Ellie took her passport photo today with the nice US postal worker. I held her up while manage to stay out of the picture and Dan had her attention and successfully put a grin on her face. Her application is now in the mail, it should take about 2 weeks to get her passport. We will then book the trip to Europe and China in 2010. Two big trips for her to take, am curious to see how she will enjoy the international travel in business class.
There was a failed terrorist attempt to blow up an Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on X-mas day. The Canadians have already tighten the security control by announcing that they will hand check every carry on luggage. I am all supportive of appropriate security measures, but I wish they can truly find the bad guys without causing so much inconvenience for the regular commuters like myself. There will be so much more time I will have to waste going through security every week. Man, got to find a way to be more productive while waiting in the lines.
12/29/2009
Ellie's 1st Christmas
We had our first Christmas with Ellie, she wore a new set of outfit, a long sleeve cotton onesie with reindeer in the front, crimson pants, snow white socks, a pair of tiny shoes from New Zealand, the sole is made of sheep skin, and shoes are hand woven sheep wool. And she wore the beige colored hat with crimson flower patterns, looks like a little model baby.
The three of us went to the Christmas in the Park in San Jose on X-mas day, there were so many people, music was in the air every where, hundreds of uniquely decorated X-mas trees, we bought a couple of newly fried churro's from the food stand, sit down on the bench, Ellie got so much compliments from people passing by. What caught my attention was the older man sitting across from the bench, looking like he can use a nice shower, a good meal and a nice outfit. He started smiling at Ellie when we tried to take picture of her, he did succeed in making her put on a big grin. When we were ready to move again, the man came over and flip open his jacket and digged out a white polar bear toy from deep in his pocket and gave it to Ellie. What a surprise, I was the one who was wondering if I could offer anything to him, but now he did it. X-mas is in the air indeed.
The three of us went to the Christmas in the Park in San Jose on X-mas day, there were so many people, music was in the air every where, hundreds of uniquely decorated X-mas trees, we bought a couple of newly fried churro's from the food stand, sit down on the bench, Ellie got so much compliments from people passing by. What caught my attention was the older man sitting across from the bench, looking like he can use a nice shower, a good meal and a nice outfit. He started smiling at Ellie when we tried to take picture of her, he did succeed in making her put on a big grin. When we were ready to move again, the man came over and flip open his jacket and digged out a white polar bear toy from deep in his pocket and gave it to Ellie. What a surprise, I was the one who was wondering if I could offer anything to him, but now he did it. X-mas is in the air indeed.
12/12/2009
Vancouver
Spent a whole week in Vancouver, mobilizing teams for a large project we are about to launch at the beginning of the new year. I have to say I was very impressed by the Westin Grand hotel experience: taking the taxi from the airport to the hotel, the driver said he could not take my credit card because his machine is broken, the door man immediately offered to help, he ran in to the lobby and 1 min later came back with some Canadian cash and paid the taxi driver off. He was very efficient and knew exactly what to do, unlike many other hotels I have been where they just ask me to find the nearest ATM machine. Instead, he paid and easily added the bill to my room, win win for everybody, think about how dreadful it would be to get to a ATM machine after many hours on the road as is.
Vancouver is nice city, buzzing with activities and 2011 winter Olympic game preparation activities. Lots of restaurants to choose from, very international. I enjoyed it. It looks like I will be coming here quite a bit in the next few months, the only thing not so attractive is the freezing wind and late sunrise and early sunset.
Vancouver is nice city, buzzing with activities and 2011 winter Olympic game preparation activities. Lots of restaurants to choose from, very international. I enjoyed it. It looks like I will be coming here quite a bit in the next few months, the only thing not so attractive is the freezing wind and late sunrise and early sunset.
12/06/2009
Skpe
My mom and dad got the skpe up and running last night, we successfully connected and Ellie was the movie star the whole time. She was fascinated by the screens and all the talking and movements. We showed mom and dad Ellie's newly decorated nursery, her new mobile, and shelf and the little table and chair set. Grandparents even bought a little bed set for the baby doll, Ellie will soon enjoy the little doll's company. I saw Guanwen on the video too, she is 14 now and talk and skinny, short hair and glasses. She looks very much like my big sis, she was translating for my parents what Dan was saying. Very helpful. Dan has a great idea, in the future, we will just stick the videocam in Ellie's room and my parents can see her any time they want, and can even talk Chinese to her however they want, free Chinese lessons over the Internet, now that's priceless. Beats the $250K telepresence.
We went out to the newly opened restaurant Villa 08 for lunch today. Had full load of crayfish, lobster, Atlantic oyster, crab, tuna sashimi, frog legs, and many kinds of dessert. Had to take a big nap afterwards.
We went out to the newly opened restaurant Villa 08 for lunch today. Had full load of crayfish, lobster, Atlantic oyster, crab, tuna sashimi, frog legs, and many kinds of dessert. Had to take a big nap afterwards.
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