Spandex Festival 2008

Ironman is a Spandex Festival held annually in various locations around the world. Below are some pictures of the Lake Placid version, which is known for providing spandex wearers with increased pain and danger due to numerous hills.Spandex wearers also enjoy a thicker skin called neoprene, which helps them to float while being chased by 2300 other athletes like so:The spandex people worship the great god of Gatorade shown below:
Spandex wearers get to relax with skilled massage professionals who also respect man-made fabrics:Those close to the spandex wearers spend 14 hours or so in the rain so as to show their support:
Here is my preferred spandex man before his race:After a full day of fun, spandex wearers become Ironmen, who are awarded with honour, esteem, a large piece of tinfoil, a cap, a medal and all-you-can-eat pizza!

Trip to Canada

Here are some things that I recommend you do if you travel to Canada. Check out the wildlife:Spend some time in the outdoors (recommended outfits not shown):Eat fries or poutine from a chip stand (also recommended for Holland and Belgium travels):
Explore our scenic roadways:
Eat Lebanese shawarma. This is the food we miss the most in Singapore:
Go to cheesy Tex-Mex restaurants:
Enjoy the vast bodies of water, perhaps by canoe (suit optional):

More Engrish

Here are some gift bags and cards I bought from our favourite Japanese store before my trip back home. The first three offer versatile messages for giving gifts to dog owners: The next two reflect important greetings for life's exciting and also less momentous occasions:This gift bag provides the appropriate greeting for the gift of wine:This one has several cheerful expressions, like "I am a Bear, who are you?"Finally, my favourite gift bag tells of one of life's hard truths:

Last Classes & Graduation

This post covers the last week of my degree. Here is a picture from one of my last classes:This is a moving picture, showing how much stuff Barry and I managed to accumulate in a year.Here are the orchids that don the washroom daily at school, just because I always wanted to photograph them, and it was easier to avoid being caught taking pictures in the washroom towards the end of school:Finally, here I am with my diploma. The look of fear on my face reflects my sentiments at having to rejoin the real world:

Beat Rising Food Prices: Live in Singapore

This article explains all. Note that at the time of writing the $Sing 2.50 is about $CDN 1.62, accounting for tax differences.

Taste Test

In our continued quest to adapt to the taste of the mythical Durian, Barry and I tried chocolates with durian filling. Here are the shots of our initial tasting:And here is our reactions after the burning onion taste penetrated fully and the durians beat us into shape

Got Pests?

Don't worry, just get a pest valve, and they'll get sucked right down! A lesser-known Apple product.

High Tech photography

My new camera, rather than having a night setting, has a "Happy Faces" smile enhancing feature. Here are some examples of how it works:Above is Luis before and after the plastic surgery.
Barry before and after the bike ride.
David, after the bee stung his lips.
And Barry relaxing in bed.

Japanese Marketing

As the gift bag above demonstrates, the Japanese take marketing to a whole new level, laughing in the face of linguistic tradition and grammatical correctness. Here are some examples found in Singapore, starting with some dubious snacks:Followed by a gift card, and everyone's favourite, instructions:

Marketing in Singapore

Though Singapore is an English-speaking country, the Singaporean use of English is slightly different than ours. This can lead to some expressions that we might find funny. Here are some examples. We start with a sign for a walking club, which states that "A walk a day keeps the fats away."The second is a store advertising the brighter deals in town. Not the brightest, but brighter. Finally, two signs outside a construction site, which I think are advertising the future mall there.

Part Fruit, Part Reptile

The fruit of the week, as seen through the cellphone camera, is the salak from Indonesia/Malaysia, also known as the snake fruit. Like dressing in goth, it serves little purpose other than to look freaky, the taste is no mangosteen.