Brown, Black and Red

Mustapha is a store that has a wonderful range of products. Old obselete brands can be found there as well like Aesop soap. I found brown frangrant rice. We had black organic rice and recently bought red rice in NTUC Fairprice. We mixed up all three colour of rice. It tastes quite good. I am happy to be eating healthy rice. We used the GABA function and GABA is supposed to reduce stress. According to Chinese beliefs, the multi-colour food is healthy for you.

I am now a convert to unprocessed coloured rice. This way to health is really colourful.

Kovan Hawker Center

I am tired of Indian food, so I decided to try Kovan Hawker Center. The food stalls do not start early. Wantom mee and Prawn noodle says they open at 8am even though their pot of boiling water and soup are steaming up a storm. The butcher and fishmongers are selling their products. There are customer at 5am in the morning. I guess the early bird catches the worms.

I went to top up petrol. Price has gone up seriously! It is $2.34/litre of 98 unleaded petrol. A month ago, it was below $2/litre. The pump man told me the rain started at 2am. It was not 4am as I thought. Lightning was striking then as well. I slept through two hours of lightning before waking up. So it was not the flashing lights that woke me. It was jetlag...

Lightning and Thunder

4am. Lightning flashes and thunder boom. The flashes of light woke me up. I tried to go back to sleep but unable to. The toads are croaking. It has been some time that toads have not be croaking when it rained. I am glad they are back.

It all started when we first moved to our current house. We walked along the field to get to the LRT (light rail transit). It was December and the field was wet. We passed several puddles of water and B3 noticed movements in the puddles. He squats down to examine closely and found there were tadpoles. So we were returned home, he get a plastic spoon and container and scoop out some tadpoles. We put the tadpoles into the pond in our front yard. The tadpoles turned into tiny toads and left the pond and our home. Since then, we hear toads croaking every rainy seasons.

Last year, however, the toads did not returned. I was worried that they may all be eaten up by predators along the PCN. It is an eco-system. If they do not return, they are dying from lack of food or were eaten up. I know pollution is not a factor as there are plenty of birds of different varieties in the PCN. The birds ate fruits, insects, fishes or lizards. I have seen a white-throat Kingfisher with a lizard in its beak while cycling.

Soon day will be breaking. I am wondering what time B1 can book out of his camp...

Why I did not write?

I noticed I have not been writing everyday. I did promise to write daily as a discipline to improve my writings. The past few days I have been sleeping earlier and waking up early (ie middle of the night!) as well. My habits were topsy turvy. Once I recover from my jetlag, I will discipline myself to write everyday.

It is about a week since I landed. I weighs myself the moment I landed. It was 88kg! It was a gain of 2kgs from the time I left for US a month ago. I now weigh 89kg even though I cycle everyday for exercise. My food intake has increased. My wife blame it on my teh halia. Teh halia even though I asked for less sweet is still extremely high in calories.

B3 says I am fat and have to reduce my food intake. I agree and will do so after I finished my cravings for local food which take about a week.

My life goal is to be happy and healthy. I have been happy i.e. being a glutton this week. It is time to be healthy again. Eat less and exercise more.

Drunken State

Frankly, I do not drink and have an occasional red wine during my flights. Red wine is infused with reservatrol which is health enhancing according to the research B1 did for his JC project. However, I get gigantic headache and nausea after drinking the red wine at the times. I have stopped totally as the amount of reservatrol I take in will be neligible. Therefore I really do not know what really is a drunk state is like. However, now I am feeling that I am in a drunken state like in a dream and yet awake. It is my body telling me it is middle of the night and I am awake. Maybe it is the sleep debt I am having the last few days.

Midnight Shoppers

Little India is quite busy in the middle of the night. Many Indian coffeeshops are opened. I had mutton soup and plain thosai. Plain thosai cost $1.80 which gave me a shock as it cost only $1 in Ang Mo Kio.

After my meal, I go shopping at Mustapha. Mustapha has practically everything under the sun and many products from India and Middle East. So it is interesting just exploring the breadth of products.

I noticed the shoppers are mainly foreigners. Groups of three girls seems to be the order of the day. First group I crossed path is Japanese. They all wear heavy make-up. Then I met a couple who speaks in a language I cannot recognised. At the rice section, I met three young Thai women dressed sexily with a Singapore man helping them to look for things. They looked like ladies of the night. Then I saw a fairly big size transvestite. It is interesting to see a person who looked like a woman and yet has unmistakable features of man. At the checkout counter, there is a fatter transvestite. I wonder how could these two have any business. They are over-weight, old and horrible-looking with heavy make-up.

I guess the best way to meet and observed the professionals of the night trade should go the Mustapha at 3 to 4am.

Another Night Ahead

Jetlag is one of the "fun" in travelling across time zones. Now I am up in the middle of night while everyone else is sleeping. Luckily, there are plenty of 24-hr spots compared to the past. Also internet helps time to pass quickly.

I will go to Mustapha for window shopping and Indian food and teh halia after I finished blogging. I will eat for my friend who loved Indian food. Mustapha is the first supermarket/departmental store to open 24hours.

It is good to live in the city where it is always busy. I can go to a coffeeshop or cafe and past time with people around me. In US, all you have is a home. This may be why a huge home is needed. Huge kitchen for all kinds of gadgets for cooking, room for entertainment, room for office, room for exercise, room for formal dining, room for casual dining, room for so many different use. So it is like bringing the city to the home. I enjoys going to the cafe where I can people-watch and let people watch me.

I was at Chomp-Chomp at 3am yesterday. There are groups of 3 or 4 eating or walking along the street. They are all young. Groups of older men drink beers outside a closed coffeeshop and making a big mess while they chat and snacks.

It is time to go Mustapha...

Bright Orange Light

I woke up close to 1am. I look up to the night sky and saw a bright orange light moving across the sky. I use the cellphone camera but the details cannot be seen. I used my binoculars to look. Unfortunately, all I can see is squiggles of light. It looked like a regular aircraft from the flight path. The difference is there is no flashing light typical of commercial aircraft.

So it is not likely to be an UFO. Sigh...

World Water Day

I landed into Changi Airport and give my wife a big hug from my friend who asked me to hug her for him when he took me to the airport in Reno. I hug her again from me:) B1 and B2 came as well but both were so sleepy. They were sleeping in the car as it is a bit early for them to get up to come to the airport before 6am.

Immediate reaction from my body is sweating the moment I am out of the airconditioned environment. Reaching home and unpacking, I take my bike out right away. It is good to sweat. The Punggol Water Works is full of people and cyclists. There are organised events early in the morning. The track is crowded with brisk walkers and joggers young and old out for exercise.

It is World Water Day today, March 23rd and I am glad to cycle early in the morning. It is fun to feel the festive mood in the park connector. I sweat a lot after cycling. It felt good to sweat again. All my sweat pores were closed for 3 weeks in the cold winter in US and Canada.

After exercising, I go to Ang Mo Kio Hawker Center for wanton mee and teh halia. I also have fried beehoon. I am a real glutton! I need to do more cycling this afternoon....

One Step Nearer Home

I am in the Star Alliance Lounge blogging. Yes, I left behind the halfway house to moonscape. It is not the "hardware" but the "software". People(the software) is warm in Reno. I made good friends and will welcome to host them when they come to Singapore or Malaysia. So...I shall be back!

Three weeks passed very quickly and now it is time to go home. It is the start of another journey. I am quite impressed by the colleagues I am going to work with. They are responsive and customer-oriented. I am also very happy to be able to start teaching of my concept in managing business. Frankly, I was surprise by the ability of the support staff in understanding several of the key ideas I shared with her. She is one of the rare one that grasp my explanation so quickly. I later found out that she used to be a manager. I think she will enjoy working with me and developing her capabilities and skills further.

I think my weight has increased with the increased food intake. It is nice to go PCN to cycle. My sore muscles have recovered with 3 weeks of rest. Surprisingly, I did not suffer backache even though I have stopped exercising and the bed I slept in was soft.

Gratitude time for happiness!

1. I am grateful for all the good food I have eaten these few days. Even though...hai...my weight is up.

2. I am grateful for all the good people I am working with. Life is so much more fun with capable colleagues.

3. I am grateful to go home. It is time to enjoy my teh halia, roti prata, roast duck, fishballs and all the hawker food that is considered exotic in here in United States.

Yes, life is good when food is good.

Vietnamese Lunch

I had a wonderful lunch with 3 colleagues. We went to Golden Flower and the pho is authentic. I ordered fried spring rolls and everyone agreed it was excellent. I had coffee, the strong and sweet Viet-style and what is called 3 beans desserts. We are an International bunch - a Vietnamese, Taiwan-born American and mainland Chinese Canadian.

The conversation was good. The Vietnamese lady drives a beautiful and new BMW four-by-four. It is obvious she only drives from home to work - so careful and timid. However, she is very nice, sweet and petite.

This is my last meal with my new colleagues before I head home. Ahhhh...home sweet home. I am glad there are good food in Reno, good friends, good memories,... and I shall return maybe in a year's time.

Target is better than Walmart

Today is my shopping day. I went to Walmart first but could not the toys B3 requested. So I have to go to Target. The toy section in Target is much bigger with more varieties. However, I still cannot find the specific toys. So I took a couple of substitutes. Just before checking out, I pass the aisle of knit knacks and hey one of the requested items is there.

Window shopping at Target is so much more fun. The merchandise seems much better and more variety. From my personal experience shopping in the two stores, I will place my bet on Target. Overall, it is a better shopping experience. Of course, having the toy B3 wanted help swing my perception.

Pad Thai

I was supposed to go lunch with two nice ladies from the office A and T. Unfortunately, another meeting on production planning conflicts right at lunch time. So I have break my lunch appointment with the two ladies which I would have enjoyed their company a lot. Work come first! Lunch we can order in and we all ordered Pad Thai or fried kway teow, Thai-style. The pad thai is quite good and quite authentic except minus the peanuts. I wished chopped peanuts were included, then the whole dish will be complete.

I also have spring rolls and fried chicken wings for appetitizer. I will have them for dinner tonight. Reno does have some Oriental food.

Perfect Place for Stargrazing and UFO lookout

I woke up early this morning after a nightmare. My first in the 3 weeks of sleeping outside my own bed. I look out of the window and stars are visible. The sky is most clear unlike Singapore. It is so easy to look at the stars and so many are visible compared to during the clear sky in Singapore. The flashing lights from the aeroplanes can be seen easily too. No wonder, if there is an UFO, it can be seen and videotape, er I mean recorded on video. No one use tape anymore. It is flash memory.

This place does offers a lot of things unavailable in my hometown. Water sports, winter sports, camping, nature, parks, wildlife are just a short drive away. Americans are a lucky lot. They are living in a country bestows with lot of natural beauty and resources, just like Australians. No wonder many like to emigrate to this two countries.

Roller Coaster Ride in Investments

It is hard to invest right now with the stock market going up and down. All kinds of reasons which does not make sense. Greece, Eurozone, Iran...it is not macroeconomics that does not seem to be related.

Commodities is going down now. So it is not so good. While my friend is hoping all prices to go down, I am wishing they will go up so that I can minimised my losses. So our wishes are contradicting each other. However, the markets will move in whichever direction they are going to go. So our wishes will just stay as wishes!

I have not been writing about my gratitudes for a few days now. Actually, I was nursing a headache since this morning and only clears after dinner. Although I had good and filling lunch, it did not help relieving my headache. So my first gratitude for today is headache-free for the evening.

My second gratitude is the fabulous flank steak for dinner. It was done just right. So the meat is tender and juicy. Even the older boy who usually ate very little asked for 2nd helpings. He can be fatten up on flank-steak. The baby is just a snacker like me. He says he finished his dinner but will keep coming back for more meat. He is very adorable and loved to snuggle up to his dad.

My third gratitude for the day is nice warm weather. No snow and no jacket. This is the right way to live.

Warming Up

It was freezing with heavy clouds in the morning when we leave for work. By afternoon when we go out for lunch, the temperature has risen up and it is quite nice. Lunch was all-you-can-eat sushi in a casino. The sushi was good. I love the all you can eat concept. I had a more filling lunch than yesterday. Of course eating with men helps. They understand what quantity of food a man needs.

We had good conversation about food, Asia, durians and travelling. It is pretty consistent that all dads do projects for their boys. This step-father helped the son with his project and there is a small piece he wanted the boy to finish using Excel to produce a chart for the experiment. This boy who had attained master-level in a few of the computer games he played, finds it too difficult to key in 5 sets of numbers into the Excel spreadsheet in order to produce a chart. So he was penalised 5 points and had 45 marks out of 50.

I feel so much better when it warms up. The trip is coming to an end soon. I will be able to exercise off a lot of the weight I gained while living here for the past three weeks. Yep! I have plenty of work to do!

Early to Bed

The boys' bedtime is 8 pm as they have to get up by 5:30am to get ready for school. It is amazing that they just follow this rule. How I wish my boys will follow especially since B3 has to get up at 5:45am. B3 usually goes to bed past 9pm. He sleeps about 10pm. No wonder he has problem getting up. Obviously, my host and his wife has good control over their boys. And they think they are not doing enough!!

This afternoon when I returned home, the older boy was doing his homework. It is about space travel. The answer to one of his questions is incorrect. So I guide him on the concept of "g" or gravity. He think that when a man is in the spacecraft, there is a speed limit as man can only withstand up to 9Gs. What he did not realise is there is no gravitation pull once you are in space. So I asked him to google the question. After we found the confirmation to what I told him, he just googled the other questions and get the answers. Life with the internet is such a cinch.

Busy Day in the Office

It is back-to-back training. First, I was given a whirlwind tour of the office and meeting everyone. Then IT come and brief me on the policies and how to use the computer. After that, it is one department to another. Regulatory Affairs, Innovation, Customer Support and I spent some time with my key contacts.

Lunch was with 2 HR ladies. We had good conversation about kids. A young girl who just left the company came over to buy her lunch. She married an Airforce personnel who is responsible for loading of aircrafts. She will be relocating to Virginia. They were recently married and he is gone for a few months. What a life! I thought I was bad when I keep leaving the country for work. I am out of country usually one week, sometimes two. However, this man is gone for a few months!!!

This girl is young and sweet. Her husband is a native Indian and does not do paperwork or pay attention to where he is supposed to go. He seems quite weak in capabilities. I think military service is good for this kind of men. The girl is now going to school to be a court stenographer. So as husband and wife, they are quite matching in skills and capabilities. So it should be alright for them.

Coming back to lunch. Man! I am starving in the afternoon. Women need so little food. I had half and half. Half a soup and half a sandwich. The meal just flow through my system. I am glad to reach home and snack on home-made cake, home-made cookies and pita chips.

Back to Reno Again

I left Toronto at 9:45am this morning. There is no direct flight from TO to Reno. So it is 5 and half hours to San Francisco and a three and half hours layover before connecting to Reno with an 37 mins flight. Total travel time is 12 hours. What a tiring journey.

I am glad to be back in the home of my friend. Now I have internet and can blog again. The previous blog entry was for Saturday. Dinner is deep fried calamari, curry mussels, fabulous homemade cookies, strawberries and I peeled and slice the mangoes as usual. The younger boy loved mangoes and likes me to cut for him.

I am so glad to visit mum. It is so nice to leave her home better than when I first arrived. I felt so good to vaccuum and clean up her place. We did not have to buy a new vaccuum cleaner after I washed the filters clogging up the intake of fan motor. The vaccuum cleaner just need maintenance. She bought a Zojiroshi 3-cups GABA rice cooker and a new mattress to increase the height of the bed which helps her when she has to get up from the bed.

We had good conversation and ate at the Pho Vietnamese resturant as well as dim sum on Saturday morning.

This is the last week of my trip. I will be glad to be heading home for teh halia, chicken rice, wanton mee and fishball noodles.

Ignorant Immigration Officers

I was going to the Canadian Immigration and a sign says “APEC card” and directed me to a different queue. The officer is surprised by me. He asked what is my special circumstances and I showed him the card. He does not recognized it. He asked his colleague in the next station and that guy just shrugged his shoulders. I just queue with everyone else. It is not a pleasant experience especially with self righteous ignoramous man who is an ass. Canada must have sign up as APEC but their officers do not know. How could the country tap into the economies of Asia Pacific when they treat the holders of APEC cards shabbily? Do they know they are offending businessman who can help them in their economy? I bet they don’t and they don’t care since they have a very high opinion of themselves.
My wife always tells me that Canada is so backward and far behind Asia in technology and products. She is so right! While Asia zooms along, Canadians are falling behind. Anyway, they have a big country and plenty of resources. So they are lucky but it is a matter of time before they screw up their own future.
I am glad to visit mum. I fixed up her light and clean her vacuum cleaner. We also looked for a mattress to increase the height of her bed. The errands are very simple and easy to do but for her, it was impossible as she does not have the ability to do her with her limited mobility and lack of do-it-yourself skills. I am glad I can leave her in a better position than before my visit. We will look for a vacuum cleaner that can suck up all the dirt and hairs.

Morton's Steak of Chicago

Dinner at Morton's Steak with a Japanese customer. The scallop wrapped in bacon was good. I remember the Singapore's version is better. But hey, that was the first time and it may be the law of diminishing returns at work.

I had New York Strip. The meat is quite good but I think Ruth's is more tender. I had a different cut. So it is not apple-to-apple comparison. There are less conversation this time because we had a Korean American who enjoyed talking alot. I took a walk to exercise off some of the calories I ingested.

It is beautiful and cool. This is a nice time to be in Florida. There was a very bright star on the horizon. It is so easy to do star gazing in US compared to Singapore.

I have an early start and a long day tomorrow. So I shall end here.

No Headache!

I am not sure why. It may be the change in the weather or the bed or the pillow or the humidity. I woke up with no headache this morning. I even had some red wine last night. Weather in Orlando is closest to home. It is warm and a little more humid than Las Vegas or Reno.

I suspect it may be the low humidity that dry up my sinuses which is good but cause me to have a headache. It is fantastic to wake up with no headache:)

Orlando

Land of Disney World. We are at Peabody just right beside the Convention Center. Orlando is so much warmer and green. Plenty of lakes. The weather is nice contrast to the windy Reno. It is actually nice to go outside.

Another contrast is the flat landscape. Nevada is just hilly and rocky. There are mostly rocks with scrawny grass and bushes. It is like a halfway house to moonscape. Florida is subtropical with plenty of green.

We have been busy with meeting customers. The dinner at Ruth's Chris Grill was excellent. The steaks are nice and tender. Very juicy inside. Served in plates heated to 500 degress F. It is a nice touch. The crab cakes is made from real crabmeat unlike the crabmeat sticks in Singapore which are made from pollock fish. The deep fried calamari is crispy outside and soft inside with tangy seasoning. Yummy!

I keep waking up in the middle of the night and unable to go back to sleep. This gives me a chance to write my blog.

What A Nice Evening

Dinner is homecooked NY Striploin. The steak was simply seasoned with Lava Salt. The salt is black in colour as it is impregnated with carbon. The meat was done just right for me - medium and it is just pink inside. Very tender and excellent flavor. I learned how to prepare and cook asparagus by observing how my friend's wife does it. Little tricks of wisdom like bending the asparagus until it snaps. Where it snaps is the length to discard as it will be too fibrous. The asparagus is then fried in lard. Mmmm! Yummy. I also learn a meat thermometer is important for bbqing. It takes the guesswork of making sure it is cooked or not inside.

I sit beside the wood fireplace with burning logs to do blogging. It is nice, warm and cosy. The fire will crackles now and then. It is heavenly feeling.

Gratitudes for Today

I forget to do my gratitudes for the past few days. The excitement of meeting new people, soaking up new experience and work work work. Now it is time to do my gratitudes.

I have to crack my head to think of my gratitudes. It may be the jetlag. My brain is sleepy and yet not. Kind of in a limbo state...yeah it is just excuses for not figuring my gratitudes.

Okay, here goes:

1. I am grateful for technology. Now I can keep in touch with family. I can look at the camera remotely and see my family having their dinner. Technology makes travelling so much better. I am not glued to the TV and trying to flip through channels to look for something I like.

2. Shelter. I am grateful to be in a nice warm shelter while to wind is blowing non-stop. It is nice to be sitting beside a warm fire and hearing the crackles as the logs burn.

3. Friends. I am grateful for staying over with a friend. It is so warm and nice to see the frisky boys. Good food instead of hamburgers. Nice soups and Asian cuisine in white land. I also get to cut out the fruits for the family like I do at home. A slice of family indeed!

I may need a nap as I am so sleepy now...zzzzZZZZ.

Windy is the Word

At about 5am in Reno, the winds start to blow. I can hear the sound of the winds. It is very gusty and strong. I was up at 3am and hop back to bed after a couple of hours. It is a little hard to get back to sleep with the noise the wind makes. It also start to feel cold. I don't think the temp of the room dropped. But man! it feels cold!

The winds keep on blowing until now. It is 11am now. This mean the winds have been blowing for 6 hours. I do not know about you. I sure do not feel like going outside. This is exteme weather. Yikes!

There are a lot of nice things to do in Reno as my friend and host pointed out to me yesterday. You can do camping, skiing, water sports...all within half an hour drive. Reno is a small town. The buildings are old and have a good warm feel about them. Even after you renovate an old building and spruce it up, I like the way he puts it "If it is an old dog, after showering and cleaning up, it is still an old dog." The old dog atmosphere is so much warmer than the cold shiny clean skyscraper of tempered glass and stainless steel of Chicago or New York.

I had a tour of the campground and Lake Tahoe, the place is beautiful. It is not lush and green like Singapore - it is winter now for heaven's sake. I like the rugged beauty. Weather is a little extreme with this strong gusty winds. I guess my impression has change from the first time I was here. No sure if I can live here forever but hey, it is quite a livable city. But...I am still in love with San Diego. Maybe B1 might go to the University there and I can visit...

Daylight Saving

Tomorrow, the time will "spring" forward one hour. This mean 7am becomes 8am. The daylight saving signals the start of spring and will give more hours of daylight after work. This also mean warm weather ahead and the dark cold winter is behind us. I loved the seasons when I lived in Canada.

In the summer, we have summer hours. This mean we work longer on for 4 days and have alternate Fridays off. With the long weekends, we can do a lot of exploring outside the home. Usually, weekends are used for grocery shopping, cleaning up the house and laundry. So when we have a long weekend, we can drive out to the country for fishing or tours. It is also fun to visit farms. Summers in Ontario is fantastic. I loved it there.

The day will start earlier by an hour tomorrow.

Lake Tahoe

What a beautiful lake. The water is deep blue and clear. The pine trees at the side of mountains. The snow...it is like a postcard. Lake Tahoe is about half ride from where I am staying. It is a gorgeous looking place. Stark beauty as the landscape is quite stony and full of exposed rocks which nothing grows on.

We had lunch at a resturant in the lakeshore. I had deep fried zuchinni and pork ribs. Both at appetitizer portion. My host has sundried tomatoes skewered with an olive and a small ball of buffalo cheese. I am actually guessing that it is buffalo cheese as I did not know what it actually is.

It is quite windy and the place is filled with people. I must say that it is quite nice to visit. So maybe Reno is not such a bad place to live. There are ski resorts and campsites. In summer, you can do wakeboarding, water-skiing and kayaking.

There is something for me to try! Gliding. We can ride on the glider. It will be fun. It cost about $250 American for half an hour to go up and glide down. If I like it, I may take up gliding lessons in future.

We are going to have barbeque ribs for dinner. The ribs are smoked now as I write this blog. I can't wait to taste the food. I will gain weight this trip. Sigh...

Weekend in Reno

Sales Meeting is over. Now I am in Reno "hanging out" with my friend. His wife is from Philippines and his two sons are good looking. Both boys are a little skinny like B3. One is older than B3 by one year and the other is younger by one year. I guess kids at this age are tall and thin. Our neighbour's girl at same age as B3 is tall and skinny too. It affects both boys and girls.

The moon is full and it is just amazing to watch it rise so quickly over the horizon. Yes, this is the view from the living room. What an incredible view this house has. It my be 15th day on the lunar calendar. The sky is so clear in the desert. I was here in December 2004 as my host reminded me. I am not good with dates as I can remember was I was here. The house was new at that time and the backyard has just gravel on top. Now the backyard is carpetted with grass and nicely landscaped. The house is warm.

Mummy is watching Jack and Jill dvd with the boys. It is good family get together. The house is huge and I have Alex's room. It is the same room I was in the first time I was here.

This reminds me...my gas potable gas bbq stove at home is 7 years old now. I bought this gas stove when I was previously. I will have good rest this weekend.

Up at 3 in the Morning

I was up since 3am here in Vegas. It is 7pm Singapore time. I was unable to go back to sleep, so I turn on the TV to keep me company and hoping it will put me back to sleep but no joy. So I get up and make hot tea as my throat is dry. Humidity is so low here. Pitchers of ice water do not sweat or have any condensation whatsoever even after a few hours. It runs counter to what I am used to. Cold cups at home always sweats immediately. The sweats always leave a big water puddle on the table.

US is so big. So a couple of the fathers have kids going to University. They spend time visiting so many Universities. The choices are quite extensive and many factors to consider. So many good schools that I am very envious that Americans are so lucky. I reflect on this as B1 is evaluating Universities too. It may not be a good thing for Americans to have so many good choices at home. As Jim Collins put it - Good is the enemy of Great. Americans do not even think of Universities in Europe or Asia. In this respect, B1 has an advantage. He has to evaluate Universities in England as America. It is not global evaluation but much broader in scope. So B1 will have broader experience whether he goes to England or America to do his degree.

So it makes sense why Empires rise and fall. Wealth do not last more than 3 generations. When you are at the top of the game, just looking at yourself is busy enough that you will stop looking outside and evaluate how others do. This will be the start of decline...

Fabulous Dinner

It was an excellent dinner. I had sushi for appetitizer and beef short ribs. The resturant name is Roy's. It is Hawaii's theme. The food is very good and conversation was excellent! I learn a lot from this trip. Tomorrow is travel day. I have to pack tonight and will have meeting in the morning and checking out before heading to the airport.

I learn the organizer, a black lady is half Malaysia. Her father is from Ghana and mother is from Malaysia. So I will test my Bahasa tomorrow morning with her!

I am glad one leg of my trip is coming to an end.

Gratitudes

It is hard to think of gratitudes when I am travelling. Maybe it is just the heavy schedules. We keep moving from one thing to another. Also I may be loaded with too much information.

I am grateful to be healthy and adjusting well. Although I get a headache, it may be due to the lousy pillows in the hotel.

I also want to express my gratitudes to be with friends at work and business.

I am happy to have some time to blog and log my thoughts.

A Night for Winners and Many who did not

As usual, the winner get it all! One guy win three out of the 6 or 7 awards. This is how it is in America. It is the individual who win. This is the American culture.

I am so tired and sleepy now. I wonder if I can sleep longer hours tonight.

Warm Welcome

I am a little overwhelmed by the warm welcome everyone extended to me. Seems like some have heard of me as well. My reputation travels before I do. We had dinner and everyone has headed to bed. I like the company. It seems most go off to bed instead of drinking and talking politics. I like this culture. It is fantastic!

Meeting Ex-classmate

Jetlag can screw up bodily functions. I cannot sleep well in the room because of the light and timing. I am feeling light headed, it is like dizziness and headache and yet not. Good thing this feeling has pass.

I also did not write down my gratitudes in the last two days. I am thankful for meeting new friends and colleagues today. I am thankful to be in US and have a lot of opportunities to explore moving forward. I am thankful to have to opportunity to visit mum.

I hope I can adjust to the new clock here quickly. It is going to be busy time and I have lots to learn. I am a happy in a learning mode.

I almost forgot! On the flight to LA, I met an ex-classmate in our night class in GDMM. She was sitting actually beside me before I move to the window seat directly in front of her. I did not recognised her at first...it is rude to look at a woman for too long. While waiting for the washroom, I noticed her and told her she looked familiar. I told her I think she was my classmate in marketing class 10 years ago. She looked at me and call K. I was not sure if she was calling my name and continue to try to figure out who she is. Then she you are K and I told her shamefully, I have forgotten her name and she told me it is Karen. Ahha! She is really my classmate and she was in the same study group. Then she says it is not 10 years ago...I told her I know but I do not want to let other passengers know how old she is. It is almost 30 years ago! It is also a coincident that I met Karen again. I have never met any other classmates again. Karen, I met once some 10 years or more ago in a supermarket where she was selling soap in Unilever. She is now working for Kraft and on her way to Miami for Sales meeting. She is returning home on Friday.

Karen is a very sweet girl and she is still single. I have no idea why. Maybe no Mr. Right that meets her standards or maybe she is not that into men. The other problem is she is a senior executive, so it will be difficult for her to attract men who work with her. Successful women does have this challenge. She enjoys reading fiction and need a reading glass. She does not paint her nails and is very simple in her ways. We says goodbye but I did not get her contact as I know I am not good at networking.

Las Vegas

This is my first trip to Vegas. The casinos are huge! Singapore govt did the right thing to have two casinos instead of one to have scale and cluster effect. All the names I read about or watched in tv shows appeared live in my eyes. Wynn is in the news in a dispute is there. Cesar Palace, Trump, and more. You know you arrived the gambling city right at the airport! Waiting Lounges has the slot machines, even baggage claims area. I wonder who would play while waiting for their luggage to come out on the carousels. Everyone will be in a hurry to take their bags and go.

I woke up at 4am and can't go back to sleep. So it is blogging time:) the weather is cool but not freezing. I am just waiting for day break and walk around the property. Unfortunately, there is no mall attached to the hotel. I
missed my favorite pastime - window shopping.

Sheltering from rain at the PCN

Since my sickness spell at the Punggol PCN previously, I have not cycled far. This morning, I decided to go far again. It is funny feeling as I cycle past Sengkang CC. I keep at it and decided to turn around when I reached Hougang. On the way back, dark clouds gathered and soon after it rains. No! it pours! I take shelter under the same flyover. So I decided to take a picture to show where I was when I felt sick last Wednesday.

When the rains reduce in intensity, I continues my way home and it is cold. I felt the chills cycling back. It is nice to be back home and have a hot shower.

Beautiful Sunday

I drank too much tea last night and have to get up to pee 3 or 4 times in the middle of the night. So I got up late this morning. Late is 8am... We have a lazy day. Lunch is home-cooked fried beehoon. The beehoon is a little dry. Our new domestic help shift from too much liquid to too little. It is hard for her to get it right for now. She does a good job with the laundry and housekeeping. So it is still good to have help at home. It free us to enjoys more time doing what we like. In the evening, I did a short bike ride to Sengkang Community Club and back. Dinner is just leftovers from yesterday's food.

I feel rested and ready for my super long travel tomorrow. I will not be exercising much the next few weeks. It is just a simple day. B2 visited his girlfriend, B1 and I attended a talk by U of T and B3 stayed home to do his homework.

So I am happy to have a rest day. Taking it easy my gratitude for the day. I also happy that B3 had a lot of fun making his Korean donuts in the morning. This time he does all the mixing and forming of the donuts by himself. I only helped him to fry. I am also happy the mangoes I cut is enjoyed by the whole family. It is really simple joy to see my work in cutting up the mangoes is rewarded when my family tuck them in heartily.

Yes, today is a beautiful Sunday.

Wonderful Evening

My sisters and brother came for dinner. I had a wonderful time cooking for them. B1 helped me to barbeque chicken thighs, satay, cuttlefish and fish. I had three types of fish. Now I know which type fish to bbq in future. The grilled zuchini is quite popular as well. It is juicy and crunchy.

I am quite happy everyone enjoys the food. The only healthy food I had was black rice and my baby sis' fresh garden salad. Other than rice and salad, the rest is full of cholesterol and other unhealthy elements such as carcinogens from bbq or sodium from the seasonings.

It is a pity the evening come to an end early. They are in a hurry to go and left just after 9 pm. We packed and clear up our living room. Good time pass quickly.

Gratitudes:

1. I am grateful to have good family ties and everyone happy to come together once every few months.

2. I am grateful for having a domestic who makes entertaining a cinch and letting me enjoys the time with my family.

3. I am grateful to have a wonderful day.

What Am I Grateful For for Today?

Gratitude time! Time to record what the 3 things I am grateful for for today. Before that, I want to put on record I did not exercise today. So I am giving my body a rest. B1 is back home early but went off to have dinner with his girlfriend's family and is not back yet and it is close to 11pm. Okay, B1 just came in. This is good. B3 is getting scolding from mummy over his Chinese homework. B2 is working on the logo of our new company.

I am grateful for the peaceful day. I am grateful my 3 babies are growing up well. I am grateful to live in Singapore. It is a good and safe place to raise kids and earn a living.

TGIF

Friday! I am running into sleep debt. I fell asleep after finishing a phone conversation. Then B1 woke me up when he inform me that he is leaving to have dinner with his girlfriend family. I have to get up to send B3 to his tuition. Now that I am back, I feel sleepy but cannot sleep.

I feel like spending money and spurt on lunch at New York New York in Ang Mo Kio Hub. Now that I am home alone, it is time for blogging...

First Day

I received an email from HR welcoming me on my first day of work. It is nice of her to remember me 12,000 miles away. I will be meeting her in a couple of weeks. As my new boss puts it.... it is nice to be loved!

Taking it easy. I did not push myself at the PCN. No point risking a repeat of yesterday. I am happy today everything went well. I bought fish from the wet market this morning. We had steamed rabbit fish aka pek thor. They are very small but taste fresh. I also have black promfret and squids getting them ready for barbequing on Saturday afternoon.

Coming to my three gratefuls for the day:

1. I am grateful for my friends who standby me in times of need. It is easy to tell who are your true friends when you are in need.

2. I am grateful for the blessed family I have. It is good to have meals and good conversations.

3. I am grateful for the material things we enjoys - TV, internet and good food;-)