Year in review

Hard to believe it's my final day in Malaysia. Even with the shortened stay, I'm very happy to be heading back to my home-soil. I've collected an interesting set of statistics based on my experiences, so I figured I'd share them with you as my last blog entry. I don't have any new adventures to write about this week, so hopefully you will find this entertaining.

Travel stats:
Date expat was intended to start - Feb 1, 2006
Actual expat start date - June 12, 2006
Days spent in Malaysia since expat started - 156
Days spent in Malaysia prior to expat - 5
Days spent out of Malaysia since expat assignment started - 32
Days spent in planes and airports in 2006 - 21
Days spent in same country as Susan Jane since June 12, 2006 - 27

Apartment things:
# of non-bill pieces of mail received - 6 (4 were junk mail)
Favorite piece of junk mail - bidet advertisement (click on pictures to enlarge)

# of wall decorations hung - 2 (one fell down the day after I hung it and never went back up after that)
# of times I went to the gym - 30
# of times I went to the gym since August 1st - 6
# total minutes spent on vonage phone - 3639 minutes (60 1/2 hours)
Average monthly vonage minutes - 600 (10 hours)
# of rooms in apartment I've opened the door less than 3 times - 6 (2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 closets)
# of chairs in my apartment - 13
# of chairs in my apartment I've never sat in - 9
# of people who have been in my apartment - 4 (2 if you don't count landlord or housekeeper)

Blog things:
# of blog posts - 15
# of blog views - 600+
# of blog pictures - 92 (572 if you include shutterfly and picasaweb)
# of blog comments - 19
# of unfinished blogs (topic) - 1 ("Movies, Music, and SW in Malaysia")
# lines removed from blogs after posting - 3 (removed risque section of "Let's go clubbing")
Most read blog entry - my birthday post
Least read blog entry - August observations post

Living expenses:
Money paid to housekeeper over 6 months - $1000 USD (two visits per week, including washing, cooking, cleaning, and ironing)
Total utility bills over past 6 months - $1316 USD (including electric, water, sewer, local phone, vonage phone and satellite)
Money spent on computer parts trying to get system stable - $400 USD
Most expensive non-computer purchase - Deep Fryer ($125 USD)

Food things:
Best food - chicken curry made by my house keeper (close second: Nando's chicken and Bella Italia's lasagna)
Worst food - pre-packaged hamburger I tried to cook in my apartment (close second: anything made with fish)

# times eaten fish - 3
# times eaten fish intentionally - 0
# of food products in my apartment that can't be bought in US - 6 (2 not counting drinks)

General Malaysia stuff:
Coolest thing seen in malaysia - Batu Caves

Most bizarre thing seen in Malaysia - black chicken


# of "call to prayer" chants heard during expat - 780 (5 times per day)


Temperature range over 6 months - 75-85 deg F
Countries visited over past 6 months - Malaysia, China, Thailand, Mexico
Countries I wish I visited over past 6 months - Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand
# local tv shows watched - 1 (for about 15 minutes)
# US tv shows watched - hundreds (thanks to the great invention slingbox)
# of hours of Chinese lessons taken - 14
# of Chinese words I know - 2 ("thank you")
# of hours of Bahasa Melayu lessons take - 0
# of Bahasa Melayu words I know - 2 ("welcome")

Thanks to all of you for your feedback on the blog entries - it's been good to hear from my friends and family while I'm so far away. I don't know what the future holds for my verbose style of blogging (most blogs are less than 50 lines per entry) - maybe I'll do a writeup when Susan Jane and I travel, but I don't know that our adventures in Portland will be very interesting. Either way, keep in touch - I look forward to being on the same side of the world with you again soon. Wish me Bon Voyage one last time.