Drifting in Asia

Happy Birthday, Kathleen!!

2012-02-08T13:43:00.003+07:00

When I got out of bed this morning, Kayla came running into my room and said, "Daddy...don't forget...it's your sister's birthday today!!" Ah....thanks, Kayla....I would have flown by yet another family birthday...

Happy Birthday, Kath !!

I always know mine is just around the corner when I think of yours...at least you have one more year before you reach "You know what"...

I know it is a bit weird to put a photo of myself on your birthday wish...but, just think of the photo as ME thinking of YOU on your birthday...

IASAS Swimming at JIS

2012-02-06T11:34:00.003+07:00

I have been busy the past few days with the IASAS Swimming that was hosted by JIS. We have a brand new pool, and I gotta say, it is impressive!! The scoreboard and timing system is something right out of the Olmpyics...really state-of-the-art stuff. My job was to share the announcing with my buddy, Tom Bartlett....it was not as easy as it seems....especially the swimmers from Thailand....some really tough names to pronounce....we even had a swimmer at JIS who was the toughest to pronounce....try this one...Netta Chalermpalanupap....I stumbled on that one a couple of times..hehe...

In any case, the tournament was a huge success, and many records were broken....pretty exciting stuff!! JIS ended up with the bronze for the boys, and the girls came in 4th place....not bad.

JIS' new pool...

Happy Birthday, Kelly!!

2012-01-31T15:08:00.003+07:00

I had to rush home yesterday to meet the EPSON guy. I was printing some very large prints (1.5 meters tall) for a buddy of mine for his next exhibition when suddenly my printer starting printing all yellows and oranges as PINK....arrrrgh...couldn't figure out what was going on!! I tried everything I knew, but could not figure out the problem, so made an emergency call to my EPSON guy, and he said he would be at my house by 4:00 (yesterday) to have a look. The traffic here has been nearly as bad as the Sardine Run in South Africa...no, worse. Kayla had a rehearsal for the talent show (she is doing some dance with her friends), so we had to wait for her act to practice before leaving school, but we somehow managed to "swim" with the mad rush of millions to make it back to our home reef in time...sigh...

The printer had a jammed nozzle....fixed in no time, and printing resumed...

Oh yea, Kelly....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

For some reason, when we brought the cake out with candles on it, Kelly burst into tears...still puzzled why...turns out she didn't want to blow out the candles...oh...ok...so this smile below is after some tears...Kelly never seems to look as cute as she really is in her photos...unlike her sister who rarely takes a bad photo...I need to do some training with Kelly, I guess.

She proceeded to open her presents after eating some cake (very good...cooked by Tika). Presents from Mei Mei were a hit....thanks, Mom!! She also got some play-doe from her parents...also a big hit. I just finished her application for school next year...she is growing fast...look out JIS, a new Graham is invading...

Butch Makes A Trailer

2012-01-27T10:54:00.002+07:00

Butch is having us all over on Sunday to see the video he made from the Daddy Daughter Trip, but he just sent out a "Trailer" he made...check it out, it is good.

Daddy Daughter Trip THREE

2012-01-25T14:26:00.005+07:00

It took a long time for us Dad's to decide where to go this year for our third annual "Daddy-Daughter" trip. Last year, we went to Bali...that was going to be tough to beat. This year, we decided to got to Pelabuan Ratu. PR is a beach area on the south coast of Java....it is about 4 hours south of Jakarta. The last time I was there was about 12 years ago. I have not been back because the drive down there is not fun, but once there, it is a really nice place.

To avoid the traffic, we met at CITOS (Cilandak Town Square) at 5:30 in the morning. I drove and Butch drove. I took Mark and Bella in my car, and Butch and Jurrien and their girls drove in one car. We were shocked how good the traffic was. We got stuck in one town in a 30 minute jam (big market), but other than that, it was smooth sailing all the way to the beach. The road that went over the mountains was a really nice drive...rice terraces and very quaint villages. We arrived at Ocean Queen resort at around 10 in the morning.

We unpacked all of our stuff, and then hit the pool...the kids had a great time there. We then went to the beach, and played in the waves. By the time those two events were over, the kids were exhausted (our plan). We ordered some fresh prawns and snapper from the local seafood market, and our house boy bbq'd them for us...we put a table outside and had a feast!! Wow, great food!!

The next day, the girls played games, and then we took a trip to the hot springs which was recommended by one of our friends. Bad move...it was not good...VERY crowded, trash everywhere, and the pools were disgusting....I called it the "Hot Toilets" as I am sure 90% of the people sitting in those hot pools were peeing in them too...but it was an "experience"...we then went home, and the kids painted all of the Dad's faces with face paint...then we hit the beach for the rest of the day...great laughs, and the weather was perfect!!

We left the resort early on Monday morning....a great trip, and it almost rivaled Bali!! Now to find a place to go NEXT year...

The daughters...Mariska, Ayla, Bella, Kayla and Katarina (her first trip)

The sun goes down on the beach just before our epic BBQ...

The girls laugh at Jurrien as they paint his face...

Kayla enjoying the beach and sand...

The awful Hot Springs...actually, besides the crowds of people, this part was not so bad...

The girls sitting in a tide pool while the waves come crashing over...

I Give Up!!

2012-01-24T15:10:00.002+07:00

Man, I just cannot seem to find the time to catch up with this blog...things are happening around here, but I am still trying to catch up with the trip to China...so, this is what I am going to do:

(1) I have included a couple more photos from the China trip on this post, and that will be it on that...we had a great time, but I don't think you need the details for the rest of the trip...for the rest of the trip, we went on a couple of walks through some villages (Kim and I), the girls shopped in the town, and we hung at the hotel when it was raining...

(2) I will make a single post from our Daddy Daughter Trip 3 (DD3) tomorrow, and a single post about our wall that we are repairing, and then I should be caught up to the present day

(3) After tomorrow, I will attempt to post every day to keep up...still tough to do with no internet at home.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

2012-01-17T11:20:00.000+07:00

Technically, I am not late...I still have 30 minutes left for January 16th (in the States)...but it took an email from Dad saying I missed Mom's birthday for me to ALMOST miss the deadline...
Sorry about that, Mom....but you know I love you, and wish you a Happy Birthday!!

Cruise Down The Li River To Yangshuo

2011-12-29T15:55:00.003+07:00

We had to negotiate for a good price on tickets for the cruise down the Li River. The guy at our hotel said he worked for the CITS (Chinese International Tourism something), and said he could get us the lowest prices which amounted to 380 Yuan which is about 65 bucks, and Kayla would be half price. He said no way anyone could give us a lower price. We took his word for it, and bought the tickets from him. Later, when we were with our guide (yesterday), he (our guide) asked us if we wanted tickets for the cruise...we told him we bought our tickets from the guy at our hotel. When we told him how much we paid, he said, "what??...I could have gotten you tickets for just 220..."....arrrrgh...we got ripped off....oh well, we saved so much on our tour yesterday, we feel like we were kind of even...

In any case, the cruise people picked us up at our hotel and all of our bags at 7:30. We were now part of a group that had to follow a Chinese guide carrying a flag with a Panda on it...we were the "Panda" group...she escorted us to one of the big tourist boats on the river where we sat on upstairs with a ton of other tourists.

The weather was unbelievably foggy, cold and rainy. I was disappointed because I thought there would be no photographs...no sun, and you couldn't see anything...but in the end, I was kind of happy with my photos....they all came out kind of "mysterious"....it would have been better with the sun, but I took what I could get. They served us lunch on board, and the cruise down the river was about 5 hours. There would be a lot of chatter on the loud speaker when the boat reached some famous spots...I would go outside with my camera in the rain to try to grab a photo, but usually, I could see nothing...too many clouds!! Oh well....

This is my favorite photo from the trip...it was featured on Photo Extract as one of the top 15 photos posted on Google+ on January 8th...

another misty photo...

Looks like Jurassic Park..

Kayla bored during the cruise on a rainy day...

we arrive in Yangshuo...

Day Three China Trip

2011-12-28T15:36:00.003+07:00

Slowly, but surely, I am getting the blog updated...stick with me...no internet at home means finding time during the work day to post...tough to do...

Last night while walking around the city of Guilin, Kim and I were standing outside of a shop that the girls were browsing...purses or shoes or something...and some Chinese dude approached us speaking pretty decent English. I usually ignore these guys because I know they prey on foreigners and try to get money out of them, but this guy was really nice. He asked us the typical questions..."where are you from?" "How long have you been in China?" "Do you like the food?" blah blah, blah...the typical questions that I usually boringly answer...he then said he was a tour guide and would be happy to drive us around tomorrow. Ah, the catch...but what made him different was his price. He said for just 20 Yuan, he would take all four of us around the city in his car...would pick us up in the morning, and spend all day touring...that is cheap!! I took his card, and said we might call you...thanks.

So, this morning, we called him...and true to his word, he took us all over the city. We had to pay entrance fees to the sites, but he only charged us 20 yuan for the ride in his car from place to place. Amazing...and he was super nice...we then treated him to dinner at a place he recommended where they served "Beer Fish"...which is famous in Guilin. The food, and the Beer Fish was delicious!!

While at dinner, he told us about a "show" that had cultural dancing, ballet and acrobatics...tickets were 180 Yuan each if we interested. I am not into those kind of shows, so we politely declined. After an hour into dinner, he asked us again saying he could get us tickets in the VIP section for 150 each....we again, declined....he then took a phone call...after the call, he said that his travel agency had booked a group for the show, but two people had cancelled...he said he could give us the two seats for 100 each. After some deliberation, we decided that Kim, Kayla and I would go to the show (Kayla was free), and the girls would go shopping.

He told us he would pick us up at our hotel at 7:00 and take us to the show. He was right on time. He took us to the theatre, and then escorted us to our seats...the very front row smack in the middle right next to the stage....the place was packed too!! We felt like REAL VIP's...the show was FANTASTIC....I mean really good!! We couldn't believe our luck...our guide for the day really took care of us!! We tried to explain to Tika and Reny what they missed, but they didn't seem to care...but Kayla, Kim and I had a great time!!

my only picture from the day was from this cave...unreal...

Day Two of China Trip

2011-12-27T14:13:00.003+07:00

We arrived in Guilin in the morning, and had no trouble getting through customs and immigration...then caught a taxi to our hotel which had a great location right on the river. The weather was bit chilly, but it actually felt quite nice after the hot and sticky weather we have had in Jakarta and KL...we set up our bags in our room, and then went out for a walk and a bite to eat. Later that afternoon, Kim and Reny arrived...their room was right next to ours. It was nice to have another "guy" to talk with and wander around with, and it was nice for Tika and Kayla to have another girl to hang out with and look at shops....the girls like to shop, and the boys like to walk and take photos...

We got all caught up on each other's lives, and then went out for a walk at night...really nice with all the lights around the lake...and then found a nice street with lots of shops and restaurants. We chose a Chinese restaurant, and sat down to order...no one spoke any English, so it was difficult to order. I remember from my days of living in China the word for "rice"...Nifan...or something like that....so, I said I wanted "Nifan"....they seemed to understand, and I was proud of myself for remembering....but after a half hour, no rice arrived, and this really strange dish arrived on our table...it was some kind of noodle dish...when we asked what it was they answered in a way that sounded like, "Nifan"...oops...the real fun for the night was trying to ask for "ICE" for our drinks...all 5 of us (including Kayla) doing charades trying to explain "ICE"...they never did get that one...they went running back to the kitchen and brought back colder cans of coke for us, but could never figure out that what we really wanted was ice in our glasses...I guess Chinese don't use ice in their drinks....most drink HOT tea anyway...

Tika, Kayla and Reny...the female contingent...

You know how Tika loves frogs...

Kayla smirks during an afternoon snack break...

A bridge on our walk around the lake at night...

Day One of China Trip

2011-12-26T15:22:00.002+07:00

We left Jakarta at a very reasonable hour...awake at 8:00, and on the plane at 11:30...

We couldn't get a direct flight to Guilin, so we stayed the night in Kuala Lumpur. The airport is over an hour from downtown, so we took the train into town, and then found a really nice taxi driver who drove us to the Petronus Towers where we had dinner and walked around, and then he took us back to our hotel...we ate at Chili's inside the tower's...an awesome dinner!!

Those towers are something to see...they used to be the tallest towers in the world until Taipei and Dubai took over with the new tallest buildings...but they are damn impressive!!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T14:55:00.003+07:00

If you haven't guessed by now, I am trying to update this blog little by little...I was trying to edit some video I took with my ipad on Christmas day, but I don't know how to use iMovie well yet....I am a wizard with Photoshop, but with iMovie, I am a mere amateur....I will need to ask Butch for assistance as he is a wizard with iMovie....once I get that video finished, I will post it on the blog...for now, here are some photos of the girls on Christmas Day....

Christmas was small this year in terms of presents handed out. My Graham family is nothing like the Graham family I grew up in where there were possibly three truck loads of presents under the tree every year....granted, we usually had more people with aunts and uncles, cousins, etc attending, but it would usually take all day to open all of the presents...it took us a mere 15 minutes to open the presents under our tree, and most were from Mei Mei and Grand Dad....the big present to everyone in our family was the trip to China, so we kept the gifts to a minimum this year. Needless to say, all were very happy with what was received, and a HUGE thanks goes out to Mei Mei and Grand Dad for the very thoughtful presents they sent to the other side of the world!! I can't tell you how many times your names were heard during the day.

After opening presents, we met some good friends at the Ritz Carlton for brunch....we over-stuffed ourselves, and left FOUR hours later to come home when everyone crashed for naps...I then went to another Christmas party until I collapsed...a great day!!

Mom and Dad.....I know...no mention of church, but there were rumors of bomb threats, so we decided not to attend....but the REAL meaning of Christmas was certainly conveyed to the kids!!

The Graham Girls...

The Grahams, Koltai girls and Murnane kids meet at the Ritz...

The "other family" with two gorgeous girls...the Koltai's...

Kelly strikes a pose while waiting for our car from valet...

Kayla wanted to strike a pose as well...she is the veteran "poser"...

Photowalk With Butch

2011-12-24T14:44:00.002+07:00

I was going to meet a guy that happens to be a reader of my photoblog from Australia today, but we couldn't make our schedules mesh, so Butch and I went on a photowalk together down to the train tracks in Central Jakarta...ya, I know it is Christmas Eve, but we had nothing planned at home during the day...so off we went...Butch filmed with his flip video camera, so here is a "behind the scenes" look at a typical photowalk...

Top 15 Photos on Google Plus

2011-12-19T16:19:00.002+07:00

oops....almost forgot....I just found out last night reading my email that one of my photos was featured on a site called, Photo Extract...they feature (daily) the top 15 photos posted on Google Plus. I have always admired the photos posted on that site, and wondered if some day one of my photo would be featured on that site....and on the 15th of December, it happened!! Mine came at Number NINE....pretty cool.

Check it out here.....

http://www.photoextract.com/plus-extract/2011/12/15

Jakarta Blues Festival

2011-12-19T16:07:00.002+07:00

At the last minute, I found out that there was a blues festival downtown. So, a few of us too off, and bought tickets to the Blues Festival. It was fantastic. The weather was cool and breezy (for Jakarta), and there were only small crowds. I saw my favorite blues band, Gugun and The Blues Shelter. Gugun is probably one of the best guitarist I have EVER heard...I don't know why he is not a multi-millionaire already...he is really talented. Later, Tika and I saw the Blues legend John Mayal play...he must be in his 70's and still playing great blues!!

I am not sure how much blogging I will be able to do the next couple of weeks. I have no internet at home, so posting is a bit difficult. I have to come to work (as I am now) to use the internet.

We leave for China the day after Christmas for 10 days...

So, if I don't hear from you, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Red Nose Circus and Exams

2011-12-14T07:42:00.003+07:00

This past Saturday, I went up to North Jakarta to help out a friend with his circus performance. Dan Roberts, a JIS graduate, came back to Indonesia to start a charity called, "Hidung Merah" (Red Nose)...he goes into poor communities and trains kids in clowning skills, and then puts together a performance. The kids really get into it, and it is such a pleasure to see...he is doing a great job and really making a difference in these communities...

In other news, we are deep into exams at school. I have two more classes to grade. We have a new reporting system which is more work for us teachers, but is pretty slick....all done on-line.

Poker tonight!!

in front is our headmaster, Tim Carr and a few alumni from JIS...

Kelly Gets A Haircut

2011-12-12T12:53:00.006+07:00

I came home from work on Friday to find that Kelly's hair had been chopped off...Tika decided she would look cute with short hair, and she DOES!! Kelly came running up to me flaunting her new hair style, and said, "Daddy, I am bald like you...".

Kayla's Christmas Concert

2011-12-09T09:16:00.003+07:00

Since Dad has taken a break (hopefully, not a long break) from blogging, I guess I need to step it up a notch on my own blogging...maybe Dad had a hidden agenda....and it's working...this is the "kick in the butt" I needed...ha ha...

Last night was the elementary's BIG SHOW where the Kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade classes were featured...Kayla's class was last to perform. It was WAY better than last year's show. Last year was just too politically correct for my liking...this year, they actually sang some Christmas songs!! The kids were way into it, and it was a real pleasure to watch...

I couldn't get a seat up front, so we sat in the back....without a zoom lens on my Leica, it is tough to get close....but Kayla is pointed out in the photo below. Kelly loved the concert too...she was dancing and clapping during the entire show....too cute!

The Christmas Tree Goes Up

2011-12-08T12:41:00.003+07:00

The decorations are up, and I didn't have to hang a single light...the girls were so excited to decorate the tree, and Tika put out all of the bells and whistles including the beautiful Manger scene that Mom bought us a couple of years ago for Christmas...

All is missing is the white snow....uh....forgot...we live in the tropics.

In other news, made it to the Chinese embassy to apply for our visas. All went smoothly. We will pick up our visas next Tuesday. We will meet Reny and Kim in Guilin and vacation together in Yangshuo....really looking forward to the trip. We will be at home on Christmas day, and then have a Christmas brunch with friends at the Ritz in the afternoon...

House Update

2011-12-06T15:08:00.005+07:00

It was a really nice day the other day, so thought I would take some photos of the house. It has changed a bit since the last time I posted photos of the house...for one, the plants and trees have really filled in...two, we shortened the "island" in the kitchen and added some stools...three, we had our pool table refurbished...

This is where the piano ended up...

The back yard...

Gazebo and pool...notice how big the trees have gotten?

The front yard...well, half the front yard...

our new island and bar stools...my new favorite place to eat...

our newly refurbished pool table...

LA Galaxy

2011-12-01T12:25:00.003+07:00

Yesterday, Tika asked me if I was interested in seeing David Beckam and the LA Galaxy play a game with the Indonesian "Select" team? There was also Robby Keene and Landon Donovan playing...FREE TICKETS....my answer, "of course!!"

Tika's good friend, Joyce, got five free tickets from her husband's office...and they weren't the cheap tickets....we had VVIP tickets which put us up front right next to the tunnel where the players come out onto the field...so, we got to see David Beckam pretty close-up...here is a video of when the team was coming out onto the field...I wasn't allowed to bring my camera, so the iphone had to do....

The game was only so so, but it was pretty cool to see those famous athletes in person!!

Finally a Spare Moment

2011-12-01T12:10:00.003+07:00

Below is a short video taken by my friend, Allison, at Thanksgiving...she kind of pans around the room when we were all holding hands just before the feast!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-24T08:11:00.003+07:00

One of my favorite holidays!! I do really miss home, though, on this day. Nothing better than sitting around the house smelling the turkey in the oven, and watching football...and then the leftovers...ah, doesn't get much better than that!!

We are all prepared for our big feast here!! The tent guys came yesterday to set up, and the house looks great. Tika will pick up the turkeys this morning, and I and a few buddies will start cooking at 1:00 (that's the plan, anyway). We need to cook 7 turkeys (deep fried) by 6:00. We will have close to 70 people over at the house, so it is a BIG event for the Graham family!

Today is UN day at the high school...will get some photos this morning, and then head off to the house to prepare...will provide some photos of both UN Day and our big dinner later...

Have a great day!! Mom and Dad, have fun at Pam's!! Wish I were there!!

To the rest of the family and friends, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Underwater Photo Shoot

2011-11-22T10:33:00.003+07:00

This was something different for me. I was asked by the dance teacher if I could take some photos of a couple of the dancers underwater...they had made a short video of the kids dancing underwater, but they wanted some still shots...so, they asked me. I had always wanted to try doing a real fashion shoot underwater, and I think I got some good shots. I of course, turned the photos into "art", because they looked pretty plain with the boring pool background.

Kayla came with me, but she has a bad cough so she stayed out of the pool...but she had a blast watching the action and talking to the students...the students loved Kayla, so it was good both ways.

Any way, below are a couple of the shots I got from the shoot....maybe I can do this for some real money someday...it was challenging, but fun!! I will be posting other photos from the shoot on my photo blog every day this week...

In other news....we are preparing for Thanksgiving....we will have over 70 people at the house on Thursday. The preparation has been going on the past week...I think we are ready. We will cook seven turkeys in hot oil....hope it all works out!!

New Computer Frustrations

2011-11-14T13:04:00.003+07:00

So, what did the Graham family do this weekend?

Well, it started Friday night with a wedding. One of the TV stars that films at our house got married, and she invited Kayla (and her parents) to the wedding. I usually moan and groan at the mere thought of attending a wedding, but this one actually ended up being "not bad". It was at the Nikko hotel (a very upscale place), the food was really good, and the best part?....we entered the place, shook hands with the bride and groom, ate some food, and then left. Now that is the kind of wedding I like...the only downside was the travel time to get there...Friday night traffic is never good...

Saturday? Not such a fun day....Kayla had two birthday parties to attend. The first one was for her classmate, VJ...he had his party at an indoor soccer place where the kids played...you guessed it, indoor soccer. It was very hot, but the food was good and the company was good. The place was just down the road from the mall, so I walked to the mall to buy movie tickets. There were three movies playing..."The Adventures of Tin Tin", "The Rum Diaries", and "Real Steel". I know Tika wanted to see Real Steel, so I bought two tickets for that movie, and then walked back to the soccer place. I told Tika I wanted to see "The Rum Diaries", but got tickets to Real Steel...she said, "lets see both"...so, I walked back to the mall and got tickets to that movie two (a double header)...then it was off to the second party...a house in Cipete...a very nice house in Cipete...this party was ok, because there were adult males to talk with...we drank beer, talked about the current events in Indonesia (most about the oil business as those guys were oil guys), and watched the kids play in the pool...the girls all gathered at another table talking girl stuff...we then drove Kayla and Kelly home, and Tika and I watched our double header movies...neither movie was great, but both watchable...

Sunday?

Tika made some great breakfast sandwiches, and then we took the girls to see "The Adventures of Tin Tin"...an amazing animated film by Steve Spielberg...it was very well done...how do they do that? After the movie, we all went home, and I migrated to my office where I spent the rest of the day and night trying to configure my new computer. Without internet, it is a very daunting job and frustrating. Here were my problems....

Tried to hook my 23-inch Apple display to my new iMac...nope, don't have those plugs anymore...not sure if there are adapters...not even the old fire wire plugs are on the new iMac.
Tried to print on my EPSON...nope, missing all of the ICC profiles, and the EPSON doesn't even show up as a printer, and none of the EPSON tools show up...still working on this one.
Tried to re-install software for my Wacom tablet and Spyder3 calibration software. Nope, got the message, "This power pc software is not compatible"....so, can't use my Wacom or calibrate my monitor for printing
Tried to launch Photomatix and Screenflow....nope, gotta enter my serial numbers which I have lost long ago...update: Found my Photomatix SN, but no luck with Screenflow yet.
Can't register software because I have no internet at home...which means I have to bring my computer back to school again to register the software again.

SO, as you can imagine, there were a few bad words launched at my new computer, and a grumpy Dad upstairs trying to work out all of the problems...there were some happy moments though....Lightroom, Photoshop, and all of my plug-ins are working fine, and I was able to transfer my catalog and presets over to Lightroom with no problems. I now have both computers set up on my desk with my new 27-inch in the middle, and my other two monitors on the sides...I look like some kind of media mogul...I will have to get a photo tonight to show you. I will use my old computer for printing for the time being until I can get my printer all hooked up to my new computer, and the the other monitor hooked up (I can't seem to calibrate the iMac monitor...too bright)...getting a new computer shouldn't be this difficult...!!

A photo of the girls playing on the piano....which is a BIG hit, by the way...

New iMac and New Piano

2011-11-08T14:49:00.002+07:00

Well, we took the plunge...we took some of the funds from the sale of our old car and bought some items we have been wanting for some time now. I have been wanting a new computer as my old iMac is getting out of date and really slowing down...so, I bought a new one yesterday. It has the new Lion operating system, the new i7 chips, a 1TB drive, and 16 gigs of RAM....whew baby!! Oh, and a 27 inch screen!! I am now trying to load my apps onto it, so haven't used it yet.

The other thing I promised my family a long time ago is a piano. So, after leaving the computer store yesterday, we went to the used piano store..we ended up buying a Kawai Piano (upright). I tried every piano in the place, and this one had the nicest touch and sound to it. It will be great for me to play piano again, but even better, Kayla and Kelly can take lessons too. The piano gets delivered tomorrow, we hope.

Mid-Way Through Project Week

2011-11-01T21:13:00.002+07:00

I actually have some WiFi tonight in the hotel room. The electricity has been out on the island for the past few nights, so the hotels, restaurants and dive shops have been running on generators. Apparently there are three generators on the island, and all three broke down. What I heard was that when the first one went down, they didn't fix it because they had two other generators...then the second one went down...same thing...they didn't fix it cause they still had one more...then the third went down...ok, time to fix the generators....arrrrrgh...IWA (Indonesia Wins Again).

The trip is going well. We have 33 kids this year. Other than the regular stuff that happens every year (kids waking up late, kids forgetting stuff, kids not listening, etc.), they are a very good group. All of them will finish their certification course tomorrow.

The diving has been really good, and the weather even better....great visibility....can see forever, and really calm seas...like diving in a pool. I love it when it is like that...

I will be here until Saturday...been in regular contact with Tika and the girls....I miss them!!

One of the dive sites I really like...this is un-processed...straight out of the camera...

One of the teachers on the trip...Tony...joined the kids to get his certification...

Old Friends In Beijing

2011-10-26T16:13:00.003+07:00

While in Beijing last week, I had the great opportunity to see some old friends that used to work here in Jakarta. It was really nice to catch up with them. We had a nice BBQ at Matt's house, talked about trips, talked about the old days at JIS, talked about China and living there, and just told stories and laughed. Also met some of Matt's friends from ISB (International School Beijing). A great night!!

From left to right...Peter Stevenson (worked in the math dept with me...now in Japan), Loreto Keary (working at WAB..Western Academy Beijing), Fiona Sheridan (was at JIS for almost 20 years), Liz and Matt Merritt (good friends from JIS) and me...

In Hong Kong

2011-10-24T13:20:00.002+07:00

The photo below has nothing to do with my post today, but I don't have any other photos with me on my computer.

I had a good four days in Beijing, and Rick and I are now in the Hong Kong airport waiting for our flight back to Jakarta. As I wrote on my photoblog, the weather was really strange in Beijing. When we arrived, the pollution was awful...it was so bad at one point, that you could not see the buildings across the street...then yesterday, like someone in the sky just blew really hard, everything cleared up. It was clear as a bell. The pollution index reached a staggering 496 at one point, and then yesterday, it dropped to an 8. The locals were telling me that they are able to shoot these things into the sky to make it rain. Apparently, that is what they did, and it started to drizzle, then things cleared up...really weird.

The IB workshops we attended were really good. Boring at times, but very worthwhile for me. I learned quite a bit. I am pretty new with the IB teaching, so it was good to learn more about the program. It will be good to be back home. While away, Tika sold the Everest...we were in pretty constant contact via email...Blogger and some google sites, Facebook and Youtube are all blocked in China...have no idea why, but it sure makes surfing the net problematic when in China....

I am missing parent conferences today at school....ha ha....but will have a bunch to make-up this week. I leave for Lombok this Saturday for the 9th grade project week trip. This has been a very busy month for travel...

On My Way to Beijing Early Tomorrow

2011-10-19T14:22:00.003+07:00

Hopefully, I will have my visa this afternoon...I have everything else, and ready for my trip to Beijing...even downloaded a couple of movies to my Ipad for the trip. I will get to see a couple of old buddies that used to work here at JIS...looking forward to that.

See ya when I get back Monday night...

Took this photo of Kayla and Kelly before the break last week...cute girls, heh?? Even if Kayla is missing a couple of teeth...

Another Trip....To Beijing On Thursday

2011-10-18T12:15:00.002+07:00

I am off to China again for an IB conference. This one is in Beijing. I am hoping for some free time to visit some sites in Beijing...we shall see. It will be good to be back in Beijing, though.

I gave my passport to the office staff in Papua when I arrived last week, and they forgot to give it back to me. I didn't realize I had no passport until I was in the airport in Sorong, so I made a panicked phone call back to the island. Luckily, one of the workers was headed to Jakarta yesterday, and was able to bring my passport with him. I met him last night at the mall for him to deliver my passport. When he gave it to me, it was missing my KITAS (the card that all of us expats have in our passport that says we are residents). I needed my KITAS and Passport to get my Chinese visa. Another panic, and a slew of phone calls back to Papua. I went back home last night with mixed emotions...happy to have my passport back, but angry that I was missing my KITAS. When I told the story to Tika when I got home, she said, "your KITAS is here at home...I took it out of your passport to get the new car registration"....ah man....a relief, but I had to make another bunch of phone calls to tell everyone that had worried they lost my KITAS, to not worry anymore...arggggh....in any case, I handed in my passport and KITAS to the school today so they could get my visa for China...

The photo below is kind of funny. At low tide, these large sand bars appear. They are about a half mile from the resort. I kept thinking during the week that it would make a cool photo to be sitting on the sand bar, but how to get there without bothering the staff to take me there by boat...then I thought, I could take a kayak there....BUT, it is a long way to kayak, the currents were really strong, and how would I take my camera there without risking it getting wet or worse yet, dropped into the ocean? I couldn't find anyone willing to go with me to take my photo there either...

So, I decided to risk it all, and take a Kayak over to the sand bar...I packed my camera into a dry bag and tied it to the top of the kayak, put my tripod in one of the kayak's compartments, and put my props (a beer bottle, my sandals, an umbrella and a towel) in the other compartment. I then kayaked over to the sand bar which was a really good workout....I had one scary moment when the waves were pretty big in the heavy current section and almost flipped me into the water, but I made it to the sand bar. I then set up my camera on the tripod, and ran into the photo, put up the umbrella and waited for the camera to fire....then I would pop up, look at the photo, and re-compose....I repeated this about 15 times....talk about another good workout.....that took some energy, and I still had to kayak back to the resort. I kept laughing at myself and was wondering if there was anyone watching this crazy dude on the sand bar...

In the end, I got this shot...my arms are still sore from that Kayak trip...

I Am Back...A Fantastic Dive Trip

2011-10-17T14:38:00.003+07:00

As you can see from the photo below, I got to finally get up in Max's little experimental aircraft (on floats) and fly...it was amazing!! We saw Whales, Mantas and Sea Cows from the air...hard to spot from a boat, but they really come into full view from the air. Just one incredible experience!!

The diving was great as usual too. I had trouble with my camera though....might need a new camera...ha ha...right...if I had a few thousand dollars, that is...something was wrong with the connection from my camera to my strobes...on some of my dives, my strobes just suddenly starting going off in quick succession. I missed taking photos on almost half my dives because of this...have no idea what was going wrong, but it was very frustrating.

I also left my passport in Papua, and I leave for China on Thursday for an IB conference...arrrrgh...thankfully, Max's brother-in-law is en route to Jakarta as I speak, and has my passport with him...I will arrange to meet him this afternoon.

In any case, it is good to be home with my girls again, but it is always tough to leave that paradise in Papua...

October Break...Back to Papua

2011-10-07T09:13:00.002+07:00

So, ya ya ya...I know, Scott has ANOTHER vacation!!

I am off to Papua very early on Sunday morning. I have 12 teachers I am bringing with me this year for some great diving. Should be a great trip. Kayla and the girls are headed to see Tika's mom in Solo while I am away.

I am hoping for some nice weather. When I was there in June, the weather was windy and rainy the entire time I was there..couldn't do any flying. This time around, it should be much better. With some luck, I will be able to fly and dive. I have also been commissioned by the department of tourism here in Indonesia to get some photos of a pearl farm. Max is going to try to set that up for me...they need photos of an oyster actually being opened with a pearl inside...not sure if I can get that shot or not as they only open the pearls at certain times...

Not that I am very good at keeping this blog up to date as it is, but I won't be making any posts next week when I am in the "wilds" of Indonesia...it is a very remote place...

See you next Monday...

Scott Kelby World Wide Photowalk

2011-10-02T14:33:00.002+07:00

Today was the fourth annual Scott Kelby World Wide Photowalk. There were actually 4 walks organized in Jakarta. I led the very first walk held four years ago...I wish I had led a walk this year as I found the leader of our walk to be a bit disorganized...he was late for a starter, and the walk he had arranged was not the best location in Jakarta for great photos. In any case, it was still fun, and the best part was meeting some other photographers. I met a few Leica users, and there is always that instant bonding when you meet another Leica shooter...sort of the same feeling when you meet another "Gator" or when you meet another person in a VW bug...instant friend!!

I did get a couple of shots that I liked....you can see those on my photo blog HERE... I will be posting a few more in the next couple of days...

Our group taking off for our walk...

I met this guy while walking around...he was not on our walk, but had two Leica cameras, and told me about a Leica group here in Jakarta..

One of the shots I liked from the walk...

Another Day of Shooting

2011-10-01T14:27:00.001+07:00

We were pretty much kicked out of our house today for another round of shooting. Today they were shooting a commercial for some food additive. They built a fake wall at the entrance to our house, and then shot their scene...this crew had an incredible amount of equipment...cameras, lights, computers and cables were everywhere.

Friends of Web Golf Tournament

2011-09-25T14:20:00.001+07:00

Since our good buddy, Rob Weber, died almost 6 years ago, we have had a golf tournament in his name. Rob loved golf, and was a very good player. He liked to play fast, and he liked to talk while he played, and he was a very casual player never getting angry. In his tradition, we played yesterday trying to keep with his style of play. We were divided into groups of four, and then competed with the best net score..my group won the event coming in at -18. I played pretty well, and contributed to the team with a couple of net eagles and a couple of net birdies...sometimes a high handicap comes in handy...ha ha....

Opa Doing Well

2011-09-24T14:09:00.000+07:00

It has been awhile since I have talked about our good friend, "Opa". If you recall, he had a stroke last year, and was in a coma for a while. He slowly recovered, and is now back to normal. A remarkable recovery. He still has trouble with names of people and places, but other than that, he is back to the same old lovable guy he was. He stopped for a visit today, and really enjoyed seeing the girls...especially, Kelly, who has grown quite a bit since he last saw her.

Saturday also was day of just sitting around the house...the girls playing with the ipad...

I took a few photos of Tika as well to kill some time...I liked this one...

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

2011-09-20T17:24:00.003+07:00

Hey Dad...I guess you are at the age now where political bumper stickers are what you get from your son for your birthday...thought you would like these. Happy Birthday, and hope you have a great day today!!

Love,

Scott

A Busy Weekend of Shooting

2011-09-19T08:24:00.003+07:00

The crew that was shooting the first milk commercial wanted to come back yesterday to do some outside shots. It rained on Friday, so they weren't able to finish. We had another company that had booked our house yesterday, but the milk commercial begged us to let them have the house yesterday, so the other TV company re-scheduled their shoot. For some reason, we have been real busy lately with film companies wanting to use our house. In any case, here are some "behind the scenes" shots of a typical shoot at our house...

The trucks and crew arrive early to set up lights, cameras, computers, ward robes, etc...

The actors, set directors, and casting crews all arrive to set the scene...

The scene is shot...they had to do many takes as the little girl was not being very cooperative...

set up by our pool, they had another crew downloading the video and doing on the spot editing with Macs, of course...

Our Kitchen Transformed Twice

2011-09-17T08:05:00.002+07:00

We had two separate commercials shot at our house this weekend. Both, different brands of milk. What amazes me is that they both came in the night before to "re-work" our Kitchen. They place fake wood on top of our cabinets to change the color, and the second group even added a fake beam, and put a light above a table which was also laminated with the same wood color. You would think they would just find a house that has the kitchen they want, but I am not complaining, commercials pay good money...

This is the first "set". They removed our island and included their own...and put the laminate on our cabinets to change the color...

I noticed that this crew is using the new RED camera...this is the camera that all of the big Hollywood movies are being shot with now...it is a 35,000 dollar camera with a very expensive lens to boot...

This is the second "set"...the most amazing transformation of our kitchen I have seen to date... Tika liked it better than our real kitchen...

The actresses at work on the set the next morning...

Bingo Night

2011-09-16T07:58:00.001+07:00

Not my favorite thing to do, but it is only once a year, and Kayla LOVES it, so I endured the crowds and noise for yet one more year. Kayla ended up with THREE Bingos, so she walked away a happy bingo player. Since there was shooting at the house, we had dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, Pepeneros...

An Interesting Trip to Shanghai

2011-09-13T15:51:00.002+07:00

Four days in Shanghai. I was there for a technology conference. It was full of keynote speakers, and I was able to attend several workshops on using technology in the classroom. The best part of the conference was meeting with other math teachers from around the world and talking about how we all use technology to enhance learning in the classroom. Some great discussions. We had three sessions dedicated to just our group and teaching math.

At night, and in the afternoons, I had time to meet up with some good friends, and explore the city a bit. I met up with my good buddy, Rob Geurten, and also saw an ex-math teacher, Liz Durkin. Rob took me to some great restaurants and beer joints....it was fantastic catching up with his life in China. All is well for him, and he is enjoying Shanghai more and more.

I did wander around the city, but it was not easy. Everywhere you go, you must have your destination written in Chinese. Otherwise, the taxi drivers have no idea where you want to go. You can't just say, "McDonalds or Hilton Hotel"...they have different names for those places...can be very frustrating, but I planned my excursions well, and had all of these pieces of paper with Chinese on it to go from place to place. I also became familiar with the subway system, and that made things easier to find, and much cheaper than taking a taxi everywhere.

Living in China is like a big game of charades. One afternoon, I dropped into McDonalds (which are everywhere, by the way) for a snack. I asked for water. They got that right, but it was warm water, so I asked if they had COLD water...BIG MISTAKE...should never had asked. They didn't know what I was asking, and thought I wanted COKE...they took my water away, and brought me a coke. I was then using my best Charade skills to have them visualize "Cold"...I just got confused looks, and then the manager came over....I was starting to cause a scene with other Chinese in line trying to help understand what it was that I wanted....I thought the manager spoke English, so I told her I didn't want a coke, but wanted cold water....she had no idea what I was saying and pointed at my coke, and said, "You ready haf coke....der"...so, I gave up, and took the coke...

On my last day, I had a few hours to explore some more. I went to an really cool part of the city called, "Tai Kan Lu" (or something like that). It was an older part of the city with lots of cool shops and restaurants. While there, I ran into a group of Chinese guys all shooting with the same camera that I have. Since I have had my Leica, I may have seen one more...here, I ran into FOUR guys with the Leica M9. None of them spoke any English, but there was no language barrier when it comes to the Leica...we all exchanged lenses, and looked over each other's cameras and gave each other high fives...it was a wild experience, and an instant bonding between us. I gave them my website address, but blogger is blocked in China, so don't know if they will ever see my photos. Those are the guys below in the photos...

One last story....my trip back to Jakarta. We flew back through Hong Kong. We arrived in Hong Kong at about 1:30. The flight left Hong Kong at 4:00...that gave me some time to wander around the airport. When I got off my flight, I checked the departure board for my gate number. It was in Chinese, so I just looked for my flight number (719), Jakarta, and the time. I found the 719 (as it turns out it was actually 791), saw Jakarta, but the time was 4:30....close enough...maybe the flight was delayed...and saw that it was gate 30. I then went and had some lunch, wandered around the shops, then strolled over to gate 30 at 3:45 thinking I was there in plenty of time to board. They then announced the flight to Jakarta, and everyone lined up. I hate standing in a line, so I just sat in the chairs until most people had boarded, and then popped into line. It was then I noticed I was at the gate for CHINA AIRLINES....I was supposed to be on CATHAY PACIFIC....my flight was CX719, and I was in line for CI791...both going to Jakarta, and both near the same time. PANIC!! I ran to the departure board again to look for the gate for MY flight...it was gone....I missed my flight!! I never heard them calling my name because the gate was at another terminal that you had to take a shuttle train over to reach. Arrrrrrgh...that has never happened to me before. In a panic, I ran to the Cathay Pacific desk, and there I ran into two other guys in line. I was trying to push ahead of them saying I had an emergency, and then I found out these two other guys were in the same situation...funny. They put me on stand-by for the next flight which left four hours later. I got on the flight, and had to pay 100 bucks for my stupid mistake. I didn't get back home until 1:00 in the morning....

New Road, and Trip to China

2011-09-06T10:24:00.003+07:00

I used to call it the "Rodeo Road"...the road that leads to our house. I called it that because it felt like you were riding a wild rodeo horse when traveling down the road. It was impossible to drive around the multiple pot holes, and they were BIG pot holes, and many of them. Combine the pot holes with a "wavy" road that was like the road had melted and hardened into waves, and you had a road that was the carnival ride of the neighborhood. I would avoid this road when ever possible, and take the windy alternate road that added two minutes to the trip to Jalan Andara every morning. BUT, no more. We now have a new road that is smooth as silk. I wonder how long it will take to destroy this one...

We are supposed to get our new car today. I am not holding my breath, though. Hopefully, it will arrive with all the paper work done. I leave for Shanghai tomorrow morning, so I am hoping the new car will be here with our new driver so that Kayla doesn't have to take a taxi with Tika to school tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is also Tika's birthday!!

Holiday Over...Back to School for ONE Day...ha ha

2011-09-02T14:37:00.002+07:00

It was decided that Idul Fitri would be on Wednesday instead of Tuesday. We had already invited some people over for lunch on Tuesday, but had to cancel because there was one more day of fasting for the Muslims in the group. So, everyone came over on Wednesday for some good old fashioned Indonesian food cooked by the fabulous cook, Tika! She cooked all by herself as all of our maids are gone visiting family in their village. It was a feast, and everyone really enjoyed all the food!

The house was alive with kids running all over the place, jumping in the pool, playing hide and seek, and jumping on the trampoline...they all had a great time while all of us parents hung out in the pool or the gazebo talking and eating...a great day!!

Today was back to School. Kayla and I made it to school in less than 15 minutes. There was barely a car on the road...man, how nice it would be if it were like this every day!! I am dreading the thought of driving to work on Monday...could be back to nightmare status. BUT, I think Indonesian schools are not back in action until Wednesday, so there might be another few more days of traffic bliss....we shall see...

most of the kids line up to jump in the pool together...

Chris demonstrates his HUGE splash...just before entry

Tika, Een and Lorly serve up some food...(sorry, a bit out of focus..)

The girls relax in the pool on our last day off (yesterday)...

Kayla Loses Another Tooth and Golf

2011-08-30T12:35:00.003+07:00

Kayla is at the stage in life where she is losing all of her baby teeth...that awkward age...

Idul Fitri was supposed to be today, but there was a big debate amongst the Muslim leaders of the actual date...it was decided in the end that Idul Fitri will now be tomorrow instead of today, so everyone must fast for another day. We were supposed to go back to work on Thursday, but now that Idul Fitri has been pushed one day, we will now have Thursday off too...it is like a snow day...with the traffic almost non-existent, I thought it would be good to come to school to update the blogs....no internet at home...

My big news is my golf game. I played with my friends, Bill Titmuss, Tom Wrenson and James Olmstead yesterday at Ponkok Indah Golf. It was a real treat because the course has been newly renovated...it has taken almost three years to renovate, and I had not played there since the renovations started. The price has gone up BIG TIME, and yesterday they offered a special rate, so we were able to get t-times, and play the course. It plays a lot tougher than before, and is in amazing shape...so what's my news? I started my round with a birdie...then on the second hole, sank a 20 foot putt for par, then ended the nine with three more pars and four bogies for a Scotty Graham record of THIRTY NINE!! I finally broke 40 for the first time ever!! I was very proud of myself....the bad news is that I fell apart on the back nine. I actually started out ok with a bogey followed by a par, but then the old Scotty Graham lifted his ugly head, and I scored a 7 and an 8 on the next two holes...followed by some more double bogies....I ended the nine holes with a 51....not exactly stellar golf for the second nine...oh well..I was still very happy with my 39 on the front nine, and will serve as my best nine ever for some time to come...

The house seems so empty with all the maids gone...it is just "us"...we will have some people over tomorrow for lunch...I will get some photos, and post on Friday...

I Got The Message...

2011-08-23T08:44:00.003+07:00

OK, finally an update. I was going to update yesterday, but I left my USB at home with all my photos. I have no internet at home, so am left to do my updates from work. Sorry for the lack of info...

So, last Saturday, I hosted my fourth annual photowalk for JIS teachers. There were other events going on over the weekend, so I didn't get the big crowd I usually get, but it was a nice manageable group this year (photo below). The walk went great, and everyone seemed to have had a great time.

In other news, we bought a new car. We finally decided to go with the Nissan Serena. It is a nice comfortable family car...automatic, with a DVD player and screens on the kids' seats, leather seats, blue tooth, and a nice stereo. We are waiting for the new license plates, so hope to have the car by the end of this week. In the meantime, I have been driving the bug to and from work, and dropping Kayla off at school in the mornings. Tika has been taking taxis all over the city running her errands. The timing for the car crash couldn't have been worse with Ramadan going on right now. It is near impossible to get anything done during Ramadan. The Ford will most likely be in the shop for at least another month before we will be able to sell it...the estimate came in at around 2500 dollars to repair the thing...Insurance should cover that cost.

What else? Kayla has her open house tomorrow, and the high school has open house on Thursday. We have Monday through Wednesday off next week for Idul Fitri. The traffic the last two days has been a dream with schools closed and people headed out of Jakarta to visit family. It has only taken 15 minutes to get to work in the morning. I am dreading what it will be like when Ramadan is over...every year, it gets worse and worse, but in the meantime, I will sure enjoy NO TRAFFIC for the next week or so...

Indonesia Independence Day

2011-08-17T13:00:00.001+07:00

Holiday today!! Woo Hoo!!

It was nice to sleep-in in the middle of the week. I could get used to a schedule like this...work two days, take one off, work two days, take two off...that would be nice.

We had a lazy day today. We did make it out to the mall to have some lunch, and then we visited the Nissan Dealer to look at the new Serena. We have decided to get a new car. The Everest is being repaired now, so we will take the school loan to get a new car, and then pay off most of it when we can sell the Ford...

Sick for a Couple of Days

2011-08-16T12:49:00.003+07:00

I woke up Saturday morning not feeling so great, but still met up with my buddy, Dave, to head back to the Jakarta Dump to take some more photos. It was another amazing experience at the Dump. This time, Dave and I actually climbed the mountain of trash and got up close and personal with the people picking in the trash. It was incredible. We then walked around the small village that is next to the dump where all of the garbage pickers live. Their houses are all made from the garbage they find. In fact, I think most of their clothes and shoes are also things they found in the dump. Incredible. It sure makes you grateful for what you have. I couldn't even start to imagine what it would be like to spend every day of your life in and around the garbage dump.

On the way out of the dump, I started to feel sick. It came in waves. I don't think I was sick from the dump, as I was not feeling well when I woke up. In any case, I got sick Saturday night, and didn't feel well all day Sunday. I didn't feel well on Monday either, but went to work as it was my first "real" class with my students...

In any case, I am feeling good again! I have no idea what kind of bug I picked up, but I am glad it is now gone.

School Begins at JIS

2011-08-11T14:05:00.003+07:00

The day of reckoning has arrived....the official end of summer, and the official start of school. We only found out yesterday afternoon who Kayla's new teacher will be. We were very pleased to see that she will have Mrs. Detwiler for her 2nd grade year. Margaret has been here longer than I have, and is one of the best teachers at PIE...we have lucked out once again!! Kayla was also excited to see that she has some old friends in her class this year. Below is VJ and Sheena. VJ was in Kayla's class her first year of school, and Sheena is one of Kayla's good gymnastic buddies. Christopher is also in Kayla's class. Christopher has been in Kayla's class since the start.

As for me, the first day went very smoothly. The kids all met in the theater for an opening assembly, and then they had various meetings with their respective class...and then met their teachers for 30 minute classes. It was a great way to ease into the year. The real work starts on Monday for most classes...we have a new cafeteria and a cashless campus where our ID cards are scanned to purchase food. Today was the first day all was open, and everything seemed to run very smoothly. I will get some photos of the new cafeteria...it is awesome, and was designed by the same guy our house was designed by...Burhan.

As for our car...it is being taken to the garage today to looked at by a Ford garage. I took Kayla and Tika to school this morning in the bug. Tika has been using taxis all day to get around to run her errands...we are going to have to figure out a way for Tika to get around until we find out what happens next for our car...

VJ, Sheena and Kayla pose just before going into school...

Kayla and Mariska...

The high school campus busy with activity...

Friends check out their schedules to see if they share any classes together...

Bad Day

2011-08-10T13:43:00.004+07:00

One of the side effects of fasting for Ramadan...people become extremely tired and sleepy from staying up all night and no food or water during the day. This happened to our driver. Despite Tika telling him he could come in at 10:00 to start work instead of his usual 7:00, he came to work already tired. The problem is that he didn't tell anyone he was sleepy. He took Tika, Tina and Kelly to drop Tina and Kelly at pre-school. Tika then had some errands to run, and on the way to Blok M to pick up some clothes Tika had tailored, Tika noticed the car moving towards the other side of the road. When she screamed at Muz, it was too late. He pressed the gas instead of the brakes and slammed into a parked truck on the other side of the road. The result is pictured below...

We do have good insurance, and all will be covered, but the problem is all the paperwork involved. And of course, that means I have to stop all the work I need to do at school to get this insurance stuff taken care of...arrrrrgh...not the stress we need at the moment.

We are actually all very lucky. No one was hurt, and the accident happened on a back road that was surprisingly (for Jakarta) not busy. He could have plowed into on on-coming car or motorcycle causing severe injuries to someone and lots more damage. Having said this, we will need to fire our driver...I don't want to take any chances in the future when things or luck could go the other way...

Back In Jakarta

2011-07-30T10:57:00.003+07:00

We left San Diego on the 26th of July. Lorly took Tika and girls (I tagged along) to the shopping outlets out in the desert before we left. Tika stocked up on some cheap purses, shoes and clothes. We left Temecula at around 5:30 in the afternoon, and made it to LA in 90 minutes. It was nice going against traffic for a change. I dropped the girls off at the departure terminal with all of our bags, and then went to return the rental car...then took the shuttle bus back to the terminal.

We had our smoothest exit ever. All went so well...guess it pays to be way early for your flight. The flight to Bangkok was only half full. They said they had the same number of passengers in first class as they had in economy. We all had a row of four seats to stretch and sleep...what a difference that made. We arrived in Bangkok pretty well rested...only had an hour in Bangkok, and then flew to Jakarta.

The traffic is worse, and the weather HOT, and no internet at home....

I miss America, but it IS nice to be home...

A day in La Jolla

2011-07-25T10:48:00.002+07:00

A glorious day in La Jolla. La Jolla was one of my favorite spots to just hang out on my off days when I was in the RAG in San Diego. I would drive here with my SCUBA gear, park near the cove, put on my gear, and just sit on the bottom of the ocean watching the Garibaldi swim by and the sea weed sway back n forth....those were the days. Things have not changed much over the years, but it did seem more crowded than what I remember. The weather was perfect!! 75 degrees and blue skies...pretty typical for Southern California...

Kathleen (Swanson) Kennedy

2011-07-24T21:24:00.002+07:00

Probably one of the highlights of the summer was seeing one of my best friends from High School, Kathleen. We had re-connected via facebook earlier in the year, and had planned a reunion of sorts since I knew I would be in San Diego this summer. I had not seen Kathleen in over 20 years, so we were both anxious to talk about the old days. Since today was one of those days meeting old friends, I planned on meeting Dan in the morning, run around Coronado and San Diego, and then meet with Kathleen and her family for dinner. All worked out perfectly!

Kathleen and Chris are still in the house they bought back in 1987, and they are situated near the old Marine Corps base inland. They have a beautiful house in a very nice neighborhood. The weather, as usual, was near perfect!! We pulled up in our rental car, and was greeted by Chris, Kathleen, Jake and Molly. I felt like we were coming home to greet family...they made us all feel so comfortable!!

Chris served up on his amazing BBQ some shrimp and beef kebabs, and while talking outside, Janice and her husband arrived. Janice is Kathleen's younger sister. She has also been living in San Diego the past 20 years working as a hair dresser, and has not aged a bit! She is married to an amazing chef.

We had a great evening catching up on old times while Kayla was entertained by Kathleen's daughter, Molly. Kathleen made some chocolate chip cookies that were to die for, and when we left, we were given two boxes of Mint Girl Scout Cookies....my all time favorite!!

A huge thanks to Kathleen, Chris, Jake, Molly and Janice for such a wonderful evening!! It was really great seeing you guys!!

Due to Kathleen's insistence on NO photos, this post will remain photoless....but, Kathleen and her family looked amazing!!

My Old Buddy, Dan Dearolph

2011-07-24T10:24:00.002+07:00

I met up with my good friend, Dan Dearolph in Coronado today. We went to school together at UF, and then went to flight school together. We had some good laughs catching up on old times, and then went on the base to see our old helicopters we used to fly. To our surprise, neither of our helicopters were there anymore. Both the H-3 and H-46 have been retired and replaced with the H-60. Talk about making me feel old...this is what it must have felt like to be a WWII pilot and then seeing your aircraft you flew in some museum...

I couldn't remember where I had lived in Coronado, and I wanted to see my old apartment. Then while driving around Coronado, I drove past "D" Avenue, and something rang a bell in my head....so, I went with my intuition, and drove down the street, and then ran into my old apartment....it hadn't changed a bit. Tom Jones, if you are reading this, you will enjoy the photos below....

Dan and I having a beer at a little Mexican place on Coronado...

This is where Tom Jones and I lived in 1987 as wild and crazy single guys...just up that staircase and to the left...

My old helicopter....now on display with some other retired aircraft...sad.

A Fun Day With The Koltai Family

2011-07-23T11:55:00.009+07:00

Sometimes, everything goes as planned. Our flight from Virginia left right on time, and our flight from Nashville left right on time arriving in LA 20 minutes early. All of our bags were there waiting for us, we walked outside and caught the Budget Rent a Car shuttle just before it took off from the curb, the driver helped us with all of our bags onto the shuttle bus, there was no line at the Budget rental counter, our car had the navigation system and kid's car seat installed as ordered, and other than the nightmare traffic in LA, our trip to Butch's house was easy.

It was not easy saying good-bye to Grand Dad and Mei Mei, but all good things must come to an end sometime...we will just look forward to our next trip home. The only good part about leaving was the heat wave that hit Virginia. The temps were hotter than Jakarta. We arrived in 70 degree weather in Southern California, and it has been gorgeous out here while the rest of the country is suffering with a heat wave.

As soon as we arrived at Butch's house, the planning started. We were going to go to the San Diego Zoo, then switched plans to go to Sea World, and then after a bit of research on our ipads, we found that both places were pretty expensive...75 bucks for Sea World!! For a family of four, that would blow our entire budget for the our stay here. So, we decided to stay away from any theme parks, and just take a nice drive and visit a park in the mountains. Great decision. We had a blast and the girls had even more fun. The girls got to ride horses, visit a petting farm, a small zoo, and we rented bikes and had a picnic...a perfect day, and all for the price of just one ticket to Sea World...and the weather....wow, the weather. Perfect!! Blue skies and 75 degrees, and no humidity!!

We ended the day with a nice dinner at TGI Fridays!!

Butch is leaving late tonight to go back to Jakarta, so I am now in the house with 7 girls. Our family will go to San Diego tomorrow. I am meeting my good friend, Dan Dearolph tomorrow for lunch at the Del Coronado. I have not seen Dan since the early Navy days, so really looking forward to seeing him. Then for dinner, we are going to my good high school friend, Kathleen Kennedy's house. I have not seen Kathleen for almost 25 years....so, it is going to be a good day seeing two VERY good friends, and also seeing San Diego again after 20 or so years...I am sure it has changed...

Butch shows us the town of Lake Elsinore on our drive to the park...

Tika, Lorly and Lorly's sister, Leena...

Kayla and her good friends, Mariska and Katarina pose near the horses...

The four girls enjoying their day together on the train...

The Graham's bike...much cooler than the Koltai's contraption...

The Nerdy Koltai bike...

Kayla and Kelly enjoying the petting farm...

Just before Butch left, his sister came over with her FIVE kids...that made NINE kids in the house...trying to get NINE kids to pose for a photo was not easy...this is the best I could get...

Trip To Gatlinburg, Tennessee

2011-07-19T09:18:00.008+07:00

Nothing better than taking a road trip in America...Just get in the car, and GO...DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE..it is the greatest! That is exactly what we did...got in the car, and drove west. Of course, we went to the store and stocked up on snacks before the trip. We had fruit, chips, Claussen pickles, Cheetos, sodas and my favorite...Triscuits and Cheese. Once stocked up on snacks, we headed out...we took back roads most of the way through Virginia, North Carolina and then Tennessee. A gorgeous trip through the winding roads and the rolling hills of North Carolina and Tennessee...we hit the Smokey Mountains at around 7:00 pm...still light outside, so we could enjoy the nice views of the mountains. Our hotel was way up on the hill surrounded by the mountains just up from the town of Gatlinburg. We were only going to stay for one night, but when we saw how nice Gatlinburg was, we decided to stay for two nights.

On our first day, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel, and then wandered around the town of Gatlinburg shopping, walking and eating...I was able to watch the final round of the British Open, and we found a restaurant for lunch that was playing the Women's World Cup game...a frustrating game to say the least...there is no way that Japan should have beat the USA...but that is for another blog discussion!

We then got back in the car and drove 90 minutes to my cousin's house to have dinner and visit. That was great!! I had not seen my cousin in a few years, so it was good catching up with him and his family!! Julie cooked up an awesome dinner, and the girls had a great time playing with Allison (just graduated from High School) and her two brothers who have grown about 7 feet since I last saw them!! Thanks Douglas and Julie for a great night!!

On our final day, we took a drive up into the mountains and stopped at a few places to take some short hikes and stop for photos...we finally got on the road at about 1:30 in the afternoon, and then I drove straight back to Virginia...we arrived at around midnight back at my parent's house....

A Great Trip!!

We are off to San Diego on Thursday for a visit with the Koltais!!

Our view from our hotel room...

My cousin's family...from left to right...Allison, Austin, Douglas, Mark and Julie...

At and old cabin in the mountains...

Kayla striking her usual pose...

The girls by the stream on one of our short hikes...

Tika relaxes after a Long Walk...ha ha

Kelly being a model by the fence...

Concert At The Beach

2011-07-14T09:22:00.000+07:00

Man, the weather was good today!! Breezy, sunny, dry, and cool. This is the kind of weather I REALLY miss in Indonesia. I took full advantage of the good weather today...Dad and I played a round of golf at a gorgeous golf course, and I played well for a change almost breaking 90...but it didn't matter...the weather was so nice, I could have shot 200 and would have still been happy.

Later in the afternoon, we went to a concert on the beach...these are the things that make vacations in America so nice...great weather, good music, clear blue skies and the beach...doesn't get much better than this!!

Women's World Cup and The Aviation Museum

2011-07-13T09:31:00.004+07:00

Congrats to the USA Women's Soccer Team who made it to the final of the World Cup today. We cheered them on in front of my parent's HUGE TV in HD!! The game against Brazil to put them in today's game against France was amazing...this is a team that does not give up. We are looking forward to watching the game on Sunday against Japan for the Championship game...GO USA!!

I was finally able to visit the Military Aviation Museum today just down the road from my parent's house. The entire collection of World War One and Two planes is a private collection. I met Jerry (the owner) a couple of weeks ago as he is friends with Max (my buddy in Papua).
Max is planning on recovering a P-38 from the jungles of Papua that he found years ago. He actually met the pilot of the P-38 (who is now in his mid 90's). Max wants to recover the plane in exchange for a couple of Cessna Float Planes. I am hoping to be a part of that project, and talked with Jerry about it. Jerry has never met Max in person, so I was kind of the "go between" guy to talk about a possible trade for the P-38. What a cool guy...!! He has one of those charmed lives...flies his P-51 Mustang all over the place as his favorite plane in his collection to fly...but he has so many other aircraft that I would just kill to fly...especially my favorite, the PBY Catalina Flying Boat...

The B-17...what an awesome flying machine...Jerry flew this to an airshow a couple of weeks ago...

Jerry's P-51 Mustang...I am SOOOOO Jealous!!

and my favorite...the PBY Catalina Flying Boat...

Petting Zoo

2011-07-12T09:25:00.003+07:00

It was a REALLY hot day today. We spent most of the day staying inside the air conditioning, but ventured out to a local farm later in the afternoon for pony rides and to pet some of the animals.

There were goats, lamas, chickens, peacocks and horses...all the things little girls like...

Mike Williams Visits

2011-07-11T09:14:00.003+07:00

It has been one of those kind of summers...hooking up with old friends. Mike was one of my roommates during flight school and also a fellow Gator!! We had some good times in those days (back in the mid 80's) working hard to get our "wings of gold", and also having a great time on our off days...many great weekends in Gainesville, New Orleans, Gator Games, and good times with our girlfriends. Mike is now flying for United Airlines and living in Virginia...he has two boys 18 and 16 years old. His oldest has just started at the Airforce Academy. He is still married to Kristen who we used to visit almost every weekend back in the flight school days.

We are now planning on doing something together for our 50th birthday next year...thinking of diving with Great White Sharks in Mexico....that would be cool!!

Ipads For All

2011-07-10T04:22:00.002+07:00

We are now a TWO iPad family...I got one first, and the girls kept borrowing mine, so I finally relented and bought another one. Now the girls have one and I have one! Tika is loving it staying on facebook 17 hours a day...ha ha...the girls are pretty good about sharing it to play games. Below is Kelly playing with the ipad...amazing how a two year old can operate an ipad without any instruction...

Portsmouth Children's Museum

2011-07-09T04:09:00.000+07:00

We visited the Children's museum today. We drove to Norfolk, and then took the ferry across the harbor to Portsmouth. The museum was great, and the girls had a blast.

I am now planning a road trip to Tennessee. We will stay in a bread and breakfast place in the Great Smokey Mountains. Nothing better than road tripping in the States...looking forward to it!!

A Jar of Claussen Pickles Bites The Dust...

2011-07-08T08:05:00.001+07:00

There are a couple of things I always get when I come back to the US. The first thing is a big jar of Claussen Pickles!! They are the BEST, Jerry, THE BEST...(A famous line from Seinfeld)...I just polished off my second jar...the other thing is a box of Entenmann's Chocolate Donuts...they also ROCK!! The third thing is a burger from one of my favorite places, "Five Guys"....they just opened one in Virginia Beach, so I awarded myself one just yesterday!! I should open a shop in Jakarta that sells Claussen Pickels, Five Guy's Burgers, Entenmann's Donuts, Dr. Pepper, and an assortment of Micro Brews....I would be instantly rich and in heaven!!

Ok, enough of that....here are some more photos from the Turks and Caicos...

Kayla jumps on the beach...

The Graham girls flying...

Tika and Kayla on the 4th of July...great food, and great fireworks!!

The Graham girls on the pier...a windy night...

The sisters...Kayla and Kelly...

The girl cousins...Megan, Ashlyn, Kayla and Kelly with Tika of course...

The Graham family...

My sister, Kathleen's family...from left to right...Tyler, Steve, Megan, Steven, Kathleen and Matthew...

My sister, Pam's family...from left to right...Colton, Pam, Ashlyn, Mike and Jackson...

My cousin, Catherine's family...from left to right...Val, Ryan, Trevor, Alexa and Catherine...

Turks And Caicos

2011-07-08T07:30:00.000+07:00

It was a great week in the Caribbean. I must admit I was a bit unsure what it would be like staying at an "all inclusive" resort...not really my style of travel. But, after doing it, I gotta say it was great, and I would do it again!! The place had 17 different restaurants to choose from, and there were 7 pools all with fully stocked bars. You could eat and drink anytime you liked, and the food and booze was top notch!! My favorite place was a place called Arizonas....they had jerked pork and chicken, grilled burgers to die for, flank steak, a great salad bar, and a desert bar with great cookies and cakes. I ate there most every day...the pork was REALLY good!!

After a couple of days, we all settled into a routine...sleep until 9:00, go for a huge breakfast buffet with the best omelets around, head to the pool for a swim, eat lunch at Arizonas, more pool time and a nap...a couple of drinks...more pool time, shower and head to dinner, more food and drinks, then watch whatever entertainment they had going, ice cream sundaes at Bobby D's, then bed. The girls had an absolute blast!! I think I gained 73 pounds...

I did get to do some diving as well....all was included in our package. The diving was average at best, but the visibility was unreal...it was like swimming in air....but hardly any fish and hardly any coral. I did see a lot of sharks though...it is really sad what has become of the marine environment in the Caribbean. I remember years ago the diving being WAY better...it is always good to be underwater though, so I did as much diving as Tika would allow...ha ha....

The main reason for the trip was to celebrate my parent's 50th anniversary. Both my sisters' families were there, my cousin Catherine and her family, my cousin Matthew, my cousin Ben, my Uncle Dave, Aunt Judy and Uncle Doug...it was a great family reunion and we all met at different pools and restaurants and shared stories together.

The beach was one of the nicest I have seen...very soft sand and gorgeous water...

Mom and Dad cut their cake and share it like they did on their wedding day...

At our favorite place to eat...Arizonas....man, I miss that place already!!

The Italian Village...we spent most of our pool time at this pool...

The "Fire Guy" doing his thing at one of the many shows at night...

The back side of our favorite restaurant...

The entire "Graham Clan"...my parents with their kids and grand kids...

BBQing and Walks

2011-06-27T22:49:00.003+07:00

So what have we been doing?

Well, I played a round of golf with my Dad...shot a 91 where Dad shot a 76...I have some catching up to do, but was happy with the way I was hitting the ball...

We have been swimming in the pool...having BBQ's, paddling down the water canals near the beach, and taking walks down the golf course in the early evenings....it doesn't get dark until around 9:00, so it is great to walk around in the cooler weather and the light is great for photos...

Hangin' Out At Mom and Dad's

2011-06-25T22:09:00.003+07:00

We are still trying to adjust to the time zone change...Kelly falls asleep at around 5:00pm, and then wakes up at around 1:00 am, and won't go back to sleep...then the kids wake up at around 5:00am...I am adjusted already, and I poor Tika has to get up with the girls when they wake up...but, I think in the next couple of days, everyone will adjust.

The first thing we did was do a bit of shopping. I got my Clausen Pickles and Entemann's chocolate donuts, and the girls got their little goodies to eat too...

The best part, though, was I got a new ipad2...I have had a blast playing with it, downloading apps and games...but I think I need to get another one for the girls because I don't like sharing mine...so, will probably get another one for them...

Long Plane Trip To Virginia

2011-06-24T21:47:00.003+07:00

So, we left our house at around 10:00am, boarded the Thai Airways flight to Bangkok at 1:00pm, and arrived in Bangkok a little after 4:30pm...then got on the 7:00 flight to Los Angeles, and arrived in Los Angeles at 9:00 pm on the same day (15 hour flight). Getting through immigration was a breeze, but customs took over two hours!! There was a flight from China that arrived the same time as us, and they made the line super long wrapping all around the baggage claim area. At one point, I saw a bunch of Chinese trying to cut in line right after they claimed their baggage. This was after we had walked completely around the baggage claim area to find the end of the line. I was very upset when seeing the people cutting in line, so I walked over to the "cut-in" point, and said to the guilty "cutters" the following....

"I know in China, you don't stand in lines, but here in America, we line up properly....please walk to the back of the line WAAAAY over there, and have respect for us that have been waiting already for over an hour..."

I thought I would get a standing ovation from the people standing in line...I was congratulated for my words to the guilty...the guilty party, however, bowed, smiled, and apologized, and politely walked to the end of the line...others behind them saw what happened, and made a b-line to the end of the line as well not wanting to receive the wrath of Scotty Graham...

100 points for me...a moral victory!!

After getting though customs, we managed to find the free shuttle bus to our hotel where we crashed a few hours before our flight to Virginia the next day. The girls were wide awake, and would not sleep until about 4:00 am when they finally crashed!!

Our flight the next day left at 1:00pm...we checked out of the hotel at around 10:00, and then made the 5 hour trip to Virginia (via Las Vegas) arriving in Virginia at midnight...

Woo Wee....what a long trip!!

Happy Birthday, Molly!!

2011-06-22T21:35:00.002+07:00

We are off to the airport for our LOOOOONG journey across the Pacific to the United States...

But, before we leave, we have to sing "Happy Birthday" to Molly who just turned One year old today (Seven years in Dog age)...Kayla said that Molly is now the same age as she is...

We are NOT looking forward to the long airplane trip...but we ARE looking forward to being back in the US for a month...

Joe's Family Leaves For Bali, We Leave For The States

2011-06-21T16:05:00.002+07:00

We had a great time with Joe's family, and the kids all hit it off well. Too bad we had such a short visit with them. We got them up early this morning for some breakfast (made by our in-house chef, Tika), took a photo (below), and then Muz took them to the airport where they will fly to Bali for the second part of their vacation. After Bali, they fly to Vietnam before heading back to Oregon. Joe and I talked about the good ole days in Hawaii, and it was just great catching up and re-living some good memories...

We are taking today to get our packing done and getting ready for the Looooong flight to the States. Can't say we are looking forward to the long flight, but we are looking forward to seeing Grand Dad and Mei Mei and the rest of the family!!

See you in the flesh soon!!

Happy Father's Day!!

2011-06-19T22:11:00.002+07:00

Happy Father's Day, Dad!!

As you can see, I am now updating the blog after a week away...

I will see you in a couple of days, but wanted you to know that I was thinking of you today on Father's Day...

Much love from your son...see you soon!!

My Buddy Joe Comes To Visit

2011-06-18T22:02:00.002+07:00

Joe Safirstein and his family (Kristine, Samantha and Jacob) arrived today for a short visit. I worked with Joe in Hawaii over 20 years ago....he is also a Gator, and we became best of friends while working together in Kauai. It was great to see him and his family, and we have laughed and told stories about our good times in Hawaii. Sam, Jacob and Kayla really hit it off, and have had a great time so far together. Joe is now an orthodontist with two locations in Portland, Oregon. Kristine is working as a lawyer.

They will visit for three days, and leave for Bali the day before we leave for the States. They will spend a week in Bali and then fly to Vietnam for the rest of their vacation. It would have been great to spend more time together, and even better if Joe and I could have done some diving together, but it is still fantastic to see him again after all of these years.

Back From Papua

2011-06-17T21:53:00.001+07:00

The diving was fantastic as usual, but the weather was the complete pits. It rained almost the entire week, and it was very windy making for some rough conditions. I was hoping to get some flying in while I was there, but the conditions were just too poor. At least things underwater were unaffected. Kim was sick for half the trip, and was only able to dive for two of the four days we were there....I felt really bad for him. He said he will return though, and Max offered him 50% off on his next trip...

I think the highlight of the trip for me was seeing two hammerhead sharks. They cruised within 10 feet of me. I have never seen hammerheads out here before, and the only time I have seen them before was once in the Philippines years ago. That was a treat to see. I was so shocked of what I was seeing, I didn't take a photo...they were swimming pretty quickly, and it was only about 10 seconds until they disappeared into the depths...very cool!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

2011-06-08T21:39:00.002+07:00

We are going to celebrate in better form later this summer in the Turks and Caicos Islands, but today is the official 50th Anniversary!!

Congrats Mom and Dad!!

Much Love from the Grahams on the other side of the world!!

GrandDad....Look Out

2011-06-06T20:44:00.004+07:00

It has been awhile since Kayla and I hit the driving range. After my dismal round of golf last Saturday, I needed some practice. I really need to take Kayla to the range more often as she shocked me with her smooth swing. She can only hit the ball about 50 yards, but I think she has some talent. Grand Dad...you think you can find some lessons for Kayla this summer??

Not the greatest photo in the world, but check out that follow through...

Kayla's End of Year Party

2011-06-06T20:36:00.005+07:00

I walked down to Kayla's school today for her end of year party...they had a pot luck lunch provided for by the mom's. Tika made Chicken Nuggets and sausages...they were gobbled up quickly by the kids. Regina was also presented with gifts from the parents. Kayla (and her parents) will miss Regina big time next year...she has been an awesome teacher!!

Regina, if you are reading this...Thanks so much for being a great teacher for Kayla this year!!

Reny and Kim Arrive In Jakarta

2011-06-04T20:26:00.001+07:00

Tika and Kayla have been counting down the days to when Reny and Kim arrive from Sweden. Today, they arrived. Kim and I will go to Papua on Sunday (next Sunday) for some diving while the girls stay in Jakarta and shop...I think they are taking a trip to Bandung as well...it is good to see them again. They also loaded us up with 10 pounds of chocolate from Sweden....great stuff, but BAD for the diet....I am trying to resist, but it is tough!!

Eating lunch at Pondok Indah Mall...

This really has nothing to do with the post, but I think kind of a cool photo of Kayla in the elevator...it was so dark, my shutter speed was a quarter of a second...amazing it is not more blurry than it is...

Kelly And Molly

2011-06-03T20:20:00.002+07:00

Kelly and Molly have a special relationship. Kelly, unlike Kayla, has no fear of dogs. Not that Kayla has a big time fear of dogs, but she is still not that comfortable with dogs. Kelly can't wait to see the pack of dogs that live with Grand Dad and Mei Mei...Kayla only wants to see Rivers...

The Tooth Fairy

2011-05-30T18:46:00.003+07:00

Kayla has had a wiggly tooth for a couple of weeks now, and doesn't hesitate to give updates almost hourly on the "wigglyness" of her tooth. It finally came out, and Kayla was so excited. She couldn't wait to go to bed and wait for the tooth fairy to come...

The next morning, she was almost in tears when she found out the tooth fairy didn't come...

OOOOOOPS...

So, we quickly came up with reasons why the tooth fairy didn't come...the best one was that since Kayla and Kelly have new bunk beds, the tooth fairy got confused which bed was Kayla's....that seemed to work, and Kayla told everyone the reason why the tooth fairy didn't come. We told her she better write a nice note explaining which bed was hers so that the tooth fairy would not get confused. So, she did. It was so cute...she wrote it as small as she could and left it by her bed last night. When she woke up this morning, there was Rp. 173,000 under her pillow. Kayla said the amount was because she is 7 years old and it was her third tooth....good reasoning. Sure glad the tooth fairy showed up last night....that would have been a tough one to explain if not again...

Kayla's missing tooth...

Ballet Graduation

2011-05-29T18:20:00.003+07:00

Today it was all about Ballet. It was graduation day where the groups of girls give a small performance, and celebrate them moving up to the next class. They hold the event way up town, so we had to leave almost two hours in advance to get there in time. It is not very exciting, but the girls love it, so that makes it all worthwhile. Kelly was grumpy this morning, so we left her at home...she didn't seem to mind.

I was supposed to show the house this morning to a family interested in renting. I had arranged to pick them up at CITOS (the mall near our house) at 9:00am. I got there five minutes early being the good Naval Officer I was trained to be, and waited for their arrival. I waited and waited and waited...at 10:00, I gave up....no show...so went back home. I was not very happy as we had prepared the house to look the best it has looked in a long time...I did get an email from him later with a very sincere apology. They had arrived from Rome the night before, and over slept. He didn't have my phone number (or a phone for that matter), so had no way to contact me. Ok, forgiven...they are still going to come see the house maybe next weekend....keep your fingers crossed.

After the Ballet gig, Butch and I took the girls to Chilli's to have a late lunch - early dinner. The food was great until Butch bit into his chicken sandwich. He pulled out a piece of raw chicken. He was livid, and demanded to see the manager and the cook. He verbally chastised them both...I would not like to be the receiver of Butch's wrath...in any case, there was no charge for the meal, and the girl's got 20% off their meal....the cook was very apologetic, but Butch didn't want to hear it. While he was negotiating a price decrease, a cockroach was climbing the wall behind Butch. I didn't know whether to tell Butch or not, but decided to motion to him while the manager was standing next to the table. The manager said, "wow....oh no...". Poor guy....not the best of nights for him and his crew.

Kayla poses before leaving for Ballet...

Kayla's performance...

The proud mothers pose with their daughters...

Mariska, Kayla and Katarina play with an ipad...amazing the toys kids have today...

Another Gymnastics Gig and JIS' Graduation

2011-05-28T17:40:00.005+07:00

Ok, I admit it...I have been really bad about updating the blog. It usually goes like this...I sit at my computer and wonder what I did that day or if anything happened with the family. I think, I ponder, I think again....then it hits me. Nothing exciting happened to me or the family, and I have no new photos....so, the blog goes unwritten until the weekend.

Weekends are different...something usually happens...so, I wait till the end of the weekend when Monday comes around. Mondays are notorious for NOTHING happening, so it is a good time to catch up on our exciting weekends...

So here we are on a Saturday. We had to get up at 6:00 AGAIN making this the THIRD weekend in a row without a Sleep-in.....arrrrrgh. We packed Kayla into the car with her gymnastics costume, and headed to school for the "In House" competition. Kayla's group was divided into two groups...the group with Kayla, Kathy and Sheena (from the last couple of competitions), and the other girls...Ayla, Mariska and two other girls (sorry, forgot their names). Being only three girls in Kayla's group, she won a medal for each event. She came in third place for every event except the Balance Beam where she won gold....that seems to be Kayla's best event.

This week, the "under 8's" finished early, and we were out of there in a record 2 hours....time enough to go home and take a nap....and that's exactly what I did...took a nap....a three hour nap. I arose at 3:00, put on some nice clothes and headed to JIS for the Class of 2011's Graduation. My job was to get a photo of the entire class on stage, and that's what I did. As soon as they started reading the names for the graduates to receive their diploma, I high tailed it out of there, and managed to escape unnoticed and got into my car before the hectic crowds left JIS. The speeches were all good, and there were a couple of music interludes that were also good...I should do graduation like this every year!!

The girls get their photo while waiting between events...

Three hot Mom's...

Kayla wins gold for the Balance Beam...

Jakarta International School's Class of 2011...

House Repairs

2011-05-23T21:46:00.003+07:00

With all the rain we have had the last couple of years, our drainage system on our upper roof couldn't handle all the water flow, so it would drain over the gutters and onto the sheet rock. Last month, the sheet rock finally gave and fell into the pool. We have been waiting for the right time to get it repaired. It will cost us about a thousand bucks to add another drain pipe and replace the sheet rock. Arrrrrgh....but it has to be done...

Kayla, Molly and Kelly watch the workers put up the bamboo scaffolding...

The big holes in our ceiling...

They use bamboo in Indonesia for scaffolding...works well...why not?

Kayla Wins 7th Place

2011-05-21T21:30:00.001+07:00

The day DID NOT go as planned. Kayla had a gymnastics tournament, but it was not close by. We had to travel to Bekasi, which is about an hour's drive. That is not the worst part. We had to get up at 5:00am in order to be there by the starting time of 7:00. That is not the worst part either. After arrival, and Kayla standing with her team for the opening ceremony, we had to wait....are you ready for this?....we had to wait SEVEN hours for Kayla to finally enter the competition with the rest of the "under eight" category...that's right...SEVEN hours sitting in an un-airconditioned gym in torturous plastic chairs. I was livid and in the world's most foul moods.

When she finally came on stage, it took the girls less than an hour to do their four categories...uneven bars, floor exercise, balance beam and vault. It if wasn't for Kayla being there and competing, I was ready to call in Seal Team 6 to take everyone out (Butch's idea)....especially the idiots that wouldn't sit down and stood at the railing blocking everyone's view...that's another story all together.

So, we didn't get out of the place until after 4:00, and I missed my poker game with a good friend who flew into town from Bangkok (Kevin Callahan).

To make the day all worthwhile, Kayla earned a 7th place ribbon in the vault. That might not sound like much, but this competition was from Gymnasts from ALL over Indonesia....so even getting a ribbon is pretty special.

The "under eights" girls...Sheena, Kayla and Kathy

The opening ceremony...this is only half the teams...I was actually still in a good mood at this point...but seven hours later, I turned into a raging animal...

Catch Up

2011-05-18T14:22:00.007+07:00

So, the internet has been down for the past 5 days. Very frustrating. Apparently, lightning hit the tower that feeds my signal to the server...they promised to have it fixed today (I am blogging from school)...so, let me catch you up with what has been going on...

LAST FRIDAY: Kayla had her "field day" down at school. They had all of these games set up on the field, and the kids rotated in and out of all the games. It was good fun, and Kayla had a blast.

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY: I was out in the thousand islands with a couple of teachers and four students working on the new "Bio-Rock" project. Bio-Rock is a coral reef project. Some steel his welded together to make a frame for a reef. A small electric current is connected to the frame powered by a solar panel, and a titanium mesh is place about a meter from the structure. The electric current and titanium causes a reaction to occur which results in calcium deposits collecting on the steel. When coral is placed on the structure, it grows almost twice as fast. So, our job was to tie small pieces of coral to the structure and hopefully, it will grow...we will check back in September to see if the project works or not.

MONDAY: Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, day. I was supposed to play golf. Tika needed the car, so I took the bug. The bug had just been fixed with a new fuel pump. It was running fine, but half way down the toll road, it suddenly ran out of power. There was construction going on at the side of the road, so there was no shoulder to pull off on. I was scared to death as my car came to a complete stop on the far left lane (the slow lane in Indonesia)...there were all of these barriers blocking the shoulder and construction crews working...I was really afraid I was going to get hit from behind...I was able to eek a bit of power to the car, and get to a spot where there was a small break in the barriers, and enough room for me to pull over and off the toll road. I then called Tika (thank God for cell phones), and told her to call our driver to come out and try to fix the car, and then had to call the guys to tell them I couldn't make it to the golf course. I sat in my car for over two hours waiting for our driver to arrive. Two police cars stopped to ask what was going on, and a construction crew arrived in front of my car....of course, all of them had to ask me what was going on, and then stared at the funny looking bald white guy wondering what I was doing sitting in my car on the side of the road...a bit embarrassing. Muz (our driver) finally arrived, and he has another guy there to help him. I got into the Ford, and drove home while Muz worked on the bug. I called the guys, and they were still not finished with the first nine, and asked me to join them on the second nine. I called Tika to see if that would be ok, but she needed the car, so I had to abandon the game and go home.

After arriving home, Muz showed up with the Bug....he said it was working fine, and had no trouble driving home. Great! I felt like such a fool, and no-one believed me when I said it completely lost power. So, I went up to the computer to work on some photos. My computer would not start. All I would get was three annoying beeps. I thought to myself, "what a great day...first the stupid car, then miss my golf game, and now my computer is not working". I called the computer place to see if they were open (today was a holiday), and they were open. Tika wanted to go food shopping, so I took Kayla and my computer in the now working bug, and we headed to Burger King for lunch. The plan was to have Tika meet us at Burger King, then I would drive to the computer place, and Tika would take Kayla shopping for food. The bug worked fine going to Burger King, and Tika met us there as planned. I then climbed into the bug, and Tika and Kayla got in the Ford with Muz. I left first...half way to Poins Square (computer place), the car dies AGAIN. I manage to find a place to pull over. Thankfully, Muz was only a few minutes behind me, but almost caused an accident to pull over to where I was stopped. NOW they believe me...Muz can't get the car to move. I move my computer back to the Ford, and leave Muz with the BUG while he waited for the VW repair guy to arrive on the scene. I drop off Tika and Kayla at the food store, and I then go to the computer place where they fortunately were able to fix my computer for free (needed new RAM installed, and there is a life time warranty on RAM). I go to the food store, pick up Tika and Kayla, and we head home ending a nightmare day.

UPDATE: The bug is now fixed....apparently a dirty carburetor or something. Muz was trying to explain to me in Indonesian, and that was what I was able to figure out.

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:04:00.004+07:00

First off...Happy Mother's Day, Mom...(My Mom)!! I am happy you liked your flowers...amazing how that can be done from the other side of the world...I love you, and can't wait to see you in just a month!!

We had a little Mother's Day celebration here in Indonesia too. Kayla made Mommy a nice card, and a very nice note...it made Tika cry, and that is why she is a bit teary eyed in the photo below...

Kayla thought that she should have her photo taken too as she is the "mommy" of her two dolls...

This is the note Kayla wrote at the bottom of her card to Mommy...Kayla's teacher wrote to me last Friday to tell me that when she read Kayla's note, it made her cry too...it is a very touching little note...our little girls never ceases to amaze me...

Weekend in Singapore

2011-05-02T20:43:00.007+07:00

It has been a fun and action filled, four days in Singapore. A couple of missions were accomplished. We watched Kayla compete in a tough gymnastics competition, I got three months worth of medicine, turned my Drobo into a data recovery place, and Tika and Kayla did some shopping. The competition was tough for Kayla....there were 48 girls in her age category, and a couple of teams stole the show...one from China and another one from the Philippines. They were crazy good leaving Kayla and her two friends from the Jakarta group in the dust...it was an unfair competition, really with those girls...but that the way it goes. We had prepped Kayla beforehand so that no tears would be present during the awards ceremony...she took the loss really well, and had a great time competing...she kept saying, "Mommy and Daddy, I did the best I could..."....what more can we ask of our little girl? We are so proud.

We always stay at different places in Singapore. This time, we stayed at the Ibis Hotel near Bugis Junction. It turned out to be a nice location. There was a big outdoor market that kept Tika and Kayla busy for hours wandering, looking and buying, and I was able to be entertained with photo opportunities. Hotels are getting more and more expensive in Singapore...hard to find good deals any more.

I got an email from the data recovery place I took my Drobo to, and the news is good and bad. They said they could recover my data, but the price is 1500 Sing Dollars (about 1200 US Dollars). This is turning out to be a very expensive mistake...and the problem is that I don't know what mistake I made that caused this nightmare....but I do know that I was majorly stupid to not have backed up my data....I can assure you it won't happen again....from now on, I will be paranoid to the point of insanity when it comes to backing up. I have already bought three new drives that I will double back up when I get my stuff back. If the Drobo fails again, I will have two back-ups!!

Kayla relaxes the night before the competition...

Sheena, Kayla and Kathy...the under 7's competing for Jakarta...

Kayla on the uneven bars...

Kayla and Tika (bottom) enjoying their shopping...

Daddy Daughter Trip To Bali...DAY THREE

2011-04-27T21:41:00.005+07:00

Ok, this will be the last of the "Daddy Daughter" trip updates...after watching the video, I am sure you have seen enough. On our third day, the girls finished their Easter Baskets, and then went on an Easter Egg Hunt. They were so cute discussing when the Easter Bunny had come during the night to hide the eggs...all the different theories were talked about, and the conclusion was the Easter Bunny came just before they woke up...there were even claims that the Easter Bunny was seen...

Tika, Kayla and I are off to Singapore in the morning. Kayla was invited to compete in a gymnastics tournament there. I am also bringing my Drobo in hopes that someone there can help me. I still have hope that my photos will be recovered...

Kayla finds some eggs...

The girls hunt and discuss when the Easter Bunny came...

I couldn't find anyone to take our photo, so we posed in the reflection of a store window...

Daddy Daughter Trip Video...By Butch

2011-04-26T22:06:00.001+07:00

Thanks to Butch, he put together this video from our trip...

Daddy Daughter Trip To Bali...DAY TWO

2011-04-26T20:20:00.006+07:00

Day TWO started with a ring at the door...it was a Balinese guy who came over to the Villa to teach the girls how to make an Easter Basket. I always find it amazing what the Indonesians can make with palm leaves. Jurrien then cooked up some scrambled eggs, and after all stomachs were filled, we piled into two taxis and traveled to the south part of the island to the new "Kuta Green Water Park" located in Pecatu. The place was empty especially considering it was the Saturday before Easter...and we got the special "local" rate to get in...that certainly made the Daddies happy!!

After a few hours of water slides, we made a quick stop at McDonalds, and then went to a new place on the beach called, "Potato Head". A very cool place to hang out. There was a big pool with a pool bar, music piped in over the grounds, and the beach in front of us where we watched the sun set. Another great day in Bali!!

Three of the girls learning to make a basket...Bella was swimming...

The new Kuta Green Park...

The back side of "Potato Head"...made up of shutters from all over Indonesia...

The girls enjoy a cool drink at the pool bar...

Daddy Daughter Trip To Bali...DAY ONE

2011-04-25T22:05:00.008+07:00

It is late at night, so I will cover the "Daddy Daughter" trip (DD2) in three parts. We had a GREAT time in Bali with the girls, and this trip will be tough to beat next year. We might just have to go back to Bali next year for DD3...

Our first day, Friday, we left Jakarta at about 1030 in the morning, and arrived in Bali at around 1:00. We were picked up by a limo, and taken to the Bali Deli for lunch. After lunch, we were taken to Jurrien's Villa. Wow, what a place...the girls went for a swim, and then we walked to the beach. The girls played in the sand and water till the sun went down, and then we had dinner at a nice restaurant on the beach...the girls crashed early after a long day of fun...

Day 2 tomorrow...

The girls pose in the airport before taking off...

The girls at the Bali Deli...

Jurrien's top class villa...living in style!!

To the beach...

Kayla poses in the sunset...

Happy BIrthday, Kayla!! The BIG SEVEN

2011-04-20T22:29:00.003+07:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet little girl!!

Kayla turned 7 today!!

I will post some other photos of her opening her presents later. Mom, she absolutely loved her new doll, and she was actually surprised as we hid that present from her...!!

Kayla and I are off to Bali for the second annual "Daddy Daughter" trip. Four Dads and Four Daughters....Kayla has been looking forward to this trip all year...it will be part of her birthday present!!

The Indonesian Open is also this weekend, and Lee Westwood will be playing...

Have a great Easter Weekend!! The girls will be coloring eggs, and also going on an egg hunt...

Note: I think this catches me up with the blog....sorry for the lack of updates...I have had some computer trouble (computer won't start sometimes, and I get these annoying beeps at startup...then suddenly it starts normally...don't know what is up with that), and I have been full on with the softball tournament...I will update after I return from our trip to Bali...

Kayla's Birthday Party (A Day Early)

2011-04-19T22:17:00.004+07:00

I managed to escape the softball tournament for an hour to attend the start of Kayla's birthday party at Kid's Sport. She was going to wait to have her party on Thursday (after the tournament), but most of her friends were taking off for the three day weekend, so she changed the date to Tuesday...

Kayla's cake...

Some of Kayla's friends from her class...she celebrated her birthday with Christopher who has his birthday on the same day as Kayla...

IASAS Softball Returns to JIS

2011-04-18T22:09:00.002+07:00

Note: I wrote this post AFTER the end of the tournament...

So, the past three days, I have been very busy running the boys' softball tournament. I was the site director which means I was responsible for the organization of the tournament, the score keepers, and the guy that made the tough decisions whenever there was controversy on the field. There were a few instances where decisions had to be made with bad calls or rules disputes. I was challenged on my knowledge of the rules in two cases...one situation was really tricky. Too long to describe here, but it took some creative searches in the rule book to find a solution. The other situation dealt with the number of defensive conferences a coach was allowed with his pitcher...had to look that one up too...

We had two major rain delays, but all worked out in the end, and it was a great tournament. JIS didn't do too well with the boys and girls both coming in 5th place...oh well...that's baseball!!

Kayla Dances

2011-04-17T22:01:00.002+07:00

Kayla had her big modern dance concert today. Below is a photo of her in her costume, and of course, Kelly wanted in on the photo too. Her dance was great, and Kayla was clearly a leader in the group. I don't know how she memorized all those moves...

NOTE: I have been busy with the IASAS Softball tournament, so I am making this post late...

Update On Molly

2011-04-16T15:24:00.002+07:00

If you didn't know already, we had a slight emergency with Molly. Two nights ago, before we headed to bed, Molly was acting very lethargic, would not eat, and had a very noisy tummy. We were very worried about her especially when we thought about what she might have eaten. The "spray" guys were at the house earlier spraying for mosquitoes and they also put out rat poison. When I got home from school on Wednesday, the girls were all working in the yard, and Molly was running around as usual. My first thought was that Molly had eaten some rat poison. So, I went upstairs and googled what rat poison could do to small dogs. I was relieved to read that Molly didn't have many of the symptoms described, but I was shocked to read that rat poison CAN kill your dog and to get your dog to the vet immediately. So that is what we did...we got dressed, and took Molly to the vet. The doctor took some blood tests and told us that she would have to stay a couple of days to monitor her. They put an IV in her, and then put her in the back with the other sick dogs in the kennel. She had the saddest expression on her face.

Well, Molly came home yesterday. Kelly missed her the most....Kelly calls her "Olly Uppy"...She is fine, and she didn't eat rat poison, but the doctor says she ate something strange. All her tests came back fairly normal except for her liver tests....the doc gave us some medicine we have to give her for a week, and then she will have more blood tests to see if there is something wrong with her liver. Hopefully, it was just something weird she ate. She is back to her normal self though, running around getting into trouble...our "Olly Uppy" is back.

Photo Walks This Past Weekend

2011-04-12T19:22:00.007+07:00

This past weekend, I was asked if I could take groups of kids and teachers into a Kampung near school, and guide them on how to take good photos. I made a short presentation before we left, and then escorted groups of 50 students to the Kampung where they walked around for 90 minutes trying to document the things they saw through photography. Some kids took it seriously, and got some good shots, and others just posed with kids with peace signs...those kids kinda missed the point...oh well...but it was a great experience for most of the kids. Rarely do our wealthy students venture out of their comfort zone between school, their mansion they live in, and the mall...they don't get the opportunity to see how a majority of Indonesians really live.

I guided 4 walks. One on Friday, an early morning walk with teachers at Sunda Kelapa on Saturday, then another one Saturday afternoon, and the last one on Sunday morning. It was a great experience, and I think all involved got a lot out of it...

I have posted a few of my best photos on my photo blog, and will continue for the rest of the week....here are a few more that might not make the cut for my photo blog....

The Traditional Strings Tournament

2011-04-12T18:39:00.005+07:00

Lots going on, and I forgot to report about the famous "Strings Tournament" that took place two weekends ago. The Strings Tournament works like this...you get a length of string in meters equal to your handicap. I received 18 meters of string. Then on the course, if you want to move your ball out of a bad lie, or out of a sand trap, you can use your string to extend your shot. Most use their string on the green. If your approach shot lands close to the hole, you can extend you shot into the hole for an eagle or hole in one. So how did I do? Not very well. The winning score was -7 for nine holes, I had a -2. The second nine holes is called "Nine for Nine". You must choose nine clubs to start with, and then remove one club after each hole so that you only have one club left for the last hole...most end up putting with their 7-iron. A few of us skipped the second nine so that we could go over to Tom's cottage near the course for a BBQ and a game of Boci Ball...Tom is moving to Singapore, so this may have been our last time at his place. He has it up for sale...

Some good buddies ready to T-off...Will, Dave, Greg and Tom...

Tom's place on the lake...the lake is not shown as it is covered with water plants...

Playing Boci Ball...

Been Busy

2011-04-10T20:50:00.004+07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates...wow, busy, busy, busy...

Starting this past Friday, JIS hosted the GIN Conference (Global Issues Network) where they talk about issues effecting our globe. Over 500 students and teachers from all over Asia descended upon JIS. I ran photography workshops all weekend. I had three groups of about 50 students each. I gave a quick power point (keynote) on some photography tips, and then guided the students through a Kampung near school. I also got up at 5:00am to take a group of teachers up to Sunda Kelapa for a photoswalk. I think I may have picked up some kind of bug yesterday, because today I have the runs, feel run down and have a massive headache.

I am also the site director for the upcoming IASAS Softball tournament, so had to train all of the score keepers that will work the tournament next week. That took some time as trying to organize teachers to show up for training is a nightmare as everyone has so many things going on. On top of that, I had my classes, and running around dealing with Kayla and Kelly's schedules. Actually, Tika dealt mostly with that...those two little girls are busy and keep us on our toes.

Today, I ran my last workshop. It was REALLY hot in the village this morning, and I wasn't feeling well which made it tougher. When I got home, Tika was giving Molly a bath (see below). We stayed at home all day, and I am finally getting caught up with work on the computer.

Thinking of getting up early (1:00am) to watch the final round of the Master's live...but, may just wait for the replay in the afternoon....I am pulling for Tiger, but Rory will be tough to beat...

The Film Crews Return To Rawa Kopi

2011-03-30T19:21:00.004+07:00

A couple of dudes came by the house last night to inspect our house for a possible shoot. We get that a lot...our house has become famous in the film world of Indonesia. Usually, however, people come out to look, and maybe about 40% end up choosing our house for the location. Well, the dudes last night told Tika that they would call in the morning. They called, and said, "We are shooting today at 2:00"...well, ok...that was a quick decision. They showed up, and they are now shooting some music video in our living room...and they are also shooting on the terrace by the pool table (still shots)...one of the actresses was here last year when "Cinta Indah" was filming...she remembered Kayla...

Speaking of Kayla, she said something funny today in the car on the way home...

"Dad...my hands smell like America"

I have no idea what that means...I didn't smell them, but a pretty funny thing to say out of the blue...I wonder what America smells like??

Package Arrives Today

2011-03-29T18:56:00.003+07:00

I made the trip to the embassy this afternoon. It took me almost two hours to get there, but there was hardly any traffic coming back...weird. The Embassy has a new entrance as well that threw me off guard...I think they made the new entrance to accommodate the massive crowds they get daily for visas. In any case, there were three packages...two from Mom and one from American Girl...Kayla never saw the box from American Girl, and it was immediately whisked away to one of the maid's rooms to be hidden until her birthday. Opening a box from Mei Mei is always exciting...it is like a mini-Christmas...the girls both so excited to see a box of Froot Loops, Welch's Fruit Snacks, Tika excited to see Beef Jerkey, and Daddy excited to see his magazines...there was also a tube of toothpaste (Crest) which can't be bought here in Jakarta, some kids' vitamins and a wrapped present for Kayla's birthday....THANKS MOM!!

Hmmm...what else is going on? Not much....it is back to work and back to the grind. Tika and I have been doing really well with our exercise routine. I am getting into possibly the best shape I have been in for years. I have been working out with my good friend, Chris, who coaches the Rugby team. He has all of these fitness routines that I have been following....he is a tough coach, but he is getting me into shape.

That's about it....sorry for the lack of updates, but our lives are just not that exciting these days, so nothing really to blog about...I am in a rut. Wake up at 5:30, go to work, exercise, go home, eat, play on the computer, read a book to the girls, go to bed....same thing the next day. I need a change.

Oh, update on the Drobo. Still no data. At least I am in contact with the guy in Singapore. He wants me to give Data Rescue another try....I am not feeling confident, but will do what he asks.

A Visit To The Jakarta Dump...Yes, THE Dump!!

2011-03-24T20:59:00.007+07:00

Call me crazy, but I have wanted to visit the dump for some time now to see another side of life in Jakarta. I have always wanted to go, but never made the effort, and always said, "some day I will do that...". Well, today, I got up at 7:00 this morning, and had our driver take me to the dump.

It was farther than I thought, and it took over an hour to get there. We had to go into the office to talk with the manager to get permission to take photos. After some talking, the manager sent me off with a "guide" and security guard. The guide took me to the recycling plant, and showed me some boring things before I finally asked him to take me to a place where I can get photos of people working at the dump...he wondered why I wanted to see that, but took me to the place below....Ah, PERFECT!!

I was amazed....and jumped right in taking photos and talking with the people. It sure pays off to speak the language. The people working there were more than happy to talk with me and tell me about their lives. They were all very friendly and happy despite the way they make a living. I asked people what they were looking for. One guy was looking for wood...however, most were collecting plastic which they could sell for 1000 rupiah (about 10 cents) per kilogram. Can you imagine?? A very tough way to make a living...

It smelled terrible....but I pretended it didn't bother me...but just standing around taking photos, the smell got into my clothes. It then got into the car, and Tika says it still smells like garbage in the car. Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry gets that smell in his car and can't get rid of it...

Having said that, it was an incredible experience, and I am really glad I did it...

Trucks would come right up and dump right on top of the people...and the shovels would go right in...people had to watch to be sure to get out of the way...

people would collect, and then put their "finds" in a cart to sell...

A makeshift house made of garbage...

This is the guy who sells plastic for Rp.1000 per kilo...

poor little kids working too...don't think this would fly in the States...