I HEART MONDAY

Hello Monday! My favorite day of the week. I know most people prefer Fridays or Saturdays or even Hump Day Wednesdays. But for for me, Monday is the one. Monday is, by far, the best day of the week.

Just think. A new beginning and a whole new fresh start. It's a little like having a New Years every week. Complete with resolutions if you like. So my resolution this week - is to actually do a blog post every day this week. And today, well, here's number 1 for the week - we'll just have to wait and see come Saturday how well I actually do.

So yesterday was the end of the F1 season. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. And a "Pit Crew" afternoon - which turned into evening and so on and so on. We had fun. Sebastian Vettel won the race and finished the year off in second place. Right behind Brawn's Jenson Button who is this year's Number One. It's been a great season and we (me and the other me) sure enjoyed our F1 Sundays and afternoons. Thanks Pit Crew.

Note: Grown men racing through the house on wheelie chairs ........ you guys are so silly. Too much fun.

TODAY: Almost half done. And I'm on a roll today. I'm getting all sorts of stuff done. .............. and if I can keep it up. Later this afternoon I just might get a massage and my hair done.

...... and then there is the pic of the day. Not a very good one. Better get out there and get some more pics today too.

Happy Monday! Good to Go!

TYPHOONS, TSUNAMIS AND EARTHQUAKES

TYPHOONS, TSUNAMIS AND EARTHQUAKES - this week. This side of the world has certainly had enough.

The earthquakes in Indonesia this week have been devastating to say the very least. You should all see what we're seeing on our TV. Not quite the same as on BBC or CNN. And so happy we live in our little place in Balikpapan where not much happens - least nothing like this.

Yesterday - was not one of my better days. It happens. Frustrated with some stuff I'm suppose to be getting done. I was grumpy I guess. I was very grumpy in fact. Not to worry though, that was the first part of the day - it got much better after that.

TODAY: The other Me decided I needed a sleep-in this morning. And I did. I think the other Me is the one that actually needed the sleep-in - and I don't doubt he's wishing it could have been him.

This weekend in Balikpapan is the SPE Weekend. The SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) golf tournament thing is happening in town this weekend. And pretty much anybody and everyone will be at that. Golf today and the big banquet tonight.

Tomorrow another F1 Sunday. The F1 people are trying to mess with us I think. Firstly it hasn't been the customary every 2nd weekend and this time the race is at 1 p.m. Hmmmm - still trying to sort out how we're going to do that. (?) This is going to be a very exciting race. My Jensen Button - might just finish things up for the season and take first place. All he need to do is come in at least fourth in this race. Go Button!

Have a happy weekend. Good to Go!

THE BAD BLOGGER

The Bad, Bad, Blogger. Yup. I know. And I am. And I can't even come up with a good excuse for it. I'll try a little harder this week.

A very full and eventful weekend it was for us. A BIG birthday (not mine) party. A BLACK & WHITE bar-b-que. And of course the F1 Sunday event. ....... and WOW, what an exciting end there was to that. Imagine spinning out and loosing control on your last lap. Ooooo. Poor Mr. Hamilton.

So, I'm sure by now you all know about the electrical supply issues we have around here. And this morning of course was no exception to that. It wasn't that we didn't have any - just only in half the house. And it took the better part of 2 hours for myself and 2 maintenance men to figure it out. DOH!

NOTE TO SOMEONE ELSE: When watering plants in the early a.m. - do not, do not spray with the garden hose, copious amounts of water onto the outside wall with the electrical outlet on it.

So now for a a little about the brand new E-Walk. (photo above) The new mall. Ok, if you're here in town - you best go check this place out. Wholly, Balikpapan - we are moving up. And believe it or not - there's really, really going to be a Starbucks! And about 6 other brand new coffee shops. Figure that out.

TODAY: Bills to pay. Emails to read/write and catch up. Today is all about the go.

Good to Go!

GOOD TO GO!

Interesting - isn't it? I'll just say this - "Thank God (?) there wasn't a person riding in it." and if there was, I wouldn't even be surprised by that. LOL. Gotta love it.

So here it is the weekend again. And not long before it's time to embark on the big trip. We (Me and the other Me) have decided that since we're passing through it, we might as well stop in Hong Kong for a bit and go and have a little look see. But not until we're on the way back. Have decided, we need to do this and that. Pretty cool. Isn't it?

The Polar Pacer Project: So - Big Sis & Brother-In-Law have had this in the works for quite some time now. (reality: quite some time means, they've been working their butts off towards this) Officially - they are now really doing it. (and a big huge congrats to the both of them too) Not so long ago they kicked the habit of going to work, sold almost everything - including the house, packed up the rest and moved onto their boat* The Polar Pacer. And in the not so distant future they will be making their way towards the Atlantic. But, not before they drive all the way west, through Canada and the U.S., sell the car and fly all the way back. So starting now, from the other side of the planet - I am going to attempt to (stalk) keep track of them. Kinda like GPS. (scroll down to the bottom of this post - eventually I'll get it in the side bar - but need to write some HTML before we can do that)

*boat - I'm quite certain Brother-In-Law would not exactly describe it like that. It's not just a boat. There's actually way more to it than that. ............ and if Brother-In-Law would like, he can always add some comments in here about that.

TODAY: Getting ready for the Wake-less F1 Sunday tomorrow afternoon/evening. Which means I need to go out and do a little bit of shopping (the hunter/gatherer thing) this afternoon.

Alright have a good one. I'm out of here.

Good to Go!

The Polar Pacer Project
Current Location: Unknown
Last Known Location: Enjoying the comforts of a hotel room some place west of Chicago, Il. U.S.
Last Known Direction: West
Current Direction: Hopefully west.

MONDAY

Monday at last. Bet you don't hear that too often.

Another busy weekend - including a little bit of visiting, shopping, F1-ing, darts, eating, eating and more eating (last night we had 2 deserts - yum), and trying to rescue the key board I spilt a WHOLE CUP OF COFFEE IN! ......... and thats the kind of weekend it's been.

The good news is: this morning, I think I've gotten the key board all dried out again. So far, it seems to be working again - gone are the mysterious cryptic letters it was putting out yesterday. Thankfully it didn't end up in the laptop. Whew!

Happy to report - we managed to hook up the Sony Sound System + Sony TV + Apple TV + Time Capsule + Laptop without too much grief. This time round we actually started at step 1. And that makes a big, big difference.

F1 Sunday: My guy, Jensen Button didn't make it. He ended up coming in 6th place. The Red Bull team pretty much dominated that race, taking 1st and 2nd place. Can't win them all I guess. But just wait until the next race - in Germany.

TODAY: Home in the morning and out and about this afternoon. And for the rest of the day - we'll see.

Good to Go!

SURAMADU

The Suramadu Bridge, or Surabaya-Madura Bridge, between Surabaya, on the island of Java and the town of Bangkalan on the island of Madura. The longest bridge in Indonesia, 5.4 kilometers, and the first land link between the two islands. ................ expected to open to the public in June 2009. (I'm not certain if this has actually happened yet) (?)

Great weekend! And just like all the others blew by way too fast. Nice night out on Saturday night and a fabulous F1 Sunday too. The F1 Sunday thing that grew. What started out as a couple of us .......... well, in short - every go around now the crowd seems to grow by two. And what a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

F1 Sunday: The Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul - Jenson Button, does it again! Number 1. Good thing I've pledged my allegiance to him. He's a winner. 6 out of this year's 7 races are are now his. And I'm sure all the Brawn-Mercedes people are pretty darn happy with that. Next up - June 21, the Santander British Grand Prix.

Some good news - the AC is sort-of fixed. No more loud screeching sounds coming out of it anymore at least. Now it just intermixes with blowing hot and cold air - never quite sure what it's going to do. But we're working on it - this morning the maintenance guy has been here again and again and with any luck pretty soon things will be working just like new again. (fingers crossed)

Special Note: I figured out what that exclamation mark road sign meant from a last week post. I accidentally came across it in a children's English/Bahasa translation dictionary book. Be Careful. Hmmm - surprised I haven't seen a lot more of them.

TODAY: Cloudy day in paradise. Just have to wait and see.

Good to Go!

SELASA

Ok, Tuesday - let's roll! By the way, Tuesday is called Selasa around here. Actually Hari Selasa to be exact. The Hari part is day. (And even though I've been here for more than a short bit - I still keep getting Selasa and Senin mixed-up.)

Yesterday the furniture shop called to let me know my new bookshelf and drawer insert thing-am-a-gig cutlery thing is ready. That was fast. A totally best part of living in this place is all the custom made furniture (wood) you can get. They'll make almost anything you can dream up.

The bookshelf they'll deliver today - I hope. Need to clear some of the stuff (good junk) out of the way and make room for that. Very much looking forward to having the new bookshelf. Nothing beats getting a nice new empty shelf to load up with stuff. (even better junk) The thing-am-a-gig, was so darn excited to get that I stopped by and picked up. Well, dammed if it doesn't fit. Too big in fact - like 2mm too big. Guess that's going back. They're going to have to shave a wee bit off of that.

Got the pluperfect word figured (I think) - (what a weird word) and (no idea how to pronounce it?), also called past perfect in English, is a perfect tense that exists in most Indo-European languages, used to refer to an event that has been completed before another past action - Or - more than perfect; pertaining to action completed before or at the same time as another. So I think what that means is, a series of events - and in the case of J Button's F1 Race - all good.

TODAY: All kinds of stuff to do around here. Yesterday was the lull, and I guess I should have had that nap.

BIWA's AGM lunch this morning/afternoon. (Sorry other Me - miss you at lunch)

Good to Go!

FEELS LIKE MONDAY

Feels like Monday all over again. Snuck up on me and now here it is.

Thank you for inventing the Internet. (and the backpack) Although we're still having all kinds of issues with it (the usual ones - like it doesn't work most of the time), it's still number 1. And because of that I got to do the face to face Skype thing with one of my favorite sons (and some other special people too) - now if I could just do that with the other favorite one.

Note: The backpack. Ever noticed how almost everyone in the world has one?

So Me and the other Me had a really nice weekend (together). Spent more than 24 hours together in the same house. (been awhile since we got to do that) Nice. Quite likely a quiet precursor of what's to come. Busy days ahead, comings and goings for both of us - unfortunately though, not the same time or the same place.

How the weekend went. (not necessarily in any order)

:: Fed the cat.
:: Started a new book. (starts with Dear Mr. Premier - so far a good book)
:: Fell in love with the Apple TV and listened to music all afternoon.
:: Went to a Farewell Party.
:: Found out there's going to be another Farewell Party here real soon, and another one.
:: Drank too much wine. (again) (and, by now you'd think I'd know better than that)
:: Sprayed for ants. (again)
:: Booked a hotel room. (and confirmed)
:: Picked up plane tickets.
:: Listened to my favorite hockey team loose a Playoff Game over the Internet. (sad, sad, sad - so sad)
:: Crawled into bed and watched a movie in the middle of the afternoon. (enjoyed that)
:: And had an nap. (enjoyed that too)
:: Fed the cat. (again)
:: Ate too many perogies. (yes, I can cook)
:: Invented sour cream. (not really) (but I'd like to think I did - at least now I know how it's done, so simple in fact)
:: Watched F1. (and yet again J. Button is #1)
:: Fed the cat. (fat cat)

Ah, the ducks - at Manggar Beach. You can rent them. Like that's going to save your life out in the sea. I think NOT. But I bet their a whole lot of fun. I'd love to see them all out in the water together - all 30+ of them.

TODAY: Given that I pretty much did whatever I liked over the weekend - my Monday is now stacked up with a whole bunch of stuff I need to do (note, not want to). And with any luck, today I might even get my hair done.

Ok, gotta run.

Good to Go!

HAPPY HARI SABTU

Is this not the coolest cactus or what? And, yes you can grow cacti here (Balikpapan). It must be the sand I think, or more likely the heat. This was actually a gift - to someone very special in fact. Ahhh. Yeah, ok - enough of that. Anyways, was a really good find this week and gotta love the colours too. Puts a little SPRING into life I think.

First things first, before I forget (again), an interesting note: the A&W here has added to their menu. Onion Rings! Yes believe it or not, they finally have onion rings. Now, come on - who ever heard of an A&W that didn't have onion rings? And really - how hard was that?

TODAY: Off to do the Hunter/Gatherer thing. More about that in a minute - first I must tell you about my yesterday and the purchase of milk.

So, yesterday, I stopped in at the Deli Cafe (on my quest for non-sour milk). I mentioned to the girl that the one I bought the day before (from another shop) turned out to be not so good. She in turn - asked me if I wanted to test the one I was about to buy. Even offered me a glass to taste it with. (Inner smile) Only in Balikpapan I think - gotta love that.

So back to the Hunter/Gatherer thing, aka - doing the grocery shop. Hunter/Gatherer is a suitable name for that here (I think) - cause you never get everything you want in just one stop. You actually have to go and look for it (whatever it is) everywhere. And more often than not - you'll come home empty handed. There's no continuous stocking of shelves around here. If you see something this week - next week is probably a NOT.

And if you do happen to see something that you really, really like, you better buy lots - no matter the cost. And after that, you need to SMS all your friends and them all know too. Sometimes in fact, it's even worth an SMS to other Me. "Hey Honey - guess what I got?" Don't get me wrong - there's absolutely NO shortage of food here, just might not be the stuff you want.

Ok, enough rambling for one day. Tomorrow, the F1 Chinese Grand Prix - 3 o'clock. Happy weekend everyone!

Good to Go!

GO MONDAY

Go Monday. Fresh start. This is going to be a busy week. Lots and lots of stuff to do. ........ and it's raining, imagine that. Actually, this is the first rain in a few days. Maybe, just maybe we're heading into the dry part?

I hope everyone's weekend was a little more productive than mine! Somehow it was busy - but, can't actually think of anything that really got done. It was one of those types.

This is election week in Indonesia. ..........and surprisingly it's relatively quiet in fact. All the campaign flags and posters and billboards have all come down. The campaign parades have stopped too. Now is termed the "cooling off" period, almost like a calm has washed over this place. So very unlike an election in North America - almost the complete opposite in fact. Not sure what to expect on voting day Thursday, just might be a good day to sit put in the house.

F1 Malaysia - rained out. Cut short by the rain before it even got done. Button and Brawn - "Brawn GP's Jenson Button won amid much confusion as the race was red flagged after 32 laps"........ still trying to figure out how all this works though. Every 2 weeks it seems, somewhere (someplace) in the world there's a race. And they get points (not sure how or why or for what?). Guess I'm going to have to keep watching so I can figure this out.

.......and just to point out. There are some people who truly do devote themselves to following this. All of this in fact. Kinda like being a Rider Fan almost. "Go Riders Go". Anyways, turns out they gave the win to a guy named J Button (Mercedes) as seems he got farther (more laps) than anyone else.

Today: A whole wack of stuff in the office to do. Stuff that should really be already done. But, ....... kinda traded that out for some fun. Bali, Lombok, etc. etc. Still trying to get all those pictures back too - working on it.

Off to the Kantor Post - the post office. Need to send a letter out. No, it's not quite like going to the mail box or dropping it in a mail slot. Need to get in the queue and wait my turn just like everyone else. Except that, when you get to the front - so does everyone else. And sometimes (most times) the queue even re-invents itself. Standing elbow to elbow instead of one in the back and one in the front....... and then pushing and shoving and rushing to get to the front. Kinda like plane rides here too.

Ok, lots to do. Have a good one.

Good to Go!