Our assignment for Abu Dhabi has been confirmed...finally. The next couple of weeks will be crazy busy. I will take it one day at a time and go from there. The gym resumed normal business hours. No more horsing around with unusual hours. I am back in the game...I think.
Vegetarian restaurants are actually vegan restaurants. They say vegetarian to not scare away mainstream America. I ate a huge lunch and a very sweet cake to celebrate Karen's birthday. It was delayed by one day. I took the train to Port Washington. I love those express trains. They literally take me from Penn Station to my destination within 35 minutes. We watched the first season of Glee. I have no idea why we had to watch the episodes. To my surprise, I watched most of the episodes already. I made it back into the city this morning. I caught up with Jacq in WWF. She was way ahead earlier but now she is only ahead by like 10 points. Most of us have new signs now. I am so confused. I am no longer a Libra then? Someone said the new dates and the new sign apply only to those born after 2009.
Because a couple people couldn't make it into the office due to the snowstorm, we pushed Karen's birthday lunch and cake a day back. Luckily I brought my own lunch because I anticipated postponing the lunch. Because I did not buy the Lenka ticket ahead of time, the show sold out. I ate banh mi at Banh Mi Zon and stopped by Ngoc's to pick up pandan cupcakes. They were super delicious. They reminded me of the green cakes you get when someone gets engaged or married. I wonder whether people still do that now. I haven't eaten one of those cakes in a long time. The aroma just takes me back to the good ole days when my parents get them hand delivered from the wedding party. I believe you give them out when a couple gets engaged and when they get married again. I may be wrong about the latter. I was so tired that I slept around 8:15PM. I woke up a couple hours later. Yes, Chang...I remember seeing commercials about the demanding Chinese customers in Chinatown. I can't believe they are so serious about their dim sum. Mike, good to know you are alive and well in Vietnam. Keep those tweets coming. Good luck with your interview today, Mr. Bullard! I'm sure Mr. Baltimore will be delighted to have you on board. I like waking up to at least 7 games...all waiting for my next move. Jacq and KNT are killing me big time. Mary down in Houston is killing me, but not so much. Do not resign! Just play the game through and end it like gentlemen and ladies.
Snow came down late last night. I woke up this morning to a neighborhood covered with white powder. My banh khoai mi came out mushy and too sweet. I boiled the mung beans instead of steaming them. I emailed the author and she said it's best to steam them because boiling will overcook the beans. I learned my lesson. I have to buy a small steamer for the kitchen then. I caught up with KNT over video chat. I'm glad she is up and about instead of being sick in bed. Considering the snowfall, the temperature outside is not so bad. Alexis made an overnight pit stop in Cleveland. He managed to get a free hotel room instead of crashing at Chang's downtown apt. This morning's staff meeting was canceled due to the snowstorm. I walked onto my floor and none of the lights were on. Kerry showed up a few minutes after I did. I took the subway instead of walking to work. It was well worth it. Paul has the kids today because it's snow day. Why is Mike in New Jersey again? Yes, someone told me that the ATM's in New Jersey has Vietnamese as a language option. I'm off to Lenka tonight thanks to Chau!
My advisor told me the quality assurance program here at NYU will be discontinued immediately. I will not be able to take my final course to obtain the certificate. If I wish to continue, I can enroll in a similar course in Melbourne, Australia for approximately $5,000. The course is actually two classes combined into one and I must enroll in the entire class. At this point, that's just too much money. I spent all last year working towards this certificate and it's all down the drain now. A fellow student emailed me asking if we can do anything to keep the program going. There's really nothing much we can do. The school has already made its decision to discontinue the program. Chi Tam and I finished the remaining banh canh. I picked up all kinds of snacks at Tan Tin Hung because I was hungry. You should never shop for groceries when you are hungry. You end up buying food filled with unnecessary calories. I think I can still make it for "Rabbit Hole" tonight. I should have time to make banh khoai mi when I get home. Snow is coming to us tomorrow. Let's brace ourselves. Mom's latest shipment of ao dai scarves is on its way. Postage is ridiculously expensive now. For five pounds on priority mail, it was $17. The post office by my office never has any shipping boxes or mailing labels. They keep promoting priority mail but they never have the supplies for us to send priority mail. We end up having to use our own boxes, which they charge more for postage. I miss the well organized post office on the upper east side. They had an abundance of supplies and the clerks were nice.
Friday night was rushed. I showed up on time at the Russian restaurant. The girls were a few minutes late and Peanut Butter came shortly after. The food was okay. I thought it could have been better considering the price point. We ran to the theater and just as we sat, the show began. I liked it. Half of my weekend was spent in Long Island. Going to Sands Point reminds me of my weekends at my cousin's in Arlington. Everyone must see "The King's Speech". Rafael and I agreed that it should win Best Picture. It was too darn cold to go out. I went home after the movie. I met up with all the Rosies at Most Precious Blood Church early Sunday morning. I stocked up on some scarves for my mom. I quadruple-bagged the fried rice from Nam Son. The D train kicked everyone out at Grand St. I hopped in a cab for Penn Station and made it on time. It's all out war on WWF. People are having dreams and nightmares about placing tiles to maximize their points. I now have another competitor to reckon with. Jacq is being quite pushy. She needs to find a new hobby. Another movie to watch is "Salt"...good stuff. Too bad the Saints lost.
I night at MOCA turned into an evening of hand pulled noodles and red wine sangria. The museum was okay. I thought they would focus more on the Chinatowns of America and the current status of Chinese Americans. The museum dedicated a huge space to how the Chinese were discriminated against and how the Yellow Peril was taking over America. Dat and I were the only ones at the museum. A handful of other people were there but I think they were leaving work. Viet met us in my apartment building. We walked down to Doyers to get some hand pulled noodles. My scarves guy didn't have the supply I wanted. After a bottle of Tsingtao, we walked back up to Oro Bar. Jacqueline met us and we all caught up on what has happened. I was in bed by 11PM.
Jacq made it back. She brought up matching bracelets. I fed her a small bowl before her dinner date. You can never go wrong with eggs. They are good at any time of the day and night. I could not really sleep last night. The radiator warms up the apartment. If I crack the window, it gets cold. It's either me freezing or boiling. The same goes in the shower. I should stop complaining because some people don't even have heat. I found some awesome period movies on Youtube. They were only trailers and teasers. Alexis, we are not all Han! We are a mix of both Han and native peoples. However, the natives triumphed in the end because we have our own separate country with a distinct language. I can't say so much about the customs and traditional costume. I hear the Chinese are slowly taking over trade and commerce.
I kept tossing and turning last night. I was done with everything around 7:20PM. I was too lazy to get on video chat with KNT. Nothing was on TV. Why are there still reruns? Jacq made her way back home late last night. Ngoc and I exchanged food. She gave me banh uot and I gave her coconut cake. I delivered a stash to Jacq. It feels weird not having to worry about reading and posting my response to a message board. I got a lot of work done yesterday at work. Tdanger, not so much...I am kicking ass and taking names. Emily played a 70-something point word. I hope the snowstorm coming on Friday will not be as bad as the holiday blizzard. I would hate to change my plans.
So it's official! I am fat. I weighed myself today. Eating all that junk during the holidays is not good at all. It doesn't help that the gym opens at noon between now and MLK Day. I also baked a cake last week to test out the new stand mixer. I think I have 5 pieces left in the refrigerator. Holler at me if you want cake. I need to cut out sugar. Desserts kill me. My trip back to New York was not as crazy as other folks. My car never showed up and I did not want to wait in the cab line. The line extended as far as the length of the terminal. I waited for the M60 bus. It finally came after 20 minutes of waiting. Luckily I stood right where the bus stopped because people were clamming to get on board. Liem couldn't get on board. I took the bus all the way to 125th St and Lexington. The 4 was running local. After 15 or 17 stops, I dragged my big ass luggage through the nasty snow mush. Just as I walked through the front door, I bumped into Charlie. He took care of the trash issue when he got back. Good for him. I unloaded my luggage. The shrimp sort of spilled but it was okay because we bagged them in multiple layers. I spent new year's eve in Times Square counting down from up above. We spent some time in HK and back down to the Thompson Hotel. The subway ride from HK to Soho was free for some reason. I spent half of my weekend in Long Island. I now know that if you go against the commute, it's considered off peak. Today, I am back at the office. It's good to be back in the swing of things.