Pulau Langkawi

We went on a 3 day retreat to a spa resort on Langkawi island. I was so impressed with the hotel and loved the bathroom. Ah...a "normal" shower/toilet. :-) We shared a hut with Chicky's parents, aunt and cousin. The hut was in a rain forest and there were monkey's everywhere. We were warned not to keep our doors or windows open unattended as we'd get "visitors". :-) More photo opportunities!

During our stay - Chicky and I managed to get a day away from the family. This was a nice break for me as we haven't done anything by ourselves since our first day in Singapore. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy Chicky's family but wanted to just spend at least one day in 3 weeks by ourselves. So we booked a snorkeling tour. There were 2 packages available - we chose the cheaper one as the tour guide said they only differed in type of boat you get to ride on and food that you'd eat.

They took us to a marine park which is about 2hrs away from the main island. There we put on our life jackets and waited for instructions. The dive master said that there was a black tip reef shark seen the water and to not bother it. That prompted me to want to stay a shore. Chicky was delighted and wanted to take pictures. We didn't have an underwater camera. So we a paid ridiculous price for one (sold by the tour boat of course). Then the dive master announces that there's a large (1-2 meter) baracuda swimming around us as well. Great...shark AND baracuda. There were so many coral fish though! I think it was because so many people were throwing food into the water. Off the pier they would hover and wait for tourists to throw things into the water for them. Chicky was super excited about this and didn't want to wait any longer.

We headed for the beach with our snorkeling gear. There was so many fish that they were near the shore as well. I walked in with my fins and stood in knee deep water as I adjusted my snorkel and prepared myself mental to go into the same water as the shark. Then something bit my toes! I squealed in surprise. Some of the fish wanted to take a taste test out of my toes. I think it's because they are painted and probably look yummy. We went in deeper. More fish came by to take bites out of us. At first it was unnerving but then we got use to getting nipped every now and then.

Swimming out farther I was looking at the schools of LARGE rock cod when Chicky pulls on my life jackets and points to my left. I look over and nearly swallowed down a mouth full of salt water. There was a shark! Not very big..maybe 2 feet long. But very close! Naturally I reacted by trying to swim AWAY from it. Chicky went after it trying to take pictures. After a while we got out of the water for some lunch. A few minutes later the guides were pointing at the water and throwing food into it. SHARK they yelled! I don't know about you but when someone yells shark I stay away from the water, however Chicky grabbed his snorkel gear and told me to jump in. We swam into the mess of fish that was gorging on all the food. The baracuda was slinking around and came really close to Chicky as he tried to take pictures of it. All of a sudden a large dark shape swam by under our feet. It was another shark accept bigger (about 2 meters). OK...time to surface and voice my paranoia. We were already getting nibbled by the fish and then all of a sudden we feel something hitting us. The tourist were throwing food AT us with the shark and baracuda in the water. I think they wanted to see some one get eaten. Chicky swam down and grabbed a chicken leg bone and was feeding the fish. They swarmed him and I got some pictures off. He then handed me the bone and I got swarmed. In the end the day was very enjoyable. The best thing of all was the fact that Chicky was too much of a man to wear a t-shirt or put on sunblock (in his defence it was cloudy and no sun was really out). His back was so red I laughed at him for days and whenever he got out of hand I would slap him on his back.

reflexology

Day 2 in KL - Chicky's mom suggested that we go get massaged because it would relax us. So off we went to the massage parlour near the apartment. They do reflexology. His mom said it would hurt at first but then feel good. So I let Chicky be the guinea pig. He was wincing in pain the whole time. I took some funny pictures. I passed on the reflexology but got a head/neck/back massage instead. Asian massages are similar. A lot of banging against your back, hair pulling and slapping. Not "relaxing" either. After both of us got tortured - we had to pay for our pain. :-) Good thing that it didn't cost too much.

arriving in KL

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur! Sorry I haven't been able to post lately. We're staying with Chicky's family in KL. There's a dial up connection but that means that the phone will be out of commission if I'm surfing the net.

I know all of you have been looking forward to the pictures - haven't been able to load them as they are too large (remember...my camera shoots in 10MB). We've taken over 1000 pics so far and still counting. There's going to be a lot of sorting to do when we get home. We miss everyone though!

As of the last post - we left Singapore bound for KL via train. The idea was novel at first but I don't recommend it unless you've never travelled by train before. The train was delayed by an hour. The duration was 7 hours. The country side view blurred together after awhile. The bathrooms aren't as scary anymore - getting use to the squat toilets. The train was old and part of it was coming apart (such as the sections that linked the individual cars to each other). Chicky was thrown around while attempting to move between cars. We read our books and took pictures to pass time. Chicky totally scared me at one point as we had stopped off at another station to pick up/drop off passengers. There was a sign that was funny and I wanted him to take a picture it from the platform. So off he went...then the train started moving and he wasn't back yet. I stood up and frantically looked around and didn't see him. I thought I was going to head to KL on my own and he would be left in the middle of nowhere with just a camera.

The interesting thing about train travel is that you go through Malaysia immigration at the train station - get your "welcome to KL" stamp. After a hour or so on the train - you get off and go through Singapore immigration and get your "departure" stamp. So backwards...

KL is just as hot as Singapore. The drivers are pretty scary too. Unlike Singapore - we're traveling with Chicky's family everywhere via car. Met a lot of Chicky's relatives. Good thing is some of them speak english. But most of the time everyone speaks chinese and I just sit around and wait for someone to tell me what's going on.

We're staying with Fong's family. The 5 of us share the apartment. Chicky and I have been sharing a single bed - it's interesting as we're both big people. Everyday the relatives come over early to the apartment and eat breakfast, talk, do chores, etc. Chicky discovered that one of his cousin is into movies (he's got so many binders with burned movies) - so he's latched onto the TV now.

Singapore - Day 3

Got up this morning. Euston has already left for work. Chicky and I looked at the washer and dryer and figure we should do some laundry while the opportunity presents itself. We try to decipher the symbols. My clothes turned out bad - mixed colors and whites. Now my shorts are tainted blue. Chicky is watching anime as I write this. We have to walk to the grocery store, buy some food for lunch and the trip on the train. Train leaves at noon so we have to be out of the apartment by then. I think we'll cab it - too much luggage for the MRT.

Time to go to find some food. I don't know if our next destination will have internet. So adieu to till. Miss you guys tons!

Singapore - Day 2

Got up later today. Wasn't as gung ho about having breakfast. Today's menu was baked beans, fried rice, white sausages, spam and scrambled eggs. The eggs were grey in color - not light grey....dark grey...worthy of a picture. We only booked 2 days at the hotel so we had to check out at noon. I went back to bed after breakfast as my pounding headache and stuffy nose was killing me. I got up, packed and headed out. Today's agenda included a tour of Sentosa Island. But first we had to visit Orchard Road to get more money.

Thus begins our afternoon of misadventures. It took us a few wrong turns to find the cable cars that would take us to the island. We didn't want to take the train over - wanted an adventure. Upon arriving - we bought a packaged tour as there was enough time to see Underwater World, Butterfly and Insect World, the Jewel Box, etc. Paid $48/person for this tour. We got in the wrong line up for the cable cars. No problem there - the engineer had us hop between moving cars, slip through then engineering rooms and out the other side, past some more moving cars and into the right line. Chicky laughed as this kind of running around wouldn't be "ok" with the WCB folks in Vancouver. We went up to the Jewel Box on Faber Mountain - turned out to be a lookout point with a big trinket store. The cable car ride was similar to the one at Grouse Mountain. Not impressed. Back to the main cable station.

We went on a cable car over water. I was a bit freaked so I sat in the middle and didn't look down. :-) Chicky took pictures. In his excitement - he left his sunglasses in the cable car as we left. Duh - he just bought them prior to leaving for our vacation -he was sad.

Underwater World was great. Got to pet creatures of the sea. Chicky pretended to feed some sting rays by putting his hand near the surface of the water. He jumped when they swam towards him and tried to give him a friendly lick. I took some pictures of that - but not of his expression - it was priceless. He was scared - so he did it again. Always pulling away when a big ray would come out of the water and see if there's anything in his hand as he's pulling away. :-) I think the Vancouver Aquarium should have a sting ray petting pool. The starfish one is a bit boring. Though I can see the fear from some kids if this was allowed. Lots of big fish, sharks, crustasians, etc. Lots of picture taking as well.

From UnderWater World we only had an hour left before having to meet with Euston - Chicky's cousin. We lined up but the line was so long - what was going on? Luckily for me - there were 2 vietnamese tour groups infront of us. I listened to the kafuffle and translated it back to Chicky. There was a car accident on the main road to the attractions. So the buses couldn't get through. The island is fairly large so each attraction is accessible by bus.

Disappointed we didn't know what to do. We've already wasted half our money by not being able to see 3 of the 5 exhibits. Chicky decides we'll walk it back to the main entrance as it's easier than waiting for them to clear the roads. We follow the beach. Chicky wants to walk barefeet through the sand. How romantic - even when it started to sprinkle. We had fun splashing around and taking pictures. Then I hear thunder. The rain comes down a bit harder. We think this is funny and take more pictures. Then a tropical storm! I was like OMG! The camera!! Hahahaaa...who cares if we get hit by lightening...as long as the camera doens't get wet. As we sprint towards a palm tree for cover, I hear my photography teachers' comment about always be prepared for weather when traveling going through my mind. Duh!

Wet and tired we hiked it back to the main entrance. We're already 1/2 hour late to meet Euston. On the way to the cable car we stop by the butterfly exhibit to see if we can run through it and sort of get our money's worth from the tour package. It was closed. Disappointed we hop onto the cable car and went to Vivo City. Vivo City is a very spacey-looking mall. New and fresh. Reminds me of Metrotown with all the people walking through it. Much different from the mall we went to in the morning. We went to a posh mall on Orchard Road in the morning. Had MacDonalds there. Yes - I travelled half way around the world for some McDonalds. :-) Had a McSpicy...mmmm....loving it!

Euston is a really nice cousin. The great thing about Singapore is every speaks english! So easier on us. We went to buy our train tickets. Euston thought we were nuts as it's faster and more convenient to travel by bus. Oh well - we're still on the whole novelty kick. After the train station we went to have dinner near the beach. It was like Richmond Night Market...food vendors lining the edges and tables in the middle. Minh and Michael would have loved this - strange food for cheap prices. :-) Chicky and I laughed as we paid nearly double when we went out for dinner on our own. That's the benefits of knowing a "local" - can always take you to the good eating spots for cheap. We had sting ray - tasted like fish. Even the sugar cane drinks were this pretty bright green color - much different from Vietnam where it was murky brown. :-)

Euston's apartment is great. Really big, new and modern (Ikea motif) - we were impressed. I regretted not staying with him from the start of our journey. Chicky was mesmerized by the remote control air conditioner in our room. He turned our room into a freezer. I wore my sweat pants, long sleeved shirt, his blanket and mine to keep warm. He thought I was crazy - I told him I'm sick and he's freezing me over. I've discovered that I'm pretty comfortable in the heat - reminds me of hot yoga. Chicky doesn't cope well. I think he'll want to stay in the apartment near the tv, anime and computers - Euston's place is the perfect bachelor pad. I must agree...it's hard getting motivated to go out in the heat when the apartment is so comfy.

Singapore - Day 1

We slept for about 5 hours. Woke up excited about our complimentary breakfast. Went down to the buffet room. The breakfast buffet consisted of baked beans, white sausages (which didn't look good), some kind of chinese dish (today it was fried noodles), toast, croissant and bland cereal. Thank goodness there's coffee. Chicky and I weren't impressed. But by this time we've learned to LOWER our expectations for this hotel.

Excited about exploring the city - we got ready and were overwhelmed by heat. Chicky was literally melting before my eyes. I wanted to ride the MRT (subway system). So we did. This was easier said then done. We did our research though. We found the subway, watched the locals use the gates, bought some tickets (which was a bit of a learning curve as everything is touch screens), and tried it out ourselves. Didn't work - we forgot to notice that you can only enter through some of the gates.

In Singapore - their version of Robson Street is Orchard Road. We will frequent this street as that's where we change our money and use the MRT.

We went to one end of town to see Little India, ate some Indian food and visited the big markets. When asked if you want something spicy in Little India - the correct response would have been "no thank you". I learned the hard way. I thought I was breathing fire.

Then we travelled to the other part of town to Chinatown. By this time we've mastered the switching of trains and reading the various maps. In Chinatown Chicky bought pork jerky that cost $5 for one piece. I blinked a couple of times. Singapore money is equivalent to Canadian dollars. We walked around Chinatown and bought food/snacks. Walking is going to be our primary mode of transportation.

After Chinatown we head back to the hotel. By this time I'm so tired and pass out after a cooling shower. Chicky feels the same way. We fall asleep - 3 hours later we wake up and decide that there's still time for Night Safari. We rushed out to the zoo. Night Safari is pretty freaky. :-) Nothing like walking around when the creatures are let loose. There was one area that had huge cages that you had to open a series of doors and go through. Chicky and I stood infront of the first wire gate and looked at each other. We weren't apprehensive of what was on the other side. I pushed Chicky in and told him that I would wait for him to get to the second gate before I walk in. :-) That was pretty much the same attitude for the rest of the walk. :-) I jumped out of my skin when a zoo worker came out of the bushes. He was wearing all black and feeding something on the other side. Lol...low fences and dark pathways give way to paranoia.

After Night Safari we had dinner at 1am along the river. Very nice but I was tired - I've got a cold and the heat doesn't make it better. We finally made our way back to the hotel at 3am.

getting there

After a 16 hour flight and very little sleep due to an all night family poker game - I was able to manage a few winks whereas Chicky didn't even sleep. Friday night we celebrated my mom's birthday as well as KA's (as we'd be away when their real b-day's happen). Hanif, Betty and Nyah came over for dinner as well. Nyah is such a cutie - growing up so fast!

We had a long flight. Made friends with a contractor from Calgary who was on his way back to India. I can't remember his name right now but I took a picture with him. :-) Figured he has to sit beside me for the whole flight so we might as well be buddies. I got the middle seat in a 3 seat row. Chicky managed to get an aisle seat.

Hightlights of the flight included:

• frequent meals (which were pretty good)
• a transfer in Korea - which was to get off the plane, go up some stairs, through customs again and then back into the plane. During this useless excersize, Chicky lost his water bottle which he paid $4 for. He was heartbroken.
• Chicky breaking pieces of the seat upon sitting down. I shook my head and hoped that the flight attendant didn't see.

We lost a day on board the plane which made the flight seem even longer. We left Vancouver at 12 noon Saturday. Arrived in Korea at 5pm Sunday and got into Singapore at 12 midnight. From there we took a taxi to the Garden hotel. The hotel left a lot to be desired. We discovered that the toilet and shower required special instructions on how to operate them (due to the fact that they were broken!). We were too tired to complain so we lived with it. Chicky and I were more concerned with the condition of the rug and possibilities of bed bugs. We inspected the mattress. Then wore sandals in the room the whole time. Time to have a few hours of sleep before our continental breakfast!

all done

My last photography class was Wednesday nigth. I was a bit sadden that there's no more opportunities to for field trips and discussions about picture taking. The class overall was great. For the last assignment we had to compile our images into a photo slide show. This was a good opportunity to see various types of software available (not only PowerPoint). One of my classmates brought in a presentation that he created for a friend who had taken pictures of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. :-) That was a hard act to follow. The good thing was that we weren't restricted to using the pictures we took in class. We could use any pics - the point of that night was to feature photo editing software. My favorite! I enjoy Photoshop Elements 5.0. It's much simpler to use then the full blown version of Adobe Photoshop but is more advance then the software that came with the camera (Canon ZoomBrowser). Having done this course - I'm interested in taking another one in the summer when the weather is much nicer for shooting pics.

rolling along

Hey guys - sorry for not posting this week. It's been hectic at work and home. Just one more week till my vacation - YAH!! Here's a brief summary of what I've been up to this week.

Crazy work schedule - with a launch of a new product for the corporation and the untimely absences of staff, my schedule this week was changed numerous times. On the most part I worked a lot of over time and am here at work right now (on a Saturday!). I'm burning out fast and am in dire need of a vacation.

Chicky was sent to Toronto this week to do some course training. He went by himself so he was a bit lonely. The weather over there was windy and with the time difference we didn't really talk either. No biggie as I usually don't talk to him during the week.

On Wednesday night I had my usual photography class. I can't believe it's gone by so fast. Next week is our last week. We did show-and-tell for the pictures that we took last week (Burnaby Mountain field trip) and did some macro and micro photography. :-) Basically fine tuning the art of taking pictures of pictures. This will come in handy when I'm not creative and can just buy a pack of post cards from Singapore or Malaysia and pretend that I was "there".

Thursday night I had dinner with Kininsky. He's having his 30th birthday dinner party tonight and since I'm having the dinner for Chicky - I can't come to his. We ate at Joeys Meditteranean Grill. The food was great. Got to catch up on what's going on in his life. Talk about photography, tech stuff and his friends.

Friday - had dinner with Chicky's family as his parents are off to Malaysia today. They went a week earlier than us. Got to see Logan and Brandon. Logan is growing nicely. He's such a deep sleeper for a newborn. Can sleep through anything! After dinner I went home to get my stuff as I figured there's no point in driving out to Richmond to pick up Chicky, going back to Coquitlam then going to work the next day. Might as well just sleep over and sea bus across in the morning.

Saturday - at work right now. Dinner tonight with Chicky.

shower of happiness

On Sunday I attended Charlene's bridal shower. Her great aunt hosted it in North Vancouver. The party was very sweet. Even the folks from the Island were able to come over for the day. We chatted about the wedding, plans for the future, opened some presents and ate some great food. Kate was a cutie and helped her Auntie Charlene with gift opening. I took a few pictures for Charlene as keepsakes. I can't believe she'll be a married woman in a couple of weeks! How time flies. :-) Then it's off to Paris for the 2 of them. I'm looking forward to hearing about the wedding and honeymoon in a month or so!

cool down

On Saturday I slept in till 1pm. It was much needed sleep as this week has been so hectic and I haven't been home at all! Crawling out of bed still groggy and feeling like I could use another 10-12 hours of sleep (that's what you get for having just 6 hours of sleep during weekdays) - I managed to gather my clothes and do some laundry. There were a lot of chores that had to be tackled as they were left over from the weekend before (when I didn't do them). By the time it was 5pm - I had gotten a good handle on the chores and was on my way to pick up my mom from work. Chicky came over, we cooked dinner and ate it. After that we headed over to Chris' place for a visit. He's moving this week so his home is full of boxes. Cindy's excited about the move and hopes her baby won't come during this week as she wants to just concentrate on moving. :-) We'll all keep our fingers crossed for her. I didn't get home till late though - as Cindy and I were chatting about motherhood, parenting, family, in-laws, etc for a few hours. I think I drank too much tea. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to sleep and miss out on Charlene's bridal shower the next morning.

La Rocco

On Friday night Tanya, Tracey, Shannon, Nicole and I went to La Rocco on Commercial Drive to celebrate Tracey's engagement. We all had a stressful week at work so were glad that we could vent to each other about it over some good wine. It took some time to settle on a restaurant and for everyone to get there (we had a few obstacles in our search for food). It's been awhile since the girls have sat down for dinner. It was nice to hear how everyone was doing, talk about the engagement and other girly stuff. :-) Hopefully we can do it again soon! I'll have to start up the dim sum thing after I get back from Malaysia.

golf & country club

On Thursday night I had dinner with Mary and Siew Kim at the Vancouver Golf & Country Club. The food and location was wonderful. Thursday night is all-you-can-eat-pasta night. The chefs prepare everything fresh for you. Mmm...so good. Plus you also got pick from a salad bar and a desert bar. I even befriended the Chef so I found out what the "secret" was to the delicious desserts. :-)

I enjoyed the evening with those ladies. It's always nice getting to know the "cousins" better. Most of the time I attend weddings from Chicky's family and am lost in the names and faces. I see the usual few and try to remember who they are and what they do. :-) Too bad we couldn't wear name tags! Before we knew it - 3 hours had passed by and it was time to go home.

night field trip

Tonight I went up to Burnaby Mountain with my photography class for a night field trip. When I got out of the car I instantly regretted not wearing my snow gear! It was FREEZING cold (at least it wasn't raining!). I went to my trunk - dug out whatever gym clothes I had in there (thank goodness I live out of my car!). Put on nearly 3 layers of clothes and still felt the crisp breeze. :-) Polyester work pants just don't cut it. I was feeling mighty sexy with my work pants tucked into my socks so that my sweat pants could fit over top. I wasn't planning on being infront of the camera tonight so it didn't really matter what I looked like - as long as I could still feel my fingers after half an hour then I'd call it a "good" night. I did use my camera bag as a fanny pack (for the first time) tonight as it was easier to move the tripod/camera around with it like that then having it continuously slip off my shoulder.

It was nice being up there and learning how to take pictures at night. I think that's one of the biggest challenges most of us have. Trying to get the right lighting. Most of my classmates were frozen after half an hour of shooting. We can't really wear gloves and fumble with little buttons on our cameras. It was so cold that some of us tried so share whatever toques/gloves we had with those that didn't have any. :-) Peter (the actor) sang show tunes at one point while some of us danced around to keep warm. He even lent me his toque for a bit so that my ears wouldn't fall off. Oh - the fun times! Actually it's fun hanging with them as we're all bending, crouching, crawling, etc in attempts to get the "perfect" angle for a shot. Plus we all have our own styles of photography so it's nice to look at other people's interpretation of the same scene. Too bad I didn't take any pictures of them "taking pictures" - as it's amusing watching people set up equipment or cope with the elements.

Here's a sample picture from tonight. See more here. In this picture my instructor is actually walking around under that tree and flashing it because it's REALLY dark outside (though you can't tell from the pic). You can't see him in the pic because he's moving. :-) Cool camera trick eh?

friends & family

Last night I had dinner with Chicky's family (without him). We celebrated Brandon's real birthday. The food was good and we talked about the upcoming Malaysia trip. Chicky's parents are heading out next week and we follow the week after that. The plans are coming together. Chicky booked our hotel in Singapore (it was fun deciding if we wanted to be cheapos and stay on the "red light district" or pay a bit more for a "normal" hotel). We went with the normal hotel. His parents booked us a 3 day tour to an island (Lankawi) which sounds really nice. Looking forward to that as well. :-) Where's my sunscreen?!

Tracey stopped by after work tonight. It was great to see her as I haven't seen in a couple of weeks an with the excitement of her engagement - she had to share the juicy details in person. She's such a sweetheart and it was hard not to share in the enthusiasm and delight in her voice/face. Shawn should be happy to have someone as caring as her for a wife!

After Tracey left, Thia stopped by to visit. :-) I had just gotten home and put on my jammies so it was nice to have the girls swing by. I've been trying to catch up with everyone as our lives are constantly changing and not everyone subscribes to blogging. Thia is doing well - she cut off off all her long hair. :-) I guess you don't need long hair after you get married right? We talked a bit about Nyah (as she went to visit Betty on the weekend) and also chit chatted about life in general. Thia is a very thoughtful girl too - always full of craft ideas! Hopefully we can have her and her husband over for another family poker game (cause I'm sure he'd love it).

Chuc Mung Nam Muoi

Happy New Year everyone! May this year bring you success in what you're pursuing, enough money to keep you happy and good health to keep you going.

Fu - Blessing, Good Fortune, Good Luck

Fu is one of the most popular Chinese characters used in Chinese New Year. It is often posted upside down on the front door of a house or an apartment. The upside down fu means good luck came since the character for upsite down in Chinese sounds the same as the character for came.

congrats Tracey

Congratulations to Tracey and Shawn who got engaged this weekend. :-) It's been a very good Chinese New Year. Lots of good news from all of the couples (an engagement and a new baby - who can beat that?!). We wish Tracey and Shawn many more years of happiness together! I'm looking forward to the wedding.

Happy Birthday Brandon

On Saturday Brandon celebrated his first birthday. The party was a success and everyone had fun. There was tons of food, drinks and presents for Brandon. It was great to see the cousins come out and play. Mary hosted the party at the Clubhouse complex in her mom's place. The Clubhouse is a great place to host a party as it's roomy but not not so spacious that people felt segregated. Here are some of the pics from the party.

Welcome Logan!

Congratulations to Michelle & Andy who gave birth to Logan on Saturday, Feb. 17th at 4:47am. Logan weighed in at 6.8lbs. Both mom and baby are doing well. Chicky and I went to visit with them this afternoon and got to take a few pictures. Not to worry though - Andy is a photo fanatic so I'm sure we'll get to many albums full of Logan, family and friends.

b-lated V-day

I spent a romantic Valentine's Day with my photography class and Chicky had volleyball. So in lieu of it all we went out for dinner and a movie on Friday night. Having been unsuccessful at getting into Cactus Club - we took our chances at Kefi. Neither of us have been there before. Plus we didn't want to wander far away from the theatre area. It was getting pretty late and I was starving! The greek food was good and the line up was not too bad. After dinner we went over to the theatre to watch Ghost Rider. I think it's about time Nicolas Cage retired from action flicks. I swear he had a body double in the movie! :-)

Nyah

Sunday afternoon we went over to visit Betty & Hanif. They had other guests at their home as well so it was quite the crowd hovering over little Nyah. :-) We all wanted to hold, touch, take pictures of her - and all got a chance to do so. Betty is pretty good with letting everyone handle Nyah - which is a good thing as Betty wants her to be an "easy" baby. Even when she's not feeling up to par - Betty still wants to be the good hostess and was on her feet trying to serve people snacks and drinks. She didn't listen to our protests and advice that she should be sitting and taking it easy. :-) Betty - the mini-Martha-Stewart.

Nyah loves attention - she was alert and awake the whole time. She's such a cute little baby! A good weight and a head full of hair! Nyah is doing well - eating tons and sleeping lots (well - as much as a newborn normally does). I don't think they'll have any problems keeping her a chubby baby! Here's a preliminary picture. Betty is doing well - coping with motherhood and side effects of having a C-section. She's got a good support system and many helpers (as this is the first grandchild for both her family and Hanif's). We wish Betty all the best for a speedy recovery! I'm sure there will be even more pictures in the weeks to come.

paparazzi

On Sunday morning, Chicky and I got up early and headed downtown with our camera equipment in tow. I had a photography field trip and Chicky was going to be my lens-and-tripod-caddy. The weather was not so idealistic (cold and raining). I was cold just walking from Chicky's place to the meeting spot (Vancouver Art Gallery). We found our group easily - just looked for the group of tripod set up on the street.

We spent an hour with the group taking pictures of various things. Because we were right across the street from the gallery, on-lookers stopped by to ask us questions about what we were doing or if a movie star was in town. :-) I think it was because most of the time our cameras were pointed across the street and there were some white tents set up at the Gallery (for the unveiling of the VANOC clock).

If you want to see some of the pictures we took that day - go here.

baby shower

Saturday afternoon was Cindy's baby shower. Josie, Charlene and I organized it and it was a good turn out. We ate, played games and talked about all the womanly stuff involved in pregnancy, birth and parenting. It also gave every one a chance to catch up with each other. We're all excited about the arrival of baby-Lee! Hopefully not too soon though! :-)

Chris has been sweet enough to post the pictures for me. Check out the pictures here:
http://www.pbase.com/cindyandchrislee - password: elsa

how romantic are you?

I was just looking at the Womens Health website to see if there are any interesting articles about health and fitness. Came across a quiz and couldn't resist. I'm sucker for all those "what are you" kind of surveys/quizzes.

So with Valentine's Day pending - how romantic are you?

day off

I took the day off today to run some errands with Josie. Went out to Richmond to have lunch with Chicky. Took some time to find a location that wasn't too busy as he had the get back to work. We ended up having lunch at Tropika - food was alright.

After lunch I met up with Josie at her parent's house. Josie had been training for the Sun Run this morning so Katarina was hanging out with her mom in the meantime.

Each time I see Katarina - she's so much bigger. Right now she's so curious about everything and likes to crawl towards stuff and put it into her mouth. She's in that stage where everything she gets her hands on goes straight into her mouth for further investigation. :-)

It's always nice hanging out with Josie as she's chipper and speaks her mind. All good qualities. :-) Now to find time to meet up with the rest of the girls for more bonding!

it's a girl!

Congratulations Betty & Hanif!

It's a girl! Oh no - I had guessed it was going to be a boy. :-) That's alright though - girl stuff is so much cuter to buy!

B&H welcomed the newest addition to their family on Feb. 7th at 10:13pm. The baby's name is "Nyah" and weighed in at 8.5lbs! Wow - that's a big baby considering her mommy is barely 5 feet tall. :-) I haven't seen Nyah yet but hopefully will be able to visit this weekend. Pictures to come.

It's been a week and I haven't written anything in here. Duh - sorry about that. Nothing really exciting happened on the weekend. Just hung out with my family. The upcoming weekend will be full of events to blog about though. Check in next week for updates.

I do write in my photography blog though if you guys are in dire need of reading something from me. Most of it is about pictures, etc - nothing worth gossiping about.

I'm having fun with my photography class and really enjoy the class, student and teacher. My instructor cares about us (must be the fact that there's only 5 of us in the class). I missed last weeks class as I was so sleep deprived that I fell asleep before class and didn't wake up till the next day. Glen (the teacher) called my cell phone the next day to see how I was. I didn't have time to reply to his message (partially out of guilt as well). So on Friday he called back to see why I hadn't returned his call the night before. I told him the truth and he was nice enough to give me the whole photography lesson on the phone. It was strange but useful doing it that way. He didn't want me to be behind in class. :-) I'm always the (last) one walking in exactly at 7pm and everyone has to wait for me before the class starts. Ah...such a bad student. In my defence I attribute it to travel time from North Vancouver and not knowing where to park when I get to the school and not knowing how to find the classroom. :-) Thank goodness for the PDA (has all my class information on it).

khai

On Tuesday Chicky and went out for dinner at Khai on Seymour and Robson. It was Thai food with flare! The restaurant is nicely decorated in traditional Thai fixtures. The waitresses are pretty in their traditional costumes as well. :-) Yes - I enjoy my food more when it's presented to me by good looking people!

We ended up ordering an appetizer sampler. Spring rolls, calamari, fish cakes and an unknown purple-flower-looking thing (can't really see it in the pic). I made Chicky be the guinea pig. The purple mass turned out to be some kind of rice roll with a sweet filling. I would rank it as a dessert than as an appetizer. For our main course Chicky order "chicken with garlic rice". What he envisioned was not what appeared on our table. :-) Oh well...learning experience. I went with my usual "spicy green beans" dish. Can't go wrong with that...or can you?! The waitress asked me how hot I wanted it - so I said..."sure...make it hot". Ah...my version of hot and theirs is totally different. Chicky and I were in tears after a couple of bites. We frowned at our food (as neither of us was really satisfied) and managed to eat as much as we could. My dish was too spicy so we had to compensate with more rice, water and slurping down Chicky's MSG soup.

The food wasn't as good as Green Basil. I think I'll take Chicky there sometime so that he can compare. :-)

time flies

On Saturday we celebrated Chris' 30th birthday. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. It seemed like just yesterday that we were all gathered in Chris' basement and playing video games. Duh...wait...that was yesterday! :-) Well - some things haven't changed much. I'm happy to have been able to celebrate many of the big milestones in his life. Looking forward to celebrating your big 4-0!

Chris has been sweet enough to organize the pictures into one central location. Check them out here.

http://www.pbase.com/cindyandchrislee - PASSWORD: elsa

high 5s

I was watching the Oprah show today with KA. It's one talk show that I don't mind as the content is not full of crap and most of the stories are inspiring. In the Oprah mode - I went to her website to see what else she offers. I found this - might be good for you gals to read.

High Fives!

• 5 books everyone should read at least once
• 5 things you can do for your relationship
• 5 friends every woman should have
• 5 ways to get a life
• 5 quotes to open your heart
  

to the next level

Good news - I got the Analyst level 2 position. I'm pretty happy with the promotion. More work with a minimal increase in pay. Whooppee!! Just kidding - it's all good. The work has not changed and realistically I haven't felt a difference in what I did last week as a level 1 analyst to this week as a level 2. I do notice more requests for reports though - blah. :-) As long as I'm moving up the corporate ladder is all that counts.

word of the day

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed but I've changed my side bar again on this blog. It's one part of the blog structure that consistently changes. This year's focus is on "learning". I recognize that I have a vocabulary of a child and realistically can't converse at the adult level. It also doesn't help that I speak in acronyms at work and write in point form. So what better way to educate myself (and those that care to look to the right of this post) then present a new word daily? The good thing is that I don't have to generate these words. They come off of my Google webpage. Yes- I've customized Google so that it has all kinds of silly things on my home page. From intellectual stuff like Word of The Day to silly stuff like my horoscope. So look over once in awhile because you can learn a thing or 2!

how smart are you?

Just because Frank mentioned how sporatic the topics of my blogs are and in turn how entertaining they can be (depending on what's on my mind that day). Everyone elses blog seem to have a central theme (relationships, family, kids, food, work, news, etc). I'm still working on what my central theme is to this blog. :-) For now you'll just have to deal with the random thoughts.

I'll throw this in for those of you who enjoy a challenge (or like to boast that you're smarter than the rest of us).

How smart are you? Well - click here to find out.

photography class

Tonight was my first night of photography class. I had a great time and learned many things. I'm taking night classes at Centennial Highschool in Coquitlam. I didn't know where the school was and had not given myself extra time for detours. When I finally found it - it was 7pm and I still had to figure out parking. I haven't been in a highschool in so long and felt lost. I was lost! Luckily I stumbled across a reception desk and the guy there pointed me in the right direction - to the "main" reception desk! Duh! After a few more wrong turns I walked into the classroom.

My class consists of 5 other students and the instructor. All of us have digital cameras. This other guy and myself have the same camera but in different colors. There were 2 extended zoom cameras and a couple that shared an Olympus SLR. The skill level really varied. The lady with the Canon A630 (extended zoom) was delighted to have learned that she can twist her view finder (I think she's the least skilled in the class). While my camera twin was busy switching lenses - he had 3 different ones (most skilled). The guy with the S3 had a memory card problem so I lent him the one from my little camera (sad to say but I carry 3 SD cards in my bag). The class took note of my little camera and commented on it. I told them that my Canon SD500 is my "every day" camera and the SLR is for "special" occasions.

You can find out what I learned in my class in my photo blog. :-) Usually people who read this blog (versus my other one) aren't really interested in the gory details of that class. Don't worry - I won't bore you.

Ponchos

On Tuesday night I met up with Chicky for dinner at Ponchos. It's a little Mexican restaurant on Denman. My coworker had recommended that I try it.

Getting downtown was a hassle (one of the reasons why Chicky and I don't see each other during the week - traffic). I'm not fond of Lions Gate Bridge in general and try not to cross it if necessary. When I got to the other side - I discovered to my dismay that the traffic lights were out service. It was a grid lock around Chicky's place. I finally got to his apartment and waited for him to get home. I'm off work pretty early (at least a couple of hours before Chicky) so I had stopped by the gym before heading downtown. So you can imagine what being tired and hungry did for my road rage. After 1/2 hour, Chicky's car pulls up to the building and I follow him in.

We decided to drive over to Denman because it was raining and I didn't feel like walking in the cold. Normally I would insist on walking anywhere in the downtown core from Chicky's place as it's so close to the main streets. Chicky's not so fond of walking and grumbles when I make him do it.

Ponchos is a quaint little restaurant. Full of Mexican flare. We decided to order the "dinner for 2" and keep things simple. While we waited for our meal, we got spicy salsa and taco chips...yummy! The meal that came out was alright. There was a lot of cheese on everything. I don't know if real mexicans eat that much cheese. I don't seem to remember cheese being melted on our quesadillas when we were in Puerto Vallarta. Oh well - it was good food. The meat was a bit chewy for my liking but everything else was good. I wouldn't mind going there again.

So in my mexican mode - I made mango salsa tonight! I haven't had a chance to eat it yet but will do so tomorrow. Nothing like mango salsa with ("hint of lime") tortilla chips.

your road sense

Last week was focused on education. I attended 4 courses at work.

1. Listening in a Hectic World
2. Speaking to Influence Others
3. Principles of Insurance
4. Driver Licensing

I had a great time in these courses and learned many tidbits about myself and the company. I've been with the company for almost 8 years now (wow - time sure flies!!) and have worked in various departments. There are still parts of the business that I'm unfamiliar with. Here was an opportunity to get an general overview of some of the other departments.

1. The listening class. I discovered that I have very high "filters" and tend not to listen in great detail about anything in particular. Therefore the best way to relay info to me is visually! I took this other test to see what kind of information I listen to. I scored really low (0) on the "listening to build relationships" category. Duh! But scored high under "listening to authority" and "listening to task related items". :-) I guess I develop select listening when it comes to friends talking! The instructor was quite surprised by my results as she knows I'm highly involved in 2 social clubs and figured that I must care about people and therefore want to listen to their concerns. She was wrong! Muahhaaa...it's all about me me me!!!

2. In the speaking class I continued my rebelish ways and didn't listen to most the instructions - not on purpose though. I was absorbed with recruiting new social club members and missed out on what the instructor said. Duh...didn't learn anything from the listening class! Lol - in my own silly self confidence I found myself sitting and speaking to the class (instead of exerting confidence and standing while speaking). Tip: when speaking to an audience of peers - stand up as they will listen to you if you're visually bigger than them. When the observation was made later I said it was because I had the loudest voice in the room and figured people could hear me fine from where I sat (plus I was already comfortable in my chair and was too lazy to stand up). I use to have fear of public speaking but now it's alright for me. No more of that paper-shaking-in-hands syndrome. Some of you may not believe it but there was a time when Kimmi would turn bright red and studder if someone called her name out in class and she had to answer. Nowadays it's a matter of other people trying to get a word in edgewise.

3. The insurance class was interesting. We learned about general insurance and contracts, etc. All contracts have the same 4 principles. There's a loop hole in the contractual system. Start screaming "Contra proferentem" and you'll be free from those annoying gym contracts. Also learned about other types of insurance and reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies). There's a big market for reinsurance. There's huge job market for actuarians. :-) Looking for a career change? That is the road to go down!

4. Licensing was a fun class. We learned about the Graduated Licensing Program. The changes that were made to it and future changes down the road. It's getting tougher and tougher for kids to drive these days. But on a off topic note...here are a few facts that you probably didn't know.

• Anyone can be called in for a driving reexamination (not just old foggies). All it takes is for a neighbor/relative to snitch to us about your bad driving habits. The kicker is that if you fail - you have to go through the GLP (graduated licensing program) again!
• The only time your eyes are tested is when you first get your license - after that we just assume you have perfect vision for the rest of your driving life. What kind of system is that?!
• If you come from Japan or South Korea - you can hand over your license and we'll give you a BC one (without testing). But if your from Mexico - you can forget about that...off to the testing room you go! We let American swap licenses but if you want to swap licenses in California - you have to get tested first!
• We require that you have an "L" for 24 months (and be restricted to driving with someone 25+ years old) before getting your "N". But there's a loop hole in the system. You can get your class 6 (motorcycle) license within 30 days and be free to ride on your own. You can exit the GLP on the class 6 license (meaning a shorter waiting period).
  

Do you have Road Sense? Do you think you could pass the Learners test if you had to write it again? Test out your knowledge here. This is only a practice test. I wrote the "real" one last year (was "fixing" one of the testing stations and had to run a test) and FAILED! Thank god it wasn't recorded.

Lol - I got my license in Saskatoon. I ran over a curb during the driving test. If a pedestrian was on the curb they would have been dead and I wouldn't even realize it till the hard thud sound f the wheels rolling over them. :-) I'm morbid. The driver examiner told me that I needed more practice but he'd pass me anyhow. Yippee!!! And I didn't even have to pay him - ahem...Dragon Driving School. I don't think any of my school mates failed their driving tests. One of them even crashed into a fence and was cleared for a license. Lol...license-to-kill maybe...But then again - in those days we did driving as part of our highschool curriculum. So many fond memories of hours spent in the simulators behind a washing-machine-type-of-box watching "the street" on a screen at the front of the room and pretending to drive. A very (embarrassingly) LOW tech simulator. Lol - only Tanya will grin and know what I'm talking about.

shower of love

Sunday afternoon Mary and I attended Michelle's baby shower. We had just had dim sum with the girls and rushed over to get some little cakes to bring to the party. We thought that we'd be late but it turned out that we were early. I helped Yen with packaging the goody bags. Then Sue asked me to blow up some balloons. My hot air was being put to use for once! I took some pictures of the girls preparing the place. Sue and Yen hosted the party. They are very creative and gave me some good tips. Michelle's cousins came over and we all chit chatted for a few hours. I can't believe how big Chicky's family is. Lol - it was nice to see everyone though. I totally sucked at the party games. Obviously I can't recognize Mary as a baby and can't decipher Andy's name on a word scramble! I think I was in a constant state of eating on Sunday. The food at Michelle's party was too good to pass up. :-)

dim sum

On Sunday we had our monthly girls dim sum get together. This month we ate at Sun Sui Wah in Vancouver. Anticipating a super long wait - Mary and I went there an hour early to line up. There was no one in the restaurant. We sat at a table for10 and drank tea. Other patrons in the restaurant kept looking over at us. I think the waitresses were wondering if we were there to drink (free) tea the whole time or if we were actually going to order. Luckily the girls came later and joined us. We were spared from having to defend our table against seisure by the hungry mob at the front door. It didn't help that our table was near the door - not only were the hostesses looking over, the crowd were eyeing us suspiciously too! Must have looked funny - 2 girls sitting at such a big table, sipping on tea for an hour!

It was great to see everyone. Mary and Cindy are doing well with their pregnancies. Cindy had a bit of a scare last week but all is well now. She's off from work and intends on spending time making cookies. Katarina came and entertained us all. I had to take a picture with her - I totally adore her! I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the girls. Oopps! Tracey has a new digital camera and is putting it to use. Shannon has a new haircut. It's really stylish though she misses her long hair dearly. Jenny announced that she's getting married this summer. This was wonderful news - her honey is moving so fast! Lol - just to prove that you don't need long engagements (a couple of months will do). Charlene is in a flux with her wedding plans - all is going on schedule though. Josie joked about getting pregnant this summer. We think it'll for sure happen though. I hoping that we can continue with this tradition as it helps brings the girls (and myself) closer. Though we all admit that we read each others blogs frequently and are some-what up to date on what's going on with everyone. Some day Tracey will have her blog ready for us to peruse through *hint hint*. :-)

craft corner

This week I've been a bit obsessed with card making. I go through phases when it comes to crafts. I think it's KA's influence as she's been working on her wedding invitations and it made me get the I-want-to-make-something itch. So I went out and bought some supplies and sat down tonight to see if I could get inspired. Here are a few of the cards I made. Nothing spectacular but it's been a learning experience. Glue stick is STICKY!! Gets all over the table and then things get stuck to it. :-) It's fun going to Micheals Craft store and Staples. I LOVE stationary. There are days when I even wish we could go back to snail-mail, just so that I can buy cute stationary! But then again I'm tech-dependant and can't live without email either. Tomorrow I'm going to try out "embossing". I picked up some rubber stamps in my shopping spree. I have to say though...wired ribbon is the BEST. Totally makes things look better.

email jail

I went to a meeting this afternoon on Email. Here's where you ask yourself "how can someone talk about email tips for 3 hours?!" As techs (I use this term loosely) - we're scheduled to attend meetings on all kinds of topics. Some are relevant - others are a waste of time. Which reminds - I'm scheduled to present next week on a new digital camera that our estimators got this year. Think...think...how to make it interesting.... The awesome thing is that so far (knock on wood), I've only had to do presentations on hardware (cameras, PDAs and cellphones) - which gives me an opportunity to take the stuff home and play with it first!

At work, email is of great concern. Everything from length, size, quantity and quality. I get an average of 100 work-related items cycling through my Inbox per day (this is not counting the personal emails that I send out to you guys!). We use MS Outlook - which I love and adore as I use it a home too. My coworkers and I use all the tricks of the trade to manage the volume of information. From intricate rules that forward messages to subfolders (or sub-sub-folders), filtered views and color coding. Just by sheer volume, I can't keep up with what's being sent to me and most times end up doing the ALT-A --> Delete at the end of each month. Through all of this I've learned that the subject line is the KEY between getting your message dumped and having someone read it.

Here are some interesting things from the meeting: (stats from Email Labs)

• 43.3% of emails are 20-79KB
• most popular day to:
• send emails = tuesday (26.7%)
• send time = 9am (19.1%)
  
• open emails = wednesday (22.8%)
• open time = 11am (7.3%)
• only 4% of the US population personalizes their emails (with a "signature")
• of those that personalize - 76% use 5 points or less (name, job title, phone number, etc)
• when and where online users check their emails
• when
• first thing in the morning (41%)
• in the middle of the night (40%)
• where
• in bed (23%)

So just by looking at those stats...I fall right into the cultural "norm". :-)

going googley

Just when you thought blogging was the end of it. I've discovered the amazing world of Google Calendar. Yes - Google is starting to rule my life the way MS Outlook does. I've posted my life online now for all of you to view. :-) The great feature about Google Calendar is that I can import my MS Outlook calendar into it. Saves me so much time! Just click on the Calendar button below or under the See More section of my blog. :-)

let the celebrations begin

Saturday was Hanif's birthday. His birthday party is the first of the parties that we'll be attending for 2007. Betty was sweet enough to cook us dinner. After working all day, she came home and whipped up a tons of food (Betty style) for us. When I got to her house (at 8pm) she was still slaving away in the kitchen. I grined as it was quite the sight. Big belly and a bit too short to see what's inside all the pots she had going on the stove - she was on her tippy-toes trying to figure out if the curry was done. She made curry and pasta. She was trying to appease those that liked asian food (Minh) and those that like western food (Hanif).

It was nice to just have the kids hang out. We talked and caught up on what's going on with the baby. Hanif is excited and wanted Betty to give birth on his birthday. Betty's due in 2 weeks. Wow - how time flies! She's ready for the baby to come out though. I think she's tired of being pregnant. She says the baby is already 8lbs and we joked about her having a 10lb baby (naturally!). I insisted on taking some pictures of her - took much persuasion from the my sisters though as Betty has not been into taking pictures during her pregnancy. I told her that she would regret it years down the road - when her kid is all grown up. She didn't think so. Lol - I didn't care, I took some anyways! That's the great thing about being "family" - we don't really care what you think because we'll just continue to do what we want to do without hesitation.

After dinner the group had a few rounds of poker. I lost all my chips in the first hand! Boohoo.... Those guys and their over betting pre-flop!!! It was like almost ALL IN for the 3 of us (who were adamant about calling each other's bluffs) before the flop even happened. So having been eliminated in the first 5 minutes - I went to the kitchen with Angelina to see if we could make dessert. Betty was exhausted from cooking and playing hostess. The girls didn't last too long in the game - just a few hours. Soon most of the girls just went to bed. Betty joined Angelina in bed after giving up on the boys. KA and I crashed on the couches. By 5am the boys finally drew their game to a close and we all got up to go home. Thanks for dinner and many hours of entertainment Betty/Hanif!

green basil

Tonight I went out for dinner with Tanya, Tracey and Shannon. It was a bit of a last minute thing and after much confusion we managed to gather our thoughts and come up with a plan. Due to traffic and coming from various locations - we ended up meeting at Metrotown. Tanya was already there doing a bit of shopping.

Tanya's coworker recommended a new Thai restaurant across the street from Superstore at Metrotown. The name of the place is Green Basil. We all left our cars in the safety of the mall and jay-walked across the street. The weather was nippy and we were hungry. It was nearly 8:45pm when we got to the restaurant.

We sat down and looked at the menu. All the food sounded yummy! I see the waiter walk over and I'm puzzled for a second as he looks so familiar. I'm horrible at remembering people's names! He sees me and grins. Now I know that he knows me! So he walks up and says "cashew chicken?" to me. Then it hits me. Thai House - North Vancouver! Across from work is a Thai House. I go there at least once a week and always have the same dish - special #19 (cashew chicken). I burst out laughing at the relization that Eric (the waiter) has ended up here. There was a change in management at the Thai House and they let go of all the waiters. Which really sucked as part of the reason why we liked going there was that Rav (my coworker) was good friends with all the waiters and they'd give us "perks" (usually in the form of icecream). Being my nutty self - I wanted Eric to take a picture with us so that I could show my coworkers that I ran into him. Lol...that amused some of the other waiters. Then another guy came up to us and I recognize him as well (another ex-thai-house-waiter). I can't remember his name and can't cheat as he's not wearing a name tag here. I know he's the shy one though and doesn't talk often. Anyhow it was fun to see them as it just shows what a small world is it. Plus we got big scoops of icecream at the end of our meal because of Eric. Bonus!

It was nice to get out with the girls and chit chat about girl stuff. There was a lot of candid moments and giggles around the table. Good food and good friends - the best combination! I'm looking foward to doing more of this with the rest of the girls this year.

new blog look

I've finally been granted access to the new blog look. It's so much nicer. Things publish faster, it's much more user friendly. The interface is better as well. Only inconvenience was having to create a Google account in order to make the switch. I'm not use to the labels section yet. Don't know what to put into that field..

dark times

On Tuesday we lost power to the house. I'm not sure if it's our location but we've lost power about 4 times in the last month. I've learned that I can't sit still and furthermore suffer from technology withdraw when there's no electricity.

I came home to a house/street/neighbourhood lit with candles. The irredescant glow was mesmerizing, almost to the point of being eary. I found myself wrestless as my family was plague with indecisions. No power = no cooking = no food. So the debate was whether to venture out to a restaurant or order in. I gave up on them and went to play with the laptop. It only had an hour worth of battery life on it. I couldn't blog - no power to modem = no internet.

When the power died on the laptop, I picked up my camera and started shooting random pictures. Soon the camera battery indicator was flashing. Mental note to self - keep all electronic toys charged! The flash on the SLR works wonderful - lights up the room. But it must of have looked weird to the neighbors as it's so dark and all of a sudden you would see these flashes coming from inside our house. Plus there was one point where I was taking pictures of our street from the safety of my living room. Now that must have looked strange from outside.

Eventually we made our way to Westwood Cafe. It was packed - I guess there were other people who had the same idea. Westwood Cafe has become my parents favorite eating spot. The food is good there and the prices aren't bad. Hopefully the power will be reliable for the rest of the week! If not then it's more opportunities to eat out!

snacking

I was just looking at some of the food-centered blogs out there and began thinking that I should cook more. Many of you are great cooks and are having lots of fun experimenting with recipes. I haven't done much cooking since moving back home. Realistically - I barely cook as there's always food in the fridge (between my mom and my sister cooking). I use to go to these cooking-get-togethers and "learn" how to cook different things. It use to be over at Michelle's house or at one of the other girls. Tracey and Frank tried to start up a little cooking club but I haven't seen a recent meeting from them. Maybe I should should spice up the dim sum routine with the girls and have some cooking nights. Of course I loved things that are themed - therefore we'll have cooking themes! Don't quite know how to work it around everyone's schedules though but we can figure that out later. Here's a good dip recipe I got from my coworker.

Recipe for Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
6 Mangos (not too ripe) (peeled and stone removed)
2 Red Peppers
2 Green Peppers
1 Red Onion
1 Bundle of Cilantro
4 Limes
Jalapenos (I just use the jar ones)
2 tbsp honey (or more...)
**************************************************************************
1. Chop mangos, peppers, onion into a bite size pieces.
2. Combine the chopped ingredients.
3. Chop cilantro into fine pieces and add to the above ingredients.
4. Drain and chop jalapenos into fine pieces also and mix into the mango mixture.
5. Squeeze the limes into the mango mixture and add honey and blend it into the mixture. Try the salsa...might have to add more honey and or some more lime juice....

**Serve with Taco Chips**

2007 toys

I'm estatic!!! Chicky bought the Canon Rebel XTi for me yesterday! He's so sweet! Everyone knew I wanted a dSLR camera and for the past 2 weeks we've been debating between the Canon Rebel and the Canon S3. One justification for the camera was that I wanted better pictures from vacationing. Now I'm looking forward taking some photography courses and going out with some of my photo enthusiast friends to learn more.


He got the lens kit and an extra telephoto lens for the camera. I couldn't wait to come home and test it out. We went to the mall to get a bag for the gear. Initially I wanted a backpack. But after holding it - I realized that it's WAY too big to carry around on our trip. So we continued the search. Our journey ended at Kerrisdale Cameras. I picked up a Lowepro runner pack. It was the most compact bag that I found that allowed for easy access to the equipment. :-) Plus I can wear it like a purse! Because it's a runner's pack - it has a waist belt. Chicky insists I carry my own camera when traveling. We ordered a compact flash card but it won't be delivered till next week. Chicky picked up a CF card at FutureShop but it's over price when compared to the web one. But can I return the CF card when all I want to do is shoot pictures?!

Chicky proclaimed that he believed in fate yesterday. When he went to buy my camera at Futureshop and low and behold there was a PS3 staring back at him. It was the only one in the whole store. So he saw it as a sign and bought it. It's so shiny! Of course there's no games for it so he went out and bought a game. Poor Chicky sat on my livingroom floor for 2 hours wondering if it was a good choice to purchase the PS3. He stared at it for a long time before finally cracking the seal. :-) Now we'll both have things to play with on the weekend!

stage 3

Stage 3 - the interview. Today I had my interview for the Analyst 2 postion. This was the final stage in the hiring process. The journey has been long but I feel confident that it went well. When they scheduled the interview for 1.5 hours - I was astonished. What in the world could I say or do to fill up that time?! So anxiety set in. Luckily they only gave us 2 days notice for the interview - not enough time to get really paranoid. I expected it to be the standard panel interview consisting of behavioural based questions ("give us an example of when...."). I walked into the room after having a filling lunch. Shook hands with the panel, straigtened my suit, smiled and sat down to begin the grilling. I was happy that it was only 13 questions. Lucky number 13! From past experience with panel interviews, I was not at all nervous or surprised with the methodology. I got into my comfort zone and ended up talking for more than 1.5 hours. :-) Ooops...I can go on a tangent if someone doesn't keep me in check.

I know many of us have gone though many interviews. I've been working since I was 15 years old. The majority of my teenage working life consisted of 2 jobs at a time therefore I have an array of interview experiences. Here are some of the more interesting interview scenerios I've gone though - just for laughs.

• Canadian Airlines - 5 stage interview
• stage 1 - reaching for a box up high without shoes. There's a height requirement for all airline attendants. Yah - finally something that I am good at...being tall! Imagine hundreds of pretty girls lined up with high heeled shoes on having thier dreams of flying around the world shattered when told that they can't do the test with shoes on! Good bye mile high club!
  
• stage 3 - panel interview - this was my first experience with a real panel interview where 8 other contestants were present. We lined up in a row and the 6 judges asked each of us the same questions. Really sucked if you were first or last as your answer had to be "unique" so that it didn't appear that you just said the same thing as the person before you. It was more intimidating as the recorders were walking around the room taking notes on what we said.
• Banquet waitress - balance test
• unlike regular waitresses, banquet waitressing requires you to serve 30+ people food at once. Which means you have to be able to stack an absurd number of plates down your arm. Amazingly I had the ability to do that and even survived it when the plates were COOKED to provide maximum heat for the customers. That's when you layer your left arm with cloth napkins and pray to god that the 4 dinner plates you have stacked on that arm don't burn through!
  
• Behavioral therapist - video taped interview
• I was invited over to interact with the child - basically try to engage him in "play". They forgot to mention that they would video tape the whole thing so that they could review it later. :-) After I worked more with austic kids I realized how important it is to select the right therapist as that person plays an integral part of your child's development.
  
• ICBC - mail services
• part of the selection process involved a physical test. It was like highschool gym all over again! I did a reach test, lifted a 50lb weight and carried it a metre.
• ICBC - help desk
• voice test - yes...it's not just what I know about computers...it's also how sexy I can sound while instructing you to reboot! Just kidding - my line of work is all about how you convey information...not about what is actually said.
  

tickle me

Last Friday Robyn brought in her Xmas gift. She got the new Tickle Me Elmo. For a 21 year old - I thought that was a strange gift. :-) But then again...it's Robyn...anything goes with her. She brought it into work just for me as I had mentioned that I saw it at Toys R Us during the Xmas season and didn't know what the big deal was. So she cleared my desk and we demonstrated the product for the rest of the work crew. Well - let me tell you...that thing is so COOL! He laughs, spins around, waves, screeches "again again", falls down, slaps the ground and stands back up (not necessarily in that order). I was remarkably impressed with the way he did extended dog (to stand back up). :-) We tried out all 3 modes. As each mode progresses, the Elmo gets more demonically possessed. It was hilarious. I giggled and tickled him each time he prompted me too. This toy is definately fun to play with but the potential for it to be annoying is high.

I took a verbal survey of robotic toys that intrigued us techies. Top contenders were:

• Sony dog - it has voice recognition
• Raptor - it has AI
  
• Elmo - for small children
• Honda robot - for those who wanted to really SPLURGE on a toy

Though I would KILL for that Teddy Bear in the movie AI!! He'd be the ulitimate gift for me!

all skin

I think this is a pretty good deal. I picked up 3 IPOD video silicone skins (red, black and white) at XS Cargo (Westwood mall) today. All for the price of $14.95. :-) They come with a pretty good screen protector (durable plastic). I still have the original plastic that it came with still stuck on - more for reassurance than for practicality. I've wrapped my baby in white (my favorite color). :-) I like the ridges on the sides - makes gripping the device much easier.

resolving to

New Year's wouldn't be complete without a list of New Year Resolutions! I don't know about the rest of you but my list tends to be short and detailed. It's the factual-type of personality that I possess. Like everyone else, I get really GUNG HO (key phrase here) into the resolutions at the beginning of the year but all hope of adhering to them diminishes as the weeks pass by. So here goes...for 2007 I resolve to:

• drink more water (1L a day)
• excerise (3x a week - get back into hot yoga)
• take 1 "fun" course to save my sanity (photography or sewing)
• adhere to a budget (spend less on dining out and entertainment)
• "read" 3 books for pleasure (not audiobooks)
  

In the past I focused on being happy and the ways in which I could attain that. This year I'll refocus on being healthy. Happiness has been subjective and inconsistent. I can not measure whether or not I'm more happy today then I was yesterday. Unlike health - I can measure my weight and say "nope...I weigh more today then I did yesterday!"

Happy New Year

2007 is upon us! This year is the Year of the Pig.

I rang in the new year at home. We had a quiet night at my house. Chicky and I had dinner with my parents at Westwood Cafe. The 4 of us ate a lot of seafood. After that we went home. I worked on some computer stuff and he surfed the web. We ran upstairs to count down with the TV and said our Happy New Years to each other. A quick kiss then it was back downstairs to our beloved computers. I think both of us are a bit too obsessed with them.

As the years pass by - the number of fancy Christmas and New Year's Eve parties lessens. For us it wasn't a matter of not having somewhere nice to go - it was a matter of how much moolah we wanted to spend. We're trying to budget more this year. Both of us suffer from impulsive buying disorder. There's no cure for us. In the interim we have to just remind each other that instant gratification is not the way out and that good things come to those who wait. Enough with the cliches though. I hope everyone else rang in the new year with family, friends or both. Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2007!