My Little Piglet

Molly is officially 8 lbs. According to her most recent weigh-in at the vet on Monday, anyway. I had no idea she would break 6 lbs. Just goes to show you how much I know.

Here are some new pictures of our baby girl. Enjoy!

August 31, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Babies, Flickr

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I Want One

Brian saw this on TV the other day. I actually heard about it from Jan several months ago but I didn’t know what it was called to look it up. So anyway, now that I know what it is, I found their web site. It’s Petapotty.com. A pretty neat idea. I wish I could have thought of it. I’d probably be rich by now.

Anyway, Molly is acting more and more like a cat lately. She’s actually able to get on the cat tree now. And the boys thought they were safe! Not any more!

The other day Brian left her in the room by herself and she knocked over a cup of Pepsi. It went all over Brian’s pillow and the featherbed. We needed to replace the featherbed anyway because it’s worn so out Molly just gave us the push we needed. We went to Target and got a synthetic alternative that works just as well. What’s better is that there will no longer be feathers poking out to stab me.

Yesterday was pretty much errand day. Brian took me to my waxing and then we went to the bank to start a savings account (now that we are debt-free, we can start putting money away). We are actually saving for our home rennovations which we plan on starting in the next year. In the process, we ended up getting an account upgrade. We went from free checking to relationship checking so now we get free stuff (free online banking, free online bill pay, no more fees for using other banks’ ATMs, free feature checks, travellers’ checks, official checks, and all that stuff). Free stuff is always good, but my favorite part is that if we go over a certain balance then our money will earn interest. I know other banks do this anyway, but Intrust doesn’t offer this to their basic checking customers. We’d have to switch to another bank which is a pain so we just kind of have to go with what Intrust Bank has to offer.

After the bank I took Brian to the Anchor for lunch. He’d never been there. He actually liked it. Except for the strange people. Brian thought it was odd that this lady sitting next to us struck up a conversation with me out of the blue. I thought it was odd too, but I wasn’t as weirded out by it as Brian was.

Next stop was Target. We ended up getting two new pillow and our matress topper. We actually got a good night’s rest last night. Our first one in a long time. The new matress topper feels good.

We also stopped by mom and dad’s house to pick up Jen’s old airbed. Brian and I have been wanting to get it but we always forget to take it home with us when it’s time to leave. Now we have it and we can start having our slumber-party-movie-marathon nights in the family room again. We used to do it until our featherbed got so worn out that it wasn’t cushy against the floor anymore. I miss those nights. Anyway, hopefully I’ll have some free nights when I don’t have so much homework so we can have a slumber party night.

We got to hang out at the house for a while but not for too long because I asked Brian to go to Latin dance class. It was so much fun! I can’t wait to go again next week. Hopefully, we’ll learn some new moves and get better. I love dancing.

Today has been devoted to homework and laundry. I did get to play some poker but my poker playing days are numbered. I have a full load this semester and I’ll be lucky to come out without having a nervous breakdown.

Please bear with me even if I start blogging less frequently. I’m just busy with school. I should be able to start blogging regularly again in between semesters and during the summer. Unless we begin rennovations next year, in which case you probably won’t hear from me at all. We’ll see.

August 27, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Babies, Life, Wishlist

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Carla’s Birthday

Carla’s birthday was a blast. I meant to blog about it sooner but I’ve been busy since school has started. I’m in class every night except for Fridays. Of course, Friday night is poker night so my schedule is super tight.

But I digress.. We spent eight hours over there without even realizing it. Paul cooked a magnificent Thai feast. It was a three-course meal fit for a queen. I hope Carla felt like a queen because Paul slaved himself in the kitchen for over eight hours cooking.

He made three different appetizers with matching sauces. There was chicken satay, spring rolls and eggrolls. I was full almost before the main course. It was challenging to save room because everything was so delicious.

Paul made four main dishes: a cashew chicken dish, beef mussman, something like mongolian beef and chicken pad thai. Everything was cooked to perfection. He even garnished them!

For dessert, he baked a delicious chocolate cake and served sweet sticky rice with ripe mango slices. We call the sweet rice biko in Tagalog. I’d never met American people who ate that stuff before.. I found out that it’s actually Carla’s favorite. It was strange being in a room full of American biko eaters.

Of course, Brian was dying to get a piece of the chocolate cake. He didn’t really care much for the biko and he’s never really liked mangoes. He tried it, but he is your average unadventurous American guy so he didn’t really like it that much. Now the chocolate cake he could’ve eaten all by himself. He was polite though, and only had one slice.

It was great to meet Carla’s friends and also her adorable dogs Chewie and Endo. They are the most well-behaved dogs in the world. I love them.

We ended up playing some games after dinner. I played Parcheesi for the first time and won. That was fun. Jeff, Carla’s friend who drove in from Colorado, brought his poker chip set so we got to play some poker. Brian and I left around 2 am because we are not used to staying up so late anymore. Bobbi said that they actually kept playing until about 4 am.

Paul really did an amazing job with dinner. Jeff actually commented that he made all the other men look bad. It’s one dinner party that won’t soon be forgotten for sure.

[ NOTE: Paul, the person who created the delicious Thai feast, is Australian. ]

August 25, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Flickr, Food, Life

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He May Not Be Romantic

He may not be romatic, but he sure is thoughtful. Here’s an email that Brian sent me last Thursday.

—– Original Message —–
From: Brian
To: Ching
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 3:04 PM
Subject: Today has been terrible.

Today has been so busy. We have had non stop e-mail and non stop phone calls since about 8:30 this morning. I also had to configure 2 separate RMS units on top of that so that added another level of stress to the day. I barely got my lunch and I am finally completing the last of my issues for the day so that I can get the heck out of here.

I just wanted to say that even though I had a rough day. I was still thinking of you the whole time and wanted to wish you a happy first day of school. Try to relax and have fun and I will see you tonight.

I love you baby.

Is he not wonderful or what?

August 19, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Life

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Books, Books and More Books

First there was Tucker Max and his book I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell…

Which reminds me.. I still need to send him a thank you card because he managed to get Brian reading. We are talking about my Brian who doesn’t read anything that doesn’t have pictures in it. Brian and I actually enjoyed reading some of Tucker’s hilarious adventures together while laying in bed. We’ve never done that before. Simply because Brian doesn’t like to read. He still doesn’t like to read for the most part, but at least we’ve found one book that he enjoys.

Then, Anonymous Lawyer released a book also..

Now, Jen is getting in on the whole book action by publishing a book of poetry. You go, girl!

I bought the eBook version. You all should check it out.

August 17, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Memes, Web

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Anniversary Recap

Our fourth anniversary was spent at Harrah’s this year. For the most part, Brian and I try to do something different each year. This year we decided that we wanted to do a real-life, honest-to-goodness poker tournament.

This trip was planned around a 3:00 pm poker tournament Harrah’s. We were really worried that we wouldn’t make it in time, but we did. Brian and I paid the $45 + $5 entry fee and the rest is history.

Well, my entry fee was history anyway. I got knocked out within the first hour. It was very disappointing. Brian saved the day by winning second place, though. It was awesome! At one point, I actually had a gang of people (other players who had gotten knocked out from the tournament) cheering for him.

So here’s quick recap of past anniversary celebrations..

Last year we spent two nights at the Historic Campbell Castle.

Got a couples massage at Healing Waters, went to the Wichita Art Museum, took pictures at the frisbee-golf park, played some poker the Loft and had dinner at Granite City and Sumo among other things.

Celebrating our 2nd Anniversary in Kansas City

In 2004 we stayed at Country Club Plaza. We did some major shopping. I think this was my very last big shopping spree (brian lost his job not too long after). We enjoyed food at PF Chang’s, Cheesecake Factory, Kona and Reverse.

The year before that Brian and I had dinner at Red Rock, went dancing and stopped by Priscilla’s for some new toys.

So there you have it. The last four years of anniversaries, Brian and Ching style.

We had initially planned on going on another cruise for our fifth anniversary but now I’m rethinking the whole thing. I’d rather not go in July or August because there will be way too many children on the ship. I’m thinking September might be a better month. However, I’ll be in school next year.

So we are thinking of probably hitting Vegas in August 2007 and saving the cruise for September 2008. Hopefully Brian will win us some money in Vegas so we can pay for our cruise in 2008…

Yeah, right! Better start saving now. =P

August 14, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Flickr, Life

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When Bad Things Happen to Good People

It seems Sunny has finally bit the big one; and at the most inopportune time to boot. Brian had been having problems with Sunny for some time. It came to a head on Tuesday when he decided to drive to McDonald’s for lunch. Sunny choked in the middle of the drive-thru. Brian had to push him out of the drive and into a stall to abate the hungry, irritated patrons. He had to walk back to work and everything; a lot more than he bargained for.

Thankfully he was able to hitch a ride home from one of his coworkers. I wish I would’ve been able to help. Alas, I was working the late shift at work and didn’t get off until 8 pm. After a failed attempt to tow the car home, Brian finally called a tow truck. They waited for over an hour and the truck never came. I finally got home from work and they were still waiting.

Frustrated, Brian asked me to call another tow truck. As luck would have it, I was able to get a tow truck to come in 15 minutes and at less cost. The company that Brian originally called quoted $60 and the tow company I called only charged $45. Besides that, Statefarm reimbursed us for the towing so we weren’t really out anything.

Of course, there is still the matter of the car. How to get Sunny running again. After replacing the battery, Brian and his dad have isolated the problem. We need to replace the alternator, but we can’t do it. So we have to take Sunny to Tracy’s for some major surgery. That will cost an arm and a leg, I’m sure. This time insurance won’t cover it so we’re on our own. I’m not looking forward to the cost, but I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to come through this alright. Everything has a way of working out so long as you just stay positive.

Anyway, Sunny has been through a lot as you can see from the slideshow above (the car wreck of 1999). Sunny has driven to quite a few places in her eventful ten years of life. I’m sure we’ll be able to survive this and get at least two more years.

Hang in there, Sunny!

August 13, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Life

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Winning, Anger and the Crack Addicted Chimps!

On Thursday August 10 my wife and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We had decided that we were going to take a trip to Kansas City and play in a poker tourney their and stay at Harrahs Casino. We have been to Kansas City several times but not to this end, normally we stay around the plaza and donâ€™t venture farther than that. This time we had to go to North KC which took us thru a totally different Highway System. Let me start here and say that the KC Highway System had to be designed by Crack Addicted, ADD inflicted Chimpanzees! It is the most insane thing that I have ever seen in my life. We were following directions that were given to us by Google Maps. At one point it told us to look for the I35, I70, and I210 exchange. So we did. Come to find out this is an intersection where ALL THREE highways intersect into one freaking point and continue for several miles. Then they all branch out again but not in the normal fashion (oh no!). Instead for example, if you entered from the right which was I35 you now had to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get all the way over to the left to catch I35 again. If you entered from the left then you had to cross over to the center and so on. Then there were the on ramps! These were not normal on ramps, these things stretched on for miles and seemed to twist and turn and contort so that you thought you were on a roller coaster not an on ramp. At one point I felt like throwing my hands thru the sun roof and yelling WEEEEE as we went around the on ramp. Then we get to the final annoyance of the

KC Highway

system, the signs. At one time we were following the signs to get back to the highway when all of a sudden the highway sign that we were following just disappeared. We are in the center lane of rush hour traffic and we are completely lost. Our highway just vanished and I could not see any options for another turn. I ended up going around the block to only run into another sign for our highway. We were completely dumbfounded. We HATE the KC highway system. Needless to say that after that we did not leave the hotel for the rest of the trip.

As for our poker tourney that is a story in itself. So letâ€™s get started at the beginning. We get their and get our entry paid and find out the seating and rules for this tourney. Ching and I were hopeful to win but were realistic in the thought that we probably would not as this was a new experience for us (playing in a tourney of this magnitude around players that come here to make a living off of this). We both get seated and give each other good luck kisses and start. After about an hour I look over to see Ching walking toward me. I could not believe she was knocked out so soon. I thought to myself this is incredible, she is by far a better player than me and she is already out. Itâ€™s just a matter of time before I go out. I managed to get luck on my first 2 hands and get high card Ace for the win followed by pocket Aces for the second win. After that everything went dead and I barely played a hand. I told Ching to stay close so if I got knocked out I wouldnâ€™t have to go far to find her. Break came and I decided to see what she was doing. There was no cell coverage in the building so I had to locate her the old fashioned way, by using my dammed eyes (what is this world coming to). I only had ten minutes and as time went by I got increasingly frustrated and worried then it just turned to anger. My ten minutes were up and I was so pissed that I decided that I was just going to dump the game hunt her down and tell her just how pissed I was. I ended up getting the big blind on the second hand returning from break. I didnâ€™t have many chips so I went all in. One guy asked if I was going to look at my cards and I looked at him and said with a resounding tone â€œNope!â€ This sparked several callers at the table and several worried people that eventually folded. All in all I had 4 callers and the other three could bet. One guy didnâ€™t have much in chips left and after the flop he went all in as well. One guy folded and the other called. The 2 that were still able to bet turned their cards over and the dealer laid out the turn and the river. The short stacked guy lost to a pair of aces, I figured I was done and turned over my cards to discover that I had king jack. This was great because the table had 2 jacks on the board which meant I got three of a kind and won the bigger pot. I looked over at the guy that won with the aces (who was also the guy that asked if I was going to look at my cards) and he was glancing at me with an almost disgusted look on his face. Like he should have won just because I didnâ€™t not look or something. This kind of put him on tilt because after a few hands he was gone at the table and they condensed us. I had 4 more all-inâ€™s and survived. It was an incredible run. Top six paid out and I turned to my wife and said â€œWatch me get knocked out on the bubble!â€ I was the target, I was the short stack and everyone wanted me dead. Every time I went all in I was sure I was gone but every time I pulled back more and more chips. There were 10, then 8, then 7 then all of a sudden I was in the money. I couldnâ€™t believe it. Then all of a sudden it was 5, then 4, then 3! I looked at this one guy next to me as my wife is cheerleading in the background and he says â€œyour like that dammed hang-nail that wonâ€™t go awayâ€. I looked back and said to him â€œno, Iâ€™m more like that last cock roach that you have sprayed smashed and poisoned and he still wonâ€™t dieâ€. He laughed and every time I won a hand after that he would turn to me and say â€œWhy wonâ€™t you just dieâ€. I turned to the tournament director and asked him â€œHow much does 3^rd getâ€ (thinking to myself that third is better than nothing). He tells me the denomination and no sooner did I say that, the guy to my left gets knocked out and itâ€™s down to 2 people. I immediately turn to the director and ask again â€œHow much does 2^nd place getâ€. This got lots of laughs and I continued till I was finally knocked out in 2^nd place. I couldnâ€™t believe it. I came in to this game as the under-dog beating out 38 other players to take home 2^nd place and $414.00. I was amazed and I donâ€™t think it really hit me till I got back to the room. Ching thinks that it was my pissed off bought that got me thru it and wants to start pissing me off more before we play poker now. I told her I would rather not. I immediately called my folks who were also amazed. I mean I never win anything at poker, the occasional home game but nothing major like this. It just show that you can never underestimate that desperate cock roach, other wise he will come back to life and take it all.

August 13, 2006 | Posted by Brian under Family, Games, Life

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Getting Lucky

This is a repost of an old journal entry dated January 7, 1999 originally posted on Chingay.com.. I’m reposting it in honor of my mom who recently received a speeding ticket while driving through Eastborough.

Mom is the last person I’d expect to get a speeding ticket. After all, she drives like a grandma! Oh, wait! She IS a grandma!

Those Eastborough cops are relentless. Sometimes we get lucky. Sometimes we don’t. Anyway, mom, this is for you.

Guess what. I got pulled over by a cop on my way home a couple of nights ago. It was horrible. I wasn’t even wearing my seatbelt. I never do. I know I should, but it’s soo restrictive specially when you’re wearing a heavy coat. And you know how I like to sing at the top of my lungs and dance around (as though I’m a lunatic just released from an asylum suffering a seizure) when I’m alone in the car? The safety belt, while it’s for my own benefit, doesn’t really allow for a lot of mobility and just gets in the way.

I didn’t even see the police car. He was driving North-bound on Rock Road, while I was driving South to my house. I was on the right-most lane and a bit distracted by the beauty of the full moon and the clear evening sky. Grooving to the music of Camp Lo, I wouldn’t even have noticed him had he not made the swiftest u-turn I’ve ever seen done in my entire life. All I could manage was an Oh, shit! under my breath and immediately, as sort of a reflex action, I turned down the volume of the stereo. But no, I didn’t remember to nonchallantly put my seatbelt on. As I rarely put it on, I didn’t think I was capable of inconspicuously putting it on. I just thought, Fuck it.

I slowed down, of course. Having him chase me all over Derby wouldn’t help me in the least– that I knew for sure. So within seconds, he was right behind me with the colorful lights atop his vehicle whirling away amidst the darkness that engulfed us. I pulled over off to the side, on the gravel road-shoulder, a few yards from the 71st and Rock intersection.

It took him a while to get out of his car and knock on my window. I think they do that on purpose, just to rattle your nerves. Finally, he came. I rolled down my window (I know, I don’t got power windows, doesn’t that just suck?) and squinted at his flashlight. He told me that he clocked me at seventy on a fifty-five (which I doubt is true– I didn’t think I was going seventy– I mean, I was going fast but not seventy– it might have seemed seventy from his perspective because he was, after all, driving toward me– but I didn’t argue– it would do very little good) and routinely asked for my driver’s license, which I cooperative handed him– after I fumbled through my purse for a minute or so (after I did the 32 flavors wallet project, I just hastily tossed everything into my bag– who would’ve thought I’d get pulled over?).

He looks at it, then looks at me. He begins the standard interrogation with, Do you still live on Valley Stream Drive? I nod, hoping and praying he wouldn’t check the trunk and find Barry’s body. Just kidding. Forget that last part. I just nodded. And no, I didn’t kill Barry. Although I wish he would quit stalking me already. He’s like, I know your mom. Right then I realized, he had been one of the cops that helped my parents out during that ordeal with Jen. I think he might have received a Christmas basket (you know, one of those food baskets with salamis and cheese and stuff? those things are not cheap) as a token of their gratitude.

Do you know that this is a 115-dollar ticket? he asked, glancing at my driver’s license in his hand another time and then added, What am I gonna do? He looked pensive for a moment, considering everything, and proposed a deal. He told me that he would just give me a warning ticket– I wouldn’t have to pay anything, it’s just a little piece of paper to remind me to drive safer next time, observe the posted speed limit and always wear my seatbelt. Man, was I relieved. Whew! Thank gawd, for that Christmas basket. I don’t think I could afford to pay another goddamn fine.

Am I lucky or what? I could not believe it. I was sure he would write the ticket, too. I mean, just in the last three months Jen got three written against her. They were all over a hundred bucks, too.

August 9, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Life

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Bebot’s Thousand-Mile Check-Up

Speaking of firsts.. Brian took Bebot to his thousand-mile check up the other day. I worked night shift that day so Brian brought me Chipotle for dinner. I don’t know what I will do without Brian. He takes such good care of me.

Yesterday he went to Books-to-Go to pick up my books for fall. Then he asked what I wanted for dinner. I wasn’t hungry so I told him to bring two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for the CSRs. He really did. On top of that, he took Bebot to the gas station to fill up the tank. I think it’s been over three years since I gassed up my own car. Isn’t he just wonderful?

Brian is this beautiful man who takes care of me, runs errands, puts up with all my crap and crankiness, listens to all my woes (and bad-beat stories), laughs at my stupid jokes.. The list goes on. Oh, and did I mention to this day, after being together for seven years, he still opens my car door for me?

Although, he quit doing it for a while after we got Bebot. I found out that the only reason he did it was because we didn’t have keyless entry and he always had to unlock me door for me. After riding together a few times, I made a comment about how I really missed him opening my door like a gentleman. Now I realize why I don’t like keyless entry.

That was all it took, though. Now he’s back to opening my car door and letting me in like a gentleman, keyless entry or not. It’s nice to know that he still cares what I think.

Speaking of things that haven’t changed.. We still talk in bed. You know, when you’re laying there getting ready to zonk out? We like to chat about stupid stuff. That’s our time. In fact, we did this very thing last night.

He was yapping about something. I can’t remember what. I was tired, having just arrived home from work because I had to work the evening shift again. Anyway, we were laying in bed, holding each other. He was in the middle of a story when I suddenly felt nostalgic.

I go, “You know, I remember us having these talks in bed when we first started seeing each other. I used to think to myself, I wonder when he’ll stop yapping and when we’ll start having sex. That’s kind of how I feel right now.”

He started laughing. He’s like, “You can’t even keep your eyes open!”

“You know, baby, it’s not my eyes that need to be open for sex. As long as my legs are open we’re good to go.”

See I’m hilarious even when I’m half-asleep.

Anyway, I won’t elaborate on the story further. You all know what happened next. Needless to say, we both went to bed happy and content. The end.

August 2, 2006 | Posted by Ching under Life

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