Random Thoughts (Taipei Edition)

Another lesson learned that I forgot to mention yesterday. Do NOT use the men's restroom on 9th floor at work (my office floor) from 2-2:30 everyday. The cleaning crew (all female) do not extend the courtesy of waiting till the bathroom is clear before coming in to clean. Talk about a shock - I'm standing there doing what I have to do and in walks two elder women with cleaning supplies and begin to clean the mirror and sinks. I am not speechless often, but this was one of those moments where I could think of nothing to say. I finished up, washed up, then left quickly. This has actually happened twice at work now in the past week - so now I just avoid that time frame.

I did have one funny experience that I forgot to share from a while ago. Some restaurants have only one restroom but instead of putting a lock on the door (think of a mens/womens bathroom at a bar or gas station that is shared), they just put in two stalls. So again, imagine my surprise that as I'm using the MEN'S URINAL, out of the toilet stall walks a lady who was as surprised as I was that we were sharing a bathroom without knowing it.

Thanks for the continual birthday cards that are arriving:) Makes my birthday feel like Hanukkah!!

Two requests from my millions (AND MILLIONS) of readers!!
1- I need to beef up my pictures of all my friends and family to show off while I'm here. I have pictures on my digital frame at work and on my iPod. Eventually I'll move a bunch to my cell phone. People ask about family and friends - plus it's nice to pull pictures out when I'm telling a story that involves the people in the picture. So if anyone wants to send me some pictures.... all are welcome! Just send as attachment to my email your greatest hits!
2- I see that finding WiiFit is going to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. If anyone has any "ins" to help me find 2 copies (one for me, one for a TW coworker who also has a US Wii) - I will kindly pay you back and pay for your troubles! In TW, the only ones you can find (and not sure they are "legit" anyways) are the japanese version. I am having enough trouble learning Chinese, let alone English.

Here are the WiiFit videos for anyone who has no idea what I'm talking about. It's as hard to find as the Wii is!!



Here's a picture of my birthday cake. It tasted pretty good, despite looking like it was my 3rd birthday, not 31.



Off to a night market in a bit with some friends. I have some minimal shopping to do, but I always enjoy looking. Tomorrow is "Family Day" but it's on the other side of Taiwan. Plus I couldn't find any of the "cool" people from work that were going;) Yeah, I'm very high schoolish like that! I need to do some work to get ready for my China trip next week anyway, plus get some new sheets/bedspread for my home.

Have a good weekend everyone! Happy Birthday to Kristi, Mark, Matt, and Lydia!! Hope I don't forget Courtney next week!

Have Visa Will Travel

My passport is back in my hands and I'm booked for my trip to China next week. I will be returning to Shenzhen where my dedicated readers will remember I visited in 2005. I will get to see some old friends that I haven't seen for a while, and I will also be meeting a lot of new colleagues as well. Some good planning going on as well. I leave Sunday afternoon (that's middle of the night for y'all on Saturday) and will be there all week.

And since it's almost end of May - I give you

Things I've learned in Taiwan - May 2008 Edition

• If you're tall and are sitting in the back corner of the bus - be careful about leaning up against the buzzer to request the bus to stop. Hopefully you'll be smart enough to figure it out after one "false" stop like I did. The 2nd time, people actually had to get off so I was safe.
• Learning to speak Chinese is very difficult. Add the fact that Taiwanese is slightly different dialect (similar to how in the US we can hardly understand folks from England) makes learning Chinese by CD even more difficult. Learning to read/write Chinese is probably the hardest thing I've ever tried to do. At least I understand the concept!
• 3 umbrellas are needed in Taipei. One to keep at home (to take with if it's raining in the morning), one to keep at work (since it's usually clear in the morning but pouring rain in the afternoon) and a mini one to keep in bookbag (for when the weather changes between train stops.
• House utilities can ALL be paid at 7-11! This includes water, electricity, cable, phone, and internet! How cool is that? You take your bill, they scan all the bills in, you give them cash or credit card... DONE. Especially convenient when 7-11 is 30 second walk from my apartment.
• Cab drivers with DVD players and screens in the headrests are COOL! still looking at requesting them for the drives to the airport (1 hour ride).
• 0.5% milk tastes as crappy as Skim milk.... Back to 1.5% for me - either that or 4% as my other option!!

And that is all for tonight.

The Day After......

An enjoyable birthday! Thank you to all for the warm wishes (lots of emails and eCards) from across the globe. I got a few cool presents here, a nice bear cake (lots of frosting.... but still no 3 layer red cake made by Mama Dickinson.... with 1.5x the frosting recipie!!!) and my Taiwan Friends/coworkers taking me out for my first Karaoke experience here in Taiwan.

So it's almost a religion here to go Karaoke. They take you into a private room that seats 15 people or so (this was the medium room... we'll get a larger room next time and do a Friday night gathering). Food and drink are brought in (can order via computer) and you punch up the play list of songs you want to sing. There are three microphones scattered around the room for anyone to join along. The biggest difference from my US Karaoke experiences is that in Taiwan... EVERYONE SINGS! Nobody claims "I can't sing" or "I don't sing in front of people"... there is no excuse here for not singing. I tried the "I can't read the chinese" excuse for the songs in Chinese, but they attempted to work around that. I could pick up the tune pretty easily. They had maybe 150 songs in English to choose from. While I was unable to perform "The Roof... The Roof... The Roof is on fire....", I was able to perform Prince Purple Rain (no Kiss or Raspberry Beret available), some Elvis Falling in Love, and Beatles (can't remember at the moment.... have a headache).

I promised to try to learn at least one song in Chinese before I go back to the US - I have my work cut out for me. Can't even immitate it like I would if it were in Frech, German, or Spanish.....

The videos that are played behind the text are the actual videos (well... for the Chinese ones at least... some WEIRD stuff going on behind the English ones probably due to anal US copyright crap). So you can see the actual singers and hear your friends singing along:) The videos are actually kind of funny! About 75% of the videos involve a girl crying (some Chinese, some Taiwanese..... they usually kept me up on the difference since my ignorant eye could not tell the difference) and I continued to make a point of that all night. Plus I would add some English commentary (like my ISU roommates always loved when I did that for movies) to make everyone laugh.

Here are some of my favorite moments from the night. For the birthday folks also celebrating this week, this one is for you (feel free to sing along)



Another birthday present was the Red Wings winning again! 2-0 with two shutouts... I'll take it and hope for at least a split in Spittsburgh and a victory on home ice to skate around with the Cup! Remember, the Wings are 12-1 over their last three Cup Finals!!! Usefull knowledge there that no, I didn't have to look up to verify!

My headache is getting worse - think I'm off to bed. Enjoy your Wednesday!!!

Make Your List

It is very important in life to have certain lists ready to go in case they are needed. I'm not talking about physical lists that you carry around in your pocket necessarily - but at least things you've thought about and put some consideration into. Stuff like lists of Emergency Contacts when you travel, your list of 5 Celebrities that it'd be ok to.... (if you aren't following that one, you won't understand), list of 10 places you want to visit before you die. List of Bands yet to see live in concert (I'm down to ONE... Beastie Boys!).

Well another important list to put some thought into is songs you have ready to go for Karaoke Bar trips... you do NOT want to go and be stuck looking through songs wondering "what should I sing". You have to think about songs that are in your range, that are entertaining, you know the lyrics to, and feel confident to stand in front of your peers and sing. This is a VERY important list!

Here's my list after some careful research this weekend:

• Bloodhound Gang - Fire Water Burn - oh come on, you know YOU would sing along with me... only two notes to worry about.
• Elvis - All Shook Up, Don't, Suspicious Minds
• GNR - Patience - only song in my range
• Toadies - Possum Kingdom - one of my alltime favorite songs
• Barenaked Ladies - Call and Answer, $1,000,000
• Stone Temple Pilots - Plush, Interstate Love Song
• Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge
• Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline
• U2 - All I Want Is You - Bono's voice is too high to do any of the other ones
• Harry Connick Jr - Nowhere With Love, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, She Belongs To Me
• Extreme - More Than Words
• REM - Stand, Nightswimming
• Prince - Raspberry Beret, KISS

Of course you have to have Kiss in there..... not sure I can ever perform that one again though...



So yes, it's MY BIRTHDAY and we're going Karaoke singing tonight to celebrate as a huge group from work. There are a few bad things about being in Taiwan for your birthday - 1) Sarah's not here of course which sucks.... and 2) WAY TOO FAR for a roadtrip to Ames for free Sundae. Doubt Hickory Park delivers this far either. I did try Pizza Hut this past weekend and it was actually very good. It's about as unhealthy here as it is back home, but was a nice fill of my pizza desire. Wonder if Great Planes delivers here? Or Chipotle......

I turn 31 today. It feels just like 30 did to be honest. I'm still too old to be on American Idol, but not old enough to run for President.... My driver's license expires today too. Good thing I haven't driven a car for over 2 months.

I did watch some movies this past weekend - mainly because it rained all weekend. It's pouring rain yet again right now (with thunder about 1.5 seconds behind the lightning... what's the equation? 7 seconds per mile? Some of us went to the new Indiana Jones Movie - It was pretty good and honestly, the Chinese Subtitles don't even bother me anymore after watching EVERY movie on TV with them. It's hard to revive a series that was so good 20 years ago. There were only a few scenes that bothered me with an elder Dr. Jones fighting like he was 30 again. But the plot was typical for the series of movies. But didn't they end the last one with drinking from the Grail which means they'll never die? Curious where that plot line of the series went.....

Here's a poster shot from what I see in Taiwan on buses, walls, etc. I took a picture on my new cell phone!

Everything in Slow Motion

So an unusual set of postings today - but hopefully will carry you right into the weekend! By the time you read this, i will probably have already seen the new Indiana Jones Movie, and be on my 2nd beer at a late dinner/happy hour!

I found the following movie quite interesting and funny at the same time.

Even More Slow Motion Action Slow Motion Video

Despite having cool music, I enjoyed the "wait for it.... wait for it" effect that it has. But in my "free time" today I went looking for other slow motion videos. I think my favorite find was Paul Nord's channel on youtube that has multiple random things in slow motion. He does some nerdy things (the physics of Bernoulli's Principle will fascinate all the enginerds out there like myself) and some unusual videos (the bear parachuting was border line disturbing). I think I just like Paul's choice of music for some of his videos.

This one's pretty cool (lots of "bullet effects" in it):



But I think this one is by far my favorite!!!



So basic rule of posting Slow Motion videos on the internet? Use Cool Music!!! Or crappy music and exploiting the anatomy of a female in your demonstration!

I have to practice my Karaoke songs this weekend in preparation for a Karaoke outing next week. Yes, Kiss by Prince will be on that list (assuming I have my falsetto at that time) but I'm trying to regather my list. You can assume a blog about that next week. Until then, I'm open to all suggestions. Most Taiwan people do not know who Stone Temple Pilots are so not as much fun to do one of their songs. I'll have to make sure to have 12 songs in my queue so I can dazzle everyone here with my vocal abilities. Of course it'll be even better after a couple of beers! Can't wait for Sarah to get here as I know she LOVES karaoke!

Have a good weekend! Long Memorial Day Weekend in the US (pools are open now right?) but I have to work on Monday:( Not sure how that all worked out - but I'll take Dragon Boat Racing day off in June to make up for it!

Keepin' The Love "Fresh"

Happy Anniversary to Ma and Pa!!! Today they celebrate yet another year together (obviously more than 30... I'll leave it at that). And so I think, how can I learn from them and keep the love fresh and exciting for so many years? My thought is that every relationship needs some mood music from Michael Jackson to last. For instance, come home from work once in a while and dance/sing an MJ song:



Don't laugh, there's some power in those lyrics:

Lovely is the feelin' now
Fever, temperatures risin' now
Power is the force the vow
That makes it ahppen it asks no questions why
So get closer (closer now)
To my body now just love me
Till you don't know how

I like to think that a little MJ keeps every good couple together.

A David Cook victory on American Idol last night. My favorite performance of the Finale was actually the two Davids singing Hero. The Gladdys Knight and the "Pips" clip was pretty funny too. But another season of AI is complete - what to watch till next January? I guess I'll be left with HBO movies (with chinese subtitles of course) and day old baseball games.

My new favorite thing to do in Taipei is grab the morning free paper (all in Chinese of course) and take it on the train with me. Once I get a seat, I make sure to pull it out and start reading it. It's not too hard actually - pretty easy to figure out which articles are about world events (look for pictures, maps, etc.), or the local stuff. And when you read the comics, pause about 15 seconds in between smiles or laughs. And being male, I usually go straight to the baseball pictures/scores. I figure I scare people more when they start thinking that I can actually speak Chinese. Plus they might talk about the big giant on the train less while I'm there.

I'm trying to get to Indiana Jones tomorrow with folks from work. Yes, it releases here and in English (I told them I'd walk out if it was dubbed with English subtitles) but probably has Chinese subtitles on the film. Shouldn't be too distracting, but I am actually in the mood to see the movie after all the oldies were on TV last weekend. Funny that the movie actually opens the same day as in the US, but due to me being IN THE FUTURE, we get it first.

There's a car across the street that has an annoying car alarm that is going off for 30 seconds, then turns off for a minute... then back on for 30 seconds.... I'm about 10 minutes from finding a brick to throw at it from my balcany. I am pretty sure I can hit it from here. Wonder if it violates a noise ordinance? I should try to call the cops and see how that goes:)

Anyway - I need to post this and then do some other things around the house to keep my sanity till someone fixes the alarm. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! And Happy birthday Hanna!

Looking For Winners Only

Since you won't get these for another 9 months or whatever... I give you

AMERICAN IDOL FINALE!! Winners per round in bold

Round 1
David Cook - why didn't he do U2 earlier this season? He has a great voice and range for it. I enjoyed it, although it's not nearly my favorite U2 song.
David A - I will always remember this song as the Clay Aiken AI Finale song where the creepy Claymate dude freaked out when he saw Clay on stage.

Guess I blame my bias towards Cook in this round based on song choice.

Round 2
David Cook - hated the song, but was ok
David A - at least he wasn't crying as bad at the end of this round... I hate the "sappy Idol Song Round" that always happens in the Finale.

14 year old wins round 2

Round 3
David Cook - That was pretty sweet intro, wish they would have kept it just him on guitar for the whole thing. I can see myself buying a ticket to his show. Hopefully it's not to open for Bon Jovi or something lame like that.
David A - Maybe it just shows that I am into Rock (David Cook) more than I am into the boy band pop (David A), but thought this was too scripted of a performance all night:) Can't see myself buying a ticket to see him.

I'll give it to David Cook since I want him to win. Paula just wants to create another AI scandal with either one of them. My prediction is that the voices of the 12-18 year old teenage girls will dominate the phone lines and text messages and David A will win. Wait to watch him cry like he's the last kid picked in kickball after he wins.

BTW - Ruben can still sing, even though he's been a little bit of a letdown. Still better than Clay.

Obama inches closer to the nomination. Then Hilary claims she's still going to win somehow. Still trying to figure out why she's so hung up on winning the states that the Dems have 0 chance of winning in November. Love reading about her "new" math.

Another winner from Tuesday was the Chicago Bulls who get the #1 draft pick. I was hoping for a top 2 for the T-wolves but there are still some solid picks at #3 for them. Beasley going to the Bulls? possibly... would love to see him in Minneapolis though instead but doubt he'll go that low.

Speaking of Weather.....

One of the most common questions I get from the US is "Are you worried about Cyclones". Since I myself am a CYCLONE (GO STATE!!!), I am NOT worried as we all take care of each other. Most of the time, I'm used to Cyclones talking a big game but coming up a couple of yards short when it matters:( But what worried me was the fact that I didn't honestly know the difference between Cyclones, Hurricanes, and Typhoons. Sure, they make cool names for Wrestlers from the 80s, but when it comes to Mother Nature (and the recent events that show that mother nature is indeed still a force) - I did some research for us all.

First off - the only difference is the geography where the term is used. So in Engineering terms: Hurricane = Cyclone = Typhoon

Hurricane - What we are used to in the US since this is the term used in the North Atlantic (Eastern US), Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline (Western US but mainly for Hawaii and Alaska)
Typhoon - NW Pacific Ocean west of the Dateline which would include Taiwan and most of your Eastern Asia countries (Japan, China, Philippines)
Cyclone - SW Pacific Ocean west of 160E, or Indian Ocean

Thus why the Cyclone that hit Burma (which is off the Indian Ocean) was indeed a Cyclone. Wish my ISU Cyclones were that powerful.... But indeed we have hit Typhoon season in Taiwan (for the next 5 months I think). Taiwan is unique in that the whole country is affected when typhoons hit due to it being an island country. The storm hits mainland and usually passes over Taiwan on its way to China without really losing any steam.

And for those still wondering, yes - "Typhoon" was the same guy that used to be "Tugboat". I just remember when he and Earthquake teamed up to be Tag Team Champions - the Natural Disaster team or something like that. I used to sneak downstairs and watch wrestling on Monday nights when I was in 9th grade and mute the TV so mom wouldn't lecture me about watching "that crap". SURPRISE MOM!!! He was fully retired by the time I started watching again in college.

Speaking of weather - today was one of the more beautiful days in Taiwan so far. About 80 degrees with very low humidity. Sun was out, but not hot (even as I wore long sleeves) and there is a nice breeze this evening keeping things cool.

RedWings make it to the Stanley Cup Finals!! Wish I was there to see it in person. My favorite time of year is watching the Wings play in the finals:)

New president - but no fireworks:( I was kind of disappointed. I'll save my fireworks for November when the US results are out!

Monday Already?!?!

My first Taiwan concert! It was actually a lot of fun despite not understanding most of the concert:) But the music was good - a mix between pop and rock for the most part! The main reason we went was to see Pei-An Yang, but there was another singer that was the other half of the show (don't have his name at the moment). But he's a pop star here as well and is actually blind. He was pretty good, a little more of what I would categorize as "Adult Contemporary" than "Pop/Rock" like Pei-an was.

A few things I found interesting (non-music wise... remember, my mind already wanders a lot in every day life - but it has even more random things to think about when I can't understand what they are singing or saying). They had a runner or mat set up on the stage for the 2nd singer to know where he was on stage and could move without fear of falling off or running into anything. It was neat to see him follow it. Think of a rubber mat with runners going in one direction that would be easily noticeable on the bottom of your feet. On the ends, and in center stage, the mat was different with more of a circular effect so he could again easily distinguish where he was relative to the rest of the action on stage. Was pretty cool and not overly noticeable. Another thing was the concert hall where the concert was - the acoustics were fantastic!! Granted it only held about 2000 people (probably more appropriate for a classical concert), but you could hear everything and understand everything (presumably) without the over booming effect that I am used to at concerts.

I was in fact able to hear 3 songs in English. Unfortunately, the first one made me cringe.... I come half way around the world and the first song that I recognize was FRICKIN' JOURNEY?!?!?!?!?! Yeah, the damn 5 intro chords of Faithfully started and it took me less than 5 seconds to realize I was in the middle of a nightmare. Then to hear most of the audience sing the "oh oh oh oh" part at the end was probably one of the worst experiences since I got here. A little later in the concert with both singers on stage, the stage hand brought the non-Pei-an singer a saxophone. He was fidgeting with it (obviously getting ready to play it) and I was thinking.... that's an instrument that you don't see a lot in pop/rock concerts. I know it was with Greenday or whenever you have a back up "band"... but the only song I can remember with an exclusive sax part was that annoying one by George Mi..... then they started with Careless Whisper much to my chagrin. The 3rd song I recognized was kind of interesting. He did a couple of songs done by other blind musicians, the first being in Italian with Bocelli, then of course Stevie Wonder's I Just Called To Say which was kind of cool (the only one I chose to sing along with).

I also got to go backstage and meet Pei-An with his bright red hair. He said this was his first concert with the bright red hair and he said it takes him almost 10 hours to get it that way so won't do it much longer:)

My cell phone is listed on the right for anyone that needs to get a hold of me in an emergency situation from the US. Otherwise, I check e-mail daily like a good little nerd.

New Taiwan President begins his term tomorrow. There is a big inauguration and celebrations going on all day - wish the US were that lucky:( But all in due time.

My washer works really well - my days of sitting on top of it to keep it from moving are OVER! He figured out how he screwed up the installation and all is really well now there!

New pictures posted on the right of my Thailand trip. Sorry, didn't have my memory yet for my camera phone so no pictures from the concert. I should have one with Pei-An coming to me and will post that when I get it!

And for your Monday morning entertainment:



And Journey for you sick-os.... won't let me embed it.

I'm Back HOME

Feels funny to say "I'm back home in Taipei" but that's the truth. Never thought I'd be so glad to be back where the humidity is far less!

First off - thanks to the cards from Sarah and Mom/Dad! Not sure how long they took to get here, but I actually had mail waiting for me when I came home tonight! I also had junk mail from Citibank (they send junk mail EVERYWHERE.... but it wasn't addressed to me so I just threw it out) and some other bank junk mail. It's all in chinese so as long as it's not from my bank, I'm not interested.

Few things I learned while I traveled to Thailand and back:

• On the flight home today (3.5 hour flight), I realized that 1 year old kids scream in the SAME LANGUAGE around the world! This kid was not American, but he sounded exactly the same as the screaming crying kids do on my US flights! It's amazing isn't it? He was crying during pre-board, during take off, 30 minutes after take off.... fell asleep for about 30 minutes so he stopped.... woke up for his bottle then cried some more... then back to sleep for 30 minutes - then back to crying for the final 45 minutes or so until we landed. Saw him in customs and he was STILL crying! Talk about a flight ruiner:( I was about 3 feet away from the action and my nice headphones are not THAT powerful unfortunately.
• I regret not trying more seafood in the US where it is cleared of things like fins, tails, eyeballs, antennas... in fact, most of the time it's done moving before it gets to the table in the US.... not always the case here in Asia.
• My throat's been hurting the past few days due to the extreme weather change (or at least that's what I'm blaming. Hopefully a couple of days in "Spring" Taiwan and I'll be back to normal.

I have my cell phone finally!! It's pretty cool (and in ENGLISH) but I'm still trying to get the thing setup tonight. The manuals they sent are all in Chinese - doesn't really matter since I haven't read an instruction manual for a technical gadget in probably 10 years;) Worst case, I can find the instructions for the phone (English version) online somewhere.

My clothes washer is supposedly "fixed" now. The guy came in and realized he installed it incorrectly (remember - someone forgot to connect the return tube, thus the flooding of my apartment on day 1... I could have told him it was "installed incorrectly"!!!). But I will give it a "spin" in the morning to see if me sitting on top of it is no longer required.

I also got my first visit from the cleaning lady while I was gone. This place looks great!!! She even wrapped up all my loose cables for my computer (USB/power/etc) and made everything look nice and organized! I may have to enjoy this while I'm here, things don't look this organized by my ability for sure.

I'm going to a pop concert tomorrow night. One of the girls at work has a cousin who is a pop singer in Taiwan. She and her boyfriend have an extra free ticket since they have the "in" with the singer and decided to invite me along:) I found a video of his on youtube (the greatest webpage EVER) that is actually a song I know and can understand (plus it was just sung on American Idol this week... how ironic). He's not too bad - but I was assured that all of his albums are in Chinese so don't expect a lot of English sung at the concert!

Hope all's well back in the US! Have a good weekend!

Still Hating the Heat

All is fine in Thailand. Today is the first day it didn't rain, but also was 95% humidity (or what it feels like to a Minnesota boy) all day. Of course I didn't bring any white t-shirts, only darker t-shirts which are perfect for absorbing the sun and heat!!!

We've made some good progress here for work - and of course ending the work day with a $10 hour massage by a professional Thai masseuse is always a great treat! They actually are well trained here - was reading about the following of the Sen lines of the body to find the main pressure spots (similar to acupressure). This girl was extremely responsive to when I would tense up (mainly in my neck from staring at computer screens all day long) and would immediately lighten up. Followed by "sorry" which was one of the 5 words she spoke in English. Along with "ok", "feet", "thank you"..... that plus she laughed at the fact my feet hang off the end of the bed by about a good 12 inches. Welcome to my daily world (happens in the US too) - it loses it's humor after a while.

My bags are packed (including a new $20 suitcase) and ready for my trip home... to Taiwan. Never thought I would be calling Taiwan home, but I'm actually going to be glad to get back there!

Thailand is home of a LOT of Karaoke or at least people singing in bars as you walk by. Most of it is NOT good - plenty of songs heard here that I will never hear again without laughing (including probably the worst Hotel California that will haunt me as long as I shall live....). But nightly there are performances by Elvis (on at 10pm) and then the Beetles at 11pm. And you thought they only lived on in Vegas! They even have Thai singers singing Country! And you thought US Country was shitty and worth poking your ear drums out over??? Wait till you hear it here:)

I did my catching up of American Idol (kind of pointless once you know the results) this afternoon. I thought David Cook was awesome, but I honestly liked Syesha's performances. Her shot at Fever was well done - I was kind of jealous of the bass player;) Reading the reviews though this past week that are more critical of the redundant AI format (and current slide of ratings from year to year). I tend to agree when I hear the program declared "same old shtick".... not sure how to spice it up, but I do know the show could lose 1/2 its audience and still make money. Kind of a smart business if you really analyze it.

I'm off to bed for the night. Sorry for the lack of photos. I had a brief scare with the camera yesterday (no, I didn't leave this one in the back of a cab... that's China, not Thailand) with the rain that caught me out and about. But all is fine, just haven't pulled the pictures off the camera yet. I will do that soon though so you can see more of this part of the world before it either washes away or shakes away thanks to Mother Nature.

Enjoy your Thursday, it'll be Friday in about 40 minutes for me... already Friday in Taiwan;)

Sweating My Ass Off in Thailand

So my first impressions of Thailand? HOT. Seriously - it's 7pm and here's what I'm feeling (remember, it's May - still "chances of snow" in Minnesota I'm sure)



And as I'm typing this, Monsoon season arrives.... downpour for the past 10 minutes like I've never seen rain before in my life. Tomorrow will be extra humid!!

So for anyone wondering - no, I did NOT feel the earthquake yesterday. Not to belittle the devastation that it had in China and the loss of lives... I'm a little disappointed as I missed feeling my first earthquake:( Not sure about back in Taiwan if they felt it or not. Hopefully the natural disasters in this area are over with. No, I'm not worried, but still a little "different" than life back in the Mid-West.

Good news of the day is that my Cell Phone has arrived in Taiwan. Bad news, I'm in Thailand and can't enjoy it. But starting Friday upon my return, I can be reached at the number to the right (with my other digits).

Thoughts so far on Thailand:

• The writing here is kind of weird. It almost looks like backwards handwriting at times (like if you put it in a mirror, you could read it... like in The Da Vinci Code. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
• Lots of translations into English. Pattaya was setup as a port during Vietnam War for soldiers.... that could be part of it.
• Thailand used to be called "Siam" (pre-1939)... which sounded familiar from my ancient knowledge of history. Siam means "Land of White Elephant" but was changed to Muang Thai or "the Free". But now you know where Siamese cats originated!!! Bet you didn't know that off hand either!
• Very Buddhist area here. Saw a guy bow as he walked past a mini shrine on the street a little bit ago. I still like my Buddha that's on my mantle in Rochester much better.
• Nobody here has heard of the song "One Night in Bangkok" that I've asked. I might go sing it in Karaoke before I leave.
• I'm about 100 yards from the beach and the "Gulf of Thailand". Technically I guess it's the "Bight of Bangkok", which goes into the Gulf of Thailand, which goes into the Indian Ocean??? Something like that. Here's a map, look for the word "of" in "Bight of Bangkok" and Pattaya is to the East of the "f". You can see in real little letters.
• Normally being this close to the beach is cool.... but with the 30 minutes of a downpour like I've never seen before, I'm not laughing. Mother nature is much meaner over here!!!
  

Go RedWings.... up 3-0 and looking strong after winning 9 straight! I'm still looking for complete games online - not much luck so far.

And one last update for today.... It's been 50 minutes and it's STILL pouring outside. Amazing.... Send a life boat if there's no blog tomorrow.

One Hour in Bangkok (Oriental City)

So technically I am 2 hours drive from Bangkok - but I've arrived in THAILAND!!! The whole time I've been here, I've been singing the song I've waited many many years to sing:



It was raining the whole drive in - got in around 1am (plus an hour behind so felt like 2AM!!!), so it was a short night. This is all you get today! Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Fighting For Sarah's Honor....

Some useless information for your Friday

1. The Mii Plaza on the Wii tops out at 100 characters. What a bunch of crap.
2. Detroit is up 1-0 after an impressive Game 1 against the hated Dallas Stars. Hopefully the Minnesota fans are cheering against Dallas as well!
3. Taiwan folks think it's funny when I tell them that 90 degrees with about 70% humidity (my Friday weather here today) is "Minnesota August Weather". It's called "Spring" here. I don't think I know what I'm in for. Yes, I thought it was rather warm today - is it October yet?
   
4. I've been here over a month - still no illegal DVDs:(
5. China has more English speaking people than the US...... seriously!
6. Coffee after a big lunch in Taiwan has little effect on keeping me awake - just like in the US!
7. I can still whip the computer at Double Dribble (Nintendo 8 bit) - 110-46 on easy level, 85-60 on medium level.
8. I have some work to do on my Mario Kart (N64) skillz again... hopefully the Wii version is here before I return.
9. Netflix.com, NBC.com, and Fox.com don't allow you to visit their videos on demand sections from outside the US. Been trying to find a way to alter my IP successfully for almost 2 weeks now (I'm so very close).
10. My $300 tax rebate from Uncle Sam will be arriving soon - hopefully no "expires in 30 days" otherwise I'll be pissed! Here's a funny video (from Minneapolis) of how people will use it to "stimulate the economy". I have a feeling it will pay for about 2 tanks of gas for a lot of people.
11. The Office is in rare form since returning from the Writer's Strike. I'm caught up again to the Pam wearing Glasses episode. Very funny stuff.

Mother's Day weekend this weekend. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!! She already got her present! And happy Mother's day to all the mom's out there around the world (some are first time, some working on #2 or #3!) I will be celebrating Mother's Day by flying to Thailand - arriving at the hotel around midnight (it was a cheap flight). That's a straight flight from Taiwan (TPE) - 3.5 hours!

And because some of us are still singing it from yesterday:

With English Goodness!!

Still having "issues" with the clothes washer. It vibrated out again into the Kitchen. If I sit on the thing, it doens't vibrate nearly as much. So I just sit on it while playing Nintendo (A little Double Dribble) and not a big deal right? I think there's a laundromat close by that I may just say screw it, do my laundry on the weekends in 2 batches (1 white, 1 color) where I can do bigger loads (this little thing only has room for couple shirts and couple socks at a time. Remember, I'm used to doing laundry every 2 weeks back in the US. But I'll figure something out.

My cable guy came tonight. I was told "between 7pm and 9pm" which was a surprise considering usually Charter gives you the "between Monday and Friday" time frame. Sure enough, he showed up at 7pm. Was out the door by 7:10pm. He even put the menu into English for me! So now I have an extra 5 channels or so that are HBO and are in English. I like to watch movies, or at least have English speaking movies in the background. The bad part is I have to switch between the cable box (HBO and a few others... including some music channels) to the coax to get all the rest (including the sports channels). Oh well - for $7 a month, I can figure it out.

In fact - as I type this (sitting on my washing machine since I have wireless setup), I see that Karate Kid 2 is "on next" with my new HBO channel. Seriously - picture me sitting on top of my washing machine, typing away, with Ralph Machio coming on next. I have to wait till the spin cycle is complete before I go get a beer.

It's been a busy, yet productive week at work. I'm finally able to manage two different e-mail addresses (and inboxes) to a point of comfortability. I'm feeling much more situated (at work and at home) now that I'm wrapping up my 4th week here. I'm even practicing writing my Chinese name (see to the right above my picture... it literally says "My Name Is" (first two characters) "Di-Ai-Den" (next 3 characters... that's my chinese name). Takes me about 2 minutes to write out, but I'm working on it.

I finally watched the Top 4 for American Idol. Glad to see Jason go home after a mediocre night. I didn't think he was horrific, but definitely bad week for a Top 4 performance. I like seeing Siyesha in the Top 3 as I think she is deserving. I have a feeling it will come down to the two Davids though. All 3 will record an album so declaring a "winner" is pretty much unnecessary.

An interesting set of results (and discussions that have followed) regarding Tuesday's Democratic results. Barring a disaster, looks like Obama is in the driver's seat to the White House;) I like to think so.... thought that for a year or so now it seems.

And because I know you're still thinking about the Karate Kid....



Time for bed - my 2nd load is complete. If I do another load of laundry, my butt will get even more numb from sitting on this thing while it's shaking so bad!

Short Wednesday (no AI yet)

So not too much new since yesterday. It's the middle of monsoon season here so it rains every morning. But it is still humid here by night fall. I bought a very nice Tiger Woods golf umbrella to keep dry. The biggest guy in Taiwan needs the biggest umbrella in Taiwan!

The Taiwanese really like their sweets. Some are good, some... not so good. They had a lot of mother's day cakes out in the hallway trying to entice people to order one for their mother. I asked if they deliver to the US and they said no.... sorry mom, no chocolate cheesecake from Taiwan. I have been much better this week at avoiding sweets (and other bad food). My diet has been much better this week now that I'm in the apartment and able to control better what I eat. Once I get a rice cooker, I'll be making a lot of rice with sauce (I really do enjoy rice and sauce of some kind).

I am still on meetings for another 90 minutes and probably won't get to see the AI for this week till tomorrow. Sorry for the lack of projections this week!

Best wishes to Diamond on her continual recovery! Hang in there mama!

Tuesday - Another Primary

So I know it's been a few days - let me play catch up. I was out on business yesterday till late and was way too tired last night to do much of anything, including blogging.

First off - new pictures to view: Running around Taipei

My apartment is livable - and I've fully moved in. I did some extreme shopping for things this weekend (towels, cups, toilet paper (my favorite thing to buy - YUCK), some food.... but the place actually feels like home now. Of course, the Nintendo Wii is already connected and been used:) The water issue was fixed, but now the new problem occured when I did a load of laundry on Sunday. The washer moves a good 3-4 feet per load. I'm careful to not overload, but the thing shakes a TON! So they have someone coming tomorrow to take a look at it.

I'm also upgrading to digital cable (quicker to find my "favorite" channels... or the ones in English) and also upgrade with the HBO package in hope of getting more movie channels that are in English. Not sure when that will happen, but hopefully soon.

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful for weather. Jason and I took Saturday afternoon as a chance to go to the beach and catch some sun and sand. It is north of Taipei about a 45 minute drive - Baishawan area. It actually looks out onto the East China Sea where it connects to the Taiwan Strait... which is basically part of the Pacific Ocean. If you go straight north, you'll hit the east coast of China and Shanghi.

I also got to experience some of the Taipei nightlife (not the night markets...) with some friends from work. I had a call Friday night and went downstairs, then pretty much next door to a Japanese restaurant. Yes, I tried some new things (as I usually try to do) - a lot of it being seafood even! Beer and wine were flowing very well.... but then came the pressure to do a shot of sake. I really hate that stuff - this time reminded me of why I hate it so much. Tastes like gasoline plus the next day, my stomach always hurts. This time was no different unfortunately. We also went out for some late drinks Saturday night, ending up at a fun club - Room 18 - for the late late evening. The music was typical US club music... and extremely loud (the kind of loud that you can feel your internal organs shake before the vibrations hit your outside). The funny part was - it sounded really good! No distortion so the place was a lot of fun to dance at.

Saturday morning I did some shopping on my own at Costco and RT-mart. Got there and back all on my own! I know, quite the accomplishment! I'm getting around pretty easily. I now have my ARC (greencard) that is fancier than my Minnesota Driver's License. Also means I have my passport back so I'm safe to travel next week.

Some thoughts from around the world:

• More damage ahead for Democratic party if this thing goes on longer. Hopefully Obama shows a win in both Indiana and North Carolina and regains the momentum.
• The cyclone (not the good kind from ISU) that went through Burma is kind of scary. That's one country over from Thailand for the geographically impared. And yes - Burma and Myanmar are the same thing, depending on who you ask
• The Austrian freak that had his daughter captive and tortured for 24 years.... I'm still kind of speechless on that one. I've been reading more and more about it and this one really bothers me. I pray for the family and thank God I'm able to live a "normal" and healthy life without having to worry about things like that.
• Mario Kart Wii is out.... already working on finding a US copy here in Taiwan. Have to be careful since you can find the Japanese version mostly but we're ordering me a copy since I will NOT be able to wait till I get home.
• VooDoo Festival in New Orleans - NIN, REM, and STP... three of the greatest 3 letter acronym named bands of all time. Only need GNR, CCR, and US3.... ok, maybe not US3 (flip fantasia)

That's about all I can think of tonight/today. Here's a great video of an elephant doing some painting that might make you speechless. It's kind of long, I know - but actually worth watching in amazement. Make sure you watch for the final product!!

A Quick One For Friday

Here's my address label for my new apartment. If you're interested in sending me mail or signing me up for some magazines, or sending Sarah in a cardboard box - go ahead and print this image (the link will stay at the right along with my phone numbers). When you see the lock that I have on my door, you won't be worried about people breaking in now that they know where I live.

Don't worry about sending packages - too expensive. So far my only mail is Pizza Hut coupons (everyone got those) and some chinese food menu that of course I can't read. But yes, you do need the chinese since the mail delivery people might not read the English perfectly. No telling where it will end up.

Go Red Wings!! They close out a 4-0 series win and are now 8 wins away from the Cup returning to Detroit! This is where the whole "Octopus" thing started.... 8 arms on an Octopus, 8 wins left!

Kindof Sortof....

I'm kind of in my new place. It's been an interesting 24 hours.

I checked into the apartment yesterday - everything was nice and clean. The landlady, her secretary, and my realitor all were there to help show me how everything works, go through the checklists, etc. i was nice and listened "attentively" as she showed me how to turn on the TV and turn the channels, etc. I'm a guy, don't need help in that department. She did translate the button diagram for the remotes controlling the airconditioning in each room. That was nice of her - so no complaints. The instructions for the all in one front loading washing machine (located in the kitchen next to the sink) were in English. So I tried to figure out how that thing worked.

Now this place is BRAND NEW on the inside - completely redone from top to bottom. I'll be the first person to live in there. So we had to plug the stove in (electric), the washing machine in... I noticed the water wasn't exactly flowing into the washing machine. Well nobody had turned the valve going from the sink to the washing machine. As I turned that on, I noticed a tube coming back from the washing machine that was unattached. I asked what that was for, we got the land lady and she claimed it was extra and assured me that the return tube connects below and won't be a problem. Yes, this is what you call "foreshadowing" and I'm not very good at it.

As the washing machine ran, the internet wasn't working either. ADSL, so it's not my normal cup of tea and even I couldn't figure it out on first try. But they would call and get the cable guy to come out in the morning - so off to dinner to "celebrate" we went.

After dinner, my realitor went back to the train to head home (it was after 8pm) and I went back to my apartment to find it..... FLOODED! So yeah - American Dude 1, Chinese women in my apartment at the time 0. Funny part is that there is nowhere to attach that return tube, otherwise I would have connected it or made a stronger point of it. My guess is that who ever connected the washer, noticed it wouldn't connect, but forgot to convey the message onto someone else to make sure it got fixed. Kind of like hooking up a garbage disposal but forgetting to put an electrical outlet in underneath the sink.

Well - back to the hotel I came. I was far from a good mood at that point. Today was actually a day of improvements. By the time I went back to the apartment at 1pm to wait for the internet guy, the place had been cleaned up, the rug was hanging up to dry, and started to look respectable again. The sink was now unusable as the return pipe for everything was tore out (should be fixed Friday morning I was told). Then the bonus was that I actually got my wireless router to connect to the internet by myself and I am now fully wired/wireless in my apartment in the middle of Taipei!!!!! I accomplished this about 2 minutes before the internet guy showed up. He verified my settings were correct, then went on his way. Sure, I felt bad he came all that way - but he'll get over it.

After work I did round 1 of shopping. Pillows, Sheets and comforter (I did the bed in a bag thing), and an assortment of other stuff (new phone and answering machine.... get this - phone menu is all in English, but the lady that talks on the machine to tell you how many messages you have, etc. is all in Chinese. It works, how hard is it to check messages and delete them?

She thought she was doing me a favor by buying me a queen sized bed (which was perfectly fine) but it's "extended". All she did was make it very difficult to buy sheets. But at the moment, I have king sheets on there - and it'll get the job done short term till I find an alternate solution. I'll be making another trip to Costco this weekend sometime to get towels, and other things to fill the place.

So that's my story - and I'm stickin' to it. Tomorrow I head to a supplier for the day, so don't expect a blog till later. Depends if we go out or not. I'll be traveling with 2 IBMers from Taiwan which will make the trip more enjoyable!!!

It is May Day today - May 1st is also Labour Day in Taiwan. Most of the IBM team was working, but most of the rest of the facility that we exist in were not working. Including banks and mail service. So I have to wait till Monday now to get my green card thing and get on with the settling in. Oh well - this has been a great lesson in patience!

Have a great May Day!!! Hopefully no more snow in Rochester! It's warm and humid here!