Definitely, Maybe

Interesting movie. The guy has just gone through a divorce. When his daughter asks him how he and her mom fell in love, he shares his love life, but there were 3 girls, not just one, and he wants his daughter to guess which woman is her mom.

Pretty interesting storyline. It is romantic and funny. The way the daughter wants her dad to stop the story, and the screen pauses and the way she asks for a rewind are fun. Although in the end the man realizes his true love is another girl, and the daughter wants him to make up with the girl. Of course it is a happy ending. Come on, this is American movie, but I still don't buy that.

Citizen Digital Certificate

I got my Citizen Digital Certificate today. It is almost that time of the year to file tax return. With this certificate, I can just download my tax information from the government website. No more need to type all the information myself.

Another compelling reason is, as a registered Taipei citizen, I can get a card reader free. I have been told a hundred times how convenient it is to use a card reader for online banking, but never went to get one. So I installed the driver, connected the reader to the computer, keyed in my password, and voila, I was paying my credit card from my computer.

It is cool, but still not as good as paying bill online with my Band of America account, which does not even require a card reader.

American Idol David Cook

Very amazing performance for the night. I have to agree with Simon regarding Karaoke hell. It is a shame that when I hear good performance, it always seems so short. I don't know how Mariah Carey interprets this song, so for me it sounds like David made it, or it was made for David, and he looks hot.

Cherry Trees in Tainan

On the way to Grandmom's funeral, I saw these trees in a taxi. The pink flowers creates a small pretty corner in this ugly part of town, like a gem, and I vowed to come back to take some photos.

Funeral started at 6am on Sunday and by the time we left the temple, it was after 1pm. Everyone was exhausted, and just wanted to have something cold to drink. I did not go back on Sunday. Yesterday morning I go up early and rode my bicycle to visit the cherry trees. Beautiful still, but pink petals on the sidewalk had been removed. It was not bright enough to show its vivid color yet.

It was early enough in the morning. The street was very quiet. One couple was taking their walk around the parking lot. I took some photos, and stopped at the McDonald's nearby to buy some coffee.

Insurance Company vs Platform 9 3/4?

"Passengers going to Kenting and Hualien, please proceed to platform 9 3/4." This ad from Zurich insurance company is kind of bad. It hangs by the restroom of Tainan HSR (High Speed Rail) station. A police stood there watching this ad when I went into the restroom, and was still there when I came out few minutes later. Totally confused, he finally asked a passenger nearby what it means.

Of course I know platform 9 3/4. But to link the platform, insurance company and Kenting, Hualien together is really beyond my imagination. Looking at this plain ad, I don't even think the reason can be funny or creative.

EEE PC 900

Asus just released their new eee pc. More memory (1G vs 512M for the 1st generation), more SSD hard drive space (12G for Windows version vs 4G for the 1st generation), better video cam (1.3M pixels vs .3M). More important of all, 8.9" screen, instead of original pathetic 7" screen. 8.9 inch looks significantly larger than 7". Now this thing looks too good to resist.

CKS Memorial Hall & Banchiao

I had lunch with MM at CKS Memorial Hall and took some pictures there. Then I went to Banchiao hoping to buy some bean curd for snack, but was unable to find the store.

Keelung Night Market

I felt the need to go somewhere, do something that I enjoy doing alone. Going to Keelung was a nice choice. I had not been back for a while.

Lucky to wait only 15 minutes for the bus. Later I realized it only runs every 30 minutes. There was not that much traffic on the freeway. It took only 30 minutes one way. Considering that it takes me 50 minutes to get to Taipei main station, Keelung is really a lot closer.

Gloomy weather in Keelung. I strolled down the street, and did not see that many changes. Walking to the night market is easy. Huge crowd at 4pm. Isn't it supposed to a night market? There is some minor change though: more street vendors in the middle of the street leaving less space for people to walk. That is the problem. Chiang Mai's Sunday market is really better. Cool weather, wide street, larger, more to see. I felt quite relaxing in Chiang Mai. Yesterday it was a bit messy. There was just not enough space.

Food is still good. Price has gone up quite a bit. A good place to half a day.

Good Music from WoW Movie

Blutwächter vs Lady Vashj from Zurak on Vimeo.

I was reading WoW forum, clicking around this morning and came across this video. After watching so many WoW movies, I get tired of long boring opening. If the video maker wants to show how to kill the boss, or their wonderful skill to fight, just get down to the business. Long opening really makes me yawn.

I was a bit bored at the beginning watching this one too, then the music starting at 1:32 got my attention. WoW movie normally uses loud music, but this one gives a very special feeling. When the fight starts at 6 minute, it changes to loud music, so I simply stopped. Music quality is surprisingly good. Bass is very clear. I likee it and played a few times, until brother knocked at the door to complain all he could hear is boom boom boom.

American Idol David Archuleta

Pretty good performance. I hope they release singles like last year, and I want this song from David.

More on Google Docs

I like Google docs in a way that I expect the world (ok, exaggeration) to be connected all the times, and I can have a single file depository from difference devices (list for my wishful thinking: a linux box, my iMac, 3G iPhone, PSP, playing hooky at work using company computer). Today I am trying to publish to this blog from Google docs, and found something good and something bad.

Good things:

• I can drag and drop files to the folder. So easy and no-brainer. I was surprised drag-and-drop has been implemented on browser though. Nice feature.
• When the file is 'added' to the folder, it is not physically 'moved' to the folder. Instead, a 'link' is created in the folder. This is very nice. My problem with Windows is that I have to create many documents at work, and of course I create lots of folders to put those documents in place. Because many documents may be similar in nature, and can be placed in lots of folders. I find myself looking for files through folders a lot. Google Docs makes one file depository, and I can easily see which folders are the files placed in, and I can, on the other hand, put the same file in lots of folders. As shown in the attached picture, file "Blogging from Google Docs" is placed in both "Computer" folder and "Misc" folder.
  

Bad things:

• After I published to this blog, the title was not there. I expected the title of the document to be the title of the article, but it did not happen. I also cannot add labels to my article. So I'll have to sign on Blogger and manually add labels to the article. After some search on the internet, obviously this is common problem, and there is no solution right now. Without the title and the labels, no one will want to publish from Google docs to make their blogs messy, which renders this function useless.
  

Secret Journey

A 7-year-old girl shot her mother when the parents had a fight, which traumatizes her even in her adulthood. The father assumed the responsibility to protect the girl and was put in jail for 12 years. Father, son and daughter made up a story to tell everyone, but the truth unveils gradually to the audience.

The son appears calm and cool the whole time insinuating he has more to tell. He is the only person to protect his sister, and they have a very intimate but troubling connection. Her interview with the performing coach also suggests her fear. Good thing is they both find their love. The brother's broad smile is liberating.