Dawn of a new day

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.  – Victor Frankl

If the situation doesn’t change, you change the situation

In mid-July, I took the advice of a trusted confidant and decided to chart my own course. I’m glad I did,  because no sooner after I had decided so, the company let my supervisor go a week later. Which ironically, was also two days before the company’s second quarter earnings.

Let me give you some background here… our media relations team consisted of seven people, of which five directly reported to my supervisor. At the end of August, the company conducted another set of RIFs (“Reduction In Force”) and decided to let go three additional people from our team and shift one person to another department. We were basically downsized to two people. I guess if one were an optimist, one could be thankful that upper management thought so highly of the two remaining individuals to keep them.

I can’t say that it is often that I find myself in a situation like this, but there comes a time when there’s a need to be proactive rather than try to weather the unknown storm. I began actively searching for a new position and was very thankful to have supportive friends and family to help me along the way. It wasn’t easy, but I’m thankful that I was afforded the luxury of being able to be selective because I was still employed.

I had great interviews with Celanese (who, although my experience was a fit, decided I didn’t have the number of years to go along with it) and Frito Lay (where I was “a strong contender” but they had decided to put the position on hold until January 2009). There were also great opportunities and requests for interviews that came my way, which after some serious thought, ended up on my list to not consider or decline. Those included Wal-Mart (living in Bentonville, Arkansas, wasn’t exactly attractive to me), Arthur Marshall (working with physicians just didn’t appeal to me either), HCK2 (where I simply wasn’t ready to re-live an agency setting), and NorthPark Management Company (which would have been a superb gig, but wouldn’t have came close to what I’m currently being compensated at).

I also had great interviews with Texas Instruments and Huawei Technologies, where I was near final stages in both. But in the end, I found that the opportunity for professional/personal growth and the ability to utilize my extensive background in media relations would only be most beneficial at Huawei. It also didn’t hurt that I’d be receiving a salary raise and a signing bonus. I accepted their offer last Friday and gave my current employer my letter of resignation yesterday. My last day is Tuesday, September 30, and I begin at Huawei on Monday, October 6.

As soon as everything was finalized, I felt a sigh of relief, sadness and anticipation.

I’m relieved that I will soon be leaving behind all the internal politics and all the crap that my role/responsibilities had evolved into. I was beginning to feel as though I was being taken advantage of by certain departments and a part of me is slightly giddy that I can leave certain people feeling incredibly helpless and realizing (a moment too late) how incredibly valuable my skill set was. (And yes, I know that simple thought is absolutely spiteful and I shouldn’t be so spiteful.) I’m also sad because I’m leaving behind really good friendships…. my co-workers, my friends. There are some really great people in this company – people who are talented, passionate, genuine and incredibly good hearted. I do hope that we’ll be able to keep in touch, should our paths cross again.

But on the other hand, I’m excited to start the next step in my career. As Niccolo Machiavelli once said, “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”

My new toy…

Look at what the hubby got me… my very own golf bag and Cleveland irons. My driver is arriving by the end of the week, so now I’m only missing some shoes, a glove and some badass matching headcovers.

It’s finally legal, after 4 months and 15 minutes

After four pain-staking months, I spent a whopping 15 minutes in a court room for a judge to sign my “Order to change the name of an adult” and let me go about my business. I can’t believe that – 15 minutes – but you know what, I’m excited because my first name has finally been legally changed!

I’ve been talking about this moment FOREVER now. Unfortunately, I went about it kind of backwards. I didn’t know that you had to have a court order to get your first name changed…. and I didn’t know that until the morning I was sitting at a window at the Social Security Office to get my last name changed on my Social Security card.

It was a painful process figuring out how to get a legal name change because they certainly don’t make it easy. For those of you who are wanting to get it done in Dallas County also, let me dumb it down for you real quick… maybe my experience will help you in your journey to get this done too.

1. Go to your District County Clerk’s office to get two forms: an Original Petition for Change of Name of an Adult and an Order Granting Change of Name of an Adult.
2. In the comfort of your home (or wherever), fill out both the forms, except for the parts asking for a signature. Once your done completing the forms, take just the Petition to a Notary Public and sign the Petition in front of the Notary Public. If you take the Petition to the place where you bank at, they normally don’t charge you for notarizing it.
3. Before you can file your paperwork, you need to get your fingerprints taken. To do so, go to a local branch of the DPS department and ask for two fingerprint cards. Take your fingerprint cards to a local police department and ask them to take your fingerprints. I recommend calling the police department to ensure that they can take fingerprints (for example, the Irving Police Department only takes fingerprints for Irving residents). Some local police departments do so for a small monetary charge.
4. After you’ve gotten your fingerprints taken, you’ll need to mail one copy of your fingerprints to the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Records Service Access & Dissemination Bureau. Make sure you completed all of the information on the fingerprint card. You’ll send the fingerprint card to the following address: Texas Department of Public Safety, Attn: Central Cash Receiving, P.O. Box 15999, Austin, TX 78761. You’ll also need to send them a check for $39.00 so that they can process your fingerprint cards. If I were you, I’d call them to see if the fee is still the same amount.
5. File your Petition and Order with the District County Clerk’s Office in the county were you live. The clerk will give your file a case number. You’ll want to bring multiple copies of each, just so you can keep a copy for yourself. Pay the filing fee (approx. $200) and have the clerk file-stamp your copy of the Petition (because you end up giving them your original Petition) so that you can save it with your original Order.
6. When you’ve done all of this, it’s basically a waiting game for the DPS to process your fingerprint cards and send them back to your county courthouse. This part of the process took the longest, and essentially look them a month or two to process mine.
7. The county courthouse won’t notify you when they receive them, so you may want to follow-up with the county courthouse’s clerk every once and while to see if they’ve received them.
8. Once they’ve received them, you can go to court. This is the fun part! Bring all of your paperwork and head to the county courthouse that you’ve been assigned to. Check in with the bailiff when you arrive and wait for your case number to be called.
9. When your case number is called, you may need to provide the judge with a testimony – this is mainly to ensure the judge that you’re not changing your name to avoid creditors or debtors, and avoid criminal prosecution or criminal felonies. After you provide your testimony, the judge with either sign or not sign the Order.
10. If your Order is signed, take your case file back to the clerk’s office and ask for a Change of Name Certificate. A certified copy of the court order also serves as proof of the name change.
11. Your name has now been changed!

So, like I said earlier, after four pain-staking months to get all the paperwork done… it only took the judge 15 minutes to sign my Order. Then I was on my way again.

Since I had time this morning, I decided to stop by the Social Security Office afterwards and get my Social Security card updated also. It didn’t take long, maybe 30 minutes. And because I had more time than I initially thought, I also stopped off at the DPS to get my driver’s license updated too. It was a good morning because it only took me three hours to stop at the courthouse, go to the Social Security Office and also stop at the DPS! Good luck if you’re getting your name legally changed also!

Jannie says that she’s tired of reading blogs about us that she wrote….hehe.

I know, I know, Binh don’t blog about s#!t!!!  To be honest, I think I don’t blog just because I know it drives Jannie nuts when I don’t blog on OUR web page.  So what have we been up to since the last time I blogged….., Oh!!!  I got Jannie back from the punching and backhanding when we are sleeping!!!  So this is supposedly how it went, (well…., I was asleep when it happened, but Jannie wasn’t!!!) I sleep on the left side of the bed and Jannie sleeps on my right.  I was sleeping with my right arm under my head, so my elbow was pointing in Jannie’s direction (insert evil laugh).  At the time, Jannie was facing the other direction.  So Jannie decides to turn towards me and my elbow.  But her head was a little lower than were my elbow was, so she slid under where my elbow was.  Well, I guess I was dreaming the I was a professional wrestler from the WWE and decided to drop my elbow down.  The only thing was that Jannie’s forehead was in the way of where my elbow was traveling and Jannie got a big helping of “The People’s Elbow”(click on the link).  Let’s just say….., nowadays, Jannie checks before she turns over to face me.  She doesn’t know that I know this but I’ve caught her move my arm down before she completely turns to my side of the bed, either that or her body is so intuitive that she does it in her sleep!!!  But then again, that’s what she gets for invading my side of the bed, hahaha!!!!  That’ll teach the Chinese to not to try to take over Vietnam!!!!

But enough of me beating my wife, before I get reported for spousal abuse.  A lot has happened since getting the crap beaten out of me in my sleep.  I really don’t know where to start.  The parties are still happening here at our apartment.  We had the 4 day July 4th celebration.  You read that correctly, 4 days of celebrating our nation’s independence from the Brits!!!!  It was Kaboomtown on the 3rd, Babe’s Chicken and Karaoke on the 4th, Grilling, Volleyball, and more Karaoke on the 5th, and finally Brunch on the 6th.  A couple of months later, Jannie, Star, and I did the Tour de Goatneck.  There were 2 amusing events that happened on this ride.  The first thing that happened was that we missed the turn to go on the 32 mile route and ended up on the 50 mile route, Jannie was not happy about this.  So this made the rest of the ride absolutely miserable for Jannie.  The second thing that happened, (read this and try to picture this in your mind, you will laugh your butt off, cause I did later when I was describing it to Star) was around mile 27 there was this really big hill that we had to go up on.  Well, as we go up the hill, I pass Jannie and I hear her say, “I’m walking my bike up this hill.”  Well I went up it a little more and I thought, “I should get off and walk it with Jannie.”  Little did I know that my legs were worn out and I was just blocking out the pain.  The second that I straighten out my right leg, it locks up completely from the cramping.  So I try to balance it out by bringing over my left leg and as I try to balance myself, my left leg locks up too and I fall right on my back.  But that’s not the end of it!!! So when I fall on my back, I landed next to the ditch that had a pretty decent drop off.  So I fall into the ditch and begin to slide down the ditch on my back!!!  Afterwards, I thought to myself if I was at the bottom of that hill and saw that, I would laugh my a$$ off.  So I’m pretty sure Jannie got a good laugh at that!!!

Well, the 2008 Olympics happened in China.  How many times do you they have show the scorpions on a stick and the market place where they have all of the unique foods??  Nothing was more interesting than the restaurant that served 8 kinds of penis!!!!  Yep, we watched that one!!!  I’m not gonna lie, it hurt watching them eat it.  Yeah, I think we all watched Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin.  But did any see the Swede that ate hard on the 100m hurdles??  Or the lady from Poland who landed on her head while trying to clear the hurdle on the steeplechase?? She was so disoriented that she tried to get up and finish the race but instead ran into the barrier.  Missed that didn’t you.  Kinda don’t know how I feel about it the Olympics in Beijing since there seemed to be one kind of controversy or another, like in the opening ceremonies where they replaced the girl that sang one of the opening songs with another girl because she had a better smile, but still used the first girls voice and the replacement lip synced!!!!  Oh well, at least there is no age requirement like there is in gymnastics!!!

Ok, I think that’s enough for now.  Tune in next time where I’ll talk about St. Thomas, St. John, and my new Job!!!

Honeymoon in St. Thomas, USVI

Binh and I spent a few days, short of a week, on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands for our honeymoon. After a hideously early morning and an early flight on Saturday, Aug. 30, we finally arrived on St. Thomas late that evening.

We stayed at the Frenchman’s Reef Marriott Beach Resort, which was listed as one of the best resorts on the island. The neat thing was that this resort was linked to its even better sibling next door, Marriott Morning Star Beach Resort, to make up one mega resort. When we checked in, we got upgraded to an ocean view room and here was the view from our balcony:

SUNDAY

Since we slept in on Sunday, we decided to hang at the private beach all afternoon. I had some yummy mango pina coladas and read my girly-girl book, Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger. If you’re a chick-book fanatic like I am, you will definitely find it horribly tough to put it down.

We capped off the night by having dinner at Fungi’s at Point Pleasant Resort on the east side of the island. Since conch fritters was listed as a local staple in the Frommer’s guide we bought, we decided to order some and try them. The spicy conch and batter morsels are deep fried, crunchy on the outside and creamy in the inside. Every cook prepares them differently (which we experienced), but these particular ones reminded me of hush puppies.

MONDAY

On Monday, we took a taxi from our resort to Red Hook in order to jump on a ferry boat to get over to St. John. This was an opportunity to visit my cousin Ray and to visit the popular Trunk Bay. The ferry ride was a short 15-20 minute journey with gorgeous scenery in the background.

The busy ferry port at Cruz Bay is what becomes most visitor’s first impression of the town and the island. Cruz Bay also serves as the heart of island life for St. John residents.

Once we got to St. John, we took a taxi to Trunk Bay. On the way to Trunk Bay, the driver stopped at a lookout point and I took this breathtaking picture of Trunk Bay from the mountain top. I won’t get into how this crazy couple from – ironically enough – Cedar Hill got on the same taxi as us and how the woman had serious diarhhea of the mouth. Let me just say that we’d had enough when she asked Binh if he was Chinese, lol.

From what we read, hordes and hordes of cruise ship passengers and day-trippers vie for a spot on this long, white sand beach. Luckily, there weren’t hordes and hordes of cruise shippers or day-trippers on the day we arrived! Trunk Bay has an underwater snorkel trail that provides an easy introduction to snorkeling, and both Binh and I did some snorkeling (those water camera pix are still undeveloped).  The great thing about this beach is that two lifeguards are on duty to ensure safety, and the beach also has cool showers, flush toilets, covered pavilions, a snack bar, and snorkel rentals.

Later that afternoon (after we packed up at Trunk Bay), we spent the rest of our day at Mongoose Junction, which is a quaint shopping center with an eclectic set of shops and restaurants. We had lunch and did some browsing through their nifty shops.

After an exhausting day, we caught the ferry back to St. Thomas and had dinner at CoCo Joe’s on the Beach. We tried the island’s second local staple, the Caribbean lobster. Caribbean lobsters supposedly lack the claws of their northern cousins, but they’re still sweet and succulent. We were told the simplest lobster dish – seen here – just drizzled with melted butter and served in the shell, was the best.

TUESDAY

On Tuesday, we hopped on a shopping ferry and went into “town” (what the islanders call Charlotte Amalie). St. Thomas may just be the cruise ship capital of the Caribbean. On busy winter days, as many as eight or occasionally more cruise ships visit Charlotte Amalie. Most go to Havensight dock, while a few tie up at Crown Bay. Thousands of passengers go shopping, take tours and just about stretch the island’s tourism infrastructure to the limit. Here was one of the cruise ships in town that day:

When we arrived to Charlotte Amalie, the first thing we did was grab some lunch. In talking with other couples, we’d been told that a local restaurant called Cuzzin’s was the most authentic local food a tourist could get. We ordered quite a variety of food, which was all great. Of all the places we had lunch and dinner at, we’d have to place Cuzzin’s at the top of the list for greatest service.

After we had an indulgent lunch, we did a walking tour through Charlotte Amalie using the Frommer’s guide. Our first stop was Emancipation Park where a proclamation freeing African slaves and indentured European servants was read on July 3, 1848. The park is now mostly a picnic area for local workers and visitors.

Our second stop was Fort Christian, which dates back to 1672 and was named after the Danish king Christian V. Back in the 1600s, this structure was a governor’s residence, police station, court, and jail until it became a national historic landmark in 1977. Unfortunately, the fort was closed for renovation and the picture below doesn’t do it justice.

Our next stop was Frederik Lutheran Church, built between 1780 and 1793. The original Georgian-style building, financed by a free black parishioner, was reconstructed in 1825 and again in 1870, after it was damaged in a hurricane.

As we kept walking, we finally got to the Government House. The Government House is the administrative headquarters for the U.S. Virgin Islands, and it’s been the center of political life in the islands since it was built around the time of the American Civil War.

The next stop on our walking tour was the famous 99 Steps.These steps (actually 103 in total) were erected in the early 1700s, and take you to the summit of Government Hill.

Although we were already halfway through the tour, we decided to call it quits at the Central Post Office. We were tired and had to catch the last shopping ferry back to the hotel, lol.

That night, we ate at the resort restaurant.

WEDNESDAY

This day was all about going back to Charlotte Amalie and going shopping (for ourselves, our families and friends). We started the afternoon with lunch at Jen’s Island Cafe & Deli (below) and then roamed the streets in order to find all the best deals. Because all things are duty free down there, Binh bought a nice watch and I ended up picked out five bottles of liquor to take home (which only cost us $40!).

THURSDAY

Thursday was our last day on the island. Because we had an early flight, we got up pretty early to make sure we wouldn’t miss our flight. When we arrived at the airport, our suitcase was a little too heavy, so we had to unload some unwanted necessities (i.e. hair gel).

After we checked in, we had to go through Customs… which we got a little held up in. We ended up getting detained because Binh didn’t have his passport with him. To be fair, all of the travel guides we had read said that we didn’t need to bring our passports (I just happened to have brought mine just in case). Ironically enough, Binh’s full name showed up on the Customs Most Wanted list….. yes, you read that right! Luckily, Binh had an old passport with a picture in their system (which they were able to pull up) and they were able to release us in time to catch our flight. We left St. Thomas and flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico.

What was supposed to be a two-hour layover in San Juan turned into a four-hour layover because of some sort of maintenance issue. We ended up getting back into Dallas much later than we an originally anticipated, but happy to be home nonetheless. Here’s a picture of downtown Dallas from the plane:

All in all, we had an amazing time visiting the islands, enjoying all of the local foods and visiting with other couples there the same time we were. With all trips, there are definitely pros and cons. The cons, which included the massive amount of bugs (even those all over the room and linens) and the biggest con of all, we can’t wait to see how much damage we did while we were there, especially since we can’t say that things were exactly cheap down there!