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Blog = Diary?

2005-05-04T22:48:00.000+08:00

There is a wave of discontent amongst the HK Bloggers when a programme by Cable TV on "Blogs in Hong Kong" equates "blogs" with "personal diaries". Needless to say, such interpretation is seen as "too naive".

There are a lot of discussions at various blogs on this issue (see Sidekick for example) and I don't think I can add anything more to the debate. As I understand, some HK bloggers are planning to lodge formal protests to Cable TC as well. I have not watched the programme so I am not in the best position to comment on the issue. But in my mind, there is no doubt that Blog is not equivalent to personal diaries, it is a LOT more than that.

Dressed to Kill

2005-05-04T22:34:00.000+08:00

It always feels special when you saw someone you know on TV or newspaper.

This afternoon I visited Give me Spirit Fingers Dammit to check out the latest round of fashion victims. Tadaaaa! Guess what I have found! A picture of my ex-colleague (Note: ex-colleague, not friends or anything) in that blog and to quote Spirit Fingers

"Women persist in showing as much white leg as possible"

Read the post and see the photo here. I nearly fell off my chair laughing and when I found my composure again, I immediately sent the link to my friends (Note: friends, also ex-colleagues).

Spirit Fingers, thank you very much! You made our day!

A Bit of Everything

2005-05-03T21:30:00.000+08:00

Work is pretty busy - need to come in on Sat afternoon for a meeting and not having too much time updating this blog or reading other blogs.

Went to a housewarming party after meeting and ate a lot of salted chicken wings and chicken livers. They were great.

Went to church (yes) on Sunday morning then rushed back to meet relatives for lunch at Times Square. Then rushed to Diamond Hill to visit Children's home and drove to Tai Po for an educational outing. (YES!) Boating and baking were the orders of the outing, followed by a dinner there. Rushed back home to catch the 2nd half of Spurs v Villa at night.

Yesterday, went to the Peak for an hour walk but my thigh became sore after 30 minutes. Bumped into Gordan and Thomas (with their gfs). Ate a lot - Ox Tongue Fried Rice with Black Bean Sauce, Siu Mai and Curry fishballs as lunch, an Ice Cream sundae at McDonalds as tea and a heavy dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Wanchai with some other relatives of mine. Still felt hungry after I got home!

Spurs 5 Villa 1

2005-05-03T21:18:00.000+08:00

I only returned home when the game was 35 minutes old, and Spurs were 3-0 up by then! I couldn't believe my eyes for a second. We conceded a penalty at the end of first half, making me wonder whether there would be a repeat of Spurs 3 City 4 game last season. It wasn't to be and we went on to finish the job impressively. Stephen Kelly was my MoM choice, but Simon Davies ran him close.

It is nice that Spurs are now sitting in the 7th place and the crunch game this weekend against Boro will decide who are going to Europe next season.

Come on you Spurs!

World's 50 Best Restaurants

2005-04-28T22:35:00.000+08:00

The World's 50 Best Restaurants poll compiled by the Restaurant Magazine is out.

The annual list is based on the magazine's canvasing of more than 600 influential restaurateurs, critics, chefs, and industry experts. This year's consensus will have foodies everywhere heading to London, where over a quarter of the winners are located.

Further down the list you will find the sole representative from Hong Kong - Felix. Is it really that good?

See the poll results here.

Teen freed from rubbish bin

2005-04-28T10:50:00.000+08:00

AN 18-year-old who got himself trapped head first in a rubbish bin in front of late night revellers in Melbourne has earned himself a new nickname - Oscar
the grouch.The hapless teen went rummaging in the bin early this morning when
one of his friends threw his mobile phone into it, then couldn't get out.
"He was trapped in the bin with his arm and head through the stainless steel
top of the bin, a bit like a lobster trap," said Peter Yeoman of the fire brigade's rescue squad, which was called to St Kilda to free the young man.
Police, an ambulance crew and local firefighters all added to the 3.40am
(AEST) spectacle for a large crowd, which soon built up on the busy bar strip of
Fitzroy Street.
Firefighters unscrewed the stainless steel lid from the body of the bin and then tried unsuccessfully to free the man by lubricating his head to slide him out.
"He was just wearing it like a big Elizabethan collar - like a dog would have when it got its stitches out," Mr Yeoman said. The jaws of life would not cut through the marine grade stainless steel, so firefighters had to use an air powered hacksaw to cut him free.
Mr Yeoman said the young man kept his sense of humour throughout his 45 minute ordeal, even as the crowd of onlookers grew. "He was in good spirits and he took it really well," he said. "But there were so many people around, all having a go at him of course, calling him 'Oscar the grouch'."
Mr Yeoman said it was a first for him. He had never rescued anyone from a bin before.
The young man, who comes from Drouin, was not seriously injured and walked away with a few bruises, scratches and, of course, dented pride.

I have watched video clippings of this news on Cable News. Hilarious stuff!

What's my Japanese name?

2005-04-26T22:06:00.000+08:00

A silly test from Blogthings. Type in your English name and it will generate a Japanese name for you. This is mine:

Your Japanese Name Is...

Jiro Masachika

What's your Japanese Name?

Narrow defeat

2005-04-26T20:46:00.000+08:00

0-1 to the Arse. Not a bad performance, but a lack of real quality. Carrick, Davis, Reid and Davies are not a marked improvement to Poyet, Sherwood, Leonhardsen and Korsten. At least the latter 4 can score goals.

It has been said but it is important that we should buy quality and not prospect to take the club forward. Atouba, Ziegler, Defendi, Reid, Dawsen, Huddlestone...etc may all well develop into useful squad members, but I can't see any of them progressing into a world beater. Please sign some big established names in the summer, or else we will find ourselves in similar position same time next season.

Arse v Spurs

2005-04-25T20:46:00.000+08:00

Another derby at the closing stage of the season. Last season the Arsescum won the title at our place, and this time we are looking to end their title hunt at their place.

We have not lost to any top teams (Chelsea, Man U, Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle) away this season and if this trend continues tonight, the title will be Chelsea's. The best formation is Robinson, Kelly, King, Dawson, Edman, Reid, Davies, Davis, Brown, Defoe, Kanoute. I rate Brown over Carrick this season. Defoe scored a cracker against Arse at home and hopefully he will do so again tonite.

Talking about Carrick, he has the ability and physique to match Gerrard. But he lacks all the determination and drive to progress further. Of course he is still young and still not yet the finished article, but he must find another gear in the summer or else he will no more than a squad player rather than a midfield dynamo for us. Please try to score a goal too...

I will have Spurs (+1 handicap) and I am also tempted to put some $ on 1-1 or 2-2 draw.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

The Case

2005-04-25T20:35:00.000+08:00

Quite pissed off this afternoon. The judgment of the Lands Tribunal case which I conducted a while ago has been handed down. We were only half successful - won part of our claim and lost the rest. Costs were awarded to our side.

Although costs go to the winning party, I still consider it a defeat. And I think the Member has erred (badly) in both his findings of fact and question of law. I am quite confident that an appeal will see us through, but client is not prepared to spend another several thousand dollars to pursue an appeal which will probably worth nothing at the end given the trivial amount she is claiming. What can I do when I cannot appeal against the decision when it is quite clearly wrong?

It is even worse that the client turned on me after hearing the judgment. Blaming me for the wrong findings by the "Member" when she gave vastly different stories to the tribunal (without my representation at the 1st hearing and with my representation at the adjourned hearing?). It was not long ago when she was so grateful to me for charging her a (very) nominal fee to handle the case which she has started poorly. Perhaps I shouldn't have tried so hard. Damn it. Back visualising your images poor soul!

A Prison Diary II by Jeffrey Archer

2005-04-25T19:20:00.000+08:00

Just started reading a book by Jeffrey Archer recording his time in prison. I bought this book in Shanghai and without reading any reviews or knowing the author before buying this book, the RMB76 I spent on the book seems a well spent investment for me so far.

Did some research on Jeffrey Archer just now and he is definitely living a rollercoaster life. See his profile here.

With my past few years dedicated to football magazines, I am aiming to read more books in the future. Any recommendation for good books?

The Pope

2005-04-20T21:56:00.000+08:00

So I was talking to Ellen on phone last night and she asked me who was elected the new Pope. I told her no one had been elected yet, and I was wrong. It turned out that the white smoke has billowed from the Sistine Chapel....but was it black smoke instead?

Then after 5 minutes, there was that guy coming out the balcony and delivered a speech in Latin (or Italian?) and I told Ellen that was the new Pope.

Wait a minute, no it wasn't. He was just announcing the New Pope has been elected who turned out to be Benedict XVI. The odds at Betfair just before the announcement for him was 1:4 (40 dollars profit for 10 dollars bet).

周杰倫‧七里香??? III

2005-04-18T23:54:00.000+08:00

The lyrics of 七里香 unveilled! A must must watch!!! Click here or here to watch it. Remember to turn on your speaker volume!!!! (Click reload it you don't see a pop up media player)

Blogs or Ads?

2005-04-18T23:34:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Just a Sidekick, these 3 "blogs" (or "Ads") may be of interests to you.

香港立法會議員單仲楷的Blog
謝連忠律師的一個香港律師的意見和偏見
Margaret Ng's blog (under construction)

Spurs - Edman's goal against Liverpool

2005-04-18T23:26:00.000+08:00

Have anyone not seen it? Watch it here!

Probably the best Spurs goal I saw live. Yes, it was better than Gazza's freekick against Arse.

Sticker Map

2005-04-18T23:16:00.000+08:00

An very interesting idea by Littleoslo putting together the stickers of HK and Taiwan.

希望透過地圖的形式將Blog的連結作一個視像化的分類。通過地圖的更新和擴展，成為一個有趣的活動。

I am honoured to be included in the sticker map and you can find my Glory Glory sticker on the map!

See the sticker map here!

Season Review - Winning Eleven

2005-04-18T22:37:00.000+08:00

We had a good start to the season - sitting on top of the league after 3 games and were looking invincible. Then a slip in the mid-season pushed us down the table but we managed a draw against Euphoria in the last game to secure a much respectable place - 5th out of 12.

If we look at the league table, the problem with Winning Eleven was the inability to pick up any points against all the teams placed above us, despite playing well and leading against Freshers. Of course the other side of the coin saw us beat all the teams placed below us apart from Wu Dang and Euphoria.

The fitness of the team as a whole has not been good and we generally slowed down in the 2nd half and that was when we conceded probably 80% of the goals. It was particularly difficult if you have to chase a game when you concede an early goal. Only in the game against Fortune had seen us win a game after going a goal down.

One of the biggest improvements is the organisation of the team. From organising (thanks to Kenward and Raymond for sending the evites) and gathering (meeting 15 minutes before kickoff) to positioning (everyone knows their positions and adapts to the role) and playing (having some sort of tactics - the kickoff routine, the long throw in etc), the team has been playing much better than last season.

It would be a hard battle to keep up the standard next season and the imminent departure of our goalie means a capable replacement needs to be found.

On a personal front, I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the extra yard of pace. If you lose pace, it is very difficult to get away from the defenders. It looks like that I have to play like Teddy Sheringham (the extra yards are in his head). But I am happy with my goal return this season - 10 goals in 11 games. I am 1 goal short of winning the Golden Boot Award for the 2nd season running, but I know I should have walked away with it but for the eventual winner scoring 5 goals in a game where the opponent played with 8 men only. There is always next season...

I am pleased with the varieties of my goals - 2 freekicks, 1 acrobatic volley, 3 headers (!), 2 penalties and 3 other which I have forgotten how I scored. That acrobatic volley (half overhead kick) must rank as one of best goals I have ever scored! :-)

See the League Table here
See the Winning Eleven results here
See my goal history here

As usual, you are welcome to leave your comments here.

Some overdue updates

2005-04-18T22:09:00.000+08:00

I have been extremely hard working (in working) and extremely lazy (in writing this blog) for the past 2 weeks, and here are some quick overdue updates from me:

Work

As I said, I have been getting increasingly busier over the past month and today was particularly hectic for me. There was an unless order at 4pm today and we managed to get the doc filed by 3:58pm! If our court clerk get stuck in a lift or traffic jam, then that would be it!

Court

I conducted my 2nd trial at Lands Tribunal last Thursday. It was another good experience for me as I have always liked being an advocate. Cross examining witnesses is the fun part - provided it all goes according to your plan. The judge was the same one I faced 1 year ago who ruled in favour of me, and for sure he is not an intimidating figure. He was forever looking like he was in a rush and one of his habits is quoting irrelevant examples. This time, his best lines were - "You know, I don't know the whole truth. I can't know the whole truth, can I? But it is like that in civil cases....balance of probabilities...you know....55 to 45...or 48 to 52 ....or 47 to 53.....you know..."

I am confident that the case will rule in our favour, stay tuned for the outcome.

Client

Speaking of my client in the above case, she is an old woman and suffered mental illness some years ago. I had a concern as to whether she has the capacity to enter into any contract with us but that is irrelevant now. She told me some weird stories when I met her, like how she over-practised a religion such that she had ascended to another dimension, how she used to hear noises and see images of another dimension...etc. She seems very normal and rational to me now. I hope her well.

A Landmark Diver

2005-04-07T15:34:00.000+08:00

Check this hilarious video clip from Fumier

There is something about Erection

2005-04-07T14:49:00.000+08:00

I attended a conference with 5 middle aged men yesterday. Guess what the meeting was about - click "Comments" at the bottom of this post to see the answer. Here are some verbatim quotes of the meeting:

"I am not worried about cross examination. I know about erection everything
I need to know. I have been in erection for the past 20 years."
"Having erected for so long, I will never change my views. No one
can."
"Even if [someone] has perfect dimension, it still needs perfect
erection."
"The Erector should drive the sequence. He should tell the Fabricator what he
wants."

An Interesting Supreme Court Case in US

2005-04-07T14:47:00.000+08:00

Got this from Boing Boing, a Supreme Court decision that technology companies shouldn't have to imagine all the infringing ways that their customers might use their products and design to prevent them -- otherwise the iPod, Outlook and the Xerox machine would all be illegal.

Read the judgment here.

Messed up...

2005-04-06T18:34:00.000+08:00

Came across this "interesting" piece of news on http://expatatlarge.com/pm/weblog.php and Japundit:

A chinese man, jailed and badly beaten during and after an investigation
into his wife's murder, has been freed after she turned up alive and with
another husband, revealing a brutal arbitrariness to China's legal
system.

She Xianglin's wife, Zhang Zaiyu, disappeared after a domestic dispute in 1994 and when a woman's body was found in a local reservoir, Mr She was detained on suspicion of killing his wife, the China Daily said.
The body was so decomposed it could not be identified, but a local court
found Mr She, a former part-time police officer from central Hubei province,
guilty of murder and sentenced him to death.
A provincial court later commuted the sentence to 15 years in prison. Mr She,
39, was coerced into confessing to her murder and beaten badly in prison, the
newspaper said.
International human rights groups say police torture is widespread in China
and that suspects are held for long periods without trial. But it is rare for a
victim, or the domestic media, to go public about police brutality.

Mr She told the Beijing News that when he was first apprehended, police took him to a remote house and interrogated him for 11 days. He was given just two bowls of
rice a day, nearly no water, prevented from sleeping and threatened with
death.

Reuters

Football Pundits

2005-04-06T00:04:00.000+08:00

The most annoying thing when watching football programmes on Cable TV is that you have to endure the endless bullshit of the so-called TV pundits and football experts. Apart from a very few, the rest talks utter bullshit every match.

That's why I have chosen to turn to Channel 64 (the HKJC football betting channel) for some laughs during the match instead. But still stupid commentaries ring loud and clear from time to time. Like tonite, there are some English Championship matches on. Those pundits said (repeatedly) that there were doubts as to whether some teams, like Ipswich, wanted to get promotion. They reasoned that they would lose every game in the Premiership and would be better off staying in Nationwide Championship.

This is utter bullshit of the highest order! It is a well known fact that the gulf between Premiership sides and Nationwide sides lies in money. Teams earn several millions more TV rights, sponsorship etc in the Premiership than they could in the Nationwide. So why should a team prefer to stay in Nationwide by earning a tiny portion of the income they could have received in the Premiership??

I hope ESPN get their broadcasting right of English soccer back.

哈爾移動城堡 Howl's Moving Castle

2005-04-04T00:58:00.000+08:00

Probably one of the worst cartoon / animation movie I have ever watched. Bad storyline, less-than-impressive graphics and apart from the first 10 minutes, the whole movie is a sleeping pill.

Construction Worker

2005-04-04T00:45:00.000+08:00

Construction Worker
Originally uploaded by 4016697.

Taken at Lok Ma Chau Cross Border Rail Station.

Some reckons I look better in this outfit than in my usual business suits.

I dreamt of...

2005-04-04T00:15:00.000+08:00

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson yesterday.

We were in a ferry and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were seated at the back. Sherlock Holmes in his usual outfits - cap, pipe etc. - looked old. I was there after returning from a mystery where someone was killed and police were beginning investigation....etc.

Then it goes...

Me: "Mr. Holmes, I am James"
SH: "I have known you for the past 2 years"
Me: "I must have bothered you a lot, sorry. But Mr. Holmes, there is something I must talk to you"

Then Holmes stood up and went to the front of the ferry and I followed him. The dream ended by Holmes ordering a sausage + egg instant noodles!

Shanghai Delight

2005-03-29T17:28:00.000+08:00

4 days after returning from Brisbane, I boarded the plane again. This time the destination is Shanghai.

The (extremely) early flight at 8:20am means that I had to arrive at the airport as early as 6:20am. I woke up at 5:20 to make sure I wouldn't miss the first Airport Express departing from the Hong Kong station. Met Ellen at the airport and she was 20 minutes late. She was apparently still in her dreamland when she suggested to meet for breakfast without even checking us in! After my usual routine of having the breakfast at Café de Coral at the airport and visiting WH Smith, we boarded the plane with the *Final Call* sign flashing. So no duty free shopping this time.

The Hotel - JC Mandarin

Made a fool out of myself when I asked the cab driver to take us to "Gaan Chuang Wen Hua" (錦滄文華) Hotel. The driver clearly didn't understand me. It was then debated between us (Me and Ellen, not the driver) as to whether "錦 " should be pronounced as "Gaan" or "Jin". It turned out that I was wrong - it should pronounce as "Jin". Ellen got her revenge over me after her similar experience in Taiwan.

The hotel is situated at the central business district of Shanghai with Plaza 66 opposite to it. The Shanghai office of my firm (as well as several big names) are all packed in Plaza 66, a state of the art building which have a large shopping mall selling expensive stuff downstairs. McDonalds and Haagen Daaz are nearby.

The hotel room is neatly decorated with a king sized bed and the longest pillow I have ever laid my head on. Located on the 19th floor, it has a nice view from the room at night when the lights on the streets are on.

Eat Eat Eat

Without the desire to go sightseeing or visiting museums, 80% of our trip was planned around eating. There are so many good restaurants around but our capacity of our stomachs are limited, but we did try our best to put in as much food as our stomachs allowed. Adopting the economic theory I learnt from my F6 class, I only stopped eating until the marginal utility of my having another bite has dropped to zero.

Below are a list of restaurants we visited during our 4 days trip:

港式茶餐廳
永和大王
金錨
南翔饅頭店
真鍋咖啡店
新吉士
永和大王
McDonalds
黃浦會
[a coffee shop]
[日式燒烤]
楊家廚房
永和大王 (again!)
Hyatt Hotel Coffee Shop
小金陵
Coffee Shop at Airport

You may note that "永和大王 " appeared several times on the list. That was by far my most favourite place to eat in Shanghai. I have experienced the best beef noodles in my life there - the soup was made of chillies and carrot, so it tastes spicy and sweet at the same time. Then the hot soya milk with the "油炸鬼" is the best food partnership. You can spend as little as RMB18 to enjoy the above combo.

"新吉士" and "楊家廚房" serve good Shanghainese dishes. According to a travel guidebook, the latter restaurant is a must-visit place for my favourite idol - Headmaster Tam. "黃浦會" is another nicely decorated restaurant at the "外灘" facing the Oriental Pearl Tower at Pudong.

The Charm

Shanghai is a beautiful city, especially when the lights are on at night. The yellowish lights on the European style buildings at the "外灘" must rank as one of the beautiful sights in China and the Oriental Pearl Tower and Jin Mao Building on the other side of the harbour added to the modern uniqueness of the city.

I was surprised by the number of skyscrapers in Shanghai. Although I am not an expert in building design (and never will be), I do find the numerous 60-storey upwards buildings scattered around the city have their own uniqueness. I think it is only a matter of time before it breaks into the top 5 most beautiful skylines in the world (which is now occupied by Hong Kong, New York, Seoul, Chicago and Singapore).

Shopping?

Despite my best efforts to get a pair of new sportshoes, I failed. The prices of Adidas, Nike etc are much more expensive in Shanghai than in Hong Kong. Apart from the costs of travelling and food is slightly cheaper than Hong Kong, the money you spend on other items (especially luxurious merchandise) is as much in Shanghai as you spend in Hong Kong. So neither place is a shopping paradise. Anymore.

It turned out that the only stuff I bought is a pack of "Duck Liver" for my secretary and a mini Er-hu "二胡" for my mother.

Lastly…

We are already planning which hotel we are going to stay in for our next visit. Grand Hyatt at the Jin Mao Building is a clear favourite here.

Funny Signs in China

2005-03-21T21:32:00.000+08:00

The Retreat

2005-03-21T20:40:00.000+08:00

I am back from the Retreat in Twin Waters Resort in Sunshine Coast, Brisbane. It is an eye-opener for me and for the 3 days there, I had to mingle with Aussies that I have never met before. My memory is getting poorer and poorer and it is no surprise that I kept forgetting the names of the people there - resulting in introducing myself to the same people again....and again!

It is nice to meet them though as all of them (partners or associates) have all been very friendly to me. Ego was non-existent at the camp.

Day 1

After an almost 9 hours flight to Brisbane, the HK team boarded a 7 seater for another 1 hour drive to the resort. It was good that I managed 4-5 hours sleep on the plane and I watched "Finding Neverland" for the rest of the 2 hours. After arriving at the resort, I had a quick shower before heading to have a quick bite. We then had our first activity - an discussion group on the topic "We can obtain the best knowhow by...". I feel it a bit surprised that everyone in the group was very serious about the session and there were a lot of constructive discussions and some heated arguments as well.

After the session I had a tennis game with Brian (an Aussie who lived in HK for the past 5 years and a nice guy) and although I was playing not as bad as I thought, I was soundly murdered by him. 1-6, 0-6. "Home Advantage" was my excuse of losing.

Then dinner at the Naked Italian followed by a games and quiz nights. I had absolutely no idea as to all the quizzes (I don't even understand some of the questions as those were tailor made for the Aussies).

Day 2

Day 2 began with the presentation of the discussion group we had on the 1st Day. Then there was the showcase presentation. It was basically a presentation by each office as to the people and the projects they were working on. We did a powerpoint presentation on the theme "Mission Impossible - Mission Hong Kong / Shanghai" with some very nice background music in the tune of Mission Impossible. The slides show our funny photos and some good one-liners. My line was "Laws were made to be broken". The Hong Kong showcase was well received which is great as there were a lot of efforts behind the whole thing.

Then it came the game "Survivor". I was surprised by the fitness of the Aussies - many female colleagues overrun me in the first game which involves a lot of running. Our team finished the competitions in the first place but was gunned down in the Tribal Council. One of the tasks in the Survivor game was to nominate something that "I have done something which no one here have ever done". It was interesting to note that the Sydney partner once drove train for a living, an associate once sang live on US TV at the Goldengate Bridge in San Francisco and another chap caught a crocodile while fishing...

The Talent Quest was the next activity on the night. We had some divided opinions as to whether we should perform our can-can showgirls dance. I was going for it and I have prepared to make a fool out of myself long beforehand. We had a voting 10 minutes before we were due to appear on stage - it was a "go" by a 5-2 majority. Our performance lasted for 30 seconds before it all went wrong. The stage was too small for us to perform our "moves". We were standing on the stage forgetting what moves were next before someone said "Let's move for the exit!" and we are done!

Day 3

After breakfast, we checked out and headed for the airport. Another 8.5 hours flight saw me watched "Sideways", "Closer" and the last half hour of "Murder by number". That concludes the Retreat.

Got it!

2005-03-17T14:27:00.000+08:00

Got the visa 2 hours before the close of business. Phew!

Am I staying or am I going?

2005-03-17T12:12:00.000+08:00

Everything are prepared. The dresses, the can-can moves, the luggages, even the wigs and eye-lashes.
Except one thing….my visit visa! I am still waiting for my visit visa 5 hours before the Australian Consulate is bound to close for business today.
So I might not be going afterall!

McMug

2005-03-13T19:25:00.000+08:00

Cute little icon

2005-03-12T01:32:00.000+08:00

Added this cute little icon to this blog. Feel free to use it for linking!

Survival Kit, Travelling, Football, Spurs...etc

2005-03-11T15:29:00.000+08:00

It seems that I have not been updating this blog for quite a while, so I am putting together some random stuff here:-

- Many cool little games at Mousebreaker.com, which is really an essential survival kit for office workers. I can't live without it. Blast billiards and Striker of the Month are my 2 favourites. Anyone who can reach the 2nd save point of Blast Billiards please leave me a note how you do it!

- My travel schedule : 18-20 March on business retreat in Australia and 25-28 March on a leisure trip to Shanghai

- Rather unexpectedly, I have fallen into 2nd place in the Top Scorer Table for LSCOBA soccer league, with 9 goals in 9 games. The trophy was once in my pocket but then my rival scored 5 in one match to overtake me. I still have 2 matches to outscore him though.

- Speaking of football, I scored twice in a grassroot standard friendly match on Monday. This wasn't worth reporting, but then my first goal was scored from just outside my penalty area (a full 40 to 50 yards out at least).

- Last Monday, I went to the top floor of Princes Building to do some fitting measurement for the Talent Quest. And my ever-expanding waistline is now standing [proudly] at the staggering height of 33"!

- Watched one of the best football matches in recent years - Chelsea 4 Barcelona 2. Thrilling entertainment! Joe Cole arguably played the best match of his career so far.

- My beloved Spurs are doing not bad recently despite a slip-up against Southampton last weekend. Spurs will play away to Newcastle for a FA Cup semi-final spot. Newcastle is really banging on form but having already won 1-0 at St James Park earlier this season, I am confident that Spurs will at least earn a replay.

I am Sorry!

2005-03-07T00:39:00.000+08:00

I am so wrong. I am really sorry. Words and tears can't describe how remorseful I am. It is my worst sin in my life, and I swear that I will never repeat the mistake for the rest of my life. I will be a good boy from today. Please forgive me!

Quality clip

2005-03-03T21:03:00.000+08:00

Quality clip!

Weather

2005-03-01T16:53:00.000+08:00

What's going on with the global weather? Snowing in Las Vegas, a 20
degree celcius difference in a day in Japan, not to mention the
Tsunami. To a lesser extent, Hong Kong is suffering from the coldest
and most humid March (ever)!

It seems that the cool wave shows no sign of leaving as it is
forecasted that the temparature on Saturday will again drop to 9
degrees. So I am having flu again which is like a monthly event for
me. Of course sitting frozen in a hot pot restaurant, worshipping
ancestors under heavy rain and playing football (and getting stuffed
2-6) aren't gonna help!

Spring Dinner

2005-02-25T23:17:00.000+08:00

Spring dinner for my new firm took place this Wednesday which was also the 15th day of Chinese New Year. The theme of the dinner was "Colourful". Although I did my best to wear the sharpest jacket I can find in my closet, I was not good enough to receive a single vote for the Best Dresser Award....

Allegedly a True Story

2005-02-25T23:06:00.000+08:00

You probably have seen it before, but I'd just put it here for your amusement.

A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive
cigars, then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month
having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars
and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy,
the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the
lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The
insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man
had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued and won!
In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that
the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless,that the lawyer
held a policy from the company in which it had warranted
that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would
insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be
unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than
endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted
the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare
cigars lost in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested
on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from
the previous case being used against him. The lawyer was convicted of
intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24
months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine.

Can someone please buy me.....

2005-02-25T23:00:00.000+08:00

an Air-Con? Mine is not working and is more like a heater.

Air-Con, Coke, Internet

2005-02-25T16:10:00.000+08:00

Speaking of Air-Con, it must be one of the inventions of all time.
Certainly I cannot live without it especially in Hong Kong this hot
and humid place.

The other 2 things that I cannot live without are Coke and Internet. I
like drinking coke while the others like drinking beers or smoking
cigarettes - so I assume I am still the healthiest of the 3. I like
coke so much that I now have its necessary accessory - a mini-fridge
in my room now.

As for internet, I'd feel really strange if I do not have access to it
everyday. Blogging, keeping track of Spurs news, playing online games
and football betting - all part of my daily life - are all done on the
internet. So take away the internet, you take away half of my life.

The Aviator

2005-02-21T17:15:00.000+08:00

I am not saying it is a bad movie. But I just don't know why the heck
is this movie so special for it to earn so much rave reviews and is
currently the hot favourite to land the Oscar Best Film Award.

I was stuck at the cinema for 3 hours waiting for its climax and
before knowing it, it ends. During the 3 hours, I didn't cry, laugh or
giggle at any part of the movie. If I was attached to a pulse machine,
the meter probably remained constant for the whole duration. If I have
to give one emotion / feeling that I have towards the movie, it
probably would be "Miserable".

Give me some milk, give me some milk, give me some milk....

The Judge

2005-02-16T23:04:00.000+08:00

I came across this news from a website this afternoon....

Judge Allegedly Had Sex Device Under Robes

POSTED: 2:54 pm CST February 9, 2005
UPDATED: 3:09 pm CST February 9, 2005

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma judge faces indecent exposure charges for
allegedly masturbating in court.

Investigators in Oklahoma City charge that Judge Donald Thompson used
a device called a "penis pump" under his robe during trials.

Thompson denies the allegations. He says the pump was a gag gift from
a hunting buddy on his 50th birthday.

Thompson retired from the bench in August in the face of the
embarrassing allegations, but now prosecutors have decided to press
criminal charges.

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson expects there will be a
string of appeals from defendants who were tried before Thompson,
including those who faced murder charges. Investigators said they've
recovered DNA samples from carpet, the judge's chair and his robes.

Grrr....

Random Mumblings

2005-02-16T22:37:00.000+08:00

Today is my secretary's (K's) birthday. I have placed my present on her desk before she arrived at office. She was pleasantly surprised because she had not expected me to know her birthday (which I know from the telephone list which contains one b-day - without the year of birth of course) and had not expected to receive a present from me as she was only my secretary for merely 10 days or so. She said that I am "細心" in knowing her b-day and "有心意" in choosing the gift. These are of course nice words to hear, but what she didn't know was I had bought this present for my ex-secretary at my old firm before.....

Speaking of my new firm, I am really enjoying every minute of it (bar the 8:30am meeting every fortnight!). I think I have settled in quite well. Some Aussies even said that my English contains Australian accent! But yesterday, there was a Aussie newcomer who sits in my adjacent room. He entered into my room and asked me for a "case". Being confused, I thought he was asking what case I am working on and I mumbled something. 30 seconds later, he again asked me for a "case". I again asked "what case?". He said "the 'case' to the male toilet". Shit, he was asking me to lend him the "keys" all along!!! How embarassing!!!!

After 2 weeks observation, I can confirm my boss is an all round nice bloke. He is polite, humble, approachable and well, just very nice. He always apologises to me for having to make me stay at office till 6:45pm (!!!!!), always says my points are intelligent and good (it is encouraging even if fake) and always puts blame on himself for revising my draft letter or pleadings (which clearly isn't his faults!!!). Like today, he came in and told me that he would leave office early to attend a duty lawyer session. He said "I wanted to chat with people and learn something", but the truth is - he is sacrificing his time to give free legal advice to people. Very likeable guy.

He is so likeable that I have decided to room with him when our Construction team go to Sunshine Island, Brisbane in mid March for the annual retreat. Looking at the photos of the resort (Twin Water Resort - a 4.5 star resort), it looks like it is an exciting trip to look forward to.

As to my old firm, another friend in my LLB/PCLL year will be leaving in early March. It seems that it is a relief for people to leave my old firm. From my brief tele con with her, she gave me the impression that "the sooner I get out from this hell the better". In my circle of friends, only 3 are remaining there. I wish all good luck!

Happy Valentines Day

2005-02-14T22:59:00.000+08:00

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!

The relationship between Ellen and I has risen to a level that no special gift or arrangement is necessary in celebration of the day....so apart from an bunch of roses at an inflated price, we had a simple dinner + dessert for the day.

To make this blog more educational, below are some extracts as to the history of Valentines' Day

Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.
The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

I thought I was God of Gambling.....

2005-02-14T22:51:00.000+08:00

and I lost big time in the annual playing cards game with my relatives! Blackjack, Carribean Poker, Mahjong and 鬥牛 - you name it and I blew it! But it was good fun all the way, and it is nice that Carribean Poker has invaded into our annual card game this year after establishing its presence in Macau casinos.

My lai see income has also dropped significantly. It is time for me to ask the married ones out for meal to pursue for the lai sees actively!

Kung Hei Fat Choy

2005-02-09T23:47:00.000+08:00

Kung Hei Fat Choy my friends!

When I was small, 年初一 used to be a day of gambling with my cousins and relatives....mahjong, blackjack etc. $2 for a game. This year the day of gambling will probably take place on 年初三, and in anticipation of the day, I have bought six packs of playing cards from 7-11 tonite - because we will be simulating the game - Macau casinos style!

Instead, today I went to a few places to get the red packets and ate some incredible turnip cakes. Gosh, I like turnip cakes!

Try beat this game

2005-02-07T23:21:00.000+08:00

The rule is simple.

There are 3 rows of marbles. You can take as many as you like in any row for your turn. Likewise the computer. Your objective is to let the computer takes the last marble.

I tried, I failed.....

http://www.transience.com.au/pearl.html

Macau Trip

2005-02-02T22:47:00.000+08:00

The weekend before the commencement of my new role, we had a nice trip to Macau.

I had a magic recovery from my illness the morning we depart, and we boarded the Turbo Jet in the afternoon. We went to have some 緬甸 food at "三盞燈" and then went on to the kart racing track. While we are waiting for our turn, we played the 估錢 game where each of us will grab some coins in our hands and we will take turn to guess the total held in our hands. The winner takes all. Edmund, Cyrus, Christie and Simon were the big winners, and I was the big loser!

Our time has come and Simon, Cyrus, Edmund, Jo, Eva and I played the first round, but no matter how fast I drove, I couldn't seem to catch up with Cyrus and Simon. Then the 2nd round came and only Simon, Cyrus, Jo and I remained. The different acceleration and braking mechanism of 2 different karts made my life difficult (that's my excuse anyway!) and I crashed 3 times in my first 3 laps!

After a great sharkfin dinner at 寶石 restaurant, we then proceeded to get some souvenirs and Simon/Eva, Edmund went crazy to buy the 豬肉乾 etc.

Then it was time to make some money - the Sands! I have won $600 off their blackjack table and Cyrus / Christie went one better - they won $1300 on a 老虎機!!!! We took the 23:30 jet back Hong Kong and thanks to Jo's copy of 蒲王, we had something interesting to read on the turbojet!

My new role

2005-02-02T22:24:00.000+08:00

I started my new role this Monday. I was quite tense for the last few days of my month long leave. Perhaps that made me sick again.

Anyway, things have been great so far. I got a nice room which the set up is pretty much the same as my old room but only this time it is a square room instead of a rectangular one. The window oversees the Bank of China Tower and erm....the ICAC and the carpark. But still, it is nice to have a room filled with posh hardwares - an 19" LCD monitor, a handsome chair etc.

The people there are predominantly Aussies. But they have been very nice and friendly to me, and that helps me settling in very well. I have been working closely with a senior associates who is a Christian who is a genuinely nice person - he kept telling me to leave office early after I got the work done. He was also nice enough to spend a lot of time explaining how the office operates etc to me. A top bloke!

The most pleasant surprise is that there is a fellow newcomer - an LLB colleague of mine and it is good to have someone you know to start with. Of course, I now get unlimited supply of Coke, Lemon Tea etc. which is NICE!

Long may it lasts!!!

Sick again???!!!

2005-01-28T21:31:00.000+08:00

I should have known it...I have been making nightmares all night long. I saw myself in a classroom attending my first day of school (reflecting my imminent first day at work), and then there was the black strong guy climbing the scaffolds to reach the window beside my desk. That guy looks like the star actor in the Green Miles (which I have watched it in Taiwan last week).

Anyway, the guy approached me violently and accused me of possessing dangerous drugs! I was left speechless - I don't do cigarettes or alcohol, and you are accusing me of drugs???!!! Come on!!! The guy then asked me to open my mini-fridge to show him the contents....as to why I have brought my mini-fridge to school, I had no idea. I opened the fridge and was surprised to find some ice cream cones inside. I protested my innocence but the guy insisted that I would be going to prison as I have failed my drug test twice....and the mare goes on and on......

I visited the loo more times today than I did this week (well, literally) which puts my trip to Macau in doubt. Hope I can have a super recovery tonite and go on board tmr morning!

Blackjack Strategic Table

2005-01-25T03:22:00.000+08:00

This is the ultimate stategic table for blackjack players. It reduces the advantage of the Banker to the minimum! Print it out and take it to Macau!!

Happy Birthday to Jo

2005-01-25T03:18:00.000+08:00

Double Delight for Jo - happy birthday and happy job change!

Taiwan Trip - Day 4 (Final Day)

2005-01-25T02:35:00.000+08:00

We had little time in our final day so we decided to stay close to the hotel. Ellen bought some souvenirs so as to use up all the Taiwanese money. Had lunch at a very nice restaurant called 魔法咖哩 and then boarded the air-bus.

That concluded our Taiwan trip!

Taiwan Trip - Day 3

2005-01-25T02:10:00.000+08:00

We began the day with a trip to 西門丁. Had lunch at a restaurant called 可樂森林. After that, we walked around the teen-populated area for a while. Spent some time in an amusement centre playing the basketball throwing game and the picking-a-doll-from-the-machine-game. I am always good at these mini games and these are my collections!

I bought Jay Chow's Concert CD and Ellen bought some Taiwanese food as souvenirs. We had our dinner at 士林. There is a large food complex there with lots of Taiwanese food. This is the highlight of the trip for Ellen as she always wanted to fill her stomach with food from 士林.

Then it rained. Quite hard. We shopped around for quite a while at 士林 and decided that it is time to leave 士林 and went on to our next stop - 麻辣火鍋. We had 花枝丸,牛柏葉,枝竹,牛肉 etc. I like spicy food but not as spicy as 麻辣. I like curry or satay more.

Still we had our next stop - Holiday KTV. We wanted to go to 錢櫃KTV which was a grand and luxurious KTV but it was always fully booked so we settled on Holiday KTV. There are many songs (especially Jay Chow's) that cannot be found in Hong Kong, and I had a great time there!

Taiwan Trip - Day 2

2005-01-25T01:53:00.000+08:00

Had a breakfast at 水美. Then set off to our 2nd hotel - Caesar Park Hotel which is located at the centre of Taipei City. The 捷運 station was just beneath the hotel, so the location is excellent.

We had lunch at 鼎泰豐 but there is not much difference between the food there and the Hong Kong shop. We then took a bus to 101 World Trade Centre. It is the tallest building in Asia and it definitely looks posh externally and internally. We bought tickets to the observatory tower on the 98/F and the lift is the quickest in Asia - it took us exactly 45 seconds to reach 98/F from the bottom.

The view from 98/F is not overwhelmingly impressive though. The landscape of Taiwan and the lack of tall buildings around made the view ordinary. The amazing thing was that you can see the clouds going below you - it was THAT tall.

There are some shops in the 101 World Trade Centre and there is a large Page One where Ellen bought a romance book by John Grisham (I thought he only writes court dramas!). We then had a coffee before setting off to our next destination - 忠孝路. We had a brief walk at the 饒河街夜市 and then it was dinner time.

We had a very nice Japanese-style BBQ buffet dinner at a very nice restaurant. It costs HK$100 for each head and I left with a very full stomach (which resulted in some bad consequence which I am not going to detail here!)

We then went to 誠品書店 after dinner but left empty handed.

Taiwan Trip - Day 1

2005-01-25T01:27:00.000+08:00

Arrived at Taipei at 1:00pm. Checked in at 水美溫泉酒店. Being such a lazy person, I took a 1.5 hour nap in this nice hotel before going out. The first stop is 淡水 - 漁人碼頭. We were surprised to see that there is virtually nothing there apart from this footbridge.

After our extremely short stay at the 漁人碼頭 which can only be describe as "走馬看花", we returned to 淡水老街. It is an area filled with small shops selling various kinds of stuff including one selling condoms (with different favours, shapes...etc.) We had some Taiwanese snacks there including cuttlefish balls etc. We also had a bowl of Beef Noodles but it was not good as I thought.

We returned to the hotel at 9:30pm and had a hotspring bath. The hotspring bath was located indoor and rather clean but it was not as spacious as the one we had in Hokkaido 2 years ago. After finishing the hotspring bath, we went to have an ice cream at McDonalds outside the hotel.

Winning Eleven 2 Heavy Strikers 1

2005-01-16T18:03:00.000+08:00

In writing this report, I must say I am still very emotional. We won deservedly by 2 goals to 1, and it probably should have been more. Everyone played their parts and the defence was particularly resolute in repelling the constant high balls towards the 2 heavy strikers.

We scored our first goal at the end of the first half, when I steered the ball into the net after receiving Fai's shot-cum-pass. We held on to the lead until midway through the 2nd half, when No.11 of Heavy Strikers pulled, pushed and strangled me to the ground inside the area. The ref made one of the few good decisions of the afternoon and awarded the penalty. I scored the 2nd.

The ref immediately made a very bad decision after a good one. He awarded the other side's a penalty after the ball rebounded off one of our player's hand via a headed clearance. This should never be a penalty - the ref should realise what constitute a hand-ball and a ball-hand. We held on to the 2-1 victory till the final whistle.

What makes me so emotional was the attitude of Heavy Strikers' captain - No.11 Yuen Ka Cheong Samuel. He (It) is a living creature of the lowest order. Everyone knows what he did to me in our past meetings. In our first season in the LSCOBA football league, the creature kicked me all over the park and was still arrogant enough to say things like "shut up, I recognise who you are. I am your senior, and you should watch your steps.". He even refused to retreat for a free kick by standing right in front of the ball and pose a hard-man image. After the game, he further issued threats to me by saying "watch out on the LSCOBA chatboard - news can be spread easily" etc. I was very upset at the time as the creature was simply retaliating after he was being outcasted in the match.

Our next meeting was in the 7-a-side match before the start of the 2nd season. It again targeted me and bullied me all over the match. In the second half, I received a pass in the centre circle and dribbled past it. It made a sliding tackle on my right ankle and not the ball, and I was down injured immediately. I was taken into hospital and my right ankle was scanned to be broken. I can't walk properly for the whole of 8 months before I can kick a ball again. The creature never apologised.

Today is the first meeting between us after my injury. The creature again was its usual hard and unfair self. It was evident from the start that the creature and I didn't see eye to eye, but our first explosive contact was in the 2nd half when he strangled me to ground which led to our 2nd goal. I tried to control myself and didn't say a word when the creature said "Shut up young man" and put his finger to its lips signalling me to shut up. The funny thing was, I didn't say a word! Then I told him he should be the one to shut up and I reminded it that it had broken my ankle 2 years ago.

It marked me for the rest of the match and we nearly had our next explosive contact when it marked me before our corner was taken. I am lucky to escape unharmed this time.

This creature was so such a disgrace to itself to the extent that its teammates should be ashamed to be playing alongside it. I am ashamed that this creature is my fellow old boy. I have decided not to play against Hravy Strikers in the future (when the creature was still in it) and my 2 goals against them this afternoon will hopefully condemn them to First Division football next season and never to be seen in the Premier Division again.

Nokia 6260 v Sony Ericsson i700

2005-01-15T23:13:00.000+08:00

Finally the time for my trusted Nokia 8210 to retire has come. It has served me well for the past 2 years and it's still in excellent condition to say the least.

Finding the replacement is not an easy job, and it has taken me months to shortlist and analyse the interesting candidates. The day has come and it was really down to 2 candidates - Nokia 6260 and Sony Ericsson i700.

Appearance-wise, Sony Ericsson are 2 streets ahead, but its price is also $1000+ more expensive. It is one of the best mobile phones for taking pictures and videos, but it is like talking to a digital camera.

Nokia 6260 is not as handsome but it is probably worth the money. To go with the phone, there are also a bucket of freebies including a blue tooth.

After weighing all the strengths and weaknesses of the 2 finalists lasting over 2 hours today, I finally made the choice...............and the winner is ................

Still Very Sick

2005-01-12T20:21:00.000+08:00

Still very sick today. Had to cancel the anniversary dinner with Ellen. Spent 80% of my day in bed, and the rest of the 20% on playing computer, updating this blog and watching classic Sherlock Holmes DVDs.

3 Years Ago Today

2005-01-12T19:06:00.000+08:00

What happened?

I was working on Project Rich with Conrad and was having a prolonged meeting at the Printer from 9am to 7pm
I returned to office after leaving Printer and began updating the V-notes
Ellen bought a take away dinner for me and became my girlfriend

What have happened since then?

Tanrich was listed on the Main Board
I was admitted 1 year later, and Ellen was admitted 2 years later (I moved her admission)
I have changed job once, and Ellen twice
I have gained 30lbs through lots of eating and sleeping
We have been to Sapporo - Hokkaido, Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu, Osaka, Bali and will be going to Taipei soon
I won the Golden Boot last year and will be looking to repeat the same this year
My dad was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Medal
My cousin got married which I was the best man. I was also best man for Gary and Agnes' wedding
My sister went to university
Ellen has operated a dozen White Terrorist Attack which I escaped unscrathed.

Winning Eleven 1 Wu Dang 2

2005-01-11T18:59:00.000+08:00

We lost our 2nd match of the season against the champion last year, so on paper this is not a bad result. We took the lead midway through the 1st half through a Po Tak Chi long shot which bounced wickedly before it reached their keeper.

Wu Dang soon equalised through a corner (which should not be given in the first place), and we didn't create too many chances afterwards. Kenward had a shot covered by their keeper who held the ball well, and Arthur saw a header wide after getting into the backpost from a corner from Sean.

We conceded our 2nd goal through a close range header by Wu Dang. We tried to get the goal back but in vain. Sing had a last chance but his left foot strike was not on target.

Nevertheless, there were some encouraging signs from the match. We had 19 players on the pitch and on the bench altogether, and we didn't simply fold against better opponents. We gave them a good match, and we are still staying in a healthy league position.

Mouse Problem

2005-01-11T18:57:00.000+08:00

My mouse also appears to be sick as well. Sometimes it scrolls like normal, and sometimes it just wouldn't move no matter how I dragged it. Is it because it is wireless? Anyone give me some hints on how to solve this problem?

Sick

2005-01-11T18:52:00.000+08:00

I. Am. Very. Sick. Today.

Amazing underwater photos

2005-01-10T23:52:00.000+08:00

Sennes has recently returned from The Phils (Dumaguete) with many amazing underwater pictures. Here are some:-

大掃除

2005-01-05T22:50:00.000+08:00

I know it is early, but I had my "big sweep out" (大掃除) few days ago. I started at 22:30 and finished at 02:30, and I had thrown away so many precious collections of mine. Actually all my precious collections are soccer magazines which I began to collect since 1986.

The soccer magazines were in such a big pile that I had no choice but to throw them away to free up more space, and I am still trying to clear up the "unread" magazines as early as May 2000. That means, I am still reading the magazines before the Euro Championship in Belgium / Holland in 2000 (not to mention Japorea 2002!)

Many of those magazines have now ceased business. 奪標, Match, 90 Minutes, Soccerstars, GOAL, Total Football and Match of the Day. The only remaining publications are FourFourTwo and World Soccer. FourFourTwo is by far the best soccer magazines ever.

The stuff that I threw away

The Panini football stickers (90, 94 World Cups and Premier League 95) and cards that I used to collect when I was young

This is the "unread" magazines....my gosh

Asian Blog Award Voting is Over

2005-01-05T18:25:00.000+08:00

Thanks to everyone who have voted this blog. I have successfully reached my goal - not to stay bottom. I will let you know my overall ranking when it is announced.

Daylight Robbery - Man U 0 Spurs 0

2005-01-05T18:07:00.000+08:00

One of the most controversial refereeing decisions ever! I stayed up so late until 6am in the morning to watch the live match at Old Trafford, and at the end we were robbed! Missing Defoe, Kanoute, Brown, Davis, Davies and Atouba, we fielded some youngsters Marney (the 2 goal hero last week) , Ziegler (whose display was very impressive but he needs to improve on his final ball) and Ricketts.

We defended for 80% of the match, but still managed to get some counter attack. On 89th minute, Carroll cleared the ball as far as Mendes on the halfway line, Mendes lobbed the ball high towards the goal and Carroll ran back in time to grasp the ball.....but dropped it about 2 yards over the goal line. Everyone except the linesman and the referee knew it was a goal, but it was not to be! I was left so shocked. If this was not a goal, what would be? It has to be the worst refereeing decision ever made, and not only did it rob Spurs 3 points against Man U, it also deprived me of an estimate of an extra $10,000 for the jackpot for the HKJC "Double HT- FT Result Jackpot".

A goal or not....you to decide.

Webcam

2005-01-01T02:38:00.000+08:00

I bought my webcam few months ago, but have never really used it. Finally got the chance to use it last week with Davy. Nice to see you man!

2 CD Review

2005-01-01T02:08:00.000+08:00

There are 10 tracks (but 9 songs) in this CD (left). The cover design is one of the best of his albums and the songs are not bad too. 01. 空中飛人 is a typical "lum" song which was written by Hacken, and the subjects of the song are 田亮 and 郭晶晶. 04. 佳節 and 06. 聽傷口說話 are 2 other very good songs tailor made for Hacken.

The Hacken + Joey concert was definitely one of my biggest regrets of 2004. I would have got tickets if it was on general sale, but there was nothing I can do when the only way to get the tickets was through ID credit card. In this CD, 2 of favourite singers sang each other's songs and I could not wait for Karaoke to be released!

New Year, New Template

2005-01-01T02:02:00.000+08:00

Don't worry, it is still my blog. Just that it has changed to a new template. Of course, this template was "stolen" from the web, but it looks great eh?

I wish everyone a Happy New Year and every good luck in 2005!

Asian Blog Award - Vote for me!

2004-12-30T23:16:00.000+08:00

The blog you are reading is nominated for the Best Asian Newcomer in 2004. Please cast your vote for Glory Glory Tottenham Hotsblog. But remember, you can only vote once each day. Do it now!

Merry Christmas!!!

2004-12-27T17:12:00.000+08:00

Had a big Christmas feast on Silent night. See the Christmas Cake and tarts!

Then on Boxing Day, we unwrapped our presents.

See the 2 watches at the bottom....they cost me my 1 month salary!

This is what I got:

A tiny fridge from Ellen

A sweater from my sister and cuff links from my father

A collection of Coke from my mother

Merry Christmas!!!

2004-12-24T02:48:00.000+08:00

Today afternoon, I spent all I have earned in 30 days in 30 minutes on Christmas presents....hope my parents like them!

Harbour City

Davy - Mr. Nice Guy

2004-12-24T02:29:00.000+08:00

Got an unexpected call from Davy tonite. It was wonderful to receive his call. We haven't spoken on phone since he left for Newcastle 1.5 years ago. Davy made the brave decision to resign and further his studies in Newcastle alone -a place where he knew no one when he arrived.

Davy is really one of the nicest guy I have ever known - the kind of friendly, loyal, down-to-earth, sincere, funny and honest type. And he is SINGLE! So if any girl is interested, please leave your name and number.....

Thank you...

2004-12-24T02:19:00.000+08:00

I have to thank all of you who have been so supportive to me over the past few years. I am so lucky to have you guys around!

More photos...

2004-12-24T02:17:00.000+08:00

Connie (also known as Li Tie) and me

2004-12-24T02:12:00.000+08:00

One of the nicest girls you will ever meet - Karin

2004-12-24T02:08:00.000+08:00

My good neighbour for my last 12 months at D

The good girls of P&A

Photos showing the nice people at D

2004-12-23T01:37:00.000+08:00

I have taken a lot of photographs with many nice people over the last few days. I will try to upload as many of them as possible here. Stay tuned for updates. I am planning to write something to recapture my memories of my 4+ years adventure at D, but it is getting late tonite. I'll leave it to tomorrow....

Our team minus the leader, PK

2004-12-23T01:36:00.000+08:00

6 girls, me and the transsexual

2004-12-23T01:33:00.000+08:00

The new F4

2004-12-23T01:32:00.000+08:00

1 King 5 Queens

Mixed feelings

2004-12-23T01:06:00.001+08:00

Getting the offer from M.E. is definitely the perfect Christmas present for me. I was so delighted when I got told the news. Life at D has become rather stale for me (to put it mildly), and this is the time for me to move on. I miss my colleagues, the banters outside my room, the tea breaks...etc. I hate to say it, but it was not a difficult decision to make.

It is very nice to have a bunch of nice colleagues doing farewell lunch with me, and I have received so many emails after the announcement of my departure. All these are very touching. Sometimes you do not realise you have so many friends until you leave the place. To be frank, I have never thought that so many people will attend my farewell lunches. Thank you again to all of you!

Some emails I received are quite funny / revealing / touching, examples are:

I am so sorry to hear that you're leaving. Come to think of it, I will need you to sign the Witness Statement and perhaps attend the trial in March!!!!!!!! Oh noooooooooooooooooo...............

Another one:

Are you sure you have enough egg tart for everybody?

This one really strikes me:

I'll see you at lunch tomorrow but all the best in your new job. I'm really happy for you and I'm glad you found a firm that appreciates your expertise. We'll miss you.

Someone may follow my steps soon....

A bit shock to hear this news. Hope that I have a chance to send the same email as yours in the near future. Wish u every success in your new job and enjoy your long vacation!

Lastly, this is from a junior staff of a client who I bumped into during lunch. I took her to court for a watching brief once before:

Just know that today is your last day in Deacons, wanna say thank you for your teaching and sharing, and hope you every success in the future. Let's come out to gather if you have time! Keep touching!

Yeah...

How things can change in a week!

2004-12-22T23:35:00.000+08:00

I was complaining and moaning about work on 16 Dec. Then on.....

17 Dec, 11:30 - received call from agent who told me I got an offer from M.E.
17 Dec, 11:30 - 12:00 - locked myself in room and considered my options
17 Dec, 12:05 - 12:20 - began to speak to some friends, listened to their advice and made up my mind to leave
17 Dec, 12:30 - 12:40 - called PK on phone and told him my decision. PK fully understood my reasons for leaving.
17 Dec, 12:45 - 14:10 - talked to 2 close friends through lunch, and had the first peak of the offer.
17 Dec, 14:30 - 15:00 - typed out my resignation letter. (I forgot to date the letter....gosh!)
17 Dec, 15:00 - 15:15 - told DK about it. Thanks for understanding.
17 Dec, 15:20 - 15:30 - handed in my resignation letter to AL. He was half-expecting it and asked me not to worry.
17 Dec, 15:35 - 17:50 - began to spread the news. I was too excited.
17 Dec, 18:25 - 18:45 - spoke to Mr. P. This time, he was pretending to be a fatherly figure. Said that my decision was a natural one, how much I have improved and how he was impressed...blah blah blah...all bullshit for the whole of 20 mins.

20 Dec, 09:00 - 09:45 - signed my contract.
20 Dec, 13:00 - 14:00 - my 1st farewell lunch

21 Dec, 13:00 - 14:00 - my 2nd farewell lunch
21 Dec, 14:30 - 18:00 - shocked some people by emailing all my colleagues about my departure. Calmed them down by the nice egg tarts

22 Dec, 12:45 - 12:55 - received the cheque, signed some papers and returned my door access card etc.
22 Dec, 13:00 - 14:10 - my 3rd farewell lunch
22 Dec, 14:15 - 14:45 - did my final "lap of honour" on 29/F.

That's it. End of my 4 years 3 months' association with D.

A game of waiting

2004-12-16T01:21:00.000+08:00

I vividly remember that there was an advertisement of online movie ticketing system (is it the cityline?) which shows images of people spending time in waiting for this and that. The producer might just wish to place a hidden camera in my room in the office which will surely achieve the same effect.

I have been very busy and have been kept until very late hours recently. But around 50% of my time was spent in waiting. I know I have moaned about it before, but this is really driving me nuts! Take last night as an example, I spent my last 3 hours in office waiting for Mr. P. Doing absolutely nothing, Mr. P rang me and said "Everthing's ok, you may leave". I was in the lift 3 seconds later...

The waiting game is repeating itself days after days. What a torture.

You know, I am waiting for an important phone call. Just a call and my life will change I tell you. Please, don't keep me waiting.

Ellen, me, mini-me and the birthday cake

2004-12-15T23:14:00.000+08:00

Seems that I am going to kill mini-me

My Birthday Lunch

2004-12-15T22:45:00.000+08:00

at Heaven on Earth. Thanks guys!

From left to right: Me, Ellen, Christy, Cyrus, Christie, Jo and Rudy

My Birthday Present

2004-12-15T22:44:00.000+08:00

The mud-made mini-me in Spurs kit! I love it soooooooo much! Thank you Ellen!

2am on Sunday night (Monday morning)

2004-12-13T02:05:00.000+08:00

So I am still in the office. Sunday night (or rather Monday morning) at 2am! I just don't know what's going on here. Although I have been in office since 1pm on Sunday afternoon (over 13 hours), only 5 -6 hours were really productive. The rest of the time was spent on waiting for Mr. Pretender. I call it POOR TIME MANAGEMENT AND EVEN POORER MAN MANAGEMENT.

In Mr. Pretender's sphere, the others (including me) are just objects that evolved around his world. He can use them anytime he wants, without realising that the objects do have their own lives. He just didn't give enough respect or consideration to them. This is what I hate Mr. Pretender more than 2 years ago, and I still hate him for this reason now.

Honestly, I am really on the brink of quitting. Not that I could not stand long hours or hard work, but to spend the time like this is just absolutely unreasonable and unjustifiable. The kind of long days is not limited to today or yesterday. It also includes the past 2 weeks and I consider this as the worst working experience in my 4 year plus career. I know it is still more to come for the coming month but I hope I can call it a day before then. I have to.

Winning Eleven 5 Paul Smith 0

2004-12-12T14:26:00.000+08:00

A 9:00 kick off this morning. Woke up at 7:45 and decided to lie on the bed for another 5 minutes. The "5 minutes" became "50 minutes" (as always), and I opened my eyes to see that it was already 8:50!

A crazy rush of getting changed, brushing my teeth and driving made sure that I arrived at the ground at 9:05 (a miracle in itself) and the match hadn't even begun! But my lateness dropped me on the subs bench with 3 others.

With only 10 players from Paul Smith, we dominated the match from start to finish. And there were some really nice goals too. We established a 2-0 lead by half time thanks to some great team movement and passing. Kenward headed in the 1st goal after Alwin cushioned the cross from Po Tak Pong to his perfect path, and Derek scored the 2nd after Kelvin chested the ball down from a high cross into the area.

In the 2nd half, I scored with a direct 20 yard free kick to the left of the penalty box. It curls into the top corner of the net ala Hassler style. I am well pleased with this goal! Few minutes later, Kevin was infringed in the area, and the ref pointed to the spot despite strong protests from the other side. To be fair, I would not have called for the penalty if I was the ref. Anyway, I placed the ball on the spot and the keeper tried to play some psychological game on me by constantly walking away from the goal line making silly enquiries with the ref. (e.g. How long till the end of the match? etc) But I was not affected by this kind of gesture and slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net. It was close though as one yard to the left would see the ball hit the post and one yard to the right would see it saved by the keeper.

That's the end of my involvement of the match thanks to the inspired substitution of Ah Chow! :-) (I have played 3 minutes of first half and 10 minutes of 2nd half - and was substituted because I scored 2!) Po Tak Pong scored another goal to seal up our victory in our last match of 2004.

It should have been 6-0 as I have a goal disallowed for handball, but I swear that I was not even close to touching the ball with my hand. It was interesting that the ref and Kenward saw my handball, Ken said it was the opponent's hand and I didn't see anyone handball!

Quite Gay!

2004-12-11T11:50:00.000+08:00

Rudy took all the limelight at the annual dinner last night by making "her" appearance on stage as a woman with full make up and dress and everything in a dancing performance! I think this is what they called "sacrifice for art". You are god damn good Rudy! Can I have a $50 bet that you will be made partner next year?

However, Rudy's dressing as a woman is not very gay still. Two men standing next to each other and taking pictures of themselves with one holding the camera by his [her] outstretched arm in the office is indeed quite guy in my humble opinion.

Boos....

2004-12-11T11:41:00.000+08:00

A round of boos for the followings on my birthday though.....

1. Annual dinner
2. Mr. Pretender
3. Time wasted in waiting for instructions (from Mr. Pretender)
4. My digital camera (it is not as handy as I would have liked)
5. Annual dinner again

Happy Birthday!!!

2004-12-11T11:31:00.000+08:00

I had a very nice 27th Birthday yesterday.

I have received some really nice presents, including a very very very lovely "mini-me" - the slimmer and [more] handsome 2005 version, in the Spurs 2004-5 kit and number "18" on the back from Ellen. It is indeed very very cute and I loooooooooove it soooooooo much!!!! THANK YOU!!!

Domain and Daisy also gave me presents -- a box of Lucullus Chocolate and a Swarovski crystal plant respectively. Thank you thank you!

My good friends treat me to a very good lunch at one of my favourite restaurants in Central (Heaven on Earth) and thank you for the birthday cake!! And another set of good guys and gals took me to Karaoke (with another birthday cake) after the annual dinner. Thank you all of you (you know who you are)!

Thanks to my family for the birthday dinner on Thursday - Oyster Bar at Sheraton and the cufflinks (again from Swarovski!!).

Also a big thank you to all those who have sent emails, e-cards or sms to me. I am touched to say the least!

Last but not least, I thank all the Spurs supporters over on GGnet and Topspurs for leaving Happy Birthday messages to me! Come on you SPURS! Give me a big present by beating Man City today!! (Note: They did - with an 1-0 victory!)

Happy Birthday, honey!

2004-12-09T23:44:00.000+08:00

Hey, happy birthday to my dearest Mr. Fat!!!

Too bad that your birthday clashes with your firm's annual dinner- that means i can't celebrate with you! But the good thing is- i had a great oyster dinner tonight at "Suraton" in TST!!! Thank you!!!

So no more coke, no more football and no more... (you know what it is, don't you?- be polite in your speech) ...

X'mas Candies

2004-12-06T01:49:00.000+08:00

I have picked the Santa Claus one on the right.

Birthday Dinner

2004-12-06T01:42:00.000+08:00

Nice birthday dinner for Amanda and me at New Gutsee at Lee Garden 2. Thank you guys so much. It is so nice to take a break from work and enjoy a good Shangainese dinner.

From Top Left to Bottom Right: J-A-E-G-A (Find an R, and we will be Jaegar...)

Farewell

2004-12-06T01:15:00.000+08:00

16,000 people attended the memorial ceremony of Mr. James Wong at the Hong Kong Stadium this afternoon. From the live broadcast, it is notable that people from all walks of life and all age groups attending the ceremony - it is a fitting tribute to someone who have contributed so much to Hong Kong throughout his lifetime.

The Late Mr. James Wong

Wordcount

2004-12-06T01:03:00.000+08:00

Another cool link.....

WordCount™ is an artistic experiment in the way we use language. It presents the 86,800 most frequently used English words, ranked in order of commonality. Each word is scaled to reflect its frequency relative to the words that precede and follow it, giving a visual barometer of relevance. The larger the word, the more we use it. The smaller the word, the more uncommon it is.

10 x 10

2004-12-05T23:57:00.000+08:00

Check this out....keeping track of history.

10x10™ ('ten by ten') is an interactive exploration of the words and pictures that define the time. The result is an often moving, sometimes shocking, occasionally frivolous, but always fitting snapshot of our world. Every hour, 10x10 collects the 100 words and pictures that matter most on a global scale, and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10x10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, form a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life.