Secret weapon

I'm a little bit embarrassing to say this, but I gained about 5 lb during last three weeks. Not until three weeks ago had I gained weight since I moved here. It was not muscle that I put on my body but fat. Therefore, I apparently looked more tubby than before. The reason was obvious, my sedentary lifestyle including the lack of exercises and no opportunity to be under the gun, i.e. no pressure at all.
However, I successfully lost 2 lb already with the exercise using a machine.
Three days ago, I had a chance to talk to my next-door neighbor, and she accidentally presented me this machine. She first bought two of them, one for herself and one for her daughter. However, her daughter returned it to her without using. Giving up exercising with it herself, she put them in her garage.
Don't imagine my working-out with it and laugh at me. It's just worked out for me anyway. I thank her from the bottom of my heart now.

You will be able to see how this machine works in here.

Obesity - essay from the esl class

There are several factors which increase overweight people in number all over the world. What is most likely to be assumed is the affluence of the high-calorie food and the wisely created advertisements. Compared to the situation of decades ago, we are being surrounded by high-fat low-nutrition food which can be conveniently obtained anytime anywhere, even in developing countries.
The world have been aware the fact that the obesity problem is tremendously grave to us. Still, their captivating advertisements and the relatively cheap price overcome the seriousness of obesity and people don’t stop overeating.
A few years ago, a daring movie director, Mogan Spurlock, created a document movie titled “Super Size Me”. He cast himself in a subject of experiment, in which he tried to eat only Mc Donald’s products, especially the biggest super-sized burgers and cokes for a month. He presumably aimed to indicate how the world had been infected by the fast food industry and how serious the high rate of obesity was in the U.S. However, it looked too reckless to convey his message to the world. It seemed to have had the contrary effect. People who watched it must have felt how healthy their diet was compared themselves to his attempt, even if they eat Mc Donald’s everyday.
Under the circumstances, I still believe there are measures that can be taken quickly to help to decrease obesity in the world. First off, the moral of the fast food industry should be ameliorated. Even though it’s been their effort to expand their business, what the fast food industry has done to the world is huge. They should consider what the good nutrition for human being is and should generate their profit in consideration for our bright future.
To conclude, it is not only an issue of individuals but the society, even government should be included to find the solution.

Burgers

Here in San Diego, we have a plentiful choice of ethnic restaurants thanks to the variety of races, but when it comes to the American food restaurant, what I hit on is only hamburger shops. People might say a steak house should come first, but the American-sized steak hampers me from being a repeater of any steak restaurants. The hamburger, on the other hand, is somehow digestible for me and only imaging burgers instigates my voracious appetite.

The burger shops could be split up into 3 categories. The first one is so-called a "fast food restaurant" represented by Mac Donald, Jack In The Box and Burger King. The second is a bit upgraded "fast operated restaurant". The Fuddrucker would be put in here. The last one is an "ordinary restaurant" where hamburger is to be served with wide variety of side dishes. Islands should be categorized here.
Here is my favorite from each category.

1. In-N-Out
Very cheap but the taste is not bad compared to others.
There are several secret menu. Here is the detail.

2. Fuddruckers
French Fries are yummy & crispy.
We order how the meat should be done, and the vegetable and the sauce are self-services.

3. Hamburger Factory Old Poway Park
The ambience develops an illusion as if we were in an old American days.
Located in the park and so family-oriented restaurant.

Fishing #2

Fishing seems to be an addictive sport that easily make us return to the ocean.
Last Sunday, we headed for another fishing with my partner, some of my friends and their husbands. This time, more than 40 anglers were on board attended by 4 clues.

Though the reason was unknown, the clues ran into difficulty in discovering the school of fish with their detector and we were forced to move the spot several times. It caused us, particularly me, terrible sea sick and I threw up on the way and way back :(

Fortunately, my partner caught a fairy big rock cod (left) at the very first stage and it made me feel relieved since I didn't want him to loathe fishing just because of no fish.
After about one hour went by, we encountered a large number of giant squid and I was one of the lucky persons who got a huge squid. When I first felt the gravity at the edge of my tackle, I supposed it was a big fish. Having entered myself for the jack pot, a big expectation crossed my mind. Too bad, the squid could not be counted for the jack pot.
Moreover, I totally forgot to take a picture of that giant squid before cutting it. Its height was almost 1 meter and eye ball looked grotesque with the size of my fist. I should have kept it in the picture.
Any way, it should be yummy if I cook up calamari fries with it. I'm sure it's impracticable to make calamari rings from this size of squid :)

After the fishing, we all got together for dinner at one of my friend's house and ate today's fish as sashimi (excluding squid). The taste was beyond words♪

The catch was a bit low and the weather was not ideal, yet it incited us to the next fishing.

Beyond belief

This notice was posted up on the wall in a rest room at a college.
Who on earth is putting their feet on the toilet seat???
Culture gap or what?

Spring Forward Fall Back

The new daylight saving time was put into effect on March 11. Starting this year, it begins on the second Sunday in March which is 3 weeks earlier than previous, and ends on the first Sunday in November, one week later than previous. Thus, we can enjoy it one month longer than last year.

The principal reason for the daylight saving time is to save energy, and also we will have plenty of free time after work. These are unassailable benefits.

On the other hand, I see more disadvantages of that. The later the sunset is, the more we spend time outside, and since the working time is same all year around, we have to go to bed and wake up as usual. It causes lack of family time after dinner.

Furthermore, each country or even each state has its own policy, but in the border city like San Diego, where the people across the border to work everyday, the daily one-hour-time-difference is harsh.
For instance, a mother, who drops her children at a preschool in Mexico, and across the border to work in the US, then go back to Mexico to pick her children up, needs to adjust one hour earlier US time but also parallel their children's time for three weeks. Vice versa (for the US residents who work in Mexico).

Last, changing all the clocks irks us :(

By the way, I was wondering how people adjust to this one hour difference on the first day. Do they think one-hour sleeping time disappear and feel sleepy in the next morning, or do they consider the day time of the following day is one hour shorter than usual?

As for me, it was my first experience to stay over the night, but I totally forgot it starting on Sunday, and woke up at 7am as usual. I didn't even notice it's already one hour forward until I saw the time on my cellphone whose display had been automatically changed. Luckily, I did not have any appointments today and did not miss anything.

My travel history ♪

Below is the countries I visited so far. This map incites me to make a next plan :)
Singapore, New zealand, Canada, Thailand, Nepal, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Spain, the U.S., Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Vietnam
I believe my friends want to try this one too! create your own visited countries map

Girl's Festival * Hina-Matsuri

It's been a while since I last came here(my own blog though)...
I'm becoming more and more a procrastinator lately with an excuse for being busy :(
There was a flood of events these days, or more specifically, a birthday lunch, a farewell party, a girl's festival (Hina-Matsuri), doctor & dental appointments etc etc. in addition to the daily ESL class.

Okay, I will mention only the girl's festival (Hina-Matsuri) here.
Last Saturday, my partner and I were invited for a Hina-Matsuri lunch party at my friend's house.
For those who haven't heard of Hina-Matsuri...we Japanese celebrate girls on March 3rd hoping their growth and decorating a set of dolls representing Emperor, Empress and their many attendants. This is not a national holiday, and so the celebration is usually held only at their own family.

This time, my friend who has a 6-year-old girl invited two families including us to celebrate the girl. They prepared Temaki-Zushi (roll-your-own Sushi) and many more dishes. Despite the occasion was girl's festival, children went upstairs as soon as they ate up and romped around by themselves indefatigably without disturbing us, which made us enjoy our adults time with bottles of champagne and wine. It was a blast :)