As I approach the final day of my one-week holiday, I thought it's a good time to write a short blog entry... It's a very unusual holiday... Because normally after a holiday I'll be at least semi-recharged mentally + physically... But this time, it's kinda neither...

The originally planned one-week vacation at the Sunshine Coast turned out to be quite an eventful week in another sense...

• Grandma and uncle both got sick and were admitted to hospital... So the trip was cancelled.
• Instead of chilling out at the beach, it's driving to-and-from hospital everyday and helping out with chores at home. I find it as tiring and stressful as going to work... I even had to get up on most days at 6am just like workdays!
  
• On the brighter side of things, my FIRST home purchase is almost finalized! It's a long road starting from two months ago: from reading dummy book on personal finance + real estate investment, to researching online, to going to open houses, to getting a real estate agent, to negotiating price of the place, to securing the financing, to all the paperwork, etc. etc. I NEVER thought it'd be so much work... I think it's quite an accomplishment even tho I just got myself into a HUGE debt. 
• Spent two days touring furniture stores in Vancouver... Again I never knew it's so hard to find pieces of furniture that match the "dream" image of my house... Haha, I don't even know what that 'dream' is... I guess it'll take a lot more work.

So overall it's been a tiring and stressful week... I'm just not as happy as I thought I'd be when I get my first home... Maybe the worries of grandma + uncle is just covering up all the excitement of the new home... Maybe when they're recovered and when I finally get the keys to the home in mid-August, I'll write a MUCH happier blog entry...

But for now, I'm kinda glad that I'll be going back to work on Monday... coz it'd SEEM life is somewhat back to 'normal'... even tho I still long for a truly relaxing holiday very badly...

Been some time since my last post again... I guess that meant either nothing special happened or I've been too busy to blog... I guess it's a bit of both... Regular readers know I tend to blog when I'm at the library "skipping out" from work...  I guess I'll leave that to your interpretation

Nothing really special to blog about... But I'm getting a bit bored from replying work e-mails and doing work stuff when I don't have access to most of the required stuff... So here are some random updates since the last blog entry:

1. DSi - That was the most exciting thing recently Traded in my old DS Lite for the latest DSi... I wasn't really buying into its new functionalities when it was first announced... cameras on a game console seems gimmicky... downloadable content (DSiWare) has potential but there's nothing that interest me yet.. built-in web browser is nice but I bought the extra plug-in browser before... SO I wasn't going to buy it, but a pretty good deal came along (trade-in old DS lite and add $100) for the new DSi. That was enough to bait me into the upgrade. Altho never groundbreaking yet, I'm pretty happy with it so far (bigger + brighter screens).

2. Playoff fever - It's been VERY busy in the sport scene lately.. NBA and NHL playoffs... Our TV is so busy that we keep switching channels to try catch all the games AND regular tv series every night... I guess it's nice, it gives you something to look forward to every morning (haha, go home and watch the game after work). Too bad Canucks lost to the Hawks... My brother said it seems like the city suddenly went quiet and grey after Canucks lost... Oh well, good thing Penguin won, so at least I can still watch Crosby

3. Visits - Cousin came from HK to visit a few weeks ago... We also had a work team meeting here last week (for a change ) It's nice to hang out with relatives and colleagues. In both instances the question came up: what do Vancouerites do in their spare time? Given what I did with them while they're here.... I think the answer is: EAT, EAT, and EAT.

4. Work - Work is coming along... I think we've made some good progress in the last little while. I'll quote what I said in the team meeting: "Before I'll think to myself, if I get hit by a bus, I don't want to be known as the last person who touched the code for our component"... Yes, I was THAT ashamed of it... And I probably only understood about 25% of the code that I'm supposed to know inside-out... After the recent work, I'm more at ease with it... I probably know about 60% now, and I'll feel OK if that's the legacy I leave behind... Certainly NOT proud of it yet (still have a VERY long way to go), but I won't be ashamed. So I consider that good progress! There will be some brand-new work starting soon, so I'm excited for it altho it normally means LOTS of document writing (requirements, design, etc.)

Wow, that guy over there, he's using a library computer to play video games! I mean not the online kinds, he literally rebooted the computer and loaded his game on start-up and play it with a joystick!! Hm, makes me think about what I'm doing now... I should get back to doing some work (altho I'm on day-off) to make myself feel productive. Altho who is to say writing blog to "talk" to you guys isn't productive?

Haven't had time to blog for a while. But today is a day-off and I finally got my home internet fixed, so I thought it's a good time to share some random pictures from the last few months. So here they are: http://picasaweb.google.ca/wwyyuen/RandomPicsDec08ToMar09

Also wanted to take this chance to thank everyone for their b-day wishes/dinner/presents. (To those who sent your greeting through e-mail but I still haven't responded yet, I promise I'll get to them eventually  ) You always make me feel special around my birthday, and the older I grow, the more I get humbled by all these love. Thanks God for His blessings!

Wow, who could have believed that the Canucks would go on a 4-game winning streak!?

I came across a miniature Canucks jersey on the weekend and thought it'll suit my moose very well. It took a little bit of tailoring but it turns out very cool! So here's the new fan-club at home on Canucks game nights.

I find myself with 20 mins to spare tonight and decided to write a blog entry... And then I realized it's been 2 months since my last post! For whatever strange reason, it seems like I have a higher chance of blogging when I'm in a "not-so-good" mood... Haha, maybe it's just one of my ways of "venting"...

It's been a very "interesting" two weeks, both at work and at home. Hmm, don't really know what "stories" I want to tell here, so you'll have to excuse my random point forms.

Home:

• Grandma had a fall 2 weeks ago and it's severely limited her mobility AND her mood. And all of a sudden it seems like she has Alzheimer's... And that's still waiting for specialist's assessment...
• We went to emergency a few times for that... And I realize just how much I hate going in and out of hospital (although I was pretty confident there's nothing seriously wrong with her physically...) I guess I just don't like to be reminded of all the memories with mom's and dad's incidents the past few years...
• Suddenly it just put everyone in the family in "bad" mood... because grandma doesn't want to do anything but sleep and everyone gets so worried... Even when it's Chinese New Year period and with so many relatives in town (partly because of grandma), and they act all festive and stuff during dinner, I just can't help but kinda "see through" them...  It's just a weird feeling to have during the biggest festival of the year...
• Fortunately, some helper/nurse has been coming to take care of grandma the past few days. And that seems to relieve everyone's stress a bit. Hopefully everything will only get better from now on.

Work:

• Hmm, always difficult to talk about work stuff on the blog... Hard to express my feelings without revealing too much fine details...It's just been a stressful 2 weeks...
  
• Last week I suddenly realized I've been working on the same issue for the past 7 months!! Hm, I guess that 'realization' hurts... because I would have thought it'll be over by now... While I can appreciate the complexity of the issue, sometimes you just have to question... is it I'm the one that's stupid and so nobody understood what I'm trying to do? At one point, I said openly in a meeting "I don't want to deal with this issue ever again when it's done...." The frustration... I bet it surprised many of my colleagues. Haha, it even surprised myself... ANYWAY, it seems to be FINALLY wrapping up soon... I REALLY hope it doesn't come back to haunt us again...
• Speaking of "haunting"... I did a framework migration work maybe 1.5 yrs ago now... It was a VERY difficult task due to various reasons that were out of my control... I did the best job I possibly could, knowing the result was going to be far from satisfactory... Haha, even then, it felt like a miracle when it finally worked... 1.5 yrs after, people are starting to notice the flaws... I offered to take the blame at the first instance I heard the 'complaint' because really, I know the kind of mess I did... But of course everyone says I shouldn't feel guilty because of all the constraints back then... I don't know... I know ppl are sincere and I know how hard I tried already... but still... MAYBE I could have done it just a little better? (Hmm, as I'm typing this I suddenly remember I promised myself to lower my own expectation... Haha, I guess always easier said than done...)
• Other stuff: office move... organization structure re-org... etc. Workplace just seems to get very political and complicated... 

Sigh, OK, there, enough venting... I guess that DOES make you feel better.

Most of you knew I went to Germany last month for work. I think most of you even saw the photos already... So, yes, this post is very very late but "better late than never" right?

It was a very interesting FIRST time to Europe. Lots of other first time actually...

• first time having to deal with foreign currency exchange
• first time going on business trip for 2 long weeks
• first time taking a transfer flight and being on a 9+ hours flight by myself
  
• first time being in a country where I don't understand their language at all
• first time giving a presentation to a relatively large group (50 ppl) for work
• first time drinking hot wine on the street
• ...

I think it's a really rare opportunity to travel so far away for work, especially in this kind of economy. I learned a lot during the training week and had some pretty eye-opening meetings. And although I didn't get a lot of time sightseeing (yes, I REALLY spent most of the time working, haha), it's still a very enjoyable trip. My only complain is travelling for so long was REALLY quite tiring... and I still can't recover from the tiredness even though I had no jet-lag problem at all...

Anyway, without further rambling on, here are the photos. Enjoy!  http://picasaweb.google.ca/wwyyuen/Germany_2008#

Haha, I'm very hard-working tonight to catch up on blogs... There are still a few things I want to talk about, but I guess I'll wait till next week. Until then, just wanted to wrap up October by posting some random pics.

From last week, very delicious afternoon tea with bro at Oakridge centre.


Hello Kitty jello that mom made. Took dad lots of work to get them out properly... And then it felt kinda cruel to actually eat them... But they're cute nonetheless



Finally some Halloween related photos!

Pumpkin Starbucks bears

Pooh ghost for $2 "egg machine"!

Waited half a year to use up my b-day present... BUT IT'S WELL WORTH THE WAIT!!  I've waited 3 years for the Video Games Live to come to Vancouver! For gamers (and especially those who have an appreciation for music), don't miss this how if it comes to your town!



Line-up outside the Orpheum Theatre. It's a very strange feeling to stand there among the young ppl dressed in casual wear (video game theme wear). Not because I was dressed formally (in fact I chose a Nintendo t-shirt on purpose too ), but because the last time I was at Orpheum was for my high school convocation. It's a VERY different atmosphere, but I enjoyed both of them!


Inside the lobby.. You can vaguely see a person dressed in a Link costume (from the Zelda video game). It's very interesting to watch these video games character pass by... and even the people that weren't in costumes were mostly wearing video game branded clothes or accessories.


There were booths set up.. for Nintendo... Sony.. EA Sports, etc... And of course the one I liked the most was the Nintendo one altho I already have the games they were showing. People seem to have so much fun playing Wii Fit and Mario Kart


Inside the theatre


Here's the stage. Very cool!


Participants of the costume contest

And then the show started and I didn't have time to take photos It's a very good show with a combination of orchestra, choir, light effects, and videos. I can't say the quality of the music was the best (in fact, I still think the Chan Centre is much more suitable for orchestral music than the Orpheum), but even then the show was GREAT! People were very enthusiastic, especially for the sessions with Zelda and Mario music. There were also some games that I wasn't too familiar: Halo, Final Fantasy, God of War, etc. but from a purely artistic perspective, the video and music combination just can't be any better! It's also a very interactive concert: in one part, the night's Guitar Hero companion (a 14-year old kid!!) went on stage and played Guitar Hero while the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra accompanied him. He was SOOOO good! Finally, during the encore period, we all "sang" the Mario theme song together.. That moment was very touching and memorable! I can't ask for a better b-day present!

Finally here's my souvenier to help bring back the memories in the future!

Went to Harrison Hot Springs for a few days with 'little kid' about 2 weeks ago. I can still VAGUELY remember myself desperately awaiting that holiday before the trip! The trip was great (although it could have been nicer if the person upstairs in our hotel didn't wake us up early everyday.... ) Before the trip I wanted it to be a completely relaxing and "do nothing" kind of trip... Turns out we found plenty to occupy ourselves (haha, I guess that isn't all that surprising to ppl who know me ) If I have to describe the trip in two words, it'd be HARVEST MOON! I guess some of you don't know what Harvest Moon is..


It's a farming simulation video game (and I just bought the latest one too!). The objective is pretty simple... you farm everyday! It's a very relaxing in which you grow crops, fish, take care of your farm animals, etc.

Our trip felt a lot like it because Harrison Hot Springs is a very small community... With lots of farmland, trees, lakes, and rivers, etc. We went to a heritage farm and got very close to some very cute goats, cows, etc. We also visited LOTS of salmons at a salmon spawning creek. It's so amazing to see so many fishes!

Anyway, I'll let the photos describe the rest. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.ca/wwyyuen/OctoberGetaway2008

Yes, another blog from the library during the day... those who know me well will know that means I'm taking my sick day again... (sick DAYS to be accurate since this is actually the second day in a row...) And yes, those same ppl would probably have guessed it's the same old problem... headaches... OK, enough about WHY I'm writing this... (yes, basically just because I have some time to kill )

My mind isn't very coherent the past 2 days, so bear with my random thoughts...

1) Bible reading - some of you may remember I started reading the "Bible in One Year" book last year. Amazingly enough I've kept to the schedule and FINALLY finished reading the bible from cover to cover once! I'm happy about this HUGE milestone, but at the same time, I'm also somewhat ashamed to say that I've only read thru it ONCE after considering myself a Christian for so many years... In any case, I think it's a good first step.  With God's blessing, the next step will be to read thru more slowly and spend more time to reflect/understand the details.

2) Property ownership - I now officially OWN my Mazda3! Days of using half my monthly salary to pay off debt is finally over! It feels good to be 'free' so I can start to seriously consider the next BIG purchase... A HOUSE!?

People always say it's too early to buy a house since we don't really need one... As far as I'm concerned... you need one in your lifetime anyway so you may as well start paying it off early... Haha, 'little kid' and I have been dreaming about it for a while already.. so it's about time to take some action... I borrowed a book from the library called "Personal finance for Canadian for Dummies" to learn a bit more about money management to prepare for the BIG purchase... I REALLY hope this will happen soon... but the thing is I still haven't really started reading the book.... time.. time.. time... you can never have enough...

3) Stressful work - I must admit I never knew a government job could get stressful... Yes I was a co-op before, but back then I was VERY protected... I guess it really isn't about the job, it's more about your attitude towards your job... I thought I've become less and less of a perfectionist throughout the yrs, but maybe I'm still treating things too seriously... Pushing myself too hard...

I guess sometimes you try to cover ALL the bases too well, try to help solve EVERYONE's problem, then eventually the only problems left are all on your own plate... ANYWAY... I'm not really trying to complain about my job or my team or anything... coz honestly they're all good (haha, not saying this because any one of them will read my blog.. coz I doubt it... but honestly even tho the organization has its problems, I don't think I can find any better colleagues anywhere else...) The bottomline is I just have to learn to 'let go' of some 'unreasonable' expectations on myself...

If I've learned one thing the past few yrs, it's that sometimes treating yourself well may not seem the best for the organization at the moment, but in the long run a 'better' you (physically, emotionally, etc.) is what makes a difference. Haha, yes, I've learned, I just need to try to put that into practice... And my latest attempt? I've submitted my one-week vacation request just a few hrs ago!! Desperately looking forward to it...


I think that pretty much sums up my last few months... Oh, and just one more hr till time to go home! I think I really can't stand another day of doing nothing even with this stupid headache and stuff... I'm determined to go to work tmr... Wish me luck!