Patrick Ng – Mon Blog

Pour ceux d’entre vous qui ne le savent pas, je suis un plongeur certifié CMAS. Si j’étais encore à Maurice, je serais probablement devenu moniteur de plongée . Cette vidéo a été enregistrée à “La fosse aux requins à Maurice. Je voulais y faire une plongée au moins une fois dans ma vie mais mon épouse (petite amie à cette époque) ne voulait pas

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For those of you who do not know I am a CMAS certified diver. If I was still in Mauritius, I would have probably become a diving instructor Anyway, this video was shot at “La fosse aux requins” in Mauritius. I wanted to dive there at least once in my life, but my wife (then girlfriend) did not want me too

My wife made some Niouk Yen today. It’s only her second attempt. Her first attempt was unsuccessful, but this time she did a wonderful job. Now, whenever we have some Niouk Yen cravings, instead of dreaming about them, we can make them.

Since I’ve been back from vacation I have not cooked a single meal at home. I have been either eating out (Vietnamese cuisine) or eating microwave dinner. It’s very hard to find the motivation to cook for only one person. However, yesterday was different. Yesterday I wanted to treat myself with a nice homemade meal. So, I cooked myself a nice “salmi de boeuf” which I enjoyed with a glass of wine. Since my wife was not here, I could make the dish as hot as I wanted I should have made more. It’s one of those dishes that are even better the next day. Oh well.

I wonder what I’ll cook next…

If I were to list all the airports I’ve been at in order of preference, I think the list would look like this:

1. Jean Lesage (Quebec City)
2. Charles de Gaulle (Paris)
3. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (Mauritius). It’s always nice to visit my native land.
4. Pearson (Toronto)
5. Vancouver (Vancouver)
6. Cointrin (Geneva)
7. Trudeau (Montreal)
8. Calgary (Calgary)
9. Heathrow

I like Jean Lesage aiport the most because it’s small. Even if I am late arriving at the airport, I can still make it to the gate in time to catch my flight. I like Heathrow the least because they never know in advance at what gate my connecting flight is going to be unlike the other airports I’ve been. I have to keep watching the screens.

EDIT: I have to say that we got very good service at Heathrow though. We were having lunch at O’Neills and the waitress agreed to have the baby bottles washed.  

What is your favourite airport?

Sometimes, I find some of the lines used by telemarketers quite funny when they are not annoying. Ten minutes ago, I got a call from one of them on behalf of The Record, the local newspaper. The conversation went like this:

Telemarketer: Good evening, how are you doing Sir?
Me: I’m doing fine, thank you.
Telemarketer: Sir, I’m calling on befalf of The Record, and the reason why I’m calling is that The Record would like to offer you a six day delivery for x number of dollars.
Me: I’m sorry, I don’t have time to read newspapers.
Telemarketer: How about you try it on week-ends?
Me: I don’t have time even on week-ends. I work full-time, study part-time, and also have a baby.
Telemarketer: Sir, I know you can do some reading on top of your studies.
Me (annoyed): You are are saying I can have some free time to read newspapers, even with A BABY?
Telemarketer: Okay then. Thank you Sir.

Honestly, I don’t have time to read newspapers. In the very case that I do, I go on The Record’s website and read the headlines there. What annoyed me was that she did not take the time to listen to what I said, and  was too eager to tell me what I can or cannot do. I could have been meaner and told her, “How about you come to my place and babysit while I read the newspaper? 

I don’t mind taking the calls of telemarketers from time to time. They are making a living making the calls. However, what I don’t like is for someone to tell me what to do.