audacity of hope: Obama will win come november

Im thinking on what to write as my last entry before I leave Vienna..at 3 am in the morning i feel the brain is slightly frozen not by the late summer early morning breeze outside but rather by the sharp hunger pangs that I have been having since I last took my meal. I better hit for the "maggi" that my minnieMe packed in my suitcase as I am really starving... I know its not healthy..oh well I wont find any food joint opened at this wee hours, would I?

 I switch on the tv and all I could see is  the Republican Convention on the news.  Sarah Palin nominated to run as VP side by side with Mc Cain..who is she I wondered..now I promised that this blog is a not so serious side of me..so mr stercus refrain yourself from politics !! 

can you really avoid not talking about politics especially american politics or at least form an opinion on who would win come november?  well, unless of course you had been spending your summer in Mars, the race to the white house between the democrats and the republicans is everywhere on the tv and its hard for anyone not to make an opinion about it. I was watching the democrats convention last week and now its the republicans' turn. alas, the great american showdown is now for everyone to see! I must say this is one of the greatest american export to the world its brand of democracy between the liberals and the conservatives.

I was at this souvenir shop and saw some nice mugs with some caption that says "there are no kangaroos in Austria" now I thought that is hilarious.  I was thinking if I could send one to Bush, that would probably be a good way of telling him that he needs geography lessons. I recall when Bush was in Australia, he was attending this APEC convention ... he said it was OPEC. Then he referred to the Australians as the Austrians! (duh!)

now I have a business idea..make mugs with caption like this..

"Hello ! There are no deserts in Brunei!"  would that sell?  i find it a little offensive when you get people and say to my face "oh it must be hot living in a desert"  or "isnt your country close to Saudi Arabia?" (hello do I look like an arab to you?)

I am trying to think hard what Bush introduced to the world that I think is worth remembering..peace? nah..what did he introduce to the world?"the bush doctrine"  if you have military might, forget about diplomacy.."you are with us or against us"..

to be continued....

last day in Vienna

ah finally its Thursday.. (sigh) its my last day here..I will be checking out tomorrow morning and leave for Brunei via frankfurt and take a SQ flight to spore. I have to get up early at 3 am. I will spend a night in spore to get a connection to Brunei. Honestly, I really cant wait to get home. Not that I dont enjoy Vienna (its really a beautiful city), I feel that I have been away from home for too long this time. Before coming here I was already away in Msia for almost a week and spent only 2 days in Brunei. that was the longest time that I spent away from home since I took over the new post.  I am posting a pic of my room. I really like the hotel.  The building is I think a theatre and only a stone throw away from the hotel. I will post some more pics on my fb. 

meeting at the 3rd capital of the UN

lunch time day 2 of meeting. Like I promised before, here is a photo of the UN building. this is just one tower and there are actually 3 towers like this one with a circular building in a middle. The UN building looks like a 3 rimmed sports wheel from the air and each tower is probably more than 5o storeys high. It is a massive compound and I must say I was over awed looking at how massive the building is.

I am also posting my pic on my first day at the meeting. I told you I looked like a "cowboy sasat"..the 3rd pic was taken just a min ago before the lunch break. it was quite an intense discussion that we had. I guess as someone once told me is that when you put lawyers on the same table the only time they dont want to dispute is over the legitimacy of their own birth!

Beautiful Vienna

ahh..day 3.  day outside looks sunnier and beautiful. Got up @ 230 am this morning for sahur but didnt have any appetite. so as usual I checked on the net and managed to chat with MinnieMe (been missing her a lot). 

today will be day 2 of my meeting.  It has been a very interesting one. of course I cant say much about it here but meeting in the 3rd capital of the uN has been a real experience.  The un building is very impressive. it houses the UNODC, UNIDO and the Atomic Agency (IAEA) amongst others.  No the picture on the right is not it! I dont know what that is but it used to be some block's residence which now turned to some sort of a govt building.  Most building here are old but very beautiful. I actually do not mind coming here again but for the expensive hotel rooms and costs of food here. they cost an arm and a leg I must tell you..a decent dinner costs me nearly 60 euro for 3 yesterday. and my room costs about 245 euro (thats more than $500)..

DEad pan jokes

my lil princess says I do not make funny jokes..I guess you be the judge. here goes:

Joke 1:

What not to say to the nice policeman:
I was going to be a cop, but I decided to finish high school instead (lol)

Joke 2:

Your mama is so fat, the horse on her Polo shirt is real (ha

hahahhaha)

Joke 3:

Maths problems? Call 1-800-[(10x)(13i)^2]-[sin(xy)/2.362x].

Joke 4:

 man speaks frantically into the phone, "My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only two minutes apart!"
"Is this her first child?" the doctor queries.
"No, you idiot!" the man shouts. "This is her husband!"   --hahhahahaahha

Joke 5:

Why is it good to have a blonde passenger?
You can park in the handicapped spots.

I thought these jokes are funny.

Finally Day 2 @ 6 PM:

Finally my bag arrived at my door @ 6 pm..I cant describe how elated I was to see it. Should I seek compensation from the airline for "pain and suffering"? at least they should compensate me for the embarrassment that I had to endure coming to a formal meeting looking like a cowboy! and the cost of the shirt that I had to purchase..what do you think?

Day 2 in Vienna

still no luggage and nothing to wear. My meeting is supposed to begin at 930 am so I hit to the internet lounge killing time. I am slightly embarrased that everyone else looks very smartly dressed and here I am looking like an asian trying to look like a texan cowboy with a levi's jeans which I have been wearing for the last 3 nights and a zara long sleeve shirt tucked in which I bought yesterday down the street. I couldnt find any pair of pants short enough for me to wear. Yes I am only 5ft 6 1/2 and its not that easy trying to find a pair of pants that is short enough for me to wear in this part of the world! So I have to make do with this levi's jeans which I have been wearing since I last took the flight out of Brunei. I do look silly coming into a UN building looking like a cowboy.

To kaka amal, yes you can laugh all you want sayang but I still am the coolest dad

Waiting for my bag to arrive

its now 430 am in Vienna.  I have been awake since 12 am this morning. still there is no sight of my bag arriving.  I couldnt believe that the safest airline Air Lufthansa codeshared with the most profitable airline and the most efficient airport in the world left my luggage at Changi airport!. I flew with SQ from Brunei and I made sure that my bag was interlined to the final destination Vienna. From Singapore I took Air Lufthansa which has a codeshare arrangement with SQ to frankfurt. I wanted to fly with SQ but unfortunately I was still on a waitlist.  When I checked in at Changi and asked the nice lady at the counter if my bag had been checked in, She nodded yes and said it was on her computer screen. But somehow when we arrive at Vienna Airport, the bag was no where in sight. what a luck! I couldnt believe that this happened to me when especially I am supposed to have a meeting the next day (which is today)...and I dont have anything to wear. I came here on a pair of jeans and I cant be serious coming to a UN meeting with a levi's and an AX t-shirt?

Missing my kids and Minnieme

I dont usually travel long distance and even if I do like going to london or paris it would normally just be a weekend hop as my schedule is usually straight forward, arrive at airport, check in hotel, straight to meeting, lunch, then meeting again, dinner and check out then straight to airport the next day.  But now I am in Vienna, this is somehow going to be a my longest trip in europe. I arrived here  yesterday and I am going to stay here till friday..Whilst I am looking forward to this trip as this is a my first time to set foot on this land of mozart and beethoven, I somehow miss my kids and minnieme so badly. I  think its because of puasa..somehow I got this knack of having working visit during puasa time and worst on a 1st day of puasa.  puasa time is usually the time when the family gets together on the dinner table during iftar (breaking of the fast)..that is normally the time I get to see all my kids together on the same table. yes we have our usual weekend outings and dinners together but puasa time is always different.  There is always a sense of calmness around the table. with the exception of lil haziq, all the kids tend to behave well around the table. Minnieme and I would usually remind them on how thankful we are that food is always ready on the table.