While wandering around in Hong Kong, I came across Cheer Chen's concert CD/DVD. Since I have some of her songs on my iPod already, I bought the DVD (HK$128). I ripped some of the tracks and put them up on YouTube.
還是會寂寞 (check out the bald female bass player!)
旅行的意義
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Home
I'm finally home after the week-long trip to Chengdu. Our flight was delayed so we didn't leave Hong Kong until midnight. The flight is shorter on the way home; it was only about 12+ hours. This time, Leon and I sat in the 2nd to last row in Cathay Pacific's 747-400. Arriving in LAX, they parked the plane at the remote terminals away from the main Bradley terminal. Out of the last four international flights I've been on, three times I've disembarked at the remote terminals. You get off the plane, walk down a long ramp, then get on a shuttle bus for immigrations. However, it was the first time Leon has "experienced" this, even though he's flown >20x in the past several years. It's really embarrassing comparing LAX to some of the airports in Asia.
I think I made the right decision not to transfer to Singapore with Broadcom. It's a great opportunity but after this week, I'm reminded how hot and humid the weather is over there and how much I dislike long flights, especially flying economy class. :)
Some more random pictures:
Hennessey Road in Hong Kong
Lots of 747's at Hong Kong Airport
Lighted sign at the baggage carousal in Chengdu Airport (panda!)
Jardine House in Hong Kong
I think I made the right decision not to transfer to Singapore with Broadcom. It's a great opportunity but after this week, I'm reminded how hot and humid the weather is over there and how much I dislike long flights, especially flying economy class. :)
Some more random pictures:
Hennessey Road in Hong Kong
Lots of 747's at Hong Kong Airport
Lighted sign at the baggage carousal in Chengdu Airport (panda!)
Jardine House in Hong Kong
Friday, May 25, 2007
Chengdu - Day 6
Today is pretty much a travel day. It took me forever to pack my luggage; I should have brought something bigger. We arrived in Hong Kong at around 5pm and took the airport express into town to meet Leon's cousin for dinner. The train was fast and inexpensive; it took exactly 24 minutes to get from the airport to Hong Kong/Central station. We had dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant (Isola) and made it back to the airport by 9:30pm. The final leg of the trip is a 12+ hour flight back to LAX... :(
View of Hong Kong skyline from IFC
View of Hong Kong skyline from IFC
More Chengdu Pics
I'm back in Hong Kong. Let see if I can upload some pictures:
The nice unpaved road leading to PMI
Stream at the back of PMI's tract of land
View of Chengdu from my uncle's balcony
A dish we had for dinner; all the green stuff is chopped peppers
Pandas seem to be big in Chengdu... not sure what this one is doing
The nice unpaved road leading to PMI
Stream at the back of PMI's tract of land
View of Chengdu from my uncle's balcony
A dish we had for dinner; all the green stuff is chopped peppers
Pandas seem to be big in Chengdu... not sure what this one is doing
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Chengdu - Day 4/5
The last two days were mostly spent at PMI's office. In order to help with their business plan, I needed to understand the business better so we spent some time with the accountant. From what I saw, the accounting rules are not that different since China follows International GAAP; the only difference is that the government is much more intrusive. It was difficult to communicate since I don't know any accounting/finance terms in Mandarin (I don't even know how to say finance) and English competency is pretty low in Chendgu.
One interesting thing I found out is that companies cannot issue their own invoices. In order to combat corruption, the government prints numbered invoices that companies must use. This way, you can't falsify expenses since all reported expenses requires a corresponding official invoice. This makes it difficult to account for all the "red envelopes" that's part of Chinese business culture. It also requires an army of people to track all this paper but there are a lot of people in China. :)
I also got a tour of the land PMI is buying to build their new factory. It's a little piece of land in the middle of a high tech industrial park. There's even got a nice stream at the back of the property. The area behind the stream is taken up by a Motorola software design center and there is a large Intel packaging plant down the street.
Wednesday evening I met up with my 3rd uncle on my mom's side and his niece. He moved to Chengdu earlier this month from Canada and is planning to stay until November. My parents are coming to Chengdu in October so they will get to meet him. I haven't seen him since I left Canada in 1985 so it's funny that I finally meet him 22 years later in China. We went to dinner at a local restaurant. The food was really good and cheap.
Hmm, I'm having problems uploading photos to Blogspot. Maybe I'm blocked by the Great Firewall of China.
Thursday was pretty uneventful. We met with a local VC where Leon pitched PMI again. I didn't say anything during the meeting but learned how company valuation works in China. Evidently, the Registered Capital (similar to Paid-in Capital) amount is used where we use discount future cash flow to value a company in the US. They found it hard to believe that a company's value is not tied to the current balance sheet.
For lunch we had some noodles at a restaurant across the street from the VC. Each bowl of noodle was only RMB$4-5 but the portion size here is a lot smaller though. For dinner, we met up with a finance manager from one of PMI's vendors. He is from Taiwan but has a MBA from a small school in New Jersey. We wanted to pick his brain about investment and company structure issues in China. The restaurant specialized in local Szechuan cuisine. For RMB$88 per person, we got to sample 20+ dishes. It's also the 4th time I've had watermelon juice with a meal; it seems to be quite popular in Chengdu.
One interesting thing I found out is that companies cannot issue their own invoices. In order to combat corruption, the government prints numbered invoices that companies must use. This way, you can't falsify expenses since all reported expenses requires a corresponding official invoice. This makes it difficult to account for all the "red envelopes" that's part of Chinese business culture. It also requires an army of people to track all this paper but there are a lot of people in China. :)
I also got a tour of the land PMI is buying to build their new factory. It's a little piece of land in the middle of a high tech industrial park. There's even got a nice stream at the back of the property. The area behind the stream is taken up by a Motorola software design center and there is a large Intel packaging plant down the street.
Wednesday evening I met up with my 3rd uncle on my mom's side and his niece. He moved to Chengdu earlier this month from Canada and is planning to stay until November. My parents are coming to Chengdu in October so they will get to meet him. I haven't seen him since I left Canada in 1985 so it's funny that I finally meet him 22 years later in China. We went to dinner at a local restaurant. The food was really good and cheap.
Hmm, I'm having problems uploading photos to Blogspot. Maybe I'm blocked by the Great Firewall of China.
Thursday was pretty uneventful. We met with a local VC where Leon pitched PMI again. I didn't say anything during the meeting but learned how company valuation works in China. Evidently, the Registered Capital (similar to Paid-in Capital) amount is used where we use discount future cash flow to value a company in the US. They found it hard to believe that a company's value is not tied to the current balance sheet.
For lunch we had some noodles at a restaurant across the street from the VC. Each bowl of noodle was only RMB$4-5 but the portion size here is a lot smaller though. For dinner, we met up with a finance manager from one of PMI's vendors. He is from Taiwan but has a MBA from a small school in New Jersey. We wanted to pick his brain about investment and company structure issues in China. The restaurant specialized in local Szechuan cuisine. For RMB$88 per person, we got to sample 20+ dishes. It's also the 4th time I've had watermelon juice with a meal; it seems to be quite popular in Chengdu.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Chengdu - Day 3
Bret (my former manager) just called me to discuss some staffing issues on where to put new incoming MBA hires. He didn't know I was out here in Chengdu so he woke me up at 5:00am local time. I think I'm not adjusting to the time change so it's hard to stay asleep through the night anyhow. Meanwhile, I was having problems staying awake during all the meetings yesterday.
My first full day in Chengdu was pretty much following Leon around on his business meetings. It's interesting watching Leon speak Chinese, especially discussing chemical compounds and technical stuff. Even though Mandarin was my first language, I found it difficult to understand what people were saying. It was even worse when they switched to the local dialect.
Some random intersection in Chengdu
The traffic is crazy, even more than Taipei or Bangkok. People on scooters don't follow traffic lights so you may get run over even crossing on a green light. The taxi drivers are very aggressive and weave in and out of traffic all the time. There were not as many bicycles as I saw in Beijing 10 years ago but definitely a lot more scooters. Cars are still a luxury item but I guess more people are able to afford scooters now.
The perpetual haze never burned off so it was overcast the entire day. Nevertheless, it was still too hot for me. I was also wearing work clothes so it was even worse. It got to about 30 degrees Celsius but it was also pretty humid. All the local people thought it was a nice cool day though.
ZnS-SiO2 targets
In the afternoon, we went to Leon's office/factory. It was a pretty long ride and the road leading the the building was unpaved but our driver was tearing through the potholes in a crappy little minivan.
PMI's high tech manufacturing facilities
We had dinner at a pretty nice Chinese restaurant inside the Holiday Inn. I had to order the kung-pao chicken to taste the "original" version. Dishes started at only $3 and the service was really good; there were 3-4 servers at our table.
Outside the hotel there was some kind of cosmetics brand launch. There was music, drinks, snacks, and three girls playing violin, Vanessa Mae style.
My first full day in Chengdu was pretty much following Leon around on his business meetings. It's interesting watching Leon speak Chinese, especially discussing chemical compounds and technical stuff. Even though Mandarin was my first language, I found it difficult to understand what people were saying. It was even worse when they switched to the local dialect.
Some random intersection in Chengdu
The traffic is crazy, even more than Taipei or Bangkok. People on scooters don't follow traffic lights so you may get run over even crossing on a green light. The taxi drivers are very aggressive and weave in and out of traffic all the time. There were not as many bicycles as I saw in Beijing 10 years ago but definitely a lot more scooters. Cars are still a luxury item but I guess more people are able to afford scooters now.
The perpetual haze never burned off so it was overcast the entire day. Nevertheless, it was still too hot for me. I was also wearing work clothes so it was even worse. It got to about 30 degrees Celsius but it was also pretty humid. All the local people thought it was a nice cool day though.
ZnS-SiO2 targets
In the afternoon, we went to Leon's office/factory. It was a pretty long ride and the road leading the the building was unpaved but our driver was tearing through the potholes in a crappy little minivan.
PMI's high tech manufacturing facilities
We had dinner at a pretty nice Chinese restaurant inside the Holiday Inn. I had to order the kung-pao chicken to taste the "original" version. Dishes started at only $3 and the service was really good; there were 3-4 servers at our table.
Outside the hotel there was some kind of cosmetics brand launch. There was music, drinks, snacks, and three girls playing violin, Vanessa Mae style.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Chengdu - Day 2
The rain continued in Hong Kong the next morning so I gave up on going to the peak. Twice I've been in Hong Kong and both times it was raining. Since they were not able to give me late checkout, I left my bags at the hotel and wandered around Hong Kong for a couple of hours. I ended up spending most of my time in a shopping "mall" called Time Square, right outside the Causeway Bay MTR station. I'm not sure why people come to Hong Kong to shop; everything seems to cost the same or more than stuff in the US, especially electronics (although there's a lot more selection). I did buy a CD and a concert DVD; I don't know where to get new C-pop stuff in LA.
I wonder if the roast duck pizza tastes better in Hong Kong
Kylie Minogue on a trolley
The flight to Chengdu was about 2.5 hours. We got in late last night and the whole city smelled like it was on fire. The air was even smoggy inside the airport terminal. Leon thought it was more than just the regular poor air quality; there was probably something special going on. It was a long taxi ride to the hotel but the fare was only RMB$50 or a little over $6. We walked around a bit even though it was already 11pm and the streets were pretty deserted. There were some street vendors selling food (no way!) and pedicabs offering to take us to see pretty girls for $3. It kind of reminds me of Bangkok where they assume every male foreigner out at night is looking for sex.
As usual, my non-smoking room smells like smoke. I'm resigned to the fact that this is the case all over Asia. There's a large window separating the bathroom from the rest of the room. Weird.
The view outside my window is pretty dreary this morning. We're >1,000 miles from the ocean so that's probably the perpetual smog.
I wonder if the roast duck pizza tastes better in Hong Kong
Kylie Minogue on a trolley
The flight to Chengdu was about 2.5 hours. We got in late last night and the whole city smelled like it was on fire. The air was even smoggy inside the airport terminal. Leon thought it was more than just the regular poor air quality; there was probably something special going on. It was a long taxi ride to the hotel but the fare was only RMB$50 or a little over $6. We walked around a bit even though it was already 11pm and the streets were pretty deserted. There were some street vendors selling food (no way!) and pedicabs offering to take us to see pretty girls for $3. It kind of reminds me of Bangkok where they assume every male foreigner out at night is looking for sex.
As usual, my non-smoking room smells like smoke. I'm resigned to the fact that this is the case all over Asia. There's a large window separating the bathroom from the rest of the room. Weird.
The view outside my window is pretty dreary this morning. We're >1,000 miles from the ocean so that's probably the perpetual smog.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Chengdu - Day 1
OK, I'm not really in China yet. I have a one day layover in Hong Kong before we head off to Chengdu. I'm staying at a hotel on Hong Kong Island for about $120; they upgraded me to a suite, too bad it's only one day. The flight sucked since it was so long (14.5 hours) and my ecomony seat (Boeing 747) seems more cramped vs. Singapore Airlines (Boeing 777). It's also the longest direct flight I've been on. I can't imagine being on the plane 4 more hours to fly directly from LAX to Singapore.
They're renovating the business class lounges at LAX so we were shuttled to a temp facility. No, I didn't fly business class; Leon has lots of miles so he got me in.
Inside the temp lounge. Not too bad but nothing compared to Singapore Airline's lounge at Changi or Cathay Pacific's at Hong Kong (Noodle Bar!).
The new Hong Kong airport is huge. They let us off at gate 67 which is a 20 minute walk to the main terminal. We actually took a subway to get from one end of the airport to the other.
Arrival hall at Hong Kong airport. There are 13 luggage carousels and our luggage was waiting for us when we cleared customs. I usually have to wait forever for luggage at LAX or even short-flights at SNA.
The shuttle bus from the airport to my hotel was HK$140 and took about 45 minutes since I was the first stop. It was a huge tourist bus but only had about 10 passengers. Metropark Hotel is right next to a MTR station (Tin Hau) but I was too lazy to navigate the subway with my luggage.
Even though I requested a non-smoking room, the room smells anyway. You can't get away from cigarette smoke in Hong Kong.
View of Hong Kong from hotel room
They're renovating the business class lounges at LAX so we were shuttled to a temp facility. No, I didn't fly business class; Leon has lots of miles so he got me in.
Inside the temp lounge. Not too bad but nothing compared to Singapore Airline's lounge at Changi or Cathay Pacific's at Hong Kong (Noodle Bar!).
The new Hong Kong airport is huge. They let us off at gate 67 which is a 20 minute walk to the main terminal. We actually took a subway to get from one end of the airport to the other.
Arrival hall at Hong Kong airport. There are 13 luggage carousels and our luggage was waiting for us when we cleared customs. I usually have to wait forever for luggage at LAX or even short-flights at SNA.
The shuttle bus from the airport to my hotel was HK$140 and took about 45 minutes since I was the first stop. It was a huge tourist bus but only had about 10 passengers. Metropark Hotel is right next to a MTR station (Tin Hau) but I was too lazy to navigate the subway with my luggage.
Even though I requested a non-smoking room, the room smells anyway. You can't get away from cigarette smoke in Hong Kong.
View of Hong Kong from hotel room
Thursday, May 17, 2007
How many notebook computers do you see?
At a recent work meeting:
I count 10 in the picture. There was another 2 across from me and 3 more to my left. That's 15 computers in one conference room; I don't think there were that many people in the room. I'm guilty though... I brought 2 notebook computers to the meeting: one to show the PPT files and the other to check email/surf the web/etc.
I count 10 in the picture. There was another 2 across from me and 3 more to my left. That's 15 computers in one conference room; I don't think there were that many people in the room. I'm guilty though... I brought 2 notebook computers to the meeting: one to show the PPT files and the other to check email/surf the web/etc.
Porsche Cayenne Turbo S
I saw one today on Irvine Center Drive. As if the Cayenne Turbo wasn't crazy enough, the "S" gives another 50(?) horsepowers. He wasn't going very fast though.
Does the S look "aftermarket"? :)
Does the S look "aftermarket"? :)
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Most Dangerous Vehicles
IIHS report shows the best and worst vehicles in real-world driver safety.
This says that I should drive the 4Runner more often and leave the Z at home (or sell it). :(
Lowest rates of driver death
(per million registered vehicles)
Chevrolet Astro 7
Infiniti G35 11
BMW 7 Series 11
*Toyota 4Runner* 13
Audi A4/S4 quattro 14
Mercedes Benz E-Class 14
Toyota Highlander 14
Mercedes-Benz M-Class 14
Toyota Sienna 17
Honda Odyssey 17
Lexus ES330 18
Lexus RX330 18
Toyota Sequoia 18
Honda Pilot 19
BMW X5 19
Highest rates of driver death
(per million registered vehicles)
Chevrolet Blazer (2 door, 2WD) 232
Acura RSX 202
*Nissan 350Z* 193
Kia Spectra (hatchback) 191
Pontiac Sunfire 179
Kia Rio 175
Chevrolet Cavalier (2 door) 171
Mitsubishi Eclipse 169
Dodge Neon 161
Pontiac Grand Am (2 door) 160
Chevrolet Cavalier (4 door) 150
Ford Mustang 150
This says that I should drive the 4Runner more often and leave the Z at home (or sell it). :(
Monday, May 14, 2007
Tech firms confronting 'dramatic' rise in power use
Hmm, I should go and delete some Excel files from the server at work.
MarketWatch article.
MarketWatch article.
Indeed, data centers nationwide now consume about 1.2% of all the power used in the U.S., PG&E's Bramfitt said. Northern California centers hog about 400 to 500 megawatts, or about 2.5% of the state's grid -- double the national average.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Boston Pops Fight
Boston Globe article.
I've been to Boston Symphony Hall (once) for a Mozart/flute concert and I think I sat in the same balcony area. I remember somebody "shushing" me too but I didn't feel like starting a fight. :)
One of the two concertgoers at the center of what has become known as "The Brawl at Symphony Hall" said yesterday that he intends to press charges against the man who punched him after being asked several times to stop talking during the Boston Pops' opening night gala.
"People with a temper like that aren't really safe in society," Matthew Ellinger , a 27-year-old graphic designer from Brighton, said yesterday. "If a guy is going to lose his temper at the symphony when somebody asks him to stop talking, that's just not cool. If I were to let that go, I would be doing nobody any service."
I've been to Boston Symphony Hall (once) for a Mozart/flute concert and I think I sat in the same balcony area. I remember somebody "shushing" me too but I didn't feel like starting a fight. :)
Monday, May 7, 2007
China Visa
Well, I booked my hotel for Hong Kong and Leon got reservations for Chengdu which means I'd better get my visa for China. I pre-filled out the form before I brought it to the travel agency but they made me fill out my Chinese name and change place of birth from Taipei (I didn't want to put Taiwan) to China.
I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I really don't like TI (Taiwan Independence) people, especially those that say they're Taiwanese and not Chinese. I can understand the Taiwanese part; it's like saying you're American. However, I don't understand the "not Chinese" part. Sorry, you're ethnically Chinese and your ancestors are probably from Fujian or Guangzhou. It's like the American denying their German/Irish/Italian/whatever roots. However, I also really hate how petty the commies are about Taiwan. Taiwan is insignificant in population and geography vs. mainland China yet everyday you hear about some stupid flap about Taiwan/China and the whole one country/two system crap. Why not just have two countries? Maybe they just don't like seeing Chinese people living in a capitalistic democratic society, invalidating their Marxist/Maoist dogma.
Well, my passport has "TAIWAN" as place of birth so we'll see what happens. I remember Shirley had to get a new passport right before she went to China; the Chinese Consulate rejected her visa application because it said "TAIWAN" as place of birth. They want it to say "CHINA" instead... petty.
==========
I just got a VM from the travel agency that I got the tourist visa. Maybe things have changed from 10 years ago...
I'm not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I really don't like TI (Taiwan Independence) people, especially those that say they're Taiwanese and not Chinese. I can understand the Taiwanese part; it's like saying you're American. However, I don't understand the "not Chinese" part. Sorry, you're ethnically Chinese and your ancestors are probably from Fujian or Guangzhou. It's like the American denying their German/Irish/Italian/whatever roots. However, I also really hate how petty the commies are about Taiwan. Taiwan is insignificant in population and geography vs. mainland China yet everyday you hear about some stupid flap about Taiwan/China and the whole one country/two system crap. Why not just have two countries? Maybe they just don't like seeing Chinese people living in a capitalistic democratic society, invalidating their Marxist/Maoist dogma.
Well, my passport has "TAIWAN" as place of birth so we'll see what happens. I remember Shirley had to get a new passport right before she went to China; the Chinese Consulate rejected her visa application because it said "TAIWAN" as place of birth. They want it to say "CHINA" instead... petty.
==========
I just got a VM from the travel agency that I got the tourist visa. Maybe things have changed from 10 years ago...
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Laundry
Sigh... time to do laundry again. There are not enough washer/dryers in the apartment complex so I usually wait until real late to wash my clothes. Maybe I'll take a nap first.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Cash-for-grades scandal...
This beats MBA students cheating on a test...
SFGate Article
Hmm, I'm beginning to think kids today are more stupid than before. In the '80s, we didn't pay people to change our grades, we just hacked into the school system and change it ourselves!
[http://moviescreenshots.blogspot.com/]
OK, that's not me... it's Ally Sheedy from War Games. Coincidentally, of all the "celebrities" that came to speak at UCLA, the only person I saw was Ally. She was pretty boring.
SFGate Article
More than 70 current and former students at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill are being investigated for allegedly paying bribes of up to $600 to have their grades raised on official transcripts, officials said Thursday.
College officials believe as many as 400 grades were changed, casting a cloud over the school's transcripts.
About 74 students are believed to have paid student employees to change grades dating back several years, said Charles Gibson, Contra Costa Community College District police chief, at a news conference.
Eleven of the 74 students still attend the college and could face expulsion, while the others have transferred to schools across the country, where they could face disciplinary action, officials said.
Hmm, I'm beginning to think kids today are more stupid than before. In the '80s, we didn't pay people to change our grades, we just hacked into the school system and change it ourselves!
[http://moviescreenshots.blogspot.com/]
OK, that's not me... it's Ally Sheedy from War Games. Coincidentally, of all the "celebrities" that came to speak at UCLA, the only person I saw was Ally. She was pretty boring.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Immigration Woes
Sigh... so both our analysts in finance received notice that they did not get a H1B visa in the lottery. This means we have to take them off U.S. payroll next month and they have to leave the country.
Yesterday, there were lots of marches and protests about illegal immigration and how we should grant amnesty. I feel very little sympathy for people who chose to ignore the law, whatever their circumstances, and sneak into this country illegally. There are millions of people, me included, who went (or are going) through lots of red tape to immigrate legally.
Yesterday, there were lots of marches and protests about illegal immigration and how we should grant amnesty. I feel very little sympathy for people who chose to ignore the law, whatever their circumstances, and sneak into this country illegally. There are millions of people, me included, who went (or are going) through lots of red tape to immigrate legally.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
MBA Students Caught Cheating
Bloomberg story:
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- The cheating episode at Duke University may cause academics to conclude the post-Enron emphasis on teaching ethics in graduate business schools is a failure.
Thirty-four first-year master's of business administration students at Duke's Fuqua School of Business were disciplined in the program's largest cheating scandal. Nine students face expulsion for collaborating on a take-home test, violating the professor's rules.
Business students are more likely to cut corners than those in any other academic discipline, several studies show. A Rutgers University survey last year found that cheating at business schools is common, even after ethics courses were added following scandals that bankrupted Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc.
"What is taught in a business program sometimes reinforces students' tendencies to be entrepreneurial and results-oriented," said Timothy Dodd, 50, executive director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke, in an interview from Durham, North Carolina. "Those sometimes aren't the people who understand that moral means have to be used to achieve moral ends."
A study released by the center in September and conducted by Rutgers professor Donald McCabe in New Brunswick, New Jersey, showed that students pursuing MBA degrees cheat more than other U.S. graduate students. McCabe found that 56 percent of those in business schools acknowledge violating the rules, compared with 54 percent in engineering, 48 percent in education and 45 percent in law.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Eewww!
Someone just went number 2 in the bathroom at work and left without washing his hands! I'm in the building with all the executives and there are only 12 males on this floor. All I know is that he was wearing black shoes...
Tax Freedom Day
According to The Tax Foundation, today is Tax Freedom Day. Until today, the average American has been working to pay taxes (32.7%); after today, we get to keep what we earned. Of course, in the liberal paradise of California, we get to work an extra 7 days for the government.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Nomadic Church
This weekend NewSong NOC was back at Wilshire Auditorium in Fullerton. We've been in Wilshire for over a year but we had to go back to Servite High School for the past three weeks. It looks like we may need to find another place after May so we've packed all the sound equipment into our rolling containers to be more mobile. Setup today was actually not too bad since Wilshire sound staff helped connect all the stage input lines and we were using their sound board/main speakers. We still brought a lot of stuff including both equipment racks and subwoofers. It was so easy at Irvine where all we had to do was connect a few XLRs and change batteries.
I heard we may be going to a junior high school gym. That would suck for sound... all those hard reflective surfaces. :(
I heard we may be going to a junior high school gym. That would suck for sound... all those hard reflective surfaces. :(
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Taxes (again!)
I finally got around to changing my W-4 exemptions from 3 to 0. The impact is about $400 per pay period or ~$10k for the year! Maybe that's why I had to pay so much in taxes for 2006... :(
China
I just booked my airline tickets to China for next month. My friend Leon goes over to Chengdu for week-long business trips every 6-8 weeks so I'm tagging along this time. I was hoping the company would send me to Singapore but it looks like my new job doesn't require much travel so I'm paying the $1200 myself.
The last time I was in China was in 1998 when I gave several finance seminars at Yenching University in Beijing. Since then, I've been to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, but never made it back to China. This time, we're flying Cathay Pacific and I have a 24 hour layover in Hong Kong. I haven't decided if I'm going to take a ferry to Macau or take the MTR to Hong Kong Island while Leon visits some relatives.
In Chengdu, we're staying at the Prime Hotel. I hope their service is better than their Engrish.
The last time I was in China was in 1998 when I gave several finance seminars at Yenching University in Beijing. Since then, I've been to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, but never made it back to China. This time, we're flying Cathay Pacific and I have a 24 hour layover in Hong Kong. I haven't decided if I'm going to take a ferry to Macau or take the MTR to Hong Kong Island while Leon visits some relatives.
In Chengdu, we're staying at the Prime Hotel. I hope their service is better than their Engrish.
Prime Hotel is located in the most numerous trade circle of Chunxi Road in Chengdu City, which is an international trade and tourist hotel. Since the foundation of it in Dec. 1998, relying on the trade chances of Chunxi Road and many surrounding modern departments, advantageous port, flexible operative mode and creative and perfect service, Prime Hotel has created the lodging rate of 80%, which has been the leader of the hotels in this city for two times. Prime Hotel has been a bark horse in Chengdu.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
I almost got scammed on eBay
I was looking for a case to buy for church in order to store all the microphones we use for worship service on Sunday. Right now, we have 15+ microphone scattered in plastic bins and some of them are pretty expensive (Shure SM81 = $350/ea). Anyway, I placed a bid on eBay for $80 and ended up not winning the auction.
Then I get this email from a Kelly Williams:
The email looked official with eBay logos and everything. Being the cheap Chinese guy I am, I replied, "I'll take it!" I then asked about PayPal and giving the "seller" the church office address for shipping. The next day I get this in my inbox from "eBay":
At first I thought eBay must be crazy to make a statement like that with words like: verified, accurate, and safely. If something goes bad with the transaction, it's lawsuit time. Then I saw the Western Union money transfer to Romania... Romania?! And who's Gheorghe? What happened to Kelly?! :)
At this point, I should have just stopped. Not wanting to pass up a bargain however, I email back and said that I can pay with PayPal. I was too lazy to go and find a Western Union to transfer money. Next email came quick (don't they sleep in Romania?):
OK, that's pretty poor English for Ms. Kelly Williams. Now (finally) I'm thinking this may be a scam so I sent a message to the original seller through eBay and got this reply:
Wow... and I thought that they were going to ship something that weighs 10 pounds to me from Romania for $7.50. Well, it looks like I'm not going to get the microphone case for $80 so I went ahead and ordered one from Jim's Music (ask for Tom) in Irvine for $123. :(
Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'm helping a Nigerian government official transfer $80M out of the country for a 10% commission.
Then I get this email from a Kelly Williams:
Hello, You have a bid on my auction from eBay. Are you still interested? I need to sell it and the winning bidder said that he is not interested anymore. So i am willing to sell it to you for your last bid price. Let me know if you want to purchase it. Respectfully yours
IMPORTANT: When you e-mail us please include this message.
Thank you!
The email looked official with eBay logos and everything. Being the cheap Chinese guy I am, I replied, "I'll take it!" I then asked about PayPal and giving the "seller" the church office address for shipping. The next day I get this in my inbox from "eBay":
Good news! The following eBay item on which you placed a bid, is now available for purchase! Per your request, we have verified all the details of this transaction. We concluded that they are accurate. Please follow our instructions to complete the transaction safely.
...
Payment must be sent by Western Union Money Transfer to:
Seller verified name: Gheorghe Dumitru
Seller verified payment address:
Caras Severin nr.308
Moldova Noua
Romania
At first I thought eBay must be crazy to make a statement like that with words like: verified, accurate, and safely. If something goes bad with the transaction, it's lawsuit time. Then I saw the Western Union money transfer to Romania... Romania?! And who's Gheorghe? What happened to Kelly?! :)
At this point, I should have just stopped. Not wanting to pass up a bargain however, I email back and said that I can pay with PayPal. I was too lazy to go and find a Western Union to transfer money. Next email came quick (don't they sleep in Romania?):
Hi,
I send the item for you, Please make the payment.I can't use Pay Pal because my account was corrupted and I can't use it for another 2 or 3 weeks. Someone made payments with my account and now I must wait until Pay Pal will restore it to me. For the moment I can't make or receive payments. I waiting reply.
Best regards.
OK, that's pretty poor English for Ms. Kelly Williams. Now (finally) I'm thinking this may be a scam so I sent a message to the original seller through eBay and got this reply:
I didn't send that email. If you want to report this person to ebay or paypal buy all means. Thanks for the heads up.
Wow... and I thought that they were going to ship something that weighs 10 pounds to me from Romania for $7.50. Well, it looks like I'm not going to get the microphone case for $80 so I went ahead and ordered one from Jim's Music (ask for Tom) in Irvine for $123. :(
Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'm helping a Nigerian government official transfer $80M out of the country for a 10% commission.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Back to civilization...
Time Warner cut my cable modem connection Thursday afternoon. I'm still not sure what happened but there was some accounting mix up and my service was disconnected. I think my account got mixed up with the prior tenant even though my name and address was correct. I was actually worried that they cut off my service for downloading too many Korean movies or something. :)
For the past two days, I've been without an Internet connection. I spent about an hour on the phone with two different Time Warner customer service rep Friday night and they got a technician to come out today to hook me back up. To keep me happy, they upgraded my connection from the old Comcast 4Mb to a 10Mb connection at the same price. I checked with 2wire.com and it showed 9.3Mb on the speed meter.
It was kinda weird to be without an Internet connection for 48 hours. I would think of something, go to the computer to look it up, and realize that I have no connection. I was able to check email with my Treo but at ~50kb only. Still, that's much faster than my 1st 1200bps modem.
For the past two days, I've been without an Internet connection. I spent about an hour on the phone with two different Time Warner customer service rep Friday night and they got a technician to come out today to hook me back up. To keep me happy, they upgraded my connection from the old Comcast 4Mb to a 10Mb connection at the same price. I checked with 2wire.com and it showed 9.3Mb on the speed meter.
It was kinda weird to be without an Internet connection for 48 hours. I would think of something, go to the computer to look it up, and realize that I have no connection. I was able to check email with my Treo but at ~50kb only. Still, that's much faster than my 1st 1200bps modem.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
几个北美演唱会观众的英文Blog
Crazy! Evidently there is a blog post on baidu.com in China (http://post.baidu.com/f?kz=187779436) about my blog post on Jane Zhang's concert. I haven't read any of it (since it's in simplified Chinese), but someone copied my post and translated it into Chinese (message #24).
At first I thought, "Hey, this is cool!"
My next thought was, "Hey, I'm Chinese... I could have written my own post in Chinese!"
OK, maybe not.
At first I thought, "Hey, this is cool!"
My next thought was, "Hey, I'm Chinese... I could have written my own post in Chinese!"
OK, maybe not.
Last Concert Video
To Be Loved
This was the first video I took with my camera. The last one is >100MB so I either need to re-encode it at a lower bitrate or find somewhere other than YouTube to upload. Since I'm lazy, I'll probably do nothing...
Some closer-up pictures Fred took with Leon's camera:
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
There's always an encore!
This the closing song at Jane Zhang's concert.
After the concert was "over", Jane walked off the stage. It was kinda weird since she ended on a slow song... usually you want to finish big. At this point, the audience is supposed to applaud and cheer in order to bring the artist back on stage to perform some more. At this concert however, most of the audience just sat there and some people even got up to leave. Anyway, after about a minute of awkward (relative) silence, Jane came back on stage to sing two more songs. At least we were cheering and Fred was holding up his lighted Jane sign (which he had to return at the end of the concert).
Sunday, April 1, 2007
More Baby Pics
OK, just two more photos of Addison from my camera. Sometimes she has this contemplative old man look that's really cute!
==========
She's only two weeks old and has her own Blog... ;)
==========
She's only two weeks old and has her own Blog... ;)
Saturday, March 31, 2007
張靚穎 Concert
I just got back from Jane Zhang's concert at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The concert was great; she has an awesome voice and she's pretty cute as well. However, we probably had the worst seat in the house. The sound and lighting people set up their equipment in the middle of the orchestra section and our seats were in the row right behind them. We tried grabbing empty seats elsewhere but got bumped twice and we ended back in our original seats. The auditorium was not designed for a rock/pop concert format and they had nowhere to put the mixing board.
There was a live band on stage but they only played for the English songs. All the music for the Chinese songs were played from a CD. I think one of the sound guys was responsible for playing the right CD track and recording the concert on a CD recorder. He played the wrong CD track once (he played a song she already sang) and they had to stop and start again with the right song. Pretty funny... if you're not the sound guy. :)
Outside the auditorium before the concert... lots of people from Mainland China.
Sound equipment (and boba milk tea) which we got to see all night.
Banner on stage. She's really into dolphins. Not sure what the bottom row of Chinese characters say.
First outfit.
Second outfit. She took two breaks and we thought she was going to change again, like a Chinese wedding, but she came out for the third set with the same clothes.
I also recorded video for 4 songs with my camera. The video quality is crap since the place was so dark but the sound was really loud so it recorded okay. Each file is ~100MB so I need to figure out how to paste/share the video files.
==========
Update: My first upload to YouTube
Loving You: the song with all the high notes.
There was a live band on stage but they only played for the English songs. All the music for the Chinese songs were played from a CD. I think one of the sound guys was responsible for playing the right CD track and recording the concert on a CD recorder. He played the wrong CD track once (he played a song she already sang) and they had to stop and start again with the right song. Pretty funny... if you're not the sound guy. :)
Outside the auditorium before the concert... lots of people from Mainland China.
Sound equipment (and boba milk tea) which we got to see all night.
Banner on stage. She's really into dolphins. Not sure what the bottom row of Chinese characters say.
First outfit.
Second outfit. She took two breaks and we thought she was going to change again, like a Chinese wedding, but she came out for the third set with the same clothes.
I also recorded video for 4 songs with my camera. The video quality is crap since the place was so dark but the sound was really loud so it recorded okay. Each file is ~100MB so I need to figure out how to paste/share the video files.
==========
Update: My first upload to YouTube
Loving You: the song with all the high notes.
Chinese K-TV
Last Sunday, my parents and I met with their friend for lunch; she was the realtor that sold my house in Brea last year. After lunch, we went to visit her son's home in Walnut. He had some crazy K-TV system that had 18,000 songs stored and we ended up singing Chinese songs. I was surprised by how many songs I recognize just from listening to my dad practice at home all these years. I even tried to sing one but couldn't read the characters fast enough; a couple of people had to help read out the lyrics before I could sing them. :(
This was the song I was trying to sing. The original arrangement on the CD is mainly guitar... maybe I can figure out the chords and accompany myself. I have the chords to another C-pop song (愛相隨 by 周華健) so I'm practicing that one too.
解脫 by 張惠妹
愛是不夜城 回憶像星辰
熱淚越沸騰 我越感覺有點冷
變了心的人 越想越傷人
枯坐到清晨 陽光替房間開了燈
想 若結局一樣又何苦再想
傷 若讓人成長
我為什麼怕分手的傷
解脫 是肯承認這是個錯
我不應該還不放手
你有自由走 我有自由好好過
解脫 是懂擦乾淚看以後
找個新方向往前走
這世界遼闊 我總會實現一個夢
心裡有一種渴望勇敢的念頭
不要愛我的人再擔心我
This was the song I was trying to sing. The original arrangement on the CD is mainly guitar... maybe I can figure out the chords and accompany myself. I have the chords to another C-pop song (愛相隨 by 周華健) so I'm practicing that one too.
解脫 by 張惠妹
愛是不夜城 回憶像星辰
熱淚越沸騰 我越感覺有點冷
變了心的人 越想越傷人
枯坐到清晨 陽光替房間開了燈
想 若結局一樣又何苦再想
傷 若讓人成長
我為什麼怕分手的傷
解脫 是肯承認這是個錯
我不應該還不放手
你有自由走 我有自由好好過
解脫 是懂擦乾淚看以後
找個新方向往前走
這世界遼闊 我總會實現一個夢
心裡有一種渴望勇敢的念頭
不要愛我的人再擔心我
Jane Zhang
Official website
Jane (or Liangying) Zhang [張靚穎] was the 2nd runner-up in the 2005 Super Girl competition (~American Idol in China). I've never heard of her before but I'm spending $100 to see her in concert tonight in Pasadena. Leon called me earlier this week to see if I wanted to go; I didn't know he was into C-pop. Maybe his Mandarin is better than I thought. Actually, Jane Zhang sings a lot of English songs (3 out of 10 songs on her 1st album is in English) so I should understand some lyrics. For $100 tickets, she better not be lip-syncing.
That's a pretty nice Shure wireless mic she's using... very similar to the ones we use at NewSong.
Infernal Affairs
I just downloaded and watched Infernal Affairs, a Hong Kong movie from 2002. Shirley actually had all three movies (IA2 and IA3) on her Mac several years ago but with Chinese subtitles (the dialog is in Cantonese). This time I also downloaded English subtitles so I could follow the plot.
The movie was really good; it pretty much won every award for both the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards that year. Infernal Affairs was remade into The Departed last year by Martin Scorsese and it won four Oscars. I wonder how many American moviegoers knew they were watching a remade Chinese movie.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Portland Airport
PDX airport has free wireless LAN access, which give me something to do while waiting for my flight to board. I've been on a lot of flights between Orange County and Portland during the past year and each flight has been completely booked. Not sure if airlines are running less flights to fill up planes but I used to have the entire row by myself.
Well, at least I'm flying to SNA instead of LAX... I hate LAX.
==========
Hmm, the flight wasn't as full as it appeared from the waiting room. The seat next to me was empty and there were several other empty seats. It did turn out to be a Disneyland express flight; there were lots of families with kids going there this weekend. Wait until they see the $70 ticket price.
Well, at least I'm flying to SNA instead of LAX... I hate LAX.
==========
Hmm, the flight wasn't as full as it appeared from the waiting room. The seat next to me was empty and there were several other empty seats. It did turn out to be a Disneyland express flight; there were lots of families with kids going there this weekend. Wait until they see the $70 ticket price.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Baby Pics
I'm here in Portland with my parents visiting my sister, Rebecca, and their new baby. Addison was born on May March 15th in the afternoon, weighing 6 lbs 5 oz and she was 20 inches long. I had also just bought a Sony A100 digital SLR for my dad so there are lots of pictures.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
New CFO
Broadcom Names Veteran Executive Eric Brandt as Chief Financial Officer
IRVINE, Calif., March 14, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that veteran financial executive Eric K. Brandt will join the company later this month as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
IRVINE, Calif., March 14, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that veteran financial executive Eric K. Brandt will join the company later this month as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Death and Taxes
I hired a tax accountant this year and I just sent all my documents to him. I bought TurboTax to do my parent's taxes so I thought I would try to see what my taxes will be if I did it myself. After dropping in numbers for about 30 minutes, the result is that I owe ~$11k for federal taxes and ~$5k in state taxes. Yup, in addition to all the taxes I paid on my paychecks and stock option exercises, I have to pay ~$16k more. I knew being single and living in an apartment is bad but this is crazy. I even have to pay $1,500 of AMT taxes... I thought that was for millionaires. Sigh, I feel like I just got robbed. :(
Sh*t! I hope I really screwed up in TurboTax and my tax accountant can lower that $16k tax bill. Any politician trying to raise taxes will definitely not get my vote.
Sh*t! I hope I really screwed up in TurboTax and my tax accountant can lower that $16k tax bill. Any politician trying to raise taxes will definitely not get my vote.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Bipolar Disorder
Woman says she bought car under influence of bipolar disorder, sues dealer
Associated Press
TROY, Mich. — She went in for an oil change, but came out with a brand-new car.
Now a Michigan woman is suing the auto dealer, saying it took advantage of her bipolar disorder to sell her the $32,000 vehicle.
Amy Berner tells the Detroit News she suffers from "impulsivity and difficulty in decision-making,'' and the dealer used that to get her to sign a $444 per month lease for a Mazda CX-9.
Berner says she had gone to the dealer for an oil change for her car, which she had bought just six months earlier.
Berner's husband says the dealer agreed to take the car back if it got a doctor's letter detailing Berner's condition. He says the letter was sent, but the dealer delivered the CX-9 anyway, and left the keys in the mailbox.
Suburban Imports of Troy says it can't comment on the suit because it hasn't received any legal papers yet.
Associated Press
TROY, Mich. — She went in for an oil change, but came out with a brand-new car.
Now a Michigan woman is suing the auto dealer, saying it took advantage of her bipolar disorder to sell her the $32,000 vehicle.
Amy Berner tells the Detroit News she suffers from "impulsivity and difficulty in decision-making,'' and the dealer used that to get her to sign a $444 per month lease for a Mazda CX-9.
Berner says she had gone to the dealer for an oil change for her car, which she had bought just six months earlier.
Berner's husband says the dealer agreed to take the car back if it got a doctor's letter detailing Berner's condition. He says the letter was sent, but the dealer delivered the CX-9 anyway, and left the keys in the mailbox.
Suburban Imports of Troy says it can't comment on the suit because it hasn't received any legal papers yet.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Immigration
I just found out this week that my one and only staff's OPT visa will run out in June and she won't be able to get a H-1B visa until October. This means that she will be off our payroll in mid-June and need to leave the country by mid-August. Sigh... our only option is to put her on LOA or try to get a work permit in another country. As part of this process, I found out how much it costs for U.S. immigration the legal way.
If we decide to hire a foreign student out of school, they get a one year training work permit (OPT), then they need to get a H-1B visa. The H-1B visa costs around $5,000 and is good for three years; after three years, you can renew for another three years for about the same cost. After the second H-1B visa runs out, you can keep renewing one year at a time as long as you have a pending green card (permanent resident card) application.
If you want to work long-term in the U.S. (i.e., longer than seven years after graduation), then you need to either apply for a green card or marry a U.S. citizen*. The green card application takes 4-6 years, costs about $8,000 and is not guaranteed. The company has to prove that we've tried to recruit locally and the employee is irreplaceable. Well, no one is irreplaceable, especially in finance. Last time I posted a financial analyst opening in Monster.com, I got 30+ resumes sent to me... all pretty lame though.
Anyhow, if you add up both parallel application processes for H-1B's and the green card, toss in some lawyers, it comes out to about $25,000. Our company is pretty generous since we pay for the whole thing, including legal fees, and HR says that 98% of H-1B visa holders apply for a green card. I know a lot of people that have gone through or are still stuck in this process and they had to pay for everything themselves. I got my green card along with my parents when we moved to the U.S.; I think our immigration application took over seven years while we lived in Canada. The naturalization process I went through in 2005 cost me ~$500 and took almost the entire year. My dad's naturalization application is stuck in limbo for the past two years pending some FBI screw-up.
I guess the major problem I have with this is fairness. On one hand, the government restricts the number of H-1B visas each year and charges an exorbitant fee, and also make the legal immigration process as difficult and expensive as possible. On the other hand, if you break the law and sneak across the border or overstay your visa, people trip over themselves to give you free stuff (healthcare, education, even a green card). I have co-workers that paid a lot of money to attend CSU Fullerton as a legal foreign student and out-of-state friends that also paid a lot to attend UCLA.
Meanwhile, I end up paying 40%+ in taxes so politicians can spend other people's money on "social justice", especially here in the People's Republic of California. If people want to feel better about themselves by helping those "less fortunate", then they should pay extra taxes. I'm already paying thousands of dollars to educate someone else's kids (Leon!).
Sigh... I can't believe I'm up at 4:30am bitching about this.
*BTW, I'm single again and have dual American/Canadian citizenship so take your pick... :)
If we decide to hire a foreign student out of school, they get a one year training work permit (OPT), then they need to get a H-1B visa. The H-1B visa costs around $5,000 and is good for three years; after three years, you can renew for another three years for about the same cost. After the second H-1B visa runs out, you can keep renewing one year at a time as long as you have a pending green card (permanent resident card) application.
If you want to work long-term in the U.S. (i.e., longer than seven years after graduation), then you need to either apply for a green card or marry a U.S. citizen*. The green card application takes 4-6 years, costs about $8,000 and is not guaranteed. The company has to prove that we've tried to recruit locally and the employee is irreplaceable. Well, no one is irreplaceable, especially in finance. Last time I posted a financial analyst opening in Monster.com, I got 30+ resumes sent to me... all pretty lame though.
Anyhow, if you add up both parallel application processes for H-1B's and the green card, toss in some lawyers, it comes out to about $25,000. Our company is pretty generous since we pay for the whole thing, including legal fees, and HR says that 98% of H-1B visa holders apply for a green card. I know a lot of people that have gone through or are still stuck in this process and they had to pay for everything themselves. I got my green card along with my parents when we moved to the U.S.; I think our immigration application took over seven years while we lived in Canada. The naturalization process I went through in 2005 cost me ~$500 and took almost the entire year. My dad's naturalization application is stuck in limbo for the past two years pending some FBI screw-up.
I guess the major problem I have with this is fairness. On one hand, the government restricts the number of H-1B visas each year and charges an exorbitant fee, and also make the legal immigration process as difficult and expensive as possible. On the other hand, if you break the law and sneak across the border or overstay your visa, people trip over themselves to give you free stuff (healthcare, education, even a green card). I have co-workers that paid a lot of money to attend CSU Fullerton as a legal foreign student and out-of-state friends that also paid a lot to attend UCLA.
Meanwhile, I end up paying 40%+ in taxes so politicians can spend other people's money on "social justice", especially here in the People's Republic of California. If people want to feel better about themselves by helping those "less fortunate", then they should pay extra taxes. I'm already paying thousands of dollars to educate someone else's kids (Leon!).
Sigh... I can't believe I'm up at 4:30am bitching about this.
*BTW, I'm single again and have dual American/Canadian citizenship so take your pick... :)
Monday, February 26, 2007
Undelete!
Evidently OS X is not foolproof. I just managed to delete most of my Documents folder... I'm still not sure what happened. Anyway, all my song charts I made/found for worship are gone as well as my personal documents. I hope everything important has been printed out since I don't even know what I deleted. I'd better start burning backups to a CD-R.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
