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It happened without a hitch!  Though it was a messy process, it happened as pain-free as possible.

Goodbye and good riddence!  Out with the old...and you know what they say, no pain no gain!  It was weird to see the bare floor and all of my furniture pushed to one side.

Here are the "after" pictures!! It's beautiful, I love the new floor!  These are my two rooms upstairs. Though the colors look a little different, it's just due to the lighting.  The picture on the right is more like the actual color of the floor. I love the new floor downstairs.  It really opens up the house. I haven't decided if I want another rug under my dining table...we'll see how Toby adjusts to it after a couple of weeks..

The big introduction...drum roll please!  Here's a summary of our brief exchange... Toby: Ooo... Mommy: Hi Toby, come on down! Toby:  Wooo... Mommy: I know, it's our new floor.  Come on down. Toby:  Woof! Woof! WOOF! Mommy:  Ah no, Toby...mommy's not going over there to carry you!  Come! Toby: Ouooo... Mommy: Nope! Come down on your own!

After some coaxing, Toby came down and walked gingerly on the new floor.  He then discovered that he would rather stay off the floor as much as he can...by sitting on the couch or being in his crate.  He later took a spill jumping off the couch!  I guess he didn't land on the rug...We're both still learning how to live with the new floor.  I discovered how hard the floor is when I sat on it to brush Toby.  I also discovered that a 90lb Golden Retriever drips from many places...nose, mouth, and after drinking water!!

Why didn't I notice this the past 3.5 years I've lived with Toby!?!??!  Also can someone tell me how long before I stop obsessively following Toby around with a paper towel to wipe every little drip out of his nose or mouth?  Well, I'm sure it just takes a little getting used to.  :-)  Here's to my new floor and healthy living!


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Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! This is the Year of the Dog.  Those born in the years 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, or 2006 were born in the year of the dog. Like the dog, you are honest and faithful to those you love, although you also can be somewhat eccentric and very stubborn at times! For dogs in 2006, any recent setbacks or obstacles can be overcome so look forward to a year in which to really shine, either personally or professionally.

My favorite Chinese New Year food are: my mother's black moss seaweed (homonym for "getting rich") soup, candied lotus seeds, roast pig and, roast duck.  I occasionally will eat the traditional sticky New Year cake called "nian gao".

Besides tons of wonderful food, there's also must-do Chinese New Year activites.  I accompany my mother to local Chinese temples where the smell of incense draws out thousands of years of deep traditions.  There's people everywhere, everyone holding batches of incense and praying for their wishes for the year.  Thought I am not religious, I enjoy going to the temples with my mother.  Partly because it is a rich cultural experience and partly because it reminds me of my childhood.  The experience also makes my mother very happy.

I am also participating in a postcard swap with people all over the world hosted by My Little Mochi!  It was really fun making my postcards.  Since the theme is Chinese New Year/Year of the Dog, I had to use Toby in some creative way in my postcards!  So I featured Toby up to his usual antics...10 different antics!  :-)  Here's a picture of the postcards I made...if you happen to receive one of these in your mailbox, don't worry, he won't bite!  Toby just wants to make new friends!

I'm starting to receive postcards from others too!  They are all very cute, when I get all 10 of them I will post a picture of them. Eat and be wealthy in 2006! :-)

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For the past two years I've been struggling with a huge decision...yes or no, going back and forth on it.  It's such a huge committment, it would be a huge change in my life, am I ready?  Maybe it's too soon and would Toby be able to adjust?  So I waited and waited, and finally last week I took the plunge and said "YES!"  And I uttered those two little words..."wood flooring!"  Yup, I even signed on the dotted line!!  They will be coming this Friday to install laminate wood floors in my entire townhouse, both downstairs and upstairs!!!  For safety reasons, I'm leaving the staircase carpet.  I will post pictures of the new floor once they install it.  I'm so excited!

What I really wanted was a very dark wood, I love the look of dark brown wood, even as dark as Espresso stains.  But since I do plan to sell my townhouse in a few years, I decided to go with the more popular medium tone wood.  Here's one sample I looked at, I picked the sample on the left, it's called Red Oak Gunstock.  I think it looks pretty nice against my blue walls.  It should also go well against the green walls in both bedrooms. During the selection process, Toby just lie on the floor staring at the samples.  I took his paw and tapped on the wood, seems like he'll be making some clicking sounds when he walks.  I will also be looking to get two huge rugs, one for my bedroom and one for the living room.  I want to make sure that Toby will be able to land on the rug when he jumps off the bed, the floor can be slippery.  And if a 90lb dog slips, they can really do some damage to their legs, case in point...Kim's boy Eddie! So in honor of my old carpet, let's now take a moment to bid farewell.  It has served me well, it's been through a lot, the poor thing.  Toby's done his share of beating, not to mention that the previous owner had an in-door cat.  Let's bid a fond adieu to the beloved stains we have put down through the years...

Toby's favorite hiding place...can you tell?	Left stain: Toby grass throw-up... Right stain: Toby mystery food throw-up....
More evidence of grass-eating...	Here Toby is proudly pointing out his artistic creation using carpet as his medium.

Stay tuned for photos of my new floor!!

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Because I am suffering from the flu and can't do anything else but type...here are pictures from warmer days of last year.  We packed a lunch and hiked down to Palos Verdes Beach to spend a day in the sun relaxing and looking for sea glass.  PV is much different from Manhattan, Hermosa, or Redondo Beach.  It takes a little bit of driving to get to (about 30 minutes South of Redondo Beach) and very few people know about the access hiking trail down to the beach.  But I love taking Toby there...eventhough Toby hates the water and won't even get his paws wet.  I know...he's a Golden Retriever, but I think he's a broken one.

At the top of the hiking trail, the view was spectacular!	Toby taking his sweet time down the trail.
So quiet, it was like our own private beach.	Toby contemplating...hm...the water sure looks nice...
Better not...the waves look much better from up here.	Toby's paw prints scatter the beach.
After a while, Toby got hot and decided to bury his face in the sand.	Ahh...nothing like finding one's own comfort spot on the beach.
A piece of lonely drift wood.	We met two dogs along our walk, Rosie the Gold Retriever and Petuzie the Jack Russell Terrier, both soaking wet from swimming but were extremely friendly.
We also met two wild-looking dogs shaking off their wet coat.  Toby was trying to put up a tough front.	We came to a rocky area and saw the water glistening off the rock formations.  It was like there were diamonds in the water.
There was a parasailor circling overhead.	He flew right over our "camp" site!!  Later, he actually landed on the beach very close to us.
It was lunch time for me while Toby admired the soft waves.	Can life get any better than this?  It was a most relaxing moment.
After packing up my beach towel and sea glass and rocks I collected, it was time to hike back up to the car!  Toby was a trooper, look at him go!	One last look back, until next time Palos Verdes!

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Such beautiful lyrics.  I first heard this song on a TV car commercial, Volvo I think.  Then I found the song from this cool site that tries to identify some of the popular songs used in TV commercials.  After finding out who wrote the song, I bought it from iTunes for 0.99¢!  This song is going to be on my future wedding CD.  You should use it at your wedding Lisa!

Catch The Wind (sample song #3)
by Donovan

In the chilly hours and minutes,
Of uncertainty, I want to be,
In the warm hold of your loving mind.

To feel you all around me,
And to take your hand, along the sand,
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

When sundown pales the sky,
I wanna hide a while, behind your smile,
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find.

For me to love you now,
Would be the sweetest thing, 'twould make me sing,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

When rain has hung the leaves with tears,
I want you near, to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind.

For standin' in your heart,
Is where I want to be, and I long to be,
Ah, but I may as well, try and catch the wind.

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My parents bought me some cherries last weekend because cherries are one of my favorite fruits.  So after gobbling down about three of them, I noticed that the cherries looked like little hearts!!  Not just a random one, but about half of my batch all look like perfect little hearts!  Here's a picture for proof.

This is real, no photoshop editing!  Cute huh?  I don't think the growers did this on purpose.  I don't even think the packaging people noticed it.  But wouldn't this be a wonderful gift idea for Valentine's Day?  If they can grow these "heart-shapped cherries" and package them nicely, it would make a wonderful Valentine's Day gift instead of chocolates.  People can even serve these cherries at bridal showers and weddings.  The possibilities are limitless!  I once saw on TV that Disney has their own greenhouse to grow vegetables that's shaped like a Mickey Mouse head.  Interestingly shapped fruits are the wave of the future!  It would probably make kids eat more fruit...how about a bear-shapped orange? :-) Oh, my heart-shapped cherries are all gone! Yum...

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I love online shopping!  For a small shipping fee they've eliminated parking lots, road rage, long lines, rude sales people, rude customers, and incomplete inventory.  You get my point.   So my latest online adventure resulted in the following...

A shiny new table lamp from Target.  I love the punch of red against my blue walls.  And the silver tone base is elegant and not too ornate.  It looks like it can be from Pottery Barn, sans the outrageous price tag.  Without given away my secret, let's just say that I probably paid a quarter of the price they would've charge at Pottery Barn for this lamp.  Shhh... And since I was paying for shipping anyway, I also picked up a pair of pink galoshes, also from Target.  Aren't they cute?!  Yes, I know, I live in Southern California...but during El Nino years, we can get quite a bit of rain.  And I would need to keep my feet dry when I have to walk Toby in the rain!  Not to mention I also have to look stylish and cute. :-) And often I would just do casual "screen shopping", my version of the "window shopping."  I would browse the sale links of my favorite online stores.  You never know what you'll find!  And again, no crowds, no parking lots, no sales people following you.  I've also done enough online shopping that I know which sizes fit me best when buying shoes or clothing from my usual online stores.  I do recognize that going to the mall can be a social event, and I do go with friends on occasion, if they drive. :-) Happy shopping!

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Yay, Stardust is home!  Seven years ago, JPL NASA launched Stardust, a small satellite to space in hopes of collecting some comet dust.  Why you ask?  Well comets are interesting creatures, they are mainly ice, gas, and dust.  They have been around even before the formation of our solar system so learning about them may help us understand how our solar system was formed.

So today, Stardust crashed back into Earth in Utah bringing back enough comet dust to fill a thimble.  I have a particular fondness for Stardust because my name is on the satellite as part of a NASA outreach program.  I did research at JPL one brief summer back in 1997 when I was a graduate student at UCLA.  I think that's how they got my name.  I don't remember submitting my name to the program.  But I'm very proud of what NASA's done.  Especially now that I'm an engineer.  It's amazing how many things can go wrong with machines people design and build, yet we can shoot one into space and have it come back safely in a location we designate is just mind-boggling!  IMPRESSIVE! :-)

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My friend Cat gave me a precious gift for Christmas...a Richard Feynman commemorative envelope from Caltech.

This is the front of the envelope.  It has the commemorative stamp, which I already own and the official stamp from Caltech.  The squiggly little symbols are his famous "Feynman diagrams."  The background picture is of Feynman conversing with his students casually about physics.  That is Feynman's trade mark, his ability to communicate his knowledge to anyone!

This is the back of the envelope. The inside of the envelope contains Feynman's doodle and his hand-written formulation of quantum physics.  That's the inspiration for my background for this site!  I scanned the equations to make my background. The envelope came, nicely pacgkaged in a plastic wrap.  I will keep it in the wrap and make a bookmark out of it.  I have it in my favorite book...Genius, which I'm currently re-reading.

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Most people who know me know that I am very picky when it comes to movies.  My collection of DVD's can fit on one shelf of my bookcase, half of the collection are not even movies.  Example of my favorite movies are here.   I also own many National Geographic and Discovery Documentaries.  So it's to my surprise that one movie has touched me so much...Brokeback Mountain.

Giving nothing away, this movie stuck with me days after I've seen it.  Hauntingly beautiful and sad, Ang Lee's direction is Oscar-worthy to me. Certainly, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaals' performances were unbelievably passionate.  But surprisingly, Michelle William's one performance took my breath away.  I was truly struck by her ability to translate so much emotion in one look.  I don't think I can watch this movie again in the near future...only because it's too sad, too emotional...and too perfect.  Like the "new-car smell", I would like to enjoy the feelings of having just seen a great movie with me for a little longer.  But this movie will definitely be added to my favorite movies page.

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I live two miles from the beach and have a 90lb Golden Retriever.  So it hits me tonight that I should go to the beach more often.  Especially after my friends Kevin and Michelle (Willow's parents) told me about a new route to the beach with hassle-free free parking! So after our normal walk to the powerline park, I packed up Toby into my car and headed off to a quiet area of Hermosa Beach.  Friday nights at the beach is wonderful!  It was quiet and peaceful, just a handful of joggers and strollers.  The temperature was mild with unusually strong waves.  The waves were so strong, it was thundering!  There was a quiet fog settling down, some of the million dollar mansions along The Strand still had their Christmas lights on.  The little lights twinkled through the thin fog creating the most dream-like scene.

I wish I could take a picture of The Strand at night, but it wouldn't have come out well.  So I can only offer you photos I took a while ago of a sailboat and Toby admiring a mansion on The Strand at Manhattan Beach.  We walked up The Strand to Manhattan Beach Pier.  When we got there, Toby and I sat on a bench and admired the enormous waves.  We also bumped into Toby's friend LuLu, a little Boston Terrier puppy.  She has an obvious crush on Toby and little kisses were exchanged. :-) An old couple with an old yellow Labrador Retriever also stopped by our bench to say hello.  The old man was so fond of Toby, he gave Toby a treat.  He shoved the treat into Toby's mouth so fast that I didn't have a chance to stop him.  The old couple were such nice people I just thanked them and let them go on with their walk.  One of my pet peeves is people feeding other people's pets without asking for permission.  Most pet-less people probably don't see anything wrong with giving strange dogs treats.  But there can be many problems with doing that.  The dog may have certain food allergies or the dog may get aggressive when presented with food (especially if there are other dogs around.)  Now Toby does not have any of those problems, but the minute he is presented with the hint of a doggie treat, he turns from a gentle giant into this obsessive beast with dilated pupils and drool streaming down his panting mouth.  He acts like he hasn't eaten in months.  So if you feel compelled to offer a treat to the next cute animal you see, please ask for permission from the owner first, most people will accept and they'll think you're just the most thoughtful person they've ever met!

Our evening of carefree stroll ended with another discovery, yet another Toby fear.  He was terrified of the parking meters.  Whenever we walked by one he would run into my knee in an attempt to get away from the "metal monsters" on the sidewalk.  Granted it was pretty dark, but parking meters??  It took him two years to get over his fear of large plastic trash cans so it will probably take just as long to beat the metal monsters. Yes Toby, mommy's telling yet another embarrassing story about you. :-)  Here he is looking very annoyed that I'm sticking the camera in his face again. Armed with my new parking spots, I will definitely take more evening walks along the beach with Toby...maybe he'll lose some weight too. Heh

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Like Trojans all over the world, I was heart-broken.  But in keeping with my New Year's resolution, I am truly thankful to one man, Coach Pete Carroll.  Thank you for bringing glory back to SC, thank you for being such a classy guy, and thank you for taking our school to the top of the world for three consecutive years.  I really enjoyed watching Coach Carroll's calm enthusiasm at every game for the past five years he's been our coach, and thankfully he will be with SC for many more years.  Through ups and downs (it was mostly up,) it was great fun!  Toby will still be wearing his SC tag proudly.

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I started the new year off with what else but a tear-jerker!  I unknowingly stumbled upon a little Japanese movie called Quill.  I was tricked by the presence of an adorable Labrador Retriever puppy.  Of course I had to keep watching, once they entice me with scenes of a chubby baby Lab!  Skip the next section of text if you don't want to know what happens in the movie.

Turns out the movie was another Japanese artsy film that chronicles the life of a guide dog for the blind.  And I walked right into the trap...I was crying from beginning to the end, tears streaming down my face like a waterfall. I cried when the first set of owners gave the puppy up for training, I cried when Quill met his grumpy blind owner, I cried when Quill was taken away from the blind man when he bcame ill, and when his blind owner passed away, and when Quill got to go home to his original family.  And I was unabashedly bawling when Quill passed away peacefully in the arms of his mother.  And all this without any subtitles! It was at this moment that I turned to see what my little boy was doing...and yes, Toby was out like a light.  So Toby is not a guide dog for the blind and he failed to qualify to become a therapy dog for Love on 4 Paws two years ago...but he is the love of my life nonetheless.  The thought of one day not having him around made me cry even more!  Hopefully, I won't have to think about that for at least ten more years!  I think I will have to buy Quill and watch it again with subtitles so I can actually understand what the characters were saying.  If you have a dog, or a soft spot for pets, I highly recommend this movie. Don't watch it without a box of tissues handy.

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Happy New Year to everyone! My New Year's resolutions?  Um...I do have a couple. This year I will strive to always be...                                                                         happy, lovestruck, thankful, thoughtful, and well-rested!