Light bulb...

This is quite funny... but gets a little tired til the end.

From Jokes.com

"How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb?

Such number as may be deemed necessary to perform the stated task in a timely and efficient manner within the strictures of the following agreement. Whereas the party of the first part, also known as 'the lawyers' and the party of the second part, also known as 'the light bulb' do hereby agree to a transaction wherein the party of the second part (light bulb) shall be removed from the current position as a result of failure to perform previously agreed upon duties, i.e. the lighting, elucidation, and otherwise illumination of the area ranging from the front (North) door, through the entryway, terminating at an area just through the primary living area, demarcated by the beginning of the carpet, any spillover illumination being at the option of the party of the second part (light bulb) and not required by the aforementioned agreement between the parties. The aforementioned removal transaction shall include, but not be limited to, the following steps:

1. The party of the first part (lawyer) shall, with or without elevation at his option, by means of a chair, step stool, ladder or any other means of elevation, grasp the party of the second part (light bulb) and rotate the party of the second part (light bulb) in a counter clockwise direction, said direction being non-negotiable. Said grasping and rotation of the party of the second part (light bulb) shall be undertaken by the party of the first part (lawyer) to maintain the structural integrity of the party of the second part (light bulb), notwithstanding the aforementioned failure of the party of the second part (light bulb) to perform the customary and agreed upon duties. The foregoing notwithstanding, however, both parties stipulate that structural failure of the party of the second part (light bulb) may be incidental to the aforementioned failure to perform and in such case the party of the first part (lawyer) shall be held blameless for such structural failure insofar as the non-negotiable directional codicil (counter-clockwise) is observed by the party of the first part (lawyer) throughout.

2. Upon reaching a point where the party of the second part (light bulb) becomes separated from the party of the third part ('receptacle'), the party of the first part shall have the option of disposing of the party of the second part (light bulb) in a manner consistent with all applicable state, local, and federal statutes.

3. Once separation and disposal have been achieved, the party of the first part (lawyer) shall have the option of beginning the installation of the party of the fourth part ('new light bulb'). This installation shall occur in a manner consistent with the reverse procedures described in step one of this self same document, being careful to note that the rotation should occur in a clockwise direction, said direction also being non-negotiable and only until the party of the fourth part (new light bulb) becomes snug in the party of the third part (receptacle) and in fact becomes the party of the second part (light bulb).Note: The above described steps may be performed, at the option of the party of the first part (lawyer), by said party of the first part (lawyer), or by his or her heirs and assigns, or by any and all persons authorized by him or her to do so the objective being to produce a level of illumination in the immediate vicinity of the aforementioned front (North) door consistent with maximisation of ingress and revenue for the party of the fifth part, also known as 'The Firm'."

The Year of the Ox

Happy Chinese New Year! May the Year of Ox will be a Bullish Year to all!

So, Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday for Chinese all around the world. It's the time where families get together, especially for families with members scatter everywhere. Because of the timing of Lunar New Year, normally in late January - late February, which coincides with regular school year in the States, I hadn't been celebrating it with my family. Even though it did coincide with Spring Break at University of Michigan a few years back, the length and cost of the trip made the traveling home for CNY almost impossible (traveling 50-60 hours for a 7-day trip).

Thus, prior to this trip, my last CNY spent with my family was back in 2004. To finally see my relatives after such a long separation was indeed interesting. My cousins, the younger ones, have grown so much; the older ones, well, are 'aging' well. The uncles and aunts, are still so well, uncles and aunts.

Meeting up with high school and college friends are interesting too. So far, I've had one meeting with 3 friends from UMich - Jin Ye, Ren Jie and Safiyyah (still looking forward to our second, bigger meeting this Thursday) and one meeting a bunch of primary & high school friends - too many to list everyone here (another one on Friday). It's interesting how everyone is now doing different things in different places, yet, all it takes is some good old memories to have us all sharing a good laugh again.

Good times...

Did I mention Malaysian food? Well. I've been stuffed every meal and I will be surprised if I didn't gain 5-10 pounds in the 2 weeks I'm home. It's rather unfair for them to use the same sentence to persuade me to finish the leftover of any dishes all the time - "You can't get the same thing in the States." And the hot weather is not helping - I can't go for a good jog under this 30+ degree weather. (Tremayne - take note, it's in Celcius!!!)

So, it's been a great trip home so far. Can't imagine how i'll survive the trip home and then work. Pretty sure I'll be buried under work for a few weeks to come. Happy New Year!

At last...

After a long journey, I'm finally home. So, I left Boston Logan International Airport at 8am on Friday, Jan 16th.
1st Flight to Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport.
2nd Flight to Narita/Japan International Airport. That's a killer long-haul, close to 13 hours. Left there at 1pm on Friday, Jan 16th.
3rd Flight to Singapore, Changi International Airport. That's the other long one, about 8 hours. Left there at 6.45am on Sunday, Jan 18th. (Saturday was lost in the flight, and in the 13 time zone difference).
4th Flight to KLIA. That's the most ridiculous one, considering the actual flight time was less than 30 minutes. And I waited 6 hours for this flight. Seriously, someone need to introduce a flight between Singapore and KL at 2 in the morning. Looking at the number of people who spent the night in the airport, I bet there's a market for this flight.
Oh yeah, total number of cups of coffee over the entire trip - 5.


Now, more about these flights themselves. First off, Northwest Airlines had a bad reputation when it comes to international flights, and they live up to their reputation. Just to be diplomatic, I should start with something good about Northwest to say. All the flights were actually on time, if not earlier that schedule. Kudos to them on that. BUT, I seriously would rather pay the couple hundred bucks more for, a VOD screen - they didn't have it for the Trans-Pacific flight. And, 2nd, and probably the bigger problem is, they charge for booze. Double no-no. As I can't sleep on the plane, even though I was dead tired (I thought that by pulling an all nighter before the flight will strain me enough to knock me off on the plane - note to self - bad idea). So, even without sleep for the last 27 hours prior to taking my first flight, and through all the series of flight, I might have gotten a total of 5 hours of sleep out of the past 48 hours. Bad...

Next on to the flight food. I didn't expect much to begin with, and they didn't disappoint or amaze me either. At least, they didn't try to achieve too much and fall flat on their face. They just prepare the simplest and blandest food, to provide the carbs one need to survive and be contented about it.

And, need to end on a positive note. Per previously mentioned, there are many challenges that Northwest can work on to improve the quality of their service, they did try to cover all the bases, by meeting all the needs one need to survive the trip. The constant offering of liquids is really a plus. Too bad I was sitting in the middle seat and didn't dare to hydrate myself too much, or I will have to trouble the person sitting next to me to give way everytime I need to go. Another surprising thing was, there weren't any crying babies that chalk up more points for me to consider being a bachelor for life on the plane. So, good job, mommies, or should I be thankful to the babies instead. Or maybe the inventor of the baby pacifier.

So, without a VOD screen for 13 hours, and not able to sleep, I had to resort to my plan B.
Now, I'm pretty confident in solving a Rubik's cube. Just need to fine tune my skills more and be more efficient with my algorithms and I should be able to move on to the 4X4X4 cube.

I read few more pages of the book.

I read a paper on Exposure Bases by Bouska. (Study material for exam 5).

And I solved few more sudokus on my Nintendo DS.

Last but not least...
Food... Malaysia, foodie's paraside. So, my parents and brother Gary picked me up from the airport, and we went to have dim sum for brunch, even before I went home. After that, in the afternoon, I sampled some durian, and for dinner, had Bak Kut Teh. A pretty solid line-up for a first day, and definitely not for the faint-hearted.

And with that, the menu for the next 2 days were already planned. Breakfast - Nasi Lemak, Lunch - paper-wrapped chicken and yong taufoo, Dinner - somewhere in Kajang (not gonna be satay though)...

Nothing has changed much back home. It still gives me the welcoming feeling and, not sure if I was that exhausted or what, but, I had no problem falling asleep in my room at all. And 1 thing is definitely real, the 80+ degree weather (Fahrenheit) is real.

Flying home...

After a long 2 years and 5 months, I'm flying home again. Come to think about it, this might be the longest time i've been away from home.

Well well well... Can't wait to see what's different and what's still the same. :-)

It's a long journey though. But, I'm prepared. With a book, a couple papers (study material for exam 5), a 3X3 Rubik's cube, Nintendo DS and my iPod shuffle (my 3.5 year old iPod died a couple weeks ago).

Gift and giftcards...

So, gift giving is a big part of Christmas. Well, at least it seems like it with all the retailers' marketing plot. Since it's only normal to both give and take, there's this chinese saying - li shang wang lai, lai er bu wang, fei li ye? - Translation - To give and receive; if it's only to receive, then, it's rude/impolite... Wow, that rather awkward, but, you get the gist of it.

So, for my trip to Richmond for Christmas, these are the presents. Not bad wrapping huh?

So, back to gift giving. I still remember it's never easy to buy a gift for a person. Those nightmarish trips to the store, trying to buy a birthday gift for friends. It's funny that it's harder to get a gift to the person that you are closer to. Guess is, the closer you are to a person, you have more data to cipher through to get to the perfect gift.

So, the kind-hearted retailers save consumers a ton of time by having gift cards!!!
Gift cards are great!!! Because all you need to know is whether your friends shop at that retail at all. So, say, if he/she drinks coffee, Starbucks giftcard and you are set. (Or maybe Dunkin' Donuts, especially if you are in MA.) If he/she buys electronics or play console/computer games, then Bestbuy. If he/she reads, then, there's Barnes and Noble, Borders, and even Booksamillion. The list can go on and on. So, the picture above shows all the gift cards that I have. Other than Exxon Mobil cash card (got that from my credit card reward points instead), I received all the others as gifts or prizes. So, anti-clockwise - Dunkin' Donuts, Olive Garden, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, Bestbuy, Exxon Mobil and Booksamillion.

So, what's better than gift cards?

CASH!!! That's how the Chinese do it. No wrapping like you need to wrap presents (I don't consider putting cash into red envelopes and wrapping), No special retail store to redeem your gift card, just cold hard cash. People might say that's not as sincere as choosing the perfect gift. My defense - cash teaches one to manage his/her money. And, with the money, he/she can definitely buy the perfect gift.

D-5... Will be back home for Lunar New Year for 2 weeks!!!

Christmas and New Year break!

So, I spent Christmas and New Year (because of the inclement weather) in Richmond, VA. The drive down was the usual, mostly smooth until I hit Northern Virginia. I tried using alternative route instead of I-95, but it was still bad. I drove down on Christmas eve, and I guess many people are out for last minute shopping (as the alternative route passed by some strip malls and I saw that all the parking lots were packed.) So, it took me a good 11.5 hours to reach my cousin's place. Started the journey at 6.45am It was snowing/raining when I left my apartment.

As I spent Christmas in Richmond as well last year, but, because I was flying (no luggage room for gifts), and I was still a poor college student, I didn't buy any gifts last time. So, I did sorta double up this year. It was actually kinda fun to Christmas shop. Trying to pair gifts to my cousin, her husband, my niece and all really tested my memory. It got me trying to recall our conversations, my observations from my last few visits and trying to figure out what they will like. It's not so much about the price of it, because they can definitely afford most of the stuff they want, it's more like putting in time and effort to find the perfect gift. This may sound cliche, but, it's the thought that counts. So, after few trips to different malls/shops a couple weeks before Christmas, I finally got all the presents and even wrapped them nicely the weekend before.

As always, my visits to Richmond are always filled with food and drinks. Couple that with festive seasons really spell more food and more wine. Knowing that, I actually bought a case of wine down. (3 of us actually put a huge dent to that case of wine over the break.) So, for Christmas, there's turkey and lamb, then, all the eating out -> Sushi, and then, the visit to Harrisonburg to celebrate my cousin's mother-in-law birthday, there's ham and more... I did manage to put in a run with my cousin-in-law.

So, as my niece loves drawing and crafts, i bought her a colossal craft kit sets, with glass stone painting, friendship bracelet kit, sock puppet kit, stone painting kit and clay shaping kit. I actually can't believe I have some 'touch' in glass stone painting. :-)

Last year, I saw my very first Barbie movie. Well, lightnight struck twice. I saw another one this year. I got to admit that it wasn't as bad as I first imagined. It's actually an adaptation of the play 'A Christmas Carol'. For those who know the play, I was wondering how they actually adapt such a classic play into 'Barbie'ish. I actually saw the play live a week back at the Hanover theater, and then, another one on TV few days ago. It's kinda weird as I had never heard of it, let alone see it before that, and then, in a short span of less than 2 weeks, I've had seen 3 versions of it.

What else? Oh yeah, the new tinkerbell movie, also, Mamma Mia! the movie on dvd.

At first, I was thinking about leaving for MA again on the 30th, but I wasn't feeling too good. I guess it was because of the excessive merrymaking (reads wine drinking) and Rummikub from the night before. So, I postponed my trip to the 31st, not knowing that there was a snow storm brewing in New England. So, I found out about the snow storm warning on 30th afternoon. That's when I decided to spend New Year in Richmond. Well, it was all good. On New Year Eve night, after watching Mamma Mia!, it was about 11ish. Did the Countdown thing in front of the tv, bad champagne (a Chandon - lovely, not too dry) and strawberry to celebrate the new year! May the New Year of 2009 be a better year for all.

Woke up the next morning early to load up my car and all. After breakfast and a little waiting, I hit the road at 10.30am. The traffic was light all the way from Richmond, VA to Shrewsbury, MA. I stopped twice, for food and fuel. And with 30 minutes of stopping, I managed to cover 520 miles in 8 hours (including the stops), putting me traveling at an average speed of 65 mph, or if just average speed of moving, closer to 69 mph.... shhh....!!!

Also, last weekend, I bought a luggage sets and other stuff to start preparing for the trip home. I'm so excited!!! Finally going home again since Aug 2006. And finally be able to celebrate CNY back home (since 2004). Guess things might get a little awkward, but definitely gonna be some good time.

pictures? having hard time with firefox lately... guess i really need to restart it after updating... will try to get few up here...

New Year Resolutions?
I actually do have a few on my list. But, nope, I'm not sharing them here.

Happy New Year!!!

I find this kinda funny...

"From Jokes.com

Fortune Cookie says...

-- Passionate kiss like spider's web. Soon lead to undoing of fly.

-- Virginity like bubble. One prick, all gone.

-- Man who run in front of car get tired.

-- Man who run behind car get exhausted.

-- Foolish man give wife grand piano. Wise man give wife upright organ.

-- Man who walk thru airport turnstile sideways going to Bangkok.

-- Man with one chopstick go hungry.

-- Man who scratches butt should not bite fingernails.

-- Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.

-- Baseball is wrong -- man with four balls cannot walk.

-- War doesn't determine who is right. War determines who is left.

-- Wife who put husband in doghouse soon find him in cathouse.

"