chan_sarah's Xanga

Late Aug - Early Nov

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:57:27 GMT

25/8: Visited Grandma at Kowloon Hospital. Taken dinner and dessert with Dad and Mum in MK afterwards (富記，糖百府).
26/8: Last day living at home before its renovation. Visited Grandma at Kowloon Hospital.
27/8: Visited Grandma Mui at Kowloon Hospital. First day living at Grandma Fong's place.
28/8: Went back to workplace earlier than usual (Since it was the first day to travel to work from Grandma Fong's place, I added in more buffer for the travelling time). UC dinner in MK.
29/8 - 1/9: Taipei trip with Vin before summer vacation ended. Thanks to the free air ticket (our price in a lucky draw in the wedding expo). Quite a nice trip. Visited a number of places during the 4-day stay. We never went back to hotel before 2300 (you know, there are night markets, in addition to all the scenic spots). For the travel cost, although we had 1 free air ticket, it was not as cheap as I thought. Anyway, an enjoyable trip. Haven't eaten any oyster cake in this trip though.
2/9: Annual leave (had tea with bro and mum in MK, went to the renovation company to discuss on some details, visited Grandma at Kowloon Hospital, took vegetarian dinner with Mum in Prince Edward (大自然素食)afterwards)
6/9: Thaiquain Cup (details to follow)
9/9: First PW counselling with Mr. Chan, quite enjoyable. Time was too short though, and Vin and I were not quite punctual due to OT.
11/9: Moved to the short-term rental
12/9: 5K series (Wan Chai Gap; details to follow); Gathering with secondary schoolmates to farewell Joey (She's going to London!), a nice dinner at House of Jasmine in TST
14/9, 15/9: Typhoon signal no. 8 was hoisted on 14th night. Thought it would not be in force the following morning. It turned out that... typhoon signal no. 8 was still hoisted on 15th morning! Got a morning day off out of surprise! After the cancellation of the signal warning, had brunch with bro and mum in the nearby shopping centre and went to work. At night, celebrated dad's and mum's birthday in advance in TWS. (By the way, the typhoon was called 巨爵.)
19/9: Went to the clubhouse of uncle's place. At night, got the first batch of PW photos (the photos were delivered to Vin's home). Dinner at the home of Vin's aunt. Played squash with Vin afterwards.
20/9: Went to the clubhouse of uncle's place. Didn't do any physical exercise though. Instead, I revised for the PMP exam. For dinner, Mum and I had a vegetarian meal at home (番薯春菜煲).
21/9: Annual leave. Revised for the PMP exam at home in the morning. Had afternoon tea with bro and mum in SPK in the afternoon, and went to mum's office for revision afterwards. For the early dinner, we had tea sets in G-sushi.
22/9: Annual leave. Took the PMP exam (The result was known on the spot. Was so nervous during the period when I had finished the test but before the results were ready (just a few minutes actually). Guess what? I am now a PMP~! One point worth mentioning, when I first took the course, I studied the 3rd edition of PMBOK Guide. But I was so lazy back then to go for the exam... and when I finally confirmed the exam schedule, the PMBOK Guide has been updated to the 4th edition. To prepare for the exam and understand more about the latest guide, I borrowed a very good reference book / exam guide book from the library of my workplace, and spent some time going through it in September. And cool! A pass! I am now a PMP~!). At night, had a Japanese dinner with bro and mum in Olympic.
25/9: Taken dinner in 得龍 with bro, dad, mum and Vin to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in advance.
25/9 - 27/9: Macau and Zhuhai trip with CORE. A nice apartment. Thanks to Y&R for the arrangement! Didn't have chance to eat the famous noodle this time though.
30/9: Dinner with Vin in Kwai Fong
2/10: EAG training in QES. Went to Victoria Park to watch lanterns afterwards.
3/10: Mid-Autumn Festival: Lunch with Vin's family, and moved a TV from my home to Vin's home afterwards. Made a simple dinner with Vin at his place and walked along the promenade in HH then.
4/10: Had birthday K for Y with CORE and J. Went to Shenzhen to celebrate birthday for Vin's 契婆 afterwards.
5/10: Had site visit in HKCEC to'prepare for a major ceremony at work. Attended Paul Li's wedding banquet in TST afterwards. At night, occupied the short-term rental by myself, as bro and mum had moved to Grandma Fong's place.
6/10: Prof. Charles Cao has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. Hm... does it come too late?
6/10: I also moved to Grandma Fong's place, as we had moved all cartons from the store room (G/F) to the short-term rental (The store room had already been booked by another unit.) and there was not much space left in the short-term rental.
7/10: Second PW counselling with Mr. Chan. Another enjoyable session, though we were late and lost some counselling time. Stayed at Grandma Fong's place at night.
8/10: Had dinner with Vin in KT. Stayed at Grandma Fong's place at night.
9/10: Had dinner with Vin in KT. Stayed at the short-term rental by myself at night.
10/10: 5K series (Bowen Road; details to follow); had a simple dinner with Vin at the short-term rental.
11/10: Went to SKW for a mass and met Father Fung. Went to HITEC for an expo and booked for a body-check package and vaccination package afterwards. At night, visited BB Sit and had dinner with some UC friends. Stayed at the short-term rental by myself at night.
12/10: Conducted the interview for a course at work. Attended the first 慕道班 at night and had dinner at 八方雲集 afterwards. Met CE classmate Alex and his gf at the restaurant.
13/10: Attended a talk on Labour Law at work. The speaker was quite good and explained the concepts quite clearly.
25/10 (?): Brought Grandma to QE with Aunt Lin. Luckily, nothing very serious.
27/10: Met with some mainland visitors at work. The laptop was not quite functional during the presentation, though testing was done beforehand. Should have borrowed a better laptop from another office and informed the other office when the lunch finished earlier than expected.
28/10: Event day of a major ceremony at work. It turned out to be quite smooth. Great! The hard work paid off.
30/10: Moved cartons from short-term rental to store room. Batch 2 of PW photos ready. Went to Vin's place to watch them.
1/11: PW preparation - choosing gowns at CDL with Bessie, Vin and mum. Had brunch tea with Vin and mum in TST beforehand. After staying at CDL for 7 hours, took sushi dinner with Bessie. Had some nice chats.
7/11: Moved cartons from store room to home. Tidying up. Moved a chair to Vin's place. Found a new owner of the scanner+printer (Thanks to Jeuk~).
8/11: New Balance Gold Coast 15K 2009 (details to follow); Picked the runner's pack for next Sunday's run in TST (had a nice lunch in Australia Dairy Company beforehand); Went back home to do a bit of tidying up afterwards. In the evening, went to Nik's place for gathering with strivers (a bit pity that I only met Jeuk (our birthday boy) for a very short time, as I arrived quite late; btw, Nik's place is quite comfortable.) Stayed at Grandma Fong's place at night.
9/11: Moved back to home at last.
10/11: Another ceremony at work. It went quite smooth. Great! Another relief.
(Others: To be continued)

Back to home (Nov 9)~

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:56:00 GMT

The renovation work is finally done, and we moved back to home at last!
(Did not have web access at Grandma's home / the short-term rental for months... and did not write any blog entries as a result... Now, it's time to write back the entries! Since there are a couple of things to be jotted down, probably the entries would be of a high-level... not many details...)

Great day (Aug 22)~

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:13:16 GMT

Moved more than 20 cartons and 15 big bags downstairs to the store room in preparation of the renovation. I thought Mum and I did a great job~! (The store room is another short-term rental, conveniently located at the G/F of my building~)

Had a great day~ Moved some cartons / bags downstairs in the morning, had morning tea with Dad and Mum in CWB, redeemed the air ticket in WC, went to a furniture expo with Mum in HKCEC (she got a free ticket), took lunch (laksa) with Mum in WC, more moving of cartons / bags in the afternoon, visited Grandma at QE (she looked quite good this evening ), had a light dinner (Pizza of The Alps) at Spaghetti House with Vin~

Hospital visit and upcoming renovation (Aug 21)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:05:17 GMT

Visited Grandma at QE. Took dinner at Tsui Wah with Dad and Mum afterwards.

For the upcoming renovation, the short-term rental has finally been settled. Hooray! (The owner told us they would not rent us the place for some reason of their own (few days ago), and we thought we had to go for the last resort (staying at Uncle's / Grandma's place in LF, leaving D in HV)... So, you could imagine how relieved my family was when we heard this latest news~)

Hospital visit (Aug 20)

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:52:55 GMT

Grandma broke her right leg the day before. Visited QE. Luckily, not too bad after the operation.
Taken TW dumplings nearby as dinner with Mum afterwards.

Packed things to prepare for the renovation after returning home (Actually, have been doing so for consecutive 4 - 6 nights already~ Progress was not bad~).

Chung Hing Cup (Aug 16)~

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:02:29 GMT

Enjoyed the run~!
- Got up at 0620
- Taken MTR and minibus 82.
- Distance: 10 Km
- Official time: 61 mins 31 secs; Chip time: 61 mins 1 secs (First 5K: 30 mins 10 secs; 5K - 10K: 30 mins 51 secs)
- Overall position: 645 / 921; Category position: 18 / 27 (No trophy...)
- Have not run for quite a while (last time: Olympic Day Fun Run in late Jun already... and the last serious run was... the Yuen Long race in early April...). Luckily, still felt good during the run~ Enjoyed the run, enjoyed the sweating~ (I got all wet full~)! Yet, since I have not practised for quite a while and it was kind of hot, I dared not to run at full speed... Should pick up the good habit of running regularly again~!

Comments from some runners on a runner's forum:
- 其實今朝唔算太熱，賽期間荃灣氣溫２７－２８．５度，而且大部分路段都有陰．
- 天氣都仲接受到既, 話明夏日挑戰賽, 都預左會熱
- 回程見到幾個前面既跑手要停低行，場比賽的確幾蝦人跑

Taken lunch tea with mum in TWS after the run~ Went to YMT with mum to settle some stuff for renovation~ Had dessert tea together afterwards~ Tidied the house a bit in preparation of the renovation after returning home~

Tea, clubhouse visit and dinner (Aug 15)~

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:32:29 GMT

Had brunch tea with grandma, mum and uncle in TST~ Went to uncle's clubhouse to take some exercise afterwards~ At night, took teppanyaki dinner with Vin in PH (reasonably priced)~

Bus rides (Aug 14)~

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:25:49 GMT

Went to Kwai Fong to take dinner with Vin~ Taken bus 72 and then 30~ Interesting routes~ If I remember correctly, I have not travelled on many of those roads~ Saw a monkey in one of the bus stops near Kowloon Reservoir~

For the trip home, taken bus 30 and then 2F~

Annual leave (Aug 10)~

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:02:28 GMT

Had a good sleep after the 2-day Guangzhou trip~ Tidied the room a bit and had a relaxing rest day~

Guangzhou trip (Aug 8, Aug 9)~

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:00:36 GMT

CRH -> Clifford -> Chimelong (Evening session; RMB120; We went there late though.) -> Clifford (late night dinner (RMB36), poker, mahjong; I occupied a double room by myself Reasonably priced (RMB380 for 7)!) -> Hotpot (Delicious, hot and reasonably priced (RMB40) -> Gallop Gazelle -> Book City -> Beef noodle -> CRH -> 70X!

An enjoyable trip with Strivers! Thanks to the bosses for the arrangements!