paddle on!

This weekend Chicky and I attended his annual Kelowna Dragonboat Festival.

Friday - we had intended to leave early to beat the rush but by the time we got off work and got the car packed it was nearly dinner time - so it was food before adventure. By the time we got on the highway the sun was setting and there was nothing to look at. I spent the time playing around with the camera and trying to do some homework. We were bored so we played around with lighting at night. This translates to Chicky turning off the headlights while driving so that I can attempt to take pictures of the stars, reflections, etc while the car was in motion. This served only to confuse the drivers infront of us. :-) 3.5 hours later we arrive in Kelowna and pull up to the Willow Hotel. Upon looking at the front of the hotel - I proclaimed "this is it?!" - mostly in disbelief. The place was super scary and I had no intention of getting out of the car. It's a hotel/strip club. Hmmm...Chicky's dragonboat team's cost saving ideas taken to the max. Reluctantly I got our stuff out of the car and went inside. The wave of cigarette smoke hit me like a wall and I cringed at what the rooms were going to be like. :-) We walked down the low lite hallway with it's questionable stains on the carpet and pipes sticking out of the ceiling. Upon walking into the room I said to Chicky - "it's just like Singapore!". Lol - memories of our Singapore hotel room...ewww. So Chicky inspected the bed for bugs and stains. I looked into the bathroom - at least it was white. I regretted not bringing sandals as I didn't want to take off my shoes (the carpet had interesting stain patterns). How classy was this room?!? We got red plastic beer cups to use (unwrapped of course). Yup - looks like one of those pay-by-the-hour rooms. :-) Which is fitting because the adult entertainment is just downstairs! After settling in we turned on the tv and tried to air out the room (smoking room - how can we tell? 2 ashtrays so that you don't have to get up from bed to smoke). Can't air out of the room - they've locked the windows! Guess they don't want their guests escaping.

Saturday - we get up early and head down to meet the rest of the team. Apparently those that had children or did most of the work fundraising got to stay at the Travelodge. A definite upgrade to our "novel" palace. We were happy to learn that our room didn't suck as much as some of the other "single" paddlers - as it's only the guys on the team that thought it would be "fun" to stay at a strip joint. Lol - the couple staying in the room next to us had a hole in their wall and their smoke detector was destroyed (guess someone wanted to smoke in freedom). The first race was good. Chicky's team didn't do that well but they were happy to paddle. The groupies and roadies sat on shore and entertained ourselves with food, cameras or chit chat. After the first race we walked around downtown Kelowna and did some shopping. Ate some food then headed back to the festival for the second race. Paddling hard the crew finished 4th out of 6. Time to head back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. Lorry was buying pizza for the whole gang - he's the senior manager of marketing, the team captain the main "motivator" for the team. Hard to say "no" to dragonboating when your senior manager "insists". Lol - not to mention 4 other marketing/customer service managers are on the team - thus prompting their cohorts to join as well. I think I was getting sick from Nick S. (who was already sick and spreading it to the rest of us). Julie didn't come this year so I didn't have anyone to talk to. Boohoo. I passed out in bed while Chicky and Nick got ready for dinner. The 3 of us went shopping for a poker kit after that. They wanted to start a poker tournament that night. After many shops and driving - we came back empty handed. We went over to the Travelodge and had the pizza party with the team. Lots of eating and drinking. Most of the girls were drunk when it was time to go to the paddlers-party on the beach. They also took this opportunity to do some fundraising for their team. All team members stuffed glow sticks, necklaces and bracelets into their pockets to try to sell at the paddlers party. :-) The girls were sucessful at selling the glow sticks. I think being drunk played a big role in the sale of those things - can anyone say "girls gone wild"?! More drinking and dancing there then it was a walk over to the local dance club to party some more. Chicky and I were getting tired by then. We're not drinkers so it was funny watching the team get wasted and taking pictures of them but by midnight our old age kicked in and we called it a night. I don't know how the rest of them do it but if I had to paddle early in the morning - I probably won't be drinking till the break of dawn! :-) Yes - I'm an old foggie!

Sunday - hurricane Kelowna hits us. The blustering winds causes all teams to stare at the white caps in anxiety. On shore teams that came with tents try to tie down their gear so that it doesn't blow away. Chicky's team huddle together to keep warm. Most are suffering from hangovers and the notion of getting out on rough water is totally unappealing. We're losing team spirit by the second. The race is delayed by an hour. After an hour the officials decide to change the race course - cutting it in half. More delays due to high winds. The expensive dragonboats are taken off the water in fear of damaging them and only the crappy practice boats are brought in. All novice teams were advised that their boat steer people would be replaced with 1 of the 12 official festival steer people (highly trained and experienced). The reasons NOT to paddle are mounting. The third hour - the race officials announce that teams won't be "racing". They would do timed trials instead and then the times would be compared. Meaning that teams would be escorted by a speedboat to the start and then they would be timed individually on the "race" course. All paddlers line the shore watching in anticipation/anxiety as the mens diamond division teams are sent out on the water to "test" out conditions. Lol - these guys are pro paddlers. Big, brute muscular men who compete internationally. They had a hard time just turning the boat to head out to the start of the course. The steer people were putting all their weight and muscle power to take control of the boats and not have it wash to shore. This only adds to the anxiety levels of the group. Instead of music playing on the large speakers throughout the festival - the radios from the 3 escort boats play. It sounded like mayday calls. All we heard was static and interjections of "boat 3 taking in water", "we are not ready...repeat we are not ready" and "we've lost control". :-) The crowd gasp and mutter to each other - either adding to everyone's anxiety or quelling thier own. This prompted some of the novice teams to pull out of the race. Potentially good for us as the less competitors - the more likely we'd win a medal - winners by default!!! Lol....Chicky's team captain kept asking the group if they still wanted to paddle. They didn't respond right away - but they agreed that the challenge would make an interesting ending/story to the festival. When the winds got worst and the race times more delayed. I decided that I was not in to mood for huddling by myself with the rest of the groupies. I told Chicky that I was going to head out to mall for some heat, food and shelter. :-) Lol - totally not supportive eh? So off I went - left everyone else to fend for themselves. The mall was so warm and inviting. Mmmm...didn't want to head back into the cold. I didn't bring my rain gear with me on the trip. So after 1.5 hours at the mall - out of guilt I headed back to the festival. I found the group where I left them. Wearing 3 sweatshirts, trying to keep warm and listening to my IPOD - I sat in my folded chair and watched other teams deal with the wind and cold. :-) It was too windy and raining to take pictures. Plus the weather was doing nothing for my cold - feeling miserable I look at the girls on the team. They're only dressed in their short sleeve team tank tops and shorts. I feel guilty for complaining about the cold. The girls team outfits this year are much more "feminine" but they had to sacrifice comfort for fashion. :-) Chicky's team finally got to paddle. They made a heroic attempt at getting a good time. It was a bit boring to watch as timed trials have no excitement. I took some pictures but they were uneventful too. They were suppose to race twice but the team decided that once was enough for them. Chicky was soaked right through - poor him. Another fun adventure in Kelowna! Looking forward to next year!

business for sale

Betty and Hanif have decided to sell their business. With the addition of Nyah - Betty's priorities have changed and she wants to spend more time with her before she totally grows up. So if anyone knows of someone who'd like to become an entrepreneur - here is there chance to own a spa at Lougheed Mall!

learning from experience

Tracey stopped by tonight to drop off my hiking pack and punch bowl. I was starting to load pictures from the b-day party on the weekend to the blog site but didn't end up doing it. KA was working on scrapbooking and that got Tracey to rethinking about the idea of making her own invitations. We had mixed opinions about this. After some talking and looking at samples I've collected over the years (I like collecting hand made cards as I know the people put a lot of time and effort into them) - I think she's going to explore the topic a bit more before deciding. I've seen the amount of work it goes into creating a hand made invitation (from Josie, Michelle, KA's wedding). Nah - not my cup of tea. I'm efficiency driven remember?! Tracey and KA talked more about wedding planning in general. Tracey was interested in what worked and what challenges KA faced for her own wedding planning and wedding day.

The 4 of us went out to dinner and it was good to hear how Tracey's wedding plans are going. She's very organized and has booked all the major vendors. She's now at the stage where she can work on the small ticket items. It was funny hearing KA and Mike share their experiences, what they would redo if they had to plan the wedding again, etc. :-) I'm sure Tracey is getting all kinds of advice from those who have gone through it before. :-) A wedding is a very personable event. Never the same as someone elses but if you can avoid making mistakes - then why not right? I truly think the stress that she (and all other brides) feel during the planning stage is what makes the wedding the most memorable. I think we might check out some more paper/stationary vendors one of these weekends. I like stationary so I wouldn't mind going along with her. Lol - though I might end up buying stuff I don't need! Paper Poet here we come!

back to school back to work

It's back to school this week. *sigh* Didn't feel like it was that long ago that I wrote my finals. Blah. :-) Monday I kicked off my first night course. What are we taking this semester? Macroeconomics. Yup - I'm thinking the same thing too!

Mondays are especially rough days for me as I tend to go to bed late (carry over from the weekend) and after about 4-5 hours of "sleep", I have to get up for work. It's getting darker and darker in the mornings (I leave for work at 5:30am) so the drive in is tiresome. Thank goodness for my 2 cups of coffee which keeps me alert enough not to run over pedestrians. :-) At a call center - mondays are "high call volume" days as people tend to be come stupid over the weekend and are useless when they get to work..which translates to calling us for help. I have a bad habit of not leaving work right after my shift is done as I carry over tasks. When I'm done with my "real" work then I evaluate the time and begin working on Social Club tasks. So yesterday I figured I had a few hours to kill before having to head to out on the road to class. I stayed behind and worked on some action items for the Social Club meeting today. We have monthly meetings and because I'm efficiency-driven, I tend to delegate all kinds of tasks out to the other Board members to prepare for the meeting. I'm a task master. By 5:30pm I've lost most of my energy and need to refill on caffeine. By the time I reach class it's 7pm. By this time my body is full of caffeine to keep me motivated and whatever food I grabbed enroute to class. The quickest choices are usually not the healthiest choices. In class I find myself yawning - it's only 8pm and there's still another 2 hours of lecture. This course the instructor is the "lecture" only type. Which means that I'll have to pre-read the material beforehand so that I'm not scrambling to write down every word that comes out of his mouth. Those poor young students - some of them were trying to understand his shorthand on the whiteboards. :-) The topics we discuss are interesting and it's amusing to see how my view of global enonomical issues has changed now that I'm older. Some of my classmates still hold very "value based" reasoning (concepts of "fair trade") whereas I'm more to agree with mean/drastic changes such as cutting back on EI benefits to lower the national unemployment rate. The good thing is that there is no homework or group work for this course. YAH!!! Trade off? 3 midterms and one final worth 50% of the final grade. Boo! It's fun being in class. Though my energy level is not always high - I enjoy the discussions and views of others. :-) Looking forward to the next class!

weekend celebrations

Saturday night we celebrated Shawn and Shannon's 30th birthdays Mexican style. It was fun having a themed party. :-) They hosted a wonderful party filled with yummy food and fun games. It was good to see everyone and catch up with those that I haven't seen in awhile. It's amazing how time flies! Joshua is getting so big now - soon he'll be crawling around or walking! Josie is in her second trimester and looking great. :-) She's a great mommy (look at Katarina) and will have her hands full with 2 kids soon. Shawn's half brother Gab was at the party with his new wife. She's a sweet girl and it's nice to see him all grown up and settled down. The rest of the gang is enjoying life on a day by day basis. Most are involved with work or with their families. We played a few games at the party. I think the funniest one was the pinata. Wow - some people can sure take out their aggression on a poor stuffed toy! I'll post the pictures later.

Sunday Chicky and I attended his cousins Audrey and Adam's baby (Elliot) red egg party. Again - tons of great food and family to celebrate. Chicky's family is going through a cycle where the cousins are having kids close to each other. Which means the next generations of cousins will similar in age (just as Chicky is with his current cousins). :-) I think there was at least 2 kids under 6 years old at each table! It just reminds me how big his extended family is (and still growing). It was good to see all the babies though. It's amazing how fast they're growing as well. I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of the kids. I know I've missed out a lot on what Nyah is doing (as she's standing now!) Oh well - I'll just have to count on the parents to share their baby pictures with us. :-) Keep them coming!

slideshows

It started last year when I began my quest to hunt down some good slideshow software. There were a few things that I was looking for:

• image editing
• different transitions
• ease of use
• FREE
• zoom & panning features
• preset layouts

There were many contenders

• Memories on TV was good for zoom/panning and had preset layouts - problem was that it was difficult to export the project to something that can be viewed.
• I have to mention Picasa just because I live by Google. Nothing spectacular - but FREE.

Those are good...but what if you wanted to build something like what Storybook Weddings does?! The final product from this company is spectacular. Of course they have multiple photographers/graphic artists and do this for a living therefore they have the "right" pictures to tell the story of your life. :-) Oh well - there's always trusty old PowerPoint, an oldie but a goldie.

assisting opportunity

This afternoon I had the opportunity to join my coworker on a wedding photo shoot. He does wedding photography on the side and knows I share an interest in it. This is the first time I've attended a wedding as photo assistant/secondary photographer. Pretty cool not knowing anything about the wedding and learning on the fly. Due to the time constraint - Mike wasn't able to show me some field tips but I did get the opportunity to play around with different lenses and settings on my own. Mike had his own photo assistant who fluffed dresses and held onto the reflectors (really boring for her - felt bad as she had to stand around for many hours and not do too much). It was also good to learn about lighting and reflectors - in case I ever aspire to buy one...not likely the case right now.

The wedding was for Jennifer & Tim. That's about all we knew before coming to the site. We were pretty much astonished by the location - behind a trailer in a field in Langley. Hmm...a bit to "rustic" for my taste but made it even more interesting. After scoping out the area and doing a couple of walkarounds - I swapped out my dress shoes for a pair of runners (luckily I had a pair in the car). The ground was uneven and muddy - not good for leather shoes. The weather held out and with not too much resistant from the wedding party - we finished the photos in a timely manner. The bride was more excited about the pictures than the groom - he must have been tired or just a plain out grumpy guy. I got the task of keeping the wedding party entertained with candids, etc while the bride/groom did their "formal" shots. I really enjoyed talking to some of the family and guests. Lol - I'm pretty friendly and because I wasn't the primary photographer, I wasn't focused on following the bride around before the start of the wedding. Ample time to joke around with the little old ladies. :-) The ring boy and flower girl were absolutely adorable!

After a couple of hours I called it a day and left Mike to stay with the band-of-bandits to finish off the rest of the pictures. We would have loved to do more fun or artist shots but lack of cooperation from the wedding party proved to be challenging. Can we say "drama"?! Lol - lets just say that between super unhappy kids (which belonged to the wedding party), a semi-chained up pitbull and an emotional bridesmaid who was going through some kind of breakup that day - we came out with over 10GB of photos. MUCH more than the couple had signed up for. Lol - good deal for them. Because the experience was good for both Mike and I - we might team up for another gig soon. Of course - it's all for Mike to coordinate as I'm basically doing this for experience and he's the one getting paid! I'll load the pictures another day as it's time for bed!

enjoying the little things in life

It's been a long week full of projects and event planning at work. Haven't had much time to catch up with friends or blogging. Today I brought the camera into work work to give myself an opportunity to get away from my desk at lunch. I have an awful habit of sitting at my desk and eating lunch. This is basically an open invitation for people to come by and ask me to "help" them with something. I think it's because my lunch is so EARLY (10am) that people don't realize that I'm actually on "lunch" and not just taking a coffee break. :-)

Not too much is served at that time in the morning and the parks are quiet. A great opportunity for walking around and looking at stuff without being bothered. Some kids from a pre-school group were running through the playground in the park next to my work building. They all had matching red hats. A very symetrical and bright group. I would have taken a picture but thought twice about it - the probability of an angry parent asking me why I was taking pictures of small children without their permission wasn't my idea of a "relaxing" time. I've seen other pre-school groups tour the Lonsdale Quay area in the past - some groups had outfits that were worthy of a picture. But then again - pictures of children is always a topic that one must approach with caution. :-) I've loaded some of today's pictures into my album - feel free to take a peek.

Tonight I read Shannon's blog about losing a family dog. I felt bad her and their family. There have been a couple of "close calls" for Mui Mui and it would have been heart breaking if we had lost her those times. Mui Mui was running around so I took a few snaps of her - probably out of parental guilt. My dad was BBQing in the yard so we rolled around in the grass for a bit - evading "preparing for dinner" duties. Not too long in the grass though as it's such a pain in the ass to wash Mui Mui (over an hour process!).

I saw a documentary on Discovery Channel (one of my favorite channels) about a hand raised polar bear. He was SO cute when he was a baby! Totally reminded me of Mui when she was a pup. Too bad I didn't take more pictures back then. She was a little ball of white fluff. Absolutely ADORABLE! She's still little enough now to pass for a puppy if need be. Time to ask Santa for a new puppy!!!

weekend blitz

On Saturday I decided take advantage of the strong Canadian dollar by accompanying my coworker for a trip down to the outlet malls. Together with KA & Mike, we head out early intending to beat the morning rush. Pulling up to the truck crossing - the sign said it would be a 90 minute wait. Sure - we were already there - no sense in turning back. Well - 90 minutes their time was actually 3.5 hours! By that time we were too far into the line to get out. So instead of having lots of time - we went across, had a late lunch (as we were STARVING!). Then it was off to the Seattle Premium Outlet for a quick look then back to the car. We were anticipating an equally long wait to get back into Canada. Luckily the line up was much shorter - guess Canada customs aren't that strict!

Sunday I just vegged in the house as it had been a long week at work and late night movies with Chicky had me pooped. It was nice though to just bum around, eat lunch then continue our movie fest.

Coquitlam Clan

So Coquitlam is where it's at! Many friends and family are moving into our neighborhood. Congratulations to Betty & Hanif who has boughten (another) home closer to my house. :-) That's one couple who must love making life changing decisions. Lol - lots of changes to their lives in the last year. They haven't even had a house warming party for their current home and now they're moving again. I guess the good thing is that the good part it is that they don't have to unpack!

bed buddies

As I am sitting in bed reading the latest issue of 24 - something hops onto the page! Naturally I screeched, dropped the paper and leaped out of bed. Upon hesitant investigation - the culprit turned out to be a green grasshopper. So gross! EWWW!!! It was a reputable size - nothing like the locuses of Saskatoon but a contender none the less. Either awed by grossness or the sheer need to document my life pictorially - I whipped out the camera and took a picture of it. :-) I then quelled my inner child from wanting to squash the bug and tried some macro shots. I don't have a macro lens so I tried the technique of inversing the lens and moving backwards/forwards to focus. This causes the lens to bump against the grasshopper's antennae which makes it scurry out of the frame - which then results in momentary panic attacks and a yelps as I quickly back away and look for it. Fear of it jumping towards or onto me keeps me from getting too close. Bugs make such bad camera subjects as they want to run away - what I would do for a big sewing pin! Muahaaa...I have such morbid thoughts. It took every ounce of dicipline to refrain from picking up a tissue and ending it's adventures on my bed! When the novelty wore off - I set the grasshopper free through my window. I then closed the window and pondered what other creatures are living in/under my bed that I haven't "discovered" yet. Too scary to even imagine right now - ignorance is bliss! That's what you get for having windows without screens...

alternatives

In the quest to fine tune my laptop - I've encountered frustrations with iTunes. The product is good for a "first time" type of installation but is unfriendly for situations where you wipe out all the music on the computer and want to transfer them from the iPod back to the PC. iTunes doesn't like that - it considers it as "copying" from another iPod and that's a no-no (probably adhering to some built in copy-right law thing). Plus I'm simplistic and prefer interfaces that are "intuitive". One feature I wish iTunes had was the ability to "search computer for media" to add to the iTunes library. The only way to add new music is to manually select the file or folder from the Windows Explorer.

So what's a girl to do? Lol - well...in my case...if something doesn't work with me - I get rid of it. So bye-bye iTunes - hello what? In need of help? Call on the mighty powers of Google!

Found some forum boards that discussed various skins - nothing substantial. Then came across someone's blog site that did a review on iPod managing software. Check it out:
http://ipodmanagers.blogspot.com/

Now it's time to download....

University Women's Club of Vancouver

Chicky and I attended his coworker's wedding at Hycroft today. The wedding was beautiful - location, food and decor. They had a great blend of Indian and Jamaican traditions. The ceremony and reception was at one location so it was nice - we didn't have to drive around. Only thing was that we had to kill 2 hours between the ceremony and reception. Didn't know too many people there so Chicky and I amused ourselves with taking pictures around the garden/mansion. :-) Good thing we had the camera! I'll load the pictures later.

The food was great - the appetizers that they served to the guests while we waited was delicious (worthy of a couple snapshot!). The open bar helped many other guests pass their time. I really like the decoration of the reception - the primary flower of the wedding was orchids. They were splattered everywhere you turned (even on the ground along the aisle to create an orchid border). :-) I think I'll have to steal some of those decor ideas! Dinner, like the rest of the wedding, was posh. Our plates were about 3X larger than the food that was in it. :-) Chicky was starving but he had filled up a bit on lamb chops prior to dinner (I think he was stalking the lamb chop waiter!). I had a good amount of appetizers before the reception so I didn't mind the portions at dinner either - the appetizers were too good to pass up! Chicky and I aren't drinkers so we didn't get to enjoy the martini lounge, etc. I had a glass of wine and champagne - that was enough for me. Weddings are so emotional. Krishna was teary while doing her vows and Jason tried to make it funny. But then when it came time to do their thank you speech - Jason was in tears and Krishna had to take over. :-) It reminded me of KA & Mike's wedding weeks before - so much emotion from those two as well. I have no doubt that I will probably cry at my own wedding - as I get all teary at other people's!

Monet to Dalí

Henri Fantin-Latour

Marie-Yolande de Fitz-James, 1867

Tonight I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery with a couple of coworkers to see the Monet to Dali exhibit. :-) Every now and then I like to get in some "culture". The paintings were primarily from the "impressionist" era. I like this one as the detail is magnificient (like a photograph but an oil painting instead). Dali's stuff was a bit weird - surealism...he's got some pretty freaky looking "dream" sequences. Makes you wonder what an artist's state of mind is when they create their "work". I enjoyed the history behind the art and reading about the life of the painters as well. Many were eccentric and didn't become "famous" till long after their deaths. The last time I went to the Gallery was in 2002 for the "Carr, O'Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Own" exhibit.

After indulging in the art and gift stores - we headed over to Robson street to join the locals in some shopping therapy. Then it was off to fill our tummies with sushi. After that we stopped by Robson Square to check out the UBC dance club strut their stuff. BC's top ballroom dancers were there as well doing a demonstration. It's amazing how they glided across the floor. Again - another opportunity to take action dance pictures...but no big camera. Sarah and Sillian - wonderful dancers/performers. I was mesmerized by the gown she wore for the waltz and he looked pretty sharp in his tails. Makes me want to buy tickets to the 2008 Snowball Classics! Lol - now...to convince Chicky to go.

After 2 hours of hanging out near Robson Square, I was in full dance mode and had all kinds of ideas on how to revive the interest within the group. That or impose my interests on others at work! :-) Maybe the social club could put together a little dance group! On top of the entertainment from the ballroom dancers, there was a lady who was performing on the side with glow-in-the-dark hula hoops. She performed like a Cirque Du Soleil gymnist. :-) She had other props as well that she could twirl/throw/swing with ease. Behind us on the steps were people from Sprint taking picture for an ad. We noticed them as there as a girl dressed like a ninja runing back and forth with a mini flashlight. A strange thing to see if you're not use to it. At first I thought it was a photography class (as we did something similar to that in my photography class). I explained what the photographers were trying to capture to my coworkers (light waves only - hence why the girl was in black and RUNNING around - only still objects are exposed and thus seen on the pic).

picture this

Tracey came over tonight to hang out. We took some pictures of her wedding ring and shoes for fun. :-) It's good to hear that her wedding plans are on track. She's got lots of good ideas for the wedding and I'm looking forward to seeing them in action. I may have convinced her to buy a bigger camera as she interested in taking more pictures. Realistically - I think the little cameras take more pictures as they are more readily available. :-) Nevertheless - I didn't refrain from promoting a super-zoom camera for her needs. Who knows...maybe she'll get one later!

fire in the sky

The commute to work was even slower this morning. I discovered that the smoke in the air was from a fire burning at the corner of Hastings & Willingdon. I felt so bad as that's where my parent's friend's jewelery store is. Poor Chu Paul. On the way home from work the firefighters were still working on controlling the cinders. As I drove up to the intersection I saw a firefighter manning one of those huge water guns. He was at the top of a SUPER long ladder aiming the gun across the sky - a very cool image. So I quickly whipped open my purse, grabbed my baby camera and took a picture as I drove by. :-) I had my fingers crossed that I wouldn't crash into the car infront of me while I did this. :-) I did get a funny grin from the driver next to me as he saw what I was trying to take a picture of. I wish I had the bigger camera with me and time to pull over to get the whole water stream.

ms bike tour

2007 MS Rona Bike Tour

This is my 4th consecutive year participating in the MS Rona Bike Tour benefiting the MS Society. As always it's a last minute decision to do so. Last night I pulled out my bike from the corner of the garage and cleaned the cobwebs off of it. I truly believe that I own that bike for the sole purpose of this event. :-) Training? None needed. This year Tracey joined us in the ride. This is Frank and Kevin G's second year riding. Everyone did a marvelous job. I was very proud of Kevin who improved in endurance - he actually survived the UBC hill. Tracey rode equally well for her first year. The weather was perfect this morning - cloudy with a hint of rain. It made the ride cool and enjoyable. We opted not to do the 60km route this year as it took too long last year (those that did it with me that is). I don't know if I'll continue with this tradition as the commitment for participation has increased (to a mandatory $100/rider). :-) Too many charities to give to - have to spread out what little "extra" money I have. Plus the number of friends still interested in riding is diminishing (either a lack of interest of a lack of a bike). Mother nature was kind to us as well. When we were hungry and took a detour off Broadway to find food - the rain started coming down. The monsoon didn't hit us till we were under the safety of the Steamrollers canopy enjoying some much needed grub. After we finished our wraps - the sun came out and it was time to ride again!

maple ridge campsite

This weekend my sisters and I went camping at Golden Ears in Maple Ridge. Technically we were at the base of Golden Ears as it's the long weekend and we weren't able to get 2 campsites in the main park.

It was wonderful weather for some good old fashion tenting. The location was about 45 mins away from home so Chicky and I only slept in our tent one night. The rest of the time we drove back to the site to bbq. Carol's tent was the most impressive with it's remote control interior light and a mattress made for a king! :-) The washrooms near the site were consistently cleaned so it made "camping" much more enjoyable.

We spent most of the weekend eating, playing cards and playing badminton. It was nice to get in at least one family camping trip before season's end.

rainy day bbqs

Yesterday the kids and I figured we'd head out to Cultus Lake for our annual family bbq. Mother nature didn't agree with us. When we woke up - the rain was coming down! This really sucked as I was looking forward to lying on the grass and engoring myself with food.

We headed over to Betty & Hanif's new condo instead. They've just moved in and are still in the process of unpacking. How sweet of them to host us. The condo is really nice - it has a great view and I love the floor to ceiling windows. Plus the convenient part is that they are across the street from their old place so they can run back and forth between locations.

This weekend I had an impromptu garage sale as well. Was trying to clear out a basement full of furniture so that the students can move in. Thomas and Doreen (the students) stopped by on Saturday to get keys, etc. This was the first time I met Doreen. During small talk I found out she's in grade 11!!! My mouth almost dropped to the floor. I knew Thomas was young (19) but thought his girlfriend would be the same age. So I had to get her parents information as she's under age. The last thing I need is some old east indian man banging on my door wondering where his daughter is. :-) It should be interesting with this couple. They've only been dating and now they've moved in with each other. Plus she starts grade 12 next year. Wow - so young! Oh well - as long as they are good kids - that's all I care about.

The sun is starting to shine. I crave outdoor activities but haven't had a chance to plan a hike or something. Maybe our next girls outing will be a stroll around the lake. :-)

a quick glance

Hundreds of pictures from multiple cameras to filter through. :-) Family weddings are always amusing. So much sorting and organizing to do. I took a stab at loading a few pics tonight. These are only the ones that Chicky took. Just posted 50 pictures out of 300 that he took. Have a peek at my web album if you like. I'll see if I can load the "professional" pictures on the weekend. KA is ahead of the game and has already printed many copies of pictures from the family cameras to give to the "important" out-of-town guests. Lucky for them! :-)

some R&R

Whew! The last of the overseas family has gone home today. As much as I love having the extended family around - they were emotionally and physically draining . :-) I can now put away my ear plugs and sleep "normally". The weekend was very hectic with family dinners and going to Nick & Lisa's engagement party. Lisa's family hosted it at their beautiful home in West Vancouver. The couple are to be married New Year's Eve 2007. Chicky is one of the groomsmen. He's happy to get to share in the celebration. It's amusing to see the friendship dynamic that he has with Nick & Lisa. They are close and tend to joke around with each other - not the same way that Chris does with him but equally amusing. The most popular question to Chicky that night was "when are you moving?" :-) I think he has pressure to find a place soon (before Nick's wedding). Who knows - maybe he'll even cave in and move back to Coquitlam. That would save us from commuting back and forth on the weekends. He's resistant though as he currently enjoys the short commute to Richmond and is unwilling to sacrifice it to be closer to friends/family.

Now the "fun" part begins. We have till the weekend to clean and organize the house. The kids that are renting next semester move in on the weekend and right now it's a mess down there. Did I tell you that the next set of kids is a couple that is 18 years old, works at the mall and have only known each other for a year. :-) They're going to have a rude awakening with living each other for the first time! Oh well - that's the life when you rent to students. Plus I've got furniture coming out of my ears! :-) I think the cars will have to be evicted from the garage just so that we can store some of the furniture. Anyone interested in turning their home into an IKEA showroom?!

exciting news!

We're going to have a baby join the family! That's right folks. Carol and Minh announced on Saturday night that they're expecting! Wow! That's so cool. Carol didn't want to steal Kim Anh's thunder by announcing before the wedding. So nice of her. :-) Carol is 4 months pregnant. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet - she's going to find out as it's her second child. Congratulations to their family!!

More good news - on top of being an expecting mom, Carol has also won a scholarship to the Registered Nursing program at her school. Beating out 124 applicants - what a smart cookie! So she'll be leaving the Licensing Practical Nursing program (which is too bad as she's only weeks from completing the program) and going up the medical-totem-pole to hang out with the RN's. Of course this won't start till after the baby is born. I'm very proud of Carol and all that she has accomplished. She's had her share of life challenges but has managed to make the best of every situation and not only excels at all that she endeavors but also exceeds the expectations of others. I don't think many of her peers can say that they've accomplished as much in a short period of time. Good job Carol!

That being said there's been more added pressure from the visiting family for me to "do something with my life". Lol - apparently not being married, being a nurse, owning a home or having kids is a "bad" thing. Both of my sisters have set the bar pretty high and it's going to be a challenge to be par to them. Doh! I'll just have to bask in their glory for now. :-) I love them both to death and am happy to be able to be there to share in all the happy moments. Can't wait to play with the baby!!

Club ESL

My family from Hawaii is still with us. We've been trying to entertain them long after the wedding. My dad took my uncle and aunt to Prince George to visit some other cousins. Their son decided to stay behind. I've been trying to keep Nong - my cousin - entertained. Poor guy has been living on the internet since arriving here. He's thankful we're fully equipped to entertain him electronically!

Since going back to work this week, Nong has been at the mercy of the old people. He's 20 and gets restless. Thursday night I was fixing the computer downstairs and looked over to see him dying in boredom. I had taken down the internet for a day to fix it and forgot to tell him. So he had nothing to play with for a whole day. Plus he was stuck with my mom all day, who was 'mothering' him. :-) Feeling sorry for the guy, I look up and said "let's do something fun!" His eyes lite up. I'm pretty much pooped after work so I didn't know what to do. Good thing there's Google! I went searching for something that would appeal to his age group.

Well - Thursday nights are "international student night" at Aubar. Perfect...a bunch of kids that don't speak english well. He should fit in just fine. We headed out to the club at 9pm. I haven't been clubbing in AGES! Things have changed. We lined up for 1.5 hours. Thank goodness it wasn't raining. I tried to be social and spark up conversations with the people around us. There were so many languages being spoken. It was so interesting! I love hearing other languages. We befriended an italian girl and 2 mexican guys. While in line ClubESL was trying to sell tours to everyone. Another interesting thing was the dress code. Some people looked like students - backpacks and all. All the way to girls decked in true "clubbing/trashy" gear. Aubar had cheap drinks so it appealed to all the students. Lol - after talking to some of them - I found that my english began to degrade. At one point I was pretending to be an international student as well just so that we'd blend in. :-) My goodness...I felt like their den mom! So many YOUNG kids!!! Hahaa....

Once inside I showed Nong how to do some shooters and dance it up on the dance floor. I was a bit concerned about parking and having to work in a few hours. :-) Living on the edge...only need 2 hours of sleep before work! The music was a bit hard to dance to - trance mixed with latin music. Plus Nong felt awkward. Hahaaa...don't know how cool it is to go clubbing with your older cousin and trying to meet girls. :-) I tried to get in with some Japanese girls for him but they were snobby and didn't want to talk to me - too bad for him! After 45 mins inside we called it a night.

wedding bliss

A year of preparation has accumulated to this weekend's festivities. I'd like to welcome Michael (officially) into our family. We're so happy for the KA & Mike!

It's been a week of rushing around and getting things organized and ready for the "big day". KA had her share of challenges along with Mike. In the end it all came together and they survived the family madness.

There's too much to write about so I'll just do a short summary. The ceremony was held at Queen Elizabeth Pavillion (just built this year). It was beautiful with the flower arrangements and String Trio playing in the background. KA looked gorgeous in her wedding dress. The picture above is compliments of Chicky. I want to thank Chicky for helping out tremendously at the wedding. He provided both technical and muscle support. ;-) His photos definitely rivaled the main photographer's! In some instances they were better too as Chicky was running around and climbing over things to get different angles.

After the ceremony we headed over to Sun Sui Wah (Richmond) to set up for the reception. KA has many good friends who were always ready to lend a helping hand. This was great as there was much background work to be had. The reception went well. In good old Chinese tradition - there was tons of food. I think everyone as full after the 8th course. It was wonderful seeing family from afar come to attend the wedding. They are still with us so it's been partying non-stop. :-) Too bad I have to work this week! I've been getting by with very minimal sleep (even for me) and the use of ear plugs. Lol - I'm thinking I need a holiday after all this! KA and Mike went to the Bahamas for their honeymoon and won't be back till the end of the week. We're looking forward to seeing the pics, etc. Till then I won't be able to post any more pics from the wedding as there's no time to upload them. :-) The great thing about the wedding was that we were able to instantly upload the images from the primary photographers and friends (with the use of our laptops, etc). We went back to their bridal suite that night and looked at all the pics. :-) There was no romance on the first night as the whole crew crashed on their floors. That's alright though - KA had passed out from exhaustion long before and Mike entertained us. I think other couples feel the same way after their weddings - too tired to even talk and just want to sleep.

Kwik-E-Mart

On the drive home today I was astonished to see the 7-11 on the corner of Guildford and Lansdowne had turned into a bonafide Kwik-E-Mart. I've heard rumors of the Simpson-mania but never thought that it would be so close to home. :-) Time for a squishee! I should have taken a picture (like everyone else) - oh well...maybe on the weekend.

more than meets the eyes

How can I not blog about this?!! Just got back from a pre-screening of Transformers. This much anticipated movie has been whispered amongst die hard fans for 2 years now. I first learned of it from Ben - who is a true fan like no other (he decorates his cube in the figurines). Frank and I sought out to buy tickets for the pre-screening before the long weekend. I wasn't sure if we'd get them. So Chris, Toshiki, Tyson, Chicky and I joined Frank, Kenny and their crew at the theatre for some reminiscing about childhood cartoons/toys. Thinking that an hour before the show should be sufficient time - we were wrong. Amazingly many others were already camped out in the line up. :-) Reminded me of when I lined up for the first release of Star Wars Episode 1! The movie was 2 hours of action packed fun. The audience was primarily guys who grew up watching or playing with Transformers. I did my "homework" the night before and refreshed my memory by watching the old cartoons. There was unanimous applauding at the end of the movie - a sign that the movie is going to be a summer blockbuster! Too bad the girls didn't want to see the movie. Oh well - not everyone likes CGI movies. :-) I won't say too much about the it - so that those that haven't seen it can still enjoy it.

Coming out of the movie - my only thought was "I wish my car could transform!". Why can't they make an AI robot for the consumer market?! :-)

lets get this party started

Saturday afternoon my sister had her bachelorette party. We went down to Joey's on Broadway. This is my first time to the restaurant and it was wonderful. Beautiful atmosphere, great food and a spectacular bathroom! :-) Yes - I enjoy bathrooms as much as the main restaurant itself (those that have been to Moxie's with me can attest).

We had lunch with her friends. KA's bridesmaids planned a fun filled long weekend for her. After lunch was an appointment at Pure Nail Bar for some pampering before heading up to Whistler. Carol and I didn't go to Whistler - we decided to stay in town and do chores instead. I haven't talked to KA since she's been back from Whistler - her schedule if pretty hectic. I hope she had a great time. I did get a chance to see Michael this weekend and he had a great time at his bachelor party. I believe they went paintballing, out for dinner then to TheatreSports on Granville Island. These pre-parties before the big day are so much fun to participate in. The girls that went to Whistler had a red and white theme (in alignment with Canada Day) and KA had a nursing theme to her outfit. I like the little party favors that Christine made for everyone. :-) Water bottle with personalized labels, bandaids and red pill looking candies - staying within the "nursing" theme of the stagette. We'll have to get the juicy details of Whistler later. :-)

a day in the life of a wedding photographer

Saturday my sister had a hair/make up consultation with Bello Wedding World. She wanted to take the opportunity to take some "pre-wedding" pictures with herself all done up. I had asked some friends to shoot the pictures for her. Unfortunately when Saturday rolled around, she was without a photographer. So I offered my amateur services. :-) Both of us were a bit nervous at the whole idea. I've never taken wedding pictures before. My specialty lies within food!

So I looked around for my gear and we got her dressed in Betty's wedding dress (as she still doesn't have hers yet). Micheal, she and I went down to Rocky Point in Port Moody to take some pictures. The weather was grey and looked like it was on the verge of rain. We crossed our fingers for some blue sky and it worked! The rain held back and we were able to take some pictures around the park. We drew a lot of attention as it was just the 3 of us and the 2 of them were all dressed up.

At the park KA wanted to go to the downtown public library to take some pictures. She likes the structure of that building. So off we went to try to get in the last few rays of sunshine. The library was packed with people. It was fun shooting down there with the crowds. Neither of us knew what we were doing so it was a lot of trial and error to get what she wanted out of me. :-)

I've posted some of the pics to my web album. Take a look if you like.

light and portable

KA got a new laptop today. Michael bought it for her - though I think she was hoping for a new puppy. I'm mighty envious as I've been dreaming about upgrading my own for a while now. The good thing is that we won't have to share mine anymore.

She is now the proud owner of a Dell XPS. It's the perfect size (12.1") and has a Windows Vista operating system. KA asked me to make her laptop "work" - which basically means set it up so that all she has to do is click on the icons and they will work. During this process I found that the Vista operating system is not all it's cut out to be. The menu system is strange to me and it took me a while to figure out how to connect the wireless network. Then I discovered that I had to change my own router settings in order to ge the laptop to work. Normally I don't broadcast my wireless network. So basically you would only know that one exists in my house if you had the network name and encryption key. Prevents people from seeing the network on their computers across the street or others who try to hack in. :-) A bit too much security? Sure - can't help it. I work in IT so I know the good old "tips and tricks" of hacking into other networks.

In summary I would like my next laptop to be a 12 - 13" screen. Having 100GB of hard drive space is good and so is more memory. Looking forward to using this laptop in lieu of my own!

wedding challenges

Only 3 more weeks till KA's wedding. Amazingly she's still smiling with some of the challenges and obstacles that she's been facing. Her wedding dress has been delayed so much that it's "suppose" to arrive a week before the wedding - she ordered it over a year ago...talk about stressful. Consolation? They're going to give her the dress for half price (if it arrives on time). Bello Wedding World proved to be incompetent in their booking details - due to a miscommunication months ago, KA discovered last week that she's going to be without a makeup artist and hairstylist. This was strange as they came highly recommended by family and friends who have used The workaround?! Pay Bello staff overtime to make the wedding party pretty at 5am downtown then come back home to stay "fresh" till the wedding - which will be at 2pm. Needless to say KA's list of "bad" vendors is growing. :-) It almost rivals my list of "crappy-experiences-with" retailers. I'm learning from her experiences though. As I listen to some of the challenges - my first instinct is to treat them all like FutureShop. What does that mean? Lol - have people sign personal contracts drafted by moi. :-) Yes - a bit extreme but VERY efficient/effective. You'd be amazed at the improvement in service levels if the vendor perceives that they will be legally accountable for their actions. Trade off? You will be instantly labelled a tough customer and will have to deal with management directly. In light of it all - I'm still impressed with KA's level of organization. Some that I aspire to in terms of wedding coordination!

break out the BBQ

Chris hosted a bbq birthday party for Cindy yesterday. The weather wasn't ideal but the food made up for it. Everyone brought something yummy to share and it was nice to see people I haven't seen in a long time. It was time to mingle and catch up with everyone's lives. Wow - so many kids at Chris' home! :-) I guess we're reaching that age where little kids will be common place at our dinner parties.

island bound

Yesterday I took the day off to attend KA's graduation from the University of Victoria. Michael and I got to witness another milestone event in her life. She graduated with her nursing degree.

Being the well organized person that she is, KA had pre-planned our day for us. We miraculously boarded the 7am ferry bound for Vancouver Island. Luckily there were some slow foot passengers who took their sweet time getting onto the ferry as we were the last car allowed on and was squished between a school bus and a cargo freighter. :-) Speed bumps? What are those?!

Ferry food has improved since I've last ridden. The last time I went to the island was when Tanya was looking for a place to rent in Nanaimo. Wow - long time ago! I had forgotten how long the ride was and tried to pass time watching a Crystal Reports training video (for work) on the laptop. "Critical battery failure" prevented me from completing video - which wasn't so bad as I think I had lost interest in the content about 5 minutes into the video.

Once in Victoria we drove down to see my sister office - downtown Victoria. I stopped in to say hi to my manager and the rest of my collegues. Then it was off to the Royal BC Museum to see the Titanic Exhibit and catch the Titanica IMAX show. This year is the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic - hence the exhibit. $36 and 2 hours later we emerged from the museum a bit disappointed. The IMAX show was lacking in content and quality. KA/Mike actually slept through it. Since the 3 of us have seen the Discovery Channel documentary on the Titanic - this IMAX show had bits of irrelavent content (such as the fascination with filming a Russian submarine captain expressing his views on fish and other marine life). We're spoiled by Discovery Channel. The only good thing about it was that before going into the exhibit - we're all given "boarding passes" which is a mini biography of a real passenger on that ship. I got to be Mrs. Strauss...an aristrocat...passenger 1st class! Lol - we had fun with our characters and went around the museum looking at stuff found at the bottom of the ocean. Part of the exhibit were people "in character". Reminds me of the Burnaby Museum tour - also speckled with actors.

The museum took the life out of us so we went to find food. My coworkers recommended the Noodle Box. An asian fusion take out restaurant. Basically everything was packed in those chinese take out boxes. Thinking that it's a western run joint - I ordered my meal mild-to-medium. OMG - I could barely eat it as it was so spicy! Which says alot as I tend to eat pretty spicy food. :-) Well - good thing it was already packed to go - as I took it home.

We got lost on the way to convocation. KA had to pick up her regalia. The ceremony was 2 hours long as the law class was also convocating at the same time. It was great to see KA walk across the stage. We cheered her on. During the ceremony I couldn't help but think that the costumes that the professors, etc wear remind me of the Harry Potter movie! :-) Obviously I haven't been to that many convocations in my life so I don't know what all the colors, hats and stripes mean. After convocation we had snacks then went around to take pictures. There were so many bunnies on UVIC campus. Couldn't help but take some pictures of them as well. All pictures are loaded into my album if you want to look.

my 2nd job

The social club has turned into a full time job lately. Since the induction of the new Board of Executives, I've been running around doing a lot of clean up and administrative things. Since my role now is "secretary" - I'm tasked with a lot of the tracking of information, control of access to documents and overseeing the website. This also includes many more meetings with vendors. The new board members are enthusiastic and want to take the club in a new direction. Their energy is contagious! I missed our first meeting yesterday but published the agenda before hand so in reality didn't miss too much. The best thing about it is that we finally have a team that has chosen to be on the Executive. Not like our last 4 "leaders" - who were coerced to stay on till the end of their term. They were good people but I'm happy to see them go and take their negativity with them! Can't wait for our 2007/2008 Planning Session with this crew.

After work today I went over to PNE to meet with the Special Events Coordinator to go over the plans for the Summer Picnic event and to make a deposit on the location. I was a bit lost (PNE is too big) and felt rushed as being off yesterday meant that I was behind on my real work and had to catch up with that first. Since our time is valuable (as this is all VOLUNTEER work) - most vendor meetings consists of the vendor and just one of the Executive members to represent the Club. I looked a bit harried today and felt sloppy at the meeting. I always like to attend vendor meetings looking crisp, assertive and energetic. It's a business meeting so we should all dress and act the part! Guess I should brush my hair or something for the next vendor meeting! Oh well - at least I'm always prepared paperwork wise. Tomorrow I have a meeting after work at the Bank of Montreal with their financial officer to complete the paper work to get me signing authority to the Club's main accounts. Muahahaa....access to LOTS of money! Just kidding. It would mean that there will be more flexibility in terms of who can issue the corporate cheques. I've been coordinating many of the events to so it makes more sense if I can cut the cheques to the vendors directly without having to go through the treasurer, president or vice president. It's amazing how much the Club runs like a business and not so much as your typical run-of-the-mill-social-club. :-) Doesn't really surprise me though. Due to the magnitude of the membership (nearly 1000 PAYING members) and the amount of vested interest from the members - we HAVE to make sure that everything is legitimate and documented. Lol - plus it keeps the auditors (PriceCoooper Waterhouse) happy at the end of the year when they have to review our statements.

burning the midnight oil

Work and school is getting hectic. I'm feeling a bit burnt on the edges. Monday morning was the usual chaos at work. It's becoming pretty much a routine now. To the point where I don't want to get out of bed on mondays. Having survived the mayhem, I came home, gulp down dinner and attempted to study and do homework. Needless to say I passed out on my books. 2am I wake to find the lights still on and a bad kink in my neck. I turn off the lights and try to sleep for 3 more hours. 3 hours fly by, the alarm rings and I have a pounding headache. Most likely caused by my previous sleeping position. I lay in bed and contemplate my options. I decide that I'm in no mood to drag myself to work so I call in sick. Feeling somewhat guilty for doing so and thinking about the meetings, work items and emails that I will be missing out on - I go back to bed. Woke up in time for lunch, an hour of TV and another attempt at studying for my midterm (which was that night). By this time of day I'm totally lethargic and walking around the house is quite a chore. Panic and anxiety creep in at about 4pm and I decide that studying infront of the TV is counter productive. Especially when I'm tuned into HGTV for all the home renos, etc. I head out to school to cram an hours worth of math into my mind. It's realistically a feeble attempt as with all math topics - you either know it or don't. I opted for winging it. Lol...I'm counting on partial marks for "showing steps" to equations. Having pumped myself full of caffeine, I walk into the exam armed with my calculator and a few basic equations memorized. :-) Ah...quadratic functions are formed from base equations anyhow...how hard can it be right? I wrote the exam and sweated a few times. Crazy word problems, have to get the right equations built first before you can even attempt to solve it. Lol - nothing like erasing a whole page worth of equations and notations when you discover (at the very end) that one of the 3 equations you wrote was incorrect and that it affected all other equations that are built ontop of that one. What did Ashdin use to say? "Show confidence...use pen". Of course he was a math whiz and calculus class came second nature to him. I spent calculus class writing/passing notes to Chris and Josie. :-)

red egg and ginger party

Tonight Chicky and I attended Joshua's red egg and ginger (one-month) party. It was very sweet of Chris/Cindy to invite us as everyone there were close relatives. It was good to see old familiar faces. What a surprise it was to see David and Melissa, who are Chris' cousins. I haven't seen them in years (not since before they got married). They are expecting their first baby in a month! Melissa looks great and is excited about the new baby.

The food was wonderful and I had a chance to talk to Cindy's sisters and their family. They sat with us so we chit chatted in Vietnamese about life in general. Most surprising of all was when Chris' dad pulled out the original "menu" from Chris' own red egg party (30 years ago). Wow - talk about a sentimental family! Lol - I can see where Chris gets it from. His dad even gave us the origin of the red egg and ginger party. As many of us have been to them but don't know what the significance of the egg is for.

Want to know what the Top 10 Symbolic Chinese Foods are?! Click here.

bbq weather

This evening KA hosted a planning bbq for her wedding party so that everyone could meet each other. I got to mooch in on the festivities - ah...the benefits of living at home with them! Just kidding, I was invited too as KA has appointed me the wedding coordinator. I given my own personal schedule (so nicely put together by her) and contact sheet of the "important" people and vendors. The great part is that KA is VERY organized so it's no work at all. She knows me well and put together the package so that I can go nuts in my hyper-organizational ways. Oh - sticky notes are so fun! I'm all about the stationary! This should be a breeze to help organize as KA has a type A personality but won't admit it. :-) I just have to make sure everyone plays their part in the whole grand scheme of things. Lol - she's utilizing my bossy/persuasive personality to her advantage.
The bbq was wonderful. TONS of food (as always) and lots of wine. Another task for tonight was for the wedding party to help in the selection of wine for the wedding reception. One bottle of red and white wine will be left on the tables for the guests to help themselves. KA and I went to the liquor store last night and picked up 6 bottles of wine that were reasonably priced (considering she wants to provide wine for all the guests). The consensus is that most of the guests won't know how to drink wine so it won't matter so much what she serves as long as it's easy to drink. So we ate the chicken, ribs, salads, appetizers, fresh fruits (which was the favorite dish for everyone), desserts and sampled the wines. Only some of KA's friends actually drink - so it turned out to be 6 people who actually had wine. Which meant we would have to drink an equivalent of a bottle each. Doh...dumb asian blood prevents me from having more than one glass before I look drunk. :-) Good thing I'm at home already and can stumble around the house without embarrassing myself too much. It was nice to meet the wedding party and I'm looking forward to seeing them on the BIG day. But till then there are many more parties to plan for and last minute details to put together.
By the way - BBQs are so fun and easier to prepare food for. :-) Chicky and I had our own bbq dinner friday night - just the 2 of us as everyone in my family had things to do or go to. He made himself lamb and I waited for him to cook something as it was taking too long. He still needs help in the bbqing-meat department. While standing around the bbq last night we agreed that if we ever owned a home, a bbq would be one of the first things we'd buy. Not just any size...has to be Chicky size! :-) Mmmm....bbq meat...

along came a mouse

I broke down and bought a new mouse for my laptop. My other Microsoft mouse was dying as the cord was loose or something. There would be moments when I would have to shake it to death in attempts to get the optical light to turn on. This was dangerous as I'd be peering into the light to see why it went off. Lol - and who said I was free from occupational hazards?!

Went to Future Shop. Picked up a Logitech mouse and stood in line to pay for it. The line was so long that I had time to thumb through the weekly flyer. Low and behold there was a wireless mouse on sale. Hahaha...so I ended up getting the MS one for half the price of the Logitech. Sweet. Yah - I know. Not exciting for some of you but for my fellow geeky friends out there - a deal on any kind of tech product makes you smile all day long. I totally love the new mouse - so responsive and convenient. I'm no longer tethered to this laptop! :-)

getting in the mood

My coworker Chris came back from Las Vegas last week in which he won an all expense paid trip to compete in the Help Desk Institute International competition. Nothing like staying at the Mandalay Bay for a week and getting paid for it too! I'm so proud of Chris as he's the winner for Canadian division and is also a coworker. Part of his presentation on what he learned at the conference included a video of the "Evolution of Dance" in which the original performer was at the conference. :-) So cool. I'm not sure if any of you've seen this yet but it's HILARIOUS and inspiring! Click on the link below and see for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

seek the peak

Well - it's summer and time to kick off our Grouse Grind 2007 season. Rav and I hit the trail today. Haven't hiked this since last summer so we were weary about how well we'd do. Our goal was to just complete the hike and not worry about time, etc.

This is our 3rd year doing the Grind and I have to commend us on not complaining. Sure - there were moments when I questioned what in the world made me think that hiking on a day that is 26 degrees outside is a smart idea. :-) So we silently grumbled to ourselves and carried on. Each of us encouraged the other to keep going. We took MANY water breaks, leaned against trees and let other hikers pass us by. there was much chit chat on the way up as this is a social activity for Rav and I. We're not the types to leave the other person behind in pursuit of a "decent" time. I was surprised to see the amount of snow still on the trail. Made some parts very wet and slippery. :-) Ah..bad day to wear white shorts.

We emerged from the top still breathing normally, chatting about work and checked our watches. 1 hour 30 mins - not too bad for the first attempt. :-) Hiking Grouse is only fun when it's social - and since Rav and I are both executives of the Social Club - we have much to discuss. In the early days we use to have a large following of coworkers. Over the years people dropped off and lost interest in the weekly hikes. Rav likes to try to convince me to join numerous things as once. He's got the enthusiam to jump on any bandwagon that comes his way. Only problem is that he's notorious for jumping off the bandwagon on a whim. I kept trying to convince him that buying a pass would be a waste of money. He doesn't think so. I happy to hear that Shannon is hiking the Grind now so maybe I'll join her on one of the morning ventures (when it's cool out and not many people are on the mountain).

dim sum time

Today I had dim sum with the girls. it wonderful seeing everyone again and being able to talk to them. It's been a couple of months since we've gotten together to catch up on our lives. We went to our usual place at Metrotown. Tanya, Shannon, Tracey, Nicole, Charlene, Josie, Mary, Brandon and I showed up for this round. I'm not use to ordering by a ticker-card and ending up ordering WAY too much food. It got to the point where the plates were being stacked on top of each other because there was no room at the table. Mental note: let someone else order next time. :-)

After dim sum some of us strolled around the mall to work off some of the food. We went to look at make up, clothes, etc. Kenny came by and joined us for some shopping so that was good. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next outing. Maybe we'll change it up a bit and do something other than dim sum. :-)

dress shopping

Went dress shopping with my mom today. We're looking for something nice to wear to KA's wedding. The wedding is a month away. Can't believe how fast time is flying by!

So for 6 hours I drove from Coquitlam to Metrotown then to Richmond and then finally back to Metrotown. After numerous dress shops and road rage experiences, mom decides that she didn't see anything "interesting". I nearly shook my head. Being the chauffeur - I lost interest in trying on clothes once we were in Richmond. Goodness - how can anyone drive around in that city without getting road rage?! We witness 2 close-calls for pedestrians being hit by cars backing up in parking lots. Not to mention Number 3 Road is a nightmare. :-) I feel for Chicky as he has to work in that area. Hahaha...

Tonight Chicky and I are going to see Pirates of the Caribbean with The Kids (Carol, Minh, Betty, Hanif, KA and Mike). It's going to be a super long line up but we have strategy. :-) My family has no qualms about sneaking outside food in. We're not so fond of having over priced Burger King meals at the theatre. The movie should be good. So many summer blockbusters coming out. :-) You can bet that Chicky and I will be there for each of their opening nights!

social butterfly

On Friday I had the Social Club's Annual General Meeting. It was a fun event. We had a buffet dinner and dance at this banquet hall close to work. The meeting is pretty official as it's where we introduce the new Board of Executives to the membership. :-) I'm happy to say that there has been a big turn over and that the people who weren't excited about the Club have finally left. The new faces will be an asset as many of the people we recruited have particular skill sets that we desire (hence why we went after some of them!). Hahhaa...I think I can pitch the "join the executive" speech pretty well by now.

I'm looking forward to the 2007/2008 term as "secretary" for the club. Being actively involved in it has opened doors for networking and building on my leadership and organizational skills. :-) I find that I'm quite social and don't have much hesitation when it comes to making a fool of myself infront of large crowds. As you can guess...no one wanted to be the first on the dance floor so the executive turned to me to "get the party started". My feet were tired from wearing stillettos and running around all night making sure that the food was filled up, that the bartender wasn't over charging us, etc. So I laughed, slurped down some wine (liquid courage) and went to the dance floor by myself. Danced a bit then went around the room and pulled strangers to the floor. Eventually I had the whole floor filled. The rest of the night was pretty much like that - walked around the room, asked people to dance and wouldn't allow them to say no to me. Most were good sports about it. Haahaaa...I think people laughed at one point where I was walking across the room with a clipboard (looking for the head waitress to clear up our bill) when a swing song blasted on the speaker. :-) I couldn't resist! So I slauntered onto the dance floor and did my little swing number (alone) and with no shoes on (I had to take off my shoes hours earlier as my feet were killing me). Some old lady thought I was funny so she came onto the floor and twisted with me. The 2 of us danced by ourselves till others joined. I had a blast because the music was from MY era (which is oldies and disco stuff). I could sing to every song so it made it even more fun! Ah...the party ended at midnight and it was just the DJ and I getting our stuff and saying good night to the staff. I was pooped and pumped after 6 hours of dancing. I love Abba music and swing music. I got home and had an urge to watch "So you think you can dance?"

additions to 2008

Congratulations to Nick and Lisa who just got engaged. Nick is Chicky's roommate and has been with Lisa for many years. We're very happy for them. :-) More weddings to attend in 2008!

Nathan is a month old

Nathan is a month old now. How does time fly! We went to his one month party at Chicky's parents clubhouse. Chicky's parents sold their house so we won't have the clubhouse to entertain in much longer.

The party was good - lots of family and friends came out to see Nathan. He was a very good boy too - didn't fuss at all when people took turns holding him. Mary's aunt even baked some cakes for all of us to share in. It was really sweet to see all the kids. Logan, Amy and Avery were there to entertain us as well. May is looking VERY pregnant and is ready to burst. She's due in a couple of weeks so that will be exciting. :-) We commented on how many kids there are at the family get togethers. The great part is that they will all be close in ages (just like their parents are). Can't have too many cousins right?!

I've loaded some pictures from the party to the photo album.

pineapple express

There weren't many people at work today so we had a little fun. It was hawaiian shirt friday. People dressed up in some brightly colored clothing and we celebrated our own ray of sunshine on the cloudy day.

After work I went out to Ambleside Park with Ian and Mike. Mike is a photography enthusiast while Ian just bought a digital SLR. It was cloudy and windy so we didn't stay very long. We saw MANY cute dogs in the park and Mike took some pictures of them. There was one dog owner who was a cute girl that wanted to give her email to us as she wanted copies of the pictures we took of her puppy. Hmmm...great way to meet girls in the park?! Take note boys...you don't need a puppy to attract girls. Just get a camera and take pictures of their dog. Of course it's probably easier to go in a group - that way you don't look like the crazy stalker type. I've put the pictures in my album under May 18th.

not pizza again!!!

This afternoon I attended a seminar on team building hosted by the Help Desk Institute of BC. Title of the seminar? "Not Pizza Again!!! Having Fun with Your Team". As always I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to attend such seminars that are centered around this topic as it's dear to my corporate-heart. :-) I think my manager doesn't mind giving me the afternoon off for this type of seminar because I am actively involved in the social clubs. Beats going to tech seminars! The speaker was great and had interesting ideas on how to mold your team towards functionality. I quite enjoyed the ex cerises (such as drawing a giraffe at the start of the seminar). Hopefully we'll be able to incorporate these ideas into future events or integrate them into the subculture. I was quite pleased that our departmental social club had already accomplished many of the goals and on a corporate social club level we were pretty organized. I met other team leads and discovered that many support centers suffer from the same issues on stress, morale and attrition that we did.

At the end of the day I had a smile on my face and was pumped full of Gung Ho energy. Now to bring that same level of energy and enthusiasm back into the office to conquer those skeptics that stand in my way! I'll even try out some of the games we learned on you guys one day! :-) They make good party games.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Mother's Day with Chicky's family at Kirin Restaurant. Had some dim sum and enjoyed the company of Brandan and Nathan. I haven't seen Nathan since the hospital. He's growing up so quickly! Took a few new pics of him for my web album. His one-month party is this weekend so time is sure flying by!

In the evening my family and Betty's family had a Mother's Day bbq. My family LOVES to bbq and even though the weather was cloudy and gusty - it didn't stop them from standing outside next to the grill. Plus it's easier than trying to get a table for 15 people at any restaurant. It's so fun having a big family - get togethers are so loud and obnoxious. We had some great food, played with Nyah, painted nails, ate some more and played some poker. It was nice to have the whole family relaxing and doing their own things. We're all looking forward to the summer bbq season and are already scoping out potential sites for us to spend our weekends at. I think Cultus Lake will remain a family favorite though. Lots of great memories there and it's so convenient.

After dinner the women centered around the kitchen and did some manicures and pedicures. Betty painted her mom's nails and Carol's nails. I wasn't really interested in painting my nails as they always get chipped at work. Nyah is such a cutie and growing up very quickly too. She's very strong and wants to sit up at 3 months - we think she might be teething too! Hanif told us that he wants to pierce her ears. We all said to wait till she's at least 6 months old. She's at the age where she's starting to be interactive so it's fun to play with her and watch her react to us. I've loaded new pics of her to the album as well. Everyone was here till nearly 1am and I got barely any sleep as I had to work EARLY today. I think it was eating cake and dessert so late at night - we were still on a sugar kick. Only Angelina had to go to bed early as she has school the next day. Oh boy was I tired after having like 3 hours of sleep last night! Time for bed now!

bump - set - spike!

Today I played in a volleyball tournament with some coworkers at the Harry Gerome sports complex in Burnaby (the white dome on Barnet Hwy). The tournament was hosted by some other coworkers and is an event that the Social Club participates in. This is my second year playing and I suck just the same. It's a very casual event - which equates to people just showing up to play. The skill levels range from a couple of players that are international v-ball players to those that have never played before. Our team fell in the middle (or closer to the bottom) of the skill scale. Normally we like to have (social club) "executive member" participation at all events, so that means going to things that we normally wouldn't go to.

The game was from 9am - 3pm with an hour lunch in between. We weren't able to find that many girls to sub in this year (I think those that played last year had no interest in coming back this year). So Robyn and I groaned at the thought of having to play 6 hours straight. Luckily one of the guys brought his girlfriend and she sub in for us. Rules dictated that there has to be 2 girls on the court at all times. :-) Lets just say we're the weakest link in our team. We showed great sportmanship though. Many teams slaughtered us and we went from playing on the blue courts to being sent to the courts on the outside of the main arena. :-) At one point I took a spike in the face. Pro: I reacted fast enough to turn my head slightly and not get it straight in the face. Con: I thought my face had caved in and was crying opening from the shock and pain. That's right - pain over came any feelings of hesitation or dignity for not crying in public. The good thing was that the spike came off of one of our blocker's finger tips so it wasn't at FULL speed. Ah...silly me...thought for sure that it was blocked. In any event the guy who did it felt totally bad as everyone rushed over to see if I had broken my nose, etc. I tried to croak out an "I'm OK" but couldn't really get past the gasps and tears. Lol...I'm a wimp but it BURNED like hell and I couldn't open one eye. As I sat on the bench with my ice pack on my face, I wondered if I would have a black eye for Mother's Day. How lovely that would have been. On the bright side though...the other team felt bad so they restrained from spiking and resorted to tipping (which is equally hard to defend against). I sat out the rest of the game but was back on the court for the next round. Can't say I'm not a trooper!

We were happy to have played against really good players though as it was cool how they did some of their moves and many of them astonished me with their vertical reach (for shorter people). I'm quite impressed with those players that can rush forward for a power spike and at the last second turn their arm and send the ball cross court to the other side. :-) We anticipate cross court spikes but are always surprised by tips or ones where they change the direction of ball as they hit it. I think I'll let Chicky play the competitive volleyball. I'm alright with messing around with beach v-ball with friends.

Here we are watching the top 2 teams in the tournament battling it out. Their teams consisted mostly of league players. I'm proud to say that one of my coworkers in my department plays on this team. He's like 5'2 but can jump straight up (in dress shoes and work clothes) and reach a bit over a foot more than his height. He attributes it to isometric training. It was great watching those games (the teams on the blue courts) as the score is so much closer and the games are more intense. We had time to kill in between games because the really good teams would play 2 games against us in like 10-15 minutes. Kill us swiftly instead of dragging out the pain. Oh well...more time to watch and recuperate between games.

radical expressions

"log 8 in base 2 is 3...cause 2 cubed is 8 you see..."
(only Tanya will find this funny)

Tonight was the first day of class. It's been a long day. I left the house at 5:45am enroute to work (normal time) and didn't come back home till 10pm (after school). Business mathematics...hmm...what can I say...boring content! :-) I groaned to myself when the instructor walked in as I recognized her cheery "good evening everyone" sing-song-voice. I've had her before - she's flaky. She didn't get the response that she wanted so we had to practice saying "good evening" to her until she felt that we were "enthusiastic" enough. Thus begins the first hour of introductions. We went over the usual course schedule, plagiarism rules and exam schedule. To make things interesting - she decides that in order to help us understand if we should be in her class or not - she wants to "pretest" us. She does realize that this course is a prerequisite for all Business students - so they have no choice about attendance.

Yikes...I didn't bring a calculator. She pipes in that it's multiple choice and that you shouldn't need a calculator. I shake my head and wonder how I'd do at multiple-guess. Don't get me wrong - Laurel is a good teacher but she's more suited for the elementary school level. She speaks to us as if we're kids - and some of us in the class were - but there are still others (like myself) who are probably as old (if not older) than she is. Trying to stay positive I turn to the exam and blink a couple of times. :-) It's an array of algebra, trig and calculus questions. No calculator needed eh?! I couldn't do it - had to pull out my cell phone and try to fumble with the calculator on it. Argh those tiny keys are so annoying when you're in a rush. In the end I didn't do to badly and scored high enough to not have to question my mathematical abilities.

Later on in the night when the memories of trig equations set to bible songs started flowing from my memories - I enjoyed the class and remembered that at one time (long time ago in a galaxy far far away) I actually LOVED math and even took it up to division 3 courses at SFU. I even met some of my now long-time friends through math/calculus courses at SFU. :-) How far I've wandered away from math and the sciences to end up back where I started.

On another note - I ran into Anna on the way out of class tonight. She was one of the students renting from us. Both Anna and Crystal moved out at the end of April. So the suite downstairs is empty. It's weird not having them around and the basement is so scary now! The house is too big and empty during the day and when the family is out. At least there will always be Muimui around to make noise.

chicago

Yesterday afternoon Chicky took me to see Chicago (the musical). It was playing at the The Centre. He was really sweet and surprised me with the tickets Friday night. :-) A late birthday present.

We had lunch at Tan Popo on Denman before going over the theatre. I really like musicals, plays, etc so that was a sweet surprise. I thought the musical was good and with each scene, I couldn't help but remember the movie that came out of this play. :-) After 3 hours of song and dance, both Chicky and I were tired. Chicky has strep throat so he's been on drugs for a week now and I had another long week of sleep deprivation. It was quite a feat for him to stay conscious throughout the musical. After the play we headed back to his place. I passed out for 3 hours then woke up to find out it was dark. Chicky wanted to watch Spiderman so we went to the theatre to try to catch a late showing. Only one left was an 11:15pm show. So late! But we saw it anyways. Chicky had to work on Sunday so he must have been tired. Spiderman 3 was a disappointment - maybe there was so much hype about it that I expected more. Oh well...there's still the "summer block busters" like Transformers to look forward to!

another face

So I've joined yet another online network (FaceBook). I said I'd stay away but succumbed to peer pressure. :-) Actually - I partly joined because Shannon intrigued me with the idea and because Kinisky posts all his images to this site. I like to look at what friends are taking pictures of. Now that I've got a profile created, I'm starting to peruse the other features on the site. I went to check out the various groups that my FaceBook buddies have joined. Some are serious while others are just for fun. Tanya belongs to the "It's called a BunnyHug and always will be!!!" group. After seeing some pictures and reading some of the discussions - it warmed my heart to know that prairie folk are still weird as ever. Ah - I miss seeing blue skies, fields of wheat, meteor showers, Northern Lights and tornado funnels. :-) Well...not necessarily the tornadoes...