2015 Chinese New Year Trip to Taiwan

2/5/2015: Anita drove me to San Jose International Airport, we left the house at 9:10 and got there at 9:30, a bit longer than before because we had to take different route due to Lundy/Sierra closure.  There were very few people at the security check point so it did not take me long to get to boarding gate 15, the free Wi-Fi there, to my surprise, wasn't usable at all - I tried several times but was barely able to speak to Anita using Skype - used to be OK.  The plane took off on time, my seat at 30H was the last row on the right side, I'd say its about 90% full, my neighboring seat was also occupied :-(  As usual, meals and wine were very enjoyable - I had one bottle of red wine each for the two meals served.  The ride was surprisingly smooth without any turbulence until descending time approaching Narita airport, perhaps I was too comfortable for 11 hours straight which made me vulnerable and could not handle the final jolt. Watched The Equalizer, Fury, and Lucy, Anita and I watched Lucy last year at Century Great Mall.

2/6/2015: Landed at Narita on time at 4:10PM, there wasn't may people at connecting flight security check point, I got to boarding gate (38f) in just 20 minutes, to my surprise though, there were more people waiting at gates 38 (d-g) than last time (a year ago), looks like more planes are arranged to take off from here.  All passengers need to take shuttle to get to their respective planes, ours (NH1083) was about 5 minutes away.  NH1083 took off a bit ahead of schedule but arrived in Taiwan nearly 40 minutes early.  There were quite a few arriving flights at the time, but most of the passengers are non-ROC passport holder, only a handful of people were at the ROC passport holder lines, 5 minutes to clear custom, another 5 minutes to get my luggage - this is a record for me - and met Peilee and Tina just outside of the exit gate.  Got to Neihu home by 9:40, happy to see mom before her usual 10:00PM bed time.

2/7/2015: Woke up around 4:00AM, got up and sorted out my luggages.  The weather today was excellent, sunny with just right temperature.  Did not do much today, tried to bring up TP-LINK TL-WR700N AP for Peilee's dorm room, the setup did not work even though I followed the procedures listed, found out the procedures they put in the pamphlet miss one important item - the DHCP server service has to be disabled manually for the device to function as an AP, I though this is automatically done since AP is just a pass through and DHCP server setting should be disabled by default, but anyway, it took me a while to find out.  The new AP seemed to work intermittently, connecting to it also was problematic, only my MBP was able to connect to it and got online, I left it connected to see the result tomorrow.  Tina left for her dorm in 三峽 as she has a volleyball practice tomorrow morning.  Dinner was at a local restaurant - noodles, fried rices, scrambled clams, and fried shrimps.

2/8/2015: Weather today was cloudy and a bit gloomy, had buns (western and eastern) for breakfast. The connection to TL-TW700N was lost sometime during the night, not sure what caused it, suspecting quality of the device was bad.  Noticed that the LAN port LED on the Hawkins router was off, the LED came up after I switched to a different port, started the test again, this time around, all 3 of my devices (MBP, iPad, and Nexus 7) were able to connect to the AP successfully, and online connection was also reasonably good - looks like the Hawking router is getting old and becoming less reliable.  Started working on the TP-LINK range extender, configuring it was relatively easy, unlike the router/bridge/AP setup yesterday.  After trying several different placement locations, only one showed acceptable performance, it is on top of the small chest of drawer near the entrance, placing a range extender there might not be a good idea, need to come up with a better solution.

Peilee left for dorm in 新竹園區 at 7:30, he would drop off Sharon at Tina's place on his way.

2/9/2015:  My irregular heartbeat was getting more irritating, meditation has not made any difference yet.  Blood pressure taken this morning was 126/75/60 average.  Went for walk at 2:00PM at 碧湖公園, made 3 circles - two counter clockwise and one clockwise - in one hour, not a real workout but it's better than nothing.  Stopped at 郵局 to check passbook balance - NT27000 + 42x2 interests.  Had my eyes examined at 寶島眼鏡行 on my way back, the conclusion was that they could not do much for my eye sight, meaning new glasses weren't necessary, I don't know if I'll be able to renew my driver's license next year without improving my eye sight.

Got extremely sleepy and went to bed at 8:00PM.

2/10/2015: Woke up around 2:00AM, listened to 天龍八部 but dozed off from time to time, finally fell asleep around 6:00, got up at 8:30.  Started to clean up and rearrange stuff in balcony at the back from 10:00 to 3:00 - break for lunch for about 2 hours.  Will work on the balcony floor after getting some chemical stuff from 全聯 tomorrow.  Went to bed at 11:00 after taking a hot shower - skipped shampoo.


2/11/2015: Woke up at 4:00, listened to 天龍八部 until 6:30.  Had two different kind of buns, half each - I could eat nothing but buns all day :-)  Went to 全聯 and got newspaper, cleaning sprays,  NS a white turnip.  Worked on the balcony floor, the cleaning spray I bought from 全聯 did not work - unlike CLR, hard scrub as well as scraping are the only way to remove the hard water deposit on tile surfaces.  Had thin noodles for lunch.  Went for walk in 碧湖公園, 3 circles around the lake, 2 clockwise and one counter clockwise.  Purchased some grapes and dates, got some buns as well. Mom finished the floor with dish washing solution, seemed to work.  Ah-Fen brought dinner home, two varieties of dumplings - cabbage and chive - all very tasty, I had 12 of them, the hot and sour soup was good too.


2/12/2015: Finished 天龍八部 while in bed and awake :-)  Got up at 7:00.  Went for a walk toward 大湖, stopped by 㨗運內湖站, learned that my 悠遊卡 still has a balance of NT330.  Crossing 金湖路 on 成功路 maybe up to 2 minutes depending on your arrival time.  Although there's a slope of about 5 degree uphill after the cross section, it's not enough for a good exercise.  As was expected, the 松青 super market no longer existed.  Cross 成功路 and walked back home, made a detour and visited 順意百貨, did not see the magnet hook I was looking for, got several small stationary containers instead.  Threaded the turnip I bought yesterday - need to remember to get a couple of carrots tomorrow.  Turned in around 10:00.

2/13/2015: Got up at 7:00, had the smallest breakfast - halves of each of the remaining two buns.  Went with mom to 湖光市場 at 9:00, got back at 9:30, rushed to 全聯, all 蘋果日報 were gone already, got one bag of carrots, two bags of instant noodle, one bottle of 58˚ 金門高梁 and one bottle of 大麯, 4 bags of 可樂果, and 2 bags of 南瓜子.  Had instant noodle plus left over dishes for lunch.

Walked 15 minutes to 松青 near 文德㨗運站, they don't have the kitchen wash cloth I had been looking for. Their grocery price is about 10% higher than 全聯.  Didn't do much the rest of the afternoon.  Peilee came home at 6:45.  Since I am not a PCHOME registered member, a new member may not get order shipped within specific time, so Peilee helped ordered 2 table tennis rubbers - Butterfly Sriver (NT1180) and Flextra (NT650), not sure the delivery date though.  Turned in at 11:20.

2/14/2015: Got up at 7:00, had 2/3 of a 糯米飯團, plus a small cup of soy milk.  Cleaned up the kitchen a little more.  Peilee's RAM purchased last night was delivered at 11:00AM - really fast.

Sis and Maggie came over around 1:00PM, as a tradition she did a flower arrangement for Chinese New Year.  I handed her a bag of Macadamia chocolate, a can of Mocha Roca, and a box of Harry & David Moose Munch.  Went for walk with Peilee, Ah-fen, and Sharon after hot pot dinner, my usual route except detour to famous 737巷 美食街, there were so many food stands along the street, we did not have anything, too full, maybe next time.  We rode bus #紅2 back home.

2/15/2015: Got up at 7:00.  Cleaned the range hood.  Went and got stuff from 全聯 at 2:30 - wash cloth, beer, two varieties of sausages, 可樂果, 海苔小魚, and 山東白菜.
Working the menu for an hour and then a missed finger touch select all followed by a blank space wiped out everything - damn!  The copy on MBP disappeared right after I did a sync, may have something to do with the time difference, I kept the San Jose time on MBP which is earlier than Taipei time, anything changed on iPad appeared to be newer and thus takes precedence.  Turned in at 11:00.

2/16/2015: Got up at 7:00, had 2 small pieces of garlic bread for breakfast - less calorie.  Visited 內湖
Costco at 10:00 - very crowded, got one bottle of red wine, white wine and  金門高梁 each, got one large bag of mixed 米果, and a versatile power strip.  Irregular heartbeat bothered me more this morning.  Finished up placing kitchen utility rack shelf cover.

The two home network files for 內湖 and 永和 are dated 2009 and locked, I don't remember adding passcodes to them, without access to the file for 永和, I won't be able to setup a new router for Anita, the only hope is that Kwanghua can somehow find username/password info for their Internet account.
Turned in at 11:00 - discovered that Mercury News still showed up on the driveway.

2/17/2015: Got up at 7:30 - considered lazy.  Peilee started cleaning the floor while I started removing leftover glue goos from the rugs to be replaced, it did not work when using the regular cleaning agents, so I switched to the old goo-be-gone (not sure how old it was) and the goos gradually came off - amazing that it still performs.  Went to 全聯 and got 香菇, 杏鮑菇, 小黃瓜, 米素, 培根, and 米酒.  The new router TL-R841HP Peilee ordered last night arrived around 2:00, started setting it up but ran into problem, the WAN connection can not be established no matter what I tried, finally Peilee discovered that he had changed the password for his Hinet account, everything worked after the correct password was in place.  Sliced a portion of the cuttle fish, fairly easy, mom will likely make the rest of the cuttle fish into 滷味 tomorrow.  Went and got a piece of 湖南臘肉
from 新東陽 downstairs.  Dinner was at a Ramen restaurant in 東湖 - 博多拉麵 is a chain store from Japan famous for its soup base (豬骨湯) - I gave it a 4/5 rating for its taste and price.
Worked on New Year's Eve dinner menu - 10 dishes plus soup.

2/18/2015: New Year's Eve finally.  Got up at 6:50, Peilee and Ah-feng went to the market before I finished my morning 香功.  Called Anita ahead of schedule since we are going to 慈恩園 soon.  Took 㨗運文湖線 13 stops to get to 麟光站, after 10 minutes in line, shuttle bus took us to 慈恩園.  Finished the whole process in 40 minutes.  Consumed some of the food we brought before coming back to 內湖.  Placed 清蒸海鮮 ingredients in six steel cans - to be steamed later, steamed 臘腸, 臘肉, and 肝腸 in rice cooker, sliced and placed them along with threaded turnip/carrot - 富貴拼盤II,  cooked 花菇, 香菇, and 杏鮑菇, added special sauce and plating done - 鮮菇團圓.  Peeled 烏魚子 after soaking them in 米酒, cooked them in medium heat for about 5 minutes but discovered they were not ready, went back and cooked them in high heat for another 5 minutes, appeared to be ready.
Finally set timer and steamed 清蒸海鮮 in rice cooker for 10 minutes, the shrimps in the cans were still raw - realized that even though the amount of time used was roughly the same as last year, the cans were placed at the bottom of the rice cooker which absorbed more heat and thus got cooked faster - the cans were placed on a rack instead this year; reset timer and extended cooking time 5 minutes more and it worked this time (a total of 15 minutes cooking time if placed on a rack in the rice cooker).

Dinner started at 6:30 and ended at 7:30, even though I tried to change dishes that require less preparation but it's obvious that it is not very popular - once again I was trying to view things my way - bad idea.  Turned in at 11:00, I set up the tablet to watch our driveway so I can see Anita leaving the house but fell asleep and missed the event.

2/19/2015: Got up at 8:15, helped mom preparing 年糕 - our annual tradition.  Finished breakfast by 10:00, over stuffed again - very sleepy afterward.  It's 1:30PM, time for lunch but I don't have any desire to eat but mom still put out 10 dishes.  Had the minimum I could take.  Anita's flight 171 arrived more than one hour earlier, Anita called from NRT with Skype at 2:45, she also called her 永和.  Went to 永祥西點麵包店 to see their gifts (拌手禮), nothing suitable for me, visited 美麗華 to examine Nexus 9, HTC is charging NT13900 without any additional accessories.  Ended up getting two boxes of Hand Made Mochi Gift from 新東陽 (NT220 each with one additional Tea Plum Jelly [茶梅果凍]) instead - gift bags included :-).  Got called twice today from 阿山 to setup a classmate dinner reunion, schedule has been changed a couple of times and just got an e-mail from him changing schedule to Friday (2/27) again, hopefully this is the final deal.  Called 光華 to get 博愛街地址 - 35巷3弄1樓.  Anita's flight NH1083 was delayed 33 minutes, actual arrival time was 19 minutes late (9:14PM instead of 8:55PM).  Anita called at 9:50, she's already on 國光號 heading taipei, 堪慈 is already waiting at 博愛街 house.

2/20/2015: Got up at 7:35.  Traditional wife's home-revisiting-day.  Peilee still gave me ride to 永和 but I'll have to find my way back to 內湖 tonight since they will be staying overnight at Ah-Feng parent's old house in 苗栗.  Left the house at 9:15, got to 永和文化路口at 9:40, walked to 博愛街 house around 9:49.  After some preparation, Anita and I walked to 小妹/Y頭 house at 10:12.  I could not setup the router as Y頭 could not find the Internet account info, maybe next time.  Had lunch at their house, preparation was, once again, very time consuming.  Played Mahjong for a couple of hours, I lost NT400 - everyone else won.  Dinner was at 光耀/秀滿 house, Anita and I walked her mom there, took about 30 minutes - more than twice the normal time, her mom is also showing some recurring memory problems, hope it's not Alzheimer.
碧湖Left 光耀 home at 9:45, walked to 頂溪車站 at 10:00, 中瀘線轉板南線轉文湖線, got back to 內湖 residence at 11:00, waiting time was about 10 minutes in total.

2/21/2015: Got up at 8:00.  Had coffee and a sweet 饅頭 for breakfast - not bad.  Did not do much in the morning, had fast noodle plus shrimps for lunch.  I only made 2 circles around 碧湖 park as there were a lot of people there - not sure if it's because of the New Year or weekend or the combination of both - a little difficult to focus on walking, had to yield and dodge constantly, at times also need to wait behind slow moving people.  No pastry store was open but I got some packaged buns in 全聯 even though they only have a few varieties, also got another bottle of instant coffee as the previous one is running low.  Provided Anita with her Yahoo as well as Gmail account info.  Peilee and family came home at 10:38PM - nearly 6 hours on the freeway.  Paid Anthem online at 10:40PM.

2/22/2015: Woke up at 2:30, got in and out of sleep mode continuously until getting up at 8:00.  The buns I got from 全聯 were really big compared to ones from bakery stores, I had to finish it in two phases.  Made sea food wrap with purchased mix (in fish paste) and 腐皮, steamed them first before lightly fried - not bad when consumed with cucumber pickles.

2/23/2015: Got up at 8:15.  Had one mochi and coffee for breakfast - attempted to shed some weight. Watched Oscar live - possibly the first time here in Taipei.  Found out how to download films from Funshion.com using its app also found out my new iPad Air has less than 15G storage remaining.  Walked 碧湖 lake trail twice, very light but steady mist like rain throughout my walk, that may have caused some sweat.  Anita called, will visit her tomorrow at 2:00PM - need to take 㨗運 for about an hour.  Had hot pot for dinner.  Watched several episodes of 射雕英雄傳, interesting to refresh what I remembered.  Turned in at 1:00AM.

2/24/2015: Got up at 8:00.  Visited 全聯, got newspaper, snacks to take back, a bag of bamboo shoots, and mom's 細關東麵.  Anita called and changed dinner to lunch since she's canceled lunch date.  Left the house at 9:50, took Metro and got to 永和 at 10:55.  Walked with Anita and her mom to lunch restaurant - took about 40 minutes.  The restaurant (name?) serves nice dim-song style dishes, moderate quantity but very tasty.  Kwanghua treated us because she passed the ranking level test.  Played Mahjong for 2 hours before attempting the router setup, it turned out that their Internet connection was Dynamic IP based, meaning no account name/password is required, I simply connected the WAN wire from the modem to the router WAN port plus LAN port on the router to the PC it worked right away - didn't even reboot the modem.  Both iPads and the notebook got online after entering the default Wi-Fi passcode (as printed at the back of the router), this is the easiest router setup ever for me.  Left their house at 4:30, got to 頂溪 Metro station at 4:45, got back to 內湖 residence at 5:35 - beats norm by 10 minutes.

2/25/2015: Got up at 8:15.  Watched second half of "Letters from Iwo Jima", a fairly touching film by Clint Eastwood.  Called 周大哥嫂家, 周大嫂 answered the phone but said she will call me back later as she was going out.  周大哥 called around 1:00PM, they seemed very busy the next two days and me the rest of my stay - or maybe it's not that important if we meet at all :-)  So we will see each other at the end of April in San Jose.  I waited 30 minutes from number 379 till 400 (my number) and deposited NT12000 at 碧湖郵局.  Stopped by 百利金生活百貨 and found Silicon lids, got 3 different sizes of them - one each.  Also got some bananas and 芭樂 (NT10 each), got several buns (2 small and one large) for breakfast tomorrow.  Sharon called, she's most likely not coming home for dinner - at the library searching for info.  Had some leftover dishes plus 8 dumplings Ah-Feng bought for dinner - not bad.

2/26/2015: Got up at 8:10 - did not fall asleep until after 2:30AM, didn't know why. Had buns from yesterday for breakfast and lunch (finished all of them), also had a small bowl of mom's noodle during lunch.  Visited 全聯 and got some teas to take home, a small bottle of 101 高粱 for the next 3 nights.  Peilee came home at 7:05, tomorrow is a adjusted holiday - 228 - new policy move holiday to Friday or Monday when they fall on Saturday or Sunday respectively.  Got some medication from 杏佳藥局: 萬金油 - NT83, Mentholatum (曼秀雷敦) - NT105, Flur Di Fen Patch (富帝芬貼片) - NT100 each, bought 5 and got one free, and Teiria Gel (思舒酸痛凝膠) - NT75.

2/27/2015: Got up at 8:15.  Left house at 9:55, got on Metro at 10:05, got to 頂溪站 at 10:44, got to Kwanghua/Kwanghui's house at 10:55 - exactly one hour.  Had Pizza from a nearby local pizza house for lunch, a little disappointed at their 4-cheese flavor, the amount of cheese is pretty much negligible - an insult to the name, 大嫂 joined us for lunch.  Played Mahjong for 4 rounds, made NT20, left for Metro station at 5:05, got there at 5:15, got to 市政府站 at 5:45, Walked to 三井 cuisine after correcting a mistake by crossing the street where I should have turn right at 5:55, found the entrance by 6:00 - it's a so-called low key high class Japanese restaurant.  Had 刺身, 帝王蟹, 烤鯛魚, 烤干貝, 蛤蜊湯, 甜點, and coffee.

The only photo I could find online that represents the actual dish I had - 刺身.


2/28/2015: Got up at 8:45 - exhausted.  Finished most of the packing by 11:00. Steamed/sliced/plated 臘味, sliced/plated bamboo shoot/ham.  Need only work on scrambled squid and cucumber.  Had lunch at 2:15PM as mom came home late due to medical exam.  Anita arrived at 2:30 while we were still having lunch :-)  Watched the last one hour of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, window shopped at Hangten and Net for Anita's short sleeves - nothing appropriate was found.  Sister arrived at 6:45 with a birthday cake.  Had dinner and cake plus some photos.  Accompanying Anita downstairs, she is taking Bus 21 to 圓山 and connect Metro there.  Still undecided on what pants to wear - 9:15PM.  Decided to wear the microfiber sportswear along with the heavy jacket,  put a light hoodie in the backpack in case it gets too cold, I will also be wearing the cargo style sports convertible since it has plenty of pockets to carry passports, wallet, and much more - and it's more comfortable.

3/1/2015: Got up at 5:20, got out of the house and went downstairs at 6:35, Tina came along, she's going back to school.  got to Taoyuan airport at 7:15, there were tons of vehicles waiting to drop off passengers, it took nearly 5 minutes just for me to get off the car, there were even more people inside the airport, obviously it is now very common to take trips abroad, although it didn't take long to drop off my luggage but security check and custom took nearly half an hour, lines were similar to theme park.  Flight NH1084 was delayed from9:15 to 9:35 but arrival time in NRT was 1:09, one minutes ahead of schedule.  The fish meal on board was good, I had a bottle of white wine - French Chardonnay, not bad.  the flight took only 2 hours and 34 minutes.  Connecting flight security check at NRT wasn't crowded at all, it took less than 10 minutes before I got to the boarding gate.  Now the only thing is that I need to wait 3 hours before boarding NH172 :-)
Called Anita using iPod Touch with ear phone, she's having dinner with Dora and Sharon at 101 tonight.  NH172 took of at 5:40, 10 minutes behind schedule.  Had a red wine for lunch, watched Kill the Messenger, The Judge, and Whiplash, tried but gave up watching Birdman after 20 minutes - either I was too tired or wasn't entertaining.  Landed at San Jose airport pretty much on schedule.  Took nearly one hour to get off plane and went through custom, first the line stopped in a corridor before I could see the custom gates, the line moved slowly for 20 minutes and only then I realized that the line was for non-citizen/PR, took another 5 minutes to get through custom in citizen/PR line, there's another surprise - all passengers must have their luggages examined by scanner, this had never happened before, not sure why.  Called Yolly after getting out of the custom building, she asked me to wait at gate 4 by the exit and she's coming from Millbrae, I realized that something wasn't right after hanging up the phone, she was expecting me to be at SFO - what a mixup, took her 25 minutes to get back to San Jose and picked me up.  Got home at 11:45.

2015 movie experience

The Hobbit (The Battle of The Five Armies): Second of the Hobbit series, a different story line and long battles - maybe a bit too long (144 minutes) (1/5/2015: SantanaRow CineArts)

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1: Third of the Hunger Games series, still as exciting and entertaining as the previous two (1/13/2015: SantanaRow CineArts)

The Imitation Game: The true story of the invention of code breaker to German's Enigma during WWII (1/20/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

The Equalizer: A retired black ops government operative (Denzel Washington) fights Russian mobsters for those persecuted individuals (2/5/2015: ANA flight NH171 from San Jose to NRT)

Fury: The story of a world war II American tank staff sergeant (2/5/2015: ANA flight NH171 from San Jose to NRT)

Lucy: The effect of increased brain efficiency caused by substance CPH4 (Originally watched last year in theater, 2/5/2015: ANA flight NH171 from San Jose to NRT)

Whiplash: (3/1/2015: ANA flight 172 from NRT to San Jose)

The Judge: (3/1/2015: ANA flight 172 from NRT to San Jose)

Kill The Messenger: (3/1/2015: ANA flight 172 from NRT to San Jose)

Birdman (quit watching after 20 minutes): (3/1/2015: ANA flight 172 from NRT to San Jose)

Avengers Age of Ultron: (5/19/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

Spy: (6/9/2015: SantanaRow CineArts)

Inside Out: (6/23/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

Minions: (7/13/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

Trainwreck: Amy Schumer as lead actress and writer (7/27/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation: Tome Cruise, Jeremy Renner (8/4/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

Bridge of Spies: Tom Hank, a true cold war era spy exchange story (11/09/2015: SantanaRow CineArts)

Hunger Game, Mockingjay, Part II: The final Hunger Game series. (11/26/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

Star War: The Force Awakens: The 7th Star War series. (12/28/2015: Century 20 Great Mall)

2014 Mediterranean Trip (11/20/2014 - 12/6/2014)

{Barcelona/Malaga time = San Jose time + 9, time at all other ports = San Jose time + 8}

Excluding trips to Taiwan, this is our first 2014 trip abroad, a little nervous about all the uncertainties.  We will board connecting flight at Frankfurt to Barcelona.

11/20/2014:  Jack came by at 10:50, we drove in rain and got to SFO at 11:45, took a while to check in as my name on the reservation does not match that of my passport.  Side note - there are more self-checkin individuals these days, UA opened up one whole isle (of counters) to accommodate these people.  We went in the UA Club using 2 complimentary passes (from Mileage Plus Explorer credit card) before boarding, it is a very basic lounge, only coffee, cookie, small carrot bag, and cheese were served.  UA has a different/better lounge for business class travelers - no free lunch after all.  Boarding was delayed by 10 minutes, and departure was delayed by 75 minutes - 3:05 instead of the scheduled 1:50pm.

Anita selected seats 61E and 61G on the last row of the plane during reservation, hoping there won't be anyone sitting between us, and we were lucky this time⊙﹏⊙.

The new flight time was 10 hours and 34 minutes, just 50 minutes before our connecting flight at Frankfurt, not sure if we can make it (︶^︶)

The flight's delay was caused by some kind of mechanical problem, after 2 and a half hour's  flight, our pilot announced that this plane is to land in Chicago - the problem which caused the original delay at SFO was not fixed.  We landed at Chicago Oh'are airport at 6:48pm (8:48pm local time).  Got to councourse B at 7:10pm for customer service.  Waited over 3 hours until a special/different counter called us over and processed our rebooking and motel/meal voucher.  When we were done and walk by the original line, there were still 30 people waiting.  The direction given by the clerk was very unclear, it took us quite a while to find the shuttle bus stop.  We waited almost an hour for the bus but could only watch buses from other hotel/motel came and went.  There was no phone number to call and the Wi-Fi does not work.  Finally we found out from someone waiting in the vicinity that the motel phone number is right at the help desk (there was none there at the desk as it is 11:45PM local time), we called the motel to learn that they do not send shuttle unless we call - nobody told us that, plus it will take half an hour for the shuttle to get here, well...  We got on the shuttle at 12:23, it left for La Quinta Inn at 12:30, got to the motel and checked in at 1:00am, this is a cheap (very) motel, we did not have any hanger in our room and the front desk clerk could not provide any, gee……, oh since we did not have our luggages with us, we had to manage with whatever we had on.

The temperature here was 15°F -> 9°C below zero.

11/21/2014: Stayed awake most of the night, got up at 7:30 to get some breakfast, there appeared to be more guests than we thought, the breakfast area was filled with people - I guest we checked in really late to see anybody then :-)  Breakfast was OK, muffin, pastry, bagel, bread, boiled egg, coffee, and fruits (banana and apple).  Rested in our room until 11:30 when we checked out and waited for the shuttle, boarded the shuttl at 11:55, got to Ord airport at 12:20.  We asked an UA representive to help with our luggages, making sure that they are routed properly to Barcelona.  Went through security, a little different from SFO, there was no special line prepared here.  Bought an jalapeno burger , one mid size bottle water, and a snack bar for just over $13, used 2 of final 4 vouchers (worth $7 each).  Anita went to another UA counter to check the status of our luggages again, took nearly 15 minutes, hopefully they will show up at Barcelona airport when we get there.  Bought a Chinese benton box and a bottle of water from the food court next to boarding gate C18.  Anita went and checked with UA counter once more time and learned that they are ready to be loaded onto the plane, good job Anita!  Flight 2059 was late to the gate at 3:55, boarding started 60 minutes late at 4:35, plane took off at 5:45pm (4:10 scheduled).  Based on the large crowd at the waiting room, we thought this flight will be jam packed, but after boarding (we belong to group 2 because of tickets purchased through MileagePlus Explorer credit card), the back portion of the plane was only 60% full, a pleasant surprise for us, Anita (at 57D) is sharing 4 seats with one other passenger - she would have all 4 seats to herself if that passenger did not move from her originally assigned seat.  I (at 57C) was also lucky to see the 2 seats next to me stayed unoccupied  throuhout the boarding process, thank God.  Had dinner and a light breakfast during the flight - meals on UA are at best edibles.

11/22/2014: We landed at Frankfurt airport at 8:23am vs scheduled 7:18am.   Shuttle took us to the terminal after we got off the plane through rear exit.  After non-stop walk, security check, and more walk, we finally got to gate A24 at 9:40am, ready for flight to Barcelona.  Boarded the plane a few minutes behind schedule, my seat at 11A was right next to an emergency exit, a lot of leg room.  We took off at 10:28, just a few minutes late (10:15 scheduled).  A small croissant sandwich was served during the flight - a surprise for us since this is a short one hour and 40 minutes flight, no US airlines would provide anything like this on domestic flights.  Landed at Barcelona at 12:02pm.  Got our luggages fairly quickly, found and got on Aerobus at 12:55pm (€5.9 each).  It took less than 30 minutes to get to Plaça Catalunya (Barcelona downtown bus terminal), walked 15 minutes to get to Pension Mariluz (our hostel), but took all my energy to carry 2 luggages upstairs (3rd floor - our 4th floor).  Wi-Fi appears very slow but usable for non-urgent online needs.  We wanted to take a nap (started at 2:00pm) but ended up sleeping throughout the night - exhausted.  There's no TV in the room - possibly the first time since we started traveling 2008 and living in hostels.

11/23/2014: Got up at 9:30 - totally unaware the late hour.  Made it out of the door at 9:50, had breakfast at the nearby cafe elFornet, coffee (more like our latte) and pastry for two cost €8.95 Euros.

Strolled around neighborhood streets, ran into an authentic flee market in Placa Reial where people sell everything from used shoes, used clothes, used cell phones, old coins, stamps, to old watches.

Got several bananas and a large bottle water from a nearby store (€1.21 for 5 bananas, and €2.25 for the bottle water).  Got a sandwich (€2.8) for lunch from a pastry store on our way visiting "Palau Guell", the house designed by Antoni Gaudi, ticket for Palau Guell is €12 each.  The tour began at 1:12 and ended by 3:00.  Got a Subway tuna sandwich for €7 - very fresh.

11/24/2014: Got up at 6:00 although I didn't sleep much at all.  Had breakfast at elFornet again - it's a bit early as there wasn't much pastry choices, total cost €7.30.  Walked 15 minutes to visit Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, it looked rundown on the outside but appeared well maintained on the inside.  The Picasso Museum is closed on every  Monday, will try visiting it the next time.  Visied Carrefour to replenish our food supply, got a box of salad for dinner, a box of curry chicken with small shrimp & rice for lunch, a box of Napolitana chocolate and another box of chocolate croissants for breakfast, also got a small box of instant coffee, we also got a bottle of 1L Spanish wine (€1.30) - cheaper than the famous Trader Joe’s two-buck-chuck.  Viisited Park De La Ciutadella, Passeig De Lluis Companys, and Arc de Triomf.  The Font De La Cascada in Park DeLa Ciutadella is an interesting cascade fountain designed by Antoni Gaudi.

The curry chicken and shrimp rice is our first hot meal since we got here, very tasty :)

Went to bed at 9:00pm and woke up at 1:30am.  Did some soul searching, no conclusion as usual.

11/25/2014: Went back to sleep at 4:30am,  got up at 6:30, had instant coffee and chocolate croissant for breakfast.  Left for Metro station at 8:15, €2.15 to get to Sants station, walked about 5 minutes to get to Barcelona Train Station, speed train ticket to Figueres is €33 round trip - it only took 55 minutes to get to Figueres, less than half the time it would take from a regular train.  Schedudle for our train: 9:20-10:15 to Figueres, and 2:55-3:50pm for the return trip.  This train continues to Lyon (and can go all the way to Paris), and to Madrid the opposite direction.  This train stopped at Girona (it may not stop if no one gets on or off) at 9:59.  Arriving Figueres ontime at 10:15.  Took the bus (10:25) instead of walking as information center suggested - safer - bus ticket was €1.7.  Walked 10 minutes after getting off the bus near the town center to Dali Theatre Museum at 10:43.  Entrance fee was €12 per person, we did not expect to see so much stuff from Salvador Dalí, we spent 2 and a half hour there, Dali was a true artist and genius, he paint, draw, sculpt, photograph, write, and film, but to our utmost surprise was his jewelry design, fascinating and breathtaking, we took a lot of pictures from this visit.

We waited for the bus on the opposite side of the street the street where we got off but did not see any coming, so we asked around and decided to walk back to the speed train station instead.  The Spain tour book by 邱宗翎 misleaded me, he claimed that the train station was on southeast of the museum, he was actually referring to the regular train station, not the high speed train station.  This info screwed up all my intrepatation of my digital map and made me looked stupid than usual :(

Walked back to Figueres/Vilfante station at 2:10pm - with the help of several locals, 2 of the 3 people who helped us spoke decent English, unusual for a small town like this.  Figueres/Vilfante is a high speed train only station, much like Taiwan's 高鐵車站 which is separate from regular train stations.  Enjoyed a foot-long bread like pizza from the station cafe, not bad.  This station has free Wi-Fi (SSID = huawei).  Security check opened at 2:40, train took off ontime at 2:55.  Got to Barcelona ontime at 3:50.  Stopped by Carrefour, got a bottle of red wine for €3.7, 3-pack small Crin Roja red wine for €4.15, and 2 dinner boxes (these will be our dinner for tonight and breakfast tomorrow) for €5 each.

A side note, the high speed rail station Figueres/Vilafant was open in 2010 but the comercial operation did not start until January, 2013.

Consumed all but one small bottle of Crin Roja, ready for bed.....

11/26/2014: Slept through 2:00am, stayed awake mostly until getting up at 6:30.  Finished most of the packing before breakfast - coffee and leftover Napo pastry - could have gotten more :)  It rained heavily in the morning and did not die down by the time we left the hostel, luckily we each prepared a light raincoat, walked to the cruise terminal bus (€2 each) stop, got on and arrived at the cruise check-in area at 11:25.  Finished checkin at 11:30 (it pays to come in earlier), waited until 11:45 to get onboard, got to our stateroom at 11:55, this was the first time ever that we made onboard before 12 noon.  Need to adjust time one hour back after leaving Barcelona port as the remaining cruise, with the exception of Malaga, Spain, the time zone will be GMT+0.00.

Before setting sail, a routine 4:30 fire drill was held, our assembly station being Deck7, B1.  After taking a nap, discovered that due to high wind and high wave (10 m), the capatin has cancelled Casablanca as well as Funchal ports, instead we are going to Valencia, Spain and Tangier, Morroco.  Went to bed around 10:00.

11/27/2014: Woke up at 5:00, got ip at 6:30, got breakfast at 6:45 - had an omlete, a pouched egg (interestingly shaped), and a bagel with cream cheese and smoke salmon.  Ship docked at Valencia at 7:45.

Left the ship at 9:00, Anita checked with information and decided we take city bus instead, bus stop is right across the street from the terminal  behind a building.  Bus number 95 goes to Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias Oceanographic whereas number 4 goes to Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias.  €1.5 each.  Bus 95 took us to Ciudad in less than 5 minutes.  This place is a collection of aquarium, theme park, and ... These are modern architecture, very beautiful and grand.  Took the same bus back to Estacion de Maritima Acciona at 11:00.  Stoppeb by Blue Lagoon (the 24 hour snack bar) and had a 6-piece buffalo wing and chicken tender.  Went out again, this time taking bus number 4 to old city center at 1:20.  Since we had been here last year and been to most of the must-see places, we only browsed the sourounding area near the bus stop and got on the bus at 2:50 to head back to the ship.  While I was trying to get online with Nexus 5 at the terminal, the line waiting to get onboard got longer, by the time we decided to give up getting online, the line had grown even longer, extended outside and crossed the street - this had something to do with 2 ships (Jade and Spirit) from NCL came in at the same time and schedule to leave the port at the same time - we waited about 25 minutes before cleared the security check point and got back to our stateroom.  Had a so-so snack in Ruffles as it is not open to dinner yet.  The NCL Jade left the port first.  The Spirit left after 10 minutes, it pretty much sail parallel to the coast line of south Spain.  Went to bed at 9:30.

11/28/2014: Time zone change - roll back one hour.  Got up at 6:45, had breakfsat at 7:00.

This is the first sea day.  Planned to do some exercise.  Checked out deck 7 walk area and got a cold, had to miss the 1:00 cocktail party, Anita was mad at me not showing up but what can I say:-(  Slept all day.

11/29/2014: Left the ship 8:30 to explore Tangier - since this is an unexpected stop, I did not prepared any information, ship only provided overall tour info for their excursion.

It took quite som effort (Anita's road direction check with anyone, locals and fellow tourists, we met on the way.  The places we wanted to see weren't easy to find without a guide, even though we found the old Medina but we could not find the location where you can see Europe (Gibrolta), there were a couple of locals eagerly pressing to show us the place - we ended up following one and paid a little - he was asking 10 Euros.  Got back to the terminal at 11:50 where Anita took a souvenir break.  Had lunch at 12:33,

Chicken Parmigana - lunch meal, not bad.  Oliver Dahan - movie director of "La vie en rose/玫瑰人生"

Went to bed at 7:15 as the wave began to make us uncomfortable.

11/30/2014: Second sea day.  The ship rocked up and down continuously, the only thing we could do without feeling sick was lying down in bed.  We skipped breakfast, I got up at 12:00 and went to Ruffles to get something to eat, surprised to see lots of people dinning there, obviously not affected by the waves.  I got a few southern fried chicken, a chicken burger, and a glass of water, took them back to the cabin - this took less than 10 minutes but I was sweating and feeling sick.  Kept on sleeping/lying in bed to avoid sick feeling.

12/01/2014: Woke up every 10 minutes, check the time, went back to sleep, ... Finally got up at 7:30, the ship slowly approaches Santa Cruz port.  Had breakfast at 8:00 - not enjoyinging it much as my body's still struggling to regain consciousness.  Failed to get GPS signal on deck 7, finally got it after going up to deck 13 and moving about several minutes.  It was sprinkling and the sky was covered with dark clouds.

Even though I felt weak, I went along with Anita to see the city of Santa Cruz, walked instead of taking ship's free shuttle, had to walk slowly to catch with my breath - I guess the nearly two days of seasickness plus a prior cold all add up.  The weather here is sunny with frequent showers and occasional rain.  We stopped at a McDonald's on Calle de Castillo, seemed a very popular place, foot traffic was high, Anita bought a coffee from a machine.  Walked along the same street trying to find a local market, walked passed it along the upper street and had to come back down and finally found the "Mercado Nuestra Senora De Africa", it's a refinished market that bared the history of early settlers, not very big but has enough stores that provide produce, meat, cheese,... etc for locals.

Got back to the cabin at 12:45.  Lunch at 12:55.

Left ship again at 2:00, we rode the free shuttle this time at 2:07, arrived at shuttle stop at 2:11.  Just strolled around aimlessly for an hour.

Got on the shuttle at 3:20 (waited about 10 minutes) and got back to our cabin at 3:35.  Felt much better after taking a hot bath, hope I can build up enough strength so that I don't suffer as much when going at-sea to Malaga Spain the day after tomorrow.

Ship left the dock at 5:00.  The ship's movement started to affect our balances right after dinner, we had to hurry back to our room after getting a couple of T-shirts from the ship store.  Turned in at 7:45.

12/02/2014: The night went well, the sail overnight wasn't as bad as anticipated.  Got up at 6:50, had breakfast at 7:25.  Disembark at 9:00, the free shuttle took us to tourist information booth near Charco de san gines where we started our tour.  Rode the shuttle back at 11:00 (waited about 10 minutes on the shuttle, as it must depart at prescheduled time).  Got back to the ship at 11:10.  Had a snack for early lunch.  Disembark again at 11:50, shuttle took off at 12:00. Took 1:10 shuttle back to the ship, earlier than we planned- it got a bit windy and Anita's back hurts.  Had dinner at 5:05, try to eat as much as we could since we do not expect to dine in Ruffles tomorrow due to seasickness.  Trying to push back seasickness as much as possible by doing things and walking around the decks, but it's a pity that there's only so much one can do.

12/03/2014: Third sea day, pray that it won't be as bad as the last one which disabled both of us and stayed in bed nearly all 36 hours.  Woke up at 7:00, ate the pastries we stashed away yesterday, felt better, went back to bed since it's still dark.  Woke up again at 9:00, the sea appeared calmer so we went up to Ruffles to have some breakfast, the restaurant was jam packed - apparently most passengers felt the same, found a table to sit (quite challenge), it got warmer as the sun beamed through the windows.  We had to lie down after getting back to our cabin, it seemed that lower decks are more susceptible to waves.  Stayed in bed the rest of the day.  Anita was more affected by the ship's tumbling and throwed up once.  The sail became smooth after 10:00pm.

12/04/2014: Got up at 6:50, had breakfast at 7:00.  Sunrise here was rather late at 8:13.  Got on city bus at the terminal at 9:30, round trip ticket is €4.  First stop was La Alzacaba, this one was easy to access (went through a tunnel, bought tickets at €2.1 each, then ride the elevator), but the complex was a bit smaller than expected.  It took us quite a while to find our way back to ground level - to trek to the entrance to Castillo de Gibralfaro.  The walk to its entrance was very challenging, took nearly 20 minutes.  Entrance fee was €0.6 - senior price, €2 regular price.  This castle was well maintained considering that it was over 500 years old, the entire Malaga city can be seen.

Got back to the city bus stop at 2:00, bus took off at 2:10, 12 minutes ride and 10 minutes walk through the maze -   ran to the ship's restaurant (lunch items would be removed after 2:30) and grabbed a quick lunch.  The terminal Wi-Fi charged €2 per hour.  Anita went back to the room to get cash for the Wi-Fi as we thought it was free.  The stupid login even requires user name be case sensitive, obsurd.  It was slow like hell, couldn't get on United website after 5 minutes.

Need to check
- If Lufthansa cancael/delay our flight
- Weather in Barcelona (12/6)

- Home webcam

12/05/2014: Very calm night, got up at 7:00, at 7:30 the Ruffles restaurant was nearly empty, we wondered if some passengers got off at Malaga, Spain .  Started a little packing, I got 6 (5?) T-shirts, not sure if they can fit in the luggage easily.  Lunch at 12:00, dinner at 6:00, Star Dust movie - Think like a man 2 -  at 3:00.  Started packing at 6:30, done by 8:00.  Set alarms on iPad and Nexus 7, went to bed at 9:30.

12/06/2014:  Did not get much sleep as the worry of waking up late got to me.  Got up at 4:40 before the alarms.  Disembark before 5:30, we are likely the first ones disembark.  Hopped on a black and yellow (official color) taxi and got to the airport at 6:00, charge was €42.95 including €8.40 surcharge (€4.20 for to/from airport and €4.20 for to/from cruise line port) - essentially the sum of meter charge and surcharges.

The UA counter won't open until 7:45, we had to wait.  The airport Wi-Fi provides 30 minutes free access after registering with e-mail info.  United app on Nexus 7 crashed right after I checked in Anita but before processing cheked bag.  Stood in line at 7:15.  Line moved at 7:45, finished checkin at 8:05.  Security check was tight as this flight goes to NY, after the security check, we passed through passport control, the area that has a lot of stores open on the first floor could not be reached after the passport control - we realized this after the fact.  Had to wait at the gate E77 area and rest - which we probably needed anyway.  This airport (T1) was the main terminal built in 2009, the old T2 is virtually unused except for some low cost carriers.  General observation: no water fountain, no free Wi-Fi (except the 30 minutes basic usage), security check lines are poorly organized, and tablets need to be taken out of the bag for scanning.

UA121 took off on time at 10:40, this flight is 95% full, the two seats next to mine seat at 39D was not occupied and stayed so after cabin door was closed, Anita quickly moved to the vacant window seat soon after the plane took off, thank God.  This flight used a relatively smaller 757-200 with single center aisle and 3 seats on each side.  Lunch and a snack were served during the flight.  Landed at Newark airport at 1:22, 48 minutes ahead of schedule, the plane did not get to gate until 1:36.  Took nearly 40 minutes to get through passport control, got our luggages right away when we got to the baggage claim carrousel - we were likely the last passengers there, took airtrain to get to terminal C.  Had the cheese sandwiches saved from UA121 and emptied the water bottle before going through security check again, got to gate C80 at 2:55.

Flight UA1284 is completely full, similar to the 757-200, this 737-800 also has a single aisle and 2 3-seat row on each side, each seat has a smaller led screen that sells DirecTV, no meals, only water and soda are free of charge on all domestic flights like this.  Scheduled at 5:21, the actual takeoff time is 5:40, arriving SFO at 8:47 - 10 minutes early.  Jack pick up us at Terminal 3 (domestic) gate 01 after we got our luggages at 9:25.  Got home at 10:10, shared a bowl of instant noodle before normal activities.  End of 2014 Mediterranean trip.

1999 RX300 oil filter removal option

1. If the oil filter can not be removed from above, remove the bottom front undercover to allow  
    access to the oil filter from below.
2. Use the oil filter removal ring (with much tapes around) to loosen the oil filter from the bottom
    of the car

2014 misc

5/2/2014: Ordered 8G memory (DDR3L PC12800 1600MHz Kit, 4Gx2) for MacBook Pro from OWC to replace current 4G as it has exceeded its use limit.

5/7/2014: Received the 8G memory in the morning by USPS.  Installed the memory after a little struggle with the small screw driver, works fine.

Nexus 5 adoption

4/16/2014 - Nexus 5 ordered
4/17/2014 - Nexus 5 shipped
4/18/2014 - Nexus 5 delivered (UPS left it on our front porch, luckily I checked and found the package)
4/19/2014 - Spent many hours studying how to cut mini-sim card to micro-sim card, used template found online (had to trim a bit more to fit the sim card framer that goes in the Nexus 5), it did not work the first time I inserted the trimmed sim card but was OK after re-inserting and restarting Nexus 5 (also had to change mobile network type to 2G), was able to call and receive call on the Nexus 5 using trimmed T-Mobile SIM card - exhilarate after successfully made and received calls, this means we do not need to to get another SIM card from PTEL in order to have a phone :-)

2014 Chinese New Year Trip to Taiwan

Left house at 9:15 on 1/16, but didn't get to San Jose Airport until 9:45 due to commute traffic on Brokaw road and 5 consecutive traffic lights.  ANA counter is on the ground floor but there's no direct route from the parking structure.  I still get hard copy board8ng passes from them even though I already printed them myself.Flight NH1075 took off on time, pretty much a full house except a few empty seats.

Had a small bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon very smooth and tasty, but I spilled 1/3 of it on myself, had to clean up in the W.C.

Got to Narita on time but had to walk 15 minutes to get to 28D for connecting flight, the gate is on the first floor of terminal one, all passengers (28A-28F) had to to be shuttled to their respective planes, this flight, NH1083, has two attached flight numbers (UA and EVA), the slow boarding process delayed the take off time by 40 minutes.  My seat was 45C on the last row, two young ladies joined me after the last shuttle but I was able to move to unoccupied 45B(and A) after plane doors are closed, yes!  After about half way throuh the flight, a lady came over and ask to use the set next to me (I did not get the exact reason why she could not sit where she was), I reluctantly agreed since it's only a couple of hours.

【Narita has improved, it has free Wi-Fi now, all you need to do is to register with an e-mail address and you are OK to use it, I called Anita after registering it. 】

1/18/2014: Had a unusally nice sleep, woke up by knocks on the door, it's mom delivering my clothes.  Had a hair cut at 建成, cost NT400, 10% increase from last year.  Setup Wii, Sharon seems to enjoy the game (Wii Sports) very much.  Tried the new game "Nicktoons MLB", gave up after 10 minutes, need to study it more - too complicated.  Had hot pot at 豆腐火鍋, very satisfiying.  Called 光華 at 8:08, she is coming to 内湖 to have lunch with her friends on Monday (1/20), will call me after to deliver my living expense (NT20000).

Woke up at 2:00 but stayed in bed until 6:00.  Everyone's asleep then.  Had a banana and a cup of coffee - something to do.  Spent some time reading Wii game info, learned why boxing was so difficult.

1/19/2014:Got up at 7:00, fooled around a while before breakfast.  Got a cold during doze off after lunch, fought it the whole afternoon to no avail.  Had to take a Panadol tablet, did help a bit.  Went to bed after dinner.

1/20/2014:Felt better after full 8 hours of sleep but my nose is still a little sensitive, need to be extra careful.  Visited 全聯 and got a bottle of booze, one Daiko, a bag of ginger, 4 bags of 可樂果 (one for NT20, 2 for NT36), one bottle of kitchen cleaner, and one bottle of glass cleaner.

Went to meet 光華 at 内湖高中門口 , got NT20000, should last me through the New Year.

1/21/2014: Had 3 bans for breakfast, one cup of coffee, and half cup of ginger soup - may be the cause of my stomach's strike.  Went to 湖光市場 with mom.  Went for walk at 碧湖, 2 complete circles, exactly 65 minutes total.  Picked up breaakfast bans at Bread Societe.

1/22/2014:Woke up at 6:00, got up at 7:30.  Did 香功 and warmup exercise before breakfast.Went to 全聯 to get stuff, thry are out of 蘋果日報 - for two good reasons, first they do not carry as many copies, and second they charge less (NT12 instead of NT15 at 7-11).  Got a few more 可樂果, they have promotions - one bag for NT20: two for NT36, and a third option (for 酷辣only) is one 4-unit party bag for NT64.  Went to "GoodLife" variety store to get some special stuff to take back to San Jose, but I could not find anything (silicone lids for instance) I need to my surprise, came back empty handed.  Got some breakfast breads from 麥香 (Miss Bread), their pastries are different in style.  Cleaned upper portion of the dinning room cabinet plus microwave oven and induction cooker.

1/23/2014:Got up at 8:00, back to normal Now except still felt sleepy at around 8:00 last night.  Made 碧湖 walk under bright sun light, one hour and 10 minutes.  Got breakfast breadsfrom 楓采 (F. Chime Bakery).

1/24/2014:Got up at 7:30.  Went to 全聯, got newspaper, and a can of 阿里山茶, could not find 南僑肥皂 - need to ask next time.  Still undecided on what wine to purchase for 初二永和 visit.Cleaned range hood, took nearly 3 hours - guess it's not that bad for full year accumulation of cooking grease.

1/25/2013:Woke up at 6:30, finished exercise at 7:30.  Went with 北黎 to get breakfast - 蛋餅, 蘿蔔糕, and a couple of 糯米飯團.  The whole family went to 東門市場 for some 年菜 shopping, the stor3s there are smaller that that of 湖光市場.  Had lunch at 大食代.  Went to 大潤發 and procured grocery for Chinese New Year, also got some snack to take back to San Jose.

1/26/2014:Didn’t know what to do with Maggie’s request to visit here and listening to her piano performance.  Went for a walk at 碧湖 - same two circles but with shorter time.  Got breakfast breads at 楓釆.

1/27/2014:Got up at 7:30, quiet normal now - it may also be the result that I did not drink beer last night.  Cleaned glue under the rugs in the dinning room, the double sided tape used last year was extremely difficult to remove, fortunately there’s some leftover "goo be gone” which reduced the amour of time needed to finish the task (to about one hour), got one roll of double sided form tape and finished placing all the rugs back to their respective locations.

1/28/2014:Sister stopped by to drop of flower arrangement material, but did not stay to arrange the flowers, gave her the scarf, soap, and chocolate.

1/29/2014:Made several rounds of purchase at 全聯 to fulfill the grocery list.

1/30/2014(除夕):New year's eve, went to 慈恩園 to pay repect to father, rode Metro 文湖線, got off at 麟光站, took shuttle there.  The smoke on 3rd floor was exceptionally strong, I had to cover my mouth to avoid suffocation.  Had some of the 祭品 before going home.  Started preparing New Year's eve dishes.  I made "培根高麗菜蝦捲", "清蒸海鮮", 與 "開陽白菜". along with "富貴拼盤(牛腱, 牛肚, 海蜇皮, 蜜汁腰果, 花枝", "紅燒獅子頭", "佛跳牆", "紅燒海蔘", "白鯧魚", "春捲”, “燻雞" 以及 ”湯”.


1/31/2014(初一):Had "蘿蔔糕", "年糕“ 與 ”紅豆糕“ for traditional 初一 breakfast.  Got 紅包 for me and Anita, gave Tina and Sharon one 紅包 with NT2000 each.  George drove everyone to 陽明山 and 竹子湖 for sight seeing but due to extremely congested traffic, we ended up 遊車河 most of the time.

2/1/2014(初二):Arriving at 永和 光華/小妹家at 11:00.  The meal locations were changed - lunch at 光華/小妹家 and dinner at 光耀家.  Had 5 oz and 7 oz of 58度金門高粱 for lunch and dinner respectively.  Lost NT250 playing 麻將 while Anita’s mom lost NT60.

2/2/2014:Helped mom preparing 年糕 breakfast, could not eat much - possibly inhaled too much smoke while frying the cake pieces.  Met Jerome at corner across from Metro 內湖站 at 7:30PM, we went to “Mos Burger” to chat - I ordered a fruit/vegetable juice, learned that his sister committed suicide last year due to intolerable diseases.  Not much else was happening though, he gave me 5 cans of “” medication and a box of candy from SUGAR.SPICE 糖村.

2/3/2014:Back to usual breakfast items - bread. Sis and her whole family (小虎, Maggie, 小龍 family, and 達達 family) visited at 3:30 prepared red envelopes - NT600 X 2 and NT1000 X 2.  I made scallop over turnip, cucumber hold taro, also served threaded turnip pickles.  A total of 17 people easily finished most dishes except chicken and fried fish paste chicken wrap.  Took some photos as well.

2/4/2014:Decided to have Western breakfast - egg, ham, and sausage.  Even though the result was different due to pan and spatula, but taste was OK.  Made a set of kitchen grease cover for mom using leftover cardboard box from Costco.  Looks all right.

2/5/2014: (初六)Got up at 8:15.  It bagen to rain heavily, looks to continue for the next week or so.  Bought breakfast breads from 楓采.  Procured several household gadgets from 百利金生活百貨商行.

2/6/2014:Got up at 8:10.  Got newspaper from 7-11, bought several more sewing strings and a juice extractor from 旺旺精品百貨.  The sound quality of call to Anita was good, the first in a week.  Hiked 2 circles around 碧湖, standard 1 hour time.  Purchased 3 breakfast breads from "Bread Societe/布列德”.

2/7/2013:Got up at 7:55, had 2 breads for breakfast - take them while I am still here :-)  Went and got a bottle of 58度 金門高梁, a bag of pumpkin seeds, and a can of 阿里山茶葉 from 全聯.

2/8/2014:Got up at 7:45 - have been waiting since 4:30.  Had one 水煎包 and a piece of leftover bread for breakfast.  ANA e-mails informed that check-in status OK from TPE to NRT but not OK from NRT to SJC, don't remember if it was always the case.  Went to 郵局 to turn in some activity so that my account won't be idle and then deactiviated,  since it is closed On saturday afternoon, I could only use the ATM to do it by selecting "balance query command".  Bought several breads for breakfast and lunch (connecting flight in NRT will be lunch time and last almost 5 hours).

2/9/2014: Stayed awake until 1:30, got up at 5:25.  Heading for 中正機場 at 6:25.  It was raining hard, but got to the airport without delay at 7:10.  I have never seen so many people at this airport.  Got boarding pass at the online checkin baggage drop-off counter.  Purchased a box of 紫芋酥 for the hiking gang.  Called Anita using airport free Wi-Fi, had a 起司肉鬆麵包 for breakfast.  The flight took off at 8:20, 5 minutes late.  Should be able to arrive NRT at 1:10 Japan time.  The flight was totally booked, no empty seat.   A family traveling together wanted to switch seat with me, I declined because it's a window seat, it would be painful for me - sorry.  I had fish steak l7nch, it was delicious, included was a sea food salad with shrimp, squid, and ham - also tasted good, had a bottle of red wine - Cabernet Sauvignon made in France - nice.  The plane landed at NRT at 1:05 Tokyo time, it taxied to the gate at 1:16 but due to heavy snow overnight in the area, many flights were delayed and thus all agtes are occupied, our designated gate was uased by an UA flight boarding, we'll have to wait at least 30 minutes.  We finally got to the gate at 2:22 - exhausting experience.  Went through security and got to gate 53 at 3:00.  Waited until past boarding time, there was no activities at the counter, checked and found out the plane was no where to be seen, it was obviously delayed when take off time came and gone.  After 30 more minutes after scheduled take off time, ANA offered ￥1000 for economy class passengers meal coupon - simply take boarding pass to participating vendor to redeem  the meal.  Walked around (about 10 minutes) and found the same  McDonalds I used last time under similar situation, I was going to try the Suhsi place but realized most dishes are over ￥1000, so waited in line (>10 minutes) and ordered a Chicken burger meal, walked back to gate 53 and consumed the burger - not bad.  After I bought the burger, found out from flight status display board that flight NH1076 was rescheduled to 8:00, not as bad as I would expect, but it doesn't count it actually took off.  Further delays were announced but we finally boarded the plane at 8:30.  The flight was not fully occupied, not sure if it's due to snow delay, normal occupancy, or someth8bg else, but the flight was once again delayed due to a couple of passengers not boarding the plane and the crews hd to remove their luggages.  We finally left the gate at 8:34 but did not actually leave the ground until 8:50, a long taxing.  Since the plane was quite loosely occupied, my next seat (34k) passenger decided he wants more room and moved to the seat (34G - 34F is also empty) across the isle from me (34H), no complaint :-)  As always, the meal onboard ANA plus the wine are excellent.  Watched "Last Vegas" and "Captain Philipis".  Th e plane landed at 桃園國際機場 at 1:05, 2 hours and 55 minutes behind schedule.  Got home at 2:00.