Introducing: My Avy!

This is a kind of belated entry, but I have traded my 2003 Toyota Avalon for a 2005 Avalon during the Memorial Day weekend. It's been 2 months and I absolutely love it.


It has the impression of the recent Cadillacs or recent Nissans: Bold.


The side view kinda reminds you of new Chrysler 300M. Maybe the windows?


The dual exhaust and the rear air spoiler give it a really sporty feel.

This is a Touring edition. The suspension rides a little stiffer than my 2003 for the reason.

The interior is a dark grey leather trim. This is my first leather trim vehicle. It is really nice except on a hot summer day after you leave the car out for a while. It can get brutal in there.

I added the options of Moonroof and JBL sound system. The seats are really comfortable. Even the rear seats recline. It feels really roomy.

It has 3.5-liter engine with 280 hp! It does have a very good pick-up and it is very quiet. Yet, the gas mileage is awesome. I have clocked 34 MPG.


The right lower corner shows the average gas mileage at 34.1. Sorry about the blurry picture. I took this while I was driving.

The 2003 model had the "geezer" impression and I used to get all kinds of smart-ass comments from people (although I loved the way it rode). The 2005 has both the form and the function. People actually turn their heads for this one. It's very easy to get used to a good thing!

Moving Day

When my brother 'G' moved in with me, he dropped most of his stuff in the rented storage. He has been paying rent for the last 2 and half years. Since my parents has use for some his stuff, we have decided to vacate the storage and move his stuff into their basement.

G and I headed to our parents' on Friday night arriving in the wee hour. We still had to get up early enough to drive 1 hour to arrive in Lexington by noon. This ended up being a family affair, and all of us drove down to Lexington. Here is Mom:



Dawn offered to help and met us up Lexington. We rented a truck and got work. It was a hot day, and we all got sweaty, but we accomplished what we came for.







All done!

My body hurt for the next few days...

Trip to Lexington

After the NY trip, I quickly jumped into my car and drove 4 hours to Lexington, KY. Dawn, my former girl friend from several years ago, and I made a plan to spend a few days together. Christy, her roommate/landlord graciously agreed to let me stay in one of her bedrooms for the duration.

We had pizza with her parents. They were getting ready to go to South Carolina for a vacation. They are looking for a property for their retirement. We had a good conversation as we had had several years ago.



For the next few days, we pretty much spent time talking, walking and eating. Here are few pix:


Pretty cute photo, I think. But my head seems humongous compared to hers.



At Jacobson Park.


From left: myself, Dawn and a spray bottle...

As you can see, we had a pretty good time. One thing that the camera doesn't capture is some of our discussions. Dawn is "between relationships" and I am pretty much "PERMANENTLY between relationships". Inevitably, our conversation started to consist of the possibility of "us". Distance proved to be the only obstacle and I left her place promising with each other that we would look into ways to overcome the obstacle. hmm... this is getting interesting...

Leaving Big Apple

I was supposed to get up at 3AM and be ready to leave by 4AM. I set my cell phone to ring at 3AM before going to bed. Well, that doesn’t help if you are really tired, I guess. I must have slept through it. Tee came knocking on the door and said, “hey, you ready to go?” at 4AM. I got up and got myself ready in 15 minutes. Pretty good for a half-conscious man in the wee hours.

I had Tee take me to the Long Island McArthur Airport (ISP) in Islip, NY. It took us about 45 minutes. I like smaller airports (like Lexington, KY or Evansville, IN or Long Island), because there is not much waiting in line when you are checking in. You don’t feel the impact of the “tighter” security. As expected, I got through the check-in very quickly.

I am writing this entry in Atlanta, GA. It’s 9AM now and my flight to Evansville won’t depart until 12:15PM. More than 3 hours of layover… I’m going to try to catch some shut-eye if I can, but Atlanta Airport is a pretty busy and noisy place. I can’t seem to find a comfortable chair, either. I guess I will just try my hardest not to tire myself too much waiting around…

Hot Summer Day in New York

3rd and the practical final day in New York is about over. It has been a very effective trip to my pleasure. Today's itinerary included a souvenir shopping in Manhattan, going to the Yankees' game and eating crabs on the City Island.

Shopping for somebody else is... not really fun. Call me uncompassionate, but I don't know why people expect souvenirs when people go on trips... I hate feeling like I'm obligated, but I got it done.

Then we were off to the Yankee Stadium.



It was a hell of a hot summer day to watch a baseball game. Today, New York and Baltimore were playing. It was a crazy game with many homeruns, walks, deadballs, lead changes, etc. Tee accidentally got us the "alcohol free" seats so we weren't able to drink our beers at all (he was thinking "Free Alcohol, not alcohol free...). We were able to survive the heat and actually enjoy the game. In the end, Yankees won 13 to 8.







After the game, we were pretty tired, but we headed for the City Island for dinner. We made a gross miscalculations in amount of food we would be able to eat in one sitting. But I thoroughly enjoyed what they had to offer.





We headed back to Tee's house pretty satisfied. The sun was setting and I took this picture of the City from the car:



It was a pleasant drive fitting of finale to my travel.

Tomorrow, I have to get to the airport by 5AM. Hopefully, everything will go as well it has with everything else.

I'm loving it!

I'm just about finished with the 2nd day in New York. You know, if there is one thing that makes New York different from any other cities, that's diversity. Obviously, being from Vincennes, this is a huge culture shock, but definitely a positive one.

Upon arrival yesterday, Tee has taken me to a Japanese restaurant (Isao Aoki, a Senior PGA player, was there). A very good way to start my stay in New York. We, then, drove around the City. I was just amazed by the sheer amount of people in Broadway in the middle of the night. The night scenery was beautiful, also. We didn't do much else until this morning.



This morning, Tee and I went to a driving range. We went to a Korean restaurant where I had a Snache Bibimbap. I normally don't like very spicy stuff, but somehow I like spicy Korean food. After getting our belly full, we cruised around a Korean town of Flushing. Many many people!! And white people are definitely the minority here. Here are some sights from the town:






We head to another kind of Japanese restaurant that specializes in 'Yakitori', a skewered chicken meat. For a excellent price, we got ourselves pretty full.




We then headed into the City again.







We finally situated ourselves in Flash Dancers, a premiere gentlemen's club... I ended up dropping more than $200 at the place. We had great time there. Diversity of dancers couch-danced for me: a Texan, Chinese, Puerto Rican and Venezuela-English. And everyone of them is wicked awesome!! You'll never get this diversity in Midwest.

I'm starting to hate Indiana-Illinois area more and more...

New York, Here I Come!!

I’m at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport typing this entry. I have no free connection to the Internet so I need to upload this later.

I’m on my way to New York to see Tee Sato, a friend from my high school and college years. I was his best man when he got married in Japan back in 1995 (I think). He since then got divorced, and has been living in New York since February this year. The last time I saw him was back in 1996 when I visited Japan. Neither of us are good at keeping in touch, usually consumed in our busy daily lives.

Thankfully, he got hold of me when he moved to New York, and now we are in touch again. While I was planning on going to Italy during this week, my inexplicable reluctance, lack of experience in planning a trip and busy schedules pretty much shot the plan to hell. Tee invited me over a week and a half ago, and I was able to get the plane tickets pretty quickly.

I have my new digital camera with me, and I plan to take bunch of pictures. If all go well, I should have a pretty good travel journal compiled by the end of this trip.

Hanging with Chi Chi

Ok, so it's been a while. You know, I lost my digital camera during my trip to Mexico, and I have been shopping for a new one since. I finally got a good deal in eBay, and it should be on its way here. Once I receive it, I should be more active with posting... Today, I would like to post a picture of me and Chi Chi Rodriguez.



From Left: myself, Mr. Okura, Chi Chi, Cameron Shoulders and Rick Guernsey.

This was taken at Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra Fund Raising Golf Tournament at Victoria Nationals in Newburgh, IN. Our company donated a few grand for the cause, and I was fortunate enough to be selected represent the company for this occasion.

Chi Chi had what they call a "Clinic", which is pretty much his one-man show. It was amazing what the man can do. It is hard to believe he is 70 years old. He can hit draw, fade, high, or low. He can land the ball wherever he wishes. He even attempted to collide 2 balls in mid-air: one hit in high fade another one hit moment later in low draw. They didn't collide, but man, did they come close!

We played one short hole over the water with him (that's where we got our picture taken). He is a very personable guy. Chi Chi and I talked briefly at the club house before he left. He had to leave soon because his wife was having some allergic reaction... weird...

By the way, this Victoria National Golf Club is ranked 22nd in the nation. It's a very prestigious course, and the houses along the course are unbelievably huge!! Many of them have cruisers parked in the lake in their backyard... yeah, cruisers, like big boats! I don't know what they do for living, but that's what I really need to be doing...

How did we do in the tournament? We tied for dead last...

Whoa... I can SEE!!

Those of you who know me know me with the glasses. I have been wearing glasses since when I was 16 years old, and my sight had gotten progressively worse over the years and I haven't been able to see anything without some corrective methods such as spectacles or contacts. Since I was deemed allergic to contact lenses, I've always worn the glasses.

Well, yesterday, I had a LASIK surgery at Wabash Valley Eye Center. What an experience! I was nervous as hell even with a dose of Valium they gave me. But the result has been remarkable. Let me take you through this one of the most interesting days of my life.

My appointment was at 7:30AM. I had my brother drive to the location since they would not operate on you unless I bring a driver with me. After I signed the consent forms (read: 'license to kill'), I was taken to the pre-op booth where an RN took my vitals. They game a hair net/cap which I thought was funny because I don't have much hair to move out of the way. A standard procedure, I suppose.

The RN would talk to me about all the precautions after the surgery, all of which I had already been made aware of during the last couple visits. She gave me a valium pill and some numbing eye drops, then left me to close my eyes and relax.

It took a while before the valium kicked in, but still I was really nervous. I could tell that my pulse was rushing, and my BP was definitely higher than normal.

Then another nurse came and said, "It's time!"

While I was looking forward to this day for so long, it felt like being taken to the gas chamber... I was going to start some meaningless chit chat with the doctor to just calm myself down, but when I saw the inside of the OR, I got a little overwhelmed and kinda clamed up.

The OR is a good size room with a operating chair and a huge machine over it. A few people were already working to prepare for my operation (I think... They had taken my glasses away by then).

They had me lie down on the chair. They gave me a rubber ball to squeeze on... I'm not quite sure why... perhaps to relieve my tension? Hmmmm... They, then, taped my eye lids and lashes down then placed this device on my eyes so that I won't blink during the procedure. I couldn't take a good look at the device, but it applied a pretty good pressure on my eyes. Not quite painful, but almost.

The doctors and the technicians then selected a plastic cylinder template that fits my pupils. This apparently is a template for cutting my cornea in a perfect circle. The doctor said "Suction on", then the tech replies "Suction is on". My vision faded to black except for the bright circle of light right in front of my eye.

I couldn't see the blade at all. I did see my vision distorted in a circular motion back and forth during the cutting process. No pain whatsoever. I was not as nervous as I had thought I would be, because I didn't see the actual blade. Doctor then "peeled" my cornea. Everything seemed out of focus then, understandably. I can hear the doctor and the techs saying "Hey, that's a perfect flap! Look at that!" Obviously, that's a good thing for me to hear, but I'm sure that's what they say with every patient. Imagine them saying "well, I guess that's got to do..." or "well, not as good as the last one, but I've seen worse..." I would freak...

With a continuous clicking noise, the laser treatment started. My job is to stare at the blinking red light for the duration. I'm still nervous because I think the whole thing would be messed up if I move my eye ball, but you don't realized until then how hard it is to keep your eye still. Fortunately, the machine can adjust itself to the "micro movement" of the eye. Maybe the laser treatment lasted for 15 seconds... maybe 30 seconds, but very quick either way.

The doctor replaced my cornea flap to a position with what looks like a plastic 'mini' spatula. My vision seemed be restored as soon as I got my cornea back.

Then onto my left eye. Exactly the same thing again. I'm less nervous this time.

They moved me out from under the machine, and helped me get up. I looked at the wall clock, and realize that I can see what time it is. Sure it's still kind of 'cloudy', but I can certainly tell many things are more focused. Wow...

After sitting me down for a several minutes, they discharged me. That was about 10AM, so I must have spent 2.5 hours at the facility. My brother was bored to death, he tells me.

I got home and went straight to bed. I was told to keep my eyes closed for 4 to 5 hours, and obviously, the best thing to do is to sleep. They provided me with these swimming-type goggles that I can wear while I sleep so that I wouldn't rub my eyes accidentally. How stylish...

After 1 hour of sleep, I woke up with some discomfort. Both of my eyes felt very irritated as some foreign objects had gotten in them. Perhaps the numbing drops had worn off. I could barely open my eyes. I managed to apply some artificial tears. The pain subsided within 30 minutes or so, and I was able to go back to sleep. This time for 4 hours straight.

When I woke up, my vision seemed even sharper. I could look around my bedroom, and I could swear I was still wearing my glasses. Awesome!

It's funny, because I still try to push up my glasses that are not there. My vision is still not completely stable, and when I feel the vision gets blurred a little, I try to reach for my imaginary spectacles. Old habit, but it reminds me how grateful I am to have my vision back.

I went back to the doctor today for 1-day check up. My right eye is 20/35 and left is 20/30. Not quite 20/20, but I may still get there. My vision is supposed to improve as the healing nears completion. I'm already legal to drive without my glasses now!! That itself is a huge milestone.

I had vacation days reserved for yesterday and today, so I don't even have to work. I'm sitting on the porch typing this entry. It's beautiful at 66 degrees. What a day to enjoy the new SCENERY, huh??

The Pope Is Dead

Pope John Paul II just died. Those who know me know that I'm not a Catholic or even Christian. For that matter, I'm most of the time, anti-Christianity. Despite the fact, I have been fascinated by the all the hypes that surround his death. I cannot think of any one person whose expected death attracts so much attention from all over the world. For the last day or two, all you see on the TV is about the Pope, his life, his impending death and what that means to Catholicism and the rest of the world.

As I said before, I'm not religious. I'm an atheist. I really don't care what would happen to the Christianity, Catholicism or any other religions. As far as I'm concerned, religions are waste of huge resources that humanity foolishly elected to commit. I am fascinated, however, WHY people are 'addicted' to supreme beings. Take the Pope for once: Being the Pope, he must have studied his religion to death (no pun intended). I would think that he would have reached a conclusion that religions are nothing but bullshit. Yet, he continued to attempt to lead the whole world into this nonsense. Maybe these religious stories are as good as "Matrix" movies: You know that it's just a story, but it COULD be true. Or maybe he has some ulterior motive outside his religion. Maybe he knows something that most of us don't.

Fascinating, I think.