boon's log 2008.05: Heat-wave weekend

Just 2-3 weeks ago, we had a fair share of snow - not those that will stay on the roads or cars... but just melted away like 5 minutes later. But still to have snow during this part of the year was sure not normal and now, 2-3 weeks later, we are hitting temperatures of 96 degrees. This is crazy. As what we predicted, I guess we just "Springed" from Winter into Summer in just a matter of dayz. Man, is the weather weird.

It's so hot and stuffy that we had no choice but to get an air conditioner. ANd I have to admit it is a whole new experience in its own. I mean, I guess the Americans are pretty used to D.I.Y. But for me, fixing up my own air cond is totally new.

We bought the 5000 BTU Window Air Conditioner. Yeah, uh-huh - back home, I would have paid an electrician to fix up the equipment, but here - I would have to pay almost double of what I pay for the air-cond to get someone to fix it up. Manual labor is expensive. So, I have to work through the manual (which was poorly written) and install the machine on my own. it wasn't really that hard, but I guess I would have accomplished it a little faster if the manual was clearer. Anyways, i did it under 1.5hours, which was not quite bad, ya?! And the result?


D.I.Y. Window mounted Air Conditioner

Nice cooling air. I guess if wasn't for Ab, we would not have bought the unit. We've been in Oregon before and gone through similar weather but we did not get any air conditioner. But this time around, we had to. Otherwise, the poor baby would not be able to sleep... yeah, pampered.. :P Ha!

The best room in the house is officially the master bedroom. Heat wave?! Bring it on! :P

boon out...

boon's log 2008.01: Doggie Dash '08 and Mother's Day weekend..

First of all, Happy (Belated) Mother's Day to the 2 most beloved ladies in my life - Mom and IL! Felt sorry that I could not be with Mom during this time of the year - will make it up when we get back in June (yeah, heading home for a short break in June). As for IL - well, nothing spectacular, really - just made sure that she got all that she wanted. Did all the house chores, letting her kick back and not having to do anything: from cooking to driving to taking care of the babe... Happy Mom's Day! P/S: We did not give in to the commercialized Mom's Day trend. :)

And to the rest of the Mom's reading - hope you had a nice one! Well, like what a friend said - there should not be ONE Mom's day... if you love your mom, everyday should be Mom's day (Well, I'd say that about Valentine's Day too, but guess what? That didn't work!)...

On Saturday, it was Doggie Dash Day - it's basically, all the dog owners, young and not-so-young, bring out their canines for a massive migratory-like walk around the city waterfront-area. As with all such events, there were stalls setup - something like a fair thingy with bands and games, etc. It's very much like our Mid Autumn Festival - just that instead of walking around and carrying TangLungs (i.e. Lanterns), they walk their dogs... :)


Doggie Dash Portland '08

We took Ab there.


Doggie Dash Portland '08

She was afraid at first - being surrounded by SO MANY dogs. But she soon got the hang of it and even got a little too friendly once, that a dog started licking her face! Haha! That was cute - definitely a Kodak-moment, but too the dad was too slow to draw.


Doggie Dash Portland '08: Ab warming up to one of the dogs...

One of the other things that she enjoyed at the park was the Jazz band. Nice! My daughter likes Jazz! We had to pry her away from the dancing mood (in front of the stage) cause KY's parking meter's up and we had to break for brunch anyways.



Doggie Dash Portland '08: Up close...

All in all she had quite a nice time there. And people there were pretty nice as well. There was this one lady who even gave Ab a dog-treat to feed her Golden Retriver. I thought that was very nice of her. For a moment there, I was afraid that she was going to take the treat from the lady and eat it herself (Ab)!!! Haha...

We never really let Ab get near any dogs before - especially not our Dopey. Dopey's a little sensitive with people touching him - especially his face/nose area. We've received a few bites because of that. Only IL is allowed to touch his face - noaughty 'lil fellow. So we never let Ab get near Dopey. So, this one nice experience for Ab - getting close-ups with the bow-wows... (IL did drop a hint that we may want to get another dog when Ab get's older ... Hmm... ok... we'll see... :P)


Doggie Dash Portland 2008: Courtesy of KYT

boon out...