A Texas Family Livin' In Singapore

It's Rodeo Time in Houston!

2010-03-05T21:54:00.003+08:00

One of the things I missed most while we were in Singapore was the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I've been a show member and committee volunteer for about 17 years. I have always enjoyed volunteering and being a volunteer for the Houston Rodeo is very rewarding. The Rodeo gives away scholarships to Texas High School students. Their website says that since they started in 1957, more than $250 million dollars has been committed to Texas students for their education. Not only does the Rodeo help students it also has a big economical impact for the city of Houston. Being a committee member has it's perks too. We get gold badges that allow us entrance for ourselves and one guest into the rodeo grounds and inside Reliant stadium to watch the rodeo and the entertainers, plus we get a parking pass. The parking pass doesn't promise there will be a place to park though. Some days parking can be really scarce. As a committee member, I put in a lot of hours during the rodeo. And some nights when it's cold and raining and I have to walk 10-15 minutes to Reliant Center from my car, it can be a quite miserable. But, once you get inside and experience all the sights, sounds and smells that are all part of Rodeo you forget the crappy weather outside. And to see all the great kids who have worked so hard on their animal projects make it all worth it! So, if you are in Houston the first three weeks of March you should make plans to attend the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. You will be amazed and leave with some great memories.

Not like I need another thing to do...but

2010-02-16T09:24:00.001+08:00

I truly miss updating this blog and miss reading everyone else's posts even more. Family is all back in Texas now - well except for daughter no. 1 who is now in Arkansas. I'm going to have to change the banner title though as that one doesn't work any more. We've been back for about a year and a half now and are getting settled into a routine I guess. Daughter no. 2 is in high school at the same school I graduated from ~~years~~ not that long ago. She made varsity cheerleader and knowing how big high school football is in Texas, she's loving it. That's one thing she missed when we were in Singapore. Hubbie and I carpool to work everyday. Most people can't believe we make the commute that we do, but to be able to live in the country and not be all bunched up in a subdivision - it's worth it.

I tell people that we are "homeless" right now. That's because we sold our house in Katy, TX before we moved to Singapore. So, right now we are renting a small house and are in the beginning stages of building a house on two acres we bought a while back. I hope the shape of the economy and the banking industry doesn't screw things up for us. We actually met the builder at our lot over the weekend and put stakes out for the four corners of the house and where the driveway will be!

I think the new house will at least be an inspiration for some frequent posts. The people in Singapore were definitely a source of amazement and amusement. I truly always had something that surprised me to write about. Not quite the same here in SE Texas!

Back in TeXaS!

2008-08-05T10:35:00.002+08:00

Hey Ya'll!!!

Sorry...Long time no post. I'm sure I've missed reading y'alls posts more than you've missed mine. So much has happened since I last posted. We went home for daughter no. 1's graduation and while I was there I had a follow up interview for a job at another company. After a lot of careful thought and discussion with hubbie I took the job. Bid decision for me. I've been at the same company for 14 years. The new job offers me advancement possibilities and a great salary and benefits. Bigger part of the decision was the fact that hubbie is still in Singapore. It's tough but hopefully time will go by fast. The plan is to build a house. We bought two acres of land in a beautiful acreage-type subdivision. The land is already cleared with huge oak trees. It will be beautiful. Once we decide on a floor plan we will get started.

While Singapore definately supplied me with endless topics for posts here, I REALLY missed Texas and am SO glad to be home (all except the hubbie not being here part). Now I will have to find other ways to keep y'all entertained. Hubbie volunteered to keep posting about Singapore but I just don't know if he will have time. We'll see how it goes.

My next objective is going to be finding a car that gets better gas mileage than my little Tacoma. It only gets about 16 mpg so now that I have to pay for gas I don't think 16mpg is going to cut it. However I am so glad to be able to park at a store without having to pay to park and drive around a parking garage for 15minutes looking for a parking spot. Then having to go to several malls / stores to find everything you are looking for. I know there are people out there that hate Wal-Mart, but try living in a place where you have to go to one store for your groceries, a D.I.Y. store for any type of hardware items, a stationary store or the post office for a notepad or spiral note book, a larger market (Target or Wal-Mart wanna-be) for simple housewares, etc. You would start to pray for a Wal-Mart!

Although there are some things Singapore definitely does right: ZERO tolerance for drugs (death penalty), tough on other crimes as well, and the yellow stripes on the roads that allow for an opening in traffic for cars to enter the roadway, I can tell you for certain - There is no place like the USA ~ we have it made! Just like Dorothy says, "There's no place like home."

Car Toys

2008-06-05T16:33:00.003+08:00

Well, I haven't posted any new Car Toy photos in a while so here's a couple of new ones. If there are any Singaporean readers out there can you please explain why this is such a big deal here? I think I will try to make this a regular weekly post

And then there was this one below. See all the Hello Kitty stuff....it was a guy's car:

It's been crazy!

2008-06-02T12:20:00.002+08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting this month. After going home for daughther no. 1's graduation and coming back nothing has been the same. I am now on a new project in a different shipyard so hubbie and I can't eat lunch together everyday, and what sucks even worse is that there isn't a Subway anywhere near here! The project that we are sharing office space with brings in luch three days a week but it's all local food and not the least bit healthy. Just about all of it is fried. Being at this other yard does have one advantages: the traffic is MUCH lighter both ways.

We started having AC problems before we went home to Texas for a week. So when we got back first thing we called and had the AC service people come out. They said the unit needed to be replaced. The AC here is different then back home. Each room has it's own unit mounted on the wall and the compressor is outside. Some rooms share a compressor. I really don't know the least bit about how an air conditioning system works and the ones here are even more confusing than our central air back home. The owner of our unit wanted to get the guys he uses to come out and look and they told him the same thing. Keep in mind that each time someone comes out we have to be there too and they don't come in the evening after we get off work. So, Saturday the AC guys come out to replace the AC in the dining and living areas. We have to move all the furniture and roll up all the carpets so they are not in the way. Needless to say, here it is Monday and there is work that still needs to be done and it all needs to be completed before Thursday when hubbies youngest sister arrives to visit us for two weeks. I spent all weekend looking for information that the tax preparer needs to do our income tax returns. In doing so I realized that I am not as organized as I thought I was. I went through every file folder looking for tax receipts for our house we sold back in Texas, stock information, travel information so we know when we were out of the US, etc. I found most of it. If it weren't for having to do all that fun tax stuff I would have been blogging and reading all your great posts. I hope I don't become like my mom with this tax crap. I remember year after year she had to put off doing stuff she wanted to do because it seems she was continuously getting stuff together for their taxes.

In our spare time we are also out looking at other condos. Our lease comes up in August and the owners wanted to know by the end of May if we were staying or not. He wants to raise our rent from SGD$5200 to SGD$8200 a month. We think he's crazy. There has been a definite rise in rent around here but most units in our complex are in the $5000's. We really like where we are and would like to stay but if we can find something new, without all these issues, then perhaps we will consider moving. Luckily with all that has been going on he gave us some more time to decide.

Other updates: daughter no. 1 is now in her new apartment in Arkansas thanks to my parents, brother, and her friend that helped her pack and move all her stuff up there. She starts her new job on the 9th. Daughter no. 2 is taking her last finals and her last day of school is on Thursday.

Good Engrish

2008-05-22T12:55:00.002+08:00

Hubbie sent me all these sign pictures. Being here we can really relate. Can only imagine what kind of signs people will see when they go to Beijing for the Olympics in August.

We're Baaaack!

2008-05-20T16:28:00.003+08:00

Well we just made it back from our quick trip back to Texas for no. 1 daughter's graduation. We got there on a Thursday and left the following Thursday. We were definitely on the BNE as my brother calls it: "The Butt Numb Express". It is such a LONG flight, especially when you fly economy class. But it was all worth it to see our daughter graduate from Texas A&M! Whoop! There were no flight delays or trouble of that nature so you missed seeing me in the news: "Crazy Mother goes postal in airport". The day after her graduatiuon we had a typical Texas Backyard BBQ with all our close friends and family. The weather was great and so was the BBQ. We had it catered by a place in Huntsville called McKinzie's. It was really good so I recommend them if you are in the area. I really wanted to post to my blog while we were gone however we stayed with my in-laws in Midway, TX and they are on a dial-up connection so I didn't mess with it. We were too busy visiting and having a great time anyway. More than anything I wanted to catch up on all the other bl*gs out there I like to read. (see my list to the left)

Here is some Texas humor for you to enjoy:
After having dug to a depth of 10 yards last year, New York scientists found traces of copper wire dating back100 years and came to the conclusion, that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than100 years ago.
Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, California scientists dug to a depth of 20 yards, and shortly after, headlines in the LA Times newspaper read: 'California archaeologists have found traces of 200 year old copper wire and have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers.'
One week later, The El Campo Times, a local newspaper just outside of Houston, Texas, reported the following: After digging as deep as 30 yards in cotton fields near Hillje in Wharton County, Texas, Bubba Johnson, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Texas had already gone wireless.' (Too bad that wasn't in Midway, TX - LOL!)

Leaving Singapore Today

2008-05-07T12:26:00.003+08:00

Well, as you can tell by my ticker above there are only a couple days left before daughter no. 1 graduates from Texas A&M. So, tonight we head home. I'm bringing my laptop and hope to catching on my posting and reading of posts while we are home.

I heard these funnies on the radio this morning on the way to work.

Words of Wisdom:
The problem with the gene pool is that there's no lifeguard.
Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Why are our successes private and failures public?

Where did they learn to park?

2008-05-06T13:03:00.004+08:00

The answer is "they didn't". Hubbie and I frequently go to eat lunch at a Subway in a nearby mall (of course) Jurong Point. There is a parking garage below the mall however you have to allow an extra half hour to just get in and out of the parking garage ~~car park~~. So, we park in a vacant lot along with a bunch of other ~~cheap~~ people across the street from the mall. It's a lot faster for us to get in and out of. We get there early, usually around 11:30 because if you wait too long then there isn't any place to park. I can't really say that there wouldn't be any parking spots because if you look at the photo below they don't necessarily care if there is a 'spot' or not. It is always so amazing to us when we come out of the mall to see how all these crazy drivers have parked. They apparently don't care that these people trapped in the middle may need to leave and go back to work. I think it's a good thing they don't have Hummers over here because you can imagine what I would do if that was my car trapped in the middle. Yep! I'd plow right over them. Hubbie and I always make sure we park where we have a way out.

Wanna Lick?

2008-05-01T19:41:00.003+08:00

Today was a holiday here in Singapore. I'm not sure which one but we took advantage of it none the less. Daughter no. 2 was out of school. Hubbie and I worked in the morning and took off at lunch. We all went down to check out some of the local scenery on Arab Street. On the way over we past by a large crowded plaza area where there were vendors selling ice cream. Here they take a rectangle block of ice cream and slice you off a 1 inch slice and give it to you between a slice of what appears to be green and pink swirled bread. I'm sure it's flavored similar to a pound cake. It appears to have a pound cake like texture. Anyway we were standing over to the side where hubbie could get a shot of the crowd with his new Cannon HD video camera and this little old man came up to him with one of those ice cream sandwiches and offered it to him. Hubbie politely declined. After the little old man walked off daughter no. 2 says, "that man licked the ice cream before he offered it to you." I said, "no way". Sure enough, we watched the little old man walk over to another group of people and offer them the ice cream and after they declined, he took another lick. Then he walked back to daughter no. 2 and I and offered it to us...daughter no. 2 was very quick to say "no thank you".

Singapore Formula Drift

2008-04-28T21:45:00.003+08:00

Amateur video by daughter no.2 on a Fuji FinePix V10. Waiting for professional video by Hubby on new Cannon HD video camera!

Yesterday we spent the day at the first Drifting Competition in Singapore. It was called Formula Drift and it is an American Championship Drifting Series. We had a really good time although we spent about 10 hours in the blazing sun on hot black asphalt. I'm sure you can imagine what we look like today - a family of tomatoes! Of course it wouldn't be a true Singapore event if there wasn't any drama. Remember me telling you about the fun we had going to the Air Show? Well this was at the same place. So, you know I have to rant on here. I have to let out all my anger somewhere and this is where I do it.

It all started the day before the competition, Saturday. We had bought our tickets back in February. In doing so we were going to get two Formula Drift Polo Shirts at the event. We bought a four pack of tickets thinking that daughter no. 2 or hubbie could bring someone along. Well on Saturday hubbie calls me a the office (BTW...the rig is GONE! - more on that later) to see if we bought general admission tickets or grandstand tickets. I asked, "what grandstand tickets?! When we bought our tickets I called them and there weren't any seats at this event." They told me everyone would just stand around the track. Sounded stupid to me but not surprising least you forget where we are. Apparently the guy hubbie had asked to go with us had done some checking and they had added grandstand seats. So I get online and sure enough back at the end of March they started selling grandstand seats. I'm guessing I wasn't the only person that had called and asked about seats and so a light bulb must have went off in someones head. So I get on the phone and call Sistic, their version of Ticketmaster. I ask the lady that answered if we could swap our tickets for grandstand tickets and pay the difference. She took my information and looked up our tickets and said sure, that I would need to go to a Sistic counter to do it. Then I asked if we would still get our shirts. She then told me no, because to get the shirts you had to buy your tickets within a certain time frame. I told her well I did buy our tickets within the correct time frame, but then she told me that we would have to give those tickets up and to get the new ones and the date would show that we just bought them today. I was getting pissed because here we were being penalized for buying our tickets early: 1) we bought BEFORE they decided to sell the grandstand seats and 2) here we were going to upgrade to a ticket that was more than twice the price we still couldn't get the shirts that we were going to get with the cheap tickets. I no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the gal to understand where I was coming from. So...the story is just starting. Hubby comes by my office to pick up the tickets and take them by Sistic to exchange them. We figured it would be better to have a place to sit and buy our own damn shirts! There is a Sistic counter at the mall that is close to our offices. Guess what? He gets there and they tell him he has to go the Sistic counter at the Indoor Stadium! Stupid girl I talked to left out that little tidbit of information.

So after Hubbie drives daughter no. 2 clear to the north end of the island he then drives to the opposite end to the Indoor Stadium Sistic office. He gets there with the tickets and my passport since I bought the tickets. Thought we had everything covered. WRONG! Hubbie has to call me cause they need more proof that I indeed want to exchange the tickets. It's not like we are asking for a refund. I thought I was going to have to write out a letter and fax it to them. Luckily, me talking to the person on the phone was enough, no fax was required. She then had to discuss it with her manager. After all of that....they told hubbie they didn't have any more grandstand tickets!!! I think I would have pulled her though the window! Only about 3hours had passed since I had called and spoke to the lady on the phone. She didn't give any indication that they were close to selling out. They did tell hubbie though that they would have a limited number of grandstand tickets at the event. You can imagine the warm fuzzy feeling I had about that.

So Sunday we get up early so we can be there when the gates opened at 9AM. Believe it or not they had police checking to see if everyone had tickets when we turned onto the road that the exhibition center is one. Hubbie was a little concerned because we had the tickets for the people coming with us. But they assured us they wouldn't have a problem getting in. I can only imagine what the traffic backup was going to be later.

We got a great parking place. There was already quite a few people there which kinda surprised me because Singaporeans aren't known for going places early. The malls don't open until 11AM. We walked to the gate and were able to trade our tickets without much trouble. We went first to the merchandise booth before it got too crowded. They were so unorganized. There were three people working the booth. All the shirts were in cardboard boxes on the ground. The lady helping us didn't have a clue as to what was where. Shelves would have made things a lot easier for them. That are clear plastic bins rather than cardboard boxes. Hiring people that know how to add or use a calculator would have helped too. All shirts and caps were $20 except for one really nice shirt that was $50 so you think a first grader could have added up the totals in their head. But it took her 5 minutes to give us the correct total - after I had already told her what it was. So, shirts in hand we walk over to the grandstands, which were covered.

The grandstands were clear on the other side of the track from everything else. The organizer must not have given any thought to the fact you were going to have 1000's of people out in the hot sun that were going to have to walk clear back to the gate for water. Would it have been too hard to add multiple water/soda/food stalls? Not sure what they were ~~weren't~~ thinking there. The food too is so strange to us. We are used to event food like hot dogs, hamburgers, corn dogs, pizza by the slice, peanuts, cotton candy, pretzels, etc. Here they have fried rice, noodles, fish balls, chicken nuggets on a stick, chicken wings and chicken hot dogs. Strange, so strange.

The races were fun to watch. Some of the drivers did really well and some not so well. The fans are kinda the same. Everyone loves to see a wreck and there were a few of those too. Nothing was hurt but the cars. No injuries, just lost bumpers. There were three drivers from the USA there. My hubbie's coworker brought his wife and daughter. Come to find out you can bring in coolers so to heck with the water, where's the beer? Now we're talking! Hubbie and coworker went to get some beer while we took the girls around to the paddock area to meet and greet with the drivers. They got a few autographs and took some photos. Apparently we waiting too long to head back to the grandstand because now all the good upper seats were gone and we had to sit on the second row and the sun was beginning to peek in under the roof.

There are other things that the event organizer could have done to make the day a little more enjoyable: a program that listed the drivers, where they were from, the rules, etc.; a play zone with video race cars and other fun stuff, more food and beverage stalls. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time. But to make this a top notch event, a little more planning could have really made a difference. When you have that many people there for the entire day, there is just so much more they could have included.

Craziness!

2008-04-22T13:55:00.002+08:00

So much is going on! Our project is FINALLY coming to an end the rig is SUPPOSED to leave the quay side on Friday and go out to the anchorage area for it's UWILD, that is UnderWater Inspection In Lieu of Dry Docking. This is where we send a team of divers to inspect the underside of the rig for any damage or holes. Then after that the rig heads out to it's new location to start work off the coast of Thailand. There is a lot of loose ends that require attention at this point in the project and that has everyone really busy. In addition, the shipyard office that we have been working out of for the past year and a half is going to be completely gutted and remodeled. So, in the middle of everything else that is going on, we have to pack up and move to another office. That is what we are doing today. All the drawings, all the manuals, all the files, all of our personal office stuff is now in boxes waiting for the movers to come take it all to our new temporary location. I really feel sorry for these guys too. We are on the 3rd floor of a building with no elevator. Anything that has to be moved is done by sheer man power...and most often ... these are not the big bulky men we are used to see as movers back home. These guys might weigh 110 lbs soaking wet. And I'm talking everything: refrigerators, copiers, filing cabinets, etc. - they have all been brought up and down by the stairs. I've think they've already disconnected the air conditioner in the open area of our office because when I go out there to pack boxes it is hotter than hell! So, I come back in to my office where I have the AC cranked down to 16 deg. Celsius - have no idea what that is in normal temperature but it's as low as it goes - to cool off.

In addition daughter no. 2 turns 15 tomorrow! and we are still working on the planning for daughter no. 1's graduation party in a few weeks.

So that's pretty much it around here lately. I've missed having time to catch up with all my favorite bl*ggers. So while I chill...I'll go browse a little bit before I have to pack up my PC.

A Day Late

2008-04-17T08:12:00.003+08:00

I know...tax day was yesterday. I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to doing our taxes. Especially now that we are working overseas. Gone are the days when I could download the newest version of TurboTax and ~~a pitcher of margaritas~~ a few hours later I would have them all done. Now we have to pay someone else to do them for us. Luckily we automatically get an extension since we are over here. We haven't even received the paperwork from our companies for the taxes they've paid to the Singapore version of the IRS on our behalf. Basically my opinion, not that it matters, is that the IRS shouldn't make it so that you have to have a PHD in Accounting to be able to file your returns. If I ever make a mistake, then it's their fault. They should make it everyone should be able to fill out the forms with out it causing migraines, alcholism, and balding or grey hair. A person shouldn't have to give up a good chunck of their life to fill out those stupid forms. I think about my mom. It seems like her whole life revolves around preparing their income tax returns. I think of all the times she put something off because she was having to work on taxes. I wish we could tell the IRS to stick it and we could do what we wanted to with our money. I think most people would be so much better off if we could keep 100% of our paycheck and spend it, invest it or save it as I please! Having everyone pay their share as they spend their money on goods and services would ensure that all those currently "flying below the radar" would contribute as well. So...today my post is in support of the FairTax!

Eddie here never particularly liked the term "drug dealer." He prefers, "repeat sales entrepreneur." Labels aside, here's a guy who loves the current income tax system. That's because even though he generates plenty of income, Eddie doesn't pay a dime in income taxes (1040s are a drag, man). Eddie's a proud member and contributer to the $1 trillion (yes, trillion) underground economy—that's about 8% of the US GDP—that flies well below the IRS tax collection radar. And that's just fine with him. So the last thing Eddie needs is some new tax alternative which captures revenue from everyone on consumption, including underground players like Eddie (whose new cars and fine threads don't come cheap, you know).

So please don't crimp Eddie's style: Don't go to www.fairtax.org/changedc to learn more about the FairTax and the April 15th "Pass the FairTax" petition to Congress.

I'm Giving Them Fair Warning

2008-04-12T12:55:00.003+08:00

I keep hearing on the news back home about all the flight delays with American Airlines and this has me a little concerned since we are due to fly home in May - ONE day before daughter no. 1 graduates from Texas A&M. Now you may be thinking, well if you are that worried about it then why don't you change your flight and leave earlier allowing yourself more time? I wish we could but you see daughter no. 2 will still be in school. She will be missing classes the whole time we are gone. It's not like she's only in the first grade where it really doesn't matter. She's in the 9th grade and it being near the end of the school year it's likely she will either miss some exams or miss the review for her exams that she will have when we get back. School here is pretty tough and she can't afford to miss too many days that close to the end of the school year. At first I thought I only needed to be mainly concerned about weather related flight delays. Those are the ones where no one is responsible and there's not much you can do about it. Then there is the type of delay that is cause by some ~~lazy airline employee not doing his/her job~~ technical problem. This type of delay happened to hubby and daughter no. 2 when they flew in from Singapore last summer. When they arrived in Chicago where they had to go through customs they happen to get there the same time as 9 million other people and it took them 2 hours to get through customs. Needless to say they missed their connection to Houston. They ended up on a flight to San Antonio where they rented a car and drove to Houston, to get their luggage that went on made it with out them - now how does that happen? So, after flying for 20+ hours they had to drive from San Antonio to Houston then another 2 hours to Midway,TX. I was ~~in a panic thinking hubbie would doze off while driving~~ just a little worried. American Airlines says that it should be back to a normal schedule this Sunday. Now we aren't even flying on American Airlines, but I just wonder which Airlines will be next. In March it was Southwest Airlines and earlier this month it was United Airlines and US Airways. So of course we will be on Continental/NW Airlines and I'm thinking, "Oh, great! They are probably next". If by some chance we get delayed on our trip home for our daughters graduation, I will turn into the mother-from-hell and everybody better watch out! Don't say I didn't warn you - at least that's more than we can say for the airlines!

We Will Rock You - Singapore Style

2008-04-08T15:13:00.003+08:00

Hubbie and I went with my PM and his wife to see We Will Rock You on Sunday night. I think it's safe to say that PM's wife and I were looking forward to the show and hubbie and PM ~~going under duress~~ weren't quite so sure. It is a musical by the way. A THREE HOUR musical. The story is set in the future when there is no REAL LIVE music, just fake music pushed to people over the internet. Earth has been renamed "planet mall". Musical instruments are forbidden. Mainstream commercial conformity reigns. The story was told in the most humorous fashion. There were all kinds of innuendos and ad libs. The cast even injected some funny stuff about Singapore. At one point, one of the characters, Killer Queen, makes a comment about one of the other characters suits being from Armani. Then he comments that it isn't Aramni, he bought it at Bugis Village which is a VERY local shopping ~~nightmare~~ center. It is dark, cramped and crowded. Like a Flea Market or Bazaar but permanent. There was even a comment added about how the star Galileo (Rock Star INXS finalist MiG Ayesa) "didn't even get picked to be in INXS". At another point in the show all the "Bohemians" shout out the names they have given themselves from old newspaper and magazine clippings. That part was particularly funny...if you can, imagine a muscle bound guy in a kilt named "Victoria Beckham" and a chubby guy in a red fishnet tank top with a gold bustier over it, ratty jeans with what looked to be a puffy red heart strapped over his privates named "Madonna". The list was hilarious! I started to write a whole outline of the show but figured - hey, it's already been done. Just go read it here. If you ever have the chance to go see it I recommend that you do. The music is AWESOME and is played by a live band which you never see until the end of the performance. At least that's how it is here at the Singapore showing. The Wikipedia posting about the performance doesn't mention anything about the band that I saw and this is a shame as in my opinion they are the true stars of the show.

Aggie Parking Lot

2008-04-05T11:39:00.003+08:00

Hubby emailed me this joke and I thought I would post it in honor of our own Aggie that is about to graduate:

An Aggie from Texas walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Bakersfield on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank.
The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Aggie handed over the keys to a new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. The Aggie produced the title and everything checked out.
The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest. Later, the bank's president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at
the dumb ol Aggie from the south for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan.
An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parked it.
Two weeks later, the Aggie returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07. The loan officer said, 'Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?'
The Aggie replied, 'Where else in New York City, can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?'

GIG 'EM WHOOOOP!

Essence of Chicken - hmmm?

2008-04-04T09:41:00.002+08:00

Since the Bird's Nest was such a shocker - at least to me - I thought I would dig around a little to find out the scoop on another item here that the locals pay a lot of money for: Essence of Chicken. I know you are all on the edge of your seat...

One web site claims: When taken regularly, this all natural health food supplement sustains your health, through all stages of your life. By increasing your metabolic rate, it helps to relieve fatigue and to restore both your mental alertness and physical energy (within 15 to 30 mins!), allowing you to perform at your best, and to meet life daily challenges. It is also proven to help your body absorb and use vital nutrients like iron. When you consume a bottle of BRAND'S Essence of Chicken, you can be sure of all the benefits you've come to expect of BRAND'S Essence of Chicken, and more! Simply put, BRAND'S Essence of Chicken is your trusted friend, For Mind. For Body. For Life. Ingredients: Concentrated Chicken Stock, Caramel. Price: $15.99 for (6) 2.3 oz. bottles. Why can't you just go by a can of chicken broth? Is there any difference? Any how in the heck does chicken stock help your body perform all those amazing things?

A little more research on the interenet and I found this scientific study and it listed the following in regards to Essence of Chicken and the Immune system: Implications to consumers: Active and strong immune cells are equivalent to powerful "soldiers" that destroy or ward off invading foreign agents that cause us to fall sick. Essence of chicken effectively activates neutrophils and these immune cells play a vital role in destroying foreign agents at the site of infection. Regular intake of essence of chicken helps to strengthen our immune system to keep us in optimum health condition. This is especially true in today's hectic lifestyle where stress and environment can weaken our immune system. In addition, the potential modulatory effect of essence of chicken indicates that essence of chicken may help to reduce the side effects of intense immune response (eg. local tissue inflammation due to superoxide radicals) while gearing up the immune system at the same time.

They also listed these results in regards to Essence of Chicken and Metabolism: Implications to consumers: Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is the minimum number of calories you need just to carry out your body's physiological processes. It reflects the energy used by brain, muscles and other metabolically actives tissues (liver, etc). In other words, RMR is the number of calories your body burns when you are at rest such as sitting or lying down. Monitoring your metabolism over time will help you to balance the calories you burn with the calories you eat. This study provides good scientific evidence that essence of chicken increases resting metabolic rate, confirming the findings of Dr C. Geissler of University of London. Therefore, essence of chicken serves as an important key ingredient to help you burn fat by increasing calories expenditure, bringing about better fitness and good health.

Now I take everything I read (online, in the newspaper, etc) with a grain of salt. I mean who are these people doing this research? Their website doesn't really say much about exactly what the company (Cerebos) does. Their Vision states: To be the leading food and health supplements enterprise in the Asia Pacific region by creating value for our employees, our customers and our shareholders. So I don't know if they really have an unbiased view when it comes to the results of the tests.

Switching from yahoo to google for searching I found one site, Grocery Ninja, who explains the whole process of how a chicken becomes something more than chicken broth, but the wonderful, fix-it-all in a jar, Essence of chicken.

Maybe I should give it a try...What's that saying, "Give us a week and we'll take off the weight"? Maybe I'll give it a week and see if it helps with my new work out and eating regime.

Ouch!

2008-04-01T15:06:00.004+08:00

Well hubby and I signed up to work out with a personal trainer. It sounded like a great idea at the time! You know my 40 year warranty has expired so everything is starting to go to hell in a handbasket. First my vision, and now my figure. I thought that I had better do something to stop this downward spiral before I get past the point of no return. So Sunday was our first ~~torture treatment~~ work out with the trainer. Now it is two days later and I am still sore. I am sore in places I didn't even know existed. Hubby is too. Yesterday I asked him if he was sore. In my mind I was thinking, "he better be, or I'm going to tell the ~~S&M Master~~ personal trainer that he needed to step it up some for my dear sweetheart. Luckily for him he is suffering just as much as I am. We have our second ~~torture treatment~~ work out this evening. It better not include any workout for the arms or chest or I am not going to be able to play along. I know you must be wondering then why did we submit ourselves to this inhumaine treatment? Well, it's because I know what I should be doing, what I should be eating, etc. I just don't have any will power. It's too easy for me to get home and fix something easy and not necessarily healthy and sit on the couch afterwards. We work long hard hours - 6 days a week. And to be honest, watching a good DVD is a lot more enjoyable than working out. But they say that it takes 21 days of doing something to develop a new habit. So, here it is day number 3, 18 more days to go. After that I'm hoping that maybe not working out or doing some sort of activity in the evening will feel like the wrong thing to do.

When is a name only a name?

2008-03-26T08:43:00.001+08:00

Every here and there while shopping here in Singapore I come across items that I'm not familiar with. This morning there was a two page ad for Bird's Nest in the paper. I must admit this is one of those strange sounding items that I have no idea what it is. I'm thinking it can't literally be bird nests, can it? I know that the Chinese are known for what I consider to be strange beliefs in what they call Chinese Medicine. However, I just assumed that the name Bird's Nest was just that, a 'name', and not really bird nests. It comes in a jar. And why would, not to mention how, would a person even consume a birds nest?

So, I did a little research on the Internet. I figured there must be other people out there just as curious as I am to know what the heck this stuff really is. The first website I came across stated:

According to legends,the great voyager, Zheng He, had been known to popularize the consumption of bird's nest. During his journey with his crew in the rough sea, he discovered a small island in the Malayan peninsula during a thunder storm. As food were insufficient on the island that was unoccupied by people, they set off to search for food. In no time, they discovered bird’s nests in cliffs. Thinking that the bird's nests might be a good source of food, the members of the crew were ordered to retrieve them. After thorough cleansing and double-boiling, the bird’s nests were consumed. Days after, members of the crew had noticeable glowing complexion and improved stamina. Bird’s nest were then brought back to China and impressed by the miraculous effects, the Imperial doctor termed them as health-bestowing gift and ranked bird’s nest above ginseng, shark’s fin, and abalone.
It was taught back then that bird’s nest should be consumed in the morning, by mixing them with congee over a period of time,, to enable the body to take in its beneficial properties. That knowledge was passed down through generations up til this day.

So now I'm thinking, no freakin' way! This has got to be a mistake! Maybe we aren't talking about the same bird nests here. So I went on and did another search. The next website said this:

Indonesian’s Bird's nest is one of the finest qualities in the world. There are two kinds of places to develop the Swiftlet (Collocalia Fuchipaga) nest: In the caves and in old or abandoned or cultivated houses with three different types of nest such as Blood Nest, White Nest, and Yellow Nest.
Once the nests are removed from the houses, they are washed and cleaned (processed) before being shipped to the shops for sale. From Indonesia, millions of nests are sent to Chinese communities around the world, with Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan the top consumers. Southeast Asian consumers include: Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
Edible bird's nest can be categorised into two main types according to the location they are harvested from: cave nest and house nest.
Cave nest
Cave nest are mainly harvested from natural caves in eastern Sarawak and Sabah (two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo). These caves are scattered in the state's various forest reserves, natural parks and coastal islands. The more famous of these caves are located at Niah, Kakus, Baram and Tinjar.These caves differ in sizes and heights, but mostly are found on high cliffs facing the sea. Cave nest generally contains more dirt and feather than house nest.
House Nest
House nest is made by Swiftlets that nest under the roof of houses in the countryside. Since many believed that having Swiftlets in their house is a sign of good omen, not to mention the prospect of a lucrative trade, it wasn't long before houses are abandoned to encourage the Swiflets to move in. Indonesians started encouraging Swiftlets to nest in empty abandoned houses since the Dutch colonial times. Needless to say, house nest are those harvested from these"swallow houses". Generally, the texture of house nest are smoother compared to those of cave nest, and with less feathers and other contaminants. Thus, the original cupped hand or crescent shaped bowl of the Swiflet nest can be retained after the removal of feathers.

Now I'm thinking...those crazy Chinese are EATING REAL bird nests!!! As you can see I've underlined the parts that are particularly disturbing to me. But the ones I've seen are in a jar. Could they really be talking about the same thing? To find out, I went to the website of the company that ran the ad in the paper. This is what I found there:

Premium Bird's Nest (Sugar-Free)
Actions : Maintains youthful and glowing complexion, speeds up recovery from illness, stimulates appetite, aids digestion, invigorates the lungs and boosts immunity. The product can be added to fresh milk, desserts, salads, tonic soups or others as desired.
Ingredients : Bird's Nest
Unit : 150g/bottle

It is amazing to me that in a country that is supposidly so protective of it's citizens there appears to be no government regulations over such "snake-oil" type of products and services. Here the papers are full of ads for companies that promise to make you slimmer, younger, larger breasts, whiter skin, etc. There was an article in yesterdays paper on this very subject that said they (Ministry of Health) leave it up to the physician's conscience to not offer products or perform procedures that do not have any proven benefits...unless they are doing clinical trials. And we all know how honest and trust worthy everyone is...give me a break! Here I am in a country where you can't buy a pack of bubble gum - but if I so choose I can go spend my life savings by signing up for some program that promises I'll loose weight in weeks. I also saw an ad that says I can loose weight with a balloon that you swallow - with no risk from surgery or side effects from weight-loss drugs. Well, this is a little off the subject - so I'll save that for another day.

Rodeo Houston

2008-03-20T17:02:00.003+08:00

Well, up till now I have kept from boring you with my complaining about missing another year of rodeo in Houston. Unless you've been apart of it and love volunteering as much as I do then you just wouldn't understand. This is my second year I'm missing by being there. To me volunteering at the rodeo is so much fun that you sometimes forget that you are actually there to help support the rodeo in it's efforts to raise scholarship money for Texas students. I guess rodeo will be over this weekend so why am I just now bringing it up? It's because there was an article in the latest issue of our local free paper Today all about the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It was a huge two page article. I couldn't believe it! The article mentions the actual rodeo events, the calf scramble, the entertainment and the carnival. There was also one sentence about the money raised and the scholarships. This lead me to actually write a letter to the author of the article. There was no mention of the over 20,000 volunteers that donate their time and skills to the rodeo. Everything is supposed to be for the kids. That's why we (volunteers) spend all the hours and not to mention money at the rodeo that we do. The rodeo brings in some $75 million each year her article read, and some 17 percent of it goes to scholarships. That doesn't sound like much when it's listed at 17 percent, but that is actually millions given in scholarships to Texas students every year. Did I mention that I miss Rodeo?

18 Years!

2008-03-19T14:17:00.009+08:00

Well hubby and I just celebrated our 18 year wedding anniversary on St. Patrick's day. And the answer to your question is, No, we didn't have a green wedding or green beer at the reception. But is it kinda fun having your wedding anniversary on St. Patrick's Day. It's kinda like everyone holds a celebration for you. On Sunday, the day before our anniversary, we went and rode the Singapore Flyer. They have made a whole 'destination' out of the area. It is still growing but they have several restaurants and shops. They even have a Build-A-Bear, which we had to stop at. Of course having daughter no. 2 with us made it "okay" that we were at Build-A-Bear. Hubby even made me a cute bear for our anniversary. Here he is naming it. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him giving it a bath. The store workers were so into it. They didn't let him skip a single step. See, even grown-ups can have fun at Build-a-Bear! Another exciting thing there is Popeye's Fried Chicken!! Okay, this is sad I know! A person should not get excited about fast food fried chicken. I was so surprised to see a Popeye's that I had to go in and check out the menu. They have KFC here but if you go in and ask them for white meat, or chicken breast strips they look at you like you are from another planet. )I just want to smack them!) All KFC has is legs, thighs and wings. What do they do with the rest of the chicken is a mystery. And it wasn't even the fact that they have chicken breat strips at Popeyes that I was so happy about - it was the biscuits!!!! NO WHERE on this island can you get biscuits. And I know, I'm from the south, I should be able to make biscuits but mine never turn out. They are usually 5 lbs each, dry and hard. So if you have a good, no-fail, biscuit recipe - please send it! Anyway... they guy that I was talking to behind the counter must have thought that I was one crazy Ang Mo to be so happy to have found biscuits. You can't even buy the refrigerated Pillsbury kind in the stores here. I'm telling you - Singaporeans don't know what biscuits are. Maybe that's why they are so skinny...hmmmm...

Monday evening we had a wonderful anniversary dinner over on Sentosa at a place called il Lido. We had a great view overlooking the water. We didn't make it in time to see the sunset, but the food and service was some of the best we've had here in Singapore. The food is Italian. We had a nice bottle of wine and a 4 course dinner. Our waiter even had a sense of humor which is unusual here. Seems like anytime we try to joke with the waiters they just look at you. I guess it's part language difference and part cultural difference. And it doesn't happen to just us. Other people that we know say the same thing.

Tell Me What You Think

2008-03-15T11:21:00.004+08:00

The other day on Yahoo I saw this picture of Katharine McPhee and I thought she reminded me of Jaclyn Smith. We saw her on American Idol this week and I mentioned it to my hubby and he didn't think so. And actually at the time she didn't to me either since she had her hair in a ponytail. But looking at these pictures she does resemble Jaclyn to me. What do you think?

Sorry to bore you with such trival dribble but not much else is going on....or I'm just too darn busy here at work to think of anything interesting.

Singtel must have read my post

2008-03-13T15:34:00.002+08:00

Yep, just days ago I was telling y'all about our ordeal with Singtel and how we had to go into the Hello Store to switch daughter no. 2's phone plan and how they put her on her own plan. Well, guess what? I heard on the radio yesterday that Singtel now offers what they call their "mio plan". Funny thing...I kept thinking they were say "meal plan"! LOL! Anyway... their new "mio plan" bundles all 3 services at 1 great price. Simply add as little as $15.29 per month to enjoy more talktime or faster broadband speed. So it’s easy to find the right plan to suit your needs. Well I'm not falling for it! I'm not wasting another day of my life waiting in line at one of their Hello Stores to find out about their new plan. I know it will all be a waste of time and only cause me more stress and wrinkles. If they want to send me 3 different bills that's fine with me. If they offered online bill pay and statements then I would maybe go for that, but they'd need to make it where I could sign up online. I refuse to go back into one of those stores because it's never just one simple trip. No, there will always be some form of ID that you forgot, or the thing you are going in for isn't quite like the way you read about it online...someway, somehow it will require a second trip to their store and I'm not wasting any more time doing that.

Cancel your credit cards before you die

2008-03-12T14:16:00.000+08:00

Now some people are really stupid!!!! Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today. Reminds me of a conversation I had with HSBC bank here a week or two ago. Only difference is you have to go through your whole life history with EVERY person you talk to. I was about to pull my hair out. Wish I could have come up with a great 'come back' like at the end of this post.

A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank. Here is the exchange :

Family Member: 'I am calling to tell you she died back in January.'

Citibank : 'The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.'

Family Member : 'Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.'

Citibank : 'Since it is two months past due, it already has been.'

Family Member : So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?'

Citibank : 'Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!'

Family Member : 'Do you think God will be mad at her?'

Citibank: 'Excuse me?'Family Member : 'Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?'

Citibank : 'Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor.'

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member : 'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance.'

Citibank : 'The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.'

Family Member : 'You mean you want to collect from her estate?'

Citibank : (Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?'

Family Member : 'No, I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was given)

Citibank: 'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'

Family Member : 'Sure.' (Fax number was given )

After they get the fax :

Citibank : 'Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help.'

Family Member : 'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care.'

Citibank: 'Well, the late fees and charges do still apply.' (What is wrong with these people?!?)Family Member : 'Would you like her new billing address?'

Citibank : 'That might help.'

Family Member : ' Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129, Plot Number 69.'

Citibank : 'Sir, that's a cemetery!'

Family Member : 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???

Texas Pride

2008-03-11T08:38:00.003+08:00

Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast , and the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what it is. It's Texas . Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?

In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is a little bit of Texas in everyone.

Did you ever hear anyone in a bar go, 'Wow..so you're from Iowa ? Cool, tell me about it?' Do you know why? Because no one gives a crap about Iowa.'

Texas is the Alamo . Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for the cause of freedom.

We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and James Bowie and Crockett, and do you know why? Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes.

John Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of Texas.

Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Anna at San Jacinto.

Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest.

Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend.

Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.

Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas.

Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.

Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork.

Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico.

Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome. (guess now the Reliant Stadium too)

Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Tommy Lee Jones, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Howard Hughes, George H. W.Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George W. Bush. and let's not forget GEORGE STRAITand Richard Persall.

PANTERA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and Compaq, Bell Helicopter And LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter and the JSF Fighter.

Texas is NASA.

Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops.

Texas is home to the most amazing sunsets of gold over an empty field.

Texans have pride like no others.

Texas is hundreds of deer running around neighborhoods and fields.

Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer.

Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down to watch the local high school football game on Friday nights and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and for the Night In Old San Antonio River Parade in San Antonio.

To drive across Texas is to drive 1/4 the way across the United States. The distance from El Paso, TX to California and from Orange, TX to Florida is closer than the distance from El Paso to Orange.

Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities.

If it isn't in Texas, you probably don't need it.

Everything's bigger in Texas!

No one does anything bigger or better than it's done in Texas.

By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland , California , or Maine , and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Klein Oak High or anyplace else at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because it is the only state that was a Republic before it became a state.

Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol building in Washington , D.C. and we can divide our state into five states at any time if we wanted to! We included these things as part of the deal when we came on. That's the best part, right there.

Texas even has its own power grid!! ... Did I mention Live music capitol of the world?

Lion Dance

2008-03-10T14:49:00.005+08:00

If I wait too much longer this post will seem completely irrelevant. This is a short little video we took at the Singapore Zoo. During the Chinese New Year the zoo had all kinds of special activities going one. I'll add some photos later. Enjoy!

How Old Should You Be...

2008-03-07T16:52:00.002+08:00

to get your own cell phone bill? Well here in Singapore I guess it really doesn't matter. When we got here almost 2 years ago we got daughter no. 2 a cell phone. The phone was in hubbies name. Well recently Singtel came out with a new Student Plan that has free unlimited SMS (text messaging - but daughter no. 2 says it stands for "secretly messaging someone"). Standing in line at the Singtel store is like watching paint dry while having to listen to screaming cats. It's that enjoyable. I was trying to get wireless broadband for my laptop and on trip number two up to the Singtel store to get the correct hardware I notice the new Student Plan promotion. I thought, "great, I'll sign daughter no. 2 up for the new plan so we will no longer have to pay for her to send secret messages." Wrong. Sales clerk (which I couldn't tell if it was a he or a she - just like a great majority of the people here - I swear I do not know if the person that has been cutting my hair for the past almost 2 years is a guy or a girl!) anyway...the sales clerk looks up the account and says I have to come back with my daughter's School ID. Can't switch her plan without confirming that she is for sure a student. Ok. So I try to plan a day to take her up to the Singtel store with me. We want to go EARLY, so we are there when they open AT 11AM - not so early to us. Early here is 9AM. So this past Saturday we go up to the mall (yes - everything is in a mall) and when it is our turn we go to the sales clerk and tell him that we want to switch daugher no. 2 to the Student Plan. He looks up the account and asks if Mr. Robert is with us. I tell him, no, why? Well it seems that since the bill is in his name he has to be there to 'ok' the change. That was not a big deal as they said he could fax them his employment pass. However, now the sales clerk not only wants the student ID but also daughter no. 2's dependent pass. I told the guy, "look, the last time I was here I was told to bring her STUDENT ID, nothing was said about her DEPENDENT PASS. You know she has one, she couldn't be here in Singapore without one. Why do you need it?" He told me in order to put the account in her name they needed her dependent pass. I was like, "what?" "You're telling me you are going to move the account from her dad's name into her own name? She's 14 years old! Who then ultimately is responsible for paying the bill?" He looked at me kinda strange and more or less said that she would be responsible but that what ever we worked out at home was up to us!! Well needless to say, since we didn't have her passport or dependent pass with us we had to go home and come back later. Hubby went with us that time and we got it all taken care of. I still can't believe how backwards they are about some things. So now we have three cell phones, my wireless broadband and our home phone. Guess how many different bills we get each month? Yep, you got it! THREE (tricked ya - my phone and hubbies phone are paid for by our employers). Guess it's too difficult to combine all the numbers (daughter's cell, broadband and home phone) onto one statement.

Besides all of that excitement we had a whole other conversation about their phone prices, trade-in values, etc. What they offer is worthless! What we got back home with Verizon is much better.

Some Days I Wanna Scream

2008-03-05T15:15:00.002+08:00

Yesterday after work was one of those days. Daughter no. 2 had to go back up to her school for gymnastics. So, when I left work I went by the condo, picked her up and we were on our way. I also needed to do some grocery shopping, so I figured I would do that while she worked. Simple enough - website showed there was a Cold Storage (one of the local chain of grocery stores over here) at Causeway Point Mall. Yes, a mall. In case you've missed my ranting in previous posts - the grocery stores here are for the most part located in shopping malls. So that requires all the fun and excitement of parking, walking, etc. You'd think after almost 2 years here it wouldn't bother so much, but I guess it's the larger number of years that I've been exposed to the convenience of parking directly in front of the store that has me conditioned to believe that is the way it should be and they have it all wrong over here. So, after dropping daughter no. 2 off at the school I head to the mall. I drive around and around working my way up the floors in the parking garage until I find a spot on the 4th floor. As I enter the mall and head to the elevator it would have been smart for me to notice the set of stairs I had to go down to get to the elevators. If I would have made a mental note of those stairs it would have helped a little later on when I got ready to leave the mall. You can see where this is going I'm sure. After picking up all the items on my list that I could find - and trying not to gag from the smell of the Durian every time I realized I forgot something near the produce section, I headed to the check out counter. I went to pay with my credit card, just like I do at the other Cold Storage's I shop at and guess what the cashier told me? "We only take NETS or cash." I was like WTF! What century is this? All the other stores take plastic! NETS is kinda like the old ATM cards that banks used when they first came out - pre-visa debt card days. So...now I am off to find a stupid ATM machine so I can get cash. They were asking me what bank my card was from and I was like it doesn't matter! It's a Visa Debit card - it's from the US and it works everywhere (except for at your stupid store)! So the first ATM I find has three machines and the line is a mile long. So up the escalator I go. I go up two levels and find another ATM with no line. Guess everyone else was too lazy. I get the cash, go back to the store, wait behind another person, pay for my groceries - then, as I left the store and I am pushing a shopping cart full of groceries through the mall it hits me! I was like this seems so weird! I can't be the only person who has every had to push a shopping cart through this mall - am I? Are people staring at me? See, the one thing that is different here than in Texas where I am from - they buy a small amount of groceries with more frequent trips to the store. I didn't see anyone else leaving with a cart (or trolley as they call it). Back in Texas we buy in bulk...less trips to the store. We'll fill up two baskets if that's what it takes. We enjoy or free time a lot more I guess. Also since everyone in their grandmother has a live-in "domestic helper" here - they make them do the shopping. When I get back to the elevator (or lift as they call them), I get on and 4 more people squeeze on. We go up two levels and three more idiots squeeze in. When we get to my floor and I ask to get off - no one moves! At that point the politeness is gone and I'm like, "look, you have got to move so I can get out." The last three idiots that got one think they can just scooch out of the way, and I said, "no, you have to get out of the elevator so I can get out" - NOW! Once I was off - that was the point in which I would have remember the stairs. I had to carry all those shopping bags up the stairs to get to my car. Guess at that point I was grateful that it was more of a 'local' store that didn't carry all the things I wanted to buy or I wouldn't have made it up the stairs. I had to leave the cart there by the elevator. Good thing I only put in 20 cents to use the cart and not a dollar. Here you have to pay to use the cart and you get your money back when you return the cart. Just typing this has given me a knot on my shoulder. I think I need drink tonight!

Should we be worried?

2008-03-04T15:56:00.004+08:00

Mas Selamat Kastari is Singapore's most wanted terror fugitive who escaped for the third time on 27 February 2008 from detention under the country's Internal Security Act and was allegedly the head of the Singapore branch of militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Post-9/11, Singapore authorities discovered that he planned to crash seven bomb-filled trucks at various locations around city-state, and he had been on the run ever since. In January 2006, Mas Selamat was arrested by Indonesian anti-terror squads in Java and deported to Singapore. He was suspected of plotting to bomb Singapore Changi Airport in 2002, and further investigations confirmed that he had initially planned to do so by crashing a plane through the airport.

The detention center that he was being held at is about 5 minutes from where we are living. I hope he isn't hanging around close by. There are so many areas that are totally jungle, he could be hiding out in any of them. A massive manhunt comprising personnel from the Singapore Police Force, the Gurkha Contingent, the Police Tactical Unit and the Police National Service Key Installation Protection Unit were deployed in the vicinity of the area immediately after the escape. They were later aided by members of the Singapore Guards, before the operation was wound down over 17 hours later without success in locating the fugitive, who was believed to be unarmed. Last week we had to go up to daughter no. 2's school which is near the north island bridge that goes to Malaysia. Traffic was so backed up due to the extra security at the immigration check point. I think all inmates should be injected with some sort of tiny GPS tracking device (while they are unconscious so they don't know where it was injected - or that they were injected).

To help all of us help those searching for Selamat, we have been given the following card to keep in our wallets:

Wanted posters of Mas Selamat were put up in shopping centers, bus and train stations islandwide to appeal for the public to inform Police should they spot him, and leaflets given out by volunteers to members of the Public. All mobile phone service providers in Singapore sent out free Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages on 1 March 2008 to all 5.5 million subscribers (none of us got the MMS message) with Mas Selamat's photograph.

Why We are Working Here in Singapore

2008-03-03T11:20:00.002+08:00

You know some of the benefits for working overseas in our industry are as follows:

I think something like $84,000 of your income for the year is tax exempt;

You get $50 per day per diem

Your housing, utilites and car are paid for.

All of this allows us to save up for our dream home for when we return to Texas:

Zero Tolerance Speed Cameras

2008-03-01T15:04:00.002+08:00

With the Texas highway death toll continuing to increase, this will be the first year that Zero Tolerance Speed Cameras will be used. The new cameras look different from the normal cameras. I have included a photo so that you are familiar with them. Make sure you do not speed when approaching one Please take this warning seriously as you will not get a second chance.

Thank you Ricky for supplying the topic for today's post!

Five Minute Management Course

2008-02-28T13:25:00.002+08:00

My hubby sent me these in an email. You may have seen them before, but I thought they were pretty good:

Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.
When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.' After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?' 'It was Bob the next door neighbour,' she replies. 'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.
The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?' The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'

The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.' Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'

Moral of the story:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.

They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.' 'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Puff! She's gone.

'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.' Puff! He's gone.

'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'

Moral of the story:
Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?' The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.'

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5 :
A turkey was chatting with a bull. 'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.' 'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.'

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there..

Lesson 6:
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

Things that make you go huh?

2008-02-25T17:20:00.001+08:00

Well there are somethings they got right here in Singapore. Such as the yellow striped areas on the road that keep exits from side streets and such open so traffic will stop and you can exit without taking your life into your own hands. The little electronic devices and cash cards that you use for parking and the roadway tolls, those are smart. You go to 7-11 and top them off with money. If there is no money on the card - no parking. Simple. No billing required either. I think the Harris County Toll Road people could use a lesson in that. Anyway...then you have the things they just don't get. For example...Sunday we went to the Singapore Air Show. I bought our tickets online and printed out our etickets. The package I bought included parking. We get in the car on Sunday to go and for some reason I was reading the teeny-tiny, very small, fine print on our eticket which read: If you are driving to the airshow you are required to have a valid Singapore Airshow 2008 car park label." Please visit our website for more information. My first thought was that one of the pieces of paper that I printed for the eticket must be what they are talking about. On it it said "4 Airshow Adm Plus Parking". But something about the word "label" bugged me. So before we took off I got my iphone out and looked at the webpage for more information on this parking thing. At the bottom of the page where you click to Purchase Your Tickets (the button for this is at the top of the pate) it read:

If you intend to drive to the exhibition site, you are REQUIRED to have a VALID car park label. You can purchase a Family Package at S$100 which includes 4 admission tickets (which can be used as adult and/or child admissions) and 1 car park label. After purchasing the Family Package online, please PRINT your car park e-Voucher and PRESENT it at the following SINGPOST offices to collect your car park label.
• Singapore Post Centre: 10 Eunos Road 8, West Entrance Level 1, #01-02, Singapore Post Centre, Singapore 408600. Open from Monday to Friday (8.30am to 9.00pm), Saturday (8.30am to 4.00pm) and Sunday and Public Holidays (10am to 4.00pm)
• Suntec City Post Office: 3 Temasek Boulevard, #03-001/003, Suntec City Mall, Singapore 038983. Open from Monday to Friday (9.30am to 6.00pm), Saturday (9.30am to 2.00pm) and closed on Sunday and Public Holidays.
• Tanglin Post Office: 56 Tanglin Road, Singapore 247964. Open from Monday to Friday (8.30am – 5.00pm), Saturday (8.30am – 1.00pm) and closed on Sunday and Public Holidays.
• Orchard Post Office: 391 Orchard Road, #04-15, Ngee Ann City, Singapore 238872. Open from Monday to Friday (9.30am – 6.00pm), Saturday (9.30am – 2.00pm) and closed on Sunday and Public Holidays.

Notice only one location is open on Sundays. So, good thing I read the FINE PRINT! Why couldn't they just include a parking pass in the stuff I printed out with the e-ticket??? At least they could have made it more noticeable that even though you think you are saving time by purchasing an e-ticket, they still are going to make you go wait in line somewhere (oops! my bad - Que Up at the Post Office)!! So, we go to the Post Office. I wait in a long line noticing that there are a few others in front of me there to pick up their Parking Labels too. When I FINALLY get to the last row of the line that is snakeing back and forth a lady behind the desk holds up a sheet of paper like mine and says "Anyone here waiting to collect Air Show Parking Labels can go to the Speed Post Counter"! I had been waiting for about 20 minutes already! At least there wasn't a line at the Speed Post counter but several yahoos that had just walked in the door was first in line! That is another pet-peeve I'll save for another day!

Maldives Trip Photos

2008-02-23T15:26:00.001+08:00

Maldives Trip

2008-02-23T14:50:00.005+08:00

Well, all our family and friends that we sent postcards too from our trip to the Malives finally received them. It only took about 8 weeks for their postcards to arrive from the time we mailed them. Anyway, that reminded me that maybe I should put some pictures from our trip on here.

In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man

2008-02-21T17:11:00.002+08:00

More From Aspen Times Weekly Opinion
Gary HubbellFebruary 9, 2008
There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.
Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.
There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.
His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.
The victimhood syndrome buzzwords — “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” — don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.
He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives. The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.
The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina — he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.
His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.
He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.
Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”
He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.
He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.
Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.
He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.
There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.
He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.
Gary Hubbell is a regular columnist with the Aspen Times Weekly.

One of the best articles I have ever read! Someone finally got it right!!

Nothing new

2008-02-20T12:49:00.003+08:00

Kinda preoccupied today. Our dog Sugar is sick. She spent the night last night at the animal hospital. They released her to me today and I took her to our usual vet. They said she is anemic and since there had been blood in her poop and in her vomit they need to figure out what was the cause. So they kept her and are putting her back on an IV for fluids and are going to run blood tests. They said that it could be cause by a tick, or perhaps she ate some sort of poison. I doubt that it was poison since she stays inside and we don't keep anything like that around. She had been to her doggie-day care on Monday. That is when I noticed she wasn't herself. The vet told me that there was one dog for sure, maybe two, that had picked up a viral infection from there that they had treated. Anyway, when I asked if the vet thought Sugar would be ok, she said she would consider her condition as 'guarded'. I hope they can find out what it is quickly and get her feeling better soon. (The photo was taken when we first got her. Now she has all her "Pomeranian fur")

A Child's Insight

2008-02-18T12:43:00.000+08:00

A first grade teacher collected well known proverbs. She gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. Their insight may surprise you:

Better to be safe than.....................Punch a 5th grader
Strike while the ..........................Bug is close
It's always darkest before.................Daylight Savings Time
Never underestimate the power of...........Termites
You can lead a horse to water but..........how?
Don't bite the hand that...................looks dirty
No news is.................................impossible
A miss is as good as a.....................Mr.
You can't teach an old dog new.............math
If you lie down with dogs, you'll..........stink in the morning
Love all, trust............................me
The pen is mightier than the...............pigs
An idle mind is............................The best way to relax
Where there's smoke there's................pollution
Happy the bride who........................gets all the presents
A penny saved is...........................not much
Two's company, three's.....................the Musketeers
Don't put off till tomorrow what...........you put on to go to bed
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and......you have to blow your nose
None are so blind as.......................Stevie Wonder
Children should be seen and not............spanked or grounded
If at first you don't succeed..............get new batteries
You get out of something what you..........see pictured on the box
When the blind leadeth the blind...........get out of the way

And what might be best of all:

Better late than...................................pregnant

Is this referring to Senator Clinton or Obama?

2008-02-15T11:08:00.002+08:00

Thank you Janet for supplying the topic for todays post!

While walking down the street one day a US senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in Heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. "Welcome to Heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you." "No problem, just let me in," says the man. "Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in Hell and one in Heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.""Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in Heaven," says the senator. I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him. Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it is time to go. Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises...The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on Heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. "Now it's time to visit Heaven." 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns. "Well, then, you've spent a day in Hell and another in Heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean Heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in Hell." So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to Hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage. He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in lack bags as more trash falls from above. The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?" The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning. Today you voted."

Be Aware of Your Taxi Driver

2008-02-06T07:31:00.000+08:00

You never know who you might be riding with:

A little insight into news coverage of the election

2008-02-04T12:40:00.000+08:00

If you are wondering why Huckabee can't get news coverage in spite of doing so well in every debate, read on...

Romney Media Control
Fox News is responsible for information programming on more than 100 Clear Channel news and talk stations. Clear Channel is owned by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas Lee Partners plus other minors.Clear Channel has Sean Hannity under contract until 2010. Clear Channel also has Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck under contract.Bain Capital was started by Romney in 1984. He sold his majority stake in Bain to run for Governor in 2001. Commonwealth PAC was set up by Romney Advisers. A Boston Globe analysis found that executives from a handful of Massachusetts-based corporations, including Bain Capital, Fidelity Investments, etc, form the base of the Romney operation.

Mitt Romney=>Bain Capital=>Clear Channel=>Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, FOX

Here's the proof:
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/125/
Washington Post Article
Access My Library
Fox News Supports Limbaugh
Clear Channel - Glenn Beck
New York Times - Read the last paragraph!
The Daily KOS

How would you like to keep your whole paycheck?

2008-02-02T12:15:00.000+08:00

Want to learn more? Go to FairTax.org and check it out.

Nightmares!

2008-02-02T09:10:00.000+08:00

This picture was in yesterday's TODAY paper. This is the kind of stuff that gives me the major creepies - heebie jeebies - you name it. To me that snake is looking at this kid and thinking what a great snack he would make. What do you feed a snake that big? I bet they don't have a rat problem or any pets! I bet a snake this size can make quite a mess too if you know what I mean.

Superbowl!

2008-01-30T17:03:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-29T11:09:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-25T09:37:00.000+08:00

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!

2008-01-23T10:20:00.000+08:00

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?

2008-01-21T16:51:00.000+08:00

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!

2008-01-14T14:07:00.000+08:00

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....

2008-01-12T13:09:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-11T08:44:00.000+08:00

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

2008-01-10T22:46:00.000+08:00

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.

Christmas Cartoons

2007-12-21T09:50:00.000+08:00

Here are some Christmas funnies you may have seen, but I wanted to share anyway. Mostly because I thought they were cute, but secondly because I am super busy and this is an easy way for me to post something today.

GOOD ADVICE FROM KIDS

2007-12-19T14:06:00.000+08:00

1. Never trust a dog to watch your food. Patrick, age 10
2. When your dad is mad and asks you, 'Do I look stupid?', don't answer him. David, 7
3. Never tell your mom her diet's not working. Michael, 14
4. Stay away from prunes.Randy, 9
5. Don't squat with your spurs on.Noronha, 13
6. Don't pull dad's finger when he tells you to. Emily, 10
7. When your mom is mad at your dad, don't let her brush your hair. Taylia, 11
8. Never allow your three-year old brother in the same room as your school assignment. Traci, 14
9. Don't sneeze in front of mom when you're eating crackers. Mitchell, 12
10. Puppies still have bad breath, even after eating a tic tac. Andrew, 9
11. Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time. Kyoyo, 9
12. You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. Armir, 9
13. Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts. Kellie, 11
(I had to make mention here, that apparently no one ever mentioned this (no.13) to Singaporean's)
14. If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse. Naomi, 15
15. Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick. Lauren, 9
16. Don't pick on your sister when she's holding a baseball bat. Joel,10
17. When you get a bad grade in school, show it to your mom when she's on the phone. Alyesha, 13
18. Never try to baptize a cat. Eileen, 8

"Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things."

Airline Messages

2007-12-19T09:52:00.000+08:00

Since Christmas is travel season for some people I thought I would post these funny messages. Occasionally, airline attendants make an effort to make the "in-flight safety lecture" and their other announcements a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

1. From a Southwest Airlines employee...."There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane..."

2. Pilot-"Folks, we have reached our cruising altitude now, so I am going to switch the seat belt sign off. Feel free to move about as you wish, but please stay inside the plane till we land...it’s a bit cold outside, and if you walk on the wings it affects the flight pattern."

3. After landing: "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.

4. As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Washington National, a lone voice comes over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"

5. After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in Memphis, a flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced: "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."

6. From a Southwest Airlines employee...."Welcome aboard Southwest Flight XXX to YYY. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt and if you don’t know how to operate one, you probably shouldn’t be out in
public unsupervised. In the event of a sudden lossof cabin pressure, oxygen masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with
two small children, decide now which one you love more.

7. Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they’ll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you or your money, more than Southwest Airlines."

8. "Your seat cushions can be used for flotation and in the event of an emergency water landing, please take them with our compliments."

9. "As you exit the plane, please make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

10. "Last one off the plane must clean it."

11. From the pilot during his welcome message: "We are pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry...Unfortunately none of them are on this flight...!

12. Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day, during the final approach, the Captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the flight attendant came on the PA and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened
while the captain taxis what’s left of our airplane to the gate!"

13. Another flight attendant’s comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."

14. An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a "Thanks for flying XYZ airline." He said that in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally, everyone had gotten off except for this little old lady walking with a cane. She said, "Sonny, mind if I ask you a question?" "Why no, ma’am,"little old lady said, "Did we land or were we shot down?"

15. After a real crusher of a landing in Phoenix, the flight attendant came on with, "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt up against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we’ll open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal.

16. Part of a flight attendant’s arrival announcement: "We’d like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you’ll think of us here at US Airways."

Fun at Wal-Mart

2007-12-12T08:39:00.000+08:00

Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went:

Walmart Employee: 'Hello 'dis Walmarts, how can I help you?'

Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'

Walmart Employee: 'What you want on the cake?'

Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'We will miss you'.

Thank you Scott for supplying me with today's post content!

Things I thought I would never do

2007-12-10T17:59:00.000+08:00

I never thought I would pay $15 for two small bags of Hershey Kisses but I did last week. I needed candy for our Advent Calender.

I never thought I would wear white pants in December but I did Friday night. We had our company Christmas party and I wore white pants....yep after Labor Day...I know! Because it is perpetually summer here you just don't follow those same codes for when to stop and start wearing white like we do back home.

I never thought I would eat at Subway one or two times a week but we do. We go to Subway at least once, usually twice a week, for lunch. There are more places to eat here in Singapore than you could ever imagine, but a majority of the places are Hawker centers and I just can't bring myself to eat there all the time. The food is ok, it's just that is rarely hot and I keep thinking of Marvin Zindler and food being kept "off temperature".

My New Names

2007-11-27T13:15:00.000+08:00

Swiped From Laurie

MY REAL NAME: Shelli

MY DETECTIVE NAME: (my favorite color and my favorite animal)

Cobalt Otter

MY SOAP OPERA NAME: (my middle name and a street I lived on)

Renae Gorham

MY STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of my last name first 2 letters of my first name)

Weish

MY SUPERHERO NAME: (my second favorite color and my favorite drink)

Red Margarita

MY WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (my parents' middle names)

Lynn Lou

MY GOTH NAME: (the color black and the name of one of my pets)

Black Molly

MY PORN NAME: (the name of one of my pets and either my mother's maiden name or a street I lived on)

Sugar Tobacco

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T08:52:00.000+08:00

Thank you Scott for a new way to fix my Thanksgiving dinner!

Your dinner will be the talk of the TOWN!! You should try this! Sure to bring smiles from your guests!

Here is a new way to prepare your Thanksgiving Turkey:

Cut out aluminum foil in desired shapes.
Arrange the turkey in the roasting pan, position the foil carefully. (see attached picture for details)
Roast according to your own recipe and serve.
Watch your guests' faces...

Still in Shock

2007-11-16T09:47:00.000+08:00

Ok, I have to admit that I am still in shock over the Recycled Used Condoms in my last post! No big plans for the weekend other than we will be finalizing our plans for our trip to the Maldives.

Recycle Your Used Condoms!

2007-11-14T11:23:00.000+08:00

I know you stay awake at night worrying about our ever filling landfils and how you can help the situation. Well here is a way you can help!

China: Used condoms recycled as hair ties used condoms are being recycled into hair bands and hair ties in southern China, threatening to spread sexually-transmittable diseases they were originally meant to prevent, state media reported yesterday. In the latest example of potentially harmful Chinese-made products, rubber hair bands have been found in local markets and beauty salons in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in southern Guangdong province, the China daily newspaper said. “These cheap and colourful rubber bands and hair ties sell well ... threatening the health of local people,” it said. Despite being recycled, the hair bands could still contain bacteria and viruses, it said. “People could be infected with Aids, (genital) warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while weaving their hair into plaits or buns,” the daily quoted a local dermatologist as saying. A bag of 10 of the recycled bands sells for just 25 fen (4 cents), much cheaper than others on the market, accounting for
their popularity, the newspaper said. A government official was quoted as saying that recycling condoms was illegal. China’s manufacturing industry has been tarnished this year by a string of scandals involving shoddy or dangerous goods made for domestic and foreign markets. It has launched a public relations blitz aimed at playing up efforts to strengthen monitoring systems. — AFP (As published in the 14 November issue of Today)

Now I bet this raises a whole new set of questions: 1) Do they have collection bins? 2) Can people pick them up and turn them in for cash, like aluminum cans? 3) Who gets to wash them? 4) Are they washed? 5) Where do they get them?

Lowe's refuses to call them Christmas Trees

2007-11-13T15:14:00.000+08:00

The following is an exert from an email I received from American Family Association:

In their Holiday 2007 catalog, containing 56 pages of Christmas gifts, Lowe's advertises hundreds of gift items, including scores of "Family trees." In fact, the word "Christmas" only appears two times in the entire holiday catalog. The ads mentioning "Christmas cover only 12 square inches of the 5236 square inches available.
Lowe's even has one of their Family trees turned upside down on a stand. We are not sure what the significance of that is.
Lowe's evidently did not want to offend any non-Christians, therefore they replaced "Christmas tree" with "Family tree." Of course, if Christians are offended that is evidently ok.
An on-line search of Lowe's does reference some "Christmas" items. In fact, a word search of their Web site gives the exact same number 174 of the word "Christmas" as it does the word "holiday." Most of the items mentioning Christmas appear to use the promotional line given by the manufacturer.
Their Holiday 2007 catalog features scores of products, including lights, wreaths, trees, and yard decorations. Most people would associate these items with Christmas, but not Lowe's! Except for two obscure references, they refer to everything in their catalog as "holiday."

Click here to see the front cover of the catalog and a page featuring their "Family trees." catalog ad.

Take Action:
Send the e-mail to Lowe's. Ask them why they refer to their Christmas trees as "Family trees."
Forward this to your friends and family and ask them to send the e-mail.

I guess making sure that the rights of Christians are upheld along with all the other religious groups is something I feel strongly about.

17 Reasons Why Alcohol Should Be Served At Work

2007-11-12T14:34:00.000+08:00

1. It's an incentive to show up.
2. It leads to more honest communications.
3. It reduces complaints about low pay.
4. Employees tell management what they think, not what management wants to hear.
5. It encourages car pooling.
6. Increase job satisfaction because if you have a bad job, you don't care.
7. It eliminates vacations because people would rather come to work.
8. It makes fellow employees look better.
9. It makes the cafeteria food taste better.
10. Bosses are more likely to hand out raises when they are wasted.
11. Salary negotiations are a lot more profitable.
12. Employees work later since there's no longer a need to relax at the bar.
13. It makes everyone more open with their ideas.
14. Eliminates the need for employees to get drunk on their lunch break.
15. Increases the chance of seeing your boss naked.
16. Employees no longer need coffee to sober up.
17. Sitting on the copy machine will no longer be seen as "gross."

Take a beer and send the truck to all of your
friends!!!!!!

^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\
B u d w e i s e r _ '""""\___,
__.. _____ _l _ l
([""(@)'(@)"""""""""""""""""**(@)(@)**

You Never Know

2007-11-08T10:48:00.000+08:00

what you might see at a Singapore Slingers game. Take a look at one of the box sponsors:
Yep, it says: RateMyTurban.com

Yankee or Dixie?

2007-11-07T16:38:00.000+08:00

Go take the Quiz. Be sure to come back and let me know how you did. I was 94% Dixie. It asked me, "Is General Lee your father?"

Oktoberfest 2007

2007-11-06T14:51:00.000+08:00

Singapore probably isn't the first place you think of when you think of Oktoberfest, is it? Wasn't mine either but when I saw tickets for sale for this years Erdinger Beer Oktoberfest I thought, hey...what the heck. So, last weekend that's where Rob and I went. There was a ton of people there and I was really surprised at the number of Asians there. It looked like everyone was having a great time. The beer girls don't quite look like the stereotypical Bavarian beer girls, it was quite humorous to me. And after the food was gone and everyone had consumed a few beers it was no longer suitable to stand on the floor, nope, you had to stand on the tables. Rob and I were asking each other what we thought the "SWL" (safe working load - for the non-engineers out there) was for the tables. We did buy a couple of nice ceramic beer mugs. We passed on the huge beer glass, but was considering it for Blair to dunk her ring in - again! We would have liked to have purchased a couple of T-shirts but they weren't selling any. Someone goofed there, that would have been a money maker. Bet they would have sold better than the funny looking felt hats that made you look like a cone-head.

Here is a good reason...

2007-11-05T08:46:00.000+08:00

...why you don't want your kids to go to t.u.! What's wrong with this picture? Check this guy out. I hope you can see the picture clear enough to tell he has on his burnt orange. BUT...did you notice his signs? If you read them like you see them they read, "Fence - D" and not "D - Fence". What a dork! We see this guy at all the Singapore Slinger games and at every game he holds up his signs the same way. Rob and Avery had seen him in all his burnt orange glory at a game when I was gone so we were waiting for him to have on his colors again so we could take a picture. Unfortunately, Rob didn't have his nice camera with a zoom lens at yesterday's game. I just hope this doesn't give a bad impression of the rest of us Texans (i.e. those of us from the state of Texas, not those that are fans, students, former students, etc. of t.u.)

B.T.W....the Slingers Won!!! They ended winning in overtime! It was a good game.

Test post from iphone

2007-11-01T20:13:00.001+08:00

Trying to mobile blog while waiting on avery.

Sent from my iPhone

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Who Doesn't Love 1977

2007-11-01T11:00:00.000+08:00

Thank you Barbara for supplying me with subject matter for today's blog post. It has been a while since I've updated this thing! Sorry about that. Anyway...Barbara sent me this email with all the great pictures from the 1977 JC Penney catalog. I wanted to post them all, but here are a few of my favorites:

I think I've found my next dining room set which is apparently made by adding upholstery to old barrels.

I think my brother had this same outfit! The email read: How to get your ass kicked in elementary school! Just look at that belt. It's like a boob-job for your pants. He probably needed help just to lift it into place.. The belt loops have to be three inches long. And way to pull them up to your armpits, grandpa.

The email read: How to get your ass kicked on the golf course! This "all purpose jumpsuit" is, according to the description, equally appropriate for playing golf or simply relaxing around the house. Personally, I can't see wearing this unless you happen to be relaxing around your cell in D-block. Even then, the only reason you should put this thing on is because the warden made you, and as a one-piece, it's slightly more effective as a deterrent against ass-rapery.

The email read: Also, judging by the sheer amount of matching his/hers outfits, I'm guessing that in 1977 it was considered pretty stylish for couples to dress alike. These couples look happy, don't they?

The rest were all hillarious! Maybe tomorrow I'll post some more.

More Work Humor...

2007-10-11T09:45:00.000+08:00

Dear Staff,
In an effort to maximize productivity in our department I will be implementing a tool used in many industries. You will be tracking your time working on certain activities and sending me a time sheet weekly showing me how your time has been spent. Attached below is a sheet specifying a job code list based on some observations of employee activities. Please begin using this job code list immediately and let me know about any difficulties you encounter.
Thank you. Your boss.

Code
Number Explanation
------ -----------
5316 - Useless Meeting
5317 - Obstructing Communications at Meeting
5318 - Trying to Sound Knowledgeable While in a Meeting
5319 - Waiting for Break
5320 - Waiting for Lunch
5321 - Waiting for End of Day
5322 - Vicious Verbal Attacks Directed at Coworker
5323 - Vicious Verbal Attacks Directed at Coworker While Coworker is Not Present
5393 - Covering for Incompetence of Coworker Friend
5394 - Blaming Incompetence of Coworker Who is Not a Friend
5400 - Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who is Not Interested in Learning
5401 - Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who is Stupid
5402 - Trying to Explain Concept to Coworker Who Hates You
5481 - Buying Snack
5482 - Eating Snack
5500 - Filling Out Timesheet
5501 - Inventing Timesheet Entries
5502 - Waiting for Something to Happen
5503 - Scratching Yourself
5504 - Sleeping
5510 - Feeling Bored
5600 - Complaining About Lousy Job
5601 - Complaining About Low Pay
5602 - Complaining About Long Hours
5603 - Complaining About Coworker (See Codes 5322 & 5323)
5604 - Complaining About Boss
5605 - Complaining About Personal Problems
5640 - Miscellaneous Unproductive Complaining
5701 - Not Actually Present At Job
5702 - Suffering From Eight-Hour Flu
6102 - Ordering Out
6103 - Waiting for Food Delivery to Arrive
6104 - Taking It Easy While Digesting Food
6200 - Using Company Resources for Personal Profit
6201 - Stealing Company Goods
6202 - Making Excuses After Accidentally Destroying Company Files
6203 - Using Company Phone to Make Long-Distance Personal Calls
6204 - Using Company Phone to Make Long-Distance Personal Calls to Sell Stolen Company Goods
6205 - Hiding from Boss
6206 - Gossip
6207 - Planning a Social Event (e.g. vacation, wedding, etc.)
6210 - Feeling Sorry For Yourself
6211 - Updating Resume
6212 - Faxing Resume to Another Employer/Headhunter
6213 - Out of Office on Interview
6221 - Pretending to Work While Boss Is Watching
6222 - Pretending to Enjoy Your Job
6223 - Pretending You Like Coworker
6224 - Pretending You Like Important People When in Reality They are Jerks
6238 - Miscellaneous Unproductive Fantasizing
6350 - Playing Pranks on the New Guy/Girl
6601 - Running your own Business on Company Time (See Code 6603)
6602 - Complaining
6603 - Writing a Book on Company Time
6611 - Staring Into Space
6612 - Staring At Computer Screen
6615 - Transcendental Meditation
7281 - Extended Visit to the Bathroom (over 10 minutes)
7400 - Talking With Divorce Lawyer on Phone
7401 - Talking With Plumber on Phone
7402 - Talking With Dentist on Phone
7403 - Talking With Doctor on Phone
7404 - Talking With Masseuse on Phone
7405 - Talking With House Painter on Phone
7406 - Talking With Personal Therapist on Phone
7419 - Talking With Miscellaneous Paid Professionals on Phone
7931 - Asking Coworker to Aid You in an Illicit Activity
8000 - Recreational Drug Use
8001 - Non-recreational Drug Use
8002 - Liquid Lunch
8101 - Surfing Vacation Sites on the Internet
8102 - Surfing Porn Sites on the Internet
8103 - Surfing Humor Sites on the Internet
8200 - Reading e-mail
8201 - Distributing humorous e-mails

Found it!

2007-10-10T07:01:00.000+08:00

We were walking around Tanglin Mall the other day. (Acutally, that is a whole 'nuther story that I will share with you tomorrow.) Anyway, we pasted a DIY store and Rob noticed they had trash cans. You may remember me mentioning the fact that we have been without a trash can in our kitchen for quite a while now. Guess how much we had to pay for this baby? $139 Singapore Dollars!! Back home we never would have paid that much for a trash can! We wouldn't have to. We could always run to Wal-Mart or Target and probably have a huge selection to choose from. But being over here has trained us so that now when we see something you need/want, you better get it right then. If you wait you will never find it again. Just for grins I did a quick search online. I think found the same trash can on Amazon.com for $99 (not sure if that includes shipping). I'm almost positive it's the same size, it is the same brand. So actually we paid about $93 in USD, total. Now I don't feel too bad.

Trip To Texas

2007-10-06T08:47:00.000+08:00

Sorry for being AWOL lately. I took a surprise trip back to Texas for about 10 days. Blair was getting her Aggie Ring and I wanted to surprise her, I think it worked! Here is a picture of her anwering the door when she thought it was my mom there to see her. Since she thought none of us (Rob, myself or Avery) could be there, that my mom and her Uncle Scotty (my brother) were coming to be there when she got her ring. Once she opened the door and saw me there (thanks mom for catching the moment!) the tears started flowing - from both of us. We had such a great time that day! My Aunt also surprised her by being there. She (my aunt)graduated from Texas A&M quite some time ago. Some of you may be saying, "what's the big deal about getting your class ring in college?" Well, Texas A&M is steeped in tradion. That ring is a symbol that is recognized by Aggies all over the world. No matter where she travels, anytime she finds another Aggie, she will have an instant friend. Another tradition is for Aggies to "dunk" their ring in a pitcher of beer over at the Dixie Chicken at Northgate. We did that too! Well, sort of! The rest of my trip home was spent visiting family and friends. It was nice and relaxing. I just loved getting in my little pick-up and dring the country roads between College Station, Huntsville, Midway and the Woodlands. I even made a quick trip into Houston and ran by my office there and visited with my coworkers. I got my fill of Mexican Food too! Not sure when I'll get back there, but it won't be soon enough for me!

How Disgusting!

2007-09-18T10:53:00.000+08:00

I don't think I've shared this little chunk of information with you out there in blog world. This story was told to me by my husband, it is all 100% true, you are not going to believe it! You will wish that I was lying.

My husband works in the shipyard next to us, I'm at Keppel-Fels and he is at Jurong. Most of these shipyards have what they call cantinas. No, not the wonderful cantinas that serve margaritas with chips and salsa. These cantinas are what we back home would call a lunch room. It's a cheap, convenient place for the people in the office or even the yard to grab some lunch. Now, as you can imagine, shipyards are not the cleanest places on the island, but what I am about to tell you is ... well disgusting.

My husbands employer is in the offices next to the cantina. They are separated by a door and and small machinery space for the air conditioning. One afternoon there was a noise or something coming from the cantina so my husband was going to open the door to see what was on the other side. When he opened the door the cleaning lady was in the cantina cleaning up after lunch. She was mopping - both the FLOORS and the TABLES!! with the same mop! I almost died when he told me this. She had her cell phone between her chin and her sholder talking to someone, just mopping away! Let me tell you, I am not germophobic. But that made me want to go buy a small bottle of hand sanitizer (which you don't see everywhere here like you do at the checkout counters back home) to keep with me at all times.

Now, whenever we go eat somewhere I wonder if that is how the table has been "cleaned" off. I don't want to touch anything!

I Miss Wal-Mart

2007-09-07T12:46:00.000+08:00

...and Target...and Bed, Bath & Beyond...and Home Depot...

Did I tell you we have been without a trash can in the kitchen for about a month now? Some time ago we had some pest control people come to our condo to help us with a little ant problem we were having. Well, after they left I noticed that our trash bin lid was smashed in. Many emails and phone calls later we got the pest control company to pay for the trash can...however, when they dropped off the check they took our dented trash can with them. So, here is the problem....we are having trouble finding another one. It's not like I can just run down to any of the stores I mentioned above and get a new one. No! They stores you think would carry them, don't. Robert and I did find one, but they couldn't get it to scan so we said forget it! I think I am going to have to go to a department store, their version of a Macy's or Dillards, to find one. The things I used to take for granted.

Elegant Curses

2007-09-05T13:49:00.000+08:00

To construct a Shakespearean insult, combine one word from each of the three columns below and preface it with "Thou":

7th Lunar Month

2007-09-03T13:41:00.001+08:00

Want to know how superticious the Chinese can be? Well...in August they "celebrate" (not sure if that is the word I would use) the 7th Lunar Month. This is where on the first day of August the gates of Hell open up and the kui (uncared for spirits or spirits under judgment that are locked in hell) roam the earth to eat their fill before being locked up for another year. The belief is that once the gates are opened, these kui will come out to look for food and if no one has prepared any offerings for them, they will go into homes to help themselves. Fearful of such visits, people are generally quick to make offerings to appease and ward off the hungry ghosts. It demonstrates the concern in Chinese religious belief for the pitiable existence of souls not cared for by the living.

As part of the celebrations of this festival, a ge tai (variety show) is often held, primarily to entertain the kui in the hope that when distracted or happy, they will not look for or disturb living beings. The first night of the ge tai is traditionally meant for the kui to attend. Another practice is to hold celebratory dinners, during which various items of luck and blessing will be auctioned off. Many would bid for these items in the hope and belief that they would, in year ahead, bring prosperity to the owners. The most prized possession is a block of charcoal. This relates back to the myth of Mu Lian, where it is held that when Mu Lian finally reached hell, the buns he brought to feed his mother had turned into charcoal.

The believers lay emphasis on giving offerings to ghosts because it is regarded as an important means of seeking fortune. Offerings such as paper (or hall) money and paper replicas of objects from the material world, such as cars, computers and even mobile phones. These paper objects are burnt so that the departed can enjoy comforts in the afterlife.

Other believers have warned that Special attention must be given to the "hungry ghosts" and the "lonely ghosts," this is because they have no living descendants can easily get bad-tempered and destructive during their "vacation" back to Earth. The paper objects can prevent them from doing any harm to the living or the dead, the Chinese would use lanterns to distract them away, or make sacrifices and burn "hell notes" or "paper replicas" for them to use in the underworld, in a safe place outside their homes (to prevent them from coming in) to "bribe" these disturbed souls.

Superstitions
Here is the list of ‘advices’ to heed during the Hungry Ghost festival

Don’t move, renovate or marry during Hungry Ghost Festival as it is considered inauspicious.

Stay away from swimming during the 7th month as it is believed that the water spirits will drag these little ones into the water and drown them.

Avoid old trees. It is believed that the spirits will hide there.

Children are advised to return home early and not to wander around alone at night. This belief is due to the reason that the wandering ghosts might possess children.

THINGS YOU' D LOVE TO SAY AT WORK, BUT CAN'T!

2007-08-29T14:03:00.000+08:00

And your crybaby whiny-assed opinion would be...?
Do I look like a people person?
This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting.
Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.
If I throw a stick, will you leave?
You!... Off my planet!
Does your train of thought have a caboose?
Did the aliens forget to remove your anal probe?
Errors have been made. Others will be blamed.
A PBS mind in an MTV world.
Allow me to introduce my selves.
Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
Well, this day was a total waste of makeup.
See no evil, hear no evil, date no evil.
Are those your eyeballs? I found them in my cleavage.
Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.
I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.
A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door.
Can I trade this job for what's behind door 1?
Too many freaks, not enough circuses.
Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?
How do I set a laser printer to stun?
I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted paychecks.

After The Beep

2007-08-27T14:19:00.000+08:00

Need something humerous for your answering machine message? Give one of these a try:

My wife and I can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, we’ll get back to you as soon as we’re finished

A is for academics, B is for beer, one of those reasons is why we’re not here. So leave a message.

Hi. This is John: If you are the phone company, I already sent the money, if you are my parents, please send money. If you are my financial aid institution, you didn’t lend me enough money. If you are my friends, you owe me money. If you are a female, I have plenty of money

Hi. Now you say something.

Hi, I’m not home right now, but my answering machine is, so you can talk to it instead. Wait for the beep.

Hello. I am David’s answering machine. What are you?

(From Japanese friend) He-lo! This is Sa-to. If you leave message, I call you soon. If you leave *sexy* message, I call sooner!

Hi! John’s answering machine is broken. This is his refrigerator. Please speak very slowly, and I’ll stick your message to myself with one of these magnets.

Hello, you are talking to a machine. I am capable of receiving messages. My owners do not need siding, windows, or a hot tub, and their carpets are clean. They give charity through their office and do not need their picture taken. If you are still with me, leave your name and number and they will get back to you.

This is not an answering machine. This is a telepathic thought-recording device. After the tone think about your name, your reason for calling and a number where I can reach you, and I’ll think about returning your call.

Hi. I am probably home, I’m just avoiding someone I don’t like. Leave me a message, and if I don’t call back, it’s you.

Hi, his is George. I’m sorry I can’t answer the phone right now. Leave a message, and then wait by your phone until I call you back.

If you are a burglar, then we’re probably at home cleaning our weapons right now and can’t come to the phone. Otherwise, we probably aren’t home and it’s safe to leave us a message.

Please leave a message. However you have the right to remain silent. Everything you say will be recorded and will be used by us.

Hello, you’ve reached Jim and Sonya. We can’t pick up the phone right now, because we’re doing something we really enjoy. Sonya likes doing it up and down… and I like doing it left to right… real slow… so leave a message, and when we’re done brushing our teeth, we’ll get back to you.

What Could This Mean?

2007-08-25T13:44:00.000+08:00

I'm getting worried about one of my co-workers who sits in an office a good 40FT across from me. Every day after lunch when he comes in I can hear his selection of music he's listening to. Right now it's Cher, yesterday it was ABBA and the day before it was the Bee Gee's. Do you get the picture? I think I need to find my headphones.

Whatcha Doin'?

2007-08-24T12:51:00.000+08:00

It's been so long since I've talked to people back home. I feel like I've lost touch and need to know what you've been doing lately. So, when you get a chance fill me in by posting a comment and answer these questions for me (my answers are in purple):

Last movie you saw in a theatre? Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Last book you read (or are reading)? Infidel
Last trip/vacation you took was when and to where? Bangkok, Thailand at the end of July
Last CD you bought/downloaded? Rob got me three for my birthday: Carrie Underwood, Gretchen Wilson and Kelly Clarkston
Last concert you went to and when? Gwen Stefani, August 14, 2007
Last time you went out to eat, where did you go? Last REAL restaurant, not local hawker food, was Sunday Brunch at the Copthorne Waterfront
Have you started your Christmas shopping? sort of
Have you had any additions to your family (kids or pets)? Nope
Have you started any new hobbies? Digital Scrapbooking
Have you kept up with your New Year's Resolution? I can't remember what it was!

Gwen Stefani in Singapore

2007-08-16T12:53:00.000+08:00

Well, Rob and I took Avery to see Gwen Stefani Tuesday night at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. First let me say... Dwight, TByrd, Zona, Mark...you are all still my favorites but since you weren't here I had to go see Gwen. If nothing more than for a sense of something from the US. All things considered it was a good show. She thanked the audience numerous times for buying her CD's, listening to her music and coming to see her perform. At one point during the show she jumped off the stage and ran through the audience to the back of the venue. Then, while singing, mingled with the fans, ran to the side near us and back up to the stage. She sang just about all the tunes off of Sweet Escape. We saw her son and her husband before the show. There was a girl sitting about two rows in front of us that had her son when she came in and handed him over to hubbie before she went and sat down in her seat. Have no idea who she was though. I took a bunch of pictures but most of them didn't turn out at all. I would be upset if it was one of my favorites that I didn't get pictures of, nothing against Gwen. Hopefully Avery's pictures turned out better.

Trying to get caught up!

2007-08-13T16:14:00.000+08:00

Wow! We have been so busy with work and family life it has been hard to find enough time to even come up with a simple little post for my blog here. I am dying to get my pictures from Bangkok posted. Here is the rundown on what we've been doing (sorry...this is mainly for family and friends)

Got my RING!! It's beautiful!
Went out to eat for mom's birthday at a really good Italian place, Pasta Brava, Saturday night. Great food! Lot's of fun. I swear our cab driver on our way there must have been a Formula 1 driver in a previous life. We made it there in record time.
Signed up for golf lessons. First real lesson starts on Wednesday.
My "baby" started HIGH SCHOOL today. Boy am I feeling old. Maybe that's why I spent part of the day searching the internet for facial treatments to make me look younger! LOL!
Busier than ever at work. I have most of my paperwork turned in though for my application to go back to school to earn my Master's in Civil Engineering. Just having trouble getting my transcripts from U of H.
Taking Avery to see Gwen Stefani tomorrow night. You would die if you knew how much the tickets where. That's how desperate I am to see a concert I guess. Even though it isn't TByrd!

One final note - All my thoughts and prayers are with my friend Cristie back home. Her dad passed away Friday night. I know that even though he had made life difficult for her at times, she will miss him and that it will be hard on her for a while. I wish I could be there for her in person, but my long distance prayers is all I can send.

Being an American

2007-08-03T14:44:00.000+08:00

Theodore Roosevelt on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes herein good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall betreated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage todiscriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, ororigin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet anAmerican, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiancehere. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't anAmerican at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We haveroom for but one language here, and that is the English language... and wehave room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the Americanpeople.

"Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Every American citizen needs to read this! I checked out this link: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/troosevelt.asp

And there is more interesting reading there as well.

Oh My!

2007-07-26T11:54:00.000+08:00

Has it been almost 10 days since I've last been here??? Well we (mom, the girls, a friend and myself) went to Bangkok for three days...yesterday was mine and Blair's birthday and today is Blair's last full day here. She leaves at O-dark-30 in the morning. Her flight is at like 6:30 AM!!! Last time we all overslept the alarm and had to haul a** to get her to the airport on time. Bangkok was a blast! I'll do a separate post on the trip, complete with pictures, real soon. We will definately go back there and take Rob. So, here's a picture from our Birthday dinner last night. And I also wanted to send Happy Birthday wishes to Selina in California - all three of us share the same birthday. How cool is that?

Oh! and I know what you fellow Texans are thinking...Mexican food in Singapore? How good could it be? Well, actually it's pretty decent. Ok, it's not Gualajara's but I've definately had worse back home. The only downside is the price. A pitcher of margaritas is S$42. I believe most entrees are in the mid to S$20+ range. But for a taste of home every here and there it's worth it to me.

Sold our House

2007-07-17T12:47:00.001+08:00

FINALLY! Now we no longer have to worry about the pool and the lanscaping from half-way around the world! We will miss our wonderful neighbors though. I miss the pool parties and the weekend BBQ's. Oh well! We will build our own house next time and it will be exaclty what we want, pool and all!

Are You Ghetto?

2007-07-13T08:34:00.000+08:00

Take this test and see.
This test is guaranteed to reveal "Ghetto" tendencies!
Answer each question and keep track of your POINTS
1. You've ever used an album cover for a dustpan. (5 points)
2. If you've ever run a race barefoot in the middle of the street.(10 points)
3. You had a candy lady in your neighborhood. (5points) * 5 extra points if your house was the candy lady's)
4. If you ever had to pick your own switch or belt. (3 points for each)
5. If you have ever had to walk to school or walked home from school (2 points)
6. If you have ever used dishwashing liquid for bubble bath. (5points)
7. If you ever mixed Kool-Aid one glass at a time because you got tired of other people drinking up the Kool-Aid you just made. (5 points)
8. If you have ever played any of the following games: "hide and go seek", "freeze tag", "'momma may I?'", or "red light/green light." (2 points each)
9. If your neighborhood had an ice cream man. (2 points + 2 if he rang a bell)
10. If you refer to "Now and Later" candies as "Nighladers". (5 points)
11. If you've ever had reusable bacon grease in a container on your stove (5 points +15 if you still do it)
12. The batteries in your remote control ever been held in by a piece of tape (5 points)
13. If you have ever worn! any of the following fragrances: Brute, Hai Karate, Jean! Nate, Old Spice, Chloe, English Leather, Stetson, Charlie, or Faberge. (1 point each)
14. You've ever used Tussy. (5 points)
15. You've never been to the dentist. (15 points)
16. If you have a friend or family member whose nickname is one word said twice: (ex: dee-dee, fee-fee, man-man, kay-kay, lee-lee, ree-ree, ray-ray, nay-nay). (10 points)
17. You have ever paged yourself for any reason. (3 points)
18. You've ever worn house shoes outside of the house. (2 points)
19. You add "ED" or "T" to the end of words already in the past tense (for example, Tooked, Light-Skinneded, kilt, ruint, etc.) (5 points)
20. You use 'n'em to describe a certain group of people for 1 example: Craig 'n' em or Momma 'n' em (5 points)
21. You've ever driven on a donut more than 2 weeks after your flat. (5 points)
22. Your child drops his/her pacifier and you sanitize it by sucking it! (10 points)
23. You have ever slept in a chair to avoid messing up your hair. (10 points)
24. You've ever left a social gathering with a plate. (2 points)
25. You can't hold a glass because of the length of your nails. (5 points)
26. The gold teeth in your mouth spell words. (10 points)
27. You don't have your own place but your child had a leather coat and a pair of Jordan's. (15 points)
28. You constantly hit *69 and ask, "Did you just call here?" (10 points)
29. You think Tupac is still alive. (20 points)

Now, add up the points to see how really Ghetto you are:
0 - 50 points I guess you were raised in the suburbs
51 - 75 points A bonafide ex-hood rat
76 - 149 points Spent a little time in the projects, huh? Hey, not ghetto, just was very imaginative!!!
150+ points Still up in 'dat piece-REPRESENT!

Hoo-Dee-Hoooo! ! !
LEAVE YOUR SCORE IN THE COMMENT BOX SO PEOPLE CAN SEE HOW GHETTO FABULOUS YOU REALLY ARE! ! !

Tips for Bosses

2007-07-12T12:40:00.000+08:00

Since it looks like I'm going to have a busy day today, here is a little work humor for you (btw..my boss is nothing like this):

Never give me work in the morning. Always wait until 3:30 and then bring it to me. The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.
If it's really a rush job, run in and interrupt me every 10 minutes to inquire how it's going. That helps. Or even better, hover behind me, advising me at every keystroke.
Always leave without telling anyone where you're going. It gives me a chance to be creative when someone asks where you are.
If you give me more than one job to do, don't tell me which is the priority. I'm psychic.
Do your best to keep me late. I adore this office and really have nowhere to go or anything to do. I have no life beyond work.
If a job I do pleases you, keep it a secret. If that gets out, it could mean a promotion.
If you don't like my work, tell everyone. I like my name to be popular in onversations.
If you have special instructions for a job, don't write them down. In fact, save them until the job is almost done. No use confusing me with useful information.
Be nice to me only when the job I'm doing for you could really mess up your job if I do it wrong or don't finish it.
Tell me all of your little problems. No one else has any and it's nice to know someone is less fortunate. I especially like the story about having to pay so much in taxes on the bonus check you received for being such a good manager.
Wait until my annual evaluation and THEN tell me what my goals SHOULD have been. Give me a mediocre performance rating. I'm not here for the money anyway.

Transformers - The Movie

2007-07-11T09:02:00.000+08:00

Rob and I took the girls to see the new Transformers movie last night. It was kinda cool. We went to Golden Village and saw it in one of their two Gold Class theaters. This area as a private lounge area where you can sit and have drinks and munchies before the movie. One in the theater you have your own recliner with a soft blanket. The recliners are paired up with a table in between. The table has a call button so you can order more drinks and dinner as well. It even has a wine bucket built into the table. The tickets are little pricier but it is a great way to see a show. You can get spoiled easily. The food is really good too, restaurant quality and they don't skimp on the porportions. In general the food at these theaters is cheap compared to the theaters back home where you can get a coke and popcorn for $20. Here it's more like S$6. I thought the movie was good too. I liked how it had the action/fighting side and the romance as well. We have tickets to go see the new Harry Potter moive on Saturday night. It opens here on Thursday. That one we will be seeing in their GV Max theatre. It has 602 seats and the screen is 22.4 meters long (73.5ft). When you buy movie tickets here you get assigned seats. You can buy the tickets online, at these AXS kioks all over the island or at the theater. They weren't offering Gold Class tickets yet. As you can see the girls had fun with the Simpson's after the movie.

Malay Wedding

2007-07-10T08:18:00.000+08:00

Rob and I were invited to attend the wedding of one of the local girls that work in my office. It was a truly unique experience and I'm so glad we went. Liyanah was just beautiful in her traditional wedding attire, her hands had been painted with henna. From what I gathered they were engaged on December 25th, 2006. They played a video on huge screens throughout the ballroom where Sunday's wedding was held that showed the engagement. It was a huge production in itself with her all dressed up and family all around. There was a lot of food too. Then (I'm not sure the date) there was the religious wedding ceremony and then Sunday was the wedding reception (at least that is what was on the invitation). I did a little reading on the internet to get some idea of what we experienced. Here is a little of what I found:

Wedding traditions
The institution of marriage in a Muslim community is important. The day before the wedding, the bride goes through a ritual called Berinai (literally meaning henna application) where the hands and feet are covered from the dye of the henna leaves.
Wedding preparation is based on gotong-royong (co-operation) were the women folk get together to prepare the wedding banquet. The bersanding or wedding throne is where the bride and groom receive their guests. Wedding banquets are an informal event with lots to eat.
The hadrah (entourage) troupe, of teenage boys heralds the arrival of the groom by beating on the kompang (hand drums) and chanting qaranic verses (verses from the holy book) for good wishes. Today, you may even see a girl or two beating on the drums. Guest's trickle in the whole day and leave with the bunga telur (flower and egg), which is given for luck and prosperity. A Malay band adds to the gaiety of the wedding.

Drinking Age in Singapore is 18

2007-07-09T08:06:00.000+08:00

One of things we are going to do while Blair is here is take her to the night club on the 71st & 72nd floor of the Swissotel called the New Asia Bar. Rob and I went there one night a couple of weeks ago. The view is unbelievable! Blair turns 21 while she's here so maybe that's something we can do to celebrate (even though you only have to be 18 here - same age you have to be to start driving too, what were they thinking). The music was decent, fun to dance too. And as of July 1st there is no smoking in bars and clubs, you can only smoke in designated smoking areas. So that will make it even more enjoyable for me anyway. The crowd seemed to be a mix. Maybe an older crowd than what Blair maybe used to, but it is a little $$ just to get in, so that might have something to do with it. I think she'll have fun! We can at least go check it out for a little while.

The Gang's All Here

2007-07-07T08:26:00.000+08:00

Well, most of the gang anyway. Mom won't be back for about another week and I'm not sure if we could get my brother to make another trip on the BNE as he calls it (the Butt Numb Express) anytime soon. Rob and Avery arrived Thursday night at around 11:30 and Blair got in last night at about the same time. That's two nights in a row hanging out at Changi Airport. That's ok though as it's worth the late nights and early mornings (to work) to have everyone back here. While we were waiting on Blair there were two girls that started talking to us. Rob and Avery had on Aggie T-shirts and these girls are Aggies. The are here for the summer staying with host families while they take on a summer internship. There were about three people from Texas A&M that Blair knew on her flight. I guess there's a whole mess of 'em here for a month or so doing internships. Small world, huh? Who knows maybe Blair will get to see them some while she is here. I know they tend to all group together. I remember one year we went skiing in New Mexico during spring break and there must have been a group of Aggies there as they had yell practice by the lodge every afternoon.

Teaching Math (Thru the Years)

2007-07-06T10:06:00.000+08:00

Teaching Math In 1950

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1960

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1970

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

Teaching Math In 1980

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math In 1990

A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of$20. What do you think of this way of making a living?Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as thelogger cut down their homes?(There are no wrong answers.)

Teaching Math In 2000

Un ranchero vende una carretera de madera para $100.El cuesto de la produccion era $80. Cuantos tortillasse puede comprar?

Work Place Words - 2007

2007-07-05T11:32:00.000+08:00

Well, since I can't seem to get in the mood to work I thought some new workplace words were in order. (I didn't make these up, they were emailed to me by a friend)
NEW WORDS FOR 2007 :
Essential vocabulary additions for the workplace (and elsewhere)!!!
1. BLAMESTORMING: Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.
2. SEAGULL MANAGER: A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.
3. ASSMOSIS: The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.
4. SALMON DAY : The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.
5. CUBE FARM : An office filled with cubicles.
6. PRAIRIE DOGGING : When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going on.
7. MOUSE POTATO : The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.
8. SITCOMs: Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What Yuppies get into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.
9. STRESS PUPPY : A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.
10. SWIPEOUT: An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless because magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.
11. XEROX SUBSIDY : Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace.
12. IRRITAINMENT: Entertainment and media spectacles that are Annoying but you find yourself unable to stop watching them.
13. PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE : The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again. Often feel like doing this to my computer......
14. ADMINISPHERE : The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.
15. 404 : Someone who's clueless. >From the World Wide Web error Message "404 Not Found," meaning that the requested site could not be located.
16. GENERICA : Features of the American landscape that are exactly the same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and subdivisions.
17. OHNOSECOND : That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an email by mistake).
18. WOOFS : Well-Off Older Folks.
19. CROP DUSTING : Surreptitiously passing gas while passing through a Cube Farm.

4th of July

2007-07-04T16:41:00.000+08:00

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Well, I hope y'all are all enjoying your day off. It's already July 4th here in Singapore. Just another day here. So, please make sure you have some BBQ and watermelon for me! Ok, you can have a few margaritas or ice cold beer too. Take time to reflect on what our Independence Day celebrations are really about. In my opinion it seems that what our forefathers had intended for us is being forgotten. It seems that we are so worried about offending the non-American citizens that our own rights are being neglected.

See if you agree, I know this is a touchy subject:

Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.

Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house). According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family's insurance plan, educate my kids, and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work because he too is hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part). If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there
It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm hard-working and honest, um, except for well, you know. And what a deal it is for me!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being an anti-housebreaker.Oh yeah, and I want you to learn my language so you can communicate with me.

I had a funny email at one time where someone was writting as if they were going on vacation to Mexico and they weren't going to bring their passport, and they weren't going to learn the language, etc. It was really good. I can't find it now. Please pass it along if you have a copy.

I almost died today

2007-07-04T08:21:00.000+08:00

Not really, but but it felt like it! I don't care too much for those gecko's. They have the same ones here that we had back in Katy, TX. The one on the TV commercial is cute, but in real life they creep me out. I think it's their translucent appearance and their little sticky feet. When I was getting on the elevator to go down to the parking garage to leave for work one scampered on as I was getting on. Then I didn't know where it went. I was hoping around looking for it and didn't see it anywhere. The elevator isn't that big. So when I didn't see it I checked the bottom of my shoes, nope, not there. So, where was the little shit? Now, I'm panicking thinking it's in my hair or on me somewhere. By now, the elevator has reached the bottom level and then I see it along where the floor and wall meet. It peeked around at the opening when the door opened but it didn't get off when I did - Thank God!

Blogging Addict? I think not!

2007-07-02T11:42:00.000+08:00

70%

Mingle² - Online Dating

Is there a 12-step program?

I passed!

2007-06-30T10:46:00.000+08:00

I forgot to mention that I passed my driving test. It was kinda cool as far as driving tests go. The test is administered in a room with 44 computer screens arranged on 3 rows of tables. Fifteen minutes before the time the test is to start everyone signed up to take the test (which costs S$65) checks in a the desk by the door where you enter the room. You have to show either your Singapore passport or your foreign passport and your employment pass. (Side thought here...if the US wants and idea on how to handle immigration they should look here). You are then given a piece of paper with a pass code on it. When it's time for the test to start the screens show a keypad where you enter your pass code then start the test. It's all touch screen by computer. You have 50 minutes to answer 50 questions. The parts of the test where they asked questions concerning stuff like when there are several cars at an uncontrolled intersection, "who has the right away?", was the best part. They showed the diagram with a little video of the situation being covered. You could even replay it if you needed to. I think it took me less than 20 mintues. You can only miss 5 questions or you fail. They don't tell you what you made, just whether you passed or failed. The one thing they still need to work on is the actual getting of the license. To do that I have to bring in my Texas license, my passport, my employment pass and a passport photo, along with copies of all that. They didn't tell us that part, so now I have to go back. (Rob has my driver's license anyway. He had to take it with him for the closing on the house.) Well, now that I have my license all it's going to make me do is get even more p*ssed off at these people here that are so rude when they drive and drive is a term I use loosely for what they do. Now I "KNOW" what they are doing wrong instead of it just seeming wrong.

Mailing stuff to the US

2007-06-29T12:23:00.000+08:00

I just realized I needed to mail something back the states. While it's easy enough to just put the required postage on it to mail it from here it just takes FOREVER to get there. It could take up to 4 weeks. You just never know. My other option is to put my letter in the regular weekly mail that our office sends back to the states bundled up via DHL. All I have to do is put a US postage stamp on it and once it gets to Houston they put it in the mail there for me. That takes about 3 days. Trouble is...I don't have any US postage stamps. BUT I found away to fix that. I made my own stamps. While this isn't going to help me right now, it will help me out in the future. The stamps I made and ordered online will be mailed to my office then they will send them FedEX to us here at the project office in our regular weekly mail run. I think I one time I saw a site where you could make them and print them out yourself. I couldn't find that one again so this time I used Zazzle. I created it in a rush so I didn't take the time to sort through ALL the digital photos I have but I thought for my first try they came out just fine. What do you think?

Crawfish Pot

2007-06-28T11:43:00.000+08:00

This is how big I want my next crawfish pot to be. Think I can bring it back on the plane? We saw this in Chinatown. In my mind I can picture jungle natives deep in the jungle with some explorer they caught tied up and sitting in it over an open flame. Like the cartoons I used to see when I was little. It is one of the biggest pots I think I have ever seen. Using Avery as a measuring stick, she's about 5'-0" tall.

Yummm! I can smell the crawfish now.

Car Toys Hall of Fame - New Additions

2007-06-27T11:47:00.000+08:00

Here is the latest in car dashboard, head rest, steering wheel accessories for your viewing pleasure:

Do you think this strange person has a thing for Winnie the Pooh? Keep in mind you have to be at least 18 to drive over here.

This person is not a freaky at the Pooh lover.