gnatweds

Christmas has come early to Rochester. Everything looks rosy for once!

Having never worked harder in a long long time, I decided to indulge myself by buying something I really hoped one day(which I thought would never come) I would own.

This whole quest started 3 weeks ago with me scouring the web for deals on a "new" set of wheels. Initially, I imagined myself behind the wheel of an American muscle car blazing down the road making a huge din. After a few test drives and snide comments from Nat, I realized that this was not about to happen. Not to mention, something deep inside me didn't gel with these beasts. So the search went on, and on and on......... Nat was gnashing and grumbling about my insanity. What pure insanity, sweet.

Then I chanced upon this baby on day. What a sweet sweet deal. Just USD 3.8k. Knew that I had to have it once I saw it. And so I did. Oh happy day!!!

It's a 20yr yr old, made the year before I started driving. The badge alone makes it easy to forgive some of the quirks such cars have. But don't be mistaken, this baby comes with powered seats, windows, sun roof(not working), cruise control(not working). But hey, it's a porsche. My very first. A mile stone and the start of a long relationship with Porsche!

We just got back from a mini road trip down to La Crosse, Wisconsin, intended to put the new babe through it's paces. Here are some shots...

Even though it's old, even though it's not a 911, it still brings a smile to both our faces!

I hope to drive it down to Chicago in Oct, if it doesn't break down by then.

Yesterday, we had a spot of freaky weather.
The emergency alarm system was going on the whole day, and at night, we had a spot of hail, right here in Rochester, though when I stepped out to get closer look, they were gone... the lights were flickering and the electricals were going nuts.

And it was not some hum-drum overhyped thing - Tornadoes actually touched down in MN yesterday, a man and several hundred cows were killed.

A swathe of the city had its electricity cut till 5 am this morning.

Read more on the newslinks here. And here.

ROCHESTER, MN - Yesterday, Dr and Mrs Eugene Goh welcomed the new arrival to their family.

According to Dr Goh, the wait was long, "but absolutely worth it''.

The new arrival came outfitted in a fiery red, and while Mrs Goh had her initial doubts about the strain on the family's budget, she too fell in love with the new baby once she set eyes on it.

Thanks to Vincent and Yvonne - they popped their blog cherry recently, read it here - we made it across the border in Squeaky for the first time. Am glad to say we played an influencing part.

But the dynamic fishing duo are also responsible for some very happening gnatwed adventures.

We went to a scenic, and of course, fishing spot, in the neighbouring state, Wisconsin, called St Croix falls. We cruised on the St Croix river whoch separates the two states.
Can't find a .jpeg map, so try this to see where we drove from (Rochester) and where we crossed the border.




Driving up Highway 52. The blue skies are an anomaly so late in August.... the last week was grotty and grey. And cold. But on Sunday, the sun came out to play again. Super shiok.

THAT is Vincent and Yvonne's huge a** fishing craft being towed by their even bigger a**-ed truck. That v8 can pull that boat at 80mph without breaking a sweat.

We, in Squeaky - which is a v6 SUV - were hard pressed to keep up. Heheheh. Naw, it was fine except I almost lost them when we cut through St Paul's (the city) extremely complicated, vermicelli-like highway intersections.

That's Fly, the Border Collie (saved by Yvonne) looking out over the River. Beaut huh? Gene took all the photos on his SLR. Can't claim any credit for the visuals in this particular post.

Posin for a pic after a day in the sun. Happiness defined.

For Vince, this is happiness defined - he caught a sturgeon. To fisherfolk, this is a BIG deal as the fish is hard to catch. Its almost prehistoric and its got tough skin... like a shark. He had to try it back because they are protected in these parts. The sturgeon is the fish that produces caviar. They are much much bigger lah when they harvest the eggs, and it happens in Russia, Iran... erh... I can't remember where else off hand.


But this is the dicovery of the year - Vince and Yvonne suggested dinner at this small town about 45 minutes north of Rochester. Called Northfields. What a place!

It's a university town - and trust Gene to come up with a pithy remark: "When you're bored as hell, the lesson is to look for a university/college town."
Its chockablock with cute cafes, cool quirky art shops, curios, etc etc. VERY charming. Also, lots and lots of pubs - even ye olde englishe types...
Heh, you know what I mean!

Sweet huh? We'll go back to explore again soon.

Wei: saw Anthony Bourdain in that episode from Beirut. It really really was very sobering. Shan't take this time of plenty and peace for granted. As much as I may bitch about being bored - but that's just me, what would I be without bitching? I am aiming to take up some new stuff, even... yes, wait for it... golf!

Will keep the blog updated. Kisses.

It's raining here in Rochester MN, and temperatures have dipped to 17 deg C.
Ah... the end of summer is nigh methinks. Fall is upon us.

Nothing much happening here. We are adjusting slowly to life here. Am cooking - though on Monday, it went soooo bad (the cooking) that I flopped onto sofa and asked to go out and eat! Bah. That was a bad day. Since then have stuck to easier stuff.

Had to take varicella (chicken pox) and MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) shots the other day. Since am volunteering at the hospital; they want us all to be tip top safe when it comes to these things. I don't want to take them, but gene says, at least its free. They are live vaccines, so I might shed these buggers. Which means no going to Minneapolis to shop with lynette (one of the wives here) cos she's preggers.

Yes, so little is going on that I am blogging abt my vaccinations. Gak.

What else has been going on? hummm... last night we sat on the couch, bought music off iTunes and drank wine.
No, no wine bar here. Sorry.

Okay, for a lack of anything to write about; I'll leave this post as it is, and will blog when something suitably interesting happens.

This was too good to pass up.
Spotted this bit of news in The Post Bulletin - which is the local paper here.
(PS: When I say local, I really mean local. A sign disappearing from a store front makes top news and moms wanting a playground is the home news cover.)

Anywaaaay, there was this story about a company in Winona (which is about half an hour east of here) getting in trouble with the local government.

It started back in 2001. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency ordered a company - then called Winona Excavating - to stop work and pay a $6,000 fine because it felt that the company had not handled abestos and mercury properly during a demolition shop. (They store down a fish shop)

Miffed, the owners decided to start work again and filed for permits under the name MPCAFU.

The authorities only cottoned on to the deception and defiant name two years later when an employee read in the paper that Winona Excavating was demolishing another building.

It took a 16-month (!) investigation, and it finally resulted in a $100,000 fine.

The company has also agreed to cease all demolition work for a year (under any name) while its employees are trained in handling and removing abestos.

Goes to show that authorities around the world, not only in sg, don't go in for that sense of humour thing.

Me? I just couldn't stop smiling at the story.

Last night, we booked out the new clubhouse here at our apartment complex, for our inaugural party here in MN. It was a red and white thing - this is gonna to become some kind of tradition I suspect - and the food was again, red and white.

The menu: Two types of pasta sauce - a meat bolognaise (red) and white - beef stroganoff, and white sangria (we used white wine as the base BUT it turned out pinky because gene's secret recipe calls for a berry-flavoured teabag)...
and it was up to standard - people were going "Fwwwaaaa, alcoholic man!"


The outfits: hey, people did actually try to turn up in red and white. I was doing my PAP impression with an all white - I don't have anything red here lah. And gene made concessions by wearing his red boarding pants.

Except even before the party started, the cops came a calling! We had somehow inadvertently triggered the alarm... so, the cop showed up. Hahhaha. She was nice though and gamely posed for a photo with us.

Kristin - she's from Wisconsin, and she did the most research of the lot - she even read up about the five stars and the values - like right... how many of us *actually* know what those stars mean!!!??!!!
She also got custom cookies with the Singapore flag onnit! Very nice.

So, all in all, twas a good party.

  

  

If my blood pressure shoots through the roof after the year or if I have some kind of kidney disorder, I'll blame (mainly, anyway) the salt i am taking in here. Wahs.

It's the kind of saltiness that will get me thumping fist on table, making stange faces and gakking noises and reaching for glass of water (often these three things happen simultaneously). This is invariably followed by me going "wah piang/seh/lao... super/f**king/si beh KIAM ah!)

And well, am a rank beginner when it comes to living in the US, but so far there seems to be an inverse proportion between the price of the food you are consuming and the saltiness. Yes, dear readers, I am talking about fast food.
Eh, cannot cook everyday lah.

So I thought KFC was the saltiest thing I had tasted so far (approx $5 for the meal) and then, I go to our local petrol station and buy a ham and cheese wrap ($2.60) for lunch... okay, lets just say that one bite sent my face into wierd puckers and me running to the fridge for some water.

But ut ended up as dinner because, like every good Singaporean, I can't stand to throw food that I PAID for. Yes, this is kiam-ness in the other form.
And yes, I was thinking... KNN... this is S$5... can buy damned good char kuay teow at home already...

And since G's on call and I cannot palm it off on him - his salt tolerance seems higher than mine - I slowly ate it with lots of diet coke for dinner. (am also not very keen to cook for one these days - too much washing up, even with dish washer)

On another note: I have just received my Minn driving licence - folks back home, enjoy your licence - the Sg one is much much prettier...

The weather here is changing - the sun's setting at 8.20 now. And it sets a minute earlier every single day. Soon, it will be winter... and then we will have no/limited sun. Strange extremes this place.

Yesterday we went up to the cities to look at cars - G is thinking of getting a second one. And maaaaaaaaaan, the Porches were beaaaaaaut! They go from about US$20,000 second hand... back home, you're looking at S$150,000 for one of them. So, yes, the temptation was there, but the ones at the showroom were quite a bit beyond our budget. They have promised to call though, but G's also considering an American muscle car (eg: Mustang) or an efficient and drivable Mitsubitshi Eclipse.
Note: Vincent (the doc who's going to eventually treat my carpel tunnel (however u spell it)) was giving gene notes the night before on which car dealers to go to in the cities, and I quote: "Doooon't BUY a car TOMORROW AH. Take your time and research it properly!" Vince read Gene like an open book - if there was one the right price, Gene would have plonked down for it. Both him and I brought check books up.

Oh! It's National Day back home already (time difference and all) - Happy Nat Day everyone! Of course, this is extremely surreal cos back home, I'd probably have drawn the short straw and worked... Gene too.

Thinking about planning a Red and White party a la last year's: You can read about it in the blog's archive. We served up red and white food: spaghetti bolognaise, braised beef, luncheon meat fried with sambal, red and white sangrias...

We'll see.

Am in a good mood today. Last night finished up my story which was due and we were invited on Vincent and Yvonne's gorgeous fishing boat.

They took us out on the nearby Zumbro lake and river... and man sitting on the water again just brought back waves of nostalgia about wakeboarding. Saw a couple of them in the water too but they didn't do anything too spectacular.

Vincent and Yvonne, two doctors here, are fishing-mad, so their boat's pretty rigged up, and they have lures and fishing poles of all conceivable shapes and sizes. And while we sat and chatted in the sun - and of course, with the de riguer beer in hand - they caught a handful of small trout which they let go.

See? Toldja I was a water baby. Get me close to sea/lake/pool and my mood points immediately shoot up.



The crew on the boat... the light was a bit too much for my teensy tiny phone cam.

Anyhoos. If you will note the left hand sidebar on the blog? I have added a new Flickr badge of our jaunt to Africa. If you really want the commentary: Start from here to here.

Oh by the way. The blog is one year old! Haaapppy Biiirthday. Seems surreal that this project started 365 days ago to chart the insanity of the wedding, and lookit now, it's charting the insanity of living life in Rochester!
Hurhurhur.

ADDENDUM:
Yo: new bit to add to this post. I got it wrong with the fish!!!! Vincent tells me they caught white bass lah, not trout. They are also known as stripers.



Look closely? It's got stripes!



Now THAT is a Trout!

There is a county fair going on here right now.

Essentially live stock are put on show, cows – both diary and beef types – chicken, sheep, goats, a llama, pigs, horses etc etc

The kiddies bring their rabbits for show as well. The winners apparently go on to the state fair due in Minneapolis/St Paul due at the end of August. (The piggies are the cutest among the lot – seriously).

There are tractors and combines on display. Of course, there is also the crafts, think wolly knittings, that people make and those are up for judging too. And there are flower competitions and erhm, veggie competitions.

Its all very, erh, rural. Oh, and you really really have to watch where u stepping into, hurhur. Yes, cow, sheep, etc etc splat everywhere.

But there are rides. Ferris Wheel and what we know as a Viking ride. And there are food stands offering up delicacies like cheese curds (extremely salty, springy cheese, dipped in batter or breadcrumbs and fried), corn dogs, hot dogs, funnel cake (think of it as a long string of dough that is shapped into an amorphous pretzel – like Murukku – and then smothered in powered sugar) , schnitzel – essentially everything that is fatty, sweet, salty and bad for your cholesterol levels is there. Can be fun but boy, do these guys overcharge, everything costs five bucks p/serving.

And of course, this brings me to the other part of the post, fair play, which apparently was not in play when Gene took his driving licence.

According to Gene, he was entrapped because the tester told me to “turn on 10^th” and he didn’t know where 10^th Street was and so he turned and, according to him, turned into the middle line meant for cars waiting to turn into other streets. (complicated I know, but since I cannot verify the veracity of this tale, you’ll just have to live with this story)

Big no no because, well, I suppose you could have crashed into one of the waiting cars.

The long and short of it. Gene flunked and will have to go back to do that test again.

Gene flunking driving test. Think about it. That’s just surreal man, esp since he’s done all the defensive driving courses etc etc.

This place is mad. Seriously.

After days of high humidity and heat (think 38 deg C) now, its thunderstorms, and there are warnings of a flash flood AND a tornado building somewhere west of here. Like huh?

We also got some missionary folks knocking on our door today, wanting to preach to us. Like double huh?