Google just released their very own messenger called Gtalk, and it does what most messengers do - ability to chat with your buddies, check your email (gmail) account, and talk to your buddies like a phone. They need to work on their interface though, its too plain. For Mac people, like me, you can connect to gtalk using iChat and other chat clients.

Find out more at http://talk.google.com.

My GT2 Irons set finally arrived today, bought from Amazon. Wooopeeee! I’m going to the driving range tonight to try them out. Can’t wait.

I’m starting a sub blog called “Golf” to talk about the happenings in the golf world, more specficially women golf. My first post is about the Solheim Cup, 2005, which is ” .. named in honor of the company’s founder, Karsten Solheim, and his family. The Solheim Cup is the most prestigious team event in women’s professional golf. It is a biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition featuring the best U.S.-born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the best European-born players from the Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour (LET).” This event is sponsored by PING.

The 3 day event starts from September 9 to 11, played on US soil at the Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, and will be telecast on the Golf Channel.

Here is the list of players in the USA and Europe Team:

Official Solheim Cup Website
Official Solheim Cup Merchandise

Doug has taken an interest in golf, and in the past two weeks we’ve been trying to get a set of clubs. We like Callaway, and he got a great set of Big Bertha Irons. I ordered an Adams Golf GT2 iron set for women, and am now looking for a putter and a 3 wood. Still too early for me to commit on a high-end set, so I’m thinking of getting good in the game before getting a Callaway set.

Last weekend we played 9 holes at the Pruneridge Golf Course in Saratoga, and yesterday we praticed our shots at the Santa Clara G&T driving range. I like golf, at least now we got some sport we can do together. I’ve been trying to get Doug to get interested in sports cars, but he’s just not very interested in cars in general.

The weekend before last we were at the Mazda Zoom Zoom Live event at Alameda, and I got to drive the Mazda MX-5. I loved it, even though it was only a 35 second drive round the course. It felt so light and powerful. Wish I could have one, but it isn’t too practical at this point in time. Plus I already have a 93 Miata Anyway, you can see pictures of our adventure here.

So we went for my 20-week checkup this afternoon and saw little baby chew swimming … when she first showed up on the ultrasound monitor, I couldn’t make out exactly what I was seeing - she looked like a little alien, but slowly, as the doctor explained the various body parts that I got the picture. We couldn’t really see her face, or skin, just the skull and bones, so it was kind of eerie. But she was kicking like a baby, we could see her legs just constantly moving, kicking on my bladder (which explains why I need to go to the bathroom so often!) and her mouth looked as if she was blowing invisible bubbles. So cute! Too bad we couldn’t see her eyes, or we could see her expression and know if she was enjoying herself in there. She seemed to be having lots of fun though, twisting and turning. The doctor said at this point I could only feel a fraction of the baby’s movement. Oh I can’t wait to hold her in my arms …

Singapore celebrates 40 years of independence today. Happy National Day to all Singaporeans all over the world!

I discovered Apple introduced a brand new mouse called “mighty mouse” last week, and I caved and ordered one today.

On Saturday we had lunch at a Mexican place on Main St, and it was pretty good. After that we drove up to Sacramento to visit Doug’s friend, whose Dad owns a restaurant. We had spare ribs and kabobs there. Man I was so full after that I couldn’t even walk right! Not to mention the scorching heat in Sacramento - 104 degrees. It’s temperatures like these that make me appreciate the South Bay even more.

Sunday was pretty much laze around day. In the morning we went to the Farmer’s Market and got about 3 pounds of Okra (yes I do love okra!), some string beans, and eggs. I had initially wanted to wash my cars, but got lazy. Charlotte & Cayenne each had a bath though.

I just bought a couple of pregnant clothes, and am wearing the jeans today. It’s so loose I had to pull it up every few minutes, but I guess that means there’s more room to accomodate my tummy once it gets bigger. I felt weird shopping for pregnant clothing, but its a mental hurdle I need to cross.

Oh I forgot to mention that Cayenne is getting on my last nerve on her potty training. She’s 6 months now, and there’s no excuse for her not to be fully potty trained, but unfortunately, she still doesn’t know the appropriate place to do her business. So yesterday we went to PetsMART to get a gate/barrier to place on the landing between the first and second flight of stairs. Apparently Cayenne loves to go potty on our berber carpet. It drives me crazy. I’m thinking of re-carpeting our place, but first I have to make sure the barrier is 100% foolproof so they won’t have a chance to have accidents on the new carpet. Plus, now that Cayenne is older hopefully she will be able to hold her pee and poop longer, though I’m crossing my fingers on that. However, she has found a way to crawl UNDER the gate to get through, so as of today I’m still thinking of a way to block off that little gap. I’m thinking of bricks, but Doug says its ridiculous, so I’m open to suggestions.

So much for a weekend summary. Have a great week guys.

I was down with a friggin’ cold yesterday and had to call in sick. Spent the whole day lying on the couch, watching TV. The ratties did manage to find a way to entertain themselves though. I kept the backyard door open all day, so they pretty much spent their play time outside, munching on twigs, dried bark, digging, and sunning themselves. When they got tired they would come back in and sleep on the sofa with me. Such sweeties.

I’m feeling much better now - rested.

It was quite a fun weekend we had. On Saturday we went to a friend’s house to play Bohnanza, a game of beans. Good thing we took the ratties with us, coz we played from 6pm to about 12 midnight. The ratties spent most of the time chasing Coco around and ganging up to harass her, poor Coco! When we went home that night, they slept like logs throughout the night, right up till 8am the next morning. I guess they REALLY were pooped out!

On Sunday Doug and I went to the 2005 Grand Prix in Downtown San Jose. And guess what, I got to sit in a VTA train for the FIRST TIME! I’ve been in the Silicon Valley for more than 3 years now, and yesterday was my first public transport experience, and I’d say its a good one. Good thing we didn’t drive coz parking would have been crazy, not to mention trying to maneuover around the detours. The VTA stopped right in front of the main entrance! Man what a turnout! Everyone on the train was going to the event, it was crazy. After waiting in line for the tickets, we rushed in to catch the last few minutes of the drifting event. Being a shortie, I couldn’t see anything! Doug used our camera to take a short video of the cars as they were doing circles in threes. It was awesome, hearing the engine sounds, and smelling the burnt rubber as the air got filled with thick white smoke.

I had the chance to take pictures with two of my favorite drift drivers - Ken Gushi & Daijiro Yoshihara, and take a look at their cars close up. They had an indoor car fashion show, plus a few cars up for sale in a live auction. Doug got to take pictures with a beer model, and got a poster signed by a car model. The engine sounds were really loud as the champ cars race started, and these cars were going at like 180mph, everytime they go over the VTA rails, it sounded like something exploded.

I bought the Ferrari cap that I’ve always wanted to get, so I’m happy. We debated on whether to get any of the merchandise, but decided not to, coz they were really expensive, for example, T-shirts were selling for $30 each, and caps were $20.

We spent a total of about 2 hours there, and had a snack at a nearby Johnny Rockett’s. After that we bought our groceries and headed home. Click here for pics.