A month has passed since I got my act together and posted the latest and greatest photos up. Things have been very busy and the Hillsidelounge has been consumed by Jacob’s arrival. We’ll see what he thinks of that when he’s old enough to search the archives. This post is basically a catch up of the last month plus for photos. I did get a new piece of kit in the Nikon D40 Digital SLR which will hopefully lead to some new photos. Expect the next batch after these to include smiles with teeth.
The Oliver household has had a few sleepless weeks lately as Jacob is in teeth making overdrive. From Zero to 6 in 2 weeks. Jacob has been cruising around the house and loves walking while being held upright. He’s been sighted standing on his own a couple times but only for a few seconds so walking isn’t too far off.
On to the photos in reverse chronology.
The March Photos are out and it’s not even May yet. I am typically a couple months behind which is very pathetic so here are the latest early. They include some shots from the new camera which has more dials and switches that I know how to use. Time to do a little remedial reading from my Blake Photo Class.
It was our Anniversary on Feb 24th so Christina and I went out for a posh dinner. A few picts posted here before we went out. This also serves as a reminder that the actual wedding photos aren’t up. I have a valid excuse. There are THOUSANDS of them!!! I need a weekend to pick the top 100 and get them up. Coming soon.
Sandy Mullane opened Fidgets.com.sg at Turf city in March and the place is amazing. It’s an unstructured play area where kids can go play and parents can get a coffee. Absolutely necessary on a rainy day in Singapore. Jacob loves it and gets to hang out with other kids so it’s great.

In February we took a trip up to KL and stayed at Bills house for the CNY weekend. It was a good trip with the Grandparents stopping in to say hello, a little Golf, a bunch of friends from Singapore, and the KLCC towers. My God daughter Zara turned 2 in Feb also. Jacob adores her and grins from ear to ear when he sees her. It was a little rainy up at the Mullane ranch that day but it didn’t spoil the fun or festivities.
January was a pretty slow month after all the Holiday events so we mostly tried to recover. Sentosa became a favorite in January introducing Jacob Man to the Sand.
Lots more to come as we start thinking of a summer trip back to the states. It’s been near 2 years since a Minneapolis trip so it should be a great time. I can even being to imagine the plane ride so I am going to put it out of the mind for now.

Kiva.org is a cool Micro-finance site that is taking advantage of the social networking going on around the web. You add value to your account and then lend it out. Micro-finance companies around the world they have partnered with, like PEMCI, provide people who are looking for loans, bios, and updates on their businesses. You don’t earn interest on the loans as that is given to the people doing the Micro-finance work. You do get updates, once a quarter?, on repayments and what the people are doing with the money. Feel good and interesting also. I am lending to a lebanese grocery store and kenyan barber at the moment. Check the loans out at my lending page.
Here is the letter I just got from Kenya, I assume Margaret works for PEMCI as an agent servicing the loan for Paul. The personal aspect is what makes this interesting.

Dear Aaron Oliver,

Paul is a happy man accessing loans from KIVA through PEMCI. With his
first loan of about USD 150, he was able to improve on his barber shop
and successfully completing his loan. With his second loan of about USD
300, Paul has gone ahead to create a job for his jobless wife; he has
bought her two hair drier which is the major equipment for setting up
the salon. With a good repayment record, he hopes to get another loan
as soon as he finishes to enable him develop the salon further. He
thanks the lenders through kiva who have facilitated easily accessible
loan.

It’s Chinese New Year Holidays starting this weekend in Singapore. It’s a time for out with the old, Year of the Pig, and in with the new, Year of the Rat. Seems it should be a good softball year for the Singapore River Rats. Right? For the Hillsidelounge I’ve made a few new headers.

I am a bit behind on the photo posting for Jacob. In fact we’re 2+ months behind. Remember that bad photo everyone has on Grandma’s shelf that was taken when you were 14? What’s going to happen when Jacob and most every other kid has 10K photos of themselves from birth to graduation? To date he has 374 posted on the Web, those are the select ones. Has to be triple on the computer. He’s only been alive for about 210 days so breaking out the slide rule that means about 11.6K selected ones by the time he’s 18. Assume that I slow down a bit and/or a new kid hits the scene to take some of the heat it will still be a ton of media to manage, figure out how to store, and select from for an embarrassing photo for Grandma’s shelf. Couple things in life Jacob man has to look forward to. Embarrassing photos for his friends to see and a huge yard to mow as soon as I can get it. Until then enjoy the picts from November and December of the Jacob man growing, squirming, and crawling. One day left in January and the photos will keep coming.

I am not just behind on posting photos from the year of the missing hillsidelounge but I am also behind on posting photos from the recent holiday season. We’ve been pretty busy over the last month or two with events, parties, and trips not to mention Xmas and New Year. So here goes the recap:

 Christmas Day 2007 Christmas 2007 was Jacob’s first Xmas and we had a full house for the occasion.  My mother was there, Christina’s Parents, Christina, Jacob, Ghazala, and myself all made it around the Xmas dinner table. Jacob had a great time with ripping the paper and playing with all the new toys. An excellent first family Xmas.

  A Very Grundy New Years Eve

New Years Eve was spent over at the Grundys house will all the friends who picked Singapore as their Holiday destination and imported the extended family. Friends and their parents from the UK, AU, and US all having a good time with a fair amount of Brewerkz beer on tap.

Mullanes for New Year’s Day

 New Year’s Day was a good bbq up at the Mullanes. Conor was giving rides in his new jeep, Jacob and I were playing football, while Ian and Paul fought over who got to destroy my Xmas Helicopter the fastest. To be fair I destroyed Ian’s roof so he owed me one. Not sure what I had done to Paul. Sandy had ordered up enough food to feed the Island and we all had a great day on the Mullane lawn.

Joy and Torch Wedding

The first week of January was Joy and Torch’s wedding at horseshoe point outside Pattaya, Thailand. It had everything you’d expect from a posh wedding in Thailand. A great welcome party, a stunning wedding, a vodka luge at the reception, and of course Polo for Sunday brunch. It was an excellent occasion made even better from the reunion of friends who have left Singapore recently. Especially the big swedes.

Jacob at the Zoo

It was Jacobs first trip to the Zoo. We only live 10 minutes away and he got a family zoo membership for Xmas so he brought Grandma, Mom, and Dad on his first trip. He enjoyed the Zoo quite a bit but had more fun watching the people that the animals most of the time. I think he assumed that since he had a year left on the membership that he would wait and appreciate the animals later.

Black Tie Fight Night 

Ian has been involved in running the White Collar Boxing Events in Singapore and the Black Tie Fight Night was on during November. This time it involved a friend of mine Dez Corkhill boxing. The basic premise is to challenge yourself physically and mentally to train for 6 month to participate in a 3 round fight in front of your friends and colleagues for charity. The boxers get a great experience, money is raised for good causes, and the crowd has a great time at the event. Always a great night.

Brit Cham Ball 

The British Chamber ball was on in December and Christina and I went for a big night out. This is charity auction, holiday festivities, and drinking a few pints english style. There is a Welsh, Scottish, American, Australian ,etc, etc, version of this event each holiday season in Singapore. Not too many photos as we were having too much fun.

Trip to Egypt
 Last but not least I had a work trip to Egypt for a 7 minute meeting. That’s right I flew 24 hours over a period of 4 days for a 7 minute meeting. It was a good meeting and a good excuse to see the Pyramids once again.