Eye Candy

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I was at the Taipei Car Show on Monday, to check out the latest models... I particularly liked this one - she was giving me her winning-est smile and her eyes were flashing that come-hither look. Or maybe it was just my (very married) imagination. You be the judge...

Camping

We've been doing some camping lately, and we're planning on doing more - in fact, we want to go this weekend on New Year's Day, if it doesn't rain. We can accept cold temperatures, but cold and wet is no one's idea of fun.

Here are some pictures from our last excursions up in the mountains past Neiwan. This guy was a drunk aboriginal with a long hunting rifle. He had wandered over to our campsite, discharged his weapon a few times (to impress us, no doubt) and then got his ramrod stuck in the barrel while he was reloading. A local candidate for the Darwin Awards, no doubt. Hehehe...


Gustav was in dog heaven up in the mountains. He loved being able to sleep with us, and I think we appreciated the extra warmth. He put up with our ridiculous commands:


And I think he has a new fan and friend in Megan, the daughter of our good friends, Michael & Wanda:


Our last camping trip gave us a chance to try out our new tent (the one on the left):


We also got to hang out with our friends and just talk about nothing - sort of a wilderness episode of Seinfeld... The quiet of the mountains has a very soothing effect on me. I must remember to do this as often as I can. Pictured here is Meilan, Michael and Vanessa.


The scenery up there is pretty incredible. It's a side of Taiwan that I don't get to see in my daily life.

Taipei Car Show

We went to the Taipei Car Show today, and I saw some *very nice* vehicles. The much-praised la mei (hot babes) that share the spotlight with the cars didn't do so much for me though. A couple of them were very cute, but most of them were nothing to write home about. I'll have some pics of the cute ones up in a day or two.

I did find the new car of my dreams, however - the Land Rover Discovery. As soon as I have an extra $3,250,000NT, I'm picking one up.



We were supposed to pick up (and pay for) Vanessa's Christmas bicycle today, but she told me she doesn't want it - at least right now. She'd rather get some (considerably cheaper) camping equipment and use the rest of the money to pay off some bills. I told her to not worry about it, but she says she'd feel guilty if she had such an expensive Christmas gift while our money situation was still tight. I guess if that's what she wants... Me, I'd take the bike!

Tsunami Christmas

It was a nice slow weekend. Had a Christmas dinner yesterday at Carnegie's with a bunch of friends - it was nice, but too damn cold for the patio! By the time I got a mouthful of food into me, the wind had already chilled it to the point that it felt like I was eating cold leftovers. That and the fact that I got charged for every cup of coffee I drank, sort of left me feeling cold in more ways than one. Oh well. I've had enough good experiences there that I can surely overlook one less-than-perfect meal.

Vanessa baked muffins today - lemon and poppyseed flavour, and they were really good. I made dinner - pork chops with a mushroom gravy, baked potatos, apple sauce, chicken salad, and hot coffee and muffins for dessert. Not bad, eh?

Today the big news is an 8.9 earthquake and the resulting tsunami waves that have devastated so many areas in Asia. India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, The Maldives, Malaysia, Burma, were all affected... Death and destruction in minutes, without any warning.

Time for a glass of milk and a quick walk for Gustav before bed. Tomorrow it's back to work, but in the morning we're planning on going to the car show at the Taipei World Trade Centre.