Do you get the feeling that as we get older, we benefit less from our friends' jobs? Remember back in highschool when everyone was working service jobs? I got lots of free McDonald's Arch Deluxes from JS who worked at Esso (during a cross-promotion between the two companies). Got filled out Subway cards from SH. Cup after cup of free Starbucks Frappachinos from JH and JW.

What did you get from your friends?

By the way, I loved the Arch Deluxe. I probably had one every other day for a while. An incredibly tasty burger, I'm saddened by the fact that consumers didn't take to it. Damn those overweight customers looking only for a cheap meal.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

No Boxing Day shopping here... but I did plenty of shopping in Macau, so it's probably a good thing. Lots of new clothes, even if I had to buy it all myself.

I'll update in a few days.

Days four - eight recaps.

Four: Felt much better after the previous day's hospital visit. Although not 100%, my stomach was willing to take a bit of food. I managed to walk around a couple parts in Shanghai, including Nanjing Road and what's being dubbed as The New Xiang Yang Market (after the previous one closed) which is at the Science and Technology Subway station. Haggling is always fun, as long as you don't go around doing price-checks on the items you've already purchased. Stayed at L&S's that night, and was at the airport early the next morning.

Five - Seven: 2.5 days in Macau. Everyone says "Macau's small.", "1 days is enough, 2 days is too much", etc. But I didn't think so at all. Macau had plenty to see, and you can't just walk around everywhere. Some highlights: St. Paul's Ruins, Largo de Senado, other Portugese architecture, Guia Hill and the lighthouse, greyhound racing at the Canidrome, buying real brand name clothing at discount prices (you just need to know where to go!), walking around the Outer Harbour, short visits to Lisboa Casino and The Sands, eating egg tarts, and eating other Macanese 小吃 and Portugese foods (even with a stomach that was only doing so-so). I wish my stomach was as excited during the trip as it was before my trip. But I made did with what I had. I couldn't find a good Macau flag there, and ended up buying a cheap plastic one that was rather disappointing.

Eight: Back in the office, and having a good first day. My stomach seems 100%, I received a few Christmas cards in my absence from my good friends back home, and even some hedgehogs and smoked salmon! Will go well with the Port from Macau. Thanks to the Gambling Crew, M&MS, and AC. Tonight, my dinner will be treated by our boss who's in from the US, and tomorrow we have our company Christmas dinner. Then the weekend hits, and there should be some celebration as well. Glad I shifted my SH/Macau trip earlier one week to be in Taiwan during the holiday season.

Day three recap. This post contains gory descriptions and graphic details. Do not read if you can't handle it.

Today was the last work day on this 8-day business/pleasure trip. Between 1am and 10:30am, I probably visited the washroom 9 - 10 times, stomach still gurgling, and output not pretty. I felt a little better and had a bit of hotel food to eat. Then arrived at work at 1pm. I didn't have too much to do today, and I managed to finish it in about 3 hours, so I left at 4pm and returned to my hotel. As was the case yesterday, today's afternoon was split between watching the Asian Games (a huge, huge competition which China absolutely dominated) on TV and sleeping -- and going to the washroom.

At 8:30pm, I gave a call to L to tell him my plans for Saturday might change, and that I might go see him later on Saturday if my stomach didn't feel better. He asked me if I wanted to get some Immodium from his place, and I agreed. So, I taxied to L&S's place, and when I stepped out of the car, I started shivering furiously. I don't know why. We went up to their place, and I still couldn't hold it together. But the first thing I did was borrow his washroom. Then he gave me two Immodiums to take with water. Less than 2 minutes later, I was creating a massive puking storm into a pail. Hmm... sour-smelling. So he asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital, and I thought was a good idea. I was still kind of shaking, so I sat in front of his heater until my body warmed up. Before we went, I borrowed his washroom once more.

We got to the hospital, filled in some paperwork, and saw a doctor. I had a fever, 38.7 C. Did a blood test, and a stool test. And wouldn't you believe it... I couldn't get anything for the stool test (always when I don't want it, but never when I want it). But the automatic flushing mechanism wasn't working, and someone else's large sample was there if I wanted to use it. But I didn't, and we sat around for 15 minutes until I tried again successfully.

The stool sample looked okay, no bacteria. And the doctor prescribed his medicine. And I went to the IV room, where everyone was sitting in chairs hooked up to IVs. It was kind of a funny sight. Basically, for the emergency ward, a lot of people get nutrition through needle and tube. So, for 3 hours, L and I sat there chatting while medicine and antibiotics were pumped into my vains. Before leaving the hopital, my temperature was 38.4 C. Better, so the doctor didn't give me any fever medication. Overall, I felt better.

Got back to my hotel at 2am, and the good thing is... I'm hungry. I haven't been hungry for almost two full days. But it's late, and I probably won't eat anything before sleeping, in fear that my stomach wouldn't be able to take it. I'll work on that with some congee tomorrow.

So, hopefully I'm on the right track, and I might be able to shop a little in Shanghai before heading to Macau on Sunday! Cheers. And thanks to L for all his help.

Second day recap.
This morning, I woke up early with a gurgling stomach, forcing 3 trips to the washroom in an hour. Not sure if it was the hotpot that did it to me or something else I ate. Although my coworker said his stomach wasn't feeling too well either. But not as bad as mine. To get to work on time, I skipped breakfast, and I went with little lunch. Didn't have the appetite. After a nap at lunch, I woke up with a major headache... which is still hanging about. I had planned on having dinner with friends L&S, but decided to cancel. Left work at 4:20pm, and came back to the hotel to sleep. What was expected to be a full day ended up being an empty day, quite literally. I just picked up a late dinner, from a source I can trust more: KFC. So, that's my day. Not what I had hoped it would be. I'm in agony here.

Ok. In Shanghai. It's been about 24 hours since I got to my hotel last night. Here's a briefing of the last 24 hours.

- I slept after 1am, but stupidly agreed to meet my coworker at 8:20am for him to take me to work -- too early.
- It's cold. I have to wear long johns. Fortunately, I picked up a pair before I left Taiwan, and with dignity almost intact, I'm glad I did.
- Work was fine. Just training people and transferring work from our Taiwan office to staff in Shanghai. So far so good. The people have been nice.
- Had dinner with my manager and some Shanghai-side coworkers at "Small Fat Lamb" (Xiao3 Fei2 Yang2), a popular hot pot restaurant chain famous for their inner Mongolian lamb meat.
- My manager took me to get our feet massaged for 30RMB ($4.50CAD/hr?). Well worth it.
- Back in hotel room waiting for tomorrow... another full day.

Heading to Shanghai soon. Will be taken to the airport from the office in 20 mins.

Arriving in Shanghai Tuesday night (tonight).
Working Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Playing in Shanghai on Saturday.
Going to Macau on Sunday.
Playing in Macau Sunday - Tuesday.
Returning to Taiwan Tuesday night.

Fill you in on the details later!

At 3:50pm on Sunday, I was invited to the circus. A 4:45pm performance to which my coworker had extra tickets.

So, it was off to see The Great Moscow Circus!

I'd never been to a circus, but we all have an idea of what should be included in circus performances. I would say that this one was standard. Fairly traditional (unlike, say, Cirque du Soleil). They had the highwire act, the flying trapeze, the slapstick clowns, the gymnasts doing acrobatic flips, the jugglers, and a few animal acts. The setting was intimate, and we sat only 4 - 5 meters from the stage. So, it was nice in that respect. I thought the jugglers were impressive, as were the three dirt bikes zipping around in the spherical metal cage (see photo). But some things seemed like they were missing. The attached article speaks of lions and elephants, but we saw none of those. And there were no bears riding unsized unicycles - which no one promised, but would have been comical in a cruel kind of way.

Given one hours notice to see a circus, it exceeded my expectations on how my Sunday afternoon would have otherwise been spend. And at no cost at that!

Yay. I went to the circus.

By the way, this is my 500th post (including unpublished drafts).

I've always noticed how Asians have strange hair growth. Not on top of the head, but on the head. The inability to grow thick beards, the Foo Man Chu mustaches, the hair growth that flourishes within the confines of a mole, the mini sideburns that don't grow down the face, but instead grow long and look great when doing high-flying kung-fu moves.

Seemed like only people from the Old World (i.e. Asia, as opposed to Canada) had such anomalies. As a (fairly) young CBC, I never thought it could happen to me. But if you look closely at my right eyebrow now, you might just notice a stand-out. A go-getter in the world of brow hairs. An over-achiever. At roughly 5 times the length of those around it, it is the Yao-Ming of facial hair. It's long enough to stroke! Actually, I do stroke it; but only to repeatedly convince myself of its existence, not because it brings me deep thoughts and wisdom.

Anyone else have similar stories?

It wasn't until a few months ago that I realized that not all people like the smell of almond (like, in almond tea or almond jello). Opinions seem to be love it or can't stand it. I like almond tea. I like the smell of almond flavouring, although I'm not big on chewing almonds.

What about you?

On Friday night, I kept dreaming that someone was trying to kill me. Trying to rip my body apart and slicing the top of my head off. And at the same time, I was trying to figure out how to develop my super powers.

Is this a sign I've been watching too much Heroes?

I just got some video files of a couple of my matches at the Oct 1st foosball tournament. Just want to say... damn I'm fast. Tee.

I bought a pack of 2 Oral-B CrossAction Vitalizers. Talk about the Ritz of toothbrushes! It has more features than a car. Here's the rundown:

• Soft Gum Simulators that stimulate and massage gums


• CrissCross Bristles angled in opposing directions to life out and sweep away plaque


• Power Tip Bristles to help clean hard to reach places


• Indicator Bristles that fade halfway to tell you to replace your toothbrush


• Carefully Polished End-round Bristles that are gentle on teeth and gums


• Comfort Grip that fits comfortably in the hand and offers a secure grip to maneuver the brush with precision


• Ergonomic Handle, a rubber grip handle that features front and back thumb stops for firmer grip and extra control

Now if I can only get a moonroof.

Got this video URL from my sister, but was entertained to post it as well. Enjoy... when bored.

For Vancouver Grizzlies' fans... at this point of the NBA season, the two teams with the worst records are the Memphis Grizzlies (2-9, 0.182) and the Toronto Raptors (2-8, 0.200). Bwahahahahaaahahhaah....

I bought a box of Post "grape-nuts" cereal yesterday. At 225nt for a 680g, I'm pretty sure I got the bad end of highway robbery. This morning when I got into the office, I quickly poured a bowl (actually a cup). The first thing that I noticed was that I didn't see any grapes or anything purple. But I figured maybe there's some flavouring hidden away in there. I poured some skim milk over it, and dug it. Nope. No grape flavour. So... where do you get off calling a cereal grape-nut without grape? The ingredients are: whole grain wheat flour, wheat flour, malted barley flour, salt, and dried yeast. The cereal is basically hard (like, worry-about-your-teeth hard) crunchy pellets with no traces of fruits.

-- time passes --

Ok, my online search found this Kraft website.

Grape-Nuts was so named because its inventor, Charles William Post, said that grape sugar was formed during the baking process and described the cereal as having a nutty flavor.

LIARS. The lot of them. This is false marketing. Charles William Post is a frickin' liar. They might as well have said "Charles William Post was eating grapes and scratching his nuts when he invented this overly boring cereal."

The image on the box shows a spoonful of grape-nuts with a blueberry and a couple of plump raspberries. In faded grey font at the right, it says "Enlarged to show texture. Serving suggestion." Oh, clearly they're aware of its obviously bland taste and suggest to mask it with delicious berries.

After finishing my cup o' cereal, I kind of felt a little sick. I should have stuck with my Museli. Cheaper and tastier... and has fruit.

Kitsilano Grad of '96's 10 year reunion was held on November 13th. I didn't attend, so I have nothing to report. But, I can blog about something somewhat mildly related. Do you still have any clothes from highschool? I do. I have at least 3 things: a pair of cotton shorts with rips all over the place, a Nike t-shirt that rarely sees daylight, and an umbro t-shirt that shares most of its time with the Nike T.

And you?

Quick update on the past weekend.

Last Friday, our company had a team-building outing. Departing from our office at 8am, we went into the mountains in Miaoli County. Donning on army uniforms, we had a morning chock full of fun activities to promote teamwork as well as individual confidence following the "I can do it!" tagline. The activities included: 1) finding a way to get through a "electric fence" as a team, 2) working together blindfolded to create shapes while holding hands (e.g. square, circle, triangle), 3) standing up in groups of 2, 4, 8, and 30+ by pulling on each others arms, 4) lowering yourself from a 5-6 story height by "hopping" off the side of a cliff, 5) two-rope and 3-rope walks at 5-6 stories high, and 6) sliding down a belayed rope from a bridge.

On Saturday, our company celebrated its 10th Anniversary. Highlights of the event, which was held in and around our office building, were the awesome lion dance, and the bull-riding / bucking machine (which I managed to stay on for only 11 seconds, but my excuse is that I kept sliding around in my loose track pants).

On Sunday, my folks came to Hsinchu, and N and I took them around on our scooters, with tours of our homes, our offices, and around the city a little bit.

So, it was a busy weekend. And continuing with a busy work week.

On Sunday, A and I went to the Travel Exhibition in Taipei. Here are a few impressions:

- As with all exhibitions I've been to, there are plenty of people... and showgirls too
- We came back with tons of travel information primarily for Taiwan, China, Southeast Asia
- We picked up a couple small packaged for Nantou (南投), Taiwan
- We also made out with lots of freebie give-aways
- We realized after getting home how much junk one collects at these things
- I noticed that Taiwanese girls will continue to take pictures of showgirls after they've changed to street clothes and are ready to go home (but still keep posting for pictures)

I attended my cousin T's wedding this weekend with her husband B. It was a good one. For me, that is. I've been to a lot of weddings in Taiwan (8 or so), and this was the best one so far. It was special for a few reasons:

• T is probably my closest cousin, having grown up in Canada together and then coming to Taiwan together.


• I really like the groom. We share the same birthdate, and in many ways, our personalities are very alike. So, I think B is very good for T.


• My immediate family was together for the first time in over 2 years (less the one night we spent at Ben's place).


• Given that we're obviously close with the bride and her family, my family was there every step of the way through the day's proceedings. It was my first time seeing some traditional steps in a Taiwanese marriage, such as the tea ceremony, the red envelopes, the fan throwing, etc.


• With a lot of relatives, even a few close ones I had never met, I knew more than just 1 or 2 tables. Well, I guess I only knew 4 tables. But they were all relatives, and sometimes that's pretty darn special.


• The location on the 33rd floor of the 世貿33 was fantastic, overlooking some of Taipei's most expensive property.


• With too many bottles of red wine ordered, I managed to take a couple home.

Congratulations to T and B!!

I was going to pop up a post yesterday.

It would have ran a little something like this:

The end is near! The end is near!

As of today, our company's new internet access policy kicked in. I didn't know about it until I found that I couldn't access my gmail account. In fact, add to it my hotmail account, Yahoo! Mail account, Yahoo! Groups, my blog (or any other blogs for that matter), and Skype.

Before that, youtube.com (which Taiwanese people call "you to be") had already been blocked.

NOW what am I supposed to do at work?

The only saving grace is that Canucks.com, NHL.com, and the game live audio feed are still accessible.

This morning, I could have written that same blog -- but would have been unable to post it online, for the reasons stated.

But now, after lunch, maybe our IT department and the big wigs above had a chance to think the policy more clearly. While I still can't check my other email accounts, at least I can blog and read blogs, as well as peruse Yahoo! Groups postings. Skype is back too. So, hooray for that.

I'll give it a couple of days and see if email accounts come back. [fingers crossed]

We're planning a trip to Thailand/Laos. Have you ever been?

If so: where/when did you go, what did you do, what was good/bad about it?

Help us plan this trip!

Thanks.
Kevin

Know what I hate? I hate the person who says "that's not funny" or does that fake "ha ha" laugh that implies the same thing. Humour is subjective, and if you don't think a joke's funny, just deal with it and shut your trap so the rest of the people can enjoy it. Because once someone says "that's not funny", it ruins the mood. At that point, I'm not sure who looks worse: the joke teller or the person who just killed the mood.

[I didn't recently have this done to me, but I have in the past. Just thinking back.

I found Nemo. And Marlin. And Nemo's adopted sibling.

An adult and two baby clownfish swimming around through anemone was part of the find on my first scuba experience.

After two days spent in a scuba pool learning the basics of snorkeling and scubaing, we went out into the waters of Kenting for some in-ocean practice and observation. We did about 3 tanks of air (roughly 2 hours in total) before packing it up and calling it a long weekend.

The more I thought about it, the more I was pleased with my accomplishment. There aren't many people in Canada who can say they've scuba'ed before - the chilly waters don't make it easy. While we can afford to do wetsuits in Taiwan, Canadian waters require drysuits and a whole other set of training. Anyway, Kenting doesn't have the best in underwater exploration, but even with its limited offering, there was plenty to see for a first timer and at 12 meters' depth. What might bore me in aquariums facinated me as a scuba diver. It's like the difference between watching Riverdance on video or in person... although some would argue it's just as boring either way. Being able to get upclose and personal with the living creatures under the sea was something else.

Needless to say, I'm really excited about getting my Open Water scuba license. I wish I had done it sooner. These are skills I can take with me when I travel in Southeast Asia - and now I can keep a list of "where I've scuba'ed" locations. Yay for me!

[I didn't take the clownfish photo.]

Our trip to 墾丁 (Kenting, Southern Taiwan) started today... or so we thought.

Benjamin (my coworker) had been the correspondent setting up the trip details on our end. But she (yes, she) fell sick over the fews days and had to opt out. Fred and I left the office promptly at 4pm, taking two hours off work, to start our scuba vacation a little early and head out on a 7-hour drive that would get us to the Southern tip of Taiwan.

As we arrived in 台中 (Taichung) at 5:30pm to pick up Fred's wife, we called the scuba instructor to inform him that we were already on our way.

He asked "Oh, you guys are heading down tonight?"
To which I replied "Yes, when are you going down?"
He says "tomorrow".
"Aren't we having our lesson tomorrow (Friday) morning?"
"I thought it was Saturday, Sunday, Monday."
"No, planned it for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday."
"Oh, okay. We can go tonight then."

Ok, back on track. We pick up Fred's wife, switch cars, and head back on the highway. About 30 mins later, we get a call from another guy (another scuba teacher coming to teach on the trip) and he said that he can't change his schedule and to see whether we can switch to Saturday - Monday. Fortunately, it's do-able for us.

We drive back to Fred's wife's parents' place, have dinner there, and back to Hsinchu thereafter. So basically, we left the office at 4pm to drive a total of 4 hours and have dinner in 台中. Silly.

Basically, they screwed up. The email correspondence clearly said Friday (20th) - Sunday (22nd). Ahh well, we'll be leaving work tomorrow at 2pm - 3pm to do it all over again.

A few notes from the Canucks vs. Oiler online audio broadcast:

1) For years now, I've been hearing this nasal-voiced Wireless Wave spokesperson, and I must say, he is one annoying character. Which marketing executive approved the use of this character? It's not even just his voice that gets to me, it's his attitude. Anyway, he deserves a punch in the face.

2) During the intermissions, the Canucks commentators usually have a special guest who's interviewed. At the end of the interview, Larcheid and Shorthouse present the guest with a Mont Blanc wallet courtesy of Charelle's (speling?)... and from what I heard on this broadcast, there's a $50 bill in the wallet too! How thoughtful.

Shortly after a post about not willing to buy tight swimwear, I did. I am the proud owner of a new pair of Dabana swim trunks. Yes, they are tight. But they're long, and almost down to the knees. So, really, they look a lot like biking shorts. Black with some grey parts along the sides, that ride up into grey curve over the butt. Although, right after I bought them, I kind of regretted not buying the other black pair I tried on that had a red and white stripe that went up the leg and over the butt (similar pattern... but sexier!) which had Lycra. But the difference in price was about $250nt vs. $700nt. Anyway, I picked up a pair of swimming trunks like these because after swimming a few times, I decided I might want to do it a little more. That and I was told by another lifeguard that I couldn't swim with my regular beach trunks. Also, I figured that I'd need this type of swimwear for my scuba diving lesson trip at the South of Taiwan next weekend.

This kind of swimming trunk definitely feel different. Firstly, after putting them on, I felt like a swimwear model. The way these shorts hug the quads really does feel appealing. They don't look nearly as nerdy as many of the other ones I've seen. Secondly, because the material allows water to pass through the fiber easily, with each stride (when doing the breast stroke) a gush of water passes through the shorts cooling everything that they cover. Kind of refreshing... yet distracting at the same time.

So, contrary to what I had thought, I do enjoy my new trunks.

Yesterday was Taiwan's National Day - similar to the Canadian Canada Day. A and I had plans of going to the annual parade and presidential (and other) speech, but decided that this wasn't the year to do it. This year's event was unlike any other year, and prior to this day, apparently the President, Chen Shui-Bian himself was asking the legistative assembly whether he may be excused from the event.

For those keeping up with Taiwanese current events, in recent months, the First Family has been under some scrunity of illegal behaviour (wife and son-in-law in particular). Naturally, these allegations (actually, I think the son-in-law was already found guilty) have placed the President under certain scruple, with many questioning his ethics. Consequently, an up-rising has formed, spearheaded by formerly strong supporters of the presidential party, to depose Chen of his position of power. So to add to the pan-blue (People's First Party) / pan-green (Democratic Progressive Party) political disputes that have been on-going over the past decade, now we have red (Anti-Chen) versus green (Pro-Chen). The last couple of months have seen thousands upon thousands (if not millions) of protestors rallying against the President, telling him to step down.

Back to Taiwan's National Day. With all the protests, this year's celebration would be a messy one. And it was. Massive swarms of people wearing red came to show their disappreciation of Chen. There were some little scrums and shouting, but I don't think anything got too far out of control.

Chen Shui-Bian also proposed yesterday of cancelling all future National Day celebrations due to the protests.

"Because this kind of national day celebration raises so much conflict, and so many people attend the event not to celebrate but to pursue their political agenda, A-bian [Chen's nickname] suggests that the necessity of the event be reviewed, with the possibility of canceling it in future," Chen said in his national day address to the crowd, which included foreign dignitaries and overseas Taiwanese.

Well, I'm glad I didn't attend the "celebrations", and instead spent a couple hours in the afternoon playing foosball. :)

The depicted photo shows "an anti-Chen protester dressed as the character 'V' from the film 'V for Vendetta' carries posters yesterday comparing Chen and Chinese President Hu Jintao to Adolf Hitler."

Related articles:
Protests, violence mar national day
Chen defiant as lawmaker foes protest

There's a sound that's as unmistakable to humans in the civilized world as can openers are to cats. Yup, that's the one: the sound of someone clipping their nails.

I'm not sure why some people think clipping one's nails is a gross. "Ew, you're clipping your nails?" What's wrong with clipping nails? It's not gross - but it's odd to be done in public.

I was scootering to work one sunny morning when I came to a stop at a red light. Then I started hear that distinguishable clicking sound, and noticed that the girl on the scooter next to me was clipping her fingernails. See? That's an odd time to do it - however efficient as it may be.

But make sure those clipped nails are disposed of properly!

I have an friend who reads this blog (to whom I suggest keep quiet of his/her identity) whose mom had a little pencil case of clipped nails. I accidentally stumbled upon this grisley discovery when I was over at his/her house and thought "OOooOooO... what's in this little box of treasures?" LITTLE BOX OF TREASURES IT WAS NOT!! Might as well collect dandruff in a jar.

It's strange that the Taiwanese are health-conscious without actually taking care of their health. Here, it is important to eat vegetables and fruits, because these are so obviously good for your health (and will give you clear, fair skin). A balanced diet is, as in North America, encouraged. And yet, why are so many people in bad health? The answer seems pretty straight-forward: it's not what they don't eat, it's what they do.

Taiwanese people love stacks. When visiting Taiwan, you must try the snacks. Health and taste are of the utmost importance, and yet they seem to clash violently. When something is identified as healthy, people flock to eat it. But when something is identified as tasty, they eat that too, without regard to how it's made. In the nightmarket, deep fried foods are everywhere. Sweet foods are everywhere. Fatty foods are everywhere. People say "You have to eat the pork leg with fat and skin. It tastes better."

MSG. Why can't people realize that MSG is bad for them? The more I pay attention to it, the more I see MSG in everything I eat. I wrote an email to our receptionist (who orders lunchboxes for us at work) a while ago asking her to ask the lunchbox vendors to not put MSG in our lunchboxes, stating the various illnesses associated with MSG - I cited my resources. I don't think they bother.

But it appears I'm naive in my way of thinking, since it can't be avoided. MSG is a taste enhancement that makes food taste and look better. I'm starting to see this as a flavour on its own. "Hmm... should I have the MSG pork or the MSG chicken? Maybe I'll just go with MSG noodle soup." It sickens me, but the cost of good health is a pricy one - and to avoid this cystal spice means going through a lot of hassle, and paying for meals.

I consider myself a tough guy. I'm not big, but for my size, I'm pretty strong. I have a high tolerance of pain too. So much so that I injured my elbow once in university because I wouldn't tap out in a Hapkido class.

So why can't I take massages like a man? I'm the wimpiest massagee!! Look, I like the concept of a massage - I like giving them, and I think I like receiving them. But as soon as I'm lying on my front and someone is trying to make me relax with their magic hands in my back, I can't lie still.

There are two ways I find discomfort in massages:
1. The pain of the pointed rub: this being when the masseuse is trying to work out the knots in my back muscles with their thumbs or elbows. I feel like they're working their fingers between joints and muscles, and it frickin' HURTS.
2. The tickles: when I'm being massaged just next to my spine, I squirm like an eel and my legs kind of stiffen in some kind of a defensive move. And it's hard to let the body relax under those circumstances.

Because of these two discomforts, in all the massages I've ever had, I've only fallen asleep during one. It was in Cambodia in the dirtiest massage parlor while getting a $4.50 US/hr massage from a blind man. And that was the best massage ever.

Appended:
I guess I kind of figured it out. I don't like massages so much as getting a relaxing rubbed. But the masseuses that come to our company every Wednesday make a point of pushing their thumbs and knuckles into the nerves. Ouch.

Speedos kill.

My swim shorts are a pair of sky blue Ralph Lauren trunks that extend down to the knees. Very North American. But here in Taiwan, people swim wearing Speedos or tight trunks - they cut down on drag. I guess North Americans don't really swim so much as they play in water.

Anyway, I was at the Alexander Health Club this past weekend, and I went for a swim after a short workout. The swimming pool attendent came to me and said that I was not allowed to wear my type of trunks because there are water vents that suck water in along the sides of the pool (assumably to filter the water), and therefore it was a safety concern. But I reasoned with him that I only have this pair and that I'll pay more attention next time, so he let me go.

But will I really change my ways? Not likely. I actually think wearing Speedos would be fine... kind of like walking around the house in your underwear. And a lot of people wear them, so it wouldn't stand out. But I just wouldn't want to buy a pair of shorts that I couldn't wear when I return to Canada.

(I wanted to find a photo of Speedos off Google Image for this post, but my search was met with an overwhelming number of gay guys in Speedos. So... we'll forgo the photo.)

Given that there are so many lonely engineers here in Taiwan, I guess $200,000 - $300,000 NTD isn't bad for a bride. That amounts to roughly $10K CDN. But really, does that mean you're getting someone you want to spend the rest of your life with? I wonder how many of these marriages end in divorce.

"There are 350,000 foreign brides in Taiwan, accounting for 20 percent of all newly-weds." Now that's pretty crazy. Will Taiwan become Asia's Melting Pot? If so, I think this puts Taiwan in a really bad position. Based on my assumption that women who agree to this type of marriage are likely of a lesser educational and socio-economical background, the influx of such brides will only pull down the over-all civility of Taiwanese society. This will most probably invoke racism (usually done "behind the back" Taiwanese style) towards these brides and their countries, creating stereotypes that aren't necessarily true. Just like how we might think all Taiwanese people are rich, based on what we see in Vancouver. Not to mention that more immigrants would further saturate an already saturated Taiwanese population. This island is only so big.

They say you shouldn't stick your chopsticks in rice, because it's likened to incense in an incense burner used for praying. Well, if that's the case, should I not pencils and pens in my brush pot/pencil holder?

How much money do you have to put away per year to live comfortably? Comfort is in the eye of the beholder, but how much money is enough to not need to worry too much financially?

This is something I've been struggling with because my master plan in Taiwan hasn't panned out the way I had hoped. So, what's "good enough"? After short-term expenses (i.e. excluding mortgage, car payments, etc.), is $10K cad/year sufficient? $20K? $30K? $40K? Of course, more is better, but what's enough to live the lifestyle you'd want to live longterm? Does saving, say $25K a year put you in good condition? $25K seems like very little.

I believe in living comfortably and spending money where it should be spent. I think shrewd spending is a good rule to follow in general, and that opens up the floor to larger expenses (travel, vehicle purchases, etc) without having to worry about the money. But in short, I don't enough money. Period. If I had a $80K salary, would I still think the same? I get the sense that I will become one of those "it's never enough" kind of people, and it scares me because I realize that I may not ever enjoy life.

How much of my happiness is dependent on money? I just don't know.

For Transformer purists, turn away.

But for the rest of you brave souls, it appears that director Michael Bay has Transformers movie slated for 2007 aimed towards a newer generation of (overweight) kids.

In keeping with the times, Hollywood-style, Bay's given our beloved childhood heros a face-lift. And I mean major face-lift. For example, let's look at Optimus Prime: before and after (altho now his "before" seems rather unflattering in his red jumberlack button-up shirt and jeans). And then there's Megatron: before and after and more after. Megatron, by the way, is no longer a laser-blasting gun, but a "alien jet". And since it wasn't cool enough to be a VW Beetle (what, even Turbonium?), Bumblebee's now a Camero.

Of course, these are speculations floating around the rumor mill. I couldn't say for sure if Michael Bay really plans to put these atrocities into an actual film. But nevertheless, for nostalgia's sake, it's fun to revolt.

Well ain't that something. This year marks the 200th Anniversary of Webster's dictionary. Yes, that is something.

Ah ha! I guess I shouldn't need to feel so bad after all.

If half of the Chinese can't speak Chinese, why should I feel so pressured?

I see some parallelisms between my department at work and the Vancouver Canucks. Last year wasn't great for either team, performing below expectations. As such, changes were made. In the case of the Canucks, their management made the changes. In our case, the workers made their own decisions. In February, we had a team of 11 in Taiwan. Since February, we've had 3 people leave our company, one person transfer to another group, and our department head transfer to a different role. Meanwhile to fill the vacant spots, we have a new energetic department head, we transfered one person in from another group, and loaned a manager from another group for 6 months. We recently had 3 new hires (in the last 3 weeks), and we will have a fourth in a couple more weeks.

So, lots of changes, but I think we've got a pretty happy team. Morale is as good as it's ever been (still, could be better), and we're enjoying ourselves through group activities much more than in previous years.

Let's hope the Canucks have a good year too!

I stubbed my pinky toe and it hurt a lot.

Why are pinky toes so darned wimpy? They are the wimpiest toes and certainly the most susceptible to injury. It doesn't matter what you hit, it hurts. You could clip your toe off the corner of an empty cardboard shoebox and be cursing ridiculous words that would land the most devoted faithful in Hell.

Fortunately, the pain usually goes away quickly (unless you break your toe) - and is soon forgotten.

Today's a glorious day. The weather's good, I have a chance at winning the B circle for our table tennis competition, and best of all it's the last day "Geoff" will be working at our company. In one sense, I guess you can say that tomorrow will be a glorious day as the first one post-Geoff. In case you don't remember Geoff, I first mentioned him here, here, and again in the last post.

Over the last few days, our team lead and I spent some time transitioning all the work that Geoff did. Through detailed discussions, I think these meetings solidified the fact that Geoff did an absolutely lousy job during his time here.

Meanwhile, back at the Bat Cave, we've got some new hires on-board to take over his duties, as well as my testing duties (finally). We've got a 25 year old and a 23 year old female. One joined this week, and one will be in next week. A third hire will be coming in on Sept 18th, who we'll train to be an Application Engineer. So it's seems like we're filling our headcount while dropping some dead weight in the process.

Let's say you were a manager.

Under what circumstances would you fire an employee? If an employee royally screws up an expensive project, or crosses the line and sexually harasses a coworker, then it my be a no-brainer. But what if the employee doesn't do anything terribly wrong, but doesn't do anything very right either: just an employee who constantly under-performs. Does a worker who needs continuous baby-sitting and micro-managing because there isn't any trust or faith in the work s/he does deserve to be fired?

We've had someone in our group for the last year and change who continually shows his inabilities in every facet of his job. I've mentioned this guy before in my blog. He's a coworker that can't think on his own, can't follow instructions properly, and can't remember the details of his work (or of our product, for that matter). As our dedicated QA engineer, the majority of his testcases don't test to completeness and aren't written well. His organization skills are atrocious, and documentation and presentation skills are equally poor.

Yet, in spite of his obvious cons, we've kept him around for over 1 year. The fact of the matter is, we haven't been able to hire anyone else to do QA for our product in his place or with him. Resources are tight, and perhaps even having someone on board to do a half-assed job is better than having no one at all. I had my concerns during his 3-month probation, but the decision to keep him or drop him wasn't mine to make.

If you had this kind of a employee on your team, how would you handle it/him/her?

Here's a first. Today at work, when my 23 year old female coworker heard that I was born in 1978, she said:

"Really?? I thought you looked young, but were much much older." (like, above 30, she said)

Hmmm... that's a new one.

I've come down with a cold. The timing is horrible.

I am giving two days of training tomorrow and the day after.
My Fitness Club (from work) has a outing to Alexander Health Club tomorrow evening.
I have a yoga class at work on Wednesday evening.

I hope I get through the next couple days.

I wanted to post about a few health topics. The first will be about pH balance in your body. I recently had a health exam and my body's pH is 6.0, a little too acidic.

In short, health problems (disease) often are a result of an acidic body - a consequence of eating too much meat and sugary-sweet things. Therefore, we need to neutralize our bodies to prevent health complications, such as cancer. Very, very few cancers (some reports go as far as saying "none") can live in an alkaline environment. The ideal body pH is between 7.2 - 7.45 depending where you look.

There's a difference between acidic and acid-forming, and alkaline and alkaline forming, foods. To quote one website:

Note that a food's acid or alkaline-forming tendency in the body has nothing to do with the actual pH of the food itself. For example, lemons are very acidic, however the end-products they produce after digestion and assimilation are very alkaline so lemons are alkaline-forming in the body. Likewise, meat will test alkaline before digestion but it leaves very acidic residue in the body so, like nearly all animal products, meat is very acid-forming.

Here're a few websites on the topic (with a lot of overlapping information):
Acid - Alkaline Balance (Natural Health School)
A List of Acid / Alkaline Forming Foods
Alkaline and Acidic Food Chart (Essence of Life)
About Alkaline Body pH
Lemons for Balanced Health
The Alkaline Diet (About.com)

I pass this information on to you (perhaps you knew, perhaps you didn't) because it's something you should consider in your diet. I never paid much attention to this, but thanks to my dad who's been studying quite a bit of medical material, I'm glad I got an earlier start. Thanks dad!

As part of my daily routine, I drink a cup of lemon water (1/2 lemon), and I'm still trying to eat more fruit regularly. Just the beginning, but I think a good one.

Jeremy Pivens. Now here's an actor whose presence seems to make every show more fun to watch for me. He seems like a light-hearted actor whose comedic timing is as good as anyone's. His cameos, like in Rush Hour 2 as a Versace salesman, are hilarious.

Just to let you know.

Everyone has lulls in their day... or just any reason to look for a distraction. These are the websites I visit to kill time:

Blogger, to write this here blog
Gmail for my email, of course
Google News Canada
Canucks.com
Taipei Times
Freakonomics' Authors' Blog
My company's stock performance on Yahoo! Stocks (no link, sorry)
Taiwan Yahoo! Bid
eBay.com

What about you? Where do you go?

A bizarre trip for the tastebuds.

I had a McDonald's breakfast this morning. Ham and Egg McMuffin with cheese. A different choice from my usual Sausage and Egg McMuffin (which I only have maybe only couple times a year as it were) - but I decided that the "sausage" is a little too salty and went with ham today instead. I don't know how H&EMs are made in Canada, but in Taiwan, it seems they put mayo in there. Understand now that mayo in Taiwan is closer to the Japanese sweet mayo. Put that in a salty McMuffin and you get a strange combination of salty sweetness that I don't care for in a McDonald's breakfast. I would advise against trying that here.

Sweet & Salty popcorn on the other hand is tasty. Try that instead.

I'm the kind of guy who likes coffee when it is doused with enough milk and sugar to make it taste unlike coffee. I'm not a coffee-lover, but I still like the smell of coffee. Coffee grounds are a good way to get rid of a stink in the fridge too. Does anyone not like the smell of coffee?

Went to the Taipei Zoo this weekend with A. I don't remember the last time I was at a zoo, but it was many, many moons ago. Going to the zoo is great. It's a relaxing stroll at your own pace out in the open air with lots to see. The Zoo is a short ways away from the city, so the air's much cleaner - better for both animals and humans. And at only 30nt for us "students", it's money very well spent.*

For a place whose purpose is to bring animals together, do you ever feel like you spend a whole lot of time looking for animals? You shuffle from one holding pen/cage/glass display to the next, read the introductory sign, and then spend the next couple of minutes scanning the premise for the actual animal ... often cursing it for hiding away in an unseen corner. Why can't they be more like show-off zoo animals in Madagascar?

A highlight for our visit was at the black bear pen. After feeding, one black bear sat up, looked up, and called towards the zoo visitors perched over the wall. The crowd looking down started waving at the bear, snapping away with their digital cameras. Then, the bear waved back! So that's the enclosed picture I've decided to share with you.

Turns out that the Taipei Zoo is much bigger than I had thought. We walked at a fairly relaxing pace, and I thought we covered pretty good ground. But a second look at a zoo map told me that we'd only seen about 1/7th of the zoo. We entered the zoo just after 3pm, so we didn't have time to see much else. We saw parts of the insectarium, some deer, emus, birds, reptiles and amphibians, and smelled some camels. We left seeing only 1/4 - 1/3 of what the zoo offered. So, I guess that means another visit is in order.

*30nt is less than $1 USD. Adult admission is 60nt. Compare this to $32 USD for adult admission to the San Diego zoo. Ouch.

Will Taiwan and China become one?

Maybe one day.

Sunday, I took A to the top of the world in Taipei 101's Observatory. 320nt per person (with our student cards... what?). It was a 37-second elevator ride up and 46-second elevator ride down to mount and descend between the 5th Floor (at 25m) and the 89th Floor (382m).

Another 100nt would have put us even further up the building, as I've been told onto an outdoor deck, but we opted not to take that option. Even so, the Taipei 101 Observatory is gives a stunning 360 view of Taipei. And on a clear day like Sunday was, you could see a lot of the surrounding cities in Taipei County. Drinks at the Sky Cafe are surprisingly inexpensive given it's location on the 89th floor. Free audio guides are also available, describing the landmarks and views visible from the observatory.





We went up at 4:45pm, a little later than I had hoped because the sun was already slowly making its way down casting long shadows between the buildings. We had dinner plans with friends, so we had left at 6:15pm, much earlier than I would have prefered as well - at that time the sun still hadn't dipped below the horizon. Maybe next time I'll be able to see Taipei at night from the 101.

Anyway, great view and great company. Time couldn't have been better spent.

mango penguin.

Chinese people and their hair. Sometimes it's hairlhairious (yuk yuk!), sometimes it's just gross. Do you kind of hold yourself from blurting out laughing when you see some guy with the 3 hairs growing from his mole, or maybe just some random hair growing from a spot it has no place being in? Maybe you can't help but to stare at the eyebrow hair whose length commands respect and says "I'm the king of this brow!" Well, quit it... because I have one such eyebrow hair.

Yep, it's almost 1 inch long, which makes it 3 - 4 times longer than the bush surrounding it (out of context, this line could be very embarrassing). Such hair builds character. It also evidences that I don't groom myself meticulously. It's true. I don't trim my hairbrows -- which is supposedly done by brushing your brow hair upwards and trimming the hairs that exceed the area of the brow, then repeating downwards. I don't trim my nose hairs either, which is probably called for. Whenever A complains about them, I just pluck whatever I can get my nails on. I guess trimming would be less painful and save me the tears that form in my eyes.

So, should I trim this aggressive brow hair just to "fit in"?

A thought came over me as I was stepping into a restaurant over the weekend.

I thought back to being a youngster, maybe still in elementary school. My folks would on occasion go out with their friends on a weekend night and leave us kids at home. For me, those were kind of special times, because we would just spend the whole night lying on the couch watching TV. Dinner was usually food prepared and left by mom. Sunday night were particularly special since I got to spend the 6pm - 7pm hour with the Wonderful world of Disney. In the later years, dinner came from costco - sometimes Chunky's, sometimes frozen pizza. Don't feel bad, I liked that stuff!

Anyway, just thinking about the feeling of being home unsupervised for a night kind of made me nostalgic.

I made a great purchase this past weekend. It's showcased in the embedded photo.

It's a Japanese table I picked up from RT Mart (sort of like a SuperStore) for just 179nt (CAD$7 - $8). Measuring 60cm x 60cm, it's got short legs and fits perfectly on my bed! It was a purchase I should have made long ago since I usually have no table to eat off of when I'm at home. When I don't use it, it folds up flat (although I still haven't figured out where to tuck it away, so right now it just leans against my TV stand). It's great, I can have breakfast in bed and watch TV now too. Of course, I would have to get up to make the breakfast myself before sitting down to enjoy it.

In any case, I'm really happy with this purchase and I just wanted to share it with you all.

Through my blog, it seems like I have done a lot of complaining about Taiwan. No, don't deny it. I have. All of my complaints, I believe, are justified and reasonable from the point of view of a Canadian with this an East-meets-West "fusion" background.

But let's try to put things in perspective, because there are things in Taiwan that are better than those back home. Here's my list of some of those things:

• Convenient stores: They're everywhere, and therefore are convenient. And they also offer more services (such as allow paying for most of your bills through them).


• Every traffic light is equiped with a countdown telling you how much time stands between you and a green light, or how much time before your green light turns red. The animated "walk"ing man is fun too; he walks faster and breaks into a sprint to tell pedestrians that their green light is running out.


• Though usually unhealthy, it's hard to complain about the options for cheap food. Cheap, tasty, and unhealthy food is everywhere.


• I love scootering. You can bet I'll be looking to get a scooter when I return to Canada. Cheap and convenient, like the food.


• When you're not in the "fashionable areas" of Taipei, you can generally dress as scrubby as you want without anyone looking at you twice. I have no problems going for hot pot wearing the infamous blue-and-white Taiwanese flip flops.


• An obsession with international clothing means that Taiwanese also have a more global view of fashion. Along with Canadian/U.S. clothing companies, there's a strong presence of European and Japanese venders.


• I may not stand out in Canada, but just by having clearer skin and a pointier nose, I'm already above average in looks here.


• People often make bank-to-bank payments to buy from people and vendors. More convenient and probably safer than paying by cash or cheque. In fact, no one uses cheques here... I never liked cheques anyway.


• LCD TV screens are in a lot of places that require waiting: MRT/train stations, restaurants, stores, and buses...


• People are less intimidating. I've never been intimidated by anyone here - partially because people are nicer (not more polite, but nicer) - but mainly because people aren't as big or strong. Or maybe because they can't grow facial hair. Either way, I haven't met too many people I didn't think I could "take".


• Unlike in North America, toilet stalls are private. Their design uses an overlap between door and stall so there're no gaps. Privacy when you need privacy most.


• The customary afternoon naps that follow lunch are great. Refreshing and revitalizing, they make the afternoon pass more productively.


• Each receipt has a receipt number which can be used towards a lottery (once every 2 months) for a chance to win money!


• Fruit is delicious and cheap.


• The world's tallest building is still Taipei 101

Typhoon Bilis was a complete cop-out. The typhoon forecasts of 2 days ago showed the tropical hurricane heading straight for and over Taiwan. Naturally, I (and most other people) expected to have a day off work - and a reason to increment my "Days off work due to typhoons" ticker to the right, which hasn't moved in roughly a year.

On Wednesday night, an announcement was made that some cities and counties along the Eastern seaboard would get Thursday off - which is no surprise, they are at the forefront of the typhoon experience, and they're largely easy-going and unproductive people anyway. But come Thursday morning, a quick check on internet showed that the typhoon hadn't arrived quite yet and that I'd still have to go to work. Disappointing. Well, Friday should be a day off.

On Thursday night, the heavy rain that came during the day turned into a drizzle, but I still had hope for a Friday off. When I awoke at 5:30am on Friday, heavy rain make a racket on the metal roofing outside my window, so I checked the government website that informs of regions with days off... nope. No day off. Turns out the typhoon turned a little further North, just grazing the tip of Taiwan.

So, I'm at work, writing my blog in disbelief of this Bilis's cowardly actions.

Going to the office isn't a big deal if you're planning on going to the office. But when you have full expectations of a day off (TWICE!) and that paid vacation doesn't come, getting dressed in the morning becomes a draining activity.

And now the typhoon has passed, and we have stupid nice weather again. Damn it.

I'm in a good mood today for a lot of reasons. I won't tell you my reasons, but it means I'm up for blogging.

This week is Sandwich Week for me at work. Simply sick of having lunchboxes chock full of MSG and oil for lunch, I've taken matters into my own hands and decided to make sandwiches at noon each day this week. Last Sunday, I picked up the supplies to be shared between N and I.

Whole Wheat Bread (NT$36)
Tomatoes (NT$69)
Onions (NT$14)
Lettuce (NT$43)
Sprouts (NT$21)
Eggs (NT$24)
Mayo Lite (NT$12)
Chicken meat - raw (NT$59)
Turkey slices (NT$68)
Smoked tuna - canned x 3 (NT$68)
Ham (NT$75)

Total: NT$489

Split between 2 people, approximately NT$250 per person, and makes roughly 6 - 7 big sandwiches.

And for once, my fridge is stocked like a fridge should be (as photographed to the right). Well, it was for Sunday night at least.

Ingredients are left in the fridge at work and each day I create a fresh edible masterpiece. Delicious and nutrious, and puts Subway's Sandwich Con-Artists to shame.

As Crocodile Dundee would say:
"That's not sandwich, this is a sandwich."

I guess the fact of the matter is, I'm not in much of a mood for blogging these days.

As if I needed any additional proof that my English vocabulary needs work, here's a series of online vocabulary tests on which I yielded pretty pitiful results.

50%, 50%, 20%, 43%.

How about you? Do any better?

I'll write this blog now... because I'm emotional about it now. But I'll post the blog a day late after I've gotten a picture.

I went up to our 6th floor to buy a drink from the vending machine like I might often do. But this time, something new immediately caught my eye. The moment I saw it, I knew a page had turned in my stay at my company. I immediately said "you gotta be kiddin' me. are you serious?!" with a little inward chuckle.

Up to now, I've been a good worker here. I've been more focused than in previous jobs in Canada. But the company's intentions to provide employees with a bit of entertainment is going to most-likely take me over and feed hours of distraction. Self-control, Kevin, self-control.

Stop beating around the bush, Kev. Just tell us what you saw.

Ok, anyone who knows me well will probably have some idea of how I might feel seeing this sitting up on our 6th floor.

I vow to stay away from it more than I did at Spectrum. And with the level of competition here no where near the caliber of the Spectrumites - so I'm likely to be easily bored anyway.

But, as a service to the company, I've offered to give a workshop/lesson on how to play (properly). I'm also looking online for places to buy rubber balls to replace the awful hard plastic ball that came with the table.

Foosball. Good to see you again, my old friend.

Here's something frightening.

What's it mean when you don't even remember your own age? At this very moment, I'm not even sure if I'm 27 or 28. Dead serious. There's something severly wrong with this picture.

Ok, wait, let me count.

[time passes...]

Alright, I'm 27 now. 28 at the end of the year.

Is that right? I'm only 27?

Geez. I have considerable expectations for myself and I'm only 27. Last year, I think I was saying I was 27 six months before my 27th birthday. Something to do with the time-space continuum? I suppose it's been about a year since then, so I'm on cue to start thinking I'm 28.

Or maybe I should just move my birthday to July.

Frightening.

Who says everyone is born equal?

I have a lot of friends who have recently had babies, and I can tell you from first eye experience that they aren't all born equal. Not all babies are cute. Some have weird spots on their faces, and some are fat and ugly. But what can you do? You still have to love them all the same.

What say you? Well, I never!

It's frickin' boiling here in Taiwan. But, at least I found a solution to my zipper problem.

At the start of my trip to Cambodia (end of January this year), my North Face knock-off backpack zipper derailed from one side of the zipper rendering it useless and extremely annoying. Instead of two functional zipper tabs like most backpacks have, I only had one since - meaning to close the zipper, I need to pull the one working tab all the way to the other end of the track.

Everyone I asked (including tailors) said that once a zipper separates, game over: it's broken and can't be fixed. It's also because the end of the zipper is sewn over by another material of the backpack, making the zipper stop inaccessible. So until now, I just bared with the annoyance searching for a better plan of action.

Alas, last night I had an epiphany as I examined the problem again. Perhaps a simple and unoriginal solution, but it didn't occur to me before:

I cut the side of the zipper from which the zipper tab derailed near the end of the track (where it disappears into the sewn-over material). Then I just pulled the zipper tab down past that cut point, and followed steps 3 - 7 from this How to Fix a Separated Zipper article. Done!

Works perfectly, with only a < 1 cm loss to the bag's opening. I'm proud of me.

I was at a loss for something to blog about before the weekend. But a topic emerged as I took some sick time off work to run some errands (I know... I'm Kevin and I'm sick).

Hsinchu's first Mister Donut opened today in Downtown Hsinchu, across from the train station. Mister Donut is a Japanese donut store, whose clever marketing apparently reduced the size of their donuts to better fit the hands of its Asian consumers. F that. I want a big donut. Since coming to Taiwan, Mister Donut has enjoyed the success of a mob effect that is Taiwanese culture. It's a completely unjustified "wow, that's a long line... must be good" reaction. Incidentally, I scootered by the train station after finishing 3 of my 4 errands, and beheld an incredible sight: the line up stemming from the new Mister Donut. My guess was in the range of 300 people, but I didn't stay around to count. People, these are just DONUTS. They are artery-clogging deep-fried dough with holes. Also keep in mind that the current temperature in Hsinchu is 30.5 degrees Celsius. Are you NUTS?! Better get some coffee with that donut, heat stroke, and heart attack. Long line ups are nothing new to grand openings... but considering the weather conditions, and given the ROI (donuts.), it just doesn't make sense. However, long queues in front of Mister Donuts are a common sight in Taipei, and I just don't get it.

[Okay, those of you with elephant memories at home may draw parallelisms to another posting from almost 2.5 years ago (sorry, the photos and video are gone). At least I made it worth my while with 2 dozen donuts... of which I ate between 15 - 18 in the following 3 days. I'm still cleansing my blood vessels to this day.]

Desperate for Housewives

I admit, I'm hooked on Desperate Housewives. Not being in North America, I didn't know about all the hype around the show, so I was a little slow catching up. I didn't even watch it when I first had the chance. But as soon as I started, it was one episode right after the other.

So, there's murder, deceit, romance, jealousy, and plenty of comedy to go around. Basically, it's got all the elements of a trashy Tory Spelling dramatic series... at yet it manages to keep its head above the unearthly, undignified sludge associated with Tory's work (personal opinion perhaps). Actually, I used to be a fan of Melrose Place back in highschool, which incidentally the actors behind characters Bree Van De Kamp and Tom Scavo spent some time. But where someone might say "Desperate Housewives? That's a great show!", you'd be hard-pressed to hear someone to say "Melrose Place? Great writing!". No, Melrose was crap, we all knew that... but it was entertaining crap.

Among the four housewives, hands down I like Felicity Huffman's character Lynette Scavo the most. Smart, attractive, completely quirky, and hilarious.

So, that's my posting on Desperate Housewives. Can't wait to finish Season 2.

Let's roll around the block and see what the rich people drive.

Got time? Take a look at the top 100 celebrities of 2006. How they can award these rankings when we haven't even gotten past the first half of the year is beyond me. Most of these "Pay"s are just vomit-inducing.

Warning to the reader: This particular posting deals with a mature subject matter. It is graphic. Very graphic. You may not enjoy it. Turn away now.

What's the best way to take a stool sample?

I have an annual health exam this coming weekend, for which I am required to provide a stool sample. Administering the collection of stool is never pleasant. There's just no way to do it holding your head up high.

Last year, I had a plastic vial with some liquid (maybe water?) in it, and from the underside of the cap was a pipe-cleaner-type extension, like the head of the Oral-B Interdental Brush system. I took a lot of tissue folded up, delivered a small controlled chunk of poop on the tissue whilst holding it, and brushed up a small sample.

This year, it's the plastic container seen in the photo to the right, with a little plastic shovel for collecting the sample... or eating yogurt.

So, how do I scoop? Well, they don't really need that much poop to work with. I don't need to fill the bottle. Do I follow what I did last year or try something new? If I position everything correctly, Maybe I could scrap the side of a log as it comes out.

Who dare reply?

Taiwanese people give non-Taiwanese/Chinese foreigners who speak Chinese a lot of attention. Heck, I find it fascinating too. Every so often, I'll turn the boobtube and see Chinese-speaking foreigners as regulars or guests on TV shows. I guess they never make it as far as being on a scripted show (dramas, etc), but their novelty is enough to get on one of the many game or talk shows.

Here are a few examples:

瑪格麗特 (Margerite): [1 | 2 | 3 ] This Russian damsel is a regular on a popular Taiwanese game show. She's also an item with the famous singer/show host (in the pictures with the beard). Her Chinese is only so-so, she's not all that funny, she's not that attractive (a la Leelee Sobieski)... but... she's not ugly, she's white, she has a figure, and she speaks Chinese. Good enough for most people here.

Jeffrey: [Couldn't find a link] Jeff is a young Canadian guy who hosts an English-teaching TV show. His Chinese is PHENOMENAL. Ok, I give props to him, even if he does dress really gay on the show. No, I don't mean it like "oh, that's so gay!"... well, it is. Com'on, he wears hugging jeans, a sleeveless jean vest, and a red hankerchief around his neck. Unlike any Canadian I know. I'm not sure if he does it because he/they think it's "children-friendly". But a red flag should pop up when Taiwanese parents see their kids wanting to be Macho Men singing YMCA. But his Chinese is incredible. AC tells me that sometimes if she doesn't look at the TV screen, she could mistaken him for a local. Although, here and there, I hear some phonetic mistakes, but I'll let those slide.

Nicky Lee: [ 1 ] Nicky's a Korean-American from LA, and made famous in Asia by being part of the Machi Hip-Hop group. His Chinese is broken and strongly accented, but he was never supposed to be known for that anyway. I see his baby-face far too often in advertisements and guest appearances on any show. Either way, hugely popular (with the young girls). Ok, credit goes to Machi for actually being a pretty decent hip-hop group, and not a lame bunch of guys trying to be hip-hop.

A while ago, I went to a book exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center. There was a Polish guy who spoke Chinese better than me! Very fluent, very impressive.

I met an English girl at a friend's party, and she's been here for 3 years. Her Chinese is pretty good and very fast. She knows words that I don't know.

Ok, now I'm a Canadian-Born Chinese (CBC). And I already speak Chinese better than most Taiwanese CBCs, and I can argue that given my surroundings, I'm not expected to speak fluently. But when I come to Taiwan and see a lot of foreigners speaking better in my family tongue, should I be embarrassed or ashamed?

Since around mid-August 2005, I started to use "KevinXXX" in my MSN name. Here's the list of names (in order of appearance) I've used over that time. Some turned out better than others.

Kevinessence, Kevinopoly, Kevinosaur, Kevinicious, Kevinalogy, Kevination, Kevinitis, Kevinaria, Kevinalysis, Kevinacity, Kevinarium, Kevinesque, Kevinadum, Kevinatorial, Kevinacious, Kevinapple, Kevinexus, Kevinada, Kevineo, Kevinator, Kevinuple, Kevinessent, Kevinotar, Kevinopa, Kevin-eleven, Kevinatus, Kevinaphobia, Kevinatrix, Kevinia, Kevinichiban, Kevinarcism, Kevincible, Kevinactor, Kevinalopolus, Kevinci, Kevinexant, Kevinary, Kevinocity, Kevinotorius, Kevinite, Kevinipple, Kevingineer, Kevinoxious, Kevinjamin, Kevinoria, Kevinasm, Kevintrapment, Kevinatory, Kevinocious, Kevinology, Kevinphoria, Kevinichi, Kevinacus, Kevintry, Kevinelly, Kevinistry, Kevinility, Kevince, Kevinosis, Kevintasy, Kevinaria, Kevinasal, Kevinella, Kevinichiwa, Kevintation, Kevinistic, Kevindipity, Kevinality, Kevinatorium, Kevindo-China, Kevinyoface, Kevinertia, Kevinski, Kevino, Kevinano, Kevinanoless, Kevinini, Kevinger, Kevinita, Kevinomics, Kevinade, Kevinconceivable, Kevinastic, Kevinaigrette, Kevinolly, Kevindian, Kevincompetent, Kevindom, Kevinegar, Kevinivek, Kevineer, Kevindoors, Kevintricacy, Kevinplicity, Kevinsane, Kevinotion, Kevindonesia, Kevinasium, Kevin-n-outburger, Kevindeisel, Kevinism, Kevinsomnia, Kevincomprehensible, Kevinteger, Kevinasty, Kevinteraction, Kevinio, Kevinoffice, Kevinish, Keviny, Kevincarceration, Kevinnicle, Keviness, Kevinauseous

Those Canadians, eh?

Here's something you don't see every day. A guy named Adam Scott, from our nation's capital, put himself on a primate meal diet whereby only eating monkey food for one week. The test is to see whether a human could get by eating "a complete and balanced diet for the nutrition of primates, including the great apes." His experiment has garnered quite a following (not a following of people eating Monkey Chow, but a following of his experiment updates). It's interesting. Really.


The website.
The blog.
The videos are accessible through his website.

Mismash posting.

Over the weekend, I attended a Canadian Alumni Network event. The "Homecoming" event was held at the Apollo Restaurant at the Agora Garden, a fairly classy venue. The gathering turned out to be better than I had expected, and it was nice to be put in a social environment again - handshaking and handing out business cards. There'll be an SFU Taiwanese Alumni ice-breaker at the end of the month, so I'll try to attend that too.

Last night, it was raining like I hadn't seen in a while. Just pissing. I spent my day (yesterday) at a customer site, and I saw one car-meets-scooter accident on my way back to the office (~5 mins away), and another on my way home from the office (~10 mins). Scootering in heavy rain sure is dangerous.

Right after I finished yesterday's dinner, I sneezed hard, causing some leftover food fragment to lodge near my nasal cavity. I've had this before, usually a grain of rice or something, and the discomfort is astounding. With enough nose-blowing or back-of-the-throat movement, it comes out the nose or through the mouth. My attempts to blow it out my right nostril was to no avail, but it later freed itself in my mouth on my scooter ride home. I never saw it before I spit it out, but I can say that it was bigger than could fit through my nose... and was covered in mucus. A piece of meat, I think. Ick.

My washroom seems to have been overtaken by ants. I only noticed a couple of days ago, but when I did notice, they were already all over the place - though not in great numbers. It's strange because I don't have any food around my place; and besides that, I only see them in the washroom. If it's not raining this evening, I'll make a trip to purchase some kind of anti-ant solution.

While searching online for "Kane and Abel" to learn its story (should I be ashamed about not already knowing?), I came across this website: varsityessays.com. Built to make money off slacking or overworked college students, this website offers a plethora of papers crossing a variety of course topics.

Back in university/college, do you think you would have ever taken advantage of such a resource? Truthfully.

Truthfully? Probably not. For 2 reasons:
1) They aren't likely to have useful Engineering "essays". While I did take a Criminology 101, that was probably the only non-science-related course I took in my 5 years. But in all fairness, under their "Technology" section, there are a few papers that are probably interesting reads.
2) I would have been too cheap to pay for it.

While watching the NBA Western Conference Finals (Suns vs. Mavericks, Game 4) yesterday, I was surfing YouTube.com just going from video to video. I came across a series of videos I'd like to share with you. Ask A Ninja.com is a source of answers to questions asked by the everyday wonderer. You won't learn anything, but you'll probably be at least mildly entertained by its sheer ridiculousness. Enjoy.

Update on my last couple of days...

On Sunday, I helped out with a capoeira workshop organized by CAPT - a group with which I am not affiliated, but that isn't too far off from CCPN. They hired an instructor from Axe Capoeira teaching in Taiwan now, who happens to be someone I trained with back in Vancouver. It costs 3150nt (about $110 cad) per month to train here, with access to training 5 times a week. Even then, it's far too much. In any case, I'm not considering training again, but I might join for a roda or two in the future. The workshop was held in the covered walkway area around the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, sheltered from the heavy rain. We were asked to be more quiet a few times due to disturbing the library and a dance class inside. Eventually, we just did without the drums.

After the workshop, A&I taxied to a tow lot where my scooter was taken due to an unfortunate illegal parking violation that had nothing to do with me. After picking that up, we went to Nostamos Cafe - a Greek restaurant we found online. Only that, despite the traditional blue-roofed top and sterling white walls, they didn't have a single Greek item on their menu. The owner said that they changed their menu a few times because Greek food hasn't been too well-received as the flavours don't fit the Taiwanese tongue. So, instead, they became a Mediterranean restaurant with a mixed assortment of European food (even from countries not around the Mediterranean). The food was fair, but not all that cheap, and I'm still craving Greek.

Fastforward to Monday. I didn't sleep well last night (Monday night). Just had a lot on my mind. To start, I watched the last 2 episodes from the Desperate Housewives Season 1 DVD set (I can't believe they killed him off!), and that took me to 2:40am. I spent the next hour just lying in bed thinking about a myriad of things. Add those thoughts to the growing hunger developing in my belly and the noise of the rain outside, I gave up on the shut-eye plan and turned on the TV. Then I made some instant noodles to fill the void. At that point (4:15am), I decided to take Tuesday morning off, so I emailed my coworkers to let them know. And... since I had Tuesday morning off, I let myself watch Shuan of the Dead, a witty and comical British zombie movie that was on TV at that hour. Finally, having drained myself, I crept back into bed and slept from 6am to noon. Well, Wednesday's a holiday anyway, so no worries.

I must admit, peeing is much more fun when there's a target. Perhaps a mint in the urinal that makes a greenish cocktail as you douse it; or the urinal cake's plastic web cover that channels pee into various directions as you hit it at different spots; maybe its the ice that reminds you of the coming of spring in the way it melts away when showered in warm yellow fluid; it's just someone's gum that just sits there so innocently; or someone else's forgotten pubes. Perhaps it's the bubbles formed when you pee into a toilet, which give meaning in a decorative design. And these are just daily examples, aside from those when peeing outside (think snow and in forest).

Pee isn't just for physical relief... It's for comic relief.

Would you rather lose the pen or the pen cap?

Previously, I blogged about reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Now they've made a movie - Fast Food Nation: The Big One starring Greg Kinnear which seems to integrate many of the findings from the book. Here's the trailer.

"Hey, don't give me no lip."

When I have a dry lip that is already starting to crack, I immediately discard any hope for fixing it with chapstick. My natural reaction is to start picking away at it, ripping little patches of dying skin off my lower lip. People like to see immediate results; and with these "lip-fixes", the reward is immediate. The feeling of a smooth under-lip beneath the drought-that-was is wondrous.

I use a slow Pick-and-Pull^tm technique. It's effective. Seldom done with only fingers, I usually pick with my top teeth - pulling the lower lip in to get a firm grip between the top and bottom incisors (occasionally assisted by the tongue) - and then activating the slow pull sequence. Finally, I take the liberated piece into my fingers, and flick it off like a booger.

Actually, it's funny that even though the piece of lip is only between my index finger and thumb, the flick must be performed through rapid movements of my thumb, index, middle, and ringer fingers - with my pinky standing relatively still and out. I digress.

Once in a while, I don't sense the pull correctly, and it results in a bleeding lip. This happens when the dried patch doesn't feel its ready to leave the motherland, or holds onto the lip and says to its comrades "hey, let's go together!" But you can't stop in the middle of a pull, because you'll end up with a little flap of lip which teases you every time you close your mouth - and then you're compelled to play around with it with your tongue. Now, when a small wound opens, my eyes give that look that says "shit.", and the lower lip automatically disappears into my mouth where I can taste the blood and assess the damage.

But when it's done right, the feeling of a raw underlying layer is almost erotic. Soft, smooth, and moist like the back of a salamander.

Just wanted to leave you with a nice note over the weekend, so have a good one.

Skype's promotional offer to battle off the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo brings free calling to Canada and the U.S. Of course, that's great for me, because I usually only Skype to Canada as it is. Savings for me won't be huge, since I rarely tip the $1 per phone call mark each week... but maybe I'll be more compelled to randomly call friends up. You never know...

Read more about it in these articles:
new.zdnet.com
businessweek.com

I wish I could read faster. I probably only average 2 pages/minute for novels (quicker during dialog) and 3 pages/minute for textbooks. I'm one of those "read it outloud in your mind" people. One of my highschool friends, whose father worked at the UBC library, could finish a novel in 45 minutes. I'm envious of such abilities.

Anyone have any reading techniques they'd like to share?

Went to my ex-coworker's place yesterday after work with some group members for some drinks, cake, and a movie. I picked up some Marie Brizard Manzanita Apple Liqueur and Sprite. NH got a cake from 白木屋 (White wood House). DY had some Vodka, Limon Liqueur, and wine. We watched 50 First Dates because DY had the DVD kicking around and because I had never seen it.

The evening, albeit on a Thursday, was just what I needed. The last few weeks have been far too long; and the 9am meetings everyday, then working until 8pm or 9pm (mostly at a customer site) takes it toll. Looking forward to a weekend here in Hsinchu to do a little reading, watch a Pheonix Suns game, catch up on some sleep, and celebrate NK's birthday.