Happy New Year My Princess!

I have a lot of things to be grateful for in 2010, but nothing even comes close to being able to share my life with someone so dear and special to me:) (Im talking about you sweetie) Thank you for everything Shen, you mean the world to me :)

-Bryan

Doing Work at Alkai Beach

It was a clear and sunny day yesterday! so I decided to go somewhere with a good view to do work. and I think the starbucks at Alkai beach has the best view in seattle. and I was right! I could see the olympic mountains and the sound, it was really pretty! I also took a picture of it :)

My First Guacamole Dip... Fail

I didn't realize how hard it was to mash the avocado!!! After 40 min of trying to mash the avocado with a combination of spoon/fork/knife/cup, I made an avocado/tomato/onion salad instead:) but at least it tasted good! and I finished it too.

hey honey bear, I miss you so much, and if I see another floating balloon, I'd still wish you were here:)

Snowboarding and Korean Blood Sausage

P bear! I'm so happy you can read and write on our blog while on a cruise!!

I had a good time at Steven's Pass yesterday, it was snowing the whole time and the snow was really sticky! (which slows you down). I went with my friend Seke, and joined up with his other Korean friends later in the day. It's nice to board with different groups of people once in a while. When skiing with Kim and Kevin, I am constantly stretching my limits on how fast I can go and how brave I can be. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but I also get exhausted half way through the day. So whenever I can get down the slope at my own pace (like yesterday), and stop once in a while to wait for the rest of the group, eat my chocolate bar, and savor the view, I feel like I am enjoying the mountain in a whole different way.

We left the resort at around 5:30pm and Seke suggested we have this Korean blood sausage soup for dinner, his girlfriend's favorite dish. According to Seke, there are only two places in the Puget Sound that makes this kind of sausages. We went to the one in Shoreline, tucked inside a small Korean grocery store, the other is in Federal Way. I was not too psyched about this dish when I saw it, but since I'm always up to trying new things, plus I was hungry, I ate most of it, minus the slices of pork liver and kidney in the soup. (add these to the list of things I don't eat, right beneath eggplant:)). But I'll definitely bring my parents there next time they come visit, I think they'll like it a lot:) And I can bring you there too! (If you really really like intestinal food parts), but I'll order pork bugolgi or spicy rice cake for myself instead:)

I stayed home and slept for most of the day today, and I'll try to do some work tomorrow and Thursday. I miss you a lot sweetie....!!!!

-buffalo

yay for kindle with 3g!

p bear misses buffalo a lot toooo! how was snowboarding? be careful! we heard abt what happened in maine. it is nice here on the boat but would be a thousand times better if buffalo were here. sry for the poor connection..blogger seems to work better than gmail. and i dont really have 3g...it is gprs instead.

btw i am reading stumbling on happiness on kindle and like it so far :) thanks!!

keep me updated! definitely thinking of buffalo a lot...!

Thinking of you...

Dear p bear,

Buffalo is very lonely without talking to p bear before sleeping, buffalo misses p bear a lot... buffalo hopes that p bear is having a good time on the cruise! buffalo is going to sleep so he can wake up to go snowboarding:)

missing you...

buffalo

I'm on a plane!

Yay!

I finally get to pretend to be just like Buffalo and blog while I'm in the air. I am... [some number] of feet in the air (actually I really have no clue, and don't even know how to check). And I am watching The Food Network and they're doing Chopped with Venison tenderloin, quince, and egg nog. I don't even know what quince is.

This is weird...I am actually watching TV! (This never happens.) Can't wait to watch TV w/ Buffalo :)

...and wondering what we're going to make for lunch tomorrow! :)

Revisiting Our To-Do List

Hopefully Buffalo is sleeping right now. I'd text him except am still not sure if his phone was turned off.

So I think it's time to revisit our To Do list. Last time we saw a movie, it was Life As We Know It, and I think it was Buffalo's suggestion the day of, and he needed to explain the whole context of the movie to P Bear. Ironically, at one point in time, it was P Bear's writing on the Googledoc. Talk about poor memory.

My library book is due in 3 days. I hadn't gotten through much of 'Nudge,' which is what I was reading, but now have very little hope that I will get to much of it before the end of the year. I think we should pick another book. And since Buffalo likes fiction and P Bear likes non-fiction (with the exception of romantic comedy fiction), it might end up being a different book for each. :( But at least we can keep each other accountable! :)

Also I checked our To Do list for Seattle, and am not sure what we'll be able to cram in to next weekend...maybe it's time to add more stuff to that list, too? =)

Luminary Loppet in MSP

One of my co-workers mentioned this during lunch today - that there is this event called Luminary Loppet. At first I had no clue what she was talking about (actually I still kind of have no clue) but basically it is an ice show of some sort and you cross-country sky / snowshoe / walk through the display. And something about it being on / around the lake(s) in Minneapolis. Interesting...
Anyways, it's during the 1st weekend of February, so I'm not sure if will postpone our Cali plans?

The co-worker mentioned it during our Holiday Potluck. It was a bit odd because ... well, we were instructed to bring 'ethnic' food. Keeping inline with my European heritage (...) I brought German potato salad, which came fresh out of the prepared food section at the grocery store. Oh! I just remembered - I had a whole bunch left over (apparently people don't like eating potato salad, sucks to be them b/c I like it! :) So I had to put it somewhere. Knowing we have no fridges at work, and it was 14 degrees outside, I kept it in my car.) Except it's still in my car. I'll go get it now. =)

...

I came back, and was like, "Man, these potatoes really don't taste like they're fresh. How dare the prepared food section at the grocery store make potato salad with previously frozen potatoes and not fresh ones?!" And then it hit me like a rock. It is 14 degrees outside. I probably froze them in my car. :(

Buffalo!! Help me not eat frozen foods all the time... Let's cook fresher-stuffs at your place, k? :) :)

How Do You Know

Wow this has been a really long day... P Bear misses Buffalo a lot...probably moreso he's on a business trip and considerably busier than P Bear has ever been!

After getting home and trying to sit down for dinner, I found this movie trailer on Hulu.com. It comes out on Dec 17...when would we have time to watch it?

36989ft

I'm flying to see p bear! currently on top of South Dakota. Looking out the window, everything is covered in snow and ice. I should be flying over Minnesota in about an hour, and I'll get to see you in 2 hours! I'm so excited!! So, I just topped you in the "working while on break" category, I'm responding to work emails a mile away from earth on thanksgiving morning, how pathetic is that:P

La La Land

So...my one job for this afternoon was to entertain myself by planning P Bear + Buffalo's next trip. I'd love to go to L.A. =)

Flights from SEA are <$200, leaving on either Thurs or Fri night, and returning on Sun. And flights from MSP are <$300, so that's totally cool. We'll need to remember to rent a car, too. Oh, and I haven't looked into hotels, but that should be easy. Plus, we can stay with one of my BFFs there if we want. (Yes, I already checked.)

As for dates, I was thinking either the first or second weekend of February. It could be an early b-day celebration =)

Love and Other Drugs

P Bear wants to see this movie with Buffalo!
Every time I listen to Pandora (which is every day) I see an advertisement for it. Looks like their targeted marketing is working pretty well...I even changed my insurance plan to the one for which I've seen more on Pandora. :)

Remembering the Hot Springs

A friend recently (...err... 15 min ago) asked which hot springs it was that we went to in Taipei, so when I said Villa 32, the response that I got was "Oh, that was the one I just went to, too!" So I was happy, because it made me remember all the fun memories from the adventures of Buffalo & Water Bear (that's what P-Bear was before October 2010). Anyways, it was definitely a very cool venue! I wonder if there's anything marginally similar to that here in the U.S...Which led me to search for hot springs near either of us.

So then I found this article on MSNBC which outlines lurury hot springs around the world! And of course I had no clue where Banff was, so I think that was the 1 thing I learned today.

More searching showed that there are no natural hot springs in MN (which makes sense, right? there's a freezing rain advisory going on right now) and possibly some more resort-type hot springs in Cali. :)

My Neighborhood Bistro with Great Truffle Fries!

I've driven by this place many times on Greenwood Ave., which is only a short 3min from my house, but never had a chance to check it out. So, I was thinking why not take p bear here for dinner on her next visit! The restaurant is called Saltoro, and according to the reviews, their truffle fries are to die for, and you know we both love truffle fries:)

Yelp Reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/saltoro-seattle

I only needed to remember 2 things...

...and I managed to forget not one, but both, of them! Sorry to let you down, Buffalo =(

I sincerely think one of them is related to buying cheap flights, so I'm going to blog about that as if it were my one thing. Even if it's not the real one thing, this is still a good substitute one thing to blog about.

Southwest is having a good sale, which means I get to plan ahead for trips in Jan / Feb. And since I don't have boots, I am going to Seattle! Not because there are boots there. But because I don't need boots there.

Actually this is a bit amusing because I'm talking to one of my BFFs on the phone, who might be going to Vancouver, B.C., in January. And we're talking about meeting up. And I'm wondering if I could do a trip like, "Fly to SEA on Friday night, drive to Vancouver for dinner on Saturday and drive back, spend Sunday morning in Seattle, and fly back." Not sure if that will work. Also not sure if the best way to communicate this idea to Buffalo is over blog. I guess we'll find out! You never know if you don't try, right? So I'm trying. (I think.)

What was the other thing...I can't remember if it has anything to do with feathers leaking out of duvet covers, or my pet spider, or failing to move my dining table, although all those thoughts are highly likely to occur when sitting on my bed and talking to Buffalo on the phone. Or maybe it was laundry? Hmm...

=)