Happy Birthday Jeanne Tan

Happy Birthday Xiao Jie

Yet another year older.... haha...

May your dreams come true!

Lonely Weekend

Howard is off again on mission. This time round to Louisiana. Every time he is away I just felt kinda of lost and lonely. You know, the house is so quiet 24hours and the only voice I hear most of the time is me myself and my own. Usually as weekend approaches; I will be the happiest girl as Howard can accompany me. During the day, he works about 12 hours a day and when he comes back, he is already very tired. As such, its only during the weekend, we get to do things together. But this weekend will be a long one. I sometime wonder did I make a wrong choice of coming here and wasting my life away. However, reading one of my friend’s blog got me inspired. In it, she wrote

“…life is what you make it out to be. Sure, one can be an old fashioned housewife, closed off from the rest of the world. Or, one can be a stay-at-home wife who picks up new hobbies, learns new languages, new computer skills, and at the same time, travel and still keep up-to-date with the goings-on in the world.
Then there are people who think not working makes your brain go dull. Not true again. Lots of working people only know what goes on in their own industry, and nothing else because work is life, life is work. Come to think of it, most jobs are just a lot of number-crunching and data entry work. Doesn't really call for quick thinking eh?”

I shall not wallow myself in self pitiness and stop looking backwards. Sure, if I got the chance to choose all over again, chances are I will choose to stay in Singapore. But since I have chosen this path, I shall not look back and am not going to be an old fashioned housewife. I will keep myself abreast with curent news and do things that I was never able to find time to do during my work life. Guess most people will never believe it. Back in Singapore, one can hardly see me read. This is because when I am back from work, the last thing I want to see is words and more words. I think I read less than 2 books a year. Believe it or not, I had already read 4 story books in the last 2 wks. That is equivalent to about my 2 years of reading back in Singapore. In addition, I am now trying to brush up on my VBA. I am not going to let this 2 yrs slipped past me quietly!

Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Weifen

Happy Birthday Girl.

Forever Young Forever Sweet.

Thanks for everything!

Arizona Goodyear Air Spectacular

We went to the Arizona Air Spectacular on Saturday. It was supposedly to be THE event of the year in goodyear. The last time it was held in goodyear was back in 2001. Tickets were sold for 18USD but we managed to get hold of 2 complimentary tickets. I was so looking forward to this event. The highlight of the show was a synchronized air show by the US NAVY BLUE ANGELS.

However, I must say, the event was one of the worst planned events I ever attended. Howard was so excited about the show. You know, howard being a aircraft feak and also how often can one attend an airshow with the blue angels performing. The blue angels was scheduled to fly at 3pm and we decided to leave our place at 1pm (we were just minutes away from the event place). We were told to park in a designated lot and a yellow school bus will pick the visitors up and ferry us to the airport. However, when we reached the lots at about 1.15, a snake queue had already been formed.

Under the scorching sun, we had to queue for about 1.5hr before boarding the bus. There was only 1 school bus operating and the school bus could only take 60 people each time and it comes in about 20 mins interval. By then, people were complaining and I overheard a couple behind us saying that when this was held in California, there were more than 600k attendees. Surely, the organizers would have learnt their lesson and expect a huge turnout. I would curse and swear if we were not able to be in the airshow by 3pm in time for the blue angels.

At 2.30,we were still queuing and finally boarded the yellow bus at 2.45. Haha, many of us actually begged the driver to go faster so that we could all reach the airshow before 3. Imagine sitting in the bus while the blue angels are flying in the sky. That would be so disappointing. Well, lady luck was finally on our side, we reached the event exactly at 3pm!

The synchronized air show was simply spectacular. I managed to catch some photos. Not easy you know as the aircrafts were going so fast and I do not know where to position my camera. Anyway, am proud of my photography skill!












The nightmare came after the event. Imagine thousands of people flocking towards the exit door. Once outside, it was simply a MAD CHAOS. Everyone was waiting for the yellow school bus and there were supposedly 3 parking lots where you could park your car initially. So one would expect to see 3 queues to be formed for each respective lots. Instead, about 6 to 7 lines were formed. I was half expecting signs to show me the destinations of each buses. I asked the people queuing and they too do not know the destinations of each queue. Duh... then why are you queuing if you do not even know where the bus will bring you to. Never mind, I try to mingle my way to the start of the queue and asked the people. ...Am sure someone should know what they are doing....How wrong! Even the first in the queue do not know where she is heading for. Ask the police, they too do not know. Ask the drivers, they looked at me blankly. What poor co-ordination! Can someone tell me something!

After half hour of questioning, I finally heard someone saying, just get on the bus. The bus will go to all the 3 parking lots. I nearly laughed out loud. What a waste of resources! Here you have thousands of people and limited buses. Is it that difficult to put 3 signs out showing the respective destinations of the buses? The 3 parking lots are quite a distance from one another. What if the bus had most people parking in LOT 1 and just 2 passengers for LOT 3. The bus would still have to make a big detour to LOT 3 then. Now I know why the buses are forever so slow to arrive and the crowd seems to be ever expanding. Can't someone do something about it.

Anyway, it took me another 2 hours to board the bus.

Incidentally, the next day, while reading the national newspaper, something caught my eyes.. its titled...

ARIZONA DESERVES "LEAST SMART" TAG

It reads: In the annual"The Smartest State Award", Arizona got the last place.....

Err... guess I can't ask for much... can I?

A year older... A year wiser

Lots of Birthday wishes from friends back in Singapore. Was very happy as they remembered the birthday of this little insignificant girl. Thanks guys!

My 2xth Birthday.....Kinda of depressing as birthday approaches... that just signifies that I'm aging...(think I should just stop celebrating this day). Also, birthday just mean that lots of insurance bills to pay (for some reason, all my insurance are to be paid in Oct)..yet another hole in the pocket. Can someone just tell me a good reason to celebrate this day? Other then being pampered by my hubby =)

My sweet little husband baked me a 2 layered ice-cream cake (Strawberry and Vanilla Pecans with Oreo base)! Yummy.


In the evening, we had our dinner at Angus. We had buffaloes wings, 2 steak dinner and Brownie Icecream. It was very nice of the restaurant to throw in a complimentary steak set and the Brownie Ice-cream.... cos... IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! haha




Thanks for the wonderful treat dear!

New Singapore Song from Mr Brown

New Singapore Song....


I received the below from a friend of mine and was laughing really hard....

Check this out. Its very singapore!

Food Network Challenge - World Baking Cup

What a controvesy!

I was watching the World Baking Cup - The Best Bread in the World 2003 yesterday. The World baking cup is held every 3 years where the best bakers in the world compete in Paris. Twelve teams will race the clock testing their skills, creativity, and endurance in this competition to bring back the title of "the best bread in the world" Back in 1999, USA won the title. In 2003's competition one of the hot favourites were the team from France. After all, bread making is their forte. They pride themselves as making the best baguette in the world. In addition, national pride was at stake as it was held in their home ground.

But alas, neither the French or the Americans won the 2003 cup. This time round it was won by the Japanese! What is surprising to me is that Japan is not known for a bread eating culture. If it was a noodles or rice compeition, I will be the least surprised. Its B.R.E.A.D competition. How many of you out there ever heard that Japanese are good in making bread?

Thats not all, France had to eat humble pie. Some of the bread that they baked were charred. I am not saying that I can do better but these were after all the best bakers in the country!

Bye Catalina island

Day 4: Time to say goodbye to this beautiful island. It had indeed been a really good place to unwind and relax. Met lots of locals and they all fell in love with the island. Most of them spent their time on the pier fishing in the day and catching lobster at night something that howard really wanted to do. Good place to retire. Did I not mention that in Catalina Island, one has to queue 15yrs for a car. People here drives around in golf carts so its a pretty cool place. Very little vehicles. Just golf carts and cyclist.

Our last meal on the island before hopping on to the ferry- Clam chowder bread bowl



and haha.. yes... we met Dennis at the pier again. This man fishes every morning .... his house must be loaded with bonita fish. I did asked him what does he do with all the fishes. Can he possibly finish them? Well, he gave some away... some as lobster baits and some to the stray cats.... haha.. I dont mind if he ships some lobsters to me!



On our way back to phoenix, we saw lots of windmills... haha... no lar... its a powerplant and it uses these windmills to generate electricity. I must say.. there is at least 1000 of these on the highway. Quite a pretty sight!

Day 3 : Catalina Fishing

GONE FISHING! Off I go...







My first attempt....Oh yes.. the guy beside is Dennis who got me so hooked up in pier fishing



My first Catch!


Getting fishing hints from the guru.... Fishing 1001: Learn to cast the line



Howard's first bonita catch




In total, we managed to catch 6 Bonita fish in the morning. Well, as we had no ice box, we gave our fishes away. Our biggest catch was



3 times my shoe size!

and smallest fish caught.. a perch... Well, we threw the fish back into the water...it was too small to be eaten anyway

We also managed to catch a seabass. Its lenght was only about 15cm and as we were trying to release it from the hook, the hungry cormorant hopped in and swallowed it.

Waiting for more seabass from us.....She is a smart bird... we had the bonita lying on the floor and she is the least interested. Haha... perhaps knowing that its too big for her to swallow in a glup.

Our conculsion was that bonita are the worlds dumbest fish. Everyone on the pier seemed to be catching bonita. They were really easy to catch !

Our catch

We were told that the best time to catch bonita are during the morning and in the evening...Also, Dennis was telling us that in the night, its the best time to catch lobsters. Will be back in the evening then!

LOBSTERS

License is needed to catch lobsters. It’s about 36USD for a year. The net cost about 30USD and as such, if you can catch 2 lobsters in a year, you get back your money worth. Was speaking to this Korean couple and they caught about 5 lobsters 3 days ago. Seems easy to catch yeah. Just don’t understand why lobsters command such exorbitant prices if its that easy to catch.

Preparation for the lobster's cage.

As Bonita fishes were so easily caught on the pier, it is usually used as a bait for lobsters. The net will be lowered into the water and thereafter is a patience game whereby we have to wait patiently for the lobster to crawl into the net. California law requires all lobsters caught to be at least 3.5 inches (the lenght of the head) and any lesser has to be thrown back into the water. Fine for lobster's head less than 3.5 inches is 700USD per lobster.

Day 2 Catalina Island

Day 2 : Catalina Island

Waiting for the Catalina Express Ferry



As the ferry sails, we were pleasantly surprised to catch a glimpse of the Queen Mary Vessel.

Facts about Queen Mary
Maiden Voyage : May 27 1936
Passenger Capacity: 1957
Officers and Crew: 1174
Cruising speed:28.5 knots
Lenght: 724 ft (220.68m)
Departed on "Last great cruise" on Dec 31st 1967
Its now a hotel /museum residng in Long Beach California.

Considering that the ship liner was built back in 1930s, one just cant help but applaud the constructors for building this majestic vessel. Isn't she gorgeous!

View of Catalina Island

The Casino

Do not be mistaken by the word Casino. Prior to this, I was under the impression of a gambling casino. I bought along a nice evening dress with matching heels, planning to have a good dinner and gaming in the casino. Our first impression of the Casino when we were about to dock was that it looks really dull and there is not even a hint of glittering lights. Nevertheless, we walked towards the Casino and was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the below sign …

Haha... a casino without jackpots and roulette... Well... I learnt something new today!

Downtown Catalina

Our Hotel Mac Rae

Do not be deceived by the looks. Its interior is really beautiful. We booked an ocean view room and it had a beautiful picturesque of the harbour. However we were surprised that the hotel provided us with ear plug. Later did we realised that as the room was beside a pub, they were afraid that the patrons will make too much noise and as such, provided the guest with ear plugs. Haha.....Luckily for us, the 2 nights we were there, there was not much partying and we could afford to open our windows to feel the breeze and listern to the sounds of the waves as we float into our lala land....

Catalina Island - 30 Sept

Day 1 : Yippie Yuppie off I go to Catalina island – Enroute Fruit farm



Tractor ride to Riley's Farm


Apple trees




Pick your own Pumpkin : Halloween just round the corner.....



Thats too small.... see the one below



and the biggest pumpkin ever is.... too heavy for me to carry.



More pumpkins!

Corn Field

Indian Corn...