talkative olivia

olivia sure likes to talk but it's been difficult to capture on video. so often she just goes on and on and on non-stop, but as soon as i pull out the camera, she just comes after it wanting to grab it and play with it. you have to either be candid or make sure she has something else to play with while you film her, which is how i was able to capture the following two videos of her "talking".

here's a video of her just talking up a storm during our recent bbq as she does so often. she had been babbling on for a good 15 minutes, then i just snuck out the camera without her noticing. she did see me filming her but i guess there were so many people around and so much noise she wasn't paying too much attention to the camera, plus as you can see she was also busy playing with her chair.....



in this next video, she's playing with the phone and pretending to talk on it so she's too busy to come after the camera.....

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bbq in the garage

a couple weeks ago during the moon festival holiday weekend, we had planned to have a few friends over for a bbq in our garage but it had to be cancelled due to a typhoon. well, we rescheduled the bbq to this saturday (yesterday) but there's another typhoon invading taiwan this weekend. however, we were not to be deterred this time as the typhoon's landfall was scheduled for sunday (today), so it wasn't too bad other than some wind and light rain showers.


some of the food and beverages we prepared.


my cousin jeff manning the grill.


some of the guests.


olivia enjoying the party.


as more guests arrive, it was time to fire up a second grill.


here's peter manning the second grill.


my mom taking over the main grill.


hot sauces which i bought during my trip to mexico a few months ago. these went great with the bbq and were a huge hit with everyone.


time to bring out the big guns. kaoliang liquor.


my dad and ivan after too many shots of kaoliang.


peter with his daughter tong-tong.





it was a lot of fun and everyone had a good time. we hope to do this more often.

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super typhoon jangmi

another typhoon has hit taiwan this weekend, but this time it's a category 5 "super" typhoon. much stronger winds with heavier rains than usual, so we should be looking at more damage than usual as well. here's the predicted path.....





here's a video of our immediate neighbourhood taken a couple hours before typhoon jangmi from the rooftop (3rd floor).....



here's a video by typhoon hunter james reynolds.....



the last typhoon caused several deaths and quite a bit of damage throughout the country. hope there are no casualties and not much damage this time around.

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recent olivia videos

olivia is turning 10 months next week. here are a couple videos taken last week.....


here she is crawling around the room.


in this video, she's doing some of the hand sign "tricks" we taught her. first, it's "pai pai shou" which means clap your hands. then, it's "mei you" which means none or nothing. finally, it's "wei" which is the way we greet a phone call.

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tainted toxic poisonous baby killer milk from china

go ahead china. make your fake brand name shoes, electronics, designers watches and bags. heck, go righ ahead and even fake the olympics. it's all good. it's all bad though when you start messing with baby milk, causing thousands of sickened infants and several deaths.

with me being a father of a young infant now, there are really no words to describe how hateful and pissed off i am to read about this. it is just so wrong in so many levels, i don't even know where to begin. all i can say is i truly hope every single person responsible for this gets severely punished for their actions.

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olivia's pom-pon shorts

here's olivia (now 9 months old) wearing her "pom-pon" shorts which we bought from costa rica.....





i think she looks like a baby ballerina in these shorts. what do you think?

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ill family

there's a little cold "outbreak" at home right now, with just about everyone catching a cold sometime during the past couple weeks. it all started with my brother in law, who then passed it on to my sister. my sister in turn, passed it on to my nephew ethan. ethan spends working hours on weekdays at our house with my mom because my sister has to work. well, ethan passed it on to my mom who passed it on to my dad. ethan not only infected my parents, but he also got karen when she helped my mom look after him one day and now olivia just got it from karen. poor olivia just battled with high fevers and roseola a couple weeks ago, and now she's fighting a cold. my heart just breaks apart everytime i see her ailing and heavy-eyed like she's ready to pass out at any time. now, it looks like i'm next in line to get it as my nose is feeling "itchy" and my throat "scratchy". time for some panadol.

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hello sunshine

after what seemed like never-ending days of ferocious rain brought by typhoon sinlaku, the sun was out in full affect today giving us absolutely beautiful weather with sunny and clear skies.


view from office window

too bad i was stuck in the office all day.

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chasing typhoon sinlaku

i've known about tornado chasers for a long time now. i remember watching the film twister in the 90's and the show storm chasers on discovery is some great stuff. however, i had no idea that people were out here chasing typhoons.

a lot of friends outside of taiwan and asia often ask me what's a typhoon like? well folks, check this out. here's a video of some guys chasing the recent double-eyed, "perfect storm" typhoon sinlaku.....



very cool and intense stuff.

now you see why it's a good idea to stay home during a typhoon?

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mid-autumn bbq during typhoon sinlaku

a few friends were coming over this weekend for a bbq in our garage to celebrate the mid-autumn festival, but with typhoon sinlaku invading taiwan we had to cancel plans.

with that ruined, we resorted to plan b and headed over to the in-laws' where they were having a bbq in their rooftop which is covered.




a couple shots of the grill and food.


olivia enjoying the party.




my father-in-law has 6 brothers and they all live in the same building, so there was a pretty big entourage at the bbq. here's karen and olivia with her brother and a couple cousins.


what's a typhoon day without some mahjong?


and what's a bbq without downing a few?

despite the typhoon, i hope everyone had a good, happy and safe mid-autumn festival!

cheers!

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holiday killer typhoon sinlaku

here comes typhoon sinlaku to ruin the mid-autumn festival (moon festival) weekend



plans for a bbq party will go down the drain

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confucius says

here are some not so famous proverbs by confucius which i just received on email.....

Virginity like bubble,
One prick, all gone.

Man who run in front of car,
Get tired.

Man who run behind car,
Get exhausted.

Man with hand in pocket,
Feel cocky all day.

Foolish man give wife grand piano,
Wise man give wife upright organ.

Man who walk through airport turnstile sideways,
Going to Bangkok.

Man with one chopstick,
Go hungry.

Man who scratch ass,
Should not bite fingernails.

Man who eat many prunes,
Get good run for money.

Baseball is wrong:
Man with four balls cannot walk.

Panties not best thing on earth!
But next to best thing on earth.

War does not determine who is right,
War determine who is left.

Wife who put husband in doghouse,
Soon find him in cathouse.

Man who fight with wife all day,
Get no piece at night.

It take many nails to build crib,
But one screw to fill it.

Man who drive like hell,
Bound to get there.

Man who stand on toilet,
Is high on pot.

Man who live in glass house should,
Change clothes in basement.

Man who fish in other man's well,
Often catch crabs.

Man who fart in church,
Sit in own pew.

Crowded elevator smell different to midget.

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a day in hukou

on saturday we got up bright and early at 7:30am, got ourselves ready and headed out to hukou to meet up and spend the day with our good friends hui-chen and mj.

first we went to the nan garden, which translates to south garden in chinese, but for some reason they called it the one.

yeah, i don't know either.

mj already wrote about the place and i really don't have much to add other than i completely agree with him and it was a bit disappointing. an absolutely beautiful place, but also an absolutely boring place. photographically it's a spectacular place if you are into photography and that sort of thing, but with a fairly high entrance fee i don't know if it's worthwhile.

speaking of photos, here are 3 of many olivia photos at the nan garden taken by mj.....






i'm glad we had olivia with us to keep us entertained and forget how boring the place was for a few moments. thanks for the great photos as usual mj!

google maps location of the nan garden.....

View Larger Map

we left the nan garden around noon and went over to the grace restaurant for lunch. i remember reading about this place in mj's blog before and was looking forward to seeing the wildly vivid and colorful decor. unfortunately, the decor was gone but even more unfortunate the loud ass tv sets mj spoke of did not go away with the decor. the tv's were in full blast and it was awfully loud. we asked to be moved to another section of the restaurant and they obliged, but guess what? they turn on the tv in that area to even louder volumes! nooo! we moved to get away from that noise pollution! they did turn it off after we asked so it was nice. no complaints about the food tho' as it was very tasty.

after lunch, we headed back to mj's place where mj and i went out drinking while the women rested at home.


first we went to ah-dong's where we killed the first bottle of sang som.....


with thai music in the background.


we then headed over to check out new shiao hui's.


where we killed a second bottle of sang som.


cheers!


cool taiwanese guys sitting in the table next to us.

later on, the newly wed ashish joined us as we headed back to mj's place for some bbq on the rooftop.


where we worked on our third of bottle of thai rum, but this time it was mekhong instead of sang som but it was equally good.

we did not kill this third bottle because i needed to sober up to drive back to taipei later in the night. responsible drinking, folks.

a couple more shots of the night.....


mj rocking the house!


view of the intersection behind mj's house from the rooftop. it was very relaxing up there, especially with the cool breeze that was blowing through.

again, do check out mj's post about the day as he's got way better photos and details.
it was a great and fun day with hui-chen and mj as usual and we can not wait to go back to do it again. hui-chen and mj, thanks for having us and being awesome hosts as always!

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taiwanese pride

i'm late with this as the olympics is over now, but this is too funny to bypass..... (sorry but video is in taiwanese & mandarin)

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battling with roseola

we haven't had much sleep the past few days because olivia had been dealing with high fevers for about 4 days now. then just as sudden as they started, the fevers suddenly stopped yesterday. however, it's not over yet. she's now dealing with diarrhoea and has these red rashes / spots all over her body, which should last a couple more days. according to the doctor, all these symptoms are due to a illness called roseola, which i've never heard of.

about roseola.....

Roseola (also known as sixth disease, exanthem subitum, and roseola infantum) is a viral illness in young children, most commonly affecting those between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. It is typically marked by several days of high fever, followed by a distinctive rash just as the fever breaks.

Two common and closely related viruses can cause roseola: human herpesvirus (HHV) type 6 and possibly type 7. These two viruses belong to the same family as the better-known herpes simplex viruses (HSV), but HHV-6 and HHV-7 do not cause the cold sores and genital herpes infections that HSV can cause.

Signs and Symptoms
A child with roseola typically develops a mild upper respiratory illness, followed by a high fever (often over 103° Fahrenheit, or 39.5° Celsius) for up to a week. During this time, the child may appear fussy or irritable and may have a decreased appetite and swollen lymph nodes (glands) in the neck.


The high fever often ends abruptly, and at about the same time a pinkish-red flat or raised rash appears on the child's trunk and spreads over the body. The rash's spots blanch (turn white) when you touch them, and individual spots may have a lighter "halo" around them. The rash usually spreads to the neck, face, arms, and legs.

The fast-rising fever that comes with roseola triggers febrile seizures (convulsions caused by high fevers) in about 10% to 15% of young children. Signs of a febrile seizure include:

unconsciousness

2 to 3 minutes of jerking or twitching in the arms, legs, or face

loss of control of the bladder or bowels

Contagiousness
Roseola is contagious and spreads through tiny drops of fluid from the nose and throat of infected people. These drops are expelled when the infected person talks, laughs, sneezes, or coughs. Then if other people breathe the drops in or touch them and then touch their own noses or mouths, they can become infected as well.

The viruses that cause roseola do not appear to be spread by kids while they are exhibiting symptoms of the illness. Instead, someone who has not yet developed symptoms often spreads the infection.

Prevention
There is no known way to prevent the spread of roseola. Because the infection usually affects young children but rarely adults, it is thought that a bout of roseola in childhood may provide some lasting immunity to the illness. Repeat cases of roseola may occur, but they are not common.

Duration
The fever of roseola lasts from 3 to 7 days, followed by a rash lasting from hours to a few days.

Professional Treatment
To make a diagnosis, your doctor first will take a history and do a thorough physical examination. A diagnosis of roseola is often uncertain until the fever drops and the rash appears, so the doctor may order tests to make sure that the fever is not caused by another type of infection.

The illness typically does not require professional treatment, and when it does, most treatment is aimed at reducing the high fever. Antibiotics cannot treat roseola because a virus, not a bacterium, causes it.

Home Treatment
Until the fever drops, you can help keep your child cool using a sponge or towel soaked in lukewarm water. Do not use ice, cold water, alcohol rubs, fans, or cold baths. Acetaminophen (such as Tylenol) or ibuprofen (such as Advil or Motrin) can help to reduce your child's fever. Avoid giving aspirin to a child who has a viral illness because the use of aspirin in such cases has been associated with the development of Reye syndrome, which can lead to liver failure and death.

To prevent dehydration from the fever, encourage your child to drink clear fluids such as water with ice chips, children's electrolyte solutions, flat sodas like ginger ale or lemon-lime (stir room-temperature soda until the fizz disappears), or clear broth. If you are still breastfeeding, breast milk can help prevent dehydration as well.

When to Call the Doctor
Call the doctor if your child is lethargic or not drinking or if you cannot keep the fever down. If your child has a seizure, seek emergency care immediately.

we're very glad the worst is over and she will come out ok from this, especially when the high fevers reached over 40 degrees celcius. extremely nerve wrecking!

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