2009年3月20日 星期五

Vancouver

The most beautiful and also the most expensive city I have ever stayed.

This time, because of the illness of my colleague, I have to attend the boring Wimax Forum FtF meeting again. This is really an unexpected trip. My boss just informed me one week ago before departure. Everything including visa, hotel reservation, meeting registration, job relocation etc. must be completed in just one week.

This time, the venue is at Hyatt Regency, and I stayed there for 4 days. The service and bed of Hyatt is quite good. While sleeping outside my house, the only thing I care the most is the bed. Last time in Peru, even the hotel is a 4-star, the bed is extremely soft and my back ached the whole week. That’s really a terrible experience.

The biggest problem of staying in Vancouver is the cost and tax. It costs 195 CAN for just one night in Hyatt and the tax totally is among unbelievable 16%....Fortunately my company pays for it. Although the meeting is quite boring, I still have to pay attention to their discussions and conclusions, well, if they have. Usually, there are lots of discussion but no conclusion. So if they do have a conclusion, never miss it.

I arrived late the day before the meeting and had to leave in the mid night after the closing of the meeting. Technically, I didn’t have enough time to look around the attractions of Vancouver. But I never give up the chance to explore a new city. So, every night, after the meeting, I walked around Vancouver downtown. In the beginning, I thought Vancouver is a peaceful city. Even the homeless say hello to me. One night, because of the jet lag, I woke up at 4:00AM and couldn’t sleep anymore. There is nothing I can do so I decided to have a short walk to Stanley Park. Well, not that short. It’s a 3 hours walking exercise. I walked alone with the coast, trying to take some good pictures with my tripod, and found one homeless searching for something into the crash can. He turned his head and said hello to me. I was a little bit stunned and could only hardly say hello back.

But when I told this story to my Spanish friends, they thought I am really brave and show me the newspaper. There was a series of street gunfight overnight that night in Vancouver downtown and at least 8 people was sent to hospital and one was found shot to death.
Well….God helps those who know nothing.

One of Vancouver’s attractions is the Steam clock in Gas Town. I have been there three times that week. One at dawn, two at night. This steam clock is very interesting, just like the one I saw in Hokkaido. It is powered almost entirely by steam. Gas town is a very lovely district with many interesting shops, gallery and restaurants. Blow is a sketch of Steam Clock on Hotel’s note. Next time, I shouldn’t think too much, just sketch. On the road of sketching, there is still a long way to go.……



Last Afternoon, Guillermo wanted to have a cycling in Stanley part. That’s a great idea. I had never rode a bicycle in other countries. This willt be a memorable experience. Julie said she is also interested in this and would like to join us. To be honest, I am a little bit sorry to her because I did'nt mention how long the route is and that is an up and down circle. Totally, the ride took 4 hours. Stanley Part is a well preserved park with lots of jogging, cycling, and in-line-skating route. Our whole route is shown below. From Robson Street, to Stanley Park, across the Lion Gate Bridge, turn right to North Vancouver and then take the sea bus back to Vancouver downtown. Riding in a foreign city is really interesting. You can have a closer look to the city and explore the places where were difficult to reach by walking.



Vancouver, the most clean and beautiful city I have seen. Wish I could have chance to be there again. If someone is willing to pay for me, it will be perfect. Tax is really high. Maybe this is the reason why Vancouver is so clean.

2009年3月17日 星期二

股溝大師

Google好用不用我廢話。但最近迷上一個新的應用,發現茫茫網海原來還可以這樣玩。

前因是仁哥的一封email,他說他找到二毛,他現在美國工作及作研究。二毛是附中高一同班同學,書唸的好,籃球打的更棒。高二他轉去732,馬上變成本班死敵。接下來兩年,732與734在籃球場上的恩怨情愁,瑜亮情結,可真是說都說不清楚。現在大家可以雲淡風輕地說,那是兩班的共同回憶,但那時,可不是這麼回事。畢業之後大家各奔東西,都失聯了十幾年了。想不到仁哥還找得到?

『很簡單啊,我在Google上敲他名字,第一頁就跑出他老婆的BLOG了。』

哇塞,可以這樣搞!? 馬上回去翻出畢業紀念冊,找出失聯同學的清冊,開始了這個網海尋人的遊戲。 國中保送上建中的潘,後來也上的台大醫科,現在在花蓮慈濟當住院醫生,還看到他現在的照片。大學的程式小神童,現在當程式語言的講師,還出了好幾本書。好多『原來十幾年來,他是過這樣的生活啊』的感動。

股溝大師火力全開,加上小弟的關鍵字妄想能力,兩相搭配,真是超強的組合。用留下來的email,MSN ID,Skype帳號,電話,BBS帳號,啥information都可以當成關鍵字的組合。還查到不是用本名留下來的Blog,用代號發表的文章。經過朋友的朋友,跳過一個超連結又一個超連結,換過一個又一個關鍵字,找到好多人的”秘密基地”,發現他們人生的片段浮光。

呃………好像有點恐怖。好像變成在角落偷窺的怪叔叔。

老實說,每次辦同學會,人一多就只能跟附近的人聊一聊,時間有限,也沒辦法聊啥深入的。這空白失聯的時間,用網路或他們的網誌,連結填補了起來。我們因為某些緣分,在人生的某個時間交錯而過,各奔東西。本來看似不會再有交集的人生,透過股溝大師和網路,又依稀見到他們後續的人生。這不是很妙嗎?

其實,我也用了我的本名下去搜尋了。

感謝我老爸名字給我取得好,全世界華人區只有我一個人叫這個名字。搜尋出來的,都是我的資料。我都不知道我的出差報告已經放上網那麼久了,早知這樣當初寫認真一點。現在已經完全不復記憶的碩士論文,也放上網給人家當笑話… …不是,更正,是參考文件。連2006年,就跑過那一百零一次的太魯閣馬拉松,也留下記錄……..

但是,這個網誌用本名還是查不到地!! 哈哈! 雖然這裡不是我的秘密基地,紀錄的不是什麼不能公開地秘密,但我也不希望隨便的阿貓阿狗用我本名就查得到。這裡是保留給我自己、我認識的人,及我希望他來看的人。讓我自己不定期refresh一下; 讓這些人,了解我的近況,下次有機會再見面,別那麼生疏。

感恩啊,股溝大師! 不只是搜尋,還有free的Blogger和Picasa。希望一直free下去,這樣我才不會琵琶別抱啊!

2009年3月16日 星期一

買書不看書

這陣子買了 一堆書,加上之前買的沒看的,算起來還真是不少。
該花點時間清一下,讓花的錢有點價值。

這算是不甘庸庸碌碌、不服輸,但骨子裡是個懶人的大叔,一年總會來上幾回的週期性活動。列出書單給大家看,讓同儕壓力逼自己多唸點書吧。

高優先度:

2009 Q1書單(進度%):
散戶流浪記。(2%)
最後一個 甜圈圈不要拿。(2%)
金字塔原理。(15%)

海上教堂。(1%)
陪你到最後。(0%)
莉西的故事。(2%)
蒼蠅王。(90%)

面目可憎已經很久了,是該多看點書了。