Sonoma Trip

2006/11/23-25 Thanksgiving in Sonoma

Ashley, Eugene and I spent two nights in a beautiful vacation house in Glen Ellen. There was a big wine tasting event going on - Holiday open house. People could taste in 17 wineries for $20 on 11/24, 25. We only visited 9, only bought 11 bottles. Nice weather, nice scenery, nice food, nice wine and nice people. What can I ask for more?
http://www.flickr.com/gp/15527753@N00/lp07Gz
Ashley's album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanovash/sets/72157594392178391/

思慮的十一月

10/20-11/5去大陸玩了一趟, 因為是參加旅行團, 其實並沒有準備什麼. 結果卻是出乎意料辛苦的旅程. 見到家人很開心, 但是水土不服有一半時間都在生病, 回來瘦了五磅也算是出乎意料的收穫(請見照片before/after). 下面那一張是我爸的壽宴, 五十歲的大壽我們在台灣幫他過, 誰想得到五十五歲在大陸擺兩桌. 人生真是有很多可能.







有時候我的人生其實沒有過得那麼認真, 不過就是照著軌道一天天過吧. 但是每次旅行過後都會有一些想法, 或是有一些動力把醞釀已久不願意去動的想法釐清. 回美國之後感覺有些事情該拿起來做了, 動起來覺得自己又活得開心了一點. 希望這股氣保持久一點.

剛好這個時候是策劃明年的時機, 雖然說我的策劃不過就是把各種可能在腦裡轉一轉, 也不是真的分析, 往往是憑直覺下決定, 但是有個決定和方向可以依循, 其他事情就自然到位水到渠成, 沒腦筋想的時候就像浮游生物順著潮流漂. 說到底還是個急性子跟懶蟲的集合體. 

Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival

9/10/2006

We volunteered through AACO in the 11th Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival. Project Open Hand is the beneficiary of the event, and the funds goes to providing meals for men, womenand children living with HIV/AIDS, those homebound with critical illnesses and senior citizens.

We got there early enough, so we had time to use our free sample tickets. We tried strawberry dip in chocolate, chocolate liquor, brownies, toffees and goat milk chocolate ice cream. My favorite is almond chocolate toffee by Victoria's (not victoria's secret!) They sold out by 3pm. I know this because I volunteered in the water booth next to it. All the samples are provided by participating restaurants/bakery/stores. All the money goes to charity. That's my excuse of selling water at $2 per bottle!

Some friends came to see me. I was very surprised. I did not have time to walk around with them during my shift. Hopefully they have fun! Jessica even bought a bottle water after she learned it's for charity. She is such a sweet girl.

The photo is taken by E-Hung, Eugene's Cousin. That was their first day to meet each other. I really enjoy the nice sunny afternoon with pop music in my back and changes in my apron, chatting with Eugene from time to time. Lovely lovely afternoon! 

Taco and Tien-Li's Concert

2006-08-19
Taco and his buddy Tien-Li had a graduation concert in UCLA Ackerman Union. Jessica, Mark and I drove all the way to LA just for them.

They sang 10 songs with two as encore. Primitive and touching. Taco sang a song written by a person he liked in undergrad. I was there when she first sang it in the Witch House.
Very interesting experience.

It's nice to see old friends from NTU and UCLA again. Even though we didn't have chance to chat for long, a few updates and good wishes can keep us continue our journey in different parts of the world.

More photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/huichun.wu/20060819TacoConcert 

Sierra to the Sea

2006/06/17-24
450 miles
150 people
105 F of heat
Our first bike tour

Fantastic vacation!
more photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=14z7psgw.1aqvvdm4&x=0&y=bnv7i2

Gilroy Garlic Festival & Ride

7/29/2006
Rode to Gilroy for garlic festival. Total 90 miles. Although festival is the reason, we didn't get to walk around because police wouldn't allow us to walk our bikes. We didn't bring lock.

Eugene and I found a delicious pizza place Happy Dog Pizza. The owner lady is very friendly and she is a runner. She showed us a scenic trail back to San Jose. That is Cayote Creek Trail.

We stopped in Morgan Hill for luxury home shopping. That was a nice detour.

We took off at 9am and arrived home at 8pm. It was 89 miles in total with 40 miles to Gilroy and 50 miles back.

Happy Dog Pizza 55 5th street, Gilroy, CA
More photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/huichun.wu/20060729GilroyGarlicFestival 

MotoGP in Laguna Seca

7/22/2006 MotoGP with Eugene, and a cute couple Anne and Naim. http://picasaweb.google.com/huichun.wu/20060722MotoGP

Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge

8/5/2006 My first metric century
66.4 miles
7,983 feel of climb

Hills done:
Mt Charlie Rd, Skyline Blve, Empire Grade, Upper Jamison Creek

With Onefun, Jim and Eugene 

My Dream Car -- FJ Cruiser

4.0-liter DOHC 24-valve SFI VVT-i V6
239 hp @ 5200 rpm;
6-speed manual (full-time 4WD model)
Tire Size P265/70R17
Mileage: 4WD manual: 16/19

The FJ Cruiser Bulletin
http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/minisite/fjbulletin/index.html?s_van=GM_FJ_HOME_FJ_BULLETIN


 

Tour in Solvang & SB

Eugene and I registered the Solvang Century Ride on March 11, 2006. We didn't actually ride because the unstable weather. In turn, we visited 6 wineries and tasted 43 samples. Believe it or not, hangover can happen in the afternoon.

Later we were invited to Grace's friend's party. Surprisingly I found Chow-Wei is one of the host. Haven't seen her forever. She is as energetic as she was in my memory.

The second day we had brunch at the Old Yacht Club Inn with Janet and Julan. Julan drove all the way from LA :D We talk and talk hoping that noon would never come and Janet would never have to go back to labortory.

It was a nice get-away from work and where I am not sure if I should call home.
More photos:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=14z7psgw.igw3oz0&x=0&y=y8isww

P.S. Palace Grill is a really nice Cajun restaurant. We haven't found anyone here in the Bay Area. Will visit again if visit Santa Barbara
Palace Grill
8 E Cota St, Santa Barbara, CA
(805) 963-5000 

[Love] Valentine's Day

It's our first Valentine's Day. I was a little bit nervous what was gonna happen. He ordered Iris and Tulip bouquet and sent it to office. The flowers are so fresh that they haven't even opened yet. As usual, it is a busy work day. However there is a pleasure atmosphere because you can catch girls walking around happily with flowers. In our layout group, which is 90% ladies, everyone has fresh flowers on their desk. It is truly a festival.
We decided not to spent big money on this occasion. Instead, we had quality dry steak from Whole Food market. With my cast iron skillet, the steak surface was sealed perfectly, juicy inside and crispy outside. You can't find a better deal than this ($12 each) from a restaurant. We also had sauteed mushroom with Origano and Lemon pepper, mixed greens salad and mixed fruit pie, all from Whole Food.
I got him a pair of "boy and girl sitting on a log" Nyform Trolls from Norway. He has a "dreamer" at his desk that he really got when he visited Norway. I know that he loves them. He did origami flowers for me, with papers from Taiwan. I can tell that he is talented in origami, partly from his anul-retentive nature. I also got a bear and a pair of furry wool boots. I wore those boots to work the next day :-)
The article gets too long now, so I'd better stop. I just wanna share with you some small heart warming things that we have, that everyday is Valentine's Day.
(http://scandinaviantouch.com/smallnyformtrolls.htm)

Something about Biking

記得以前X情人裡面梅格萊恩酷酷的騎自行車上班, 今天我第一次做到了
早上九點整裝出發, 和 Eugene 兩台鐵馬混在通勤的車陣中, 剛好這兩天天氣很溫暖, 有華氏七十多度吧, 早晨的風雖涼, 騎不到五分鐘還是流了一身汗. Tasman Drive 又大又寬, 但是來往的車還是相當多, 加上又過公路又過鐵路還過了個小河, 每座橋都是考驗. 上坡不是問題, 問題是下坡能不能避開右轉的車輛
其實這種車多的路, 路面鋪得再好也是會裂加上車子帶來的垃圾和砂石, 可憐我的美麗小車車, 一個一個輾過去, 彈得我痛在屁股, 疼在心裡 .
到了公司先去健身房洗個澡, 就牽著車上樓越過長廊, 其實並沒有引起多大的注意. 不過一整天倒是有不少人到我的小隔間來, 隔壁的韓國同事看了我的車, 也想買兩台和他老婆騎著玩 .
另一個同事文鑫之前買了一輛通勤用腳踏車, 也是很有興趣又摸又看, 不過最令人感動的是我老闆七點半的時候來關心我要怎麼回家, 雖然我很希望他說, 以後你騎車來上班的話, 就趁天黑前回家吧! 那我每天騎車來上班也願意, 不過我還是很硬漢的說，沒關係， 我有頭燈跟閃光燈, 而且 Eugene跟我一起騎, 兩個人比較引人注意加上Tasman路燈很亮, 沒關係的!
所以還是做到八點半才離開....
回家的路說驚險也不會, 說漫長也不會, 唯一的心得就是想要花錢買更好的配備. 首先所有的垃圾跟砂石都看不見了, 坑洞也看不見. 就像 Sine wave有波峰跟波谷, 路燈雖然亮也是有照不到的地方. 這時候真是希望自己會發光
騎回家差不多也半小時, 一天就結束了. 感覺早上這樣大口的呼吸流一身汗到公司, 精神比灌下一大杯星巴克還好. 晚上和 Eugene 兩人相依為命騎回家, 心裡想, 有沒有一起去自行車自助旅行的可能呢?
我們報名了這個 Sierra to the Sea 七天六夜420miles的旅行http://stts.actc.org/tour_overview.htm現在每個週末都去騎車訓練. 目前是一星期增加五英哩距離, 最遠騎到30 miles, 如果沒有大上坡, 時速平均15mph...不斷進步中啦, 呵呵, 小肚子也在變平中

Letter from Home

My mom sent me a package with two calendar planners. I could not find one that I like here in the States.
The company address envelope, my sister's hand writing, Taiwan Post Office stamp, reminded me of old days in Taipei.

Thank you Mom, I will cherish it. Also I know what you mean by sending me empty "red envelopes".

Happy Chinese New Year! It's about 15th in Lunar calendar. Time to eat 湯圓 (rice ball) :) 

SuperBowl & Pizza party

Last sunday we had a superbowl and pizza party. I think people are more interested in pizza than football. We had toppins like sausage, bell pepper, pepperoni, mushroom, sun dried tomato, archichoke heart, onion, anchovy, olive and mozaarella and cheddar cheese.
We bought pizza dough from local pizza store. Had to expand it on our own though. Gee, that was hard work. My first try turned out to be a mask with 3 holes. My coworker Jun did a professional job. She used to live in Beijing where people make noodles on their own.
試寫中文看看...麵團還有剩所以今天我跟Eugene又做了一次. 右上角的那包就是我明天的早午晚餐囉~ The Lord of the Rings裡面的精靈口糧大概就長這樣吧...

Alfred's

Super expensive dinner at Alfred's. A steakhouse in Financial District @ SF. Bottle wine ranges from $76 to $2599. I couldn't help but kept looking for a dot in between 5 and 9.... From left to right is Linda, her boyfriend, her boyfriend's friend. (How could I forget all the guy's name!?) They are all Cantonese from Australia. It is really a refresh experience to listen to Aussi accent.

Turtle troop

This guy is crazy about eBay. He bought it when he was searching for wine glass charms. It turned out to be a purchase of 120 charms and 51 turtle. And he even put some in my cube.

Take a close look...actually they are nicely made.  

Snowboarding in Kirkwood

We went snowboarding in Kirkwood on 1/7/2006. This is my man putting on his gear. Today he told me that someone asked him....isn't snowboarding for young men? I couldn't stop laughing. How old do you think he is?

Peace of mind

I saw a big white bird on tree top by Lawrence Costco. It seemed to enjoy being high. It is nice to find other animals except for human beings....

Can it be smaller?

Eugene has a Nissan 350Z. The trunk is so small that you will need an instruction to stuff a golf bag in.

My group.

We had a mysterious meeting on Friday afternoon. I thought it would be focal review, but it turned out to be Hyong's Bday celebration. What a relief and we had a good time.

 

[Las Vegas]

Chocolate waterfall in Bellagio. I bought their truffle...Soooooo delicious!