July 31, 2008(Thursday)

This morning I had a meeting with professor about my healthcare project. For the last few weeks I was quite slow and enjoy life; it is good to have meeting to get myself going. In the mean time Carmen brought Cailyn to some playground for baby. Out of the five babies, Cailyn is the second oldest. And when she saw other babies sitting up, she also sat up by herself without any support (other than her own hand) for the first time.
I also played pingpong with school friend for almost 2.5 hours and went to prayer meeting and brought some grocery at night.

July 30, 2008(Wednesday)

We had lunch with my classmate Valya. She helped to organize a baby shower for Cailyn, but since she is busy with school work, she hasn't seen Cailyn until today. However, she has seen photo of Cailyn before so she isn't surprised by the prettiness of Cailyn.

July 29, 2008(Tuesday)

This morning some professional took a photo of me. The business school is upgrading the website, and it will has some features about various faculty members and students. I am the student that they feature for the Decision Science major (I am doing Operation Management/Decision Science double major; every students in my department do this). For those 30 mins, the photographer (with her assistant) took about 60 photos. I feel like I am taking the wedding photo! Carmen and Cailyn were there with me, and the photographers gave us a bonus photo shot for the whole family. The photo looks very nice! I think that it costs around $60 to $100 for this photo session, but I don't have to pay for it because the department is paying for it.

July 28, 2008(Monday)

Today is normal day.... Nothing much happened....

July 27, 2008(Sunday)

This morning the "hiking group" left 5am to see the sunset and also went for 5 hours hike. For us, we just woke up at 7:30, and left the cabin around 10am and did a 1.7 hour hiking. This is another good exercise and the road is paved and is not as challenging as the one we had yesterday. Nevertheless we enjoyed this.
We left Smoky Mountain around noon time, and took us 5.5 hours to Louisville (Kentucky) and we had dinner with our friends Peter/Linda. Then we drove for another two hours and successfully returned to Bloomington at 10:30pm. For the rest of the night, we were busy organizing things, e.g. clothes, webpage, etc.
This is the first trip that we had after giving birth to Cailyn. We think that Cailyn adjusted pretty good to different environment and gives us more confident about our Vancouver/HK trip later on. She is able to sleep on the play mat and follow the schedule roughly as what she had when she was at home.

July 26, 2008(Saturday)

There are two groups of us. One of them is the hiking group, supposed to hike a 7-hours trail today. However because of rain, they ended up driving to different places and did not hike. We are the non-hiking group, supposed just to hike for some short trail. We ended up hiked for about 3 hours, because it is actually sunny during afternoon. We left the cabin at around noon, and then went on some trail to some waterfall. I used to baby carrier to take care Cailyn at that time. It is good for her to see the Mother Nature, even though she can see lots of tree and grasses nearby our home. At night we walked around the cabin area. Surprisingly, this is a tourist area and there are lots of shops even open until 10pm. In addition, there is lots of traffic, even 10pm at night. This is definitely a very rare situation, and it feels like we are at Las Vegas because of all these neon light and tourist. I also played pool (American snooker) with friends because there is a pool table available here.

July 25, 2008(Friday)

We left Louisville at around 11am and then drove for about 5.5 hours to reach Pigeon Forge, a city in Tennessee which is near Smoky Mountain. Cailyn was behaving well along the way and only cried occasionally. We met up with the other group of our church friends and we drove to the peak of the Smoky Mountain to see the sunset. It is about an hour drive, with lots of turns. I felt very tired and sick when I am driving back, because this is after a long day of driving, plus it is getting dark. Anyway we are glad that we got back to the cabin safe.

July 24, 2008(Thursday)

After some packing, we left home at 3pm. This is the first time that we travel after giving birth to Cailyn. And of course this is the first time that Cailyn leaves Indiana. Carmen and I had traveled lots of time and do not need lots of luggage. However we need to bring a lot of thing for Cailyn. We need a play-yard as her bed. We also need to bring lots of clothes.
We drove for 2.3 hours and reached Louisville (Kentucky) at around 6pm to our friend Peter/Linda's house. Cailyn was a bit fuzzy at first because of the strange environment. But then she was doing fine and we had some evening walk too. Let's hope that she behaves tonight.

July 23, 2008(Wednesday)

In the morning, I went to the computer department to install some computer programs, plus filling up the gasoline to the car. At night I went to the airport to pick up a school/church friend. That is one of the first time that I left Bloomington this summer.

July 22, 2008(Tuesday)

Compare to other people, especially Hansel, my life is very easy and relax. I got time to play golf, I also have time to have two afternoon naps (total of 9.5 hours sleep per day). I think that postponing to graduate for one more year, plus it is currently summer vacation, plus my professor is currently out-of-town makes my life a bit too easy. I think that why not enjoy life? That's the point of life, is to enjoy. But given my previous record, I am sure that I can pick up my speed and work really hard when time comes.

July 21, 2008(Monday)

I played ping-pong with a German classmate Jan. This is my first time playing Ping-Pong with non-Chinese and he is pretty good. So I get to play intensively for 2 hours, even though I did some running and workout before that. At night we had dinner with a Mandarin undergrad church friend Anna to share about the worship team. It is good to get to know people from other groups.

July 20, 2008(Sunday)

After Sunday worship, we just went back home; Cailyn went to bed at 10:20pm, right after the last meal, and did not wake up until 7:30 the next day (even though she did cry for one minute here, one minute there twice during the night).

July 19, 2008(Saturday)

Today is the 5-th year wedding anniversary of Hansel and Fiona. Today is also a wedding for our church friend JC and Nova. We went to church at 12:30. Carmen is the MC and song leader; I helped to translate from English to Cantonese for Nova's grand-mother. It is very difficult to translate when the pastor is talking so fast. I think that I did a pretty bad job.
After reception at church, I went to play badminton with some church friends for about 2.5 hours. This is a very light exercise for me, but to them they are tired already.

July 18, 2008(Friday)

I went to pick up my car today. I was running back home three days ago dropping off the car, so I decided to run there to pick up the car. It is only 32 mins run and that is a very light and easy run.
I also went to church to take care some admin stuff about worship deacon and thanks God that everything is smooth. Then at night the fellowship is home gathering with making dessert and sharing.

July 17, 2008(Thursday)

I went to play golf today by myself, I am still trying to play at the driving range but I still can't get the ball out every time. It is quite disappointing! Time for a lesson!
At night we went to prayer meeting. Only Daniel/Yangching couple went (with their baby Samuel). Therefore we get to have some good sharing time. There are also some church admin/management things that I have to take care lately, such as finding a pastor and also finding a worship deacon. This definitely is not easy and I learnt a lot.

July 16, 2008(Wednesday)

Carmen will be helping out as the MC/song leader for church friends JC/Nova's wedding. Therefore she went out to have a music practice. And I babysat Cailyn today and she is quite fuzzy and not willing to sleep. She also started to know how to cry to make people to carry her. Many times when she was crying and when I hold her, she stopped crying. I still remember when she was born, she only cried when she is hungry. Now she cries more often.
I also work on my dissertation, as usual. Now my professors are not in Bloomington, no one pushes me. In fact, even when he was in Bloomington, he never really pushes me. He only complains that my work is not up to his standard. Being a PhD student requires lots of discipline and self-motivation and I am glad that I have both.

July 15, 2008(Tuesday)

We went out to buy some grocery and then I went to the mechanic shop to check the car. When I am changing between gears, sometimes the gear does not engage fully. I brought the car to check about two weeks ago and they said that I need to change the transmission oil. However when the mechanic checked it today, they found that the cable (for changing gear) is broken when he simply touches it. He said that I am lucky to get to the mechanic shop because otherwise if I am on the road, when the car is "D" it will remain at "D" and would ended up in accident. Thanks God that we are safe, but we need about $320 to fix the car! Quite expensive.
Since I did not prepare to leave the car there, I did not ask anyone to pick me up. And when I tried to call someone to drive me home, no one answers. I waited for the bus for about 5 mins and I would rather trust in myself, so I just ran home, which takes about 30 mins. It is not bad at all, consider I usually run for 55 mins. However I am on my sandal and have cell phone and wallet, that makes running a bit harder.
Cailyn is still developing her first teeth on the lower side. Also we think that she may have a little flu lately because she is a bit quieter than normal in the morning (but still very fuzzy at night).

July 14, 2008(Monday)

18 years ago my life started over. Many things happened, such as becoming a Christian, get into university, start dating, working, etc. This is such a blessing and I must thanks parents for sacrifice so much and brought us to Canada. My life would not be the same otherwise.
Lately Cailyn cried hard before going to bed. We let her cried crazily for a while and then gave her the pacifier to calm her down. However, after sucking for 1 mins and calm down, she starts to play around, spit saliva together with the pacifier. Then she cried again for the pacifier, and we just let her to cry for a while.

July 13, 2008(Sunday)

My friend did not fix the computer for me. However Jacky gave me a tip in reformatting the computer, and it seems like that this is working fine now! I am able to erase all the content and now I am starting from scratch!
At night I am helping a church friend Melody in moving house. This is the fourth time that I helped her to move ever since she came to Bloomington two years ago, and the second time this summer!

July 12, 2008(Saturday)

I gave my friend to help me to fix the laptop so I am using the old one. However, this encourages me to do more thinking before typing, because it is so slow and has virus too. I am able to do some work today. We also went out to purchase a vacuum cleaner. Previously I was using the vacuum cleaner of this building. However, the vacuum cleaner is in a very bad condition and would take me a long time to clean the house. Therefore we invested $50 to buy a new one, and we will bring this vacuum cleaner when we leave Bloomington too.

July 11, 2008(Friday)

I spent the night trying to reformat the laptop, but I think that this is pretty much gone. Even after I reformat the laptop, I still see some of my old files, and the virus is still there too! I tried to update Window and then somehow the laptop is hanged! Therefore I asked a church friend to help with me. I gave up. It is very embarrassed to tell others that I have worked in the computer industry for 7 years because I can't even solve this basic thing. (But after all, I am in the networking field, so I don't need to know too much about computer)
I led Bible study tonight. About three months ago was my last time led Bible study, and after that time I found out that my dissertation is screwed and I have to redo the paper. And this time my laptop is screwed. Seems like two times in a row - leading Bible study in group cause me lots of trouble! I think that I am being a bit too superstitious. Carmen also helped to organize a wedding shower for our previous church deacons JC and Nova. Then we have some snack time too.

July 10, 2008(Thursday)

I used to weight around 125-128 when I was in Canada and Venezuela. Then ever since I moved to Bloomington, I slowly gain weight until I weight about 137. I also started to workout when I am in Bloomington. Then a week after Cailyn is born, I weight only 132. Then today I found out that I weight 144! I am still working out in this period, but then because of having a baby, I slept late and sometimes I ate some snack at night. More importantly, Indiana government gives us some food stamp so that we can get lots of milk. Therefore, for the past several months I am drinking 1 to 2 cups of chocolate milk per day. Carmen said that I indeed look more muscular! Let's hope that my weight would not end up at my tummy.
I think that there are major problems with my laptop. Ever since two days ago I opened christianstudy.com to prepare for the Bible study, I figure that there are some virus coming to my laptop. Every now and then, there is some Chinese software automatically installed to my laptop. Also, when I am running scan, it often is "not responding". Therefore I started to reformat my computer again today. In the mean time I also download some updates to my other laptop (which is even slower, takes 5 mins just to start up the computer). In the next day or two I will demonstrate my supreme skill of multitasking.

July 09, 2008(Wednesday)

I went out to have a run in the afternoon; the temperature is quite hot (around 28 to 30 degrees) and it is quite tiring. I do not have the determination that I used to have when I am running indoor for the last several days. But it doesn't matter because I am not trying to train as hard as Hansel and there is no reason for me not to enjoy this run.
At night we invited our church friend Jacky to have dinner at our home.
I received some feedback from professors about the work I did previously. The advantage of being a professor is able to bash the students. I think that this is part of the reason that I want to graduate early. However, I still need to continue to be inferior for the next two years.

July 08, 2008(Tuesday)

I played lots of golf today. I first went to play driving range by myself for 30mins, then I played with a church friend Hongwung for a 9 hole 3-par golf. This is the first time (excluding once I played at Central Park last year at Vancouver) to play real golf. I performed so-so, takes me between 5 to 8 strikes to get the ball in the hole (but then the standard is 3 strikes). I had problem driving the ball too. Afterward I saw a classmate Dan and he was playing at the driving range. So he taught me for about 15 mins too. In total I played from 1:30 to 5:05. A long golf day without much work!

July 07, 2008(Monday)

I did pretty good today when I am working out. After the usual two 14 mins run, plus weight lifting, I am still able to run 8 small laps (total 1 mile) for 6'58". This is definitely my record.
At night we went out for a walk again. And Cailyn can now more recognize the milk bottle. Before I feed her, I showed her the milk bottle and she stays calm. However, when I take the bottle away, she became quite fuzzy. Therefore, I conclude that she knows the usage of milk bottle.
Carmen and I enrolled in an online theological course on the book of Revelation by HK Baptist Theology Seminary. This is something that we want to do for long time. Finally we are able to learn God's word together!

July 06, 2008(Sunday)

I am the MC of today's worship while Carmen is the song leader + translator. It is good to serve together with Carmen again. We found someone to help babysitting Cailyn and Cailyn behaved well today. We also went out to have a walk to enjoy this nice weather.

July 05, 2008(Saturday)

Originally we wanted to go to Indianapolis to have a short one-day trip to enjoy some nice food, but then the gasoline is quite expensive lately so we decided to spend the time and money to have a better Japanese meal at Bloomington instead. I also went to workout and played badminton for a little while.

July 04, 2008(Friday)

Today is USA Independence Day. After fellowship, we went out to play some light firework. We purchased the firework about two years ago, but went to Vancouver at that time so we can't play firework. Therefore we finally got a chance to play firework legally! ( I think that we can only play firework legally during July 4)

July 03, 2008(Thursday)

Nothing special happening today.

July 02, 2008(Wednesday)

The weather is still very nice outside, so we usually spend 30 to 40 mins after dinner to have a walk. Cailyn is always quiet, peaceful and nice whenever she is outside. But by the time she returns home after the evening walk, she got fuzzy.
A couple of days earlier, Cailyn is able to sleep at night effortlessly. However, since then, she has to struggle a lot to go to bed. I don't understand why she always wants to turn, and then got stuck at that position (because she only knows how to roll over from front on top to back on top), and when we rescue her, she rolls again. I am trying to let her cry so that she will be more exhausted, and then give her the pacifier at that time and she immediate fall to sleep. This strategy sometimes does not work though, because when I give her the pacifier, she sucks for 10 seconds, got comforted and drop out the pacifier, and doesn't want to suck again for the next 2 mins. I wonder what she is thinking.

July 01, 2008(Tuesday)

Carmen helped me with a haircut this morning. Cailyn was sleeping at that time and hence we are able to cut hair without any interruption. I also brought my car to have some check up because we will go to a road trip later this month. They changed the spark plug, air filter and alternator belt, total costs $90. I think that this is not a bad deal because usually it costs $200+ whenever something should be fixed. I also tried to work on paper but don't have much motivation today.