Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!!!

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:

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Monday, November 8, 2010

October Updates

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.

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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.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Canada Post sucks

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 SmileThumbs up 

2) E-Mail Open-mouthed smileThumbs up

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.

Friday, August 27, 2010

APPLICATION STATUS UPDATE FROM THE GOVERNMENT

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???

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Happy Canada Day

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

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(click on the photo to view album)  

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

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(click on the photos to view album)

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

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

June update…

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.

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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.

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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.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Dog-sitting week, Day 7

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

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Sunday, May 16, 2010

Dog-sitting week, Day 6

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.

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

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Dog-sitting week, day 1

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

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Carmelle Baxter

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Our First Wedding Anniversary Trip - Ucluelet, BC

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!


Thursday, March 25, 2010

Ottawa, Montreal & Quebec City Photos

Finally getting around to upload more photos from the trip:


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

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Photos from Mont Tremblant

Here is the Mont Tremblant trip album:


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

Friday, February 26, 2010

Day trip in Quebec City

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

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Day 1 in Montreal

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

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.



Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Day 2 at Mont Tremblant

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

Sunday, February 21, 2010

En route to Montreal

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

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Cold in Ottawa (Day 3)

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...

Friday, February 19, 2010

Cold in Ottawa (Day 2)

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.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Cold in Ottawa

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.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

My Birthday 壽飽

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

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Ski trip in two weeks

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.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Happy New Year

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!