City & Crissy

Back from the City. Spent a whole day in the Exploratorium, well almost the whole day. Pretty interesting but for me there was just too much information to absorb and with my poor eyesight, too many things to read to explore and to do. So I got tired but the Man the Three Quarter Man and the Young Woman had energy to spare for all 4 of us. Very much like Science Center but older, more hands on, people are encouraged to touch, to feel, to test for themselves. Then to Crissy Field area for the already ended kite festival but there were still quite a few families with their colorful kites. Our $15 kite first got caught in the roof of the one and only food stand and had to be rescued by the owner of the kite stand and then became off balance and kept crashing into the field. So after some rough surgery by the Man, the father and son team kept trying to keep the darn thing in the air while the mother and daughter team admitted defeat to the persistent cold wind blowing in from the Bay and retreated to the shelter of the car to watch the male team teased the unwilling kite.

Finally dinner at the same old same old Penang Garden in Chinatown where we waited half an hour for a table and I got really pissed with a stupid waitress who came out of the blue and let a family in ahead of us.

Move

We are moving in a week. At long last. I hope the new house will have better chi and better feng shui for us. This house has not really brought us much joy or comfort. It is freaking cold in winter and stuffy in summer. There is no real place to sit down and have a conversation and all we really ever use is our bedroom. One week. Yeah!

Birthdays

Happy Birthday Nic and Carynn. With tons of love from your papa and mama.

Celebrations

Morning. You can feel the weather getting cooler. Dying days of summer.

It's the mooncake festival today but we celebrated it at the Tan's place yesterday with the usual suspects. And there was a distinct split along the gender line with the men gathered in one place and the ladies in another, each group to its own topics of interest. Like water cooler talks but domestic. So schools, kids, food and where to get the best pastries and mooncakes for us. Pretty obvious that I was mostly clueless about the groceries and food topics but it was fun listening to them. And there is a strong similarity to Chinese communities everywhere when it comes to food - the long queues, the tidak apa attitude of the family owned shops when customers clamor for their produce. Almost like home.

All the while consuming copious amounts of pot luck food and sampling small pieces of different varieties of mooncake and sipping Chinese tea. Nik is a very gracious hostess and Keng is a very gracious host. Always good company.

Today is Number 1's Chinese birthday. Tomorrow is Number 3's Gregorian calendar birthday. Who's up for celebrating again?

Alone

Home alone. How rare is that? It's the Saturday tennis with the boys (and lone girl) but I opted out. Knee still stings quite a bit from the twist last Sunday at Amador Valley. Plus a mountain-load of guilt about all the work before me which alas lethargy is keeping me from starting. I have butterflies in that place. The guilt is heavy, oh so heavy.

I reflect on the past 3 months and what exactly have I accomplish in my new role. Bare bones. Next to nothing. Well, not nothing. Somethings. But not enough in my own assessment. I have to pick up pace. Time for excuses is over. Get that plan out, that presentation started, appointments for snaking made. Where is that passion for execution when I need it most?

The time for moving is also almost upon us and the Man has been very good about it. I see boxes, tapes, things slowly being put away. Thank you! I have too many weights on my shoulder right now. Frankly, I am scared. I don't feel like I am getting traction. I have a sneaky feeling if I were to do a 360, it would look full of holes.

Something else is nagging too. The girl is going back to a little red dot and I am already missing her. Strange. She is right here but I can feel a hole growing. Like a string is being cut and tearing out a part of me.

Gotta get started. So adieu for now.

Busy

Back from an interesting trip to Salt Lake City in Utah and Evanston in Wyoming. Saw the very impressive main church which took 40 years to build, the main office building, and the Family History Library building and the very clean very neat and very well kept grounds of the Mormon church or Church of the Latter Day Saints. We wandered through around Temple Square, were treated to some demonstration of the incredible accoustics of the Temple Tabernacle. You could hear every whisper, every pin drop and every paper tear of the pulpit or podium (not sure what you would call it). And the incredible organ. Things we only see in movies. And across the road from the Temple Square, the huge LDS Conference Center that is built to be columnless and can seat an audience of 21,000, everyone of whom would have an unobstructed sight of the podium. Every modern convention amenity has been built in. And again, an incredible organ with a keyboard that can actually be moved around the stage. We were given a guided tour of the conference center - the roof itself is so huge, it covers many acres of space. We were a little apprehensive about being preached to and asked to convert but that did not happen. All the followers of the church who were on duty (likely all volunteers) were extremely courteous and hospitable. But we did manage to learn a little about Joseph Smith and a little of the history of the Mormons. I must say, despite all the misgivings most folks have of the church, they are an impressive lot.

This within a half hour of arriving at the city. A bunch of us just dumped our bags and took a walk to enjoy what was perfect weather. Before heading to a very good dinner at an interesting underground restaurant.

The next day was off to learn about sour gas operations. And the next day to learn about open pit coal mining operations. As usual with my learning group, back to back activities that left little room for anything else. Exhausting schedules but as always, very interesting and with loads of good camaraderie, both within the group and with our hosts. This trip was better in a sense that members from the two different operations actually folllowed us on our tours and collaborated. We felt like we were catalysts that brought two singular groups into better communication and exchange with each other.

Morning of the last day - another incredibly perfect weather day - was at a refinery very close to the SLC airport. So we managed to pack three different parts of the company and three very different types of operations into a single trip. Well done!

Came home from perfect weather to the most incredible heat wave that has lasted all weekend. And the trip back from SFO on the Bart was one of misadventure. Stalled trains and bad annoucements of train destinations amidst 100+ degree weather with luggage and comp bag to wit. What an anti-climax.

Contemplation

Labor Day weekend. Would have been longer except I did not take my AWS. Played some hard tennis at Rohnert Park and that was good. Watched too much of Dexter and still watching. I am torn, in two minds, maybe a little schizophrenic. Decter is intriguing but probably something kids should not watch. Maybe it is in the values we imbibe in them. That would help them decide right from wrong, black from white, moral from immoral. Not shielding them but building slowly over time the ballast that would upright them and keep them upright. Maybe I am just rationalizing for my failures. To censure or not to censure.

Tomorrow, I am off to Wyoming. Glad yet apprehensive. Taking time off to spend with my mentoring group when there is much to do in the office. The dilemma of which part of you to listen to, your heart or your mind. Why oh why are they always not aligned? Not one with the other.

I am always a little caught by surprise. Fall is almost here but did winter not just passed? Did the cherry blossoms not just bloomed outside our door? What happened to the long lazy lethargic days of summer? With each passing day, I worry more and more. Are our days here drawing to a close? Will we be allowed to stay longer or stay on? When should I act? Ask for the status change? Lose the extras that help pay for the expenses? Who can tell me? Show me the way. Why is life always full of crossroads and turning points that have no signposts to give you some help, some hints of what lies ahead with each fork in the roads of life? So many questions so little light to show the way.

Soon. Soon I have a make a decision. Time and age are both working against me.