I am back in KL with some time to blog after spending serious time getting rid of viruses and trojans and all those rubbish from the computer. It is becoming a ritual now: everytime I come back, I need to clean up the computer.

Took another bus company instead of the one I usually take because I have come to the conclusion that the previous one charges way too much. So, time for a change. And the new one isn't too bad. Doesn't have all the little gadgets but who needs them when you need sleep instead. I think I will travel with this company next time too.

Wedding dinner was nice. Nice meaning there was no karaoke that had used to plague wedding dinners. Good to meet up with old classmates, some of whom I have not met for close to 8 years.

Oh, and the MyVee is not that bad for a local car.

Back from a week of work. And to welcome me back was a letter from the tax collectors who wanted to fine me for some technical issues. However, cleared it up and after some grovelling, I managed to get the fine waived.

Will be going back to KL this weekend for a classmate's wedding. Then, should be off to Auckland next week.

Meanwhile, the router is still out of service. But, I managed to sneak into someone else's network to post this. Hope to get that router fixed soon.

This is Daniel reporting from New York, after finally getting a hotel room with internet connection. Which is free too.

Reached here with my body clock all screwed up. But nonetheless, I set out to walk the streets of New York in my haggard state. I was staying at the intersection of Lexington Ave and 48th St, and I somehow managed to reach Madison Park somewhere south, but not as far south as I would have wanted. So no chance for Ground Zero or the Statue of Liberty this round. Maybe the next time I come here. Still, I was able to check out the National Library, Grand Central Terminal, Times Square, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. Many nice buildings around here actually.

Several points to note about NY:
1. All the roads are in a grid, so no chance of getting lost.
2. UPS and Fedex trucks really look like what they appear on television. They have a seat for the driver and just a jump-seat next to him.
3. Cops are everywhere.
4. The fire department buildings are really like BaseOne from the Ghostbusters.
5. Gay men can kiss on the streets and nobody will have a second glance.
6. Helicopters can hover over the same spot for one hour without moving.
7. In movies, the reason why people walking in the background don't stare at the camera is because someone will walk alongside the cameraman and ask us to walk slowly and not to stare at the camera.
8. There is Wendy's in NY.
9. There are many dogs in NY.
10. NY time is 13 hours behind Singapore time.

ZZZzzz...

I was walking outside Taka with TheGirl yesterday night when we were approached by one of those dreaded people armed with a writing pad and a pen. Sometimes, they are financial advisors, or insurance agents, or people selling charity coupons. This time, it is a young guy who offered TheGirl and I a chance each to win some free things. TheGirl won a 25 dollar voucher from Isetan, while I won (wow) a free seven night stay at a five-star hotel at a country listed in the voucher, like Portugal, Australia, Spain, etc.

How could I resist? I want a seven night stay at a five-star hotel at a country like Portugal, Australia and Spain. But, of course nothing is free. We will have to attend an exhibition which, according to TheGirl, is aimed at selling tour packages.

The guy amused me a lot. He probably just finished his O-Levels (he took biology) and this should be his part-time job. And when he gave me a piece of paper to scratch (to find out what I was going to win), he took a look at the scratch pad. There was a line across and you could easily see what colour the star was. And when I "won" the trip, he was a hell lot more excited than I was, going "Oh my God, you won. Oh my God, this is like a one in a thousand chance".

Probably the only reason why I wasted 20 minutes of my life there.

On another note, TheGirl bought the K800i. I am very tempted to steal it from her.

And today, I woke up at 11AM when the planner told me that there is a last minute training trip to Bangkok and whether I was free for it. At first, I said yes. If I can expedite my training, why not right? Maybe I was too blur (hey I just woke up) and I forgot that I was going to reach back late, and will miss my date with TheGirl. So I called back and said I can't make it. No big deal. But didn't feel good.

And just when I got over it, she called back and said there was a later training trip to Jakarta.

Such is life...

Took a few days to recover from the Sydney trip. Mainly because of the fact that I had only one night of sleep for the three days that I was awake. But nonetheless, I gathered enough energy to take a walk around Sydney, but I didn't make it to the opera house area. That wasn't caused by my lack of sleep. Rather, it was because of my new shoes that were killing my feet. Anyway, I got them changed, and the new ones feel so much better.

Next trip was supposed to be to Shanghai, but looks like I will be going to Frankfurt and New York instead. Going to be a long 3 day stay over at Frankfurt. So, maybe I will go to the countryside and look around. Maybe I can pick up some remnants of Oktoberfest too.