Clone.of.Snake

Reading materials left in men's bathroom

2006-11-02T10:40:00.000-05:00

1031 01 Toilet Drinks
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

This happened at my office in NYC. I sent the following email to our social alias.

Just wanna say thanks to the guys who are always so enthusiastic in sharing their reading materials in the bathroom. I’ve enjoyed your Sports Illustrated and ESPN articles by spreading the pages on the floor with the bottom of my shoes. However, please note that nobody likes to touch another person’s belongings in the bathroom, so can you please refrain from stuffing your print outs into the toilet seat cover bin? I just want to sit on the toilet covers, not toilet covers that had contact with papers that you’ve touched.

Today however, when I turn to grab a sheet, to my horror, there was a cup of black liquid sitting there, blocking the way. I was stunned for like 5 seconds. I think this was the first time I’ve seen drinking beverages inside a bathroom stall… I just couldn’t associate the 2 together, I didn’t know what to do! Anyhoo, to the guy who left his beverage in there today… WTH man?! 99.999% of the human population don’t drink while they are sitting on the toilet! But if you like to do that, that’s fine, I respect that… but can you NOT leave your drinks in there for the next person to enjoy? That’s just disgusting

Thanks!

Nick

FIFA World Cup 2006 - Italy 1-1 USA

2006-06-17T18:23:00.000-04:00

The last football fan in Italy
Originally uploaded by Fabio Sabatini.

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060617/1/7rsl.html

June 17th, 2006, what a day in World Cup football! First, Ghana beat Czech Republic 2-0, then Italy tie it with USA 1-1.

Both the Czechs and the Italians played phenomenally in their first matches, Italy played their best game I've seen for a while and taught Ghana a football lesson, winning 4-2. The Czech slaughtered the USA "standing around-ers" 3-0.

I never really liked watching the Italians because I don't like their "heavy defense + counter attack" style... especially when they don't play it very well a lot of times. But on June 12th, the Italians opened my eyes! It was THE best game in this World Cup so far. With such high expectations, everybody expected them to kick the USA's ass today.

Why did the Italians played so poorly today? The USA did a good job disrupting Italy's pace in the beginning, still, the Italians scored a beautiful goal first. Then, an unfortunate own goal tied the game again... and from this point on, you can see the Italians getting impatient. The flagrant foul with the elbow to the face! WTF was that?! The coach was so scared that Totti would do something stupid he had to pull Totti out of the game!

Nothing against the US, but I really don't want them to advance to 2nd round. When I was watching the game at the restaurant, there were quite a few tables that rooted for the US. I really don't understand these people. It's not like they know the game or even their own US players!! To me, and probably to a lot of other people, (including the Italian players on the field), the World Cup is one of the most special (if not THE most special) event in the world! We want to see good games, so we want only the best teams to go through. Now, to be fair, even the old powers like Italy or Germany can play pretty poorly sometimes, but we should look at their best games. When they play well, they're really fun to watch. The USA, however, even at their best, they still look like child's play. I mean for fuck's sake, near the end of today's game, one of the US player fucking used his hand to touch the ball! LOL... Reminds me of a comment I read somewhere, someone said "soccer isn't a real sport because their players don't use their hands". ROTFL!!! Sigh... So please, ignorant Americans blindly supporting the US of A, STOP!

Only the strong teams go through, please!

Travel Blog - 2006/03/28 - Hakone, Japan

2006-05-01T18:03:00.000-04:00

P1000618
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Woke up 5:30, check out 6:15, (phone charge ¥90), Oedo-sen opens at 6:30, we had to wait for gate to open. To Shinjuku (¥170 x 2), found Odakyu-sen (at South Gate) but needed lockers for our luggages. Asked Odakyu's staff and he said their lockers are inside but couldn't fit our luggages, told us to go to JR next door. Asked JR dude if I can go in to use the lockers, got in, bought milk (¥110) at conbini to get ¥1000 change for lockers (¥500 x 2). 7:00am, we still have time for breakfast, went out Southwest exit to Yoshinoya 吉野家, got 2 納豆定食 (natto ¥340 x 2), surprisingly, it was pretty good! Perhaps I've finally gotten used to the taste. (Compare this to the packaged natto we get from Family Mart in NYC, this was pretty good!)

Rode 7:30 Romance car to Hakone, a Taiwanese family sat behind us, Taiwanese are so much better than tourists from mainland China... they didn't talk loud or make a scene. Arrived at 9:02, switched to Gora tozan densha 強羅登山電車 platform 4, up to Miyanoshita 宮ノ下, out and took a small walk (早川(堂ヶ島)遊歩道) down to the river. Nice and quiet, no one else came down here, strange thing about the traffic on the main street though, nobody would stop to let u cross the street!

Took the next train up to gora 強羅, soooo many people! It's a lot different from the last time we came... (5 pm in mid Feb., dark and foggy, it was like Silent Hill!) I saw Onsen Manjuu at the shop right outside the gates and I bought 1 for ¥105, turns out if we had walked outside first, other shops were selling them at ¥105 for 2!! That bitch!

Queenie wanted to go to the Little Prince museum (Museum of SaintｰExupery and The Little Prince), so we took a really cramped #2 Hakone tozan bus toward Sengokuhara 仙石原. The curves were wild and I don't know what the fuck the old lady behind me was thinking, but she really stuck herself to my ass! (She was like about 4'8").

Cute place, this Little Prince Museum... (Lockers ¥100, entrance ¥1350 x 2), miniature European buildings, like a fake Disneyland,except this is Japan and they have full copyrights! (The merchandise stated you can only sell these in Japan.) Afterwards, took bus toward kowakidani 小涌谷 back to Gora.

Hakone tozan cablecar up to Sounzan 早雲山, nothing to see or do here except for the stamp. Hakone ropeway to Owakudani 大涌谷, famous for their ﾞBlack eggs" 黒たまご, it was about 3pm and we were hungry, bought sweet bun, こんにゃく, milk (¥640) and 6 black eggs (¥500). We were lucky enough to run into 5 tourbus of mainland Chinese tours, what a plague! I doubt any of my pictures came out good b'coz there were so many of them. I asked a Japanese Dad to take a picture of Queenie and me in broken Japanese, and he was clearly annoyed at it! This was the first time I had encountered such a reaction, normally they are really friendly and curtious, they would take your picture and then ask you if the picture was OK! Sigh... that's why I hate those mainland Chinese, I'm proud of my Hong Kong Chinese culture, but I hate to be associated with those Chinese from the mainland.

Rode ropeway gondola down to Togendai 桃源台, then pirate ship to Hakone machi. One weird thing about today, I saw at least 3 pairs of Japanese men with white girls... normally it's the other way around. Is Hakone a center for "reverse inter-racial couples"? Walked left and saw the sign for our ryokan - Yugiriso, walked in and was slightly surprised by the extremely curtious service! The old lady explained everything from onsen time and family bath to Karaoke room and food. She took 6 yukata for Queenie to choose from, then helped her dress up. Dinner was at 6 but she had to come in 1/2 hr early to prepare. We had an hour before dinner time so we went for a quick onsen as we were both very tired. Fell asleep afterwards, woke up at 9:30, the TV was playing a scary program, which reminded me of that kid from Juon, I was expecting to see some dead white faced kid to come out and scare me. More onsen at 11pm, then write diary and sleep.

(Just saw a Suica commercial with penguin and cell phone, really cute, reminding myself to try to find it online when I get back.)

Travel Blog - 2006/03/27 - Tokyo, Japan

2006-04-28T13:59:00.000-04:00

P1000592
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Woke at 8, that sleeping pill was so strong! Called Jackie at 9, will meet in Akiba at 10. Out and bought bread and yogurt at ampm [¥252]. Ginza sen to Suehirocho [末広町] [¥190 x 2]. Wait for Jackie into front Sega world. Called him to confirm location [¥20]. Ate at 松屋 ¥390, walked behind Sega world to try to find the 2nd hand PDA store that Danny Choo talked about. Failed. Checked out the Softmap 2nd hand PDA store, which I had been last year (2005) Feb. They only have 2 SL-c3100 and they cost ¥54800!! Good thing I continue to search, went to e-trend and then PC-Bomber. Bought at PC-Bomber for ¥59800. [had to borrow ¥10000 from Jackie.

P1000594
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Walked around Akiba trying to find a maid cafe... Found one but it was packed. So finally ate at 定食 place [Jackie treat coz I had no money.]

P1000596
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

銀座線 to 渋谷 [¥570], 東横線 2 stations to Nakameguro (中目黒), I originally thought we'd be shopping there, but instead of shops, we found beautiful Cherry Blossoms along meguro river.

P1000607
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Took out my new Zaurus and used its Tokyo map software, walked up North through 代官山 to 渋谷. Walked to Bic Camera. Jackie left for work, we went to Citibank to get cash [¥35000], sat down at Segafredo to rest our legs. [Coffee ¥710]. Went to ドン。キホーテ, bought DS cover film [¥649], Book 1st, couldnt find good illustration books. QQ bought Animal Crossing stickers. Walked thru Center Gai to Loft. Bought 温泉たまご　maker [¥1029]. Decided to go home early. Stopped by Sakuraya on the way, bought sreen cover for my Zaurus [¥367].

P1000623
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

半蔵門線 to 青山一丁目 ¥160 x 2. Ampm bought instant noodle for dinner [¥295]. Back to hotel, eat, rest, watch TV (though not the paid channel even though "it sticks in 1 night, and it is ¥1,000 yen.) :D

Travel Blog - 2006/03/26 - Tokyo, Japan

2006-04-20T11:27:00.000-04:00

P1000581
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Arrived 16:15, watched a JPN movie - Always 三丁目の夕日 (Sunset on 3rd Street), about life in post war Tokyo in the 50's or 60's, during which time the Tokyo tower was built. It's typical Japanese - slow paced, funny, sweet and touching.

Got ¥80,000 from Citibank ATM, Queenie had motion sickness (乗物酔い), bought vitamin drink at conbini ¥147 for her to take medicine. Keisei Skyliner 17:14 to 上野 (18:15) ¥3960.

P1000580
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

銀座線 to 青山一丁目 ¥190 x 2, The area was really quiet, it was hard to imagine seeing such a quiet area in the midst of Tokyo... the only thing was the exits of this station were quite confusing. Once we found a point of reference, we followed the map and walked to Hotel Asia Center. Lots of gaijin staying here, the staffs all spoke good English. Checked in and called Jackie, 銀座線 to 渋谷 ¥160 x 2, met Jackie in front of Hachiko at 8:30.

P1000591
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Shibuya has so many gaijins now, 50 million of them standing right in front of Hachiko! Jackie doesn't look like a gaijin ABC no more, he was full on Japanese!! :) He was too camera shy though... Dude! U need to take mo pics of yourself! Your sisters would love to see you in Jap mode. LOL.

Ate at にんにく屋, afterwards went to buy motion sickness medicine and cosmetics at マツモトキヨミ薬 ¥6257. Walked around in Center Gai, bought drink at ドン。キホーテ (Don Quijote, or Don Quixote) ¥92, then stood in Excelsior cafe to chat (no seats, everywhere was full!), left at 11:00, 半蔵門線 home ¥160 x 2. Took sleeping pills and Zzzzzz.

6 Days 5 Nights Tokyo Hakone Detailed Itinerary ^_^

2006-03-02T11:34:00.000-05:00

0218_03_Ghibli
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Copied from:
(also listed on my Yahoo! Trip Planner - http://travel.yahoo.com/trip?pid=479780&action=view )
(TripAdvisor.com Japan forum - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298156-i860-k488783-6_Days_5_Nights_Tokyo_Hakone_Detailed_Itinerary_-Kanto.html )

OK folks, thank you so much for all the info by everybody, especailly edokko and Route246! Here's my detailed itinerary:

Mar. 26th, arrive Narita at 6pm, Keisei Skyliner to Ueno, Ginza-sen to Aoyama Icchome, check in at Asia Center Hotel. ( http://www.asiacenter.or.jp/ )
Meet up with Jackie, Oedo-sen to Roppongi for food and drinks. ( http://www.roppongihills.com/en/access/ )

Mar. 27th, morning - rush to Akihabara to get DS Lite (if they're in stock, but most likely they won't) and a Sharp Zaurus C3100 PDA. Eat lunch at a maid cafe? :P (Which one is good/famous?)
Afternoon, Shopping in Shimokitazawa / Daikanyama / Nakameguro. ( http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/421/feature.asp , http://www.shimokitazawa.org/ )
Dinner w/ friend(s) in Shibuya? ( http://www.bento.com/ra-shib.html )

Mar. 28th, Odakyu railway from Shinjuku to Hakone. (Need to buy tickets earlier to reserve seats, also may need to store luggages in lockers at Shinjuku)
Odakyu Hakone Free Pass ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html )
Hakone classic round course ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5210.html )
Check in at Yugiriso Ryokan (夕霧荘) at 3 pm. Relax, Onsen, Eat, Relax, Onsen, Sleep... Onsen ( http://www.jalan.net/jalan/jweb/yado/YADS_331833.HTML )

Mar. 29th, Check out at 10 am. Visit Ancient Cedar Avenue (major checkpoint along Tokaido, the highway which connects Edo and Kyoto during the Edo period.) ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5205.html )
Odakyu train back to Shinjuku. Option to walk around Shinjuku, else can go to Harajuku. (Meet with Ariko, Tina and Kaori?)
Check in at Yoyogi Youth Hostel at 5 pm ( http://www.jyh.or.jp/english/kanto/yoyogi/index.html )
Meet up with Ariko, Tina and Kaori for dinner in... anywhere.

Mar. 30th, Hanami (Cherry Blossom viewing) at Shinjuku Gyoen, then shopping again (Harajuku, Aoyama, Shibuya? Queenie's choice.)

Mar. 31st, Check out early, Hanami at Ueno Park. Then visit the Ameyoko market. ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3012.html )
Keisei Skyliner to Narita at err... 2 pm? Whatever. Done!

Shopping related links:
http://www.japanesestreets.com/jsnews/article/49/ - Great Tokyo shops for used clothing
http://www.tokyoessentials.com/shopping.html
http://www.tokyoessentials.com/ - This site has good maps for most popular areas like Shibuya & Shinjuku.

2006-02-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

The View from Taiwan: Taro Aso: Japan's Answer to Pasuya Yao?

Japan's Foreign Minister, Taro Aso's offensive remarks on Taiwan

Actually read this on Japundit first and got linked here. Interesting read on both sites. I think what needs to be said are already said in all the comments in those 2 sites. I am just going to write down a little of my own family history. (This is an online record of my memory afterall.)

My mom's father is Cantonese, but was born in Shanghai and for some reason, studied in American school. Hence he doesn't read/write Chinese! During the 2nd world war, he worked for the US Navy as a airplane mechanic on board of US's carriers! Pretty cool huh?! After the 2nd WW, there was the civil war (I think... Hey, I suck at Chinese history) and the fucking communist party won. My grandpa was offered 2 relocation choices by the US government. 1) Japan 2) Taiwan. He chose Taiwan obviously, because he was fighting the Japanese and he hated them. I guess this can particially explain why when the KWT(?) invaded Taiwan, they uprooted many Japanese establishments... (did they?) They fought agianst the Japanese for 8 yrs in China, and then lost their home to the fucking communists. Of course they're pissed! XD LOL (So, my mom grew up in Taiwan during the 1950's & 60's, and doesn't hold any grudge toward Japan.) I hold great respect for my grandpa. :)

My father is Shanghai-an (? No such word as Shanghai-nese?) His father and mother were both from wealthy Shanghai families. Grandpa even went to study abroad in Germany when he was young, and so did my father's eldest brother. Their entire family had to flee from Shanghai when the fucking communists started taking away everyone's money & possessions and beating / killing the wealthy and educated. They moved to Hong Kong, where my grandpa opened an unsuccessful stationary shop business and slowly depleted all of his family's fortune. :( Naturally, my grandpa hated the fucking communists... but he also hated the Japanese. His reasoning was that, if it wasn't for the Japanese, the communists party wouldn't have been born.

My father doesn't admit that he "dislikes" the Japanese, I don't really know what his reasons are... but he likes to buy China made electronics. He often say that "Nowadays, China made electronics are pretty well made, they can compete with Japanese made electronics." (My Dad is also a mechanic and an electrician, so whenever things broke, he goes and fix it himself!) :P

Isn't my family sweet? :P

I think on everyone's personal level, there's no point to hold grudges against a certain race or country for what their ancestors did in the past. These things are only used on a political level to manipulate people. There are too much beauty and love all over the world to stop one from travelling and meeting new people.

Enlightened, ain't I?

I still fucking hate communists Chinese though! :D LOL

2006-02-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

"Beautiful" "Girl" - the peril of Flickr Tags and Yahoo! Picture Frame widget

So recently I installed Yahoo! Widgets on my work computer. I'm not one who would normally install crap on any of my computers, but 1) my girlfriend installed it at her workplace and highly recommend it, and 2) it's from Yahoo!, so I owe it to them to at least install it at work, just to show that I have team spirit or company spirit or whatever. Well... as you would've probably guessed by now, I love Flickr... and this Picture Frame widget is PERFECT! I can put in tags and it will randomly show me pictures from Flickr! I loved it... until today... see, what words can you put in there? Beach, dog, cute, shiba, maltese, tokyo, london, japan, england... ... girl... "beautiful" "girl"...

Yup, it's work, so I can't put in shit like "sexy" "girl" or "boobs", so I put in "beautiful" "girl", and I swear to god this ho came up like 20 million times today! I was like "huh? really?!" went to check the tags I put in... yup, I had "beautiful" "girl" alright... WTF?! God Damn'it! I put in "beautiful" + "girl", I want pictures of actual "beautiful girls". I mean, this is gotta be the biggest problem with tags. The owner can tag whatever the fuck they want on their own contents. There has got to be an evolution to this tag thing, I mean... it's really great for searching 90% of the time, but because people can LIE, we'll get 10% of shit like this, completely ruining the whole experience.

How should we improve tags? As of now, flickr doesn't allow other people to add tags to your pictures unless they're in your friends & family list. This makes sense because the picture belongs to you, the owner. Let's say, if I take a picture of my errr... brain, and someone from come and tag it with "dumbass", I would be pissed too!

However, if someone does feel that I'm a dumbass, he should be allowed to keep that information to himself, right? What flickr has now is called "narrow folksonomy" (where only one set of tages are attached to an item). Given how slow flickr is when searching for multiple tags, I wouldn't be surprised that its tags are all stored in one big, denormalized table. (Hmm... may be I should try asking this internally, there ought to be documentation somewhere...) Anyway, without knowing the reality, my suggestion is to "upgrade" to "2-way tagging". There should be another table created to store all the tags that you have given out. So if the original table is like:

[table_tags]
[url]
[tags]

(When clicking on the URL, it grabs its tags by: SELECT tags FROM [table_tags] WHERE url='@url'; When searching for URL with a certain tag, it gets the URL by: SELECT url FROM [table_tags] WHERE tags='@tag'; If searching for multiple tags, then: SELECT url FROM [table_tags] GROUP BY url HAVING tags IN ('X','Y','Z'); (flickr doesn't use "LIKE", if you spell "mountai", it's not going to give you any pictures tagged with "mountain...")

Then, the new table can actually be a modification of the original table with additional fields:

[table_user_tags]
[user_id]
[tags]
[url]
[visible]

Hmm... this can actually replace the original table. Most of the tags will be added by the owner, so most will have the same user_id, visible is 1 (yes). Now, the friends and family can also tag the pictures, their user_id will be logged, visible is still 1. Finally, the new option for "everyone else" can be called "private tag" or "your own tag". These tags will have your user_id and visible is 0 (no). So, in the example of the fugly here... I can private tag it with "fugly". It's stored in the db but won't show up on the picture. When I query the tags, there will need to be a new "NOT" option:

SELECT url FROM [table_user_tags] GROUP BY url HAVING (tags IN ('beautiful','girl') AND (user_id='self' AND tags != 'fugly'))

2006-01-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

What was the first fucking thing I say?! Should've listened to me SUCKAAAAAASS!!!

It has been 4 months since we were first told about the Data Cleansing project, and finally, they've put out project plan 1.0, with what I had originally proposed on the first fucking day... HA!!! What did I tell ya?!! SUCKAAAAASSS!!! :)) LOL

Here's how the story goes... in Sept.'05, my manager and our relatively new Business Analyst (B.A.) pulled us into a meeting to tell us that, finally, the Data Cleansing project is about to start and we'll be responsible for it. Great!! My manager gave a brief sum-up of what has happened on the CRMS migration (upgrade) project so far. The key things I've learned from that meeting were 1) We'll be buying data from D&B. 2) Data Conversion team will come up with the migration logic to "put current data into correct places in future system". 3) We will be responsible for cleaning the data so that we can feed the future system with clean / meaningful data.

Now, what was my first statement on "what to do"? I said: "We need to know about Data Conversion's stuff. We should look at what their logic is, where they pull those data from, and do our cleansing against that set of data." MADE PERFECT SENSE, YAH? What did they say? "No, we don't need to know their stuff, we just clean everything!"

Since then, I've raised my objection at least 3 more times, each time our B.A. and managers reaffirmed that we shouldn't limit ourselves with Data Conversion's stuff, we should clean everything. So what happened? Our extremely creative B.A. went and came up with some truly spectacular projects - like "get all dinstinct values for all editable fields in CRMS"... shit that wasted a lot of my time, working late nights to pull him the data he needed to support his imagination. As expected, his spectacular projects were met with spectacular failures each time when he presented to the other teams in meetings. He got his ass handed to him every time, and it pissed me off b'coz what I've been saying were right! Somehow though, he continued to believe that he was on the right track and he "owns" the desgin process. The end result was a big arguement that took place after one meeting where he had just presented his "solution" to account merges - a spreadsheet with like 50+ columns that would show how accounts were merged together. Obvioulsy, it was shot down in the meeting,

I don't understand how some people can make up so much bull shit. "Why aren't more people interrigent, rike me!" LOL... I was so deep into his bull shit that I had completely lost sight of the big picture. I've said it before and I'll say it again... "Bad managers severely limit other people's productivity". Like how my B.A. was limiting me to work with senseless things that he had created.

The turning point came when some product manager from the corporation office in Sunnyvale had some high level questions about the goals and "expected results"... our B.A. couldn't confirm the answer and he let the corporate product manager ask me directly... that's when I finally got the break and think broader and deeper into the situation. (Those high level questions helped push me to create the solution.) I had to ignore the B.A.'s spreadsheet (and pretty much anything that his creative juice produced). With clear understanding of the project goals and end results, I synced up with the Data Conversion team, and was finally able to create the heart of this project... the complete process of Input/Output to feed and receive data to/from Data Conversion. (That's why in the beginning, I said we need to know about Data Conversion's stuff... it's coz we need to feed them with clean data! I was right!!!)

With this solid, technical piece created, I was finally able to stand firm and said "No dude! Look, here it is! I've created the entire process. THIS IS THE SOLUTION. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO DO." Just last week, we were able to formalize the project plan. The B.A. still writes the stuff, and it still has a lot of bull shit, but at least the "heart" of it all was written by me, and hence the process, even the spreadsheet output, now makes sense. He was able to present it to upper management and for the first time, got the approval. Today, we had our first "Thursday Data Conversion Meeting" in which everyone had looked at the plan and said it was good. :D LOL! ALL THANKS TO ME!!!

God I'm good!

Quote from Slashdot - Going Native Among the Users

2006-01-25T16:32:00.000-05:00

Manager of the Year
Originally uploaded by theoriginalbman.

The smart programmer ...

(a) Listens and nods his head while Management says "We want this, We want that" ... (chances are this is all wrong);

(b) Sits down with end users (secretaries, etc.) for a while, every day, staying out of their way but watching them work, and asking the occasional question;

(c) Figures out what the end users really want, need, will accept;

(d) Codes for the end user, then spins the thing so Management thinks they're getting what they (foolishly) asked for.

LOL... this is sooooo true!

http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175060&cid=14557868

Travel Blog: 2005 Nov UK - First Day - London

2005-12-29T12:46:00.000-05:00

1119_02_London
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

(First, let me say that this is more for my own nostalgic benefit than for you reading pleasure. It's basically a copy from my travel diary, which means it's going to be looooong... Pictures are up, they have been for a while now. I've been too lazy to do this blogging shit after I came back but at least I uploaded 335 pictures to flickr!)

11/18 Friday, 7:30pm Virgin Atlantic flight out of JFK airport. I must say, the food and service on VA is excellent! The best airline food I've had in years! We flew JAL last Feb to Tokyo and its food was great too, but Virgin was extravagant! Lavish!! Too bad I didn't actually eat it! :D I was way too sleepy from the sleeping pills I got from my doctor, man that stuff is great, they really knock you out cold!

Arrived London Heathrow at 7 am, 11/19 Saturday. (Had 6 hrs of sleep thanks to the pills.) London was cold! Took the "Tube" (London Subway) out to London. Needed to change to the District / Circle line but the thing about travelling in low season is, things are often not open or in repair! There was no service on those 2 lines that day! We got back on the Piccadilly line and changed to the Central line for St. Paul. Took the long way for a 270 degree view of St. Paul, and our hotel, Club Quarters, was right in front of St. Paul on Ludgate Hill Rd.

We got to the hotel at about 10 (Damn! Why did it take so long?!) There were 2 receptionists working, one of them kinda pretty. She has one of those bitchy looking face that reminds you of Posh Spice, cold and un-smiling, which makes you want to bitch slap her across the face! (But I must say, she's still prettier than Posh Spice!) LOL.

1119_01_London
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

It was too early, they don't check in until 11 am, we were going to leave our luggages at the counter but since we had no locks for them (thanks to airport security), it seemed kinda risky. So, we took them with us across the street to the only open store, Benjy's, for breakfast. Full English Breakfast! God I miss that stuff... baked beans man!! They are the best!! I don't understand why U.S. doesn't have it, instead we have porky beans(?), which tastes like shit.

Double decker buses had passed by a few hundred times, and 99.9% of them had Harry Potter ads on them! The street was slowly getting busy with tourists taking pictures of St. Paul. After we finished our food, we walked to the tourist info center on the South side of St. Paul. Got some maps and info on the bus tour. Went back to the hotel to check in. Wash up a bit and head back out for the "Original London Bus Tour". Passed by places where we could see the Swiss Re building, but couldn't take any picture of it coz the bus was going too fast!

1119_05_London
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Cross the King William Bridge(?) and arrived at the London Dungeon. This was something we planned to go, but not as one of the first thing, u know? But since we were already there, and could get half price and skip the line b'coz we were bus tour customer, we went anyway. London Dungeon stinks! Literally. I think they used some fake urine spray or something. Plus, they probably don't clean their toilets, which added some authenticity to the smell! :D I think the greatest value to the place was the actors and actresses. The people who worked there were all young and they put on quite a show, which leads me to think that they're all actors getting part time jobs there. Just like in NYC, you see a lot of beautiful people working as waiters / waitresses.

The interior designer for London Dungeon must've done a pretty good job, b'coz I constantly felt uncomfortable inside and couldn't wait to get out! Once out, we waited for and got back on the tour bus, it continued East on Tooley Street toward Tower Bridge. Now, at the corner of Tooley Street and Tower Bridge Road, was an excellent place to take picture of the Tower Bridge + Tower of London + Swiss Re Building. Unfortunately, the tour bus was driving too fast again and we didn't have the chance to take any pictures. Now people, a little advice, DO NOT go on bus tours on your first day in London. You'll just end up sleeping on the bus while listening to the headphones plugged into your ears. (The boring commentaries + jet lag will put you right to sleep, and you'll only be awaken by the pain in your ears caused by the poorly manufactured headphones.) We fell asleep and when we woke up, we were already on the far West side of London, around Buckingham Palace. 16GBP bus ticket went down the drains.

(OMG! Even I am tired of reading this... I should probably set up some "highlights" so I don't have to read through the whole thing. :P)

We finally got off at Oxford St., which is a major shopping area that was so crowded, it reminded me of Mong Kok (Hong Kong)! Queenie wasted 1GBP to make a phone call to her friend. 2 minutes later, we walked into "The Link" and got ourselves a Vodafone pre-paid SIM card. (The little bugger cost a whopping 10GBP, 9 being the cost of the card and 1GBP credit, I added 5GBP more credit to bring the total up to 15GBP!) London is too expensive. Walked East along Oxford St toward Oxford Circus, had a late lunch / early dinner (it was 4:30 pm) at an Italian place, when we got to Oxford Circus, we finally found "Top Shop". Queenie had been raving about this place since the beginning of our trip! She disappeared into the crowds and I went upstairs to the mens department. It's not that special, really... I spent like 5 minutes, then went back down and sat at the stools across from the escalator and wait for her. Queenie took her sweet time, (she said the check out line was long... Sure... ;). Afterwards, we called her friend Penny and asked her to meet us at the London Eye, and then we took the Tubes back to the hotel to drop off Queenie's new luggages.

From the hotel, we walked across the Millenium Bridge to the South side of Thames. Penny already arrived at the London Eye!! So now we were in a hurry! When you're in a hurry, you get lost! We wandered into the Tate Modern, then we were like, trapped in some small streets and couldn't get out, my knee was hurting and I was tired and Queenie was mad because we were late. Finally, we got out on to Southwark Street, there were no bus or bus stop in sight! We finally just took a cab and ride the rest of the way there (we were very close).

1119_13_London
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

1119_20_London
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

1119_21_London
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

It was like, 7:50 already and London Eye actually closes at 8! Can you believe it?! 8!! We hurried to get our tickets, and went for the 30 minutes ride. A lot of people could fit into one pod, and our pod had like... 15 ppl, which sucked. We were lucky with the weather though, the night was clear and we had a great view of London. The 360 degrees windows were intelligently designed so that you can take pictures with flash without the flash getting reflected!

1119_22_London
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

After the ride, we walked North along the water front, had (2nd) dinner at Giraffe. Then we walked across the foot/train bridge over to Embankment Station. The tubes that Penny needs were closed, so we walked up a bit more to Strand (Street). Penny took a bus home and we took a bus on the opposite side going West back to our hotel. FINALLY!!! END!!!

2005-11-28T14:25:00.000-05:00

Birthday card for co-worker Jose, picked one that jokes about "Casual Friday"

It was my colleague Jose's bday yesterday, and my boss IM'ed me this morning to get him a cake and a card. The card I picked has an old B&W photo of four men in their underwears and pajamas, and inside it says "Wishing you a birthday more exciting than casual Fridays!" If you haven't heard me rant about this yet, what happened was, aside from my part-time job working at a computer store, I've never had to abide to any "business dress code". This summer, when I started wearing clam diggers to work, (I 've always wore shorts to work in summer since my days at Microsoft.) my manager sent an email to the entire team about dress code. Since I'm the "worst" dresser in the group, I think that email was mainly directed at me, and now... I got this card! LOL... I just brought the card for my manager to sign too! Fortunately, she had a good sense of humor and laughed about it. (I don't know what she really thinks though.)

If u're intested, here's the email:

Guys -

Just a reminder about dress code - I have definitely seen us slacking this summer and want to address it because team appearance is very important to me. We sit in an open pit with the people we service and it is in our best interests to be as professional as possible.

In the manual it states: Dress Code: Business Casual. Business Casual is still professional dress - jeans are acceptable only on Fridays.

I want to expand this to clarify that T-Shirts (Logo, etc - not to mean short sleeve shirts), Shorts, Flip Flops, Wife-beaters, and any thing else that you wouldn't expect to see in a place of business is not acceptable.

I understand that exceptions may need to be made on an individual basis but I expect them to be exceptions and not the norm. Please make sure you are adhering to this policy going forward.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Honestly, I don't really care. At first I was like... "Shit! I'm in tech yo!! Why the fuck do I have to wear "biz casual"?! But the truth is, I'm fine with slacks and shirts... I was just not happy at having idiotic, completely unnecessary rules applied to a whole team of people! (I brought down the entire team b'coz I wore shorts.)

2005-11-17T17:17:00.000-05:00

Some cool site links for travellers to the UK

(note that this is in the order of my itinerary - starting from York, travel West through Yorkshire, South to Chester, West to Caernarfon Castle and Snowdonia in Wales, then South to Bath and Wye Valley, then one of Stonehenge / Salisbury / Wincester, finally Oxford and then back to London.

General info - http://www.visitengland.com/
- http://www.visitscotland.com/

York - http://www.locationyork.co.uk/
- Walking tours (Ghost Walk)
- Mont Clare Guest House (where we'll be staying)

Fountains Abbey (Ripon) - http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/
- Yahoo

Harrogate & the Yorkshire Dales - http://www.harrogate.gov.uk/harrogate-266
- Yahoo

Bolton Abbey - Yahoo
- http://www.boltonabbey.com/

Skipton - http://www.skiptonweb.co.uk/

Clitheroe - Yahoo

Blackburn - Yahoo

Preston - Yahoo

Chester - http://www.visitchester.co.uk/
- Bawn Lodge
- Devonia Lodge (where we'll be staying)
- Yahoo

Caernarfon - Yahoo

Llanberis - Yahoo

Snowdonia - Yahoo

Wye Valley - Yahoo

Bath - Yahoo

Oxford - Yahoo

London - Yahoo
- http://www.londontown.com/

2005-11-13T10:35:00.000-05:00

My Great Britain Trip, Helpful Suggestions, part 2

(My schedule)
Thanks, slight changes and more detailed

- 11/19 Arrive London, tubes to South Ealing, stays at Ealing Guest House.

- 11/20 7 am train departs from King's Cross to York, arrive 8:55.
York all day. stays in York.

- 11/21 Pick up hired car at York train station, drives A59 west,
Harrogate, Clitheroe, Blackburn or Preston. Stay at Chester.

- 11/22 West to Caernarfon Castle, South to Snowdonia. (Stay at Pen y
Gwydd, Snowdonia?)

- 11/23 drive through Snowdonia, Llanberis pass next to Snowdon IIRC
(A4086 rather than
A5) then to Betws y Coed and out. South to Bath. Stays at Bath.

- 11/24 Bath, Stonehenge (Cotswolds or the Wylie valley?) Stays at
Bath again.

- 11/25 Winchester, Oxford (or ditch Oxford and check back at hotel in
Ealing. More time for London.)

- 11/26 London, stays in Ealing.

- 11/27 Heathrow, early morning.

--

inglian says:

If you go to Stonehenge it would make sense to carry on to Winchester, rather than going back, since Winchester is a two-hour drive from Bath, whereas 'henge to Winch is about 40 minutes. I hope you like my home town. :)
www.flickr.com/photos/inglian/sets/1286585/

--

Dont miss Bolton Abbey which is just off the A-59 between
Harrogate and Skipton, its one of the most beautiful spots in
Britain IMHO.

Be aware that between Preston and Chester you can expect heavy traffic.

Have a good trip
Keith

--

>> York all day. stays in York.

Eat a typical pub lunch in the Royal Oak, try some the many real ales,
whilst you are there. The bell ringers from York Minster meet there.;
http://www.danieljackson.co.uk/pubs/pub/RoyalOak/

>> - 11/21 Pick up hired car at York train station, drives A59 west,
>> Harrogate, Clitheroe, Blackburn or Preston. Stay at Chester.

Duh he missed Fountains Abbey!

--

>- 11/22 West to Caernarfon Castle, South to Snowdonia. (Stay at Pen y
>Gwydd, Snowdonia?)

all sounds OK to me.
I checked spelling its pen y Gwryd, review at
"http://www.pyg.co.uk" although I couldnt get it to load when I
just tried. Theres also lots of accomodation in Betws y Coed and
the Tyn y Coed at Lanberis (thats where I always stay). But the
Pen y Gwrydd should have more atmosphere as your half way up the
hill, other quests, if any, will probably be hillwalkers waiting
for the weather to change!

Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

--

> - 11/20 7 am train departs from King's Cross to York, arrive 8:55.

A bit early, especially if you are making your way from South Ealing to
Kings +.
Alan Harrison

--

Much better and more manageable. Remember that you'll get the best
fare on your train to York if you book in advance and commit yourself
to a particular train. I'd recommend you to be at South Ealing tube
at 6am if you want to get the 7am train from Kings Cross. Book
through the train operator GNER directly at http://www.gner.co.uk/

>- 11/24 Bath, Stonehenge (Cotswolds or the Wylie valley?) Stays at
>Bath again.

Wye, not Wylie, valley: the nicest bits are along the road from
Chepstow to Monmouth. This is west of Bath while Stonehenge is south
and east: the distances aren't huge but doing both Stonehenge and Wye
Valley in a day trip from Bath would make a rather full day

>- 11/25 Winchester, Oxford (or ditch Oxford and check back at hotel in
>Ealing. More time for London.)

.. or possibly ditch Winchester and stay in Oxford; Oxford and
Winchester are both nice places but Oxford has more to see for a
visitor
Martin

--

Come to North West Scotland with the highest mountain in the UK and
some of the best scenery.

There are cheap flights into the four main Airports, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen and thereafter you will need to hire a
car.

Worth the extra distance and expense especially if the weather is
favourable.

Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com

--

Following up to Lindsay Boyd

>Worth the extra distance and expense especially if the weather is
>favourable.

in November, hmmmm.

Mike Reid

2005-11-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

My Great Britain trip, Helpful Suggestions on Google Groups

Here's the thread.

Some helpful suggestions:

craig_352 Pro User says:

I've used this site quite a few times:

http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/

It gives a wide range of places throughout the UK for a wide range of
prices.

--

In terms of calculating routes and distances, I find the AA route

planner at http://www.theaa.com/ gives reasonably accurate driving
times for the UK outside London, so long as you bear in mind that
these are best possible times and don't include either any times for
taking a break along the way, or delays due to traffic.

One other important point for the original poster: plan for short
daylight hours in November: it will be dark just after 4pm in London
when he is travelling and signficantly earlier in Scotland, which will
limit the scope for sightseeing, and mean that he may be doing a lot
of driving after dark

--

For day trips to Windsor, Oxford or Cambridge, for example, don't
drive... it will take you hours to find your way in the Town Centre and
then expect problems with parking (in Oxford, maximum 2 hours).

Have look at coach/bus services from London
www.gobycoach.com
or then go by train, usually more expensive
w ww.thetrainline.com

--

Why don't you use one of the mapping programs to check out driving times and
distances--like www.multimap.com. But you're going to spend all your time in
the car.

--

> Can anyone name some good discount car hire sites in the UK?

You could try http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/

--

I was think of this:
11/19 Arrive, London (Ealing stay)
11/20 Drive A1 North to Leeds, York (York stay)
11/21 A59 west, stop at Harrogate, Clitheroe (small unknown Lancashire
market town), Blackburn or Preston (for typical Lancashire towns) (Stay
at outskirts of Liverpool or Manchester)
11/22 If weather permits, then drive West to Caernarfon Castle, then
round south to drive by Snowdonia and come back East to meet M6. If
not, then I can stay in Liverpool for a day. (Stay at same outskits of
Liverpool.)
11/23 Manchester, then South to Cardiff.
11/24 Cardiff. (2nd night)
11/25 Bath, Stonehenge, Winchester (stay at Winchester)
11/26 Winchester, Oxford, London
11/27 Leave London in the morning.

--

Unless you have very specific reasons for visiting Leeds
I'd suggest heading straight up the A-1 to the A-64 turn off
and then go East into York and avoiding the city
That said the Royal Armouries in Leeds is well worth a visit
http://www.royalarmouries.org/extsite/view.jsp?sectionId=2222

I'd suggest staying in Chester rather than Manchester/Liverpool.
Its a much nicer small walled city with a good selection of restaurants
and is small enough to walk around.

(This isn't the first comment about skipping Leeds :P What's up with all the Brits dissing Leeds?)

--

How about taking a train to York and hiring a car in York, when you
have finished seeing York.

>11/21 A59 west, stop at Harrogate,

Visit Ripon and Fountains Abbey.

--

>11/20 Drive A1 North to Leeds, York (York stay)

4 hours, why Leeds?

>11/21 A59 west, stop at Harrogate,

I understand Harrogate is nice.

>Clitheroe (small unknown Lancashire
>market town), Blackburn or Preston (for typical Lancashire towns) (Stay
>at outskirts of Liverpool or Manchester)

I don't know Clitheroe, Blackburn or Preston other than as names.
Are you interested in what real everyday England is like, as
opposed to the interesting bits? (these places may be
interesting, I've never been).

From school geography that's the area of the old water powered
wool industry, later other industry.

A tourist site says:-
"Preston is on the River Ribble, and developed from a market town
to a centre of the textiles industry then into an engineering
centre, with large industrial plants. Its growth is reflected in
its buildings, including Winckley Square with its large houses
built on the profits of the Industrial Revolution.
The Guildhall, its arts and events centre, is being restored.
Preston North End, one of the oldest football clubs, now has the
National Football Museum."

I don't know what you are looking for, is that it?

>11/22 If weather permits, then drive West to Caernarfon Castle, then

Preston Caernarfon 3 hours max
The castle is good, so is the one at Harlech

>round south to drive by Snowdonia and come back East to meet M6. If
>not, then I can stay in Liverpool for a day. (Stay at same outskits of
>Liverpool.)

In November you should only get snow on the "tops" if at all,
(hill summits), its after Christmas most snow falls, but you
never know. I have visited Snowdnia in January for 20 years or so
and have only known the low roads with snow on once. I've seen
flooding though on several occasions.

Why not stay in Snowdonia rather than Liverpool suburbs?

I have never visited the Liverpool suburbs, wont it just be
housing estates?

After checking the weather forecast you could drive through
Snowdonia, Llanberis pass next to Snowdon IIRC (A4086 rather than
A5) then to Betws y Coed and out.
3 hours

I would rather stay in the Pen y Gwydd half way up Snowdon than a
Liverpool suburb. but that me, not you.

>11/23 Manchester, then South to Cardiff.
>11/24 Cardiff. (2nd night)
>11/25 Bath, Stonehenge, Winchester (stay at Winchester)

I would stay in Bath rather than Cardiff. I would probably cut
out Cardiff and have a bit of time around Bath, maybe the
Cotswolds or the Wylie valley and meander to Winchester and
Oxford on backgroads.

>11/26 Winchester, Oxford, London
>11/27 Leave London in the morning.

If it was me I would ditch half the big towns/cities and go for
some smaller places in scenic areas, but that's just me.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

--

So you don't intend to see anything of London? Lots to see there. Also lots
to see in Bath and environs. I assume day 11/26 is dedicated to Oxford,
otherwise again you're doing too much that day. In general, cities, whether
big or small, offer more sight-seeing options in off-season (rainy, dark,
cold) weather.
Marianne

--

Like (the other) Martin I'd be inclined to go to Leeds and York by
train and then pick up a car. Both have good train services to London
and within both cities you don't need a car. York in particular is
best seen on foot. Why not see if you can arrange a one-way car
rental to pick up in York on the morning of 21st and to drop off at
Heathrow on your departure? A bonus is that you'll be getting used to
driving on the left outside London and (hopefully) once you've slept
off your jet-lag.

I'd second Keith W's recommendation to stay in Chester rather than
outskirts of Liverpool: easy access to Liverpool in one direction and
North Wales in the other, plenty of accommodation, and a nice place to
visit in its own right.

Cardiff is a pleasant enough city but, given how tight your schedule
is, seems an unlikely choice for a two-night stay. Bath or Bristol
would have more to offer a visitor, or you could explore a rural area
in south Wales such as the Brecon Beacons, or the Wye Valley right on
the English/Welsh border

Winchester is a lovely cathedral city, but so is Salisbury, which is
very close to Stonehenge and for that reason alone would be a better
choice for a stop.

I still think it's a lot of driving, though much less excessive than
your original plan, and I still think that the dark evenings are going
to be a bigger constraint on travelling outside cities than severe
weather
Martin

2005-11-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

Complaints about my cheap landlord - Part 2

Sorry to keep ranting, but blog is actually a good way to document what is happening so that in the future, you can use it as evidence or a reference in time if needed.

So last time there was the heat problem, the truth is, I've gotten a nasty cold because of it... It was so bad that even after my 10 days of antibiotics, I was still sick! (I finished the anitibiotics on Monday and starting late Tuesday, I began to feel it come back again!) Luckily for me, I finally had a good sleep on Friday and it became better, so I knew it was a slight flu instead of the same cold. I took some NyQuil (My favorite drug in the whole world!! :D) and slept some more. I'm feeling much better now. (But still not completely out of it.)

I'm documenting here because according to NY state's tenants' rights, I can sue to lower my rent because my landlord couldn't provide the necessary utilities, which are supposed to be included the rent payment.

Now this morning, we had a bit of a drama. Queenie was ready to leave for work, (I was finishing some pre-breakfast) when she suddenly screamed about can't opening the door. I gave it a try, sure enough, the nob won't turn... we were locked in!! You know from my previous post that a) this Greek landlord is cheap, b) he had recently installed a new lock. So this lock is NEW!!! I called the super up, Jerry, and once again, he was like... "OK, I try to come this morning." What the fuck do you mean "try to come"?! We're fucking locked in!!!! What if there's a fucking fire you fucking fuck!!! I knew I can't rely on him, so I began to take the lock apart by unscrewing the face plate, but then I realized what a hell of a mess it will become and also I can't guarantee that I can open the door. So I screwed the plate back in, took a look at the door crack, and I remembered... "Hey! I used to be able to pick these door locks from the outside with a subway ticket! Now I'm inside, it should be even easier!" I gave it a try, I found a piece of thing metal, (since I don't have to bend around a corner to reach the hinge) slide it in, and *click*, the door was opened! HAHA!! It turned out, there's a button on the lock's side panel for switching the "auto lock" on and off. We had it "off" so that we can just go outside to throw away trash and not get locked out. Somehow that button was switched to "on" last night, but still, it's only supposed to lock the outside nob, not the inside!!!

Anyway, once again, I'm documenting this because according to NY State tenant's guide, landlord is supposed to provide safety measures, like intercom and working door locks. Our building has no intercom and my door lock is broken. So if we ever get burglarized, we can sue for damages.

2005-10-30T20:27:00.000-05:00

NYC - Greek landlords in Astoria (Cheap)

I had previously posted in my Yahoo!360 blog about my cheap landlord not fixing the water heater for more than a week, forcing my gf to take ice cold showers. Now, it's end of October and the bastard still hasn't turned on the heat for us. Man, and I thought only Asians were that cheap! LOL... This landlord and the superintendent are families, they obviously own quite a few buildings in Astoria, a traditionally Greek neighbourhood. (Astoria is supposed to host the largest young Greek population outside of Greece.) After moving to Astoria, I found out that Greeks are not that much different from the old Chinese immigrants.

I've heard that there are old Chinese immigrants that moved to NYC and never set foot outside of China town. They have lived here all their lives but can't speak a word of English. Apparently, this kind of "living only within your own people's community" is not limited to the Chinese. The Greeks, the Jews, Italians, Blacks, Hispanics... actually, come think about it... most people only live within their own communities... hence all the segregated neighbourhoods in NYC...

Anyway, my super, I have to call him up to get him to do anything! And it's hard to communicate with him 'coz his English sucks... Last Friday, our door lock finally broke down. I called him up and he came, took the lock out, showed me that the inside was bent and sort of accused me of breaking it! I said it has always had problem ever since we moved in. He said he would buy a new lock and install it the next day (Saturday), he never came. I had to call him again Saturday night, then again Sunday morning to get his ass down here. When he finally fitted the lock, he said he would sent the bill to me! I was like "Fuck that!! I didn't break it, u should've fixed it before we moved in." God damn!! The super drives a fucking Mercedes, we pay a whopping $1600 a month for rent and somehow, we still have to endure ice cold water, no heat and pay for our own lock?!

And what's up with the other tenants?! Why aren't they complainning?!!

I have the NY State Attorney General's "Tenant's guide" in my hand, so I know my rights and I know I can sue my cheap-ass landlord to lower my rent payment because they don't provide the necessary "utilities" which was include in the rent. I think I should try suing. What have I got to lose? :D

My Nov'05 Great Britain trip research

2005-10-30T12:36:00.000-05:00

domokun-paddington station
Originally uploaded by shboom.

The kind folks at flickr's "England" group had responded with many useful tips! See this thread.

Also, here's a reply from my good friend Evan from Issaquah High School.

On 10/26/05, Wang, Nicholas wrote:

> Not sure yet, I just know Bath, Yorkshire, Edinburgh are musts, I'm
> still doing research. Hey your wife is from England, ask her to give
> me some ideas!
>
> Driving… I want to save money by renting a manual, but I'm afraid
> that'll be too much for me to handle… manual + wrong side of the road. :D LOL

-----Original Message-----
From: Evan Tsang
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 10:53 PM
To: Wang, Nicholas
Subject: Re: Yahoo Travel - Create a share trip itineraries !!!!!

what?? i thought you knew how to drive manual...and you're from HK,
so wrong side of the road = no problem!

it's not that hard, actually. The big thing to remember (other than
which side of the road you're supposed to be on) is to LOOK RIGHT...ha
ha, i almost got run over by a bus crossing the street because i
forgot to look right instead of left. Oh, and don't bang your hand
against the door reaching for the shifter. It kinda hurts (ummm...or
so I've heard, LOL)... at least when you do it more than once...

Yorkshire is where Vicki is from. Hit Manchester--it's a great city,
and their Chinatown is pretty nice. We ate at East, which is a good
restaurant. For something a little less "big cosmopolitan city" and
more "England" go to York. The old city (near the main Cathedral) is
absolutely charming (except for the Starbucks).

Also Liverpool is terrific. The docks and their clubs are pretty
cool. And don't go looking for Penny Lane (made famous by a Beatles
song). All the street signs are stolen, including the ones they
painted onto the bricks of hourses. They just took the bricks too.

Haworth is definitely also worth visiting, but I guess only if you
read any of the Bronte sisters' novels (like Wuthering Heights).
Hell, read one of them before you go and you'll have a better
appreciation of the novels. You'll definitely get an appreciation of
the English countryside. It's very pretty, very nice.

Oh, you'll have to try Yorkshire pudding while you're in Yorkshire.
I like it with roast beef best. Doesn't taste anything like the crap
they serve here. And black pudding. I won't tell you what it is.
Just try it and email me, I'll tell you afterwards. You should have
no problem...you're Chinese, and we eat everything...!!

If you want to see where Vicki is from, go to Halifax...not much to
see there, I guess, although it's a small English town. I think it's
real charming, but I'm biased since my other half is from there.

Yorkshire isn't all that small (there's Yorkshire and West Yorkshire),
it really depends on what you want to see while you're there--the big
touristy stuff or the smaller stuff.

If you get to go to Wales (which is opposite the way of Scotland),
Cardiff is a blast. Great city. Lots of places to walk around, an
old castle to see, etc. etc. Nice clubs too. Didn't get to see much
else of Wales, but I've heard there's some other neat stuff too.

Never been to Scotland...always wanted to go though.

Oh, you'll also probably see why they wanted to take over the world.
All in all, the weather on that little Island is shit... It's also
kinda small, relatively speaking. And definitely not sunny.

Find some nice small roads to go on. They are an absolute blast. I
bet you can find some resources on the web to tell you where some
great drives are. Apparently there are a lot of them in Scotland as
well... I think car magazines might be a good resource too.

Oh, drink some Guinness while you're there, as well as McCaffreys. If
you like beer at all...well, even if you don't. You might afterwards.

Fish & Chips: get 'em from a fish & chips shop (you won't be able to
sit there and eat 'em). They'll fry up the fish and the chips....ask
them to put salt & vinegar on the chips...and they'll put 'em in wax
paper and newspaper. Take 'em back to the hotel and eat 'em there.
The wax/news paper will soak up some of the grease and it'll taste
great with the salt & vinegar.

Oh, you'll be there during Thanksgiving...lots of Christmassy things
going on. Roasted chestnuts aren't bad...mulled wine tastes like
shit. Their crepes with lemon (i think it's like a jam) and cream are
great.

Gregg's pastry shops... try the sausage rolls and cream cakes.
Fantastic and cheap. Actually all of Gregg's food seems fantastic and
cheap. Hot, too, where appropriate (sausage rolls...hot. cream
cakes, cold). They make enough to sell for the day so don't get there
late in the afternoon, or they'll have nothing left. Apparently there
are 1000 shops in the UK, so you should be able to find one. Somehow
they're a chain but still good (and cheap!).

If I can think of anything else I'll let ya know (I've been to England
quite a few times by now, as you can see). I'll also ask Vicki for
some hints...

Hope you have fun, I've had fun every time I've been there...!!!

2005-10-27T10:55:00.000-04:00

Fucking Dell! Give me back my camera!!

(This is a complaint email I sent to Dell today.)

Problem Description:

I phoned in to buy the Canon S1 IS digital camera to make sure I can get it before my vacation! It was supposed to ship yesterday 10/26. I went to check its status yesterday and found that the order was cancelled!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I chat and they said they're not order support, told me to call. I called and the rep said my order was cancelled by "Customer Request"!! How dare you lie like that!! I DID NOT REQUEST TO CANCEL MY ORDER! I NEED THAT CAMERA FOR MY TRIP TO ENGLAND NOW!!!!!! I've already bought memory and accessories fitting that camera too!!!! And I've used my coupons that was sent to me in the mail. You cancelled my order and I lost at least an extra $100!!!!

The CSR then said there's nothing she can do, I'll need to put in the order again, and then forwarded me to sales, but that line was disconnected!!!!!!!!!!! What kind of service is this?? Not honoring my order, not letting me know it was cancelled, extremely hard to get help, and help leads to no where!!! I'm definitely going to file a complaint with the BBB about this!!!
What are you going to do about my camera?!

***********************************************

Sent To: us_csd@dell.com
Referring URL:
Date Submitted: 10/27/2005
Date Received(K): 10/27/05 09:48:47 AM

Cosplay hierarchy (I'll be the hero, you'll be the dog.)

2005-10-12T11:25:00.000-04:00

Jackie's TGS 2005 shots
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

This pic really cracked me up... I wonder how they decided who is going to be whom. It could be just a simple game "Stone, paper and scissors", or perhaps the "Senpai / Kouhai" hierarchy also exists in the cosplay community.

Yes, a useless blog entry, I know... I'm just trying to link up my flickr to here so Google can pick it up. Cloneofsnake cloneofsnake CloneOfSnake!! :D

8/25 Fire Next Door at 3am

2005-08-26T00:15:00.000-04:00

0825_04_Fire_Next_Door_at_3am
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

God Damn'it Yahoo 360, I had blogged about this through my Yahoo Messenger, but apparently it didn't go through. Fuck it, it's so much easily to blog from flickr to blogger. So anyways...

Queenie woke me up in the middle of the night, saying something's happening outside. I'm glad she's so alert in her sleep, as I'm the kind that can sleep through an earthquake on the 19th floor of a Hyatt in Tokyo! I woke up, took a glimpse outside of the window, a fire truck was parked right outside and it was extending its ladder at that moment... There were many people standing right below my 2nd floor apartment... the flashes of emergency lights made the scene almost surreal. The first thought in my mind was, "Suurrrrreeeaaaal... woooo.... I should take a picture..." But the next thing I saw was smoke blowing across my window, and so we decided to go downstairs to check out what happened. (Leaving Siu Bak and Yoyo behind :P )

Turns out it was the 5th floor apartment next to us, some cardboard on the wall caught fire or something. We stood there for about 5 minutes, meanwhile some paremedics arrived, but the fire fighters are packing up, so that means the fire had already been put out. So, we went back upstairs and zzzzzz...

It was 3 am in the morning, yet there were quite a few young couples that were just returning home from a night of partying... That should tell you that this neighbourhood is pretty hip and safe. ;-)

Queenie loves We love Katamari Damacy

2005-08-02T16:15:00.000-04:00

0726_QQ_PS2_cotton_pads
Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

We don't have the first Katamari Damacy but I heard it's a great game, so I got part 2. I wasn't too impressed with it but Queenie absolutely loves it. She got so into the game she was swearing and throwing the controller and shit. This is the same lovely girlfriend of mine that yelled at ME when I was pissed off playing Zelda or whatever... She got pissed off at me and said "Why do you get so upset, it's just video games, if you can't control your temper then stop playing!" HA! Hypocrite!! So guess what I said to her... ;-)

Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny, and it kind of remind me of Old Grandma Hardcore, except grandma is on my level of "talking trash to the game characters"... hilarious!

http://oghc.blogspot.com

This photo in hosted on Flickr! The coolest and best photo sharing site on the net. Check out my photos.

2005-07-31T02:18:00.000-04:00

Management 101 - by Nicholas Wang

Saturday night, went to watch Fantastic 4 with Queenie and Miho. The subway was packed on the way back, it really sucked! The reason why I like living in Astoria is b'coz it's less crowded than Manhattan but is still pretty close to everything. I really hate it when I'm going home in a packed subway.

Anyway, on my way back, I was thinking of work (yes, my mind skips all over the places all the time). I'm revising the scripts for account suspension, which was developed 9 months ago, also by me. It's in testing stage now and I need to set up the entire testing procedure and shit. I could've started doing testing early last week, but since moving to the Sales Ops department, I've been binded by a lot more "rules" and red tape. One of the rule is, I can't communicate directly with anyone outside of our department anymore, and that for me is a real pain in the ass. After finishing development, I had to send a written report to my manager, and then she'll communicate on my part to the programmers in MIS, and come back to me with the "OK go ahead", along with her expectations to see the resulting changes to current data once my new script runs. Basically, what could've been a 2 hours communication with MIS directly by myself, is now changed into a week turn-around time.

It's kind of funny, there's a Chinese proverb - "When you hang around with 3 persons, you must be able to learn from at least one of them." Now I understand that not only can you learn from others who are better than you, but you can also learn from others' mistakes! :D

When I was in the Data Quality department, I had started a simple doc called "Management 101", it's all stuff I learned from my manager at the time. I learned a lot from him, but it wasn't until now that I realized what's the greatest thing about his management style. My current manager is very strict, she values structure very highly, she doesn't like her staff going around her back to ask other people anything because she said it would make her look bad. If possible, she likes to control every little detail of what you do. On my ride home, I realized that the result of this method is that your staff will grow dependent of your intructions, and in the long run, you'll find that your will always have to "tell your staff what to do", they won't know how to take initiative and be "self-reliant". This method SUCKS when implemented on creative minds and developers. It's basically stopping the creative train with rules. My last manager in comparison, was the exact opposite. He let me know early on that he expected me to explore and find errors in the system and then fix them (hence Data Quality). When I have questions, I would ask him first as he was very knowledgable of the business, but he also encouraged me to go directly to the source and ask people in other departments. We would have weekly meetings and he would ask me what I've found and what I'm working on. He would ask me questions, provoking me to think deeper into the issues that I had found, and in many cases his questions would let me to discover broader problems. I learned a lot and came up with a lot of ideas. When I present my ideas to him, a lot of times he would shoot them down... but he also told me to not give up so easily. Basically, I learned that my manager may shoot down my ideas a lot, but if I think I've got a good thing, don't be afraid to argue with my manager! Under this management method, your staff will become highly creative and self-reliant. Like myself, I alone attacked the ONE problem within our company! I asked the right people about the products we offer, the databases' structures... I single-handedly created the database view that became the "bridge" of two systems. I came up with the ideas, initiated projects, developed, implemented and then moved on to the next project. I know that the biggest problem with this is that it lacks structure, but I still think it's the better way. We should let ideas flow at the top and put "helpers" on the side to help with organizing and documenting.

2005-07-25T20:46:00.000-04:00

Made a new friend on the subway on 7/20

I didn't think it could happen but it did. 7/20 was another regular Wednesday of any week, I got off work at 6:30, got on the F line at 14th St, change to N, W line at 34th St. I stuck my foot into the closing door of the W train but the damn operator wouldn't open the doors. I gave up, got on the next N train and sitting directly in front of me was this girl with what looked like the British version of Harry Potter 5 - the Order of Pheonix. I took out my PDA and continue to read my Harry Potter 6 on eBook format. When it was close to my stop, I thought I'd ask her if it was in fact the Brits version and if she had gotten it here in NYC. Turns out she was from Germany and she got the book in Germany. It was fun chatting with her, we got off at the same stop, chatted for a while longer, then we got each other's name and phone number and parted ways.

NYC is so full of people who don't care for each other. On the subway each day, we see hundreds of people. Most probably don't believe they will ever make a friend on the subway! But I guess it could happen. This is the just like getting blown up in a suicide attack actually... the right time, the right place, the right train, the right seat... you make a new friend, you get blown up. It's all written down in your fate. >:)

Flickr

2005-07-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

2005-07-22T11:56:00.000-04:00

Testing, first post from inside of blogger