Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

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.

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

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.

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

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.

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

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.

I have not gone shopping on a work week for a long time since I changed my work hours, let alone shop in the evening. Step-daughter (S-D) came over with BF and gave her her Christmas present. She didn’t come over on Christmas or New Year’s - went to grandma’s on Christmas and sicker than a dog on New Year’s. Told her to tried on the winter jacket we bought for her. Shit man, her boobs were in the way - too damn tight all over. Looked online at Kohls, Macy’s, Sears, LLBean, REI, and Dick’s - nothing with her size. “Nothing for my fat ass”. That’s what she said. I didn’t say it, she did.

Told her to go later this week to exchange and get a new one but she had to work Thursday through Sunday. Alright, will go now. Went to Kohls to exchange the jacket and got my money charged back to my card, looked for jackets that fits her - zip. Poor girl. Told her the next place will be the mall and look at Sears and JC Penny’s. Sears has nothing either and the last resort was Penny’s. At last, found a Columbia jacket and half the price. Yeehah!! Nothing beats a good sale. Told her to get a two-piece jacket but could not find her size. So, we stuck to the one she first picked out…$69, half of what I paid for the initial jacket I bought. Wanted to do more shopping, but they needed to get home for their dinner. Fine with me as I needed to get home, shower and get ready for bed.

I’m now all wired. Blog and read other people’s blog. DB told me not to stay up too late. “Wake up call is 4 a.m.” Thanks, baby. Will try to get to bed early.

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping