The Southern Tip of Hong Kong

Couple of weeks ago, went hiking at the Poi Toi Island, at Hong Kong's southern tip. Here are some pictures. (I know I know, this is a cheap blog post... how can I not blog in two weeks!?)

All the pictures from PT Island.
All the pictures from Miami.
And I uploaded some new pictures into my favorite pictures... finally having some for 2008.

Basic people living basic life on the island...

Seaweed is a specialty...

Strange rocks around the island... Buddha's Palm

Tons of reviews...

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead: look beyond the plot (Brothers conspire to rob parent’s jewelry shop turns horribly wrong) and you will find some very fine acting by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawk, and the lawyer boss from Erin Brocovich. The story is pieced together using a time line approach, jumping to different times with perspectives from different characters. Sorry, Mr. Director, this isn’t going to work for a predictable piece. Momento remains unscathed. Needless to say, not recommended.

Atonement: The best revelation is that, for better or worse, I am not a “mature audience” yet, as this film is meant for. Too long, too slow, too boring. Not even Keira Knightly kept me interested (her coming out of the fountain barely clothed notwithstanding). Not recommended.

Charlie Wilson’s War: As SW put it nicely, “this is such a typical American movie.” Tom Hanks plays a congressman with slight character flaws (women and booze, can we blame him?) but finds a conscious while visiting a refugee camp. As a result, he funds the Afghan people with enough weapons to beat the Russians, only to find the funding dry up when it comes to building a school in Afghan. Philip Seymour Hoffman (again!) stars again with some excellent dialogs with Tom Hanks. You gotta love it when two great actors are having fun together. There’s a certain chemistry that cannot be replaced. The same thing can’t be said of Julia Roberts, who plays some Texas woman fighting for the Afghan cause. A character that should have been, in consultant talk, rationalized. Recommended only if you understand some US politics to appreciate the humor.

Joe’s Stone Crab
I had no idea that the “Key Lime” in Key Lime Pie meant lemons from the Florida Keys. Had I known, I would have ordered them from Joe’s Stone Crab, which claims to have the best in town. Their stone crabs are the other draw, and they were delicious. Get the jumbo size ones cus they have the best meat. Get one order for two people so you don’t get sick of crab meat after three big claws. Here's a picture for 2 orders (yes, that's too many claws, we got all crabbed out)


Crepeville (can't find it... maybe it's called Crepevine...)
I miss brunch (American brunch) so much that anything can satisfy me. This particular establishment near the San Francisco airport (thanks to AA and CX ineptitude) rose to the occasion. Salmon crepe was great... more importantly, there's a hot chocolate that taste like chocolate, not water! What a concept! Yummy brunch.


H One (new review site in HK... problem is it doesn't give a rating)
Pretty decent meal at the IFC. Duck breast were tender and just dry enough to be well complimented by tangerine orange. Excellent appetizer. The main dish was a prawn dish with naan. I love naan. No pictures for the tiramisu-coffee ice cream combination though, since it wasn’t pretty and, frankly, wasn’t very good.

Bain Train

Did I ever mention that the MBA was like a dream? Well, it seems like I'm finally waking up from the dream. Waking me up? None other than "Training in Miami"...!

Allow me to explain. Training is not taken lightly at Bain. The fact that they flew us all the way to Miami for a week and put us all up at the very expensive Intercontinental (Completely and utterly overrated... some might call it piss poor) shows their commitment to training. We worked for six days straight, usually past dinner. Anyway, with serious training comes serious thoughts.

Many would argue that working for the big banks (sorry, Bear Stearns) and consulting firms is like a continuation of the MBA. Your peers are fellow MBAs from similar programs. The life is sort of un-real with all the money and travel straight out of school. Everybody is smart and you always feel dumb. Speaking of this feeling, a PhD friend of mine tells me that Stanford has sessions to settle the new PhDs down since they always feel dumb among their peers. Point is, you feel dumb when you hang around smart people. Yet I digress: back to the parallels.

Bain training is sort of like brining you back to the MBA. Lots of learning in a very low risk environment. And yet, you are constantly reminded that these are the tools that you will need to be able to do well at Bain. Some may be left behind if the tools are not learned and performance is not good. Clearly, it's not an MBA anymore. This is serious business. The real world has always been harsher than the dream world.

I'm a spoiled brat...

Or is it too much to:

• Have no mechanical errors on a plane?
• Have more than one staff handle over a dozen people who missed the connecting flight due to the mechanical error?
• Have a dedicated staff to handle your best customers so they don't have to fight in a crowd to get ahead in line?
• Give everybody the same vouchers instead of some people getting hotel AND meal vouchers and others (me, that is) getting only a hotel one because others didn't ask?
  
• Release the luggage when people miss their connection flights? You know, just so they can change clothes and maybe brush their teeth?
  
• Make sure the luggage stuck in storage is on the next flight?
• Make sure the luggage is on the flight after you promised the customer that it would be on the flight?
• Not blame something else (weather, other airline, other department) and admit some guilt?

That's all a loyal customer asks, really. Or am I a spoiled brat?

Arg, I'm so angry, I can't even blog about Bain training in Miami.

Other signs...

Well, insofar as traveling goes, Asia indeed has a much better value proposition. I was a bit unfair to the USA in my last top 10 list. Here are some signs that you are in the USA:

10. waitresses calling you honey
9. great beer collection
8. flip flops
7. bikinis
6. blue skies... oh wait, since I thought this, Miami has been cloudy... WTF!?

By the way, BIG BIG BIG kudos to the new Cathay inflight entertainment. Basically, it's an on-Demand system with a 12-inch screen. The movies weren't top-notch, but did include two academy-worthy movies, Juno and No Country for Old Men. There were also episodes of CSI: New York, Heroes, etc.

I watched No Country for Old Men. Very violent. Intense throughout. Excellent movie... though I can't really pinpoint why. There was a vague point about making choices in life, as opposed to life making choices. It was one of those things that was crystal clear during the movie, getting murky towards the end, and Tommy Lee's last speech just confused everything. (The only thing I do remember is the gas station bet) Couple of thoughts:

• I won't flip the coin unless you tell me the W and L. I can run multiple models in my head to determine whether there is an expected positive return.
• I will flip only if the terms can be measured. Life, for example, cannot be measured.
• Don't talk to strangers (laugh)

Also watched 6 episodes of Heroes Season 2. Not nearly as good as Season 1, where there was actually a theme! Note to the networks: you can't just slam random stories around and expect the viewers to tightly follow the plot and guess what the story line is going to be. I have to be "very interested" for it to work. And I'm not.

Breakfast time. Hopefully Miami will have some sunshine today.

You are back in the USA when...?

Top ten signs that you are back in the USA (from a traveling consultant's point of view):

10. You find extra time to blog since the lines are so freaking long AND slow
9. Strangers talk to you at strange times
8. Screaming flight attendants
7. Overrated expensive hotel rooms
6. No complimentary water... or complimentary anything on flights
5. Lines for economy class are longer than that for business class
4. You feel quite fit, especially when eating at the airport food court
3. Butt cracks... back hair... arg...
2. "Take off your shoes please and put them in the X-ray"
1. Instead of elbowing for the arm rest, an Asian special, it's spilling fat over to take possession of an arm rest

Juno

Today, someone spoke about the Google Bomb... apparently its something that scams Google to rank its website higher. Anyway, just to test the case, I typed in Josekin (yeah, search yourself in Google... bet you've never done that!) to see what would happen. My home page and blog came up on top... and then this happened:

http://www.teenwag.com/profile?user=josekin

Yeah, I'm a bit disturbed. Maybe if you all click on this, it might become the top site, over the real Josekin.

Anyway, I watched Juno last week with YT. Remember the ridiculously good Little Miss Sunshine? (Not much of a review) Juno is the less dark version of Little Miss Sunshine. A very depressing topic (teen pregnancy) is used to reflect what could be great things in life. I know nothing about the regular American family, but I imagine it being quite close to Juno's family. Humorous parents (great supporting act from the editor in Spiderman and the woman from West Wing) dealing with crisis like nothing is a big deal... I mean, it is a big deal, but they just don't act it in front of their daughter. The entire family's dry humor is just hilarious. Ellen Page does a courageous job of playing Juno. I don't think a teenager can really deal with pregnancy with the calmness she displayed, but I guess that was needed to make the movie work. The gorgeous Jennifer Garner does an okay job as a desperate mother-wannabe. I didn't feel that the role fit her.

One of the themes of the movie, like the one in Little Miss Sunshine, is to love a person for exactly who they are. There is no need to fake and become someone (something?) else to please others. Just be yourself. If he/she doesn't like that real you, then why bother? Unfortunately, reality is that we all try to please. That "real me" can sometimes be quite scary!

Well, what to do... I'm sure we all aspire to be the "real me" and not worry about how others view us all the time. Some of us can do that a bit more than others (oh, thick skin and dumb brains can help), but we all slip a little bit sometimes. Anyway, back to the movie: highly recommended.

How we hiked 50 km

Well, I did advertise that our team of 4 is hiking the 50km Hong Kong trail. (We're still accepting pledges, by the way) Here it is... step by step! Oh, and thank god for digital photography.

8:25am, Start of the Hong Kong trail - The Peak (Left to right: John, Kwun, Heng, me)

11:38am, ~19km, stretching to loosen tight muscles (So far, moving at 6km/hr... on the easiest part of the Hong Kong trail)

3:42, 30km, John is the last to arrive at this check point... revised speed: 4.2km/hr (lunch and a big break included)

3:44, 30km, requisite group photo

4:02, 30km, requisite medical attention (same spot, revised speed:4km/hr)
6:46, 41km, last check point. We're hiking on empty gas. Speed: 4.04km/hr
7:09, 41km, hiking in the dark takes a lot of focus and energy (especially without a light!)
9:48, 50km, we're done! Final speed is 3.75km/hr

We're still tallying the pledges... it'll probably be a $5,000 (HKD) donation to Green Power. Thanks for all the support and enjoy the pictures.

Hiking in 2 days...

Wow, we're actually doing this! The 50Km hike around Hong Kong to support Green Power (much better than Green Peace in my idealogical map!) is going to be exciting and fun.

(By the way, please support us by making a pledge here!)

Here's the start of the trail:

We'll be taking pictures along the 50km hike... pledge to support us!

Holy... my life just might change...

I can read my blog post via Google Reader on The Crackeric (that's right, I just named it)! Wow, this might really have a large impact on my life. Did you know I subscribe to about 60 different RSS feeds of different blogs and websites? This means I can read SG articles on the run. SG ARTICLES! ON THE RUN!

I think this might have a bigger impact than "my boss can locate me at any given moment via email." (And you think I'm kidding!?)

(Also important to note: I will read this post on The Crackeric later tonight when I am having a foot massage!)

On Crack...

That's right, I finally got my first blackberry. A partner warned us that it is life changing. We'll see.

In fact, one of the main reason that I am writing this post is because I want to see if the post will show up in Google Reader.

I've moved into my new home for 2 weeks now; today is the first day that I took a non-cab public transportation from the office to the new home. I don't know why this is important to disclose.

Let's see if the Crackberry picks up the new blog post...

Some news...

I moved from the bustling Wan Chai to the more quiet Kennedy Town. The new place is a bit... uh... cozy (Marge Simplson style) but the sofa is nice. It can recline electronically. That's all I ask for all my next homes: electronically reclining sofas.

Speaking of the new home, the most amazing part was actually the move. I had about 30 boxes that needed to be moved. A mover came, carried everything from home to truck, truck to new home, drove... all for a mere USD $38! I paid him $60.

Back in Hong Kong, long time TV star Lydia Shum died after some devastating battles with cancer. She's affectionately known as "Fat Fat" and "Happy Fruit." Nowadays, it will be impossible for someone who is fat and not pretty to be successful in the entertainment industry. This loss will be sorely missed.

On the other hand, Edison Chan is back in Hong Kong and apologized to basically everybody. No sign of our culprit technician though. Shouldn't he be the one who needs to apologize (and be charged)?

Awards Ceremony for Indecent Photos...

Oscars will go on as usual thanks to the settlement reached by the Writer's Guild. Unfortunately, writers like myself (laugh...) don't get compensated at all. Nonetheless, I held my own award ceremony - by the way, this refers to the very indecent pictures of some top Hong Kong stars surfacing on the Internet, and the subsequent fallout where stars have fallen, people were arrested, police were embarrassed, media had a fieldweek, etc etc. If you have no idea what I am talking about, I guess Google can help you:

The "OJ Simpson" Award for getting away with murder: The same computer repairman. Why is nobody blaming this guy!? Didn't he steal? Why is Edison et al under the microscope for having sex? Would you rather deal with the Edisons, 阿娇s, Cecilia Cheungs, Bobos of the world, or a dishonest person who might steal from you any time? (and hey, if Edison is the one who leaked the pictures, we'll just substitute his name here. I have a strong feeling that isn't the case)

The "Not Guilty" award to the not so innocent but truly not guilty: Everybody, Edison included, who appeared in the indecent pictures. What did they do wrong? Nothing at all! Why are we condemning them?

The "Guilty" award to the people claiming innocence but quite guilty: Internet Citizens of Hong Kong, you shouldn't be judging Edison's character when you are passing around his private files around. If any, you are almost as guilty as the person who first stole it. In fact, one of the biggest lessons here is, as my friend said, Internet Citizens have thought of themselves as a media source, yet lack the (western, anyway) media ethics. Each one of them has become a Next Magazine and also self righteous about it!

The "Accomplice" award to the true accomplice of the whole incident: Media. You have targeted 阿娇 for being fake. You have targeted the HK Police for selective prosecution. You have targeted Edison for his lifestyle. You have ripped all the fake masks. Yet you fail to rip the true culprit the technician. Oh, I understand, ripping the technician doesn't sell newspapers, right? Okay then.

The "Supply and Demand" Award for a working commercial world: HK citizens and HK media. Hey, I want to see naked pictures. Oh, here, we'll publish it for you! Morals be damned. Public interest rules.

The "Apple Daily" Award for "报不平" (reporting the unfair - that's their slogan...): Apple Daily, who have self-righteously put the indecent picture incidence on their headlines for a whole week. Meanwhile, the world is happening.

The "Roger Clemens" Award for blaming everybody but himself: The so called Hong Kong Internet Citizen. Oh, so peeking at private photos is doing the right thing? And the Hong Kong Police trying to stop the spread is not? And people having sex in the bedroom is not?

The "Isiah Thomas" Award for this is going to end very badly: Bobo Chan. The only difference is that I feel very bad for Bobo, and not at all for Isiah.

The "Marion Jones" Award for lying and lying and lying, and finally admitting the truth: 阿娇.

The "Dick Chaney" Award for being incompetent but safe from trouble because the other people are even more incompetent: all the other ladies were spared the embarassment because the leads were so popular.

The "Michael Jackson" Award for needing plastic surgery: Congrats, Edison, you have multiple targets on your neck now. And that's if you are lucky. There are a few who would take your private parts away... before they go for the neck. Good luck, brother.

The "彭定康是千古罪人" Award for the true culprit: The computer repairman who stole all the information.

The "Jack Bauer" Award for saying trust me many many times: Edison, you win again. Also related is the "Prison Break" Award for trusting those that shouldn't be trusted: All the ladies involved.

The "Paris Hilton" Award for using sex tapes as a publicity stint: The Hong Kong Police. People in public office should either have very ambiguous things to say. I'm just saying.

The "What did I do to deserve this" Award for what did I do to deserve this: Twins' Ah Sa who will probably have to go solo... which means her lack of singing talent can no longer be hidden through a duet. A close second is Emperor Studios, who stand to lose a lot of money if Twins goes down. A close third is the poor Hong Kong Police, who have done everything to bring justice to those responsible, yet get chastised every bit of the way.

The "George W. Bush" Award for person who needs a lesson in public speaking: 黄福全, one of the higher ups in the Hong Kong Police force. His speech about "if you have 正野 and share with your friends, that is okay!" is priceless and should be course material.

The "Martin Lee" Award for being misquoted by leftists and then skewered by the leftists: Hong Kong Police Commissioner 邓竟成, who read out the law on distributing indecent pictures and was quoted only the part of "owning them might be illegal." Instead of leftists, those who misquote him are our democratic media. Hurray for "democratic" media who care about public interest.

The "Britney Spears" Award for the fallen star: 阿娇. She's (or the studio that desperately needs her dollars?) already plotting a come back...

The "Mariah Carrie" Aware for reviving a career: TBD. Personally, I don't think any of them have much of a chance. The public has judged.

The "Faye Wong" Award for I don't fucking care about what you fucking care: This hasn't emerged yet, but I have a strong feeling that Cheng Pak Chi is going to win this award. If she doesn't win, it will be the aforementioned 黄福全.

The "玉女掌门人" Award for ignorance: To all the people who think Twins are actually 玉女. Seriously, you believed them?

My favorite picture in 2007...

It's been a while since I posted new pictures in Picasa. Last time I uploaded pictures was Csurgo Hungary. I now have more than 10 new albums, mostly from Hong Kong (including temples of Wong Dai Sin and Po Lin... and also food at various restaurants and several hikes), but also some from Macao, Taipei, and New York. Anyway, enjoy the pictures, including an album with my favorite pictures.

The above is my favorite picture from 2007. There are of course better pictures... but I liked this one in particular because I spent a long time to get this "perfect" shot. Without a tripod, I relied on a boken sign post to have a stable stand for my camera. Then I had to wait for the right time to hit the shutter since I wanted to see both the head lights and tail lights trail in the picture. I must have took about 50 pictures before finally getting a few that seemed okay.

It's been a month and a half since 2008, and I haven't even taken one picture that I liked. Sigh.

Some links to share:

• EXCELLENT quick tutor on photo composition. Though I am not a pro, this is exactly what I do when I have a camera in my hands.
  
• While I'm blogging, this is an interesting take on Roger Clemens.
• I'm not the only one who is abandoning United; I am slowly squeezing what's left of my miles and then not using United anymore. Yay!
• Here's a Chinese article addressing the naked pictures in Hong Kong.
• I'm endorsing Obama in the race, only because his chief economist has a brain.
  

Chinese Movies disappoint (again)

Happy Chinese New Year! 恭喜發財! 身體健康! etc etc. Someone wished me 橫財就手... I guess that's something good.

I watched two Chinese movies during Chinese New Year. I've decided I need to be more selective when it comes to Chinese movies and not cut them any slack anymore.

"CJ7" is the newest Steven Chow (of "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu" fame) installation. It is a well made family movie but not suitable for mature (yup, that me) audience. The Steven Chow humor was lacking and I came away quite disappointed. Anyway, recommended for families. Not recommended for Steven Chow fans.

All you need to know about the movie "Kung Fu Dunk" is the following conversation.

Me: Do you want to watch Juno?
Movie Buddy (MB): Sounds good. Friday night?
Me: Friday... hmm... I'm watching Kung Fu Dunk. Please don't judge me...
MB: Oh. (Silence) Okay. Uh-huh.

Well, I guess I deserve the results. This might be the dumbest movie I've seen in years. Sure, Knocked Up was dumb; but it was also damn funny. KFD wasn't even funny (I laughed out once on a commend about mixing wine).

What was truly disturbing was an interview with the director that I saw later on TV - he said he spent a long time thinking about this movie. Really? A movie that relies on special effects involving our hero taking many dunks and then winning the championship takes a long time to think up? Hmmmm. One critic commented that Jay Chow's "acting" is maturing. As far as I can tell, he still has only one emotion (think Dazed and Confused) which he occasionally compliments with a smile. Real mature. Jay, please stick with rapping. You ain't no Marky Mark.

Tonight, I will go see Kite Runner. I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed. Juno will be on later in the month, I believe.

Only in Hong Kong...

I saw a Ferrari parked on the side of a busy street. And then another Ferrari not far away. And then a Porsche (okay, it was "only" a Carrera) on another street in a few minutes.

Only in Hong Kong do you have people who are rich enough to shell out dough for fancy cars and too cheap to pay for fancy parking. I mean, seriously, aren't you a bit worried that your nice little race car would be scratched in an accident? Can you pay for valet parking (and I do apologize if those parked cars ARE a result of valet parking - if I were the driver, I'd be furious now)? Too much? Park underground and you can annoyingly take up two spots so no other car will even try to squeeze in. I have hundreds of solutions that won't cost you more than HKD200. All to insure damage against the 1M+ cars.

Why so cheap?

Cynical as I am, I believe it's because these guys (or gals) bought the race car because of the price tag. The car is to say I can afford a car, not that I have taste in cars. In this small city of 6 million, I guess people are desperate to stand out from the crowd. Guess what, you succeed: you stand out as a moron putting your lovely car in harms way.

Sigh.

Which is the headline?

So... what happened in Tuesday?

1. The winter storm in China has subsided and millions of migrant workers (they travel from inner states to prosperous states like Guangzhou for work) will be able to go home to enjoy Chinese New Year with their families. Electricity is restored in several key provinces and families who have gone a whole week without electricity are finally getting light and hot water back.
   
2. The US economy is in a full recession with the newest service industry report out indicating a reduction that hasn't happened in years. European markets pummel on news of more sub-prime losses for European banks.
   
3. Reporter Cheng Cheong was surprisingly released from prison. Cheng has been convicted of espionage by China and has been in prison for a year and a half now. He has been the focus of human rights groups in Hong Kong and his release is seen as both a victor for these groups and one for the Chinese justice system (!?).
4. More X-rated photos of a Hong Kong entertainer (Edison Chan) and his various "engagements" with girls, including four girls who are fellow entertainers surface on the Internet. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Police has arrested a computer technician accused of stealing those pictures while fixing the computer. The Police have been under fire for coming down hard on people who have posted those raucous on Internet discussion boards. Edison has been in exile in US and all the girls have been out of sight since the pictures first surfaced 10 days ago.
   

All TV stations are running with 1 as the headline and 3, 2, and 4 next (in that order).

All newspapers are running with 4 as their headlines. (This includes the Apple Daily, which calls itself the newspaper of truth; also the newspaper which ran an extra in the afternoon to urge people to vote for the pro-democratic candidate Anson Chan)

I'm sad that this is happening in Hong Kong. The TV media seems to have gotten it right. The newspapers, not so much. I read one piece and I felt that it came straight out of a Internet chat room. And they call themselves journalists.

Wing Squad lives on...

The Wing Squad rules... again

32 hours of flight time to spend 30 quality hours in SFO. This warrants a time stamp entry:

Saturday
1130 - shit, I forgot to bring my driver's license...
1200 - printed out all work-related material... ready to head to airport
1300 - phew, got on the earlier flight to SFO
1310 - enjoying business class lounge - the noodles are surprisingly good! (dessert was a downer)
1420 - snooze
1630 - oh, we took off already? Work...
1631 - Bourne Supremacy is more interesting than work
1745 - Work
2030 - Snooze
2230 - just lost all respect for Clive Owens. I watched the ending of a pretty stupid movie that ended with him holding bullets in between his fingers and using the fire place to heat the bullets and fire them into the bad guy (lost respect for him too - the guy in Sideways)
2300 - Snooze

Sunday
0100 - just lost some respect for Nicole Kidman and the new 007. They were also involved in a pretty dumb ending with some extraterrestrial virus invading human bodies

Saturday (time difference... I arrive before I depart... it's confusing to me too)
0926 - arrive in SFO
1135 - PNGF arrive in SFO
1230 - Priceline won't let PNGF drive since I had put down my own name (and I forgot my license)
1300 - PNGF friend to the rescue!
1500 - Brunch, no matter what time, is always appreciated
1600 - Snooze
1900 - God I miss ESPN
2100 - Dinner at NOLA - Skirt steak was great
2300 - COLDSTONE!
2315 - Beer and foosball; got my ass kicked by WL

Sunday
0130 - Back to the hotel to snooze
0930 - Wake up
0931 - God I miss ESPN
1130 - Bagel for breakfast
1230 - Shopping in Palo Alto
1245 - Find out that there's nothing to shop in Palo Alto
1320 - Shopping in Stanford Shopping Center
1445 - The Wing Squad assembles
1500 - Superbowl Kickoff!
1530 - Wing Squad mission accomplished...
1930 - Heartbreak loss
2030 - Goodbye to Wing Squad members
2100 - Goodbye to PNGF
2130 - Hello to American airport security!
2200 - Download work emails

Monday
0005 - Back in the air again...
0030 - Work
0330 - Done with work... why do movies on Cathay Pacific suck?
0530 - Okay, I just watched Minority Report, which was the best movie playing. Man. Snooze.
1345 - Good sleep. Oh, they're showing Armageddon as well...
1430 - Always laughed when Armageddon ends. This time is no different. Let's send drillers to outer space. Awesome idea!

Tuesday (damn that time difference)
0645 - Stores already open in the airport: that's a good sign of capitalism. Back in Hong Kong (already)!

I have a rule of not putting food pictures that are deceiving. This is not.

This isn't deceiving either. It's chocolate mousse, not ice cream! (Nothing like that in Loire Valley though)

More thoughts on Superbowl later.

Bain terms...

Couple of new terms I love, courtesy of Bain parter PH (a.k.a. person who explained at-cause... not sure if that was his invention):

• Bain Jujitsu - something you don't like? that's fine. right back at you: think of how to fix it!
• Virtual Baby - parents can leave at 8pm because they have to attend to their baby at home; what's your virtual baby at 8pm?

(Random note: bloggers are in danger! Yet I digress.)

Back to virtual baby: I started writing the below on Jan 1st... then kept it on the shelf. Oh well. Jan was a low productivity month in terms of blogging. It's a comment I posted in response to a friends blog:

• "If you can't find satisfaction from work, it is indeed difficult to zero in on those non-work, non-sleep time and find a lot of happiness. 敬業樂業 is difficult to do. I believe this is one course the GSB, or any MBA program, didn't teach. For two years, I lived a life that was unrealistically fun and fulfilling and focused on changing careers. Now that I have succeeded, I find it hard to refocus on the new career and find fun and fulfillment from it."

Hold on... I need to understand my own English. Okay, let's move on.

The virtual baby idea ties nicely to the comment. In an ideal world, you make your living by doing something you absolutely love. That is, however, not always the case. If you can't find satisfaction from work, then you have to find satisfaction from life - i.e. the virtual baby.

What's yours?

I think mine is in travel and photography. (Not a good excuse to tell my team that I have to leave at 8pm though!!!) Will continue to develop these.

While I'm on work, Mark Cuban has some wisdom (!) on effort, sweat equity, and his passion for what he does for a living. Mark is obviously a very lucky person. Or was he so determined that he made his own luck?

Last note:

I'm off to San Francisco to watch the Superbowl (On TV, with college buddies) for the weekend. 32 hours of airplane for 30 hours of madness with friends and PNGF. The Wing Squad (2007) lives on. And to think in 2006 that the Wing Squad was over!

Mother Tongue education failing...!?

On the radio today... turns out the Education Department has been following the progress of students from schools using Chinese as the medium of education and comparing them to ones that attend schools using English as the language medium. That's great... finally someone can prove that mother tongue education is the way to go (I wrote this as my final project for my first college English class... I was very convincing back then).

Instead, the Chinese University commissioned study found that students in Chinese high schools have 50% less chance on getting into Universities! Among the core reasons is all Universities mandate a minimum of "D" score in the English public exam.

Conclusion 1: Chinese schools need to improve in English.
Conclusion 2: Universities have an unreasonable barrier to entry.

Let the consultant go to work: could it be that only the best students get into English schools and therefore have a higher chance of getting into University!? Oh wait... that's how the schools were divided in the first place! Good schools stayed English and bad ones were converted to Chinese to improve the student overall experience in other subjects (as opposed to struggling in every subject taught in English). Of course you'll find a difference in "college conversion"...

Let the consultant go to work again: "D" is a pretty low score for any subject. Universities teach in English. I don't see any unreasonable barriers.

What they say...

"I feel so defeated" from someone who decided to head back to the US for a significant other. Ah, but you win in other areas!

"I can't tell all in a blog that bears my name" from a good friend who still blogs. You don't have to. Don't feel pressured!

"I didn't realize being an MBA switches your responsibility from doing the work to making sure others are doing the work." Better believe it! If only every MBA were that lucky...

"Life sucks..." as my friend drinks his fifth beer. Can't be that bad if you're on your fifth beer...

"Honeymoon? I can't even handle the wedding!" there are many weddings this year... this was one of the best complaints I've heard.

New York from Above

Interesting post on the GSB. And online dating. On the latter, I'm not surprised at all. Research have shown similar people are attracted to each other... and females are often matched to males with a slightly higher income. Same job qualifies as similar; boss qualifies as slightly higher income. (See comments - an ex of a friend would probably be similar by association!)

Anyway, I promised the heli tour PNGF and I took in New York.

We took a stroll from PNGF's Wall Street apartment to enjoy some fresh air (as opposed to the subway smell) near the Brooklyn bridge. As I was taking pictures of the other New York, I noticed all these helicopters zooming around and landing somewhere near where we stood. A Heli tour hasn't entered my mind yet, but I was curious on what was going on...

Next thing you know, we're at a ghetto van buying a ghetto ticket for a helicopter tour. Reckless, maybe. Fun, definitely. Since we Asians are smaller in size (body size), we were given the front seats (yay! size matters!). Awesome view of everything. Sitting in the front is kind of interesting because you have to place you foot on the bottom glass. A bit unsettling, i have to say. For the heli-virgins, it's worth it. Sit in the front and challenge your senses. The views are amazing.

See the blade of the helicopter?












Quite a nice view of the city. It was difficult to take pictures on the helicopter as it kept moving and vibrating. I wish I had a wide angle lens though.








The immortal Madison Square Garden... housing the sad Knicks led by Isiah Thomas. We could have seen a game at MSG (Bulls visiting!) but didn't. Sweeney Todd instead... probably for the better.

And of course a requisite Statue of Liberty picture. I wish the heli spent more time here...












=) A picture from the ground was probably better.

All them critics

We met for drinks a while ago, but it wasn't quite long enough to have a meaningful conversation. So when YT and I finally sat down for dinner one day, it was a nice feeling. Similar to when I met up with KL in NYC a year and a half ago (you know, the one that bought a smile to my face), catching up with YT was great.

It's always been important to me to receive honest opinion. I don't sugarcoat anything. While that type of behavior gets me into trouble (to all those offended, I am sorry), it sometimes also gets me into long lasting friendships. The point? I respect and want honest opinion. And the relevance? YT gave me some.

As I've learned in life (and confirmed by the great U of Chicago social scientists), it's easy to form an opinion of yourself and not waver from it too much. After all, you have gone through all your experiences yourself, and nobody else has quite experienced the same.

So when YT disagreed with one of my assessments (of myself of course... no worries, I won't tell you what it is) and gave me her honest opinion, my initial reaction is to reject. Criticism. Hard. To. Take. In fact, I think I was a bit angry that she had been so direct in criticizing me. First of all, she is wrong. Second of all, even if she is right, she is still wrong. =) At the time, I of course redirected the topic and avoided further conversations on the point. I just felt that she's wrong and this wasn't worth discussing.

It wasn't until I was on the cab on my way home when it struck me that she was right. Keep them honest opinions coming. They may not be all right, but they are definitely all appreciated. You need these criticisms to keep improving.

p.s. this is a bit like consulting, isn't it... you have to be honest to your client!
p.s.2. totally irrelevant... but this freakenomic post is cool

Random stuff...

Well... since I have been very lazy (note: limited by networks in China and company), I thought just to get some pictures out.

Thank you Le Meridien for a wonderful ending to my stay in Shanghai. I rarely order room service at hotels, but since I had to be up at 5am, I figured a little bit of breakfast would have helped. As you can see, it more than helped. =)

Twas a good ending because it started very rocky: they put me at first in a room that had two TWIN SIZE beds. TWIN SIZE! Last time I slept in twin size bed was in a hostel. Ghetto. And th receptionist didn't even bother to tell me that! (Anyway, I complained and the situation was corrected with an apology note from the hotel GM. That's how you retain valuable customers, United Airlines)

Random pictures I took in different restaurants around Hong Kong. There is so much to notice in the slightest of things. The salt and pepper from Brunch Club.

An ice (great whiskey at this lounge... I need to find out the name of it) in a glass. I took it using a long shutter while trying to demonstrate what a long shutter would do. Accidental pictures are great sometimes!

Christmas Presents!

Honestly, I can't remember the last time I got a Christmas present. Before 2007:

• 2006: In Galapagos, we got a very bad sparkling wine (no way it was Champaign) as "Christmas present." I paid for the trip though, so that shouldn't count.
• 2005: Spent in Hong Kong. I must have gotten something from then GF.
• 2004: I came back to Hong Kong for a wedding. No recollection of presents.
• 2003: Present from Alan for the entire family to go to Spain.
  

Back to 2007... a very fruitful Christmas.

iPod nano: courtesy of my employer! I had a choice between the Nano, a Canon camera, and Nintendo DS. I have to say, I struggled mightily between the Nano and the NDS. At the end, the inability of my current iPod shuffle to indicate song name pushed me over the edge. (Speaking of which... I now have an original iPod, a shuffle, and a nano. I didn't pay a penny for any of them. I guess that's why Steve Job is so rich.




Shure headphones: allow me to say that if you haven't tried Shure headphones, you really haven't experienced headphones. These things fit nicely into your ears. And, man, the sound quality is SO MUCH better. I never knew my old iPod headphones were such crap. Thank you, PNGF!

Macro lens: Thank you, self. Christmas was the perfect excuse for me to buy something for myself (um, yeah, the salary helps as well... you know, since I haven't been paid for two years...). The Nikon 60mm 2.8 Macro (they call themselves a Micro lens; same as Macro) is wonderful for indoor macro photography. I did look at the Nikon D300, but decided that was a bit out of my skill and price range. I really need to improve my photography.


Love all my presents. Using all of them all the time.

Good weekend

Food and Hiking, you can't beat that.

Desserts from a brunch place in Hong Kong. Chestnut pancake and sesame ice cream is pretty good.

My training continues. Really need to do more. Here you can see the old Hong Kong Kai Tak airport. And also another picture for the Tai Tam Reservoir (though my favorite was from last month - in fact, that might be one of my favorites of the year).

Odd numbers...

In 2006, I posted 173 posts, almost a blog post every 2 days.

In 2007, I posted 173 posts, almost a blog post every 2 days.

I kid you not.

More than half a month into 2008, I've made a grand total of 3 posts. Here are my excuses:

• Company network blocks blogger.com where I use to post. Communist network blocks xyz.blogspot.com entirely.
• Busy at work while not at home, where I can blog (like now)
• So much going on that I don't know what to blog about... like about all my Christmas presents. Or the up-coming super Wing Squad reunion.
  

I did attend a wedding of a fellow GSBer in Taipei because I was "passing by" for work. The haunted Taipei Grand Hyatt is officially my second home - you see... the doorman recognized me and said "Welcome back, Mr. Lam." Anyway, I met up with another GSBer traveling from Japan and of course showed him the good food in Taiwan, highlighted by the very very yummy dumplings from Ting Tai Fung:


I've been "training" for a 50km hike - it's not the distance that's a problem; it's the time we're trying to break (By the way, I figured that if I made a public commitment, I'd be more committed to it... or whatever)I did the first 20km two weeks ago. I'm so out of shape. But my photography is still around.


Gotta love Hong Kong when the skies are clear. Sort of.

You know how bankers complain about their hours and we laugh at their career choice? Well, I'm going to go ahead and complain about travel. Some of the hotels just make me wake up sick (no more JC Mandarin, no more Hilton). I don't get it. The Shanghai Le Meriden is great though. I'll be there next week as well. Last week, I was stuck in the Shanghai airport due to fog. I decided to get back to the city... only to be stuck in traffic. I think I spent 4 hours on the taxi going back and forth from the fog-covered airport. I left the next morning at 7am. I fly too much, yes... but there are some rewards. My friend at Cathay upgraded my mileage account to a higher tier, which paid dividends right away today as I took the last seat on a full flight (not lining up like all the other peasants do apparently did the job. woohoo!).

I have the awful habit of bringing my camera while traveling just in case good photo opportunities come up. It did:

Pictures partially reposted...

Remember when I damned Blogger and Picasa for losing all my pictures on the blog? It was double painful cus I thought there were some noteworthy pictures in my December posts. They've been reloaded with lesser quality (it was the fastest and easiest way).

• Ever wonder what a diplomatic suite (one less than the presidential one) looks like?
• Visa commercial with me dressed as a nerd (Okay, it's a mastercard commercial)
• Some green hiking from the concrete Hong Kong
• I'm thinking about ALL my old pictures... arg. Just that thought gives me a headache.
  

By the way, I've committed myself to the 50km walk on the Hong Kong trail on March 1st. Can't wait to it... starting with training this Sunday.

New York, New York (Restaurant Edition)

Happy 2008!!

My visit to New York was for PNGF and her food. And of course the list of restaurants that are permanently tied to her food list. Yay! (Yup, it's gonna be a long long post, my friends, good way to start the New Year) In chronological order:

Jean Georges - this Michelin 3 star restaurant did not disappoint at all. Lunch was extremely reasonable with extraordinary dishes. There were several highlights, but none better than the sea urchin pictured below. It didn't look nice at all to PNGF's disappointment, but the taste was absolutely marvelous, even eclipsing the shrimp (with papaya wasabi sauce!) that I got. Service was of course impeccable, but it didn't matter. The food talked (but not the dessert, sigh).


The dessert was so-so, though it came with a lot of complimentary dishes, which were also so-so. Nonetheless, if you are having lunch, JG is a great deal. As for the Michelin stars... a bit overrated I must say.

Habana Cafe - this is the one place I always visit whenever I am in New York. Last time I was in New York for an interview, I sneaked out in the morning just to have corn at Habana Cafe. The picture will do it justice.


Sasbune - an inconsistent sushi restaurant anywhere is as rare as a good sushi restaurant in Chicago. Sushi restaurants are good when the chef has an eye for fresh and good seafood. It's that simple. Since the chefs don't change mid-meal, you will be hard pressed to find a piece of bad sushi followed by a good one. Unfortunately, we found Sasbune. Here's a perfect piece of uni sushi. Very fresh. Melted in my mouth while leaving a good taste

Oh... and then a sushi that is smothered by eel sauce. Arg. And the junior chef had the gall to advice us to "no soy sauce please..." How's about I tell you "less eel sauce please"? Disappointing. Double disappointing when the bill came out. What? I paid $130 to have someone put sauce to cast away the fresh taste of seafood? Really?


Kyotofu - Kyo.Tofu, get it? They use Tofu as the base of dessert... PNGF swears by it. I say the decor is very good. The food was decent and refreshing. It was a light type of dessert as you may suspect. Lighting was poor and I didn't get a good picture of the very nicely put together desserts.

Sobaya - met up with old GSB friend AW at a soba restaurant. Good cold noodles. Not so good for PNGF, who was allergic to wheat. Even when she didn't have it, the smell of fresh soba being made nearby must have gotten her sick. Still, it was a good and reasonable restaurant.

Fatty Crab - If you come to this 14th street restaurant right next to the bustling meat-packing district, please order the Chili Crab. It is awesome. I wish they could try the same with prawns and lobsters. Too dark is my only complaint, since I can't see if there is crab meat left in the shells. Also too dark for pictures.

Stanton Social - Okay, I have to ask: the "shared plate" concept that the waiter explains to every patron... isn't that the same as Chinese style? Or Italian family style? Funny how these marketing tactic work for these new restaurants (Fatty Crab was the first to shock me with "shared plate" concept). Call it something cool and people will rush to try the "shared plate concept!" Back to the food: Stanton Social, a ML recommendation, delivers. The shared plate concept works nicely as we get to SHARE multiple delicious plates! What an idea! We ordered six in total and got a good taste of the menu. Delicious and refreshing food in a very comfortable and down to earth setting. Highly recommended. Pictures speak most:

Wonderful vanilla bean flavor pancake with pecans

Taco filled with mango and beef - good combination and refreshing in the mouth

Heavenly friends nicely flavored (bad pic unfortunately)

Can you say no to caramel dipped donuts?

Shula - (Hong Kong has yet to offer a good independent steak house... though FY has recommended Wagyu up in SoHo) I was craving steak, so Shula was the solution. I had a 24-oz porterhouse from Shula years ago on my first real business trip. Good times. Nowadays, I can handle a 12-oz filet mignon. Beautifully cooked. Can't complain. And the super large Crème brûlée is a perfect ending to a hectic day. (The Chicago version is thinner and is much more appropriate - this New York one is way too thick and the creme isn't even in the middle)


Jewel Bako - sushi restaurant for New Year Eve. They had helium balloons on the ceilings and the strings hung down like streamers... and annoyed all the waiters who were trying to get the dish to the table without the streamers brushing on it. High comedy. Appetizer was a trio of tartars - a bit too much fat in the tartar, but overall satisfying. Entree is some pretty fresh sashimi as you can see. Nothing out of this world, but nothing disappointing either. Priced reasonably and I would go again and maybe try their other dishes as well.


Sambuca - New Year Eve should never end with mediocre dessert, as was served in Jewel Bako. After some wandering around, PNGF decided that she had had enough and Sambuca was going to be next stop for food. Excellent... and I mean more like EXCELLENT... tiramisu. Perfectly made in every way a tiramisu should be made. The rum, the cream, the lady fingers, the chocolate sprinkle, everything... in perfect harmony. I'm so glad I had this before midnight struck. Great ending to the year!

I'll be back with some 2007 year in review and feelings about my first helicopter ride (Manhattan from the sky is awesome)!