New Entry door
by Adrian

We have been planning to get a new door and finally it became reality. It has been challenging to open and close our entry door. It expands in the summer and shrink in the winter. In the winter months the draft will come in through the door. It is an old door and has served its purpose for almost sixty years. I won't be surprised it was the original door that came with the house when it was built.

Ripping the old door out

Door less entrance

New door set in place

Finishing touch

Painting the door

Paint job completed

New entry and storm doors with new motion sensor outdoor wall lights

Thanks Juan and crew for spending the entire day to remove and replace it with a new door. What do you think of the new door? Any comments???

Spring Happening
by Adrian

Last night while I was taking a shower around 10pm, Serene heard a loud bang. She peeped through the peep hole and saw no one. Unfortunately, as I was taking the thrash out I noticed something was wrong with the newly installed motion activated wall light. It did not turn on with my hand waving at the sensor. Upon closer look, we saw this.

We suspect a punk kid just busted the light for fun. I suppose not only human becoming active around spring (busting my light)##@!*&%$!!!, my backyard plants also started to be alive.

Hyacinths on the well at our backyard

Daffodils and tulips at the side fence

Recently I have just learned a new thing on how to deter squirrels from your yard using basic household items. Who would think it would be this Holy Trinity...!

Holy Trinity ( Frank's Red Hot Sauce, Paprika and Ajax dish washing liquid)

So far it works. All you have to do it mix five teaspoons Frank's Red Hot Sauce, two teaspoons Paprika, one teaspoon dish-washing liquid, water to fill up a gallon of bottle. Then you could fill up in a 32-ounce trigger-spray bottle. If you don't have the above mentioned ingredients, you could use Tabasco or any other similar hot wings sauce and chilli powder in place of paprika. Avoid Havahart Critter Ridder!!!. It is useless as it did not even prevent the squirrels from eating the tulip bulbs.

Happy Spring folks..!

Spring is coming
by Adrian

How do I know Spring is coming? Ask my goldfish. It has been almost two years since we have fish laying eggs. Over the weekend, while cleaning my fish tank I discovered they have laid eggs. I quickly transfer the plant coated with eggs to a separate tank. Goldfish normally lay eggs around Spring time so I take it as it is beginning of Spring. See for yourself.

Can you spot the eggs? Hint it is white.

UPDATE: None of the fry made it. (Mar 14'2012)

RIP Whitney Houston
by Adrian

It has been a while since I updated the blog. For those who are parents, I am sure free time does not come easy nowadays. Anyway, we were overloaded with Whitney Houston news over last week. Little did I know she is from Newark, New Jersey. It was so surreal as it all happened around my area. Her body was flown to Teterboro airport (half mile from my office) and proceeded to a funeral home in Newark. It was tempting to go to the New Hope Baptist Church to see the temporary memorial in person but it was too much of a hassle to go around the traffic madness. Her songs have been in radio air play during my younger years in high school and they have touched lots of people's life.

May you rest in peace Whitney Houston. Thank you for all the wonderful memories of your songs.

Chinese New Year 2012 @ Chinatown
by Adrian

Despite living so near to New York City, we have never been to Chinatown on the first day of Chinese New Year. So Serene and I decided to take Monday off and go to New York Chinatown to check out the Chinese New Year festivity for a change. While exploring the events, we found out there was a Year of Dragon: Firecracker Ceremony at Roosevelt Park.

The Chinese New Year would not be complete if there are no lion dance performances. As expected we saw a few different troupes performing their stunts.

Drummer for the 1st troupe

1st troupe

2nd troupe with protected plastic bag to shield the lion's head from the rain (Kind of weird as I always thought they are waterproof)

3rd troupe with the black colored lion

Opening ceremony for the Firecracker Ceremony

Letting off firecracker in progress

Rain does not deter Chinese ushers from celebrating the Year of Dragon

CNN's Senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth reporting from the scene

Aftermath of the firecracker ceremony

Tsai Chen- God of good fortune with a member of the press

Chinese dolls figures walking about (No clue what they represent. Anyone please explain?)

Chinese folk dance in action

That's basically how New York's Chinatown celebrates first day of the Chinese New Year. It is different from Malaysia but close enough to feel like home.

Happy Chinese New Year

We would like to wish our friends and relatives Happy Chinese New Year.

Picture courtesy of Microsoft