my newest toy
I just came back from the mall with my newest toy -- the Canon Ixus 430 digital camera (also known as the Canon S410 in the US.) The entire nation is having its annual mega sale, so Canon has some really good promos going on now. I purchased the camera with its typical bundled accessories for about US$447, and the major freebies from the promo include a 256MB CF card, a spare battery pack (really helpful), and a tripod. There are some other minor freebies too, like a cleaning kit, golf umbrella, photo frame, and 100 free 4x6 prints from a photo shop. Isn't that a great deal??! I'm so thrilled!

There's not a doubt that I will begin to use my camera immediately, because my new Compaq PC actually has memory card slots at the front of the CPU (read: convenience, convenience!) But what I really bought it for is our upcoming vacation to Club Med in Cherating Beach on the East Coast of Malaysia. 4 days 3 nights ... it's gonna be fabulous! For those of you who are new to the Club Med concept, it's actually a pretty ingenious one. Their room rates are all-inclusive. They include all meals (including free flow wine/beer during lunch and dinner -- woohoo!). They also include free tuition and use of all sports equipment that they have in the village -- this will include sports like bungee jumping, para-sailing, rock climbing, flying trapeze, archery, petanque, all sorts of popular sports like basketball, water polo, volleyball, tennis, etc. You get the picture -- the number of things you can do there are endless! Best of all, they're free and they usually have mini-competitions with other guests whereby the prize is ... free drinks! How awesome is that?? :) My parents insist that the best part about Club Med is their food -- 3 different buffet courses during every meal to cater to everyone's needs. And of course, they also have night entertainment (cabaret shows, acting, singing, bars, clubbing, etc.) It's a 4-hour drive from KL to Cherating Beach, and we check-in Aug 31, which incidentally is Malaysia's Independence Day (MERDEKA!!)

Girls, as usual, you can expect a flood of photos from Mike and I now that we have a digital camera again. *whoopie!!!*

observation
Why did the iTunes music store categorize Delerium under "Alternative"? No wonder i can never find him. At least the iTunes search works.

*grin*
My errand during lunch time was to stop by mike's house to pick up a vw part that he has in his massive collection of vw stuff.

So i was driving casually up the street that mike lives on, paying attention to any opened garage door, as he told me he's working on a car when we spoke 15 mins ago.

Out of the corner of my eye, i spotted the MKIII GTI, but it was the silver car parked next to it that caught my eye.

I pulled over immediately *deep breath*, stopped the car *deep breath*, opened the door *deep breath*, stumbled out *deep breath*.

Staring back at me, was an Audi S8!!!!!! Holy moly cow!

What should've been a 15 minute lunch errand turned into an hour of "sitting in mike's garage staring at the S8". I could not tear my eyes away. I even get to sit in it, touched the leather steering wheel, and took a deep breath of the good ole audi leather smell. Aaaaah.

Finally, reluctantly, I look down at my watch, and 50 mins has already passed. I really need to get back to work. So I told mike I'm leaving.

Mike: "You're gonna go get lunch and get back to work?"
Me: "lunch... lunch!!! Shoot!"

I've completely forgotten i haven't had lunch yet, and also i needed to run to the post office. I guess that'll be tomorrow's errand.