Playtime with Mommy!!

We are still at Saturday, Jan 26, 2008

Shasta, as described in earlier postings, gets 15 mins to run around outside in this dog run. I have to book it 2 days in advance. The people here are really nice and if I don't have a slot, if something is not being used, they would inform me and I can still bring him out for a run.

I have managed to book one for everyday I have been there.

He is still very interested in playing with the toy you see on the video, however, unlike in SF where he could possibly play for hours on end. He gets exhausted after 10 mins or so here in Singapore. And then he pants for the next 45 mins.

I can literally count on my fingers the number of times he has actually sat down and not want to play anymore, but EVERY DAY here, he has played for under 10 mins and not want to play anymore. One of the days, he sat in front of the gate. The other days, he just sits/lays down and doesn't want to run after the toy anymore. THE HEAT AND THE HUMIDITY.

Mommy's first visit to SAQS

SATURDAY, JAN 26, 2008:

Jessica visits Shasta for the first time at SAQS. 

Shasta has no been eating very much and one of the few tricks we have is to feed him wet food mixed in with the dry food. 

Before we go to SAQS, we stop by a pet shop to buy some wet food.

Trick works and for the first time since he has arrived at SAQS, he finishes the entire bowl of dry food.

I will have to continue doing this for the rest of his stay here... I think.

I'm not too savvy with this blog thing so I am posting 1 video clip at the time. This posting is when Jessica is feeding him. The next posting is when we are out playing with him.

Enjoy!

Feeding Shasta

Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008

I posted some pictures on the previous posting, I'm now trying something new by posting a video clip.

If this works, I will post more.

SAQS

Sembawang (pronounced serm-bah-wung) Animal Quarantine Station (SAQS) will be the new home for Shasta for the next 30 days.

Visiting Hours are:

Mon - Fri: 4-6p
Sat: 2-6pm
Sun & Public Holidays: Closed



4pm, Jan 22, 2008.
My first visit to SAQS. Shasta was transported here from the airport probably around noon.
I had to "check in" when I arrived at SAQS. I was given a handout which contained "rules" (which is something I definitely have to get used to in Singapore... everything has RULES) for my visits at SAQS.
Earlier, before I got there, Jessica had inform me about something regarding booking time slots for runs. I wasn't quite sure what she was talking about. So, I enquired about it. I was told that I could book a 15 min time slot so that Shasta could go out for a run in a fence enclosed dog run (see picture). One can only book these time slots a maximum of 2 days in advance. Since today was his first day there, he did not have a time slot, however, if there was an available slot, they would inform me and I could take him out for a run. There were also no available slots for the next day (wednesday) but I reserved one for Thursday.

Honestly, I had a preconceived idea of what this "quarantine place' was going to look like, and it was not very pretty. I envisioned this place to be run down, dogs in under size cages just waiting their time of 30 days to be done. Pet owners keeping their poor pets company in a confined area. I don't know. It just didn't look pretty in my mind.
I was VERY mistaken. This place is NICE!! Granted, it is not home and will never be, however, it is much nicer than the kennel in SF that we place Shasta in when we are both out of town. That place in SF, Petcamp, charges US$42/day (current conversion of US$1 = S$1.43). They place the dog in a CAGE that is not very big, and the dogs get to come out and roam twice a day for an hour at a time. SAQS charges S$600+ for 30 days in a non air-conditioned room and S$900+ for 30 days in a air-conditioned room, which works out to be about S$30 and change per day. It is a steal.
SAQS places the dogs in a room about 4ft by 6ft and has at least 10ft ceilings. Jessica had selected an air-conditioned room (obviously) for Shasta and I was surprised that each room had it's own air conditioning unit. Yes, one air condition unit per 4x6 room. The facilities were extremely clean and the staff are extremely nice. A very big departure from most other customer facing businesses in Singapore.
I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised.

When I first saw Shasta, he was very excited. He couldn't stop running around in circles. Not even 5 mins into my visit, a gentleman whom I believe is in charge of all the kennels, opens the door and informs me that if I want to take Shasta for a walk, there is a dog run available right now. DEFINITELY... I put a leash on, grab his favorite toy and off we go to the dog run.

He does his business and then we play for a few moments. He is not used to the weather and not even 5 mins later, he is done. He sits by the entrance and refuses to play no more. I have NEVER experienced this with him in SF. I believe the only person who might have experienced something similar to this was Jon when he took Shasta along for a jog. Otherwise, if we are just playing with his toy, he has never not wanted to play, and definitely not after 5 mins. So, I bring him back to the room and he is panting like he just ran 5 miles with Jon. I'm not kidding. And this day was a cloudy day, in fact, it had rained in other parts as I was traveling here.
LOL... Jessica says that it is just like me.
Well, since that episode was short, we proceed with the next thing. I had bought him some treats and so we started with that. I spent about an hour and a half there with him and that was the first day at the "quarantine place".

The above pictures were not taken on the first day. They were taken on the second visit to SAQS on Wednesday, Jan 23, 2o08.

More updates later....

Quarantine

I did not sleep the first night I got into Singapore. I was having a conversation with my Mom up till almost 4am. After that, I updated the blog. And before I knew it, it was time to head off to the airport cargo complex where AVA (refer to previous posting) is located. Shasta was supposed to be at the AVA place at 8am when I got there. 

This cargo complex is a high security area. Goods that are imported into Singapore arrive here and have to be cleared through customs. So, one has to present identification and sign in and get a pass before entering into the facilities. This is not a small place. There are many buildings in the cargo complex and the size of the total area could possibly be bigger than the airport itself. The AVA building is just one of the many buildings in the cargo complex (also now known as the airfreight center... or something to that effect).

8am sharp. I arrive at the AVA building. To my disappointment, Shasta is not there. SATS has not delivered him yet. I urge the person speaking with me to call SATS. He spends about 5-10 mins on the phone and finally tells me that they are bringing Shasta across right now. When I ask how long. He says he doesn't know. I sense I am not getting any more info out of him, so, I sit quietly and wait. I have to keep reminding myself that we are in Singapore right now, where customer service is not anything I have grown accustomed to.

About 20 mins later, a vehicle pulls up with a crate in the back. I see no dog!!! Another person at the AVA building tells the vehicle to pull up to the side of the building and tells me to follow him. He leads me to a room that has the door I just entered through and also another bigger door which actually leads to the outside of the building. When he opens the door, I see, through the sides of the crate (which is not very clear) a black object moving inside. At least he is alive.

The person that has just escorted me to the room turns around to me and asks me if I have a leash. I say I do and take it out. He then points to the side of the building and tells me that I can take Shasta back to that area so he can run around for a while. 

Shasta looks confused. He wags his tail when he sees me,  but he still looks confused.

I put the leash on and take him to the area I have been assigned. He runs up to the grass and pees for like 5 mins. I'm beginning to wonder if he actually peed in the crate. Can a dog hold their pee for more than 24hrs? He then takes a dump. And then he pees again. And he takes yet another dump. And he pees yet again. I'm now convinced he probably didn't pee at all in the last 24hrs (even though Jessica tells me it is not possible).

I had asked the guy earlier for water and he appears with a dog bowl and fills it with water. Shasta drinks up the entire bowl of water. I go to refill the bowl and he drinks the second bowl up too!!! Ok, this is now completely confusing me. He has not drank and peed or pooped for 24 hrs? If dogs could only talk... right?

When we are done with all the above, I bring him back into the room to feed him some cheese (his favorite human food. On second thoughts, his favorite human food is ANY human food...). The guy from earlier comes in to the room and tells me that when I am done with him, I should put him back into the crate and then go back to the front counter to complete some "inspection" paperwork. He goes on to say to take my time. He also says not too feed Shasta too much as he is going to be transported to the quarantine center.  I feed Shasta a few pieces of cheese and then bring him outside to walk again. He poops and pees again!!! He drinks some more water. I think he is confused as to why it is so hot and humid. 

He sees a butterfly and looks absolutely confused, he doesn't attempt chasing it and just watches it. It is very different from when he sees a moth and begins trying to snap at it in SF. Interesting.

When he is done, we have spent about 20 mins together. I put him back into the crate which he enters VERY reluctantly and then starts to whine. I gather my things and head out to the front counter to complete my paperwork. This place is supposed to do an inspection of Shasta and then certify him so that he can enter the country as an "import". I don't quite know what the inspection consists of, but no one has even come within 5 ft of Shasta but apparently he is inspected and ready to enter the country. I get an import certificate which I'm supposed to declare to customs on the way out. There has also been a value placed on him so that I can declare that value to the customs and they may have to collect GST (similar to sales tax in certain parts of the US, also know as Goods and Services Tariff (I think?) here in Singapore. His value is $200 (that's what Jessica told me to declare, but I think after all this trouble, I can do a Mastercard ad... get my drift?) and the GST in Singapore is 7%).

With the import certificate, I head off to the customs checkpoint which is on the way on the drive back out of this facility. I do not have to pay any GST on him. I'm not sure of the rules of when you have to pay GST and when you don't have to. Maybe he is a pet and not technically an import for sale item?? Who knows, but no money spent is a good thing, so, I'm not complaining. I am done and now headed home.

Shasta is going to be transported to the quarantine place at noon and I can go visit him later in the afternoon.

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Last Day

And then I will try to get current. Hey it's hard. There are tons of things to do right now.

SATURDAY, JAN 19, 2008

I think I was the first person amongst all those who had partied the night before to wake up. I know Shonn didn't wake up will past noon!!! I was up at 9am. Took a shower and was back to packing.

There were several people going to come today to clear up what was left in the house.

3pm: Johnnie and Narrisa come over to pick up.... THE TV!! Allen had left his car at my place the night before, so, he had come to pick up his car. And Charlie had stayed over. So, Charlie went to get lunch for all of us including Shonn. Johnnie also took several items from the house which made the house start to really look like I was no longer going to be living there.

I had to make a run to the storage one more time and when I got back, Gill, John and the kids came by to pick up the desk and other miscellaneous items. Auntie Sally also came over to take food stuff that I didn't want to go to waste. By the time they left at around 7:30pm, what was left in any of the cabinets in the kitchen... went into the trash. The house was now left with my luggage (4 pieces), Shasta's crate, a foldaway bed/couch and a bed (which Steven would come by and pick up the next day after I had left) and small items that were still needed to get by today and tomorrow morning. There had been progress but it's hard to empty a house and leave immediately for the airport.

I was supposed to have dinner with Shonn, Troy, Allen and Matt at Matt's place as they watched UFC, however, there were still small items in the house to pick up and I started doing that. The next thing I knew, it was almost 10pm. I called and they said to just come over. So, I went over. They had decided not to order in and so we went out for dinner. We were going to the Hawaiian place on the corner of 19th and Taraval but as we approached that area, we realized that there was a black out, just in that maybe 4-5 block vicinity. So, we went to Shonn and Troy's favorite restaurant down the street... King of Thai.

I didn't want to stay out late as I still needed to take care of Shasta's crate and wake up and feed him and sedate him and stuff so, shortly after 11pm, we parted company. I went to bed shortly after I got home. 

SUNDAY, JAN 20, 2008

This is the day.

It doesn't matter at this point if it was a good idea or not to move back to Singapore. It IS going to happen today.

I am nervous for Shasta. 90% of animals that travel make it. Many make it but suffer some kind of anxiety problems after. Shasta's chance of making it is high, but, then again, who knows?

I feed him and then take him out for a walk. This will possibly be the last time over the next 24 plus hours that he may get to take a regular pee and poop. He will have to it in the crate after he is checked in at the airport. 

I have enlisted the help of Charlie, Matt and Allen to come help me take all the luggage and Shasta and crate to the airport. Matt and Allen show up at 8am. I am almost ready. There are several items that still need to go to storage, but Allen has so kindly volunteered to do that for me. 

We load up and head to SFO.

Everything moves along rather smoothly. It takes us a while to find someone with a flatbed trolley to take Shasta's crate but it wasn't too bad. I have 4 pieces of luggage to check in and pay for the excess luggage charge. Charlie is watching Shasta a few feet behind me. He has to remove Shasta from the crate because the airport staff have to drill holes about 1 inch big in the back of the crate. Apparently, crates have to have holes on all sides and this one did not on the back. It takes 5 people almost 40 mins to figure out how to charge me for Shasta traveling as excess baggage!!! At one point, there were 4 people standing in front of me looking at the computer!!! We finally get all of that done and then I have to take Shasta to a TSA inspection point. It is not the same TSA inspection point as human beings.

At the TSA Inspection point, I am asked to remove Shasta from the crate and the TSA person inspects him and then the crate. After that, when they are convinced I have only a dog in the crate, they whisk him off directly to the plane. I have about 30 mins left to boarding and I go join Charlie, Matt and Allen for breakfast. And then I clear security.

Charlie, Matt and Allen. Once again, a HUGE thank you for your assistance with taking me to the airport and then going back to the house to clear up everything else there. I really, really appreciate your kind assistance!!! Dinner and drinks on me in Singapore!!

I did not get my upgrade and so, I'm in poor man's class on one of the world's worst airline. I'm not looking forward to the flight. They are going to serve me inedible food!!!

Flight was uneventful. In the middle of the first section to Narita, I ask the flight attendants if I can go see Shasta. The answer is expected. No. I'm getting a little worried as the plane shows the outside temperature as -79 degrees F. All I have been told is that Shasta is going to be in the cargo hold. I know that is not going to be -79, however, it can't be 79??? Can it?

Upon arrival in Narita, I ask to see Shasta again and am told that it is not possible. However, they will check on him for me. 

This is what they actually meant: " Sir, your dog is on the plane."

Thanks! Is the dog on the plane dead or alive?? 

They don't know. For the entire hour and a half in transit, I couldn't get anymore information out of them except that Shasta was on the plane. 

Because of my concern about the temperature, I had emailed Jessica when I landed and she managed to find out that livestock is actually kept in a separate cargo hold that has pressurization and heat. That relieved my worries a little. 

On time, I got on my next section to Singapore.

This portion of the flight was equally uneventful. We arrived in Singapore half an hour early. 

There is a bunch of procedures that I need to take care off right now.

United will hand him over to Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS). SATS will then have to deliver him to Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). This usually happens within minutes of the flight landing. However, AVA closes at 10:30pm and the flight's scheduled arrival was 11:59pm. Even though we arrived at 11:30pm, AVA is already closed and I would have to go to the "Lost and Found" section and tell them about Shasta's arrival. I will have to present them with some documents and first thing the next morning at 8am, SATS will deliver him to AVA. I kind of made the lady I was speaking with promise me he would delivered by 8am and she was agreeable with it. I also requested her to get someone to check up on him to see how he was and I was told he is fine. I'm not too sure what "fine" means but as long as he is alive, that's part of the battle won. I collect my luggage and meet up with Jessica and my parents and head back to my parents' place where will be staying the night. Tomorrow is another day of more procedures with Shasta.

Shasta and I have arrived safely in Singapore. The first day in Singapore will be related in a separate posting. As stated in another posting earlier, upon arrival in Singapore, the temperature is 81 degrees F and almost 100% humidity. The fun is about to begin.

Going out with a bang!!!

Friday, Nov 18, 2008

Charlie had planned this going away party for me about 3-4 weeks back. Thanks Chuck!

However, with every event that Charlie plans, there is always that risk that I might not make it back from the event on my own 2 feet. 

Unfortunately, in the last 6-8 weeks, due to some unknown reason, I have been getting my gout attacks a little more frequently than I have for the last year or so. It is extremely uncomfortable flying when you are in pain and I am very sure that the excessive consumption of alcohol is one of the major reasons of my gout. 

I get more anxious by the minute about this evening's going away party. 

In addition, I still have quite a bit of stuff to do and did not want to spend Saturday dragging around. Obviously, Charlie has volunteered to help me out on Sat. But, I'm still nervous with the amount of stuff I still have to get rid off, and preparing the crate for Shasta for the trip and who knows what else.

Well, I tried to get as much done as possible just in case the night turned out to be as I'm envisioning it to be.

Dinner is at 7:00pm (on the evite) but 7:30pm on the reservation. Dinner is at Taraval Okazu Ya and we (Charlie and I, not to mention a few others) have NEVER had good experiences consuming sushi before a night of drinking. NEVER. It has always been a pure waste of money. Sushi in, money out, sushi out.... get it???

Shortly before 4pm, Allen shows up at my place. We are still deciding where to go after dinner. Allen might have some co-workers join us. I continue doing my own stuff while he tries to settle on a place.

5pm, Allen tells Matt to come over and we can carpool. Carpooling is never a good sign for a night out in the town. It is good for going to and from work though...

Matt shows up around 6:30pm. Matt has a conversation with Troy and tells Troy to come over so we can carpool. Carpooling is never a good sign especially as the number of people in the carpool gets larger...

Troy (and I heard the conversation between him and Matt saying that Matt was "at Gavin's place") shows up at Matt's place instead of my place. Good job Troy!! And then he comes over to my place and gets lost and circles the roundabout 3 times before calling us to say he is lost. Good job again Troy.... just kidding.

By the time everyone is at my place, it is slightly past 7pm. I know the reservation is for 7:30pm but not everyone else does. So, we head over to Taraval Okazu Ya. Charlie had made a reservation for 17 but I think only 14 were going to show. Well, we were the first to get there.

Jon arrives shortly after followed by Bing. Including us, they are the only ones on time for the reservation. NO ONE is on time for the evite!!! Janny (on behalf of Heidy, Minnie and Josh) call to say they are running late. Charlie has his favorite answer: "I'm on the freeway". Johnnie, Narissa and Kris are running late and Shonn doesn't even bother to call. 

Finally, at about 7:40pm, we decide that whoever's there should just go in. 

THE PARTY HAS STARTED.

Allen complains that he is hungry but NO, in the first 10 mins we are there, we don't consume any food, instead, in the first 10 minutes we are there, we polish up 4 bottles of hot sake and 4 bottles of Asahi... the beginning of a wonderful night, my mind tells me. 

By the time EVERYONE shows up, we have already had 8 bottles of sake and 8 bottles of Asahi. We have only had 2 plates of Chicken Karage and 2 plates of something else, I forget what. 

Holy Smoke. I think I'm not going to make it. I really don't know what food we ordered that whole night, but I do know that we sure ordered a sh*t load of alcohol. In that whole process, we were still deciding on where to go after and I feared the party would not progress further than Okazu Ya. I was to be mistaken.

For some reason, in my drunken stupor, I agreed that we should go to Rohan. That was the site of disaster for my birthday in 2006. 

The bill at Okazu Ya for some reason came up to only $480 or thereabouts. That was for that whole sh*t load of alcohol and food for 15 people. I was really surprised and went to find out what the deal was. As we suspected, Ben had given us a discount. I don't think Ben will be reading this, however, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ben from Taraval Okazu Ya for his wonderful hospitality every single time I have been there.

THE PARTY MOVES ON TO ROHAN

So, the crime scene changes. We now head to Rohan. 

John, the manager (and bartender) at Rohan is friends with Johnnie, Narissa, Kris, Shonn, Charlie and I don't know who else. And now in the first 10 mins we are at Rohan, we polish off 4 bottles of Soju. That, my friends, is really making the night look not too good. Again, just as a reminder, this was the site of my birthday in 2006. I spent most of that night with my friend, the meter, outside of Rohan. After these first 10 mins, I had a strong, very strong, feeling I was going to get re-acquainted with my friend, the meter, again.

Things started taking the turn for the worse when the shots that were placed in front of me were twice the size of those of the other people drinking with me. To my own credit (and yes, I am blowing my own horn and I think deservedly so), I took EVERY-F**KING-THING that was laid out in front of me. No excuses, no ifs, no ands, no buts, no nothing. I just drank it.

Johnnie, seeing that things have starting taking the turn for the worse, visits his favorite store next to Rohan's. It is a small neighborhood market where he frequents when they visit Rohan to purchase the magic solution to the problems Rohan is causing. The magic solution is (providing free advertising here)... WONDERBREAD!!!! I am told that throughout the evening, I might have consumed half the loaf of Wonderbread. I'm not sure who finished the other half but I'm sure there were more people who were in need of the magic cure than just myself. I did not spend as much time as I thought I would have with the meter, and I definitely did not waste any money on sushi on this night.

At one point of the evening, I took a seat at the booth we were occupying and had to take a break from all the liquid consumption. For some reason, Matt decides he wants to take some pictures of me in my drunken state. I move away from the line of sight of the camera and what takes place next has still not been completely figured out. Janny, who was sitting next to me decides to "brighten" up the area around me by placing the candle on the table, nearer to me. 

In that instance, I feel a warm, and I mean REAL WARM sensation all over my neck. I'm intoxicated but, when it burns, regardless of how intoxicated one is, it BURNS. Apparently, Janny has poured wax down my neck. I do not actually know the extent of the damage till the next morning. 

Charlie decides to come to the rescue and he is just as intoxicated as I am and bowls over a martini glass on the table, the glass breaks at the stem and now, on the lower half of my body and on the exact opposite side of my body, I feel a cold, not to mention wet sensation. This might actually have been considered fantasy to some but on this night, to me, it was just wax being poured on me and alcohol being spilt on me. Thanks Janny and Charlie. I still love you both. The party ended shortly after that.

A special message to Shonn. I have just completely and royally f**ked you over. I have set new standards for "going away" parties, so, good luck to you when your time comes. I'm sure John is not going to let you off.

I would like to thank John at Rohan's for the great hospitality he had provided in making this last event of the evening an enjoyable and memorable one. John, keep it up and make sure you show Shonn an equivalent if not better going away party!!!

Matt gave me a ride home and I was asleep in under 2 minutes.

CARPOOL: When you carpool, one person is usually the designated driver and spends the night drink soda or ice tea or whatever the hell does not contain alcohol. We carpooled. There were 4 people in the car. The geniuses we are, I don't believe a single of us was under the legal alcohol limit. So much for carpooling. I got home safe, but, I'm just saying, I don't think we would have been ok if we had been stopped. 

No, I did not hurl (in Shonn's words). And no, I did not wake up with a hangover.

I would like to thank all of you who showed up to make this party just absolutely wonderful. 

Allen J - Thank you very much for being the Master Instigator. You are dangerous. You would be even more dangerous than Bernard, Dennis, Charlie and I put together if you had a stronger alcohol tolerance. However, with whatever you have, you are still dangerous. Thanks for getting the party started.

Allen T and Korene - Sorry you couldn't be a Okazu Ya to see the beginning of the performance, but thanks for showing up for the finale. Allen, I know you don't drink. I don't know what was in your glass when you toasted me, you never gave me a chance to find out, but it's the thought that counts... Thank you.

Bing - There is never such a thing as too many parties. Ask Chuck, a few years ago, he had a birthday party that lasted a week or so. We do things just like Mardi Gras!!! Thanks for showing up for each and every one of them though. 

Charlie - I think you were more drunk than I was. Hmmmm, maybe you should be going away. I'm sorry to break up what's left of the original crew, but I'm sure you are going to be ok. Thank you for putting this party together. And thank you for everything else starting from the day at Limelight (Mountain View).

Elaine and Sok - Even though you did not show up, you had a more than valid reason. Congratulations!! I'm waiting for pictures!!

Janny, Heidy, Minnie and Josh - Minnie and Josh, wish you could have been there to see Janny's performance of pouring wax on me. Janny, you owe me a dry cleaning... LOL. 

Johnnie, Narrisa and Kris - Without you, there would be no Rohan. Without you, I might still be trying to get rid of stuff in my house today. Please take good care of my (now yours) TV. And... please set up the slingbox!!

Jon - Are you married? LOL! Thanks for coming out and drinking I think what has been the most since that eventful birthday in San Mateo. Next time, bring your wife.

Matt (and Jae) - Jae, wish you could have been there. I think you might have given me a run for my money. Matt, thanks for ride. Thanks for the drinks. And most of all, thanks for the comment you made. It did jolt me into reality about my "house looking the same as it did 2 weeks ago".

Shonn - Bon Voyage mofo. I hope you go out with a bang and in style too. A word of advice. Puking too many times (or rather forcing yourself to puke) does not necessarily help you drink A LOT more. See you in a few weeks/months.

Troy - Come visit in Singapore. I will show you a good time here and we don't have to look for Mexicans, 'cos there ain't any here. I don't know why you took your car home that night, but you did... oh well.

I think I have mentioned everyone that had shown up that night. If I have not, it's the fault of all the alcohol that we had consumed, so, please forgive me, but don't blame me. Blame it on all the people listed above.

My last thoughts. We (Jessica and I) are very lucky to have friends like you guys. I know that there are others we have not mentioned in this posting. It does not mean you are anything less. It just happens that these were the people at this last party. All of you already know you are most welcome to visit us here in Singapore. We really do not know how to thank you enough for your friendship and everything else that comes along with it. But, from the bottom of our hearts... THANK YOU!!!

Singapore is not F**KING part of China!

Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008:

Relatively uneventful day.

Went to the Acura dealership in the morning to discuss the sale of the MDX. Will now have it consigned for $31,000, which means, if I do have to pay anything, it will just be slightly over $500. Best option at the moment. Also managed to arrange for Charlie to drop off the car after he takes me to the airport on Sunday. That solved the problem of Shasta's crate, which is HUGE and occupies the entire trunk space of the MDX.

Did some more packing.

Steven came by to pay me for the Accord in the evening.

And Matt and Jon came by to pick up the Wega in the evening too. 

Matt comments that the house doesn't look any different than it looked 2 weeks ago. Thanks Matt!! That completely put me in a panic state. I was leaving in 5 days and the house looks like it was 2 weeks ago, when Jessica was still here. Wonderful. I have not gotten rid of enough stuff. Time to start tossing out or packing it up a little faster.

Went out for dinner with Matt and Jon.

Thursday, Jan 17, 2008:

Jessica had made an appointment with the vet to get Shasta a check up before he gets on flight. In addition, in order to bring Shasta into Singapore, he needed a Health Certificate and an updated Rabies Vaccination Certificate. The appointment was at 8:30 am but I was advised to go a little earlier so that the vet will know what information Singapore needs on the Health Certificate. I got there at 8:15 am. 

After checking in with the vet tech/receptionist, I am told by another vet tech that Shasta also needs a USDA certificate. This is the first time that either Jessica or I have heard of that. In fact, the only times I hear the words USDA mentioned is when I eat steak!! I'm definitely surprised and the vet tech adds to it. She says that in order to get this cert, I will have to go see an "authorized" vet and the only one around the SF/Peninsula area is in South San Francisco. When I enquired about the immediate need and appointments, etc, she said she would give me a number and I can call and find out. So what if he cannot give it to me by the time we leave??? She has no answer for me. GRRRRRREEEAAAAATTT!!! Well, I guess we will find out. I plan to call him after Shasta's appointment. They make me take a seat while they are filling out some paper work. 

The first vet tech (not the one that told me I need a USDA cert, she is an older Asian lady. This one is a young white girl) calls me back to the counter and asks me to write down our current address and our future address in Singapore. I write that down for her and hand it back to her. With the information I have written down, she proceeds to complete her paperwork. I continue standing at the counter when she asks me very casually... "Is Singapore in China?" 

That has to be my most favorite question.

"NO, YOU STUPID IGNORANT DUMBA$$, SINGAPORE IS NOT PART OF CHINA, NOR JAPAN, NOR KOREA, NOR TAIWAN, NOR ANY OTHER F**KING COUNTRY!!!!"

But I decide to be really nice and just say no. As with all American forms, the following fields always appear: "City", "State", "ZIP" and sometimes "Country". 

She was now REALLY confused: "What about the City?" 

My answer: "Singapore."

In an even more confused tone: " The state?"

My answer: "Singapore."

Now, completely out of her comfort zone and seconds from being EDUCATED: " So, the city, state and country are all Singapore?"

My answer: "Yes." Still trying to remain calm and not say: "Look here b*t*h, get a computer, get an internet connection and have you ever heard of wikipedia? Try wiki-ing Singapore." Relax, everyone, I didn't say that. I wanted to, yes, it was right there, at the tip of my tongue, just on the verge of rolling out, but I stopped myself.

She continues: "So, how big is this country?"

I say: "Oh, it's an island"

She says: "Like Alcatraz?"

I say: "Yes, maybe just a little bigger... (and only for you Singaporeans to enjoy) but feels like Alcatraz..."

Incredulously, she says: "Wow! That's a tiny country."

I say: "Yes, it is small. (I think but do not say: "but not smaller than your brain")"

Conversation ends.

I repeat. 

SINGAPORE IS NOT F**KING PART OF CHINA OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY.

Ok, let me get back to my story.

Shasta gets his check up. He gets his Health Cert and Rabies Vaccination Cert and we are off, $143.58 poorer. Damn this is one expensive dog.

I continue to call this USDA vet throughout the day but keep getting his voicemail. I return home to drop Shasta off and go in to the office. I need to clear up my last expense report and some other stuff because I was not planning on coming in on Friday. I stay a few hours at work and then I go home.

As I am walking back from the train station, I decide to take care of our "3 days to pay or quit" notice. By the way, in addition to that notice pasted on our door, we also got a similar notice in the regular mail. It is now time to put on my acting face...

I enter the leasing office and there is one "resident relations" person helping a resident. I wait for him to get done with the person and then toss (I really did toss it at him, remember, I have my acting face on and I'm playing an irate customer) the notice at him. He picks it up, tells me he is going to look it up. He is seated at a desk, I am standing in front of the desk.

He says: "It looks like you owe us $400 something (I don't remember the exact figure), how would you like to pay this?"

I say: " I don't owe you f**king shit. We have never owed you any-f**king-thing. You all are a complete model for incompentency."

He says: " Thank you for the compliment."

I am not actually angry. We are leaving in 4 days and I couldn't exactly care less what ParkMerced was going to do. I was never going to pay the $400 something odd anyway, but since I had gotten the ball rolling, I might as well just continue with my act and take it all the way.

I say, very loudly and angrily: " Don't be a smart a$$. This is our notice of our intent to leave because you guys are just one big f**k up. (I also toss him the bill/notice that Jessica got when she paid the final rent). This is the amount the notice says we owe and this is what we paid. If you are so incompetent and can't get that right, that's your f**king business, not mine. Due to your incompetency, you do not have any right to embarrass us by posting a "3 days to pay or quit" notice on our door. Fix it!! (I'm really not sure what there is to fix though... LOL!)

He says: " If you don't calm down, I will have to ask you to leave."

Extremely well trained (sarcasm intended) customer service. No, don't try calming the irate customer down, threaten them instead.

I raise my voice even more: " You can ask me to do whatever the f**k you want, but I'm not leaving till you fix this!"

At this point, there are 2 people standing at the door leading to their internal offices looking in on us. 

He repeats: " If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to either ask you to leave or call security."

Woah... the ParkMerced security... the people that carry batons and patrol ParkMerced and keep us residents free from harm. The same security that has allowed 4 cars in my parking garage of 16 lots to get broken into... damn... I'm trembling with fear.

I say: " Call whoever the f**k you want to call, ask me to leave, do whatever the f**k you want to do, but, fix this problem first.

One of the ladies standing in the doorway steps forward and stretches out her hand. I refuse to shake hands with her. She does not introduce herself but asks very softly and politely: "Sir, I see you have a problem, would you care to explain what is going on?"

I repeat the story... Our last day is the 23rd. We came in to pay rent up till then, but we still get this notice of not paying rent stuck on our door, yada, yada, yada... I go on to add: "How would you feel if this was done to you?" 

She immediately apologizes and gathers the notices that are now all over the table and in my hands. In the meantime, as she is listening to me, the first guy I was talking to was actually calling security. When she was done with her statement above, there were now 4 people peering through the door from their offices and 2 security guys standing behind me.

I look at the first guy and say: "That's excellent resident relations you have. Learn how to handle difficult situations and not continue to strive for the mediocrity you have already achieved exceedingly well." (Yes, I am continuing to be a punk a$$)

The lady waves the guy to signal him to leave the room. He stares at me as he leaves and I take one parting shot: " Don't be giving me no attitude. We can always take it outside.", knowing full well this was going nowhere for him and he had to swallow whatever else he wanted to say.

The lady also tells the security guys they can leave. I still have 4 people staring into the room at us but now the conversation is between me and this lady, whom I soon learn is the Resident Relations Manager. To her credit, she handled the situation very well and possibly used everything in the book of managing crisis to calm me down enough so she could deal with the situation. She tells me she is going to go into the back and research the notice a little more. She invites me to her office which I decline because we are still now in fairly neutral territory and residents walk in and out and I can create another outburst when/if I feel like it. I think inviting me to her office was a way of preventing that.

When she is gone, a guy steps in through the door and apologizes to me. He gets me going again. I tell him: " There are no amount of apologies that can help me remove all the bad taste I have had from this place. We are an ideal renter. We pay rent on time. We don't call for anything and replace stuff ourselves as much as possible. We don't have loud parties. And all ParkMerced has done is f**k us over time and time again. No amount of apologies will suffice." He apologizes again and states that he is the new manager of the entire complex and is not familiar with my "file". 

I tell him to go look it up. I quote him the inefficiencies of the complex and the problems that we have had with them, not to mention this last problem which is embarrassing. He agrees and PROMISES to look into my file. Before he leaves, he says: "You will be hearing from me." 

I say: " Yeah right."

He says: "I promise."

I say: " Yeah right."

I am currently sitting in Singapore, 10,000 miles away from ParkMerced, 4 days removed from the above conversation... and you guessed it... I have NOT heard from him!!!!! 

This is not the end of the story about ParkMerced. I will be describing our entire experience with them, most likely on a different blog so that I can post it up for future renters to read on www.apartmentratings.com. 

PAY BACK'S A B*T*H!!!

Anyway, back to the rest of the story. The lady returns, apologizes again, tells me she will take the notice out of file (like I really care) and that it was an oversight on their part and they are working to fix it and blah, blah, blah. Nothing she said really solved anything except, I think it help me relieve some of the stress I was having because of the move. I walked out and it was continued my walk back to our apartment... nothing gained, nothing loss.

The rest of Thursday evening was relatively uneventful as I continued putting more stuff away and ran to the storage one more time.

I spent the rest of the evening psyching myself up for the going away party the next night (Friday night)... to be continued on next posting.

I have arrived safely in Singapore.

Unfortunately, due to all the activities in the last few days, I have neglected to post and therefore, I am going to account for my last few days in San Francisco. I'm going to do that with different blog postings for each day or maybe a combination of a couple of days into a single blog... so, read on... it is interesting.

It is almost 5 am in Singapore. I got in about 5 hrs ago. It is almost pointless to go to bed right now as I have to be back at the airport in 2-3 hrs to "check out" (not check out like checking out chicks, but check out like checking out of a hotel, but in this instance, with the customs or whoever the hell it might be) Shasta. I'm physically exhausted, but sleeping will probably just make it worst. I might just nap after I have checked him out.

The temperature here is a cool (by Singapore standards) 81 degrees with the usual almost 100% humidity... yes, laugh...

Anyway, let me account for the last few days by starting on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008:

This was the day Plan B should have come into play but as of right now, I'm still employed and on a leave of absence. So, Plan B did not come into play, at least not yet for now.

The day was spent packing more stuff away. Ran to the storage, put more stuff away there. As much as we have gotten rid of quite a bit of stuff, there still seems to be quite a lot of things left in the house. I have come up with a plan. If I look at something, and if I have not used it for more than 6 months, it goes in the trash. If it has been used at least once in the last 6 months, it gets the benefit of doubt and gets boxed to be put in storage. Not exactly a foolproof way, but the best I could come up with. I went to work for a few hours just to make sure I was not on Plan B.

When I arrived home, that's where the interesting portion of this blog starts. There was a note (3 pages) duct taped to our front door. Recently, the complex had been repainting and stuff so, frequently, residents would find notes taped to their front doors to either inform them to move stuff out of the way or just to inform them that there would be painting being done on doors or windows. I almost didn't pay any attention to the note. However, when I saw there were several pages, I decided to take a closer look. To my surprise, it was a "3 day to pay or quit" notice. For those of you who have never seen/received one of these things (my first time ever, by the way), this is the first step toward eviction. It means you have failed to pay rent, you are now late and you have 3 days to pay otherwise, you leave (in their terms, "quit). 

Initially, I thought Jessica may have forgotten to pay rent. I know she mentioned she was going to pay rent, however, with all the moving and stuff, there was a small possibility that even after she had mentioned it to me, she might have just forgotten. So, I took the notice down, left it on the table and waited to call her to ask her. 

When I had eventually called her, she said she DID pay rent. I told her the amount that we still owed that was showing on the notice and we kind of deduced that it was the remaining portion of rent, since our last day for our lease was Jan 23. So, once again The Villas at ParkMerced (and believe me, I will have either a whole posting dedicated to them or a new blog set up just for them) f**ked up. They were informed of our 30 notice to vacate the unit, they calculated what we owed up till the 23rd, we paid what we owed, but on their system, it showed that we DID NOT pay the full month's rent and therefore, we were now late on rent and had to "pay or quit". I was confused, we were leaving anyway and one part of me just wanted to leave it alone (LOL!!! Yeah right), but the other part of me felt I had to deal with it. I decided to put it off till later.

And the rest of my day went on uneventfully...

(Please see next post)

How's Shasta?

Today and tomorrow are the most nervous day for us. Gav is in flight right now from Narita to Singapore. If you don't already know, we are bringing Shasta to Singapore. Yes, our 104 lb, 4.5 yr old lab mix from SFO to Singapore. We (or rather me), can't bear to leave him with friends or give him up. There's no way we (or I am) are giving up my 104 lb black furball. Also, older, black dogs have the least chance of being adopted in the shelters. let alone a 104 lb black dog. I guess they are just not as attractive as other colored dogs.

So we take a risk of doing the international travel with him. The flight time is about 20 hrs with 2 hrs stopover in Narita and another 8 hrs in holding at Changi airport, Singapore. That means that Shasta will be in the crate for about 30 hours.

Gavin is transitting in Narita, Japan right now. Gavin is trying to find out the status of Shasta in the cabin compartment as the flight was extremely cold. The airline staff can only inform him that "Yes, Shasta is on the flight to Singapore." What does that mean? We don't know. We can only pray hard...really hard. Doubt starts to fill my mind, did we (I) make the right decision to bring Shasta back to Singapore?

Settling in nicely into Dover Park View! Yippee!

Thurs Jan 17, I was moved to Dover Park View. I must say that this place is way better...at least there's only a couple of minor complaints from my mom, my personal home inspector. When I arrived at Dover with her, I was signing some paper work with the serviced apt management contact and my mom, went to all the rooms and checked them out by turning on all the AC, checking the bathrooms and bedrooms, see if it was clean etc. She mentioned that the AC in the master bedroom was not cold enough (oh oh, bad for Gavin).

She had all the AC on and after a while, she mentioned that it was cold. I told her to turn it off she said no, let her enjoy the AC. My brother, who came by with supper and dessert for us, made a joke that if my mom had to pay for the utilities, she would turn them off. Yes, that's the truth. She admitted it. If something is free, take it and use it all you want. That's the mentality here in Singapore...with most singaporeans. It is probably a common mentality all around the world. When we went to bed, i turned off the AC in the living and dining room, opened the windows to air the apt.

I can also see it another way which is probably true on what she feels - my mom does not have all the luxuries in her life of nice big homes, nice cars, etc...when she gets to stay over in a nice condo (the serviced apt is a condo), with amenities like pool, tennis courts, etc, with housekeeping coming to clean the place twice a week, with rent and utilities and basic cable paid for, of course she wants to experience those luxury. You can't bear to stop her from enjoying this short-term luxury, which may seems like greed at times...afterall, she did spend her best years raising 3 kids on her own when her husband passed away suddenly when she was only 37, sacrificing what she could for her kids...you can't deprive her of switching on all the AC and leaving it on for a long time, watching her news on TV...afterall, she can only do this for a few days. What's these few days compared to the years she gave up her life for us? With this in mind, i let her be and enjoy her AC.

who the f*** is posting on my blog?

oh! it's my wife!! Ooops!

Hello wifey... how are the roaches treating you in Singapore? Do they fly?

What's all this bitching about? I thought that was my job... sigh...

Oh well, since someone else is doing the bitchin... I will not make those of you reading this have to put up with this twice... so, I will tell you more about my last few days.

Plan A went into action on Wed. If you do not already know of Plan A, you will. Unfortunately, I am unable to describe what Plan A is on this blog.
I returned from LA on Friday night, picked Shasta up on Sat. morning and did my favorite activity in the Fall/Winter the rest of Sat.
In case you are still in the dark on my favorite activity...
Does Packers and Pats make it clearer??

Sunday, I had lunch at Hotel Nikko with Shian, AJ, Charlie and Allen.
Then we proceeded to Shonn's place for his "going away" party... LOL!!!!
Shonn, I hope you read this blog. Hopefully we have inspired you to start one too, just to describe your moving experience as well as your experiences in Singapore.... BON VOYAGE!!! ROTFL!!!
We had dinner, Shonn cooked us a great dinner for his going away party. Everyone had a great time and then we played poker and made sure Shonn had a ton of fun for his going away party. Troy and Matt, sorry you couldn't be there to donate your money toward Shonn for his going away party.
Shonn, I hope you had fun for your going away party!!!

I had to go to work today just to complete Plan A. But that said, Plan B might be coming into play.

In the last 48 hrs, I've had as many as 15 e-mails asking me about my job security. Everyone is so supportive... meaning, everyone is hoping I get laid off... what great friends I have and I love all of you!! Apparently, according to all you experts, I am getting my pink slip TOMORROW. And, I who work in that company, have no news... hmmmm....
Anyway, that's Plan B and apparently it is happening tomorrow. I will update you on Plan B, if I do get Plan B tomorrow.

Well, that's about it for me. I will be filling everyone in tomorrow but I gotta do some packing tonight...

later people...

Birmingham Mansion and Roaches! - Jess

This is the continuation of my one week stay at Birmingham Mansion. This is a serviced apt and my, it is the worst one! First, the serviced apt management does not communicate with me...first, the painters arrive the next day after I moved in to paint some of the walls. Oh wait, I didn't describe the apt to you. It is old, with random, mismatch furniture, thin bath towels which I won't use (brought my own from my mom's place), kitchen sink has black grout around it, drawings on the walls and the paint on the bathroom ceilings were peeling. All these were commented to the serviced apt mgmt office but they didn't mention anything about painting it.

Anyway, back to the next day after I moved in.

Day 1 - My mom was with me and we were heading out to do some groceries when 3 people opened my apt door with their key. They said that they were here to paint the apt. I was not informed. Called the mgmt and they confirmed it. I left and let them go about doing their painting.

Day 2 - I went back to the apt and the apt was fumigated and there's a old, white couch that was moved in. I was informed that only me, mgmt office and the housekeeper have the keys to the apt...well, apparently NOT!

Day 3 - This is the start (or end?) of it all....I came home from work and found 4 roaches!! yes, 2 big ones on the old white couch and 2 others running around. I am afraid of roaches so my mom caught them.

Day 4 - I emailed my relocation person and informed her of everything that has happened. I was going to let it slide since I was staying at Birmingham for 2 weeks and then will be moved to Dover for a more permanent stay. But all that has taken place is too much for one more day to go by.

Day 4 evening - I came back to the apt and again, I found 3 more roaches on the kitchen counter top.

Day 5 - The relocation person informed me that she has contacted the mgmt but there's no other available place...The mgmt would come again to fumigate the place (as if that will help since it didn't the first time round) or I could move to a hotel but she would have to contact my company about the added cost. Of course, I am avoiding the added cost so I told them that this is not acceptable and that Dover apt has to be way better with no roaches. The mgmt left me a nice letter of apology under my main door to inform me about how sorry they are and that they will fumigate the apt again and housekeeper will clean the apt everyday.

Today, Monday Jan 14, the fumigation is suppose to happen today so let's see if it helps.

Where's my accomodation at?

Greetings! I have been waiting to post on this blog about our move back to Singapore but it was either the jetlag or the running around that got me procrastinating. Well, I am here now!
First thing, thanks to all you guys who are so encouraging on our move and so supportive...we really need that to remind ourselves that we are making the best move ever!

My flight from SFO to SG was delayed and when I arrived at SG, I called the serviced apt management and let me tell you, they are the most disorganized company. There's no communication with the key persons involved - me and the person whom I am supposed to meet.

Coz of the delay in flight, my service apt contact waited for me for 3 hours in the middle of the night as she was unaware of the flight delay. of course, both of our companies did not inform us of who we are supposed to meet nor gave us the phone numbers. They only gave me a general phone number to contact.

Anyway, back to the call at the airport, the service apt mgmt informed me that I have been moved to Emerald Heights, I am no longer staying at Birmingham Mansion. NOTE: the day before I left US, they informed me that I am not staying at Wilby Central coz they can't secure the place and got me a place at Birmingham Mansion (from Jan 4 to Jan 16) and then move to Dover Parkview (from Jan 17 to Mar 31).

The news that my accomodation has been changed set me off. I was stern with the person on the phone and asked repeatedly if that's the correct information and he said yes.

My brother and father in law went to get the cars to load the 4 pieces of luggage and 2 pieces of carry-ons...yes, we are really MOVING back. My brother drove up the the curb and told me that the service apt called and said that it is a mistake, I am staying at Birmingham Mansion.

I should have known that this is the beginning of horrible stay at THE mansion....

The storm is not done

The CA storm of 2008. That's what I keep hearing it called. The worst storm in over 10 years. One of the 10 worst in the history of CA.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/05/state/n174447S35.DTL

Levees breaking in NV. Reno is under 3 ft of water. I guess the storm has moved past. However, there is still another system on the way.

So, while it is wet outside, guess what I will be doing...

STOP CALLING AND ASKING IF I AM LONELY!!!!

Maybe Shasta is lonely. But I'm not. It is football season. The American kind of football and there was one bowl game and 2 playoff games today. Do you think I am lonely??? Ask my wife. It's a normal Sunday at home. I'm watching the TV (more on this later) you see (above) for the last few weeks. The dog is sleeping because it's a nice day to sleep and my wife may either be sleeping, or she may be shopping or ... she may be out of the country. Whatever the case, it is a VERY NORMAL sunday. So, STOP CALLING AND F**KING ASKING ME IF I AM LONELY.

Now, back to the real intentions of this blog.

As predicted yesterday, Jessica missed her connecting flight when she got to Narita. She was put up at an airport hotel and she called me this morning at about 10am. That was after everyone else in the world had called to find out where she was (I don't know, she has not called) or to find out if I was lonely (I AM NOT, now, F**K OFF and let me watch my TV). It was like 4am Tokyo time but I guess she was suffering from jet lag. Anyway, she was placed on a 10am flight to arrive in Singapore at 5pm. So, as I am typing this, she is about an hour and a half from touch down in Singapore. So, that's how we both are...

Back to my TV. It's a Christmas (or was it birthday) gift in 2006. It's a 50 inch rear projection HD TV. Besides spending time with my wife and my dog, the TV is possibly the next in line. You know, the TV might actually give them both a run for their money. And yes, it is possibly the thing I'm going to miss most because my wife and dog WILL BE in Singapore, but my TV won't!!! I would like to thank Johnnie for buying the TV from us. I know the TV has a good home. AND, I know the TV will get to enjoy the same football season as it has for the last 2 years because.... Johnnie spends his weekends the same way as I do during football season. Thanks Johnnie and Narisa!!

Also, today, I told the guy who is supposed to buy my car to take it away. The buyer of my trusty '95 Honda Accord with 165,000 miles is Jessica's co-worker's brother. I told him to take it away because they are doing some work to the garage and want all cars out of there. So, he came to take it away today. Here is the kicker though... we sold a stick shift to someone who doesn't know how to drive a stick shift. I guess he made it home fine because he e-mailed me earlier this evening. I have no guilt. I wasn't the one that offered the car to him. Go look for my wife and her co-worker. I'm NOT the conman who sells glasses to the blind man.

Anyway, besides that, I had to rest, so... I spent the day resting... on the couch watching football.

I will try to encourage Jessica to add to the blog about her first few days in Singapore...

later...

Jan 4, 2008 - Jessica leaves, but....

she has not left yet...

I watched Jessica check in at the airport this morning at about 10:45am. However, it is 2:45pm and she is still at the airport.

The Bay Area (and most of CA) has been pounded my a winter storm since yesterday. According to meteorologists, there are 3 winter storms aimed at CA and this was the second one. It was brutal. There were howling winds all of last night. I have not been feeling well and took Nyquil last night and even with Nyquil, I kept waking up because the winds were seriously HOWLING. I have lived in the US for 18 yrs and in the Bay Area for 10, I don't believe I have ever seen a storm that strong.

http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2008/01/04/chronicle/archive/2008/01/04/MN87U9ERT.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=1&f=/c/a/2008/01/04/MN87U9ERT.DTL

When we got up this morning, I was very sure her flight would be delayed or cancelled, however, we kept checking and it was not. So, we loaded her luggage and by the time I was done loading, I was completely drenched. We are talking wind gusts of 60mph. We took a really slow drive to the airport as the road conditions were terrible...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/01/04/california.weather.irpt/index.html

this report from CNN is from a bridge just 20 or so miles north of SF.

Anyway, Jessica checked in, we had a bite and she headed off to clear security.

At that point, there was still no sign that the flight would be delayed, in fact, when we checked the screen, it showed that the flight was supposed to depart TEN MINUTES EARLY... a non-occurrence for a US airline.

After Jessica had cleared security, I headed home. She messaged me saying that flight is now delayed till 12noon (Original departure was 11:27am).

At noon, she messaged to say no news, announcement at 1pm.

1pm, still no news, announcement at 2pm.

When you are stuck in an airport and have nothing to do... this is what you do, this was a msg I got from her....

In the meantime, there is a knock on our house door. Shasta, being the fierce guard dog he his, is barking like crazy. I answer the door and some dude tells me that they are cutting a tree and if I want to get to my car, I need to go around, the long way... the LONG way. I didn't think anything of it and just told him ok.

However, 2 mins later, I'm wondering what is this tree they are talking about and how is this so serious, so, I step outside to take a look.

This is what I see.

The second picture is taken as I stand right outside our front door.

It's now 3:20pm. Apparently they are loading food and luggage onto the p

lane... hmmmm, plane was supposed to depart at 11:27am and they are NOW loading food and luggage. Sometimes, this makes you wonder what they are telling you and what they are NOT telling you.

I will continue blogging till the flight leaves, then, I will have to inform the folks in Singapore that she will not be arriving at the time they are expecting her to arrive.

They are now chopping up the tree outside.

It's 3:45pm. Jessica just boarded. Good news, she got upgraded to First Class. Bad news, she whispered to me over the phone that she doesn't know how to use the equipment in First Class. Good news, she is on her way. Bad news, she will probably not be able to make connecting flight and therefore, she will have to come up with an alternative plan when she gets to Narita. She might have to spend the night in Narita. Who knows?

Anyway, that's all for me for today. I'm going to rest since I'm not feeling well but I've already had an exciting day filled with events.

Till next time...

San Francisco

This blog was supposed to be about our move and our experiences in Singapore. However, I had to write about this because it was some funny sh*t!

Yesterday was the first day back to work in the year 2008. On the way home, this is what happened. For those of you who live or have lived in SF, you can picture this. Right outside the Muni/BART station, there was this transient sitting there. He had all his "Vet, please help out", "Will work for food", etc signs going on. He was a little more aggressive than most transients as he had about 4 signs going while most of them usually have 1 only. Anyway, as I was walking toward him, he seemed to be engrossed in whatever he was doing. He seemed to be reading something and he had a pen in his hand and he was writing on whatever he was reading. The first thought that crossed my mind was that he was looking for a job. That alone might have inspired me to give him some money. Anyway, he was sitting right at the corner of the steps of the station and so, as I turned the steps, I decided to take a peek at what he was looking at... what I saw was funny but sad. He had 2 pieces of reading material. One was a newspaper and the other was a magazine. He was marking off gambling odds on the magazine!!!! So, here he is begging but there he is checking off odds... I don't know about you, but that just did not sit well with me... but that is SF for you!!!

Back with the rest of our original story. We both had to go to work yesterday. So, by the time we got back, it was almost 5pm (yes, we got out of work slightly early). There was someone who came over to buy a storage rack from us. Charlie was here as he got rid of our bbq grill earlier in the day. Charlie and I loaded some stuff and ran off to U-haul to load more stuff into the storage. The storage is now about half full, which isn't too bad. There isn't really much stuff left here. After that, we went for dinner at Cleo's Brazilian Steakhouse. It was a recommendation by Bing. It was not too bad. People in attendance were Johnnie, Narrisa, Kristina, Bing, Charlie, Shonn, Janny, Minnie, Heidy, Jesssica and myself. I don't believe neither Jessica nor I have ever had Brazilian food and so, it was a good experience. Too much meat though.
I was starting to get a strapped throat yesterday at work and didn't eat as much as I could have at dinner and that might possibly be a blessing in disguise.
Well, after dinner, we invited everyone over to our place to take whatever they wanted. Johnnie was supposed to come over to look at the TV. The girls turned down our invitation. Bing took the coolers that we had transported to dinner for him. So, Charlie, Shonn, Johnnie, Narrisa and Kris came over. Johnnie is taking the TV which is a relief to me. However, Johnnie, Narrisa and Kris took a whole bunch of other things too. THAT WAS GRRRREAT!!!! Less to get rid off or store.
Selling the TV to Johnnie means I have the TV to watch for at least another few days. Or maybe even till the day before I leave. Whatever the case, it is going to a home where they appreciate good TV... sounds like my pet. Maybe it is.

Well, that was yesterday. This morning, I woke up with my throat really hurting so, I called in sick and therefore have time to write right now. But, I think I should rest, so, I'm going to call it a day for now.

Jan 1, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Unlike most January firsts for the past few years, this year's January 1st has more unknowns in store than ever before.

2008... we have no idea what lies ahead. Will it be good? Bad?
Resolutions? How does one make resolutions if one has little idea where the road ahead leads?

Anyway, that sounds very negative... so... HAPPY NEW YEAR! May everyone have a happy and wonderful year this year.

Last night (New Year's Eve) was very low key. Our friend Jas is still visiting and we brought him out to the boonies for a New Year's Eve party. It was at our friends' Mike and Janet's place out in San Ramon, which is a good 45-50 miles from SF. Jas was saying that Southern Californians would never travel that far for anything and I agreed with him... 'cos, it takes Southern Californians, 1hr to travel 10 miles, if they were to travel, 50 miles, it would take 5 hrs. It took us barely over an hour to get to San Ramon.

We had pizza (which I do not particular fancy as part of my diet) for at Zachary's (http://www.zacharys.com/) Pizza for dinner. It's supposed to be great pizza. I found it... ok. Chicago deep dish pizza is best in... CHICAGO. And New York Pizza is best in... NEW YORK. We are in... SAN RAMON. But, like every dining experience, the company makes the meal and so, dinner was good. When dinner was done, we headed to Mike and Janet's place where we played poker and ushered in the New Year. That was the low key New Year's Eve we had. So, we did not get into trouble. And we made it home safely at 2am.

Today, Jan 1st, 2008. Jas was going to leave after lunch and we had lunch with Glen and Cindy. Right after lunch, Jas took off to head back to Orange County. I guess that might be something we might miss. Take a 5, 6, 7 hr drive down to SoCal, up to Oregon. Like one other friend said, 45 mins of driving and I'm staring at the edge of the island. Hmmmm... Jas' visit was a very pleasant surprise. I have known him since going to school and working with him when we were up in Oregon. We have met up once every few months when I travelled to Orange County. He is one of the few Singaporeans that are left behind here since our Oregon days. And, it was really nice of him to pay us a visit before we leave for Singapore. Thanks Jas and in your own words: " Happy New Year, may the new year bring you a better credit environment!!!"

Jessica and I spent the rest of the day... packing. Are we done? HELL NO! We are near, but not quite done. We are progressing and I think that's probably the most important fact. We have almost cleared out the storage we have with this apartment. We have about another 5-6 boxes packed and ready to go to the U-haul Storage we rented. I think we are doing good.

Otherwise, we have little else to update.
So, till the next post...
Once again... Happy New Year to one and all.