Raymond’s Blog

Contrary to popular belief, I've not dropped off the face of the earth (although laying under a rock with bowl of noodles could be a more interesting visual). In fact, the subject line of this post doesn't mean a thing... it came to me because I remembered one of my old bosses being at work (after being a bit sick) and throwing the line that he felt like he was 'passing out a watermelon'. If that's not weird one liner, then I dunno what is.

So, a hiatus of a few months with not a blog entry at all. Hmm.. well.. I did go overseas to escape the Sydney winter blues and experienced an extreme summer which was not all that better. Hong Kong (which is where I went) was very hot and humid - so much so that my glasses fogged up whenever I walked out of the hotel. Talk about temperature differentials! The hotel was friggin' freezing because they had the aircon on full throttle and then it was absolutely hot and humid outside. Kinda felt like you were going in and out of a fridge (if you can imagine that). And that is one hell of way to mess with your body's acclimatisation! ;)

I think I came back to Sydney more worse than when I went. Arghh.....

Sydney is unusually colder than normal for winter this time of the year. It's currently a cool 5 degrees C for metro Sydney - probably colder when you get a bit further west or south (in the mountains). Ok... so apart from the rather frosty mornings and evenings, the rest of the day has been pretty pleasant. For a cold winter's day, Sydney is still fortunate enough to get magnificent blue skies and a beaming sun (with hardly a cloud floating around).

The only crazy part is every person is going to work today probably all rugged up in about 5 layers of clothing, 2 pairs of pants, woolly socks and a beanie hat. What can I say? Yup... winter sucks the proverbial icy pole (literally). Winter is the only season where I don't have a liking at all for it - it's cold, cold and cold. Did I mention it's cold? :(

Indeed, Sydney had a bit of heavy rain recently. That's something unusual since this place has been in drought for the past couple of years. Our dams were hovering around 30 per cent - with not much hope of there being a miracle. But, strangely, the heavens opened up (or more clouded up) and then began pouring down like a dog whose had a bit too much to drink. Days of intense rain ensued - people were miserable (but delighted about the rain... ok... maybe not *that* delighted), chaos ruled the roads, trees were fallen and the cat down the street decided to cash in one of his nine lives (and still lived to tell the story). And with that amount of heavy rain, Sydney's dams are now pushing around 55 or so per cent!

And, something I seriously don't get is how some people can walk around wearing short sleeved shirts and pants and not feel an inch of the shivers from the cold winter temperatures. I'm literally freezing my butt off (along with my feet, toes, fingers, head, etc). They must be made of something different I think - like they've got a pair of long johns underneath their skin! They laugh at the sight of the flu virus and down that cold beer without the thought of a runny nose. Whilst us poor saps can't handle the cold, these other people thrive on the cold and don't flinch when the temperatures drop a degree or two; or when the wind starts blowing a bit and makes the wind chill factor drop the overall temperatures by about 5 or more degrees! Yikes!

So, what do we do to escape this cold weather? Go to a place that's warmer.... yep... I'm going to bail from this country for a week or so and enjoy the summer conditions of somewhere else later this month (and bask in the warmer 30 plus degrees C and massively high humidity!). :P

Hi ho all you readers (or none at all). Time for some travelogues as I'm in need to bust a nut on some commentary on various places I've visited recently (ok... so *not* that recently).

My first travelogue is good ol' San Francisco. Yep... home to the Vox team and many other illustrious tech companies. This was my first time to San Francisco and it was really only a brief stopover (en route to Vancouver in Canada). I've always wanted to check out San Francisco and find out what all the fuss was about. We had about a day and half to check out the city!

OK... let me set the scene. We're in Sydney airport on a Friday morning. The taxi has just dropped us off at the International Terminal and we have to make our way to the Qantas check in counters in cattle class (ie. economy). I was thinking we'd be up for a long queue and wait in cattle class but surprisingly, it was actually quite a short line. I know for sure that Saturdays suck for flying out as every other bloody person is doing the same thing and sometimes the check in lines can stretch outside the terminal! So, a tick for choosing Friday to fly out (ok... it was our travel agent who put us on for Friday as there were no available seats on the original Sunday flight to San Fran).

We do the usual check through Immigration and then hang around the Qantas boarding gate destined for San Francisco. It was July 2006 when we actually flew out and that time of the year was winter in Sydney (which we don't particularly like - gimme summer anyday!). I'd rather sweat like a pig than rug up with about 5 to 10 layers of clothing. :)  BTW, we're not fans of winter - so that's why we were heading out of Australia to go somewhere warmer!

After enduring a 13 and half hour flight in cattle class flying across the Pacific (and not getting any sleep at all), we arrive at San Francisco on the same day in the morning (ie. Friday morning San Fran time). I'm still pretty pumped after the flight - even though I didn't get any real sleep (and how could you with the damn plane noise?!). I have to admit that we did get some conscious shut eye (ie. close your eyes and attempt to sleep). It's about 12pm before we get to our hotel in downtown San Francisco. We stayed at the Handlery Union Square Hotel on Geary St that's close by to Union Square (ie. where Macy's and Chinatown are).

Our first glitch (if you'll call it that) was checking into the hotel. At the hotel, we checked in and was told no rooms were available until 3pm! By this time, after a 13 and half hour flight, I was kinda pissed off and was wondering if this is a taste of US customer service to come. If it was, no wonder the US gets a bad rap. We were pretty tired from all the travelling and just wanted to slop on the bed and rest. But nope - we couldn't do that.

The best the hotel could offer was that we leave our luggage in their secured area and we wander around the city for a couple of hours and come back at 3pm for a room. So with that, we grabbed our San Francisco map and digital cameras, and headed off in whatever direction we could find. By this time, we hadn't slept for about 22 hours.

After a couple of false starts (hey, this was our first time in the city), we managed to find Chinatown. A weird obsession in our travels was to gravitate towards the Chinatown in each of the cities we visited. Perhaps we thought that there would be some familiarity in seeing some things Chinese. And sure enough, we did. We wandered through the streets of Stockton and Grant and heard the familiar sounds of Cantonese being spoken. And even more funnier was the fact that we could hear the Zhongshan (my parents home village) accent from many of the local folk there. Bizarre!

We were a bit thirsty by then and stopped by a bubble tea place. My sister and I are new connoisseurs of the bubble tea phenomena. We tried out this place and ordered from the menu. The lady went ahead and made our drinks. We waited and watched as the lady mixed and fiddled with the various tools of the trade. I noticed her mixing some of the ingredients into a hot mixture - by this time it looked strange. I was expecting some cool or cold mixture as part of the drink preparation. By the time we finally got our drinks and started drinking it, I noticed that it was kinda warm - not really what I was expecting (given that it was summer in the US - although in San Francisco, that doesn't really mean anything - more on this later!). My sister screwed up her face a bit after drinking her bubble tea and pronounced that it wasn't that great (and that's putting it mildly).

After two hours of walking around aimlessly in the city, we head back to the hotel and hoping that there might be a room ready for us. The hotel staff say that they are still fixing up the room. By this point I'm thinking how bloody long does it take to set up a room? So there we are - all three of us sitting in the lobby - tired and still wearing our winter clothing from Sydney. We're all a bit grumpy by then (and that's putting it mildly).

Finally, we get our room at around 2.30pm and slop on the bed for some light rest. Having rested a bit, we decide to eat some cheap takeout before exploring the San Francisco shopping centre (which is owned by our very own Westfield company - an Aussie company).

After wandering in and then out of the shopping centre (and buying nothing :P), we decide to take a ride on the famed San Francisco cable cars down to Fisherman's Wharf. This was around 7pm in the evening.

Has anyone mentioned that San Francisco has some weird weather? It was warm during the day and then it dipped into some biting windy wintery conditions during the evening. So the ride on the cable car was a bit cool and wintery. By the time we got to Fisherman's Wharf there was a handful of tourists walking about. We didn't have much to look at as it was getting a bit dark by then and we headed back to the cable car to take us back to Union Square. Little did we know that the cable car was one of the last ones for the night and it only stopped at just before Chinatown. So, after that, we had to make our way on foot back to the hotel - a rather brisk 15 minute walk (I think). We ended having late night junk food at Jack in the Box (the only thing that was open for business and was cheap!).

Finally, after what must be over 30 hours without any sleep (from Sydney to San Francisco and then wandering around San Fran), we get a decent snooze that evening! The hotel room we got at the Handlery was, admittedly, quite spacious and comfortable - so apart from the checking in process, I'm dozing off into lala land.

Next day... it's a city tour!

For those girls that are looking to find the ideal date and mate, it might come as a surprise that good guys are actually turned off by some behaviours exhibited by the girl when going out on a date.

The following classifies you single girls into various person types. It's based on meeting someone via internet dating but can still be applicable to other ways of introduction (ie. through other friends, etc). :P

1. Misleading Maggie: Her profile says no kids, athletic and raking in the big bucks. The first date reveals two young kids, an extended waistline and unemployment checks. Nothing says trust issues for a guy more than lies from the get-go.
   
   
2. Insecure Ilene: She reads into every comment a guy makes. She wants to know right away if date #2 can be tomorrow. She asks you to call the minute you get home. This clingy nature screams of a potential needy girlfriend lacking independence.
   
   
3. Third-Degree Donna: The cross-examination begins before the menus arrive. The questions are coming fast and furious, and the guy begins to feel like the defendant on the stand in a criminal trial. If a guy feels stuck under the interrogation lights, he'll run for the hills.
   
   
4. Tardy Tina: She arrives late, she no-shows, she changes plans last-minute, she loses his number, she flat-out just doesn't respect a guy's time. Fashionably late is one thing; keeping a guy waiting 30 minutes or no-showing is unacceptable.
   
   
5. High-Maintenance Hilda: "Thanks for taking me to this nice restaurant, but couldn't you get a table by the window?" The feeling that nothing is ever good enough makes a guy quit trying to impress. A simple thank you for a nice dinner is a better way to go.
   
   
6. Chatterbox Charlene: The conversation doesn't have to be 50 percent talking and 50 percent listening, but if she does all the talking it feels more like a seminar than a date. Charlene's opposite cousin, Pulling Teeth Patricia, is equally unsettling, making the guy do all the work.
   
   
7. Still-Hurting Sally: First dates are notorious for spilling the beans on what went wrong with prior relationships. Sharing an amusing anecdote is good; making it clear you're not over your ex-boyfriend is a definite no-no.
   
   
8. Game Player Gina: "Maybe I'll kiss you goodnight, maybe I won't." Good guys like to know where they stand. They leave the game-playing for the sports field. There's nothing wrong with flirting, but just know when it crosses over into deception and confusion.
   
   
9. Conceited Colleen: "Any guy would be lucky to have me." Guess what, the great guy across the table is also a real catch. Stop assuming every guy doesn't deserve you, and then you'll be on your way to actually landing a good one.
   
   
10. Matrimony Maureen: He dips his egg roll in duck sauce when all of a sudden she spills the beans on what they should name their kids. Intense relationships can be exciting for a good guy, but walking down the aisle before you walk each other home for the first time is a turn-off.

To read the full article, check it out here at Yahoo.

Granted, I'm no expert at this but I can certainly relate to some of those classifications above. Ultimately, a good guy  just wants to know an honest, funny person who doesn't have a lot of hang-ups about things and just gets on with life. One who doesn't play hard to get (where under some grand plan that the harder you are to get, the better the man you'll snare - it works up to a certain extent - after that, you're on your own girlfriend!) or is too easy (obviously, there are not so good guys that you wouldn't dare bring home to meet mum). Simple, really. Well... maybe not... given the complexities of modern life, there are quite a few variables to consider in this crazy thing called relationships and it starts to become a case of trying to solve several differential equations with ten or more unknown variables (and hoping that the answer will solve life's mysteries... ok.. maybe not)! :P

So, what person are you, then?

The following is from an email I got from my cousin some time ago. It's actually quite an interesting little story that again tries to make you rate the importance of those things around you. Enjoy! :)

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They all agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the most important --- God, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions --- and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else --- the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

Take care of the golf balls first --- the things that really matter. Set your priorities! The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked." The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

TAKE TIME, MAKE TIME, THERE MAY NOT BE A NEXT TIME!

Abbott and Costello are one of the best comedy duos of all time. They made a heap of movies in the 1940's and 1950's and one of their most famous skits was the 'Who's on first?' act as seen in the stage acts and also in the movie 'The Naughty Nineties'. It's a clever play on words and expertly delivered with fantastic comic timing! :P

I've been off on a self imposed exile from Vox whilst doing some other things other than blogging (er... like wasting time playing computer games and watching Wing Chun videos). Yeah, yeah... stupid excuse but them's the facts.

Ok... now for some feelgood stuff. These videos have been doing the traps on Youtube and links having been flying all over the place in people's inboxes. So, just when you've been completely depressed by what's going on in the news around the world, it's refreshing to find something that brightens up that miserable day.

The following videos are from the British talent show 'Britain's got talent' - a show where basically any performer (not just singers) can get on and perform live to an audience and a big TV audience. These videos are outstanding because the performers are unassuming normal people - your average Joe or Jane. Enjoy! :)

It's Friday (thank god!) and I feel the need for speed... er... scratch that (thought it was 'Top Gun') ... OK... let's relive the 80's through some cool video clips from that time! (take me back to high school now...) :P

Here's a few that I pulled out of the closet from way back then:

Take a classic Who song, get a bunch of elderly geriatrics into a recording studio, grab a bunch of happening musos and what do you have? The Zimmers version of the famous Who song 'My Generation'!! :P  Go Granny, Go.... smash that guitar like you really mean it!

There once was a little mouse that worked very hard at what she did. She endeavoured to meet all the demands on her at work. But that didn't seem to be enough to please the ones above. For it was a Terrible Ogre that oversaw all the little mice's work and struck fear and loathing to all those that met this hideous creature.

Little Mouse and her colleagues worked in the Organization where the new focus was on productivity and meeting the numbers. It was no longer the fun place that it used to be. Little Mouse worked in a small team with other like minded mice. There were those in her team that were jovial and cooperative and little mouse enjoyed their friendship. But then there were a few who sided with the dark side (ie. the Ogre) and harboured unnatural advantages due to their association with the terrible one. Little Mouse had to deal with these mice delicately so as not to get them off side and bring anger to the Ogre.

Of those mice that she felt most comfortable working with, Little Mouse noticed that each mouse had little quirks about them. Whether it be personality traits or odd behaviour routinely exhibited, Little Mouse had to be conscious not to say the wrong thing about them. There was the guitar wielding mouse who had a fetish for learning Cantonese and profusely practiced it whenever he could. Guitar Mouse could only speak English but he was amongst many who could also speak Cantonese. Guitar mouse wanted to fit in and started to act like he was a fluent Cantonese speaking mouse. He would talk to his fellow mouse colleagues in Cantonese with often hilarious results.

And then there was Joking Mouse. She was one that could never stop making fun of everyone. Mainland China Mouse was also another work colleague that Little Mouse had thought was civil and polite. That illusion was shattered one day when China Mouse displayed behaviours that were consistent with mainland Chinese mice that lacked Western etiquette. Little Mouse thought it odd but concluded that etiquette was not well taught in China. It was a sad indictment on the current cultural learnings for the mice emigrating from China. If only they were taught some of the proper etiquette from some of the great dynasties from China's past.

'I'm too pretty to do any hard labour' (let's call it 'Spoilt') Vietnamese Mouse was another colleague of Little Mouse. Spoilt Vietnamese Mouse believed that she was the fairest one of them all in the group and carried a mirror with her everywhere. When no one was looking, she would take the mirror out of her pouch and gaze at her image and mutter words that suggested she was prettiest one of them all. The vain one was spoilt during her childhood and those behaviours are now displayed prominently to all those that have met her. She also would routinely cut her own hair at work to while away the time and keep up her grooming. Such is the life of a vain mouse.

Lesbian ('dyke') Mouse was a colleague of Little Mouse's that most intrigued her. Dyke Mouse liked other girl mice and didn't like boy mice. In fact, Dyke Mouse was the alpha male and she would dress in ways to look more masculine than feminine. What intrigued (or bothered) Little Mouse the most about Dyke Mouse was that she took more sick time than she ever worked at the organisation. On top of that, she was a highly emotional mouse that would burst into tears when she did something wrong. And sometimes she would throw a hissy fit (tantrum). Terrible Ogre would have to placate and soothe this temperamental mouse. Little Mouse concluded that Dyke Mouse must have come from a highly dysfunctional f----d up family.

Supremely annoying (Prick) Mouse was just plain annoying and arrogant. Like a rash, Prick Mouse would irritate Little Mouse and colleagues no end. Prick Mouse was argumentative and would push the point that he was always right when everyone knew he was wrong. Suffering from low self esteem and irritable bowels, Prick Mouse just couldn't keep it together and would attempt to butt into conversations and wander the office cubicles looking for someone who would actually talk to him (but none would). Knowing what an absolute prick he was, Prick Mouse started to befriend the only one that really understood him - the Terrible Ogre. But even the Ogre could not understand the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Ugly Duckling Mouse was a friendly mouse - although she was a little bit chubby around the areas. She said that you can call her anything except fat. So, from that point onwards, the mice colleagues called her the Ugly One because, well, she was just that - a bit ugly but she didn't care. As long as you didn't call her fat. Which was fine by all the others.

Now, we have left ourselves to the last few antagonists in this little story. The Terrible Ogre was a crotchety, mean spirited creature that was not liked by her subservients. In fact, she is not even liked by her other peers. Terrible Ogre was once a mouse like Little Mouse and worked in the same type of role as Little Mouse. By all accounts, the Terrible Ogre was not that good when she was a mouse doing the same type of work as Little Mouse. But when an organisation restructure took place, the Terrible Ogre was elevated to a position of higher authority - even though she was not fit or deserving of such a role. However blinded the Organisation Heads were, they promoted the Terrible Ogre and from that day onwards, the mice worked in misery. With the power that she obtained, it corrupted Terrible Ogre and she could no longer tell right from wrong (or how to count to ten with her fingers). She dabbled in various vices like alcohol, cigarettes and junk food, developed relationships with a core group of mice that she would heap favouritism to, was a party pooper, was a hypocrite, lacked leadership skills and could not dress herself for shit. And, worst of all, she could not spell. Not even her name.

Terrible Ogre's idea of a long term career was to get married young, have a husband that she would always ring several times during the day for no reason at all, live out in the desolate Western regions (where two headed jackasses roam the streets), and be in her lowly position of Overseer to the mice. That was her idea of the perfect career. Sad as it may seem, this was the extent of her ambitions.

So, who could the mice turn to if they needed help when the Terrible Ogre was mean and naughty? Could they go to the next level up and speak to the Terrible Ogre's supervisor? No... it appeared that Mother Superior (Terrible Ogre's supervisor) could not provide an objective ear to the mice's concerns. Terrible Ogre had become too friendly with Mother Superior and because of this, the relationship was more than just professional - they had become chummy.  A bit too chummy. Any concerns voiced by the mice to Mother Superior would only be relayed back to the Terrible Ogre with retribution to those mice concerned. It was not a conducive environment for the poor mice who worked hard but received little in praise or reward. This is the unrewarding environment that Terrible Ogre had created and her lack of interpersonal skills added insult to the mice that worked there.

To find out what happens to Little Mouse, you will need to wait for the next part to be posted!