Apparently, in Japanese culture, it is actually POLITE to slurp your noodles loudly to show appreciation for the delicious food served to you. In stark contrast, we Westerners frown upon such loud noises while eating and are trained to do just the opposite – eat silently. It’s been funny watching Hiroko instinctively slurp all noodles placed in front of her. So we decided to try and copy her.

Who did the best job? You decide!! :)

I just couldn’t resist!

Happy birthday, Hiroko!! Thank you(?) for making my cheeks and stomach hurt from laughing too hard and too much!!

Snow in Houston?!?! Like, real snow?!?! OK, well, it's the most real snow that we've probably ever had.

Here's a little festive cheer for ya - watch the volume on those speakers:

I think my favorite Christmas Carol is "Let It Snow". I just love the idea of snuggling up in front of a fireplace while it's all stormy outside. :)

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. :)