I went out for an easy run this noon. As I was a bit lightheaded this morning, I still felt a bit of disoriented when I set out.
I was adjusting my Garmin 305 and suddenly I hit the road, BANG!
I had some bruise on both of my knees and the chin. I had to stop running and went back to the office.
This is a good lesson. Listen to your body. If you didn't feel well, then you have to be cautious when you set out for a quick run. Be careful, otherwise, you may be hitting the road. LOL.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
business trip, long run, and others
I went to San Jose two weeks ago for a business trip. I stayed there for two nights. Some interesting things in this trip.
First of all, I almost missed the departure flight because of the traffic on 99N to airport. I left home at 6:30am for the 8:00am flight. With the unexpected traffic jam on the Massey tunnel, I choose the 99->91 route. As I have to park my car in the long term parking and take the shuttle to the terminal, I arrived in the service desk at around 7:40am and the desk is closed already.
I rushed into the custom, fortunately, my Nexus card made a very easy custom passing experience. I just need to scan the iris in the machine and it let me pass instantly.
San Francisco Airport is huge and I have to take the train to get to the car rental area. The trip to San Jose had no difficulty with the help of GPS.
On the return flight, the experience was also bumpy. I got to the terminal around 11:20am for the 12am flight. I thought it might be just okay for me to check in. However, the train among the terminals was temporally stopped due to some problem. Holy, I rushed to the service desk after lined up to a wrong line of UA. It's 11:50am already. OMG, the flight was delayed for one hour and I was saved for this trip. Who knows, it was the first time I thank the delay of flight.
What happened in that morning of the return trip? I went to a long run in Los Gatos trail with some Chinese runners usually gathered in MITBBS. The trail was about 30km r/t. That's a long long run for me as I didn't run that much this summer. I did manage to keep up with the other running buddies and met some other runners in the Bay area. I thought I just didn't want to "lose face" for Canadian runners. The trail was nice, uninterrupted, and some view, and uphill at the end of the trail. However, there were so many people running and biking there. Such a busy trail. I was so hungry after the long run and had a big big breakfast in the hotel. That's why I was a bit late for the return flight. Anyway, I was lucky to catch the flight.
The trip was great. I attended the Coverity User Event and got to know a some Coverity guys. Talked to the team members in SJ and had a great long run.
I met an alumni working in Broadcom. Most important, I learned to plan a bit more time to catch the flight, anything can happen if the buffer time is not big enough.
I also bought an iPod Touch in the Apple store of Stanford.
Hope I can visit SJ next time and had more time to enjoy the Bay area.
First of all, I almost missed the departure flight because of the traffic on 99N to airport. I left home at 6:30am for the 8:00am flight. With the unexpected traffic jam on the Massey tunnel, I choose the 99->91 route. As I have to park my car in the long term parking and take the shuttle to the terminal, I arrived in the service desk at around 7:40am and the desk is closed already.
I rushed into the custom, fortunately, my Nexus card made a very easy custom passing experience. I just need to scan the iris in the machine and it let me pass instantly.
San Francisco Airport is huge and I have to take the train to get to the car rental area. The trip to San Jose had no difficulty with the help of GPS.
On the return flight, the experience was also bumpy. I got to the terminal around 11:20am for the 12am flight. I thought it might be just okay for me to check in. However, the train among the terminals was temporally stopped due to some problem. Holy, I rushed to the service desk after lined up to a wrong line of UA. It's 11:50am already. OMG, the flight was delayed for one hour and I was saved for this trip. Who knows, it was the first time I thank the delay of flight.
What happened in that morning of the return trip? I went to a long run in Los Gatos trail with some Chinese runners usually gathered in MITBBS. The trail was about 30km r/t. That's a long long run for me as I didn't run that much this summer. I did manage to keep up with the other running buddies and met some other runners in the Bay area. I thought I just didn't want to "lose face" for Canadian runners. The trail was nice, uninterrupted, and some view, and uphill at the end of the trail. However, there were so many people running and biking there. Such a busy trail. I was so hungry after the long run and had a big big breakfast in the hotel. That's why I was a bit late for the return flight. Anyway, I was lucky to catch the flight.
The trip was great. I attended the Coverity User Event and got to know a some Coverity guys. Talked to the team members in SJ and had a great long run.
I met an alumni working in Broadcom. Most important, I learned to plan a bit more time to catch the flight, anything can happen if the buffer time is not big enough.
I also bought an iPod Touch in the Apple store of Stanford.
Hope I can visit SJ next time and had more time to enjoy the Bay area.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Sleep training
I decided to start Alrisha's sleep training tonight.
She fell asleep shortly after the feeding. However,
She woke up in about ten minutes.
No matter how I cuddle and walking, she didn't seem to
Sleep and want to play. I put her down on the bed. After a few minute,
she start to cry. I was sitting besides her, but won't be seen by her.
She was crying and coughing. I comforted her after a few minute and
then I still hide. After about half an hour, her crying seemed diminished.
I put the quilt on her and finally relieved. My wife
was trying to stop me 20 minutes after Alrisha's cry. She said that the
baby may not be ready. Admittedly I am not 100 percent sure about
the training, but I guess every baby has to go through it and every parents
have to weather it. I wasn't feel good either, but I am glad that my doughter
made it. It's a milestone for her and us.
She fell asleep shortly after the feeding. However,
She woke up in about ten minutes.
No matter how I cuddle and walking, she didn't seem to
Sleep and want to play. I put her down on the bed. After a few minute,
she start to cry. I was sitting besides her, but won't be seen by her.
She was crying and coughing. I comforted her after a few minute and
then I still hide. After about half an hour, her crying seemed diminished.
I put the quilt on her and finally relieved. My wife
was trying to stop me 20 minutes after Alrisha's cry. She said that the
baby may not be ready. Admittedly I am not 100 percent sure about
the training, but I guess every baby has to go through it and every parents
have to weather it. I wasn't feel good either, but I am glad that my doughter
made it. It's a milestone for her and us.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Quantum Physics Adds Twist to Chess
I read an interesting article about scientist adding new twist to traditional chess game. The twist is to change the role of the piece unpredictably. You won't know the role of the piece only until you touch it.
It's an interesting idea. This idea may be used as a mechanism in designing board game. Sign, I really should start designing my own board game.
It's an interesting idea. This idea may be used as a mechanism in designing board game. Sign, I really should start designing my own board game.
Monday, August 30, 2010
yardwork, a lot of
The past weekend was a super busy and rewarding weekend for me.
I did a lot of yard work, a lot, really. It is the first milestone of my backyard renovation project.
Every big project starts with a small step.
I started to trim a few branches out of the trees just outside of my backyard fence, as the trees were
growing rampantly blocked a lot of sunshine and wind to my yard. You know, once you cleaned up one tree,
you are seduced to clean up another, and you are addicted to the clean up work step by step.
I trimmed a lot of branches and dead twigs from the trees outside. I thought that may be all I could do
this summer. However, the coming of my cousin brings a new chapter to this project. He is avid in garden work
back in China. My unruly backyard gives him an opportunity to apply his enthusiasm and energy into the
work he loved. He kept cleaning up more and more branches, outside, and gradually inside of my yard.
We have a huge WALL of pine trees on the west side of the yard, like a little forest.
It looks okay from outside, however, it is too thick and dirty within, with a bunch of
dead twigs and garbage on the ground.
To me, it's like a potential risk and maybe a nightmare to my baby girl.
The idea to overhaul the 'forest' haunted me for a while, but I thought it may be a project for me next year.
After my cousin cleaned up other trees, he eventually was allured to this 'forest' with ambition to get
it done this year. As he is at home everyday, it's actually not infeasible, given his ambition and experience.
He cut down all the big branches lower than 2 meters and gathered all the dead twigs. Our green waste
put on the curb was growing every week. :-) Last week, he finally prune almost all the lower branches in
the forest, with just a huge amount of leftover on the grass to clean up.
En, the forest does look much better and the yard is getting a bit more sunshine. One lovely point is that
we can feel breeze brush through the backyard now. The yard is getting alive. We also discovered the broken
fence hidden inside the forest and it is time to replace them as well.
Given the gigantic amount of branches/twigs to remove, I thought that it's better to get rid of them sooner than
later. So, I booked a 4'x7' utility trailer from U-Haul in the last Sunday, planning to tow all the green waste
to Surrey Waste Transfer Station in the northern Surrey. It's a first experience to me to attach a trailer to my
car. Fortunately, there is a hitch installed on the back already.
My brother-in-law, my cousin and me, worked together to cut, prune, and bundle all the branches, the broken fence into
smaller bunches on Saturday, to get them ready for Sunday. Then, on the Sunday, we pile the bunch in the trailer and
towed it to the transfer station. TWICE. We are done and it costs me $33 dollars to remove all the green waste. ($59 per tonne)
I was discussing with my cousin about the next step once we removed all the waste. I thought it might be good to put some
gravel, or small pebble underneath the trees. The utility trailer helped in this case. After I removed the waste, I bought
a scoop load of 'pea gravel' from the Art's Nursery, which is very close to the transfer station. The whole load costs me
only $31 dollar inc. taxes. It's dirty cheap. But you can't get them unless you have a pick-up or trailer to transport them.
I need to buy a wheelbarrows tonight and spread the gravel onto the forest.
My to-do list or the plan for my backyard.
* A green house on my side yard, built with aluminum alloy or wood
* A small arch built with the tree branches I cut
:x
* Flowers on the north side of the grass
* A small fountain, tentatively
I also want to buy some red lava rock to cover and decorate the yard.
A lot of yard work has been done and a lot more are still waiting ...
I did a lot of yard work, a lot, really. It is the first milestone of my backyard renovation project.
Every big project starts with a small step.
I started to trim a few branches out of the trees just outside of my backyard fence, as the trees were
growing rampantly blocked a lot of sunshine and wind to my yard. You know, once you cleaned up one tree,
you are seduced to clean up another, and you are addicted to the clean up work step by step.
I trimmed a lot of branches and dead twigs from the trees outside. I thought that may be all I could do
this summer. However, the coming of my cousin brings a new chapter to this project. He is avid in garden work
back in China. My unruly backyard gives him an opportunity to apply his enthusiasm and energy into the
work he loved. He kept cleaning up more and more branches, outside, and gradually inside of my yard.
We have a huge WALL of pine trees on the west side of the yard, like a little forest.
It looks okay from outside, however, it is too thick and dirty within, with a bunch of
dead twigs and garbage on the ground.
To me, it's like a potential risk and maybe a nightmare to my baby girl.
The idea to overhaul the 'forest' haunted me for a while, but I thought it may be a project for me next year.
After my cousin cleaned up other trees, he eventually was allured to this 'forest' with ambition to get
it done this year. As he is at home everyday, it's actually not infeasible, given his ambition and experience.
He cut down all the big branches lower than 2 meters and gathered all the dead twigs. Our green waste
put on the curb was growing every week. :-) Last week, he finally prune almost all the lower branches in
the forest, with just a huge amount of leftover on the grass to clean up.
En, the forest does look much better and the yard is getting a bit more sunshine. One lovely point is that
we can feel breeze brush through the backyard now. The yard is getting alive. We also discovered the broken
fence hidden inside the forest and it is time to replace them as well.
Given the gigantic amount of branches/twigs to remove, I thought that it's better to get rid of them sooner than
later. So, I booked a 4'x7' utility trailer from U-Haul in the last Sunday, planning to tow all the green waste
to Surrey Waste Transfer Station in the northern Surrey. It's a first experience to me to attach a trailer to my
car. Fortunately, there is a hitch installed on the back already.
My brother-in-law, my cousin and me, worked together to cut, prune, and bundle all the branches, the broken fence into
smaller bunches on Saturday, to get them ready for Sunday. Then, on the Sunday, we pile the bunch in the trailer and
towed it to the transfer station. TWICE. We are done and it costs me $33 dollars to remove all the green waste. ($59 per tonne)
I was discussing with my cousin about the next step once we removed all the waste. I thought it might be good to put some
gravel, or small pebble underneath the trees. The utility trailer helped in this case. After I removed the waste, I bought
a scoop load of 'pea gravel' from the Art's Nursery, which is very close to the transfer station. The whole load costs me
only $31 dollar inc. taxes. It's dirty cheap. But you can't get them unless you have a pick-up or trailer to transport them.
I need to buy a wheelbarrows tonight and spread the gravel onto the forest.
My to-do list or the plan for my backyard.
* A green house on my side yard, built with aluminum alloy or wood
* A small arch built with the tree branches I cut
:x
* Flowers on the north side of the grass
* A small fountain, tentatively
I also want to buy some red lava rock to cover and decorate the yard.
A lot of yard work has been done and a lot more are still waiting ...
Thursday, August 12, 2010
stress
Read an article today discussing the cure of stress by science.
It starts with a story about a professor in Stanford to inspect the stress of baboon in Africa. The professor found that the ranking of baboon in their highly hierarchical society can great affect the level of stress. The result is also confirmed by other studies of rat, civil servants in England. Some interesting findings say that high demanding work like high level executive may not be stressful, as they have more control over their job. However, low level job like security and typist are more stressful as their can't get any satisfaction from their jobs. The punch line is the higher your position is, the longer you live. :-) SO, it's a perfect reason why everyone want to get promotion!
It also unravels the chemical factor of stress. Some chemical, (can't recall the name) generated by the amygdala in brain may increase when people are in stress. When people are in stressful state, other functionality of the body may be suppressed as all the energy may be used to handle the stress, as the natural consequence of evolution.
When people are in chronic stressful state, their body tend to be venerable as the immune system, neuron system may not be functioning in good status. Stress can result in heart stroke, diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases.
The professor in Stanford is actually trying to develop a vaccine like drug to "cure" stress. I highly doubt the usefulness of the drug. Even it is useful, I thought it may not be a good thing as stress can also be good to people. People may improve himself and learn to handle stress, which may benefit them eventually. Stress can be a two blades sword.
Anyway, it also presents some methods to handle stress, like make friends, little of drink, face the fear, meditation, exercise when you like to, ...
Read another article about the death of phone call. It said the people are now making less phone call, instead using text message, or twitter, or IM more. The author usually won't take unscheduled call except from his mom. LOL. The punch line is, we are making less phone call but talk more.
After written this post, I realized that it is very true the ancient Chinese adage, "opening a book will always benefit you". Yes, I learned a lot from reading.
It starts with a story about a professor in Stanford to inspect the stress of baboon in Africa. The professor found that the ranking of baboon in their highly hierarchical society can great affect the level of stress. The result is also confirmed by other studies of rat, civil servants in England. Some interesting findings say that high demanding work like high level executive may not be stressful, as they have more control over their job. However, low level job like security and typist are more stressful as their can't get any satisfaction from their jobs. The punch line is the higher your position is, the longer you live. :-) SO, it's a perfect reason why everyone want to get promotion!
It also unravels the chemical factor of stress. Some chemical, (can't recall the name) generated by the amygdala in brain may increase when people are in stress. When people are in stressful state, other functionality of the body may be suppressed as all the energy may be used to handle the stress, as the natural consequence of evolution.
When people are in chronic stressful state, their body tend to be venerable as the immune system, neuron system may not be functioning in good status. Stress can result in heart stroke, diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases.
The professor in Stanford is actually trying to develop a vaccine like drug to "cure" stress. I highly doubt the usefulness of the drug. Even it is useful, I thought it may not be a good thing as stress can also be good to people. People may improve himself and learn to handle stress, which may benefit them eventually. Stress can be a two blades sword.
Anyway, it also presents some methods to handle stress, like make friends, little of drink, face the fear, meditation, exercise when you like to, ...
Read another article about the death of phone call. It said the people are now making less phone call, instead using text message, or twitter, or IM more. The author usually won't take unscheduled call except from his mom. LOL. The punch line is, we are making less phone call but talk more.
After written this post, I realized that it is very true the ancient Chinese adage, "opening a book will always benefit you". Yes, I learned a lot from reading.
iphone4
I plan to upgrade to my cell phone to iPhone 4, but it is hard to get one right now in Canada. The hungry marketing of Apple is so successful. Everyone has to be patient to get the latest model.
I come up with a Haiku for iPhone 4 on the bus this morning.
----------------------
slim sharp stylish
retina display has more
hold with fingers
I come up with a Haiku for iPhone 4 on the bus this morning.
----------------------
slim sharp stylish
retina display has more
hold with fingers
running, immigration
I've done quite a lot of reading recently during commute.
I was reading Runner's World, Business Week, and The Economist.
One article on the August's Runner's World about the life of two running coaches with the background of new illegal immigrant law in Arizona did touch me. The life of the illegal immigrates in the states are really miserable. The poor kids from Mexico were brought to the states by their parents. They had been living un underworld life without legal identity for 20 years. They learned English and went to school, got paid in low wage doing labour works. Only when they can get married with a US citizen can they be sponsonored a US citizenship. The two coaches had similar background and were runners in school. Running made them strong. The story is weaven with running of the high school students and the immigration issue. Sigh, the US legal identity is a nightmare to every immigrant. Even people with higher education in the US had to fight for their "green card", being "slaved" by US companies for many years. I saw and heard a lot of similar stories about Chinese students struggling to get the "green card".
It's a big topic about the immigration in the US. We are lucky to have obtained the immigrate status in Canada without too much suffers. Canada is a lot more friendly to immigrates then the States.
I was reading Runner's World, Business Week, and The Economist.
One article on the August's Runner's World about the life of two running coaches with the background of new illegal immigrant law in Arizona did touch me. The life of the illegal immigrates in the states are really miserable. The poor kids from Mexico were brought to the states by their parents. They had been living un underworld life without legal identity for 20 years. They learned English and went to school, got paid in low wage doing labour works. Only when they can get married with a US citizen can they be sponsonored a US citizenship. The two coaches had similar background and were runners in school. Running made them strong. The story is weaven with running of the high school students and the immigration issue. Sigh, the US legal identity is a nightmare to every immigrant. Even people with higher education in the US had to fight for their "green card", being "slaved" by US companies for many years. I saw and heard a lot of similar stories about Chinese students struggling to get the "green card".
It's a big topic about the immigration in the US. We are lucky to have obtained the immigrate status in Canada without too much suffers. Canada is a lot more friendly to immigrates then the States.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Tang Jun - the celebrity liar
The story about Tang Jun's fake education has been populated on the Internet for a while. I had no interests in this liar, and no need to add some fuel to this fire. However, when I was reading "The Economist" yesterday. This cheater's name was mentioned in one article about the corruption in education and publish in China. He was depicted as a celebrity executive got less swanky degree from California. It actually beautifies the cheater.
He is really a celebrity now with his name referred in "The Economist". The liar.
He is really a celebrity now with his name referred in "The Economist". The liar.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
I had read some posts recently about the 7 habits again. So, maybe its a good time to refresh my memory about the 7 good habits.
The first 3 is to get yourself independent and the next 3 is to get interdependent. The last one is the way to keep improving yourself along the road.
My summary of good habits includes:
- be proactive
- begin with the end in mind
- put first thing first
- think win/win
- seek to understand, then be understood
- synergize
- sharpen the saw
The first 3 is to get yourself independent and the next 3 is to get interdependent. The last one is the way to keep improving yourself along the road.
My summary of good habits includes:
- proactive
- planning and persistency
- prioritize properly
- keep learning
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
de-weed
I was fighting with weeds on backyard tonight after dinner. It's not an easy task, I realized it when my legs were numb and heavy.
I love the experience and I found the fun gradually. The joy especially come when I got rid of the weed by following the leave to stalk, from stalk to root.
I learned how to debug in computer, and I learned how to de-weed in backyard. :-)
They are similar, indeed. Both bug and weed are hidden in the good code and grass. You have to be patient. Only when you found the root cause of the bug or root of the weed, can you remove it completely.
The weeds are outstanding in the lawn and you thought how hard it can be to remove them since they are there still always. But, when you start to work on them, you found that they are unwilling to leave the ground, and the root are hidden very deep. You followed the stalk, and you just found the stalk are interwoven under the grass like lattice. You don't want to hurt your grass so that it's another hurdle to remove just the root of the weed ...
Anyway, a lot of fun and the experience are good to me. I fixed two weeds today and work on more then.
I love the experience and I found the fun gradually. The joy especially come when I got rid of the weed by following the leave to stalk, from stalk to root.
I learned how to debug in computer, and I learned how to de-weed in backyard. :-)
They are similar, indeed. Both bug and weed are hidden in the good code and grass. You have to be patient. Only when you found the root cause of the bug or root of the weed, can you remove it completely.
The weeds are outstanding in the lawn and you thought how hard it can be to remove them since they are there still always. But, when you start to work on them, you found that they are unwilling to leave the ground, and the root are hidden very deep. You followed the stalk, and you just found the stalk are interwoven under the grass like lattice. You don't want to hurt your grass so that it's another hurdle to remove just the root of the weed ...
Anyway, a lot of fun and the experience are good to me. I fixed two weeds today and work on more then.
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
First time driving a cargo van
I had rented a Penske cargo van in the last long weekend to transport some furniture I bought online.
It's my first time driving a cargo van, which is much bigger than a minivan. It's a full-sized van, like Ford E250. The experience is precious to me. There is no rear mirror in the van, only side mirrors are available. As I am used to checking on the rear mirror when driving, I have to be very prudent when I first started the engine. I bought the day insurance, which I originally rejected. The truck is pretty high, so your horizon is much better than driving a sedan.
The Penske truck rental is not bad. The cargo van is pretty big actually. The base price is $39.00, and per km is $0.21. Compared to U-Haul's $19.99 and ~$0.6 per km, it's a better deal to me at least, because I have to drive a long way from Vancouver to Surrey. I did some research online before I rent the truck. People was saying that the truck of Penske is better than that of U-Haul, so you have a better driving experience. Also, you have the truck for 24 hours, instead of the 4 hours from U-Haul. They have a 12% discount for AAA/CAA member as well.
The experience is precious to me, as I said. After the first time, I am more confident now to drive a bigger van, like 12/15 persons passenger van.
It's my first time driving a cargo van, which is much bigger than a minivan. It's a full-sized van, like Ford E250. The experience is precious to me. There is no rear mirror in the van, only side mirrors are available. As I am used to checking on the rear mirror when driving, I have to be very prudent when I first started the engine. I bought the day insurance, which I originally rejected. The truck is pretty high, so your horizon is much better than driving a sedan.
The Penske truck rental is not bad. The cargo van is pretty big actually. The base price is $39.00, and per km is $0.21. Compared to U-Haul's $19.99 and ~$0.6 per km, it's a better deal to me at least, because I have to drive a long way from Vancouver to Surrey. I did some research online before I rent the truck. People was saying that the truck of Penske is better than that of U-Haul, so you have a better driving experience. Also, you have the truck for 24 hours, instead of the 4 hours from U-Haul. They have a 12% discount for AAA/CAA member as well.
The experience is precious to me, as I said. After the first time, I am more confident now to drive a bigger van, like 12/15 persons passenger van.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
move into new house in South Surrey
We have moved into our new house in South Surrey at the end of May.
Finally got almost everything unpacked and arranged. Moving feels like a change of your life. It is indeed. To move into a new neighborhood, new area, new city.
It takes about 3 weeks to get the Internet up and running. When I have to cuddle the baby at night, I remember I was walking into every room of the house and felt a sense of fulfillment.
Yes, a house is part of your "Canada Dream". Spent almost 10 years in Canada, it is about the time to start enjoy the life a little bit.
The commuting takes me about 90-100 minutes one way, by bus and skytrain. That's not too bad, considering it took me 60 minutes before from Burnaby to Richmond. If I drive, it takes about 45 minutes, much better than I had thought, if there is no accident on the bridges.
Anyway, I've posted a lot of photos of my new home online.
Finally got almost everything unpacked and arranged. Moving feels like a change of your life. It is indeed. To move into a new neighborhood, new area, new city.
It takes about 3 weeks to get the Internet up and running. When I have to cuddle the baby at night, I remember I was walking into every room of the house and felt a sense of fulfillment.
Yes, a house is part of your "Canada Dream". Spent almost 10 years in Canada, it is about the time to start enjoy the life a little bit.
The commuting takes me about 90-100 minutes one way, by bus and skytrain. That's not too bad, considering it took me 60 minutes before from Burnaby to Richmond. If I drive, it takes about 45 minutes, much better than I had thought, if there is no accident on the bridges.
Anyway, I've posted a lot of photos of my new home online.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The first email post: Engineers vs. Software Developers
Working in the new company for a week and I already feel the difference of the culture between the new company and my previous one.
One interesting point I found this morning, is the difference between Engineers and Software Developers.
In my previous company, it is a semi-conductor company and most of people working there were graduated with engineering degree although most of the people are still working on software development. While, in the new company, as most of the people here are working on software development, they have degree mostly in computer science, I guess.
People are working on software development, with different background and environment. Here are some difference I noticed.
* Tools:
* software developers like to use tools, all kinds of tools, for development like code analysis, for productivity like build tools, for fun like chatting, They like to change to different tools and try new tools if possible.
* engineers like tools as well, but mostly hardware tools, they don't want to change to different tools. If one tool works, use it forever.
* Documentation:
* software developers created a lot of document, organized or un-organized. That's why you need a search engine to dig out the useful information from the mammoth amount of documents. They intended to document a lot of steps and guide to share with others, as they know how hard it is to figure out those info.
* engineers don't like too much document. They believe the source code is the best source of information.
* Environment
* a lot of software developers like Linux environment
* many engineers prefer Windows, as a lot of tools are actually viable in Windows only
* Culture: geeky vs hacky
* many difference of software developers and engineers can be deducted from the culture difference. I would say the software developers are more geeky while engineers are most hacky. Geeky like to play around gadgets, tools, toys. Hacker like to fix things and get things done.
* engineers are more active apparently. They have a lot of sports activity. software developers like to stay in the cubicle and chat online and stay ..
* Philosophy:
* For software engineers, you can always improve the software as there are always new bugs introduced.
* For engineers, if it works, don't break it.
I am biased, as I am a software developer. :-) But I think software developers can still learn a lot from engineers.
--
Hao Leo Chen
http://leochen.net
One interesting point I found this morning, is the difference between Engineers and Software Developers.
In my previous company, it is a semi-conductor company and most of people working there were graduated with engineering degree although most of the people are still working on software development. While, in the new company, as most of the people here are working on software development, they have degree mostly in computer science, I guess.
People are working on software development, with different background and environment. Here are some difference I noticed.
* Tools:
* software developers like to use tools, all kinds of tools, for development like code analysis, for productivity like build tools, for fun like chatting, They like to change to different tools and try new tools if possible.
* engineers like tools as well, but mostly hardware tools, they don't want to change to different tools. If one tool works, use it forever.
* Documentation:
* software developers created a lot of document, organized or un-organized. That's why you need a search engine to dig out the useful information from the mammoth amount of documents. They intended to document a lot of steps and guide to share with others, as they know how hard it is to figure out those info.
* engineers don't like too much document. They believe the source code is the best source of information.
* Environment
* a lot of software developers like Linux environment
* many engineers prefer Windows, as a lot of tools are actually viable in Windows only
* Culture: geeky vs hacky
* many difference of software developers and engineers can be deducted from the culture difference. I would say the software developers are more geeky while engineers are most hacky. Geeky like to play around gadgets, tools, toys. Hacker like to fix things and get things done.
* engineers are more active apparently. They have a lot of sports activity. software developers like to stay in the cubicle and chat online and stay ..
* Philosophy:
* For software engineers, you can always improve the software as there are always new bugs introduced.
* For engineers, if it works, don't break it.
I am biased, as I am a software developer. :-) But I think software developers can still learn a lot from engineers.
--
Hao Leo Chen
http://leochen.net
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
iPhone app development (2)
I have some more application development idea for iPhone platform.
1. Language learning application, especially Mandarin.
The target customers are people who are learning Chinese.
2. A social game, with everyone can place some trap, or throw bomb.
3. A drifting bottle application, where you can place throw your drifting bottle into the sea, and the server will track down where the drifting bottle goes. You may also choose to scan and pickup other person's drifting bottle.
1. Language learning application, especially Mandarin.
The target customers are people who are learning Chinese.
2. A social game, with everyone can place some trap, or throw bomb.
3. A drifting bottle application, where you can place throw your drifting bottle into the sea, and the server will track down where the drifting bottle goes. You may also choose to scan and pickup other person's drifting bottle.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
distance running in Japan
I've read some article today about the distance running in Japan. One of the most popular distance running called "Ekiden", which means "post transmission". I can sure that it is coming from ancient Chinese, "Yi Zhan". It's a road relay race. In the article, it discusses the rigorous training and seriousness of the Japanese athletes. We knew that Japanese are serious. They are serious in every training. This is one of the reasons that Japan rise so fast after WWII. It worths of thinking and learning by our Chinese, I believe.
iphone app development
I was pondering about application development for smart phone, ex. iPhone, or Android for a while. It's almost certain that the smart phone will eventually replace every feature phone, when 3G prevails and data plan becomes cheaper. It's like the 1980s and 1990s, the pre-boom era of PC market. Mobile computing is finally here knocking our doors. Both the hardware, software, and infrastructure are ready for the big boom era to come.
There should be a lot of opportunities in this mobile computing era. For individual or small software company, to develop phone apps for other companies maybe a good way of making money.
For example, you can make an e-menu application for a restaurant. The multimedia menu application will be definitely better than traditional menu in the restaurant. You may sell the application to the restaurant for a one time fee, such like 3~5k. Or you may have a better strategy, to sell the app for only 3~5 hundred at first and charge the restaurant for $1 for every order coming through your app later on. Of course, your app should be able to make order and track the order.
For smaller business, the later pricing strategy may be appealing, as there isn't much upfront cost for them and they may be willing to pay commission later for orders. You may also develop websites for those restaurants will no current websites. This business model may be applied to other industries like entertainment, or ticketing business.
So, for this business model, it may be appealing to individual developers and small business market. That's a perfect match.
There should be a lot of opportunities in this mobile computing era. For individual or small software company, to develop phone apps for other companies maybe a good way of making money.
For example, you can make an e-menu application for a restaurant. The multimedia menu application will be definitely better than traditional menu in the restaurant. You may sell the application to the restaurant for a one time fee, such like 3~5k. Or you may have a better strategy, to sell the app for only 3~5 hundred at first and charge the restaurant for $1 for every order coming through your app later on. Of course, your app should be able to make order and track the order.
For smaller business, the later pricing strategy may be appealing, as there isn't much upfront cost for them and they may be willing to pay commission later for orders. You may also develop websites for those restaurants will no current websites. This business model may be applied to other industries like entertainment, or ticketing business.
So, for this business model, it may be appealing to individual developers and small business market. That's a perfect match.
Friday, April 23, 2010
2 weeks with the new born
Un-noticeably, two weeks passed since the baby was born. We have worked out a lot of things in these two weeks.
Why a baby will enrich the parents' life? Because when you bring a baby to the world, you gave him/her a life. You are reflecting your own memory of life. I think most of the people won't have any memory about their very early days since birth. You must be asking the same question again and again to your parent, "how was I doing when I was a new born?". Right now, with a new baby of your own, you finally have the chance to answer the question yourself. You were just like your own new baby when you were a new born at that time. It completes your life experience. Every parent should thank your own baby to complete your life.
When the baby was still in mother's uterus, I don't know what to expect and I was kind of worry about that. I doubt my ability of being a father as I have no experience and don't know what to prepare for this great role of a person's life. In the case room, when the baby first come out, she was so beautiful, crying loudly, like an angel. The feeling of fortunate suddenly filled my whole body. I looked at her. Her skin was pale pink and her lips are red and lovely. The first sight, I fell into her.
In the next couple of days, I was excited to get up every night when I heard of her crying. I learned to change diaper, swaddle the baby, cuddle her, talk to her and play with her. I felt so natural. Everything just comes smoothly and I don't have any complaint even though I was tired and felt fatigue. My lower back hurt a little bit for a few days when I have to lower myself to the height of the bed to change diapers for her. I had to get up several times at night to feed her and soothe her. There is no complaint from the bottom of my heart, and I felt happy and fortunate to be able to do so, as that's role of a father will do and can do.
With the baby grow up everyday, she becomes more responsive and I felt more rewarded.
It's two weeks since the baby was born. I just write the above for my feeling.
Why a baby will enrich the parents' life? Because when you bring a baby to the world, you gave him/her a life. You are reflecting your own memory of life. I think most of the people won't have any memory about their very early days since birth. You must be asking the same question again and again to your parent, "how was I doing when I was a new born?". Right now, with a new baby of your own, you finally have the chance to answer the question yourself. You were just like your own new baby when you were a new born at that time. It completes your life experience. Every parent should thank your own baby to complete your life.
When the baby was still in mother's uterus, I don't know what to expect and I was kind of worry about that. I doubt my ability of being a father as I have no experience and don't know what to prepare for this great role of a person's life. In the case room, when the baby first come out, she was so beautiful, crying loudly, like an angel. The feeling of fortunate suddenly filled my whole body. I looked at her. Her skin was pale pink and her lips are red and lovely. The first sight, I fell into her.
In the next couple of days, I was excited to get up every night when I heard of her crying. I learned to change diaper, swaddle the baby, cuddle her, talk to her and play with her. I felt so natural. Everything just comes smoothly and I don't have any complaint even though I was tired and felt fatigue. My lower back hurt a little bit for a few days when I have to lower myself to the height of the bed to change diapers for her. I had to get up several times at night to feed her and soothe her. There is no complaint from the bottom of my heart, and I felt happy and fortunate to be able to do so, as that's role of a father will do and can do.
With the baby grow up everyday, she becomes more responsive and I felt more rewarded.
It's two weeks since the baby was born. I just write the above for my feeling.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Just installed a blog for Alrisha Chen
I just installed a blog for Alrisha Chen at http://alrishachen.com using wordpress, which is really easy to install.
I have registered another http://alrisha.ca, which will be reserved for Alrisha. She may construct the website later based on her own opinion. I may use it as a photo/video sharing website for her as flickr/youtube may not be available in China though.
I have registered another http://alrisha.ca, which will be reserved for Alrisha. She may construct the website later based on her own opinion. I may use it as a photo/video sharing website for her as flickr/youtube may not be available in China though.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
A baby is born, a family is growing, a father is learning
A baby is born
a family is growing
a father is learning
altogether
haha, this is my first attempt of Haiku, very fun as it is simple.
Alrisha, my daughter was born on Apr. 8th, 23:15. An angel is brought to the earth by my wife, Linda.
Alrisha was so beautiful when I first saw her, pink skin, little mouth. She is so healthy as well, cried loudly and waved her arms swiftly.
A magic bond is established between me and her in my first sight of her. The blood is such a strong bond.
The next few days we have experienced similar troubles of most of the new parents. We are excited about the new baby but we don't know too much about how to take care of her.
The baby sleeps most of the time, whenever she wake up and cries, there must be something she want to express, such as she is hungry, she needs diaper change, she is preparing pooh ... what a different life experience for us.
I was thinking the new born is the best reflective experience of everyone. You are getting a chance to live what you've lived but forgotten. Everyone has lived the similar new born period but I don't think anyone has any memory of it. You are given a chance to re-live that period of time, by living with your baby. This is precious and the most valuable life experience you can ever have.
I may be sleepless at night, but I love it. When I saw the tranquil and satisfied face of my daughter, I think all the fatigue and exhaustion are definitely worthy.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
poker night
Tonight is the poker night in our company. We played Texas Hold'em after work. There are six players come out tonight, much less than before. Anyway, I was just coming out after the organizer called in the announcement.
I won the game again tonight. Since 2005, I played 4 games in the company and I won 3 of them. Twice number one, and once top two and split the pot. That's fantastic. Seems that I have some talent in playing Texas Hold'em anyway. I'll find out maybe years later when I have more time to play pokers.
In today's game, D was wiped out of all his chips in the first hand against me. I had a 3-of-a-kind, which beat his 2 pairs with pocket Aces. This winning in the first hand built the base of my success in the whole game. I was aggressive since I was the chip lead. I had some luck tonight, with some small chances of winning hands. Anyway, the game was fun and I loved it.
I am usually aggressively prudent when I was playing pokers. I bluff sometimes, but I basically won't go too bluffly in the game. I guess I am good at reading other players' hands. I raise the bet when the opportunity is calling and I am afraid of going all-in when there are chances. I should study more about the Texas Hold'em, maybe I really has some knack of it. Winning the game in the company 3 out of 4 games are definitely not just lucky. Maybe most of the players in our company are lousy players. :-)
I won the game again tonight. Since 2005, I played 4 games in the company and I won 3 of them. Twice number one, and once top two and split the pot. That's fantastic. Seems that I have some talent in playing Texas Hold'em anyway. I'll find out maybe years later when I have more time to play pokers.
In today's game, D was wiped out of all his chips in the first hand against me. I had a 3-of-a-kind, which beat his 2 pairs with pocket Aces. This winning in the first hand built the base of my success in the whole game. I was aggressive since I was the chip lead. I had some luck tonight, with some small chances of winning hands. Anyway, the game was fun and I loved it.
I am usually aggressively prudent when I was playing pokers. I bluff sometimes, but I basically won't go too bluffly in the game. I guess I am good at reading other players' hands. I raise the bet when the opportunity is calling and I am afraid of going all-in when there are chances. I should study more about the Texas Hold'em, maybe I really has some knack of it. Winning the game in the company 3 out of 4 games are definitely not just lucky. Maybe most of the players in our company are lousy players. :-)
Saturday, April 03, 2010
three stages of doing things
I was pondering the idea of three stages of doing things when I was running today.
The three stages of doing things are based on some Chinese adages:
The first stage is: "The mountain is just the mountain."
What does it mean is that when you just start to do something, you only know the basic and you only learnt to do the thing by mimicking other people or learnt from some examples. In this stage, you probably have no idea about the underlying theory, or short of in-depth analysis on how to do thing efficiently or effectively. This is the beginner's stage. When I started running couple of years ago, I believe that I was in that stage. I just knew running is good and I'd like to run on treadmill for 30 minutes. I seldom run outside and seldom run more than 3 miles. The adage tells us that the mountain is just the mountain, you don't know about the tree, about the flora, and animals in the mountain.
The second stage is: "The mountain is not just the mountain."
What does this mean is that you now know more than on just how to do things. The mountain has more meaning to you. You not only knows the mountain, you also know the history, the stories, and some data of the mountain. So, the mountain is not just a simple mountain to you. As you have gained more experience and have learned more skills on the subject, you have insight knowledge and in-depth data on how to do things. This is a long stage and is very important as well. To my own experience, after I bought the Garmin 305 and read a lot of articles, some books about running, I understand the pace, split, heart rate, lactate level, threshold, vo2max, and so on. I have dig into different training plan, try to set proper running pace, and explore different running forms. This stage has lasted for a while maybe 2 years till now.
The third stage is: "The mountain is still the mountain."
This is the third stage of doing things and I think that I am entering the this stage of running. When I run outside, I would just have a simple watch with me. I don't care too much about the pace, the heart rate anymore. I just run with my heart and my own felling. I just run for fun. That's purely like the first stage of running. I simply just enjoy running. In this stage, you realized that the mountain is still the mountain, no matter how much details you know, it is still the same old mountain over there.
The three adages seemed quite philosophical and that's the zen, the wisdom of Chinese.
The three stages of doing things are based on some Chinese adages:
The first stage is: "The mountain is just the mountain."
What does it mean is that when you just start to do something, you only know the basic and you only learnt to do the thing by mimicking other people or learnt from some examples. In this stage, you probably have no idea about the underlying theory, or short of in-depth analysis on how to do thing efficiently or effectively. This is the beginner's stage. When I started running couple of years ago, I believe that I was in that stage. I just knew running is good and I'd like to run on treadmill for 30 minutes. I seldom run outside and seldom run more than 3 miles. The adage tells us that the mountain is just the mountain, you don't know about the tree, about the flora, and animals in the mountain.
The second stage is: "The mountain is not just the mountain."
What does this mean is that you now know more than on just how to do things. The mountain has more meaning to you. You not only knows the mountain, you also know the history, the stories, and some data of the mountain. So, the mountain is not just a simple mountain to you. As you have gained more experience and have learned more skills on the subject, you have insight knowledge and in-depth data on how to do things. This is a long stage and is very important as well. To my own experience, after I bought the Garmin 305 and read a lot of articles, some books about running, I understand the pace, split, heart rate, lactate level, threshold, vo2max, and so on. I have dig into different training plan, try to set proper running pace, and explore different running forms. This stage has lasted for a while maybe 2 years till now.
The third stage is: "The mountain is still the mountain."
This is the third stage of doing things and I think that I am entering the this stage of running. When I run outside, I would just have a simple watch with me. I don't care too much about the pace, the heart rate anymore. I just run with my heart and my own felling. I just run for fun. That's purely like the first stage of running. I simply just enjoy running. In this stage, you realized that the mountain is still the mountain, no matter how much details you know, it is still the same old mountain over there.
The three adages seemed quite philosophical and that's the zen, the wisdom of Chinese.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
a book about children education
Recommended by a post on mitbbs, I skimmed a book named "Come here, child", written by a famous Chinese female author in Wuhan, ChiLi.
In this book, the author scratched her experience of raising her daughter, from birth to 16, in the perspective of a mother. She focus on the interaction of the daughter and the mother, instead of chronology. Unlike most of the parents in China, her education of children is based on nurture the child's interests to nature, to what she love, and to encourage child to pursuit her goal.
This is somehow agree to my idea of children education. In Canada, children are treated as individuals. Parents usually give children a lot of freedom and encourage children to develop their own interests. But in China, the author's attitude is very rare and precious.
Author summarizes her three rules.
One is to treat child as individual. Let her decide on many things. This point is widely believed in Canada. My friend, Jimmy, treats his son, Eddie, as an individual. We went to a trip together, Eddie presented a high level of self-governance, self-discipline, and individualism, unlike a 9 year old kid, which surprises me a lot.
The second point is to nurture the kid to love the mother nature. This one is also important, as we know that human being are nature animal at first, and then social animal. Unfortunately, author didn't tell us how she and her daughter develop social activities. Maybe because the author herself is a writer and divorced, which may affect the social activities of the child, who knows.
The last point is to tell stories to the kid and help develop the reading habit of her daughter. I can't agree more with this point. Reading is almost the most educative and informative method of education. Every child, who developed a habit of reading will benefit from it in the whole life. Naturally, her daughter is also good at writing, as she is a writer.
* Link to the post of about the book.
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/LeisureTime/79109.html
* Link to the book
http://www.guyizhou.cn/article/3554.htm
In this book, the author scratched her experience of raising her daughter, from birth to 16, in the perspective of a mother. She focus on the interaction of the daughter and the mother, instead of chronology. Unlike most of the parents in China, her education of children is based on nurture the child's interests to nature, to what she love, and to encourage child to pursuit her goal.
This is somehow agree to my idea of children education. In Canada, children are treated as individuals. Parents usually give children a lot of freedom and encourage children to develop their own interests. But in China, the author's attitude is very rare and precious.
Author summarizes her three rules.
One is to treat child as individual. Let her decide on many things. This point is widely believed in Canada. My friend, Jimmy, treats his son, Eddie, as an individual. We went to a trip together, Eddie presented a high level of self-governance, self-discipline, and individualism, unlike a 9 year old kid, which surprises me a lot.
The second point is to nurture the kid to love the mother nature. This one is also important, as we know that human being are nature animal at first, and then social animal. Unfortunately, author didn't tell us how she and her daughter develop social activities. Maybe because the author herself is a writer and divorced, which may affect the social activities of the child, who knows.
The last point is to tell stories to the kid and help develop the reading habit of her daughter. I can't agree more with this point. Reading is almost the most educative and informative method of education. Every child, who developed a habit of reading will benefit from it in the whole life. Naturally, her daughter is also good at writing, as she is a writer.
* Link to the post of about the book.
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/LeisureTime/79109.html
* Link to the book
http://www.guyizhou.cn/article/3554.htm
Saturday, March 27, 2010
three stories
There are three Chinese adages I'd love to share with you. Actually, they are three simple stories that I sometimes think about them during running.
The first story is "To repair the ward after loss of lamp". It tells you that life is never to late to do something.
The second story is "Race between rabbit and turtle". It tells you that the slow runner may eventually win the race if he keeps running, while the fast runner may lose the race if he stops.
The third story is "The view is the same on the top of the mountain, for both snails and eagles". It tells you that you can enjoy the same success no matter you achieve it fast or slow.
The first story is "To repair the ward after loss of lamp". It tells you that life is never to late to do something.
The second story is "Race between rabbit and turtle". It tells you that the slow runner may eventually win the race if he keeps running, while the fast runner may lose the race if he stops.
The third story is "The view is the same on the top of the mountain, for both snails and eagles". It tells you that you can enjoy the same success no matter you achieve it fast or slow.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Healthy Food
I was chatting with George during the run this noon.
We started the discussion with the life of human's teeth. I had another teeth RCT on last Saturday again. That's really unfortunate. We concluded that human's teeth or other parts of the body may not be evolved to sustain for more than 60 years as the average life of human beings were in the 60s for a while. Only with the recent advance of medical technique, the expected life of human being is extended to more than 80. It is good for individual. However, the society may not be ready to welcome the age of old. Japan is a vivid example of how the society is greatly impacted by the aging population. Anyway, as the world is mostly controlled or managed by the old, it is inevitable that more and more resources will be invested in the health research to extend the life of human beings.
We then talked about the importance of healthy food for the health of human being. It is by far the most important factor of human's health, followed by exercise. I talked about my transition of eating less meat and more vegetable instead. George mentioned local grow fruits are better than imported fruits as the former is naturally mature than the latter. He also said that organic milk, egg, and meat may have greater effect in health than organic vegetable as milk, egg, or meat may accumulate more compound or chemical. Organic ones have advantage than non-organic one. The price of organic milk is about 250% of regular one. That's pricey, but people are still buying organic ones. I'll check it out and may try it myself. I agreed to his statement as I had the similar impress after watching the "Food Inc." documentary.
Guess I have to be more careful about food from now on.
We started the discussion with the life of human's teeth. I had another teeth RCT on last Saturday again. That's really unfortunate. We concluded that human's teeth or other parts of the body may not be evolved to sustain for more than 60 years as the average life of human beings were in the 60s for a while. Only with the recent advance of medical technique, the expected life of human being is extended to more than 80. It is good for individual. However, the society may not be ready to welcome the age of old. Japan is a vivid example of how the society is greatly impacted by the aging population. Anyway, as the world is mostly controlled or managed by the old, it is inevitable that more and more resources will be invested in the health research to extend the life of human beings.
We then talked about the importance of healthy food for the health of human being. It is by far the most important factor of human's health, followed by exercise. I talked about my transition of eating less meat and more vegetable instead. George mentioned local grow fruits are better than imported fruits as the former is naturally mature than the latter. He also said that organic milk, egg, and meat may have greater effect in health than organic vegetable as milk, egg, or meat may accumulate more compound or chemical. Organic ones have advantage than non-organic one. The price of organic milk is about 250% of regular one. That's pricey, but people are still buying organic ones. I'll check it out and may try it myself. I agreed to his statement as I had the similar impress after watching the "Food Inc." documentary.
Guess I have to be more careful about food from now on.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
2012 and survivor
I watched the Survivor season 17 last week. I think that Bob deserve the million dollar. Both Matty and Sugar are so stupid to win the final prize. Matty didn't learn to ignite a fire after 39 days and Sugar was stupid to save Bob in the final three. I can't bear it with so stupid contestants in the show.
I also watched the movie <2012> last week. The first part of the movie is good, with all the background story, the father is trying to save his kids, the yellow stone park volcano. The last part of the movie is also very stupid, when the life of all the people on the ark were rely on this stupid leading role. The black guy, the chief scientist, was even stupider to claim that we are not human because we didn't save people's life waiting on the deck. He didn't think about the other people on board already. How come you may sacrifice even more people's life to save a smaller group or just this one guy. Haha, because this one guy is the leading role of the movie. Anyway, it is just a movie and I can't believe the reality will be like that.
I also watched the movie <2012> last week. The first part of the movie is good, with all the background story, the father is trying to save his kids, the yellow stone park volcano. The last part of the movie is also very stupid, when the life of all the people on the ark were rely on this stupid leading role. The black guy, the chief scientist, was even stupider to claim that we are not human because we didn't save people's life waiting on the deck. He didn't think about the other people on board already. How come you may sacrifice even more people's life to save a smaller group or just this one guy. Haha, because this one guy is the leading role of the movie. Anyway, it is just a movie and I can't believe the reality will be like that.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
B.R.A.I.N.
When I attended the parental class on Saturday, one thing I learned is the B.R.A.I.N. questions you should ask when you were taking advices and make decisions.
B: benefit
What's the benefit of doing this?
R. reason
What's the reason of doing this?
A. Alternative
What's the alternate solution?
I. Intuition
What's your intuition of doing this?
N. Now, not now, never
What will happen if I do it now, or not now, or never?
Those are good questions to ask the person who gives you advice/suggestion or yourself before making a critical decision.
B: benefit
What's the benefit of doing this?
R. reason
What's the reason of doing this?
A. Alternative
What's the alternate solution?
I. Intuition
What's your intuition of doing this?
N. Now, not now, never
What will happen if I do it now, or not now, or never?
Those are good questions to ask the person who gives you advice/suggestion or yourself before making a critical decision.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Allergy
Spring is here, as well as the allergy. I have been experiencing allergy for more than 5 years. My eyes are itching and dry, my noses are stalled. Those are typical pollen allergies.
I am used to the allergy already. Allergy is just a over-react reaction of your body's immune system to the outside world when there isn't much work for them to do. So, I believe a mild pollen allergy is a good thing to your body. Your immune system is doing some exercise. :-)
As I refused to take any medicine, I can withstand the symptoms of the allergy now. I am getting used to it, at least I am not afraid of it psychologically.
Just hope more rain than sunshine, as rain will reduce the amount of pollen in the air, thus alleviate my symptoms.
Anyway, be strong and get away with the allergy.
I am used to the allergy already. Allergy is just a over-react reaction of your body's immune system to the outside world when there isn't much work for them to do. So, I believe a mild pollen allergy is a good thing to your body. Your immune system is doing some exercise. :-)
As I refused to take any medicine, I can withstand the symptoms of the allergy now. I am getting used to it, at least I am not afraid of it psychologically.
Just hope more rain than sunshine, as rain will reduce the amount of pollen in the air, thus alleviate my symptoms.
Anyway, be strong and get away with the allergy.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Go, Canada, Go
I watched the Ice Hockey final game today, Canada vs. US.
I started from the 2nd period. Canada performed very well in the second period. The second goal was very elegant and beautiful. However, Canada was a little bit conservative in the 3rd period and was pressed by US. The dramatic goal by the US before the end of the game really destroyed the conservative dream of Team Canada.
In Overtime, Canada was revived again and played very well. Sidney Corsby's goal marked the end of the game and Canada won the gold medal of ice hockey. It's a perfect ending of the Winter Olympic. Canada won the most number of gold medal over all the Winter Olympic among all the countries. Canada won both men and women's curling and ice hockey. It all happened in Vancouver!!
I was so excited after the game. I yelled and screamed in the balcony.
I am proud of the Team Canada.
Go, Canada, Go!
I started from the 2nd period. Canada performed very well in the second period. The second goal was very elegant and beautiful. However, Canada was a little bit conservative in the 3rd period and was pressed by US. The dramatic goal by the US before the end of the game really destroyed the conservative dream of Team Canada.
In Overtime, Canada was revived again and played very well. Sidney Corsby's goal marked the end of the game and Canada won the gold medal of ice hockey. It's a perfect ending of the Winter Olympic. Canada won the most number of gold medal over all the Winter Olympic among all the countries. Canada won both men and women's curling and ice hockey. It all happened in Vancouver!!
I was so excited after the game. I yelled and screamed in the balcony.
I am proud of the Team Canada.
Go, Canada, Go!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Born to run
I just finished reading the book
The book is about ultra runner, a secret Mexican original group, and some ultra races.
The author tracked the mystery running man in a canyon in Mexican famous for ultra running (forget the name). He visited those people and met a guy who want to organize an ultra running race between American elite ultra runners and the Mexican tribe men.
In this book, he also discussed the "born to run" of human body, from both archaeology and evolution's perspectives. Some professors found that the human body was evolved to run long distance, human's brain and reasoning skills etc. were developed during hunting animals by chasing them down over a long distance. That's a really impressive discovery, but I believe so as I am a runner too. :-)
It's fun to read the book and get inspired by those ultra runners. I may run an ultra marathon like 100k sometimes this year or next year.
Monday, February 22, 2010
winter Olympic 2010
I watched the last section of Figure Skating - Ice Dance, Free Dance tonight. As I predicted last night, the Canadian team, Moir and Virtue, won the gold medal with a high margin. Frankly speaking, all the top three players performed very well in my eyes. But, the judges were definitely affected the audience in the stadium. Anyway, it's the first time non-Russian players won the ice dance of figure skating since 1960s. I am proud of them. The players are so young, only around 20s. They are been partners for 13 years. They are great potentials in this game, I believe.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
winter Olympic 2010
We went to Pacific Coliseum this afternoon to watch the Figure Skating - Ice Dance - Original Dance game. One Canada team ranked No. 1 after this game. This program consists of three sections, including compulsory dance, original dance, and free dance. Due to the host effect, I think, the Canadian players have higher chance of winning the final gold medal. Let's see that tomorrow.
You can really feel the host effect. When the Canadian players appeared on the ice, the whole stadium was filled with applaud, scream, and flags. Everyone was motivated and excited. I believe the judges were affected by the enthusiasm of all audience and have to give a high score for the performance. Admittedly, the performance of the Canadian players were pretty good, but I can't really tell the difference from other top players from the eyes of an amateur. Anyway, to watch the Olympic game in the field is my first time experience.
It's quite a good experience.
You can really feel the host effect. When the Canadian players appeared on the ice, the whole stadium was filled with applaud, scream, and flags. Everyone was motivated and excited. I believe the judges were affected by the enthusiasm of all audience and have to give a high score for the performance. Admittedly, the performance of the Canadian players were pretty good, but I can't really tell the difference from other top players from the eyes of an amateur. Anyway, to watch the Olympic game in the field is my first time experience.
It's quite a good experience.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
new business idea
Develop a similar system of opentable in China. Universal booking system.
* embedded device with 2G/3G connection, may use SMS for communication
* based on cheap cellphone reference platform with SMS support
* touchscreen support
* may be deployed to high-end restaurant, entertainment center, or any other booking required places
* application running on embedded device to accept reservation order, manage order
* different level of applications, charge different monthly fee
* lite version
* pro version
* premium version
* client software for easy booking running on iphone or other smart phone
* may use SMS to book from client
* may book online
* use SMS for confirmation, or phone call from the venue
* server software to send booking info, accept client SMS
* client use cellphone number to register, accumulate cash points
* embedded device with 2G/3G connection, may use SMS for communication
* based on cheap cellphone reference platform with SMS support
* touchscreen support
* may be deployed to high-end restaurant, entertainment center, or any other booking required places
* application running on embedded device to accept reservation order, manage order
* different level of applications, charge different monthly fee
* lite version
* pro version
* premium version
* client software for easy booking running on iphone or other smart phone
* may use SMS to book from client
* may book online
* use SMS for confirmation, or phone call from the venue
* server software to send booking info, accept client SMS
* client use cellphone number to register, accumulate cash points
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Buying a House
We celebrated the new year's eve with Ying and her mom at my home. We made dumplings together. Ying had brought traditional food made by her mom. I love the pork skin jello.
We went to White Rock for another house visit trip on Sunday again. We finally decided to go for the previous offered house again, by raising the offer for 5%. The seller accepted our offer on Monday. It's an important milestone of our house purchase.
We are now busily working on mortgage, house inspection, and everything before the final deal closure.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
house visit
We are busily checking on houses this week. We went to White Rock on Monday afternoon to checkout 6 houses. The following is my summary of the house visit.
1. This one is in a location of good elementary and high school. Quite community. 1,800 sqrt.
One living room, one dinning room, and one office downstairs. 3 small bedrooms plus a small den upstairs.
The owner is a retired accountant. The house has some recent upgrade with new roof, new ceiling, driveway, and window.
2. This one is in a corner of two not-so-busy street. But the traffic can definitely be heard.
This one has a rented suite $700/month downstairs. The upstairs has a big living room and three bedrooms.
3. This one is on a busy street. It has a rented suite $610/month downstairs. A two stage living room with 3 bedrooms upstairs.
4. This one is not decorated. 1,800 sqrt wit quite community. 3 bedrooms w/o den upstairs.
5. This is the agent's own house. A big one with a lot of living room spaces. Good community with good schools.
6. This one is in a quite community. A fan shaped area with small entry. The room are spacious. 3,000 sqrt. The style is quite interesting, looks luxury.
I am pretty interested in the 1st one and the 6th one, if the price are reasonable.
1. This one is in a location of good elementary and high school. Quite community. 1,800 sqrt.
One living room, one dinning room, and one office downstairs. 3 small bedrooms plus a small den upstairs.
The owner is a retired accountant. The house has some recent upgrade with new roof, new ceiling, driveway, and window.
2. This one is in a corner of two not-so-busy street. But the traffic can definitely be heard.
This one has a rented suite $700/month downstairs. The upstairs has a big living room and three bedrooms.
3. This one is on a busy street. It has a rented suite $610/month downstairs. A two stage living room with 3 bedrooms upstairs.
4. This one is not decorated. 1,800 sqrt wit quite community. 3 bedrooms w/o den upstairs.
5. This is the agent's own house. A big one with a lot of living room spaces. Good community with good schools.
6. This one is in a quite community. A fan shaped area with small entry. The room are spacious. 3,000 sqrt. The style is quite interesting, looks luxury.
I am pretty interested in the 1st one and the 6th one, if the price are reasonable.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Alumni Party Succeeded
We had a successful alumni party yesterday. Around 60 alumni and relatives attended the new year party. The party was in potluck style, everyone brought food to share with others. The committee provided drink, fruit and snacks, a lot of sunflower seeds and peanuts. Unfortunately, I had cracked the crown I just installed last Dec. What the hell? The crown is so fragile?
Many alumni have discussed about donation to the association. However, as nobody had followed up on this topic, the good time of collect some money for the association ended with nothing.
Some new alumni have come to the party, but many old ones are missing.
In general, the party is succeeded. But, we may need to organize more activities to increase the connection of alumni.
Many alumni have discussed about donation to the association. However, as nobody had followed up on this topic, the good time of collect some money for the association ended with nothing.
Some new alumni have come to the party, but many old ones are missing.
In general, the party is succeeded. But, we may need to organize more activities to increase the connection of alumni.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
diet is the king
Let's discuss the weight loss here again.
I have the plateau of 160lb for over one month since December of 2009. I had increased the work-out time and the running mileage was increased gradually based on my training plan. However, I didn't lose a single pound since X'mas. I finally figured out that the diet is the king. Although I had increased calories burning through weight training and cardio, I had also increased calories intake since the Christmas season. So, my weight is stabilized at 160lb for such a long time.
As I had realized this point since last week, I have to control my diet further with lighter lunch and without any night snack. The weight finally dropped to below 160lbs. I have recorded the new low point of 157.8lb this week.
So, the diet is the king of weight loss. You have to be very careful with every tiny bite of food, including snack and drink. My typical meal everyday is like the following:
* Breakfast: Oatmeal, 1/4 cup of milk, some blueberries or grape.
* Lunch: two pieces of whole wheat bread with 2 tablespoon of peanut butter, a bowel of green salad with low-fat dressing.
* Late after snack: one banana, one/two small apple, one/two orange, before or after work-out. Sometimes, two pieces of digestive cookie.
* Dinner: vegetable, fish, or pork, chicken soup or vegetable soup.
I felt that dinner right now is the most calories meal in a day. The vegetables and meat are usually cooked with too much salt and oil. I may further cut the dinner calories intake if I have another weight plateau.
I am glad now that I am keeping losing weight after the plateau period.
I have the plateau of 160lb for over one month since December of 2009. I had increased the work-out time and the running mileage was increased gradually based on my training plan. However, I didn't lose a single pound since X'mas. I finally figured out that the diet is the king. Although I had increased calories burning through weight training and cardio, I had also increased calories intake since the Christmas season. So, my weight is stabilized at 160lb for such a long time.
As I had realized this point since last week, I have to control my diet further with lighter lunch and without any night snack. The weight finally dropped to below 160lbs. I have recorded the new low point of 157.8lb this week.
So, the diet is the king of weight loss. You have to be very careful with every tiny bite of food, including snack and drink. My typical meal everyday is like the following:
* Breakfast: Oatmeal, 1/4 cup of milk, some blueberries or grape.
* Lunch: two pieces of whole wheat bread with 2 tablespoon of peanut butter, a bowel of green salad with low-fat dressing.
* Late after snack: one banana, one/two small apple, one/two orange, before or after work-out. Sometimes, two pieces of digestive cookie.
* Dinner: vegetable, fish, or pork, chicken soup or vegetable soup.
I felt that dinner right now is the most calories meal in a day. The vegetables and meat are usually cooked with too much salt and oil. I may further cut the dinner calories intake if I have another weight plateau.
I am glad now that I am keeping losing weight after the plateau period.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
house visit
Linda and I went to visit a house on sale tonight. This rancher home is built in 1965, with brick outside and hardwood floor. The lot is around 8,000 sf and the house is about 1,600 sf with 3 bedrooms.
The current tenants are Korean couple with kids. The house is maintained well. The pros of the house is that it close to Lougheed town center with 5 minutes walking distance to skytrain station. The cons is that the space is a bit limited without any basement structure. The price is reasonable asking for $580,000.
It's still on my candidate list though. But Linda said it is so-so as the space is too limited.
The current tenants are Korean couple with kids. The house is maintained well. The pros of the house is that it close to Lougheed town center with 5 minutes walking distance to skytrain station. The cons is that the space is a bit limited without any basement structure. The price is reasonable asking for $580,000.
It's still on my candidate list though. But Linda said it is so-so as the space is too limited.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
buy new house
With the coming of the new baby, I think it is time to think about purchasing a new house. My current apartment is too crammed with 4 adults and one baby to come.
As I discussed with friends, I realized that the following aspects should be considered when purchasing new home.
* Location, location, location. Usually the location is the most important part of the house, and it is already an accumulated factor of other factors like neighbor, school zone, etc. Within the location aspects, the following factors could be considered sub-aspects of location, like:
* neighbor: security, neighbor people
* environment: park, view
* convenience: shopping center, community center, library, sports facilitates,
* transportation: commute, bus, skytrain, highway access
* House. The house itself is the next important part as it is the main dwelling place for the family for a not-short time, usually 5-10 years. For the house, the following factors should be considered before the purchase.
* building quality: main framework, leaking, foundation
* layout: number of bedrooms, bathrooms, functional areas, full/crawl basement
* rental suite: separate entry, legal or not, second kitchen
* orientation: south backyard, lighting condition, fengshui
* roof, plumbing, outside wall
* garden, big trees
* kitchen, bathroom
* appliance
* Price. Of course, the price is the most influential factor to buy a house. Within a certain budget, you are confident to checkout the house, otherwise, you won't probably checkout the house anyway.
As I discussed with friends, I realized that the following aspects should be considered when purchasing new home.
* Location, location, location. Usually the location is the most important part of the house, and it is already an accumulated factor of other factors like neighbor, school zone, etc. Within the location aspects, the following factors could be considered sub-aspects of location, like:
* neighbor: security, neighbor people
* environment: park, view
* convenience: shopping center, community center, library, sports facilitates,
* transportation: commute, bus, skytrain, highway access
* House. The house itself is the next important part as it is the main dwelling place for the family for a not-short time, usually 5-10 years. For the house, the following factors should be considered before the purchase.
* building quality: main framework, leaking, foundation
* layout: number of bedrooms, bathrooms, functional areas, full/crawl basement
* rental suite: separate entry, legal or not, second kitchen
* orientation: south backyard, lighting condition, fengshui
* roof, plumbing, outside wall
* garden, big trees
* kitchen, bathroom
* appliance
* Price. Of course, the price is the most influential factor to buy a house. Within a certain budget, you are confident to checkout the house, otherwise, you won't probably checkout the house anyway.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
engagement party
I went to the engagement party of my friend this afternoon. We have known the couple for years since we were in SFU. They bought a new spacious townhouse in Port Coquitlam. Very quite and convenient neighborhood. It's just a bit too far from where we work.
A lot of people were there to celebrate the new engaged couple for their new life and new home. A new start and life are waiting for them. Bless them!
A lot of people were there to celebrate the new engaged couple for their new life and new home. A new start and life are waiting for them. Bless them!
Friday, January 29, 2010
children education thought
I thought about the education of children when I was driving home tonight.
It is partially stimulated by the "three word poem" I was reciting recently.
The education of children can be divided into three aspects, merit, behavior, personality. For each category, I listed the top three points I think that are important. They are,
* people
* respect others and self-esteem
* love
* faithful
* behavior
* prioritize
* persistent
* planning
* personality
* optimistic
* curious
There are other merit or personality should be nurtured, admittedly. I only list the one that I think should be the most important part here, as you have to prioritize the points at first.
It is partially stimulated by the "three word poem" I was reciting recently.
The education of children can be divided into three aspects, merit, behavior, personality. For each category, I listed the top three points I think that are important. They are,
* people
* respect others and self-esteem
* love
* faithful
* behavior
* prioritize
* persistent
* planning
* personality
* optimistic
* curious
There are other merit or personality should be nurtured, admittedly. I only list the one that I think should be the most important part here, as you have to prioritize the points at first.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
iPad
Apple announced the iPad flat screen computer today.
It's an ARM based mobile computer. That's why the stock price of ARM holding soar today after the announcement. It reaches 9.91 in today's high and that's 52 week's high point as well.
It's really good news for mobile computing. Apple's iPad will lead the new mobile computing platform and will eventually replace the traditional desktop/laptop computing environment.
Users won't care about the underlying hardware and the OS running, so long as they have enough app and common applications like web browser, email client, photo viewer, and so on.
The new mobile computing era is coming!
It's an ARM based mobile computer. That's why the stock price of ARM holding soar today after the announcement. It reaches 9.91 in today's high and that's 52 week's high point as well.
It's really good news for mobile computing. Apple's iPad will lead the new mobile computing platform and will eventually replace the traditional desktop/laptop computing environment.
Users won't care about the underlying hardware and the OS running, so long as they have enough app and common applications like web browser, email client, photo viewer, and so on.
The new mobile computing era is coming!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Bought a car
I bought a 04 Acura TSX from a friend. Acura TSX is the entry level luxury car. You feel better when you drive a luxury car, as the interior is much better with premium package. Once you drove a luxury car, it would be hard to return to normal car again.
The TSX was quite a popular car. It is among the most popular cars sold in Canada 04-06. However, the trunk is smaller than my Jetta, which is some how a weak point to me.
I am selling my Jetta now.
The TSX was quite a popular car. It is among the most popular cars sold in Canada 04-06. However, the trunk is smaller than my Jetta, which is some how a weak point to me.
I am selling my Jetta now.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
浙江大学温哥华校友会春节联谊活动通知
浙江大学温哥华校友会春节联谊活动通知
浙江大学温哥华校友会定于2010年2月6日
在列治文Richmond的Richmond Rod & Gun Club (http://rrgc.homestead.com/)
举行欢度春节团拜联谊活动。
欢迎大温地区的浙大（含原杭大，浙医大，浙农大）
活动细节如下：
时间：2010年2月6日（星期六）中午11点至下午3点。
地点：7891 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC V6X 1J7
(沿Cambie Road过3号路朝西 即朝菲沙河方向行驶70米即到目的地)
方式：Potluck, 由校友会理事会出资租用活动场地及提供水果饮料酒水点心。
请与会的校友各自携带食物（参考满足自己家庭成员吃为量），
内容：校友团拜，有奖知识竞赛，文艺表演，抽奖等。
报名：778-6885929 （黄晓峰）；604-771-9618 （程建安）
电子邮件：chhao4u@yahoo.com （陈浩）
请报名时候说明参加人数（成人及儿童）
没有车的校友报名时请说明，
愿意在活动中发言或参与表演、
辞牛迎虎、春节快乐
浙江大学温哥华校友会理事会
2010年1月20日
浙江大学温哥华校友会定于2010年2月6日
在列治文Richmond的Richmond Rod & Gun Club (http://rrgc.homestead.com/)
举行欢度春节团拜联谊活动。
欢迎大温地区的浙大（含原杭大，浙医大，浙农大）
活动细节如下：
时间：2010年2月6日（星期六）中午11点至下午3点。
地点：7891 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC V6X 1J7
(沿Cambie Road过3号路朝西 即朝菲沙河方向行驶70米即到目的地)
方式：Potluck, 由校友会理事会出资租用活动场地及提供水果饮料酒水点心。
请与会的校友各自携带食物（参考满足自己家庭成员吃为量），
内容：校友团拜，有奖知识竞赛，文艺表演，抽奖等。
报名：778-6885929 （黄晓峰）；604-771-9618 （程建安）
电子邮件：chhao4u@yahoo.com （陈浩）
请报名时候说明参加人数（成人及儿童）
没有车的校友报名时请说明，
愿意在活动中发言或参与表演、
辞牛迎虎、春节快乐
浙江大学温哥华校友会理事会
2010年1月20日
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
investment in this decade
It's Jan. 2010. The first month of the second decades in 21st century. It's a good time to consider the investment strategy for this decade.
For the last decades, resources, gold, commodity are the stars of the investment. So, what will be next star sectors?
One article I recently read gives a strategy of investing in the ignored sectors. Just like the resource and gold was ignored at the beginning of the past decades. It sounds like reasonable.
Let's guess what will be the next growing sectors in this decade.
* Health Care
This sector basically had not much grow in the past decade. It may be a good sector. I rate it as 4 out of 5. (XLV)
* Telecommunication
3G/4G will change the lifestyle of everyone, just like the Internet has changed our life already. (VZ)
* Railroad
The most efficient transportation method. It's green and efficient. (IYT)
* Energy midstream
With China and India crave for energy, the transportation midstream, will gain a lot of businesses. (DUK)
* Natural Gas
Natural Gas is already bottomed. No way it will drop any further. (GAS.TO)
For the last decades, resources, gold, commodity are the stars of the investment. So, what will be next star sectors?
One article I recently read gives a strategy of investing in the ignored sectors. Just like the resource and gold was ignored at the beginning of the past decades. It sounds like reasonable.
Let's guess what will be the next growing sectors in this decade.
* Health Care
This sector basically had not much grow in the past decade. It may be a good sector. I rate it as 4 out of 5. (XLV)
* Telecommunication
3G/4G will change the lifestyle of everyone, just like the Internet has changed our life already. (VZ)
* Railroad
The most efficient transportation method. It's green and efficient. (IYT)
* Energy midstream
With China and India crave for energy, the transportation midstream, will gain a lot of businesses. (DUK)
* Natural Gas
Natural Gas is already bottomed. No way it will drop any further. (GAS.TO)
Monday, January 18, 2010
board game is gaining monument in China now
Heard from my friend that board game is gaining a huge monument since last year. Check out this website http://173zy.com and you may have some idea this kind of game is hot and fresh in China now. The website is trying to sell online version of the games.
Well, my business idea is finally making sense now. My plan was to sell board game in China by Chinesize the popular and succeeded board game in western country. We can borrow game idea from the existing games and incorporate into the Chinese culture. That sure will make a big hit.
Right now, maybe it is a good time to enter this market and start the business, as the early market has been opened and players were educated already. So, it is relatively easy to sell the concept of board game to players now.
Let's make a business plan on this.
Well, my business idea is finally making sense now. My plan was to sell board game in China by Chinesize the popular and succeeded board game in western country. We can borrow game idea from the existing games and incorporate into the Chinese culture. That sure will make a big hit.
Right now, maybe it is a good time to enter this market and start the business, as the early market has been opened and players were educated already. So, it is relatively easy to sell the concept of board game to players now.
Let's make a business plan on this.
Friday, January 15, 2010
point roberts pickup
I went to Point Roberts to pick up the books I ordered from Amazon. The massey tunnel was quite crowded south bound this noon. The border is quite empty, I passed the border without any question using my Nexus card. The returning trip is quite easy as well. After I dropped my traveler's claim card, no questions asked anyway.
I went to Aberdeen center to pick up the mails for Linda this afternoon. A lot of people in the mall actually. It's hard to find a parking stall. The design of the parking lot is quite stupid, making it hard to get to the mall. I don't understand why the parking lot is not designed to be flat. Maybe they want to squeeze more car into the lot. That sucks.
I went to Aberdeen center to pick up the mails for Linda this afternoon. A lot of people in the mall actually. It's hard to find a parking stall. The design of the parking lot is quite stupid, making it hard to get to the mall. I don't understand why the parking lot is not designed to be flat. Maybe they want to squeeze more car into the lot. That sucks.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
google and baidu
The announcement of Google is ready to quit China's market is a huge bomb to the Internet stock recently, especially Baidu, the No.1 search engine company in China, whose stock price surged more than 30% in two days.
I bought some Feb. put option of Baidu this morning, hoping a correction will bring some money to me. Let's wait and see. But I can hold those put for too long, no more than 2 weeks as the time value is decreasing fast for the near term options. I should close this position by the end of Jan.
I bought some Jan. call option of Google this morning and sold it in the afternoon. I bought it in 2.8 and sold it at 5. Such a quick move, anyway, it's like a gambling, just for fun.
I bought some Feb. put option of Baidu this morning, hoping a correction will bring some money to me. Let's wait and see. But I can hold those put for too long, no more than 2 weeks as the time value is decreasing fast for the near term options. I should close this position by the end of Jan.
I bought some Jan. call option of Google this morning and sold it in the afternoon. I bought it in 2.8 and sold it at 5. Such a quick move, anyway, it's like a gambling, just for fun.
exciting business idea: haoge food
I have just come up with an exciting business idea this early morning when I was lying on the bed. It's an idea of fast food franchise, called "Haoge food" or whatever.
The concept is to create a Chinese fast food franchise similar to subway, with Chinese style sandwich. The selling point of this fast food is healthy fast food.
The Chinese style sandwich is a descendant of Xi'an RouJieMo plus Chengdu RouGuoKuei.
The bun is based on GuoKui, or ShaoBing. I'd like to use whole wheat to make the bun.
The ingredient:
* Meat
* Chicken
* Spicy Chicken
* Pork
* Spicy Pork
* Beef
* Spicy Beef
* Sausauge
* Spicy Sausauge
* Meat Ball
* Vegetable
* ZhaCai
* PaoCai
* XiangCai
* Green Onion
* Onion
* ShengCai
* Green Pepper
* Cucumber
* Tomato
* Extra
* Fried Egg
* Cheese
* Chili Pepper Powder
* Sauce
* Ketchup
* Mayo
* HaoYou
* Drink
* Green Bean Soup
* Red Bean Soup
* YiMi Soup
* Soy Milk
* Milk
The concept is to create a Chinese fast food franchise similar to subway, with Chinese style sandwich. The selling point of this fast food is healthy fast food.
The Chinese style sandwich is a descendant of Xi'an RouJieMo plus Chengdu RouGuoKuei.
The bun is based on GuoKui, or ShaoBing. I'd like to use whole wheat to make the bun.
The ingredient:
* Meat
* Chicken
* Spicy Chicken
* Pork
* Spicy Pork
* Beef
* Spicy Beef
* Sausauge
* Spicy Sausauge
* Meat Ball
* Vegetable
* ZhaCai
* PaoCai
* XiangCai
* Green Onion
* Onion
* ShengCai
* Green Pepper
* Cucumber
* Tomato
* Extra
* Fried Egg
* Cheese
* Chili Pepper Powder
* Sauce
* Ketchup
* Mayo
* HaoYou
* Drink
* Green Bean Soup
* Red Bean Soup
* YiMi Soup
* Soy Milk
* Milk
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
self employee vs employee
I was discussing the self-employee vs. employee with George and Ray today.
The result can be summarized like the following simple points.
Given the relative higher salary working as a software engineer, if you are doing other self-employee business, like vehicle importing, reality agents, ...
1) around 40~50% chance that you will make less money than your current salary + bonus + benefit
2) maybe 20~30% chance that you can get even with your current employed job, in terms of salary + bonus + benefit
3) maybe 10~20% chance that you may made more than you currently have
So, it is quite a dilemma to do your own business vs. being employed by a big company.
There are other pros and cons in this discussion. I'll come back later on this topic the other days.
A better approach would be to do part-time business while keep your current job. A software development business would be a good starting point. We had discussed about the iPhone application development. That may be a good business opportunity.
The result can be summarized like the following simple points.
Given the relative higher salary working as a software engineer, if you are doing other self-employee business, like vehicle importing, reality agents, ...
1) around 40~50% chance that you will make less money than your current salary + bonus + benefit
2) maybe 20~30% chance that you can get even with your current employed job, in terms of salary + bonus + benefit
3) maybe 10~20% chance that you may made more than you currently have
So, it is quite a dilemma to do your own business vs. being employed by a big company.
There are other pros and cons in this discussion. I'll come back later on this topic the other days.
A better approach would be to do part-time business while keep your current job. A software development business would be a good starting point. We had discussed about the iPhone application development. That may be a good business opportunity.
Monday, January 11, 2010
brainpal, the future computer that I dream
I want a brainpal, the future computer implanted into your body. It doesn't have to be powerful. I just need it to access the Internet and multimedia content. It needs wireless connection and the battery should last for a very long time, say charge once a year.
Why do I want such a computer? Because I want to access/retrieve information whenever I want, when I was running, or in the bathroom, or driving. I basically need an accompany 24x7.
I believe the current technology is not too far from creating such a small embedded system into human body.
However, the user interface is still the biggest problem. How do you give command to the brainpal, and how do you receive information and media returned by the brainpal. I believe it may take another 20 years before it can be created in lab. Maybe another 10 years before it can be commercialized. I just hope that I can get one before I can't use a computer.
Note, the name "brainpal" is coming from the award winning sci-fi novel "Old man's war", written by John Scalzi. The novel is one of my favorites.
Why do I want such a computer? Because I want to access/retrieve information whenever I want, when I was running, or in the bathroom, or driving. I basically need an accompany 24x7.
I believe the current technology is not too far from creating such a small embedded system into human body.
However, the user interface is still the biggest problem. How do you give command to the brainpal, and how do you receive information and media returned by the brainpal. I believe it may take another 20 years before it can be created in lab. Maybe another 10 years before it can be commercialized. I just hope that I can get one before I can't use a computer.
Note, the name "brainpal" is coming from the award winning sci-fi novel "Old man's war", written by John Scalzi. The novel is one of my favorites.
about medicine
I've quickly read a book written by a Japanese doctor about the medicine that may not be good to your health. In this book, one sentence I am impressed most. It is actually a Chinese idiom I knew of for a long time - "Every medicine is 30% poisonous." That's definitely true. The medicine is created to cure some diseases. However, many diseases are not a simply reaction or equation, like 1+1=2, they are far more complicated process than human can comprehend for now. Many can be caused by various factors, like gene, life style, virus, bacteria, and so on. I can't believe a "simple" medicine can take into account of all the factors and cure the disease easily. That's why no medicine are 100% effective. They can only somehow relieve the symptom. Patients still have to rely on their own body to cure eventually.
Anyway, I read this book and it warns me about the medicine. What I learned immediately is that there is no need to take medicine for allergy unless the allergy are really affect your life too much. That's actually what I did in the past several years, relying on my own body to get used to the symptom of allergy and I am getting better in handling the allergy year by year.
Anyway, I read this book and it warns me about the medicine. What I learned immediately is that there is no need to take medicine for allergy unless the allergy are really affect your life too much. That's actually what I did in the past several years, relying on my own body to get used to the symptom of allergy and I am getting better in handling the allergy year by year.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
ultramarathon
I read a race report today about a 50 miles ultramarathon race, written by a guy in mitbbs running board. It's an inspiring report. I love one sentence at the end of his report. "Pleasure is closer to pain sometimes.". This is the first race report of ultramarathon in that board. This guy trained very hard and he made this great race. Running is really addictive, especially with all the pain. The rewarding experience is coming from your conquering of the pain in the race. Human sometimes are absurd. Seeking pleasure out of pain.
Anyway, I really hope that I could run an ultramarathon sometimes. I plan to do the H2H 100km ultra. That sound like not an impossible mission, if I can get to 70mpw training. It's a huge commitment though. Maybe I won't have time to train in recent years. I won't set a fixed time for this goal, but it is definitely on my calendar.
Anyway, I really hope that I could run an ultramarathon sometimes. I plan to do the H2H 100km ultra. That sound like not an impossible mission, if I can get to 70mpw training. It's a huge commitment though. Maybe I won't have time to train in recent years. I won't set a fixed time for this goal, but it is definitely on my calendar.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
dumpling and wanton
We made dumpling and wanton tonight.
The dumpling is stuffed with chives and ground pork. The wanton is stuffed with JieChoy and carrot and ground pork.
The dumpling is soft and smooth, while the wanton is crispy and some bitter with sweet.
They are delicious. A quick and delicious dinner.
The dumpling is stuffed with chives and ground pork. The wanton is stuffed with JieChoy and carrot and ground pork.
The dumpling is soft and smooth, while the wanton is crispy and some bitter with sweet.
They are delicious. A quick and delicious dinner.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Investment in 2010
I accidentally found a new tax shelter in Canada. "Flow-through Share".
Simply put, you put a certain amount of money in flow-through share, usually through a fund, starting from $5000. 100% amount of that money, will be deducted from your income. The flow-through share is usually issued by resource companies listed in stock exchange. The fund acquired the shares with some premium. You can sell the share usually after 2 years. When you sell the share, your income, for example, $5500, will be your capital gain and you are subject to tax on your capital gain.
It defers your tax by two years and reduces it for 50%, as the capital gain is taxed on 50% only. Your risk is the price of the flow-through share dropped. Given the current market, I strongly believe the resource industry will keep growing in the next two years. Even if the share price doesn't change, you saved tax on half of your investment.
I'm definitely interested in the flow-through shares. It is said the CMP LP is the best flow-through share investment tool.
Simply put, you put a certain amount of money in flow-through share, usually through a fund, starting from $5000. 100% amount of that money, will be deducted from your income. The flow-through share is usually issued by resource companies listed in stock exchange. The fund acquired the shares with some premium. You can sell the share usually after 2 years. When you sell the share, your income, for example, $5500, will be your capital gain and you are subject to tax on your capital gain.
It defers your tax by two years and reduces it for 50%, as the capital gain is taxed on 50% only. Your risk is the price of the flow-through share dropped. Given the current market, I strongly believe the resource industry will keep growing in the next two years. Even if the share price doesn't change, you saved tax on half of your investment.
I'm definitely interested in the flow-through shares. It is said the CMP LP is the best flow-through share investment tool.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Car repair
I felt unhappy these couple of days as my car was sent to workshop for repair. The car didn't start on Tuesday morning. It had this start problem intermittently since last year but I didn't pay enough attention to it until it is totally down. I called BCAA and towed it to Firestone.
What really makes me unhappy is that I have recently invested around 2k in repairing this car and it is still broken. I was hoping that it can at least run another year before I finally sell it. Unfortunately, it is still in the repair shop and not ready to go yet.
I had planed to replace this car in the summer time, when new car was on sale and this one still work. However, various reasons delayed my decision and I decided to keep use it for another year. I just hope it can really survive this time. Otherwise, I may lose 3-5k on it after my investment of replacing tire, changing brakes, changing time belt ...
I hate it and I really should just take bus. I enjoy taking bus to commute as I can read and listen to music during commute.
What really makes me unhappy is that I have recently invested around 2k in repairing this car and it is still broken. I was hoping that it can at least run another year before I finally sell it. Unfortunately, it is still in the repair shop and not ready to go yet.
I had planed to replace this car in the summer time, when new car was on sale and this one still work. However, various reasons delayed my decision and I decided to keep use it for another year. I just hope it can really survive this time. Otherwise, I may lose 3-5k on it after my investment of replacing tire, changing brakes, changing time belt ...
I hate it and I really should just take bus. I enjoy taking bus to commute as I can read and listen to music during commute.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Two New Year Parties
Just come back from the New Year's Party from Jimmy's home tonight. Last night, we went to Phoebe's home for a New Year's party. Had no time to post about the two parties.
We had great ham/salad and chicken wings in Phoebe's home last night. We played the "Wits and Wagers" game with Stephen, Mike, and Phoebe. That's the first time we played this game with friends and they all love this funny trivia game. A Chinese version would definitely be entertaining.
We had discussed about the "Food, Inc" documentary. Seemed this documentary may have affected a lot of people's eating habit with meat.
I had studied the "Canadian Health Guide" this afternoon in Chapters, especially the nutrition chapter. It explains the fat, protein, sugar and their effect and food. I am clear now about the saturated and non-saturated fat. The trans-fat is rare in nature food. It is a product of hydrogenate with non-saturated fat to make it more flow and stable in processed food, such as deep fried food. Saturated fat is not good as it will increase the level of cholesterol, especially the LDL, which is "bad" for heart and artery. Monononsaturated fat will lower the LDL, so it is good. Olive oil, sesame oil, and peanut oil contains more monononsaturated fat. Olive oil is especially good as it contains antioxidant, which makes it the most healthy fat. Polynonsaturated fat as also good, why? (Don't remember)
We went to Jimmy's place for another party with alumni. We had discussed a lot of topics covering Economy, China, Stock, Business. It's fun to have a smaller alumni gathering so that we can have more intensive discussion. They have prepared a lot of food. I had eaten too much. :-(
We had great ham/salad and chicken wings in Phoebe's home last night. We played the "Wits and Wagers" game with Stephen, Mike, and Phoebe. That's the first time we played this game with friends and they all love this funny trivia game. A Chinese version would definitely be entertaining.
We had discussed about the "Food, Inc" documentary. Seemed this documentary may have affected a lot of people's eating habit with meat.
I had studied the "Canadian Health Guide" this afternoon in Chapters, especially the nutrition chapter. It explains the fat, protein, sugar and their effect and food. I am clear now about the saturated and non-saturated fat. The trans-fat is rare in nature food. It is a product of hydrogenate with non-saturated fat to make it more flow and stable in processed food, such as deep fried food. Saturated fat is not good as it will increase the level of cholesterol, especially the LDL, which is "bad" for heart and artery. Monononsaturated fat will lower the LDL, so it is good. Olive oil, sesame oil, and peanut oil contains more monononsaturated fat. Olive oil is especially good as it contains antioxidant, which makes it the most healthy fat. Polynonsaturated fat as also good, why? (Don't remember)
We went to Jimmy's place for another party with alumni. We had discussed a lot of topics covering Economy, China, Stock, Business. It's fun to have a smaller alumni gathering so that we can have more intensive discussion. They have prepared a lot of food. I had eaten too much. :-(
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