Lazy Month

December turns out to be a lazy month. Not many posts on the blog, but still have some pictures to share. Just being lazy. Tomorrow I am going to Thailand for 2 weeks. With friends joining in the trip, it will be more fun to visit some places like bars. Wanna wish everyone a nice holiday. If you do Christmas, merry Christmas. If you do countdown, happy new year. If you do neither and have to work hard, wait for my pictures from Thailand. :-)

Competition

Since the High Speed Rail (TSR) started its operation, air passengers have decreased dramatically. I did not realize that until when I booked the flight back to Tainan. It was 998NTD, including tax. I used to have to pay 18xx or 19xx depending on the time. When I got to the airport at noon, it was mostly empty. That is competition.

Ubuntu

I've heard many good stories about Ubuntu, and also heard that the founder is so rich that he is willing to pay the postage to distribute Ubuntu if you request a CD on their website. Free, that's the keyword to catch my attention and keep my eyes wide open. So I did, and the CD came in today. It comes with a very nice cover design and 4 stickers for you to place on your PC. Since I don't have a PC, I may just try to play with the Live CD function with my laptop. Wondering if they have a MacBuntu.

Accident

Mother fell and broke her right knee on Sunday. Surgery was done on the same day. I took the early flight home and stayed with her for 2 days. Had a short break on Monday when dad came to take it over. I went home to take a shower and saw that the flowers in our little yard are blooming. Beautiful at this time of the year. The weather was very warm and nice, but I was so down.

Sis and I had a discussion. We decided to hire someone to take care of mother for 12 hours during the day, then dad takes care of the night shift. Mother has to stay in the hospital for few more days. We plan to take her home on weekends so we can be there. It will be a month before she can have the pastor removed, and a year before doctor removes the pins off her knee. Nothing major now, but it just takes time to fully recover.

Wiring Issue Closed

Canadian immigration office called me this morning and told me that HSBC had called them earlier and confirmed the wiring is successful. They understand that my bank cannot change the account number on the form, but they can proceed now if I send the original form back to them. I feel good now.

Sunday Trail

Have been thinking about this moving-out thing for quite some time. There is definitely some anger, I'd admit, but there is something else that I was not able explain. Today, I was dong laundry. The weather was so lovely, so warm. I had the urge to go out.

Went to the lake down the street. Always like this one. It is within walking distance, and definitely is quite something to see from the street side. I took some pictures and walked around the lake. Also took the trail. Never realized that I have lived in Neihu for 3 years, and have never come this far. It turns out to be a pretty short trip. I could still hear the cars roaming from the distance, but birds singing and cool shadow is still such a great enjoyment.

Gotta admit when I said I'm ok, maybe I am really not ok, especially when it has bothered me so many years. This is hard. I think I am ready to move on, and have to move on.

Issue with Wiring Money

This post is all a complaint one. Skip it if you don't like to hear me whine.

Got a phone call from Canadian immigration office saying that I put down wrong account number when I wired the process fee. They need me to pick up the form or have someone go over to pick it up, go to the bank, have the account number corrected and bank stamped, and send it back to the immigration office. The lady kept reminding me to get it stamped by bank employees, or I may have to take the office run few more times.

So I went and picked up the form myself, ran (you know this is exaggeration..) to the bank. The gentleman was very nice to check for me and confirm the wiring was successful. But they cannot change the account and stamp for me.

FACT 1: The account number on my form is wrong.
FACT 2: The account number my bank used to wire is per my writing, so is wrong.
FACT 3: The wiring was successful to the correct account.

So how can this possible? Anyway the gentleman said since the wiring was successful, I can just tell the immigration office the fact, because the wiring information the bank stores includes my name, so it is easy to recognize. They cannot change the account number and stamp for me, because they have to key in exactly what the customer writes down on the form. They have no authority to change the account on my behalf. That makes sense, so I tried to call the immigration office to find out if the gentleman's proposal works.

The recording is done in English, French, and Chinese. Very friendly. I chose Chinese of course, the third option, using my expensive cell phone calling plan. The recording was also very nice to warn me to have a pen and paper ready, as I may need to write down some useful information. Then the recording went on and on to explain for which case, which website to refer to, for what query, which email address send a letter to. It went on like FOREVER, and finally it hanged up. I did not get to talk to anyway. They do NOT take calls. All the immigration offices all have their nose point at the high sky. Fxxx (censored).

So I turned to the gentleman and said, if the account is wrong, how can this wiring go through? Can you double check and confirm it is my name, and the recipient is Canadian immigration office? After a short check, yes, name and recipient are confirmed correct. The he started to call the recipient bank (HSBC). After a LONG while, he came back and said, oh, maybe the Canadian immigration office is one of their major customers, so their employee who did the wiring knew the account is wrong, so he/she made the correction for you and completed the wiring. If you'd like to have further information, you can call this number, or if you'd like to have a proof of the wiring, you can go to their office at this address, which is so far away from my office and my home.

I was annoyed at that point. I said,

I wrote down wrong account number. That's fine. It is my mistake. You keyed in as per my writing, so it is not your fault. But, HSBC should also key in the wrong number, confirmed it did not work, and informed you of this error. This way, I can just come downstairs to the bank from my office, and correct it. It saved me trips to the immigration office, and time! If someone should contact HSBC, it will be YOUR bank, not mine. If HSBC does not have a proper SOP (standard operation procedure) to respond, how can your bank trust HSBC? You should even escalate this to their manager. I am not going to their office to get any proof. If this problem is not solved, I want to have my money back, and YOUR bank is my contact window.

The gentleman at this point asked for his manager for help. The lady was nice to explain and contact HSBC again. After a long while, again, she said that HSBC is able to make a printscreen of my wiring information, and fax it over to us and to the immigration office. The person even called the accounting of the immigration office and explained the situation, and asked the accounting to inform the lady who processes my application. The person confirmed it is fine.

I was not sure what else I could ask for. The lady of my bank was very nice to say that if I still need to have any questions answered, feel free to go to them.

The employee of HSBC does not follow their SOP to input information, if they have one. He/she may think he/she is doing me a favor, but in fact, he/she is causing my so much trouble, and my bank, and I am complaining about HSBC right here.

Er.. Are you following?

As Cold As 17C

It was been quite cold this week. We had typhoon this week (yeah, at the end of November) and cold front. Temperature dropped to 17C this morning. Well, it was 18C when I got up at 4:30am. My nose gets congested right after I got out of the bed to go to the bathroom (old age?), and was congested the whole time till finally I gave up and got up at 6. I felt like daydreaming the whole time in the morning and was not sure if my brain could actually control my body completely or if the alien was controlling part of it. A quick doze in my cubical solves part of the problem. Gonna take a Melatonin tonight, and hope that would help me get enough sleep.

Pumpkin Pie

Was hungry for a piece of pumpkin pie about 2 months ago. Found some in Starbucks, but it was not what I was looking for. Last Saturday cousin asked me to go to his company's product promotion, and I saw pumpkin pie at the buffet.

That was a very nice slice of pie, exactly what I was dreaming of.

Immigration Form

Finished the immigration form and sent it out
today. Have been toying with idea of doing it for a long time, but never actually did it. Not until few weeks ago when chatting with J, and he had just submitted his application. It would be nice to have company. At least feel like having company. What am I gonna do in Canada alone? It will end up being another impulse spending.

Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving time. Some colleagues in US take the whole week off. Many take off early for their vacation today. Everybody has a plan, either with his family, or with friends. For me, Thanksgiving means turkey and cranberry sauce. Have not had any of them since I came back in 2003. I guess as time goes by, turkey and cranberry sauce becomes more and more delicious in my memory, just because I really miss them. Stuffing is good, but for really for my liking. Turkey sandwiches were always good if we had some leftover. In fact, I may not like it again if I get to have some now, as my preference for food may have changed over time, so I am not gonna try to get some even, but it is the family life I missed so much.

Passport Missing

I was filling out an immigration form, and need the expiration date of the passport. I looked into the drawer where I store all the foreign currency and passport, and it was not there! Dunno what I did, but the last time I used it was when I went to China for customer audit back in August or September (gosh, I don't remember). I had to use passport to leave Taiwan, and China passport to enter China. Now the China passport is there but Taiwan passport is gone.

Had a quick check with the travel agent today. I will need to file a report at the police station, and then fill out application form. The lead time will be one week. Glad that I found this issue ahead of time, and not the last minute when I had to apply for Thailand visa. The restriction on the plane ticket is no change permitted...

Anticipation

The annual trip to Thailand is pretty much finalized. This is the first time for me to take 2 whole weeks off and actually will be on the road for 15 days. 3.5 days in Chiang Mai, 2.5 days in Pattaya, 3.5 days in Bangkok with MM, and the rest of the days in Bangkok alone. Original simple idea to go outside of Bangkok evolves into lengthy vacations. Plane tickets and hotels are all confirmed ok. The remaining task will be to get visa and exchange currency, and hit the road.

This is the first luxurious trip in every respect. Not sure if I'm gonna have another one like this, but trip plan is there and I'm gonna enjoy it.

Wulai Hot Spring

Hot spring trip to Wulai. We made a wise decision to take Friday afternoon off. Not sure if we actually beat the crowd, but it was quiet and peaceful in the men's public pool. No flight for a reclining chair, no chitchat in the background. I got to choose whichever corner I wanna stay in the pool, grab a chair and actualy have a powerful nap for 20 minutes. We scheduled to stay in the hot spring for 1.5 hours, and it ended up being too short, but we then got to see the sunset of the little town, the greenish color of the creek, the falling leaves from the tree, and how those little ugly buildings turned into prince charming after all the lights were on.

Amazing dinner back at the hot spring place. Scallops were great; shrimps and soup made me speechless. The only complaint is that the rice was not up to the standard. It was like "what the hxll is that". We left for Taipei after dinner and shot to Red Building for a drink. Live music there at the Bear Village. Love the singer, who has a soft gentle sweet voice. We were just talking about Amei's music at Wulai when we heard people play her music, and here at the Red Building, the singer was singing exactly the same song. Lovely coincidence for the night. Need to go to Bear Village next time to express my support.

New Frontrow

This is new feature of Frontrow. CD covers fly in and fly out while you cannot make up your mind if you are going to listen to music by playlist, or by album. It is beautiful if you get CD covers with high resolution. One problem is, I watch the cover flow, and decide, oh this is the album I want to listen to, but there is no way I can choose that album directly from this screen. There is something wrong with it.

Vinegar

Love this vinegar, but it is hard to get it. Mom got some for us before, but she asked the noodle street vendor to sell her some. It's getting harder and harder to get it. Wondering why, because it really gives some depth to the soup, instead of just simply sour flavor. MM said she can get it from Lugang. Ironically, this bottle is made in Taipei, but I cannot find it anywhere here.

11/11: MM sent me this picture, which shows the name of the vinegar better, thus I updated it.

WoW, Wizard of Oz

This is one of my favorite encounters in WoW. It is the opera house event. Depending on the luck, we may play either Wizard of Oz, Big Bad Wolf, or Romulo and Julianne, and , we won't know it until the announcement is made. Beautiful stage design, beautiful curtain, it does feel like we are making the show. I love the audience too.

WoW, Al'al of the Eye, Tempest Keep

My first time to go to this dungeon. Saw this phoenix, and thought it looks beautiful.

Efficiency

I ordered an external hard drive to back up personal data at home on Sunday. This morning one meeting was canceled, so I am at the office early. Had a quick check on the order status, and it was shipped and delivered to the company reception.

I am not sure if PCHome has a policy to deliver within 24 hours, but that will be my impression when I look at this order. I ordered at 7:42pm November 4th, and it says it will be delivered by 7:42pm November 5th at the latest. In between, they showed when the operator picked up the merchandise, then it was packed, and when it was shipped. They showed impressive efficiency.

When Firefox can, but Safari can't

I don't want to mention Internet Explorer even. Here are some sites when Firefox can render successfully, but Safari cannot:

1) Google documents
2) Yahoo new mail
3) Hotmail

Most advanced browser? Maybe it's time to use Firefox as the default, instead of having to remember which website fits which browser.

WoW Video, Curator of Karazhan

WoW Mac version has recording capability. When I tried it the first time in late September, the frame rate was like 5 frame per second. Far from satisfaction. Today somehow I decided to try it again, but the result was amazing. it was very smooth. My old iMac was good enough to have ok frame rate while it compressed video into mpeg format. I am not sure if WoW updated its recording engine, or Leopard should have the credit.

Apple Froze, OMG!

Apple froze while I was working on the Stardust post. Hm.. this OS is supposed to be the most advanced one, secured and just everything. But I just installed it 24 hours ago, and now it hanged on me. Not very good.

Blogger saves at a certain interval automatically, so I did not have to type the whole thing again. Need to give Google credit for it. In fact, I have tried Google Docs with MM, and we can work on a spreadsheet at the same time online, and Google Docs saves snapshot of different versions also automatically. It is a nice and cool feature. I love it.

Stardust

Pretty interesting movie. Story is kind of weak, but 2 hours pass pretty quickly. The whole story line is well arranged to give you you some exciting moments, and then followed by some romantic and slow clips. The princes appeared very aggressive wanting to get the throne, but it turned out all are killed and become ghosts and outsiders to see the 'show'. Pirate captain showed as violent and fierce, but turned out to a drag queen. These are quite kuso, and give something extra in this supposedly romantic and finding-true-love story. Robert de Niro is very good as the captain. Michelle Pfeiffer is also excellent as the witch. The shot when she regains her beauty and confidence was very impressive.

Yummy Nachos

MM and I tried Chilli's today. I opened the menu, and saw artichoke dip with nachos, and knew right away this is what I am gonna order. Have been hungry for nachos for quite a while, but had never found anything similar to what I had in California. Had been to several restaurant that sells Mexican food, or even Mexican restaurants, but the nachos there were either very thin, or stale, or flavored, and were simply different. Today, this is the same. It tastes like the very first thrill I had in Oakland. MM was very generous to let me have most of her share of dip and nachos. Hm hm good. Need to go back there again soon.

Airport Express

Bought an airport express from Yahoo Auction for nearly 50% off. Was very excited to get, but it turned out to be a pain in the to set it up. Original idea is to use the original wireless network, but add this airport express to stream my iTune music to the speaker. But once Airport Express joins the existing network, it cannot be found anymore by either computer, wireless router, or just anything. I was very upset about it. Apple makes good products, but just not everything is perfect. Apple's keyboard sucks also.

Shangri-la Again

Click here to see more photos. Should have taken pictures in front of the elevator. Just did not want to do this stupid thing in front of the elegant lady..

Shangri-la, Hong Kong

Shangrila hotel ran a promotion few months ago. If you stay 4 nights, you get one night free at any of their hotels. My coworker got 4 days, and used one day at their Hong Kong hotel.

Very very beautiful and artistic hotel. very well decorated everywhere. The painting shown in the picture is not a regular painting. The range you can see here is from 40th floor to around 50th floor, and there is another 10 floors beyone the range of the picture. This is amazing.

The room is very nice too. They even provide TV in the bathroom, so you can watch TV while you take a bath. Very very nice.

Hotspring

The original plan was to go to hot spring yesterday evening after I met with MM. But I forgot to bring my coat, so by the time we left the coffee shop, I felt cold, and it was only 4pm. I was not so sure of taking a hot spring, and came out with just a T shirt, all pores wide open when the temperature could go down to 20 degrees, so I called D to cancel it.

Because D had things to do, so I planned to go myself today, but D sent me IM saying that he could make it, so we scheduled to meet at 2 first.

As I was approaching YuanShan station, my cell phone buzzed. Battery is dead. OMG. I hate it when this happens and I am going to meet someone. Bummer. This is one of the cons when you integrate all functions into a cell phone, and I listened to musci too much this weekend. This is time to separate cell phone function and mp3 player. I was told iPod Touch is pretty good and provides even internet capability. Now comes my excuses..

Anyway, I got there at 2 sharp, waited for 30 minutes, but D did not show up. Bummer. And I have no way to call him and he has no way to contact me either. I decided to leave after 30 minutes, which seems to be a proper time for me.

Hotspring was nice. Public tub, but Only 90NT. Water was very hot. I could only take it for 10 minutes at a time, and felt completely drowsy after the second round. Wish I could be as open as other people there who just lay down completely naked on the bench, so I just sat on the bench, rested, and drank a lot of water.

Wanted to take some picture of the hotspring house. But cell phone battery was dead. Now it is time to seriously think about separating the functions, instead of having one that can do everything. Otherwise once the battery is dead, I can do nothing. I was told Sony T200 has nice feature to capture smiles, and it was very beautiful red model to choose. Now comes my excuses..

Reunion

Had a reunion with the girls from Chinese teaching class. We went for hot pot. Nice place. We were the first table, and the place stayed quiet for quiet a while. Later MM told me that this hotpot restaurant had been there forever. Food was fresh. They play old old songs from my previous generation, instead of the 'in' hip hop. I like that.

After lunch, we wanted some coffee. Starbucks was too busy, so we decided it is not gonna get our business. We went to Kafka by the sea. My first time there. Coffee was good. Mugs were interesting. Not very busy that afternoon, very casual, not as much chitchat background noise as Starbucks. I was told they even provide free wifi connection. Now I am picturing how happy I shall be if I can play with MY iPod Touch in this coffee shop..

It was so nice to get together again, and get the update from everyone. I also learned that all 3 girls are reading this blog... Come on, girls, don't hide. Sign your name in the comments!

Flying Broom!!!

I've got the bloom. Now I look like studying in Hogwarts, and more likely in Slytherin. :-)

Albus Dumbledore

So both Dumbledore and Gandalf are gay. One is gay in the book, the other is gay in the real life. Great wizards.

Everyone likes comments. We always feel great when someone say something nice to us. But what if these comments bring back bad memory? What if the memory could be as bad as defeat (aka kill) someone you love? I think Dumbledore is a true tragedy in his love story.

We all know there are murderes out there. Some kill because they are depressed, victims of domestic violence. Some kill to revenge because partners cheat on them. Some, of course, for insurance. We all understand, but also believe law will do its justice. But Dumbledore saved the wizard world from dark magic. He is a hero. He faces the compliments and praises from all over, but I wonder if each compliment reminds him of the sweet and bitter memory of the life he spent with his love and how he decided to defeat him. We all move on after things happen, but you've got to admit that he/she always lives in some part of your memory. It is bad enough to have to go through rebound alone, and will surely be a lot worse for Dumbledore if people talk about his victory and triumph all the times. I really feel sorry for him.

Lumos. That's the only magic word I remember from the all the stories. That's why I am not great. *sigh*. Expellarisum... anyway, whatever.

Artistic Room Service

This is the cable I used to connect my cell phone and the computer. Since I can use this cable to charge the phone battery, I prefer to take it with me on business travel instead of the bulky adaptor.

That morning I charged the battery and left it on the desk before I left the hotel room, and when I came back and saw this cable bundled this way, I was totally amazed. It looks so artistic to me. If I have to do it my self, I probably will fold the cable in half, and then another half after another one, and use a rubber to wrap them. I'll never imagine anyone can do better than this. Need to give the maid an A++.

Picture Together

Niece has this whole week off, and was very determined to come to Taipei to see her new cousin, so mom and her were here for the weekend. This picture is to mark the historic moment of the two women when they meet at the first time..

Their Name is "Parents" Part 8

I think this will be the last episode of "their name is parents" series, as I cannot find anything more exhilarating than a DV, and an expensive one, about 1500USD. It is HDTV ready, and come with, if I remember correctly, 5 or 6 million pixels of digital camera. Touch screen display makes it so easy to browse the video in the DV.

I was so excited to try it, and thought it is cool to finally try the video function in my iMac, like editing the videos, and then burning it to DVD and then sending my mom a copy, and later found that Apple computer does not take the MTS file format that DV records. Bummer. After a short google, it is such a hassle to find a way to work around. I just have to give up for now. Can't believe my Sony Ericsson cell phone, aka Mistress, works so happily with my iMac, but another Sony product does not. I need to give Sony a second thought now.

Cool Dog

October 10th is our last national holiday for 2007. October 10, 1911 is the day when people started a revolution and overturned Ching Dynasty. Anyway, too much history. We had fireworks in Taipei. MM and I were going, but we got there too early, so decided to visit the Apple shop, and played with iPod Touch.

On the way over, we saw a crowd of people flashing their camera. I had to find out what was going on. Oh man. they were taking picture of this dog, wearing a viking helmit and cool sun glasses. We looked around, but did not see sign for promotion or anything, so the guess is, the dog was there, people liked it, and started to take picture. This sweet pie was born to be a model, holding the position for a long long time. We could see him trembling like he was so tried from sitting still like this. Such a sweet little thing.

The certificate was delivered last Friday, but no one was home, so I had to pick it up myself at the post office. Long wait to get it. The class ended in late August, and I have just received the certificate in October. Still happy though. That was happy memory.

After Typhoon

The wind and rain died down dramatically today. I believe rain stopped at one point even. Anyway, I had a very bad headache. The brain is thirst for some caffeine, so I just had to go out to get some coffee. Love that Starbucks on weekends close to home. That area is very commercial, so on weekends it is awfully quiet. I've been to a few busy Starbucks on weekends, and normally am asked "have you secured a seat" before am asked "what can I get for you". But this one, quite different. I could take my time reading the newspaper, sipping my coffee, and still have time to daydream. Very pleasant.

Went to Eslite bookstore to look around. Tried to find some magazines, but there were all sold out. Bought one book on travel in Thailand. It is not like usual travel book which shows you all the fun places in Bangkok, and then copies some SPA centers and hotels from either their brochures or their website. No no. Not this one. This one is like a blog. The writer takes pictures and tells you a nice story of what she sees and what she thinks. She not only spent time on Bangkok and Chiang Mai, but also gives a good introduction of Suhkothai and Ayuthaya, which is what I need for my next trip.

There are certainly some leftover from the typhoon on the street. The street shown here is very close to my bus stop. It is quite a large tree, but still surrender to the strong wind.

Best Lunch for Typhoon Day

The wind is so strong. We were so lazy. Did not really want to cook for lunch, so decided to order pizza. Called Domino to see if they still delivered. Hm, it depends on where we live, and we live closer enough to their store. :-) The wind got a lot stronger after I called, and I felt so sorry for the person who had to deliver the pizza, who turned out to be a girl.

Lunch was wonderful. Love Domino. Whole lot better than Pizza Hut.

Typhoon Krosa Is Approaching.

Strong typhoon Krosa is approaching Taiwan at slow speed, so weather forecast says that we'll be affected the whole weekend. It is Friday evening now, and I can feel occasional strong wind and rain hitting my window panes already. Quite scary to think it is just the beginning. Saturday night to Sunday morning is when Krosa will land in Taiwan and hit her really hard. Mountains in northern Taiwan are expected to have rainfall of 30 inches to 40 inches. Krosa should have come one earlier, so we can have a long weekend again. *sigh*

24000

It looks like a painting, but is actually a jigsaw puzzle, featuring 24000 pieces. For a person who does not have the patience to finish 300, I can't imagine someone can finish a jigsaw puzzle this large. The initial guess is, the company made the whole thing, cut into pieces, and then never bother to take it apart. The jigsaw puzzle is in Dream Mall.

Lenovo T61

After having worked for the company for 3.5 years, finally came my compuater upgrade! There was nothing wrong with the old one, but with the new requirement of network security and new software, the model was getting old and the system response can be painfully slow sometimes. This new laptop has a Core 2 Duo 2.0G CPU and 2G of ram. It also has built-in fingerprint recognition and webcam. Built-in 11g WiFi is definitely a plus in the office environment when I sit in the meeting room, and need wireless access to some critical files. Widescreen makese it easier to use Outlook, as I can fit in more columns in the screen without having to resort to scroll bar to see the whole thing. 5 pounds is not light weight to carry it around, but I can deal with it. The overall rating is, love it.

Big Tummy

Kids are so cute. When they smile at you, you think you have the whole world. They are innocent, and straightforward, but also becausee of that, they may appear cruel.

Last Sunday, cousins wanted to go to Dream Mall in Kaohsiung and asked if we were interested to go together. Sure, why not. I did not have anything planned for Sunday anyway. So 2 cousins, mom, niece, and I went together.

Mom, niece and I sat on the back seat. Niece always has a fancy for my chubby cheeks, and double chins, as the way she put it. This time, on the way to Kaohsiung, since we did not have much to do anyway during this 1.5 hour trip, she started to fancy for my tummy, and moved her hands around it like polishing a crystal ball, muttering big tummy, big tummy, you have a big tummy.

I know I am speedying all thte way to becoming fat, and becoming a chubby bear (or pig) seems to be right on the horizon. But I also always imagine I was still the skinny boy I used to be, and niece's comment just highlights the huge gap between my dream and the reality.

But when this sweet devil smiles at me, how can I not love her?

PS: See the 31 flavors in the picture? We had to stop there for some dessert in the afternoon. We put it in the todo list right after we saw it. Such a treat.

Dream Lights

This picture was also taken in Dream Mall. We were just window shopping on second floor, and these lights got our attention. They opened a series of openings on the floor, and installed the lights at the same height of the visitors' eyes on the second floor. So from the first floor, these are just lights hanging from the above, but from the second floor, these flights, at different heights, create a very interesting artistic effect. At first I thought they must have installed mirrors to create this dream like atomosphere, but no, it is simply because there are too many lights. Cousins and I were all so fascinated and have to take some pictures.

Apple Influence

I was surprised when I walked into this restroom. This is a public restroom in Dream Mall in Kaohsiung.

There are only 3 urinals, all shiny clean, with 2 beautiful green partitions covered with, again, shiny white covers. This restroom design is really a copycat of Apple's . The green is from iPod Nano, the wave-like texture reminds me of the sleeve you can buy and put on your iPod Nano. and the white cover with 4 round metals? Geez, I can't remember the model name, but it is from Apple too, maybe the first few models of iMac. That was a standalone machine, with few screws on the front cover. Other companies would not wait to hide the screws, but Apple used them as decoration to show off their outstanding industrial design. Still remember I stood at Fry's in front of those machines for their good design. Now, you can see it again in this beautiful restroom.

Glad that no one was there. It was early enough in the afternoon, so the mall was still quiet. It would be strange to be found taking pictures of the restroom, especially when my cell makes such big noise when the shutter clicks.

Starbucks in Tainan

Back to Tainan this weekend. When I told my mom that I was not coming back to Tainan for Moon Festival (long weekend, 4 days), I knew I had to make some compensation to make her happy. So I proposed to come back on Friday evening for the weekend, and then go back to Taipei Monday morning. Since my office is very close to Taipei domestic airport, it is no problem for me to rush to the airport after work, and then go to work directly from the airport on Monday morning.

Terribly hot in Tainan and humid. I had to run to Starbucks to get cool, and also to have a cup of coffee. My head is aching from lack of caffeine (writing this and only remembering the sound of the word, I almost wrote coffin. Why do people use 'o' for coffee, and use 'a' for things that got extracted from coffee? Dictionary.com, thank you!). Now I am sitting on the second floor, right by the glass windows, overlooking the campus of Cheng Kung University. This is the new part of the campus. None of the buildings was here when I went to senior high school in the same neighborhood. Kind of pretty actually, as I can see a lot of trees by the roads. It is amazing.

I also brought Harry Potter with me. I pre-ordered the book so early, but have not finished it. Shameful. Gonna read few chapters while I have nothing to do here.

Lust, Caution

Watched Lust Caution, and I was so impressed with this movie. I love Brokeback Mountain, because Ang Lee did a very good job telling the story following the original storyline. He revived the story on the screen. Some additional scenes are added, but not much, just enough to add some depths to it. But in Lust Caution, a lot is added. The author is a minimalist. In the original story, not a lot is told in the story, but a very solid story is outlined. Ang Lee added a lot of flesh to it to make it a whole complete story. He convinced me what he presented on the screen is exactly the same as what Eileen Chang thought when she completed the story.

A lot of attention was paid to the sex scene, I just have to say I paid too much attention to their interaction, how their faces are telling different stories in different sex scene, silently that I did not think too much about it at all. And those scenes lead to a latter statement when the actress broke down and dobuted what she had to do. Good job done.

At the end of the movie, I sat through the acknowlegement. Was glad to see some names in traditional Chinese, some in simplified Chinese. Obviously some are from Taiwan, some from China, and they show their respect how the names are written. I like that.

Wanna recommend this movie. I know I'll want to revise this post later, but just wanna get some preliminary idea first.

New iPod Product

Apple just recently released new iPod products. I got to play with new iPod Nano. The feeling is very mixed. I do like the new screen that has great resolution, and offers good experience when it plays movies, but also have to agree with some critics that cover flow shows edges, and in my opinion, apple should refines the cover flow before the product release, or commit a date when they will release firmware update. It is not presentable at all, and comes as a suprrise that this is from Apple. Back cover is now shiny metal. It's very easy to leave fingerprints on it, and is also bad. The edge of the front cover is on the sharp side. I may not want to hold it in my hand on the bus to show it off, as it may hurt my palm and fingers. It also looks fat and short. If you put this new version along side with the previous slim version, I think there is an easy winner.

The store also has a demo machine iTouch. Did not have a chance to actually play with it, but it looks great, and simmer than I expected. Would like to go back to that store to try its browser. I always have some doubts if browser is really easy to use since you only get to see a very small portion of the website. But from the few glimpse of the gadget, the money seems really worth it.

Lancome? Biotherm? Beer!

Lancome and Biotherm have their sales today and tomorrow. Of course MM and I have to be there to see if we can get any bargain. The place was not decorated at all. They just put some tables together, put a set of testers on the table, and they could start their sale. Busy! I am glad that we decided to go there first before dinner, and we actually beat the crowd. I got some facial masks for around 70% off. Shopping is so fun!

Then we went for dinner in a beer restaurant. They brew their own beer. Hm.. wondering if it is legal to brew your own beer and sell it in Taiwan. Anyway, beer is great, food is acceptable, but the live music? omg, Bad music can really hurt business than no music at all, let me tell ya. I felt so relieved when he finsihed a song, and had to jump to my feet and applaud when he had to 'excuse me' to take a break.

Then looked around in the bookstore. Saw a few books on Ang Lee. Books on Lust Caution have already hit the shelves. Interesting. Also browsed Sex and the City to revive the women's life again, then came home, and left my umbrella in the bus. Damn!

Typhoon Wipha

Typhoon Wipha is coming this way to Taipei area. It was quite gusty sometimes when I came home from work. Stopped at the evening market to pick up some veggies, and tofus. It was quite challenging already trying to fight the crowd to get food, and to balance among backpack, umbrella, and food. Taipei announced a day off on Tuesday (yeah~~), but since I took the laptop home, and could call in for the phone meetings, so I'll still need to work tomorrow (no~~). According the weather forecast, northern Taiwan will be affected by Wipha all day long on Tuesday. It is now midnight, and is raining quite hard, and I can really feel the wind (and it feels quite good as a matter of fact).

Love, Sin?

Sony released their new T200 camera. Someone post a report on mobile01. Such lovely red color! The camera looks just like mine. Another perfect example of love at the first sight. MM recommended to add an agenda to try the real thing on weekends, and that's what I'm gonna do. It is really a sin to make something so beautiful. I can't refrain myself from getting the credit card out. Help me! Aaaaarrgh~

Tuesdays with Morrie

This is the third book of Mitch Albom's that I finished in quite a short period of time. Very well written, I'd say, but as I finished 3 very quickly, I feel the same writing styles across all 3. It was quite interesting to read the first, but the third? I felt that's it.

The topics mentioned in the book is really worth spending time to think about, but then you'll realize the idea in the book is quite realistic. Life is a series of making choices. We just can't expect to have everything, and have to learn to compromise between conflicts. It will be a blessing to balance between work and life. Is it too much to invest too much time on work to accomplish at the expense of family life? Nope, as long as you realize in advance this is what you have to pay, then proceed without regreat. Some people choose family life, and some choose to balance between two. Why whining if you have made a choice?

Promenade

I was dusting my bookshelf this morning and happened to see this postcard. Quite a good souvenir when I look at it now. The name of this painting is "Promenade" if I remember it corrently, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Getty Museum in Los Angeles has a very good collection of impressist painting, and Promenade is one of them. Still remember how happy I was when I visited there the first time and saw the collection. Did not expect it and probably stayed there for about an hour, and was determined to get a postcard. This is a thing to remember.

Heineken Green Tea

I don't normally like sugar in my tea or coffee. Sugar always leaves some funny after taste, and I always feel like having bad breath because of it. But things may change a little bit now.

Heineken Green Tea is a new drink, and is quite popular. I had heard of it, but always thought the idea was funny and never wanted to try. I have been quite fond of Heineken recently, and few days ago found a very cheap source in a bargain grocery store (this is a different story), and got a dozen of it. Was thinking of having something different way to drink it, and Heineken Green Tea came to my mind. After some search, the recipe is surprisingly simple: Heineken and green tea with passion fruit flavor. Start with 1:1 combination and adjust accordingly to your preference if you like it sweeter or prefer more beer taste.

Green tea with passion fruit is very sweet, but when it mixes with Heineken, the bitterness from the beer is gone, and the sweetness from the tea is weaked a lot. The drink now has very smooth texture, and has such wonderful aroma from passion fruit. After some tweaking, my favorite recipe is Heineken:tea=6:4.

I was able to finish the whole thing within 30 minutes. It was great and I was too thirsty.

Because I Said So

Starring Diane Keaton. I did not expect a whole lot before I went, so I did not have any disappointment. Just a fun thing to watch a stupid movie and get a good laugh out of it. Diane is a mother of 3 daughters in the movie. To avoid her daughter from making the same mistake like she did, she put up a personal, and interviewed guys for her daughter. Come on, this sounds so un-American! Look, they put all kinds of weirdos for the interview, and then the last person is a successful handsome young guy. Of course there is an easy winner. Then there is just a serious of events when women scream... Just picture it.

Lust, Caution

Lust, Caution, Ang Lee's latest movie, just won him the second Golden Lion at Venice. His first Golden Lion was Brokeback Mountain in 2005. When Lust Caution was premiered in Venice, everyone was shocked at how intense the 3 sex scenes are. Newspapers paid more attention to how the actor exposes his balls in the film, instead of how the sex scenes are trying to tell them.

Eileen Chang, the author of Lust Caution, is one of the greatest writers in the 20th century. Her writing always gives me a sense of movement. I feel that there was a camera in her mind when she wrote, and she knew how to manipulate the camera well in very simple and compact words. She definitely knows how to abstract the story. Sometimes it gives you more to think about if you do not know all the details, and that's how she dealt with Lust Caution. She did not tell how the 2 main characters developed their affections, but the main point was that the female character tried to approach the guy, just to assasinate him, but she ended up falling in love with him, and told him to run when her group planned the whole action and everyone was ready. He ran away, but, in return, told his men to get the whole group and kill them all. We all believe this includes her, but of course Eileen did not say that. Ang Lee wants to use the 3 sex scenes to tell the audience how their love evolves with the story, and I think that is a clever thing to do. That is the untold story in this story.

But, we'll have to wait until end of September for the movie to premiere in Taiwan. I'll definitely go watch it. By the way, I love Eileen Chang. Her early stories are so compact and great. I believe she gives a sense of defeat to those who want to be writers, because they know they'll never be this good. She finished all her major stories in her early twenties.

Bridge Color

I was on my way to the gym. The bus stopped at that intersection, and I saw the yellow color on the bridge. Not sure if it has been there for a while or what, the color looks interesting to me. I think I've seen blue color on the bridge, but yellow color? This is the first time.

Earthquake

I was awaken last night by earthquake. It took me about 3 seconds (could be longer!) to realize what was going on. I swear I heard my windows rattling. Everything was shaking. I ran to the bathroom door right away. According to bro's analysis, there are 2 major supporting columns in the bathroom, and the safest spot is the bathroom door. So there I was, waiting for bro to bring the baby, rush out and hide. Nothing happened. I guess the princess really wore them out. Need to ask them tonight if they realized there was an earthquake even! Later the news said it happened at 1:51am, at 6.6 on the Richter scale. Epicenter is in the ocean somewhere south east of Taipei. Major aftershock happened at 1:55am, at 5.7, but I was too tired to open my eyes. The scale was 3 in Taipei. I have to say that 3 is scary enough. The sleep turned out to be not so good after all.

Maokong Gondola

MM's birthday today. It was cool and did not rain, so we decided to try Maokong Gondola.

Maokong Gondola just recently opened few months ago. Very easy to get to the station. Just take the brown line of the mass transit to the last stop, and walk 300m, and you'll be there. Quiet night tonight. We did not have to wait more than a minute to get on the gondola. Ride was smooth, but when the gondola went over a pole, it was a bit jerky. We got on the gondola from Taipei Zoo station, and the destination is Maokong. Very disappointing at Maokong. The city opened up this ride, but did not plan very well in Maokong, which is a quite famous place for tea. Many people will go to Maokong to see tea farm, have tea at the tea house, or simply go hiking. But when we get to the Maokong Gondola station, we did not see clear information where to go. We saw a sign saying for this tea house, its number is B16, for that tea house, its number is B10, blah blah blah, but did not know how to get to those places. We stayed there for like 20 minutes, and decided to come back.

Ride itself was fun. The night view was very good. Quiet ride with sounds from frogs, crickets, dogs, and laughters of course. 50NT for one way is really worth it. I'll try the day ride some day.

Jim Thompson's House

Jim Thompson's House is right by the river, within walking distance from MBK center. Visitors have to pay admission of 100 bahts to get in, but also gets guided tour to show around the house. It is nice of them make it compulsory to get guided tour, as it is more interesting to have the tour guide tell me the history when Mr. Thompson had several traditional Thai houses connected together to simulate a western house, or when he had the walls installed inside out, just because he wanted to see the patterns of the outside wall when he sat in his comfy chairs. You can get some food and drink in the coffee shop, or visit their gift shop to buy some Thai silk. Thai silk merchandise is very expensive in the gift shop though. You can get a much better competitive price from Chatujak market.

Change

It looks run down, but it used to be the 7-11 I shopped every day. I would get off the bus in the morning, walk into this 7-11, grabbed a box of milk, take a look of the headlines on the newspaper, and then walk forward to a bakery to get some bread, and head off to the office. One day I wanted to enter the store, but the automatic would not open. Being in an auto-pilot mode, I was not thinking, and almost hit the door head-on. The employee popped out his head and said this store was closed. No warning, no sign, no nothing. Not fair to their regular customers. Then I saw the merchandize was removed, the shelves, and now the whole place seems to be stripped completely naked. So this is the ugly fact under the well decorated convenience store. I can't wait to see the new store move in, and will post another picture for a nice comparison.

Tamsui Sunset

First weekend after the Chinese class is over. MM and I went to Tamsui in the evening. It started to rain after we left the MRT station, but the rain did not last very long. This is my first time to be in Tamsui at that time to greet sunset. Gorgeous color. We chose a BBQ restaurant, an ok outdoor table, chatted, and see the mountain turning from blue, greyish blue, to different shades of black. Lights from the other side of the river made up a band of color in the distance. It was quite enjoyable to see the color transition.

Ratatouille

Bro said he saw two little house guests the other day, and they have already marked their visit shamelessly, as shown in the picture. We just have to evacuate as much food from the kitchen as possible. Rice, noodles, sugar, you name it. Anything wrapped with plastic all have to go. Bro also set up baits and traps at night, but so far they are still at large. Not sure how long we'll have to put up with their existence, but I have already made up my mind that I'm gonna scream, run away to work and have bro take care of it if they do get caught. However I still have the slightest hope that someday when I come home, I'll see a bunch of rats cooking French cuisine.. wahaha, dream on.

Their Name is "Parents" Part 7

Can't wait for another episode of "Their Name is Parents"? Here you go.

This is a tiny machin to warm up milk. What happens is parents' bedroom is on one side of the apartment, and the kitchen is on the other. So parents have to run to the kitchen to microwave the milk, then the princess may wanna play for a little bit, milk gets cold, and parents need to make another run, then the princess plays difficult, milk gets cold, tired parents run.. So they decided to buy this tiny machine, so it's right there in the bedroom, within reach, no need to leave the princess unattneded, even for just a few minutes. OMG, I'm crying.

Diana

It has been 10 years since Diana passed away. Why is her death so significant for me? Actually no. She was merely a distant celebrity for me. But I do remember the day when I saw the news on TV, and the image is still so vivid in my memory.

That was a sunny afternoon. I was in Hoping Island, Keelung, in the living room watching TV. Not very comfortable chair, as we picked it up from the trash pile. That's what students do. It was luxury to have TV, and we connected cable from the neighbor so we did not have to pay for it. I was shocked when I saw the news, turned around and talked to J about it. Then I walked up to the balcony, stretched, and took a deep breath. Very sunny that day. I always loved that balcony and salty smell of the air. We had a few talks on the news, and lamented when Diana was pronounced dead. And then I can see the bookshelves that lay on the floor, the speakers we borrowed from a friend, the 486 computer that could not play MP3 at 128bit quality, the fridge which is home to so many roaches. Did not realized I still remember these until when I watched the movie 'the Queen', and now the image has its re-run.

10 years is a long time to change a lot of things. While you are busy with your career, those memories can be triggered and come back at any time. There can be pain, happiness, sorrow, anger, or any combinations of them, but you know you've gone a long way, and what you were and what you have been through make you what you are today. Now I don't remember too much about 1997 other than I made my first trip to US, to El Paso, Texas. But now I'll always remember Diana's death and that afternoon and the place I called home.

Last Day of Chinese Teaching Class

Yesterday was the last day of my Chinese teaching class. We had oral test in the morning and written test in the afternoon. During the oral test, we were given some reading material to test how well we pronounce Chinese, and 5 minutes to comment how we are doing in the whole training, what our recommendations are, and if/how we are going to explore this teaching career. I did ok in the reading material part, and was quite proud when I could read some sentimental material quite well, with some emotion of course. But the 5 minutes' comment was a total disater. My brain was total blank, and the next thing I realized is that I was using hm.. arhhh. ehhh to try to come out with some meaningful sentences, which is exactly what the teacher specifically asked us not to do. A reason to be mad at myself.

Written test was ok. Test time was 2 hours, and I was able to finish the whole thing in 50 minutes. Not that I am able to get a perfect score, but I figured I just did the best I could, and do not foresee I would fail or anything. I also realized I probably have not written so much, for so long, for a long long time. The last time was when I took the entrance exam to this training, and that happened 3 months ago.

After we finished the whole thing, 7 of us went to have some ice on campus, then we headed for dinner. Korean BBQ. The place is quite nice and popular. We sat in a corner and joked too much that I was glad we were put in the corner. Have not had such good laugh for a long while. After that, 5 of us went to Red House Plaza for a drink. Some ordered lychee wine, some Heineken green tea, some maitai. I ordered Long Island ice tea. Ice tea was quite strong. I started to feel drunk after I finished just a quarter. A lot of self disclosure time. Weather was ok. Breezy, not sure if that was natural breeze or just from the fan. We stayed there for 2+ hours, and did not leave until around 10pm.

It was a very nice day.

Gift from Japan

MM just returned from Japan and brought me this shirt. Pink color with blue and purple strips. I tried it on and it fits me quite well. It stayed on me for the rest of day.

WoW New Hat

New hat for my warlock. Now the face turns blue and there is a dark whirl behind the shoulders. The blue mask on the face is not a static mask, but it vibrates a bit like blue fire. Pretty cool visual effect.

Caught

Working 5 days in a row, and then going to school for another 2 days on the weekends can turn out quite daunting. So I feel tired sometimes in the classroom, and need to doze for few seconds... and someone happened to bring a camera and took the evidence. I swear I was consciously checking the inside of my eyelids..

Typhoon

Typhoon is gone, and this is what it left us with. Had a day off yesterday from the class, and the class is pushed out to next Sunday. So now the last day of the class will be next Sunday, instead of Saturday as originally planned. Will still have to study both days next weekend. Now I can't wait for it to finish..

Lost and Found

I took Harry Potter with me to China but left it behind at the hotel when I checked out. Did not realize that until I was unpacking. Since my coworker still would stay in the hotel for another week, so I thought I could just ask him to take it back for me. Called the hotel, and the lady insisted that my coworker should leave a copy of his ID if he wanted to take in on my behalf for 'security' reason. What security reason? I kept asking her. All she could do was to apologize and repeat that copy of ID is required for security reason. I hanged up. Later the manager called and asked who my coworker is and said they could deliver the book to his room. I still don't understand if I can identify myself where the book was found, and identify I had lived there, then what 'security' problem can this book lead to, and how a copy of my coworker's ID can possibly solve the security issue. So much for this stupid SOP.

Le Petit Prince

Musical "Le Petit Prince" is in town. MM got tickets early, so we have the best seats of the cheapest tickets. Nice view from the 4th floor. No effort at all to see the whole stage. The only disturbing thing is to have to juggle between French subtitle, Chinese subtitle and the performance on the stage. Nice to be able to understand part of the French lyrics, but changing the eye focus all the times was killing me. Music was fine. The kid playing the little prince could have improved a bit. His voice turns quite weak and unstable in high pitch. The guy playing author is pretty ok. Stage is a bit simple. They could have filled the stage a bit more.

After the show, we were the last ones to walk out of the show, so we took our time and walked down the red carpet like movie stars, and had pictures taken. MM actually was lucky to have her picture taken with the prince as shown. We had too much fun there taking pictures, shamelessly, at the age of 3x.

Costumes..

I took this picture one Saturday afternoon after I finished the class. Many people love comics so much that they want to be part of the comics, or look like the characters in the comics. They get together once in a while to show off their costumes. Many people bring their high end camera to take picturers. This is the first time when I feel my cell phone is so inferior..

Their Name is "Parents" Part 6

This is the bed for the kid. Bed frame is white color, with pink padding and pillow inside. If you make it the size for adults, that would be so romantic to sleep in there..