i have nothing against taiwanese
heck, i'm taiwanese... but let's face it, common sense is not one of the strong traits amongst my people
almost everyday, you see things that make you shake your head
sometimes there's an explanation, sometimes there's none
ask why?
just because
one of the things that makes me shake my head really hard and really pisses me off is parents riding a scooter with their kids
what's so bad about that?
take a look...
* photo courtesy of michael turton
* photo courtesy of michael turton
don't get it?
the adults are wearing helmets while the kids are not!
there's actually an explanation for this one
they feel that kids are constantly growing so it's kinda pointless to buy them helmets which they will not be able to wear for long so it's a waste of money
so why buy them clothes?
exactly
how much is a helmet in taiwan anyways?
a few hundred ntd's (new taiwan dollars, which is about nt$32 to us$1)
fuck, even if it was a few thousand dollars and had to buy them often, i would definitely spend the money
a few thousands dollars for your kid's life?
i say that's not a bad deal
not bad at all
Thursday, August 30, 2007
playing with your kids' lives
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
chinese valentine's with spicygirl & prince roy
hung out with melissa and franc today at le ble d'or
the 2 litre pint aka the penguin
l to r: melissa, franc, yours truely & the wife karen
it was just something spontaneous that just happened to happen on valentine's day
we didn't plan this ahead of time nor did we (wifey & i) planned on celebrating the day
yes, you heard right
valentine's day... in august!
for those who don't know, today was chinese valentine's day
for those wondering... yes, taiwan also celebrates the 2/14 valentine's day
yes, in both occasions the guys are suppose to give gifts to the girls
there's also a third valentine's day in taiwan that's called white valentine's day where the girls are suppose to give guys gifts
well, what do you know? that's hardly ever celebrated nor does it get much coverage in the media
yup, that is fair! :(
simpsonized
one of my favorite tv shows of all time is the simpsons
whenever someone in taiwan asks me what show i miss the most, i always answer the simpsons
i'd say they've always been pretty popular but they've somewhat fallen off the past few years
however, with the release of their recent movie, they are suddenly popular and mainstream again
one of the popular things to do on the net now is to simpsonize yourself
with today being a typhoon day and me stuck at home with nothing better to do, i gave it a shot...
what do you think?
go and give it a try too
d'oh!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
oh baby! ..... 25 weeks
can't believe we are already at 25 weeks
we still feel like wifey just got pregnant not too long ago
here's the latest ultrasound of our baby which was taken last saturday (at 24 weeks)...
unfortunately, the video and ultrasound this time wasn't very clear, especially the 3d portion because the baby was leaning up against wifey's belly wall
however, it was pretty clear and evident (around the 3:38 to 3:30 time) that we are having a girl
ok, we can buy some pink stuff now
Friday, August 17, 2007
hours before typhoon sepat
the sky was just beautiful and as blue as it could get with barely any clouds around
unfortunately i didn't have a camera with me to take pictures but you can get an idea here, courtesy of carrie
later on the day, you could just see these huge grey clouds starting to move in and slowly blanket the sky
it was a pretty cool sight... half the sky was blue while the other half was covered in storm-like clouds
finally got a hold of a camera so i tried to take a video but it was a little bit too late
the sky was almost completely covered by clouds already but you can still somewhat see the sun and clear sky in the distance
the wind was starting to pick up pretty good too which you can obviously hear in the video
video taken outside my work in tucheng
sorry, not the best video but you can get a slight idea
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
typhoon sepat
yes, another typhoon
it really isn't all that surprising since this is typhoon season
in fact, we've had much less typhoon activities this year than before
not that i'm complaining
there's already a lot of damages and floods down in the south from all the heavy rain they've had this past week
hopefully this typhoon does worsen the situation nor cause any more damages
attacked by my nephew
my 8 month old nephew ethan came over last night and was hanging out in my room for quite a while
we got him to try out the superman undie that i bought a while ago
i then took out my camera to take a few pics of him...
as soon as he saw the camera, he jumped up, spat out his pacifier and came after it!
a very active kid
more than a handful
gonna be really tiring chasing after him when learns to walk and run
he's sure come a long way...
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
happy father's day
happy father's day to all the fathers out there... including myself :P (yea, yea... officially i'm not a father yet, but technically i am, so i'll take it)
oh, those of you outside of taiwan probably just made a funny face and asked yourselves "father's day???"
yup, 8/8 is father's day here in taiwan
the reason is because 8 is pronounced like "pa" in mandarin, so 88 sounds like "papa", therefore 8/8 is father's day
to my old man, happy father's day dad
thanks for everything
typhoon wutip
just when we thought we dodged a bullet when pabuk changed courses last minute and went south around the island, here comes wutip.....
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
torn vertebra
i've been having back lower back pains for years now
it seems to have gotten worse this year as i can feel the pains more intensely and more often
i finally gave up and went to see a doctor last week
took some x-rays and the results were unfavorable
it turns out i have a deformed spine and a tear on the vertebra which is known as facet joint syndrome
i knew there was something wrong with my back but this is pretty unnerving and upsetting
how did it get so bad?
probably a combination of an old injury from playing soccer and basketball when i was younger, a job in my early 20's that involved a lot of heavy lifting and the thousands and thousands of hours sitting in front of the computer
oh, the heavy drinking since my high school years probably didn't help the cause either
what can be done?
at this point..... nothing
doc says people with my condition have different results
some will need surgery when older (whether successful or not, that's another story), some are confined to a wheelchair and some go through life without any issues
basically, i can't make it better but i can help it deteriorate slower by leading a "healthier" life
regular exercise and less drinking would be a good start
now, where did i place my beer?
Sunday, August 05, 2007
canon 400d or nikon d80?
with a baby on the way, i've been wanting to upgrade my point and shoot digi cam
was thinking about getting a dslr and a dv
if i had it my way, i would get both but the wifey said i can only get one
hey, gotta listen to the wife!
after much consideration and mainly because i can already take video with my current point & shoot digi cam, i decided i want to get a dslr
but which one?
definitely nothing too professional and/nor too expensive
so, looking at a few of the "beginners" dslr's in the market it's come down to two choices
the canon 400d and the nikon d80
but which one?
i really don't know for sure yet but the bushman wrote a very informative and helpful post on the subject
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
chulinshan kuanyin temple in linkou
wifey and i like going to temples all the time
one of the temples we frequent the most is the chulinshan kuanyin temple in linkou, which is where we went this past saturday...
ice cream vendor selling the famous "papu"
i've been coming to this temple for years now and this construction have been like this all this time. i don't know what's going on there, but i'm assuming it was "legal" when they first started, then through elections local officials have changed since then therefore haulting the construction and deeming it illegal because the new officials did not get the "bonus" that approved the construction in the first place. yup, that's taiwan politics for ya. nice and corrupt. lots of half finished buildings all over taiwan because of the same reason.
after visiting the temple, we went to take a look at the house we almost bought
yes, i almost bought a house in linkou a couple years ago
had my mind set and was ready to sign the contract but a few factors came into play and i decided not to buy it last minute
here's what we would be living in now...
the whole housing project is not complete yet so it doesn't look like much, however these are actually pretty nice homes
6 floors with an personal elevator and private garden
i did and still like these homes a lot
in a way i'm glad i didn't buy it since it in the middle of nowhere in linkou right now
there's nothing around it except for lots of empty lots and some housing contructions
will i regret it 10 ~ 20 years from now tho'?
