free at last. thank God Almighty, i'm free at last!
i finally got my haircut - it's literally been almost exactly a year since i last cut my hair. i feel so liberated! back to my normal short hair. there was a humungous pile of hair when the stylist was done, not only because she cut so much length off, but because she also thinned it out for me. i have way too much hair.
she also said that i was a very good friend if i was willing to grow out my hair that long for a friend's wedding. yeah, you hear that o? ;)
went to efc's music ministry peformance at our church on saturday night. it totally reminded me of our old youth group days, when we would spend three to four nights a week for the entire summer practicing for our own musical tour, where we would perform at various churches in socal or up in oregon/seattle/vancouver. i already talked about it in these two posts, but those trips (and preparation for the trips) really had a profound spiritual impact on our youth group. i can't believe all those trips were more than ten years ago.
**
jenie & i were flipping channels on tv, and came across a pretty bad show called twins on upn, with one of the daughters from roseanne. anyway, guess who's on the show? cousin larry from perfect strangers!! he's a little chubbier, a little balder, and a little older, but it's him! i used to love perfect strangers and the whole TGIF lineup.
ok. back to work. yup, another sunday quarter closing...
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
quote of the day
my highlight quote of the day came from my doctor this morning:
"they should take 'great' out of the name Great West." (in reference to my insurance company.) hilarious.
this is because they want me to go to a specific physical therapist to try something on my knee, but i'm out of insurance coverage. the pt is actually the owner of the clinic i did all my pt at, so no biggie for me, but of course, there is the problem of no coverage. he said, what if we tried a different injury code? what if i appeal? did you tell them you had mutliple surgeries? what if.. what if... i was like dude, try all you want, but i'm very doubtful. he was like, so even if you break your hip, then break your leg, then tear a ligament, all in one year, you still only get twenty sessions? yes. but by all means, try.
the lowlight quote of the day also came from my doctor this morning:
"you've painted me into a corner." in reference to what to do with my knee. uh, if the chief of stanford's sports medicine orthopedic department says that, uh, that's not very encouraging.
as usual, i was seen by someone i've never seen before first. actually i was seen by two people - a resident and a "visiting medical student." seriously, how often do these people rotate?? i don't even bother telling them everything anymore because it's not worth it. i feel bad because it's not their fault, but seriously. this guy was like... so what's your problem? you had a scope in february... do you just feel like you've hit a plateau? i was like ugh... i need to go through this again? i told him i just had a second opinion with dr. dillingham, i'm here to do a follow up on that. he was like oh, so what did the doctor say? i was like, um, shouldn't dr. dillingham have talked to dr. fanton? he was like, oh yeah, i'm sure he did. i was like okay then. can you please just get dr. fanton then? ok i wasn't that mean, but i wanted to be. i let him do his thing like every other resident/fellow/intern/pa/doctor at every other appointment, even though i knew it was pointless.
so basically, i'm armed with another prescription for another MRI (yup, fourth MRI in 1.5 years), and at the same time, sitting and waiting to see if my doctor's appeal will work to get my those extra therapy sessions. his medical assistant said he'd basically tell them that they would like more therapy coverage to prevent another surgery. maybe that'll scare my insurance into it :)
BUT at the very least, now every time i go to my doctor's, i can have lunch with evelyn, who just started at stanford yesterday. her office is literally right around the corner from my doctor's office. yay for doctor apopintments! :)
"they should take 'great' out of the name Great West." (in reference to my insurance company.) hilarious.
this is because they want me to go to a specific physical therapist to try something on my knee, but i'm out of insurance coverage. the pt is actually the owner of the clinic i did all my pt at, so no biggie for me, but of course, there is the problem of no coverage. he said, what if we tried a different injury code? what if i appeal? did you tell them you had mutliple surgeries? what if.. what if... i was like dude, try all you want, but i'm very doubtful. he was like, so even if you break your hip, then break your leg, then tear a ligament, all in one year, you still only get twenty sessions? yes. but by all means, try.
the lowlight quote of the day also came from my doctor this morning:
"you've painted me into a corner." in reference to what to do with my knee. uh, if the chief of stanford's sports medicine orthopedic department says that, uh, that's not very encouraging.
as usual, i was seen by someone i've never seen before first. actually i was seen by two people - a resident and a "visiting medical student." seriously, how often do these people rotate?? i don't even bother telling them everything anymore because it's not worth it. i feel bad because it's not their fault, but seriously. this guy was like... so what's your problem? you had a scope in february... do you just feel like you've hit a plateau? i was like ugh... i need to go through this again? i told him i just had a second opinion with dr. dillingham, i'm here to do a follow up on that. he was like oh, so what did the doctor say? i was like, um, shouldn't dr. dillingham have talked to dr. fanton? he was like, oh yeah, i'm sure he did. i was like okay then. can you please just get dr. fanton then? ok i wasn't that mean, but i wanted to be. i let him do his thing like every other resident/fellow/intern/pa/doctor at every other appointment, even though i knew it was pointless.
so basically, i'm armed with another prescription for another MRI (yup, fourth MRI in 1.5 years), and at the same time, sitting and waiting to see if my doctor's appeal will work to get my those extra therapy sessions. his medical assistant said he'd basically tell them that they would like more therapy coverage to prevent another surgery. maybe that'll scare my insurance into it :)
BUT at the very least, now every time i go to my doctor's, i can have lunch with evelyn, who just started at stanford yesterday. her office is literally right around the corner from my doctor's office. yay for doctor apopintments! :)
Friday, July 21, 2006
hot, hot, hot!
lots of hotness going around this week.
supposed to be a scorcher this weekend - and with no a/c, i think i need to spend my weekend in a bookstore or mall or something. any other non-ac-privileged folks interested?
anyone got good ideas on how to cool your house down? we're already closing all windows, sliding doors & blinds during the day, and throwing everything wide open when i get home from work, but our place just doesn't seem to cool down at night. makes for miserable sleeping this whole week, even with a fan.
is this summer hotter than most other summers? I don't remember suffering from the heat this much... now i kind of wish we were still at central park in mt view - at least the weather is a little cooler and we had a/c there.
i think i'm just about ready to buy a new computer. i've solely been using my work laptop as my computer since my desktop died, but every time i turn on the laptop, i feel more obligated to log into work than if i had a desktop and turned that on instead. and if that's not reason enough to get a desktop, i don't know what is. :) looking for good deals! and i want a computer that can handle vista when it comes out. no intel integrated for me! ok. i feel like a geek now. geekness done.
also uploaded two more videos, both from mel & jason's wedding. one is of the "surprise" from mel's cousins - of them dancing to beat it (unfortunately the videographer kept getting in my way), and the other of her flower girls dancing. i missed the bit when one of the girls started trying to breakdance. i did get a shot of it, though. in my smugmug. videos in youtube. follow the links on the right.
supposed to be a scorcher this weekend - and with no a/c, i think i need to spend my weekend in a bookstore or mall or something. any other non-ac-privileged folks interested?
anyone got good ideas on how to cool your house down? we're already closing all windows, sliding doors & blinds during the day, and throwing everything wide open when i get home from work, but our place just doesn't seem to cool down at night. makes for miserable sleeping this whole week, even with a fan.
is this summer hotter than most other summers? I don't remember suffering from the heat this much... now i kind of wish we were still at central park in mt view - at least the weather is a little cooler and we had a/c there.
i think i'm just about ready to buy a new computer. i've solely been using my work laptop as my computer since my desktop died, but every time i turn on the laptop, i feel more obligated to log into work than if i had a desktop and turned that on instead. and if that's not reason enough to get a desktop, i don't know what is. :) looking for good deals! and i want a computer that can handle vista when it comes out. no intel integrated for me! ok. i feel like a geek now. geekness done.
also uploaded two more videos, both from mel & jason's wedding. one is of the "surprise" from mel's cousins - of them dancing to beat it (unfortunately the videographer kept getting in my way), and the other of her flower girls dancing. i missed the bit when one of the girls started trying to breakdance. i did get a shot of it, though. in my smugmug. videos in youtube. follow the links on the right.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
wahoo!
congrats to ev & jason!!
and even though you were a party pooper and found out i went ring shopping with jason... i hope you like the ring :) i seriously never knew so many settings existed for rings until i went with him. i thought, you know, i'd go there and point to the six-prong setting and say we're done. except there are, like, twenty different six-prong settings! who knew.
and even though you were a party pooper and found out i went ring shopping with jason... i hope you like the ring :) i seriously never knew so many settings existed for rings until i went with him. i thought, you know, i'd go there and point to the six-prong setting and say we're done. except there are, like, twenty different six-prong settings! who knew.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
mr. & mrs. lau!
got to see my acl-buddy jason, and ex-accountability group member mel, tie the knot! took them long enough. :) was lots of fun, seeing hot bridesmaid mary, and lots of old aacf friends. who needs reunions when you have so many weddings to attend??
jason is my acl-buddy because we tore our first acls in our left knees around the same time while at berkeley. so we were sad little gimps together, trying to make our way around the hilly campus on crutches. i still remember someone once took a pic of us in front of leconte, with our crutches and very sad faces. don't remember who took the pic, but it made it to the aacf slideshow that year. i make the distinction first acls, because, subsequently, we both tore our second acls in our right knees within a few months of each other as well. yes, we are acl kindred spirits. fortunately for jason, he had a much easier recovery from the second acl tear (we both used our own graft the first time, and an allograft the second time. in fact, he was the one who convinced me to do an allograft the second time around). unfortunately for me, well, if you've been reading my blog at all, you know how that goes.
jason eats a bowl of noodles before the banquet.
mel is my ex-accountability group member from those memorable years at cal. lots of late nights, early mornings, talks, prayers, sharing, griping, and more happened during those years of get togethers.
our old accountability group together again. marcia, mary, mel, christine, and me. (by the way, i'm not that much shorter than the rest of them. i bought $4 flip flops at the store next door in chinatown since i thought i would die with my knee walking in heels around the city for three hours before the banquet. so i'm in those flipflops while everyone else is in heels.)
the pastor/groomsmen/groom had one of the best entrances i've seen at a ceremony. they each got to pick a song to enter to, which included star wars, indiana jones, super mario bros, etc. pretty entertaining, and very jason-esque.
since there was a long break in between the ceremony & reception, a bunch of us took advantage of the gorgeous day in the city and walked around chinatown & little italy. jimmy bought those popper things and we started trying to pop them in our fingers (despite their loud noise, it didn't hurt at all.)
and guess who we found on the corner of a very crowded chinatown street? the happy, happy, happy man! the pic is super blury, but the minute i saw him, i recognized him. i guess he gave up with berkeley and moved his station to chinatown in the city.
of course since it was mel & jason, there was dancing, where, as usual, mr. jimmy chu took over the dance floor. i'm trying to convince him to audition for the next season of so you think you can dance, which is my favorite show this summer. i think it's way more interesting than american idol, which i don't really watch. on the drive up, all jimmy & i talked about was the show. haha. poor bob. (by the way, although i don't think he's necessarily the most refined dancer out of the group, i'm rooting for benji all the way. go benji!)
mel was a very good sport about all of it :)
and now, after many many years, they are finally married! congrats to them!
rest of my pictures:
mel & jason's wedding
jason is my acl-buddy because we tore our first acls in our left knees around the same time while at berkeley. so we were sad little gimps together, trying to make our way around the hilly campus on crutches. i still remember someone once took a pic of us in front of leconte, with our crutches and very sad faces. don't remember who took the pic, but it made it to the aacf slideshow that year. i make the distinction first acls, because, subsequently, we both tore our second acls in our right knees within a few months of each other as well. yes, we are acl kindred spirits. fortunately for jason, he had a much easier recovery from the second acl tear (we both used our own graft the first time, and an allograft the second time. in fact, he was the one who convinced me to do an allograft the second time around). unfortunately for me, well, if you've been reading my blog at all, you know how that goes.
jason eats a bowl of noodles before the banquet.
mel is my ex-accountability group member from those memorable years at cal. lots of late nights, early mornings, talks, prayers, sharing, griping, and more happened during those years of get togethers.
our old accountability group together again. marcia, mary, mel, christine, and me. (by the way, i'm not that much shorter than the rest of them. i bought $4 flip flops at the store next door in chinatown since i thought i would die with my knee walking in heels around the city for three hours before the banquet. so i'm in those flipflops while everyone else is in heels.)
the pastor/groomsmen/groom had one of the best entrances i've seen at a ceremony. they each got to pick a song to enter to, which included star wars, indiana jones, super mario bros, etc. pretty entertaining, and very jason-esque.
since there was a long break in between the ceremony & reception, a bunch of us took advantage of the gorgeous day in the city and walked around chinatown & little italy. jimmy bought those popper things and we started trying to pop them in our fingers (despite their loud noise, it didn't hurt at all.)
and guess who we found on the corner of a very crowded chinatown street? the happy, happy, happy man! the pic is super blury, but the minute i saw him, i recognized him. i guess he gave up with berkeley and moved his station to chinatown in the city.
of course since it was mel & jason, there was dancing, where, as usual, mr. jimmy chu took over the dance floor. i'm trying to convince him to audition for the next season of so you think you can dance, which is my favorite show this summer. i think it's way more interesting than american idol, which i don't really watch. on the drive up, all jimmy & i talked about was the show. haha. poor bob. (by the way, although i don't think he's necessarily the most refined dancer out of the group, i'm rooting for benji all the way. go benji!)
mel was a very good sport about all of it :)
and now, after many many years, they are finally married! congrats to them!
rest of my pictures:
mel & jason's wedding
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
apparently, the reputation of my knee precedes me. went to the second opinion (third opinion, whatever) doctor today in redwood city, another one of those famous, mass-production doctors. had to fill out form after form... took me like 20 minutes, just for this one second opinion. when the doctor finally walks in, he says to me "so this is the person with the infamous knee." uh... infamous knee? ummm who has been talking to him? i know my doctor's office faxed them all my medical records and stuff, but, huh? especially since he sees tons of patients every day, the fact that he even knows about my knee problems is a little unnerving.
anyway, he doesn't think it's the problem that my doctor thinks it is (which is kind of a relief to me because that would have definitely required another surgery), so hm, i'm back to square one. he does think i should get another MRI. that would be my fourth MRI in the last year and a half. my insurance will LOVE me. but hey, maybe if they would cover more physical therapy sessions, they wouldn't have to pay for all this other stuff. anyway i'll see what my doctor says in a couple of weeks when i see him again.
anyway, he doesn't think it's the problem that my doctor thinks it is (which is kind of a relief to me because that would have definitely required another surgery), so hm, i'm back to square one. he does think i should get another MRI. that would be my fourth MRI in the last year and a half. my insurance will LOVE me. but hey, maybe if they would cover more physical therapy sessions, they wouldn't have to pay for all this other stuff. anyway i'll see what my doctor says in a couple of weeks when i see him again.
Monday, July 10, 2006
car dealership shuttle
i hate taking my car to the dealership.
but not for the reasons you'd think.
i don't like it because i hate taking the shuttle to work after i drop off my car. there's this creepy older guy who always drives the shuttle and he creeps me out.
i'm sure he's just trying to be friendly, but i don't like it. he always makes me sit in the front (i usually climb in the back, but even then, whenever the person in the front gets out, he asks me specifically to move to the front). i'm almost always the last person to get dropped off, so often times i have to sit there by myself with him. and he asks all kinds of questions, which i don't like to answer, so i try to talk as little as possible. ughhhhh. thankfully today, i was the second to last, so there was someone else with me the whole time. but he did say "darn, you're not the last today! i don't get to spend time with you!"
YUCK. he gives me the heebie jeebies (or however you spell it). maybe next time i'll try stevens creek acura instead of sunnyvale acura (where i bought my car and where i've always taken it). both are equally close to my house and my company, just in different directions (one's north, the other is east. so both are right in the middle of my commute to work, depending if i go north first or east first). but i figured more people who work in the santa clara area take their car to stevens creek so i won't be the last to get dropped off by the shuttle. (most people who go to sunnyvale acrua work in cupertino/sunnyvale area, which is why i'm often the last to get dropped off.) is it crazy to switch dealerships just to avoid the creepy guy??
but not for the reasons you'd think.
i don't like it because i hate taking the shuttle to work after i drop off my car. there's this creepy older guy who always drives the shuttle and he creeps me out.
i'm sure he's just trying to be friendly, but i don't like it. he always makes me sit in the front (i usually climb in the back, but even then, whenever the person in the front gets out, he asks me specifically to move to the front). i'm almost always the last person to get dropped off, so often times i have to sit there by myself with him. and he asks all kinds of questions, which i don't like to answer, so i try to talk as little as possible. ughhhhh. thankfully today, i was the second to last, so there was someone else with me the whole time. but he did say "darn, you're not the last today! i don't get to spend time with you!"
YUCK. he gives me the heebie jeebies (or however you spell it). maybe next time i'll try stevens creek acura instead of sunnyvale acura (where i bought my car and where i've always taken it). both are equally close to my house and my company, just in different directions (one's north, the other is east. so both are right in the middle of my commute to work, depending if i go north first or east first). but i figured more people who work in the santa clara area take their car to stevens creek so i won't be the last to get dropped off by the shuttle. (most people who go to sunnyvale acrua work in cupertino/sunnyvale area, which is why i'm often the last to get dropped off.) is it crazy to switch dealerships just to avoid the creepy guy??
Friday, July 07, 2006
4th of july weekend
finally, a short respite from work to post some pics. last week was insanity, and i can tell when i'm totally overworked when my right forearm really hurts from so much mousing and typing. it's been like that all this week, which is probably a carry over from last week's craziness.
so, a pic recap of my fourth of july weekend (soooo nice to get the four-day weekend!)
friday night, a bunch of us went up to yoshi's at jack london square to watch take 6 in concert. they are totally awesome in concert, although no pics or videos were allowed of the actual performance. i love how they integrate their testimonies into their performance. (and i love the "preach it!"s and "mmmmmmmhmmmm!"s coming from the audience. hehe) the only downside was that the concert seemed so short.
mike, jenie, me, joy before the concert
saturday, had worship practice, lunch with family, and hung out with o & jono before heading to andrea's bday "surprise."
NEVER... NEVER... NEVER try to drive around great america 4th of july weekend! what a nightmare! i took local to go from o & jono's to eon's and it was miserable. took me 45 minutes because they closed off EVERY STREET. tasman was closed. great america pkwy was closed. mission college was closed. i was circling around forever trying to even figure out how to get out of there and jump onto lawrence expressway. i almost gave up and went home instead, but i couldn't even figure out how to do that!
no pics from andrea's bday... i do have videos of some people swing dancing, but i'll be nice and not post them. :)
monday, hung out with o & jono & some of their baltimore friends before they took off back to baltimore. took them to mi pueblo for... a mid-afternoon snack? yum. went to dave & karen's bbq for dinner - double yum - karen's getting this bbq thing down. it's like a gourmet bbq every time we go over! unfortnately, no pics from that either, although i do have video of jono karaoking feliz navidad. yeah, go figure. but i won't post that either.
tuesday morning, some of the girls went up to the city to legion of honor since it was the first tuesday of the month, and hence, free entrance. they also had a monet exhibit which was interesting, but again, no pics allowed. what's up with that?? we had lunch at park chow's - not a chinese restaurant as it sounds, but more like a bistro. GOOD stuff.
gorgeous view of golden gate bridge from legion of honor
they're trying to be thinkers... though it looks like they all have headaches :)
yummy food at park chow's
tuesday night, went to shoreline to watch movie magic and music by the sf symphony. it was a lot of fun, they played lots of familiar songs from musicals and movies (star wars, indiana jones, et, grease, etc) and then played patriotic songs to fireworks.
and now it's friday, and time for another weekend! yay!
yoshi's & take 6
legion of honor
movie magic
one last thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AL! yay for turning 21! ;)
so, a pic recap of my fourth of july weekend (soooo nice to get the four-day weekend!)
friday night, a bunch of us went up to yoshi's at jack london square to watch take 6 in concert. they are totally awesome in concert, although no pics or videos were allowed of the actual performance. i love how they integrate their testimonies into their performance. (and i love the "preach it!"s and "mmmmmmmhmmmm!"s coming from the audience. hehe) the only downside was that the concert seemed so short.
mike, jenie, me, joy before the concert
saturday, had worship practice, lunch with family, and hung out with o & jono before heading to andrea's bday "surprise."
NEVER... NEVER... NEVER try to drive around great america 4th of july weekend! what a nightmare! i took local to go from o & jono's to eon's and it was miserable. took me 45 minutes because they closed off EVERY STREET. tasman was closed. great america pkwy was closed. mission college was closed. i was circling around forever trying to even figure out how to get out of there and jump onto lawrence expressway. i almost gave up and went home instead, but i couldn't even figure out how to do that!
no pics from andrea's bday... i do have videos of some people swing dancing, but i'll be nice and not post them. :)
monday, hung out with o & jono & some of their baltimore friends before they took off back to baltimore. took them to mi pueblo for... a mid-afternoon snack? yum. went to dave & karen's bbq for dinner - double yum - karen's getting this bbq thing down. it's like a gourmet bbq every time we go over! unfortnately, no pics from that either, although i do have video of jono karaoking feliz navidad. yeah, go figure. but i won't post that either.
tuesday morning, some of the girls went up to the city to legion of honor since it was the first tuesday of the month, and hence, free entrance. they also had a monet exhibit which was interesting, but again, no pics allowed. what's up with that?? we had lunch at park chow's - not a chinese restaurant as it sounds, but more like a bistro. GOOD stuff.
gorgeous view of golden gate bridge from legion of honor
they're trying to be thinkers... though it looks like they all have headaches :)
yummy food at park chow's
tuesday night, went to shoreline to watch movie magic and music by the sf symphony. it was a lot of fun, they played lots of familiar songs from musicals and movies (star wars, indiana jones, et, grease, etc) and then played patriotic songs to fireworks.
and now it's friday, and time for another weekend! yay!
yoshi's & take 6
legion of honor
movie magic
one last thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AL! yay for turning 21! ;)
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
home on the range
i was chatting with ev, who is about to quit her crazy job at san mateo and jump ship to stanford (congrats for surviving the crazy boss!), and she was telling me how she can use their driving range for free, and offered to take me with her.
to which that reminded me of my last driving range experience that i thought some people may find amusing. it's a typical karen story... and hideyo can vouch for me on this one.
it was senior year at cal, and as an aacf leadership ministry-bonding time, hideyo took me & aud to tilden to hit some golf balls. although hideyo & aud both were comfortable whacking those balls, i had never done it before, and was quite unsuccessful. i could barely get the ball off the ground, and most of my attempts resulted in the ball rolling down the green (we were on the first floor of the driving range.) since i was so miserable at it, hideyo got the brilliant idea that i try to hit the ball happy-gilmore style, to which i readily agreed. i figured nothing can be worse than what i had been doing up to that point, right?
so i take a couple steps back, and wind myself up to hit the ball as hard as i can. i run forward, and swing with all my might...
...
...
and then i completely missed the ball. instead, i managed to hit the little bucket thing that held all our golf balls, to which the thing overturned and all our balls went rolling down the green. hideyo, in great distress, cried out "we paid for those balls!" and proceed to run out on the green to collect as many balls back as he could while all aud (and every other person around us who witnessed my graceful maneuver) could do was fall over on the floor laughing at my incompetence.
and that was my first and last experience ever at a driving range.
to which that reminded me of my last driving range experience that i thought some people may find amusing. it's a typical karen story... and hideyo can vouch for me on this one.
it was senior year at cal, and as an aacf leadership ministry-bonding time, hideyo took me & aud to tilden to hit some golf balls. although hideyo & aud both were comfortable whacking those balls, i had never done it before, and was quite unsuccessful. i could barely get the ball off the ground, and most of my attempts resulted in the ball rolling down the green (we were on the first floor of the driving range.) since i was so miserable at it, hideyo got the brilliant idea that i try to hit the ball happy-gilmore style, to which i readily agreed. i figured nothing can be worse than what i had been doing up to that point, right?
so i take a couple steps back, and wind myself up to hit the ball as hard as i can. i run forward, and swing with all my might...
...
...
and then i completely missed the ball. instead, i managed to hit the little bucket thing that held all our golf balls, to which the thing overturned and all our balls went rolling down the green. hideyo, in great distress, cried out "we paid for those balls!" and proceed to run out on the green to collect as many balls back as he could while all aud (and every other person around us who witnessed my graceful maneuver) could do was fall over on the floor laughing at my incompetence.
and that was my first and last experience ever at a driving range.