Back from Hong Kong

We just got back from Hong Kong on business.

Hong Kong is one of those places that could be interesting to see, but then when you get there you realize it is just another big city, that is crowded, humid and noisy. Of course, there are many things to do, but it is not a cheap place by any means.

Actually, I have been there about 9 times....or is it 10. I am not sure. I had to make many trips to HK for visa purposes due to Taiwan's archaic rules at that time (well, they still have many archaic rules....). However, it was Jo's first time, so we did a little bit of sightseeing.

Yet, we went there on our kid's money management program business, so we did not have much time to plod about (especially since it was rainy the whole time).

Anyway, here are some pics of the seminar that we attended and the speech I gave about our programs.

Hope things will turn out well! We are having fun at least!

Jeff & Jo

Happy Birthday Jo!

Let's wish Jo a Happy Birthday!

She tells me she is 28 years old and I am inclined to believe her (especially since I am about 28 myself!)

Anyway, we had a GREAT birthday weekend. Great because it was relaxing, void of too many people and out in the fresh outdoors. Yes, that is VERY hard to find these days, especially on weekends.

At first, we were gearing up for a mountain hike that would take about 12 hours to complete over 2 days, but at the last minute we could not register in time to get on the mountain (they only take a certain number of people per day). To say I was relieved would be an understatement. I believe in other posts I have mentioned Jo's love of hiking and my love of.....well, relaxing outdoors - which - it turns out - are two completely different things. So, I was very relieved, but tried to put on a sads face when Jo told me the 'bad' news. Ah well, we will have to kill ourselves.....I mean go hiking another time.

So, we looked around on websites and studied a good old fashioned map of Taiwan and decided to head out to Big Snow Mountain - which is a perfect locale since it is getting mighty hot in Taiwan right about now. I slyly confirmed how many hours we would be hiking and it turns out that we would just be 'strolling' along paths, so that was good.

We were ready and packed, kissed Mocha and left a lot of food (which he ate before we closed the door) and headed out. We planned about a 2 1/2 hour ride and took enough snacks and drinks for a much longer journey (since we wanted to make sure we had enough things for the birthday celebration on Sunday).

As we drove, we came to an intersection and realized that not 1 hour into our journey we had found where we wanted to go (Jo's map reading skills need some work....). But we were pleasantly surprised since it was so close and continued into the park to look for our hostel.

The hostel it turned out was a small 6 bedroom place run by an older gentleman whom instantly connected with Jo and they talked a lot. He told us where to go for some good climbs or just walking and we sauntered off for a pleasant 2 days.

Here are some pics.

At a height of 2275 meters, the mountain was a blissfully cool 18.8 C out. In the city, it is 30 C average.....

We loved these 'weeds' and they seemed to grow everywhere here.

Even on trees....

Happy Birthday, Jo!

Love all your adoring fans...

ps. If you wish Jo Happy Birthday next year, she will be 28 as well....

Another "Secret" present for Mocha

Yes, we were excited to also give Mocha another "secret" present - one that we felt would make him much happier here in the summer months to come.

If you followed the post about a blizzard in our apartment, you may be able to guess where this is going.

So, without further adieu,

Here is Mocha all decked out in........well not much.


We have tried to be good parents, but who can not laugh at this? Or wait, is it...cry?

Yes, our beautiful dog is no longer beautiful (on the outside), but at least he is cool and Mommy (Jo) does not get such a serious allergy (the real reason we got him shaved).

I had no idea how he would look after the shave, but Jo assured me that it would be close to hideous or ridiculous and she was right. In our defence, we did not request the tail thingie - AT ALL! But it adds to the mistique of the Thing That Used To Be Mocha. And to top it off, it looks like Mocha will need to be shaved a lot for the sake of Jo's allergies (but we will tell him it is to keep cool, which IS very important here....).

When we did get him back, Jo immediately said he looked like a Dragon, and I scoffed, saying that is no where NEAR a dragon. However, of course, she is talking about a Chinese Dragon - wingless, white, elongated body and vute head, let alone beneficial to mankind. Our Western Dragon is basically a bat / lizard / dinosaur monster that hoards gold and kills anyone that comes close....so at least you could sense my confusion.

But then I remembered an old movie from my youth and it brought back memories of something weird and white and flying that looked a bit like Mocha. Could it be?

YES! BY GOD IT COULD!

It is Falkor the Good Luck Dragon from The Neverending Story!

Course, I have no idea what Mocha thinks of all this, but when we asked him about being a dragon, he did the following, which pretty much sums it up.


But who knows, maybe he is waiting for the right time to jump off the balcony and fly away!

Here's to you Mocha and your cool "Secret" birthday present.....

Don't worry, we still love you!

Jeff & Jo

Happy Birthday Mocha!

Mocha is one year old today!

Happy Birthday Mocha!

Now you are a big boy and will be getting big boy food and big boy toys......

We will update a few pics soon.

Actually, we don't know his real birthday, but we decided that this was the best and most logical time since we got him when he was about two and a half months at the end of June.

So, we celebrated by giving him 2 chew-bone presents, 2 real chicken bone presents, some wine (which did not go over too well) and a long walk around our river here.




Happy Birthday!

Love yer Mom and Dad,

Jeff & Jo

Snow in Taichung

It is currently snowing in Taichung right now. In fact, it is a blizzard.

Really!

Actually, I should say it is snowing in our apartment.

And to be more precise, I should say that Mocha has become St, Nick and is blowing all kinds of fluffy hair all over everything in our house.


It is really amazing.

Malamutes (what we found out Mocha is) and Huskies 'blow' their undercoat twice a year since - you know - it is cold in the artic regions and they need warmer fur to insulate them. But come on, Mocha! You are in Taiwan now (whether you like it or not) and you don't need to get that undercoat anymore.

Please, we are begging you!

I swear, I vacuum and sweep the floor at least once -even twice a day - and this is AFTER I have brushed him about 10 times fo get enough hair to fill a down pillow. In fact, we are planning to start selling genuine Mocha hair stuffed pillows this summer......

...it sounds like a joke, but by god, it is not.. I am assuming Wendy knows what I am talking about - but if not, trust me, I have never seen a white christmas here, but we are seeing a white spring for sure!

But, ok, yes, you are so cute (he is putting his head on my lap as I write - he must know I am making fun of him), and your hair is SO soft......I can forgive you.....

...but can you please stop shedding on EVERYTHING?

You don't know how many times recently someone has looked at me and said: "you have a dog?" with an innocent look, but they are really looking at the 5 million hairs all over my pants and shirts......sigh....."yes, I have a Husky" "Oh, they are so cute!" I just smile and nod, smile and nod.....

Since they are and Mocha is expecially cute.


Yes, we are biased. Biased and snow covered....

In a Winter Wonderland,

Jeff & Jo

Costco in Taichung

After many years of waiting, our town of Taichung finally got its very own Costco. This is exciting for all the foreigners here since (even though I have never been to a Costco in the States) many of us have been to the wharehouse mecca in Taipei just for their pizza and muffins.

So a little bit more of home has iinched its way here. And hot damn, now do I ever realize why many Americans are so big. Now we shall see if Taiwanese widen their girth as well.

Jo and I decided at first NOT to get a membership since we are only 2 people (plus Mocha) and getting so much stuff is impractical. The amount of the membership would only cover the savings made if we went more than the 3-5 times a year we would ever go in the first place. However, after one of Jo's friends invited us to go and check it out on his membership, we planned to only buy some steaks for a small gathering we were having.

Well, some small steaks turned into about $150 bucks worth of all sorts of things that we didn;t know we needed until we got there: Oh, Bagels! Damn, let's load up! That kind of attitude is what the managers what I guess and they succeeded. Even Jo was agog at all the things there since most were from the States and she had never seen some of the brands.

And the best part was that we are able to use this friend's company business card, which cuts the membership down by 2/3rds, so now it is worth it and we will be buying steaks and bagels and Mocha's food there from now on.

OH! and Wendy! They have Aussie shampoo and conditioner, so you are off the hook for gifts and things (we stocked up for about 10 years worth)! Oh, wait, this may be bad news since now you have to think of something else to get me! haha....although I did not see Twizzlers.....

Anyway, I am not sure if this is going to change the eating habits of people here, but at least I can enjoy good (and cheap) bagels again!

With a few extra pounds,

Jeff & Jo

First Day At Work - End of the Housewife

After we got married last year, Jo convinced me in pure Machevellian fashion to be the only breadwinner while she stayed home and relaxed. Of course, out of ignorance and love, I agreed. Actually, it worked out pretty well and even Jo was shocked that she kinda liked being .......drumroll...... an actual housewife (since Jo's character is one that feels staying home is like staying in a prison - unlike me).

But all good things must come to an end and today is the first day of her new job. She is bummed.

Actually, the great thing is that it is not a normal job. Since we opened our company and doubled its size recently, we also acquired an office and some workers, so Jo (and all of us in our company) are working for ourselves now. In fact, she is managing the entire part of the children's financial department, and it is bound to be interesting. I, on the other hand am the one who has to create all the materials and - at least for right now - have convinced everyone that I work better at home (so I am at home "working" most days). It is a very different feeling than working for someone else, so that is a motivating factor.

However, I know that even though Jo likes to be out and about and doing challenging things, she really just wants to take more time off and clean our house (which I sincerely try to keep up with....), drink our very good coffee, listen to music and do her Sudoku (which I have absolutely no interest in).

Maybe in the near future, she will get her wish again!

Until then, you may want to send Jo a note to cheer her up!

I have to get back to "working" now.....


Jeff & Jo

New Year Gambling Stats

Well, the holidays are over and the New Rat Year is finally beginning.

To bring in the new year, Jo's family did what they always do - gamble as much as possible over the holidays. Actually, this is not only Jo's family, it is most Asians. In fact, I will assume that many overseas Chinese also take a few days holiday during the Chinese New Year time and gamble away.

Of course, high stakes gambling is frowned upon, especially since family and friends are playing and winning a large amount from someone often brings large problems, but small stake gambling with friends and family (in the range of NT$10 - NT$50 - or about $.25 to $1.00) is exciting and interesting.

Yes, I am hooked.

Basically, there are many ways to take and give money to your family and friends, but the three main ones here (or that we play) are

• Ma Jiang (or Mahjong, Mah Jhong)

• Shee Bala

• Big Ol' Two

I am not going to go into the ins and outs of how to play, since especially for Ma Jiang it is too complicated, but the main point is that after playing with Jo's family for about 15 hours (over a few days), our coffers went up and down like the tides.

And our final tally is that we ended up in the red about NT$20 (or about $.70). At the high point, we were up about NT$400 bucks, but that quickly faded when we started playing Ma Jiang - although I have to give Jo credit - twice at the very last round (of MANY rounds) she got the best situaiton or "Zi Mou" (where you pick the tile that will make the perfect match) and that is when you rake it in. So that was cool.

But damn, Jo's mom is almost 70, but as sharp as a knife and won many times - at everything!

So we consider ourselves lucky to loose only a little bit - the other siblings lost about NT$200 to NT$500 to their mom!

For myself, I had a good run at Shee Ba La - the dice game - where absolutely no skill was required.....sigh....

Anyway, in this year of the Rat, things are looking pretty good!




Best Wishes in the New Year!

Jeff & Jo

Some Current Mocha Shots

I have some time now (due to CNY), so I can post a few more things between computer games and board games.....

So, here are some current shots of Mocha doing what he does best - waiting for food.

And since the best place to get food is near a table, Mocha's spot is under Mom's chair since that is the only chair he was allowed to chew on (much to the chagrin of Dad....).

He has almost bitten through that one leg so I am not allowed to sit on that chair....sigh....Jo is ok, though

Another place he can get food (if he is nice), is his "home" which is his cage. All we have to do is say that exciting word, and he is inside immediately, expecting something. Often times, it amounts to a crumb or some teeny leftovers, but he is always hoping.....

Mean Daddy fooled him again with "rabbit food" (some vegetables) but he ate it all the same and will continue to I assume.

That last picture is him trying his best to "Lie Down"

We have also taught him not to eat anything unless we say "Eat!" so we try our best to see how long he can last before there is a puddle of drool on the floor. The longest time is about 15 seconds..... Course, we have purposesly tried to get it longer and longer and once Jo gave him food, said "Stay" and then forgot she gave him anything. After about 3-4 minutes, she turned around and Mocha was still staring holes into the little piece of meat with a little pool of spit right under his mouth. But he did not eat it, so that was good!



.
Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Jeff & Jo & Mocha

Happy Chinese New Year (of the Rat)!

We are celebrating the Chinese New Year by resting and eating - just like Xmas holidays back home for most Westerners. Today was our first day off of six, so it should be a good rest break. We both need it since the last month especially has been hectic (course, when has it NOT been hectic....I can't remember).

Anyway, it is just the three of us here since Pei Ying (Jo's neice went back home for the vacation). Just a few hours ago, Jo made a Hot Pot full of simple but tasty and good things to eat for lunch and we were stuffed. However, we plan to eat and snack all vacation (also just like the West), so that is good.

Oh, I just found out that I can not snack so much, due to something called a 'gut'. So I will have to make other arrangements (I have hid some things in the computer room, so I think I am safe for the time being).

Anyway, here are some pics of all of us eating, which will be a common theme for most people here in Taiwan....

Even Mocha was lucky

More posts to come....Have a great CNY or Feb 6th!

Jeff & Jo

Some Mocha Shots

Updates Before Chinese New Year

Hello!

It has been awhile since we have....yes....been busy. But here are some updates.

• Jo's neice Pei-Ying has been staying with us for the past week and will stay for another month or so, since she wanted to get some job experience in a larger city and to visit with her unique aunt and uncle. We are very happy to have her here!
  
• Jo and I have been SUPER busy preparing for a very important meeting we had this past week for our company and it was a success, so things are starting to roll (more on that later).
• Mocha has been getting better at playing with Hali, but still 'loses' quite a bit - although he is nipping more and more which drives Hali mad.
  
• Jo has convinced me to join a very nice gym here starting in Feb, so I can get fitter and to work out with her.
• We are nearing our first year anniversary and that is always exciting!

It does not look like much, but there has been a lot of action in the last few weeks!

Hope to post more later,

Meet us in Facebook!

Jeff & Jo

(Another) One Year Anniversary

Jo and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary on Feb 3rd!

True, we were officially married on Oct, 11th and that is the date we will carry through and exchange presents for, but Feb 3rd is when our families met over here and is also very special for us.

So to celebrate, we will have a very nice lunch at a place called Little Italy - one of the best Italian restaurants here in Taichung. This is also to celebrate the fact that we can actually EAT something this day, since we did not have a chance to eat anything at our own wedding - we were too busy attending to guests and playing silly games (go to last year's posts about our wedding for more).

So, wish us a Happy One Year Anniversary (again)!

Thanx!

Love, Jeff & Jo!

Facebook!

I am on Facebook and am enjoying it quite a bit.

Cuz Steph invited me and I am part of the Facebook world. Of course, for my addictive personality, all thos apps are half driving me mad and half truely absorbing.

And the cool thing is that it is another way to stay in touch with friends and family.

Are you there? I know I am late to this, but it is interesting....

http://www.facebook.com/home

See you on line

Mocha and Hali

Mocha keeps on getting cuter and even Jo has had to admit that he is much better than before (gets into trouble much less).

Perhaps one of the reasons is that his best friend Hali is only a floor away and they often spend time together fighting, nipping, pushing and rolling around - all things that dogs (and boys) love.

Here is a quick vid of Mocha and Hali (named after Harry Potter in Chinese) playing on our roof. Zak, my friend and neighbor is Hali's owner. He is from Chicago and loves it when Taiwan gets cool. Yes, this was last week or so in January.





Here is Mocha trying not to be greedy, but failing. There are 3 balls and he wants them all. Hmmm, how can he get them all? Opposable thumbs do come in handy here....




Just some posts to catch you up with Mocha. Hope you enjoyed them!

Jeff & Jo

Welcome to Jeff & Jo's Abode

All of you are most welcome to come to our abode.

When you do come, you will notice our new sign that Santa got for us this Christmas, which was hand made by the slave-labor....I mean hard working elves.

Anyway, it is cute and wanted to take a picture of it.



Plus, Jo wanted to take a pic of her new Snoopy that Santa also was able to procure for her....



Have a great one,

Jeff & Jo