Preparing for Beijing

The only time that I was in Beijing was in 1996. Summer between my freshman and sophomore year in college. At that time, some improvements had been made to the city's transportation in preparation for a bid to an earlier Oympics, I think the 2000. Improvement basically meant mini-bus access throughout the city. There may have been trains but I surely did not ride it. I loved the crowd, the dirt, the food, and the gray air and gray buildings of the city. I hated the heat and the diarrhea that I got from eating the food.

Now, I am just trying to think how the city is going to handle the crowd this coming summer. It was crowded on a regular summer day. The buses were always packed. All the tourist spots were always packed. Add to that the millions of foreign visitors who are going to flock the city; it's going to be a chaos.

There's so much money poured into construction in preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
My uncle-in-law sent me some articles about it. The European hot shots have their names on several of the largest newest structures. Amidst all the bustle, I found something that I actually liked; a serene, peaceful, yet ultra-contemporary creation: Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. From the image that I saw, there is a definite similarity to the Kimbell Museum that I visited with my colleagues back in 2003. It goes against all the obnoxious creations elsewhere in the city. Beijing needs something like this.

I am not that interested in going to the Olympics. I don't want to deal with the crowd, the heat, or the diarrhea. But I would love to visit the Ullens Center. Hey, maybe when we are all done raising kids, say 20 years from now, we can take another "educational" architectural trip; this time to Beijing.

checkout the article on LA Times

Birthday Unch (poop)!

Terran did his big number on the toilet for the first time ever, and it was on my birthday!!!! Yes, he's done a really small one before but this one was the real deal! It even smelled up the whole bathroom and beyond!!! I was so happy that I cried and hugged and kissed him on the toilet afterwards. Who knew that a great big poop could mean so much. He was quite proud of himself as well. Later in the day, he must have forgotten about our big morning celebration because he went again, twice, in his diaper.... Nonetheless, a great beginning and an excellent birthday present for me! Terran calls it "unch", which is basically poop in Japanese - but with a slight American accent since it's more Pat who taught him the word.

Last day to be 30.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be turning 31. Looking back at the past year, all I remember was being busy. I don't really see myself anymore when I think back. I just see Terran running around and making a lot of noise. I see Pat coming home from work, and I see Sierra being born....

Actually, I do see one thing that happened to me. It was in August and I was very pregnant and at least 30 lb my usual weight. I was in NYC for work and when I got out of Penn Station, I see a long long cab line which is unusual at that particular spot. Then I find out from someone that the Subway had been flooded due to early morning storm. I called the field to see if our meeting is still on and whether I should try to get there. Yes, it's still on, try to come. OK.... So I miserably stood at the end of the line. If you don't know this, it's very uncomfortable to be pregnant and be standing still. After 5 minutes, my back was already cramping. Then, from way ahead of the line, a woman came up to me and asked me if I wanted to share a cab. I'd love to, I said. And cut in line about 1 hour ahead of where I started. It turned out to be a group of 3 women plus me sharing the cab. We were all going uptown, east side. There was another woman who was only 4 months pregnant but were expecting twins and was as big as I was. We chatted, bitched, complained about work, and got into our cab half an hour later. Our pregnant feet and backs were hurting from so much waiting and standing. But that day, I was just so thankful that they picked my miserable ass from the line to be with them. It made the time go by a little faster, and it made me think that New Yorkers can be really kind when things like this happen. In fact, Americans are really good to one another and to strangers when put in an unusual situation. This may not be much but its about the only thing that I strongly recall that does not involve my family.

I know that my thirties will be totally devoted to my family. The first 3 decades of my life were totally about me so it seems to make sense that I give my all to the little ones for the next 2. Each day is a challenge but its a good one.

A little note about our local newspaper "The Times". It doesn't even have a regional name to it, like the LA Times or the NY Times. It sounds grand doesn't it? Well, guess what's on the front page for the last 4 days. A story about a Princeton dog who may or may not be on a death sentence for mauling a landscaper. This morning, there was a huge picture of the dog owner and his 2 children on the front page. If I see this stupid article on the front page again, I am going to cancel the paper!!!! Oh wait, Christmas is coming, that means lots of ads. I love the ads. They're the best. I don't really read the paper, but I study the ads. They're the best.

That was a long blog. Can you tell Sierra is sleeping a lot today?



Halloween: Sierra as a pea pod and Terran as Thomas the tank engine!


Terran loves being outside and he has the greatest smile.

We picked out a little chair for Sierra so she can sit with us during dinner (if she is willing....)

This autumn, Terran loved playing in the leaves. He would jump into them, mess up the nice pile of leaves that our neighbor raked, and picks up some flowers that are still alive to bring to me. Once, I forgot that he was holding my keys and we started running into the leaves and rolling around in it. Later, I realized that my keys were missing and I remembered that Terran had them last. We looking in the pile but could not find them and it was already pretty dark. I sheepishly mentioned this to Pat when he got home.... Next morning, Pat and Terran went to search and finally rescued the missing keys.

Photo of Pat and sleeping Sierra. Her skin looks so nice and plump.