Virtual Tour

Virtual Tour of UW cherry blossom

Christmas Parties 2007

Identity Theft

Someone was using my debit card yesterday and this morning buying grocery! I encountered identity theft!

Last night, I checked my bank account online and found there was $97.65 unauthorized transaction with Trader Joe's at U-district. This morning, there was another $58.77 unauthorized transaction with Safeway Store at U-district. I went to my bank and filed for a report in the afternoon. In addition, I reported to the Seattle police. My bank advised me that I should check my bank balance every day. This means one more thing I have to do every day besides emails.

West vs. East

I was TAing last quarter. I'm not very good at remembering the names of all my students. Coincidentally, most of the students are Caucasians. The professor who is a Caucasian himself would joke that I couldn't differentiate "the white people".

When I lived in China, all my family and friends are Chinese. I couldn't tell the different ages of non-Chinese. It shouldn't be surprising, as I often heard non-Asians complain that it was hard to tell the age of a Asian.

Even though the East doesn't completely understand the West, the East loves the West, and vice versa. Westerners might see some serious Asian grannies wear T-shirts with English letters such as "Kiss me". Chinese or Japanese might see some very "cool" looking young western with Tattoos in Chinese characters like "壞孩男". If the young fellow wanted to say "bad boy", he got the sequence of Chinese characters wrong unfortunately.

Holiday Seasons

At a free Jazz concert with Sahera, and Alessandro


At a free Jazz concert with Sahera, and Shumei


At a bar after the concert

Summary of November 2007

My November is full of events.

I had neck pain from the end of October to the beginning of November. I had to visit a chiropractor three times to relief my pain.

The second day of November, I lost my wallet. I had to cancel all my credit cards, get new driver license, and replace my student ID.

The second week, I had my wisdom teeth taken out and paid $11 to the person who "found" my wallet to get it back.

The third week, I got a cold thanks to the pain from the dental surgery.

The fourth week, I had my first supervisory committee meeting.

All these are due to the sick crying pig illustrated in my November calender on my desk.

Tennis

Last summer, I developed interested in tennis. I took two tennis courses during the summer. There was also a very small and short romance at the end of the tennis course. It became a nice cute memory every time I play tennis;)

head coach of the national women's volleyball team of the United States

Recently I found out that the head coach of the national women's volleyball team of the United States is Ping Lang.

She is one of the most famous and respected individuals in the history of volleyball. She steered the Chinese team to the first world title at the Third World Cup Volleyball Tournament in 1981, before they swept three more major world titles in the 1982 World Championships, 1984 Olympic Games and 1985 World Cup for four straight wins in five years. According to Wikipedia, her name is immediately recognizable among Chinese over 30. My parents love her, so I have watched her play. I also watched the games of the Chinese national women's team she coached.

I haven't watched American women's volleyball. I guess this time I'll pay attention to the women's volleyball schedule.

My wisdom teeth

It took two dentist visits to have all my wisdom teeth taken out. The first visit was in September. The dentist took two upper wisdom teeth out in less than 30 minutes.

Yesterday afternoon was the second visit. It took the doctor 2 hours to get the lower 2 wisdom teeth out! After the surgery, my jaws were very sore. I couldn't feel my lips and my tongue. My voice became very funny. This morning, I found my face was swollen. My mouth is still in pain. I'll visit the doctor again next Thursday to have the stitches out.

I think it is time for me to take more pain killers again.

Most visited tourist attractions

I went to 20 attractions (listed below) that are out of 50 most visited tourist attractions according to Forbes Traveler. No wonder I always saw so many people and I had to wait in a long line to get into the entrance.

1. Times Square, New York City, NY, USA
2. National Mall & Memorial Parks, Washington, D.C., USA
7. Fisherman’s Wharf/Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, CA
9. Notre Dame de Paris, Paris, France
14. Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre, Paris, France
15. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
17. The Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
18. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
22. Lotte World, Seoul, South Korea
25. Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
30. Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY, USA
31. Grand Canyon, Ariz., USA
36. Statue of Liberty, New York, NY, USA
37. The Vatican and its museums, Rome, Italy
39. The Coliseum, Rome, Italy
40. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
41. Grauman’s Chinese Theater, Hollywood, CA, USA
42. Empire State Building, New York, NY, USA
45. Palace of Versailles, France
46. Yosemite National Park, CA, USA

However, I wonder how accurate the Forbes Traveler list is. My parents who live in the most populated country in their whole lives complaint to me too many tourists in Beijing when they visited two years ago. Today, one of my schoolmates sent me some pictures (above) showing some beach in China. I guess when all Chinese tourist attractions start to count tourists, few of the 50 listed attractions would be in the list again.^_^.

What a nice suprise!

I was planning to attend a conference to DC next January this afternoon. A person I knew through a friend jumped to my mind. He works in DC. He and I have never met each other in person, however, he called me a few times and we talked on the phone. He planned to visit Seattle last year. He even booked the tickets. He canceled the trip because he was sick the week before his trip. After that, he never called me again.

I thought it might be a good chance to finally meet him in person if I go to DC. When I was thinking about this, I saw him logging onto MSN. I initiated a chat by saying hello to him. After greeting each other, I told him I might go to DC next January for a conference and ask him if he's interested in meeting. He said cool. And then, he said "just for your update", he was married this year and planned to have wedding ceremony next year. I started to smile. He sounded like a person really wants to get married and start a family. I guess he must be very happy he is finally married.

Maybe it is not a good idea to meet him in person.^_^.

Lust, Caution

My dentist appointment was canceled this afternoon due to the confusion by the staff of the dentist office. So I went to see Aug Lee's new movie "Lust, Caution". Somehow, I feel like "Lust, Caution" is similar to Paul Verhoeven's "Black Book", but more tragic and depressing. Yet, I'm not surprised. Just like "A very long engagement" was not made by a Chinese director.

Chicago

I visited Chicago after the ACSP conference from Sunday to Tuesday. I visited my college roommate who I haven't seen for six years. I went on a boat tour and a walking architecture tour on Monday. I also spent a few hours in the art institute of Chicago on Tuesday before I went to the O'Hare airport.

I had a very good time in Chicago. If my neck hadn't bothered me, it would have been prefect. I called my housemate who works in a chiropratic clinic just after I landed Seattle to ask for an appointment.

ACSP 2007, Milwaukee, WI

Except for my neck pain, I had a very good time at the ACSP conference this year. I made new friends and saw old friends. I also met some famous professors in urban planning. Jack Nasar was at my presentation. However, I didn't have time to talk to him after the section. I was sitting next to John Forest in a section. By the way, did I mention I knew his daughter? However, I didn't figure out she was John Forest's daughter until two years after I met her.

What do I like

I like a lot of things. I enjoy doing a lot of things. Even though I haven't found my favorite yet, I have preference of certain things over others. Most of my preference comes from my experience and expectation, which could change. Therefore, my preference could change as well.

Wedding

Burning Man

Burning Man

I'm going to Burning Man this year!!!!

Pearl Anniversary

August 8th is my parents' 30th anniversary.

My dad was my mom's teacher in her medical school. In fact, my dad recruited my mom to the school. They dated for 3 years. They married just right after my mother graduated.

My dad is from Canton area and speaks Cantonese. My mom is from Sichuan province and speaks the Sichuan dialect. The difference between Cantonese and the Sichuan dialect is like the difference between English and German. My dad now speaks both Cantonese and the Sichuan dialect. My mom still doesn't understand Cantonese even though she has lived there for almost two decades.

Due to work, they had to live separately in two cities for 8 years after they married.

Even though my parents did want to divorce once, I have no doubt that my parents are in love with each other. My dad retired a few years earlier than my mom. During this time, my dad did most of the housework, from grocery shopping, cooking, to cleaning. Now both of them are retire. They do grocery shopping together. My dad does the cooking and my mom does the dishes.

Did I tell you that my parents still hold hands when they go out?

Mt. Rainier in Summer