20. January 2009 by bill.

OK, it’s been a while since the last post.  We’ve been busy.  Over Christmas, we went island hopping in Southeast Asia.  We went to Jakarta (island of Java), then to Medan (island of Sumatera), then Batam Island, then Singapore, then Sentosa Island and finally back to Jakarta.

While in Medan, we stayed with our friends, the Steins.  Thank you Sean, Cici, Alec and Sami for being wonderful hosts!

We went on an excursion into the wilds of Leuser National Park (more info, but we’ll post pictures soon).    While there we were “welcomed” to the jungle by an orangutan named Minah, who was a bit upset we were invading her territory.  Luckily our guides knew how to handle her and Minah cooled off and left us alone.  After that we hopped on inner tubes and went white water rafting back to the hotel (well actually a little farther because it was so fun).

Then we went to Singapore for New Year’s Eve.  Singapore is very nice, a lot of New Year activities and I recommend the night safari and Sentosa Island.

But all good things must come to an end and now we’re back home, knee-deep in snow and below-freezing temperatures.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

9. August 2008 by bill.

Thursday, Lisa and I invited my parents, sister and five-year-old niece Alexandra over for dinner.  Lisa cooked a variety of her Indonesian favorites:  rendang (beef with coconut milk), ayam goreng (fried chicken), cangkung (water spinach with tofu and peanut sauce), babi asam manis (sweet and sour pork), baked salmon, sup ayam (chicken soup) and terong pedas (spicy eggplant).  Lisa received many compliments for her food.  Even Alexandra said she liked the chicken soup!

I helped with the food, mostly prep work, but ended up burning the rendang in the slow-cooker (didn’t know food could burn in a slow-cooker!).  I also helped clean the house and set the table.

All in all, the dinner was a big success!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

1. August 2008 by bill.

Went to see the new Batman movie last week.  It was intense!  So intense that near the end of the movie some guy got carried out on a stretcher.  No kidding.  Now whether it was because of the movie or not, I don’t know.

Anyway, it was possibly the perfect Batman movie.  For nearly 20 years, Jack Nicholson was the definitive Joker.  Not anymore.  The late, lamented Heath Ledger has raised the bar to near unreachable heights with his interpretation.  He is so good in the role, I forgot all about Heath Ledger - I was watching the Joker.  I guess that’s the ultimate compliment one can give an actor.  And the part was well written.  The Dark Knight shows why the Joker is Batman’s greatest adversary and probably the greatest comic book villain of all.  The Joker has no superpowers, but still brings Gotham City to its knees and nearly makes Bruce Wayne hang up his Batman suit for good.

This is what a lot of the comic book/superhero movies have been lacking - a real villain.  Now maybe it’s not necessary for an origin story - the origin is the focus.  But certainly for the sequels, Lex Luthor needs to be more maniacal, the Abomination more abominable, Venom more venomous, that sort of thing.  Heroes need to be threatened, pushed to the edge, if not over it.  They need to hit bottom, find those inner reserves of strength and come roaring back - that’s what makes them heroes

Hopefully, The Dark Knight will set the standard….

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

7. February 2008 by bill.

Ok, finally got a blog started. I’ll try to post regularly but no guarantees.

Lisa and I both had the day off today - a snow day! We got hit with over a foot of snow last night. Thanks to strong winds, I woke up to find a huge pile of snow in front of the garage. It was higher than the bumper of my Trailblazer, about mid-thigh when I walked through it. We don’t have a snowblower - really don’t get that much snow, doesn’t take long to shovel it. But this called for heavy equipment. Terry, our next neighbor, has a quad with a plow, but couldn’t handle our driveway. So I called my friend Tom who has a huge truck with a snowplow. Even he struggled with the massive pile snow, but eventually managed to clear it.

Well, that’s all for now. More later.

-Bill

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »