Now this is layoff and a half. It's been almost exactly 5 months since my last entry. Since then, lots has happened! For those who are still checking this site, here's a brief run-down!
February - We found a 4-bedroom (actually 3-bedroom and 1 study) house in Wheelers Hill and decided to buy it. Managed to get a 60-day settlement period so that we would not have to interrupt our US trip.
March - Flew to Tokyo for a day trip. It was cool, cloudy and rainy, so we couldn't say much about the weather, but I guess it was all that we expected it to be. Colourful, bright and very lively. We stayed in Shinjuku and took the local JP train around town. The night we arrived we had these fantastic cuttlefish balls with mayo sauce. Yum! For supper and breakfast the following day, we found a little noodle shop round the corner from the hotel (Shinjuku Prince) which was cheap and excellent. Shopping was expensive so we resorted to buying stuff that was on sale and cheap (but nice) souvenirs. After the short stay in Tokyo we jetted into New York City. Man, what a miserable night it was when we arrived. Snow everywhere and freezing cold. I had stepped in a puddle of slushy ice at the airport and by the time we had taken the shuttle bus to Howard Beach Station, jumped on the train and walked to the hotel from Penn Station, my feet were numb from the cold. It was below freezing pretty much the whole time we were in the US. We took the AMTRAK to Washington DC the next afternoon and watched the Bucks v Wizards that night. The MCI center is right in Chinatown and the area was a bit sleazy if you ask me. Didn't really enjoy walking around at night. The Wiz lost by a couple of points, thanks to some clutch Sam Cassell shooting. Went to Hooters for a drink before heading back to the hotel. The following day we took the AMTRAK to Philly and we had a great time there. The cheesesteaks are for real (had them at Jim's TWICE), the restaurants are great - go and have crabcakes at the original Bookbinders. Fabulous stuff. We also went to the Philly zoo (oldest zoo in the USA), ran up the steps to the Museum of Art like Rocky, rode in the Philly Phlash, did some shopping, and snacked a lot too. We then took the AMTRAK back to DC for our second Wizards game vs Orlando. T-Mac was his usual self scoring a game-high 44 points with consecutive 3pointers late in the game to keep the Magic within 2 or 3, but MJ capped the night with a one-handed dunk and Stack iced the game with clutch freethrows. They won by 1! The atmosphere inside was magic. The center erupted when Oakley dished to MJ for the dunk. Had a walk around DC the next day, looking at some museums at the Smithsonian, and also the monuments at the mall. Quite impressive. The whitehouse wasn't as grand as I thought it would be... the Capitol Building was nice though. The reflecting lake was not reflecting - they'd drained it for some renovation work. That was a bummer, because it would've made a great photo. DC was rainy and gloomy during our stay and we took the next AMTRAK back to NYC the day after. Did our shopping, went to Battery park to have a look at the Statue of Liberty, but it was foggy and couldn't see much... We also took the lift up the Empire State Building... the queue to get there was huge. It was the weekend, so can't complain. The NBA shop was huge and had so much to see... had the famous thin crust pizza and pancakes... Time Square was impressive, but lacked the life that KL has at night! We flew out on a Saturday night there, and got home on Monday morning... it was a tiring but funfilled trip.
April - Can't remember offhand!
May - We moved into our new place - it was a weird feeling at first, but we settled in soon enough. It's a bit further to get to work, but with the highway and leaving at the right time, it's not causing too much grief. For Polly, it's just round the corner!