New Picture frame!

So the idea started when I bought the World Map for Bob during Christmas. I started working on the frame last week but it was a disaster! I ended buying the wrong length of wood and was trying to compromise a few things here and there. Needless to say, my first attempt for the new picture frame was in the dumps! The only way it would work was if it was just framed on the ground and never be picked up again. Yup, it was THAT bad!!! Somehow, the execution was not quite what I envisioned. Hmm... sounds like my golf!

Anyhow, Part 2 of the project - I ended up going back to Lowe's for more material earlier this week. I was tempted to buy more wood but figured I would deal with what I already had. I did get a big piece of plywood as the backing of the frame. And of course, it wouldn't fit into my car! So I had to cut it into half and that just lead to more carpentry complications! I have to say, it was quite fun using the circular saw though, but what a mess! And of course who knows how much saw dust I inhaled during the entire process! After some progress, I decided to take a break and figured I needed to go back to Lowe's for more "artillery". Yes... artillery meaning duct tape!!! Everything can be solved with duct tape! It was quite embarrassing though to seen at Lowe's so many days in a row as I'm starting to know the employees there!
And finally... today was Part 3 - after spending about 4-5 hours in the garage and probably about 80 nails later, my picture frame is all done! There are a few crinkles here and there, but overall, I think it's a pretty good job for an amateur. Needless to say, I'm sore from hammering and my neighbors are probably glad that I'm done with all that noise! See honey, I think a nail gun would be so nice!
All I have to do now is stain and of course, sign off at the back of my masterpiece. I haven't attached any hanging hooks to the frame yet, so hopefully when that's done, it will actually stay on the wall!!!

Tulsa's first tornado warning of the year

I don't think I've seen so many red boxes on a weather map before! There was a tornado sighting in Oklahoma City yesterday, but thankfully, none in Tulsa. I'm still trying to figure out where to hide out in the house when one does touch down!

Only ONE fingerprint!

Yesterday, I had to drive out to Oklahoma City for another biometric, i.e. fingerprinting for my new Employment Authorization. A 2-hour drive and can you believe it... all they needed was the fingerprint of my right index finger! Pha!
But since it was an earlier appointment this time, I decided to spend the rest of my day driving up to Carrier, Okla. to visit my friend Stephanie. She recently tied the knot to Ryan, who is a true farmer! I was able to see their horses, check out the ranch and play with their new kittens :-) I was suppose to go see some cattle, but that didn't work out. Instead, we had lunch in the next town, Enid and her new father-in-law was actually having lunch in the same restaurant! He insisted on paying for our lunch on his way out, which was really nice.
After hanging out for a couple more hours, it was time to head back home for dinner. It was a slightly longer drive back to Tulsa and I was sleepy! It's going to tough when I get back on tour later this March!

No golf today!

Bob and I were so excited when the forecast for today was going to be a high of 72F! Unfortunately, when we were drove into the property of the golf course, the fairways and greens were still iced over!
Here's a view of the practice green and driving range!We did end up walking sloooooowly to the indoor hitting range to practice a little and also to do some work on the video, so the day was not all wasted.Yesterday was a nice day too. I finally decided it was time to "recycle" our Christmas tree. Yup, the Christmas tree had been laying in the backyard more days than it has been lit in the house! Poor thing. I trimmed the tree and tried to shed most of its pine needles. Talk about being high from smelling pine needles! Haven't figured out what I'm going to do with those pine needles yet. I read on some website that you can actually use it like mulch. We'll use the trunk and limbs for a fire in the chimenea :-)

Good news! The Adidas shirts came in today. After having to deal with customer service all of last week, I was finally able to exchange two defective shirts. The experience was like pulling teeth!

Ice storm

Thankfully the freezing rain stopped last night and the sun is out today. Nonetheless, I'm definitely staying home today. Looks like there's actually more snow than ice, which is a good thing. But I'm still not going to chance it, as long as that fire hydrant is still on the other side of the street!
I had to put some mail in the mailbox for pick-up and that's been the only time I was out today. Here are some pics while I was outside, which includes ice on shrubs, twigs, and some confusing bunny tracks!

I miss Phoenix, AZ!

Here is when pink is not a pretty color! We're in the middle of an ice storm now. I should have stayed an extra week in Phoenix!
Bob and I decided to take a mini vacation this past weekend. We decided on Phoenix because having lived there before for over 10 years, I know that we could be guaranteed with some good weather and some good golf courses!
But sadly enough, when we arrived in Phoenix, it was actually cloudy and drizzling! On our first night, we had dinner with 10 other friends at the Pink Pepper restaurant. It was great to see some old friends again and to catch up. And it was also great that owner of the restaurant provided us with some free appetizers! The owner's daughter - Tiffany, plays on the FUTURES Tour and I see both of them frequently on tour.
On Saturday, after a yummy breakfast at the Orange Table, we headed out to Mirabel Country Club to play golf with Kiersten. Kiersten and I were traveling together during a mini tour in China in the summer of 2005. Kiersten was paired up with Bob in the pro-am and that's how Bob and I met. And the rest is history...! :-)
Mirabel was such a pretty golf course! The desert was green, the freshly grilled shrimp sandwich on #8 tee-box was fantastic, and the restroom facilities on the golf course had fancy tiles and mosaic glass windows!Sunday evening, being the eve of Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox), Bob and I went out for some noodles. Long noodles for long life, so they say! I ended up getting some Japanese udon noodles - which are kinda stubby and not so long. So hopefully it's the thought that counts :-)
On Monday, after our quick round of golf at Karsten Golf Course, we headed over to In-and-Out burger. Yes, we finally got to eat our cheese burgers! During our last trip into Phoenix a couple of years ago, it was a failed attempt and we weren't going to be disappointed again this time!
With our full belly, we proceeded to the airport and while checking in our luggage, the Southwest personnel mentioned that there was an ice storm going through Tulsa. The airport at Oklahoma City was already closed. We were thankful that our flight departed and arrived without a glitch. But what a huge difference in scenery from Phoenix! It was dark and gloomy when we arrived in Tulsa and I could see ice forming on the front of the wings when we were arriving at our gate. There were quite a few canceled flights that night.
And brrr... talk about COLD! And this morning, we had freezing rain and there is just so much ice everywhere!!!

Ok... maybe still some Adidas

I've been having an email battle with an Adidas rep all afternoon. You wonder why neither one of us would just pick up the phone and talk it over! I guess there is probably less confrontation via email and I definitely write out my feelings and train of thoughts better than I say them.
Anyhow... I'm finally making some progress. I told them there were couple of shirts that weren't sewn symmetrically and despite another email of the same "no return/no exchange policy", I became even more persistent. And looks like it paid off! The rep is going to look into it some more but seems like I will be able to return the shirts for warranty. Yay! And hopefully this time they will re-send the same model shirts from a better batch!
What a week... I'm feeling so much better now. Crazy to think that little things like this really gets me down. And then to think, in some other part of the world, people are trying to fight world hunger, AIDS, global warming,... and here I am, just trying to get justice with 2 shirts!!! Silly, I tell you... just silly.

No more ADIDAS!!!

With the new year starting out, I decided to get some new shirts for my golf. For the past 2 years, I've been purchasing Adidas attire. When the box arrived this year, there were a handful of shirts that just did not fit well. The material was sagging under the armpits and it just did not look good. Unfortunately, after a few phone calls and emails with customer service, there seems to be a no refund/exchange policy! So needless to say, I'm not very happy!!!
Maybe my sewing machine will be seeing some action soon!

Green Card update

After getting my immunizations updated (that tetanus shot hurt for 4 straight days!) and having my physical performed by a designated civil surgeon, the paperwork for the Green card and my work permit is finally routed back to US Immigration. Hopefully all will go well. I've received a handful of reject letters now - using an outdated form, not enclosing the correct information, etc... so I am rather nervous.
I have another trip scheduled for Oklahoma City in a couple of week to get my fingerprints taken. It will be an early morning... my appointment is at 9am!!! :-s

Car window and lock FIXED!

But I'm feeling very stupid...! After waiting for about 1 1/2 hours in the waiting room, the Honda service rep finally got my car ready and told me that the door lock is functioning properly. The car is not suppose to lock when the door is open,... which I was trying to attempt and thinking it was a malfunction. So, there was nothing wrong with the lock in the first place! I suppose thankfully I didn't try to take anything apart (like the glass window) or force anything into place. But then again, it cost me $48.60 just for them to put my door back together! They did put more lubrication along the window track, but I could have done that myself! Oh well... I did get a car wash with the service. Yes,... an expensive one! I am still feeling pretty stupid :-s

Car window - Act II

After having the car sitting in the garage for a few extra days while I bought some new tools, I was finally able to get the window back up and down in order last night. But after a few more test, the window still kept coming off its track.
So today, I decided perhaps the window didn't need this one bolt. :-) And sure enough, it seems to work better! So, I put the door panel back... reattached some wiring... tested a few other things... and come to find out, now my car door won't lock! I had to detach the door panel again and attempted to take a peek at this door lock mechanism. I did some research online... and hmm... might be the lock actuator. I went back to the car and with my big torch light, took a few more looks between the window panel. I proceeded to remove a tiny screw... and at the back of my mind I'm thinking, if this screw falls, it would be too difficult to this thing back together! So I decided to screw it back in, pack up my tools, and called it a day. I guess I could have removed the glass window for better access but I just have this feeling that I'm going to break something. I don't need 7 years of bad luck!
I'm scheduled to bring my car into Honda tomorrow at 9am. :-s

Philbrook Museum

This past weekend, Bob and I decided to check out the Philbrook Museum of Art. This Italian Renaissance villa was previously owned by an oilman named Waite Phillips. He donated the 23-acre villa to the City of Tulsa in 1938. The garden was really pretty!

Physical examination

I had to get my physical examination done today for my greencard. So now, on top of a sore left arm from the tetanus shot, I'm also hurting on my right forearm from the TB test and from the spot where the blood was drawn. At the end of the day, I kept having to tell Bob... "Don't touch me!"
I'll have to return to the doctor's on Monday. He'll take a look at the TB test and if all is well, including all the other examination, I'll obtain the paperwork to be mailed back to immigration.
As for my car, I went to an auto store today to pick up some additional tools. I'll have a shot at taking out that bolt tomorrow. Wish me luck! :-)

Fixing the car window

Here's my first attempt at fixing my car window. Somehow, the window came off its track again when Bob was using my car this past Monday. I keep telling him to be gentle with my baby, but he just doesn't listen!
I was able to find some instructions on the web, with pictures too! So, my work begins... I was able to take all the screws off. That was the easy step. It took me a while to figure out how to pop the the door panel off, but now that's done too. Unfortunately, now I can't get that one bolt off! It's screwed on too tightly and I don't have to right tools. Hopefully Bob can bring home some fancy ones from work :-)
So, till then,... my work is at a stand still.

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary! Wow... 2 years! Sometimes it feels like it's been a lot longer. Every time I make that remark, Bob would always ask me if that's a good thing or bad thing. Haha... it's a good thing :-)
So to add to the collection on the pillow case for our anniversary, I decided to embroider the word "Love" in arabic. I figured this would be a good choice since we were in Dubai last year.
Bob, on the other hand, improved tremendously with his gift wrapping skills since Christmas... as you can see here :-) He gave me a pair of ear-rings and I gave him a monogrammed money clip which includes a picture of me, of course!
For dinner, I made home-made dumplings. YUM!! And we watched The Notebook. What a tear-jerker! It was both happy and sad... happy in the beginning of the movie and then sad at the end of it.

Last night, we decided to play scrabble. It's been a while since we last played. I got to start the game and I thought it was going to be a pretty rough one when I got these tiles.
But funny enough, I won by 60 points! Even after giving Bobby an additional 14 points since I could not finish using my tiles and he did. Sorry honey! I still love you though. Happy Anniversary! :-x

Another Green card update

Drove to Oklahoma City today to have my biometrics taken... i.e. finger printing. I arrived waaaaaaay ahead of schedule. I suppose better early than late since it's a 2-hour drive. After a few gummy bears and trail mix in the car, I decided to go in at 11am but the security guard would not let me in! He told me to come back at 11:45am for my noon appointment. Grrr...
So after a quick cup of coffee and muffin at Panera, I headed back to the Immigration office. And another note to self... leave the cell phone in the car! Finally, on the third try, they let me in.
These people are serious about finger-printing! They took finger prints of all 4 fingers first for each hand, then the thumb for each hand, and then every single finger after that! The lady rolled all of my fingers from side-to-side on this fancy machine. My fingers were constantly cleaned before each print.
Overall, the experience wasn't that bad at all. It was not as busy and crowded like I imagined it would be. There were probably only 4 applicants in the room at that same time (plus two others for interpreting). And oh, I found out that I will need to drive back to OKC again once I get the paperwork for my work permit. I don't understand why they can't just use the same finger prints that they just took!

On a side note, Bob drove my car to work today and on the way home, he wound down the window to talk to a friend and unfortunately, the window did go back up! So he had a chilly ride home tonight. It was probably in the mid 30s. Hehe... sorry honey! This same window incident happened when I was in Kentucky last year. I saw them repair it... so maybe I can give it a try! :-)

Green Card update

After receiving the Reject Notice back in November, I re-submitted the paperwork and sadly enough, it was rejected again!!! I knew I should have run it through with Bob first that second time! Anyhow, it seems that I had enclosed the wrong form and who knows if it needed a new payment, but I sent a check out anyway! So we'll see what happens in the next few weeks...
In the meantime, I have to drive to Oklahoma City on Monday for finger-printing. The weather is suppose to be cold but hopefully it won't be icy! And then, on Thursday, I have an appointment for a medical examination. I need to get my immunization record updated before I go, otherwise it's going to cost me a little more to get that done there. The receptionist told me to bring the payment in cash or cashiers check. Sounds a little suspicious!
Hopefully all will go well. I suppose that why these immigration lawyers get paid the big bucks. A friend of mine got her green card in less than 3 months!

Happy New Year 2009!

Similarly to last year, Bob and I did not stand a chance staying up until midnight last night. We watched the ball drop in NY on TV and that was our cue. 11pm,... we kissed each other Happy New Year then and got ready for bed. Ha ha! we're definitely getting old!

Today, on the first day of 2009, we decided to start the New Year by doing some spring-cleaning. We took the ornaments and Christmas tree down. The tree is now just laying on the lawn in the backyard. I'm going to attempt to saw it into pieces so we can use it as fire wood. The lights up front came down as well.

Bob and I went through out closets again and gathered up some clothes and shoes for donation. We did about 4-5 laundry loads of sheets and blankets - both ours and for the guestroom. Our friends from Houston (Jim & Mary) came by to visit last Tuesday. They were on their way back to Houston from Kansas City, after visiting their grandkids. Speaking of kids... we found little Mikey's pacifier when we were pulling off the sheets on our bed! I wonder how it got there in the first place. And I guess we've been sleeping with it in bed without knowing it. Too funny!

We also re-organized the garage. We broke down the cardboard boxes for recycling, re-arranged the shelf in the corner, and put some other things in the attic. The recycling items of glass, metal, and plastic are starting to pile up in their respective boxes. They don't recycle here in Tulsa. I'm going to have to figure something out!

Phew! What a day! It's a great way to start a new year though! As for the first new year meal... chocolate croissants for me and regular ones for Bob. Bob was very proud of the his nicely rolled croissants, compared to my funny looking ones :-)
That's the French side of him showing off! :-p

TPI Re-evaluation

Almost 3 months after my first TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) evaluation, I went back to Sean, my TPI instructor for a re-evaluation last week. I told him how well I've been feeling and how the golf game is really coming along. After a few measurements here and there, he posted the findings and sure enough, my fitness handicap has been reduced from a 14 to an 8! That's really good news. That's an improvement of 40% in just under 3 months of working-out!

Things are definitely going in the right track. And only after 3 lessons with Tracy, things are feeling good too. And I'm finally able to redeem myself after losing 3 matches in a row to Bob. Last Friday, I won the match 4 and 3 and on Sunday after that, I won the match 5 to 4! :-)
The drama continues this weekend... although I won't be surprised if he suggests playing from the blue tees again instead of the yellow tees.

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas... Bob and I decided to go out and play golf. It was a record setting day yesterday... a high temperature of 76F! And everyone else had the same idea about going out to play. The Golf Club was busy! We took the new digital camera out and took some pics. There was a 5-some playing in front of us, so there was plenty of time to be click-happy :-)
Here are some of my favorites:Birdhouse - taken with color accent option
Bobby - lining up his eagle putt
I love this picture... taken with the sunset setting
And the view of the club house, from the 16th fairway. Just beautiful!
By the way, I won the match 4 to 3! :-)

It's Christmas Day!!!

Wow... Christmas day is finally here! And "Santa" was really good to me this year. Perhaps because I WAS really good this year :-)
I did "accidentally" open half of my first Christmas present last week, so I managed to persuade Bob to let me open the other half of the present a couple days before Christmas. I felt like such a little kid, asking for permission.
And as for my other pressie...I now finally own my first acoustic guitar! I've always wanted one as a kid, but Mom would never let me have one. She said that the strings would ruin my fingers and I would then also ruin my golf with all those calluses on my finger tips. Mom - I know you can hear me... I promise to be veeeery careful!
After a few quick lessons from the booklet, here's my first audition...



Sounds like I DO have a loooooong way to go! :-p

Seemed like Bob was really good this year too. There were a lot of presents for him under the tree. I wasn't sure what he wanted, so he suggested that I get him a book... some Booker prize winner book (which I originally thought was Pulitzer). I didn't really do much research and obviously was looking for the wrong thing anyway,... so instead, I got him this. It's called Dewey - named after a resident cat at Spencer Public Library in Iowa. I'm still hoping that maybe one day, he will learn to LOVE cats :-)

Where, oh where... is my fluffy hat...?

Went into a ski store yesterday just to check some things out. I ended up getting a wool hat with a brim on it. It's perfect for a cold and sunny golf day. But while I was waiting in line to pay for it, I realized that I had lost my hat that I had in my pocket... an angora one, beret style. I had purchased in Beijing when I went to visit Bobby for the first time there in 2006. So not only did I lose my hat, I also spent money paying for the new one! :-(
It was not a very good day. I also lost my golf match to Bobby... that's 3 in a row now! Grrr... I was in a pretty crappy mood yesterday.

Getting closer...

Yesterday, while on the road, my car hit the 196,000 mile mark! Only a few more and it will be 200K miles old! We really should think about getting another Volvo :-)

What?... now FOG??!?!

So after all that sleet and ice the last 3 days, we're now experiencing fog. If anything else, the ice is finally melting and I will finally get to get out of the house to run some errands. Hopefully those Christmas cards aren't going to be late!

Day 3 of Hibernation

Looks like the ice is slowly but surely melting away. The driveway is still somewhat frozen so I'm still not going to attempt to drive, even though I do need to get my Christmas cards to the post office!
Looking out the window, I see that the neighbor's mailbox is on the ground. Bob said there was a car on their driveway last night with a flat tire. Probably still best to stay in. I need to organize my golf room anyway and catch up on some HGTV time :-)

Day 2 of Hibernation

It's day #2 since the sleet Sunday night. Schools are closed today as well. The roads in Broken Arrow are still icy, according to Bob. I'm not even tempted to drive as I don't think my car tires will perform well at all on the frozen sleet. I can only imagine how it will just slide down the driveway, go up the curb across the street, and crash into that fire hydrant!!
And there's nothing wrong with the lighting of the camera. It's 11:14am and it IS that dark and gloomy outside right now. It's so depressing...
Thankfully, there's lots for me to do at home. I've yet to get all my Christmas cards written out and perhaps more cookies to bake! :-)

Green Card update

Received a Rejection Notice yesterday in the mail... but all because I used an outdated version of a form. I read the instructions and it said that previous versions were accepted! So anyhow, while I'm filling in the newer version of this form, all the information provided is EXACTLY the same as the old one! I don't get it. Well, ok, if anything, the bar code at the bottom of the new form is slightly longer than the old one. Grr.... technology!!!
Thankfully, they accepted the rest of the paperwork and of course, happily cashed my checks. I suppose this is the least of my worries.

Our first Christmas tree!

Well,... if you don't count the live one that Bob's mom sent to us last Christmas, then yes...! Our first Christmas tree that Bob and I bought together yesterday. We were going to pick one up at a Christmas tree farm but made the turn too quickly and ended up in a nursery instead. Nonetheless, we LOVE it! And it smells so good too. Although, after sneezing a few times, I wonder if I'm allergic to it!
Thankfully, there were no injuries when Bob was trying to trim the tree trunk yesterday. It was his first time using the circular saw. Once that was done, setup was quite painless - other than the fact that you had to deal with the sap coming out of the tree and those tight screws on the tree trunk holder!
And now, in lieu of having to deal with gnats (thanks to the recently discovered 1-month old rotten banana in my golf bag), I'm constantly trying to clean up all the pine needles on the carpet!

We also had our first sleet in Tulsa last night. Thankfully, we got home just in time before the heavy stuff hit! As of right now, the driveway and roads are still frozen and school was canceled for the day. Too bad it wasn't a snow day... I would be building my snowman right now :-)

Cirque du Soleil

Bob and I got tickets to watch the Cirque du Soleil - Saltimbanco last night in downtown Tulsa, at the BOK center. It was really good! The clowns were not as freaky as the last two other shows that I've seen. One of the clowns got an audience to come up on stage and he made him do all these funny things while he created all the sound effects. The guy was a great sport, which was really good to see. Although it then makes you wonder if he was part of the act...
I was looking forward to an orchestra, but instead it was a 5-piece electronic band. Nonetheless, the voices of the singers were fantastic. And of course, the performers were amazing! All the girls were ooh-ing and ahh-ing when the two muscle guys took off their shirts :-)
It's too bad the Cirque could not sell out their seats. There were several sections including some of the seats next to us that were empty. We managed to get great seats through Craig's List for a good price. There was a $40 convenience fee when purchasing tickets through the BOK center website. Convenience fee??? What's THAT!

Christmas lights

After going to multiples stores and returning several different types of lights, I was finally able to get some that worked properly and were of the correct length! So, here it is! My first attempt at lighting up our house :-) I also tied some red ribbons on the plant that's to the far left and put garland in those tiny shrubs. Not too shabby during the daytime.
I put up some lights out back as well. At first, I wanted to hang the icicle lights along the roof, but since it wasn't long enough, I decided to just put it around one window. The budget was strictly $20 (as per Bobby) so don't think we're adding any more touches!

Mysterious smell

There's been this funny smell in the golf room... almost like bad stinky-feet smell. So I thought - maybe it's me, since I have been working out in that room. After a few sprinkles of carpet deodorizer, the room doesn't smell so bad anymore. But since our return from NJ, we are now having a severe case of gnats in the house and a lot of them are in the golf room too. So after some research on the internet, I figured, ok... maybe I should check my golf bag for food. And sure enough... the worst site and smell ever... there's an old rotten banana in my tour bag. Phew! I wonder how long it's been there. At least a month, I would think!
Hopefully the smell (and GNATS!) will go away now!!!

Green Card Application

I finally submitted the paperwork for my residency/green card. The office in Chicago received it last week so let's see how long this entire process will take. Hopefully my travel permit won't take too long. I'm basically stuck in the U.S. until that comes through! :-s

Early Christmas in NJ

Bob and I were up in New Jersey this past weekend to spend some time with his family. On Saturday, we went to visit his brother Kenny at the new club house at Liberty National Golf Course. It was an amazing club house - with sleek lines and modern decor. You can check out pictures of the golf course and have a virtual tour of the clubhouse on their website.On Sunday, all of us gathered at Doug's place (his oldest brother) for dinner. Kenny cooked up a great piece of pork and his sister-in-law Myla made a dessert called "Death by Chocolate" that was just YUMMY!Other than that, there wasn't too much going on, which was nice. Oh, we did catch Matthew and Parker's basketball games. And we did go to the Short Hills Mall on Monday. The parking lot was really busy! You wouldn't think there was an economy crisis going on at this time if you were shopping in this mall!

Thumb report - Week 24

I was finally able to trim my thumb nail today. 24 weeks later... that's 6 months later! And yet I'm still not able to fully trim all of the free edge like I do my other nails. And if you were to run your finger through from the cuticle to the free edge, just before you reach the edge, there's a 2mm step-down difference on its surface. Haha... it's like a built-in speed bump!