Patrick's Diary - 8/30/2015

Southhampton won big over Norwich, but I didn't watch most of the match. I was very sleepy. Manchester United lost to Swansea away from home. It's a tough loss for the former but a cheerful win for the latter. 

As planned, I put my soccer shoes on and went to the field to practice at Lynnwood High School. I hadn't touched the soccer ball for at least a year. First, I practiced free kick, which used to be my weapon to score when I was at college. I remembered that in a tournament in 1984, I scored 4 goals, all of them were from direct free kicks. Today, I tried right and left foot both. 

After running through the entire field back and forth to make shots at both goal posts with both feet, I was ready to go home to have lunch. 

While waiting for lunch, I caught Mariners visiting White Sox at US Cellular Field in Chicago. I lived in Chicago for almost two years, and my apartment was very close to that Field then. So fans from our neighborhood were not Cubs' fans. Earlier when I practiced soccer, a senior gentleman taking two very little kids came into the field to play baseball, they seemed reminding me baseball is still being loved in this area. I went to Mariners' games a couple of times a year until 5 or 6 years ago. They have been performing poorly for more than a decade, so I lose my interest and confidence on them. Frankly speaking, I am less interested in baseball because it is a bit slow. I do love the soccer the most not only because I played it so much when I was a kid but it is fast and continuous as well. 

Sounders hosting Timbers drew 64,000 fans into Centurylink Field today. Martins scored a very quick goal after Valdez pressured Timbers' defender to lose the ball inside the big box. Sounders got a PK later and Evans scored the 2nd goal. Sounders didn't disappoint the crowds, fans were so enthusiastic. However, Timbers made more scoring opportunities in this match. Sounders have a long way to go. The new signings also need time to be integrated into the formation better. I was glad to see Pappa to rejoin the team but he didn't get back to his peak performances he made a couple of weeks ago. 

My son had asked me several times to go watching Man from U.N.C.L.E., so we went to AMC to catch the show at 7:40pm. It's made like a James Bond's movie back in Sean Connery's era. I can see the sequels coming. 

Ok, I plan to go to work early tomorrow and I am almost not able to open my eyes now...

Patrick's Diary - 8/29/2015

I watched too many matches plus Seahawks preseason game yesterday, so I was too tired to write my diary last night. Another factor might be the storm blanketing Seattle yesterday afternoon, which caused a lot of exhaustions in this area. 

I slept on the couch in the living room and woke up at 4:00am to turn TV onto NBCSN to watch BPL match, however, I was sleepy, so even had forgotten which teams were in the play. After the match, highlights were played, so I just realized it was Arsenal playing Newcastle. 

However, I did watch the entire following match Watford hosting Manchester City while Chelsea was playing Crystal Palace being televised on USA channel, so I wasn't able to watch both simultaneously. It's not fun for Watford to lose the match at home but City maintains perfect records since season starts. 

After this match had ended, Crystal Palace was still playing Chelsea into the 5 minutes injury time. Though Chelsea tried very hard, they lost the match. It's not a fun season start for Chelsea either.

The last televised BPL match on Saturday was on NBC, Everton was scoreless with Tottenham, so I didn't film anything. After the match, 2015 Beijing Track & Field World Championships was present, so I watched for quite a while. Chinese actually have traditions loving sports, I believe every big sports event can be a big success in China. Chinese competitiveness in track & field still needs to improve. It's a surprise they won the silver medals in 4x100 men's relay. 

Coming back to my bedroom, I started feeling the big wind out of the window. The sounds became louder and louder as well as even pretty scary. The clouds were broken away by the winds, so the sky became a bit brighter.

While I was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom, falling branches from the tall pine trees in our neighbor's yard on next street hit the roof, the entire house was shaking as if an earthquake had just incurred for two seconds. When I backed up my van on driveway, I saw two huge branches lying on the grass in our front yard, those must be the ones hitting our roof earlier and bounced down to the ground. 

Driving through the Filbert Road and Bothell-Everett Highway, I encountered very congested traffic due to dysfunctional traffic lights caused by power outages, which turned several intersections into 4-way Stop ones. I took another alternative route by turning left into Canyon Park Business Park to arrive at gym. It made sense that it was closed due to power outage as well. I didn't want to go back to Bothell-Everett Highway to be stuck in the vehicle flows, so decided to go through North Park Business Park to get onto I-405 then drove to further north to get back home from 164th street, it seemed power wasn't lost at that side, so traffic might be fine. However, a bunch of trees were knocked down by the big storm earlier, the main road connected to I-405 through that business park was blocked from section to section. 

Eventually, I drove further East to get onto 522, then got onto I-405 North, switched to I-5 North, took Exit 183 to 164th Street, finally arrived at Lynnwood High School because I planned to work out on its track before going home. There was a dad coaching his three little kids in the field, and I just walked and jogged around the circle. The initial plan was 10 laps and I ended up only finishing 6. 

Getting back home, I just realized that Seahawks game was on Saturday instead of Sunday. Turning onto Fox, I watched almost the entire game. Lockett made an almost 70 yards punt return TD through a very smart route dodging all defenders' tackles. 

Hauschka had tried a 58 yarders but barely missed it. At the end of the game, he got another opportunity to show his power of leg and foot. This time was a 60 yarder. He made it by an inch. For such a long field goal, I could sense he was trying to chip the ball with very explosive power released from his right foot. 

Fox didn't arrange any televised matches of Bundesliga on FSN1 this weekend, so I wasn't able to watch any live match. After watching Seahawks' game, I searched TV guides through different channels and noticed Stuttgart hosting Frankfurt to be replayed on Root Sports from 11pm to 1am. I decided to watch it, so watched "Guardian of the Galaxy" for a while, then turned it off. Shooting for taking an hour nap, I planned to watch that match at 11:00pm. Unfortunately, I didn't wake up until 3 o'clock in the morning on Sunday...

Patrick's Diary - 8/28/2015

It's only two hours left before my weekend soccer festival kicks off, the first one will be Newcastle taking Arsenal at 4:45am. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch any match of Bundesliga this weekend because none of them will be televised on FSN1. Sunday afternoon, Sounders will host Cascade rivalry Portland Timbers, which will be a big event for Sounders' fans. After watching that match, I will switch to American Football, Seahawks will challenge Chargers in San Diego, though it is just a preseason game. 

Before leaving home, I watched CNBC for a minute. Markets were adjusted a bit, though Facebook's price still bumped up. At the end of day, NASDAQ and S&P all closed green. Dow was just down 11 points. The Markets closed the week calmly. 

My working location was changed to further south in Renton since 3 weeks ago, so I started taking the next exit to the one I used to take on I-405 South. I was supposed to turn right to arrive at the office campus but had been turning left onto I-167, then take the next exit to turn back. It seemed stupid since it is a much longer route, but the road is quiet and traffic is very light. I am not sure if taking this route saves time but definitely is less stressful. 

It's vacation time for a lot of people, some come back and others leave. However, to me, I have gone back to reality until at least 10 months later. 

Though, I checked on UW's website earlier to look at Huskies' schedule, I hadn't realized their soccer season to kick off tonight until I turned onto PAC-12 channel after coming back home. At that moment, UW Huskies women team was leading Seattle University Redhawks by 1. Eventually they won the match at Husky Soccer Field. My dad watched it with me as well, he asked why my son didn't watch to support his school, I actually didn't think he knew it either. However, he is not a super sports fan. 

The next, their men's team faced Gonzaga, I watched the first half but fell into sleep later, so didn't know the result. I will check it out on their website later. I plan to go watching several soccer and volleyball matches in person in this season.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had been sleeping on couch in living room before coming up to reading room to write my diary, now, I am going back there to take another nap, then start watching BPL, there will be 3 matches in row this morning. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/27/2015

Financial world created a new acronym - "FANG" to represent FB/AMZN/NFLX/GOOG. It's pretty interesting. The Markets keep recovered, but it doesn't really matter to me. Before I get my compensations of demolished property in Beijing, I won't put any more money into stock markets. I have trading/IRA/401K accounts, though each doesn't have much money in it, it's already too much in stock markets. 

I forgot to share the clip I took last night when I watched the movie of 22 Jump Street. Since I left my bedroom for almost half an hour to do something else in reading room, I missed a great deal of the scenes. It's a funny movie and at the end it leaves a lot of rooms for sequels. Actually, this one is the sequel of 21 Jump Street, the scene was moved from high school to college. The next one will be in a medical school. 

After lunch outside the building, I heard someone talking in Beijing Dialect when I was searching on my cell phone. So, I raised my head to ask in Chinese: "From Beijing?" two young Chinese men passed by and nodded. I should have chatted with them in Beijing slang for a minute. 

Oh, I just recall that a gal worked with me 15 years ago put my name as her reference with an employment agency. Though I haven't seen this gal for almost 15 years, she has used me as her reference from time to time and I was always happy to do it for her. However, since my cell's signal was blocked in the building I worked, the gal from the agency called me twice in the last couple of days, I hadn't noticed until yesterday morning after I accessed my voice mail box. I called back and made a pretty good recommendation. Hopefully, she can be placed soon. 

It's almost midnight, I am going to sleep in the next minute or so. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/26/2015

Again, I didn't write my diary for yesterday last night but am doing it before heading to work. 

Yesterday morning, I gave the last glance at markets on CNBC before heading out. All indexes jumped high. As I said, should the markets be all wiped out, fundamental of financial assets would be destroyed including money itself. So, even for short-sellers, it would be a dead scenario. The question is how long the volatility will be last. 

Unfortunately, Sounders away from home match wasn't televised on any channel I was able to watch. They lost but it's not the end of the journey. I don't know how CCL schedule works but it sounded Sounders still have a lot of chances to prevail. 

Ok, I am to go downstairs to eat two pieces of bread, take a sip of justmine tea and give another glance at Markets on CNBC, then drive away. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/25/2015

I didn't write my diary last night, so am doing now before going to gym. 

It's a long day yesterday, but I was glad to catch the replay of Malmo hosting Celtic at home in one of the playoff match of UEFA Champion League. Rosenberg shouldered the ball into the net and Celtic made an unfortunate own goal in 2nd half. So, Malmo prevailed to Group stage. It's a bit unfair Celtic's equalizer was uncounted at the end of 1st half. However, it's not a big deal for Celtic not to proceed. Given Malmo's fans' enthusiasm at the field, they deserved the happiness. 

We almost went to an Allsvenskan match Malmo hosting Orebro at Swedbank Stadion last month, but two reasons held us eventually. First, my son was worried about the safety because he read some negativities online, especially it was a soccer match, which could trigger something bad. I actually didn't care and believed in Malmo; Secondly, we had driven through Oresund and stayed in Kastrup the night before. Had we driven back to Malmo the following afternoon to catch that match, we would have had to pay more than 800 Swedish Krona to be back and forth on Oresund. It was too much. I think I posted this clip I filmed when we got across the strait through Oresund but don't mind to share it again:

In 2nd half of the match, a notification was present on TV screen to remind that it is Malmo New Stadium. I never went to a live match in 90s in Malmo, so don't know how the old one looked like anyway. The only soccer stadium I ever went in Sweden was Gamla Ullevi. I did have a chance to go to AIK's home field in Solna in 96, but had a conflict, so didn't make it. However, as I learned online today, Malmo's new stadium was built just several years ago.

Ok, I will take a nap, then go to gym before 9:00pm. I didn't write the diary last night as I said, neither did I go to gym. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/24/2015

It's almost 1:00 on Tuesday morning now. I have been sending e-mail to several governmental departments in Beijing to ask them to resolve the issue on my compensations of demolished property in 崔各庄。I need my money by 6:30am to buy FB,TWTR,Z.GOOGL to become a multi-millionaire by the end of this year. Just kidding, it's no way that they could be so efficient. However, I also sent the e-mail to Mayor's box. If needed, I will contact 习近平's office. Actually, I did this to fulfill my dad's request. He just pushed me again today. He had promised his contacts to do this and regular mail might not be delivered effectively.

On my way home from work, I stopped at Papa John's to buy Extra Large The Works and 16 pieces of Wings with Honey Mustard dressing. My son probably had eaten too much meal my mom cooked at home during his summer break after coming back from vacation, he wanted to eat pizza.

After dinner, I had been in bed until an hour ago. Now, I am a bit dizzy, need to fall into sleep as soon as I can. If I don't recall incorrectly, I will have a conference call at 8:30am. I almost never bring my laptop home, so have to go to the office to attend. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/23/2015

Dortmund hadn't been able to score until 56th minute. Eventually they won big. 

Switching to NBCSN, I kept watching BPL match Everton hosting Manchester City. Everton seemed making several scoring opportunities during a period of time but never capitalized. Lukaku could have scored through a free kick but the ball scratched the bar and bounced out. 

Manchester City caught a chance when Sterling slightly knocked the ball to the bottom line of the field, Kolarov made a shot at almost 0 degree angle surprisingly. Howard tried to block the horizontal pass but the ball got into the net in between his body and the pole. 

Nasri was subbed and chipped the ball over Howard to score. It's a bad day for Everton at home and City got all possible points in the first three matches of BPL season.

Watching Pompeii on Encore, I had a big lunch my mom cooked. After lunch, I slept for quite a while, then got up to drive to Safeway to refill my dad's medications. Though the sunshine was not very strong, it's very warm. Passing by my rental property, I saw something piled on the small porch in front of the door of my townhouse. The new tenant might put something there. 

While waiting for the refill, I walked around in Safeway and could feel the football season coming: Seahawks and Huskies' decorations are everywhere. 

Arriving at gym, I realized that I wouldn't be able to work out my weekend routine because there was only one hour left before it would be closed.

While folding all washed and dried clothes, I kept watching the earlier part of Pompeii I hadn't caught before lunch. However, I still didn't catch from the very beginning, though I had watched this movie several times, never had a chance to catch the entire movie. I plan to take cruise from Barcelona to Venice in future to visit Italy. The only city I have ever been is Genoa. 

Several dramatic events incurred during this weekend. One of them created new American heroes on the train from Amsterdam to Paris. They seemed soccer fans. Was he wearing Munich's jersey?

4,400 migrants were saved this weekend as well. 

China Market plunged, so did others. Dow futures sound to open much lower. It will be another great week. I love this perfect storm.

Patrick's Diary - 8/22/2015

Yes, I always can write more for weekends. 

Turning onto NBCSN to watch Manchester United hosting Newcastle United, I was surprised Manchester didn't win the match at home. It's scoreless, so I didn't film anything.

Getting up and moving down to living room, I kept watching Hoffenheim hosting Munchen while drinking early beer and having 4 pieces of bread as breakfast. Muller apparently is the top player at Munchen and scored to tie the match in first half. 

Boatang had got a yellow before the free kick was made, then got the 2nd yellow being sent off. At Bundesliga, unintentional handball doesn't exist. However, his out was worth the reward: the penalty kick didn't go through, the ball hit the left pole. Munchen is the powerhouse no matter how many players were left in the field. After missing several scoring opportunities, Lewandowski made the shot, so they won the match.

Switching back to NBCSN to watch Leicester playing Tottenham for a while, I came back to FSN1 to watch Hamburger hosting Stuttgart. The latter was supposed to be a better team in this season and led in first half. Going back to BPL to catch The Match of the Day, I came back again to watch the last 20 minutes of the match at Bundesliga. Hamburger scored twice to win the match at the end. It seemed that a player of Stuttgart was sent off during the period I was watching BPL Highlight. 

Right before lunch, I came back to my reading room to review several clips I filmed in Stockholm and decided to upload onto Youtube two of them: A street musician performed the viola every night at the back street of Scandic Klara where I stayed from 7/17 to 7/20. The pleasant melody lured so many people stopping to appreciate.

Going to gym at 4:30pm, I worked out almost 2 hours: 1 hour on treadmill, 20 minutes on bike and 200 times weightlifting. I was so happy! Again...

Before the match started, a Sounders' welcoming clip was replayed on Fox. I liked it very much.

Sounders lost the match to Real Salt Lake in Sandy. They didn't play very well and couldn't create enough scoring opportunities. It's a long way to go to qualify MLS Cup Playoff this year, they had lost too many matches in the last two months. I plan to go to 2nd round match of CCL on a Wednesday when Sounders will host Whitecaps at Centurylink Field. 

My plan was to go upstairs right after the match. After randomly searching on HBO, I found "The Maze Runner" pretty impressive, so watched it to the end. It was thrilling and I would like to watch the second episode of the Trilogy in theater in September when it is released. 

Ok, sleeping five hours, I will watch BPL on Sunday, the first match will be Chelsea playing someone else, I forget the other's name. Is it Crystal Palace?

Patrick's Diary - 8/21/2015

When approaching the traffic lights near Thrasher's Corner on my way home, I sought a phrase of  "Just Happily Divorced" painted on its rear window of a SUV passing by on my right. I didn't see the driver's gender, however, buddy, congratulations! Enjoy your single life before you will be tied next time. 

Watching Seahawks challenging Chiefs at Kansas City, I didn't really care the loss. It's just for the preparation, in addition to testing backups' capabilities. 

Receiving a notification from Microsoft on my laptop several days ago, I requested a free download of Windows 10 and got it today. The toolbar looks different and functionalities seem added and upgraded, such as Photo Albums Creation, etc. 

I didn't focus on doing anything particularly tonight but surfed online very spontaneously. Time has flown quickly, it already passes the midnight. I plan to watch three soccer matches this morning starting with BPL - United playing Newcastle, then two Bundesliga matches. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/20/2015

It's 2:53 am on Friday now. Wow, I can watch numerous BPL, Bundesliga and MLS matches in 24 hours. Ok, don't get me wrong, I still love watching Football and plan to catch Seahawks' 2nd preseason game at Chiefs tonight. Watching the following clip, I just learned that Chase Daniel is a backup quarterback for Kansas City. The reason I paid attention to it was that I watched several games he played years ago for college football especially when Missouri played Illinois but never followed up his NFL career. 

Before falling into sleep, I watched two replayed playoff matches of UEFA Champion League, in the first one, Valencia beat Monaco at home. It's glad to watch a Allsvenskan team in the second match, Malmo lost to Celtic in Scotland but the final scores were not bad, they may have chance to win at home and proceed. 

Xiaohai, who used to work for my parents' businesses decades ago and eventually his family became our extended family members, called my dad last night. He had told us that Lands Evaluation Company hired by Chinese Administration of National Lands still didn't approve our compensation plan, so we were suggested to write a letter to Beijing Municipal Government and other two local governments to push. As we heard, some governmental organizations had urged that company to approve. However, it might be a game they are playing. My dad worked for State Department in Zhongnaihai before, he had some connections but I don't want him to make too much effort, he is already 83 years old. Eventually, I may need to go through legal processes to get my compensations. Though it has dropped from 2M to current agreed amount, I will still be able to pay off the mortgage for our primary residential house, secure all of my son's college expenses in the next 3 years, buy a new car. I may retire after my son gets a job or is admitted by a PHD program then. If I really can do it, I will travel all over the world for two years, then become a part time consultant. Let's see.

Dennis fixed the blocked pipe under the sink in our kitchen. He is super. My dad told me that he used a small tool connected to hot water to jet into the pipeline, then applied sort of acid, the problem was gone in 20 minutes. Wow, it was all because of a smart idea he had. 

I love my lifestyle as I always say. However, recently, I kept watching the video clips I took in Sweden every night. I snapped this one after we checked in Radisson Blu Skycity inside Arlanda between Terminal 4 and 5. At that moment, I went out of the terminal to be ready to return our car to Hertz. As soon as I exited the door, very harsh thunderstorm suddenly poured down, there hadn't been any indicator it would come. 

I am still wondering what my life would be like if I hadn't left 19 years ago. It's in my plan to live in Stockholm for a year after I retire. I never experienced Winter in Stockholm but will do. 

I will finish my diary for the final 3 days in Stockholm. As I said, I don't want to wrap it up in hurry but will write more artistically. Before this trip in last month, I only flew out from Arlanda once but never flew in because I normally flew to Copenhagen in 90s. The clip is my last impression of today's Sweden, it is still very harmonious. 

It's 4am now, since I didn't go to gym last night, I will be there at 5am as soon as it opens...

Patrick's Diary - 8/19/2015

How come did I forget Sounders' match tonight? I had thought about it earlier but totally forgot after coming back home. However, as I checked on Sounders' website yesterday, it wouldn't be televised on any channels I would be able to watch, I might catch that wrong. A clip on Facebook reminded me this match and Sounders' won the match in injury time at the end. As the title of the clip says, it was a wild match.

My agent told me that he had actually let new tenant move in last weekend but the rent will be paid from next month because it is a government sponsored family and some inspections of my rental property didn't go through earlier this month per policy. It's a piece of good news anyway. Actually, one of my neighbors in the rental property sent me an e-mail first this morning to remind me that my new tenant park the car on their spot. She also asked me to let my new tenant know that parking the car in front of the garage is prohibited per fire marshal's request now. I appreciate her reminders and her tone in the e-mail was very friendly. 

I wasn't able to resolve the problem of the blocked pipe under the sink in our kitchen. Dennis had been busy in the last two days but he would come over to check out tomorrow morning see if he can fix it or not. If it is a bigger issue underneath the ground, Dennis will help find a plumber with professional tools.

Going to gym to work out my routine for an hour, I was on my way home. It's quiet, dark and cool. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/18/2015

Taking half a day off, I drove my son to Gentle Dental in Mill Creek to have his teeth cleaned. While he was in the clinic, I took nap in the van. Though it was a bit too warm due to a fully sunny afternoon, I fell into sleep for half an hour with both side windows opened. 

After dinner, I wasted sometime at home without doing anything. Close to 9 o'clock, I was on my way to property management office to drop the August Homeowner Due check for my rental property. It has been vacant since last month but I don't worry much. There is no mortgage on that townhouse because I paid it off long ago and as I shared that my family needs at least two houses may even need three, so I won't sell it. After my son graduates in 2018, he can live in it if we don't rent it out then. 

After dropping the check, I drove to gym to work out a weekday routine: 30 minutes on treadmill; 20 minutes on bike and 150 times weightlifting. Just like Steve at Spirit 105.3 imitated those running enthusiasts with funny voice: "I feel so happy!" He was wondering why those people acted like that. 

I forgot to post a clip I snapped near H.C. Andersen's Hus in Odense, Denmark in last month. I parked our car by the side of a private house, which wasn't permitted. When my son and I walked back, the owner of the house happened to walk out. I confirmed with her that I shouldn't park there and apologized, she confirmed but waved the arm to say it was ok. Next time, I will stay at Radisson Blu next to the Hus, then I wouldn't need to worry about parking.

Patrick's Diary - 8/17/2015

I had planned to go to gym to work out tonight, but as soon as coming into the house, I was told by my parents that the pipe under the sink in kitchen was blocked. I thought it could be an easy fix because I had done it several times in the past years. However, it's a tough task because the pipe deeply planted into the ground outside seemed blocked. I used the tool I bought at Home Depot a couple of years to drill down to the earth but it was too short. Borrowing a long one from Dennis, I did find something like hairs at the tip of the tool after pulling it out. It didn't fix the problem anyway. 

I used our own tool to clear the toilet on first floor twice when this happened in the past. My parents told me that the water still couldn't be flushed at normal speed after heavy rains. It sounded like water might be backed up. Is that applied to the pipe under the sink this time? Dennis told me earlier that one of their pipes had the same problem, I am not sure if it is a public pipelines' issue in our neighborhood. However, I will keep trying tomorrow because I am too tired tonight. I may need to get Dennis' help. If he can't figure out either, I will have to find a plumber. If the water is backed up due to the heavy rains 3 days ago, we have to wait for a day or two, the problem will be resolved by itself. However, that won't be a permanent fix and will come back. 

I need to sleep but post this photo my son took for me at Centurylink Field well before the match kicked off yesterday.

Oh, I found this photo I selfie myself at Sergel Torgs 3 weeks ago in the same folder. I did wear Sounders' jacket then as well. 

Ok, this one wasn't taken against lights, so my face was visible. I wore USMNT's jersey in this one - they are all about the sports I love.

Patrick's Diary - 8/16/2015

I had been sleeping after coming back from Sounders' exciting home match until 10 minutes ago. Now, It's 11:44pm. 

It's been another spectacular soccer Sunday today. I did wake up and watched part of the match Arsenal playing Crystal Palace. Giroud scored a acrobatic goal in first half:

Fox Sports 1 started televising Bundesliga this season and I caught the one Wolfsburg hosting Frankfurt this morning. Within first 20 minutes, Wolfsburg had scored twice:

Frankfurt didn't give up and got one back in first half:

I didn't watch till the end, so didn't know who won the match eventually. I remember a Chinese national player whom actually was born and raised in Beijing played for Frankfurt for several years and was loved by the fans. In 2012, when I drove to Commerzbank Arena to watch International Friendly Germany taking Argentina, a senior parking facilitator said "How are you?" in Chinese to me very warmly. I guess that might be driven by Chen Yang's influence in old years.  He is a younger generation and played for Frankfurt in late 90s after I had left Beijing permanently. However, I learned that this guy was an European type of powerful striker, no wonder why was he successful at Bundesliga. He was the only Chinese player achieving that level in Germany.

I watched the most of the match Chelsea losing to Man City. The defending champion couldn't start the season very well. 

We left home for Centurylink Field at noon and reached our seats around 1:00pm. Surprisingly, my son didn't want to go to club to eat anything. I found out the reason was that he ate too much at lunch yesterday. I was pretty hungry, so went to the stand to buy a beer and a box of pepperoni pizza, which was very tasty. 40,000 fans came to support Sounders today and all open seating areas were almost filled up. The scene was spectacular and opening ceremony was as great as always.

Martins came back from injury and scored a very smart goal after dribbling through the defenders. Though he missed a PK, he scored his second goal, which was another smart shot in 2nd half.

Two new signings performed very well. Valdez scored his first ever goal for Sounders and he must start loving Seattle without doubt. 

Torres was pretty reliable at his central back position. Observing so many headers he made to dismiss Orlando's attacks, you should tell it. Evans played much better match as holding midfielder today after being released from defender's position. He is an utility player as described in a lot of occasions. Friberg has built himself into the squad very well. His timely short passes and accurate mid-range crosses were very important factors in this match. Sounders' international players are not super stars like Kaka, but they definitely are very practical star players. 

At the end, fans were so joyful to leave Centurylink Field under the sunshine.

As shared, I had planned to go to Cheney Stadium to watch King & Country's performance after Sounders' match, but my son didn't feel very well, we drove back home instead. Hopefully, I will have another chance to catch their performance in future.

Patrick's Diary - 8/15/2015

Yeah, it's Saturday. First, I had been in bed until 8:30 am this morning. Secondly, I have more stuff to write.

As usual, I turned on TV to watch BPL match early in the morning. However, I was sleepy, so didn't really open my eyes for most of the time. Getting up to take shower, I drove my family to go shopping groceries. Dropping my parents at Ranch 99, I drove my son to Costco. 

After paying for the groceries at cashier, I helped my parents push the carts out of Ranch 99. While they were waiting, I drove the car from parking lot to pick them up near the entrance of the supermarket. Loading everything into trunk, I got onto driver seat to be ready to go. An Asian man, probably a Chinese, walked to the back of my van, I saw him from right backup mirror to take a photo of my license plate with is cellphone. Then he walked away to say something to another person standing 30 feet behind my van. I don't know his intention. If anyone uses my license plate to do anything, good or bad, I didn't authorize him to do it. 

Stopping by Taste of Sichuan, we had our once in 3 weeks family lunch. In addition to the dishes we ordered, we got Sour & Spicy Soup for free. We ate almost everything up today, it's so delicious. 

Coming back home, I watched movies on HBO, then caught up my diary for yesterday. As planned, I bought the tickets for Sounders' match to be held at 2:00pm tomorrow. I had known that color inks of my printer ran out, so I tried to print Black & white. Unfortunately, black ink ran out as well, so I had to drive to Best Buy to buy them. The girl around Printing Consumables shelf asked me if I needed help when I happened to see what I was looking for. I thanked her anyway, she said that I found it by myself. I responded that her kindness probably triggered me to find what I needed. Replacing the used inks with the new ones, I printed the tickets off from my account at Ticketmaster. We planned to arrive at Centurylink Field at 1:00pm, then eat our lunch at various concession stands there. 

Watching a MLS live match RSL hosting Timbers on TV, I was shocked that Timbers scored almost the last second goal by a RSL former player winning the match. Then, I watched SportCenter on ESPN to wait for BPL Match of the Day to start at 10:00pm. Usually, I don't watch this program because I watch the live matches and listen to real time analysis in the morning. But today, I didn't watch them, so would like to catch up at night.

Man United's hope, Januzaj scored to win the match. Mata played a very important role in midfield and Schweinsteiger may become another important player in future.

Lukaku scored twice for Everton, his first goal was driven by a perfect cross from a teammate and second goal was led by another teammate's short pass into the big box and eventually made by his quick reaction. 

I watched part of the match Tottenham hosting Stoke City this morning but didn't know Stoke tying the match at the end.

Watford didn't score at home, eventually tied Visiting West Brom. It's such a bad day for West Ham's keeper, lost the match and got sent off. He might not deserve a red card.

Swansea won a clear-cut match at home.

Last season, Sunderland struggled in the relegation zone for quite a while, eventually they avoided it. However, they have lost two matches in this season, it seems future isn't very bright. 

Ok, it's 12:50 am in the morning of Sunday now, I plan to watch Bundesliga Wolfsburg playing Frankfurt 6 hours later, then catch the 2nd half of the match Man City to play Chelsea. I may go to gym to workout for an hour, then come back home to take shower and leave home for Centurylink with my son at noon.

Patrick's Diary - 8/14/2015

It had been cloudy since the morning. Approaching the time everyone started leaving work for home, the thunderstorm arrived. The traffic on the road had been a mess due to Seahawks pre-season opening game at home, harsh rains worsen the situation even more. 

Coming home to wait for dinner, I sat in front of big screen in living room watching Mariners visiting Red Sox for a while before Seahawks home opener kicked off. I never care about this pre-season games much, so didn't watch it seriously. Jackson got his ankle twisted and had to leave the field on cart. Hawks lost to Broncos at the end, it didn't really mean anything. 

I didn't really work a lot during the day but was very tired, so didn't write my diary but fell into sleep. 

Now, let me finish my theory to have Rich contributing to community to support Poor:

Assuming a rich family the same as a middle class's: a couple with two kids:

• 1 Million bucks worth house - 4,000 square feet
• A luxury SUV and a luxury Sedan - $120,000
• Monthly Expenses:
• Housing Expenses - Mortgage/Property Tax/Utilities/Maintenance/etc: $12,000
• Car Loans: $5,000
• Daily Necessitates - Foods, Drinks, Misc: $7,000
• Annual Private School Expenses: $100,000
• Vacations - One International and Two Domestic per year: $50,000
• Local Entertainment: $3,000
• Fashionable hobbies - new clothes/jewelries/etc.: $2,000
• Saving for colleges (Private elit) - $4,000
• Saving for Retirement - $5,000
• Unpredictable - $3,000

Total income to cover the annual cost: 

(12,000+5,000+7,000+3,000+2,000+4,000+5,000+3,000)*12+100,000+50,000 

= $642,000

If the tax rate is 35%, then total gross income for rich family is: $642,000/0.65 = $987,692

If I were a rich, I would be very satisfied with this lifestyle though I might have to work 50 hours a week in the office or wherever onsite, then keep my blackberry and laptop turned on at home, in addition, I might have to work two or threes hours a day at home during weekends. 

In this case, a family making 1 million a year can contribute $350,000 to public to finance current executed welfare programs along with those middle class families contributing $50,000 a year per family. 

For those families making more than 1 million dollars a year, they are encouraged to accept higher tax rate levied on the portions above 1 million. For example, from 1M to 1.5M, they may pay 45%; from 1.5M to 2.0M, they may pay 50%; from 2M and plus, they may pay 55%. 

With 8% of total families as rich, 2% poor can be covered very easily. Due to their or their parents' hard or smart work, rich families contribute much more to the community, they should be honored by various public recognitions and well respected. 

My assumption of poor families' lifestyle is:

Again, a couple with two kids without any income because no one works:

• Basically furnitured Three bedroom, 1 and a half bath apartment in a safe and clean area with walking distance to public transportation and/or shopping mall/plaza;
• Daily necessitates aids - food stamps, free utilities, etc.;
• In addition to free education in public schools including colleges, all schools supplies should be provided for free;
• Free movies tickets for the family once a month; 
• Two free TVs with basic cable program;
• Arranged field trips locally twice a year for free in terms of transportation, tickets, foods & drinks, etc. The trips can be visiting National Parks, Museums, watching sports games, etc.

The annual expense per family is:

• Living: $18,000 
• Daily necessary consumption: $36,000
• K-12 expenses not counted, supplies can be $1,200
• Cable: $300
• Entertainment: $1,200
• Field Trips: $2,000
• Petty cash: $2,000

So, total can be: $60,700 a year. It's why I said earlier, 2% poor can be covered by 8% rich easily.

If I were a poor, without working, I would be very happy to have such a comfortable life. 

However, the couple of a poor family are encouraged to work. Otherwise they would never be able to own their own cars and their life would never be very convenient. 

Patrick's Diary - 8/13/2015

Wow, it sounded cars were racing in a street not far away from the window in my reading room. Drivers in our area are pretty calm in general, probably the noise was caused by the special engines of the cars. Especially, it's 11:00 pm, so the noise could be amplified through quiet night sky. 

It's a pretty normal day, so nothing needs to be elaborated. As I shared yesterday, I would like to provide some inputs during 2016 Presidential Election. My focus is based on my own economic model: Integration of Capitalism & Socialism.

Since this is the election of President of United States, I only apply my model to our country, it may not be applicable to other countries, even other advanced economies. 

I depicted this economic picture before: 90% of families are middle class; 8% are rich and only 2% are poor. 

I am going to use Seattle Metropolitan as a sample to walk my model over the course of this election:

Living Standard for Middle Class Family - A couple with two kids:

• 2,500 square foot House: 4 bedrooms, 2 & 1/2 bath, 2 car garage, Front & Back full yards in a safe, quiet and clean area: $400,000
• One SUV - $35,000; One Sedan - $25,000
• Monthly Expenses:
• Housing related expenses: Mortgage, Property Tax, Insurance, Utilities, etc.- $2,500
• Car Loan - $1,200
• Daily Necessitates: Foods, Drinks, Misc. - $3,600
• Car - Gas, Maintenance - $700
• Children educational extra expenses other than free K-12 - Books, Club Fees, etc. $400
• Family Entertaining Expense: Movie/Dine out/Sports Events/etc - $500
• Vacation: Once a year, domestic - $10,000
• College Savings - $1,000
• Retirement Savings - $2,000
• Unpredictable - $1,000

So, annual family expenses: ($2,500+$1,200+$3,600+$700+$400+$500+$1,000+$2,000+$1,000)*12+$10,000 = $164,800

Assuming tax rate for this family is 20%, then total gross income is $164,800/80% = $206,000

In this regard, if the couple are both mid to high level professionals, the expenses can be covered.

Though this seems a bit high, families with lower income down to $150,000 can live in a smaller house down to 2,100 Sq, drive cheaper cars down to $45,000 for both, cut vacation expense by half. 

Middle class families can sustain their lifestyle purely by themselves without any public support. 

Alternatively, if payers accept higher tax rates, all educational related expenses and retirement savings can be eliminated. Even expenses for vacation can be reduced due to much cheaper infrastructure supports. This will be closer to Swedish Economic Model. All medical expenses have been covered through the couple's employers no matter whether the tax rates are increased or not. 

Tomorrow, I will lay out how rich families contribute to the communities and how poor can live comfortable life through welfare financed by rich.