The Office

If anyone hasn't yet seen 'The Office' on Thursday nights, you are missing one of the best sitcoms in the last few years. Maybe it's because I've worked in that sort of environment, but the comedy is brilliant. If anyone needs to get caught up on the last two seasons, I've got the DVDs and would gladly hook you up.

Colleen (my big sister and big Will Farrell fan), you will love this one.

Energy Saving Tips

I picked up the Arpil 9th issue of Time magazine at an airport and read an interesting article on global warming. There is a great deal of debate around the topic and whether it is being caused by increased abuse of the planet by humans or simply a cycle of the earth's life (remember that we were in an ice age not so long ago - in relation to the earth's history).

I don't have an opinion either way, although I suppose I could form one with some more research on the issue. However, the article was paired with another piece titled 51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment. While the debate on the causes of global warming will continue, it cannot be argued that we are much too hard on the planet and need to start thinking a bit more creatively about ways we can lessen our personal impact on the planet. While few will ever be considered fully eco-friendly, we should all aspire to make smarter decisions on a daily basis. Here are the tips (some obvious, others a little more creative) that jumped out to me when reading the article. Feel free to read the entire article to see if anything else jumps out at you.

#3 Change Your Lightbulbs
#7 Hang Up a Clothes Line
#11 Take Another Look at Vintage Clothes
#14 Ride the Bus
#16 Pay Your Bills Online
#17 Open a Window
#24 Just Say No to Plastic Bags
#25 Support your local farmer
#30 Shut off your computer
#44 Check Your Tires

And the best for last
#51 Consume Less, Share More, Live Simply

I like this last one the best as they are smart words to live by in so many ways (more than just to become a tree-hugger). To remind myself of this great phrase, I've added it to the very bottom of the blog as a permanent footer.

Change in Blog Philosophy

Increasingly over the last several months, I have been using other blogs on the web as a source of both information and entertainment by using Google Blog Search to find stuff that I am interested in. In doing so, I developed a bit of an online personality crisis regarding my own blog. It seems that most blogs that I think are good are much more about the day to day goings on in life. When looking at my own blog, I am afraid that my blog may be giving the wrong impression of who I am.

When I began the blog in December 2005, the intent was to provide a central source of information on my hectic life for my family and friends. It seems that most didn't know where I was and what I was up to. It was also meant to show pictures and give highlights about some of the exciting things that I have been fortunate to have done the last few years. In looking back at my posts, most have taken the theme of "when I was _____, I did _____ and then I did _____ before doing _____". I may be being a bit harsh on myself, but I fear that this may be giving the impression to anyone who stumbles onto my blog that I am a grandstanding "been there, done that, got the t-shirt" kind of guy. As well, this type of blog is tougher to sustain as you need to keep doing things and I am getting tired of doing things. This is evidenced by the declining number of posts that I have been making.

Beginning immediately, this blog will take a bit of a different approach. It's intent will shift toward providing more insight into what fascinates me. I'm guessing that it will become much more trivial, but I think it should remain interesting enough. Here's hoping you all stay interested.

Vacation Terminated

Done. I am sitting the in the Hong Kong airport now awaiting my flight to Dubai in about 3 hours. The last 2 weeks has been a blast as we really became tourists in Singapore and Hong Kong. Since we had been in Singapore only a year ago, our intent was to do a few of the things that eluded us last time. The highlight of this was the Night Safari. This was a very different approach to a zoo in that you get to see the animals at night when they are usually more active. Like most things in Singapore, it was very well done.

Once finished in Singapore, we flew to Hong Kong for the final 4 days of our vacation. This was a real treat. Hong Kong is a very frenetic and energetic place. Where we stayed in Kowloon is considered one of the highest poulation densities in the world and you can feel it. We spent most of our time doing the obvious tourist things like cruising on Vitoria Harbour, enjoying the Symphony of Lights, Hong Kong Disneyland and the new Ngong Ping Tram ride. We found the city very easy to get around in and look forward to return one day to do some of the things we missed.

All is finished now and I am headed back for what should be a very busy shift at work. Melissa is on her way home now and looking forward to being home after being on the road for over 3 months.

Back in KL

Back in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia for the 3rd time in 7 years. I love this place. We arrived yesterday after flying in from the resort city of Penang. Our travels are going well. Since the last blog, we've eaten a ton of great food, moved from Thailand to Malaysia and had an uncharactersitic 3 days of the really good life at the Holiday Inn Resort in Penang. The crappy cheap accommodations were starting to grind us down a bit so we went from a $20/night incredibly spartan hotel to a posh $90/night beachfront resort. You can't imagine how nice the shower felt. A couple of the days sitting by the pool really got our energy back after doing an amazing amount of walking in the extreme heat in Thailand.

We are only in KL for 2 nights as the Formula One car race is on in the city now and we cannot get accommodation for tomorrow night so we are off to Singapore on Easter Sunday by bus. It is about a 5 hour bus ride. We've really done nothing but hang out in the air con malls and coffee shops while in KL, but the stop has been nice. We did go check out a 3D IMAX movie on Sharks and might even go check out the latest Mr. Bean movie at the mall later today before packing our bags once again and moving on. At least the next stop will be a bit longer as we are slated for 6 nights in Singapore before flying to Hong Kong. Happy Easter to all.