Boo-ooo...


Happy Halloween zombies, vampires, werewolves, old chums, friends & faithful readers! It is now 10.30 a.m. on the day whereby kids get to put on their ghoulish or Disney Princess costumes and indulge in their annual sugar highs. I am still calm even though I haven't bought a single bag of candy yet. I am contemplating between buying or just sticking a "Sorry, no candies" note on my door. I've until the afternoon to decide...

Anyhoo, last Sunday we had the pleasure of taking our friend from Malaysia out for lunch at Virgil's - a BBQ ribs/southern style restaurant at Times Square. Alex has been to New York before so he is no stranger to the City. We met him at his suite near the United Nations and took Subway "7" from Grand Central to 42nd. Street. We arrived Virgil's at precisely 12 noon and was allocated a window seat with a great view of Times Square and the huge Toys 'R' Us store :)

Where we ate. This is Virgil's home page.

A group photo before digging into our food :)

Two meat combo - ribs & lamb; with 2 sides (coleslaw & mash) and a cornbread. The marinade was excellent although some parts were a bit too salty to my liking.

Adrian's choice - Memphis ribs with a mountain of fries.

After a heavy lunch, we needed to walk-off all the sinful meats we just downed. So, we decided to take a stroll through a street carnival at 7th Avenue to Central Park. Spent some time around the Bethesda Fountain and boat house areas before we parted ways after a cup of cappuccino at the Rockefeller Cafe. What a way to spend a beautiful Sunday - treading on crisp, fallen autumn leaves while engaging in great conversation :)

M.T., my friend and former co-worker

"May You Rest In Peace"
October 24, 2007
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We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance. ~Marcel Proust

Update: Upwardly Global, NYC Office celebrated their first anniversary at the Point of View Gallery last Monday. Congratulations to their founder Ms. Jane Leu (San Francisco Office) and all her staff from the West Coast and the East Coast.


An Upwardly Global Connection

For the past 10 weeks, I have been attending a job search and surviving the American workplace workshop organized by Upwardly Global - a non-profit organization dedicated to help immigrant professionals find jobs that match their educational qualification and work experience.

These photos were taken during our last session on September 26 at the International Center for Tolerance Education (ICTE) in Brooklyn, NY.

Back (left to right): Momin, Debbie, Alex, Maria Calvelo, me, Luis & Maria Cisnero
Front (left to right): Zeynap & Aminata

Our super energetic & positive reinforcement counselor & teacher, Ifeoma "Iffy" Ezeh

Upwardly Global Cohort #2 members, mentors & volunteers

Our "Thank You" card to Iffy & all the UpGlo staff.
Unfortunately, some members were not able to furnish Fredy with their photos on time.

At this juncture, I would like to do a little promotion for Fredy Fleck our very talented Graphic Designer and cohort member. You can view more of his artwork and Photoshop skills at Fredy's Portfolio. Go ahead, take a peek and give him a call if you think he can help you improve your business or corporate promotional pieces.

Note: I'm being a real slacker this week. I started writing this post on Monday night but there was something wrong with Blogger.com and I couldn't post photos. What's a post without anything to see, right? Exactly. I gave up after a few minutes and didn't publish it until today.

Monday Night's Dinner


I'm running out of ideas for dinner. Just the other day I spotted this quick & easy recipe on Everyday Food - Orange Molasses Glazed Chicken. So, I decided to try it for tonight's meal.

3 cups of orange juice, 1/2 cup red wine vinegar + 1/4 molasses (a bit more is ok) - boil on high heat and reduce to 1/2 cup of baste.

Season chicken breast (skinless) with salt & pepper.

First baste. Bake in oven at 375F for about 35 mins or until chicken is cooked.

Second baste. Do this half-way through the cooking time.

Ta-da! Dinner's ready. I decided to add-in some greens & potatoes for a balanced meal.


And, last but not least!

Guess who turned up for dinner last Saturday night? Ding-dong...! Yup, he made the trip from the West Coast to the North East. He's the C.E. from the O.C.

Left to right: Henry, the Cooknengr, Serenity & Adrian

Here we were in Satay nearly a week ago. Our very own little Kuching Bloggers Pow-Wow. Nothing fancy, just sweet & nice.

The eye is the window to the soul

Today's post is more of a Public Service Announcement on my part. I was inspired to write about it after I saw a Pedigree commercial on TV. Pedigree has the most endearing ads; be it funny, serious or just plain cute.

This is my favorite and melts my heart all the time.


"We see love"


But most of all, this one really struck a chord with me (and I'm sure with you too!).


"Dog Adoption Drive"


Which brings me to this question: Is your pet just an animal you keep to guard your house or is he/she a member of your family?

My family once spent a considerable amount of money to remove a cancerous tumor from Shadow, my 11 year old Dachshund's stomach. Unfortunately, some people said that it was not worth it. I was sad that they failed to see him as part of our family. But, I didn't blame them because they didn't know Shadow personally. His unconditional love brought us so much joy and his loyalty was immeasurable. There's just no price tag that we could put on it. Shadow died 6 months after the operation but we did all we could for him so this lessened the pain of his death on us a little.

Anyway, the holiday season is coming up. Many people buy pets as gifts for their family members and close friends. I hope that they do their homework first. The breed you choose should fit your family, lifestyle and home. Secondly, please spay or neuter your pets. The Humane Society has resources & info on where to spay/neuter the newest member of your family.

To see more Pedigree on TV click here. You'll need this to warm your heart on a windy, blustery fall day. Dogs rule!

This one's for the girls

I was flipping through my local daily - The Record, when I saw this on Page A-10. This will surely please my female friends back home. Instead of from "Iowa to the space station, via Kazakhstan" (this article was written to highlight the proud achievement of Flight Commander, Peggy Whitson), may I re-write the headline again:

"From Kuala Lumpur to the space station, via Kazakhstan"

The caption below reads:

A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from Kazakhstan on Wednesday, en route to the International Space Station. Aboard is Peggy Whitson, right, from Iowa, the first woman to command the space center. Also making the journey are Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, left, a Malaysian physician, and Yury Malenchenko of Russia. Shukor, a Muslim, will observe Ramadan in space by fasting and praying.

The Record - World, Thursday October 11, 2007

On that note, Ramadan ends tomorrow and my Muslim friends will be celebrating Eid Mubarak, commonly referred to as "Hari Raya Aidilfitri/Puasa" in Malaysia. So...

Dear friends,

(e-card courtesy of 123Greetings.com)

on
Saturday, October 13th. 2007

P.S. Please enjoy your satay, ketupat, lemang, curry, rendang & other kuih-muih raya responsibly or else, you'll be needing your ENO. Haha!

Astronauts, Cosmonauts & What-nauts!

Malaysian news is abuzz over the first Malaysian doctor & so-called angkasawan (Malay for astronaut) in space. A few hours ago, the space craft Suyoz blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Jak sie masz? My name-a Borat Kazakhstan and it is now headed to the International Space Station (ISS).

I can't help but feel that this whole she-bang has garnered extra attention because this particular commercial astronaut is rather rabbit teethed cute. My in-box has been flooded with swooning, licking (yeah, the ladies wanna lick him) and excited chatter about him since last week!

Yes, all my lady friends in Malaysia are going ga-ga over Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Never mind the fact that he isn't doing anything significant at the ISS apart from studying some live cultures and eating Eid or Hari Raya (end of Ramadhan celebration) goodies.

One of my female friend read Dr. S's blog and discovered his food list: biryani chicken, satay chicken, rendang Tok, sliced dried mango, banana rolls (hmpf!), tempe, ginger jelly (yucks!), Roselle granola bar, kuih Raya bangkit. To cap this off, another friend hoped that Dr. S, for his own good, won't suffer from diarrhea as a result of consuming all the rich Eid food he brought to space. Would be tricky if he suffered severe stomach ache in his space suit. Hmm.....

First Monkey in Space

Name: Curious George
Nationality: American (originally from Africa)
Age: Unkown
Occupation: Best friend of Man with the Yellow Hat/Part-time Astronaut

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First Malaysian in Space

Name: Dr. S.M.S (please see above for full name)
Nationality: Malaysian
Age: 35+
Occupation: Orthopedic Doctor/Lecturer/Milo* Model/Astronaut

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Cultural Trivia:

*Milo is Malaysia's favorite chocolate + malt beverage. According to Wikipedia, Malaysia consumes 90% of world wide consumption of Milo. NO kidding! In that case, I also want to be a Milo character.

Name: Serenity @ Milo Girl, Avatar style
Nationality: Malaysian
Age: 15 (in Avatar Age)
Occupation: S8ter Girl

U.S. airport kerfuffles

Domestic flights in America isn't what I thought it would be. People do stupidly mistakenly board the wrong plane because flight attendants don't check your boarding pass thoroughly once you're inside the plane. In times of emergency, for example, a bad weather, desperate passengers do board themselves on any available flight that they could find just to get out of the City. What manifest?!!

Okay, so it doesn't really surprise me anymore that recently....

1. A man smuggled his monkey into a plane using his hat.

This automatically came to my mind.


The irony: Dubai airport staff could sniff out my very tiny brow tweezer a mile away while TSA officers here couldn't even see a monkey at close range. Who needs to go to Pearle Vision?!


2. Hooters waitress Kyla Ebbert was not allowed on the plane because her outfit was deemed too racy.

She is a Hooter's girl after all but she wasn't wearing her uniform that day. The only eye-catching thing on her was her pair of bountiful assets.

This happened on a Southwest Airlines flight. She should have taken Hooters Air.

3. Joe Winiecki from Florida was asked to changed his t-shirt because it read:


I don't think I need to explain this further. Btw, this incident also occurred on board fashion police Southwest Airlines.

On a serious note:
Last week, a woman on her way to alcohol rehab was found strangled to death (allegedly by handcuffs) inside an airport holding cell in Phoenix. She had missed the plane earlier on, threw a fit & was taken into custody.

Like I said earlier, domestic flights in the U.S. isn't what I thought it to be. Just expect the unexpected.

Fish

I am so missing this dish at the moment. My cousins & I went out for dinner one night at Rock Road Seafood Restaurant and they ordered it. It's so yummy, I could still taste it in my mouth. This was 2 years ago. I know, sounds pathetic, isn't it?!

What's on my mind today: Spam messages are mostly meant for men. Apart from the boob job messages, all you get in your filtered folders are gazillion ways to enlarge your schlort (if it's not already schlong), how to get your hands on the cheapest Viagra/Cialis and other "Tongkat Ali" deals and pictures of women girls trying to break into the porn industry. Yes, I do check my spam files once in a while. Don't ask me why I even bother.


Neglecting my blog

Reason #1: Facebook!
Ever since I took up "facebook-ing", I've been busy adding more and more ridiculously fun stuff on my homepage. I must have taken every compatibility test there is out there and answered hundreds of TV Trivia questions. Why, why, why? I dunno. I won't say that I've succumbed to the dark side (as the famous Kenny Sia put it) since this is a really fun way of keeping in touch. E-mails are getting a tad boring and old school. Super-poking, bitch-slapping and sending virtual gifts to your friends is far more exciting than plain text mails. Most importantly, I re-connected with friends, several cousins and new people - yipee!

Reason #2: Fall Season Premieres!
TV shows are back after a long summer hiatus. No more re-runs. Alas, I've forgotten some of the season finales of last spring. Urgh! Woes of a TV addict.

Glad it's back: Heroes, Ugly Betty, Prison Break, Desperate Housewives, CSI: NY & Miami, Smallville (converted by Adrian), Supernatural, Beauty & the Geek.

Not sure if it's good: Moonlight, Pushing Daisies, Aliens in America.

Such a long break, it's killing me: Lost - Season 4 (starting February 2008, boo-hiss!)

I'm so lost without Lost. Bad pun, sorry!

Excuse me while I go throw more sheep at my friends. Facebookers, you know what I mean.