STAY CLASSY SAN FRANCISCO!

And just like that, a 13-day work trip in SAN FRANCISCO has come to an end. The only difference with this one was that Michelle joined me for the last 5 days of the trip, which in fact were the last five days of our month long stint out of Singapore. Time to go back to reality.

San Francisco is a great city, it's filled with amazing Architecture, colourful people and rummies o'plenty that will happily sing you a tune, even if you don't want one. For the most part, there was sun and blue sky most days with only one or two cloudy/foggy ones and one day of rain. One of the biggest memories will be experiencing my first earthquake (a small but noticeable 4.1 - see entry below) as well as watching Michelle dance it up on Kinect Dance Central, always a treat when Michelle plays Video Games!

The work portion of the trip was great, a strong way to kick off the year to be sure! It was also a great time in the city: drinking Demurara Dry Floats at SMUGGLER'S COVE, Caliente Deep Dish Pizza at PATXI'S, exploring the city, dinner at MISSION BEACH CAFE, OPUS ONE Napa Valley Wine Tours, SAN RAFAEL FARMER'S MARKET, shopping with Victoria and last night chilling with Adam & Jen. Michelle and I got to see a lot of the city as well as spend time with a lot of our San Francisco friends and our Vancouver friend Victoria who came down to SF to spend some time with us which was just awesome! Thanks for the good times Matt, Kim, Adam, Jen, Ellie, Matt, Julie, Devin, Beth, Jason, Zack, Kara, EJ, Sue & Jen Tiki.

A great trip to be sure but don't take my word for it, check out the pics HERE!!!

QUAKE!!!

This afternoon, around 4:15pm, the Bay Area experienced an EARTHQUAKE that measured 4.1 on the Richter Scale. This is the first time I've been in an earthquake and while it was "cool" it was very, very weird. I was sitting at my computer when I heard a dull rumble and my chair slightly shook. I thought, "man that's a big truck going by" but then I realized that my office is nowhere near a road so I wouldn't feel a truck going by. Then the rumbling got louder and I felt the building shift slightly, it felt like I was dizzy or drunk but then so was the ground I was sitting on. Very weird feeling. I got up and then realized that people were pouring out of there offices talking about an "earthquake" and sure enough a few minutes later reports came in that a 4.1 magnitude earthquake had occurred. Wow...

It lasted only seconds but it felt a lot longer and as excited as I was this afternoon to actually be in an earthquake, I dread the thought of being in a larger one. If buildings moved that much in a 4.1, how much would they move in "the big one". Whoa!

HELLO 2011, BACK TO REALITY

It's January 4th and I am packing up to head to the airport so I can go to San Francisco and back to work... back to reality. Michelle will remain in Vancouver for another week, then join me in SF on the 12th, we then fly back to Singapore together on the 17th.

My 18 day adventure in Vancouver has come to an end and the old saying is true, time does fly when you are having fun. It was great to spend Christmas with all the family, both Michelle's, mine and the crew from Portland. Great to see old friends, great to go to a live Canucks game again (thanks Michelle) and ofcourse it was great to spend time with the puppies. I was amazed at how cold it was here and how truly acclimatized I have become to the weather in Singapore. I was amazed at how pricy the HST is and how cheap groceries are here compared to Spore. It felt great to drive again but I was shocked at how expensive taxis are here. But all good things must come to an end and it's time to go back to work. When will we be back? Who knows, only time will tell.

Thanks for the memories VANCOUVER, you stay classy!!!

Pics of the holiday HERE!!!

HANGING WITH MY BOYS

My buddy Jeff cut together this little piece from the night we went out with "the old crew", good times! Thanks Jeff!!

Vancouver Xmas 2010 from JackMac on Vimeo.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

With LAVERNE & CARMINE and life is good!!!

THE 2010 LAS D&D

The 2010 LUCASFILM DINNER & DANCE was another resounding success. Our holiday party this year was held at the fantastic One On The Bund @ Fullerton Bay Hotel, it's an old Ferry Terminal that has been restored into the lobby/restaurant of this new hotel. It's beautiful. The theme this year was "Asian Historical" so there were loads of people dressed in traditional outfits and some ceremonial ones as well. We decided to be a bit different, Michelle went for a 30's inspired retro look while I went for the classic all-white with a few modern accents. Regardless, it was a fun night filled with good times and a great way to cap of the work year in Singapore.

Here are some pics from the D&D!!!

MICHELLE'S 2010 ITALIAN ADVENTURE

This fall Michelle went to the home country, not her official one but definitely her adopted one... ITALY!

She joined the Corsis (Mario, Gina, Antonio, Edith and my sister Marisa) for a 17 day adventure through seven different Italian cities: OSTIA, ROME, MAENZA, FLORENCE, VENICE, SIENA & SAN GIMIGNANO.

Ofcourse it was an amazing time to be sure and here are some of the PICTURES to prove it!

Viva Italia!!!