A Note to the Lunch Thieves

Several weeks ago I blogged about the thieves running rampant, raiding our office kitchen's refrigerator and stealing unsuspecting frozen dinners-- I've been a victim twice, and have commiserated with other folks in the same situation.

In case you've forgotten, you can refresh your memory on that entry here.

Apparently one victim had enough. Yesterday as I ambled into the kitchen for a drink, I saw this hand-written sign posted on the freezer door:



Made me giggle-- "borrowed!" What a euphemism.

In case you can't read it, the sign says "Please replace my Smart One lunch you borrowed" (Smart One is a brand of frozen dinner).

Wonder if it worked... may have to find Alice and ask her one of these days ;-)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/224000699)

To Chew or Not To Chew

Anyone that knows me knows that Smarties are among my absolute favorite candies. No, not British Smarties (which are like M&Ms)-- American Smarties, which are chalk-like candy wafers-- little more than tangy sugar and color:



This weekend, while shopping at K-Mart for some snacks to enjoy indoors (since it rained all weekend and we couldn't really go anywhere), I came across a bag of "Bubble Gum Smarties":



The bag didn't have any immediate outward indications of what the product actually entailed, so I assumed it was the classic Smarties candy-- just with a bubblegum flavor. After all, it's not unusual to find your favorite classic candy in a variety of flavors (like Skittles), right?

Right. Or so I thought.

Upon settling on the sofa to watch a movie, I opened up a roll and popped a couple of the Smarties into my mouth. Hmm... rather than being hard and brittle and "chalky" like I expected, they were soft and chewy. But they're not the first hard candy to come in soft and chewy form (think Jolly Ranchers and LifeSavers), so no real shock there. And they seemed to dissolve in my mouth okay, so I ate the entire roll. It wasn't until I was finishing up the last wafer in that roll that I realized that it was sticking to my teeth a bit. That made me raise an eyebrow, re-examine the package, and then make a dash for my computer.

A Google search on "bubble gum Smarties" yielded several pages that indeed confirmed what I feared I had done: I had eaten bubblegum.

Including the product page from the official Smarties website itself:http://www.smarties.com/products.html

Sigh... yeah, my tummy's gonna have fun processing that one. Luckily I realized my error after eating only one roll, and not the half-dozen I usually go through in one sitting. Count my blessings, I suppose...


(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/223483682)

Forbidden?

Hmmmm, I wonder if my frequent polling of Grab blogs on my feed reader and the accompanying frequent web traffic attracted the attention of our IT guys. My feeder showed a bunch of red entries on all the Grab blogs, so I figured the blogs were just down, as they've been prone to do in the past. But when I actually checked on the web, I realized that all of the blogs.grab.com domain was filtered out, for I got the following HTTP 403 error:

403 Forbidden
You were denied access because:
Access denied by WebWasher DynaBLocator content category. The requested URL belongs to the following category: Malicious Web Sites.

Right... but I can still access the REST of Grab, just not Grab blogs? WTF?

And now they've caught up to filtering Myspace-- not all of Myspace, mind you, otherwise I wouldn't be able to post this blog entry. I can still access my homepage and I can access blogs-- but I can't view anyone's profiles. The category? "Pornography". And while I concede that there are numerous Myspace profiles out there that fit that category, I was a little displeased to not even be able to access my friends' profiles, or band pages, because of the full-out banning of all the Myspace profiles.

Now how am I supposed to change my Myspace profile music if I can't get to the band's page? Worse yet, how am I suppose to change my layout, etc... if I can't preview my own page to make sure I got it right?

At least I can still blog... for now!

Can you say "GRRRRRR"?

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/221611857)

My New Phone

Earlier this week I added my mom to our T-Mobile family plan, as there have been too many times when she or my dad have found themselves in a situation where they needed a cell phone and had none handy.

I took the opportunity to upgrade my own phone, as I had been using my ancient Samsung r225m for nearly 2.5 years.

I had initially had my heart set on the Samsung t619 flip phone, as it had gotten great reviews and had everything I wanted, plus I thought it was about time to give flip phones a chance after years of using a bar phone.

But alas, the T-Mobile retailer I visited no longer had them in stock, so I looked around and played with their inventory to see what else appealed to me. And there it was: my second choice. The Motorola RAZR. I thought it was much overhyped, and its reviews weren't as stellar as those of the Samsung t619. Still, I figured there HAD to be a reason it's been the best-selling phone for 2 years already.

I gave the store models a test drive and liked it so far. And in the end, I did it. I got myself a RAZR. Not just any RAZR. But one with a cool tattoo designed by one of the artists on "Miami Ink"-- as you can see from the photos, I opted for a dragon tattoo. You can't see it show up too well on the first photo, but you can see the entire dragon in the second photo, where the phone is open.

So far, I'm a happy clam. I love my new phone. It is sleek and sexy and so thin I can do something I've never done before-- put the phone in my pocket and not even feel that it's there. Sure, it's a fingerprint magnet (as so many users have complained about), but I'm pretty fastidious about wiping my phone's screen and keeping it clean anyway, so those habits will serve nicely in keeping my phone in pristine condition.

Here's the snapshots of my newest toy:





(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/216653410)

Trend-setting friends

My friends are cool. They set trends. They follow trends. A couple months ago, I teased Scot about changing his display name to match Jen's, and he did! Here's the proof:



Then, a few weeks ago, after all the pictures from my surprise visit to Wales had been distributed online, Lisa started a trend that had Scot, Fuzzy and me following suit: setting our profile pictures to pics of the visit.

As luck would have it, Jen's top 4 row consisted of the 4 of us, so I was able to capture this screenshot before we all switched to Christmas-themed avatars and display names:



Now I can stop being confused by who wrote what in blog comments and guestbook comments, as the pics were all similar! :-D

It was short-lived, but hey-- it was fun while it lasted! Thanks, guys! :-)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/204182995)

Thievin' Little Buggers

I usually bring my lunch to work everyday. Pack up leftovers from last night's dinner in a tupperware dish and eat at the comfort of my desk. But on occasion when there's nothing to bring, I bring a couple of frozen TV dinners, and round it out with a healthful salad and fresh fruit. I've taken to keeping one dinner in the kitchen freezer just as a spare in case I ever have a day where I don't have time to bring or buy lunch, I'll still have something to grab out of the freezer, heat up, and eat.

Well, today was one such day. I ambled into the kitchen, opened up the freezer, and... nothing. There was stuff in there, but none of it was mine. The kicker? This isn't the first time it's happened. It's not the first time someone has swiped my Banquet TV dinner out of the freezer. First time it happened, it was one meal amongst other people's Banquet-brand meals, so I figured someone had gotten it confused with theirs. But this time? I made sure to keep the box wrapped up IN the grocery bag, hoping that would alert people that it isn't theirs. Apparently that did nothing to foil the thief.

And so I'm sitting here, hungry and chowing down on lettuce and carrots (thankful that I at least have that) and drinking fruit juice, hoping that the appetizers I get at a farewell event at 3:00pm today will make up for my lack of a filling lunch.

Blasted thieving buggers at work. Next time I'm packing my food into a container that I can padlock :-P

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/202648131)

Early Grab Meet of sorts

So, at long last I'm getting around to catching up on telling my side of the story-- the same story that you've most likely already read about on both Scot's and Lisa's blogs :-)

I went on a last-minute trip to the UK on business last week, and when I talked to Fuzzy about it and learned of his plans to visit Lisa in Wales, decided it would be a perfect opportunity to join him and surprise her!

I didn't tell anyone about my trip, so don't feel too bad if you've been left out of the loop. I wasn't actually sure if I'd be able to make it to see Lisa at all, and I didn't want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed. As luck would have it, that wasn't the case.

So, I had a layover in Chicago where I got to meet my first Grab friend-- Scot! He's blogged all about it, so you can read the details there, here's the two of us at O'Hare International Airport:



The first few days of my stay in the UK were pretty uneventful. Watched a lot of German TV, something I miss from my days in Germany :-D Did some shopping, got my hair cut, and brrrr-- tried to stay indoors as much as I could!

I was able to get time off on Thanksgiving to join Fuzzy and Alex on the long drive to Wales. We checked into the hotel and after Fuzzy phoned Lisa to let her know we were there, I made my way to his and Alex's room. We wanted to position Fuzzy by the door, videocamera in hand, to film Lisa's expression, and were still working out the logistics (freakin' closet was in the way) when there was an unexpected knock on the door. We looked at the time and stared at each other. Lisa!? Nah, too early!

So Fuzzy pushed the peephole cover aside and peeked through, then jumped back in a near panic, whispering loudly: "It's Lisa!"

Flustered, We scrambled to try to get him in position with the camera, not realizing that Lisa could hear our whispers and movements through the door.

After a second knock, we gave up, and Fuzzy and Alex retreated to the back of the room while I flung the door open.

Oh, the look on Lisa's face-- priceless! The expressions on her face changed from brow-furrowing confusion ("Who the hell..!?") to eye-widening shock ("I recognize her!") to jaw-dropping shock ("It's Helly!") before the inevitable screech of "OH MY GOD!" and the big hugs that followed.
To be honest, she didn't cuss us out as much as we'd expected! I guess she was too stunned to call us many names.

You've already seen most of the important pics on her blog, so I'll just showcase a few of my favorites (forgive any duplicates):
 
Lisa and me, posing as two innocent angels (quit laughing so hard!)



Here are 3 Grab CLs: Lisa, Fuzzy and Helly



Can't leave a shot of Alex out:



This menu cracks me up-- "pud"s?? Sounds sooo dirty!



This picture cracks me up too-- I came across quite a few establishment that sell not just Chinese food, but "Chinese and English food". This one sold Chinese take-out AND fish 'n' chips:



A COUPLE OF AERIAL SHOTS:
The view of the sun-kissed English countryside (hey, where are all the rain clouds??)



These next two are my favorites:
First up, a view of the English Channel as we flew over the last of England



And then, a view of the start of France on the other side of the Channel:



So there you have it. Quite an adventure, and a mini-Grab-Meet across the ocean and across an entire country!

We spent Thursday evening enjoying dinner together, and then a little pub crawl. Coming from California, where smoking is banned in nearly all public establishments, I'd forgotten how smokey it gets in the bars of Europe. And having karaoke at two of the pubs was a plus-- both Alex and I enjoyed our turns up on the mic :-)

On Friday we picked up Lisa at her house and had lunch together, then went shopping-- or more aptly, as Lisa pointed out, Alex shopped while the rest of us looked on.

All in all it was a good trip. I enjoyed seeing a different country, and being scared out of my wits driving on the wrong side of the road. Realizing first-hand (well, I'd already had an inkling of it from my conversations with my British friends) that English, contrary to popular belief, is NOT really a universal language. Reminding myself to be eternally grateful that I live in southern California, where not only is the weather magnificent (yes, I've had enough of the bRRRRR-inducing weather of England and Wales) but the cost of most everything is much lower than in the UK.

And last but not least, it firmly cemented some friendships forged online-- friendships I hope will last a lifetime. So Scot, Lisa, Fuzzy and Alex-- I truly enjoyed meeting you and hanging out with you, and look forward to many more meets across the miles! :-)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/199046647)

They Come To Life...

Ever since I was a little kid and lovingly played with my huge menagerie of stuffed animals, I always maintained a sincere belief that my stuffed animals came to life when I was either sleeping or not around. Kind of like in the Disney movie "Toy Story".

As I got older, that theory obviously diminished in veracity, but to be honest, I never discounted it entirely. Sure, I know the odds of that really happening are very very slim, but unless I can prove with certainty that they DON'T come to life when nobody's looking, well-- that possibility is never zero, is it? Kind of like Schrödinger's cat in the box...

This morning I arrived at my desk with an interesting surprise. I keep Shaun the Sheep and Wallace (of "Wallace and Gromit" fame) on my computer at work. Today I found this:



Wallace apparently keeled over in the middle of the night and did a face-plant right onto my computer. Notice how his hand is still on Shaun's head, perhaps in an attempt to catch his balance and break his fall? Doesn't look like it helped. Makes me wonder how much he had imbibed last night ;-) And just makes me wonder even more if my stuffed animals really did have a raucous party last night when the last of the staff had gone home and all was quiet in the building....

(and in case you're wondering, yes, I propped the Rottweiler up next to them, with pen and pad. When I came upon this amusing "crime scene" this morning, my imagination went into overdrive and I decided that Rocky would serve quite nicely as the investigating police dog :-D)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/194391348)

Coffee Mishaps

So, I've entertained a few questions as to what exactly happened with coffee that wreaked such havoc on my body, and I thought I would share the story here.

Exactly 5 years ago, I was in the middle of my first quarter at UCSB, and pulling an all-nighter in a desperate attempt to finish a group project. My partner and I camped out in his friend's lab to work on it, and sometime before dinner, we hit the nearby Peet's Coffee Shop for some coffee. Anyone that's ever had Peet's knows that they've got particularly strong coffee. And of course, being the coffee novice, I was unaware of this. I made the awful mistake of ordering a large cup of it-- and then drinking about 2/3 of it within the next half hour... on an empty stomach.

Bad idea. A few hours later my stomach started hurting like crazy, even though I'd since eaten dinner. I felt nauseous and naturally, couldn't sleep, even 12 hours AFTER I'd consumed the coffee. The nausea didn't fully subside for several days. I never threw up, but my gag reflex was on full alert, and hasn't gone down since then.

For months afterward, my gag reflex was heightened so much that anything could trigger it. I couldn't eat bananas for those months, for instance, I'd just gag at the mere smell of bananas. And Lord help me if I entered a public restroom stall that was less than spotless.

After a while I was able to eat bananas again, and my gag reflex, though still more sensitive than usual, had gone down.

Then in September 2003 I got pregnant, and guess what happened. Yup, gag reflex on full sensitivity again. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to deal with changing diapers, but luckily I haven't had any problems so far. Anyway, after giving birth, the enhanced sensitivity never fully went away. To this day, I will gag if I'm cold, if I'm too full (let's not think about what happens when I exit a restaurant, stuffed to the gills, into crisp cold weather outdoors), if I'm hit with noxious odors (however subtle), if I'm nervous. I can now understand why people can get so nervous that they throw up-- I don't, I just gag :-P

And of course, ever since then, I can't really take coffee too well-- only in small doses and only on a full stomach.

So there you have it-- my adventures with coffee.

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/187195958)

An 80's *guy*!?!?

Swiped this off Scot's blog, the results are, well, mildly amusing:

	hellykwee's Halloween ...
	You will dress up as An 80's guy, despite earlier plans.
	Scot will get you A magic crystal ball that shows you how you will die
	Fuzzyhaze will get you pumpkin flavored chips
	Fuzzyhaze will get you an enchanted bowl that produces whatever candy you want when you shout the name
	She gave her heart to Tulsa will get you emotional scars
	Ing will get you Some stale lollypops
'What will you get on Halloween?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Hmmm, I'd better watch out for Autumn, then, and those emotional scars ;-)

And it looks like Fuzzy's giving me two presents as well, LOL. He's certainly in a giving mood this year.

Now Scot-- you HAVE to tell me-- will it be quick and painless!?

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/185685274)

Try to be nice...

Wow, been a while since I posted on here. Been keeping busy with work... for a change ;-) And it's been good-- makes the days fly by, that's for sure!

So, a little background info on what's been keeping my so busy this past couple weeks, in addition to my regular programming work:

I came in as a college hire, fresh out of school at UCSB, and straight to work. Now, most of you know that I work for the world's largest biotech company, but I don't work in the science area-- I work in the Information Systems department, where we basically work to support the scientist and researchers with their computer/software/hardware needs. The IS department has an active college hire program, recruiting from target universities in the area every hiring season (each year). And this year we're expanding relationships with my alma mater. As one of UCSB's first few college hires, I ended up with the role of the recruiting facilitator, so I've been busy spearheading our recruiting efforts there. Since most of the recruiting occurs during Fall quarter, the past few weeks have been extremely busy, kicking things into high gear.

This week is full of activities: Career Fair tomorrow, where we'll (that is, 4 of my team members) be manning a booth, handing out info and accepting resumes, and then an Information Session Thursday to present more info about the IS department and make students aware that we do recruit computer/tech geeks, not just scientists and lab rats.

This year for the first time, another department (called POQ-- I'll spare you the explanation of what it stands for-- it's basically manufacturing and QC) is joining in on the college recruiting efforts, as they've got a ton of openings for other engineers. They are joining us for our Info Session so they can explain more about their department to prospective hires. As this is the first time venturing into collegiate territory, they've asked us to help them out with their efforts. Okay, no problem, always happy to lend a hand.

But then I found out that they weren't going to attend the Career Fair with us. Okay, that's fine too-- when we get people in their target majors showing up at our booth, we'll tell them to come to the Info Session for more details.

Then HR said they were giving us printed out job descriptions for handouts. Cool-- we can give those students a handout when we tell them to come back on Thursday.

Today Kinko's delivered the printouts. POQ has 7 types of positions available. And each position was printed on a separate sheet of paper. SEVEN sheets of paper for ONE department, and they're not even going to be at the Career Fair to hand them out!?

What irks me is that I've been pounding on desks trying to enlist their help with my efforts-- making the PowerPoint slides for the joint Info Session, making the fliers to post on campus to promote said Info Session, etc... and not a peep out of the POQ folks. But then they go and dump a bunch of papers on me and expect my team to hand them out tomorrow.

The second thing that irks me is that they CHOSE not to attend our Career Fair, which would've enabled them to set up an extra table RIGHT NEXT TO OURS so they could personally hand out their sheets and actually be able to EXPLAIN more about the jobs listed there!

Nope, apparently they expect that since we're already there, we can handle that for them.

Ummm... yeah, right. There's barely enough room on our table for all of OUR handouts, let alone some POQ handouts that none of us are equipped to explain.

I was tempted to chuck them into a fire. But, being the nice person that I am, and seeing how "team playing efforts" are prized at work, I decided to play nice and collated and stapled (by hand!) 50 packets of 7 sheets each, and stuck them in a box that my team can dig into (read: NOT displayed on our already-crowded table) to hand out.

Seriously, that's as far as I'm willing to go. If they run out tomorrow, too fucking bad. I'm only willing to be a team player if the others play too. And so far they haven't been playing.

Hey, I can be a bitch and play hardball, too.

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/181195810)

Luann on Myspace

I don't know how many of you keep up with the comic strip "Luann", but it ranks right up there among my all-time favorites. I was catching up on this week's strips while eating lunch, and couldn't stop laughing at the Myspace war currently brewing between Luann and Tiffany (oh, excuse me-- Sheraton St. Louis). Then I found out that those Myspace profiles actually existed, and nearly fell out of my chair laughing.

Before you scratch your head wondering what I'm on about, here's a recap of this week's Luann strips:









I am not ashamed to admit that I actually added Luann (and friends) as a friend here on Myspace. I figured, why the heck not-- an interesting way to blend fictional cartoon characters into real life-- or as much as "real life" that Myspace can be.

So check their profiles out, if anything, it's good for some giggles at this crossover between cartoon and online life. Makes me wonder how on earth Greg Evans finds enough time in his day to juggle all that.
http://www.myspace.com/luannandfriends

http://www.myspace.com/sheraton_st_louis

This is one saga I'm truly going to enjoy keeping up with! :-D


(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/176589713)

Childhood Survey

Spied this in the bulletins and thought I'd post it here....

1. Are you a child of the 70's 80's or 90's?
Um-- does this mean when I was born or when I grew up? Born-- 70s. Grew up-- 80s

2. Where were you born?
Muenster, Germany

3. If you were born in another country how old were you when you came here?
4 years old

4. Did you enjoy your childhood?
Yup, I had a happy one

5. When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up?
I honestly don't remember.

6. What was your favorite toy when you were little?
Bronto my stuffed dinosaur and Whopper my stuffed killer whale

7. Name the first memorable vacation you took as a kid :
Going to Disneyland (not really a vacation, as we LIVE in LA, but it was a memorable day trip) when I was about 5 or 6

8. What was your first best friend's name?
Vidhu

9. Is he/she still your best friend?
She moved back to India in the middle of our junior year of high school, and we lost touch since then :-(

10. How did you meet your best friend?
We met in 9th grade (junior high) in Marine Science class.

11. Can you name all the schools you ever attended?
(George) Washington Elementary School
St. Paul's Lutheran Elementary School
(Warren G.) Harding Elementary School
Nobel Junior High
Sepulveda Junior High
Van Nuys High School
(and I won't put my colleges and universities on here because the list would be a mile long and anyway, I wasn't a kid anymore by then)

12. Who was your first crush?
Some kid in 6th grade, I'll be damned if I can remember his name-- Jose? Julio? Something along those lines...

13. Were you a shy quiet kid or a very wild one?
Very shy. Still am.

14. When you were little what did you do for fun?
Played with my stuffed animals, lots of make believe.

15. Were you closer to your Mom or Dad as a kid?
As a kid, my dad (but it's Mom now that I'm grown up)

16. Do you have any embarrassing school stories to share?
You wanna know how shy I was? I was in the audience during a school assembly, had to go to the bathroom and was too timid to say so to my teacher (sitting behind me). So I wet my pants. When she realized what had happened and took me out, she asked why I didn't say anything. I told her I didn't want to interrupt the assembly. I will never forget the scorn in her voice when she told the principal what happened: "She wet her pants. Because she didn't want to *interrupt*"

17. What was the first record, tape or CD you remember buying?
Some sort of oldies, probably CCR or Elvis or Beach Boys

18. How old did you want to be when you get married?
Quite honestly? I always figured I wouldn't get married till I was in my 30s!!

19. How old to have kids?
Again, early 30s

20. Were you scared of anything?
Gremlins

21. What was your favorite subject in school?
Science

22. Did you buy school lunch or bring your own?
In elementary school, I usually brought it. In junior high and high school, I bought it at the cafeteria

23. Broken any bones?
Just my pinky

24. Were you a meanie head or miss princess?
Neither-- I was the nerdy introvert with the big glasses

25. Favorite board game of all time?
Win, Lose or Draw!

26. Did you play house or pretend to be a super hero?
House-- my stuffed animals were my kids.

27. Random memory from when you were a kid?
I was about 7 or 8, mom put me to bed but, being my usual naughty, night owl self, got up to play after she left the room. Decided to try my hand at doing a headstand on my bed-- all was fine while I balanced and rested my feet against the wall. But somehow my feet managed to move away from the wall and I balanced precariously on my own for a few seconds... then... CRASH I came tumbling to the floor, sending a very scared mom and dad rushing into the room!

28.Seriously, are you still just a kid at heart?
Absolutely!

Love the Orange!

So it seems that most white folks have this problem of looking blindingly pasty white when their skin has zero contact with the sun. Jenna's blogged about it, and I've seen the ensuing comments from my Caucasian friends, commiserating with her.

Allan, of course, is no exception. His family and I have been taking great glee in poking fun at his farmer's tan. I shield my eyes and don sunglasses everytime he gets ready for a shower.

So a couple weekends ago he found a tank top that he could wear while walking the mile to school everyday, get some sun onto his shoulders and arms, at least. Problem was-- the only tank top in his size was a nice bright orange color.

Yes, he looks like a traffic cone.

Yesterday while walking to school, a young college girl drove past him, slowed down, poked her head out the window, and yelled "Love the orange!" before rolling the window back up and driving off.

You can just imagine how hard Helly was laughing upon hearing this little anecdote. And yes, I'm being my usual predictable self and sharing this story for all the world to see and join me in having a good laugh at Allan's expense :-D

Photo Gallery Name Suggestions

Allan's enjoying a new language and technology that's enabling him to create our own photo gallery software-- it will combine all the features I like best, from various programs such as LinPHA, Gallery and iPhoto.

His current name for the program is PhotoX, which looks just like it should be pronounced ("foto ex") but upon second glance, it looks like it should rhyme with "botox" instead :-P Apparently that's the intended effect, I don't know if that's worse than if the effect was unintentional :-P

As you can tell-- "photox" has to go, Allan has been rendered open to suggestions :-D So... let 'em roll! What should this photo gallery program be called?

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/165802419)