December 18, 2013
December 17, 2013
We started the class with 6 students and ended with 2. The two left behind are the remaining survivors. They are actually very good. We literally had a full discussion last night as we sat across from one another. Mike is planning a trip to Vietnam with his two friends in 2015 and wants to learn the language. He has been to Vietnam years ago when the government only allowed groups to travel there. Individuals were not allowed to travel on their own. I believe this was in 1998. They also mentioned Butler's collection of Vietnamese short stories that were translated by the author. The stories were told to him by Vietnamese people living in New Orleans. I was like...hey, those are my people. This item is going in my Amazon cart as we speak. Amy is also taking Mandarin. She is a Canto speaking New York native. This was her first time taking Vietnamese language classes, yet she outperformed every other student in class. After class, we ate at the New Tu Do. I don't even know what the old Tu Do is...was it the previous location on the other side of Bowery? The service was amazing last night. They went all out for us. The last time I was there, they were friendly but not crazy friendly. I definitely have to return. Nha Trang was also surprisingly good. I need to be open to other Vietnamese restaurants in the area. Nicole and I killed it yesterday morning. I am paying for it this morning. We will definitely do a repeat after the holidays.
December 16, 2013
I need to survive the next three days and I'm home free. Congratulations Khoi and Nick! Wishing you guys many many years of happiness!
December 12, 2013
When returning shoes, make sure you bring back the box as well. I totally forgot to pack the shoes in the shoe box just as I approached the store. At this point, it was too late to go back and grab the shoe box. I winged it any way. The annoying manager who was at the cash wrap said they will not accept shoe returns unless they are in the original shoe box. I didn't even try to fight her on this. It is sort of true...the shoes do need their original packaging. I graciously accepted my defeat and walked out of the store. I return today for the second attempt. This time the shoes are in shoe box and ready to go. Addison shared his Christmas list with us. He also wrote up a list for the twins. I think he should come up with his own lists from now on. Mama Nguyen can back off and let her son tell us what he wants. I am starting to buy more and more stuff on my phone rather than getting on a computer. Amazon and Apple are good about this. Pretty soon we won't need our computers anymore. Everything will be on our hand held devices.
December 11, 2013
As of this morning, 2 down and 7 more to go. Riding up to Harlem wasn't so bad. David wanted to take the orange line and transfer at Times Square. I rechecked my subway map and realized this cannot happen. The orange line does not go to Times Square. I had mapped taking the green line all the way up to 125th St and walk 4 avenues over. David did not like this plan. He did not want to walk above ground and to walk 4 avenues was quite a stretch. We took the yellow line from Prince St and transferred to the 2/3 at Times Square. We got off at 116th St and walked 4 street blocks up. We showed up two minutes before happy hour ended. The sparkling for the happy hour special was much better than the cheap sparkling we bought for our raclette. Did the Vietnamese copy the French by cooking food at the table? I saw quite a bit of similarities. The only thing was that none of the food was raw. It just needed some melting and warming up. We said our goodbyes...the French off to uptown and we head back downtown. I ended the night with P. Diddy and Nellie pretending to work.
December 10, 2013
All this discussion just to agree on where to eat on Thursday night? Really? I've exerted too much energy and then to come back in a full circle. Frankly, I'm tired of the back and forth. These two need to kiss, make out, or do something already because it's draining. Let's practice what we preach people. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. I can go on and on, yet it will go in one ear and out the other. I don't think it will ever hit home. It will simply hit the surface and bounce right back out. In other news, Sheryn stepped it up and made an executive decision about two things. One, she proclaimed the time and venue. Secondly, she made the cake call when no one else has. We will leave the gay leis out of the whole thing. It may be a bit too complicated for guests to follow. Looks like I am heading straight from the office to the party. I am counting the days as we speak.
December 9, 2013
December 8, 2013
Happy Birthday, Chi Chinh! Enjoy the Saints game!
December 6, 2013
Friday is finally here.
December 3, 2013
Adios, Joel! I hope your visit to NY was fruitful. Chi Tam arrives two days from now. She will be staying at her sister's for the first half and with me for the second half. For Joel's last meal, he ended up getting Indian food. I have to say that was the first time I've seen an Indian eat with his hands since UTD. The last time I saw that was during an Indian dinner and party at UTD. That was my first official introduction into some serious bhangra. Mr. Ian Shah kept the party going with his arms, hands, and wrists. I didn't see much leg work from him. My amazon account was finally reinstated after being on the phone with a representative for almost two hours. They basically wanted to confirm my identity and to verify my credit card statement before releasing the hold. In addition, my prime membership was charged after a month when I should have received six months of free membership. The third issue was the backing out of the TV order. The TV purchase was seen as unauthorized when in fact it was authorized by me. The long phone call resolved my first issue, which was to reinstate me. The second issue regarding the membership was resolved a couple hours later by email confirmation. The third issue will remain as is because I bought a cheaper TV after all. Who needs a smart one when you have Apple TV to make it intelligent? Chang, the two scarves you had on hold have been deleted. A special person is not a fan of public transport.
December 2, 2013
I can't today.