Work has been crazy! The two bosses seem to be playing ping pong with various illnesses these past couple of weeks and it doesn't look like its stopping. I already work the mandatory 24 hour shift of all mothers but I feel like I've been putting in some overtime on top of that. I just hope their little germs don't start invading me as well.
So, I think blogging will have to wait until we're back in Brisbane and I can cut back on all this overtime. Take care everyone.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Fishy Exfoliation
It was three years ago that I first heard about a Fish Spa. This was in one of the malls in Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, I didn't get to try it out back then and thought no more of it until last week.
Over the past three years, I think Fish Spas must have gone through a hype period and then a lot of bad publicity surrounding hygiene and the risks involved with having your dead skin removed by these fish. Well, I missed it all. Never came across the news.
We went to Penang over the weekend and I saw that there was a Fish Spa there. I had to try it!
I did have some concern over getting some sort of disease from the water but the tanks looked clear, they claimed to change the water daily and had a UV light there to kill bacteria. In addition, everyone had to thoroughly wash their legs with and enzyme before putting their feet in the tanks. My enthusiasm to try it might have biased my judgment a tiny bit so thankfully things worked out ok.
Once again, my enthusiasm made me stick both feet in without even thinking or preparing myself mentally and the result was me letting out a loud scream and pulling my feet out immediately. The fish had made a rush for the huge buffet I was serving and it felt like ten tiny fingers suddenly tickling underneath your feet. It doesn't hurt at all, just tickles like crazy.
Once I calmed down and had my giggling under control, we got this photo:
My verdict is that these little guys gave my feet a better cleaning than the pedicure I had a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun for the whole family and the continuous laughing was an effective de-stresser. Would I do it again? I don't know. I would really like to but I am a little more paranoid about the hygiene now that I've gone and done more reading on it.
Over the past three years, I think Fish Spas must have gone through a hype period and then a lot of bad publicity surrounding hygiene and the risks involved with having your dead skin removed by these fish. Well, I missed it all. Never came across the news.
We went to Penang over the weekend and I saw that there was a Fish Spa there. I had to try it!
I did have some concern over getting some sort of disease from the water but the tanks looked clear, they claimed to change the water daily and had a UV light there to kill bacteria. In addition, everyone had to thoroughly wash their legs with and enzyme before putting their feet in the tanks. My enthusiasm to try it might have biased my judgment a tiny bit so thankfully things worked out ok.
Once again, my enthusiasm made me stick both feet in without even thinking or preparing myself mentally and the result was me letting out a loud scream and pulling my feet out immediately. The fish had made a rush for the huge buffet I was serving and it felt like ten tiny fingers suddenly tickling underneath your feet. It doesn't hurt at all, just tickles like crazy.
Once I calmed down and had my giggling under control, we got this photo:
My verdict is that these little guys gave my feet a better cleaning than the pedicure I had a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun for the whole family and the continuous laughing was an effective de-stresser. Would I do it again? I don't know. I would really like to but I am a little more paranoid about the hygiene now that I've gone and done more reading on it.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Items From A Different Life
Six years ago, Richard and I left our jobs at Intel in Penang. We boxed all our belongings from the apartment and have kept them here in my parent's Ipoh home. Many of the boxes have remained unopened until now. Its finally time to decide what we can keep and what we really should throw out.
I came across this messy looking bag:
These were the final items I had in my cubicle on my last day of work. It almost looks like I just dumped everything into the bag without really looking. I can see that some of the items had some sort of sentimental value at the time but others are ..... odd.
There are the souvenirs from Costa Rica and San Francisco. The little FCPGA and OLGA things are my 'inventions' from my first job at Intel. You can also see a few dummy substrates and rejects because I just couldn't chuck them out. If you look carefully, there is a clear stamp there. Its of my name and I used that because I was in charge of approving visitors to the production floor. It used to be a pain-in-the-behind extra job that I had to do at the end of every work day - wade through a pile of applications and stamp my name on those that had a valid enough reason to visit the factory.
The usual items like highlighters, hairbrush, earphones name tag, badges and other stationary are expected.
And then there are the odd items: A fork from the Intel canteen. A spoon from some takeaway packet. And two packets of the free 3 in 1 tea that we were given each day.
I can't imagine what I was thinking when I decided to sweep all those items into the plastic bag!
So am I throwing these things out? Part of it - I'm keeping the souvenirs.
Looking through all our old things brought back lots of fun memories. Even the memories of all the late night and early morning phone meetings we had to participate in at Intel seem fun in hindsight. Its strange how unpleasant experiences that occurred alongside positive ones seem to have their unpleasantness fade but the positive ones get remembered in an exaggerated way.
I almost wish I had stayed on in the workforce but that would mean wouldn't be "enjoying" all this slavery for my kids now. LOL! One day, I'll go find a job where I can work for myself.
I came across this messy looking bag:
These were the final items I had in my cubicle on my last day of work. It almost looks like I just dumped everything into the bag without really looking. I can see that some of the items had some sort of sentimental value at the time but others are ..... odd.
There are the souvenirs from Costa Rica and San Francisco. The little FCPGA and OLGA things are my 'inventions' from my first job at Intel. You can also see a few dummy substrates and rejects because I just couldn't chuck them out. If you look carefully, there is a clear stamp there. Its of my name and I used that because I was in charge of approving visitors to the production floor. It used to be a pain-in-the-behind extra job that I had to do at the end of every work day - wade through a pile of applications and stamp my name on those that had a valid enough reason to visit the factory.
The usual items like highlighters, hairbrush, earphones name tag, badges and other stationary are expected.
And then there are the odd items: A fork from the Intel canteen. A spoon from some takeaway packet. And two packets of the free 3 in 1 tea that we were given each day.
I can't imagine what I was thinking when I decided to sweep all those items into the plastic bag!
So am I throwing these things out? Part of it - I'm keeping the souvenirs.
Looking through all our old things brought back lots of fun memories. Even the memories of all the late night and early morning phone meetings we had to participate in at Intel seem fun in hindsight. Its strange how unpleasant experiences that occurred alongside positive ones seem to have their unpleasantness fade but the positive ones get remembered in an exaggerated way.
I almost wish I had stayed on in the workforce but that would mean wouldn't be "enjoying" all this slavery for my kids now. LOL! One day, I'll go find a job where I can work for myself.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
First Three Stitches
Its been one of those hot, muggy days here in Ipoh. The kind of day that makes me lethargic. Unfortunately, there was no lounging around enjoying a fresh coconut though. We have had some excitement in this household today.
Adrian was playing on the floor next to me this morning while I paid some bills on the internet. He played quietly with his toys and seemed contented. I looked at him one minute and things were normal. After I finished with the bills, I looked down and there was blood all over his face and hands. BUT, he was still playing quietly and contentedly!
My first instinct was to check his mouth thinking that he had chewed on something sharp. Not the problem. Nosebleed? No. The blood was everywhere but we finally figured out that it was from a cut on his index finger. We tried cleaning it up, applying pressure, putting a cold compress on but it just kept bleeding.
So, off we rushed to his pediatrician. He checked it out and it appeared that Adrian had somehow nicked a blood vessel or an artery or something and he would need stitches. For this, he recommended we take Adrian to a plastic surgeon because he would be better with tiny stitches. Off we rushed again in the hot sun.
About 30 mins after I looked down to see all the blood, two nurses were pinning him down and the plastic surgeon was doing his work, leaving three stitches on my baby's tiny finger. The screams were heart wrenching! The poor little guy is only 6 months old.
The only dressing the wound received was a simple band aid over the stitches and we have been having a horribly hard time keeping it on. Adrian has bitten it off 4 times this afternoon and each time he does it, we need to hold him down, dab on a little antiseptic cream and then try to get the band aid over his finger again.
We tried putting a sock over his hand for awhile but he ended up sucking on it till it was all soggy.
So the latest thing we've tried is to pound up some leaves from the Neem tree and dabbing a bit of that bitter stuff on his finger. Lets hope it works.
Does anybody have any other ideas on how I can keep him from taking it off?
Adrian was playing on the floor next to me this morning while I paid some bills on the internet. He played quietly with his toys and seemed contented. I looked at him one minute and things were normal. After I finished with the bills, I looked down and there was blood all over his face and hands. BUT, he was still playing quietly and contentedly!
My first instinct was to check his mouth thinking that he had chewed on something sharp. Not the problem. Nosebleed? No. The blood was everywhere but we finally figured out that it was from a cut on his index finger. We tried cleaning it up, applying pressure, putting a cold compress on but it just kept bleeding.
So, off we rushed to his pediatrician. He checked it out and it appeared that Adrian had somehow nicked a blood vessel or an artery or something and he would need stitches. For this, he recommended we take Adrian to a plastic surgeon because he would be better with tiny stitches. Off we rushed again in the hot sun.
About 30 mins after I looked down to see all the blood, two nurses were pinning him down and the plastic surgeon was doing his work, leaving three stitches on my baby's tiny finger. The screams were heart wrenching! The poor little guy is only 6 months old.
The only dressing the wound received was a simple band aid over the stitches and we have been having a horribly hard time keeping it on. Adrian has bitten it off 4 times this afternoon and each time he does it, we need to hold him down, dab on a little antiseptic cream and then try to get the band aid over his finger again.
We tried putting a sock over his hand for awhile but he ended up sucking on it till it was all soggy.
So the latest thing we've tried is to pound up some leaves from the Neem tree and dabbing a bit of that bitter stuff on his finger. Lets hope it works.
Does anybody have any other ideas on how I can keep him from taking it off?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
My Bald-ish Babies
"WOW! Look at that hair!"
Thats what I heard a lot of when Aaron was born and also when Adrian was born. Actually, I still get that with Adrian if people are looking at him from the front. Its a different story from any other angle.
It supposedly didn't happen with me or my brother and none of my friends had babies that went bald but take a look at these two...
Aaron at around 6 months - Bald at the front and top.
And this is Adrian now - Bald at the back.
Bilbo once left a comment saying that if a man is bald in the front, he's a thinker. And if he's bald at the back, he's sexy. (And if he's bald all over, he thinks he's sexy!) I wonder if these bald babies are giving me a hint as to what I can expect from them in the future!
Thats what I heard a lot of when Aaron was born and also when Adrian was born. Actually, I still get that with Adrian if people are looking at him from the front. Its a different story from any other angle.
It supposedly didn't happen with me or my brother and none of my friends had babies that went bald but take a look at these two...
Aaron at around 6 months - Bald at the front and top.
And this is Adrian now - Bald at the back.
Bilbo once left a comment saying that if a man is bald in the front, he's a thinker. And if he's bald at the back, he's sexy. (And if he's bald all over, he thinks he's sexy!) I wonder if these bald babies are giving me a hint as to what I can expect from them in the future!
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