We have been hanging out with Emily's family all week. Sara arrived just a couple hours after I got back from Ecuador and Jen and Todd arrived the next day. Kat, Emily and I have been playing Risk obsessively, so we taught everyone else how to play and instigated a large, hostile takeover of the world. The game went on for days. Kat and Jen were the last people left, but they got bored and declared a truce.

Emily planned and cooked the big family dinner (with the help of her sisters). We had standing rib roast, potatoes au-gratin, broccoli casserole, salad, and five desserts - panna cotta, chocolate souffles, brownies, cookies and ice cream.

Since we were done with Risk, we started playing one of the many Cranium variants. It was us against the timer, trying to act, draw and give clues so that others could guess what was on our cards. It took awhile, but we were finally able to beat the timer.

Now our friends Serena, Brad and their little girl Bella are in town. We are trying to think of someplace to take them for dinner tonight. We will probably end up back at Skewers, our default restaurant in the city.

Today we biked around Cotopaxi, the second highest peak in Ecuador and one of the tallest active volcanoes in the world. We met the guides at 7:00 at a local coffee shop, picked up a few other tourists and drove for an hour and a half. The driving distance was not that far, but it takes forever to navigate the winding roads and the insane traffic. We stopped at the base of the volcano. The guides gave us each a bike, a helmet and a meeting point about 7km away. The top section was very steep and bumpy. I had a great time going as fast as possible down the hills while barely maintaining control of the bike. Luckily, if I fell I would have only hit rocks and tumbled off the mountain. The road got much less steep after the first meeting point. I had to pedal hard to keep up my speed. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful lake near the base of the mountain. The remaining 12km were mainly uphill (we had to push the bikes) and through shallow streams. Tomorrow we will leave Ecuador, but there is so much to see here that I will have to return. Next time I want to visit the Galapagos islands and the Amazon jungle.

Yesterday we went white water rafting. Neither of us were really looking forward to it, because it is pretty cold in Quito. However, when we drove down to 300 meters above sea level (from 5000 meters) the air was much thicker and warmer. It was a three hour drive to the river. I stayed awake for most of it and enjoyed watching the people in their small Ecuadorian towns. When we got to the river the guides inflated the boat, gave us the customary safety talk, and we set off. No more than five minutes downriver they steered the boat directly under a waterfall. I jumped out before getting soaked, but everyone else took the falls head on.

We rafted for a couple hours before stopping on a sandy beach for lunch. The guides served tacos and I got to observe how the real South Americans make them. The ingredients were the same as we are use to, but they put everything into the shell in reverse order. They started with the guacamole, sour cream and vegetables. They didn´t add the meat or beans until last. I kept meaning to try their technique, but forgot. A nice little dog joined us for lunch, waiting patiently while we ate. When we were full the guides fed her the leftovers. Overall the rafting trip was lots of fun and I am glad we didn´t back out.

Today we went horseback riding in a large volcanic crater. The walls and floor of the crater are very rich in nutrients, so many farmers have settled there. The ride lasted a few hours. Dad was apprehensive at first and had a little trouble controlling the horse, but he quickly got the hang of it. We stopped for lunch at a small inn with a beautiful open courtyard. There were many local families working or living there and about 10 dogs running around. We had fun playing with the dogs and trying to talk to the people. After lunch, we took the horses down a steep rocky path. It was a little scary at times, but the views were spectacular. We passed the official equator mark on the way home. Thanks to "Bizarre Foods", I knew that the official mark was not actually on the equator, but about 250 meters south.

Dad and I hiked in the Andes mountains today. We were picked up at 8:00am in the hotel lobby by the guide. He drove us about an hour and a half outside of Quito, stopping at a bakery in a small village along the way. We picked up a couple cheesy breads and a chocolate loaf for only 90 cents.

We hiked around between two of the largest volcanoes in the world. Hiking at that altitude (over 14,000 ft) proved difficult. We slogged our way up to the top of a large hill below one of the volcanoes, rested and took some photos. I noticed a couple of alpaca next to the hill, so I went down to see them and heard them up the hill. I was able to get them most of the way up before they turned and ran down the adjacent side. On the way back from the hike, we saw a pack of wild horses. Dad yelling at them and trying to direct them into a good composition to photograph. Every time they came close to where he wanted them, they turned their butts toward the camera. I think he was eventually able to get his shot.

My dad and I are visiting Ecuador this week. We flew into Quito last night, so today was the first day to really explore the city. We had a large breakfast at the hotel, before taking a cab to the historical center of the city. Cabs here are so cheap! It was $4 (Ecuador uses the US dollar as their currency) to get downtown. A large group of protesters were gathered at the presidential palace. I never really figured out what they were protesting, but I think it had something to do with taxis (being too cheap maybe?). We walked around the old part of the city for an hour, before one of the locals tipped us off to the changing of the guards at the palace. A marching band set up on a side street and guards with elaborate uniforms and tall spears prepared to march. When the changing of the guards started, the band and soldiers marched into the square and the protesters respectfully put down their signs and stopped yelling.

Dad and I tried to cross the square to get a better view, but we got stuck in the crowd of protesters. We watched with the crowd as the soldiers marched in unison and the President appeared on the balcony. Everyone clapped for the band and the President, but as soon as it was over they raised their signs and yelled to get his attention.

We quickly made our way out of the crowd and went to see some churches. The best one was built over the coarse of 160 years by Jesuits and indigenous workers. They had a superstition about leaving any part of the church undecorated, so the entire thing was intricately carved and covered with gold leaf. Quite impressive. We had lunch at a restaurant recommended by the church tour-guide. Afterward, we planned to visit one of the many delicious looking bakeries in the city, but got sidetracked looking for a USB cable for the camera. Eventually we found one near the Ecuadorian Central Bank. I took some video of the bank with Dad´s camera to use for the Economist videos. The people at my office should be happy about that.

A porter at the hotel directed us to a lovely little bakery just a couple blocks from the hotel. We split some pecan pie and kiwi cream pie, which were wonderful. Dad took a nap in the late afternoon while I uploaded the videos. Eventually I got tired and slept for a couple hours as well. We found an Italian restaurant at a nearby hotel for dinner. Now we are back at the hotel and I am about to beat him in chess again.

I had a great time in San Francisco. It is a beautiful city and I can see why so many of my friends moved there. I got to see Diane my first night in town, Nate and his fiance the second night and Beth the third night. Nate, Lavinia and I went to a lovely Thai noodle restaurant then back to their house to hang out. It was great catching up with Nate after not seeing him for so long.

Beth and I met near her school and took a cab up to North Beach. The area is really cool, full of Italian restaurants. After dinner, we went to a cool little coffee shop where the beatniks use to hang out. There was a whole group of guitar players, who had actually practiced together, and sang funny songs like ´La Bamba´.

On the work front, I went to Lawrence Livermore National Lab to see their laser fusion experiment, UC Berkly to interview a physicist and shoot a Prop 8 protest, and Silicon Vally to shoot an interview and b-roll about stem cells. I was fascinated by the scientific research, but incredibly disappointed by Silicon Vally. It was just a big office park! I was expecting the Magic Kingdom of technology. Regardless it was a nice trip and I would love to visit San Francisco again.

I'm in San Francisco on a shoot for Newshour. It's been a long day... I left home at 5:00am, caught a flight to St. Louis, got delayed because of fog in SF but finally made it here. This afternoon, I shot a couple interviews at the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. I met Diane for dinner at a nice little Punjabi restaurant, then drank some coffee and walked around downtown for a bit. She just moved here a month ago, so we're lucky her iphone had a map. Without it, we would still be wandering around.

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving and our trip to London...

Emily and I had a cool, interactive dinner on our last night in London. The table had a computer screen projected on it from above. Each person had a touch-pad built into their side of the table. Using the touch-pad, you could browse the menu, order food, play games, watch a live stream of the kitchen, and customize the display. When you looked at each dish on the menu, a picture of the food was projected onto your plate. The food was even timed to come out 15 minutes after you ordered it, so you could precisely coordinate your meal. The entire table had a wallpaper, which you could change and customize. Even with all the effort put into the tabletop, the food was really good.

Yesterday, we finally had some time to be tourists. We spent most of the morning at the office, but we left around 11:00am to see the sights. It was a quick walk from the office past Downing Street, to the waterfront. We walked over the bridge for the famous view of Parliament and Big Ben. We passed Westminster Abby, but admission was £12 each, so we passed. After wandering around for a while trying to find the palace, we headed back to catch our flight.

Emily and I are in London! We arrived Thursday morning, after an uncomfortable overnight flight in goat class. Our hotel is near Paddington Station and the office (yes, we are here for work) is near Oxford Circus. We have spent most of our time at the new FSN bureau, trying to wire everything up and make the gear work. So far we have done a pretty decent job, but we won't know for sure until the ISDN lines are turned on tomorrow.

We have gotten a bit of time to see friends, shop and sight-see. Friday night we met up with David and Peter (from the Sudan Volunteer Program) and had a nice dinner in Chinatown. Tonight we are going over Peter's house. The food has been decent, but not spectacular. The one really good meal we had was at an Italian restaurant a few doors down from the office. We got some amazing multi-cheese pizza with a really nice deconstructed salad. Last night we got over to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. They were interested, but we only stayed about 10 minutes. How long can you really spend looking at a bridge?

Thursday the wheels for my fixed gear bike arrived. I was worried about the spacing and chain line, but it came together perfectly! I was off work on Friday, so I had plenty of time to ride it around. Fixed gear bikes are such a pleasure to ride. There is only one gear and it doesn't allow you to coast. Whenever the wheels are moving, the petals are turning. You can resist the movement of the petals to slow down or stop. I had to work on Saturday, so I rode my bike to the office. It only took 15 minutes, which is less than it takes to drive or take the metro.

Saturday Malcolm, Manalisi and I got an interview with the president of South Africa, Kgalema Motlanthe, who was in town for the G20 meeting. We conducted the interview in a suite at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Security was tight and the room was flooded with South African officials and Secret Service. Despite the heavy security, they didn't actually check us or any of the gear. Usually we are kicked out of the room for 15 or 20 minutes while they search the equipment. This time they just stood around watching us and talking amongst themselves. The interview seemed pretty uncomfortable. Manalisi kept pushing an issue that Motlanthe knew nothing about. The whole thing lasted less than 10 minutes.

That night, Kat, Emily and I went to Jessi's house to watch UFC 91. Kat and I had been debating for days the possible outcome of the Lesner, Couture fight. Kat bet on Lesner and everyone else bet on Couture. During the fight we were standing, yelling at the screen and cringing every time Couture got hit. After the first round, Jessi lost her voice and Emily had a headache. Lesner ended up winning the fight, which made everyone (including Kat) sad.

We are resting up after election day. November 4th was long and exhausting. I was at the local polling station at 7:00am with Kat. She waited in line, while I filmed the crowd and signs. Emily joined us a bit later and we all voted. Afterward, we headed to the office to finish testing the video equipment for our live coverage. By mid-afternoon, all the guests arrived, Emily left for the Post and we started the show. Channel News Asia kept the FSN coverage going almost the entire time. Simon did a great job of reporting the events and balancing it with in studio analysis. Miraculously it went off without a hitch. Everything worked as planned and no one tripped over the wires linking our office back to Singapore. We did our last live hit at 1:30am, then headed to the bar until it closed 30 minutes later.

The rest of the week was slow. There were the typical reaction pieces to Obama's win, but that was about it. Emily and I spent plenty of time resting on the couch this weekend. I also got some time to work on the fixed-gear bike I'm building. It should be done this week (when the wheels come). I will post pictures soon.

I'm busy with election coverage today, but I have a bit of exciting news. I finally have my own IMDB page!

Emily and I spent most of the day building a studio in our office. On election night, Emily is working at the Washington Post and I will be running the Channel News Asia coverage from our office. There will be a CNA host and guests doing commentary and interviews. For the studio build, we got three new risers, set up cameras for full coverage, lit the entire office and ran wires for mics, cameras and talk-back. My job on election night will be a lot easier than Emily's. We only have to fill 15 minutes per hour. Her show is live for at least eight hours straight! So if you get a chance, head over to Washingtonpost.com on election night and watch her show.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday following around Jacob Zuma (presumably the next president of South Africa). Sherwin, the SABC correspondent from New York was in DC for the week. He was in constant contact with Zuma's press liaison, who told us exactly when and where we should be each day. Of course, plans quickly changed. Zuma was suppose to meet with Condeleezza Rice at the state department. So we got there early to film his arrival. We waited and waited, but he never showed up. Sherwin got a call saying that Zuma was on his way to the White House to meet Bush. We rushed to the White House and got there just in time to film his arrival. He was detained at the front gate and almost not let in, because he didn't have ID. When Zuma was finally let in, his body guard pulled me aside and told me not to use the footage because it was embarrassing to the president. Oh well, I used it anyway. After the White House meeting, we got a quick interview with him and went back to the office to file a package.

Wednesday Sherwin and I went to the Ritz to film a story about Zuma's meeting with Richard Branson (the owner of Virgin Airline, among other things). They were meeting to discuss plans for Branson's charity to help with health issues in South Africa. We waited outside the room while they met and talked to Branson's personal assistant. She had a cell phone, two Blackberrys and a laptop. She didn't have time to chat because she was constantly talking on the phone, e-mailing on the laptop and answering messages on her Blackberrys. After the meeting, we interviewed Branson and Zuma together, then hung around the hotel suite eating their delicious baked goods and drinking coffee. They hadn't even touched the food!

Emily, Kat and I went to Eastern Market today. I've lived in DC for years and I have never gotten over there. It was fun! I spent most of the time looking at bikes, but I walked around with Emily and Kat for a while while they looked at home decor and the like. They went into the food area and got a bag of homemade fettuccine, which we just had for dinner. After Eastern Market, we went back to Costco. We were there yesterday, but Kat had to return something. I got some new thermal pants to prepare for the winter. We went for a jog this afternoon. Then Em and I watched some TV before falling asleep on the couch. Now Emily and Kat are watching some dumb movie and I'm bored.

I spent Monday and Tuesday in Chicago. I flew in on Monday with Susie, the MEP consultant who is producing the video. We went straight from the airport to a company which manufactures the glass on oven doors. There we conducted a few interviews and I got some b-roll of the factory. I got some ok shots, but the manager was very touchy about certain things being filmed. We had a huge deep dish pizza for dinner at Gino's East. After dinner I walked up and down the Magnificent Mile. It wasn't really that magnificent, just a bunch of shops. Tuesday I attended a meeting to learn about the PickensPlan from T. Boone Pickens. The presentation was interesting, but there wasn't much we could use for the video. The trip was easy and I enjoyed being in Chicago without freezing my ass off.

Today I went out to Fredricksburg Virginia for a Newshour project. It was another long, grueling day of interviews and b-roll. At least I had it easier than the correspondent. He flew into DC early this morning and took a flight back to New York at 7:30pm. The best part of the day was shooting at a local Italian restaurant called Basil and leaving with our arms full of fresh Italian food. It is definitely worth eating there if you are in the area.

Emily and I were in Boston last Friday and Saturday. We went to shoot the opening of the Greenway park, which is located where the highway use to be before the Big Dig. We got into Boston on Friday, filmed at the produce market near city hall and had a very nice dinner of homemade pasta in the North End. Saturday morning we went up and down the Greenway filming the events, including the official opening of the park. We spent the afternoon in the North End, which is like the little Italy of Boston. It is filled with delicious restaurants and pastry shops. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant that was so small the host had to stand outside. We had to squeeze in with all of our camera gear and wedge ourselves between the wall and another couple. At least the food was good. Neither of us had been to Boston before, but we had a great time. I would have liked to stay longer and see more of the city. Hopefully I will get up there again soon.

I spent last weekend in Jacksonville with Ted from FutureView. We stayed at the Marriott Sawgrass, a famous golf resort. It was quite an enjoyable weekend. Ted and I were producing videos for Georgetown University, who where having an alumni fundraiser there. Saturday we shot interviews with many of the alumni and I cut together a collection of soundbites. Sunday I made a photo-slideshow for them and Ted filmed their events. They had delicious buffets at every meal and all the free alcohol we could drink. It was so different from working in DC. The hotel staff were incredibly friendly and never asked any questions. In DC, they wouldn't have let us into the building without checking our ID, calling their supervisor and writing down all of the personal information we would give them. They even gave us a golf cart and let us roam the course.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Baton Rouge on a shoot for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. Susie (the producer) and I flew into Louisiana on Tuesday afternoon and met with a local MEP representative for dinner. She took us to a popular seafood restaurant near LSU. We ate fried alligator, hush puppies and fried fish. The alligator was nothing special. It just tasted like chicken.

Wednesday we visited a local company which makes some kind of membranes for oil platforms. They gave us a detailed description, but I have no idea what they are used for. We shot an interview and some b-roll to be used in an upcoming MEP video.

Today I shot an interview with Charlie Wilson (the Charlie Wilson's War guy). It took place in an enormous mansion on the Potomac. This was one of the largest houses I have ever seen, but they gave us a small room to conduct the interview and limited the amount of gear we could bring in. It lasted about 30 minutes and will be shown on an Afghani TV station. He mostly talked about the clandestine war he helped fight. The most interesting part was hearing what he had to say about the current Iraq war. He criticized it harshly and said that it was pointless. He also said that if the US government had helped build infrastructure in Afghanistan after the Soviet Union left, we would not have had to invade.