Quitting is easy...

...I've done it hundreds of times.

So the saying goes.

What is the saying for making a change?

"Change is easy, I've done it hundreds of times."?

I don't know the saying. But I do know the feeling. And, on this Sunday, I have the feeling again.

---It is time for a change---

My current 'change' is to get my body in some sort of decent shape. While the weight is good, and I appear to be "in shape", I can tell that I am not.

Today, I went for a 1-1/2 hour walk. Yes, 'walk' but it was at a good clip. I returned soaked in sweat so I feel I did accomplish something.

And each journey starts with a single step, right? My 'journey', my 'change', is starting with a few thousand steps. The plan is to get at least 30 minutes of 'exercise' in each day this week. It doesn't sound like much: 3+ hours in a 168 hour week. But i haven't been doing it. So it is easy NOT easy or I am just a lazy a$$. (No opinions needed.)

A few months ago, i started a 90 day exercise program. I still have 89 days left.

One can have hope.

bjm 11-april

Turkey Day

I spent my second Turkey Day in Singapore. I wish I remember what I weighed last year so I could compare with 2009.

I can compare a week ago Sunday with today (Tuesday) and I find I gained about 3 kg. If you know your metric, then you know I seem to have put on 6+ pounds in a bit over a week.

Yikes!!!!

It may have to do with me wanting to make sure that we did not have too much food left over after a great meal.

And what a meal it was!

While my bro is fairly smart and, more often than not, he seems good at math. When it came to ordering dinner for 24 people, he thought 20kg of turkey should...nearly...do the trick. And just in case it didn't, we had 4kg of ham!

And what turkey day would be complete without some mashed 'taters, string beans with almonds, yams, salad, and...my favorite... jellied cranberry sauce - can't stand that 'with real berries' stuff.

Nothing but the real deal for me.

And because I try not to be a rude guy (although some may argue), I made sure that I sampled at least one portion of the desserts brought by the guests. It just wouldn't be right for the brother of the host to not eat what others brought.

Somehow a little turkey, some carrot cake and cranberry sauce turned into 6 pounds.

Never mind. It will soon be new year and I can resolve to live a healthier life.

Sure I could start on the new life today but I'm of the mindset - why do today what can certainly be put off until tomorrow (or next month, as the case may be).

I started a 90 day exercise program some time ago. While the first day hurt me more than any 1 hour time period had hurt in quite some time, I was anxious to see how my body could be transformed in only 3 months.

Well, I only have 89 days to go in the program. I have thoughts about starting again at 90. we'll see.

I hope to post some pics soon.

bjm 01 Dec 09

Too Long

It's been much too long since my last posting.  I was thrown off after my last post, in which I had mentioned my present company's name.  As I think I mentioned, they hire a service to flag all the mentions of their name in the wild world of the internet.  I am glad I did not say any negative words about the Company.

It is early August and I am right where I should be - the shores of Lake Ontario.  In a typical summer, I'd be coming down from Teddy's Island.  In this case, I am coming from Singapore.  While the journey was a bit longer this year, the destination is the same - family, fun and food.  And by "food" I do refer to frozen custard.

The cool air and the bathtub-like pool are quite a nice change from the island I currently call home.  Of the things I miss while living in Singapore, it is often the cool weather and the low humidity. I could probably live without the change of seasons - although I miss autumn terribly - but the humidity and the heat do take some getting used to.  And 10+ months in....I am not quite used to the combination of the two.

bjm

Becca Update

   We're still working on our website/access issues on our blog, so in the meantime I thought I'd post some recent pics and a video of Becca here.  

Becca has grown and changed so much lately!  She smiles and coos and can follow faces and wiggly fingers with her eyes.  (Unfortunately I'm too slow to catch the smiles with the camera, but hopefully I'll get quicker and/or the smiles will last longer.)  Our pediatrician proclaimed that she is "perfect" at our last visit.  My response was "Of course!"  :)  

Sheila's Confirmation

Sheila and friend Taylor Grip, with Father Steve - May 4, 2009. Sheila and Taylor were born within two weeks of each other and were Baptized together, received First Communion together, and now Confirmation.
Talk about a lifelong friend!
And, you were all there with us!

Haiku - dah winners!

Hi all ... I invited you to create a NH-centric haiku focusing on our devastating Dec '08 ice storm.
This was part of a contest at PSNH...
There were two winners declared.
I am pasting in, below, the two winners ... as well as the 'honorary mentions'

Some of the initials/addresses may be familiar to you! (NSM: I'll forward your prize to you! I.M.: I laugh out loud every time I read yours. Apparently it didn't win over the judges!)

Winning Haikus

icestorm surgery

leaves trees with splintered scars and

amputated limbs

- Alice Mullen, Manchester, NH

Snow seemed sweet at first -

Stayed too long and stole our warmth

Like unfriendly guests

- N.S.M., Syracuse, NY

Honorable Mention Poems

An Historic storm

Working many extra hours

Odd Christmas this year

- Rebecca Bouley, PSNH

Limbs wires ice entombed

Gravity wrestled they fall

We work to restore

- Paul Hausmann, PSNH

Darkness fell on all

Lights were out at the mall

Line Crews answered call

- Dottie Kennedy, PSNH

Cold is our home now

Help coming from near & far

This warms our hearts here!

- Diane Laliberte, PSNH

The old Grinch may smile

Christmas could be dark & cold

But faith still lives here!

- Diane Laliberte, PSNH

Trucks from near and far

Not long could ice grinch survive

Gifts of Christmas lights.

- Phyllis Lavigne, PSNH

Down comes ice, limbs, peace

Out goes skilled warriors of hope

Up rises bright joy.

- John MacDonald, PSNH

Cold snow soft, heavy

Branches crash wires drooping low --

Neighbors warm our hearts.

- C.A.M., Hallowell, ME

Rainfall I can take;

Ice falling, if I have to;

Wires? Not so much.

- I.M., Fairfield, CT

Autumn wore snowshoes

A scarf and long underwear:

Frozen pipes at dawn

- N.S.M, Syracuse, NY

video - a walk in the woods...

A.M. Tea and P.M. Soda

That is my day during the first week of work. After 16 months of not having much of a schedule, I am readjusting to life as a working man. The caffeine is needed to fuel (i.e. start) my engine during this transition back to work.

Week one has been uneventful. I expect the job to be similar to my job – negotiating, reading and writing contracts. However, the internal teams for whom I’ll be doing the work will be different. At Primus, I worked with the wholesale team; I’ll be working with the retail team here.

There are 20 or so people in my company's legal department and 6 of us are located in Singapore. The majority of the team is in Hong Kong, at company headquarters. My boss told me that they may send me to HK next month, for a few days, to meet the rest of the team and see how they operate.

My days may be long ones here. I have a 10 minute walk to take a direct bus to work, about 30 minutes, office hours 9-6 but I’ll be expected to be here until 7 or so, then a 50 minute bus ride home and another 10 minute walk. Once I get home, i’ll shovel food in my mouth, sleep and then start the whole thing over again.

We’ll see how it all works out.With the economy as it is, I am fortunate to have found a good job. I do know that.

And how do you call this man in Africa?

"Some call me 'Mr. Nice Guy', others call me 'a real jerk'. Many say I am real fly, but some just go beserk. Mostly though, they really say 'You see that there man? That there's "Mr. Two-a-Day'" because I spend so much time on the can."

Obama considers candidate for 'Blog Czar'

I'm just praying there's no background check!

It's Twitterific!

Below, a video focused on some of what I do. Could be a real conversation killer...
On the other hand, I could be selling life insurance!

A walk in the woods...

Just back from a hike in the town forest! A Beautiful day. Temps in mid 20's lots of sun. What could be finer!?

Can you spot the US Senator?

Senator-Elect Jeanne Shaheen today toured our wood-burning power plant in Portsmouth. She is the first female U.S. Senator from NH ... and... she is the first female in the nation who has served as a Governor and a US Senator!
Big changes in the energy field expected with the Obama administration and Sen. Shaheen's visit was largely to learn more about opportunities to grow our renewable energy sources...
Here's a link to one of the resultant news articles. Here's another.

Congratulations America

It's election day Wednesday here, 1:30 pm, and I just saw the President-elect give a great speech.

I have hope for the future of our great country.

bjm

Pulau Ubin

When in Singapore, head to the islands - or one of the islands around this island nation.

 Last week, Morris and I went to Pulau Ubin, a small island between Singapore and Malaysia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulau_Ubin

The island is fairly small.  We were told that it is about 8km, on the road, from end-to-end width-wise.  On three sides you can get to the coast, however, the west side of the island is not accessible by the public.  I think there is an Outward Bound program that takes up almost 1/2 of the island in the west.

Sean dropped us off at the ferry terminal.  Despite appearing to be 1st world in all aspects of life, Singapore can remind you of a developing country.  The ferry has no set schedule. According to signs at the terminal, a boat will leave when 12 paying customers are ready to board.  Morris and I were nos. 8 and 9.  After 15 minutes or so, nos. 10 and 11 arrived. 11 seemed to be enough for the captain of our boat.   After paying the $2.50 fare, we were underway on our 15+ minute boat ride.

Upon arrival, I had a great sense of deja-vu.  It reminded me of arriving on Ometepe island in Nicaragua.  The boat ride to Ometepe is where I ran into Morris and we (and 3 others) had a "great" bike ride.  The similarities were: the tropical trees and feel of the island, the dogs wandering the streets, and the white vans waiting to take tourists for a ride.

However, Pulau Ubin is no Ometepe.  You realize that quite quickly when you walk less than 300 meters and realize you just passed through an entire town.

The first thing you hit in town, after by-passing the white vans, is storefront after storefront of bicycles for rent - for only "$2"!!!!!  In this tiny town, there are 5 or so places to rent bikes.  each shop seemed to have more than 50 bikes on display.  it was incredible.  

And not at all like Ometepe where 5 of us rented bikes from a place that had 8 "bikes" from which we could choose.  It was not the best day in Nicaragua.

The bikes on Pulau Ubin ranged in quality and the $2 bikes seemed to be kids' bikes or old caked-in-mud bikes.  If you wanted a bike to ride and enjoy, you had to pay upwards of $15. We wanted to make the same mistake as was made in Ometepe, we went for some decent looking mountain bikes, which did not appear as if they'd fall apart half-way down the tail.  Our salesman wanted $8/each but we got him down to $6.  That $2 savings nearly paid for the boat ride.  

If you saved $2 each day, you'd have 2 times $365 at the end of the year.

(I wasn't told there'd be math in this blog.)

We, with 1/2 liter water each, headed out after renting the bikes.  The island is known for its, now unused, granite quarries.  The old quarries are filled with delicious-looking, yet unreachable, water.  the day was so hot and, early on, the island offered us very little shade and no breeze.

Note to self: bring more than a pint of water on bike rides of unknown length.

Morris trying to beat the heat.

Early into our ride, we hit a bike obstacle course, where I discovered that the fear of possible pain can make it difficult for me to try some things, e.g. bike teeter-totter. After a number of false starts, I did succeed in making it over.  After a number of successes, Morris succeeded in tumbling off.  He was not injured...too badly.

My one successful totter.  I had plenty of teeters.

Morris prepares to launch.

Along the road, we found a number of shrines, including the German Girl Shrine.  This shrine was in honor a little German girl who died near the spot during World War I.  Legend says someone broke into the house and killed her parents.  The girl escaped her house through a hole in the floor but died when she ran into the dark night and fell into a quarry.

After a delicious lunch at a Chinese restaurant (they're everywhere in Singapore) we headed to the east side of the island.  Unlike our time in the west, we had a fair bit of shade during this portion of the ride - plus we had each bought 1-1/2 liters of water.  On the west side, we saw birds and a few small fish.  On the east side, we saw a troupe of monkeys and a small herd(?) of wild boar.  I think it was more a family of wild bore - a mother and 4 juveniles.

On a boardwalk which goes along the water's edge we saw hundreds, probably 1,000's, of crabs. Most of the crabs were "fiddler" crabs, which have one very big claw and one normal-sized one.  It turns out that the big one is all show for the female.  The things we males will do.

All for now

bjm election day Tuesday in singapore

Having just driven along the canal over the weekend, this NYTimes article caught my eye!

Hints of Comeback for Nation’s First Superhighway
After decades of decline, commercial shipping has returned to the Erie Canal,...
http://tinyurl.com/6o3for

Hello From NM

Hard to believe it, but I'm about halfway through my time out here in NM. It's been quite an adventure so far - pretty much everything I'd hoped it would be. We started out with two intense weeks of training over at the Grand Canyon - learned a little CPR, wilderness first aid, off-road driving, how to handle pesticides, and take apart and rebuild a chainsaw. Even had time for a little hike (almost) to the bottom.

Since then we've been all over the Sevilleta NWR - which probably isn't on your maps - but is pretty centrally located as far as things go. We've got some pretty amazing work-sites - mostly canyons and arroyos that are 1.5 hours down back roads (and one that's another 3 mile hike in from there). I walk past mountain lion tracks on the way to work some days, never see a soul except for the my fellow crew members, and am pretty much as far from an office as you can get. I eat lunch on under the sun (which is quite nice in the fall here), and then climb the mountains and mesas that surround us while the crew takes their siesta. I'm also getting pretty handy with a chainsaw, so if anyone's got any downed limbs, I'll be back in the east sometime in the spring.

I'm pretty exhausted most days (we get up at 5 - well before the sun's up, and then some days don't finish until 6 at night). It feels very good to be busy though, so I'm not complaining. We've gotten out to do a bit of exploring on the weekends too - climbed most of the nearby mountains, and then got out to some higher country a couple weeks ago for a nice taste of fall. This weekend it's a UNM-Utah fooball game, a rattlesnake museum, and some good mexican food.

I've got another month and a half here - split between a couple of the other refuges around the Rio Grande, and then it's off to the next adventure - Christmas in India. That's all for now -

Neal

(The buildings in the middle are where I live)

Chinatown and New Foods continued

Prior to heading out to Chinatown, Morris and I had to enjoy some delicacies right at home on Cluny Park Rd.

As you know, Deb broke her toe earlier this year. As a result of the injury she received a number of fruit baskets. Within each basket, there was fruit and, as in all good fruit baskets there was: oatmeal, birds nest and essence of chicken.

As it was the middle of the afternoon, we did not partake in the oatmeal. (Who eats oats after 12:00?) But we had to sample the birds nest and the essence of chicken.

According to Wikipedia, birds nest is:

is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swifts are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup. The edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests are composed of interwoven strands of salivary laminae cement. The nests have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium.

And essence of chicken here is: “Essence of chicken with abalone extract.” The sample here is made from “pure abalone extract together with the finest selected chicken.” Our bottle was prepared using “traditional double-boiled method, giving it a very flavourful taste.”

Both foods help cure the ill and, in the case of essence of chicken, it is “particularly suitable for a highly stressed lifestyle – from work or family commitments.”

While I don’t seem to have the family commitments at the moment, my non-working lifestyle seems to be quite high stressed, so there was no doubt I was going to try the essence of chicken.



However, as we say here in Singapore “In for the Essence, in for the Nest.” We sampled both. The verdict?

Birds nest, which includes “natural” sucrose in its list of ingredients, was not too bad. If you drink it without chewing the gelatin parts (of the nest), it is a sweet, thick liquid.

Essence of chicken tasted like thick soy sauce. I hope my family commitments do not become stressful so that I don’t have to drink the essence as a daily supplement.



In Chinatown, Morris and I met a few locals and a few Filipinas enjoying an afternoon without work. A good time was had by all.



If all goes well, Morris may be back in town in April to celebrate the birthday of our new friend, Jamal. If so, Morris (and I) will try to stay on Jamal’s good side as he told us one of his friends is a big time criminal who has no problem causing harm to those who deserve it.







Bjm 10.30.08

When Morris is in town...

adventures can happen.

Morris, a guy I met at school in Xela and again on a boat in Nicaragua, flew into Singapore last week to start a 6 month tour of SE Asia. Deb and Sean have been kind enough to open their door to him.

One goal he has during his tour is to try new and interesting foods. For some reason, I have taken part in this experience.

On Saturday, we went to a "hawker stand" in Chinatown.

Hawker stands remind one of food courts in US malls but unlike the US malls, the food at the hawker stands is often much more interesting. At your average hawker stand in Singapore, you often have a variety of food styles: chinese, thai or indian and a variety of food tpes: veggie, meat, seafood or noodles.

However, when you go to Chinatown, the hawker stand is mostly chinese food but the sorts of foods you can get still varies quite a bit. We started off our "dinner" at a stand that seemed to sell everything duck - except the meat part. You could order duck heart, duck head or duck feet. They did have duck wings, too but there did not appear to be a duck breast to be had. We got a free sample of duck heart - not bad.

And then Morris ordered a duck head.



Despite their size and their look, after being fried, a duck head does not seem to have too much to offer. But at S$1/each, I guess you can't complain too much. We each had a bit of the brain - not much taste and not a texture I enjoyed. And Morris got to eat the duck tongue. Although the head was friend and there appeared to be a bit of a crispy covering all over the head, there were still some small feathers on the head, which made the thought of eating the crisp unappetizing.

The duck pieces were a bit of an appetizer. For dinner, Morris went for a duck-meat noodle dish, while I took the easier road with a veggie noodle soup. In Singapore's Chinatown, it appears that "duck meat" includes duck liver as more than 50% of the "meat" resembled a liver. But I am not doctor.

Morris shared some 20+ oz Tiger beers with one of the locals. These big beers were $6 each, while 12oz Tiger beers at bars can be $12.50 each.

If you are looking for cheap beer, Singapore is not your place.

After dinner, we had a local fruit favorite - durian. There are a number of ways you can eat durian. In this case, we had durian pancakes. They took a small pancakes an spread some cold (mashed?) durian on it, folded it over, placed it in a small bag and handed it to you. The dessert resembled a crepe that you ate with your hands.

If you have never had durian, let me tell you, it is unlike any other fruit you have ever had - or will ever have. The fruit of the durian is encased in a prickly orb that seems to be the size of a large pineapple. The orb is cut open to reveal the fleshy fruit. I haven't seen the whole - remove the skin procedure so I am not 100% sure how it works or how it looks.

While the prickly covering seems to be a unique design, it is the smell of the durian that sets it apart from all other fruits.

Sean likes to compare the durian to a "well-used out house sitting in the hot sun."

I am not sure I could describe it any better.

The smell is overpowering. Sean and I walked in a very clean and modern grocery store last week and a rotten smell hit and overwhelmed me...durian. Sean tells me that they ban the fruit from many hotels and from the Indonesian ferries.

Needless to say, eating durian is a challenge.



And I failed the challenge.

I was able to take a very, very small bite of the durian pancake but then I had to throw it out. The love the fruit here and in other parts of SE Asia but it will not make it to my dinner table any time soon.

I would rather eat a whole duck brain than have a nibble of durian.

But don't let me dissuade you from trying it.

bjm 10.28.08

Down and give me 20!!!!

In an effort to provide me with some wonderful memories here in Singapore, Sean has decided that my body needs to hurt.

As they say: No pain, no gain.

I've made three trips with Sean to his trainer's gym. While I know I am not at my strongest right now, I never thought that lifting so little could hurt so much.

In just over 1 hour, we do a warm-up, 3 sets of 6 free-weight exercises and 3 sets of 3 machine exercises, and we finish with some warm-down stretching.

By the end of the hour, I am dead.

that is not quite true. By the middle of the 3rd exercise, i am fairly well spent. And at the end of the hour.....there is not much either one of can do except collapse.

It hurts but I'm sure it is good for me.

bjm 10-20-08

WHY DOES THIS POSTING SEEM LIKE DEJA-VU ALL OVER AGAIN?