Life to live and explore

Friends visited me at my parents’ place

Friends Jo and Christine came to visit me at my parents’ house. Though they have lived in this small town for years, they have never been to this side of town where my parents live! Mom cooked Hakka Lei Cha for them. They liked it very much.

They have wanted to visit me after the surgery since they have not seen me for weeks at the home fellowship. I did inform Jo about the backache when I couldn’t attend the bible study.

Academic writing is not his cup of tea

My brother just enrolled into a Masters in Engineering program. It’s a part time program which he has to attend classes from 9 a.m-5.00 p.m every Saturday for two years. He works full time as a engineering department manager and have two children, he needs a lot of discipline and stamina to complete a course like that! The partial fulfillment for graduation of the program is to produce a dissertation.

As a technical guy, writing is not his cup of tea! I can foresee he will need much help and guidance when the time comes. The Capellaís Online Writing Center will probably comes in handy for him. The online resource center for academic writing is on the website of Capella University, a university that offers many online college courses.

The online handbook is organized around the writing process covered various topics i.e. Annotated Bibliography Guide, Grammar, Business and Technical Writing, APA Style and Formatting, Undergraduate Writing Resources,How to Get Your Work Published and Academic Integrity.

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Lower your car or mortgage payment

With the rising prices of gas and everything else, if you have a mortgage and auto loan to pay, it can be quite suffocating. If a big chunk of your monthly salary goes to fixed payments, you would have very little cash flow and might not be able to save much.

Other than trying to earn extra money to cover the extra expenses, you might want to check out how you can lower the payment amount of your mortgage and auto loan. Is it possible to lower my payment? You may ask.

We do not have an auto loan currently, so we are not sure what you can do with it. But, we recently requested for an interest reduction with our mortgage lender and were granted a two percent interest reduction that resulted in about one hundred bucks saving per month.

We both attended weddings, separately

The big boy attended his second cousin’s wedding on Saturday and I went for a wedding dinner on Sunday. While the big boy said he had a great time at the dinner, mine sucks.

It was such a boring wedding dinner. I don’t even know the bride and the groom!

The whole event was so comical, should I say? The guests were mostly the groom’s parents’ friends and relatives, the host and hostess acted like they were the focal of the day. They sang, danced and the groom’s mother went from one table to another like a butterfly!

Flood in the Midwest

There has been storms off and on for the last few week at where we are going to live. In fact, you might have seen on the TV that many areas in the Midwest are hit by flood. My parents in law’s basement was flooded too few weeks ago. Though it’s just the basement, it took the big boy one whole day to help them clean up. The sofa, recliner, bookshelf and tv stand in the basement were all soaked and need to bring outside to dry under the sun.

Can you imagine those houses that were submerged in the water to the roof? Surely it will be a hell lot of work to clean. Many of them will probably need to hire a disaster cleanup service to help with the cleaning up. It will take time for people to restore their home and hopefully they have insurance to cover the damages.

Waiting is stressful

Another week passes by without any news on the “expedite” request of the immigration petition. It has been more than two weeks, waiting can be very stressful. Checking the online status and mailbox every 5 seconds just added to the frustration.

After one week of torture, realized that this had to go. Have been doing better this week, at least went to bed on time instead of staying late on the phone stressing the big boy.

Another pair of boots

The big boy has flat feet, he dragged his feet during walking and that’s bad for his shoes. He kept saying he needs to get another pair of work boots this week because the pair he has right now are worn out again. Look like he must start looking for a job that gives allowance for him to get his work boots. :-)

Proof read doctorate dissertation

Molly called yesterday evening, she wanted to know whether I can help her to proof read her doctorate dissertation. Since I have not been feeling to well and under a lot of stress right now dealing with the migration process, I told her to try to get another person to help. I also told her if she really cannot get someone else, then I would help.

She sent a text message this morning, told me her husband has agreed to do the proof reading for her. That’s good!

Need a break from this madness

It’s very frustrating to get stuck in this paperwork black hole for so long with no light at the end of the tunnel. Need a break from checking the online status and waiting for email update from the congressman’s office, it’s driving me crazy.

We need to shut off and stay away from the computer and take a break from this madness for a couple of days! It would be nice to get away and join the African hunting safari trips organized by T.Jeffery Safari Company. But, nothing of this sort will happen for a while as I am still recuperating from the recent surgery. I wonder what kind of animals are available on this hunting trips. The only kind of animals we would like to shot right now are the dumb immigration officers who asked us to wait thirty days for an “expedite” request.

The slow process gets the better of us

We have been stressed out by the immigration process and out of wit with an organization that asked us to wait thirty days for a decision to an expedite request! They need a dictionary to check out what the word “expedite” means !

Thirty days for an approval or rejection decision on an expedite request certainly does not sound like there is any expedition involved. Even if they approve the “expedite” request, it will take further processing to approve the actual petition.

This stress gets in our marriage when we have splitting perspectives on the process, he thinks he is doing what he can and I am upset with the slow and lack of action. It’s impeded further with someone who doesn’t want to learn about the process and do the right things to get it done in the shortest time possible.

Check software to help you balance your books

When we were still running the preschool, we have an accounting software that we purchased off the internet. It’s really a user friendly accounting software for dummies who don’t know much about accounting. We just have to post all the receivers and outgoing expenses, and we can get the cash flow, loss-profit and balance sheet summary at any dates in a few seconds.

It’s true that not everyone is born with the ability to balance the check books manually. I know for sure that we have one who need help. Where do you get your business checks and accounting software? Have you heard of VersaCheck software? May be it’s worth checking out if you are struggling to balance your check books. :-)

Lost cell phone, get new SIM card

Sister in law went to this family day gathering organized by the company my brother’s work at. They was a big crowd and a pick pocket was able to get in. My sister in law’s cell phone was pick-pocketed!

Since her cell phone plan is registered under my name, I have to go to the service provider to get the new SIM card! We were surprised that it took a couple of minutes to get the new SIM card. In the old days, one had to wait in line and could take up to an hour. Now, you just go to the customer service counter without taking  a number to join the line, she just gave you a new SIM card and logged that into the system!

Part time house cleaner

With mom having leg pain and me just had a surgery, both of us couldn’t bend too much and couldn’t carry and move anything heavy around the house. Instead of hurting my back doing all the house chores or hurting the wounds post surgery, it’s better for us to hire a part time help around the house.

We have thought of hiring a part time help once or twice a week. As not everyone is comfortable with a lived in maid, I know my mom would not feel convenient to have another person who is not a family member living in the same house.

Slow expedite request, an oxymoron

The big boy sent in an expedite request for the papers filed for me. It has been more than a week, we have not heard anything from USCIS. I am getting frustrated with the slow response time.

After filling up two pages of form and send them in in March, the papers just sitting around gathering dust for 3 months? Looks like until someone comes along to dust the files, we will hear nothing for a while !

Beautifully wrapped chocolates

My second sister travels a lot for work. When she goes on business trips, though she may not have time to tour the city, she will buy us souvenirs. She is very generous when it comes to buying gifts for us in the family.

When she went to Japan last year, she spent hundreds of dollars buying all sort of chocolates and gourmet cookies for us. The Japanese are really good at packaging their products. They put the chocolates in beautiful boxes and gift wrapped them nicely. In fact, we still keep most of the pretty boxes that used to keep the chocolates, though we have finished the chocolates long time ago!

Air conditioner from freecycler

The new house that we are going to move into has no air conditioner. As the weather is getting warmer, the big boy has been talking about buying an air condition unit. We have quite a few things to get for the house and an AC unit stays at quite low in my priority chart.

However, I have been looking out too see whether there is any AC unit at the freecycle group. Yesterday, someone wants to give away one and he lives a few blocks away from our house. Perfecto! The big boy is going to pick it up this evening. See, we save money and also save the AC unit from the landfill!

Payday loan and emergency

Have been accompanying mom to the hospitals for the last few weeks and paid most of the medical expenses for her. Mom didn’t want me to pay for all of them as she knows I have paid more than 10k recently for the surgery and the subsequent cancer screening tests.

I told her not to worry as I have an emergency fund that can be used for raining days. It’s important to have an emergency fund so that we do not have to rely on loans when the unexpected happens. Taking a loan helps you to get through an emergency, but save up an emergency fund and be prepared for the unexpected that life throws at us helps us get through life. :-)

Acupuncture has helped relieve pain

Mom has gone for five sessions of acupuncture for her leg pain caused by extruded disc that pressed against the nerves, she says it has helped to relieve pains tremendously.

She is doing so much better now. She couldn’t walk without her left leg in pain. Last two days she was able to walk around and even do some housework as she feels better. Though being told by the doctors to rest more, she still gets up at 6.00 a.m and start buzzing around the house. That’s mom.

New house needs new window dressing

The big boy found a house for us. He moved the stuffs in last week and started to sleep there this week. He also finally get around to take some pictures of the house to send me. He sent me pictures of these windows in the living room and asked what he should do with them!

Looks like the owner had all the bathroom fixtures in working condition and the previous tenants had already installed blinds for the windows in the living hall. All we have to is to get blinds or curtains for the windows in the bedrooms. But, it will probably take a few months for the big boy to get some blinds or curtains. How long do you think it will take him to finally get them ? It took him more than a month to finally order the laptop, after I have forwarded the shopping cart on Dell to him!

acupunchure for extruded disc problem

The MRI scan showed that mom has an extruded disc between two bones (L5 and S1) and that’s the culprit for all the leg pains she has been suffering in the last few weeks. Since she didn’t want to go for a surgery, we went to see an acupuncturist last Saturday.

Mom thinks the acupuncture session really helps to relieve the pains, so we  have since gone back there for the third session today. Hopefully this non evasive method works and saves mom from going for a surgery!

Booking her next cruise on the new Mac?

Anna was having a stiff neck when I met her today at the bible study. We have last seen each other before she went off for a luxury cruise with her eldest daughter. She has so many stories to tell about her recent trip and the new Mac that her husband got for her. Looks like she is ready to book her next cruises on her new toy!

In fact I dropped by her house few weeks ago intended to consult her husband who is an oncologist about my health condition. She couldn’t talk to me as she was in a hurry to leave. The airport cab was going to pick her up and she would like to have a prayer with her children before she left. So, she asked her mom to “entertain” me. Her mom is an interesting woman, in her 70s, actively promoting some health products to me during our short conversation. :-)

The busy doctors

I was at the hospital accompanied my mom for a MRI scan, while mother was waiting for her turn, thought I would walk over to say hello to a friend MK, who is an eye specialist at the same hospital since his office is just across the hallway. The nurse told me he was at the emergency unit.

After the MRI, mom had to see the orthopedic and it was a long line. So, I thought I would try to drop by my friend’s office again. This time the nurse said he was doing a laser surgery.

I really admire all the busy doctors, everyday at work is like going to war and yet they can stay sane! I would have gone crazy with all this demands and attention to details. :-)

Credit cards are useful in emergency situation like this

In the past, we did not like credit cards and would pay cash whenever we could. But the recent incidents had us rethink the usefulness of credit cards during an emergency situation like this. When I was admitted to the hospital for a scheduled surgery, a credit card was handy to pay for the security deposit i.e. didn’t have to carry a bunch of cash around.

Being uninsured and the surgery turned out to be more complicated than expected, the cost actually was twice of what we we were told earlier. Again, credit cards came in handy to settle the unexpected medical bills and we were able to settle the bills a month later.

If we were not able to settle the total sum of the bills, we may be able to find a 0 balance transfer credit card to save on interest. It’s probably not going to be difficult to find one that has good offers among the top ten credit cards!

Practical gifts for aging relatives

Both my parents are getting old and start to have some medical problems. They are no longer as energetic as they were 10 years ago. I felt a little heavy hearted right now, as I am packing and getting ready to move miles away from them.

My parents are in their 60s and considered the youths among their siblings who are into 70s and 80s. The older generation of my family are definitely aging. I am thinking, one of most practical gifts to get them will be none other than medical jewelry. Especially for second uncle who has dementia and often couldn’t find his way home!

Mom’s MRI shows disc between L5 and S1 extruded

Mom’s leg pain has not improved over the last week, so she agrees to see the orthopedic today. The orthopedic recommended going for MRI.

The MRI showed the disc between L5 and S1 has extruded and pressed against the nerves. It is quite bad and the only way to repair such condition is going for a surgery according to the orthopedic.

Mom is not keen to go for surgery. So would bring her to try some alternative medicine in the next few weeks i.e. acupuncture, Chinese herbals and Chiropractic .

The last minute find

We have started talking about looking for a place to move since Jan 2008. After procrastinating for nearly four months, the big boy finally put his acts together and started to look at places for rental seriously 2-3 weeks ago. He found a house a few days before the current lease expired!

Not that we are looking at Manhattan real estate, we are just looking for a rental place in a small town. It really doesn’t have to leave until last minute like this, for many nicer apartments in this university town are fully booked until next fall! It’s a very stressful process and not to mention the uncertainties !

Uncooperative patient

Mom is such an uncooperative patient, just found out that she hasn’t been taking the medication from the orthopedic!

We have an appointment to see the orthopedic today, I don’t know how he is going to evaluate the effectiveness of the medications since she hasn’t been taking it according to the dosage and frequency.

Her leg pain has not been any better, so the orthopedic will probably recommend going for a MRI today.

The children are coming

My niece and nephew are going to be here at my parents’ place starting next week. They are going to stay about 10 days. We are looking forward to see them and enjoy the time with them.

They are good children, they can play together pretty well, of course the cat and dog fights are inevitable. They are also very independent children, they do not need much attention from the adults and indeed are a bundle of joy to be around. :-)

Since they like drawing and coloring, they will be happy to see the few boxes of color pencils and some drawing blocks I have for them. These are leftover from the preschool that recently folded up and finally brought to my parents’ house. I already gave the bottles of marker ink and a few dozens of Papermate pens to their grandfather since the children don’t use those.

In laws are going to visit the Bay area

Though they are originally from the Midwest, my parent-in-laws have spent most of their adult lives in a small town outside San Francisco. My father in law has retired and they have moved back to IL few years ago. However, they missed their friends and the weather, they would return to the Bay area to visit their friends for one whole month in the summer.

A few of their long time friends would take turn to host them for the whole month except when they go downtown. They also plan to go down to San Francisco to attend hobby printer conferences or coins shows. It’s good that they continue to stay active after retirement. In fact, they have quite hectic social schedule compare to many of us who are busy at work. :-)

Quiet weekend at home with parents

All my siblings, in-laws, niece and nephew are not coming home this weekend, it’s a quiet weekend at home. Mom cannot go out due to the leg pain she is having. She has been lazing around watching TV and DVDs, which she doesn’t really like to do when she was well and not in pain.

She went to see another doctor and got back some medications this morning, hopefully the medicine helps to stop the pain. It’s difficult for an active woman who likes to run around to be confined at home watching soaps!