Wednesday, May 31, 2006


iPOD SHUFFLE
My co-worker had a strange request for me. She got a free iPod Shuffle after opening up a bank account.
But she says, "My computer doesn't do well with music on it" so she didn't download iTunes onto her computer and doesn't plan to.
So, she asked me to put some songs onto her Shuffle.
I explained to her that once I connect that Shuffle to my computer, it, in essense, becomes mine since she won't be able to add songs, delete songs, change the playlist, etc.
But she says she's just so thrilled to have a Shuffle and wants me to put the songs on it. She doesn't plan on changing it.
I relunctantly agreed.
And since she's a Jewish lady, I thought about putting some not so obvious Christian songs on it. Can you imagine her suddenly feeling like attending church on Sunday morning or having a strange desire to pray before eating? That would be so great . . . and funny. Although, I guess I do feel kind of weird tricking her into listening to some Christian music.
Hmm . . . Switchfoot, Jars of Clay, POD, hmm . . .
Who says you can't evangelize though iPods? =)

Sunday, May 28, 2006

SANDY AND MIKE'S WEDDING
My niece Sandy (it's kind of confusing to explain how she's my niece while not being the daughter of Raymond or Sandra so you'll just have to take my word for it) and her fiance Mike got married on Saturday. It was a beautiful ceremony, complete with a few laughs and lots of tears of joy. Congrats to Sandy, one of the sweetest people you will ever meet, and Mike, a very good guy.
Their story was interesting because they attended many of the same schools and churches and never met . . . until Sandra and Gabe's wedding three years ago. So, they owe a lot of it to the two of them. And they sure did give Sanj and Gabe their props, getting mentioned multiple times including in their slide show! =) Sandy and Mike used Howie Day's song "Collide" to describe their relationship because they were in so many of the same places until finally their lives collided. By the way, that's an awesome song.
Here are some quick thoughts I have about weddings after attending this one:
(1) Even though their live band was good, I'm not such a fan of live bands at weddings. I'd much rather hear the original songs.
(2) Even though they look much nicer, I still prefer banquets at a Chinese restaurant. There's more food and more courses so you don't need as much filler to make the night complete. Plus, I love shark's fin soup!
(3) I like going from the first dance straight into the first dance.

Saturday, May 27, 2006





HE LOVES THE '80s
My co-worker Jae loves the '80s and is a really funny guy. In fact, he talk about the '80s so much that you'd think we were still living in them.

Here are some of his classic '80s lines:
While explaining to a patient how to use the "rocker board", he says, "You rock it, you know, like Herbie Hancock!"
After a patient asked him if it's true that he only has a few visits left, he said, "Girl, you know it's true" and proceeded to do a little Milli Vanilli dance.
He often wonders whatever happened to Tab Cola and RC Cola.
When a patient came in with many layers on to fight the cold outside, he said, "You look like the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters."

Some of his other non-'80s jokes include:
Why do you drive in your parkways and park in your driveways?
Why is "phenetically" not spelled phenetically?
Why is it that when you send something by ship, it's called cargo. But when you send it by car, it's called a shipment?

For good measure, I added, "Why is "abbreviation" such a long word?

Friday, May 26, 2006


CAR STUCK
Karena and I went to pick up her mom and her sister Rani so we could all go have dinner with her former boss of 30 years. This doctor was so close to Karena's mom that he even was the one to give her away at her wedding.
Since K's mom wanted to drive her car, I parked my car in her garage to keep it out of the heat.
After a great dinner at Delmonico's on Pico and Beverly, we drove to visit Karena's dad, who, by the way, is progressing steadily and hopefully will be coming home in a few more weeks. Anyway, when we got back to her mom's house, we tried to open the garage door, but it suddenly slammed shut. It looks like one of the springs snapped in half, making it even imposible to lift it up manually. So, my car is stuck in their garage.
Even though we're fine since we still have Karena's car and my car is safe, somehow, knowing that my car is stuck makes me feel very sad.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

FUNNY JOKE
If you haven't figured it out yet, I consider being funny extremely important and I think very highly of those people (Luong, Jason, Mike, etc.) because of their creativity and quick wit. And there are a few families that I think are extremely funny like the Yees (Gary, Danny, Paul) and the Lees (Helena, Stephen, Dr. Lee).
And even though I didn't get to attend Stephen's wedding, I heard (through Enoch) one of Dr. Lee's lines while giving his speech. I thought it was pretty hilarious and creative.
He said something like this:
I was trying to figure out what a surgeon (Stephen) has in common with an opera singer (Stephen's new wife). I kept thinking and thinking and I finally figured it out.
One sings opera and the other does OPERAtions.
Nice one, Dr. Lee!

Monday, May 22, 2006



GETTING TOGETHER
With everybody getting older, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get our entire family together. For example, the Shen family was able to get together last December during the holidays. And that was a time to cherish, especially since we're all spread across the state now. And this past Sunday for Mother's Day, my mom's side all got together for dinner and an impromptu singing/piano time afterwards. We sang everything from Beauty and the Beast to Moulin Rouge songs to The Sound of Music to My Fair Lady and even some classics from Neil Diamond to Billy Joel, etc... Somebody recently said we were like the Von Trapp family. I guess it's true.
These are times that are becoming fewer and farther between, and that's why I'm learning to not take them for granted anymore.

Sunday, May 21, 2006



COCA-COLA BLAK
Have you guys heard about Coke's new thing called: Coke Blak? They say it's Coke Effervesence with Coffee Essense.
But to me, it's just gross. My co-worker thought it might be worth a try so he bought one. But it turns out they only sell them in 4-packs so he ended up buying four. After taking a sip of the first one, he thought it was so gross, he brought it into work for anybody else to take off his hands.
I tried one and it was disgusting. It tastes like eating a coffee flavored Nips candy while drinking a Coke.
Trust me, it's not good.
Coke is smart for selling it in 4 packs because that's the only way they're going to keep the sales of these things up.

Friday, May 19, 2006


PARALLEL UNIVERSE
While driving home from the airport after our vacation, we passed by Staples Center and a stange banner caught my eye. The big red banner hanging outside said, "Home of Clipper Nation." (sorry, I couldn't find a picture of it).
I was so shocked by the banner that I thought we had landed in a parallel universe, similarly to when Marty went to the alternate 1985 in Back to the Future II.

Thursday, May 18, 2006






MOUTH MOVEMENTS

Over the last several years, I've noticed that I make many more mouth movements than I ever did before. For example, there is a photo of me at my uncle's funeral 6 years ago where I'm holding back tears by scrunching up my face mostly with my chin and mouth.

And while patients are lying face down on the table at work, I sometimes make strange faces by contorting my mouth whenever I'm frustated, confused, or angry. I even do it when I'm thinking before answering one of their questions.

Then, while watching a Lakers post-game news conference (before they were unceremoniously bounced out of the playoffs), I figured out why I made so many mouth movements. Kobe Bryant does it! I've been watching him in news conferences for the last 10 years and somehow started mimicking him without even knowing it.

Does this make me weird? Hmmm . . . let me think about it (by making some crazy mouth movement).


Wednesday, May 17, 2006








ONE WEEK LATER
(Last blog about the Bahamas . . . promise!)
It's been one week since we've been back from the Bahamas. And I'm sure you guys are all sick of hearing about it and sick of hearing my sob story about wanting to go back on vacation. But let me tell you, I miss it! You know that good feeling you get from going on vacation? I lost it at about 10:30 am on the first day back to work.
All I keep thinking about is how awesome it is traveling with my wife. I'm SO blessed to be married to her. And I think about how funny Luong is (he still holds the title of "Funniest Guy I Know") The guy brought 4 pairs of trunks for 5 days. That's funny! And I think about how fun it is to hang out and talk to Tiff. She's so much fun to be around. And I think about how generous and giving Enoch is. This vacation wouldn't have been possible without him.
I miss it terribly. And I'm ready to go back. Karena, Luong, Tiff, Enoch, let's go!

Monday, May 15, 2006



BACKGROUND MUSIC
For most people, background music stays exactly where it should: in the background. But for me, I've always loved music and I usually end up hearing it, even while having a serious conversation or when I really should be paying attention.
After my grandfather's memorial service, the entire family lined up and had everybody greet us with their condolences after paying their final respects. But right in the middle of this somber time, I almost started laughing because the organist started playing the Theme Music from Titanic. And then she followed it up with Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" from The Bodyguard. Can you believe that?
While Jesse, Richard and Danette were standing in front of me, waiting to say something sympathetic, I blurted out, "Are they playing Titanic? What's up with that?"
I guess I should have kept the background music in the background.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

MY GRANDFATHER'S FUNERAL
Yesterday, a large crowd of people and what seemed like an even larger crowd of flowers gathered at Rose Hills' Memorial Chapel to remember my grandfather.
As in my grandmother's funeral two years ago, all 10 grandchildren (three through marriage) participated in the ceremony.
One of the things I said was that the ceremony not only celebrated his generous and giving attitude throughout life, but also demonstrated God's love. Jesus plopped himself deep inside my grandmother's heart a few years back and now He had done the same in my grandfather's heart. Praise God!
As I sat there with tears in my eyes during the slide show, I thought about how he did exercises every morning at 6:30am, how we used to watch Dumbo over and over with him, how he never complained despite many physical ailments, how he would always have a fruit or some candy to give me whenever I came to visit. And more recently, I remembered how the first thing he would always ask me was how Karena's dad was doing, despite being hospitalized and in pain himself.
I also thought about our last chat -- talking about old times and retelling old stories. He mentioning that my turning 30 this year really made him realize how quickly time had flown by.
I thought about how he loved and embraced Karena so much. His face always lit up when she came to see him, despite the language barrier. He often gave her many gifts, including a beautiful bracelet.
In fact, what burst the flood gates for me was remembering when we were talking to him on his last night, even though he could not respond. Karena leaned in over his hospital bed, and with tears rolling down her cheek, said, "Thank you for the bracelet."
Thank you, Wai Gong. A HUGE part of who I am today is because of you.
You will be missed . . . but I rejoice that you are in Heaven.

Friday, May 12, 2006

EVOLUTION OF DANCE
This 6 minute video goes through the evolution of dance from the '50s until today with moves that we all used to do . . . and some we'd swore we'd never do again. Plus it's got good music. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg





BAHAMAS PHOTOS
Our Bahamas photos were spread over 7 cameras so I only have the photos from our camera. Here are just a few more.

Thursday, May 11, 2006


BAHAMAS RECAP





The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas proved to live up to the hype. Here are just a small portion of the pics. Here is an extremely brief overview of some of the highlights:
(1) We went to Dolphin Encounters where we got to hug them, kiss them, have them push us up out of the water, feed them fish, and play with them. While Karena was feeding her dolphin a fish, a seagull swept in and too the fish out of her hand. It was hilarious!
(2) We spent most of our time by the pool or the beach. But one of the highlights was the waterslides. Atlantis has a 6 story waterslide where you shoot through a clear tunnel at the end where you're surrounded by sharks. It was fun, but left us all with bruises since you're going so fast.
(3) Atlantis has the largest aquariums in the world filled with rays, sharks, all kinds of fish, lobsters, jellyfish, eels, etc. They have everything. Plus they have clear glass and walkways you can go through so you really don't need a waterproof camera to enjoy them.
(4) While watching a guy roll cigars at the Havana Humidor store, he gave us half of one for us to puff. We all gave it a try and took some photos with it. FYI, he says cigars from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic are better than Cubans. Cubans only get the name bacause they're banned in the US.
(5) We rented jet-skis and went all over the place in those crazy things. Karena and I rode one tandem and we were going full-throttle the whole time. We had a blast . . . until we both tipped over. And then, at the very end, while Karena was driving, she proceeded to accidentally throw me over about 10 feet away from the jet-ski into the water. It was very unexpected, but kind of fun!
(6) Enoch golfed on a beautiful course overlooking the ocean. Michael Jordan's Bahamas home was close by too. While he and his team were on their way to the top score, he saw Atlanta Falcon quarterback Michael Vick there. Apparenly, he was dressed very "ghetto" and wasn't a very good golfer either.
(7) The food was expensive at Atlantis, but none more so than at Chef Matsuhisa's restaurant Nobu. But let me tell you, I have never tasted sushi that melted in your mouth like that. And even their non-sushi items like lamb chops and organic chicken were delicious. And their desserts with sesame ice cream and green tea ice cream were just as good as the dinner.
(8) And I have to say that the best part was that the 5 of us got to spend some quality time vacationing together. We all had a great time.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006



ATLANTIS RESORT, BAHAMAS
I am SO ready!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006



BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Okay, this is going to be a contoversial blog.
Karena borrowed the critically-acclaimed movie about two gay cowboys yesterday and started watching it late last night. I was doing something else and walked in the room to find Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal rolling around on the floor. That was enough for me. I left the room.
But somehow, I felt like I should give it another shot, perhaps trying to figure out what the fuss was all about regarding the movie, to see if it was really as good as people had said, and/or just to say that I saw the movie. Well, after watching for another 5 minutes, I saw the two madly kissing. That was enough for me.
It was too much for me stomach. I felt uncomfortable and couldn't watch another second.
Some might think I'm close-minded or call me something worse. But the bottom line is this: I don't hate gay people. Some very good friends of mine are gay and I love them like I would anybody else. But I do believe that what they are doing is wrong.
(Oh and by the way, Karena said that if you take out the novely of the gay story line, the movie was just so-so with nothing more to comment about.)

Monday, May 01, 2006








SPORTS TALK
1. Yesterday's Lakers game was amazing! It was a shame I wasn't there to watch it at Simon's place with everybody, but it was still one of the best finishes ever.
2. Next year, Kobe will change his number from 8 to 24. I read somebody said his reason was he wanted to be one-up on Michael Jordan.
3. What's going on at USC? All their heralded seniors dropped multiple spots in the NFL draft. Reggie Bush is in trouble. Dwayne Jarrett is in trouble. Mark Sanchez is in trouble. And USC may even lose their national championship. All joking aside, I feel bad for USC. This just looks terrible for them.
4. It looks like the second round of the NBA playoffs will feature a Lakers-Clippers series. I loved what Mike said: (here's a paraphrase) Even though the Clippers are the higher seed, I can see them choking because of the mental aspect of having to play the mighty Lakers, who have always played dominant big brother to the Clips in years past. Still, if this match-up comes true, I'll take the Clippers.

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