If I Had a Hammer...

[Flashback mode - I'm catching up... really!]

Monday, January 19th

We had another easy task today - drive downtown to meet with Deloitte Singapore to get a briefing on how the Singapore tax system works.  No biggie.  We had time.  We had the address.  We had a map.  Other than an argument in the car in downtown Singapore that severely tested the strength of our marriage (we could not find where to park), what was the most confusing part of the trip was.... the office building elevator.

After getting through the airport-like security in the Deloitte building, we knew we had to go to floor 32.  We found the elevator, boarded with about 10 others, the doors closed, and I pressed 32.  It didn't light.  I pressed it again.  No luck.  Oh well, the little indicator light must be out.  "Only ott flo..." an asian woman next to me said.  "Sorry?"  I asked.  "Only ott flo... the lift..."  After pondering this second, I understood.  Ah, this elevator only goes to odd floors.  Whoops, must have missed a sign.  No matter, we'll get off on floor 31 and walk.

After exiting on floor 31, we disovered... no stairwell.  Only the entrance to an office that was locked.  Now what?  If the elevators only go to odd floors, getting back on would only take us to floor 33.  What if there was no stairwell there, either?  We stood there for a minute, feeling completely... inept.  We had made it all the way around the world and all the way downtown in a foreign crowded city driving on the wrong side of the road.  Why can we not figure out how to get up one d%#m floor???

Finally, a group of individuals carrying huge boxes of files came out of the office door.  "How do we get to floor 32?" David asked.  They pointed.  The lift, of course.  "But doesn't it only go to odd floors."  They all looked confused.  "No, go to all floor."  David finally got it.  It's only odd floors from the first floor lobby, after that, the elevators go to any floor.  We entered the elevator, and went up one floor to 32.  Easy peasy.

Silly Americans, can't even figure out the lift.

The second big task for the day was putting together the TV  stand we bought at Ikea.  Let me introduce Immediate Gratification David from yesterday.  The tools required were a wrench, which we had thanks to the hardware store trip yesterday, and a hammer.  Which we did not have.  It was 9pm, and there is no Home Depot here.  Fine, we'll wait until tomorrow, there are a lot of things we need a hammer for, it would be silly to start without a necessary tool.  No, David disagreed, we have to have something.  So he found.... something.

Yes, that is a rock.  We pounded our TV console together with a rock from the garden.  He called it resourceful.  I called it ridiculous.  You decide.