Sayonara, Trainer

This is a quotation for personal trainer at the gym. Each hour cost 1575NTD. They quote 24 hours for 37800NTD. This is so so expensive. I've been thinking of (for 10 days) having my eyes lasiked, and according to the internet, it costs around 32000NTD to have both eyes done. So I really cannot justify spending that much on gaining a few pounds of muscle. Tempting but not necessary. So although this trainer is really cute, I still have to utter a sigh and whisper good bye, with tears rolling in my eyes of course. Sayonara, trainer.

Bellywash...

It was the day when C and T came to town. We scheduled to meet for dinner, but I got there early, and had an hour to kill. I wanted to find a coffee shop so I could sit down, have a cup of coffee, and do some more work. That's when I saw this store.

Interesting name. Although I know brainwash does not mean someone actually physically wash the brain, but it still gave me a good laugh to think washing someone's tummy. From dictionary.com , bellywash means any barely drinkable liquid or beverage, as inferior soda, beer, coffee, or soup.

Rain Rain Rain

It has been hot for so many days in a row. With temperature going up to 38 degrees C (ok, do the math for Fahrenhait! :-) ) and ultraviolet index reaching dangerous zone, it has been such a blessing to have to work, staying in the office to get cool. Thanks dad! Thanks mom! for giving me education.

Today, right before I was heading out of office to get lunch, it started to rain, and rained really really hard. Not pouring down rain yet, but each raindrop was so huge that it really hurt when it hit me. I simply walked across the street and my pants started to get wet from the knees down. Street vendors were smiling so much that they could not keep the mouth shut as it was much cooler, so they did not have to tolerate the heat as much. I was not a happy camper when my pants were still damm (or damn? or what?) at 3pm. They stink. :-(

Harry Potter Came in Mail.

Harry Potter came in mail today. It makes this blue Monday more interesting. I opened the box and put it on my desk for the day, and this corner looks gorgeous.

Sayonara, Doctor

The blue sign in the center of the picture is the doctor I go to for my lower back pain. I had had this pain for over a year before I went to this doctor. Just after the first visit, the pain was alleviated by quite a bit. Like a miracle for me at that time. He used acupucture and massage for the treatment. Very effective. But unfortunately he is closing this clinic today. The construction shown in the picture will be part of the mass transit system in Taipei. As this extended brown line will be finished in few years, I guess all the landlords in this area cannot wait to raise the rent when the lease needs to be renewed. I have seen restaurant closing, grocery store closing, McDonald's closing, now this clinic. Sad.

Their Name is "Parents" Part 4

Another gadget, FLASH! This is a very nice flash, but, expensive. Close to 400USD I think. Camera accessories are expensive, but according to my brother, among all those top pier accessories, flashes are the most affordable, and this one is just one of them.

OK, it flashes, so what? Well, it has remote control function. So you don't have to attach the flash to the camera if you don't want to. Just detach it and put it whereever needs more light, and with minimum selections on the camera, you click, and it flashes, remotely!

OK, it still flashes. That's what it does. *shrug*

The Day of 2007?

New polo shirt, new jeans. Special occasion, special person. Having shared the day of 2005, now I start to wonder if this could be the day of my 2007.

Terracotta Mug

Got this mug from terracotta exhibit in National Museum of History last week. Been too busy this past week hanging out and all that, so the mug just sat there on the desk gathering dust. Today I said good bye to C. Came to the office, and decided to wash this mug to make a cup of coffee. Early morning, it was quiet. Quite a quality time to spend in the office having breakfast and checking news. One headline caught my attention. It is regarding the shocking news from China that some people chopped up card board and mixed it in the meat to make pork buns. T started the conversation and we watched the Japanese news from YouTube, had a good laugh. This morning, this headline said that this news is bogus. TV station in Beijing made it up, just to get attention, and to fight against all the competition from other TV stations. They did get international attention, but now it turns out to be international embarrassment.

But could this news saying the bun news is bogus is actually bogus?

the Road

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, recommended by L.

Terracotta is in town!

Terracotta is in town, in National Museum of History. The exhibit is not really large, but the terracottas are just simply amazing. I've heard of it so many times that every single face is unique, that they are of the same scale of the real people. I've read about it so many times that, ok, this is what it looks like. Well, seeing the real thing really blew me away. When I get to closely look at all the detail work, when I get to see the real thing from the right, from the left, from the back even, from all kinds of angles, I started to be amazed at how beautiful these things are.

This exhibit will be in Taipei until end of July. Their audio guide is good, but unfortunately it is only in Chinese.

The museum set up a few terracotta replicas in front of the museum for people to take pictures. The first picture shows me and him, and omg, are my jeans too small or something? Where is my gym bag?

The second picture is taken in the botanical garden right behind the museum. The lotus pond is very pretty. The red building in the far side of the picture is the National Museum of History.

Taipei 101, Yes I do

Taipei 101 is running a promotion. People can pay to have what they want to say show on the building. I barely remember something like 1 milllion USD, but need to dig out what is the 1 million good for. Pretty commercial, huh? I wonder how many girls will cry and say yes when they see their boyfriend's proposal on it, and how many will lament the money that could have been spent in the better way, and plan they should take control of the finance at home once they marry.

I think I want a Versace... er?

I took the first one in the late afternoon thinking it was pretty cool. Later, mei-mei said that there is something else on the other side, so we walked over to take some more.

Their Name is "Parents" Part 3

Stroller was delivered today. It has a very beautiful pink color. Very easy to use. Push one button, shake it once, and you can fold it into a compact size. Light weight, all kinds of nice features for parents, also cost an arm and a leg.

Their Name is "Parents" Part 2

So memory card for the new Nikon D80 came today. That is a whopping 4G memory card. 20MB/sec of data transfer rate is guarateed. With the best resolution, each RAW picture needs about 9M of data, so this card can hold up to 500 pictures. That's pretty good.

Joke

Bill Clinton, Al Gore and George W. Bush went to a fitness spa for some fun. After a stimulating, healthy lunch, all three decided to visit the men's room and they found a strange-looking gent sitting at the entrance.

He said, "Welcome to the gentlemen's room. Be sure to check out our newest feature, a mirror that, if you look into it and say something truthful, you will be rewarded with you wish. But," he warned, "if you say something false, you will be sucked into the mirror to live in a void of nothingness for all eternity!"

The three men quickly entered and upon finding the mirror, Bill Clinton stepped up and said "I think I'm the most intelligent of us three," and he suddenly found the keys to a brand new Bentley in his hands.

Al Gore stepped up and said, "I think I'm the most aware of the environmental problems of us three," and in an instant, he was surrounded by a pile of money to fund his next Presidential Campaign.

Excited over the possibility of finally having a wish come true, George W. Bush looked in the mirror and said, "I think . . . .," and was promptly sucked into the mirror.

Their Name Is "Parents"

My bro and sis-in-law really surprised me by this big ticket item, Nikon D80. Very nice camera. Looks absolutely professional. Sounds simply terrific. Pricing at 1000+ USD, I know this is all for their little cute lovely daughter. They are parents.

Technical information: 10 million pixels, 3 frames per second, ISO 100~1600.

Yahoo Photos Will Stop The Service

I was checking my MSN account for email. Dunno why but I did it. I guess I was bored to tears. I have not checked emails in the account for AGES! Well, one email caught my attention. Yahoo! Photos is closing! That is an OMG. I have used Yahoo! Photos to share pictures with friends for a few years, and I have actually considered Yahoo Photos a good place to store my precious pictures, as a backup just in case if my hard drive fails, and I can still resort to it for my precious. After moving so many times here and there, and changing computers a few times, it really does a good job. Now it is closing. I just have to download them as soon as I can and find another place...

Attached is one photo from my albums in Yahoo Photos. I went to Ying-ge and made the artwork on the pots. I use one as my pencil holders in my cubical and one in the lab, and put one on the shelf for decoration. They look nice.

Chinese-Teacher-To-Be

So it is the second half of 2007. Time to schedule another vacation, and time to have some changes to spice up the life! For the latter, I enrolled in a training how to teach foreigners Chinese as the second language. Click here for information

The schedule is very tight for someone with employment. The classes fall on every Saturday and Sunday, 9am till 12pm, and 2pm till 5pm, for 8 weeks. Well, at the beginning, I thought that I only need an hour during lunch time to grab some quick lunch, but it turns out that I had to doze in Starbucks for an hour after lunch. I could have snored in Starbucks, but I did not care. I was so tired.

Having been through the first weekend, I think the classes are pretty good, and all 3 teachers I have seen are knowledgeable, and confident. Some are professors from the college, so they teach how Chinese characters evolve over time. Some are experienced Chinese teachers, so they share how to pronounce Chinese accurately, and what problems students may have in certain pronunciation when they are from certain countries and why, and how we can help solve the issue.

The only thing I'm not so sure of is if I can survive 8 weeks...