Bloggin'......

Dec. 26 Snowboarding Trip

This past weekend, a bunch of friends and I went snowboarding around Lake Tahoe, in probably what was the coldest weather I've ever been in. Luckily, it did not stop me from going, and I went on to have some of my best snowboarding I have had in a long time.

I haven't been snowboarding for too long, but I believe I've learned things quickly, simply by believing in certain mantras. I remember when I first started snowboarding, I'd say things like "Just do it", or "No fear, no fear". It's part commercialism, I know, but it works! This year's expression has evolved into, "Go big, or go home."

The above pictures were taken by my friend Ansen's nokia camera phone. Not bad pictures for such a tiny gadget. We drove up to Heavenly Ski resort on Friday morning, stayed in Reno for the night, then drove to Alpine Meadows on Saturday. The drive home was the real challenge. We made the best of the traffic, by stopping in Davis for dinner, then in San Franciso for dessert. In actuallity, probably worked out even better than I thought, before!

Leeya's White Elephant Gift Exchange

I found out an interesting story behind the origins of this little game we played called a White Elephant Gift Exchange. It seems it is a game in which you are supposed to bring an item from your home, that you wish to give away, dispose of, or just plain get rid of. In a way, it's like getting rid of the things you don't need anymore, in hopes that the next person may have a better use for it.

I always tended to think a gift exchange was a gift exchange, but it makes logical sense to me now. Unfortunately, I also fully understand why one of my clients in Singapore kept refferring to our tools as "White Elephants", now. He had been calling them "junk" all this time! hahha, well, something must have changed, since he is buying another 6 sets of tools, totaling for a record single purchase in our company history.

The saying "one man's junk, is another man's treasure" surely applies here. And if not, you'll be seeing the same gifts next year. =p~

Mike's Secret Santa PotLuck

Back on December 21st, my good friend Mike decided to have a little Secret Santa Potluck at his apartment. For argument's sake, I believe he also had his apartmentmate's permission. We all had a great time which really makes what the holidays good for everyone; good company and lot's of fun. A mean game of "Cranium" doesn't hurt either. Merry Christmas and Hapy New Year!

Warren's Chrstmas Get-Together

Ever since my college buddies and I graduated, we've always tried to get together at least once a year to celebrate the holidays. This year it was December 20th, at Warren's house. It would be normal to expect that each year would get harder and harder to assemble with so many friends sprinkled all across the continental US, but at the same time, I think we've also made a lot of new friends, too. However, this year seems different than many in the past, with almost a solemn feeling to me. There were many family losses this year to friends and family, very close to the holidays. The best feeling this year seems only to be knowing that there are good friends who would always stand by you, which make this holiday season most thankful. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to everyone!

Melanie's Birthday

On December 15th, we treated our friend Melanie to dinner for her 27th birthday at Il Foranaio in downtown San Jose. We each had a delicious main dish from their menu, but best of all, we treated ourselves to a surprisingly good bottle of Folie a Deux cabernet savingnon. Very good, very good... Happy birthday, Mel! =P

A little sugar here, a little sugar there....

Let me start, it has been a long week. It was kind of a fun, but also very busy. Awkward thing I realized this week, I will be coming up on my one year anniversary with my company, and i stll feel like I'm only starting to get comfortable here. Not neccesarily a bad thing, I can joke around with my managers all around ("Hey you know, the only other boss to make their employees work on Christmas eve, was Scrooge", laughter and, "Yeah, but you're still working that day"). Oddly enough, neither one of us realized it is a floating holiday on our schedule.

The traveling part of my work is probably the best part of the job. I've visited Ireland, Japan, and Singapore (twice) this year, and there's more to come in the next year. It's pretty exciting, but I always hear the horror travel stories, too. Not to mention getting sick halfway around the world. But it is yet another dimension of being on your own.

It's also something I miss from college, living on my own, and grocery shopping. My situation now may not be similar to many people, in which tradition dictates you move out into the world and live on your own once you start your career. I live almost on a contingient basis. Here one day, gone the next, inwhich I work almost 5-6 days, and 10 hrs a day, i'm only home to sleep, and go skiing on the weekends. = )

On the travel schedule for the coming year (not guaranteed, but on the table):

Longmont, Colorado
Pitsburg, Pensylvania
Pennang, Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Bangkok, Thailand
Shenzhen, China
Taiwan?
Japan?
Ireland?
More China?

I do get warnings, I should watch out when I settle down. Yikes!

Computer Upgrade, Part 1

I was at work today, and when I finally had a lull in the day, I realized I forgot I had ordered some new computer parts over the internet, over the weekend. It wasn't the greatest importance, but I decided to check, "Where is my package?" I didn't expect it to arrive until the weekend, when I could actually work on the computer, but it had already arrived! How about that!

Now, I haven't messed with my computer in almost 5 years and technology had leapfrogged me several times over since then. In that time, I was working across two computers to do what I wanted on the machines, massive file storage and fast reliability. You'll have to *trust me*, you couldn't get that in a single computer back then.... = )

I've always built and worked on my own computer, so there wasn't much intrepidation when I finally ordered my parts. I do have to admit, I can shop better for myself, when I'm actualy shopping for other people. What I'm replacing is a computer that had 6 hard drives, CD rom, Zip drive, and various other PC parts with.... unfinished.... to be continued.....

Monday Musings

Ever have one of those days, you know it could be better, but somehow it just doesn't click. My day wasn't all too bad, I actually had a good day at the office. It just seems, for the last hour I've been searching for the unique usb cable for my camera and can't find it. Argh! I remember having it last night, while unpacking my suit case, and now, it's tonight. Double Argh.

Well, I'll have to part tonight with these pictures from a week ago....

During the Thanksgiving day holiday weekend, my friend Ansen was back in the Bay Area, so we went to hang out at the local Ben and Jerry's. Shown next is the aftermath. And look who we found on the street!

Views of the city

These were some pictures I snapped while out and about in the city yesterday. It's definitely been a heavy week, as I got sick (again). But I completed my tasks, none-the-less. Another rather successful trip despite several hitches, but only generated more interest in business.

The days were definitely long, so I may just spend the rest of today sitting by the pool. I'll be catching the 5:30pm flight home today, yay!

I did all my shopping in the night markets. They are interesting, as that is the best place to find unique things. I bought a several Chinese art scrolls. They're pretty nice.

This was something spectacular that i came accross. A gingerbread train, that took over one month to build and construct. I really like to cook, and one of my favorites is desserts, or at least artful desserts, so really beautifully built gingerbread houses really impress me, adn an almost life size train that you could climp up on, impresses me more.

Traveling Home Office

The new home office in my Singapore hotel room. Much of today was really busy as it was my first working day here in Singapore. Pictured is a moment of calm, but tomorrow will be more of the same.

One thing I cannot get used to is the meals, or at least the amount of meals. I normally don't eat much more than two meals per day, but with my hotel stay, I get a complimentary Continental breakfast, and then I have the customary lunch with customers and representatives, and then dinners again with customers and representatives. I try to eat as little as I can, but almost after each meal, I still feel really stuffed. I mean really "stuffed". Maybe it's the jetlag's way of hitting me....

Pictures will be hard to come by during the day, since cameras aren't allowed in the company that I visit, so maybe I'll have some time in the evenings, later this week.

There's an exhibition hall here called Esplanade Hall, and I think because of it's spanish origins, asian people here can't pronounce the name. So, it is universally known as the giant Durian. If you know what a durian is, you'll know that it's a giant Asian fruit that has spikey tips all around it, which is what this exhibition hall really looks like. However, you would also know that durians stink. They really reek, really bad. But tell anyone in Singapore you want to visit the Giant Durian, and they can get you to Esplanade Hall. Cheers!

Hello Singapore!

Today, I arrived in Singapore. Such a beautiful city at night, almost makes up for the 22 hours total travel time. The view is from the 63rd floor of the SwissÖtel-Stamford, previously, the Raffles-Stamford, and previously to that, the Westin-Stamford.

It is my second time to Singapore in less than five weeks. So I did not waste anytime, as I already managed to visit many of the places I meant to visit the first time, and some places I already did. I had dessert at the Crepes and Cream shop at the CitiPark Mall and then had a Shanghai Hor Fun soup dinner at a street vendor cart in Chinatown. No glamour, just having a bit of fun.

I also discovered I have a really unsteady hand for taking pictures. I originally thought it was the camera being very sensitive, until a friend took a bunch of pictures today, and they all came out very clear. Alas it seems to be user error. .....doh!