Not Project 365

Interesting news here.. At least now we sound like a private security firm.

Project 365: Day 193

I love these Chinese baked cakes called Ma La Gao. So fluffy, so tasty...soo...many calories...

Project 365: Day 191-192

More pictures from PP's wardrobe. We have been doing some serious cleaning around the house: throwing away old things, getting new furniture, general spring cleaning type things. The biggest problem we have is old furniture. Need a ways to get rid of it but don't really have the manpower needed to carry it downstairs.

Project 365: Day 190

I recently discovered the awesomeness that are Rainier Cherries. Wikipedia says they were developed in 1952, so they have been around for a while. However, I only recently discovered them on sale at a local Chinese supermarket. They don't have that cherry after-taste and imho, taste more like a grape than a cherry. They are very sweet and juicy and just filled with all around deliciousness. Go try a batch!

Project 365: Day 189

I think we may be headed up to Austin in a couple of weeks to enjoy some good times on the river in a tube. Last time we went, the water levels were extremely low and while the first part was extremely fun, we made the nearly fatal mistake of opting for the full 5 hour experience instead of stopping when we were ahead. What started as a fun excursion soon turned into Man Vs Wild as we all fought to survive and reach land. By the end, we were all exhausted and some of us were incredibly sun-burned. The BluPnutMM couple will be hosting us again and we are excited to visit their new house! Ummm, another of PP's outfits. jOrange, what's the next theme?

Project 365: Day 188

I can totally see the effects of P90X now. I started with not being able to do any chin-ups nor pull-ups, but today I was able to do 10 chin-ups and 7 pull-ups. Not a tremendously awesome improvement since I still have a ways to go, but I am quite proud of that achievement. If this were a game, I would probably get like 50 gamer points or something. Don't really have a good idea for a picture, so I fall back on PP's wardrobe collection.

Project 365: Day 187

What's a good weekend outing without some yummy Hotpot! The trip to College station served as a nice reunion of sorts for PP's close group of friends and classmates. Hotpot was always one of the most common ways to bring everyone together so this time was no different. We had the usual assortment of hotpot fanfare including thinly sliced meats, crab sticks, various types of fish balls, mushrooms, and other various vegetables as well as specialty dishes of which my favorite was "mules rolling on floor." Tasty!

Project 365: Day 186

This is Catcat the Cat. She used to be the center of attention for one of PP's friends in College Station..until a baby came along and usurped her position. She's been bitter ever since.

Project 365: Day 185

Heading up to College Station for the weekend for PP's MBA classmate pseudo-reunion. It should be a good time! Another outfit!

Project 365: Day 184

LeBron joining Miami? I hope they lose and he ends up at age 31 with bad knees and no title. I don't see how this decision works for him. Even if he does win, it will be Wade who will be the local hero because he stayed with the Heat all along and also recruited other stars to the cause. Can LeBron deal with being relegated to "that other moving piece" instead of being the Alpha Dog? Completely unrelated to this topic is another picture from PP's wardrobe.

Project 365: Day 183

Another day, another outfit. For some reason, it just looks extremely tall.

Project 365: Day 181-182

This will be the first couple in a series detailing the many working outfits of PP. She recently purchased some fantastic new clothes during the 4th of July sale and on a whim, PP decided to use some creative IKEA closet racks to create her ensemble of outfits. Luckily, because of her stroke of creativity, I finally have enough pictures to get fully caught up on my Project 365. So I present PP's "Project Runway!"

Project 365: Day 176-180

The 4th of July weekend turned out pretty awesome. We did a bunch of miscellaneous shopping during the day including some electronics/food/upholstery and met up with one of PP's friends for dinner at this wonderful place called Straits. It served a family style Singaporean food but what made the restaurant stand out was the awesome decorations and style in the settings.

We ordered 5 dishes in total and it was more than enough food to go around. We started out with some sliced spring rolls for an appetizer. I had some beef with fried taro strips, PP ordered the coconut fried rice with shrimp, and PP's friend had some traditional chicken Pad-Thai. The presentation of the food was exquisite while the taste was fantastic. Even though we didn't have room, we still ordered dessert which came in the form of these dipped cheesecake bites. (Oreo, Dark Chocolate, and Peanut Butter)

After dinner, we were walking to the car when I noticed lots of people sitting on the sidewalk in lawn chairs. We found out that in 15 minutes there was going to be a fireworks display so we just decided to stay. The display was pretty awesome as the fireworks exploded really close to the audience and it lasted a good 20 minutes while the 1812 Overture blared in the background.

Project 365: Day 174-175

The buying craze continues as we headed next to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up some curtains and an ergonomic, back-supporting, stress-relieving, and possibly cancer-curing seat pad.

Project 365: Day 171-173

New Ikea furniture for the homestead! We had put off buying new stuff for long enough so we decided to spruce up our upstairs living area a little. Got a nice little clock, shelf organizer, and lamp. It certainly feels more cozy now.

Project 365: Day 169-170

Well, I have certainly managed to keep this updated *sarcasm* My computer broke down because of a power supply last week and that caused me to fall behind. Add to that the whole P90X tiredness factor and here we are with my being almost 2 weeks behind. So here's a couple of make-up pictures as I hope to slowly get this up to date. These strange looking vegetables were grown by M in the backyard. We were supposed to harvest them while they were good to eat, but we kinda....harvested too much in Frontierville so these became overly ripe.

Project 365: Day 168

Went to the mall the other day and saw these creepy neck model thingies. I am not sure why they are so grotesque to me, but I imagine it has something to do with the fact that they look like ducks with human heads. Maybe it's that strangely serene expression on their face, almost as if the heads were freshly decapitated.

Project 365: Day 160-167

Last week was a crazy week around the office since everyone was gone leaving me to take care of everything that goes on. Add on top of that our imminent upgrade and lots of production issues and I had hell in a cubicle. I was so tired after each day that after P90X I basically just wanted to relax. Well, I suppose this will be the make-up post for a weeks worth of procrastination. This weekend, we went to a party hosted by some of PP's friends. The theme of the party was "complete duck feast." Every dish featured duck in some prominent way and were all entirely home made and absolutely delicious. After the dinner, we played a bunch of 三国杀 and it was amazingly fun. It's basically like Chinese Bang! but with different abilities and some different rules. Before we knew it, it was already 12 am and we had to disperse.

Project 365: Day 159

Went to the mall today and just happened to wander into a Vitamin World. I have been hearing so much about this "P90X Recovery Drink" from the videos that I wondered if they had any available. Well, apparently, the official P90X recovery drink is proprietary technology from BeachBody, but they had a replacement that is basically the exact same formula, but repackaged as something else. It was also pretty cheap so I am going to give it a try.

Project 365: Day 158

Soo it starts again. Last year, I got deeply involved in the "Happy Girl" singing competition. This year, it's time for "Happy Boy" Right, now, it's still in the stages of going from 61 down to 30 but so far, the talent has been much better than previous years according to PP.

Project 365: Day 157

PP's father was curious about what a US kitchen looked like so I took this picture. I didn't think there was that much of a difference, but perhaps that perception is there. I can kinda see how they could be different because there is a lot less space to work with in a Chinese kitchen. Also the cooking style is pretty different.

Project 365: Day 156

Here's another attempt at shadow.

Project 365: Day 155

Second attempted shadow picture. It's a shadowy hand grasping a gyro ball wrist strengthening thing.

Project 365: Day 154

jOrange informed me that the next theme was "shadow" so here are some attempted pictures of interesting shadows. This first one represents the deepest internal human emotion of peace. The black frame represents the emptiness of the material world, while the shadow represents how it always lingers over normal existence. I call this picture Black Shadow or BS for short.

Project 365: Day 153

Continuing the food theme. We had hotpot last Sunday with some of PP's friends. I wish I could have gotten the "before" picture but it was so good that I totally forgot to take a picture until it was almost over.

Project 365: Day 152

A while back, I was over at PP's friend's house and the conversation somehow drifted to the best childhood eating experiences. Her friend mentioned that her most memorable childhood moment was eating this particular fruit. At the time, she only knew the Chinese name and it took forever to actually find out the English translation.

It just so happens that today while grocery shopping, I saw this fabled "king of fruits" on sale and just had to try it. At first, I had no clue how to even eat it, but after consulting a youtube video on how to eat this exotic fruit, I was able to get to the delectable flesh within. It was like nothing I had tasted before, kinda tangy, but very juicy. Very very tasty indeed!

Project 365: Day 151

More food...This is because I am quickly running out of ideas for Project 365. Where's that next theme jOrange!! On a very awesome note, I managed to do my first un-chair-assisted pull-up today. It wasn't just one, I actually did like 7 or 8! P90X is totally effective!

Project 365: Day 150

Mmmm, Milk Tea. Yes, the cup is empty. This is because despite my best efforts, it could not last the distance from The Teahouse to The My House.

Project 365: Day 149

T-Minus 1 day until CFA exam time. PP is in full panic ZOMGWTFBBQPizza mode with the last couple of days before the exam. It seems like even the surroundings are feeling the panic. I know she will do just fine on the exam though. Add Oil!

Project 365: Day 148

My trusty Speedstream modem/router. It provides the sweet nourishment of internet that I need for survival.

Project 365: Day 147

Behind one day on taking pictures because of the extreme hotness that is upstairs from having no AC. This is just a picture of some lychees that PP's friend brought over.

Project 365: Day 146

PP is in her final week of panic for the CFA examination. She also decided to invite one of her friends to live with us just for these last couple of days before the exam on Saturday. Her friend is very pregnant and her husband works in Austin and is only in Houston on the weekends so it's mutually beneficial. Today, PP cooked some delicious chicken wings...sooo not good for P90X...but so good.

Project 365: Day 145

AC unit is broken upstairs. Sooo hot, will upload pictures from another location. Must fix AC immediately.....

Project 365: Day 144

PP's coworkers are so nice. One of them made banana pudding while the other bought a huge assortment of balloons for PP's birthday. They are still going strong today.