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.
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