kunwei2005

I bought a new water bottle for my 3.5-year-old daughter yesterday. She saw it during the dinner, and wanted to go back the daycare with the new cup right away. This morning she woke up so early by herself, not her style at all. Now I know why. She insisted on carrying the new bottle on her own. Once arriving school, she showed it off to her teachers, without saying a word. The teachers said, "Wow, you got a new bottle". She seems very happy about it. What a simple life the small kid has!

I am in a small-group training session. In my group, there are 3 ladies--one from Singapore, one from Korea, and one from Japan. Surprisingly, before their self-introduction, I can tell their race and my guess is 100% correct. Each of them has very typical facial structure of her own race. Once they speak English, their accent makes distinguishing easier. Lots of factors determine or effect how people look in a very subtle slow way. One example, after Asian people migrate to US, it usually becomes harder, generation by generation, to tell which country she/he is originally from. Become fused all stature, color and texture of skin/hair, makeup mode, and language.

© http://www.tintin.com/ This weekend I went to Popular bookstore. I was so happy when I saw Tintin series on the bookshelf. They are just imported from UK. Tintin used to be quite popular figure in China (10 years ago?). I bought 7 stories. They costs SGD75. Nice!

Less and less ideal places to smoke. It is so windy recently. To light a piece becomes hard. And smokers have to share with wind. Well, on the good side, at least it is not cold in Singapore. I remember during the winter at Chicago, it is freaking cold to stand outside, hiding between building corners, and smoking like a guilty person. Not anymore, now there are many pretty Singapore girls smoking.

A couple days ago, a sex video clip about a female Chinese graduate student Wang Ting Ting (王婷婷) was posted on the internet. Just as it is about to cool down, another sex video clip pops. It is a sex clip of a Singapore Nanyang Polytechnic student . The video clip was stored on her cell phone. Someone stole it and posted the video clip on the Internet. This is a breaking news. It is even reported on major Singapore and Malaysia newspapers. Now we have so many cool gadgets. It is a breeze to shoot photos/videos, and share them on the internet. Everyone, even dog, is on the internet waiting for breaking news. Be careful when you do something secret or stupid. It may appear all over the world, live!

© http://www.slingmedia.com/slingbox/ It seems that watching TV is getting more and more important for us. It becomes so important that we can't afford to miss a single episode. Many buzz words are around this - IPTV, TiVo, Media Center, Video on demand, ... One of the recent innovative products is Slingbox. A small gadget sits on TV sets, and can stream and record the TV to PC over the network, wired or wirelessly. I don't buy this. I'd rather to read some books or discuss in BBS.

Hisys (Han Xin) DSP was developed by an abroad-trained scholar Chen Jin in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Han means China. From the name of these chips, you can image how proud China is about their development. Now an anonymous post on the BBS told a quite different and shocking story about Hisys DSP. The chips were actually MOTO-freescale 56800. Labels on MOTO chips were scratched off and reprinted with Hisys. About Hisys DSP from http://ic.sjtu.edu.cn/kyxs/kyssb.asp "汉芯一号"是国内第一款自主研发、速度达到200MHz并采用0.18微米工艺流片的16位定点数字信号处理器。2002年2月26日，"汉芯一号"高性能（16位）DSP芯片项目得到王阳...

I attended a MPG -- Managing Personal Growth--training program. It takes 2 days and costs USD350. My company paied for it and I don't need work during these 2 days. The MPG program asks the trainee to identify the top 5 values from the list (Achievement, Advancement, Adventure, Competitiveness, Cooperation, Creativity, Economic Security, Fame, Family Happiness, Freedom, Friendship, Health, Helpfulness, Inner Harmony, Integrity, Involvement, Loyalty, Order, Personal Development, Pleasure, Power, Recognition, Responsibility, Self Respect, Spirituality, Wealth, and Wisdom), and align them with your job. Ideally, after these 5 values are indentified, it becomes easy to make decision based on them. I really doubt a person can stick to the same 5 values as circumstances change.

Living in apartments are common, in big cities. We hardly know our neighbors in the same floor, not to say those living upstairs and downstairs. Maybe some polite greetings in elevators. That's all. Sometimes, we get a chance to meet the upstairs. Not in a pleasant way though. My direclty-above neighbor(s) gets up early than me. Strange enough, there often is 1 or 2 minutes chopping noise right above my head. So referred as strange, because it happens in bedroom, not in kitchen. This morning I was waken up at 5 AM by such noise. In order to make sure it was from the upstairs, I actually went outside and spotted that the only light on is on top of my bedroom. Nobody else wake up so early! I knocked at the door. A 30-year-old lady opened the door. Surprisingly, she denied she had made any such kind of noise. Well, WTF. I know she knows what I am talking about. Next time, I won't be so nice.

（一）一个年轻美貌的英语老师上课， 叫学生们ABC. 让大家跟着念。老师发现有个学生不念B. 就问他为什么。 学生说，“妈妈说， B不是个好词，不让我说“。 老师说，”你妈妈的B和老师的B不是一个B. 你妈妈的B是用来骂人的。我的这个B是外国人用的“。 （二）有一对双胞胎。一个叫出来，一个叫进去。出来有一个游艇。进去有一个体弱多病的老婆。有一天，出来的游艇沉到海里了。祸不单行。不久进去的老婆也死了。一天出来在街上逛，一位进去的朋友碰见他， 以为是进去。就表示了一下同情。 朋友说，”咳，听说她不在了“。 出来说，”我早就知道它要出问题。前面裂了个缝。后面破了个洞。还常漏水。前一阵还被朋友借去用个几天“。 第一个笑话是电视上看的。费玉清看见下面观众里学生不少， 讲了这个笑话。 第二个是新加坡97.2FM广播里讲的。

When it gets dark, it is always hard to take photos. With flash or not, the image sucks. So, this new innovation looks very promising. First Nanotechnology-Based Image Sensor Debuts in the United States at CES LAS VEGAS, NV -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 01/05/2006 -- Planet82 Inc., a global leader of nanotechnology, announced today the first U.S. demonstration of its innovative and highly sensitive image sensor, Single Carrier Modulation Photo Detector (SMPD), which uses nanotechnology to enable cameras to take high resolution photos or video in the dark -- without a flash.

Not easy nor satisfying. There are just a few chain bookstores around Singapore, for example, Popular bookstore, Times bookstore. After lunch today, I find a bookstore through the category of Marina Square mall . I go there and find out it has gone out of business. It pretty much shows the situation in Singapore. The titles in bookstores are very limited. The selections are far far way behind US bookstores (e.g. B&N, Borders), or China bookstores/malls. Take Popular bookstore as an example, 80% of its items are school textbooks and references, and pens/notebooks stuff. Part of the store is for magazines and CDs. In the very small IT section, most titles are user guides for XP, Mac, Photoshop and Acrobat. Online bookstore is also far behind. It is reasonable as same as other online shopping business. Singapore is so small, why shop online?

新加坡2月16日上演 , 而且不是全岛院线, 只是在几个电影院上映. 电影也定到了最限制级R21. 到了此刻, 假8项奥斯卡提名, 4项金球大奖, 已是好评如潮, 气势如虹了, 导演又是才华横溢, 温文尔雅的李安, 岂有不看的道理. 新加坡的英文对白电影大都加了中文字幕, 德州口音虽然不好懂, 到也不影响理解. 真是一部好电影. 两个牛仔的感情故事, 娓娓道来, 行云流水般的. 李安把他对东方美学的理解, 淡淡的细腻的忧伤的美, 自然的融合于美丽而广袤的美国西部旷野之中. Rodrigo Prieto的摄影也是神来之笔. 在他手下, 山和水都象是通了人性, 生动了起来. 本来同志题材的电影, 没有好的驾驭能力, 很容易给观众尴尬甚至可笑的感觉. 这部电影, 观众最后应该都被两人之间的情感故事所触动了把. 电影本身讲的是两个牛仔跨越二十多年的情感故事. 因为社会的传统, 两人都娶妻生子. 但是在分开四年后又见面时, 真正藏在内心的自然感情又迸发了出来. Jack知道自己需要的是什么, Ennis则更加矛盾, 内心充满了挣扎, 在自然的人和社会的人之间游离. Ennis因为从小成长的环境, 显的更加孤寂和矛盾, 对自己的欲望充满了否定. 也许不是在几乎与世隔绝的断背山上, 他也永远不会爱上另外一个牛仔. 电影从另一个角度解读了人和人之间的爱. 很多时候, 不只是同性恋, 还有很多因为各种各样于周围的社会不融合, 非主流, 甚至逆流的原因, 使得情感更加脆弱而珍贵, 坚持也更加艰难. 很多时候, 人对抗社会的力量又显的那么微不足道. 当Ennis去访问Jack童年的家, 从一个隐蔽黑暗的角落里, 发现Jack和Ennis在断背山时穿的两件衬衫, 里外挂在一起的时候, 电影要表达的东西, 也在这两件衬衫上淋漓尽致的表达出来了.

When try to post a blog in Safari, the GUI is very basic comparing to Firefox/IE in Windows XP. The toolbar just has 'Check Spelling' and 'Add Image' 2 buttons, not a whole bunch of html rich buttons in Firefox/IE. Click 'Check Spelling' button, the popup window doesn't work as it should at all. At the bottom, there is no 'Post and Comment Options' toolbar in Safari. Safari itself so far is the best web browser in Apple. For a blogger.com blogger, Safari still has some spaces for improvement.

Millenia Walk is located across the street from Suntec City Carrefour. It is also a hub to Marina Square. The roof is the same style as Millenia Tower. From inside, look up, the roof of Millenia Walk looks dazzling.

The view of Singapore city from the Esplanade atrium. Nice and perfect match of a summer evening. Since there is only one season in Singapore, you can catch it anytime. People are chilling along the river bank. Some amateur bands are performing. A few vendors are selling cotton candy, soda drinks.

Myopia is a problem in Singapore. As of 2004, 80% of 18-year-old mail recruits are myopic, up from 25% just 30 years ago. People believe it maybe related to Asian genes. Who knows, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, China, lots of people are wearing glasses. I think it maybe related to the life style change in these countries. We are now living in an environment that all you see everyday are nearby. Sitting in front computers. Buildings all around. For small kids, they are spending more time than before on close objects - books, video games, TV, computers. There are new tech to cure, such as laser eye surgery. It sounds scary to me in a long run. Maybe it is time for human being's sight gene to adjust.

2006 is the dog year in China lunar calendar. There are lots of good expectations in this year because dog is man's best friend. Chinese love to get married in dog year, and get baby born in this year too. So good wishes here! This dog is made with clay, and looks really cute. Yes, it is Shaanxi fork art too.

Once a week, I pump the car. The major gas stations are SPC, Shell, Chevron, and Mobil. The gas price is regulated by Singapore Government. So it doesn't matter which gas station you go, the price is the same. To attract customer, the gas stations issue the loyalty card. You can accumulate the points and get some rewards in turn. I pumped the car at Shell Boon Lay. The gas is labeled as Shell 98, 95, and 90. For Shell 98, it is SG$1.757/L. With 42.12 litres (my car is 55 litres capacity), the total is SG$74.00. After 10% discount, it is SG$66.60. I also accumulate 42 points.

金台观就在陕西宝鸡市区北面的原上，近的很。现在也不用爬坡, 打的直接到门口。金台观是明代著名道士张三丰所建，用来修炼的所在。金台观里的玉皇阁，三清殿、太子殿、灵官殿、白衣大士殿、太皇宫、娘娘殿等都很有特色。据说张三丰在这里悟出可太极拳和内家拳， 自然道的修为也是出神入化。现在里头还有一棵张三丰当年种的树。我喜欢去金台观，因为比较幽静，而且还可以鸟瞰宝鸡市区全景。过去观里还有个青铜器博物馆。里头的东西都是商周时代的， 很有历史意义啊。现在在公园附近新建了个青铜器博物馆， 东西都搬过去了。金台观就越发的幽静了。 正所谓古诗云：不为依陈宝，浮云自往来。三峰留玉洞，一杖下金台。海岳归何处？君王召不回。无生本无地，人世漫徘徊。

Heard this company for the first time during lunch, and wiki it. Wow! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temasek_Holdings

I tracked this list for several years. Very interesting list for IT certification enthusiasts. The Top 10 for 2006 are 10 Linux Professional Institute Certification, Level 2 (LPIC 2) 9 Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) 8 MCSE: Security 7 Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) 6 Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) 4 Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) 4 Project Management Professional (PMP) 3 Microsoft Certified Architect 2 Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist: SQL & .NET 1 Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) The trends are Microsoft is still the big guy, Security is critical for cyber anti-terrorism, Linux getting more attensions, and certified by Cisco is the best bet in Networking. Something missing on this list is programming and database. PMP, MCSE, MCAD, MCP, SCWCD, SCJP, CCNA

Take Hyundai as an example. Hyundai is cheap priced in US. Quality is not bad though, especially the Hyundai Sonata. Same here in Singapore. Hyundai is priced just higher than Kia. Hyundai Matrix is the top 3 best selling car models in Singapore (1st Nissan Sunny, 2nd Toyota Corolla, 3rd Hyundai Matrix). For a Hyundai Matrix 1.6 FL Auto MPV, the price is about SGD53K, or USD30K+. Some luxury brands and models are easily over SGD100K. The price is itemized as below: Nett Price of Vehicle $34,860.50 Registration Fee $140.00 Road Tax 6 Months $475.00 Radio License Fee $13.50 Certificate of Entitlement (COE) $17,399.00 Total ...

More and more days are turning special in China. We celebrate our traditional festivals. We also celebrate all kinds of Days from others. We celebrate good days to remind us family, love and humanity. Restaurants are fully booked. Teddy bears, chocolates and roses are exchanged. Pink is shining on happy people's face. Some other days are fading away in China though. Women's Day, Children's Day, Labor' Day, Teachers' Day. Same here in Singapore. We celebrate Malay's New Year, Hindo's New Year, Chinese New Year, and many other holidays. We take good stuffs from both eastern and western.

Escape from the concrete jungle, and have some fun in the wild. Qian Hu fish farm is near Jurong. Take off on Brickland road from KJE. There are lots of aquariums and farms around. Qian Hu is one of the best. Qian Hu fish farm also has free shuttles from Boon Lay MRT and Jurong Point. Children sure can have fun there. With SGD5, they can catch fish with nets for half an hour. They can also feed Kois, rabbits, frogs, and tortoises. Adult can enjoy the various colorful ornamental fishes. Some golden fishes look like meatballs; Arowana Dragon fishes swim proudly; and Koi fishes remind me the rainbow.

The movie's name sounds interesting. The word SPL is from I Ching(易经). SPL is labeled as box office savior for Hong Kong 2005. The plot is just lame - bloody fights between cat and mice. How sad Hong Kong motion picture industry.

Shaanxi fork arts have very unique and sharp characters. They are made from paper, clay, cloth, wood and other materials from daily life. Shapes are simple but alive. Colors are bold and active. They are just beautiful.

一出, 骂声不绝. 大家都觉得上了陈导的当. 耗资三亿, 历经三年的片子就是这样的水平. 但是看看中国的大环境, 早晚要被造出来的. 现在中国用的最多的词是什么? 和谐. 为什么这个词这么频繁的被使用? 因为现实的社会现状反差太大了. 放到影视届, 就是现代题材的作品难拍. 拍光明面太亮了, 又怕部分老百姓骂. 拍黑暗面的东西太黑了, 又怕破坏了和谐社会的基调. 国共内战和抗日战争的东西, 因为现在对国民党的历史评价有正面化的倾向, 和过去我们小时候学的不太一样, 也不好把握尺寸. 好在中国的历史比美国要长多了. 历史题材的影视作品相对年代久远, 不会有人告你诽谤, 或者砸你的场子. 这几年就越来越受人民的喜爱了. 先把满清的几个大帝挖出来, 浩浩荡荡的歌颂了满清盛世一把. 又接着往几千年挖, 什么汉武大帝, 秦始皇, 春秋站国, 到了张导的 算到了一个总结性的高潮. 深挖洞的工作, 就要看谁有力气接着挖. 在往深挖, 不是商周, 就是蛮荒, 总不能拍个山顶洞人满山爬去拿奥斯卡把. 那个阶段, 按照传世史料, 也算是人神共处的世界, 什么女娲, 伏羲之类人神难分的生物. 陈导的 , 就构思在这个时期, 那些满地爬的奴隶可以为证. 所以说, 陈导单凭故事的时代背景, 就已经挖到了迄今为止最深度. 在这个背景下, 无极的可信度大大提高了. 比如说用日本, 韩国演员, 那时候他们的祖先的确是在圆环城一带啊. 故事情节也做到了中西合璧, 雅俗共赏. 有人兽大战, 同志关系, 激情脱戏, 中国功夫, 中国杂技. 清楚的传达了导演对现代人的期望, 比如作人真诚, 向上进取, 世界大同, 奴隶也可以成将军等美好的东西. 摄影也很不错, 虽然特技有点假. 但是无极的世界, 何谓真假呢? 总结一下哈. 陈导的 , 从哲学的高度表达了导演对世界的思考. 烧钱猛, 场子大, 云山雾罩, 花里胡哨, 不就是现在流行的大家喜闻乐见的玩意吗? 怎么放到奴隶社会里, 大家就不待见了呢?

He performs to show the appreciation to people who leave him some small money. It makes a fair trade. Nowadays there are more and more fake beggars on the street. They just don't want to work, and beg in big cities with all kinds of tricks. Kind people do give and it really can make good living for those beggar professionals, believe it or not. Those shameless fake beggars just make the real poor street beggars' life tougher, and make the whole beggar society lower creditibility.

If you are foreigner traveling in China by railway and bus, you may find this sign is helpful nearby the station. The big two characters in the middle sound like Kong Ce, which means toll toilet. The two small vertical characters on both side are actually not originally from China. It sounds like Hwa Bar, which means toll telephone.

这个产业就是烟酒行业。和五年前比，真的是推陈出新，花样繁多。 国内的高尚人， 现在都抽中华。也不明白为什么。硬盒的RMB40多，软盒的更贵，RMB70. 各地的烟厂也看准了人民的消费需要，推出新烟， 精品烟。那 洋烟 几乎是没人抽了。 不知道是喜是忧。本来中国的大气污染就够严重的了，这抽烟的一点不见少。随时随地，恐怕就除了睡觉的时候不吸烟。有的地方虽然不让吸烟，也是扯淡。比如广州机场里不让吸烟， 可是机场里的餐厅却可以吸。汽车里不让乘客吸烟， 可是司机却可以吸。 白酒也指望春节来促进一下消费。广告铺天盖地的。那个太白酒，几年前没觉得怎么样， 现在也是多种多样。什么三两装，三年洞藏，五年洞藏之类的。

宝鸡应该算是陕西第二大城市了吧。不过比西安要小多了。小也有小的好处。去哪逛都方便。走路就到。打的也就几块钱。最底生活保障大概3，4百RMB. 每月能挣1千的，就算高收入了。公务员这几年猛涨工资，企业则是三十年河东， 三十年河西。现在最好的，据说是宝鸡烟厂和石油机械厂。大家的精神面貌也自然与收入挂钩。 好在是过年，平时高兴不高兴的， 过年总要高高兴兴的过。今年又赶上北京从禁放该限放。宝鸡也可以放鞭炮了。

到了家， 就先跑出去吃了陕西小吃。 陕西小吃以面食为主。 先看这个擀面皮。面皮滑爽，面筋筋道，辣的爽。 再来一碗岐山臊子面。酸酸辣辣。配上臊子肉，蛋皮，香死人列。 羊肉泡馍。羊肉汤油乎乎的。冬天吃一碗，嘴巴上觉得都是羊油。 经典是经典，就是太油腻了。 还有肉夹馍。流口水ING.