Happy Birthday to My Grandma

Today is my Grandma's birthday. She rocks. Some tidbits about her:

• She taught me how to sew and iron.
  
• She also used to pick my sisters and me up everyday from school.
  
• When she picked us up from school, my grandma always had some sort of ice cold drink for us. Mostly I remember that it was Tang.
  
• She can't sit still!
  
• She made dinner every night, packed it up, and sent it home with us when my mom picked us up on the way home.

Happy birthday, Grandma! You are the best person I know in this world, and I hope I can some day be as patient and kind as you.

By the way, the picture above is slightly old (circa 2006 I think), but I love this picture of my grandma and her girls.

Graced Characters. Graced Book?

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


In Kristin Cashore's Graceling, people live in a world where some humans have been graced by a particular skill or ability. It can be as amazing as the ability to read minds to extraordinary fightling capabilities to the perceived useless ability to climb trees or talk backwards. These individuals are marked by their "grace" by their eyes, which are always two different colors.

Interesting, right?

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this book until I reached the halfway point. Finally, there was something about the book that kept my attention. I'm in though, I'll give book two a go.



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My Hyundai Headache

Guess what. The hissing noise is back.

I didn't even mess around, and called the Hyundai dealership right away. The car went in the shop today, and of course they could not replicate the noise. But, they did determine that the A/C system had been overcharged and that my car was without a cabin air filter. No cabin air filter? What?!

My response was "Either it was never installed, or it was removed and not replaced at some point last year when the car was with you guys." They installed one. And, they recharged the system properly. We'll see how this goes...

Happy Birthday

Can't say that I remember when this happened, but my sister, Mindy, was born on this day, 30-something years ago.

Happy birthday, Min! Did you have your spaghetti dinner?

In my family, you get to pick your birthday dinner, and it's been many years since Mindy's had anything else but my mom's spaghetti. If I was at home, I would make her some cupcakes. Next time, next time. Hope you enjoy your annual subscription renewal to National Geographic Traveler, and a new addition to your photo props inventory (obviously, it's not a secret).

How Today is About Football and My Sister

I'm a little distracted by the BCS Championship, so about all I can manage right now is to talk about two things: 1) the BCS; and 2) Mindy Metivier Photography gift certificates.

The BCS. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I always want to watch the national championship. This year especially (for reasons unknown even to me), I wanted someone to take down the SEC. Maybe it's because I have lived in California since 1996, or maybe it's because I've been brainwashed by all my Trojan and Bruin friends and I cheer for the Pac-10 when my Bows aren't in it (they're never in it). Whatever. I was pulling for the Ducks.

So much so, that the neighbors probably think I'm nuts.

Yes, I yell at the TV.

Well, the yelling is over. The Ducks lost. Ugh.

Silver lining. Silver lining.

Oops, sorry, it's something I've been hearing a lot lately.

So today's silver lining is that soon you will be able to buy gift certificates to Mindy Metivier Photography. How is it silver-lining? Well, even though Oregon lost the BCS today, it is also the same day that my sister announced that she will soon have gift certificates available for purchase. That's good for her, so by extension, I'm thinking it's good for me.

Silver lining. Right.

Eating With the Angry Korean Lady

Last week I went home for Christmas and New Year's, and enjoyed one of my most interesting dining experiences, thanks to my neighbor J, and the Angry Korean Lady.

J and I grew up next to one another, and he's like an older brother to me. Of course, now that we're grown and I live in the mainland, I rarely see either of the T-brothers, so I asked if we could meet up for drinks. For some reason we didn't think about food until a few hours before, and decided to get some Korean food instead.

Lucky me, J suggested Ah-Lang.

Located in the Imperial Plaza at 725 Kapiolani Boulevard, you will find a small Korean restaurant, operated by one woman. She calls herself "the Angry Korean Lady" and on the tables are notes that explain that she is "a one-woman show." Seriously. She does all the cooking, busing, etc. so she has no problem with you filling out your own order and bringing it in the back.

Feeling hungry? Becareful. If she feels like you ordered too much food, she'll come out and tell you that she's changing your order. Think you can handle a spicy rating of 10? You better be able to, because she will come out and tell you to scale it back. There's even more to the story, but I think you should experience it for yourself. One last thing...

Don't go here if you're in a rush. The service happens as its own pace; after all, there's just one person cooking. But, you can bring your own beverages (you gotta love Hawaii) and enjoy a leisurely meal.

In case you're wondering, we ordered kalbi and soon do bu. It was so yummy and affordable!

Great, now I'm hungry.

There's No Place Like Home

Akemashite Omedetoo Gozaimasu.

In case you're wondering about the photo above, that's how we celebrate the New Year in Hawaii. Culturally, we pop firecrackers to chase the bad spirits away; pop-culturally we do it for the fire and explosions.


If you have never spent a New Year's Eve in Hawaii, you are missing out. The food is great and there are firecrackers galore (until 2011 becomes 2012). I think I would feel totally discombobulated without all the noise and smoke.

Other New Year's traditions include cleaning the house (again, to get rid of all the bad spirits), pounding mochi, and eating ozoni and kuromame.


The mailbox has been through quite a lot over the years. This is how it looked in the first few minutes of 2011.