stream of random things

Mapping our way to the Golden Gate Bridge the old-fashioned way

2009-03-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

While Chris was visiting this past weekend, we decided to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. I drove and he (in theory) navigated. I kept asking what the exit was and he just said it was the last exit before the bridge. As we get close to our destination, I ask "Is this the exit?" He replies "Yes".

But it wasn't. We found ourselves on CA-1 South for a while before we had an option to turn off to reverse direction. All the while Chris is trying to access a map on his cell phone (web-capable but not quite a smart phone). With his phone, it takes him a while to navigate the map (I assume it's because of the map refreshing each time he moves in one direction), and so after a while I realize something:

"You know, there are some actual maps over there." (Referring to the slot on the passenger-side door)

At first it seemed like Chris had forgotten how to use a real map, but his apparent confusion quickly becomes fascination: "Look at all the detail I can see without having to zoom in!" "There's so much stuff on here!" "You have to blog about this." (Here ya go, Chris. Happy?)

With the help of the good old-fashioned map, we finally made our way to the parking lot near the foot of the bridge and were rewarded with a spectacular view on a beautiful day:

Taiwan High Speed Rail

2009-02-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

While we were in Taiwan, my family took advantage of the Taiwan High Speed Rail quite a bit. On January 23rd, we took it down to Yunlin county from Taipei—a journey I've made over a dozen times in the past either by traditional rail road, bus, or car. These methods usually took around 5 hours (and sometimes twice that when hitting really bad traffic).

The high speed rail took a mere 1.5 hours to get us to Chia-yi, followed by a 30 minute car ride to our destination. Not only was it fast, but it was comfortable, fairly clean, and fun. They had a food and snack cart that came through from which I bought a katsu-don (pork cutlet with egg and rice) meal for 120 NT, or about $3.60! It was pretty good and a great deal (of course one of my aunts thought it was "robbing the bank" to charge so much). One nice little "feature" they had was a pull-down screen to shade from the sun, similar to airplanes but made of nicer materials:

The experience reminded me of how fun traveling by train can be. You get to get a sense of the towns and countrysides you pass through in far greater detail than from a plane, and without the hassles of getting to airports (which are usually not as close to the heart of major cities) and passing through security checkpoints. And, at least with the THSR, the trains were punctual. Here's a little video I recorded while on the train:

The only downside of the THSR is it reminded me of how underwhelming rail travel in the U.S. is.

Inauguration Day, 2009

2009-01-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

I'm in Taipei, Taiwan right now—on the day of Barack Obama's Inauguration. I'm ever-thankful for getting CNN here and their thorough coverage of the events that are taking place on the other side of the world.

January 20, 2009 started for me a little earlier than most Americans. I spent most of it walking around with my family, and wearing my "I'm fired up! / He's ready to go" Obama t-shirt.

All the walking around, not sleeping a lot last night, and having arrived in Taiwan just two nights prior have made me thoroughly exhausted.

But I'm also energized and excited to witness this moment in history. The past few days, I've been trying to grasp the enormity and significance of this moment. The best I can do is to say that it's a momentous reaffirmation of the American Dream—the opportunity to imagine a better life and to pursue that vision. Today, America and its people begin a new chapter. One where we can imagine our nation's return to a brighter future, and can reshape how we and the world perceive us as a country and people.

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

2009-01-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

While the past few years have seemed to just zoom by, 2008 really stands out in my mind as one of the most eventful ones. It saw me as an MBA student at MIT Sloan, working at FriendFeed, visiting Japan and Germany, moving back to the west coast, and get back into regular WingTsun teaching and training.

In the second week of the year I was interning at a 3-month old startup. I quickly realized that FriendFeed was a special place and that I'd love to work there full-time. Which is what I'm doing now (a little sooner than expected). After spending much of my four years living in NYC and part of my first year of business school trying to figure out what job would be right for me—something that has the potential to impact people's daily lives, that I could be passionate about and that wouldn't make me depressed to spend most of my waking hours doing—I'm happy to have finally found such a great fit.

This year will inevitably be a historic one because of Barack Obama. I found myself engaged and curious about the U.S. election process and government policies. It was inspiring to see this man who had blazed his own path make history as our first African-American Commander-in-Chief. I truly believe this to be an important step in American history because of the instant credibility it lends to the dreams of present and future generations of American children, regardless of race. Obama inspired many of us this year, and of the many inspirational speeches he gave, the one he gave in Virginia on the eve of the election stands out: Fired Up? Ready to Go!.

In personal life events, I got to watch Brett Favre play live for the first time (though they lost a game they should've won). It was particularly meaningful since I got to share the moment with my Dad, who's also a big Favre fan.

2009

My New Year's Eve was not particularly notable, but I was happy to get to spend it in New York. We watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, grocery shopped, then ate dinner (Indian food) and hung out at a buddy's apartment in Fort Greene (Brooklyn), where we played "Dig" (a speedy version of Scrabble), watched TV, and consumed snacks and beverages.

I've had enough resolution attempts to realize that my list doesn't have much variance: more music playing/writing, try to improve Chinese, play more basketball/tennis, read more, ... I used to get frustrated at the slow progress I make in each of those, and wonder whether I should just give up something. But I can't. So here's to continuing along the path in my areas of interest. Maybe one of these years they'll have their 'hockey-stick' moment. Maybe it'll be 2009.

Swollen Uvula (aka hanging ball thing in the back of your mouth)

2009-01-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

So i awoke on the morning of January 1, 2009 really dehydrated. Mouth and throat were ridiculously dry, and worst of all, the hanging ball thingy in the back of my mouth was swollen. It was pretty much in contact with my tongue, which made swallowing hurt (since I was trying to swallow the hanging ball thingy). So i searched Google (on my iPod Touch) for "hanging ball throat" and found out that it was my uvula (from latin root uva, meaning grape).

Then i searched for "swollen uvula", and the first result was: http://swollenuvula.blogspot.com. It has just one post that perfectly described what i felt and said that I should eat ice cream! Now i'm not especially crazy about ice cream, but having to consume it for medical purposes is a pretty awesome concept. :) It said orange juice and throat drops are good too.

What I've Learned in 2008

2008-12-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

Esquire is my favorite magazine, and what first got me into the magazine is when I first read one of their "What I've Learned" interviews, where they interview prominent people about the things they've learned in life. So here's my "What I've Learned" in 2008, either through my own experiences or those of friends:

Do what you want to do, not what you think you're supposed to do or what you think others want you to do. This has been a work in progress for me, as I used to fall into the trap of doing the latter. But this year I've made big strides in this department.

When it comes to tough decisions, going with your heart can't be wrong.

The best way I've found to de-stress or clear my head is with good music.

Sleep is good. If you can make time for it, sleep more. My dad advocates 8.5 hrs—I've found that being closer to that number is better than being further.

New York is the best city in the world. I've believed this for a while, but now that I'm over a year removed from being a resident, it rings even more true.

Macs are better than PCs. I've had one of my most frustrating years as a PC user, and finally decided to give Macs a try. It was a good decision. (@MichaelMorrissey–this recent development has no bearing on our disagreements on Apple VS IBM in 5th/6th grade.)

Always, ALWAYS firmly negotiate a price with a locksmith BEFORE he performs his services. Otherwise be prepared to hear an absurd number.

When sick, just because you feel all better doesn't mean you're fully healthy yet. Take it slow.

Follow-up thoughts on being a Mac (1+ month in)

2008-10-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to follow-up on my previous post with some things I forgot to mention and my impressions now that I've been using my MacBook Pro for over a month.

One of the biggest positives of OSX is no longer having the lame Flash bug I had on both Vista machines I was running. This annoying bug only played flash videos for 2 seconds and without sound. It effectively made it impossible to watch most online videos, including YouTube! It's amazing when things work as you expect them to.

The lack of a right-mouse button on the notebook itself hasn't been as bad since I use a USB mouse at work that has a right mouse-button that works fine (without any configuring on my part).

I was frustrated that tabbing with the keyboard seemed to always skip dropdown boxes. Thanks to writing this post, I forced myself to finally try figuring it out and a google search helped me find some help in changing this. I just activated it so haven't used it in normal browsing yet, but one thing i've noticed is that when tabbing to the dropdown box i don't seem to be able to expand the list of options, only cycle through them. Hopefully there's a way to do that, but i'm too tired to search for that answer right now.

All-and-all, i'm pretty surprised how quickly i adapted to using my MacBook Pro and OSX, and it's amazing how clunky PCs feel to me now. So far, the MacBook Pro has proven to be a more elegant machine, and OS X has not surprisingly been a far superior OS to Windows.

Learning to be a Mac

2008-10-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

It's been about 2.5 weeks since i got my MacBook Pro for work, and so far i've been mighty impressed. As a quick background, i've been a PC user since i was 6, and a ThinkPad user for the past 11 years. I absolutely loved my T42 (running the stable and usable Windows XP). Last year i got an X61 running Vista Business and have been very disappointed. I love the form-factor and size of the X-series ThinkPads, but it was crashing constantly, among other issues. So when i got the choice of choosing a laptop for work, my decision wasn't too hard:

ThinkPads are no longer IBM machines
I've been punished by Microsoft for way too long already
Most of the other people at work use MacBook Pros
I was fairly clueless around Macs/OSX and felt kinda stupid as someone who's supposed to be relatively tech savvy

So how's it been so far? Pretty awesome. :)

The goods:

It is so freakin' fast to boot up, sleep, wake. I remember my X61 took about 5 minutes to hibernate or resume.
Its sleep mode is so impressively battery efficient (as Paul had told me before)
OSX (10.5.5) is really stable. I've had one or two programs freeze up, but haven't had the whole OS freeze up on me (*cough*, Vista, *cough*).
Most of the functions are fairly intuitive and logical once you know how to do them, and work really well (i.e.--scrolling using two fingers on the touch pad).
Seems to be a short-cut key for everything (just need to learn them all; http://www.usingmac.com/2007/11/21/mac-os-x-leopard-200-productivity-booster-hotkeys is a great resource).
Built-in iChat is so easy to use and performs pretty well.
Beautiful bright screen, good speakers.
No longer having to deal with Windows.

The not so goods:

I still don't know whether to use control, option, or command when i want to skip to the beginning/end of a line or skip from word to word. I don't think it's even consistent among programs.
No right-mouse button. Yes i can hold control while clicking, but it's so much slower.
As people have said, the machine does get quite hot.

While i felt really strange about it when i first took my Macbook Pro out of its pretty packaging, i've quickly grown to love it, and to enjoy being among the increasing number of people who "are a Mac".

Sad day in Packers' history

2008-08-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

What a tiring week for Packer fans. The anticipation and feeling of near-certainty that Brett Favre would be under center again in Green Bay quickly turning to a skipped heart-beat as Mike McCarthy (coach) and Favre's conversation dragged on and on. And then the dagger. McCarthy and Favre couldn't patch things up and move forward together. A couple of hours ago, it was announced that the Packers have traded Favre to the NY Jets.

While this might make "good business sense" in terms of planning for the future, that's about the only sense it makes. With McCarthy declaring as loudly as possible that the team has moved on with Aaron Rodgers as his starting QB, he drove a chasm between Favre and himself. A gaping hole so large that there was no way for it to be patched up at this point, especially with McCarthy having no intentions of doing so. So now you've put your team in a position where its chances of winning the Superbowl are less than they could have been. For the record, I do believe the Packers are a very good team and will do very well this year. But that's beside the point. In the end, all Favre wanted was a little appreciation. A little respect. After all that he's done for the franchise, I don't think that's asking very much.

I'm growing weary of sport management teams' egos and poor decision making ruining my love for my teams. Take Exhibit 1: James Dolan (owner) runs the Knicks into the gutter and keeps them there for years. Finally with GM Donnie Walsh and Coach Mike D'Antoni there's a ray of hope back at Madison Square Garden. Dolan's left an awful taste in my mouth that won't go away until his family sells the Knicks to new ownership.

I have the same feelings now toward McCarthy and Ted Thompson (GM). From the events of this past summer, they've struck me as extremely egotistical and stubborn. Yes, Favre might have caused their lives some difficulties by retiring and then wanting to unretire, but he's Brett Favre. He's the one that's given everything he had to the team for 16 seasons. He played hurt. He suffered concussions. He had personal tragedies, yet through it all he didn't miss a single game. And that's also the problem McCarthy and Thompson have. That he's Brett Favre, and everyone knew that the Packers were Brett Favre's team. Well congratulations to them. Now they can say it's Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson's team. And as long as that's the case, i'll have the same awful taste in my mouth, and have trouble fully embracing the Packers.

I'll still root for the green and gold, because McCarthy and Thompson will be but a blip in the Packers' storied history. But I'll always be rooting harder for Brett Favre.

Favre VS Packers

2008-08-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sure a lot of people are tired of hearing about the Brett Favre/Green Bay Packers standoff. They must be, because as a fan of both Favre and the Packers, i'm getting pretty sick of how long this has dragged on. I'm posting my thoughts here, and then attempting to read no more about the situation until a resolution is reached.

Frankly, i'm disappointed in the Packers organization. Brett Favre poured his heart and soul into playing football and bringing prominence back to Titletown (Green Bay). For 16 seasons he never missed a game, brought them to the NFC conference championship game, to the Superbowl, and to a Superbowl victory. This is not how you treat your people, let alone a legend and iconic figure in your team's history. It may be different if Favre was hobbling along and no longer the player that he once was. But his performance last season proved that he is still one of the best QBs to have on the field.

Favre is not without blame. You can blame him for committing to retiring in early March and then changing his mind. But Packers' management should've been well-aware that no retirement decision is ever final, especially in sports, especially with atheletes who have been at the top of their sport, and especially with a fierce competitor like Brett Favre. Favre maybe should've left the media out of it and just filed for reinstatement and showed up for camp, before the Packers made statements of their commitment to Aaron Rodgers. Though this thought is just speculation, as i'm sure there's far more going on behind closed doors than most of us are aware of.

Sadly, i've come to the point where i'm fairly disgusted at the Packers management. All Favre wants to do is suit up and play the game that he loves. For the game and team he has never let down, despite encountering more personal tragedies than one person should have to endure.
If #4 isn't the starting QB for the Packers this fall, i just might retire from being a Packers fan. And i won't expect the Packers to plan for me to change my mind on that.

"Only" Week 3

2007-09-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Last Friday it was somehow brought to my attention that we had just completed the second week of classes—it was actually a shock to realize that only two weeks had passed. It really felt much more like eight weeks. I had expected to be busy, especially with all of the forewarning about the intensity and craziness of MIT Sloan's Core Semester, but the level of intensity and busyness has definitely exceeded my expectations.

Now you may think, "Wait a minute—this is business school we're talking about. Don't M.B.A.'s all just drink and socialize?" I can't speak for other schools, but at Sloan they've definitely been piling it on. To clarify, it's not a matter of any particular tasks being incredibly intellectually difficult, at least not when compared to science/engineering (although Econ and DMD (data, models, and decisions) aren't pushovers). The best analogy is drinking from a fire hose.

In addition to classes and their respective high volumes of required assignments and reading, much time is required for the many interesting student clubs and interest groups. The idea of opportunity cost is well ingrained in us since nearly every lunch period or evening is an exercise in deciding which of the two (to six) meetings/presentations/events to attend (or to simply find time to catch up on assignments).

Although it's been stressful and tiring, it's been a great experience. Life certainly won't get much easier in the near future in terms of time management and prioritizing things, so I'm certain I'll look back on this experience as an invaluable lesson to draw upon throughout my career.

To speak a little more personally, the Core classes (required for everyone) I'm taking are:

15.010 - Economic Analysis for Business Decisions
15.060 - Data, Models, and Decisions (DMD)
15.515 - Financial Accounting
15.280 - Communication for Managers
15.311 - Organizational Processes (OP)
15.328 - OP Team Project

Of the below two electives we have to choose between, I'm taking Marketing.

15.401 - Finance Theory I
15.810 - Marketing

And lastly, as part of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program, I am taking the course:

15.360 - Introduction to Tech Entrepreneurship

What I've found impressive is how all the classes blend fairly well together. Ideas from the various classes are often introduced or play a role in other classes, so it makes sense from a practical standpoint how you can use the lessons in real workplace situations.

I'm just starting to get my head around prioritizing the countless activities available on campus, so hopefully I can touch upon that in my next post!

Beginning my b-school adventure

2007-08-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

although i haven't even officially started school, the past couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy for me. to be fair, a sizable chunk of time has been for social activities ("networking") with my new classmates, but this is still without assignments, projects, tests, or student orgs. this busyness results in very little free time to do things, such as blogging. i prob won't have time to update regularly, but hope to do some more "meaty" ones every now and then. so... some highlights from these past couple of weeks:

two weekends ago i went on a pre-term "E-trek" for white water rafting with some other '09 Sloanies. at the last minute, we were informed that no second year ('08) Sloanie could go with us, so they were looking for first years to volunteer to lead the trip. Raphael and I offered to co-lead the trip and, for better or worse, we did. :) we went on the Kennebec River which had class 3-4 rapids. it was seriously a lot of fun, though i wish there were more rapids to take on. despite the cold and at times rainy weather, the trip was a lot of fun and a great bonding experience. a lot of my closer friends now are still the ones i spent time with on the trip.

another notable thing is that i ate lobster 3 times in 9 days. these lobsters were full lobsters (except for the amputee lobster i got during the Sloan Orientation Clam Bake) and so i'm rather experienced now at eating lobsters. :P i don't plan to keep this up though.

in addition to the white water rafting, i also learned to sail last Sunday. went with Nita and David and now are allowed to take out the 'tech dinghy' boats by ourselves. it wasn't too bad, except for when the boat started tipping severely and fear of being submersed in the Charles River crept into mind. i definitely would like to sail more and get certified to take out larger boats, but am guessing it won't fall high enough on my priority of activities.

yesterday, as part of Orientation, i went out to the Warren Center and did a bunch of great team building exercises. so as not to spoil this for future Sloanies, i won't comment much about it, but it was a great time and a great way to bond with my core team.

we ended Orientation activities today by playing the Beer Game. no beer is actually involved in playing the beer game (beer is just the chosen product). again, won't say too much about the specifics; however, i will say that of the 43 teams there were, the team i was on (Sloan Adams) came in first place! was fun/exciting/unexpected to have done as well as we did, although the professor was quick to remind us that our performance was still far from optimal. :P

now on to the many other things left on my to do list as i go into labor day weekend (a four day weekend for me) before classes commence.

I think I'll go to Boston

2007-08-12T06:13:00.000-07:00

She said I think I'll go to Boston...
I think I'll start a new life,
I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name,
I'll get out of California, I'm tired of the weather,
I think I'll get a lover and fly 'em out to Spain...
I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice...

- Augustana, "Boston"

so chris met up with me around 8 am on East 117th St. to pick up a Budget moving truck for
the big move. it was a beautiful day out, making both moving stuff and the drive up enjoyable. it was a good time to just chat with chris. although we talk often, you always touch upon different topics... naturally, with the move, we reflected on the past and such. one thing is how it was my second time saying goodbye to New York. Chris added "but this time for good." but that's what i thought last time too. i guess we'll see...

we made it to my new residence by about 5 pm. unfortunately, once here, the lady at the front desk said there was no indication that i was to be moving in that day. naturally it was a little irritating after the early morning and long drive. she was only a temp for the weekend so wasn't sure what to do. i had to insist a bit to try to talk to an authority figure since she had said no one was working on the weekends. fortunately, after a bit she started pro actively trying to find someone to help sort things out. about an hour (or more) later, i had a key and was in my new place.

Robin and Karin kindly came by to help me unload and move stuff in. The extra hands definitely helped speed things up. Afterward we went and had dinner at Basta Pasta. Good stuff and definitely helped Chris and me recharge. Next, we went back to Robin's place and hung out, played some video games and Robin and Karin also taught Chris and me how to play a card game called Bohnanza. in it, you are a bean farmer. it's much funner than it sounds. really. apparently Bean farming can be time consuming. we finally got back to my new home nearing 2 am.

my room's still disorganized, but i'm liking it so far. the first time i've ever really had my own place (it's a studio / "efficiency"), although there are plenty of other students all around me.

on that note, i should get back to unpacking/organizing...

Back in the U.S. of A. -- celebrated with a supersized post

2007-07-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

my flight was rather tiring. i attempted to sleep most of it since i'd arrive in Cali around 8:45 AM. unfortunately, i simply was not able to fall asleep. there were also external factors such as getting bumped by the person behind me, next to me, and the people walking by in the aisle. it could've been my imagination, but every time somebody left the restroom on my side, i felt like a gush of wind brought the fragrance my way.

needless to say, i was very happy when we landed in SF. i was less happy when my luggage was one of the very last to come out. i was about ready to fall over at that point from exhaustion. i was in much better spirits once stepping outside the door and breathing in the beautiful and fresh Bay Area air. wow. California is a tricky one. it sneaks up on you unexpectedly. maybe i just take it for granted too much, but it always makes me feel welcome and comfortable when i return and i always find myself saying "why did i ever leave?"

mom and sister picked me up and the ride home was not too bad as i sat slumped in the backseat. upon returning home i lugged my stuff inside then changed and crashed into bed. that's when i started feeling less great. my stomach was rather upset. *cue dramatic music*

turns out i had some sort of food poisoning and/or stomach flu/virus. oh the irony! after being warned and being somewhat cautious during my 8 weeks in China/HK i am struck upon my return to the states! on the upside i had the comfort of my parents' house here to recover in, but man was it painful. i had said before that the worst kind of (common) illness one can contract is anything relating to the stomach (that i can speak of from experience; i'm actually sure there could be worse, which i don't want to think about, but food poisoning or stomach flus are seriously painful). at one point i started laughing because of how painful it was.

ANYWAY... of course i reflect upon what could have caused this. none of the airplane food seemed particularly likely (although for that matter, anything served on the plane could easily be the culprit), and i didn't eat anything upon returning. the following day i was talking to my dad on the phone and he said it might've been the yogurt i ate the morning i left from China. our 阿姨 (what they call the "maid" in China) bought a new brand of yogurt that we never had before, and my father said he also didn't feel that well, though not to the same extent as me. i reasoned the flight exhausted me, weakening my immune system's ability to handle the viral yogurt. so in all likelihood i did get some food poisoning in Asia. not from a street vendor, not from milk tea (which i drank plenty of), but from yogurt bought in a supermarket. thank you, China, for the send-off gift.

like many things, we tend to take our health for granted (until we lose it). i use to wonder if this was from greed (focusing on wanting more and spending resource elsewhere), laziness, or immaturity. i came to a conclusion the past few years that it's probably involves a bit of each of those things, but also that it's natural to take your status quo as the norm and to just accept it as the way things should be. it's almost like an abstraction layer we create for ourselves so we can focus on other things and "accomplish" more. an example of this is standard of living. although tipping is non-customary in China, people do it from time to time. when i have thought of tipping, i struggle with how much to tip. 1 RMB is less than 13.5 US cents. having lived in NYC the past few years, where you hear of bums and panhandlers refusing or being insulted by being given less than a quarter (or sometimes by that very amount), it's hard to imagine someone being grateful for a "gratuity" of such minute value. But considering there are factory workers who make around 10 RMB a day, 10% gratuity from one customer seems quite good when put in perspective.

While I've started to digress, let me continue to do so by mentioning how, while in China, I also started reflecting on people's spending habits and the different priorities they place on what to spend money on or not. Everyone has something they don't think too much about spending money on. For some it's candy, for some it's nice meals, for others it could be fancy sports cars or expensive electronics. Part of this has to do with your affluence, but it's also largely influenced by what type of products or services you personally place value on. (Now i haven't considered any economic theories or anything, so feel free to chew me out, Mr. Lee) We all spend money. And when our most basic needs are met without much problem, we have money to spend on perceived needs (new clothes, Harry Potter books, iPhone, etc.) or the luxuries of life we choose to indulge in. Since it's a digression, I'll choose to let it trail off here and perhaps touch upon it another time...

so where was i? (yeah, i'm lost too) well, i pretty much slept through day 1 being back. my sister was kind enough to run to safeway to get me my usual stomach prob items (Gatorade, 7-up (or ginger ale), jello; we already had saltines and apple sauce). she and my mother were wondering why i was so familiar with what i needed. "do you get food poisoning a lot?" i think i've had it every couple of years for about 6-8 years now... not a trend i'd like to continue. (for the curious--sources of previous 3 times: Taiwan street cart, Pasta Pomodoro on College Ave in Berkeley/Oakland, day of McDonald's and unhealthy eating in Chinatown, NYC).

i was worried i'd not be able to sleep at night if i slept all day. i got up around 6:30 PM, still not feeling all that great. went back to bed around 10:30 or 11 PM and slept soundly 'til around 10:00 AM the next morning. i also felt much better! but still not super (but in the case of food poisoning, much better is AMAZING). after being up for a bit in the morn and sorting through some mail, i eventually went back to bed. i got back up around 1:30 PM and had some more lovely saltines, soda, and jello. sometime later in the afternoon i decided to play some Zelda since i had never gotten very far in it. plus, i reasoned, it'd be a way to take my mind off the illness without tiring myself out too much. 5 hours later i had finally freed all the monkeys in a dungeon level, played through a mission as a wolf and got transformed back, acquired a new skill, learned to sumo wrestle, and rescued a kid on an exciting horse-back chase and duel of sorts on a bridge over a deep chasm. i'm currently inside some mine with hot lava or fire all over, and don't have the mental energy to take on another dungeon-level quite yet.

yesterday was a great improvement on the day before and things seemed great except i could not fall asleep. so i couldn't really get up this morn. i finally dragged myself out of bed around 1:45 PM. ate some stuff, played some piano. i really feel much better today! just fatigued. might be the jetlag kicking in (and i thought i had conquered that when i spent pretty much my first 24 hrs back in bed). i'm hoping for dinner to try something mildly more adventurous to eat, like pasta with some tomato sauce? i'll have to check to see if tomato sauce is harshly bad for stomachs.

anyway, i've spent more than half an hour on this post, and feeling tired. perhaps i need to lie down again (or maybe go slay some more evil creatures). excuse the long rambling for this entry. i blame it on being sick and being too tired to think coherently or with much of a filter.

wish me well soon!

禮拜天

2007-07-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

禮拜六晚上我不知道為什麼睡不著。隔一天早上覺得還是很累。早上在家裡沒做什麼特別的事。中午去了松子(Matsuko)吃午飯。松子是有很多選擇的日本料理自助餐。吃了太多東西了以後離開了飯店﹐去買了朝陽劇場中國雜技晚上表演的票。買票是應該要排隊。可是﹐中國人大部份不受這種規矩。一直往前推。很討厭。買了票以後坐了出租車去王府井。通常坐出租車都很舒服。問題是﹐我們坐的那輛車有個很臭的味道。

王府井大街上就是一大堆店。我們一到先去了一家百貨公司。他們剛好有個TRANSFORMERS的展覽。有很多舊的TRANSFORMERS玩具﹐很多我小時候想要的玩具﹗參觀完以後﹐我們回到大街上繼續走下去。我們只是隨便的走﹐沒有什麼特別要看的。在走過的店比較特別的就是有很多賣奧運的店。也看到一個大書店掛了很大的新HARRY POTTER書的廣告。在回頭路上﹐我決定進去書店看看HARRY POTTER書有沒有英文版的。其實他們只有英文版的﹐而且有兩種--美國SCHOLASTIC版的還有英國BLOOMSBURY版的。我其實不是那麼愛HARRY POTTER﹐可是因為最近有很多朋友在念或討論這本書﹐然後因為有英國版的書﹐我就決定買了﹗

逛完街以後就去了朝陽劇場。其他的觀眾都是旅遊團或外國人。其實我六年半前跟旅遊團第一次來北京的時候去過了同樣的劇場看雜技節目。那麼久以前已經不太記得了。可是知道節目是有改進。他們特技表演的很利害而演的很不錯。

看完戲以後﹐我們還是不怎麼餓。決定去吃麥當勞﹗麥當勞和其他快餐在亞洲做的比美國好多了。吃完以後就回家了。

jumping on the bandwagon

2007-07-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

so i was in the 王府井 district today to walk around and take it in a bit. at one of the malls there, they had a TRANSFORMERS exhibit going on with a lot of old school toys in display cases. talk about bringing back memories! after all these years (what's it been, 20 or more?!) i still would love to get my hands on an original Optimus Prime and certain other toys. they must've done a good job conditioning my brain as a kid, 'cause their programming's still there!

after prying myself away from the kiddie stuff, i noticed a big Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sign outside a large book store. after walking further down, grabbing a drink and sitting a bit to rest, i decided to stop in on the way back and see if they had the English version and possibly book 6 as well. turns out they only had English versions, but two kinds! both the American version as printed by Scholastic, and the British one printed by Bloomsbury. quick recap for those unaware: i'm not a HP fan and haven't read any of the books. i've seen the first five movies, and tried reading the first book but couldn't make it even halfway through. anyway, since they had the British version, i thought i'd pick it up. my sis got the Brit version of first book when we were in Europe four years ago, so i figure i'd get the last. i figure i'll watch the 6th movie then read this book. then, if i make it through this book okay, i'll go back and try re-reading the first 6 books. since you know, i'll have bundles of time on my hand when school starts... (yes, i'm being sarcastic.)

練習“寫”中文

2007-07-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

其實我的目的不是給自己練習寫中文而是給你們練習念中文。=) 如果我寫的有任何錯誤﹐請原諒我。更好就是在評論上提醒一下或送個 email 給我。

今天我早上起來以後﹐練了一下中文課本。我妹妹借給我她大學的課本--伯克利的100AX/BX (她的中文程度比我好多了)。我父親起床以後我們一起吃了早餐。吃完早餐﹐休息了一下﹐到了公寓的俱樂部去打乒乓球。可是到了俱樂部以後發現有人剛開始打﹐要一個小時以後才有空。那時候已經十一點半了﹐所以我們決定跑步和舉
重就好了。運動完了以後我父親問我還想不想打乒乓球。我當然說好﹐可是已經有另外一些人開始打了。我們決定晚一點再試試看。

我們回家洗個澡﹐換了衣服﹐就搭了計程車(出租車)去浮士德餐廳吃午飯。我們家人常常去這家餐館吃牛排。他們菜單只有套餐。我們兩個都吃了鵝肝沙拉﹐牛排﹐芒果摩絲而且喝了冰咖啡。我爸喝了法國洋蔥湯﹐我喝了奶油野蘑菇湯。吃了又好又飽了以後﹐我們去了潘家園舊貨市場逛一逛﹐買些小東西。市場三點半就開始收
攤了﹐所以我們就回家去了。

回家不久就去打了一個鐘頭的乒乓球--真好玩﹗玩完以後回家換衣服﹐又去吃飯了﹗晚飯去了鼎泰豐(鼎泰丰)﹗我們兩位吃了兩個半籠小龍包﹐一份痘苗﹐而且還吃了一大碗芒果冰。今天吃了那麼多好東西﹐還好有夠的運動量。我們晚飯八點鐘才開始吃﹐吃完就九點半了。回到家就休息﹐準備睡覺。

the Banana Factor

2007-07-21T02:27:00.000-07:00

the cover story of the latest City Weekend magazine here in China (www.cityweekend.com.cn) is entitled "the Banana Factor: Peeling away overseas Chinese stereotypes." i always feel mixed when something that i am or relate to gets labeled or categorized. it's good sometimes to realize you're not alone in a circumstance and for it to be recognized, but then again, you don't want it to become a typecast or stereotype. the article talks about how many overseas Chinese (華裔) feel when they start living in China.

they basically interviewed several ABCs/CBCs (the first C is for Canadian, not Cookie) on their experiences, and for the most part, i could very much relate to their stories.

i've always spoken 國語 ("普通話") with my parents, but despite having taken two semesters of intermediate level Chinese in college, i find my level of fluency still having much room for improvement. the older i get, the more urge i feel to improve upon something that seemingly should be so basic -- communicating in my ethnic native tongue. i realize more and more that perhaps the only way to truly succeed at this is to immerse myself for a prolonged period of time in a Mandarin speaking country. i plan to work on it as much as i can, which no doubt will help, but i'm convinced living somewhere for 6-12 months (and not hanging out exclusively with ex-pats) will do more good than any amount of private tutoring or classes. a simple example of the "use it or lose it" aspect of evolutionary theory.

so i do hope to evolve myself to becoming more of a 中國人 (speaking generally, regardless of the distinction between 中華民國 and 中華人民共和國; i see the words 中 and 國 in both). amongst my ABC friends, i've always held an above average inclination toward knowing my ethnic culture and heritage. and as time passes, i will grow older and no doubt look like an old Chinese man, and China's influence will continue to grow as well. beyond these two reasons is also the desire to better understand this side of my heritage, almost as a duty or responsibility. to be able to have pride in the good aspects of the long long history, as well as to understand the living philosophies inherent to the culture.

of course, i can't guarantee to anyone that i'll make constant improvements in Chinese language, culture, and history, if forced to prioritize it against career, family, or my passions and interests. but i do hope that it is something i can achieve. (then maybe one day i can also finally learn to speak 台語, but i'll worry about one language at a time...)

Unnatural disaster strikes Manhattan

2007-07-19T01:11:00.000-07:00

i was disturbed to find out from Chris today that there was a major "steam blast" in Midtown (article and photo: NYTimes) that killed one and injured many. it happened around 6 PM yesterday at 41st and Lex, just a block from Grand Central Terminal.

i always feel affected anytime anything major happens in NY, but it feels even weirder to have something so big happen in an area i'd walk through everyday while commuting, and is just 7 blocks from where my old office is.

not a surprise that ConEd has screwed up again...

Blue Sky Day in Beijing

2007-07-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

it was nice to wake up this morn to see a 青天 (try zhongwen.com if needing to translate 中文 words) in normally gloomy 北京. it was so nice that i thought i should go out to enjoy it. alas, i haven't. :P but that's not to say i haven't enjoyed my day!

i know i've been meaning to say, but i'm not sure if i have, how fortunate i feel to have had the past several weeks to relax and basically bum around in China and Hong Kong. although i've totally slacked on my Chinese self-studying, i feel like just being immersed here helps. it's also fascinating to spend time in a foreign place for a pro-longed period of time because you definitely can get a more authentic feel for life.

my first couple of weeks in China (北京 and 上海) were focused on enjoying time with family, since the whole fam was together. my time in 香港 was intended to be partly spent on studying 中文 and some creative writing, but time was largely focused on WingTsun and being a bum.

with my last week back in 北京 before returning to the states, i'm looking to catch up on sleep that i fell behind on in 香港, spend time with my dad, and hopefully get my self a bit more disciplined (without stressing about it) in taking care of personal projects (studying 中文 and creative writing projects).

the sky's a little less blue now, and the puffy white clouds are gone, but it's still a blue-ish gray that's far better than the norm i've seen here. :) here's another pic from this morn looking out the window of my parents' apartment here:

i think i may start diversifying my posts some. i'll keep blogging now and then on what (very little) i am up to, but also go back to blogging about things in the news that are notable to me or cool products that are coming out. i may also attempt some posts in 中文 as a means of practicing. the title of the post should usually indicate which of these "types" of posts you'll be seeing... or maybe i should quit blogging and focus on my projects... :P

Back to 北京 (Beijing)

2007-07-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

i've never really had one city or town to call home. i always went with the cliché "home is where the heart is," meaning mainly wherever my parents resided. having grown up just 50 miles north of the city, and then living there the last few years have definitely contributed to making NYC home.

it was strange yesterday when i returned to 北京 because it felt a little bit like coming home. perhaps it's because my dad lives here, or that it's been my home base this summer, but i definitely felt the kind of relief you have after being away from home for a long time. of course not to the degree i'm sure i'll feel when i go back to California and then NYC, but i guess 北京 is now a home as well.

one negative thing was how poor the air quality was! made HK's air quality seem crystal clear. but this morning, after it was gloomy and rainy first, it became much clearer and even a little sunny (as much as can be expected here anyhow).

so since i had promised some ppl i'd update my blog with my last HK entries, i proceeded to go to this blog to update it to find it was CENSORED! hrm. i forgot about this issue while spending 3 weeks in censorship-free HK. i can at least still edit (and thus view old entries) and add entries, but sorta sucks i can't see the blog (as a design person i like to see what the final look is...). (sorry Eric, i won't be able to read or comment on your blog for at least a week.) i wonder if i could put up with the net censorship if i ever moved to China... i guess there are proxies out there, right?

so last night i just wanted to stay in and not do anything. since my dad was getting back later that night from a business trip, i had to figure out what to eat. i could've gone to the restaurant in the apartment complex (part of the members' club here), but decided instead to try to order a pizza.

they have a pizza chain that is (supposedly) owned by Pizza Hut and very similar to Pizza Hut (but no pan pizzas). i found the chain's web site and proceeded to attempt to order a pizza online. this took about 40 minutes. :P (to be fair, i was chatting with a few people at the same time...) this was largely due to my sub par Chinese reading skills. but with a bit of help from NJStar (Chinese Word Processing program), i was able to enter in my address, navigate through the pages (reading slowly), and place my order! it was actually not a bad way to work on my Chinese... definitely why living in a place is the best way to learn its language.

while doing this, i was struck with how helpful computers are. not that this is something i've been aware of (far from it), but i'm able to construct conversational e-mail messages in Chinese since recognizing is easier than recalling and the software presents with me with a list of choices to choose from. another example of how helpful computers were in this process: i could Baidu (sorry Google) my dad's apartment complex with the English version to find the Chinese text to copy and paste.

anyway, after getting my pizza and eating it (yum!) i decided to finally upload some HK pics to share. finally added pics to most posts from my trip in HK. i also spent way too much time adding photos to facebook... their system isn't horrible; it has some cool features, but it definitely wasn't the smoothest nor most pleasing experience...

it was actually kinda lonely getting back to the big apartment and being by myself. i was happy when my dad got home from his trip and the place definitely felt better.

since now i'm back to Beijing and my days will prob get even less eventful, i'm going to stop blogging daily and just blog when interesting things happen or when i feel like recapping a couple or more days at a time.

so the brief on today was sleeping in! i slept before midnight last night, got up at 9am when my dad was leaving, but went back to bed and got up around 11! i could've easily slept a couple more hours (or days) but decided to get up. god it feels good to be in a real bed!

i spent much time on the laptop, chatting in the morn and catching up on various things. i then met up with Jini (pretty 'ridicerous' that she's here at the same time) for lunch. we had a big and delicious meal at 鼎泰豐 (Din Tai Fung) in the new 新光天地 (Shin Kong Place) department store. seriously ate too much. oh, and we had mango with shaved ice. not quite 許留山, but it was still good :P. we then stopped by my dad's place before she had to leave to meet up with work people.

and now i'm continuing to 'catch up' on things (like email, blogging). i need to get more disciplined on my personal projects, since i have a week here in Beijing, then about a week in Cali (where i'm sure i'll have plenty of distractions) before heading back to the east coast. last chance to make progress or complete some things before i have to get ready for school. hopefully that starts tomorrow, as today was my "adjustment" day (good excuse, huh?). :)

HK Day 19 (Mon Jul 16)

2007-07-17T03:44:00.000-07:00

The last full day in 香港!

i decided not to put too much pressure on myself to do anything in particular. i did, however, need to pack up and make sure i'd be ready to leave early the next morning since i planned to be out late with WingTsun friends.

i ended up spending a decent chunk of time chatting and catching up with people both in and outside of 香港, and didn't get around to updating the blog for the previous day. finally, with things pretty much packed (except for things i needed that day, and things to be bought :P), i headed to Mong Kok (via minibus!) to meet up with Sifu Robin's friend Queenie (whom i had met in Sha Tin a couple of days before). the minibus is definitely the more quick and convenient way to go, but i figure that having done the bus to MTR route gave me a better feel for the area and to see more, as well as get to ride the MTR, which is pretty nice.

i realize my last post was probably full of boring details (analyze THAT, eric :)), so i'll skip some stuff here. did some shopping for gifts, and also gave in and picked up a pair of shoes (see yesterday's post).

after shopping was done, we went to -- yes, everyone is getting sick of reading this i know -- Hui Lau Shan. 許留山. after that i went to meet up with Robin and then we grabbed dinner at a Japanese place back in Mong Kok. after dinner i went to GM Cheng's class and Sifu Robin went off to Baptist University to teach. i planned to join him later, but wanted to stop by and say goodbye to my 師叔公 (si-sok-gung). on my way to class, i actually bumped into my 師公 again so got the chance to say goodbye once more. Got to do some more chi-sau with 師叔公 and to soak in the atmosphere of the main gym one last time, then headed off to Baptist U.

got a little lost, but finally made it. the Baptist U class was very large and festive that day because it was one of the instructor's birthday. shortly after i arrived class ended and we went to their usual after-class dining spot. they ordered a whole lot of food but i couldn't really eat since 1.) i was still full from dinner, 2.) it was really hot and i am less hungry when hot, 3.) i had just exercised and i'm less hungry after exercising. i sat between two of my 師兄's, Sifu Jon and Sifu Robin. it was a nice way to spend my last night, just chilling in a local spot with a bunch of people--who i knew to varying degrees--who shared a common love for 詠春拳.

people gradually parted to go their own ways home, and at the end it was Sifu Robin and i at the Mong Kok MTR station. i was feeling thirsty again when Robin asked, "would you like to get a drink?" i thought he meant from a vending machine in the MTR station or perhaps a 7-Eleven. "Sure." "How about 許留山?" Ha. how could i say no? so off we went!

we drank my favorite 許留山 drink (of the ones i had tried), and reflected on the past couple of weeks, on many things WingTsun, and on thoughts of the future. i think both of us were tired, but neither wanted to call it a night quite yet. around 1:15 am they were starting to clean up and close up shop, so we headed off to the minibuses.

one last trip with the "psychotic" minibus drivers back to Kennedy Town. one last time getting off at the last stop on the 西環 (Sai Wan) bus line. one last night in 香港. one very memorable trip.

HK Day 18 (Sun Jul 15)

2007-07-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

sunday morning i had wanted to attend Sifu Jon's class at the main gym, and Anna had said she'd be interested in checking it out. However, i couldn't quite get myself out of bed from sleeping late the past couple of nights (and not really enough the ones before that), and also wanted to make sure i was rested enough for GM Leung Ting's class that evening. plus, i had wanted to treat Anna to lunch since it was possibly my last meal with her (it was).

we got sushi with Colin and his friend Jason. i don't think i mentioned it in my last post when we ate there, but the place's cooked salmon belly sushi is amazing... we ate kind of late, and were all pretty hungry so ordered a ton of sushi. maybe too much :P. i was definitely more than full by the end. next, we went to Mong Kok to do some shopping.

so i knew one probably existed but never bothered to look into it, but the minibus from Kennedy Town to Mong Kok is twice as fast as the routine i had been following (5 bus to Central, then the Tsuen Wan MTR)... and cheaper! we took that to Mong Kok to do some shopping. Colin bought some cool casual shoes and i was tempted to get a pair too, but refrained. i figured if i really still wanted them, i could come back the next day since i'd be in the Mong Kok area anyway (hoping to prevent an impulse buy. EDIT: failed).

after shopping in the hot hot sun we got a respite in a Hui Lau Shan (of course). Colin and Jason were going to head to Flower Street and Anna and i walked with them 'til Anna's other friend Mark found us. He also wanted to get some shoes (running) so Anna and i went with him and Colin and Jason went on ahead. (my main motivation was staying closer to Yau Ma Tei since i had class that night). Went to some shoe stores, then we looked at some cell phones. Apparently a Taiwanese company has a cool new touch-screen phone that's meant to compete w/the iPhone. it was pretty darn cool and had some nifty UI tricks that could make using it less of a hassle. it also made me realize how unimpressive my phone is, but oh well. :) someday i might get a cutting edge fancy phone. i'm a happy camper as long as it's functional enough, has decent enough UI, and has good reception (ie--NOT AT&T/Cingular).

we parted ways and i had about an hour left before class. i was kind of hungry but not really, so grabbed a mcchicken sandwich and coke :P.

at the school, i was waiting outside for a bit since the door was closed (and the window in the door was covered up still, though i could see light through the top of the door). finally, the security guard in the building told me there were people inside and i should knock. i didn't want to interrupt anyone since i was early, but it was very darn hot in the hallway, so i decided i could blame the security dude if it all went south... it didn't. Sifu Leung Kwok Wah opened the door and there were a few students there with him. got changed, did some stretching, then did some chi-sau with another student. Sifu Jon arrived so i chatted with him a bit and then started doing some chi sau with him. And then, , Great Grandmaster Leung Ting arrived. i enjoyed very much seeing my si-gung in his "natural" environment... it was, after all, the LEUNG TING GYM that he started around 40 years ago, and the very same space that the late Great Grandmaster Yip Man had opened a class. He mostly taught in Cantonese, so Jerry was kind enough to translate for me and Danilo (another non-Cantonese speaking instructor). When explaining something mainly to Danilo and me, GGMLT spoke in English, and when just talking to me, he used Mandarin. i learned some good stuff, saw some great stuff, and had a simply wonderful time being there at the international headquarters learning from the Grandmaster himself.

afterward, i went to eat with some of the other instructors. once again, i was blessed that everyone made me feel like i belonged there. afterward, we said some goodbyes, as it was my second to last night in HK i would not be seeing some people again.

HK Day 17 (Sat Jul 14)

2007-07-14T20:43:00.001-07:00

having slept not too much earlier than 6 am, i managed to rest until 1 pm. 7 hours! not bad, right? sleeping late (or early, depending on how u want to look at it) usually screws with my body/system a lot, but since i don't have the usual stresses of life, i've been pretty adaptable (i think).

after getting up, i gave Sifu Robin a call to see if he was still free to meet up. we decided to meet at 3 pm in Mong Kok. i took a quick shower and set off (takes me ~45 min to get from Anna's apartment to the Yau Ma Tei/Mong Kok area). (for the record, i had wanted to enter the Day 16 blog entry before i left, but was short on time). after getting off the bus at Central, i had a funny moment where someone stopped me and asked me for directions in English to the H&M. i kind of actually knew where it was so (hopefully) pointed them in the right direction. made me wonder if i was starting to fit in a bit in my current environment, but the fact that i haven't picked up much Cantonese quickly deflated that notion.

Sifu Robin and i got dim sum (by my request). initially conversation was a bit slow, but i think it was 'cause we were both pretty exhausted still. things picked up a bit when we started talking about "the unavoidable subject" (as GM Leung Ting referred to our favorite topic when describing his tea time with the late GGM Yip Man). After "yum cha", we went to Sha Tin to meet with Robin's friend Queenie. We met her at the big indoor mall there. I had been there when i visited Mel a few years back on my first trip to Hong Kong. i didn't realize at the time how ginormous (now officially a word according to Merriam-Webster!) the place was. although i hesitate to admit this publically, one thing that is so cool about HK (or maybe just Asia) is all the Yoshi and Stitch stuff they have! good thing i'm on a budget otherwise i'd buy more than i could bring back.

we made our way to a Double-Star Cafe where we had some snacks and tea. i, naturally, got a 凍奶茶 (cold milk tea). although i still prefer 台灣 style, i think i'm getting more accustomed to the 香港 ones. we chatted for a while before the manager started signaling to Robin that we should be on our way. it was worked out alright since Queenie had somewhere she had to be. Robin and i proceeded to Causeway Bay, where we planned to get our "K" on that night.

since we were waiting for Mak Yu and Anna, i asked Robin to show me around the shops, since i hadn't spent much time at all in Causeway Bay yet. we walked around a bit and took in the scenery until Mak Yu was able to meet us. Anna had gone to Shenzhen with Colin and others, so was not expected back 'til after 10 pm, so the three of us proceeded to start off the singing-fest. We went to a place called CEO, which was, like most Karaoke places, much nicer than anything in the states. we had a buffet dinner with our package, as well as a private bathroom. the room could've easily sat 10 people, so it was quite spacious for just the three of us (and also spaciousness enough to comfortably do some chi/goh sau ;)).

Anna called around 10:30 or 11 and they were still on their way back. i wasn't sure if she'd make it in time. she called again later when she was back to her apartment and we were deciding what to do. since she wanted to Karaoke still, i asked Robin and Mak Yu if they were up for staying. the deal was if we paid the same rate again, we could've stayed there 'til 6 am so we decided to stay (just no more food at this point). we ended up singing the night away 'til about 3 am.

i was very beat, but Anna wanted to go to Privé again. although i was slightly tempted, i was 95% sure that it would be a bad idea for me to go. so i was set on going back. Anna initially decided to head back with me, but en route back to Kennedy Town, she got a text message that changed her mind. the taxi made a stop in LKF for Anna before dropping me off back at Anna's apartment. i was extremely happy to crawl into bed (where i still am with my laptop).

although i could save this for my last HK entry (or when i blog from back in Beijing), i just wanted to share how fortunate i feel to have had this chance to spend time here. that Anna was gracious in letting me crash at her place for 3 weeks. that Robin was so caring in watching out for me (making sure i got home, etc.), encouraging and guiding me in WingTsun, and trying to make sure i was entertained at all times. that the weather cleared up from being gloomy and rainy my first few days to becoming sunny and clear (though hotter). that i met many new interesting and diverse people, both within my greater WingTsun family and people in general. i think i at least partially achieved my goal of getting a feel for what it's like to live in HK, as well as get a sense of what life is like as a WingTsun practitioner here. i obviously could get to know the place much better, but am happy for the areas and bus routes i've become familiar with. i hope to have more chances in the future to revisit and enjoy 香港.

HK Day 16 (Fri Jul 13)

2007-07-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

so i've fallen behind my usual d+1 blog updates. perhaps this means i have been less lazy and have been doing stuff! perhaps...

so on Friday the 13th, i got up extra early to go meet Sifu Robin at the Leung Ting Gym to hang out and watch a TVB camera crew film a commercial for an upcoming TVB television series. Unfortunately for Sifu Robin and i, the popular actresses that are to be in the show weren't part of the commercial. still, it was interesting watching them do multiple takes of the same 30 second bit (at least initially :P).

afterwards, we headed to the IWTA office. since i had no other plans (this should not be news to those who've been reading the blog), i decided to catch up on some reading. i looked through GM Leung Ting's book, Skills of the Vagabonds, which talks about a lot of the tricks that people used in the olden days that were thought to have been magical, and often times the same types of techniques were used by those who practiced Ninjitsu (and the Chinese practitioners that preceded it).

we ordered in lunch, and after lunch i continued my reading by looking through the Chinese version of Roots and Branches of WingTsun (mostly at the pictures), followed by the English version. even though i own Roots of WingTsun, i haven't read it carefully in over 2 years. it was good to re-read many of the stories about the history of WingTsun. it was quite fascinating how different things stood out to me, perhaps since i've evolved in my own thinking and understanding of WingTsun in the past couple of years.

after the office closed up, did some training with Sifu Robin, then grabbed a small dinner before heading to Shek Tong Tsui for Sifu Leung Kwok Wah's class. because of a long wait for the bus, i got there on the late side. Anna was already there working on her Siu Nim Tau (小念頭) form. She's "shopping around" for a si-fu/class, trying to see which situation is most suitable for her. i helped give her some corrections, observe the class, and do some training with the students.

after class, i picked up a drink from 7-Eleven while Anna got some Korean food for dinner. we went back to her place, and later headed to Privé at Lan Kwai Fong. Met up with her friend Moon, and later ran into Wendy with some of her friends, and then Colin with some of his friends. i'd like to stress how freakin' annoying it is that people try to smoke and dance at the same time. if the stench of cigarette smoke wasn't bad enough, you have to worry about getting burned in a crowded space. Unfortunately, this happened to Moon while we were just hanging out by the bar. the only other complaint was that they rotated DJ's, so with three or four different DJ's, we heard several songs as many times.

afterward we were homeward bound when Colin asked if we were hungry. we made a (great!) decision to grab slices of pizza at a place called Cul de Sac (i think). while not New York pizza by any means, it definitely hit the spot at 4 am. as we headed to the taxis, we passed Volar and Colin asked if we wanted to pop in. i wasn't sure if he was serious or not, but i think he was. we were all pretty beat and so headed on our merry way home (for those who aren't up to date, i'm being hosted through the generosity of Anna and her apartment).

of course, once back, Anna and i were brilliant and got on our computers! she managed to sneak off to bed without my knowing. by the time i shut down my laptop, i looked into her room and it was bright in there. i was thinking she left the light on when i realized that the source was the big light more commonly called the sun. i confirmed this by looking at the window in the living room (where i'm crashing). great. fortunately, i was still able to fall asleep without much delay (usually i have trouble when there's light).

all in all, it was a great last Friday night in Hong Kong.

HK Day 15 (Thu Jul 12)

2007-07-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

so where did the time go? is my 3 weeks really almost up? i definitely feel the pressure to make the most of it, but that usually results in me doing very little. :P had this discussion with Eric the other day (yesterday?) about how we tend to start missing a time before it ends, but that usually helps in not regretting not making the most of it later (even if i don't actually succeed in the endeavor...).

so what happened yesterday... i think i tried to get a bit caught up on responsibility (though probably didn't), then went and met Mak Yu in Mong Kok. we got dim sum (yum!) in Mong Kok, then walked through 女人街 and i took in the various shops on the street. i'd been good about not buying anything (except for WT clothes on the first day) but then i saw it. a BIG yoshi! so i had to buy it (pic to come. EDIT: pic on right; DS Lite in pic to help with scale :P). i already have a medium (okay 2) one and a small one, but had only seen the big one on eBay and web sites and not in the states. this left me with less than 200 HKD left, so fortunately we made a stop at the bank and i exchanged my "just in case" USD for HKD. there, Mak Yu pointed out the new plastic $10 HKD bills that just came out this week. they are pretty cool. they look pretty much like the existing bills, but just made of diff't materials (so sharing a pic is kinda pointless).

after i felt a little richer, we walked toward Yau Ma Tei and made a pit stop at Saint's Alp! (some will get why that's significant, others will not.) i'm happy to report the Almond Milk Tea tastes as good as the one from the old, no longer existing Bleecker St. store in NYC. again, pic to come.

afterward, picked up a milk tea to go and brought it to the IWTA office for Sifu Robin, who was working hard as usual. my left shoulder, while better, was still pretty sore, so Sifu Robin proceeded to use some cupping technique he had learned, followed by a rather intense massage on the sore spots. it helped quite a bit, with side-effects being three dark bruise-like circles and certain points be very sensitive to any pressure. but at least i can fully form a bong-sau and hold some pressure... :P

after i was healed, did a little training with Sifu Robin before we parted ways and i headed to the Leung Ting Gym for GM Cheng's class. Got to do some chi-sau/goh-sau with my si-sok-gung. :D got some good corrections and things to improve from that, and the class overall. at the end of class, GM Leung Ting stopped by briefly.

After i left the gym, i met up with Mak Yu and a couple of her friends for some Hui Lau Shan in Mong Kok (substitute for the dinner i had skipped). i was, however, dead tired from the ~4 hours of training that day, so i wasn't very good company. since i was such a loser, we called it a night and i got to get home to rest.

HK Day 14 (Wed Jul 11)

2007-07-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

so i'm about 2/3 of the way done with my HK trip. there's really less than a week left (of my three week trip) since my flight back to Beijing is next Tuesday morn. and this thought saddens me. it's not like i've been doing any extraordinary things (by most people's standards; i mean, you've been reading this blog, right?), but i am definitely one of those that subscribes to the belief that it's all about the people, even if you're doing simple things.

so i hope in the next 6 days i have many chances to walk around in HK, eat simple things, and have good conversations and laughs (and some karaoke!) with my dear friends in HK. it's unfortunate that not everyone is so lucky as me as to have no real obligations at the moment and they have their regular lives. Sifu Robin, in addition to working six days a week, teaches WingTsun four nights a week. i've definitely enjoyed spending time in his classes, but it would be nice to roam Mong Kok some more or other areas for a couple hours and just take in the night. perhaps sometime this weekend...

that being said, i spent today being a total bum. i finally got up at around 2:30 PM. this is justifiable because i haven't been sleeping enough and i want to make the most of the next 6 days so i thought i'd make today my "lazy sunday."

also, my left shoulder is absolutely killing me (was just reminded of this when i sat up to adjust my seating). i'm definitely challenging (or straining) my muscles more with my attempts to develop the my WingTsun fighting skills (versus techniques, theory, and teaching, which i normally focus on). it's a little better now than when i woke up with it in serious pain. hopefully it's better by tomorrow night's class with GM Cheng.

anyway, i finally stepped outdoors around 8:30 PM when Anna and i went to get dinner at the ("fake") Taiwan restaurant nearby. it was quite oily. i was happy to have the Taiwan-style milk tea though. :)

anyway, here's to me making the most of my last week staying in 香港!

HK Day 13 (Tue Jul 10)

2007-07-10T11:04:00.001-07:00

a week before i leave i decided i should finally do some more touristy stuff. going to Lantau Island with Anna on Sunday was a good start, and so i followed it up with a day going up to "The Peak" and then going to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Mak Yu offered to be my tour guide, which was much appreciated so i didn't need to use my brain or try to communicate with people. :P at the line for the tram to the peak, we noticed that we were the only Chinese (Asian) people in line. yup... a sure sign of a tourist attraction. or maybe it was just 'cause we were there in the middle of a work day.

up at the top we went through the various levels of the building they had to see what shops they had, etc. Anna's friend Rob had mentioned there was an EA (Electronic Arts) setup to let people play games, but he had not described how awesome it was! (he had just said he couldn't believe his brother wanted to play video games at the top of the peak--but seriously, who wouldn't?!) Mak Yu and i played a game of Fight Night Round 3 and then NBA Homecourt (on xbox360 kiosks) before continuing on with more cultured events.

the view from the peak was quite breathtaking. it was a nice and clear (and too hot) day. after walking around the shops some more and grabbing a bite to eat, we took a bus down to central to take the ferry across to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST).

In TST, we walked the Avenue of the Stars, kind of like Hollywood's walk of fame. At first most of the names were totally foreign to me, but then i saw some familiar names: Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Bridgette Lin, Andy Lau, Stephen Chow, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Jet Li, Raymond Chow, etc.. Also saw the big Bruce Lee statue that they have. By this point we were sweating pretty good and decided to get some refreshments so went to get (you guessed it Eric!) Hui Lau Shan.

At Hui Lau Shan, i was kind of disappointed in the mango/strawberry/jelly drink i got. Perhaps i've finally overdone the mango stuff? Or perhaps it was the strawberries that counteracted the goodness of mangoes? I will have to try again later this week to see which is the case. :)

After Hui Lau Shan we went to the IWTA office to meet up with Sifu Robin. We got dinner at a local restaurant in Mong Kok (see photo of me with Sifu Robin below).

After dinner, we bused over to Baptist University for Sifu Robin's class. Before class started, i had the chance to do some goh sau with Sifu Robin. Since attendance in class was lower than usual, we also had some time during class to train now and then. It was extremely helpful for me since Sifu Robin is very skillful and well-trained. He's helping me become more aggressive and improve my "offense." i also had the chance to do some chi sau and goh sau with one of his students, James.

i'm not very dead tired from constantly sleeping too late. i think i'll take it easy tomorrow and rest up a bit, and maybe go out later. we shall see. 'til next time!

HK Day 12 (Mon Jul 9)

2007-07-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

woke thinking 'why did Anna turn the light on in here (living room) and not turn it off before going to work?' after my mind cleared a bit i realized it wasn't the living room light, but the big light otherwise known as the sun. oops! :P somebody needs more sleep...

talked to Mel for a bit yesterday morn (her evening) but she was kind of busy at work. i remember spending some time on the computer but can't recall what exactly i was doing... probably chatting and surfing the web? i guess that's obvious.

went to meet up with Sifu Robin at the IWTA office and chilled a bit as he finished up his workday. Went with him and his si-dai, Jerry, to grab a quick dinner before heading to the Baptist University class. it was a well-known authentic Hong Kong restaurant, which i actually hadn't really had yet, so it was a nice change of pace.

in class i got more involved than previously (where i had mostly watched, done a little chi sau, and given some simple corrections). i got to do some chi sau with GM Leung Koon (GGM Leung Ting's younger brother) which was very cool. he gave me some corrections that were very helpful, and it was also just a great experience getting a chance to work with the fourth-highest ranking WingTsun practitioner in the world. after a bit one of the students was lacking a partner so i started working with him. it was a good experience because he was very good at goh sau (freefighting chi sau), which i am not so good in. i'll place part of the blame on the fact that it was never emphasized as much in the states as compared to what i've seen in Hong Kong. the other part rests with myself, since i've always known i'm not as good in being aggressive and haven't really challenged or tested out my skills enough. but last night was a good step in improving myself in this area, and i hope i can have enough opportunities in the near future to find people that i can work with to improve myself in this area. i initially struggled very much, not being accustomed to using much force and being too slow to respond to my partner's strong and quick attacks. fortunately, with some helpful insight on mistakes from GM Leung Koon, and some self-analysis on how to take advantage of my partner's weakness, i was able to make some improvement as we kept training. again, a good start on the path of improvement, but barely the tip of the iceberg. fortunately, the experience made me very motivated to improve this aspect of my WingTsun which i have let lay dormant for far too long.

Anna also came to try out class and was under the watchful eye and thoughtful explanations of Sifu Robin. It was also good to see my "old friends" (of four months) again: Sifu Jon (for only the second time so far on my trip), as well as Doris, Ming, and Mak Yu, and newer faces as well.

coming to HK i wasn't exactly sure why i had come. it was a mix of visiting friends and hoping to train some WingTsun and also to get to know HK better. i have gained an orientation of HK, but still am not so familiar with getting around. i have seen a couple of friends, and spent much time hanging out with Anna. but most significantly, i have spent much time hanging out with and talking to Sifu Robin. he's been a gracious host, a caring si-hing, and a good friend. i hope in this last week i have remaining, i get to spend more time with him, despite his always-busy schedule.

time to get up and get today started!

"i'm" is stupid

2007-07-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

one of my pet peeves is B.S., especially when it comes to image or identity, and especially when the substance is lost or forgotten.

take windows live messenger. i go there to try to find the program or an online version so i can chat. what do i get? a campaign message on "i'm":

i’m is a new initiative from Windows Live Messenger™. Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes. We've set no cap on the amount we'll donate to each organization. The sky's the limit.

this is what the whole page is about. i must do good in order to chat! don't get me wrong--i think it's great to promote good causes and be charitable, but let's not forget why people want a chat program, to chat. so let us have access to the program without having to be told how by chatting with Live Messenger i will be helping the world out. it sort of makes me want to vomit a little because of how ridiculously in your face it is, and the fact that this is Microsoft we're talking about here. it just seems like a lame attempt to get more users with their new in-your-face advertising.

okay. i'm done ranting now. and refuse to go through the hoops just to download live messenger. i guess i'll finally give trillian a second try.

EDIT: so Trillian defaults checkboxes to have you install some Weather.com thingy and also an Ask searchbar... god. and people wonder why i (and many others) love Google. UI designed to help users, not to bring in more money or business. hopefully that doesn't ever change.........

HK Day 11 (Sun Jul 8)

2007-07-09T01:04:00.000-07:00

Went to Lantau Island to see the big Buddha. The ferry boat ride was very nice and it was beautiful out, but being sleep-deprived, I slept mostly on the way to and from the island. :P

It was a particularly hot and sunny day. The sun and clear skies were welcome since it was beautiful out, but the heat wasn't necessarily as welcome. Had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant within the Po Lim Monastery, which was surprisingly filling. Then made the trek up to see the big Buddha.

i'll upload some pics and add more later, but gotta run now. :)

EDIT: photo above is me giving buddha some love (high five!)

HK Day 10 (Sat Jul 7)

2007-07-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

slept in a bit this morn, then went with anna to get lunch. tried this new thai place near her apartment which was alright, then followed it up with some yummy mango desserts. :P

she had some afternoon appointments so i stayed in and caught up on some stuff and worked on some music. also got started on laundry!

when anna got back, i gave her a brief WT lesson before we went to meet up with Robin, Jon, Inez, Ming, Doris, et al for a barbecue in Lion Mountain (EDIT: i think it's called something else... Nine Mountain park? OH--and we saw wild MONKEYS!) Park. I had met all of the aforementioned named people in Hungary four months ago, so it was great to see everyone together again. Besides them and me and anna, there were another 9 people, all WingTsun students/instructors.

after a bit of time getting the fire started, we got to finally cook and eat! my fave was bratwurst (that i picked out) since it reminded me of eating them during my childhood in Wisconsin when my dad would BBQ them. i was seriously full after 20 or 30 minutes, but everyone else seemed to keep eating. and eating. and eating. from around 7:30 PM 'til around 11 PM! i wanted to eat more, but simply had no where to put the food.

lots of pics were taken (esp. by MakYu), so i'll try to post some when i get them.

EDIT: here's a group pic that was taken that i had Makyu send me first before i got the rest of the photos:

i'll also fill in details more when i get pics. :P

EDIT: I must comment on how lame wimbledon.com is; it lets you download large video files (300 MB - 1 GB+) , but only when you attempt to watch it do you realize you have to PURCHASE the rights to watch it. LAME. try being a little more user friendly and have us BUY the rights before we waste time downloading the file.

HK Day 9 (Fri Jul 6)

2007-07-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

so are people getting tired of reading my blog? i'm getting kind of tired of writing it. maybe i'm just lazy, but also 'cause i think my days aren't exactly all that varied.

yesterday i went out earlier than usual since Sifu David was leaving in the afternoon. we had dim sum and then hung around the IWTA office (chatting, training, etc.). all too soon it was time to say goodbye. it's funny how something you had no expectations of could become something very meaningful (in this case, knowing i would meet someone i had heard of and wanted to meet, but didn't truly know anything about). i'm sure our paths will cross again. just hope it's sooner than later. :)

Sifu Robin was still very busy so I spent the afternoon online and being a bum. One of Sifu Robin's si-dais was kind and took me to a place to apply for another Chinese visa so I could possibly make a trip to China with my si-gung (before heading back to Beijing). The lady said I wouldn't be able to apply for another one until I had "used up" my current one. Annoying. Did I mention it was ridiculously hot outside and not a short walk? (okay, it wasn't really that far, but it felt like it 'cause of the heat/humidity.)

Had Japanese for dinner with Sifu Robin before heading to Shek Tong Tsui to meet Anna to check out Sifu Leung Kwok Wah's class. After class, got some milk tea and then pretty much called it a night. :)

HK Day 8 (Thu July 5)

2007-07-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

So i've officially been in Hong Kong over a week! my sense of time is a bit skewed, but a week does seem about right.

i arrived at the IWTA office around 12:30. i was pleasantly surprised to see Sifu Leung Kwok Wah there, in addition to Sifu David, Sifu Robin, and si-tai. i spoke with Sifu Leung for a while, catching up a bit since we last saw each other back in March. i also chatted with Sifu David a bit, while Sifu Robin was busy as usual with the many things he takes care of in the office.

a little while later, we left for a dim sum restaurant, where Grandmaster Leung Ting would be joining us. no matter how many times i've met my si-gung, it still is always a little surreal to see him and talk to him. after dim sum we walked down the street and parted ways with Sifu Leung Kwok Wah and GM Leung Ting. Robin, David, and I returned to the office briefly before David and I went to get some coffee.

Sifu David got a latte, but i ended up getting a mango smoothie. :P we chatted a bit (about all things WingTsun, of course) before ordering a hot milk tea for Sifu Robin and getting the check. It was pouring out when we wanted to leave, but fortunately the cafe was a couple doors down from the school and the path was covered.

After giving Sifu Robin his milk tea, Sifu David and I trained a little bit; a most helpful session for me! It is too bad he has to leave HK so soon. :(

Around 6 PM Sifu David had to leave to meet a friend for dinner. Sifu Robin had much to do so he and i ordered some food and ate in the office. Afterwards, he had to head to teach at Baptist University while I went to attend GM Cheng Chuen Fun's class at the main gym.

It was good to see si-sok-gung again, and i was happy that he hadn't forgotten me. :D we chatted a bit and i was thankful for the corrections he gave me in what i was doing. the 2 hour class was also the best workout i've had since getting to Hong Kong. Sifu David stopped by to say hi to si-sok-gung toward the end of class. After class ended, Sifu David and I were supposed to hang out and wait for Sifu Robin, but he has been under a lot of pressure and not sleeping enough so he needed to get some rest. Since it was late, Sifu David and I decided to get something to drink and chat and leave training for tomorrow.

We went to Hui Lau Shan and i got, surprisingly, a mango drink! Despite having had a lot of mango stuff already, i still enjoyed it very much, especially having worked out. Had some more good conversation, and reflected on how happy i was to have met such a good friend and si-hing in Sifu David.

calling it a night, i made my way to the mini buses once again, and can happily say i now am very comfortable getting back to Anna's apartment late at night from Mong Kok. :D

HK Day 7 (Wed Jul 4) - American Independence Day!

2007-07-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

happy 4th of july!

if you've been reading my blog, you'll realize that i'm not joking when i say i'm bumming around Hong Kong. that being said, onto talking about my day!

had lunch with Sifu Robin at an Italian restaurant then hung out a bit in the office. Sifu David joined us a little later on, and we hung out and talked. After the office hours ended, Sifu Robin and Sifu David started doing some chi sau when a question on bong-sau reaction was raised. As this was being discussed, I was already late for my dinner plans, so had to depart. (I still need to process it some more)

Went with Anna and Rob to the American Club in Stanley for a 4th of July celebration. Also met some cool people that Rob invited. The American Club in Stanley has a beautiful view of the ocean (?) and some of HK's islands. It was very picturesque, and our table had a perfect view of it all. Unfortunately that benefit was lost as the sky darkened.

For dinner we had a diverse buffet but i picked only American foods! (and bratwurst :P.) After dinner and hanging out for a bit, we decided to head to Lan Kwai Fong. In the taxi, we wanted to listen to some music but none of the radio stations worked. Rob asked if Anna had brought a CD and the driver said there was a CD we could listen to but it was in Chinese. we figured it was better than nothing so popped it in. at first it was some folksy Cantonese music, but then subsequent tracks reminded us all of Beijing opera. it wasn't the most pleasant sound for us since we hadn't acquired an appreciation of such arts. finally, after a solid 15-20 minutes, we decided to stop it and listen to music off Anna's multi-talented PDA-phone gadget. The driver was laughing when we stopped it and Anna asked the driver if he liked the music and he said no, that the CD wasn't even his. :P

In LKF we popped our heads into California Bar where not much was going on (besides the Gasquet match) so headed to a pool place that i believe was simply called "Rack." shot some pool, had some drinks, and sang along to some American songs. since all but yours truly have work the next day, we called it an "early" night at around 12:30 am.

HK Day 6 (Tue Jul 3)

2007-07-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

i've decided i need to sleep in more. it is my vacation, right? i didn't sleep in yesterday and felt blah so had to take a nap to feel better. i guess alternatively i could try to sleep earlier... but what fun would that be? :) anyway, i think yesterday was by far my laziest day so far of the summer. had no motivation whatsoever to do anything. but that can be good, 'cause i think most people feel that way every now and then, and after it passes, they're extra motivated for a bit to make up for lost time...

anyway, so i finally got off my lazy arse and went to Yau Ma Tei (note to self: takes about 45 min without any traffic delays) to meet up with Sifu Robin. He showed me some more cool WT vid clips. :D Also met his si-dai, Jerry. Sifu David Tvilling (from Korea) was to arrive that afternoon, so we were anticipating his arrival.

we got a quick dinner at Yoshinoya (yum and cheap!), then had to jet off to Baptist University for Sifu Robin's class. along the way, Sifu Robin got a call from Sifu David. Sifu Robin asked Sifu David to meet us at the Baptist University. met some nice students at the class who pretty much all spoke English. had a fun time watching Sifu Robin teach and suggesting some corrections to the students, as well as working with a couple of them. Sifu David finally found us, after asking around for where the class might be or where a payphone might be (he doesn't speak Cantonese either). it was great to get to meet him, since i had seen pictures and videos of him and heard much of him over the years. He was very friendly and we chatted for a while. Then we trained for a bit. ;D

It was very inspiring to have the three of us (me, Sifu Robin, Sifu David) together, who all have learned WingTsun in different countries and environments, from multiple teachers, and with various training partners. We all share a like passion for the art, and the same fundamental understanding, yet there is a different flavor and "accent" (as in languages) to each of our movements that strike one another as familiar yet not completely. It's quite a beautiful thing. :) Through new stimulus comes growth and better self-understanding.

After class we went to Mong Kok to get some food. Went to a Shanghainese place. Got to chat some more, but it seemed all of us were a bit tired. We soon called it a night.

I was happy to discover that the last stop on the Sai Wan minibus is the stop i need to get off of. Or at least it was last night (hopefully they're consistent). Even if not, i think i can finally recognize about where i need to get off (things look different at night).

HK Day 5 (Mon Jul 2)

2007-07-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

so today, for the first time since i got to HK, i slept in!

i woke up around 7 or 8 but refused to get up, so went back to bed. i finally got up around noon.

spent time with the laptop and with Mel (via GoogleTalk) (kind of like life back at home!) for a bit, then finally took my lazy ass outside and got a mango dessert thing (a sweet mango, pomelo, soupy thing) for a late breakfast/lunch, then went to a bakery (Saint Lowlands) and got a couple of breads (for breakfast tomorrow). Returned to the apartment and started working on the script and then a song. Got hungry so ate a hotdog bun i got from the bakery :P.

went out to get Korean BBQ in Causeway Bay with Anna, Colin, two of Colin's friends, and Leslie. Hadn't seen Les in a while, so it was good to see him again. Afterward Les had to go "price something" (for work) so Colin, Anna, and I went to get foot massages and see if Les would be done to meet up to do something else. An hour later, with more relaxed feet, Les wasn't done yet. We went to Hui Lau Shan (Mel's fave) and got these sweet mango (and i think pomelo, again) drinks. Since it was getting kind of late, we decided to get the drinks to go and call it a night.

HK Day 4 (Sun Jul 1)

2007-07-01T08:52:00.001-07:00

Listened to more music in the morn as I slowly woke myself up.

Went to a Japanese restaurant with Anna and her friend/Cantonese Tutor, Sara. Sushi and sashimi (and wasabi)... yum!

Afterward, tried to figure out what HKSAR 10th Anniversary events there were. Apparently we had missed some already (parade), but could make a protest as well as fireworks. Anna had a friend from college who lives in Singapore in town, so we met him for afternoon drinks. Went to Staunton's Bar in SoHo and chatted a while. Afterward, went to 1 IFC (International Finance Center), a huge shopping mall, where we scoped out a place to watch the fireworks. I finally convinced Anna to eat McDonald's for dinner so we went to grab it to take to stake out a place for watching the fireworks. The McDonald's line was ridiculously long. Then we got sorta lost going back to the terrace. Made it all the more exciting.

The fireworks started off kind of lame, but got bigger and slightly better at the end. Supposedly the biggest display ever in Hong Kong, but the planners didn't seem to have a good sense of building up the show at all. It was pretty flat throughout, though they set off a ton in the end; so much so that the smoke masked much of the final fireworks set off. (EDIT: Perhaps i was too far away and it was more impressive from a closer vantage point...)

I should probably get more sleep...

(btw--not that anyone really cares, but i've noticed that the dates/times on my posts are still in NY times...)

HK Day 3 (Sat June 30)

2007-07-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

A weekend day! Not that it really makes a difference to me, but it means my friends who lead normal lives are free. Anna had some plans saturday morn, while I stayed in, updated the blog, and talked with Mel on the phone. :) Also, it was the least gloomy (almost sunny) morning I'd seen!

After Anna got back, we (took some time and) decided to go to Havana (in SoHo) for lunch. We had cuban tapas for brunch (not lunch--lunch doesn't exist there on weekends). After a nice meal, we were ready to go when we noticed it was pouring out. Not so fun. We headed back to Anna's since someone was supposed to come fix the A/C in her living room (yes!). We made a stop at a local place that had good mango desserts! Anna had a mango, pomelo slushy type mix while i had a mango and 豆花 dish.

After getting back to Anna's apartment, she got a call saying the guy couldn't come 'cause it was raining (hrm... reminds me of luggage story at HK airport from earlier post). Since the weather was ugly out, we stayed in. We shared some music with each other (her more than me since I don't have that much with me. Anna's a big American Idol fan, so I heard the names of some former Idol-contestants many times... also heard songs from various artists, including those that have been to jail...

After the excitement of that died down, I had a stimulating time whittling down my gmail inbox to under 40 messages! It's been a very long time since the number's been that low. Anna had plans to get dinner with a couple of friends and invited me along, so we waited for them to call. And waited. And around 8:30 PM we decided we'd just find something to eat when, with impeccable timing, she gets a call. We decided to go with Staunton's Bar & Cafe in SoHo. A later phone call revealed that we'd be getting picked up in a cab and that we'd been vetoed on going to Staunton's.

In the cab I met Trudy, Phil, and Colin (today i noticed stickers on cabs that say SEATS 5--so i guess we were legal!). As we drove, Anna suddenly asked "where are we going?" when she sees a bridge. Apparently we were going to Kowloon (unexpectedly leaving Hong Kong Island, which I had earlier joked that Anna never did). We went to 798 Unit & Co., a NY style gastropub (as i was told). We had a variety of delectable foods that we all shared, making quite the awesome meal.

Afterward, as the rain kept falling, we walked to the MTR station to go back to Central. Colin and Trudy left to make a stop at Trudy's apartment while Phil brought Anna and I to Azure to meet some of his coworkers for drinks. Next was clubbing at Volar followed by clubbing at Prive. Lastly we got food at a "famous" restaurant since it was one of the few that was opened late at night ('til 4 or 5 am). Not being very hungry, I happily drank a cold (HK style) milk tea.

A not-too-long cab ride later the fun day ended.

HK Day 2

2007-06-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

are the titles of my posts too boring? in response to reader comments (all two of ya... thanks Eric and Chris :P): Yes, Eric, i've spent lots of time (and money) already on WT stuff; think of dan:WT::eric:tennis. :) it is quite hot and humid. yesterday (day 2) was not as bad as day 1 though. the humidity is kind of welcome since Beijing is so dry. the KFC (and other standard American fastfood fare) is crazy here. they had like chicken cutlet over rice with vegetables and other decent looking plates. it's almost as if you want to get Chinese takeout style food (but less greasy), you have to go to a KFC or Pizza Hut here. i may get adventurous and actually try one of those dishes out... Christopher, what's on lockhart street?

something i forgot to mention in yesterday's post that been on my mind is how just in a day (and reinforced further on my second day) i've come to very much appreciate two things: 1.) the kindness of strangers in helping you know where to get off your bus or get to the MTR (subway), and 2.) the greatness of air-conditioned buildings that you can walk into freely on hot hot summer days/nights.

yesterday i stayed in 'til pretty late, "planning" ahead (read: surfing the web and chatting). i finally left to go meet with Sifu Robin around 3:30 PM but the bus (to the MTR) hit some major traffic. it took me nearly 1.5 hrs to get to the IWTA headoffice. saw some more cool historic video clips (lots of ones from HK news reports) on Grandmaster Leung Ting and WingTsun. instead of going to train at the Leung Ting Gym, we decided to get dinner and head over to Baptist University early to train there before the class started.

we got Japanese food at a good place (don't remember the name) near the HQ, and Sifu Robin was being the overly gracious host and refused to let me pay. he said i could get the next one, so hopefully he doesn't make it too difficult for me to pay next time. :) (fighting over the bill... serious signs of getting older...?)

after dinner it started to pour so we grabbed a taxi to Baptist University. we ended up running late for class, but still made it there before most of the students. there was a decent turnout of students, including all the students who went to Hungary. The class is taught by GM Leung Koon (GM Leung Ting's brother), Sifu Robin, and Sifu Jon (who's apparently in Taiwan for a few days). It was good to see si-suk-gung again, as well as be in a WT class again after having been away from one for over a month.

after the class ended i started training with Sifu Robin a bit, and received some nice corrections and guidance from GM Leung Koon. Unfortunately, the security guard came by and told us it was time to leave. some of students regularly get dinner together after class and asked if i wanted to go, but Sifu Robin and i decided to find somewhere else to train some more. we found an empty (and non air-conditioned) hallway and trained for about another hour. :D

close to midnight, we headed to Mong Kok where he showed me a mini-bus that could take me back to Kennedy Town. we couldn't figure out if it brought me to the area i usually took buses, but it was the closest bet so i jumped on. the bus driver told Robin to have me pay first (everyone pays when they get off) since i don't speak Cantonese.

fortunately on the bus, the girl sitting next to me a.) spoke English and Mandarin, b.) knew where the bus terminal was (where i usually get on buses when i leave). it was actually not bad at all getting back on the minibus, except for the fact that the bus drivers here drive like absolute lunatics. the minibus driver had a penchant for quickly swerving and accelerating whenever possible. at one point, we almost slammed into a double-decker bus. we brake so hard that everyone lurched forward and a guy's small shopping bag either fell out of his hand or tipped over and stuff went rolling down.

so i should probably have said this earlier in the post, but yesterday wasn't a terribly eventful day. :P it was a fun and relaxing one, so thanks for sharing in it with me!

HK Day 1

2007-06-28T18:13:00.000-07:00

Despite my hellish "adventure" in getting to HK, I couldn't quite fall asleep my first night. There was some wicked lightning going on that seriously brightened everything. So i did some reverse psycho on myself and tried to stay awake. That seemed to work. i think i slept around 4something am.

i got up around 9:30am and updated y'all on my fun yesterday. then got ready and headed out. stopped by a 7-Eleven to refill the Octopus card Anna had given me to use, then found my way to the bus and rode to Central to catch the MTR to Yau Ma Tei. There I met up with my friend and WingTsun si hing (shi xiong), Sifu Robin. It was raining pretty hard, and the weather all day was pretty gloomy. After he took care of some official IWTA business, we headed back to the IWTA/Leung Ting Company head office. I remember the first time I visited with Mel back in '03; I was totally a little kid in a candy store with all the WT stuff everywhere. This time it was some of that coupled with a joy in returning and seeing Si-Tai (Grandmaster Leung Ting's wife) again. She's the sweetest lady, whom I had actually just seen 4 months ago in Hungary (for GMLT's 60th Birthday celebration).

After a quick pitstop at the office, we went to get Dim Sum nearby. It was a very good meal (esp. since i had skipped breakfast, which reminds me i'm getting kind of hungry now, but anyway...) and we got to catch up a bit. It's funny how you can be close to someone even when you first "talked" through e-mail and have communicated mostly through online means. In this case, i am very thankful that that is the case. After lunch, we went back to the office.

[ALERT: WT-details alert that prob will bore most of you so feel free to skip:]
Robin gave me the second Chi-Sau book that was recently published. I got to read through most of it and found some interesting comments/techniques/gems. :) He works in the head office so he had to take care of business while I occupied myself with the many WT things surrounding me. I bought a pair of new WT pants, two pairs of shoes, and a new T-shirt. It was tempting to buy more, but I had to restrain myself given my lack of income and impending debt.

After Robin was done with work, we stopped by the school and did some training! :D After that we walked down to Mong Kok and he showed me some of the shops and places that a lot of young people seem to hang out. He pointed out a milk tea place that happened to be Mel's favorite (Xiu Liu Shang) that he had brought Alex to when Alex visited. Then a little later I saw my (formerly) favorite milk tea place -- Saint's Alp! There was an awesome one in the village on Bleecker that sadly closed down. The one that still remains (around 10th and 3rd Ave) is not bad, but just not as awesome. I said to Robin that we need to come back at some point. :) I also messaged Mar that we have to go. Hopefully it's not disappointing...

Robin had to go off to teach class so I hopped on the MTR back to Central. I walked around a bit to familiarize myself with the area. Eating by myself and not wanting to spend too much money, I stumbled into a KFC. :P So not the healthiest meal, which is another concern. Afterward I met up with Wendy in the LKF area and we grabbed drinks (she had mango juice i had cranberry) and caught up. LKF is the ex-pat area of HK and it's crazy how many people are there. Ex-pats, foreign visitors, locals... just a big mix of young people looking to get their party on. After Wendy and I chatted a while, Anna and her friend Rob met up with us and we went to this place where everyone who worked there seemed to know Anna's name (as Rob said, it was like Anna's Cheer's). They had this live band that performed some classics of the 90's which was a nice treat. After that, we called it a night.

Overall standout impression today: HK has tons of young people. During the day it seems like the age-distribution is relatively standard, but at night, they're just all over the place.

Comments:
1. Thanks to Chris for the heads up on falling cable cars in HK (fell during testing sans people).
2. I'll get less verbose as the days pass and i'll try to replace them with some pics for your viewing pleasure. :)

The "service" industry in China

2007-06-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to give my 2 RMB on China's service industry and the problems China's ever-growing society faces. But after what happened yesterday (into today), I have to first talk about Flying in China!

Under normal circumstances, it should take around 3.5 hours to fly from Beijing to Hong Kong. But throw in a little drizzle and apparently China's airports/airlines can't handle it.

I arrived at the airport yesterday at around 2 PM for my 15:10 (4 PM) flight. I see the flight has already been delayed to 16:00. At the check-in counter I found out they gave away the seat I had reserved two days prior (an aisle seat in the middle of the plane) and instead gave me a seat in the second to last row. Questions of Why were met with vapid, uncaring looks. Finally, the guy mustered up a "you got here too late." The closing time for check-in was 2:25 PM, so clearly we were not "late". I wished my Chinese was better so I could clearly give him what was on my mind about the absurd situation. Fortunately my dad was with me and contributed sufficiently toward this cause. He offers up a middle seat closer to the front. Uh, gee thanks. I purposefully stall a bit, knowing the flight is delayed. So the great service I got is instead of an apology the guy gives me the second to last row seat and says let me know when you decide and walks away. It confirmed that most of the people in "service" roles in China have absolutely no sense of ownership nor care for customer satisfaction and experience (more on this!).

Proceeding to the gate I see the plane has not yet arrived. I ask the lady at the gate when it's arriving. She tells me 15:25, with boarding 10 minutes after, and tells me not to go too far. Some time after 16:00 I ask a different guy who's behind the counter now what the status is. He said the plane will be here in an hour plus. I ask if the plane has even departed yet. He tells me the plane "just took off". Forward on to 17:30, when the estimated time of departure is still officially displayed as "16:00". A followup reveals the plane is downed in an airport 40 minutes away but has pulled from the gates and is about to depart. Seriously? "Yes, really, so it'll be here in about an hour." Okay. Even though my original arrival time was 18:45, at least an 18:30 or so departure would get me to HK before or at midnight.

Guess what happens at 18:30? Yup. Nothing. Forward on to 19:30 when they finally update the estimated departure time from 16:00 (yes, 3.5 hours after the time had passed) to 20:50. Was this progress? Well, it seemed more "official" than verbal feces that had been provided earlier. I hoped against my better judgment that they (airline, airport, people in China) were being honest this time!

Another flight had been scheduled to depart from our gate and their new time was 20:15. But by 20:15, their plane wasn't here yet. I'm thinking I'll tack on however many minutes onto the time their flight is delayed to 20:50 to figure when our plane will arrive (maybe there's a standard quantity they add to get our hopes up just enough...). Then, a miracle! A concrete update! We were being switched from gate 5 to gate 15. Could our plane actually be here?

At gate 15 it indeed seemed like a plane was parked at the gate. Some of us get in line to wait. After 10 minutes, people come out! Poor fellow travelers who were supposed to get to Beijing 6 hours ago. 20:45 and still not boarding us. Finally, they do. Oh well, we'll miss the 20:50 take off, but hopefully they'll rush to get us going, right? RIGHT?

(I don't think I need to answer that) As we're all buckled in and ready to go, an announcement on the plane along the lines of "Delay due to air traffic control. Appreciate your patience." I decide to just take a nap and hope the nightmare will end. I think we finally pull out from the gate 20-30 minutes later but then sit on the runaway a bit more. When we finally get some speed going and are taking off I check my watch and see that it's 22:00.

We land around 01:30. Get off the plane fairly quickly. I stop and find a courtesy phone to call my unfortunate host that I've finally arrived. I then proceed to immigration (one of the last people), followed by baggage claim. Some luggage are circulating out there but lots of people are waiting. Then no new luggage comes out. There's an announcement in Cantonese. Then in "English." All we could understand was "delay". We ask an airport official what's going on. "Oh, it's the weather. If it's raining the luggage guys can't go out to get the luggage." I am ready to laugh at the absurdity. Some other foreigners start yelling and cursing a bit.

Around 2:30 my luggage appears! I didn't recognize it at first because the luggage strap I used to tie around it isn't on it. Hrm. I wait a minute to see if it comes and realize it's not worth it. I also am annoyed that complaining obviously will get me nothing (compared to in the states where they'll at minimum apologize and own up to screwing up and maybe even offer something to make up for it).

Get to the taxi stand and tried to communicate in English where I needed to go. After 15 minutes and a phone call to my host, the driver said he knew where to go. He was a nice guy from Indonesia and writing a book so he asked me for my thoughts on the topic. I was tired but decided I might as well stay awake and chat with him (and make sure he takes me to the right place).

Around 3:15 I get to my friend's place. Got to bed at 3:50.

On the upside, I made it to a place where the Internet is uncensored and I can access blogspot. =)

virtual music studio

2007-04-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Wired has an interesting commentary ("Finally, the On-Demand, Online Garage Band Gets Real") on new apps that let people jam via the Internet.

It's very cool to see practical, innovative tech apps find their way into various industries and aspects of life, and especially cool to see them become accessible to the average person instead of just big corporations.

Money makes the world go round?

2007-04-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

What would you do if you had earned $1.7 billion last year? Ask James Simons (former math prof that uses math-models to bet on stocks/bonds/etc. and make a killing at it). Top Hedge Fund Managers Earn Over $240 Million (NYTimes)

If I had $1.7 billion, I'd definitely focus on efforts like these: Billionaires Start $60 Million Schools Effort (NYTimes). The timing of this article is quite coincidental; i just had long discussions this past weekend with two fellow Sloan adMITs about the (terrible) state of education in the U.S. Encouraging to see that some of those who have the power to enact change are attempting to do so, and kind of gratifying to see that some of the ideas they're employing are similar to ones I had theorized.

New Planet Could Be Earthlike, Scientists Say (NYTimes) - this brought on memories of poorly done sci-fi movies about humans fleeing Earth or out to discover life elsewhere. Quite a crazy notion though--that we may soon be closer to having proof that life is sustainable on a planet other than our own. Crazy indeed. How many billions or trillions of dollars will it take us to figure this one out...?

Five for Friday

2007-04-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

After slacking off on posting interesting things I've seen, here's a bit of a recap from this week:

To Study Wine, Buy and Drink (NYTimes) - the simple yet probably best approach.
A Word of Advice During a Housing Slump: Rent (NYTimes) - contrary to what most people say.
First Look: Second Avenue Subway Stations (NYMag) - would be cool if it happened. but i wouldn't place any bets...
Behind the Hedge (NYMag) - the questions you didn't even know to ask about Hedge Funds and the answers to them
Ode to Ping Pong: Ping-Pong: A Brief History (NYMag)

How I'll spend my (!) Summer Vacation

2007-04-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

With the last day of work 3 weeks away, and matriculation over 3 months away, thoughts of how to make the most of my time off have been floating in my head. not that i'm complaining, but it's not as easy as i thought it'd be to figure out how to make the most of my first real summer vacation since i graduated from college.

the direction i'm leaning toward, and probably the most obvious choice, is to spend a couple of months traveling... to "see the world!" but with such a rare opportunity—to have the safety net of starting grad school in the fall and having virtually no obligations for the summer—i really should think broadly about the things i may never have the time for or a shot at again.

backpack through Europe? take an intensive language course? audition for a musical? hole myself up and finally finish a demo album? pursue a pop/movie star career in Asia? if there's ever a chance again, this would be the time to dream big, right?

(to be honest, as i write this, i have no end to this post in mind; take it as me blogging aloud...)

much to ponder...

more on this as i figure it out...

Video recording, sony-style

2007-03-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

How pretty is this little beauty? The SONY DCR-SR42.

The skinny from the NY Times:

The DCR-SR42, available now at www.sonystyle.com and from electronics retailers, is the 30-gigabyte version and sells for less than $600. Despite the large amount of disk space, the SR42 is compact and weighs only 11 ounces.
Sony says the hard drive can hold 20 hours of video if you shoot at the lowest resolution. At the highest quality, that drops to 7 hours. The supplied battery lets you shoot continuously for just over an hour and a half, while an optional lithium-ion battery ($160) will last up to 10 hours.

This is the "low end" model. Take a look at all available harddisk camcorder models at sonystyle.com.

Artoo-Detoo, where are you??

2007-03-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

That is the question Chris and i sought to answer (he'll say mainly me, but he's just insecure about admitting the truth)—where in Chinatown was R2-D2?

R2-D2?? Yes, R2-D2. to help celebrate STAR WARS' 30th year anniversary, the USPS has dressed up some mail boxes as R2 (and is also planning to release some commemorative stamps).

so, Wednesday of last week, we ventured to the corner of Bayard and Mott in Chinatown, and there he (yes, i'm referring to R2-D2 with the pronoun "he") was! i'm not sure what was stranger, the fact that we had to look around before spotting him, or the fact that he was actually there.

what definitely was strange was how everyone else barely noticed him. as if he fit in perfectly next to the Chinatown souvenir shop and across from the Häagen-Dazs.

to be fair, here's Chris' account of our journey.

New York, NY 10021

2007-03-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

A little social-welfare piece for those who've fared well socially: An Elite ZIP Code Becomes Harder to Crack (NYTimes)

For those less familiar with NY's social hierarchy, 10021 is the zip code of NY's Upper East Side (UES). It now runs roughly from East 60th Street up to East 80th Street. It has long been a sought-after zip code (the wealthy have different concerns than you or i), although in recent times, many of the upper-crust have been reported to have ventured away from the UES, especially to the West Village.

The people getting ~~screwed over~~, um, reassigned will fall into one of two categories. The new breakdown for the old 10021 is as follows:

10065 - 60th to south side of 69th Street (from Fifth Ave to East River)
10021 - north side of 69th Street to south side of East 76th Street
10075 - south side of East 76th Street to East 80th Street

Kinda sucks for those on the south side of 69th and the north side of 76th. It's like the "wrong side of the tracks" for rich people. I wonder if a notable difference in value will emerge because of this change.

My personal favorite zip code I ever had was for a brief 3 months while interning in NY. Living at 34th and 6th Ave gave me the very awesome zip code of 10001. Awesome, right? (is that a "who cares?" i hear?)

Lastly, what about the kids? I remember being confused enough about why zip codes existed when I was a kid. Good thing they never changed mine on me while still living in the same place...

Europe looking to adopt a Big Brother

2007-02-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

Yes, most of us are aware that, to a degree, our technology-driven lives are being tracked. The whose and whats of credit card purchases, cell phone calls, and web browsing can paint a startling picture of a person, and definitely raises privacy concerns. But when government look to pass legislation to assure themselves of the ability to do these things—Europe's Plan to Track Phone and Net Use (NYTimes)—it all becomes even more disconcerting:

European governments are preparing legislation to require companies to keep detailed data about people’s Internet and phone use that goes beyond what the countries will be required to do under a European Union directive.

In Germany, a proposal from the Ministry of Justice would essentially prohibit using false information to create an e-mail account, making the standard Internet practice of creating accounts with pseudonyms illegal.

A draft law in the Netherlands would likewise go further than the European Union requires, in this case by requiring phone companies to save records of a caller’s precise location during an entire mobile phone conversation.

Even now, Internet service providers in Europe divulge customer information — which they normally keep on hand for about three months, for billing purposes — to police officials with legally valid orders on a routine basis, said Peter Fleischer, the Paris-based European privacy counsel for Google. The data concerns how the communication was sent and by whom but not its content.

Not only would such Internet laws be unefforcable, as Mr. Fleischer points out in the article, but in the event they somehow did, the end result would just be decentralizing the Internet (which almost always really refers to just the "World Wide Web") into privatized or underground internets. I can't see how that's a good thing.

What is it exactly that governments aim to do by monitoring people? Catch terrorists? Solve murder mysteries? Perhaps noble goals, but not the right means.

DAVID LEE!

2007-02-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

it's been interesting times lately in terms of players i like actually doing what i want. i've liked d-wade since his rookie season because of his apparent no-nonsense hard-working attitude. usually when i like a player (or a team, i.e.—the knicks), they end up sucking. so in last year's playoffs, imagine my delight when Wade leads his team to a finals victory.

i know there are many that disagree, but i'm happy that Brett Favre is returning to the Pack. yes, he's past his prime, but i've never been one for the storybook ending crap. i'm never one to want to leave anything left on the table. i'd rather know for sure i've played past my prime, than to leave wondering "what if." Favre is still very capable of being an integral part of a winning championship team (John Elway comes to mind, since they beat the Pack back in '98 when he was 38 years of age). i think if you are past your prime and go out on top as a champion, then it's much more of a no-brainer than quitting while you still have substantial game left and you're still one of the top players in your position in the league.

and that brings me to the catalyst for this post. David Lee. since last season i've grown to become a big fan of Lee. he always gives 100% and often surprises you with his level of play. perhaps it's because he gets zero hype as the Knicks' lone white dude (or for just being a white dude in the NBA). but he definitely has great talent and skills. he's been getting much credit this season around the league, and reached a new high this weekend during the All-Star Rookie-Sophomore game when Lee doesn't miss from floor; sophomores drill rookies (ESPN). Lee went a perfect 14-14 to lead the sophs with 30 points. Although most were dunks or lay-ins, he didn't always go for the safest shots, notably with a windmill jam and a jumping-turnaround-lay-in off a pass that he caught mid-air.

i'm hoping that Lee remains a knick for the rest of his playing days. it's refreshing to have a knick who plays 100%, doesn't have an overbearing ego, and delivers consistently. and as many are talking about, with Lee and (Eddie) Curry both being very young still, the knicks have a positive outlook for the near and far future. one can hope...

Sampras/Agassi

2007-02-16T09:38:00.000-08:00

stealing an article from chris' blog, but with a different focus—Pete and Andre are friends: Q&A: Pete Sampras

SI: How often do you talk to Andre Agassi?
Sampras: I talked to him a little after the U.S. Open. He invited my wife and me to his foundation dinner so we went and talked and hung out. We promised each other we would stay in touch. I think we have been through too much together and do get along quite well. We both have a wife and two kids. We have a lot in common at this stage in our lives.
SI: Would you describe you and Agassi as friends today?
Sampras: I would. Not anything where we stay in touch week to week, but if he were ever in L.A. or I were in Las Vegas, I think we would reach out to one another just to get together or have our kids play. The great thing that happened with us is that everything we went through, completing for major titles, I think we came out better friends than when we went into it. It's a credit to who we are and what we represent.

How cool is that? Sampras and Agassi's kids playing together.

"My daddy ALWAYS kicked your daddy's ass."
"NUH UH!"

How long 'til they're competing against each other on the juniors circuit?

All your genes (will soon) belong to someone else

2007-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Michael Crichton sheds some light on a real screw up by the US Patent Office in a NYTimes op piece: Patenting Life.

You can’t patent snow, eagles or gravity, and you shouldn’t be able to patent genes, either. Yet by now one-fifth of the genes in your body are privately owned.

how crazy is this? how ABSURD is this? not only that, it is even more wrong when people make a profit at the expense of people trying to fight diseases:

Gene patents are now used to halt research, prevent medical testing and keep vital information from you and your doctor. Gene patents slow the pace of medical advance on deadly diseases. And they raise costs exorbitantly: a test for breast cancer that could be done for $1,000 now costs $3,000.

Why? Because the holder of the gene patent can charge whatever he wants, and does. Couldn’t somebody make a cheaper test? Sure, but the patent holder blocks any competitor’s test. He owns the gene. Nobody else can test for it. In fact, you can’t even donate your own breast cancer gene to another scientist without permission. The gene may exist in your body, but it’s now private property.
...
Fortunately, two congressmen want to make the full benefit of the decoded genome available to us all. Last Friday, Xavier Becerra, a Democrat of California, and Dave Weldon, a Republican of Florida, sponsored the Genomic Research and Accessibility Act, to ban the practice of patenting genes found in nature. Mr. Becerra has been careful to say the bill does not hamper invention, but rather promotes it. He’s right. This bill will fuel innovation, and return our common genetic heritage to us. It deserves our support.

so with that, i wish you a happy valentine's day. i'd give you my heart, but Big Business owns the patent.

Makes you go Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

2007-02-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

Although the Wii classic controller is designed pretty sweetly, you can't beat playing old-school games off the Wii's Virtual Console (download service) with their respective original controllers... which is why RetroUSB's old school controller port converter for Wii is so cool!

Too bad they aren't out yet, 'cause then I'd take Kid Icarus or Ice Climber (GameSpot), just released today on the VC, for a spin with an old NES controller...

the chosen one

2007-02-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

I have totally suffered from what this article talks about—How Not to Talk to Your Kids (New York Mag):

“Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control,” she explains. “They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.”

In follow-up interviews, Dweck discovered that those who think that innate intelligence is the key to success begin to discount the importance of effort. I am smart, the kids’ reasoning goes; I don’t need to put out effort. Expending effort becomes stigmatized—it’s public proof that you can’t cut it on your natural gifts.

I guess the Chinese pile-on-the-criticism/don't-expect-any-compliments approach to education may be getting some new support.