Archive for October, 2007
October 28th, 2007 by cybrpunk
I’m back home and I am beat. Now it’s Midnight, so I need to hit the hay so I can get up and re-pack and head to the airport. Who thought this was a good idea?
I wish I could say something nice about the place we held the conference or Macao in general, but I really can’t. So I’ll be like Thumper and say nothing at all about it. Which kind of misses the point of having a web-site I suppose. But anyway….
I sat next to a person on the Discovery Bay ferry who had a ton of bags and had obviously had a long day of shopping. What struck me as odd was that she was a Filipina (which means probably a helper or maid) and she pulled out an Apple iPhone box and was checking it out. Now I mentioned before about the crazy prices of getting a hacked iPhone in Hong Kong and I just have a hard time believing that this person bought one. So I’m thinking: Has someone figured out how to make a counterfeit iPhone? Complete with fancy packaging? Theres fake everything else, but that just seems too specific and complicated.
That being said, there are a lot of wannabe iPhones available in Hong Kong now. Companies like HTC and others are making similarly designed and functioning phones without being copies. They seem nice, but that is not what I saw on my way home tonight.
October 26th, 2007 by cybrpunk
Is it Friday? I think it’s Friday. I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun.
It’s been kind of crazy and hectic but it’s coming to an end soon. Tomorrow is the last day of the conference and we’re having the big “Carnivale” dinner tonight where everyone is supposed to have their masks. We’ll see how many actually brought theirs. I found out a lot of people had theirs professionally done, so it should be interesting. It also means that mine stands even less of a chance to be noticed. Oh well. That’s just how it goes.
Muse left sometime yesterday while I was being pulled 100 directions at once, so she’s back home with the kids. I miss her and the fuzzy kids. I’m taking the ferry back home tomorrow, but then I just have to repack to leave on Sunday afternoon for Seoul. Again: Oh well. That’s how it goes. At least that will be directly followed by a little time off to go sightseeing.
October 22nd, 2007 by cybrpunk
It’s weird but there are two acceptable ways of spelling Macao. Macao and Macau. Whatever.
So, today me and the missus are travelling with people from work to Macao on the hydrofoil ferry. Hydrofoils are neat. The whole freaking boat comes up out of the water and it just kind of flies across the top of the water on stilts with skis on the bottoms. I have no idea how ow why it works, but I can only assume that magic or nuclear powered underwater rockets are somehow involved because they are fast.
Everyone in the region was given a blank white half masquerade mask to decorate based on their job or office for a big dinner on the weekend. From what I hear many people aren’t doing it. I hate to sound like I’m using a stereotype but many Asians aren’t very creative. Plus many people are just too busy. I could see how this little “project” could be quite hard for many in this region. Of course, I had to decorate mine.
Here’s the before picture:
Here are the after pictures:
October 20th, 2007 by cybrpunk
It seems that we’re making a trip to Shenzhen, China today. Shenzhen is the shopping mecca of the cheap and the fake. If you folow my wife’s site, you may remember the stuff she bought there when she went a while back.
I’m afraid it’s going to be an absolute madhouse being a Saturday on a long weekend… but we shall see. I’m sure Muse will have lots of pictures to show of all the stuff she’s going to buy. Truthfully, I just want to get some Christmas shopping done. The China themed gifts seemed to go over well for the past holidays, so this is a great way to get them. Well, at least I hope it is. I may reconsider that on the long trip back.
October 18th, 2007 by cybrpunk
It’s Thursday and technically the end of the work week here in Hong Kong. Our office is closed tomorrow for the Chung Yeung Festival public holiday. Not sure what that is, but it’s the last public holiday till Christmas.
It’s been a hell of a long week in spite of that. Multiple nights spent working on various things just to try and get caught up before I leave for the conference in Macao on Monday. Monday now. Yeah I was supposed to go there on Tuesday but there’s too much to do so I have to get there early. I also had to ask one of my guys to change his schedule to get there a day earlier too. That reminds me… I don’t know when I’m leaving on Saturday to come home….
We have these silly plain white half masquerade masks that we’re supposed to decorate for the conference. They are supposed to be decorated in the theme of your office or job or something. I have a design sketched out on mine but I haven’t really had time to work on it yet. I’m hoping to do that this weekend. I need some red spray paint.
October 17th, 2007 by cybrpunk
Just thought this would be fun.
I took my Elmo vs Barney pic and made it transparent over lunch today. Then I put it on a hoody. It could be on a t-shirt too. Whatever. I think it’s pretty nifty. I think I might order me one. Weird water-mark on the picture not included.
What do you think? Any interest in things like that? If so, I could see if I could set something up. I’m going to order something… I just don’t know what yet.
October 16th, 2007 by cybrpunk
Saw these and just thought I’d share.
A creative war-time use for Silly String:
After months of frustration, a mother of a soldier in Iraq has found someone to ship about 80,000 cans of Silly String to the troops, who use the foamy substance to detect trip wires on bombs.
Had no idea.
Here’s a creative form of dentistry:
A dentist accused of fondling the breasts of 27 female patients is trying to keep his dental license by arguing that chest massages are an appropriate procedure in certain cases.
Seems reasonable to me, but I can udderstand the concern.
New proof that dogs are good and cats are evil:
Dog Saves Family From Fire Blamed on Cat
Of course I would blame the people for owning and using a kerosene lantern while sleeping.
Working from home today, so this is what you get, hehe.
October 15th, 2007 by cybrpunk
Another Monday, another ulcer.
OK maybe it’s not that bad, but this job will probably turn me grey.
All I want to know is, how do you translate “delete and recreate an e-mail account” into “archive some mail out to make the mailbox size smaller”? It’s not possible, but that is exactly what happened over the weekend. Yeah, when I ask for someone to delete and re-create an account I actually expect that to happen.
Things have been going crazy here at work lately. Next week I leave for Macao and will be gone for about a week. Then I fly to Seoul and I get a little vacation time then. Then November will be the month to get everything caught up before I have to deal with two extremely badly handled office relocations to take place in December. All before I leave to come home for Christmas.
Ugh… I seriously need someone to work for me here in Hong Kong. Preferably someone who speaks fluent English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Japanese would be nice too but you can’t be too greedy. Oh, and they should be able to read my mind too. But only the work-related bits.
Yesterday we went with some friends to Hong Kong Disneyland and it was kinda nice. It’s a very small park (as everything is in Hong Kong) and it wasn’t as boring as I remembered the one in Orlando being when I was in my early teens. Things were decorated for Halloween and it was a relatively nice day out. The best part was a drawing class they had where you got to draw a vampire Mickey or Jack Skellington. Muse got a vampire Mickey picture drawn by one of the animators. Lucky.
October 11th, 2007 by cybrpunk
It seems that I have a cold. My nose alternates between runny and dry and stuffy. I’m sneezing and coughing. I feel like poopy. I took some DayQuil but it’s expired. Hopefully it still works.
I was considering printing a biohazard logo and pasting it to my office door. Because I’m at work. Because I have too much to get done this week. Everyone beware… I am a plague carrier. Narf!
Because plague carriers yell ‘Narf’ indiscriminately at people. Just ask them. You’ll see.
October 10th, 2007 by cybrpunk
No rants today. Here’s some fun stuff from some of my favorite web comics:
Certified organic music. I couldn’t have said it better.
How to win at Team Fortress 2. You’d think this would be obvious. But no.
For the ladies: How men can spend time alone and get absolutely nothing accomplished. I don’t think the fairer sex realizes how easily distracted we really are.
Never agree to unecessary surgery. It may be more unecessary than you think.
Another one from xkcd.com for all you insomniacs out there. I’m sure you can relate.
A classic regarding the finer points of the misunderstood face-huggers from the Alien movies.
