Since I know the people reading this at work are not actually "working"..... watch this stuff to make you laugh. Worked on me:
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Still in US
Happy Birthday Drew!!! And anyone else's that I missed in the past few weeks....
Christmas was good, life in the 319 area code this past week is good.... Sarah and I are enjoying time home in the US, with standard stops to Chipotle (yum!), Jimmy Johns (#8 no tomato), and Hardee's Breakfast! Ahhhh the things I miss in Taiwan. Unfortunately it's already Tuesday, and I fly back on Saturday.... so many things to do in that short time!!!
We have a new digital SLR camera now to play with. After many days of online research, I ended up going with the Nikon d60 and it is everything we wanted in an entry-level digital SLR. It's pretty sweet and honestly easy to use. I'll get our pictures of Sarah's cats (there are a LOT of them) up soon. The camera is very quick so it gets the cats at their perfect moments. If any of you have tried taking pictures of cats (or kids) with a standard point-and-click digital camera, you'll know how hard this task is!!! We've been having fun with it and it should provide some better "artistic" shots back in Taiwan and around Asia.
I've been able to get some college football games in while I've been home. This is much appreciated since that was one of the things we really didn't catch while in Taiwan. I would watch some of the Sunday night and Monday night games for the NFL, but not much college football. A nice OT win by Missouri last night to set the Big 12 off at 1-0 so far! And a VERY nice last second field goal by the Vikings to go to the playoffs! Kind of nice to finally go to the playoffs instead of the Chicago team (remember the Twins lost the playoff to the White Sox this past year:( ). We'll see what they can do now that they are there!
Between snow and ice storms, we got some shopping done. Not a ton of things, but with both Sarah and I having new Nintendo DS's, have to pick up some new games;) I love Mario Kart DS - Sarah loves the mini-games on the Super Mario Bros. We also picked up Big Brain Academy which is fun, but sometimes requires too much thinking for a video game. No Wii games this year - I'm still behind on last year's games!!! Nobody sells Game Boy Advanced games anymore..... other than used games (which is ok, but selection is crappy).
Anyway - hope everyone is enjoying the week.... hopefully not a lot of you are working this week or working minimally!
Christmas was good, life in the 319 area code this past week is good.... Sarah and I are enjoying time home in the US, with standard stops to Chipotle (yum!), Jimmy Johns (#8 no tomato), and Hardee's Breakfast! Ahhhh the things I miss in Taiwan. Unfortunately it's already Tuesday, and I fly back on Saturday.... so many things to do in that short time!!!
We have a new digital SLR camera now to play with. After many days of online research, I ended up going with the Nikon d60 and it is everything we wanted in an entry-level digital SLR. It's pretty sweet and honestly easy to use. I'll get our pictures of Sarah's cats (there are a LOT of them) up soon. The camera is very quick so it gets the cats at their perfect moments. If any of you have tried taking pictures of cats (or kids) with a standard point-and-click digital camera, you'll know how hard this task is!!! We've been having fun with it and it should provide some better "artistic" shots back in Taiwan and around Asia.
I've been able to get some college football games in while I've been home. This is much appreciated since that was one of the things we really didn't catch while in Taiwan. I would watch some of the Sunday night and Monday night games for the NFL, but not much college football. A nice OT win by Missouri last night to set the Big 12 off at 1-0 so far! And a VERY nice last second field goal by the Vikings to go to the playoffs! Kind of nice to finally go to the playoffs instead of the Chicago team (remember the Twins lost the playoff to the White Sox this past year:( ). We'll see what they can do now that they are there!
Between snow and ice storms, we got some shopping done. Not a ton of things, but with both Sarah and I having new Nintendo DS's, have to pick up some new games;) I love Mario Kart DS - Sarah loves the mini-games on the Super Mario Bros. We also picked up Big Brain Academy which is fun, but sometimes requires too much thinking for a video game. No Wii games this year - I'm still behind on last year's games!!! Nobody sells Game Boy Advanced games anymore..... other than used games (which is ok, but selection is crappy).
Anyway - hope everyone is enjoying the week.... hopefully not a lot of you are working this week or working minimally!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Back in time for WINTER!!!
Post #700!!!!
Well we made it to Iowa. Where the temperature is -40 with windchill and snowing.... and blowing all over.... But the flights surprisingly allowed us to get back to Rochester only about an hour delayed. We pretty much had booked the path that landed in between snow storms. So no travel worries in the flying part.
Our time in Rochester was very brief - enough to stop at Chipotle and get a few errands done. Then we headed to Storm Lake Iowa for our weekend wedding (no, not ours). That's when the difficulty settled in.... Sarah and I driving 4 hours in the car (remember, I haven't driven a car since July), trying to stay awake after about 3 hours in the past 48! Amazing what sugar, caffeine, and loud music can do.
Hope everyone in the midwest is staying warm and the cars continue to work right. This weather is more typical of February, but I guess after our weekend in Kenting with beach and sun, Karma decided to remind me where my permanent "home" is!!
Well we made it to Iowa. Where the temperature is -40 with windchill and snowing.... and blowing all over.... But the flights surprisingly allowed us to get back to Rochester only about an hour delayed. We pretty much had booked the path that landed in between snow storms. So no travel worries in the flying part.
Our time in Rochester was very brief - enough to stop at Chipotle and get a few errands done. Then we headed to Storm Lake Iowa for our weekend wedding (no, not ours). That's when the difficulty settled in.... Sarah and I driving 4 hours in the car (remember, I haven't driven a car since July), trying to stay awake after about 3 hours in the past 48! Amazing what sugar, caffeine, and loud music can do.
Hope everyone in the midwest is staying warm and the cars continue to work right. This weather is more typical of February, but I guess after our weekend in Kenting with beach and sun, Karma decided to remind me where my permanent "home" is!!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Christmas in T minus 9 days.....
New updated Holiday thoughts. Usually I don't just cut and paste, but figure for today it's better than no post:
An Iowa State Greeting - I've seen a couple similar ones, but obviously this one is my favorite!!! Only thing missing is a sign saying "Help Wanted for Football - Inquire Within" sitting on the lawn in front of the Campanile. For those not familiar with ISU Campus, the Campanile is not nearly this close to Beardshear.
And the question of "Is Santa Claus Real?" gets explored yet again by an engineer. Click here for his/her explanation.
It's cold in Taipei, but not nearly as cold as the Mid-West right now. I know I'll get no sympathy in my complaining..... but I'll do it anyway.
Coming home in about 48 more hours!!!
An Iowa State Greeting - I've seen a couple similar ones, but obviously this one is my favorite!!! Only thing missing is a sign saying "Help Wanted for Football - Inquire Within" sitting on the lawn in front of the Campanile. For those not familiar with ISU Campus, the Campanile is not nearly this close to Beardshear.
And the question of "Is Santa Claus Real?" gets explored yet again by an engineer. Click here for his/her explanation.
It's cold in Taipei, but not nearly as cold as the Mid-West right now. I know I'll get no sympathy in my complaining..... but I'll do it anyway.
Coming home in about 48 more hours!!!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Back From the Beach!!
We're back from an incredibly nice and relaxing weekend in Kenting. Before I get to that - beware that there are 3 new photo albums up on the right. Our day trip with some friends to Jiaosi where the hot springs place was. That was still a lot of fun. Then another one of some random photos of all the Christmas lights up all over Taipei. It really is pretty, especially at night. Despite it not really being a Christian country, they do go all out to celebrate Christmas. It's actually "Constitution Day" here in Taiwan on December 25th.
Kenting - we had an early train ride on the High Speed Rail that gets us from Taipei to Southern part of Taiwan in an hour and 30 minutes. EXPRESS!!!! What every country needs to cut back on unnecessary congestion on the roads. We did have to hire a cab to take us the rest of the way to Kenting which is on the southern most part of Taiwan. We arrived around 11am to the small community that is Kenting. It was about 85 degrees and clear skies on Saturday. So needless to say, we enjoyed the beach and ocean life very much. In fact, since we were lucky enough to check in early and the normal checkin is 3pm (don't ask) - we had the ENTIRE private beach to ourselves. Seriously - check out the photos. The water was warm (no sharks) and the sand was very soft..... just like it should be. The water amazingly blue and clean - just like Heaven.
We had some fun meals in town - the best being the night market that the main drag turns into after dark. Sarah and I decided that a corn dog has never tasted so good. It was so good, we went back the 2nd night for another one. We also had probably the best donuts EVER! There were a lot of shops selling all sorts of suvineirs of course, surfing type themes all over town. Our room over looked the ocean, we kept the windows open to hear the sound of waves crashing in all night. Much better than the sound of scooters and car alarms like we hear in Taipei. We had a door in our room that takes us off the deck and about 20 feet from the beach. So yeah, a very nice room at a nice hotel! Enjoyed the spa, pool, hot tubs..... they had everything. Too bad it was "out of season" for the outside bar to be open. We just brought our own from 7-11!!! The sailboat was in action on Saturday but it filled up before sunset. We had intended to go on Sunday, but it was far too windy to go out on that day. The waves were good for using the boogie board to surf with!
You'll see a video of Sarah enjoying the massage chair. Best 20 NTD that I've ever spent!!! And she says no, it doesn't feel very relaxing or whatever it's supposed to do. Those things are everywhere though!
Sunday was windy, but we still enjoyed the hot tub and pool areas. Made the sound of the waves coming in even better! We'll be headed back there very soon I hope! There are a lot of things to do other than the ocean, but we'll save those things for another day!
On a side note, Chizik is gone from Ames..... what the hell??? He didn't do anything! So now we're looking for another coach. Who's available?????? Who wants to go to Ames? I know someone that builds houses for coaches in that area right before they get fired!
Still no senator from Minnesota - what a freakin' mess!!! Not sure how this thing will turn out but again shows the need for some changes. I did call and my vote was received and legit he said. He also could have been feeding me a line of crap, but how would I know?
We'll be coming back on Friday to the US of A. Yeah, the main reason we are flying home is so I can get my Chipotle fix. Christmas is 2nd on the list.
Have a good Monday. Need a strong showing from the Cleveland defense tonight to hold my Fantasy Football opponent to under 34 total points (2 players). If so, I take 1st place for the regular season, if not, 3 way tie for 1st.....
Kenting - we had an early train ride on the High Speed Rail that gets us from Taipei to Southern part of Taiwan in an hour and 30 minutes. EXPRESS!!!! What every country needs to cut back on unnecessary congestion on the roads. We did have to hire a cab to take us the rest of the way to Kenting which is on the southern most part of Taiwan. We arrived around 11am to the small community that is Kenting. It was about 85 degrees and clear skies on Saturday. So needless to say, we enjoyed the beach and ocean life very much. In fact, since we were lucky enough to check in early and the normal checkin is 3pm (don't ask) - we had the ENTIRE private beach to ourselves. Seriously - check out the photos. The water was warm (no sharks) and the sand was very soft..... just like it should be. The water amazingly blue and clean - just like Heaven.
We had some fun meals in town - the best being the night market that the main drag turns into after dark. Sarah and I decided that a corn dog has never tasted so good. It was so good, we went back the 2nd night for another one. We also had probably the best donuts EVER! There were a lot of shops selling all sorts of suvineirs of course, surfing type themes all over town. Our room over looked the ocean, we kept the windows open to hear the sound of waves crashing in all night. Much better than the sound of scooters and car alarms like we hear in Taipei. We had a door in our room that takes us off the deck and about 20 feet from the beach. So yeah, a very nice room at a nice hotel! Enjoyed the spa, pool, hot tubs..... they had everything. Too bad it was "out of season" for the outside bar to be open. We just brought our own from 7-11!!! The sailboat was in action on Saturday but it filled up before sunset. We had intended to go on Sunday, but it was far too windy to go out on that day. The waves were good for using the boogie board to surf with!
You'll see a video of Sarah enjoying the massage chair. Best 20 NTD that I've ever spent!!! And she says no, it doesn't feel very relaxing or whatever it's supposed to do. Those things are everywhere though!
Sunday was windy, but we still enjoyed the hot tub and pool areas. Made the sound of the waves coming in even better! We'll be headed back there very soon I hope! There are a lot of things to do other than the ocean, but we'll save those things for another day!
On a side note, Chizik is gone from Ames..... what the hell??? He didn't do anything! So now we're looking for another coach. Who's available?????? Who wants to go to Ames? I know someone that builds houses for coaches in that area right before they get fired!
Still no senator from Minnesota - what a freakin' mess!!! Not sure how this thing will turn out but again shows the need for some changes. I did call and my vote was received and legit he said. He also could have been feeding me a line of crap, but how would I know?
We'll be coming back on Friday to the US of A. Yeah, the main reason we are flying home is so I can get my Chipotle fix. Christmas is 2nd on the list.
Have a good Monday. Need a strong showing from the Cleveland defense tonight to hold my Fantasy Football opponent to under 34 total points (2 players). If so, I take 1st place for the regular season, if not, 3 way tie for 1st.....
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Dark Knight
Sarah's having a girl's night out to go see Twilight with millions of other girls around the world. Yeah, I said it - no guy who's a real man will go see it. A real man stays home and watches The Dark Knight like I just did. Talk about a pretty darn good movie!!! Here are my thoughts fresh after finishing the movie:
Other Movie thoughts - is there seriously another Terminator movie coming out (with Christian Bale)???
I should be done with The Stand this weekend. 1300 pages, I have less than 200 left. I want to start a new book on my way home next week to the US. Tomorrow morning, Sarah and I FINALLY head to Kenting on the south tip of Taiwan. Weather calls for 80+ degrees and lots of sun. We're staying in the top hotel (The Chateau) and a room that opens up right onto the beach. Private beach at that!!! We come back to Taipei Monday morning. It's a 1.5 hour ride on the High Speed Rail (direct route.... takes 2.5 hours on the non-direct route), then about a 2 hour bus ride from Train Station to our hotel. Don't worry, there will be lots of pictures when we get back!
Then it's only 4 days till we get back to the US of A! We'll be touching down in Snowy Rochester Friday morning so pray for good weather. Our time there will be very short (3 hours), enough to check on a few things then hit the road to Iowa.
Have a good weekend y'all. Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!!!
- Christian Bale does not really make a good Batman, but then again the only one that was "good" was Michael Keaton. He'll do I guess, let's see where this "new" series goes over the next 10 years.
- Everyone else was pretty darn good in the movie.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal is cute, but she's no Katie Holmes
- I was hoping Maggie would kiss The Joker... that way Heath Ledger could have claimed making out with a brother/sister combination... how many folks can say that on their resume?
- Ok... Heath Ledger was good. In fact he was great. Best performance ever? Not really. I haven't really thought about the other performances from the past year to compare it with for the award season coming up. But I do compare him to Jack Nicholson's Joker from 19 years ago (yeah... "Holy Shit has it been 19 years???"... 1989 indeed). Not sure Ledger's Joker performance would have been so well done without Nicholson showing him how crazy the character should be. Just my 2 cents worth.
- I LOVED bringing in the creation of Two-Face. Seriously, I knew I recognized the name, but had forgotten who Harvey Dent was to become.
- Good special effects on Two Face and the ugly eye that follows his other eye perfectly.
- Anthony Michael Hall..... is he seriously still acting and only pulling down B-roles? Go back and do a Breakfast Club 25 years later or something. Wasn't even that good!
Other Movie thoughts - is there seriously another Terminator movie coming out (with Christian Bale)???
I should be done with The Stand this weekend. 1300 pages, I have less than 200 left. I want to start a new book on my way home next week to the US. Tomorrow morning, Sarah and I FINALLY head to Kenting on the south tip of Taiwan. Weather calls for 80+ degrees and lots of sun. We're staying in the top hotel (The Chateau) and a room that opens up right onto the beach. Private beach at that!!! We come back to Taipei Monday morning. It's a 1.5 hour ride on the High Speed Rail (direct route.... takes 2.5 hours on the non-direct route), then about a 2 hour bus ride from Train Station to our hotel. Don't worry, there will be lots of pictures when we get back!
Then it's only 4 days till we get back to the US of A! We'll be touching down in Snowy Rochester Friday morning so pray for good weather. Our time there will be very short (3 hours), enough to check on a few things then hit the road to Iowa.
Have a good weekend y'all. Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!!!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Christmas Entertainment
Happy Birthday Pitzen..... Hope you're avoiding the snow like I am!!! Also hoping that all are safe in Minnesota and Iowa despite the ice and snow that is currently hitting everyone.
I truly feel the power of this thing called the "internet" when it's Christmas time. I'm able to pull out my favorite entertainment links (some old.... some new) to keep me laughing over and over again. Best part is that by January 1, I stop visiting the links... that way they are fresh and funny come the following December. Without the "series of tubes", we'd have no way to waste hours and hours a day during this Holy month.
So I give you some classic ones, and some new ones:
I truly feel the power of this thing called the "internet" when it's Christmas time. I'm able to pull out my favorite entertainment links (some old.... some new) to keep me laughing over and over again. Best part is that by January 1, I stop visiting the links... that way they are fresh and funny come the following December. Without the "series of tubes", we'd have no way to waste hours and hours a day during this Holy month.
So I give you some classic ones, and some new ones:
- Interactive "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" with Santa and his reindeer
- Holiday Lights Video - the original
- Holiday Lights 2008 edition (pretty cool)
- Santa and Reindeer singing White Christmas
- Stoen's Favorite - DING FRIES ARE DONE!!!
- From the Movie Elf - the Angry Elf scene
- Shitter Was Full
- Silent (but Deadly) Night.... you have to check this one out to believe it!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Shitter Was Full!!!
After having to listen to the following type of comments over the past 4 months
"Hawkeyes beat your Cyclones"
"Cyclones were too scared to play UNI this year"
"Who's #1 in the state of Iowa???"
After a 71-66 OT win in ISU Basketball on Wednesday, thankfully I have ammunition to fire back. Thank you Santa Clause, for a victory over UNI..... another win next week over the Squawkeyes would complete my Christmas List for this December. Next year bring us more wins in Football.
We made our Christmas Movie list (since TV still is 90%+ in Chinese.... and everyone wants to watch Holiday Movies this time of year right? Here's what we have to watch over the next couple of weeks:
Christmas Vacation (Just finishing it right now actually)
Miracle on 34th Street
White Christmas
Elf
Bad Santa
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Story
Scrooged
Muppet Christmas Carol
The Grinch
Frosty the Snowman
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reigndeer
Fred Claus
Am I missing any? No to Home Alone movies, and No to any Holiday movie with Tim Allen who should have stopped with Home Improvement.
"Hawkeyes beat your Cyclones"
"Cyclones were too scared to play UNI this year"
"Who's #1 in the state of Iowa???"
After a 71-66 OT win in ISU Basketball on Wednesday, thankfully I have ammunition to fire back. Thank you Santa Clause, for a victory over UNI..... another win next week over the Squawkeyes would complete my Christmas List for this December. Next year bring us more wins in Football.
We made our Christmas Movie list (since TV still is 90%+ in Chinese.... and everyone wants to watch Holiday Movies this time of year right? Here's what we have to watch over the next couple of weeks:
Christmas Vacation (Just finishing it right now actually)
Miracle on 34th Street
White Christmas
Elf
Bad Santa
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Story
Scrooged
Muppet Christmas Carol
The Grinch
Frosty the Snowman
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reigndeer
Fred Claus
Am I missing any? No to Home Alone movies, and No to any Holiday movie with Tim Allen who should have stopped with Home Improvement.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
An Amazing Birthday
Today is the 100th Birthday of my Great Grandmother. Happy Birthday Granny Nettie!!! In Taiwan, she would be 101 years old today - since they are born at one year old (as in the first year of your life). This may explain why I looked like a lot of 1 year olds in size when I was born.... possibly???
But reaching 100 years is quite the achievement... I couldn't find any webpages that directly talk about the age level or any stats. I'll keep looking. But think of the history that has occurred since 1908:
1908: Ford introduced the Model-T
1909: Plastic invtented (Granny is older than Plastic!?!?!?! KICK ASS!)
1912: Oreos First Introduced, Titanic Sinks.... people are doomed to hear Celine Dion song in a movie 85 years later
1914: WW1 Begins (Granny was 6 years old)
1918: Daylight Savings Introduced (Granny is older than TIME!!!)
1920-1933 : Prohibition in the US (Granny had to wait till she was 25 to enjoy legally!)
1924: First Olympic Winter Games
1927: Babe Ruth breaks Home Run Record (pre-steroid record)
1928: SLICED BREAD INVENTED.... insert analogy here
1929: First Academy Awards, Stock Market Crash
1931: US Officially gets National Anthem
1937: Japan invades China (more relevant to my time here in Taiwan)
1939: World War 2 Begins
1945: UN founded... Atomic Bombs dropped in Japan
1949: China becomes Communist
1950: Korean War begins
1951: Color TV Introduced
1955: McDonald's Corporation Founded (10 people served)
1956: TV Remote Invented (A fine invention at that)
1959: Hawaii was added to the Union as the 50th State..... Hawaii 5-0 can now be filmed
1963: JFK assasinated, MLK "I have a dream" speech (Granny was already 55 by this point)
1967: Super Bowl I (59 years young....)
1969: First Man on the Moon (61 years young)
1973: US pulls out of Vietnam (65 years young)
1977: Star Wars Episode 4 (69 years young) - A kick ass great grandkid named Adam was born
1981: PC Introduced (73 years young)
1983: Thriller released by MJ (Wonder if Granny has ever done the Thriller Dance??)
1989: Berlin Wall falls (Granny was 81 years young when this happened!)
Y2K: 91 years young....
2008: New president and Granny hits 100 years young!!!
By the way, the year before Granny was born, Oklahoma was admitted into the US as the 46th State. New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii weren't even stars on the flag yet!!!!
Happy Birthday from Taiwan - and best wishes on another year!
But reaching 100 years is quite the achievement... I couldn't find any webpages that directly talk about the age level or any stats. I'll keep looking. But think of the history that has occurred since 1908:
1908: Ford introduced the Model-T
1909: Plastic invtented (Granny is older than Plastic!?!?!?! KICK ASS!)
1912: Oreos First Introduced, Titanic Sinks.... people are doomed to hear Celine Dion song in a movie 85 years later
1914: WW1 Begins (Granny was 6 years old)
1918: Daylight Savings Introduced (Granny is older than TIME!!!)
1920-1933 : Prohibition in the US (Granny had to wait till she was 25 to enjoy legally!)
1924: First Olympic Winter Games
1927: Babe Ruth breaks Home Run Record (pre-steroid record)
1928: SLICED BREAD INVENTED.... insert analogy here
1929: First Academy Awards, Stock Market Crash
1931: US Officially gets National Anthem
1937: Japan invades China (more relevant to my time here in Taiwan)
1939: World War 2 Begins
1945: UN founded... Atomic Bombs dropped in Japan
1949: China becomes Communist
1950: Korean War begins
1951: Color TV Introduced
1955: McDonald's Corporation Founded (10 people served)
1956: TV Remote Invented (A fine invention at that)
1959: Hawaii was added to the Union as the 50th State..... Hawaii 5-0 can now be filmed
1963: JFK assasinated, MLK "I have a dream" speech (Granny was already 55 by this point)
1967: Super Bowl I (59 years young....)
1969: First Man on the Moon (61 years young)
1973: US pulls out of Vietnam (65 years young)
1977: Star Wars Episode 4 (69 years young) - A kick ass great grandkid named Adam was born
1981: PC Introduced (73 years young)
1983: Thriller released by MJ (Wonder if Granny has ever done the Thriller Dance??)
1989: Berlin Wall falls (Granny was 81 years young when this happened!)
Y2K: 91 years young....
2008: New president and Granny hits 100 years young!!!
By the way, the year before Granny was born, Oklahoma was admitted into the US as the 46th State. New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii weren't even stars on the flag yet!!!!
Happy Birthday from Taiwan - and best wishes on another year!
Monday, December 01, 2008
December Time in Taiwan
We had a successful Thanksgiving here in Taiwan. Hope yours was as enjoyable. Funny how having the US off during last week actually made things "normal" around here for work load!
Pictures of our Thanksgiving meal are up. Sarah did an AWESOME job with the turkey, stuffing, pumpkin bars, green bean casserole, and I threw in the Garlic Mashed Potatoes for extra leftover potentials. We also added some photos of "Thanksgiving #2" which was Friday night at our friend Matt and Tara's house up in northern Taipei. The more food the better right? And you'll see pictures of Chai (of course) and her BFF who lives next door - ChaCha. ChaCha is a funny dog that loves wearing outfits around town. He seriously has at least 10 different outfits he cycles through. The best part about ChaCha is that he rides a scooter around (with his parents driving of course) but to protect his eyes, he wears goggles!!!! Seriously - you have to see the pictures to fully appreciate it:) He wears them without any hassle..... most dogs would hate even trying it!
Saturday was another beautiful day here in Taipei. I actually wore pants for most of the day as the temperatures were in the 60s, but the winter coats, stocking hats, and winter gloves were out for a lot of the local Taiwanese! We saw a lot of Holiday decorations already up, with more to come I'm sure. While we didn't see the nuts out shopping at 5am (you know who you are!), there were still a lot of folks out enjoying some special prices. And yes, they have elevator Christmas music playing in most of the shopping areas.
Sunday we headed to Jiaosi on the East Coast of Taiwan for some HOT SPRINGS!!! This was a pretty amazing experience! There are plenty of natural hot springs areas all over Taiwan. We're on the underwater volcano circle thingy in Eastern Asia which allows the water to pass through the underground volcanic action and heat it up. So when it gets to the surface, it's nice and warm:) The private park that we went to cost about $6 for entrance fees and had tons of different hot tub areas to experience. We started out with a "room temperature" pool which was full of tiny fish. When you put your feet in, the fish pull the bacteria and dead skin off of your feet. Then we headed to a series of tubs at 40+ degrees (Celsius of course... that's 104 degrees F for the US folks) but each had a different additive to help keep the skin nice and clean. Rose, milk, wine, lavender, some green thingy that looked like a tub full of Gaterade..... they also had a large area that was full of all kind of massage pressure jets. Those felt REALLY good on the back. So yeah, we left there feeling quite rejuvinated! Then we headed to an "Eat to Die" (All you can eat) Hot Pot place that was also very inexpensive! Then a 2 hour train ride back to Taipei to wrap up the weekend. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras inside the park so we don't have much to share from this experience. But for any future visitors while we're here in Taiwan, consider it a new regular stop during a visit!
BCS shows again how ineffective it is.... Oklahoma plays in the Big12 Title Game despite losing to Texas who is a close #3.... Doubt we could see a UT/OU rematch for the BCS title game, I think that if there was an 8 team playoff, we'd see that matchup. Don't forget Texas Tech is 11-1 and probably won't even get to a BCS game! Throw Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Penn State, Boise State, Texas Tech, and even a 2 loss Florida (after this weekend) in there to see what happens. Iowa State seems to have ended up in the top 10 list for ESPN's "Bottom 10" for another season. Notre Dame finished worse than us somehow though;)
Anyway - enjoy your Monday! HAPPY DECEMBER!!!!
Pictures of our Thanksgiving meal are up. Sarah did an AWESOME job with the turkey, stuffing, pumpkin bars, green bean casserole, and I threw in the Garlic Mashed Potatoes for extra leftover potentials. We also added some photos of "Thanksgiving #2" which was Friday night at our friend Matt and Tara's house up in northern Taipei. The more food the better right? And you'll see pictures of Chai (of course) and her BFF who lives next door - ChaCha. ChaCha is a funny dog that loves wearing outfits around town. He seriously has at least 10 different outfits he cycles through. The best part about ChaCha is that he rides a scooter around (with his parents driving of course) but to protect his eyes, he wears goggles!!!! Seriously - you have to see the pictures to fully appreciate it:) He wears them without any hassle..... most dogs would hate even trying it!
Saturday was another beautiful day here in Taipei. I actually wore pants for most of the day as the temperatures were in the 60s, but the winter coats, stocking hats, and winter gloves were out for a lot of the local Taiwanese! We saw a lot of Holiday decorations already up, with more to come I'm sure. While we didn't see the nuts out shopping at 5am (you know who you are!), there were still a lot of folks out enjoying some special prices. And yes, they have elevator Christmas music playing in most of the shopping areas.
Sunday we headed to Jiaosi on the East Coast of Taiwan for some HOT SPRINGS!!! This was a pretty amazing experience! There are plenty of natural hot springs areas all over Taiwan. We're on the underwater volcano circle thingy in Eastern Asia which allows the water to pass through the underground volcanic action and heat it up. So when it gets to the surface, it's nice and warm:) The private park that we went to cost about $6 for entrance fees and had tons of different hot tub areas to experience. We started out with a "room temperature" pool which was full of tiny fish. When you put your feet in, the fish pull the bacteria and dead skin off of your feet. Then we headed to a series of tubs at 40+ degrees (Celsius of course... that's 104 degrees F for the US folks) but each had a different additive to help keep the skin nice and clean. Rose, milk, wine, lavender, some green thingy that looked like a tub full of Gaterade..... they also had a large area that was full of all kind of massage pressure jets. Those felt REALLY good on the back. So yeah, we left there feeling quite rejuvinated! Then we headed to an "Eat to Die" (All you can eat) Hot Pot place that was also very inexpensive! Then a 2 hour train ride back to Taipei to wrap up the weekend. Unfortunately they do not allow cameras inside the park so we don't have much to share from this experience. But for any future visitors while we're here in Taiwan, consider it a new regular stop during a visit!
BCS shows again how ineffective it is.... Oklahoma plays in the Big12 Title Game despite losing to Texas who is a close #3.... Doubt we could see a UT/OU rematch for the BCS title game, I think that if there was an 8 team playoff, we'd see that matchup. Don't forget Texas Tech is 11-1 and probably won't even get to a BCS game! Throw Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Penn State, Boise State, Texas Tech, and even a 2 loss Florida (after this weekend) in there to see what happens. Iowa State seems to have ended up in the top 10 list for ESPN's "Bottom 10" for another season. Notre Dame finished worse than us somehow though;)
Anyway - enjoy your Monday! HAPPY DECEMBER!!!!
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