July 31, 2012

So the saga continues...when my boss retired to her room last night, she found that someone opened one of her windows. It is hot here and the a/c is on full blast so why would someone open the windows? She freaked out. She told her husband about it. He told her that when he came home last week to New Jersey, the radio was turned on in the car but there was no key in the ignition. He also freaked out. What does this all mean? I spoke with front desk this morning and asked if they have experienced anything odd or whether guests have complained. The front desk guy said they have never heard of anything remotely close to what I mentioned to him. I asked if housekeeping would open windows. He said housekeeping would not open windows because the a/c is on 24/7. I have learned to accept the situation and to respect my status as a guest in their home.

July 30, 2012

Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night only to find my bathtub filling up with water. I don't remember running the water or plugging the drain. The last time I used the bathtub was a few days ago. The first thing that came to my mind was that a ghost or a spirit turned on the water. Then I thought about my sleep walking. I do quite a bit of sleep walking and talking so perhaps I walked from my bed and turned on the bathtub water. However, I don't really sleepwalk. I do more talking than walking in my sleep. Also, the room is very dark so I couldn't have walked myself from the bed to the bathtub (in another room) without bumping into furniture. I would see bruises on my legs and arms right now, but I don't see any discoloring. I turned off the water and went back to bed convinced that it really was a ghost in my room. If the water runs again, I'll ask the Front Desk to transfer me to another room or I can call my boss to sleep in her room. I stayed in bed for another hour before falling back to sleep. If another weird thing happens tonight, I am going to ask the spirit to chillax and not freak me out. Mike, you inspired me to talk to your house ghost about not opening the window and staying out of your bedroom.

July 27, 2012

I apologize for neglecting. It's been nonstop since I arrived. It was quite cold during the first weekend. Luckily, I brought a pullover to keep me warm. It's funny not having to show your passport when you travel within the "states". The flight from JFK was delayed by 4 hours. Therefore, I missed my connecting flight in Warsaw. We hung out in the Warsaw airport for a good six hours before departing for our final destination. I was very impressed with Czech Airlines. The plane was spankin new and the girls were beautiful. Service was definitely with a smile. I gave up my seat. We almost got into a scuffle with senior citizens from the states. There are way too many Vietnamese here. I am very surprised. They are from a different breed though...from the northern capital. I cannot understand some of the words they say. They pretty much own all of the small businesses in town, including the local convenience store next to my hotel. As for the hotel, it has been the best so far. The gym is offsite, but it's a full service facility. I thought I would have trouble sleeping in a red room, but it's fine when the lights are out. I can do the 5 minute walk to work every day. I thought my commute in New York was pleasant, but this one beats all others.

July 19, 2012

Adios!

July 17, 2012

The highlight of my day was doing all of my errands within one hour. After leaving work, I walked over to the Law School to drop off purple cake for Tdanger. From there, I walked to my dry cleaner and picked up my dry cleaning. I had to wait for at least ten minutes because of this lame customer in front of me. I finally got my clean clothes and walked them home. I walked my bike to the bike store nearby to get air in my flat tire. The guy accidently popped my inner tube so I had to wait for him to replace the inner tube. At this time, the clock was ticking because I wanted to drop off dirty clothes at the dry cleaner before they close. He replaced my inner tube and pumped air into both tires. I returned the bike to my apartment and picked up my dirty clothes. I stopped by Nyonya to place a to-go order. I made it just in time to the dry cleaner to drop off my dirty clothes. Upon my return to the apartment, I stopped by Nyonya to pick up my food. It was ready and waiting for my pick up. I enjoyed my Singapore Noodles while watching Tamra and Vicki call each other bitches.

July 16, 2012

The cookies made it to Chi Tam's place in Long Beach. I am a big fan of proflowers.com. They really do deliver as promised. There are way too many birthdays in the month of July. Just when you think the weather is cooling down, it gets hot again. Chi Mai made it to Budapest. She is to check in with me on a daily basis. I have no idea what I talked about on Friday night. David heard a bunch of banter about southerners and northerners. Someone was from the central region. I took it easy on Saturday and was told I'm boring. Zarkana was not great? I wouldn't know considering it was my first show. We ran into a dramatic scene right after the show. Apparently, someone died. The purple cake made its way from Queens to Manhattan thanks to Tdanger. Henry insisted on not eating any, but he ended up eating two pieces. Before you know it, it was too late to go out. The Olympics on Governors Island was pretty cool except for one technical glitch on Chuck's phone. Thank you to the second phone, he was back in the game in no time. The stand mixer made its way back to the apartment. KNT, good to know you like chocolate...simply chocolate. I did a couple cancellations this week. Three days...I am counting down as we speak.

July 15, 2012

Happy Birthday, Chi Tam!

July 14, 2012

Happy Birthday, David!

July 13, 2012

Happy Birthday, TL! I found a Paul look-alike. It was pretty scary and weird at the same time. Thanks a lot, Henry. I never knew that you can send shots to another table and get a tres leches cake in return. So my quiet evening of doing laundry and getting a haircut turned out to be just that...except for a couple more things. The owner of the salon chopped off my hair for the first time because my regular guy was busy. I told him I wanted something new and exciting. He said we will make it very exciting. It turned out to be okay. However, I like it much better than the previous cut. I have way too many leftovers in my fridge. Instead of throwing them out, it will be my late afternoon snacks for today. Trish postponed our lunch date until Tuesday due to some meeting commitments. Mike, you and I are always the first in the office. I am also "chan doi" when I come into a quiet office. I'm the first to turn on the lights. People start trickling in a bit after 8AM. I pretended to be Chinese Cuban. I think the girl believed me because she heard Spanish coming out of my mouth. She seemed puzzled that I would claim my Cuban heritage. Why can't I be from the Shum family?

July 12, 2012

I have a loyal following. Thanks be to God. May God go with you. I did a bit of shopping at the store on 5th Ave last night. Before that, I picked up some ao dai fabric for Mom and mailed it to her immediately. The main post office next to Penn Station does not have pens in the lobby. None of the tables have pens. The last time I was there, they had plenty to use. They tie them to the tables as if people will steal them. Anyways, I asked around to borrow a pen. This Japanese girl fumbled through her purse and gave me a lead pencil. I gladly accepted and used the pencil. I asked the USPS employee if the pencil writing will fly. She said no and offered me her pen. She was a sweet lady. The sweet ladies are the ones working the queue at all the USPS locations. The nasty, grumpy ones work behind the counter. If given a choice, I would work the queue so I can walk around and talk to people. I think she was the only skinny employee...go figure. Back to 5th Ave...the elevator to the third floor was out of commission. I huffed and puffed upon arrival onto the third floor. Nothing was on sale. I was pissed. I even missed out on the 30% coupon that expired this past Monday. Oh well, I lose for snoozing all weekend. Just flash them your school ID and say you're a student. You get 15% off. I walked away with some good stuff...I think. I wanted to walk home from there but hopped on the train instead. I made it down to Soho. Uniqlo was pretty much empty. It's pretty amazing how Soho is dead after 7PM. Thanks to Ngoc, I was able to watch the first episode of the second season. If you want to be sent home from the front line, wave a lighter in the air and someone will gladly shoot your hand! Tdanger, I need the Naomi Campbell Walk in my life. Ask the DJ on Friday night. I think Precious's name is now Chan Doi. KNT, I'll see you in the parking lot...maybe.

July 11, 2012

I got played last night and it's not even funny. Pick up your phone or text or something...let a brother know. So the mystery revealed itself. She finally called her back. It was too much vodka after all. It looks like we have a good chance for rain on Sunday. Of all days this week, it has to be Sunday. My doctor's office did not call to remind me of my appointment. They probably forgot to schedule me. No one likes the purple Starburst. I brought them from home into the office. As of right now, no one can see my work calendar. I had to remove access for all because people were getting reminders about me reminding myself to call and reserve a tennis court. Changing it to "busy" did not work. I wish there is an app for everything. Life would be a lot more simple if I can just press a button instead of calling or going there. Anh Boy may pay for my airfare after all. Let's see if he will follow through with what he is saying. I'll end up buying the tickets for Mom and me. Then, I'll be one of this folks calling him nonstop to demand payment. We are good to go for David's Day. Let's see if we can stay on course and not deviate from the itinerary.

July 9, 2012

Some of us made it onto the 10AM ferry and others were left behind. The island reminds me of the show, "Lost". Chi Mai gave Vu Vu and me some harsh words to live by. We needed some slapping in the face to snap back into reality. Chuck and Erica were too busy taking snapshots of themselves. Get there early and claim your spot. Who really does wake up before noon on the weekend anyway? I saw the first episode of "Downtown Abbey" for the first time. There's already drama and the show barely started. I'm glad they didn't get rid of Bates. I was rooting for him the entire time. They should really hire an additional footman and reduce his pay. I may get myself an Apple TV after all, plus a Netflix subscription. Chi Mai was laughing throughout the movie until she finally broke down towards the very end. I told her she would break down and cry. Joel, see you in a couple months. This time, you better follow through with your travel plans.

July 5, 2012

So I am liking Chrome. I was getting frustrated with Firefox because you had to download all these plugins, etc. With Chrome, there was no need to download anything else other than the browser. It literally took 30 seconds to download it. I also did not need administrator rights to run the download. It's sleek, fast, and easy to maneuver. I came into the office this morning sweating profusely. It's not like today is hotter than the other days. I even took my time riding the bike. Maybe it is a bit more humid today, but I didn't feel the humidity...just hot weather. I wanted to go to Sunnyside for some purple cake but was too lazy to deal with the hot weather. We all said our goodbyes to Precious as she embarks on her new journey down south. Columbus was Italian, yet he discovered the New World for Spain. Thank you to Queen Isabella for spreading Catholicism and the Spanish language. Happy Birthday, Linh!

July 3, 2012

Happy Birthday, Julie and Loan! I am trying to keep up with all these birthdays in July. It sucks having a holiday in the middle of the week. You can't really extend a long weekend unless you take additional vacation days to make it worth while. I spent all last night cooking up a storm. I've realized that I cannot eat the pasta salad immediately. It must sit overnight in the fridge before serving. Vu wished his best friend happy birthday way too early. I called him out on his mistake. So I went a bit crazy over the weekend checking into places. I have a bunch of reviews to do.

July 2, 2012

Happy Birthday, Jacqueline and Derek! It's just too darn hot to do anything. I think I spent only a few hours outdoors this past weekend. Hooray for indoor activities. I wish Coles would just equip its entire facility with central AC. I read that the local community board did not approve plans to raze Coles in preparation for a much bigger building that would have housed the new gym. If this is the case and Coles is not going anywhere, we should just renovate the current gym by adding central AC. I'm complaining because it is in good space, but they are not doing anything to improve it thinking it will be demolished any way. Not anymore! Queena has added to my Christmas vacation dilemma. I have another option to seriously consider. Chuck picked up Viet's bike and is now taking full advantage of biking to/from work. Poker night may be cancelled due to low enrollment. It would not make sense to only play with two people. My core hurts when I sneeze and cough because of the tennis match. I made it to Carroll Gardens for Jacq's birthday dinner and drinks. It was much faster to travel there than to go uptown. Dat and I met a new friend on the way back into the city. The kid was drunk and couldn't remember why a random photo made it onto his phone the next morning. He has Marcus to thank.