John and I started out with all these adventurous plans for the weekend. First, it was Yosemite. Then, that was too far and we thought Santa Cruz would be a better destination. Ultimately, our lazy asses triumphed and Saturday was spent sleeping. I know, sounds so lame but I swear the bed here is just so damn comfy. So big and soft and cushiony. You just can’t fight its sleep-inducing effect.

Plus, my allergies are totally out of control now. The maid must have thought we were wasteful tissue freaks– I went through an entire box in one day. Constant drainage. When I pop Allegra to get some relief, the shit knocks me out. Hence, the wasted Saturday. I’m calling the allergy physician first thing Monday morning. I just cannot continue like this. Seriously, aside from the elephant nose, itchy eyes, and jandiced complexion, I just cannot function like a regular human being. And I’m not even working, right? So, first things first.

I’m happy to report that Sunday was a bit more active. We headed downtown to the Fisherman’s Wharf area to check out the Farmer’s Market. Unfortunately, we’re still in our “less is more” mode, so we didn’t feel like buying anything. Was good to walk around though. John is improving his parallel parking skills (only hit the curb once this time). We grabbed lunch at a Mediterranean place– it was disappointing. Had a crummy Greek salad that tasted way off from the strange dressing to the offbeat olives.

In the afternoon, we walked to Coyote Point park, down the street from our hotel. Not a particularly attractive park, but it had some paved trails in the woods and offered picnic areas, volleyball fields, kite-flying fields, and a small beach. Took some pics. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been posting a ton of pics for you. And they’re good ones, eh? Thanks to our new digital camera, the Canon SD500. John did a great job researching it. We’ve been very pleased with the results. 🙂 Btw, if you want a decent used camera (3 MP), check out my Ebay auction for our Nikon Coolpix 880. Also a very nice camera, but you know how John and I are. We gotta stay current with technology. It’s great to reunite with Ebay. Yes, being back in the US requires that I hook right back up to my Ebay IV. Cleaning house somehow clears my head. I dunno. Ebay’s a weird form of therapy for me.

So this week begins a whole new list of things to do. I discovered on Craigslist that a bunch of students at Stanford are looking for subjects to participate in their research. Hehe, I used to do this when I was an undergrad at Duke. Easy money, baby. And sometimes it’s actually quite fun. So I’m signing up to participate in some Stanford study on Chinese American women. Yeah, bring it on. Ask me anything about the Chinese parents, the expectations, the pressures, the constant confrontations. Bring it. I’ll talk your damn ear off!

I’ve also decided to learn Spanish. If I’m gonna live in Cali, I want to know Spanish. Today I ordered a book/CD and this evening I found a website with the basics. Should be fun.

Ok, gotta hit the sack. My sleeping is all fucked up again, thanks to my allergy meds. Sneeze, sneeze, sneeze!

I spent the day with Kelly, a friend of John’s coworker. We hung out together since John and Alon were hard at work. I’m quite pleased with myself as I planned the stops and prepped the driving directions. So first stop was Muir Woods, a beautiful and peaceful place with redwoods and sequoias. I was last there two years ago with John (on our honeymoon). Of course, John and I were lazy then– we only walked the small loop, and we left the park after about an hour.

Today was different. Kelly selected the longer of two trails, and we ended up walking 4 miles uphill and back. Exhausting. I mean, I had just done the elliptical the other day and was sore as hell from my 10-minute workout (I know, pathetic). Ah well, I survived and all was good. After Muir Woods, we grabbed some grub at Greens. Not as tasty as I recall. Think I just ordered the wrong thing.

Hit the Palace of Fine Arts next– super beautiful although the architecture of Roman columns felt slightly out of place. Last stop was a drive down Lombard street– what a ritzed up neighborhood over there. As we headed back to John’s office, we had the great fortune of getting stuck in rush hour traffic on 101S. Not fun. Luckily we weren’t traveling on 101N– the scene was much worse.

Anyway, off to bed soon. Enjoy the pics.

Bummer. I wrote this lengthy blog yesterday about everything I’ve been up to. Then, the internet connnection died and I lost the post. Fuckin’ A. Well I suppose I’ll have to recreate it. Unfortunately, I can’t do that right now… I’m going to pick up John from work shortly.

But overall, I’m doing okay. Running all kinds of the usual, unpleasant errands that require calling banks, setting up appointments, seeking customer service assistance. Loads of fun I tell you.

The good news is the weather in SF is awesome. Really sunny, bright, and warm. Guess it’s a fair trade since SH is really nice this time of year too. Well yesterday after work, John and I went to Half Moon Bay. Got some nice shots for you. Earlier the same day, I met up with Josh in downtown SF. Caught up over lunch and walked along the waterfront. I saw a fleet of five tow trucks remove a bunch of cars along the Embarcadero. Sucks to be the car owners. Got my public transportation fix too: rode the BART downtown. Smooth, easy ride. Of course I probably looked like a druggie– I was so tired from my recent sleep deprivation.

Did I tell you? I visited one of the area animal shelters a few days ago. Our hotel is right next to one– that place had the plumpest stray dogs I’ve ever seen. This pups were living the good life– huge, clean kennels, nice blankets, new toys. I was thinking of putting Remy and Martin up in there. Just kidding. Anyway, animal shelters are no games here. That particular one operates on a $7M annual budget. Not too shabby. They have 80 staffers and 500 volunteers!! If only women’s orgs got that much community support. Ah well, the animals deserve good things too. Okay, gotta run. More later.

I like to think of myself as a jet-setter, but anyone who knows me will quickly call me on that bs. Still, I AM back in the US again. Just like that. Don’t get me wrong– John and I haven’t moved back to the States (yet); we are just here on a three-week stint for his work. Yeah, when did we plan this? Uh, the day before. Long story short, John’s company abruptly laid off most of the software development team last week. Fortunately, John’s position was spared but he now faces more pressures and responsibilities. At the moment, much is still up in the air but frankly, I was getting sick of his one month on, one month off schedule. Rather than stay in Shanghai for my handful of classes, I decided to go back with him. So here we are.

I’m such a sorry traveler. I almost lost my cell phone at the airport. Like a total dumbass, I left it on the seat. Minutes later, I was already at the tram stop in the next terminal before I realized my mistake. Argh! I hate losing things… With my blood pressure skyrocketing, I rudely shoved my way onto the next tram heading into the opposite direction and ran back to the waiitng area like a maniac. Can you fucking believe my phone was still there? I was floored. Despite my haste in going back for it, I was fully convinced it was gone. What a pleasant surprise. Humans aren’t all assholes after all.

Yeah, I guess you can say I’ve been depressed lately. The whole month of April was just blah. Difficult to explain but the world was just getting to me. I was starting to think people were inherently evil (I still believe that, actually). I couldn’t deal with all the violence everywhere. Just one example? This ridiculous occupation in Iraq. Bush is such a goddamn, egomaniacal, dick! John and I celebrated our 2-yr anniversary in April, but it was a sad reminder of the continuing chaos in Iraq. The world was just disappointing and depressing me. At the same time, I was getting bummed about own directionlessness. I was doing things I enjoyed and getting into StarPups, but my father’s voice haunting me. “What’s your plan?”

So my latest revelation is that the world is still shitty, but I am of course going to continue in my blessed, overprivileged life. I’m going to focus on learning– it doesn’t matter how I will eventually apply what I learn, but at least, I will work to stay mentally active. I still feel strong pulls toward progressive causes, but I’m just not sure which sub-area: animals, women, environment, etc. There is so much to tackle and I often feel overwhelmed.

I think the logical immediate choice is to continue on my dog work. My buddy Danielle is going to keep me posted on all the happenings in SH regarding the expat animal association, Second Chance (where both of us volunteer). On my flight over, I updated the adoptions page with new pix. Check it out.

Apparently, San Francisco is like dog-lover capital of the world. I knew the place was progressive and animal friendly, but geez, dogs are even allowed on public transportation here! Today, I found a ton of SPCAs in the area, as well as a bunch of doggie day care/training centers. Amazingly, the SF SPCA seems to have sizeable coffers too! Finally, an NGO that doesn’t have to be in financial crisis mode all the damn time!

Okay, well it is 5:30 AM and obviously, I haven’t beat out the jetlag. 🙁 I’d better get to bed now. Driving John to work in the morning.

I like to think of myself as a jet-setter, but anyone who knows me will quickly call me on that bs. Still, I AM back in the US again. Just like that. Don’t get me wrong– John and I haven’t moved back to the States (yet); we are just here on a three-week stint for his work. Yeah, when did we plan this? Uh, the day before. Long story short, John’s company abruptly laid off most of the software development team last week. Fortunately, John’s position was spared but he now faces more pressures and responsibilities. At the moment, much is still up in the air but frankly, I was getting sick of his one month on, one month off schedule. Rather than stay in Shanghai for my handful of classes, I decided to go back with him. So here we are.

I’m such a sorry traveler. I almost lost my cell phone at the airport. Like a total dumbass, I left it on the seat. Minutes later, I was already at the tram stop in the next terminal before I realized my mistake. Argh! I hate losing things… With my blood pressure skyrocketing, I rudely shoved my way onto the next tram heading into the opposite direction and ran back to the waiitng area like a maniac. Can you fucking believe my phone was still there? I was floored. Despite my haste in going back for it, I was fully convinced it was gone. What a pleasant surprise. Humans aren’t all assholes after all.

Yeah, I guess you can say I’ve been depressed lately. The whole month of April was just blah. Difficult to explain but the world was just getting to me. I was starting to think people were inherently evil (I still believe that, actually). I couldn’t deal with all the violence everywhere. Just one example? This ridiculous occupation in Iraq. Bush is such a goddamn, egomaniacal, dick! John and I celebrated our 2-yr anniversary in April, but it was a sad reminder of the continuing chaos in Iraq. The world was just disappointing and depressing me. At the same time, I was getting bummed about own directionlessness. I was doing things I enjoyed and getting into StarPups, but my father’s voice haunting me. “What’s your plan?”

So my latest revelation is that the world is still shitty, but I am of course going to continue in my blessed, overprivileged life. I’m going to focus on learning– it doesn’t matter how I will eventually apply what I learn, but at least, I will work to stay mentally active. I still feel strong pulls toward progressive causes, but I’m just not sure which sub-area: animals, women, environment, etc. There is so much to tackle and I often feel overwhelmed.

I think the logical immediate choice is to continue on my dog work. My buddy Danielle is going to keep me posted on all the happenings in SH regarding the expat animal association, Second Chance (where both of us volunteer). On my flight over, I updated the adoptions page with new pix. Check it out.

Apparently, San Francisco is like dog-lover capital of the world. I knew the place was progressive and animal friendly, but geez, dogs are even allowed on public transportation here! Today, I found a ton of SPCAs in the area, as well as a bunch of doggie day care/training centers. Amazingly, the SF SPCA seems to have sizeable coffers too! Finally, an NGO that doesn’t have to be in financial crisis mode all the damn time!

Okay, well it is 5:30 AM and obviously, I haven’t beat out the jetlag. 🙁 I’d better get to bed now. Driving John to work in the morning.

Yesterday, a group of us volunteered at the animal shelter in Baoshan district. Depressing as hell. There was a sweet old Cocker Spaniel– we bathed him, but his fur was so dirty and matted, it was as if we hadn’t washed him at all. The shelter helpers are nice enough, but from the way they handle the animals, you can see, they don’t really know how to pick up or hold the dogs and cats. The shelter is a worthy attempt, but it’s still so frustrating. The dogs are kenneled in this area where to get into each cage, you have to go through all the others. I dunno who constructed the setup, but it’s a horrible design. Anyway, there was a beautfiul young brittany spaniel mix there yesterday. When we approached her, she shook uncontrollably. God, people can be so evil. Who knows what the hell happened to her: clearly, she was abused.

Anyway, the shelter is about 45 minutes north of Shanghai. If anyone is interested in volunteering, fostering, donating supplies/money, please contact me. More information, including pictures of animals available for adoption are at my site, StarPups*Shanghai. Thanks for your support.

The American Women’s Club held that charity book fair last month… I forgot to update you on that. A really great event– we collected over 5,000 books and sold them for prices between 5 and 20 RMB. Super cheap. The fundraising target was 8k RMB to buy a new library for a local migrant children’s school. Guess how much we raised? 60k! That’s right. Over $7k USD in one day. Can you believe it? I was so impressed and amazed by the power of such a small group. Kudos to the chief event organizers.

That said, I have to comment on the location of the book fair: Season’s Villa. Obviously, it’s an expat community, but my god, after entering the gates, I entered an alien world. It actually reminded me of Disney World. Yeah, THAT ridiculously posh with huge-ass houses, manicured lawns, a clubhouse rivaling a five-star hotel… bizarro for sure. When I left the book fair, I asked the guard to call me a cab. He basically told me to walk out of the community to Huamu Road, because cabs don’t drive around Season’s Villa. Huh? Apparently, everyone has a private driver.

After a rough financial analysis, I’ve concluded that StarPups*Shanghai Buddy Snaps isn’t going to grant me household breadwinner status. Bummer. I guess with any cottage industry, the desire to keep things small scale and well technically illegal prevents you from doing the mass marketing, branding, and advertising that brings in real dough.

The thing is, we don’t want to spend capital on a store/bakery. We just want to do it out of the apartment. Second, we’re not interested in registering the company and obtaining food licensing. That would not only be expensive but time-consuming as well and who knows how long we plan to stay in Shanghai.

So for now, StarPups is a hobby/side gig. I’m having a lot of fun adding new features to the website, designing my biz cards and product packaging, learning about free advertising venues, networking with dog peeps in teh community, and testing out different treat recipes (unfortunately, i need to find more taste testers, as R and M are getting a bit pudgy). It’s a good learning experience. One thing I gotta work on though is NOT micromanaging. Even though I’m not a graphic artist or web designer, I have this tendency to want to do all those things myself. For now, it’s okay I think but once things pick up, it may be wiser to delegate tasks to the pros.

My latest batch of treats were peanut butter flavored– a sure favorite. Previously, I made treats with apples, oats, and fruit. The response was positive but certainly not as enthusiastic. Fortunately, the PB snacks are easier to cut out. This batch definitely LOOKS better than the previous ones.

Yesterday, John finally found a bike worth buying. He’s not really that picky, but for some reason, we were having the toughest time finding a sturdy bike with strong breaks. We’re done the searching. My friend Wendy recommended that we check out Decathlon, a European sports megastore. That place was awesome– tents, sleeping bags, tennis raquets, rock climbing shoes, you name it. Too bad we’re not athletic enough for it. We had never been to this shopping center before. In the basement, there was HOLA, the closest thing to a Bed Bath & Beyond here. Still no stand mixer though.