Chil’s Point of View….

Aloha!

Just came back from the Big Island in Hawaii. We were in Kona on the Kohala Coast.
It was a pretty cool relaxing holiday, and we planned to take it now as we anticipated that it might be a really-really-really-really long time before Nelly and I have another ‘just the two of us’ vacation. [ Why?  See this post  ].

See the pretty feet

We achieved what we wanted on this trip.
Some of the planned state while on the Island included –

• Switch of phone (we would catch up with any emergencies if at all when we got back)
• No checking email (even though Chilumba took the laptop)
• Have some “do nothing day”, and not worry about trying to see any touristic site on the Island
• Chill relax

Amazing – even though I took my laptop, I never pulled it out at all.
Although our phones have internet, we never used them to browse or check email. I used the Facebook application only to upload a few pictures we would on the phones. I also tried updating MSN + Facebook status using a feature we are building at work for the next phone [yeah; yeah; not really bringing work to vacation. Trying what I worked on during vacation ]. Only other time we used the internet was when we were looking up directions on getting towards South Kona, driving towards a landmark. Most of the times though, the phones remained in the safe. So we “can” unplug from technology (to some extent) while on vacation.

We also did not turn on the TV in our room – we stayed at the Fairmont Orchid Resort. This was torture for a news junkie like me since I read (on net)/watch (on TV)/listen (mostly podcasts) to news every morning. So I had no idea what was going on in the rest of the world.

Do nothing day included eating breakfast, lying on the beach, and floating on inner tubes into the ocean!!!!  [I already want to go back immediately after typing that statement ]. This was definitely part of the “Chill relax” plan.

We really liked the Fairmont Orchid Kona! (Highly recommended).
The staff was friendly (we think even more friendly than at the Hyatt on our Honeymoon in Maui). We also just liked how they let the guests be by themselves (yet available if needed). I liked the free-ness; non-pushy. The restaurants on the resort were a little pricey – we should aim for an all-inclusive spot next time.

The few pictures we look, when we lightened the technology restriction, are posted here .
The pictures from our phones are not included (as of 7/25/2010), but will be added in the share sometime next week.

Mahalo!

[It is going to be a boy]

Chilumba 2.0 – The cloning begins!!!!

Nelly and I have confirmation that we will be having a baby boy, scheduled for November 12, 2010.
Wow – Chilumba is going to be a daddy!

We had the ultra-sound yesterday, and were able to see the little dude jumping around. Pretty exciting stuff.
The next few months are going to be “interesting” as we prepare for the baby to arrive. 2010 will be an interesting year I must say.

Aside – Mikey was right a few years back when he arranged a fake-baby shower office prank after I came back from vacation. The decoration for that were with the theme – “It’s A Boy!”

Cool. I am done with my Masters (MBA)!

I finally join Nelly’s Club of being done with school [See Masters Nelly post].
Our (Nelly and I) graduation ceremony was June 13th at Key Arena, by the Seattle center.
it was pretty – I sat next to Nelly at the ceremony, and our names were called in order.

A few of the pictures are the graduation ceremony are posted here.

I am pretty stoked about this.
I can add another check-mark next to one of my new year resolutions.

What has happened since?

Finished the 1st session of ProSports bootcamp.
It was a good session, and it got me back to running weekly.
No records were broken this time as I am still in the 8+ minutes a mile speed range. Fun stuff none-the-less.

It’s wedding season -
Attended Andy and Maggie’s wedding earlier in May.
Congratulations guys!

Mikey also had his own set of wedding/proposal news!
It’s official. Congratulations buddy!

Finished my MBA!
Graduation was on June 13th.
Nelly and I shared the graduation.
Happy to be done, and happy to have gained a little more time in my life where I am not messing with, or thinking about homework. Graduation pictures are here .

chilumba 2.0 – The cloning begins. (more later )

Yep.
Yet again this year, I enrolled in the ProSports club bootcamp program.
2 months of hardcore workouts, and alot of outdoor running – 2 days a week. I took the class that starts at 7am.

The first week of class was last week; 1st session included a ~3 mile run on a really step hill, some conditioning, some stretching, and just getting the muscles woken up. The 2nd session was the fitness test (timed 2 mile run; count of push-ups in a minute; count of sit-ups in 2 minutes; count of pull-ups till failure). As usual, my muscles were pretty sore, suggesting that the workouts that I have been doing by myself perhaps as not as intense <- oh well; at least I am getting in some exercise.

The weather is not doing to well yet; it drizzled the 1st day of class, and it was pretty cold – I ran with my wool-knit gloves, and wore long sleved t-shirts for both sessions. It looks like it will rain on both mornings of class this week (according to the weatherman); so I will be running in the rain.

But I am looking forward to this session. I am also getting one of my new years resolution out of the way .

Last week, I was happy that I did not have to attend a Saturday class. It was one of those fronted loaded classes which would meet the whole day Saturday, and had a 3 day (away from home) retreat built in. It was amazing how having this one class would pretty much take my weekend – having to wake up early on the weekend, and then be learning the whole day through 4:30 pm. I would come back home exhausted. The class was taking place in Seattle, as opposed to the Bellevue campus where I take most of my classes, so it would add another 30 minutes to my commute.

Although the class was pretty cool, and dealt with learning about emotions and being aware of them, I am glad I have my Saturday back; I am excited – so that I can catch up with yard work, and all the other chores around the house. Since we came back from the Zambia/Kenya trip, I have not had a chance to do any spring-cleaning. It may seem weird that I am excited about doing house chores, but I have gotten used to doing yard work – and it also builds on my new year’s resolution.

Nelly just finished her Master’s of Science in Finance (MSF) at Seattle University in December.
Congratulations wifey!

She is so exited to get her time back – time away from doing school work.

I am now officially the only student in the house. If I keep my new year’s resolution of finishing my MBA this year, then I will be joining Nelly in the ‘out of/done with school’ club.

The two years of the program has gone by really fast. I can still remember the days we had been studying for the GMATs, and the long nights trying to ace the GMAT Preps.

“ So Ombati …….”

We teased OJ quite a bit during the wedding weekend. We were poking fun at him suggesting that he was next. It was always funny seeing his facial expressions, everytime we made the joke – it was classic! The funny part was that he would have the same smile and facial expression every-single-time we pulled the joke.
Mogaka on the other hand was not attacked as much. I think he was just calm, and excited to see Younsta get married.

So.... Ombati

Nairobi Game park
- Nelly learnt that leopards climb trees

Nairobi Girraffe park

-          Nelly kissed a Girraffe

-          Esmeralda kissed a Girraffe

-          The rest of us cheered, filmed.
To our credit though, we feed the giraffe by letting it eat from our hands.

 

Nelly kisses a giraffe

Some weekend pictures are [posted here].

 Real title should be – “Youngsta got married”

Marasi and Lea

Marasi is now officially off the bachelor market.
I just attended his wedding, as his Best man.
He had always wanted a Garden Wedding, and he got one.

He was really blessed with the weather as it would not rain during his scheduled appearances. Like on the wedding day -
- It did not rain during their beautiful wedding ceremony
- It rained the night before
- It drizzled early in the morning (around 5AM)
- It rained much later in the evening when the after party started; but when the Mercedes carrying the new couple arrived, IT STOPPED RAINING (<- how did he do that! )

Click here to see Marasi and Lea’s wedding picutures – these were the ones on our camera.

Nelly and I just came back from our vacation trip to Zambia.
Compared to last time, our all our bags made it.

For the first time in any customs control, Nelly and I were asked to open all our suit cases. They went ahead and searched; and found nothing. Oh well – how about that for a delay.

We did not go on a full fledged trip to a game park for a Safari out of town, but we did go to a semi-game drive at a local Lusaka mini-game part at Lilayi Lodge – they have a few wild animals in a on huge piece of land; all the land is enclosed both to keep animals inside; the lodge does not keep predators on the land as it would be dangerous for people, and the animal on the land. At the lodge, we did get to some giraffes, zebras, warthogs, …. Just see the [ pictures here ]

Some low-light: Food Poisoning, YIKES!
Nelly got food poisoning after eating a Seafood dish at Rhapsody’s at Lusaka’s Arcades Mall.
It was pretty bad that she was not getting any better as she took medicine – puking quite a bit.
So, my parents suggested we go to a local clinic (Mina Clinic) near the house. There, they did Malaria tests, which was negative as expected since Nelly and I have been taking Mallarone anti malaria medicine. One of the tests then showed high levels of something suggesting food poisoning. She was given medication which started controlling her vomiting, and given some nasty tasting ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution); the ORS brings back my childhood memories.
After 4 days of being out, Nelly finally recovered, and slowly got her appetite going again.

We were surrounded by babies
My cousin Chanda came over from the Copperbelt. He brought over his cute baby boy, who he has named after me.
Ntwale came over as well, and I finally got to his baby girl.
My uncle Henry’s step brother (<-there is gotta be a shortcut for that) also came over, and I was able to see his 6 month old son; a baby boy
Julius also came over on the same Saturday, and I got to see his big baby girl who can walk by herself. She was the oldest of all the babies I saw that weekend.

It was a good trip. There is never enough time to see everyone, and there is never enough time to spend a good chuck of time with people around. But it was good being back, and checking out how the place has changed over the years.

Check out the [trip pictures here]