Chinese Version
10-20-2016
I often heard praises about people with high IQ (intelligence quotient) or high EQ (emotional quotient). Recently I heard that people share the same constellation with me have high FQ (food eater quotient).
I used to call myself a food lover, a name I felt too earthy and dry. Now, from a food lover to a person with high FQ, I felt this is a graceful turn, which lets me enjoy the power of knowledge and language in a simple and silly way.
Recently I was planning to meet with one of my friends, a previous co-worker in eBay from 2000 to 2009, for lunch in Palo Alto, the university town in Silicon Valley. She asked me to pick a restaurant, so I did my homework. Carrying the title of a person with high FQ, I wanted to experience the atmosphere of a work day during lunch time in the university town. So I selected a few restaurants located in Palo Alto, and finally picked a Cuban restaurant. Because I never tried Cuban cuisine, the restaurant has outdoor sittings, and it is located in the center of the university town.
On the day we met, I drove on South California Avenue before noon. I immediately felt the difference between Milpitas Square, a place I visited very often during lunch time, and here. Here, small groups of two or three people walking along the street and outdoor seats appeared along the street. It is more open and slow here. The metro parking spaces along the street were already full at 11:50AM. One funny thing was, while I was circling around to find a parking spot, a handsome young man was smiling and waving at me, I guess he thought I was his Uber driver.
When I first bypassed the Cuban restaurant, I saw there were outdoor seats available. After I parked my car after a few circles, the outdoor seats in the Cuban restaurant were all occupied. We had to sit indoors. The Cuban drink and Cuban chicken we ordered all had unique flavors and we liked them all.
While eating, we chatted happily. We detailed the changes of our adolescent sons, shared the working culture differences in our different industries, and felt very good.
Face-to-face with an old friend, I remembered a encounter I had with her in the early growing stages of eBay in 2001, when software developers were always extremely overworked, we worked 7 days a week in office at regular working hours and at home in the evening. One day while chatting with her about how over work made our life as working mothers much tougher and about if we suddenly passed away, She said: “We are replaceable workers to the company, but we are irreplaceable mothers to our kids.” I still remember her insightful comments that helped me to make my mind in terms of keeping a work-life balance in fast-paced working environments …
Old friend reunion, turning back in the past
The same life experience, echoing common thought.
Having Prince Frosty as company makes writing a very sweet activity.
