And the moral of this story is...

...if something is on fire, don't stand close enough to get burned!

Yesterday I was driving home after a rather long meeting.  I was anxious to get back to Nilai to pick up Trip so that we could get home.  I was trying to hurry but got stuck in the beginnings of rush hour traffic, so it took me 20 minutes to drive 2 blocks to get onto the highway.  When I finally got on the highway, I was feeling totally irritated at all the lame drivers who don't know how to merge properly and caused the jam in the first place.  Well, as I was thinking my negative thoughts I started to notice that a lot of people seemed to be broken down on the side of the road.  I passed a big truck pulled over with a repair man looking at the engine.  I also passed a minivan that had pulled over and just flagged down someone to help.

Then I noticed a column of smoke coming from traffic going in the opposite direction.  I managed to see a sedan with its engine engulfed in flames.  I have never seen so much fire coming from a car before.  The most interesting part was that, in the couple of seconds I had to see this before turning my attention back to the road in front of me, I saw a little crowd of people standing near the burning car.  They were clustered around it and standing much closer than I would have.  I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the gas tank caught on fire and the car exploded with all those people standing right there...sometimes I have to question the intelligence of people.

Long Weekend

Chinese New Year is this weekend which means that we get 2 days off work.  With a four day weekend at hand, we are going on a road trip to Penang (an island off of the northern part of Malaysia).  I hear the food there is amazing and there are lots of relaxing/ touristy places to go, things to do and see.  Our good friend Reta is going to pet-sit Jack and Tigger for us.  With nothing to worry about at home, this weekend is going to be just what we needed.  We will upload pictures, videos, and let you know how it was when we get back.

Well hello there lil' blog post...

... it has been way too long since we spent some time together. Here is a quick update on me since the Holidays. 

Christmas was pretty cool. I missed being home with family, but Kim and I had a great time together and spent time with our KL "family", which is always nice.


Jack and Tigger are out here with us! Having them in our home is awesome. My dad was right that they are a major source of stress relief for me, especially after coming home from a day of class followed by teaching my own students for an hour or two.  Jack seems to be adjusting quite well to the heat. Tigger is having a bit harder time, as she is not allowed to go outside here, since the local cats are straight-up grizzled brawlers and there is no way that Tigger could defend herself. 

My masters classes started the week after New Years and we have been moving along at a pretty good clip.  I am really enjoying the courses this time around.  Two out of the three classes are basically review of courses that I took at Neumont University, the difference is that I am actually doing the readings, studying hard, and paying attention in class.  The result is that I am really getting this stuff.  

I am beginning to seriously consider pursuing a career in information modeling after graduation, which was definitely not something I would have thought possible based on my affinity for the discipline while I was in undergrad. The original plan was to go into business analysis, which would be fun, but isn't nearly as challenging.  Time will tell...

The other class that I am teaching is a tutorial or lab for a degree level project management class. Degree level is basically the same thing as a four year college degree in the States. That class is a lot less interesting. At one point in my life, project management was interesting and exciting, but I think I have out grown it. I just don't get excited by creating Gantt charts or assigning tasks to resources, etc. Oh well... it isn't hard and the students are still really good. 

Hopefully it won't be so long before I post again.

Cheers!

The Art of War

"They're back."

"What?!  Where?"

"There's one over by the eggs and a couple on the counter."

"You've got to be kidding me...there's nothing for them to get into...I don't understand..."

This is a fairly typical conversation between Trip and I on any given day.  You see, I am waging a silent war with ants.  Yes, that's right...ants.  They appeared a few weeks after we moved in.  No matter how clean the kitchen is or how well sealed our food is, ants can almost always be found roaming our kitchen or some other part of the house.  I have bleached the counters, put everything in air tight containers, but to no avail.  Even the ant poison that worked so well in Salt Lake was neatly side stepped by these little Malaysian warriors.  These ants are fighters.  Much to my dismay, they will not accept defeat.  I have been told that ants are just a part of life in Malaysia, and we have noticed that they can be found just about everywhere.  Everyone deals with them differently (some people just stop noticing them), but I am tired of 'dealing' with them.  Even Trip, who was adamant about their defeat at the beginning has started ignoring them.  Not me, though.  I want them gone; I am out for ant carnage.  I am changing tactics and will give updates on the progression of this war.