Here and There Blog

A day of just work! Not stressful work or unusual work but the plain old boring work. Wow! It's been a while since I had one of those days. It's over though. I've got a two night road trip coming up as I have to do the Santa Barbara to San Bernardino run this week.

This review is easy! If you like The Simpsons, then you'll like The Simpsons Movie . If you're not a fan of the TV show then you will still not be a fan after the movie. Luckily for me, I am a fan. The lasting claim to fame that this movie will have for generations is the Spider-Pig theme song. Come Comic-Con 2020, we'll still be singing that song. There are worse lyrics to have in your head and at least these lyrics can make you laugh. The storyline is an expanded episode. Homer's actions manage to destroy the eco-system of Springfield resulting in the doming in of the city by the US Government. Springfield revolts against Homer and the the family must escape or die. Later they must return and save Springfield. There are movie jokes, Simpsons jokes, and a few jokes that everyone will laugh at, but kids and adults for different reasons. Stay for the end credits. There are 3 sketches and one song during the credits. You can leave when the credits are finally done. Th...

Now I feel officially home. There's nothing like returning from a long trip and then going into a few days of intense meetings. At least that keeps me up and helps me get over time change jet lag. Still, there's nothing like that cup of coffee in your own house for the first time in weeks. It always tastes that much better. I came home to find a water leak in the kitchen. It's coming from under the dishwasher which I rarely use so this could be a big bummer. Credit card woes continue. This time is was the 4 Points Sheraton in Culver City - the one who checked in someone under my name and card and then gave me a key to the room. I was charged for yet a different person's stay a few days later. Working on getting that resolved with the hotel now.

This 5th movie could be one of the best in the series for fans of the book and confusing for those who only watch the movies. There was so much in book 5 that it was simply impossible to bring all of it to the screen. There are moments when we suddenly jump to a scene and it’s like, what happened? If you’ve read the book you’ll know and want to see the stuff that was left out. If you haven’t read the book maybe you won’t notice or you’ll choose to ignore the confusion since Order of the Phoenix moves at a fast pace. I have to say that I liked this movie better than the last two. It captured the book well and kept the focus back on Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Order of the Phoenix is dark the way Empire Strikes Back was dark for Star Wars. The kids have to accept that life at Hogwarts is no longer the innocent fun of their early years. Even though the actors are a couple of years older than their characters, I’m willing to stick with them. Any replacement for younger actors would ruin ...

Hong Kong can now be added to my list of airports where I've been but not the country. It was over 15 years ago that I left Malaysia only to have an unexpected 3 hour stop at the Taipei airport. We were kept in a holding area and not even allowed to roam the airport. I've always wanted to go back. Deja vu repeats as I leave Malaysia but with a planned 3 hour layover in Hong Kong. I can't go out but at least it's sunny and I can see the famous harbor. I'm also saving time to wander the airport but so far it looks rather boring. At some point I'll have to do a personal tour of Asia but I keep resisting since the odds are good that I'll be back for work at some point. These countries are too expensive to travel to for a short weekend!

This is it! I'm at the Kuala Lumpur airport waiting to board the first plane of the day. It's 4 hours to Hong Kong, a 3 hour layover, and then the 11 hour flight to LAX. I'm having the last bad cup of coffee and I'm looking forward to reading Harry Potter on the flight. I found a copy at the airport bookstore. Booksellers are still boycotting the book since the supermarkets refuse to stop discounting. The supermarkets have all run out, the pre-sales are all sold out, and people are getting desparate to buy this book. Seems like the boycott was a big mistake.

I get to go home a day early so I'll be offline during the travels. It's 8:30 pm right now and I've got an early morning flight to catch. There's still packing to be done and hopefully even some sleep in my future! I love it when I get a bonus day of early travel!

Hotel life as a business traveler can either keep you sane or make you go mad. I know I've tried to explain it before but I've always felt that I can never really capture in word what it's like to be on the road. Everything revolves around routine. In today's KL paper, I read an article about how babies need a regular bedtime routine. I think the same applies for business travelers. Each day I wake up and I have breakfast in the executive lounge. It might only be fruit, bread and coffee but it's consistent. The staff has learned what I like and dislike and they watch out for me. Then (in KL) I hop on the monorail and begin my trip to work. It's a routine of "up the stairs and down the ramp" and a change at KL Central to the LRT to the next stop for the pick-up into the office. Work all day and repeat the trip home, where I find myself back in the executive lounge for light cheese & crackers, plus a glass of wine for dinner. All that leads me to is ...

Star Wars must be the key to the universe. Even in Malaysia the movie has long lasting appeal. I couldn't believe my eyes when as I walked through a mall there was an X-Wing fighter in an asteriod field! At the cost of looking silly, I had to take a picture. This must have been a good luck vibe for me since the next day I was able to see Harry Potter in IMAX and in an uncrowded theater. I still haven't bought the new book yet, Borders was out of copies by day 2. I can't even imagine such a thing happening in the US but then again, the places where you can buy Harry Potter are limited here. I'll try again on Monday. The rains continue to fall which helps keep the temperature down. Once the rain stops and the sun comes out the heat is oppressive and stifles your breath in a way that is only possible in a third world tropical country. The pollution and exhaust fumes stay in the air and there are no breezes to blow them out. The result is that more than 10 minutes outsid...

Hot topics in Malaysia this week - Bookstores refuse to sell the new Harry Potter book because the two supermarket giants are selling the book at a loss and a new low cost airline is refusing to fly people in wheelchairs. Both have made headlines throughout the week. Harry Potter book #7 will now have to be hunted down. The concept of online ordering isn't big here and many people in the remote areas don't have computers. In the outer towns, there are no supermarkets so people can't get the book. The oddest thing is that there are no bootleg copies out there yet on the streets. For me, I'm in the same boat now as the locals. I was planning to buy the book today at the mall so I could read it on the flight home. Or I can try and explore and find the chains that are selling the book. Air Asia is so low cost they don't have jetways or wheelchair assist. The airline has turned down wheelchair passengers at the airport even though the passenger had a ticket. No one at t...

Nothing to report for good or bad today. If I can make it home from work without incident, then it will be a great day overall. Life on the road is sometimes work and all work. This has been that day. Somehow coffee in the morning with the Malaysia paper isn't the same as in Kuwait. In Malaysia, I can get out and do stuff and there is no need to invent ways not to be bored.

The damage was done. The card was lost and not in the car. There was $1700 in jewelry charges and $240 in some other shop. I have to fill out a forgery dispute form. Overall, I consider myself lucky that there weren't more charges and that I discovered the card missing when I did. Now I'm paranoid and constantly checking my wallet!

Today one of those good thing/bad things happened to me. I returned to the hotel all happy and planning to relax and get caught up on e-mail for the evening. I went into my room and saw a notice on the floor and picked it up. Turns out that since I've spent a whole week here, the hotel needed to run my card and get caught up on the charges. In many overseas hotels, they pre-authorize your card rather than wait until you check out. My pre-authorization had run out. I was totally bummed since this meant taking 10 minutes out of my life to deal with the card. Only then did it get worse. My card was missing. Not just kind of missing but totally missing. I know it wasn't theft but a matter of me loosing the card. It had been raining hard this afternoon and I remember pulling my monorail card out early so I wouldn't have to fumble for it in the rain. I think my credit card may be in someone's car but I won't know until tomorrow so I canceled the card. The good thing is t...

The tropical rain forest in downtown is home to monkeys. While they could eat from the forest, they find potato chips more to their liking. I watched this monkey swoop down from the tree, take the lid off the trashcan, and tossed it onto the ground to get to the food inside. The two in the bamboo watched on waiting to see if anything good was to be found. After deciding that there was nothing to eat in the trash, the monkey's attention turned to the group of people to see if we had any food. Well you can't feed a monkey because if you do, then about 40 of them show up and start attacking you for food. This small group started advancing and we decided to move on. Humans went off in one direction and monkeys in the other. There were other trashcans for them to scavage. With the close proximity to downtown and a major tourist area it's surprising that more haven't been killed by cars. I'm told it has happened but it's rare and the monkeys have learned to stay o...

The city has built up and around the tropical rain forest. Years ago, Malaysia was determined not to deplete the rain forests in the same way that South America had done. Today, the rain forest has lost and population needs have won. There are still pockets of the rain forest in the city though. This downtown area is both built up and at the same time there are whole blocks that are only trees. This walkway has pineapples for trashcans! Below is the walkway into the rain forest.

One of the changes since I've been in KL is the KL Tower. Going up in towers is always a good way to waste time and see a city so I decided to go for it. The tower was a short walking distance from the hotel and I decided to go before the mid-day heat was too intense. Upon arrival, it was all nice blue sky. As I got to the top of the tower the clouds were starting to build up but I could still see the city below. These are Malaysia's twin towers and the new symbol of Kuala Lumpur. Two hours later the dark rainclouds had moved in and the heat was unbearable. It was time to return to the hotel and the a/c. I wasn't back for more than 10 minutes when the afternoon storm hit. The rain's been pouring for 2 hours now with no sign of stopping. The thunder is going as well but I haven't seen the lightning yet. I'm glad I got out early!

For years I have raved about Malaysian food. My best memories were of Curry Laksa, Prawn Mee, and banana leaf Indian food. The food was the only thing that I looked forward to on this return trip. Sadly I have learned that with progress, things change. The food of my memory is not the food of my reality. Yesterday a group of us went to lunch. I didn't have much say in lunch and everyone wanted me to eat Nasi Goreng which is fried rice with deep fried and/or dried small fish in it. I very much dislike Nasi Goreng and refused. I ordered Chicken Rice instead. The food arrived in various stages and everyone dug in to their plates with slightly horrified glances at the minimalism of my plate. The chicken was really dry but that was actually a relief as I wasn't too worried about the food safety of the meal. The rice was rice. The guy next to me was happily munching away at his Nasi Goreng when suddenly, towards the last two bites, he made a face and... spit out (I kid you not) a se...

So much going on but no pictures to show! I have to back-up a few days to the Tokyo airport. I had seen this on the news a few months ago but had forgotten about it until I was there. In Japan, there are super-toilets now. I found one almost hidden at the airport. I would have by-passed it but I had to back-track once I saw the line to go from terminal to terminal and I knew I had to make a pit stop. Turns out, I wandered into the secret stall of super-toilets! These toilets have push button features. You can push a button and spray your but clean, (I declined) you can push another button for super deoderizer, (didn't need) and you can push a button to simulate fake toilet flush sound. (Hmmm, just learned the Blogger auto-save has it's defaults. I guess the three sentences that I just wrote were not meant to be read. Oh well, maybe later.) So today was a typical work for a few hours and sit around for a few hours in an office. It's the third world and that's how the d...

IKEA Kuala Lumpur! I couldn't believe that we were driving right by one so I had to stop the car and have someone take my picture! This IKEA is as large as a small city!

Singapore is down and Malaysia is on the way. This stay was a big 36 hours so I didn't do much except work and hang out at the hotel. I hope I manage to do a bit more in KL but the schedule is looking pretty packed. I don't mind because the sooner work is over then the sooner I can come home and see the Harry Potter movie and read the last book! I have priorities after all!

Once you survive the first day of jet-lag, the rest of the trip is easy! Although it was only 6:30 pm when I returned to the hotel, the lack of sleep and full day of activities has wiped me out. One hour ago, I was sure I'd stay awake until 9:00 pm but now 8:00 pm is looking pretty good. I'd go to sleep now but it's not even 7, so that would guarantee a 1:00 am wake-up. There are still bugs in the bathroom so I'll be sleeping with the light on again tonight. I'm super paranoid about transporting any creatures back with me in my suitcase but luckily it seems to be only the sink that's the problem. All personal articles are safely zipped back into their baggies after use. No bugs on my toothbrush! I'd complain, but what will happen? I'll be given a can of Raid. There are no hotels in Singapore this week so I have to make do. I also have to keep in mind that to many people in the world, a few bugs are a minor inconvenience. It helps to keep this in the rig...

Singapore. When I left here in January I thought it would be at least 2 years before I returned. Oh well, it's a short trip. It's not that I mind it here, I can wear summer clothes, have coffee in the hotel lobby without hassle and people just do their job. There's also nothing to do here but work or shop. Singapore used to be a bargain but I can buy everything cheaper back home. Everything is a mall here. My hotel is in a mall. It's the Meridian mall and the entrance to the hotel and mall are one and the same. This makes it easy if I forgot something. It's also the extra hot and humid rainy season. There's no rain yet but that's not what bothers me. Bugs come out when it's this hot and most of you all know how I feel about bugs. There are small ant-like or mite-like bugs in the bathroom sink. I was so paranoid I left the bathroom light on all night to scare them away. Luckily I had the airplane eye shades so I could somewhat sleep! Well the call just c...

I've made it to Tokyo. 11 hours on the plane and I wasn't able to get any sleep. I can only hope that I get some sleep on the 7 hour flight to Singapore but the flight is full and my chances are slim. I wish these flights didn't have to arrive at midnight. By the time I clear customs and get to the hotel it will be around 1:30 am. I'm tired even thinking about it!

Before I get on the plane and into the world of oblivion at 39,000 ft, I must get caught up on events! First - Happy Late Birthday to Jean! I still have to write up the HRC story for Oslo for you. I'm still hoping to get Lisbon in later this year! Happy Early Birthday to Shawn! I am so bummed I'm missing your moon the train party! I'm trying to drink as much water as possible right now to prevent airplane dehydration. I have to change plans in Tokyo and they take all water bottles from you before you board the plane and then they never keep you hydrated enough on the 7 hour flight to Singapore. Ugh. I have no idea what I'm in for on this trip. Well, I actually do but the way it will play out is the unknown element. Something always goes wrong with a restaurant opening and who knows what will happen this time. Maybe I'll be surprised and we can open sooner rather than later!

The day before a long trip often feels like the last day of freedom. I leave for Malaysia tomorrow with a brief stopover in Singapore along the way. This morning I stayed in bed enjoying the luxury of my own pillows and sheets for just a few minutes longer. The shower is always extra special because I know it's clean and everything I need is right there. I exercised with both Pilates and the dreaded Firm Scuplting Ball to make up for the upcoming hours of straight sitting. Then it was off to Walmart for the last item - the Tide single use packets that are perfect for when you have to do laundry in your hotel room. They're the best thing ever and I have to recommend them. Sometimes they are hard to find. I bought 5 packets which = 15 washes so I'm good for a while. Then it was time to give the yard one last round of attention. More pepper to scatter in the front and round-up to take out the weeds in the back. I had the sad task of baby bird burial and one of the babies was e...

It is true. We left beer on the table. The Firkin was a pale ale and the "special" quality was extra hoppiness. I like pale ale but last night it was a bit too much! The bartender was finally pouring free pints for people who actually like the beer. Normally there's barely enough to go around but a lot of people passed on seconds or even firsts. The two guys next to us who had been thriving on happy hour prices all evening left as soon as the Firkin was tapped and didn't even stick around for their free beer. I knew why once I tasted mine. Oh well, we had good seats, got to hang out, and the Firkin gave a wonderful Shamu splash all over the bar. All this too cool fun was followed by more Robot Chicken so it goes to show you can't ever hide from your inner geek.

L J this is 4 U! The honorary plate for she who forgot the firkin.

The Padres lost to the Marlins but it was still a good day. The game was entertaining as was the crowd, we had great seats and indulged in ballpark dining!

Petco Park on a Thursday afternoon. What a great day!

There are sold out shows for days and lines for hours in LA to see Transformers . Yet at the secret theater, you can still show up a few minutes before the screening and get a great seat and have minimal crowds to deal with. Not matter what else is old and not working at that theater, you always get in. Transformers continues with the mindless 4th of July alien/robot/save the planet genre movie that is all action and no plot. Transformers is 2 hours & 30 minutes of action without meaning and that's all it is meant to be. The basic plot is that the robots were created by a borg-like cube but the cube was lost and the robots are now split between good and evil robots. Both come to earth to find the cube and the evil robots attack a US military operation in Qatar while the good robots land in the US. Taking the disguise as cars and now they're autobots, the robots carry on their fight in the streets. Transformers is not a cutesy cartoon movie. This is all about blowing thing...

Caipirinha - the Brazialian version of the mojito. It's twice as sweet and more potent than the mojito and Mondo has learned how to make them! Last night she put in the effort of juicing limes, portioning shots, and doing extra supply runs to make the drinks just right. The best part is that she mastered the Caipirinha! Add in the Robot Chicken DVD for entertainment value and it was a relaxing beach night!

After twice having to have people move themselves off my driveway yesterday so I could get in and out of my garage, the ultimate insult was a new pile of dog poop to clean up. I decided to try and combat it with spices since dogs always sniff the ground first, I'm hoping that a few good snezzes will discourge doggie from doing what dogs do. I made the trip to the store and bought value sized cans of pepper and cayenne pepper and sprinkled 1/2 of each all over the side yard. This may have all been a waste. Carlsbad is so foggy that it's almost like rain. The spices are going to get soaked in and lose their power. On top of that today is the the gardeners day so everything will get stomped away. I figure it's still worth the effort. I leave for Asia on Monday and I don't want to return to 3 weeks of dog piles. So far it's been 12 hours without a poop. I'm sure the saga will continue and my battle will go on.

The kid in me that read every single Nancy Drew book a hundred times over finally got me to the theater to see the movie. I was resisting because the movie didn't have good reviews and there was a major character deviation from the books. In short, never once did Nancy have a 12 year old boy as a sidekick. Never. These books were for teenage girls and about teenage girls. A Nancy Drew movie without Bess and George would be like Harry Potter without Ron and Hermione. Picture Harry with Dobby the house-elf for two hours and that's what Nancy Drew is like with her new sidekick. Painful. Bess & George (short for Georgina) made a brief appearance at the beginning and then were tossed aside. To non-fans, they were simply two girls in a crowd. Boyfriend Ned was there but he came off even dorkier than in the books. Poor guy. The creators of this movie forgot the central theme when making a movie from books that have a loyal fan base - don't change your characters. Had the f...

Going with a compromise movie that all 3 of us could live with, Mondo, Ms. Kitty and I chose Evening as the weekend feature. By the time we had bought our tickets we had convinced ourselves that we were about to see the worst melodramtic movie of the summer. Luckily our expectations had been driven so low that Evening was better than we expected. Okay, not horrible, but it could have been better. Most men will want to sit this one out. Evening is classic chick flick for the 40+ female crowd. The movie focuses on a dying woman's regrets about choices that she made and didn't make surrounding a love and long ago time from her past. There are around 4 storylines going on in this movie, Ann, the central dying woman and her memories, Ann's relationship with her daughters, the daughters relationship with each other, their relationship with their lives, and more. At times, I found it hard to keep who's who (and why) straight. 3 of us saw the movie together and we came away ...