Last week was such a bipolar week. Started out nice and normal, great day in the middle, and then BAM! All hell broke loose.
Hoping this week will be better, but I don't expect it to be.
My friend at work and I are going out to lunch on Monday. Well, at least we're planning on it - she's already flaked on me twice so who knows. The funny thing is that most of the time (all of the time?), I don't even want to partake in these social events, but when they get cancelled, I can't help but be irked. Why suggest doing something (such as going out to eat, or planning a bbq) and then not following through? Maybe it's because I never suggest doing anything but I never flake!
I just don't know what to do about a certain somebody anymore.
Not that I really did before, but he used to just be kind of quirky (ADD-ish). Now he's getting to be almost verbally abusive in the way he talks to some people.
It's really awkward. And the thing is, I'm not sure there is anyone who could get through to him. Even if I did speak up, in defense of others, it would not help anyone. I'd screw myself over as well as that other person.
*Sigh*
Monday
- 8:00pm to 9:00pm House
- 9:30pm to 10:00pm The Big Bang Theory
Tuesday
(nothing!)
Wednesday
- 8:00pm to 8:30pm New Adventures of Old Christine
- 9:00pm to 10:00pm Glee
Drat, I just realized Criminal Minds (9pm) and CSI:NY (10pm). Maybe I'll record those shows to watch over the weekend? Or should I watch them, and watch Glee on Hulu? But I really want to watch Glee live (well, as live as it is) but then again, I'll probably watch Glee episodes twice...
Thursday
- 8:00pm to 9:00pm Bones
- 9:00pm to 9:30pm The Office
- 9:30pm to 10:00pm Community
Friday
- 8:00pm to 9:00pm Ghost Whisperer
- 9:00pm to 10:00pm Southland
Having The Jay Leno show at 10pm is great - I kind of like his monologues, but rarely stayed up late to watch The Tonight Show. And plus, it eliminates 10pm dramas for NBC - I definitely don't have to stay up late!
Here's my post from last Fall - 3 shows have since been cancelled. I'm also not planning on Dancing with the Stars or So you think you can dance or America's Next Top Model. Sorry, reality shows - there's just no room for you on the fall schedule. You really should stick to summer.
Dear Alphabet,
Your job is to stare at numbers and figure out if they are good or bad. They even make it easy for you - if it's good, it'll be in black. If it's bad, it'll be in red. It's that simple.
Your job does not require you to judge students technical, analytical and whatever else -ical abilities. You yourself have no expertise in that - what possibly makes you think you can spot it in someone else?
So just go back to your numbers and leave the real thinking to the brainiacs (note - not you).
Love always,
Me.
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I still believe what I believe - but hey, he was the one that started discussing the student. It's not like I said "hey, I think..."
If there was one piece of technology (is technology counted in pieces now?) that I wish would become mainstream, it would be instant messaging. I know - lots of kids already IM - but I wish it would become more prolific in the workplace.
It's a quick and easy way to get or give information and it's non-intrusive. I had to get a hold of my boss who's traveling (as he often does) - but how? He wasn't checking email, even though the meeting site had free wireless internet. I didn't want to call his cell - what if he was in the middle of giving a presentation?
It would have been great if I could send an IM to his two students (who were there with him). Sure, I could email them, but would they have their laptops with them? If they were on IM - I could see based on their status messages. I wasn't about to send an email and sit for the next five hours wondering if they read it or not.
The best I could do was send a text message to one of the students. I did check (with another student) that they have text messaging on their phones because I'm sure they wouldn't have appreciated paying 5 or 10 cents per message! (Which is why the IMing would have been better).
Anyway, they did get my message across to my boss and he [eventually] called me back.
It's not sureproof, though - a couple of hours later, I needed to talk to him again. Alas, the meeting was over, he had walked away and the students didn't know where he was. I tried calling his cell - got vm four times. Eventually I did leave a message (and he called me an hour later) but I know some people (like me) who don't like checking voicemail.
But seriously - get on IM! I command you!
So there's an L.A. city councilman who wants ATMs to be outfitted with "duress code" systems so that if you enter in your PIN number backwards, the police will be alerted that you are being robbed. Read more about the proposal here.
Except that the girl whose recent kidnapping and murder prompted this proposal was trying to use her credit card to get money from an ATM. So it wouldn't have helped her at all.
And I know you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but don't most people who use credit cards know that you can't get money from an ATM? And that there aren't PIN numbers assigned to credit cards, only debit cards? With a credit card, you could go to a store, buy something and get cash back, but I'm not sure if all credit card companies allow this (Discover Card will, I know that much - though I have never gotten cash back) and some stores won't let you either (or have limits - like $20).
I carry very little cash with me, I don't have an debit card (well, I do, but I can't remember the PIN so the card stays at home) and I use my credit card when I buy stuff - except that I rarely buy stuff and when I do, it's usually like $5 or less.
I mean, I use my credit card even to buy two 8oz containers of yogurt, on sale for $1 total. The store has to pay 3% on that! (Thank goodness the Ralphs near my work has great self-checkout machines - you're in and out of there in like 20 seconds!)
I wasn't planning on bringing my iPod Touch to Hawaii because my iPod Shuffle would be sufficient for music (I don't use the Touch for that anyway) and I was bringing my laptop.
Plus, who goes to Hawaii to go on the internet? I thought about forwarding my email to my cellphone (Gmail, SMS/text) but heck, it was only 4 days - only one which was an actual work day. I told my bosses that I probably wasn't going to check email, so I was in the clear.
That is, until one of my bosses called me at 10:43pm on Friday night.
I had gone to bed at 10pm - early for a weekend, but I had to wake up at 5am to get to the airport by 6:30am. I hadn't fallen asleep yet.
Anyway, Boss wanted some information that probably could wait until I got back - but it was a pressing issue for him. I had to look up the info, though, so I asked him if I could look it up and email him. He agreed.
I dashed out to the living room, booted up my laptop, connected to my work computer and just as I pulled up the information to read, he called again.
Impatient, much? After a 3 minute discussion, we hung up. I then spent the next hour researching the information and sending him an email, finally going to bed after midnight.
Figured I should bring the iPod Touch, just in case. (Yes, I had my laptop, but with the Touch - I could check email on my way in and out of the lobby. Wouldn't have to lug the laptop around). I ended up checking email twice - though Boss did not email me.
Here are the electronics that I brought:
- Apple Powerbook laptop - DNU (did not use)
- Memory card reader (external) - DNU
- Canon Powershot camera - took about 333 photos and a few video clips.
- Extra AA batteries - DNU
- AA battery charger - DNU
- Nikon D-SLR camera - sis took about 270 photos.
- Nikon battery charger (did charge battery once, but probably okay if we didn't)
- Panasonic videocam (Mini DV) - DNU
- Panasonic battery charger - DNU
- 4 blank Mini DV tapes - DNU
- Compact Flash memory cards (for Canon), ranging from 256MB to 4GB - DNU (only used 1 2GB card)
- Cellphone - my other boss called me at 7:30am to asked a question - granted, it was 10:30am back home and he didn't know I was in Hawaii.
It's really an acquired taste - some are yuckier than others (the ones with the nuts, in particular). And they are quite dense (think lard), but it's not like you eat them all the time, and you certainly don't eat one all by yourself.
Even though we didn't check in luggage, we still managed to overpack. A gazillion ounces of sunblock? Not needed - didn't end up putting that much on. Laptop computer and memory card reader to transfer photos? Didn't bother. Extra memory cards and batteries? Didn't take that many pictures. Actually, this was a part blessing in disguise. I usually document everything (like when I go to Disneyland - how long we stood in line, etc) but this time, I didn't. I didn't plan not to, but it was nice to enjoy the vacation instead of keeping tabs on everything.
Also brought a camcorder but didn't see anything worth filming. Some people videotaped the radio personalities doing the hulu during the welcome dinner, but I don't listen to the radio station (my mom does) so I don't really know them anyway.
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The sun sets in Hawaii earlier than it does in Los Angeles. This surprised me.
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My mom wondered how Japanese tourists (there are a lot that visit Hawaii) feel when they visit Pearl Harbor, since it was their ancestors who attacked the naval base. I asked her how she feels that her ancestors took over the island of Taiwan and pushed the aborigines/indigenous people into the mountains. She didn't quite get my point.
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Listening to tour guides speak in Chinese (both the ones from the local Hawaii travel agency and the docents at the Polynesian Cultural Center) is pretty funny. Although, I don't really know the Hawaiian names for some of the places we visited, since the guides just said the Chinese names. For example, Hanauma Bay is translated into Kong Long Wan - aka Dinosaur Bay. The land does kind of look like a dinosaur head, but you would never guess "Hanauma" was the name of the bay (also, Hanauma doesn't mean dinosaur).
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My dad is fascinated by plants/trees and by seafood (I guess that's what happens when you grow up in the southern port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan). He would be constantly pointing out this plant or that tree - to be honest, I and my sister have no interest in flora. My mom was somewhat interested, but then sometimes impatient.
At one point of the PCC tour, my dad was pointing out some breadfruit trees and part of our tour group followed him. Prompting Angela, our docent, to say "where are you all going?" She was nice, though. Later when we were riding the canoe and we passed by some breadfruit, she asked - where's that uncle (the polite form in Chinese) who likes breadfruit? Just so she could point out the trees to him :)
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After returning from Hawaii, I've been reading on Wikipedia about Hawaii and Polynesian cultures. I do kind of agree with those that say Hawaii was illegally seized by the U.S. I've read that the Hawaiian monarch was overthrown by American (and others) businessmen. Um, that's not really an "overthrow" - that's more like a foreign invasion. It's only an overthrow if the overthrowers are natives, not foreigners.
So I went to Hawaii (Oahu) last Saturday through Tuesday - first vacation ever. Flew back on the red-eye flight Tuesday evening and surprisingly was not too tired the next day. I went right from the airport parking lot to work. At least I wasn't one of the people on the prime flights (which were scheduled to leave HNL around 1pm, arrive in L.A. at 9:30pm) - the Delta flight was delayed for five hours! Those people had to sit in the airport the entire time.
We did go on an additional circle island tour on the last day (since our flight was so late), which we had to pay extra for. Not a problem for us. Our bus chipped in $1 per person for our tour guide for the day Aaron. I heard from someone on the other bus that their guide asked for $3 per person. How tacky is that? (Although, prior to going to HI, I had read that some guides do ask for tips, and may specify amounts so it wasn't too surprising. Then again, not sure how well that went over with Chinese-American tourists though).
After that, we headed off for the Polynesian Cultural Center. I know it's supposed to be cultural and educational, but I couldn't help but feeling it was all a bit hokey. Not that people of those cultures don't continue some of the practices (like how they shell coconuts or make coconut milk) but it was almost as if they were playing into the whole "exotic", "the other", whatever. It was like I was the narrator in The Heart of Darkness, exploring the savages or something. It was just a weird feeling.
Surprisingly enough, we didn't go do to the beach in Waikiki. We did have some free time where we could have gone (other people did) but I spent most of that free time napping. Yes, I went to Hawaii to nap :)
We only spent about 1 hour on the beach. Some people went snorkeling, but I just waded into the water about thigh-deep.
We didn't spend much money while in Hawaii - as I mentioned before, everything was pre-paid. We did buy a few souvenirs/gifts (including macadamia chocolates) but it was kind of disappointing not being to find souvenirs that weren't Made in China. Not that there is anything wrong with China (well, that's a different blog post) but if it's made in China, we can probably find it in L.A. too. Why go all the way to Hawaii for that?
A friend from work thinks it would have been insane having 260+ Chinese-speaking people all together. It wasn't too bad. People were speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, maybe even a few lesser-spoken dialects as well. There were a couple of non-Chinese-descent guys - mostly boyfriends or possibly husbands. I felt a bit sorry for them as they didn't understand Chinese, but hey - you chose to come on this tour knowing full well it was a Chinese-language tour
