Gorgeous Weekend in Winthrop, WA

We picked a great weekend to go up to Winthrop. It was sunny and hot - high at 84 and the sun didn't set down until 9-10pm. It was great to spend two days in the cabin, and to watch trees streching, flowers blossoming, and listen to birds chirping, bees humming and deer grazing in our yard. We loved our 48 hrs of sun break from Seattle :) and warmly welcome you to visit.

It was a short trip and we had lots of chores to do in the yard - getting rid of tumble weeds and other stuff. But we still managed to squeeze in a 4-hour hike alongs two trails close to Sun Mountain Lodge. The scenery along the trails is absolutely amazing. For more pictures, please check out my flickr account.

Football Fan's Carnival is on...

FIFA World Cup South Africa will kick off in 13 hours 56 mins and 22 secs by the time I'm typing in this blog. How do I know it so accurately? I've got ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup application on my iPhone. The entire schedule of all the matches has been converted into your local time no matter you're on the east coast or West, in China or USA. Besides game schedule, this application gives you update on game scores, news, videos, teams, venues ... You can even predict the winner of each round and win award through ESPNsoccernet. What a handy-dandy application! Download it now and enjoy the games the Apple way!


Forget to mention, I'm an ardent football fan! I was a striker/forward of the football team of my elementary school and I watched my first world cup back in 1994!! My favorite team is NOT China:) I'm sure you agree that being a fan of the Chinese football team is one of the most painful thing in the world. 


If you are at work and won't be able to watch the game on TV, please support Qiming's portfolio and use PPS - http://shijiebei.pps.tv/#  


Enjoy FIFA World Cup everyone! Cheers! 

Candide - a Must-see Musical

To memorize one of the greatest contemporary composer - Leonardo Bernstein, Seattle's 5th Ave Theater brought one of his most famous musical masterpieces - Candide on the stage.  Bernstein is most known for his broadway musical - West Side Story, which later produced into a musical film and received sensational success. Robert used to play French Horn for orchestra and he had great fun play Bernstein's musical pieces every single time! 


Candide, under the shadow of West Side Story, didn't become a hit until the 1970s. It tells the story of a young man - Candide looking for his love around the world.  Robert and I went to watch it last night and were fascinated by the energy and sparks of the music and the performance. We were impressed by the intricate stage set-up and light coordination as well. We give it two thumbs up. If Candide goes to your neck of the woods, please go see. You will enjoy it for sure! Tickets start from $22.5.


BTW, the 5th Avenue Theater itself is a piece of art. It is in glorious/royal Chinese style and looks just like a palace in the Forbidden City. Pretty cool. I'm afraid I've never see beautiful theaters like it back in China.

iPhone 4 Unveiled Today

One month and a half ago, a so-called Apple's next iPhone was found lost in a bar in Redwood City. Apple never came out to claim if that was the next model. After many months of speculation, the truth finally came out today. Yes, that was the new iPhone - iPhone 4. Steve Jobs is speaking at the launch press conference right now. It's not a 4G phone, still 3GS, but there are many new features, which have already made me fall love with it!! Here are a few new features I'm particularly interested.


* Front and back cameras, making video calling possible
* Back camera flash
* Multi-Tasking
* Fold creating
* 40% longer battery life
* Even better screen display
* Thinner and Sleekier


The video link below says it all about the phone. Click and watch by yourself.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/design/#design-video


iPhone 4 pre-order starts on Jun. 15th and is available on Jun. 24th. But the folks who have owned a iPhone 3GS like me,  should you update your phone now? I would probably say hold on. 4G wireless is just around the corner. It doesn't hurt to wait a bit. 

Online movie resources

DVDs are expensive here, but I've found some free resources. Most of the sites listed below are in Chinese. Knowing Chinese becomes handy now.

Option 1: watching online, no download at all.

TV series site:

http://www.tudou.com

http://www.youku.com

Movie site:

http://hd.openv.com

http://powerapple.com

Option 2: download player, and then watch online.

http://www.ppstream.com/

http://www.xunlei.com/

Option 3: install emule, or bit torrent, or azure; download movies/TV series from the Internet and then watch offline

http://isohunt.com

http://www.verycd.com

US State Quarter Coins

US dollar bills might be a bit boring in design, but US quarter coins are definitely interesting. The US government issued 50 states commemorative quarters in 2000, features George Washington on one side, and the design of each state on the other.  I can show you an example. The design of Washington State Quarter is composed of Salmon fish, Mount Rainer, the year Washington joined the USA,  and the nick name of the state.

Since these State Quarters are so well received by the public, the US government continued to issued 6 new territory quarters -  District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands & US Virgin Islands.

Our nephew Matthew is 7 years old and he's collecting these fancy quarters. He's already got all the 50 US State quarters + 5 new territory quarters. So he's only missing ONE - Guam. If anyone finds a Guam, please let me know. Matthew would be excited to complete his completion.

Fabulous Week on the East Coast ...

I'm not talking about the weather, although it was gorgeous for the entire week when we were there. I'm talking about family time, friend's time, city fun & country fun. Top of this fabulous week list goes to me meeting Robert's close relatives and high school friends, including extremely nice uncle & aunt, a delightful cousin, 2 beautiful nieces, 4 lively cats, 7 distinctively different yet funny friends and a few wives. It was overwhelming in the beginning and I noticed myself stagger when speaking English :) Thank god. There is a magic potion called ALCOHOL. After a few drinks, I realized that I started to talk up storm just like when I speak Chinese :)

Visiting my in-laws in Delaware was a lot more relaxing. I just loved curling in the couch flipping through the old family albums & listening to mom & dad tell family histories & childhood stories of Robert, Jon & Diana. We definitely need to do it more often!

The wedding of Adrian and Holly was lovely. It's wonderful to see a good man with a good heart finally finds his true love. The after party "hosted" by the Summit group was incredibly fun. These Summit boys known each other for over 20 years, and their friendship still stays strong.

Watching Sex & the City II Premier with my BFF Bonnie & my new friend Jing at Time Square NYC was so much fun! We put on our beautiful dresses and high heels, and looked as fabulous as the girls in the movie :)  (movie review will come soon)

...

It was a fabulous week with family and friends!