The Searchlight of Insight

June ICM Trip to Bacolod, Philippines

I finally completed the picture/video collage of Sebastian's and my trip to the Philippines with ICM in June 2009. The video is posted below. Many thanks to Tess who let Sebastian and I escape for a weekend in June while she looked after The Terrific Trio.

An Anniversary... Of Sorts

Two years ago plus a bit Team Caldwell was walking down Bowen Road when we encountered a huge spider. I blogged about the story here, and posted a video, exactly two years ago today. Would you believe that this is a rather popular video? In two years the video has attracted over 240,000 YouTube visits and 220 comments. (Actually more comments but some of them were so rude I deleted them.) In addition, this video holds three honours and has been creeping up the honour lists during the last year. As of today it is:

1. #29 - Most Discussed (All Time) - Pets & Animals - Hong Kong
2. #21 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Pets & Animals - Hong Kong
3. #69 - Top Rated (All Time) - Pets & Animals - Hong Kong

I know, I know, some of you are thinking, "More than 69 people visited Pets & Animals Hong Kong?" but nonetheless I am rather proud of this little 41 second video. At it's current trend it might just make it to #1 video in that category within a year. (Provided there is no other competition, of course!) I am posting the video below, and listed what I consider to be the funniest comments of the 220.

• Whoever said "Don't touch it!" Was a genius! That thing is huge, and creeped me out!
  (In the video Sebastion says, "Don't touch it.")
• wow, its so big, I'm surprised it doesnt have a health bar..... XDD 
• its not that big, look, all of you are over 20 years old and i'm just nine years old man!!!

You complete me?

We're in the middle of a Typhoon 8 in Hong Kong, the worst overtop of us right now. Everyone is asleep (it's about 1:45 AM) but moi so I signed on to check e-mail and happened my way to GodTube where I found this very inspiring video. Worth the watch... bring tissue.

Where's Matt? Making another video!

Below you will find the latest version in the "Where the Hell is Matt?" videos. I thought I posted the original long ago but cannot seem to find it on my blog.  Therefore, I have posted both below (2nd video is the original.) What's special about this latest video is Vancouver. If you pause on that city you'll see an orange shirt in the front. That's my Vancouver Island friend Peter Vickers dancing with Matt, his wife Carol dancing next to him. This is a fun video that will bring a smile to your face. Enjoy.

This is the original video:

Click here to go to Matt's web site!

Around Bangalore

I am in India at the moment, Mumbai to be exact. It is 10:30 PM Thursday evening IST (India Standard Time) and I leave the hotel in four hours to catch a 5:00 AM flight back to Hong Kong. I flew into Delhi about 3 AM last Sunday morning. After meetings Sunday afternoon and Monday I flew to Bangalore on Monday late afternoon. I was in Bangalore all day Tuesday and Wednesday, then left this morning (Thursday 11:30 but the flight was two hours late so it was actually 1:30 PM by the time we got off the ground) to Mumbai. The weather in Bangalore was wonderful… slightly overcast and with the higher elevation the air cool and comfortable. I had a very good albeit busy visit. Last December on a trip to Bangalore I took a bunch of pictures and video. I have assembled it here for your viewing pleasure. You will see some pictures from Lalbagh Rock & the Lalbagh Gardens, views of the street from my hotel window (Taj Residency), a girl dancing for me as I drove by in an “AutoRickShaw,” lots of other street scenes, cows, and then me leaving the airport. Quite an amazing place… I hope you enjoy.

Christmas Cantata

Saturday night Tess and I took the kids for dinner at Dan Ryan’s and then for a walk through Hong Kong Park and Central to see the various Christmas decorations adorning Hong Kong. Then today Union Church held its Christmas Cantata. That was quite amazing and the choir clearly worked long and hard to create that production. The last song, however, they were joined by the kids choir… and some young kids… starting at two years old! Funny story there… as the triplets walked in with the other children, Jasper saw me. Reportedly he’d just had a very minor accident in his pants. JJ didn't think it was minor. At the top of his lungs he informed me – and the rest of the congregation – at least four or five times… “Daddy, I’m WET!” Too bad I didn't get that on video… it was truly hilarious. But the tour of Hong Kong Christmas decorations and the last song of the Christmas Cantata can be found below. Enjoy.

Green Island, Great Barrier Reef

I flew to Sydney late Sunday night, spent half a day in the Sydney office, then flew on to Cairns for a management off site. Below is a quick video of my time in Cairns after we completed the work portion of our off site.

The Froggy Hopper

Provided you read my blog just before Seb's birthday party, you'll know that The Froggy Hopper was one of the rides in Birthday Bingo. After the first wave of five or so kids arrived, a handful of parents and I started a small herd through the circuit. First stop: The Froggy Hopper. A small line resulted in waiting a few minutes for our turn. The dilemma: one of the kids was frightened of the ride and wanted an adult to accompany him. Let's call him Josh. Our turn came... five kids and two adults ran to get onto the ride that can seat six kids and one adult. The other adult, a Chinese woman, was in front of our group and took the adult seat. Josh was left out.

The adult from our group, realising she'd made a mistake about where to sit, turned back but not before we successfully encouraged Josh to take the last remaining seat. The Chinese woman then insisted on having her picture, with OUR kids, taken by the ride operator. This took a few minutes during which Josh figured out he was without a familiar adult. Then the trouble began.

First, Josh wanted to be with someone he knew. Second, there was general consensus amongst the adults from our herd, that the adult on the ride with our kids should be from our herd, not someone else. We tried to explain this to the ride operator but her English was very poor. We then appealed to the other adult, would she mind trading with one of us? No... quite indignant she insisted that she was before us in the line and should therefore have first right of refusal to be on the ride. What was a simple debate or issue turned into a full blown argument. By the way, by this time a second Chinese woman was now in line and slipped ahead of us. This happened while our kids were on the ride and technically "not in line!"

While the argument developed steam, we tried to figure out the perspective of the first Chinese woman. The Chinese can be very superstitious... having your picture taken with six mostly blond kids is a sign of very, VERY good luck. Going on a ride with five mostly blondies would probably be the equivalent to winning the lottery in the luck department. We concluded that the woman never expected the possibility we might refuse to let our kids ride with her since everyone was already buckled in. But that's what happened next.

Once the Chinese woman refused to move, we made the ride operator pull all our kids off... undo the buckle and strap at one end... then the other end... then raise the bar and everyone slides off. Remarkably none of them seemed too distraught at that idea. Everyone patiently lined up again and the Chinese woman - noticeably angered but trying to put on a happy face - went by herself on the empty ride. The ride ended, the Chinese woman left, and all the kids headed towards the empty seats. Not so fast...

Chinese woman #2 was now in the adult seat. Not sure what was going on with her... no happy face on that person and quite grumpy, too. I suspect there was some sort of cross cultural assessment going on... I.e. she had a not so favourable opinion of us and probably made some conclusions about the proceeding incident. Remarkably we stood there as this lady, clearly mad at us, rode on The Froggy Hopper that was once again empty but for one person. We all stood there in wonderment... this poor woman was not even enjoying the ride. She seemed to be more concerned at being right about not letting US ride!

Finally, our turn came and our six kids and adult filled The Froggy Hopper. However, it was just a bit much for Josh. The operator had to stop the ride, let him off by undoing the buckle and strap at one end... then the other end... then raising the bar and so on. Once again the ride began. Everyone had a great ride and we gave Josh a stamp for bravery and being on the ride even for a short time. Off we went to the next ride.

Not so fast...

At some point in the middle of this scene Jasper showed up and wanted to go on The Froggy Hopper. I had to get on with some party responsibilities, therefore delegated this task to De. But no way, JJ would have none of that - he wanted to ride with Daddy - so back we went onto The Froggy Hopper. A quick success when just at the end Sebastian showed up. BUSTED. When he saw me on The Froggy Hopper with JJ he snapped. I might have had a tougher stance on another day, but his birthday and everything... I quickly ran to Seb and convinced him that we should ride on the The Froggy Hopper right away. So back in the line we went.

Not so fast... JJ wanted in on the action. Sure kid, just jump the que... there ya go, welcome to the team. We finally got on the ride, along with a friend of Seb's, who like Josh was a little frightened of the ride. So down we came, she got off, strapped the ride back up and UP we went. By this time I was starting to think, "I have GOT to get off this ride.  I am going crazy!"

Not so fast... Sela showed up and immediately went into whinging/crying mode. Something we see a lot of in her these days. "Sorry, Princess, I'm done." She got over it. Needless to say, I didn't get my Birthday Bingo Card filled up, but I did get about ten stamps for riding The Froggy Hopper! Below is some vid and pics thrown together from the party. Sorry, there isn't much more than The Froggy Hopper. I think I'm done with that ride for a while. Aiya!

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The Making of Sebastian's Birthday Cake

Here is a fun video depicting the making of Sebastian's birthday cake the night before his birthday party. The video is a little long but I think viewers will enjoy the pace and end product. And there is a little craziness in the middle, too. Having now posted this video below, in a few days I will post some pictures from the actual party and how the kids received the Buzz Lightyear Birthday Cake... meanwhile, enjoy the production below.

Watch Closely...!

I am now in India from Sunday night to Tuesday night, covering two cities: Mumbai and Bangalore. While hunting for pictures of lollies for Saturday night's blog Ii found this fun video full of all sorts of optical illusions. Enjoy and watch carefully!

Audi Escher
Uploaded by firat