The Fong Family WebSpace

It's very likely not as grandious as the title suggest but we are sure looking forward to it. We just made air reservations for our flight back home to Malaysia this coming summer. The last time we were back was 2007 and certainly lots has happened since then. We are so looking forward to seeing family and close friends again. Yes, the recent wet Seattle weather is a pretty good inspiration too.

 

This coming trip is certainly going to be a little more meaningful to us because it's time for Shane to get his Malaysian Identification Card (IC) done, now that he is 12. Yes, it does sound a little like that biblical story where Joseph and Mary returned to Bethlehem to register. However, I am quite sure both Sharon and I are no where as holy.  I remember hitting my 'IC age' too. Turning 12 seemed to be an important milestone back then. For one, I remember being reminded for days to begin acting my age! Pa/Ma - I am still working on it.

 

Going back to our plane tickets - as expected, it's a little more expensive this time - about 30% more. (too bad, my pay did not rise 30% from back then, so pretty much a negative cash outflow situation). Shopped around and finally got it from Orbitz - they have a pretty nice Price Assurance guarantee on the purchase, which means if ever anyone else purchases tickets for the same flight for a lower price, we get the difference in refund. I figured that would be a fair hedge on the purchase.

 

So, Malaysia, hear we come (again!)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of Oct and Fall season is definitely here with the beautiful sceneries of trees turning yellow and gold all around us. Before long, those same trees will be bare of leaves and many will be gearing up for Winter. The kids just got a good round of trick-or-treating down today and I am bracing for the need to handle sugar highs for the next few days (including my own! )

 

Financial markets were in turmoil this month, see-sawed widely and saw Dow Jones hitting 8300, a level never before seen in 5 years!  Everything was in the red for a while (and still are, in most cases). Like many, we will just have to be patient, remind ourselves not to panic, and think long term. Hopefully recovery will come soon. In the meantime, it's a great time to consider going shopping too.

 

Speaking of recovery, Shane is recovering too - from 1st and 2nd degree burns to part of his arm. In trying to cook noodles for himself, he was scalded by hot water and had to be taken to the emergency ward. But he is a tough boy and is fine. It does set me thinking though - Shane is growing up fast and is certainly experience his fair share f accompanying pain (literally). He has been whacked in the face with tennis racket resulting in stitches, hit in the nose with a baseball resulting in a bloody nose, cut on the cheek with goodness-knows-what, and now burnt on the arm trying to make lunch for himself. Can't help but feel proud because after all that, Shane told me recently not to worry because he is getting stronger (awww...!) Siiiiggghh!

 

Now to other 'more fun' things - Microsoft recently announced the next version of Windows - Windows 7 in its Milestone 3 release at PDC. Yours truly already is typing this blog on it running on my Lenovo T60P notebook. My first impression is that is must faster and more stable with less nagging UAC screens, even though it's technical pre-beta. I think this should be what Vista should be. Hopeful that with the coming beta, that more 'coolness' will be more obvious. Me like what me sees so far. Read more about it here. I can't wait to have it running on my office PC now and going through the familiar process to collapsing and rebuilding PCs with ever newer builds.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! Summer is almost over and school starts tomorrow! Where did it all go? Shane and Janine came up with an interesting observation today - "It only seemed like yesterday that Ah Ma was here." Yes indeed. Sharon's mum came to visit and spent a good part of summer with us and it was great. Incredible how fast time flies.

 

It all started with us not really knowing what we were going to do our summer. Sharon and I thought about where we were going to spend our vacation. In the end, we spent it in San Juan. It's proximity and the fact that we have not been there before was as good a reason as any to go for a visit. Who knows, we might see some whales (nope, not lucky enough!). It was a nice, relaxing, unconnected vacation for a change and what a welcome change it was. We did snapped some nice photos (see photo album).

 

So, onward to a new school  year and onward to FY09. (I am already feeling stressed!)