Patience and discipline

About 10 hours after sitting down, I finally walked out of the Grand Lisboa poker room. Some highlights:

• Starting from $2000, after a few small pots, I was up to about $4000... including a J-5 full house that beat a 10-5 full house when the 10-5-5 flop was followed with a J on the turn.
• Ops, I'm back at about $1000 after my K-K was met with A-A. A semi bluff when the flop showed a J didn't work. It made him think though.
• Top pair top kicker lost to trips. I need to re-buy. $3000 more.
  
• It's been 2 hours since my re-buy... and I'm not going anywhere with the cards I've been dealt
• Finally, some decent cards netted some decent pots... current stack at $8000
• Ops, holding top pair with a low kicker, I folded the best hand when my opponent made a big re-raise with a low pair... at about $5000 (breakeven)
  
• Phew... different opponent who has been catching cards all night folded his pocket 10s against my pocket 5s (flop was 7-7-3)
• A few big pots against some players who didn't know what they were doing got me to $9000 again

Well well... the key is to be patient and pick your battles. I'm glad I did this though as it was a good test of my skills under unfamiliar settings.

GSBer alert 2

Hm... after I clicked "Ignore" to the FB friend request a few weeks back... she's back for more! I get another alert, to which I clicked "Ignore" again.

I think PowerYogi is behind all this V V friend requests... save me please.

Facebook, why do you do this?

Hmmm... interesting phenomenon. So, last night, on Facebook, I decided to make certain things more private... such as my relationship status, religious views, what gender I am interested in, what kind of contacts I want to meet, etc. So this is what FB decides to do... it shows the following on the bulleting board (to all my friends and network):

1. "Josekin edited Looking For and Interested In in his profile."
2. "Josekin edited Hometown and Religious Views in his profile."
   
3. "Josekin is no longer listed as in a relationship."
   

#1 and #2 are quite clear. I changed certain elements in my profile. #3 just left me scratching my head.

First of all, while "no longer listed" is correct (that's what I wanted), it shows a broken heart symbol beside the message. Hmmm.. why would one be heart broken when all he or she wants is more privacy...?

Second, during the edit process, Facebook tells me that I have to leave "Status" blank in order to not show the listing.

Third... I forgot just now. Needless to say, I immediately hear from PNGF that I've created the biggest annoyance on Earth, whereby Facebook fanatics are asking her on FB or calling her to ask what's happened. I received one message (and now I know who actually uses FB too much, haha). More needless to say, "Josekin is listed as in a relationship" now.

Anyway, is this how low Facebook has sunk? It's becoming a gossip column where it creates these fictional rumors so its users can further connect on it. Apparently, this has happened to my friend who de-listed that she is married, then had friends calling her to find out when she had a divorce...

How can I complain to FB? I can't find an opinion link.

5 year anniversay of this blog...!

Well, not quite... it's been five years since I discovered both photography and writing to be powerful channels to release emotions.

My current mode:

Life is:

Protest Slogan...

It goes "Fight inflation; increase salary"... for the employees of Watson's (think Poland Spring in Hong Kong). It seems that they do deserve a salary raise, as their commission rates (commission makes up 66% of their salary) were frozen for the past 8 years. Oh wait... but the price has gone up, so their pay has gone up too... hmmm... anyway. Back to the slogan.

"Fight inflation; increase salary"

Um... simple transfer pricing tells me that increasing your salary will most likely add to the inflation of society.

Getting ready for Olympics...

Well, as some of you may know, the Chinese are getting ready for the Beijing Olympics. No, really, they are. There's an Olympic in Beijing this year. Big event.

Among the drastic measures taken to make sure the Olympics go "smoothly"... the Chinese have decided:

• Tighten visa signing process (unlike our friendly Aussies 8 years ago, who relaxed the visa signing into a pure online process - by the way, they beat Beijing for the 2000 Olympics
• Halt all construction work in and around Beijing... since a few months ago
• Halt some factory production... or move those factories away from Beijing

And my personal favorite:

• Allow odd number plate cars to drive on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while even number plate cars can drive on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Besides emission problems, there's also a problem of people smoking and also a lack of personal space. So I also suggest the following:

• For people with Chinese IDs that end in odd numbers, you may only leave home on MWF. While you can leave home on those days, you may not smoke on those days. You can smoke, at home, TThuS. The reverse is true for those with Chinese IDs that end in even numbers
  
• By the way, the story behind the Chinese ID is fascinating. It has 18 digits and is a code that contains just about all the information about you...

I'm not done with suggestions:

• Any male should not be allowed to leave their homes on MWF. They are allowed to smoke only on weekends
• Any female should not be allowed to leave their homes on TTh (Sat is okay because there are less females in China's population). They are not allowed to smoke in order to protect the infants.

Ah, a much improved China.

3:11am dilemma

It's been a while since I experienced a time stamp entry. This seems to be a good time to have one.

Tuesday night
21:00 - Manager is heading back home; she wants the slides by 0600 the next day. No problemo. She's had a few tough days and needs the rest tonight. Nothing she can do anyway before we give her the most updated version.
23:59 - well, no one said consulting was easy. Nonetheless, the second/third night pass midnight is always alarming (first time in a year... not bad, I guess). On the bright side, progress is good and all the presentations are coming together quite well

Wednesday morning
1:30 - only two consultants left... RK left after completing her slides as AW and myself are going through the slides just once more to make sure they are error free and good to go for a Thursday meeting
2:30 - I'm the only one left. I'm also waiting for a slide from an analyst. Let's hope that comes in time.
2:42 - Yes. My slides are complete now. Combining the outputs from all parties into one...
2:58 - Checking one last time
3:06 - Checking one one more more last last time time
3:11 - Apparently, the "Send" button on Outlook means send happiness through veins and send brain to sleep; My manager would be pleased.

Just as I thought the night was over and I'm good to go... within 10 seconds of my email leaving the Outbox, the Inbox flashes... the partner on the case sends a new version of the slides: we are to use her version as the master version and all edits should be done on her version!

I mean, good God, I've never felt so defeated as I completed a task!

Except for one small problem: there's no attachment! Holy Bain, what should I do!? Ah, the dilemma I face:

1. Scenario 1: Do I pretend that I didn't receive the email? Or ask for the attachment after I get home? The work can be done the next morning, I suppose.
   
2. Scenario 2: Do I recognize that it is 3:11am and that any instructions at this hour should be simply deferred and then acknowledged the following morning (and doing it)?
   
3. Scenario 3: Do I alert her to the fact that there is no attachment? I foresee several iterations of this:

• Scenario A: partner does not receive my alert in time. Consequences similar to 1 or 2.
  
• Scenario B: actual file sent to me. I follow scenario 2.
• Scenario C: actual file sent to me. I consolidate all versions of the file and send the final result to my manager before 0600

3:12 - Honestly, I thought about all the above scenarios at 3:11am. I considered all the options. My heart had hoped for Scenario 3A, where I do what a good employee should do but not have to do the work (heh heh). Of course...

04:11 - exactly one hour after the double whammy (well, to be exact, it's a single whammy), I sent out the final consolidated version.

It wasn't funny at 3:11am then. But it is now. =) And it makes for a great blog entry. What would you do...?

GSBers alert...

She found me. VV found me on Facebook!!

TV Programming

Well, one thing is for certain: I desperately miss ESPN.

There's no much TV going on for people like me. There the TVB (oh, only 90% of the market share) that caters to viewers who demand a brainless experience. I'm not saying that they are brainless; they just want a brainless viewing because their jobs have been so stressful. At least that's my theory. Stupid and dumb soap operas that make no sense and always involves a love triangle rule the TVB channel.

Yet I digress...

On the English version of TVB, there are some US TV like CSI and 24 (and the sad sad sad Prison Break season that should never have been made)... and then there is this at 2am. I just got home from work and I just want to relax before getting into bed.

What do I find on TV? "How to masturbate an elephant" It's a program about helping endangered animals reproduce. The captivating title kept me watching for about 15 minutes. And then the visual feed from the tube that was poking in the Great White Rhino's vagina in search for an egg so that an extraction of it may help save the species (that was a long phrase) lost me. It really did. I just don't think I need to be watching Rhino vagina at 2am.

Goodnight.

与我常在

Just caught a Chinese movie on TV about a cancer patient rediscovering life through the person who is organizing her funeral. The funeral person of course is suffering from cancer himself, and succumbs to it while encouraging the other cancer patient to live on herself.

Cliche, but very good. I like the simplicity of the movie. Highly recommended.

Kung Fu Panda...

Well, it was exactly what I expected. Good fun times all around. Since it was a company event, each of our seats was filled with a hot dog, a set of nachos, pop corn, AND coke. As a firm believer in spending for value, I've almost never eaten at the theaters (even though that's where they make most of their profit).

Apparently, it's very difficult to watch a movie and handle all the food at the same time. And pop corn taste real bad after you're full.

Yet I digress... the movie: the story of the underdog overcoming himself never gets old. Don't expect anything outside of family fun. Brainless humor. I like. Recommended.

One thing I really miss about the USA: two fers. Hong Kong has assigned seats.

Um... it's 8:11am

Oh great... after covering the (lack of) take off of the plane... they're having live coverage of one plane parking at the gate. It's the flight arriving in Taiwan! Awesome! From Guangzhou to Taipei! Oh, the pilot stuck his thumb out from the cockpit! He's so satisfied with the flight! Oh my god, he is smiling!!!!!!!! (Emphasis added) The flight number is CI1957.

(Awkward silence)

Damn, this is good: the CEO of the company is flew the flight (huh!?)!!!!!!!! Oh, and there are two more flights arriving at different airports. Where's the SPLIT SCREEN!? The pilot (is that the CEO? I'm beaming with questions again) is coming out now. The passengers are coming out. They look sleepy (commentator comment - I kid you not). That's because they had to wake up at 4am to catch the flight. Some of them are tourists (really!?).

By the way, it is the CEO flying the plane. And I have to shower and get ready to work. What's happening in the rest of the world...?

Hong Kong news coverage

It's 8am in Hong Kong... when I wake up, I usually turn on the TV and watch the news.

Apparently, today is the first day where there will be direct flights between Taiwan and China. So when I turn on the TV, Channel 1 has a shot at a plane taxiing the tarmac. The commentator explains that this plane is going to so and so place, and that this is the first time there are non-holiday direct flights, blah blah blah... and "we are waiting for the flight to take off..."

5 minutes later, the camera is STILL ON THE PLANE! The commentator is running out of things to say. Most of the time I'm just staring at the plane moving a little with no sound. She's made a few sparse comments... I mean, what model is it? how many people are on it? who's the pilot? how much is the seat? is fuel expensive? how's the safety record? I'm beaming with questions.

Finally, and thankfully, after another minute (yup, that's 6 minutes with the camera on the freaking plane... who knows how many minutes they spent before I turned on the the TV), she finally commented that "the plane has not taken off..." and returned to regular news.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Hong Kong media!