Hong Kong

This shot was taken in a Hong Kong Japanese tea/drink/noodle house kind of outfit near Champagne Court. My brother was the one behind the camera. My head is so heavy it needs all the support from my hand.

Random Musings

People love lists or simply I can't write in complete sentences and paragraphs ...

• I was going to scam one of my old friends to sell his good old Nikkor 50mm f1.2 lens. He may be old and senile but he smelled something rotten. So there was no deal.
• I was hoping I could snatch some nice used camera equipments in Hong Kong. Alas, Hong Kong got expensive and there was no way I would shop for used equipments in Hong Kong. The price is just insane. The desire to own yet another film camera seems to be fading.
• Some friends I missed. But that's OKAY we'll meet some day.
• I was hoping to visit maybe at least one fancy restaurant like I did two years ago but it didn't work out. I was just busy plus the weather was simply demoralizing.
• I brought a pair of Weejun slip-ons but never got the chance to wear them.
• I brought two pairs of jeans but never got the chance to wear them. Only on the occasion that I flew to Taiwan did I wear my jeans. It was just too darned hot. I remember I used to wear jeans in Hong Kong in the summer, now it's like How the hell did I do that? It's like impossible. I wore cargo shorts and a jacket onboard for their unlimited supples of pockets.
• When aircraft touches down and taxiing in the tarmac, people or some people invariably remove their seat-belts and busy opening the overhead cabins for their oversized carryons while the seat-belt sign is still on, purposely causing a commotion when none is warranted. Usually my fervent wish at that moment is the aircraft would make some sudden sharp jerks to throw them off their feet and the carryons fall on those people not on innocent passengers whose biggest crime is to be with those asshole passengers. I think that will teach them a lesson. Too bad that never happens. Plus, they also like to whip out their cellphones and yelp right away. Now I do wish the the air staff would confiscate every single one of those cell phones like they are authorized and supposed to do. Just throw those passengers together with their cellphones off the plane.

Olympus

This is the Olympus EP-1 a la Tokyo Camera Style shot. I bumped into this guy (this guy is also known as my brother) in Champagne court and he had this latest toy with him. I was able to scam him to take a few shots of the camera and even funner shot the EP-1 myself. The camera does indeed feel substantial and heavy when compared to the SD880 IS I was carrying at the moment. My first impression was the auto focus doesn't seem to be swift or decisive when shooting in available light indoors in the seedy shopping arcade.

Gate 8

Gate 8 kind of sucks compared to other gates. It's dark and is tucked away in a subterrain area from all the main gates. Though it doesn't seem to make sense it's subterrain but it certainly feels that way. A very different area from the otherwise airy and spacious airport.

I have really no complaint to the Hong Kong Airport. It has plenty of bathrooms, not that I really need to use all of them. They are clean and all. The wi-fi is strong and coverage is good. The only minus is given that's it's an international airport, it doesn't support the kind of plug that US uses. So the charging station wouldn't work if you don't have an adapter. But I guess if you are a professional traveler you are better prepared and equipped than me.

Bye Bye Hong Kong and Taiwan

Here is me waiting for my flight back to the Big Apple. Just came back from the smoking room fetching a can of Coca-Cola. I entered the smoking room twice, once thinking that it would take paper money, wrong, the next time with two $5 coins. A can of Coca-Cola costs $10 here. I don't know why the vending machine is hiding inside a hideous smoking room near gate 43. Now I guess I smell like a Marlboro man. The scary picture was taken with the MSI netbook webcam. For a while I thought I was out of camera as my SD880 is still in Taiwan in the capable hands of my wife.

I would like to thank everybody who have made this trip a great success. You know who you are.

No Bargains Here

Guys there are no bargains here. Look elsewhere.

If you insist or like window shopping like I do, you can check out the half dozen shops specialized in old used film cameras, antique or junk you decide, there on the ground floor of Champagne Court, 16 Kimberley Road, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Pilgrimage

Old cameras don't die they just sit on David Chan's selves and waiting to be picked up by yet another gullible amateur who somehow is obsessed with everything that's old and chrome. My pilgrimage had been pretty disappointing largely due to my own ignorance. I thought they would be of superb quality yet priced even lower than similar items found in eBay because they are in Hong Kong or simply I thought so. Superb quality is probably a yes but cheap is definitely not true. The items are priced like at least twice as much as what you would ordinarily find on eBay, and usually much much more. Granted you have the chance and joy to actually pick up the item and examine it yourself and that's something you can't do via eBay. This experience somehow totally ruined my obsession with old cameras. I lost at least temporarily all my desires to pick up any old used film camera. Thank you David Chan.

Star Ferry

It took forever to get the picture uploaded. Yet another minor masterpiece (yes, it sounds oxymoron but that's OKAY) from yours truly. The two things I don't like about the SD880 IS is that you can't set the aperture or the shutter speed, and there is no aperture priority auto. It would be nice to provide a square format as well. Other than those I think the SD880 is pretty solid.

Hong Kong

It's my experience and impression that it's almost impossible to find a hotel room that can comfortably accommodate a family of four. Two a resounding yes; three still good, but four, forget about it, you have to ask for extra cot or something. In New York or about, I can easily find a cheap hotel with two full-sized beds or even queen-sized beds. In Hong Kong, forget about it. The bed is just tiny. Even the "suite" we stayed in has two rooms but one only got a twin sized bed and other is a full-sized bed that can sleeps two ... barely. We have to open up the couch in the living room. So much so for a "suite." One night, the little one actually slept on the extra large extra spacious window sill in the smaller room. The suite does have a balcony I guess that somehow adds allure to the suite.

Notice that it's only my experience, if you are loaded I am sure you can find any size hotel suite with any size beds in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

The Internet is melting down under the punishing sun here and so am I. My online experience hasn't been all that positive. First my hotel insists Internet connection is not an utility like water or electricity and hence I have to pay extra for it. Since I am a cheapskate so I refused to pay anything extra for the connection. I did end up paying $25 for a little bottle of Waton's water in the fridge. There was no wi-fi in the the room or actually the "suite" that we stayed in, it has to be a RJ-45 tethered connection, I guess that isn't all that bad, it's more reliable than wi-fi. For wi-fi, I have to haul my netbook to the lobby. I did see the connection but alas it needs to log in and a password. So I gave up. And I can see the importance of hacking skills in the face of such online roadblock created by the tyranny that's the Hong Kong hotel. The only free wi-fi I enjoyed during my stay in Hong Kong was the 30-min from a McDonald's in TST. Again, it's important to know how to hack to bypass this 30-min arbitrary limitation.

Oops, the picture can't get loaded into blogger. The picture still can't get loaded. OKAY, I gave up for now.

Tsimshatsui

Who Is That White Haired Dude

The captions shall purposely ignore non-essential persons and hangers-on.

The British simply don't care about Ralph Lauren despite the fact that the dude has been dressing the ball boys with ridiculously oversized pony emblem polo shirts for the tournament like two years in a row. Poor Ralph. Well they don't seem to care Mr. Allen's wife either. They seem to like the gladiator though.

UPDATE 7/27/09
I found out yesterday, one title and both captions were all updated with full mention of Mr. Allen's wife Soon-Yi Previn and Mr. Lauren.

Trip

July 6 - July 13, HK
July 13 - July 22, Taiwan

Wimbledon 2009

Live Blogging from the England Club ... as seen on TV from the living room.

Andy Roddick is out Federering Federer on Centre Court, hitting the kind of passing shots that Federer hits except better. Roddick is flashing strokes of genious just like when he ousted Murray a couple of days ago.

Wimbledon jetted Pete Sampras and his wife to witness history in the making. In some way it's like saying Federer is going to get his 15th Slam title. I wonder how that makes Roddick feel.

It's still early in the game and nobody should make the mistake of writing anybody off at this stage especially it's Federer that we are talking about.

Roddick's wife, Brooklyn Decker is once again donning a pair of Ray Ban aviator. She probably looks good in any shades but her style of choice is a pair of aviator, a frame that never really goes out of style. Any purveyors of style would come to it, it's just a timeless piece. Decker, instead of weakening the dude's legs, is largely credited for Roddick's resurgence.

Roddick took the first set at 7-5.

Federer took the second set. Inexplicably Roddick hit a few loose balls during the tie break and Federer leveled the game.

Now back to square one.

This is really a test for Roddick. Can he rebound, regroup and fight from scratch after losing a set. A true test of tenacity more on Roddick than on Federer.

******

Roddick lost Wimbledon but he still has Brooklyn

It's over now. Federer won the match. Roddick lost. Bottom line is Roddick lost to a superior player. His comeback was spoiled but at the same time he probably should feel proud about the whole ordeal, nobody would have guessed he would be going to a Slam final let alone facing Federer in the Wimbledon final and beating Murray on his way. He has some time to rest up and regroup and prepare for the US Open, the last Grand Slam event of the year. This should be Roddick's surface. A man that can hit a 140 mph ball, you would have thought he could easily hit more aces than Federer and win the last set. Alas, there's something wrong with his ball placement I suppose. If Roddick continues to let his game speak for himself--keep his mouth shut, and stay focused and work on his game, he stands a good chance in the US Open final.

E-P 1 In The Wild

Seems like everybody has caught some sort of serious compact camera bug. I should say there is always some group of extremely well-off people who prefer compact cameras to manly man gigantic SLRs with oversized lenses. The Olympus pen is emblematic and a continuation of this serious(ly expensive) digital compact camera trend represented by the Leica M8, D-Lux 4, Panicsonic LX-3, Sigma DP-1, DP-2, and Ricoh GR Digital II, Epson R-D1s. The Olympus E-P1 attracted tons of attention from serious amateurs and arm-chair photographers alike. Tokyocamerastyle has a couple of pictures showing the pen in the wild as carried by a woman. Oh well, the camera does look like a girly camera. But I don't think I would have any qualm wearing and using one. I would get one of those original half frame pen.

Wimbledon 2009

Live Blogging from the England Club ... err more like from the couch in front of the TV.

Mens Semi Finals

Haas vs Federer

31 year old Tommy is squaring off with Federer on Centre Court.

Federer took the first set. Haas didn't just give it away he forced Federer to go to tie break.

Haas just hit a few forehands into the net not enough top spins I surmise. Federer is playing well like you would expect from him. Federer is dictating his service game. Just impeccable.

Federer is dominating, taking the first two sets. Haas has no answer to Federer's Swiss army knife kind of plays.

Haas is frustrated while Federer is as cool as ever.

Federer finished off Haas with a flying smashed down hit. Federer really played a flawless match.

Roddick vs Murray
Each one got one set, and Roddick is leading the third set with 4 games to 2. Murray received a warning from the chair umpire for uttering an audible obscenity.
Both players are playing well. But I will give the edge to A Rod for his power serve and seemingly stronger mental stance. The body language of Murray at times seem not as positive as he should be. The last time a British won the Championship was Fred Perry in 1936.

The crowd is very appreciative for the two Andys.

Andy Roddick got the job done. It's just unbelievable for Roddick to pull this off. We have an all American women's final and we have an American in the men's final. What a way to celebrate the Independence Day on July Fourth. Once again, the British are disappointed again.

Haircut

I decided to clean up myself before I go home, to see my mom. The haircut I usually get from Flushing hasn't been all that satisfactory. It isn't exactly bad either as with a face like myself I simply can't have a bad hair cut--feel free to throw up on your keyboard. I avoid going to any salon with stylists I just need somebody to cut my hair with skills and patience and doesn't remind me how awful my hair is and I need to do highlight or a perm or other nonsense.

I checked out one on 10 Doyers Street. Don't let the name "beauty salon" fool you or embarrass you. It's just a barbershop perhaps with some service for women, but it's a barbershop no less. Once I saw a couple of old guys cutting hair for even older men I felt safe to go inside. The gent who cut my hair is in his 60s, speaks a mix of Shanghainese, Mandarin and Cantonese as I would expect from such an establishment. The shop is kind of shabby and around the shop are similar establishments which are equally seedy or if you prefer they have certain unadorned simplicities and old world charms. The barber cut my unruly mane short with a few different shears, a clipper and finished it off with a deadly vintage Henkel straight razor. The barber sat me on a plastic stool in front of a sink next to a bathroom, shampooed my hair just like how I remember it from way back. Since I just shaved with a straight razor in the morning, rare but true, so I declined the shave offered. He finished the whole experience with a blowdry prefaced with some oily hair product and finished with a fire breathing dryer that guaranteed my hair stays put for the rest of my life as god intended.

The whole deal was a cool $9. Any guy should be proud to have a cheap and good haircut. If you are anal and care a lot about cleanliness and personal hygiene then perhaps Hip Kee is not for you, but for $9 I am all for it.

Wimbledon 2009

The old men are still hanging around.

Tommy Haas, the oldest player around, at 31 is going to the semi-finals facing one of tennis great Roger Federer. Haas was good enough to beat Djokovic in the quarter finals. People are again questioning Djokovic's physical condition. Is the guy fit to play? Is he a quitter? Can he play in rough conditions? So far the guy hasn't proved himself to be a tough player. At times he could be funny and likable but sometimes he just turns spiteful and when that happens the fans are turning their backs against him quicker that he likes.

Roddick looks more matured and he always has something interesting to say off court. "We're just a couple of old married dudes." That's how Roddick describes himself and Hewitt whom he defeated on his way to the semi meeting another Andy, Andy Murray, Britain's only hope to win in like 1000 years, the championship. Andy was mostly quiet and his on the court persona seemed more matured. But old habits really die hard. At some point against Hewitt, he was arguing about a line call with the chair umpire. The line person was summoned. I don't like it at all. It's just distracting. He should just stay focused and played the match. Marriage and a new coach are helping Roddick.

The news just got in. We are going to have yet another Williams sisters final. BORING. I think they totally earned and deserved it. No other players can play as consistent as the sisters. Venus spent less than 51 minutes to dispatch Safina, the number one that has yet to win a slam title. Safina, what can I say? It was painful to watch her play the French final this year. The girl just gone bonkers and kept looking up for her coach for acceptance and guidance. It was awful to see her broken down like that in a Grand Slam event.

Got to go now...

MSI Wind

I got my MSI Wind U100 432US yesterday. It comes with Windows XP Home edition, the installation or rather the configuration was painless. And it didn't take that long either, 5 or 10 minutes top. The Wifi works flawlessly and it hasn't dropped on me once yet. The F11 function key toggles the browser to full screen by eliminating the menu and address bar, I find it useful espeically on this 10 inch netbook, though this F11 function are present in all of my computers I seldom use it until now. I inserted my 8GB SDHC card into the slot and it reads OKAY. I was able to switch between user accounts with no problem. The keyboard is a bit tight but I read it's one of the best in its class already, oh well. The comma, period and slash are smaller than usual. So when I meant to have the period I ended up hitting the slash. I normally type pretty fast. And except MSN and MS Mediaplayer, there is almost no junk ware on the desktop, it's very clean.

Windows 7

Are you 7 enough to have Windows 7? A dear friend of mine points out that 7 is not a good name. If you speak Cantonese you probably know what I mean. I never thuoght about it as I am no longer (or have I ever) as sensitive to the language as I used to be. I think that's a very valid and interesting point. I think the Cantonese speaking communities are going to have plenty of fun with this Windows 7 OS. Wow, you are so seven. My friend vouches to get a Mac if he were to get a new computer. I totally understand his sentiment. For me, if I were to get a desktop, I probably want to build one myself. For notebook, yes, it's gonna be a MacBook pro kind of a deal. Anyway, too many to buy. I understand there is some big push of Windows 7 on the corporate side, at least when compared to Vista. MS consulting shops are decending on companies to help conduct readiness studies. Look like they are going to really push the OS down the corporate environment. At the same time, most software vendors don't really have a solid plan or a statement one way or the other as far as compatibility goes. But my limited experience and knowledge is the apps seem to work just fine in Windows 7 if they have been working fine in XP. Of course, this is totally anecdotal.