Happy New Year. I have a big Costco shopping coming up tomorrow after work. I am excited about my first Costco shopping in 2020. Roaring 20s is here. I am more excited about the ’20s compared to Y2K we had 20 years ago. It’s good to be alive and healthy.

I may cancel my executive membership this year. I think I spend less money at Costco now. I am running out of things to buy. Shopping doesn’t excite me as much as it did 10 years ago.

I still feel awkward talking about my improved financial situation. That’s why I didn’t blog about my car shopping trip to San Francisco. It’s awkward to talk about things that used to make me feel jealous in envy (sometimes painful). Anyway… now I have two cars; a Prius for commute, and a convertible for weekend pleasure. Driving my convertible has been indescribably satisfying. I shall continue enjoying weekend driving this year.

For next Christmas (2020), I would like to learn how to play at least one classical Christmas tune with my guitar.

I would like to get a California real estate agent license this year. I don’t plan to work in real estate, but… we’ll see…

I would like to travel some more. I would like to visit different cities and experience normal everyday life. I like American cities, but I have no problem flying anywhere in the world.

I wish to lose 1 inch around my waist and hips. I have about 80 pairs of pants in 30 Inch waist. I would like to fit in them comfortably.

Oh, and I will try not to buy over 3 pairs of Italian shoes this year.

Happy new year. Take care.

I cannot believe what happened to my turkey this year. Maybe Costco God was punishing me for not buying a turkey from Costco.

This year, I bought an 18-pound Butterball Turkey from a local supermarket. I gladly paid $43, instead of $18 I would have paid at Costco. I wanted this turkey to be super fantastic.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving Day. The turkey was in the oven, and everything was going OK. I was watching the temperature going up slowly on my digital thermometer. And then the temperature appeared to be stuck. My turkey was getting darker and darker, but the thermometer still read 153 degrees. So, I took out my backup thermometer and a backup probe. To my shock, I found out that my turkey was over-cooked by 40 degrees. (205 degrees instead of 165).

Turkey was all I was thinking about for the last 2 weeks. I was very disappointed. I wanted to cry. Dinner was still OK, but it was not super fantastic. I kept thinking ‘next year’, but I don’t know if I can wait that long. I may have to bake a turkey for Christmas. I don’t know. I try not to think about it too much, but this bothers me.

I need to troubleshoot my thermometers and probes and make sure this will not happen again. Also, from this point, I will always use 2 thermometers when I cook ANYTHING. And I shall keep a backup thermometer and backup probes. It will be like when I used to be a wedding photographer. I have photographed hundreds of weddings. I carried 2 cameras at all times and had a backup camera in the car. My camera broke down only once during the ceremony. But I had another identical camera already on my body, so everything went smoothly. That’s the mentality I shall adopt when I cook with an oven. I shall prepare and focus.

I hope you had a super-fantastic turkey dinner.

I have a coworker who’s in my age range. I often test him with 80s trivia.

I went to his office a few days ago. This is how the conversation went.

John: Good morning. Hey… do you remember EPMD?
Coworker: Yes.
John: What was that one thing he hated?
Coworker: (looking right at me) Bitin’ MC.
John: Oh yeah~~~. Thank you. Have a nice day.

EPMD, You Gots to Chill – 1988.
Bitin’ MC at 1:50