Update 30 July 2008

Woke up at 6.30am this morning and decided that I'll take the car today and send Ed to work. We left at about 8.05am and reached office at 8.20am. Traffic wasn't too bad coz we were on carpool lanes, yippee!

Then went out to send some mails and pump petrol. Gas price is US$4.53 per gallon today and Lexus needs premium petrol which is 2 grade higher than the normal unleaded. Pumped Shell V-Power. Total for a full tank is US$68.58. The last full tank ran for 299 miles.

Then, came home and change and out I went to Club Sport Pleasanton (CSP) which is like 34 miles away from where I stay and it took me about 45 mins drive. Reason being I wanted to go visit my best friend Belinda who stays at San Ramon and who plays at CSP. Wanted to squeeze in some tennis coz I am bored just staying at home and being on the internet the whole day.

Danny, if you're reading this, you'll be proud of me coz everyone at the tennis center was amazed at how technically sound my strokes were. Wow! that was quite a compliment. Of course, I told them that my coach gets the credit. I played 4 sets with different players and it was short coz each game was 8 pts with no advantage, which means if it's a deuce, they just pick whom to serve to and play it off. They had drop in today thus, my visit. This is what we call a club nite back home in Msia. And to prove this, I am attaching herewith my photo at the court. It's all hardcourt indoors, 10 of them and 4 outdoor courts. I played from 11am till about 1pm. They are all mostly 3.0-3.5 players and they rank me in the 3.5. Not too bad. But I can tell you it was hard adjusting to indoor lighting and the bounce but I think I did pretty ok for a start. They made lots of comments and tho I told them I am from Msia, they are speculating now that I could be from Singapore, from Thailand or even Indonesia. Hmmm.. I didn't bother correcting them.

But the people at the club was really friendly and they are probably just being nice to me coz I keep telling them to be gentle. My friend says I should stop being a sandbagger which means that I tell them I am not good but actually am. Frankly, I've never thot of myself as being good, just average. And then I had problems with my 1st serve and then I started recalling all those pep talks Danny gives me and voila, the next time I served, it was an ace, hahaha. I think it's more of a fluke shot.

After tennis and lunch, left Belinda's house at 3.45pm and went straight to fetch Ed from work. Arrived at Avago at 4.35pm and came home in 20 mins only to find to our horror that the yard was flooded. Sam discovered it when we wanted to push our thrash bins inside the yard. Ok, panic, panic, panic. Whom shall I call? Omigosh, at times like this, I wished Ah Hai, my contractor was here. Anyway, 1st person I called was Allyson, our realtor. She asked me to call the plumbers on the list she gave me. I tried the 1st one and guess what? He's out playing golf. Then I asked from Allyson for the previous owner's number in case he can tell me where to shut the main valve so that water will stop flowing. Guess what? He doesn't know either coz he's never come across a leaking pipe before. Just our luck isn't it? Then I called the Water Dept which is City of San Jose and they are already off at 5pm but they gave me an emergency number and I called and they did despatch someone but guess what? He said he doesn't know where the leak is and suggest we call a plumber. Then, our new neighbor, Mark came along and asked if we're ok and we introduced ourselves (what a weird circumstance for us to have met like this). He was very nice and came over to help, getting wet while trying to find the source of the leak. He tried to shut the main valve but with no proper tools, it was difficult. He then suggest that we call our gardener, Hector coz he said he's 99% sure, the burst could be due to the landscaping work. I called Hector and he came by quickly but he said when he came in at 1pm today, there was no leakage. So, my guess is that it probably started leaking around 2-4pm. Since Hector said he cannot help, I tried the next plumber on Allyson's list and they were quick to respond and said they'll send someone over from Fremont, which is like another 30 mins from where we are and in peak hour traffic!!! Geez, when it rains, it pours doesn't it? So, what choice do I have? Gotta wait for plumber to come. Then, Hector started taking his hoe and dig coz he finally managed to turn off the main valve with a wrench from his truck. Finally, he found the problem, I quickly cancelled the plumber otherwise, it'll cost us $$. Apparently, the leak was due to the molding in one of the pvc pipes wearing off. He showed Ed the size of the pipe and off he went to Orchard Supply Hardware to buy the glue and pipes only to come home with the wrong size. The people at the store gave him the wrong ones in spite of him showing them the size, grrrr.... So, off he went again to change to the correct size. This time it was ok and Hector worked till 9pm and everything's now back to normal again, yay!

Finally can go take my bath. Gotta sign off here, very tired. Been a long day but in spite of all things, can still praise the Lord and count our blessings. I praise God that this leakage happened while Ed was around otherwise, I don't know what to do. I praise God that because of this leakage, I managed to get to know my neighbor, Mark. I praise God that because of this leak, I now know where the main water valve is located so, in future, I won't be so hapless anymore....

After that, headed home to Belinda's house and enjoy lunch there with her. She was very thotful and bought dungeness crab for me coz she knows I love them. Then got a tour of her cozy home which I loved very much and had 1st hand look at the deck that Belinda's husband, Ted was doing and it was really nice. Am sure it will be great when it's completed.