Day 197 - Pretzel Maven Visit

First of all, it is obvious my internet connection is working now. I'm not too sure what was wrong with it, but the green lights kept on blinking and the modem/router kept on resetting itself. I spoke to someone on the technical hotline who tested the dsl line, and concluded the modem must be faulty. So he sent me to another department who was suppose to send me another modem. But it wasn't that easy. When I got to the Faulty Modem department, the person asked me the same questions and asked me if my modem was plugged into a surge protector. I said yes. He said you need to plug it into the wall. And I said you've got to be kidding me! He did not laugh and instead I was met with 10 seconds of uncomfortable silence. So I had to get behind my desk, crawl on the floor, unplug the modem, get an extension cord, and then replug it into another wall. The reasoning behind this is that if your surge protector is old, the fuse inside the strip that protectsFirst of all, it is obvious that my internet all of your electrical devices could go bad therefore not work properly. So as of now, everything is working okay and if my modem goes haywire on me I need to call again and THEN they'll send a new modem.

Okay. Now that that story is over with, Auntie Anne (pretzel maven) visited this weekend because she was out here on business. She's currently working in the tech department for AT&T and was attending a Faulty Modem seminar. Damn her. Auntie Anne is actually working for this new Yahoo site called Shine (shine.yahoo.com). They had their premiere party this past week so she made it a long weekend and stayed with us for a few nights. I've actually written a couple of pieces for her under my pseudonym "Anne Ichikawa" -- take a look!

Anne finds herself very busy with this new job, so we didn't have too much free time to go around and do our usual fun weekend activities with the kids like Costco, Target, and Ralphs. You may mock our outings, but when you have twins the following formula applies: movies+concerts+nightclubs+exotic vacations=Target. You take what you can get.

Part of the weekend, Anne and I helped my parents move some stuff into their new apartment. They still haven't moved in because the former tenant moved out later than expected so the apartment was still being cleaned last week. The entire family went to lunch at Porto's before heading over to the deep abyss of Swedish design, Ikea. Have you ever brought a double stroller into Ikea? DON'T! As the Swedes would say: Tvillingen i Ikea är lik varelse i helvete.*

For the rest of weekend, we watched a few movies at home and went out to eat. And before you can say "Wetzel's Pretzels sucks", Auntie Anne was off on a plane this afternoon to Atlanta for another business trip. And as for the rest of the Ichikawa clan, we celebrated Anne's departure with a trip to Target.



*Twins in Ikea is like being in hell.

***************

I must add this little story to end the day.

Right now, my parents finished watching "No Country For Old Men." Without giving away any spoilers, the movie ends on an abrupt note. When the screen went to black, my mom started to complain about the conclusion of the film.

"What kindah moo-vie is dat? You know what kindah moo-vie dat is? Itz a bee-aye movie! HAHAHA"

All of us were confused with what my mom just said.

Lisa asked, "What's a B.A. movie?"

"Oooh? Did I say wrong?" my mom answered.

But my dad knew what my mom was trying to say. "Do you mean B.S.?"

"Yahyahyah. Bee-ess! Dat what I meant. HAHAHA!"

Then after all we all laughed about my mom's misunderstanding, my mom says a few moments later, "What does bee-ess mean?"