0228 moo

Jim Y came by to help me with my walking exercises. We headed over to Liberty Park in Cerritos, where I practiced walking with just the walking sticks for balance. Jim helped me with the balance by holding onto the gait belt that was around my abdomen. I ended up walking (or shuffling) about an hour.

We headed over to Carrow’s for lunch. As a birthday present, I treated myself to a ribeye steak. That cut has a lot of flavor I only sent it back to the kitchen once, because it was too rare. I ordered it medium rare, but the meat was so rare, it would have mooed if it could.

0227 sushi and Speedos

Liz and Jerome (Rome) picked me up for a dinner at Joe’s Sushi in Lakewood. We met up with Rome’s cousin at the restaurant. Joe’s has an All-You-Can-Eat Sushi Special and we took advantage of it.

During the meal, the conversation turned to yoga. One of my therapists talked about taking a Bikram Yoga class with a friend of hers. In the class were two guys, who wore Speedos and always positioned themselves in front of my therapist and her friend. So that’s all they saw.

Rome mentioned that he would never do yoga in a Speedo, but it was enough to give me a mental image and made me temporarily lose my appetite.

Near the end of the meal, I ordered a pair of ikura nigiri, which are salmon eggs on top of a bed of rice. It reminded me of when Travis used to own a sushi bar in Lomita (he’s since sold the place). Each time I went in, I ordered an ikura. And each time Travis would come over to apologize that it was the one thing he was out of. It became a sort of running gag between us.

My ikura came, but as I put one in my mouth, Liz made a comment that Nemo started off as a roe. She was laughing as I was chewing, so I decided then and there to get back at her.

She and Rome are eliminating sweets from their diets, but somehow Mentos are excepted. If you figure that one out, let me know.

We finished off the meal with some miso soup and green tea ice cream. I had a lot of fun.

0224 HB2U Ed!

Today is Ed’s birthday! He’s not even thirty yet, but he took a stab at growing facial hair because he got tired of getting carded all the time. Reflecting on it, I wouldn’t get tired of getting carded. As one friend put it, you know you’re getting older when you have to pay someone (like a doctor) to see you naked.

Ed’s spending the week at home in Hawai’i, but I think he was clean-shaven when he left. Something about not wanting his mother to physically pull it out hair-by-hair.

Wherever you are, Happy Birthday, Ed!

0223 flower power

Last night, I had a dream about the Flower Mart. I haven’t been there in ten years. I wonder what it’s like. The Flower Mart is a great place to go and shop, as long as you know how to get around.

One thing to keep in mind: always look from the point-of-view of the commercial flower grower in Central California.

The commercial flower grower begins his day in the early morning. During the day, he plants, waters, feeds, and cultivates. In the late afternoon, after the heat of the day has passed, he picks the flowers to sell. In the evening, he sorts, bundles, and packages his flowers. Then he ships them, which usually means that he loads them in a truck and drives to Los Angeles and/or San Francisco. I’ll use Los Angeles in my example, because I know how it works there.

Decades ago, growers used to congregate in an empty lot in the early morning (when it’s still cool and the cut flowers don’t require added refrigeration) and sold the flowers to local florists. Then, they bought an empty warehouse and rented space. That was the beginning of what the Flower Mart is today.

The Los Angeles Flower Mart is located near 6th and Wall, in downtown Los Angeles. The Mart is wholesale only from 2am to 6am. Why then? Because that’s the best time to show/sell cut flowers without paying for refrigeration. The commercial flower grower plans to sell his crop before 6am, in order to leave L.A. before traffic gets heavy, so that he can get back to the “farm” and start the day.

The business is primarily cash, so don’t expect a lot of places to accept credit cards. It’s an added expense. Every time you use a credit card, the vendor pays a fee to process the transaction. And don’t be surprised if a seller asks for your resale number (issued by the state board of equalization). You’ll find that sellers are sticklers for the law, especially if they’ve been stung by undercover investigators. I hear the fines are very high.

Besides, if there’s a choice between cash or credit card, you’ll see a BIG difference in prices. Some sellers will accept business checks but I can’t remember any taking personal checks.

The retail period starts at 6am, but the sellers diminish in quantity. So does the selection. Growers/sellers will stay until they sell whatever they have. They will leave as soon as they can. Don’t expect them to hang around.

For one-time buyers, the selection is amazing. A bunch of 25 red roses was usually about $10. Why do they cost so much at the florists? Remember, it’s a perishable product. Whatever is cut and doesn’t sell will not be in a sellable condition in three days, no matter if it’s continually refrigerated and watered. It will still be viable, but in terms of retail, there will always be something better looking for the same price. Add on transportation, convenience, labor, and other overhead, and you’ll see why it costs so much.

Want roses cheap? Then be prepared to wake up at 3am on a weekday. Would you pay the extra $$ if you could sleep and just pick them up on the way home from work? Convenience can have a high price.

The Flower Mart is a great place to find anything that you need related to florists. I used to spend hours meandering the many aisles of shelves at the Moskatel’s because that location had the largest regular inventory and I was helping friends with weddings and parties.

During the Christmas season, Ecke’s had an outlet there and all types of poinsettias could be found there. At Easter, many of the live plant vendors had potted Easter lilies, where a box of 12 could be bought for $22, but that was over 10 years ago.

If you ever go, don’t expect the building to be heated, as it defeats the refrigeration and the cut flowers wilt faster. So dress warmly and be prepared to see others wearing sweaters and jackets.

0221 walk with les

Leslie came by today to help me with my walking exercise. We walked a sidewalk at Liberty Park and discussed the adjacent all-weather track. I’d walk there, but the textured surface inhibits the movement of the walker and I’ve found that the paved sidewalk works much better.

After walking for about an hour, we headed off to BJ’s Brewhouse for some lunch. I had the BJ’s Special pizza while she munched on an appetizer combo.. Before the food arrived, she surprised me with an early birthday gift. It was a t-shirt that read “urusai” on the front. Cool. If you don’t know it, Google it.

After lunch, Les dropped me off at home and I got ready for church service.

0218 too long away from facebook

I spoke too soon. The drawback about staying away for 30 days? I have 96 notifiers, 15 inbox messages, and 65 requests, including 12 friend requests and friend suggestions. I think some of the notifications were deleted because the oldest one says “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

It looks like I’ve lost about 10 challenges.

It’ll take days to reply to them all.

It’s great to be back.

0218 my facebook challenge .... is over!

Finally! My self-imposed 30-day exile from Facebook is over and I can now go into it. Or, I can try to go another 30-days. Let me think about it ...

Okay, I thought about it. It may be a good test, but I’m not ready for it yet. I miss Facebook because it kept me connected with friends that I otherwise don’t see because of distance. Many of my high school friends, my college friends, and my skiing friends are living in other states and in other countries.

The Internet is a wonderful tool to make these connections and I cherish each of the contacts because I’ve found that I thought I’d never see or hear from them again. And while we may never see each other face-to-face, we can still keep in touch across the miles.

It’s great.

0216 my facebook challenge - hour 672

Just 48 hours to go. (sigh) One friend (who is not on Facebook) told me that now that I’ve heard from friends wondering where I am, it’s a good time to START the 30-day challenge. Hmmmm. Something to think about.

Ok, I’ve thought about it. The answer? We’ll see in 48 hours.

Another friend (who is on Facebook) asked me if I’ve seen the trend by Facebookers to list 25 things about themselves. I reminded her that I’m not on Facebook right now. She answered that maybe it will still be going on when I log back in.

I’ll let you know in 48 hours.

0215 HB2U Wendi!

Today is Wendi’s birthday! She’s a very attractive occupational therapist and she enjoys her work. I told you last year that she was available, but you waited too long. Now she’s taken and totally involved. Your loss.

I like her input at Koinonia because she sees things differently.

Wherever you are, Happy Birthday, Wendi!

0214 happy single awareness day

Jim Y came by to help me walk. We went out to Liberty Park in Cerritos, because there is no curb to navigate from the parking lot. It was easier to try the walking sticks, with Jim helping me with my balance while I was concentrating on my steps. The sticks help me to keep the weight over my feet and to rely on my hands for stability only.

We didn’t walk far, but farther than I have gone at home. We finished the exercise time with some walking using my walker. My left knee started to hurt, so we quit with the walking exercise.

After an adventure at the post office, we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch, since our first choice, Sam Woo’s, was packed and there was a line outside. As we were entering, we noticed signs for a private party in the back. Jim asked if I felt like crashing a party, but we decided against it since we weren’t dressed up enough.

As we were seated in the dining room, we were asked if we wanted to order the Valentine’s Day special. That’s when we noticed the decorations and balloons all over the place. We also noticed all the couples in the booths. Jim said that it explained why the hostess looked at us funny when she seated us. We laughed about it.

I ordered the Honey Walnut Shrimp lunch special. I forgot what Jim ordered. The lunch special came with soup, spring roll, won ton, and fried rice. We finished up and headed out.

0212 my facebook challenge - hour 576

Now comes the hard part. Twenty-four days down, six to go. This will be the longest week of my life. Remember how I told you that I’d have messages forwarded to me?

Well, now I’ve seen messages from high school friends, college friends, and skiing friends, all wondering where I am. And I have no way to tell them I’ll be on soon. I hope they’ll wait for me.

0210 HB2U Sheri!

Today is Sheri’s birthday! I know how young she is but I won’t tell you. Sorry, but her son would kill me. But I’ll bet her husband is having a laugh at this. She's the fearless leader of my Koinonia lifegroup at SBCC.

Although she’s a bit of a ham, she doesn’t like candid, unposed shots. I wonder why?

Wherever you are, Happy Birthday, Sheri!

0210 my facebook challenge - hour 529

Well. just about a week now. I’ve been going back to some old websites (MySpace, Friendster, Yelp, etc.), but it’s just not the same. I was cleaning up my browser and came upon the link to Facebook. It was very tempting to just click on it, but I didn’t.

I wonder what’s going on there? Just 191 hours to go.

0208 celebrate!

Sam picked me up this morning and we attended the third service at SBCC. Pastor Gary started a new series called “Celebrate!” and he talked about the world economy, the national economy, and how millions of people are losing their jobs. As much as people think they are without value today, he reminded us that we are still valued highly by God.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Although the economic system on Earth, which is Satan’s realm, does not have a high value for us, we know that we are valued by God and that we have a job to do.

Pastor Gary also mentioned that we are taller in the morning, and used Pastor Ken as an example. I asked Rome about this and got a response that he is tall in the morning, but stays tall throughout the day. Rome is 6’1”.

Pastor Gary also mentioned that John Paul Lam will stay on as Worship Pastor, which is also something to celebrate.

After the service, my lifegroup, Koinonia, met for lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. We were caught by surprise with three of the five current birthday celebrants attending. Ed (Feb 24th) was at a sailing race and Wendi (Feb 15th) had other plans, so it was just Sheri (Feb 10th), Ginnie (Jan 7th), and .... oh yeah .... me (Feb 27th).

We had birthday hats to wear and I think a few photos exist, but they probably won’t find their way to this blog. Mine was comfortable and it took too much energy to take it off, so I left it on.

During the luncheon, the topic turned to Worship Pastors, comparing John Paul with Nathan. I think the general consensus was that John Paul was like the boy bands, whereas Nathan was like alternative rock. It’s a good thing that most of them came after Pastor Randy, or who knows where the discussion would have gone.

Fortunately, we were distracted by a chocolate dobash birthday cake with three lit candles (one for each celebrant). I should feel relieved because in order to be accurate for me, they would have had to get a permit and a variance from the local fire marshal. We finished the lunch around 3pm and headed our separate ways.

0207 revelation study

After getting dropped off at SBCC, I was able to attend my Revelation study group meeting. We discussed the events that unfolded in Revelation 17. Lillian Y was our facilitator for the night, although we never did go back and look at Question #1, did we?

We talked a bit about the passage that describes the beast as existing on seven mountains, and that it might refer to Rome, although ancient poems refer to Rome as being on seven hills, not mountains.

The discussion was lively. We ended our study around 9pm and Steve and Carol talked about his trip to Hawai’i next weekend. The topic of luggage came up. Steve said, “Luggage? I’m just going for a few days so I just need a backpack.”

Carol asked, “What about clothes? Like socks?”

Steve said, “Socks? What are those?” He just planned on wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops all weekend. His daughter is going for a tennis tournament.

Carol said, ”And you wonder why your daughter doesn’t want to hang around you,”

Steve gave me a ride home.

0207 relaxing at duke's

As the sun was setting, we headed over to Duke’s (named after Duke Kahanamoku; remember him?) in Malibu (here’s the link). Tina just missed getting herself a picture of the sunset, but now had a reason to keep coming until she gets it. As if she needs a reason.

We unwound with some drinks and food. While ordering, the server asked Ed for his I.D. When I ordered, I asked the server if she wanted to see my I.D. Guess what? She did!

After blowing off the cobwebs, I handed it over to her for scrutiny. As the saying goes, “If you look like your I.D., then you need a vacation.” Either that, or a second round of drinks. That way, you don’t care.

I also had the fish and chips, although the chip stack shrank each time I looked at it. The fish was really fresh and tasty, and the breading was light. I really wanna go back and get some more!

0207 touring the getty villa

We arrived at the Getty Villa (here’s the link) in time for our 1pm reservation and, after parking, met the others near the entrance. Jerome, Liz, Jasmine, Wes and I took the Architecture and Gardens Tour while Brian, Ed, and Tina finished their lunch (see previous post) on the patio.

There was a chance of rains, so I came in the wheelchair to prevent slips and falls, but it was a beautiful day and the skies were clear. We stayed with the group for the tour but had to find the various wheelchair accesses, since the Villa is built on many different levels.

The problem about being in a wheelchair is that during a tour, you get pushed to the front. When the tour guide asks for a volunteer, everyone behind you is pointing at you.

At one point, in order to get to the Outer Peristyle, we had to take a handicapped elevator. It was built inside a small space in a corner of the Timescape Room and was just large enough for the three of us. Well, the two of them, plus me in my wheelchair. I think the lift was three feet wide by five feet long, but you’d have to ask the others. We referred to it as “Jim’s Time-Out Room”. and they said that they could just leave me there and turn out the lights.

The tour highlights were the ancient fountain (with the theater masks) in the East Garden, and the view of the Pacific from the terrace on the southern end of the Outer Peristyle. We took advantage of the setting sun for many photo ops.

After the tour, we took a break on the patio by the Museum Cafe. Wes and Jasmine had to leave early, so we met up with the others and ended up on the upper floor of the museum, in order to gaze upon a mummy, and somehow ended up in a room displaying exhibits of Coins, Gems and Jewelry. One of the items was a hand-painted piece of jewelry entitled “Dog Licking His Rear Leg”. I don’t think that it was his rear leg he was licking.

We also found out what a denarius was worth in Roman terms, but I’ll let you ask Tina or Liz about it.

The Getty Villa closed at 5pm, so we headed for the garage as the sun was setting over the Pacific.

I wrote a review on YELP. Find it here.

0207 thai one on

Liz and Jerome (Rome) picked me up and we were on our way. Liz was sitting in the backseat of the car, while Rome drove. Apparently, she had a small coffee spill but was able to soak it up with some denim.

We passed the Cholada Thai Beach restaurant just outside of Malibu (here's the link), and had to turn around to go back to it. We were early, so we just waited for the others to arrive. We were joined shortly afterwards when Wes and Jasmine arrived, so we went in.

Appetizers were quickly brought to the table. and we feasted on Cholada Wraps and Hanum Jeep, when we found out that the rest of our party (including Ed, the organizer) were going to be late, so we ordered our main dishes and ate family-style. Yum!

We ordered for the others, but they took their food to-go.

As I recall, we had the Pad See Ew and the Steamed Seafood, but I can’t remember the third dish.

I wrote a review on YELP. Look for it here.

0206 my facebook challenge - hour 457

Although I don’t log into Facebook, I get messages forwarded to my e-mail inbox. Among these are friend requests, friend suggestions, and messages from friends. Even though I have over a hundred friends (most others count in the thousands) only four of them are aware that I even left.

It’s sad when I get the sense that my absence hasn’t even been noticed. I have been poked, however, and I get the impression that I picked the right time. Apparently, there’s someone that has been flirting with the attractive people. But it hasn’t affected me since I haven’t logged in. Why are you laughing so much?

I just found out that several of my friends joined Facebook, including two that I went to high school with. Today’s the 19th day and I’m getting a strong urge to sign in, just for a minute, to say “Hi!” but I’ve been resisting the temptation.

Friends told me that the final leg would be the hardest. I guess this is it.

0205 living for a purpose

A friend came by and helped me with my walking exercise. Afterwards, we chatted a bit and I told him that I had a lot of time to think. The subject turned to living life according to the purpose that God has for you. Unfortunately, not all of us know what that purpose is.

One of the things I thought of was Noah. We all know that Noah built the Ark, in order to save the animals from the Great Flood. He gathered two of each kind of animal, a male and a female, and had them enter the Ark. He also took his wife and his sons (Ham, Shem, and Japeth) and their wives. The Ark saved them all while God destroyed every other living thing on the Earth.

Noah also took with him every food for his family and for the animals, so that they could survive. We learn this in Genesis 6. But what wasn’t written is how the animals were fed and cared for during the months that the floodwaters filled the Earth. We know that it was among the commands that God gave Noah, but the task was so great that he had to have the help of his wife, his sons, and his son’s wives.

If the animals didn’t survive, then God’s plan couldn’t be carried out. But how they survived isn’t written in Genesis; only that they did survive. Perhaps the purpose of the others were to help the animals survive.

We often think that we’re here to serve a meaningful purpose, as long as that purpose means something to us. Perhaps the purpose is around us, but we don’t see it because we don’t recognize it. One of our human traits is arrogance. When something is not important to us, we don’t think of it as important.

For example, the ministry of Jesus is important. But after His birth, we only see glimpses of Him in the Bible until His thirties, at which time He journeys throughout the land, teaching about God’s salvation. But how He was raised is just as important. We don’t imagine that He was supernatural, going from birth to thirty in as much time as it takes to snap your fingers.

No, Jesus was fully human, so He took thirty years to grow. For those of you who have children, think about how much goes into them from birth to age thirty. A lot, right? So what if the “purpose” is being a good parent? It’s an important job and it has to be done.

We know that Joseph and Mary were righteous, but they shaped Jesus into the man He became. Day by day, month by month, year by year.

There was an episode of the original series in “Star Trek” where Kirk and the Enterprise are thrown back in time to the mid-twentieth century. A U.S. fighter jet is scrambled to intercept this “UFO”. The Enterprise puts a tractor beam on it, but the “fragileness” of its construction starts breaking it apart.

The Enterprise crew rescues the pilot, but in order to protect the timeline, they check his identity in historical records. Spock reports that the pilot made no meaningful contributions, so they opt to keep him from returning to Earth.

But later in the episode, Spock says that he made a mistake. Although the pilot made no meaningful contributions, his son did. The pilot says that he doesn’t have a son. That’s when Dr. McCoy says, “Well, not yet.” If they don’t return him to Earth, his son will never exist and their history will cease to exist.

I think that God has millions of people living their lives purposefully, but only God knows the whole plan. I don’t think that we need to know it to carry it out.

But that’s what I’ve been thinking about. What do you think?

On a side note, mythology tells us that the unicorn was one of the animals that couldn’t get to the Ark in time, which is why it doesn’t exist today, except in stories and dreams.

0203 my facebook challenge - hour 361

Wow! I made it past the halfway point. Now comes the hard part, especially since I miss using Facebook to keep in touch with all of my friends. Fifteen days to go.