Now that I've got an expanded role at Cisco looking not only after Australia and New Zealand, but also having the PR leads for Japan and Korea report into me plus joining the Asia Pacific Corporate Communications leadership team so gaining regional responsibilities as well I've been spending more time in Singapore.
On this, my second trip to Singapore I'm supporting our first Partner-led Conference. With over 50 media and analyst from Asia Pacific and China, it was a very busy week (Nov. 13-19) and after several days of keynotes, business presentations and panel discussions we headed to the Singapore Flier for some sight seeing.
Then we head to Coup d'Etat for drinks. I get a bit closer to the infinity pool at the Marina Bay Sands and still hope to some day actually swim in the pool at the top of the world.
One evening after the media/analysts had head home, I checked out the original home of the Singapore Sling at Long Bar at The Raffles Hotel. It's the one place in Singapore you can throw peanut shells on the floor and not get arrested :)
And on the day of my departure Miin was a wonderful host and showed me around Sentosa which is a very upscale, 2 km island.
On my flight back to Sydney, I was very, very lucky to be upgraded to First Class on British Airways. I'm not sure how this happened , but think it was because I checked in on the late-side (an 1:15 before my flight was due to depart, but since Singapore International Airport is the gateway to Asia my friend Miin says you don't have to check in the typical 2 hours in advance) and economy was already checked in so I was informed I'd been checked into Economy Plus.
As I was settling into my seat, I heard my name called over the intercom to identify myself to the steward. So I headed to the front of the plane and was surprised when informed my seat was being changed to...she pointed to seat 14B...at the same time I realised I was standing in first class. And it was weird, there were all these "pods" that were set up in pairs with one facing forward and the other towards the back of the plane.
All of a sudden I had a stewardess asking me what newspaper I wanted (no Singapore Straits Newspaper or Sydney newspaper, only UK pubs) and if I'd like a glass of champagne (which I only got a few sips of before they had to take it away as we were taking off, but they quickly got me another as soon as we were up in the air). Then another was trying to get me to take my seat, however, what stumped me was there's was no place to put my purse as there was no "under the seat in front of you". Then I got shown the drawer, of course how obvious, a drawer.
The other thing that befuddled me was if I sit down and recline how does the passenger in the pod along the window get in and out - he steps over my feet/foot stool - which is rather inelegant.
Once we're up in the air, I have a chat with my pod-mate (you feel compelled to say "hello" as you're basically lying right next to each other, face-to-face with only a plastic divider that moves up and down as he's passed his meal/drinks) and find out he's the architect of the Surry Hills library just down the street (we commiserate on the rather useless kitchen in the front of the library and the need for more seating) as well as new Parliament House (I compliment him on the great symbolismy of having the roof open to public picnics, see my previous blog post on this).
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi Beach
Continuing with the theme from the previous day, I checked out the 11-11 sculpture at the Sculpture by the Sea which is a series of sculptures lining the ocean view walkway from Bondi to Bronte Beaches.
A turtle made of tires, not slow moving at all with all these car tires.
This wishbone reminds me of all the times my brother and I buttered the turkey on Thanksgiving and got more butter on each other than on the turkey. Mom's turkey was always moist and wonderful tasting! Tomu and I always enjoyed making our wish and after pulling the wish bone apart seeing whose wish came true!
This art work spells out "dreams".
A turtle made of tires, not slow moving at all with all these car tires.
This wishbone reminds me of all the times my brother and I buttered the turkey on Thanksgiving and got more butter on each other than on the turkey. Mom's turkey was always moist and wonderful tasting! Tomu and I always enjoyed making our wish and after pulling the wish bone apart seeing whose wish came true!
This art work spells out "dreams".
My 11-11-11 Party
After celebrating 1-1-11 in a big way, it was hard to resist hosting an 11-11-11 party at my place. I struggled to find a cool theme for the party.
I brainstormed with friends and did lots of Internet searches. The best I could come up with was "You're my #1", "To infinity and beyond" and "Lucky 11" but nothing really rang true.
Yet it was fun to have a few drinks with friends, get together for dinner afterwards then have a lovely dessert at the stroke of 11:11 p.m. on 11-11-11.
I brainstormed with friends and did lots of Internet searches. The best I could come up with was "You're my #1", "To infinity and beyond" and "Lucky 11" but nothing really rang true.
Yet it was fun to have a few drinks with friends, get together for dinner afterwards then have a lovely dessert at the stroke of 11:11 p.m. on 11-11-11.
Scuba Diving Around Manly
In the many ocean swims I've done around the Sydney-area I haven't been too impressed with the sea life I saw (or lack there of) so I've been focusing most of my diving further North.
But in a reunion dive with friends from my last Fish Rock I did my first dives in the Sydney area. It was very cold for one thing and in comparison to Fish Rock, I'd have to say so far my experience has been about average.
Nonetheless it was a good opportunity to practice using my new underwater camera. Thank you again to my brother Tomu for the great underwater camera!
This video is of a cuttlefish that was coaxed out of its cave but when I realised it was getting closer and closer to me, you'll see from the video that moved out of its way.
This last photo is of a rock fish, quite poisonous.
But in a reunion dive with friends from my last Fish Rock I did my first dives in the Sydney area. It was very cold for one thing and in comparison to Fish Rock, I'd have to say so far my experience has been about average.
Nonetheless it was a good opportunity to practice using my new underwater camera. Thank you again to my brother Tomu for the great underwater camera!
This video is of a cuttlefish that was coaxed out of its cave but when I realised it was getting closer and closer to me, you'll see from the video that moved out of its way.
This last photo is of a rock fish, quite poisonous.
Sydney Zombie Fest on Halloween
I've been going to a lot of activities organised by the Travel, Food and Wine Meetup and on Oct. 29 I joined them at the Sydney Food and Wine Festival at Hyde Park. While the wine and food was tasty - and expensive considering the quantity given for what you paid - it was hard to miss that there were a lot of people walking through Hyde Park looking like they should be in a Michael Jackson Thriller video.
After a few inquiries I find out that there's a Sydney Zombie Walk. What this? Well if you Google it, you'll find out that it originated in California and it's a bi-annual fundraiser but mostly it appears to just to be an occasion to dress up like you're a victim of the latest vampire or horror film and parade around the city (Sydney Police blockade the streets to let hundreds of people walk through the city). How bizarre is this!
Later that evening I checked out this Halloween Party at The Argyle (evidently the largest in Australia). Here's the "Post-it Man".
After a few inquiries I find out that there's a Sydney Zombie Walk. What this? Well if you Google it, you'll find out that it originated in California and it's a bi-annual fundraiser but mostly it appears to just to be an occasion to dress up like you're a victim of the latest vampire or horror film and parade around the city (Sydney Police blockade the streets to let hundreds of people walk through the city). How bizarre is this!
Later that evening I checked out this Halloween Party at The Argyle (evidently the largest in Australia). Here's the "Post-it Man".
Singapore's a Small, Packed Modern Country
On my first trip to Singapore (Oct. 19-23), I was most surprised at how from the tallest building you can cast your eyes about and see the whole country. It's 26 miles wide and 14 miles from north to south. It's filled with many tall buildings that are both business and residential and it's a city of opposites. One morning I had a peanut soup for $1 and a cocktail for $24.
After our first day at our work offsite, we went up to the rooftop for drinks and here's me having my first Singapore Sling cocktail drink.
Afterwards we went to dinner at this Noodle Market which had tons of vendors selling all kinds of traditional Singaporean foods.
.
And I loved this dessert... reminded me of mochii
After filling ourselves with food, we went karaoke.
And then my first sight-seeing activity in Singapore was to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel which is one of the highest buildings in the city.
After a day of shopping - where I purchased my very first pair of designer shoes (a la Carrie Bradshaw Salvatore Ferragamo) - we checked out the Merlion (head of a lion, body of a fish) which is the mascot of Singapore. And according to Wikipedia "the fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means 'sea town' in Javanese and the lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or 'kota singa'."
After our first day at our work offsite, we went up to the rooftop for drinks and here's me having my first Singapore Sling cocktail drink.
Afterwards we went to dinner at this Noodle Market which had tons of vendors selling all kinds of traditional Singaporean foods.
.
And I loved this dessert... reminded me of mochii
After filling ourselves with food, we went karaoke.
And then my first sight-seeing activity in Singapore was to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel which is one of the highest buildings in the city.
After a day of shopping - where I purchased my very first pair of designer shoes (a la Carrie Bradshaw Salvatore Ferragamo) - we checked out the Merlion (head of a lion, body of a fish) which is the mascot of Singapore. And according to Wikipedia "the fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means 'sea town' in Javanese and the lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or 'kota singa'."
Not For the Faint Hearted - Cupcake Decorating Class
In thanks for being such great Aunties to Calypso, Lisa gifted Nadia and I with "cupcake decorating" classes. Clearly Lisa has an ulterior motive that shows great foresight and planning for when Calypso's older and in school ... considering she's only 8 months old now.
When I was in the US this past August, I noted two TV show trends. New Jersey's getting a bad rap from several reality TV shows (Real Wives of New Jersey, Jersey Shore and Jerseyliciious) and cupcake decorating is not just for Martha Stewart anymore (Ace of Cakes).
So I should have suspected when I went to our cupcake decorating class (on Oct. 8) that it was going to be more than slabbing some frosting on top and taking colored tubes of frosting and decorating them with pretty flowers. In fact, when Nadia and I arrived, it was a packed room of 40+ women and when we watched the demonstrations the instructor used lots of tools, measuring circles and colored fondant (new word for me).
And everyone was quite serious about maximising their time executing each of the techniques demonstrated, using the tools and all the different colored fondant. It was quite intense and high pressure. So not what I was expecting from a morning of cupcake decorating.
In the end, Nadia and I decorated 6 cupcakes and you'll see our results here.
The cupcake that I think turned out best was the one that looks like a wedding cupcake with pearls - I used a "quilting tool" to create the patchwork pattern, then placed these silver balls at the intersections of the lines and added some of the flowers that I'd "punched and rounded" and put "shimmer" on to create the glistening effect.
I didn't get the scale of the "bear" cupcake right as the ears look more like moose ears, but note the attention to detail with the "blush" on its cheeks. And the same thing with the ladybugs, again I didn't get the proportion right as the head is supposed to be much smaller than the body.
Later that night I shared my cupcakes with friends at Cafe Sicilia in Surry Hills.
When I was in the US this past August, I noted two TV show trends. New Jersey's getting a bad rap from several reality TV shows (Real Wives of New Jersey, Jersey Shore and Jerseyliciious) and cupcake decorating is not just for Martha Stewart anymore (Ace of Cakes).
So I should have suspected when I went to our cupcake decorating class (on Oct. 8) that it was going to be more than slabbing some frosting on top and taking colored tubes of frosting and decorating them with pretty flowers. In fact, when Nadia and I arrived, it was a packed room of 40+ women and when we watched the demonstrations the instructor used lots of tools, measuring circles and colored fondant (new word for me).
And everyone was quite serious about maximising their time executing each of the techniques demonstrated, using the tools and all the different colored fondant. It was quite intense and high pressure. So not what I was expecting from a morning of cupcake decorating.
In the end, Nadia and I decorated 6 cupcakes and you'll see our results here.
The cupcake that I think turned out best was the one that looks like a wedding cupcake with pearls - I used a "quilting tool" to create the patchwork pattern, then placed these silver balls at the intersections of the lines and added some of the flowers that I'd "punched and rounded" and put "shimmer" on to create the glistening effect.
I didn't get the scale of the "bear" cupcake right as the ears look more like moose ears, but note the attention to detail with the "blush" on its cheeks. And the same thing with the ladybugs, again I didn't get the proportion right as the head is supposed to be much smaller than the body.
Later that night I shared my cupcakes with friends at Cafe Sicilia in Surry Hills.
Multi-Ethnic Sydney at The Basement
The Basement's an underground club where many live music bands have launched their careers. Spontaneously I went (on Oct. 7) with friends and we stumbled upon African Tribal Music at The Basement.
It's probably the most multi-ethnic scene I've seen in Sydney since I arrived.
It's probably the most multi-ethnic scene I've seen in Sydney since I arrived.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Bubble cave, lion fish and sharks galore at Fish Rock!
I had such a great time diving Fish Rock last March that with the Labour Day long weekend looming and no concrete plans (I wanted to goto Byron Bay but flights were booked out), I decided to go on the Pro Dive Manly scuba diving weekend to Fish Rock.
While the swells were higher, water was colder and the visibility was worse than the first time, I'm still totally amazed and impressed with the incredible plethora of sea life. Everything from sharks, sting rays, turtles, eels, lion fish and for the first time I heard a whale! It sounded like moaning, but eventually I connected the whale we saw at the surface to the sounds I heard between my breathing bubbles that eerily sounded just like the whale sounds in that Star Trek IV movie "The Voyage Home".
My brother had given me an underwater camera and I was very excited to take photos of mega sea life at Fish Rock that'll really knock the socks off my nephew Kai who loves sharks! When he watches the video below, my "cool Aunt" factor will hit the roof!
On Sat. Oct. 1, 2011
Dive #130, 24.1 meters (79 ft), 38 minutes, 17.6 degrees C (64 degrees F) to Fish Rock Cave
Dive #131, 23.8 meters (78 ft), 32 minutes, 19 degrees C (66 degrees F) to Fish Rock Fish and Chips
1. Got nice and close to this lobster!
2. This lion fish swam by and I got a few shots off of its graceful scales spread out
3. Can you see this small green moray eel in between the cracks?
4. I staked myself out near this bed of anemone and eventually these "nemo" fish came around and decided to face the camera.
5. This fish is quite big as you can see it compared to the two divers in front.
6. Nine times out of ten, when I see a wobbegong, they're laying around on the sea floor "sleeping". The one time I saw one swimming was when I was fiddling around with my camera and all of a sudden a wobbegong swam right beneath me - it startled me!
7. This sting ray's swimming away.
On Sun. Oct. 2, 1011
Dive #132, 50 ft, 52 minutes to Fish Rock Cave with 2 meter waves
Dive #133 15.2 m (50 ft), 38 minutes, 18 degrees C (64.4 degrees F) at Green Island as current and waves were so strong
At the surface, the waves, surge and current was so strong that the dive master had us go down to depth and wait near the line until everyone else geared up and entered the water. I got in first so hung around at the line for about 10 minutes. While waiting for everyone, I decided to try the movie feature on my under water camera. Here's my first "practice" movie.
When finally we were all at depth, we went into the cave from the shallow end with the plan being that we'd go about half way, until the "chimney" and then U-turn and come out again and spend the rest of the dive in "shark alley" (where about a dozen sharks hang out). You'll see that we're heading into the cave single file and I'm second after the dive master. What you'll see is that there are two sharks at the entrance to the cave and the dive master is pointing them out with his flash light - one is swimming at our level and the second is hovering near the bottom and we swim over it.
Then you see us head into the cave, do a U-turn and come out again. I'm thinking we're about to head out of the cave and into shark alley so I try a technique I'd seen a fellow diver, Matt, did with his camera/video yesterday. So you'll see me take my light, shine it near the fish against the backdrop of us exiting the cave. Then, strangely instead of swimming out of the cave, the dive master swims upwards.
And you'll see this in the video, as we swim upwards you see the surface of the water, while we're still in the cave. Then almost miraculously we "surface" yet we're still 5 meters (16 ft) underwater - we're in a "bubble cave"! You'll see the dive master takes his regulator out, talks and points his flashlight at me (in Oz they call them "torches"). Then in the video you see me do a 360 turn and you see Garrick and Matt taking photos in the back corner of the cave. After we're done, I put my regulator back in and swim down and out of the cave. How cool is that!
Still the same dive, we're now hanging out for several minutes watching a dozen or so shark swim/pace back and forth, back and forth. I'm hanging out near the far left, along the rocks watching these sharks with their steely, piercing eyes and even though I feel like I'm incredibly close to them, they don't seem bothered by our presence at all.
Kai, isn't this incredible!
8. I'd been taking all these photos from the top, finally I decided to take a photo from the front of this wobbegong.
9. I don't know which of my fellow divers this is, but this shark just whizzes by... with something in its mouth.
10. And by zooming into this photo, I can see that it's a fish hook. Which brings me to this research booklet on Fish Rock that was on the coffee table at the place we were staying (did I mention that all 8 of us from Pro Dive Manly were sleeping in a room with 4 sets of bunk beds, made me feel like I was back at summer camp). It said that while sharks "paced" and were a bit agitated while scuba divers were in the area, when the divers departed, a few hours later they work fine again. The same could not be said for those that fished near Fish Rock as sharks often got caught up in fish hooks and lines. And take a look here at the fish hook that's still caught in its mouth.
11. Here's a photo of the broken white shells that covered the ground of "shark alley". I should have been looking for shark teeth!
12. And here's a photo of a string ray along with a diver to show you it's size in scale.
13. Lots of fish...
14. And here are a bunch of my best shark photos, edited with Adobe Photoshop which I received from Mom and Papa a few years ago.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28. Again, I was lucky enough to get a few shots of this beautiful lion fish with its fins/gills spread out in all its glory.
29. And here's Rod, our dive master and instructor, taking photos of his own of the lionfish.
30. And another sleeping wobbegong. I wonder if there's a survey of percentage of time that wobbegong actually swim around, active (or is it a nighttime shark?)
While the swells were higher, water was colder and the visibility was worse than the first time, I'm still totally amazed and impressed with the incredible plethora of sea life. Everything from sharks, sting rays, turtles, eels, lion fish and for the first time I heard a whale! It sounded like moaning, but eventually I connected the whale we saw at the surface to the sounds I heard between my breathing bubbles that eerily sounded just like the whale sounds in that Star Trek IV movie "The Voyage Home".
My brother had given me an underwater camera and I was very excited to take photos of mega sea life at Fish Rock that'll really knock the socks off my nephew Kai who loves sharks! When he watches the video below, my "cool Aunt" factor will hit the roof!
On Sat. Oct. 1, 2011
Dive #130, 24.1 meters (79 ft), 38 minutes, 17.6 degrees C (64 degrees F) to Fish Rock Cave
Dive #131, 23.8 meters (78 ft), 32 minutes, 19 degrees C (66 degrees F) to Fish Rock Fish and Chips
1. Got nice and close to this lobster!
2. This lion fish swam by and I got a few shots off of its graceful scales spread out
3. Can you see this small green moray eel in between the cracks?
4. I staked myself out near this bed of anemone and eventually these "nemo" fish came around and decided to face the camera.
5. This fish is quite big as you can see it compared to the two divers in front.
6. Nine times out of ten, when I see a wobbegong, they're laying around on the sea floor "sleeping". The one time I saw one swimming was when I was fiddling around with my camera and all of a sudden a wobbegong swam right beneath me - it startled me!
7. This sting ray's swimming away.
On Sun. Oct. 2, 1011
Dive #132, 50 ft, 52 minutes to Fish Rock Cave with 2 meter waves
Dive #133 15.2 m (50 ft), 38 minutes, 18 degrees C (64.4 degrees F) at Green Island as current and waves were so strong
At the surface, the waves, surge and current was so strong that the dive master had us go down to depth and wait near the line until everyone else geared up and entered the water. I got in first so hung around at the line for about 10 minutes. While waiting for everyone, I decided to try the movie feature on my under water camera. Here's my first "practice" movie.
When finally we were all at depth, we went into the cave from the shallow end with the plan being that we'd go about half way, until the "chimney" and then U-turn and come out again and spend the rest of the dive in "shark alley" (where about a dozen sharks hang out). You'll see that we're heading into the cave single file and I'm second after the dive master. What you'll see is that there are two sharks at the entrance to the cave and the dive master is pointing them out with his flash light - one is swimming at our level and the second is hovering near the bottom and we swim over it.
Then you see us head into the cave, do a U-turn and come out again. I'm thinking we're about to head out of the cave and into shark alley so I try a technique I'd seen a fellow diver, Matt, did with his camera/video yesterday. So you'll see me take my light, shine it near the fish against the backdrop of us exiting the cave. Then, strangely instead of swimming out of the cave, the dive master swims upwards.
And you'll see this in the video, as we swim upwards you see the surface of the water, while we're still in the cave. Then almost miraculously we "surface" yet we're still 5 meters (16 ft) underwater - we're in a "bubble cave"! You'll see the dive master takes his regulator out, talks and points his flashlight at me (in Oz they call them "torches"). Then in the video you see me do a 360 turn and you see Garrick and Matt taking photos in the back corner of the cave. After we're done, I put my regulator back in and swim down and out of the cave. How cool is that!
Still the same dive, we're now hanging out for several minutes watching a dozen or so shark swim/pace back and forth, back and forth. I'm hanging out near the far left, along the rocks watching these sharks with their steely, piercing eyes and even though I feel like I'm incredibly close to them, they don't seem bothered by our presence at all.
Kai, isn't this incredible!
8. I'd been taking all these photos from the top, finally I decided to take a photo from the front of this wobbegong.
9. I don't know which of my fellow divers this is, but this shark just whizzes by... with something in its mouth.
10. And by zooming into this photo, I can see that it's a fish hook. Which brings me to this research booklet on Fish Rock that was on the coffee table at the place we were staying (did I mention that all 8 of us from Pro Dive Manly were sleeping in a room with 4 sets of bunk beds, made me feel like I was back at summer camp). It said that while sharks "paced" and were a bit agitated while scuba divers were in the area, when the divers departed, a few hours later they work fine again. The same could not be said for those that fished near Fish Rock as sharks often got caught up in fish hooks and lines. And take a look here at the fish hook that's still caught in its mouth.
11. Here's a photo of the broken white shells that covered the ground of "shark alley". I should have been looking for shark teeth!
12. And here's a photo of a string ray along with a diver to show you it's size in scale.
13. Lots of fish...
14. And here are a bunch of my best shark photos, edited with Adobe Photoshop which I received from Mom and Papa a few years ago.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28. Again, I was lucky enough to get a few shots of this beautiful lion fish with its fins/gills spread out in all its glory.
29. And here's Rod, our dive master and instructor, taking photos of his own of the lionfish.
30. And another sleeping wobbegong. I wonder if there's a survey of percentage of time that wobbegong actually swim around, active (or is it a nighttime shark?)
More than my share of meat pies ... in one week
Even after 2.5 years here, I still hadn't been to the iconic "Harry's cafe on Wheels" which is this longstanding mobile van well known for its meat pies. Or more specifically its mashed potato and mushy peas meat pies which was very, very filling.
In this same FlipVideo clip you'll not only see our visit to Harry's, but also another pie place on our way back from a scuba weekend where they had all sorts of pies from kangaroo, to crocodile to wild boar (what I didn't get a video of was the pie place on our way up to Southwest Rocks for the long weekend).
In this same FlipVideo clip you'll not only see our visit to Harry's, but also another pie place on our way back from a scuba weekend where they had all sorts of pies from kangaroo, to crocodile to wild boar (what I didn't get a video of was the pie place on our way up to Southwest Rocks for the long weekend).
Saturday, September 24, 2011
A Whirlwind Trip Back to the US to Visit Family and Friends
It was nearly 2 years since I last went back to the US to catchup with family and friends. It was wonderful to see everyone, spend late nights talking, great splash fights at the pool and beach with my nephews and nieces (Aug. 23-Sept. 9, 2011).
Here are the highlights:
1. The Horiuchi Family had a spectacular time in Aruba in the Caribbean! We played it smart and stayed in one of the ABCs (Aruba, Barbados and Curacao) which are outside the hurricane corridor so fortunately we weren’t impacted by Hurricane Irene weather-wise. We did, however, have about a 1.5 days of anxiety around rebooking our flights back to NY after they were cancelled (big thank you call out to JetBlue who added an extra flight that meant we were only delayed by one day and to the Marriot Surf Club who let us extend our stay and only charged us a “distressed traveller” fee of $110 for the extra night).
In fact, this leads me to one of the funny moments on this vacation. Before we got on the JetBlue flight we were working with our various travel agents on Plan B. And our Plan B’s were so horribly inconvenient and just awful, that all we could do was joke about which one was worse:
• Tomu, Ellen and the two kids (one is a toddler) fly from Aruba to Miami, change planes for a connecting flight to Detroit, Michigan, spend a night in Detroit then fly to NY’s JFK the next morning.
• Linda departs Aruba for Atlanta, Georgia, changes planes for a connecting flight that lands in Buffalo, NY at 11 p.m., spend the night in Buffalo, NY and then wake up early, rent a car and drive 6-8 hours to NY city.
I really wasn’t looking forward to driving 6-8 hours, but the thought of spending a night in Detroit was even worse!
Random footnote: I met a guy at Sydney Airport on my way to Aruba who was headed to “see the ruins in Detroit”. I said, “what ruins, there’s no Manchu Picchu in Detroit”. To which he responded, “I’m going to see all the demolished, run down buildings in Detroit”. Detroit clearly has an image problem.
Aruba’s definitely one of the “high end” Caribbean islands with taxi cabs that were Lexus and Mercedes SUVs. The ocean was so warm, it literally was just like bath water. And thanks to my brother Tomu for getting us pointed in the right direction when it came to local restaurants to check out. We loved Chef’s Table (great taster desserts in shot glasses), Aqua Grill and Wacky Wahoo’s (great local seafood).
Here's my nephew Kai narrating our dinner at Aqua Grill Restaurant.
Each day followed a similar pattern – the morning was spent at the beach, lunch was at the beach protected from the sun in our “palapa hut” (thanks to Tomu and Papa for waking up early to reserve the huts and the chairs), then Tyler and Kai took a nap and in the afternoon we swam at the hotel pool which had a very relaxing lazy river and enjoyed “happy hour 2 for 1 drinks” and “bucket of beer for $24” (their local beer is Balashi which is pretty good).
Tomu asked me to help his son, my nephew Kai with his front crawl and back crawl with the aim of getting Kai into “Dolphins” at the local YMCA. But we had more splash fights than we did swimming lessons. Tomu, here’s the “Little Nemo” swim drills I prepared for Kai if you’d like to work on them with him next time you’re at the pool:
FREESTYLE
• Freestyle kick with board - chin at waterlevel
• Freestyle kick with board – head in water, breath on side
• Freestyle kick with board – one arm on board, breathing on the side
• Freestyle kick no board- one arm in front, breath on side
• Single arm stroke with board (without board); 3 strokes on each arm
• Arm catchup drill (with and without kick board)
• Zipper arms, chicken wing (aka shark arms, elbow high)
• Kick facing the right, left
• Fist swim
• Fingertip drag
• Long armed dog, underwater recovery (freestyle)
BACKSTROKE
• Push and Glide with kickboard, with arms above head
• Penny on forehead to encourage "still head position" during drills.
• Single arm backstroke, 3 strokes each arm
• Backstroke – Single arm pull
• Double arm pulling and leg kick
Background:
• Zipper arms/chicken wing: Maintain contact between your [extended] thumb and your body up to your armpit throughout the recovery. When your thumb reaches your armpit reach forward and enter the hand in the water. Keep stroke extended; watch entry. MUST Rotate!! Purpose:- Encourages forward momentum in entry that characterizes efficient arm recovery. Also relaxed recovery, and length of stroke.
• Long-Armed Dog/ Underwater Recovery Swim Freestyle making your arm recovery completely under the water. Essentially combining a long-armed dog paddle with the head position and side breathing of Freestyle. Reach long on each side and focus on making a good catch; then rotate your body past the arm as you focus on lengthening your stroke. NOTE!! Should only be <= 4 strokes of your Stroke Count! Purpose:- Lengthen stroke, focus on catch and pull through, rotation.
• Push and glide The most obvious practice to start with is the push-and-glide. This is exactly what it suggests you push and then glide. Face the pool wall and hold onto the side. Put both feet against the wall with bent legs. You should be in a ready to spring position. You will then push hard against the pool wall with both arms to your side. With your head back stomach up you will then glide for about 4-5 meters. This is a good backstroke drill/ practice to help to gain good body position in the water when swimming backstroke. You can use some variations of this for example you can link your hands together holding the side. Then as you push off the side you then throw your arms over your head keeping your arms straight and together. You could then use the push and glide to begin your backstroke maintaining good body position throughout. Make sure that you push off the wall nice and hard to achieve good momentum then begin the arm action as soon as your legs straighten.
• Backstroke – Single arm pull Another way you can use one arm at a time when practicing your backstroke arms is to swim with on arm resting and then change over and each different position for the resting arm has different benefits for the backstroke swimmer. So now we will go through each one and look at each benefit. A single arm pull with one resting on your thigh, this is very good for improving your technique by allowing greater roll to increase the amount of propulsion. It also encourages more shoulder lift for recovery of the arm. A single arm pull with one arm resting extended above the head in the water, this refines your technique epically the entry to the catch. It also lengthens the stroke.
• Backstroke drills/ Double arm pulling and leg kick Try swimming with both arms at the same time it develops the bent arm action as well as a shallow push through to your hips. Your aim is to reduce the number of strokes across the pool.
Papa and Ellen did a fantastic job project managing the building of a very feng shui sandcastle that had water, movement and tall towers from multiple directions. Aruba’s very easy going, relaxing and like their license plate says “one happy island”.
On our last night, as Kai had been so patient as we rebooked our flights to New York we treated him to “game night” in the arcade room. Here’s a FlipVideo of the arcade game Kai enjoyed the most – he went several rounds!
2. Scuba diving in Aruba was rather disappointing. Other than seeing the wrecks, there weren’t many spectacular fish or coral.
And my brother had just gotten me an underwater camera (Canon G12) for my belated birthday/Christmas so I was really hoping to capture some photos of vibrant colored fish and sharks to show Kai.
I’d researched JADS Dive Shop on TripAdvisor and comments said they were well known for small groups, friendly staff and well taken care of gear. While the staff were very friendly, it was a very tight fit on the boat with many people and the biggest complaint is that the tanks were not topped up/full. They said they’d been having some trouble with vandalism and hopefully they’ll get that fixed soon as when I switched over to a new tank for the second dive it only had 1800 PSI in the tank (my tank was switched to one that had 2800 PSI which was clearly better but not the same as 3000PSI).
Dive #128 on Aug. 26, 2011 with JADS Dive Shop
Location: Airplanes
Max depth: 80ft
Bottom time: 33 minutes
Dive #129
Location: Harbour Reef
Max depth: 18 meters
Bottom time: 56 minutes
Can you see the green moray eel here?
While their colors are complimentary, I thought it quite poignant that in every other way they're different yet here they are - this oddest pairing of fish - swimming around the ocean like best friends.
3. On my way to Aruba, I had a day in LA to hang out with my best friend since 5th gradea – Ana and her husband Scott. We went for breakfast for a badly needed latte and then we bicycled around Santa Monica beach which was fantastic because after an 14 hour flight being in the fresh air and getting some exercise was just what I needed! We walked around the shops and Ana got us this great card game called “Set” that we played in Aruba which takes a while to get the hang of but once you understand the concept is quite fun.
Then we went for Mexican food – one of the cuisines I miss most here in Australia. While we were having lunch, the funny coincidence is that I received an email from Mom that back in Hoffman Estates she’d run into Ana’s mom Carmen at the swimming pool.
We walked around this Venice-like neighborhood nearby which had some amazing homes.
Then it was on to LA Japantown for manju snack, some more browsing of shops before we heading out for sushi dinner!
Thank you Ana and Scott – it was wonderful to spend the day with you and catching up! I can’t wait to host you here in Sydney some day!
4.Bachan remembered my name!
My Grandmother has Alzheimer’s and everyone told me she probably won’t remember my name. I was absolutely thrilled when she did! I saw her all 4 mornings I was in New Jersey and she remembered my name each day! Here's Kalea narrating my visit with Bachan:
Bachan’s doing incredibly well, particularly considering she’s 93 years old. She’s very articulate and has clear memories of when she was in 6th grade and when she was raising the family, but she’s a bit unclear on more recent happenings.
My fondest memories of our visits were of watching Bachan do her daily workout to “Who let the dogs out” and “Macarena”, re-reading my letters together with her, watching her enjoy time with her great grand children and reminiscing about our family with Mom. Here are three-generations - Bachan, Mom and me.
5. Nieces and Nephews Galore! My nephews Kai Kenichi and Tyler are outnumbered by all the nieces Kalea, Keilani, Aila and Soriya.
I had a ball playing chess with Kai and Kalea, watching Kalea’s dance recitals DVDs and Kai and I cooked lamingtons and he continued the tradition of licking the bowl after everything was baked, coated with chocolate and sprinkled with coconut.
And the cousins got to hang out as well ! Yas and Cindy joined us for dinner at the Italian restaurant along with Auntie Eiko. Just today heard from Mieko that Tom’s Mom has been discharged from the hospital so thrilled to hear that all our best wishes for a speedy recovery came true!
And on my way home to Sydney, I stopped off in San Francisco to catchup with Tetsuya and Chamnan and was happy to join Soriya for her “swim class” at the local pool. She loves the water and did this balancing on the foam board thing really well so I predict she has a future in surfing ☺
Auntie Vivian and Uncle Yori joined us for Thai dinner in one of Westfield’s oldest dinner cars with Buburry napkins (quite the anomaly). One thing I learned is that it’s tough to get a liquor license in New Jersey so many restaurants are BYO beer and wine. For Amanda and Uncle Yori, here are the wines we enjoyed (mostly Californian as it reminded me of home): Rombauer Zinfandel, Sterling Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel and Stag’s Leap Riesling.
6. Congratulations to Ryu and Amanda who are engaged to be married next year! We went to an outstanding restaurant called Culin Ariane in New Jersey which is owned by Ariane Duarte who was on Bravo TV’s Top Chef TV Show.
Amazingly, during my vacation I even ran a 5k race thanks to Ryu and his coordinating this early morning run around Verona, New Jersey.
7. With the aim of helping my nephew to understand responsibility and that when you do what you've agreed to in your employment contract, you'll receive your payment. Just after this was signed, Verizon's union workers went on strike over renewal of their employment contract and Tomu was able to use it as an example to explain to Kai why his Mom was holding a sign and walking the picket line.
#7 prompted a discussion between Tomu and I that revealed that Papa's habit from when we were growing up of always making sure there was enough TP has become a habit with both of us and now Kai - we had a good laugh. Thank you Mom and Papa for a wonderful and memorable vacation in Aruba! I love you very much and can't wait for our Explore Asia vacation!
Here are the highlights:
1. The Horiuchi Family had a spectacular time in Aruba in the Caribbean! We played it smart and stayed in one of the ABCs (Aruba, Barbados and Curacao) which are outside the hurricane corridor so fortunately we weren’t impacted by Hurricane Irene weather-wise. We did, however, have about a 1.5 days of anxiety around rebooking our flights back to NY after they were cancelled (big thank you call out to JetBlue who added an extra flight that meant we were only delayed by one day and to the Marriot Surf Club who let us extend our stay and only charged us a “distressed traveller” fee of $110 for the extra night).
In fact, this leads me to one of the funny moments on this vacation. Before we got on the JetBlue flight we were working with our various travel agents on Plan B. And our Plan B’s were so horribly inconvenient and just awful, that all we could do was joke about which one was worse:
• Tomu, Ellen and the two kids (one is a toddler) fly from Aruba to Miami, change planes for a connecting flight to Detroit, Michigan, spend a night in Detroit then fly to NY’s JFK the next morning.
• Linda departs Aruba for Atlanta, Georgia, changes planes for a connecting flight that lands in Buffalo, NY at 11 p.m., spend the night in Buffalo, NY and then wake up early, rent a car and drive 6-8 hours to NY city.
I really wasn’t looking forward to driving 6-8 hours, but the thought of spending a night in Detroit was even worse!
Random footnote: I met a guy at Sydney Airport on my way to Aruba who was headed to “see the ruins in Detroit”. I said, “what ruins, there’s no Manchu Picchu in Detroit”. To which he responded, “I’m going to see all the demolished, run down buildings in Detroit”. Detroit clearly has an image problem.
Aruba’s definitely one of the “high end” Caribbean islands with taxi cabs that were Lexus and Mercedes SUVs. The ocean was so warm, it literally was just like bath water. And thanks to my brother Tomu for getting us pointed in the right direction when it came to local restaurants to check out. We loved Chef’s Table (great taster desserts in shot glasses), Aqua Grill and Wacky Wahoo’s (great local seafood).
Here's my nephew Kai narrating our dinner at Aqua Grill Restaurant.
Each day followed a similar pattern – the morning was spent at the beach, lunch was at the beach protected from the sun in our “palapa hut” (thanks to Tomu and Papa for waking up early to reserve the huts and the chairs), then Tyler and Kai took a nap and in the afternoon we swam at the hotel pool which had a very relaxing lazy river and enjoyed “happy hour 2 for 1 drinks” and “bucket of beer for $24” (their local beer is Balashi which is pretty good).
Tomu asked me to help his son, my nephew Kai with his front crawl and back crawl with the aim of getting Kai into “Dolphins” at the local YMCA. But we had more splash fights than we did swimming lessons. Tomu, here’s the “Little Nemo” swim drills I prepared for Kai if you’d like to work on them with him next time you’re at the pool:
FREESTYLE
• Freestyle kick with board - chin at waterlevel
• Freestyle kick with board – head in water, breath on side
• Freestyle kick with board – one arm on board, breathing on the side
• Freestyle kick no board- one arm in front, breath on side
• Single arm stroke with board (without board); 3 strokes on each arm
• Arm catchup drill (with and without kick board)
• Zipper arms, chicken wing (aka shark arms, elbow high)
• Kick facing the right, left
• Fist swim
• Fingertip drag
• Long armed dog, underwater recovery (freestyle)
BACKSTROKE
• Push and Glide with kickboard, with arms above head
• Penny on forehead to encourage "still head position" during drills.
• Single arm backstroke, 3 strokes each arm
• Backstroke – Single arm pull
• Double arm pulling and leg kick
Background:
• Zipper arms/chicken wing: Maintain contact between your [extended] thumb and your body up to your armpit throughout the recovery. When your thumb reaches your armpit reach forward and enter the hand in the water. Keep stroke extended; watch entry. MUST Rotate!! Purpose:- Encourages forward momentum in entry that characterizes efficient arm recovery. Also relaxed recovery, and length of stroke.
• Long-Armed Dog/ Underwater Recovery Swim Freestyle making your arm recovery completely under the water. Essentially combining a long-armed dog paddle with the head position and side breathing of Freestyle. Reach long on each side and focus on making a good catch; then rotate your body past the arm as you focus on lengthening your stroke. NOTE!! Should only be <= 4 strokes of your Stroke Count! Purpose:- Lengthen stroke, focus on catch and pull through, rotation.
• Push and glide The most obvious practice to start with is the push-and-glide. This is exactly what it suggests you push and then glide. Face the pool wall and hold onto the side. Put both feet against the wall with bent legs. You should be in a ready to spring position. You will then push hard against the pool wall with both arms to your side. With your head back stomach up you will then glide for about 4-5 meters. This is a good backstroke drill/ practice to help to gain good body position in the water when swimming backstroke. You can use some variations of this for example you can link your hands together holding the side. Then as you push off the side you then throw your arms over your head keeping your arms straight and together. You could then use the push and glide to begin your backstroke maintaining good body position throughout. Make sure that you push off the wall nice and hard to achieve good momentum then begin the arm action as soon as your legs straighten.
• Backstroke – Single arm pull Another way you can use one arm at a time when practicing your backstroke arms is to swim with on arm resting and then change over and each different position for the resting arm has different benefits for the backstroke swimmer. So now we will go through each one and look at each benefit. A single arm pull with one resting on your thigh, this is very good for improving your technique by allowing greater roll to increase the amount of propulsion. It also encourages more shoulder lift for recovery of the arm. A single arm pull with one arm resting extended above the head in the water, this refines your technique epically the entry to the catch. It also lengthens the stroke.
• Backstroke drills/ Double arm pulling and leg kick Try swimming with both arms at the same time it develops the bent arm action as well as a shallow push through to your hips. Your aim is to reduce the number of strokes across the pool.
Papa and Ellen did a fantastic job project managing the building of a very feng shui sandcastle that had water, movement and tall towers from multiple directions. Aruba’s very easy going, relaxing and like their license plate says “one happy island”.
On our last night, as Kai had been so patient as we rebooked our flights to New York we treated him to “game night” in the arcade room. Here’s a FlipVideo of the arcade game Kai enjoyed the most – he went several rounds!
2. Scuba diving in Aruba was rather disappointing. Other than seeing the wrecks, there weren’t many spectacular fish or coral.
And my brother had just gotten me an underwater camera (Canon G12) for my belated birthday/Christmas so I was really hoping to capture some photos of vibrant colored fish and sharks to show Kai.
I’d researched JADS Dive Shop on TripAdvisor and comments said they were well known for small groups, friendly staff and well taken care of gear. While the staff were very friendly, it was a very tight fit on the boat with many people and the biggest complaint is that the tanks were not topped up/full. They said they’d been having some trouble with vandalism and hopefully they’ll get that fixed soon as when I switched over to a new tank for the second dive it only had 1800 PSI in the tank (my tank was switched to one that had 2800 PSI which was clearly better but not the same as 3000PSI).
Dive #128 on Aug. 26, 2011 with JADS Dive Shop
Location: Airplanes
Max depth: 80ft
Bottom time: 33 minutes
Dive #129
Location: Harbour Reef
Max depth: 18 meters
Bottom time: 56 minutes
Can you see the green moray eel here?
While their colors are complimentary, I thought it quite poignant that in every other way they're different yet here they are - this oddest pairing of fish - swimming around the ocean like best friends.
3. On my way to Aruba, I had a day in LA to hang out with my best friend since 5th gradea – Ana and her husband Scott. We went for breakfast for a badly needed latte and then we bicycled around Santa Monica beach which was fantastic because after an 14 hour flight being in the fresh air and getting some exercise was just what I needed! We walked around the shops and Ana got us this great card game called “Set” that we played in Aruba which takes a while to get the hang of but once you understand the concept is quite fun.
Then we went for Mexican food – one of the cuisines I miss most here in Australia. While we were having lunch, the funny coincidence is that I received an email from Mom that back in Hoffman Estates she’d run into Ana’s mom Carmen at the swimming pool.
We walked around this Venice-like neighborhood nearby which had some amazing homes.
Then it was on to LA Japantown for manju snack, some more browsing of shops before we heading out for sushi dinner!
Thank you Ana and Scott – it was wonderful to spend the day with you and catching up! I can’t wait to host you here in Sydney some day!
4.Bachan remembered my name!
My Grandmother has Alzheimer’s and everyone told me she probably won’t remember my name. I was absolutely thrilled when she did! I saw her all 4 mornings I was in New Jersey and she remembered my name each day! Here's Kalea narrating my visit with Bachan:
Bachan’s doing incredibly well, particularly considering she’s 93 years old. She’s very articulate and has clear memories of when she was in 6th grade and when she was raising the family, but she’s a bit unclear on more recent happenings.
My fondest memories of our visits were of watching Bachan do her daily workout to “Who let the dogs out” and “Macarena”, re-reading my letters together with her, watching her enjoy time with her great grand children and reminiscing about our family with Mom. Here are three-generations - Bachan, Mom and me.
5. Nieces and Nephews Galore! My nephews Kai Kenichi and Tyler are outnumbered by all the nieces Kalea, Keilani, Aila and Soriya.
I had a ball playing chess with Kai and Kalea, watching Kalea’s dance recitals DVDs and Kai and I cooked lamingtons and he continued the tradition of licking the bowl after everything was baked, coated with chocolate and sprinkled with coconut.
And the cousins got to hang out as well ! Yas and Cindy joined us for dinner at the Italian restaurant along with Auntie Eiko. Just today heard from Mieko that Tom’s Mom has been discharged from the hospital so thrilled to hear that all our best wishes for a speedy recovery came true!
And on my way home to Sydney, I stopped off in San Francisco to catchup with Tetsuya and Chamnan and was happy to join Soriya for her “swim class” at the local pool. She loves the water and did this balancing on the foam board thing really well so I predict she has a future in surfing ☺
Auntie Vivian and Uncle Yori joined us for Thai dinner in one of Westfield’s oldest dinner cars with Buburry napkins (quite the anomaly). One thing I learned is that it’s tough to get a liquor license in New Jersey so many restaurants are BYO beer and wine. For Amanda and Uncle Yori, here are the wines we enjoyed (mostly Californian as it reminded me of home): Rombauer Zinfandel, Sterling Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel and Stag’s Leap Riesling.
6. Congratulations to Ryu and Amanda who are engaged to be married next year! We went to an outstanding restaurant called Culin Ariane in New Jersey which is owned by Ariane Duarte who was on Bravo TV’s Top Chef TV Show.
Amazingly, during my vacation I even ran a 5k race thanks to Ryu and his coordinating this early morning run around Verona, New Jersey.
7. With the aim of helping my nephew to understand responsibility and that when you do what you've agreed to in your employment contract, you'll receive your payment. Just after this was signed, Verizon's union workers went on strike over renewal of their employment contract and Tomu was able to use it as an example to explain to Kai why his Mom was holding a sign and walking the picket line.
#7 prompted a discussion between Tomu and I that revealed that Papa's habit from when we were growing up of always making sure there was enough TP has become a habit with both of us and now Kai - we had a good laugh. Thank you Mom and Papa for a wonderful and memorable vacation in Aruba! I love you very much and can't wait for our Explore Asia vacation!
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