I will be able to claim 5 years working at my current place this summer.  There are some perks in having surpassed the five year mark, like an additional week of vacation and the usual timepiece of some sort that everyone gets and a certificate from the CEO.  Regardless, my workplace has been a mystery to all (except for Tieu-Y, she came to visit me once)! 

When I started, I had a 9x9 cubicle..then we moved and we downsized to 7x7 (yeah, its that small), but I have an annex (two if I wanted more space).  We lost a lot of people and there were so many empty cubicles around..so being in the engineering group..we call the shots (not really), we just have more junk, so each of us (there are only three of us left) have an additional cube while the geologists get just one. =)

Well, we made do with what we got as you can see from the pictures!  I cleaned it up a bit as you can tell (its normally way more messy).   I won't show you my annex because it is super messy!

Left wall: Places for my many thick binders (upward of 2" spine).  Its my very small work space.  The survey map is literally hanging off the desk space (the plan is only 20x24 in size)

Back wall: It is where I place my calendar and cork board where I document upcoming events, outside annoucements/flyers and family pictures (I need to update those photos).

The corner where my monitor sits.  I have a 19" monitor (that Pierre and Miguel stole from someone and gave to me, i had the 15" before).  I bought myself flowers to make myself feel better this morning.

Right wall:  Its the corner I look at the most because it is where the phone is (especially when on the phone). I took over that cactus looking plant when one of my coworker left a few years back..it used to be two inches tall.

Pictures were taking with my Pearl without flash, so not the greatest quality.

February 21, 2009 - Saturday

I should get a gold star today...i just sent in the last payment to my brother's car!  I don't think I want to see another car loan for as long as I live!  This was the third car loan I had to get.  The first one being for my first car (used 98 civic that Hoang now drives), the second for my second car (brand new civic 2003 that LP now drives) and third my brother's new 2006 civic coupe.  My dad bought me my accord (new 2004).  I guess I paid for everyone's car except for mine, weird!

But as I just completed the payoff, my dad's car overheat today while he went to visit family back in Gardena.  His toyota is quite old and he's been pining for a truck for years.  He planned to get the truck when his car kicked the bucket..and it looks like its not too far from there.  If anyone deserves a car, it would be my dad.  He's worked hard all his life...sometimes at multiple jobs.  Since we've came in 1991, he's raised a family of 6 with minimum wage jobs...he worked for 13 years without a single vacation (he finally took his first vacation when I started working in 2004).  He doesn't want anything fancy, just a truck to take him to and from work and can be used for moving big items.  I think I'll start shopping around now, but I hope he can hold out for a few months cuz I really really want a break from these bills, maybe for a few months (I'm literally up my eyeballs with them).  I could use a breather and not have to worry about how to pay for all these at every pay period. 

Anyways, I had to take a writing assessment this morning.  I hope I don't have to take it again.  Afterward, I came home to do some gardening..i love gardening.  Gardening is really good for me..it makes me aware of how impatience I am (hopefully I can learn to be more patience) and allowed me to direct my thoughts to the flowers and plants instead...its really therapeutic.  

I put two peonies root cuttings in the ground last month.  One is about 3 inches and the other only an inch tall.  I can't wait for them to give me beautiful blooms like the ones below (crossing my fingers and toes)!  I can't say I know what color flowers I will have, but I love them all and would be thrilled regardless what surprise color awaits me!  Ideally, I want one of each color!  I hope that my taking good care of them will allow me to enjoy these suckers for years to come!  I hope to share these gorgeous flowers with everyone I love (hopeful they give me lots of beautiful flowers!).  I've been told that it is normally "shy" the first year and it would not produce any flowers until the following year...The wait is excruciatingly painful for someone with no patience like me.  I checked on them daily! 

Besides my flowers, my dad and I expanded our herb garden.  The green beans are sprouting.  I love seeing how fast these grow (they don't test my patience too much).  We planted them a few weeks ago, yet we've got few leaves on them.  Unfortunately, we've got night visitors that take bites out of the leaves.  Whatever it is..is HUGE.  One thing I hate about gardening is the insects and bugs (shrrrrghhh).  I just can't stand slimey, creepy crawlers!  They make me feel sick to my stomach. =(  Luckily, they only come at night.  Hopefully our green beans will give us some of those delicious beans in that picture...i can almost taste it already.  We planted four so far...we'll plant a few more.  Hopefully we'll have enough to share (if our visitors don't eat them first!).  Oh, and ignore the tomatoes on the left frame, I haven't decided whether to plant them or not.  I would like to plant either (or both) strawberry or cherry tomatoes (Jaime's favorites), but I haven't found ones I like.  I might have to order them from out of state.

We also tried some green onions (scallions) too!  I love them and they were a dollar a pack..so what the heck!  My dad sprinkled a few of them on the ground a few weeks ago and I see them!!!  Okay..its not that noticeable yet, but I have been staring at the ground for days, so I do see them.  They're no thicker than a hair (so you really gotta look for them), but they'll grow big and tall like the ones in the picture!   I don't know how much dad used, but there are lots of them!  See, we didn't plant them all..we're off-setting them by a few weeks so that we'll have them longer!  Can't you just taste the yumminess? 

There are few things we haven't planted due to the rain (stupid rain is messing up my gardening schedule!).  We don't want the rain to wash away the seeds, so I'm impatiently waiting for the right time to plant lettuces (yumm...fresh salad).  In the meantime, I planted some basil seeds in pots (but then dad's friend gave us a few grown basil plants, doh!).  I want to grow strawberries, but I'm still trying to figure how to grow them.  I'm new to this gardening stuff, so I'm trying to learn.  This season is more of a trial and error season...testing out the soil and what works and doesn't work.  So far, everything we've planted seem to be doing okay.  I'm also trying to figure out what season is good for what.  And right now, i'm trying to see how to get rid of our night visitors so they won't chew up all my plants!  Anyone's got an idea?

 NOTE:  pictures included are taken from difference sites (that I don't know specifically)...so don't copy them for profit (not that I think you would, but just in case).  Just wanted to credit others on these.  I'm trying to add more flare to my updates to make it less boring.  I'll update with my own photos whenever possible!  Thank you for reading.