backup mobile phone

My backup mobile phone, a Nokia 5600 Music Express has officially bite
the dust. I have to get a replacement. In consideration of all the
factors and all that I need, I settled on a Nokia N97. A look here: http://www.nokia.com.hk/find-products-en/products/nokia-n97#/
main/landing

Basically it is a mobile device with everything. My main iPhone
cannot do half of the things this N97 can do. Wi-Fi access, my iphone
just couldn't access the free wireless at HKG airport, with this N97
bam.... I was there with the page loaded.

I can even sync my Apple's calendar entries and contact list. Missing
Sync for Symbian... USD 39.99. Well worth it!

I might use this new phone as my main phone to carry around. We'll see.

Google Voice

I got Google Voice now!!!!! I submitted my request last week. Now I
have it! Will look into more details about this when I don't have the
paranoid c0Mm!e firewall blocking every single video coming in!

O Canada, here I come.

I need light

Went back to "Cccccc sssss Ccccoo", same building, same floor,
same room to do one final "sound check" for the big day tomorrow.
Look at the setup. Paperless now. And notice the logo on the
laptops? And how perfectly aligned they were. It was by accident.
(Steve should be proud!) That was an IP phone BTW, we used it as a
hub for our WWW access to do the work needed. I didn't even bother
using the "access" granted to us. This was faster and easier. We
were up and running in 5 minutes compared to the frustrated 45 minutes
from last week's test run.

As the sun was setting, by 5:15pm it was getting dark. Light switch.
No, nothing on the way. Ask the receptionist, she was "smart ass"
type responded, it's automatic as you enter the room. Right we HAVE
been in the room for bloody 3 hours plus! the light didn't even turn
on! She came in to the office with me looking for a light switch. 5
minutes later, she came back in. Response: I can't find a light
switch. Don't know how to turn it on. You can use another meeting
room. What kind of a respond was that! And the entire floor, there
were two rooms setup used for meetings, the rest were just empty
shells. What a waste of space. Or maybe just had to take the whole
space but don't know what to do with it. So we worked to the dim
light, dimmer and dimmer NOT dumb and dumber. I brought everything I
could think of to eliminate unknown from the technical side, tomorrow
I must bring my OWN torch to work! Ridiculous.

One thing one must learn, in this part of the world in particular in
MY land of resident seeing should not be believing. What you see is
NOT what you get.

packed

Amazing how the power of saying "No" to people and sticking to your
planned schedule. Since Sunday I have stuck to my schedule that meant
skipping the China Gaming Conference which I signed up for. It was
suppose to be one whole date of seminar on Sunday; but the it was
split to two days one day before I planned on attending. The speaker
should have planned better for his flight from the States. So I
didn't go otherwise, I would have fallen yet again behind in my stuff.

I've done my accounting, prepped for WebEx teaching, fixed up stuff
around the apartment, called NorthWest, packed for the North American
trip to named a few. Man, I was never felt so organized and
accomplished.

Speaking of packing, I have my computer roll bag and a small hand
carry bag for my trip. Yes, so compact. Couldn't pull it off without
some recent technologies. My Patagonia vest, make of hi-teck material
good for -10C at least, I can stuff it into a small pouch. Air
compression bags for my warm yet hi-tech socks, shirts, you name it.
Can't say I will be losing my bags by the Airline. Since I am not
flying AC mini-bus coming in, I am good. Heading back to Asia will be
a different story.

堵

堵, this Chinese character means traffic jam. And you thought traffic
jam is bad in North America, in particular LA. Well, this is in the
Shannxi province major highway. 3 separate accidents with empty truck
after empty truck returning to the coal mine. The jam, 55 KM long.
Where's that bathroom?

Italian red

I am amazed how many bottle of nice wine we can find in Mark and
Spencer, the British department store across the road from us. I
tried this Italian red and man it was smooth and fruity. A little bit
on the dry side which I like.

In case the picture is not that clear, it is a Chianti Classico,
Basilica Cafaggio, Vendemmia 2006. Highly recommended.

captain's log

Star date 2009.286.3.27, our ship has continue to move forward in the
Red Zone. Strange noises have been resonated all around the haul of
our ship. We suspect it was the open communication between the
inhabitants. So far, our analysis has not been able to establish a
standardize pattern of these strange Honking sounds. Their pitches
but are very random.

Our exploration team has been able to move among the inhabitants
without being noticed using the acquired Klinon stealth technology.
All our communications have been channeling thru "i Papa Holiday Owen
Nancy Echo" frequency.

In order to established a language pattern of this new species, Dr
McKoil had beamed a local from our designated "Mao Ming" district to
our virtual simulator. This specimen "Mao Ming" (aka MM) managed
successfully correcting a mistake that Dr McKoil designed in his
experiment. MM was mechanically inclined. The experiment involved a
sealant problem with Enterprise's escape hatch. MM fixed it by
disassembling the housing and then proceed to screwed back the
loosened parts. Dr McKoil and his medical team also noticed that the
Red Zone society was using a monetary system called "Kuai". We took
notice that the communication this time with this specimen did not
involved "honking" pattern. A rather strange 4 tonal sounds. This MM
also suggested improvement on the lock bolt mechanism.

I also have to record a malfunction of our lighting system in the
Energy and Life support room. The entire housing required replacement
as the inner components were crumpling with each touch by our
mechanics. Once we have close to space station Lenny Yellow Nancy
Nancy, we will send a sub-space transmission for a new standardized
lighting system with Mechanic Zhang.

Our sub-level transport hatch was having problem as well. Could not
open; thereby locking our crew inside. Hopefully our mechanics can
resolve the issue smoothly.

Captain out.

---------------------------- Translation to normal English reading,
here it is:

At 3:37pm on Oct 13 2009 ( yes, 286 has gone by since Jan 1), the
noise from the honking outside was ridiculous. People honked just
because; no reason except saying: "Get out of my way, I am running a
red light, 3 cars behind! Can't you see?".

I just you my iPhone with my headset to drown out the noise from
outside.

"Mao Ming" is the street where the key cut guy is located. I went to
have a key cut and then ask him to drop by the APT to fix the door.
You see, the keyhole is so loose I could have pull it out. He fixed
it; the screws fixate the keyhole came off. The cost for the house
call was RMB 50.00 ( > CAD 10.00) I am sure he would have charged less
if I demonstrated a little bit more "local".

Then I moved on to fix the light in the back storage area where the
fridge and water cooler were located. I opened up the light fixture
cover. Jiggled it a bit and plastic started falling off except there
was no where to remove the florescent light bulbs. We will have to
call our friend Lynn; she has a handyman called Mr. Zhang who will
come by and change the entire fixture out.

Then when I left the apartment at noon, the main gate was stuck; no
one could come in and out; after a few key jabbing into the lock
mechanism itself, we were all free.

So there.........

thinking change

Most young couples would have purchased an apartment already if they
were to get married. But with the continuing inflated residential
pricing, this "buy" thinking is beginning to disappeared with the
thinking of "renting".

It is NOT socially acceptable to have the daughter marrying someone
that has not purchased an apartment. But with inflated pricing and
the "driving down" of monthly wage by greedy local and foreign
companies, young couples are getting shafted. On average if both
work, monthly income is about RMB 10,000. Then you have to eat and
daily expenses. That does not give you much savings in this highly
inflated city of Shanghai. In six years maybe a net savings of about
RMB 150,000.00. If a couple's family background is poor, they can
forget about getting family assistance. A very cheap apartment is
about RMB 1.0 million. And with the bank's mortgage regulation
mandated by the Central gov't or because you don't know so and so, you
need to put down 40% of the value. So.... There is no way.

Many are thinking of renting and when they sign with the landlord,
they sign for a 3-year term rather than 1 year to drive down the
monthly rent.

A new generation of debtors

According to a recent survey done, young office workers were spending
more than their monthly wage for brand name products like LV, Catier,
Dior, Dunhill, etc... The problem is that, on average these workers
don't make a lot, between RMB 3,000 to 8,000 per month. And they
spend about 2 to 3 months of salary on a bag or a pair of pants. When
there was no cash, they use credit cards. And the credit cards they
swipe, max out the limits.

Some were frequent shoppers at their own favourite brand name store.
Yikes. This problem is due in part of culture (the one child family,
get what I want from parents), show-off, to best others. This younger
generation has no "brain". From a child development psychologist's
opinion, they do not have a "responsibility" nor a "right or wrong"
more. Only ME ME ME. So, they are still at stage 2 of a child
development: the "ME ME ME" stage. Scary thought.

building

There were the residents around the building that collapsed in
Shanghai couple months back. They were listening to "expert report"
on the status of their building safety. Since the collapse was so
close to other buildings in the same development, residents were
worried. Sure enough, there were 4 buildings need foundation
reinforcement. However, most residents seemed to be annoyed with the
"quality of the report" and demanded that every single pylon to be
examined ensuring safety.

W3b-X

Yes, that supposedly nice product for conferencing and demoing and
teaching... Bought by "Cccccccc s co".... Is just plain trash as far
as I am concern for the current version.

1) It is getting very invasive with the client "software" you need to
download and install on your computer before joining a session. It
totally access your computer from harddrive to webcam. It's a new
feature to track your attention span. Right. Though it kinda
displayed a message telling you that you are giving permission. But
hey, how many people understood that message? Also, it's suppose to
run in a container! "Container" means running in a sandbox-type
program that cannot get out to access your computer. Now where's that
"security"? I had to waste hours of time to prep up my Virtual XP so
that it cannot get out to my Mac; and I had to scrub my other XP
computer so that there is no personal info that potentially can get
access to.

2) This latest client is so buggy. I think the promotion of working
as a global team failed miserably to develop this latest version.
First off, the Mac version and the PC version of the client have
different look and feel. Look and feel I meant, the buttons looked
different, the icons looked different, the information displayed
looked different and totally opposite in terms of placement on the
screen. Unified my ass. This tool is so entrenched with MS-Office,
it actually gave error message when you tried to upload a Powerpoint
from a computer that has no MS-Office. And if you upload from a Mac
that has MS-Office, the Powerpoint slides were broken. Meaning, one
cannot build as you move your cursor along. You know how you can hide
and then show pieces of a slide as you talk? Then, if one tried to
upload a PPT from an older version of MS-Office, images were missing
from the online presentation. Talk about crap.

3) Hey, it's Internet age now; why do I still need to use my phone to
join in for a Teleconference for the listening and talking part. If
your "client" is so great that could access all the hardware on a
computer, why can you make it to allow an attendee to talk via this
client? Using a phone to talk back is so "ancient". Plus, there's
always echo and background noise from the attendee's phones.

4) There can be multiple panelists to present a course online. Why
only the H0$T could "pass the ball"? Meaning, only the H0$T can click
this little buttom to make a panelist as the presenter to control the
slides? That's dumb! As the panelists could be all over the world
including the H0$T, wouldn't that be easier to give the "current"
presenter the same button as the H0$T to pass the control from one to
another? Nah.... No one thought of that.

That's what I have been struggling with for the last week in
preparation for a course which I will be assisting next week.

Now another kicker. I was adamant for us to be at "Cccccccccc s co"
office using its network to do the presentation. Since it's an
internal course, the network will be faster and one layer less to
trouble-shoot for network issues. (Note: I don't want to give anyone
any excuses about the course was crap because they couldn't hear or
the slides couldn't move. The Ch!Ne$e have a way of backstabbing and
be completely !gn0r@nt to the Nth degree. Also the dumb cH!N@ TeLeC0m
Internet keeps switching our external IP address anytime it feels like
it. And to intercept a requesting page to put in its OWN ad which
could not be getting rid of for 15 seconds!) That was where the fun
began yesterday.....

Since it was inside "Cccccccccc s co", I did request all the access
account and all for Internet. Got there, everything was smooth from
finding the place, the elevator ride up, the visitor registration, the
room. Perfect! One hour before demo time. Perfect! NOT QUITE!
There was only one Ethernet plug-in available and it was for the
phone. Wireless, we were suppose to get access to, couldn't acquire
any IP addresses. And the IT support? Right. That behind the scene
stealth mode. I could tell them more about the problem and how to fit
it then they could help me! After 15 minutes, I remembered....
Agh.... It was an IP phone. Thanks to my last Sllllll@ckTel project
involving IP phone before I flew the nest. I hotwired my MBP and
voila... Instant access. Red alert, red alert. There's no
"security"!!!! Can you believe that? A live access with no
filtering, no intercept page asking for username and password.
Scary! Come to think of it, I am not sure the Sllll@ckTel IP phone on
my desk back then had the same issue. Anyway. I started up Internet
sharing and bammm.... all computers were live. Good thing I had os
x / PC dual boot and virtualization software with XP, I got things
up.... And then of course, that was the beginning of the fun. The
above 4 points were from AFTER the Internet problem was solved.
Signnnnn..... Funny though, each room has two Ethernet plugs and the
plugs were connected to the floor jacks. But only one is LIVE.
Wonder who thought of charging a company for all the extra wiring and
cabling? But only 1/2 works.

In short, if someone invite you with this piece of crap say NO! For
our computer security sake as well as that invasive Attention
Tracking. The H0$T can turn it off but who knows. Tell them to use
go2mymeeting. It's 128-bit encrypted.

Enough ranting.

slow connection

One of many reasons why our Internet access is so slow is this image
below. Thanks to the c0Mm1es, and who said they are not Capitalists!
In front of our ADSL modem, we have servers, routers, content filters,
and now this! Bloody advertising adding to our content page. Pops up
stay there for a while and then disappear. Here's the advert for
China Mobile and China Telecom on 3G and ADSL promotion. Getting
ridiculous.

I am going to turn on packet capturing to see where things lead to.

high tide

tickets

So funny, I thought I hit jackpots with Canadian domestic seat sales.
Vancouver to Calgary CAD 79.00 but after all the "improvement taxes
and security taxes" and a pre-selected seat assignment, my total bill
came to CAD 135 and change. Wow. Then a Calgary to Regina ticket,
last I remember climbing a mountain is harder right? Why am I paying
more to fly flat across the prairie? Not sure, but another seat
sale. CAD 120 or so but in the end I paid CAD 175. Deals? Or
someone is making money for 0 effort. Where do I sign up for that
type of revenue?

beautiful day

shengzhou pics

Here is the link from the overnight trip to Shengzhou: http://web.me.com/damiaolo/shengzhou/Photos.html

stuffed on road trip

We did a road trip during the October holiday. And even our regular
"to airport" driver was surprised when we called him to drive us to
Sheng Zhou for an overnight trip. The cost was RMB 3,300 (CAD520).
We were spoiled having him driving. Have been using him for all out
of town, airport or day trip. He IS good in terms of safety and
professionalism. Anyway, the trip overnight trip from Shanghai to
Sheng Zhou was about 3 1/2 hours. And on the way back, because we
wanted to take the 35-KM sea-crossing bridge, so it took an extra hour.

This reason for this trip to Sheng Zhou was that we were invited.
Every Oct holidays, iron-wife used to fly to North America before we
got married. And this year, we decided to stay "home". So...

Since I am not a vegetarian, I had the opportunity to take all the non-
veggie dishes for the "team"! After 3 meals, I just couldn't eat
anymore. I sampled all the local specialties I could handle in
"double" portions. First lunch, I was forced fed the local soy sauce
duck. The whole breasts and then some; that was after I had other
dishes at our friend's place. After that, I took the cue that "eat
slowly and always leave a lot in your bowl in such a speed and portion
that didn't offend the host". I was stuffed! We had over 12 dishes!
And a glass of "mom's home-made wine from graphs and surgar" and a
glass of the "local farm brew with wheat". Good thing we did a hike
afterward. But not enough with all those meat and sugar heavy wine!

That evening, we went out to eat. Another 12 dishes. AgH......
Chinese hospitality. Fish head, meat, meat, rich meat dishes and
veggies. But the veggies were pretty lame. Bad when the friend's dad
sat next to you and just kept serving. With his own chopsticks. Same
as other hosts. Ha ha... I guess the alcoholic beverages were to kill
off any foreign gems. After dinner that night, our friend took us
first to light a floating lamp. It flew high in the sky. Wonder how
high could it go as everyone was doing it. Good thing there was no
airport close by. Afterward, he took us to the famous food street to
sample a pita bread. It was made with meat, green onion, dough and a
lot of oil. There goes another 5000 Calories down to my mid-section!
We walked back to the hotel. That burned about 140 Calories.

This morning, we had a steam dumplings for b'fast. Inside each
dumpling, it was tofu and green onions. Interesting. It was a hole
in the wall. The rating from the local heath department certificate
listed the store as "average". Ha "Average" as the sense of
Chinese. Soy milk (hot) was the only drink offered, in a big bowl.
Two flavours: sweet or salty. Sweet, a bowl with sugar at the bottom
of the bowl. Salty, soy-sauce at the bottom of the bowl. Then a lady
came over to the table with a big scope with steaming hot soy milk. I
had the salty kind with green onion and hot sauce. Eaters beware! We
discovered afterward that MSG was detected as our body system detected
it coursing thru our veins. Me, with additional coffee withdrawal
syndrome. Water... Water... Water... Coffee.. Coffee... no such
luck. I had to drink a 600ml (standard size) bottle of coke.

Lunch, yes. A late lunch. Another 12-course meal. Unnecessary.
Some unusual shell fish dishes. Sea snails was one dish. The Tofu
dishes we had were exceptional. One was fried first and had sauce
poured over; the other kind was just plain with thousand year old
eggs. I skipped the eggs, not as Chinese as Iron-wife in that
department.

I just could not eat that much in 24 hours. My body basically
rejected it. Got home and I just had liquid dinner. Light and
refreshing; and now a bowl of heathy cereal.

Tomorrow will be a good hard workout day for the mid-section.

iphone dev

From one of today's Macworld news:

"iPhone development seemed to take a back seat to Mac development at this year's annual C4 conference as developers found themselves frustrated with the platform."

That's exactly how I felt after I did a cost/benefit analysis on developing iPhone apps.  Not the cost/benefits of Apple BUT ME.  Yes, ME.  And hence, I have not done much about it since taking the class in Singapore.  The reasons are reflected are:

- rigid Apple control on approval process

- Apple mandated pricing and the 30% cut on your app

- The development kit coming out are so fast and then your "small shop" must conform to the new firmware before the App store will accept you.

- With the low price point on apps, how many can you sell before one recovers cost and make money?  99cents to 1.99.  How many can a developer sells before recovering cost at about 150-180 dollars an hour?  Well, if you have an entire sweat shop of iPhone developer in the Commieland, maybe. 

I still have to eat and pay bills.  That business model does not work for me.  Apple, though, will work with so many new developers taking the place of others.  Not too bad creating a "hard to get in" aura and then sit back and charge 30% handling fee.  Last I remember, loan sharking is pretty close to that.  And then, like the last episode of problem: Apple rejected a developer's app after it has collected thousands of dollars in "handling fee"; and then it made the developer to refund the "entire" cost of the app back to all customers because Apple rejects the apps AFTER it HAD approved it and collected the "fat".  

A complete article can be viewed here: http://www.macworld.com/article/143054/2009/10/c4_iphone.html?lsrc=nl_mwnws_h_crawl

another huh

Checking out flights for myself heading back to the Prairie has posted
a "Huh?". I went to Air Canada website and tried getting a quote.
Due to the fine "improvements" its technical staff has made, I could
no longer select my choice of selected flight. Just couldn't click on
it. Looking at the price I was not too thrill at all. I have paid
enough Bike Fees and changes fees on Business First the last while
that I don't believe I need to pay MORE again for CRAPY services!

I did a price comparison (courtesy of the Web revolution), cheaper for
me to fly from Shanghai to Hong Kong to Vancouver; then use my free
points or WestJet to Regina by about CAD 2,000.00!!!!!! What
the...! Yes, and I used both equivalent of the cheaper restricted
Business Class fare between Air Canada and Cathay Pacific. Given that
I am 5.5 sectors short of retaining my Cathay Silver status, I think I
will do that. By the end of this Canadian trip, I only need 0.5
sector more. Versus, AC. What do I get from this airline? Star
Alliance? I have 272,775 points as of today. Well, I don't fly Star
Alliance that much anymore except maybe Singapore Airlines to
Singapore. I can't book rental car online via Aeroplan as every time
I click "redeem", my car of choice has been taken by someone. Yeah
right. My mouse click reflex these days are must faster, 1/1000 of a
second. Who was I competing against in renting a vehicle in Regina?
I have points but couldn't redeem! Well flights I could. But the
connections into Regina was so crappy, I just cannot get the right
one; either I fly before I land in Vancouver or I fly late a night and
arriving to Regina at 8am the next morning! Ridiculous. Seems
getting worse every year.

I think I am going to call Cathay tomorrow to see if I can route from
PVG-HKG-YVR-YQR and return....

Granted on Cathay's 773 it's a recliner but the recliner has wider ass
space, bug free individual entertainment system, NEWER and MUCH MORE
VARIETY movies and shows on the personal TVs and NICER service.

O yeah, and I'll try the ALL carry-on travel this time. I think I
can ;-) Except on the way back to Shanghai with Western specific
groceries.