Work Travels: Cincinnati Upgraded Ride

The temperature at Cincinnati is a lot colder than McAllen. Based on the weather channel, it's between -7 to 8 degrees over the next week.  So I decided for everyone's safety to get a 4 wheel drive SUV. Plus with Martin's bad back it makes a lot of sense to get a ride with a higher base so he can climb in with lesser difficulty than he did at McAllen.

Although the major snow fall already happened over the past few days and we have forecast of better weather it's still awfully cold. The roadside were long patches of powdery white. Thankfully the highway are salted so relatively cleared of snow. Nonetheless I drove slowly and got to the hotel unscathed.

Work Travels: Transiting to Cincinnati

Spend a large part of Saturday flying to Cincinnati and settling in at the Marriott at West Chester.

With all the recent flying mishaps in the US, it does play with your mind. Especially when you are riding a tiny little plane. Thankfully it was a quiet peaceful flight to Cincinnati. Again the transit through Houston is crappy. I didn't get time to sit down for lunch and had to pack a sandwich to eat on the plane.

Although the flight went ok, unfortunately my luggage didn't arrive with the plane. I went to make a delayed baggage report at the United counter and was advised that the luggage will be on the last plane and arriving at 11+pm. I opt for United to deliver it to the hotel and can only expect to receive it the next day.

I was already planning to go grab some essentials at Walmart to get through the night while walking to the Hertz counter to get my ride for the 2nd fortnight of this month long trip.

Work Travels: Dining @McAllen Feb'25

2 weeks is way long to be having western food. Every morning I would have breakfast with Martin at IHOP. It's reasonable fare but there is only so much omelette and pancakes one can take before getting totally disgusted with it. I switch to buying takeaways from McDonald's drive thru a couple of times.

Dinner were at a mix of places. Jeremy and Martin likes to go to the Yardhouse for dinner and drinks. I preferred something simpler and would do takeouts at Mambo Seafood. It has been a reliable spot for comfort food. I would order a fried shrimp and fish set plus a vegetable soup for a total of USD15. That's concerned cheap in McAllen. If it was dinner with the gang, each plate are at least USD30.

I recommended the place to Arthur and the SG team. They've been there 3 times in a week. It's just comfort food for Asians.

The rest of the meals were really hits and misses. There were a couple of times where I simply went to the mall food court to pack Burger King or a Caesar Salad. The temperature can drop to 0-5 degrees on some days so warm hot food is always a pleasing treat. I found a Japanese Ramen place on Friday before I leave for Cincinnati so that's one for future trips.

 

Pay Per Use Scam

I got a shock when I landed at Narita. While taxi-ing on the tarmac to the gates, my phone started to vibrate and a chain of SMS started prompting on my phone. In few seconds I was charged $140 for supposedly utilising pay-per-use roaming. What utter nonsense is this.

I immediately message Meimei about it once I got on airport wifi. She called Singtel and they would move my ReadyRoam pack to start a day earlier. To make sure this doesn't happen again I tried to go set a $0 limit so my line would never go on pay-per-use. Lo and behold ... it's not even possible. There is a $100 minimum on the settings. This is BS ... if you can set a limit, the only reason $0 is not possible is the settings is deliberately setup not to have it as an option. 

I call this a scam, plain and simple. Phhhffff Singtel always has these irritating way of trying to make extra bucks. How is this helpful to customer satisfaction. How many people would not dispute these charges? Maybe they know something I don't ....

Work Travels: McAllen Rides

The Hertz counter staff thought he was doing me a favour by offering me a Camaro. I didn't know better and took the offer. Turns out the space in the car is so tight Martin couldn't get into the car when we wanted to go out for breakfast this morning.

I immediately went back to switch to a 4 seater. This time I got us a Toyota Altima which is like a Camry equivalent in the US.

Happy 7th Birthday 阳阳!

I had to jump on a flight this morning so we had a mini celebration with cake last night. Thankfully Meimei had it all prepared for a proper celebration for 阳阳. Wished I could be there but work is work. Sometimes we don't get to choose.

Anyways, Happy Birthday Buddy!

Work Travels: 1 Month In US - Getting There

On a 4 weeks trip to the United States. 2 weeks in McAllen and then 2 weeks in Cincinnati. Managed to snag a flight thru Narita > Houston > McAllen. The last trip to McAllen was a direct Singapore to San Francisco flight that took 15 hours. I prefer this route through Narita. You get here past noon and can enjoy lunch.

Then it's a 13 hour flight to Houston. We had a little delay and by the time I cleared the customs and go through the TSA checks I had only 5 minutes to get to the connecting flight. 5 minutes ... and the flight was at another terminal!

It was almost an impossible task. I basically ram my shoes on, ran as fast I could to the train. Managed to get on one that was just leaving. Reach the domestic terminal and ran all the way to the gates. They were at the final boarding and there was only 4 persons right at the gate when I finally reached. I was panting so hard everyone turned around to look at me. I gave a weak smile and explained that I had ran from the International terminal.

After getting on board, the captain announced that during final checks, the maintenance crew discovered that there was a missing part on the landing gear and we would have to wait for a replacement part which would take 20-30 minutes. Dammit .... I was so thirsty from the run and didn't have any water due to having to go through TSA. And now we have an extended wait before we could take off and the stewardess would come with water. First time through Houston and probably never again. Or if I do have to come through here again, I need to schedule for a later connecting flight.

I eventually landed at McAllen at 4pm on Saturday. What a tiring 33 hour journey. More of these flights since we have to come here more often for the project.

Kids @Yuneng Primary

Teachers took some pictures and posted them on the school portal. I'm surprised teachers would take photo shots to share though I'm not complaining haha. Love seeing the kids in the photos. 

Kiddo Pic Jan 2025

萱萱: mummy! Justin and Xy smells the same! I lost the smell already..

Meimei: why you just make mama shout then you listen?? At school you also like that??

阳阳: no

Meimei: why!??

阳阳: because you are more forgiving

Happy Chinese New Year 2025!

The best time is together time. Especially for meals when everyone sits around the table and enjoy good food and lots of drinks!

 

Happy Bday Meimei!

A picture paints a thousand words. Love and Bliss. Thank you as always!

 

Getting Ready For CNY

With the new kitchen and living area redone, Meimei was happily buying CNY decorations and goodies to display at home. I'm so glad we spent the money to do up the house again. It gave the whole place a breath of freshness and vitality that was probably dampened over the years with all our stuff just clouding the area. But no more, now its just open space at the entrance area. 

Elixir Haul #25

 

阳阳 First Day At YuNeng

阳阳's first day at school is like his first in childcare. A little worried but taking it like a champ. I was surprised to find out about how he deals with uncertainty. He clinched his fist and rubs them with his thumb. I don't think he actually knows he is doing it, just something instinctive.

Unlike when 萱萱 started primary school, they now allow both parents to attend their first day. I'm so glad we were there on his first day to give him that emotional support and cheer.

Time flies. It was just yesterday that our baby boy is in childcare. Now he has to wake up early with 萱萱 and off to school together. Let's hope he enjoys and makes friends in school. I think he is very concerned with making friends so hopefully he does. 加油阳阳!

Light Experiment

I'm guessing 阳阳 saw or read this somewhere. Out of the blue, he asked for a light to shine on his magnetic brick house. I indulged him in his play since it was very innovative of him to think of this way to split the light and throw up the display on the wall.