Vivian & Joe

2011 is here…!

2011-01-05T02:05:00.001-08:00

We spent the evening cooking up a nice dinner to enjoy the last day of 2010. This year went by rather quickly and that’s good because it wasn’t a fun year at all. Many bad memories of loved ones leaving and I also managed to injured myself while skiing early December. Fractured elbow and partially torn ligament was the result of a bad landing from a ski jump, and it’s been 4 weeks since the accident and I am told that it would take another 2 possibly 3 weeks to completely recover. I hope I could go back on the slopes again by end of January.

Few photos of NYE dinner here:

Joe & Gillian - if you are reading this – loving your gift!

So 2011 is here, the holidays are over, and I got the holiday flu on the very first day of the year. I am all better now thanks to the TLC from Vivian and I am ready to go back to work tomorrow.

All the best to everybody in 2011!

Christmas Dinner Photos

2011-01-05T01:50:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T02:38:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve we were invited to have dinner at Julia’s home. On Christmas Day we will be having dinner at home with family and friends. It’s nice to enjoy a 4-day long weekend.

We wish everyone a warm and safe Christmas holiday.

Photos from Christmas Eve Dinner at Julia’s:

October Updates

2010-11-08T16:09:00.001-08:00

We wrapped up October with a family dinner at home to celebrate Grandma Cheng’s 90th Birthday. Click on the photo below to open the album in a new window.

The days are getting shorter after the daylight savings changes last Sunday and also wetter because that’s just typical Vancouver fall weather.

Vivian has started job hunting last week but without much luck. It may have to do with the back that the year is wrapping up and not much happening in the HR front for many companies.

Canada Post sucks

2010-10-19T14:17:00.001-07:00

I sent Vivian’s police certificate requests to overseas authorities via registered mail using Canada Post. After 3 weeks there was no updates on their online tracking tool. It just reported that the mail has left Canada and have not been received at the other end. I called and they said my mail were sent not by air but by ground. The lady told me that if I didn’t request otherwise, all will be by ground by default.

WTF… who still sends letters by ground/sea these days? In my mind I thought there are only two ways to send a letter these days:

1) Air Mail

2) E-Mail

I was so ticked off by this. Anyhow 5 weeks after the mail were sent out, we received responses from the two offices. I went back to the Canada Post online tracking site, it still reported that the mail have not reached the destination.

I will not use Canada Post anymore. Period.

APPLICATION STATUS UPDATE FROM THE GOVERNMENT

2010-08-27T00:21:00.001-07:00

Earlier tonight I logged in to the CIC web site to get an update on our application status and… expecting to see something like “we cannot locate your application in our system”, and……………

A Client Application Status page came up!

They have finally started processing our application!!!

Apparently they have started the PR application processing since mid-February and just on August 24 they have processed my sponsorship application. Moreover, a letter has been mailed on the same day and our status now reads “DECISION MADE”.

THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME!!!! What will the letter say???

Happy Canada Day

2010-07-07T22:58:00.001-07:00

On Canada Day Vivian and I took my grandma (嫲嫲) to visit the Guanyin Temple in Richmond.

(click on the photo to view album)

We had a quick lunch and then we headed to Steveston to check out the festivities.

(click on the photos to view album)

Also I will update the blog design soon – stay tuned for the new look!

June update…

2010-06-29T03:20:00.001-07:00

It’s been a busy and eventful month hence the lack of updates until now. I was on a short business trip to Vernon BC earlier this month and I brought Vivian along on my trip. We drove there and the 5-hour drive was not bad – my A6 got the much deserved “exercise” on the highway – a nice change from the usual stop-and-go daily commute in the city. Burn carbon deposits, burn!

We got there late Wednesday night and I had pretty full days on Thursday, but I managed to drive up to Silver Star Mountain in the late afternoon while the day is still bright. Not much to see there, nobody were around, so we took a few photos and drove back down. Friday I had a busy morning meeting with local IT vendors but I was off after 2pm so Vivian and I checked out Creative Chaos Crafts Show and bought some souvenirs. We left Vernon in the evening and got home just before Friday midnight.

City of Vernon and Kalamalka Lake in the background

The next weekend my parents, Vivian and I went to Powell River to do some fishing and shellfish-digging. The weather was gorgeous and everyone enjoyed the sun and the breeze on the beach picking up oysters, clams and geoducks.

Sadly the trip was cut short and we had to come home early Sunday morning because we found out that my grandma was admitted into the hospital. She passed away the next morning on June 14 and everyone in the family were very sad. Relatives from HK arrived a few days after and the service was held on June 23.

This week I am back to my normal routine going to the office all week and will try to get lots of my outstanding tasks done because of the lack of focus in the last little while. This week is however a short week because July 1 is Canada Day; Vivian and I will check out Steveston this year with some of my friends.

Dog-sitting week, Day 7

2010-05-19T00:59:00.001-07:00

Sunday was the last day we spent time with Baxter & Carmelle, because tomorrow my friends will be home from his cruise vacation. Vivian and I took Baxter & Carmelle to Lonsdale Quay for afternoon tea and bran muffins, and then we had a short stroll at Ambleside Park.

Update: I’ve uploaded all the photos taken this week into one album which is viewable here: Baxter & Carmelle

Dog-sitting week, Day 6

2010-05-16T02:30:00.001-07:00

Today after dim sum with ex-coworkers Vivian and I took Baxter and Carmelle for a long walk on a nearby trail. It was a good two hour exercise and everybody were all very tired by the time we got home.

My friends will be back home on Monday so that means our dog-sitting “vacation” will be over soon :)

Dog-sitting week, day 1

2010-05-11T00:03:00.001-07:00

My friend is away on vacation so this week Vivian and I get to look after the two dogs, Baxter and Carmelle.

Our First Wedding Anniversary Trip - Ucluelet, BC

2010-05-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

It was our first wedding anniversary two weekends ago so we had a short getaway trip to Ucluelet, BC. We stayed at my friend's vacation condo (thanks Rick) and we made dinner on the first night. On the anniversary day (Sunday April 25) we chose to go whale-watching. It was cloudy and chilly, typical of late April weather. The sun came out late in the afternoon which kind of made the boat ride a little rough near the end. There weren't a whole lot of whale sightings but we managed to take a few snapshots of a grey whale near the harbour. After the boat ride we went to have our anniversary dinner at Norwoods Restaurant. We headed back to the condo and we enjoyed the wedding cake (still moist, but of course not as great as it was a year ago). We will likely go back to Ucluelet again in the summer time to explore the trails and maybe have another whale-watching tour again hoping to see more of them.

Please enjoy the photos (click on the photo collage below to open the album), and please leave comments!

Ottawa, Montreal & Quebec City Photos

2010-03-25T00:31:00.000-07:00

Finally getting around to upload more photos from the trip:


Ottawa	Montreal	Quebec City

Today is March 25... only one more month before our first wedding anniversary... :)

Photos from Mont Tremblant

2010-03-16T00:46:00.001-07:00

Here is the Mont Tremblant trip album:

http://geediu.smugmug.com/Travel/Mont-Tremblant-2010/11478706_C5awg

More photos to come (Montreal/Quebec City) - I have been swamped with work in the last little while O.o

Day trip in Quebec City

2010-02-26T15:35:00.001-08:00

Today we drove east to Quebec City. It was super windy there. We had a quick lunch and joined the Chateau Frontenac hotel tour. It wasn't raining nor snowing so we walked around the old town and took many photos, some of which I am going to post here.

Now we are heading back to Montreal and find a place for a late dinner.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Day 1 in Montreal

2010-02-25T20:34:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Montreal yesterday night and spent the late evening looking for a place to eat and ended up having a late dinner (11pm) at Les 3 Brasseurs. Today we spent the day at snowy Old Port, snowy Old Montreal, and the Underground. Why so much snow... I think I am just about done with all the snow. Vancouver is looking pretty nice right now.

Photo inside the Notre Dame Basilica:

Day 3 at Mont Tremblant

2010-02-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Trying out small jumps in the snow park and nastier blue runs, giving the mountain all I've got with no reserve. Thumb 80% healed - can flex with very little pain. Vivian didn't ski at all that day and decided to just take photos around the village. We miss Mont Tremblant already and we sure are going to go back in the future! Once we gathered all the photos from Daniel and the others we will post them online.

Day 2 at Mont Tremblant

2010-02-23T14:45:00.001-08:00

Other than my broken thumb, Vivian and I are enjoying this place tremendously. Here is a photo taken from our room, we are right next to the lifts.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

En route to Montreal

2010-02-21T10:55:00.001-08:00

We both think that to travel by train is definitely a better way than to travel by airplane. It's way cheaper and much more comfortable. Our one way ticket from Ottawa to Montreal (2 hour ride) is only $20 each plus GST. I get free Wi-Fi which is a big plus, and it is how I am sending out this blog update. The only downside is that the ride is twice as long as that by air but the pros outweighs the cons for sure for a relatively short trip such as this one.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Cold in Ottawa (Day 3)

2010-02-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

Our last day in Ottawa and we spent it inside the Parliament block, the Canadian War Museum and on the Rideau Canal skating on bumpy ice. I don't know why people say that half a day is all the time one needs to tour Ottawa - my wife and I have spent 3 days already and we feel that there isn't enough time! We will be back, some day, perhaps in the summer.

Tomorrow we are going to take the train from Ottawa to Montreal. Mont Tremblant - here we come...

Cold in Ottawa (Day 2)

2010-02-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the nice and cold temperature here - today it's all about sightseeing and evening outdoor activities. We visited the Byward Market and then the Museum of Civilization (which is actually in Gatineau QC just across from the Ottawa River). Afterward we checked out a couple venues of the Winterlude festival.

Tons of photos to organize and upload. Will do so when I have time in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow will go check out another museum (War Museum) and try out the world's largest skating rink on the canal.

Cold in Ottawa

2010-02-18T07:57:00.001-08:00

Arrived in Ottawa after an uneventful the red-eye flight. We forgot to check-in the day before so we weren't able to sit next to one another. Cold here - around -3 degrees. Will check out the Parliament Hill after some rest and a quick lunch with relatives.

My Birthday 壽飽

2010-02-13T23:00:00.000-08:00

These are the kinds of 壽飽 Vivian ordered for me on my birthday dinner with my family LOL

Ski trip in two weeks

2010-02-03T23:23:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to get away from the Olympics craziness at home, we plan to travel back east. We will visit Ottawa for a couple of days and then head to Mont Tremblant for a few days of skiing with Daniel, Linda and their friends. We will try to post some of our trip photos here when we have time.

Happy New Year

2010-01-14T02:18:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year from Vivian and Joe. The blog is now back to a very basic theme until Joe has time to play around with this some more. (Blog best viewed at 1440 x 900 resolution though.)

Hard to believe 2009 is already over; the year went by really quickly as everything revolved around the wedding and lots of time were spent on preparation and also travelling and entertaining visitors. In fact our first wedding anniversary is only 3 months away!

Christmas Dinner Photos

2009-12-26T02:53:00.000-08:00

This year our family invited uncle Simon and aunt Kitty and their nephew Douglas who came to visit Vancouver from HK. Click on the photos below to view more in the album.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T03:05:00.001-08:00

We wish everyone a joyous holiday season - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

- Vivian and Joe

2009

(photo courtesy kennymatic on flickr)

Another milestone reached

2009-12-02T15:23:00.001-08:00

Today we've finally submitted our application - we are both very excited and it's been a long time coming~~~ the wait begins...!!!

Hong Kong Wedding Photos

2009-11-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

AT LONG LAST...

Hong Kong Pre-wedding	Banquet: Preparation	Banquet: Entering

Banquet: Toasting	Banquet: Friends	Banquet: Greeting Guests

Hong Kong Pre-wedding photos posted

2009-11-09T02:53:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not,we still haven't received the photos of our wedding banquet in Hong Kong... so here I am posting the link to some of the pre-wedding photos. We have been told that we will receive the DVDs on Monday and once we have them we will go through them and start posting some of them here, so enjoy and stay tuned.

Getting Ready	Tea Ceremony at Four Seasons	Wedding Ceremony

Wedding Party	Tea Ceremony At Home	Reception Dinner

	Hong Kong Pre-wedding

Happy Halloween everyone~~~

2009-10-31T03:19:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins together this evening and roasted the seeds for midnight snacks hehe...

Where are the photos???

2009-10-19T01:38:00.000-07:00

You are not alone as I am also asking the same question - will try to get in touch with our photographer this week and get an update - hopefully he will send me the photo DVD soon and then I could post the photos here. Sorry and stay tuned.

Thank you everybody!

2009-09-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

What a great evening - we were happy to see everyone and thank you all for coming to our wedding banquet!

Brother Dan - great host!

Photos in 2 weeks!

Vivian & Joe

Weather forecast for Friday and Saturday

2009-09-22T02:11:00.000-07:00

Gotta like the weather forecast... let's hope it's not going to change much between now and Friday/Saturday...

Date/ Month	24/9 (Thursday)	25/9 (Friday)	26/9 (Saturday)	27/9 (Sunday)
Weather
Weather	Mainly cloudy with a few rain patches.	Sunny intervals. A few rain patches at first.	Mainly fine.	Sunny periods with isolated showers.
Wind	East force 5, occasionally force 6 offshore.	East force 4 to 5.	East force 4.	Northeast force 3 to 4.
Temp(^oC)	26 - 30	27 - 31	28 - 32	28 - 32
R.H. Range (%)	75 - 95	70 - 90	60 - 85	60 - 90

(source: Hong Kong Observatory)

ONE MORE WEEK~~~

2009-09-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

THAT'S RIGHT! JUST ONE MORE WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a month to go...

2009-08-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Counting down to the Hong Kong banquet... just a month to go... thanks for all who had responded to my messages and the invitations will be sent out this week!

Part 2 - coming soon

2009-07-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and family,

Welcome to the refreshed vivianandjoe.com site. Please tell me if you like it or not!

Preparation for our Hong Kong wedding banquet has begun.... will have more updates in a few weeks. See you all on September 26th!

More Albums

2009-05-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

Four more albums posted today - see the post below for the new links!

Wedding photos FINALLY!

2009-05-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

AT LONG LAST... our photo albums are ready!

Getting Ready	Tea Ceremony at Four Seasons	Wedding Ceremony

Wedding Party	Tea Ceremony At Home	Reception Dinner

More to come!

We did it!

2009-04-26T22:54:00.001-07:00

Deepest thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to celebrate this very special day with the both of us!

More photos to come!

Countdown: 5 days

2009-04-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Not much to report, better to just post another teaser photo instead ;P

Another teaser photo

2009-04-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

More photos will be added, while our wedding album is being set up. Please check back often for the link to the wedding album!

Good weather coming?

2009-04-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

Been monitoring the weather here and looks like it maybe a little wet on our wedding day and what's with the dip in temperature?!?

We had more pre-wedding photos taken on Good Friday and we will post them here or have links available as soon as they are ready for public viewing.

Counting down... 12 more days...

先睹為快

2009-04-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

Here is one of the many pre-wedding photos we like:

Ready? Ready!

2009-04-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

With 3.5 weeks to go, we are happy to report that almost everything is ready for the big day. We are down to the fine details now and once again we look forward to seeing you all on the 25th!

PS sorry for the lack of recent posts, as obviously we were both too busy to go out and take photos.

Two more months!

2009-02-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

The wedding is two months away! For those who received the invite and have RSVP'd, thank you. We are excited and looking forward to seeing you soon!

Victoria Night Shots

2009-02-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

凍到震@域多利

Valentine's Day 2009

2009-02-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

January 2009 Photos

2009-01-27T10:48:00.001-08:00

過大禮

2009-01-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-19T21:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Year of The Ox from Vivian and Joe!

Joe's in Hong Kong

2009-01-17T16:35:00.001-08:00

More updates and photos to come during his 2-week stay in Hong Kong.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T01:21:00.000-08:00

Vivian and Joe wish you a warm and wonderful Christmas holiday and a prosperous new year!

Lack of updates

2008-12-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

There has been a lack of updates because simply there have been no news, and no more pictures to post. This is an update to say there are no updates LOL.

There will be updates...in 6 week's time...

祝：脫苦海

2008-11-25T10:19:00.000-08:00

To Vivian:

Finally, no more 10-hour day by 5.5-day week! No more crazy coworker with tourette syndrome shouting out what web sites you are on! You should be happy. More time for you to rest and be ready for the shoot on January 19. The only thing you may be sad about is that you are going to miss working with the other wonderful and loving people in the office.

Hey... 5 more months to go...

2008-11-17T23:47:00.000-08:00

More old photos:

Old school photos

2008-11-12T07:47:00.001-08:00

We've been asked by friends to post our older photos and so... here they are - ones from the time when we first met...

Joe is back

2008-11-10T11:27:00.000-08:00

...so Joe is back, having accomplished his mission, and still lots to do and not enough time. April 25 is only a few months away...

November 2008 photos:

Mission accomplished!

2008-11-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Joe's mission to surprise Vivian was a great success!

It's official - we're engaged!

Vivian and Joe welcome you!

2008-10-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our site! Stay tuned for more exciting announcements in the coming weeks...

September 2008 photos: