Chicago Cubs Go!

I had the privilege to visit the city of Chicago last Sunday and had a great time..

We were in Stu's little car and started the trip at about 9 am via Gary, Indiana and through three states (Michigan, Indiana and Illinois) before getting to downtown Chicago at about 11.30 am.

We hit the Sears Tower first which was truly an amazing architectural achievement. Now this was the tallest building in the world up to the completion of the KLCC, but I can help noticing that in the into video that the let you watch, they emphasized the fact that the Sears had 110 storeys vs KLCC which has 80+ and that KLCC won due to the length of its antenna.. Yeah.

The view from the top floor was really magnificent to say the least. You are able to see the other tall buildings that make up the skyline of Chicago very well, and we were fortunate that it was a clear day as well.
I bought all sorts of souvenirs and we later headed to our boat tour.

Now this is one experience I'll never forget. Not only did the tour showcase the best of the downtown great buildings, but near the end of the boat ride, the skies completely poured on us, and if not due to some fancy footwork getting down to the lower cabin, I would probably have been soaking wet.The tour had a very knowledgeable guide from the Architect Institute, and she really educated us on the history of some of the more famous buildings which I now can hardly remember : P..

Anyway, we did have a splendid time and we then hit some really cool places like the United Centre (home of the Chicago Bulls) and the Union Train Station.

The next stop was the theatrical performance by the Blueman Group (a.k.a The Mirinda Guys) which was interesting, humourous as well as intelligent very well thought of. Location - Briar Street Theatre which directions you have to Google up.

Then, we just had to stop at the Wrigley's Field, home of one of two Chicago's biggest baseball teams - The Chicago Cubs (the other being White Sox).

I am not sure whether that actually was a good idcea as they actually HAD a game on that day, and the traffic crawl was just terrible. We managed to get there eventually and it was worth it as I got to see first hand what the atmosphere was like, and given they WERE playing the White Sox, it made it extra special.

The stadium was huge and the noise level was tremendous as the build up to the game grew every second. As it was right smack in the middle of some shop lots, you could see some fans on top of leased roof of these shophouses, trying to catch a home run ball.

Unforgettable!

My last stop was Hard Rock Cafe, just so I could get a souvenir T-shirt.

Stu drove all the way home as I dozed off in the car and reached back at the hotel at 11.30 pm!

What an experience!

Yo, Homies..

I went to the mosque with Suleman today which was in the rougher part of town.

The weather was really nice and the turnout was also very good. We were there early which was good, and I then knew why as Suleman (in yellow shirt) turned out to be the mosque's muezzin!


The imam though, had to go to England for some function, thus the khutbah was read by a replacement imam, who talked about mirroring the qualities of the prophet pbuh.

After work, Stu, my colleague, brought me around to for our kosher and halal foodstuff hunt. We we zipping around in his cute Smart car, which actually got a lot of attention as there were very few of them in Michigan.



Our voyage started in the Mediterranean Market, which I've been with Suleman, another colleague. Stu wanted to see what was there as his wife said that the shop had really good cuts of meat, purchasing them earlier in the day for our Saturday's cookout.

We then headed of to JB Russo, a local deli. What we found was a great collection of Italian delicacies as well as authentic ingredients, not found in many other stores around town.

I got to source some truffles (from China!) as well as truffle oil and dried morels. Stu however, didn't get his kosher cheese. I was also looking for dried anchovies, but definitely realised that that was the wrong place to look for it.

The store hand, Yasmeen, who is a Muslim guy directed us to the Halal Depot, a South Asian shop along 44th St. He said that they might stock some stuff that would be useful, so we then went there at about 8.30 pm. Unfortunately, even though the sign on the door said that business was till 9 pm, there wasn't anyone in the premise, and the lights were all out. They also had some sewing machines in the shop, plus some authentic looking Indian garments. This is a place definitely worth visiting again.

Stu drove me to another store that he said was along the way to the office. This time, we went to the Middle Eastern Market which was owned by a nice guy by the name of Imad.

Imad showed us around and I was impressed again with the array of middle eastern and halal foodstuff that he has stocked in his shop. Stu asked Imad about a local halal diner, J 'n' J's, which Imad said was owned by their family. Great stuff! I was particularly hungry and so went searching for the joint.

Stu was telling me about how the place we were going to was in the rough part of the neighborhood as we drove along, and I can actually sense the quiet, tense hostility of the area. It seems that the neighborhood in Division along Franklin and Todd was the roughest part of the town, and if you look at my pictures, you might get an inkling of what I mean.

Here you have people hanging around at porches, giving you the kind of look that made you know that you'd be in a lot of trouble if you stayed along for too long..

Thankfully, we found the place we were looking for and were greeted by the friendly shopkeeper Khader.
Khader was so impressed by our ride, so much so that he asked Stu to let him sit in the car. Khader, from Jordan later told me that he was working as a part time college professor in the U of Arizona's campus downtown.


He surprised me further by telling me that he used to work for our two biggest competitors, and is now looking for a full time job after being laid off. "Why don't you open a good Middle Eastern halal restaurant?" I asked. Well, he replied that there are none currently as there have been very little demand for such cuisine, as well as the state of economy which has been very slow.

I also met to 'hood brothers who grew an interest in Stu's car. The guy in the white bandanna is Angelo who thinks that my Sampoerna is the coolest smoke he had for a while. "How much are these?" he asked. "Two bucks" (cue look of amazement and shriek of horror..) was my reply as he expressly asked for another two sticks to put on both his ears..

Well, the food wasn't that great anyway, but like I said to Stu:

Turkey Bacon: 4.99
Food at J 'n' J: 18.21
Experience in Division: Priceless

Haha. For a rougher experience, Stu's going to get me to Detroit..

Missing My Family..

I have to say that I underestimated greatly how much I'll be longing for my wife and kids, having to be apart from them all these while. There hasn't been a day that my mind did not fly away with the wings of memories staying at home with them and just goofing around..


My toddler son has picked up quite a new range of vocab, as well as special effects which was well used in my teleconversations with him. I did buy some early reading flashcards for 99 cents at a local discount bookstore at Centrepoint Mall here in Eastbrook.

Hopoefully, he'll grow up, travel the world and contribute as much as he can to the society.

I miss you guys, Din & Mah!

Thanks for taking care of them, honey. Love you.

New York, New York!

Stopped over in NY for a night in the midst of heavy rain whilst the rest of the Midwest experiencing floods not seen in 100 years.

Fox and CNN giving hourly updates on the situation with Iowa being severely affected.

Went to Times Square to grab something to eat, and met a friendly Jordanian who runs a Gyro stall.
It was still raining when I got back to the hotel, but thankfully the trip back was smooth given the fact it was a Saturday night..

I was rushed for time to take the free ferry ride around Ellis Island, so I decided against it, being quite content to see Lady Liberty from a distance.

Rushed back to EWR for the flight to Michigan, only to discover that it was delayed for a full 2 hours due to the previous flight delays caused by the bad weather..

Oh, well.

Friday the 13th..

It seems like ages since I last had time to post something, but admittedly a chunk of that precious time was spent reading up on New York traveling tips as well as settling the chores needed for my 3-week working trip.

Thus I wouldn't comment about the oil price (which makes me feel bad with the huge carbon footprint I'm leaving..) or the fact that Obama won the vote to represent the Democrats in the presidential elections. (BTW, the incumbent ruling party in the House of Senate had voted against a motion to impose taxes on extraordinary profits by the oil-industries Big 5 - ExxonMobil, Conoco, Shell, Chevron & BP. See here on how they voted.)

What I would comment on is the fact the the government is mobilizing all the Post Offices in Malaysia to act as disbursement centres for handing out the vehicle rebates amounting to RM625 for cars with engine displacements of less than 2.0l and RM150 for bikes with 250 c.c or less.

What would the involved cost be in such an exercise? Overtime pay on a non-working Saturday for Pos Malaysia employees?

To those unclear with the mechanics of getting your rebates, you just basically need to come in person, with your IC to the Post Office. Once there, fill up a form and they will evaluate whether you are entitled for the subsidy (correct engine class, road tax renewal period between April to June 2008).

Once they have verified your fingerprints, you should get the promised rebate. Well, that's how it was promised to be anyway..

Mine isn't due till the 29th of July. Hopefully, it won't be a big issue by then!

Never Say Die!

Fantastic News!

I just got back from the CIMB branch in Bandar Puteri and happily so.

After going there earlier in the morning, I was shocked to hear that to claim back my money, I had to write a letter via CIMB to say that I wanted my money back.

The officer at the counter was helpful enough though, and made sure that I was able to submit the request without a hitch, and she also said that it would take a few days for the whole thing to settle and even so, the service charge was not part of the deal.

Hearing that, I started my whining technique, just to get the point across. I left, hoping for the best, even though the best was looking as bleak as it can be.

Quarter past 4 pm, and the officer called me back and said that all monies were refunded! She asked me to come over to collect it - as I duly did, but what surprised me more was what actually transpired prior to the reimbursement process..

From what I gathered, the corresponding Western Union agent was in Australia, and they initially had refused to entertain my request for the service charge refund (USD22). Thankfully, the CIMB officers were on my side, so they said something along the lines of "If you don't give him back his money, you're in deep shit with the Central Bank..", and duly faxed over the complaint letter that I wrote which had the same threat on it..

Truthfully, I actually had collected the grey "Pengaduan Terhadap Institusi-Institusi Kewangan" complain form which would go to "Jabatan Pengawalan Bank, Bank Negara Malaysia" in case things turned ugly.

But since I got my money back, hey, I gotta give it to CIMB. You're in my good books, man.

But Western Union, you've just lit the first July 4th cracker.