Brrrr.....

Is today COLD or what?

I'm back!

Dear Loyal readers,
Having survived surgery 9 days ago, I am now back on the blog scene. Recovering at home has been nice (sleeping in 'til 10 is always a blessing), but it can be also quite boring. The variety of activities available to me at this point are still limited. But Blogging is OK! So, here I am.

Haven't gone out to do Christmas shopping yet. I did buy for a couple of things on Amazon.com. To say the least, I am quite disappointed with the Navigation system on Amazon. I used their 1-click shopping, which is supposed to be easy and fast. But the prob is that they don't give you any indication that the item is bought. After 90 minutes, they then send you a confirmation email. So what happened? Because I didn't know that I actually "bought" the item, I went and bought it again!! Only until I receive 2 email confirmations for the same item did I know that I bought the item twice. I tried to go back to Amazon to cancel one of them. But nope! The system said that the item is now in shipping status and no cancellations are allowed. So of course, I received duplicate orders! I don't like navigating through Amazon. It's really not that easy (or maybe I'm just technically-dysfunctional). That 1-click shopping function of theirs suck!! Don't use it!!

Rome (HBO)

If you haven't seen Rome on HBO yet, rent it on DVD. The 1st season is out with a 6-disc collection. I was never a history buff, but I can't stop loving this show!! I can only describe this series with one word, "EXCELLENT !" Defiinitely one of my favorites, very enjoyable to watch. Beware though, it is a rated-R movie with excessive violence, nudity and sexual scenes...not really meant for kids. But the storytelling of ancient Roman history is incredible. You'll find it impossible not wanting to see more.

Anniversary

I have my braces on for exactly 1 year to the day. I can't say whether this is fast or slow. My teeth has straightened out considerably but I still have a long way to go. Hopefully, a year from now, it would be a better story.

Mochiko Chicken

Googi asked me for the recipe for Mochiko Chicken so I thought to share it with everyone as well. Mochiko refers to the mochiko flour used in the recipe. The flour looks very much like baking flour except it's whiter in color and finer in texture. It also has a slightly sweet taste to it. You can buy the mochiko flour is any major supermarket. Mochiko Chicken is a Japanese dish, and works very well as an appetitizer. It's delicious and very easy to make!


Ingredients:
2 lbs of chicken thigh or breast chopped into 2" cubes
5 TBSP mochiko flour
4 TBSP cornstarch
5 TBSP soysauce
4 TBSP sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup green onion chopped
3 cloves crushed garlic
Oil for frying

Preparation:
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl (except for the oil) and add in chicken. Mix well and marinate chicken for 1 hour. Deep Fry marinated chicken in oil until golden-brown. Drain oil from chicken on paper towels and newspaper. Eat!

Super-easy Japanese Cucumber Salad

The weather is warm and you want to munch on some snacks while watching TV. What is better than chips and cookies is a quick, easy, refreshing and healthy cucumber salad! It is super-easy to make. Plus, it's cucumber season so they're selling like a dime each. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
5 Medium cucumbers (seeded)
2 tsps Salt
1/2 cup Lemon juice
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp MSG (optional)
1 tbsp White wine vinegar
2 tsps Sesame seeds (toasted)

Preparation:
1. Peel cucumbers lengthwise, leaving thin green stripes. Slice very thinly into a large glass or stainless steel bowl. Add salt and mix with hand until cucumber slices are quite limp. Set aside in fridge for 45 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix lemon juice, sugar, MSG and white wine vinegar. Transfer cucumbers to a strainer and squeeze as much liquid as possible out of the cucumbers. Discard salt water.
3. Add cucumbers to the lemon juice mixture. Ground the toasted sesame seeds and stir into the salad. Serve.

Comes out perfect each time. You can't go wrong with such a crowd-pleaser. ENJOY!

2006 World Cup

Having just been back from Hong Kong and Singapore, I inevitably caught the World Cup fever. Soccer (or as they call it football) is so big in Asia -- actually, it's big everywhere around in the world except for the U.S. People get so excited about the World Cup, since it only happens once every 4 years. Germany is hosting the games this year so people in Asia who want to watch the games Live must stay up at 3am! So you can guess how many "sick calls" employers get per day during the World Cup!

When you're in an environment that screams World Cup everywhere you turn, 24/7, you can't help but take a little interest in what's going on. So I watched the reruns whenever I have a moment. I don't even know all the rules -- just the basic ones. It is pretty exciting, but sometimes 3 hours can go by without even a single score! That can be frustrating. So, in case you're wondering, U.S. is out (no surprise). England, Germany, Portugal, and Argentina qualified for the quarter-finals. Other teams have yet to play to qualify. I do have a favorite team - England. That's because my favorite football player is Michael Owen. Forget David Beckham. Michael Owen is so much cuter! He's #10 on the field. Unfortunately, he injured himself during the game against Sweden and now he will not be playing in the World Cup games anymore. :(

Single gals - in case you're wondering ... Michael Owen is 27 but already married with 2 kids. He married his childhood sweetheart whom he met in Primary school (like when he was in 5 yrs old!) How adorable is that?!

Also in case you're wondering how I got to notice Michael Owen when I barely know any soccer ... He is the Ambassador (Advertising spokesperson) for a Swiss watch brand, Tissot. They designed a watch specially for him. #10. Limited Edition.

People Development

"People Development "- it's a term thrown out at us managers lately on a daily basis. What IS people development? It's our company's desperate attempt to get people in the organization properly trained, well-equipped with skills to get promoted and move to the next level. In recent months, our company is faced with a crisis: important positions left vacant for months. There is no one ready to be promoted. No one has the qualities and experience the position requires. A group of people think they are very qualified, but senior management thinks not. So, both HR and managers are getting the heat for not adequately developing their people. HR's so-called solution is to implement a myriad of training and development programs -- an overly-ambitious plan that is too much too late in my opinion. Developing people takes time; the programs might benefit the company some day, but it won't do a thing for today. The company is finally realizing that when they did those lay-offs 2-3 years ago (read Archive Blogs) and downsized the organization down to its core skeleton, they didn't take in account that there will be a time like now...hands tied because we simply don't have enough experienced people to do the job. It takes 5 seconds to let someone go, but at least 5 years to get someone trained enough to take on a managerial role and to understand the complexities of our company.

And by giving the us managers added pressure to develop our people overnight is not going to make things better. I, for one, am getting a little annoyed by the company's direction to implement so many programs that will do little, other than take up valuable time on real day-to-day job training. One of the programs launched recently include critiquing yourself on what is your weakness, share it with your supervisor and then come up with an objective in how to improve that weakness. Oooooookay... that's very useful. That will just pissed off people more like it!

What really pisses me off lately is the whole "increasing your profile with senior management," that is directly related to people development. I guess in order to be classified as being "developed" or "deserving of a promotion," one must increase his visibility and presence in front of senior management. This is getting too out of hand. It is no longer about being able to do your job anymore. It's not about getting things done anymore. It's about your presence, your visibility, your profile... and how all that sits with senior management. So, bottom line, you can be slacker or incompetent, but if you know how to talk the talk, walk the walk, you'll do just fine. It's ridiculous. I've seen hard workers leave because they don't get appreciated the way they should be. Dang it, one of them just might be me!

Wikipedia

I have a passion for useless fun-fact trivia - like what is the longest highway in America, why do we have daylight savings time and what on earth is Sudoku? These facts fill up memory space in my brain -- that may be why I have such bad memory for more important things! I guess I get curious when I run across things I've never heard about. So I go on the web and research on it. My recent favorite lunchtime hobby is reading random articles on Wikipedia. I love this site! It's by no means the authority on information, but it's a quick read fact-finder! You can also contribute by editing the pages and adding more information that you know about and willing to share with others.

Brokeback Mountain

Once you get over and see pass the nudity and some of the more intense homosexual acts in the movie, you will learn to LOVE this movie. The story is thought-provoking, mind-bloggling, and simply powerful. Pay close attention to every detail and you will notice there is a purpose for everything. This movie is full of symbolism and intriguing notations. Everyone did such a magnificent job telling this story of forbidden love...

If you're up for some after-the-movie discussions, email me!

Back Home

"No matter where I travel, or just how far I roam,
There's just no other place, quite as nice as home."

I'm finally home, after a 16-day trip to Switzerland. And boy it is wonderful to be back! Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't like Switzerland; the entire trip was a very enriching experience... a part of my journey that I will never forget. But being able to be home is a whole different ballgame. After the first week, I was already homesick and ready to come back. But I managed to stick it through! I tried my best to enjoy myself and made the most out of the time I spent there. Along the way, I've made some notes what I thought about Switzerland:

1. People here are generally nice. They are a lot nicer than I thought they would be. I guess I am drawing from the past experience I had with the French people in Montreal, Canada where everyone seems to have a staring problem. Here people still stare, but not as apparent. For the most part, people just mind their own business. Some of them are helpful and courteous. They do their best to help you.
2. Things are very clean. There’s no garbage anywhere. Even the public bathrooms are clean. The paid bathrooms in the train stations are exceptionally clean because they have janitors on site. Trains are older but still clean. People don’t litter, and they have janitors pick up any leftover newspapers and trash at every major stop.
3. There is a lot of graffiti. Somewhat ironic to the whole cleanliness deal. Every wall is marred by some sort of graffiti which is such a shame. I don’t know why there is so much graffiti here. I saw one guy actually spray-painting on a wall in broad daylight. Obviously, he’s not afraid to be caught.
4. They like to cook with high-cholestrol foods. Mayo, butter, chocolate and eggs -- in huge portions. The worst devil: Cheese Fondue. Fatty, but of course, tasty.
5. They are a big-on-dog country. Everywhere you go, people bring their dogs with them. I see dogs on buses, trains, in restaurants, everywhere. Most of them are so well trained. But it’s surprising to see so many of them in public places. That would never fly in San Francisco, even though SF is also a very dog-friendly city.
6. Things are very very expensive!! The starting rate of a taxi is 6.30CHF (which is about $4.15) That's more than NY! Vegetables at grocery stores are ridiciously priced. Everything from transportation costs to food to material necessities are so expensive. I wonder if people there make a lot of money. They must do, otherwise, everyone will be living in poverty.

These are the more interesting facts about Switzerland that I've observed during my time there. Until my next travels, I am glad to stay grounded for a while. There's nothing better than sleeping in my bed.

Interlaken, Switzerland

I played hookey from work today and journeyed off to Interlaken, located in the middle of Switzerland, between the lakes of Thun and Brienz. Interlaken is primarily famous for its ski slopes on the Alps with access to the lakes for non-skiiers. It is a 2 hour train ride from Neuchâtel to Interlaken, with a stop in Bern. It's also an expensive trip - tickets cost 78 CHF ($60 US) for round-trip... Despite the $ and the time, the trip is well worth it. The train ride is a sight-seeing experience on its own. Getting there is already half the fun. I was looking out the window on the train and enjoying miles and miles of green pastures, trees, the valley...and then just in a split second, snow-capped mountains appeared in front of the train. It was unreal! The mountains were so close and so pronounced. Very beautiful indeed! The Swiss Alps up close!

The train also swung around Lake Thun which had absolutely clear blue waters. More mountain ridges appear in the far background. Simply amazing! I also took a separate trip to Grindelwald, the ski center that also links to the remarkable Jungfrau Top of Europe ski slope. I didn't go to the Jungfrau because it would have taken 5 hours to get up there and I didn't have time. Interlaken is really meant for an outdoors escape... in the winter there is skiing, in the summer, there are a dozens of water-based activities. Although I didn't do any of these, it was still just as pleasant to enjoy the spectacular views.

This is random, but I had to share -- I just had one of THE BEST chocolate croissant. I bought it at, of all places, the Coop, which is Switzerland's version of Safeway. It has just the right amount of crunchiness, topped with bits of roasted hazelnut. The chocolate inside is mousse-like, smooth and creamy. Simply heavenly delicious! The ones we have in the States are nothing in comparsion... the pastry is usually oily and the chocolate is hard. The croissant here is soooo good!! Wish I could sneak some back to the U.S. without anyone knowing.

Neuchâtel, Switzerland

I took the train from Luzern to Neuchâtel yesterday, which was possibly the worst day to travel. It was snowing! The weather here is absolutely insane. The day before was beautiful, sunny, and clear. Then it just decided to snow! Worse than the snow was the fact that I had to change trains in-between with my 2 heavy luggage. There were no direct trains from Luzern to Neuchâtel!! I had 15 minutes to get off, dash to the right platform, and get on. I strategically sat near the doors, made sure I was ready 5 mins prior, etc. I have to say that the Swiss people here are genuinely nice people. Many of them offered and helped me with the luggage on and off the trains. I arrived in Neuchâtel, at the Beau-Rivage Hotel around 6pm. Neuchâtel is a small city in the west side of Switzerland and is known as the "Watch Valley." It is surrounded by smaller towns such as Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds where watches are manufactured. The population is mainly French-speaking. (Luzern is mainly German-speaking).


Neuchâtel

Today the weather was back to the beautiful, sunny and clear. How odd. I woke up around 10am, which is the first day ever that I got to sleep in and not have to wake up at ungodly hour. Casual day today, no work. I got a self-guided walking tour brochures from the front desk and journeyed off. I first stopped at a restaurant called Le Jura Brassie. I don't know the items in French, but I had the daily special which included a salad and the main entree was pork with a sausage inside. It was accompanied by zucchini with cheese and rice. Food was good. I followed the tour guide and was surprised how close things were. Along the way, a woman approached me and asked if I needed any help with directions. Again, I was pleasantly surprised that people here are very helpful and nice. I guess I has been skeptical because of my past negative experience in Montreal (Canada), which was my only exposure to anything close to European. I saw a lot of fountains. In fact, Neuchâtel is also known as the city of 140 fountains (some better-looking than others -- some are very plain looking).
Within 1 hour, the walking tour highlights were done. This is a very small town afterall. After my nice afternoon stroll, I stopped by a cafe and got myself a cup of cafe and a patisserie creme (coffee and chocolate cake). Tasted delicious and today was just the perfect day to people-watch and stay mellow...

Fountaine de la Justice

Luzern, Switzerland

After a 11 hour United flight from SFO to Frankfurt, Germany, my coworker and I land to find out that my connecting 2:15pm flight from Frankfurt to Zurich was canceled. Good thing we arrived early enough to quickly get onto the one leaving at 1:10pm. But that one was delayed and it was a bloody mess. By and by, we didn't leave Frankfurt until 2:30pm, which brings us back to almost the time of our original flight. We land in Zurich in 1/2 hour. We then had to carry all our luggage (heavy ones!) to the train station. By that time, we've met up with 2 more people who flew from Hamburg to Zurich and another 2 who took the Lufthansa flight from SFO. We all ended up at the same location, at the same time, taking the same train. It reminds me so much of Amazing Race, where 3 teams set out at different times and got onto different flights, but still back in the same game when at the train station.

We had to take a 1-hr long train from Zurich Airport to Luzern, where we will be staying 5 nights. Luzern is about 1 hour away from Basel, a city in Switzerland that attracts thousands of watch lovers, watch buyers, and watch makers with their Basel World Fair. The fair is what brought me to Switzerland. This fair is truly an amazing event. Very big scale! After a long day of meetings and a strained shoulder from carrying my bag filled with paperwork and reports, the first day is finally over! I have yet another full schedule of meetings tomorrow. Despite all this, I enjoyed a very nice authentic Swiss Fondue meal yesterday at this restaurant called Fritschi in Luzern. It was established in 1602!! Simply amazing! I really like Luzern. It's nice and quiet, and very picturesque. The population in this small town is 70,000 so there are less crowds and less traffic. But unfortunately I won't get a chance to explore this city!! The only thing I can, however, is to capture these pictures outside my hotel window. I have a corner suite in the hotel with a spectacular lake view. Here are 2 pics I took. Enjoy the beautiful Luzern.


Swiss Alps and Lake Luzern

RENT

Seasons of Love
Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundrend twenty five thousand moments so dear
Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year
In daylight, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee,
In inches, in miles, in laughter in strife
Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life
How about Love? how about love? how about love?
measure in love seasons of love, seasons of love
Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundrend twenty five thousand journeys to plan
Five hundrend twenty five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man
In truth that she learned or in times that he cried
In the bridges he burned or the way that she died
Its time now to sing outthough the story never ends
Let's celebrate remember a year in the life of friends
Opening song from Rent, the musical and the movie (2005). Just finished watching this on DVD. I never saw the Broadway show, so the movie was new to me. Interesting storyline -- unique plot. I'm so used to watching musicals that are older and set in more historical times like Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera. Nothing so modern and new. Fresh idea. I watched the special features and they did a story about the writer/composer, Jonathan Larson. I learned that Larson died the day before Rent's Opening Show at the age of 35, alone at his house from Marfan Syndrome. That was so sad because he had dedicated over 7 years in writing this play while waiting tables at a local diner because this was his passion, his dream. And he didn't even get find out whether this show was a success or not. (Of course this show was a huge hit). So Larson didn't get to enjoy the fame or recognition that he deserved for his work. Just soooo sad. His family used some of the profits from the show to start a Jonathan Larson foundation, which awards money to starving composers/writers who wait on tables, drive cabs, just to live to do what they enjoy most, so they too can fulfill their dreams. It is so inspiring.

Blockbuster Online

It's another wet and wild one out there today, so what better to do than to stay in the comfort of your own home, snuggle in your warmest blanket & enjoy a movie or 2 on your big screen TV? That's exactly my game plan this weekend. Ever since we joined Blockbuster.com, my husband and I have been watching movies, a lot of movies. I think we average about 4-5 movies a week. But that's because we haven't watched any for the past couple of years! I think the last movie we watched in the theater was "The Incredibles," back in Nov 2004 when we were in Wash DC with nothing better to do. Anyhow, you get the picture : haven't watched any movies in ages so there was a lot to catch up when we finally joined Blockbuster.com. It's this thing about monthly charge & unlimited rentals that make you want to watch & return as fast as you can so you can make it all worth the money.

We just finished watching the Johnny Cash's movie Walk the Line. Ok, sorry if I'm totally ignorant but I didn't really know who Johnny Cash is or was before this movie. His name sounds familiar but I had no clue. But now I know. I guess he was just as big of a star as Bob Dylan or Elvis Presley. I enjoyed the movie - both the acting and singing were good by both Jaoquin Pheonix and Resse Witherspoon. The love between Johnny Cash and June Carter was romanticized throughout the movie and also in real life. They were married for 25 years and that's probably very hard to come by in the showbiz world ... but I was still very disappointed to learn that Johnny Cash cheated on his first wife to be with June Carter. He left his first wife and his kids behind to be with June Carter. I didn't like that part... and no one seems to care about that!

Winter Olympics - Torino 2006

I love watching the Olympics although I am not normally a big sports fan. There is just something about the Olympics and the country-to-country competition that draws me in every night. These athletes train for years in their sport for only "that moment in time" to prove to the world that they are the best. What sets these athletes apart is the fact that they are not professional athletes -- they don't get paid for playing. They participate because they want to prove themselves. They participate because they love competition, they love their sport. I have so much respect for them -- it takes a lot of dedication.

The Olympics this year have a lot of new sport debuts this year such as the Snowboard Cross and the Snowboard Half Pike... all adaptations from the X Games. Very enjoyable to watch. These sports require a lot of training, skills and guts. For the most part, I like watching all the competitions, from Cross country skiing to Figure Skating. The only thing I just don't get is Curling. I really don't get it. What is the point of this "sport?" The players throw a stone onto the ice, trying to get the stone closest to the middle. Then the opponents use these broom-like equipment to brush the ice so the stone will lose its original projectory. Ok, so that is IT? This is a sport?! What the hell? Sorry if I offended all the Curling fans out there...all 20 of you. Curling is a game for fun and should not counted as a sport whatsoever.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

Bejeweled Anonymous

Ok, I admit it. I am addicted to Bejeweled. If you don't know what it is, it is a game that is very similar to Connect Four -- except it's more like connect three or more. You can switch the gems around and connect the three. They disappear and then the next row drops down. Some gems will automatically connect & disappear by themselves depending on where they're positioned. More gems drop down from the top and the screen is constantly full. You see that bar down on the bottom? Well, that' like your energy bar. When you are able to connect gems fast enough, the bar rises. When you've reached the bar fast enough, it wil go onto the next level. On the flip side, if you don't connect the gems fast enough, the energy bar decreases. The game is over if the energy bar is empty. You constantly have to find gems to connect or else you lose your energy bar. There is a time limit. The challenge is that you have to be quick -- both your eyes and fingers. It's actually a pretty stressful game -- which is ironic because I play this game to de-stress from work. Ok, back to my addiction. I am sooo addicted to this game. I can't get enough of it. I play at least 5-6 games whenever I turn on the computer. There's just a challenge to this game that keeps me on the edge. I guess it can be half mindless but half challenging. You should try it if you have nothing better to do. You can find it on Yahoo! Games. Just don't say I didn't warn you that this game is addicting.

** By the way, my highest level is Level 11. I passed Level 10 only once.

Bonus Calculator

Happy New Year! It's the first week back to work, and what is the first thing people do? Calculate what is their bonus!! The year ended and since our 2006 bonus is based on the 2005's results, everyone went straight to the report generator and whipped out their calculators and start crunching numbers. The bonus calculation is a complex tool on a spreadsheet but has been made easier by an Excel guru in our company. Just plug in the numbers and wah-la, it will split out your total %. Multiple the % by your annual salary and that is your dollar amount for the year's bonus!

Majority of the people work hard primarily for the bonus. But there are many times when you can work very hard but end up with a big fat ZERO for your bonus. Those are pretty depressing years. I had an EXCELLENT bonus year in 2005. For 2006, it is still VERY GOOD. I should be happy. I have one of the highest % among my peers. I have been lucky. I hope I remain lucky this year as well!! There is nothing more enjoyable than to receive some extra spending money!