Wow, we got the final figure for our closing costs. Whew! Good-bye savings!

We also renewed our Costco membership today. A slick salesman had convinced us to upgrade to the Executive membership a few months ago, so we thought we'd give it a go. Turns out, even though Costco is the Asian mecca, even I don't spend enough to justify the extra $50 per year. But then we realized that we were going to be making some large purchases this year (such as appliances and other home stuff) so we decided to continue it for one more year. That and we got two extra months free cuz we renewed through our work. Hey, whatever I can do for free stuff.

Speaking of Costco as the Asian mecca, as Whateley and Xeowolf (a co-worker and friend) were talking about Costco, another co-worker on our team, who is the only other Asian member of our team, was asking about the stuff they sold there. Well, I jokingly asked how he could not know about Costco since it's the Asian mecca. Whateley shushed me on that because apparently I have problems knowing what is appropriate or not to say in the workplace. And whereas I have always followed the I-am-Asian-therefore-I-can-make-fun-of-Asians rule, in a workplace of mostly white people, I should watch my mouth lest they determine it's an "HR issue."

Funny enough, when Whateley and I first got to Austin, I was worried that there wouldn't be a lot of Asians here. We read the statistic as anywhere from 3 to 5% of the population. Considering that I was more used to 10 to 15% (and waaaay more in school), I thought it would suck. And during the first few days, it felt that way as Whateley played the game of "Spot the Sole Asian" in the crowds. Well, as soon as we stepped into Costco, the Asian population just boomed. It's not as much as SoCal, but it's kinda comforting to see Korean being spoken as a middle-aged couple paw through the merchandise. And seeing Asian children run around and then get chided by their parents for being too loud.

We haven't been to the Korean market in awhile though. Mostly cuz we bought a large box of the brown-rice-green-tea instead of the smaller one. That and Whateley's developing high blood pressure (Damn genetics! The males in his line have been cursed for generations. In fact, by the time his grandfather reached Whateley's dad's current age, he had already had two strokes. I believe Whateley Sr. has actually outlived his previous generations' life spans.) so we're trying to not have ramen. And I know it's not that good for you all-around. But they're so convenient when you're trying to make a quick dinner!

Later dudes!