I was talking to a good friend who has an infant son.

friend: he (his son) is so adorable.  anh, kids are so cute man.  if you look at all these assholes around, you couldn't stop wondering they must be adorable when they were kids too, but yet, they somehow grew up being assholes.

me: hahaha, i don't know what to say to that.

12/28/08

I made a little Xmas dinner today with roasted quails and lobsters.  We opened a nice chardonnay that I had been saving for Ha for a year and a half.  Great time.
Zoey's first Christmas gift is mom staying home with her for two weeks.  It is just the gift she wants.

12/25/08

Well, Ha didn't like the reference to the movie Office Space I pulled on John the other day.  Since she didn't get the humor part of it, she thought it was rude and downright nasty.  Come to think of it, I have a pretty off color dry sense of humor.  Come to think further of it, I am pretty sure it was shaped from the days I was at Caltech... 

 12/10/08

Spent a good part of the weekend working on the wine rack.  It turns out all right, I think.  At least the wife said so, and she was pleased that I didn't spend too much time on it.

Over the weekend, a guy named Anh Cao became the first Vietnamese American to get elected to Congress.  Emails start pouring in as if I were living in some caves that had no access to the outside news, except for email, of course.  Anyhow, here is a snippet of my conversation with John,

John: anh in congress?  

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/us/politics/08cao.html

me: yep, the name Anh is fine until that no talent ass clown got elected to congress

John:  wow, That's rough.  He was just elected yesterday.  You think you might want to give him a few days before declaring him a clown with little talent?

I may need to get John a copy of Office Space eh?

12/08/08 

Our TV/family room had a ceiling fan but no light.  A couple months ago, we replaced the fan with a fan/light combo so Zoey can play in that room.  Anyhow, it is one of those made in China thing, and the pulling cord for the on/off switch to the fan broke off last week.  I took a look at it, and the cord actually broke off inside the housing that didn't look reachable.

Anyway, while I didn't think it could be fix, much less by me, Ha kept nagging me about it.  Today, after the 10th time of her nagging, smoke came out of my ears.  So I decided to take the thing apart, that I WOULD FIX THIS DAMN THING ONCE AND FOR ALL.  Let me tell you, when I am madly determined to do something, like I was today, it'll get done.

It took me an hour, and all of my determination, but it works fine and dandy now.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

11/28/08

Our group assistant girl walked into my office yesterday, "hey Anh, can I take a look at your asset?"  She was doing the asset inventory you see.  But she barged in so abrupt that the only reply I could think of was "Should we close the door first?"  I think there is something about this in the employee handbook, but it was formulated way after I joined.

Had dinner with the MIT crowd last night, very pleasant.

11/19/08

Took an elbow to the face playing walleyball last night.  Nose is still numb, hopefully it's not broken.  What a way to start the weekend!

11/14/08 

Maybe all kids are cute (although Carlin would emphatically disagree), and maybe, just maybe I am biased, but everyday I went home last week, Zoey was in a new outfit, and she looked so beautiful and radiant in everyone of them.  Well, I guess I'll find out when the bill comes, but good job wify!

11/04/08 

I have a bet with a coworker in the general election.  McCain wins, I collect $200, Obama wins, I lose $50.  Let just say that I'd be happy to pay that $50.

Speaking of politics, it is usually a contentious or down right ugly topic of any conversations.  But during this heated and polarized campaign season, it is hard to avoid discussing politics.  I don't shy from it, but I keep my mouth shut as soon as people turns irrational.  It is hard to discuss anything and it benefits no one in the face of irrationality.  It is too bad since I find it an extremely pleasant and intriguing topic.  I've had many great talks with a guy who is on the opposite political spectrum from mine.

It is really, really hard not to spoil your kid.  I am talking from my limited 8 months of experience.  We had all these talks and made all the plans to be disciplinarians, but little by little they all go down the pipe.

11/03/08  

Well, I got what I wished for.

It is anyone's game and a potential heart breaker, but you've got to like the sox's chance.

10/18/08

10/17/08

5:30pm - decided to go play volleyball instead of watching the sox (game 5 at fenway, down 3-1 in series)

7:30pm - driving home, tossing the phone to Chinh. "hey, can you check the sox's score?"  "down 5-0 in the fifth, papelbon pitching" was the reply.

7:56pm - chinh: "hahaha, 7-0 now".

9:20pm - working on the laptop with espn on, showing a Rays groundout as one of the top ten, thinking "no!!!!! they didn't"

yes, they did, and i missed it.

All I am asking for is Game 7.

10/16/08

I am a fan of the Hannibal movies.  It didn't come easy.  I first saw clips of the movie Hannibal, and it was way too strong and graphical for me.  A year went by before I watched Science of the Lamb on the recommendation of Jimmy.  I liked it so much that I went back and watched Hannibal.  It took me a couple tries, but I finished it, and grew to like it.  When Red Dragon came out, I watched it in the theater.

I stumbled upon Hannibal Rising playing on Showtime today.  I have to say, if I thought Hannibal was heavy, this one is ten times worse.  I had to tell Ha not to look at the TV when she walked into the room.  Anyway, I watched to the end, but had to look away several times.  It'll probably take me 4 tries this time.  Will see.

10/04/08  

What a game!  Redsox took an early 4-1, then 5-2 leads, only to see it evaporated to 5-5 in the eighth.  Then J.D hit a bomb against K-Rod, the guy with 62 saves this season, on top of the ninth.  What a game! 

Here is a snippet of my recent chat with Todd,

Todd felt lucky about the 3 hr meeting, not the wife IM message, from upstairs part, I think. 

We have tickets to the 49ers game this weekend.  Should be a lot of fun.  They are playing the Pats.  Too bad Brady is injured. 

10/03/08 

The office has a few more bodies lately, so we've been playing soccer every Friday afternoon.  It was a lot of fun.  Chance to work up some sweat and do some trash talking.

Work has been a bit busy lately, but I've been making really good progress.  So it has been exciting.  Hopefully the measurement will track simulation.  Hey, all of you cynics out there, stop laughing right now! :) 

09/05/08