Rickett Glen Day Hike

Hi all,

this is my entry about my day hike trip today (Americans call it Hike and more hiong versions as trek). It is at this place called the Rickett Glen State Park. Its seriously quite a nice place. It reminds me of berkelah and pelepah. Its basically a waterfall trek that lasts for 4 hours. Its a trail that loops around a small peak but on the way (up and down), you get to see about 22 waterfalls (small and huge ones). (un)fortunately, its autumn and its rather cold for a swim. Nonetheless, the views are kinda different from the Malaysia waterfall treks. There are seasons here so you can see yellow leaves on the deciduous plants and sometimes you can even catch the view of falling leaves. Its really quite relaxing and nice.

It would also be good to note that Americans more or less behave similar to us when they trek. They also chat with one another during the trek and their mentality are more or less similar to the people that i trek with in Singapore - diversed. Some are excited, some are experienced, some take care of others while some walk by themselves. It actually comforts me that although we're different in day-to-day culture, we're actually similar in trekking culture.

Anyway, enuff of blabbering, i was told that my blog has too much words. so here's some pics!

our route (red one, bottom up, 1 round and back)

Me and the trail

River flowing through the trail

This is a typical view you'll see on the trail

One of the waterfalls

Posing beside the waterfall

nice view with lots of yellow leaves

Another pose beside another waterfall

This is how the trail looks like

The rare sunlight that we get

The next weekend will probably be spent bringing my friend around Philadelphia and NY... yupz... New York... again...

A funny forum entry that Mervyn sent me

Hi peepz, here's a forum entry that mervyn sent me... finance humour... check it out...

I'm not sure whether it is copyrighted, but let's just say its not...

*******************

THIS APPEARED ON CRAIG'S LIST

What am I doing wrong?Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful(spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy.I'm not from New York. I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes atleast half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mindthat a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't thinkI'm overreaching at all.Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Couldyou send me some tips?

I dated a business man who makes average around200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't getme to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was marriedto an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do Iget to her level? Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars,restaurants, gyms

- What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt myfeelings

-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?

- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper eastside so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who havenothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop deadgorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the storythere?

- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investmentbanker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do theyhang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?

- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking forMARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults. I'm putting myself out there in an honestway. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up frontabout it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn'table to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping anice home and hearth. it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercialinterests

PostingID: 432279810

THE ANSWER

Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfullyabout your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.Firstly, I'm not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits yourbill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here's how Isee it.Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple acrappy business deal. Here's why.

Cutting through all the B.S., what yousuggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bringmy money. Fine, simple. But here's the rub, your looks will fade and mymoney will likely continue into perpetuity...in fact, it is very likelythat my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won'tbe getting any more beautiful!So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earningasset.

Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciationaccelerates! Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins inearnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buyand hold...hence the rub...marriage. It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease.

In case you think I'm being cruel, I would say the following. If my money wereto go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It's as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage. Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So,I wonder why a girl as "articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful"as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard tobelieve that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500Khasn't found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and thenwe wouldn't need to have this difficult conversation.With all that said, I must say you're going about it the right way.Classic "pump and dump."I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort oflease, let me know.

******

Quite interesting...

Yam's Kitchen Menu (newest additions)

Fried beef with Beansprouts

Steamed Tofu Burgers

Another look at it

Egg Yolk Chicken

looks disgusting but tastes good (will try to improve on looks)

Chai Tao Kuey

Fried Carrot Cake (cantonese style)

Hong Shao Tofu

Cai Por Egg

Steamed Fish with Salted Beans

Chicago 5D4N - Final part

Hi guys,

here's the last part of my Chicago Trip... Day 4 was supposed to be the last day at Chicago. However, due to a traffic jam, I was late for my flight back to Philadelphia. As such, Airtran arranged the next possible flight to Philadelphia for us free-of-charge (not bad for a budget airline lah). The next flight was at 0545 on day 5... so i guess day 5 wasn't really that interesting too ya?

Right, here's what happened on day 4. After checking out of our hostel, Philip and I just walked around downtown to catch a last view of the city. After sending some postcards and letters, we tried to make our way to Hyde Park to check out the University of Chicago. However, as we got onto the subway, we decided to drop Chinatown a visit before we go to the university. So here's some pictures... quite a nice place... but just looks kinda standard for a Chinatown.

Chinatown

Think they were celebrating taiwan national day initially

Ok... after lunch, we made our way to the university and took some pictures before we met You An to make our way to the airport. As you know by now, we missed the plane and thus stayed a night at his friend's place. His friend's name is Yikley and we have to thank him for the one night free accomodation.

Below are some pictures from the University of Chicago. I find the place serene and highly suitable for academia... Maybe I should apply here for grad studies... haha... (for those who still don't know, i might serve my URA bond and then move on to do grad studies after). The faculty there is also very successful and famous. Here are some pictures:

Rosenwald Hall (their econs dept) - I took this photo without knowing

The all-famous Chicago Graduate School of Business

Taking a picture with the econs faculty... (hahah... their pictures)

A picture of University of Chicago's Quad

All right, that sorta concludes my Chicago trip, albeit a disappointing ending... But Chicago would definitely be a city that i recommend you guys to visit... its nice, its clean and its definitely worth visiting!

Chicago 5D4N - Part 3

Day 3 (15/10/2007)
Day 3 in Chicago is by far the most intersting part of the whole trip! At around 10 in the morning, my travel buddy, Philip, and I went to rent a bike for the whole day. A whole day (i.e. 10am - 530pm) rental costs $25 for a mountain bike and its really worth it (in terms of US prices). It was a really good day for cycling and going around on a bike really gave us a superb view of Chicago.

We planned our route and decided to cycle approximately 5 to 10km north along the coast to check out the michigan lake as well as the skyline from different angles. The view along the coast was nothing less than splendid and we took some time to take pictures with the magnificent skyline.

cycling along the coast

cycling along the coast 2

posing with the wonderful skyline


Skyline silouette

another angle

After abt 1.5 hrs of cycling, we turned back to cycle into the CBD area so that we can check out the various buildings on bike. We cycled through the business district and saw the CBOT, CME, Sears Tower, etc once again. This time round, its a working day and the streets were sprawling with pedestrains. It wasn't really helpful since we arrived during lunch time. Nonetheless, the experience was still outstanding.

Sears Tower

Sears Tower 2

Planetarium

Before returning our bikes, we also visited the Chicago institute of art. It has many paintings from monet, picasso, etc. However, being an art-idiot, i really couldn't appreciate. Nonetheless, i tried my very best and found some pictures which i found really nice. Seriously, i was "appreciating" the art with layman eyes and I guess I would never be able to see it from an artistic point of view.

At around 5pm, we returned our bikes and took a short walk to the John Hancock Building. On day 1 when we went to the building, we were determined that we'll be back again. Not for the views, but for the Cheescake at the Cheesecake factory located at the ground level! Trust me, the cheesecake made by cheesecake factory was the best i've EVER eaten. Just check out this pics!

Cheesecake choices

Cheesecake Factory

John Hancock from the bottom

We ended our "last" day at Chicago by visiting rush street (their boat quay equivalent). The parenthesis for last is because I missed my flight on day 4 which made a 4D3N tour become a 5D4N tour. Anyway, back to rush street. It was really nice although it was a monday night. I found the original morton's but we didn't want to spend ALL our money on that. As we walk along the street, we admired the various restaurants and finally ended up in a posh italian restaurant. The whole meal costs about US$40 each but it was quite an experience. Live band, red wine, italian cuisine and hospitable waitresses.

The original Morton's

(left to right) Philip, Yuki (staying at our hostel), Me

Day 4 was nothing interesting except for missing the flight... will tell you guys more abt day 4 and day 5 next time...

Chicago 5D4N - Part 2

Day 2 (14/10/2007)
Sunday was a bad weather day. It rained the night before and parts of the morning. This made the weather cold and windy. The initial plan was to rent a bicycle and cycle along the coast. However, due to the bad weather, we swapped the plan around and engaged in indoor activities.

The day was spent revisiting millenium park, visiting the Shedd Aquarium (which claimed to be the world's LARGEST aquarium), taking a boat cruise through Chicago River and exploring Navy Pier. In the morning, we headed to millenium park to check out the day view of the bean. This time round, Philip was around to help me take a picture of me at the bean. Shortly after exploring around millenium park, we took a slow walk to Shedd Aquarium.

Yujian @ the bean

Shedd Aquarium was indeed the largest aquarium in the world. Nonetheless, it wasn't as impressive as the other museums i've visited in NYC and other parts of the states. It did had many different aquatic life on display but they were more or less similar. The only interesting stuff i found there was the sea ottos (cute animals) and the whales. I cannot remember the type of whales that were on display but they were rather small (a bit larger than a human) relative to the "standard" whale that we think of.

At the entrance of the Shedd Aquarium

From the entrance of the Aquarium at the skyline

Big fish

Jelly Fish

Penguins at Shedd Aquarium

We bought tickets for a 330pm cruise along Chicago River. We were almost late for the cruise but fortunately, after running for abt more than 400 meters, we managed to hop onto the cruise just in time before it left the dock. The cruise was 90 minutes long and I would have to say that its really a good experience. The ticket costs US$28 (for the weekend trips) and it offers you great views of the different buildings and skyscrapers from the boat. There was also a volunteer who would tell you more abt the history of each building as well as the significance of them. All in all, this cruise is HIGHLY recommended for tourists in Chicago.

Condos along the River

Sunset View of the skyline

At the end of the day, Philip and I took a slow walk to Navy Pier. It was supposed to be one of the most famous tourist attractions (i guess its due to the nice view of the skyline). However, Philip and I both found that Navy Pier was really boring. However, we did pay 6USD to take the ferris Wheel (1 round only) to capture another view of the skyline. I didn't think it was worth it but i guess its just an experience.

Night view of the skyline from Navy Pier


Top of the Ferris Wheel

Nightview of the Skyline from the Ferris Wheel

Posing with the Ferris Wheel

Posing with the night skyline

Next up would be day 3. I find day 3 the most exciting day of the 5 days. Check it out soon!