Sunday 8 March

Sunday, and it’s just after noon, and (surprise!) it’s hot. Still the fans are blowing at Starbucks, and that blessed bit of breeze makes sitting outside quite pleasant. This Starbucks is at the entry to the Makota Parade mall, and the shoppers are streaming by, and some stare a bit at the giant American typing away. I’m starting to think I’m the biggest guy in town.
Friday nite I went back to Junkor Street with Wayne and took pictures, and ate. It was good to spend some time with him again, it’s been almost 3 years since we worked together in the Philippines. He’s doing well, and enjoys his life in SE Asia. And Junkor Street is quite the parade on weekend nites. Stall of merchants sell all kinds of stuff, a lot of it junky trinkets to be sure, but some wood carvings and more interesting things. And some very, um, “unusual” looking food. The vendors are a lot less aggressive than some of the other places I’ve been—“no thanks” means “no thanks” and is readily accepted. That’s a welcome relief, compared to places in the Philippines and India! Melaka is a a much quieter town than some of the bigger cities I’ve been to in this area, and I honestly like that. I guess I’ve reached an age, and a place in my life, where I don’t need the wild life (at all!0, and have begun to appreciate the subtleties: smiles, ancient architecture, the “texture” of the evening—the lites and sounds and ebb–and–flow of people. Wayne notice how, even at 10 or 11 at nite, folks were having dinner, and the restaurants were full, whereas the bars were fairly quiet. I think he’s a bit disappointed in this state of affairs, but I like it. It shaping up to be a year of simple pleasures—and that’s just fine. My driver says I’m a “simple guy,” with a smile, and I’m taking that as a compliment.
Yesterday I went to Kuala :Lumpur (KL in local lingo), and went mountain bike shopping. And I found one! I couldn’t find one in the local store that was my size, but found several in KL. Naturally, it’s a Scott (the brand). Like it was meant to be. I’m going riding with Wayne later today.
I was driven my Fairus, not my usual driver, as he was sick. But Fairus was good—had lived in KL and knew his way around, and also speaks better English than Afizul, which was nice on the long car ride. We talked about movies and music. He knows movies better than I do, and like heavy metal music.
By the time we got to KL it was pouring rain. We saw some amazing architecture. I saw the Petronas Towers, but only from a distance, as we were on a bike store mission, they close the access to the building at 2, and also the rain was, well, prohibitive. I also saw the TM (Telecom Malaysia) tower, which is also very tall, and has huge balconies with vines cascading off of it’s sides. It’s a tall tapering parabolic arc on one side—very cool. It’s another one I’ll go back to see.
After bike shopping we had a delicious meal in a local restaurant. We ate very well for about 35R—say 10 bucks. That rocks! On the way back to Melaka, we went to Putra Jaya, the capital area. It’s fairly new, built in the last 10 years or so, and has some remarkable architecture. Again, it was too late to go in, but the bridges and the mosque really showed their design in the night lighting. We also stumbled across the set of a movie—it seemed hard trying to keep everyone looking cool in that heat and humidity—the makeup crew was very busy dabbing off sweat and dabbing on makeup!
So Saturday was a remarkable day, full of adventure.
Work is going well. I’ve been working with SunPower, MEI (the design firm), the procurement folks, and the CM team to validate, and create, a re-baselined schedule for the project. It’s taken a lot of patience and coordination, and has been a bit exhausting. At the end of one session, the MEI electrical engineer, a jovial fellow named Wang, was so tired he was nearly rummy, but his inputs were top-drawer, and helped a lot. I’m sure he slept soundly that night! I really enjoy the people I’m working with, and I’m under the impression that my efforts are welcomed. That’s a really satisfying feeling, especially as I’m so far away from home, and work gains a more predominant focus in my day-to-day life..
And speaking of home, Sophie just called, and they won their semi-final basketball game. They played a team they’ve played before, and this team has a girl who, in 5th grade, is nearly 6 feet tall. She huge! And once again Sophie’s defense shut her down. Right on Soph! So tomorrow (Sunday at home, Monday here) they play in the finals. Good Luck St. Anthony’s!
I’ve a couple of very endearing phone conversations with Jessica. Maybe absence does make the heart grow fonder (not that it wasn’t quite fond already, of course). Those few minutes each day with her, and the girls, have already started to mean the world to me. Still, despites the bit of heartache that accompanies those conversations, I’m really excited to have them here with me. I think they’ll be a little disoriented at first, but will come to enjoy this place and it’s charming people, maybe even the sweltering weather (and they tell me it’s not even hot yet!). It’s nice to have their visit to look forward to.
Finally, I went for a ride on my new bike today. Wasn’t grueling, but it was great to be pout there. A boy and his bike!