Friend is moving away from Houston [pout!]. Just helping get the word out about stuff she’s selling. All furniture is less than a year old and practically new. 
Couch = $200 (bought it for $400; it is a futon that bends two ways) [ update: SOLD ]
Sharp flatscreen 32" TV = $400 OBO [ update: CLAIMED ]
TV Stand/coffee table = $15 [ update: CLAIMED ... by moi :P ]
Table and chairs (4) set = $60 OBO [ update: SOLD ]
1994 Honda Civic EX, sporty red 2-door coupe, 150k miles, in good condition! = $1500 OBO [ update: SOLD ]
Bissell Powerforce bagless Vacuum Cleaner = $20 [ update: SOLD ]
Most comfortable Queen size mattress set EVAR (mattress + boxspring): $100 [ update: SOLD ] Friend is also giving away lots of household items...plates, silverware, pans, mugs, etc. E-mail / call for details. [ update: CLAIMED ] Thanks guys! – C :) [ update: YAY! :) ]
I had been using a physical fax machine, but with the increased amount of electronic insurance billing I’ve been doing, insurance companies have been faxing me like crazy. This is great for helping my patients save money! However, it was way annoying that fact that they chose the weirdest times to send me stuff (3:00 am! what!!?!). I started looking for a fax number that would receive and route to e-mail. And because I’m cheap, preferably free. :) And so! That narrowed down my search greatly. I’ve been using K7.net coupled with a gmail account (big, fat, and also free) for a few months now and it’s been great. K7’s basic website did not inspire immediate faith in the service, but it’s been really smooth for me. Here’s a brief review: Pros: free (funded by ads), can choose to set it to Fax Only mode or can use the Fax + Voicemail mode (voicemails show up as .wav files in your e-mail), reduces paper waste, NO MORE FAX RINGING OFF THE HOOK AT 3:00AM!! Cons: can’t choose a number in your area code (by default you get 206 for Seattle, WA, so perhaps people in Seattle would consider this a “pro”) … but that hardly matters to most, especially to the insurance companies who are sending stuff to all sorts of area codes. If you set it to Fax + Voicemail mode, sometimes the faxes are interpreted as voicemails with that intermittent beep. The “catch”? Gotta use it at least once every 30 days, or else it’ll be deactivated. It’s an automated system too – I know, because I got deactivated. I sheepishly wrote into customer service and they graciously gave me my fax number back as a one-time courtesy. The trick? Set it to Fax + Voicemail mode, call in every 2 weeks and leave yourself a voicemail, and you’re golden. Thanks K7 for letting me sleep through the night! If you’ve tried K7 or any other free fax receiving service, I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments. Potentially confusing: “K7.net” and “www.K7.net” go to different pages. The one with the “www” prefix goes directly to the fax-to-e-mail service I have described here.
Some people have bad hair days (I’ve been having a lot of those too, I hate this not-short-not-long length I’m at), but today was a bad car day. First thing in the morning: I go to work. Park. I’m one of the few cars there in the lot. Later on I go out to run errands and I see this car KISSING my car. I’ve seen this car before, and it is always parked badly, but today when I saw this … I mean, seriously, what the … !?!?!?!
Mine is the Toyota, on the right.
View from the top. @#$% ...
Well, I start to pull away, when the car’s owner opens the door to his car. Most of you know I hate confrontation, but I jumped out and pipsqueak lil’ me was like, “Excuse me, is that your car? Because um, you were parked all the way up to my car so it was touching my license plate [ bang on license plate for effect ] … do you mind not parking so close next time?!” He nodded, not saying a word … I was like, “Great he’s gonna come beat me up now …” but instead he looked more confused than anything. Just great. He didn’t understand English. >_< OK, so I went running my errands, and it started pouring. I switched on my trusty wipers. This AWFUL SCREEE-SCREEECH sound emitted from the wipers with each swipe. What the … I pulled over and took a look. The rubber blade of my passenger’s side wiper had come clean off, and the metal from the arm was scraping against my windshield!! OMG. I tried to prop my wiper up off the glass (lookin’ mega-ridiculous) so I could at least still use the good driver-side wiper and not hear that awful SCREEEEEECHING noise, but when the wiper came smashing back down into its resting position, I saw an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts right there in front of me. Edgar very kindly came out in the rain, took a look, unclipped my damaged wiper, and pointed me to some really good wipers that were on sale, and helped me install it too. :) Hopefully the scratches from that stupid wiper won’t be permanent … And I’d just like to say I am grateful it was just a bad car day, not a horrible car day. :)
My evening opened up unexpectedly last night, and so I headed over to the willyouBhere Hepatitis B awareness event and concert at the University of Houston. I was hoping to meet David Choi so I could thank him personally for giving me permission to use his cover of "Over The Rainbow" in my skydiving video; however, I would have had to body surf over / push and shove through the throng of screaming girls that mobbed him after the event. Yeah, didn’t happen. I DID however get to briefly shake hands with Paul Dateh and snapped a quick pic with him before security kicked us out (props to Nancy for the quick trigger finger):  Um, I look way too happy in this photo, and all I can say is ... that boy's silky smooth voice made me melt in my seat and utter obscenities that hopefully were not recorded by digital camera video recorders surrounding us. All in all, a great night of entertainment. Also enjoyed watching singers Jessica Sanchez (her voice sounds way older than a 14-yr-old!), Michelle Martinez, along with Youtube comedians / personalities KevJumba, HappySlip, and dance crew Kaba Modern. Just wanted to end this post with my skydiving video, if you haven't seen it already. One of the greatest [short] experiences of my life. Thanks again David Choi!
I’ve always just eaten to fulfill my nutritional needs, but for some reason, seeing this video made me obsessed with making this sandwich (linked by foodie friend Steve Q!). It's a video of Chef Michael at Max's Wine Dive here in Houston showing how to make their fried egg sandwich with chili bacon. I’ve never been, but Steve says it’s his favorite sandwich these days. I think I was drooling while watching this video. I must have watched it at least twice! So last night, while hungry and grocery shopping, I tried to buy the ingredients to the best of my memory. And then I attempted to make it. Forgot a few things, swapped beans for bacon (yeah, I know, totally different, but ... a protein's a protein, right?), but all in all ... I still managed to end up making a REALLY good sandwich! I know Chef Hugh would be so proud! :D
I am SO PSYCHED! I present to you a picture of my first ever original artwork, and of a pink orange at that, by the talented and generous J to the M-a.  That evening, JMa called me and said she had "something" she wanted to drop off. I was feeling less than awesome so I asked if she could possibly pick up some orange juice for me. She sounded a little taken aback, and I thought that perhaps I'd asked for one favor too many ... but her surprise was instead due to my being seemingly in sync with the surprise she had in store for me. I like it I like it I like it!!! And thank you David for the hanging supplies, and for LEP for helping me hang it up!! I like, feel so grown up now. :)
OMG OMG OMG. So I was getting in my car to drive to work today. I had parked under a tree last night, and saw some bird poop on my car. I'd just washed my car Monday, so I was a bit pissed, but whatever. But when I got in my car to leave for work, I realized with sheer, pure and utter horror that ... THERE WAS A F###ING DEAD BIRD ON MY WINDSHIELD. "OMG OMG OMG that is GRODY," I thought. I had to go to work right then, I didn't have time to deal with it right that moment ... I thought, "I'll just drive to work and the bird will just fall off I guess. I am so so so sorry Mr. Bird!" So off I drove. Whereupon I realized with sheer, pure and utter horror that ... THE F###ING DEAD BIRD WAS STUCK IN MY WINDSHIELD WIPERS. OMG OMG OMG that is DISGUSTING, I thought. And as I drove, I realized just how stuck it was. It was so stuck that not only was it not falling off, but ... the leg of the bird would swing back and forth, as if WAVING to me. OMG OMG OMG GROSS!! Got to work (almost crying at this awful sight the whole way, I couldn't help it ... oh and I forgot to mention, there were BLOODY GUTS smeared on my windshield but I couldn't use my wipers!!) and stepped out to briefly survey what the HECK was going on. And to my sheer, pure and utter horror, I saw that ... IT WAS A HEADLESS BIRD STUCK IN MY WINDSHIELD WIPERS. AND ITS BLOODY DECAPITATED BEAK WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE BESIDE IT!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I had to ask my co-worker if he could help me remove the poor bird (and beak, and bloody guts) from my windshield and wipers. Turns out it was like HALF A BIRD (I DUNNO WHERE THE REST OF IT WENT!!). WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?!?1?1!! GRODY TO THE MAX YO!!!!!! I was so grossed out I couldn't even take pictures like I usually would, OMG!!!! Yes I know, I'm such a girl!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! @_@
It just so happened that our table at Cafe 101 consisted of 2 girls, and 2 guys - BOTH sporting unique hats. How rare is that?! 
Sheng listens as Kirk tells us how he feels about health care The last time I'd spoken to Sheng was over five years ago, and I remember asking him what he was doing, and he replied, "I'm a [ insert job name ], but I'm going to be a comedian." And that he did. "Hats off" to him! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) He's coming to do a charity comedy show in Houston Tuesday, September 22nd at 7:30p. Pre-sale tix are $20, with 2-item minimum purchase at Laff Stop. Proceeds help survivors of Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan that wiped out entire villages with mudslides. If you've not heard of Tzu-Chi, they're a very active group and famous for being on the frontlines in time of disaster; they don't just collect money and sit on the sides. They are in there getting down and dirty and getting stuff done.  Hope to see you folks there!
BEST: getting a phone call from Japan and hearing Moe-chan speak English to me. Thank you, Moe-chan. You TOTALLY made my day! 
This was especially nice after waking up at 7:00am in a cold sweat from having my first nightmare in a very long time and not being able to go back to sleep. Little Moe (pronounced "Mo-eh") had been practicing hard all week so she could say a few sentences to me in English. Apparently the stress from reciting those lines in English got her body really tense: 
Here she just looks a little nauseous having to tolerate my awful attempts at Japanese conversation: 
Finally, when saying goodbye and an oh-so-sweet "I love you!" she finally relaxes a tiny bit - but still has a death grip on the phone with both hands: 
Thanks to Hiroko for the action shots. :) ========== WORST: Having to deal with apartment's new management ... again and again. Me: Hi, I don't know why I got a notice for not having paid my rent. I have it automatically set to deduct from my checking account every month. Apartment's New Management (ANM): With the new management, we don't have that anymore, and don't know if we will ever have that. If you bring in a money order in today, we'll waive the late fees. Me: OK, can I have the exact total of rent plus utilities? ANM: No, we don't know the exact amount. They're still figuring it out. [ cue my rolling of eyes ] Your best bet would be to pay what you paid last month. If you end up paying a little more, that amount will be credited towards your next statement. Me: And what if I end up short a few bucks? Would that just be tacked onto the next statement? ANM: Well ... then we would bill you for that amount and you'd have to come in and pay that, again via money order. So, we advise you to maybe pay a couple bucks more so that doesn't happen. To say that they are concerned only for their bottom line seems something like an understatement. Is that the norm? Or only because I live in this particular apartment complex? Also, I can't get straightforward answers to inquiries, like: "Have you added freon to my A/C yet?" and, "There are big gaping holes in my weather stripping, you do realize that all my A/C is just going out through those holes?" So far, I've "only" had to call them 4 times and talk to them in person about it once, only to get answers like, "Well, you should test it by turning the dial to 70F so we know if they did it or not," and "Don't you have a foundation problem? The weather stripping will NEVER be perfect." Well, I'll keep thinking about the BEST wake up call ever and Moe's adorable voice and it'll be all good. :)
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