Triscribe

Category: En route

  • Remote blogging from Blackberry

    I’ve given into the ball and chain and agreed to get a Blackberry from work. The big plusses are that I won’t have to pay for my sms messages anymore (a really big deal since my personal cingular account doesn’t have free receive like my old at&t account did. They gave me an 8800 which is quite sweet – the full keyboard is very usable. I also added some remote terminal software so I can do about 80% of my work without taking my laptop, and got IM+, a third party Skype hookup, working. It’s really nice.

    I will have to figure out what to do with my personal phone. I do want to keep my old number, but I’ll have to figure out what new plan to get as my contract is up.

  • Chew on this…..

    Take a while to read and chew on its implications of ourselves….. Pearls Before Breakfast

  • Foiled by French

    In a total gag, I participated in a charity fund raising spelling bee, a la the Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway. There were about 40 people in on this. I survived the word “treatise” but got knocked out on the word “chauffeur” – needed to buy a vowel. I would have done much better if it were a vocabulary bee, and not a spelling bee – I think I knew the meanings of all of the words. Oh well – it went to a good cause.

  • Gong Xie Fat Tsai!

    Definitely wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year.  A big deal here (Taiwan gets 9 days, including weekends).  I’m typing this from the Taoyuan International Cathay Pacific lounge.

    It’s mad on the highways due to the exodus of people back to their home towns from Taipei.  Boarding soon and I’ll be arriving in Ipoh just after midnight.  Tired, looking forward to it and being with family for recharging.

    Just ended one of the most grueling stretch of 6 weeks in my professional career :s.  I need the R&R.  Instead of the 20 degree weather, KL is more like the hot hot hot :o.

    You all be well.  Say hi to AS for me. I didn’t get a chance to meet up with him since Jan.

  • What’s the PowerPoint?

    Got this on a mailing list that I am on. Sort of Zen…

  • Happy New Year folks!

    Back on-line…. actually B- and I went on a holiday excursion to Southern Taiwan. Originally we were supposed to attend a wedding of one her B-‘s US friends in Neipu, Pingtung County. We took the train down to Pingtung City (屏東市) and stayed at Fu Guang Da Fan Dian (hotel) on Gong Yuan Rd. Train ride from Taipei Main station took about 6 hours and was really leisurely and smooth. I like trains from my college days in Pgh, taking the Amtrak from Newark Penn Station. I got a lot of reading done, enjoyed the views, and generally got my space to decompress and rejuvenate.

    When we got there, it was chaos at the Pingtung Railway station. Mass jam as everyone was coming and going all at once. Found a helpful taxi driver who took us to the hotel. It was perfectly spotted thanks to one of my English students who grew up there and forwared the recommendation. Fu Guang was next to the big park where they were going to hold the majority of the New Year festivities. So we got to see from the 5th floor, fireworks which was pretty awesome :). It was also near the main drag of Pingtung which is a pretty small city, we walked from the hotel to the train station and saw the major shops and streets, night market etc. There’s a nice big Sogo Dept store a couple of blocks from there as well. B- and I spent coffee shop time there with our books and magazines reading. So relaxing :). I feel better going back to work tomorrow.

    Anyways, 2007 is here and lots to do in the first three months. Back to the war tomorrow but at least I got one reinforcement!

    Be well all,

  • Really an island

    As you might know by now, the earthquakes in Taiwan have isolated the country.  Quite the fun.

     

    More laters,

  • happy holidays from TPE, the ROC

    Been a while since posting but wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season. Been a pretty tough couple of months and things are just starting to settle down to more manageable issues @ work.

    Next year, looking forward to new role and responsibility that’s a WIP (work in progress) plus a new high profile but high risk project with tight schedule…. Because of all the work things, I’ve found myself doing more and more reading and studying. I’ve ante-upped on my Amazon books wish-list which you can see by clicking —>

    My Amazon.com Wish List

    I count my blessings that I was born with the unsatiable curiosity and desire to read which I thank my parents for. I fear that if I hadn’t had this love, I would be hopelessly swamped in today’s bump and grind corporate world where just keeping up is as hard as it’s ever been.

    The previous weekend, I also taught a PMP class and despite the horrible class materials, my improvisation was a welcomed change by the students and many have thanked me. That’s made all the difference really to hear that I helped them and made a difference :). The pay wasn’t bad either ;).

    Last weekend, B- and I walked around the Xinyi shopping area and did some X-mas browsing and food court sampling. Food courts here in Taipei malls are actually pretty gourmet-type experiences, not pedestrian in the US.

    Going to HK tomorrow night for a day. Catch you all laters.

  • Xmas Shopping

    Friday night: poked around Borders on Wall St.

    While there, I skimmed a bit of the book “The Man Who Saved Britain” – a non-fiction work by Simon Winder, about how James Bond fit in the context of British history, but that the movies more or less dumbed down Bond’s value. A sociological view of Bond, if you will. The NY Times Book review of the book, by Isaac Chotiner makes the point:

    When Winder turns his attention to the books and films themselves, his analysis is less deft. He is flat-out wrong to say Bond doesn’t change as the novels progress. Fleming’s hero becomes increasingly more depressed and exhausted by his job, and there is a melancholy air to some of the later adventures. Winder’s harsh judgment of the cinematic 007 is sometimes accurate (he rightfully flags a noticeable decline in quality in the early ’70s) but often misguided (the smooth appeal of “The Spy Who Loved Me” somehow eludes him). Bond fans can (and do) debate these particulars endlessly, but it would have been useful to get more insight into what now seems the most relevant question regarding Bond: why do millions of people, many of whose homelands were once British colonies, still love to watch a British spy save the world?

    Saturday: Xmas shopping in NJ ain’t what it used to be – at least, not when I prefer the Day-After Xmas sales or just buying store gift cards these days.

    On the ride home from NJ was seeing the weird lights along Route 1, in view of the Pulaski skyway: “It Is Green Thinks Nature Even” – in big red lights. Now, my siblings and I were like “Huh?” Weird. I was convinced that the sign was actually the other way around “Even Nature Thinks Green is it.” Which would kind of makes sense. The magic of Google provides an explanation: it’s the work of a conceptual artist. Sponsored by some environmental group, the full text is “It is Green Thinks Nature Even in the Dark.” “in the Dark” was apparently on the side of a building located on the perpendicular, which you can’t see unless you’ve an aerial view or on the Pulaski Skyway. The group’s website has photos and an explanation for the text, the brainchild of artist Mary Ellen Carroll. Curiously interesting. Although just saying “Even Nature Thinks Green is it” still seems fine to me.

  • Sweet Land of Liberty

    I’m in Philadelphia, the land of liberty, with P- for a Asian lawyers conference. More exactly, I’m here for the conference to score some continuing education credits, and she’s here to eat and shop.

    Since it’s mostly on my own dime, we took the Apex Chinatown bus. $20 round trip is an unbeatable price, even with a few glitches. The driver had the heat ramped up while we were waiting – it was like 95 degrees even with the roof vents open. Someone convinced him to turn the AC on instead. Then we were in the stop and go traffic of the Holland Tunnel, and the clutch wasn’t cooperating in the low gears – every once in a while the driver would misshift and the transmission would jar the bus as if we ran over the curb. It got much better when we made it to the Turnpike and got up to highway speeds. In Cherry Hill, a few guys got off – apparently they use the Apex bus to commute to and from jobs in New York. That is really crazy.

    Walking from Chinatown, we headed to our hotel at Club Quarters, which was a 15 minute walk through the heart of the city. We stopped by at 5 Guys burgers on Chestnut Street – even 15 minutes to closing, the food was fresh and flavorful. Recommended.

    Tomorrow, judging moot court while P- goes while through the city and possibly gets a pedicure.

    Oh yeah, I guess I was too pessimistic in my last post – the Dems did win that 51st seat in the Senate. To think that at the end the Republicans lost the Congress because that 51st senator insulted an Indian American – now that’s what I call karmic payback. Sweet!