Big Apple - NYC

The best way to get around in the city is to get a 7D pass. It has unlimited rides on the subway and local bus. It's a good way to explore the city without sparing too much thought on the transportation cost. Each trip costs 2.25USD and this 7D pass costs you around 27USD. I made good use of it and guess what, as I got out of subway just now and trying to take the air train to JFK, I pass my pass to someone else. Why waste the $$? Kekeke.

Chinatown is located near canal st. ya, lots chinese. i bought cherry and ginseng tea there.

I observe that many ladies travel in groups. Ya, ladies only. I wonder where their men are! Kekek. These 3 Spanish ladies cant really speak English and they asked me to take a picture for them in the 34th st bound subway. Then I met these 2 old ladies who attended 3 Broadway shows consecutively in 2 days. She sat beside me during the Mary Poppins show. Ha. I can tell that this Maryland lady enjoyed very much.

She made an interesting remarks. As soon as she knows that I work in HP, she just blurted out that she is so sorry that she has just got a ipad from her 15 y/o grandchild! Well, why sorry? Haha.

The blacks are usually has less distinctive features like American and Asian. Their features are more broad and the look can be fierce and tough. I was so scared of it. Kekeke. The ginseng shop uncle told me not to roam to 120th st and beyond since lots of them stay there. So please stay away from that area. Kekek. Ya, at night, you can see lots them @ times square especially. The way they stress also a bit different. Oh ya, I observe that Nyorkers dress up and it applies to aunties! They are quite trendy. Haha. Ya, city ma, what do I expect? Kekek.

Toilet bowl. Metallic one. I wonder why? More cooling? Or maybe most of them are big in sizes, in order to prevent for any damage, this material shall last longer? Ahaha. Silly me took a photo @ the Staten island ferry terminal. Ha.

So what if I have visited those places? Big deal?!!! It's definitely a great opportunity to explore the big apple. This is a place where everyone want to visit and peep into the city life.

Btw, I am a bit disappointed with the NYSE. Security guards are there, you're unable to get close to the building. Ha. And the wall street bronze bull, you can see people crowd around it, trying to take picture. Building near Wall st are so tall, cant even take proper picture. Ha.

Times square. Pretty crowded and happening esp at night. You can see those giant billboards. Wow, I think in order to save the gaia, they should seriously consider switching off those bill board. Ha.

Status of Liberty. Ya. A gift from France to US. Hehe. Like that lo.

WTC. Hmm it is now into construction. I am actually convinced that those terrorists had deliberately want to destroy the building by running the plane unto WTC. It's near port and ya, it's in the plan. As there are many high rise in NYC, it's kind of hard to aim accurately. Ha.

Herald Square. Macy, the biggest store is located there. Ha. Nothing special. But lots people centered around there.

Empire state building. Chrysler Building. These two are the landmark of NYC. Ha. Too bad only Chrysler building has its light on at night. Hehe. Anyway, good that I found where they are.

Grand central Terminal. You can always see this building in most Hollywood movie. Ha. I remember that vividly in Borne Ultimatum. Ha. Haiya, nothing special.

Rockefeller Centre. Ha. Luckily I manage to get a glimpse of it and I saw Malaysia flag flying high. Kekeke. UN headquarter is nearby, by hudson river. i think.

Then I stroll along the 5th ave. kekeke. Lots branded and high class stores. You can see line outside of Abercrombie & finch flagship store. Ha. So rare. I follow the crowd and Q for that. Ha. The items are not cheap but you can see most people coming out of the store carry a bag. Ha. Branded la.

Broadway Mary Poppins @ New Amsterdam theatre. There is magical tricks and it happens @ 17 Cherry Tree lane where Banks family lives. I like the portion whereby the male lead had a moon walk and Mary Poppins fly in the air! Kekek. Shall not reveal too much. They have lots props.

Broadway The Phantom of the Opera @ Majestic theatre. Apparently there isn't any discount for that since this is a pretty prominent and famous musical. A must watch!!! Kekeke. The singing is simple awesome. The phantom is good, thumbs up for his voice; Christine is also not bad. Kekeke. I love it! Worth the $$ spent. Kekeke.

I told Phillis that I have never imagine that I would spend on Broadway musical esp in NYC. Hmm I guess if I were a student, I wouldn't have extra $$ for that.

Lastly, one thing nice about NYC is that some stores do not have 8.75% sales tax. Kekek. So I did a bit of shopping there. Ha.

I think I should go back again one day..since I am missing the UN HQ… and south seaport and central park. Ha. Alamak

Oya, I watched another Jap movie on ANA. Its title is "About her brother". It is a very slow and 细腻. Basically you can tell that nothing can set the blood ties away. It requires lots love and patience and trying to love someone, even if you were to hate that person at times. God is amazing, he creates kinship and we are honored and privileged to have enjoyed those.

Isn't that something to be thankful for?

Awesome

Lazy seal by the coast. they are cute.. @ La Jolla

the kite shop @ Harbour, downtown

I wanna do paragliding next time! @Glider port

@Del Mar

Harbour... Colorado bridge

In flight entertainment

Watched quite a few movie during the trip, I observe a trend. I like american football related films and it always involves Black and White fight.

Invictus
Clint Eastwood movie. Partly due to Morgan Freeman, I want to see how he acts as president Mandela. Ha. He attempts to unite the country via soccer. Ya, it was a risk and he really risks his position as a new black president then despite of the racial tensions. I am glad that he treats his country needs and welfare more than himself. Matt daemon as Francois Pienaar is a white captain.

Mandela sent a subtle message to Pienaar, "if the Springboks can gain the support of non-white South Africans and succeed in the upcoming World Cup, the country will be unified and inspired."

Mandela actually played 'tricks' to make the team realize that they play for the nation and via those side trips, they get in touch with the people. Eventually the whole stadium was filled with springbok supporters, regardless of race. Cool. It's important to establish a clear goal so that you know where are you moving toward to. Ha.

They won the 1995 rugby world cup!


The blind side
Starred by Sandra Bullock as Leigh, it's based on a real story. A cool one. Really! Sandra won academy award for best actress.

Michael Oher is a black and after much hassle, with the help of Sean, he got enrolled to a Christian school. SJ is a cute character, funny little guy. He befriended with Mike, the big Mike.

Leigh is the key character of the movie, she is so personal and despite being mocked by her friends, she persist on keeping Mike with her and eventually adopt him as her son. The Sean family welcome him as part of the family. This warms Mike's heart and he began to show improvements in his studies and American football. His strength is in 'protective instincts', tested 98% of that. Ha.

In order to make him a successful person, the Sean family spent $$ and effort by hiring a private tutor, Ms Sue to improve his grades. The crux of choosing between Mississippi & Tennessee is interesting twist. Kekek.

The nice part about this movie is.. It is quite personal. It shows someone care and love for those who are different from them. It shows human sympathy and empathy for others. It shows selfless love. It is also nice that they insert Christian values in it, and there is a scene showing them saying grace during the meal. How sweet.

Remember the Titans
Also nice. You can see how hard to unite the 2 races and how this captain, Gerry is willingly to mix with the black guy and eventually help to persuade his girlfriend to accept his black teammates. Sadly, he got paralyzed from waist down after a car accident while celebrating their victory after the game.

The team is lead by Coach Boone, a new black coach and Coach Yoast, a white guy. You can see they have different management styles and ways to tame the team. What touches most is Yoast sacrifices his potential coach place by choosing to be faithful to coach Boone, who is his 'rival'


It's complicated
Messy and horrible relationship. That's all I can say. Meryl streep has her charm despite her age. Ha.

Phantom of the Opera
For the sake of reminiscing my musical the night before. Simply enjoying the music by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. ;p

Days in Big Apple

missing KeithL especially and deirdreS, i wish they are here and cycle with me! ha.

missing kakis to dine and chit chat with!

Had a wondeful day of attending broadway shows! Marry Poppins & Phatom of the Opera!! Phatom is real good, AWESOME!!!!

blog more when back. ha.

Simply Loving it - Glider Port & MGray

Glider port is one of my favourite place in SD. DanielW is so kind to bring us there after the technical discussion!!! How i wish i do the paragliding there! there were 2 people paragliding on the cliff and two were playing the modal aeroplanes. very cool. with nice scenery. Shhall upload it once i got back. We can see la jolla from there.. and it's near torres pines. We passed thru UCSD which is famous of biotech and medicine. ha.

Well, my resolution is...next time i am going to pay 100buck for this 1/2hr ride!!Arghh.. both D and P tempted me to do that. and they can tell that i wanna to do it every much. haha.

Then we were supposed to have ribs but Phill's BBQ is off on Monday. Boo.. Daniel described until it is very fanstastic. OK, next time i want to visit Pt Loma also, heard it's a cool bay, other than the San Diego Bay!

OK, we ended up going to Carlsbad for refund and In & Out burger!! hoho. the fries are nice, very nice!!! Cheap and yummy fastfood! I didn't know that only West Coast has In&out only, hoho, francise in SGP? nah, the raw ingredients would be expensive. kekeke.

Today's lunch at BJ's resturant and brewhouse! The beer is quite nice, the after taste is not strong and heard it has more wheat in it. Eric brought us there. kekeke. The avocado eggroll is nice too. oops, i forgot the beer i had, shall check out on the photo i took. kekek.

how amazing that we can make 'friends' via biz trip. haha. that's the power of chinese community uh. haha.. we take care of the asian!!

Eric made a funny remark on the good looking Mike. He said, how can God be so unfair to make Mike a good looking nice guy!! and he always has his smile on his face! ha. to think i have spent a good 2.5 hrs talking to Mike today. haha. Mike said he is going for Chicago Marathon and shooting for 3hr20min! Wowo.. and lauren, his 7 y/o daughter uses 31 min to finish 5km run! haha.

We are going to STone Brewing tonight for 'Levitation'!

Taxing weekend

La jolla cove. Cool, awesome scenery with bunch of seals lazing around on the rocks. Ha. cant's believe that they are sooooo lazy!!!

Cheesecake Factory is interesting. They sell all sorts of cheesecake. we had 2. Mango key lime cheesecake and tiramisu cake. thumbs up! I wish to eat more but... the entrees are big and appetizer, the egg roll guacamole fills up our stomach!

It was a big gathering since we have 5 of us! kekeke... all BPD and Ex-BPDers!

After a madrush Friday morning, we head down to Palm Springs for shopping spree. i am not quite convinced that we shopped continuously for 5+ hrs. It was fun!! and the feeling is ship! Group shopping is kind of different, we consodildate purchase in order to get more discounts! ha. bleh.

then the road to vegas is just so dark and there are quite some cars on the road, all hitting down to sin city for a breakaway! so we got in around 2am. What a day! exhausted after the mad shopping!

Thought can sleep in for awhile longer but... we are not. laoda said wanan meet at 0930. OK, so after a bf @mad onion, we visit hoover dam. It would probably be the last night we get to drive thru the dam since they are now building a new car access freeway... next time there is less chance that we will drive thru dam. Heard it was one of the biggest project back in 1935. hoho.. true enough, the dam design is just magnificient!

After the Hovver dam visit, guess what! We're back to shopping again @ vegas. Ha. i bought a few more stuffs. horrible ;p

Night buffer at exacilibur and the streetvisiting starts! it's kind of exciting to walk down the street and you can see some pimp and some hookers on the streeet. ya, now i reliase why is it called sin city. Other than the casino, there is sexual service also. You'll meet her in 20min!! and the nude advertisement card are on the street.

our legs are tired, resulting of the Las vegas strip walking and maybe the shopping we had! We conquered the whole strip ok! hahaha...

Nice one. Thank God that angels are around me and i am extremely thankful that there are companions for this road trip. else i cant imagine what would turn out to be if i ever on the road myself. ha. please, wake up, please, ms NG :))

Walk the Talk

Bully's http://www.bullysdelmar.com/   is real good, yummy! Thumbs up!! those plan to visit SD should just drive to the bay area (del mar) to taste it. what is more amazing is there is a promotion, instead of paying 28.85 for 1 entree, we pay 30 for 2 entree. I had prime rib!! Yumz. the relax walk along the bay also cool, get to see la jolla and torres pines on both sides and pacific ocean is just so wide!

Had a interesting talk with uncleLeung. ha. it was a 2hrs talk. I am glad that we can chat beyond the M-scope and he does give me different perspectives on the CSI product line up and the work culture btw US and BPD. ha. so our observations are valid.

well, glad that he gets to know me better since i talk all the time. ha. he just reminded me not to limit myself and i should open up my horizon and make the necessary step for next advancement/goal.

yup, i agree to that. and from our conversation, it ascertain my decision for not trying for Boise, JIP and SPS. ya, it takes a whole lot effort and years to build up trust and reputation and you really need to be careful while threading on the thin fine line. knowing that it may just take one incident to destroy what you have established!

interesting comment on my maturity and responsibility. ha. what a compliment! ok, walk the talk pls!

Min Sok Chon. I went to this Korean restaurant at Convoy St 4 years ago. ha. I never knew that i would go back again. well,things has changed.

the BBQ pork belly is nice but the smell of the pork is pretty strong. The rice noodles with spicy squid is yummy, compared to the hot stone beef rice. kekeke.

oh, happenned to dine with IrisZ together. To think i have volunteeerily sending her for water purchase and back to hotel and she couldn't tell that Courtyard is just opp the supermart! wowow. best!

Later We are heading to nordstrum rack and la jolla later for sun set viewing!!! kekeke.. and dinner@Cheesecake factory! lalalala..

CSI Visit

oh man, i am here in building 65! :)

Good to meet most of them! really! I notice that CharlieC has aged alot, Young has become more man and less happy, HowardM is surprising strong than we thought, MikeG is as handsome as before, and BillH is as usual, 'friendly'!

Cool to have met AliE, DanielW, EricL also. hehe... nice!

thankful for the blessed day. Really! thankful that they are well!

Nice discussion with Mike. Ha. how can i tell my eyes not to look at him ler? ha. he is just so nice looking!! ok, few more days for eyes candy. kekeke.

Then.. the dinner @TGI Friday is so so eventhough we ordered alot. it looks good but maybe our stomach is still sleeping, so we waste food again! The margarita grand is so-so. haha.

the drive back from Carmel Mountain clearly showed that we are well protected by God, else i cant imagine what could have happenned. His grace and His protection. really!

Today had a detailed discussion with HowardM. I am thankful that God grants favour to us and i can tell that the partnership with them is indeed a blessed one. Ya, nothing for granted.

Then lunch @ Pearl. guess what, bump into CalvinT and IrisZ. I think i am really bad in gossiping abt muscleOng. Actually I am very sad that he and msYan really had affair before he got married and who knows it may get revived again since he is now posted to SH. haiz.

PhillisT asked me why am i sad? I just feel that a man should not behave like that and the lady should try her best to avoid that. aren't we supposed to have aHoly matrimony with our partner only? cant they avoid it? as i know both of them and plus the wife, i really feel sorry and seriously refuse to believe that this is a truth! well, apparently this is the harsh fact. arghh..

I roam around building 66 to meet more people. OOps, had some silly conversation with Sergio, the SM in SD. ehh, i may not have been careful in words but i can glad to find out that their conversation is so opened! well, saw Tony and he even congratulated me for the Specialist advancement, first time formal intro to steveH, DanB, & JBaker. UncleLeung is not around. ha.

hope we can have a better work relationship in future!

Setting off for Del Mar, near torres pines and yes, Bully's!!

I am in CA again!

so i prepared mp5 and laptop for entertainment but who knows the both legs are 777! ha. glad that i am grounded again!

thank God for the safe journey. really, nothing is for granted.

since when the SD people become so impatient? maybe it's that young lady fault. Why honk me @ grape st???? cant you just wait awhile longer? geesh..

despite the calls to return Toyota car, i still get myself a blue corolla with neverlost. ha. the price has gone up to 12.99 per day. it used to be 9USD. hmm... bad! but i need it still!!

the visit to Maranatha chapel is kinda funny. GLad that PT wanna go, but guess what. i am surprised to have found out that the chapel is pretty empty and it has only 40 people around. we use song sheet and not projector. we doze off whenever we blink our eyes. it is just too tired. kekekek...

akai hana food is always GOOD :)

new home @ D2

i am glad that i am pretty much settled down at D2. ha. but i still hate it as its noise level is high, the warehouse lighting is bad, the proximity between the colleagues are just... so close!

hoho...

the 15 min walk is unavoidable! but it's good exercise uh.