Christmas Dinner Photos

 

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:

 

  

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.

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

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

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

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…

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.