On the PeiRoll..

The add-on I mean. Right now it just needs some QC and tweaking. Had to dive into some .asp scripts which I wasn't very familiar with, but I had a direct line to my own personal tech expert who (if not on the phone with someone else) will answer and fix my problems.

What other reason is there to marry a geek?

That's done, sort of just waiting testing and et cetera.. now I have to dig into the bowels of the raw data and wade knee deep in transact-sql statements to find out and fix corrupted data (some PCs on the American date format system have been logging calls which resulted in incorrect and weird due-date, messing up performance statistics).

They've got a list of issues that Andy was supposed to deal with, but he's out of action - and the poor guy is scheduled to go to Sofia tomorrow morning, whether he likes it or not. So I am going to try and nail them down one by one.

I feel like a sharp shooter today.

*pow!*

Next!

Posted at 12:56 PM
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Jeff was monitoring how efficient he could get the Ibiza (or lil brother as we call it, as the Cupra is the bigger brother). It's got this nifty thing where you can see how efficient you are driving, how many mpg you are getting.

The manual says that you can get between 45 - 70 mpg. Jeff got 71.5. And he called me to tell me he got it. He called to give minute by minute blow of how he was doing. He went into detail about how he did it. This is the guy who calculated how many sheets of toilet paper he uses per "toilet visit".

I guess that's why we click so well.

Posted at 22:29 PM
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You didn't know I was gone, did you? Well, at the start of last week, I didn't neither (didn't neither??). Anyway, got the job offer on Monday and Jeff decided to surprise me by taking the rest of the week off so we could go for a quick holiday before I start work.

How cool is that?!? Well, we spent Wednesday looking for a suitable holiday, and bandied around the idea of going to France, Lake District, Luxembourg, and then settled on Barcelona and got a deal via Lastminute.com. It was not a good deal, and if you ever do it - DO NOT GO FOR THE AIRPORT TRANSFER OPTION. Wottaripoff.

Anyway, with no guide nor idea about what to do/see there - we jetted off on Thursday. Had three brilliant days there (the weather was gorgeous), and walked around everywhere. From the main shopping centre of La Ramblas, to the castle in Monjuic, Pablo Espanyol (Spanish Village - although we went there a little too late and the shops were closed, but we ate at the late night restaurant there), saw a brilliant light/fountain/music show.

We also got "cultured" - and went to an art museum, saw a lot of churchy roman arty paintings, the main cathedral in the Gothic Quarters, and the Picasso museum (I think his earlier stuff was great... but he just got bonkers later on in lifie what with his cubism stuff). We walked A LOT though. And I think we burnt more calories than we put on. First night we went to Gino's and I had The Most Amazing Lasagne ever. It wasn't a regular one - but one with bacon, mushrooms and cheese, which absolultely melted in my mouth. I was never the same again. No other will beat the lasagna at Gino's. We must come back just so I can taste it again. yum yum.

Oh yes, on the last night, we chanced upon a huge queue after our visit to Picasso in the Gothic Quarter, with about 200 people waiting in line to get into the Les Quinze Nits restaurant, and decided to join in. Whatever it was, it must be good! So we waited an hour and then got shown in. It was amazing - I mean, the operations was just impeccable. Supremely well organized, almost as good as Oriental City's dim sum restaurant. No hitch, excellent service. Also amazingly well priced. But not as fantastic as Gino's though.

We sat next to a Jewish couple from Israel, although they were originally from Morocco, and had a very interesting chat with them. The husband only had one arm, and I know Jeff was burning to ask about it but am glad he didn't. Some peopl can get quite sensitive about things like that.

Anyhoo just got back to a ton of runner beans, 3 ripe tomatoes and 3 absolutely humongous courgettes/marrows. I guess that's what we are having for the next week or so. It was a great holiday, what was amazing about it was Jeff's spontaneity. We really enjoyed ourselves. I had a great time with my hunny. Oh did I mention I bought two pairs of suits (from Zara) for under £150?!?

Another reason why I married him

Posted at 23:57 PM
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I spent a lovely day with Suzi and family today. It was sunny and after a lazy morning, we had fried mee hoon for brunch. (Staying over with Suzi was like being pampered, she makes excellentttt food!)

Then we went out to town to get some stuff (such as chocolate and wafers) and took a walk around the area. What a lovely day it was, everybody was out enjoying the beautiful sunshine, and people were playing lawn-type chess on the boulevard, with that organ thing playing (I don't know what it's called).

Suzi and I spent the afternoon in the sunny back yard chatting about our lives and home, whilst the Maryam and Zakaria (my new toy boy hunk... well, as soon as he can buy me a ferrari, in about 25 years!) played on their tricycles. I really enjoyed myself, connecting with my friend again - on a level that is not easily done over the telephone or email.

It has also been interesting to watch how the children behave, as it's the closest I have been to living with toddlers. They are joyful, playful, frustrating, amazing, annoying and exasperating all at once. But I can see the advantages of having them, it's like having pets - only they look like you.

They can't look after the house or property, but you still need to clean up after their poop (and pee) at least for the first 4 years of "ownership". Meal times can be quite a hairy experience, because they never "wolf down" their food unless they have been exercising and starving for the last 5 hours - so make sure you are well prepared with bibs (for the kids and yourself), tissues, and a stack ful of patience. And oh, don't plan anything for the next two hours while you get through meal time.

Zakaria (or adik - as well call him, Malay for "little brother") is awfully playful. He is cheeky and charming, cute and cuddly, exasperating and all the things you can say about a cute puppy dog. But he can also play tricks - he told me he had lost his ¢30 (or ¢50 really) when it was actually in his pocket. He is so utterly adorable you just cannot stay mad at him for long.

At least he doesn't shed very much. Otherwise I'd trade him for a hairless pooch. And he's more energetic than your average dog, requiring several glasses of lucozade to keep up.

Anyway, being around them has been quite an eye opener. Although I haven't been quite ready for kids yet (well, not for a few years), I think that if they do come along - it wouldn't be such a scary thing. At least I can look forward to being put in an old folks home when I am old and grey. I just hope they put Jeff in there with me or I would never find my glasses/teeth/slippers.

He is useful for finding things for me. Which is only one of the reasons I love him.

Posted at 23:30 PM
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... since I arrived in the UK.

... since I took the plunge in search of happiness.

... since i took the chance o a certain odd person who has made my life an incredible adventure, and a story that is full of fun and laughter.

... of experience that I would not give up for anything in the world.

Have had two marriages, fortunately to the same man whom I love beyond all imagination, spent some fun years heading the technical consultancy team at a software company, had an incredible year at business school doing my MBA, ran my company, met some wicked people, and have had lodgers move in and out of the house.

We spent the day looking for the wok I was going to bring for Suzi, and the specific magee mee (instant noodle) - with assam laksa flavour, and visited 4 large chinese supermarkets near our house. Jeff was very accomodating and ferried me around, and we ended up having our anniversary dinner at Chiquito's.

I had a great time, having a meal with company that I enjoy. And there's no place I'd rather be on my sixth anniversary



Posted at 22:37 PM
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... also titled, "Why I am not studying - Excuse # 462"



I am such a sucker for the accent!



Posted at 00:42 AM
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Honeymoon over. But what an amazing one it was. Janet Swaby - who hosts the World of Travel, helped me with the planning and the booking, and it was as close to my dream honeymoon as I could get (only thing was Jeff's allergy to the tree frogs!)

St Lucia was lovely, but there were so many Americans!! Not that there is anything wrong with Americans, it's just that they were everywhere, it’s like being in America. The first seven days was at a resort called Sandals Grande (there are 3 Sandals on the island), and we were allowed to move between them to use the facilities and restaurant.

It’s an all-inclusive deal, so free food and drinks on the house. Also the water sports were included, and by the first day, we had already planned out the whole week. We went on a mini safari trip around the banana plantations and the interior of the island. It’s only a small little teardrop island, I think – 27km x 14km. We learnt a lot about bananas!

St Lucia is actually a chain of caribbean islands that were formed by volcanic activity, along with Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua, Cuba and the other islands in Central America. So the ground is very fertile, and many tropical plants grew well. It feels strange that many things are not “original” there, even the locals. They are brought by the French to work, and then later rebelled and settled down.

All the plants were also brought by the French, (Napolean Bonaparte and his troops) – sugar cane, bananas, cocoa, guava, coconuts, plants and fruits, and we went to the mineral baths where Josephine had purportedly bathed in. Also apparently the movie "Romancing the Stone" with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas was filmed there (we have got to rent the video tape).

We also did some diving, that was pretty good. We got to see lovely corals and fishes, and in particular, a puffer fish which puffed up as soon as it got disturbed, and an octopus which was squirting black ink everywhere because it was so petrified. We also saw a giant crab that was “trapped” in a funnel sponge.

The food at our Sandals was quite salty, and we were told that Americans like salty food – so we went over to another Sandals resort that was about 30 minutes away. Two of the nicest restaurants required booking and we had to wear nicely too (no shorts or sandals!) – there was the French restaurant La Toc and the Japanese restaurant called Kimonos where the chef cooked for 10 of us around the table. Both were very nice. However, we sort of camped out at the "patiserrie" called Josephine's Creperie which had crepes, and chocolate pancake – so Jeff really liked that. We ate there about 3 or 4 times in a row.

I have to say that the highlight must have been the dolphin and whale watching… at first we went about 2 hours and I only saw a solitary dolphin. If Jeff had not seen it too, I would have thought that I imagined it. Then we saw many pilot whales (which is like big dolphins, not as big as large whales I had imagined), and then about hundreds and hundreds of dolphins, dancing and swimming with the boats!

What a fantastic sight that was… unfortunately, they were too quick for Jeff, and he only caught a few on the camera. Also, he took so many underwater photos that he had to try and delete a few, so he wasn’t able to see some of the dolphins flipping and flying on the waves. The skipper told us that it was a good day, and it could not have got better (unless we came across a large sperm whale), but hundreds of dolphins dancing with us as good as it got.

After that, we went to Ladera, an amazingly beautiful resort where every room has only 3 walls. The fourth wall was a view of the Piton mountains and the sea. The first day we were there, it rained. But I didn't mind, because I was sitting beside our very own plunge pool reading, while the sheets of rain danced around the Pitons, creating shades of pattern in the thunderstorm. Incredibly - no rain came in, and it was very refreshing to smell the rain in the comfort of the room.

Of course, wildlife came in, geckos, birds, frogs, but they were very polite. Bugs were kept at bay by the romantic nets around the bed, which swayed in the offshore breeze at night. How very romantic it all was!

The food was excellent (Jeff said he had the Roast Wellington beef was the best he had). I also thoroughly enjoyed the experience, although Jeff got a very bad allergy reaction from something in the bathroom – we think it’s the tree frogs that were ribbitting in there. He kept sneezing and his eyes watered and itched non-stop. I caught and relocated quite a few, 15 on one night, and about 11 on another… don’t know where they came from (see the picture below)! Apparently the poolside at Ladera was filmed in Superman II – so we have to definitely rent the film to watch it whether it is true!

Click here to see more amazing photos of Ladera. It's absolutely fantabulous!


















Posted at 23:14 PM
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