1/2/2016: Got up at 7:05, almost forgot it's hiking day. Jason still wanted to drive due to smog test issue, he brought 6 mochi made by his mom. There were 14 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Sujen, Steve, Alice, Shingkuo, James (the choir guy) and his wife, Alex, James, Alan, the other Ming, Jason, and myself, Ming and John joined us for coffee at Peet's. Trimmed away one branch of the fake Cherry tree, it did not appear too big but had millions of smaller branches, took nearly one and half an hour to saw it off the top and cut off all smaller branches for pickup. Will do the other upward branches some other day.
1/3/2016: Got up at 8:15. Swept Wisteria leaves near the fence before it starts to rain this afternoon. Went to In-N-Out for lunch, still fresh and tasty. Stopped by Trader Joes and picked up two cheese breads, one bag Brazil nuts, one bag peanuts, one bag candied Pecan, one bag cashew nuts one bag almond, one case White Zinfandel, one case Cabernet Sauvignon, two Avocado, and 6 organic bananas. Also picked up 4 32oz Hazelnut creamer, 2 bags of cat food, one pack round cotton pads, and 3 bottles of shampoo. Spent 15 minutes in Marshall but did not get anything. Trimmed several up-shoot branches of the fake Cherry tree, very challenging to move the chain saw around due to thousands of smaller but dense branches, will have to take care the others from the ladder some other days.
1/4/2016: Got up at 8:10. Ordered an 8" Windows 10 device from Fry's to see if it can work with Fire 7 conversion. Drove Anita to City Sports where she attended 9:45 Yoga class, I'll come back at 11:10 to pick her up. Stopped by Fry's and picked up the Windows tablet with keyboard. Got some groceries from SF: a bag of Mung bean sprouts, one pack Beef Tendon balls, one head cabbage, two bags of threaded seaweeds, two packs of fried fish cake, one pack cane sugar, one bag threaded bamboo shoot, and one pack mustard green. Waited in City Sports parking lot and tried to turn on the newly purchased tablet, the logo flash briefly then disappeared, decided that the battery needed charge after several tries. Played 50 minutes table tennis, first with Kung for 30 minutes, Stephanie was talking to Teresa on the phone when I walked in and did not get off until 1:00, she played nearly 20 minutes. Went to Costco and was shocked by the full parking lot, must have something to do with the new condos (hundreds of them) built in the neighborhood, got one dozen bagels, two dozen organic eggs, one can of Macadamia nuts, Peet's K-cup coffee, a bag of thick cut beef jerky, 2 Move-Free, one Preservision AReds 2, and a jar of Soy Sauce. Ordered a twin size electric blanket for Anita to use in Taipei, I will take it back to Yungho when I go back to Taiwan.
1/5/2016: Got up at 8:10. Adjusted the make-shift cat food shelter to better shield the food bowl from rain water. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie and 30 minutes with Kung. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, EJ.
1/6/2016: Dynamicfoundation quarterly magazine labeling day. Got up at 7:10, got there at 8:58, got in as John was working in the back with the door open. Did not start actual work until 9:20 since no one was there. Finished everything at 12:15, had pizza for lunch. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with 張大哥, with Kung 30 minutes and Stephanie 15 minutes.
1/7/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:30, there was this lady 鴛鴦 already at the back of reception counter saying she's substituting 敬萍 but there was no mention in the sign-up book, it turned out it was Elaine who relayed incorrect dates after 敬萍 showed up. Got 3 sets of calendar and New Year Scrolls/Spring Festival Couplets.
1/8/2016: Got up at 7:40. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took 25 minutes. Played table tennis from 12:30 to 1:20, 35 minutes with Stephanie, 15 minutes with Kung, he hurt his shoulder. Brought the foldable ladder to Dynamicfoundation.
1/9/2016: Got up at 7:00, got everything ready for hiking. Jason called and confirmed going for it but he called 10 minutes later saying it started to rain where he lives and cancelled the event:-( It did not rain here, while pondering biking in the neighborhood the wind picked up, so no biking either, will do indoor exercise instead. Had 45 minutes BM with RM, EJ. Went to TaiKeeWonton (戴記扁食) for dinner, we ordered a Wonton soup (10 pieces), one order Spiced Pork Feet, and one order Steamed Spareribs, also had 2 small bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, the leftover is enough for our next two dinners :-)
1/10/2016: Got up at 8:40. Went to Harbor Freight Tools and picked up two packs of magnetic hooks ($2 each), 2 magnetic tool holders ($4 each), a led flash/work light ($2.99), one pack super glue (3 tubes - $1.00).
1/11/2016: Got up at 7:30. Trimmed off a portion of the Wisteria pods, there were more pods than any other year for some reason. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie and 20 with Kung. The twin electric blanket ordered from Costco finally delivered, UPS left it in the front at 2:26. This twin electric blanket is not much smaller than the full size we are using, and it occupied 2/3 of the second luggage I planned to take with me, need to rethink luggage arrangement.
1/12/2016: Got up at 7:35. Trimmed the fake Cherry tree branches that were shooting upward to clear view from the master bedroom - took one and half hours. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Stephanie and 30 minutes with Kung. Cut trimmed off branches into 1 1/2 ft pieces for easy street pickup - took a total of 2 and a half hours, the succulents growing next to the fake Cherry tree were bent by its own weight and the falling branches crushed a few more, I had to clean them out as well.
1/13/2016: Got up at 7:25. Played 55 minutes table tennis from 12:40 to 1:35, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 30 with Kung, sweat quite a bit possibly due to higher temperature today.
1/14/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:28:, door was open. 敬萍 got here at 9:50, she's coming down with cold of some kind, I need to be careful. Stopped by Walmart and picked up 2 64oz Coffee-Mate Hazelnut creamer, 2 Honey Roasted Peanuts, and 5 Fruit of The Earth Aloe Vera, they now charge plastic bags, apparently Milpitas started plastic bag banning this year. Moved garden waste to the street including the length reduced branches from the fake Cherry Tree - a lot. Had MB with legs, EJ.
1/15/2016: Got up at 7:30, cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took nearly 40 minutes. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 30 with Kung, it's Kung's Birthday.
1/16/2016: Hiking day - rained out. Went to Target and got 6 bags of Peppermint cookies, 2 Olay moisturizer, 2 Olay Forming Face Wash, and one box bandaids. Decided not to go to Great Mall after leaving Target as there were too many vehicles in the street and parking will be an issue there.
Unhinged - 脫缐.
1/17/2016: Got up at 8:20. Went to Costco to have the usual lunch - Polish dog and one slice combo pizza. Strolled in Costco after lunch to see what to get the next time - not today, too crowded. Ordered one "Sparko Sweets Original Galaxy Lollipops, Planet Designs, 10 Count, 6.5 Ounce" from Amazon.com for Kwanghua - delivery is set for Tuesday (1/19/2016).
1/18/2016: Got up at 7:40. Started practicing 中級香功, its postures are much easier than beginning level, I wanted to see if it brings out strong Chi from myself. Went to Costco and picked up a 3-pack containers, 2 pack Tony Roma Ribs, one box Jimmy Dean Breakfast Croissant (Beef, cheese, and egg), one box Breaded Tilapia, 2 dozen organic egg, one dozen bagels, one Brie Cheese, and one Cream Cheese. Stopped by 99 Ranch Market and got a bottle cooking rice wine, one bag dried red dates (紅棗), one bag dried wolfberry (枸杞), and 8 bags 黃飛紅 peanuts. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 20 with Kung, hurt lower back of my right leg, similar to last time.
1/19/2016: Got up at 7:50. Returned the Twin Electric Blanket to Costco, also got gas before hand as there was no waiting at all. Collected some salads from my on-the deck tube planters, the "Endive Green Curled" finally showed their faces - these are the ones rarely found in mixed salad because they are relatively more expensive, may want to grow them specifically instead of varieties. Received "Sparko Sweets Original Galaxy Lollipops, Planet Designs, 10 Count, 6.5 Ounce" ordered on 1/17, turned out the lollipops is the one that's very popular in Taiwan, so we order 4 more, two of them are clam-shell gift package, good for Valentine. Ordered one more (the $12.64 one) lollipops.
1/20/2016: Got up at 7:30. Had 30 minutes MB with minis (2000 counts), EJ. Played one hour table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 35 with Kung. Paid February Anthem Premium online from my iPad - $70.44.
1/21/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:30. Got to CCC at 9:30, "媽媽教室" is held here with "年菜" as theme topic. Cleaned brown leaves of "Lily of the Niles" by the curb, took nearly one hour.
1/22/2016: Got up at 8:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street - not bad, took only 10 minutes. Played 40 minutes with Kung, Stephanie was getting ready for her trip and did not play. Ride for Stephanie to SFO went smoothly until return trip, took nearly 2 hours, rain and way too many vehicles were the major cause I pressume.
1/23/2016: Hiking day. Got up at 6:30, called Jason, we decided to cancel today's hiking as the raining condition was not quite predicable. Ride with Anita to City Sports, I went visited Fry's, Trader Joes, and Target while she attended Yoga class. Got a twin pack 32G micro SD cards from Fry's for $17. Got a bag of roasted but not salted Cashew nuts, two Cheddar cheese and Garlic breads, 4 packs of dark chocolate plates from Trader Joes, finally stopped by Target and got 5 bags of Peppermill cookies - with a free $5 gift card.
1/24/2016: Got up at 8:20. Quick cleaned the two Lexus with sheep skin - took 15 minutes, fast and easy. Went to Target in San Jose Market Place on Coleman and got two bottles of Zinc for Anita's younger brother, stopped by Marshall and got two cans of Espresso for Chou couple (if I see them), also got an Under Armor T-shirt for myself.
1/25/2016-1/26/2016: Trip to Taiwan day. Got up at 7:00. Left for SJC at 9:00, got to boarding gate at 9:45. Boarding started at 11:03 (scheduled at 11:05). ANA changed their check-in luggage allowance to 2 since January 2015 (but only for those purchased tickets after 1/1/2015). Got to my seat at 11:09, my section of the plane was less than 40% full, most rows had only one passenger except those traveling with family members, Several rows were actually unoccupied. I got to enjoy two seats as well:-)). NH171 left the gate at 11:20, took off at 11:35. had a glass of red wine before lunch, ANA no longer serve small bottles, lunch was extremely tasty - Ramen, smoked Salmon, rice with Salmon, potato salad, and Vanilla ice cream. Watched in-flight movies: Agent 47, The Intern, and The Transporter: Refueled. Had a glass of white wine during lunch, not bad. The light meal before landing was OK. Arriving NRT at 3:08, 32 minutes ahead of schedule, I think fewer passengers made it easy. Rode 10 minutes shuttle to terminal 2, where security check took 30 minutes. Got to gate 28E and wait, could not get online no matter how I tried it, the only message was "connected", but no Internet connection. Got on shuttle at 6:15 (local time) took 10 minutes to get to the plane. It's an old 747 with small and low resolution odd display - quite the opposite to the new 787 from SJC to NRT. NH823 started taxing at 7:15 after 30 minutes delay. It finally took off at 7:27. We landed at Taoyung airport at 10:10pm, just 10 minutes behind schedule. I was a bit confused at the Customs check point as the sings at many lines were unclear, got through the maze after 15 minutes. I was shocked to see so many arrival passengers in the baggage claim area, virtually all 10 luggage carousels were in use, got my luggage after 20 minutes. Notified Peilee while waiting for my luggages. Got to Neihu residence at 11:45, Mom already went to bed, Sharon was up opening the door for us. Called Anita at 12:00am.
1/27/2016: Woke up at 1:45, watched some mb photos and fell asleep until 6:30 but did not get up until 7:15. Sat in front of the TV all morning. Went to 全聯 at its new location just across the street from its old site. It is approximately 50% larger in space, it now has more varieties of everything. It even has Barefoot wines, only more than twice the price as what paid at CVS. Got a bottle of Kaoliang from 金龍鳳, one jar of Taster's Choice Instant Coffee, and one bag of Kitchen towels - this is a new brand so I want to check out if it's any good before I commit to buying more to take home.
1/28/2016: Woke up at 4:00, had MB, EJ. Got up at 6:20. Called Anita at 6:00 and 6:10, no answer - found out later she's working in the garden. Called Anita again at 7:15, told her I'll be going to 永和博愛街 around 10:00. Left for MRT 內湖station at 9:05, ->文湖線:忠孝復興站->轉板南線:忠孝新生站->轉中和新蘆線:頂溪站下車, walked 15 minutes and got to 博愛街宅 at 10:05. Setup Kwanghua's Nexus 7 but kind of ran into problem with Line installation, the original Line on her phone became deactivated due to new login on Nexus 7, apparently Line do not allow multiple devices (could be Android only) to function concurrently, after painfully restoring the Line on her phone, the old message records were all but gone, and this process also terminated the Line status of Nexus 7, too bad. Had lunch at the next door family style small dinner, Pompie makes only pie related meals, I had a Salmon salad without any other side dishes, was OK. Headed home at 1:30, got home by 2:30.
1/29/2016: Woke up at 3:10, got up at 5:30. Went to PX Mart (全聯) and got today's newspaper, a 4-pack 酷辣可樂果, a loaf of thick-cut bread and a jar of spread. Picked up grocery bags from mom as she finished her first round at 湖光市場. Went to 旺旺 and got 2 packs of kitchen stove grease shield, a 3-pack circular plastic container. Found out that the shields were not what I expected - they have openings to allow access of burners, I went to 旺旺 again and got a pack of heavy duty alumina foil, also purchased a smaller 4-pack circular container. The aluminum foil worked well with the kitchen shelf top I wanted to cover, it should be a better solution than alumina paper cover, the only worry I have is that it may not be strong enough to last one year:-)). Filled the newly purchased plastic containers with the mixed nuts I brought over from San Jose, it is definitely better than plastic bags when give them as gifts. Filled two leftover zip bags with the 4-pack 酷辣可樂果, this should help save some space. Left for dinner meeting with 周大哥大嫂 at 5:15, got on MRT train at 內湖 station at 5:25, arriving 南港展覽館出口 at 5:40, went back into the station as I could not get any Wi-Fi signal, met Stephanie just outside the MRT exit scanner gate, 周大哥picked us up in his new Honda CRV, took 10 minutes to get to his home, a very nicely built home. 周大嫂served stewed pork legs, pickled Julienned 大頭菜, stir fried squid and chive, stir fried cabbage and 臘肉, and chicken soup - all were very tasty. We chatted (well, I mostly listened) until 10:00, 周大哥dropped us off at gate 5 of 南港展覽館, I got on 文湖線 at 10:10, got homestead 10:30 after getting off at 內湖station.
1/30/2016: Woke up at 4:30, got up at 6:30. Visited Costco with Peilee and Sharon, there were still some unoccupied parking space when we arrived at 9:30. Got a couple bottles of 58 Kinmen Kaoliang (NT509 each) to take to 永和 on 初二, two packs (30 small pouches) of 北海之味米菓(NT365 each) to take back to San Jose. We got a package of 4 Lobster body for the New Year's Eve dinner. Had dinner at 博多拉麵 in 東湖, I made a mistake and ordered a large bowl of seaweed/bean sprout ramen, was twice my normal consumption. Stopped by 全聯 and picked up 3 bottles of Barefoot wine (Cabernet Sauvigon, Riesling, and Moscato), one bottle 58 杜高二鍋頭, and another 4-pack 酷辣可樂菓.
1/31/2016: Woke up at 4:30, got up at 7:15. Went to PX Mart (全聯) around 2:30, got a can of 阿里山茶, one 6-pack beer, one bag garlic, 2 bags of 金針菇, one bag lemons, and one pack pork steak. Swing by 一之軒 and purchased 4 buns.
2/1/2016: Got up at 7:00. Went to 全聯 at 3:00, picked up one head 大頭菜, a bottle of vinegar, 4 small bags of 芥末可樂果, 2 bags of kitchen towel, and 2 bags of almonds with small dried fish. Got a Skype message from Tigerlet, he and his mom will come visit tomorrow evening.
2/2/2016: Got up at 7:50. Refaced the rice steamer shelf with aluminum foil, including the sliding bars.
Walked 碧湖公園步道 three times, took one hour, the last 15 minutes was under light shower. My legs were a bit tight when kneeled down. Got a Skype message from Tigerlet saying they will come visit tomorrow evening instead.
2/3/2016: Got up at 7:45. Refaced stove top shield with aluminum foil. Went to 百利金, purchased 2 rectangular and 3 round plastic containers, a pack of key rings, and a pack of needle push. Hiked 碧湖步道 3 times, took 70 minutes, there was a brief light shower at the beginning.
2/4/2016: Got up at 8:00. Went looking for New Year's Eve dinner ingredients at 全聯, found and purchased a small squid, a pack of small clams, a jar of garlic spread, 2 packs dried beancurd skin, one pack Kantonese liver sausage, one pack mushrooms, one head broccoli, one pack fish roll, half loaf of bread, a small pouch of Miso, one tube of salad dressing, and morning Apple newspaper. Went back and got a jar of honey.
2/5/2016: Got up at 7:50. Checked 全聯 but till no sign of 臘腸 being replenished, almost sure they ran out of stock. Went and picked up grocery for mom so she could continue shopping. Went back to 全聯 and purchased half a dozen Taiwanese beer, a pack of Mackerels, two bags almond and dried fish snack, a bag of pumpkinseed, one bag cashew nut, and one head of root ganlan (大頭菜). The Mackerels' bones were all in there and hard to remove with regular plier, got a alligator plier from 百利金 but not working either, took me nearly half an hour to remove 80% of the bones. Processed the 大頭菜, julienne 2/3 of it and pickled them, cut the remaining 1/3 into 2cm x 4cm x 1/3cm slices to be used as side dishes for New Years' Eve dinner.
2/6/2016: Woke up by noise from the mini blinds, took me a while to realize it was an earth quake, it lasted about 15 seconds. Got up at 6:30, both JP and Tip Lined concerning the earth quake. Went to 湖光市場with Mom, Peilee and Ahfen, got full loads of groceries. Picked up 臘腸 and 臘肉 from 新東陽, costing NT486. Went to 全聯 and picked up a couple of carrots, 3 packs of fried beancurd skin, and a pack of clam. My stomach was feeling well all day, it might be a combination of eating too much, drinking coffee, drinking tea, drinking lemon juice/honey, and hard liquor. Ran into problem with the Internet while changing TP-LINK devices, www.tplinklogin.net always goes to the home router instead of the mobile one, plus I reset the home router which removed user info to login ISP, applying info from service card did not work, took out the old Microsoft router to replace the new one so that at least the desktop could get online - this worked well. Peilee found the file I created a long time ago which carried user info, tried the same user account number preceding @hinet.net and it worked, got to make a note of this! Skipped dinner as my stomach was still in idle/full state.
2/7/2016: New Year's Eve. Traditional day visiting dad's resting place. Walked to 捷運內湖站 at 10:05, got on the train heading city zoo at 10:10, got to 麟光站at 10:30, got on shuttle to 慈恩園 at 10:45, arriving 慈恩園 at 10:55. Had lunch in their waiting room, consumed 70% of the food we brought. Got back home at 1:20. Started preparing dishes for dinner at 2:15. I ended up preparing 5 dishes that requires extensive knife work - steamed lobster (removing meat in whole from their shells turned out to be more challenging than I expected), stewed beef and stomach, preserved sausage/pork, 乾煎烏魚子, steamed squid and abalone. Had MB with my legs, EJ.
2/8/2016: First day of Year of the monkey. Had turnip as well as red bean cake for breakfast. Visited 大湖公園, a beautiful day. This place has been renovated and turned into a pleasant lake park to visit, too bad it's a bit far away to hike, maybe I'll try it when the weather is nice. Had lunch at 美麗華. Had another MB with my legs, EJ.
2/9/2016: Got up at 6:50. Went downstairs and for a couple of gift boxes from 新東陽. Called Anita to let her know I was heading out. Arriving 永和光華小妹家at 10:10, had to get help from a lady from their building to contact them as I mistakenly remembered the wrong floor (4 instead of 5). Called Anita on iPad but there was no sound from her end, most likely a problem with my iPad, it was OK after changing to the Nexus 7. Had a good lunch with all dishes suited for drinking liquor, had a total of one cup of 高粱酒, about 80 ml, probably a bit much - had a headache after lunch. Walked over to 光耀家 at 4:15, played some Majohn, he to quit after one round due to uncontrollable cough, felt better after sucking a couple of cubes of medicine. Walked 20 minutes to 鎮江舘 for dinner. The food there was OK but not great. Walked back to 博愛街, it's Kwanghui's turn to care for my mother-in-law, waited until Peilee called and walked to rendezvous point after 10 minutes, Kwanghua, 小弟, 麗君, and 堪節 accompanied me and waited there until Peilee came 5 minutes later.
2/10/2016: Woke up at 5:00, got up at 8:20. Spent the whole day in front of the TV.
2/11/2016: Got up at 6:45, called Anita at 7:06, a better time when no one else was around. Ahfen took Sharon to a doctor as she's having a fever. Peilee took mom to see the doctor as her cold wasn't improving either. Tina and I stayed in the house until 12:00 when Peilee had to leave because the police won't let him park and wait there. Made a bowl of steamed egg for mom and Sharon. Peilee made noodle, very tasty. Went visited Citylink shopping mall (喜樂) near 南港車站, it's a new establishment, obviously a chain style mall. A bit disappointed because the arrangement of stores and access to different buildings was not well designed which made the visit less pleasant, their eateries spanned 4 floors also made access difficult, we did not have anything there as they were either too expensive or too crowded. Had dinner at Sushi Express (爭鮮回轉壽司), a better experience than the last time, cost (Peilee) NT720 for 4 person, very reasonable.
2/12/2016: Got up at 7:20, called Anita before getting up. Peilee went to see the doctor as his cold symptoms were getting worse, Ahfen and Peilee came back after one hour as there was only one doctor on duty, he had to go back again this afternoon. Went to 全聯 and picked up a bag of Bell Pepper, one small and one large bottles of Kaoliang liquor, a pack of Romaine lettuces, and one pack kitchen towels. Met Jerome at MRT 內湖station, he drove instead of riding MRT, he was driving a new Ford, small but nice. Looked for a place to sit near 東湖哈拉影城, finally ended up in Starbucks after 10 minutes. Got a bag of organic tea for me and a book about organic produce for Peilee.
2/13/2016: Called Anita at 7:50, got up at 8:10. Another sunny day, don't remember the last time we had a fully dry Chinese New Year. Hiked 3 times around 碧湖 walkway, there were tons of visitors there, it was very sunny and hot even though I was wearing short sleeves, shorts would be better for this kind of weather, total walk time including access time (between home and the park) was one hour and 15 minutes.
2/14/2016: Got up at 7:20. My coughing was getting worse, had to use a jacket to cover up the noise so that mom doesn't hear it, the mucus did come out though, hope this would speed up the recovery process. Had hot pot for lunch. Peilee went back to 新竹宿舍while Tina rode with him and went back to 三峽宿舍 after dinner. 姊姊came showed up with a birthday cake, she thought I was leaving on Tuesday.
2/15/2016: Got up at 8:00. The cold symptoms worsened over night, not sure what's causing it. I was getting a fever and a headache, asked Sharon for 普拿疼, she mentioned it was taken by her mom to work, but she gave me a bag of 5 tablets which she took for pain and fever, since she no longer needed it so I took over and he one right after lunch noodles. Went with Sharon downstairs, while she bought dinner (皮蛋瘦肉粥) I got some buns for breakfast tomorrow. The 瘦肉粥 was steamy hot but very tasty, took a while to finish it.
2/16/2016: Got up at 8:00 with a headache, body ache and dry mouth. Went to post office t全o deposit some cash, for some reason I thought the 10 NT100 bills accounted for NT10000, the work in the post office corrected me for that. Stopped by 全聯 but they were closed for year end inventory check, will reopen at 2:00. Visited 全聯 at 2:05, the store still had not stocked up its inventory, so I only got a pack of cucumbers, a small bottle of Kaoliang, two boxes of mochi.
2/17/2016: Got up at 7:45, still has some body ache. Went to 全聯 and picked up a couple of bags of almond/dried fish snack, two cans of tea. Stopped by 新東陽, got a total of 5 assorted snacks for Tip, JP, Kung, Susan.
2/18/2016: Day to head home in San Jose. I was planning to get up at 5:50 with an alarm set, Peilee woke me up at 5:40. Got everything ready by 6:05, got on his car at 6:07. Got to the airport at 6:40, raining hard at the time. Waited until 7:05 before ANA counter started processing passengers, there were tons of people at the customs, took 20 minutes to get through. Went downstairs to boarding gate D7 at 8:45, boarding should start at 9:00. Started boarding at 9:05, I waited in line earlier and was bleakly to get to my seat at 9:15, not sure how full the flight would be until later. It's 9:26, cabin doors are closed and It appeared that 85% seats were filled, I got 43 F and 43 H to myself. Took one photo of the seat occupying status from my seat, took another one with raised arms, should get a better view. Flight attendant announced at 9:35 (our scheduled departure time) that due to busy traffic, our flight will be delayed - and I could see a number of planes lining up for takeoff. Luckily we were cleared to take off at 9:42, our plane started lining up behind about 5 fellow planes. Took several photos of the planes ahead as well as behind our plane, there were 6 planes waiting behind us. We finally took off at 10:10. The meal on this flight (operated by Air Japan") was not as good as the ones on ANA flights. Even though we were delayed by 35 minutes, with the pilot's effort, we were a able to land at NRT at 1:42 as opposed to the scheduled 1:30. Took me a while to figure out what's going on with NRT Wi-Fi issue, the same situation as last time, I was able to connect to the Wi-Fi AP but could not get online, it turned out that it does not pop out a web request like most US store does, it just sit there doing nothing until bring up a browser and try to access a website, THAN it asks for confirmation. Called Anita at 12:52 NRT time. Walked around the terminal walkway, stopped by one of the non-cosmetics, non-alcohol duty free store, it sells mostly snacks from different part of Japan, they really were eye catching, very tempted to buys some but the weight of my backpack on my shoulder and decided not to:-(( Went sit on the toilet for nearly 15 minutes, had almost no effect. Discovered there were at least 50 female students waiting at the gate, they turned out to be taking a different flight to SFO, a temporary relief. Sat on the floor waiting for boarding, as most good seats were taken, plus the location I picked was next to the beginning of the economy waiting line. Got on board at 5:15, this flight was almost fully booked, and there were more people going on board through business class/Gold Star Alliance member line. There were only a few unoccupied seats as far as I could see. The flight was delayed by 10 minutes. Even though I was sitting in an isle seat, my legs were very uncomfortable, partly due to lack of exercise in the last two weeks, had to stand up frequently to relieve them. First meal wasn't as nice as it used to be, a couple of reasons, one being the fish was kind of chewy, plus it was a cup of red wine instead of a small but full bottle. Arriving SJC 40 minutes earlier, called Anita once allowed to let her know and arranged for her to wait at Cell phone waiting area, she came in just 2 minutes after I exited Customs gate and called her. MB with mini, EJ. Dozed off countless times throughout the evening, finally went to bed at 9:00PM.
2/19/2016: Got up at 3:00AM. Went back to bed at 6:15, got up again at 8:10. Played table tennis for one hour and 20 minutes, 35 with Stephanie and 45 minutes with Jeffrey - a 24 year old guy looking for work and using their facility, he's a handshake style player, although still a bit rough on his play but since I have never played with handshake player, I had quite a workout. Made photo copies of 2015 Federal Tax return forms - 1040 (pages 1 and 2), 8962 (page 1), and 1095-A. Used Picasa to make the photo copies more readable. Uploaded the 4 image files to CoveredCa and submitted with verification request ID 1,389,112.
2/20/2016: Woke up at 2:45, resisted the urge to take booze before coming back to bed, ended up slept until 10:15 when Anita woke me up as she's preparing to take her Yoga class at City Sports. Did not feel too well after getting up. Had lunch at Costco after Anita came back, spent over $200 there after lunch - $41 King Crab legs for my Birthday dinner on 2/22 before Anita heads back to Taipei. "綠水本無憂, 因風皺面, 青山原不老, 為雪白頭."
2/21/2016: Woke up at 7:10, got up at 8:20. Visited See's Candies in Valley Fair with Anita to buy some lollypops for 堪慶, had to enter from the west side of the mall as Macy's won't open until 11:00, it turned out no stores were open at this hour except the corridors. Got the lollypops and came home. Irregular heart beat was bothering me again, has been that way the last few days.
2/22/2016: Got up at 9:20, guess I am still under the influence of jet lag. Refilled Anita's cell 4086279458 with $10.00, new expiration date is 2/21/2017. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung, 5 minutes between Kung and Stephanie. Picked up some ginger, bananas, and a head of Cauliflower from 99 Ranch Market. Had King Crab ($41 from Costco) for my Birthday dinner. It turned out the King Crab quantity was much larger than we expected, not only we could not finish it, but Anita had to take her part of the remaining crab meat with her tomorrow on her trip and I will be having crab meat the next two nights.
2/23/2016: My Birthday, also Anita's day going to Taipei. Got up at 7:00, had everything ready by 8:45. Left the house at 9:05, the traffic to San Jose Airport was terrible, took nearly 30 minutes to pass through all the traffic lights, remember to start before 9:00 (8:50) next time. Came home after watching Anita passed security check. Flight NH171 took off at 11:23, 7 minutes ahead of schedule, it'll arrive NRT 15:00, 40 minutes ahead of schedule - too bad it wasn't TPE, so the early arrival at NRT meant nothing:-(( Played 65 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung, Kung and Stephanie competed 2 11-point games, they split the games. Had 45 minutes MB with RM and minis, almost EJ but held on. Had another MB with RM and minis, EJ. Flight NH171 landed in NRT at 15:05 local time, 35 minutes ahead of schedule. Waiting for Anita to call..., she called at 10:27, she had a 3-seat row all to herself during the flight and was able to lie down and sleep between movies.
2/24/2016: Woke up at 5:15, checked NH823 still in flight. Anita called at 7:55 from Yungho 博愛街, NH823 arrival was late by 43 minutes. Got up at 8:15. Cleaned the Wisteria pods on the ground as well as the ones still hanging, just could not imagine why would it grow so many of them, I have cleaned it at least twice excluding today. Played 35 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie, 15 with Jeffrey, Kung and Stephanie had one 11-point game (about 5 minutes) where Stephanie lost 11-9, Kung played 15 minutes with Jeffrey. Had 15 minute MB with minis, no EJ.
2/25/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:10. Arriving CCC at 9:31, JP came in at 10:00, gave her one box of sesame snack. Swing by OSH and got 6 gutter guards. Got 6 bottles assorted Barefoot wine, unlike the previous times, they don't label discount any more, plus many varieties do not have 2 for $11 (with a sale period) instead they were $7.99 each, the ones I picked (with 2 for $11) were discounted at the checkout stand, we'll see what happen the next time. Stopped by Marina Grocery (永欣) and picked up a bag of frozen squids, a jar of pork sung ($9.99 on sale), a pack of baby frozen scallop, a pack of peeled garlic (for some reason they did not have the usual unpeeled ones). Submitted PG&E bill of $93.32 to be paid on 3/1/2016 on Fidelity.com, CapitalOne still does not have due date and final bill ready yet. Had 40 minutes with RM, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:00, she's fallen sick, possibly cold, let her go back to sleep. Called mom but she's not there, tried several times before 6:30. Finally got hold of mom at 7:00, she just came back from the market.
2/26/2016: Got up at 8:10. Had 15 minutes with RM, no EJ. Played 55 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung had the day off. Had one hour and 20 minutes MB with RM and minis, no EJ, this has to be a record, I did have a sore back afterwards though. Yolly called to complain about her father.
2/27/2016: Hiking day, felling a bit tired possibly due to nearly 2 months off plus MB yesterday. Got up at 6:58. My turn to drive, in fact I should be driving for the following 4 weeks. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, the other Ming, James, Steve, Ching, Jason, and myself, since Jason hurt his right foot and I was a bit tired, so we hiked the other way around, we did not reach the top before returning to the parking lot, about 10 minutes short of the usual hiking time. Met Ming on our way back down. Came home 30 minutes earlier to prepare for Wi-Fi extender setup for Tip, arriving her home at 12:15. The setup went OK until I tried to relocate it to a better location when it stopped working all together, had to repeat the setup process at the new location, seemed to work afterward. Had wonton for lunch, pretty tasty. Examined her kitchen tile and decided to help her fix it tomorrow. Had 40 minutes MB wit RM and minis, no EJ. Anita called at 6:05 while I was trying to feed 小花, successfully called her back on her iPad.
2/28/2016: Got up at 7:20, had 40 minutes MB with RM and minis, no EJ. Worked on tile cleanup at RCD through 4:00. Had instant noodle (from RCD) for dinner. Called Anita at 6:02, setup Oscar viewing for her to watch. Had MB with RMs and minis for 40 minutes, EJ
2/19/2016: Got up at 3:00AM. Went back to bed at 6:15, got up again at 8:10. Played table tennis for one hour and 20 minutes, 35 with Stephanie and 45 minutes with Jeffrey - a 24 year old guy looking for work and using their facility, he's a handshake style player, although still a bit rough on his play but since I have never played with handshake player, I had quite a workout. Made photo copies of 2015 Federal Tax return forms - 1040 (pages 1 and 2), 8962 (page 1), and 1095-A. Used Picasa to make the photo copies more readable. Uploaded the 4 image files to CoveredCa and submitted with verification request ID 1,389,112.
2/20/2016: Woke up at 2:45, resisted the urge to take booze before coming back to bed, ended up slept until 10:15 when Anita woke me up as she's preparing to take her Yoga class at City Sports. Did not feel too well after getting up. Had lunch at Costco after Anita came back, spent over $200 there after lunch - $41 King Crab legs for my Birthday dinner on 2/22 before Anita heads back to Taipei. "綠水本無憂, 因風皺面, 青山原不老, 為雪白頭."
2/21/2016: Woke up at 7:10, got up at 8:20. Visited See's Candies in Valley Fair with Anita to buy some lollypops for 堪慶, had to enter from the west side of the mall as Macy's won't open until 11:00, it turned out no stores were open at this hour except the corridors. Got the lollypops and came home. Irregular heart beat was bothering me again, has been that way the last few days.
2/22/2016: Got up at 9:20, guess I am still under the influence of jet lag. Refilled Anita's cell 4086279458 with $10.00, new expiration date is 2/21/2017. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung, 5 minutes between Kung and Stephanie. Picked up some ginger, bananas, and a head of Cauliflower from 99 Ranch Market. Had King Crab ($41 from Costco) for my Birthday dinner. It turned out the King Crab quantity was much larger than we expected, not only we could not finish it, but Anita had to take her part of the remaining crab meat with her tomorrow on her trip and I will be having crab meat the next two nights.
2/23/2016: My Birthday, also Anita's day going to Taipei. Got up at 7:00, had everything ready by 8:45. Left the house at 9:05, the traffic to San Jose Airport was terrible, took nearly 30 minutes to pass through all the traffic lights, remember to start before 9:00 (8:50) next time. Came home after watching Anita passed security check. Flight NH171 took off at 11:23, 7 minutes ahead of schedule, it'll arrive NRT 15:00, 40 minutes ahead of schedule - too bad it wasn't TPE, so the early arrival at NRT meant nothing:-(( Played 65 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung, Kung and Stephanie competed 2 11-point games, they split the games. Had 45 minutes MB with RM and minis, almost EJ but held on. Had another MB with RM and minis, EJ. Flight NH171 landed in NRT at 15:05 local time, 35 minutes ahead of schedule. Waiting for Anita to call..., she called at 10:27, she had a 3-seat row all to herself during the flight and was able to lie down and sleep between movies.
2/24/2016: Woke up at 5:15, checked NH823 still in flight. Anita called at 7:55 from Yungho 博愛街, NH823 arrival was late by 43 minutes. Got up at 8:15. Cleaned the Wisteria pods on the ground as well as the ones still hanging, just could not imagine why would it grow so many of them, I have cleaned it at least twice excluding today. Played 35 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie, 15 with Jeffrey, Kung and Stephanie had one 11-point game (about 5 minutes) where Stephanie lost 11-9, Kung played 15 minutes with Jeffrey. Had 15 minute MB with minis, no EJ.
2/25/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:10. Arriving CCC at 9:31, JP came in at 10:00, gave her one box of sesame snack. Swing by OSH and got 6 gutter guards. Got 6 bottles assorted Barefoot wine, unlike the previous times, they don't label discount any more, plus many varieties do not have 2 for $11 (with a sale period) instead they were $7.99 each, the ones I picked (with 2 for $11) were discounted at the checkout stand, we'll see what happen the next time. Stopped by Marina Grocery (永欣) and picked up a bag of frozen squids, a jar of pork sung ($9.99 on sale), a pack of baby frozen scallop, a pack of peeled garlic (for some reason they did not have the usual unpeeled ones). Submitted PG&E bill of $93.32 to be paid on 3/1/2016 on Fidelity.com, CapitalOne still does not have due date and final bill ready yet. Had 40 minutes with RM, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:00, she's fallen sick, possibly cold, let her go back to sleep. Called mom but she's not there, tried several times before 6:30. Finally got hold of mom at 7:00, she just came back from the market.
2/26/2016: Got up at 8:10. Had 15 minutes with RM, no EJ. Played 55 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung had the day off. Had one hour and 20 minutes MB with RM and minis, no EJ, this has to be a record, I did have a sore back afterwards though. Yolly called to complain about her father.
2/27/2016: Hiking day, felling a bit tired possibly due to nearly 2 months off plus MB yesterday. Got up at 6:58. My turn to drive, in fact I should be driving for the following 4 weeks. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, the other Ming, James, Steve, Ching, Jason, and myself, since Jason hurt his right foot and I was a bit tired, so we hiked the other way around, we did not reach the top before returning to the parking lot, about 10 minutes short of the usual hiking time. Met Ming on our way back down. Came home 30 minutes earlier to prepare for Wi-Fi extender setup for Tip, arriving her home at 12:15. The setup went OK until I tried to relocate it to a better location when it stopped working all together, had to repeat the setup process at the new location, seemed to work afterward. Had wonton for lunch, pretty tasty. Examined her kitchen tile and decided to help her fix it tomorrow. Had 40 minutes MB wit RM and minis, no EJ. Anita called at 6:05 while I was trying to feed 小花, successfully called her back on her iPad.
2/28/2016: Got up at 7:20, had 40 minutes MB with RM and minis, no EJ. Worked on tile cleanup at RCD through 4:00. Had instant noodle (from RCD) for dinner. Called Anita at 6:02, setup Oscar viewing for her to watch. Had MB with RMs and minis for 40 minutes, EJ
2/29/2016: Got up at 7:20. Had MB with RMs and minis, no EJ. Got gas from Costco for $1.99 per gallon - first time in as far as I could remember, picked up Roku 3 from Fry's for $86.99 tax included, purchased a can of Supreme Silicone for RCD kitchen. Started working on caulking at RCD, did a bad job on the right side of the sink, had to scrap it off and start over, it wasn't an easy task at all, took nearly 2 hours to finish it, did test re-grout a portion of the tiles, need to see the test result before do more. Went to Lowes and picked up a bag of Bright White non-sanded grout, plan to make a better job.
3/1/2016: Got up at 7:30. Inspected the gutter guards on the deck side and saw only one was there, with the box of 25 pieces I purchased, no way only one is left to be installed on the deck side, unless the box was missing quite a few when I bought them??? Anyway, installed 4 of the 6 guards on the deck side, need to get 3 more to fill remaining gutter (deck side), also the ladder was a little shaky on the brick platform, need to figure out a safer approach, don't want to take any risk. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie and 25 with Kung, Stephanie and Kung played one 11-point game which Stephanie won 11-7. Discovered that there were two cats looked exactly the same - 小花, the only way to tell them apart was the degree of closeness, the original 小花 stayed close while the other would run away upon hearing noise (or when I open the sliding door).
3/2/2016: Woke up at 3:00, had MB with RMs and minis, EJ - good one. Got up at 7:10. Work at RCD from 9:30 till 12:00, the grout application was harder than I expected. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 with Kung, Stephanie and Kung played one 11-point game which Kung won 12-10. Went back to RCD and worked on the grout again, seemed to get the hang of it after reading the grout application instructions a little more, should have read it carefully when I started this morning, could have saved a couple of hours. The result was much better than this morning. Came home at 5:15, had leftover soup and stir fried mung bean sprout/chicken for dinner. Anita called just as I was going to at 5:59:45.
3/3/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:15. Arriving CCC at 9:29. JP came in at 9:45, a record for her. A visitor talked to JP for over one hour, a bit annoying. Steve stopped by to see the new facility just before I was leaving. Got a general purpose brush and 11 gutter guards from OSH. Had 45 minutes MB (3000 counts) with RMs and minis, no EJ. Called mom at 6:00, while speaking to mom Anita called, had to send her a message saying I'll call her back later but apparently the message went to her iPhone not her iPad which she's using at the time.
3/4/2016: Woke up at 4:00, got up at 7:15. The garden waste pickup left two huge piles in the street, took me 45 minutes to clean up. Examined the on deck planter box, I did not have a one piece board that can replace the broken/curved board, decided to shovel the soil in the box onto the wheel barrel then move the box next to the wall underneath the DirectTV dish with curved board facing the wall, add a piece of plastic sheet to keep soil from dropping off from the gap. Maybe I'll plant some herbs there. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung, Kung beat Stephanie 11-5. It started (finally) to rain at 2:30, first run off from down spouts was quite muddy, may need to dump them if more water is available. Anita called our landline just as I was dialing her iPad, called her back after hanging up the landline phone.
3/5/2016: Woke up at 5:30, got up at 7:15. Left for RCD at 8:55, got there at 9:15. Started work at 9:30. Finished applying grout sealer within 30 minutes, changed doorway light bulb in 10 minutes. Installed Roku 3 in 30 minutes including youtube access, testing youtube feature in the living room took more time as the youtube app came with the original iPad 2 was not working well, installed an "Essential" version and cast feature worked, this took nearly 45 minutes. Had Salmon plus rice and asparagus for lunch. Finished sanding one of the cabinet panel and applied first coat of clean Polyurethane, the next will have to be done tomorrow as there's a 3-4 hours dry time. Made a backsplash guard panel from the cardboard I brought with me, need to put on a layer of Aluminum foil to protect it from high heat when back gas burners are used. Got home at 4:20. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs and minis, no EJ.
3/6/2016: Got up at 7:05. Had 15 seconds of sudden onset rapid heartbeat, resumed normal rate after bending over quite a few times - more than usual. Arriving RCD at 9:20, started working on the drain pipe at 9:30, sealed the opening left from water filter drain tube, will put the original clamp back to help strengthen the seal. Finished guest room sink caulking - looking good. Applied second coat of Polyurethane, also applied one coat to one of the side cabinet panels - it looked OK without sanding it first - hmm... Worked on master bathroom grouts, removed old ones, applied new grout afterwards, looked much better although only 90% to my satisfaction. Had lunch at Red Lobster, ordered Soup with grilled shrimp salad, not bad. Applied sealer to the new grout, more sealer was used instead, more sealer strengthen the grout especially in high use area. Applied caulk to one of the master bathroom sink, need to trim off excess around the ring. Got home at 5:02. Unable to get to Anita on her iPad/iPhone, called landline instead, she called and NB rang first, but iPad rang a few seconds later after I I've already answered on my NB, weird.
3/7/2016: Got up at 7:15. Sent Happy Birthday message to Yolly via Skype. Went to Lowes and got AA batteries, one 2' florence light, three 65W flood lights, two aerators (most likely a bit too large), could not find 14x30x1 filter, took me nearly one and half hour. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung, Stephanie beat Kung 11-8 in 10 minutes. Checked Homedepot online and found they do have one kind of 14x30x1 filter in stock in store, went to Great Mall Homedepot and got 2 filters, in fact they only have one brand - lucky me. Had 45 minutes MB (3000 counts) with RMs, EJ.
3/8/2016: Got up at 7:25. Cleaned the debris in the backyard caused by gusty wind and heavy rain over the weekend. Still pondering how to install the remaining gutter guards. Pulled weeds from backyard soil, a lot of them, took about 30 minutes. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung, Kung beat Stephanie 12-10. Installed 3 and 1/2 pieces of gutter guard for the backyard roof, the last one inch can not be covered due to roof structure. Will work on the gutter on the front Thursday pending weather condition. Called Anita on her landline.
3/9/2016: Got up at 7:05. Arriving RCD at 9:25, started sink grout removal at 9:30. Once again, I under estimated the amount of work needed to remove the grout as well as the old silicone around the sinks. Finished the removal process at 10:45, applied grout to the countertop within 30 minutes, sponged the surface after 15 minutes, patched several missing slots, the humidity appeared higher as the grout did not became dry enough when I tried to apply silicone to the sink because some simply wouldn't attach, changed plan - had to work this Friday, resort to install heater air filter, light bulbs and clamp for kitchen drain pipe. Left RCD at 12:05, as it was still early, I stopped by home first, changed car before heading DynamicFoundation, played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Discovered that Leonard actually installed gutter guards for the gutter in front of the lawn, he forgot that I wanted him to install the backyard side instead, this means I will need to return the remaining 9 gutter guards to OSH tomorrow.
3/10/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:05. Arriving CCC at 9:25, got in right away as the door was open, Tina and April came just after me. Stopped by OSH and returned 9 of the 11 unused gutter guards, picked up a small bottle of Gorilla Glue to fix ceramic soap holder at RCD. Swing by Target and got 2 bags of original Meow Mix cat food, also got a bottle of Hazelnut creamer (they only have left). Called CoveredCa at 2:23, waited just a few minutes before speaking to a representative, the issue was resolved at 2:44. Called Anita at 5:45, finished instant noodle before calling mom at 6:00.
3/11/2016: Got up at 7:25. Left for smog test at 8:50, got there at 9:05, test pass complete at 9:30. Picked up a roll of screen door replacement screen at Homedepot, returned home at 10:00. Paid DMV LS400 registration renewal fee $121 online at 10:30. Cleaned Oleander leaves and Wisteria flowers, took 30 minutes, the broken patio umbrella fabrics fell off its holder - beyond repair. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie and 25 with Kung. Arriving RCD at 2:00, got in OK, started working on the tile grout cleanup at 2:05. Finished applying Silicone for the two sinks at 3:05, the two aerators were too big for the existing faucets even with teflon attached, gave up that idea. Wrapped the two disjoint pipes underneath the left sink as a temporary fix, major work can be done when replacing sinks and faucets. Fixed the bathroom tissue holder, cut myself during which, surprised that my thumb actually bled. Decided to do a quick Polyurethane application to master bathroom, secondary bathroom as well as kitchen cabinet doors, finished it by 5:15, left right afterwards. Called Anita at 6:00, she looked tired. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs and minis, EJ.
3/12/2016: Got up at 7:10. Arriving RCD at 9:15, light traffic. Started working on the soap holder, applied grout to a small opening and also the power plate edge in the master bathroom. Check the attic for possible water leak source, could not see much as the attic was filled with lots of support lumbers. Brought home coffee table top for restoration. Got home at 1:15. Went to Lowes and got a longer screen window screen (48"x84") for the master bathroom. Sanded off the old varnish from the coffee table top, took nearly 2 hours but the result was astonishing. Swing by Lowes again, got a bottle of cleaner & degreaser (intended to purchase driveway and concrete cleaner but could not locate any), a tube of silicone, and 2 spray bottles. Did not get gas as Costco gas station closes at 8:00 - I made a mistake not going to Costco first. Installed the new screen on the frame, took a while to get used to the tool but it was very easy to use, quality of this installation was at most, in my opinion, 8 out of 10..
3/13/2016: Day light saving started today. Got up at 7:30 (new time). Arriving at RCD at 9:38, started working on the master bathroom grout at 10:00, it's always challenging to remove 20-year old grout even with help from Tip, finally finished removing all old grouts at 1:00 after lunch. Regrouting also was a challenge as there was not enough room to move around. Got home at 5:0張大哥0. Called Anita at 6:00 our time, totally forgot to adjust alarm to reflect Taipei time.
3/14/2016: Got up at 7:45, still struggling with day light saving. Got gas from Costco for RX300, today's per gallon price was $2.17, 18 cents higher than 2/29/2016. arriving Dynamicfoundation at 9:10, waited until 9:25 before getting in. The labeling task was finished at 11:00 as there were only 1700 to process. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 5 with 張大哥, 15 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Sanded down the 4 cabinet doors before applying another coat of Polyurethane, also lightly sanded coffee table top and applied one more coat (4th) of Polyurethane. Called Anita at 7:01 on her landline. Yolly called to ask some questions, add her to Line.
3/15/2016: Got up at 7:40. Cleaned some of the backyard Wisteria flowers, had to scrub to lift some of them from Monica's garden tiles, will a couple of days before trying to remove them from the bricked area as they were very sticky. Lightly sanded the coffee table top and the 4 cabinet doors before applying Pledge furniture polish. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, and 25 with Kung, Stephanie beat Kung 12-10. Dry cleaned both cars, took only 30 minutes. Anita called but my iPad responded first as I was ready to dial from my NB, had to call her back from the NB as I did not pick up on the iPad. Had 50 minutes MB with RMs and minis, EJ.
3/16/2016: Got up at 7:20. Arriving RCD at 9:15, waited 5 minutes before calling Tip to get J to open the door. Put on the bathroom cabinet doors in 10 minutes, started working on the master bathroom shower tile grout at 9:50. The leftover grout on the tiles had dried out and was difficult to remove, it took me one hour and 20 minutes just to clean them up, added some more grout to fix uneven spots and holes, applied sealer to the grout before heading out, got home first before going to Dynamicfoundation, played 40 minutes table tennis with Kung. FedEx left the HDMI connectors I purchased from Amazon outside by the pole without ringing the bell. Tried one of the 3 270° HMDI connectors and it worked on the Vizio TV, took a while to connect to Roku, Amazon, and Pandora. BTW, the $6.77 package also contain a mini led keychain light, 3 micro Velcro straps and a microfiber cleaning cloth, well worth the price of the 3 connectors. Anita called at 7:05 which I totally forgot - I did try to call her at 6:00 but stopped after realizing that it's not the right time.
3/17/2016: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, arrived at 9:35 - spent 5 minutes at the last traffic light. JP arrived at 9:45, not too late. Stopped by OSH and got a pack of 2 splash guard. Went to Marina Grocery and purchased 4 tomatoes, 2 white onions, a pack of Taiwan sausage, a pack of fried fish cake, one bunch cilantro, a pack of mun bean sprouts, a pack of beef tendon balls, and a box of preserved duck egg. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.
3/18/2016: Got up at 7:45. Cleaned leftover garden waste in the street, took about 15 minutes. Swept Wisteria flowers in the backyard, still difficult to remove the ones sticking to the brick floor. Washed the deck holding the rectangular planter box, need to see how clean it became after drying up. Played 40 minutes table tennis (from 12:25 - 1:05) with Stephanie, Kung is off today, moving to his new house. Had 60 minutes MB (3000 counts) with RMs, no EJ.
3/19/2016: Woke up at 4:20, stayed awake but fell asleep at 5:50. Got up at Arriving RCD at 9:25. Started removing curtain hanger with no luck, switch to master bathroom shower as it is the most time consuming task, not very happy with the grouting result, uneven and color mismatch in many spots, or well, finished attempt to change that at 10:20, applied white silicone to the glass frame base (inside and outside), added clear silicone to glass joints, applied more grout sealer, finished all these at 11:20. Installed splash guards to JT's bathroom, this should stop the deterioration of the attaching walls and floor caused by water leaking from both sides of the tub. Removed the curtain hanger by using smaller Philip screw driver. Installed the coffee table top back to its base. Had lunch at a true Vietnamese restaurant, not bad. Got home at 2:40. Tip stopped by to see the photobooks I made, she's having dinner with Teresa tonight.
3/20/2016: Got up at 7:45. Had 30 minutes (2000 counts) MB with RMs, no EJ. Visited Lowes and got a bottle of spray gel Goo Gone and a bottle of multi-use (wood, metal, granite, leather,...) Pledge. Made sea weed and Mung bean sprout cold mix - with white pepper and minced garlic. Called Anita at 5:00, she's going to 宜蘭 with her classmates today. Paid Anthem $70.44 online. Had another MB with RMs and minis for 50 minutes (2500 counts), no EJ.
3/21/2016: Got up at 7:45. It rained last night, this actually made cleaning Wisteria flowers easier, almost all the old ones that stuck to the brick flat was effortlessly swept away:-) Played 45 minutes table tennis, 15 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung. Verified the vine next to our front porch is Jasmine, cut some flowers from it, will let them dry to see if usable. Tip stopped by to pick up floor mat, had Tony Roma for dinner. Cleaned the other floor mat, a little easier as it's not as dirty. Had 50 minutes (2500 counts) MB with RMs, no EJ.
3/22/2016: Got up at 8:10. Dry cleaned both vehicles. Hand over cleaned floor mat to Tip. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 30 with Stephanie and 30 with Kung. Cut off one of the Oleander branches that was next to our next door as well as back door neighbors, it has been blocking our access to Monica's garden for a long time, now that it is gone, the whole area becomes wide open, took about 50 minutes. After reading sample version of his book, I ordered Rick Steves Italy 2016 Kindle version from Amazon.com for $15.49. Had 50 minutes MB (2500 counts) with RMs and minis, good EJ.
3/23/2016: Got up at 7:20. Went to Costco and picked up a case of Modelo beer, one pineapple, one bag Mandarins, one pack Brie cheese, one bag Pacific small frozen shrimp, 2 bottles of BV Cabernet Sauvignon, and one Rotisserie chicken. Swing by Hong Kong Hair & Beauty and got a haircut - it was 10:20 and there was no other customers in the salon, maybe I will try this approach the next time instead of waiting at the door at 10:00. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 30 minutes with Kung, he's still suffering back pain from house moving. Called Anita at 2:00 (5:00AM Taipei time) and woke her up. Anita called from the airport at 3:45, she's waiting to drop off her luggage. Spent nearly one hour cleaned up remaining weeds in the backyard. Anita called from NRT at 9:55. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ - not very comfortable possibly too close to the last EJ.
3/24/2016: Got up at 7:45. Left for SJC at 10:30, got there at 10:45, got a call from Anita just as I was going into parking garage, she's waiting for the luggage so I diverted to cell phone waiting area and parked in the last available space. Anita called a few minutes later and I picked her up at the customs exit, got home at 11:25. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 15 with Stephanie and 35 with Kung. Called Kwanghua at 6:13 to let her Anita's resting and will call later. Called mom at 7:00.
3/25/2016: Got up at 8:15. Cleaned Wisteria flowers in 30 minutes. The weather was nice and sunny, although with moderate temperature, the soil was drying out quite fast, need to start watering the flowers and plants. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung had the day off to take care of his house sale issues.
3/26/2015: Hiking day, since Jason id out of town I went alone. Got up at 7:00, left the house at 7:55, got there at 8:20. There were 12 people in the group: Ruby, Jerry, Ahmei, Yung, Shingkuo, Alice, Steve, Ching, Ming, the other Ming, Wayne, and myself. Came home right after the hike, sent Anita for Yoga class at City Sports while I shopped at SF market (a bag of egg noodle, a bag of 青江菜, a bag of Ganlan, one pack of chicken wing, 3 cucumbers, one bottle vinegar, one bunch bananas, 2 white onions, and a bag of julienned bamboo shoots) and Lowes (one kitchen sink strainer, a spray bottle of Lime-Away). Trimmed off a good portion of the stems left by the fallen Wisteria flowers, this should give more head clearance as we walk under it.
3/27/2016: Got up at 7:45. Cleaned backyard granite slabs as well as old kitchen tiles off the Wisteria flowers that had been sticking on to them, also removed the Wisteria flowers accumulated on top of the volcano rocks, must have taken more than 2 hours, it's not done yet. Spent another hour after lunch pulling weeds, which I did not think was, from backyard. Preparing for Italy trip.
3/28/2016: Got up at 7:15. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie but she had to respond to texting from Teresa every now and then which reduced actual playing time to 30 minutes, Kung's off today. Got full tank of gas for LS400, the price (Octane 91 - $2.749) had jumped a lot since I got $1.999 (Octane 87) for the RX300. Had a short 5 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Rebooked Best Western Hotel airvenice for 2 nights after arriving Venice, a little cheaper but it's non-refundable. Purchased two Italiarail high speed train tickets from Venice to Milan - $74 ($34.5x2 +$5 processing fee), they were the last two tickets of the class but the two seats are in separate rows though. Discovered later that the boarding station was far away from Best Western Hotel airvenice, need to find the station close by and add tickets. Had MB with my legs, EJ.
3/29/2016: Got up at 8:00. Started searching for additional transportation needs from Best Western Hotel airvenice. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25+15 minutes with Stephanie, 20 with Kung, he's still suffering from his back pain, more serious than previously thought. Found and purchased the tickets needed to take us from Quarto D'Altino ($3.5+$3.5+$5 processing fee) to Venezia Mestre (where we will take , also found Quarto D'Altina train station location, which is just a few blocks from Best Western Hotel airvenice where we will be staying.
3/30/2016: Got up at 7:25. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 15+15 with Stephanie and 15 with Kung. Cleaned up the sticky Wisteria flowers in Monica's garden. Searched for "The Last Supper" tickets from the two websites Rick Steves recommended without luck, searched for other websites and found one (tickitaly.com) with 3 tickets available, went through the slow waiting booking process and completed purchase but had to wait until they wake up and process our purchase, a description of their tour "This tour begins with a visit to the Sforza Castle, once one of the greatest citadels in Europe, with its impenetrable Rocchetta and Ducal Court. We then continue on foot to the Basilica of S. Maria delle Grazie to admire Bramante's Tribune and the beautiful Cloister of Frogs. The tour ends inside the former Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie with a fifteen minute viewing of Leonardo da Vinci's celebrated Last Supper. This tour lasts two hours, including 15 minutes of walking."
3/31/2016: Got up at 7:20, almost forgot it's CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:32, had to call April to let me in. JP came in just a few minutes later - possibly her earliest ever. Helped moved 2 boxes of book to deputy director of CCC to her car. Stopped by CVS and got 6 bottles of assorted Barefoot wines, went and got some groceries from Marina Grocery, including 4 heads crown Broccoli, one head celery, several small red potatoes, one bottle rice wine, 6 bags of 黃飛紅 peanuts, one bag small carrots, and one lotus root. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, EJ - good one. Purchased Italiarail e-tickets for Milan to/from Cinque Monterosso, with nearly 3 hours each way, we could only allocate less than 6 hours in Cinque Terre, need to arrange how we spend the time there - hopping between towns, a little hiking, a little shopping, or a little small town adventure...
4/1/2016: Got up at 7:20, cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took only 15 minutes. The pineapple I got from Costco turned out to be bad, not sure how to describe it, but you wouldn't want to consume it just by looking at it, the smell also suggested otherwise, threw 90% of it out. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung. Also loaned him the dry wall patch tape, joint compound, as well as application tool.
4/2/2016: Got up at 7:00, hiking day. There were 12 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Alice, Shingkuo, Ching, the other Ming, Steve, Wayne, Alex and myself. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, EJ. Purchased high speed train tickets from Florence back to Venice, 2x$28.5+$5 from italiarail.com.
4/3/2016: Got up at 7:50. Washed the three floor mats for the RX300. Trimmed off some Wisteria branches that were too low, raised the back of the swing bench so we could sit and swing normally. Visited Petsmart but could not find any usable automatic cat feeder, swing by Target but could not find any feeder either, and they were out of any size creamer. Anita finally got two pairs of pants for her, not totally empty handed after all.
4/4/2016: Got up at 8:10. Spent one hour trimming the trees (too tall to be labeled as bushes) facing backdoor neighbor, a long time coming, it's much simpler and quicker using chainsaw to do the job. Played nearly 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung is out for the day. Examined Tip's RX330 for under the hood fluids as well as cabin air filter, air filter required socket to remove and was postponed till next time, brake and power steering fluids needed to be replenished, also next time, paired her iPhone to the built-in Bluetooth. Processed all the trimmed off branches and made them into shorter ones to reduce the size of the pile.
4/5/2016: Got up at 7:50. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung, he's getting better with his back.
4/6/2016: Got up at 7:45. Went by Walmart and got two 32oz Hazelnut creamer, 2 bottle fuel injector system cleaner, one string of bananas, one box kitchen trash bag, could not find any 2005 RX330 air or cabin air filter. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie and 25 minutes with Kung.
4/7/2016: Got up at 7:10, CCC volunteer day. Arriving CCC at 9:30, got in at 9:35. JP brought her younger daughter's NB for me to examine, I wasn't able to find anything unusual, told her to ask her daughter to launch task manager to check process cpu usage the next time she encounters slow/ unresponsive program. Stopped by Marina Grocery and picked up one head Cauliflower, two pink pomelos, one fried fish cake, 6 tomatoes, one celery, and one beef flat. Had 20 minutes MB with mini, EJ.
4/8/2016: Got up at 7:15, cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took only 15 minutes. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 30 with Kung. The electrical air pump became broken as he was using it, the tube feeding compressed air out of the unit was torn and was leaking air. Received air/cabin air filters as well as Pet feeder from Amazon. The Pet feeder appeared to be a simple design and it did not include the 3 type D batteries required to operate. Went to Costco at 8:00 and got a pack of 14 type D batteries, filled up RX300 gas as well, waited only 10 minutes. Programmed the pet feeder (stupid design), will have to wait until tomorrow morning to see if it worked and if the quantity dispensed is suitable.
4/9/2016: Got up at 8:10. The rain wasn't too big but lingering long enough to fill existing buckets in place, filled remaining buckets manually to allow continue collection. Fixed the broken electric air pump with a the help of a little W-40 - this made the insertion of air output piece into the tube much easier. Went to Dynamicfoundation and finished the vehicle tasks (P/S and brake fluids, air filter, cabin air filter), for some unknown reason, I wasn't able to install the new air filter and had to put the old one back, sorry Tip.
4/10/2016: Got up at 8:55. Molly found her day/night shelter - the planter box I moved from the deck to the wall underneath DirectTV dish. Did not leave the house the whole day.
4/11/2016: Got up at 7:45. Taped the automatic cat feeder so that food will all drop in the smaller bowl instead. Had 35 minutes (2000 counts) MB (mainly Aoi Shirosaki) with minis, no EJ. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie and 30 with Kung. Removed the tapes from the automatic cat feeder as they kind of disrupt the flow of food down the tray below, also remove the small bowl, let Molly get used to its full feature.
4/12/2016: Got up at 7:55. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie and 30 with Kung, Stephanie was going to take 石媽媽 to see the doctor during lunch hour but was rescheduled to the afternoon so she got to play some table tennis, she actually played better dressing up. Visited 99 Ranch Market after getting home as there was no rife wine to cook chicken soup with, saw the passenger side window of a SUV smashed as I was leaving, someone must have left stuff on the passenger seat and induced the break-in, that parking lot is getting worse. Had 30 minutes MB with RM and mini, great EJ.
4/13/2016: Got up at 8:15. Confirmed that the Windows 10 (Vulcan) tablet now required login password as xxxxSlyyyy. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie and 30 with Kung.
4/14/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:10, got everything, including lunch, ready by 9:10. Sent mail to Inna of Shorebee on incorrect itinerary. There have been some tension over at CCC, possibly due to the arrival of new deputy chief, uniform among other requirements were demanded, it's probably about time for me to leave this place. Swing by OSH and got a replacement 40W bulb for the ceramic light house. Had 30 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Vacation hold Mercury News from 4/26/2016 until 5/18/2016.
4/15/2016: Got up at 7:30. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took 20 minutes. Received response e-mail from Inna of Shorebee, she did change the cruise ship name (Norwegian Jade) as well as passenger names but the departure time of the tour bus is still at 9:00am which is the arrival time of Norwegian Jade, need to send her another mail to confirm. Sent Inna another mail confirming tour bus departure time.
4/16/2016: Hiking day. Got up at 7:00, left house at 7:55 and got the meeting point at 8:20. Found out from Alex that Jason had already come back. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Alice, Sujen, Ching, Alan, Alex, the other Ming and myself. The cat automatic feeder seemed to be working just fine, my original calculation based on 1/4 cup each meal will last only ((6x16)/(2x3) just over two weeks, but based on actual dispensation appeared to be less than 2 oz, looks like a full container can last more than three weeks which is ideal for our trip and Molly.
4/17/201: Got up at 7:25. Had lunch at In-N-Out Burger, their burger cost about 5% more than the last time. First stop at Trader Joes, got one bag peanuts, one bag cashew nuts, one bag Brazil nuts, one bag almonds, one bag candied pecan, 5 bananas, and one avocado. Stopped by Target and got 2 Mother's Day cards, 3 bag 3-lbs cat food, and one umbrella. Got a water kettle from Marshall. Got 6 750ml plus one 1.5L Barefoot wine from CVS. Got a pack of country boneless rib, a box of Ding Dong, and one box of Ritz Handi Snacks from Safeway. This is possibly the longest grocery shopping we done together for a long time - nearly 3 hours. After some research, I discovered using web version Google Drive can have real sync effect, in other words uploaded files can be seen now but not on the "Finder Google Drive".
4/18/2016: Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie and 25 with Kung.
4/19/2016: Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 30 minutes with Kung. Made a cardboard tube to fadd to the feeder, it was smaller in diameter than the container opening on top, the idea was to fit the tube inside and pour more food inside, need to test to see if it works. Ordered a $199 "Echo" from Amazon.com for Linda's wedding gift - her registry on Amazon.com
4/20/2016: No table tennis today, they have meeting with the boss. Redesigned cardboard tube for the feeder, this time made it sit outside of top opening to make more logical - a true extension of the container.
4/21/2016: Got up at 7:20. Got to CCC at 9:30, had to call April to get in. Susan's back. Tested remote monitoring, I can see live feeds from both cameras now, changing HTTP ports on the cameras to be unique worked out OK. Stopped by OSH but did not see a suitable apron for Anita to use in the garden. Remembered a couple of e-mails from United mentioning schedule changes, wen online and did find out flights were changed along with departure/arrival times, plus I dod not have seat assignment from Frankfurt to Venice, online message saying I need to come back 23 hours before departure (the second flight) time and check-in to assign seat - that means 8:15AM 4/26.
4/22/2016: Got up at 7:25. It rained during the night, with gusty wind, the cat feeder was dampen with rain water, need to come up with a water proof solution before we leave for Italy. Played 50 minutes (12:15-1:05) table tennis with Stephanie, Kung was off the afternoon. Brought over some indoor plants for Kung to water them while we're away, handed over the leftover flapper from last year to Stephanie. It's exactly the same as the one she has. It fixed her leaking toilet problem.
4/23/2016: Rebuilding Together Day (938 The Alameda, San Jose, CA, 95126). Got up at 6:30. Left for LGBT Community Center at 7:35, got there at 7:55. Taping and painting took nearly two and half hours, broken chairs cleanup took another 30 minutes, pizza lunch ended at 12:15, took off after group photo. Got home at 1:00.
4/24/2016: Got up at 7:55. Tackled ant invading the feeder problem, applying pest repellent to the
surrounding area, added two cream cheese buckets to the two bench legs and added water to them, these were ants' direct access to the feeder, should stop them for now - until water dries out:-) Made some adjustment on the Dell webcam (tablet) stand to get a better view of the feeder and the area in front of it. It appeared that AppleTV does have mirroring capability, the info I gave to Tip wasn't correct, how do I make up this mistake, maybe finding out how to do it through Roku....
4/25/2016: Got up at 7:30. Still pondering on what to pack for the trip in the small carry-on sized luggage. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, she's getting even better than one month ago. Kung is in Taiwan for his mother-in-law's funeral. Had 35 minutes MB with RM and minis, EJ.
Paid $3.99 for Premium version of the FileManager for iPad, hope it's worth the cost. Got notification mail from United saying that German airport (Frankfurt included) workers planned to strike on 4/27, the day we arrive, our flight may be delayed or even cancelled, after discussing with Anita, we decided to go with the original plan since almost all of our hotel as well as transportation bookings are non refundable, plus there's very little we could do anyway.
4/26/2016: Got up at 7:20. Mercury newspaper was delivered even though there's a vacation hold starting today, called their service center at 9:30, spoke to a representative at 9:32, should have taken care of the problem - I hope. Checked Lufthansa for our flight LH330 (5:15PM local time) from Frankfurt to Venice, thank God it is still on schedule, the flight just before us (4:10PM) also stays on schedule, but two flights (8:05AM and 12:25PM) before that were cancelled, that was close - nearly 900 flights have been cancelled due to massive strike in 7 Germany airports 4/26-4/27. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Loaded 2 thin particle boards and one dry wall board to Stephanie. Jack picked us up from home at 3:30, got to SFO at 4:20. It appeared not too many passengers were in the terminal, we went through security check in a breeze, it could be that it's still early!? Decided to use United Club with the two free usage cards from United Explorer Card, as we have more than one and half hour to kill before boarding. We were in group 2 on boarding priority because we are United Explorer Credit Card holders. We have the two isle seats in the center row. Praying that no one will be sitting between us. It is 6:40, the captain announced that there will be enough room for everyone to stretch, meaning many open seats, people started moving to empty seats which are more comfortable. However, one gentleman who'd just moved to the two-seat row next to my seat had to move again because the actual owners of the seats just boarded, but he's lucky because the row in front of me still has 3 empty space which he soon occupied. Anita and I got to enjoy the entire 4-seat row. Flight UA926 left the gate at 6:50, but waited 7 minutes before taxing, took 14 minutes to reach runway, and took off at 7:12. Bottle water and Cheese crackers were served at 7:45. Dinner was served at 8:30, the food was surprisingly nice, plus complimentary wine. Did not sleep much as I wasn't very comfortable sitting, finally dozed off for maybe a couple of hours, watched "Spy" again on iPad, still funny. Breakfast was served at 1:19AM local time.
4/27/2016: We landed at Frankfurt at 2:25PM and officially in Euro zone after passing Customs. The walk to our connecting flight gate took nearly 15 minutes, almost like finding ways out of a maze. Got online after registering using my yahoo e-mail address. Boarded shuttle at 5:00, got to the plane at 7:07, it's a fully booked flight. The plane did not take off until 5:45, 30 minutes behind schedule. We landed at Venice Marco Polo airport at 6:50, just 20 minutes late. Since the Best Western Airvenice was not on popular location, no bus or shuttle go there directly, we ended up hiring a taxi for €50, very expensive but we had no other reasonable choice. We were notified at Best Western Airvenice when we got there that they had to move us to a different hotel because of some booking issue, surprised that we were upgraded to Crowne Plaza, which is a 4 star hotel and much closer to the train station. Checked in and settled down at 8:30PM. The room was OK but took some effort to get the missing broiler from service. Turned in early at 10:15 after shower and shampoo.
4/28/2016: Woke up at 2:30, got up at 3:00. Had the coffee in the room along with Ding Dong. Went downstairs for breakfast, it's reasonably good although there wasn't any fruits, the best one was bacon, different from what we had in the States, it's not salty, not greasy, but tasted good,had two croissants stuffed with them. There was a group of Korean in the restaurant, probably not as bad as tourists from mainland China but still behaved like they were at home. Slept until nearly 11:00, decided to check out the station and buy some groceries. The Quarto D'Altino station is just 2 minutes walk from Crowne Plaza, but there was a problem, no Trenitalia kiosk was found in the station, in fact it was a station without any residing personnel, we were stunned by this, did not know what to do but went looking for grocery store for now. Asked around and finally found a small one about 5 minutes from the station, found a bigger one about 20 minutes away. Bought 2 bananas from the smaller one, picked up 2 500g yogurt, 2 bananas, one apple, 2 pack salad, one small pack cheese, and a bottle of white wine from Punto Supermercato. Did some research online, it turned out that not every station has Trenitalia kiosk to exchange tickets, the get our tickets we had to go to one with kiosk, this does not make any sense at all. Decided to purchase tickets from the hotel, even though they only sell tickets to Venice S. Lucia, but the train will stop at Venice, cost was €3.35 per person, no processing fee, much cheaper than if purchased online, all this just to have a piece of mind. Took a walk to the same street we went in the morning, no purchases were made, but plenty of photos. Had salad, cheese, nuts, a can sardine, and a bottle of Savpuvignon for dinner.
4/29/2016: Woke up at 2:30, got up at 7:00. Had breakfast at 7:20. Checked out at 8:50. Validated tickets (date and time printed on the ticket plus a small punch hole) and waited for train at 9:00. Got on the 9:17 train toward S. Lucia. Got to Veneizia Mestre at 9:35. Although a major station, it does not have the usual amenities we were used to, for instance, you need to pay €1.00 to use their toilet. Found platform 6 which we will board our train to Mailan then went to McDonald's to rest. Failed to get the e-ticket from Nexus 5, luckily it is still available on iPad. Did some research and discovered that with Wi-Fi on and no real connection, Google drive would attempt to download the file from the cloud even though it is available offline, it seemed to be OK after I turned off the Wi-Fi. It's most likely because of not sleeping well the past two nights, I felt extremely exhausted after moving our luggages up and down the platform stairs. Got on train 9714 carriage 6 at
11:00, our seats have already been taken over by someone who's seats were also occupied by yet another couple, so we just sat at the seats available, 14 A and 14B instead of 13D and 14D. There was Internet service on board but it required lengthy registration and mobile info so I gave up - which pretty much exclude everyone who does not have Italian mobile phone. The conductor came to check our tickets at 11:23 which I showed her ours on my iPad. Train personnel came over with snack/drink cart at 12:05 to serve us, Anita didn't know it was complimentary and did not order anything, I had a cup of water, will ask for more the next two times - to Florence and to Venice. Arriving Milan Centrale station at 1:25, took a while to get out of the station, asked around and found way, hotel Garda is only a few minutes walk from the station, possibly the closest ever for all our trips. Bought some groceries from Express Penny one block away fro the hotel - 2 bottle water, 2 dinner salad, one bottle bubbling wine, 2 breakfast buns, and two sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. Not sure if it's the bubbling wine, but I got a headache after dinner and turned in at 9:30.
4/30/2016: Woke up at 12:30, 2:00, and 3:30. Finally got up at 7:30. Headed out to Metro at 8:50, got tickets (€1.50 each), got on M2 green line in just a few minutes later. In just 5 stops we were at Cardona. Argued with Anita about where the meeting point was, it turned out Google map showed a location that was somewhat off, the description on the voucher was more in line, I trusted too much about Google map. The group had about 30 people, our guide was Debbi originally from Scottland, the major vista point was Da Vinchi's Last Supper which lasted about 25 minutes including waiting time, the other points were just filling in the 2 and half an hour tour. Walked 20 minutes after the tour to Duomo, had our sandwiches at nearby McDonald's after purchasing two cups of coffee there. Got two tickets (€2.00 each) for Duomo Cathedral, walked around it first to soak in it's magnificent outside appearance before touring inside. It was a pretty tiring day possibly due to lack of sleep the last two days. Left Duomo at 2:00, bought tickets for M3 line Metro and got to Centrale station in 4 stops, got back to hotel Garda at 2:25. Went to Penny Express after an hour's rest, picked up one bottle beer, one bottle white wine, one bag wafer, one small pizza (pizzetta), two breakfast buns (focaccina), one dessert glass cup, one 2.0L bottle water, 2 boxed salad, and one breakfast bread. Turned in at 10:30.
5/1/2016: Woke up at 12:30, 1:30, and 3:00. Finally dozed off after consuming the beer. Got up at 6:00. Finished everything earlier at 7:20, so we decided to head out to Centrale station. Our umbrellas made their worth as it was raining, a short walk and we were in the underground passage to the train station, we found the platforms (no number yet). Platform number finally appeared on the monitor, we hurried to the train at platform 17. The train was almost full when we move out of the station. Carriage 8 contains cabins each with 6 seats, different from the chart given when booked online. Arriving Monterosso at 11:14, 10 minutes behind schedule. It had been raining the whole morning until the time we arrived. This town is more resort like than all the other 4, bigger in area, flatter, and has more hotel. After about 20 minutes walk along the coast we decided to go to the next town Vernazza which, according to Rick Steve, is the Jew of Cinque Terre. Bought tickets (€1.80 each one way) from a train worker standing next to the platform stairs, these tickets do not require validation as opposed to the ones we bought for the returning trip. It took only 5 minutes to get there, as the train was much longer than the platform, most passengers had to get off in the middle of a tunnel and walk to the platform. Vernazza is a beautiful town with only 500 residents. It was quiet and very few tourists at the time we got there, but all changed in the afternoon, it's almost like Disneyland, with floods of people getting off trains and swarming the streets. We had a late pizza lunch with local beer (Baladin Open Gold) and house white wine, pizzas were made with very thin crust but we're still big so we had to take almost 95% of the second one back for dinner - got lunch advise from a Canadian couple who were sitting next to us at the restaurant. Left Vernazza on 3:29 train. The train going back to Milan was also full, may have to do with weekend travel for locals. Got back to Milan around 7:55, there was some kind of event at the square in front of the train station, loud music lasted all through mid night. Penny Express Market was closed when we went there, for some reason they closed one hour early, we had to look for bottle water in the train station, finally got one in one of the food joints, but they charge €1.5 for 500ml bottle, that money can buy three 2L bottles from Penny Express, oh well. Had leftover pizza and half of the expensive bottle water for dinner. Turned in at 11:30.
5/2/2016: Woke up at 6:30, got up at 7:15. Got bottle water, fruit boxes, and a sandwich from Penny Express. Checked out at 10:50, visited Burger King in the station, Anita waited in line for coffee but ended up nothing except a small brownie costing €2.50, for coffee you'll need to wait in line again in the next store, really don't make any sense. Got on train 9525, carriage 10, seats 13D and 14D at 11:05. This high speed train (ERT250) is the second best train in Italy. Our train stopped at Bolgona for 5 minutes apparently waiting for other train to release the track. A lady passenger came ove 5 minutes after the train has started moving to occupy the final seat of our 4-seat section. Arriving Florence at 11:14, 10 minutes behind schedule. Went directly to taxi line and got on one WOW bound. Took only 10 minutes to reach our hostel, taxi cost was €11.9 plus €1.00 per luggage but the drive only charged €1.00 total, maybe he thought our two luggages were too small to be charged that much. WOW was on the fourth floor, and our room 207 was one floor above. It was a small but neat room with two twin bed, one coffee table, one table, one chair, and one stool/night stand. Lighting was even worse than hotel Garda in Milan however. Found the grocery store directed by hostel staff, it was Carrefour Express, a much smaller version of its big brother, the price here is about 20% higher than Milan, nearly twice as much as similar groceries we purchased form the store in Quarto D'Altino. It's quite an exercise carrying heavy groceries back to the hostel as it took over 10 minutes to get back. Anita had a sore throat and had to turn in earlier, I could not fall asleep until 11:00 and had to resort to the rest of the wine to help me finally get some sleep.
5/3/2016: Got up at 7:30. Had breakfast at hostel's cafeteria, it had everything from boil egg, bread, cereal, coffee/latte, pancake, yogurt, ... for €5.00, good deal. Went visited Duomo at 10:50, apparently it is THE most popular landmark in Florence, it's about 10 minutes walk from hostel WOW, and Carrefour is about half point going there. From Rick Steve's book, the exterior is a much better experience than interior since much of the stuff inside had been the collection of Duomo Museum, so we spent all our time outside, enjoying the facade, the reliefs, and the crowd. Had a Gelato before heading back to WOW, lost the water bottle I placed in my vest side pocket. Discovered from Rick Steve's writings that we need to book Galleria Uffizi tickets before visiting it so I went online and booked two tickets for 12:15 as most tickets for the morning were gone. As I examined the e-mail carefully I discovered that I booked the wrong day, should have been 5/4/2016 instead I somehow selected 5/5/2016, after a panic moment, I sent an e-mail to their customer support asking for help, rebooked two tickets for tomorrow at 12:15, also sent the info to their customer support, after several mail exchanges, the result was that they will refund 5/5/2016 tickets provided that I rebook and send them the booking number which I did, the refund will take place in 60 working days. I was expericing stomach uncomfort problem after nearly one and half an hour struggle. Went out for walk after a short rest, the crowd was the same if not bigger. Stopped by Carrefour and picked up one 2L bottle water, one bag carrots, one box salad, one thin fried chicken stake, and one canton Carrefour branded red wine. The salad was more tasting because there were cheese as well as ham inside, plus it was lettuce instead of spinach, also the thin chicken stake was tasty as well.. Unable to fall asleep until I had a good amount of the leftover red wine at 1:00am.
5/4/2016: Got up at 7:00. Had the €5.00 breakfast at WOW, it's pretty much the same as yesterday except that we went there earlier, 7:40 instead of 8:00, so a lot of the stuff wasn't ready yet. Headed out to Galleria begli Uffizi at 10:05, got there at 10:33 without a hitch. With the direction from a galleria staff we found the office and stood in line to get our tickets only to be asked to come back at 12:00, walked around quite a bit, visited Piazza Della Signoria, the square that many museums (including Uffizi) and historic sites in its surroundings, the square was surrounded by many statues, a fountain (Fontana del Nettuno), a huge Silicone Bronze turtle (Searching for Utopia). Also strolled on the old bridge (Ponte Vecchio) where the "Gold Street" name was given because the bridge was virtually a street full of stores selling gold jewelry. Went back to the ticket pick up line at 11:45, this time the same staff asked us to wait in the other line which will be the next group once the current line ends. There was a confusion after we got our tickets, we mistakenly stood in another line thinking it will lead us inside the gallery, but it turned out to be the line where people wait to BUY tickets after Anita checked out. Quickly we went to the correct location and entered in the gallery. This gallery has a lot, a lot of statues/busts, we had to pick some to spend time on, even with this strategy, we did not get out until 2:40, spent 15 minutes in the gift shop before coming back to hostel WOW at 3:30, stopped by Carrefour Express, got one 2L bottle water, 2 sandwiches, one salad, one chicken stake, 2 box wine (white and red, one each). Note on visiting Uffizi: Reserve/purchase tickets online (date, time, price - full price is for everyone except kids and seniors), print or keep a record of your order (sent by e-mail), arrive 15 minutes before the schedule entry time, go to the ticket office (ask to be sure which office), get tickets, go to entrance to get in.
5/5/2016: Got up at 7:10. Time to return to Venice. Had breakfast in the room with stuff purchased from Carrefour Express, It's more convenient and quicker. We decided yesterday to ride the bus to Firenze Centrale. Bus number 17 is the one, need to validate the tickets to avoid possible fine. Left hostel WOW at 8:55, got to bus station at 8:58, bus 17B came at 9:00, got to S.M.N. Station at 9:07-4 stops. Our train 9408 for 10:15 won't have a platform for a while so we stopped by McDonald's for coffee, it turned out it was a food court where McDonald's just a small part but we got coffee and a croissant from other venders instead-you decide what you want, pay for it in one station and pick up at another, as opposed to getting everything from the same person. Train 9408 finally had platform 8, got on carriage 4, these super economy seats had there name written all over the overhead storage, it barely fit deflated backpacks, all other luggages had to be placed in special open spaces between rows or on racks at the end of the carriage. Our seats were in-line this time, no table or other passengers to share the space with, the seats were comfortable with personal flip table and garbage can, and we were able to put our backpacks in overhead bin. Train 9408 left the platform at 10:19, just 4 minutes behind schedule. Arriving Venezia, S. Lucia at 12:25, 5 minutes behind schedule. Purchased 2 Vaporetto (Venice water bus) tickets (€7.50 each) at 12:35, got on #2 line at 12:32 and reading Rialto Bridge at 12:40. Getting to our hotel was a bit of a challenge, there was no Google route available, street crowded with tourists, with Anita' teneciously asking around and a little help from the GPS on my Nexus 5, we finally found Dimora Dogale-took nearly 30 minutes after getting off Vaporetto. The room was small but comfortable with some royal touch. Rest for one hour before heading out to S. Marco Cathedral. Took a while to find where we were going but discovered the grocery store (Coop) on our way there. The S. Marco square is the center to a number of historic sites: museums, cathedral, palaces,... Coming here you get to see a whole lot in a relative short time provided you don't mind waiting in lines, it seemed the whole tourist population in Venice was here.
5/6/2016: Got up at 7:45, very comfortable bed. Had breakfast downstairs at 8:15, there were only 4 small round tables in the dining room, the tables (20" in diameter) were covered with breakfast items-breads, butter, jelly, plates and had no room for my small shoulder bag, had to keep it on my shoulder during meal. There was a small stain glass window by our table, canal boats passed by every now and then, some carrying tourists, some cargos, took a couple of photos, looked nice. Headed out to see Bridge Rialto, it' closer than we thought, checked out the Vaporetto line we need to take to get to Cruise Terminal tomorrow, purchased tickets ahead to avoid crowd. Wandered to a side street and found a restaurant appearing to be local people oriented as their price was much lower than the ones on the Main Street targeting tourists. Stopped by Coop supermarket again (possibly the last time for this trip) and got one Fuji apple (need to weigh and get label from machine before checking out), 2 bananas (same...), one 1.5L bottle water, one box container Coop red wine, and one local beer. Went out again just to be outside. Attempt to walk toward the end of the eastern side of the sea shore was terminated when we both felt the heat of the sun was a bit much for us and had turn back, made our way to the restaurant we had lunch, got some cheese/prosciutto fries, some fish fries, a box of sea food salad (shrimp, musscel, octopus, and celery (€10.00), totaling €13.90.
5/7/2016: Got up at 7:45. Started packing after breakfast, checked out at 10:25. Walked to Vaporetto stop at Rialto at 10:50, validated the tickets and got on number 2 heading cruising port. The staff on the Vaporetto told us to get off at Tronchetto Mecarto but took 10 minutes to figure out where/how to walk toward cruise terminal as there wasn't any direction or even a single sign at the stop, unbelievable. It was a long walk from we got off the Vaporetto and the check-in area, must have been more than 25 minutes. The check-in should have started at 12:00 (or earlier like the last time in Barcelona, where we finished checking in by 11:45), for some unannounced reason, it delayed by 25 minutes. Went right to the buffet area after dropping luggages off in our stateroom. 5:00 o'clock fire drill at level 6 F1. Attended the 6:00 Sail away party by the pool, BBQ with music and dance, nice. Moved to deck 14 to take Venice photos when Jade sail through the harbor - best photo session of this trip. Had dinner part 2 after Venice photo session. No wine or beer tonight, most likely would be challenging to fall asleep soon.
5/8/2016: Got up at 8:45, as I did not fall asleep until 2:30. We never had breakfast on cruise ship this late, the buffet restaurant was packed with people, we had to sit in the section for family with children. Had light lunch at Blue Logoon, Buffalo wings, chef salad, and prosciutto peninni, more tasty than the buffet for sure. Went to the cocktail party for Latitude members, saw the ship staff, had beer, white wine, red wine, cocktail, and 點心 (French word), man, I was really stuffed, took a couple of hours to digest. Anita went for a walkout in the fitness center while I had MB with new mini, EJ after using my legs. Had dinner at 5:30, not crowded, more leisure and more tasting. Attended the "Soul Rockin' Nights" in Stardust theatre at 7:30, it was shorter than an hour but very entertaining.
5/9/2016: Jade had already docked when we got up at 6:55. Had breakfast at "Blue Lagoon", it's slower but more tasty. Left Jade at 9:00, there's a free shuttle took us to the port terminal office, where a city bus (€1.70 one way per person) moved us to the edge of city center. The new Fort was right there so we spent 30 minutes going to it, there was no entrance fee, however, there wasn't much to see either. Attempt to reach the Old Fort turned out to be pretty challenging as the roads were non linear and often times went up and down, took 10 minutes to find out exactly where to go and finally got to the Old Fort, entrance fee was €6, even thought the name "Old" implied otherwise, but this fort was actually in much better shape than the "New" one. Walked along the coast line to get back to the bus stop at 12:03, just in time to catch the bus. Got back to Jade at 12:25, dropped everything in the stateroom and hurried to lunch buffet. Slept for a couple of hours after lunch, felt better. Had dinner from 5:50-5:35, tried to eat as slow as possible. Watched "Beatles Invasion" in Stardust theatre, 45 minutes non-stop Beatles' songs-pretty good!
5/10/2016: Got up at 8:00, slept most of the night. Jade won't dock at Santorini until 2:00pm. Went for a walk on deck 7 but stopped after 5 minutes as it's getting a bit too windy. Went back to the cafe to have some fruit, it's after 10:00 but there were still a lot of people, in fact empty table was still hard to spot. Found the NCL itinerary guide at the atrium, it listed all cruises up to 2017. Had lunch at 12:00, again, a lot of people, not a pleasant time to be in the cafe. Jade docked at Santorini at 1:30, we went up to the top deck to see the destination, the whole city was built on top of a stretch hill, we'll have to walk over 500 steps to get to the top. We kind of missed the announcement on getting tender tickets earlier, by the time we got,to it, the numbers were in group 15, a long time (possibly one hour or more) to wait, oh well. We finally got on the tender (boats operated by Greek personnel instead of the life boats we used to rode a couple years back) by 3:10 but it did not set sail until 3:15, got to Santorini at 3:26. There are three ways getting to the city: walking 526 steps sharing road with donkeys and their poops, riding donkey for €5.00, or cable car for €5.00, we decided to ride the cable car after pondering for a few minutes. Got on cable car at 3:49. Santorini has been commercialized for a long while, everywhere you go, you see venders selling souvenir and/or food, took some photos from higher ground for about one hour and 35 minutes. Got back to Jade by 6:00, it appeared most people were still on Santorini as the the cafeteria was almost empty when we started dinner and it was pretty much the same by the time we left at 6:40. Went to top deck to see Santorini at night, it was beautiful but I could not capture the beauty with the Sony camera, too bad. Set alarms to 6:00am.
5/11/2016: Woke ,up at 5:10, got up at 5:50. Went to have breakfast at 6:05, waited for the cafeteria to open, Anita wa a bit concerned so she went to check on the tender ticket pickup area, I went to check on her after 10 minutes, there was a line there and she's in the middle of it, got our tender tickets at 6:59, we were in groupt 3. Got on the tender at 7:54, set sail at 7:56, arriving Mykonos at 8:02, ticket for the Delos was €20 each round trip, there were 4 same sections on each ticket, we only find out later that two of them for our records. There were two other cruise liners docking in the bay, assembly not here just to watch. The ferry left Mykonos at 9:02, 2 minutes behind schedule, most people sat on the top deck for better view. It took 27 minutes to get there. The entrance ticket was €12 each (€6 for Euro citizens), there were 3 suggested tour routes, blue line (1.5 hours), blue+green lines (3 hours), and blue+green+brown lines (5 hours), we picked the shortest. It was quite a disappointment at the beginning as there was not easy to understand the great history of the ruins without someone explaining it as most if not all stones were scattered which made it difficult to guess what it was 2500 years ago, there were occasional description and sketches depicting what it may have looked, making the visit here not a total loss. It only took one hour to finish 2/3 of the blue line tour when we reached the museum, there wasn't much to see in the museum either, unlike what we've seen in the past, museum should contain better and nicely preserved artifacts, this museum appeared to simply display what's collected in the ruins as is. Finished remaining of the blue line tour and went back to the museum shop, since there wasn't any souvenir there, we revisited the cafe next to the museum where Anita bought a small magnet. Got back to the dock area, got on the ferry at 12:00, set sail at 12:20, 5 minutes behind schedule. Got back to Mykonos at 12:45, while Anita went shopping for souvenir, I took some photos of nearby buildings, missed the chance taking photo of a sun bathing lady with beautiful naked breasts. Got on tender at 1:25, left Mykonos at 1:32, got on Jade at 1:38, in our stateroom at 1:51. The crowded cafeteria suggested that most people had come back from Mykonos (or did not go at all). Had MB in shower with tip shampoo, no EJ.
5/12/2016: Woke up at 11:30 and almost every hour, got up at 6:45. Got everything ready by 8:30, walked down to deck 4 for disembarkation, The gangway was closed after Anita an a few others were allowed to disembark, apparently someone made a mistake when the ship hasn't been tied up yet, Anita came back saying it looked rainy so I went back and got the umbrella just in case. Got on the excursion bus at 9:00, no Wi-Fi yet since our guide (Stephen, also the owner) isn't on board yet. There were a total of 9 people in the group, of which only 4 were registered online. It took 30 minutes to get to Olympia, ruins and museum tickets were €6.00 + €6.00 per person. We spent one hour in the ruins and 30 minutes in the museum, then went to the town for souvenir. Got on the bus at 12:25, got back to Katakolon at 12:55, Anita tipped driver George €5.00, we were back in stateroom at 1:02, had a quick lunch and went back to Katakolon at 1:45. Most stuff in the stores here were pretty much the same as in Mykonos only more expensive, returned to ship in just 30 minutes. Had MB in shower with tip shampoo, no EJ. Had dinner at 6:00. Had another MB with tip shampoo, no EJ.
5/13/2016: Got up at 7:00, had a short MB with aloe, no EJ. Went to have breakfast only to find out it wasn't fully open yet due to time change which missed the daily message, had a couple of buns and prunes and went back to our stateroom. Had a second breakfast at 7:10, I had a 3-egg omelette (took the chef 5 minutes to make, really made it slowly), it's so big and that's all I could have. Checked with CruiseNext representative, we only need to pay $50 to get TWO future (next 4 years) cruises deposited ($200 existing onboard credit plus $250 return on 2 future purchases [$500]), good deal. Found and purchased 2 photos taken by cruise personnel, one from Santorini and one from Mykonos, the one in Santorini was Anita only. The one that was taken when we enter the check-in area was hard to find (each displayed photo had a number behind it), we gave up looking for it. Got two shoulder bags from the ship's $15 blow out sale at 10:00 in Jasmine Garden (restaurant), they are a matching pair although Anita's looked better:-). Had lunch at Blue Lagoon, 6-piece Buffalo Wings, one side dish Coleslaw, one Chef's Salad, one Fried Mozzarella Sticks, and Anita's favorite Chocolate Brownie Sundae. It's probably the result of having prunes this morning, I was having blotted stomach just before and throughout lunch, very uncomfortable, felt better after releasing some gas after coming back to the stateroom. Anita went to the gym for a workout at 1:50. Had 15 minutes MB with aloe, no EJ. Started packing at 4:00, put most essential stuff in the luggage by 4:30, need to place the luggages outside of the stateroom before 11:00pm, this is the first time we did so simply it is required since "Easy Walk Off" is not permitted in the port of Venice. Had dinner at 6:00 at Garden Cafe, as expected, they have seafood (although not that great) to try to make every passengers happy, this has been their practice for years just to help erase any unpleasant experience onboard customers may have. Watched "Duo Challenge" in Stardust, was OK for two slightly junior performers did their variety show. Had MB in shower, EJ. Finished packing and placed them outside our stateroom where Moos will take them down to lower level for tomorrow.
Side note: Three restaurants that requires reservation but do not charge additional fees are Grand Pacific, Alizar, and Jasmine Garden.
5/14/2016: Got up at 5:55, as the ship was very stable, we thought it had docked already, found out it's still moving toward Venice after checking channel 23. Had breakfast at 6:30, realized I left my bag (passport, cash, wallet) in the stateroom half way through, went back to get it and went up to the top deck to take some morning Venice view and photos. Disembarkation started at 8:10, in order based on luggage color tags. We waited in the stateroom until 8:45 before going to public waiting area (pretty any where), top, the train station was still quite a distance away, will be challenging without shuttle. Turned out there was no bus or shuttle, we had to walk to the "People Mover", a 3 station rail train running between Venezia S. Lucia and Tronchetto with mid point being the Venice Cruise Terminal. Cost was €1.50 per person. We could have ridden this "People Mover" from Venezia S. Lucia to Cruise port directly instead of riding Vaporetto to Tronchetto than walk 10 minutes to Cruise Terminal (or rode the People Mover at Tronchetto to Cruise Terminal). Train ticket from Venezia S. Lucia to Venezia Mestre was €1.25. Spent some time trying to look for bus info at Venezia S. Lucia before realizing we should be doing it in Venezia Mestre instead. Train ride was 11 minutes. After asking around, Anita bought the tickets to our hotel, had a prociutto sandwich and some water before looking for transportation to Marco Polo airport, found the office selling bus #15 (operated by ACTV) to the airport (from Venezia Mestre) for €8 each, we bought two for Tuesday, 5/17/2016. Got on bus #2 heading to our hotel, Anita asked a lady who luckily spoke English, we were on the wrong direction, got off at the next stop and crossed the street to catch one going the right way, but still had no idea how many stops before getting off, lucky again, a guy waiting at the station was a driver to take over driving when the next #2 bus comes in, we got on the bus which he took over driving, I started looking for our hotel on the map and fount it along with functioning GPS showing we were approaching Hotel Garibaldi, and he told us to get off at the next stop, thank God, the hotel is right at the bus stop. Went out looking for a mini mart I saw on Google Map but it seemed to have closed or something, had a Gelato before heading back to the hotel for info, "Ali" is the grocery store we were told to look for in the city center next to a shopping mall, it took us 15 minutes to find it but should be easier the next time. got 2 1.5L bottle water, one beer, one box container red wine, one box salad, one box fried calamari, one box cheese salad, 4 carrots, and two bananas. Dinner was light compared to the ones on Jade. Turned in early at 10:00-with the help of red wine and beer. Woke up at 1:30, had another cup of red wine.
5/15/2016: Got up at 7:25, went down to the dinning hall for breakfast, this is probably the most abundantly rich breakfast that we had from the hotels we had stayed on this trip, fruits (Kiwi, Apple, banana), breads, pastry, egg (raw, need to boil first), cereal, tea, coffee, espresso, cappuccino, along with cream cheese, jam, butter. Visited the tower where it displayed EU's history. Went through the square slowly, soaking in all the historic and beautiful buildings. Stopped by Ali supermarket and got one beer, one 1.5L bottle water, 6 fried ribs (for lunch). While I was looking for the city center square we visited this morning on Google map, I stumbled upon Ali supermarket and discovered that it opens Sunday only until 1PM, Anita and I hurried there and got one box container Vino Rosso, one more beer, some Insalata Portofino (imitation crab meat, shrimp, and celery salad), one Arancini Di Risotto. Stayed in hotel room the afternoon.
5/16/2016: Woke up almost every half an hour since 1:30. IPad Chrome got hijacked while visiting xv, the only solution found online was uninstall and reinstall Chrome (cookies installed by the malware caused endless pop ups), Chrome was again operational after the tasks. Tried boiling eggs in the breakfast hall, either we were not familiar with the exact cooking methods or the boiler not working, we could not get eggs boiled after 30 minutes, had to take them back to our room where I found out they were still mostly raw. Left the hotel to explore our route for tomorrow, Anita already got a 3-use bus tickets earlier. The hotel manager told us to walk toward the square and make a right for a stop closer, there would be 7 stops before reaching Venezia Mestre FS. The bus wasn't crowded when we got on, but as we got closer to Mestre FS, more people got on and few got off, apparently all were going to Venezia. The longest route of the stops was between the last stop on mainland and Piazzale Roma. It took nearly 30 minutes to get to p.le. Roma. The station we got off was exactly the place where had doubt about if we could take bus to our hotel, but we simply weren't sure at the time, we'll make good use of this knowledge the n xt time we visit Venice. Took,#2 bus back to the hotel, but swing by Ali supermarket and got one bun, one 1.5L bottle water, and one beer before going back to our room- had to wait for the maid to finish her cleaning before entering our room. Visited Ali supermarket again at 4:00 for dinner, two box containers of vino Rosso (one to take home with), one bread (to be filled with the last sadin can fish to take on the road, one can of beer, 4 chicken wings, and 4 ribs for dinner. The two bags we saved, one paper bag from the first grocery store Punto Mercator in Quarto D'Altino and one plastic from NCL Jade, have served their purpose to the fullest, Anita kept the paper one for souvenir. Set alarms to 6:00am.
5/17/2016: Woke up at 1:30 and every 30 minutes there after until 5:00 when I got up and relieved myself. Had breakfast at 6:30, went back to the room for final preparation. Checked out at 6:50, got on ACTV bus #2 at 7:03, got to Mestre FS at 7:14, got on ACTV bus #15 at 7:16 at Mestre FS-Favretti which is the starting point for this bus, it pays to board at the starting stop and early especially with luggagesPRE, even though it picked up passengers throughout the city, at stops that were closer to our hotel. It has been pretty smooth so far thank God. Bus #15 left for the airport at 7:34, got to Marco Polo airport at 8:04. Checked in at United counter at 8:15. Went through UA specific security check point at 8:25. Sat down at boarding gate 20 at 8:32. Got online (6 hour complimentary) at 8:35. Flight 169 started boarding at 10:20, we got on as group 2 at 10:38, the seats Anita selected were 26D and 26F with one seat between us, she's praying no one will be sitting there, it turned out the flight was not fully booked and there were quite a few unoccupied rows, naturally we got to enjoy the three-seat row. Flight 169 left the boarding gate at 11:04, took off at 11:17. Lunch was surprisingly tasty, gave it a 4 out of 5. There was also a hot turkey sandwich before landing. Landed at Newark airport at 2:03, 22 minutes ahead of schedule, but waiting for gate took more than 15 minutes. After customs check and luggage claim, we ran into some what of a problem, there was a long line waiting to go through security check, the line was extremely long and winding like you'd see in a theme park, Anita checked with one of the line keeping staff after 10 minutes, we were able to go directly to the second floor because we are TSA PRE, this saved us at least 20 minutes. By the time we got to boarding gate 71, boarding had already started, seated at 9:30, it's the first time we sat in a row next to the emergency exit gate, the only thing was isle seat was taken already. Flight 1621 took off at 4:20, 20 minutes behind schedule. We landed at SFO at 6:25 but got gate at 6:49, we actually landed at international terminal, had to walk over to terminal 3 carousel #5 for luggage. 高先生 took us home ($65+$70+$5=$140) at 7:59, home sweet home!
5/18/2016: Got up at 6:00, amazingly well slept. Had grilled chicken sandwich for breakfast as we ran out of all other food. Went through the mails pile and left the remaining for Anita to review. Activated Nordstrom credit card, the old one did not have an expiration date, although we most likely won't be using it. Found out Apple TV 3rd generation at $69.99 can do iPhone/iPad mirroring as well, might get one as a BD gift for Tip. Stopped by Costco, got 2 dozen organic eggs, one caesar salad kit, one dozen cheese bagels, one pack Hot Jack Cheese, 2 pack Tony Roma baby back ribs, and one cream cheese. Also swing by 99 Ranch Market, got 4 bananas, 2 white onions, 4 tomatoes, one pack garlic, 2 bags of spicy pickled turnips, one head Kohlrabi (大頭菜) and one bottle 北京二鍋頭.
Side note: Remember to bring at least one shorts and wear sandal with you on your next trip. Two jackets (including vest) is plenty enough.
5/19/2016: Got up at 7:00, CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:30, went in following Yolanda. This place has been getting political gradually, the atmosphere is close to my high tolerance level. To continue or not to continue, that is the question. Photo compilation is going to be the most challenging ever since there are 3 source instead of two as the previous times, plus the tasks getting them from their sources (camera, iPhone, and Nexus5) to common location.
5/20/2016: Got up at 6:50. Swept the deck, pulled some dried flowers and their stems, removed some overgrown alyssum, soil needs watering, later. Started making chicken soup at 10:00, done at 12:00. No table tennis as Kung and Stephanie are both out of the office. Went to Fry's Electronics and got two 395 and two 2016 batteries. Cleaned Oleander flowers and leaves, unroot weeds stuffing themselves in between bricks. Paid Anthem $70.44 online. Had MB with mini, EJ, relied upon Aoi Shirosaki.
5/21/2016: Got up at 6:50. Molly and Billy both showed up at 9:45 and shared extra food allocation. Send Anita to City Sports while I went shopping. First stop was 新永源 on Lawrence where I got 2 small bottle mustard sauce, one pack Vermicelli, and one bag Baby Bok Choy, checked their dry julienned seaweed, they offered two brands but were both made in China, was not comfortable buying them. Swing by Fry's in Sunnyvale (also on Lawrence), got one Apple TV 3rd generation for $69.99, possible Tip bg. Went back to City Sports but was unable to find any parking space so I headed to Lowes to kill some time, while I was getting a pack of 300W Halogen bulbs, I went online using Lowes' free Wi-Fi and found out Anita left a message saying since there's no hot water, she'll be out around 12:05, I quickly went through the cashier and went back to City Sports and found Anita after circling the parking lot twice. Bought some food from Kings Egg roll for lunch. Fixed travel indoor slippers with crazy glue.
5/22/2016: Got up at 7:10. Went to Kings Egg Roll with Anita and got some Dim Sum home for lunch - very tasty although they costed much more than grocery shopping.
5/23/2016: Woke up at 5:00, had some booze and water, went back to sleep. Got up at 8:25. Started switching recurring charges on American Express to United Explorer card, finished AT&T, Geico without problem, for Skype account patrick_lin100 was OK but could not add new card to account anita_chang100 even with different credit card.... (will come back to work on this). Finished Vonage and SlingTV without problem but do need to confirm when the due dates comes up. Went to the movie "Captain America: Civil War" at Century 20 Great Mall at 2:10 - $10 each for standard ticket (not 3D) was a bit much.
5/24/2016: Woke up at5:00, got up at 7:10. Got gas from Costco at 9:45, swing by 99 Ranch Market and got 2 pairs of kitchen gloves, went back to Costco and got 2 bottles BV Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle AREDS2, one pack Romain Lettuce, one mixed salad, one roast chicken, one box Gold Kiwi, one bag large frozen shrimp, and one pack organic chicken thighs. Got a haircut at Hong Kong Salon, finished all these and got home by 10:35. Tried and failed to add credit card to Anita's Skype account for auto-charge, it's very frustrating. Tried their online support but timed out before anything came back. Changed iTune/Apple store payment info to United Explorer. Had 50 minutes MB with minis, no EJ. Finished renumbering the photos I took with my Sony camera, will work on photos from Nexus 5 as well as Anita's iPhone 6S.
5/25/2016: Woke up at 6:00, got up at 7:00. Processed the organic chicken thighs, resulting in 6 packs of steak, and 2 bowls of remnants-good for stir fries. Finished renumbering the photos from Sony camera, having problem transferring photos from Anita's iPhone 6S, the original date/time info got lost during transferring , plus the process was extremely slow, rendered the effort nearly useless, not sure what to do... Probably work on Nexus 5 photo first and worry about the iPhone photos next.
5/26/2016: SFO day, need to pick up Tip. Got up at 5:30, left for SFO at 6:02, traffic was smoother than expected, got to SFO by 6:50, picked up at G gate at 7:05, got home at 8:30. Had not her breakfast before heading to CCC, there was a road construction on the junction of Flickinger and Berryessa, had to circle around and got on 680 from Capital Ave, arriving CCC at 9:35. Put on yellow vest to make everyone happy. JP left earlier to have lunch with her friend at 12:00. I left at 1:23 after both of the afternoon volunteers arrived. Stopped by CVS first, picked 12 bottles Barefoot wine. Went to Marina Grocery and got one pack Taro cake, two packs fried fish cake, 4 bags HFH spicy peanuts, one bag organic barley, 2 bags 米苔目, one bag cucumber seed, one pack bitter melon, 3 carrots, one head broccoli, one box salted boiled eggs, one bag organic oat, and one pack beef tendon ball. Swing by Target and got 3 32oz Hazelnut creamer and one bag original cat food. Tried iPhoto import feature and got the whole photo set from Anita's iPhone, but exporting to another directory failed to retain the original info, found out later that there's another option keeping all original info and it finally worked. Called mom at 7:20, almost forgot.
5/27/2016: Got up at 7:00, swept the leftover garden waste in the street, first time in a month. Trimmed off one branch of the fake Cherry tree, it was blocking the sun to the deck planter box, feeling the heat right afterward as there was no shade just outside the kitchen sliding door. Repositioned the old patio umbrella frame so that it does a better job holding up the Passion fruit vines as well as the Oleander branches. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung. Dry cleaned both vehicles. Had MB with legs, EJ.
5/28/2016: Hiking day, Jason has CCC library volunteer meeting and will skip this one. I'll go alone if I could get up at 7:00. Drove LS400 instead, don't remember when was the last time it ran this far. There were 6 people in the hiking group: Ching, Yung, Wayne, Steve, the other Ming and myself. Stopped by Marukai to see if they carry dry julienned seaweed, ended up buying box dinner (Tuna & Salmon & Nigiri Sashimi and Salmon Shioyaki bento), 2 bags seaweeds, and a pack of Fish ARA Trimming.
5/29/2016: Got up at 6:20, spent one hour on porn, not proud of it but I needed this to ease sexual tension in me. Visited Valley Fair at 10:45, waited 10 minutes for Apple store to open but went see Nordstrom first when it opened earlier, Anita bought a pair of Donald Trump daughter's designer shoe, 7 1/2 turned out to be too big for her left foot, I'll try to see if Amazon.com carries 7. Had Lunch at the food court, The Noodle & Company, not bad, it'll likely be our regular. Got home at 1:05. Ordered iPad Air 2 64G Silver ($479.99+$3 e-waste+$42 tax=$524.99) from Costco.com for Anita.
5/30/2016: Got up at 7:30. Had 40 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Paid a visit to Hankook Supermarket, got one long bag of seaweed (hope it is actually julienned as it looks), one pack Shitake mushroom, one small cabbage, one bag small apples, 3 white onions, one pack frozen Mackerel (fish bones inside), one bunch bananas, two pieces ginger, one celery, and one bunch green onion.
5/18/2016: Got up at 6:00, amazingly well slept. Had grilled chicken sandwich for breakfast as we ran out of all other food. Went through the mails pile and left the remaining for Anita to review. Activated Nordstrom credit card, the old one did not have an expiration date, although we most likely won't be using it. Found out Apple TV 3rd generation at $69.99 can do iPhone/iPad mirroring as well, might get one as a BD gift for Tip. Stopped by Costco, got 2 dozen organic eggs, one caesar salad kit, one dozen cheese bagels, one pack Hot Jack Cheese, 2 pack Tony Roma baby back ribs, and one cream cheese. Also swing by 99 Ranch Market, got 4 bananas, 2 white onions, 4 tomatoes, one pack garlic, 2 bags of spicy pickled turnips, one head Kohlrabi (大頭菜) and one bottle 北京二鍋頭.
Side note: Remember to bring at least one shorts and wear sandal with you on your next trip. Two jackets (including vest) is plenty enough.
5/19/2016: Got up at 7:00, CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:30, went in following Yolanda. This place has been getting political gradually, the atmosphere is close to my high tolerance level. To continue or not to continue, that is the question. Photo compilation is going to be the most challenging ever since there are 3 source instead of two as the previous times, plus the tasks getting them from their sources (camera, iPhone, and Nexus5) to common location.
5/20/2016: Got up at 6:50. Swept the deck, pulled some dried flowers and their stems, removed some overgrown alyssum, soil needs watering, later. Started making chicken soup at 10:00, done at 12:00. No table tennis as Kung and Stephanie are both out of the office. Went to Fry's Electronics and got two 395 and two 2016 batteries. Cleaned Oleander flowers and leaves, unroot weeds stuffing themselves in between bricks. Paid Anthem $70.44 online. Had MB with mini, EJ, relied upon Aoi Shirosaki.
5/21/2016: Got up at 6:50. Molly and Billy both showed up at 9:45 and shared extra food allocation. Send Anita to City Sports while I went shopping. First stop was 新永源 on Lawrence where I got 2 small bottle mustard sauce, one pack Vermicelli, and one bag Baby Bok Choy, checked their dry julienned seaweed, they offered two brands but were both made in China, was not comfortable buying them. Swing by Fry's in Sunnyvale (also on Lawrence), got one Apple TV 3rd generation for $69.99, possible Tip bg. Went back to City Sports but was unable to find any parking space so I headed to Lowes to kill some time, while I was getting a pack of 300W Halogen bulbs, I went online using Lowes' free Wi-Fi and found out Anita left a message saying since there's no hot water, she'll be out around 12:05, I quickly went through the cashier and went back to City Sports and found Anita after circling the parking lot twice. Bought some food from Kings Egg roll for lunch. Fixed travel indoor slippers with crazy glue.
5/22/2016: Got up at 7:10. Went to Kings Egg Roll with Anita and got some Dim Sum home for lunch - very tasty although they costed much more than grocery shopping.
5/23/2016: Woke up at 5:00, had some booze and water, went back to sleep. Got up at 8:25. Started switching recurring charges on American Express to United Explorer card, finished AT&T, Geico without problem, for Skype account patrick_lin100 was OK but could not add new card to account anita_chang100 even with different credit card.... (will come back to work on this). Finished Vonage and SlingTV without problem but do need to confirm when the due dates comes up. Went to the movie "Captain America: Civil War" at Century 20 Great Mall at 2:10 - $10 each for standard ticket (not 3D) was a bit much.
5/24/2016: Woke up at5:00, got up at 7:10. Got gas from Costco at 9:45, swing by 99 Ranch Market and got 2 pairs of kitchen gloves, went back to Costco and got 2 bottles BV Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle AREDS2, one pack Romain Lettuce, one mixed salad, one roast chicken, one box Gold Kiwi, one bag large frozen shrimp, and one pack organic chicken thighs. Got a haircut at Hong Kong Salon, finished all these and got home by 10:35. Tried and failed to add credit card to Anita's Skype account for auto-charge, it's very frustrating. Tried their online support but timed out before anything came back. Changed iTune/Apple store payment info to United Explorer. Had 50 minutes MB with minis, no EJ. Finished renumbering the photos I took with my Sony camera, will work on photos from Nexus 5 as well as Anita's iPhone 6S.
5/25/2016: Woke up at 6:00, got up at 7:00. Processed the organic chicken thighs, resulting in 6 packs of steak, and 2 bowls of remnants-good for stir fries. Finished renumbering the photos from Sony camera, having problem transferring photos from Anita's iPhone 6S, the original date/time info got lost during transferring , plus the process was extremely slow, rendered the effort nearly useless, not sure what to do... Probably work on Nexus 5 photo first and worry about the iPhone photos next.
5/26/2016: SFO day, need to pick up Tip. Got up at 5:30, left for SFO at 6:02, traffic was smoother than expected, got to SFO by 6:50, picked up at G gate at 7:05, got home at 8:30. Had not her breakfast before heading to CCC, there was a road construction on the junction of Flickinger and Berryessa, had to circle around and got on 680 from Capital Ave, arriving CCC at 9:35. Put on yellow vest to make everyone happy. JP left earlier to have lunch with her friend at 12:00. I left at 1:23 after both of the afternoon volunteers arrived. Stopped by CVS first, picked 12 bottles Barefoot wine. Went to Marina Grocery and got one pack Taro cake, two packs fried fish cake, 4 bags HFH spicy peanuts, one bag organic barley, 2 bags 米苔目, one bag cucumber seed, one pack bitter melon, 3 carrots, one head broccoli, one box salted boiled eggs, one bag organic oat, and one pack beef tendon ball. Swing by Target and got 3 32oz Hazelnut creamer and one bag original cat food. Tried iPhoto import feature and got the whole photo set from Anita's iPhone, but exporting to another directory failed to retain the original info, found out later that there's another option keeping all original info and it finally worked. Called mom at 7:20, almost forgot.
5/27/2016: Got up at 7:00, swept the leftover garden waste in the street, first time in a month. Trimmed off one branch of the fake Cherry tree, it was blocking the sun to the deck planter box, feeling the heat right afterward as there was no shade just outside the kitchen sliding door. Repositioned the old patio umbrella frame so that it does a better job holding up the Passion fruit vines as well as the Oleander branches. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung. Dry cleaned both vehicles. Had MB with legs, EJ.
5/28/2016: Hiking day, Jason has CCC library volunteer meeting and will skip this one. I'll go alone if I could get up at 7:00. Drove LS400 instead, don't remember when was the last time it ran this far. There were 6 people in the hiking group: Ching, Yung, Wayne, Steve, the other Ming and myself. Stopped by Marukai to see if they carry dry julienned seaweed, ended up buying box dinner (Tuna & Salmon & Nigiri Sashimi and Salmon Shioyaki bento), 2 bags seaweeds, and a pack of Fish ARA Trimming.
5/29/2016: Got up at 6:20, spent one hour on porn, not proud of it but I needed this to ease sexual tension in me. Visited Valley Fair at 10:45, waited 10 minutes for Apple store to open but went see Nordstrom first when it opened earlier, Anita bought a pair of Donald Trump daughter's designer shoe, 7 1/2 turned out to be too big for her left foot, I'll try to see if Amazon.com carries 7. Had Lunch at the food court, The Noodle & Company, not bad, it'll likely be our regular. Got home at 1:05. Ordered iPad Air 2 64G Silver ($479.99+$3 e-waste+$42 tax=$524.99) from Costco.com for Anita.
5/30/2016: Got up at 7:30. Had 40 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Paid a visit to Hankook Supermarket, got one long bag of seaweed (hope it is actually julienned as it looks), one pack Shitake mushroom, one small cabbage, one bag small apples, 3 white onions, one pack frozen Mackerel (fish bones inside), one bunch bananas, two pieces ginger, one celery, and one bunch green onion.
5/31/2016: Got up at 7:50. Swept Oleander flowers and leaves with electrical blower, 30 minutes instead of 45 minutes had I done it all with broom. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung was out taking care of his house sale tasks. Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one bag sponge fried tofu. one bottle sesame oil, two yellow mellon, one box blueberry, one pack lotus root, one bag bean sprout, one pack small taro, and one bottle Beijing Er Gou Tou Jiu.
6/1/2016: Got up at 7:30. Played 25 minutes table tennis with Kung, they will have a meeting with the boss at one, Stephanie was in dress with skirt, unusual for her, but looks nice, she did not play. Stopped by Costco and got a dozen bagels and 2 dozen organic eggs. Swing by 99 Ranch Market, came out with one tube Wasabi, one pack frozen squid, one bag all purpose flour, and one bag potato powder.
6/2/2016: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:33. April has already set up OCACMACTV (宏觀電視). Got several 大葱 from one of the library volunteer - good for stir fries with meat. Trimmed off several branches from the old tree next to the fence to our Filipino neighbor, will need to do some of the work from the other side someday. Called mom at 7:02, she just came back from the market.
6/3/2016: Got up at 7:08. Took 15 minutes cleaning up leftover garden waste in the street. Dynamicfoundation quarterly magazine labeling day, got there at 9:20. Chou couple and 黃國光 had already started working, finished labeling as well as packing by 11:30. Had lunch and started playing table tennis with David at 12:05. Played about 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 50 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco and got one pack (6 pieces) lobsters, one case DOS XX beer, one case Modelo beer, one pack English cucumber, and one bag frozen wild caught cocktail shrimp. Called Peilee at 9:48 for 50 minutes, mainly circled around his tablet purchasing issues.
6/4/2016: Got up at 6:45. Hiking day, second time driving LS400, hope it's still OK. There were 11 people in the hiking group, Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Ching, Alice, Shingkuo, a lady I do not know, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Jason brought me two Basil seedlings. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, close but no EJ. Planted 4x4=16 cucumber seeds in 4 yogurt containers. Had 15 mi nutes MB with mini in the garage, no EJ. Made 2 more minis, seemed to fit well.
6/5/2016: Got up at 8:15. Went to Valley Fair with Anita, returned the unfit shoes she purchased last week, bought a 64G Gold color iPad Air 2 from Apple Store, got a togo lunch from Noodle & Company before coming home. Backed up Anita's iPad 2 to my Mac Book Pro - using iTune. Had 45 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Sync Anita's new iPad Air 2 from the backup version, reloading the apps was taking more time than I expected - still going. Sync completed at 3:30, removed some of the apps from iPad Air 2 since they will not be used by Anita. Placed order on iPad Air 2 clear bottom cover as well as gold cover (cheap but hope it works), 2 pack HDMI cable, and one micro USB to lighting adapter from Amazon.com.
6/6/2016: Got up at 7:25. Stopped by Costco at 9:50, returned 64G Silver iPad Air 2, since it was purchased online with Explorer card, Costco refunded cash instead, got one bottle Riesling, one case (6 bottles) white Zinfandel, one box organic raisin, one bottle Kirkland Vodka, one 32 oz cream cheese, and one 28 oz Seaweed Salad. Played a total of 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung, Kung beat Stephanie 12-10 in 5 minutes. Stopped by Costco and got gas for RX300.
6/7/2016: Got up at 5:45, help prepared breakfast as well take-along coffee/snack for Anita. Went back to bed at 6:00. Got up at 8:00. Amazon delivery arrived at 9:10 - iPad case/cover, HDMI cables, and micro USB/lighting adapters. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Anita's working at the poll place all day, she called around 4:00PM saying she's been chosen to replace the fired inspector to finish the polling place tasks and will be home very late. Anita came home exhausted at 9:50.
6/8/2016: Anita's Birthday. Got up at 8:10. Not table tennis today since both Stephanie and Kung were busy. Biked 25 minutes around the circle, there was a 5 miles per hour wind while heading north, a bit challenging as I had to breathe harder and it made my back (the breathing muscle) hurt, but it's good for me. Had 50 minutes MB with RM, EJ. Birthday dinner for Anita: Steamed lobsters, beef steaks, cucumber slice/cheese/seaweed plate, and tofu/preserved eggs salad plus Riesling. The upload speed has been low at 0.25M for the last month or so, at first I thought it was AT&T but after switching to TP-LINK AP upstairs it became 1.5M, after a series tests and power cycled the switch downstairs, upload speed climbed back to 1.5M even with Air Station AP.
6/9/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:15, made 2 Torta sandwiches. Arriving CCC at 9:32, JP had already arrived - she needed to send her younger daughter to an event earlier. Internet speed was pretty slow ~0.5M download. Left CCC at 1:25 after Nancy got there early. Stopped by CVS and got 6 bottle Barefoot white wine (mostly Riesling), swing by Marina Grocery, purchased one pack fish ball, one fried fish cake, one fried shrimp cake, 2 white onions, one pack beef stew, 4 red potatoes, 4 carrots, one pack green bean seed, one Radish Cake, and one taro root.
6/10/2016: Got up at 7:45, cleaned leftover garden waste in the street in 10 minutes. Prepared enough soil from compost area plus clay soil from underneath the fake Cherry tree, placed the collected soil in one of the PVC planter which will be used to grow herbs (basil, green onion, and Cilantro). Planted green onion and Cilantro in the PVC planter, planted green bean seeds (8) in one of the Instant Noodle bowls.
6/11/2016: Hiking day. Got up at 6:45. There were 13 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Sujan, Alice, Shingkuo, Ching, Ming, Wayne, Alex, Jason, and myself. Anita brought back lunch from King Egg Roll, delicious. Loosened up soil in the deck planter box, need to get additional soil - either manure or potting soil.
6/12/2016: Got up at 8:45. Since we had late breakfast, we visited Trade Joes and Marshall first before having lunch at IN-N-OUT. Got one bag peanuts, one bag candied pecans, one cashew nuts, two cheddar cheese garlic bread, and two bunch of peony (牡丹). Anita got a pair of shoes, a pair of exercise leggings, and a hat while I got 4 T-shirt from Marshall. Ordered to-go from IN-N-OUT as there were simply too many people there. Powered up the Seagate drive to look for Dan's phone number, still no luck.
6/13/2016: Got up at 7:45. Called Dan at (408)316-4822 and left a message, hope this is still his cell number and he'll call back. Loosened the soil in the rectangular planter and relocated 4 wasabi/chad there, freeing up the deck planter for cucumber, still need more soil. Had 20 minutes (1200 counts) MB with new minis, no EJ. Played 60 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie was out dog sitting. Stopped by Costco and got a bag of pine nuts, one box (8) Angus cheese burger, and a large bag organic potting soil.
6/14/2016: Got up at 7:50. There's a small bird head next to the automatic feeder, likely a baby bird fell off it's nest and consumed by on of the cats. Cleaned oleander leaves and flowers, the volume was huge due to dry weather. Received shake-hand table tennis racket from Amazon.com which I ordered Sunday. Had 50 minutes (2500 counts) MB with new minis, no EJ. Checked AT&T U-Verse data usage, it showed data usage being 2.74G/0.09G on 6/15/2016 when it is still 10:54:PM 6/14/2016, I am really pissed by their dishonest.
6/15/2016: Got up at 7:45. Trimmed several roses, it's been a long while since I did it. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie's at dog sitting again. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, EJ - not good.
6/16/2016: CCC volunteer day. Got up at 7:15. Got there at 9:29, April is on vacation, Sophia handles the doors and equipments, Yolanda came in 10 minutes later. The Internet sucks - still crawled like snail, and all water machines downstairs were empty - several events consumed them all and no delivery is in sight. Downloaded Captain America: Civil War, Room, and Ice Age:The Great Egg-Scapade, each took average an hour to download. Got one bag Japanese cucumber seeds, one bag sugar snap peas seeds, four 5-ft and two 6-ft garden sticks from OSH. Swing by CVS and got 6 bottles mixed wines (two red, 4 white), it appeared that this CVS does not carry too many Barefoot wine any more. Stopped by Marina Grocery and picked up 4 bags HFH Spicy peanuts and one pack bitter melons. Handed over mixed nuts as well as Apple TV to Tip in Marina Grocery parking lot. Trimmed off several branches from the no name tree next to our Pilipino neighbor. Called mom at 7:00.
6/17/2016: Got up at 7:00, cleaned leftover garden waste in the street, first time there was a broken glass with liquid, took me a total of 20 minutes to clean it up. Congratulated Tip's BD. Found out that there are, in average, 600 calories in 750ml red/white wine, probably should cut down the intake of wine during meal. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 35 with Kung. Planted (not seedling) a total 40 sugar snap peas in one of the PVC planters and the rectangular planter box, mostly experimental - used potting soil.
6/18/2016: Hiking day, still my turn to drive. Got up at 6:50, got a reply message from Dan, he could stop by after 10:30, I asked him to postpone that to 12:30 - pending his response, Dan OKed. There were 10 people in the hiking group: Ching, Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Alice, Shingkuo, Wayne, Jason, and myself, John joined us at Peets afterward. Went to Marukai Japanese grocery store and got 4 packs fish neck/remnant and two box meal (for dinner). Had 25 minutes MB (1200 counts), no EJ. Dan came by at 12:40, spent one hour and 30 minutes diagnosing RX300 check engine light issue, there were 6 possible causes from the computer, he kind of eliminated 2 of them but did not have equipment to test further so he reset the light and asked us to drive and watch when (and if) the check engine light came back, update him the status along with the mileage driven since reset. Dan charged $60 for this service which was really inexpensive for such a house call. Trimmed several branches from the Cherry as well as the fake Cherry trees, the former to reduce height and size, the latter to allow more sun to come down for planters.
6/19/2016: Got up at 8:00. Cleaned up the Basil cups and reseeded Japanese cucumber seedling cups, they were knocked off the deck rail mostly by squirrel or cat. 1:40/1:58 and 6:00/5:59. Had Lunch at IKEA, chicken tender and salad, still tasty. Got a steam insert, see if it works with the pot we have, otherwise will need to come back and get a matching pot. Stopped by Nordstrom Rack, I still could not find anything for myself, Anita was able (as always) to find one shorts and one long pants. After getting off 101 coming home, RX300 started exhibiting noise while I stepped on the accelerator a little harder on Brokaw road. Test stepping on the accelerator in the garage did not show similar symptom so I took it out and tested around the block, also did not show obvious noise with or without AC, asked Anita to pay attention to this the next few days.
6/20/2016: Got up at 7:25. The joint between my left shoulder and arm hurt in certain posture, not sure how it started, trimming tree branches with chain saw last Saturday may have something to do with it. Went with Anita to Costco, new cards taking effect today, we bought one box mixed Frito Lays chips, one case DOS Equis beer, one Cottonelle bathroom tissue (45 counts), one box Kirkland K-cup (120 counts), one tub cream cheese, 2 dozen organic eggs, one dozen bagels, 4 organic tofu, 2 pack dental floss, and one box Royal Cherry. Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one head Cauliflower, 3 red potatoes, 5 long carrots, one bag small taros, one 5 oz Haagen Dazs Gelato, two pack beef shank, and two bags bean curd. Anita accumulated over 200 miles from these purchases:-)
Played 50 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie's mom passed away just hours after she arrived in Taipei. Created two new minis, had 50 minutes MB (2000 counts) with one of the new minis, no EJ - the new one appeared to work the best so far.
6/21/2016: Got up at 7:45. Watered the seedling cups, it's going to be hot today and next several days. Transplanted the 3 not-so-healthy cucumber seedlings (two Japanese and one Heirloom) to deck planter, planted 8 more cucumber AMW seeds in two cups. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Kung. The backyard temperature reached 97.8°, a record for 2016 so far. Had 50 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Paid Anthem $70.44 online with United Explorer Visa..
6/22/2016: Got up at 7:10. Movie day at Dynamicfoundation. Got there at 9:50, backdoor was open so I walked right in, turned out Teresa had a small class reunion - a total of 8 people to have lunch and gathering during lunch and after. I tended the movie all by myself most of the time until 2:30 when I left, no table tennis as Kung was drinking liquor with Mr. Ha.
6/23/2016: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:35, the traffic on Calaveras was terrible, took nearly 10 minutes to get to CCC after getting off 680. Discovered "Window sign key+P" to switch among external/local displays. Downloaded "Finding Dory", "He Named Me Malala", "Queen of the Desert", "The Jungle Book", "13 hours-The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi ", "London Has Fallen", "Eddie the Eagle", "Pelé- Birth of a Legend", "and "Zootopia" from xuka.tv, the internet had been more stable and faster but xuka.tv server was a bit slow to provide quicker download. Deputy chief of CCC came down and spoke to us about how to treat visitors - she's well trained and experience in that respect. Had 50 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
6/24/2016: Got up at 7:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, Mr. Kim did his part for the leftover in front of his house which saved me a good amount of time. Played 55 minutes table tennis with Kung. Anita went to meet Fidelity financial advisor at 2:00. Added 3 more seedling cups, one Japanese cucumbers, one cucumber SpaceMaster, and one cucumber AMW.
6/25/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive, he brought me some home grown peaches. There were 11 people in the hiking group: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Ming, the other Ming, Ching, Alex, Wayne, Jason, and myself. John joined us at Peet's afterward. Got a power line Ethernet/wireless extender from Ming, remember to pay him if keeping it. Attended Linda's wedding at 5005 Sheridan, Sunol, traffic on 680 was really bad, took nearly 50 minutes to get there. It was mainly an Indian traditional wedding, everything was special and fun, drink was OK but the food wasn't that impressive. Left at 9:30 and got home at 10:05.
6/26/2016: Got up at 8:20. Contemplating how to build a support trellis for the rectangular planter box as the green bean seedlings are growing really fast possibly because of full sun there. Tested the powerline Ethernet extender from Ming, did a reset as non of the passwords worked, retain the original login admin/admin id but changed wireless password to xxxxzzzz (zzzz being tip's address number), seemed to work OK, should be a plug and play thing at Dynamicfoundation. Shingkuo and Alice invited everyone to a get-to-know (歸寧宴) his son-in-law dinner at 大鴻福 at 6:00. There were 6 tables, we set with the ones from OSU, it was a good meal with plenty of laughters, took home a good amount of leftover. Got home at 9:45.
6/27/2016: Got up at 8:30 - a bit late and possibly the first time this year. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Kung, setup power line network extender in just 5 minutes. Filled up gas for RX300 at Costco with Citi Visa (4% refund) the first time. Had 50 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
6/28/2016: Got up at 7:30. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Kung, handshake holding play got a little better but was still way off what I'd like. Stopped by Costco and got a bottle of Whisky, one case Corona, one case DOS Equis, one pineapple, one box Royal Cherry, and one case (6 bottles) Beringer white Zinfandel. Had a quick MB with legs, EJ.
6/29/2016: Got up at 7:30. Juiced lemons from neighbor Fahly, took over an hour, got 3 full beer jugs
6/30/2016: Got up at 6:55. CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:33. It's summer camp week for the kids. Got a cup of coffee, two small buns, one sandwich, 4 cookies from BJ and Susan, got a bunch of bokchai from 白梅. Went to OSH and got one can furniture polish/cleaner and one coiled hose, swing by CVS and got 6 bottles Barefoot wine (4 white and 2 red), next to Marina Grocery, purchased 2 white onions, one pack egg plants, one bag bean sprouts, and one celery. Finally stopped by Target and got 2 bottle Hazelnut creamer and 2 bags of cat food.
7/1/2016: First day of the second half of 2016. Got up at 7:30. Molly and Milly both showed up for breakfast but only Milly ate while Molly watched. Heading for Santanarow at 10:50 to return one of Anita's purchases. Drove to ValleyFair after Anita returned. Strolled in the home department for a while before having lunch at the food court, kept ordering dishes from Noodles & Company - still tasty. Got home at 1:20. Processed the pineapple bought on Tuesday, it's much better than one purchased on 4/1/2016, that one was rotten and had to be discarded.
7/2/2016: Hiking day, got up at 6:55, my turn to drive. There were 11 people in the hiking group: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Sujan, Steve, Ching, Allen, Ming, Jason, and myself. There was light smoke coming out underneath the LS400 hood after parking at the meeting point, first examine showed water reservoir completely empty, attempting to add water at Peets turned out to be incorrect as the water level in the reservoir was OK, the indicators outside did not show clearly, drove carefully back home without further symptoms, need to watch it closely!!!!!!
7/3/2016: Got up at 7:30. Went with Anita to Costco to accumulate mileages on her United Explorer card, we got one dozen bagels, one bag pine nuts, one bunch sunflowers, one box organic raisins, one bag pork jerky, one box royal Cherries, and one pack beef flap. ChiMing and YuinZoo arrived at 5:00 to play Mahjong. Went to Tai Kee Won Ton for dinner after 1 and half rounds. Continue with the game until we finished 4 rounds around 9:10. Had Taro flavored cake (birthday?!) brought by Julie, pretty tasty, we kept 2 pieces for breakfast. Oh, I was the loser for the game, lost 4850 out of 5000 chips.
7/4/2016: It's Independence Day, got up at 8:00. Had 30 minutes MB with RM, EJ. Trimmed off some small branches from the fake Cherry tree so that they do not touch the roof - one of the Gutter guards was moved off place by one branch, luckily I discovered it now.
7/5/2016: Got up at 7:30, looks like it's going to be a cloudy day and light outer wear seemed necessary for the moment. Cleaned backyard Oleander leaves and flowers with blower, also hand cleaned the back of the trunks, took about 40 minutes. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Kung, the newly created racket was heavier than I expected, I'll need time to get used to the weight, I had sore thumb and wrist afterward. Had 45 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Had dinner by myself, Anita and her gym mates had their dinner in nearby restaurant after the class. Made 6 connectors to hook vine supports.
7/6/2016: Got up at 8:00. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Kung. Moved and adjusted some of the planting support lines for new vines. Prepared a 1'x1' soil near the rectangular planter box, plan to move all chads from the deck planter.
7/7/2016: Got up at 7:02. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:32, April just opened the door, put the OCACMACTV NB in place. Left CCC at 1:28, stopped by OSH and got 4 5' garden sticks and one 50' garden hose with spray. Swing by Marina Grocery, purchased 3 tomatoes, 3 potatoes, one bunch Gai Choy, half a dozen duck eggs (皮蛋), one Taiwan Sweet Sausage, two long carrots, one fried fish cake, and one turnip cake. Trimmed off one large branch from the tree boarding our Pilipino neighbor, we were trying to get Faly to let us go over their backyard and cut it from there as it was very challenging on our side, had to improvise and do it on our side since we could not get hold of them, took a while but we finally managed to divide and conquer the branch.
7/8/2016: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street in 15 minutes. Added some organic potting soil to the 1'x1' designated chad planter and moved most baby chads with healthy roots, freeing up the deck planter for coming cucumber planting. Checked AT&T internet dat usage at noon and discovered there was 7G download even though we hardly used any internet, what the hell is going on here#@%*&^$?
7/9/2016: Got up at 7:00, hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Alan, Ching, Ming, the other Ming, Alex, Jason, and myself. Anita went to Huei Liu's house for their Taiwan reunion planning meeting after she came back from City Sports, she'll stop by King's Eggroll to purchase to-go dinner. Had 50 minutes MB with RM, EJ.
7/10/2016: Got up at 8:05. Went to Fry's and got the "Magic Magnet Instant door screen" for $9.99, swing by Lowes and got a pair of reading glasses and a roll of multipurpose wire, Anita paid for them all with her United Explorer card. Added several supporting wires and secured the vertical sticks on the rectangular planter box, not pretty but should work just fine. Looked for "乒乓球入门 乒乓球基础视频教程" again, took over 2 hours before finding it under download/桌球, decided to make a copy on the desktop for easy access.
7/11/2016: Got up at 7:40. Spent 20 minutes to clean Oleander flowers and leaves. Added some kitchen grey water to the square planter box to get it ready for planting - need to add some clay soil as well as some potting soil to make the soil better. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie and 30 minutes with Kung. Tip in skirt was nice.
7/12/2016: Got up at 7:30, checked Amazon Prime day (7/12) sale items and found two interesting items: Amazon Echo is off by $50 at $129.99, and a multifunctional cooker (slow/pressure/rice/steamer...) is also off by $50 at $69.99 - still undecided on actions. Went to 99 Ranch Market, got a bottle of 北京二鍋頭, 2 pieces of ginger, one bag Ganlan, one small box chicken essence, one bunch green onion, 3 carrots, and one jar whole black pepper. Decided not to buy the multifunction cooker as the review wasn't very good plus one common engineering belief that more function create more problem. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 30 minutes with Kung, Tip looked nice in leggings. Placed order for one Amazon Echo at $141.36 tax included, but the delivery date will be 7/25, two weeks from now. Cooked chicken soup for Anita. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Had another 45 minutes MB with minis, no EJ. Added some soil from compost station and some potting soil to the square planter box to make it more fertile.
7/13/2016: Got up at 7:30. Trimmed off one Oleander branch that was blocking our normal walking in the backyard, cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves afterwards, took about 50 minutes. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie and 30 with Kung, the hand-shake holding style has many advantages but right now I could only try to get used to it gradually, IT IS a new game now, wish there's someone who could instruct me. Tip was getting more nonsense from Teresa, maybe quitting soon.
7/14/2016: Got up at 7:00. There was blood in the toilet when I pooped, this is the first time ever, I may be dying from colon cancer. CCC volunteer day, arriving CCC at 9:31, there's a Children's camp going on, it was very noisy when they took breaks. A good number of calls were for Double-Tenth trip back to Taiwan. Uploaded over 800 photos to Google Photo, all video files failed to upload for some reason, the process kept stalling each time a video file failed, I had to remove all video files from the list to allow smooth upload. Tried to start MyPublisher but didn't remember how to move photos to its list. Went to Walmart and got 2 jars of creamer ($5.68 each, about 30 cents cheaper than Target), one bunch of bananas, 2 red onions, and one pack (3) paper towel. Trimmed off dead leaves and flower stems from the plants in the front garden.
7/15/2016: Got up at 7:25. Checked to see if there was blood in my stool, not as obvious as yesterday but... Yanked out some weeds from front lawns, also cleaned up the peels from the purple flower tree. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie, 35 with Kung. Help with hanging Chinese calligraphy works for exhibition about an hour, not an easy task, sweat quite a bit.
7/16/2016: Got up at 6:45. Hiking day, my turn to drive, got there at 8:15. There were 8 people in the group: Ruby, Jerry, Ching, Alex, Ming (he met us from the other end - almost at the end though), the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Had 45 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Visited Trader Joe's and got a case Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon, 4 peaches, one bag cashew nuts, one bag candied pecans, one bag almonds, one 6-pack German beer, and 2 morning breads, swing by Marshall and got one active shorts and one active t-shirt for me, one leggings, 2 performing t-shirt, plus one toning band for Anita. Saved a couple of Oleander cutoff branches and made them into Chad planting ground boarder near the rectangular planter box.
7/17/2016: Got up at 7:50. Went grocery shopping with Anita at Marina Grocery (永欣): one Turnip cake, one fried fish cake, one pack small dried shrimp, one pack bitter melon, one bunch Cilantro, one pack small Mustard green, one yellow melon, three golden kiwi, one bunch Won Chai, and 6 tomatoes, Anita got 2 baked stuffed bun from their bakery. Because there were two door in Yungho house, the Magic screen door I purchased from Fry's would not be proper to put up, I installed it at the garage entrance door instead, seemed to work fine. Swing by CVS and got 6 Barefoot wine - 3 white and 3 red, would have gotten all white but there were only three we liked. Got news that Maggie has passed away, detail unknown, must be a shocker for the whole family.
7/18/2016: Got up at 7:50. Went to Costco with Anita, got a 4-pack Colgate toothpaste, one dozen bagels, one pack Asian Cashew Salad, 2 dozen organic eggs, one tub cream cheese, and one box strawberries, got home at 10:25, very efficient grocery shopping. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco and got a fill up for LS400. Had 30 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
7/19/2016: Got up at 8:20. Added two buckets of potting soil to the square planter box, mixed well and saturated it with water, ready to transplant those mature seedlings. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Planted 6 cucumber seedlings, 5 Japanese, one Spacemaster, in the square planter box, will do several more tomorrow.
7/20/2016: Got up at 7:45. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves in the backyard, retrieved 4 fallen passion fruits. Received Amazon Echo which FedEx left on the porch (original delivery was set at 7/25, then 7/21, and finally 7/20). Had 30 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung was having luncheon with his brother and sisters. Setup Amazon Echo, took a long while when trying to connect to plhome2 or TP-LINK_9F5356, at the time it kept saying setup incomplete and asked me to enter Wi-Fi password, repeated failure made me think WEP maybe the problem, fired up the old ATT router to try WPA but couldn't even get it to work with MacBook Pro, Alexa announced the setup was complete while I was still struggling with WPA, maybe Amazon cloud was too busy getting things together, oh well.
7/21/2016: Got up at 7:25. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25, there's a on-going teacher training camp. The Internet wasn't behaving well, extremely slow most of the time, most of the movies I setup to download were showing 10 hours or more to finish. The speed picked up around 11:00 and I was able to finish downloading 7 films before 1:00PM. Returned 7 baskets (was holding plums from Teresa's farm) to Dynamicfoundation for Susan. Trimmed a couple of small branches from the tree boarding our Philippine neighbor, the larger branches we'd like to trim were too heavy on their side and had to be processed from their backyard. Had 30 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
7/22/2016: Got up at 6:50. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, our Korean next door neighbor came back from his morning golf game as I was finishing up his side of the waste, he thanked me and asked me to dump the last small remains in their garbage cart. Planted 16 Heirloom Chinese Cucumber seeds in 8 Yogurt containers, made them the next round. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung, Kung beat Stephanie 11-8. The first cucumber flower of the year bloomed, it's a male-male flowers were abundant as I had observed many times last year and before.
7/23/2016: Got up at 6:55. Hiking day, Jason's turn to drive. There were 11 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Sujan, Steve, the other Ming, Alex, Ching, Jason, and myself. Anita went to Liu Huei's house at 2:00 for their class reunion preparation.
7/24/2016: Got up at 7:50. Reenforced square planter box supporting wires. Had lunch at 食為天, Half beef & Half tendon noodle. Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one head Cauliflower, one bag small apples, one bag Soybean Sprouts, one bunch bananas, and one pack small Muster Green. Trimmed off several small branches from the fake Cherry tree, preparing for a major trim coming Wednesday.
7/25/2016: Got up at 7:40. Watered the plants in the front yard as they looked a bit thirsty. Had 20 minutes MB with mini, no EJ, it's getting more difficult to get excited with the usual. Visited Marshalls on Coleman, Anita got a Yoga block and one T-shirt, I got 3 T-shirts and one short, the shorts turned out to be boy's size and had to be returned on our next visit. Trimmed off some smaller Cherry branches to reduce its height.
7/26/2016: Got up at 7:30. Spent 30 minutes and trimmed off the upward Cherry branches that were taller than 10', it's relatively easy to do it every year as the branches were still small enough for pruner, no other heavier tools were needed:-) Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. It was really hot, I sweat like hell during the game, finished the whole bottle of water I brought with me. Had 40 minutes MB with mini, almost but no EJ.
7/27/2016: Got up at 7:30, going to be a hot day. Picked up a windshield sunshade for Tip, also got a bag of cat food to replenish supplies. The sunshade appeared to be oversized, hope it can still be used. Had 20 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung, it's really hot. Watched "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".
7/28/2016: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:30, April was setting up the TV show, there's a FASCA going on in the Multi-purpose room next door, very loud. Downloaded "Demolition", "In the Heart of the Sea", "Colonia", and "The Secret Life of Pets" from xuka.tv. JP left at 1:00 to pick up her daughter in Hayward. Left CCC at 1:20 when Nancy came in. Had 40 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Called mom at 7:00, talked for 30 minutes, spent some time understanding Maggie's passing.
7/29/2016: Got up at 7:40. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took about 15 minutes. The Sugar Snap Peas in the rectangular planter box were sprawling up fast possibly due to high temperature the last few days, installed several vertical support wires to accommodate their growth. Also prepared 5 long wires to be used atop the square planter box on the deck - four 5 footers and one 6 footer. No table tennis today, they are having group lunch today - every 5th Friday of the months. Received water bill, it's almost double of that of last year, the only possible change was the front lawn which I water it every other day.
7/30/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Ruby, Jerry, Ahmei, Yung, the other Ming, Ching, Sujan, Steve, Jason, and myself. Stopped by Marukai and got one Salmon Shioyaki bento ($4.98), one box fresh 10pc Sushi ($10.98), one pack Karei whole ($8.74), one pack Fish Ara ($2.71), one pack Hamachi Kama ($8.70), and one fish Ara ($1.71). Installed a few more support wires for the square planter box, instead of bug fixing style approach, I should design something more systematic. Trimmed a couple of the branches from the fake Cherry tree, using extended chainsaw made it easier but we still had to cut off the abundant sub-branches with pruners.
7/31/2016: Got up at 7:50. Went with Anita and got the following items from Costco: one dozen bagel, one bottle cooking oil, one case Modelo can beer, one pack Asian Cashew salad, one pack (x4) organic tofu, one pack roasted chicken legs (x8), and one bag mixed Bell Pepper. Also got one Polish sausage and one slice combo pizza to go for lunch. Watched "A Walk in the Woods" starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, light humor and not so serious drama.
8/1/2016: Got up at 7:30. Spent 30 minutes cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, also sprinkled some water to it. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie had to run errands for her boss, she's not happy about it but had little choice, the day she quits the job maybe close. Trimmed off a good number of dried roses, I have not done this for a long while, also the roses appeared to be very thirsty. Cut my own hair really short, although not a real good job but OK, the first time since elementary school I think.Went to bed at 11:00 even without the second beer or others.
8/2/2016: Got up at 7:30. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung. The self-cut hair was not difficult to see by others :-( Had 30 minutes MB with RM, EJ.
8/3/2016: Got up at 7:40. Harvested most grown salad from the PVC pipe planters. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie was out running errands. Gave nuts to Tip. Removed and cleaned up all remaining peaches from the fake flower-only peach tree.
8/4/2016: Got up at 6:55. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25. There's a small computer class upstairs. Downloaded 5 movies: "Sniper: Ghost Shooter", "Mechanic: Resurrection", "Independence Day-Resurgence", "Money Monster", and "A Hologram for the King". Stopped by OSH and got two fiberglass panels for the kitchen lights (they did not have the same pattern as the one still intact so I purchased two instead), swing by CVS and got 6 bottles of Barefoot wine, I was going to get a dozen but they only had 2 white ones so I got 6 in total with 3 red and one breakfast. Got some groceries from Marina Grocery: one turnip cake, one taro cake, one small Gai Choy, two red onions, one fried fish cake, one jar pork sung, one Napa cabbage, one 6-pack preserved duck eggs, and 2 bag 米苔目. Called mom at 7:00.
8/5/2016: Got up at 7:40. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street in 20 minutes. Added several more cucumber vine supports as some smaller ones were starting to bend over and touch the soil. A black squirrel digged a hole in one of the PVC planter at the location that was left vacated after I harvested the salad. Served as helper of all kinds for Personal Calligraphy exhibition at Dynamic foundation from 12:30 to 5:00, didn't get any chance to sit down throughout the event, but did get a large amount of food home from the after-event snack session. Added a few more aluminum/iron vine support.
8/6/2016: Got up at 6:20, woke up at 5:30 and could not go back to sleep. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ruby, Jerry, Ahmei, Yung, Steve, Ching, Alex, Jason, and myself. Planted 6 more seedlings in the square planter box - one 小黃瓜, 2 Japanese cucumbers, and 3 AMW, added some clay soil from the ground nearby to increase soil water absorption capability as the water had been going downward too quickly before the plants could consume it.
8/7/2016: Got up at 8:15. Uploaded about 220 songs to Amazon library - 250 are free. Took Anita to CCC to listen to "朱銘" speech while I shop. First stop OSH, got one pack stove pipe wire, 4 weldable steel sticks, and 2 packs floor pads. Next stop CVS, got 6 Barefoot white wine (they still had 6 more white ones left but I decided not to run back to the car to get another bag), and 2 cards (one for Daniel Fang's son and one for mom's Birthday). Got the following at Marina's Grocery: two bag of small taros, one pack bitter melon, 4 bag 米苔目, 2 bag spicy peanuts, one bottle rice wine, one bottle Beijing 二鍋頭, and one iodized salt. Went back to CCC but could not find any free parking space, decided to park near McDonald's and use their Wi-Fi, could not get online after connecting, gave up and drove through the neighborhood near Milpitas City Hall to see if the old stores were still around, finally stopped at Big 5, spent some 10 minutes in the store but did not see anything interesting, waited in the car under tree shade until 4:50 when I called Anita to confirm she's ready to go home. Stopped by A&J (食為天) and got dinner to go.
8/8/2016: Got up at 7:40. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, took 25 minutes - listened to "倚天屠龍" using the lightweight Bluetooth earpiece, working OK. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung, Kung beat Stephanie 11-7. Swing by Costco and got a 2-pack (4 each) cream cheese Danish, one tub cream cheese, two dozen organic eggs, and one pack Coho Salmon. Had 30 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
8/9/2016: Got up at 7:40. Applied general purpose fertilizer to all vegetables, hope the water/fertilizer mix was OK. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie, 20 with Kung. Ordered Sony DSC-HX90v deluxe package (16G SD card, carrying case, 2 NP-BX1 batteries and the camera) from Amazon, all items but the camera would arrive on Thursday (8/11), whereas the camera would come in on Friday (8/12), total cost including tax was $465.44. Repotted Basils to larger container, also planted the 4 cucumber seedlings somehow sprouted with the Basils (some failed seedling planting soil, which contained the un-sprouted seeds, was used for the Basils).
8/10/2016: Got up at 7:45. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 15 with Stephanie (she came back from off-site duty at 12:45), 30 with Kung.
8/11/2016: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:26, JP is out of town, 台珍 is substituting. Only deputy and April (Tina came in later) were in the office today. There's an Abacus Contest spanning from 1:00pm today to 5:30pm tomorrow, Japanese many (possibly close to 70%) contestants were Japanese-American. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, no EJ.
8/12/2016: Got up at 7:40. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung.
8/13/2016: Got up at 6:45. Hiking day, my turn to drive, decided to take LS400 to save some gas since we are going to a wedding in RX300. There were 9 people in the hiking group: Ruby, Jerry, Ahmei, Yung, Ching, the other Ming, Alex, Jason and myself. Shingkuo, Ming, and Wayne joined us near the end of the hike. Had 25 minutes MB with mini and hand, no EJ. Left for the wedding of son of Daniel Fang at 3:45, took nearly 50 minutes to get there. Met Whisky, Lily, Daniu, Shingkuo, Williams, and his wife at the wedding. Also met 酈如丘and her husband there - sitting at same table.
8/14/2016: Got up at 8:00. Added several vine supports for the square planter. Planted another batch of seedlings to the square planter, including 5 in the newly created space just across the passageway.
8/15/2016: Got up at 7:55. Removed one of the Sugar Snap Pea plant in the rectangular planter box, it probably had died quite some time. There were about 20 some snap peas at this time, enough for a small dish, adding some chicken meat may make up for the small quantity. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, EJ.
8/16/2016: Got up at 7:40. Visited Costco and got 2-pack (8, 4 cream cheese and 4 cherry filled) Danish, one cloth detergent, one Jack Cheese, one pack Torta, one roasted chicken legs (8), one pack (x3) organic honey, one pack Charmin bathroom tissue, one bag pinenuts, and two salad kit (one Caesar and one Asian Cashewnut). Unload everything and picked up the clothes Anita plan to return before getting to Marshall and then Target, got a large bag of Meowmix, one bag cotton pads, one Desitin, one hair color, and one face scrub pads. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie (she just came back from running errands, hadn't had lunch yet), 30 minutes with Kung.
8/17/2016: Got up at 7:40. Made a small wooden piece to help secure the horizontal bridge between the steel vine support of square planter, hope the Gorilla glue works, will be sure in 30 minutes. Glue and the type of woods did not work well, need to come up with a different plan. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 10 minutes with Stephanie (after Teresa left around 1:30), 40 with Kung.
8/18/2016: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25, a culture seed training was in session. The water issue continues, the deputy appeared pissed because she had to take care of it, not my problem though. Stopped by Marina Grocery and got a bunch small Mustard Green, one pack turnip cake, 2 red onions, 6 elongated tomatoes, 2 pack small taros, one pack beef tendon balls, and 3 heads Broccoli. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Dan came over at 6:20, could not determine the cause of the noise as we could not reproduce it, need to keep track of it and record the noise if possible, the muffler manifest needs replacement as it is leaking exhaust through the crack - he's going to find out how much it's going to cost.
8/19/2016: Got up at 7:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street (including that of our Korean neighbor), took about 30 minutes. Added a blue wire to the deck planter box vine support, the addition was to compensate for the lopsided growing habit of the cucumber vines toward the kitchen window. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung, looks like Stephanie will need to care for Teresa's dogs on weekends while she's traveling to the Caribbean, really not a boss should do. Noticed LS400 "Brake" light came on briefly several times while driving, need to find out what it meant. Finally finished editing and reviewing 2006 Italy & Greece photobook, attempt to place order failed at the last minutes due to MyPublisher server problem, retried failed again (after re-entering much info) after a few minutes later, will probably try it again tomorrow!
8/20/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 11 people in the group: Sujan, Steve, Ruby, Jerry, Ahmei, Yung, Ching, the other Ming, Alex, Jason, and myself, Ming joined us from the other side near the end of the hike. Had 35 minutes (2000 counts) MB with mini, no EJ.
Retried photobook processing, finally got to file upload phase, but it failed again after 2 hours uploading, damn! I will try it next Thursday at CCC as it has much higher upload speed, will abort the photobook if still can not go through.
8/21/2016: Got up at 8:00. Checked and found out the data cap was still 300G unchanged, fooled by ATT, damn! Need to remind myself constantly, not to remind Tip of any more stuff!!!!!! Had lunch at IN-N-OUT, stopped by Marshalls and got myself a cargo shorts ($16) with a perfect pocket for cell. Paid Anthem $70.44 with Anita's United Explorer card. Finally remembered to reinstalled the kitchen light panels, took nearly 20 minutes as there were several bulges at the edge of the inner frames, had to trim off some to get the panels well seated - did it in several tries:-( Added some Dot3 brake fluid to LS400 as online info suggest it might be the cause of brake warning light, the brake fluid level on LS400 was just above the MIN, the sensor might have detected below MIN instance as the car being driven - hope it's just that, will find out tomorrow.
8/22/2016: Got up at 7:50. Found a few worms underneath the cucumber leaves, need to pay attention to this as they chew up leaves quickly. Tip seemed to respond much better/faster the last few days, don't get too excited. The idea of making a rain shield out of the used kitchen light panel turned out to be not as straightforward, my existing wood pieces didn't seem to be able to support the panel in it's current size - a bit too big - the completed construction may be too weak to hold the panel in horizontal position (to shield the rain/sun combination), need to ponder on other solutions. Played 55 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie had to dog sit at Teresa's house on short notice, she's pretty pissed. Harvested all remaining mature Sugar snap peas, saving for tomorrow. Had MB with mini for 25 minutes, EJ.
8/23/2016: Got up at 7:35. Filled up gas for RX300 from Costco, also got the following: one dozen bagel (had to get one pack onion ones as there's only one pack Parmesan cheese available), one tub cream cheese, one bag small oranges, one bag Asian Cashew salad, and one pack Romaine lettuce. Cleaned rangehood oil collectors as well as filters/supports. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung.
8/24/2016: Got up at 7:30. Applied fertilizer to cucumber planters. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie (she came back from her offsite duty at 12:45), and 35 minutes with Kung.
8/25/2016: Got up at 7:10. Harvested 2 Spacemaster cucumbers. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:30. April got a new Lexus RX???, she appeared very happy with the new car. The deputy was in Taiwan, so no more unexpected inspection every now and then. JP was back from her trip to Maryland, her husband was elected President of Pan American Chinese School union. Finished uploading photobook to MyPublisher in just 30 minutes, the upload speed at CCC was 9.3M whereas the one at home was below 500k, didn't realize upload speed could affect its operation - it should not, but possibly because of their software design required fast response. BJ was working the whole day, substituting for the afternoon. Went to CVS and got one dozen Barefoot wine (3 Riesling, 3 Marcasto, 3 Pink Marcato, and 3 Red Marcato), swing by Marina Grocery and got one pack bitter melon, one string bananas, one pack taro cake, one bag dried shrimp, one bottle 56° 二鍋頭, one bag carrots, and one Celery. Visited Walmart and got 3 64 oz Hazelnut creamer, looked but did not find ANY Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera, asked and found out from one of their staff that there were 24 bottles on ordered, should come in in a few days, good to know that Walmart did not cancel carrying the product. Harvested 2 U2 cucumbers (a total of 3 from that one so far) - they appeared to be Japanese cucumbers but not 100% sure. Called mom at 7:10, she's a bit concerned about my doing house work but that's what I wanted to do......
8/26/2016: Got up at 7:30. Polonized a couple of female cucumber flowers, added a blue support line to the deck planter. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Finished making used kitchen light panel into cat food dispenser cover - still need a better solution as the finished panel was wind intolerant.
8/27/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Steve, Ching, Ming, the other Ming, Jason, and myself, Shingkuo and John joined us at Peet's. Left at 10:30 to shop at Marukai, purchased two pack (2 halves each) Mackerel, one pack fish neck, two benton, and two pack Petrale Sole. Had 50 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Removed all Sugar snap pea plants from the rectangular planter box as most of them were drying up, planted all remaining cucumber seedlings (4 HCC and one AMW), 3 HCC in the rectangular planter box and one AMW in the repurposed Rose garden square.
8/28/2016: Got up at 7:20. Went to Walmart but still had no sight of Fruits of the Earth Aloe Vera, better luck next time. Swing by Target to look for Anita's toner, did not see the one she's used to purchase but found one that's acceptable, also purchased a wedding card for Sharon's daughter Tiffany.
8/29/2016: Got up at 8:00. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves with the electric blower, also trimmed off all new grows at the bottom of the two Oleanders. Rode bike to play table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Felt dizzy for about 10 seconds after arriving there, not sure what caused it though. Harvested one Japanese and one 小黃瓜.
8/30/2016: Got up at 7:20. Dynamicfoundation quarterly magazine labeling day, go there at 9:30. There were a total of 7 people labeling 1800 magazines, finished at 11:30, had lunch then played 70 minutes table tennis, 10 minutes with Carol, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 35 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco, got one dozen cheese bagel, 2 dozen organic egg, one pack medium shrimp, one case Modelo, and one case Corona extra, Found out the right rear tire was almost flat, replaced it with the spare even though it was also under inflated but at least it wouldn't go flatter as I drove home, got home safely. The tire repair kit I had in the garage maybe too old, as it took me nearly 10 minutes to insert the repair thread - too sticky to easily insert as I remember, should get a new kit, checked the tire for leak, appeared OK, took 10 minutes break before unmount the spare and remount the repaired one, put away everything and cleaned up, hopefully I wouldn't have to take out these tools too soon:-)
8/31/2016: Got up at 7:30. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, added several cucumber plant supports for the young ones that were too small to climb. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 30 with Kung.
9/1/2016: Got up at 7:00. CCC volunteering day, got there at 9:30. Was taking RX300 out for CCC, heard strange noise coming from the rear tire , stopped at Autumnsong and discovered that a large screw (just like the one on LS400) sticking into the left rear tire, drove LS400 instead. JP was out today, David substituted. The Deputy returned to work, distributed a couple of candies to every volunteer. Downloaded 2 movies: Now You See Me 2 and Ice Age: Collision Course. Inflated the spare first, took nearly 5 minutes, it had only 10 lbs in it before hand. The tire with the screw was holding the air well until I removed the screw, the screw was only one inch long just enough to penetrate. The tire repair kit was better to use than the day before yesterday, possibly because I cleaned the hole longer and thus allowed the cemented thread to go into the tire easier (although it still took me 5 minutes to complete the task), and took about half the time, will let the tire sit mounted until tomorrow when I will test run it before claiming a successful fix. Called mom at 7:05. Watched Now You See Me 2.
9/2/2016: Got up at 7:30. Cleaned up leftover garden waste including neighbor's. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Stephanie (her ride was late for one and half hours), 30 minutes with Kung.
9/3/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, jason to drive. There were 11 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Ching, Alex, Ming, Melody, Steve, Jason, and myself. Left 30 minutes earlier because Jason needed to pick up his daughter's car for body repair. Had 25 minutes with minis, EJ.
Loaded 2 dozens beer (Modelo, Corona, and 4 DOS Equis) in the cooler filled with ice and water. Left for Shing Kuo's house at 5:30. Had 4 beer, half an hamburger, 2 chicken legs, half a corn stick, and some vegetables, stuffed. Left the party at 10:45. Check Engine light came on again at 106742, compare to 105811 on 6/18/2016 when Dan reset the vehicle computer and thus the Check Engine Light.
9/4/2016: Got up at 8:05. Checked and found a few more female cucumber flowers, even the AMW exhibited a couple of them as well although they looked different from the others but definitely showed promises. Sent message to Dan regarding Check Engine Light. Considered changing Sling TV subscription to Sling Blue which has 40+ channels (USA, NGC, SyFy, True...) but ESPN and ESPN2 would be off the lineup list, however we do get up to 3 streaming at the same time, seemed to be a good deal.
9/5/2016: Got up at 7:50. Planned to see "Jason Bourne" at Santana row, Anita wasn't feeling too well (diarrhea of some kind) so we decided not to go. Was going to ride with Anita when she went to the gym and got off at 99 Ranch Market but decided not to go as my right hip joint was bothering me.
9/6/2016: Got up at 7:40. Picked up some grocery from Costco: one case K-cup, one Areds2, one MoveFree, and one bag Chicken wings, did not find Soy Sauce, Scotch Brite Sponge or Jimmy Dean Croissant Breakfast Sandwiches, might have to try other Costco stores. One of the front lawn sprinkler head was leaking water even after the watering process had stopped - need to investigate. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 with Stephanie, 25 with Kung. Stopped by 99 Ranch Market, got 6 tomatoes, one pack garlic, one bag small Mustard Green, one box 巨峯grapes, 4 bananas, and 2 red onions. Had 15 minutes (1200 counts) MB with mini, no EJ.
9/7/2016: Got up at 7:30. Had 25 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. No table tennis today, Teresa's having a meeting, called Kung and confirmed this. Got a message from Stephanie saying the meeting had been rescheduled and we are on for table tennis. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Finished received 2016 Italy & Greece trip photobook - order placed on 8/25, delivered on 9/7.
9/8/2016: Got up at 7:05. Harvested 2 Japanese and one Spacemaster cucumbers for Anita to take back to Taiwan. Left for SJC at 9:55, took nearly 15 minutes to get ot SJC, check-in was quick but since she did not have TSA fast pass this time, 20 minutes was spent on security check, got home at 10:50. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Kung, 25 minutes with Stephanie, she came back to the office late. Loneliness flooded my thought the afternoon, didn't feel like cook or eat, finished the leftover small mustard green and some pickled cucumber/carrot. Called mom at 7:00 for 42 minutes. Anita called at 12:10 from NRT airport. Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.
9/9/2016: Got up at 7:30. Had 25 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Since Kung and Stephanie will be at Dynamicfoundation tomorrow afternoon from 2-4 to host a group coming to view the on-going Chinese Calligraphy exhibition there. Maybe we can play table tennis during or afterward. It turned out that Stephanie would not be there since Kung did not ask her to work so I'll be playing with Kung only. Had 20 minutes (1200 counts) MB with RMs, no EJ.
9/10/2016: Got up at 6:45. Hiking day, my turn to drive, planning to take LS400 instead as RX300 is having Check Engine Warning issue, found out there's a potential problem with the right front tire as it was slowly losing pressure - discovered after pumping air into it and check a few hours later, took RX300 instead. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Steve, Ching, Alex, Ming, Jason, and myself, Wayne and John joined us at Peet's Coffee. Checked tire pressure again, confirmed air leakage but wasn't able to pinpoint the exact location even after removing a half an inch screw, would have to check in a bucket of water tomorrow. Went to Dynamicfoundation at 2:30, it turned out the Kung wasn't able to get away from hosting the exhibition and we only played a total of 15 minutes table tennis between 2:30 and 4:30 when I left but I did practice serve and got a good feel of it. Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.
9/11/2016: Got up at 7:45. Filled wheelbarrow with water and tested the troubled tire over and over again, no bubbles could be seen but pressure was still decreasing. Made appointment online to fix RX300 Check Engine Light problem at Lexus Stevenscreek on 9/19 (Monday) at 10:20AM. Called Anita at 6:00, she's scheduled to have her hemorrhoids surgically removed Friday afternoon local time - our time would be midnight Thursday.
9/12/2016: Got up at 7:45. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie didn't come back after we finished playing, she was at the laundromat washing comforter (for Shih mama, I believe), since she didn't have lunch yet, so we did not ask her to play. Pulled out several cucumber plants as they were dying - either not growing anything or had all grayed leaves. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Called Anita at 6:01. Setup MacBook Pro to broadcast "So You Think You Can Dance Finale" for Anita to watch at 9:25.
9/13/2016: Got up at 7:35. Removed one AMW and one Spacemaker plants as they were simply sitting there not producing anything. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, trimmed off a couple of Oleander branches to reduce walking obstacle. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung Kung beat Stephanie 11-7. Trimmed off more Oleander branches - mostly small and dried ones.
9/14/2016: Got up at 7:25. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves. Stephanie had to go to Teresa's house, she could not play table tennis today. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Kung. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:01, she's going to have here Hemorrhoid removed tomorrow afternoon local time, I can still call her the same tomorrow at this time at the same number, will need to call her at her cell phone Friday as she won't leave the hospital until Saturday afternoon local time.
9/15/2016: Got up at 7:00. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25, waited a few minutes before Sophia arrived and got in. Stephanie called regarding her RX330 service issues, suggesting her to check garage floor for leakage and examine rear brake thickness before committing to ~$1000 charge. Also reminded her to get warranty info and do not leave important items in the vehicle. Swing by CVS and got 6 bottles Barefoot wine - 2 Moscato, 2 Reisling, and 2 Red Moscato. Made a stop at Marina Grocery, got one head celery, 6 long tomatoes, 4 bags 黃飛紅, one pack turnip cake, one fried fish cake, 4 bananas, one bag bean sprouts, and one can baby corn. Had 20 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:00, called mom at 7:08.
9/16/2016: Got up at 7:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street. Decided to trim off the Jasmine vines circling the bushes next to it, also trimmed off some overly grown branches from the purple flower tree, then realized the rose in the corner had unknowingly expanded its territory into the porch ceiling, need to spend some dedicated time to it another day. Got Line message from Dan, he had been extremely busy the last two weeks, saying he can stop by next week, I waited for several hours and thought through before OK the visit next week, also cancelled Lexus appointment for next Monday. Had 30 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Called Anita on her cell phone, no answer, used "Find You iPhone" app and sent sound twice to her iPad Air 2, she called landline from her iPad Air 2, not sure why her iPhone did not ring, the surgery was smooth, she should be able to check out of the clinic in one hour. Will call her at her residence in YunHo before I go to bed.
9/17/2016: Got up at 6:40, hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 7 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, the other Ming, Steve, Jason, and myself. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:00, she's having problem relieving herself due to the surgery, will need to take diarrhea pill if still has no improvement later. Anita called our landline, she was able to relieve but very tired. Applied fertilizer to all the cucumber plants.
9/18/2016: Got up at 7:30. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Made pickle cucumber from 5 Japanese cucumbers and 3 carrots, julienned them into 2" strip, mixed vinegar, sugar and minced garlic, plus a little soy sauce. Called Anita at 6:00, she was able to relieve herself after taking stool softener, but she's still very tired. Ordered Gilead Sensor blades from Amazon.com, arriving Wednesday.
9/19/2016: Got up at 7:30. The right front tire on LS400 is still slowly but surely leaking air, need to find a permanent solution instead of pumping air in every few days. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, there were about 10 cucumbers of various sizes growing in the deck planter, more than the square planter box, an opposite to last week - seemed they were taking turns. Patched small holes as well as the 4 bottom screws that were leaking water in the wheelbarrow. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung, Stephanie beat Kung 11-8. Had 25 minutes MB with RM and mini, EJ.
9/20/2016: Got up at 7:45. Harvested 3 Japanese cucumbers (one actually came from the U1 plant but appeared to be the same as Japanese spice. Applied first coat paint to the wheelbarrow, the white patches were not well covered by the paint though, will see if second or even third coat can do the job. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung, little progress in Stephanie's top spin serve. Called Anita at 6:01, she's doing better.
9/21/2016: Got up at 7:35. Went to Costco on Coleman, finally found 21 count Heavy Duty Scotch Brite Sponges after circling in the warehouse for 10 minutes. Stopped by Trader Joes and got one bag cashew nuts, one bag Candied Pecans, one bag Sweet & Spicy Pecans, one bag peanuts, one bag Brazil nuts, and one bag Almonds. Swing by Target and got one 16 lbs original flavor Meow Mix cat food. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes (divided into 20-minute and 15-minute sessions) with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Roasted Brazil nuts from last purchase, mixed all the nuts (a total of 7 different kinds - 2 flavors of peanuts, Almond, Macadamia nuts, pine nuts, two flavors of pecans, cashew nuts, and Brazil nuts. Prepared one bag for Tip. Called Anita at 6:00.
9/22/2016: Got up at 6:55. CCC volunteer day, also the first day of Fall. Got there at 9:32, there are two new hires there, both are part time, Robert and Vivian. Checked cleaning conditions of downstairs. Gave 3 Japanese cucumbers each to BJ and Susan. Left CCC 20 minutes earlier - played 30 minutes table tennis with Kung. No chance to hand over nut mix to Tip. Harvested one U1 and one U2 cucumbers. Called Anita at 6:01, she's playing game on iPad Air 2 - that's why I could not get through when trying video call. Called mom at 7:00.
9/23/2016: Got up at 7:25. Waited at Costco gas station for 30 minutes before getting filled - they are doubling the stations but had to close half of existing ones while construction is going on, and I made a mistake by waiting at the right lane before I realized only 2 stations were serving us while 6 were for the left lane vehicles, could have saved 20 minutes. Harvested 4 cucumbers - 2 U2, and 2 小黃瓜. Rode bike to Dynamicfoundation and played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung.
9/24/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 11 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Hueiling, Ching, Steve, James, Ming, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Had 20 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Had another 10 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Ordered the same silicone cutting board from Amazon to take home 2017 Chinese New Year. Trimmed some (possibly 3 dozens) Birds of Paradise leaves, the bush looked the same size afterward.
9/25/2016: Got up at 7:10, had 20 minutes comfortable MB with RMs, no EJ. Stopped by Marina Grocery and got one pack fried fish cake, 3 bananas, one bottle Erh Guo To, one head Cauliflower, one bag frozen cuttlefish, 6 steam buns. Handed Tip a bottle of passion fruit juice, 4 cucumbers, gave and showed how to use Bluetooth ear phone, wearing no wig, only hat, hair grew back on lower part of the head only. Called Anita at 6:00, she just got up and was half way through her breakfast. Tried to paybill online, but could not find Fidelity as well as Chase login info until I called Anita again, also CapitalOne and Chase accounts won't close until tomorrow, will have to pick up tomorrow afternoon.
9/26/2016: Got up at 7:20, had 25 minutes MB wit RMs, no EJ. Harvested 6 cucumbers - one HCC, 3 Japanese, and 2 小黃瓜. Cleaned Oleander flowers and leaves. Had one 包子 from Tip for lunch, may not be enough but I can eat some snack in the afternoon. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Checked Chase Visa Explorer accounts, still not finalized yet, possibly won't be ready until tomorrow! Today's recorded temperature was 99.3° in the backyard. Called Anita at 6:00. Took a couple of photos when a raccoon sneaked in and ate cat food in the automatic dispenser, made a mess as it stand in the bowl when eating, had to chase it away, not sure if it will come back.
9/27/2016: Got up at 7:05, had 10 minutes MB with RM, hold EJ. Had 5 minutes test MB with rewinded RM, hold EJ. Finished online bill payments on Fidelity: PG&E ($76.49), Anita's Explorer ($804.09), Pei-Chen's Explorer ($624.58), Costco City Visa ($29.88), and CapitalOne ($120.00). Had 30 minutes MB with RMs and mini, no EJ. Arriving Dynamicfoundation at 12:25, didn't see Kung's car, no response from Stephanie via Line, called Kung, he's just leaving from home, telling me to play with Stephanie first, called Stephanie and started table tennis at 12:35, played 45 minutes with Stephanie and left when Kung did not show. Had 25 minutes MB with RMs and mini, EJ.
9/28/2016: Got up at 8:20. Trimmed off some dead leaves in the front yard, watered them as well. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 15+20 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Called Anita at 6:01. Had 15 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.
9/29/2016: Got up at 7:00. Had 10 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:30. Forgot to bring the cucumbers with me, or well. It had been busy at CCC this morning, not as many calls but lots of foot traffic. Had 15 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:01. Called mom at 7:08 - almost forgot. Had 25 minutes (1500 counts) MB with RMs, no EJ.
9/30/2016: Got up at 7:10, had 25 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, ours and the Korean neighbor's. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Kung, good game today. Stephanie was running errands outside all day. Had 30 minutes (4600 counts) MB with RMs, no EJ.
10/1/2016: Got up at 6:55. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 11 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Hueiling, Jerry, Ming, the other Ming, James(Jim), CCC James, Ching, Jason, and myself. Had 25 minutes (2000 counts) MB with RMs, no EJ. Had one more 15 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:00 but hanged up as she's still in bed, Anita called back at 6:24. Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.
10/2/2016: Got up at 6:50, arriving Costco gas station at 7:02, stayed on the left lane and filled up LS400 at 7:15, wow! Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, hold EJ. Sealed the ventilation hole on top of the old BBQ grill so that rainwater won't leak through and damage the contents in it - had to replace the screw/nut set since the old one would not fasten tightly. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.
10/3/2016: Got up at 7:25. Filed online redelivery request for Mercury News at 8:17 as it did not show up. Stopped by Costco, got one bag Pinenuts, one can Macadamia nuts, one pack Tip Loin beef Steak, one Champion crew sweater, one box organic raisin, one Italian cake, and one tub cream cheese. Called Mercury News for the newspaper never showed up, the only answer I got was that they could not guarantee the redelivery time and I should get it either by the end of the day or tomorrow morning with tomorrow's paper. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Prepare soil for two mid-size bucket, 2/3 full each, will transplant the Passion fruit seedlings from Ying Wang's Passion fruit seeds.
10/4/2016: Got up at 7:35. Transplanted Passion fruit seedlings (bred from Ying Wang's Passion fruit seeds) to larger pots, eradicated the ugly "succulents" under the fake Cherry tree and moved the new Passion fruit pots there. I was told by Stephanie that there would be no table tennis today since Teresa's having a meeting at the premise, however she wasn't sure if it would actually take place. I called Kung at 12:20 to make sure, but it turned out the meeting had be scheduled for 2:00, I rushed over there and played 25 minutes table tennis, 5 minutes with Stephanie (she had to answer Teresa's text messages and calls constantly), Kung was having knee pain and thus only played 20 minutes, I did practice serving for about 5 minutes. Had 10 minutes MB with RM, no EJ, put away the black RM. Applied a third yellow paint to the iron chair - should have sanded the rust first as the surface didn't look smooth.
10/5/2015: Got up at 7:30. Ordered one Netgear 8-port switch from Amazon, current switch is constantly having download speed problem and need to be replaced. Water and sponge washed Monica's garden. Harvested 7 cucumbers - two AMW, three Japanese, and two 小黃瓜. Rode bike to Dynamicfoundation, a bit chilly but OK after a while. Played 35 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 15 minutes with Kung. Spent 40 minutes vacuuming Dynamicfoundation auditorium for Teresa's college (TU) class reunion. Called Anita at 6:01, sent one Moly photo as she's watching me having dinner.
10/6/2016: Got up at 6:55. CCC volunteer day, arriving at 9:27, got in at 9:30 after calling April. Went through most of the cleaning checklist items. It had been a busy morning, a dozen calls were taken, most of them related to passport and authentication issues, there were also a good number of visitors. CCC will close at 3:00PM for inventory, lucy afternoon volunteers. Stopped by CVS and got, swing by Marina Grocery. Called Anita at 6:00. Called mom at 7:00, spoke about 10 minutes when Dan arrived. Dan checked the error code being P0171 indicating possible air leak, fuel injector, fuel pressure, O2 sensor, main air flow, and coolant temperature sensor. He used smoke injector and eliminated air leak problem, since the car appeared to run smoothly, fuel pressure and injector possibilities were also rejected, coolant temperature sensor was OK according to the computer readout, examining the O2 sensor voltage showed it was not moving responsively as it should, so changing O2 sensor should fix the problem, since the manifest would have to be disassembled, he suggest changing the exhaust fixture at the same time, he will check the cost from Lexus and let me know.
10/7/2016: Woke up at 6:25 by power failure and recovery (the radio clock made noise). Got up at 7:30. There was another power failure/recovery at 8:25, not sure what caused it. Stopped by Costco, got 2 2-pack 4" LED light tubes and one pair size S thermal glove, turned out the 2 LED 2-packs are different price - one $17.99-$4 and one $9.97, the thing is their packaging descriptions are similar and from the same vendor?????? Played 60 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Kung and 30 minutes with Stephanie after she came back from taking Teresa's classmates shopping at Costco. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Had dumpling and wonton from JP for dinner, not bad. Called Anita at 6:00.
10/8/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Hueiling, Steve, Ching, James, Jerry, Ming, Jason, and myself. Returned Ming his NB. Stopped at Marukai and got two garlic, one bag carrots, one pack fish jars, one pack Sole, and one box Fancy Chirashi (mixed sushi with rice). Had 30 minutes MB with RM and mini, no EJ.
10/9/2016: Got up at 7:40. Stopped by Tip's at 9:50 to see what needs to be fixed, mostly small jobs: leaking toilet, blown outdoor light, refrigerator interior lights, broken front yard hose. Got home at 4:15. Had 10 minutes MB with Tip&RM, no EJ.
10/10/2016: Got up at 7:50. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves with Electric blower, trimmed off some dead cucumber leaves as well as dying cucumber plants, watered roses. No table tennis today as Teresa's class reunion was having lunch in the auditorium. Had 30 minutes MB with RM and minis, EJ. Tip dropped off shutter bar after work.
10/11/2016: Got up at 6:55. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie was out with Teresa's classmates touring San Francisco. Harvested 9 cucumbers (5 小黃瓜, one U1, one U2, and 2 Japanese). weather proofed the garden utility cart with clear plastic sheet and adhesive strips (leftover from the magnetic screen door). Called Anita at 6:00.
10/12/2016: Got up at 7:35. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, cleaned kitchen window rain shield. Turned 2 large (1.5' in diameter) plant pots to rain water bucket by sealing the holes (6 each) at the bottom of them with tape on the inside and Gorilla glue along with cut up white leftover blind parts on the outside. Went to Dynamicfoundation but was told by Kung that the reunion members were waiting to have lunch so I left and stopped by Costco but did not have the desire to purchase anything. Had 30 minutes (1600 counts) MB with RM, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:01.
10/13/2016: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, arriving at 9:26, all volunteers today got 2 persimmons each from deputy director. Helped moved 10 particle boards and 5 pack frames to the kitchen, really heavy. Swing by Marina Grocery and got one pack Fried Fish Cake, one pack Beef Tendon Balls, one pack Fu Chou Balls, and 2 pack Neoguri Udon type Spicy Seafood noodle. Turned over the wheelbarrow and painted the upper side of the wooden handles. Had 35 minutes (3000 counts) MB with RM, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:05. Called mom at 7:01 - Tina picked the phone before she headed out and mom came back from grocery shopping just in time.
10/14/2016: Got up at 6:15. Had 40 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took 20 minutes. Paid a visit to Harbor Freight Tools on Story Road, took 680 south, exit at 1C(King Road), left on King Road, Left on Story, and left on first traffic light, got 2 60-LED motion detection Security lights ($27.99 each, discount from regular $39.99), the whole process took only 30 minutes. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Kung, 25 minutes with Stephanie, Kung beat Stephanie 11-9. Received the two IP cameras ordered from Amazon, the user manual was printed in really small fonts, almost unreadable, tried but could not find any digital user manual inline, would have to struggle through. In the process of making more pickled cucumber slices for Tip but ran out of vinegar, kept forgetting not to go to 99 Ranch Market during meal hours, no surprise there, I had to come back home empty handed because I could not find parking. Had 30 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.
10/15/2016: Got up at 6:50. Had 5 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Jerry, Ahmei, Yung, the other Ming, James, Ching, Alex, Jason, and myself. Had 30 minutes MB with RM, EJ-good one. Called Anita at 6:00. Purchased flight tickets going back to Taiwan for Chinese New Year next year from ANA, 1/12/2-17-2/6/2017, they charge JPY80,790, I was able to log in with ANA number and went through the purchasing process. Tried to install the newly purchased IP camera, it was a terrible experience, first of all, the device made loud noise once power was applied, and I wasn't able to figure out how to make it work, decided to return them to Amazon, this part was much easier, just get online to Amazon on purchased record and request return, print UPS label, affix them outside as well inside the box, dropped it off at UPS, done.
10/16/2016: Got up at 7:15. Arriving Tip's at 10:05. Refrigerator holder I fixed with superglue did not hold, it broke off right after the tray was placed back, devised another approach by attaching the two make-shift parts to the inside of the frame, worked perfectly. The shutter issues (flipping tip and covering cap) were taken care of in 45 minutes. The peep hole was drilled on the front door but the front and back hole did not level, had to use other drill to trim off both to make them level, looked good afterward though. Prepared privacy film for the 3 piece of glass panels at the entrance. Cut off the baby palm tree in the backyard. Will have to install the solar light next time. Ordered 2-pack DCS-932L from Amazon.
10/17/2016: Got up at 7:35. Stopped by Lowes, got one small Gorilla Glue and one cat door. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Swing by Costco after table tennis, got one case Modelo, one case new DOS Equis (12 Larger Especial, 6 Amber, and 6 Blanca), one case (new) Hell or High Watermelon, one box (6 bottles) White Zinfandel, one dozen bagel, one pack organic chicken thighs, 2 dozen organic eggs, and 2 bottles Cabernet Sauvignon. Called Anita at 6:00. Ordered one DCS-942L from Amazon.
10/18/2016: Got up at 7:35. Decided to order one pet door from Amazon as the rating seemed much better than others - for some reason I could not get it into shopping cart, not sure why, so the order is pretty much on hold. Will see if the one from Lowes works. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Called Anita at 6:00, she's just got up and was tending mosquito bite. Had 5 minutes MB with mini, no EJ.
10/19/2016: Got up at 7:35. Dropped off Amazon return package at UPS store near CVS. Stopped by CVS and happily found out that Barefoot wines were still on sale at $4.95 each, got 6 bottles right away, not sure why the CVS on Milpitas Boulevard did not have them on sale, could be miss handled by the employees there, need to check out tomorrow. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. The 2-pack DCS-932L was delivered at 11:25AM, I did not check until getting back around 1:45PM, it actually came one day ahead of scheduled delivery time/date. Setup one of the D-Link DCS-930LB1, using MyDlink was much easier than setting up port forwarding, should be able to smoothly set them up at Tip's.
10/20/2016: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:26, went in with Sophia at 9:29. Had to affix tapes to NB power adapter as well as power strip to the floor as the outlet behind counter completely failed. Accessing home video cameras failed for unknown reason, hope it's not because the addition of DCS-932LB1. Attempted to pay Anthem insurance with both Anita's and mine Explorer cards failed, not sure why, need to try it again tomorrow morning.
10/21/2016: Got up at 7:35. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Removed all files (copied from 堪節's phone) on the 8G micro SD card, will use it on Tip's DCS-942LB1 for now. Tried paying Anthem $70.44 with Anita's Explorer card, it worked this time, thank God. Tip initiated 12:30PM play the first time. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung.
Weighed the Birthday Card for mom at Dynamicfoundation, it's just below 1 oz, use of Global Stamp sufficed. Peilee called at 7:22, chatted for 50 minutes.
10/22/2016: Got up at 7:20. Tip volunteer day, got there at 9:45. Installed DCS-932LB1 in the morning, took much longer time than I anticipated due to the placement of the camera. Installed DCS-942LB, relatively easier as it is to be watching the inside of the garage. Disassembled the small dish on the backyard wall, installed the wooden base with some effort (the 4 matching holes on the base board not entirely match the ones on the wall, had to adjust them by enlarging the holes), the installation of solar panel and the light took about 30 minutes, considered OK. Got home at 5:40. Called Anita at 6:00.
10/23/2016: Got up at 7:35. Arriving Tip's at 9:46. Started pet door project, unmounted the door and move it to the backyard, the steel plated (both sides) door was extremely challenging to cut out an open for the pet door, drilling only provided small access points, the hand saw I brought simply could not do the job, plus the drill battery ran out quickly and had to be recharged every few minutes, after pondering came the only likely better solution - reciprocating saw, although I was reluctant to use it in the first place because it's difficult to control the cutting line, proceeded carefully and managed to make the cut out, I had to trim off some uneven cuts but the end result was acceptable. The installation of the pet door itself was not straightforward either, the alignment had to be perfect, after nearly 30 minutes working together with Tip, we managed to install the pet door successfully, the door, however, had problem swing out as one side of it got stuck on the outside frame, had to use sander plus adjusting the two screws on that side to make it work, may have to apply some handy oil to make the swing out function more smooth. Covered DCS-932LB1 with black screen to shield it from outside view. Installed the second solar security light over the garage door. Got home at 5:40. Called Anita at 6:00.
10/24/2016: Got up at 7:40. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Kung, 25 minutes with Stephanie, Kung's having (again or continuing) a cold. Had 40 minutes (3000 counts) MB with mini, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:00, she's attending (and performing) TFGH class reunion tonight.
10/25/2016: Got up at 7:30. Repaired the broken NB stand. Cleaned up tools in the garage. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung was out sick. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, EJ-good one. Went to Tip's and sealed the pet door, fixed the green house ceiling door lock, tested front solar light, will adjust sensor as well as light angle coming Sunday.
10/26/2016: Got up at 7:35. Went to Costco trying to get gas, but the entire station was closed for construction, swing by Fry's and got 2 magnet screens (2 for the price of one) and one 32G micro SD card. Stopped by Lowes, got 4 packs magnets and 2 narrow shelves for Tip. Filled up gas at Chevron, their 87 was $2.99, 60 cents more than Costco, oh well. May have to return (or use them myself) since Tip was not impressed. Paid RX300 registration renewal online - $126, with Anita's Explorer card. Devising ways to clean up Tip's garage side door blocking boards. Failed calls to Anita's cell phone, she called back 30 minutes later saying she was having breakfast and talking to classmate 陳秋香 and could not hear the phone.
10/27/2016: Got up at 7:22. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:27. Gave JP a small bag of sun dried persimmon slices. Received one order dumplings (25 pieces for $10) and one order wonton (35 pieces for $14) from JP (she picked them up for me last Saturday), left them in CCC refrigerator freezer, must not forget to take them home. Downloaded "Captain Fantastic" from xuka.tv, 1.2G. Stopped by CVS and got 6 bottles of Barefoot wine, also got a 1.75L one as the price of them were dropped to the same low price we bought it the first time locally. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased 6 tomatoes, 4 bags spicy peanuts, 2 bitter melons, one bottle Eh Guo Tou, one bag dried small fish, one pack taro bun, and 5 bananas. Went back to CVS and got 6 more bottles of Barefoot, all white wine this time. Called Anita several times starting at 6:01, no answer, she called back saying they were on the bus listening to their tour guide, will call her tomorrow when she gets back to YongHo.
10/28/2016: Got up at 6:30, read 姐姐的房間完整版 until 7:25.
10/29/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive, gave Jason 4 cucumbers (2 HCC, 2 Japanese), got one box of Persimmons from Jason. There were 7 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, James, Ching, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Stopped by Tip's at 1:30, attempt to add port forwarding wasn't successful, not sure what went wrong. Cleaned up dead Rosemary in the backyard, nailed and glued the fence support, added lemon tree water retaining wall, adjusted solar motion sensor angle. The pet door blocker failed because I forgot all about the control nobs which stick out and block the closure, need to cut out two openings on each side, since the measurement has to be exact for a perfect fit, decided to cut over there instead.Had 20 minutes MB with mini, EJ, done for October.
10/30/2016: Got up at 7:30. Arriving Tip's at 9:40, set up port forwarding OK, at least I thought, but further attempt to access either IP cam failed, not sure why but had to be not-meant-to-be:-( Started Garage side door work, took the door down, installed door bottom/sweep, was quite easy, the pet door block was not the case however, as the drill head wasn't big enough to make a full size cut, had to manually sand off the portion to allow magnets to touch the door, took 20 minutes to make the contact but not very pretty, asked Tip to try and see how it works out, may need to add more magnets or even redo the whole blocker. Replaced all glued magnets for window shutters. Final task was the wires around entertainment center, removed several unused equipments and wires, reposition the power strip as well as replacing the old power strip on the left side, took nearly 2 hours but it was worth the effort as the result was amazing. Anita called from TaoYuan airport at 5:39.
10/31/2016: Got up at 7:20, had a power outage at 7:35 (did not come back until 5:40PM). No coffee nor bagel for breakfast, luckily I made some porridge last night and was able to have some without having to heat it up. Had to manually open the garage door, and exit from the side door and enter from the front door. Stopped by McDonald's to check ANA NH172 status, it landed at 10:19, I hurried and parked the car in the garage. The waiting area for SJC international arrival is being renovated to house more baggage claim area, an additional carrousel, as well enclosed waiting area with stores. Anita came out at 11:00, we stopped by Costco and got one Polish dog and one slice combo pizza to take home for lunch - still no no electricity at home. A couple of PG&E service vehicles worked the whole afternoon about 2 houses up the street, we finally got out electricity back at 5:40 but that was after I cooked on the deck with our gas grill:-(
11/1/2016: Got up at 7:30, Anita's been up since 5:55. Cleaned Oleander flowers/leaves as well as Wisteria leaves, but swept them away from Monica's garden only. Hand washed some of the tiles close to the fence as they were dirtied by recent rain and dirt. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Purchased Anita's ticket to Taipei 2/17/2017-3/28/2017, it was a deep discount ticket at about $550, whereas mine was $780.
11/2/2016: Got up at 7:50 (8:15 for Anita - she overcame jet lag in only 3 days). Visited Fry's and got a can of spray liquid rubber, swing by Lowes and purchased a plyboard and 2 pack rectangular magnets. Changed Sling TV subscription to Sling Blue to get 3 concurrent streaming as well as more channels (USA, Bravo, SyFy...) with the elimination of ESPN (1, 2, and 3) for $25/mon. The switch took effect right away just by reloading Sling on Roku. Dropped off ballots at the post office on my way to Dynamicfoundation. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Kung, 30 minutes with Stephanie. Got two more large plant buckets from Kung, plan to turn them into water tanks.
11/3/2016: Got up at 7:20. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25, went in after April's arrival. Checked janitorial work on the first floor, many of the spaces appeared uncleaned at all. Handed over 3 more cucumbers to JP. Stopped by Marina Grocery and got one pack Fried Fish Cake, one bunch bananas, one bag carrots, one pack baby Bokchoy, two heads Broccoli, 2 white onion, one pack jumbo tofu, one can parmesan cheese, one bag julienned bamboo shoots, and one bag taro roots. Called mom at 7:00, the Birthday card and check had been received. Glued the two side bars to the Birch plywood for Tip's pet door blocker.
11/4/2016: Got up at 7:15. Stopped by Harbor Freight Tools and got 2 solar motion lights ($29.99 each on deep discount), 2 pack magnets, one bag long zip ties, and one pack super glue (x3). No table tennis since Teresa's conducting meetings. Made roper wood pieces and glued them to the top and bottom side of the new pet door blocker, when testing it with our own side door, discovered that the bottom hinge will block its placement, need to know the location of the actual hinge to trim off the excess.
11/5/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 7 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Alex, Steve, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. We left Peet's 30 minutes earlier so that Jason could visit his friend (John) with a farm in his backyard in Camden, he grew many different vegetables and fruits, Jason harvested some Chives (some with root, some without) before leaving. Trimmed off hinge recess from the pet door blocker with drill, chisel, and sander, not pretty but should do the job. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
11/6/2016: Got up at 7:30 (the daylight saving 8:30). Planted the rose Elena gave Anita at the dead White Delight, added half bucket of soil from compost station. Finished the major works for the pet door blocker including 6 magnets and 4 metal inserts, need to ask Tip to try the gap with a real metal piece to be sure it could go in.
11/7/2016: Got up at 7:20. Applied 2 coats of white interior paint to the pet door blocker, applied 2 coats of Flex Seal to the iron bucket with several small holes. Retaped the two holes in the yellow bin. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung was out for Colonoscopy. Brought home two planter buckets found near Dynamicfoundation's parking lot near the back wall, assuming Kung left them there for me - will find out if this is the case tomorrow.
11/8/2016: Got up at 7:10. Went to Costco with Anita and got one tub cream cheese, one pack Chobani, one pack roasted chicken legs (x8), one case DOS XX bear, one dozen bagels, two dozen organic eggs, one pack Baklava for Francisco, one pack hot links, one box cookies, one box Panettone, and one pack (x4) lobsters. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung, Kung's a bit uncomfortable with his stomach. Sanded off the outer frame, applied veneer stripes to the top and bottom frame, applied paint to all sides and front panel. Had 20 minutes (2000 counts) MB with minis, no EJ.
11/9/2016: Got up at 7:10, it's a bad day with the news Trump getting elected:-((( Cleaned a good portion of Oleander flowers/flowers as well as some Wisteria leaves. digged out two cucumber plants that showed no possible new growth, harvested one HCC, the HCC climbing over one of the rose was showing more female flowers, I could only find one small male flower, better than nothing though, attempted pollination anyway. Play 60 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Blew most Oak leaves from our Filipino neighbor, preparing for Francisco's visit tomorrow.
11/10/2016: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25, Susan arrived earlier again. JP to check janitorial work today. Spent nearly 2 hours preparing 2017世界大學運動會 images for Deputy Director. Delivered pet door blocker to Tip at Marina Grocery at 1:35, hope it works fine. Made grocery purchase at Marina Grocery: one pack pork bones, one pound ground pork, 3 tomatoes, one bunch bananas, one bottle 二鍋頭, one bottle 紹興, 4 small red potatoes, one head cauliflower, one pack 貢丸, one pack mushroom, and one pack ganlan. Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Called mom at 6:07 for about 30 minutes.
11/11/2016: Got up at 7:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, the Oak leaves were starting to fall in large number, cleaning them often was the only way to keep them from piling up. Harvested one Japanese cucumber - amazing how they could last. Cleaned the two large planter containers for water sealing to be performed this afternoon. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Kung, and 20 minutes with Stephanie, Stephanie was showing sign of no longer interested in playing. After I checked, the PDB seemed to be working fine except Tip preferred to have thre of the four metal legs removed for easier application, oh well.
11/12/2016: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. Jason brought over 15 large Persimmons. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Steve, Alex, Ming, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Got 6 small Persimmons from Ching's wife Suhua. Left early to visit Marukai but got on 85 north absentmindedly, gave up the plan but noticed that highway 17 appeared to have a major accident and was totally stopped at the junction, turned back to 85 south ramp instead after pondering for 10 seconds, visited Marukai after nearly 20 minutes delay, purchased 2 packs of Sole, one box Sukeroku Sushi, and one box Bara Chirashi Sushi.
11/13/2016: Got up at 7:40. Got gas at Costco, they had finally finished expanding the station to 24 gas pumps, I got in almost right away after passing the horrible left turn congestion, $2.279 per gallon, they also upgraded their meters. Swing by Fry's and got two cans of Flex Seal, one clear and one black. Applied second coat to the large containers with black seal, they should be stronger now. Trimmed some withered roses and their dead branches, the fertilizer I applied wasn't specific for roses so the effect on roses appeared strange - a lot of new leaves from a whole lot of different locations on the branches, will use rose only fertilizer next time. Applied black flex seal to the vent on top of the old Weber grill cover. Anita went to Tzu Chi on Old Oakland Road to attend a seminar about eye health. Had 40 minutes MB with minis, EJ - good one. Supermoon tonight since 1948, did not appear to be significantly larger though.
11/14/2016: Got up at 7:30. Reapplied flex seal to the Weber cover vent again to fill several small holes on it. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung's out sick again. Stephanie's hair had been doing well lately, she showed up without her wig today, must have been a long time since the last time, she's apparently very happy about that. Gave Tip the clear iPhone6 case and screen protector. Applied black Flex Seal to the leaking planter container, also made it look better with one coat over the yellowish Gorilla glue on the bottom ring.
11/15/2016: Got up at 7:20. Painted the two cardboards with green interior/exterior paint, single side for this morning, will do the other side this afternoon weather permit. Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Kung, Stephanie was busy and had to run errands throughout her lunch hour. Applied green paint to the other side of the cardboards. Went to Walmart with Anita and purchased 4 64 oz Hazelnut creamer and 3 12 oz Aloe Vera.
11/16/2016: Got up at 7:25. Touched up the two cardboards, hopefully the final, for a better sealed rain bucket covers. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie (she has a doctor's appointment at 1:15), 25 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco, purchased one can European cookies (for Francisco), one unsalted mixed nuts, 2 honey roasted mixed nuts, one bag pine nuts, and
11/17: Got up at 7:25. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:31, there's a new part time worker reporting to job whom deputy director waited at the door. Checked Janitorial work. Sent Taipei 2017 29th Summer Universiade info to DD. Cancelled Reader's Digest subscription from Google Play store since I hardly read it. Went to Teresa's house to help setting up dishes at 3:00 as requested by Kung, but everything was ready by the time we got in. The two gates on way to her house required codes to open, I tried a number of times but failed to open it, called Kung but no answer, called Stephanie and found out that I needed to enter "#" before the number which I thought was simply implying what follows was the number to key in. Too much meat from the meal but we managed to bring home 2 containers of salad, one container of mashed potato, and one container of veal. Got home at 7:45, called mom at 8:00, she got home around 10:30AM (6:30 here) and thought she'd missed my call, she felt relieved after I explained why I did not call at 10:00am (6:00pm here).
11/18/2016: Got up at 7:45. Harvested two Japanese cucumbers, one was shorter than 8" while the other was about 10" but fairly thin. Went to Costco with Anita and got 3 boxes of Green Mountain K-cup, one bottle Chardonnay, one bottle white wine, one container white mushrooms, one contain organic gingers, and one case DOS XX. Lots of people in the store,you'd think it's weekend. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Kung, and 30 minutes with Stephanie, this was probably the longest she'd played for a long period.
11/19/2016: Got up at 7:55. Hiking day, but according to weather forecast, it should start to rain around 7:00 so Jason and I cancelled it. There was no rain at 8:30, too bad. Still no rain at 10:15. Downed the blue vinyl coated wires from the vine support structure. Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ. A few drops of rain hit around 1:00, but that was it. San Jose had 0.02" rain for the day, pitty!
11/20/2016: Got up at 7:50. Total rainwater collection was around 15 gallons since yesterday, which was pretty much nothing:-( Visited Sprouts with Anita, she was impressed with their "Market Corner", we only got two items this time, one bunch bananas and one Panini (for lunch). Trimmed off some Lavender branches that were blocking sunshine from the white Azalea, hope this could help it blossom better. Difficulty accessing DCS-932LB, discovered the only way to access it was to use Safari browser and 172.6.84.98:800. Filled several more litter box with rain water even though the rain wasn't pouring but rather sprinkles.
11/21/2016: Got up at 7:45. Processed half a dozen apples from our backdoor neighbor, only a couple were right on fresh, the others were kind of passed their prime time. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Swing by 99 Ranch Market, got 6 Romaine tomatoes, one string garlic, one bottle rice wine, one pack remnant Salmon meat, one pack Lotus roots, one bottle sesame oil, one pack Romaine lettuce heart, one pack bamboo shoot, one bunch green onion, and one head of Cauliflower.
11/22/2016: Got up at 7:00. Dynamicfoundation quarterly magazine labeling day, due to special circumstance, the task was to begin at 9:00. Susan had been there since 8:00 when I arrived at 8:45, she had to leave before 10:00 though. Prepared the work place a little by placing one or two boxed magazines on the work table. Started working at 9:55, 5 seniors from Monday's Calligraphy class came by to help, more people did help speed up the process even though they were novice in this, we finished the task at 11:15, started playing table tennis at 11:30, Stephanie and Kung took turns playing, played 40 minutes with Stephanie, and 35 minutes with Kung, possibly a record. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, no EJ.
11/23/2016: Got up at 7:55. Stopped by Costco and got one pack mashed potatoes and 4 MoveFree. Swing by 99 Ranch Market, purchased one head celery, one pack Shtakai mashroom, one pack cuttlefish ball, and one pack imitation crab meat. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Kung, and 30 minutes with Stephanie.
11/24/2016: Got up at 7:20. Consolidate the huge garden waste pile in the street and made it taller, smaller in diameter. Thanksgiving Day. Three dishes to be served tonight: Lobster, seafood salad, and pickled cucumber, plus white wine. Called mom at 6:00 for 20 minutes.
11/25/2016: Got up at 7:30. Went to Great Mall and watched 9:30 "The Fantastic Beasts and How to Find Them", parking at that hour was not a problem. Walked around the mall for about 30 minutes after the movie, the place was packed with people, buying or window shopping, since it's Black Friday, stores extend their saving to 50%-70% off, many of them had to use entry control (Nike, Michael Kors, ...). The parking lot was also full, a number of vehicles simply stopped there and wait for people to leave. As there were many vehicles still trying to get in from the streets, it took us 10 minutes just to get on Montague. Had simple dinner, Romaine lettuce and Cauliflower with imitation crab meat.
11/26/2016: Got up at 7:20, rain started around 6:30, got heavier, no hiking today. Went to Costco and got 3 more MoveFree (2 for Peilee, one for myself), and one Olay (x2), need to get several loop scarf to take them back to Taiwan. Had 35 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Have been waiting for Echo Dot delivery all day, finally the tracking status displayed "Delivered" but could not find the package anywhere, checked in vain several times. Searched and found way to contact Amazon customer service, for now I'll wait until Monday to see if anything shows up, the lady (possibly from India call center as the sound was broken constantly) will call me Monday to see if I received the package and will arrange redelivery or refund if not, I guess I was a bit panic since this is the first time I missed any delivery from Amazon.
11/27/2016: Got up at 7:20. Headed to ValleyFair at 9:30, got there in 15 minutes, the mall had already open, went in, strolled the mall until Nordstrom and Macy's were open. Anita bought a pair of Nike sport shoes, I did not, just like most of my visits there, find anything for myself. Had lunch at Noodles&Company. Stopped by Costco after returning home and rested a bit, got one tin can European style cookie, and 2 MoveFree - it was crowded inside and in the parking lot but I was able to finish the whole task within 20 minutes, thank God. Helped Tip decided on the purchase of Maytag washer and dryer from HomeDepot.
11/28/2016: Got up at 7:20. The electricity went out 15 minutes later than originally scheduled at 9:00, a second no-electricity day in the last 2 months, made us even more appreciative of the take-for granted things. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Since I had to enter from the front door, that's when I saw the Amazon package, it turned out to be the two Echo Dots I ordered but didn't show up even though the tracking status claimed "Delivered", I was elated. The electricity came back at 3:25. We can have hot meal tonight:-)
11/29/2016: Got up at 7:30. Ordered one LED lantern and one Bluetooth headphone from Amazon. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Installed the solar light in the backyard for the garden cats. Had 35 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
11/30/2016: Got up at 7:35. Cleaned up the remaining cucumber plants in the ground level planter, removed all but one HCC plants in the narrow planter, removed all but one HCC plants in the rose square. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with STephanie, 30 minutes with Kung.
12/1/2016: Got up at 7:30. CCC volunteer day. Had to take Capital Ave to avoid traffic jam on 680, got on 680 on Capital Ave after 10 minutes (the traffic lights were extremely long), got to CCC at 9:35, not too bad, a couple of workers there were late as well. Downloaded 2 movies from xuka.tv: Ben-Hurd and Snowden. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one bottle rice wine, one bottle 56° GaoLing, one bottle old Shaoshing wine, one pack Taiwanese sausage, one pack squid ball, one pack beef tendon ball, one pack bitter melon, two red onions, one bunch bananas, one pack taro steamed bun, one cabbage, one napa cabbage, one pack pork sparerib, and two packs dry tofu. When I visited CVS next door beforehand, none of the Barefoot wines were on sale (no yellow tags) so I left empty handed. Decided to visit the CVS on Berryessa road, got 5 bottle riesling and one bottle Pinot Noir (had to buy 6 or more to get 10% discount), got two 1.5 L Moscato/pink Moscato as they were on sale as well - would have got all 1.5L but could not find any basket or cart to haul them. Tried calling mom at 6:00, finally got hold of her at 6:23 after several tries, she just came back from the traditional market.
12/2/2016: Got up at 7:30. Cleaned up Wisteria and Oleander leaves as well as Oak leaves (blown from the front yard) in the backyard. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung is out of town for two weeks.
12/3/2016: Got up at 6:00, Sandhill Crane viewing day. Ching and ShuHua picked us up at 7:35. Arriving Cosumnes River Preserve Visitor Center at 9:07, John and Ming couples were there already. Got familiar with the area from the curators there before heading out to see the birds. There were many birds in the distance but rarely any near us to watch. Took just one photo with a Egret, visited several spots in the area, most of the photos were from the third stop where the wetland was closer to the road with plenty of birds, cranes (lesser ones), ducks, and Egrets. Spent one hour at the last stop watch sunset and returning cranes (hard to see because it was too dark), the sunset was beautiful, the clouds and residual lights created even better pictures after the sun set. Took us 20 more minutes to get to Stockton for our dinner at Olive Garden. Got home at 8:45, thanks to Ching's driving and ShuHua's route confirmation.
12/4/2016: Got up at 8:00. Replaced the 4 fluorescent light tubes with newly acquired LED tubes in the afternoon. Resealed two converted water buckets, hope they could retain rainwater better. Tally for cucumber harvest was 155.
12/5/2016: Got up at 7:45. Had MB with minis, EJ. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, she's still under the influence of minor cold. There will not be table tennis as she needs to be on duty at Shih ma ma's house. Pondering on where and how to install the other solar light in the front, there was limited location it could be installed and they all required some additional base preparation. Glued two leftover wood pieces to make a possible installation base.
12/6/2016: Got up at 7:45. No table tennis today since Stephanie's out sick and Kung's not available, decided to visit IKEA and Nordstrom Rack. Had lunch (the usual Chicken Tenders and a low cal Salmon burger) at IKEA before shopping, purchased 3 packs (x100 each) candles for Monica, one replacement wok, one furniture edge smoother, and one IKEA knob installation measuring ruler. Stopped by Nordstrom and got one pair sports shoes for me, it's size 8, a bit smaller than what I'd like to get but it's also the only one available so I bought it.
12/7/2016: Got up at 7:50. Played 25 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, she had to run upstairs to work after which, I practiced serve for 10 minutes. Swing by Costco and got 2 Honey Roasted Mixed Nuts, one Unsalted Mixed Nuts, one case Bluemoon beer, one pack Asian Cashew nut salad, one tub cream cheese, one bag pine nuts, one bag large peeled shrimp, and one flat (x9) of Pomegranate.
12/8/2016: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:25, Susan opened the door for me. Inspected 1/3 of the Janitorial work before being tasked to decorate the reception desk (JP took over the rest of the inspection), finished it in one hour. Stopped by CVS and got 6 bottles 1.5L Barefoot wine (2 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 Pink Moscato, and 2 Moscato), swing by Marina Grocery, purchased one pack chive flowers, one pack small Gai Choy, 3 carrots, one bag loose bamboo shoots, one pack Nagayimo (山藥), 5 red potatoes, one pack beef tendon balls, and three heads of Broccoli.
12/9/2016: Got up at 7:30, cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, including those of the neighbors. Moved the wheeled table saw to the backyard and made the solar light installation base, decided to install it right on the exposed beam which is easier to access and did not require extended base just to avoid touching the eaves. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Called Jason and cancelled hiking tomorrow based on forecast. Got Line message from Dan, finally, he can stop by coming Saturday (12/17) to fix RX300.
12/10/2016: Got up at 7:50. It did not rain much at all, the rain had been pushed back toward noon, once again the hiking was wrongfully cancelled:-( Dropped off Anita at City Sports where she took the Yoga class, I stopped by Fry's and got another can of Flex Seal and one pack large binder clips. Swing by Lowes and got some 3" screws and two down-kick doorstops. It was raining pretty heavily when I left Lowes, checked the newly opened HomeGoods, it's similar to Marshalls without the clothe/shoe section. Ross was not open yet so I could not find out if they carry scarfs. All buckets were filled again, need to make more. Received the weather station ordered from Amazon at 2:25. Setup the new weather station, took only 1 minute, plus 25 minutes battery charging time, this one did not have year/month/weekday info but we can live without it as they are available everywhere.
12/11/2016: Got up at 7:45. Visited ValleyFair with Anita at 10:10, there were more cars now as we got closer to Christmas. Purchased 4 necklaces for Ahfen, Sharon, Tina, and Ahjei, will need to get something else for mom. Anita got 2 sets of pins for Christmas decoration.
12/12/2016: Got up at 7:40. Applied yellow paint to the other side of the expansion cat roof as Anita thought black flex seal I sprayed on one side was too dark. Made ginger soup with the last batch of frozen organic ginger, need to procure more from Costco. No table tennis today as Stephanie needed to go to Teresa's house to run errands, Kung's still not available. Will work on Kung's piece of wood this afternoon. Played 40 minutes (12:25-1:05) with Stephanie, Kung's still not available. Spent nearly 2 hours to work on the tree branch Kung liked, it wasn't easy since the portable table saw was not designed to cut wood in branch form (uneven), after some try and error, I had more understanding of the strength and shortcoming of the table saw and was able to make something out of the branch, in all I made 3 pieces, one small (2"x1"x1") and 2 larger pieces (6"x1 1/2"x1"), the last one being the best as I gained more experience from working on the first two. Ordered 3 scarfs from Amazon, still pondering on the 4th one. Ordered "Lola's Ladies" adult coloring book for Anita, also from Amazon.
12/13/2016: Got up at 7:20. Installed the newly painted board over the rest of the backyard bench to complete a 2-cat temporary shelter. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung's still not available today. Had 40 minutes MB with RM, EJ - not holding too well. One of the dinner dishes I made was fairly good - stir fry julienned wooden ear, bamboo shoot, Taiwanese sausage, and 大頭菜.
12/14/2016: Got up at 7:35. Collectively llew Oak leaves, again, from next door neighbor's driveway as well as those in the street, decided to clean up Cherry and Wisteria leaves in the backyard with the blower, discovered that there were a whole bunch Wisteria leaves tucked between patio chairs and the fence, cleaned them also, move most of the collected leaves to the planters. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Stephanie - she had to be on duty in Shih ma ma's house at 1:00, and 25 minutes with Kung. Repeatedly checking Amazon delivery (by USPS), still no show at 5:00, hope it won't be the same as the last Echo Dot delivery:-( The package finally arrived around 7:30, put them in the backpack and that's that.
12/15/2016: Got up at 7:05. CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:20, Susan let me in. Installed one kickdown doorstop on one of the gallery door, seemed to work except it sometimes slipped due to the smooth tile floor. Installed the other doorstop on the other gallery door, this one was even worse as it kept sliding on the floor, I discovered, after try and error, that the optimum scenario was with both doors wide open and both doors locked easily. Gave Tip the warmer. Made the following purchase at Marina Grocery: one pound lean ground pork, one pack Shitake mushroom, one pack pork spare ribs, 4 tomatoes, one string garlic, one bunch bananas, one pack taro buns, one bottle Taiwan Michiu, one pack fried fish cake, and one bottle red star er guo tou. The amount of Oak leaves Francisco swept up was huge, I had to move a good portion of the leaves on the outer ring to the middle to make it taller and smaller in diameter, as the wind was blowing northward, the leaves on our neighbors across the street was also moved back with 5 minutes work.
12/16/2016: Got up at 7:40. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street - took only 10 minutes. Cleaned up Wisteria leaves in the backyard, wiped clean Monica's garden. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Kung, and 20 minutes with Stephanie. Mounted TP-Link 930L on the window frame to have a better view of the driveway, left the 932L as is (standing) on the other window as it did not make any difference mounted or not.
12/17/2016: Got up at 7:00. Hiking day, this will be the first after missing 4 straight times. Jason to drive. There were 8 people in the group: Ching, Jerry, Alex, Steve, James, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Came home directly after hiking to met Dan, but Dan did not show up until 10:55. He changed two parts, one has to do with the exhaust and the other O2 sensor, he charged $1735 for parts and labor, it's not cheap but considering he did a good job and saved us the hassle going to the dealer, it's worth it. Tip's new washer and dryer installation complete without a hitch.
12/18/2016: Got up at 7:35. The low temperature in the backyard was 28.2°F/-2.1°C, possibly a record for San Jose or at least for our backyard. Went to McDonalds and got 2 breakfast meals, $11.72.
To enter degree sign "°" on iPad/iPhone:
From the iOS keyboard on your iPhone or iPad:
- First hit the “123” button to see the numerical keypad.
- Now you can access the degree sign with a tap and hold the 0 (zero) key.
- This will reveal the degree symbol, this can be selected through a pop-up menu that appears over the key.
Do not to snug your warm face to someone's cold behind, time to stand your ground.
12/19/2016: Got up at 7:15. After riding with Anita to City Sports, I visited Frys, Lowes, and Sprouts in sequence. Pure window shopping at Fry's, got 2 more kickdown doorstops from Lowes for CCC, the price was a bit higher possibly because they were of different models, also got a pair of fan style corner shelves. Got two cucumbers ($0.79x2) and 3 green bell peppers from Sprouts ($1). Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
12/20/2016: Got up at 7:25. Fixed the smaller fan type corner shelf with white sealer, as the damaged location was at the corner edge, I only made it appear smooth. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Retouched the small shelf again, if it still does not look OK tomorrow, I will use drywall patch to redo the fix.
12/21/2016: Got up at 7:55. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Picked up Anita from home and went to Costco, it's getting crowded as Christmas draws closer, purchased one can unsalted organic mixed nuts, one pack mashed potatoes, one bag asparagus, one box organic ginger, 2 truffle chocolate, one pack Caesar salad, and one pack (x6) mixed sweet bell pepper.
12/22/2016: Got up at 7:05. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20, Susan opened the door for me. The kickdown doorstop installation was postpone due to unknown city code, Sunnyvale prohibit the use of this kind of doorstops in public area, they haven't checked Milpitas city code yet. Need to return the two doorstops to Lowes. Got payment of $16.66 from deputy director, one cent short of purchasing price. JP left at 11:50. I left at 12:15. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung, Kung beat Stephanie 2-love, she did not play well every time she plays Kung, not sure why.... Called mom from 6:02 to 6:32.
12/23/2016: Got up at 7:40. It started to rain around 6:30, not heavy though. The leaves in the street had been pick up nicely, almost no leftover so I skipped sweeping. Anita went to see the movie "Jackie" by herself, she will stop by Macy's afterward. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung, got 2 AMC ($50) ticket coupons from Tip, returning some mixed nuts. Peilee called, talked for 33 minutes, need to get a bag of coffee bean.
12/24/2016: Got up at 8:05. Went to Marukai and got 2 packs of Sole (two each in one pack), one Sashimi, one sushi. Stopped by Valco, Anita wanted to see if the dance shoe store was still there, it turned out there were only two stores still open for business, AMC movie theatre and an eyewear store. Prepared mashed potatoes, Tony Roma ribs, and stir fried julienned sweet bell pepper and beef for dinner.
12/25/2016: Got up at 8:30. Finished preparing Christmas dinner by 3:10, 5 dishes in total: smashed potatoes, boiled asparagus and sweet bell pepper, pickled cucumber/bamboo shoot/garlic, Caesar salad with added carrot and red onion slice, main course being large lobsters.
12/26/2016: Got up at 7:30. Watched "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" at CineArts at Santana Row, $7.25 each. Visited Macy's and Nordstrom after the movie, Anita got a tank top from Nordstrom, I got nothing, had lunch at Noodles&Company again.
12/27/2016: Got up at 7:55. Visited Walmart after dropping off Anita at City Sports, got 3 64 oz Hazelnut creamer, one can Honey Roasted peanuts, 3 tube Aloe Vera, one 3x Brawny paper towel, two heads Broccoli, one bunch bananas, one 32 oz Heinz ketchup, one pack flour tortilla, and one tube vehicle scratch rub. Before en route to southbound 880, stopped by 99 Ranch and got 2 packs Spicy Seafood fast noodle. Had 40 minutes (2000 counts) MB with RM, EJ. Watched 39th annual celebration Kennedy Center Honors, television premiere.
12/28/2016: Got up at 7:35. Went to Costco and purchased 2 dozen organic egg, one box organic raisin, one case Asahi beer, one dozen bagel, and one tub cream cheese. Swing by Lowes and returned the two kickdown doorstops I purchased for CCC, which deputy director decided not to proceed.
12/29/2016: Got up at 7:30. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15, Susan opened the door for me. JP needed to take the first 2 hour off, she came in at 11:40. Stopped by CVS and got 6 large (mega) bottles of Barefoot wine, 1.5L each. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one bottle rice wine, one bottle Eh Guo Tou, one celery, one bag mung bean sprout, one pack fried fish cake, one bag small dried shrimp, 4 green bell pepper, and one pack (x4) dry tofu. Called mom several times before succeeding at 6:38, she went to the market and spent a little more time there going through everything=NT88 stores.
12/30/2016: Got up at 7:45. Cleaned leftover garden waste in the street, those remaining Oak leaves that were still hanging possibly accounts for 20% of the original, should be easy to finish in the next few weeks. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Kung, 35 minutes with Stephanie.
12/31/2016: Got up at 7:00. Hiking day, my turn to drive. Got there at 8:08 as there wasn't many cars on the road. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung (they just came back from their New Zealand trip yesterday morning), Steve (he caught up as we reached the top), James, Ching, Alan, Jason, and myself. My iPad Air home and power buttons stopped became non-responsive, checked the internet and found out pressing home and power buttons simultaneously will do a soft reset and bring back normal function. Had 2017 crossover party at Ruby/Jerry's house.
