So Yaya had her 38 month birthday while we were in New Jersey. Another quick and fun month has gone by, and here is the girl lounging on the bed in the hotel while Papa calls in a delivery dinner order: [[image:2011-0922-yaya1.jpg:No barrettes for once!:center:0]] Food status: no change, although we did discuss when she used to eat more stuff (like plums which used to be her ultimate favorite). And she corrected me (I called plums red and she said they were purple) and she remembered that she ate it from a spoon and Papa stirred it around before he fed them to her. She also talked about mangos and other fruits so maybe if she’s in the mood she might try those fruits again. One day, she’ll eat more stuff. She will, god willing. Potty training status: jeng jeng jeng… Success!!!! She is diaper-free now, except for nap- and […]
Continue readingTag Archives: Work Excursion
34 Months
This might be a new record in the tardiness of the monthly blog entry. The same excuses and the same apologies, but here she is our 34 month old Yaya. In less than two months (from today) she will be three! Unbelievable, right? 😉 [[image:2011-0522-yaya24.jpg:I’m a traveling Yaya!:center:0]] We had more rain in May. Seriously – we had rain almost every day in April and the first half of May, and that’s no joke. Certainly we did not have two consecutive days of sun during this stretch. On the plus side, the lawn looks lovely! But we all got cabin fever. The weather finally broke in mid-May and we finally got some nice sunny weather. Nothing new to report on the food end – still a moratorium on most foods. Same with potty training – no advances. Hopefully as the summer progresses we can have her run around outside sans pants and try to […]
Continue reading32 Months
Well, this month I am (yet again) late with the entry. The girl is now 2 years and 8 months old – she’s 2 and 2/3 years old! Not long to the big 3! She’s quite the character: [[image:20110322-yaya29.jpg:Hi everyone!!!:center:0]] I have no real excuse – sure, lots of work and all that. But it’s both work and procrastination I suppose. This has been another quick month – we had another trip to New Jersey (and in fact Yaya’s 32-month birthday happened while we were there!), and the month does go by extra quickly when we’re on the road. Yaya continues to amaze us with all the talking and singing. When we’re home we still listen to music while we eat dinner, and there’s lots of drawing. Yaya still refuses to eat most things – no change there. And sadly, we’ve had quite a snowy March. Seriously depressing. We are all getting cabin […]
Continue readingMakan-makan with Jen
So before Jen and Mike set off for their awesome vacation (one of the legs included dinner with Hisham’s family), we had a warm up makan session at the newly discovered Penang restaurant in Edison, NJ. We ordered so much food that they had to move us from a table suited to seat 3-4 people, to a table for 8. Jen got to try a bunch of Malaysian dishes including assam laksa, pasembur, mee kari, kangkung belacan, roti canai, and all kinds more. The person who took our order was trying to warn me that perhaps some of my choices were not something that would be enjoyed by Jen and Vin but oh, he didn’t know them as well as I did. 🙂 We all had an excellent meal. Sila makan, everyone. Here is a picture from our first makan-makan at Penang: [[image:jen01.jpg:After we were stuffed to the gills:center:0]] Tonight, […]
Continue readingAllie’s 14 Month Birthday
I know – I am delinquent. It’s been over two weeks since Allie’s 14 month birthday and I am only finally putting together this entry. I’m terrible. I blame it on a) going back to work full time, and b) doing some travel for work. That just takes a lot out of you! But, whatever my excuses, Allie was 14 months old on September 22nd. [[image:allie375a.jpg:Wassuuuuupppp!!!:center:0]] It was also the first birthday of hers that I had to be at work for (which was a little bit sad, but I realize that it is what it is). My summer break is definitely over, and it is a bit of a shock to be working full time again (I was only working part time prior to that). But it’s also nice to get back in the groove and get out of the house a little. The only down side is that […]
Continue readingSelamat Hari Raya from NJ(??)
Eid Mubarak, and selamat hari raya to all! Vin, Allie and I were out of town for the holidays due to work commitments, but coincidentally, we had a work-related party to go to on the eve of Eid that actually specified that it was a national dress party. So Alllie put on her new baju kurung raya from Opah and Atok, and Vin and I wore our green bajus to match Allie. Here we all are, at Rob’s party. [[image:allie370a.jpg:The Raya family picture:center:0]] Note that in the above, Allie is no longer wearing the skirt of her baju kurung as she kept stepping and tripping on it. But here she is, when she first got ready to go to the party in her full outfit. [[image:allie369a.jpg:Look at my pretty baju kurung!:center:0]] Gnarly party last night, thanks for having us Rob! Maaf zahir batin to all! And to Yope Irfan, a […]
Continue reading
A Night Out In The City…
… and the city is known as Tehran. Last week I spent a better part of a week (for work purposes) in Iran. The first photo of the entry two days ago showed Azadi Tower of Tehran, close to Mehrabad Airport, which now only handles domestic flights. Tehran was a bustling city, there were plenty of Peugeot cars as well as their national Khodro cars. It seemed to me that it’s actually safer in Tehran than in Kuala Lumpur. I saw plenty of young women walking alone, presumably back from work with their briefcases, at night. I wouldn’t walk alone at some places in KL’s inner city. There were many malls in the city much like the ones in central KL, selling everything from Gucci to Versace. Families with infants and preschoolers walk the streets at night to have dinner at the many fast food outlets there. Everyone was friendly, […]
Continue reading
Where Have I Been?
The last week or so, I have been on a trip. Any guesses as to where? It’s in the Middle East, populated by friendly folk, and the food is fantastic. Here are four photos all laid out to be more clues to the location. Stay tuned for the answer as well as more photos.
Continue reading
The Last Time…
… I saw my phone was when I powered it down before getting on the flight at Gate 316, Stuttgart Airport. So long, faithful communication device. That ought to teach me to bring my mobile phone with me everywhere. What?
Continue reading
The Mercedes-Benz Museum
After the second day of training, we were all brought on a bus through the cold but sunny afternoon weather from our training centre out near Hausen to the city of Stuttgart where we came upon this futuristic looking building: The Mercedes-Benz Museum. The entrance door of the museum greeted us like some Federation building of the 23rd century. After paying for the tickets you have to take the awesome looking lift there which will transport you to the top floor. From there you will have to slowly walk down the building which is engineered in a double helix structure on the outer walls, taking you past some fantastic Mercedes-Benz vehicles from old to new. There are also pictures on the wall that show famous historical events pertaining to the era of the cars featured. From 1895 is the Benz Omnibus. It only goes up to 12mph so I have […]
Continue reading
Kehren Sie Nach Deutschland Zurück
It was a cold Sunday morning when we arrived in Germany. It wasn’t as cold as it was two Februaries ago when snow surrounded Munich airport, but it was chilly enough for a bunch of Malaysians. But instead of staying over at Tiefenbronn (which was close by) I was given a room at Hotel-Gasthof Hirsch. And no, I can’t speak, read or write in German. The title came about after a quick visit to an free online translator website. Here I am freezing my butt off on a Sunday afternoon, when the town seemed as if it was totally deserted. I wish Kuala Lumpur would be like this every Sunday morning: The Hirsch is a series of three buildings. The middle and the main building (where reception and the restaurant is situated) is where the sign hangs with the figure of the hart. The balcony is connected to Sudriman’s room. […]
Continue reading
Time To Get To Work. Oh, and Photos!
Let’s take advantage of the free wifi some more and post new pictures of work. Just like other entries of business trip photos on this blog, there are lots of exhibition booths and models of aircrafts. There are real full-sized aircrafts in the premises but I didn’t take any photos of them. Also, there is an aerobatic display outside which is quite loud and makes it hard for us to work inside the hall. I must be working at exhibitions too long already. Everywhere I turn I meet people I know. The booth below is ours. The 5-sided display stand with the spotlights in front was Shide’s idea. The graphic design on each of the five sides were done by me in .ai format. In the space of about 7 hours, then emailed to the booth construction people to be turned into stickers. Too bad the didn’t put it on […]
Continue reading
I Was Last At Langkawi 17 Years Ago
The best thing ever that could happen is the discovery that this hotel I’ve staying at has a free wi-fi connection. This discovery is nothing less than imbuing me with the ability to post a couple of photos which I took earlier today, from Kuala Kedah to Kuah. We had to leave the car with a shipping company that conveyed our mode of conveyance to Langkawi by ship. Unlike the ferry to Penang, we had to travel separately upon a passenger ferry. The ferry played Resident Evil Apocalypse en route. I fell asleep soon after the movie began. I woke up 20 minutes before it ended. When the end credits played. the ferry was about to begin docking operations at the Kuah Jetty. Here was the muddy banks of Kuala Kedah at low tide. As the water began to rise, mudskippers and crabs plied their trade under the pier. Here […]
Continue reading
Why It’s Been Quiet Around Here Lately
It’s been a busy month, even since before Aidilfitri. The reason of it all will now be shown as a series of photographs for the event that took place at Shangri-La Hotel on the 24th and 25th of October. Sorry, no photos of me cause I didn’t get anyone to snap one at any time. Here’s the aforementioned series of photographs with captions: Before I left, I shook the organiser’s hand saying, “Awesome party, yo.” Next stop: LIMA 2007!
Continue reading
On The Way To Work At Bangalore
From the hotel to Yelahanka Air Force Station, I took a cab. For three days I took the same cab. It was a four wheel drive vehicle. The driver’s name was Mallesh. I had his cellular phone number and when I heard it rang there was a Tamil song on the other end. It was he who sent me to the airport after everything was over. And I was happy with his service. Anyway it takes an hour (and sometimes almost two if traffic’s really jammed up) to reach Yelahanka from the hotel and vice versa. I took plenty of photos over the course of several days. Here is a small collection of them. Bear in mind that my travels never took me anywhere near the city of Bangalore (unless it was the trip to and from the airport) so it was mostly rural countryside photos and small towns along […]
Continue reading
Arrival At India
Two Friday nights ago, I got a call saying I had to be in Bangalore by Tuesday for work reasons. I said there was no way for me to get the visa and ticket done for me to be there by that time, so Tuesday was postponed to Thursday. Visa was impossible to obtain on a weekend. The following Monday, the preparation to obtain the visa (a set of three photographs, etc.) was done. However, since we also had to take Irfan to the doctor’s that morning, there was no time to reach the Indian High Commission by noon to submit the visa application form. After that, with Ain’s help I booked the ticket to Bangalore (by way of Chennai). On Tuesday, I spent from morning to the afternoon waiting for my number to be called so I could submit my application form to the counter at the High Commission. […]
Continue reading