Snapshots

The Olympics has ended over 10 days ago, and it felt like a vacation (sort of, except I actually had to work).

We lined up in the cold, along with thousands of other people, for stuff.  Some stuff was a waste of time, while others were worth the wait.

We attended a few events.  3 curling events:
1) Men’s curling round robin #1, and saw Canada vs Norway, which was great because it was also Canada vs Norway in the gold medal game, but we didn’t have tickets for that one.
2) Men’s ice hockey, qualifier round Norway vs. Slovakia.  It was my first live hockey game ever.  We sat in the lower bowl, category A seats.  Yup, we sort of splurged, since the tickets weren’t too costly.  Not like it was a semi-final or gold medal game.
3) Women’s gold medal curling, and saw Canada vs. Sweden.  Extremely unfortunate that our Canadian team didn’t win gold.  Of the 4 big team sports medals (men and women’s hockey, and men and women’s curling), this is the only one that didn’t get gold…  It was a very exciting game though.  And we can say that we were there!
4) Men’s bronze medal curling, and saw Sweden vs. Switzerland.  Another great game.  Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for Canada!) that the Canadian men went undefeated and didn’t end up in the bronze medal game, so we didn’t get to see them.

So, what were some of the free venues that we lined up for? (By the way, Benny was with us in all of these!)
1) Torch relay.  Dez and Benny got photos with some athletes and saw some politicians.
2) Downtown Olympic cauldron.  Heavily fortified!
3) Live City Yaletown.  Went to the Coca-Cola pavilion to get pics with torch (no flames)…
4) Vancouver Art Museum.  Saw lots of Leonardo Da Vinci stuff, as well as local art.  Didn’t have to wait too long.  Not many pics because photography was not allowed in most areas.
5) Royal Canadian Mint.  The highlight of our line-ups!  5 hours wait in the rain.  Dez and I sort of did a relay, so it wasn’t as bad.  Got to hold the Olympic medals with our (gloved) hands!  And saw the million dollar 100kg gold coin!  Didn’t know coins can look so good…
6) Sochi World.  Saw the IOC president Jacques Rogge and figure skating phenom Evgeni Plushenko.
7) Richmond O-Zone.  No wait!  Saw Yu-Na Kim’s performance live on big screen, as well as Mao Asada and Joannie Rochette.
Men’s gold medal curling and gold medal hockey!  OK, we were actually home for those, but watching it on TV was great!  Canada beat Norway in another great curling game, and Canada beat USA in hockey overtime and claimed the title of most gold medals ever in a winter Olympic game.  Not too shabby.

It was certainly one of those events that we may never see in Vancouver again in our lifetimes.

So, what has happened?  In no particular order…

We caught the stomach flu.  “Gastroenteritis” is the proper term.  “Norovirus” is the name of the group of virus that induces Norwalk-like symptoms.  Vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, etc, for 3 to 5 days.  For me, it was basically a mild flu + food poisoning.  I had sore throat, and couldn’t eat much for 4 days.  Benny was also sick, although we didn’t realize until he was kinda done being sick.  Dez got sick last, and although her stomach problem went away in about 4 to 5 days, she has been coughing and coughing since.  Oh, and we passed it to my dad and grandma.

Didn’t go to Fitness World very much due to the illness.  After I recovered, I had to spend more time taking care of Dez and Benny.  I can feel my muscles withering away.

I spent about 2 to 3 weeks looking for good computer component deals to build a budget computer for Dez’s cousin.  Once in a while I have to learn about the latest and greatest in the computer world, and then decide what is the “best value”.  The budget was $500, and with the help of a Microsoft insider friend, I was able to put together the computer for under $500, and it’s a computer with pretty good parts, too.  Something I would be proud of owning.  I really pushed the limit as to what $500 could buy, while accounting for future upgrade capability, etc.

Even though I have PS3 now, I have hardly used it, except to watch a couple of non-BluRay movies.

At work, the table tennis tournament has become more demanding of my time.  Regular season ended in January, and we’re now into playoffs.  I ended up being a team captain because I was a top 8 players among the participants.  But due to bad luck, I ended up on the same team with the weakest player.  So in this double elimination format, we’ll be a 2-game team.  I’m looking forward to the end of the season so I can get a break at lunch without all the table tennis obligations.

Oh wow, that previous post isn’t my last post of the year…

So, I had a very interesting 2 minutes.

After coming home to get the pick up slip for my PS3, I drove to Sony Style (on Broadway), parked on Broadway and walked into the store at around 5:07.  The sales guy saw me, and said, “Ah, you’re lucky we’re still open…”  To which I asked, “Why?  I thought it opens until 5:30?”  Then he said, “No, actually at 5 today.”

Well, he was the same guy who said 5:30pm when I asked him on the phone earlier.  I think he knew he made a mistake, so he kept the store opened a little bit longer to wait for me in case I was coming.  So, no harm done.  He double checked the receipts and gave me the boxed PS3.

Sales rep: “I’m surprised it came so quickly.”
Me: “Yeah, me too.”
Sales rep: “Well, have a great new year!” *pat on my shoulder*
Me: “Yeah, you too!” *with a big smile on my face as I walked out of the door*

As I was walking out with my PS3 in hand, I saw a patrol standing by my car… holding a ticket printer thingie… printing a ticket as I stood beside her.

Patrol: “You know why you got ticketed?”
Me: “Um… no.” *I know there was money in the parking meter…*
Patrol: “See here.  No parking from 3pm to 6pm, Monday to Friday.”
Me: *a dumb look*

So, here’s what happened.  When I parked there, there was a car in front of me, just above to leave.  There was a car parked behind me.  I saw that of the two available spots I was going to park, one of them had money in it.  After getting out of the car to check, it said 20 minutes.  So, based on the observation that other cars were parked and there was money in this particular meter, I didn’t bother to check whether it was OK to park or not.  I got duped.  And now thinking back, she (the patrol) must have been within range, probably ticketing the car behind me.  No, she didn’t stop me.

So my lucky moment turned rather unlucky 2 minutes later.  And on New Year’s eve no less.  Who’s working so hard on New Year’s eve?

I checked the parking ticket.  $50 if paid by Feb 3rd.  $100 if paid afterwards.

$50.  $50.  $50 is the amount of the gift certificate that I was able to use to purchase from the Sony Store.  Yup, the only reason I bought it from the Sony Store was because it had a $50 off certificate, therefore making it cheaper than buying it tax-free from superstore.  So…

I think back…  If I had my pick up slip with me, I wouldn’t have had to go home first to pick it up, then the patrol wouldn’t be there in that 2 minute window.  If the Sony Store actually closed on me, then I wouldn’t have spent 2 minutes in there.  If the PS3 didn’t arrive today (I wouldn’t care), I would just pick it up a different day.  If I hadn’t had to remove the golf clubs from my car trunk in anticipation that I will need the room for stroller this weekend prior to coming home from work, I would’ve been to the Sony Store 4 minutes beforehand.  Ah… 2 minutes.

The universe is telling me something.  But what?

Yup, I got baited.  Parking meter with money + other parked cars.  Nope.  Still no parking…  Well, at least it didn’t get towed in 2 minutes…

So, this ends my PS3-getting tale.

Um, happy new year again!  (The $50 is sure a bucket of cold water over my lucky head)

Ok, I tell myself that I must do another post before the end of the year!

So, what’s been happening?  Perhaps I should do it in reverse chronological order…

Lots of get-togethers over the holidays.  Dinners with friends and family, and more friends and family.  I enjoy most (if not all) of them, but it is indeed draining especially when little Ben sucks up all the recovery time that we would’ve had.

Boxing day was a bust!  Nah, not really.  There was nothing much I really wanted to buy.  The one thing I really wanted to buy was the Sony MEX-BT2700 car deck that supports Bluetooth for wireless music streaming and handsfree talk, all for $120 + tax.  Oh, I also ordered a PS3 from Sony Style because of their $50 off certificate, which means I pay $280 including tax for a 120GB Blu Ray player / console.  I also have a $5 GT5:Prologue game, $20 Metal Gear Solid 4, $20 Street Fighter 4.

I will be upgrading Dez’s cousin’s PC (just a little bit).  And I already spent time moving my parents’ PC to Windows 7 Ultimate, which supports Chinese localization.  It was a lot of work to try to get video capture and audio drivers to work.

Did not go to the gym for nearly 2 weeks because of the busy schedule.  I will try before the 2 weeks is up.

After 2 months of stalling and 1 month of research, we’ve finally decided on which RESP companies to go with.  It was definitely a load off my back.

Benny had his first “mild fever” after his 2nd immunization shots.   We monitored and monitored and good thing it never went up too much.  In fact, after we turned down the temperature in our room at night so that he could cool down, he woke up chilly.  Turns out he got cold.  It took a day or two for his temperature to rise back up to typical range.

Benny has been rolling infrequently, back to front.  He’s also been “singing” all of a sudden.  He used to make bursts of consonants with different intonation, but now he has very long vowels.  Occasionally he would put the two skills together.  It’s very cute.

Anyway, happy new year!  I should make a goal of posting at least once a week next year…  Speaking of resolutions… uh oh, I don’t want to review my 2009 resolutions…

We’ve been so busy. I’ll make this quick.  Things won’t be in chronological order…

Little Benjamin is now about 68 days old, weighs a healthy 5.8 Kg (12.76 lb), and measures 60 cm in length.

There have been many, many friends and family who have visited him over the past 2 months.  Some came to the hospital when he was still just days old, and some came over to our place to see him (and bring him goodies).  Thanks everyone.  We still have the helium balloons given to us 2 months ago!

The quality of our sleep has gone way down.  Dez wakes up a few times a night, and I wake up at least once — regardless of whether or not he’s crying.  My mental state has reached a new (and lower) equilibrium.  Everything takes longer to process.  Our immunity systems are also taking a hit.  Dez caught a small cold or flu shortly after we left the hospital.  I’ve succumbed to a flu 2 weeks ago, but it was rather mild.  But I got hit again just 2 days ago, and this time I had to take a day off work.  Dez just got sick too (probably from me).  The little guy seems to be alright so far.

Ben really likes (or maybe dislike) visitors!  He’s typically quiet when visitors hold him.  Sometimes sleeping, and sometimes just observing.  He likes to speak gibberish too.  In the past week or two, he’s finally gotten to the point where he can entertain himself in his play mat.  He talks and screams at himself in the mirror, and swings his fist at those dangling thingies.

For the past 2 months, he has been sleeping between Dez and me.  He just can’t stay quiet long enough when he’s not sleeping with us.  He does not yet sleep through the night, since he needs to eat every 2 to 4 hours.  But he hasn’t needed to wake up more than twice on a typical night, which is great.

The latest recommendation from doctors/nurses is that we breastfeed him for the first month, then try bottle feeding (still with breast milk).  The reason for the 1 month delay is because bottle is supposedly easier, and we don’t want him to not want the boob.  Well, turns out he hates the bottle because, well, rubber nipples are just not the real thing. :-p  No, he does not take pacifiers either.  This makes things a little bit tough for the 2nd month due to his purple cry…  We have very little ways of soothing him, other than giving him the boob, but he spits up a lot because he over-eats.

Dez is still producing lots and lots of milk.  In fact, we even contacted BC Women’s hospital regarding milk donation because we hear they are short.  Well, they are also short of staff, so even though Dez left two voice messages, they never got back to her.

The grandparents love him to death.  He’s the first grandchild for both sides, and boy, is he getting all the attention!  Sometimes we wonder if they are just trying to come up with excuses to see him.

Ben loves the outdoors… as he’s often quietly observing… or sleeping.  There’s this aisle inside London Drugs that he apparently cries every time his mommy brings him there to look for toys.

Ben loves talking.  Yes, if you speak to him, he would respond… in gibberish.  So I often speak to him in gibberish, and he would have the cutest smile.  Yes, we work hard to get that smile.  But he also has rather big mood swings.  One second he would be smiling, and immediately start crying.

Dez brings him to the P.I.G. (officially called the Parent-Infant Drop-in, but we say “group”, so I abbreviate it PIG) on Granville Island every Thursday.  Every week there’s a topic for discussion, and the parents and babies can meet other parents and babies.

I’ve been looking into RESP providers.  All 3 of the big RESP providers have contacted and met with us.  I am studying their prospectuses, and it’s taking a lot longer than I thought.  I’m also looking into video camcorders, but that hasn’t been easy either.

OK, that’s all for now.  Hopefully future updates will be shorter and more frequent!