Tomio & Alice

We're back!

2007-06-22T12:42:00.001-07:00

It has been crazy busy for the last two weeks. Tomio graduated, I finished teaching in Sacramento, we packed and cleaned out of our Sacramento house, put our house on sale, and now we have moved back to the bay area!

We are still living out of our boxes. Even though we spent lots of time unpacking, there is still much to be done. Tomio started his residency this week. Topher and I have been cleaning and unpacking. We get distracted very easily by toys, food, naps, and people to hangout with. At the rate that we are unpacking, I think we'll be doing this for many more weeks... I can't believe how much we've accumulated in the last four years. I just hope that we finish unpacking before I start work at Nvidia in August.

Now that we are back in the bay area, Topher gets to play with Jocelyn almost everyday. He calls her "Ja-Ja". Topher gets very excited when he sees Jocelyn (or when he knows he will see Jocelyn). He started to hug her from her back. But I think it scares Jocelyn, especially Topher hugs so tightly :( Since we've moved, Topher's vocabulary increased at an amazing rate. I wonder if it is because he gets to interact with more family members. He calls grandma "um-ma", uncle sam "du", tree "shou", and flower "hua". Most of these words are in chinese with the exception of uncle sam. He tries to call uncle sam in taiwanese, but it comes out as "du" for some reason.

We are enjoying our time with family and friends. Since I don't start work until August, I'm free to hangout! If anyone wants to catch up, let us know! :)

Whale Watching in Sacramento!

2007-05-21T17:38:00.000-07:00

The two whales that visited Sacramento were in the deep water channel that is about 2 miles away from our house for a week. On Saturday morning, we decided to go whale watching. We saw both whales surfacing the river several times. I hope the whales make it back to the sea!

Back to the Bay Area!

2007-03-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

We will be on the move again. Tomio matched at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center! We will be moving back to the bay area around June :)

Topher turns one today!

2007-03-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Topher!

photos to come...

Update

2007-01-29T15:56:00.000-08:00

What we did in the last couple of months:
* Visited my parents in Taiwan in December. And we got to play with Jocelyn!

* Tomio interviewed in the bay area, Davis, Seattle, and LA. Topher and I tagged along with him to Seattle and made it a family vacation.

* Topher learned to crawl and stand up with support.

What we are doing now:
* We are all trying to get over a cold :( It's been a miserable week.
* Tomio is back in Sacramento after being away for 2 weeks. He started school again this week.
* Topher just got his first hair cut this week. (It's a sign that Topher needs a hair cut when people ask me if he was a boy or a girl when he's wearing blue). How does he look?

* Topher is going through separation anxiety. It's so hard to leave him at daycare in the morning.
* Topher loves to play with Oski! He calls Oski "da!"

* Enjoying our time with Topher.

Looking forward to:
* Our parents coming to visit in February.
* Topher's 1st birthday.
* Finding out where we will be for the next couple of years based on Tomio's residency match.
* Tomio's graduation in June.

Time change

2006-10-29T12:10:00.000-08:00

Topher and I got to church right on time today. Since Topher was born, we rarely make it on time because we are always scrambling to get out of the door. It didn't matter if we wake up at 6am or 8am to leave by 9am, somehow we still ended up late at church. I was so excited that we would be able to worshop right when it starts (at 9:30am) until the first person we ran into told me that it's only 8:30am. Sigh... at least we are early this time.

Ever since Tomio is away, spiders in the house have been "saved". I have made a list of where the spiders are/were so that Tomio can take care of them when he comes back. It has become a daily routine for me to check those specific locations and make sure that the spiders are still there. To my disappointment, one spider has moved and disappeared from one of the locations :( I can't wait for Tomio to come back in 3 days.

Crazy Month

2006-10-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

Tomio is on an away rotation in the bay area this month. I think this is the longest period of time that we are apart from each other since we got married! Life is more chaotic without Tomio around. But Topher and I have survived the first 2 weeks, 2 more weeks to go!

Topher started to say "da da" last week. I'm not sure what/who his "da da" sounds are referring to since Tomio was not around. Since then, I have been trying to teach him "ma ma". The most I got out of him was "mmmmm" when he is grumpy.

There are things that I never thought I would do before we had Topher. So when we received this USEFUL "gadget" as a baby gift, I was not sure if and when I would ever use it. The idea of sucking on someone's nose just seems very strange and yucky.

But when Topher got sick and was extremely congested and uncomfortable, this snut sucker became the best thing that made Topher happy. I won't go into detail of how it works, it's pretty self-explanatory...

Here are some recent photos of Topher. He can do lots of things now!

Growing out of his carseat.

Making a mess with peas puree.

Sour apple puree!

Sitting up and eating his book.

Eating banana.

Topher and I plan to visit the bay area next weekend. Anyone available to play?

First week

2006-09-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a week of adjustments. Tomio started his ICU rotation, I went back to teaching part-time (mornings only), and Topher started his part-time daycare. Tomio is on a crazy busy schedule. In order to get Topher and everything ready in the morning, I have to wake up around 5:30am. It's weird to be up before sunrise, especially when Topher and I have been sleeping in all summer.

Last Monday and Tuesday were the most difficult days. I was almost in tears leaving Topher at the daycare. I thought he would be in tears too, but he was actually quite amused with the new surroundings that he didn't even know that I had left. It's good that he is enjoying daycare. But I was a bit sad that he didn't even notice my absence. Mixed feelings.

On a happier note, Tomio's parents came to visit this weekend. We celebrated Topher's 6 month birthday!

10 Simple Pleasures

2006-08-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Joy.

10) Worship music. I love listening and singing worship music.

9) Spend time with Topher. I like learning new things about Topher. His smile is priceless.

8) Yummy dessert. Eating is a pleasure. I enjoy all kinds of sweets - tiramisu, creme brulee, fresh fruit tarts, shaved ice, taro soup with tapioca, custard pie...etc. The list goes on.

7) Free time. Not having to rush somewhere or meet deadlines, and just have time to do nothing and everything.

6) Take a leisurely stroll after dinner.

5) Journal. Being able to reflect, process and write down my thoughts.

4) Travel. I like finding out new things about new places.

3) Sleep in. Being able to sleep in is a pleasure, especially after Topher's arrival.

2) Catch up with friends. Over the phone or in person, it's always nice to catch up with friends.

1) Eat hot pot in the winter or in an air conditioned room on a hot day.

New tricks

2006-07-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Topher is almost 5 months now. He is slowly discovering different functions of his body parts. He can...

grab toys with his monkey feet,

grab things with his hands, including daddy's glasses,

roll over from back to tummy,

sit in his Bumbo seat,

stare at cousin Jocelyn,

and weight train in the play gym.

Tagged

2006-06-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Jen (I know, it's been awhile...)

1. Four jobs:
a. Tutor
b. QA Engineer at Helio Med
c. Business planner at Nvidia
d. High School teacher

2. Four Things I Wish I Had Done Earlier In My Life:
a. Short term missions
b. Become a dietician/nutritionist
c. Travel
d. Lasik

3. Four Places I Have Lived:
a. Taipei, Taiwan
b. Los Angeles, California
c. Portland, Oregon
d. Cupertino, California

4. Four Countries I Have Been to:
a. Japan
b. China
c. Italy
d. Greece

5. Four Countries I Would Like to Visit:
a. Australia
b. Italy
c. France
d. Tahiti

6. Four of My Favorite Dishes:
a. Most of Taiwanese night market foods
b. Creme brulee
c. Seafood tomato based pasta without cheese
d. Dim sum

7. Four Sites I Visit Daily:
a. Yahoo email
b. Work email
c. Blogs
d. Can't think of anything else...

8. Four Software Application I Cannot Live Without:
a. Word
b. Excel
c. Explorer
d. Powerpoint

9. Four Things I'll Never Forget:
a. Tomio's proposal
b. Labor
c. Honeymoon on the mediterranean cruise
d. College memories

10. I Tag:
Who hasn't been tagged??

My first mother's day!!

2006-05-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe that I'm a mom. Happy Mother's Day to me!!! :)

Separation anxiety?

2006-04-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

I have only 2 more weeks of maternity leave left. I can't imagine leaving Tohper and going back to work :( I thought only kids get separation anxiety, but I think have it too. I'm having so much fun with topher, I just want to play with him all day!

Meet Baby Christopher

2006-03-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

After 21 hours of labor and c-section, here's baby Christopher!

New born:

One week:

Two weeks:

Three weeks:

Baby Christopher is here!!!

2006-03-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post to let you all know that baby 'Topher arrived today at 3:59am...6 lbs 9 oz, 19 3/4 inches. We're so blessed to be able to share this exciting time with you - thanks for all your prayers!!!
-More posts & pictures to come...

My New Friend

2006-02-22T21:12:00.000-08:00

In case you are wondering, Alice is not in labor yet. But at least I'm not home alone all by myself now. Tomio, Alice, and I have been preparing for baby's arrival together :)

This past week, I went to the vet to get my vaccines updated, and I found out that I gained 8 lbs in the last 9 months! Considering that I only weigh about 65 lbs, 8 lbs is more than 10% of my total weight. It's time to exercise.

The highlight of the week was meeting and playing with my new friend, Eric. Eva and Eric visited us in Sacramento, and we went to the park to play fetch. Here are some of my favorite photos:

Showers of Blessing

2006-02-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

It's been such a long time since I last blogged, I hardly remember my login and password! Or maybe I can blame my horrible memory on the pregnancy.

As we prepare for the arrival of baby Miyai, we have received an overwhelming amount of love and support from family and friends. We have had multiple baby showers in LA, the bay area, and Sacramento since December, and I am so grateful to have many family and friends to rejoice with us. Here are some photos from the bay area shower:

Monday will be my last day of teaching before I take off for maternity leave. (Yes, can you believe that baby Miyai can arrive anytime now?!) Students are finally starting to realize that I will be gone for a chunk of the semester, and I have received funny/interesting responses from them. Here are a couple:
* "You are leaving us?! Why?" (Ummm... I thought it was obvious for the last 4 months)
* "Are you pregnant?"
* "Couldn't you wait until June when we go on summer vacation?"
* "Do you have a name for the baby? Can you name him after me?"
* "Can we come to the hospital to get help on our homework? Oh, and if we do, can you give us extra credit?"
Even though I can't wait to take time off, I am definitely going to miss the students.

The other great news is that I will be able to finish my thesis this year, possibly before baby Miyai arrives, if he does not come out in the next two weeks. I have completed my data collection and parts of the analysis. I met with my advisor last night, and things are on track. I just need to sit down and write out my thesis, and present it to the committee by February 17th.

The anticipation of baby Miyai comes with much joy and excitment, but also with some fears. Okay, lots of fears. Fears of child labor pain, fears of the unexpected, fears of unpreparedness, fears of becoming a parent...etc. The list goes on. It's strange, the more I prepare, the more unprepared I feel. All these fears constantly bring me humbly back to depend on God, and I am constantly reminded of God's faithfulness and provision. After all, He is the giver of the coming Gift of Grace.

Count your blessings... Yes, we've been showered with so many blessings, I don't even know where to begin.

Sympathy weight...

2005-12-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have heard us comment on how we think that Oski might be gaining some "sympathy weight" - we'll let you decide...

(Left: Oski now; Right: Oski prior to Alice's pregnancy)

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

2005-11-27T23:59:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving - here's a little recap of what we've been up to...

Thursday: painted the baby's room with my dad (couldn't resist adding the Cal logo & bear - gotta educate the little one early...wink wink), and feasted on a thanksgiving meal of hotpot (no turkey this year)

Friday: attended a relative's funeral down in Stockton...was a beautiful celebration of his life and legacy...he will be dearly missed & always remembered.

-Had some classmates over on Friday night for another hotpot feast and a couple rounds of "bomberman"

Saturday: drove out to Roseville to pick out the baby's crib at 'babies-r-us'

Sunday: Church at UCC, changed the oil in my car, and put the crib together...here's a look at the baby Miyai's room
-and we also took pictures for this year's Christmas card - we had to use the timer function on the camera...was a little tricky getting oski to sit just right - here are some of the funnier "blooper" pics

Update

2005-11-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

It's been over a month since our last entry. What have we been up to?

September: Celebrated Sonia & Kale's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding!

Last weekend: Visited the bay area and got to see Joyce & Sam. To show my parents our recent growth, we decided to take some pregnancy photos:

November:
* Tomio is on his third rotation in the hospital. The great part about his current rotation is that he has weekends off, so we can spend some time together on weekends.
* I'm still "growing". Baby has been kicking quite often. I'm still getting used to his kicks. Sometimes I giggle in the middle of teaching because his kicking feels ticklish.
* My research proposal has been approved this past week! Praise God! I'm aiming to have it completed by February 2006, before the baby arrives.
* We are preparing the baby's room. It's exciting, but it's more work than I have ever imagined.
* Oski's gained lots of sympathy weight since I got pregnant. So Tomio put him on a diet.

I'm "growing"

2005-10-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

For the first time this week, I realized that when I'm standing up straight and looking down, I can't see my own feet anymore. The only view I have is my own tummy. As baby grows bigger, my bladder is "becoming smaller". So far, my bathroom frequency has tripled. I can't imagine how frequently I will be going to the restroom in another two months.

This week has been an exciting week. I am starting to feel the baby move. Tomio and I also found out the gender of the baby via ultrasound - we are having (take a guess! You have 50/50 chance!)......... a BOY!

Alice's 20 random facts

2005-10-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged. It took me awhile to realize that I was tagged...

1) When I was in elementary school, I was nominated to attend a roller blading competition. I was surprised to win a roller blading award considering how "unathletic" I was.
2) Cafe Strada in Berkeley is my favorite cafe.
3) I love milk, especially almond steamed milk.
4) I became lactose intolerant junior year in college. That made me very sad because I wasn't able to enjoy almond steamed milk anymore.
5) I hate cheese, especially parmesan cheese (or any smelly cheese).
6) I used to be very flexible. I did ballet and gymnastics when I was little. I had to quit gymnastics in middle school because I couldn't overcome my fear of the balance beam.
7) I love taro. I'm not sure if it's the taste or if it's because taro is purple. Probably both.
8) When I was in kindergarten, I used to get car sick after riding in ANY car for longer than five minutes.
9) I love sweets, but I don't like chocolate that much.
10) I have never had allergies until I moved to Sacramento. In fact, Oski is the same way.
11) I have had to wear glasses (or corrective lenses) since I was in the fourth grade.
12) I used to like eating milk powder. My sister and I used to get in trouble with eating milk powder when dad & mom weren't home.
13) I like to add gummy bears in my ice cream. I don't know why Tomio thinks that's wierd.
14) I don't like to peel oranges. I ususally avoid eating oranges unless I can find someone to peel them for me.
15) I'm scared of bugs, especially spiders and roaches.
16) I took golf lessons when I was in high school. My dad was so proud of me. But I play golf as if I have never taken lessons before.
17) I love shoes and I can't explain why.
18) The one subject that I never understood is physics.
19) I lived in Oregon for about two years. I was one of the two Asians in the middle school.
20) I had an extra tooth that had to be surgically removed when I was little.

That's all! I won't tag anyone unless you want to be tagged...

In case you haven't heard...

2005-10-03T00:56:00.000-07:00

Coming soon to the Sacramento area...the newest addition to our household...Baby Miyai...expected date of arrival Februrary 2006. I'm gonna be a Daddy!!!
-Please keep us in your prayers as we physically, mentally, emotionally, & spirtitually prepare for the new arrival.

-In other news...Cal football is 5-0 & Ayoob spelled backwards is BOOYA!!!

It's so hot....

2005-08-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

The weather is so hot in Sacramento in the summer! AC has become my best friend :) Even though we've been in Sacramento for 2 years, I'm still trying to adjust to the over 100 degree weather. I'm not the only one, Oski thinks it's hot too. He used to love roaming in the backyard in the afternoons, but now as soon as I open the backdoor, he runs inside the house.
After hiding indoor in the AC rooms all summer, I decided to look for swimming pools in the area. I've found an outdoor pool that is 20 minutes away from the house. I've only gone there to swim twice this week, and I've already got tanned lines!

I start my first year of teaching next week. I don't know if I'm more excited or more nervous. I had a nightmare last night about my first day of school - All the handouts I had made were missing, and my students played tricks on me. The last thing I remember was students playing hide-and-seek in the classroom and hid in the lab drawers/closets! Sheesh, at least it was just a dream...

Bday Celebration

2005-08-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you that emailed, called, left messages, imed, and visited with birthday greetings! I felt very blessed :)
I went out with some of the Canaan gals for dinner last weekend to my favorite Taiwanese restaurant in the southbay (yum, shaved ice!). This past week, my inlaws drove up from LA to visit and took me out for my birthday. It was fun hanging out with my inlaws, we ate a lot. After they left on Thursday, I weighed myself and found out that I gained 2 lbs within 2 days of their visit!
After walking Oski on Friday morning, I found a sweet message on the answering machine from my parents. With the time difference, they must have waited until it was late enough to call in the morning. But I missed it by a couple of minutes. It was a cute message. In the afternoon, I got a surprise flower delivery sent from Eva. Well, I actually missed the delivery. My neighbor received the delivery for me and thought it was my anniversary. Anyways, it was still a pleasant surprise (thanks va!)
After Tomio came back from the hospital, he took me out to my favorite Italian restaurant in Berkeley for dinner. I was really touched because I could tell that Tomio was really tired from working all day with minimal sleep. And he still took the time and drove a long way to take me out. We also got a chance to drive by University Avenue and talked about how it has changed since we were in college.
If you ever go to Berkeley and feel like eating pasta, check out this place. It's a small family owned restaurant on College Avenue.

After dinner, we went to Fentons for dessert. We shared a huge toasted almond and vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate and caramel sauce and topped with almonds, whipped cream and a cherry. It was sooooooooo good.

Vancouver

2005-08-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

I spent almost a week in Vancouver attending ChemEd. ChemEd is a chemistry conference for educators that takes place once every two years. Teachers from over 50 countries attended the conference to exchange ideas. I attended over 15 seminars and visited many exhibits. Many presenters demonstrated their best chemistry demo and blew up lots of chemicals. There was even a mole breakfast and a mole run (6.02km run, get it?!) Even though I had a blast, I must say that parts of conference were way too nerdy for me, especially when the teachers started to sing "chemistry songs" about moles and avogadro's number.
My flight from SFO to Vancouver was a disaster. Thinking that Canada is outside of the United States, Tomio dropped me off at the international terminal. After waiting in the "Vancouver" line for over an hour, the flight attendant informed me that I might miss my flight because I was waiting at the wrong terminal. Apparently the line that was labelled "Vancouver" was for the morning flight. The flight attendant said the flight leaving in the morning to Vancouver is considered international, while the flight leaving in the afternoon to Vancouver is domestic. I didn't know that flight time determines whether or not a country is international or domestic... There was another guy that was on the same flight waiting in line at the international terminal (See, I wasn't the only one that didn't know), so we ended up running to the domestic terminal together. By the time we arrived at the terminal, they were calling for last boarding. Thankfully, we made our flight. I wonder how they define flights that leave in the morning and arrive in the afternoon?

Time flies, my summer vacation is almost over. There are only two more weeks left before school starts :(

Meaningful Gift

2005-07-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

My parents sent my birthday gift back from Taiwan with my brother-in-law. Instead of waiting until my birthday, I opened it early (I know, I cheated). My parents had put together a photo album for me from my baby photos up to my recent photos. The album must have taken a long time to complete. It included most of the major events in my life - graduations, baptism, engagement, and wedding. They also left blank pages in the back. Initially, I thought they didn't finish the photo album. But as I flipped to the last page, I realized that they left blank pages on purpose. They wrote a note on the last page saying that the photos captured the best memories they had with me. And the remaining pages are to be filled by my new family with Tomio. Isn't it so sweet? I'm really touched by the gift. I miss my parents.
On the other hand, I think Tomio was very entertained by my childhood photos :)

My favorite couch

2005-07-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

I got to stay on my favorite couch in Los Altos house multiple times this past month when Alice and Tomio visited.

For some reason, everyone made fun of my new sleeping pose,

and took lots of pictures with me while I was sleeping.

I'm so embarrased... I don't think I'll sleep in that position anymore.

Seattle

2005-07-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

I had to attend an AP training in Seattle last week. Since Tomio had just finished his board (yay for Tomio!), we decided to go to Seattle a couple of days early to sightsee. The trip was relaxing, and seafood was great! We visited Seattle downtown, Seattle Aquarium, Pikes Market, Pacific Science Museum, and Space Needle. If you ever go to Seattle Aquarium, you've got to go see the sea otters. They were so adorable, I could have spent all afternoon watching them. Pikes Market was the largest farmers market that I've been to. We bought some salmon jerky there and walked around a lot. We also went on a boat tour and enjoyed the waterfront view. Even though we were unfamiliar with the roads, we managed to find the international district with a large Japanese market. I think we went to the international district for Asian food every other day.
We love Seattle!

Summer Vacation

2005-06-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Yay!!!! Today's my first day of summer vacation. I got to sleep in this morning and got up at 8:30am. Yeah, I know, 8:30am still sounds early, but it's a lot later than 6am. Then Joyce and I took mom to get pedicure and had lunch. I love hanging out with Joyce and mom.

Tomio and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this past week. It's been two years! It felt like we just got married not long ago. Tomio took a night off from studying on our anniversary and took me to eat fondue. The fondue was so good that I ate so much cheese and chocolate! I'm not even a cheese or chocolate fan... That's how good the food was :)

13 more days to go for Tomio...

4 more days!

2005-06-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

There are only 4 more days of student teaching! I'm almost done. Don't get me wrong, I love working with the students. But I'm burnt out from the combination of credential classes and student teaching. I'm ready for the break.

Yesterday was the seniors' last day of school. Even though I taught a couple of the seniors for only one year, it was still very emotional to see them leave. I felt especially attached when the seniors invited me to attend their graduation. I'm definitely going to miss these students.

Over the weekend, Joyce, Han, Sam, Tomio, and I celebrated belated Mother's Day and early Father's Day with my parents. We surprised my parents with hot pot dinner. Because it was getting pretty warm, we turned on the air condition in order to enjoy the hot pot. Mom and dad were pleasantly surprised :)

While there are 4 more days left for me, there are 21 days left for Tomio until his boards. He's been studying really hard. Maybe Oski and I will do something nice for him when I'm done with student teaching...

Five More Weeks!

2005-05-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

I'm counting down! Five more weeks of school for both student teaching and credential course work. I can't wait, summer vacation is just around the corner. As a student, I have always looked forward to vacation. But for the first time today, I realized that teachers want to be out of school just as much, if not more. I have the entire summer off until I start work toward end of August :)

Tomio, on the other hand, is done with his second year of medical school! To take a short break from studying, we went over to his med school friend's place for BBQ on Friday night and watched "House of Flying Daggers". On saturday, we spent the afternoon at the gym. Tomio played basketball for a couple of hours, and we played badminton afterwards. On Sunday, we hosted a BBQ and invited some of his med school friends over. He will be studying for his board exam from now until June 23rd.

I have fully recovered from visiting Baltimore two weekends ago. I made a trip out with Joyce to celebrate my cousin's wedding. Eva and Eric took us out to eat "Baltimore crab"! It was soooooooo good! I got to see their new cozy place. Also got a chance to hangout with Olivia and Evelyn.

I made my first cup of homemade thai tea today! Thanks to Brandon, we have a bag of tea from Thailand and a set of instructions to make thai ice tea. After following the step by step instruction, I decided to skip the last chilling step. So instead of thai ice tea, I had thai (hot) tea. Yum :)

A Blessed Weekend

2005-04-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Amy and Mike are married! It was so neat to see both sides of the family & friends gathered together to celebrate, especially with all four sets of grandparents at the wedding! Congrats to Amy & Mike.

After the wedding celebration on Saturday, we went over to East Bay to see Akiko's baptism on Sunday. It was sooooo neat to see Akiko publicly commit her life to God. The celebration ended with lots of food at the Nakamuras (yum!).

It's been a busy weekend traveling between Sacramento and the bay area. But it was definitely worth it! :)

Job offer

2005-04-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

I got my first job offer as a science teacher this past week! Although I probably will not be able to take the job, it felt good to receive an offer :)

My interview from last Friday did not go very smoothly. I think my interviewer was distracted and grossed out by my unending cough. I don't blame him, I was pretty grossed out by my own cough too. I battled with my cough for the entire weekend. I didn't sleep very well because I was constantly coughing. Tomio didn't sleep very well either because of my coughs. Oski, on the other hand, slept very well due to the drowsiness effects of his allergy medicine. My cough had "forced" me to slow down and get lots of rest on Sunday. I wasn't very productive, but at least I felt rested.

Thanks to Mike, Tomio and Andy got to see the Kings vs. Timberwolves game at Arco Arena yesterday :)

Evil Virus

2005-03-30T18:10:00.000-08:00

Tomio had been battling with the evil virus for over a week. And now I have it. I can definitely sympathize with the pain that Tomio went through. It has been a miserable week. We have two sickos in the house. Too bad Oski can't take care of us while we are sick. I have 3 interviews with the school districts tomorrow and Friday, pray that my cough attack will not happen during the interviews...

No skiing :(

2005-03-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

Joyce, Sam, and I had been planning to go skiing during our spring break for over a month. They drove up to Sacramento on Monday evening, and we had planned to take an one day ski trip up to Tahoe on Tuesday. We woke up early on Tuesday morning and decided to postpone the trip to Wednesday because of the storm. We ended up going bowling and playing bomberman on Tuesday. Unfortunately the storm didn't go away on Wednesday, and our ski trip was cancelled (sniff, sniff). Although we didn't get to go skiing, I had a relaxing time hanging out with Joyce & Sam. They drove back to the bay area on Wednesday afternoon.
I woke up this morning and it was nice and sunny outside - perfect weather for skiing. Grrr... if only the storm was a day earlier...

I took Oski to the park today because the weather was so nice. There were other dogs with their owners playing on the field. Oski was so focused on playing fetch that he ignores the other dogs. Two dogs were particularly friendly and followed Oski around as we played fetch. After a couple of minutes, one of the dogs stole Oski's tennis ball and ran away! Oski didn't notice the dog running away with his tennis ball and ran around the field looking! The dog's owner didn't even do anything about it. How rude!

Eva & Eric are married!

2005-03-22T01:04:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Eric & Eva! It was a beautiful wedding. Joyce, Pamela and I spent the morning at my sister's house on hair and make-up. It was so much fun to dress up with Joyce and watch her reaction. It was like watching "Miss Congeniality" in real life :) Rest of the day was a joyful and heart-warming celebration.

I took my last final for the quarter today and turned in my final project. Spring break officially starts today. Yay!

Infinity

2005-03-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

I saw some of the Canaan youths that are also at Davis right now for school at the Davis church today. Somehow we got into a discussion about different young adults, and Bob's name came up. One of the youths said, "Bob? He's been at Canaan forever. Bob's like infinity!" All of the sudden I feel this age gap. If Bob was infinity, then I am infinity plus one...

One more week to the end of the quarter. I can't wait! Spring break is finally in sight. Eva's wedding will be the beginning of my spring break (if I don't count my last final on Monday).

Updates

2005-03-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

Can you believe our last blog entry was November last year? Yeah, it's been awhile... Let's see, what have we been doing for the last 3 months?

We finished our fall quarter in December, and visited dad & mom in Taiwan for two weeks with Sam, Joyce, and Han. We had a great time. Poor Oski had to stay at the kennel and lost 5-10 pounds while we were away :( The good news is that Oski's now back to his normal weight.

Winter quarter started in January. We've been the biggest nerds in town.
Updates from Tomio:
* Study study study!
* Doctor cleared his knee for BASKETBALL!
* Boards are three months away in June. Can you believe he will be half way done with school by June? Time flies.

Updates from Alice:
* Crazy winter schedule. Two more weeks to go. Student-teaching two science classes with full load of course work at Davis. I've been deprived of sleep. I can't wait until spring break!
* Student teaching has been an adventure. I never know what to expect from my precious students.
* Starting to interview for jobs for next year.

Updates from Oski:
* Play fetch in the park.
* Go to his favorite store (Petco/Petsmart) on the weekend.
* Dig dirty mud in the backyard. Fun for Oski, headaches for Tomio & Alice

October & November

2004-11-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

10/30 - Go Bears! Home game vs ASU with old college friends.

10/31-11/18 - Study study study.

11/19 weekend - Lake Tahoe with Andrea & Caroline.
Oski's first time in the snow - brrrrrrrr...

Silly waffles for breakfast

Thanksgiving with our cute little nephew!

Life Wide Open

2004-10-30T01:36:00.000-07:00

My accountability partner and I are going through “Life Wide Open” by David Jeremiah. The book is about living a passionate life. Although we have only read through two chapters, I have been inspired to evaluate and reflect on several areas of my life. “All too rarely do we meet Christians who are equally passionate about ALL of life.” I find it interesting (and sad) that many people (including myself) have segmented their passion. Some are passionate about serving in church but not outside of church. Some are passionate about watching sports but not play sports. Some are passionate about pursuing physical health but not spiritual or emotional health. Some are passionate about building stronger fellowship in church but put little effort to get to know their neighbors or coworkers. Do we choose what we want to be passionate about in life? If God was the source of our passion, does this mean we choose to put God in specific segments of our lives?

Here are more quotes for reflection…
“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.” (Quoting Jack London).
“To find the passion you seek, you must be passionate about seeking.”
“God alone is the source of true passion for all you do in life.”
“Passion is the inner spark, provided by God’s Spirit, that ignites you to live out your God-given purpose.”

Thanks Alice :)

2004-10-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

Student Quotes

2004-10-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

What happened in the classroom...
Student 1: "What? You mean we have to do homework at home?" (Yes, that's why it's called homework...)
Student 2: "Just like parachute, balled up boogers drop faster than flat boogers. It's true, I experimented it in my brother's coke." (I guess your analogy is somewhat scientific...)
Student 3: "Mr. Miyai!" (When did I become a Mr.?)
Student 4: "I don't get this Avocado's # thing." (You mean Avogadro's #?)
Student 5: "You said we were supposed to hide under our desk during an earthquake, but I'm too big, I can't fit!" (At least cover you head. If you must, I guess you'll have to carry your desk then...)
Student 6: "The unit for surface area is grams." (huh?) "I mean cubic centimeter." (let's try again...)

Yay! It's Friday!

2004-10-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy it's Friday! It has been so busy trying to be a student and a teacher at the same time. Since school started in August, this is the summary of my weekdays - spent mornings student-teaching, afternoons back in Davis for classes, and evenings preparing for next day's lesson and grading. Weekends are usually when I get to catch up with sleep, people, and more homework!

I can't believe October is almost over.
10/2 weekend -
* Went wedding gown shopping with Amy in Concord - that was a lot of fun, brought back good memories :)
* Kim came by Sacramento for her review class, and we got a chance to hangout and eat together.

10/9 weekend -
* Caroline spent the whole weekend with us! She drove up after work on Friday, and we celebrated her birthday (belated).
* On Saturday, we drove to Reno for the annual Italian Festival. It was so much fun. There were pasta sauce cook-off, grape stomping contest, bocce ball tournament, and live music and entertainment. We spent most of the time going from booth to booth to try out free pasta sauce :) I was so full at the end of the day.

10/16 weekend - (mom's birthday!)
* Went to P Dan & family's appreciation dinner. It was sooooo neat to see the body of Christ join together to appreciate His faithful servants. And it was good to catch up with the Cannan folks.
* Had dinner with some of my Nvidia coworkers :)
* Spent the whole weekend at CSTA (California Science Teacher Association) conference in San Jose. I got so much FREE posters, softwares, and information for my future classroom! I also attended some neat (and nerdy) science seminars and saw a couple cool lab demos.
* The conference kept me so busy all weekend, and I didn't get a chance to have pearl milk tea while I was in the southbay... (Can you believe that?!)
* While I was in San Jose, Andy H. spent the whole weekend with Tomio (and Oski). I met up with them on Sunday in Davis, and got the pearl milk tea that I was craving for all weekend :)

Done with finals!

2004-09-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

Woohoo...just finished my last final on Wednesday! Sorry for the lack of posts.

So...anyways...I was studying for micro this past Tuesday at the Starbucks in West Sacramento when a guy in slacks & a blazer walks in, looks around the store then makes a call on his cell phone. About 3-4 minutes later, 5-6 guys similarly dressed, walk in and go to the counter to order coffee. At this point I'm thinking it's just a bunch of businessmen coming in to get some coffee and talk shop. But then I notice that the initial guy who walked in is still just standing at the door and when the guy turned his head I saw he had one of those earpiece things that the secret service guys wear. My curiousity now peaked...I'm wondering who are these guys who just walked into Starbucks. I lean over to see past the display of coffee tins to see...(guess)...could it be a movie star...maybe a politician...how about both???? Yes...it was our one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger...the GOVERNATOR!

Ahhh...the perks of living in West Sac...the heat, the bugs, running into famous stars/politicians, etc...(don't you wanna come & visit???)
...and no - didn't get his autograph or get to shake his hand or anything...
nobody in the Starbucks really went up to him or said anything (i think they were all in shock)...but the minute he left just about everyone busted out their cell phones to tell their friends.

First day of school

2004-08-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

In response to Bob's request for more posts, I'll share/journal about my first day of student teaching in high school.
Yes, I survived first day of school. I attended a 9th grader general science class as well as chemistry classes. Both were very interesting. Students were more well-behaved than I had imagined. But then I've been told that they are just getting used to the new environment, it will get noisier as the week progresses.
What surprised me about the school is its diversity. I have had to look up people and religious groups in order to learn more about them. Did you know that Sacramento is the most diverse city in the United States? I didn't know that until this summer! And this definitely shows in the school.
My greatest challenge for the week is to memorize the students' names. We'll see how that goes...

Trip to Taiwan

2004-08-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

I had two weeks of break before school started, so I visited dad and mom in Taiwan for 10 days (Sam was there too!). Dad took 10 days off from work to play with us, we spent a lot of family time together. Ate a lot - breakfast foods, sticky tofu, shaved ice and LOTS more (YUM!). Shopped, met up with friends and some coworkers from Taiwan office. It was a GOOD trip and 10 days passed by so quickly.

It's good to be back in Sac. Tomio and Oski did well while I was gone :)

Grad school and student teaching are starting next week. Had grad school orientation most of the afternoons this week. Spent all mornings this week in the high school that I will be student teaching at this coming year, and helped to prepare the classrooms and lessons plans. Based on what I have heard and observed so far of the high school, this is going to be an interesting, exciting, and challenging year...

Last day of work

2004-08-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today's my last day of work... I'm kind of sad to leave... I felt so blessed in the past 4 years to work at Nvidia. It's been amazing how God has prepared the way. God is faithful :)

I'm looking forward to visit mom & dad in Taiwan, Sam's going to be there too!

Play at Alice's work

2004-08-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

We spent many weekends at Alice's work. While we waited for Alice to finish with her work, Tomio read his books. Since I can't play fetch in the office, I just slept...

July recap

2004-08-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

July was a busy month with full time summer school and work. Couldn't have gone through it without God's grace and Tomio's help. We managed to play on some of the weekends...

First weekend of July -
Canaan folks came over for white water rafting. It was so good to see familiar faces. It reminded me of how much I miss Canaan community and fellowship.

Second weekend of July -
Went to Nvidia to pack up my cube. Yes, it is time. My last day will be 8/6. But I packed up my cube earlier so my replacement would have a clean cube when she came on board. And since I work from home most of the summer, I don't really need my cube. I will definitely miss my neighbors (Karen's sneezes, Caroline's laughs...etc). I can't believe how much junk were accumulated over the past 4 years. But with Karen, Andrea, Bob, Tomio, and Oski's help, I finished packing my cube in a couple of hours! (Thanks to Karen, Andrea, and Bob for coming by!)
We went to on a picnic at Memorial Park later that evening. Here are some photos of the day~

Third weekend July -
Fred (Tomio's med school friend) and Sarah came over for dinner on Friday night. I made Korean food, but didn't realize that not everyone loves spicy food...
Tried to be a nerd for the rest of the weekend

Last weekend of July -
Saturday: Drove down to the southbay and worked most of the Saturday at the office. Went over to Joyce & Han's late afternoon with Karen, Andrea, and Caroline. All of us were hooked on bomberman for the rest of the day :) Andrea's got to be the most entertaining bomberman player to watch. Afterwards we went to Ariake for dinnner and got pearl milk tea!
Sunday: Andrea, Caroline, Tomio, and I got up at 5am and drove to Santa Cruz for the Wharf to Wharf 10K run. The weather was perfect and breezing, and the route was right along the beach. After the run, we rewarded ourselves by getting the "famous" tri-tip sandwiches (YUM)!

Oski...the world's greatest dog!!!

2004-07-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

Quick update...
-tomio - knee is getting better, still swollen & stiff, but able to get around ok with crutches. thanks for all your prayers :)
-alice - pretty busy with school, work, and taking care of oski (& tomio) -please keep her in your prayers as well - thanks :)

-Now back to OSKI...THE WORLD'S GREATEST DOG!!!
For those of you who haven't met the furry ball of energy, Oski is the third member of the Miyai household. He is the most adorable yellow labrador retriever. Here's a picture of him when he was a puppy...

For those of you who went to Berkeley (go bears) you already know that Oski was named after the Cal mascot Oski the golden bear.

But do any of you know where Oski the Cal mascot got his name?

Oski, the bear, has been the official mascot of the university since 1941. Prior to then, Cal brought live mascots to the football games but, eventually, ran into some problems. After the 1940 season, it was decided that a costumed mascot would provide a less-troublesome and safer environment. The bear is named after the popular Cal yell “Oski Wow-Wow”, which goes like this: “Oski! Wow-Wow! Whisky! Wee-Wee! Olee Muckie-Eye! Olee Berkeley-Eye! California! Wow!”. Each year, the identity of the costumed bear is concealed and only the Oski Committee, which selects the individual, knows the true identity of the student underneath the costume.

Bonus points to the next person who comes over and performs the "Oski Wow-wow" cheer :)

Fourth of July Party!!!

2004-07-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Woof...woof...it's so hot outside...i'm so excited that people are coming over to visit!!!

Tomio gets a new ACL

2004-07-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord!!!
Yesterday's surgery went well and I now have a new ACL :)
They used my hamstring tendon (gracilus & semitendinosus) to form the new ligament.
(Since I'm stuck in bed with nothing to do - decided to start a blog page.)
A big thank you to all those who called, sent emails & prayed for me --> much appreciated