Diving

It would be lovely if I can go and learn to dive next year. I hear Malaysia's perfect for it - good waters, great prices. It's that time of year for planning again. I love indulging in making plans. I always overplan. Do you?

Johns Hopkins

Mom and Dad recently gained "Johns Hopkins" to their list of bragging rights, in addition to UCLA and Waseda. None of us became doctors or lawyers, and no one really remembers how to play the piano or the violin, but I guess we are all doing OK. Somewhat at least.



Inside of main campus. All the walkways seem to be paved in brick. Very classy and different from the asphalt and concrete that I had been used to at Irvine and Waseda.


JHU's business school, where Michael will be burning 90k over the next 2 years, excluding living and other expenses. Maybe he is even more expensive than I was.


"Bruce Lee was only 135 lbs."





Rowhouse in the suburbs M is staying in for now.


Crab cakes for lunch.




Went to Best Buy to play video games. I mean to pick up supplies.






More pictures here





Here's me writing & uploading what you're reading. Michael called the picture "Nazi at work in MD." It was cold... And that's my new Hopkins hoodie. Don't you like the color?

Wiggles!

Cute as ever, and difficult to photograph as ever!

More here.

Hotcake morning in Los Altos

Breakfast with Quyen, Jerry, Jenny and Jeff at Original Pancake House in Los Altos. Q ordered for us her and Daniel's favorites: the 49'er flapjacks, Dutch baby, potato pancakes, and Jerry added a Denver omelette. Tasty they were! The 49'er flapjacks were really big and thin, a little chewier than regular hotcakes, but perfect because they were so thin. The Dutch baby had a souffle texture to it and was dressed with powdered sugar and lemon juice. The potato pancakes tasted like a nice combination of the hash browns that came with Jerry's omelette and the 49'er flapjacks. Very interesting with sour cream and apple sauce as the topping. Tasty they all were! And definitely more than enough for five people. Asides from getting together with J&J, the breakfast was also to introduce Jeff to them, since Jeff just moved to the area and also happens to work at the same company as Jerry.

Didn't we do a good job of clearing the plates?


from yelp
420 S San Antonio Rd
Los Altos, CA 94022
650 559 9197
www.originalpancakehouse.com


Lunch with 周媽媽 was in 90 minutes, so we went for a walk down Main Street in Los Altos. Though chilly, the crisp, cold air was refreshing.



We used to live somewhere in those hills in the background.




I used to take Lucky and Miffy down there once in a while, and we would share ice cream from Baskin Robbins (this was before the whole frozen yogurt craze took over) on a bench on the sidewalk. Lovely memories I have. On the way back to the car, there was a doggie training class in session, and it was so much fun to watch. The girls and I used to go to those classes too.








More pictures here.

Dinner with Quyen & Jennifer

At Osteria!
















Same menu, same two chefs, same head busboy for the past 23 years.

It has been our family's favorite Italian restaurant since we moved to Los Altos Hills more than 15 years ago. I like to flirt with the big Italian guys there (since they flirt with me), so they're kind of nice to me, but beware, I hear they're famous for great food and lousy service. Lights are really low there, like the rest of downtown Palo Alto, it seems. Very romantic. No wonder Mom and Dad used to sneak off together to have dinner there. How do I know? Because one time us kids were there with our own friends and we ran into them!

From yelp
247 Hamilton Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
650 328 5700
There's parking beneath City Hall diagonally across the street.


Afterwards, Jennifer treated us to Fraise frozen yogurt. I had pomegranate, dried figs and mochi as toppings. Can you see the pomegranate in my teeth? Haha...








More pictures here.

Mission accomplished!

The only real trouble was having to wait a little longer for the dogs to come off the plane.

Happy ending!

If you are curious and/or want to help bring rescue dogs to the US, this is the process:
1. give a copy of the first page of your passport and a copy of your itinerary to your dog rescue liaison in Taipei (Faustina for me)
2. meet the dog rescue people at the airport - they will take care of all paperwork and bring the dogs to meet you
3. check in as usual, dog rescue people will check the dogs in
4. after getting off the plane in the US, find a porter to help you put the dog kennels on a big cart and push it out to the arrivals lobby where the American dog rescue people are waiting for you
5. tip the porter with the USD the dog rescue people in Taiwan will have given you
6. say goodbye and make a wish

So you pay nothing extra and don't even have to touch the dogs if you don't want to.

Can you believe it was that easy for me to bring seven rescue dogs to the US? Most of the work has been done by the dog rescue people already. All I really did was give the dogs a ride.

It was a good experience for me, and I would definitely do this again. Leave a message if you want to help too!