happenings

Bluetooth...

Trying to get organized and in some sense my treo is making it worse on me than not. I love the damn thing so much that I try to use it to its full extent but it keeps crashing on me or gets to a point that unless I hard reset it it almost becomse unusable cause it crashes during phone calls. I am assuming I have a bum device but what sucks about Palm in asia is how bad their replacement service is. I have to send the phone in on my own dime, meaning I won't have a phone, and then wait for them to send me a new one that supposedly won't have the same problem. It just kills me that Palm is their own worst enemy at this point. I must say I am impressed with my G4 though and how I got the bluetooth sync up and running in minutes. Syncing right now - let's hope it works.

So much to talk about with my exit out of Hong Kong. Not even sure where to start. Some of it I cannot talk about yet but rest assured that when I can - you will find my Hong Kong IRD (US IRS) story amusing. So far though I can't tell you if I will find it amusing or not.

My apartment stuff was hell though but I survived. I had just resigned some months ago to a new 2 year lease. HK landlords are serious about leases. I had assumed though that since my lease was a rollover that breaking it prior to the first 12 months was not going to ruffle too many feathers. In fact I knew my landlord could get more now than I was paying so I did not think that breaking my lease would bother them. It would seem though that they were apalled at the whole idea that one would break a lease. I tried to work around it and give a 2 months notice and allow them to show the place but they seemes not to care. Anyway - they finally relented and I ate 2 months rent, almost, and bailed. Turns out though they are already trying to rent it out for 2000+ hkd more than I was paying. So like I thought in the first place - me breaking a lease and leaving has allowed them to make more money. Not sure why they could just not make this easy on me to begin with. Anyway - no Hong Kong Chinese like to make anything about apartments easy when it comes to being a landlord - the only thing they want to be easy is depositing their checks at the bank. punks...

Still syncing. Let's hope it works. It appears to be. Just wondering what mess I will have to clean up after.

Fun with Work Permits. My thai holding company is coming along so I need to get out of BKK for the notorious visa run to Penang. Once their I will apple for my non immigrant B visa which will allow me to start the process to apply for a work permit. Then I will be legal. Won't have to make visa runs and hopefully will pick up a scooter or something to put around on. Life is interesting - to say the least.

I am sure I had more to say for this post but I am busy now and will get back to it later...

oh yeah - isync sucks. I put the stuff onto my phone from my address book but wiped out the contents of my phone. Very slow too. Trying out MissingSync which is working okay but not sure on the address book issue yet. Fun Fun.

cya

Kills me!

Standing in line at the Hong Kong post today. Some dude behind me wearing some pretty cool Diesel jeans that were just way too short and to top it off - he was wearing penny loafers. I could not deal...

later

HK Jug - Maven time!

My friend Nathan Coast - Managing Director of codeczar is speaking at the HK Jug!

Go check it out.

http://www.hkjug.org/gathering.jsp

Back in HK...

Had a nice weekend in BKK. Ate some good food, chilled, partied and saw the Scorpions. They rocked. Scorpions were cool. No BS, no preaching, no politics - just 2 hours of rocking. Big hair, guitar solos, drum solos, voice solos, and stage antics. I loved it. At one point if all you did was look at the stage you would have sworn you were in the 80's. So cool. BKK is a good place to see a show.

Bad weekend in HK. Looks like China made some strides, bummer for HK. Long term I think China will drive this place into the ground.

Starting reading the Da Vinci Code - awesome book. Will let you all know when I finish it.

My birthday is in a few weeks. 33 this time. Not so much feeling old but realizing more and more how quick life goes by. Just seems like yesterday I was 25, had tons of time and was thinking I needed to plan my life. So much for that. Life planned me. Divorce, internet bust and sept 11. I can't complain though. I am alive, healthy and living abroad.

One thing I think about more and more is what impression I am leaving on the world. In my 20's I worried about what I looked like, what people thought of me - but now I don't care. One thing about my 30's is I have confidence - I don't care what people think I look like or whether I am in or not. It is a nice feeling. But I wonder what people think of me. For example. I got to know a co-worker on one of my last business trips. I learned about her life and she knows more about mine. It was fun. She is a cool chick. She suprised me though when should told me that last time we met she thought I was a jerk. I was like when was that since I did not remember when we had met. Turns out we had met, I was in a bad mood from coming off a redeye and I guess I was just not being a nice guy. Bummed me out. I was glad she had told me since it made me think about my first impressions and how I treat people. I only live once - I better make it good.

Life is a strange trip.

carry on...

Hong Kong Protest

I was there!

It was hot, packed and basically miserable, but so worth it.

Take that China!

more later. I need to re-hydrate.

;)

Chilling in the shade...

Getting hot, hot hot in Hong Kong. So I needed to get to a beach.

Tried a new spot - Cheung Chau - ferry #5 from central outerlying islands ferrry terminal.

A quick ride for a nice getaway.

Walked around a bit cause I wanted to explore but it was just too hot!

Hit the first beach - Tung Wan Beach - just a little to big and crowded.

So headed past the windsurfing center (want to try it) to get to Kwun Yam Wan Beach - or afternoon beach.

This is perfect. Smaller, nice little cafe and chair/umbrella rentals. Perfect. Read in the shade, hit the water and took a nap. Just what the HK pollution doctor suggested.

Check it out. A short trip for a nice HK escape.

l8r

Busy or Lazy...

Stuff - been busy.

Check out the new Kill Bill - number 2. This is awesome. I loved every second of it. Masterpiece. Need to see it again for sure.

New music - Dave Seaman and Phil K album - Renaissance Therapy Sessions. Pick it up.

HK is getting hot and sticky. It was good while it lasted.

Thai Airways - get nice or get taken out. Thai airways used to have a lock on things but with more discounters coming to Asia and with more deregulation in the Thai skies these people need to show some customer service. My issue is not with the flight staff - I always have a good time on the plane but they could use some modernization when it comes to inflight entertainment. My beef is with the ground staff. They are rude, never listen and show no preference to people with GOLD status on Star Alliance. I may be bitching but what good is an Alliance without status? Yeah - not much. These people need to wake up and smell the chai. Anyway...

I am sure I had more to say.

Yeah - my Treoo 600. It broke. Freaking handspring - cool products but poor quality. This is the second handspring product that has broke on me. What sucks even more is their support model. Send it somewhere to a country you don't live in- wait until they get it and then we will send you one back on our own sweet time table. Bottom line - I sent it in yesterday. I will let you know how long it takes. Fun fun.

go explore.

My new laptop...

Well - I did not buy a new laptop but my updated iBook sure feels like one. Took my iBook in for some more memory, a new (bigger) hard drive , Panther (OS X) and iLife. It feels like I have a new machine. Panther is suttle but much improved. It is faster and the new features are cool. Can you imagine taking a 3 year old windows laptop in for similar upgrades and things running faster? I don't think so. Wintel figured out long ago how to make machines effectuiely useless after about 3 years so that you are forced to buy a new one, but my iBook just keeps going.

iPhoto is improved and is much faster - it is very noticeable. The new Expose features in Panther are so cool - not sure how I did without them. Sure - I want a new G4 laptop but I can wait another year or so now. Good job Apple.

Saw Master and Commander on my Dragan Air flight from Beijing to Tokyo. Awesome movie. Hard to explain why but it is just a good story, great acting, full of special effects but only for purposes of telling an authentic story. Russel Crowe was good but it was the supporting cast that made it for me. I really dug it. Check it out.

Had a good time in Tokyo. Check out Legato Restaurant in Shibuya. Amazing locale, cool look and fun food. I was really amazed at how big the place was since Tokyo usually has small restaurants. Someone put some bucks into this place. The 3900 yen wine menu is such a nice touch since Tokyo can be crazy when it comes to wine prices. Ate at another place but I need to find the name. Sorry - was really good beef!

Club - Vanilla in Roppongi. Way cool - huge - pumping dance towns and a nice mix in the faces of the crowd. Pricey but worth it.

New tunes - Thai Rock Band - Sillyfools. Have 2 of their albums now and they really jam. Thai rock music is awesome. Creative, fun and back to good licks.

North Korea - are you people stupid? I love the North Korean state newspaper talking about the ongoing parties around the world celebrating the evil dictator's birthday. Sounds like something from a movie - I think most people around the world do not even know when his birthday his. BTW - cut you hair. You look like a dork. I love the internet since it could expose his country to the jerk tht he really is but no one can reach the net. Someday - it will change. You can already get a cell phone signal near the north korean border. Someone needs to set up a long range wi-fi network and then ship computers over. We just need enough north koreans hearing outside news and learning what a crackpot their fearless leader is. BTW - did you know that north korean invented a flying car in the 1500's but did not want other countries to steal it. Sure - and I bet you all grow some of the best cocoa beans this side of the mississippi too. Please - all it will take is an information revolution and this dude will be toast.

Yes - we need to fix Iraq but liberating Iraq was the right thing. All it took to cement this in my mind was watching the video of people getting their tongue cut out or being thrown from buildings alive. This dude was evil and he needs to pay for it.

Well - off again. Leaving tonight for Peking and then back to HK. BTW - the weather is perfect!

l8r

Many things...

Behind on the blog as usual. I suck but the page hits keep going up so I press on.

Movies...

Seen so many since I been stuck on too many flights in cattle car mode unable to work.
Notable - The Last Samurai. Pretty cool - I was way impressed. What a amazing time in Japanese history and what a beautiful place it must have been. Check out the flick.

New web site for BEA dev2dev Bangalore User Group.

http://www.beaug.com - thanks to Pavan.

Picked up a new Treo 600 in the Sing airport. This is the ultimate phone/PDA. I have a few rants - still trying to get the software right but I am impressed. Only big beef - hey Palm - where is the damn alarm? Everyone who really uses a handphone always uses the alarm. Put one in there when it ships. Thing is way cool though.

Books - finished Snow Crash
Awesome. I know it is not freshbut the content is so amazing and so well thought out. This is a fun read.
I have so many books to plow through - it is getting out of hand.

Chinese New Year is fast approaching. I am staying put since all the tickets get jacked up and the hotels are more expensive and there are just too many people trying to get around. Will save my days for later.

I think that does it.

Private Dining

Had the pleasure of eating at a Shanghai Style private restaurant tonight. I did this once before at a Beijing style eatery in Lan Kwai Fong. Private dining is basically an illegal restaurant serving fixed price meals by reservation only. I am honestly not aware of how these places run without getting into trouble but I guess they are just tolerated is all I can figure.

The prices are not too bad and the meals are ususally very good - however the service can vary. The one we went to tonight was on 100 Queen's Road East. The button on the door says "Gitone Fine Arts" because the place is a pottery studio by day and a restaurant by night. We actually ate using pottery made from the studio. The pottery had a Japanese flair to it and was very cool looking. The food was good but I think the last private dining place I want to had better service since they explained every dish and took much more care in making service a part of the meal. Something I am used to more in Asia anyway so it was suprising that the Shanghai restaurant was not as attentive. None the less the experience was worth it. I need to try out some more of these places, but they are not easy to find.

well - happy eating.