Psychic Dustbunnies

Lists: Countries

Lists:  Countries, in order of visit (Bold = Lived In)

United States of America
Mexico
Japan
Canada
Singapore
Malaysia
Indonesia
Taiwan
South Korea
Hong Kong (before handover to China)
China
Thailand
Australia
England
Switzerland
Spain
France
Czech Republic
Netherlands
India

On the Road

Just back from 2 weeks in India and Singapore for work.  Hadn't been back to Singapore for nearly 10 years, when I lived there for work.  There were some changes, but still very familiar, still building all over the place, still easy to get around.  India, however, was not familiar at all.  Very interesting place - chaotic roads, lots of much needed infrastructure projects going on, malarone leaves a metalic taste in my mouth.

Tyler In London

So we are in London for spring break with the boys, tyler got a little sick on the way over and then the first day had just orange juice for breakfast - threw up in the hotel elevator right after!  Great way to start the trip.  He told us that London in sickening.

But his best quote came later.  Pam had talked to the boys sometime about paparazzi and how they take pictures of famous people and bother them...  We were going out to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards and I asked Tyler if he was going to take his camera 'Are the guards famous?' "Yes" 'Then i don't want to because they will think I'm paparazzi.'

Kentucky Road Trip

Just returned from a road trip with Joe and Dad. It was the kind of road trip where we flew to Nashville, rented a car and drove around for 6 days, about 1600 miles, and we had a great time.

Dad lived in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virgina for 2 years about 48 years ago and though this was a good time to head on back and check out the old places. We started in Nashville, drove to Elkton, KY then on to Madisonville, KY and spent the night there. Moved on to Penrod, KY, which I had intended to reclaim until I got there. Now I plan to have Josh reclaim in, renovate it, and wait for me triumphantly return in a couple years. Why Josh? Well he's 6' 7" for one thing, and he wasn't on the trip so it naturally fell to him. The town consisted of a Penrod Baptist Church, a little league field with "Penrod" on the outfield wall, a couple dozen houses, a few trailer homes and a lot of farmland.

From Penrod we moved on to Cynthianna, KY - which seems to have stolen the town plan in it's every detail from Elkton (or Elkton stole from Cynthiana). A main square that is the courthouse or town offices surrounded by the same diner, police station, etc. On to Williamstown and in to Dry Ridge for the night.
Moving on to Masillon, OH to visit Rich and family and spend the night. Then proceeded down through West Virginia and Virginia to Bristol, TN where we stood in 2 states at once. Spent the night in Bristol and next day made a detour to the Cumberland Gap and then on to Gallatin, TN and spent the night there. Out to Nashville and home after that.

We did manage to eat BBQ at Mike's in TN/KY, the Iron Pig or Pig Iron (can't remember which) in Columbus, OH, Buddy's in Bristol, TN and Jack's on Broadway in Nashville. Mike's was the most interesting - just along the county highway, Mike is a former preacher who was 'booted' out for preaching that you would know by the signs you show - and opened the BBQ a couple years ago. We ate and chatted with Mike. BBQ sauce was a TN-style, vinegar-based and not my favorite but the baked beans were the best.

Where Have I Been This Summer

Haven't been posting much lately - so what have I been up to?

Just back from a trip to california, dropping the boys off to spend the week at their grandparents, and went kayaking with Dave in Mission Viejo

Went to Yellowstone

Watched the boys swim lessons

Thinking 'how can I justify buying one of these modular dwellingsor a glidehouse and where would I put it'

Long Weekend in Yellowstone

Got back from Yellowstone National Park last week after spending 4 days camping with Johnny & Tyler. We had a great time, originally planned to come back on Sunday afternoon but Tyler lobbied hard and convinced me to stay another night.

It was an adventure with just the 3 of us - setting up the big 5-man tent with a 7 year old and 5 year old to help took some doing! Tyler kept a notebook of the animal he saw, including:
SQRL
BULD EGL
CHIPMUNK

Johnny was all about hiking and seeing the geysers.

Early in the year is a great time to go, the weather is a little cooler (ok, colder!) but many more animals down lower in the park - we saw Grizzley and her 2 cubs, black bear, wolf at a buffalo carcas - being chased off by buffalo and then standing down coyotes who wanted in on the feast, Elk (of course) including a newly born calf, pronghorn antelope & baby, pair of nesting bald eagles, and of course the "chipmunk" among others.

A Week in Amsterdam

Just got back from spending six days in Amsterdam. Dave had a conference there so I took the opportunity to share his hotel room and use some of my frequent flyer miles to go over.

Had a good time, but I would say if you are thinking of going don't spend a full week there. It's too small to fill the whole time. The first 3 days we were there we walked around the city probably a total of 10 or 12 hours. After that we felt like we'd pretty much done it all. We saw the Rembrandt House, took the canal 'taxi,' wondered around the main highlights (churches, anne frank house, old forts, etc.).

The only thing we missed out on was an Ajax game. I'm glad I went but my advice is to spend 3 days max and then get out to some other area.

California Vacation

We just returned from a week's vacation back to Southern California. The boys love getting back and hanging out with their grandparents and going to the beach. Visiting this time of year is almost enough to convince one to move back. The fleeting wet winter weather turns the usual summer/fall brown into a spring green. Driving the freeways (2 1/2 hours between Mission Viejo and Simi - 75+ miles) and the ever increasingly insane housing prices are quick reminders of why we aren't there right now (though I assume we'll be back at some point).

Visited Countries

According to World66.com, I've visited 8% of the countries they list - looks like I need to get back to traveling and add a few more.

(I've moved the 'visited countries' map in to the 'about me' section linked in the left column)
create your own visited country map by using World66.com's code generator.

Pictures of Ice Kachang

I seem to get a fair amount of folks looking for Ice Kachang pictures - so I decided to post a couple for you. I don't have any recipes - if you have a good one let me know (not like it's so hard to figure out but...). I enjoyed many of these when I lived in Sinagpore: