JJJ Family

What is Din Tai Fung anyways? 鼎泰豐的媚力兒!

2009-08-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

About more than a decade ago, way before we migrated down to the Southern California, Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) had branched out to the States and had became the “carrot on the stick” to us. Seems like, we always had to make a special stop at Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) whenever we travel south to the greater LA area and/or San Diego to visit friends and/or for sightseeing. After a while, we forgot the real motive behind making all these trips, whether we must make time for our friends or we were simply making excuses to satisfy our taste buds for the “good eat” at Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐). Over those years, it’s managed to entice our appetite and secretly we were bewitched.

When Josh was barely over a year old, he was introduced to Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) for the first time. Like father, like son, Josh single-handedly gobbled up two dozens (兩籠) of steamed pork and crab dumplings (蟹粉小籠包) in one meal. As the new and proud parents, we were not surprised by Josh’s hunger for authentic Chinese food at all ! For a party of three, (well, it’s actually two plus one 兩大一小), the damage was: seven dozens of steamed pork and crab dumplings, one veggie dish, and one steamed beef soup (原盅牛肉湯). I don’t remember if he ever breaks his own record since.

Things have changed after we moved 300 miles closer to the area a little over four years ago, we have since discovered many other (物美價廉的) Chinese restaurants that we had failed to notice before. The long wait for Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) certainly had helped to push us away. We just happened to be in the neighborhood the other day and had this opportunity to return to this long-lost favor, this place still serves the same quality food and has the same crowd. Every now and then, we cannot help but wonder if it still plays the same trick on us!

Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) official website

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My Lhasa-Poo (Lhasapoo) baby

2009-06-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

From our past experience (a cocker spaniel and followed by a golden retriever), we have learned our lessons and realized the importance of compatibility. And after waited seven long years for Joshua to out grow his allergies, I know what I should be looking for in our family dog. In my quest to find the perfect match, I came cross numerous on-line listings of Poodle hybrid. I realized there is a new trend/demand for a "designer" dog. At any rate, there are several special characters of these design dogs really caught my eyes. Hypoallergenic and non shedding qualities of the poodle are one reason for crosses. Another reason is to create a dog with greater genetic variety, and although this is not a guarantee of better health, the scientific studies that have been done in this area have shown that crossbreds are both healthier and live longer than purebred dogs.

After a few episodes and a cold war lasted for about a week (it was a rather long story and irrelevant to the subject matter), I finally got what I was longing for… James brought home a super cute and shy puppy, and I fell head over heals in love with the fuzzy little thing at the first sight. The very first word popped into my head was "Fluffy", and we certainly did not have any difficulty to come up with his name! He was so vulnerable. In fact, his whole body was uncontrollably trembling, yet he showed his teeth at me. Of course, as I cuddled him inside my arms, I quickly learned that he has an underbite jaw, quite a few crooked teeth and overlapping teeth that definitely can use some orthodontic care. Without a doubt, a trait of Lhasa Apso. Yes, Fluffy is a cross between the Lhasa Apso and the Poodle, hence the name "Lhasapoo". I have to say that "Lhasapoo" doesn’t really sound nice in Chinese (sounds like filthy poop in Chinese), but unquestionably gets the attention.

Aside from the physical resemblances, Fluffy has some very unique and distinct temperaments which make him closer to Lhasas than Poodle. Although small, Fluffy can exhibit brief periods of explosive energy. When inspired, he would run circles around any objects (e.g. furniture, people, and tree) continuously with his full speed (like a bullet and make us dizzy) for a good couple of minutes. Often he makes tremendous leaps around the living room, and can jump from the floor to the sofa, from one sofa to another, and back to the floor with ease. Quite the opposite, Fluffy generally acts more like cool, aloof cats than the stereotypical idea of a small, "yappy" dog. During the day when we are at work and school, he would often sit/sleep for hours on sofa just listening for intruders. He views our backyard as a perimeter to be patrolled at infrequent intervals, more than just a playground to dig wholes at. Fluffy also has a high protection instinct and takes his role as guardian of our family very seriously. From time to time, he can be quite assertive about not allowing a visitor to enter the home to whom he sees as untrustworthy.

With a very cautious personality, he has reservation when introduce to new things (as he typically would tilt his head, it looks as if he is thinking) and new faces. It takes time and patience for him to warm up to his surroundings. Once you get to know him, Fluffy is very spunky, lively, eager to please, and playful. He also has a slight mischievous side, however, he has never once picked up our shoes, stocks, and/or any stuff other his toys to chew on. He would only pretend that he is going after the stocks to get the attention. Fluffy’s pet peeve is to lick feet and nibble at the ankles. I have to admit that Fluffy has a fetish about foot (his special interest is hairy legs, i.e. James’ legs). If you show off your naked feet in front of him, it is guarantee that he would go up-and-down and give you a thorough pedicure!

It goes without saying that Fluffy is so kissable, huggable, and loveable. He is my baby and Joshua’s best pal!!

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Joshua's drawings

2009-04-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

Putting aside all my expectations, I’ve always wanted to get to know Joshua more as a person rather than just a son. Yet I cannot help but wonder if he is gifted in some shape or form. Right off the bat, I knew I was lucky to have a very normal and ordinary kid. Nevertheless, after a couple of years of exploring his interests, I was pretty excited to find out that being able to express his inner creativity through sketches and drawing may be his strong suite. As his mom, I knew that I have to promote the development of his artistic skills, and encourage him to communicate graphically.

I hung and decorated the walls of my office with his masterpiece (my favorites) at his age of 4 1/2 through 7 years. After the summer of 2007 and before he turned 7, Joshua slowly but surely spent more and more time on reading and less on drawing. While I am surrounded by his animated and splendid drawings everyday at work and as I am putting together this posting, deep down, I am hoping that he would pick up his pens and share with me his imaginary world more often.

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Joshua drew this picture of our T.O. home when he was about 4-and-half years old. This is one of his earlier pieces, and he realistically captured the location and proportion of the orange tree and the outdoor built-in BBQ grill in our backyard. I also like the fact that he was aware of the surrounding, he added visual interests by introducing the birds and street cars in this picture.

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I really like this self portrait that he did on a piece of sandpaper, and especially the bold colors that he used. He really brought out the details by using the contrasting colors. Also, I am sure that he was not eating a slice of watermelon when he was drawing and composing the picture. It is quite interesting that he used a wedge of watermelon to highlight and add a feast to the otherwise static picture. The portrait was done when he was about 6.

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Joshua was really into ants for two years (4 - 6 years old) or so. During that time, he drew a lot of pictures about ants. This is one of his earlier drawings and also one of my favorites, he drew a boy bending over and checking out the worker ants crawling underneath. On the right hand margin, he labeled it “I am a bad boy!” I did not quite figure out why he made such remark on his picture initially, but later I pried and learned that because I was mad at him for something and he claimed himself being bad. Eventually, I asked him to change it to “I am a good boy” instead.

This is a pretty modern piece, Joshua bobbled out his Chinese name and added his signature “ant” character in the middle. Just in case it is not clear, his Chinese name is 劉杰(Jet Liu). Again, he is not afraid to use colors. This piece was done around the same time as the self portrait on the sandpaper.

Right around the time he learned to say and use the word “colony” (about 4 1/2 or 5 years old), he especially interested in drawing army of ants and their colony. I would think the magic school bus book series was his inspiration. For each army ant colony that he drew, Joshua always completed the picture with the whole colony (i.e. the queen, the queen’s brood, soldiers, and the workers) as if he was drawing an illustration for a text book. Gradually, he shifted his interests to war and then star war, his colony of ants had become more like star troopers with fancy weapons.

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This is a farm picture that he drew at my office during 2008 winter break (2007 X’mas and 2008 New Year). I was amazed by the vivid details he quickly (in less than 5 minutes) put together for the little piggy and the duck family. This drawing and composition is simply too cute that I made him reproduce a several extra copies to give out to my co-workers.

By demands, Joshua also drew quite a few copies of bat at my office, and I managed to keep one copy to myself. The thing struck me the most was, how fast he composed and finished a drawing. As if the picture was already projected in his head, all he did was to transpose it down to a piece of paper.

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This drawing was done as a School project for the first Halloween after we moved to T.O. He was a kindergartener and obviously did not know how to spell Frankenstein. In fact, I am not too sure he meant to draw Frankenstein or not. For the first Halloween, I also made him a costume, “the Bug”, which he won multiple awards (the scariest, the most creative, etc.) from various Halloween costume contests.

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10 Yr Anniversary dinner at Buca!

2009-02-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

This was not the first time we visited Buca di Beppo. When we first visited Buca a number of years back in Palo Alto and later for our going away party in San Jose, we were unimpressed with this seemingly very popular restaurant. About three years after our last visit at the San Jose location, we decided to give it another try when friends proposed a kitchen table experience for the July 4th dinner last year. We still not very impressed with the food (seems like they favor quantity over quality) and much of the food tasted the same to us (apparently same tomato sauce), but we were overwhelmed by all the actions had taken place in the kitchen. Thanks to the great influence from our friends, we started to appreciate the atmosphere (the decoration and special settings) and ventured on menu items other than “Linguine Frutti di Mare” (seafood linguine). Well, as a matter of fact, we were sold because of the repeated $10 off coupons. And through using these convenient discounts, we’ve found that Buca is not a bad choice for family gatherings (in particular for special celebration) after all.

The Apple Gorgonzola Salad has become our favorite. This lettuce based green salad is topped with tart Granny Smith apples, spiced walnuts, dried cranberries and gorgonzola blue cheese. The salad is tossed and finished with Italian vinaigrette, very light yet satisfactory.

For our 10-years anniversary celebration night, we tried the newly added menu item “Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken” (our waiter told us this dish is a new menu item after the Planet Hollywood purchased Buca in late 2008). The breaded chicken breasts was stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto, baked and topped with marinara, served on a bed of pesto cream sauce. To my surprise, the chicken was not overly breaded and the texture and the flavor of crunchy crest layered with the tender chicken, cheese, and prosciutto were well-balanced.

As we were presented with a complimentary double dark chocolate cake for our anniversary, we were unenthusiastic about a block of black fudge. Then again, who can resist a free sample of unappetizing dessert when knowingly it is all chocolate? Thus, we all dig in and enjoy spoon after spoon of the ultimate sinful indulgence, ummmmm moist dark chocolate cake with layers of rich chocolate, pretty much devour nothing else but chucks of chocolate… no other perfect way to end this night.

Buca di Beppo Menu

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Ensenada, Mexico (2/13/09 - 2/16/09)

2009-02-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Quite honestly, I have no higher expectation of this trip other than just to enjoy the time-off from work and spend some quality time with the family. In fact, the one and only reason that we took this Carnival cruise to revisit Ensenada was to celebrate our 10 years anniversary. Yah! A Tin wedding!! How about that!!! Although our first trip a little over 10 years ago to Ensenada on Royal Caribbean was unforeseen and spontaneous, it carried out a meaningful turn in our courtship.

Unlike prior cruises, we opted out of purchasing any shore excursions offered by Carnival. We wanted a little adventure and decided to shop around in Ensenada for local scenic tours and horseback riding packages. So…..after we debarked in Ensenada, we paid $2 per person and hopped on a shuttle to town.

With the recommendation and $5 discount coupons from our shuttle’s guide, we paid $15($13 for Joshua) for each adult and visited one of the major attractions, La Bufadora Blowhole, in Ensenada. The Blowhole is approx 18 miles away from where our cruise ship docked in harbor. However, it probably took us almost an hour each way, as the cars can only drive on a local service road where some sections are unpaved and others with some stop-and-go traffic. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the charming panoramic view of the Ensenada Bay while the tour guide pointed out historical building, natural scenery, and interesting local facts on our way there to La Bufadora.

The Blowhole (marine geyser) is located on the Punta Banda Peninsula in Baja California, Mexico. It is a natural crevice originating from erosion and connected to an underwater canyon. The spout of marine water is created when ocean waves and air are drawn into an underwater cave located in the cliffside, and the trapped air and water then explode upwards. This interaction not only creates the upward-shooting spout, but a thunderous noise as well. The loud grunt gave the phenomenon its name, “La Bufadora” means “buffalo snort”. La Bufadora Blowhole is the second largest blowhole in the world, after Hawaii, and can shoot upwards as high as 100 feet above sea level. Other “Blowholes” exist in Australia, Tahiti and one in Japan, but Japan’s is artificial. La Bufadora is the most spectacular of all of them, because it’s situated on a rocky inlet near the tip of the ruggedly beautiful peninsula.

On our way back, we passed by the Riviera del Pacifico, a one-time glamour spot converted into the social, civic and cultural Center of Ensenada. It's a vast white complex, straight across the harbor from the dock, a short detour on the walk to town. Built in the 1920s, this was a glamorous casino, hotel, restaurant and bar visited by Hollywood stars and wealthy Americans and Mexicans.

After Blowhole, we asked the tour guide to drop us off for some horseback riding on the beach. We got on a horse drawn carriage, and got off on the roadside of Interstate 1 (I-1) Southbound a mile or so south of the port in a shanty town. For $30 per person, the owner of this unestablished horse rentals paired us up with different size/color tamed horses and we began our very first horseback riding journey on a little stretch of Pacific Ocean coastline of Baja Mexican. Without doubts, I was a ball of nerves and had my share of fears and uneasy feelings. Soon after I got my bearings and got to know better about my horse, I tossed out all the “what if” questions and started to enjoy my ride. At the end, we all made it back safe and sound.

Even though we didn’t expect much from Carnival’s food, we still expected to have a lavish dining experience, therefore we pretty much dined at the main seating dinning rooms (i.e. all the dinners at Destiny restaurant; Sunday lunch and Monday breakfast at Elation) when available. Overall, it ranged from adequate to exceed our expectation. Not a gourmet experience by any means, but reasonably well presented with some creative choices. I found all the fish dishes to be excellent (pan-fried fillet of red snapper, tilapia, cod, salmon, etc.) On the formal night, we all had big lobster tails with fresh, succulent, crunchy, and tasteful tiger shrimps. With an extra order of perfectly rare prime rib and a fresh cod to complete our main course selections, we ate like kings and queens.

Salads (from ordinary Caesar Salad to Mongolian beef salad) were pretty creative and tasty, although a bit skimpy on the portions. Other than the strawberry bisque, chilled asparagus soup and avocado soup, the other soups were pretty boring and forgettable. Desserts (such as chocolate melting cake, ice cream, crème caramel, Alaskan cake, etc.) were OK, again not terribly flavorful, but pretty and not bad. For the Valentine celebration on Saturday night, we all tried the chocolate fudge cake shaped like a stem of rose.

For hours and hours on Sunday at sea, we had a blast twisting and turning waterslide on Carnival Paradise. And we put our waterproof Olympus Stylus 1050 SW to the test.

We watched two musical productions (Here’s Hollywood and Shout) in the main show lounge, Normandie. The shows presented aboard were quite good and I do like the fact that Carnival Paradise has its own dancers, vocalists, and orchestra.

Pictures taken with stand-up comedians Seth Buchwald and Lance Montalto, after the “R” rated adult comedy shows.

We were lucky with the weather and all in all it was surprisingly a short yet memorable trip. By taking this cruise and visiting Ensenada again, it did stir up JJ’s romance (gave our love another booster shot) over the Valentine and President’s Day long weekend. And YES! We look forward to many, many 10-years to come!!

P.S. After we got back from the cruise, I learned that the best beaches are five miles south of Ensenada, in a small town calls Chapultapec. The long strand of sand at the Estero Beach Resort is public. There’re horseback riding, surf fishing and jet skiing available on the beach. According to the local tour guide, Ensenada is just about 3 hours car ride away from San Diego International Airport. May be… for a change, we will consider coming back to Ensenada by car in the near future.

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Santa Monica (2/1/09)

2009-02-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

When over 100 million people in the America were viewing the Super Bowl playoff on Sunday afternoon, we were strolling up and down the planks of the Santa Monica Pier. After an easy breezy walk by the beach, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Buca Di Beppo with friends from oversea. There’s an old Chinese saying, “有朋自遠方來, 不易樂乎! (It is such a delight to have friends coming from afar!)”, best describe our trip to Santa Monica on a Super Bowl Sunday.

As a matter of fact, JJJ had never visited Santa Monica together before. It was such a wonderful excuse and a very nice treat to spend an afternoon on the boardwalk, enjoy lively street performers, catch the best sunsets along the California coast, have a family style Italian dinner at Buca, and explore the blocks of pedestrian-oriented shopping district after dinner. Needless to say, we did not miss the opportunity to ride on the large Ferris wheel. The eight minutes ride took us right back to our childhood memories.

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New Year's Resolutions

2009-02-04T22:01:00.000-08:00

For the upcoming Year of Ox, we put together the following goals last night over the family dinner.

Be a good role model and positive influence

Toward the last couple of months in 2008, I started promoting cardio-kickboxing to my dear hubby and among our closed friends. Not only I’ve found that TKB improve and maintain cardiovascular fitness, but I’ve also learned that TKB increase my strength, flexibility, sharpen my reflexes, and boost my metabolism. In addition to all these physical benefits I’ve got in a relatively short session (60 minutes), I also use TKB to work up sweat and relieve stress. It is a total body workout that I cannot seem to get the same benefit out from other exercise routines (e.g. Yoga and Pilates) I’ve done before.

Hiking is another activity I’ve always been passionate about. After each hike, I feel like there’s a certain serenity, a coming-to-peace-with yourself and the world. By the same token as TKB, I’ve found that the benefits of regular hiking are to tone our bodies, calm our minds and keep up with our all-important cardiovascular system. Most certainly some additional benefits from regular hikes are to build endurance and to discover our potential (what our bodies are capable of handling). For all the good reasons, I’ve also strongly encouraged Joshua to hike with us, when his schedule permits.

Due to various personal and work related reasons, our hiking routine and participants have shrunk over the year. In the winter, we’ve tried to hike at least twice a month on Sunday. Our routine is from the Wendy trailhead in N.P., follow the Boney Mountain Trail to Danielson Monument and back. It takes about two hours (no jogging, just hiking/walking) for a total of 6 miles morning hike. Hopefully, we can inspire more friends and families to join us and resume a more frequent hiking routine when the summer comes.

One of my goals was to build a blog and find a bridge to reconnect with friends and family, I got a head start by setting up the JJJ blog before the Year of Rat ended. My goal is to contribute at least two postings a month and to keep friends and family updated with JJJ’s recent development. As I am a firm believer of “true (open, honest, considerate, and respectful) friendship comes first in any relationship”, I would also like to get to know Joshua at a different level (not as a son, as a person, but as a friend). From time to time, I’ve recognized that I do take things for granted (especially where it comes to family) and I have to admit that I was not 100% there for my boy. Life is full of unexpected twists and turns, and of course time is of the essence, I don’t want to see family blood relationship becomes an excuse for us NOT to connect.

Live a happier, healthier and more productive life

When I was a little girl (probably as young as Joshua’s age now), my father used to tell me “be happy”. I was already a happy-go-lucky kind of girl, did not really appreciate the quintessence of “being happy” and the work behind the scene until I’ve grown older and started my own family. I would like to pass this phrase down to Joshua with all my blessings, wish he could live a fulfilled and happy life.

As JJJ really enjoy “good eats” and have been spending most of its monthly budget on food (on groceries and restaurant bills). And yes, the rumor is true. JJJ do have two full-size refrigerators and both fridges are fully stocked. I reckon it is extra hard for JJJ to give up all the bad eating habits at once. We just have to do it on baby steps, and taking it one habit at a time. Therefore, my new motto for the Year of Ox is, “don’t get involved in a power struggle around eating or other symptoms (such as over indulgence)”. JJJ know it so well, that often time we let the “worst half” takes control over our decision making process when it comes to comfort foods. In spite of this seemed/deemed “mission impossible”, I do believe, with patience and persistence, nothing is unattainable.

Aside from eating healthier food and developing better eating habits, I would also like to make progress on my exercise routine. To start the New Year with a fresh outlook, I increased the frequencies of Gym visits (from one TKB a week to three TKB a week) and I started pushing myself full thrust (give the utmost of my ability) with every possible TKB moves. The more thorough my kicks and punches are, the more sweat I’ve got (hence more calories I’ve burned). The good sign is JJJ”ve become accustomed and I’ve become enthusiastic to my TKB routines every week. At last (after a whopping prepaid membership endorsement and followed by seven years of inactivity), I’ve put our 24Hour Fitness membership to some good uses!

James needs to shed off some unhealthy build-up he has on the abdominal area (AKA, love handle, it is about 30 pounds of excessive weight). It is reassuring to see that he is making progress and I’ve got to give him kudos for making the efforts and working toward his goal.

As I am sure this upcoming year will not be all smooth sailing, my goal is to prepare and be ready to any roadblocks, obstacles, and setbacks that may stand in our ways. JJJ shall be ready for any financial, spiritual, and physical challenges that lie ahead.

Have closures with our bad investments

One of our real estate investment, in particular, has been dragging our feet for too long and too much money down the drain. I truly believe that JJJ’ve learned some valuable lessons and paid a steep price for some bad investment decision. We would love to see it finally comes to an end in 2009. So that James has no excuses of staying up late at night.

Some wisdoms for Joshua

Lately, we’ve found ourselves repeatedly emphasize the followings to Joshua:

Use his time wisely – One thing we keep brainwash Joshua over and over again is to “work hard and play hard”. Every now and then, he seems to mix up work and play, and fail to focus on one task at a time. His 2009 motto is "Do the things that you have to do, so that you can do the things that you want to do."

Be patient – We live in a very impatient culture. Technology has trained us to expect instant gratification. From time to time, Joshua expects instant gratification (aren’t we all), even after he can grasp the concept of “time”. We try to teach him “patience is a virtue” and fortunately patience can be cultivated and nurtured. Joshua tends to rush through work and often misread the questions/instructions. To help him stop making careless mistakes, we try to show him to catch his own mistakes by reviewing and rechecking his work before he turns it in.

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Love is far more than just chemistry...

2009-02-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Only recently have scientists begun to study the causes for love. It has been found, for example, that certain regions of the human brain are activated and various neurotransmitters are released when a person is in love. Functional MRIs (fMRIs) have shown that certain areas of the brain are activated when a person is in love. These areas that are activated include regions of the cortex, such as the medial insula, anterior cingulated, and regions of the sub-cortex, such as parts of the striatum and nucleus accumbens. Scientists have found this very interesting because it is these areas of the brain, which constitute the core regions of the so-called "reward system." Thus, when a person falls in love, these areas of the cortex and sub-cortex become activated and allow the person to feel happiness and satisfaction. One particular neurotransmitter that causes a person to feel happy when in love is dopamine. Dopamine is released by the hypothalamus and puts a person in a "feel good" state.

Despite all theses scientific studies try to explain the unexplainable. Love is truly a very subjective belief. Everyone fall in and out of love for different rationales. Love to me personally is all inclusive and as complicated as it can be. To me, it takes more than chemistry or love sparks to bring that special feeling of love. Love is embedded in a true friendship (a kindred spirit 真情 with mutual respect, mutual understanding, and genuine interest in the relationship). Love is flourished in honesty, trust, patience, and TLC (tender loving care). Love is strengthened with time and experience of life. Love is attested by obstacles, disagreement, conflicts, duties, and responsibilities in life. Love is full of challenges and impediment, where a lot of people choose to turn their back and give up on. As most people would baffle when faced a relationship crisis, I often have mix feelings too when challenged. After a 10 plus years of one monogamous relationship, I know love is high maintenance. While there’s no secret to my love life, it takes two to consummate a healthy and loving relationship. I am lucky to be with THE ONE who treasures the same value and has the same interests as I do.

Inspired by real life stories of our friends...

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Tidepools at Leo Carrillo (1/25/09)

2009-01-25T22:58:00.000-08:00

The day before Chinese New Year, we enjoyed a blissful afternoon in Leo Carrillo State Park, visited the tidepools during the lowest tides, and spent a very educational hour with a lovely attentive docent... We always have fun in the tidepools, but never really knew too much about the habitats. It was quite nice to come across this opportunity to explore the tidepools with some knowledgeable naturalists. Such public program is sponsored by Malibu Sector Interpretation of California State Park. For details, please visit http://www.malibuinterp.com/

Among some fascinating tidepools facts and creatures that we learned, the most memorable animal that we encountered was a sea hare (i.e. a very large sea slug). Its primary food source is algae. When disturbed, the sea hare will extrude a bright purple fluid (which is derived from the algae it eats) to distract the attention and escape from danger. Unfortunately, Joshua had some potato chips after he played with the sea hare using his fingers, and came back home with a very sick stomach.

We spotted quite a number of knobby sea stars, mostly chocolate chip color and a few orange ones we spotted on occasionally. When they eat, they use their extremely strong tube feet to pull open their bivalves and then digest their prey outside of their bodies. We were all amazed by the amount of force a relatively small sea star can produce by adjusting the water pressure inside its body.

Aside from hermit crabs, another common animal found in the tidepools is green sea anemone. Green sea anemone is related to jellyfish and corals because it has stinging cells which paralyze and digest its prey with ease. Unlike jellyfish, the stinging cells of a green sea anemone are too small to penetrate human skin.

We learned about “zoning”. Some animals can only survive where the waves pound the rocks, others need the relative shelter of deeper water. Plants and animals can dry out if exposed for too long at low tide.

We sighted a few Chitons and learned that Chiton is a type of mollusk that identified by eight shell plates held together by an outside oval of tissue.

We got to visit the coastal cave which only accessible during the lowest tides. Inside the cave, we sighted groups of gooseneck barnacles. In the earlier days, gooseneck barnacles were confused as birds, since the similarities in color and shape.

Another startling animal we learned is sandcastle worms (or we like to call them beehive/ honeycomb sand worms). Sandcastle worms build sturdy tube-shaped homes from bits of sand and shell, shell, and their own natural glue. Their homes are hard to the touch at first, but with a little force, our fingers can crash their homes at ease.

It may look like a still-life painting at low tide. When nothing seems to be moving, but plant and animal inhabitants interact and affect each other in many ways. There is keen competition for space, light and food. There is predation, one animal eating another. There are animals depend on others (e.g. neighbors) to survive, but some are better off to live alone than in groups. There are animals living on other animals and even inside other animals!

A very typical afternoon under the Southern California sun!

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About JJJ (our values, hobbies and interests)

2009-01-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

About J, JJ, and JJJ
I am a born optimist despite the various setbacks I have encountered in my life. I feel so fortunate to have a compatible life partner (my prince charming and soul mate) who loves me dearly for who I am. In February of 2009 (next month!), we will be celebrating our Tin wedding anniversary (the 10th). Yah!! We are so blessed to have a very close bond with our son. Our son seems to have inherited our positive attitude and we manage to keep him on his toes. We like outdoor activities and like to be close to the nature, yet we can be just as happy staying at home, doing nothing but enjoying each other's company (well, more like surfing the web and watching movies).

We are all first generation immigrants. As we embrace American culture with our traditional Chinese values and heritage, we thrive on this cultural and intellectual convergence. While we celebrate Chinese traditions and customs when it comes to family values and festivals, we are never the less liberal minded with our attitude and outlook towards life.

As for our personalities, I would like to describe ourselves as fun-loving parents, and friendly, thoughtful, and considerate individuals. While we don't have a large number of friends, we are very content with having just a small circle of close friends who are genuine in their friendship and would have no reservation to stand by us in times of need. And we are fortunate enough to be in the company of such friends to share our moments with.

Hobbies and Interests
Like many others, I have had numerous hobbies and interests throughout my life that invariably changed from time to time. Although our interests and hobbies are diverse and varied, JJJ do manage to enjoy most of the activities together. Among our hobbies, some examples are reading, facebooking/blogging, on-line shopping, cooking, dinning out, collecting stamps & coins, collecting the Valentine (Lover) stones found in yellow fish head (黃魚裡的情人石), drawing, traveling (sight seeing), skiing, kickboxing, and hiking.

Reading
Reading can be a very absorbing hobby. When he really gets into it, our son can read nights and days. We buy and borrow different varieties of books to encourage him to read more.

Facebooking and Blogging
Facebooking and Blogging are very recent hobbies for JJ (since May of 2008). We use Facebook to reconnect with our old friends, ex-colleagues, high school and college ex-classmates. Although I am not an active blogger, I blog whenever time permits.

On-line Shopping
Who doesn't like to splurge once in a while and pamper ourselves with new fashion and gadgets? On-line shopping is the easiest way to shop and it provides instant gratification. As long as it is a secure site carrying quality products that are reasonable priced, you bet I am there!

Cooking & Dinning
I've found that cooking relaxes me, whenever I have the luxury to cook from scratch. I like to reinvent and experiment with different recipes, work with whatever that is available and add my own twist to the dishes. I still enjoy cooking, but, due to time constraints imposed by many life’s demands, I rarely get the chance to "cook" (as opposed to fix the meals and feed the family).

JJJ enjoy food so much, that we are willing to drive hundred of miles for good eats. We are always open-minded to try new cuisines and new restaurants. Please keep a look out for future postings on this subject.

Collecting stamps, coins, and Valentine (Lover) stones found in yellow fish head (黃魚裡的情人石)
Back in the time when people still write and send actual letters in the mail, we started collecting stamps for sentimental reasons. We also collected foreign currency whenever we travel. For example, JJ have in their collection, some French ‘Little Prince’ currency, among others, before France’s conversion to the standardized Euro currency. We also collected various types of American and foreign coins from our domestic and international travels.

Yes, I collect Valentine/Lover stones (耳石，和魚類的聽覺及平衡有關係) found in the capsule of yellow fish head (黃魚頭). There is exactly one pair of stones in each yellow fish, and each pair presents itself in a very unique and symmetrical shape. When putting the pair together, they form a heart shape, hence the name Valentine/Lover stones. Obviously, the size of the stones correlates to the size of the fish.

The biggest pair I have in my collection is approximately one inch in length and the smallest pair in my collection is just about the size of a sesame seed. Here is a picture of my biggest and smallest pairs, next to a dime for comparison.

I have about 75 pairs in my current collection.

Drawing
I have to say that our son is somewhat gifted at drawing (we discovered his interest when he was about four years old). He has a very artistic/creative side (as evidenced by all the creativity awards he’s been receiving since Pre-K). I plan to catalog his drawings and introduce them piece by piece. Please come back often for future postings on this subject.

Traveling (sight seeing)
We love to travel so as to fill our memory with new places and people, and to explore different culture and customs. They are full of treasured moments and stories from family visits (near and far), professional trips, and family vacations. We try to schedule in one to two international travels a year and occupy our long weekends and holidays with mini getaways. Please come back often for future postings and pictures on this subject.

Skiing and Hiking
Please come back for future postings on this subject.

Also, check out my Linkedin and Facebook profile, if you are interested in connecting with me at professional and social level.

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2008 Flashback

2009-01-24T22:16:00.000-08:00

Time flies when you have kid! I cannot believe 2008 was over already and almost feel like James and I have just celebrated the Millennium in Vegas yesterday!

(pictures below are not from the Millennium celebration, instead they are from our Vegas trip during the 2008 Chinese New Year celebration - celebrating the year of Rat)

Similar to many Chinese Americans, we made the similar choices and tradeoffs to fill Joshua's schedule with various after school activities (swimming, soccer, piano lessons, and church interests) and school work (regular school and Chinese school). Joshua loves swimming and swam pretty much 5 days a week during the past three summers. I hope he will want to and be able to join a swim team once he masters his butterfly skill. During the fall of 2008, Josh played in the AYSO League; he has been running along and kicked around the soccer ball for the past two seasons now. Cannot say he is terribly fond of the sport, but it did help him burn some excess calories. It has been a little over a year since Joshua started taking piano lessons, and his teacher has sought different opportunities to get her students to perform in the public (at senior centers and in churches, etc). To celebrate this past X'mas, the students had a piano recital at the teacher's home and they all got to show off what they have learned and accomplished during the past year. Joshua has also been participating in our church's Xmas children performance for the past two years. For 2008, children sang and performed at the candle light church service the Saturday night before X'mas. He is also in the Awana program during the school year and has learned quite a few important bible lessons (we hope.)

Growing up in an Asian education system and culture, I've often found myself stressed and disappointed by the quality and the quantity of American school curriculum. Not only I noticed that a lot of basic fundamental skills were been taught at a much slower pace (may be because the 'no child left behind' policy?), but also I realized it became parents' burden to make sure the kids do truly learn and behave. Quite the opposite of what I have been through in Taiwan. So much so I don't think we can afford to have another kid because we are spreading so thin. I have bought a lot of text books and extra practice workbooks for Joshua to work on at home. After we moved away from the Bay Area (northern California), I realized that we probably only have 1/10 of the resources available for kids to learn Chinese here in Thousand Oaks, comparing with the environment in the Silicon Valley or places such as San Gabriel or Arcadia with much larger Chinese communities. Unfortunately for Joshua, we don't think two hours a week of Saturday Chinese school is simply enough. Again, all the burden and pressure would become the parents'. And yes, we do of course want Joshua to be able to appreciate and learn Chinese culture and traditions.

Aside from some international travels (visited relatives in Taiwan and went to Bali on a family trip with my Dad during the spring break),

we had a number of beach outings this past summer.

We also enjoyed a whitewater rafting trip, and two mini camping trips.

For Joshua's 8 years old B-Day, we drove down to Sea World in San Diego to celebrate.

We also had a ski trip to Mammoth the weekend before Thanksgiving. During that trip, Joshua was able to ski down the green slopes (the Discovery trail) without help and without too many falls (and without too many turns either). After a couple of skiing experience from prior trips, he finally got used to the heavy gear, and was able to overcome his initial fear of height and speed. We were so proud that he did about 20 runs in total on the Discovery trail and was able to easily off-mount the chairlift with confidence.

Similar to X'mas of 2007, we also had a white X'mas and did skiing (and snow tubing) in North Tahoe (Squaw Valley and Mt Rose) over the X'mas weekend. At Squaw Valley, we figured Joshua had already mastered the green slopes, so we took him to an intermediate trail with both green and blue sections. Needless to say, we miscalculated his adaptability and flexibility, and overestimated his readiness. After a few initial happy and cheery falls in the puffy white snow, Joshua had one too many uncontrolled tumble in the steep section. After that, he took off his skis and insisted to walk/slide/roll down the rest of the steep section. With James and I putting on our best eternal cheer leading chorus, Joshua finally put the skis back on and skied the final green section. You know, I am just so thankful that no one got hurt. The fresh, puffy and powdery snow was the nicest I've ever seen in Tahoe in the past 10 years.

Personally, I pursued my lifelong dream and started learning and playing Gu Zheng (古箏, an ancient Chinese musical string instrument similar to a zither) at the beginning of 2008. Comparing it with piano, I've found that I can relate to Gu Zheng much faster and have a deeper appreciation. I also chose to realign my goals in life; I have already lost all my 'honeymoon and post-pregnancy' weight gain and started to do some local hiking on the weekends with some co-workers from Countrywide in 2007. Yet I amazed myself by setting some personal records too in 2008. To name a few, I have been keeping an eating/food diary (counting my calories intakes) for a year now and I've been religiously doing kickboxing at a local 24hour Fitness club at least once a week for the past three months. Even though I did not drastically shed any more pounds off in 2008, I could feel my pants are getting looser. James is sort of having this yo-yo dieting and cannot seem to lose the 15-20 pounds for good. To help him with his increasing 'love handle' problem, in addition to MAKE him go to the kick boxing classes with me, we recently started playing racket ball with our friends at their apartment complex. Hopefully, he can quit his old habit of staying up late at night, and can stick to a workout routine in 2009.

The best thing happened in 2008 for me was that we finally got a family dog again after 7 years of long wait. Joshua has finally out grown his allergic reaction to dog saliva. The new addition to the family is a hypo-allergenic Lhasa Poodle (aka 'LhasaPoo', I know, it doesn't really sound nice, but he is such a sweetheart). We call him Fluffy or short as Fify. He has a conservative and reserved personality, and fits into our family just fine.

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Queen Mary in Long Beach (1/18/09)

2009-01-18T23:12:00.000-08:00

Who says free is no good…

We took an advantage of Queen Mary’s special deal for California residents (saved about $63), found a free weekend in January, and paid a tribute to this 78 years old World War II veteran in Long Beach, California.

I was really appreciative of all our modern amenities, as we walked through the self-guided tour and peeked into the officer’s quarters, different classes of staterooms, and dining accommodations. We also checked out the wheelhouse, navigational equipment, engine room, generator room and boiler rooms, and had a very interesting viewing of the propeller in the underwater box.

The highlight of our trip was on the sport deck, while all the kids went crazy climbing up and down on the anti-aircraft guns, all the adults enjoyed the spectacular ocean and skyline view of Long Beach as the sun was setting and sky changed its colors.

Reference:
History of Queen Mary
Deck Plans

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Biggest full moon of 2009 (1/10/09)

2009-01-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

Moon was nearly full on Saturday night, January 10 of 2009, the biggest and brightest of the year. According to NASA, the moon appeared about 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during 2009. A similar occurrence turned out in December last year, making that month's full moon the largest of 2008. We were at the Griffith Observatory and tried to catch a glimpse of the amazing sight, after a surprise B-Day party in Alhambra.

Here are some interesting facts about this phenomenon:

“Earth, the moon and the sun are all bound together by gravity, which keeps us going around the sun and keeps the moon going around us as it goes through phases. The moon makes a trip around Earth every 29.5 days. But the orbit is not a perfect circle. One portion is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to our planet than the farthest part, so the moon's apparent size in the sky changes. On Saturday night (Jan. 10), the moon was at perigee, the closest point to us on this orbit.

A full moon rises right around sunset, no matter where you are. That's because of the celestial mechanics that produce a full moon: The moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, so that sunlight hits the full face of the moon and bounces back to our eyes. At moonrise, the moon will appear even larger than it will later in the night when it's higher in the sky. This is an illusion that scientists can't fully explain. Some think it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon vs. stuff overhead.

A departing fact: The moon is moving away as you read this, by about 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) a year. Eventually this drift will force the moon to take 47 days to circle our world.”

I can't help but thinking about when the moon rose up in the sky it appeared absolutely huge and luminous, that bound to have some loony and spooky effects on some human and animal behavior. When the moon is full, people will party, dogs will bite, robbers will steal, murderers will kill, and werewolves will come out…

Reference:
Brightest Full Moon of 2009 Tonight!

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