Have you ever been so tired that you have no brain? That time for me is now. Good night.
 My friend Will did an AIDS walk with the Lot 8 For Life team (Chloe Dao's boutique, winner of Project Runway 2) and is getting close to reaching his personal fundraising goal. Drop a few cents in his bucket here.
And hey, they borrowed my name. :) Update: just $40 more and Will will reach his goal! Will Will have the willpower to will ... hahaha ok I'll stop. Hi Will! :) Update: Just $15 mo' dollaz to reach Will's goal! We kan doo eeeeet!!! Update: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!! :)
I've been sorta thrust into dealing with Chinese computing issues simply because 1) my dad created and maintains a Chinese website, 2) my parents like to read Chinese news websites, and 3) they have friends and relatives in Taiwan who send them e-mails in Chinese. And so, I've had to help deal with viewing and input issues on all sorts of fronts. It's hard, since my Chinese is hardly up to par (except on the karaoke mic, haha!), but I've slowly gotten used to computer menus and commands in Chinese. My dad's been wanting to get some sort of digital addressbook for keeping his friend's contact info close at hand. But since most of his friends are Chinese and their English names are foreign to him, he wanted to be able to input and view their names in Chinese. He didn't need a color screen (nice but optional), nor Wi-Fi, just a functional, portable, searchable, and easily update-able addressbook. I figured this shouldn't be hard nor expensive (I estimated less than $100USD), so we looked for something suitable for him while in Taiwan last year. I was so wrong. The market in Taiwan for such a device lays in three possibilities, as far as I could tell anyway: 1) A Chinese-English electronic dictionary with addressbook functionality as a side-benefit. Not generally searchable. Not generally able to sync with computer. At least about $200USD. My dad doesn't need a crappy Chinese-English dictionary with a crappy addressbook to boot.
2) A cell phone. Input is tricky. The ones with actual handwriting input are outdated (this was shocking to me - unless the salesperson was just lying to me). To get one that syncs with the computer would also be at least $200USD. My dad does not want to own a cell phone.
3) A PDA. In Taiwan, the low-end, basic PDA (I was thinking something along the lines of a Palm Z22 ) is extinct. Could of course handle all imaginable addressbook and syncing needs with ease, but they all were these super-duper hi-res screen multi-tasking monster machines with GPS. (I got laughed at when I asked if they carried a "basic PDA without GPS".) We were thinking about it, since it would be possible to download US maps onto it and use it here, but the price tag was at *least* $250USD, but mainly $300 and up. I have never used a GPS, and could not figure out how to use my uncle's while in Taiwan, all menus being in Chinese.  So we get back, and along comes my good friend April who has just upgraded to a nice Palm Pilot and isn't using her trusty Sony Clie PEG-S320 anymore. (I actually used to own one myself, but some punk in Beijing pickpocketed it.) She was nice enough to give her old one to me, and I figured I'd see if I could make some use of it, and did some research into viewing and inputting Chinese on an English Palm OS. It was surprisingly easy to do!
1) Install CJKOS. Get the right one for your Palm OS version. The Sony PEG-S320 (Sony has long since discontinued their PDA line and this was one of their earlier models) runs Palm 4.0. Lots of versions floating around but this one is available from reputable Asian viewer / input software website NJStar. Free demo, $28USD after that, not sure about details of the license. Allows you to view Chinese and input using the Zhuyin method. There's a fake handwriting input where you can write the Chinese character on the screen (not where you usually input English text) but it doesn't convert into digital Chinese text - it just saves it as your chicken scribble verbatim, which syncs as gibberish. 2) If you want to get fancy, install PenPower for Palm after installing CJKOS. $60 for demo. The demo sucks - it expires after 100 characters (it took me like 10 minutes to reach this limit), and then the $60 is per user, per computer. So if you ever upgrade your computer or PDA, you have to dish out another $60. This is a really easy-to-use handwriting input program though - you write Chinese on the screen (not where you usually input English text) and it converts it into digital Chinese text. 3) I have still yet to try PalmDragon Chinese Input. I think you also need CJKOS for this. There is no English documentation at all, and I can't even find any Chinese instructions. Yargh. Will need dad to help me with this. $30 after some sort of trial period, I think. Well, at least now we know it is possible to input and view Chinese on a PDA running an English Palm OS! If I were to get my dad a new Palm PDA with a nicer color screen, and pay for all the necessary software again, it would still be cheaper than any of the options available in Taiwan. I suppose one could say that I *could* just get the fancy PDA with the GPS, but with my dad's needs, more isn't necessarily better - he wouldn't be using half the functions available. As it is, he's only interested in the addressbook, which is 25% of the PDA's major functions. I'm pleasantly surprised he's even inclined to learn how to use a PDA to begin with! :)
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| Mar 10, 2007 | 11:05 AM |
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| Delivered |
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| Houston, TX |
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| | 11:05 AM |
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| Delivery exception |
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| HOUSTON, TX |
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| Delivered to address other than recipient |
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| Mar 8, 2007 | 7:51 AM |
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| Delivery exception |
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| HOUSTON, TX |
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| Customer not available or business closed |
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| | 6:01 AM |
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| At local FedEx facility |
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| HOUSTON, TX |
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| | 12:35 AM |
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| Departed FedEx location |
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| HUTCHINS, TX |
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| This is especially puzzling, since I *WAS* home at 11:05am. :( And I kid you not, at the very beginning of the tracking, the FedEx website claimed: "Loaded on to trailer, SAN DIEGO, CA" I'm imagining sweaty hulking men loading stuff onto the back of a trailer. That statement was later mysteriously deleted. Now to call FedEx.
 Online-wise, I've been out of commission for a few days. My 3-year-old workhorse of a laptop's power cord overheated, minorly burned my thumb, then spit out a spark, freaking me out enough to unplug it at once and to not use the computer again until replacements came [ pic of hole in cord ]. So, in backup (quite the understatement - really, just to fulfill minor internet surfing and chatting abilities so I wouldn't go through withdrawal symptoms), I have been on my brother's 7-year-old mini laptop.
 This is a laptop that not even my mom wants to use, it would freeze up so much whenever she used it. Strangely, it works well enough for me, only hating me when I remove devices such as USB printers or wireless cards from it. It's super-cute and super-portable, as the CD-ROM and diskette drive(!!!) are mounted on an external thingy, and sporting a 12.1" TFT LCD 800 x 600 x 16M screen; PENTIUM 3(!!!!!), 450MHz, 64 whopping MEGABYTES of RAM, 6 whopping GB of hard drive, Win 98 SE. How did my bro live on this thing for 6 years?!
When was the last time you saw these specs? And did you laugh in disbelief looking at them just now? :) The battery life and fan quietness are way better than my big loud workhouse though. Sigh. I really am glad I actually had internet access. I'm grateful for the backup, but I am also pretty glad to be putting that thing back in its case for the next time [knocking on wood!] ... --------------- I did contemplate briefly just upgrading to a new laptop, going for about $600 these days after rebates. However, my biggest fear was Windows Vista and how everything's still catching up to be compatible with it. This has got to be the first time I've ever been scared to upgrade. Are my fears unfounded? Am I just an old fogey who is reluctant to change? Anyone out there running Vista yet? --------------- My dad's good friend, a Buddhist monk, is visiting Houston sometime in the next couple months. He asked if we could help order a load of mp3 players for him and other monks overseas. I'll give you three guesses as to WHICH mp3 player the BUDDHIST MONK requested: A) the iPod series
B) the Creative ZEN series
C) the Sandisk Sansa Ha ha. Get it? GET IT?!?!? I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but OK, being on my computer again and being able open more than 3 Firefox tabs at once is getting to me here, forgive me.  So my dad instructs me to order the load o' stuff, AND gives me the green light to take one out and figure it out so I can show the monk how to use it. Actually, this monk is already pretty tech savvy (he is the TECHNOmonk!) as he told me he chose one of the models for its line-in capabilities, but hey, I am not going to look a gadget box in the eye and say, "No, I will not open you and play with you"! I believe that I don't have an addictive personality but have an absolute weakness for shiny new electronic toys (yet I am reluctant to upgrade to Vista). This has got to be as expensive if not more so than any drug addiction ...
--------------- OMG IT FEELS SO GOOD TO BE BLOGGING AGAIN!!!!!!
I just completed a weekend of required acupuncture continuing education. Oof. I never knew that sitting on my behind for 10 hours straight could be so draining, but it is. There were both Chinese and English tracks, and I took the English track since there were more interesting topics being taught. We are required to take one hour of ethics (where we were privileged to have a professor from Baylor College of Medicine come speak to us), where both students from the Chinese and English tracks were sitting all together. That was the only class where we were mixed with the Chinese track group, and these are my observations about cell phone etiquette during that one hour. Good: cell phone is turned off, or is on silent or vibrate mode.
Bad: the cell phone is left on.
Bad: multiple cell phones go off during the class because owners didn't take a hint when people were annoyed by previous offenders.
Bad: a cell phone is left on, and the owner leaves to use the restroom, and then someone calls the phone. Repeatedly.
Worst: a cell phone is left on, rings, and owner answers. LOUDLY. I would love to be all proud of my people and stuff but ... I'm afraid in the arena of cell phone etiquette, we generally suck. At the temple a couple weeks back, it was packed for Chinese New Year. There were TWO pleas made by the emcee for people to please turn off their cell phones. Yet multiple phones still went off, some even playing polyphonic renditions of rap songs - all in the middle of the temple service. Niiiice. Why do people think they are immune to this? Do they think, "Oh, I'll leave it on, since no one is going to call me"? To the people who need to answer the phone during situations where answering would be disruptive (and there are many), please, it really is very simple: turn your phone to silent or vibrate, take note when someone is calling you, leave the area, then either answer if you are in time or call the person back. What is so hard about this? Another etiquette faux-pas encountered at the continuing education: I was reminded how much I despise talking to someone (up until now, always a male) who CANNOT MAKE EYE CONTACT (as in, YO, UP HERE, ON MY FACE, YOU FOOL) when talking to me. No, I don't find it flattering that you have your eyes "on the prize" ... especially when there's not much of a prize there to begin with. And if I'm already freaked out by your overtly oozing sleaziness (like I have felt before), I'm not going to be much inclined to give you a hug. Read the body language please and see why I am standing more than an arm's length away with back tensed and all hair on end. Do NOT approach me and make physical contact. Not sure if other girls feel the same way, since I'm pretty old-school, but this is how I operate. Hokey dokes. End of rant. Class dismissed.
OMG. Sw33t! I always thought us Asians were the most corrupt people on the planet. Now, I realize that greed is universal. :)
[humming] "When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true ... " This rings true in so many ways. When you visualize, you are subconsciously setting goals, prepping the environment in which to make things happen. Of course you don't just sit around on your tush and wait for things to magically materialize in front of your eyes, but it helps guide you in making decisions, in how you use your time, in making it happen step by step. I'm always telling my patients about visualization. Be it women trying to get pregnant, be it people with back pain, be it people with emotional issues, we cannot underestimate the power of visualization. Just as we can think ourselves sick, we can think ourselves healthy. This applies to every situation in life, really. Just as we can think ourselves angry and sad, we can think ourselves happy as well. We can think ourselves stagnant or progressive. We can think our relationships difficult or harmonious. It comes down to that choice. Do you WANT to be there? Remove the doubt, empower yourself, and visualize it. Why the sudden inspiration for this post? Something just kind of exploded onto the scene that we'd been visualizing for a while now, and I am excited to see the changes in the coming months. Each time something like this happens, it reaffirms for me the power of visualization.
And I'm biting. David Choi is offering 4 free songs for download just today, midnight to midnight PST: That Girl, If You Were Here I'd Be OK, MySpace Dot Com, and the oh-so-sexy Fart. I had trouble downloading, but there were helpful links in the comments section on his blog. I decided to donate 99 cents a song. Thank you, David. This guy definitely knows how to make online communities work for him. (This post is a case in point, eh?) You can also hear acoustic live versions of his song on his YouTube page. I've figured out how to keep those songs on repeat by adding songs to a Quicklist (hit the little plus sign in the lower left corner of the video thumbs), and then hitting Play All.
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