Hillsidelounge

Jungle Walking

aaronoliver — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:35:41 +0000

Near our house in Singapore is a large nature reserve (MacRitchie Reservoir Park) which is basically a Jungle. A little jungle trail leads to a back entrance of the reserve which has trails for hiking and a treetop walk. So far we’ve only been down the little trail but we’re getting some good jungle trekking experience. There are huge canopies, monkeys, a stream with little fish, a turtle who lives under the bridge, and the occasional lizard crossing the path. Jacob loves hanging out with the dutch girls next door (Emma and Caroline) so last jungle trek they came along.

Ashtons in Singapore

aaronoliver — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:45:27 +0000

Paul, Cass, Tala(2.5), and Wyatt(1+) headed back to LA a week or so ago after a 2 week visit in Singapore. Everyone stayed at our place so the house felt like a nickelodeon playhouse most of the time. Something was always going on especially the first week when the kids were jet lagged. In the end we did all the fun stuff around town with the kids in tow. Zoo, Orangutan Breakfast, Sentosa, Dim Sum, Chinatown, Botanical Gardens and of course Jumbo. A really good time had by all during the visit.

Scanners and More Scanners

aaronoliver — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:18:46 +0000

I went a bit scanner crazy this week. I have been looking for the non-existent quality all in one (printer, scanner) so that I wouldn’t need to take up so much office space. I wanted a document scanner, creating searchable files, to get the house closer to paper free and a photo scanner so I can properly save some cool things like old photos, kids artwork, or travel souvenirs digitally. Turns out there isn’t even a scanner that is good at both much less one with a printer. So I bought a far too expensive snapScan 510M and a not so expensive Canon 90 LIDE. I could save some bucks on the photo scanner as I don’t need to scan negatives. I am loving the Canon and just getting ready to get the snapScan running and start scanning important docs like tax records and all the other things you need to keep but can never find when needed. I am considering trying to scan some genealogy records my grandfather used to keep.
Of course I started with the fun stuff.
Some great old photos my grandma sent me.

Travel Souvenirs I’ve collected:

Kids Artwork will so be a big one as Jacob gets older. I started with a piece that Conor Mullane mailed me last week.

The Hand Story

aaronoliver — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:00:32 +0000

Once and for all the Hand Story. So I cut my hand pretty bad about a month ago. Bad enough that it was a bit like an E.R. episode and was easily the worst injury so far I’ve had.
It was late and I was getting a glass of water before bed. I was reaching over the baby gate, very dangerous item, and slipped forward. The glass broke under my hand and like a Ginsu knife cut the ligaments, nerves and artery between my pointer finger and thumb. It didn’t hurt as it was a clean cut but blood started shooting everywhere which is not something you’re use to seeing. You immediately react and try to stop that from happening. When it’s an artery stopping the flow is difficult and a bit worrying as it continues to leak out pretty quickly.
I woke Christina up and you can imagine her reaction as I hold a dripping hand wrapped in a red towel and attempt to calmly explain that “I need to go to the emergency room now please”. She jumped in the car and rushed me to the hospital. There was a short discussion on what to do if I passed out which Christina resolved by saying she would kill me if I did so don’t pass out.
We arrived at the emergency room 5 minutes later and it didn’t take much to get attention. A doctor started to sort me out and in fact thought I had been in a car accident at first given how I looked. This is where being in Singapore is awasome. 25 minutes from when I arrived at the emergency room a Hand Surgeon was there attending to me. I was prepped for surgery and 3.5 hours later it was all stitched up. From at home with my hand cut to in surgery with a hand surgery specialist trained at the Mayo Clinic was about 2 hours, amazing. Dr. Looi Kok Poh, the hand surgeon, was awesome. He even called Christina personally when the surgery was over to tell her that my thumb was going to be fine.
The damage is really only to my right thumb. It’s been just over a month since it happened and my thumb is doing fine. There is lots of scar tissue so the ability to use it is still tough and the nerves need sometime to heal but with some therapy it should be working fine in 3-4 months.
One photo is after the surgery with my big claw and the other is after the stitches came out. It looks normal now except that the thumb doesn’t move so great.

All the Thailand Photos are up

aaronoliver — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:03:52 +0000

It took a while but I finally went through the Thailand photos and put them up.

Jacob man turns 1

aaronoliver — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:06:15 +0000

Jacob officially turned one today. Celebrations were held this weekend in Thailand with his buddies Conor, Zara, Maya, and Dino (Ariana had to leave early and Maxwell sent regrets). Tons of photos from the weekend will be added later but here are a few of the party by the pool with a big chocolate cake. We’re back in Singapore today for a Malay style picnic with the grandparents to celebrate some more this afternoon.

May/June update

aaronoliver — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:01:45 +0000

I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 months since the last update, loads of fun photos. Since end of April when things were “a bit crazy” it’s just gotten nuttier and busier. Family events, job events, and some borderline silly injuries on the sporting fields for me have rounded out the last two months. Even when the curveballs are flying the Olivers pack in some fun times as well. May and June have had plenty going on with Mother’s Day, Fathers Day, trips to Malaysia for Grandma and Grandpa’s new grass, Jacob going from crawling to walking, trips to the zoo and beach, and backyard parties at the Mullanes. Jacob’s new favorite activities are being chased around the table, playing in water anywhere and anytime, making random noises, and throwing the ball like a pro. Ok, like Chuck Knoblock but it’s improving. Far from important but super annoying is the recent demise of our carry everywhere Casio Exilim. Likely impact is that June photos might be a bit on the thin side.
The summer is really looking promising. To start the boys are off for a week of sailing next week off the Thai Island of Phuket for a week. The wives and kids, should be about 10 of us in total, take over a Villa Thursday in Phuket. The sailors arrive Friday to tell highly improbable stories and on Sunday we celebrate Jacob’s first birthday. Difficult to describe how much I am looking forward to this. Expect some good picts. Side note: Yes his first birthday is in Thailand. Mine was probably in Temperance, Michigan. He is spoiled beyond repair already.
Paul and Cass Ashton are out to visit us in Singapore for a couple weeks with their kids at the end of July which will be great fun. We’re also trying to plan a trip back to Minneapolis, God’s Country, before the end of summer. It’s nearly 2 years since the last visit so that will be excellent. Of course work will have to make a place in all this somehow. Christina is now part time which is great for Jacob and I am close to getting newly immersed in something or other which should be sorted in July. Ahh yes and I went a bit mental in the IT purchasing department recently and got two new Macs (iMac and Air). It’s really just meeting basic requirements and is actually for Jacob, he loves the iMac so I had to get him one. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.

April has been a bit Crazy.

aaronoliver — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:14:47 +0000

For lots of reasons April has been a bit of a crazy month. The good part is that Christina started part-time in April so is spending more weekday time with Jacob. They’ve even enrolled in a music class which comes with songs as homework. I have had a few chances during the month to take a few cool photos to share. The album linked on the left is of the kids when Ian and I took them to the Singapore Zoo. There is an area called the fragile forest where small animals roam around freely in a large enclosed park you can walk through. Jacob is a massive fan since he can get up close with the butterflies, mouse deer, and ducks. There are bats, tree sloths, and lemurs as seen in the photos but he doesn’t really see things in trees yet. That is until they come to meet you. I only wish I had the camera out when the Ring tailed lemur decided to use Conor Mullane as the first step and myself, holding jacob, as the second step in a running leap into a nearby tree. Nothing like an interactive Zoo.
My favorite photo of the month is below and comes from the Jacob Ballas gardens and a big wet hug.

Jacob party weekend, Mom off to Sydney

aaronoliver — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:11:32 +0000

Christina went on a long weekend away with the Girls to Sydney at the end of March so Jacob and I got some guy time to hang out. I took the day off on Friday and we set out for the beach. Jacob isn’t overly impressed yet with the feel of sand but is starting to come around. The waves, even small Singapore ones, make a noise he really doesn’t like. He really clings to the shoulder as you get close to shore and wade in them. Each trip to the beach he gets a little more comfortable with the whole scene and I expect in 6 months he’ll be running into the waves having a blast. Later we were out on the town and picked up some cool new shoes and car to ride in. Jacob is way too cool behind the wheel and he loves driving. We drove straight out of the store and all over Singapore. We hit the pool a few times and an afternoon at the Zoo to see the mouse deer and ducks. We hit pretty much all of Jacobs Singapore favorites. All in all a pretty fun boys weekend together. Next time football, cigars, and poker!!

Some picts Christina took on the girls weekend away!!

Construction time

aaronoliver — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:43:08 +0000

Kent was in town on the beginning and end of another SE Asian tour to Laos and Vietnam. Along the way he stopped to help Jacob and I build a chair and table set. As you can see from the picts we have no clue how to put the thing together. Luckily it came without instructions and with extra parts, I hope they’re extra at least.
While Kent was here we also got a new digital SLR camera, Nikon D40. I am just re-learning how to use a SLR so some of the new pictures are good and lots are being deleted. Expect some hopefully quality photos mixed in with my standard point and shoot in the future.