A lot has happened in the past week and I've been going through a whirlwind of emotions. I've experienced feelings that I've never felt before. Someone who has absolutely no consideration of my feelings, was deliberately playing with all of our emotions. The incident was so horrible that I couldn't even start to find words to blog. I think the words 'Incomprehension', 'Betrayal', 'Treachery', and 'Deception' should be amongst them... Yes, I should read more. Perhaps I would be a better writer/blogger if I did.
Who stole my 5 pounds? I left it in my shared office, by my workstation, on my table, by my monitor, on a Friday and when Monday rolled around, it was GONE! Who's greasy, smelly, rotten fingers reached out and snatched my hard earned 5 Elizabeth II one pound coins? Am I angry about this? No, not really. A bit annoyed though. This year we've got another story to tell. It's nothing like last year's no water, no fridge, no stove, no microwave, living on top of a bar story.
Work has been even more demanding than ever. There will most likely be work for us till at least February. However, we're going to take some time off to go home for the holidays. I'll be on the Christmas Eve plane back. Since I'll be flying back west, I'll be arriving 3 hrs after take off and be home just in time for Christmas Eve! I was going to leave a few days earlier but Bo couldn't book anything earlier. He'll be flying out on Christmas Day. I'm already excited to be back for the festivities. See you all berry berry soon.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Our trip to Berlin...
We went to Berlin on Friday, September 22, 2006 for 4 days. We were quite lazy this time round and didn't plan at all, which was a big mistake. The Luton airport parking was completely full! We packed our backpacks an hour before we left, and I forgot my hair brush and towel. Arg. But we managed to get a ride from our co-worker, booked a taxi for our trip back and buy some towels in Berlin. So we everything worked out. All good.
Berlin was just as I had remembered it to be, awesome! We arrived at our Berlin flat at around midnight and there were still many restaurants open. I was able to get us some take out (Pizza) with my limited German. Lot of normal people were in the restaurants and on the streets at this time of the day. I felt quite safe walking around at night.
We were in Berlin the same weekend last year but I remembered it as being much cooler. We had to figure out how the heating worked in the apartment last year. This year, we had to open the windows. Walking around the city, I was sweating in my T-Shirt the entire time. Even after it got dark, I didn't need my jacket.
Saturday we slept in till 11am (would of been only 10am UK time), we didn't do too much because Bo had to run the next day. The only thing we needed to do today was to go and get the Marathon package for Bo (getting his number and chip) at the Berlin Vital. They have the Registration package at the very end of the buildings so you need to walk through all the sports vendors first. The buildings were huge. I think my legs were quite tired after that long walk. Afterwards, we walked into a street festival of some kind. Didn't finish walking through that though. It was really long and Bo should probably take it easy. We called it a day after 8pm.
Sunday's the big Marathon day. Bo got up at I don't know when, I think it was around 6am to prepare himself. I was still sleeping. He left at around 8am, I did manage to wake up and say 'Good Luck!' to him before he left. He didn't need me to go there since the most I can do is to walk him to the runners entrance. I'd have a hard time keeping up with him to cheer him on.
Eventually I got up sometime after Bo left. The Marathon was on TV and I looked out for him but he didn't wear anything noticeably funny so I didn't see him. I saw some guy dressed like a bottle of shampoo, another guy was dressed like a smurf, there was several Vikings, but no Bo. I bet if he dressed like a beaver, I would of had a better chance on spotting him.
Bo officially finished the Marathon in 4:17. He's somewhat pleased with his time and was 10 minutes faster than last year. He expected to be faster because the route was flatter in Berlin compared to Dublin. However, no one anticipated on how hot that day was. The Dublin one was not as hot, so it was easier to run in. After the run, Bo rested in the finish area, ate some fruit and chocolate and got a free massage. I met up with him almost 2 hours after he passed the finish line. For obvious reasons, we didn't do much that day and was home by 6pm. Bo fell asleep almost as soon as he sat down. So I went down and wandered the East Berlin streets by myself. I walked passed several streets of restaurants (lots of Pizzarias) before a little Thai place caught my nose. I managed to order some take out with the little German that I know, but luckily, the Thai guy knew a bit of English.
Monday, September 25. The day after The Big Run. Bo status: He got up before me and was hobbling around the apartment. It was kind of funny watching Bo walk down 8 flights of stairs as he hugs the rails. (Our flat was on the 4th floor with no elevator) We went for a late breakfast at the same cafe that we went to last year. It was a grand breakfast and was once again, the most nutritious one I had since that last time we were here. The difference this year was that I was able to read most of the items on the menu, so was able to omit items that I didn't like. Last year was random finger pointing at menu items because no one at the cafe knew any English. We got a basket of bread and each plate contained about 4-5 different types of cheese, 4 different pieces of fruit, 2-3 different types of sliced meat, and a hard boiled egg. Bo bought the Morning Berlin newspaper and found his name in the Marathon section. He's ranked at 14 thousand and something place. Yeah it's a big number, but there were probably over 20 thousand runners. They said the Marathon hit their target of 40 thousand people (where it was capped) Some where Rollarbladers that bladed the marathon distance on Saturday. The runners and walkers were on Sunday.
After the wonderful breakfast, we headed out. We trained to the city centre and caught the Number 100 bus that took us around the city. I thought I'd give Bo a break from walking, so we did some site seeing on the bus and got off at a stop by KFC. Bo really likes KFC, so we stopped there for lunch. I started to people watch and I think I can confidently pick out people that were running in the marathon the day before. Those people would most likely have the following traits: hobbled around, hobbled around in runners or sandals, wore a heart rate monitor watch and hobbled around, and a big give-a-way was the "Berlin Marathon Finisher" T-shirt.
The KFC was by a really old Church that looks like it was bombed in the War, and no one restored the hole on the tower. We watched a group of street dancers doing their routine and I think they were one of the best that we've ever seen. I wonder how much they would be able to make doing that number over and over again? I suppose it's quite a touristy area so there would be alot of different people watching the show. They are quite talented. We did a bit of shopping, there were many top shops in this area. Afterwards, we headed over to PotsdamerPlats, an amazing plaza. We sat at one of the cafes to relax and kill some time before we went for an original language movie. We paid 20 euros for 1.5 pint of beer, 250ml apple juice, some wings and fries. This was about average price for 2 drinks and a small snack in a touristy area, but at the restaurants by our flat, we would be able to get 2 entres.
We watched Miami Vice in a theatre in the Plaza that shows original language films. This film came out not too long ago. I guess movies come out at an even later time in Berlin compared to the UK. The movie was entertaining and was exactly what we expected it to be, a shoot em and shoot em again movie. By the time we got back to our flat, it was nearly midnight. It was a long day, and we did more walking than anticipated. I was surprised to see how well Bo held up. He's usually only hobbling in the first few minutes of walking, then he walked somewhat normal. It was late so we decided not to have a restaurant sit down meal and opted for some takeout instead.
Tuesday, September 26. Bo update: still hobbling. We'll be flying back to the UK at 9pm in the evening so we still have time to play around in Berlin. My original plan was to go to the Berlin parliament on Monday, but an hour of wait turned us away. Today we made it in after a 30-40 minute wait. After going through security, we got shoved into this huge elevator that took us up to the roof. There were many people waiting to go up so they tried to pack in as many people as possible each time. I suspect many people were praying for the elevator to take us up without a hitch. There was absolutely no room in there to even faint!
The roof gave us a panoramic view of the city. From outside the parliament, it looked like there were people on an escalator taking them up the dome, but no, there was no such luxury. We snapped some pictures then went to the restaurant on the roof for a drink. I figured Bo needed a rest before we walked up the parliament dome. Half way up and looking at the centre of the dome, the shape reminded us of a kabab. The top of the dome was another panoramic view of the city, not too much different from the view on roof, except that we were a bit higher up and there was the glass that separated us from the view.
We didn't do much afterwards and arrived in the airport at around 19:30 then found that our flight was delayed by half an hour. However, the pilot managed to get us to UK 30 minutes early. So we made it there in half the flying time! But it took us an hour to get through customs. WTF, if we were in Heathrow, it would have taken us 10 minutes to get through (we would be allowed into the UK residents line)... but in Luton there was no such thing. There were the EU Nationals line or the Non EU Nationals line and it took them forever to process Non EU Nationals. Arg. Eventually, we made it home at around midnight and went to work a few hours later.
Berlin was just as I had remembered it to be, awesome! We arrived at our Berlin flat at around midnight and there were still many restaurants open. I was able to get us some take out (Pizza) with my limited German. Lot of normal people were in the restaurants and on the streets at this time of the day. I felt quite safe walking around at night.
We were in Berlin the same weekend last year but I remembered it as being much cooler. We had to figure out how the heating worked in the apartment last year. This year, we had to open the windows. Walking around the city, I was sweating in my T-Shirt the entire time. Even after it got dark, I didn't need my jacket.
Saturday we slept in till 11am (would of been only 10am UK time), we didn't do too much because Bo had to run the next day. The only thing we needed to do today was to go and get the Marathon package for Bo (getting his number and chip) at the Berlin Vital. They have the Registration package at the very end of the buildings so you need to walk through all the sports vendors first. The buildings were huge. I think my legs were quite tired after that long walk. Afterwards, we walked into a street festival of some kind. Didn't finish walking through that though. It was really long and Bo should probably take it easy. We called it a day after 8pm.
Sunday's the big Marathon day. Bo got up at I don't know when, I think it was around 6am to prepare himself. I was still sleeping. He left at around 8am, I did manage to wake up and say 'Good Luck!' to him before he left. He didn't need me to go there since the most I can do is to walk him to the runners entrance. I'd have a hard time keeping up with him to cheer him on.
Eventually I got up sometime after Bo left. The Marathon was on TV and I looked out for him but he didn't wear anything noticeably funny so I didn't see him. I saw some guy dressed like a bottle of shampoo, another guy was dressed like a smurf, there was several Vikings, but no Bo. I bet if he dressed like a beaver, I would of had a better chance on spotting him.
Bo officially finished the Marathon in 4:17. He's somewhat pleased with his time and was 10 minutes faster than last year. He expected to be faster because the route was flatter in Berlin compared to Dublin. However, no one anticipated on how hot that day was. The Dublin one was not as hot, so it was easier to run in. After the run, Bo rested in the finish area, ate some fruit and chocolate and got a free massage. I met up with him almost 2 hours after he passed the finish line. For obvious reasons, we didn't do much that day and was home by 6pm. Bo fell asleep almost as soon as he sat down. So I went down and wandered the East Berlin streets by myself. I walked passed several streets of restaurants (lots of Pizzarias) before a little Thai place caught my nose. I managed to order some take out with the little German that I know, but luckily, the Thai guy knew a bit of English.
Monday, September 25. The day after The Big Run. Bo status: He got up before me and was hobbling around the apartment. It was kind of funny watching Bo walk down 8 flights of stairs as he hugs the rails. (Our flat was on the 4th floor with no elevator) We went for a late breakfast at the same cafe that we went to last year. It was a grand breakfast and was once again, the most nutritious one I had since that last time we were here. The difference this year was that I was able to read most of the items on the menu, so was able to omit items that I didn't like. Last year was random finger pointing at menu items because no one at the cafe knew any English. We got a basket of bread and each plate contained about 4-5 different types of cheese, 4 different pieces of fruit, 2-3 different types of sliced meat, and a hard boiled egg. Bo bought the Morning Berlin newspaper and found his name in the Marathon section. He's ranked at 14 thousand and something place. Yeah it's a big number, but there were probably over 20 thousand runners. They said the Marathon hit their target of 40 thousand people (where it was capped) Some where Rollarbladers that bladed the marathon distance on Saturday. The runners and walkers were on Sunday.
After the wonderful breakfast, we headed out. We trained to the city centre and caught the Number 100 bus that took us around the city. I thought I'd give Bo a break from walking, so we did some site seeing on the bus and got off at a stop by KFC. Bo really likes KFC, so we stopped there for lunch. I started to people watch and I think I can confidently pick out people that were running in the marathon the day before. Those people would most likely have the following traits: hobbled around, hobbled around in runners or sandals, wore a heart rate monitor watch and hobbled around, and a big give-a-way was the "Berlin Marathon Finisher" T-shirt.
The KFC was by a really old Church that looks like it was bombed in the War, and no one restored the hole on the tower. We watched a group of street dancers doing their routine and I think they were one of the best that we've ever seen. I wonder how much they would be able to make doing that number over and over again? I suppose it's quite a touristy area so there would be alot of different people watching the show. They are quite talented. We did a bit of shopping, there were many top shops in this area. Afterwards, we headed over to PotsdamerPlats, an amazing plaza. We sat at one of the cafes to relax and kill some time before we went for an original language movie. We paid 20 euros for 1.5 pint of beer, 250ml apple juice, some wings and fries. This was about average price for 2 drinks and a small snack in a touristy area, but at the restaurants by our flat, we would be able to get 2 entres.
We watched Miami Vice in a theatre in the Plaza that shows original language films. This film came out not too long ago. I guess movies come out at an even later time in Berlin compared to the UK. The movie was entertaining and was exactly what we expected it to be, a shoot em and shoot em again movie. By the time we got back to our flat, it was nearly midnight. It was a long day, and we did more walking than anticipated. I was surprised to see how well Bo held up. He's usually only hobbling in the first few minutes of walking, then he walked somewhat normal. It was late so we decided not to have a restaurant sit down meal and opted for some takeout instead.
Tuesday, September 26. Bo update: still hobbling. We'll be flying back to the UK at 9pm in the evening so we still have time to play around in Berlin. My original plan was to go to the Berlin parliament on Monday, but an hour of wait turned us away. Today we made it in after a 30-40 minute wait. After going through security, we got shoved into this huge elevator that took us up to the roof. There were many people waiting to go up so they tried to pack in as many people as possible each time. I suspect many people were praying for the elevator to take us up without a hitch. There was absolutely no room in there to even faint!
The roof gave us a panoramic view of the city. From outside the parliament, it looked like there were people on an escalator taking them up the dome, but no, there was no such luxury. We snapped some pictures then went to the restaurant on the roof for a drink. I figured Bo needed a rest before we walked up the parliament dome. Half way up and looking at the centre of the dome, the shape reminded us of a kabab. The top of the dome was another panoramic view of the city, not too much different from the view on roof, except that we were a bit higher up and there was the glass that separated us from the view.
We didn't do much afterwards and arrived in the airport at around 19:30 then found that our flight was delayed by half an hour. However, the pilot managed to get us to UK 30 minutes early. So we made it there in half the flying time! But it took us an hour to get through customs. WTF, if we were in Heathrow, it would have taken us 10 minutes to get through (we would be allowed into the UK residents line)... but in Luton there was no such thing. There were the EU Nationals line or the Non EU Nationals line and it took them forever to process Non EU Nationals. Arg. Eventually, we made it home at around midnight and went to work a few hours later.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Word Association Game
If you have time, see if you can try and fill in the missing words in this word association game. I started this on my lunch break...
Word Association Game
If you manage to add in any missing words, don't forget to save the game and post the latest link for the puzzle in the comments section.
So check the comments section for the latest version of the puzzle...
Word Association Game
If you manage to add in any missing words, don't forget to save the game and post the latest link for the puzzle in the comments section.
So check the comments section for the latest version of the puzzle...
How Boyish or Girlish Are You?
I saw this on Kitty's blog so I tried it out myself...
| You Are 40% Boyish and 60% Girlish |
You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be. |
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
So very busy...
It's been a busy month. We've been working many hours of overtime for the last few months. So we didn't do too much. There was a long weekend in the last weekend of August so we took that opportunity to go for a road trip to York. We wanted to outside of the UK, but we didn't have anything planned. Then there was a terrorist scare at Heathrow and the airport was shut down for a bit. All this chaos made us think twice about boarding the planes... we didn't want to spend half time waiting in line at the airport.
We met another Canadian girl that's working at the same place we are. She's been here for nearly 2 years on a working holiday visa and she's picked up an English bf. They seem to be quite nice. We took the road trip to York with them. Bo was the only one driving due to insurance restrictions but he likes driving so it's all good. York is North of England and is about 180 miles from Tring. Bo was flying down the motorway with all four of us (and luggage) packed into a little 1.4L VW Polo. It took us about 3 hrs to get there but we spent 20 mins driving around town, looking for our hotel.
York has alot more action than Tring for sure. This town is famous for it surrounding castle walls. Our hotel is quite close to the city centre to we walked everywhere. We did the usual touristy things like visit museums and spend most of our time deciding which restaurant to eat in. Overall, we had a good time. I don't remember last time I did so much walking. When I'm working, I'm sitting in front of the computer for 8 hrs / day. Not much walking going on there... so we just need to go on vacation once a month so I can get my exercise time in.
This weekend, we're going to Berlin again. Going to be leaving on Friday and coming back on Tuesday. So the project will be behind for another 2 days because of us... anyways, enough about work. This trip was planned about 6 months ago, when Bo signed up for the Berlin Marathon. He's going to be running on Sunday. I think I’ll just sleep in, get up in time for Sunday bunch, then meet up with Bo at the finish line. Ah, how exhausting! =)
BTW, anyone still reading this?
We met another Canadian girl that's working at the same place we are. She's been here for nearly 2 years on a working holiday visa and she's picked up an English bf. They seem to be quite nice. We took the road trip to York with them. Bo was the only one driving due to insurance restrictions but he likes driving so it's all good. York is North of England and is about 180 miles from Tring. Bo was flying down the motorway with all four of us (and luggage) packed into a little 1.4L VW Polo. It took us about 3 hrs to get there but we spent 20 mins driving around town, looking for our hotel.
York has alot more action than Tring for sure. This town is famous for it surrounding castle walls. Our hotel is quite close to the city centre to we walked everywhere. We did the usual touristy things like visit museums and spend most of our time deciding which restaurant to eat in. Overall, we had a good time. I don't remember last time I did so much walking. When I'm working, I'm sitting in front of the computer for 8 hrs / day. Not much walking going on there... so we just need to go on vacation once a month so I can get my exercise time in.
This weekend, we're going to Berlin again. Going to be leaving on Friday and coming back on Tuesday. So the project will be behind for another 2 days because of us... anyways, enough about work. This trip was planned about 6 months ago, when Bo signed up for the Berlin Marathon. He's going to be running on Sunday. I think I’ll just sleep in, get up in time for Sunday bunch, then meet up with Bo at the finish line. Ah, how exhausting! =)
BTW, anyone still reading this?
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Day trip to Fussen, Germany (Part 3)
We drove about 2 hours to Fussen, Germany and walked around the town for a bit before going to Schloss Neuschwanstein. Schloss = Palace. This palace looks amazing. There were so many people there that day,so we had to wait 1.5 hours before our tour began. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to wander around the inside of the palace, guided tours only. The palace was half way up the mountain.
The hike up to the palace was steep but it took us only 15-20 minutes. Since we had to wait 1.5 hrs for our tour, we decided to hike to this bridge (Marienbrucke). This is a view of the bridge from outside of the palace ground. Looks far eh? But looks are deceiving, it didn't take very long to get there. I think it was less than 10 minutes away.
The view from the bridge is gorgious. This is Schloss Neuschwanstein taken from on the bridge.
Town hopping in Austria and Germany (Part 2)
Walking through another small town, we came across this 'old' building. This place looks like it was built over 100 years ago. I doubt it if anyone still lived here.
People here has a tendency to decorate and paint their house. In another town, we saw this painted building. It looks very nice, I want my house to have a painting on it too! =)
We were small town hoping and I found this painted church. Alot of little towns have colourful buildings.
Austria trip from May (Part 1)
We went to Zurich to visit Bo's aunt. (That's where we thought they lived) But it turned out that they lived in a small town, somewhere in Austria. We got picked up in the Zurich airport, drove out of Switzerland, into Germany, then out of Germany and into Austria. They're about 30 mins from the German border. Their little Austrian town is very close to mountains. This is the view from the washroom.
On the first day, we crossed over to the German side and drove up a large mountain. We came very close tothe Italian border. I don't remember what this place was called. In the winter, people can ski and snowboard here. We walked around the large water reservoir that's on the base of the mountain. The view was gorgeous. On the other side of the reservoir, we saw people climbing up the side of the mountain.
I don't think many people in Austria or German uses curtains. From all the towns that we visited so far, I aways see houses with those wooden window covers. Bo's Aunt's house also uses these wooden things. They work just like curtains. With these, people can open them up in the morning to let in natural light or close them if you want to sleep in so no light would come in.
Friday, July 28, 2006
HOT HOT HOT...
It has been incredibly hot the last few weeks, with a couple of days of 30+. This temperature is unusual in the UK. We bought a fan for our little room, and taped aluminum foil on the windows to reflect the heat from the sun. Yes, it did make the room a bit cooler. Having the West facing sky windows allows us to easily view the beautiful sunset in our room, but it also turns it into an oven in the afternoons and evenings.
At work, our team managed to get another mobile AC unit in our tiny office that has 6 sardines *cough* people stuffed in. But still, the heat was unbearable. We all had troubles concentrating on the work, which was quite bad since the project deadline is approaching very soon.
This weekend, we will be working again but we've managed to score some tickets to the NASS (National Adventure Sports Show) in Birmingham. I quite enjoy watching these performances on the telly, so I think it's going to be a great show this weekend.
Events over the 2 days include:
Huge action sports exhibition
Kings of Vert Tony Hawk (Skate) & Mat Hoffman (BMX)
Yasutoko Brothers (in line)
LG action sports World tour, Global round Skate, BMX, and Inline
Urban Attack Skate / BMX Comps
Kings of Dirt Mountain bike dirt jumping
Dirty Dozen DC shoes BMX Dirt comp
Mountain bike trials (MAD) Ot Pi, Martyn Ashton
World FMX freestyle Moto-cross
Live stage presented by Metal Hammer magazine
Eastpak Throwdown B-Boy comps
Outdoor arena
Public Skate Park
Interesting thing about the U.K.
Air Conditioning? What's that? We went into an electronics store, one as big as A&B Sound and it has no Air Conditioning... One day, it started to get very hot so I decided to go to the library to cool down (expecting there would be AC) But no, they didn't have AC. I would say that majority of the shops do not have AC, restaurants that have AC advertises this on the window.
At work, our team managed to get another mobile AC unit in our tiny office that has 6 sardines *cough* people stuffed in. But still, the heat was unbearable. We all had troubles concentrating on the work, which was quite bad since the project deadline is approaching very soon.
This weekend, we will be working again but we've managed to score some tickets to the NASS (National Adventure Sports Show) in Birmingham. I quite enjoy watching these performances on the telly, so I think it's going to be a great show this weekend.
Events over the 2 days include:
Huge action sports exhibition
Kings of Vert Tony Hawk (Skate) & Mat Hoffman (BMX)
Yasutoko Brothers (in line)
LG action sports World tour, Global round Skate, BMX, and Inline
Urban Attack Skate / BMX Comps
Kings of Dirt Mountain bike dirt jumping
Dirty Dozen DC shoes BMX Dirt comp
Mountain bike trials (MAD) Ot Pi, Martyn Ashton
World FMX freestyle Moto-cross
Live stage presented by Metal Hammer magazine
Eastpak Throwdown B-Boy comps
Outdoor arena
Public Skate Park
Interesting thing about the U.K.
Air Conditioning? What's that? We went into an electronics store, one as big as A&B Sound and it has no Air Conditioning... One day, it started to get very hot so I decided to go to the library to cool down (expecting there would be AC) But no, they didn't have AC. I would say that majority of the shops do not have AC, restaurants that have AC advertises this on the window.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Working Hard...
Work has been quite hectic these past 2 months. We've been working almost every Saturday trying to keep up with the realistic *cough* project schedule. It's been almost 2 months since our last Europe trip, so we decided to get ourselves something for working so hard.
At around midnight on Wednesday, we ordered the Dell UltraSharp 2007 WFP 20.1" Widescreen LCD Flat Panel Monitor. 300 cd/m² brightness, 800:1 contrast, 16ms response time. Black TCO99. I got a call from Dell on Thursday to confirm the delivery time and on Friday, we receiveded the monitor. This had been the quickest response time thaI've experienced in the UK.
Bo's laptop + TV tuner + New Monitor = Watch Telly. So far, we've used it for about 3 hrs and it's working great! Hopefully we'll be able to take it with us when we leave.
At around midnight on Wednesday, we ordered the Dell UltraSharp 2007 WFP 20.1" Widescreen LCD Flat Panel Monitor. 300 cd/m² brightness, 800:1 contrast, 16ms response time. Black TCO99. I got a call from Dell on Thursday to confirm the delivery time and on Friday, we receiveded the monitor. This had been the quickest response time thaI've experienced in the UK.
Bo's laptop + TV tuner + New Monitor = Watch Telly. So far, we've used it for about 3 hrs and it's working great! Hopefully we'll be able to take it with us when we leave.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Truncate/Delete All Data in Database
I found this awesome script to easily delete all data in all the tables of a database. There might be an issue with large tables, or if some constraints were previously disabled then you will need to disable them again afterwards. Here's the T-SQL, I found it here
-- disable referential integrity
EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'ALTER TABLE ? NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'
GO
EXEC sp_MSForEachTable '
IF OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id(''?''), ''TableHasForeignRef'') = 1
DELETE FROM ?
else
TRUNCATE TABLE ?
'
GO
-- enable referential integrity again
EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'ALTER TABLE ? CHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'
GO
-- disable referential integrity
EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'ALTER TABLE ? NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'
GO
EXEC sp_MSForEachTable '
IF OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id(''?''), ''TableHasForeignRef'') = 1
DELETE FROM ?
else
TRUNCATE TABLE ?
'
GO
-- enable referential integrity again
EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'ALTER TABLE ? CHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'
GO
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Amsterdam pics
I've just posted my Amsterdam pictures after Bo had to retrieved our travelgoats.ca password from our old harddrive. Here are the Amsterdam pictures.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Moving around...
No, we didn't move flats. I'm having a great time in the little town of Tring. Nice and quiet and a lot of fresh air. I'm not missing the city at all. People come to our town on the weekends to relax. It reminds me of Banff, with a lot fewer shops. Bo has really picked up on model gliding. He's got magazine, books and picked up a model gliding mentor too. We've been going to Ivinghoe Beacon the last two weekend to learn and fly his glider.
As for work, we're always busy. The way that this project is going, it reminds me of the paper I wrote at UC, which highlighted my days as an intern student, working without much guidance of requirement documents. On top of that, let's add in a touch of unrealistic deadlines, blend it with a bowl of hope and pry, put it in a bigger bowl, seal it up and let stand for 2.5 months...
More about work. We came in the other day and were stunned that our computers were gone. Thoughts were racing through my mind, like did we get axed or who took my cup? It turned out that our team moved to a different location. I think to myself, WOOHOO, we're no longer in the call center. However, they put us in the warehouse! Does this remind you of the TV show, IT Crowd? On the plus side, the ceiling was a lot higher so in comparison, the air was better. Though it could be quite loud at times. It's no longer the sound of people taking on the phone, but replaced by the machines chatting away. I wonder if we're ever going to be moved to a proper office...
Just a week later, we were no longer in the warehouse. We got kicked out because they needed that space. We had to move again but there was no room for us anywhere. So they converted a meeting room for us. It was very small and stuffy. It had no air system installed and had a small window. They stuck 6 of us in there with 6 computers. HOT AND STUFFY! But they promised to get us a mobile air con unit, and we also nicked a fan somewhere to push the warm air around. At least it was quiet in here and we were one door away from the lunch room. Very handy in getting coffee and tea...
The mobile air con unit finally arrived a few days later. Not a moment too soon, cause we were contemplating on wearing beach wear to work. It got so hot the last few days that the tiny unit barely had any effect. We managed to nick two more fans from somewhere and I came up with the awesome idea of putting a fan in front of the air con unit to help blow the cold air out a bit further. I was desperately trying to stay focus on writing 10,000+ lines of code per day, but in this heat, I was struggling to write even 1000 lines...
Eventually (a week later), we were blessed by the god of water by getting cats and dogs thrown at us. The heat finally subsided and I'm back to my peak levels of writing 10,000+ lines of code! All is well.
As for work, we're always busy. The way that this project is going, it reminds me of the paper I wrote at UC, which highlighted my days as an intern student, working without much guidance of requirement documents. On top of that, let's add in a touch of unrealistic deadlines, blend it with a bowl of hope and pry, put it in a bigger bowl, seal it up and let stand for 2.5 months...
More about work. We came in the other day and were stunned that our computers were gone. Thoughts were racing through my mind, like did we get axed or who took my cup? It turned out that our team moved to a different location. I think to myself, WOOHOO, we're no longer in the call center. However, they put us in the warehouse! Does this remind you of the TV show, IT Crowd? On the plus side, the ceiling was a lot higher so in comparison, the air was better. Though it could be quite loud at times. It's no longer the sound of people taking on the phone, but replaced by the machines chatting away. I wonder if we're ever going to be moved to a proper office...
Just a week later, we were no longer in the warehouse. We got kicked out because they needed that space. We had to move again but there was no room for us anywhere. So they converted a meeting room for us. It was very small and stuffy. It had no air system installed and had a small window. They stuck 6 of us in there with 6 computers. HOT AND STUFFY! But they promised to get us a mobile air con unit, and we also nicked a fan somewhere to push the warm air around. At least it was quiet in here and we were one door away from the lunch room. Very handy in getting coffee and tea...
The mobile air con unit finally arrived a few days later. Not a moment too soon, cause we were contemplating on wearing beach wear to work. It got so hot the last few days that the tiny unit barely had any effect. We managed to nick two more fans from somewhere and I came up with the awesome idea of putting a fan in front of the air con unit to help blow the cold air out a bit further. I was desperately trying to stay focus on writing 10,000+ lines of code per day, but in this heat, I was struggling to write even 1000 lines...
Eventually (a week later), we were blessed by the god of water by getting cats and dogs thrown at us. The heat finally subsided and I'm back to my peak levels of writing 10,000+ lines of code! All is well.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Jet Plane Leaving without me...
According to my plane ticket, I would be boarding a plane home to Calgary today (May 22 at 9am local time) I would have needed to fly from London to Dublin, to start my trip in Dublin and fly back to London, then back to Calgary. A lot of wasted time indeed.
But instead of sitting in a cramped space for 12 hours and camping in the airport, I was in the office, working away in front of my computer at work. Luckily, I remembered my departure date, so yesterday I called in and changed it to a later date as well as dump my Dublin to London route. Since I have no idea when I'm returning, I changed it to the latest date possible, January 10, 2007. If I decide to come back earlier than I'll just change it again. At $200 CAN per change, it's still better than purchasing a new ticket, but I shouldn't change my mind too much.
Bo on the other hand is not as lucky. His ticket was non-changeable, so he will need to purchase another ticket. However, we will still need to pack... for our Switzerland trip that's coming up this Thursday, May 25 2006. I need to brush up on my German. Guten Tag. Wie Geht es Ihnen? Ich bin sehr gut.
But instead of sitting in a cramped space for 12 hours and camping in the airport, I was in the office, working away in front of my computer at work. Luckily, I remembered my departure date, so yesterday I called in and changed it to a later date as well as dump my Dublin to London route. Since I have no idea when I'm returning, I changed it to the latest date possible, January 10, 2007. If I decide to come back earlier than I'll just change it again. At $200 CAN per change, it's still better than purchasing a new ticket, but I shouldn't change my mind too much.
Bo on the other hand is not as lucky. His ticket was non-changeable, so he will need to purchase another ticket. However, we will still need to pack... for our Switzerland trip that's coming up this Thursday, May 25 2006. I need to brush up on my German. Guten Tag. Wie Geht es Ihnen? Ich bin sehr gut.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
My plane...
It just went crashing down. More specifically, the plane that Bo bought from Ebay did a crash and burn. It didn't even get a chance to call mayday! It lasted about a whole second in the air. That was when I gave it full throttle and Bo tossed it, but it did a nose dive and came right down. Both the front and back wings split, and we lost the landing gear. Well, better luck next time!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The Da Vinci Code...
I've never read a novel that has small letters and over 500 pages in 2 days. As a matter of fact, I don't remember ever reading or finishing a book of this size. This book was amazingly interesting. I guess not having TV is a good thing. The movie is coming out soon, I think i'm going to go and see it. If it's anything like the book, its going to be awesome.
I decided, to pick up reading. So today, I went and picked up another novel. One by Micheal Chichton called Timeline. I like the idea of time travel. Then after the first few chapters, I realized that i've already seen the movie. I remember the movie cause Paul Walker was in it and I liked the movie that he was in previously, Fast and Furious. I don't think i'll finish reading this one.
Last weekend, we found a nice place to hike. Ivinghoe Beacon is only 10 minutes from us. We hike a nice trail up to the highest peak. There was a flock of sheep grazing the land. I tried to take a picture of them, but they would always move away from me. Then I had one that was staring at me and I stared back. We had a staring contest going there for a while.
Two weekends ago, my Canadian friend took us to Tring Park. It's nothing like a park, I think they just call it a park. The park is huge and the trail is endless. A bunch of cows seems to live there. When we walk close to them, they walk away. They don't mind having humans around, just not close up.
I decided, to pick up reading. So today, I went and picked up another novel. One by Micheal Chichton called Timeline. I like the idea of time travel. Then after the first few chapters, I realized that i've already seen the movie. I remember the movie cause Paul Walker was in it and I liked the movie that he was in previously, Fast and Furious. I don't think i'll finish reading this one.
Last weekend, we found a nice place to hike. Ivinghoe Beacon is only 10 minutes from us. We hike a nice trail up to the highest peak. There was a flock of sheep grazing the land. I tried to take a picture of them, but they would always move away from me. Then I had one that was staring at me and I stared back. We had a staring contest going there for a while.
Two weekends ago, my Canadian friend took us to Tring Park. It's nothing like a park, I think they just call it a park. The park is huge and the trail is endless. A bunch of cows seems to live there. When we walk close to them, they walk away. They don't mind having humans around, just not close up.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Finally got paid...
After working close to 5 month now, I finally got paid! (Partially anyways) Then I got screwed by taxes cause the UK tax year ends on April 3rd. I didn't know this before but the earnings are taxed based on when you get paid, not when you actually did the work. So the work that I did from December to April of last years tax year will be taxed this year, along with my this years income. Blah. Then I got screwed again by the accounting firm cause they processed my pay incorrectly, they thought that I made that much in a month, resulting in a huge tax rate. I felt like I was back at the U taking a finance class, reading up on UK tax, but if I really wanted to do that, why would I hire these 'professional' accountants.
Then they forgot to process my expenses, even after calling them up about it. Before this, they lost the timesheet that I faxed in and took over a week to get back to me after I've mailed a 'have you received my timesheet' email. And no, that is not all that they messed up on. With just a click on the 'forward' button, the Jr accountant that manages my account sent a string of private conversations between me and the accounting company to the employer (I was furious, imagine that, me being furious. That doesn't happen much. Does it?) Then there's more... And these guys are suppose to be professionals, but so far, they are doing a piss poor job!
Then they forgot to process my expenses, even after calling them up about it. Before this, they lost the timesheet that I faxed in and took over a week to get back to me after I've mailed a 'have you received my timesheet' email. And no, that is not all that they messed up on. With just a click on the 'forward' button, the Jr accountant that manages my account sent a string of private conversations between me and the accounting company to the employer (I was furious, imagine that, me being furious. That doesn't happen much. Does it?) Then there's more... And these guys are suppose to be professionals, but so far, they are doing a piss poor job!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Another Europe Trip!
We've already planned our next trip. We're going to Zurich on Thursday May 25 2006 for 5 days. We're going to be leaving late and since May 29 is 'Spring holiday', we're only taking 2 days off from work. (We're working almost every Saturday, so it's not like we're missing alot of days from work)
Luckily, Bo has family there and will provide us with crash space, so we're all set! My guide book tells me that majority of the people in Switzerland understand English, bonus! I don't think we'll have any problems
getting around...
Luckily, Bo has family there and will provide us with crash space, so we're all set! My guide book tells me that majority of the people in Switzerland understand English, bonus! I don't think we'll have any problems
getting around...
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Vienna Trip
We went to Vienna on April 13 2006 for 6 days. There was a 2 day(Friday, Monday) Easter holiday and we took 2 days off work so that we can spend more time in Vienna. Bo has family there and we were fortunate that they let us stay with them. When we got there, the weather was crappy so we didn't do much for the first two days. Once the weather cleared, we were off...
This is somewhere in the city centre area. I think this is the Graben, one of the main streets in the central district. We did many hours of walking around the beautiful district 1 area.
This is inside a McDonalds. The inside is full of movie memorabilias. Quite different from any other McDonalds i've been to. I ordered a pack of Broccoli Cheese Nuggets. Yummy!
There are these huge cigarettes in the entrance of every subway station. Do you think this gets the point across?
There were many of these little shops set up in the outer area of the Schonbrunn Palace (in District 12) Egg anyone?
My guide book advised us to take tram 1 or 2 that goes around the Ringstrasse, a street that circles the city centre. But we accidentally took tram J (cause the 'J' looked like '1' to us) We didn't even notice that we're on the wrong tram. A few minutes later, we saw this church and decided to get off and check it out. After getting back to the station, we finally realized that we were not on tram 1.
This is somewhere in the city centre area. I think this is the Graben, one of the main streets in the central district. We did many hours of walking around the beautiful district 1 area.
This is inside a McDonalds. The inside is full of movie memorabilias. Quite different from any other McDonalds i've been to. I ordered a pack of Broccoli Cheese Nuggets. Yummy!
There are these huge cigarettes in the entrance of every subway station. Do you think this gets the point across?
There were many of these little shops set up in the outer area of the Schonbrunn Palace (in District 12) Egg anyone?
My guide book advised us to take tram 1 or 2 that goes around the Ringstrasse, a street that circles the city centre. But we accidentally took tram J (cause the 'J' looked like '1' to us) We didn't even notice that we're on the wrong tram. A few minutes later, we saw this church and decided to get off and check it out. After getting back to the station, we finally realized that we were not on tram 1.
some more pics...
The famous golden Mozart statue in Stadpark. (I don't really know if it's famous but I see it on alot of brochures)
View from the Schonbrunn Palace to Gloriette. The Schloss Schonbrunn was the summer palace of the Austrian emperor.
The Parliament and here's something I found on the net:
Vienna's Parliament was constructed in the Greek Classical style to reflect the democratic ideals of the new parliamentary government adopted by the city of Vienna. The building was designed to give an illusion of height, with the tall pillars and the second-story level entrance. A statue of Athena was placed in front of the building, facing the street, not the Parliament, however, further shifting the focus on the Ringstrasse.
Lower part of the statue, taken from the second level of the parliament.
Moose, posing at the base of a pillar...
We rented city bikes for 2 days, and it was an excellent way to travel around. Vienna's roads are quite friendly to cyclists. There are many cyclist lanes... I don't know if drivers are as friendly to cyclists though.
There are many areas preserved for nature. I think my guide book mentioned that there are more wooded areas then developed areas. I think we cycled for over 20km the first day, my thighs were a bit sore the next day. Indeed, I need more exercise!
We rode along the Danube River and it was beautiful. We were lucky to have a full day of sunshine until only our last 30 minutes. It was pouring cats and dogs. But afterwards, the rainbow came out, the sky cleared and we made it home for dinner.
I think I can point my phone in any direction and take something interesting. This is one of many old buildings in Vienna.
Street scene in the central district. I think this is on the RingStrasse across from the Parliament.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Some Pics...
We have two attic windows, this is one of them. If we ever get unlazy and clean it, we will be able to clearly view the stars at night, lying in bed.
Looking out from our attic window, we have this beautiful view...
We stayed at the GreyHound Inn in Jan/Feb for about 5/6 weeks. We have a room with a country view. Makes sence since we are many miles away from a large city. We see horses horsing around all the time. I watched school kids play in this field when I was recovering from my flu.
Chinese New Years in London. I was lucky enough to have two lion dances performed right in front of me.
Trafalgar Square during Chinese New Years and a couple of people showed up for the festivities...
Friday, March 31, 2006
Slowing getting ourselves organized...
We finally found a place to live. We moved in on March 3rd. I'm tired of not being able to make a simple toast, plus the hotel is a bit expensive. We made our dinner tonight for the first time since December.
The room we found is more interesting than the 'room on top of the bar'! We're on the roof! At least it has hot water, a fridge, stove and oven in our 'roof room'. I hope it's temporary though. Otherwise, we'll either get a bad back or bumps all over our head. We're sharing the house with 7 others. It's more like a family run hostel. We need to get ourselves sorted with the car situation (currently renting a car) and the work stuff before looking for something permanent to live in.
Bo and I just came back from a 3-day trip to Cork/Dublin (Mar 27-29). We met Bo's dad at the end of his Europe tour so we got a few days off and took him to Ireland. We went to the Blarney Castle and I finally kissed the Blarney Stone! But I don't think i've been blessed with the gift of gab yet. Maybe it takes some time for it to kick in. We also went to Kinsale, a little fishing village about 40 minutes bus ride from Cork city centre. We took a scenic hike (with quite a few ups and downs) to Charlie's Fort, one of Ireland's heritage sites. My history is a bit rusty to non existent, but this is what I got from the guide... the fort is a star shaped fort that is mostly fortified on the side facing the sea. The side facing the land was the weak side since they do not expect to be attacked from that side. The walls are not as fortified and the fort is built on the bottom of the hill.
There was a bloody and only battle in 1690, where the enemy came from the side of the land, took 3 days to cannon through the shortest wall, and won. The English kept it mostly for training ground until they returned it to Ireland a long time later. Then the hippies moved in and got to party there for a few years until the Irish government decided to fix it up and make it into a heritage site.
On Wed at 7am, we caught the 7am bus from Cork to Dublin. It was a long 4 hr ride and we arrived in our room in Dublin at around noon. I started packing non-stop till 6:30pm. Bo had to run around city centre to finish off things and get a haircut, and show his dad around. I managed to pack the things that we want and have room to take. We had 3 huge luggage, 2 carry on size luggage, and a duffle bag. We checked in 4 bags and still had 3kg to spare from our 60 kg limit! We still have alot of stuff in Dublin, but i'm not sure if we will be able to get it. I'm going to miss my air filters and the 19-inch monitor...
On a sad note, Bo fried our rice cooker so now we don't have one. I really liked our one cause it does congee as well. They sell rice cookers in UK but it's mostly the basic ones that does rice only. The fancy ones like ours are a bit pricey here! =(
On a happy note, Vienna, here we come. We're going to Vienna from April 13-18, 2006. We're starting our holiday early this year and hopefully we will be able to travel more.
The room we found is more interesting than the 'room on top of the bar'! We're on the roof! At least it has hot water, a fridge, stove and oven in our 'roof room'. I hope it's temporary though. Otherwise, we'll either get a bad back or bumps all over our head. We're sharing the house with 7 others. It's more like a family run hostel. We need to get ourselves sorted with the car situation (currently renting a car) and the work stuff before looking for something permanent to live in.
Bo and I just came back from a 3-day trip to Cork/Dublin (Mar 27-29). We met Bo's dad at the end of his Europe tour so we got a few days off and took him to Ireland. We went to the Blarney Castle and I finally kissed the Blarney Stone! But I don't think i've been blessed with the gift of gab yet. Maybe it takes some time for it to kick in. We also went to Kinsale, a little fishing village about 40 minutes bus ride from Cork city centre. We took a scenic hike (with quite a few ups and downs) to Charlie's Fort, one of Ireland's heritage sites. My history is a bit rusty to non existent, but this is what I got from the guide... the fort is a star shaped fort that is mostly fortified on the side facing the sea. The side facing the land was the weak side since they do not expect to be attacked from that side. The walls are not as fortified and the fort is built on the bottom of the hill.
There was a bloody and only battle in 1690, where the enemy came from the side of the land, took 3 days to cannon through the shortest wall, and won. The English kept it mostly for training ground until they returned it to Ireland a long time later. Then the hippies moved in and got to party there for a few years until the Irish government decided to fix it up and make it into a heritage site.
On Wed at 7am, we caught the 7am bus from Cork to Dublin. It was a long 4 hr ride and we arrived in our room in Dublin at around noon. I started packing non-stop till 6:30pm. Bo had to run around city centre to finish off things and get a haircut, and show his dad around. I managed to pack the things that we want and have room to take. We had 3 huge luggage, 2 carry on size luggage, and a duffle bag. We checked in 4 bags and still had 3kg to spare from our 60 kg limit! We still have alot of stuff in Dublin, but i'm not sure if we will be able to get it. I'm going to miss my air filters and the 19-inch monitor...
On a sad note, Bo fried our rice cooker so now we don't have one. I really liked our one cause it does congee as well. They sell rice cookers in UK but it's mostly the basic ones that does rice only. The fancy ones like ours are a bit pricey here! =(
On a happy note, Vienna, here we come. We're going to Vienna from April 13-18, 2006. We're starting our holiday early this year and hopefully we will be able to travel more.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
I am an Independent Analyst
Independent Analyst
I saw this on Chir and Ev's blog. Kind of neat, but I think what it says about me isn't right. My report: http://www.personaldna.com/report.php?k=XJMEfnKPOJTnRdV-MD-AAACA-b96e&u=6eca39c70547
Well, maybe just a little correct... what do you think?
I've not tried the psych stuff, but if anyone is interested: http://personaldna.com/psychyou-psychme.php?for=3b8bcb78a063
Here's a link to the test if anyone is interested: http://www.personaldna.com/tests.php
I've fixed the link, so it should work...
Friday, February 24, 2006
Toronto...
We will spend a week in Toronto at Leanne's place. Technically, we'll be spending the week in Richmond Town and not Toronto since it's not part of Toronto. Poor Leanne had to put up with us for one whole week. Hopefully by the end of the week, we still have a friend left. =) She was up early everyday and prepared breakfast for us! She even made carrot muffins from scratch. We are so spoiled by her. She also works all the time. Even at midnight, she'll be working. Better be careful Leanne, or you'll be burned out!
We checked out Pacific Mall, North America's largest Asian mall. It was so unbelievably huge. It reminded us of large malls in China. Rows and Rows of little kitchen size shops, one after another. There's also a huge population of Chinese people in Toronto to support this types of places.
She has a housemate, but we've only seen him twice the entire time we were here (for 5 seconds). On the first day, we saw him leaving for work and coming back from work. Though I always hear him taking a shower in the morning. But we never saw him again, I almost forgot that Leanne even has a housemate!
Thursday we went to check out the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). It started at 8pm and ended at 10pm with a 10 minute intermission. The music was very pleasant and peaceful... so peaceful that Bo and I took a few 1 minute power naps. It was not at all boring but a whole week of non stop running around, doing errans and being a tourist, was very tiring! The concert was awesome and we would do it again. If anyone visits Toronto and likes this kind of stuff, then check out the TSO website and look up tsoundcheck. There's discount tickets for people under 30.
We celebrated Bo's birthday in Toronto with DQ. This was my banana split that I couldn't finish. Bo had a peanut buster parfet, that I couldn't photo cause he finished it all... Happy Birthday Bo!
We checked out Pacific Mall, North America's largest Asian mall. It was so unbelievably huge. It reminded us of large malls in China. Rows and Rows of little kitchen size shops, one after another. There's also a huge population of Chinese people in Toronto to support this types of places.
She has a housemate, but we've only seen him twice the entire time we were here (for 5 seconds). On the first day, we saw him leaving for work and coming back from work. Though I always hear him taking a shower in the morning. But we never saw him again, I almost forgot that Leanne even has a housemate!
Thursday we went to check out the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). It started at 8pm and ended at 10pm with a 10 minute intermission. The music was very pleasant and peaceful... so peaceful that Bo and I took a few 1 minute power naps. It was not at all boring but a whole week of non stop running around, doing errans and being a tourist, was very tiring! The concert was awesome and we would do it again. If anyone visits Toronto and likes this kind of stuff, then check out the TSO website and look up tsoundcheck. There's discount tickets for people under 30.
We took the Toronto street cars around downtown. They are very handy and there are lots of them. We wait an average of 0 to 2 minutes for a car. They are not traffic friendly though, cause they stop in the middle of the street and the cars can't pass if they are letting people off and on.
We ate at this Dumpling House for brunch twice cause it was a nice change from other kinds of food. They make the dumplings to order so they are extremely fresh. My aunt use to make them, and she can make them just as fast. Watching them is interesting. They can roll one out in seconds!
We celebrated Bo's birthday in Toronto with DQ. This was my banana split that I couldn't finish. Bo had a peanut buster parfet, that I couldn't photo cause he finished it all... Happy Birthday Bo!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Niagra Falls
We went to Niagra Falls on Tuesday, Feb 21 2006. The temperature has warmed up a tiny bit but we still found it to be quite cold. It was only about an hour drive from Toronto. Leanne gave us her casino membership swip card so that we can park at the casino parking lot for free, yeah. We walked along the Falls street and first saw the American falls. It was not what I had expected. But I think it's due to the fact that it's winter time and the sky was dark and ready to rain. Looking at the Canadian Horseshoe falls from a distance was not spectacular. There was alot of mist blowing towards us and we could barely see the thing. It was like a rain storm. But as we got close, the view got better. After about an hour, the sky started to clear up and we were able to see more of the falls. I managed to get this panoramic shot of the Canadian falls with my 2.0 mega pixel camera phone after the sky cleared and the wind changed.
Ottawa..
We were in Ottawa from Wednesday Feb 15, 2006 to Feb 18, 2006. We drove from Toronto and it took about 4 hrs to get to our Hotel in downtown. We didn't think that we would be renting a car, but a week of car rental was about the same as 2 return train tickets. Rental insurance is quite expensive, it was about 40% of the rental cost!
Our appointment with the British Embassy was at 10am on Thursday. This was the main reason of our visit. We were able to apply and get the Working Holiday Visa for UK within an hour. If we applied anywhere else in Canada, it would of taken 2 weeks because they would need to mail the application and required documents to this Ottawa British Embassy.
From Ottawa, we were a bridge away from Quebec, however, since the rental company gave us unlimited kilometers, we were only allowed to drive within Ontario. So we didn't drive into Quebec intentionally. Though, we did accidentally drive through the bridge. So we were there for 2 minutes. If we didn't op for unlimited KM, then we would have needed to pay for each KM over 1200 KM driven. When we returned to car we put on a bit over 1350KM...
The winter festival was also on when we were there. We decided to take a bus over to Gatineau, Quebec. There was a snow scupture competition, it was part of the winter festival. It was a nice 10 minute bus ride. It was so cold and we were so unprepared for the weather, we didn't stay very long. But still long enough to slide down some the slides made from ice. Good thing they built a tent for people to warm up. We were in there half of the time. I ordered a cup of hot chocolate in English and they replied in French.
Being in Ottawa, I finally feel the bilingualism at work. When I walked into the Body Shop, a sales girl first asked "Do you need any help?" then she switched to French and ask me the same question. I'm starting to wonder if the people from the east would think that we (people from the west) are less Canadian because so many of us do not speak French. Do we need to know both English and French to be a true Canadian?
All the pictures posted were taken by my phone camera.
The next day after arriving in Ottawa, we woke up to a frozen city. Our car is covered with a 1 inch layer of ice. The antenna was completely encased in ice. When we left UK, we anticipated a temperature of -4 degrees. It was close to -30 that day and the next few days did not warm up either.
I don't think we've had anything this bad in Calgary before. The windshield wipers were buried in the ice. It took about 10 minutes to chip the ice off them windshield and windows. The ice on the hood didn't come off until we went into a roofed parking lot a day later. The trunk was all iced up and we were only able to use it after arriving a few days back in Toronto. Luckily, we filled up right after arriving in Ottawa, before the rain/snow storm...
This is a model of downtown Ottawa in the Tourist Info Centre.
It was extremely cold outside. The is Parliament Hill, taken from the inside of the Ottawa Tourist Info Centre. We went for a guided tour of the Parliament building. It was quite good. We were thinking about skating on the Rideau canal, known in the Guinness book of records as the longest piece of ice to skate on. However, the temperature was just way too cold. We couldn't even stand walking outside for a few minutes. Skating a round trip on the Rideau Canal takes an average of 1.5 hrs.
Our appointment with the British Embassy was at 10am on Thursday. This was the main reason of our visit. We were able to apply and get the Working Holiday Visa for UK within an hour. If we applied anywhere else in Canada, it would of taken 2 weeks because they would need to mail the application and required documents to this Ottawa British Embassy.
From Ottawa, we were a bridge away from Quebec, however, since the rental company gave us unlimited kilometers, we were only allowed to drive within Ontario. So we didn't drive into Quebec intentionally. Though, we did accidentally drive through the bridge. So we were there for 2 minutes. If we didn't op for unlimited KM, then we would have needed to pay for each KM over 1200 KM driven. When we returned to car we put on a bit over 1350KM...
The winter festival was also on when we were there. We decided to take a bus over to Gatineau, Quebec. There was a snow scupture competition, it was part of the winter festival. It was a nice 10 minute bus ride. It was so cold and we were so unprepared for the weather, we didn't stay very long. But still long enough to slide down some the slides made from ice. Good thing they built a tent for people to warm up. We were in there half of the time. I ordered a cup of hot chocolate in English and they replied in French.
Being in Ottawa, I finally feel the bilingualism at work. When I walked into the Body Shop, a sales girl first asked "Do you need any help?" then she switched to French and ask me the same question. I'm starting to wonder if the people from the east would think that we (people from the west) are less Canadian because so many of us do not speak French. Do we need to know both English and French to be a true Canadian?
All the pictures posted were taken by my phone camera.
The next day after arriving in Ottawa, we woke up to a frozen city. Our car is covered with a 1 inch layer of ice. The antenna was completely encased in ice. When we left UK, we anticipated a temperature of -4 degrees. It was close to -30 that day and the next few days did not warm up either.
I don't think we've had anything this bad in Calgary before. The windshield wipers were buried in the ice. It took about 10 minutes to chip the ice off them windshield and windows. The ice on the hood didn't come off until we went into a roofed parking lot a day later. The trunk was all iced up and we were only able to use it after arriving a few days back in Toronto. Luckily, we filled up right after arriving in Ottawa, before the rain/snow storm...
This is a model of downtown Ottawa in the Tourist Info Centre.It was extremely cold outside. The is Parliament Hill, taken from the inside of the Ottawa Tourist Info Centre. We went for a guided tour of the Parliament building. It was quite good. We were thinking about skating on the Rideau canal, known in the Guinness book of records as the longest piece of ice to skate on. However, the temperature was just way too cold. We couldn't even stand walking outside for a few minutes. Skating a round trip on the Rideau Canal takes an average of 1.5 hrs.
Monday, February 20, 2006
My Little Canadian Moose
This is my Canadian moose that I brought along for this trip, and called it Moose (Pronounced as Moo-Cee) Also got myself a new phone (Sony w800i) that I will be using to take pictures to post on the blog. There aren't any new pictures posted on our site cause I forgot the password to upload to it and we haven't contacted them for it yet.
Moose, getting the royal treatment in the GreyHound Inn.
Bo is studying Microsoft .NET stuff, he wants to be Microsoft Certified. Moose is there to encourage him.
Moose, watches Legally Blonde 2 with us.
Moose is learning how to drive in our Clio. The company provided us with a rental car for a few weeks. When it was delivered to us, it had about 13 miles on it. So I were lucky enough to get a brand new car. By the time we returned it (about 3 weeks later), there was over 2000 miles on it!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Subways (not the sandwich!)
The Toronto Subway system can be inefficient. We bought day passes, but we couldn't get into the subway station cause we had to wait in a (sometimes a huge) single lineup with people that need to purchase tickets. The booth with the person selling the subway tickets is the same booth as the one we need to show our day passes too. Can you say, bottleneck! Arg, I can't believe this is happening in a city like Toronto. But at least the trains are frequent enough. The streetcars are nice and they come very frequent as well. I must say that Calgary has a better system set up for leaving and entering the LRT/subway platform. The frequencies are a different story.
However, the London and Hong Kong subways are the best in my books. I especially liked the Hong Kong subways since they have pretty LED lights that display the exact location and direction that the subway is traveling to. The London Oyster cards and Hong Kong Octopus cards also makes entering and leaving the subways easier and faster. In Hong Kong, the octopus card can also be used in some 7 elevens!
However, the London and Hong Kong subways are the best in my books. I especially liked the Hong Kong subways since they have pretty LED lights that display the exact location and direction that the subway is traveling to. The London Oyster cards and Hong Kong Octopus cards also makes entering and leaving the subways easier and faster. In Hong Kong, the octopus card can also be used in some 7 elevens!
Friday, February 17, 2006
Leaving (again) on a jet plane...
We left UK on Tues, Feb 14 in the afternoon and arrived in Toronto in the evening (how romantic!) Why are we here you ask... Well, it turned out that the company did not get us a visa and we couldn't get a UK Visa ourselves while we were in the UK. We could have gotten an Irish Visa, but the process would take 3 months (way too long) So we're now back in Canada. It takes about 2 weeks to get it processed by the British Embassy in Canada unless we make an appointment and go to the Ottawa embassy in person. So hence, we are now in Ottawa. Leanne picked us up in the airport and we stayed at her place for a night. Then we rented a car for a week and drove to Ottawa on Wed. We booked the Comfort Inn Downtown for 3 nights. Oh my, the room and bed was so big! We've been in Europe for too long. Everything there is so small! We went to the Ottawa embassy on Thursday morning and by noon, we're holding our UK working visa (valid for one year working and two year stay in the UK) Just a quick update for now, more on this later...
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
St Albans and Brighton
On Sat Feb 4, we went to St Albans (a town about 20 miles drive away) in the afternoon and visited the oldest cathedral in UK. It was a grand cathedral. I saw memorials there dated back to the 13th century. The market was also open today. There were many little stalls selling various goods, from scarves to fruit. We stayed in St Albans for three hours then drove to Edgeware (in the Greater London area, which was another 15 miles away) and visited the Oriental City Mall. There were a couple of Chinese restaurants, a big Oriental grocery store like T&T and loads of oriental food stalls. We ordered alot of great tasting food.
On Sun Feb 5, we set off to Brighton in the afternoon. It was about 40 miles from Tring. It took about 1.5hrs to get there. The traffic in Brighton town was quite busy and it was almost impossible to find parking on the streets. Even when we pulled into a paid mall parking lot, there were many cars in front and behind us looking for parking. In Brighton, we walked over to the Sea front and enjoyed some English Fish and Chips, and a fresh red mullet sandwich. This beach didn't have any sand though, just loads of small rocks. I think this water is the English Channel? I need an atlas.
On Sun Feb 5, we set off to Brighton in the afternoon. It was about 40 miles from Tring. It took about 1.5hrs to get there. The traffic in Brighton town was quite busy and it was almost impossible to find parking on the streets. Even when we pulled into a paid mall parking lot, there were many cars in front and behind us looking for parking. In Brighton, we walked over to the Sea front and enjoyed some English Fish and Chips, and a fresh red mullet sandwich. This beach didn't have any sand though, just loads of small rocks. I think this water is the English Channel? I need an atlas.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Happy Chinese New Year...
We did manage to utilize the rental car. We drove to Windsor on Sat Jan 28. It took about an hour to get there. We went into Eton and checked out the place where both Prince William and Harry went to school. We also visited the Windsor Castle. I think it's the official residence of the Queen. She wasn't home though. The castle was huge, but we were only allowed to visit a section of it. Pictures to come.
Happy Chinese New Years to everyone. On Sun Jan 29, we took the train into London to celebrate New Years. It was about a 45 minutes ride into central London. The streets in Chinatown, Leister Square and in Trafalgar Square were flooded with people. There were just as many westerners there as Asians. There were dragon dances, lion dances, Chinese opera, martial arts performances, firecracker and fire works display... When we were lining up for food at one of the restaurants (there were line ups in all the restaurants) we caught the lion dance right in front of us. It was going around to the restaurants to 'Capture the Green'. The 'Green' is usually a lettuce with a red pocket, tied to the front entrance of the restaurant. The lion is suppose to dance around and 'Capture' the lettuce in it's mouth, chew up the lettuce and spit some of the pieces out. (The lion dancer gets to keep the red pocket) I took some video clips of the lion dance on my new Sony Erickson w800i mobile. I'll try to post them.
I also bumped into Adrian in Trafalgar Square. He was part of my team in my Marketing class at UC. Apparently, he’s been here since September 2005 and is working in UK for year. What a small world…
Happy Chinese New Years to everyone. On Sun Jan 29, we took the train into London to celebrate New Years. It was about a 45 minutes ride into central London. The streets in Chinatown, Leister Square and in Trafalgar Square were flooded with people. There were just as many westerners there as Asians. There were dragon dances, lion dances, Chinese opera, martial arts performances, firecracker and fire works display... When we were lining up for food at one of the restaurants (there were line ups in all the restaurants) we caught the lion dance right in front of us. It was going around to the restaurants to 'Capture the Green'. The 'Green' is usually a lettuce with a red pocket, tied to the front entrance of the restaurant. The lion is suppose to dance around and 'Capture' the lettuce in it's mouth, chew up the lettuce and spit some of the pieces out. (The lion dancer gets to keep the red pocket) I took some video clips of the lion dance on my new Sony Erickson w800i mobile. I'll try to post them.
I also bumped into Adrian in Trafalgar Square. He was part of my team in my Marketing class at UC. Apparently, he’s been here since September 2005 and is working in UK for year. What a small world…
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
In UK for how long?
We flew to London Heathrow on the evening of Jan 16. I was suppose to start work on Monday but I was still not feeling well. The company booked us into a little Inn called the GreyHound (1hr from Heathrow). It really sucks to be at an inn without a kitchen when I'm sick. I couldn't make anything to eat! Bo had to do food runs for me. Luckily, the company provided us with a car (for the time being) so Bo didn't really have to 'run' anywhere. It took a while for me to finally recover from my second flu. Initially we were only going to be in the UK for a week or two. After some personnel re-shuffling, and changes to the project specs, we may be staying for a few months. Arg, all our stuff are in Dublin and we've accumulated quite a collection. Now we're starting over and living out of our suitcases again.
We're currently working in Tring, a little town about 1hr drive to Greater London. There's nothing here in terms of entertainment, not even a bowling alley or a cinema. There's no sit down Chinese restaurants, but there are a few Chinese Take-Out places. We've been having alot of those lately. The company gave us till the end of Feb to find our own accommodations and transportation. Things are slowing falling into place, until we found out that the company has not gotten us our visa and they don't know how to get them. So now we are in la la land. Apparently, we need to go back to Canada to apply for one. We're finding out if we can get an Irish one for the time being. We'll see what happens. On top of that, my laptop, which I’m using for development, recently died on me. Luckily, it was still under warranty. We got it sent in and it *should* be fixed in a week. The company did provide me with a machine, but it only had 256MB RAM. It was extremely slow to develop on that machine. Especially when i'm running Windows XP, VS.NET, Server 2000, IE, ... and have lots of pages open. After pointing out the lack of memory, it finally got upgraded to 512MB RAM. I miss my laptop, it was *MUCH* faster! How frustrating!
We're currently working in Tring, a little town about 1hr drive to Greater London. There's nothing here in terms of entertainment, not even a bowling alley or a cinema. There's no sit down Chinese restaurants, but there are a few Chinese Take-Out places. We've been having alot of those lately. The company gave us till the end of Feb to find our own accommodations and transportation. Things are slowing falling into place, until we found out that the company has not gotten us our visa and they don't know how to get them. So now we are in la la land. Apparently, we need to go back to Canada to apply for one. We're finding out if we can get an Irish one for the time being. We'll see what happens. On top of that, my laptop, which I’m using for development, recently died on me. Luckily, it was still under warranty. We got it sent in and it *should* be fixed in a week. The company did provide me with a machine, but it only had 256MB RAM. It was extremely slow to develop on that machine. Especially when i'm running Windows XP, VS.NET, Server 2000, IE, ... and have lots of pages open. After pointing out the lack of memory, it finally got upgraded to 512MB RAM. I miss my laptop, it was *MUCH* faster! How frustrating!
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Home Sweet Home
We went back to Canada on Dec 19. We first flew 3 hrs to Frankfurt and waited there for 4 hrs, then flew another 9 hrs to Calgary. While waiting at Frankfurt, we went to McDonalds in the airport and also there were a parent with his two kids (waiting for their flight to Calgary too) They had to wait 12 hrs to make their connection. He manage to entertain his kids by encouraging them to play the McDonalds Monopoly game by collecting stickers from people who ate at McDonalds. They managed to almost fill up the monopoly board. They were only missing one sticker for each property. They had many small prizes; they gave us a free cappuccino and ice cream cone sticker. With the remaining stickers, they covered up an entire medium pop cup and an entire coffee cup. The flight from Frankfurt to Calgary was 9 hrs, but it didn't feel that long, I slept quite a bit. We arrived in Calgary at around 5pm.
At first, I thought that I was going to stay in Calgary, but three weeks ago, I started a contract(same company as Bo) so now, I'm just coming back for Christmas. Bo will be staying for 2 weeks before heading back to Dublin to finish off his contract. I'll be staying for 3 weeks.
The first evening back, I was so excited to be home. Bo's parents came to pick us up from the airport, and dropped me off home, where Mom was waiting for me to arrive. We chatted for a bit, then she took me to T&T.
The next week was filled with having Dim Sum, lunch and dinner with family and friends. Then Bo caught the flu. I suspect that he got it from Geoff at Sandi's party. I've heard quite a few people from the party fell ill sometime afterwards. So we didn't go on any snowboarding trips. Then a few days later, I caught the flu from Bo. Arg. I was disappointed that I got sick. I didn't go anywhere for almost a week. Bo left Calgary on Jan 3rd, he's almost recovered by then. Luckily, I felt alot better during the last few days before I left, so I managed to meet up with a few friends. By the time I left, I was feeling alot better. But I felt quite sad, cause I didn't want to leave.
I left on Jan 11, on an 8pm flight and arrive the next day at Dublin at 5pm. My connection flight from London Heathrow was delayed for about an hour. I was so tired by then, I almost fell asleep on the chair. Apparently, the BMI plane had an oil leak so they had to get another plane ready.
What happen the next day was unbelievable, I got sick again with another flu. Had a fever for a few days and at one point, had a temperature of up to 39.9, I was HOT! We went to the Emergency and Accident at the hospital cause the clinics were closed at 9pm, but we left after not being seen for a few hours. Bo called the Alberta Health Link for information. Then he got me some Benylin for Flu 4, and I felt alot better after taking that. We were scheduled to fly to London (for work) on Sunday but I still felt horrible, so we changed our tickets to Monday instead...
At first, I thought that I was going to stay in Calgary, but three weeks ago, I started a contract(same company as Bo) so now, I'm just coming back for Christmas. Bo will be staying for 2 weeks before heading back to Dublin to finish off his contract. I'll be staying for 3 weeks.
The first evening back, I was so excited to be home. Bo's parents came to pick us up from the airport, and dropped me off home, where Mom was waiting for me to arrive. We chatted for a bit, then she took me to T&T.
The next week was filled with having Dim Sum, lunch and dinner with family and friends. Then Bo caught the flu. I suspect that he got it from Geoff at Sandi's party. I've heard quite a few people from the party fell ill sometime afterwards. So we didn't go on any snowboarding trips. Then a few days later, I caught the flu from Bo. Arg. I was disappointed that I got sick. I didn't go anywhere for almost a week. Bo left Calgary on Jan 3rd, he's almost recovered by then. Luckily, I felt alot better during the last few days before I left, so I managed to meet up with a few friends. By the time I left, I was feeling alot better. But I felt quite sad, cause I didn't want to leave.
I left on Jan 11, on an 8pm flight and arrive the next day at Dublin at 5pm. My connection flight from London Heathrow was delayed for about an hour. I was so tired by then, I almost fell asleep on the chair. Apparently, the BMI plane had an oil leak so they had to get another plane ready.
What happen the next day was unbelievable, I got sick again with another flu. Had a fever for a few days and at one point, had a temperature of up to 39.9, I was HOT! We went to the Emergency and Accident at the hospital cause the clinics were closed at 9pm, but we left after not being seen for a few hours. Bo called the Alberta Health Link for information. Then he got me some Benylin for Flu 4, and I felt alot better after taking that. We were scheduled to fly to London (for work) on Sunday but I still felt horrible, so we changed our tickets to Monday instead...
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