Thursday, July 13, 2006

Customs in Beemers

The member of parliament, I decided not to rant about below, now wants to know why the Customs officers should use confiscated BMW's as pursuit cars, when the Police get around in Protons and Kancils.

I guess he wants to buy those Beemers as well, since he didn't get to buy the CLK he wanted. The customs clarified that he was offered an E-class instead of the CLK, but he replied that his wife already drove an E-class so why should he get another one.

Bye Dianne

I discovered yesterday that a good friend of mine from Hong Kong had passed away about a year ago. Thats what happens when you randomly google names of people you know.

I first met Dianne in 1995 during a dive trip in the Philippines. We had just met and not really talked until the boat stalled. So there we were in the middle of the night, in darkness, in the middle of Batangas Bay, talking to each other for the next few hours while they fixed the boat.

She was one of those people I just got along with even though we had different ages,backgrounds, philosphies and political leanings. We shared a love of the ocean and were both phlegmatic, so we were laid back enough to get along. She would bring me to these organic cafes for lunch, and we talked like we had known each other all our lives. Being a fitness trainer, she was stronger than me and joked that she could kick my butt.

And I believed her. :D

She was honest, cool, caring, straight forward, very real and a no BS person. She once described me as being simple with no hidden agenda.

Here's the obituary:

Coogias, Dianne 52, of Lincoln, CA, formerly of Medina, MN died Friday April 29, 2005 after a 4-month battle with recurring ovarian cancer. Survived by beloved life partner of 13 years Joy Vogelgesang, mother Frances Coogias and sister Inge Brewer. Dianne lived in Boston, Albuquerque, Hong Kong, Medina, MN and most recently, Lincoln, CA. She had successful careers as a business owner, personal fitness trainer, and most recently dedicated herself to improving the health and welfare of horses through specialized barefoot hoof trimming. Dianne was totally focused and committed to improving the life of today's horses towards a more natural living environment. Memorials to your local horse rescue or local ASPCA.
Published in the Star Tribune on 5/8/2005.

Goodbye Dianne. Sorry we won't be going to Layang-Layang together.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Even as I wrestle with life issues......

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Philippians 1:6

Thursday, July 06, 2006

I thought of posting a rant

I've been thinking whether or not to post a rant about a certain member of parliament whose public antics has been bugging me.
You know, the one when confronted about having side businesses, told the newspapers, "Why? I can't do business?" Never-mind, that the company in question was charged for smuggling pirated discs to a neighbouring country last year, or that he asked the customs to close one eye to timber imports being handled by the company. Or that he failed to initially mention that said company belonged to him.

Yes, the very one who has been whining in parliament that the customs won't let him buy his Mercedes of choice cheaply, from the customs impound lot, because someone else had put in a bid before him.

The very one whose constituents are probably wondering why their YB is running around doing his own thing instead of taking care of them.

Yeah, but I decided that its not worth ranting about this guy.

Monday, July 03, 2006

The weekend

Hey all,

Hope you all had a good weekend.

I spent the weekend in KL. One of those 'free' Air Asia tickets I bought last year during their promo. Of course its 'free' as in doesn't include airport tax and fuel surcharge, which comes to RM80. Which is better than the RM800 that MAS charges for KK-KL flights.

I got to catch up with lots of people this weekend, which was good.

There have been weekends in KL where everyone's busy and I end up wandering the malls alone. Not that I mind, since I melancholic.

I went for church at SIBKL's new church building. Very nice main sanctuary. A bit overwhelming when you're used to the old place. Not that its bad, but I've always known it to be a smaller place. Suddenly we're in mega church territory. The building and systems and people are still being sorted out and getting used to the place, but I think it'll be good.

I've got this mega infection on my right thumb. Saturday I noticed an insect bite or something on my left thumb which had liquid coming out and the thumb was getting swollen. I cleaned it and put antibiotic cream on it. Sunday morning found the swelling had spread and there was now pus. Yeah. I decided against posting pics of this.

I can see the infection had spread up my arm with red swelling and decided I had to go see a doctor pronto. After church I stopped by the 24 hr clinic since it was a Sunday. The doc had the clinic assistant clean the wound, but there wasn't much pus since it wasn't 'ripe' yet. Anyways, after that I only get antihistamine and something for the swelling. I'm like, 'hello? you don't see the fact that thumb and forearm are swelling and red? Where's the antibiotics?

Anyway, I'm back in KK. Got a second opinion from a doc and broke out the antibiotics from my 'Stranded in the middle of the jungle or island in the middle of no where' medical kit. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow. Since I have to take a table every 8 hours.

G'night all.

Update:
The thumb is now much better. Thanks for your concern. Augmentin is wonderful stuff, even if it costs $$.