On the lighter note ramblings ... mid July 09
On a lighter note, it has been a more relaxed week. No preaching this Sunday and with no Wednesday Home group or Thursday night games I had two extra night frees.
Wednesday was Jennifer's birthday so I cooked her favourite dish - Hokkien Mee (black version with large noodles - not the "Har Meen" version). First time I cooked it too and it turned out great. I wisely had four packets of noodles and divided all my ingredients into four so I could cook it a batch at a time. It's always nicer when the portions are smaller so they mix and blend well. Also I can taste the subtle differences with each batch and adjust and learn from any mistakes of the previous batch. I forgot to take a picture of it. Will do next time. Pretty fast too except for the early stage when I made my "chee yau char". Had to cook on low heat for quite a while to get it really crispy and not burnt. Mmmmm.....
Found an old friend, Andre on facebook ... but not only due to another old friend letting me know they met up and he was looking for me and was on facebook. Haven't seen Andre in probably more than 20 years .. perhaps 25 years. We were good buddies in lower secondary school and then after his Form 3 he left for the USA (and he is still there and from what I have found out a very successful person on the technology industry). What was more exciting for me is to find out about his strong commitment to Christ.
Bought 4 more plastic crates (sale on again ... getting to be like Malaysia where there is a sale very other week!) But here the sales are genuine not marked up and reduced to make it look like a sale. Anyway the crates are to help me slowly reorganize my pile of books in the office. In December last year I bought 6 small shelves (the screw on the sides type) and 2 plastic crates but that was insufficient. A few months back I bought 4 more crates but that was still insufficient and messy. Hopefully I will be able to organize my books and resources little better over the next month or so (slow and steady when I need a break from heavy brain work). Thank God for a large office!!
Took yesterday off to spend some time with my youngest son. Ended up doing some visi
tation in the morning while my boys were having their hair cuts. Finally! The look so messy. If they were in Malaysia, the prefects would have given them a crew cut :-) But after that we went to see a movie. Not the latest Harry Potter movie as I promised my wife I would see that with her. We went to see Transformers 2: The Revenge of the Fallen. The movie plot was pretty pathetic ... but I expected it. After all it started off as a toy! But the special effects was nice. Amazing what today's computer graphic programmes can do.
After the movie I got myself an early Christmas present. I have been wanting this item for over 2 years now. Every year I talk about it quite a bit and say "that is what i want to buy for my Christmas present" but the last 2 Christmas periods I could not bring myself to spend the money and
kept saying "let's see if the price drops to under $300 first." It reached $299 and I still thought that was too high. It dropped to $269 with a free 2009 upgrade so I finally decided to splurge on it.... I got a Navman GPS for my car - the classic S35 series (the cheapest model but I like it very much). Tried it out driving to work today. Not that I needed directions but to get used to the feel. Nice :-) Will be trying it out again tonight as I pick up 2 different people in 2 different areas for a Home group meeting.
And we also bought a new pair of sports shoes each. $18 each. Pity my son (not really! LOL) but I refused to buy the $30-40 shoes. He had to experience again how his "strange" father shops. I saw the ad for a sale of $18 shoes at K-Mart. So I cut out the ad from the flyer and stuck it in my jacket pocket. Then I enter the shop and ahead straight for the $18 items, choose a pair, try it on and then head out the shop. I will not even consider the other shoes of a higher prize range. Told him that he either got a $18 pair on me or he could save up and buy a more expensive pair. Smart boy got a free pair of shoes. :-)
It's so nice too that Prime network is showing ENTERPRISE on TV. Discovered it by accident one afternoon. Now the VCD recorder is set on timer every afternoon to record the episodes. I was watching it on Malaysian TV until it suddenly got discontinued. Now I get to watch what I missed.
Last week I saw the final episode of Battlestar Gallactica. A little frustrated as I set the timer for an hour's show not realising it was a 2 hour finale. My wife realised this too late for me and so I saw the first hour, missed half an hour and caught the last half an hour. The ending was pretty anti climatic for me. I think missing a huge chunk contributed to it. :-(
Rest of today looks relaxed and fun. Basically working on preparing new Bible study materials for a home group and youth group. It is nice to be a little ahead of time.
Wednesday was Jennifer's birthday so I cooked her favourite dish - Hokkien Mee (black version with large noodles - not the "Har Meen" version). First time I cooked it too and it turned out great. I wisely had four packets of noodles and divided all my ingredients into four so I could cook it a batch at a time. It's always nicer when the portions are smaller so they mix and blend well. Also I can taste the subtle differences with each batch and adjust and learn from any mistakes of the previous batch. I forgot to take a picture of it. Will do next time. Pretty fast too except for the early stage when I made my "chee yau char". Had to cook on low heat for quite a while to get it really crispy and not burnt. Mmmmm.....
Found an old friend, Andre on facebook ... but not only due to another old friend letting me know they met up and he was looking for me and was on facebook. Haven't seen Andre in probably more than 20 years .. perhaps 25 years. We were good buddies in lower secondary school and then after his Form 3 he left for the USA (and he is still there and from what I have found out a very successful person on the technology industry). What was more exciting for me is to find out about his strong commitment to Christ.
Bought 4 more plastic crates (sale on again ... getting to be like Malaysia where there is a sale very other week!) But here the sales are genuine not marked up and reduced to make it look like a sale. Anyway the crates are to help me slowly reorganize my pile of books in the office. In December last year I bought 6 small shelves (the screw on the sides type) and 2 plastic crates but that was insufficient. A few months back I bought 4 more crates but that was still insufficient and messy. Hopefully I will be able to organize my books and resources little better over the next month or so (slow and steady when I need a break from heavy brain work). Thank God for a large office!!
Took yesterday off to spend some time with my youngest son. Ended up doing some visi
tation in the morning while my boys were having their hair cuts. Finally! The look so messy. If they were in Malaysia, the prefects would have given them a crew cut :-) But after that we went to see a movie. Not the latest Harry Potter movie as I promised my wife I would see that with her. We went to see Transformers 2: The Revenge of the Fallen. The movie plot was pretty pathetic ... but I expected it. After all it started off as a toy! But the special effects was nice. Amazing what today's computer graphic programmes can do.After the movie I got myself an early Christmas present. I have been wanting this item for over 2 years now. Every year I talk about it quite a bit and say "that is what i want to buy for my Christmas present" but the last 2 Christmas periods I could not bring myself to spend the money and
kept saying "let's see if the price drops to under $300 first." It reached $299 and I still thought that was too high. It dropped to $269 with a free 2009 upgrade so I finally decided to splurge on it.... I got a Navman GPS for my car - the classic S35 series (the cheapest model but I like it very much). Tried it out driving to work today. Not that I needed directions but to get used to the feel. Nice :-) Will be trying it out again tonight as I pick up 2 different people in 2 different areas for a Home group meeting.And we also bought a new pair of sports shoes each. $18 each. Pity my son (not really! LOL) but I refused to buy the $30-40 shoes. He had to experience again how his "strange" father shops. I saw the ad for a sale of $18 shoes at K-Mart. So I cut out the ad from the flyer and stuck it in my jacket pocket. Then I enter the shop and ahead straight for the $18 items, choose a pair, try it on and then head out the shop. I will not even consider the other shoes of a higher prize range. Told him that he either got a $18 pair on me or he could save up and buy a more expensive pair. Smart boy got a free pair of shoes. :-)
It's so nice too that Prime network is showing ENTERPRISE on TV. Discovered it by accident one afternoon. Now the VCD recorder is set on timer every afternoon to record the episodes. I was watching it on Malaysian TV until it suddenly got discontinued. Now I get to watch what I missed.
Last week I saw the final episode of Battlestar Gallactica. A little frustrated as I set the timer for an hour's show not realising it was a 2 hour finale. My wife realised this too late for me and so I saw the first hour, missed half an hour and caught the last half an hour. The ending was pretty anti climatic for me. I think missing a huge chunk contributed to it. :-(
Rest of today looks relaxed and fun. Basically working on preparing new Bible study materials for a home group and youth group. It is nice to be a little ahead of time.
haha, i have a gps too, and i love it! mine was about USD 200. hmm, can you share your hokkien mee recipe??
ReplyDeleteZ. Will e-mail it to you.
ReplyDeleteI look foward to using my GPS at the end of the year when we go on a family holiday.
What is cool is some of the features that will surely come in handy - places of interest within the vicinity, petrol stations, places for food ...
:) i actually haven't used POI that much because i think my gps is not that updated!! but have never had trouble finding gas stations because they are everywhere . . . . but i still love my gps because no one has to look at a map or worry about the next term. sometimes mine does send me on weird roads though. but for the most part, it has really simplified my life, esp in LA. less anxiety.
ReplyDelete"turn," not "term."
ReplyDelete