A new desk
When I moved to St. Louis after graduating college, I sold my beloved L-shaped desk because I don't have my own place then, plus, it was just too hard to move pieces of furniture that size - especially that one extra long piece, it would have to go in a U-Haul.

After two years of using a puny computer desk and completely outgrowing it, I got myself an L-shaped desk back. Suz was selling hers because she needed some plain old tables to paint instead, so I bought her desk and the file cabinet for $75, which is an extremely good price, considering the original price was somewhere north of $450.

Southern boy and I spent the entire evening putting the desk together, and I must say it looked pretty decent by the time we were done.

Now, I can only hope that two weeks down the line, the desktop area still look as neat and clean as it does now. But knowing myself, chances of that happening is pretty much nil.

Happy Valentine's Day
Today has been good to me. The client liked the GUI design work that I slaved over last night, although I have two more to go, I feel much better now than I did same time yesterday. At work, my team member and I are making good progress on a new Toyota project. I am feeling much more relaxed and am looking forward to this weekend.

In the spirit of Feliz el Dia de los Enamorados (hope I got it right), I would like to recommend some light-hearted reading: {fray}drugs - the things we do for love. Thanks to Christy for sharing.

Snooze
Finally, it's almost 4am, and I've just finished two out of four design work that I have to do before heading out to Chicago this weekend. Thankgoodness for mountain dew, but alas, I have my limits. No more all nighter like the good ole' college days, I'm gonna catch a wink or two before I have to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to work tomorrow, or rather, today.

Good night everyone.

Adverse effect
I don't hate the cold during winter months. In fact, I've gotten quite used to it. Missouri's winter is still pretty bearable, and seriously, I like my winter jackets and coats and turtlenecks.

The only thing that bugs me is that I always gain tons of weight during the cold season. I have an eating problem, I don't know when to stop eating. Usually I'll eat till the dinner plate is empty, and then go tackle something sweet for dessert (right now it is the two pints of Godiva ice-cream in my freezer).

I feel bloated all the time now, my sideview that was staring back at me in the bathroom mirror scares me. I'm not usually really particular about how I look, I accept my figure the way it is. But when I start feeling bloated and uncomfortable, I know I need to do something about it.

Either that or the groundhog needs to tell me that winter will be over SOON!

Seriously, I tried...
I was pretty determined to have a good week, and a good month. There are too many fun things going on in February. I have lunch with friends, weekly hangouts with "the gang", road trip to the Windy City, Valentine's day, Southern boy's, Erin's, lunch buddy's birthday, and my sister turned 21 on CNY Feb 1st. So why is it that every positive step that I make, it felt like I'm falling two steps back? I got a ticket last week, that I got over, and then this morning, while cruising peacefully down I270, a big honking metal piece came loose from a truck two cars in front of mine, missed the SUV and hit my windshield smack on the driver's side. My poor Jetta is scarred, again. What a way to start of my tuesday...

Maybe this is the reality of life, maybe I'm just to naive to accept my life as it is, for whatever reason, somebody please channel me some good luck!

Oh, Happy Birthday Erin! It's amazing how all the Aquarius, Geminis, Libras and Leo in "the gang" played out in such a good way. Hehehe. Trust you to notice something like that :)

Happy Birthday Ryan!
It's southern boy's birthday today. I started calling him 'old man' two weeks ago. Hehehe. We have nothing big planned, but tonight we're going to meet up with the usual monday night gang for dinner.

This past saturday, we're lazing around with nothing to do, and decided to go to the St. Louis Science Center. One of the good things about St. Louis is that the Zoo, Art Museum, Science Center are all free to get in. Really, what more could you ask for. We spent a good 3 hours running around like 12-year olds. Saw a show on 'liquid nitrogen', and also another one on 'metabolism'. Kids nowadays are so lucky, if only science was that much fun way back when I was in grade school... oh well.

Finally we were so ready to sit down, so we did the usual and hung out at Culppeppers till the night falls.

Sunday was Indian food day: went to House Of India for their buffet lunch, it wasn't all that spicy at all (my tummy didn't go crazy on me). Southern boy ate a whole lot, but I think he would've liked it to be 100% more spicy. Seriously, this man can tolerate real spicy stuff. If it doesn't make him sweat, it's not enough. Hehe.

I think this will be a good week, depending on how my work week pans out. I am relatively optimistic right now, plus this weekend is Road Trip To Chicago day. Playing tag with the rest of the gang will be fun, as long as I don't get another 'christening' for my car. I still need to save up enough $$ to pay off the last one. Alright, enough negative thoughts.

Wish you all a happy week.

UPDATES!!
Aunties!! I'm craving for some updates ... it's been such a long time since there are updates!! DIANA -- what's going on in M'sia? You have to tell us!!

Just so I don't appear to be a hypocrit, I will be the first to provide an update.

Work: My department just got reorganized, and I now have a new manager. I'm still in the same position, getting ready to launch my products soon (Angeline might have taken a glimpse of some of them while she was in my office ;)). It's pretty unbelievable -- in my 2.5 years in Lexmark, this is my 5th manager. Things have been very hectic at work, and will continue to be so until my products are launched. So if I'm a little quiet while at work, you all know why.

Gym: I'm now really getting to love step classes! It's fun, and I get a good sweat out of it. Pilates and spinning classes are getting a bit old, so I'm changing my routine a bit. So Diana, have you found a great gym yet?

House: The house progress is going great. The frame is already up, and the electrical guys are getting ready to come in this week. It's almost mid-February, and I'll be moving in approx 2.5 months. I'm so excited!!

College basketball: As you all know, UK has been performing pretty awesome lately. Let's hope that winning streak continues (knock on wood). Mike's coworker, JP, gave us tickets to 4 upcoming games, the first of which will be Georgia on Tuesday. That will be a cool game, ESPN's Dick Vitale will be there, and apparently there will be a "Best impersonator of Dick Vitale" competition going on, so that will be pretty fun.