. We're still in a tough economic environment.

新疆手抓饭

2009-04-17T14:22:00.002-06:00

Biajee今天早上起来做了超强版的新疆手抓羊肉饭，算是对昨晚我包的菜肉云吞的回报。做法并不复杂，只是程序非常多，尤其是肉和胡萝卜丁，都要切成一厘米的立方块。由于我喂奶不能吃洋葱，Biajee特意没有放洋葱。不过他好象也忘了家葡萄干和杏干，大概是起床太早的缘故吧。

昨天晚上我包了很多云吞，发现还是上海的云吞皮最好用。猪肉白菜的馅非常鲜美，完全得自于此次爸爸教我的家传之秘，传女不传男，所以以后就要失传了。当阿诺和阿瑟想吃妈妈做的云吞时，就只好回家来了。嘻嘻，这个坏主意还是从《人人爱雷蒙》的肥皂剧里学来的。雷蒙的妈妈会做一种非常好吃的肉丸子，并且坚决不教给儿媳妇到底如何调味，只是雷蒙每次想吃肉丸子了，就必须得回家找妈妈。

阿诺和阿瑟将来娶的妻子很可能是白人，当然也有可能是黑人，或者黄种人，总之很可能不会做中国饭，所以要乘他们小时候多做好吃的中国饭给他们，使他们习惯中国的饮食文化。有时候看到他们睡着的样子，心里总会涌起各种各样望子成龙的梦想，但是累了一天之后，脑子里只有一个念头--只要他们比我们活得长，并且健康，安全，快乐，我就心满意足了。

今天又下雪了，致使邻居取消了明天她女儿的生日派对。我们只好把生日礼物退掉--又给了我们逛商店，买东西的机会。每次购物之后，我的心情都非常愉快，以前忙着挣钱，都没有时间花，现在终于可以大肆享受一下挥霍的乐趣了。

Arthur's Milestone

2009-04-16T09:02:00.002-06:00

Today is a historical day for Arthur. He slept through the night for straight 8 hours! This is the first time he has slept for so long since he was born. Biajee and I were wild with joy. Nobody could understand the pain we've been through every night. We hope this is not a one-time event, but a permanent trend.

Unfortunately Arnold woke up at 4:40 am so we all had breakfast by 6 am. Biajee was able to leave home with Arnold at 7 am. The trick is to get both kids on the same schedule, but we think we're getting there.

The rice cereal idea might be working so we need to continue feeding Arthur a bit solid food every day, especially during dinner time. Arthur is a very laid-back baby. He usually doesn't cry after he wakes up, unless he has a dirty diaper. But he has a tough time sleeping through the night compared with Arnold.

We would be hesitating to have a 2nd child if Arthur was our first baby. The sleep deprivation is devastating.

I'm taking Arthur shopping today in the cold rain.

家长会

2009-04-14T14:59:00.006-06:00

今天要去学校开家长会.这个家长会已经被推迟三次了,因为下雪,老师的不舒服等种种原因.以前我和Biajee很少能有机会参加家长会,因为我们的上班时间都比较严格.我有时还能早点下班,参加一些聚餐和游行之类的活动.Biajee简直就没有好好地和阿诺在学校玩耍过.

我们暂定从5月11日起将阿瑟也送进托儿所,这样我才能有时间找工作,学习,健身,做一些自己想做的事.一般美国家庭如果有人失业了,第一件事就是不送小孩子去托儿所了,这样全家的开销就会大幅缩减.如果我一直找不到工作,我们最终也只能将两个孩子领回家,全权由我照管.

上周末开了一个派对，是自从我怀上阿瑟以来第一次请朋友们来家里聚会。Biajee借机将房子大刀阔斧地打扫了一遍，具体而言就是将阿诺的所有玩具都堆到地下室去。这件事做完之后，我们发现房子原来是很宽敞的，只不过堆满了阿诺的玩具而已。我严重警告Biajee以后再也不要给阿诺乱买玩具了，大部分玩具他只不过摸摸，便丢到一边，再也不碰了。

从现在开始的未来四个周末，我们的日程都排得满满了。自从我生完孩子之后，每天就有做不完的事，在家里实在比上班要忙，要累一百倍。上班的确是一件非常轻松的事。

昨天晚上阿瑟醒来之后Biajee又喂了他10盎司奶，这个家伙的胃口实在太好了，以至于我们三天之前已经开始给他加固体食物了。

Dental Cleaning

2009-04-07T09:29:00.002-06:00

I went to the dentist today for regular cleaning. Rhonda, the hygienist, gave me a full check and an X-ray. It appeared that I have some deep pockets and loss of bones. She said Dr. Keene would read my X ray after he came back from North Carolina.

In the mean time, I was scheduled for a periodontal scaling and laser cleaning next Monday for 2 hours. If the situation doesn't improve, I may have to go to a periodontist for surgery.

The bad thing is: we do not have dental health insurance any more. Everything will be out of pocket. The receptionist there held Arthur while I had my cleaning done. She had a baby girl five months ago so she was pretty used to holding a baby.

Arthur was quite dandy today. He smiled and cooed at everyone in the dental office. People were surprised at his size. I had to get there 45 minutes earlier than my appointment time so that I could nurse Arthur before being treated - all these fun details when you have a little baby.

送别

2009-04-05T22:15:00.002-06:00

爸爸的飞机是今天早上10：12起飞。他5点多就起来给我们做饭了，把中午的饭做好之后才去机场。这些日子Biajee每天上班带的饭都是爸爸做的。爸爸在的这段时间里我们全家的体重全部增长，尤其是阿诺，被外公喂得肥肥的。

早上我们给阿诺穿衣服的时候，告诉他要送外公去机场了，阿诺说：“我也要和外公回家去。”小孩子天真无邪，知道谁真心疼他，对他好。爸爸在机场又去汉堡王给阿诺买了三次食物和饮料，仿佛所有的爱都浓缩在这些汉堡包，薯饼及饮料里面了。这次爸爸来时的行李整整两箱装的全是给阿诺的衣服，鞋子，书本，皮靴和食品。爸爸说以后阿诺的所有衣服都由他接管了。

现在由于机票减价，旅行的人非常多，我们在安检处排了很长的队，爸爸终于顺利地离开丹佛。想到我这两个多星期来经常颐指气使，对爸爸大放厥词，心里非常不安和后悔。爸爸的事业非常成功，在合资公司做总经理做了十年，又是中国光电子学会薄膜专业委员会副理事长，平时在公司都是他领导下属。可是在家里他对我的宽容和忍让与天下任何一个父亲都没有区别。我的朋友们都觉得他平易近人，根本想象不到他在业务上的诸多成就。在大家眼里，他就是我的慈父，我的避风港，我可以撒娇撒泼的对象。

爸爸对投资股票和外汇的精辟见解也令我的朋友们刮目相看。可惜每次都是来也匆匆，去也匆匆，无法和爸爸好好切磋这方面的经验。爸爸走了之后，阿诺问了不下十遍：“外公在哪里？”我们只好告诉他，外公回中国了，如果你想外公了，就要经常给外公打电话。

The Melting Pot

2009-04-03T16:17:00.002-06:00

Daddy is taking us all to The Melting Pot tonight. He said Biajee worked too hard so he need to reward him by feeding him lots of good food.

I made the reservation yesterday. The restaurant was fully booked on Saturday till 8 pm so we had to take a 6 pm spot tonight. Daddy leaves for China on Sunday morning. My honeymoon will be over after he leaves.

Our family didn't have to pay for anything while Daddy was here. He paid all the grocery bills, food, clothes and kept asking us what we need to buy. My father's love to us is definitely unconditional. There will be no way in this life that I could ever pay him back enough.

Our family photos turned out great, except that I was too fat. It was really hard for me to lose weight while daddy is here. He cooks every meal and forces me to eat. I need to jump onto an express weight loss program next week.

Arthur still wakes up every four hours at night. Not all kids are created equal. We miss the time when Arnold was little - he slept through the night at 8th week.

巨婴

2009-03-31T13:20:00.006-06:00

昨天晚上我才真正认识到阿瑟是少有的巨婴。11点睡觉之前我们喂了他六盎司奶，以为应该够了，谁知他两点钟又起来闹着要吃奶了。Biajee只好和爸爸一起又喂了五盎司。当然这都是今晨起床之后爸爸告诉我的。他们没有舍得把我叫醒。照这个趋势，母乳很快就不够了，我们就要给阿瑟买高价婴儿奶粉了。

Biajee又粗略称了一下阿瑟的体重，大概已经超过十五磅了。爸爸来的这两个星期，我们过着衣来伸手，饭来张口的腐败生活。每天吃着不同花样的排骨汤，猪脚汤，小平鱼，红烧肉，水饺，云吞，猪肚，鸭胗，凉拌海蜇丝，凉拌黑木耳，菠菜，油菜，黄豆芽，绿豆芽，芦笋，肉丸子等等各种精致小菜。爸爸还请我们去红龙虾大撮了一顿海鲜，并给Biajee和我买了许多衣服。现在他正酝酿要请我们去吃很贵的法式火锅，大概要50美元一个人。只可惜我正全力减肥，不知该不该继续饕餮。

昨天和以前的同事共进午餐时被问及是否在狂花老爸的钱。我说：“是呀，他好不容易来看我一次，每天逼着我花钱，我都不好意思了。” 爸爸的理论是，乘现在他还有钱供我们挥霍，我们就应该多花一点，我们开心了，他就高兴。

爸爸现在有秘诀可以逗阿瑟笑，照全家福的时候就多亏了爸爸，否则都抓不到一张阿瑟大笑的照片。阿瑟白天醒着的时候全都是爸爸抱着，所以他现在和外公最亲，一看到Biajee和我就生气。阿诺在家的时候，爸爸又到处追着他吃饭，穿衣服，学功课。

爸爸说不能在我们家住太久，万一累病了，又要给我们添麻烦。这次爸爸来住两个多星期，是我来美国以后和他朝夕相处最长的日子了。以前我们只是每年见一面，每次不超过一周。我非常珍惜和感动。

Tax

2009-03-24T16:36:00.002-06:00

I finally finished calculating our 2008 income taxes. This has been a very long process that involves crying babies, sleep deprivation for weeks. Each year it gets harder as we have to fill out more forms with more schedules.

We owe the US Treasury over $2000 this year. I'll have to mail the check tomorrow along with the forms. It's a huge release that I don't have to worry about it day and night.

I could really enjoy my dad's visit from now on. Dad's care and attention to our kids put both Biajee and me to shame. I've never seen any parent tendering their kids like my father. I took it for granted only because I was brought up that way. He wouldn't let the baby cry for one single second. He would always hold Arthur and talk to him during the day.

Now I suddenly understand what Dad used to say to me, "Your most loved ones in your life are probably your kids, but you're the one I love most in my whole life."

艰辛

2009-03-23T16:49:00.003-06:00

“屋漏偏逢连夜雨，舟行又遇打头风。”

Biajee的公司终于象他这么多年一直担心的那样，发不出工资来了，并且还濒临破产的边缘。这就意味着我们全家又将像以前那样，靠我一个人的收入生活了。最令Biajee提心吊胆的是，万一公司破产，他的签证就会失效，在美国就会成为非法移民。我只好不停安慰他，工作签证失效，还可以立刻转学生签证，不必担心。难怪他最近改口喝绿茶了。茶的味道很像生活。我开玩笑说他可以去跳艳舞养活我们母子三人。

对我来说，这个世界上只有享不到的福，没有吃不了的苦。想当年刚来美国的时候，只有两只箱子，赤手空拳，举目无亲，没有美国学位，没有绿卡，没有工作，没有太多的金钱，不是也闯荡过来了吗。如今有了家，有了身份，有了孩子，有了太多太多的责任和牵挂，不会反而过不了现在的难关。所谓“天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，饿其筋骨，劳其体肤，所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能”是也。我们全家自然又要同舟共济，不离不弃了。

天气也像我们的心情一样，阴冷阴冷的。只有股市，疯了一样的狂飙了500多点。

每当我看到阿诺和阿瑟争着无辜的大眼睛看着我时，心里就决定为了他们遮风挡雨，付出一切。母亲对孩子的爱是完全无条件的。有时候有点怀念以前的单身生活，如果没有结婚，没有孩子，我现在已经在圆我儿时的梦想，周游世界了。

Sump Pump

2009-03-17T15:37:00.004-06:00

Biajee fixed our sump pump yesterday. I haven't checked it for over nearly 5 years. It's very important if you own a house. Got to make sure it's working and the basement is dry. From now on, we'll check it every time we change the filter downstairs. We are still learning all the stuff we need to know on being a house owner.

We went to a neighbor's house for a party on Sunday. It ended up that we were the only family showing up for it so it became a family gathering of 2 families. However, a lot of families had replied Yes on eVite, but only we showed up. How weird!

Last night was a tough night. We almost got no sleep at all. Biajee worked from home till 2 am. Arthur didn't quite fall asleep until Biajee finished working. Then Arnold woke up before 5 am. We are both exhausted. The boys each got over 12 hours of sleep though.

No more kids for us for sure.

午餐

2009-03-11T14:57:00.003-06:00

今天和订书器公司的同事们共进午餐,还把阿瑟带去给大家抱抱.结果这顿饭成了向杰夫和我的告别午餐.我们都将离开这间公司.我一月份就已经离开了.能免费吃到菠菜加烤虾沙拉是一件非常美妙的事.

出了月子之后,我发现自己每天忙得焦头烂额,根本没有时间做饭和找工作,连阅读电子邮件都成为一件大事.我的生活全部围绕阿瑟,他需要换尿片了,得赶紧喂奶了,这之外我已经没有力气做任何事情.每天出门一次准备的时间就要一个小时,好在我外出的约会都很少需要赶时间.

和同事们交流一番,大家把阿瑟夸奖了一通,之后谈谈个人的去向.很感激请我去吃这顿饭的同事茜茜,否则我今天就回去医院吃新妈妈午餐,还得自付12美元. 很多同事已经找到了工作,这使我觉得市场并不很糟糕. 但天气好得令人心醉,我实在没有立刻找工作上班的紧迫感.

Biajee听从了老板的威逼,上班时不敢喝可乐了.我说了他那么多年都没用.看来老板比老婆厉害.老板的儿子喝可乐喝出糖尿病了,所以大概对可乐恨之入骨,到不能见到可乐的地步.这真是一件好事.

阿瑟昨晚是4小时醒一次,所以我们不太累.他醒来的原因主要是需要换尿片了,并不是因为饿了想吃奶.真希望他的肠胃能将食品多消化些时候,不过那样他就不会长这么快了.

6 Week Check

2009-03-10T16:57:00.003-06:00

I had my 6 week check up with Dr. Austin today. It snowed last night in celebration of my first going out of the house since the baby was born. It was cold and windy. Dr. Austin was an hour behind schedule so Gail told me to come back at 1:30 pm.

Biajee and I went to the hospital canteen and grabbed some vegetarian food. The soup there is pretty good. Then Biajee left for work while I nursed Arthur.

Dr. Austin said I had been recovering pretty well. The stitches are well grown, but the skin was very thin and my hormone level was still too low so I might feel sensitive. I could take a bath now. I doubt whether I'll do it with Arnold in the bath tub. He sometimes will poop in bath water.

I also had the pap test done today so I won't have to see Dr. A for another year unless something goes seriously wrong or I start to bleed. Gail suggested that I make my next appointment 3 months ahead for annual check because it's really hard to get in with Dr. A's busy schedule.

Guests

2009-03-09T10:54:00.003-06:00

We're ready for guests. A lot of friends would like to come and see Arthur. Some of them have already done so.

Suddenly I feel that the house is in such a big mess that I'm almost embarrassed to have people visiting. We should definitely throw everything away, especially Arnold's toys. This house looks like a children's play land at the moment. There is a train track that takes up the whole living room. Lego pieces are everywhere and if you don't look, you could step on a toy that'll hurt your foot dramatically.

I don't know how other parents manage their house, but we're certainly very poor at it, mainly because we don't have time. We regret having accumulated so many toys in the past 3 years. Arnold and Arthur will have plenty of toys to play at day care so we never should have spent any money and space on toys. Now it's too hard to get rid of them.

I can't wait for the boys to go to college.

Permanent Marker

2009-03-07T13:05:00.002-07:00

When it comes to raise kids, the days are long and the years are short.

Arnold painted the wall with permanent marker this morning. Biajee added to the mess by trying to wipe it out with some alcohol. In the end, the wall looks terrible, like one of those 100 year old houses in Boulder. Fortunately we bought some paint earlier. Maybe Biajee can mend the fences by painting over the stain after Arnold goes to bed tonight.

It just occurred to me that Biajee is a shopping freak. He shops for the whole house and he shops every day. Well, I can't leave the house for the past few weeks so that's quite reasonable. I'm so glad he enjoys it most of the time. He'd pick up some toys for Arnold when they go together on weekends. During the week days, he'll just buy groceries during lunch breaks and put them in his company's refrigerator.

We have been eating a lot lately. Biajee prepares roughly five dishes every meal and we will finish them all each day. We have four people in the family now and we just consume lots of food. We have to buy pasta, cheese, pirate booties, wheat thins and a whole list of things we'd never heard of before.

Peach Fuzz

2009-03-06T10:41:00.002-07:00

Arthur's hair has grown out a bit that feels like peach fuzz. Arnold is trying to use my flash drive as a chapstick. He doesn't understand the difference between the two things anyway.

GM is on the verge of going bankruptcy. I think the big three should all go to bankruptcy.

I checked the courses in CU Denver last night and found I could start going to school on May 19th and I could select 3 classes between May and August. If I select as many classes as possible this year, I could start working next year and still finish school by May. The only nuisance is I would have to pump milk in between classes for Arthur since I'm planning on nursing for a year. There is no refrigerator or freezer on campus to store the milk. Maybe I just need to buy an in-car cooler.

Today is Amy's last day to come and help me as a doula. She'll have another client in Boulder next week, whose due date is March 10th. What a fun job!

Health Care Bills

2009-03-05T08:46:00.002-07:00

CIGNA confirmed today that Arthur was added to my current health care plan. I had to call all the labs who sent me bills to refile the claim to CIGNA. Obviously I have nothing to do at home and getting on the phone with the clerks is very rewarding.

My cell phone bill went over 400 minutes in January and I was charged 40 cents for each minute I went over. I've changed my plan to 1350 minutes per month. If I still go over this amount, I should convert to unlimited minutes per month, which is only $99.99. I didn't think I was making that many phone calls, but I guess I also receive phone calls from friends and am always put on hold when I call the insurance companies.

Biajee took Arthur to see Dr. Wilcox today. Dr. Wilcox told us to make another appointment in 2 months at the Children's Hospital in Aurora to do another ultrasound and a test that involves inserting a tube into Arthur. The chances that Arthur will get better by himself is 50%, which means the chances that he need a surgery is 50% as well.

Sell Insurance

2009-03-04T08:46:00.004-07:00

Several people I know who have recently been laid off have decided to sell insurance. There are a few licenses they need to obtain before they go into practice. I remember receiving such emails when I first posted my resume. I did a wild search yesterday in hope that I could find a few so that maybe I could pursue that route as well. Unfortunately, everything was already deleted. I guess it's not in the star for me to be an insurance agent.

But selling insurance could be a good career for a lot of people. All the income would go into 1099 instead of 1040. Maybe I should inquire more in this direction? But the whole market may be swamped of insurance agent at the moment since the exams to get the licenses are not that challenging. A lot of people with only high school diploma have passed.

I played the bowling set with Arnold for a whole hour last night until his hair was all soaked in sweat. We must take him to a real bowling game soon. Arthur's urologist appointment is tomorrow morning. We need to pack his clothes, diapers, wipe tonight and prepare a bottle of milk before he leaves the house.

CIGNA

2009-03-02T15:01:00.003-07:00

I started receiving hospital bills from CIGNA for thousands of dollars. It appeared that they never added Arthur to my insurance plan. I made a few phone calls today. Basically COBRA needs to resend Arthur's information to CIGNA for him to be added and this won't happen till Wednesday because that's the day they process Corporate Express' employee information.

Arthur's head is completely bald now. He looks really cute without hair. In fact, he looks much better in person than in any of the pictures we take. We are incapable of taking good pictures for babies.

Biajee bought a set of bowling toys for Arnold yesterday in hope that he won't play with expensive things like computer, CDs or camcorders. Now we have bowling pins and balls all over the house, but Arnold still steps on all the CDs and use them as imaginative skateboards.

Biajee finally fixed the rubber seal of our shower door so I can take showers without leaking water. So glad a husband is good for something.

One Month

2009-02-27T09:51:00.002-07:00

Arthur turns one month old today. We're going to have this serious ceremony of shaving him bald tonight. We never did it for Arnold. I don't think Arnold's hair is as good as it should be. And at that time, I was not recovering well and was quite nervous about shaving a baby's head.

I'm quite ready today for practicing my barberess' hand. The old Chinese way is to make a paint brush with the baby hair. Biajee said it was too short for it. Arthur's hair is only about one inch long and we don't know whether we should save it and send it back to China to make paint brushes.

I was also told that green is the best color for the baby's room. It'll provide a peaceful environment for the baby so the baby doesn't get fussy so often. Blue is a calming color as well, which is the color of Arnold's room. Yellow, on the other hand, will tend to make the baby cry more. Well, it's too bad and too late. Biajee painted Arthur's room yellow last June. Obviously there is no turning back now. Maybe we'll have a super crying baby after we move him to his room.

Nickname

2009-02-26T14:59:00.002-07:00

Arnold likes to try out everything that Arthur uses, from car seat to baby bassinet, although he's already too big for these. They were once his when he was a baby.

Amy's pediatrician said when kids were 3 years old, it was normal for them to eat just one spoonful of cereal per day because that was all they need. I think we'd be worried if our kids eat that little.

"What did he eat for breakfast?" Biajee inquired me about Arnold this morning.

"A shrimp and a bit of egg." I replied. Biajee looked a bit upset so I added, "Don't worry. More people in the United States die of too much food than too little food."

"I think you're right." He had to say. And that's the end of this conversation.

I also found out from Amy about baby's nicknames. We already know nickname for Arnold is Arnie. She said that nickname for Arthur would be Artie. Boy, aren't they too close? We'll never be able to tell them apart.

"So what about Sam? Some woman's nickname was Sam." I asked.

"Oh that's short version for Samantha." Who would have thought of that?

"And Charlie? A girl's name is Charlie in Arnold's class."

"That's for Charlotte."

"This is too much for me." I finally commented. "I'm glad no girls would be named after Arnold or Arthur. I want people to know they're boys from their names."

Severance Letter

2009-02-25T10:35:00.003-07:00

It appeared that I never signed the Severance Letter when I left Corporate Express. Now that Staples is going through auditing procedure and need this document signed. I received it via email today with the wrong address printed on the letter.

I was asked to either fax it back or mail it back. I am choosing to mail it back. Last weekend Biajee sent a one-page domestic fax for me at Kinko's and was charged $2.49. It's a shame that he cannot send a fax from his company. I suddenly realized how inconvenient it is for me to not have a job.

Biajee and Arnold attended the Parent Appreciation Breakfast at Montessori yesterday. Arnold got a Fish is Fish book, which he loved. We were also provided a brochure of Tips for Growing Readers.

I finished reading a book Come on, Kid yesterday, which talks about how to raise a child in modern China. It went through all the painful process of having to sign up the child to best kindergarten, primary school, junior and senior high school and the fees and relationship network one has to push for. In the end, the child applied for a private high school in England and left China at the age of 16.

I really feel blessed living in the United States now, thinking about those people in China are paying the same amount of money for kindergarten as I do.

4 Week Check

2009-02-24T11:01:00.003-07:00

Arthur had his 4 week check yesterday. He is 22.5 inches long (80%), 9 lbs and 14.5 oz (50%) and head circumference is 15.25 inches (60%). He is a bit bigger than Arnold at the same age.

We also received Arthur's social security card yesterday. I finally read the form for applying for birth certificates and mailed it out today with a copy of my driver's license. He is a valid person in the society now.

Doctor said Arthur's hydronephrosis was moderate so he definitely need to see the urologist. Moderate means it can get better to be mild or can get worse to be severe. The urologist will probably do some testing to see whether the ureter is blocked by injecting a tube with colored liquid into his kidney. The thought of that makes me sick, but we'll wait to see what the urologist has to say.

I got the flu either from Biajee or Arnold. My throat hurts like hell whenever I'm swallowing and I'm coughing all the time. Biajee sounds pretty dandy about it because he suffered from the same symptoms a few weeks ago.

Skateboard

2009-02-22T13:24:00.002-07:00

Biajee went to get Arnold a skateboard yesterday. It's an adult size, 31 inches long. The stores here carry smaller boards for children from 5 to 7 years old. The length is about 29 inches or 27 inches, not much smaller than the normal size at all. The mini boards on line can be 21 inches long, which is more suitable for Arnold's size and age.

At this point, I don't know whether we should let him learn the normal size from the beginning or not. If he sticks to the adult size, it'll be easier for him as he grows older. However, it may be more dangerous when he is younger or he may develop bad habits because the big board is harder to manage or turn.

Neither Biajee or I play skateboard at all. It wasn't in fashion when we were kids. I played roller skates when I was a kid, but that was in the playground in Beijing Workers' Sports Stadium. Even if I fell down, it wasn't a big deal. Here in US, kids play these things in street. I'm paranoid that they'd get hit by a car if they don't pay attention or if the drivers are careless.

Gold

2009-02-20T09:34:00.002-07:00

The price of Gold trades at over $1000 per ounce today and the stock market plunged again.

Generally speaking, people don't like to convey bad news, even though the news is true. David Einhorn has successfully forecast the current financial crisis in his book Fooling Some of the People All of the Time published in 2007. David Einhorn is President of Greenlight Capital, a "long-short value-oriented hedge fund", which he began with $1 million in 1996. Greenlight has historically generated greater than a twenty-five percent annualized net return for partners and investors.

Starting July 2007, Einhorn became a short seller in Lehman stock. He believed that Lehman was under-capitalised, and had massive exposures to CDOs that were not written down properly. He also claimed that they used dubious accounting practices in their financial filings.

When Bear Stearns had to be bailed out by the Federal Reserve in March 2008, Lehman was widely considered to be in a fragile state. Lehman's CFO was Erin Callan, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "Lehman's Straight Shooter". But she had been on the job for just six months and her background was as a tax lawyer, not in finance.

In a speech at a conference in April, Einhorn started talking publicly about his Lehman short positions. Lehman called Greenlight and asked for a copy of the speech, which was sent over.

In May 2008, Lehman CFO Callan had a private call with Einhorn and his analysts. The conversation with Callan was to give her a chance to explain discrepancies he had uncovered between the firm’s latest financial filing and what had been discussed during its conference call about that filing.

Ms. Callan is said to have fumbled some of her responses to questions on Lehman's asset valuations. When Einhorn later went public with the conversation, the declining Lehman share price took a further knock. Callan was fired a few weeks later, when Lehman reported a worse than expected $2.8bn second-quarter loss.

Lehman finally went bankrupt in September 2008.

The fact that Arthur was born in the worst recession may not be a bad thing. This means everything can only go uphill in his life.

COBRA

2009-02-19T10:08:00.003-07:00

Biajee's company doesn't offer any health insurance so we had to seek other options for health insurance after I was laid off. We decided only the kids and I would be on COBRA and Biajee bought his own health insurance. This is the most cost effective way for us at the moment.

President Obama signed a bill yesterday saying that the employers should pay 65% of the COBRA premium for 9 months for the laid-off employees. I immediately called my COBRA company to check whether I could enjoy the benefits.

"We don't know yet." They replied over the phone. "It just came out this week. You should continue to pay your current premium until you get information in the mail."

I'd better write a check for our March health insurance since Arthur's kidney needs to be monitored for maybe over a year.

We found that swaddling the baby may not be helpful for letting him sleep through the night. Arthur used to be able to sleep for 5 hours before he was swaddled at night. He woke up at 1:15 am and 5:15 am today. We should try the no-swaddle thing tonight. There is nothing to lose at this point since we cannot get any sleep at all.

Monitor

2009-02-18T15:55:00.002-07:00

Our ViewSonic monitor finally came back. Basically, it was replaced by a new monitor of a newer model. The old model we sent in was probably out of date and it probably costs more to repair it than to send us a new monitor.

Biajee and I decided to sell it on eBay soon. Buying a ViewSonic monitor from Circuit City is like putting the money into the worst brand in the worst retailer. Of course it'll be a no-win investment.

Arthur woke up last night at 12:30 am and 4:30 am so both Biajee and I were exhausted. Arnold goes to bed at 11 pm these days and that doesn't help with the situation at all. Biajee doesn't want to be too strict with him since we need to be careful about his feelings of the arrival of Arthur. The result is we are all suffering from sleep deprivation.

I'm quite obsessed with the weight loss progress. "You should have logged your weight loss process from last time." Biajee said. "So that you don't have to worry about it that much every day."

Biajee has lost 7 lbs since the baby was born. He said he was feeling great.

Kidney Dilation

2009-02-16T18:37:00.004-07:00

Biajee took Arthur for ultrasound yesterday on his kidney dilation problem spotted when I was 28 weeks pregnant.

The nurse called me today and said Dr. C recommended that we take Arthur to a urologist as soon as possible to diagnose. Hydronephrosis is the term and we need to take the disc of the ultrasound to the urologist.

Biajee has scheduled it for March 5th in Littleton. We are quite paranoid these days, wondering whether Arthur's kidney is fine or not. The urologists Dr. Cavanaugh recommended wouldn't take our insurance so Biajee scheduled the appointment with Dr. Wilcox, who is the chair of Colorado Pediatrics Urology.

Hydronephrosis has never been linked to anything the parents have done during pregnancy and is usually not passed from parent to child or found in more than one sibling in a family. The blockage that produces hydronephrosis is usually the result of a narrowing at the top of the ureter near the kidney that probably developed before the fourth month of pregnancy.

The severity of hydronephrosis depends on the extent of the blockage and the amount of stretching of the kidney. Hydronephrosis may range from mild to severe. Children with mild hydronephrosis usually do not have symptoms, the kidneys are minimally affected, and the hydronephrosis may disappear in the first year of life.

Nursing

2009-02-04T09:13:00.003-07:00

Biajee hasn't downloaded any baby pictures from the camera, but I received a nursing picture from my friend Judy. She came to visit me in the hospital while two nurses were trying to help me breast feeding.

"See how insulted I was?" I tried to joke with her. "It's like being raped and every day two different nurses will come in to watch me feed."

Judy left quickly - she must have thought this scene was pathetic.

We finally got Arthur latched on correctly and perfectly after a whole week's effort. His weight dropped to 7 lbs 13 oz when we were discharged from hospital and even lower to 7 lbs 11 oz last Friday. But on Monday, it came back to 8 lbs again. All the sleep deprivation over the weekend was definitely worth it.

In the old days, before kids, my mind would be filled with fantasies and ambitious thoughts and terrible worry about every aspect in my life, including economic recession, global starvation and the environment and nuclear power and weapons, and now all that still goes on, but there are a lot of times in a very real sense when images of Arnold and Arthur give my mind something friendly to play with, something lovely for a change to click between its fingers.

Arthur had a little bit of Jaundice as well, but not so bad as Arnold's when he was born. He looks more red than yellow, just like a Pizza Face. He bites a lot but does not drool too much. Arnold's drool is immense. There are still rivers of drool from Arnold all day, almost biblical, like the waters of Babylon.

Arthur was able to hold his neck up the minute he was born and he looks exactly like Arnold as a baby. Biajee sometimes mistakes him for Arnold. He always has this feeling that the baby Arnold has come back. Arthur and Arnold are our anchors. Without them as the counterbalance to the current credit crunch, we would float off into outer space on fear. It crossed my mind recently that maybe we were using the kids like a drug, to avoid terrible feelings we are having about me having been laid off. But drugs take you away from what's in front of you, whereas Arthur and Arnold are what's in front of us. They're not the drug, they're the reality.

Biajee finally got his last deep cleaning part done on his teeth. In the mean time, I've made a watery mess in the bathroom and he had to repaint the drawer. No time for him to paint the dining room or kitchen. What was he thinking at that time? Doesn't he understand a baby is a handful of work? At least he wasn't complaining when Arthur peed on him from time to time.

Labor

2009-01-28T11:24:00.003-07:00

Arthur Tianqi Yang was born at 7pm on Jan. 27th, 2009. Weight: 8 lb 4.8 oz. Length: 21 3/4 inches. Head circumference: 15 inch.

I was 10 cm dilated by 6:15 pm yesterday so Dr. Austin and Nurse Jody told me to start pushing. I worked really hard on the pushing for 40 minutes. Everyone could see the baby's head, but it just wouldn't come out. As a matter of fact, I worked so hard on it that I started vomiting like a fountain. Oxygen was applied to me immediately. Then I saw Dr. Austin gave me two snippets with a pair of scissors. My heart sank and I felt so desperate. Being cut was one of the worst memories from the first labor.

Before I knew it, the nurse put the baby on my chest and he felt so slimy. Arnold witnessed the whole process but didn't show too much interest in his brother at all. Biajee was holding him all the time so he didn't get any pictures of the new baby last night.

I was shivering with cold and starving afterwards, but I wanted to try nursing first. To our surprise, Arthur wouldn't latch on at all. Finally I gave up and had Biajee put him in the basket and the three of us started eating dinner. I couldn't fit anything down because of the pain.

Arthur slept in the nursery last night. He was fed Enfamil formula at 10 pm, 1 am and 5 am. Then I nursed him this morning around 8:30. He started to learn how to suck in the end. Dr. Cavannaugh just took him away for circumcision. She said they'd be back in 30 minutes and she'll put a ring on Arthur's pennis, which will fall off in about a week. We cannot give him a tub bath till both the ring and the cord fall off. Sponge bath only for the newborn.

Dr. Austin finally prescribed me some Ibuprofen and Tylenol with Codin to replace the pain killer I had been taking. I was feeling dizzy, sick and upside down all the time. The contraction is still there and then there are the sewn wounds. "Contraction is good," Dr. A said, "If you don't have contraction, you'll be bleeding a lot."

We have a new life in our family now, who is pink, ugly and all wrinkled up.

Induction

2009-01-27T10:53:00.003-07:00

We got up at 5:00 am. Arrived at the hospital at 6:30 am. Doctor came at 8:10 am. He put the gel in me at 8:30 am. I had to lie down for an hour. Room number is 257. At 9:30 am, I was allowed to get up and go to the restroom. Then I was asked to walk for an hour. My water broke at 10:30 am.

I had asked for epidural as soon as I got in and I hope I'll get it soon. I'm contracting, but it's not nearly as painful as last labor. I would rate it a 5 on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the highest. Dr. Austin will be back to see me around 12:30 pm. Of course, if I made leaping progress, he would be here in 20 seconds.

I just got the walking epidural. It's a new thing. Basically, patients who got that medicine could still walk around, drink water and go to the rest room. If the pain gets worse later, I can always switch to the normal epidural. I think the pain is under control now. I'm feeling very light headed and dizzy.

My dilation this morning was 2 cm and it is still 2 cm. We'll decide what to do when Dr. Austin comes in to see me in 30 minutes. At the moment, I'm going to take a nap.

己丑

2009-01-26T10:14:00.003-07:00

我们终于顺利地过了农历年，现在再去引产应该没有什么遗憾的了。星期六打牌打到晚上11点，手气很旺，又混过了一个派对。新生儿将会是一头己丑牛。思来想去，牛头比老鼠尾巴好多了，否则孩子走到哪儿都是一条小尾巴尖儿，难成大器。医生也说在西方国家总觉得老鼠是腌臜鼠，绝对没有牛好。牛虽然辛苦，但至少吃喝用度都是自己汗珠子掉地上砸八瓣儿挣来的，花着心安理得，一点也不靠别人，多稳便。

昨天去家庭用品公司买了油漆。现在的科技真是发达，只要挖一块25美分硬币大的墙皮，就可以让电脑配出该种颜色的油漆。

今天Biajee终于在我的逼迫下去看了牙医。想到我白白给他买了四年的牙医保险，他一次都没有用过，我实在觉得心有不甘，钱花得冤枉。Biajee被查出牙齿上有六个小洞，虽然目前还不痛，但是医生建议赶快补，所以干脆就后天补。因为我正好在医院生孩子，让他去放假补牙。婴儿有护士照管，否则回家之后他就不会再有心情去补牙了。

明天一早就要去引产了，很有要英勇就义的感觉. 当务之急是选好几本书，万一引得很慢就可以多读些书了。每天下午四点钟电视里还有肥皂剧，Biajee上班时从来无法陪我看，这两天总算可以一起看肥皂剧了。今晨下了大雪，气压降低了，也许孩子会主动出来？气压的变化有可能导致生产。我很怕引产不成功导致剖腹，坚决不要剖腹产，宁死不当亡国奴。

Phone Call

2009-01-23T08:07:00.004-07:00

My previous boss in Staples called me yesterday afternoon trying to have me go into the company to train some people on the database I built next Monday. Obviously I am not a Staples employee and they're not a not-for-profit organization so I cannot do it for free. I believe the company retained the talents to rebuild anything from scratch and will not need my service in future. My full time job is to find another full time job at the moment. Anything that takes time away from that needs to be commissioned.

I didn't sleep well last night. I'm a sensitive pregnant woman who is over due now and cannot tolerate any drastic abuse or stimulation mentioned above.

It's very likely that I can make it to 27th and be induced. Not my favorite way to go, but at least I know the baby wants to be born in the year of ox and I won't interfere it.

I successfully made my dreamed meatballs for dinner last night. The secret of tasty Lion's Heads is not to put too much meat in it.

床头柜

2009-01-22T08:40:00.003-07:00

Biajee周末时装好了我们的新床头柜,却发现上层的抽屉非常生涩,简直就打不开,不知道是否安装的问题.当然最大的问题是这两个床头柜的四个抽屉现在全是空的.

"我长这么大第一次有床头柜,床头柜里应该放些什么呢?"我困惑地问Biajee.

"我也不知道啊,我以前也没有过床头柜,可以上网搜索一下,看看别人都往床头柜里放什么."他挠挠头说."或者周末去派对的时候偷偷看看人家的床头柜."

反正绝不能放内衣和性玩具,因为床头柜比较矮,阿诺随时会翻着玩,总不能装少儿不宜的东东.但是新的床头柜确实很好看,和我们的床是一套,当时买床的时候没舍得买,现在被裁员了,很有心情布置家居环境.

昨天试着做了红烧狮子头,好像肉放得太多了,丸子不够松软,今天准备往肉馅里加俩馒头和一包面包粉,再看看效果如何.可怜的Biajee和阿诺只能每天吃肉丸子,直到我把这道菜练得炉火纯青为止.

今晨发现纳斯达克指数跌了3%,源于微软准备裁员5000人,简直太可怕了.微软以前是以不裁员出名的.比尔盖茨撒手不管之后他们也不重视人才的重要性了.

Postponed Induction

2009-01-21T14:48:00.004-07:00

We went to see Dr. Austin today.

"So where is the baby?" He said dandily as soon as he entered the room.

"We don't know. But I'd like to cancel the induction on Friday because I need to go to a party to celebrate Chinese Luna New Year on Saturday." I told him. "What does your schedule look like next week? May we schedule an induction some time next week?"

"Well, I need to check." He ran out of the room for a while and came back. "Do you want to do it on 27th or 28th?"

"They're the same to me. We can do it on Tuesday." I looked at Biajee.

"All right. 27th at 6:30." Dr. Austin said.

"6:30 in the morning? Of course I need to be there, but you don't have to." I sighed. "You'll probably come around 8:30."

"Hey, you may deliver this weekend at 2 o'clock in the morning." He complained.

"Well, you told me you would be on call so whether I schedule an induction or not, I'll have you this weekend if I'm in labor." I said cheerfully.

"Yeah, but I'm getting old. I don't want to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning. The little room in that emergency building only has a single bed and really not too much in it. I usually go home if there is nothing...." He murmured.

"You know, if I deliver before 26th, the baby will be born in the year of rat, otherwise he'll be born in the year of ox. His Chinese zodiac sign will be totally different and he may have a different fate. It's very important." I tried to tease him. "So I won't see you before 27th, huh?"

"Ha, maybe I'll see you this Friday." He winked evily. I don't think he likes the idea of being called out at 2 am for my labor.