Dad, happy days!

I could hardly believe my eyes when I finished fueling up my car with gas today... almost $70 (average around $40 in the past)!!! With gas price reaching $5/gallon now it is almost impossible to imagine how much it cost back then just less than 7 years ago when I came to the States... less than a dollar (pre-911)! So with inflation almost out of control these days I was just talking with a friend that one's financial strategy now is not just how much one can save but how much more one can earn to offset the increasing living costs.

Nevertheless I am glad to say I am at peace and I feel loved this past week. I am thankful and indebted to the couple people who helped me through the challenging days especially from work. You know who you are. :)

Finally my shout to dad for a happy Father's Day! I'll make up for the meal I missed when I'm back soon...

Dies ist noch nicht vorbei... this is not over yet...

About 4 months ago I planned to take the German class as for my personal interest and possibly ideas for my own language teaching. Now I am so glad I did and finished by taking the final with NO studying because I skipped the last couple of classes while Doris was in town and I was way too exhausted after a day's work for the past couple of weeks. I think I did quite good regardless of some of the words I already forgot. Tonight we celebrated afterwards with a dinner at a German restaurant. The food was just ok but the ambience and comradarie was wonderful. Basically every single student loved the class and is coming back for second semester if one can. I think it is quite an achievement the teacher has accomplished with such diverse students. Everyone was reminiscing the creative and fun sketches we did. They kept commenting how good an actor I was but my response was I hated acting to begin with but now I have grown to be quite fond of it! And the teacher has totally inspired me to be a better teacher and I even told her that. The funny thing I learned tonight is that she is dating a young guy who is a DLI graduate of Chinese and we chatted quite a bit.

On a totally different note, what would happened if you were to put some of the funniest things on TV together, such as SNL, the Office, Steve Carell, Deal or No Deal, and even the Japanese? Check these out... and I think Kristen Wiig is absolutely brilliant who makes me laugh and cry at the same time... What makes it even funnier is that they really are speaking Japanese! And don't forget I minored Japanese Studies in college!

Laughing matter aside, let's not forget what happened 19 years ago today... And as a german classmate who is an army veteran told me, he is optimistic about the change the Olympics will bring to Communist China. Everyone's fingers crossed...

Lost...

After this skit, I like Huckabee now. Quite smart and funny. If I were to vote he could have been the one just based on this.

More, but Not Merrier

The article above pretty much affirmed and elaborated in a nice way what I said and believe about the virtual social network online. Very well put.

Yesterday was pretty much spent in Silicon Valley / San Jose. The Wincestor House was... weird, as advertised. And we accidentally discovered a very hip and upscale shopping area known as Santana Row, which is comparable to Beverly Hills.I took this picture sitting on a really comfy couch in the middle of the road!

And I finally saw wild otters in the ocean today! Not one but three!!!

Thought of the day: If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?