who's soonger??

Wednesday, January 26

Ahhh ... back to updating this page. It's kinda stagnant material ... might have to mix things up in a little bit (when I have time ... yada yada yada). Not much going on here ... working quite a bit. Had a good Christmas. Ate a lot, which is not good for my new year's resolution to make it back to get back to 74kg (I'm not too far off right now, but I want muscle, not just water loss).

We've been dumped with snow a couple times this season already. I watched the local news. We're currently accumulated 38.5" (97.8cm) of snow so far. Our seasonal average is about 40". I think another small flurry and we've already reached our quota! My car has been pelted with rock salt quite a few times on the Expressway and local roads. I embarrassed to drive it around because it's so bad. Might have to go to a car wash today after work to get it back to 'presentable' shape.

Earlier this month, my bro and I flew off for the weekend to Vegas. Went to the CES (Consumer Electronic Show). It was a good time -- saw all the goodies that will be coming out for the year. Samsung and LG had huge displays. Sony was a bit sneaky -- wanted people to watch a presentation before allowing people into their showcase. I did the Windsor thing and went in via the 'exit only' entrance. LOL. Took quite a few pics there. Also met up with my friend from Cali, who was in Vegas for the conference. He works for Trident, who builds graphics chips for all the major makes. He's trying to convince me to buy a '94 NSX he's selling for his friend. I am really TEMPTED to pick it up. What a car -- and a reasonable price. Just getting it here, however ... that might be the tricky thing.

Yeah ... I told you about my week long trip to Singapore last month. It was a good time seeing family. It was a better time because of all the food that I got to eat. =) Appears there may be another trip to that part of the world again in April. My cousin, Mei, is getting hitched. Should be a gala event but still not sure if I can take time off during that time of the year.

On a personal front, I think I'm close to settling down. JJ and I have talked about 'the future' and that means my days of single-dom are coming to an end. Yup, finally gonna get that reduction in insurance (ie marriage). Kinda surreal to think that in a year (or so), I'll be a married man. Weird thought!

What else ... will write more later.

Friday, February 4

See how lazy I'm getting? I can't even get blog entries done. LOL. Not much going on here with me. I did go on a road trip yesterday. Drove out to Grand Rapids, MI (believe it or not). About a 2.5 hr drive from Windsor. It was great weather (+5C, sunny, calm breeze). JJ checked out Spectrum Health Hospital for a possible residency position there. She didn't want me to hang around there, so wisely, I did a Mapquest of the area and found a good mall to check out (Woodland Mall). Not very far from downtown -- Grand Rapids reminds me a lot of Hamilton, ON -- hilly, small city feeling but has some big city conveniences. JJ felt pretty good after the interview and the tour. We'll see how she feels about moving out to western Michigan.

I did a lot of shopping this day -- spent US$100 at Banana Republic. Came out with a winter jacket, 3 pairs of pants, 2 boxers -- a pretty good deal, I must say so myself. ;)

The drive back was good. We stopped at an outlet mall that I haven't been to in ages (Howell, MI). There was a Banana Republic outlet store (where I spent more $$$). Poor JJ -- didn't get anything for herself. There was an emergency on the way there, but I'm not at liberty to tell you what the emergency was. I can say, it didn't involve me! ;) I had a good time going there. It was another part of the state I've never been. I had a good feeling of the place -- nice city, people seemed very nice, quiet city. I'm glad I went in good weather -- I could imagine how bad it would be due to the lake effect snow that would happen in the winter. That would suck.

Today, I'm out at the Riv (thus I have a chance to write in this e-journal). Have some pretty bad news -- looks like Candy has sent in her letter of resignation. She's a quite mad at the boss and him not taking her seriously. I think she's a great worker and a loss to this place. In fact, this will definitely cause me to reduce hours here. Who wants to work at a place that will have not as good staff as before? At least I'm not on payroll so it doesn't matter if I stay or go...

Tomorrow I head out to Toronto for a pharmacy conference. Should be fun. On the way up, I'll stopover in London to drop off a b'day present. Yup, it's Tayyab's big 3-0. Probably go to Jack Astor's for lunch, or something like that. Time permitting, I'll ask YY and MHH to see if they want to join us.

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Wednesday, February 9

Happy Year of the Rooster! Guess I went against tradition by working today. My better senses should have warned me of inclimate weather -- about 5cm on the ground on the commute out to the east end. I didn't mind -- my trusty snow tires got me through it with no troubles. In fact, I was a little annoyed at those suckas with balding all-season tires slowing down the fast lane!

It's been a slow day -- guess people are all afraid of the road conditions (which is fine by me because that means more internet time for me). But I think it will pick up when the city decides to plow/salt the roads and the snow stops. Work until 4pm today so I hope things will be a little cleaner so I can get around a little easier. (At least, for those around me)

Got a few messages from acquaintances over the last few days. I was shocked to get a message back from Fong. Haven't heard from her since her wedding back in the summer! Guess better late than never. I'm glad to hear she's doing well and staying out of trouble (for the most part).

Also sent out a few messages from classmates I ran into over the weekend. Went up to Toronto with JJ and my mom. Ran into Jessica on the street (!) in Chinatown. Then I ran into Trish and Karen at the conference. Good seeing them after quite a while. Got caught up ... then drove back home that night. Good drive back home -- lots of speed demons (140km/h+) so I was able to make good time home.

Friday, February 11

Friday -- ahhh ... always good to have the weekend come up. Not saying that it's been a bad week, but it's welcome to have some time off. Wait a sec ... I'm working this weekend. Nevermind ... just a regular day for me then (sigh...)

Been a pretty busy day, despite it being a Friday. Dr HT is in the clinic, so it's all about DM (dextromethorphan). One of the owners of the pharmacy came in, so I wasn't allowed to goof off (my usual fare). Had a quick lunch 'cause it's been pretty steady.

What's on the agenda tonight? Going to a CNY dinner banquet over at the Ciacaro Club just outside the city. This one is hosted by the CAGW (Chinese Association of Greater Windsor). It's a little different than the 'other' Chinese Association in the area. The CAGW is more geared toward the Mandarin speaking Chinese whereas the ECCA (I think that's their acronym) is more for the Cantonese speakers. They're trying to change things but I think it'll be tough to bridge the differences (I don't see any but other than a subtle difference in ideology). The ECCA dinner is Saturday night. I've got tickets but I seriously doubt I'll go (very tired from working all week + I have to work 9-6 that day).