Chromilo Amin

This summer we hit up various places while showing Nang and Kim around. They are leaving in a week and this is the perfect time to go over this we did and places we visited with them. Here is my list of top 6 local summer destinations in 2010. 1) Cultus Lake Find a picnic bench close to the swimming area. Water is nice and warm, scenery is sureal, and its close to water slides. They also have swap meet with tons of vendors selling everyday trinkets. 2) Buntzen Lake Getting to the lake is through dense forest vegetation and its also not too far from civilization. The day we went, there was a fire ban and only propane tanks were allowed for bbq. Good thing a friend brought over some propane tank otherwise we would have starved. Again, scenery was awesome and although there was no cellphone signal by the lake, they have public phones by the picnic areas. 3) Bellis Fair Mall in Washington The closest big mall south of the border. We had our craving for all you can eat buffets, and shopping...

We just finished celebrating my daughter Camille's baptism on July 4. It was a great and holy event, marking my her start in life as a Catholic. There were 7 other babies who were baptised at the same ceremony and Father Obiwumma was inspirational as usual with his long homilies. Camille was very pretty with the white gown Grace bought her along with her cute hair band. Jade and Nick took multiple photos of the ceremony and am very proud/thankful for my two brothers. Dennis, Sonja, Lala, Kuya Ed, Aerie (spelling), Jade, and special addition Kim were attentive as Ninong and Ninangs. Reception at the house was great. It seemed everyone at the church followed us back home. Everyone was hungry and our buffet style setup was great, thanks to Grace's idea of reshuffling where we serve the food. I set up the bouncy castle outside because the sky had just cleared and chance of rain looked slim at that point. It was around 1pm by the time we had food to eat because the lineup to the ...

I was at the Indigo bookstore in Langley today reading a personal finance book written by Charles J. Fahrell titled 'Your Money Ratio$'. Haven't purchased it yet as I am trying to save money. Some of the interesting formulas I learned just by flipping through the pages include the Mortgage-to-Income ratio (MIR) and the Capitol-to- Income ratio (CIR). From what I can remember, the MIR is 1.9 for me and its the amount of mortgage that I can comfortably stomach at my age given my income today. My calculation shows that I should have purchased a smaller house or that I should have purchased when I was in my early twenties because I am nowhere close to having the ideal mortgage balance. The CIR is 1.4 for me and this tells me the amount of RRSPs and group pension that I need to have already saved at my age and my current income level. It tells me that I am below the ideal threshold and should increase my savings percentage to 12% or more. I love reading books like these. Using ...

I thought I would share my private New Year's resolution for 2008. This list was in a sealed envelope and I only remembered the list as I was contemplating on my new ones for 2010. Why a sealed envelope?Traditionally, family and friends would get together on New Year's eve to count down. As part of the count down, I would ask anybody interested to jot down on a piece of paper their top 3-5 next year's resolutions. They would then fold this and tuck it in one envelope I provide, which gets sealed after. It gets opened a year later and the pieces of paper are handed back to their owners unread and in private. I have posted an image of the list that I made because nothing is ever private in my life. Of the 4 items that I had listed, I didn't accomplish even one of them. This is sad but challenging because it makes me want to keep at it for 2009 or 2010 unless priorities change. We skipped making a list for 2009 for some reason. For 2010, we had a quiet New Year's at ho...

My wife Grace just finished a marathon it feels like, giving birth to our 7.35 lbs baby girl. Grace didn't use any epidural and was instead using laughing gas for pain management. We came in to the birthing unit at 7pm but her contactions started around 3pm. Thank goodness my mother-in-law is here and Philip also agreed to sleep over to help her look after Kyle. I can't believe how much we missed Kyle as it was the first night we spent away from each other. We received Camille Kate November 4 2009 at 1:53am at the Surrey Memorial Birthing unit. She came out very quiet at first but was soon crying and I immediately noticed her two dimples on her cheeks. Very nice. She also has a full set of hair already and I know she will be very beautiful just like her mother. I cut her umbilical cord and was very happy with the miracle. I just can't believe my wife's strength for delivering this bundle of joy. You should have seen Grace. She was in a lot of pain and I truly love her...

We just finished another successful neighborhood get-together in theform of a block party at our culdesac. It was organized by Tina and Arminder this year because Dave did it last year. It was great. We had greek and tandoori barbecued chicken. They said it was from a punjab store on 152nd street, behind the temple. We'll try it out next time. It was pot luck so grace cooked her famous spring rolls. Grinded some onions and garlic with brown vinegar for the dip. It was a winnner. There were a few pregnant women there and some toddlers. Serena was there, late because she was taking some powerpoint courses. She brought her daughter who brought her boyfriend who brought his two cute chiwawas. They were shivering all night but I think that's how they normally are. It was a little chilly last night which is why kyle and I left early. Serena's brother peter also showed up for a little bit. His 16 year old son is a karate blackbelt and is competing in Morocco. That's an entire ...

We celebrated Kyle's 1-year baptism anniversary with his ninong Raul, Helen, Antonio, and Iris. I can't believe its been a year already. He received a children's bible and a cross as gifts. Helen also brought him some flowers. So thoughtful. Kyle was so happy to see antonio and iris and kept hugging the both of them. Kyle had the sniffles unfortunately and kept on sneezing, with tons of snot coming out his nose. Poor guy. I hope antonio and iris don't get sick after this. Anyway, we had some wine, 1516 lager, ribs (sauce was a litlle hot for the kids), salad, spring rolls, and pansit. I was stuffed. Grace did a great job preparing the meal seeing as she is very pregnant and didn't get enough sleep the night before.