Love

Read this today, so touched.
每次聆訊都風雨不改陪伴愛子出庭的史媽媽，昨在庭外指自己對審訊過程「一嚿雲」，但她不論負擔大小或勝算高低，都會親身支持兒子「自己細路，就算跌倒撞親，滴一滴血，做媽媽都好緊張關心。」

Suddenly could relate why mom worries so much when I'm sick these few days.
Of course I know that she cares about us all the time, I just thought it's quite 'unnecessary' (don't want her to be worried) 'cos I'm a grown-up and can definitely take care of myself, and she should know that...
Thanks mom :* I love you (and dad lah)

Back lah!!

Mom and bean landed safely 1ish on Monday morning.
Have received numerous messages and calls from you buddies - big thank you to all of you, for the care, suggestions, and news.
No worries. THANK YOU!

ps. to be continued with the stories...

Bang

Mom and bean still in Bangkok.
Made many many phone calls and sent many many emails (to bean's BB).
So far ok.
Wish they'll be back very soon.

馬虎 Rewind 之三

20080813 - 20080819 東京之旅
臨時臨急, 反而成功用 mileage 換到機票. 買的話要5,000大洋了.
好 hea 的心情, 基本上是一個沒有拍照, 沒有 itinerary 的旅程.

住在這裡, 非常不賴 - Oakwood Apartments, Roppongi
玄關 (L) 廚房 (R)

大床. 半價雞毛手袋 (豆的. 香港買)

Living room, kitchen (partial), den (partial)

外景. 有東京塔 (L) LamB & Dragon (R)


漬魚餐 @ Suzunami, Tokyo Midtown. 最有趣的要算是上方黃澄澄的那個凍湯狀物體, 十分鮮味, 質地卻是糊糊的, 像毛茄裡面的東西. 因為言語不通, 始終搞不清是什麼, 只知道是用來伴飯吃的.


Roppongi Hills basement 的迴轉壽司. 高質素, 價錢合理. 雖說是迴轉, 但基本上 in motion 的食物很少, 我們的壽司差不多都是 order 的, 由這位師傅主理. (我相信他們利用 RFID 技術, 一掃結賬, 並控制食物"飄泊"的時限.)
(http://www.roppongihills.com/jp/shops_restaurants/details/restaurant.php?id=201220002)


Gold Stone 炒雪糕, 意料之中的不外如是, 只因要個地方抖抖.


後知後覺發現新大陸驚為天"仁"之開心果. 太愛吃了. 媽和我帶回來兩大包還不夠喉, 吩咐豆再後加碼三大包. 後來發現... 香港有售, 而且更便宜... (咁, 師傅都話覺得日本帶回來的比較新鮮可口 ga...)


整整一星期最最最最最滿意的咖啡, 就在臨離開前的午餐, 點了 Latte. 推介.
French Kitchen, Grand Hyatt, Roppongi


另外還去了至愛的今半 (http://www.imahan.com/), 可惜沒有吃天一 (http://www.tenichi.co.jp/) 的天婦羅, 反而試了另一家所謂有名的 新宿つな八, 比天一要差幾幾幾幾皮, 實在是一分錢一分貨. 一蘭的拉麵也不錯, 招待的方式也有趣, 閒名不如見面. 還有美登利的抵食壽司套餐 (http://homepage2.nifty.com/sushi_no_midori/), 但是它長龍的程度開始使人卻步, 我想我還是不介意多付一點到 Roppongi Hills 的那家迴轉吧.

還有 Tokyo Midtown (http://www.tokyo-midtown.com/en/) 每天必到, 主要因為就近 apartment, 加上其中24小時營業的靚靚decent 的 Precce premium food market, 買水果早餐飲品小食等等, 十分方便稱心.

又, 差點遺漏了這個"正嘢" - 坂角總本鋪好好好蝦味蝦片. (http://www.bankaku.co.jp/)
有天閒逛時跟媽無意中發現了, 推介! 各大百貨公司 fancy 食品部有售.

馬虎 Rewind 之始

有好一陣子沒有"用力"寫 blog. (真真要"用力"的, 尤其打中文字... it's killing me!)

原因不外乎是懶, 好懶, 同好鬼懶.

okok, 還有, 冇記性.

有時候看到聽到想到感到一些(以為)值得留個紀錄, 又或公諸同好的事物, 也只是"一念之間", 轉個頭就忘了, 更枉論晚上回家後再"反芻"過來. 畢竟自己不是好反省的人, 忘了就好, hohoho...

太久遠的固然不消提, 近幾個月來也不是沒有大事, 隨便數數就有次按風暴, 北京奧運, 立會選舉, 梁展文新世界大龍鳳, 政治助理鬧劇, 周融wear爛面, Hilary Clinton 落馬, Sarah Palin 上馬, 打風到9號, 嘉禾大火, 美國人老闆其實骨子裡大陸化到不行的 "supposed to is supposed to la"歪理, 未入"豪門"已見識的政治小風波, short-notice日本之旅, 契女小一開學, 友儕間的 changes or intentions to changes... 等等不能盡錄.

剛剛清理一下電話內的照片, 一些細碎的片段又回來了.

決定"由淺入深"回一下帶... 就由今朝開始 rewind 吧. 大事是記不下了, 當作是一個小小的個人瑣事 stock take 吧. 究竟之前有沒有提過寫過, 也不去考究了.

今早精神不錯, 開車送了媽去玩後, 突然非常有 mood 去嘆早餐. 把車泊回家, 徒步走下坡到火炭去.

也不是甚麼大茶飯, KFC吧了. 至愛芝士雞扒包走醬.

第一次吃, 應該是當年做某大銀行項目的時候... 差不多有5個年頭吧?

對上一次, 其實是在不久前的星期六, 因為要(俾人)洗車, 就在附近的KFC邊吃邊等, 之後還要趕出去打波, 所以點了可樂送包貪飲得快 (L), 跟今朝有心"嘆" 飲奶茶 (R) 的心情大不同 (雖然飲奶茶應該去茶餐廳...)

不過, 滿以為自己很 hea 很嘆的時候, 心神原來還是有一點彷彿.

喝咖啡我是不加糖的, 但喝奶茶要加少量.

可是我卻把糖加了在水裡.

講完.

Airy

Have been checking with the HK airport website about flight information under typhoon #8, since dad is supposed to fly around noon time.

Guess what. It shows typhoon #3 all the time.

Guess the one who needs to update that didn't go to work 'cos of #8??

This is confusing.

Lost in Translation

Bean is going on a business trip to Tokyo starting tomorrow. Probably for a month, if not more, and probably no fly-backs.
Time to plan a weekend there, while free accomodation is still available at the prestigious Roppongi. Too bad it's already August... not a good (cheap?) shopping season
From the second the trip was proposed, Mom has been busy at advising and instructing the packing, needs and wants, dos and don't, to-bes and not-to-bes, money exchanges...
Even at this hour, while the main character is busy at (and probably only interested in) personalizing her blackberry and I'm done with the mission of arranging taxi pick-up, mom is organizing Bean's purse...
Like many others, we are a family that is so used to travels, in particular business ones. Except, of course, mom. She's the commandor, headquartered at home.
So, parents and kids...

ps. pardon my ignorance, I finally got to know a company (besides Sony I suppose) that buys Sony Vaio notebook... I know, they look cool.
ps2. actually mom made a guess of Mac...

Mercy

Dad just came back from Suisse yesterday afternoon, but he didn't miss the big news in Sichuan.
There are 17 Sichuan workers in his China plant and all had their homes gone in the earthquake, while status of their families are far from clear.
Dad has instructed to give out special funds to these workers and provide a 1:3 matching-fund on money raised among the staff. And there will be some 'requests' from the local/provincial government too.
During our usual Sunday dim sum this morning, he kept on saying that human is so vulnerable at the mercy of the nature & 人生無常.
Let's do whatever we can. The fight would not be short and sweet.

赤

車剛驗好, 油換好迫力皮換好, 泵把噴好, 便吩咐豆把車開回來, 殊不知...
就碰花了. 在泊車的時候.
rrrrraaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
不是很嚴重. 就是赤赤痛吧了.

豆向爸自首時, 一直躲在媽背後. 一口氣說完了, 就大喊一聲 "好緊張呀...!!"
hahahaaaaa, 嗰種心情我好明白, 曾幾何時我都係咁. 有次講完個心仲係唔舒服, 第日再 email 爸 say sorry... 真瘀. 爸 reply 話真係唔緊要, 個心先好過啲.
Anyway, 下次小心啲嘞.
要佩服和多謝爸多年來給予我們的信心和包容, 架架車都俾我(地)舞到呢... 數下數下原來都已經有6架.
hohohohooooo.

3缺1

一直以來, 爸媽在家中開"長輩派對"的台柱 couples 有4, 男一枱女一枱麻雀耍樂永冇走雞.
今晚從媽口中得知 status quo 有變, 原定下個週末的母親節曼谷之旅(大人party細路冇份)也泡湯了.
會雨過天晴嗎...?

大陣象

20080404 晚飯 @ 九龍城

因mud事要勞動3架警車, 2架鐵馬...

原來抄牌啫, 仲要唔係最繁忙阻街嗰幾條食肆街, 而係至邊邊嗰條啟德道, 成條街都係得我地去開間泰菜叫做有啲人氣, 又無咪錶位, 得個細細爛鬼空地俾不知何方人士夾硬做個要放低車匙嗰種所謂"停車場". 我就親眼見過該"停車場"的泊車哥哥撞咗(兩)架車...

一嗌走鬼, 我地間泰菜館湧出十幾廿人, 都幾誇張 - 畢竟間餐廳都係得十零張枱.

完全包抄 feel, 1架警車1架鐵馬停在街頭; 其餘2架警車1架鐵馬就由街尾 'com'上(連同半打咖啡人), 真周到.

清場咗.

整

外面很大霧.
可能昨日真的有丁點 caffeine overdose, 大好涼涼爽天氣都睡得很差. btw, 報紙日前剛有報導說香港的BB睡眠質素是最差的.
上半晝分析員"佈道"會, keep 住飲咖啡, 細細杯不知不覺都乾了5, 6杯.
Lunch去了排隊出血, 懶懶地吃了簡單的星巴巴, 又1杯.
5點鬆和千年蛋在 office 樓下PC歇歇又1杯.
晚上爸生日飯在飯堂, 又飲了不少普洱.
加加埋埋... hmm...

生日飯餐單, 簡簡單單都是平日慣點的:
~ 嚮螺翅(爸媽), 蟹皇翅(豆我)
~ 片皮鴨半隻 (其實飯堂的片皮鴨相當得, 比那些"京菜系"要有味幼細得多)
~ 鴨二食之炆涼瓜 (好得, 即使不太吃苦瓜如我. btw, 我們一直叫苦瓜苦瓜, 但侍應們一直叫涼瓜涼瓜, 哈, 可能是忌諱?)
~ 宮廷醬烤骨 (這道菜近來有點失色, 我只吃了饅頭)
~ 黃金蝦
~ 椒絲腐乳通菜
~ 壽包. 楊枝甘露(太甜). 番薯糖水.
晚飯是前哨, 好戲在後頭 - 週末出征 Venetian Macao for mom's 生日. (況且a兄居然有'任務'文托, 緊要!)

講開飲咖啡, 雖然已是4月2, 仍然難逃被"整"遲來的 April's fool.
在PC掀開杯蓋加奶才發現, 那些小朋友居然俾咗杯熱水我!
怪不得昨日他們的表情那麼詭異, 又猛問點解尋日冇嚟呀咁...
中招了. 是今年已知(!)被整的唯一.

心意何價

心意何價 I
清理 Junk mailbox 時發現這個 Sotheby's 寄給爸的賀年卡. 查看一下這個心心是什麼東東, 可以成為'卡面' ~
Jeff Koons Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)
Sold for US$23.6mn at Sotheby's, New York on 14 November 2007.
哦... 又如何.


心意何價 II
剛巧日前在星巴巴又讀到這個. Starbucks owes staff US$106m in tips.

Extracted from cnn.com, 21 March 2008
Judge orders coffee giant to pay up after barista files suit over supervisors sharing in employee tips
A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities. Starbucks spokeswoman Valerie O'Neil said the company planned an immediate appeal of the ruling, calling it "fundamentally unfair and beyond all common sense and reason."
The lawsuit was filed in October 2004 by Jou Chou, a former Starbucks barista in La Jolla, who complained shift supervisors were sharing in employee tips.
The lawsuit gained ground in 2006 when it was granted class-action status, allowing the suit to go forward for as many as 100,000 former and current baristas in the coffee chain's California stores. It was not immediately clear how many current and former employees are affected by the ruling.
"I feel vindicated," Chou said in a written statement released by attorneys. "Tips really help those receiving the lowest wages. I think Starbucks should pay shift supervisors higher wages instead of taking money from the tip pool."
California is Starbucks' largest US market, with 2,460 stores as of Jan. 8, the latest count available. The Seattle-based company has more than 11,000 stores nationwide. Starbucks employs more than 135,000 baristas in the US. The company did not immediately respond to a request for a head count in California.
The judgment comes as Starbucks is struggling to revive its US business, where store traffic has slipped amid a sagging economy, rising energy and dairy costs, and growing competition from cheaper rivals.
The company's stock has slid more than 50 percent since late 2006, when it was trading close to $40 a share. Starbucks shares rose 3 cents to $17.53 Thursday. Starbucks earned more than $672 million on revenue of $9.4 billion during its 2007 fiscal year, which ended Sept 30. The judge ordered Starbucks to pay $87 million in back tips, plus interest of $19 million, bringing the total judgment to about $106 million.
The company said it planned to ask the court to stay the ruling while the appeal is pending.
"The decision today, in our view, represents an extreme example of an abuse of the class-action procedures in California's courts," O'Neil said. The coffee company also took issue with the brevity of the judge's ruling, which was only four paragraphs, saying she failed to address the unfairness to shift supervisors. "This case was filed by a single former barista and, despite Starbucks request, the interests of the shift supervisors were not represented in litigation," O'Neil said.
But attorney Laura Ho, who tried the baristas case, said the court's verdict follows state law. "Starbucks illegally took a huge amount of money from the tip pool to pay shift supervisors, rather than paying them out of its own pocket. The court's verdict rightfully restores that money to the baristas," Ho said.


還是waffle咖啡貼心. 跟媽豆@UCC.

寫

剛剛又讀了一會食經, 其中刊出了當年一些讀者來函, 內容不必細表. 讓我心頭一震的是... 嗰手字!
還有, 朋友 ~ 你上一回手寫書信而又有寄/送出去的(有鋪癮寫俾自己的不算), 已是什麼時候了?
自己 ma... 實不相瞞, 肯定有10年, 洋文的.
如果寫中文的... 多加幾年吧.

講開"手字". 小時候看見長輩手字都好得好型, 自己的呢, 雖然跟鬼畫符差得遠, 但跟靚差得更更更遠, 所以對寫得一手好字的同學仔好不羨慕. 也曾自欺欺人的以為長大後 '自然' 會寫得好看些, 當然又是以前好天真好傻嗰種.
爺爺自己寫揮春, 印象中我的反應就是 "好似街賣嗰啲咁, 唔怪之得不如自己寫" 之類. 爸呢, 我未見過他的毛筆字, 但直至現在仍然覺得他的字很好看, 中英數都好看, regardless 紙筆的種類好壞. 有人喜歡用墨水筆, 用得其法的話粗細有緻, 簽個名都有型些(以為). 自己就最怕滑溜溜的紙及墨, 因為容易失控, 每一下落筆要十二萬分小心不至東歪西斜大小顛倒 .
話說回來, 那天 coffee break 時, 已忘了跟PC 的小朋友瞎扯了什麼, 隨手就潦了幾隻洋文, 不過據說 "睇唔到"... 失敗.
有時看見一些靚筆心思思想買, 我會告訴自己及身邊人 "我都唔揸筆嘅" 除咗簽名開支票劃點心紙做 presentation. 看來筆及其他書寫工具有機會成為更上幾層樓的 collectibles.

置諸死地而後生

星期四. 復活節假期前的最後一個工作天, 特別有置諸死地 feel.

0930 Conf call 不怎聽得入耳, 畢竟主講人置巨大 powerpoint 於不顧, 聽得出她已跳離電話筒(及聽眾), 自顧自的在白板上龍飛鳳舞念念有詞起來. 沒有選擇掛掉出走去歎咖啡, 只因要趕製11點台戲的 powerpoint.
1045 Call不甚了了. 11點功課的後期製作總算完成, 雖然放不了上 server, anyway.
1050 分析員'求見', 話下午就要來. "來啦來啦, 知你班大帝要放 Easter."
1055 到 boardroom 準備. "yii? 咁黑嘅..." 再三查證, 原來去錯地方, 直奔13樓.
1100 好在那些"港區大人"們未到.
1105 開波. 接波. 回波. 有驚無險. 總之沒有告一段落, 只有更多有待 come-back 的段落. 先算.
1220 收到老外老板的 COB Friday request. 香港... 加... 南中國??? 痴線.
1230 同 p2 的 maternity leave 前最後午餐要緊, 直飛 Pizza Express. 雖然還在想那個... "南中國".
1350 繼續那 COB Friday request... 跟幾方知情不知情的都談了些. 找不到老外老板, 著秘書要生擒.
1520 BJ那邊的隊員突然發出 COB Today 求救訊號之一. 痴線.
1525 BJ同一隊員再發出 COB Today 求救訊號之二. 已決定棄船.
1530 隻 TP 第3次 reboot. Deskside support 哥哥前幾天已分別花了兩個兩小時, 都搞唔掂, 提議要重新嚟過. 原本想假期前 re-image... *sigh
1600 分析員話要遲. 好, 反正 lut 晒轆.
1615 媽來電, 話喺街跌咗個 mobile...! 再打去已經關了機. 即係冇咗.
1630 Procurement 突然 IM 話, 邊個邊個 project 個 candidate 過了死線才入 proposal, 作廢...! 起勢咁想問清楚, 但好明顯對方無回音.
1640 還在悵然, 個 candidate 居然剛好來電, 一貫老外的輕快笑問 how am i today. 想必我用了極冷到不能的語氣告訴他 not good... and he's one of reasons why. 講了兩句個情況, 他還夠天真問 what's the problem... and he's stunned... 大佬啊, I didn't know how to react. 返去等消息啦. 收線. 激到我呢...
1650 仍然找不到 procurement, 頭都爆, 走了去 PC 呌呌啡啡佢.
1715 索性叫阿分析員來啡談. 還是有很多技術性的問題. 加上巧婦難為無米炊...
1800 繼續 COB Friday request. 爸來電說找不到媽, 電話停了機云云. "係 ah... 佢喺街跌咗個 mobile..."
1830 仍然找不到老外老板. 只好交帶寶島隊友繼續努力其中一部份.
2100 算數. 帶機走人.

希望, 置諸咗死地就真係會後生啲啦.

Vaccine-ed

Finally got a shot of influenza vaccine.
This's the first time, hopefully won't (or should hope for?) have fever-like reaction.
Supposedly I'm not the high-risk type, so had never thought of having one until:
~ considering mom actually bears high risk if get infected by any of us
~ mom said I should have one since I "成日喺出面" (well, guess this is more a complaint... which I pretend not knowing)
~ it's conveniently available at office
~ and, it's free of charge
No more excuse.

微服出巡

Tams Family @ Hong Kong Disneyland, 20080227
經過1年有多的醞釀, 終於成行. 雖然在醞釀期內, 除了媽咪外, 我已 full-fare 去過1次, 豆免費去過2次, 爸出錢出力與客戶去過唔sure幾多次...
爸早早已 online 買了票, 原來的期限是去年9月或之前(半年期), 但一家四口有事的有事忙, 無事的也有無事的忙, 終於過了期才發現. 打電話去查詢, 廸廸尼固然不能讓我們失望吧, 把有效期延至今年3月頭. 於是, 一家四口很方便地繼續有事的有事忙, 無事的無事的忙... 上星期媽突然重新發現這'舊大陸', 急忙召集, schedule 左夾右夾之下, 終於成事.

早陣子天氣陰陰濕濕, 實在有點擔心. 幸而那天天氣真的很好, god's blessing.
原本爸大大聲話要0900出門口食早餐, 點知... 他自己 jet-lag 中, 終於1200才出門到飯堂飲茶再出發.

米奇(與)老死 - 泊車咭


重大採購 - 巴斯光年爆爆爆谷! 由爸負責全程全天候全面保護. (查實人影都唔多隻...)

Autopia (with Honda) - 全家玩了兩轉. 走第2轉時, 我們要求開排在最前的4輛車(同1跑道同1轉可有6架), 費事俾前面啲慢吞吞人阻住晒. 當然根據這個"唔想俾人阻住"的邏輯, 4個車手依次必須是: 爸, 我, 豆, 媽... hohohooo.

煙花後散場 (睇怕已經係全世界都喺晒度...)

Before & After - 入場前及離場時的停車場. 我們大約1400入場, 理論上是停車場繁忙時段, 可是現場停車只有40多. 晚上離開時就更冷清. 不期然又想起我們 (被volunteered) 是大股東的一份子, 個心赤一赤.

Actual vs Planned

Typical.
According to plan.
Would have been on the way to the wonderland.
Actual is.
Here, blogging, still.
hohoohooohoooohooooo
I've had my hot Godiva already.
I Can wait.

Thanks God... and for the good weather :)

心花勁放

不同時候拍下家中的年花. 很沒條理... 總之覺得靚啦.
望到她們, 心都開啲.