Superbowl!

Well after some slight panicking we found a place to watch the Superbowl. At first we were told it wouldn't even been shown on TV over here as it isn't on ESPN this year. After the playoffs were over though we checked with the local cable company and found that it will be on StarHub channel 22. Actually we were wanting a place to go watch the game, like at a bar or something. Keep in mind the game starts on Monday at 7AM for us over here. Last year a local brewery/restaurant showed the game, so I called them this year. Apparently a lot of other expats beat me to it. All they had left was outside seating with a TV. That didn't sound like too much fun to me but I went ahead and reserved a spot for 10 people. Then I started searching the internet for other locations. Not much luck there, but did find another place to make a reservation "just in case". Anywho..this past Sunday we went to eat at a nice little place up the road from us called BLooiE's Roadhouse. I asked the manager on duty if they were going to be open - after explaining what the Superbowl was. She said she would check with her boss and I could check back. Anyway..yesterday and today we were able to finalize our plans and now we have a great place to go and watch the game. The guy I was dealing with said they'd have breakfast food and beer??? Not so sure about the beer - Bloody Mary's maybe!

Lovely Name

Don'tcha just love the names here? There are funny street names like Young Ho and even funnier business names:

Ok, get your mind outta the gutter. I know what you are thinking. Now really, can't you tell by the name it's a jewelry store? That is one of the hardest things over here, to locate local businesses by the name. Just about everything is something or another "Trading Pte. Ltd". I have the hardest time locating local shops because I don't speak Chinese. Most things I find either by word of mouth or by just stumbling upon the store while walking by. For example, in one area of Singapore called Jurong Town Hall there is an HDB area (Housing Development Board - government subsidized housing where most locals live) with shops. There is a store in there that sells all kinds of baking supplies and ingredients. But heck if I know what the name is. So to tell others where it's at is not easy. But if it was named something like Jurong Town Hall Baker's Supply then it would be a lot easier to find...at least in my opinion.

Drama of the Week

Well three days ago our refrigerator stopped working. This was a day after we had the hot water heater replaced. The day we noticed that the fridge kept flipping the breaker hubbie called the owner of our condo. He said he would get in touch with a service guy and get back with us. Well, that didn't happen. We spent all day trying to reach the owner with no luck so hubbie called his own repair guy. The repair guy said that he thought it was some electrical module of some sort that would take 2 WEEKS to get here! Luckily we were able to salvage some of our food by bringing it to my office and putting it in the fridge here. The next day the owner called and came out with another repair guy. This guy said it was the compressor. So day number two goes by. Day number three rolls around and the repair guys show up around 4:30 and replace the compressor and voila! it works. Unfortunately we weren't able to save everything. This is all the stuff we had to throw out. Those Pilsbury Crescent Rolls cost about $12 a can! While tossing stuff we were trying to decide if the ketchup and that sort of stuff would still be good. Maybe we needed this handly little guide:

EGGS: When something starts pecking its way out of the shell, the egg is probably past its prime.

DAIRY PRODUCTS: Milk is spoiled when it starts to look like yogurt. Yogurt is spoiled when it starts to look like cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is spoiled when it starts to look like regular cheese. Regular cheese is nothing but spoiled milk anyway and can't get any more spoiled than it is already. Cheddar cheese is spoiled when you think it is blue cheese but you realize you've never purchased that kind.

EXPIRATION DATES: This is NOT a marketing ploy to encourage you to throw away perfectly good food so that you'll spend more on groceries. Perhaps you'd benefit by having a calendar in your kitchen.

MEAT: If opening the refrigerator door causes stray animals from a three block radius to congregate outside your house, the meat is spoiled.

BREAD: Sesame seeds and Poppy seeds are the only officially acceptable "spots" that should be seen on the surface of any loaf of bread. Fuzzy and hairy looking white or green growth areas are a good indication that your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical laboratory experiment.

FLOUR: Flour is spoiled when it wiggles.

SALT: It never spoils.

CANNED GOODS: Any canned goods that have become the size or shape of a softball should be disposed of. Carefully.

CARROTS: A carrot that you can tie a clove hitch in is not fresh.

RAISINS: Raisins should not be harder than your teeth.

CHIP DIP: If you can take it out of its container and bounce it on the floor, it has gone bad.

GENERAL RULE OF THUMB: Most food cannot be kept longer than the average life span of a hamster. Keep a hamster nearby your refrigerator to gauge this.

Why I like Mike!

Ok..I saw on the news this morning that Mike Huckabee was having to cut back on his spending! I need to help him out I guess. So I made another donation. Now, I need to help spread the word. So Click here Taxes/Economy and read about why I am wanting him to get elected. I don't know about you (all two of you out there!) but I am all for keeping all of my money and I think it's about time all those people who get paid in cash and don't have to pay income taxes to finally have to pay their share. I want this more than anything!

Have you ever wanted to be fish food?

This past weekend I went with my daughter, the wife and daughter of a guy I used to work with (who is now here in Singapore working too) and another ex-coworker also here in Singapore working for another company to Sentosa. Sentosa is a small island right south of Singapore. It has some resorts, beaches, underwater aquarium and other activities to keep Singaporeans and us ex-pats busy on our time off. Next to the Underwater Aquarium they have a Fish Reflexology spa. I know you are just dying to know what the heck is fish reflexology. Well...that is where you pay good money to stick your feet in a pool of little Tibetan fish that swarm all over your calves and feet as soon as you put them in the water and gently nibble away at all the dead, dry, flaky skin. We were all a little nervous about becoming fish food for the afternoon. And, being that it is in a spa-like setting we were having a hard time keeping the shreaks and giggles to a quiet roar as not to bother the rest of the guests getting their foot massages and neck rubs. After a while we all got used to it and it felt a lot like putting your feet into one of those vibrating foot baths...if you didn't look down at your feet. The worse part for me is when the fish got under my toes and in the instep of my feet. I am very ticklish! They also have another pool with larger fish but we didn't try that one...maybe next time!

Texas! It's a Whole Other Country!

You can tell when I get home sick - that's when you get posts about Texas! Thanks to the best brother in the whole world for emailing the stuff for today's post!



Need to be cheered up?
Happy, Texas 79042
Pep , Texas 79353
Smiley , Texas 78159
Paradise , Texas 76073
Rainbow , Texas 76077
Sweet Home , Texas 77987
Comfort , Texas 78013
Friendship, Texas 76530

Love the Sun?
Sun City , Texas 78628
Sunrise , Texas 76661
Sunset, Texas 76270
Sundown, Texas 79372
Sunray , Texas 79086
Sunny Side , Texas 77423

Want something to eat?
Bacon , Texas 76301
Noodle , Texas 79536
Oatmeal , Texas 78605
Turkey , Texas 79261
Trout , Texas 75789
Sugar Land , Texas 77479
Salty, Texas 76567
Rice , Texas 75155
And top it off with: Sweetwater , Texas 79556

Why travel to other cities? Texas has them all!
Detroit , Texas 75436
Colorado City , Texas 79512
Denver City , Texas 79323
Klondike , Texas 75448
Nevada , Texas 75173
Memphis , Texas 79245
Miami , Texas 79059
Boston , Texas 75570
Santa Fe , Texas 77517
Tennessee Colony , Texas 75861
Reno , Texas 75462

Feel like traveling outside the country? Don't bother buying a plane ticket!
Athens , Texas 75751
Canadian, Texas 79014
China , Texas 77613
Egypt , Texas 77436
Ireland , Texas 76538
Turkey , Texas 79261
London , Texas 76854
New London , Texas 75682
Paris , Texas 75460

No need to travel to Washington D.C.
Whitehouse , Texas 75791

We even have a city named after our planet!
Earth , Texas 79031

And a city named after our State!
Texas City , Texas 77590

Exhausted?
Energy , Texas 76452

Cold?
Blanket , Texas 76432
Winters, Texas

Like to read about History?
Santa Anna , Texas
Goliad , Texas
Alamo , Texas
Gun Barrel City , Texas
Robert lee, Texas

Need Office Supplies?
Staples, Texas 78670

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus , Texas 76084

You guessed it..it's on the state line.. Texline , Texas 79087

For the kids...
Kermit , Texas 79745
Elmo , Texas 75118
Nemo , Texas 76070
Tarzan , Texas 79783
Winnie , Texas 77665
Sylvester , Texas 79560

Other city names in Texas , to make you smile.....
Frognot , Texas 75424
Bigfoot , Texas 78005
Hogeye , Texas 75423
Cactus , Texas 79013
Notrees , Texas 79759
Best, Texas 76932
Veribest , Texas 76886
Kickapoo , Texas 75763
Dime Box , Texas 77853
Old Dime Box , Texas 77853
Telephone , Texas 75488
Telegraph , Texas 76883
Whiteface , Texas 79379
Twitty, Texas 79079
And last but not least, the Anti-Al Gore City Kilgore , Texas 75662

And our favorites...
Cut n Shoot, Texas
Gun Barrel City , Texas
Hoop And Holler, Texas
Ding Dong, Texas and, of course, Muleshoe , Texas

Could it Mean....

I've seen on the news that it has snowed in Baghdad for the first time that anyone can ever remember. So does this mean that "Hell has frozen over?"

I Wish This Was Said by America

I received this in an email from a co-worker some time ago. I tried to find the origin of it online but wasn't able to locate it. If anyone of you out there knows where this was originally published, please let me know. I was able to find enough similar information that I feel certain it is true. In my opinion though, I truly wish it mirrored the thoughts of the majority of all Americans:

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.

Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular State and its laws were made by parliament. "If those are not your values, if you want a country that has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you", he said on national television.

"Immigrants, not Australians must adapt. Take it or leave it. I am tired of this Nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Australia. However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some who were born here, need to understand.

The idea of Australia being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Australians we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese or Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you want to become part of our society, learn the language. Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push but a fact because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented.

It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture. We will accept your beliefs and will not question why, all we ask is that you accept ours and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us. If the Southern Cross offends you or you don´t like a "Fair Go" then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.

We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change and we really don´t care how you did things where you came from. By all means, keep your culture but do not force it on others. This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this.

But once you are done complaining, whining and griping about our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you to take advantage of one other great Australian freedom: THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.

If you are not happy here then LEAVE. We didn´t force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept our country. Iwill be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law. That is false. If you can´t agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country, which practices it,perhaps, then, that´s a better option, Costello said.

Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other country.

Education minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who do not want to accept local values should "clear off". Basically, people who don´t want to be Australians and they don´t want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then they can basically "clear off" he said.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation´s mosques.

Holidays Over - Back to Reality

Well....I hope all y'all had a great Christmas and are starting off the new year with high hopes for a great one. Our Christmas was pretty quiet. First Christmas without daughter no.1 and not being able to see family. The holidays here seem to just fly by almost as if it were just another day. I don't know why that is. Perhaps it is the warm weather because lord knows they start preparing for the holidays super early and with all the glitter and lights that help make it seem like Christmas. Gotta be the warm weather. We did take a trip after the 1st. We just got back this morning from the Maldives. What a beautiful place!! I had never heard of it before coming here to Singapore. We were the only Americans there. Most everyone else was European. Our room was on stilts in the water. Each day we made numerous trips back and forth from our room to the rest of the island along a pier. The water was so clear, and we saw all types of marine life along the way. We saw: some squid, eels, tons of various fish, sting rays, a manta ray, several octopus and sharks. We took a lot of great pictures. The weather was great all but one day in which it rained. If you love the sun and crystal clear water you should check this place out. But now the holidays are over and it's back to work....and time to dream about the next place we want to go see.