A Pleasant Surprise

I went to Panda Express for lunch this afternoon and this is what the fortune cookie says. I do hope so! :D

Car I am using...

I was assigned the Chevrolet Cobalt as my transportation here in Austin... I still remember the few dangerous turning done while i was in US sometime back due to the change from Right hand drive in Malaysia to Left hand drive in US.

I hope this won't happened here. Wish me luck!!

My "Home" in Austin

This is where i am staying - the San Marin apartment, located at Duval Road, a place which i should call home for 6.5 months.

Kitchen for the chef-to-be, or not to be :p

Again, thanks to Eugene for acting as my tour guide and groceries advisor. Now my kitchen cabinets and fridge is at least equipped with some of the essential stuffs :)

The living room is complete with sofas, TV, DVD player and the all-in-one wireless router + modem (but the wireless LAN is not working :S)

My bedroom with the so called "walk-in" wardrobe.

The apartment is equipped with a washing machine, dryer and air-conditioning / heater system.

Sunset at Narita Airport, Japan

The flight from Singapore to Japan has been a pleasant one as i sat beside a passenger from Rhode Island (Andrew Hunt, Director of Project Buy-Out Process, APC) and we had a good chat throughout our journey talking about job, family, exchange views on different cultures etc.

I have to wait for nearly 4 hours at Narita Airport, Japan for the connecting flight to O'Hare Airport, Chicago. Andrew's flight was about 2 hours ahead of mine. I parted with Andrew and spent the rest of my waiting time resting at the departure gate and got the opportunity to capture the glorious sunset at Narita airport.

The flight from Narita to Chicago has been a grueling one. I sat through the whole 11+ hours of journey without being able to doze off. When I finally reached O'Hare, i was already exhausted, feeling a bit giddy due to the lack of sleep. The six hours wait at O'Hare is hell long before i finally took the 3 hours flight and reached safely at Austin.

Eugene was kind enough to pick me up at Austin airport. Off we went to grab some food before heading to the apartment to take a rest. When i finally dozed off, the clocked was showing 3.30 in the morning...

Grand Mercure Roxy Singapore

For those who are not yet informed, I’ve just ventured into a new career and will be in Austin, Texas for an on job training through end July 2010. My journey to the west started on the evening of 14th January 2010, flying from Penang to Singapore. Due to the early connecting flight at 7.20am the next morning to Narita, I was given a complementary stay at Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel Singapore as the transit hotel courtesy of United Airlines.

To be frank, my expectation wasn’t high as my previous stay in such transit hotel hasn’t been pleasant. However, Grand Mercure Roxy has proven me wrong by surpassing my expectation - portraying good customer service and provided a simple yet elegant room for my short stay (I’ve to leave at 4.30am the next morning in order to check-in for my next flight).

Comfortable bed but i just managed to sleep for about 3 hours in anticipation of the subsequent flights

A lot of hotels doesn't provide dental set but these are what were provided by Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel - dental set included. Certainly a plus!

Writing table

Wall Decoration

Instead of charging SGD 7+ for every 15 minutes of internet usage, it will be a great plus if the service is offered free :)

Two Wolves

One evening an old grandfather told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old grandfather simply replied, "The one you feed."