無常，好近

麥克，一個樂天派嗓門大的愛爾蘭男生，是工作上的夥伴，最近因為業務的需要，會常常打電話給麥克，前一陣子有一個工程要發包給他，結果種種原因，給了別家，這幾天又開始談另一個工程，在這個說大不大說小不小的圈子裡，我們有很多共同的朋友。

今天早上一到公司，太家喧喧嚷嚷的，就在這個週末，麥克突然心髒病發作。四十五歲，還留下兩個幼小的女兒。才說要回電的，看樣子現在不需要了。

無常，好近。

無常，又好遠。

Bermuda 10/5/8 ~ 10/12/8

第一次聽到百慕達這個地方是小學五六年級, 旁邊坐了個胖胖的小紳士, 家裡很有錢, 常常帶一些小牛頓, 科白尼類的兒童科學雜誌. 那時候小胖跟我講述了一個叫百慕達三角洲的地方, 神神祕秘的, 老是有人間蒸發的飛機, 輪船之類的事件. 好像那時我說, 將來千萬別去那裡. 若干年後, 居然帶著一家老小去了叫百慕達的小島. 出發前跟酷公公報告, 酷公公還要我們還要我們留遺囑, 說房子要留給他之類的話... 有夠哪個的.

米家五人老弱殘兵, 是在10/5 紐約港出發, 上了一艘叫Norwegian Dawn的 大船, 10/8到岸, 在島上海灘玩了三天, 10/12回到紐約. 出發前其實是一丁點的期望都沒有, 結果...... 還真不賴. 每天吃吃喝喝, 上健身房, 跟nana玩, 曬太陽, 跳跳舞, 看書. 值得一提的是百慕達的海灘好美. 連米爺爺奶奶在海灘都玩的很瘋. Liked: Horseshoe Bay, breakfast at Blue Lagoon, dinner at Le Bistro, Big Band night, Bernie Martini Piano Bar. Improvement: Should get a room with balcony.

建議有老有小的大家庭可以參考遊輪路線. 四肢健全的年輕人可免.

Visiting Matawan

這個週末帶Nani去了趟大姑家, 筋疲力盡....

Hudson Valley 7/5/08

第二天同胖胖叔叔, 阿姨到Philipsburg Manor和Kykuit. Nani好喜歡大公雞和牛牛, 對有錢人的城堡就不太感興趣. 中午到一個叫Blue Hill的農場, 晚餐在Terrytown的河邊吃海鮮.

Hudson Valley 7/4/08

好久沒在這裡寫寫東西. 在上班和Nani之間, 似乎沒任何喘口氣的時間. 每天等Nani睡著了, 馬麻也差不多癱瘓了. Nani快十六個月了, 上個禮拜全家出去小玩了一下. 紐約其實美的地方還蠻多的. 大力推薦Storm King Art Center. http://www.stormking.org/. 就在Dia:Beacon的附近.

向大家拜年 - 祝安康

中央公園滑梯梯

Saturday morning routine - a trip to neighborhood diner

像不像小姑姑?

新聞發佈

女士們先生們, 讓我們歡迎海協會副會長,張明清先生.

大家好,我是張明清.首先發佈一則有關於部落格和言論發表方面的消息: 紐約, 有一位小馬麻, 平常喜歡在個人部落格發表生活點滴, 比鼻照片, 和遊記趣事. 據情報顯示, 這位小馬麻的政治傾向可能偏藍. 今天, 這小小的部落格, 慘遭匿名人士的攻擊, 霹靂啪啦的連續寫了許多帶有人身攻擊的留言. 小馬麻受寵若驚, 沒想到部落格會受到如此激烈鄉民的青睞. 為避免無謂的煩惱, 今後所有的留言將經過管制, 有所不便, 請多包含.

我們為這位愛罵人, 愛台灣, 但不敢留名的人士, 掌聲鼓勵鼓勵!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "歹誌大條了": Can't believe the degree of ignorance until I came across your blog...wow... glad you are out of Taiwan, did you bring a lot of people like you when you left? Taiwan will be much better off with people with wisdom, you know? Please do not ever visit Taiwan or claim you are part of Taiwan in any way... that will be a disgrace!!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "He lied, but won't step down.": He lied? Wow... and how do you know about that for sure? Be careful, sending aweful messages out can get you some interesting karma in return. Next time, don't assume the world out of your limited zone! Perhaps it's time to look inside instead of looking out and pointing fingers all the time! If not because of him, you might have the freedom of speech - but then, according to the stuff you are saying.... I wonder if you should have such freedom...

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "阿扁都不知 大陸的競爭力有多驚人...": I suppose it would be hard to ask the monkey or Chinese to be responsible for all the competitive lead toys and killer products! Don't let money drawn your head or you might find it hard to scream out "help"!!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "心痛": If Taiwan belongs to China just because China once had some "people" over in Taiwan... well, I suppose nearly the entire Europe should be part of China... Use your head sometimes, it does not seem to work too well. Seems to have lots of "knowledge" but definitely extremely low wisdom came out of it....Want to practice Buddhism? Well, why not start looking at yourself! If you aren't a perfect being, don't ask others to be one. That will make you look sooo bad........

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "倒扁?挺扁?": Well, don't ever say you are an American because your ancestors came from China... what kind of logic is that? If you really love Taiwan - then have some common sense and put yourself in his position.

It Seems the Fertility Clock Ticks for Men, Too

By RONI RABIN / NY TIMES
Published: February 27, 2007
Mounting evidence is suggesting that as men get older, they face an increased risk of fathering children with abnormalities. [continue reading]

在新的一年綻放

今年的農曆年,過的緊湊.

除夕的早上替Chris叔叔帶班Open House, 之後殺到美華吃最後的排骨便當，把拔剪了個頭髮，回家大掃除，晚上到米奶奶家吃團圓飯，打電話給台北的酷公公拜年．和三小朋友玩二十一點，還在米奶奶家住了一晚．

初一早上，到慈濟找師姑，跟大家拜年，還順手牽羊的帶了好多菜．之後到超市買了些零食飲料，坐金馬車回家．晚上和慈濟幫眾姊妹，江南四大痞子，和桃園三結義，在chez rice開了個新春轟趴． 多謝大家提供的美味伙食：有黑加崙的yakisoba，水黎妹的squash casserole，龍眼媽的老婆餅，桑椹妹的年糕跟baked pasta，榴連和情人果的火鍋，MD&PD的鳳梨酥，LL&IC的蘋果派．可惜沒有照像，僅以此文留念．

大年初二，Nana拔麻在家休息孵蛋，Nana麻有感而發，覺得身邊的朋友，包括自己在內，都在轉變，不管是畢業，工作，戀愛，成家，買房，生子，大家都一步步的走下去，平穩自在，感覺很好！

誠心的祝福大家都能在新的一年，順心，綻放．

豬年快樂

大米, 小米, 和小小米,
先在這邊給大家拜個早年,
祝新的一年大家都能
平安, 健康, 發大願, 成大事.

再跟大家分享一句靜思語:
不求身體健康，只求精神充足、智慧明睿；
不求事事如意，只求毅力、勇氣；
不求負擔減輕，只求力量增加. ~證嚴上人

3rd Ave and 14th St

每次經過那個熟悉的街口,
總會抬頭往二樓的窗望了望,
那個叫2K的小窩.
從大學到結婚, 八個年輕飛揚的年頭啊,
停下腳步, 想起那時的好朋友,
大學的日子, 和青澀的過去,
嘴角會不自主的泛起暖暖的微笑.
繼續走下去,
下個街角, 何嘗沒有不同的風景和心情.

迷失的白雪公主 (轉貼)

迷失的白雪公主一開始，我以為她就跟我以前教過性情安靜的孩子一樣，沒什麼特別，如果不是因為那天她拿到作文簿時的反應，我想我永遠沒有機會進到她心裡。

她那次的作文改寫了白雪公主的故事，說白雪公主因為貪吃，誤吃了巫婆的毒蘋果，從此之後就變成了一個又醜又噁心的巫婆，再也不可能是白雪公主了。我在文章後有這樣一段評語：「白雪公主不是故意的，她的心既不醜也不噁心，她只是不小心。我想，她的心仍一直是個純潔又天真的公主吧！」

她拿到作文簿之後，一直哭一直哭一直哭，哭到說不出任何話，我望著泣不成聲的她，覺得自己的淚也要跟著掉了下來。後來，我沒有再問她任何事，也沒有跟她說任何話，只留了一張字條，寫下我的電話和電子郵件信箱，拍拍她的肩膀就去上下一堂課了。 To continue reading...

The Producers

Went to see the Producers tonight. Thanks for NYTimes, we got 1/2 price tickets online. Liked the humor a lot. Tony Denza is not really a Broadway material, but everyone else has superb performance. Very entertaining and enjoyable. The last time we saw a Broadway show..... was four years ago with Adi... long time ago. When Nana joins us later on, our chance for a night out will be slim slim slim. Two more months to go!

Banana muffins!!

Baking usually does not come natural for me. Today, for the first time, I have baked something good for a change. This is the recipe I used. Nana Ba, and the doormen all liked it. Tears going down my cheeks....

Year 2006 in review

First, we are expecting a little baby girl. The baby kicks around often, and we began to feel her presence in the family. We are excited and look forward to see her in person this coming spring. For sure, life will be different from now on. And, here are the rest….

Early this year, Lei resigned from her eight-year tenure as a construction manager at Bovis. She later started a business, which ended shortly. In fall, she moved into real estate, got a license and joined Corcoran. Since then, she was able to successfully completed three sales transactions, which is a pretty good start.

July marked Jimmy’s tenth year with Credit Suisse. Returning to work after last year’s sabbatical, he managed a new project to completion in May within very aggressive deadlines. Over the course of the year, Jimmy hired two people in New York and Raleigh and relocated one person to Singapore.

In May, Lei and Jimmy participated in the 42-mile NYC Bike Tour for the third year in the row. Lei was brave enough to finish the tour despite a bad fall. We attended a 10-day meditation retreat in Pinebush, New York in June. During the summer months we kept busy with various weekend projects for our favorite non-profit organizations. Exciting news of our baby-girl-to-be was announced in the fall to our family and friends who responded with warm wishes and lots of advice! In December, while Lei was in her second trimester, we traveled to Taiwan and Singapore, which was probably our last grand trip as a twosome for many years to come.

Although 2006 does not seem very eventful, we feel that there is a lot to be thankful for. As we are about to march into a different stage of life, we started to look back our life since graduating from college. We were really blessed in so many different ways, either professionally or personally. Lei is especially grateful to her mother-in-law for being so caring during her pregnancy. We thank you all for the friendship and love, and wish you a very healthy and successful 2007 to come.

Jimmy and Lei

短篇小說：《遲暮》

米果‧第十二屆府城文學獎 短篇小說：正獎《遲暮》
Good read, enjoy.

Design Life now

Went to Cooper-Hewitt museum the other day with Hiuyan. Quite an exhibit. They currently have the National Desgin Triennial 2006. Saw a bunch of cool designs in the exhibit. Flatpak is a modern prefab house system. Ooba's baby crib has a modern look that's a rare find. Blik has kick ass wall paper alternative. Kidrobot is fun looking with an evil twist. Worth a trip.

鬆餅，莫札特，奈良美智

回到紐約ㄧ個禮拜整，
還在調適落差，
還在掛不下老爸和ㄚ弟，
看來，家人的牽絆將是一輩子的，
被血緣緊緊的繫著，
何嘗不是一種幸福。

早上跟大米哥煎了幾個味道不這麼的 pancakes 吃，
邊陪 rice nana 聽莫札特，
邊看了本奈良美智的自傳。

下午去游泳，動動吧。

First Deal 好爽

祖上積德! 小女昨天成交了生平第一筆生意, 雖然說跟賣方仲介對分, 再跟公司對分, 再分紅給介紹人的情況下, 所剩不多, 但精神上卻特滿足的. 這筆帳付我們年底回台北的機票應該是足足有餘, 搞不好還可以買升等卷. 爽斃了! 小米今年在家當米蟲好一段時間, 終於生產報國了.

怪夢

昨天沒睡好, 胃不舒服, 翻來覆去的, 老做一些怪夢.
今天起來, 打杯水果奶昔喝喝, 又是好漢一條.
下午去趟辦公室吧....