1/2/2017: Got up at 7:50. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, no EJ-not enough time.
1/3/2017: Got up at 8:07. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Gave Tip some gs.
1/4/2017: Got up at 7:55. Had 30 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung.
1/5/2017: Got up at 7:00. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:30. The minor cold has catching up, running nose caused me to leave at 11:00, but stopped by Marina Grocery and purchased one bunch garlic, one pack dried mushroom, one string bananas, 2 bags potato starch, 2 bags dried mushroom, 4 bags spicy peanut, one can Pork Sung, one pack frozen cuttlefish, and one bag dried/julienned wooden ear. Went home to have lunch before going to Dynamicfoundation, played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with kung.
1/6/2017: Got up at 7:35. Went to see our god grandson in Fremont, left home at 10:10, got there at 10:45, left at 11:25. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 15 minutes with Kung. Watched "Battleship" on FX, very nicely made alien invasion movie. Finally finished reading "The Missing", this is a book by a first time writer, a lot of jumping back and forth, took a while to get used to, also the plot wasn't clear until almost the end of it. Started the next Amazon free book "Never Again So Close", the eighth book (not counting
1/7/2017: Got up at 7:40. Secured items in the backyard so that the forecasted strong wind won't damage them. Dan came over at 10:55, checked and replaced one small part, tes run for 10 minutes before handing the key back, I'll have to monitor the vehicle and report problem if the "Check Engine" light persistently on, no charge until later.
1/8/2017: Got up at 7:50. Visited Costco with Anita, purchased one tub cream cheese, one tub Greek Yogurt, one unsalted mixed nuts, one bag pinenuts, one pack roasted chicken drum/thigh, one pack organic tofu, one bag Asian cashew salad, 2 Areds2, one bag French green bean, one dozen bagel, and one box (x8) Angus cheeseburger, also took home one Polish dog plus one slice pizza. Went to Marina Grocery and purchased one pack small mustard green, 4 Romaine tomatoes, one red onion, one bottle Er Guo Tou, one pack wheat buns, one pound ground pork, 3 cucumbers, 6 preserved duck egg, and one bag Rice Pin noodle (米苔目). Swing by Walmart, got 3 64 oz Hazelnut creamer (2 for Taiwan trip), and 3 Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera. Discovered our Brother HL-3140CW printer no longer print because of the Access Point replacement, took me over one hour to figure out how to reconfigure it - the CD-ROM that came with the printer was spitted out by MacBook Pro so I had to use printer console to painstakingly enter Wi-Fi password.
1/9/2017: Got up at 7:45. Made another cold dish for Anita - ground pork/seaweed/minced cucumber. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 20 minutes with Kung, he's suffering from stomach problem again. Gave Tip one AV. Made a big pot of Ginger soup using all remaining refrigerated ginger slices, prepared one bottle for Tip.
1/10/2017: Got up at 7:55. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 20 minutes with Kung. Left gingen soup for Tip, stopped by Costco and got one bottle 75-tablet MoveFree, one pack mashed potatoes, and one pack 2-bag waffles. Had 45 minutes MB with mini, EJ after with legs.
1/11/2017: Got up at 7:50. Setup electric blanket for Anita. Processed squids for home trip - hope they don't go bad. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. ANA automatic check-in had been completed at 11:26AM, when I checked the mail at the time, I could only see flight NH823 (from NRT to TPE) being completed, flight NH171 (from SJC to NRT) info was hidden in the lower part of the mail as they were collaged. Finished packing at 9:30, filled the luggage with lots of jackets and warm clothes.
1/12/2017: Got up at 7:00. Left for San Jose Airport at 9:00, got there at 9:20. There were much more people at the security check lines, took nearly 30 minutes to get through. Flight was delayed about 20 minutes due to late arrival.
1/13/2017: Landed at NRT at 3:12 local time. The departure information showed flight 823 has a new gate at 58A but I wasn't sure it's the actual new gate number or waiting to be assigned, had to walk back to the main info area to be sure it was the correct gate. Boarded flight NH823 at 6:20 local time - earlier than scheduled, the plane was only about 70% full, middle seat of my row was not occupied. But the plane did not take off until 8:02 (77 minutes delay) due to busy air traffic at NRT. Even though each seat on Boeing 763 was equipped with a LCD TV but they were small and has really low resolution, this made watching anything on it uncomfortable, so I read some Kindle pages and dozed off a little, 3 hour and 45 minutes passed quickly. We landed at Taoyuan Airport at 10:50, getting through passport check point was quick, luggages came out just over 5 minutes wait, just as expected, the tote bag was opened for inspection at SJC but they did not cut the ring I used to connect the zip pulls, everything stayed intact. Met Peilee at the arrival gate, got home at 12:10. Called Anita at 12:21, she just got up - cold morning at San Jose.
1/14/2017: Got up at 6:50 when mom knocked on the door. As a reference, weighing 146 lbs (147.2 with clothes) as of this morning. Stayed in the house all day, decided to keep Amazon Dot and leave it at 博愛街 for Anita to enjoy, used a different Amazon account (patricklin100@gmail.com/xxxxacyyyy!) so that another 250 songs maybe uploaded.
1/15/2017: Got up at 7:10. Called Anita at 7:25. Took MRT to 東湖 to checkout if Welcome(頂好) carries Barefoot, they only have Cabernet Sauvignon and costs NT450 which is 3 times we pay at CVS, so we decided not to buy it instead resort to buying similar wines at Costco next Thursday.
1/16/2017: Woke up at 3:30, had no desire to sleep any more, hung around the study finding things to kill time until 5:20, lied down on bed and rested before getting up at 6:20, called Anita at 6:35. Walked to建成理髮廳 and had my haircut by 小琪 (Peilee made reservation for me through Line), cost was NT400 - shampoo included. Stopped by PX Mart on my way home and got today's China Times Newspaper, one bag dried tree fungus (木耳), two bags anchovy and almonds mix, one small bottle Wasabi, one pack (x4) Spicy Pea Cracker, 2 Neoguri Spicy Seafood Udon, and 2 Neoguri Mild Seafood Udon. Even though the basic setup of Dot was successful but I encountered some obstacles configuring Dot to a different account, decided against spending any more effort in that regard (although the attempt was to gain knowledge on configuring a brand new Dot for someone - Tip), reset the Dot and successfully added it to my original account (patrick_lin100@yahoo.com/xxxxacyyyy!), will move it to YungHo later for Anita. Called KwangHua at 3:10, I will go there sometime (Monday or Tuesday) next week to setup Dot as well as door screen.
1/17/2017: Woke up at 4:00, got up at 6:30. Called Anita several times around 6:15, no answer. Got a hold of Anita at 6:47, she was talking to Elly on the phone that's why my calls all went to recording.
Visited PX Mart at 9:20, purchase two packs (x10 each) hand warmer from different manufacturers, two bags mustard pea cracker, one bag dired Anchovy/almond mix, one bag macaroni, one bag threaded Morrella/cheddar cheese, and Apple Daily newspaper. Went to BiHu park and walked 70 minutes, stopped by Brad bakery and purchased 6 buns of various kinds for breakfast tomorrow. Turned in at 9:50.
1/18/2017: Woke up at 3:00, got up at 5:30. Visited PX Mart at 9:55. Got one Apple Daily newspaper, one Ganlan root (大頭菜), one bag green Jasmine tea, two bags of Dried Anchovy/threaded almond mix, two bags of mustard flavor pea cracker, one pack hand warmer (x10) - for Tip, and one small size toast. Had 150 minutes MB with mini, EJ.
1/19/2017: Woke up at 4:10, got up at 5:50. Visited 金瓜石 to see the history of gold mining during Japanese occupation and thereafter, stopped by 九份 老街, had lunch and did window shopping afterward, because of the heavy fog, we could not see anything farther than 20 ft away and thus no chance of enjoying the coastline. Did purchase 8 "gold preserved duck eggs/黃金皮蛋". Picked up Tina around 5:40 before heading toward Costco, took nearly 40 minutes as we happened to join the commuters getting off work. Costco here did not carry Polish dog so I settled for a regular dog for dinner, it was not nearly as tasty. Got 3 bottles 56° Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor, 3 packs rice cracker to take home with - except 2 of the three Kinmen Kaoliang liquor as they will serve as hand carry gifts for the Changs.
1/20/2017: Woke up at 5:10, got up at 6:30, called Anita at 6:31. Went to PX Mart, purchased one pack Brands Chicken essence, one pack bacon, one pack Taiwan sausage, one pack Cantonese sausage, half Napa cabbage, two dried anchovy/threaded almond mix, one pack fresh mushroom, one pack small cucumber, and one pack dried tofu. Talked to mom about my eating habits, she understood and I apologized for my not informing her clearly.
1/21/2017: Woke up at 5:20, got up at 6:00. Called Anita at 6:14. Stopped by PX Mart, got one pack tiny scallops, one pack squid rings, one pack bamboo shoots, and one pack King Oyster mushroom/King trumpet mushroom/杏鮑菇. Dropped off the purchases at the door before visiting 百利金, got one pack of magic strap (only available in black), did not find any silicone based cup cover - probably need to try other stores.
1/22/2017: Woke up at 3:00, got up at 6:30. Called Anita at 6:45. Visited 湖光市場 trying to get vegetables for New Year's meals but simply did not see the ones I was looking for, swing by PX Mart to see if they have any, I put the turnip, cucumber and carrots back to their respective bin after I realized that I did not bring along a bag, will get them, maybe, this afternoon. Stopped by two 新東陽 and got one pack salty meat and one pack Taiwanese sausage. Went to PX Mart again in the afternoon and got one Ganlan root, one Napa cabbage, one huge cucumber, one 58° Er Guo Tou, one turnip, and 3 bananas (NT$70 - the most expensive ones I ever bought anywhere).
1/23/2017: Woke up at 5:00, got up at 6:20. Called Anita at 6:50. Heading toward Metro station at 9:20, got there by 9:25, got on the metro at 9:28, arriving Yungho house at 10:15, did not remembered it took this long. Anita's mom looked good. Showed Kwanghua the magnetic screen, she'll devise a better way to install it since the doorway was not the type that would allow easy installation. To my surprise, the Amazon Dot was easy to install, a network update took care of the issue. Had lunch at 橋壽司 (next door to 世界豆漿大王), NT$1100 for four people - I did not pay for this. There were more passengers on the Metro when I got back, arriving home at 1:45. Kwanghui presented one bag pork jerky and one bag paper pork thin slices as a gift. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
1/24/2017: Woke up at 5:20, called Anita at 6:33, got up at 6:50. Went shop with mom at 湖光市場, spent nearly one hour there, had a full load of purchases before getting back. Stewed beef tendon for 4 and half hours, simmered kelp and boiled eggs in the same sauce afterward. Visited 旺旺, got one pack plastic bags , one pack red magic straps, and one pack 桂竹韱. Dropped off them at the entrance and went to PX Mart, got one Ganlan root (much bigger than the one I purchased yesterday but the same price - NT$29), one pack bacon, one bag carrots, one pack small scallops, and one can tea. Julienned carrots, daikon, celery, and ganlan root.
1/25/2017: Woke up at 6:15, got up at 7:20. Called Anita at 7:30. Visited PX Mart, purchased one bottle garlic chilli sauce, one tube mayonnaise, one tube ketchup, 2 small bottle black pepper, one pack clam, one Daikon, and one Apple Daily newspaper. Went to 旺旺 and got one double sided tape, one roll wide aluminum foil, one rectangular container, and 3 round containers. Swing by 湖光市場 and got one bunch bananas, also picked up some breakfast buns. Peilee purchased 2-pack Mentholatum AD from Costco for me - NT$679.
1/26/2017: Woke up at 6:20, got up at 6:50, called Anita at 7:05. Leonardo and his assistance was trimming the Oak when I called, he charges $520 for the job.
1/27/2017: Woke up at 5:00, got up at 6:20. Called Anita at 6:30. It's New's Eve, also the day to visit father's resting place. The line waiting for the shuttle was long as we arrived about 30 minutes late than usual. Had lunch on the second floor after the ritual was over. Prepared two cold cut dishes, one roast cuttlefish eggs (烏魚子), and one Napa dried shrimp cabbage dish.
1/28/2017: Got up at 7:30. Helped mom prepare First Day of the New Year breakfast - 年糕, it was a laborious task, took nearly one hour. Attempting to visit YangMing Park was aborted after nearly 2 hours driving because of the amount of vehicle traffic made it impossible to reach destination. Visited 農禪寺 instead, this was also a time consuming task, we waited 30 minutes just to get in the parking lot. This temple was nothing like any of the traditional temples in Taiwan, it was a modern building with contemporary designs, surprisingly met Carl (the tea lady in the bay area) in the square, she's visiting her mom (age 90) and brother, will go to Guelin before returning to San Jose.
1/29/2017: Woke up at 4:30, called Anita at 5:00. Had MB with legs, EJ. Got up at 7:00. Helped mom prepare New Year cake for breakfast, took 45 minutes. Arriving KwangHua/KwangHui's house at 10:30, called Anita at 10:50, video chatted with everyone in the house. Had lunch there with old GaoLiang KwangHui saved since my last visit and with the liquor I brought, appeared to have improved its flavor. I probably had 8 oz of it, had headache afterwards, took a couple of hours to get over. We moved to Kwangyao's house at 4:30, met Kanshe's husband the first time, could only remember his last name being Hong (洪), seemed like a nice young man. Dinner was arranged at 蘇杭小舘, established for Taiwan University students/alumni/faculties. Took a long time to get a taxi for Anita's mom because there were very few of them on the road, fortunately Kanching ordered on online and it took Anita's mom, KwangHui and myself back to 博愛街, discovered that Ahfen called a few hours ago, they have already returned home because Peilee had a fever and was checked at 三軍總醫院ER, he had Type B flu. I got home riding Metro, purchased NT$35 ticket thinking it would be plenty but turned out NT$10 short and had to make up the difference at customer info booth before exiting.
1/30/2017: Got up at 7:50. Called Anita at 8:03. Got one jar cooking oil, one small loaf of bread, one 6 pack Taiwan beer, one bottle 700ml classic Taiwan beer, and one bag pumpkin seed from PX Mart. Made two dishes for dinner - stir fry asparagus with small scallops and preserved eggs with tofu, both were pretty tasty except for their plating, the scallop dish was consumed in its entirety by the end of the meal.
1/31/2017: Got up at 7:10. Called Anita at 7:53. Made Macaroni cheese with seafood for lunch - too sticky due to removing too much liquid and too much cheese.
2/1/2017: Got up at 6:25, called Anita at 6:29. My plan to deposit some NT dollars at the postal office, only to realize that it's off until tomorrow, the only thing I could do was to check the balance with my ATM card, have to come back tomorrow (or the day after) to make the deposit. Walked 2 circles around Bihu Park while listening to 鴛鴦刀, there were quite a few people there. Stopped by Bradly Bakery and got breakfast buns for tomorrow. Peilee was under the influence of the medication he took for type B flu, he's suffering diarrhea yet he still had to drive back to his dorm to work for the next two days. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
2/2/2017: Woke up at 7:10, called Anita at 7:15, got up at 7:27. Checked Peilee's bathroom fan switch, made sure it needed simple replacement before visiting 百利金 and got a Philip screwdriver, a two pack switch with status light, 2 silicone cup lid, and 2 pack button sized magic stick. Replaced the fan switch and it worked. Stopped by PX Mart, purchased one 58° Er Guo Tou liquor, one 4-pack Kirin Ichiban beer, one can Ahleeshan tea, and one box Ahleeshan tea bags. Deposited NT$12000 at the post office credit union after waiting 15 minutes, got several breakfast buns from 麥香 bakery, swing by 新東陽 and got two boxes sesame candy and one sesame sweet thins.
2/3/2017: Got up at 6:40, called Anita at 6:56. Shopped at PX Mart again, got 4 bags of mustard flavored pea cracker, two bags of anchovy and almonds mix, 2 heads of broccoli, 2 packs of clams, and 2 Neoguri seafood Udon. Swing by 旺旺 but did not see elephant brand 保温杯. Thinking the luggage will be enough to hold everything I brought along plus, I purchased two more boxes of sesame candy and one sesame sweet thins. Peilee came home at 6:30, obviously feeling better especially after revisiting his doctor.
2/4/2017: Woke up at 6:50 called Anita at 6:56, got up at 7:07-forced by the urge to relieve. Picked up a pack of coffee filter. Sister and Tigerlet stopped by (Tigerlet drove) around 4:30. Had dinner at Skylark California Cuisine, I ordered 總滙烤飯, was OK but felt overly stuffed and simply could not take a bite of mom's offering of her dish.
2/5/2017: Woke up at 2:30, got up at 7:40, Lynn was to visit Anita at home, as shown by the white vehicle parked on our driveway - I thought it was our RX300 but took me a while to realize otherwise. Called Anita at 8:15 after Lynn left, as observed from the webcam monitor. Check-in process completed at 10:03, I will get boarding passes at the airport tomorrow. Finished reading Kindle book "Never Again So Close", hue...
2/6/2017: Time to go back to San Jose. Left Neihu residence at 6:05, got to Taoyuan airport at 6:55, the airport was packed with passengers, just like Disneyland, people walk in lined path back and forth, outside and inside of the security check area, took 20 minutes to get through to passport check point. Had breakfast bun Peilee handed to me before leaving Neihu residence, relief came shortly after. Boarded NH824 at 9:35. I have all three seats to myself (45C, 45D, and 45E). The flight left the gate at 10:00, took off at 10:07. Arriving NRT at 1:30 local time, 40 minutes ahead of schedule. After going through security check after 20 minutes, called Anita at 2:15, spent 20 minutes looking for United Club, it turned out I actually walked past it a couple times without realizing it, finally got in at 2:40. it's a big place, wine/liquor was good but the food was just OK. Had some Sushi and a glass of their liquor, not bad though. Left United Club at 4:00, right thigh not feeling too comfortable, walked 20 minutes to gate 58A. Boarded NH182 at 5:15, it's a jam packed flight. The plane left the gate at 5:32, took off at 6:00, watched Inferno and Accountant one more time, there wee no other big movies available though, arriving San Jose airport at 9:35. Called Anita after retrieving luggages at 10:15. Got home at 10:40. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Turned in at 10:00.
2/7/2017: Woke up at 3:20, got up at 4:30. Arranged Tip's purchases. No table tennis today, Kung's still sick and Stephanie's extremely busy. Julienned seaweed from 2016 batch from sister, also pickled julienned organic carrots from Lynn (white and dark purple) before mixing them with the seaweed to make a cold dish for dinner since we do not have any vegetables. Tip's car wouldn't start again, had to get help from colleagues. May need to replace battery tomorrow. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, no EJ.
2/8/2017: Woke up at 3:30, got up at 4:20. Dynamicfoundation quarterly magazine labeling day. Got there at 8:55, went in by myself as the back door was open. There were as many as 8 people volunteering with most of them from the Chinese Calligraphy class, I finished one stack before swinging by Costco and got a 2005 RX330 battery for Tip, total was $107.65 but will refund $15 when the old battery was returned. Went back to finish labeling, loaded finished stacks in postal bags before heading home at 11:00. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, replaced battery for RX330 in 15 minutes, lost the small fixed wrench on to the bottom panel, luckily I was able to finish the job with makeshift wrench of similar size.
2/9/2017: Woke up at 5:45, got up at 6:40. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25. deputy director and Robert opened the door for Sophia and myself. Gave one pack sesame sweets to PJ and 6 packs of rice cracker to Susan. Stopped by CVS and got 7 bottles Barefoot, three 1.5L and four 750ml ones - picked only the ones on sale. Swing by Marina grocery and got one pack pork tail bones, 3 large green peppers, one Daikon, one pack bean curd, one small Napa cabbage, one bottle Er Guo Tou, one pack fried fish cake, one bunch bananas, and 6 Romaine tomatoes.
2/10/2017: Woke up at 4:20, got up at 6:55. Stopped by Costco, waited nearly 25 minutes to return battery core (since it's not from Costco, I need to return it at the auto service desk), purchased one pack French beans, one tub cream cheese (turned out we still have one unused at the bottom of the refrigerator), one pack beef loin tip steak, one box organic ginger root, one pack cauliflower, one pack Petrale Sole, and two dozen organic eggs.
2/11/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, James, Ming, the other Ming, Shingkuo, Alex, Jason, and myself, John joined us at Peet's Coffee.
2/12/2017: Got up at 7:55. Leaving for IKEA at 11:05, got there at 11:35, had lunch at the cafeteria, chicken tender and kids' meatball dish. Purchased one pot to fit the steamer we bought several months ago, also purchased 4 tempered glass plates to use as water retainer for plant pots, picked up a pruner as well. Swing by Nordstrom Rack, left after 10 minutes without making any purchase..
2/13/2017: Got up at 8:05. Made a automatic feeder support board to reduce the bowl being in danger of flipping, applied rubber seal - to be installed later today. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. I was looking for the box and bag of table tennis balls as well as all the paddles before she came down to play, I thought they were stolen by someone until I found them tucked away near one of the cabinet. Took the chainsaw so I can trim the fake Cherry tree in the backyard.
2/14/2017: Got up at 8:00, Valentines Day. Trimmed one branch off the fake Cherry tree, took about one hour, will do more this afternoon - maybe. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, gave a bag of candy to Tip. Cleaned up one of the small heater/fan and repackaged in its original box, will ask if Francisco wants it before donating it along with the old pot. Experiencing 10 minutes irregular heart beat along with periods of fast ones, not good.
2/15/2017: Got up at 7:50. Trimmed several more small branches off the fake Cherry tree. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Trimmed off one large branch from the fake Cherry tree, not the whole branch we intended to get rid off, need one more job to finish it, but not today though.
2/16/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Realigned runner carpet on the walkway in front of CCC. During sometime in the morning, I experienced another irregular as well as rapid heart beat run. Stopped by Costco and got one pack of Crest white strips. Found out daylight saving starts on 3/12 and ends on 11/5 for 2017.
2/17/2017: Got up at 7:00. Left for SJC at 9:00, got there at 9:20. There was a long line at the security check point so I headed home without waiting for Anita to complete the process, stopped by 99 Ranch market and purchased one Celery, one red onion, one bag mung bean sprouts, one string garlic, and a box of yellow rock sugar. Received Anita's Skype call just as I returned home, that was her second call, the first one missed me 9 minutes before. Checked her T-Mobile account status, still has $47 balance but expires on 2/21/2017, will refill it on 2/20. Experimenting with reshaped RM, had several segments of MB with them, nearly EJ. Did not have much appetite but made 2 dishes anyway: mung bean sprout with julienned sausage and boiled French beans. Had 30 minutes MB with modified RMs, EJ.
2/18/2017: Got up at 8:00. Anita called from 博愛街 at 8:15, she got home 30 minutes ago, the process getting home was quite smooth. Prepared tools for work at Tip's, including several Bird of Paradise. Stopped by Tip's, fixed leaking toilet, trimmed roses, replaced some smoke detector batteries, trimmed off some dead plants, that was it. Got home at 5:45, called Anita at 6:02, she's started using Echo Dot but she removed the plastic wrap as well as the base I added because the sound was awful.
2/19/2017: Got up at 8:10. Arriving Tip's at 9:45. Started working on the ceiling at 10:10. The process of patching up the ceiling wasn't difficult but it requires many steps: removing broken/soft dry wall pieces-mop down dust from the ceiling to be patched-apply joint compound to patch up the cracks and uneven parts-wait for it to dry-apply ceiling texture-wait for it to dry-apply paint-see result, unfortunately the paint we took to OSH did not match the original, it's a bit dark. There maybe two approaches to solve this problem: 1. Purchase more of the same paint and paint the whole room, or 2. Adjust the color of the paint myself to match closer to the original. Will see if the color stays the same after it dries. Left Tip's at 5:07, arriving home at 5:28. Called Anita at 6:01.
2/20/2017: Got up at 7:45. Put gas in RX300 at Costco, also purchased one bag asparagus, one bag Asian Cashew salad, 4 pack Tony Roma Rib (2 for Tip), one box (x6) 60W equivalent LED bulbs, one box (x4) 65W equivalent LED indoor flood lights, one bag fish sticks, one can Honey Roasted mixed nuts, and one can unsalted mixed nuts. Made seaweed salad - boiled minced seaweed, small shrimps, chopped 山藥 (Chinese yam). Called John and invited him to have lunch here, served him the fish sticks and asparagus just bought from Costco plus the leftover pork bun, only to find out he did not like fish, period, fortunately there was one last burger in the freezer, made that for him instead. Tip came over to pick up Tony Roma Ribs and the LED lights. Finished making the seaweed salad by adding more seasoning (Soy sauce, white pepper, and more sugar) and more small shrimps. Had 40 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.
2/21/2017: Got up at 7:40. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Swing by Costco and got 2 20 count Chobani Greek Yogurt, one case Asahi beer, and one 64oz (2 qt) Kikkoman soy sauce. Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.
2/22/2017: Got up at 7:45. Blood in the stool again, the frequency has ramped up, my time's almost up. Cleaned up backyard debris from the last few storms, also wipe cleaned Monica's garden. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie.
2/23/2017: Woke up at 4:30, got up at 7:40. CCC volunteer day. got off freeway at 9:15 but took nearly 15 minutes to make left turn on Hillview. The lock on the front door at CCC broke off, the latch holding the lock head came loose due to heavy use - low quality material and assembly was most likely the cause. It's my 64th birthday, possibly the first time without a birthday cake or meal.
There were many calls and errands for the morning session. Stopped by Tip's to cut off the peach tree (found out later the idea was to trim it not cut off), took nearly one and half an hour.
2/24/2017: Got up at 7:40. Started practicing 自救功 to see if it helps with my conditions. Trimmed off a large chunk of the fake Cherry tree branch, made 2 piles of garden waste out of it, took one hour and 15 minutes. No table tennis today, they were busy disassembling the Chinese Calligraphy exhibition display. Finished trimming off the fake Cherry tree branch - the last 2 feet of it, this will likely be no more work on this tree for the next two years, hopefully. Called Anita at 5:35 after dinner. Anita called back to relay monthly payment info as well as NCL final payment date. Checked CapitalOne and my United/Chase credit balances, Anita's United/Chase balance won't be available until maybe the 26th.
2/25/2017: Got up at 7:30. Not going hiking today, Jason's appointment to keep and I didn't want to go alone. Visited Lowes, recycled batteries, purchased 4 4"x4"x8' pressure treated lumbers, donated $5 to Muscular Dystrophy Association, went purchased 2 spray bottle and one very small touch-up roller after loading the lumbers which were longer than I imagined. Had 40 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.
2/26/2017: Got up at 7:10, had 20 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Visited Harbor Freight Tools, got a set of SAE and Metric combination wrench (to replace the set that's missing the most used one) and a 3-Pc chainsaw files. Stopped by Marukai and purchased one bunch bananas and 3 boxes of assorted Sushi (expecting to last 3 meals), swing by Daiso, got two Silicone mats and one pack 35 count small double clips. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Called Anita at 5:10.
2/27/2017: Got up at 7:40. MacBook Pro battery had drained again, this is the second time in a row. Removed the two Aloe Vera in the backyard, replanted one by the back fence and transferred one to a bucket for now, pondering what to do with it. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Started relocating the brick pathway between main walkway and the side of the deck. Finalized making payment plan for Anita's United/Chase card, monthly payment for the month of March has been completed.
2/28/2017: Got up at 7:40. Finished the brick pathway, the accompanying tasks (picking out the white pebbles, leveling the soil, leveling the large side stepping bricks next to the deck base,...) were more than anticipated. Played 25 minutes table tennis, 2 minutes with Kung, and 23 minutes with Stephanie. Stopped by Tip's to work on planting soil, lots of old plant roots. Applied newly mixed paint, need to have Tip examine it tomorrow morning, setup Echo Dot, Tip liked it very much.
3/1/2017: Got up at 7:30. Sifted through the remaining soil and removed most white pebbles. Trimmed off a couple of fake Cherry tree branches that were sticking up too high. Played 35 minutes table tennis, 5 minutes with Kung, and 30 minutes with Stephanie. Swing by 99 Ranch Market, surprisingly found a parking space right next to the store, and purchased one pack Lotus root, one celery, one 4x Neoguri seafood udon, and one pack Shitake mushroom. Remixed paint before Tip picked it up for another test run. Called Anita at 5:02 and a couple of more times, did not get answer, got through to her on her cell phone, it turned out the landline phone did not ring but was OK after I hangup and tried again.
3/2/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, it took nearly 10 minutes to make a left turn on Hillview, second time in two weeks, got there 9:30. Visited CVS and got 6 bottles of Barefoot wine, 2 1.5L (ping Moscato) and 4 750ml (one Moscato, one Merlot, and two Cabernet Sauvignon). Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased 6 黃飛紅, one box brown sugar, one can Iodized salt, one string garlic, one bottle Er Guo Tou, one bottle Sho Xing wine, and one bottle Taiwan rice wine. The old white latax paint had dried up but remained soft, I had to add water, stir, squeeze with hand and stir to turn it into useful form - although still full of small and large chunks. Prepare two small portion paint, one mixed with the newly revived white paint, and one pure white, I want to see if I am doing this all wrong - should make white paint the base instead of additive. Called Anita the second time at 5:09 after finding out she's on the toilet at 5:01. Tip dropped by and picked up two paint samples as well as one bottle.
3/3/2017: Got up at 7:20, cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street. Got 2 2x4x8 lumbers to make base for the new planter, also got 2 white paint for Tip, see if they match existing color. Played 30 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung's foot hurt from playing table tennis with Stephanie yesterday. Had 40 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Called Anita at 5:01.
3/4/2017: Got up at 6:50??. Hiking day, was my turn to drive but Jason has a dental appointment so he's going to drive tomorrow and I'll drive the next two times. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, the other Ming, Alex, Ching, Jerry, Steve, Jason, and myself. Went to Tip's at 1:05, finally found a better (although not the best) paint mix after nearly one hour and 30 minutes of mixing and adjusting, repainted the ceiling and made the tested wall looked normal. Left at 4.25. Called Anita at 5:01. It started raining at 9:45.
3/5/2017: Got up at 7:40. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, EJ. Stayed in the house all day. Did cleaned the white stones dug up from the new planter ground. Fixed the broken broom stick - forgot to take photos before and after. Made a new cover from February calendar picture for the round coffee table mat, the Wuling Farm Winter flowerscape.
3/6/2017: Got up at 7:15. Applied Polyurethane Clean Satin to the round mat, hope it turns out OK after drying - be able to retain the look and protect the surface. Played 34 minutes table tennis, 4 minutes with Kung, and 30 minutes with Stephanie. Stopped by Costco and picked up one sweet Kale salad kit, one pack beef flat loin steak, and one pack organic chicken thigh.
3/7/2017: Got up at 7:15. Sanded the round mat at the edge and applied a tad Polyurethane Clean Satin to it to make it smoother. Added air to the bike, planning to ride to Dynamicfoundation. Played 35 minutes table tennis, 10 minutes with Kung, and 25 minutes with Stephanie. The bike ride was OK, although I did not lose much weight as a result:-( Trimmed off several fake Cherry tree roots with chainsaw - retighten and sharpen the chainsaw made the cutting much easier and faster. Soak the still dirty white stones in soapy water, hope this is the last time before I deposit them in designated areas. Called Anita at 5:02.
3/8/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cut planter box lumbers into desired pieces, more challenging than I expected, the 4x4x8 ones were heavy and difficult to maneuver on the table saw. Played 30 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 10 minutes with Kung. Had 20 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Did some research on Germany trip, discovered that we only need to worry about two Frankfurt train stations: Airport and Main, our hotel (Star Inn Hotel) is 7 minutes walking distance from the Main train station, we can simply ride the train from Airport train station, get off at Main train station
and walk over to our hotel. Need to decide if buying online or purchase at station - need to decide if "PASS" is better than "TICKET". After reflection on what we will be doing in Frankfurt and Hamburg, I realize that we will only need at most 4 train tickets and will be riding metro most of the time, so "PASS" is not the way to go. Had 10 minutes MB with black RM, no EJ.
3/9/2017: Got up at 7:00. CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:20. I never attended the so-called training session by CCC, this time it's implied that anyone who does not attend will not be qualified to serve, very well, I'll wait for the day and quit. Stopped by OS and got one slot flat steel for installing the new planter box. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one fried fish cake, one bunch bananas, one bamboo with skin, one bottle Er Guo Tou, two green bell pepper, one pound lean ground pork, 3 pickle cucumbers, and 4 spicy peanut. Made one small wood piece from the tree branch from the tree at Dynamicfoundation parking lot, the portable table saw was not a adequate tool to make nice wood work for two reasons: it is not designed to handle small wood pieces, and it is not ideal to hold tree branches in place to make a good and even cut, a Miter saw may do a better job.
Called Anita at 5:02 and woke her up, so I finished my dinner before calling her again at 6:20. Called mom at 6:00.
3/10/2017: Got up at 7:15. I was pissed by the leftover garden waste from the neighbors, not only they were placed not in accordance with rules (small piles, not too close to the curb), the leftover even spilled onto our driveway, decided not to clean it up. Visited Costco, purchased one Shark Steam mop, one dozen bagels, one bag large raw shrimp, one case XX beer, one pack Petrale Sole, one bag small orange, and two dozen organic egg. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Paid LS400 registration renewal fee $121 online at 4:33.
3/11/2017: Woke up at 5:50, got up at 6:45. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Alex, the other Ming, James, Shingkuo, Jason, and myself. Worked on the new planter box for two hours, there were a number of things I am not sure of: leveling of the brick siding near the deck, the height of the fake Cherry tree was a couple of inches taller than actual planter box bottom - no easy way to place white stones there, since it's right at the tree trunk I don't want to cut any more root out of it...... Had 50 minutes MB with RMs, feeling great and firm, no EJ.
3/12/2017: Got up at 8:00 - daylight saving starts today. Trimmed off several Wisteria branches on the right side of it, need to do this more frequently to ensure proper growth, and maintain valid support from the trellis below. Picked up wonton and dumpling order at CCC, Tony was there at the parking lot with the delivery lady, paid $44 for 4 varieties (number 2, 3, 4, and 10).
Called Anita at 5:30 since it's daylight saving time so I adjusted the time.
3/13/2017: Got up at 7:40. Trimmed the left side (close to the Oleanders) of Wisteria, took nearly one and a half hour, quite a few branches were growing into the Oleanders, I took them all out, looks much cleaner now, need to pay attention to keep new Wisteria vines climb over again. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Applied weed prevention plastic sheets surrounding the planter box. Turned trimmings into smaller pile.
3/14/2017: Got up at 7:25. Received Travel Foldable Electric Kettle from Amazon at 8:32am delivered by Amazon van (they were always early unlike USPS which always deliver later in the day). Placed all necessary lumber pieces together and formed the new planter box, attached the bottom 2x4 pieces to the second level 4x4 pieces to provide better stability. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Called Anita at 6:00, she's taking a 7-day group trip to China. Had 40 minutes (300 counts) MB with RMs, no EJ.
3/15/2017: Got up at 7:35. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, and 15 minutes with Kung. Fastened the planter box lumbers in place, had to take out 8 of the the washers (IKEA cabinet leftover) from the first planter box so that both planters have the same hardware and look. Shoveled cleaned (although not as white as I'd like) white stones around the new planter box, way short of necessary amount to cover all, need to relocate some from underneath the rose bench just outside the family room. Working on train ticket procurement, found Frankfurt main to Hamburg Main on www.raileurope.com but they do not have Hamburg-Altona to Frankfurt Airport ticket, but found both tickets on www.trainline.eu, printed the schedule and cost info to make sure they are exactly what we want, will book them tomorrow.
3/16/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Swing by Marina Grocery and got one bottle Er Guo Tou liquor, one pack beef tendon ball, two heads broccoli, 2 bag spicy peanut, 6 Romaine tomato, one pack Ganlan, and one pack sour mustard. Spent one and a half hours ordering train tickets from www.trainline.eu, printed the tickets (with duplicates) and ready for the trip - need to ponder if it make sense to buy the other two shorter distance train tickets online ahead of trip...... Created an account with this website for easier future Europe travel. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.
3/17/2017: Got up at 7:20, Anita's wasn't able to call because her Skype's short on fund, I tried to add from here but ran into tedious setup requirements, so I asked her to call my Skype instead - but discovered that she did around 5:19, obviously I was asleep and the volume wasn't high enough to wake me. Tried adding fund to Skype, it took me to Microsoft and then to PCHome which asked me to fill in a ton of info, not exactly I am comfortable with so I stopped there. Covered the planter box
perimeter with some white stones, larger stones, as well as the original oyster shells (on the fake Cherry tree side). Trimmed off dead Epiphyllum leaves/branches, not sure how it came about that way, also trimmed off a large Oleander branch that's blocking smooth walking near it. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Got a cake from Tip.
Anita called my iPad at 3:15 while I was trimming Wisteria dead branches, I called her iPhone severl times starting 3:35, got to recording each time, finally she called after finishing her breakfast, we agreed to call each other whenever the other's online, I'll need to bring iPad or other Skype logged in device so that I don't miss her call.
3/18/2017: Got up at 6:40, actually woke up but not quick enough to answer Anita's call, called her back after I realized it's her. Hiking day, still my turn to drive since Jason had it two consecutive times, Jason brought over two more preserved duck eggs. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Alex, Wayne, Steve, Jason, and myself. Left Peet's at 10:45, stopped by Marukai and got one box Sashimi, one box Tuna rolls, and one box Salmon & chicken cutlet benton. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.
118首抒情老歌連續播放:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoKcsAK0ioyRPxjzaUOVZAogEX9y7XIrZ&app=desktop
四、五年級生的懷念英文老歌:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGjEsrEgIv8mlNkFQ4YkAbfPYBOp-FHOQ
3/19/2017: Got up at 7:35, missed several calls from Anita, I also tried but failed to reach her half a dozen times, missed her call one more before finally completed the connection. Finished the planter perimeter decoration - possibly except the larger stepping bricks that were placed there a long time ago - they do not look in line or leveled. Purchased 3 100W equivalent LED bulbs from Lowes.
3/20/2017: Got up at 7:15, found out Anita had already called 5 times, called her back and got through, the Wi-Fi this time was very good, unlike the last time when she stayed at the very same hotel. Repositioned the larger bricks on the base of the deck, they look better now except that they are still not totally level, but it looks much better now.
Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco and got eight gallon gas for LS400 at $2.979 premium. Paid Anthem BlueCross $69.99 for the month of April. Pictured Molly and Milly were sheltering on the bench together, that's a first.
3/21/2017: Got up at 7:10, Anita called around 6:05, still did not hear any ring tone. Tried but failed to get her a couple of times, she called back a minute later and we talked a short while, she's going back tomorrow and should land in TPE at 6:10PM local time. It rained throughout the night, I should have emptied the buckets that contain dirty water and allow the cleaner ones to fill them, will try to do that this afternoon for another storm coming early tomorrow morning. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Filled up gas for RX300 at Costco, $2.529/gal. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Received the 2 Meow Mix cat food ordered from Amazon at 2:31PM - not as early as previous times when orders were delivered by Amazon van.
3/22/2017: Got up at 7:40. Missed the call Anita made from Yung-ho around 6:00, I called her at 7:35. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Had 50 minutes (possibly a record) MB with RMs, no EJ.
3/23/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20, got in directly. Left around 1:20 when Nancy showed up. Stopped by CVS but left pronto after finding out not even a single Barefoot wine was on sale. Swing by Marina Grocery and got one celery, two bag spicy peanuts, one pack bacon, one cabbage, one pack jumbo tofu, one pack bitter melon, one bunch bananas, 2 bag 米苔目, and one bottle Er Guo Tou. Called Anita at 6:01, she's having a cold so I let her rest. Called mom at 7:00, chatted for 35 minutes.
3/24/2017: Got up at 7:50. Made some adjustment for the buckets to collect more rain water as it is expected to pour from 10:00-4:00. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Got two more 5 gallon buckets from Kung, cleaned it up and filled with rain water from the collecting buckets.
3/25/2017: Got up at 7:30. Hiking day, driverless, there were 7 people in the group (SL): Ahmei, Yung, James, Alex, Jerry, Jason, and myself. Stopped by Tip's and got the ladder back, trimmed some Rosemary branches away from the green house. Washed the two rugs in the kitchen. Disassemble the trellis and all supporting wires from the deck planter, moved all it's soil to the newly constructed planter box on the ground, moved the deck planter to the brick flat, will try to disassemble it tomorrow (not easy to remove the screws used to hold them together), washed the black dirt off the deck where the planter was sitting.
3/26/2017: Got up at 7:15. Stopped by Tip's and did some yard work, Rosemary trimming, fruit tree water retaining barrier, flatten soil under the plum tree for the placement of plant pots. Cleaned the runner stretching from front door to the kitchen, it appeared very delicate, scrub it with mild detergent would remove a portion of the fiber but did not make it any cleaner, so I used the steamer mop to gently steam it and use the mop attached to lightly mop it, not really effective but seemed to reduce fiber loss. Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Cleaned up one of the RMs.
3/27/2017: Got up at 7:20. Overnight soaking of the range hood filters did almost nothing to the thick grease on them, searched the garage and found half a can of oven/grill cleaner, tried it on a small area of one of the filter, lo and behold it did wonder, so I applied the remaining cleaner to the two filter, wash them with jet stream and they looked as clean as new ones. Finished reading "A Criminal Defense", this is the tenth book from Amazon Prime that I have read, even before the end of the month, partly because the story line stays intact throughout. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie and 30 minutes with Kung. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Current estimate of my social security payment at age 66 will be $2265. Anita called from TPE, she sounded bad as she's still suffering from the cold. Anita called from NRT airport at 9:09, she decided not to go the United lounge since she's not going to drink (wine) because of her cold, she's going to have a soup noodle at the airport restaurant instead. Called Yung-Ho to let Kwanghua and her mom know she's at NRT.
3/28/2017: Got up at 7:40. NH172 will arrive SJC at 10:30 - 20 minutes early than scheduled, this will help me make my table tennis schedule. Went to Lowes and picked up one bottle fabric protector, and one bottle oven cleaner. Checked flight status at its parking lot until status changed to "arrived" at 10:45, drove to cell phone waiting area but was packed so I decided to park in the garage and walk over to International Arrival, Anita came out just a few minutes later. Parking fee was $2.00 for merely 5 minutes. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, one minute with Kung as he was with a guest.
3/29/2017: Got up at 7:20. Applied fabric protector, even though the label did not mention anything about rung or carpet, to the runner hoping it will stay clearer this time around. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Kung has improved a lot, able to return many of my shots easily, I need to change ball landing locations to avoid easy counter attack.
3/30/2017: Got up at 7:03. CCC volunteer day. Got there at 9:17. JP has the day off to be with her sister and nephew, 莊玉蘭 is her replacement. Stopped by CVS and only one Barefoot (Cabernet Sauvignon) was on sale so I left without any purchase. Swing by Marina Grocery, got one bunch small Gai Choy, 4 cucumbers, one pack pork spare ribs, two packs of beef prime rib steak, one bag soy bean sprouts, and one bunch bananas. Decided not to volunteer for Rebuilding Together Silicone Valley this time.
3/31/2017: Got up at 7:35. Transplanted the large Aloe Vera to inside corner of the planting area near the front porch, it was very windy and I almost got a cold during the process of transplanting. Help cleaned the front surface of Anita's favorite suit case with degreaser and water, allow sun to do the drying and restore its appearance. Visited Berryessa CVS with Anita and got 4 750ml Riesling, 2 bottle 750ml Pink Moscato, 2 bottle 750ml Merlot, 2 bottle 750ml Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 bottle 1.5L Moscato, and 2 bottle 1.5L pink Moscato, all on sale:-)
4/1/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Steve, Alex, Jerry, Ming, Jason, and myself. Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
4/2/2017: Got up at 8:05. Drove Anita to CCC for a speech. I stopped by Marina Grocery and got a pack of fried fish cake, one pack beef tendon balls, one pack Taiwan sausage, two bags spicy peanuts, and one head Napa cabbage, I wasn't able to locate cucumber seeds. Swing by Grocery Outlet, checked their wine section, they have many inexpensive wines ranging from $3.99 to 6.99 in addition to higher price ones, I wasn't able to find the Cabernet Sauvignon Anita saw in the Mercury News so I decided to get two bottles from two other vendors at $5.99 each to try out.
4/3/2017: Got up at 7:20. Anita restarts her gym exercise today. Made more seedling pots: 3 our own Passion Fruit, 3 Wang Ying's Passion Fruit, onr AMW cucumber, and one Space Master cucumber - although the cucumbers are not preferred but since I do not have the ones I really want at the moment, will add Japanese (from Lowes) and, Chinese 小黃瓜 (from Marina Grocery) later. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung, he has been returning my shot fairly easily these days even with his wounded ankle, I have not improved much during the past couple of years for obvious reason.
4/4/2017: Got up at 7:20. Trimmed off a couple of large branches from the Wisteria to reduce weight from the two supporting trellis, this made adjusting the trellis much easier, they now appear more balanced, still need some work to make it last though. Dumped much of fallen Wisteria flowers to the new planter box for compost. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie and 35 minutes with Kung.
4/5/2017: Got up at 7:10. Cleaned a couple of the tarp coverings for the water buckets, preparing for rains coming this Thursday through Saturday. Had 30 minutes MB with minis, no EJ. Played 35 minutes table tennis, 2 minutes with Stephanie, 2 minutes with Whiskey, 25 minutes with Kung - they were having meeting upstairs. Cleaned a few more tarps and the bottles that were used to hold them in place, moved all remaining Wisteria fallen flowers to the two planter boxes. Trimmed off one more Wisteria branch to securely tie several branches to the trellis.
4/6/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25. Nancy applied the weatherizing strip to her door, she seemed happy that she could do it all by herself. Stopped by OSH and got 4 pieces of hardware that could be used to build wheel cart handle. Swing by Marina Grocery and got one bag frozen squid (from Taiwan), two white onions, 6 Romaine tomatoes, one pack egg plant, two bag chili radish, one bottle Mian Zhu Daqu liquor, one bottle rice wine, one pack pork rib, and one tube garlic. Gusty wind caused damages to our house, the Wisteria support trellis, one wood and one steel, fell over to our backyard, the gutter on top of the DirectTV dish was complete knocked off and its force also destroyed the rain shelter I made for the cats, and the fence facing our Korean neighbor also gave in.
4/7/2017: Got up at 6:50. Inspected the damages done by the strong wind. Anita called State Farm for claim info and Leonard for repair estimate (he's coming this afternoon around 5:00). I spent one and half hour trimming off Wisteria fallen branches which was like 2/3 of the whole tree, it exposed our entire house:-(. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 115 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Cut all trimmed off Wisteria branches to collectable garden waste size.
4/8/2017: Got up at 8:00. Filled the wheel barrel with rain water, since we only have one down spout to collect rain water, had to move all remaining empty buckets over and pay more attention on the level of collection container. Found matching swivel casters in our garage, wheel itself is the same, top part of the holding hardware is different, had to enlarge the existing hole to fit the screw style housing, also had to chip away 1/4" of the hole perimeter so that the new caster can be inserted deeper since the caster is 1/4" taller - this help balance the 4 casters, the only thing left is the handle, it work well with current design but it 's better to have a flat hand holding part at the end - need to work on this.
4/9/2017: Got up at 7:35. Leg dolly was delivered by Amazon van at 9:18. Visited the newly open Ross on Brokaw and Oakland, it is smaller than the Ross at other locations and it does not have many selection possibly because of its size. Stopped by Sprouts and got a Panini, we had it in car before going to Lowes where I purchased 3 different cucumber seeds (they no longer carry the Japanese cucumber I planted last year - too bad), one golden bean, one 4 ft steel bar (to enforce trellis footing), and one bag garden soil. Had 3 minutes MB with mini in the garage, no EJ.
4/10/2017: Got up at 7:35. Fortified the wood trellis with more screws, pondering how to remove the second wood trellis that's still standing without damaging the remaining Wisteria branches. Painted the leg dolly handle with white enamel, will need to apply at least one more coat this afternoon. Had 1 minutes MB with mini, stopped due to interruption. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Anchored Jasmine steel support in the front porch. Applied second coat white enamel to leg dolly handle. Had 1 minute MB with mini, stopped due to interruption. Remove the second wood trellis off its base and fasten some of the upper cross support 1 1/2x 1 1/2 wood pieces, turned the trellis upside down to stand on its top. Stopped by CVS, Anita verified the dye she wanted is available and I got 3 bottle 1.5L (Moscato, Pink Moscato, and Cabernet Sauvignon each) and 3 750ml (all Riesling) Barefoot on our way out. Applied the third coat of white Enamel to the leg dolly handle, this should give it a smooth appearance which Tip may like.
4/11/2017: Got up at 7:37. Finalized the leg dolly handle. Delivered the dolly to Tip. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Had 40 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
4/12/2017: Got up at 7:30. Sprayed general purpose degreaser/cleaner to the two wood trellis and hose them clean with water, hope they will look nicer after drying up. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco and got one case Leinenkugel beer, one pack organic chicken drums, one box roasted chicken leg/thigh, one dozen cheese bagel, one bag caesar salad, and one bag Kale salad. Trying to inform Anita on long checkout line at Costco, T-Mobile kept repeating "low balance" message, turned out the account was about to expire in a couple of days, the message was very misleading. Added $10.00 and the account will last till
4/13/2018: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Susan open the door for me. Got two home made buns from Nancy. Stopped by Marina Grocery and got one bottle rice wine, one bottle 紹興花雕酒, one bag small Gai Choy, one pack bitter melon, 5 green Bell Pepper, one bunch banana, one bag Japanese Anchovy, and 5 cucumbers. Leonard and his assistant started the fence work around 1:30, about the time I got home. Had 10 minutes MB with mini, EJ.
4/14/2017: Got up at 7:40. Took the opportunity (before the new fence is built) and trimmed off several Oleander branches over the fence area between us and Korean neighbor, also pulled down visible/reachable old Passion fruit vines tangling the Oleander, remove the trunk and root of the last Passion Fruit tree, unroot the J-plant in the vicinity as well. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Changed engine oil for RX300, as usual the oil filter was a challenge, only this time I could not do anything about it because the only usable tool (oil filter removal cap) was broken, will change it when I procure a viable tool for it. Visited Costco with Anita, purchased one box Mary Vegan crackers, one box cheese cracker, and one bottle cooking oil.
4/15/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, James, Ming, the other Ming, ShingKuo, Wayne, Jason, and myself. Leonard and his assistant arrived at 12:00, started working to reinstall gutter, they climb onto the roof and handle the task from up there instead of using tall ladder and work from below, the partially defaced the gutter did not look good because the was about a foot long section that was bent and wasn't restored properly before reinstallation, oh well. They finished the gutter, gutter guard and reconnected broken down spout in just over one hour. What's left from the wind damage is the trellis and that will be my responsibility. Visited Grocery Outlet after filled up gas for RX300 at Costco, purchased 4 bottle Cabernet Sauvignon ($3.99, $3.99, $4.99, $5.99) with additional 20% off and one bag Lay's BBQ chip.
4/16/2017: Got up at 7:45. Visited Lowes and got 4 bags small washers for the trellis repair job, also got one pepper seeds, did not see any usable material to fill bottom gaps of the new fence, need to ponder on how to approach this.
4/17/2017: Got up at 7:40. Trimmed off rotten portion of the two trellis legs, getting ready to install steel plats to fortify their structure.
After looking at current design I am not sure if the steel angle plates are strong enough to keep the legs intact since these legs are no longer what they used to be 20 years ago, may have to add a second angle plate for each leg...... Played 55 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Placed 3 bricks on the edge of backyard walkway near the fake Cherry tree for more walking space.
4/18/2017: Got up at 7:40. Drilled down a couple of sticks to help straighten rose branches that are bending over from the weight of the rain. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Attached the steel angle plates to the bottom of the trellis, they should be strong enough when concrete is poured over them in the ground, no need to add a second angle plate to each leg.
Had 20 minutes MB with minis, no EJ.
4/19/2017: Got up at 7:35. Stopped by Costco and got one bag pine nuts, one can Honey Roasted nuts, one can unsalted mixed nuts, two dozen organic eggs, one tub cream cheese, and one bag cooked small shrimp - Costco reward/rebate check of $71.76 was used to cover much of $84.84 total cost. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, no EJ. Received oil filter wrench from Amazon (delivered by Amazon van) - delivery was made at 10:09AM. No table tennis today, they are having group lunch in Millbrae. Measured and dug holes for trellis cement foundation.
4/20/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20, Susan let me in. Robert was on vacation as I asked him upstairs. JP's substitute was really talkative (and loud), I barely had much time doing my thing the whole morning. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased two packs of sliced bacon, 4 bags of Spicy peanuts, one pack On Choy, one pack baby Bokchoy, one pack pork sparerib, 3 packs of beef prime rib steak, one bunch bananas, one Napa cabbage, one pound ground pork, 2 packs of thick bean curd, 2 bamboo shoots, and one bottle Er Guo Tou. Paid Anthem $69.99 with -8110 due on 5/1/2017. Moved all Wisteria, Oleander, and rose trims to the curb ready for pickup tomorrow, took 5 full wheel barrel loads to do the task. Called mom at 7:00 for 25 minutes, got new sis's new cell number, will try to call her later.
4/21/2017: Got up at 7:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took only 10 minutes, the Mercury News was delivered on time along with the missing one from yesterday (they had electrical problem at the printing plant), just as they said they would in the e-mail they sent yesterday afternoon. Placed the second reenforced trellis in its place, looks fine, just need cement to hold it. Had 15 minutes MB with mini, EJ. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 40 minutes with Kung.
4/22/2017: Got up at 6:45. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 6 people when we started, 4 more caught up with us at the peak: Ching, the other Ming, James, Jason, Wayne, myself at the beginning, and Ahmei, yung, Shingkuo, and Steve later. We left 35 minutes earlier as Jason needed to get baby grape plants from his friend John in Campbell. Added several screws to slats of the second trellis, also tightened other screws to make the trellis more sturdy. Used the oil filter wrench purchased from Amazon to remove the oil filter from RX300, it was not easy but with the help of scotch tape I finally was able to unscrew the filter from the top, even though it was still necessary to have the middle underneath panel removed so that I could put the new filter from below - note to self: remove filter from above, install new filter from below, also the wrench needed to be adjusted AND taped to the correct width both times to do the job. Test run it around the blocks for 5 minutes and it seemed OK, will check the oil level and filter condition tomorrow morning before putting the middle bottom panel back.
(Should be 4/22/2017)
4/23/2017: Got up at 7:45. Had lunch at Costco, ordered one Polish dog and one slice combo pizza, as always. Walked about inside Costco after lunch, discovered that 2 camera Arlo system is $249 and will be $70 less starting 4/27/2017, must get one. Trimmed dead branches off the Jasmine in the front yard, more lively now. Tip seemed a bit depressed recently. Reported vehicle abatement online - going to take a long time (7-10 days) before anyone responds.
4/24/2017: Got up at 7:35. Anita has an appointment at 11:20 at Los Gatos office, she headed there earlier at 10:05 and came home at 11:35, all's well except she has to be there at 1:00 to present Naturalization Certificate, apparently a new Homeland security requirement - but they should notify people in advance. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 40 minutes with Kung. Anita's already home putting away Naturalization Certificate.
4/25/2017: Got up at 7:40. Picked one 60 lbs fast-setting concrete and one 128oz Thompson deck/fence protector from Lowes. Swing by 99 Ranch Market and got one Taiwan cabbage, one jar Sriracha Chili Sauce, one bag green bean, 2 red onions (not as fresh as I'd like though), and one bag black sesame powder. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Set foundation for the trellis on the right side of the backyard, it turned out I was right thinking it would take two bags of the fast-setting concrete to do the job but only purchased one, will have to buy another one for the second trellis. Trimmed off infected leaves from the fake Cherry tree. Had 20 minutes MB with minis, EJ - legs. Finished reading "Beneath A Scarlet Sky: A Novel" by Mark Sullivan, this is the first time ever that I complete one Amazon monthly book before the month ends, possibly took less than 3 weeks.
4/26/2017:Got up at 7:30. Leveled the surface underneath the trellis reinstalled yesterday, cleaned and relocate the bricks and small tiles alongside the boarder for a better appearance. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Swing by Costco and got one dozen bagels.
4/27/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. JP is off today, Naomi substitutes. Stopped by CVS and got 6 bottles Barefoot: 2 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 750ml Riesling, one Pink Moscato, and one Red Moscato. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one pack fried fish cake, one string garlic, one pact Lotus roots, one pack large bean curd, two soft tofu, one bunch bananas, one pack steam buns, two bag 210g spicy peanuts, 6 tomatoes, one bag dried Medlar, one bag beef tendon ball, Taiwanese sweet sausage, two bag potato starch, one pack spice mix, and one bunch Taiwanese Spinach. Anita purchased Netgear Arlo system with 2 cameras when she went to Costco to get flowers for her Yoga instructor when's moving to other state. Installed the Netgear system with a little glitch when I wasn't able to sync the second camera, succeeded after power cycle the main system a couple of times plus some wait time, I most likely placed the system in a un responsive state during my first attempt, oh well. It seemed to be working. Note: the CR123 batteries (4 for each camera) were installed on 4/27/2017, they should last 3-5 months according to the manual, will see. Called mom at 7:02 for 25 minutes.
4/28/2017: Got up at 7:30. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took about 15 minutes. Went purchased one 60 lbs cement from Lowes, they no longer carry the fast setting concrete I bought a few days ago so I settle for the mortar (for laying bricks) instead, not sure how good it holds. I pour all cement plus leftover fast setting into the designated locations after Anita helped setting the second trellis in place, added water to the dry cement, this is probably not the right way for this kind but I have no intention to mix them with water first before before pouring them in. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco, did not see Kirkland Macadamia nuts after 15 minutes, will try another day. The Mortar cement I used to set the trellis legs in place did not appear to solidify after nearly 4 hours, will wait another day to see if I need to get something else to enhance it. Went to Grocery Outlet and got 4 bottles Cabernet Sauvignon, 3 2010 Pull and one 2013 Hayes, all stored in our bedroom closet cellar.
4/29/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There are 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, James, the other Ming, Alex, Steve, Sujan (they met us from the other way), Ching, Jason, and myself. Left Peet's 20 minutes earlier and stopped by Marukai, picked up 2 pack fish ARA head, one bag dry seaweed, one box fresh Sushi, one box chicken Karaage, one box California roll, and one box Bara Chirashi. Had 20 minutes MB with minis, no EJ. Went with Anita to Target and picked up a couple of Mother's Day cards, stopped by Marshall but left after 10 minutes as there was nothing interesting. Ordered one bottle 33.8 oz Paul Mitchell Shampoo Original formula from Amazon for $24.96, delivery will be Tuesday, 5/2.
4/30/2017: Got up at 7:55. Trimmed of branches from the fake Cherry tree as they were hanging too low to block our walk way. Spent over one hour and decided to put one of the Arlo camera just outside of the left side window of the front facing room, the old stand from the Airlink camera is used to hold the camera. After some trial and error, I installed the second Arlo camera just under the eaves of the front porch - with video turned upside down since I had to installed it hanging. The second camera maybe a bit easy for anyone to take it down without much difficulty but I could not find any better location for it for now. Planted seeds in 17 Yogurt containers, 3 different cucumbers, one green bean, and one chili. Checked Arlo camera night vision at 7:30, very disappointing result, nearly useless, luckily only purchased one system.
5/1/2017: Got up at 7:20. Picked up 3 Kirkland Macadamia nuts for Tip. Relocated Arlo system console to my study as the reception for one of the camera wasn't good, it's better/faster afterward. Planted 3 Heirloom tomato seedlings from Kung, used larger pot and mixed soil (from compost and the one purchased from Lowes). Had 30 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Must remember to put on face mask before going to the garden, pollens are extremely active after record breaking rainy season plus rising temperature.
5/2/2017: Got up at 7:15. Labeling day, arriving Dynamicfoundation at 9:10. there were 6 people from the Chinese Calligraphy class, Grace, KG, and myself, Kung had the flu and could not do much, Stephanie handle various miscellaneous. Although there appeared to be enough people present but several people from the calligraphy class spent much time chatting, not only they slowed down the process but also made many mistakes lacking focus, I had to run around and check everyone. Finished the task by 11:30 - that's 2 hours instead of one and half as it should be. Went home had lunch before heading back for table tennis but only played 20 minutes with Kung, he's not feeling well, Stephanie's having lunch with Lisa's mom along with everyone else from the company with the exception of Kung and KG. Planted more Passion fruit seeds in three vacant small pots (previous owners were transplanted to larger pots), one for our own and 2 for the ones from Ying Wang. Had MB with legs, EJ. Removed the frame and handle to the broken umbrella, will use the fabric as a sun shade for cat feeder.
5/3/2017: Got up at 7:20. Stopped by Sprouts and got a bunch of chocolate for Tip, swing by Lowes and got 9 3-ft sticks for tomato plants, one bag in-line drip heads, and 6 circular fan spray bubbler. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Backyard hit 99.8° around 2:00PM, boy was it hot! Trimmed off excess length of the slats on the old wooden patio umbrella frame, attached the umbrella fabric prepared yesterday, looks unique, most likely the only one in the world. Noticed the right front tire on LS400 is loosing air rapidly, applied remaining fix-it and drove for 1.5 mile, added air to 31 lbs, will check later to see if it holds.
5/4/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Left CCC at 11:58 and went to Dynamicfoundation, played 30 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Stopped by 99 Ranch Market and got one pack pork spare rib, one bag you-choy-sum, 3 broccoli heads, one bunch bananas, and one bag pea sprouts. Trimmed off several small branches from Wisteria, will need observe and trim it whenever necessary to avoid overgrowth. Called mom at 7:02.
5/5/2017: Got up at 7:20. Picked one can of Fix a Flat from AutoZone one Capital Ave and Berryessa, $10.99+@1.02 (9.25% tax). Applied the entire can to the right front tire of LS400, drove 4 miles and added more air at 31 lbs, will examine result this afternoon. Tire pressure is at ~30 lbs, either due to cooler temperature or it is still leaking:-( Started making tomato support frames, found out it's easier and more sturdier to use tapes segments instead of wires.
5/6/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason's turn to drive. There were 7 people in the group: Ching, James, the other Ming, Ming, Wayne, Jason, and myself. Placed seedlings as well as plants that can be watered on top of the new planter box, will design sprinkler system soon.
5/7/2017: Got up at 7:50. Started working on temporary sprinkling system for for the planter, finished the drip heads and tubes with the 3 tomato pots, still pondering on the rest as 2 dozen small pots simply can be individually handled, they have to be sprinkled on all together. Send Anita to CCC for 13th year CLDAA dinner while I went to McDonald's for light dinner, ordered a Sausage and egg Biscuit with coffee, not a good choice but....... Stopped by Marina Grocery and purchased two pack pin noodle, two fresh bamboo shoot ($6.00) with skin on, one bunch bananas, 2 pack (8 pieces each) large bean curd, one bottle Sho Xing wine, one bottle rice wine, and one bottle Er Guo Tou. Picked up Anita at 7:45.
5/8/2017: Got up at 7:30. Stopped by Costco and got one Kirkland Tortellini Pasta salad, one bag sweet Kale salad, and one 2-camera Arlo Security system. After several failed attempt to place the 3rd Arlo camera watching backyard planter box, it is finally (at least for now) settled on the fake Cherry tree, about 15 feet above the ground, although the resolution wasn't very good but it at least showed the status of the plants and seedlings. Called Albert but did not reach him but he called back afterward, probably will go to dinner at Milpitas Buffett on Wednesday, looks like Shawn will not be able to join us.
5/12/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, felt a bit uncomfortable as my heart beat began to act up, irregularity is coming back after a two month truce. Went upstairs and rested until 4:45, even though the coldness in my body was better but was having sore tendons and muscles all over. Line briefly worked for Tip, had to use WeChat afterwards. Turned in again after eating just one dumpling and one wonton, no appetite at all. Had sore muscle all over throughout the night.
5/13/2017: Got up at 7:30, felt better although still experienced sore muscle on my waist. Attempt to reuse the larger sprinkler fell due to weak spray lines, used a bare small tube will just a few holes at the correct location seemed to work better, will see if a second tube may be used to replace existing one.
5/14/2017: Got up at 7:40. Feeling much better, although still easily cramped while turning my torso. Installed the 4th camera underneath the improvised feeder umbrella, near the top frame, appeared to be the best location to see the feeder and activities. Secured the new planter box with all kinds of stuff I could find as some pots were disturbed every morning. Added a new drip line for the three crab orchids.
5/15/2017: Got up at 7:40. Running nose started right after getting off the bed, not sure if it's caused by residual cold or allergy. Went to Costco and purchased one pack dental floss, one case variety Modelo, one case Dos XX, one bag pine nuts (almost picked up one with hole at the bottom), one box organic raisin, one Areds2, one container Kirkland Tortellini pasta salad with Mozzarella pearl, and one pack (x4) tooth paste. Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Moved the PVC pipe planter to the original ground planter box and installed a punctured thin drip tube to water them.
5/16/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up backyard in-between-brick weeds, also cleaned up Oleander leaves, water jet cleaned bird poops on the floor. Decided not to bring my iPod Touch on the May/June trip, the Nexus5 has plenty of audio books. It's a busy day for the street in front of us, the neighbor across the street is having something done to their backyard - lots of thick concrete pieces as well as dirts were taken out by a mini bull dozer, quite a few truck loads, there was no telling what they plan to do, the day's task completed by 3:45 - there's even a portal potty on site. Another truck parked in the middle of the circle with man hole open to the back of the truck, could not tell what they were doing either, they left around 4:00.
5/17/2017: Got up at 7:33. The packable feather down jacket ($39.99) from Amazon arrived at 10:17, looks good and size M (XL in Asian measure) fits just right for me - with room to wear something else inside. Planted 2 more containers of Pepper seeds, the first one did not produce any seedling after more than 2 weeks.
5/18/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, this will be the last time volunteering before going on the Germany/NCL Norway trip. Got there at 9:20. There were people working on and examine the alarm system as well as inspecting the elevator for code conformance from 9:30 to 10:30. Stopped by CVS and got two bottle 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 750ml Pinot Grigio, and two bottle 750ml Zinfandel. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one pack small Gai Choy, 6 Romaine tomatoes, one bunch banana, one head Taiwanese cabbage, one pack Tong Ho-Tan, and one small envelope of Chinese cucumber seeds.
5/19/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, including some dirt from across the street, they are going to dumping truckload something right in the street today, not sure what though. Moved all (4) Epiphyllum plants to the first planter box, added dripping heads/tubes. Checked all passion fruit seedling pots, only one single seedling with Ying Wang's seed showed up and it looked frail, repotted them into 2 larger different pots, also planted a large pot of 小黃瓜 just purchased from Marina Grocery, this is the one that grew many healthy cucumber last year but was missing from their shelf for a long time.
5/20/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Steve, Yung, Ming, the other Ming, Jerry, Ching, Jason, Alex, and myself. Filled the auto feeder in full for the coming trip. Steam mopped kitchen and living room floor. Paid Anthem due $69.99 for June. Went with Anita to purchase dinner from 食為天, pretty lucky to have parking spot in front of HK salon.
5/21/2017: Got up at 7:20. It's going to be a hotter day as the ground had been warmed up by yesterday's sun. Continued packing, decided to pack only 3 pairs of pants and one vest - in addition to the new down jacket newly purchased from Amazon. Vacuumed and steamed master bedroom, tucked the form mattress under the bed frame. Had 10 minutes MB with RM, EJ. Requested San Jose Mercury News vacation hold from 5/24-6/14.
5/22/2017: Got up at 7:40. Played 20 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, got a whole bag of New East Sun candy boxes from Tip. Gave Tip one bag mixed nuts.
5/23/2017: Got up at 8:10. Played 30 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Got two dozen eggs from her (Teresa). Reconfigured planter box coverings to make sure it has enough water and no snails. Made 2 dozen braised soy sauce eggs, will bring along some of them for our Germany trip, possibly save some in the freezer for later consumption.
5/24/2017: Got up at 7:35. Had 20 minutes MB with mini, EJ. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Anita checked in UA58 and I finished printing the boarding passes. Finishing up packing and preparing the house for the trip.
5/25/2017: Got up at 7:15. Checked around the house and made sure everything's in order. Jack's co-worker Mr. Chong picked us up at 11:00. Packed all remaining braised soy eggs in the luggages, 4 in my backpack and 19 in my luggage. Got to SFO at 11:45, $70 for the ride. PreTSA status (for this round) possibly sped up the security check a bit. Got to gate 96 at 12:15. Boarding was delayed 30 minutes at 1:45. Anita reserved 61D/61E, thank God we were spared 2 unoccupied seats between us - 61E and 61F. Flight UA58 finally took off at 3:08. There were three male and two female stewards serving the economy section. UA's lunch meal has been improving possibly due to competition from other airlines, the white wine I had was very good. Had two cups of white wine during and after lunch, was pretty tasty. Had a small sandwich half way through the flight. Another meal was served one hour before arriving Frankfurt. UA58 landed at Frankfurt airport at 10:30am local time, 35 minutes behind schedule. Got our luggages at 11:15, walked 10 minutes to get to the train station, and another 10 to buy tickets (with the help of local travelers as well as platform janitor. We missed the previous S8 train and had to wait 30 minutes for the next one. Arriving Frankfurt Main station at 12:15 after 3 stops. Got to Star Inn at 12:35 after about 15 minutes walk. Our room 101 is small but has (almost) everything we need and it is very clean and possibly recently renovated, online review saying this hotel does not have air conditioning but they do and it quickly cooled down the temperature, this helped a lot as we were so hot and sweaty dragging luggages from Frankfurt Main. Took a nap for nearly two hours before going to Penny Market, even though I did a good research on the location of the market and 9 minutes walk is needed to get there but after a while we ÿwere no longer confident that we are on the correct course, asked a couple and they confirmed that we were on the right track, it turned out they happened to be going to the same market, got a few advises from them shopping there, we got a couple of bottles of wine, some breakfast buns, one 1.5L bottle water, as well as a bunch of bananas, the only thing is that they do not have ANY ready to eat food that we can serve as dinner. Purchased a burger meal (burger, fries, and 330ml 7UP) from a chicken/burger store (the owners appeared to be middle easterner) for €9.95, they treat our order (most likely anyone's order) with extreme care, fries and burger are all made to order but we do not mind the 10 minutes wait, it turned out to be very tasty, we planned to go back and order their roast chicken tomorrow:-)
5/27/2017: Got up at 6:00 after a long night of turning and tossing. Plan to take train visiting Schloss Budingen. Left for Frankfurt Main station at 7:50, took a more domestic route this time which is much faster. With the help of a couple of locals, we got our tickets and boarded the train heading Toward Gelnhausen at 8:26 a still with the help of another fellow passenger as there was very little info that we understood. Arriving Gelnhausen at 9:02. Got tickets to Budingen at Gelnhausen, the next train is 10:13, have to wait one hour and 10 minutes. This train serves only Gelnhausen and Budingen, there were more people getting off at Gleghausen than getting on, likely Buedingen locals going to Frankfurt during weekends - there were 14 people (most of them got on just before departure time)going to Budingen. Bike riding is very popular for Germans, we encountered many carrying their bikes onto trains, even baby trailers are common scene. Train left on time at 10:13, we got to Budingen at 10:30. There wasn't anyone at the platform when we got off, asked around and finally got to the place we wanted to visit, it turned out this place is popular for German not foreigners, we were the only people not speaking German. Heading back to train station at 12:45, had no problem getting tickets but the information (schedule and platform) from several young girls turned out to be incorrect, luckily Anita figured out from the posting at the station (a small one). Train left the station at 1:30 and arrived Gelnhausen at 1:47. Purchased tickets and got on the 1:53 train to Frankfurt Main, arriving at 2:31, entered hotel room at 2:42. Visited Penny Market at 6:30 after napping, the beam of the sunset was unbearably fierce, Anita wasn't feeling well due to the heat, got salad, beer, coffee, and breakfast buns there and hurried back to the hotel. Booked two Frankfurt City Hop-On Hop-Off Tour through Viator for 5/28/2017 (tomorrow) for a total of $34.18. Found out the Mercury News is still being delivered, I have no idea what to do, but luckily our Korean neighbor is picking up them for us.
5/28/2017: Got up at 4:51. Had early breakfast with 2 in 1 coffee, a bit light though.
Left hotel at 8:50, the bus took us to the true meeting point, changed bus and drove back to the main station, real tour started at 9:50. The sun was scorching whenever you are under it, so we had to move around a bit just to avoid direct sun but also need to get to a spot for better picture taking. The entire tour ended in 35 minutes with a third of the time behind traffic lights. Went visited the Asia Grocery underground (access from the downward stairs just outside main station entrance), disappointed by they offer, no wine, no ready to eat food, and no bakeries, left without purchasing anything. Stopped by a bakery in the same area, got two sandwiches, one bun, and a cup of coffee for €6.74, all are very tasty except the coffee which is missing cream flavor. Head out to take the hop-on/hop-off tour the second time at 12:50, bus tour started after 15 minutes wait, the bus took the reverse route this time, many same scenes looked different also because we sat on the first level. Returned to Frankfurt Main station at 2:00. Visited the bakery we shopped this morning, got another sandwich and 2 cheese buns for dinner and breakfast (totaling €4.60), will come back tomorrow morning to get lunch sandwiches for our Heidelberg tour - they will open at 4:00am.
5/29/2017: Woke up at 1:15, got up at 5:40 after continuous tossing and turning. Had breakfast at 6:00. Headed out to purchase lunch at 8:30, finished it and got to our half-day Heidelberg tour meeting point at 8:40, way too early so we went back to the main station and rested until 9:10 before going back. Here were a total of 15 people, divided into 3 (in a Mercedes sedan), 7 (in 7-seat van), and 5 (in another 7-seat van), our driver/guide is Natalie, very knowledgeable, even though much of what she said simply went through my ears. It was extremely hot and humid, I felt a bit sick during the walk and had to find a cooler place to recover before getting worse. WC cost €0.50 for each person, the toilet room does have cold water which helped me cool down quite a bit. The tour did provide a small sandwich and a 0.5L bottle water, enough to ease hunger quench thirst. The tour left Heidelberg at 1:30, we were back at the meeting point at 2:35, got back to the hotel at 2:50. The cool hotel room cooled us down quickly. I stopped by Penny Market by myself, purchased two bottle 250ml white wine, one bottle 2013 750ml red wine, 3 pastries, 2 16oz can beer, and two boxes salad. For unknown reason, the cashier machine went down after I tried to pay with my credit card, fortunately I brought along one €20 bill and was able to pay for my purchase without going back to the hotel empty handed. Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
5/30/2017: Got up at 7:05. City walk today, mainly the old town center and cathedrals area. I was a bit worried getting lost visiting these spots but we were lucky as there many fellow tourists going the same way so we simply followed them and got to Römerberg without any problem, followed by the Cathedral (there's a museum open at the Cathedral and we were not sure if the whole church has been turn into or the church is in renovation and so we did not get in, but come to think of it, the side door was open maybe we mistook it for museum exit), Main river, gift shop near by, plus another church a couple of blocks away. Headed back to KaiserstrBe and got wild hog sausage plus baby potatoes for lunch back in the hotel room. Walking in the rain, we visited Penny Market at 2:00, Got 3 breakfast pastry buns, one pack baby cucumbers, one can beer, one sandwich for lunch tomorrow, one box salad. Swing by Fresh Bite and got half a roast chicken for dinner. Studied Hamburg Main station and discovered that we maybe able to walk inside the station and get out from another exit, as opposed to the one showed by Google Map, cross a street and get to Hotel Fürst Bismarck directly, instead of circling the station as suggested by Google Map.
5/31/2017: Woke up at 1:00, Got up at 5:35. Checked out at 9:50, got to Frankfurt Am Main station at 10:05. ICE770 was late for 12 minutes, it departed at 11:05. The ticket inspector came checking tickets after 15 minutes, she scan the ticket and stamped time/date as well as punched a small hole on it, possibly will be checked later again but with simple review. There are 3 stops before Hamburg Hbf: Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe, Göttingen, and Hannover Hbf. The conductor made up all delay time and we arrived Hamburg Hbf on time at 2:35. Hotel Fürst (prince) Bismarck is just 5 minutes walk cross the street from Hamburg Hbf, our room is about 12x12 with a 6x12 bathroom, we figured the room was much bigger before turned into two smaller rooms. Visited Penny Market which is 4 minutes from the hotel, compare to the one in Frankfurt, this one is not as clean and people visiting it are also not as nice, also they do not accept "foreign credit cards", got a box salad, one pack cheese, one pack prosciutto, one bottle Cabernet Sauvignon, one bunch bananas, and four pastries.
6/1/2017: Woke up at 1:30, Got up at 5:00. Went out exploring the neighbor but surprisingly ran into St. George Kirchhof church and St. Marien Cathedral, they were our plan to visit this afternoon, will see they are open this afternoon, purchased 4 white asparagus (frischer Spargel) for €1.5 and one box strawberry for €3.4. Stopped by Hamburg Main Hbf and got a 15cm Turkey, Ham & Bacon Melt Subway. Set out to visit St. Michaelis church at 1:15. The route was relatively simple, and it was where many luxury stores such as H&M, Zara, and many more are located, plus it was swarming with locals as well as tourists, took us 25 minutes to find the church.
Also visited St. Peter's church on our way back to the hotel.
We also passed by city hall which is fairly grand with style. Visited Penny Market at 4:20, Got one box salad, one small pack ham, 4 pastries, and one bottle Cabernet Sauvignon.
6/2/2017: Woke up at 2:30, Got up at 6:30. Left hotel 9:30 to explore Hamburg Speicherstadt (warehouse district), an UNESCORTED World Heritage. Although the route was a bit more complicated than the one for St. Michaelis, but we got to the destination in 21 minutes, the problem with this was we had to walk around to see what's worth seeing without a guide but we managed after struggling for 10 minutes. Stopped by St. Katharinen church, this church has rare decode and large organs, unseen in church of its (small) size.
Had lunch at Hamburg Hbf food court, the orders from Asia Hung looked nice but taste was so so, plus they were likely soaked with MSG. Stopped by Penny Market at 4:15, most of the pastries we preferred were gone, had to pick from the less favorites, got 4 of them, one bottle Cabernet Sauvignon, one pack salami, and one pack cheese, and one bag mixed salad.
6/3/2017: Got up at 6:35. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Stopped by St. Jacob's church around 11:00, only 0.4 miles from the hotel, this church has the most impressive organ among all the church/cathedral we visited in Germany so far, not only it is huge, it played non-stop during our stay (and possibly after we left), it is also the only church/cathedral that played their organ during non-service hour, nice!
Purchased a large Filly beef and cheese from Subway, at €8.00, it is less than half the price of the plates we ordered from Asia Huang and taste much better as well. Anita went to Penny Market by herself and purchased a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, 4 pastries, and one bag salad. Anita went out exploring neighborhood - churches and such. Get another WiFi voucher from the front desk as the old one expired, took me a while to update all the devices, my iPad simply would not pop up the login window to allow me to enter new vouch code, had to power cycle it to make it work, very odd. Attempted to have MB but simply lost interest after a couple of minutes, I wonder why:-(
6/4/2017: Got up at 6:20. Embarkation day, we plan to take S3 or S31 train to Hamburg-Altona then take bus 111 to Altona Cruise Terminal. After further research, I found an option, take bus 112 at the Hamburg Hbf and get off at the closest stop, walk 5 minutes to Altona cruise terminal - so it was planned, to confirm this we checked with the front desk but the answer was not clear, we were surprised that they know so little about cruise info. Went out to the bus stop (112) and asked a lady there for info, she told us to buy ticket inside the train station and tried but failed, it turned out, as being told by a fellow lady passenger, we can pay bus fare on the bus, we run to the bus stop and asked a couple of Vietnamese guys (who do not speak English) for more info, confirmed what the lady told us after some hand gestures. Bus 112 came in at 10:04, bought the ticket €3.2 each, got off at stop Elbberg at 10:33, we found out later that this is the correct stop to get off, the only thing was we did not see the "Elbberg" street which was just a few feet before the bus stop, the rain and trees may have block our view. Instead we walked along the street down hill and finally the road turned 90 degree left and in 15 minutes we were at Altona Cruise Center, the time being 10:55, we were able to get in early since we have already checked in online, got to Bliss Lounge at 11:40, since our stateroom is not ready yet, I went back to the security check area to get online but failed to download 6/4 version Mercury News as it had not become available before the one hour free Wi-Fi expired. Got to our stateroom at 12:15. Had some Buffalo wings, chip & fish and ice cream at the O'Sheehan's Bar&Grill. Emergency drill was held at 4:00, we had to assemble at deck 6, but it seemed to be relatively short compare to several previous trips. Because of our Gold status, we we given a bottle sparkling wine and 2 bottle spring water, plus a cocktail party. Another thing about NCL Jade, they did some remodeling during our absence: new carpets everywhere, staterooms are now now more specious because they took away some furniture, take our stateroom for example, the table below the TV was replaced with a multifunction cabinet/shelf, the chair below was also removed, this presented a more spacious feel, they also placed two new night stand on both side of the bed.
6/5/2017: Got up at 6:25. Buffett breakfast won't be fully open until 7:00 so we had some tea and pastry, although still not very hungry but I had omelette and one sausage for formal breakfast. No bowel movement this morning even after walking one lap on deck 7 path. Anita found out the Latitude Exclusive Cocktail Party was at 12:30, we went to Garden Cafe but it wasn't open until 12:00 so we grabbed something from the Great Outdoor and went in the Garden Cafe to have a little more, joined fellow Latitude members at the Spinnaker Lounge at 12:15, went in at 12:30, had 3 glasses of Shadnay and bald a glass of cocktail, the music was nice too.
6/6/2017: Got up at 6:30. The buffet must have opened since 6:30 as it was filled with people when we got there at 6:50 - possibly open at 7:00 only on at sea days. Arriving first port of call Skjolden at 7:15, a beautiful town even with light shower hanging over. Disembarked at 8:30, the town is about 15 minutes from where Jade docked, wearing my newly purchased down jacket and carrying our umbrella, visited a Coop market (the one with the same name in Venice) grocery store and wondered around enjoying the tranquility of this little town before going back to our stateroom at 10:03. The O'Sheehan won't be open until 11:30 so we had something from Garden Cafe, it's their breakfast before 11:30 reopening. Headed out to Skjolden again at 1:03 to visit the visit info center as well as the gift shop next to it. Came back to our stateroom at 2:55, walked a little longer this time. Opened the champagne that has been sitting in the fridge, consumed Hal of it, taste was not great but OK. Turned in around 8:30.
6/7/2017: Got up at 5:40. Got tender tickets at 8:50, Got on the tender at 9:05, got to port of Olden at 9:15, there were tons of people, cruise ship MSC used the dock that's why Jade had to send us with tenders. We could not find the bus mentioned in TripAdvisor posting (were told that that €10 round trip bus was no longer available?), but Anita managed to get bus tickets (€45 each) that took us (30 minutes bus ride) to Briksdalen, from there we walked one hour to reach Briksdalsbreen glacier, it was very windy and cold on the there is a large water fall on the way to the glacier - water low is at 10,000 Liter per second. I had to hand cover my ears with the down jacket hood after they got hurtful. Went back to Jade at 1:44, had some buffalo wings, fish finger, one bottle Corona light for me and cocktail for Anita, these drink orders cost $20.98. Anita went back to Olden at 3:15 to see the church.
Discovered that our stateroom 8080 is right behind tender boat #9, this can only be found out after tenders left their hanging positions. Turned in at 8:45.
6/8/2017: Got up at 5:15. Left Jade at 8:35, decided to go back and dress warmer after about 10 minutes in Alesund. It is a small town although claim to have ~45,000 in the municipality, famous for its unique building architecture, a lot has been preserved till this day. Went back to the stateroom at 11:30 to take a break. Headed out again at 1:50, finished what we wanted to see this morning plus a little more, decided to head back when the wind picked up and a few drops of rain started to hit us. Luckily we did so, it started to rain heavily when we sat down to have an afternoon snack (nachos, buffalo wings, and a 16 oz Michello Extra-$6.95). Got back to our stateroom at 3:30.
Had dinner at Garden Cafe once again, Anita ordered red wine for her Birthday.
6/9/2017: Woke up at 2:30, Got up at 5:50. Port of call Bergen. Left Jade at 9:30, shuttle ride is required as no one is allowed to walk in the dock area, got to Bergen within 3 minutes, saw a couple of under repair churches, revisited Bronson-the poet, and Ibsen-the play writer, the Mariakirken (St. Mary's) church was in much better shape than the first two we saw. Went back to Jade at 11:50 as it was raining heavily plus we were tired. Headed out to Bergen again at 12:55, visited Johannes church which is the grandest of the four we saw today, went back to Jade at 2:30.
6/10/2017: Got up at 6:50 (Norway time, British is one hour back). At sea day again. Had breakfast at 7:00 new time. Walked around deck 7 path for 3 rounds and went back to have a second breakfast at 8:30. Had 10 minutes MB with mini and legs, EJ, finding it more difficult to EJ, not sure why that is. Purchased 4 photos from NCL Jade photo gallery, the quality is good but $52.34 after 20% Gold member discount was still expensive. Had lunch at 12:00, it was crowded, maybe because it was 1:00 the old time and people got hungry earlier:-). Walked deck 7 path 4 times, about one mile. Turned in at 10:30.
6/11/2017: Got up at 6:30 local,time. More than half of the staterooms in our section were emptied, apparently by people embarked at Southampton. We had breakfast at 6:45, not a whole lot of people in Garden Cafe. Everyone on board had to had their key card and passport checked by British boarder control, passport stamped for showing when passing through port gate later. Went on shore at 10:05, there was nothing like any of the other city we visited, no tourist information AT ALL, we had to figure out by ourselves by checking with fellow passengers disembarking here as well as locals to find our way to the Old Town, and it was quite a walk, nearly half an hour to get there, visited St. Michael church and Holy Rood Church ruins.
Came back to Jade at 12:15 as Anita was not feeling too well because she had, possibly, too many prunes. We each had a Michelle Ultra and 6-piece Buffalo wings before going back to our stateroom for a break. Headed out again at 1:50, this time was easier as we needn't look for the right path. It was still a long walk even though we knew where to go, took us 30 minutes to get to the Old Town. Enjoyed the old castle wall, passed through Bar Gate-the best preserved gate, St. Joseph church exterior, and walked 20 minutes to St. Mary's church, it is by far the grandest one in Southampton.
Went back to our stateroom at 4:00, we walked a total of 4 hours and 20 minutes, what a workout:-) Tried getting on the Internet at the port but did not succeed.
Turned in at 8:45.
6/12/2017: Got up at 5:30. Another at sea day before disembarking. The ship appeared to be less crowded after Southampton stop, maybe there weren't as many people embarked than disembarked. Visually estimated the guest composition to be 80% seniors (65+). Anita bought a silver necklace for $35. Stayed in our stateroom pretty much the rest of the day.
6/13/2017: Got up at 5:30, Jade has already docked at Hamburg. Had our final breakfast at 6:50 onboard Jade for this cruise. Left Jade at 8:00, took a taxi ride right outside the cruise terminal and got to Altona Hbf at 8:20, fare was €10.30, we rounded up to €12.00. Waited at McDonald's as our train is scheduled for 11:07. ICE577 slides into Hamburg Hbf at 10:55, departed on time at 11:07. The pamphlet we got on the train gave all the information we need, Free Wi-Fi, food and drink service, time and duration at each stop (our stop at Frankfurt will be 3:17pm for 4 minutes, other station range from 1 to 5 minutes with Main station at 5 minutes the longest). We were able to put both luggages on the rack this time, mine was really heavy, I almost hurt myself lifting it up to the rack. The ticket inspector came around at 11:40, she put a time stamp and punched a small hole next to it to complete the process. Another ticket inspector came around at 1:00.
Our arrival station will be Frankfurt(M) Flughafen Fernbf. Arriving Frankfurt Airport on time at 3:17pm. It was a very comfortable train ride. Hilton Garden Inn is just upstairs with 10 minutes walk. This hotel is a all-glass building, visited Rowe super Market right after checking in room 7269. Got a bottle of Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon, two chicken legs, one sausage, one box salad, and two pastries for breakfast tomorrow. Checked in Lufthans, a tedious process and can only process one passenger at a time - could be the first time though. Visited Rowe again and for some German chocolate, stopped by Lufthansa Kiosk and produced boarding passes.
6/14/2017: Woke up at 2:30. Got up at 5:30. Checked out at 8:25. Dropped off luggages, went through 2 passport checks, and 30 minutes security control, got to gate Z18 at 9:25. It was really hot in the sections of various checks, had to take off my vest to cool down a bit. Passed the gate and boarded shuttle at 10:07, got seated 46G at 10:20 - a long shuttle ride. Anita's on seat 46H, soon after we got seated, a gentleman sited next to her at 64K, I am alone for now until the next shuttle bring in more passengers, keep my fingers crossed. By 10:40 we found out that the flight is half empty so Anita changed to 46C to enjoy her two sets (plus 46A) and I moved to 46E to enjoy three seats (plus 46D and 46 G), thank God. The flight, even though operated by Lufthansa, was carrying a Star Alliance logo instead, not sure how this works, I am guessing since We bought the tickets from UA, the return flight has to be Star Alliance member but not flying with their own logo. The gentleman who was sitting next to Anita at 46 K also moved to a 3-seat row. Plane door closed at 10:45, my front row passenger reclined her seat which made my sit behind her very uncomfortable, I tried Anita's seat for a few minutes before she recommended me to move to her front row at 45C, this is even better because there's no one in the front row and we can be close to each other. Flight finally took off at 11:18, 38 minutes late.
Coming back from the restroom in the middle of the plane, discovered that the flight is actually no more than 40% occupied, could be because this route is relatively new and will take some time to become known just like ANA NRT route. LH488 landed at SJC at 1:38, 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Took nearly 30 minutes to pass passport/customs, called Jason afterward, picked up luggages in just a few minutes. Got home at 2:40. Had Neoguri fast noodle with last portion of pickled seaweed threads and shrimps for dinner, turned in at 8:10.
6/15/2017: Woke up at 11:40, after long periods of tossing and turning, got up at 5:30. Anita went to the post office to renew her passport, it turned out office visit is essentially for new application, for assisted renewal it will be over $200 for expedited process, so she is going to do it herself. Visited Costco, got one pack Sweet Kale salad kit, one Kirkland Greek Pasta chicken salad, two dozen organic eggs, one box grape tomato, and 8 cream cheese Danish, stopped by 99 Ranch Market, got 2 red onions, one bunch bananas, 6 Romaine tomatoes, 3 green Bell Peppers, and one Kolhrabi (大頭菜). Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Got some plums from Tip, returned with a box of chocolate. Had 20 minutes MB with mini in the garage, EJ. Turned in at 12:30.
6/16/2017: Got up at 5:50. Chipped away weeds growing in between bricks in the backyard, cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves. Water jet cleaned the side flat, something's still digging into our compost zone. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Got the final batch of plums from Tip. Dozed off after dinner until 10:30, most likely from the Moscato.
6/17/2017: Got up at 6:55. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, the other Ming, Jerry, Alex, Jason, and myself. Ruby, Ming, and John joined us at Peet's. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Found a way to transfer iPhone photos to MacBook Pro, AirDrop is the magic word, since the resulting photos will show up in "Download", care should be taken to make sure existing files in "Download" do not interfere with new ones-for easy processing afterwards. Discovered the the photos from iPhone still used San Jose time which complicated my approach to sequence all the photos, now I had to manually renumber photos from my camera then find the correct timestamps for iPhone photos and renumber/insert in sequence them - one at a time though, this is almost the same amount of work as last year.
6/18/2017: Woke up and got at 5:10. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, watered the three planter boxes, get them ready for planting. Went to ValleyFair to escape heatwave, had an expensive snack (small cappuccino, one creme brûlée, and one croissant) for ~$16. Visited Nordstrom and Macys before getting lunch at Thai Kitchen for only ~$8.00. Stopped by Lowes to check out moss and mulch. Swing by Costco and got one dozen bagel, one container unsalted mixed nuts, one case variety Bluemoon, one bag organic BBQ salad, one box k-cup, and one pack roasted chicken legs. Backyard temperature broke record at 107.6°F at 1:57PM.
Living room temperature rose from 82°F at 1:00 to 88°F at 5:00pm, had to turn up the fan to max to help resist the heat. Raccoon came by twice.6/15/2017: Woke up at 11:40, after long periods of tossing and turning, got up at 5:30. Anita went to the post office to renew her passport, it turned out office visit is essentially for new application, for assisted renewal it will be over $200 for expedited process, so she is going to do it herself. Visited Costco, got one pack Sweet Kale salad kit, one Kirkland Greek Pasta chicken salad, two dozen organic eggs, one box grape tomato, and 8 cream cheese Danish, stopped by 99 Ranch Market, got 2 red onions, one bunch bananas, 6 Romaine tomatoes, 3 green Bell Peppers, and one Kolhrabi (大頭菜). Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, and 25 minutes with Kung. Got some plums from Tip, returned with a box of chocolate. Had 20 minutes MB with mini in the garage, EJ. Turned in at 12:30.
6/16/2017: Got up at 5:50. Chipped away weeds growing in between bricks in the backyard, cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves. Water jet cleaned the side flat, something's still digging into our compost zone. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Got the final batch of plums from Tip. Dozed off after dinner until 10:30, most likely from the Moscato.
6/17/2017: Got up at 6:55. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, the other Ming, Jerry, Alex, Jason, and myself. Ruby, Ming, and John joined us at Peet's. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Found a way to transfer iPhone photos to MacBook Pro, AirDrop is the magic word, since the resulting photos will show up in "Download", care should be taken to make sure existing files in "Download" do not interfere with new ones-for easy processing afterwards. Discovered the the photos from iPhone still used San Jose time which complicated my approach to sequence all the photos, now I had to manually renumber photos from my camera then find the correct timestamps for iPhone photos and renumber/insert in sequence them - one at a time though, this is almost the same amount of work as last year.
6/18/2017: Woke up and got at 5:10. Cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, watered the three planter boxes, get them ready for planting. Went to ValleyFair to escape heatwave, had an expensive snack (small cappuccino, one creme brûlée, and one croissant) for ~$16. Visited Nordstrom and Macys before getting lunch at Thai Kitchen for only ~$8.00. Stopped by Lowes to check out moss and mulch. Swing by Costco and got one dozen bagel, one container unsalted mixed nuts, one case variety Bluemoon, one bag organic BBQ salad, one box k-cup, and one pack roasted chicken legs. Backyard temperature broke record at 107.6°F at 1:57PM.
6/19/2017: Got up at 5:45. Cleaned up the mess raccoon did to the automatic feeder, it was broken into 3 pieces, surprisingly they were just parts disassembled, spent half an hour put them back together, decided to remove the circular volume extension from the top, should be sturdier but still need to come up with a solution to deter future damages caused by the raccoons. Had 35 minutes MB with mini, EJ. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung, it was really really hot and humid in the table tennis area. Stopped by 99 Ranch Market, got 6 bags of Spicy peanuts, one pack Romaine lettuce, 2 Korean yellow melons, one pack small Gai Choy, and one contain Kimbo Pork Sung. Planted two bean seedlings in the narrow planter.
6/20/2017: Got up at 5:30. Watered tomato plants and cucumber seedlings, also sprinkled the two large planter box to make it easier to plow. Prepared a few more seeds for Spacemaster and chili pepper. Paid $69.99 Anthem July payment. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Got a bag of fresh mustard green from Kung. Trimmed off the Oleander branches that were blocking right hand side of the driveway, took nearly one hour. Had MB with legs, EJ.
6/21/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up the old metal trellis, plan to apply rubber seal to it and use the parts as climbing supports for one of the planter. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung.
6/22/2017: Got up at 7:05. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15, took a while to get in (Sophia arrived at 9:20), deputy chief is on vacation in Taiwan for the next two weeks. Got 6 bottles of Barefoot from CVS - one 1.5L Moscato, one 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, 2 750ml Pinot Grigio, and 2 750ml Moscato. Swing by Marina Grocery, purchased one fried fish cake, 4 pack beef Shank, 2 pack bean curd, one bunch bananas, one bottle rice wine, and two bottle Er Guo Tou. Outside temperature was 102°F driving home on the 680.
6/23/2017: Got up at 7:00, cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, it was quite a mess, took me 30 minutes to finish it. Stopped by Costco and got a bottle of California Moscato (for plum picking event at John's), one can honey roasted mixed nuts, and one can Macadamia nuts. Since Dynamicfoundation are having their quarterly luncheon, I have to wait for notification before going there for table tennis, they finished ordering at 1:36 and the notification came at 2:18 but I did not see it on WeChat because I was checking Line and missed it until I accidentally notice WeChat on its second notification at 2:47, so I got to Dynamicfoundation at 3:05 and started playing at 3:10. Totally played one hour and 25 minutes table tennis, 45 minutes with Stephanie and 40 minutes with Kung.
6/24/2017: Got up at 6:55. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Steve, the other Ming, Jerry, Ming, Jason, and myself. Stopped by Marukai and got 3 packs of fish head, one box shrimp roll, one box rainbow Poki bowl, and one Bara Chirashi Sushi. Anita joined Arm colleagues for lunch. Lynn gave Anita ride home. Headed out at 5:30 for Plum picking party at John's house. There were 16 guests at the party: Ahmei, Yung, Ruby, Jerry, Sophia, Alex, Wayne, Mary, Ming, the other ming, Anita, myself, SuHua, Ching, and one other couple.
6/25/2017: Got up at 7:25. Assembled and attached the old steel trellis to the new planter box - the whole thing with the exception of a broken top bar. Added 3 latex coated steel wires about 6 inches from the surface of the soil as a first level climbing supports. Planted 5 小黃瓜, 12 CSE (Cucumber Straight Eight) in the new planter box. Disassemble the steel trellises and supporting wires from the old planter box. Added and mixed one cubic ft of purchased compost to the old planter box soil, rearranged the steel trellises so that they face sideway. Raccoon showed up again, this time it grabbed some cat food from the tray I just placed for Milly and Molly.
6/26/2017: Got up at 7:20. Had Passport photo taken at Costco, had wait 20 minutes afterward. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Transplanted 6 CGS (Cucumber Garden Sweet) and 10 CTG (Cucumber Tasty Garden) seedlings to the old planter box.
6/27/2017: Got up at 7:40. Stopped by Costco and got one bag Asian cashew nut salad, one tub cream cheese, one pack wild Sockeye Salmon, one Kirkland Brie cheese, one container Soy sauce, and one box (a dozen can) Kirkland corn. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Had 40 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Scanned visa photos, signatures as well as passports according to Brazil Consulate requirements (pixel & file size).
6/28/2017: Got up at 7:35. Trimmed off new branches at the base of the Oleanders, cleaned up Oleander flowers and leaves, accidentally cut the electrical wire as it looked similar to the young Oleander branches I just trimmed off, even though I told myself to be careful but still cut right through the wire which generated quite some sparks, fortunately I did not get electrocuted because I was wearing rubber garden gloves from Tip. Transferred all required image files to iMac, ready to be uploaded with Brazil visa application.
Prepared image files:
6/29/2017: Got up at 7:20. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25, the door had already ben opened as there's a summer camp going, plenty of small children running around, making lots of noise. Stopped by CVS and got 6 bottles Barefoot wine: 2 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, one 750ml Moscato, and 3 750ml Riesling. Swing by Marina Grocery, purchased one pack all wheat steamed bun, one bunch bananas, one pack baby bokchoy, one head Taiwan cabbage, one pack small Gai Choy, one bunch green onion, one bag washed sugar, two pack bacon, one pack dried shrimp, one pack beef tendon ball, and one pack 青江菜. Trimmed off portion of Oak tree root to level the boarder brick. Filled out online application for Brazil visa, similar situation as Anita-unable to upload passport image no matter how I tried. Had lots of blood in the toilet, getting serious. Decided to try on the OLD Windows2000 machine, surprisingly it popped up a window for file selection after I picked "passport" as the scanned document, just as I suspected, Apple system (both iMac and MacBook Pro) somehow blocked the pop up window and prevented user to select upload file, will work on Anita's application tomorrow morning.
6/30/2017: Got up at 7:20. Successfully uploaded Anita's passport image from the old Windows2000 PC, removed her entry of University.... from the form, saved the potentially final form. Added Brazil hotel info to my form and saved it as well. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Finalized mine Brazil Visa Application form, printed the receipt. Ready to set up appointment.
7/1/2017: Got up at 6:05. Gave ride for Tip+, got gas for RX300 at $2.399. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, the other Ming, Ching, Steve, Alex, Jerry, Wayne, Jason, and myself. Went to Costco with Anita and got two dozen organic eggs, one dozen bagels, one box Cherry, one case (x12) Chobani yoga, and one box variety breakfast pastries. Stopped by Walmart and got 4 64oz Hazelnut creamer, one bag BBQ chips, and one pack (x3) Browny paper towel, due to self-check out rule, no alcohol beverage can not be sold there, we had to give up one 750ml Riesling and one 8-pack 16oz Michelob Superior light beer. Finished reading Amazon Kindle June book "Soho Dead" (The Soho Series Book 1), will reat a couple of days before starting July book. Moved one of the Tomato plant to the empty space across the walking path from the two planter boxes. Updated Geico auto payment credit card expiration date. Made appointments for Brazil visa application on 7/11 slots 11:20 and 11:40.
7/2/2017: Got up at 8:25. Blood in the stool, not as much as yesterday but still depressing, I'll need to cut off booze completely. Had 10 minutes self-help standing chi. Trimmed off 1/2 of the dead rose heads and branches that are withered, also do not have any new sprouts. Had another 10 minutes self-help standing chi. Spent 30 minutes joining photos from iPhone after I realized they have not been finished yet. Had 20 minutes MB with mini, EJ. Made copies of driver's licenses (including Anita's extension) as a Brazil San Francisco office jurisdiction area proof. Attached photo to visa application receipt, signed the receipt as well. Still missing contact info on the receipt. Modified Anthem payment info-United credit card expiration date updated.
7/3/2017: Got up at 7:30. Had a haircut in the garage after Anita finished hers, it's pretty short, will need to wait a couple of days to see how it looked. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Kung-with encouragement from me when he wanted to quit at minutes 40. Raccoon must have been digging in my planters as most corners of the planters had holes in them, fortunately none of the plants were seriously damaged.
7/4/2017: Got up at 6:55. Headed out to Great Mall Milpitas to watch "Despicable Me 3" at 9:50, the one that starts at 10:10 (regular, not 3D or XT) only has a few seats left which most likely will be at the front 2 rows so we decided not to watch it today, strolled in Great Mall for one hour before stopping at 金龍 for lunch, we each had our usual, #24 for Anita and #4 regular for me, it has been at least a year since the last time we visited this Vietnamese restaurant, still very tasty but the price has gone up-$21 including tip. Got home before 12:00PM.
7/5/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up front yard flower bushes (the ones near the sidewalk), dead/old flower stems plus overgrown roots, also the leaves tucked in the bushes, took nearly one hour. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco to fill prescription for Anita, it was crowded just like weekends likely due to the end of long weekend, the pharmacy department drop-off window was closed from 1:30 to 2:30 (whenever there's only one person on duty), went home instead.
7/6/2017: Got up at 7:05. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25, Susan wasn't there to allow entrance but Sophia came out in time. There was a Karaoke from 10:00 to 3:00. Stopped by Marina Grocery and got one bunch bananas, one head Cauliflower, 4 green Bell Pepper, 6 Romaine Tomatoes, 2 white onions, 2 packs of pin noodle, 2 Korean yellow melon, one bag Perl Barley, and one bag bamboo shoot. Went to USPS with Anita to purchase money and express envelopes, turned out money order can only be purchased with cash or debit card so we purchased the express envelopes and came home to get cash, went back and purchased 2 $160 money orders ($2.40 fee), the same person served us, and fortunately he remember to give us the proper priority express address and tracking papers - when we left with the envelopes he gave us 2 tracking stickers which were totally incorrect for priority mail and will not be useful when we presented them at the consulate.
7/7/2017: Got up at 7:05, cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, the spread was wide and long, took me 30 minutes to complete. Went check with USPS on how to peel and expose the glue from the express mail label, took back home one more envelope and two more labels. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Kung is scheduled to retire on 7/31, he will be going back to Taiwan for 2 weeks and after that volunteer at Dynamicfoundation on Monday and Tuesday.
7/8/2017: Got up at 7:00. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Ming, the other Ming, Alex, Jason, and myself. Dropped my Nexus 5 on the concrete floor near Peet's, cracked top left portion of the display, seemed to be functional, maybe time for a new phone. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
7/9/2017: Got up at 7:20. Transplanted the two Pepper seedlings to the original Pepper plant pot used the two years, hope they grow up just as vibrant. Had lunch at In-N-Out, still delicious and healthy. Stopped by Trader Joes and got 2 Garlic/cheese bread, one bag candied Pecan and one bag Dried Berry Medley.
7/10/2017: Got up at 7:20. Knocked down and cleaned up dead leaves from the fake Cherry tree - lots of them. The vegetable plants (tomatoes, cucumbers, beans) are growing faster the last few days, they are probably used to the new soil and the weather. Anita went to Santanarow for a movie. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. Ordered one Echo Dot on Prime Day price of $34.99 before tax, the best price ever, my previous orders at $39.99 had been the best for a long time, too bad we do not need another Echo because it was at $89.99 Prime Day price.
7/11/2017: Got up at 7:00. Brazil visa application day at Consulate General of Brazil in San Francisco. Had diarrhea symptom at 8:30, most likely due to feeling nervous for the via application trip. Left the house at 8:50, got to Warm Spring Bart station, found daily fee parking spot without problem (but the lot was full when we got back for the car), had to purchase ticket (paid $26.4 for 2 round-trip ticket, the exact amount needed) before going inside and pay for the parking ($3.00) the station, however because the ticket was used (had to be round-trip) to validate the parking spot, $3.00 was deducted from the ticket, meaning I have to add $3.00 before exiting this station when we come back. Got on the Daily City/San Francisco bound Bart right after we got to the platform at 9:33. Arriving Embarcadero station at 10:23. Took about 10 minutes to get to 300 Montgomery, another 3 minutes to get to the floor we wanted (300) - the elevator floor selection was outside the waiting area and there's no control inside the elevators. Showed the lady at the door our appointment printout, got #216 and waited 25 minutes before out turn, the submission was surprisingly smooth and finished within 10 minutes. Boarded the 11:33 Bart bounded for Warm Spring, took 50 minutes to get to another 5 minutes to get back to our car and arriving home at 12:49 - spent exactly 4 hours to complete the task, not too bad! We were told the passports will be mailed back to us after 10 business days, and they will use just one priority mail express envelope, we'll need to find a way to use the other one - either sell it to Elly or use it ourselves some future days.
7/12/2017: Got up at 7:10. Blood in the stool again, I have been too careless in drinking alcohol beverage the last few nights thinking my body is OK-be careful. Transplanted 8 Bean seedlings, 6 close to the new fence where the Passion Fruits were and 2 to the vacant spot in the middle of the rose bushes. Also moved the two grow-up Beans that were in the narrow planter to the same rose bush spot, leave the narrow planter for more Spacemaster cucumbers. Received the Meow Mix cat food from Amazon.
7/13/2017: Got up at 7:08. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25. The Karaoke event continues. There was a volunteer substitute issue, apparently the person in charge (Elaine) arrange ALL substitutes by herself without informing the person second in command (Susan) and the person to substitute did not agree (fully) or consent to the exact dates, the issue obviously existed a long time without any resolution. Stopped by CVS and got 5 bottle 750ml Riesling and one bottle 1.5L Pink Moscato. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one pack fried fish cake, one pack small Gai Choy, one pack Chinese egg plant, one head Napa cabbage, one bunch banana, one bag bamboo shoot, and one bottle sesame oil. Had 20 minutes MB with mini, EJ-not very comfortable. Echo Dot was delivered at 1:06PM.
7/14/2017: Got up at 6:45. Spent 20 minutes cleaning up leftover garden waste in the street. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie (she seemed a bit tired), and 30 minutes with Kung. Updated AT&T autopay credit card expiration date for upcoming payment on the 15th each month. Anita went to DMV to find out what happened to her driver's license renewal, the clerk told her that she needed to bring her legal documents to complete the process, she went back after lunch but was told (after waiting for one and half an hour) she needed to change her name at the Social Security Office.
7/15/2017: Got up at 6:35. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Ming, Alex, Steve, Wayne, Jason, and myself. Wayne had his Lx470 stolen in his neighbor's garage while he was helping install screen for his neighbor, the main problem was he left the key in the car, that's a no no. Transplanted 9 Spacemaster cucumber seedlings, 4 to the narrow planter, 5 to the original planter box under the Cherry tree. Cleaned up Oleander flowers, dumped them in the compost area.
7/16/2017: Got up at 7:20. Pollinated several cucumber flowers, attached a few supporting sticks as well as pull several cucumber plants that were growing too fast and falling on top of other species. Stopped by IKEA to have lunch, chicken tenders with fries and Salmon sandwich. Strolled through IKEA display sections, purchased 2x100 candles for Monica, one pack 6" candles for the deck candle holder, and two magnetic boards. Swing by Nordstrom Rack, I found a pair of sandal size 8 1/2 with a bit crack on one small part of the bottom, should not matter but since there's a long line I decided not to purchased it. Our toaster oven broke down with some spark and smoke while heating up the fried fish Anita got from 99 Ranch Market, ordered Panasonic Flash XPress (best toaster oven by SWEETHOME) from Amazon at $108.89), to be delivered on 7/19.
7/17/2017: Got up at 7:20. Added support to a couple of cucumber vines, pollinated one. No table tennis today as Kung s giving speech, there will be kids performing pus lunch afterward, I just realized I wasn't invited, don't know why. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, EJ-still not very good, just wanted to get it out of my system though.
7/18/2017: Got up at 7:20. Went with Anita to the Social Security Office on Hamilton ave, waited an hour and finished the process changing her legal name to Kwang-Ming Chang in 15 minutes. Received the rubber car edging from Amazon. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung.
7/19/2017: Got up at 7:20. Transplanted one of the bean plant in the rose garden to replace the one that withered near the fence. Applied fertilizer to all vegetable plants. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco, got one tub cream cheese, one case Corona Extra, one bag small tangerine, one pack beef Tri Tip Steak, and 2x4 Danish. Received Brazil visas-exactly 5 days as stated online instead of the 10 days we were told while applying in Consulate General of Brazil in San Francisco.
Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
7/20/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25. Paid back $44 to JP for the dumplings she paid for me. She was hesitant to take the money because the air pump I loaned her was broken where the tube connecting the pump body, this is exactly the same problem I had the last time, she reluctantly accepted the dumpling payment after I convinced her that it could be fixed. Stopped by CVS and got two bottles 750ml Pinot Grigio, one bottle 750ml Moscato, one bottle 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.5L Moscato, and one bottle 1.5L Pink Moscato. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased two white onions, 3 heads Broccoli, 4 bags 210gram spicy peanuts, 3 packs of bean curd, one bag soy bean sprouts, one bunch bananas, one bag small taro roots, and one string garlic. Fixed the air pump in 10 minutes, the rubber tube used to feed air was not a good choice as it breaks easily from repeated maneuver while pumping air into the tires, sent photos and video to JP to show fix. Paid Anthem $69.99 online.
7/21/2017: Got up at 7:10. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, the collection truck did a lousy job, it picked up leftover piles from different households and spread them all over thestreet, granted the larger part was picked up and holl away but the leftover of which covered the whole end of our court, luckily our Korean neighbor came back while I was working on our side of the leftover, he quickly started the clean up which I also joined after I finished mine, also cleaned up ones in the middle of the street but not over the center line. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung.
7/22/2017: Got up at 6:52. Hiking day, my turn to drive, there were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Steve, Alex, James, Ming, Jason, and myself. Left right after the hike, dropped off Jason at his car and joined Tip for some maintenance work, watering pipe had some leakage which can only be fixed by replacing the hose, wil do it next time, reconfigured Alexa Wi-Fi access to the new AT&T router, reset both D-Link IP cameras but only 942L was able to find the new Wi-Fi router, 932L simply couldn't no matter how many times I tried, will examine it later, perhaps it's broken. Finished the above in about one hour.
7/23/2017: Got up at 8:10. Moved two of the three Tomato plants to center of the rose garden - right next to the 3 remaining Bean plants, this should give them more sun exposure and grow faster. Visited Costco with Anita at 2:10, the parking lot still had a few spots when we got there, got one pack sweet corn, one box unsalted mixed nuts, one case Peet's K-cup, 2 dozen organic eggs, one pack Romaine lettuce, one pack Mediterranean crunch chopped salad, and one box Chobani yogurt.
7/24/2017: Got up at 7:28. No table tennis since they are having a meeting with the boss. Had 20 minutes MB with minis, EJ.
7/25/2017: Got up at 7:20. Anita went to DMV to have her driver's license renewed, hopefully the last trip for this renewal process. Made another batch of nut mix with 2 bags of 黃飛紅, half a can of Kirkland Macadamia nuts, half a can of Kirkland Honey Roasted mixed nuts, and one full can od Kirkland Unsalted Mixed nuts. Prepared one bag for Tip. Anita called saying she's stll waiting at DMV, no idea when would be her turn, she's turning off the phone as the charger did not work-need to investigate after she comes home. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung.
7/26/2017: Got up at 7:20. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung. GNTT. Got some soapy water into my sinus, sufferred cold like symptoms the rest of the day.
7/27/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. There are people who simply do not have nice heart, treating volunteers like we should do things for them. Stopped by Marina Grocery and purchased two fried chicken legs and 2 spring rolls ($3.88 less $2 coupon), also purchased one bottle rice wine, one can pork sung, 4 small bags preserved vegetable (榨菜) for $1, one head Taiwan cabbage, one pound pork sparerib, one bag green bean, 4 pack beef , one bag Cantonese duck lever sausage, one pound ground pork, and one pack bean curd. Had MB with legs, EJ. Called mom from 7:00 to 7:29.
7/28/2017: Got up at 7:25. Played one hour table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung, it's Kung's last day with Dynamicfoundation as an employee.
7/29/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, went to Tips. Fixed 942L recording problem, still could not make 932L to work, Mi box not connecting to Wi-Fi router either.
7/30/2017: Got up at 7:05. Watched "Dunkirk" in GreatMall at 9:30, a nicely made war documentary, more on the humanity than the war - mole, sea, and air. Side note: the theatre we were in had been remodeled, the chairs are all new and can be adjusted for foot rest-just like a home recliner, and the adjustment is power assisted. Stopped by Costco, had sausage and pizza lunch, purchased one case Dos XX, one pack organic chicken drums, one dozen bagel, and one bag pine nuts.
7/31/2017: Got up at 7:40. Played 20 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, she's very busy with caregiving as well usual tasks. Had 30 minutes MB with RM, EJ-uncomfortable. Rushed and finished Amazon Prime July book "Mrs. Saint and the Defectives: A Novel", in time to real in August book:-)
8/1/2017: Got up at 7:00. Labeling day, got there at 9:05. Started preparing packaging bags for USPS, loaded several batches before sitting down to do one batch, finished packing all batches at 11:00. Came home for lunch before going there again, played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie.
8/2/2017: Got up at 7:25. Reset and reconfigured Roku 3, see if this makes any difference-not freezing at the end of every program. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie.
8/3/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. Susan was at the counter already with front door unlocked. Stopped by CVS, got 4 bottles 750ml Riesling, one bottle 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.5L Merlot, and one bottle 1.5L Moscato. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one bottle rice wine, one bottle Er Guo Tou, one head Cauliflower, two bags of pin noodle, one pack rice wrapper, one sponge tofu, one fried fish cake, and one pack Fu Chou fish ball. Had 20 minutes MB with mini and legs, EJ, still not good. Lay down 5 bricks on the south side of the center walkway after trimming off excess concrete.
8/4/2017: Got up at 7:10. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, there was just a small pile left on my corner, our Korean neighbor must have swept up ahead of me. It rained before I started the task-unexpected although not heavy. Swept the dust off all floors and steamed them all, sweated a lot. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie.
8/5/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Steve, Ching, Wayne, Jerry, the other Ming, Alex, Jason, and myself. Discovered that in the process of reducing iPad local storage, I inadvertently removed the same/linked (?) photos in Google Photo albums, I didn't know how exactly this happened though. Since this process could not be undone, so I went back to my backup storage in the 1.5T Seagate drive, and uploaded the missing photos (in a few cases the whole albums were gone) back, upload speed had been slow and I wasn't sure from time to time if the switch was having problem, replace the switch but did not see much difference, also I had many accidentally inserted video in the upload process which effectively halt the upload process, I had to cancel the upload, remove the video file from the upload list-this happened at least half a dozen times.
8/6/2017: Got up at 8:05. Fixed the scale, could be bad battery contact. Visited ValleyFair for Nordstrom's annual sale, figured since it's the last day of the event, we could not possibly find anything but luckily Anita found two throw pillows and one casual long-sleeved shirt, had lunch at the "Dinning Terrace". Finished the upload process around 2:30, albums that either refilled with missing photos or recreated completely anew including 2013-1112 Mediterranean Cruise, 2013-1221 喜悦7日神秘高原沙城遊, and 2015 Chicago Trip.
8/7/2017: Got up at 7:25. Picked up 2 Areds2 (now 210 count vs 180 count), 2 Move-Free, one bunch organic bananas, one can Unsalted mixed nuts, one box organic raisin, one (4x2) Danish pastry, one bag Asian Cashew nut salad, and one bag frozen shrimp from Costco. Biked to Dynamicfoundation and played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie.
8/8/2017: Got up at 7:30. Anita went watching "The Big Sick" at Santanarow. Biked to Dynamicfoundation and played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Discovered Google Pixel XL is on sale with $200 off plus Day Dream View VR gear worth $79 free of charge, ordered one Very Silver with 128G from Google store, to be delivered between 8/14-8/16. Picked a bunch of peaches from our front yard-the one that was supposed to be flower only, instead it had been growing tons of inedible peaches the last 20 years, Jason took some home past Saturday to try to make something out of it, thought I do something about it also since there are still a lot of them. The first batch wasn't very nice as I added too much vinegar (probably should not add any at all), I have been trying to salvage it by adding sugar, it had some improvement but still not perfect.
8/9/2017: Got up at 7:30. Applied fertilizer to all vegetables-cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Picked another batch of peaches, no vinegar this time, see how it turns out.
8/10/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. There are more politics in the environment which could go over my threshold, it'll be the time I move on. Stopped by Marina Grocery, purchased one fried fish cake, one bag small Gai Choy, one string garlic, 3 packs of bean curd, one pack bacon, 3 red carrots, one tube wasabi, one bottle rice wine, and one pack all wheat bun, went to their ready food section and ordered half roasted duck, as I was going to pay $10.34 for the duck, a young lady approached and offered 3 $2 coupons for my purchase saying she didn't like anything in this section and insisted that I use them for my purchase, thanked her and took the offer. Received Pixel XL from Google, I wasn't expecting it at all since it was supposed to be delivered next week (8/13-8/16), had I not gone out from the front door to relocate the recycle bin for later placement, the phone could be gone by the time I found out it had been delivered. Need to convert the micro sim card to nano size to fit Pixel XL, will use Anita's iPhone sim card as template tonight. Trying to look for template for micro sim to nano sim conversion but wasn't able to print one with correct dimension, turned to look for something I did the last time for Anita's iPhone6 plus and discovered that I kept a couple of templates just for this occasion, used one of them and cut off the excess, tried it on Pixel XL, voila! it works. Complete the phone to phone transfer procedure with OTG and USB-c cable but the process won't be completed for several hours. Setup completed at 9:10, reinitiate Line on Pixel XL was a bit scary at first as there was some alert and confusion but was later cleared although all old messages on Nexus 5 are now gone. When logging onto Line on both iPad and MacBook Pro, security codes were required on the Pixel XL to verify authenticity, a bit annoying but should be secure.
8/11/2017: Got up at 7:30. Spent 10 minutes cleaning up leftover garden waste in the street-Francisco won't be back until the final week of the month as he's visiting his hometown in Mexico the first time in 20 years. Played nearly 50 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, almost a record. Received screen protector as well as clear case for Pixel XL from Amazon. Applied screen protector (this one is really thick and strong) to the Pixel XL, more gadgets were included in the kit which helped ease the process.
8/12/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. Gave Jason 3 cucumbers and one bag preserved peaches (the one made with lots of sugar). There were 11 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Ching, Alex, the other Ming, Ming, James, Wayne, Jason, and myself. Stopped by Marukai and got one box Rainbow Poki Bowl, one box Tuna Roll, and one box Tonkatsu and Chicken Karaage. Jason picked the last of usable peaches.
8/13/2017: Got up at 7:30. Did not leave the house until after dinner when Anita and I visited CVS on Berryessa to look for Barefoot wine as we are running short, we were lucky to find and purchased 5 bottles of 750ml Riesling and one bottle 1.5L Moscato.
8/14/2017: Got up at 7:30. Played 50 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Gave Tip a small box of pickled cucumber. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Tip had problem with garage door, after one hour research and diagnosis, the conclusion was broken spring.
8/15/2017: Got up at 7:31. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Stoped by Costco, purchased one can Honey Roasted mixed buts, one tub cream cheese, one dozen bagels, one pack (4x2) Danish pastry, one can Kirkland Macadamia nuts, one pack cooked small shrimp, and one case Asahi beer.
8/16/2017: Got up at 7:35. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Cleaned up backyard Oleander leaves and flowers, trimmed off excess J plant branches - the ones that are too tall and/or too long.
8/17/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. Gave Susan a couple of pine apple cake. Got 3 bags of rice and 6 potatoes from her (food bank). Stopped by CVS and got one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Merlot, one bottle Barefoot 1.5L Moscato, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Pink Moscato, one bottle 750ml Beringer Zinfandel Moscato, and one bottle 750ml Beringer Pink Moscato-no Barefoot Riesling found. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one pack JFC Tomosh Somen, one pack (x4) Spicy fast noodle, one bottle 750ml rice wine, one head Napa cabbage, o4 green bell pepper, one pack vermicelli, and one pack spare ribs.
8/18/2017: Got up at 7:25. Our Korean neighbor did all the sweeping of leftover garden waste in the street, thank you. Harvested 5 cucumbers of 3 different species, also harvested about a dozen beans, one more picking and we can have a small dish from them. Made chicken soup for Anita, she seemed to need it. Steamed the potatoes from Susan, hope it turns out OK. Played 45 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. A guesstimate of cucumber harvest as of now should near 35 although I did not count them or wrote them down like I did last year.
8/19/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. Gave Jason 4 cucumbers, got several pears from him (he got them Friday from a library volunteer) There were 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Ching, Steve, Alex, Ming, the other Ming, Jason, and myself.
8/20/2017: Got up at 7:40. Harvested 6 cucumbers of 4 different varieties. Went with Anita to Harbor Freight Tools and got 2 60 LED solar light, one for Tip and one for myself. Stopped by Marukai and got one box Sushi, one box Rainbow Poki Bowl, and one pack (x2) Mackerel (Saba), swing by Daiso, purchased two square silicone pot pad (one for Yunho, one for Neihu), one can nail polish, and one bucket (for the 1/2 bath downstairs). Paid Anthem $69.99 for September.
8/21/2017: Got up at 7:25. Solar eclipse day, could not watch with naked eyes, no gear to watch with had to online, most NASA sites were not accessible, was able to watch a little from "Exploratorium Telescope Sonification Casper, WY" and took several screen shots. Harvested 9 (plus one deformed) cucumbers. Brought over 8 cucumbers for my apprentices. Played 40 minutes table tennis, 15 minutes with Kung, 25 minutes with Stephanie. Anita canceled Mercury News print edition-their customer service was terrible to say the lest and it had been going downward, we still need to find out if the cancellation has actually taken effect tomorrow. Tried but failed to subscribe e-edition Mercury News, claiming a subscription at the same address is in effect, will try tomorrow to see if thing changes. Placed senior lifetime park pass online, not sure why it did not work yesterday, but I did it from MacBook Pro this time as opposed to iPad yesterday.
8/22/2017: Got up at 7:25. Mercury News has stopped delivering, but we are still able to access its e-edition from our iPads, at least for now. Tried but still failed to subscribe e-edition, same reason-"this address already has a subscription", not sure how to continue yet. Harvested 3 cucumbers-one of them was supposed to be 小黃瓜 but grew into the form of the other species possibly due to cross pollination. Played 60 minutes table table tennis, 35 minutes with Stephanie (12:25-1:00), and 30 minutes with Kung (1:30-2:00), almost had a car accident on my way home when I was crossing McKay on Lundy with green light when one white sedan ran through McKay from left to left, I stepped on the brake just in time to avoid collision with probably just a couple of inches from hitting it, thank God. Tried Echo Drop-In between Patrick's Echo and Anita's Echo Dot in YungHo, seemed to work OK. Ordered 3 pack 黃道益活絡油 from Amazon at $30.50, amazingly they even carry this. Finished reading Kindle book "When They Come for You" by Harper McDaniel, this is the 15th book I read since joining Amazon Prime.
8/23/2017: Got up at 7:25. Lost all access to Mercury News online and I still could not subscribe to e-edition, same claim:"There is already a subscription to the this address". Harvested 4 cucumbers. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 45 minutes with Kung (12:00-12:45), 25 minutes with Stephanie (12:45-1:10). Got gas for RX300 at Costco-$2.599. Subscribed San Francisco Chronicle e-edition for 99 ¢ the first month and renew at $9.99 per month.
8/24/2017: Got up at 7:00. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. Waited and called Susan a couple of times without luck, had to wait until Sophia came to work and allowed my entrance. Stopped by CVS and got 5 bottles 750ml Riesling and one bottle 1.5L Merlot. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one head Celery, one pack lotus roots, 4 julienne and pickled turnip, one bottle rice wine, one bottle Laojiao Erguotoa, one can pork sung, 2 bags of pin noddle, one pack fried fish cake, one pack Taiwan sausages, and 3 pack jumbo tofu. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, EJ.
8/25/2017: Got up at 7:40. Harvested 5 cucumbers-getting harder to handle so many cucumbers at the same time, a shorter season than the last actually produced a lot more per day. Purchased two dozen organic egg, one case DosXX beer, one box (x120) Kirkland K-cup, one bag sweet Kale salad, one pack organic chicken thigh, and one jar Kirkland cooking oil. Played 30 minutes table tennis with Stephanie (12:30-1:00).
8/26/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 10 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Wayne, Jerry, Ming, the other Ming, Alex, Jason, and myself. Harvested 8+ 1/2 cucumbers.
8/27/2017: Got up at 7:20. Harvested 10 cucumbers plus 3 small ones (they had changed much for a few days), the season is about to end shortly. Had lunch at In-N-Out, same old but still tasty, experiencing stomach discomfort afterward, not sure why. Stopped by Trader Joes and purchased 2 Garlic/Cheese bread, 3 bananas, and one bag sunflower seeds. Swing by Target and got one pack cotton pad for Anita, strolled in Marshall a while, I got a 6x glass tumbler, Anita got some of her stuff before coming home. Recorded 98.6°F in the backyard.
Visited Walmart Milpitas store (this one stays open 24 hours) with Anita, purchased one pack 8 count 16oz Michelob Ultra, one 32oz Hazelnut creamer, one pack (x4) Yoplait Oui Yogurt (an inspiration from TV commercial we just saw 30 minutes before), and 2 bags chips, arriving home at 9:20, spent only 50 minutes.
8/28/2017: Got up at 7:40. Harvested 2 cucumbers and 20 or so beans. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 20 minutes with Kung. Stopped by Costco and got a 60 counts string cheese for $9.99. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
8/29/2017: Got up at 7:35. Harvested 3 cucumbers. Played 70 minutes table tennis, 40 minutes with Stephanie, 30 minutes with Kung.
8/30/2017: Got up at 7:25. Applied fertilizer to rose as well as bean plants, cucumber plants probably could not absorb any more with the exception of the 3 Suyo Long Organic ones under the fake Cherry tree. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes (1:10-1:30) with Stephanie, 30 minutes (1:30-2:00) with Kung. Gassed up LS400 ($30 at $2.999/gl) at Costco.
8/31/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20, JP had the day off to help her daughter move to a new dorm. Jenny is the person substituted for JP, she's Friday afternoon regular but also substitute frequently as she's schoolmate to Elaine. Stopped by CVS but did not buy anything since they do not have any Riesling, swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one bottle rice wine, one string garlic, 3 bananas, 2 packs pin noddle, one pack pork spare ribs, and 2 spicy peanuts. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
9/1/2017: Got up at 7:20. Forecast for today is 109°F, will be record breaking for the area. Harvested 4 cucumbers. Sent Anita to Mayflower Seafood in Milpitas Square for Shoot class luncheon as parking was difficult to come by plus the high heat of the day. I went straight to Dynamicfoundation, got there at 12:00, Stephanie happened to be there so we played 40 minutes table tennis. Picked up Anita at 2:35, she got half a roasted duck from Mayflower for $15 ($10.34 at Marina Grocery), hope it tastes good. The duck from Mayflower IS more tender and tastier than the one from Marina Grocery. The temperature reached 109°F by the time we got home, shown on RX300 console.
9/2/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. Since the forecast high will be 109°F today and will be around 85°F while we hike, not sure if I could endure the heat. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Alex, Steve, Ming, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. A new record high temperature recorded in our backyard reached 118.4°F at 1:59PM.
9/3/2017: Got up at 8:00, room temperature is already above 80°F. Harvested 6 cucumbers.
Changed router firewall setting by adding a new DCS-932LB-sl profile to allow the 932L from Tip can be accessed from anywhere, tested on my iPad Air and Pixel XL. Tip shared Glass Beach photos.
9/4/2017: Got up at 7:00, bedroom temperature stayed at 82°F all night, I had to turn on the fan again around 4:00 to be able to sleep. Harvested 6 small cucumbers, they most likely won't grow any bigger before getting old, also harvested 21 beans. Visited ValleyFair at 10:35, Anita wanted to get some lollipops for 堪慶 from See's Candies, had lunch from the same Thai food store in Food Terrace.
9/5/2017: Got up at 6:40. Sent Anita to San Jose airport for her trip to Taipei, since the security check line was long and the process was slow, it will be another 30 minutes before Anita can go through so I left early, got home at 11:53. Feeling a little bit down because of the empty house. Anita called at 11:55, she just had one slice of pizza to fill in before the first meal onboard. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 45 minutes with Kung, and 20 minutes with Stephanie. Had 15 minutes MB with RM, no EJ.
9/6/2017: Got up at 7:10. Anita called at 7:44, she got home around 10:00 Taipei time, considered smooth. Harvested 10 small cucumbers-the season finale, a tally of 105. Visited Costco and purchased one bottle 1.5L Red Johnnie Walker, one box Biscotti, one box Jimmy Dean Croissant breakfast sandwich, one bag crispy chicken strips, and one box K-cup (this one is not on sale-60 count as opposed to the advertised one of 100 count). No table tennis today, Kung went home for roof repair and Stephanie had to go to Teresa's house for lunch and meeting. Had a haircut in the bathroom using an D-Link 932LB as image helper, not as good as expected but was definitely helpful in creating a slightly better cut. Removed exterior pains from one of the Michelob Ultra Aluminum bottle, polished it to make a nice looking drinking bottle.
9/7/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. Had to wait until 9:25 to get in. Stopped CVS and got 4 bottle 750ml Barefoot Riesling, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Merlot, and one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Moscato. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one bag raw sugar, one bottle one gallon vinegar, one pack pork spareribs, two red onions, and 3 carrots. Went to Walmart afterward and got 4 bottle 32oz Hazelnut creamer, one 8-pack 16oz Michelob Ultra beer, one bag Lays BBQ chips, one bunch bananas, one bottle dishwashing liquid, one box Ziploc quart-size freezer bags, and one box Ziploc gallon-size storage bags.
9/8/2017: Got up at 7:10. Had 10 minutes MB with RM, no EJ. Picked up one bag string cheese, one 28oz seaweed salad, one Naturemade B-complex, and one can unsalted mixed nuts from Costco. No table tennis today as Tip's busy. Had 35 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Made another RM from the black mat, had 15 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Called Anita at 6:05 for 10 minutes.
9/9/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Wayne, Ching, Ming, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Went to Stevenscreek Lexus service center to replace Tip's RX330 key casing, $80. Had late lunch at Koja Kitchen. Had 40 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Filled up RX300 for tomorrow, it is now $2.799 for Octane 87.
9/10/2017: Got up at 6:50. Changing schedule to noon for Tip. Arriving Tip's at 12:35. Collected information on what and how to do the job and left at 3:30. The three vegetable dishes I made from the refrigerator really did not taste too well, I'll treat them as weight watchers.
9/11/2017: Got up at 7:30. There was a sudden gusty wind during the night and I had to close the windows to avoid things blown away, that's how gusty it was. Stopped by Costco to buy breakfast but there was no cheese flavor ones so I got one box (x3) butter pound cake, also purchased one tub cream cheese, one auto open/close umbrella, one set led candle lights, finally got one Dyson V7 vacuum for Tip, this should help achieving the Explorer card $25,000 goal to get 10,000 miles. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 40 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Had 10 minutes with RM, no EJ. Gave Kung a ride to Stevenscreek Lexus service center on Martin, his car is not ready for pickup yet so he was given a loaner. Ants attacking the auto feeder sitting in the family room, struggled 20 minutes to clean them up and applied some mothball oil to their entry points. Finally caught the last of the 4 budding Epiphyllum at 11:15PM, the first three all slipped through late nights before.
9/12/2017: Got up at 6:50. Had 10 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Ant invasion continues, they took a different route though the heater vent behind the long sofa, struggled to path up the cracks around the vent where they came through. Watched Apple product release event cast, new iWatch, Apple TV, iPhone 8/plus and iPhone X (10) - $699, $799, and $999 for the three iPhones. Played 65 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Stephanie, and 30 minutes with Kung. Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ.
9/13/2017: Got up at 7:00. Very cloudy and temperature loomed around 68°F in the morning. Swept Oleander flowers and leaves next the fence to the center of the brick flat for Francisco tomorrow. Two of the three Amazon orders (CR1616 batteries and Pixel XL holster) arrived at 11:19 while I was in the backyard, expecting the door way chin up bar to come in a little later. Played 55 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung. Chip up bar was delivered at 12:32, retrieved it from the front porch after getting back.
9/14/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. There were a lot of incoming calls enquiring passport and certification issues. 雅姿 and husband brought us one bag 芭樂 each. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased 2 bags 210g spicy peanuts, one pack beef flat, and one piece fried fish cake. Had 40 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.
9/15/2017: Got up at 7:10. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, the spread was wide and took me 20 minutes. Set up the portable table saw in the backyard, measured and cut scrap boards to make auto feeder protector frame, all except the mounting pieces (to attach securely to the bench) were done, also plan to create front swing doors for easy food level check and refill. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Cancelled hiking due to Tip issue.
9/16/2017: Got up at 7:30. Arriving at work site at 9:25, left around 3:00. Installed new Dyson, took more time than I anticipated. Cut old garage door opener steel bar, the saw blade was done afterward. Fixed the borken seat cover for both chairs, one by switching and one by covering it up with ground cover sheet, seemed to work but may not to Tip's satisfaction. May want to use a
9/17/2017: Got up at 7:20. Arriving Tip's at 9:25. Left at 3:40, finished security camera/system installation, also completed chair hanger. Problem sharing camera-pending investigation. Brought back some material to produce make-shift water retainers. Note: Arlo security system installed today with battery level at %99 to begin with, should check battery status every month.
9/18/2017: Got up at 7:30. Still not receiving Arlo sharing invitation. Had 25 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie (she had to stop a couple times for nearly 10 minutes to answer Teresa's text messages), 25 minutes with Kung. Ordered "Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods: The Temple of the Watchers and the Discovery of Eden" from Amazon - $16.61+$1.54 tax = $18.15.
9/19/2017: Got up at 7:05. Went to Harbor Freight Tools but could not find the magnetic hooks I got from there a while back, instead got one duct tape, one tire repair kit, and one reciprocating saw blades. Stopped by Costco but could not find weight scale for Tip, but discovered the cool gel seat cushion I wasn't able to find on several previous visits, also purchased one dozen cheese bagels. Swing by Fry's Electronics and purchased 2 rolls of Flex Seal (black and white each) and one pack CR2016 battery (x2). Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with kung.
9/20/2017: Got up at 7:25. Applied more Flex Seal tape as well as spray plus duct tapes to the large container, hope it works this time, patching up does not work majority of the time. Waiting for Amazon delivery of the "Gobekli Tepe" book. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Softcover "Gobekli Tepe: Genesis of the Gods: The Temple of the Watchers and the Discovery of Eden" was delivered by Amazon at 12:29PM, it was slipped through the mail box just like other postal mails. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, almost but no EJ. Sawed off the top part of the auto feeder protector to make it removable, one of the side also came off-I forgot to use screws to strengthen it, oh well, have to wait until the tools are available again.
9/21/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25. There were many visitors enquiring certification issues. Stopped by Dynamicfoundation and got the key, swing by Costco and purchased 2 shower heads. It was challenging to open the key enclosure even though the text on the face of the housing says "use coin to open" but it appeared difficult to open without a mini slot head screwdriver to pry open it, replaced the battery and reattached everything, the led light now lit after pressing any button.
Screwdriver types:
Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Discovered the vine growing with one of the heirloom tomato is producing winter melon mutation called 毛瓜, not sure how big they are going to be.
9/22/2017: Got up at 7:10. Got to Tip's at 9:03, had plant water retainers, loose fence panels, Rosemary trimming for additional planting space, and fence gate thinning done by 10:45, quite efficient:-) Played 65 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Had 20 minutes MB with rerolled RMs, no EJ.
9/23/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 8 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Ching, Alex, Wayne, Jason, and myself. Left Peet's t 10:25. Arriving Tip's at 11:50. Solar light installation was, as always, a bit challenging due to location of the light as well as the angle of sun light for the solar panel, took nearly one hour and 15 minutes. Went with Tip to OSH and purchased a couple of rollers for moving plant containers. Got home at 5:40.
9/24/2017: Got up at 7:30. Visited Harbor Freight Tools on Stevenscreek Blvd, got 3 pack (4 each) magnetic hooks, one pack low quality drills, one straight peg hook, swing by Marukai and got one Salmon Shioyaki bento, one Bara Chirashi Sushi, and one Shrimp roll., stopped by Daiso but could not find any silicon heat pad, instead bought 2 pack (3 each) light duty magnetic hooks. Tried but did not reach Yolly as she's running errands with her friend. Got lost on Kiely/Stevenscreek/Saratoga trying to get on 280 south. Repositioned auto feeder protection frame hatch screw locations to provide a more secure closure, need to patch up extra holes from hardware installation.
9/25/2017: Got up at 7:10. Used my portable table saw to prepare wood panels for Tip's planter box, since I did not have enough leftover fence panels, I decided to make two 3 footers only instead of two additional but smaller 2.5 footers. Washed the prepared wood pieces with soapy waters, see if they will look better after sun dry. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes wth Stephanie 35 minutes with Kung. Live casted season 14 finale of "So You Think You Can Dance" for Anita to watch in Taipei - 8:00PM to 10:00PM.
9/26/2017: Got up at 7:15. Visited Lowes, it took me 20 minutes to get there which more than double the usual time as commuters were still jamming the roads, got 4 6' fence panels, one 8 oz wood glue, one box (100 counts) #6 1" wood screws, one box (100 counts) #8 1 1/4" wood screws, and one 128 oz general purpose cleaner. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung did not come back from his dentist appointment until 1:50 and we cancelled the game for the day. Made 8 panels of 3' by 6", also made 8 7" by 6" side panels from old fence boards, they do not look too nice though, probably should have gotten another 6' board to make them.
9/27/2017: Got up at 7:05. Had 10 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Visited Costco, got one bag organic pine nuts, one case Corona Extra, one case Modelo, and 2 dozen organic eggs, also filled up gas for RX300. Stopped by 99 Ranch Market, got one string garlic, 3 bananas, and two packs bean curd, could not find the spicy peanuts. Swing by Lowes, got 2 more 6' fence panels - finished all this from 9:46 to 10:54 based on Arlo recordings. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 20 minutes with Stephanie, 25 minutes with Kung, and 0 minutes with Tip. Prepared 4 6" by 6" boards to be used as Tip's planter box spacer, this will look much nicer than the old ones. Had 20 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ, a bit tired after running errands, table tennis, preparing planter box boards, clean up and especially MB:-( Checked bills (PG&E, my CapitalOne, my Chase Explorer, and Anita's Chase Explorer)) online and submitted to Fidelity for payment on 10/3/2017 even though a couple of them (CapitalOne, Anita's explorer) have due days 4 weeks away.
9/28/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. No CCC employee were present, Susan and I had to wait until deputy showed up at 9:25 to get in. Purchased 5 bottle Barefoot 750ml Riesling and one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon from CVS. Swing by Marina Grocery and got one pack small Gai Choy, one pack Ganlan, and 4 bag spicy peanuts. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ.
9/29/2017: Got up at 7:20. Sanded the planter box panels to make the appearance nicer, also make a few more panels from the boards I purchased the day before as a couple of the ready ones do not look good-one have too many warts, one was not processed by the manufacturer which had uneven thickness at different part of the board and it's an eyesore), all this took about one and a half hour. Played 60 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, 35 minutes with Kung. Added side trimmings to the planter box panels as well as spacers to make them more attractive., the whole process of Tip's planter box construction was more complicated than I expected after I decided to make them more appealing. Had 30 minutes MB with Rms, EJ. Ishin called at 9:10, right while I was doing Shan-gon.
9/30/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 7 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Ching, Ming, Alex, Jason, and myself. Left Peet's around 10:05 and got one Sashimi Moriawase, one Shrimp Roll, and one Barachirashi from Marukai. Arriving Tip's at 11:00, had to wait until 11:50 because of Tip's surprise request from Teresa. The Arlo front camera could not be adjusted to sense motion well, in fact it was very lousy in that no walking approach or departure could be reliably detected at all. The whole 2 hours was totally nonproductive. Received National Park Senior Pass- 2 months after application.
10/1/2017: Got up at 7:10. Routed all remaining planter box boards, ready for sanding. Arriving Tip's at 12:05. Relocated camera to where the solar light is and made adjustments, it was the optimum location to detect visitors to the front door. Cleaned Lexus RX with water only. Double checked payments to go out from Fidelity.
10/2/2017: Got up at 7:15. Sanded down the boards for the 4 planter boxes, a few had chis at the trimmings, no way to fix them except making new ones, but I decided against purchasing any more new boards for this purpose. Fixed some of the chips and cracks in the boards with wood filler as well as wax blend stick.
10/3/2017: Got up at 7:30. Sanded the two glued-made planter boxes, glued another planter box, using more wood glue to fill the cracks and uneven surfaces, should be better than wood paste I used on the previous two......added more glue to them to see if getting a better result. Had 30 minutes MB, no EJ. Glued the 4th planter box, experience does count, getting better results. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, no EJ. Bolted the already glued planter box with screws (8 per box) to make them stronger.
10/4/2017: Got up at 7:10. Power sanded, in detail, the four planter boxes, get them ready for water seal process this afternoon. No table tennis today, they are busy preparing for Teresa's class reunion, I actually went to Dynamicfoundation and called Kung, he said it's too rush so I had to come home empty handed. Applied water seal to the planter boxes, this somehow magnified the cracks and holes which I covered up with wood paste and/or wood glue, now a couple of them really looked ugly:-( Received chip-up exercise bar from Amazon, since I had totally forgot about it so had it not triggered Arlo recording I would not remember to check the delivery.
10/5/2017: Got up at 7:36. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Had a cold during the night even though I added a warmer blanket afterward, sneezing like hell with running nose after getting up, was OK arriving CCC but got worse around 10:00, possibly caused by dust carried over by other volunteers. Stopped by CVS and got 2 bottle 1.5L Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Pink Moscato, one bottle 750ml Barefoot Pinot Grigio, and 2 bottle 750ml Barefoot Red Moscato. Swing by Marina Grocery, purchased half roast duck, one bottle 750ml rice wine, three bananas, and 2 bag 210g spicy peanuts. Checked at OSH but did not find/buy matching RX flash guard screws, but purchased a box of washer (but found out later that they have small hole than the screws I want to use with), and 2 box (x3) small hooks for Tip. The delivery of Style Edit I ordered from Amazon was delayed to Monday instead of today. Picked up a bag of yellow onions and one pack hand towels for Tip. Successfully ordered Mercury News e-edition.
10/6/2017: Got up at 7:10. Went to Dynamicfoundation on Tip's request to help clean up the chairs. Played 30 minutes table tennis with Kung and his friend. Had 40 minutes MB with RMs, EJ. Applied more rubber spray and rubber patches to the make shift water bucket and filled it with water. It still leaked after a few hours, damn!
10/7/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 6 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Shingkuo (he met us at the summit), Ming (he met us at mid descending point), Jason, and myself. Finished projects at Tips: planter boxes, Arlo camera weather shields, vehicle splash guard screws, closet hooks, and test run of Shark Steam mop.
10/8/2017: Got up at 7:30. Checked the batteries in the front yard Arlo camera, all around 2.8/2.9 range, put it back and the reading on the app showed 63% instead of 4% just before I took them out, not sure if this is an app bug or a temporary battery issue, will see. Visited Lowes and got 4 5' eared fence wood-my original choice of 6' regular simply ran out of any decent one, I'll have to trim off the 1" ears to make planter boxes. Stopped by HomeGoods but did not see any exercise mat, left there empty handed. Trimmed off the ears from the 4 fence boards, cut the remaining boards into 8 29 1/4" (a couple of them were a bit short due to cutting errors), it's getting clear that I needed a Miter saw for cross cutting long board/panels.
10/9/2017: Got up at 7:30. Received Style Edit from Amazon at 11:21. Used hand power saw to trim off uneven ends of the new planter box boards, several boards were damaged when I used router to make decoration edges, come to think of it, I probably should not have used router to run on this kind of boards since they were fence panels which should be used as is and not to be processed any further as their quality simply could not sustain. Should have looked for better wood.
10/10/2017: Got up at 7:15. Sanded the auto feeder shield, down to its bare wood, had to change sand paper half way through, also removed the screws before sanding. Applied water seal to the bare auto feeder shield, applied the same seal to the old patio table and benches. Called Anita at 6:01, she's ready to come home, she will call me instead from Taoyuan airport tomorrow around 3:30pm our time. Had 30 minutes MB with RMs, EJ, washed the RMs with hot water.
10/11/2017: Woke up at 5:30, had one can beer......got up at 7:45. Put away most tools in the backyard. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 30 minutes with Stephanie, 20 minutes with Kung. Purchased one pack croissant, one bag Asian Cashew nuts salad, and one pack (x2) mashed potato at Costco, swing by 99 Ranch Market and got 2 red onions, one pack pork ribs, and one pack beef flat skirt. Applied water seal to the auto feeder support base, while at it I did the same to the bench. Anita called from Taoyuan airport at 3:50pm.
10/12/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Left CCC to pick up Anita at 11:00, cell phone waiting area on both sides of airport parkway were all occupied, I had to duck in one of the company close by but signs there warned airport waiting is not permitted so I went to the back of the lot and found ones without such signs and waited, Anita called at 11:23, she's still waiting at Custom and Boarder Protection, called again at 11:42 after picking up her luggage. Picked her up at 11:47, got home at 12:03. Visited Costco with Anita, bought 3 pack (72 count each) Keurig variety K-cup, all done within 20 minutes. Discovered that we already have one pack of the same-purchased, without discount, before Anita went back to Taipei.
10/13/2017: Got up at 7:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took 15 minutes, not too bad. List og action items to be completed before taking ABC trip:
- ANA ticket for Pei-Chen
- RX300 smog test
- Medicare application for Pei-Chen
- CoveredCA issues/questions/renewal
- Fence base cover plates
- Planter boxes
- Water bucket leakage repair
- Front yard bush/plant trimming
- LED solar light installation
- Sewer line insurance (before 10/31/2017) (www.homeserve50Off.com with Ref #7HLL-
NB28)
Modified SS account password to xxxxPl!yyyy as password expires after 6 months. Enter UN/PW and a security code is sent to your e-mail address, enter the code to move to password modification stage. Harvested the sole 毛瓜 with Anita, weighing about 5 lbs.
Discovered that I need to apply for Medicare within the 6 month IEP (Initial Enrollment Period - 3 month before and 3 months after my birthday) and must call CoveredCA to cancel ACA insurance to avoid having to payback subsidy (which is paid to insurer directly) if both Medicare and CoveredCA are active at the same time.
Booked mine and Anita's tickets from ANA for 2018 Spring trip to Taiwan online, $768.05 for me and $661.05 for Anita.
10/14/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 6 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Stopped by Marukai and purchased one Shrimp Roll, one Maruya cut Wakame (dry seaweed), one Salmon Shioyaki Bento, one Rainbow Poki Bowl, one Maguro Kakugiri, and one Fish Ara. Showed Jason the fence repaired in April, he's planning a future repair. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Contemplating whether to add insurance for our outside sewer line for $4.99/mo for one year and $9.99 afterward.
Ishin called to inform us that he and Lucy will be here Friday to attend his son's (Johnathan) wedding Saturday, invited us and ChingMing without formal invitation, what can I say.......
10/15/2017: Got up at 7:40. Anita's FB was hacked by someone in Texas, we had to 9struggled a bit) to reset password and ask FB to logoff the Texas usage. After dropping off Anita at City Sports, I went to Lowes and purchased one 2ml plastic sheet to make auto feeder weather cover with, also bought one box smaller washer to help secure fence base board extension. Stopped by Sprouts, got 6 bananas and 0.72 lbs Brazil nuts (at $16.99/lbs- about twice as much as Trader Joe's). Visited CVS with Anita after dinner, purchased one Birthday card for mom and one hair dye for Anita.
10/16/2017: Got up at 7:15. Went have RX300 smog test done at South Bay Smog Test station (STAR) for $55, I was the only customer at the time so it took only 15 minutes. The buildings and lot next to the place had condo construction going on, the smog test guy wasn't sure how long he would be there as the property owner only allowed year by year lease, it's obvious they are waiting to get rich by bidding the lot would be next for new housing construction. Paid RX300 registration renewal online for $137.
10/17/2017: Got up at 7:35. Installed the fence base extension for the right most panel, this took some pondering as I wasn't sure how to approach - putting up the aluminum strip was not as straight forward. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Cancelled San Francisco Chronicle by calling 1-800-310-2445, there's no online cancellation service. Had haircut in the garage for $5, it's quick but a bit short on the side (too short in fact), Anita had a hair dye for $5, paid the lady $13 for her service. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
10/18/2017: Got up at 7:35. Made some designs to the feeder weather shield, it's now much more sturdy. Replaced batteries for both Arlo cameras, the status had been unreliable the last several months. Visited Costco with Anita, got one dozen bagels, two dozen organic eggs, one pack (x2) Contigo thermo mugs, one case Modelo, one pack (x6) sweet bell peppers, 4 wiper blades (two for Rx330-Tip, $7.99 each), one box gold kiwis, one pack frozen Sockeye Salmon, and one bunch bananas, donated $50 to North Bay (Sonoma/Napa county) fire. Filled up gas for RX300 at $2.639/gl. No table tennis today. Disassembled several hardware from the feeder weather shield and installed 2 layers of plastic sheet to the wall portion of the shield.
10/19/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Since Susan had the day off, I had to wait until deputy chief's arrival to allow my entrance. JP had to give ride to a cancer patient, she left before 12:00PM. Even though 雅姿's substitute arrived but she still called to inform us that she and her husband will be a little late due to traffic on 101, I'll leave this for them to resolve. Stopped by CVS, got 4 bottle 750ml Barefoot Riesling, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Moscato, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon, and one wedding card for IShin's son. Swing by Marina Grocery and purchased one bag julienned bamboo, 3 heads Broccoli, one bottle 750ml rice wine, one bag ginger, and 2 packs bean curd.
10/20/2017: Got up at 7:20. Finished the construction of the feeder weather shield by attaching a small plastic sheet to cover the swing portion, installed the shield - not great looking but should last a long time and it is easy to put away when not in use. Paid Anthem $69.99 for November coverage. Played 25 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, no table tennis coming Monday-people will be attending a funeral then. Installed aluminum fence extension #5, had to trim off certain part of the stripe to match the unbreakable fence post concrete curve at the bottom.
10/21/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 6 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, the other Ming, Jason, and myself. Ishin's son Johnathan's (wife Cheri) wedding will be held at Freedom Hall and Gardens (3910 Freedom circle, Santa Clara, CA 95052), we got there at 3:58 - got lost because I miss read the turn on Mission Blvd, luckily Google map still function without Internet connection. There are probably a couple dozen small kids in the wedding, all were offsprings of bride/groom's colleague. It's a pretty nice wedding in which the scenes were more touching than most of the ones we attended recently.
10/22/2017: Got up at 7:15. Peeled and sliced the Persimmon from Jason, placed them on the air dry basket and hang it under the old patio umbrella frame. Tested a couple of existing boards to see if they can provide a better shelter for the cats, turned out using one old panel from last year, seemed to work fine-will adjust accordingly in the next few weeks. Cleaned the pot cover with oven cleaner and wrapped it with new aluminum foil. Applied on CoveredCA for 2018 ACA insurance: VHP (Valley Health Plan, HMO), with monthly $3.09 premium on top of $1929.69 monthly assistance. First payment due 12/26/2017. Used $23800 as 2018 income to do the process.
10/23/2017: Got up at 7:15. Installed the longest (87") piece fence extension (#4 from the right), remaining 3 extensions will be more challenging as they are either behind the Oleander tree or partially blocked by the shed. Went to Post Office on Lundy and checked Tip's tire pressure, they were at 36lbs, I reduced the rear ones to 34 and the front ones to 33 to balance out, as far as tire thread go, a near term tire rotation is necessary, new tires should be considered in about 6 months. Swing by 99 Ranch Market, got 4 110g spicy peanuts for $1.29 each (which is 1 cent cheaper and 10g more than Marina Grocery 210g version), one pack lotus root, one bunch bananas, and one pack Shitake mushroom. Finished reading "The Honest Spy" by Andreas Kollender, possibly the first one I want to finish because it is a good read.
10/24/2017: Got up at 7:15. Installed one more fence base extension, this is the second from the right at 82.5". Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Still pondering on how to solve tire rotation issue for Tip. Had 40 minutes MB with mini and legs, finally EJ.
10/25/2017: Got up at 7:15. Installed another fence extension (at 84.5" is the third from the right), this one had 1/3 behind the Oleander tree, had to duct every now and then to avoid hitting the branches - did hit a few regardless of my effort, took nearly 30 minutes. No table tennis today as Tip's very busy running errands. Added several screw/washers to #1 and #2 fence extension, possibly due to high temperature, the extensions were curving away from the baseboard, may have to reposition the screw/washers if the status stays the same after the temperature drops.
10/26/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20. Stopped by CVS, purchased three bottle 750ml Barefoot Rosé, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon, and two bottle 1.5L Barefoot Moscato-there was's a single bottle Barefoot Riesling. Swing by Marina Grocery, got one bottle 750ml rice wine, one pack fried fish cake, one pack FuChou ball, one pack spare ribs, one pack chicken mid-joint wings, two head Kohlrabi (大頭菜), one Napa cabbage, one pack bacon, one bag chili radish, 4 tomatoes, 2 pound ground pork, and one bunch bananas.
10/27/2017: Got up at 7:25. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took about 25 minutes. Added more screw/washer sets to the installed fence extensions, the last fence extension will require cleaning the shed and move it a couple of feet away from the fence. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Went with Tip to Chevron station and had RX330 tires rotated for $20, there was no others waiting do it only took 20 minutes.
10/28/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 6 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, the other Ming, Jason, and myself, John, ShinKuo and Ruby joined us at Peet's. Stopped Marukai and purchased one Tuna-Salmon Nigiri (Sushi), one Bento box, and one Futomaki (Sushi).
Had 40 minutes MB with minis, EJ. Finished reading Kindle book "When I am Gone" in less than a week, a very touching and intriguing story, I almost could not put down the iPad and wanted to finish it non-stop.
10/29/2017: Got up at 7:55. Used double sided tape to glue a couple magnets to small plate purchased from Valencia.
Dug out a small Basellaceae (川七) with root intact and transferred it to a 3" container, added water, ready to give it to John/Show coming Saturday. Added a couple of new dry wall anchors and screws to turn the two magnetic plates 90°-hanging them vertically instead.
Applied credit increase for Chase United MileagePlus online, the credit limit is now at $10,000.
10/30/2017: Got up at 7:10. Visited Costco with Anita, got a cooked whole combo pizza (first time ever), one bag Lindor chocolate balls, one case Belgium beer, one cranberry walnut round bread, one cream cheese jalapeño poppers, one sweet Kale salad, and one jar soy sauce. Prepared to play table tennis but somehow delayed due to Tip's extra errands, left Dynamicfoundation at 12:55. Stopped by Chase office near City Sports with Anita to open a savings account: getting $200 by depositing and keeping $15,000 in the account fro 3 months, maintain min. $300 for the next 7 months before closing it. Swing by Frys and purchased one can of Flex Seal, all these between 1:32 and 2:35. Discovered Brazil uses type N and Argentina uses type I power adapters, ordered one type N from Amazon, type I is already in the multi-adapter I have. Ordered one antiperspirant from Amazon at $4.21 after tax.
10/31/2017: Got up at 7:30. Leveled the fence extension nearby soil and made it slight taller at the base of extension and replaced the original tiles, the dirt should no longer be able to flow onto the tiles and made them dirty and difficult to clean. Played 40 minutes with Stephanie. Applied more Flex Seal spray as well as Flex Seal rubber sheet to repair the leaky bucket. Had 25 minutes MB with mini, EJ.
11/1/2017: Got up at 7:15. Labeling day, got to Dynamicfoundation at 9:25. Finished the whole process at 11:00 - there were 11 helping hands, Tip was busy with other errands and wasn't able to help. Played 40 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Stopped by 99 Ranch Market and picked up 4 bags 210g spicy peanuts (on sale at $2.49 each), and 4 bananas. Applied yet another coat of Flex Seal to the leaky bucket, should be fine this time around. Leveled the tiles platform under next to the down spout near the chimney.
11/2/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:20, the parking lot was empty until 9:25 when deputy chief arrived. Susan also came back from her trip to Taiwan. Left at 1:25 when 1:30 volunteers relieved us. Swing by CVS and purchased one 750ml Barefoot Riesling, one bottle 1.5L Barefoot Moscato, two bottles 750ml Beringer Pink Moscato, one bottle 750ml Forest Ville Riesling, and one bottle 750ml Forest Ville Gewürztraminer. Stopped by Marina Grocery and got one bottle 750ml rice wine, one Cauliflower, one pack small mustard green, one bunch bananas, and 2 tubes Wasabi paste. Received power adapter for Brazil. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
11/3/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street - mostly from our Korean neighbor, took nearly 20 minutes. Made a nice looking rain shield for the Arlo camera just outside the front bedroom, had to take it down and trimmed off a portion, bent one side downward to allow screen door to be reattached to its original locale. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Ordered a Gold 32G iPad (2017 version) for $364.43 tax included, this will be KwangHua's gift for her hard work caring for their mother. Added outside sewer insurance from HomeServe USA for $4.99/mth the first year and $9.99 afterward.
11/4/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason could not go because he had errands to run, since I have a couple of Madeira (川七) seedlings that I promised John to bring to him so I had to go by myself. There were 5 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Ching, and myself. Handed over the two Madeira seedlings to John. Swing by Marukai and purchased one King roll whole, one Bara Hirashi Sushi, one Salmon Shioyaki Bento box, and 2 pack Fish Ara, stopped by Daiso, got one pair men's sandal ($2.00), one sanding block ($1.50), one unglazed flower pot ($1.50), and one water bucket ($1.50).
11/5/2017: Got up at 7:15 - day light saving is officially off today. Visited ValleyFair with Anita, it's not even Thanksgiving yet there were plenty of visitors already, there were many cars circling in the parking lot when we were leaving, imagine it will be much worse in several weeks. Picked up iPad at Apple Store which took more than 15 minutes but consider the number of customers in the store, it was probably not too bad, the Microsoft store across the isle looked almost empty except some kids playing video games.
11/6/2017: Got up at 7:20. Visited Costco with Anita, purchased one sweat shirt for me, one pack organic raisin (Costco changed packaging to 2 attached bags instead of two bags in a box), one Cranberry Walnut Round, one tub cream cheese, one unsalted mixed nuts, one can honey roasted nuts, one bag pine nuts (it's now $19.99 as Kirkland branded product), one can Macadamia nuts, one box chocolate for Francisco, and one Madi Italian Oven baked cake, also got a whole combo pizza for lunch the next three days. The sweater had some problem, first of all, it does not feel right on the shoulder, it seemed that odd pieces of fabrics were used for the front, secondly there was a big stain on the lower front, will return it later. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. There was a long line at the return section of Costco so I decided to return the sweater tomorrow morning instead.
11/7/2017: Got up at 7:15. Returned the sweater to Costco, filled up gas for RX300 at $2.899/gal. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ. Repaired, once again, the power air pump which had the hose broken at the edge of tape enhanced hose, not sure if it'll work, tested the pump by twisting the hose about 120 degree and works OK with some effort attaching it to the valve.
11/8/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up the grill on the deck and cover it up with the plastic hood came with it - haven't used it for a long time. Accidentally carried in cockroach-look-alike with two boards from the garage, took nearly 15 minutes to find it got it out of the house. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, she's improved much.
11/9/2017: Got up at 7:05. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:25. Stopped by Marina Grocery and purchased one bottle 750ml rice wine, one can Iodized salt, two bags potato starch, and one bag dried shrimp, also got half a roasted duck for dinner. Called Mercury News as we had problem accessing e-edition, got reactivated by the support personnel but was still unable to access it so I changed the password to our account and it seemed to work - the only thing is that both iPads did not use the new password so I am not sure if the access revival was due to customer support's work??????
It also appeared that we have a new account (#505057750) which is based on my cell number (4082287009) and my name. Had 10 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
11/10/2017: Got up at 7:15. Cleaned up leftover garden waste in the street, took about 10 minutes. Paid Anthem $69.99 due 12/1/2017, this should be the last payment to Anthem as we are moving to VHP (Valley Health Plan) starting 1/1/2018. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung's recovering from trip.
11/11/2017: Got up at 7:35. Drove Anita to GBC to get some small bills for ABC trip tipping but it is closed for Veteran's Day, will have to use one dollar bills plus exchanging more local currencies for that purpose. Configured water heater to vacation setting, moved iMac to the attic but had to move it back down to do check in-Anita wasn't able to do online check-in since her new passport was not updated in UA's data base, will need to go to SJC earlier tomorrow morning, called and left message for Jason, will call him a little later.
2017 November ABC trip-1
11/12/2017-11/13/2017: Got up at 7:10. Finished preparing for our trip to ABC+Easter Island by 9:00. Jason came to give us ride to SJC at 9:55. Checked in and pass security by 10:20, considered quick since we have Pre TSA status on our boarding passes-no need to take off jacket or shoes, and NBs can stay where they were. Waited at a more comfortable sitting area instead of the gate until 11:55 when we walked over to gate 3 where we are supposed to board, met Elly and Daniel there. Waited until 12:20 when I suspected there might be a gate change as there were very few people waiting nearby plus a different sign (Frontier) was displayed at gate 3, so I checked the flight status online and found out there was a gate change to #16, had to walk all the way to the other end of the building, tons of people were there waiting. We were in group 2 while Elle and husband were in group 1. Flight was delayed for 25minutes. Anita purchased 2 slices pizzas, we had one in SJC and one on board flight 1851. UA does provide free water and soft drinks plus a small bag of pretzels. No free movies though. The seats are small with poor leg rooms, 737s are now United Airlines’ fleet carrier. We landed at Houston airport (IAH) at 6:43. Elly and husband’s connection flight was at gate C7, just a few steps away from where we got off the plane, our flight gate is at E20, had to walk 10 minutes to take Skyway train to get there, we’ll be going to San Paulo first before connecting another flight to Rio De Janeiro (at SDU airport), Elly and husband’s flight will be landing at Rio De Janeiro directly (at GIG airport). Anita and I had one of the two sandwiches made from the Cranberry Walnut Round. I went for a water break when Anita hurriedly looked for me to go to the counter for Brazil visa verification-United did this a couple of times already guessing they don’t want to bring people right back if rejected at the Brazilian custom. Boarded the plane (B767-30p) at 8:50. Our row has the middle seat unoccupied for the moment, hope it stays that way when the flight took off. Our wish came true as the last passenger has boarded and the empty seat remained unoccupied. The flight took off on time at 9:30. This is a fairly long flight, 10 hours and 10 minutes. We landed at San Paulo at 11:22. Took us 20 minutes to pass through customs and collected our luggages, but the connecting flight was on domestic area plus we had to drag our luggages all the way there, very few employees there spoke English, the line wasn’t long but counter agents’ efficiency was terrible, much like a bureaucratic agency that all employees only do a little of everything, had to get permission and/or instructions from someone else, a simple check-in took us 25 minutes excluding the time we spent waiting in line. We finally got to gate 214 at 1:30 and boarded the plane at 2:10, another fully packed flight, luckily it’s only one hour and 5 minutes flight time. The plane left the gate at 2:27, and took off on time at 2:35. Amazingly, all flight attendants on flight G31082 are all male, not sure if it’s just coincidence. We landed at Rio De Janeiro (SDU) at 3:12. Since it’s a domestic flight, we went to the baggage claim area in just a short 10 minutes, Anita went and purchase a taxi voucher after I spotted the count that sells it, this made getting to Windsor Leme Hotel much easier, we were lucky to get an upgrade (from standard room to junior suite), which is right next to Elly&husband’s room at 810, we’ll be able to stay in the same room without having to check-out and check-in again, as this will all be done by hotel staff. Went and purchased dinner at Supermercado Zumba Sul, Elly and husband also purchased some for dinner. Anita exchanged $100 for Brazilian currency at the hotel (a one US dollar to 3 Brazil real rate which is much better than at the airport) will use them for tipping if necessary. Turned in at 12:00 but could not fall asleep until we finished the beer purchased at Zumba Sul.
11/14/2017: Got up at 8:00, hurried and went downstairs to have breakfast so that we can meet Elly&Daniel at 9:20 to join Strawberry tours Rio, it’s a free tour of the city guided by people in training. Daniel had Uber picking us up at 9:40, the driver was a young man but drove like a bull, I had to close my eyes just to avoid seeing the cars and pedestrians in near hits constantly, his car was hit with a bottle by a homeless, he stopped the can and chased the guy with a stick weapon, he’s obviously stressed after that incidence, we all had to calm him down a bit so that he could still drove us to the meeting point. Luckily the tours did not take off even though we were late for 10 minutes. There were about 20 people in the tour, the 5 English-speaking people were lead by Renata Figueiredo, a lady used to be a nutritionist (she also has a Phd degree), her English was OK but needed some improvement to qualify as a good guide in my opinion.
The tour took about 3 hours, finished at the Opera House (Theatro Municipal). We offered 50 Real for her service. Had lunch at the nearby restaurant where she ate free, Anita and I shared a chicken meal, was OK for 35, but the small cup of beer we had was excellent. With Daniel requesting UBER service (his iPhone only had 3% battery, was shaky to last until the car showed up) and Renata’s help, we were able to locate the Uber car and got us back to Windsor Leme at 3:00.
The lady in front was our tour guide Renata, the gentleman on left of the back row was from Sweden on vacation.
The lady in front was our tour guide Renata, the gentleman on left of the back row was from Sweden on vacation.
BBQ dinner at Churrascaria Palace, wine plus salad, seafood and lots of BBQ beef of various part of the cow, some were tasty, some were hard to chew, but it was too much meat for me.
11/15/2017: Had problem falling asleep, more serious than yesterday, the whole bottle of beer did not help. Woke up every 30 minutes to check the clock, finally got up at 5:30, went down to have breakfast at 6:05, we were the first there, did not have much to eat, maybe losing appetite after the large amount of meat last night. Group took off for Corcovado(“Christ of Redeemer”) tour, the bus took us to the station where a two carriage train moved us up closer to the statue, we had to walk (elevator available) 200 steps to see the statue.
The bus stopped at the beach near a hand glider landing site to watch action.
Had lunch with Elly&Daniel couple at Shirley Restaurant, it’s an old but decent restaurant with long history, the waiters and owner treated their customers and dishes seriously, we all enjoyed the good food and their hospitality. I also had a beer, not bad.
The group had a music and drink gathering at Poti Leme, SKOL, I had a Brahma beer, brewed in Brazil, nice!
Anita and Elly each bought an interesting hand bag, it opens up to a long string of fabrics, and becomes a hand bag after zipping it together, claimed by the guy who’s selling them that they were made by his mother, we later saw the same thing in the flea market everywhere. The four of us went to check out the flea market nearby but did not get anything. Anita and Elly couple visited Supermercado Zona Sulwhile I hurried back to the hotel to relieve myself, the beer I just drank pass through too quick. I went back to the store in time to bag the purchase. Had salad and leftover lunch for dinner, the leftover was equally divided for us and Elly/Daniel.
11/16/2017: Got up at 6:30 even though we leave at 9:00. Breakfast at the same hotel for 4 consecutive days really wears off any enthusiasm since the same food was served over and over, we probably would have purchased our own breakfast from nearby grocery store if we already paid for it. An half day visit to Sugar Loaf involves a bus ride, a two stages of cable car ride and going through the ticket scanner 6 times. The view the two levels of Sugar loaf were different yet were both nice, we actually witnessed the landing of an airplane at the very airport (SDU) we arrived Rio, it was a small airport serving only San Paulo and Rio, I took a video of the landing from start to finish. Stopped by the pyramid shape Cathedral which already visited once yesterday and took more photos, swing by Opera House which we also visited once yesterday, but the local guide Pablo gave more detail info, another stop at the colorful tiled stairs, again we visited once yesterday, but, even under the fierce sun, I walked up to near the top which only a few people in the group did. We left the bus at the shopping district where some people go shopping, some stay on the bus and will be taken back to the hotel and some like us decided to go to the Botanical Garden, Daniel requested Uber service, we got to the Botanical Garden in 20 minutes. Had lunch at Jarbo Café e Brasserie near the ticket office, Elly thought it was a different name but not sure when or why they changed it, we waited nearly 30 minutes before getting our food as there was a group of 90 visitors showed up there 30 minutes before us. The ticket price is R$15 (Real), we got 2 for R$15 senior discount. For a big city like Rio, this is a great disappointment as the garden looked like a small town park without much care, although we did see some interesting plants and surprise scene:
We got back to the hotel in another Uber car, after wearing so much, the cold air in the Uber dried even my clothes. Went to Supermercado Zona Sul to get some dinner and supply for Iguazu visit the next two days as I did not see any grocery store nearby, since Elly and Daniel wanted to get pizza upstairs of Zona Sul, Anita went along to see if we could use one also, eventually we shared one pizza, they ate there while I took the beers and bananas back to the hotel, Anita came back with half of the pizza and we had it with the salad we bought last night, also sharing one bottle 600ml beer. Finished packing at 10:00, stayed awake until calling mom at 12:00 which is 10:00 am Taipei time.
11/17/2017: Woke up by the alarm at 5:30, totally surprised as I did not go to bed until 1:00. Had breakfast at 6:05. Checked out at 7:05. Boarded the bus for airport at 7:20. Got to GIG airport domestic building at 7:55. We had to print luggage tags ourselves with the help of the guide trainee and later with local guide Pablo. Elly had problem keeping her canes as the airline wanted her to leave them there, tried but failed to insert them in my luggage even diagonally, luckily she was able to carried them through security check with extra scan. Boarded the plane (Airbus A320) at 9:20. The flight is fully booked, we are in seats 4B/4C, 4A is occupied as well. The flight left the gate at 9:40 but did not take off until 10:01-11 minutes behind schedule. We landed at Iguassu airport (till in Brazil) at 11:51. Waited for our luggages unloaded by the porter, as instructed by our guide Flavio, then boarded our bus outside at 12:15. Bus left the airport at 12:28. Got to National Parks Iguaçu (Br) in just 5 minutes, shared a burger with Anita at the cafeteria nearby, pretty tasty, different from the ones from the States. Got in the park with tickets from Falvio, our bus was waiting at the parking, bus took us to the water falls and we started our exploration, although I was in pants and walking sandal, with rolled up pants I was able to enjoy the waterfalls with umbrella in hand. Took plenty of photos but none were Panasonic as the trail simply didn’t have any location that could see all. Got back to the bus at 3:00, bus departed at 3:13. Arriving Brazil border at 3:39, Falvio and Juan took everyone’s passport plus entry form to the Brazil boarder control to take care of group exit paper work. Bus headed for Argentina at 4:00, crossing Parana river at 4:04. Once again, Falvio and Huan exit the bus to handle Argentina entry paper work, officially entering Argentina at 4:23 - Amerian Portal del Iguazu Hotel in the city of Iguazu. Arriving the hotel at 4:35. Had a steak dinner at hotel restaurant at 7:00. There was a sudden storm hitting the area and our dinner was held in the dark 1/3 of the time.
11/18/2017: Got up at 5:50. Breakfast at 6:20, departing for National Parks Iguazú (Ar) at 7:32. The entrance was 25 minutes from our hotel, just as the weather forecast claimed, it rained cats and dogs while we go for the upper part of the fall, luckily Anita purchased two ponchos before entering the park otherwise we would not be able to walk, watch, and took photos at the same time, during the walk I had to change the battery as the HX-90V got some rain into the body and the battery inside simply ceased to work. Had lunch at one of the restaurant, was OK. Continued the walk to see the fall from its base-lower circuit, we were able to do without the ponchos most of the time as the rain was mostly gone by now.
Left the park at 3:00, got back to the hotel by 3:30. Joined the wine and snack party by the pool at 6:30, skipped dinner as we were full from the snack.
Left the park at 3:00, got back to the hotel by 3:30. Joined the wine and snack party by the pool at 6:30, skipped dinner as we were full from the snack.
Tried but failed to recharge the dead battery, would take it home and try again before recycling it.
For the second part of 2017 ABC_Easter Island trip journal, go to Evernote article.
For the second part of 2017 ABC_Easter Island trip journal, go to Evernote article.
12/1/2017: Gt up at 6:45, first day after the trip. Picked up the Echo Dot purchased during our trip from Amazon at $29.99, the 7-11 store on 1408 N. 1st street was only 10 minutes away and accessing it from the Amazon locker inside was easy, it only took me 25 minutes round trip to get it and it is during commute hour. Went to Costco wit Anita and purchased 2 dozen organic egg, one bunch banana, one Kirkland chocolate for our Korean neighbor, one pack (x2) cooked crab, one dozen bagel, one bag small tangerine, one Cranberry Walnut round, one pack (x4) tofu, and one bag Cesare salad. Also got one whole combo pizza - lunch for 3 days. The once considered dead camera battery was revived after charging it for an hour, marked an X on it and will keep watching it. Went picked up the persimmons left on our door step by Korean neighbor, no table tennis as they were having a meeting.
12/2/2017: Got up at 6:30.
12/3/2017: Got up at 7:00. Spent 4 hours editing the second part of ABC journal into 2017 blogger then discovered the system hang, spent another 2 hours removing other running processes to see system gradually became alive but could not save the blogger.
12/4/2017: Got up at 6:15. Tried but still unable to save the blogger, all available approaches such as MacBook notes, Open office, also failed to save a copy, the last resort was to kill the Google helper that had grown to 5G, as expected, the second part of my journal is gone, @#$%^&*. Discovered later that the second part of the journal was intact in Evernote-remember seeing random codes in the lower part of the same file yesterday, not sure how it reverted to a remedied article automatically. Swing by Jason's house at his request to see if I could help with their CoveredCA application issue, it turned out their agent started but did not completed the application, plus their reluctance to click the "continue change application" button while there was no other options, I left without really solving the problem, he'll have to ask his agent to do a better job or call CoveredCA to handle the application themselves.
12/5/2017: Got up at 7:40. Started Medicare application.
Saved and exited the application process half way through so I could read more info on Medicare plans. Had 30 minutes MB with mini, EJ. Discovered and managed to restore the (accidentally) deleted 2017 ABC_Easter Island Journal part-1 back to Notes, moved them on the iCloud so MacBook Pro can also access.
12/6/2017: Got up at 7:30. Finish and submitted Medicare application (confirmation number is 68123589), the resulting page indicated submission of the original Naturalization document to Society Security Office is necessary, will watch status for a few days before doing that. Went to SantanaRow and watch Thor: Ragnarok with Anita, a good movie, much better than expected.
12/7/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:12. Called Susan to allow my entry (actually the deputy chief opened the door for me). Swing by CVS and purchased one bottle 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, two bottle 1.5L Moscato, one bottle 1.5L Merlot, one bottle 750ml Sho Chiku Bai Sake, and one bottle 750ml Gekkeikan Sake. Stopped by Marina Grocery, got one pack fried fish cake, one bottle 750ml rice wine, 3 carrots, one bag small Gai Choy, one pack (x4) Neoguri seafood noodle, one head Cauliflower, two bag pin noodle, and one bag green bean. Drove to Walmart and picked up 4 64oz Hazelnut creamer, one pack (x3) Browny paper towel, and one dozen Michelob Ultra.
12/8/2017: Got up at 7:15. Went with Anita to Costco, purchased one Cranberry Walnut Round, one bag large raw shrimp, one tub cream cheese, one bag string cheese, one bunch banana, and one gift box chocolate cookies (for Francisco). Added 8 gallon of gas for LS400. Played 45 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Stephanie, and 20 minutes with Kung.
12/9/2017: Got up at 6:45. Hiking day, Jason to drive. It has been over a month since my last hike, may not be able to stay close to the leaders. There were 9 people in the group: Yung, Jerry, Alex, Ching, Ming, the other Ming, Wayne, Jason, and myself, John joined us at Peet's. Visited Target with Anita, purchased 4 Yoplait Oui yogurt and one pair gloves for me.
12/10/2017: Got up at 8:25. Went to NR for a couple of neck thing, had to wait until it opened at 11:00. Swing by Marukai and got one box (x4) Sushi, one box Sashimi, and one bunch banana.
12/11/2017: Got up at 7:20. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, Kung's out sick again.
12/12/2017: Got up at 7:15. Decided to submit documents to Social Security Office in Campbell, left home at 8:28, got stuck on Berryessa before reaching Commercial street, turned around and tried Brokaw road, slow but moving, got on 880 at 8:55, got to Campbell office at 9:10, took number D83 at 9:11, got to window 1 at 9:30, submitted passport, driver's license, and Naturalization certificate to the lady to process, turned out they wanted to issue new Social Security card (that's what "Update Social Security Card" in the letter meant), need to call San Jose office EAC unit this afternoon to make sure they received all the documentation. Stopped by Costco and filled up RX300 at $2.699/gal. Got home at 10:19. Visited ValleyFair with Anita, she got a bling bling party jacket, we got a number of pins to bring back to Taiwan.
12/13/2017: Got up at 7:20. Called Social Security Administration Office at 9:03 (the Vonage network wire was disconnected after the call failed to go out at 9:00), waited until 9:06 before speaking to a representative, the words was that they have received the documents and I should receive decision letter within 30 days. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Visited Costco with Anita, procured one pack Wild Cold Water Lobster tails (x8), one pack Beef Ribeye Steak Boneless USDA Prime, one bag Mediterranean Salad, one bottle 750ml Chardonnay, and one Extra Fine Merino Wool sweater. Had 15 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
12/14/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. Called Susan to allow my entrance to the building. Swing by Marina Grocery, got one bottle 750ml rice wine, one pack fish ball, two pack beef tendon ball, one pack pork meat ball, two bags squid slices, one can pork sung, one pack bitter melon, one pack lotus root, one head Napa cabbage, one head Daikon, one pack beef neck bone, and one pork rib, also purchased half a roast duck. Blew Oak leaves from next door neighbor and our driveway, as I was cutting the pile of lemon branches in the street to make them smaller and shorter, the neighbor from 1754 came over and informed me that he's not done with them yet and told me not to worry as he will make them smaller.
12/15/2017: Got up at 7:20. Cleaned up leftover garden waste (by the 1754 neighbor and myself) in the street, took 30 minutes. Went to Costco and picked up one can Unsalted Mixed Nuts and one Cranberry Walnut Round. Prepared nut mix and distributed accordingly, including Tips. Played 35 minutes table tennis with Stephanie. Handed over nuts and scarf.
12/16/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Yung, Jerry, Wayne, Alex, Ming, the other Ming, Ching, Jason, and myself.
12/17/2017: Got up at 7:20. Visited Costco and got one box mini chocolate cake (for afternoon visit to Chiming's house) and two dozen organic eggs, also purchased one whole combo pizza. Picked up Wontons and Dumplings ordered through JP, paid $34 because the lady said she gave one of my wontons to someone else by accident, but I discovered later that there were actually two bags of wontons with one of them fewer in counts, I should pay her a little more the next time. Went to ChinMing's house played 5 rounds of Majang with dinner break at 嶺南飯店. I was the worst player of the night, with less than 1/4 of my play money gone.
12/18/2017: Got up at 7:45. Had 25 minutes MB with RM, EJ. Found out that MyPublisher, the company I have been making our travel photobooks no longer operational, had to switch to ShutterFly if I need to make another photobook, downloaded ShutterFly app, will work on it after photo selection's done.
12/19/2017: Got up at 7:20. Played 30 minutes table tennis with Stephanie, had about 10 seconds of rapid heart rate during which. Paid $3.09 online for VHP insurance. Had 5 minutes MB with legs, EJ.
12/21/2017: Got up at 7:10. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15 but the parking lot was empty until deputy chief arrived at 9:20, turned out Susan had to take her daughter somewhere and would be late, Susan arrived around 11:00. Swing by CVS but no Riesling was on sale so I left empty handed. Stopped by Marina Grocery and purchased one bottle 750ml rice wine, one pack beef neck bones, three pack beef shank, 6 Romaine tomatoes, two pack thick bean curd, 4 pack spicy peanuts, and one can Hazelnut powder creamer. Got some vegetables from Susan, one small bag of chocolate from JP, called Tip and handed over the chocolate. As the temperature will drop to near freezing, put away some of the plants in the backyard that are more susceptible to low temperature.
12/22/2017: Got up at 7:15. Left for ValleyFair at 9:08 and came back at 10:56, the only way beating the crowd is to arrive early. We got some Christmas ornaments and a beanie for Anita. Played 50 minutes table tennis, 25 minutes with Kung, 25 minutes with Stephanie, she's not happy with her boss's unruly assignments all day just before her departure on another trip. Visited Costco with Anita, got one Cranberry Walnut Round, one bag asparagus, one pack mushroom, and one container coco bites.
12/23/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, Jason to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Alex, Wayne, Ming, the other Ming, Jason, and myself.
12/24/2017: Got up at 7:30. Christmas Eve, decided to have Christmas dinner tonight: lobster tails, shrimps, asparagus, carrots, and mushroom.
12/25/2017: Got up at 7:45.
12/26/2017: Got up at 7:15. Left the house at 9:0 to see a movie at Santana Row, "Darkest Hour" let us know how and what Churchill went through at the early stage of his ministry to earn British political and people's support, a well made movie, moved to tears a couple of times. Had lunch (noodle and rice) at RAAM in Nordstrom, Anita also purchased a NorthFace windbreaker before we headed home, arriving home at 2:00.
12/27/2017: Got up at 7:15. The original plan to play table tennis at 9:00 had been changed to later as Tip had to run errands first. Swing by Costco and purchased one case Corona, one case Modelo, one Cranberry Walnut Round, one bunch banana, and one bag organic pine nuts. Ran into Tip at Costco. Played one hour and 15 minutes table tennis with Stephanie.
12/28/2017: Got up at 7:15. CCC volunteer day, got there at 9:15. Yolanda let me and Susan in. Swing by CVS but still no riesling sales tag (3 times in 3 weeks), got one bottle 750ml Gekkeikan Sake, one bottle 750ml Forestville Gewürztraminer, one bottls 1.5L Barefoot Merlot, one bottle 1.5L Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2 bottle 1.5L Barefoot Moscato. Stopped by Marina Grocery and got 2 bag spicy peanuts, one bag mung bean sprouts, 4 green bell pepper, one pound ground pork, and one bottle 750ml rice wine.
12/29/2017: Got up at 7:20. Played 80 minutes table tennis, 35 minutes with Kung, and 45 minutes with Stephanie.
12/30/2017: Got up at 6:50. Hiking day, my turn to drive. There were 9 people in the group: Ahmei, Yung, Jerry, Ching, Wayne, Sujan, Steve, Alex, and myself. Swing by Marukai and purchased one pack Maguro Tuna, one Rainbow Poki Bowl, one box Chicken Katsu JYU, and one box King Roll Whole.
12/31/2017: Got up at 7:30. Swept up Cherry leaves and stack them up in the two large planters. Left the house at 5:35 to join year count down dinner at Ruby and Jerry's house. Had a lot to drink, beer, red wine, and champagne.
