Author: Y C

Well, looking forward to the FC & P- express train from Brooklyn here in Taipei. Sorry, but the gloomy rainy weather has returned this week with a vengeance. Pouring rain and wind making it really yucko!

This is a busy week socially as another friend from California arrived this past Sunday. He’ll be attending the SecuTech 2005 Expoin Taipei this Thursday. Some interesting stuff.

Meanwhile, I’m busy with my own baby, ML McLean & Associates Co. Ltd. in Taipei. I built the website using all open-source technologies recently and relatively painlessly. People ask me, what does ML stand for and why McLean? Well, it’s very unscientific but an educated guess in that Asia companies really like American sounding names. McLean is really anglo-saxon and ML doesn’t stand for anything. So what does it do? It’s a business and technology advisory and consulting firm, a mouthful. Essentially, we do consulting and training for companies that are looking to be more competitive. Our range of services is aimed at the locals looking internationally and the expats and foreigners looking to survive and expand their presence in Asia. We’re the classic Asia-West bridge company.

There’s hope here in Asia-Pac, particularly because of China and its black-hole affect. Compare that to the US where the real-estate market bubble, basically foreigners buying up everything is causing everyone in the US to go poor. One has to be really rich to live in the US and I fear that the longer I stay out here, the less likely I would be able to return to the US and live the life that my parents did. I think already, people have trouble doing that without racking up obscene amounts of debt. I don’t know. Seems like the proverbial, there’s no thing such as a free lunch is only half-true :-|?

=YC

Greetings and salutations from Taipei. My first real Chinese New Year celebration and it was good that it happened in Taipei. Got the full deal here. Friends took us around Taipei to see the sights. We ended up going to DiHua Jie (DiHua Street) to gawk and sample all the traditional Chinese New Year foodstuffs Taiwan style.

I also had the chance to prepare the hong baos and the bags of gifts you give to relatives and close friends for the new year. Usually, it would include some fruit, sweets, and beef or pork jerky along with other nice gifts like mushrooms and/or other delicacies that are given during the New Year. I had a traditional CNY dinner at my cousins home in Taoyuan which included a good dosage of Kaoliang Chiew (sorghum liquor) which is very similar to Korean Soju. The Kaoliang Chiew I had came from Mazu Island, not the typical Jinmen Island one that most people associate this with. It’s a toss up as to which place makes the best but generally speaking, Jinmen is the best known for it’s Kaoliang Chiew Liquor.

So day 1, we got invited to the home of some new friends we met through church here. Young Canadian couple who started up a home group that we belong to. Nice people have helped B- and I tremendously in adjusting to the new environment. Loneliness is a big killer and finding good people are always hard.

I tend to continue being busy. Although this week is an official week off, I’ve work to do and it’s been a bit of a damper on the festivities. B-‘s been a trooper and I’m grateful for all she’s done and support for me and adjusting here. Tomorrow night we’ll be having day 2 dinner with a Singaporean couple. Gives B- a chance to speak Cantonese and make new friends as well.

Hope you guys are keeping healthy and safe there.

=YC

Virtual worlds wind up in real world’s courts

So this would be a great legal journal topic.

1. Is “digital property” (real) property?

2. What is intellectual property in a virtual reality/world?

3. Should virtual worlds be regulated at all?

Bring a bottle of aspirin. The head turns.