I just spent 9 days in Korea with my brother. For the most parts, Korea looks, feels, and smells fairly close to what I had seen, felt, and smelt before. :) I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing… However, it certainly feels different being there as an adult looking at it from an outsider’s point of view. In any case, the pictures are in my gallery.
Before I forget, the pictures from Hallowe’en 07!
We got this email today from your imagination. It was misaddressed to us, so we’re sending it along to you. We hope it finds you well.
-----Original Message-----Hello!
This is your imagination. I know work, school, and general craziness have been keeping us apart lately. But there’s something we need to do together this November.
It’s called National Novel Writing Month. For it, we’ll bash out a 50,000-word novel, from scratch, in 30 days. You and me. Writing a book. Together.
I need you to sign us up. Because I don’t have any arms.
Love,
Your imagination
I think I’m gonna do it.
Happy First Birthday, Kaz! I took bunch of pictures of you while you weren’t paying attention. Thank your grandmother for the amazing Canadian Thanksgiving (known as just “Thanksgiving” in Canada) feast!
And while we’re on the topic of pictures, here are some pictures taken from Its Beach with Ana.
In case anyone else runs into X11 configuration issues with the Soyo Topaz S LCD Monitor ( Model MT-GW-DYLM24D6 ), using the following settings in the xorg.conf seems to make it display the 1920 x 1200 resolution correctly.
In “Monitor” Section:
Modeline “1920×1200@SOYO” 154 1920 1968 2000 2080 1200 1203 1209 1235 -HSync +Vsync
In “Screen” Section:
Add “1920×1200@SOYO” into the Modes
I guess I’ll let you know if this setting eventually results in a smoldering heap of burnt LCD parts in couple of weeks. 
I’m sitting here on a sofa in a half-packed living room reading Angela’s Ashes while listening to Mat banging some Elton John song on the piano at 2AM. Moving day tomorrow!
I’ve been working pretty hard (and long!) for the last five days especially I’m interacting with many different members of the team over here in Penang. Since I have fairly early morning meetings (and even earlier shuttle that I have to catch) and I’ve tended to stick around pretty late for work, I haven’t really done much outside of work. Not that work is bad - I’ve enjoyed working with Penang Coworkers (they rock!) and they’ve been taking me out to eat at different places every day… and so far, I’ve yet to have bad food in Penang!
Since this was my first full free day since I arrived a week ago, I figured I’d do some sightseeing, take some pictures, and walk around for a while. After a well deserved sleep, I walked over to the Gurney Plaza which is a big mall nearby the Hotel, then went next door to a famous hawker centre… which was completely empty. After scratching my head, then walking around for a while, I called Arby (coworker whose extra phone I’m borrowing for the trip) who explained that it’s closed until the evening, because it’s too hot during the day. And indeed, the temperature and humidity seemed to be rising by the minute. After a quick bite to eat at the plaza (Thai fast food place which puts Pacific Thai to shame. Difference, I’ve found, is that initial bite tastes similar, but that the Penang versions has some sort of second layer of texture, flavour, and kick that food in US doesn’t have) I got back to the Hotel and waited until the worst of the heat was over.
At 4pm, I figured it’d be cool enough and took a taxi (or teksi as they write it here) to the Botanical Gardens which is famous for its monkeys. They were all out there in full force, and looked kinda cute and cuddly, though I was warned that any attempts at feeding will be “No good for you! No good at all! The monkeys will call their friends and it’ll be craazy!”. After about a kilometre into the Botanical Gardens, I found this unmarked dirt packed staircase leading into the jungle. It was very picturesque and being an adventurous sort, I figured I’d start climbing. I fully expected to find a small shrine or something after a short hike. So I went up… and up… and up… and the trail just kinda never stopped. At first, I didn’t really think about it as I was busily snapping pictures left and right. After a while, though, my curiosity kicked in and I realized I’d have to go to the end to satisfy my curiosity.
The trail ended at a little bathroom / water station (called 46? 48?). There were some people there who told me that I was up on my way to the Penang Hill (which I knew had a cable car that brought people up and down) and that last 1/3 is fairly steep and going up wearing flipflops won’t be easy. I looked down the trail that I had just come up and it looked fairly treacherous (it’s one think to be going up the dirt packed stairs that’s falling apart… but quite another to be going down it when you’re just wearing flipflops). I figured what the heck, people used to do this climb wearing straw sandals, it’d be good at at least give it a shot. To cut the long story short, after 90 minutes of hiking, I was on the top of the Penang Hill after finishing a completely accidental hike climbing 2500+ft in flipflops carrying some 3 pounds of camera equipment. I guess I’ll have a funny story to tell in the office come Monday. I wanted to do something nature-ly in Penang so I guess this will suffice, especially it involved me seeing a live scorpion for the first time in my life.
Arby picked me up at the bottom of the Penang Hill and took me to the hawker centre (now open since it was 7:15pm by the time I managed to get down!) and Batu Ferringhi. The night market left much to be desired, though it was one of those “you have to do it while you’re in Penang” thing so I guess it’s good that I went and checked it out. Now, I just need to figure out what I’m gonna do tomorrow.
So, I’m back in Asia for the first time in just under 10 years. The trip was mostly uneventful though I’m happy to report that flying in Business Class is quite nice. The second floor of a 747 feels just like another narrow body plane, though we had 4 stewardesses (flight attendants is probably the properly politically correct term… but I still like stewardesses because it can be typed by just my left hand!) for the 24 passengers on that second floor. The leg from San Francisco to Taipei was probably the most comfortable and the quickest trans-pacific flight that I’ve ever been on. It passed by in a blink.
Another perk that I didn’t think about - getting to use the airline’s lounge - was quite nice as well. In Taipei, China Airlines basically has a mini restaurant inside their lounge serving free food and drinks, on top of free Internet access, nice comfy chairs, and calming background classical music in a very muted and quiet environment.
Despite all the hoopla about having no knives on board, China Airline serves their food with nice set of metal utensils. Eva Air does too, but it’s a plastic knife edge stuck to a metal handle. China Airline seems to have far better food than Eva Air, but maybe I just chose the wrong option. Eva Air’s BBQ Pork, Duck, and Chicken with rice screamed airline food, in its looks and its taste. China Airline’s Beef with Bulgogi Sauce (which I found slightly amusing, since Bulgogi’s basically means fire meat / beef) and glass noodles, on the other hand, was almost like eating something at a restaurant. And China Airline’s dessert was much better. I’m sucker for good desserts. And yes, you were right, T. Both airlines had older airplanes, but very cute stewardesses.
Thean Charn picked me up at Penang and showed me around a bit - I’m staying at a nice hotel with a wonderful view of the sea and the ocean hugging Gurney Drive. Gurney Drive seems to be a popular hangout for teenager couples - every bench if occupied by a couple, with a scooter and two helmets sitting next to it. The ocean is fairly muddy and it’s hot and muggy - very hot and muggy - even at night.
Pedestrians do not have the right of way in Malaysia, and people drive on opposite side of the road… it’s a recipe for disaster. I’ve basically learn to cross the road only when there are other people crossing with me. Toward the end of Gurney drive, there’s a large shopping centre filled with shops. Only some of the names are familiar (Levi’s, Starbucks, Chili’s, Nike store)… but the style seems pretty similar overall. For brand name things, prices seems to be basically the same or slightly expensive than in US. Because food prices tend to be 1 to 1 between Malaysian Ringgits and US Dollar, I keep thinking that other things are more expensive than they actually are, but non-imported things seems slightly cheaper than in US… though not by much.
Anyway, I think I’ve done pretty well for adjusting to Penang time (it’s 9:12PM here, or 6:12AM in Santa Cruz), though I suppose it’s not that big of a deal since I do stay up until 6, 7AM from time to time. In any case, I probably should hit the bed. I’ve lost a day somewhere across the Pacific so it’s back to work tomorrow. Similar office space, same office furniture, but different people some 8000 miles away. Isn’t Globalization amazing?
I’ll be in Vancouver from June 15th to 19th. I’ll be busy until the late afternoon on the 17th due to the Alcan Dragonboat Festival but let me know if you want to bump into me while I’m back in the Great White North!
BNL has a series of videos on Youtube called the Bathroom Sessions with Ed playing all their songs on an acoustic guitar in a bathroom. Well, here’s the best clip of the series. I just love those guys.
I’ve spent about a week with the Yamaha P70 Digital Piano - now that I’ve had some time to play on the piano (and listen to it on a fairly nice headphones!), I figured I’d add my two cents about this piano coming from a purely classical point of view.
Sound: There are two piano voices on the P70 (on top of electric piano, organ, etc). I tend to play with the first piano voice since the second voice sounds as if I’m playing in an empty room - it has that hollow tone to it which I find a little off-putting. Both voices sound fairly nice around the middle octaves but the lowest octave leaves much to be desired - playing single keys are fine but if you play any chords on the last octave, there seem to be some sort of dissonance between the overtones that makes the chord sound muddy and a bit off. The top end is slightly shriller than I’m used to. However, in typical classical pieces where very top and bottom octaves are rarely reached (and even if they are, they tend to be one-off notes, not chords), the P70 sounds surprisingly nice and life-like. I can reach the limitations of 32 note polyphony by playing extended runs with sustain pedals on… but only if I try - I’ve yet to run into notes cutting off in playing actual pieces.
Key Action: Another thing that I was fairly worried about was the key action - overall, it’s not that bad. I’ve seen pianos with far worse action and after a week of playing, I’m already used to the weights and responses. When I first started playing, it felt as if the keys weren’t returning fast enough (ie, no bounce off the strings of a real piano) but I don’t even feel that anymore. At the store, I preferred Casio Privia Digital Piano’s action so it’s good to know that my fingers are already getting used to the P70’s. The Privia’s sound wasn’t as… rich as the Yamaha’s.
Pedal: Yamaha P70 comes with piddly little pedal that looks like it came from a sewing machine. The pedal that comes in the box is also on-off so half-pedaling is out of the question. Yamaha FC3 pedal supports half pedaling and seems to be of reasonable price so if you’re serious about playing, pick up the pedal while you’re getting the piano.
Build Quality: Sturdy plastic, not much to say. It’s fairly light (~25lb?) and the built-in music stand plastic thing seems a bit cheap but hey, what can you say for $600?
Output: P70 comes with 2 headphone jacks and MIDI ports. No line out, so it’s not really meant for gigging. As a day-to-day practice piano, P70 seems to have everything you need and more.
At the end, what it comes down to is that when I’m playing, Yamaha P70 doesn’t distract me away from playing music. As a $600 entry level digital piano, that’s more than good enough for me.
