Mee and I have not been to the gym for a week now. Well, that’s because we were in New York for a week. We had a nice time but the weather was so hot that it was uncomfortable to walk around the town especially the subway. It felt like we were in Malaysia. My first impression was, hmm …. It is just another big city. We went to most of the famous places to go and honestly, our 5 and a half hour one day tour has already covered 80% of New York. But still, a second visit is undeniable because you just do not feel that you see it all. We could go to the Times Square everyday to experience the busy life in New York. It was so lively at any time of the day.

The subway system was a bit if a disaster. Of all seven days, we could not find a single subway map. Some of the ticket counters even wrote that there were no subway maps. In another word, we should not disturb the ticket counter staff for subway maps. I am thankful that one of my colleagues has lent me her New York City guide book which has a subway map at the back of it.

For the last few days in New York, we went to Chinatown. It is huge and it really is a China town. There were lots of stalls selling spotlights, bags, and even pirated DVDs. Well, I would say that it is one of the best places to look for souvenirs. And it was always crowded. Chinatown is also one of the places where we could go everyday and it never seems enough. There are so many things to see and do in New York. I am not going to promise anything yet but hopefully, I would be able to write something about our trip to New York on a day by day basis.

My office computer is not at its best recently. I have troubles using some of my daily programs. The IT support had sort of fixed it yesterday but it is even worse today. I have not logged another call to them but I will definitely do it tomorrow. I am afraid that they might have to format my computer. Fortunately, I have another spare computer with me except that it lacks a few pieces of software.

My manager is on holiday from today until the middle of next week. Soon, I will be going on my holiday too. In UK, May is like the last month with several Bank Holidays and I will be working without rest for the month of June. Hence, I cannot wait to go on holiday. Mee feels the same too because she has been hardworking and taking a lot of extra hours. Hope we will have an enjoyable holiday!

As said, the gym is officially under renovation and it is now in its second week. Two third of the gym is closed and members will have to resort to using limited gym equipment. Most of the available weight equipment is for teenager. I used them last Saturday and I did not feel much tension even though I set the weight to maximum. As there were not many people there, I tried free weights. Now, I am kind of addicted to free weights. Mee and I still attend the gym classes as often as we can. Most of the classes have been replaced by spinning while some of the spinning classes will be changed to circuit if the weather allows.

The date has been set. Last week, I was told that the internal website that I am doing will have to be completed with an additional module by the end of May. So, should I put Mee and my plan to New York on hold or should I just go for it? Mind you, summer is not a very good time to be there because of the heat. Anyway, my manager is away for a conference and he will be back on Wednesday. I will discuss with him by then. Another thing that worries me is the strictness of the US border. In UK border and Australia border, they always have a mind set that people are visiting their countries for jobs. Will the US border officers think that we are going there to look for New York jobs instead of touring?

Well, I am thinking of taking some evidence to show that I am working in the UK. It is kind of sad considering that I have a US visa approved by them. However, that was the case when I had my UK student visa and it is still the case even though I have a valid UK work permit. Each time, I went pass through the immigration, the officers have the same kind of look and they would query you as if your visa is not a valid one. Well, that is just how they work anyway.