Stupid Smoke Detector
So, I'm playing bachelor this weekend. Carly headed off to Bintan in Indonesia yesterday for a weekend of relaxing solitude. I'm hoping she enjoys herself thoroughly and comes back all relaxed.
I took the opportunity to sleep in til 11am this morning. It would have been a lot more enjoyable had the smoke alarm not started going ape in the middle of the night (3:30am) for no particular reason whatsoever. Our place certainly wasn't on fire. Maybe it's time for a new battery.
Last night I went out on the town and did a few geek things (new headphones and a USB hub, yay!) and also had dinner at Zam Zam on Arab Street - which is the most famous restaurant in Singapore for Murtabak (Google it, it's delicious). Dinner was a whopping $5.20, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Sorry, no pretty pictures to share, only my dry, drab personality 
Yay Visitors
Last week Carly and I had guests from Canada again. Our friends Grant and Kristina were here for about a 4-day stopover before continuing on to Australia where Grant is playing in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. They have a baby (Jack) who is 6-months old, and he is a heck-of-good time.
We didn't have time to do a whole lot, but went to the Zoo to have breakfast with the Orangutans, walked up to the top of Bukit Timah - and ended up at Shahi Maharani for some amazing Indian food for dinner.
Grant and I on our way down from Bukit Timah.
Watching the elephants get a bath.
Dinner at Shahi Maharani (Not sure why this picture makes me look like I weigh 450 pounds.)
Next visitors - Carly's parents! w00t!
Hotcakes 2006
The Canadian Hotcakes did a fantastic job in last weekend's Corporate Triathlon. As team leader, I recruited my two buddies Noer Mannix and Robin Doty to join me in a personal and fun challenge! Noer swam 750 metres in the open ocean, Robin biked 40k and I ran the 5k. Overall, we had the best time for the all female teams in our category (small category but who was counting!).
CIS had a good turn out and even won a few metals. Check out the photos! You will even see the winner of Most Supportive (and also a Hotcake) Hubbie Award for 2006
Before the race
Talk of how to escape to an island far far away
Feeling the water's temperature
Eyeing up my competition (Andrea)
Ready.....set....
go Hotcakes go! Oh....not those hotcakes...
The chip has been passed to our biker
The final stretch. Go Stretch go!
Bib 801
All the muscles that got us here
Someone going by the alias of 'Code Poet' has been caught watching the hotcakes!
New Furniture
Carly and I headed out on a tour of some warehouses the other day. The parent of a child who was in her class last year knows an interior designer who runs this tour. We had wanted to pick up a few pieces of furniture before leaving Singapore, so this proved to be an excellent opportunity.
Most of the designer / antique / reproduction furniture here comes from China, a lot of it is lacquered, and mostly the wood is really old Elm - often refinished and made into really nice pieces. There are a lot of original antiques as well, most of the stuff we tend to really like are things that have been rebuilt using old wood, or refinished.
Some of the places we went don't have any public access at all, and we were able to get a few pieces at about 1/4-1/3 of the cost that they would retail for down on Orchard.
We picked up a really beautiful cabinet (~90 years old from Northern China) and two end tables that were restored, built out of old Elm, as well as a fantastic coffee table that weighs a ton, made of stone and old Elm wood as well. All of it is nicely lacquered, and we can't wait to bring it back to Canada.
