Christmas at Texas

Went to Dallas for Christmas, visiting my uncle, cousins, nieces and nephews.
I lived like a single-cell animal over the entire 5-day visit, all I did was just sleep, eat and poo. Conversations were nothing brain storming.

We didn't visit any places during that time, only stayed at home. Kids were stucked with the Wii and Xbox. You can't say kids don't get enough exercises these days, the games made them jump and wave.

I went to the church on the Christmas eve, nothing exciting, just seeing parents bringing their kids, all dressed up pretty, singing and praying. The traffic was bad, because everyone is driving, and the cars are big in Texas.... in fact, everything is big in Texas, from house to road to airport. My flight taxied on the runway for 30 minutes to reach to the designated gate! Despite the speed of the aircraft while taxing, you have to imagine the space the aircraft took during that time... yes, it is Dallas Fort Worth.

Anyway, back to Kansas now, and started packing my stuff to return to Malaysia for good.

I am collecting the 25cents coin, with all the 50 states... but I am still 31 states short...

I have been buying fridge magnets since the visit to Washington DC, I would like to build a huge map in my house in the future, with steel behind that map, so that I could stick these magnents on the places I have visited.

I haven't got any from Kansas and Missouri though. And I also didn't get any from UK, India etc... those places I have visited in the past. Anyway, I guess it would take me the entire life time to complete the map quest.

San Francisco

Went to San Francisco to witness the seismic test done on one of our products. It passed the requirement successfully.

So spent the rest of the weekend wandering around San Francisco. Went to Sausalito to enjoy the quietness of the town. It is a very calm and quiet town, the rain washed the town well, the colour was vivid in that town.

There were lots of small shops along the harbour. I bought a brooch that was made out of recycled materials.


I didn't know that place well, but I walked around without refering to the GPS, and enjoyed getting lost in those curvy steep stairs, looking at their individualistic house design, walking the rain, and indulged myself in the serenity -- there was hardly any noise in the entire town. Bach's sleeper's awake best described what I felt that day.

I came across this log by the pier. I love its grain.

How much history does the tree has, in order to grow such stunning grain? So does our lives...

I spent the next day walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a pilgrimage for engineers to walk on that bridge, admiring every single details of that bridge.

San Francisco has many bridges, each has its own uniqueness. But Golden Gate Bridge was outstanding because it is simple yet strong. It felt like a midwest American with simple blue jeans and cowboy boots, holding two pretty ladies with princess lacy dresses -- the Sausalito and San Francisco on both his arms.


The bridge was also like the blush for the bay, it compliments the natural beauty without standing out. This is truly a gentleman among the bridges.

Looking at the straight lines formed by the rivets, each with uniform size, it shows you how discipline the project crew was.



The bridge was built about 80 years ago, when there weren't too many heavy and high-tech machineries to help with the constructions. But these people pulled these cables and steels inch by inch, built the entire bridge. It is more than just the technical feasibility to build that bridge, but the determination of the people that moved generations after generations.

I saw the cable shaking in the wind, the cable was about 3 inches diameter, tensioned properly. Bridge as strong as the Golden Gate, yet is still humble and vulnerable when faced the force of nature.

A walk from end to end of the Golden Gate Bridge, though not long, but worth more than visiting many museums and shopping malls. The story I learned from San Francisco's trip is: It is impossible to cover the beauty of life and nature. Just like the colourful log, and the Golden Gate Bridge. It all take time to sink in.

First snow

First snow visited today, it is unlike the snow I have seen before. It is still snowing now, in fact it is getting heavier.



The snow is like sands, except it is white. It snakes across the streets, just like how the sands move in the Australian deserts.

Went for Chronicles of Narnia just now, and a really good dinner with my friends. I enjoyed walking in the winter night, despite the weather. That is because the temperature is so low, the lights on the streets forms a hue around itself, it is distorted because of the temperature. It looks magical.

As I arrived home just now, I stood outside for a while, and took this picture. It didn't show you much of the snow, but I felt as if I am living in the Prince of Persia's chornicle.

I used to see snow as goose feathers, as stone hard rocks, but I like this sandy snow the best. It sparkles in the dark.

The snow flew all over, tiny tiny crystles of snow, really looks like the caster sugar, or soft sands. It sprinkled all over me, even to my apartment door (on a second floor!) The wind blew so hard, as if all the things that happened this year would be blown away. It is really like the sands of time.

It reminded me of the North wind we had every year end in UK, it blew so hard acros the trees, that it makes a sound that resembles the ocean waves.

North wind comes every year end, I think it visited to help people sweeping away the things they clung on for the year. Reminding people it is time to let go, clear your sack, and fill it up with new memories and experiences in the coming year.

Performance Review Tips

It is the end of the year, and many of us are having our year end performance review, and perhaps some would have meetings for 2011 plans. So, I thought these tips would come handy.

Let
A, B, C, D, E, F = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
G, H, I, J, K, L = 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
M, N, O, P, Q, R = 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z = 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 percentage.

We all know that K N O W L E D G E = 11 + 14 + 15 + 23 + 12 + 5 + 4 + 7 + 5 = 96%
We also know that H A R D W O R K = 8 + 1 + 18 + 4 + 23 + 15 + 18 + 11 = 98
We even know that A T T I T U D E = 1 + 20 + 20 + 9 + 20 + 21 + 4 + 5 = 100

So, it is generally accepted that knowledge and hardwork would bring you close, but it is the attitude that brings you there.

Let's look at some of the other qualities:
B U L L S H I T = 2 + 21 + 12 + 12 + 19 + 8 + 9 + 20 = 103

So, knowing how to bullshit actually brings you over the top! But this trick could be seen through by someone who has
E X P E R I E N C E = 5 + 24 + 16 + 5 + 18 + 9 + 5 + 14 + 3 + 5 = 104

What about those who are good in
A S S K I S S I N G = 1 + 19 + 19 + 11 + 9 + 19 + 19 + 9 + 14 + 7 = 127
!!!

So, next time if you were asked to perform give more than 100%, you know what you need to do.