Posts

Essays and longer write-ups. For the short stuff, see Notes.

· 2 min read

JapanesePod101 - Grammar, Adjectives, Verb Conjugation Summary

I stumbled upon japanesepod101.com by chance when I was browsing for podcasts to listen to on iTunes. Since then I have been hooked! On my last trip to Tokyo, I bought the incredibly expensive Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100 Linux PDA, mainly for its dictionary. With JPod101, I started taking notes with my PDA during my commute to work. This combination has helped improved my Japanese level a lot! (Well, still not good enough to pass a Japanese interview…) A while ago however, the PDA somehow fucked up and corrupted the file, I tried my best to recover it but the characters inside the recovered file had become garbage! :( Since then, I had stopped writing notes. What I’m going to do now, is to transfer all my notes from a back up file onto my blog. Storing it online seems to be my best bet against losing the data! This first post is a summary of the really important rules of the Japanese language. I’m going to re-listen to the podcasts and list here the rules, plus which episode it was explained on. Hopefully, it will become a good reference for people using JPod101 to learn Japanese.

Read More

· 3 min read

面接のためにチューターを探しました

先週の金曜日、ヤーフーHQの日本人マネージャーからemailを貰った（もらう）。　その昼、僕から電話して、日本語で面接試験をさしあげました。　その前の夜、チューターを雇った(やとう)。　一時間のなかに以下の例の言葉を受けたけど、本番の面接の時ぜんぜん使わなかった。 引っ越す　（ひっこします）　to move　**ー　自己紹介** *つとめーwork* XX会社　に　勤めております　(名前）と申します。 XX大学　で　XXYY　を　勉強いたしました。 **ー　志望動機(しぼうどうき)　はなんですか？** *はたらくーwork-仕事をする* (Job Title applied for)　として　働くことは　以前からの目標でした。 (Current Company) で　５年間　(Current Job Title)　として *まなぶーto learn　to utilize* 学んだ　知識と経験を　(Job Title applied for)　として　いかしてみたいと思ったからです。 **ー　長所　・　短所　（ちょうしょ　・　たんしょ）** *ろんり　つねにどりょく* 長所は　論理てきで　目標に向かって　常に努力をするところだと思います。 *とりくみーeffort, (to handle, to manage?)* 短所は　ひとつの事に　真剣に　取り組みすぎるところです。 **ー　この仕事で何を学びましたか？** *のうりょく* 自分の　能力に　自信を持てるようになりました。 *じょうし　どうりょう　たいしょ* **ー　上司　や　同僚　と　問題がおきたとき、　どう（いうふうに）　対処しますか？** (no answer to this... too hard) Finally... Any questions to ask Yahoo JP? Y!JP　はソフトバンクによってマネージされていると聞きましたが、将来てきに　ほかのヤーフとの融合(ゆうごう）を考えていますか？ チューターのお姉さんは、次のレッソンで尊敬語と謙譲語を教えてで。。。 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics そして、金曜日の朝、その面接を準備して、いろいろの言葉を書いたんだ：

Read More

· 3 min read

Japanese tutor Thursday night, surprise interview Friday!!

Well, on Thursday, even though I was a little embarrassed and all, I decided to give the manager from Yahoo! HQ a call again. My thought was, even if she isn’t going to hire me for the Japanese / English Business Analyst, I could still convince her that I possess the right skills, so if she has any other B.I. positions open in the future… etc etc. I called twice, she picked up the phone on the 2nd time, she seemed very busy, typing very fast… I quickly told her about why I had called back, that I had done some research on DataStage, and explained that I have a good understanding of the processes and technology behind it… etc. To my surprise, when I finished, she thanked me and told me that at this point, I’m going to be further interviewed by others, either about the technical stuff, or about my Japanese proficiency! I was shocked! Was I still in the game?

Read More

· 3 min read

Oracle, DataStage, Japanese - What I'll do so I can get the job next time!

Since yesterday’s disastrous interview, I seriously thought about what happened, and came up with a plan to address the problems. Oracle- I need to put Oracle way up there on my resume! Right now, I have SQL Server and MySQL listed. With Oracle, it’s not like I don’t know it, I just don’t work with it everyday. I did create a whole bunch of queries to export data from Oracle, but I do all of the data manipulation in SQL Server after the data are imported there. This situation is only going to get worse, as Hotjobs is in the middle of moving both the CRM and web apps onto new platforms, which will be moved to Yahoo!’s main campus in California. The old databases are being phased out after the migration.

Read More

· 2 min read

Why hadn't I study Japanese more seriously?

Just spoke with the manager for a Business Intelligence Analyst position I found on Yahoo!’s internal job board. This job is perfect for me! I’ve been working steadily toward Data Warehousing / Business Intelligence as my career path, this position requires Oracle skills (which I have, though not extremely efficient as I don’t work with Oracle databases everyday), DataStage (and ETL tool) and Japanese language skills.

Read More

· 4 min read

2007 New Year Resolution

How creative! I can’t think of a better title. A lot of things are happening, there are a lot of things I want to do, a lot I need to write down. My brain is a complete mess, so I’m jumping right in and start writing! Start small, and keep the ball rolling. Things I need to touch upon are:

Read More

· 2 min read

Reading materials left in men's bathroom

1031 01 Toilet Drinks Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. This happened at my office in NYC. I sent the following email to our social alias. *Just wanna say thanks to the guys who are always so enthusiastic in sharing their reading materials in the bathroom. I’ve enjoyed your Sports Illustrated and ESPN articles by spreading the pages on the floor with the bottom of my shoes. However, please note that nobody likes to touch another person’s belongings in the bathroom, so can you please refrain from stuffing your print outs into the toilet seat cover bin? I just want

Read More

· 3 min read

FIFA World Cup 2006 - Italy 1-1 USA

The last football fan in Italy Originally uploaded by Fabio Sabatini. http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060617/1/7rsl.html June 17th, 2006, what a day in World Cup football! First, Ghana beat Czech Republic 2-0, then Italy tie it with USA 1-1. Both the Czechs and the Italians played phenomenally in their first matches, Italy played their best game I’ve seen for a while and taught Ghana a football lesson, winning 4-2. The Czech slaughtered the USA “standing around-ers” 3-0. I never really liked watching the Italians because I don’t like their “heavy defense + counter attack” style… especially when they don’t play it very well a lot of times. But on June 12th, the Italians opened my eyes!

Read More

· 6 min read

Travel Blog - 2006/03/28 - Hakone, Japan

P1000618 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Woke up 5:30, check out 6:15, (phone charge ¥90), Oedo-sen opens at 6:30, we had to wait for gate to open. To Shinjuku (¥170 x 2), found Odakyu-sen (at South Gate) but needed lockers for our luggages. Asked Odakyu’s staff and he said their lockers are inside but couldn’t fit our luggages, told us to go to JR next door. Asked JR dude if I can go in to use the lockers, got in, bought milk (¥110) at conbini to get ¥1000 change for lockers (¥500 x 2). 7:00am, we still have time for breakfast, went out Southwest exit to Yoshinoya 吉野家, got 2 納豆定食 (natto ¥340 x 2), surprisingly, it was pretty good! Perhaps I’ve finally gotten used to the taste. (Compare this to the packaged natto we get from Family Mart in NYC, this was pretty good!)

Read More

· 2 min read

Travel Blog - 2006/03/27 - Tokyo, Japan

P1000592 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Woke at 8, that sleeping pill was so strong! Called Jackie at 9, will meet in Akiba at 10. Out and bought bread and yogurt at ampm [¥252]. Ginza sen to Suehirocho [末広町] [¥190 x 2]. Wait for Jackie into front Sega world. Called him to confirm location [¥20]. Ate at 松屋 ¥390, walked behind Sega world to try to find the 2nd hand PDA store that Danny Choo talked about. Failed. Checked out the Softmap 2nd hand PDA store, which I had been last year (2005) Feb. They only have 2 SL-c3100 and they cost ¥54800!! Good thing I continue to search, went to e-trend and then PC-Bomber. Bought at PC-Bomber for ¥59800.

Read More

· 2 min read

Travel Blog - 2006/03/26 - Tokyo, Japan

P1000581 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Arrived 16:15, watched a JPN movie - Always 三丁目の夕日 (Sunset on 3rd Street), about life in post war Tokyo in the 50’s or 60’s, during which time the Tokyo tower was built. It’s typical Japanese - slow paced, funny, sweet and touching. Got ¥80,000 from Citibank ATM, Queenie had motion sickness (乗物酔い), bought vitamin drink at conbini ¥147 for her to take medicine. Keisei Skyliner 17:14 to 上野 (18:15) ¥3960.

Read More

· 2 min read

6 Days 5 Nights Tokyo Hakone Detailed Itinerary ^_^

0218_03_Ghibli Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Copied from: (also listed on my Yahoo! Trip Planner - http://travel.yahoo.com/trip?pid=479780&action=view ) (TripAdvisor.com Japan forum - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298156-i860-k488783-6_Days_5_Nights_Tokyo_Hakone_Detailed_Itinerary_-Kanto.html ) OK folks, thank you so much for all the info by everybody, especailly edokko and Route246! Here’s my detailed itinerary: Mar. 26th, arrive Narita at 6pm, Keisei Skyliner to Ueno, Ginza-sen to Aoyama Icchome, check in at Asia Center Hotel. ( http://www.asiacenter.or.jp/ ) Meet up with Jackie, Oedo-sen to Roppongi for food and drinks. ( http://www.roppongihills.com/en/access/ )

Read More

· 3 min read

The View from Taiwan: Taro Aso: Japan's Answer to Pasuya Yao?

The View from Taiwan: Taro Aso: Japan’s Answer to Pasuya Yao? Japan’s Foreign Minister, Taro Aso’s offensive remarks on Taiwan Actually read this on Japundit first and got linked here. Interesting read on both sites. I think what needs to be said are already said in all the comments in those 2 sites. I am just going to write down a little of my own family history. (This is an online record of my memory afterall.) My mom’s father is Cantonese, but was born in Shanghai and for some reason, studied in American school. Hence he doesn’t read/write Chinese! During the 2nd world war, he worked for the US Navy as a airplane mechanic on board of US’s carriers! Pretty cool huh?! After the 2nd WW, there was the civil war (I think… Hey, I suck at Chinese history) and the fucking communist party won. My grandpa was offered 2 relocation choices by the US government. 1) Japan 2) Taiwan. He chose Taiwan obviously, because he was fighting the Japanese and he hated them. I guess this can particially explain why when the KWT(?) invaded Taiwan, they uprooted many Japanese establishments… (did they?) They fought agianst the Japanese for 8 yrs in China, and then lost their home to the fucking communists. Of course they’re pissed! XD LOL (So, my mom grew up in Taiwan during the 1950’s & 60’s, and doesn’t hold any grudge toward Japan.) I hold great respect for my grandpa. :)

Read More

· 4 min read

"Beautiful" "Girl" - the peril of Flickr Tags and Yahoo! Picture Frame widget

“Beautiful” “Girl” - the peril of Flickr Tags and Yahoo! Picture Frame widget So recently I installed Yahoo! Widgets on my work computer. I’m not one who would normally install crap on any of my computers, but 1) my girlfriend installed it at her workplace and highly recommend it, and 2) it’s from Yahoo!, so I owe it to them to at least install it at work, just to show that I have team spirit or company spirit or whatever. Well… as you would’ve probably guessed by now, I love Flickr… and this Picture Frame widget is PERFECT! I can put in tags and it will randomly show me pictures from Flickr! I loved it… until today… see, what words can you put in there? Beach, dog, cute, shiba, maltese, tokyo, london, japan, england… … girl… “beautiful” “girl”… Yup, it’s work, so I can’t put in shit like “sexy” “girl” or “boobs”, so I put in “beautiful” “girl”, and I swear to god this ho came up like 20 million times today!

Read More

· 4 min read

What was the first fucking thing I say?! Should've listened to me SUCKAAAAAASS!!!

What was the first fucking thing I say?! Should’ve listened to me SUCKAAAAAASS!!! It has been 4 months since we were first told about the Data Cleansing project, and finally, they’ve put out project plan 1.0, with what I had originally proposed on the first fucking day… HA!!! What did I tell ya?!! SUCKAAAAASSS!!! :)) LOL Here’s how the story goes… in Sept.‘05, my manager and our relatively new Business Analyst (B.A.) pulled us into a meeting to tell us that, finally, the Data Cleansing project is about to start and we’ll be responsible for it. Great!! My manager gave a brief sum-up of what has happened on the CRMS migration (upgrade) project so far. The key things I’ve learned from that meeting were 1) We’ll be buying data from D&B. 2) Data Conversion team will come up with the migration logic to “put current data into correct places in future system”. 3) We will be responsible for cleaning the data so that we can feed the future system with clean / meaningful data. Now, what was my first statement on “what to do”? I said: “We need to know about Data Conversion’s stuff. We should look at what their logic is, where they pull those data from, and do our cleansing against that set of data.” MADE PERFECT SENSE, YAH? What did they say? “No, we don’t need to know their stuff, we just clean everything!”

Read More

· 1 min read

Quote from Slashdot - Going Native Among the Users

Manager of the Year Originally uploaded by theoriginalbman. The smart programmer … (a) Listens and nods his head while Management says “We want this, We want that” … (chances are this is all wrong); (b) Sits down with end users (secretaries, etc.) for a while, every day, staying out of their way but watching them work, and asking the occasional question; (c) Figures out what the end users really want, need, will accept; (d) Codes for the end user, then spins the thing so Management thinks they’re getting what they (foolishly) asked for. LOL… this is sooooo true! http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175060&cid=14557868\

Read More

· 7 min read

Travel Blog: 2005 Nov UK - First Day - London

1119_02_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. (First, let me say that this is more for my own nostalgic benefit than for you reading pleasure. It’s basically a copy from my travel diary, which means it’s going to be looooong… Pictures are up, they have been for a while now. I’ve been too lazy to do this blogging shit after I came back but at least I uploaded 335 pictures to flickr!) 11/18 Friday, 7:30pm Virgin Atlantic flight out of JFK airport. I must say, the food and service on VA is excellent! The best airline food I’ve had in years! We flew JAL last Feb to Tokyo and its food was great too, but Virgin was extravagant! Lavish!! Too bad I didn’t actually eat it! :D I was way too sleepy from the sleeping pills I got from my doctor, man that stuff is great, they really knock you out cold! Arrived London Heathrow at 7 am, 11/19 Saturday. (Had 6 hrs of sleep thanks to the pills.) London was cold! Took the “Tube” (London Subway) out to London. Needed to change to the District / Circle line but the thing about travelling in low season is, things are often not open or in repair! There was no service on those 2 lines that day! We got back on the Piccadilly line and changed to the Central line for St. Paul. Took the long way for a 270 degree view of St. Paul, and our hotel, Club Quarters, was right in front of St. Paul on Ludgate Hill Rd. We got to the hotel at about 10 (Damn! Why did it take so long?!) There were 2 receptionists working, one of them kinda pretty. She has one of those bitchy looking face that reminds you of Posh Spice, cold and un-smiling, which makes you want to bitch slap her across the face! (But I must say, she’s still prettier than Posh Spice!) LOL.

Read More

· 2 min read

Birthday card for Jose, picked one that jokes about "Casual Friday"

Birthday card for Jose, picked one that jokes about “Casual Friday” It was my colleague Jose’s bday yesterday, and my boss IM’ed me this morning to get him a cake and a card. The card I picked has an old B&W photo of four men in their underwears and pajamas, and inside it says “Wishing you a birthday more exciting than casual Fridays!” If you haven’t heard me rant about this yet, what happened was, aside from my part-time job working at a computer store, I’ve never had to abide to any “business dress code”. This summer, when I started wearing clam diggers to work, (I ’ve always wore shorts to work in summer since my days at Microsoft.) my manager sent an email to the entire team about dress code. Since I’m the “worst” dresser in the group, I think that email was mainly directed at me, and now… I got this card! LOL… I just brought the card for my manager to sign too! Fortunately, she had a good sense of humor and laughed about it. (I don’t know what she really thinks though.) If u’re intested, here’s the email:

Read More

· 1 min read

Some cool site links for travellers to the UK

Some cool site links for travellers to the UK (note that this is in the order of my itinerary - starting from York, travel West through Yorkshire, South to Chester, West to Caernarfon Castle and Snowdonia in Wales, then South to Bath and Wye Valley, then one of Stonehenge / Salisbury / Wincester, finally Oxford and then back to London. General info - http://www.visitengland.com/

Read More

· 4 min read

My Great Britain Trip, Helpful Suggestions, part 2

My Great Britain Trip, Helpful Suggestions, part 2 (My schedule) Thanks, slight changes and more detailed 11/19 Arrive London, tubes to South Ealing, stays at Ealing Guest House. 11/20 7 am train departs from King’s Cross to York, arrive 8:55. York all day. stays in York.

Read More

· 6 min read

My Great Britain trip, Helpful Suggestions on Google Groups

My Great Britain trip, Helpful Suggestions on Google Groups Here’s the thread. Some helpful suggestions: craig_352 Pro User says: I’ve used this site quite a few times: http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/ It gives a wide range of places throughout the UK for a wide range of prices.

Read More

· 3 min read

Complaints about my cheap landlord - Part 2

Complaints about my cheap landlord - Part 2 Sorry to keep ranting, but blog is actually a good way to document what is happening so that in the future, you can use it as evidence or a reference in time if needed. So last time there was the heat problem, the truth is, I’ve gotten a nasty cold because of it… It was so bad that even after my 10 days of antibiotics, I was still sick! (I finished the anitibiotics on Monday and starting late Tuesday, I began to feel it come back again!) Luckily for me, I finally had a good sleep on Friday and it became better, so I knew it was a slight flu instead of the same cold. I took some NyQuil (My favorite drug in the whole world!! :D) and slept some more. I’m feeling much better now. (But still not completely out of it.) I’m documenting here because according to NY state’s tenants’ rights, I can sue

Read More

· 3 min read

NYC - Cheap landlord families in Astoria

NYC - Greek landlords in Astoria (Cheap) I had previously posted in my Yahoo!360 blog about my cheap landlord not fixing the water heater for more than a week, forcing my gf to take ice cold showers. Now, it’s end of October and the bastard still hasn’t turned on the heat for us. Man, and I thought only Asians were that cheap! LOL… This landlord and the superintendent are families, they obviously own quite a few buildings in Astoria, a traditionally Greek neighborhood. (Astoria is supposed to host the largest young Greek population outside of Greece.) After moving to Astoria, I found out that Greeks are not that much different from the old Chinese immigrants. I’ve heard that there are old Chinese immigrants that moved to NYC and never set foot outside of China town.

Read More

2 min read
JapanesePod101 - Grammar, Adjectives, Verb Conjugation Summary

I stumbled upon japanesepod101.com by chance when I was browsing for podcasts to listen to on iTunes. Since then I have been hooked! On my last trip to Tokyo, I bought the incredibly expensive Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100 Linux PDA, mainly for its dictionary. With JPod101, I started taking notes with my PDA during my commute to work. This combination has helped improved my Japanese level a lot! (Well, still not good enough to pass a Japanese interview…) A while ago however, the PDA somehow fucked up and corrupted the file, I tried my best to recover it but the characters inside the recovered file had become garbage! :( Since then, I had stopped writing notes. What I’m going to do now, is to transfer all my notes from a back up file onto my blog. Storing it online seems to be my best bet against losing the data! This first post is a summary of the really important rules of the Japanese language. I’m going to re-listen to the podcasts and list here the rules, plus which episode it was explained on. Hopefully, it will become a good reference for people using JPod101 to learn Japanese.


3 min read
面接のためにチューターを探しました

先週の金曜日、ヤーフーHQの日本人マネージャーからemailを貰った（もらう）。　その昼、僕から電話して、日本語で面接試験をさしあげました。　その前の夜、チューターを雇った(やとう)。　一時間のなかに以下の例の言葉を受けたけど、本番の面接の時ぜんぜん使わなかった。 引っ越す　（ひっこします）　to move　**ー　自己紹介** *つとめーwork* XX会社　に　勤めております　(名前）と申します。 XX大学　で　XXYY　を　勉強いたしました。 **ー　志望動機(しぼうどうき)　はなんですか？** *はたらくーwork-仕事をする* (Job Title applied for)　として　働くことは　以前からの目標でした。 (Current Company) で　５年間　(Current Job Title)　として *まなぶーto learn　to utilize* 学んだ　知識と経験を　(Job Title applied for)　として　いかしてみたいと思ったからです。 **ー　長所　・　短所　（ちょうしょ　・　たんしょ）** *ろんり　つねにどりょく* 長所は　論理てきで　目標に向かって　常に努力をするところだと思います。 *とりくみーeffort, (to handle, to manage?)* 短所は　ひとつの事に　真剣に　取り組みすぎるところです。 **ー　この仕事で何を学びましたか？** *のうりょく* 自分の　能力に　自信を持てるようになりました。 *じょうし　どうりょう　たいしょ* **ー　上司　や　同僚　と　問題がおきたとき、　どう（いうふうに）　対処しますか？** (no answer to this... too hard) Finally... Any questions to ask Yahoo JP? Y!JP　はソフトバンクによってマネージされていると聞きましたが、将来てきに　ほかのヤーフとの融合(ゆうごう）を考えていますか？ チューターのお姉さんは、次のレッソンで尊敬語と謙譲語を教えてで。。。 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics そして、金曜日の朝、その面接を準備して、いろいろの言葉を書いたんだ：


3 min read
Japanese tutor Thursday night, surprise interview Friday!!

Well, on Thursday, even though I was a little embarrassed and all, I decided to give the manager from Yahoo! HQ a call again. My thought was, even if she isn’t going to hire me for the Japanese / English Business Analyst, I could still convince her that I possess the right skills, so if she has any other B.I. positions open in the future… etc etc. I called twice, she picked up the phone on the 2nd time, she seemed very busy, typing very fast… I quickly told her about why I had called back, that I had done some research on DataStage, and explained that I have a good understanding of the processes and technology behind it… etc. To my surprise, when I finished, she thanked me and told me that at this point, I’m going to be further interviewed by others, either about the technical stuff, or about my Japanese proficiency! I was shocked! Was I still in the game?


3 min read
Oracle, DataStage, Japanese - What I'll do so I can get the job next time!

Since yesterday’s disastrous interview, I seriously thought about what happened, and came up with a plan to address the problems. Oracle- I need to put Oracle way up there on my resume! Right now, I have SQL Server and MySQL listed. With Oracle, it’s not like I don’t know it, I just don’t work with it everyday. I did create a whole bunch of queries to export data from Oracle, but I do all of the data manipulation in SQL Server after the data are imported there. This situation is only going to get worse, as Hotjobs is in the middle of moving both the CRM and web apps onto new platforms, which will be moved to Yahoo!’s main campus in California. The old databases are being phased out after the migration.


2 min read
Why hadn't I study Japanese more seriously?

Just spoke with the manager for a Business Intelligence Analyst position I found on Yahoo!’s internal job board. This job is perfect for me! I’ve been working steadily toward Data Warehousing / Business Intelligence as my career path, this position requires Oracle skills (which I have, though not extremely efficient as I don’t work with Oracle databases everyday), DataStage (and ETL tool) and Japanese language skills.


4 min read
2007 New Year Resolution

How creative! I can’t think of a better title. A lot of things are happening, there are a lot of things I want to do, a lot I need to write down. My brain is a complete mess, so I’m jumping right in and start writing! Start small, and keep the ball rolling. Things I need to touch upon are:


1 min read
Cosmic Irony - Stranded on an island with Lost In Blue

This comment really cracked me up! If there is one DS game I would take with me if I were going to be stranded on a desert island, it would be Lost In Blue. Just for the sheer cosmic irony of the thing.


2 min read
Reading materials left in men's bathroom

1031 01 Toilet Drinks Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. This happened at my office in NYC. I sent the following email to our social alias. *Just wanna say thanks to the guys who are always so enthusiastic in sharing their reading materials in the bathroom. I’ve enjoyed your Sports Illustrated and ESPN articles by spreading the pages on the floor with the bottom of my shoes. However, please note that nobody likes to touch another person’s belongings in the bathroom, so can you please refrain from stuffing your print outs into the toilet seat cover bin? I just want


3 min read
FIFA World Cup 2006 - Italy 1-1 USA

The last football fan in Italy Originally uploaded by Fabio Sabatini. http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060617/1/7rsl.html June 17th, 2006, what a day in World Cup football! First, Ghana beat Czech Republic 2-0, then Italy tie it with USA 1-1. Both the Czechs and the Italians played phenomenally in their first matches, Italy played their best game I’ve seen for a while and taught Ghana a football lesson, winning 4-2. The Czech slaughtered the USA “standing around-ers” 3-0. I never really liked watching the Italians because I don’t like their “heavy defense + counter attack” style… especially when they don’t play it very well a lot of times. But on June 12th, the Italians opened my eyes!


6 min read
Travel Blog - 2006/03/28 - Hakone, Japan

P1000618 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Woke up 5:30, check out 6:15, (phone charge ¥90), Oedo-sen opens at 6:30, we had to wait for gate to open. To Shinjuku (¥170 x 2), found Odakyu-sen (at South Gate) but needed lockers for our luggages. Asked Odakyu’s staff and he said their lockers are inside but couldn’t fit our luggages, told us to go to JR next door. Asked JR dude if I can go in to use the lockers, got in, bought milk (¥110) at conbini to get ¥1000 change for lockers (¥500 x 2). 7:00am, we still have time for breakfast, went out Southwest exit to Yoshinoya 吉野家, got 2 納豆定食 (natto ¥340 x 2), surprisingly, it was pretty good! Perhaps I’ve finally gotten used to the taste. (Compare this to the packaged natto we get from Family Mart in NYC, this was pretty good!)


2 min read
Travel Blog - 2006/03/27 - Tokyo, Japan

P1000592 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Woke at 8, that sleeping pill was so strong! Called Jackie at 9, will meet in Akiba at 10. Out and bought bread and yogurt at ampm [¥252]. Ginza sen to Suehirocho [末広町] [¥190 x 2]. Wait for Jackie into front Sega world. Called him to confirm location [¥20]. Ate at 松屋 ¥390, walked behind Sega world to try to find the 2nd hand PDA store that Danny Choo talked about. Failed. Checked out the Softmap 2nd hand PDA store, which I had been last year (2005) Feb. They only have 2 SL-c3100 and they cost ¥54800!! Good thing I continue to search, went to e-trend and then PC-Bomber. Bought at PC-Bomber for ¥59800.


2 min read
Travel Blog - 2006/03/26 - Tokyo, Japan

P1000581 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Arrived 16:15, watched a JPN movie - Always 三丁目の夕日 (Sunset on 3rd Street), about life in post war Tokyo in the 50’s or 60’s, during which time the Tokyo tower was built. It’s typical Japanese - slow paced, funny, sweet and touching. Got ¥80,000 from Citibank ATM, Queenie had motion sickness (乗物酔い), bought vitamin drink at conbini ¥147 for her to take medicine. Keisei Skyliner 17:14 to 上野 (18:15) ¥3960.


2 min read
6 Days 5 Nights Tokyo Hakone Detailed Itinerary ^_^

0218_03_Ghibli Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. Copied from: (also listed on my Yahoo! Trip Planner - http://travel.yahoo.com/trip?pid=479780&action=view ) (TripAdvisor.com Japan forum - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298156-i860-k488783-6_Days_5_Nights_Tokyo_Hakone_Detailed_Itinerary_-Kanto.html ) OK folks, thank you so much for all the info by everybody, especailly edokko and Route246! Here’s my detailed itinerary: Mar. 26th, arrive Narita at 6pm, Keisei Skyliner to Ueno, Ginza-sen to Aoyama Icchome, check in at Asia Center Hotel. ( http://www.asiacenter.or.jp/ ) Meet up with Jackie, Oedo-sen to Roppongi for food and drinks. ( http://www.roppongihills.com/en/access/ )


3 min read
The View from Taiwan: Taro Aso: Japan's Answer to Pasuya Yao?

The View from Taiwan: Taro Aso: Japan’s Answer to Pasuya Yao? Japan’s Foreign Minister, Taro Aso’s offensive remarks on Taiwan Actually read this on Japundit first and got linked here. Interesting read on both sites. I think what needs to be said are already said in all the comments in those 2 sites. I am just going to write down a little of my own family history. (This is an online record of my memory afterall.) My mom’s father is Cantonese, but was born in Shanghai and for some reason, studied in American school. Hence he doesn’t read/write Chinese! During the 2nd world war, he worked for the US Navy as a airplane mechanic on board of US’s carriers! Pretty cool huh?! After the 2nd WW, there was the civil war (I think… Hey, I suck at Chinese history) and the fucking communist party won. My grandpa was offered 2 relocation choices by the US government. 1) Japan 2) Taiwan. He chose Taiwan obviously, because he was fighting the Japanese and he hated them. I guess this can particially explain why when the KWT(?) invaded Taiwan, they uprooted many Japanese establishments… (did they?) They fought agianst the Japanese for 8 yrs in China, and then lost their home to the fucking communists. Of course they’re pissed! XD LOL (So, my mom grew up in Taiwan during the 1950’s & 60’s, and doesn’t hold any grudge toward Japan.) I hold great respect for my grandpa. :)


4 min read
"Beautiful" "Girl" - the peril of Flickr Tags and Yahoo! Picture Frame widget

“Beautiful” “Girl” - the peril of Flickr Tags and Yahoo! Picture Frame widget So recently I installed Yahoo! Widgets on my work computer. I’m not one who would normally install crap on any of my computers, but 1) my girlfriend installed it at her workplace and highly recommend it, and 2) it’s from Yahoo!, so I owe it to them to at least install it at work, just to show that I have team spirit or company spirit or whatever. Well… as you would’ve probably guessed by now, I love Flickr… and this Picture Frame widget is PERFECT! I can put in tags and it will randomly show me pictures from Flickr! I loved it… until today… see, what words can you put in there? Beach, dog, cute, shiba, maltese, tokyo, london, japan, england… … girl… “beautiful” “girl”… Yup, it’s work, so I can’t put in shit like “sexy” “girl” or “boobs”, so I put in “beautiful” “girl”, and I swear to god this ho came up like 20 million times today!


4 min read
What was the first fucking thing I say?! Should've listened to me SUCKAAAAAASS!!!

What was the first fucking thing I say?! Should’ve listened to me SUCKAAAAAASS!!! It has been 4 months since we were first told about the Data Cleansing project, and finally, they’ve put out project plan 1.0, with what I had originally proposed on the first fucking day… HA!!! What did I tell ya?!! SUCKAAAAASSS!!! :)) LOL Here’s how the story goes… in Sept.‘05, my manager and our relatively new Business Analyst (B.A.) pulled us into a meeting to tell us that, finally, the Data Cleansing project is about to start and we’ll be responsible for it. Great!! My manager gave a brief sum-up of what has happened on the CRMS migration (upgrade) project so far. The key things I’ve learned from that meeting were 1) We’ll be buying data from D&B. 2) Data Conversion team will come up with the migration logic to “put current data into correct places in future system”. 3) We will be responsible for cleaning the data so that we can feed the future system with clean / meaningful data. Now, what was my first statement on “what to do”? I said: “We need to know about Data Conversion’s stuff. We should look at what their logic is, where they pull those data from, and do our cleansing against that set of data.” MADE PERFECT SENSE, YAH? What did they say? “No, we don’t need to know their stuff, we just clean everything!”


1 min read
Quote from Slashdot - Going Native Among the Users

Manager of the Year Originally uploaded by theoriginalbman. The smart programmer … (a) Listens and nods his head while Management says “We want this, We want that” … (chances are this is all wrong); (b) Sits down with end users (secretaries, etc.) for a while, every day, staying out of their way but watching them work, and asking the occasional question; (c) Figures out what the end users really want, need, will accept; (d) Codes for the end user, then spins the thing so Management thinks they’re getting what they (foolishly) asked for. LOL… this is sooooo true! http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175060&cid=14557868\


7 min read
Travel Blog: 2005 Nov UK - First Day - London

1119_02_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake. (First, let me say that this is more for my own nostalgic benefit than for you reading pleasure. It’s basically a copy from my travel diary, which means it’s going to be looooong… Pictures are up, they have been for a while now. I’ve been too lazy to do this blogging shit after I came back but at least I uploaded 335 pictures to flickr!) 11/18 Friday, 7:30pm Virgin Atlantic flight out of JFK airport. I must say, the food and service on VA is excellent! The best airline food I’ve had in years! We flew JAL last Feb to Tokyo and its food was great too, but Virgin was extravagant! Lavish!! Too bad I didn’t actually eat it! :D I was way too sleepy from the sleeping pills I got from my doctor, man that stuff is great, they really knock you out cold! Arrived London Heathrow at 7 am, 11/19 Saturday. (Had 6 hrs of sleep thanks to the pills.) London was cold! Took the “Tube” (London Subway) out to London. Needed to change to the District / Circle line but the thing about travelling in low season is, things are often not open or in repair! There was no service on those 2 lines that day! We got back on the Piccadilly line and changed to the Central line for St. Paul. Took the long way for a 270 degree view of St. Paul, and our hotel, Club Quarters, was right in front of St. Paul on Ludgate Hill Rd. We got to the hotel at about 10 (Damn! Why did it take so long?!) There were 2 receptionists working, one of them kinda pretty. She has one of those bitchy looking face that reminds you of Posh Spice, cold and un-smiling, which makes you want to bitch slap her across the face! (But I must say, she’s still prettier than Posh Spice!) LOL.


2 min read
Birthday card for Jose, picked one that jokes about "Casual Friday"

Birthday card for Jose, picked one that jokes about “Casual Friday” It was my colleague Jose’s bday yesterday, and my boss IM’ed me this morning to get him a cake and a card. The card I picked has an old B&W photo of four men in their underwears and pajamas, and inside it says “Wishing you a birthday more exciting than casual Fridays!” If you haven’t heard me rant about this yet, what happened was, aside from my part-time job working at a computer store, I’ve never had to abide to any “business dress code”. This summer, when I started wearing clam diggers to work, (I ’ve always wore shorts to work in summer since my days at Microsoft.) my manager sent an email to the entire team about dress code. Since I’m the “worst” dresser in the group, I think that email was mainly directed at me, and now… I got this card! LOL… I just brought the card for my manager to sign too! Fortunately, she had a good sense of humor and laughed about it. (I don’t know what she really thinks though.) If u’re intested, here’s the email:


1 min read
Some cool site links for travellers to the UK

Some cool site links for travellers to the UK (note that this is in the order of my itinerary - starting from York, travel West through Yorkshire, South to Chester, West to Caernarfon Castle and Snowdonia in Wales, then South to Bath and Wye Valley, then one of Stonehenge / Salisbury / Wincester, finally Oxford and then back to London. General info - http://www.visitengland.com/


4 min read
My Great Britain Trip, Helpful Suggestions, part 2

My Great Britain Trip, Helpful Suggestions, part 2 (My schedule) Thanks, slight changes and more detailed 11/19 Arrive London, tubes to South Ealing, stays at Ealing Guest House. 11/20 7 am train departs from King’s Cross to York, arrive 8:55. York all day. stays in York.


6 min read
My Great Britain trip, Helpful Suggestions on Google Groups

My Great Britain trip, Helpful Suggestions on Google Groups Here’s the thread. Some helpful suggestions: craig_352 Pro User says: I’ve used this site quite a few times: http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/ It gives a wide range of places throughout the UK for a wide range of prices.


3 min read
Complaints about my cheap landlord - Part 2

Complaints about my cheap landlord - Part 2 Sorry to keep ranting, but blog is actually a good way to document what is happening so that in the future, you can use it as evidence or a reference in time if needed. So last time there was the heat problem, the truth is, I’ve gotten a nasty cold because of it… It was so bad that even after my 10 days of antibiotics, I was still sick! (I finished the anitibiotics on Monday and starting late Tuesday, I began to feel it come back again!) Luckily for me, I finally had a good sleep on Friday and it became better, so I knew it was a slight flu instead of the same cold. I took some NyQuil (My favorite drug in the whole world!! :D) and slept some more. I’m feeling much better now. (But still not completely out of it.) I’m documenting here because according to NY state’s tenants’ rights, I can sue


3 min read
NYC - Cheap landlord families in Astoria

NYC - Greek landlords in Astoria (Cheap) I had previously posted in my Yahoo!360 blog about my cheap landlord not fixing the water heater for more than a week, forcing my gf to take ice cold showers. Now, it’s end of October and the bastard still hasn’t turned on the heat for us. Man, and I thought only Asians were that cheap! LOL… This landlord and the superintendent are families, they obviously own quite a few buildings in Astoria, a traditionally Greek neighborhood. (Astoria is supposed to host the largest young Greek population outside of Greece.) After moving to Astoria, I found out that Greeks are not that much different from the old Chinese immigrants. I’ve heard that there are old Chinese immigrants that moved to NYC and never set foot outside of China town.