Shopping Frenzy

Eight and a half hours of shopping is nuts, at least for a guy like me who rarely shops. And the results --> heavier luggage, weaker feet, weaker arms and definitely a weaker wallet.

Talking about self control? Discipline? I guess I lost them today!

ps: I am not done with that outlet mall yet, still half a level more to go...too tired for that today!!!

Customized caps, they do it on the spot...

Arrived at New Jersey

After spending almost 2 months in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG), I will be based in Elizabeth (ELZ), New Jersey for the final month. You see, DHL has 3 Centralized Dispatch Offices in US, the one in Cincinnati being the largest, dispatching almost 90-95% of the service areas in US. Then we have ELZ and COP dispatching the other 5-10% of the service areas here.

Deployment in CVG has been a successful one, as far as my application is concerned. I believe I have done a good job deploying the application and sharing my knowledge and experience with the dispatch folks in CVG. Of course we still have a long way to go with more than half of the service areas yet to be deployed yet. I will still be helping with the deployment in CVG, although remotely from ELZ. Aim is now to help ELZ and hopefully we will have another successful one here.

Woke up at 04:30 this morning to catch the flight from CVG to Newark Airport. Was really excited as I could finally get my ass out of the not-so-happening CVG. I breathe new life here in ELZ, NJ. Feels like I have just arrived at the states, with sights of tall buildings and busy streets. Can't wait for everything to get started.

Anyway, I really like my new room. Cosy, comfy and above all, the HUGE Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall lies just across the street. With more than 200 branded outlets mostly with factory prices and plenty of restaurants, what better location could I possibly ask for? Courtyard Marriot is strategically located a few miles away from the Newark Airport and a 20-30 mins train ride away from the 'big apple'. Bring it on!

Shopping at Jeffersonville

It was one of the places, well perhaps the only one I wanted to visit during my stay here in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. Seriously there's nothing much worth visiting here than this huge outdoor Outlet Malls at Jeffersonville, Ohio. It houses like 100++ branded factory stores, all in one location.

One of my colleague was here for one week and so we rented a car for the day. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have done this alone, I'd rather stay in the room. Journey took like an hour and 15 minutes and with the rented GPS, it really helped. The experience to drive on the left hand side and on the right lane was really something.

You wouldn't believe how hard we tried to tell ourselves not to do anything silly starting to purchase whatever cheap we could find. Put it this way, for your pocket's sake, this is certainly not a place you would want to bring you girl to! In the end, I ended up with Coach and Oakley. 1 for wifey and 1 for myself, fair right?

Coach was super cheap, well worth the buy at least. They had up to 50-60% sales. Didn't get what wifey wanted actually but was happy she actually liked what I gasak for her instead. We were fortunate to be there in the morning as the queue was right up to the side of the Coach shop in the afternoon! Crazy shoppers.

Pampered myself with Oakley's Polarized Straight Jacket. 'Juliet' was really tempting but was way too expensive for me, so it's a no. Anyway, i was super contented with my carefully selected purchases for the day. Hehehe :)

Oakley's Polarized Straight Jacket

Camwhoring with my new toy, ahem.. Spring is officially here, but it still feels like winter

Petrol with lotsa LOVE

Dalmatian Pups

If I remember correctly, they are now 3 weeks old. Adorable little angels, too good to be true. This is the first litter for Snoopy, Jan's female dalmatian. Too bad I'm in another part of the world now, missing the chance to see them go through their younger days.

Innocent looking

The liver-spotted baby All sleeping except 'spotless'
Aren't they just lovely?

It's Been A Month Now...

Not knowingly, it's been 1 month now since I left home for the US. It has been difficult for the first 2 weeks, trying to acclimate to the severe weather condition here and at the same time, trying to recover from the jet-lag, after travelling across many different time zones during the 20 hours transmeridian long distance flight. Those irregular sleep patterns, insomnias, dry itchy skin and digestive problem are no fun at all.

Now everything feels good again, though I still don't like the food and weather here. Colleagues and those from the hotel have been treating me reasonably good. They even offered me a microwave oven in my hotel room. And I found out that it is safe for us to drink water straight from the tap! Something I find rather weird and unsafe at the beginning.

Work has been silky smooth so far after one month, I am expecting things to start piling up for the rest of the 2 months. Fingers crossed, I am hoping for a rapid and successful deployment of our dispatch application all across US, allowing me to fly back earlier than scheduled.

I am missing home, missing Jan, missing my family, missing Paris and you can bet I miss the food back in Malaysia. Nothing compares to the variety of food we can get back in Malaysia, and also the availability of food almost 24 hours a day, of course I'm talking about our Mamak stalls. No doubt that I long to be back, but I am not counting the days as it will be ridiculously long and tiring. Lets hope I have a good time here, getting things done, savor the good moments and then return to where I belong.

My colls have a liking for this drink, tastes like Red Bull

We ordered our daily lunch online, very systematic

This is my office, with the QSS dept at the back

My DHL colls, nice people

Sounds familiar?

I do my laundry every fortnight

I've got prezzie for wifey!