Archived News

2003

December
  • Trying to seize perhaps the last chance to travel without diapers, we headed down to New Orleans for several days. The delicious and cheap oysters there were James' favorite, but overall, we still think New York City food suited us better.


November
  • After kitchen and bathroom, there is now another room to be worked on, the nursery. That is right! We are now parents-to-be. Baby (a.k.a. Sharka until it's born) is expecting to arrive early May, 2004. Since we are first timer on this subject, any tip is welcome.


October
  • After weeks and weeks of messiness and frustrations, our kitchen and bathroom remodeling was finally finished on 10/13/03. We could not be happier when we had our 1st meal at home. It is going to take a while for us to finish unpacking the rest of the boxes, but once we do, please stop by and pay us a visit.
  • Earlier this month, James and Phyllis started the classes at the Tenafly Adult School. James is taking the woodworking class and Phyllis quilt. "Gosh, you guys are becoming very domestic" had been a popular comment received... We figured that it is always fun to learn something new and get to make some new friends in the neighborhood.


September
  • The kitchen and bathroom remodeling continues. Due to mistakes made by our Expo's so-called designer, we had a delay for about 2 weeks. Therefore if you are ever in the Expo of Paramus NJ and got a designer named Donna McGuinness, be scared, very scared...


August
  • In order to know the community better, Phyllis started doing volunteer work with Community Strength Foundation and became the Community Calendar Administrator for Tenafly. The calendar can be viewed at www.07670.com if you want to know what is happening in Tenafly.
  • Kitchen and bathroom remodeling started on 8/20/03. As the result, we will have to live with dusts and clutters for several weeks while having a legitimate reason to eat out EVERYDAY.


July
  • We did it, we did it, and we did it! Yes, we finally moved into the house which we have been telling you about since May. It took the movers 8.5 hours to move everything into the house. Boxes on the floor is a common sight in every room of the house. If any of you feel like practicing some unpacking and cleaning, the positions are still open :)
  • Our dear friends, Nancy Lee and Ed Shin, got married in Livingston, New Jersey. It was a beautiful wedding with lots and lots of food. Since most of the Columbia U. gang were there, the wedding became a memorable reunion as well.


June
  • Work for the house is getting done little by little. So far we have added gas lines, changed some water pipes, replaced furnace, changed some exterior and interior doors, rebuild some walls, destroyed and built closets, painted the whole house on the inside, put on new and sanded old floors, etc. The major kitchen and bathroom remodeling will not start until sometime AFTER we move into the house since it takes forever for the materials to get here. Overall, we are more or less on target with the remodeling schedule.
  • On 6/9/03, our contractors started the work. Hopefully things will go well so we can move into the new ShawLin4 in early July.
  • Yeah!!! We closed on the house in Tenafly on 6/3/03. Now we just have to see when dear Mr. contractor can start doing the work.


May
  • After getting some minor heart attacks during the house hunting in Westchester county in NY, we had decided to expand our search area. And guess what? We found a house in Tenafly, NJ, where Phyllis grew up!!! The current owners, Phyllis and Jay, who moved into the house shortly after their marriage 46 years ago, could not believe they sold the house to a couple named Phyllis and James.


April
  • Shawlin4 at Princeton is sold!!! Now Phyllis & James will just have to figure out where the new location for Shawlin4 is going to be after the closing at end of May.
  • Yes, it's hard to believe, but we did get 6 inches of snows on 4/7/03!!! Winter just did not want to leave this year, huh?


March
  • James and Phyllis both attended an Ikebana (Flower Arrangement) class and loved it. Please stop by to admire our masterpieces. They are perfect from untrained eyes...
  • 3/5/03 marked the last day of James' career with Siemens and he officially started with IBM Research on 3/10/03.
  • Phyllis attended the Rape Aggression Defense System (R.A.D.) classes sponsored by West Windsor Police Department and strongly recommended it to all women out there. There is no harm for a woman to know how to protect herself.


February
  • The biggest snowstorm in 7 years decided to visit us and left with about 30 inches of snow as souvenir for us.
  • Phyllis finished her first series of golf lessons but has not yet been able to swing the club outdoor due to snow.
  • James decided to accept an offer from IBM Research Lab, located at Hawthorne, New York that is 2 hours, without traffic, from ShawLin4. As the result, relocating ShawLin4 will soon be on the agenda.


January
  • Our dear friends, Jennifer Leu and Philip Sheih, got married in Taiwan. We had the pleasure to attend their marriage celebration and traveled as if we were rock stars on a concert tour - we had to be at 4 different cities (Tai Nan, Kao Hsiung, Tai Chung, and Taipei) in 5 days. Lesson learned? This kind of intense traveling is only suitable when you are young, very young...