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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Easter in Hong Kong

Every year I get super jaded that our Hong Kong office get's Friday and Monday off for Easter and we don't get any days off for Easter (US government does not provide any national holiday time for Easter). This year I asked our HK GM about this:

Me: Did you know only 8% of the population in Hong Kong is Christian yet you get off for Easter holiday and we don't?

GM: You need to study more of our history. We used to be governed by England for more than a century. Many Religious holidays were based on the English culture. After 1997 we were guaranteed with no change for 50 years. The easiest thing to keep with no change is keep same holidays as before. This makes us happy and therefore easier for Chinese government to 'rule' us.

I thought that was interesting enough to share.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Spring Break - opps!

I hate spring break; teenagers take over the beach rendering parking a highly challenging and stressful experience. It also marks the beginning of "beach season" where everyone who thought it was too cold to go before now flocks to the beach in droves. All at the same time, on the same day. It's like both parties are pre-programmed to show up together and I'm the only one left uninformed.

Well we just made the best of it by parking our umbrella at the BACK of the beach. This might be the first time I've parked at the back of the beach but once settled we ate our snacks, apples and animal crackers.


After our snack we left our umbrella, towel and shoes behind (hope no one steals our stuff) to head down to the water front, all valuables are packed in a backpack on my back.

Check it out, my face is almost as red as her dress :)


We play this game where she plays at the water edge until a little wave hits her feet and she runs back to me




Close cropping is because I cut out all the hot babes from the photos :)


So there's Charlotte's first Spring Break! After all, it has been a long year of home ed with dad so she needed a beach break!!!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Five Question Friday

This is my first FQF; I liked the questions so I'm participating. Got the idea from Ramblings of an Empty Mind

1. Did you pass your driver’s test on the first try?

I don’t remember my first try in high school but when I moved to California in 2001 I had to retake my license and I failed on the first try after driving for over 10 years! I didn’t even study; I was like I already know everything about driving. Such a humbling moment.

2. What is your most embarrassing moment?

My second year out of college I was working in California at a toy company and had a particularly demanding client. A new project manager had been hired to share the work load and in training I sent a funny email that basically said “quick, send the quote, the barracuda is waiting”. The new guy erased my content and on the same email sent the quote. Somehow my content went as an attachment and the client saw my comments and called me! I wanted to die. Later that day the client emailed the Barracuda song to me and much later I found out her boss got her a Barracuda birthday card. It did not ease my embarrassment and I’ve never written anything I wouldn’t want the entire world to read again.

3. What TV show would you like to be on - Oprah, Biggest Loser or What Not to Wear?

“What Not to Wear”, I love this show!!!

4. Would you ever get plastic surgery and what kind?

None, I’d rather work out really hard and be in great shape, take care of my skin and eat well. In the end I’m not going to look much different than I already do so what’s the point of changing proportions? I’d rather just work with what I have and grow old naturally.

5. What are your favourite jean to wear?

Levi’s, but I’m a lazy jean wearer and haven’t branched out much.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Random Tuesday Thoughts


Started by Interstitial Life but she's on a mini break due to toddler terror! Let's hope she makes it back safe and sound of mind.

I have a new appreciation for water/liquid proof couch covers! Several days of projectile vomiting onto the couch have made me very glad we still have a "college" futon with waterproof cover bought for protection from cat projectiles. Babies are considerably worse - think "Rosemary's Baby"! I've received criticism about the futon like "when are you going to grow up and get adult furniture?" But after this week, my conviction for tile floors and water proof covers is cemented.

Our fish have been living in the dark for over a month. A light burned out in the fish tank and it's so sad. I hope it gets fixed soon (HINT to possible husband reading this).

Here is a picture of a funky red pepper found at the local farmer's market.
I asked a friend who's really into farming why farmer's market veggies are so weird and grocery store veggies so perfect and she said the following:
some of it is wax, some is because it's s hybrid that looks better than it tastes, maybe even (and more and more common) genetically modified to be prettier...and it's all less nutritious. I'd rather give my money to local farmers so I know where my food comes from and that it's real food not mass produced with artificial fertilizers...that makes ... See Morethem even less nutritious! Just make sure that you're meeting the farmer, not just someone who picked it up at a warehouse and brought it to market...I know that's still a local business, but I'd rather support the people that grow my food with care and there is too much crap that we're eating and spending money on food that makes us sick. Sorry, I'm really passionate about the topic of food.
My computer is still in the shop and they haven't even called to diagnose the problem. I'm in severe agony working on my work laptop, bringing it home every day, hating the slow pokey keyboard and the power cord that just fell out and took over 10 minutes to get back to this point. Grrrrrr.

I'm still wearing gold sandals to the office every day. God help me if I don't get to the mall this weekend to buy a new pair in a different color! At least last week I had the legitimate excuse that baby was too ill for a mall visit!

Baby appears to be doing much better, we got through an entire day with no vomiting or diarrhea and that means tomorrow I can return to my regularly scheduled program of morning workout. Did you know it takes both parents to console a sick child? Or at least one to console and the other to run about madly doing dishes, bottles and dinner prep before work so as to have these things done upon returning home from work. Will be nice to get things back to "normal" around here!