Sunday, December 31, 2006

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Here's looking forward to a happy and healthy 2007!

In the same format as last year's recap:

Movies/shows I saw in the theaters in 2006:

  • Tarzan

Vacations/trips in 2006:
  • Pittsburgh
  • Las Vegas
  • Connecticut
  • Boston
  • Chicago
  • Washington DC
  • Chicago/Champaign
  • San Diego
Big events of 2006:
  • First full year of work (not nearly as many events as last year!)
Resolutions for 2007 (largely the same as last year...):
  1. Exercise at least 10 minutes a day and at least 3 hours a week total.
  2. Try to eat healthier and keep a food diary.
  3. Try to sleep before midnight 1 am every day, with exceptions for special events (I'm so bad at this).
  4. Put away/clean up at least 5 things a day.
  5. Read at least 1 leisure book per month.
  6. Keep in touch better. (I know this is one of those vague resolutions, but still...)
  7. Keep a more organized budget book.
  8. Post a randomly selected picture on the blog every time I sign on and have adequate time to do so.
  9. And the whole bunch of resolutions I make every year that I can't really quantify: be happy, be more patient, be nicer to people, be more organized, etc. I mean them, but honestly, they're hard to keep and how do you tell whether you've really "achieved" them? They seem more like life goals than a resolution that you can either keep or not.
  10. Take enough time off to stay recharged and refreshed.
Yup, same as last year. Let's see if I keep them any better this year! I would like "organization" and "health" to be the keys for 2007.

Happy new year!!

Yum


Posting another random picture since one finally popped up that wasn't from Hong Kong! Yet another photo of food... my plate at the Bellagio Buffet in Vegas (April 2006). Yum, that looks good.

Fish Fillet Pizza


From a grocery store in HK (August 2005) - want one?

Last Year

Wow, I really failed at all of my resolutions from last year except for the "random picture blogging" one. Great...

Saturday, December 30, 2006

December Wrap-Up

December has been one crazy month. You can tell by how few posts there are from December, which is very clear now that the new Blogger kindly keeps track of the number of posts each month. I have barely written a thing in December!

So here's a random list of thoughts:

1. You can tell it's getting close to New Years Eve around here. A few days ago, the large concrete barriers started appearing on the street corners. Then thick streetpoles with large black speakers attached. Huge electrical wires draped over streets. Stages being built. The "2007" already set up on the top of the building in Times Square. Last year I took photos of a lot of these things going up, but this year, I was just running to work, too tired and too sick of the crowds. Which brings me to...

2. The streets are packed around here. I have to cross Times Square to go from home to work and back again. Last night, the mass of people waiting to cross the street had built up to such a level on some of the corners that it was spilling over into the street. And this happened on what I was calling an "extended" street corner meaning that the corner had already taken over part of the lane (it had those pole things in the street to prevent cars from going over there). It was spilling past the poles. And of course, if a crowd is built up, you can't get past the corner to keep walking down the street. 6th Avenue isn't much better. It's usually not that crowded at night, but nowadays, since it's close to Rockefeller Center it's been kind of a nightmare.

3. I haven't felt that into the holidays this year. I think I was so busy at work that the holidays crept up on me without really any warning and then there was so much to do for those that there wasn't much time to just enjoy it. I was so late with my Christmas cards this year that I couldn't even finish them all. One thing I miss about school was having a couple of weeks off in December. You could trim the tree, take a lot of time to buy presents, wrap stuff, enjoy holiday decorations, drive around to look at displays of Christmas lights, sleep, put together holiday treats... hard to do when you're working late. It wasn't this crazy last year. This was a really crazy December!

4. I look forward to new years because of new beginnings and fresh starts. I'm pretty into the resolutions thing and also recapping the past year. Maybe it's because I'm so exhausted, but the two things people probably associate most with NYE in NYC both sound so... tiring (going to a packed club or standing outside in Times Square). What I have never really understood with the whole TS thing (which I did want to do when I was younger) is how do you go to the bathroom? Fit TV really gets the New Years resolutions thing. They aren't doing special programming, but showing workout programming all day tomorrow and into the next. Yeah!

5. Outside one of the lunch places down the street from work were people selling NYE stuff for the past few days. Those 2007 eyeglasses, hats and those loud horns. They were blowing them so loudly the whole time that I wanted to scream at them to stop. Some of us still had to go back to work...

6. Did I mention that the panda cub in Atlanta was named Mei Lan? When I first saw the list of choices, that was my favorite. She just "looked" like a Mei Lan. It fit the little adorable cub so well. I would have been ok with any of the names with "Tao" in them because I could call her Tao Tao but I really liked Mei Lan. Sure, there are a lot of Meis, but it's so cute. And she's so cute!

7. Alvin and I went to Le Madeleine for dinner last night. We live nearby and have been intending to go for awhile, but somehow never made it until last night. And to think that now, they might get evicted soon, is very very sad. Go sign the petition to keep them in the neighborhood! The food was yummy and the atmosphere was so relaxed and so friendly. After all the hard work, it was a perfect meal - so relaxing and a nice escape.

8. I miss the San Diego Zoo and our animal friends there.

9. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I had to get a root canal this month. That sucked. It made eating difficult for some time. The first part of it was done a couple of hours before dinnertime and I was trying to figure out what I could eat. I ended up getting tuna tartare and avocado salad which was perfect (minus the salads part). Yum, tuna tartare.

10. Naruto marathon tomorrow! I can't believe that Alvin said they're going back to episode 1 after the next new episode. But... I have to find out what happens! I guess I'll watch the Japanese version...

11. Thank goodness so much of TV went to repeats and specials at the end of December. My DVR needed a break. It was amazing last week that there were days where, for the first time in months, nothing was being recorded! Shocking!

12. I have so many pictures to download from my cameras. Maybe I'll do that this weekend :)

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy new years! Maybe I'll do a year-end recap later.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Holiday Eats

A happy and healthy holiday to you and yours! Here's some photos of yummy holiday eats:

Christmas Eve sushi dinner at Hokkaido, Staten Island: roll of black pepper tuna and avocado topped with spicy white tuna (I think this was the Christmas roll)

Christmas dinner at my aunt's house

Festive dessert

Hope everyone has a fantastic last week of 2006!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!

I'm using a different computer from the one I had my Christmas pictures on from last year, so no Christmas photos. But happy holidays and happy new year to all! :)

Durian


From the random photo search... lots and lots of durian!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Yogurt


This came up on my random photo search. Did they ever come out with this state-side? Hong Kong McDonalds had a lot of cool stuff, like a side of corn that you could get instead of fries.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Travel


Random photo time: Lantau Island, Hong Kong, August 2005. Just thought it looked nice on my screensaver. Craving travel.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Food Festival


Random picture time: From the Food Festival we went to in Hong Kong in August 2005. I have no recollection as to which stand this was. I just remember there were good fruit flavored moon cakes and good vodka based drinks at the fair. And that it was mobbed and getting samples of anything was an ordeal. Except for the alcohol. It was definitely an experience.

Survivor Cook Islands

I am so happy about Survivor! :)

Yay for Yul!

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Dreaming


I could use a vacation. Or ... some sleep ...

Friday, December 15, 2006

Delays

Sorry for the lack of posting.  December is one crazy corporate time of year.
 
I just got an email from American Express concerning my payment made on December 3rd.  Umm... it is December 15!  However, I open the email and it says it was sent December 4th.  What is going on with my email?!

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Waiting

Why does this always happen to me?
 
Seamless Web says 20-35 minutes.
 
I ordered at 8:08.  I am still waiting.  Argh.  So much for 20-35 minutes.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Dinner at Work

Today for dinner I ordered a spicy soup, some dumplings and 3 types of rice (sticky rice, curried rice and mushroom rice). Atkins really wouldn't have worked for me, huh...

Ugh. I haven't been able to shake this headache for the past 7+ hours...

Friday, December 01, 2006

Looking West

It must be nice to have the west view from the office.  You see Times Square.  The river.  The cruise ships when they go down the river.  The sunset (on days that are not quite as gloomy as today).  Broadway shows.  And currently, you can also view, the approximately 30 story high billboard of a lingerie-clad model advertising the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
 
I wonder if that distracts anyone throughout the day.