Friday, September 29, 2006

Wanda Sykes


The other day I was going through some video and audio files I've got stored, and I replayed "Honda Service Call". I STILL laugh so hard I get tears in my eyes. How on earth does Wanda Sykes come up with these pranks? If you've got a couple of minutes, listen to Impound Crap

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Book Club -- "Man and Boy" by Tony Parsons

We had book club today at Robin's. I'm not sure how much or if anyone enjoyed the book. I didn't do any book club searches on it. I was in the book store, it caught my eye, I read the first page, and I liked it. We had some interesting conversations about romance, fidelity, trust, long-term marriage, divorce, etc.

Robin has a fun, feisty cat who decided that he needed to sit lie down right behind Pam. He wanted to be part of our book club. I was reminded me of a "wild cat" video of Pinkey. Here it is:

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

JING!!!


Jing got her hair cut!

Dummies Guide to Google Blogger: How do i post a photo on my blog title bar - Tips for blogspot Newbies

Peter's blogs have been an enormous help to me and MANY others. I still somehow get HTML code messed up, but I have his blog bookmarked and I check it frequently for new information.

Dummies Guide to Google Blogger: How do i post a photo on my blog title bar - Tips for blogspot Newbies

Monday, September 25, 2006

Arnott's

Last year, I discovered Arnott's Biscuits, an Australian company. They have the most delicious Mint Slice (way better than Thin Mints by the Girl Scouts) and Tim Tams. I just checked the website and they're going to offer Mint Slice in balls (sort of like a malted milk ball). I've already found Tim Tams in balls. Last night, I just happened to look at the back of the box of Tim Tam Balls and it reads:

"Kiss them, crunch them, seduce them, roll them down the aisle, nibble them, juggle them, suck them, melt them in your mouth, chomp them, devour them, spin them, love them"

One More Condo Quirk

Over the last few months, the circuit-breaker for the water regulator (I'm assuming that's what it's called) has been tripping. The result is, no water-pressure. Everytime it's occurred, I've called the guards and they have to go to the roof to re-set it. Last week (Wed.), I e-mailed Mr. Yeo who promised to have the offending breaker replaced as well as checking the monitor.

The breaker has tripped every day since then. Thursday (fire day) 2 times, Sunday 2 times, today -- so far, once. This is getting ridiculous!

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Allen and Becky and the "Raining Aircons"


Allen and Becky went to the U.S. for 2+ weeks. Since we're in the same building, Becky asked me if I would look in on their place and water their plants every 3-4 days. When they moved in a year ago, the owner of their condo had all of the aircons replaced. Becky said that the one in their bedroom would "rain" occasionally. She left a towel under it to catch the drips. Last week, I noticed that it was dripping some, so I turned that one off.

Thursday while waiting for the all-clear from the guards from the stupid fire in the lift I decided I'd check their place. I discovered that the main circuit-breaker had tripped and their place was very stuffy. (Another friend, Robin, had told Becky of her experience returning home from a 3-week trip to discover all of their furniture covered in mold. Robin had to hire a company that specializes in mold removal to clean their furniture.)

I flipped the circuit-breaker, and all of the aircons were "onned" --everything was hunky-dory.

Michael and I did some shopping today and bought some groceries. I said, "I'm just going to check on Allen and Becky's place and water the plants. Will you put the groceries away while I'm over there?"

I walked into their place and saw a LAKE in their dining room! I couldn't find the control to turn off the aircon. They have a beautiful wool carpet under a very heavy dining table. I frantically called Michael (who was still putting stuff away) "There's a lake in Allen and Becky's dining room from the aircon and I can't find the control to turn it off. The water is pouring from it like a faucet! Will you come over here?"

I finally came to my senses and used the remote-control for the bedroom aircon to turn off the dining room aircon. The water continued to flow even after I "offed" it.


Michael came to my rescue and we went on a quest for towels that weren't pristine white. Soon we were sopping up the water -- we looked like Lucy and Ethel in the grape-stomping episode.

Michael went back to our place and then brought our ladder and more beige-colored towels along with an extension cord. We moved the fans from their kitchen into the dining room and aimed them onto the rug. He opened up the cover of the aircon and put a towel in the trough to wick the water into the towel.

Once we were satisfied we'd done everything we could for late Saturday afternoon, Michael decided that the next most logical step was to raid their fridge for a couple of Stellas.

Friday, September 22, 2006

The House from Hell

Last month, we were notified that we needed to buy a new dishwasher for the house in ATL. Two days ago, we got another notification that the microwave is dead. The microwave in that house is a built-in combo unit with the regular oven below -- not cheap!

In the last year and a half we have replaced:

Both air conditioners
Both garage door openers
Dishwasher
Microwave
Oven
Sink
Fence
Landscape
Numerous misc things.

I expect the roof is next.........So, when we sell the house we can say that all major appliance(s) are new.... :-)

The Lift

Saturday evening before the Red Hot Birthday Bash, we invited Alex, Cristina, Geli, and Hauke to come over for some drinks and a bite to eat beforehand. We all got into the lift and when we got to about the 15th floor, we heard a very disturbing clang.

The noise continued until Wednesday, when the manager of the building, Mr. Yeo, had it shut down for the day to have the main cable replaced. Thank goodness!

So, yesterday, I was doing some research on the computer and waiting for Michael's dry-cleaning to be delivered. Jing was in the kitchen. When the Laundry Club guy came to deliver the dry-cleaning, I buzzed him up, but nothing happened. I got back on the phone "thingy" (one of my favorite technical terms) and buzzed him up again. As soon as I pressed the button, the fire alarm bells started ringing! I ran into my office to check when management would be conducting the monthly testing of the fire alarms -- and it wasn't scheduled until Monday, the 25th.

I called the guardhouse; no answer. I opened our front door and could smell the acrid smell of an electrical fire in our lift lobby. The Laundry Club guy arrived in our lift. I paid him rather frantically, and gave him my dress to be cleaned. He went back down in our regular lift. I really didn't want him to use that lift, but he insisted. He was scared too.

After he left, I went looking for Jing. I went into the kitchen to find her practically hanging out the window looking for smoke! I said, "Jing, the fires got to be in the lift lobby. I can smell an electrical fire. Let's just get the hell out of here now."

I grabbed my bag, cell-phone, towels and a few bottles of water. We took the stairs down to the 8th floor. We peeked into the hallway and didn't smell smoke. So, we took the service lift down to the lobby (my thighs are killing me today!).

By the time Jing and I made it to the lobby, Mr. Yeo was there and the lift repairmen were already in the building, but preparing to leave. I told Mr. Yeo that I smelled an electrical fire in the lift. Then another woman from our tower came down via the service lift and she also smelled burning rubber. The guards were scurrying about; some were going to the basement, others up to the roof.

We waited in the lobby to get the all-clear. Then, the lift repairmen came in with Mr. Yeo. Mr. Yeo looked at me with an embarrassed smile and said, "No fire, only idiot smoking cigarette in lift." I looked at them incredulously and said, "That was not cigarette smoke. It is most definitely an electrical fire, and it could still be smoldering." He turned to the head repairman, "What did you to to my lift? You go back to find what is burning now!" Jing and I just looked at each other. The men left again and were gone for another 15 minutes or so.

While we were waiting I continued to watch the guards, and then I saw Yacob with a fire blanket heading to the basement. Eventually, everyone convened in the lobby and gave the all-clear. Mr. Yeo assured me that everything was fine with the lift.

As the repairmen were leaving, Jing said something to the head repairman in, I think, Tagalog. She translated for me later and said that he told her the lift motor had caught fire.

Can you believe that the fire department doesn't respond to a fire alarm unless the management calls them first? Back home, there would've been two fire trucks and at least one ambulance!

Everything worked out ok, but that was all the excitement I needed for the day.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

This Blog..........

Bugs the ever-livin' crap out of me! For the last two days I've been trying to figure out what was wrong with my template. I changed it, and of course, lost all of my custom changes from the previous template. Well, guess what was wrong with it -- NOTHING!

The only thing was that the pictures I'd posted on Sunday were too large for the formatting. I adjusted the pics, and VOILA! It's fixed. I'm too compulsive, I know, but I was able to figure this out thanks to Blogger Tips and Tricks.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

The SAX is WOW!

More Pics from Red Hot Birthday Bash

The KissShe's Got Legs and Knows How to Use Them!

The Grab

Michael's Birthday - Part III



We went to the American Club's Red Hot Birthday Bash celebration with Alex, Cristina, Geli and Hauke. When the American Club hosts a party, they do it up right! We spent most of the evening in the Union Bar because we'd managed to find a good table in the back and didn't want to lose it. We also found out that Geli likes tequila, so we indulged.






Saturday, September 16, 2006

Michael's Birthday - Part II

Cristina and Catarina FINALLY made it home from their two-month trip to Romania. She and Alex have been through a major hassle because Romania has instituted new laws to prevent baby trafficking.


They joined us last night at River Quay for a birthday dinner for Michael. Madame Loh had a special birthday cake made for Michael and balloons decorations above our table. It was fun!

Singing "Happy Birthday"




Friday, September 15, 2006

Michael's Birthday

Michael returned home Thursday morning from a 10-day trip to Europe. Since he was so tired, we decided to go to the American Club for a burger and beers at Harry's. Before we left, I gave him his birthday present. He's very happy with it.

Cheeseburger Birthday Dinner :-)


Michael returned home Thursday morning from a rough 10-day trip to the Netherlands. Although, he did get to stay with Joerg and Lucia in Amersfoort last Saturday. Amersfoort was hosting some sort of festival and there was music and beer everywhere. He had a great time and it was a nice break from "business as usual". The next morning, we got on Skype and chatted...........he made them his famous breakfast of fried potatoes with onions and cheese, eggs, and bacon. Joerg brought a plateful and put it in front of the camera for me to see. I think I could smell the aroma all the way over here!

Thursday night, Michael was obviously jet-lagged. So, we went to "the club" (The American Club) to split a bacon cheeseburger and a few beers. Then we walked down the street to Harry's. The band sang their version of "Happy Birthday" to him. The place was packed because this week Singapore is hosting the IMF/World Bank hoo-ha. Americans were warned by the Embassy to stay away from tourist areas -- only, we LIVE in a tourist area. So far, so good though.

Vivian brought Michael some sort of flaming drink and then he asked for her to bring one to me too. It had a licorice kind of flavor, but you know I drank it up! Had to use a straw. Holy Moly!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Alice

I just found this video today on YouTube. The video is not good, but you'll hear why cardejah recorded it.

Alice

Sarah's Other Blog: WFMW: Posting video in your blog

Sarah has SAVED ME SO MUCH TIME! Thanks again, Sarah!

Sarah's Other Blog: WFMW: Posting video in your blog

Tania -- Mustang Sally

Wednesday, September 13, 2006