28 October 2009

Left San Jose on UA56 from SFO to EWR (Newark, New Jersey) and then connecting on AC7739 from EWR to YUL (Montreal). Flight was pretty good except from EWR to YUL when it got delayed for 30 mins as the incoming flight into Newark was delayed so, flights out was backed up.

We finally arrived into Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport around 11am. Hopped onto a shuttle bus that took us to Wyndham Hotel to collect our car rental from Payless Rent-A-Car. We rented a Toyota Corolla and headed for the city of Laval to Bois Papineau. This is about an hour's drive away and with the aid of the GPS, managed to find it. This is about the last place that still has some trees left with the fall colors intact on some trees. The rest is probably all bald from the wind and cold. By the way, I was frozen coz daytime temperature today was 3degC and this is not taking into consideration the wind chill yet.

Here's the pictures from Bois Papineau:



After the tour of the fall colors, we went for lunch at this Italian restaurant called Buongusto I and I had penne arabiatta, Sam had lasagne and Ed had rack of lamb. The food was so good but I couldn't finish it esp after I gorged myself on fried octopus all by myself. That was an entree dish and I thought it was a starter so, was 50% full already after that. Kinda regretted ordering the penne and I only managed to finish 15% of the food and had the rest to go. They packed it nicely and on the way out of the restaurant, realized that they didn't give me a disposable fork. So, I pusing balik to get the fork. Asked the waiter, "could you please give me a disposable fork?" And guess what, he heard. He gave me a phone. Said I could use that. I was confused. Now, what has a disposable fork gotta do with a phone. Obviously, he misheard me. I said again, "disposable fork." And he laughed. "Oh, ok, you wanted fork, not phone." I laughed as he opened the drawer and handed me the fork. Thanked him and was still laughing myself crazy on the way out. My English must've been really bad for him to mistook fork for phone. That was funny....

We then drove 3.5 hours to Quebec City. Staying at Courtyard Marriott. Here's Sam and me outside the hotel. Mind you, the temperature at that time was like 3degC and the wind was blowing hard at us. I think our smiles are transfixed on our face as everything exposed just grew numb.



We checked into the hotel. Quite a nice size room and the receptionist and valet person was kind. Booked our tour for tomorrow. Was supposed to do a walking tour together with a crew on St Lawrence River but turned out, the river tour has been canceled due to the cold.

In spite of the cold and wind, we managed to walk through the upper part of the city. It was really brrr...cold. The only part that was nice and warm was my body. The feet, the face, the hands (in spite of leather gloves and all), the head was all cold and grew numb.

Because of such a heavy lunch I had, was somewhat not hungry so, we went out looking for gelato instead. Must have been crazy to eat ice-cream in this darn cold place but what the heck, greediness rules for the night. Went into this cool gelato place and I had lychee gelato while Sam had apple and passion fruit. Eating it inside ain't as bad but walking out later was most regrettable as the teeth were chattering.

Now I understand why people who live in cold countries walk so fast coz Sam and me literally had to somewhat "walk-run" (if there is such a word) back to the hotel. Ah...nice and warm lobby.

Later part of the night, Ed had to go out to Subway nearby and bought some minestrone soup for the 2 of us coz we were so nice and warm inside the hotel, we decided not to go out to look for dinner anymore and gobbled down the leftover penne arabiatta shared amongst the 3 of us.

Checked my emails, wrote my blogs, uploaded my pics on FaceBook and yawn...time now to go to sleep. Good night...

19 October 2009

Today is the day of doing good coz I had to go buy King's eggroll for Sam's tennis team who was playing at Cuesta Park in Mountain View. Set out at 12.30pm to Story Road to buy the eggrolls. There was this vagrant sitting outside and he mumbled something to me which I couldn't comprehend so, I ignored him

Went in there and ordered the eggrolls and came out in 10 mins. And the vagrant wished me, "have a good day" which I replied automatically, "you too." As I was putting my eggrolls into the trunk of my car, dawned on me that this poor vagrant won't have much of a good day would he if he's tired and hungry. So, I close my trunk and walked up to him and asked him if he has eaten anything and he retort, "no, I haven't eaten. I was thinking of chow mein." So, I said to him, "Ok, let's go inside and get you some chow mein." And I asked him what size he wanted and he chose the quart over the pint and I ordered and paid for it and gave him chopsticks and forks and tell him to enjoy the food. His reply, "bless you sweetie." That was enough for me coz I know I have done something good today and that brought a smile to my face the rest of the day. Indeed, giving is so much more rewarding than receiving!

21 Oct 2009

Played my 2nd BALL match. This is an away game. Had to wake up early as had to leave the house by 7am to reach CSF by 8am for our carpool to Lafayette. This place is about 1h15m drive away. Carpooled with Taemi, Noriko, Sharon, Melanie and Colleen. We reached there in good time by 9am. Warmed up with Sharon and then, played #2 doubles partnering Melanie today.

Our opponents were Judy and Marjan from Lafayette Tennis Club. Marjan was a nice lady but with an attitude and nose so high in the air, it didn't augur too well for me. Made me want to put her in her place coz she struts around like she owns the court, look at us as if she can squash us easily. Bottomline is, I don't like her attitude at all. Told Melanie before the start of the game to whack and play offensive.

We started on time around 9.30am and won the 1st set 6-0. Marjan was pissed at one point when I hit a return of weak serve from her partner Judy and banged it straight at her. She gave me this look that tells me, "wait till I get my hands on you." I apologized, albeit reluctantly. She was also pissed at her partner Judy coz we kept attacking the weaker opponent and Judy kept losing points. At the end of the 1st set, Judy tried to calm Marjan down but Marjan gave Judy a cold shoulder and walked away without uttering a word. Talk about pressure!!! But Judy was cool as a cat, she just kept on smiling.

In the 2nd, they gave us a run for our money and though we won it 6-2, it wasn't as easy as the score suggests. Judy actually played a much better game and kept returning every shot and we made the errors ourselves. But, I think I played well and didn't falter at critical points and Melanie was able to put the ball away when I set it up nicely for her from the baseline. When we shook hands, I told Marjan that was a good game, meaning the 2nd set but she retort, "I don't think so." Well, so much for trying to strike up a conversation. I gave up trying to be nice to her after that. On our way out, Marjan saw her captain and as her captain was about the open her mouth to ask her the results, she quipped, "Oh, don't even go there. I don't want to talk about it. Don't ask about scores." And the captain shut up and didn't say anything after that. She must be another one of those kiasu player. Apparently she's a singles player than doubles. That explains her demeanor on court where she doesn't play as a team member. Also, told me that she hasn't played for a week. Wanted to tell her off, "excuses" but held my tongue coz I didn't want to start a fight, hehehe!

All's well that ends well coz the team won as a whole so, it was a worthwhile trip to drive so far for the match. Also Lafayette TC was the unbeaten team as they've played 3 matches and have won them all so far. Guess they just lost their bragging rights as we beat them, hehehe!

We all then went for lunch at Max's Diner. Shared an egg white omelet with Melanie. Food was so-so, nothing fanciful. After lunch, went to Marshalls to do some shopping but didn't buy anything coz not many XS sizes. Yay, saved some $$...

2, 3, 8 October 2009

After a whole week of being sick and having sleepless nights, finally had the courage to go see the doctor for a check up. Was referred to Dr Vo by Cecile, my BALL tennis captain. The physician is based at Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF).

Went there today for my scheduled appointment at 1.30pm. Dr Vo was a very friendly doctor and made me feel at ease. Asked a lot of questions pertaining to my health record and asked about my family health history too. Answered everything to the best of my knowledge.

After the routine Q&A, was told she wanted me to run some tests for the fatigue I complained about. Said she wanted me to come back on Sat, 3 Oct to run lipid profile (cholesterol), blood count, metabolic panel, TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and H pylori. I was asked to fast.

Went there on 3 Oct in the morning and results came back by Monday morning. Was told by the nurse I need to go back there 1 week later to run some more tests as my TSH level is low @ 0.27 uIU/ml.

Was worried sick that I needed long term medication for thyroid but heaved a sigh of relief when my results came back after my 2nd test on Oct 8 that my TSH level has normalized. Thus, no long or short term medication required, phew! Praise God...