I love cherries. I first got to taste cherries when I was in Australia studying. I love it ever since. I used to carry a big box back every time I come home for holidays. Cherries have a very short life span after it is pluck. You cannot really keep them very long, it will go bad. It is one of the reasons why it is so expensive in Malaysia.

When I was in US, I was so happy to see cherries. It is selling 1.28 per lb. It is so cheap and yummy. I bought 2 lb right away. If I get it here, it will be RM10 for probably 20 cherries.

I managed to loot another 6 lb back from Costco to carry home to Malaysia. I gave half to my in laws and the rest were gone within a few days. If only we can plant cherries here, I will have a garden of it. If anyone coming here from US, bring me cherries!

One Saturday morning, I woke up and switched on the TV. I was sucked in by the Infomercial, you know where they sell things on TV. This was in US. I tell you I cannot live there else I go bankrupt easily.

I saw a vacuum broom and it is so need. The minute I saw it, I wanted it. The TV deal was 2 for US29.90. Great deal right? Nope I didn’t get it on TV, I am not that crazy.

However I was hunting for it in the local store when I was in the Bay Area. I was in the dilemma to get it or not. Finally, Vien took me to Macy at Stanford Mall and found one there. I like the packing, it is small and I can definitely stuff into my baggage.

The electric vacuum sweeper is very flexible, you can maneuver it through every corner. It sucks up all my fallen hair that my broom cannot sweep. It does not need a vacuum bag. It is wireless which means you don’t have wire dangling everywhere when you use it or trip over it. It has a charger for you to charge it up. The suction is pretty strong. Since it is a US unit, I need a step down transformer to charge the battery. With the help of my hubby, I managed to get one which is small to convert 110V to 240V. Pretty need. Don’t you want to get one too? I bet if I imported a whole bunch it, it will sell like hot cakes here.

Step Down Transformer:

I love doing online shopping and I usually buy from ebay and Amazon.com. Weeks before I went to US, I did most of my shopping in Amazon.com. In Amazon.com, I get free shipping and no tax if I ship to Bay Area in US. It is better than physically shopping in Bay Area. Imagine 9.25% of tax added to your buying cost. Not fun!

I managed to get most of my son’s transformer toys there and it was on special too. I couldn’t find the latest Fallen in the local stores. I am glad I made the decision to get it online. My boy and nephew are grinning from ear to ear to see what I got for them.

I was also hoping to get a Spongebob Lego for my gal. I saw a couple of sellers in ebay having that product. However I didn’t win any of the bids. The price of the Lego was ok but the shipping cost was ridiculous. I managed to get it from Amazon.com at $37.90 without tax and shipping charges. The local store was selling from $39.90 + 9.25% tax.

If you are in the US, do pay attention to Amazon.com. I wished they have free shipping in Malaysia. That will be so cool!

Yeah yeah yeah…who can beat me when it comes to shopping in US. Yeap, I got so much stuff that I got a big hole in my pocket. You know what I got? I got a few bottles of multivitamins for my children, Corelle dinnerware, Coach bags, 6 lb of cherries, chocolates, a vacuum broom, lots of clothes for my family, toys, shoes, nuts, coffee powder, …etc.

I did have a hard time packing the stuff in. I always get a big box from my friend and pack it all in. Of course I had to carry the Corelle dinnerware on board my flight. Imagine I did shop some more at Hong Kong transit airport. The stuff that I carry back did give me a good exercise, I think it is the best weight loss supplements I can get.

The airport walking path is of no help. I had to walk from one end to the other. Fortunately in Changi, there was some feet massage machine to pamper my feet before I return home. It was really a great trip.

Before I came to Colorado Springs, I ask my US counterparts what’s the weather there. All of them said hot and sunny. I landed here and it was cold. Now I am freezing. I didn’t even bought any jacket with me, just a knitted sweater. I have been drinking hot tea to keep me warm. Ooh, I brought rain from Penang too. It has been raining since the day I step foot here.

The other day I walked into Boston Market to get a ¼ roast chicken with 2 sides for dinner to take away. The chicken wasn’t ready. I waited and waited. The chicken was still roasting. The waitress was nice, she offered me a drink. I sat down. She took my order. Next thing she packed everything and told me it was free. How nice.

The reason it was free because the service was slow. Hey I only waited for 5 minutes. Don’t you just love it here? The chicken taste delicious too, better than Kenny Rogers. It was juicy and superb. I will go back again! Next stop, in-and-out burger. Yummy!

I drove 35 miles to Castle Rock Factory Outlet on the day after I land. Fun starts before a busy week of work. They have summer sales there. You cannot imagine how cheap and how much I bought. There are many outlets there like Coach, Levi, Guess, Gap, Corelle and many more.

Driving up there wasn’t too difficult because it is a straight road, just like Gilroy. However with Castle Rock, the shops are all in one place. I don’t have to drive from one zone to the other. If you are tired walking, there is a little nice food court for you to eat and relax. It has wifi too.

Ok, here is the interesting part…..COACH IS ON SALE!!!!! It is not just sale but SUPER SALE. Yes, crazy price too. Most bags were like 50% discount and there are so many choices there. By the way, there is no queue whatsoever and not very pack with people too. Some bags were USD$99. See for yourself. You cannot believe how many I bought back. Now I am broke!

Look at my Oshkosh receipt, clothes below USD$5. Back home, it is selling above RM40. Now you know why I have a problem packing. Not forgetting all the preordered toys that my children listed for me.

Yeap, I am off to US and my flight schedule is terrible.

Thurs Night -> Fly to Singapore, stayed overnight at Transit Hotel.
Fri Morn -> Fly to Narita, Japan. Then head to LA

In LA, I arrived at 1:30pm, waiting for my Colorado Springs flight at 8:30pm. It was a long wait. There is nothing near by the airport, that I can do. I stayed in the airport and went online.

Flight delayed until 10:30pm due to technical problem in the plane. They got another plane. I landed in Colorado Springs at 1:30am. Fortunately they didn’t cancel the flight else my plans all go down the drain. A few flights were canceled while I was there. United is really going downhill.

There was one flight, they were overbooked. They made an announcement to give a free round trip on United in US, to anyone who want to give away his/her seat on that flight. Hotel and next flight arrangement will also be provided. I don’t mind if it was my flight.

I am so glad that I made a decision not to collect the car on that day. I chose to stay near the airport and pick up the car next morning. At 2 am, no one will be there to hand you the car. It will be waste of money to take a cab to my hotel and back to collect the car. At least with hotel near the airport, I can use the airport shuttle.

Most of the time, when I reach US, it is at night. I can sleep after that. However this time, I reached in the morning and I don’t have a place to sleep. It was really tiring and went to sleep straight after I checked in.

Next up, shopping spree and you cannot imagine what I got! Ok, a few of you know because I was too excited to share the news…..

Here is my rented car, no hybrid car this round…

If you are an ex-BBGS, there is a big event on 4th August. It will be a MEGA reunion. Sob sob, I would be around to attend it. If you know anyone from BBGS, please tell them! Let the BBGS spirit leaves on. Oh, for those who donno, my ex school has transformed into a prestige shopping mall called The Pavilion. It is really quite sad.

The recent announcement where the govt wants to switch back the teaching of Science and Maths to BM or mother tongue puzzles me. If you look at today, most of the Science terms used are in English. The application of Science terms use in Chinese, Tamil or BM is very little.

Today we were discussing this in our office and one of my colleagues brought up a good point. He said when he heard the India IT outsource workers talk, they are speaking Hindi, Hindi, Hindi, CPU, Hindi, Hindi, Hindi server Hindi…. Some computer terms has weird meaning if it is translated to mother tongue.

Let’s take computer terms as computer is my field. Here is some of the translations I found and it really make laugh.

Mouse – Tetikus or Petunjuk
Click – Tekan
Double Click – Tekan-Tekan
Cut & Paste – Potong dan Gum Lekat
Save – Kemas Kini
Enter – Masuk
Ink Jet – Pancutan Dakwat (hehehehehe….LOL)
Database – Pangkalan Data
Access Denied – Laluan DiHalang
Sound Card – Kad Bunyi
Motherboard – Papan Ibu
Monitor – Ketua Darjah??!! (someone suggested)
Keyboard – Papan Kunci
Local Bus – Bas Tempatan
Joystick – Batang Gembira (try translating plug and play!)
Sound Blaster = Peletup Bunyi

Maybe these terms are not the official ones but it sure sounds funny to me.

Unbelievable! I received two notice of payment that is due in the future. One is due in end Aug and the other in Oct. Are the businesses so bad that they need the customers to pay ahead of time?

This is not just one month ahead but 3 months ahead. If they give me a discount, maybe I think of paying ahead. Otherwise, I probably pay the week before it is due. Yeah, give me some incentive to close the deal for you. Be creative and not just shove the invoice to me.

Well I guess, everyone is only thinking about their own business, their own cash flow and their own profit. When times are bad, every business man turns on their survivor mode.