I've been hearing some funny things around me lately...
Girl trying to sell herself as a star on American Idol: "I have poise, personality, and confidentiality."
A friend talking about a recovering cancer patient: "Yeah, his cancer went into intermission."
Miss America contestant when asked what super power she'd like to have: "I wish I had photogenic memory."
A friend saying how he needed to take sleeping pills when getting on a plane: "I can't handle flying so I make sure to pop in some Tylenol PM or Levitra when I get on the plane."
Monday, January 29, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Lyrical mixup
The other night while watching American Idol, I suddenly gasped...and it wasn't because of the horrible singing. I came to the realization that pretty much...my entire life, I have been singing a song...completely wrong. It was the popular 80s song "Arthur's Theme (Best that you can do)" by Christopher Cross.
The actual words: "If you get lost between the moon and New York City"
How I've been singing it: "If you get lost between the moon and to your sadie"
I started laughing and told Bertrand that this entire time...I had no idea how wrong I was. He said, "Well that doesn't even make sense. What is to your sadie?" My point exactly! That's why I was always confused and just sang that part a little softer than the rest of the song.
Well now...I know.
The actual words: "If you get lost between the moon and New York City"
How I've been singing it: "If you get lost between the moon and to your sadie"
I started laughing and told Bertrand that this entire time...I had no idea how wrong I was. He said, "Well that doesn't even make sense. What is to your sadie?" My point exactly! That's why I was always confused and just sang that part a little softer than the rest of the song.
Well now...I know.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Background noise
I usually have my headphones in my ears while working. Today, I came back from the gym and left them off and talked with my officemate. Suddenly...I heard a noise.
Me: Do you hear that? What is that?
*silence*
Me: ...it's the toilet!
Jimmy: Yeah...that's the toilet.
Me: I thought our wall was against the shower?
Jimmy: No...that's the toilet.
We then looked up a map of the floor of our building to see that our office is right up against the wall of the men's bathroom. Nice.
However, the actual wallspace our office encompasses is where the door of the last stall is...not the toilet. So what we are hearing is the door open/close. Now if we were in the office next door...we would be against one toilet from the men's room and one from the women's.
I'll consider myself lucky.
Me: Do you hear that? What is that?
*silence*
Me: ...it's the toilet!
Jimmy: Yeah...that's the toilet.
Me: I thought our wall was against the shower?
Jimmy: No...that's the toilet.
We then looked up a map of the floor of our building to see that our office is right up against the wall of the men's bathroom. Nice.
However, the actual wallspace our office encompasses is where the door of the last stall is...not the toilet. So what we are hearing is the door open/close. Now if we were in the office next door...we would be against one toilet from the men's room and one from the women's.
I'll consider myself lucky.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Pictoros Finito
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Moving Mishap
I was crossing my fingers that my stuff would be moved from my old desk to my new desk while I was on vacation....unfortunately but not unexpected, this did not happen. So yesterday I filed a move request to have my stuff moved to my new desk this morning. Late last night, I realized that I had marked the wrong building number on my move request. Oops! Despite this screw up, they were able to move my stuff to my new desk this morning. The person who used to sit at my desk was a contractor whose contract ended so their stuff was still sitting on the desk. The movers thought they had made a mistake and someone was already at the desk...so they moved my stuff BACK to my old desk while I went to breakfast.
Aiya....
So another day passes where I am homeless and my stuff is lost somewhere on the Google campus.
Aiya....
So another day passes where I am homeless and my stuff is lost somewhere on the Google campus.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Brrrr!
I just came from hot humid weather to below freezing temperatures??? So cold that even our pipes froze over this morning.
Ah! Major temperature shock!
Ah! Major temperature shock!
Back to the grind
Today is my first day back at work....back into the swing of things and back to my normal life. Being back at work after being off for almost a month and being on the other side of the world is a huge shock.
In other news...I have also changed teams and am saying goodbye to Blogger after having worked on it for almost three and a half years and saying hello to AdWords. I will always have a special place in my heart for Blogger. I have learned so much from the awesome people on the team and look forward to being just a user and learning other areas within Google.
It's good to be back...
In other news...I have also changed teams and am saying goodbye to Blogger after having worked on it for almost three and a half years and saying hello to AdWords. I will always have a special place in my heart for Blogger. I have learned so much from the awesome people on the team and look forward to being just a user and learning other areas within Google.
It's good to be back...
Friday, January 12, 2007
Overall Sentiments
Blessed. Humbled. Thankful.
Those are the words that I can think to describe what I am taking away from my three weeks visiting Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand. Overwhelmed could be another. The past three weeks have been life changing, emotional, and spiritual for me. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw and experienced over the last three weeks.
Given the opportunity, I think everyone should take it to visit, especially if you are like me, and your roots come from a country other than the one you were born and raised in. No matter how many books you read, how many stories you are told, how many pictures you see, nothing...absolutely nothing compares to experiencing it yourself. Nothing could have prepared me for all that I have seen, felt, and heard.
I have never felt more blessed and thankful for what I have and the opportunities I have been given. I have good health. I have an amazing family, a great husband, supportive friends, a job I love, a home. I live more than comfortably and the stresses I deal with from time to time are surmountable with the support of my loved ones. God has given me so much to be thankful for. He also gave me the opportunity and means to be able to take a trip around the world.
Being immersed in different cultures humbles you to see that what you are surrounded by every day is not the same as what everyone else is. I loved learning the different cultures, traditions, habits and quirks of the various places. You learn to pick up on them pretty quickly and to adapt appropriately. Like how in Hong Kong, their young people have their own sense of fashion and absolutely love to shop. How they all take pictures with peace signs (why?). Or in Saigon, despite the constant traffic flow in all directions, there are unspoken guidelines on how to maneuver your motorbike or cross the street. How in some places, you bow when greeting someone, in others, you bow and clasp your hands together. I saw how hard some people will work all day for the same amount of money that I would spend on a cup of fancy coffee in the morning each day. I saw and heard of the hardships that people deal with day to day and from tragedies, and how they take those in stride and are still thankful for what they have. I also learned how quickly your frame of reference changes once you have learned to live somewhere else for awhile. How something that once before would have been shocking, is no longer shocking and instead you are thankful for it after you have seen worse or less.
It was one amazing trip.
Those are the words that I can think to describe what I am taking away from my three weeks visiting Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand. Overwhelmed could be another. The past three weeks have been life changing, emotional, and spiritual for me. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw and experienced over the last three weeks.
Given the opportunity, I think everyone should take it to visit, especially if you are like me, and your roots come from a country other than the one you were born and raised in. No matter how many books you read, how many stories you are told, how many pictures you see, nothing...absolutely nothing compares to experiencing it yourself. Nothing could have prepared me for all that I have seen, felt, and heard.
I have never felt more blessed and thankful for what I have and the opportunities I have been given. I have good health. I have an amazing family, a great husband, supportive friends, a job I love, a home. I live more than comfortably and the stresses I deal with from time to time are surmountable with the support of my loved ones. God has given me so much to be thankful for. He also gave me the opportunity and means to be able to take a trip around the world.
Being immersed in different cultures humbles you to see that what you are surrounded by every day is not the same as what everyone else is. I loved learning the different cultures, traditions, habits and quirks of the various places. You learn to pick up on them pretty quickly and to adapt appropriately. Like how in Hong Kong, their young people have their own sense of fashion and absolutely love to shop. How they all take pictures with peace signs (why?). Or in Saigon, despite the constant traffic flow in all directions, there are unspoken guidelines on how to maneuver your motorbike or cross the street. How in some places, you bow when greeting someone, in others, you bow and clasp your hands together. I saw how hard some people will work all day for the same amount of money that I would spend on a cup of fancy coffee in the morning each day. I saw and heard of the hardships that people deal with day to day and from tragedies, and how they take those in stride and are still thankful for what they have. I also learned how quickly your frame of reference changes once you have learned to live somewhere else for awhile. How something that once before would have been shocking, is no longer shocking and instead you are thankful for it after you have seen worse or less.
It was one amazing trip.
Time travel
We flew out of Hong Kong at noon on Thursday and landed in San Francisco at 8am on Thursday. So technically...we arrived before we even left. Ha!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
A Royal Welcome to Bangkok
It is almost 1am and we just arrived at our hotel in Bangkok. The hotel is absolutely gorgeous. We have been hearing quite a bit of news on Bangkok lately and decided to continue our trip keeping in mind that we would be cautious and acknowledging the fact that security would probably be tighter. But we had no idea what kind of welcome we were in for...
As our taxi pulled up onto the street of our hotel, I saw guards in bullet-proof vests with lit batons who motioned us into the driveway. We were then stopped by another group of security guards, where a couple of them showed flashlights into our faces in the car and smiled and waved at us as as they looked at all the details in the car. Other guards walked around with mirrors looking under the car, while another one questioned our taxi driver. I asked Bertrand, "Are these normal security guards? Why do they all look so official and dignified?" He said, "Yeah...I think so..." And as the car slowly pulled in there were guards every 5 feet. Again I said, "I don't know...that is a lot of guards to hire and those are some very official outfits." We stepped out of the car and a group of guards turned to look at us as did everyone else in the lobby of the hotel. After checking in, we headed towards the elevator where we had several hotel staff running ahead of us showing us the way and walking us to the elevator, as a couple of very dignified people sat in a private area turned to look at us.
Turns out...the Prince of Thailand is having dinner here tonight. Here were are...two clueless Americans walking in with our torn jeans and sneakers probably walking past the King of Thailand. What an awesome world we live in.
As our taxi pulled up onto the street of our hotel, I saw guards in bullet-proof vests with lit batons who motioned us into the driveway. We were then stopped by another group of security guards, where a couple of them showed flashlights into our faces in the car and smiled and waved at us as as they looked at all the details in the car. Other guards walked around with mirrors looking under the car, while another one questioned our taxi driver. I asked Bertrand, "Are these normal security guards? Why do they all look so official and dignified?" He said, "Yeah...I think so..." And as the car slowly pulled in there were guards every 5 feet. Again I said, "I don't know...that is a lot of guards to hire and those are some very official outfits." We stepped out of the car and a group of guards turned to look at us as did everyone else in the lobby of the hotel. After checking in, we headed towards the elevator where we had several hotel staff running ahead of us showing us the way and walking us to the elevator, as a couple of very dignified people sat in a private area turned to look at us.
Turns out...the Prince of Thailand is having dinner here tonight. Here were are...two clueless Americans walking in with our torn jeans and sneakers probably walking past the King of Thailand. What an awesome world we live in.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Rainy day
The rain is coming down steadily in Phuket. After a two hour massage and some shopping...we are now back at our hotel room relaxing. I'm glad we got in some beach time yesterday! I figure this will be a good time to start organizing pictures, stories, and thoughts from the trip. Depending how it all falls together, I will probably post a summary of each location. There is no way I could ever fully describe everything over the last few weeks, but I will do my best to summarize what I have seen, felt, and experienced.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Vacation from vacation
We are now on our last leg of our journey overseas and are spending a few days in Phuket, Thailand. I call it our...vacation from our vacation. We have experienced and seen so much in the last couple of weeks that we are on sensory overload. So for a few days...we are going to try and do nothing, recover, and relax before going home.
Year of travel
2006 seems to have been the year of travel for me. I have always wanted to travel the world...see different places, experience different cultures, eat different foods....and finally, this year, I did just that. Talk about cramming it all in! It has been a whirlwind year of always being on the go, but it has also been a year full of fun and memories.Places I visited in 2006:
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- New York
- Boston, Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Seattle, Washington
- San Diego, California
- Anaheim, California .... and surrounding areas of SoCal (Disneyland, Magic Mountain, etc.)
- Los Angeles, California
- Austin, Texas
- Chicago, Illinois
- Oahu, Hawaii
- Lake Tahoe
- Hong Kong
- Vietnam
- Thailand (technically 2007 but part of my 2006 trip)
Happy New Year!
Friday, January 05, 2007
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Alive and well....sorta
Long time no update.I've gotten a few worried emails (thank you!) and wanted to let you know that we are doing well. We have been traveling all over Vietnam and in many places where we weren't able to get an internet connection or the connection was too slow. Last night we came back to Saigon after going to Mui Ne and Nha Trang. Tomorrow morning we leave for Thailand.
Despite our poor connection to the rest of civilization, we have heard about some of the trouble in Thailand but have decided to continue on our trip and will go home if necessary. Please keep us in your prayers.
We have made it through over two weeks of our travels in Asia and have been doing well healthwise...until today....on my last day in Vietnam I have been suffering the effects of food poisoning. Fun this is not. I hope to sleep it off so that my flights tomorrow are peaceful. Along with that, a bunch of mosquitos decided to attack my foot last night and make a meal of it.
Love you all!
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