Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Meeting...

Do you like meetings?

I don't like meetings... cos, for me, it's a waste of time. People talk about something (at least to the meeting I've been to)... but usually presiding person is only reading from a piece paper that has also been distributed to the attendees.. that's it. So if reading papers only, why we need to spend time meeting..Just give us the paper!! we will read it by ourselves..!! ( I am always saying that in my mind. ) We have so much work to do everyday..no one wants to waste time for it except bosses. You know...they LOVE meetings.. they do these a lot, it seems to me just to kill THEIR time.. But they don't realize that these meetings don't really create or improve anything at all.

Unfortunately.. I am in charge of one of these meetings every Friday ...It's an Acctg Dept Weekly Scheduled Meeting.. I really don't want to do it.. So usually I try to finish ASAP... Before the meeting, I already asked people what their schedule will be for the coming week.. then I just fill in the agenda. My time budget for this is 5 min.. but we usually end up spending 15 min.. cos I still try to make it a fun weekly meeting.. hahaha... I can tell from the others that they are relieved that I make this Friday meeting short as everyone has other things to do. Everyone here is just buried with work and our top management doesn't seem to care about it. I know ..we sometimes need a meeting and it's better to talk face to face, that's why it's called " MEETING ". The meeting that bosses like is just useless "Reading" or "Announcements" ;-) . I wish they'd just meet by themselves and not include us in it.

Monday, August 30, 2004

Eric Byrnes-Oakland A's Left Fielder

I love watching baseball.. When I was in Japan, I always watch baseball games. Of course I played when I was a child.. My position was Right Field.. But you know... I am not a good player... So better to watch the game instead. hahaha...

I just started watching baseball games again recently... Why I didn't watch here in the USA before? because It's hard to remember Major League Players for me. If a Japanese player is on the team, it's easy...but if not..it's hard...all players look same to me..

But... when I saw one game last year, I am suddenly into it.. Twice a year, our company has Branch Managers' Meeting ( January & July/August ) and all branch managers usually come to Head office which is located in South San Francisco. Also after this meeting, usually they play golf ...( I think this is usually the main purpose they come here... hahaha... ) When we did July/August meeting, my boss, our treasurer decided we will make a reservation for Oakland A's Skyview Terrace Hospitality Suite ( $950 per 25 person including Parking Pass & Food...not bad ) in 08/01/03 ( Fri ) and go there.. However the view wasn't so good... left field side and high floor level. Why did he took these seats and why on 08/01/03? because... New York Yankees played that day... and of course every Japanese fan would like to see Hideki Matsui ( He played in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants until 2002 ). His position is Left Field. So it's ok for them even if too far from home base..cos they can see Matsui in front ... I went there cos they need more people to drive the branch managers to the ballpark. So fortunately I get to also watch the game, too. First, I also tried to see Matsui, too... But my attention was caught by this one player in the A's team... Eric Byrnes...he is left fielder, too... in front of me, he made a diving catch!!! and it's really unbelievable..!!! Then I started watching how he plays...He is such a hard working player.. Even if everybody felt he is out when he is hitting... he will always run for it...He, in a way, " never gives up "..He always gives his 200% on the game. That started my interest in the US teams... So that's why I became an Eric Byrnes fan. If I know one player, it's easy to know all players in the team...Naturally I also became an Oakland A's fan.. Everything fell into place and I started to understand Major League Baseball.. So I never miss a game these days...I came to the states in 1992....I just realized I haven't seen a baseball game for almost 11 years... wow... I missed on 11years great years!!!

In San Francisco, we have another baseball team, the San Francisco Giants. They always ask me why I am not a Giants' fan and I always say because to me, it's like comparing apples to oranges. There are also several reasons.. Quality of the spectators..Tickets are hard to get and expensive. I did get to watch some of the Giants games but only when we get free tickets to the game. Giants' has a new ballpark and most good seats are already sold to season pass holders. Plus there haven't been any players who've made an impression to me except for Barry Bonds with all his HR hits.

Anyway...that's why I became a Eric Byrnes fan and Oakland A's fan. :-)

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Today's Result

Oakland 9, Tampa Bay 6

Eric Byrnes
Avg. .291 HR 19 RBI 66 SB12

Today 2 Hits & 1 SB

We won today...but it's not good..we are about to finish today's game. But after 2 out in 9th inning, Closer Dotel got 2 homerun...tie...6-6...geeee... I almost broke TV and Laptop Computer( i was checking the game in internet, too )... But... McMillion hit 3 run homerun!!! finally won!!! I felt bad Mulder..If Dotel didn't get 2 homerun, he won today...

Anyway..I am still happy..cos Byrnes got 2 hits and 1 SB... his avg. is up...

Go A's! Go Byrnes!

Tree Tunnel

I tested how to attach a photo in my blog before I wrote about Shabuway yesterday. This is my test photo. Then I was about to delete it... but I changed my mind cos this picture makes me calm whenever I see this sight... This place is called the Tree Tunnel in Kauai Island. When we go thru this road you will end up on Poipu beach (one of the best beach in Hawaii ) on the South side of the island. :-)

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Shabuway

Today's lunch, My wife, sis in law, and I went to a new Japanese Shabushabu Restaurant in San Mateo. It called " Shabuway " and they just opened the day before yesterday ( 08/26/04 ).

Shabuway

145 E. 3rd Ave.
San Mateo, CA 94401

7 Days Open.
Mon-Fri 11:30am ~ 02:00pm, 05:30pm ~ 10:00pm
Sat 11:30am ~ 10:00pm
Sun 11:30am ~ 09:00pm

Menu:
Lunch Regular ( 8oz ) > $7.99 Large ( 11oz ) > $9.99
Dinner Regular ( 8oz ) > $10.99 Large ( 11oz ) > $13.99

They also serve chicken ( already cooked, no shabushabu ), vegetable shabushabu...etc.

A ramen noodle shop ( Rozan Ramen ) used to be here and we occasionally visit this ramen shop. But lately we haven't been to & all of a sudden to our shock & surprise...no more Rozan... and I totally didn't expect they opened shabushabu restaurant in same space..

The price is really reasonable and it seems like people enjoyed it. I bet they already got so many repeaters. oh one advice... If you will have a chance to go to this restaurant, you might not be able to decide which one to order... 8oz...? 11oz...? pick the 8oz. If you read my prior entry, you knew I ate 5 hotdogs ( bigdog ) and I still didn't feel full. That's usually my appetite level. I was also thinking which one I should eat..Then I chose 8oz.. why I chose 8oz? I just felt it's still lunchtime and don't need to eat too much.. So I decided on the smaller one. However... when I saw the dish, 8oz was really a lot....plus they gave us veggie, rice, udon noodle... It's really a lot and it was enough to make me full... Unless you are really really hungry, I recommend the 8oz portion.

People might think what is shabushabu?

According to the dictionary, it's defined as :

A Japanese dish in which thinly sliced beef and vegetables are cooked in a pot of simmering stock, then dipped into a sauce and eaten [ Late 20th century, From Japanese, an imitation of the sound of bubbling water. ]

hmmm... sounds delicious, doesn't it? Then just find the nearest (Japanese) Shabushabu restaurant in your place and try it. I am quite sure you will like it. :-)

Friday, August 27, 2004

Oh no... No Japanese...

geeee... I get frustrated w/ this blog... whenever I try to Alt + Tab to a web-site, my writing is gone, I would have to save it as draft.. I couldn't recall what i wrote so have to write everything from scratch. However I learned that l will have to be careful next time. :-(

Anyway... Why oh no...? cos I don't have any option to write in Japanese in our home computer.. so have to write in English instead. My wife discovered blogging early this year accidentally and she is soo into it. She started to make her own blog since last month ( July 2004 ). first I asked her to write about me, too... but it's hard to do if write about both of us.. so I decided to make own blog during today's lunchtime.

Today I wrote about 4 things.
1. Hotdog
2. What does " Excellent Virtue " mean?
3. Coffee
4. Urgent work

1. Hotdog

Today.. We had Endless Summar BBQ Potluck Lunch in our company. We never did before. This is the first time.. It seems like everybody enjoyed it... hopefully we will be able to do next year, too. I ate 5 hotdogs... I didn't plan to... I just plan to eat 4 hotdogs.. bot somehow.. ended up eating 5 hotdogs...hehehe... I might be really hungry that time. Truely said... I still didn't feel full.. but I stopped. I brought 3 two liter bottles sodas...that's in my charge... but other people brought so much soda, too... no one touch my soda.. So I brought them back after lunchtime was over. :-)

2. Excellent Virtue

My name is HIDENORI.. HIDENORI is 2 chinese characters' combination...One is Hide...Other is Nori. Hide's chinese character means " Excellent ". Nori's chainese character means " Virtue " So I just simply used these as the title for my blog name " Excellent Virtue ". ;-)

3. Coffee

I made coffee 4 times a day.. 6:30am, 7:30am, 9:45am, and 2:45pm. I like making coffee....cos that's a part of my work when i was working in a convenience store in Japan. If everybody is happy with the way I make coffee, I am also happy, too. :-) Recently our affiliated company people come to our office and work from morning to nite...It's already more than 2 weeks now.. They like my coffee, too. They drink my coffee a lot, too. So whenever I make, I have to count on them, too.. So making a little bit more... But you know... they are not a machine... they didn't drink coffee same quantity everyday... So sometimes.. I made too much... sometimes...it's not enough...So it's hard... i have to think about our company budget, too... I will try to read their mind...and try to read people's mood if they feel they want to drink coffee more or not. :-)

4. Urgent work

You know ...in USA... 09/06/04 ( Mon ) is holiday, right? however...sometimes it's not holiday anymore.. All depends on how our parent company in Japan decide.. one of the big bosses from parent company decided to come here that day... I don't need to meet him...So it's not direct requirement... but indirectly it's like indirectly common Japan sense to be present that day.. I am working acctg dept and made monthly report and analysis every month. So if he decide to come here 09/06/04, I will have to finish monthly report until 09/02/04. They want to see August result earlier...then our top management want to have a meeting at least 1 day before.. which is 09/03/04 ( Fri ). I need to rush everything... cos 2 days after the end of month is too early. So I started working about August from today... I had to finish one big task today... That is usual my normal work life. I usually leave work at 7pm.. I always count my time...when I mentioned about it in this blog..it's around 5pm... 2 more hours!!! geeee...have to finish w/i 2 more hours..!!! then everything was rush rush rush.... but unexpectedly... finished... it's big a relief......

That's what i wrote in Japanese today....

Finish!! ( Japanese )

やれやれ...なんとか時間内やらなきゃならないことが終わったよ。月曜から少し楽になった。帰ろっと。

Parent Company ( Japanese )

アメリカでは９月６日は祭日。その日に...なんだかねぇ、日本の親会社の人が来ます。直接、私のような下っ端が会うことはないけど、それに伴って、月報 をいつもより早く作れって...ったく...間接的に影響大。自分が家路につく７時まで、あと１時間半でどこまで終わらせることが出来るかが勝負。So far..okね。

どうか、余計な邪魔が入りませんように...

Coffee ( Japanese )

私は１日４回会社でコーヒーを作ります。６：３０am, ７：３０am, ９：４５am, そして２：４５pm...別にコーヒーを作るのはいやじゃないの。とても楽しい。それで人の喜んでもらえるとうれしい。ただ、今、うちの関連会社のひとた ちがここ２週間ぐらい来ていて、全く読めない。どのくらい作っていいのか。少しその人数のことも考えてちょっと多めに作るんだけど、これもまちまち。いっ ぱい残ることもあれば、全く足りないこともある。あまり、無駄にしたくないんだよね、予算もあるし...　

場をもっと読めるようにならないと...

Hotdog ( Japanese )

今日は会社でEndless Summer BBQ Potluck Lunchということでみんなで食べ物や飲み物を持ってきて、ホットドックを駐車場でグリルしました。ホットドックを５つ食べた。腹いっぱい。私はソーダ の係。ソーダ３本もってきたのに、誰も私のソーダ、手につけなかった。チョイスが悪かったかなぁ。アルバートソン製のコーラ（ブランドものは買わないの、 高いから）、怪しげな色のLimited EditionのMountain Dew、それにフルーツパンチ。まぁ、いいや。１時過ぎたらすぐさま撤収。　:-)

Excellent Virtue ( Japanese )

Excellent Virtueとは私の名前を直訳したものです。私の名前は秀徳...秀=Excellent, 徳=Virtue...Excellent Virtueとなりました。:-)