Beethoven In Trance - Episode 17

the week of firsts.

Last week was a week of first. First time in US I raised my middle finger to someone. First time in US I got a parking ticket (they are not related).

We were driving home after work that day. It was a cloudy day I remember. We stopped in line of a red light and there was a car running on the opposite lane suddenly pulled in between our car and the car in front of us. The car wanted to pass through the gap between our cars and go into a shopping mall on my right. The car was pulled in too close so that it blocked my way of going forward and the gap between my car and the car in front was too narrow for the car to go through, so it got stuck there blocking my way. I took a look behind me and the car behind was far away. I had to back up my car so that the car could get out of my way. While the car was passing me, the driver (who was a lady according to my girl friend) didn't even show any gesture of appreciation. I was pissed and raised the middle finger towards them. There was a girl sitting at the guest seat who saw this and I guess she was not happy with it, especially she didn't make the move at the first place. I felt sorry for her. It's very possible she was innocent, coz she was not the driver. I remember my heart was pounding, blood is rushing through the whole body right after I did that... "not the right thing to do' I said to myself. So what should I do next time?

Went to the attorney last week in lunch hour too. Parking in downtown is not easy. Put in $1 for one hour (as the appointment was for one hour), and got a ticket after coming out of the appointment. The appointment ran unexpectedly longer. The attorney told many stories to show us subtly that we don't really have a case to go against the previous seller about the leaky basement. We will just have to deal with it. It was a good conversation (free). But we still pay $25 (parking fine) for it. Lesson learned (sometimes 25 cents can save 25 dollars). The only question is why we didn't realize it at the first place? How to remember this lesson? I'm afraid I will forget it soon...

Last weekend was not very productive. Was playing Titan Quest the whole time. It's really an addictive game...

Went to West side market on Saturday, got some ground pork that my girl friend has been craving about for a long long time. Dropped by the Chinese grocery store in downtown on the way back, got some Thai sauce. Got back home, made a Thai noodle soup with Bochoy and pork meat ball. Yum, yum... The sauce was not strong enough to my taste, so I added some more fish sauce, basil (Thai basil will be better but I only have italian basil) and Sambal. It turned out well. But I bet other people will call the soup 'stinky'. Fish sauce does have its 'unique' smell. If you are used to it, you will like it, if you don't, then you will hate it...

Our friend from India also came visit last Saturday night. We met him at Case. He works hard. A deligent person. He is doing well in his career. He just got a project in China, and he is going to Shanghai very soon. We will ask him to take something back home for us...

The faucet in the kitchen was leaking, and we didn't know why. I tightened the three screws that secured the base of faucet, and let's hope it won't leak too much too soon (coz I know it's going to leak again).

Took some time clean the yard. The tree there is losing leaves (as I am losing my hair). Not really a good sign, according to the article about the tree I found on the website. If the tree loses leaves too soon, it indicates an unhealthy tree... and it takes years and years to save a tree...
Got a loveseat cover cheap from a discount store. Covered it over the loveseat previous owner left in the house on Sunday and it looked all right. It was a comfortable loveseat... Now, we need to cover the sofa in the basement, well, after clean it first.

The basement still needs to be cleaned. A list of things can be done there, cleaning the carpet, paint the floor and wall. Unpack and organize. Add another storage rack... etc.

Bought a set of flatware in Bed Bath and Beyond on clearance. Guess it was a return set. The set was beautiful and we both liked it, so we bought it. It was still expensive, and the most expensive set we ever had. But we both liked it. So..

Run for the Cure is on October 8th. (I think) this year. We will register this week. My girl sent out an email in Chinese employee mailing list advertising for participation. No response. I don't remember seeing many Chinese participating this event in the last two years. I feel pretty pround that we did it for the last two years. Hope showing two Chinese faces in an event like that means something.