number crunchers

Did you guys ever play that game in school? It was a dorky computer game where a pacman like creature went around and ate fractions. Why am I talking about this? Oh - I just committed myself to another semester at Douglas College. Back to school time again. I feel like I'm a perpetual student. Realistically I never stop feeling like it. The schooling goes on and on without any light at the end of this academic tunnel. So what have we committed ourselves to for the next 3 months? Business Mathmatics. What does that have to do with anything I'm doing at work? ZIP. Why in the world would I take it? Because I have to (part of my program). In other academic news - I've been peer pressured into signing up for programming courses through work. I had my Performance Review last month. Once a year we get to "discuss" with our managers and supervisors on our work performance for the whole year, write a pretty little report and plan for my goals and expectations for the coming year. The underlying emphasis I've been getting is that they want me to UP my technical abilities. Unfortunately I don't score as well in that area. Boohoo...lol...just kidding - doesn't hurt my feelings as it's not shocking news. As you move up the ranks of being an analyst - the expectation is that you'll also be more technical than the junior staff (duh!). So 2007/2008 is dedicated to "training". Which equates to numerous programming and technical courses. I'm kind of looking forward to it (operative word here is "kind of"). I like to learn new things and if they're willing to pay for it then it's just topping on my cake!

Herman the German Giant

So my sister sent me an Happy Easter email the other day about Herman the German Giant. I'm intrigued by the picture and follow the link. Turns out it's about a giant breed of bunnies. That's right folks - that picture has not been digitally enhanced! Isn't he so cuddly looking? I'm sure I'd throw out my back trying to hug him - that or have him bite me - but he's so interesting looking that I want to touch him!

Right about now you're probably thinking to yourself: "I don't really care". :-) But I do! Lol - I'm always interested in naturally oddities. Which includes but is not limited to: medical miracles, new things discovered in space, people who have unique gifts, new inventions or gadgets (of course!) and anything else that has a "cool" or "gross" factor. As you can tell I was one of those little kids who pulled bugs limbs apart because I wanted to see what color their blood. Poor bugs - they were my favorite test subjects. :-) That's one thing we had lots of in Saskatoon - bugs. That and there wasn't that many things to do while growing up on the Prairies except for torturing insects - or maybe that was just me...

I'm a BIG fan of the Discovery Channel though. It's right up there with YTV and the Cartoon Network. :-) Can't live without my cartoons either. What is your favorite TV channel? Or do you even watch TV at all?

happy Easter

My family is doing Easter dinner today. Since it's Monday and everyone had to go back to work - except for me - I was in charge of cooking the big meal. So early this morning I went out to Save On Foods, pick up a butterball turkey (my favorite kind) and some other food. Came home and started thinking about what to make. The turkey was still frozen so that was a pain in the ass - had to run hot water over it for awhile for it to thaw out enough so that I could remove the innards. After some thought I started making garlic mash potatoes (which took some time as the potatoes had to boil), fried rice (mostly for lunch tomorrow), snow peas, garlic bread and a dip. Carol and them came over near dinner time and brought some food - so now we're ready to feast! Mmmm...so good. Now it's just a matter of waiting for KA/Mike to come home from the states so that we can eat. Where are those guys?!

changed the look

I was bored tonight so I changed the look of the blog. It's been a year since I've made any major changes to the layout. The new interface is much easier to navigate through - thus making the change seamless. I must say - these blog sites are making it easier and easier for the computer-unsavy-types to maintain blogs as well.

catching up

I've survived the first week back to work. I walked in on Monday to a room bustling with chatter from the call agents. It was nice to see everyone. I had some problems remembering what my passwords were (my only excuse is that I have way too many systems with passwords) and had to get them reset by my coworker. I soon found myself overwhelmed with the amount of emails in my Inbox. 600 emails - I cringed and decided that I would deal with them after I checked in with my supervisor. I then discovered that they had booked me to train a co-op student for that morning. That wasn't fair as was barely back and already the tasks were piling up. I grumbled and went back to my desk to try to look at the emails. Email has always been and will always be the greatest challenge at work. Trying to manage the amount is always daunting. Shifting through stuff that HAVE to be read and stuff that you can just skim is not fun. Good thing we have all kinds of ways to tag emails for importance. Make it easier for me to mass delete stuff! So as of now I only have 109 left to address. Blah - the only drawback of going on holidays...coming home to "email-jail".

The rest of the week was hectic. Between training the new person, attending meetings and catching up on my normal work, I found myself at the office for nearly 11 hours per night. Of course that's not paid time either. The good and bad thing about driving - people know you're not in a rush to catch a train so they want your attention for "just a sec" - which is never a "sec". But some of that time was also dedicated to catching up on Social Club work. Some of my thoughtful colleagues gave my name to "adventure" companies while I was gone. So now I'm being bombarded with reps who want to sell me this outdoor package or that package. They all sound like fun programs to buy into but nothing can be done till I get a handle on who will be part of the new executive. I wish the Club would just sign off on some of the proposed events and let me get on with other club duties. :-) I'm getting frustrated with the bureaucracy of it all. I'm so happy that we have a 4 day long weekend. I need a break from work! Lol - I think it's just a matter of catching up. I don't like having so many things uncompleted - makes me tense.

baby Clayton

Congratulations to Jane and Danny who gave birth to their son Clayton on March 6th. Wishing your family all the best in the coming months.

Easter Bunny time

On Sunday the Social club hosted it's annual Easter Egg Hunt. We held it at head office this year because Stanley Park is out of commission. A lot of work went into planning for this event and I'm happy it turned out well.

I woke up early, had a coffee and drove to work. We had to set up the tables, etc for the kids. Robyn took charge of the event and I just had to take pictures and direct people to the right places. One of our colleagues was the Easter Bunny. She was sweating in the costume but the majority of the kids loved it. Only a few of the really young ones were freaked out by a giant rabbit. I finally put the pictures together tonight to bring to work so that it can posted to the website.

home sweet home

We arrived back in Vancouver on Thursday afternoon. The 16 hour flight was long and I didn't get much sleep due to a whiny child that sat infront of us. The little boy didn't sleep very much and whined for about 10 hours of the 16. So brutal - many of the passengers wanted him taken off the plane. They compromised and moved the father and son to the back of the plane where the flight attendants sit. We could still hear him...oh well - some kids just can't be calmed. :-) I kept telling Chicky that they should drug the kid - it'd be good for him(as he was exhausted) and the rest of us.

Since coming home, I've enjoyed the small things that home offers. Such as a nice shower and western food. :-) First thing I ate once back was a good Club House sandwich. Mmm...so good! It's always nice to come home to familiarities after a month of living out of a suitcase.

Today we worked on sorting through the enormous amount of pictures. After finishing - we had 3GB worth of images that were ready to be sent to FutureShop to print. I'm looking forward to putting together the photo album/scrapbook.

The weekend is almost over and I'm sort of looking forward to the predictability of work on Monday. Tomorrow morning I have to attend the Social Club's Easter Egg Hunt event. :-) Even though I've been on vacation - my social club responsibilities didn't go on hiatus. Good thing that Robyn has been a wonderful organizer and my only job for the event is to take pictures. I'm happy with the Club's executive and am looking forward to the 2008 Executive Election. Hopefully we'll be able to recruit more assertive members - we need more "doers" than "talkers". I've been told that I've been nominated as president. I'm flattered but am hesitant about taking on that role - even MORE work involved. :-)

little Joshua

Congratulations to Chris and Cindy - they are the proud parents of Joshua Cameron Lee. Born last Saturday and weighing in at 6lbs 4Oz. We wish them the very best and hope to see Joshua in person in the next few days.

For pictures - visit Chris' site at http://cindyandchrislee.blogspot.com/

There and back

Well the last couple of days Chicky and I had about 4 hrs of sleep each night. It all started with a planned trip to Genting Highlands. Chicky accidentilly mentioned taking a trip up there to his old uncle who doesn't speak very much english. He goes up there on a regular basis to gamble etc so he insisted on taking us up. Needless to say the ride with the uncle was pretty scary. Driving in Malaysia is hair raising on a good day. Throw in an old man who runs reds and almost takes peoples side mirrors off their cars = one heck of a scary ride.

The trip to Genting Highlands required a pickup at 7:30am and a bus to the base of the mountain and then a cable car up to the casino/theme park/hotel. It's definately no Vegas. The theme park for Genting Highland is split into an outside section and an inside section. You have to buy a ride pass for each section or buy a package that includes both. Not learning from our past experiences we bought a package that allowed us to ride on rides in both sections.

The first thing we noticed is that they made the seats for these rides to fit tiny asian people. Whenever Chicky got into a ride he dwarfed the seats and was almost to big to fit into them. There were a few rides that he couldn't go on because they had a maximum weight of 70kg and well Chicky definately is 70+kg

We didn't think we could spend all day at the theme park but with all the lineups and waiting we didn't leave the park till around 4:30pm. We decided to try to find our way back to his cousins place ourselves. In order to get from the top of Genting Highlands to where we were staying we needed to

• take a cable car down (20 min)
• Catch a bus to an LRT (Light Rail Train) station (1hrs)
• take the LRT to KL Sentral to catch a komuter train (30 min)
• Take the komuter (how the malays spell it) train to Serdang station (45min)
• Walk from the komuter train station to the apartments (15min).

movie time

Chicky and I spent the day watching movies at Fong's place. Kenny has "connections" and therefore hundreds of DVD rips. Including stuff that hasn't been released in the theatres. So cool. It's been raining hard so we can't go anywhere.

We did go to a theatre in KL though. At Mines Plaza. Cost us $3 each to watch the movie 300. They have assigned seating here. We weren't aware of this so we came early to buy tickets for the 10:30pm show. It was sold out except for the front row seats. So we bought seats for the midnight show. This was distressing afterwards when we were wandering around the mall area at 2am (when the show was over) and there were no taxis to be found. We had to call Chicky's dad to arrange for a cousin to come pick us up.

They have arranged seating for movie theatres but not for commuter flights. The trip to Langkawi and Penang proved to be a battle of wits as we rush to get on the plane first to get the "good" seats. :-) It's a silly system - Asia Air should assign seat numbers to the tickets they sell. Would make life so much better for everyone.

hawker stalls

Just because a majority of my pictures are of food experiences in Malaysia. I have to write a quick note about what we've eaten so far. The most exotic would have to be sting ray. 90% of the time we eat at the hawker stalls. Which is basically street food. Reminds me of Vietnam. But a bit different because the vendors tend to hover in one building and then you walk around, point at what you want then go back to your table. The tables usually have numbers on them. When the food comes - you pay for it on the spot. We've discovered that everything is "cash only" over here. Chicky has been engorging himself in satay and char keow teo. I'm pretty easy and eat whatever is being served.

Vacationing wouldn't be complete without a taste of MacDonalds! Yes - I travelled half way around the world for some rotten-ronnies. We actually had our first meal in Singapore at this posh mall. We couldn't afford the clothes so we thought we'd eat cheap. The meals are so cute over here...so small and SPICY. Mmmm....spicy McChicken meal. Unfortunately we've had McDonald's on a few more occasions since then.

KFC is really big over here. Maybe it's an asian thing. The restaurants are usually large and elaborate. The prices are horrendous though - equivalent to back home. I guess that's why it's almost like "fine dining" over here....who can afford to eat like that?! I even say a KFC glass building...thought it was a car showroom or something like that (by how nice it looked) but then the blazing red KFC letters spoiled it.

Penang!!!

Sigh...Langkawi was a lot of fun and it was time to head to Penang. We got on this boat that was going to take us to Penang. During the voyage it rained pretty hard and I guess there was a leak somewhere because water was dripping on Chicky from the ceiling above his seat.

We made it to Penang and was assaulted by Taxi drivers when we left the terminal. We finally agreed to take up the services of this one gent who would end up being our tour guide for 8hrs on another day.

The place we stayed at is um...not worth writing about. Penang is quite a bit larger then Langkawi. We spent the next 2 nights shopping at the night market they setup on the sidewalks along the street our hotel was on. One night there was this huge thunder, lightening, rain storm and Chicky and I left our rooms to try to snap some shots of the sheets of rain that was coming down. The hallways to our rooms is open and not enclosed so the wind was howling through the corridors. Next to our rooms was a room that had a broken door that looked like someone had kicked in. It was creepy looking and held closed by some wires and a latch with a pad lock on it. The wind broke the door more and it opened on it's own as Chicky and I was standing there trying to take pictures. It was creepy with the lightening and wind and darkness that we decided it was too creepy to stand out here anymore.

Chicky's dad is a theif

I forgot to mention that Chicky's dad is a major theif. During our stay at Langkawi he walked away with 2 coffee shop mugs. One was from Coffee Bean and another was a Starbucks mug!

Langkawi - Motorcycle (scooter) Adventure

The snorkeling adventure was not the end of our day. We got back to the hotel and after a dip in the pool decided to try to rent what they call a motorcycle but it's actually a large scooter. By the time we got the scooter and I had Chicky demonstrate that he wouldn't crash it was about 6:30pm. I jumped on with my skirt hiked up and we went bombing around. We went to ty to find a place called The Seven Wells. The Seven Wells is at the top of this really steep road and Chicky tried to get us up the hill but the motorcycle couldn't get our heavy backsides up the hill. I got off and Chicky turned the bike around to go back down the hill. I'm standing around watching these monkeys in the middle of the street with some locals watching us, when all of a sudden I hear this scary giggling and whinning of an engine. I look up in time to see Chicky with the throttle pinned roaring past me up the hill. I'm a little confused and one of the locals yelled at me..."He don't love you".

For dinner we didn't know where to eat or how to get there. So we just jumped on the motorcycle and rode around. First thing to remember is don't open your mouth you'll get a mouth full of bugs, second of all Chicky likes to ride fast. More then once I thought I was going to get thrown off the motorcycle and it's not fun when cars pass you on the street!! We finally ended up on this strip where all the tourist eat and chose an eating establishment had only tourists. There was a nice live band of 2 people.

After we ate it was time to head home. It's about 9:30pm and very dark. The motorcycle had the worst set of lights and there were round-abouts that didn't have any lights to show us the exits so we drove around and around a few round-abouts. Needless to say we got lost and there were more then a few occasions where we drove up and down the same streets. It's a good thing that Langkawi is a small island. 2hrs later we finally find our way back to the hotel. YAH us...!

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!