To get to Kokomo, I had to fly to LA, and to Denver, then to Indiana, and finally a 1 1/2 hour drive by car. Kokomo is a small little town, north of Indianapolis (famous for the Colts and Peyton Manning), that happens to be where my company's headquarters is located. It was quite an easy place to navigate (the GPS proved quite useful) as the main trunk road led to most places (ie.food, shopping, work).
I was greeted with sunny weather in Indianapolis, so that helped made the driving conditions to Kokomo easier. I just had to remind myself constantly to think 'right-hand' drive. Well the snow finally did come on a frosty Sunday morning. Fortunately I had a scraper in the back seat of my rented car and that helped us get the car on the road on Monday morning.
Food wise, my first bite of local cuisine was 'Chinese'. I ended there after finding the other diners fully packed on a Saturday night. Maybe the football game going on kept the diners firmly stucked to their warm seats and the beer flowing. So I had to settle for 'Beef Hor Fun', cooked by a Taiwanese in a near empty restaurant (there were only 4 customers!), for my first Kokomo dinner. Well I can't complaint as I had more than my share of steaks, ribs and sandwiches in the following days.
Shopping in Kokomo meant shopping for cheap bargains. I bought vitamins, bath towels, shirts at American institutions like JC Penney, Target, Walmart and Dick's Shopping Goods. There was good bargains if I looked hard enough and as long as the prices were lower than back home, I was sold. I just had to keep an eye on the volume of the shopping goods as I had a list of vitamins to buy for colleagues and a limited room in my luggage.
I stayed at holiday inn throughout and it really felt like an inn. It had a small fire place at the 'living room' area and it was a simple breakfast fare of ommelettes,bagels and sausages every morning. There was a nice old lady who helped prepare the breaksfast and she was always cheery and greeted every guest .
After almost 6 days in Kokomo, I flew off from Indiana on Friday morning, but not before driving through Indianapolis and taking a look to the RCA Dome, home of the Colts. By then the Colts were already out of the running, having lost to the Charges while we were there. The trip back was without hiccups, as there were no delays this time.
Here are some random pictures.
Holiday Inn Kokomo
Whiter after the snow
St.Elmo's in Indianapolis - good steak!
RCA Dome
Somewhere after the international date line ... on the way home.
Just came back from my maiden trip to the US on Sunday . It was a 29 hour long trip back to good old Singapore.
Over there, I got to see snow up close for the first time and then got numerous chances to scrap it off the car's windscreen after that. Not much sightseeing in the quiet little town of Kokomo, just lots of steak dinners and shopping at Walmarts and Targets. Will post up more pictures soon.
Allow me a moment to wallow in nostalgic stupor ... with an old song about change and Peter Pans.
I guess it's a good time to reflect on the year that just past. So here goes...
It's been a year of many firsts ... first visit by my family to my new place, first housewarming, first trip to China and Australia, first meet up with old Infineon collegues in a long long time, first trip up the Malaysias east coast and spending the first year in my own home.
Of course there were the changestoo, the most significant would be moving to my new job. I guess the closing down of my old company was a blessing in disguise as it made me look beyond my shell.
There was the usual wedding dinners too and regular meet-ups with friends. And I took up a new past-time, ie. adopted 10 tetras (now down to 6) but is slowly losing interest. Stepped back from blogging a little as other activities and distractions took centre stage, among them is the ever addcitive facebook. Found time to photograph but mainly during functions and trips.
Well for the next 364 days, I hope to always keep in mind to live my best life now, today. Not tomorrow. Not 'someday'. And to remember that God makes all things possible for those who dare to dream and believe. And of course I hope to find more time blogging too.
So have we outgrown our Peter Pan and wings? Certainly not!
It is always hard waking up on a Monday, what more if it is on the eve of New Year's Day. There was definitely much less traffic on the roads and the office had a silent hush about it, occasionally broken by the tapping of the keyboard. Turning on the notebook, there was only a trickle of mails coming in. So far so good. Lunch came sooner than expected as the morning crept past. As there was to be no official announcement of an early release, my collegue and I were prepared to stay till 6pm but were anticipating for a concession.
We had our announcement or more like a casual remark from our manager, at something like past 4pm. So I packed my bags and trudged off into the liberated air. Next year was just a few hours away, the work can wait. I made a pitstop at Novena Square 2 basement to check out the much talked about 'You Tiao' from Daniel's BreadBar stall. Each twin bars of flavoured dough cost $1.20 but buying 5 gets you one free. The onion and sasame flavoured ones were quite tasty, but don't wolf down too many at one time or you might get tired of the taste.
Dinner was at the Kallang Waterfront, at Mushroom Pot to be exact. There were six of us, 3 couples that is, and we settled for the buffet set. There was a nice breeze blowing that kept us cool while we had our meal outisde the packed restaurant. What better way to spend the last day of 2007 than being with good friends.
Not being the partying kind, we skipped the countdown and headed home instead to usher in the new year.
It's 2008 today. Not that I am leaping gleefully into another new year. A year past means unfulfilled resolutions and adding a year to my age. Well to inject some optimsm, at least I get to wipe the slate clean and start over again. Happy New Year and choose to have a great year.
