Hong Kong again

It was hard to say goodbye to Singapore. It always enchants me, with its quirks. I love our office where the bathroom is warm (ironically the office is FREEZING) and plays great music from the 80's and 90's that I always love. I love how you can not buy gum - probably the only country in the world you must have a prescription to buy gum. I love the food and friendliness of the people.

I woke up very early on Saturday to head to Hong Kong. The plane was nearly empty - so rare these days - so I was able to lay down and sleep a little. Arriving in Hong Kong was exciting. It was a strange feeling. It felt so familiar, yet not. It didn't feel like coming home even though I lived here for nearly a year. I felt like is meshed back in immediately - going through the many routines I did before like taking the subway, etc. I had forgotten how crowded it feels. People are everywhere - all the time. How quickly I had forgotten. And Hong Kong has these smells of its own.

I was curious to see how I would feel once I got here. Would I want to move here again? Would I have regret that we couldn't stay? I was surprised to feel neither of those things. And though I loved living here, I had no desire to move back here. I have done my time in Hong Kong. And now it is a great place to visit. Where I can eat great food and see great things.

Saturday I ate at one of the burger joints I loved (and was a little disappointed - probably only tasted great since I had been in HK so long). I then went to Mong Kok and looked for some ties for the young men. I then did one of my favorite things in Hong Kong - and went to the shoe district where they have dozens of shoe stores selling sneakers. I love sneakers. It is so interesting to me that they have all these stores right next to each other - and most sell the same shoes for the same prices. But once in a while you find something cool. I was excited to see a few Adidas SS2Gs. I think they stopped selling these in the USA - but was happy to see they sell them here in various colors and styles.

This morning I went to church at our old branch. It has changed a lot. The global recession has had many people move back to where they came from . And fewer people moving in. So I didn't get to see some of the people I wanted to. But it was a spiritual meeting and always great to be in the room with general authorities.

For lunch I ate at my kid's favorite place in Hong Kong: Curry in a Hurry. I got the "Double Happiness" and it was fantastic. I just wish my wife and kids here were here to share. I miss them.

Later in the day I got on the 40 minibus and alighted at the deep water bay beach. I then walked the seaside promade (one of my fav walks in hong kong) to repulse bay, where we had lived while here. I took off my shoes and walked in the water and remembered days gone by. I then walked over the bridge that gives you an extra three days of life and headed up to our old apartment building. It had changed quite a bit. My favorite restaurant was closed for renovations (as of a week ago!). The Wellcome grocery store was now a "Jason's Market". The driveway was redone so it was now flat instead of cobblestone. It felt surreal.

Tomorrow is back to work and then next week at this time I'll be back on a plane.

new idea for FHE

“It is during the family home evening and in other family settings that we prepare our children to receive the blessings of the Lord. . . .“Family home evening is a very special time for us to strengthen ourselves and each family member. It is important to include the whole family in assignments for family home evening. A child could share the Primary lesson that he or she had last Sunday. Family home evening strengthened the faith and testimony of my own family.”
Claudio R. M. Costa, “Priesthood Responsibilities,” Ensign, May 2009, 56

With this in mind, and missing all of you, I would like to request that we do a family home evening via skype, (unless one of you tech savvy people find an even better source to do it over the net, which I here are out there somewhere.)
I would like to be so bold as to suggest we plan one Monday a month, and take turns decided who hosts it. It can only last 1/2 hour or so if time is an issue. It will allow us to 'be together' monthly by sight, (I heard you can web-cam as a group on Skype).
It will keep us closer, and strengthen us. The grandkids can also be in charge, of course! We can sing, which dad will love. Webb, you are certainly welcome to join us in my weird ideas.
Let me know what you all think. mom

Singapore - almost over

This week has been wonderful. Singapore remains one of the great places I love to visit. The weather has been great - the people even better - and the food has lived up to its wonder in my mind. I went with a friend on Tuesday to get one of my favorite things in the world to eat: white pepper crab. It was fantastic.

Tonight I headed down to the river, where I used to love to sit and just watch the sunset and people. This time I finally got onto one of the boat tours on the river. I waited until it was almost dark and ended up getting on a boat with hardly anyone on it. In fact, for the last 15 minutes it was just me leaning back and enjoying the beauty of the surroundings with the slight breeze and warm, moist air. It was like heaven.

I have one more day. I plan to eat at another of my favorite local joints and order some Mie Goreng. I'm not sure what to do on my last night. Maybe I'll go back to the river. Or go shopping for my wife. Then Saturday (very early!) I head to Hong Kong.

Utah-Idaho trip 2009

This trip was filled to the brim with people, fun, and good times.
I loved Education week, and came back smarter and inspired to do about 101 things.
I loved being at Jacob and Cari's, and around Hazel. I slowly made friends. I will miss her terribly. She will not even remember me in December. (maybe if we webcam?)
I loved Kathy being there, and shopping and taking classes with her.
I got to see Olivia Cangelosi and her kids, and have lunch at the Museum of Art. Great!
I got to play games, which I love to do.
I took Hazel on her first carousal ride. Kathy & I took her to a mall. She was so good!
I got to see Webb's family, and enjoy a cookout with them.
I loved Ralph's house and boat, and tried not to covet.
I loved seeing them again, and hearing Lisa's chatter, and seeing Nathan & Jason. It was hard to believe that Jason and Jarek are both 10.
I got to see Debbie and her family, Cami and her fam, Monica, who was due any day, and her fam, Bonnie, Leslie, and grandpa. We went to dad's mom's grave site. Very touching.
I loved going to an Idaho ward.
Everyone cooked wonderful meals for us!
Poor dad lost his front tooth in the mountains and had to go the whole trip feeling ugly and in pain.
I just loved everything, except the last day I did get a pretty bad sinus headache.
I could add more details, but I better get busy.
and the plane ride back, just think of continual babies crying while you are all couped up in a tiny spot, and can't sleep or move...
But it was worth it.

Fail music video on youtube

It took forever to figure out only a 100 mb movie upload on blogger. So I figured I would just use you-tube for the second and keep it a better quality.

Video

Singapore - Day One - Saudades

Saudades is a term in Portuguese which is hard to define, but in essence it is a feeling of great memories and missing something (somebody). It is similar to nostalgia. When I first heard I was going to be coming back to Asia for a business trip I was so excited. But after a few weeks that excitement settled and I started focusing on some of the negatives like the long flight (in coach!), being away from my family, etc.

All of that changed when I woke up this morning and left the hotel. I got in around midnight last night after flying for nearly 24 hours. The flights were fine - though getting used to coach will take some getting used to on these long flights. Stupid economy that changes our travel policies! I grabbed a taxi to my hotel and went to bed as soon as I could. I slept for a little over 5 hours, which was not bad. I showered, dressed and headed out to the Singapore office.

You may recall that at one point I was told I would be running the Singapore office and was very excited to do so. The office is small (around 30 people). But Singapore is such a neat place. It is hot and humid. As I walked out of my hotel and walked toward the office to grab a quick breakfast from the coffee shop across from the office - that feeling of "saudades" returned. As I entered the office and saw old friends and colleagues my heart jumped. As I looked out the window to the building I had so often stared at and dreamed of living in with my family (I absolutely love the pool and playground it has on one of its roofs) I longed for that opportunity that was so fleeting. In the year I've been away new buildings have sprung to life. There is now a McDonald's in the office building. A lot to have changed in a global recession.

I did my training and then spent time with close colleagues of mine who have gone through similar relocations as I have with the company. We talked about the future of this office and the past. I felt like I was part of the team again. I was shocked on how little has changed since I left. Lunch was eaten as we discussed a client outdoors in the warm, moist air. I ate with my good friend who is American but spent the last 12 years in China, a French colleague who recently moved to Hong Kong from our France office and one of the local employees here from Singapore. It felt like I was back on the management team here in Asia again. My views were sought out, my opinions valued. I was surrounded by warmth and great food.

I don't know why I have always found Singapore so pleasant. It just feels good. So my first day in Asia has been a wonderful one. I already miss my beautiful wife madly (and my kids). But I know I will see her soon. One day I will bring her back here to taste the wonderful bread she loves so much.

The day finished eating at the Shanghai restaurant I took my wife and kids to for their first xiaolongbao. A great day capped off with a great meal. It is nearly 9 PM and I’m falling asleep.

desert trip

Okay, no laughing about how it is way too early to think about this, but I had good price tickets come up today, and I missed them because I hadn't thought the dates out enough in my head.
So, in case I see another super good offer on flights, I wondered what weeks you guys would like to go? I know Cari might not be able to go, depending.
Bret, will you be out flying around the world any of the weeks from end of April to mid-May?
Webb, are you guys in? Any big plans around then that would affect what week we pick?
Do we want to try for a week in early May? Do we think the weather would be better, or too hot?
I think it is all just luck. We have been there in early April and had excellent weather.
Just send out some vibes, and I will be more prepared if good prices come up.

This was my finger...

Look closely at his hand. That was what my finger looked like this morning during basketball. It was pretty gross. I didn't have a camera or I would have taken a pic, and didn't feel like leaving it as is too long. So I quickly snapped it back into place. It is pretty swollen.

Mexico '09

This year's trip to Rocky Point, Mexico went as planned: great! We left Tuesday morning and arrived a few hours later with no problems at the home we have stayed every year. This year our group was small. We missed having people around - but it was still fun.

Tuesday we went to the beach. It was a very hot and muggy day - but quite breezy. The ocean felt almost hot to me that day. But it was still fun. That night we went to my favorite chicken place in Rocky Point. I gorged myself on pollo asado and enjoyed eating in the little chicken hut and seeing my boys enjoying the food and sodas.

Wednesday was a little cooler and we spent a lot of time at the pool and the beach. The rest of the time we spent resting, playing games, or napping. In the evening we went to our favorite paleteria to have ice cream bars. I picked my fav coconut bar - which is like heaven.

Thursday was even nicer weather. We went into town and watched the sunset. Afterwards we went to get tacos al pastor at the place Jacob Webb had found last year, but it was closed (had been open the night before). So we tried the next place down the street called Cheko's Tacos. They were great. I also went across the street and bought some bacon-wrapped hot dogs - which reminded me of Brasil and San Blas.

Though it was very relaxing, it seemed like time passed so quickly. Friday was spent at the beach and pool again. I caught a crab that we played with. We then had a great dinner with some shrimp we had purchased in town. After dinner we did fireworks. We went to do them across the street, but the one guard didn't want us to be attacked by the "crazy jumping scorpions that run like the devil." I would have enjoyed seeing those, but we took his advice and did the fireworks in our housing complex. It was fun - and Tevia even let the boys hold the roman candles as they ignited them.

Saturday morning we took one last quick trip to the beach and then headed back to clean up and take off. The trip home was uneventful with a nice stop at Taco Bell. In the end it was a wonderful, relaxing and sun-filled trip. I am probably tanner than I have been in years - and it was fun to feel in great shape as I watched the beach. Though there weren't many people on the beach - it seems the recession has taken its toll on the tourism down there.

I was so happy to go. My only regret is that we couldn't be joined by other family members. Maybe next year. We particularly missed Ellery playing with Enok on the beach.

Girls Camp

This year's camp included all the usual; rain, thunder, lightning, poison ivy, a few stitches, sunburns, drama, etc.
We had perfect weather on Thursday. Bill Hettinger spent 4 hours pulling the girls behind his jet ski on a tube. They loved it!
The sky was clear and bright for our testimony campfire. There were 12 non-members this year, and 6 of them bore their testimonies of how they felt such a special spirit this week.
Personally, I was blessed. I had gone to the camp Saturday with dad to drop off some heavy items, and bales of hay for archery. I went Monday to clean the kitchen and nurse cabin.
By Wednesday, my old bursitis on my right knee was swelling and giving me grief. I came home at 10pm for a good night sleep and nice clean shower. I iced it, and prayed for it not to get worse.
It didn't! By Friday I was still climbing the hills and cleaning and taking down tents in the pouring rain. My back was sore, but not bad. I truly was given the strength to run girls camp, and I am very grateful.

Newburgh-Beacon bridge

I have always wanted to walk this bridge, and Kathy has done it several times, so she suggested we do it tonight. We planned it this morning because the weather was perfect, but then Jesse called to see if we could babysit Charlie, which I always say yet to, so I thought we wouldn't get to, but, later, she canceled. We were glad to get to go. I thought it would be too much for dad, as he ran this morning, then cut the lawn, trimmed the bushes, and fixed some things.
It was a beautiful night, and the breeze coming off of the river smelled like ocean, and there were lots of boats out with people water-skiing and sail boats, etc.
There were big spiders all along the rails. It was fun looking down into the water.
Kathy and I found a big house on the hill that we could all live in.
We wished we could have all been on a nice walk together. It was really fun.
Later, I made dad stop at Carvel to try their ice-cream, as you know me, I wanted to try something different than Dairy Queen.
Jacob, did you work at DQ too, or just Bret? I couldn't remember. How funny that I don't even remember that.

wolverine

Another movie made for Bret's generation. We went to see it with Kathy. It was just okay. I thought it would be more like Batman Begins, where they explain how and why he becomes Batman. They did explain the how part in this movie, gross and painful, I must say.
A lot of fighting, a few naked butts, and not even much of a love story, although she was cute and I found myself liking her character the best.
I suppose Bret is now waiting for GI Joe.
Why don't they do a Barbie movie while they are at it? :)

My new sleeping bag!

scripture question

Mormon 6:10-15

I suppose you all have already figured this out. How do they justify the numbers in these verses? That is lots of 10's of thousands to live on and by that tiny hill Cumorah.

Elmo being tech savvy

I was watching Fox news this morning, and Elmo and his dad, who just came home from spending time in the military overseas, were on. They are starting a cool website that helps families,esp kids, keep in touch with military, and you can send pics and videos and audios, etc.
The cute thing was how they discussed it, just so real, like a father and son talking.
It was adorable.
At one point, the news guy says to them something about twittering, and Elmo's dad says, "oh, I don't know how to Twitter", and Elmo says, "Yeah, I twitter". and his dad says, "you twitter?"
You would have to see it, it was very clever and sweet and real.
I have not twittered. Should I learn to twitter, or at least try to twitter at least one thing?
John Sikora invited me to twitter. What does that mean? Does that mean with just him?
I don't want to be technarded.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

We can talk HP6 now. We have all seen it. I sent out a review which pretty much sums up my thoughts (though didn't send to Webbs since I didn't know if they had seen it yet - here is the link). To sum up my thoughts:

- Enjoyed the first 85% of the movie. I liked the scenery and acting was not bad, either. I was particularly touched by Hermione's acting - especially the scene when she ends up sending the birds at Ron.
- It seemed a little slow from time to time: too much snogging with Lavendar.
- Too much Draco, not enough Order of the Phoenix
- Loved the effects
- Not sure why they changed the ending! Why did the director think it better to have Harry cowering below as he watches his father-figure get killed! The book makes Harry out to be so much stronger - and he can't do anything because he is petrified! How is this better?
- They give away too much by including some of the conversation between Snape and Dumbledore before the trip to the cave. Why??
- Why did they leave out the funeral? And what's up with the rock-ballad lighter tribute, er, wand tribute?
- Where was the battle? Why did they take this out? How will they start book 7? Hogwarts hasn't been changed - no evil has taken place except for the death of Dumbledore. In the end they take a key and shocking piece in the book and leave me not caring in the movie.
- And what is up with Harry falling into the lake in the cave???? A great scene made cheesy by making it look like Gollum's sister came to kidnap Harry underwater.
- Um, and the love story between Harry and Ginny? No chemistry whatsoever - possibly worse than Padme and Anakin.

This is the second movie in a row (Transformers 2) that I am annoyed for the filmmakers making 2 huge mistakes: 1 - not developing the story enough that I really care and 2 - changing things enough to blatantly spit in the face of fans and prove it is "their" show. I am sure GI Joe will do the same (but I will still see it).

To be fair, I liked the movie and was moved at times. But as most of us know, there was much fan feedback last year in early screenings about the end - AND THEY STILL KEPT THAT ENDING! I'm not sure why they think this made a better ending. It could have been a great movie with the real ending. I got zero sense that evil was building except for seeing some flying pillars of smoke (Lost?) and hearing Bellatrix cackle now and again. I don't feel any of the characters are ever in danger. I don't feel there is any buildup to a great battle. All of Draco's sniveling to just get in 3 deatheaters and Fenrig? After a fantastic ending in the movie HP5, i feel they really messed up this one (the ending).

Remember, this book was FANTASTIC! It was amazing. It is one of the best of the series. There is so much in there. The movie missed so much of it. The horcrux theme is passed over too quickly. The battle is removed. And Harry is made to seem a coward - which he is not. He would not have stood and watched that happen, especially with Snape up there threatening Dumbledore.

End of rant.

when can we talk H P?

Google Voice gets better

Today Google announced an app for Google Voice on Android and Blackberry. What does this mean (for me, who has a blackberry)? It means even better service. Since my BB is my work phone I did not hook it up to Google Voice as I didn't want to confuse it with an extra number. But with this new app I get the following advantages:

- Makes it easier than ever to call people using my Google Voice number from my BB - thus they never see my work number. My Google Voice number shows up in their call log.
- Google Voice already gives me the flexibility to limit when my BB receives calls to my Google Voice number (I have it set to ring any time outside of 8 - 5 weekdays)
- The app allows me to send (and receive) SMS (text messages) via my data plan as opposed to my SMS plan. This means the texts go through data (internet) and not my plan's text plan. My phone actually gets charged 20 cents for every text it sends/receives, so I limit my texting (which I really only use for business purposes from time to time since my employer pays for these). I can now text ANYBODY using my Google Voice number and since I don't have the replies set to come to my phone, I won't get charged for the replies since they don't come to my phone, but I can still see them in the app. So I am saving my company money AND adding ability to use text from my Google Voice number using my BB.

This is actually really cool and will start to affect the way these phone companies sell plans. At this point, why would I ever need an SMS plan for a smart phone? I just need unlimited data. And, when either the Skype app comes to BB (already available on Google Android phones) or GTalk follows suit, I will be able to CALL people using my data plan and NOT my phone plan. This means I can call anyone who has skype for free from my phone and NOT USE ANY MINUTES!

These things make me excited - and give me hope that Google Chrome OS can truly be a threat to Microsoft.

End of Europe - Smart Phones

I will finally end my Europe log. After getting back to the UK there really wasn't much that happened. I was in the office a lot. The best part was being able to see an old friend for dinner. We talked for hours and it was fun getting to catch up. I was supposed to see another old friend the night before I left, but she ended up getting in a car accident the night before and so I wasn't able to visit her and her husband. Instead I went out to dinner with the head of our company for all international business. Overall the trip was great, though very busy. The flight home was fine and I have now gotten back into routine.

One thing that I seriously loved having while on this trip was my Blackberry. I came to realize the power of a good smart phone. I used it for everything. My laptop didn't work in the hotels as the wi-fi was spotty and it cost a fortune in the one hotel. So I used my BB. I used it to chat with Tevia and family and friends using the Google Chat app. I used it to check my work emails. I used it to check my Gmail with the mobile app. I used it to listen to music using Pandora. And what I used most was the Google Maps app. Since my phone has GPS I could always see where I was on a map and determine where to go. If I wanted to go to the Eiffel tower, I would just plug that in and it would show me how to get there (and give me options like by car or by foot!). When I got hungry and couldn't find something nearby I could type in a food I was looking for and get a map. I used this feature a lot and it made me avoid the typical look of a tourist by avoiding to have to take out a map. The map was on my phone and it would show me even as I walked along the path it routed for me.

I realized that in reality, if you are not a gamer or programmer, you might not ever need to buy a computer again. The smart phone could replace most of what you do on a computer. The only drawback is typing long emails or blogs. But this can be done on an old computer with ease. For everything I normally do (outside of work), which would basically include email, blog, searching the internet, maps and calendar, I can do quite effectively on my phone. I'm still not sure I would pay for a smart phone (as my company pays for mine at the moment) since I have a compy that works great. But I now would be much more tempted.

Birds for Bort

I took this video on my cell phone (not the best quality) last month at our ward's father son camp out. Jacob and I went in the morning to make breakfast and there were all these humming birds! They reminded me of you Bort!