Quote, pretty, pretty, PLEASE?

Dear [Lazy American Medical Supplier company],

@SALES:

Perhaps business is booming, or my emails end up in the electronic trash bucket, or you guys have ALREADY hit the sales quota for the year. I don’t know. But I do know that after three emails and two phone calls, quotes for the many medical balloons I have asked for never end up in my Inbox. I even searched my Trash folder.

Have you ever tried to tell your Wushu Black Belt Boss that the reason you can’t order, is because the “American Supplier” won’t respond? My meeting is Thursday, and I don’t want to tell him a third time. Things could get ugly.

You see, he wants to order the medical balloons from China. They respond fast. Their English gets better every day. Please don’t make me order medical balloons from China. When my super-heart-disease-curing blockbuster medical balloon is approved in the next century, I’d like to keep you guys in business (and I’m sure to be the first in line to use it with all the coconut-cream laksa here).

@INFO:

SALES is busy. Could you respond to my many requests? I’ve attached your own brochure to so you can look up my specific request on Photo 18—just trying to make things easier for everyone. Fear not, the spelling error in the title is mine.

@HR:

Should SALES not get back to me, I might need a new job after Thursday. Anything open? I’m a great communicator and I’ve found where that REPLY button is. I’m creative, perseverant, and willing to travel. Any spicy frog leg porridge in Salem Massachusetts?

@Webmaster:

You had me in 3 clicks. With your scrolling banner of “World’s Thinnest, Strongest, and Smallest….”, I was sold (well, still trying…). I found everything I needed in 3 clicks, navigating through your medical balloon wonderland like I was the one that designed this superb web engineering. I just wanted to say thanks, from one techno nerd to another.

Sincerely,

Frustrated Techno Tosser Terry

[It worked, I got an email in 2 hours, quote ready to go. :)]

Petra Jordan

Jordan Dead Sea

~15 Mb, will take 5-10 minutes to load.

Worth the wait!

Ch. 3 Caesarea, Israel

The ocean view in Caesarea. A great place for a cold beer.

The ruins are majestic and make you feel young and insignicant.
I hear them whispering, "I'll be here tomorrow, and you will be dust."


Insignificance aside, one of the favorite dishes to be had

was watermelon with Bulgarian Cheese, a very salty, creamy goat cheese

--take a chunk of both and enjoy.

Above is the Caesarea--also known as the Old City that dates back more than 2000 years. It was a unique trip back in time, and I kept wondering if they enjoyed beer by the ocean side as much as I do. Ceasarea was built on the ruins of Stratonospyrgos (Straton's Tower) in 93 BC. In 63 BC, the Romans took over the Jewish City and named it for the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus. Since then its been a port city, A Muslim fishing village, and now the entire is controlled by the Rothschild Foundation, one of the richest families in the world. Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu also lives there, but he didn't get to shake my hand that day.

Ch.2 Israeli Train Rides

Israel is full of soldiers. Every train ride you take you see them carry their guns everywhere. You can tell they are pretty used to it, as you often see them sleeping quite peacefully right next to them. Its not just regulated to men, as there are as many women soldiers as men. Everyone must serve--except for the orthodox jews and the Arab-Muslims. If you are Arab-non-muslim, then you serve too. There is a lot of resentment for those that don't serve--kinda like you aren't doing your part mentality. In fact, as I write this, I am sitting next to a cute soldier-ette as I type. I wonder how I can ask, to touch her gun.

Chapter 1: The Haifa life-Arrival

Haifa, Israel at night.

Coming into Israel feels like coming into America with the name of Mohammed Hussein-bin-Laden. At the airport from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, they had a special security gate just for the Tel Aviv flight. Luggage open, laptop on, and anything metal in the tray. I went through the metal detector, and no peep was made and I thought I was in the clear, but that was just the start. Mr Security Guy underwent the standard operating procedure of wand over every inch of you, shoes off, their wanded and inspected, especially the soles. Next my friendly new date puts two fingers inside me waist line and gives me a complete circle, tryhing to feel for what I have no idea. The lady in front of me got the same kind of treatment, but she had a much cuter female security guard. The high heels seemed to get much more attention from the wand than my beat up old sketchers--Jimmy Choos probably always will.

The next hurdle was off the airplane and into customs. The customs lady gave me quite the grilling in the cheeriest demeanor--it was so creepy. Think of it like going to the proctologist with giggles the clown as the doctor. Why you here? business Where you going? haifa Staying how long? about a month Why that long? research traing Who is your contact? Can we call her? Can we call her RIGHT NOW? If you want....The questions went on like that, and I bet there is a little sign right in front of her that says "remember to smile!" The questions would start out with eyebrows flexed and intent, but the face would suddenly morph into the "Im so glad you're here smile" that that effect looked like something designed from photoshop.

But once in, I felt great, like I just passed a pop quiz! The weather was warm and extremely dry. This is a welcome respite from the sweat popping humidity of Singapore day in and day out.

Transportation was a breeze as the train station is located right into the airport, but I still had to be x-rayed and wanded as I passed though the entrance. An hour ride later, I was in Haifa, home of Technion, the The Israel Institute of Technology.

-

Langkawi 2010

It hard to look cool in white rental helmets.

Its only natural to play air guitar next to Malaysia's largest PEACE guitar.

The picture says it all.....