Duedate: July 25, 2009

Here is the ultra-sound result of Michelle's most recent visit to her doctor. She is 7-weeks pregnant and we now have a due-date! July 25th, 2009!

Ex-AEPD Folks Hang-out

Looking back, I miss working and hanging out with the folks at AEPD (Accenture eBay Product Development group). I met some talented people there, young and fearless, and I daresay I have made some good friends there, and the departure from that place was one of the toughest professional decisions that I've ahd to make in recent years, though it's already been over 4 years! Wow. Time flies.
Anyways, Jo had a chance to come up and visit to hang out, catch up, and also to celebrate Carol's birthday, so we went out to hang out with him a few Fridays ago, and here are the promised (long-overdue) pictures.
Dave and VJ playing around with their iPhone...
This is their way of saying "Cheese", or "V" like a true F-O-B... :)

Pregnant!

In case you did not know, Michelle is pregnant.

The news came one pleasant Saturday morning when Michelle insisted in taking yet another pregnancy test.
So while I was still sleeping, she tested, and came a pleasant surprise! My initial reaction to the news may not have been all that excited, but my head was still cloudy from just waking up, and while looking for the right words to say and describe my excitement, I instead chose to run out of the room, grab my camera, and tried to capture the exciting moment.
After all, the excitement will fade, memories will fade, but pictures will remain.
I am happy, for our family, for my wife, and for the child, but at this point, it still feels surreal; after all, I haven't seen the actual results of the ultrasound (still too early) and it's not like Michelle's tummy is going to show for another few months... but little by little, I think the idea of having an additional member to our family is settling in nicely, and we frequently play the baby name game, trying to come up with a good one, but I am sure all this thinking/worrying/planning will melt-away and be worth it simply when the baby arrives.

New Camera Toys!

So after selling my old car (1991 RX-7), I finally managed to make the following camera upgrades:

First is the lens: it is a Nikon camera lens with the focal length ranging from 18mm to 200mm at a relatively cheap price of ~$650. Although not the perfect lens and not quite as fast as other more expensive lens, it allows great range and flexibility.
Then I bought a flash to accompany the lens upgrade: Nikon Speedlight SB-600. Not quite the top of the line flash, but this simple flash has enough functionality to serve in most practical cases. And still quite affordable.
Lastly, I bought a set of HOYA filters, though I have yet to try out the other filters included in the set, including the polarizer.

So ultimately, my RX-7 was transformed(!?!) into a much smaller set of camera equipments. Have you ever heard of anyone selling their car to buy camera lens???

1st Year Anniversary

Time sure flies; it had already been one year since our wedding... (well, technically, the one year anniversary was about two months ago from today... but due to personal reasons I was not able to write about it until now...)
I had a few things planned out for the day, but when it came down to it, I ended up taking her out to a cute little restaurant, and giving her a small necklace as a present, which wasn't much but I wanted to share with her that although our beginning may be small, I was excited to see great things that God has in store for our family in the future...
So I had made a reservation at a small restaurant in SF called Cafe Jacqueline, which specializes in Souffle, and I thought, hey, what a great opportunity to find out what souffle is all about! And not to mention, the place had great lighting and romantic settings! Terrific place for dates and night-time photography enthusiasts!
Here is a picture of a dessert souffle that we had after our meal; for dinner, we had a mushroom souffle which was just as big and quite delicious! We were so full by the time we received the dessert that I actually had the time to take a picture of it before eating it. And we had to box most of the dessert back home, but when I had it a few days later, it was still just as good!!!
We were so full that by the time we got home and looked at our frozen cake, we were unable to complete our one-year-anniversary tradition of eating the cake... (you know, where you freeze the top portion of your cake for one year and then eat it at the one year anniversary day...) but we ended up eating it a day or two later.
In the end, I can say that we are still a happily married couple of one year, looking forward to many many years together, growing old together... and I can say that in many ways, I have learned to love my wife, more now than ever before.

2008 Bible Study Class

This is my 2008 Bible Study class.
Most of them are returning students from last year, and thankfully, they seemed content to have me back, though I am sure some of them could've used some "change." Ah well. :)
I also have some new faces in my class for this year.
From left to right, Na-Young, Yoon-Ji, and Soon-Bin, a new-comer to the class.
And then we have familiar faces, Young-Hoon (Vance), Tae-Jeong (Tiffany), Da-hye (Gloria), Seo-Yoon (Anna), and Nam-Jung (Alanna).
A little while ago, we had a get-together and a sleep-over at our place for the class; some of the pictures from that day can be found below.
When Michelle was out to work, I stopped by Costco to buy the food, but I ended up buying way too much food; twice as much as I needed... and we had barely enough room in the fridge to fit everything, but I managed to fit everything and in the end, we ended up eating/using up all the food between my class, and Michelle's class who also came over to our place a few weeks after.

It's amazing how much kids can eat...

Sick...

I am so sick of being sick...

There are times when I don't mind being sick, for I get the chance to be away from the busy world, and just think, and/or sleep, rest, relax, etc. Maybe. But being sick for over a week? No way! Two weeks? Get me out of here! Three weeks? Uhmm... Maybe something is seriously wrong with me?

I hate that being sick keeps you away from meaningful activities in life (obviously other than work), and hanging out with family and friends... and so now my focus is to stay away from all these meaningful things so that I can recover as quickly as possible, so that I can do the meaningful activities again! Does that even make sense?!?!?!

I have called Kaiser a few times already, and every time, based on my symptoms, they say this is a viral cold/flu, and that there is not much I can do, other than to sleep and rest. It's too bad the rest of the world does not wait for you to get well, though...

I've been stressed with work a lot these days, and people say that affects how quickly you recover... I should try *not* to get so stressed with work. I used to be a cheerful person not easily stressed with work! Perhaps I ought to think twice about the field I am currently in.

I thank my wife who has been so patient with me in the past few weeks, and lovingly taking care of me. I can't thank her enough, and say how much I feel loved by it. Muchos Gracias mi Amor!

Goodbye RX-7

So I have sold my RX-7 at last, at $950. I was going for $1100, but decided that doing a smog check myself would add to the cost overall, and take up too much time and hassle, so instead we lowered it to $1000, and I was feeling generous, so I said bring it all in cash and I give you a discount. So we had a deal.

After the deal, I was left with a small envelop; it wasn't even a thick envelop since he gave me $100 dollar bills... I could not believe how all my passion and work/time/money I poured into the car was simply exchanged to a single thin, faded envelop.

I told myself that when I win the lottery (I'm not even sure when and how, given I don't even buy any lottery tickets), I will treat myself to buying a third generation RX-7 like how I always wanted to.

IN the meantime, I will be using this money to (finally) buy some lens and equipment for my camera. I suppose it's about time...

Random Restaurants...

"yoswirl" is not a restaurant, but a yogurt shop; it's unique because you pay by the weight, and you are free to grab any yogurt and topping combination as you wish. It's a brilliant idea, really.

I think this is "Blakes on Telegraph"... but I'm not sure... Actually I've never been to this one!

Ah, the good ol' Naan'N' Curry. Isn't it great that whenever you want some curry, you can simply walk down the street to Naan'N' Curry? Good ol' days at Berkeley~

And Berkeley life isn't the same without the Fat Slice, for sure! I remember those late-night snacks, as we are working to finish up the homeworks and labs, etc, and hungry, so we pick up the phone and call for a Fat Slice pizza... and we are energized for the new few hours to mess around and hopefully finish the homeworks... :-)

Visiting Georgia, with my folks

Lots of my extended family members and cousins live around Atlanta, Georgia. And for our uncle's 70th birthday party, we decided to take a little trip out to Georgia and pay our respects. After all, the uncle and his family consistently came out for all of our weddings, that is, both for my sister and myself.

Grandmother in the center, my mom and her older sister, and then their husbands...


From the left to the right, my youngest uncle and his wife, my mom, NY uncle and his wife, and my dad...

One of my cousin's boy, and definitely one of my parents' favorite grand-child. Whenever they are with him, I feel urged to have a child someone soon... :-D

My grandmother used to stay with my parents down by Alabama, but recently move out to be with my aunt, as she is now retired and can better take care of grandmother, and she can be near more of her children. So before leaving back home to Alabama, my mom and grandmother share a special moment together.

Seeing our grandmother once again brings joy to my heart, but she gets older every time we see her, and there's the undeniable fact that eventually she will leave our side, but I hope that she will stay strong with us, until she can see our little children...

Sushi Rolls... a random post

I first encountered the world of sushi rolls a few years back, through a friend of mine who loved to eat them. Interestingly enough, before then, I was only aware of pure sushi, and sashimi. Roll was a foreign concept to me, then.

Now, I cannot imagine a life without sushi rolls. In fact, 90% of the times we go out to a Japanese restaurant, we are eating sushi rolls, not sushi, and not sashimi.

As anyone can attest to, however, the joys of eating sushi comes at a cost, literally. A person can rarely eat to his/her heart's content. But at one of our favorite Japanese restaurant, it is actually possible to eat and be full!
Anyone been to Ray's Sushi? :-)

Sometimes, we would order a few extra dishes, such as udon, and tempura. Ah, the joys of eating deep fried dish... :-)

Happy Birthday Noah!

It is Noah's first birthday.
And he is going to be a great baseball player.

RBC - Summer Retreat

Summer retreat is a great time to unwind, relax, and just enjoy God's presence in our lives, as we enjoy each others' company, and the beauty of the nature around us.
I think Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful place that is nearby, and though the beauty is a subjective word, no one can deny how awesome God is, who created the beautiful forest, the crystal-clear lake, and everything in it.
And what better way to enjoy all this, than with fellow Christian brothers and sisters!

RY - Great America

At Richmond Youth, we try to go down to Great America at least once a year. I wanted to go especially because a few of my kids will be leaving RY at the end of the summer.I ended up driving my Integra because we couldn't find the keys to one of the church vans in the morning. Here's the picture of kids who had to "suffer" through the cramped ride in my car, since, three people in the back, can be somewhat uncomfortable.



Here are some pictures of when we were preparing to ride the "Drop zone."

Lunch time! Bon Apetit! Itadakimasu!



After lunch, it's time to go swimming!! (Well, almost...)

Practically everyone (with the exception of Miga and myself) in the group got wet. Very wet.

A lot of rides on that day, unfortunately, broke down on us. This is us running to ride the "Invertigo", only to find out half an hour later, that the ride was broken, and that it was closed indefinitely. Almost all the major rides broke at least once; I wonder if the change of management has affected the overall quality of the park? Hmm...

And then it was time to go home. Kids were overjoyed at the thought of going home. And we tried to capture that moment as they leaped with joy. Can you tell?
Actually, we were going to eat Za Zang, so kids were happy.
In reality, we just told them to jump and they were happy to obey. :-)