Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

The boys were so lost since I started school on Tuesday nights. Last week, DB told me the boys were waiting for me next to the door to the garage the entire time I was gone. The only time they moved away from their position was, of coz, their dinner and treats (carrots and apples).

They were whining a lot. DB sent them out for their business, Ranger went right to the gate and stared right out to the driveway. Called him, he wouldn’t budge.

Last night, they were laying by the door to the garage again, next to my running shoes. DB told me they were waiting for their walks when he got home from work at 4. DB went out to the mailbox, they followed him and refused to go in the house. When they got in, they went to the front door and sat there staring out till they heard their bowls “clang”.

When I got home last night, it sure feels like I was gone forever, the boys were all over me. Ranger was rubbing againsnt me like a cat and Coops was practically hopping around and tried to jump and most probably wanted to hug me!! They wouldn’t leave me alone. They wanted to play and followed me wherever I went. They were leeches.

It is so strange why they only “cling” on to me but not so much clingy to DB. I guess they know DB is the discipliner and I’m the spoiler. Adoi, susahlah like that.

Today, Ranger was so eager to go for his walk when I got home. He was practically pulling me as I was walking. Cooper is more obedient - walks next to me. Ranger, what can I say. He only graduated from kindergarden. Cooper is a “college” grad. Anyway, as if to compensate from his lost time, Ranger was cruising - 50 mph. I didn’t want to run this afternoon since I ran this morning, but had no choice. Mr. Cruiser wouldn’t slow down. So I ran and went to the mini hiking trails. Over there, they both snooped a lot so it gives me a breather. I can feel my knees are giving me problems again.

Took Coops leash off which gives me more control over Ranger. What was really funny was they these running and speed off spurts. Good too, let them run off their energy. Right now they are happy, Ranger is laying next to me and Coops is laying by the door so no one can “harm” me!! LOL!!

School started last week Tuesday, 23rd. I’m trying to keep up with blogging and my school reading and assignments. Pretty hard to do. By the time I’m done reading blogs, which I have to say it’s a must for me now. Addicted?? I think so.

School starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 9:50 p.m. It’s a long ass-class. I was surprised to hear from the instructor:

“I won’t be doing much talking in class. You guys will be doing the talking in this class. This class is four-frigging hours, don’t expect me to do all the talking.”

Four-friggin hours of class and only one break. Alamak, die of sitting, man. Can just imagine my ass growing wider every hour!

Thought I would be able to catch up with my blogging and reading my blogroll, nope didn’t happen. Gotta clean the house coz DB volunteered me to cook for his buddy who is coming over for dinner tomorrow night. As usual, kelam kabut, vacumn, dusting the 1 inch thick dust of the piano, pictures, etc and clean the bathrooms. Good thing it was -25F windchill this morning and early afternoon. I didn’t go for my run, the boys were super antsy. Bugging the shit outta me. Too bad.

Got done with cleaning and prep up the Monte - gotta put sheets and towels on the back seat so the boys won’t leave their fur behind. DB had to check over the car…put Heet however that’s spelt, checked the oil and added windshield fluid……gotta check them since it’s really cold out.

Put the boys in and off I the gas station. Was very glad to see the price of gas dropped to $1.95/gallon. Then we went to the dog park. Boys were like running everywhere. Really crazy. It’s as if they have not gone for a run or walk for ages. I suppose all the cooped up energy from yesterday evening and this morning. I didn’t run them yesterday evening as I cut Ranger’s nail too deep - onto the quick. Damn…..there was blood all over the cement. Super thick too.

Anyways, the boys are now all pooped out from all the running they did. I’m listening to my Chopin’s Nocturnes and blogging; instead of reading my text book. I still have one more day to finish my reading.

DB is busy completing his application for his job interview at Seagate for Tuesday. I’m glad to hear that, but both of us are trying not to be too happy about it yet. It’s a whole day interview with the engineering directors and senior directors. No interviews with managers. We thought it was strange. All the directors DB is interviewing with are Chinese (except for one Caucasian), those with mandarin pronounciation type of names….eg Song Xue. Is this is female or male?? That’s why his buddy is coming tomorrow night to give DB some interview testing skills. His buddy is the former VP of Contamination (ESD) at Seagate.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this interview will work out. DB needs a different job - a more brain challenging job, not a mind numbing job like his current job. We shall see.

Three weeks after we moved in to our place call home, we prep for our trip to Montana, to Marlboro’s Crazy Mountain Ranch. I booked a place for the boys at Kaos Kennel for boarding and brought them there the day before we left. The boys were so excited that they were going for a truck ride, little did they know we will be dropping them off for the weekend and a half. They were jumping with excitement when we got to Kaos. Brought them in and Mandy met us and did the paperwork, gave her the boys’ food, treats and medication. Then we took them to their kennel. Ah, their excitement died in a zip. They were whining as soon as the kennel door shut, tails down and the sad puppy eyes. Man, it was hard to leave them there. Mandy told me to leave the kennel and don’t turn to see them.

Got home and the house was so quiet. No fur speed bumps on the hallway or under the dining table, no slurping of water going on, no begging for food. Just felt plain weird. DB and I packed our bags which Marlboro sent us and airline tickets.

I won a Marlboro sweepstakes from Phillip Morris (PM) in March of 2006. PM sent me the entry to the contest in February and I was wondering why they were sending this to me. The entry form included a CD of the Marlboro Crazy Mountain Ranch in Montana. I viewed the CD and thought I should go ahead and try it. We have not won any kind of contest before, what the hell.

FedEx came and rang the doorbell somewhere in March and delivered a letter from DB Blair, the organizers. Said I won the contest to the ranch, travel dates will be in the fall. Fill up more forms and mail back within 4 days. Mailed those docs back by FedEx, paid by PM and wait.

In June, FedEx delivered the formal documents – background screen, medical, profile, and legal stuff. All documents included a clause that I the winner have to be a smoker. All along I have been telling them I am not a smoker. DB had to complete some documents, too, not as many as I did. In July, a letter came via FedEx and confirmed the flight details and what I would expect in August.

DB still thinks it’s a hoax. He thinks there is something behind all these free stuff they mentioned. I Google Marlboro Ranch and read and saw the pictures from contestants who have been there. August 4 came and I was confirmed a winner of the sweepstakes. The letter had our confirmation of our flight dates, choice of complimentary smokes, accommodation arrangements, and activities sheet arrived. Faxed those back and on September 10, I received the airline tickets, two luggage and baseball caps with the logo of the ranch, luggage tags, a check of $1500, and itinerary. We were told to wear our baseball cap when we are at the airport. DB was still skeptical about this whole thing. He said he will believe it when he gets there.

The day came for us to fly out to Bozeman, MT. Got to the airport and saw a few folks wearing that cap. Boarded Northworst flight and it was indeed the worst flight I have ever flown with NWA. The air-conditioning kaputed with all the passengers on board waiting for take off. We were sitting in the plane almost passed out when the kapitan came on the PA and told us what was wrong. Duh!! We knew the air-conditioning were toast coz everyone’s faces were beetroot red. The kapitan should at least tell us to get the hell out of the plane till they fix it or put us on a different plane. No, we had to sit in the roaster for 45 minutes while the maintenance crew fixed the frigging air-conditioning. That was a great way to start our trip.

Eventually the plane departed and we got to Bozeman, of course, 45 minutes later. When the plane started to descend, there was this clown yelled out “Welcome to Bozeman International Airport”. There was only one runway and the airport is like the size of Ipoh Airport. Yes, it’s really that small.

We got off the plane and there were Marlboro agents directing the ranch guests to the reception area. We did not have to worry about our luggages. Just head towards downstairs to the reception area, check in with more Marlboro agents and have a snack.

There were about 46 of us and all were hard core smokers. The moment they got to the reception area, they head outside for their cigi. DB and I wanted to get check in and move on. But no, we have to wait for our coaches. Unfortunately, our coach was the last one. When it arrived, we were told to check our luggages that were all lined up like corpses against the wall. The agents did a roll call and we boarded the coach.

The coach was not a smoke free coach. Smokers lit up right away and DB and I almost died!! Actually it wasn’t that bad for me, but DB had quit smoking almost 30 years, he said the smoke got too thick for him. Our “tour guide” gave us the spill about the ranch, where we were now, the food at the ranch, we don’t have to spend a dime at the ranch as everything is free, free flow of food and drinks, and how long the trip to the ranch takes. It takes 45 minutes to get to the ranch from the airport. The coach passed through a really tiny town with the population of 200 or less. Kids attend school proms probably with their cousins!

When we were almost to the ranch, the “tour guide” told us about the free gifts waiting for us when we get to our rooms. All the passengers still do not believe her. DB was still in that skeptical mode.

At last when we got to the ranch, it was beautiful. It was like we were back in the 1800s with modern amenities. Check in at the Stage Stop where the front desk is. Got our room key which was the Lincoln Room in the Bank. OK, whatever you say, missy. Followed the map and found the bank. Opened the door to our room and wahla!! There were those gifts on our bed:

2 Stetson hats
2 red windbreakers
2 black fall heavy duty jacket
2 red/black backpacks
2 red bandanas
2 Swiss Army watches
2 digital cameras
2 pens
2 red t-shirts
2 pairs of sunglasses
2 pants (those 2-way type pants where you can unzip the bottom half)
2 ashtrays
5 packs of Marlboro Lights
2 activities itineraries
2 recipe books
1 Zippo lighter
Postcards
(I think that were all we got on the first day)

DB’s jaw dropped when he saw all the goodies. We were told to try them clothes and hat on ASAP as we were the last coach to arrive, the store for exchange will be closed soon. Everything for me fit except the hat, red windbreaker, and the black jacket. Brought them to the Stage Stop and did an exchange on the hat for a larger size and smaller sizes for the windbreaker and jacket. No such luck. The jacket and windbreaker were “guai poh” sizes and they were the smallest, too. I’m just fortunate.

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Since I’m at the age where my GP needed me to get my base line done, I finally went for my baseline mammogram on Wednesday at Park Nicollet Clinic. I have been procrastinating about it since last year. I didn’t want to do it coz I heard it hurts especially if you have small boobs.

Scheduled the appointment with the radiology department and went it when my name was called. Changed to a gown and in I went into this room with a huge machine.

The technician was an older lady and asked me a bunch of questions, you know the usual: Have you had any children? Have you had a mammogram before? Any abnormal lumps, discharge, the results will be mailed to you, read it carefully, and the list goes on.

Then she told me to place my right boob on the machine and I was thinking to myself, what is there to place? Could hardly lift those suckers up to place them on the plate. Well, she helped me and told me what to do and so forth. Then she told me she will tighten the clamps to compress the boob. Boy, did that hurt. Another thing is, I have to hold my breath when she takes the image. When that was done, I have to do my left boob, left side and the right side. I don’t mind doing it but that frigging machine stinks of BO!!! It was disgusting. I would assume the technician or someone else would sanitized the machine after each patient. I guess not.

Thought I was done with the four images, but not, she said she wants to take the left side boob again because it didn’t look good. So, my poor bee sting boob went for a compression again. She took a few images of that and finally she said “that’s good”.

When I took the gown off, my boobs were super red. Thank God I don’t have to do it till I reach the big 40, unless bad comes out from the images!

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2006 was much better. I made a trip to S’pore for CNY and surprised my parents of my visit. My sister and I “pakat” (collaborated) and she planned with her hubby how to get out of their house to pick me up in the middle of the night. One thing about flying Northworst (Northwest) Airlines, their flights arrive in the middle of the night and leave S’pore early in the frigging morning. Sis told our parents her hubby had to be on duty at the airport. Ah hah, parents bought that!! As soon as I walked on the jet way, I felt like ripping my sweat pants off – the blast of humidity and the heat coming from the Arctic weather.

Collected my luggage and headed to my sis’ home. It was 6 years since I was last in S’pore. Everything seems so strange. I forgot how much smaller the lanes are and the lorries! I could not remember when the last time I used that word “lorry”. One thing about S’pore is their freeways are constantly lit up during the nights. I was able to look-see better in the dark.

Our parents were definitely surprised and mom gave sis hell (sorta) for not telling her I was coming over. I was in S’pore for 12 days and back to reality. It was too short of a trip. My boss could not let me out for too long due to affirmative action plans deadlines. 12 days was better then none. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip and was able to see my five nephews. I have never seen my brother’s youngest boy and my sis’ youngest boy was not even a year old the last I saw him. The boys grown so much. I finally saw my brother after 8 years. So much to catch up between the two of us. It was a worth-well12-day trip.

After I got back, DB and I had to renew our renter’s lease with the bitch of a landlady. Man, she is one heck of a woman. Everything has to be her way and she always thinks she’s right. She agreed to renew the lease for another 6 months. At the mean time, we were finding ways to up our credit score. Since we were officially bankrupt as of November 14, 2004, we cannot purchase a home for 2 years. DB wants to purchase a home with a VA (Veteran’s Administration) loan, but nope, we can’t. Gotta wait 24 months. Cilaka!!! So, we continue to work on increasing our credit score by securing a credit card, opened another account at US Federal Credit Union, paid all bills on time, no late payments at all, and read on articles from Stephen Snyder, Life After Bankruptcy author. We attended his seminar in early January, 2005 and we found it very resourceful. He gave out a ton of tips on how to increase our credit scores to buy a house and vehicles after bankruptcy.

In May, we checked our credit scores and it was slightly above the average compared to the lower 400s and 500s 1+ years ago. So, we contacted the same realtor again and told her we were looking to buy a house. She got a hold of a loan office from Bell Mortgage and she said the same thing about VA loans. If we can secure a loan from the VA, we don’t have to cough out money for down payment and the interest rate is lower. So the loan officer work things out and we cooperated with whatever paperwork she needed.

At the mean time, we were surfing the web for houses. Our wish list for a house were: built in late 1990s onwards; 3 or a 2+ car garage; 3 bedrooms; rambler (getting old – can’t go up and down the stairs that much!!); big kitchen since we spend 80% of the time in the kitchen; quiet neighborhood with no noises from freeway or main roads; automatic blinds and of course fenced yard. Yeh, we bookmarked those homes within our price range. We sent our wish list to our realtor and the same day she sent us an email if we are interested in this house http://client.rnc.imprev.net/611/4931/index.ipv. The first thing we saw was the kitchen – too small, the rest of the house was awesome. Realtor called and told us there will be an open house the same weekend.

We went and saw the house. Indeed the kitchen was smaller than what we wanted but it was open and airy. Came home and we talked about it for a week and we finally told the realtor we were interested in that house. She arranged for us to see the house again and then the stress began. The seller, the wife, was pregnant and she was bitchy about everu questions we asked. Hey women, do you want to sell your house or not?? Plus dealing with the phone calls with the loan officer, started packing since end of August was round the corner when the lease expires we had to move out anyways and getting ready for our trip to Montana. We were running around like a chicken with the head cut off.

Finally on August 8, 2006, we signed our lives away. The amount of paperwork to sign during a closing was nuts. A lot more now then when we bought our first home. Yeah, we are new home owners now. Yehahhh!! Happy, we can move in on August 25, but wait it’s not over yet. We still need to clean the rented house for showings, finish packing and make arrangements with bro in-law and gang to help us move. Bro in-law said he will round up his boys (son and son in-law) to help us on the 25th. A week before the scheduled move, DB called his bro to finalize the time and so forth. Bro in-law said he can’t make as he picked up a few shifts for the State Fair. (Bro in-law is a paramedic). What about the boys? They can’t make it either – can’t take time off from work. Sonofabitch!!! Boy, were we pissed. We knew we can’t count on them much, but we took the chance. What the hell we gonna do?? We scrambled for whatever funds we had and called a moving company to move the heavy stuff, mainly the piano, big screen, refrigerator, washer, dryer, lawn rider and dining room table. (Turned out, moving companies do not move lawn riders.)

In between all these havoc, we need to show the house to future renters. You know when these folks show up, the present owners need to disappear for a while so the landlord can show the house in peace. F-ing-eh, so “ma fan” (troublesome) - gotta take the boys out for walks or rides, and usually these folks will take longer than they said when the appointment was initially was made. There were 5 – 6 showings but no go. On August 25, moving guys from Three Men and A Truck (they were horrible) came moved all the heavy stuff to the new house. Step-daughter’s friends came the next day and helped moved the rest of the medium-weight stuff the next day. The rest of the misc. stuff, we moved them. After getting rid of stuff we don’t want, there were still so much shit left. Anyhow, we moved in to our house after being a bankrupt for 1+ year. We were proud of ourselves. All of our hardwork to increase our credit score to the 700s and saving whatever we had worked out beautifully and now we are strapped to this home sweet home of ours for 2-years with a fixed rate of….you don’t even want to know….you want to know? Be prepared!

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The rate was fixed at 9.2%. “Sei um sei”?? And it’s ARM for 2 years. After two years, we can apply for a VA loan from the same mortgage company. The loan officer mentioned it shouldn’t be a problem. Hopefully it’s true.

(To be continued….Montana Trip)

That’s all for Part 5. School starts tonight and I’m already stressed out!!

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DB got home on July 16, 2004. Once he was home, he got into business. I told him we have to file for bankruptcy asap before collection agencies garnish my wages. He agreed to my plan, and I called up several attorneys to check out their fees. I settled with a Mr. Radke to file for bankruptcy.

In the meantime, DB applied for unemployment. He was able to now because his severance had ended. It was nice to have the second income to help with bills. DB was also looking for jobs in the papers and applied to them left and right. In the end, he found a job in Bloomington right across the Mall of America. He started work in September. Was I glad and he was still sober.

At the same time we called up our former neighbor who is a realtor to put the house on the market. Putting the house on the market was a pain – cleaned the house almost everyday, pickup my clutter, got rid of stuff displaying on cabinets, and stuff on the counters. We had the house on the market in August and had quite number of showings but no sale. Damn. Our deadline for the foreclosure sale was coming up, January 15, 2005. We had to get the house sold before the deadline.

Finally, early December, the house was sold to a family of young kids. We also started looking for houses to rent. Can’t rent apartments because we have 2 big dogs. No townhomes either. We can’t buy another house because our credit history was down the drain, I mean it was really down. Can’t apply for any credit cards or loans. We saw a few homes for rent but they were in terrible condition. Finally, we saw an ad for a house to rent in Apple Valley. Yeah, called the landlord and saw the house. Rent was more expensive because the house was a newer house and situated right in the heart of conveniences. We moved in the day after Christmas of 2005.

Furthermore, in November of 2005, I started to cut down on my smoking since DB quit drinking….not a drop. I thought if he could do it the hard way, I would do it. Actually, he didn’t really do it the hard way. He was all doped up and could not remember a thing when he was in the hospital. What the heck, I cut my smoking down from 8 a day for a week, 3 for three days and then 1 a day for about a week and eventually I told myself I’m not relying on 1 a day anymore. That was it, I completely got rid of my cigis even the ones I have left in the freezer were given to my step-daughter. Smoke-free but then I had to go through the withdrawals. It was tough, you know, the usual dizziness, cough to get rid of the crud in me, tiredness, the urge to pick a pack when I’m at the gas station or grocery store, jittery and constantly wanna eat!!

The first week was the worst, however, the second week was pretty smooth sailing. I was munching on a lot of celery and apples, but still, I was eating like crazy. I could taste food that are sweet again, and had frozen yogurt with DB every night after our dinner. He eats frozen yogurt to curb his urge to drink. So, we were both on the road to recovery.

We settled in the new house pretty quickly. The boys were lost for a while, ultimately they knew that was their home. The new home was a little smaller, so we had all our unused stuff store in the basement 2nd bedroom. We knew we were going to live in that house for a year, why unpack all the stuff. We only unpacked what we needed.

I continued to run in pain but not everyday because I had bursitis on my Achilles tendon. That was horrible. My knees too were hurting. Had to rub “Jeng Kuat Shui” on them every night. DB said it smells like Bengay factory in the house. Whatever works. The doc told me to stop running and walk. Walking was a drag to me. Too damn slow and no kick to the adrenalin. I was itching for my knees to get well and the Achilles tendon to heal. It took forever, like 2 months. So, the pounds piled up. Could not fit into my size 0s and 1s anymore. Out to the store I went and bought new pants, shorts and sweaters. I detest seeing myself so full of meat. However, everyone told me I look so much better with meat on me. Urghhhhh!!!

Since I was the system administrator for the company’s recruiting system since 2004, my boss sent me to Stamford for a 2-day training for the new version of the recruiting system in May of 2005. My very first business trip out East. I always want to visit the headquarters. I stayed at the Westin and it was totally different from the Westin in S’pore. It was not what I expected. Service was super good, food was so-so, and the gym was definitely superb. I hit the gym the day I arrived since it was raining like crazy.

My next business trip was in July, 2005. This time I was in Boston, supposedly for 2-days for Business Objects training. Boston is a nice, antique city. I didn’t go anywhere because it was raining again. From the day I arrived till the day I left.

In 2006 I was also promoted to HR Coordinator, Compliance. Yeh, a raise and went up a level and a reorganization within the company and my department reported out to Stamford, CT, the headquarters. Boy, things changed because we were not reporting to the market group anymore.. That means no more employee bonus for us and my job responsibilities changed. My system administrator responsibilities were stripped off which I missed terribly. Oh well, at least I still get to use Business Objects and use the recruiting system for writing affirmative action plans purposes.

(To be continued….)

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Also, in the same year, DB got laid off and that was where all hell broke loose. Could not remember how many times we were arguing. Here I am trying to get a degree and he was all depressed about losing his job. His drinking was already bad enough, but after being laid off, it went downhill. I swear to God, I wanted him dead. His only remedy to stay sane, according to him was booze. He was so boozed up, I gave up in trying to console him. My only way of staying sane was running and smoked like a chimney. I ate but didn’t have the appetite. Seeing DB feeling sorry for himself and was angry all the time, drove me up the frigging wall. Told his daughter it was no sense coming over to see her dad. She will be sick to the stomach.

Like it was not bad enough as money was already running low because DB could not apply for unemployment due to him on severance, Ranger had to go to doggie ER. That cost us a bomb $3K. DB took whatever savings he had, even his 401K to pay for medical bills. We could not give him back to his breeder. The bond was there between us.

I was still enrolled at UOP for my fall classes. DB was still drinking away. Whatever money that was left and credit card bills were piling. Asked him if mortgage bills were paid, he said yes. I was doing my class assignments, and DB would be drinking and watching DVDs and I would here thuds here and there everyday. Initially I was concerned, I would run out to see what happened, but after a while, I got sick of it. DB did it to himself from drinking. I didn’t give a rat’s ass. The only time I went out to see what the hell was going on was he felled on the coffee table and blood was gushing from his hand. He didn’t want to go to the ER, so I had to tend to him. Thought that would taught him a lesson, but hell no.

His drinking continued. He even called me at work to stop and get him booze. I thought I should not get him any, but if I didn’t, I would get a good a fight with him. So I did. He would past out all the time and was hardly eating. I would be out running with the boys and stopped over at our friend’s house, Dok and Dorothy, have couple of smokes and told them what the hell is wrong with DB.

On July 1, I went over to the friend’s house as she told me to, I told them that DB is getting worse day by day. Dok said he will stop over the next day to chew DB’s ass. I said “Please, do so.” When I got home, DB was already out to hell. Took my shower, did my Pilates and went to bed. In the morning, July 2 before I left for work, DB was up which was very unusual, told him Dok will be coming over in the afternoon. I left the house in a heart beat. Could not stand him no more.

I was happier at work, glad to be at work and hated the thought of going home to the brewery. At 1 pm got a call from DB’s cellphone and it Dorothy. Told me I better come home now. Told me that DB collapsed, laying on the floor and could not move. When I got home, I had to call paramedics; cops came and paramedics finally came without the siren on. His alcohol level was so high, he could have died. He was pickled good.

Took him to Fairview Ridges and he was in detox and was on heavy duty drugs to knock him out for his withdrawals. It was hell. The thoughts of leaving him came in again, but now he hit rock bottom, finally. I hung on - marriage vows, you know, for better or worse, till death do us part.

I went through the whole house – clean it and got rid of the brewery smell. Went through the bills that were all over the basement. It was bad. Statements from credit collection agencies, mortgage company, county Sherriff’s office for sale of foreclosure, you name it, we were in deep shit. Called my boss and asked him what I should do. He told me to call a bankruptcy attorney and file for one.

At the same time, I was back and forth the hospital and home settling utility bills before they cut them off. Search the entire house for booze bottles. Search the web for alcoholics’ co-dependency. Went for alcohol co-dependent meetings and work at the same time. Packed a bag and left it in my office for just in case thing. DB was discharged after 8 days in the hospital but had to go for his PT/OT rehab. He was admitted at the rehab after much persuasion. He spent 5 days at rehab.

The day he got home, he was a changed person. I repeated to him that if he drinks again, I will be out of the house as I’m not going through this crap again. I think it hit him too how much I had done for him when he was in the hospital and rehab. I could have left him at both places by himself.

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What have I done in these 10 years I have been here? Let’s see if I can recall them.

I had lots of drinking sessions with Kay whenever DB and I were down in Rochester. There were always something going on when we were at Kay’s. The most memorable occasion was Valentine’s day of 1998, the three of us were drinking away - totally hammered, Kay and I were doing some sort of stretches and I was doing my usual splits. Guess where I landed. Yeah, my ass landed on the floor ok, but something else landed on the floor, too. My chin took a good hit on the kitchen floor and it busted opened. It was gushing blood. All three of us went to St. Mary’s hospital ER smelling like a brewery. I was so hammered when the nurse asked me for my social security number, I could not remember.

The resident did a good job in sewing my chin up with 16 stitches. I made a lot of trips to Kay’s when DB was in Thailand. Kay was DB’s best friend. They knew each other since 1978 during the great flood in Rochester. Each time we visited her, she would update us on what’s going on with their friends. In December 23, 1999, Kay called and said she was having the cold. She said she felt horrible, will be going to make a hot toddy and go to bed. The next night we were watching movies in the basement and Alex called and told us that Kay died in her sleep. Marge, Kay’s downstairs neighbor, found Kay on her bed still sleeping and tried waking her up, but she was already gone. What a bummer. Our connection to Rochester has departed the world. She had a major aneurysm in her brain that kicked her butt.

After Kay died, we only went to Rochester once a year to see the accountant to file our taxes. Now, we only have to mail the stuff to him and everything is online.

No more drinking sessions with Kay, but DB and I had our drinking session up in the cities. I acquired the taste for good old beer; my favorite was MGD light. Also, I was into Windsor, DB’s favorite dose of antidote for everything. I can’t even remember times I was drunk as a skunk, so drunk you can’t remember shit.

We bought our first home in July of 1999. We lived in a nice neighborhood with very nosy neighbors. I mean they were so nosy they had to ask the other neighbors what the hell is going on with this person. There were quite a bit of drinking sessions at home especially when his daughter and friends showed up at our house.

In June of 2000, I told DB I wanted a dog since he was constantly out of the country. Thus in August, he drove all way to Maple Grove and brought home Moose which we changed his name to Super Cooper. That little bugger was a whiner from the day DB picked him up until today. We then had to change our schedule a little as this little puppy was an attention seeker. Yeah, we know, puppies are like babies. Well, we did the usual thing; get up in the middle of night for his potty. We took him for puppy obedience classes; I walked him twice a day; taught him to fetch; more obedience classes and bird and gun training. With all these training he had, he graduate doggie college. Yeehah, our “boy” graduated!!

In 2001 through 2002 I started school at a local community college. But before I could take any 1000 courses, I need to take those pre-requisite classes. Crap!!! No choice, pre-requisite classes they were and started gluing myself to the books, but it doesn’t mean the drinking sessions stopped!! I am still wondering how in the world I passed my classes. However, when I took my Math classes, I quit my hard liquor, just beer during the weekends and that was only occasionally during holidays and days off.

In 2003 which I have to say was my worst year, I enrolled at University of Phoenix Online (UOP) for a BA in business administration. Each course was 5 weeks long, speaking of accelerated. All beer and any sort of wine cooler drinking were over for me. All I had was good old H20. Took two courses for the spring semester. It was fun but very stressful. I still those late nights staying up till 2 am to complete my assignments.

Also in the same year, we adopted Ranger, the Fart Monster from Kaos Kennel where Coops went for his obedience and bird and gun training. Ranger was neglected when he was a puppy till he was an adult (1 year old). His previous owner called the breeder (Kaos Kennel) told them they could not handle him anymore – too aggressive with children. Wonder why?? He had no attended any obedience classes and no human contact except a bucket of food and water in the backyard.

Since Ranger was not used to fetching, I had to walk him. So, I started them both at the same time and it was like an expedition walking them. Ranger loves his walks. From walks I started running them so I can get it done sooner. That was how I got addicted to running. I would run whether rain, shine or snow. I took them to the hiking trails and I just loved it. Why, coz I was burning more energy and I was losing weight and so were the boys. Running became a routine for the three of us. I would get up at 6 am to run them in the summer. Oh yeah, I was hooked to running – the farther the better.

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Ai-yah brother and I met yesterday at Sambol Restaurant. My boss told me to take my time. Nice, huh? Before I left my work parking lot, I wondering what in the world am I gonna talk to him about - school, music, work and what else?

Got to the restaurant, a table and waited about 5 minutes and he showed up. When I saw him walked in, I waved to him, like I have met him before! It was spontaneous. We shook hands, and the first thing that came out his mouth was “It’s so cold. How can you live in this cold?” I find it funny. He had his snow cap on and his coat. As soon as we sat down, we started chatting till we got out of the restaurant.

Here I am worrying about what to talk about. Our conversations started from our father, father’s recent surgery, our lives - when we got to the States, cousins in Ipoh and US, relatives, his siblings, me, my schooling, work, his work as a consultant, and to the major subject - MUSIC. We spent at least an hour chatting about music. He gave me a CD on Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. He told me to expect music books from him. Yeeeeehah!! Boy, this guy is well educated in the subject of music. Being an engineer, he analyzes the pieces he plays. I don’t do that. The only thing I ever analyze is augmentation – change to a different key. We even talked about Bela Bartok’s Mikrokosmos – Bela Bartok’s method of piano teaching.

I thought I would be bored – but heck, no. I was so enthused by his excitement when he talks about his work, music and school. Of course, when we touched the subject on our own families, we were more cautious of what we were telling each other. It was weird that we hardly mentioned our mothers. It is actually kinda strange to even mention our mother in our conversations.

We were so engrossed in chatting, he was actually running late. The POS camera I brought along was long forgotten. When we got to our cars, he showed me his music notes and the books he uses to teach his neighbor’s kid. He mentioned he will be back in Minneapolis again and many more if the client accepts their proposal. We then said our goodbyes, shook hands again and wished him a safe flight home.

My impression of him in his emails was kinda snotty, however, meeting him in person, I was so wrong. When I told him the tab is on me, he told me the tradition is elder brothers or sisters always pay for the younger brothers and sisters. Huh?? I told him I have never heard of that. He said I don’t have to pay anything when I’m dining with him.

He kept telling me I should visit him in Boston. Hey, I have been to Boston once, and I like that city – it’s very old and historic. Who knows, one of these days I might take a few days off and fly over to Boston and feast on great seafood.

Overall the get-together was worthwhile. It’s definitely nice to put a face to the emails I have been receiving for 7 months.

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It will be 10 years on Saturday, January 20th, I have lived in Minnesota. So much has happened in 10 years. It doesn’t seemed that long though. 10 years flew by very quickly - year by year.

I still remember my first 3-week trip to MN was in 1996 during the week of Halloween. The entire city, everywhere was white and it was freaking cold. Went to Rochester and visited DB’s friends. What we did there??? Hummmm, lets see if I remember them. Dressed up as biker girl, drank, dance, party, ate and sat next to the fireplace as much as I can. Next day, can’t remember much. All I remembered was everyone in the party were nursing their hangovers.

Came back to MN for good on January 20, 1997. The weather was worse. I remembered DB told me it was 20 degrees, snowing heavily when he picked me up from the airport and I was shivering - cold to the bones. The heater in the house was set to 76 and I was still cold. DB was roasting and I was wrapped in heavy blankets.

Got a job at where DB was working through a temporary agency. Job title - Production Operator. It was actually really neat. Didn’t expect it to be that fun. 90% of the operators on the production floor has black hair. They all thought I don’t speak English so they spoke really slow when they talked to me. Many of them spoke to me in Vietnamese.  Surprised them a little when I told them I’m not Vietnamese or Cambodian or Thai.  All was so inquisitive about me…new kid on the block, what to do, must tell them the story minus other stuff. Gotta “ying chau” (entertain) a bit.

I learned how parts were made, sorted, tested, packed, vacumn sealed and shipping. Brand new world. Had great “teachers”. Learned to eat Cambodian, Loatian, Vietnamese and Thai food from the other operators.

Worked there for 7 months and the company had a RIF - reduction in force. Temps were first to go. Out I went and came back to Ipoh for 3 months. “Leong tei koon” (jobless) what else to do, so DB said go back to my mom and visit him in Bangkok at the same time. That’s what I did.

Came back and landed a job at a travel company. Worked for a wicked witch of the west. She is one heck of a woman - she really knows how to belittle a person. I have never worked for a boss that was so hard to please. She was domineering and a Ms. Perfect all the way to my clothes, too. No blue jeans on Fridays. I told myself if I can work for her, I can work for any person out there. Worked for that bitch for 1 plus years and I had it with her bitching all day long and even when she was in Europe, Russia or South America, she still calls me and wants to know what I was doing. I said goodbye to the wicked witch in February of 2000.

Got a temp job at my current company and have been there ever since. Great company, bosses and coworkers were wonderful. The work environment is just so peaceful. Everyone is pretty much business casual except for the top dogs, but still, we are allow to wear jeans on Fridays, blue jeans on top of that!

Moved up several times working for the same department, Compliance. I totally like what I’m doing on equal employment opportunity. I was the system administrator for our recruiting system but the center of excellence took over - one recruiting system for the entire company globally. Missed that a lot, but it gives me more opportunity to touch on affirmative action and writing the plans.

That’s all I have accomplished for 10 years in this Land of 10,000 Lakes.

(To be continued…gotta go sleep now)

I took the boys to the dog park yesterday afternoon. It was packed which I was quite surprised. Got the boys out from the truck and they went right for the other “greeters”. Coops did his big business and so did Ranger. I knew Ranger needed to go as he was letting gas while we were on our way. We should have changed his name to Gasser.

We went for a walk on the 5 acres land and came back to see the Park Sherriff inside the park. What the hell. The boys went over and greeted her. Ranger thought she has food, as usual. Then, from no where I saw Cooper humping this little beagle. That little bugger, which I will call LB, was like a miniature beagle of some sort as it’s shorter and smaller than any beagle I have seen. Coops was just busy humping away LB, Ranger joined in the fun on top of Coops and then another yellow lab was on Ranger - good God. What a scene. Too bad I didn’t bring my camera. It would be a great picture on a triple X website.

LB managed to squirm away, but Coops was chasing LB all over the place. Ranger, the other Lab and now a German Shepard was hunting down LB, too. The owners of LB eventually emerged from the woods with her other dogs came over to where I was standing. She said something about when it’s going to snow. Then she saw her LB. I asked her if LB is her dog, she said yes and said good thing my dogs are neutered. She said LB was neutered , too. Damn, I thought that dog was pregnant!!! That dog is obese if it’s a male. Sure enough, when she picked LB up, saw his wiennie. LB must smell like a female dog!!! Dogs just love to hump to show their dominance.

I was trying to stop my boys from humping LB as I know some owners do not like other dogs hump their dogs, but then the owners said it’s okay. She said “Iit’s good for him to interact with bigger dogs”. Alright, I let it be. Soon, I had enough of standing there freezing my butt off. I need to walk. Called for the boys and when they are in the dog park, they are in heaven. Any commands needs to be repeated a gazillion times. Finally they came and snooped and ran after another yellow Lab. Here we go again, but this time it’s not happening. Why?? It’s a female and usually females knows how to snap back when they are mounted. Bitches, huh??

I try to get the boys running around for about an hour in the park, but yesterday the weather turned nasty pretty quick. Didn’t expect it to snow so soon. It started out with flurries which I thought it was no problem, but then it was coming down good, heavy and the wind picked up within 15 minutes and by the time we walked back to the gates, the truck had a pretty good layer of snow. Got to the gates, another came over to Ranger and mounted him but Ranger, his old bones looked at me like “Get me outta here!” One thing about Ranger, he does not care if any dog mount him. “Okay, whatever. Are you done?” That’s the look kind of look he has when a dog mounts him. Cooper, heck, he does not like it when he gets mounted, but he likes to mount other dogs because he is dominant. I have to say as he gets older he is getting a little more mellowier, if there’s such a word.

Aiyah tai loh sent an email and confirmed we will meet for lunch at 11:30 on Wednesday, Jan 17 in Eagan. He said it’s his treat but I have to tell him since he’s in my territory, I will buy him lunch. When I’m in his territory he will buy me lunch, dinner and all the great restaurants he was talking about.

Now, I’m looking up all the nice restaurants to meet him - some place that is not too noisy either so we can talk. Oh boy, where should I go - Granite City, Jake’s, Houllihan, The Taj Mahal, Genghis Khan? He said he wants to have lunch near my workplace (Eagan). I was thinking of some sort of restaurant that serves both meat and vegetarian. Most probably the Taj Mahal, an Indian restaurant.

I assume he is taking the lunch hour off drive over to meet me or take the cab. Not sure, but will find out. I’m really excited to meet him, the Mr. Intellectual.

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My ai-yah brother sent me a parcel last week. I was kinda surprised to see it that soon. He sort of mentioned about VHS tapes during our email exchanges. I didn’t not expect to see the tapes that soon. Of course when I received the parcel and saw the return address, I knew it had to be the tapes. So, what kind of tapes were they? They can’t be “hamsum” (X-rated) tapes, right? He is not that type of person from what I know about him. I thought they were movies pertaining to classical music since we are classical enthusiasts. In a way they were related to the subject. They were classical tapes on Introduction to the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras. He bought those tapes when he was taking music courses at Stanford and Cornell. Those tapes were sitting in the basement collecting dust and he is not using them anymore.

Alright! I can now learn some of the stuff he was telling me about Chopin’s music. I’m so rusty on my theory of music, I asked my sis to send me the rudiments I had used when I was studying music in Ipoh.

This guy is only into education. “Pooi fook hoi”. Each time we get into the subjects of classical music and school, he will go on and on and on and on…………. I told him he inspires me to keep up with my schooling and it sure is pushing me to GET ‘R DONE.

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Ranger’s itching came back about 2 weeks ago. DB called the vet and Ranger is back on his prednisone again. In addition to the pred, I have to bathe him and clean his ears every week. We put on two pred twice a day last week for five days. Then it’s one a day for five days and one for every other day. Usually we don’t give him one every other; we give him half of the one every other. Since the temperature is dropping to single digits now, he is itching less. He should probably be living in Antarctica!

We can see the itching was driving him nuts. It bothers him so much he does not want to do anything except itch and look for food. He is a dog that never quits eating. He can eat until he explodes and still wants more. Ever since we put him on pred, he is happier – playful and wants attention from us. The downside of putting him on pred is he has a different personality, too. He is extra stubborn and we are non-existence when it comes to discipline, especially with me - “tong ngo chow”. Totally ignores me as if I’m talking a block of wood. Big time vomit blood. Makes me so “mang chang”. I have to yell at him COME several times then he will pick his butt up and come to me. Unless DB is there, DB just has to call him once and this dog will come right away. Really “kek sei ngo”, man.

As well as the pred, we added safflower oil during his evening meal. That seems to help his skin. His coat is shinier, less flakes. The flakes are dandruff, his under belly skin looks better, and the fur is growing back on the insides of his legs.

This dog really had it. Each time we turn around, we write a check out to the vet or for some kind of products to ease his itch. In addition, we changed their food from chicken and rice to lamb and rice. Supposedly, this new food will help with skin allergies.

Will anyone go to the extreme to care for their dog that has allergies? I know some owners will get rid of a problematic Fido. DB and I couldn’t get rid of Mr. Fart Monster. He has a lot of problems medically. We have created a bond with him and it will break our hearts to put him up for adoption.

The electrician came on Saturday and installed a brand new what-ever-you-call-it board for the breakers. DB and Mr Electrician went out to Menards and Home Depot and return within half hour with all the parts needed for the installation. 4 hours later, all done. Moved the old crappy GE dryer out and guess we found - the cap to tighten the gas pipe was unscrewed. It was just sitting on it. All the time it was leaking gas and we thought it was cat piss at the back of the dryer. DB’s f-en-hiemers were flying all over the place. We are lucky the house did not blow up; we did not collapse from inhaling the wonderful gas in the basement; good thing we don’t spend any time in the basement; and good thing we don’t use the fireplace in the basement. Can you imagine if the dryer is running and we started a fire in the fireplace? Ka-BOOM!! Toast!

My guess why the cap was not tighten - I think when the previous owners had their movers moved the washer, the movers thought the dryer was going to. They unscrewed it and then the owners told them the dryer stays. Hence, they did not screw it back and left the cap sitting on the pipe. What idiots. Hello???

So now our dryer is in place and a load of laundry get dry in 30 minutes - full load. Towels - 45 minutes. Lovely! DB is so tickled with it. Saves him a lot of time doing laundry and the extra time he has is to be a pain in my ass.