Avast me Mateys!

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell recently suggested that the latest approach to combat PC piracy is to use A Trusted Platform Module (TMP) chip. Basically, the TMP chip is a chip on the motherboard of the computer that is supposed to check and confirm the legitimacy of any PC software installed on the computer. If the software is legit, the chip allows it's usage. If the software is pirated not, the chip is supposed to prevent it's activation.

I'm not a computer expert so I cannot comment on how technically sound this method of DRM is, but I think that using borderline draconian methods to protect their IP is not the right way for companies.

The image of a typical pirate is someone who is young and has relatively low (no) purchasing power, like high school kids. I believe most pirates are not really interested in purchasing the actual product. It's more of "since I can get it for free, I'll try it" kind of attitude. Thus, such anti-piracy measures aren't really helping companies increase their revenues. People who can't pirate the game aren't necessarily going to want to play it regardless. And then the real users are the ones who have to suffer the indignity (& inconvenience) of the anti-piracy procedures.

I think as most people grow up and see an increase in purchasing power, they will stop pirating goods as they are in a better position to buy what they want. Thus companies should spend their efforts in making (& marketing) a product that these users will buy. They can include freebies (vouchers/posters/etc) with purchases, allow legit users to have exclusive interaction with the programmers, etc. These are things that cannot be downloaded nor digitized for free sharing. That should be the way to go I think.

Piracy should not be condoned, but heavy-handedness is not going to win people over to the big companies' side. I hope that corporations realize the futility of forcing people to do what they (i.e. corporations) want.

P.S. Ninjas are cooler.

LCD Hunting?

Then here are some things to look out for (straight from the Pro's mouth)

1. Backlight leaking. When it's all dark, the edges glow.
2. Uneven backlight lighting - If you have say a monotone blue wallpaper, the blue on top looks different than the blue below. This is less obvious on small monitors but 24'' and above is pretty obvious.
3. Color (observe the Americanized English) gamut. Most LCD on the market now uses panel that produces only 78% of the color spectrum. The new ones which most manufacturers are transitioning to are >92%. Makes hell of a difference. Make sure you don't get something that manufacturers are trying to dump.
4.Warranty. Worry less about dead pixels these days. The backlight usually dies first.

There you have it. Things to ponder when you next hunt for the 32" FragFest Baby to allow you to game and chat with the gf/mom/random hot chick at the same time.

I'd never

Thought that I would see the word "tits" on the headline from a respectable news website.



If you're interested in finding out more, you can click here.

If you ever...

Wanted to see a white boy (Stephen Colber[t]) do a DDR throwdown with an Asian (Rain), here's your chance. Although in the spirit of the Colbert Report, it's really more of a comedy, it's still a chance to see Stephen's (not so cool) moves.

Some back story.


The actual challenge.


Enjoy.

Also, because I had to, hear is how Team Fortress 2 applies to relationships. In the wise words of ICE.

Some Last Thoughts...

Before my operation tomorrow. I'm going for an arthroscopic exam to remove any floating bits of meniscus in the knee and to determine if my ACL is still ok.

It's kinda worrying to know that walking on gravel could lead to such an injury. I might have to consider a career change if the doctor determines that I have a weak ACL again... I can't risk the hazard to my knee like that. Which would suck since I like my company and my job... Sigh.

Oh well, at least some old friends will be coming around soon. That's really awesome. Hopefully my leg will be better and I won't need crutches to show them around. It's a good time to visit the US, the dollar is so weak (1.3!! OMG). My purchasing power just keeps falling...

In something completely off-topic, but completely relevant to the nature of the blog, guess what occupation this lady had before this pic became public?

She''s definitely an inspiration for an American Pie movie. And she was also the mayor of a small town in Oregon. I'd vote for her. Haha.

Ok, I'll post again after my op. Just to show I'm alive.

Chicago Traffic is Horrible...

Or how I spent 3 hours traveling for a 15 minute transaction...

So I bought a pair of orthotic in-soles over the weekend to try to help my flat feet. Since I was bringing an acquaintance around town, I went to the factory outlet about 60 miles west of Chicago.

Turns out that the in-soles didn't fit my feet and I went back today to exchange them for a pair that did... 60 miles from my office, google maps says about 1 to 1.5 hours of travel. Like so.

However, when you account for traffic density, the actual journey becomes more like this.


Although, in all honesty, I think this is a better representation of what's going on.

I left my office at 5pm. Got there at 7:15pm... And then got home at 8:30pm. And the most irritating part is, on my way there, the traffic towards Chicago was light. Like maybe 1 car every 10-15 meters. And then on my way back to Chicago, it became 1 car every 3-4 meters... I love Chicago traffic...

GF TF2

Is a lot of laughs. Enjoy.

A bit of background. Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is a first person shooter (like Doom or Halo) where one chooses a team (Red or Blu) and a class (soldier - with the rockets, demoman - with the bombs, scout - the fast, small one, heavy - the biggest guy, medic - the doc-ish looking one, pyro - shoots flames, engineer - uses the wrench, sniper - has a scope, spy - can turn invisible). And then one team tries to unleash hell on the other.

Bonus video. Monty Python done TF2 style! Watch for the guitar hero pyro!

TF2 - Something Completely Different from David Keyworth on Vimeo.

Oh Shit...

The doctor says I definitely have a torn meniscus at the back of my knee and surgery is recommended to prevent the meniscus from locking up my knee. I'm gonna seek a second opinion from a doctor nearer to home but I think it's likely that I will be going under the knife... Ugh.

So in order to try to lighten up my mood, I've been watching this animation of Architecture in Helsinki(which is an Australian band)'s Do the Whirlwind.
I like it so much that I actually bought it from Amazon.com. Amazon is so cool, you don't need any software to download and the music is copy-protection free. I feel legit now. Haha. Must be the increase in purchasing power.

Not the best of times.

Not the best of times right now. Violence across the globe, religious strife, economics turmoil and I'm not feeling too good either (and not just about my single status too).

First of all, my knee feels sore. The alarming thing is that happened suddenly without any warning. So I'm thinking if this still hurts tomorrow, I'll go and see a doctor. Hopefully, it's not a big deal and I'll feel better when I wake up.

Next piece of bad news is about my bank. JPMorgan recently came up with a deal to purchase Bear Stearns. I read on the Economist that JPMorgan agreed to guarentee $1 billion of Bear's $30 billion most illiquid assets. If Bear Stearns can't get rid of them, I'm doubly screwed. Once via JP and once more via the Fed(since I'm a taxpayer). I hope it doesn't come to this. Ugh. Also from the article is the following.

The bank is heavily exposed to rising corporate defaults. It is also big in home-equity loans, which are souring at an alarming rate. More importantly, it is a giant in the over-the-counter derivatives market, and number one by a long way in credit-default swaps. With such a large derivatives book, the bank can withstand losses of only 15 basis points (hundredths of a percentage point) across its positions before eating through its regulatory risk-based capital, according to Institutional Risk Analytics (IRA), a research firm. These positions are, like those of America's housing giants, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, too big to hedge effectively, IRA says. It also calculates that JPMorgan needs almost five times its current capital to cover its economic risks.

I want to comment about Tibet, but it's late and I'm tired. So I'll leave you a link to pics about how foreign (i.e. non-chinese) people have protested against Chinese action against Tibetans. You don't need to read Chinese, just look at the pictures and form your own conclusions about "westerners".
Lastly, this is a conversation with a relative in China about her opinion on the whole matter. Some editing for space and formatting.

Her: 西藏我没去过. 不过哪个地方是很多人都很想去，特别是中国人.我有几个朋友说一定要去西藏，哪的文化很浓，地方也很好，海拔很高，很多人梦想去哪，特别是搞艺术的，做设计之类的对这个地方很感兴趣
Me: ok.对西藏人要独立的事又有什么看法？
Her: 这次事件搞的满大的，独立我想不太可能的.做为中国人当然不希望他们独立
Me: 那你对“做人不能太CNN"这句话又有什么看法？
Her: 我们做人要实事求是，要厚道.比较同意以上说法，哈哈. 中国人做事也好，我感觉都很有原则，实事求是，做人，做事脚踏实地. 这次事件对中国影响很大的，我同事有去过西藏的，大该去一下，在中国要花1.5万人民币，现在可能又少一点，过去的人都说很好. 像这样地方，去的人一般都是喜欢冒险的，哈哈，不过铁路通了以后，旅游的也很普便了

She says she doubts that Tibet will become independent and that she doesn't wish for independence. On the issue of Western Media Bias against the Chinese government's actions, she says that Chinese people are principled and practical and that everyone should be like that. I guess that's not really answering the question, but I want to sleep already and that's as far as I will get.

Ok. Night all.

Watch the Video, Follow the Instructions

And see how sharp your eyes are.

Post Easter Post

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter weekend. Even though I'm not religious, since it's Easter, I'd like to take the time to share some takes on the Last Supper.

1. If Jesus were a mouse, I'm thinking the Last Supper might be something like this. Be wery wery quiet, they're eating...

2. A more commercial take on the Last Supper. Although, if food were the main theme, it might be quite apropos.

3. Abstract, with contrasting colours, some might say the Apple is akin to Jesus.

4. Perhaps some people worship this form of Apple Jesus instead.

5. Personally, I worship at this One's altar more than any son of God.


6. Who can resist Lego figures? Lego Jesus FTW!


Well, I'm also back on-site. Using the hotel internet. Which sucks eggs.

Good "QQ" Game. Oh well, I never expected to TF2 anyways. I'm just glad I brought my DS along.

Couple of miscellaneous Chinese vocab.

1. 频频肇事 (pin2 pin2 zhao4 shi4) - to repeatedly create issues.
2. 涉嫌 (she4 xian2) - to be a suspect

Do-Over

This post was originally about someone who was impersonating me as seen above. But like a good friend said, I should grow thicker skin. So that's that.

TF2 Overload

I'm amused at all the creative things people have done with TF2. It's a game but I've seen so many youtube music that utilizes TF2 sounds. It's incredible.

Here are some of the best I've seen. And a special shoutout to AhSeng. Most of them are Scout-based. Bonk!

1. Mortal KomBonk


2. NFL Bonk!


3. Super Bonk Land (Soon to be my ringtone)


4. One of my favourite characters, the Heavy Weapons Guy.


5. More Scout.


And lastly, it's been raining all day here. So naturally my thoughts are about how to keep warm, and what better way to keep warm than the pyro? So here's a tribute to that crazy bastard we all love and can barely understand.

Something I don't do very often

Which is discuss about finance. WARNING:LONG POST THAT I DON'T REALLY UNDERSTAND MYSELF. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. Here is a Financial Times article written by former Fed(eral Reserve) Chairman Alan Greenspan.

With the emerging financial doom and gloom lead by the sub-prime mortgage crisis and compounded with a steadying dropping consumer confidence and rising oil prices, I thought it would be a good thing to listen to what this guy had to say. He obviously knows a lot more about finance than me. So I'm gonna be leaving pointers on what I think is interesting/important.

1. Apparently this might be the worse crunch for the US since World War II. I guess we should be "privileged" to live in such interesting times.

2. The biggest component of this mess is the housing market. And until the liquidation of the excess inventory has happened in earnest, there won't be stabilization. Which means, that it's a good time to go investing if you can spare a few hundred thousand USD (My thoughts). However, single family housing supply has sharply fallen in the past year. Mr Greenspan predicts that in 2008, around 400,000 homes will be sold. And next year's supply is limited as well so that will prevent even more empty houses flooding the market.

3. One of the biggest changes that should occur from the fallout of this crisis is how risk is assessed by the financial sector. I don't fully realise the impact of his words so I'm just gonna quote verbatim here.

To be sure, the systems of setting bank capital requirements, both economic and regulatory, which have developed over the past two decades will be overhauled substantially in light of recent experience. Indeed, private investors are already demanding larger capital buffers and collateral, and the mavens convened under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements will surely amend the newly minted Basel II international regulatory accord

The manner of risk-taking companies took were not able to withstand the stress when the whole market took a downturn.

One difficult problem is that much of the dubious financial-market behaviour that chronically emerges during the expansion phase is the result not of ignorance of badly underpriced risk, but of the concern that unless firms participate in a current euphoria, they will irretrievably lose market share. Risk management seeks to maximise risk-adjusted rates of return on equity; often, in the process, underused capital is considered “waste”. Gone are the days when banks prided themselves on triple-A ratings and sometimes hinted at hidden balance-sheet reserves (often true) that conveyed an aura of invulnerability. Today, or at least prior to August 9 2007, the assets and capital that define triple-A status, or seemed to, entailed too high a competitive cost.

4. Current models have an X-factor thrown in to model the market. This means that they cannot adequately describe what is happening. Ideally, we should be able to simulate what happens when the market is given to hysteria. As long as we can predict the systematic lows of the market, we should be able to prepare for it. But that is beyond my expertise as to how such things should occur (My thoughts).

I hope that was informative! And yes, I know it was too long. Bleah.

Animal Abuse

Be warned, the following video contains scenes of graphic animal abuse. I do not advise listening to the video carefully. You might choke on your food.



Bad cow pun indeed.

Spring Forward!

So I know I promised to upload pics and I went to Flickr to upload them, but then I realised that they only allow people (myself included) to see the most recent 200 pics. Since I'm not willing to pay $25 a year to change that access and also because I'm not impressed with Flickr's interface, I'm considering switching photo services. Does anyone know if Picasa is any good? I spent a considerable amount of time today downloading all my stuff from Flickr to my HDD and gave up after the 120+th photo. So just a reminder that yes, I still remember.

In other news, it's time to Spring Forward guys. Daylight savings has arrived! I like it. It means when I reach home, there is still light (although maybe no warmth still) when I go jogging. Means I can go by the lake again. And it's always nice to think that Spring is here, after spending a dreary 4 months in the cold, sleet and snow. That means another 4 weeks to a more *ahem* colourful street scene. I'm looking forward to that as well. It also means it's a 13 hour difference with home now. So that means a better convergence of timing to chat and catch up with people back home. That's always nice.

And who says gamers aren't cool? This is Soulja Boy done Team Fortress Two style. Enjoy.



And to the people who understand - Isn't that rocket jump, turn and frag of the scout so damn cool?!?

Breaking News!

Just because I care. This is an extract of an article from the AP.

Men who do housework may get more sex...

Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-area psychologist and author of "The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework," said equitable sharing of housework can lead to a happier marriage and more frequent sex.

"If a guy does housework, it looks to the woman like he really cares about her — he's not treating her like a servant," said Coleman, who is affiliated with the Council on Contemporary Families. "And if a woman feels stressed out because the house is a mess and the guy's sitting on the couch while she's vacuuming, that's not going to put her in the mood."

So there you have. Guys this is for you, and knowing is half the battle.

Random Thoughts

So, here are some random thoughts that I've been accumulating and been just to lazy to write down.

1. It's not so bad jogging when it's around freezing, as long as the roads aren't icy and the wind isn't blowing. And you don't jog too far, till your nose gets so dry you have to jog with a gloved hand over your mouth and nose. And I'm just glad the weather has gotten warm enough to actually allow jogging outdoors. And I'm grateful that I don't have to go into the field for another month or so. That's some regular exercise time right there. Time to lose that weight I gained during vacation. Haha.

2. My neighbours are far better cooks than I am. I was boiling a soup today with some dried scallops, dates and ikan billis. And whilst waiting for the stuff to boil, I went to clear the trash and the moment I exited into the walkway, the aroma of my neighbours' grilled fish was just too fantastic to ignore. Single asian working male in foreign country = low culinary skill-time.

3. After the previous post about how I think I left a lot of things behind, I had a chat with my supervisor. And was very impressed with his plans for the division and for progress in the company. But the surprising thing was, that even with these visions of grandeur (our own little R&D model, computer simulations, integrated equipment surveys), he still said that it's best not to get pigeonholed and even encouraged me to look for other opportunities when I thought it would be appropriate. He also said that I had some transferable skills already, with all the field work that I have had. That's something I will think about. Realistically, I think there's probably another 1-2 more years before I will start to actively reassess my life. But it's always nice to know you have nice superiors.

4. NEVER EVER BUY ANY COMPUTER MADE IN CHINA. My Lenovo (Curses on the lousy brand!) has seen the Lenovo return DHL box 4 times since Sept 06. I will get a new PC when my warranty expires. I cannot stand this piece of shite that is Lenovo. Ugh, I cannot even begin to describe the revulsion I feel for them. I will have to stop here or I shall pop a vein. Ugh.

That's about all I have right now. I'm going to bed.

Cardinal Sin

It's lunch and I'm blogging. It kinda feels weird. Since I try to not mix work and personal life. But sitting here, I just had a bout of something. Dissatisfaction with the status quo is the best way to put it I guess.

有一种对人生不满的感觉。可能是因为我这次回家时，认了为了来这里，我放弃了很多。我羡慕，我怀念。 But I'm afraid of up-rooting and re-settling again, and to lose all I've done here and start from scratch. To do something I don't really like, with no real alternative. I don't want to work in the most common industries at home, so I need to come up with a better plan.

Perhaps it's just nostalgia talking and I'll get over it in a couple of weeks. But man, I really need some motivation now. I'll just focus on the improving weather and getting back in shape. That should do it for now.

Thanks to All

Who made it a unforgettable trip home. Pics and a recap will come up later. It's 130am and I'm still slightly jetlagged. Which means I should sleep. Scleeeph.

豆腐！豆腐！

This post is about 功夫灌篮 (Kung Fu Dunk). And yes, I know it says 大灌篮 in the pic but it's called 功夫灌篮 in Singapore. So that's that.

It's a light hearted comedic action movie that draws on an anime background and is really a lot of fun. There are ridiculous dunks, random plotlines (or plotholes, depending on your perspective) and not enough pretty girls (but enough pretty boys I think).

Still despite all of it's flaws, me and my friends couldn't really condemn it as a bad movie. I felt that the movie was worth the admission ticket. The acting is ok, the action scenes are cool and Jay Chow can really ball. And the soundtrack is really catchy and was a real plus for me.

我不卖豆腐(豆腐) 豆腐(豆腐)
我在武功学校里学的那叫功夫 功夫(功夫) 功夫(功夫)
赶紧穿上旗袍 免得你说我吃你豆腐

I never believed that 豆腐 could actually be a catchy phrase for a song, but I now know better. With lyrics like this, how can the song not let people laugh?

And since it's Valentines day and also since Valve is releasing a new TF2 map, I have an urge to share the love.



Pyros Rock! Happy Valentines day everyone!

Note to self: Get Capo and practice this.

Baby Care 101

Since there is an increasing number of people I know who are getting/are already married, I thought it would be appropriate to share what are some of the do's and dont's of baby care. All these helpful tips are pretty self-explanatory I believe.

Observe.




Simple enough to follow yeah? For more baby care tips, the whole list can be found here.

Here's to proper child rearing techniques.

Canada, Revisited...

That's the weather I'm facing again. I have nothing to add to that. The numbers do all the talking for me...

Luckily, this time, my trip is considerably shorter and should be less stressful. Everything is up and running and mostly going smoothly. We have to do some modifications but it shouldn't be anything major.

And after I come home (US), I'll be definitely counting down to home (HOME). Unfortunately, that means I'll have a TON of stuff to finish up before I leave for vacation. I foresee 10 hour days in the office again... BUT it will be worth it. WORTH EVERY SINGLE MINUTE.

I'm starting to fill my calender of events for the stay home already. Let's get the stuff rolling peeps!

最后一件事就是想讲日本人。我知道他们能读汉字但是bopian啦。汉字比英文适当吧。我的日本朋友大部分回到日本就如雾一样消失到无影无踪。。。真是气死人。。。想联络也联络不到。靠。不管啦。Dun care liao. Let's rock regardless.

Action!

Hmm, I don't know if I should be ashamed cos I detract so easily or encouraged that I actually tried to live up to the Action! motto I set for myself this year.

I was gonna go home to veg out but I thought I need to bank a cheque my company had given me AND get a hair cut while I was out anyway. So my decision to run errands or just slack at home was based on guilt and the Action! theme. Not surprisingly, guilt won.

Oh well, baby steps. Baby steps.

The year is still young, plenty of chances to break my resolutions later. Haha.

And in a completely unrelated observation, contradiction is the same in both Chinese and Japanese. 日本語の矛盾（むじゅん）and 中文的矛盾(mao dun). Uncanny eh?

Resolutions

So I'm waiting for my car to do its 25,000 mile service and what better time to do my New Years Resolution(s) than now?

I think my keyword this year will be ACTION. That is, take concrete steps towards goals and not put things off. I wonder how long before I start procrastinating this year though, in spite of this decision. Haha.

Anyways, here is the list of things I want to do. And a little bit of how I'm going to do it.

1. Learn about investing. By reading Investing for Dummies (1-2 hours per week, till end of Feb) and then researching online. Via some online brokerage that I've yet to research.

2. Learn about VBA. By reading VBA for Dummies and writing my own code (1-2 hours per week, till forever).

3. Learn how to do barre chords properly and get the Em to Bm transition smoothed out. Then I can play 恋爱 ING better. Learn Fukai Mori by Do As Infinity (have to practice).

4. Improve Japanese by watching 1-2 hours of drama per week. Currently watching Security Police, which is pretty good and reminds me of the Ambler Warning.

5. Sign up for a gym when I come back from vacation in Feb.

Now I just realised that the stupid morons at Lenovo have, by reimaging my hard drive, wiped out my wireless card software. Which I will have to re-download and reinstall. Gods... I will not taint this feel good post with vulgarities but gods!!

Simple Wishes

Happy New Year dear readers, may 2008 be better than 2007 for all of you!

I'll post further introspections later but I have to finish housekeeping first...

FUCK LENOVO

I was going to post something about my 12 hour connection from Winnipeg to Chicago (only a 2 hour flight normally) but I'm furious at the piece of shit that is Lenovo Tech Support.

I sent in my laptop because I had a faulty NIC card, and when I got it back, my whole Hard Drive was wiped out. FUCK THOSE LITTLE BASTARDS. I will call the tech depot tomorrow to screw that moronic techician. Oh my god, I cannot adequately verbalise how angry I am right now.

So here's a PSA for you guys, save yourself the grief, don't buy Lenovo.

Observations from Continental North America...

1. It is f*cking cold in winter. It's only mid December but there's already like 10 inches of snow on the ground...

2. Night Shift + 20mph winds + Flu + Equipment faults = Worst Buy. It's not fun trying to dig through baked cornflakey animal feed when you're trying to start a 5 million dollar system under pressure and the effects of the flu. It definitely gives you a shot of adrenalin but it's not worth the anxiety.

3. Milk, one of the best ones to get 2 hot chicks (and chicks of different nationalities too).


4. Even though I have coming promises to keep about going home next year, with all my travelling and some careful juggling of vacation/off days, I am thinking about going home (home-home) for the Chinese New Year, with a stopover in Japan. I just asked my bosses for vacation and started looking for tickets. Hopefully, I'll get something done. That would be super awesome. w00t(Merriam-Webster's word of the year)!

You know it's cold when ...

The weather forecast looks like this... And bear in mind that wind chill is NOT accounted for in that number... Ugh.



I intend to run very fast from the car to the office and from building to building whilst I spend my time up here in Canada. It's so cold, that the car has to be running for about 10 minutes before my windshield starts to clear up...

In other news, while up here in Canada, I amuse myself by watching youtube videos. So here are some videos that I thought were amusing.

1. You've seen it done well, you've seen it done horribly, and now, you can see how the pros do it.

And after you do, you can try to practice like the pros.

2. What do you get when you cross John Travolta with a Wookie?


3. You may or may not have heard of the Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban) series for the Nintendo DS but someone used the sprites and animation to do this.

Five hundred dollars anyone?

4. A cooler (and totally japanese) trailer of all the Ace Attorney games (all 4 of 'em).

I HIGHLY recommend this game to anyone with a DS. Start with the first and work your way up.

Wow.

I had many things to wow and bitch about. From not having time to play Team Fortress 2(50% off on Black Friday!), to having to send in my laptop to cos I appear to have a busted network card, but this really takes the cake. The video on youtube was removed by the user, but you can see it at the link below. It's a sad story about gaming and family (not the sad way you'd typically think). Very touching.

http://animalcrossingtragedy.ytmnd.com/

I'm really blessed to have parents who are supportive and allow me the freedom to do what I think I want in life but are always there when things don't go as planned. So a big thanks to them for helping to where I am today. And I think, after watching that, dear readers, you should do the same too.

I wish our band were as cool as this...

Wow. I'd hate to have been one of those people who missed this just because they had to do trivial things like pee... or eat...

Aboot the "Eh"

So from my 48 hours in Canada so far, here are my revelations:

1. I realised that gas in America is still quite cheap. It's about 1 dollar per litre here, which is still more expensive than what I pay for in Chicago (already one of the most expensive places in the US).

2. Canadians DO use "eh" very often. It's as bad as the "lahs" of Singlish. But perhaps even more flexible. I've never heard anyone use "lah" as a response to a question, but you can use "eh" to do that.

3. I always thought that "aboot" was a parody of Canadian English done by South Park, but apparently, it's real as well. Canadians sound very much like Americans except for the 2 above mentioned traits. It's kinda amusing when you are talking to them and they let the "eh"s and the "aboot"s into their mannerisms.

Oh well, I'm sure I'll learn more as I spend more time here. Not too much ado aboot eh yet.

Darkness Falls...

So spring forward, fall back yeah. Daylight savings is over. This means that it's an hour further away from my friends on the other side of the world... That means live communication just got that much more inconvenient.

I never really got the hang of why the time changed anyways. When I woke up on Monday morning, I thought I was late for work, cos it was brighter than what I was used to... And now when I get back, it's so dark. The sky is black at 5pm already... The good thing is, you can tell when winter is ending by looking at the sky as you go home. There will be a gradual change in brightness. Still, that's at least 4 months away... Argh.

Since winter is coming, I guess I'm finally capitulating and looking for a gym. I figure I can still jog outside till the end of the month, then I'm finding a warm indoor treadmill after that... Plus you get to ogle even in the midst of winter. Haha.

Going to Canada in 2 days. I'm not really looking forward to it, considering that it's already around freezing up there... I'm gonna pack my winter stuff and be prepared for the worst. Thankfully, the installation is actually indoors, so at least there won't be any wind. That'll be something to be thankful for as Thanksgiving comes up. Can't wait for vacation!!!!!!

Warning...

Abstract Science Concept Ahead.

Discover recently had a contest to ask people to explain String Theory in TWO minutes or less. The entries are all pretty cool and should be checked out if you have interest in knowing how the universe works or just want to sound knowledgeable about this theory.

However, for the people who just want to spend two minutes of their lives knowing more, I've copied the winning entry into this post below. It's string theory about duckies. I present to you- String Ducky. Enjoy.

Total Wipeout

So Comcast has been sucking balls lately. My Pudge has spent more time fighting lag than enemy heroes, so with some regret, I have to renounce my dota-ing. For the near future at least. Guitar has kinda become my new dota, which means I play anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes almost every night. Haha, at least girls can dig guitar more readily than they appreciate my l33t dota skillz. That's a net plus in my eyes.

And now that I have 9-11pm block free, I can read the books that I've always meant to catch up on. Investment, programming and of course, Japanese. I've lost the camaraderie of my bnet friends but I hope to gain much more knowledge. My life for VB for Excel! Er, I meant Aiur (Waiting for SC2)!

欢迎光临

听说中国现在能上blogspot.com了。所以我想热烈欢迎来自大陆的朋友们。请多多指教！

学弹吉他真的好痛。手指肥，手又小的人弹吉他就等于自讨苦吃。每天只不过弹几分钟，
手指就会痛，要停一下。没办法啦，只能坚持下去，花了100+块买吉他，就一定要学。

For the people who can't read (or are too lazy to read) Chinese, China has just allowed access to blogspot.com. So I'll make more of an effort to type in Chinese, just so that if anyone in China sees this, they will see a bilingual (more or less) blog. So I guess probably once a week, I will have a Chinese entry.

Sudden Urge...

To get an Xbox 360. I know that it's probably gonna fail on me, and have the 3 red rings of death(can you imagine, the 360 has so many problems, it even has a dedicated Wiki page...). But I just saw the video of Beautiful Katamari, and now I can't stop saying "Oh Oh!". Maybe I should get the Wii instead, I heard that Beautiful Katamari might come out for that too...

A Story in Pictures

So I was down in Utah for my friend's wedding this weekend. It's a very nice place, Utah, but it's kinda slow on Sundays. But still, I flew in on Saturday for the wedding, and managed to spend Sunday morning before my flight exploring Salt Lake City. So it was an eventful weekend.

I didn't manage to attend the wedding proper as it was held the day before I reached Utah, but I was there for the ring ceremony and the reception. So my pictures only tell the story of the ring ceremony.


So the setting is fixed, a backyard at someone's nice. A gazebo. Cool. Now we just need a bride and a groom.
The groom appears first. I wonder how sweaty are his palms now?
The ring bearer shows up and, for a moment, steals the show. Isn't she adorable?
Here comes the bride, all dressed in white! With her dad in tow, she was the most beautiful lady that day.
"Thank you for this wonderful lady sir! I promise I will do my very best to take care of her!"

So now the I/C says a few words about the bride and groom and tries not to reveal all the embaressing moments at one shot. He's saving it for the reception later...



The exchanging of "rings". I don't know why it's called a ring ceremony if the couple is exchanging wedding bands. The groom goes first.
Very nice.


Now it's the bride's turn.
Hmm, seems like there's a NG moment here. The groom must have fat fingers. It seriously took about 2 minutes to get the wedding band on. Oh well, if that's the only hiccup they have, they're lucky.

Awwww.

So with the wedding bands exchanged, the couple gets a round of applause from the attendees. They look really good together don't they?
And then they leave. I forsee a bright and happy future for these lucky people. May they always find peace, joy and love with each other.

I have other pics of the event, but they're uploaded in the my picture album. Go check them out. There are 2 sets, "Nat's Wedding" and "Life in Pics".

For Whom The (Wedding) Bell Tolls

Not for me that's for sure, but a hearty congratulations to the newly weds. I will post pics laters. I just got back from the ceremony in Utah (a really nice place by the way) and I have to go to work tomorrow, so this is just a short update.

Also, check out these vids by Monty Oum. I would use the term f*cking awesome to describe them, but that won't do them justice. So just watch.

Halo vs Metroid. Stay past the credits!


Dead or Alive vs FF! Chixorz fest!


Enjoy.

The LAWGIVER

Don't mess with Toyota, any and everywhere you go. Or you might find yourself on the wrong side of the 4 wheels of FURY!

If I were to turn Emo...

Now would be a good time to do it. I got the guitar today, and like 2 hours of trying to tune the damn thing only led to me snapping one of the strings. The G *ahem* string (yes, yes laugh now) to be precise. Sianz. Sianz Si bei Sianz.

Anyone out there knows how to use a digital tuner? Mine is the Qwik Tune and I can't seem to get it right. Or maybe I'm just not good enough now... Sigh.

1Z1A715V0339135471

That's my shipping number for the guitar. It's been registered with UPS since it left Lenexa, Kansas MONDAY MORNING 1:10 am. Using Mapquest, I've determined that it takes about 8 hours from Lenexa to my office. Even giving the driver a whole day to putz around, it should have been around Illnois today... I fear my truck has been jacked or involved in an accident. WTF... SIANZZZZZZ.....

In other happier news, I played a 9 hole course today. We were playing in a company tournament with 9 teams of 4. And we used best ball, i.e. the best ball out of your team is used for play after all 4 members have shot. With those rules, my team which had a combined 5 years or so of experience (which was all concentrated on one guy with a sprained wrist) came in at about 15 over par. Some of my low lights include losing 5 balls, 3 to water hazards and 2 to wherethehellisthedamnthing-itis, and slicing my ball so hard off the course that it hit the cart track and bounced like 5m into the air. However, I was feeling good as I did manage to make a 1-shot putt on the green. That's pro-ness right there, but Tiger Woods should be safe for the next year or 10.

Man, I wish I knew where my guitar is...

Anticpation.

So I caved in and got myself a Yamaha Blem GigMaker Acoustic Guitar Pack Natural, whatever that means. Hopefully now I can just strum along to favourite hits like King of the Road, Good Riddance (Time of your life), 晴天 and noob hit 对面的女孩看过来. It should be coming tomorrow or early next week. It's a lot more pick-up-able than an electric keyboard. And it's easier to out sing your own mistakes. Haha. But then again, it means that you actually have to get the tune right. Oh well, I'll treat this as karaoke practice for next time when I go back home.

Also, the Ambler Warning is a fantastic book. If you like the Bourne series, it's written in the same author's style. I would say it was written by the same author, Robert Ludlum, but it's not exactly true. I think he passed away in the midst of writing this one and someone was commissioned to take over. It's a book about a spy who's a walking lie-detector and he's been sabo'd to lose his memory and set-up as a hit man. So the superspy (Ambler) takes it upon himself to find out who did this to him and extract some revenge. It's an action packed book with a bit of whodunit at the end. Highly recommended for any one who likes action.

And to commemorate the latest Resident Evil movie, here's a history of Resident Evil, done to the NUMA SONG. Be prepared. I found it hilarious, but then again, that's just me.

1 more...

Night to (potential) pwnage! And in the meantime, here's an acid trip from Witch Doctor. Ah, the good times with DDR.



Let's hope I don't have to come back again. Although ... sianz.

Negative Demonstration

真是气死了。这个project的programmers是一群窝囊废。原本说好明天需要他们在工厂协助我们的project，可是他们老板目中只有钱这个字。只抱着一个"Show me the money"的态度，很贪小便宜。而且最岂有此理的事是他们本来就没有把事件做好就走了。现在，他们起先应该做好的事，他们要我们付钱？What the fuck. 幸亏除了我之外没有人听得懂中文。我听了那件事之后，就臭骂那个小人似的老板。真是。。。CENSORED.

And to those people interested, the company is based in Georgia. Be VERY CAREFUL in dealing with 喂前 (Process engineers might be familiar with the translated version.). They are... less than savory when it comes to responsibility and fiscal obligations...

Pics

As requested by Ken, and long promised, here are the pics of the night before the storm. If you ever see clouds that circle like that, be prepared for an 8 hour thunderstorm...

Also, this is a water tower I saw on the way home. I thought it was kinda cute, how many water towers have a smiley face? Adair seems like a friendly town.

Lastly, new pics are up.

Warning

What smells like bubble gum and tastes like shit? And yet will have lots people clamouring for it (at least for the first taste)?


Halo 3 Mountain Dew with Citrus Cherry.

Do not buy it. You have been warned. You must resist the Master Chief or let ur taste buds suffer.

Speaking of Halo 3, WK is one lucky dude. Gears of War, Halo 3, you can even get Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix on that Xbox 360 of yours. I would have gotten 1 if not for the craptacular failure rate of the 360 and the fact that I'm not at home like 50% of the time anyways... Sigh.

TenQews are in Order

To everyone who sent me their birthday wishes, in 1 form or another, thanks for everything! I really appreciate all the care and consideration you have shown. It's nice to know that even if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere, there are people thinking about you.

Anyways, another brief update. I'm back in Nebraska and damage assessment of our equipment gave us a pleasant surprise. Nothing was serious damaged and mechanically, we should be up and ready in 2-3 days. Which garners a huge "PHEW" from me since we could have been looking at half a million dollars worth of damages and a 3 week turn around time. It turns out that we had stuff stuck in our equipment and that pluggage meant that any fire water that entered the system ended up pooling in the equipment instead of flowing out. That meant that the actual damage was really limited to a small area. Thank god for small favours.

As some of you might know, there was a huge storm last week in Chicago. I was trying to get home when the brunt of it struck. City driving was never this scary in my life. The winds got up to 70mph (~100kmph) and visibilty was about half a block only. It was the first time I've ever felt that 20mph was a dangerous speed. I guess I shoulda known it was going to be a bad storm cos everywhere in the Midwest was suffering from the same thing. And it was raining the momemt I crossed the Illnois state line from Iowa. The previous night, while I was still in Nebraska, I saw the storm clouds circling in a very classic hurricane pattern. I'll post it when I get a chance to upload pics.

Well, other than that, my Chicago apt is now 50% cleaned, 75% livable (with 100% cleanliness tolerance, 90% if you have a 75% tolerance) and almost ready to receive my first guests next week. That's gonna be a fun, to have some time to spend with family. Oh the owning that we'll see.

Once again, thanks for all the wishes and thoughts guys (& gals)! Much appreciated! A real lift in a depressing place. QQQQQQQQQQ (and that makes 10 total)!!

Blearhg

It's been a rough week... The equipment had a little "incident" but luckily, it doesn't seem like we are too badly affected. Hopefully everything will be ok when we get a chance to really take a look. But besides that, I'm now sick and have to solve the problem of having 2 cars but only 1 driver... I have a car att he airport and a rental here. But only 1 driver, so it looks like I'm gonna ride the train tomorrow. That'll be an adventure...

Just a heads up to anyone wondering what happened to me, I'm still alive (barely) and kicking (baby kittens!!). But now, it's time to sleep.

Travelling

So I'm back in Nebraska and the stuff is up and running. So that's good news. The bad news is the true pros who know the system inside and out are leaving this weekend. Which leaves the rookie, i.e. Me, to run the system with another engineer. Hopefully, we'll get all the bugs worked out before they leave tomorrow and Friday, but... I'm kinda doubtful. So No Pressure. Haha. Oh well, I guess I've gotta get a list of things that need to be looked at and just plug away. Just keep working.

其实，现在已经不是这么烦了。虽然客人还是不能让我们增加我们的生产力可是现在已经不是我们的问题了。哈哈。只省我们的100%的生产力的production run了。真希望那能顺利的进行。

Travelling here was quite an adventure. I went home over the weekend to tidy up some stuff and on my return, I was slated to fly from Chicago to Omaha and then take a puddle jumper to the Central Nebraska Regional Airport. I made my Chicago flight on time, but then due to delays, I was sitting on the tarmac for 1.5 hours... And so I missed my noon connection. The next flight out of Omaha was at 830pm. So my options were to wait for 7 hours (I arrived at 1pm) for the next flight or drive. I ended up renting a 1 way car and drove 3 hours to get here. So at one point in time yesterday, I had 3 car keys. One for a Corolla, one for a Grand Prix and one for a Piece of Shit. Seriously, that Kia Rio ('05 model) that I got was an underpowered, poorly engineering moving heap of junk. The windows were hand operated and could not be sealed properly. Whenever I exceeded 40 mph, the windows would start rattling in the wind and you could hear whistling from the windows. Also, the RPM exceeded 2000 when I went over 50 mph. I was truly amazed that the car survived the 160 mile journey. And I got so ripped off by the rental company. For a 1 way trip, it was $2 per mile AND they charged me $50 for that piece of shit. Sigh.

In other news, here's a super uber cool video of Transformers cosplay, complete with ACTUAL TRANSFORMING COSTUMES. OH MY GOD COOLZORZ!!

战争

人的一生就是一串的争斗。为了自己的利益，享受或生存而斗。最近，我在Nebraska出差。已经出差了连续三个礼拜。出差的确是吸收新知识的最好，最快的方法，可是在这里三个礼拜，我已经开始不耐烦了。如果我们工作有进展的话，还算OK.可是现在应因为客人的设备不足，我们不能实现我们公司的合约。结果，又延长我须留在这鸟不生蛋的地方的时间。Si Bei Sianz.

可是,没法子,只能珍惜这个学习经验,而趁机用公司的信用卡来吃几个好餐.我真的希望明天会有更好的消息...

And just so it's not so depressing, here are some quotes I've heard from these Mid-westerners.

1. We're off like a prom dress (first time I've ever heard that, but I can see why people would say this)
2. Let's make like a tree and leave ( I was laughing quite hard at this one)

And lastly, I wanna dota!!!!!!!!!! Sianzzzzzzzzz.

Edit: Fixed typo. Thanks to Lemonteh.

Hypnotic...

As you might well notice, there's a new thingamajig on the top right hand corner of my blog. It's a very unique (as befitting of it's uniqlock title) clock. I can spend hours just listening to the trippy, jazzy music, watching the psychedelic medley of colours and dancing (kinda) girls, but why don't you try it out for yourself?

Power of rot, obscuring truth, What once was old restore to youth!

If anyone can tell me where that title came from without googling it, I'd say they know their 80's cartoons pretty well. And that they'd probably feel nostalgic about it now too.

Anyways, I'm still in Nebraska but I'd like to point out a couple of things.

1. I've moved to Flickr cos Yahoo Photos was going out of business (I presume). And I've uploaded 2 new albums there. Seattle 07 and Cubs Game. The link is on the right.

2. Ah Seng has a new post. 6 months after his last one but a new post nevertheless.

3. Bob has a new blog now. And he has some pretty cool stuff about modding your car (Corolla S). Go check it out.

4. The Simpsons is a funny movie, if you appreciate that kind of humour. I watched it for 6 USD in Nebraska. What a steal eh.

Awesome Video

Wow. I can recognise like maybe half the games shown here. But the blend of Kung-fu, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Mario is irrestible. A bonus is the white dude in the background when Sylvia walks around that says やらないか. That's how someone asks for sex (with prostitutes) in Japan. And who says video games aren't informational. Enjoy!

Rants

I feel that the internet here is stable enough to try to blog now. First off, big props to E.B.O.F. for hosting my previous rant. (A bit of incestuous cross self-linking there).

Anyways, aside from all the sentiments expressed there, I really wish I could be done with this place and go home soon. But the odds are good that I'm gonna be here till early August at least. That's... umm... gonna suck. A lot. But what can you do? A job's a job and you have to do your best, regardless of what kind of (mis)management and (a severe lack of)communications you have.

Lastly, I'm really looking forward to going home as I can finally start living in Chicago proper. Hopefully I can go jog/bike around the lake and meet new friends and just soak up the bustle and energy. 最后想说的就是算了吧，她不值得我烦. And that's the word.

Beer Song

What could be better than a song that exalts the virtues of "liquid bread"? And to top it off, it's done in stop-animation lego style. With a chicken!!

Interesting Video

The following is Rip Slyme's latest single. I find it fascinating for a couple of reasons.

1. There are 11 girls in the video.
2. Allegedly, 6 of the 11 are AV stars (aka porn stars). (Courtesy of www.japanprobe.com).
3. That dance routine looks damn gay. Even when the girls do it, it doesn't look good.

Enjoy.

Random Stuff

Ever been to Vegas? Seen the Bellagio fountain? Even if you've never been to Vegas, if you watched Ocean's 11, you'd have seen it. Now see it again, sweeter, more calorific and definitely more home-made. Kudos to Mei for that video.


So I was traveling back from a job site today. When you drive for more than an hour, chances are, even with a 6 CD changer in the car, you're gonna listen to the same song a couple of times. I was listening to Eason Chan's Bai Se Qiu Xie (White Sneakers). It's a really nice song, I wish I had memories like that. Here are the lyrics. Taken from baidu.com.

歌曲：白色球鞋
歌手：陈奕迅 专辑：认了吧

LRC歌词 HOT
• 搜索 "白色球鞋"mp3
打印预览
到一定年纪总算明白
美好的事物
好像大部分都在青春时候发生
那天无意中翻出了那双发黄的白色球鞋
依然还有心跳温度
和她一起走过这城市许多的路
她总低着头听我的梦和心事
那一天笑着对我说
随我的白球鞋的脚步好像可以走到幸福
忽然她让我感觉
自己已不再孤独
可以在未知的明天去天竺
美好青春的爱情和曾经走过的路
年轻城市换成另一种面目
如今大了那样感动难重复
幸福和那双球鞋放记忆最深处
这保留却又忘了的初恋纪念物
在经历几次恋爱后重新回顾
爱还依然清晰在梦中
让当时的街灯和书
有许多已不知去处
想起来我然感觉曾经自己不孤独
你是否已走到你要的幸福
美好青春的爱情和曾经走过的路
年轻城市换成另一种面目
如今大了那样感动难重复
幸福和那双球鞋放记忆最深处

当年的我还懂保留失落的爱情遗物
究其爱情现在想起来却面目模糊
却相信去感触
美好青春的爱情和曾经走过的路
年轻城市换成另一种面目
如今大了那样感动难重复
幸福和那双球鞋放记忆最深处

Here is a video. It's not a single, so there aren't any good vids of it. Just a concert footage.　It's about 4:23 into the clip that the song starts. Enjoy.

Man Vs Wild

I never really did any true survival skills training in the army since I never really was expected to charge hills in the forest anyways. However, recently, watching the Discovery channel show Man Vs Wild, I have an urge to train up and see what's it really like. Although I failed once during the adventure race in that park in the middle of Indiana, I think I would like to try again.

In any case, that show is so cool. The host even has a kick ass name. Imagine a survival show host called Bear? How awesome is that? And he shows you all kinds of neat stuff, from escaping quicksand to building a shelter in the snow. I just spent the last 3 hours of my life watching back to back to back episodes of that show when I should have been doing my laundry. Oh well, at least doing laundry is easier than eating maggots for lunch.

To people who have Discovery, I say give it a shot. I think you'll find it fascinating.

How to Build Your Own Rock Band (Or How 5 People Can Look Good Doing Nothing)

So how was my vacation some people might ask. And I can honestly say it was a heck of a good time. I managed to meet up with my cuz, E.B.O.F. and my friend from home. So it was really enjoyable.

One particular part of vacation that really stood out was when we went to the Experience Music Project (EMP) near Space Needle. It was there that I realised how manufactured bands are produced. Let me share some of the insight I gleamed from that place.

First, when starting a band, you need someone with passion, or at least someone who looks like they have passion when the camera flashes. So I present to you the Siao Zhar Bor Ardent Drummer Girl. She's literally ready to burst with fury.

So after you settle on the passion, you then need the flair. To accomplish this, you need to have a pretty face lead singer (who can sing, preferable). As they need to look good, most of the time, a female is selected for the task. In our case, it was simple. The girls simply looked better.Hence the SuperStar Wannabe Lead Singer.
Ideally, you'd want to have more than a single sex front the good looks section. If the best looking guy isn't much to speak of, then you transform the ordinary into the extraordinary by sticking an electric guitar in his hands. Thus creating Flair Number Two (For Female Eyes version). Or as I like to call it, the Act Seh Guitarist.

So after you covered cool, you now want to spin a little humor into your group. To do this, they employ the "Act Blur" persona. In this case, it was done by the a Koteh Back Up Singer. Incidentally, a male with a tambourine is the latest "hot" image with all the chicks. Or at least according to the population (me) surveyed. So I shall hear no arguments about that.
Lastly, after all that commercial appeal, you have to "keep it real" to give your band that edge. To that effect, you need a "homey"ish kind of band member. We decided to cast our keyboardist into that role. And the Homey Keyboardist was born.
Although each individual element might seem very "meh" at the moment, a rock band is truly greater than the sum of it's parts. Combined, the aforementioned members form a fluid, melodious and totally happening band. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present "The Engineers and Psychologist". And yes, no one had a better name at the moment of inception.

My apologies for the cropped picture but the poster was too big for my scanner.

I hope my readers have learnt something from this tutorial about how to create your own musical experience. And I would expect acknowledgements when anyone of you make it big. Till then, live long and rock on!