MONTH END

And so the weekend is upon us. Wow what a fast week. And what a fast month. And you know the last weekend of the month is upon us when you have to make multiple stops at multiple ATMs to try and draw some money out. No money left in the ATM. It took me a few tries yesterday, but eventually I found one.

So the lake/pond - well that's where the Balikpapan Loch Ness Monster lives. You know - the one from yesterday. I think I'm on the Scottish theme this week.

Tonight's the BIG DO. Robby Burns Supper tonight. No. There are no tickets left. SOLD OUT. .........and in typical Balikpapan fashion - way too many people waited until the last minute. Again.

TODAY: Still sipping away on coffee this morning - having a really slow start to this day. And enjoying it too. Maybe it's the rain. BIG RAIN. The best part of a big-rain-in-the-morning ...... is that the sun will be out this afternoon. Not too often do you get a whole day of rain around here. This morning's rain was the kind that sneaks up on you. No warning today - the usual pre-warning of thunder boomer sounds. Nope - this one snuck up on us from way back behind the house. Actually all week we've been having lots of thunder and no rain. Today we got the rain - and there's water all over the place. All the little puddles have formed into really, really big ones around here. But not in the house. Not YET. That actually did happen once.

Me and the other Me did, get our tickets to tonight's big event. (In advance) And looking forward to some good old fashioned Scottish fun. Whiskey and bagpipes, haggis and kilts. Going to be an interesting night. Too bad 'Shawn the Sheep' isn't in town. Actually maybe it's a good thing.

Special Note to the other Me: We have a brand new gas bottle for the shower. My turn this time. Yup, your right - a nice hot shower turning into freezing cold really SUCKS! And you know it's the weekend when that happens too.

Payday today for our favorite helpers - so better get going and take care of that.

Good to Go!

LOCH NESS

Loch Ness in Balikpapan - I think not. But it is the Scottish weekend coming up. I think this guy is called a water monitor, anyways it's Robby Burns Supper tomorrow night. And it's a SOLD OUT event. Hope you got your tickets everyone. And kilts and tartans and whatever else you'll need.

Had a great lunch yesterday and checked out a couple new shops in town too - how exciting to have something new. Didn't buy a single though. Just window shopped. [But got these really cool little key chains with solar-powered lights - for free. COOL! and Thank You]

Me and the other Me have started working out the details for holiday we are going to take very soon. Someplace in Malaysia it looks like - going to start in KL and visit some friends ........... after that - well, just not sure yet. Thinking about a place called Penang on the west coast. Check out this place Eastern & Oriental Hotel, maybe, the price is right and it looks really cool. Or, maybe this one Jerejak. We'll see. Malaysia might not be a big place but there's a whole bunch of options, and lots and lots of things to see and do. Any suggestions?

TODAY: Not sure yet. Busy morning in the office and later have a couple little errands to run and then we'll see. Almost time for a weekend everyone. Let's do it!

Good to Go!

THURSDAY

The kitchen sink - fixed. Draining like no body's business now - for now - till next time anyways. Still have a bit of rubble left over out the kitchen window though. Lumps of clay instead of a nice patch of grass. I'm sure we'll figure out what to do about that - more garden perhaps. We have to put all those new little plants someplace.

Anyways, can't say too much more about the kitchen sink. AS THERE IS NO WATER TO DRAIN DOWN IT THIS MORNING AGAIN! Yup, here we go again - once again, the water's been shut off. A left over problem from last week. Wholly - having no water SUCKS!

Now I have to tell you about my experience in the carpet shop yesterday. Yeah - I know I went out to buy milk (which I only managed to buy 1 - good thing my friend saw it in the morning and put my name on it) and ended up in a Carpet Shop. It's a very long story how that ended up - but, that's what happens here. Sometimes.

So this guy that runs the carpet shop, who speaks impeccable English, gave me the most extensive education/lesson/history of handmade carpets in the world. There is a whole lot of work and a whole lot of hours that go into these carpets. And they truly are beautiful hand made carpets. He was very insistent on showing at least a quarter of his "collection" to me. I should have known I was in trouble as soon as I started admiring this little 1 metre by 2 metre carpet made of wool and silk. Just a little bit EXPENSIVE I think - for me anyways. But I'm sure someone will buy it. No I did not. If I would have come home with that beautiful little carpet with a discounted price of $5000 US - the other Me would most likely have wrapped/rolled me up in it like a mummy and exported me off. LOL. Lesson learnt - at all costs - stay out of expensive carpet shops.

TODAY: Need to get a little job done, finished, complete, dropped off and out of here. And that's exactly what's happening too. And I feel pretty good about it. Good job.

The Fortnight lunch crew is stepping things up a bit. And going out again this week. Not sure if there's an actual name for once a week instead of every two but ............ oh well we're doing it.

And, today - I'm finally getting rid of all those ugly ORANGE curtains in our house. YES!

Good to Go!

THE KITCHEN SINK ........

Ok, so not quite sure how this is going to work yet. BIG QUESTION MARK???

I better take a step back and explain all of this. Over the weekend our kitchen sink, rather double kitchen sink - decided it didn't want to drain for us. Actually it would drain but super, super slow. In fact what was happening - if you took out the plug in one sink to drain the water out - it would all come back up in the other sink. How this works - I don't know.

So anyways, yesterday maintenance came over to the house to try and fix it. Well after a couple of hours of taking the whole thing apart and making a very, very big mess - they gave up. Gave up on the idea that the problem was inside the house. So, late in the day they started digging things up. And this morning ................. well this is where they're at. I'll let you know how things work out. This might take awhile. I think?

Oh, and I forgot to mention yesterday the Solar eclipse we had here. Happened on Monday - same day as the start of the Year of the Ox. Didn't actually get to see much of it where we are, but lots in Indonesia did. From what I understand we were a little bit to far south.

TODAY: Back in the pool this morning. And back in the sunshine too. Love it! And the other Me - well this morning decided I needed a bit of a sleep in - and snuck out of the house. BIG HUG! It was great - guess I need that.

Off this afternoon to try and find milk again. Yes, getting tired of that. Boy I miss real supermarkets with lots and lots of stuff on the shelf. Appreciate it folks - you've got it pretty good. Still have a wee bit of work left to do but no problem with that. All good.

Good to Go!

STUFF TO DO!!

I know, I'm really, really late. Sorry, but I had STUFF TO DO + a bunch of other things too. It was a good day though - a good to have STUFF TO DO. And then, the whole day disappeared. Poof! Just like that.

We had a pretty busy weekend too. The house warming on Saturday was nice, and there was so much food. A row of caterers in fact. So we decided to try something new. Soto Madura. Soto we knew = soup. Surprise .......... with big chunks of liver in it too. Beef Liver Soup - (at least we think it was beef) I'm sorry folks, but eeewh. Note to self: you do not like Soto Madura. Not good. Not good. Not good. But hey, I ate at least half though - I tried, honest, I really did.

And then the house. Wow - what a house. What a huge, huge house. 829 sq. meters - that's 8,923 sq feet. I think I need a bedroom with an infinity pool too. You lucky girl.

Yesterday was the Chinese New Years Day. The first day of the Year of the Ox. Yuyu invited some of us over to his house for the big day. And so, my friend and I went. (The other Me ended up at work - STUFF TO DO - missed out on the liver soup the day before too - other STUFF TO DO) My first - Chinese New Years Day I've been invited to some one's house event - never been to one of these before.

And a day packed with customs and superstitions and all kinds of rights and wrongs one should and shouldn't do. Like don't clean your house on New Years Day - didn't do that. DO NOT wear black - we wore red and white. DO NOT say the number 4 - and we didn't. Number 8 is good though. Bring mandarin oranges to exchange with your hosts - did that. Eat lots of sweets - and we did. Plus, plus, plus a whole bunch of other things too. I might also add, we were the only Expats - and it looked like the only ones that were served beer too. Hmmmm - what's with that? And, no we didn't drink it - graciously declined and had pink Fanta instead.

A very cultural weekend it was - Sunday was dinner at our house with a bunch of our friends. Ribs and potato salad and other yummy stuff too - Western Food.

TODAY: And that's how today ended up with STUFF TO DO.

TOMORROW: I'll let you know how maintenance is making out with the plugged kitchen sink. Late this afternoon they started digging up the garden on the side of the house.

Good to Go!

YEAR OF THE OX

Red Calendar Day - Chinese New Year. Year of the Ox.

TODAY: Is a holiday.

See you tomorrow. Good to Go!

BENZIN

Have a busy day today so not a lot of time for a post. I took this pic yesterday on my home from my shopping trip on the other side of town. I know, it's not the greatest picture - but oh well, what the heck.

These little stands are all over the place, all over Indonesia, not just Balikpapan. And in those bottles is BENZIN. Pronounced: ben-zeen. And it's fuel. Petrol or gas or whatever you want to call it. And today, a 1 litre bottle, the clear bottles up on the top, costs 5,500 Rupiah. That works out to (today) about 48 cents US.

I should also mention it's fuel for motorcycles - not cars. Apparently there's a difference - I didn't know that. But, I don't imagine one of those little bottles would get you very far anyways.

The shopping yesterday - all I can say is DID NOT WORK OUT! No milk at K's, no sour cream, no cheese, and the Hero store - wholly what a mess. They're re-arranging everything. So almost everything is in carts and not on the shelf. And you'd think they'd do it one isle at a time. NOT.

TODAY: A hurry, hurry day ahead. Lots to do. My friend and I are off to an open house. A house warming of sorts. My first time for this kind of event here so not really sure what to expect. And then I'll try and do yesterday's shopping - almost all over again.

Have a great weekend everyone. Good to Go!

THE COLOUR OF BLUE

SPLASH!! The colour of BLUE ........... just unloaded itself all over this umbrella. Love it. What a great colour. What a great umbrella. The colour of BLUE.

I think the hairdresser was just what I needed yesterday. Gave me a bit of a boost. + I had a really good massage too. Got my VIP & VIM back. ........ and being that it's FRIDAY and a long weekend too, might have something to do with that.

Well the whole town seems to gearing up for the Robby Burns Supper (Scottish) event. There's a whole lot of HOOP LA going on around here. And there's even a group of people that have organized dance lessons for the big night. Today I get to start my part in all of it. January 31st - and there's still a few tickets left for any of you that can't decide. I think the word FORMAL attire has scared a few folks. Don't worry, just put on your best - whatever it is. Or, maybe it's the thought of eating HAGGIS. Haggis - what's that?

TODAY: Rainy day Friday here. All day. Oh well - they can't all be sunshine I guess. Maybe tomorrow.

So we'll make a quick appearance at the BBC tonight, for a bit, but then off and and our way to some farewell-ing after that. The problem with being an Expat - the hardest part - by far, is the farewell part. I think it's way easier to be one of the first to leave - never the last.

Need to hurry to the grocery store this afternoon and try to buy some milk. Actually, it isn't really a grocery store - but it works. It's a place called Toko Royal and the owner's name is K. Not sure if "K" is his real name or if it stands for something else or how to spell it. But, K supplies all us Expats with our little tastes of, or versions of, our tastes of home, and we sure appreciate that. Need to find something (or decide) what I'm cooking for a little dinner party we're having this weekend too.

And ............ have some work to do too! Have a couple projects I need to (start) get finished by the middle of next week.

Good to Go!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Sorry about the blurrrr and the glare and the dirty windows , but ............ it's a great view. This is the view from the top floor (empty top floor) of the new Balikpapan Trade Center mall. Nice to have a new mall. But it's not what you'd think. With the exception of the new Hypermart store and the A&W, it's mainly just a whole bunch, numbering in the hundreds I think, of tiny little kiosks selling mostly cloths, shoes, watches, cheap jewelry, hand phones and a whole bunch of other junk. A re-newed version of the traditional markets I think. But they do have a great view. ......... and the biggest parkade in town.

TODAY: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. No not me. Or the other Me either. But it is someone we both know. And you know who you are ........... don't you? Happy Birthday to you! Tonight we'll eat cake - just for you. Maybe even CHOCOLATE too.

Yesterday must have worn me out. Not a whole lot of VIP & VIM going on for me today. Today should be one of those rainy days (but it's not) when you grab a good book and lay on the couch all day. ......... or just watch a bunch of really bad TV. BUT IT'S NOT.

Oke mum. (ahhh - gotta love that) Just got an SMS (text message) from the local hairdresser. On my way.

Good to Go!

ZOOMED AWAY

Hello Wednesday. Well looks like this day got away from me. Just zoomed away in fact. And so this is my last ditch effort to try and get today's post done. FAST.

Haai Hotel yesterday, (love that name by the way - pronounced HI) was a really refreshing surprise. What a nice little place. Surrounded by trees and with a nice little lily pond too. Very nice despite what everyone told me about the place before I got there. I liked it. And I liked the lemon grass tea, and the weird pineapple/bok choy juice too. Tastes just like strawberries, but has the colour of green. I'd do that again. Think I can make it myself now in fact. EASY. And it's probably really good for you too.

TODAY: was fast.

The fortnight lunch day - turned into a trip around town. Saw the sights. And that was nice. Followed these guys in the truck above for bit. Speculated they were on their way to set-up for a Chinese New Years event (red chairs) or maybe another wedding. Could be an exersice in How many people can you fit in the back of a truck with a whole bunch of chairs? Makes one wonder how many managed to fit in the front?

We took in the new A&W today. And a fairly busy place it was too. All American Food I believe is their slogan. Not sure about that. Not quite. NO ONION RINGS!! How can you have an A&W without onion rings? There's something terribly wrong with that. ........... and the Mozza Burger - the thinnest, skinniest, burger patty I've ever seen. They must have rolled it out FLAT to fit it on the bun. And beef bacon - cooked to the crisp (and I really mean crisp - snap, crack, crisp). Really, really crisp.

Now I understand why everyone else in the place was having chicken & rice, ice cream or Belgium waffles. ............ Wait a minute, Belgium waffles - I thought it was all American Food. Hmmmmmm

This day's done. Good to Go!

DRAGON FLYS + SNAGS

Ok, so the Dragon Fly - I guess, just because it was there.

Now about the SNAGS. What the !@#* are SNAGS? I have to admit, at first I truly thought it was a misprint. And I had to ask. So, next week the Le Grandeur Hotel is having an Australia Day event. And the poster says they'll be serving SNAGS. I thought they did a misprint that turned snacks into SNAGS. It's not uncommon for stuff like that to happen around here - In fact this week the Calgary Flames became the CALAGARAY Flames in Saturday's Jakarta Post. Well anyways, SNAGS, it turns out are Australian Sausages. Who would ever have thought of that? I don't remember any SNAGS on the menu when I was there. And along with the SNAGS, there's going to be Aussie Pies, Aussie Burgers, Aussie Steaks and a whole lot of beer.

Now that I'm topic of events: we still have a few seats left at our table for Robby Burns Night. Free Whiskey (YUCK) and men in skirts (????). Any takers? Should be a fun night I think.

Fortnight Lunch: how about tomorrow for that?

Record time for bill paying yesterday. That was good. That was GREAT in fact. Gotta like it when that happens. And I think I found the new cinema everyone's been talking about. Imagine that - a new cinema in town. CINEMA 21. Now I just need to actually go there and see if the movies are in English or Bahasa. English would be great, but even Bahasa with subtitles would work.

TODAY: Off to the Haai Hotel this morning for coffee and a cooking class. My first time to this place - I've seen the sign before and sort-of looks like it's off the beaten path a bit. We'll see - always up for a little adventure in life. And we have sunshine - lots of it. Great way to start the day don't you think?

Good to Go!

RAINDROPS

Guess I better head out with the camera this week. I'm starting to run out of photos for the BLOG. Time to get some new and exciting stuff. Seems there's the beginnings of a green theme going on here.

And a busy weekend it was ............. The Chinese New Year was really good. BIWA and The Blue Sky Hotel did a great job. Very impressed with the dancers. Chinese Dragon dancers. I certainly didn't expect that they would all be such young kids. Very loud with the drums I might add. Pretty acrobatic dragons too. And the food was great. An interactive salad - that was a pretty interesting part. That was fun and tasted good too. Too bad we weren't smart enough to go home after the event. Turned out to be a rather late night (not sure what time we got back), but we did have fun .............. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the event. I'll try and find some to post later in the week.

Note: The real Chinese New Year is on the 26th. The Year of the Ox. And a long weekend coming up too.

Darts ............ well that didn't turn out quite as good. Not much I can say about that. Seems our team could (should) practice a little bit. Hmmm, yup, that might be a good idea. Oh well, next time right?

TODAY: Raining this morning of course. Not that it should surprise anyone - it's the tropics + rainy season too. One of those kind of days that makes you feel like eating chicken soup. Good day for chicken soup. A bill paying day today too. Time to get out and pay the phone bills. Here's hoping there's not too many people in the queue. Better take a book with me - just in case.

Some Birthday Wishes to send out this week. Happy Birthday to 2 of you. You know who you are - have good one of course. Miss you and love you too!

Lets go Monday - the start of a brand new week.

Good to Go!

HAPPY WEEKEND

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Feels like my first weekend back. Last weekend just didn't count - think I pretty much slept through most of that. It's been a interesting week, getting back into the swing of things. Unpacking, stocking back up, organizing some of the new stuff we brought back and getting rid of some of the old, checking out the new stuff in town and seeing who's coming, going and still around.

Might be a good time this weekend to de-ant the house. I mean get rid of the multitude of little sugar ants that are trying to move in. The downside of living in the tropics - ANTS. Might have to use up a whole can of Baygon on those things. Note: They might be small - but there's millions of them. (And I intend to take care of each and every one of them - at least for this week.)

Jury is still out on the new Memory Foam. Think we'll have to sleep on that a bit more. (Maybe this afternoon.) Value for dollar (rupiah) ....... not too sure about that yet.

BBC Friday last night .............. and the forever changing regular crowd. They do have some new stuff on the menu - and so far everything I've tried is really good. My favorite - the Mushroom Spring Rolls. Good food and good company too last night. Enjoyed the silly SMSing too. ........... by the way - Ace opens a 4 p.m. in Sharjah and don't worry Peter, we paid the tab for you.

TODAY: Good day to have BLTs for lunch. START and FINISH reading the book "Mister Pip". Need to get that done cepat-cepat (that mean's fast) ....... by Tuesday night. Ooops - forgot about that. And an afternoon nap I think.

Off to BIWA's Chinese New Year Celebration tonight at the Blue Sky Hotel. Dancing Dragons, live band and some real Chinese food. (maybe Peking Duck?) Lets hope they don't serve any of that Chinese Whiskey we had last year - YUCK! Should be fun. Yup, better have a afternoon nap I think. ......... and find something RED to wear - for good luck.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Good to Go!

GROW

.......... and some of you shook your heads. See - seeds DO grow here. And fast. This is day 4.

.......... and at this rate - I'm wondering if they're the "Jack and the Bean Stock" variety. No they're not food - just what we need - more flowers.

So apparently, I'm back to looking like a bule again. (white folk) At least that's what I'm told. I actually always thought I did look like one. .............. and that's what happens after 2 months of no sun. The tan is gone. Back to looking like a expat who hasn't seen the sun.

Not sure what the heck was going on this morning, but NO water in our house. Not even a drop coming out of the tap. I'd like to know who has control over the ON/OFF switch around here. Good thing that's over with. ............. and my sources tell me it wasn't just our complex either. Maybe all of Balikpapan.

TODAY: The usual dull grey morning sky. Rain today - maybe yes, maybe no. We'll see. It is the rainy season. Good thing we're not in Jakarta - big flooding going on there. But at least it's not snow.

TODAY: Need to send out some emails. Sort some stuff on the desk, and get a few other things done before the weekend begins. Lots going on this weekend too. Going to head back over to Index this afternoon. Going to buy a Memory Foam for the bed ................... will let you know tomorrow how that goes.

Good to Go!

DOWNTURN

DOWNTURN. I am not even going to go there. We all get enough of that on CNN. But it does provide the perfect opportunity for me to show off one of Balikpapan's many, many road signs. (Not a lot of traffic lights here, and considering that the electric is frequently OFF, they don't really work anyways.)

These signs and their counterparts (the ones without the line through it) are everywhere here in Balikpapan - and a big necessity too. It's doesn't take long to figure out how they work either. U-turns or turn-abouts, are a big part of the driving (motoring about) experience here. Basically almost all the roads here are long, long distances, and where ever you're aiming to go, is always on the other side of the road. So you wait till you find a spot where the U-turn is allowed. Turn around and drive all the way back. (Note: Balikpapan is not a big city - but twice the distance to almost everywhere you want to go.)

Not much to report on here today. I have however decided that Roger Hodgson's Supertramp song "It's Raining Again" should be Balikpapan's theme song of the month. Yup, it's raining again. ............... but it's green. And there is no snow.

TODAY: Back on the ORG PLAN, and whatever else happens to come about. There's a new version of the Billiards Tournament going on tonight. Might have to check that out.

.......... and just as suspected - yes, the price of beer went up. But at least they have some. Lots in fact.

Ok, Good to Go!

ACE

Hey Wednesday. Way to go NEW COFFEE POT. The coffee was really good this morning. Gotta like that.

Some happenings here around Balikpapan; for starters - there's a whole lot less imported foods these days. The story I got - apparently exports (food exports) are way down. No surprise about that, and you're not alone on that one either Indonesia. So - the government here has decided to limit the amount of imported foods to try and offset the shortfall.

This is not good news for all those little shops we like to frequent and get our reminiscent tastes of home. This is not good news for those of us who happen to like some of those things. But, on the plus side of that - the stuff was outrageously expensive anyways. So guess we'll all start saving a little more Rupiahs soon. Big boost for the rice industry I guess. (And wholly am I glad I have 2 brand new jars of Cheez Whiz.)

I'm not sure how this is going to effect everything else we can buy here. Ace Hardware is full of imported stuff. Full of expensive imported stuff - but it's still good to have all this stuff. And right now the store is really full. I wonder if there is some anticipation going on or is it just that some competition has finally moved to town.

The other big story; is all about the ALCOHOL TAX. Now up to 400% on wine I'm told - WOW - good thing I don't need any of that. The last I heard the cheapest bottle of wine in town (if you can find one) is about $40 USD. Tomorrow I'm due to make a beer run - it'll be interesting to see if there is any and what will be the price of that.

TODAY: Whizzing by in a big hurry. Already more than half done.

I'm still busy sorting and rearranging and putting things away. Good thing I'm not in a hurry about that. Made a quick stop at the BBC this afternoon. Rather was suppose to be a quick stop - ended up sampling a whole bunch of food. Good stuff guys + love the new batiks.

That's it for today folks. Good to Go!

HELLO TUESDAY

Hello Tuesday. How are you? Looks like we are about to find out.

My yesterday was a good one. Found a coffee machine with a whole lot less effort than I thought it take. Only took 4 stops - and just when I was about to give up ........ managed to get the last one (most likely the only one) off the shelf at the HERO Store. Thank you HERO store. I sure appreciate that. And the coffee this morning ........... mmmmm GOOD. And it didn't end up spilling from the counter and onto the floor - BIG BONUS #1. (What an awesome start to a day.)

Let me explain about the existence of coffee and coffee pots in Indonesia. My version of the facts: firstly, tea probably ranks above coffee. And both are sweetened up a whole lot. And I do mean LOTS. Spoonfuls of gula (sugar). A little over the top in fact. So coffee, is usually the instant version and it does not very often come from a coffee machine or a pot. I think this may have something to do with the fact that electricity is not something to be relied upon here, and there are a whole bunch of people here that have none. Fortunately, as expats, we happen to be some of the lucky ones.

So, back to the instant coffee - even the restaurants serve it. And, in most cases you're choices are either Nescafe or a thing called 3 in 1. I prefer 3 in 1. That's a premixed version of coffee, cream and sugar. I'm going to guess that now you've probably figured out all the excitement about the NEW Starbucks. COMING SOON. A first in Kalimantan. (At least that's what the sign says.)

And to everyone making the move to Balikpapan, best bring your coffee machine with you.

Last night we ended up at our favorite place (Note: we have a few favorites here). Not a late night, but it sure was nice to see everyone. Slowly, slowly, everyone's making there way back after the holidays. And slowly, slowly everyone's getting over differing versions of jet lag. Another week and we'll all be back on the same clock and have all our sleep patterns sorted out. A 15 hour nap - believe it or not I can do that. Didn't beat my record of 17 though, but I think I'm back on the clock.

TODAY: First thing this morning is maintenance, time to get the AC freshened up and cleaned out. BIG BONUS #2.

TODAY: Organization Day. Starting with my brand new 2009 Day Timer. Yeah I'm a little late - but that's OK. And clean-up, sort-out, put-away, through-away all the piles of stuff around here that have built up. And that will be BIG BONUS #3. (Here's hoping that works out.)

And on top of that - I'm Good to Go!

TIME OUT

TIME OUT. I was going to call it my sabbatical but I think in retrospect, it might be better to refer to the last couple of months as a TIME OUT.

TIME OUT - I think I like the sound of that. Everyone deserves a TIME OUT. Make time to take a TIME OUT. Trust me, it's a good thing.

YES, I took a bit of a break. But I'm back. Back to warm weather, big heavy duty rainstorms, a driver, a housekeeper, my pillow, rice, rice, and more rice (oops - did I already mention that?). Anyways it's good to be back.

There are a few changes here in town. The NEW Hypermart - pretty impressive. A&W - definitely on the list of things to do. A few new or rather more bumps on the roads. And lots of people moving to and from Balikpapan. Still trying to catch up on all the news. ....... still no Starbucks. I'm sure that sign said December 2008 - maybe they meant 2009.

And speaking of NEW. I have some NEW things I'm planning for the Blog. With a little help from some friends - we're going to try and make things a little more interesting. So, keep watching, and over the next couple of weeks - we'll see how we do.

TODAY: Coffee Machine. Yup - need to find a new one of those. And in Balikpapan - that is no easy task.

OK, time to get back to it everyone. Good to Go!

SO LONG SANTA

SO LONG SANTA .................

............. and cold weather gear. Almost time for the pack-up. Almost time to go. Times up - Holidays are almost over.

OMG ITS COLD!!! What's going on here people? What's with that? I definitely will NOT miss the cold. I am so looking forward to 30 above. Sunshine + sandals + no more sweaters or winter gloves. Gonna miss everyone here though ............ big time. It's been a blast everyone.

The WEATHER Channel - yes there is a weather channel here. A TV show dedicated to the weather - 24 hours a day. All day long and through the night - one can check to see whats going on. One can get pretty excited to see that the temp rose from minus 22 to minus 21. I don't think I'm going to need a weather Channel when I get home to Balikpapan.

TODAY: Just a busy - lazy day. Good day to get some suitcases packed. (Secretly seeing how much room is left. Still might get 1 more shopping trip in. I think there's still room for some flat stuff yet.)

Today - a good day to warm the car before you go - ANY PLACE. It's cold out there today. Out for dinner later tonight and the rest of the day - just a good day to hang out. And hanging out - I'm doing just that.

Stay warm. Good to Go!