Power Level 1064

Just as there are power levels in Dragonball Z measuring an adult at 10, Vegeta at 8000 (during the Vegeta Saga), and Super Saiyan Goku at 1500000, there are ratings for table tennis players, which are determined from playing in tournaments. After playing in some tournaments and practicing several times a week for almost a year, I have a measly rating of 1064 Beginners have a rating ranging from 100 to 1000, intermediate players from 1100 to 1700, advanced players from 1800 to 2300, and world class players 2600 and up.

I still have a long way to go, but the good news is I think I’ve made an important breakthrough in my development. I’ve started to watch the ball more closely to improve my returns, and I can say spin is king in table tennis. If I can see the logo on the ball, that means there is not much spin on the ball, but if I can’t see the logo on the ball or if it’s very blurry, then there is a lot of spin on the ball.

As a final note, I find it a little embarrassing but resourceful at the same time that the USA Table Tennis organization records the results of all tournament play. If you like, go to: http://www.usatt.org/history/rating/history/ and punch in my last name to see all the game scores for all the matches I’ve played, which include losing to a 70 year old senior citizen and a 14 year girl!

Valerie is going to school

Valerie is growing up. She started going to school this Monday. She's enrolled in the 5 half-day program, which is the core of the program. We drop her off at 9 am and pick her up at 1pm. She is excited to go to school every morning but wants us to stay with her. Surprising, she didn't cry on the first day, but she cried yesterday and today. I called the center after 20 minutes to check on her, she stopped crying after 5 minutes after I left. I like the facility. It's very clean, the staff is good and it's only 5 minutes away. I get a daily report on what she eat , number of potty time/diaper change and what she does at school. With Valerie being in school for 4 hours, for the first time in 2 years that we actually have more free time, me- time and couple-time. Overall, I’m happy that Valerie is interacting with the other kids, learning and having fun. And, we still get to spend time with Valerie because it’s only half-day. It’s worth the money.

Val likes dog

I took Valerie to the park today. She was having fun playing and one of our neighbors stopped by with her little boy and her dog. Valerie started playing with the puppy and wanted to take the puppy home with her. She was crying and wanted the dog to go home with her. We took her to a pet store after lunch. She liked the white terrier, so we asked to see the puppy. Valerie was so happy to play with the dog and again she wanted to take the puppy home with us. Honestly, we don't know how to take care of a dog, it's a lot of responsibilities and too much work right now. Valerie's fondness for dogs is possibly because she was born in the year of the dog. We might consider getting a dog for her when she gets older.

Guilty Pleasure

Mmmmmm, So delicious......

Las Vegas Stats

# of cute baby compliments: Many, which got me thinking is Val still gonna be cute when she gets older? Just take a look at Macauley Culkin.

# of other infants & toddlers I saw in Vegas: Enough, so that Sherry & I didn't feel too uncomfortable.

# of dollars won from gambling: 257, I almost lost it all but I got lucky from slapping it all down a couple times and winning.

# of hours it took to get to Vegas: 8.5, the most arduous part of the trip for me, due to all the sitting my butt had to do without a nice cushion.

# of swear words used within an earshot of Valerie: 5, I don't like it, but what can you do when you live in a country with freedom of speech.

# of meals per day: 2.5, we stuffed ourselves eating buffets, so we didn't need 3 full meals a day, except for Val.

# of times Sherry went to Starbucks to get her fix: 2, I even find it highly addicting, but thank goodness, I'm extremely lactose intolerant.

# of times Valerie got trampled over: Once, not unexpected because Valerie either wanted only Sherry to hold her or she wanted to walk by herself. I'm gonna give her stroller training from now on (in addition to tennis).

# of scantily clad women I saw: None, I only have eyes for my wife!

Valerie's 20th month milestone

Things Valerie can do at 20th months old-in no particular order

1. Feed herself using a fork & spoon
2. Brush her teeth
3. Know the alphabet up to letter F (tried to record a video but she moves too much)
4. Use 50+ words
5. Turn on TV
6. Turn on & off light when asked
7. Point to body parts when asked
8. Take off her jacket & shoes
9. Go up and down the stairs without help
10. Identify pictures by naming

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Goebbert’s Farm in South Barrington today with our friends. We had a very good time because there’s a lot to do at the farm. It’s got the petting zoo, pony ride, corn maze, indoor restaurants and ect. I would definitely go back next year. The pictures are posted in Valerie’s Photos. I’m super tired, I’ve been up for more than 24 hours. I'm going to sleep. I’m just Happy it’s my last night of work for the week.

A Preference For Mommy

Valerie won't let anybody else do anything for her when I'm around even daddy. It's somewhat flattering to know that my daughter loves spending time with me, and I'm grateful for her attention, but she seems too dependent on me. My hubby is saying I'm holding her too much, I give in to her demands too easily and I don't discipline her. She definately behave differently when she's under daddy's care, she's well behaved and less clingy when daddy is taking care of her. I talked to other parents, they say it's a transitional stage. I want to provide enough love, comfort, security and support but don't want to over do it. Recently, I incorporate playdates and a daily walk in the neighborhood, she likes to play with other childrens and seem less dependent on me. I know she won't learn to let go overnight. Being good parents is the toughest job in the world, it takes a lot of work to raise good, healthy and happy kids but very rewarding.

Latest Tennis News

Former Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova will marry tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan. Don't they make a lovely couple? In record-breaking news, Rafael Nadal records his 72nd consecutive victory on clay court. Man, does Roger Federer even have a prayer of beating him in the French Open? One can only hope, one can only hope...

Comics Galore

I couldn't believe Marvel would make this kind of product available, but they did with Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Avengers, and now the Incredible Hulk all available on DVD-ROM, each containing over 500 issues of comics spanning over 40 years! That's a total of over 2500 comics to read, and at a rate of one comic per day, it would take me more than 6 years to finish reading them all. I'm not that big a Marvel fan, but when each DVD-ROM costs less than $50, the price translates to around 10 cents per issue, and that's a deal that no comic enthusiast today can pass up. The only drawback is you need a really large monitor, at least a 22", or else you may end up getting headaches trying to read them on a smaller screen. Now if only DC would put some of their stuff on DVD-ROM....

Guess who's birthday it is today?

Happy Chinese New Year!

Thank you for the lai see, Mommy & Daddy! Love, Val

Password consolidation

With the advent of the internet, I started with a couple passwords that were easy to remember, but now that number has grown to over 9, and I’m starting to lose track. For work alone, I have 3 different passwords, and it doesn’t help that the computer system requires me to change one of them every few months, and to make matters worse, new passwords must be different from the last 4 passwords.

With password requirements like numbers embedded in the middle, certain minimum or maximum lengths, and even a capital letter required somewhere, it’s no wonder I can’t remember them all, without referring to my cheat sheet. Well, just recently I decided to consolidate all my passwords to one that’s 8 letters/numbers in length with 2 numbers embedded somewhere, such as 00, which will allow me to rotate passwords as needed by increasing an embedded number by 1, while keeping all the letters the same. Hopefully, with this new system, I can cut down most of my passwords to just a few now, and still deter most hackers.

Day-Care for Val

Working full-time and taking care of Valerie full-time without day-care/nanny, We are going to enroll her in a part-time day- care later this year. The quality of care at the day-care is not as good as mom and dad's. We don't mind taking care her ourselves, but she needs social interaction. We can also have more time for ourselves to unwind. I'm also thinking switching back to day-time if day-care works out for us.

Booster Seat

Valerie is going to be 11 months old next week, and she's getting too big for the car seat. I tried looking for a booster forward facing car seat at Babies”R”Us online, because it has a wide selection. I want to look for a safe and comfortable booster seat for Valerie but all of the booster seats that listed on Baby R US online are ugly and the designs are not my taste. I'll stop by the store soon, maybe they have one that I like.