Pissed Off!

Was buried with work throughout the entire Chinese New Year. The biggest celebration for the Chinese just went by without me noticing it. Although it's not my first time away from home during CNY, it's my first in a foreign land without any sign of CNY celebration at all!
All my previous experience of CNY away from home were during my Uni years where I had to stay back because I need to compensate for my lack of intelligence with hardwork in preparation for tests. However, I still manage to taste a piece of CNY through delicacies brought back for me by Rain.

My celebration of CNY this year was only marked by two small "makan" and a tummyache after one of them.

Well, that explains the long absence.

What am I pissed off about? Not CNY definitely. First, it's all the brou-ha-ha of the political scene back in my home state. Don't these fellas have better things to do? The economy is going down the drain, but the fellas are still playing the ostrich game of sticking heads into the sand assuming the problem will just vanish on its on. But then, who am I to say anything as I do not believe in politics at all. And the most recent events just re-affirmed my belief ( or rather disbelief) in politics.

The second thing is that my home trip will be delayed again. Sigh. According to schedule I was supposed to be home during Christmas. Due to work requirements, I had to stay and complete the work as the project is supposed to be installed early February. In January, I was told it'll be postponed to mid of February, dashing my hopes (and someone else's of course) of being back in February. By February, it was postponed again to end of February. Finally, this morning I got the news that it's most likely going to be in March. Really pengsan! There goes all my plans on having a hometrip in early March. I know Rain's probably feeling quite frustrated with all these postponement. Sigh... what to do? That's how my current work is going to be. On hindsight, I should've gone home during Xmas.

I'm crossing my fingers now hoping not to get pissed off by anything again in February! Too much surprises!

Oh no!

I just got back my pre-assignment medical checkup results. The report ain't a pretty sight. My lifestyle here in US is taking a toll on my health. Especially during the colder autumn and winter season.

My results came back with two highlights, poor performance on a step test (where they check my heart rate during a simple exercise session) and high cholesterol levels. :(

I have to admit, my lifestyle is not really healthy for quite some time now. Ever since autumn, I've been skipping my weekly exercise. It doesn't help that outside food is extremely unhealthy here and I've been eating out during lunch for quite some time. So, in order to motivate myself, I'm going to stick that health report in the bathroom mirror. Hoping that everytime I look at that health report it will motivate me to exercise, eat healthier etc. Pray that I'll have the discipline to stick to it and when I have my checkup the next year it won't be bad news anymore. :)

New Year, New Resolve, New Challenge

First off, Happy New Year Everybody!

Just like that and we're through with 2008.
My new years have always been mundane as I'm not a strong believer of new year resolutions. The most exciting new year for me was being stuck in a traffic jam after being bugged to see fireworks on 31st Dec 2007/1st Jan 2008.

My crossing over to year 2009 was spent sleeping and resting in El Paso, Texas. Why I was in El Paso? That's a tale for another time, after I've posted my long overdue posts of my other travel destinations. However, I wish to share my last breathtaking view of 2008 at a viewing point on the Franklin Mountain. Overlooking 3 states in 2 different countries or so said the guidebook.





The year 2009 must have been a really depressing year to look forward to for a lot of people. What were you thinking when you celebrate the New Year this time around? For me, I was lying in bed watching the news after 600 mile drive. What went through my mind were several big "bangs".

"Bang" no.1 - The sound of aerial bombings and rocket launchers in Israel-Palestine conflict.

"Bang" no.2 - The sound of the oil barrel hitting rock bottom (prices). Mixed feeling on this as I'm in the O&G field of work. Hooray for lower gas price at pump. Nervous and sad due to reduced profit margin in the O&G business (translated to job insecurity / slimmer pocket)

"Bang" no.3 - The sound from credit "crunch" and bursting of the economic bubble supported by excessive spending of Americans (or citizens of the developed countries in general).

"Bang" no.4 - The sound of the "tin-tin kosong" in Malaysian politics banging around doing nothing substantial.

Amidst all these depressing events that happened in 2008 and carried over to 2009. There are some glad tidings as well. Numerous friends and even family got/getting hitched and enjoying/going to enjoy marital bliss. Continued good health of the people I love.

The New Year certainly brings with it new challenges. For me, it would involve a lot of decisions. To stay or not to stay, to invest or not to invest, which path to take? etc... I pray for wisdom and resolve in making and sticking to these decisions when the time comes.

To the newly married, I wish you a blissful marriage. To everybody, I pray that you have the strength and renewed resolve to face this trying times. Above all, I wish you good health as the chinese saying goes "as long as there's a green hill, you won't run out of firewood" ... if you get my drift.

Lazy Bones, Recession & Wedding Bells.

It's been quite some time since I last updated this blog. I actually have quite some material to write about... mainly to share some pics on my trips to Dallas and San Antonio. I even went to the tallest building in Downtown Houston for a view of the Houston skyline and to the newest park in Downtown Houston. Alas all these pics are sitting in my PC waiting to be edited and re-sized. I really have to put a post-it note somewhere on my PC to remind myself to edit those pics.

The reason for these lazy bones?

I was so tired after work everyday, staring at the glaring monitor >9 hours a day. With the gloom of economic recession, everyone has to be in top performance yet face the uncertainty of a pay raise, bonus or even a job. This can be really depressing. With each passing day, the bad news get worse. Reading the newspaper is kind of like a listening to a doomsayer. Well, we can't do anything about the recession other than be prepared for the worst and pray for the best.

These two-weeks had been especially hectic for me. I've been rushing through a lot of things at work. Partly due to the fact that I'll be taking a couple of days off work for a short vacation and mostly because I have to wrap things up before the coming holiday season.

Talking about seasons... what's up with everyone? It seemed like this year and the next is the season for marriage. My long time friend, SY is getting married on 27th Dec, ex-classmate, YT on 28th Dec, another ex-classmate, CM a couple of weeks ago, a friend proposed to the girlfriend/soon-to-be-wife a month back and finally hot news which came to me yesterday... my friend/sec. school senior WJ is getting hitched sometime mid next year. Phew... what a long list! Well, since I knew of all this occasions, was invited to some of these but would not be able to attend any due to geographical constrains, here's a big CONGRATULATIONS! to all of you. Wishing you all a happy and blissful life together!

Well, that's about it I guess. Perhaps after my coming vacation and with the Christmas holidays, I'll have plenty of time to prep those pics and tell the story of my travels.

Boys never grow up.

It's 2a.m. on an work week and I can't sleep! With nothing better to do and running out of sheep to count, I logged on and scour the web for new addition to my toys. This is when I came to realize that guys never really grow up. Most guys anyway.

Physically we might grow... be it vertical or lateral growth. Mentally or at least the part which controls our sense of joy and excitement (please do not misinterpret this) however, never really change much.

As a pre-teen boy, I love toys, games (bottle caps, game books, board games) and cartoons. 15 years after I was last categorized as a boy, I still love toys, games and cartoons. Only difference, these things are more expensive. My toys are no longer RC cars, LEGO sets or water guns but cameras and AV equipments. The games are no longer bottle caps, paper cards, millionaire or Dungeon & Dragon game books but PC games or in the form of eenie minnie miney moe for what CD to listen to. Cartoons are definitely no longer Thundercats or Doraemon on TV but some japanese anime or international films (especially those that are banned in Malaysia).

These days, my toys cost me an arm or a leg or sometimes both. My first toy bought with my own money was the ancient Powershot A70. After the initial excitement which all toys provide, in time it starts to attract less and less attention from me.

Half a year after I started work, I rewarded myself with a Yamaha MCR-E700, a wonderful micro-hifi. That provided me with hours of pleasure listening to the likes of Emi Fujita, Diana Krall, Ella Fitzgerald and Katie Melua.

Slightly more than half a year ago, I bought myself yet another toy. This time, my new love to replace the sad, ancient Powershot A70; a Nikon D60. The Nikon D60 is by far the most expensive toy I've ever got myself. Just 3 months after I got the D60 and I got another lens to complement the kit lens. The reason? To enhance my "equipment" making it larger and more capable and powerful.

Another 3 months has passed since and I'm now looking for something new again. A new lens that was just release by the manufacturer? or perhaps a true-blue hifi system?

All this sounds so much like a kid getting bored with his existing toys and wanted something new every now and then. The only problem is, the toys are more expensive and I can't throw a tantrum to have someone for it. Sigh.

Feeling slightly dejected by the fact that I simply cannot afford anymore toys, I wrote this post with the conclusion that boys never really grow up but their toys do!

After-Effects of a Hurricane

An insight to my life before, during and after sheltering at home from Hurricane.

Oh this got to be an interesting post. What can one do while sheltering at home and how do one conquer fear during the storm? The peak of the storm actually lasted only for around 5 hours. However the effects on me can be noticed from 5 hours before the storm all the way till today.

About 5 hours before the storm -
This is the time when fear starts to creep in. Before this, I was still taking it lightly. Feeling smug that I've got some kind of supplies with me and I'm not staying in a mandatory evacuation zone. In fact, I'm kind of ignorant on where the mandatory evacuation zones are. Fear overcame me when I was surfing the net and came across the zip codes as well as maps of the mandatory evacuation zones. It was just like two zip codes away! That means it's just 10 - 15 minutes drive away!

After that enlightening moment, I was stuck to Channel 009 (it's the channel giving 24hrs non-stop coverage on the Hurricane). Listening to every morsel of information given out by the media, watching every move of the Hurricane and observing with fear and excitement the rising waters, high wave breaks and strong winds through live broadcast from the coastal areas. All the while thinking of the impending doom as it is impossible to evacuate now that the storm is so near. Back then, I wrote my first post on the Hurricane and set it to publish somewhat after the storm, mostly to calm my nerves as well as to notify my friends and family that I should still be ok even if I could not be contacted.

During the storm -
Initially the wind was just enough to ruffle leaves and I was lulled to sleep by the sound of it. The wind starts to pick up at about 2a.m. I was roughly awoken by the rattling sound of the window. The scene was almost like that of a horror movie. Howling winds, branches shaken violently, the rattling of the window panes due to the gusting wind and ... you won't believe this ... flickering lights! But ... no worries ... instead of ghosts, I'm actually more afraid of power outage.

After the storm -
Ok, ok ... I know the title said something about after-effects. So fast forward, 2 days after the storm, everything seemed well with my place. There's power, water, supplies and 4 subsequent days of holiday!!! I do not need to ration my food to sustain for extended period as the grocery stores are back in business. What to do, what to do?

*HUGE GRIN* Well... me being myself; I cooked, eat, drink, sleep, watch movies, series, anime and simply partied at home for 4 whole days! To the point that I'm actually bored of this. Then comes the after-effects ... ... my expanded waistline!!! Not that it's anything to be proud of to begin with ... but it's something that no one wants to grow. My horror was confirmed when a colleague commented that I looked ... my, my this is sad ... BIGGER! After which he coyly reasoned that it might be the t-shirt, but still ...

This is why it took me so long to update the blog, I was busy doing sit-ups after work instead.

Growing mushrooms...

It's been 6 days, longest unplanned holiday that I've ever had! Last Friday, in preparation of Hurricane Ike and Monday - Wednesday due to power outage in my office.

Everyday, I would check my email to look out for the newest information from the administration whether power is back in the office. On the first day of closure, Monday that is, I was really happy to know that I get a day of rest. On Monday, I was finally able to finish the book that I've brought along with me to U.S. The book, "New Ideas from Dead Economists", is my first attempt in understanding economics. I have no idea what prompted me to buy this book in the first place. One of the interesting ideas that was presented in this book is that spending will eventually strengthen the economy. Furthermore, if consumers save more instead of spending it, it will actually send the economy into recession. It is an interesting hypothesis that is very much embraced in the "Credit Card Society", but personally I could never agree to it.

By the end of Monday, I got another email stating that my office will still be closed on Tuesday. Fine, I thought, another day of rest. I've finished my book, so maybe I could try watching TV and movies. One thing I realized about Cable TV here in the States is that, regardless of how many channels you have, most of them just kept on repeating the same show over and over again. Boredom started to creep upon me.

Another email was received, and here I am writing this blog in the middle of the day on Wednesday. I could not believe I'd say this but I'm really eager to get back to office. After completing this post, I'd check my email again. Let's hope this time the email says that power is back on and I should report to work tomorrow. Else, I think I could start harvesting the mushrooms already. ^_^

Braving the storm...

I'm speechless. How can this possibly be? I'm gonna say that I'm officially being stalked by hurricanes. Okay, okay, I should actually start telling this story from 2+ weeks ago.


August-26: Three "geniuses" decided together to spend the long Labour day weekend in New Orleans. Being Malaysians, the 3 "geniuses" is oblivious to the hurricane Gustav brewing just outside of the gulf.

August-28: "Geniuses" finally found out about the hurricane. After much consideration and sleeping over it, decided to go against the general consensus and head towards New Orleans the next morning.

August-29: "Geniuses" had a blast in New Orleans (will elaborate further on this vacation when in better mood) only to return to the hotel and found out that there's a mandatory evacuation order. The long weekend have to be cut short...very short.

August-30: Instead of having fun in N.O. with oysters and cocktails, "geniuses" are stuck in a 10+ hours traffic jam eating Oreos and drinking water!


2+ weeks down the road. "Geniuses" thought they dodged a bullet with Gustav and was complacent. Again it's a long weekend, this time nothing could go wrong as they decided to stay put and not go anywhere other than some dim sum and groceries, or so they thought...


Sept-11: Hmm... significant day. "Geniuses" got surprise email from company's info center, stating office building will be closed and staff dismissed earlier in view of the coming hurricane...Ike. "Geniuses" celebrated momentarily, till they realize the situation. The "genius" who wrote this blog, yours truly, started cursing his unbelievable luck and in frustration wrote this blog.


In any case, there should not be much to worry about as we're just expecting long power outages and windows being damaged by wind. With that in mind, this genius bought a whole lot of stuffs to party through the storm!


Storm party ingredients!

Update!: The worst is over for my area, no flooding..phew!...and God bless, all my windows are still intact. Just some minor leaking of water in the apartment.