FEB 28 :: [miscellaneous] Bored today coz I decided to stay home to avoid the snow-induced traffic which as we all know now has not materialized. It's been snowing since 10am but it's all light, fluffy, pretty stuff. Nothing major.
Random news: Federated (Macy's, Bloomingdale's) is buying May (Lord & Taylor, Marshall Field's, Hecht's). Metro is *finally* going to install the much-delayed canopy over Dupont Circle Metro's south entrance to protect the escalators from the elements. Much, much overdued, in my opinion. North entrance is trickier coz of the circular shape. But I'm excited. Iraq, Lebanon/Syria, Palestine/Israel are all still fucked up; what's new, right? And this whole Social Security thing is getting annoying. Privatize it already!
And I have no idea why I forgot to mention this earlier but Beyonce - complete with three make-up/costume makeovers - was super-brilliant last night! Three times over!! And even once in French! Oh mon Beyonce est très fabu! :)
[shocker] Wow, that was a million dollar shocker wasn't it? I bet Martin Scorsese was so surprised that his brows stuck to his hair all night. Clint Eastwood and Million Dollar Baby were not less deserving of the Oscar but man, everyone predicted it was gonna be Scorsese and the Aviator. I guess the Academy really loved MDB and crowned it with best actress (Hilary Swank) and best supporting actor (Morgan Freeman) as well. Jamie Foxx's speech was touching. We watched it all (yes, all 5 hours of it) at Dusty's super-fetch Oscar party in Bethesda - uh-huh, put 20 queens in a room and let the comments about Oscar gowns rip!
Another shocker is the fizzled out snowstorm today. It's 8am and no sign of snow. Not to mention the NWS' heavy snow warning shut down ALL school systems today which now appears to be quite unnecessary. It appears we might even get rain as the weather warms up meaning not even the 2 to 4 inches they are now forecasting might fall. How they went from 6-10 to 2-4 is beyond me. Yup, another botched forecast and snow bust in DC. Sigh. I knew it was all too good to be true.
Well, it's the last day of this rather short month of February. I'm glad it's over coz March means spring is around the corner and the temperatures will start to warm up. Yet another cold season will be behind us and before long, the cherry blossoms will bloom. Yes, I'm already dreaming of spring (but still praying for snow, how weird is that?). And all the renewed sense of energy that it will bring.
FEB 27 :: [the big one] Please, please, please let this be the big one. The National Weather Service has just released a Heavy Snow Warning for tomorrow for the entire DC metropolitan area; the heaviest being 10am-6pm. Yay! I hope it's THE big one. Right now they are forecasting up to 10" of snow but everything depends on the fickle storm track - too far West and we get rain, if it goes up and off the coast as predicted, we'll get pounded! DC is overdue for a big one. I can't wait!!
My weekend has been fairly tame but equally fun. Happy Hour at Halo with Chris/Dave on Friday spilled into dinner at Buca with Tom/G and Rob/Mikko before hitting Duplex. Needless to say, I was sloshed by the end of the night. The combination of mojitos-chianti-limoncello-cosmo (in that order!) was lethal. I felt like crap most of the day Saturday but yoga helped a little. By Saturday night, I was ready to party again! Drinks with Mike/Gary (yes! they're back... for now) at Halo - Brad was there! Woo! - was followed by some crazy antics at Noche del Fuego in their new space on 15th/U with Rob/Mikko. Fuego was weird - no dancing and a 2am curfew. Very bizarre. That plus a $10 cover is surely not very inviting, is it?
Anyway, it's Sunday. It's getting cloudy. The storm is coming! I'll be watching the whole thing from the comforts of my home of course :) Driving 20+ miles each way in the heavy snow is not my idea of fun. Winter is back in full force!
FEB 25 :: [just in time] Well, I am almost fully recovered from my cold (still boogering a little but nothing a tissue can't handle ;)) and not a moment too soon! The weekend is shaping up to be a blast. Happy hour and dinner tonight which promises to spill into a late-night affair. Cocktails tomorrow night (and yoga somewhere in between) followed by an Oscar party on Sunday. Fetch!
I miss my party weekends in DC. I'm shining my shoes and ironing my skimpy shirts (oh who am I kidding, I never iron), so bring it on! Woo!
[gay tv] Is it me or has TV gone gay this past week or so? First, there was the oh-my-beyonce hot guy-on-guy kiss on Desperate Housewives last Sunday (between Reagan-worshipping Bree's son and the new gardener, oh my!!) - all I can say is thank God for TiVo! And then last night, Marissa and Alex made out full-on over and over again on the OC. Oh. My. Beyonce. I almost died laughing when Julie (Marissa's mother) and Kirsten (whose husband is transporting a fugitive ex-lover) were discussing their traumatic lives and Julie says "I'll see your fugitive former flame and raise you a lesbian daughter". LOL!!!
Absolutely priceless. It's weird that all the dramas I'm actually following now have gay storylines. I love my TV :)
Although, it is weird that the better DH (Desperate Housewives, keep up, will ya?) is getting, the cornier the OC is becoming. I mean, the Seth and Summer thing last night would've been so much more fetch had it not been for the corny Spiderman-esque ending *eyes rolling*. And Tony is such a conspiracy theorist, he thinks that Kirsten swapped out Lindsay's blood during the DNA test which is so whatever since Lindsay is moving to Chicago aka leaving the show. D'oh. But I digress, the storyline is dragging on the OC. DH, on the other hand, is fresh (or fetch?) as ever. DH is also very touching. I love Mary-Ellen's narration.
Do you have any idea what I'm babbling about? How can you not be watching Desperate Housewives? It's like the best thing on TV... for now. I'm just glad I found something to replace Sex and the City. Watch it, you won't regret it :)
[city by the bay] Have I mentioned how beautiful San Francisco is? If you haven't been, you must go. Soon. Or at least once in your lifetime. The vistas are spectacular. The Golden Gate Bridge is monumentally beautiful. Nature is tops in the Bay Area. The Pacific Ocean, the Marin Headlands, Muir Woods, Napa, Sonoma, the Bay, the beautiful parks. San Francisco has the most spectacular setting on the planet after Sydney.
But it's not all chirpy in SF. Homelessness is a HUGE issue and I ain't a big fan. And parking! Oh my Beyonce. The hotel wanted to charge us FORTY bucks per day. We parked it in a nearby garage for half that but it was still VERY expensive. The weather can also be uncooperative at times. The summers are either too hot or too cold, the winters are too wet, the ocean is never warm enough to swim which is such a pity coz the Pacific beaches are gorgeous.
But the food is amazing in SF. The hills are legendary as are the amazing views. There are more than enough attractions in and around SF to keep you busy for a week - and no, Fisherman's Wharf is NOT on the list! Shopping is fantastic around Union Sq. And there's even mass transit now from the airport to the City! (something all other major American cities should learn to provide) In short, it's a fantastic tourist city.
But more importantly, San Francisco is as blue as they come. By an 83-15 margin, SF voted Democratic in the most recent election. Now, THAT's what I call my kind of city! I love San Francisco. Not enough that I left my heart there (as Sinatra would've put it) but enough to want to go back over and over again. BTW, this was my fifth trip there. And it never gets old!
It also helps that my favorite dim sum restaurant in the entire US is in SF. It's a secret (a very popular one at that) and I'll tell if you ask nicely ;)
FEB 24 :: [still snowing!] Wow, it's still snowing at 9pm and it looks like it'll be a 24hr snow event by the time this whole thing ends looking at the radar. It's been snowing lightly for much of the day and accumulations have reached 4+" so far. Not bad at all. The snow is sticking to sidewalks and roads now that it is dark outside and the surface has been cooled by below freezing temperatures all day. The bushes, trees and branches are still beautifully covered with snow. It's quite a sight! I love snow.
Weather sites are diverging on what's happening Sun-Tues. Some are calling for snow, some are calling for rain. Whatever happens, bring it on! (the snow, that is) Giggle.
[cold and snowy] DC saw its first flakes of snow at 3 this morning (no, I wasn't up for that) and snow started falling heavily at 7 and it's been going strong since. It's one of those good snow days since none of it is sticking on the sidewalks and on the roads which are far too warm from previous days of warm weather. But everything else - the trees, branches, bushes, grass - is covered in white. Light, fluffy, white stuff. Just the way I like it.
It's still coming down hard here at noon. About 2.5" on my deck so far. I don't know if we'll get much more than 3" but we'll see. It is also forecasted to snow through 9pm which I seriously doubt but again, we'll see. It is cold, cold, cold outside - 27 degrees and dropping. Regardless of when this snow event ends, this weekend will be cold as well (below 40) and they are saying another snowstorm is on its way for Monday. Woohoo!
One thing's for sure, I ain't leaving my house! Mostly because I don't like how other people drive in the snow and the resulting traffic jams are horrendous. But also because my car (too powerful rear-wheel drive) does not handle well in the snow. Yea, yea, excuses. Whatever. Thank God for e-mail...
FEB 23 :: [news du jour] Michelin wades into NYC, Bush/Shroeder get tough on Iran and Apple decides to up its Mini to 6GB for the same $249 price. Oh and the California rains, mudslides, etc. you've been hearing about? Yup, we bore the brunt of it while we were in San Francisco. It rained for all 5 days as they predicted. We did have some nice, sunny spells on Friday and Sunday so that was good. And the thick clouds plus the sunlight trying to pierce through made for some really nice pictures. All in all, only Saturday sucked so bad it was like walking in wet socks. Literally.
[too late] This is a huge leap of faith but AccuWeather has predicted an almost certain snowstorm tomorrow for DC, upwards of 3", beginning at 7am. Great. It would've been nice if it had snowed like this while my mom was here. But this is just too late. It's weird how their trip coincided with a super-warm February spell (the whole time they were here, we had highs of 50 and above... for February!) and zero snow. In fact, we've only had 0.1" of snow so far this Feb and that fell the day my parents arrived but before they got here. What a crapshoot.
It is also expected to remain below freezing all day tomorrow. Brrr. I just hope we get slammed tomorrow! I am so dying for a huge winter storm. But not the shovelling, of course :) And even if tomorrow's snow event doesn't materialize (it better, they're projecting this thing with 90% accuracy), there's another storm waiting to hit us next Mon/Tues. So, sing with me everybody: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
[my friends] Announcing the debut of *drumroll* "my friends". It's just a compilation of pictures of friends, family and everyone in between that I have taken over the years. Right now, I only have a smattering of pictures from the latter half of 2004 into 2005 and even then, they're incomplete. I promise to post (and retro-post) more when I find the time. Till then, enjoy! (try to resist the temptation of matching faces and names there to the ones you read about on here in case you read something incriminating about him/her/it) *wink*
[inspiration] Melissa Etheridge, breast-cancer survivor, rocks the Grammy Awards.
[everyone's home] 24+ hours after they left SF, my parents are back home safely in KL. And so, another family reunion ends. I think this one was particularly memorable for me coz I got to spend so much time with my parents while sharing a bunch of new experiences with them. I get jaded so easily these days with my "been there, seen that" attitude when travelling. But seeing my parents' reactions to the same city/sights that impressed me during those pre-jaded days brought back a flood of memories. In that sense, the sharing of the experience was worth the price of admission.
But there was one experience that we didn't get to share and that was the Singapore Airlines' business class flight *non-stop* from Singapore to New York and then from LA back to Singapore. So how good was it? Well, they are both 18+ hour flights (I know, wrist-slittingly long) and yet, when I asked my mom how her flight was she said "I didn't want to get off!". LOL. In one sense, I'm jealous I have never been on that flight but in another sense, I'm totally elated that they enjoyed the flight as much as I thought they would, maybe even more. Definitely miles well spent.
I remember the first time my parents saw snow ("what is all this dust in the air?"), and Niagara Falls, Toronto, ice-covered lakes/rivers, snow-covered landscapes, San Francisco, and so on. I remember how we ate our way from coast-to-coast, beginning with fabulous dinners at Yanyu and Penang, followed by the CNY reunion dinner where (almost) everybody we love was in attendance. Their first trip to Outback :) Valentine's dinner at Makoto. Dim sum everywhere we went, including a over-the-top fabulous one in SF. But all of that pales in comparison to the wonderful home-cooked meals we were all enjoying over the past three weeks. That I will miss the most. Sigh.
But everyone's home now. Which means it's time to start planning for the next family reunion!
[broke] My credit card balances are looking quite scary and it's not even the end of the month yet! The past three weeks have been quite a spend-a-thon entertaining our families and going on vacations. The hit on the pocketbook is twice as much when paying for four on a vacation (or six for dinner)! Yikes. At least I had fun doing it. Which cannot be said for my stingy elder brother who not only didn't offer to pay for much, he had to be prodded to pay for anything at all. I mean, I think we still share the same parents (I think?) but he obviously doesn't feel the same way about them, much less the obligation to them. Oh well, his loss.
Anyway, so yea I'm broke... at least until the end of this month. And then a new billing cycle starts and I can spend all over again! Giggle!! I love credit cards (as long as you pay them in full every month, of course, which I *always* do). Huge credit card bills have never stopped me before, as evident by the fact that I'm already planning where to go party this weekend :)
FEB 22 :: [disconnected] In case you were wondering, yes, kiat.net briefly disappeared off the face of the internet for the 5 days we were gone in San Francisco. Why? No idea. The DSL modem just decided to throw one of its temper tantrums and quit working. Everything else was up and running - the firewall, web/mail server, desktops, etc. Came home after 5 days of frustration trying to access mail/web from the other side of the continent, power-cycled the modem and voila, everything works again. Sheesh. At least if it was something we could fix, I'd feel better about the outage. But this is just so random. There's nothing we can do to prevent this from recurring. Sucks, doesn't it?
So, yes, we are alive. We are home. Safe and sound. So much to tell from our trip to SF, so little time (and energy) to do so. Maybe later :)
[and so it ends] We are home. Finally. No more travels; for this month, at least. Parents flew back to Malaysia last night from SF and we flew back to DC - in coach no less. Our upgrades didn't clear as even Tony's 1K status was no good between SFO-ORD-DCA. Oh well. It wasn't too bad. But I caught a slight cold on our last day in SF so the flight was none too pleasant.
It was great having my parents around. I'll miss them. They'll be coming to the States again in May for my younger bro's graduation so I'll get a chance to see them then. But for now, I need my beauty rest. It's been a looooong month! Which is ironic considering that this is the shortest month of the year :)
FEB 17 :: [kah-lee-for-nia] And so it ends. Time flies by so fast when you're having fun. The four of us (my parents, Tony and I) are headed to SF today, as my parents conclude yet another stay in the DC area. It was fun having them around. Tiring, but fun. We've mostly been doing homebound things the past few days - cooking and chatting and doing the occasional last-minute shopping. I did take a well-deserved break on Tues night to watch American Idol at JR's but other than that, I've been a pretty good boy.
The weather forecast in SF is abysmal - rain everyday. Sigh. Oh well, hopefully there'll be enough dry spells and warmth to keep our spirits up.
I have been checking my e-mails everyday but I haven't had time to reply in almost 3 weeks now. I even missed Gary's departure to LA :( (he'll be bah-ck, as the Governator would say *grin*). Sorry for the communications blackout! I promise to get back to everyone when I get home on the 21st. Till then, have a great President's Day weekend and can't wait to see y'all soon! Next stop, Kah-lee-for-nia!
FEB 15 :: [beautiful day] Well, Nicole and I had the perfect sushi lunch at Mikaku (which, by the way, is on the way to Pluto) today. Two back-to-back Japanese meals - fetch!! Can you tell I love raw fish? :) Anywho, driving back to the office I had the windows down and it was a brilliant 60 degrees outside with clear blue skies (for now). What a nice departure from the rainy day yesterday and forecasted rainy day tomorrow. In fact, our entire time in San Franciso will be rainy. So much for doing outdoorsie things in California, huh?
Enjoy it while it lasts! (In February!)
[ie vs firefox] Well, lookie here. Microsoft has now decided to offer up IE7 after YEARS of stagnating at IE6. IE6, as you all recall, was coincidentally released about the time Netscape went away and there has been zero innovation or new features on the IE product since (unless you call security vulnerabilities a new feature). Well, now Firefox is taking market share in the browser market and guess what Microsoft does? It ballyhoos a new version of their web browser. Coincidence? Of course!
Now don't get me wrong. I like IE. I liked it much better than Netscape. I also like IE better than Firefox (although Firefox is kinda neat with the tab functions and all that). And it's so much less work to tweak the HTML for this website to only work with one browser (of course, it works with both IE and Firefox now) but seriously, this latest announcement smacks of anti-competitive behavior. Disgustingly so. Why only innovate when there's competition? And then you stop innovating after you've crushed your competitiors? What a bunch of bullshit. Microsoft deserves all the lawsuits that are thrown at them.
I'm switching to Firefox. Natch.
[ang pow] Ang pow is the Hokkien name (Chinese dialect) for red packets that the elder (married) generation usually give out to the younger (unmarried) kids. So as it turns out, my parents gave one to each of my friends who attended the banquet, including Nicole. Kamil, who is recovering very nicely from her surgery, comes home from school one day last week and declares "Look, mommy, I got a red packet from school! With money!". The packet was jangling with 2 quarters. So Nicole whips hers out that she got from the night before, hands it to Kamil and says "Look, mommy has one too". Kamil grabs it, opens it and shrieks "FIVE dollars!". I think Nicole almost wrecked her car. Giggle.
Well, when we were kids, we would have a pouch and try our best to fill it with ang pow. On the first day of CNY, we would hit up all our immediate relatives (and we had lots of those! 9 uncles and aunts!!) before heading out to the not-so-immediate relatives (grandfather's second wive's cousin's son) the next day. And subsequently for 13 days after that, we would hit up anyone whom my parents knew (married ones, of course) and just about everyone in the vicinity (neighbors, friends, etc. are all fair game). It was quite the competitive sport. Back then - when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth - we were thrilled with a RM4 ($1) packet (they were mostly RM2 or, worse, coins!) and were jumping for joy if we found a RM10 packet.
Of course, these days, anything less than, oh say, a hundred bucks would be considered a travesty! :D Let's just say the older you get, the more jaded you become and the whole ang pow thing looks so silly. Still, I wouldn't turn down a few dollars here and there! :) (as long as I don't have to give any, of course)
FEB 14 :: [valentine's] We just got back from a fetch Valentine's Day dinner with my parents at Makoto. The dinner was amazingly yummy and the courses were significantly different than the last time we were there. New and interesting. Love it!
And Tony's gonna kill me for including this here but here's Tony's idea of a, err, cute/funny/naughty Valentine's Day card to me: cover and inside. LOL!! I thought the card was cute enough to be included on here ;) He's so silly. I, on the other hand, brought home 2 dozen beautiful red roses. So there, nyah :p
[another one...] Bites the dust. What is with February? Mating season? So many mergers. Verizon taking over MCI? Wow. The Baby Bells have reached full-grown status.
[home sweet home] But only for three days coz we turn around and head to SF on Thurs, followed by my parents' departure to Asia on President's Day. Whew! Talk about a whirlwind vacation (for all of us).
So, Niagara Falls and Toronto were lovely. My mother finally got to see snow - falling from the sky, even. The timing was all weird because DC was under a heat wave the moment they arrived so luckily the Niagara area delivers consistently and deliver it did. It snowed pretty much Friday night and all day Saturday. No accumulations but there was enough on the ground to make the Falls a breathtaking winter wonderland. Everything was lovely... except for the cold!
It was consistently in the 20s throughout the weekend with an abundance of cloudless skies but also biting winds! My parents never knew what they were getting themselves into when they were asking for the "winter experience". I don't think they'll be asking for sub-freezing temperatures again ;) I took them to Outback for dinner one night which was a huge hit. After dinner was when my mom first saw the snowflakes. Initially she had no idea what it was, even asking me why there was so much "dust" in the air, LOL! Anywho, she was plenty excited. We also gouged on Asian food in Toronto while we were there all day Saturday - dim sum lunch in the Markham asian ghetto district (complete with lion dances throughout the Pacific Mall!) and BBQ in Koreatown. It was all very festive and CNY-sie.
Toronto was fun. We went up the CN Tower, toured the downtown area, Chinatown, went to Vaughan Mills (yet more outlet shopping) and just drove around mostly. We had a almost-new Ford Explorer which seated all of us very comfortably and drove great in the snow. It was a fun little day-trip and very easily accomplished from Niagara Falls (it usually takes 90mins but with Tony driving, we were there in an hour!).
Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity. Woke up, packed, did the Falls (incl. the Journey Behind the Falls), lunched at Perkins (*gasp*), drove across the border to the USA and dropped by elder bro off at the airport, toured Buffalo for a few hours before heading back to the airport and flew home (see yesterday's post about the hellhole called Dulles!). We had no idea it was Winterfest in Buffalo so we got to see ice carvings, an auto show, a petting zoo (complete with camels and yaks!), lots of ice skaters, etc. Fetch. Buffalo was ho hum but the festival added much to the otherwise dead industrial city on a Sunday evening.
So here I am at work today... Sigh. It's cold, rainy and wet outside. Definitely not a good day to be out but it's Valentine's Day so I love you all! Stay loved, be loved, and love to one and all.
UPDATE: Oh how could I neglect to mention our room at the Sheraton Fallsview. It was a 2-bedroom suite (nothing special except for a huge jacuzzi) that had a panoramic view of both the American and Canadian/Horseshoe Falls. What a spectacular view!! We were on the 31st/top floor and the view alone was worth the price of the room.
[so little time...] I realize I've left out huge chunks of what happened over the past week. I'd like to use lack of time as an excuse but I was just procrastinating. We even had free wi-fi in Canada but I never got around to writing. Silly me.
So where do I begin... CNY-eve! The banquet was a hit! The food was amazing (even my mom thought it was fabulous and she is hard to please ;)), the company was great and the atmosphere was festive. I won't rehash the menu but I have to say everyone followed instructions well (giggle) and gave my mom a gift. Not that it mattered coz my mom was still pretty stern all night. Let's see who all came: at our table was Rick, M2 and Andy. The other table was Tom/G, Chris/Dave, Nik/Khalid, Roger/Dave, and Rob/Carlos. I think most people enjoyed the lobster, fish, shark's fin and abalone dish. The squab was weird as was the sea cucumbers (yuk!). The dessert was a little too sweet but overall, it was very unique (incl. the duck-glutinous rice thingie which I've never had in my life!). I was happy enough after shark's fin that I didn't really care what else came out from the kitchen.
The next day, *drumroll* I cooked! I made Pho Ga (chicken) for lunch and it turned out OK but I spent lots of effort on it making it from scratch so I'll just say it turned out well ;p. Tony's mom made dinner that night and it was a huge hit. We went to Target after that which was fun. Thursday was another airport day. We had a nice little lunch at Rice (where we got free desserts! I love going to places where I feel sufficiently loved) and we dropped Tony's parents off at DCA. I think they had a great time in DC and hopefully we'll see them again in May for my younger brother's graduation. After that, we drove up to Maryland to drop off the van at Nicole's, stopping along the way for some kitchenware and Asian foodstuff shopping. It was also the day of Kamil's surgery so after some minor complications, I am relieved and happy to say she is doing well! But we never got to see Nicole so that was a *pout*. Got home. Tony cooked a yummy dinner but it was slightly marred by the huge blowout I had with my elder brother (don't ask). Suffice to say, he will not be welcomed in my house ever again. And yes, the next 3 days in Canada were awkward but who the fuck cares, right?
And so that's that. Phew. February has just been busy, busy, busy. I love that my parents are here and cooking for us and experiencing new things. I just wish I had more time to spend with them. Oh well, I'll see them again in May and hopefully I'll be flying to Asia more often now that I've pretty much ruled out Europe as a vacation spot due to the weak dollar.
Okie dok's. Back to work (or lunch).
FEB 13 :: [dulles airwort] Yes. Air-WORT. I have no idea why I continue to fly out of Dulles. It is an abysmal airport and a horrendous transportation hub. We arrived home from Buffalo tonight (early, which was a good thing) and had to wait just shy of the gate for TWENTY minutes because the ground crew could not be bothered to let us park there. Why? I have no idea. Maybe they were on a union break, maybe we weren't supposed to use that gate (Chautauqua vs. Trans States - I hate United Express!!), whatever. None of that matters. The pilot should have used another gate or the ground crew should've let us in. Instead, they were both playing a game of chicken and ultimately the ground crew relented but not before the guy with the orange lights kicked a few orange cones around in disgust. What a poor display of customer service.
And that was just the beginning. Next, we (OK, "I") decided to walk to the C terminal to catch the mobile lounge to the main terminal even though we arrived into the D gates. See, I insist that the mobile lounges from D arrive in a god-forsaken section of the main terminal so it's easier to catch the C ones in order to avoid that walk, blah blah blah. Semantics, I know. Well, guess what? The lines to board the mobile lounges at C were phenomenally long. Why the airport authorities couldn't anticipate demand and send more lounges is beyond me. They charge enough for everything else at Dulles, you'd think they could use some of that money for airport services! Anywho, I digress. We finally squeezed into the second mobile lounge and it was packed beyond capacity. The lady next to me was basically sitting on my lap (how obnoxious and rude) coz she refused to follow the "first come, first serve" rule when it comes to seating. What a nutcase.
Then, due to some ridiculous and constant construction at Dulles, the lounges are now routed via Pluto to get to the Main terminal. And once we get there, it's a bazillion mile walk to the Daily Garages that charge $15/day for the privilege of hiking out to West VA for parking spots. Aahhhhhh! Hate, hate, HATE Dulles. I am so glad we are leaving out of National to get to San Francisco.
OK, I feel better now after I've vented. Yes, we had an awesome time in Canada. More on that later. It feels great to be back home!
FEB 9 :: [gong xi fa cai] Happy Chinese New Year! Rooster struts into New Year as we usher in the Year of the Rooster (or more affectionately known as the Year of the Cock :D).
FEB 8 :: [exhausted] At work. Totally pooped. I was completely wiped by 10pm last night but I did sleep well so that wasn't so bad. Tony's parents arrived yesterday (slightly delayed *groan*) and we had a grand feast that my mom cooked for dinner last night. It was a fun evening. Earlier in the day, my parents and I had dropped off my younger brother at DCA. And then we picked up Tony's parents at DCA. We have now been to the airports so many times in the past few days it's not even funny!
The weather has been exceedingly gorgeous in DC since the weekend - highs almost at 60 everyday and bright, brilliant sunshine to go with. That's crazy for February! My mother still hasn't seen snow. And it looks like that might have to wait till we get to Niagara Falls. Fingers crossed :)
Tonight's the big night; the Chinese New Year reunion banquet. 13 of our friends are showing up together with the family. It should be a fun evening. And tomorrow is the first day of the new Year of the Rooster. It seems that the more years I'm away from Malaysia, the less attached I get to this holiday. It used to be such a big deal for us when we were kids - the trip back to the hometown, the new clothes (red, of course) for the new year, the red packets (ang pow) filled with coins (yuck) and money (yay!), the gambling, the eating of bazillions of calories of CNY cookies and delicacies only made during the new year... It's all very nostalgic and so very far away from my current home in DC.
Tonight will change all that. My parents brought CNY cookies (yum). And we've been feasting ever since my mom arrived to cook up a storm. The reunion dinner tonight brings together both sides of the family (for the first time!). It should be interesting and festive - just the way it should be! :)
[miscellaneous] I haven't had time to wipe my ass, much less blog so here are a few highlights since the weekend. The Yanyu dinner at Sat night was both good and bad - the food was amazing but the service was abysmal (it was an 8-course dinner and it took them 90 minutes to serve the first two courses... gimme a break!). And since the latter really ticked me off, I doubt I'll be giving them my business ever again. Sunday was the same - brilliant sunshine and just a beautiful day to be outside. We had Pho for lunch (noodles in soup for a bunch of Asians was a big hit - go figure!) and did some secondary sightseeing before ending up at the house to watch part of the Superbowl. I was rooting for the Patri... Eagl... oh who cares, as long as somebody scored!
We broke away for my younger bro's final dinner in DC. We went to Penang up in Bethesda, MD for a Malaysian-style meal to end all meals. It was amazing and the best part was the roads were almost free of cars and the restaurant was empty. It was great! Eating out on Superbowl Sunday might not be such a bad thing after all :) We also caught parts of the game at the restaurant.
Yesterday (besides the numerous trips to DCA) was relaxing. We ate all three meals at home and mostly just lounged around and did nothing. That was a good thing coz I think I'm gonna need the whole month of March to recover from all the family activities of this month! Giggle.
Oh I almost forgot, I took my brothers to meet Rick at Bistrot du Coin for some champagne after Yanyu. Let's just leave out the details of that part of the evening, shall we? ;) That reminds me, I haven't partied since... last Wed! Groan...
[world-wind] Oh my Beyonce. I'm out of the loop for 5 days and the world goes crazy! So much news, so little time. The Pope was hospitalized, the UN oil-for-food scandal explodes (shame!), Israel and Palestine agree to a ceasefire (hopefully a lasting one), Dean is almost the DNC chair, the 2006 budget (all $2.57tn of it) was sent to the Hill - anticipating yet another budget busting deficit, more money to bombs and less to books (what's new?), Condi Rice is in France trying to fake diplomacy by lying through her teeth (again), and, of course, who could forget - it's Mardi Gras today!! There's always a reason to celebrate even if world events continue to swirl around us like huge ominous clouds.
FEB 7 :: [dynasty] Superbowl XXXIX, Jacksonville FL - New England Patriots 24, Philadelphia Eagles 21. Pats have won 3 of the past 4 (2002, 2004 and 2005). Wow!
FEB 5 :: [perfect day] In the end, everything turned out alright. My parents arrived 3 hours late. So did my elder brother. My younger brother arrived early, go figure. We're all here and doing well. My mom cooked a really fetch dinner last night (pork ribs 3-ways) and everyone was resting and trying to recover from jet lag.
Today was such a perfect day. The temperature climbed steadily from the low 30s this morning to the high 50s by mid-day. It was absolutely perfect for gallivanting around town and doing outdoor touring. The previous few days have been cold enough that there was still plenty of surface ice on the lakes and rivers and enough snow on the ground to make things look pretty. That made my mom very happy :) We toured the White House and the Capitol before doing a dim sum lunch at China Garden. That was followed by extensive walking in the afternoon around the FDR/Jefferson Memorials, the WWII Memorial, and finally the Vietnam/Lincoln/Korean Memorials. It was such a nice day to be outside. There was not a cloud in the sky and the pristine blue sky was reflected by the crystal clear blue waters of the Potomac. Just perfect.
The weather tomorrow promises to be just as nice or even nicer. Tonight we're doing a pre-CNY dinner at Yanyu. And who knows what we're doing tomorrow. It's all family time so I guess it really doesn't matter what we do. Tony is a trooper, dealing with my family and putting up with my stress and nonsensical tirades *giggle*.
It's tiring and exhausting but being with the family is worth all that and more!
[slowly but surely] The state of New York follows Massachusetts in ruling that the state's same-sex marriage ban is illegal. Another state comes to its senses in refusing to discriminate against gay couples and deny them the same constitutional rights afforded to straight couples. It is both heartening and encouraging. As with all social progress, it starts slowly but eventually, justice and fairness prevails over bigotry and discrimination. We all just need to be patient. Intolerance will always lose out to equality.
FEB 3 :: [flight troubles] The past few days have been a blur of running around doing last minute preparations. My parents arrive in about 3 hours. They're in New York City now. Their plane to DC has been delayed by 30 minutes but I am not holding my breath because the snow that just hit us is marching its way into NYC. Ugh. Did anybody predicted this afternoon's snow showers? It came down at a pretty good clip. I have a bad feeling about their RJ flight tonight. Sigh.
If it had only snowed a day later, everything would've been perfect. My mother has never seen snow before and would probably not see it falling until we get to Canada and even then it is sketchy. They are predicting mild weather this weekend through next week. That's good for those of us who hate the cold but bad for snow-generation.
More flight snafus: My big brother's flight was delayed by three hours leaving Singapore and his scheduled arrival in NYC tomorrow afternoon will mean that he would miss the onward flight to DC. Grr. And I can't even put him on the next flight to DC coz the change fee is astronomical and the fare has jumped substantially (last minute and all). Ahh! I hope they allow him to standby for the next flight (which doesn't leave for FOUR hours after the one he just missed). If not, we're all screwed.
That, in a gist, explains my previous few weeks - crazy, panicky, lots of worrying and everything is up to mother nature. Let's hope the next few weeks while they're here will be better...
[always time to party] The first few days of February have been crazy. We have a new big boss. There was a meet-and-greet on Tuesday. Rick came over and watched the American Idol auditions. We didn't go out that night (at least I didn't) coz... *drumroll* My full physical was on Wednesday. Yes, I managed to avoid the rectal exam but I still had to strip down in front of the doctor (the horrors) and let him do a testicular exam (yuck). So how did I escape a rectal exam? *EVIL GRIN* I'll save that story for another time.
And, uhh, yes, my blood pressure is still fine :) And to celebrate, Rick and I went out last night to JR's! Fetch. We watched the American Idol auditions there (it just seems funnier when you're inebriated) and stayed long enough to avoid all the hoopla about the State of the Union bullshit. Peter joined us (and dragged us later to Cobalt for Karaoke night... two words - "never again!") and we met SO many ppl at JR's - Kevin/Dan, Jimmy, Brent (yes, he's back!), etc. Crazy, lovely, happy. Woo!
Party time is gonna slow down considerably over the next few weeks with my parents here in my face 24/7. We'll see :)
28 :: shocker
27 :: the big one
25 :: just in time
25 :: gay tv
25 :: city by the bay
24 :: still snowing!
24 :: cold and snowy
23 :: news du jour
23 :: too late
23 :: my friends
23 :: inspiration
23 :: everyone's home
23 :: broke
22 :: disconnected
22 :: and so it ends
17 :: kah-lee-for-nia
15 :: beautiful day
15 :: ie vs firefox
15 :: ang pow
14 :: valentine's
14 :: another one...
14 :: home sweet home
14 :: so little time...
13 :: dulles airwort
09 :: gong xi fa cai
08 :: exhausted
08 :: miscellaneous
08 :: world-wind
07 :: wow!
05 :: perfect day
05 :: slowly but surely
03 :: flight troubles
03 :: always time to party