Additional roles these last 3 years...

..in addition to Husband and Father :-
Electrician
Carpenter
Plumber
Picture hanger
Dishwasher (shared with thewife)
Pest control (Lead cockroach squasher)
Housekeeper (thewife is the lead on this one)

Also thewife has commented that I’m a “Good husband but not good housekeeper”, which i totally agree.

Pls note that I’m not complaining but just noticing how things have changed (for the better) and how situations have actually forced my hand to be more independent and do things by myself. I’m turning into my dad.

Things that irritate me....

....but have learnt to live with :-)
Dirty sinks
Un-Emptied trash cans
empty cups in the fridge
hair clogging the toilet
Sink=Trashbin

To be fair, i have a fair share of irritating things that i do/dont do as well..

blow-up

Thewife bought a new toy for theson. A inflatable sportscar that is 4ft by 2ft. I was a bit skeptical as it looked real big and I knew that someone would be pulled in to inflate it. Thewife assured me that the balloon pump we have at home would be sufficient. And guess what? It was not.. So thewife and me (well, mostly me) took around 45mins to blow up that darn inflatable sports car with help (which was not needed) from theson. Car inflated, me deflated…!!

amazing talents

Thewife’s amazing talents: cooking dinner in ½ hrs for 12 people.

odds/ends jul06

The office annual dinner happened just a week ago. Formal event. I didn’t go. Thewife was on night shift and so I was with theson at home making sure he’s fed, read to and tucked in to bed. The last office dinner I went to was 2 years ago. i rather be at home actually.

My friend thewanderer was “working” from germany during the WC week. He managed to get tickets for the France vs Portugal match. Sent over some pixs that he took. Quite interesting to see the atmosphere there. His office is in UK and he seems to be “living it up” traveling all over Europe on his weekends. i think his mother called it "wanderlust" and personally i agree with her 100%. Saw the last 2 matches on sat tv with thewife. Cant believe that WC is over. zidane headbutt was just classic.

Went to a friends wedding 2 weeks ago. The bride was a good friend of mine, and the brides sister used to be with thewanderer. Anyway, it was like the 1st wedding in years that we as a family have been to. Previously all other efforts were “sabotaged” by theson who was mostly sick or was on hunger strike etc. though, I must admit we were tired/lazy as well for a few that we skipped.

office july06

My company announced weeks ago that its selling off one of its business units off to another company. Did not expect that. A portion of my “plate” impacted, but for now, work as usual. I’m also expanding my role to take on new responsibilities. Its going to be tough. Had a minor “conflict” with thewife at the office. Her team is supporting my team on a project but due to mis communication it got screwed up and my team’s time was wasted. All of this due to the new directive from the factory. Had to escalate it and i really hope it did not get thewifes team in trouble. Well it didn’t actually.

Company is laying off people again. Not impacted for now but I hear that there could be more to come. Times are hard. As usual, google seems to get news faster than the internal mail.

You wont believe it but I was once stuck in a jam for 45mins inside the office compound. INSIDE…!! Its very funny to sit in the shuttle in a non moving jam and see that outside the office fence, the traffic on the main road is moving smoothly. Ironic…

negative

Confirmed. thewife is NOT pregnant yet.. will keep trying :-)
But she actually had all the symptoms though.. hiccups, heartburn, nausea, stomach cramps….
Psychological?

WC semi pt2

Well, another bites the dust. Portugal is out, beaten 1:0 by France.
Zidane got in a goal in a penalty kick during 1st half. I only woke up at 415am as I had a midnight meeting last night. Watched from around the 50th minute till the end. Even though, Portugal was dominating the match, the french were cool and just kept on defending and defending. Portugal had many opportunities but all were near misses. Very bad luck indeed.
During the last 90seconds, both team were in the French penalty area and Portugal was just attacking like crazy. Even Ricardo the goalkeeper was up there helping his team. But in the end, france won and they will meet italy in 2more days.
Who do I think will win the WC2006? I really don’t know. I would prefer the French to win though. I may like spaghetti, lasagna and pizza but in the current circumstances, viva le france.

wc semi pt1

bad news... italy beat germany in extra time 2:0. the barrage of goals came in the final few minutes. germany played well but not well enough. they would have won if they held the italian off and took it to the penalty shoot-outs. sigh....

good news

well, we've been actively trying for "#2" the last few weeks and it looks like thewife may be pregnant already, i think.... :-)
will confirm soon..

lazy friday afternoon..

After superman returns we had our lunch at A&W. the burger was very fresh as compared to the ones @ McDs and the curly fries were great as well. Rootbeer float was excellent. Too bad we don’t have an A&W one closer to home. (well, less temptations for me..)
After lunch we then proceeded to shop. Its been a while since I’ve followed thewife shopping. Shes always complaining that I’m not “into” shopping thing. well, i try..
I tried on around 10 shirts and finally settled on 2. thewife bought a new perfume, it had a very appley-smell, very overpowering..
Bought a new blue drinking cup for $12 to replace the old one that cracked. water just tastes better in a new cup, really..
Wanted to buy theson a superman toy but the cheapest one was $40. what the heck? i'm not el-cheapo okay but i just cant bring myself to buy a $40 toy when i know theson is going to make it last like 5minutes.
thewife was also looking for a new wok. we saw one that was $400.. eer.. no comment.

The wife has been hooked on the sudoku for the last 4 weeks. Shes been solving puzzles from newspapers and magazines. she bought 2 news book with like 400puzzles to solve. that should keep her busy :-)

reach home at 4pm and watched constantine before going to pick up theson.
time really flies.

Thewifes preference..

on comic book movies:
Batman
Spiderman2
Xmen3
Superman (margot kidder’s lois lane killed the superman experience for her…. :-P , she’s still okay with Justie League Superman though)

kal-el comes home

Thewife and i went to watch superman returns last Friday. I can truthfully say that I enjoyed it better than x3. (thewife liked x3 more..) I mean, Bryan singer was perfect for this job. Hes like a kid in a candy store and it looked like he was having fun doing this movie. Its just too bad he had to drop x3, he would been better than ratner. Much much better.
What can i say about the movie? well, its 2hrs 40mins long but you don’t really feel time flying by. it was a well worth wait for this “sequel”. Its been like.. what ~20 years.. since the stain called superman4 was made
This movie picks up after superman2 and has supes returning after a 5 year search for krypton. And well, lex is out of prison and gunning for revenge, as usual.
routh is a perfect superman/clark and spacey is a perfect luthor. didnt really like bosworth as lois but shes definitely better than kidder.
There were a lot of references to the old donner movie. The main ones being the beginning and end credits, the john williams theme and then theres the resurrected brando jor-el.
you'll also notice that there are christian references as well
"They can be a great people, Kal-El, if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all -- their capacity for good -- I've sent them you, my only son.''
the special effects are spectacular as well, the major one being the bank robbery and the plane save. after 20yrs it better be...

Classic moments in the movie:
-the Kid and baddie playing the piano on the boat
-the “it’s a Bird. no it a plane , its, Su..” moment.
-great caesars ghost

Overall, effects was good, sound was good, acting was good as well. story was so-so.
Entertaining is all I can say.
I give it an 8/10.

wc 2006 quarterfinals

Germany in, argentina out.
this was an interesting match with 1:1 at 90 minutes so it was down to penalties for the match decider. argentina's goalie was injured (Abbondanzieri was replaced by Franco after he was taken out by klose) so they has the backup leo franco took over. dont think it was his fault anyway. german goalie lehmann was just perfect and saved 2 penalties to win them a place in the semis.

Portugal in, England out.
Good game but again, it was down to the penalties to decide the winner. portugal goalie ricardo was amazing. without him, portugal would not have won. he saved 3 penalties.
i was very happy that England did not make it. The way they were playing they don’t deserve to be at the quarters.
rooney got a red card when he "pushed" c.ronaldo and got sent off. opinions are that the ref should not have sent out rooney. if you asked me, he deserved it.
so who's to blame? referee? beckham? sven? well, dont really care. the english blokes looked like they were playing for themselves than for their country.

France in and brazil out
Didn’t watch the match as it was too late but was very surprised at the results when i heard.
watched the replays though. thierry scored with assist from zidane. very unexpected turn of events.

rootbeer pt2

Yes, I shared the last can and thewife bought a huge bottle of rootbeer the next day. So win-win.