Chet’s Chatter

My funny “Valentines”

Posted on 15 February 2006 @ 12:12 in Friends

From “Redjack” Ben in Pittsburg, PA:

Ochiya, New Orleans, LA:

Thanks, guy and doll.

Holding tight

Posted on 14 February 2006 @ 12:19 in Stress Busters

The little panda seems to be saying “Please don’t let go!”

“Hey ma, it’s snowing”

Posted on 14 February 2006 @ 09:59 in Stress Busters

That’s what Tai seems to be whispering in his mummy’s ear.

What a lot of snow in Washington, DC yesterday!

Oranges are not the only fruit

Posted on 14 February 2006 @ 00:18 in The Working Life

But that’s how it seems to be during Chinese New Year in Malaysia!

The type of orange favoured during CNY as an inexpensive but meaningful gift is the mandarin orange. With a name in Cantonese that sounds like “gold” (gum), it sounds like you’re giving “gold” to family and friends during CNY. And not just to family and friends, but also business associates, too.

At my office, we still have “gold” in the fridge, gifts from suppliers who gave not just a plastic bag of a few gum, but boxes of them. There must have been at least four boxes that I know of. Looking at the fridge, it was probably more.

The good thing about the “gold” is it’s rich in Vitamin C. And a good alternative to the usual bags of chips (at least for me).

Images of Hope

Posted on 13 February 2006 @ 15:07 in Stress Busters

Hope (Chinese name: Xi Wang) is a wild giant panda born in the early 1990s that was the subject of various National Geographic magazine articles and at least one National Geographic TV special, as well as one write-up in The Reader’s Digest.

I first saw the NG TV special in 2000 around the time I started watching Hua Mei on the San Diego Zoo’s pandacam. The show was repeated last year, and I asked my brother to tape it for me (along with other panda specials shown around the same time). Thanks to conversion techniques, I was able to make a computer-watchable version, from which I captured various screenshots.

We’re all familiar with pictures of giant pandas in zoos. Now, here are some pictures of a giant panda in her natural habitat – from about a month to a year old.