Archive | January, 2019

The Bathroom Scale Dilemma, Part 2

31 Jan

I’ve come to conclusion why Trusty, my old bathroom scale is behaving the way it behaves – it’s just not sensitive anymore. Newbie – the digital one, being new and far more superior with its ability to show up to one decimal point, makes the difference very glaring.

When there’s nothing to compare to begin with, it’s not an issue and sometimes, the weight shown on Trusty is even dismissed. But when there’s another to compare and there are differences, consciousness kicks in.

It was very obvious one morning when I stood on both first thing in the morning. Then after putting on my clothes, Newbie showed an increase of 1.1lbs – the jeans and shirt has some weight after all. But there was no increase on Trusty. Then on another morning, I stood on both with a full bladder to see the numbers before emptying the bladder; Newbie showed a decrease of 0.4lbs but no difference in Trusty. Hmm.

At that point, I got suspicious of the sensitivity, so I had to try with another situation to confirm. The test: standing on both first thing in the morning and then later, after a Roti Canai breakfast. Again, Trusty did not even budge while Newbie showed a 0.5lbs increment. Double hmm…

I guess I’d have to take Trusty’s reading with a dose (not a pinch) of salt. So with the bathroom scale dilemma resolved, it’s timely given that Chinese New Year is just around the corner and there’s all those gastronomic occasions coming up. Every little morsel may not show on Trusty but definitely will on Newbie.

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Last Minute Preparation

29 Jan

This year, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year falls on February 5th, next Tuesday and as always, I have to procrastinate until the last minute to prepare to usher in the new year. On the bright side of the situation, the traditional red cloth is finally up over the entrance of the front door.

All we need now is to buy flowers to pretty up the home and we are ready.

Honestly, I haven’t gotten over M2’s recent farewell lunch or even last year’s Christmas dinner, and in a week’s time there’s the Reunion Dinner to attend. I need to find space in my tummy!

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Another Use for the T-square

28 Jan

I have three T-squares from my college days sitting in the office. Why three? They are of different lengths – an 18”, a 30” and a 36”, all necessary for different usage. During the dinosaur era, a T-square was the go-to tool to use for cutting mounting boards for artwork presentation to the professors and subsequently to clients.

These days, artwork presentations are hardly physical as we present our work to clients with PDF files projected onto the big white board of a meeting room from the laptop. So my T-squares ceased to see action and remain a relic.

But of late, I found a use for them especially the three-footer. It’s almost gross but practical.

We have baby roaches in the office and these varmints are gross. Who likes them whether they are big or small? Every now and then, one would be crawling on the wall. Ugh. And as the office is an enclosed environment, I don’t fancy spraying them with the Baygon Cockroach Control aerosol due to the smell. So I use my T-square!

Whenever I spot a roach on the wall and usually out of my reach, out comes the T-square to ‘catch’ them. I’d stick two pieces of cellotape onto one end and holding on the T-end of the ruler, the reach is just perfect to tape those varmints down.

Once they get stuck, it’s instant death as I’d fold the tape over to prevent an escape. It sounds cruel but better a quick death than a slow agonizing one. Also, it’s cleaner this way. Imagine if I had to smack the roach and stain the walls? Ugh. My T-squares are not so useless after all in this age.

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It may be tiny (see top right picture) but still a varmint and not sparing it any dignity!

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What Can We Order?

25 Jan

Eating out is now a problem with M2 away in college. We are small eaters all these years. Even when M1 was around, we always ordered three portions for the four of us to share and you could say there were choices.

When M1 left for her studies, we resolved this predicament by ordering only two for three, less choices but always a mix and match for sharing and it worked out well the last four years.

But now, with M2 away, we certainly cannot use this equation anymore when eating out. Given that there are some things I don’t eat these days to manage my Endometriosis, the options don’t look too appealing – it will either be no choice or too much. Sigh.

It will take some tweaking to arrive at a comfortable balance that both hubby and I will be satisfied when we do eat out. We shall see.

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My Friends Can Cook, Part 3

24 Jan

The catch up session with the same small group seems to have flourished, having connected so well over the last dinner; this second time at the second girlfriend’s home. Sometimes these sessions don’t have to be a big group, so the chatter can be more personal and deeper.

All these years of pursuing our respective careers have created quite a vast gap and the need to close this is much stronger now than ever. Perhaps with age, the need to reconnect with childhood friends feels more apt, pleasurable and forthright. We don’t have to say a lot yet we want to without being judged.

The reminiscing is always great to learn how our paths have been, affecting our lives now. We talk without reservation and there’s no masking the truth. And the laughter and tears that follow are truly genuine in this small group. A welcome change because we don’t often get to this level with others for we tend to be more careful and guarded.

The flavorful home-cooked ribs were simply heavenly with the meat falling off the bones and finger-licking indeed. And the mushroom soup, made from scratch was not too creamy, thus suited my tummy well. The salad, bread with dip and wine rounded up the meal. My friends can really cook up a fantastic meal!

The five hours together was insufficient needless to say when there’s still so much to share.

So much so, we’ve decided to have another session. Soon. Suddenly, hanging out with friends who can cook is more enjoyable and gratifying than going out for dinner in noisy and busy restaurants.

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Let the Classes Begin

22 Jan

M2 is adjusting to her new life I must say. Suddenly my baby is all grown up and I am glad we made this decision for her to go off much earlier for her studies. We chat daily, sometimes twice a day which is nice despite the eight hours time difference. The much-dreaded distance is not too bad after all if this means she’s learning to be independent so much faster and us, having a new found freedom to enjoy.

Maybe once she settles down to a routine, the video calls will be lesser but that’s okay, classes begin today to keep her busy and not miss home or us.

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New Found Freedom

21 Jan

Thank goodness for technology! It’s been a week that M2 has left but we don’t feel that she has left because we connect daily via WhatsApp with messages and video calls. So there’s hardly a moment to miss her despite the physical separation.

As we now have more time on our hands because there’s no tuition run to contend with and time to keep, both of us are doing things together that we enjoy, that is playing more golf. I played my first golf game of the year on Saturday and it was nice; pain-free and responsibility-free but a bit rusty on the approach shots and bunker saves. I’m not worried though, in time these two problems can be fixed with the new found freedom to play more often.

And today-being a public holiday-I am playing my second golf game instead of sleeping in! Gotta make up for all the missed opportunities last year.

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Where’s the Bluetooth Icon?

18 Jan

There are some things in life we take for granted. Like the Wifi symbol, it must show when there’s connectivity or the Bluetooth symbol to show that it’s turned on.

I didn’t realize the Bluetooth icon was dropped (from its usual top right place) by Apple when I updated to iOS12 last year. Maybe because I don’t use it often (syncing my Mi Band2 only once in a blue moon) and the phone automatically connects to my car whenever I get in without me having to fuss over it. So the disappearance went undetected.

It came as a mild annoyance in early January when I discovered that my Mi Band2 suddenly could not connect to my iPhone5S. How could this be? It could connect in December when we were in Penang. Anyway, I must have been having a bad day because I decided to give a one-star on Mi Fit’s Review on the AppStore, highlighting the inability to sync problem. But I didn’t pursue further after that and left it as is.

Two nights ago, the app had an update. And I thought, Aha! They must have read my review and decided to fix the bug. So I updated the Mi Fit app, thinking the syncing would be resolved.

But nothing happened. Hmm.

The Mi Band2 still could not sync and that was when I discovered that the Bluetooth icon went missing. Initially a sense of panic kicked in. Oh no! My phone has developed another illness. Already dying with the battery issue, now this?! I was aghast.

I had done the ‘Forget this Device’ step, rebooted the phone and yet, the Bluetooth icon couldn’t be seen nor can the phone detect the band. It was so frustrating, I even contemplated giving up my Mi Band2 if the problem persisted. The survival of my phone was more critical. Then I read up in forums and learnt that the Bluetooth icon was dropped. Eeesh.

Another last resort attempt…

I deleted the Mi Fit app but not before syncing all the data to the Health app and downloaded it again. Crossing my fingers, I signed in and voila! My Mi Band2 finally synced. Phew. What an unnecessary scare that was.

As for the missing Bluetooth icon, I’ve decided to manually manage its appearance, opening Control Center and swiping it ON or OFF now that I know the little icon won’t be sitting on the top right anymore.

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To have it ON or OFF, that is the question!

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A Quiet Home

17 Jan

Reality has sunk in and the quietness of home is now louder than ever. It’s not so obvious in the morning when we get ready for work because if M2 was still here, she would still be asleep. It’s the evenings.

The grunt, snort and stubbornness of official pet number one is more prominent, the water spouting within the aquarium is more pronounced and the lack of another person to have a conversation with is so glaring.

Sigh… both of us have to get used to this.

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A New Beginning

15 Jan

M2’s travel to Ireland was more manageable to track, eight hours behind our time compared M1’s travel to the US where the time difference was much more and so hard to keep up, travelling back in time and all.

She had a big send-off entourage which was nice but emotional at the same time. Sad tears flowed among family and friends present at the airport to see her off but there was also happiness for her as she faces a new beginning.

Like her cousins and sister, we are very proud of M2 to bravely go off to college without us having to accompany her – being so young at 17 and a half years old, surpassing even M1. Her taking this path in stride, to see and experience the world and be more independent makes me tear up when I think about it because my baby is all grown up.

M2 may be travelling in a group with other students unlike M1, who travelled solo but the fact remains both girls didn’t need us to go with them. M1 graduates this year while M2 has just begun her exciting journey.

We got home at almost two in the morning and I couldn’t sleep, needing to keep track of her on flightaware.com. This is the best site/app ever to live track the what, where and when status of an aircraft. When morning came, I was like a zombie in the office from the lack of sleep and my eyes still stung and remained puffed from all the tears shed.

By Monday evening our time, she arrived safely. The layover in Dubai wasn’t too long and Emirates is a great airline. I heave a sigh of relief knowing she’s well on her way to greater things in life.

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M2 onwards to her new and exciting beginning!

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