Author: F C

Just a quick shoutout to SSW wishing her a happy birthday. My mobblogging attempt today didn’t work, so I guess I have to do them over again……

Been working on a few behind the scenes items with the blog. First, I think I got the email blogging thing working, at least to the point that I like it. Second, I got the email from the phone thing working. If you want to try it, let me know. This will help blogging through email without actually having to have web access. I’m also evaluating what to do with my accumulated photos. There’s a freeware gallery package, and there was a service that was advertised on Slashdot that I might look into. However, since the photo by email feature is working, it’s not as necessary.

The posting time thing seems to be broken; I have to look into that one. Also the comment spammers are back, promoting diet pills. We’ll need to figure something else out. In any case, you
can just blog and put in a link to the thing you want to comment on, and the system should link it together as a comment.

In index news, the cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas Index is up 2.4% over last year, counted individually; the weighted index, counting the drummers drumming in a 12 to 1 ratio to the partridge in the pear tree is only up 1.6%. Amazingly, you can buy everything over the Internet for a $10,000 surcharge over the approximately $17,200 “retail” cost.

Of course, you have to remember the Economist’s Big Mac Index. Look for the third column to see which countries have more bang for your buck when the dollar is at historic lows.

According to Slashdot, The English version of Chosun says that SMS and instant messaging has overtaken email as the perferred method of communication in Korea by “young people”. Slashdot writers make fun of SMS’s ghetto spelling. The “older people” in Korea apparently sue book publishers for defamation of Confucius.

Freeplay Music, royality free soundtracks, had their 2 millionth download. I’ve used a few for some work projects; I think I’ve heard a few of them on some commercials.

P- and I saw The Incredibles on Saturday; they were no. 2 after National Treasure, the DeVinci Code wannabe movie. The Incredibles had an interesting premise: if everyone is special, does that mean no one is incredible?

New York Bar pass rate for July 2004 was a dismal 67.5%. Next July, the pass mark will go up from 660 to 675. That may just make it a 50-50 proposition.

Would you believe? Number of Asian American law school deans: 2! : Wayne State’s 37-year old Frank Wu and Yale’s Harold Koh.

Turkey day 2004 has started out as a glorious explosion of color, with its bright, clear sunlight shining through the turning leaves like stained glass. The Q train tunnels through the valley of trees, with the chance sighting of a Chinese grandmother hanging clothes in a country backyard.

My registration for this website was up at the end of the month, so apparently cashed strapped register.com has been harassing me to send in the renewal fee. After about 3 emails, 3 postcards, and 3 phone calls later, I get them down 15% from their posted rates. Maybe it was a good thing to not have an expired credit card on the account.

Turkey day is upon us; much angst is ready to as I am going to put together the ham and the sides. And maybe if the planets are aligned just right and no major flare-ups happen, my parents will get to meet P-‘s parents. Well, maybe. This is the one that’s going to do me in — I’m bringing my own apron.

In the behind-the-scens dept.: Ever notice the wacky Google logos on the front page during holidays? There’s one Korean-American designer that is solely in charge of making them. The Times writes about the woman that voices Amtrak Julie, the computerized reservation system, and also mentions the Yahoo by Phone system. I prefer computer voices that sound human, not mechanically tinny.

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This post was made with a trial version of BlogPlanet, a photo blog client for mobile phones. For more information visit www.blogplanet.net.

Hmong hunter Chai Soua Vang is being held on bail for killing six and wounding two hunters in Wisconsin. (New York Times). He says that it was self-defense; I think that killing so many people is senseless. On the other hand, the story is that the eight hunters had only one gun among them. That doesn’t make sense either. You would think that each member of a hunting party would have at least one gun apiece. I think that there may have been friendly fire. In any case, this would make an interesting CSI episode.

I prefer spending my birthdays quietly, so I spent a good chunk of my 34th birthday Saturday at the Museum of Modern Art reopening in Manhattan with P- and close to 40,000 other art lovers. I had stayed over my parents’ house the night before because the weather was bad, I was beat, and I was trying to beat a low-grade cold. The next day was overcast and dreary; also the F train was not really running, substituted by the slower than slow G train. The other problem was remembering where the entrance was, it had been that long. In any case that knowledge didn’t matter — you had to join the queue at 54th Street. After about 40 minutes, I finally made it inside, where P– had already made it.

The new facility was really much better — plenty of wall space to show off works, even one room on the 5th floor that could probably accomodate a F-15 fighter if it could get its hands on one. Right now, they have a vertical crosssection of a house and something called “Mural for a Big Wall”. It was so big that most of the guards didn’t even know where the stairs were. The other curious thing was one work that was essentially a rectangle made of white string that was guarded full-time by one docent that spent most of his time justifying why he was there. I think that was just performance art.

The classics were as good as they always have been — I’ve always been partial to Piet Mondrain and Matisse.

The 5th floor cafe was mainly desserts; the 2nd floor cafe was more of a cafeteria, where we proceeded to blow $50 on 2 soups, a panini, a lasagna, and a salumi platter. At least the quality was good — it was high quality, and the kitchen equipment were definately well designed. We didn’t bother trying the full-service resturant, which was even more extravagant, with $12 ovals of arctic chard.

As SSW mentioned, we encountered her and her sister at about 4 after we had tried to sneak in to the $10 theater. I also encounted my friend Maria, who was working the VIP desk.

After about 6 hours of museum hopping and general crowd surviving, we went home and called it a day. Well, not really — I got some really nice goodies from P-, including some Jack Spade bags.

Sunday was mostly a quiet day, staying in, cooking and reading. Great articles on the City’s immigrants, Trinidad , and Chinese-American rapper Jin were in this Sunday’s Times.

The suit that I bought in Malaysia finally showed up today in my office, USD$20 in Taiwanese postage and a few customs inspections later, but it made it in one piece (or 2 pieces), just in time for my birthday. I’ve tried it out with YC before — it’s well made and very generous in terms of the extra material to ensure durability. Generous is also an apt term because I must have been really chowing down in Ipoh, because the jacket is a tad loose, but that is probably to my advantage later. I really like the reinforced pockets, as well as the secret hip pocket in the pants. Rome Tailors in Ipoh is definately worth a return visit.

For a limited time, watch the first episode of Amazing Race or Enterprise in streaming video. (Window Media Player required).

What is wearing down on me this week is the fact that the fate of two people rest in my hands. In actuality, it really ultimately is in their own hands, but I guess I have a lot of influence in how badly it turns out.

In reality show news, the Amazing Race is back on in its 6th incarnation. The Brooklynite team of Avi and Joe go down in defeat by choosing the wrong detour. Instead of doing the needle in the 7 square mile iceberg haystack, they should have done the ice climb. Hey, even the grandparents managed to do it.

Went with P- to a mortgage bank seminar. Chris the mortgage broker was trying his best in being the Haitian Stephen Corvey to a group of MTA workers. All this for real estate…