Things I have heard (and some I have seen)

Back in Singapore

2006-01-08T00:36:00.000+08:00

Hey!– we’ve been back from the US for almost two weeks now – and it seems to have gone so fast by comparison. We got upgraded on the 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Japan (I think because of all the extra special security screenings I went through – but that’s another story). Needless to say Business Class to Economy is like comparing a comfy bed in a nice hotel to a box in the rainy cold street. No wonder it costs so much. So the 14 hour trip took about 2 hours before the transfer and ‘downgrade’ for the 7 hour flight from Japan back to Singapore – a flight which seemingly took about 40 hours. People – fly business class at least once in your life!

Ok so we got back to Singapore and our car was ready for pickup. As expected the sexy young sales assistant had forgotten absolutely everything we had told her – bloody useless. If you ever buy a car get it from an old ugly guy – he will do what you want – the young good-looking chicks just wing it and stuff-up big-time. It was a friend of a friend thing but seriously – when buying expensive goods, look for the old guy that really needs the commission and doesn’t want to stuff up. I could go into details about her name being ***** and the company she works for being Cycle and Carriage, but I won’t … oops.

Anyway – about the car. Yup it’s the most expensive vehicle I have ever owned. It costs 47k SGD for an off-peak car (7pm –> 7am + Sunday only) and it was … well not exactly a BMW. It’s a Kia. *sigh* But it’s got leather and it’s nice – really! No – really really!

That’s about it for this entry. Fen’s getting back to work and I’m working out what I want to be when I grow up (which better be sooner then later I tell you). Till next time ….

Oh – write to us eh? You can reach us at peter.kenny@gmail.com. That’s me by the way. Chickie babe thinks that everyone reads every blog so she’s worried to give out personal details.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Pete.

San Francisco and surroundings

2005-12-25T15:12:00.000+08:00

Hello again. We've been in a bit of an internet black-out for the past few days whilst we explored the Californian coast and Yosemite National Park. We're now in San Francisco for a few days to end our journey so I thought I would do a post showing what we have been up to.

MONTEREY & CARMEL

Recent weather on the West Coast has been pretty wild. In fact there were 25-feet seas predicted for the coastline and in certain parts I can definitely confirm that was no exaggeration. Naturally the wet-suit covered surfers were out in force trying to kill themselves but I have no idea how they read the waves. Looking out to sea, all looked calm until the waves reached about 100m from shore where some rose to over 20-feet - it was amazing to see, and it did seem to perplex some of the mad surfer-dudes as well.

Anyway, here are some images from Monterey - a mere 2 hours drive south of San Francisco.

Depicted above is my next house. Since travelling to CA I really like the place. It's a far more modern city then NY or Chicago and within a few hours drive is just about - well everything. Unfortunately it is so hideously expensive that I'm just going to content myself with the photos and the dream.

Above are some smaller waves from the day, and below is - well - we thought it was just a nice picture.

I should note here that there is a 17 mile drive around a small portion of the coast - but they charge you to drive on it and we already had all the pictures we needed. In other words, we were too cheap to cough-up the $10 USD just to drive around a few golf courses.

YOSEMITE

Now this place is magic. On our first day in the park the weather wasn't that great but the splendour still impressed. Comparing it to O'Rielies and surrounding areas in the Queensland Gold Coast hinterland is reasonable - but it's more accessible.

On the second day the weather gave us a break and Yosemite looked simply amazing. Everywhere you turned there was a photo opportunity. On a nice day here's a small sample of what you may expect to see ...

ALCATRAZ

Alcatraz was a fort before it was a prison. Most people know of the history so there is little point repeating it. What I can say is that it is very much smaller than I had anticipated - and quite run-down. Apparently movie rights have enabled the park rangers (yes - it's a national park) to preserve some of the buildings, but as you can imagine, 200 years of salt spray has taken it's toll on the largly concrete and iron structures. Still, it was worth a visit and also gave us a great view of the city and bridges from the bay.

SAN FRANCISCO

By far and away the most modern of the American cities we have visited, San Francisco has it's own unique charm. Basically if you move to America this should be your #1 destination - in my humble opinion. Unfortunately friends I have here have described it as - well - expensive. And I can understand why. Anyway, here's a few happy-snaps.

Well that's pretty much it for our US adventure this time. We now have to look forward to another 20-something hours on United Airlines (*shudder*) till we're back in Singapore. For those that have kept up with the adventure - thanks for your comments and e-mails.

At this stage I intend to keep the BLOG going, but from now on you can expect the entries to slow down a tad as normal life resumes. However, I'll try to post something every few weeks rather than sending those impersonal emails to everyone. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a great new year ahead.

Cheers ... Pete & Fen

Chicago

2005-12-19T15:19:00.000+08:00

First discovered by “whities” in 1673 (before which it was inhabited by the Indians) it took over 100 years till 1779 for Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an African American (go figure that name!), to build the first permaent settlement at the mouth of the river just east of the present Michigan Avenue Bridge on the north bank. After that it’s your guess what happened to the poor Indians …

Since then Chicago has grown to be America’s third largest city with a population of 8,567,571 trailing only New York (18,252,339) and LA (12,018,068) but still larger (based on population) than London (7,619,014). It’s big!

Surprisingly enough it’s easy to drive around (at least on the weekends) and it’s very picturesque.

What is perhaps even more surprising is that anyone would actually live in the "windy city". I mean 12 degrees F is groovy for about 10 seconds but after that it just plain hurts. Let me fill you in ...

12 degrees F is about -11 degrees C. Then there’s the wind that drops it about another 3-5 degrees C. So, that’s like -15 deg C after 6pm at night. It’s farking cold! And people actually LIVE further north in CANADA. Damn! There are some seriously mad bastards in this world!

This photo (above) shows Chicago as seen from the south. It’s a really nice city – quite clean and people generally seem to go about their own business quickly (or perhaps that’s the -12 degree C maximum daily temperature – who knows?)

Old buildings – there are plenty of these around Chicago – something that surprised me completely. To be honest there are not quite as many as Boston, but they are of much grander proportions.

Great weather – if you’re a polar bear! I haven’t bothered to find out if Lake Michigan freezes over completely, but near the shore line it certainly makes a good attempt. The ice-sheets are about 2 inches thick at the moment – and it’s still autumn!

Below is shown the sandy (snowy?) beaches of North Chicago. Yea – the light blue stuff that looks like water is ICE. There is a sign nearby that says that the beach is closed during the non-summer period. It just has to be the most useless sign in the world. Did the sign makers honestly believe anyone is going to be tempted to boogie-board in the Winter?

By the way – underneath those sandy spots is more snow.

Now don’t be alarmed – the following image is REAL. This feast my friends is a deep-dish pizza. Its 12 inches across and 2.5 inches deep. And - after a morning of brass-monkey weather there was no better sight for a late-lunch. (We did not eat dinner!) As a matter of fact I donno if I ever need to eat again - but we did finish!

I believe we have evidenced one reason Americans call Pizza by another name - ‘PIE’. It’s not that hard to work out – it is a PIE! But I gotta say – it was niiiiice!

Well that’s it for now. Tomorrow we are off to warmer surrounds – California. Till then I will leave you with a picture of two people who are really starting to miss the equator ...

More Champaign.....

2005-12-17T06:11:00.000+08:00

It’s not that hard to find your way around Champaign once you recognise the three big landmarks and learn some basic triangulation skills. The three landmarks include the UIUC Assembly Hall below, a building that is over three stories and has a pointy-top and a somewhat energetic chimney stack. Learn these three things and you can find yourself from anywhere – which is handy and saves referring to any maps after you’ve been here for more than one day. Yup – not exactly a sprawling metropolis.

UIUC Assembly Hall

A drive out of Champaign takes you into what Fen and I affectionately call “the big nothing”. From what we can determine from visual inspection it’s ICE FARMING.

During the drive, there are isolated houses or farm houses every few miles within the “Big Nothing”. I reckon the one below is Lincoln's house although Fen believes everything I say is pure BS ...

Lincoln's house?

Nice big trees surrounding the house

As a last stop before the sun went down we stopped at Alton Vineyards and we were immediately assaulted by the anthesis of Mr Tibs – an Australian (Ipswich) cat of some notoriety. This cat “Mr Tibs 2nd” is the most friendly cat in the world, and it obviously worked for him because he is also one of the fattest. He greets you at the car, follows you around and if you stand near a rail he will jump onto the rail and onto your back before you can utter the word “no”. Once in position he takes quite a while to remove especially when he finds a large warm hairy mammal (guess who). Here he is with another of his newest-bestest friends ...

Mr Tibs 2nd

Champaign anyone?

2005-12-14T13:44:00.000+08:00

Well we’re slowly making our way back to the West coast. We caught a plane from Newark to Chicago and picked up a small car and drove three hours to Champaign Illinois. I was happy that there was no snow, no sleet and no black ice. Now this place seems nice – like those “country towns” you see in the movies. Actually if you’ve been to Armidale in NSW, it’s just like that – a university town in the middle of nowhere.

This is my first experience with a left hand drive vehicle and so far I have only found myself driving on the wrong side of the road once or twice and it was quickly corrected without incident. Getting into the car however was more of a problem and I am often left without a steering wheel while Fen finds herself with a big round thing and lots of buttons in her favoured position. (I swear she has no idea why one would ever use a steering wheel and considers it magic/fate that when you set off somewhere you actually end up at the desired destination)

Better say no more about the “magic” of vehicular transport and get back to real-world problems…

Even when seated in the correct position it’s a fairly difficult task to use the electric window controls to select a gear; infinitely forgettable that the indicators are on the lhs - BUT far and away the most difficult thing about LHD cars is finding the rear-view mirror whilst gazing open-mouthed into the distance out the driver’s window! Other than that it’s a doddle!

We have only been in Champaign one day so we haven’t taken many photos. We’re expecting snow and “freezing rain” (whatever that is – but it doesn’t sound pleasant) over the next two days – but with luck some photos will be posted shortly.

Until then “happy holidays”

NOTE: You can’t say “Merry Christmas” anymore because, apparently, it offends non-Christians. Personally I find the whole thing ridiculous and if you celebrate Christmas you call it Christmas, if you celebrate Chinese New Year you call it that; and if you celebrate the birth of Henry Jones’ first cousin’s pet pooch you call it “Fido day” (or whatever). However be warned – “Happy Holidays” is coming your way soon – so enjoy a “Merry Christmas" while you can.

SUGGESTED ACTION: Greet the first person who wishes you “Happy Holidays” (and it will happen) with a swift blow to the rib-cage – and a brief “same to you buddy”. After all, why should we let over-sensitive, over-paid American shopping-mall trash hijack Christmas? Leave me a comment – is this suggested action too political/insensitive?

A second look at New York

2005-12-11T13:58:00.000+08:00

New York is big. Like – it’s really big. It’s not quite as hugely-big as the universe, but it takes up a fair chunk. And I’m only talking about Manhattan Island.

Seriously when you are standing atop the 86^th floor of a building (Empire State) in which 18,000 people work daily (yes – that number IS correct) looking down at the multitude of buildings, apartment complexes, parks etc., It really does impress. In fact, on the scale of things, it makes Singapore looks like Brisbane, Brisbane looks like Mt Isa and Mt Isa looks like a sheering shed 49 miles SW of Burke.

The public transport here works like a dream. Yes it is old, rough and definitely not wheel-chair accessible BUT it works.

Seven bucks buys you an all-day rover type thing on the subway and bus way. The buses are easy – they just circulate (mostly) around their name. Eg – 42^nd street has a #42 bus that runs E-W along 42^nd street. If you want to go N-S then take the subway. In like 5 minutes you can get from one end of a large city to the other – similarly if you don’t know the difference between ‘uptown’ and ‘downtown’ and jump on a #1 you can end up in Harlem in about 3 minutes. Not that there’s anything wrong with Harlem; but we were trying to go the other way.

The stations are old, rusty and worn-down. Probably the whole subway system is the same, but you have to admire something that began almost one-hundred years ago and is still going. Since then of course it has grown substantially. Wikipedia has this to say:

New York City boasts the most extensive network of public transportation in the United States. The world-famous New York City Subway is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It is the most extensive subway system in the world when measured by mileage of track (656 miles of mainline track), and the fifth largest when measured by annual ridership (1.4 billion passenger trips in 2004). The subway system connects all boroughs except Staten Island, which is served by the Staten Island Railway via the free Staten Island Ferry (which connects to the 1 subway line). The city is also served by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's PATH subway system, which connects the borough of Manhattan to New Jersey. In addition to these, city residents rely on hundreds of bus lines, both publicly and privately operated (many to be taken over by the MTA sometime in 2005), which serve nearly all areas of the five boroughs. Because of the extensive mass transit system, many New Yorkers do not possess cars or even driver's licenses.

South Ferry Terminus #1 Train

Ok, enough about the public transport. We had to decide what we really wanted to see on our second day - and what was optional. The list was as follows

Empire State (already done – tick)
Madison Square Garden (done – tick)
Statue of Liberty (ah – it was made by the French so who cares). In fact they should name it “liberty freedom statue of freedom girly-freedom-thing” or something like that just to stick it up the Frogs. (Sorry – sometimes sarcasm just engulfs me – it’s all those f’ing freedom fries I’ve been eating). // side note: I asked for chips tonight at dinner. Was told “we don’t have chips” – I said “sorry I meant fries” - “sure no problem but we don’t sell chips”. “Same thing”. “No there’re not”. *bite tongue* // Anyway we decided to skip a close up look at the statue of Freedom (or Liberty – depending on if you hate the French or not)
Times Square. Like WOW! Never in a single second has so much advertising been stuffed down my throat. (I could make a few dubious comments here; but I’d need to split the blog into a G and R rating so I’m not going to bother)
Grand central station. Yup – it’s grand and central. In fact it’s perhaps the most magnificent train station I have seen - or ever hope to see. Picture included below. If you ever travel to NY you simply must look at Grand Central.
NY Public Library. This library is yet another magnificent building. There is little to be said that could truly grasp its splendour so I’ll just throw in a few pics.

Ok, there was one more decision that needed to be made – but before we get to that here are the promised photos so far …

Times Square

Grand Central

NY Public Library

Ok, so we got a little time left.

“What do you want to see?” says I

“What about shopping?” says she

“What about big boats, Concorde aircraft and other cool stuff?” say I

“What about shopping?” says she

“What about not?” says I

“Sigh!” says she – so off we go to the “Intrepid Museum”

The Intrepid was an air-craft carrier built towards the later end of WWII, and later re-fitted for jets during the Vietnam War. In the same museum happens to be a Concorde – oh what a shame those things are no longer flying – so beautiful.

So I’m pleased to report (that rather than photos of MACY'S department store) I can put up some photos of some really cool stuff. Here they are …

USS Intrepid

British Airways - Concorde

Flight Deck - Concorde

Blackbird

Deck of the Intrepid - Sunset

New York

2005-12-10T01:48:00.000+08:00

Hi groovers - Fen here. Peter asked me to write something in the blog. I'm not exactly sure what to write, so I'll just post a few pictures of New York from yesterday's adventure, which includes a trip up the Empire State Building (86th Floor), and a trip down to South Ferry on the tube (on which we got lost and went the wrong way for a bit) to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty at sunset.

Empire State Building - and view of North Manhattan Island from 86'th floor

View South from Empire State showing Financial District of Manhattan Island

Statue of Liberty -Sunset

Manhattan Island - After dark

You might need an overcoat

2005-12-08T12:50:00.001+08:00

Folks, we struck it lucky. It started snowing about five days ago in Boston (didn’t mention that before) and it’s continued. I’m starting to take great interest in the weather channel since we are flying to Chicago next Monday – and it doesn’t exactly look like a tropical retreat.

Today Denver was about 20 deg C (true story) BELOW average for this time of year – and the cold is coming this way. It’s even snowing in Texas – yup – Texas snow.

To make things even more fun, after we arrive in Chicago O’Hare airport I have to pick up a car and drive on the wrong side of the road through predicted sleet, snow and black ice 120 miles in the dark to Champaign Illinois – during peak hour! Oh boy; am I so looking forward to that. Reminds me I don’t have a current “Last Will and Testament” … but if you don’t hear from me again I’m sure you’ll work it out- just don't call my solicitor -I owe him money.

Anyway - before that happens we get a day (maybe two) in the big-apple. Tomorrow Fen is taking the day off and we are catching a train north from Penn station NJ to Penn station NY. I think they had trouble dreaming up new names years ago.

I have no idea what we are going to see – suppose it depends on the weather. Regardless I will take a few snaps and throw them up on the next entry.

Sorry if the constant allusions to cold weather makes anyone in Australia/Singapore a tad jealous; but I can assure you it’s not a ‘nice’ cold. It’s more of a “is my face still there?” type of cold – especially in the 20 –> 30 knot winds that occur between buildings. And so far it’s only been -3 deg C in Newark. Chicago is currently -18 deg C. I mean like – why do people live there?

More soon - Ciao.

Newark

2005-12-07T23:31:00.000+08:00

I haven’t added anything for a little while because, well, there is little to add. We are currently in Newark, New Jersey and it is as described. Not at all a pretty place really and it seems to be a place where people come to work, then scurry home as fast as possible.

We are considering visiting certain ‘designated safe’ zones later in the week. I’m not making this up. The locals from NJIT tell us in no uncertain terms where we can go and when we can go there – and leave us in no doubt to avoid all other areas/times. It’s a little intimidating but given that Boston is now up to 68 deaths by gunshot (and that was a NICE place); I’m thinking we might just listen to the locals.

Apparently NJIT is full of security as well. You need pass-cards to just get into the buildings/labs and lecture theatres. Fen can’t walk around without an escort, because she gets no-where (everything is locked) … and this is during the day ... in a ‘safe’ place.

There are a few completely abandoned buildings and generally the streets are quiet (even during the day). It’s just not at all a ‘good feel’. Here are a few pictures.

View from 4th Floor Hotel Room - Notice the streets are empty - even in the middle of the day. People tend to drive into the city, walk briskly to work (mostly in Government buildings that you can't take photos of without getting yelled at by over-zealous security guards), walk briskly back to their car and bugger off home to the suburbs again.

Main train bridge over Passiac River leading into Penn Station. Penn station seems to be the hub of Newark. It's very old - made to last what looks like maybe 50 years ago. It was good engineering - it has certainly lasted but by any standards it looks kinda old and creepy.

Parking (Not too sure if it's long-term, residential or daily)

Laundromat

2005-12-04T04:04:00.000+08:00

Ok, the temperature in Boston has dropped considerably over the last two days in preparation for possible snow on Monday. We were very fortunate to complete all the “tourist” stops before the winds started to blow in full-force and the temperature dropped to zero deg. C.

Today was an easy day; we visited the skywalk on the Prudential tower (50 floors up) and got some nice pics. We then had to do some washing which is where the real fun with the weather began. It’s difficult to describe in words, so an illustration of the 15-minute journey is given.

The Freedom Trail

2005-12-03T07:29:00.000+08:00

Today we decided to go for a brisk little walk in the city of Boston, and see sites we haven’t seen thus far. There is a famous historic walk (about 3 miles) called the freedom trail. It’s a dumb-as-a-rock big red line painted on the sidewalk – you follow it and you go past all sorts of interesting things of historical value.

Take a quick look at the church where the signal lanterns of Paul Revere were displayed on April 18, 1775 to warn the country of the march of the (damn) British.

There is the “Democratic Donkey” where in 1828 Andrew Jackson (who was basically labelled a “jackass” by the Republicans) turned the insult on its head and started using the donkey on his campaign posters. A few years later the Republicans had to adopt a mascot as well, so they chose the elephant as their official symbol. Hence the “stand in opposition” picture below. In the second picture you will see someone with what can only be described as “loose political morals” actually taking the part of the elephant!

Another stop is the Massachusetts Gate – where Colonel William Prescott (not always a bronze statue apparently) bravely led the colonial forces against (you guessed it) the bloody Poms. I mean – these Poms were a bit of a nuisance back in those days. They were the LIONS of the British Empire Tough – Ruthless – Evil men! Too bad if they had just sailed across the North Atlantic ocean in tiny little wooden boats and probably just wanted a few glasses of whiskey, a long bath and a shag for the night. In fact one could argue that if the Yanks just brought in some whiskey, a little nice hot water and a few ladies … oh never mind. It was probably best to just cannon-ball them! Here are the pics …

The freedom tail also takes you past a graveyard (of course the Americans call it a “burying ground” – sounds less fatal I suppose) in which Benjamin Franklin’s extremely reproductive parents were finally laid to rest. Yes folks they never owned a house but managed to propagate nearly every night (it is cold in Boston) and had – I dunno – something like 1600 children. I can’t remember exactly, but it is enough to make your average potato-eating 1800’s Irish family blush with incompetence. The main thing to note is the burial rates below – how much to bury and how much to open. Like why do you reopen grave – did you forget something? Old graves were apparently a little more delicate (or aromatic) because the price was higher.

There is fair-dinkum tonnes of historic s**t in Boston. Everywhere you look there is something different (and somewhat British). Sorry – shouldn’t mention the British! Fen says that it reminds her a lot of her days in Cambridge (the real Cambridge that is – the one in the UK) except that it wasn’t quite as polished. I have never been to Cambridge, nor the UK for that matter, but if Boston is an insight then I look forward to going. Opps – this is about the Yanks after all.

Ok, so final stop on the Freedom (freezing) trail is the pride of the US Navy, and the only really big and really old war-ship that still works (apparently) – the Constitution. It’s about 4 decks deep – which is a tad impressive and housed a lot of British hating 8” cannon balls – and some pretty big guns. So here it is – the Constitution (Note: before you need to use the prefix “USS”) ….

MIT, Harvard and Cambridge area in Photos

2005-12-02T12:04:00.000+08:00

MIT - Facing the Charles River

MIT

Harvard - Front Gate

Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library (Harvard)

Harvard lecture theatre (one of many...)

Cambridge housing - Every house unique - and of course beyond budget ...

Cambridge housing

Always a Siren

2005-12-01T09:53:00.000+08:00

Well it’s interesting ... in American movies there is always a siren somewhere. I know now; this aspect of the movies is far more realistic then I had imagined. Ok, so I’ve never lived in particularly big cities, but with a population of 581,046 I would hardly call Boston a BIG city. In fact ….

In city size Singapore is #35 in the world, Sydney is #43, Brisbane is #356; Boston lags way behind at #621 according to 2005 estimates
(src: http://www.mongabay.com/igapo/2005_world_city_populations/ Note: these are population figures, not population density figures).

Now comes the scary bit. Boston is the 3rd most expensive area in the USA – next to New York and San Francisco. Over here it’s called “Historic Boston”, and a walk around shows that it is quite deserving of that title. It’s commonly regarded as a respectable, safe, upper-market city. So my question – why do I always hear sirens? I mean – they haven’t stopped.

Sirens – fire, police and ambulance are always to be heard in the distance. Granted we have a 25th floor hotel room (you would have to ask Fen how we scored a top floor room) and we can hear and see everything for miles around …. But why so many sirens?

Unfortunately I have no idea why. It goes down in personal-history as one of those great unanswered questions right next to other famous ones like

1. Why is the horn the most important part of a vehicle in Vietnam?
2. Why do people “crawl” their cars forward at red-traffic lights?
3. Why does bad stuff taste soooo damn good?

Anyway, what I am most concerned about now is the great state of New Jersey, and in particular the city of Newark (where we are staying). The NJIT guys were saying that during the night only move between the NJIT site, the hotel and some place over the other side of the train line (the name of which escapes me now). They say “after dark” don’t go anywhere else because … it’s not that safe. I’m thinking great! Safe places have a lot of sirens, what is a “not-so-safe” place going to sound like at night?

Further evidence for not saying in New Jersey was given last night on the comedy channel. Apparently the governor of New Jersey paid 180-thousand USD to a company to come up with a slogan to attract tourists to the state. They came up with “New Jersey – We’ll win you over”

It was then rejected by the governor (presumably after paying the fee … are we ALL in the wrong business or what???) and he opened it up to the public to come up with a slogan. We didn’t get to hear the public responses, but the Comedy Channel responses for a slogan were as follows:

1. NJ- You'll have to drive through us at sometime
2. NJ - The Bada Bing (for Soprano’s fans)
3. NJ - Come and stay in one of our fine hotels … for an hour
4. NJ - One afternoon is enough!

You get the idea – most Americans are scared of NJ. Here is why:

17 May 1980 A three-day race riot breaks out after an all-white jury acquits four white police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman. The cops had beaten him with their flashlights and billyclubs, and he died in the hospital. 18 fatalities and more than $100 million in property damage are the final result.

According to the locals, following the riots all the nice “white folks” buggered off and Newark fell into a deep depression, from which it has never really recovered.

So, we need to tie this all together

1. No nice “white folk” (and believe me I’m being sarcastic here)
2. Bad US-wide reputation
3. Butt of a LOT of TV jokes
4. Even “nice” “historic” cities like Boston have a LOT of sirens

What’s the message?

Don’t go to Newark – and if you’re going to New Jersey don’t stay long. We’re staying for a week. I really hope it’s not all that bad. Will let you know … But one thing for sure, I’m expecting to ALWAYS hear a siren.

Cheers for now.

Heavy Rain - Cannot Out

2005-12-01T03:36:00.000+08:00

Well, even if you don’t speak Singlish I think that one is fairly easy to understand. Yup we’re stuck here in the hotel room in Boston and outside its pouring. It’s fortunate that we’ve been able to get around so well over the past few days; but a shame that we didn’t see very much. But who knows – maybe it will stop – but more likely it’s going to snow according to the weather forecast. Anyway the wet-weather gives me plenty of time for my most favourite and least-understood area of human existence – politics.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet with a few of Fen’s counter-parts from the NJIT – really really nice people. Naturally after a meal and a brief walk around the streets I just had to launch into question-time on “George W” – I wanted an American viewpoint.

I should explain here that two of these guys were from the Ukraine, one from Germany and one from China. Actually they explained that bright young Americans tend to go into either Law or Medicine – science is not that attractive (pay rates at the end suck). Hence they were saying that 90% or more of their post-graduate students are from overseas – mostly India.. But, in the absence of any dyed-in-the-wool Americans these guys had to suffice.

So what do almost-normal Americans think of George W? Yup – they think he’s a complete tosser – phew! One even admitted to voting for him in the first elections – but said never again. They suggest that (as in Australia) one problem here is the complete lack of a credible opposition – that’s the only reason he was returned. Some most scary observations were tabled however (these are not my opinions):

1. There seems to be a consensus that Dick Chaney wanted to invade A country (he wasn’t too worried which one)

2. There is also consensus that George W simply agreed with Dick, but wanted to invade Iraq simply because his dad “failed” there – and he wanted to put it right. (Let’s just hope that is not the truth!)

3. Another consensus is that the only reason George W made it to the white-house in the first place was because the team behind him (many figures of which were in his father’s team) were exceptionally good at their job

4. Oh – nobody here seems to think that George W is actually running the country – he’s seen as more of a figurehead – and not a very bright one!

5. One more – Michael Moore is regarded as just another rat-bag journalist (nobody really listens to him)

So, that’s as close as I have come so far to understanding American politics from an American point of view. To be quite truthful the bulk of television concerning George W is on the comedy channel – serious! Check out http://www.comedycentral.com/ (and go to the “Daily Show”). The man is a laughing stock! Ahhh my faith in human-kind was beginning to be restored …

… that is until some loud-mouthed New Jersey salesman at breakfast started spewing pustules of horse-shit to anyone within the greater-restaurant area this morning. I bet he voted for George W!

Boston in Pictures

2005-11-29T10:15:00.000+08:00

Many things impress about Boston, but for now I'm just going to show you some pictures.

Ice skating in the Boston Common

Boston Public Garden (A)

Boston Public Garden (B)

Typical Architecture

The "Friendly Skys" ...

2005-11-28T22:08:00.000+08:00

We flew from Singapore to HK (3hrs), HK to Chicago (14hrs) then Chicago to Boston (2hrs). Below is a picture of the United Airlines (UA) "Friendly Skys" Plane in which we did the long stint (14hrs). The picture is included in case, in the future, you recognise the plane. If so - DO NOT BOARD!!! Reasons below ….

1. Seating arrangements on UA doesn’t follow the normal model - in fact in cattle it's smaller than Qantas and/or Singapore Airlines. I'm guessing this happens because business class needs about 2.5 sq-m per person + about 2m gap with nothing in it behind business class that serves as a U-turn point for the service trolleys. Its worse then knowing you didn't pay for the expensive seats - it's like being punished for it.
2. There are no 'personal' screens - which have been on every international flight I have caught for the past five years. Instead UA opt for the 14" curvy screen model that picks up reflections from - well - everywhere I think.
3. They show crap old movies and ONLY old crap movies - ergo - Peter f'ing Pan.
4. When they stop showing crap old movies they start bombarding you with "United Airlines" propaganda. In fact I estimated that on the 14hr flight there was at least 3-4 hours of UA propaganda. God-damit! ... I'm already on YOUR airplane!
5. Service levels suck. I believe because you're not tipping ringing the bell is considered some type of infringement on the crew chat-time.

Well anyways - my recommendation - pay the extra money for SIA or even Qantas - even Dick's Virgin airline would probably be better then UA. Oh yea - the air conditioners DON'T function (sitting in S'pore airport in 30degree heat for 35 minutes); the toilets are NEVER cleaned and the food SUX!

Man; glad I got that out of my system.

Shutdown

2005-11-24T02:45:00.000+08:00

As you will see if you have ever bothered to visit our web site, and I doubt you have, it is being maintained on a PC somewhere near the end of the internet. Since we're about to bugger-off for a few weeks this machine will be shut-down, so the web-site; ftp-site (et.al.) will not work. Sorry if this causes any issues ... well - kinda sorry :-)

Golf

2005-11-19T19:40:00.001+08:00

Played golf today – well at least that’s what I called it. Naturally any casual observer may consider it a slow way to mow the grass. A par-3 course – but I only managed to get within one shot a few times. You see my normally excellent judgement and control of the club was hampered somewhat by the weather. For this reason I suggest the following Singaporean golf tips …

1. it’s quite warm so take plenty of (cold) water
2. it’s quite warm so wear sensible clothing (hint: jeans aren’t sensible) and;
3. it’s quite warm so ensure you have lined up and air-conditioned lunch.

Now, since I was playing with three university staff members, all of whom lecture in wonderfully complex things, I asked them to calculate a formulae for the minimum amount of perspiration that could be generated for a nine-hole course and to make recommendations on swing effort and club selection given that the risk of a hook/slice seemed to increase in proportion to swing-effort.

Strangely they looked at me like I was some type of alien slowly drowning in its own juices and played on...

USA

2005-11-17T22:50:00.000+08:00

Hi,

yes using a blog is somewhat impersonal - sorry, but I will try to get around to more personal (email) stuff - sometime - in the future - maybe....

So well - we're off to the US of A. Probably not #1 on my "must-see" travel list; but still - it should be interesting. Given the influence the US has over the rest of the world I'm actually quite curious to meet and greet with 'ordinary' Americans - just to see if they are as I expect. Now before you jump to conclusions regarding my expectations I will tell you - my expectation is that the ordinary American will be pretty-much the same as an ordinary person in any other part of the world. My personal theory (and I'll let you know how it holds up) is that the Yanks get a pretty bad name because of a few things

1) they are too apathetic to vote (and let's face it - if voting wasn't compulsory wouldn't we all be?)
2) they vote in idiots (because only the idiots think they have to vote)
3) the 'can-do' attitude has just been taken WAY-too far (thanks to Tim Robbins et. al.) and;
4) American TV is basically designed for 8 year-olds.

Harsh - yes. And seriously this IS a generalisation ... (to be perfectly truthful some American TV is actually quite good)

so - where are we going? What are we doing? Why?

Basically it's a junket. Gumby (aka Fen or "Whay" to most) gets almost fully paid-for; and I just pay for my air-fare (well - that's more-or-less how it works). She's going to visit really brainy people and talk about really technical stuff concerning poly-ma-something’s and I'm off to explore the nearby pizza shops, super-sized "freedom-fries" outlets and maybe some super-sized jeans shops. In other words she's going to go do things that professional university lecturers do, and I'm off to do things that professional gormandizers do.

We're off on the 26th of this month for a flight that will basically last forever. We're transiting somewhere in Japan on the way to Boston. We're going to spend (almost) one week in Boston. Then we're catching a train to New Jersey (which I hope has plenty of those Soprano-like pizza/coffee shops) and staying there for a week also. Whilst in New Jersey we're going to catch some type of train to New York just for a weekend, then fly from Newark to Chicago. We then drive from Chicago to the University of Illinois in Champaign. From the sounds of it Champaign has about as much life as Rosewood on a Thursday night ... but anyway. We then drive back to Chicago for two nights, and catch a flight to San-Francisco. Unfortunately this is where the junket ends and we start staying in CHEAP hotels :-)

I'm going to catch up with Magoo in SF (for those of you that know Sean). Basically he lives in San Mateo (about 15kms south of SF) - but close to the airport. So - we're hiring a car and stopping there the first night. From there we are travelling down the coast to Monterey for a night. Then we head east to Yosemite national park for two nights before returning to SF for three nights. Hopefully can fit in Alcatraz somewhere. We're spending X-mas in SF and flying back to S'pore arriving on the 27th Dec.

And yes - I'm looking forward to it (and not). You see I really didn't travel much in my youth and for me this year has been ridiculous. Not that I count myself as a world-class traveller or anything, but for a guy that didn't travel much more then 30kms from home most of his life it's all getting a bit much. I'm racking up passport stamps, my luggage is looking worn and on the last international flight I was called 3 times (I was a tad late). Granted I was held up by over-officious Australian customs staff but it was kinda-sorta my fault for leaving it till 20 minutes before the flight before entering the check-point - AND - I did that because I really don't look forward to air-plane trips like I did when I was 15.

Well that's pretty much it for the moment. I could go into a lengthy dialogue about luggage selection as it pertains to the female Asian traveller, but I'd better not on this first blog entry.

Cheery-bye.