Kindle for iPod Touch

Amazon released their Kindle 2. Kindle 2 certainly looks sexier than the first generation. It is thinner, has more capacity, etc, but, it is rather expensive, and I am not sure if it will work in Taiwan.

I am pleased to know that Amazon released their Kindle software for iPod Touch/iPhone. Installation was a breeze. No problem at all. Download can never be simpler. I did not purchase anything, but requested a sample of the first chapter of one book. And when I ran the software on iPod again, it was downloaded. Very very simple. The bad thing is that magazines are not available on iPod Touch. Some magazines on Kindle are really affordable. Even though iPod Touch comes with built-in browser, I still find it easier to browse the books on my computer and order from there. Ordering from built-in browser is possible, but not all websites can be optimized for iPod Touch.

Wrong Number

I stayed in Tainan over the past weekend, and would really like to get together with Lawrence. I was supposed to get together with him over Chinese New Year, but did not stay in Tainan for very long. 2 days of staying home doing chores with mother before CNY, staying home on the New Year day, playing with niece and nephew the next day, and visiting grandmother and taking family to Kaohsiung for a visit, which turned out to be quite a disaster, and on Jan 4th on Lunar calendar, I came back to Taipei.

Last Saturday, I called his cell phone, but it went directly to voice mail. I tried to call his home phone, which, for some reason, I remember by heart. Now I can only remember a handful of numbers, and his home number is one of them.

An old lady answered the phone. I assume she was his mother, so I talked politely,
May I talk to Lawrence, please?
Old lady replied, "Law- what?"
"Lawrence, please."
"But he does not live here."
"Could you tell me his current home number, please?"
"I do not know where he lives."

At this point, I was not sure how I could proceed, and after I hanged up the phone, I was terrified. I knew he had moved back with his parents last year, when We met last year. He did not mentioned any conflict with his folks, nor did not he mention any financial problems, or anything. So why did he move out and even his mother does not know anything about his current status?

This question bothered me the whole weekend. I tried to call him again on Sunday, and the call still went directly to voice mail.

So I wrote him an email, and asked him if everything is ok. He responded quickly, telling me that his current home number has changed to such and such. That is when I realized I dialed the wrong number, and talked to the wrong person. So now my question is, if the old lady had told me "you've got the wrong number", or "there is no person by this name", I would have known. Her answers really gave me an impression that she knows Lawrence, but just does not know where he lives anymore.

Anyway, we got together and had a nice dinner in hot pot restaurant, chatting for hours. I did enjoy that.

Google Invitation Spam

I received this invitation to open a gmail account. The problem is, I do NOT know who invites me. The id is cometure2005. Weird id, weird name. Why does this person send to my gmail account an invitation to open another gmail account? I decided it is a spam, and sent it directly to trash bin.

Not sure how often I'll get something like this. Now the MSN spam is daily encounters. Actually it is on login basis. Every time I log in to MSN, I get 4 popup windows to request to add me. Been thinking of setting up new MSN accounts actually. Now with this gmail spam? I've started to worry.

Yahoo Briefcase

I received an email from Yahoo saying that Yahoo Briefcase will stop the service. I have totally forgotten this service, but do remember I have something there. So I clicked on the link and, yes, I still have my resumes. The modification time shows when I was looking for a job. It looks sad.

I used to love Yahoo's services. Yahoo photo was good, but then it was obsoleted by Flicr. They even had pager service. If I remember correctly, people could dial 1-800-My-Yahoo, and dial my personal ID and leave me a voice mail. Then Yahoo system would send me an email with that voice mail as an attachment, so I can hear the voice mail if I have email access. Now the environment has changed a lot, and Yahoo does not seem to keep up with the change very well. Regular emails from friends are sent to trash folder. Important credit card statements are sent to trash folder, and I do not how to tell the system not to do that. Spams from certain senders repeatedly show in the inbox, no matter how many times I have marked them spam. Yahoo just has not done enough to attract me anymore.

I am now a Google user.

Hugh Jackman, Oh Yeah.

The only nice thing about the movie "Australia" is really that Hugh Jackman acts in it. Now he did great in the opening of Oscar. Very attractive performance. I'm going to pay more attention to him like the way I paid attention to Nicole Kidman after the Hours.

Milk

Heard of his name, heard of Moscone center, heard that Diane Feinstein took over the position of mayor after the accident, but really did not know much about Harvey Milk. This movie is very good for those who keeps track of issues for minorities and what minority groups have to go through to fight for what most people take for granted. 30 years later, the battle is not over yet. Californias just lost a major one last year.

It's good to see San Franciso again, really. Strange feeling of being homesick.

Teresa Teng - Stories Like Yesterday

I don't remember what brought to the topic of Teresa Teng, but I told my sister, whenever I think of Teresa Teng, Stories like yesterday is always the first song of hers that pops into my mind, without fail. Strangely, my sister does not know anything about it, even after I tried to sing to her.

This video is Karaoke version, so does not sound as nice. There is a better version on youtube, but I am not allowed to embed it into my blog.

Lyrics:
I'd like to ask white clouds to send you our stories.
Maybe our stories would be something that you could use when you weave your memories.
White clouds come and go in such a hurry,
they left me without saying good bye,
leaving me with stories like they just happened yesterday.
Whom should I turn to when I have something to tell?
Now I realize how it feels to miss someone.
Missing you is bitter.