I flew back to Hong Kong to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday. So, it is a given that I miss her a lot. That week, I managed to catch up with my relos living in HK, as well as my uncle from the US. Now that I’m back in Australia, I don’t get to see them for a while (though they really should get with the times and learn to use Skype or something…) and so I guess I miss them too.
Anyway, Hong Kong is substantially different from Sydney, or Australia for that matter. Spending just a tad over a week there made me realise how much I miss about some things. Whilst I must say that living in Sydney isn’t really that bad, there are some seriously great stuff that I’m missing out on not living in HK. In no particular order, here’s my list of top things that I miss about HK:
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For those of you who read the title of this post and thought that it’s an engagement announcement, sorry for the disappointment.
I just came back from an awesome long weekend spent at the CCC 5pm Church Houseparty. This year’s theme was on the topic of money, and Nathan ‘Wal’ Walter gave a series of talks on issues that we face today as (relatively) rich Christians living in a materialistic society.
Now, one thing that has pretty much been ingrained in our culture is the whole engagement ring issue – the sparkly is taken to be a prerequisite to proposal. If you don’t have one, don’t bother popping the question. And of course, the bigger and shinier, the better.
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It must have been a case of Friday Afternoon Syndrome, or something… because it seemed like people here had a bit too much time debating a rather mundane topic.
But then again, they’re engineers. Nothing is mundane for engineers.
So it all started off with an email from someone from Admin requesting that meeting room etiquette be observed after a meeting has finished. In this particular case, that the meeting rooms be restored to their original configuration after a meeting has concluded.
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Yesterday, I walked into one of the kitchens at work and I found a brand new toaster. Now, this is not just any old toaster… it’s an electronic toaster and comes with LED displays and a slick, brushed metal construction that just yells out “nouveau”.
A few seconds later, another guy walks in and spots the brand spanking new toaster. He too, was momentarily mesmerised by the shiny new toy. Brief discussions involving reprogramming the toaster ensued.
By the end of the discussion, there was a sizable number of engineers gathered in the kitchen and the discussions turned into a brainstorming session (complete with scribbling on a nearby whiteboard) about how it should be possible to integrate a webcam and a wireless network into the toaster so as to facilitate efficient toast production.
It’s not exactly plans for worldwide domination, but it’s a small step…
Recently, Joyce and I have been discussing about personality types. In particular, our own (rather different) personalities based roughly on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
Now, I have my reservations about putting too much faith in any sort of psychological profile, and the MBTI is no exception. I just think that it’s somewhat limiting categorising human personalities in just four dichotomies (which I think aren’t as orthogonal as they should be, and don’t encompass the full gamut of human personalities… hmmm… sounds like an incomplete basis for a vector space… but I digress, as usual).
Hence, I view these “indicators” as simply a rough guideline of my functional preferences – not a definitive labeling of my personality. That being said, I can say that according to the MBTI, I am an ESTJ. After reading a profile of a typical ESTJ personality, both Joyce and I agree with the classification (in fact, Joyce said that she laughed out loud when reading it because she said that “it was just so you”).
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I was doing a bit of cleaning up around my room this morning and I stumbled upon my good ol’ Sony Cybershot DSC-P9 gathering dust in the bottom corner of my wardrobe.
Ah, the memories… my first ever digital camera. And to think that I paid almost HK$5000 for the camera + accessories (worked out to be around $1000 at the time) when it first came out in 2002…
I guess it has served me quite well – lasting till July 2005, when I bought the Canon Powershot S2 IS. I then bought the EOS 30D in August last year.
Since then, I’ve spent like a further $3k+ on more equipment… which is kinda depressing if you think about it too much (I try not to).
It’s pretty scary how fast technology changes…
As most (if not all) of you know by now, the Lane Cove Tunnel was opened for public use around midday yesterday. Since there is a one month toll-free period, I decided to give it a try on my way to church. Here are my thoughts on the (rather short and uneventful) trip…
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So, today is February 14th – better known as Valentine’s Day. A day where all non-single guys are expected to start digging into their wallets to please all of those non-single girls out there without being made to look cheap.
It’s kinda interesting how this works. I’ve been talking about this whole sham to a female colleague of mine and she says how even though she told her husband not to buy anything for her, she still expects something from him! I talked to Joyce about it and she (somewhat) agrees! Such are the mysteries of the females of our species.
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Not picking up mobile phones and letting them ring out is something that is guaranteed to annoy the %$#@ out of me. This is especially so if it’s somewhat urgent.
Some people (funnily enough, all are female…) are consistently away from their mobile phones. Pretty much, whenever I try ringing these people up, more often than not I’ll just be at the other end of the connection ringtone and nobody will pick it up. I can try again a few minutes/hours/whatever later, and they still won’t pick up. The only time that they happen to check the mobile phone is if they want to make a call themselves and realise there are all these missed calls on their phone.
Note: a mobile phone can be used to receive calls as well as make them too!
If you’re the type of person that is consistently away from your mobile phone, whether it’s because you leave it on silent and then forget about it, or you’re just physically away from your phone, do us all a favour – turn it off. Having it on and then not picking it up makes us think that you might be there, and if we just wait one more ring, you may actually pick up. It also gives us the somewhat false impression that you’re actually contactable. You’ll also save yourself money from having to call back the dozen or so people who tried to contact you whilst you were blissfully unaware that your phone’s been ringing somewhere else.
Personally, the only time I use silent is if I have the phone on me and I’m in a place where I can’t be interrupted. This may be at church, or in a meeting, you get the idea. I’ll let it ring a few times, and then reject the call. This will at least tell the other person that I’ve acknowledged the call, but I can’t take it at the moment. If I’m at home, I often switch my mobile off. Those who need to contact me at home know how. If I’m at work, I leave the mobile on silent but vibrate so I don’t end up disturbing other people around me. If I’m not at home nor at work, then the mobile is with me at all times on loud/silent depending on the situation.
Is this correct mobile phone etiquette? No idea, but I welcome any comments.
I was sitting here staring at an empty luggage case, figuring out what to pack for a week at KYLC, when I found this tiny compartment containing the receipt for the case as well as a warranty card. The receipt is your typical receipt, but the warranty card caught my attention. The first line on it reads thus:
Your luggage is guaranteed for 15 Australian years against defective workmanship and materials.
Hmmm… I wonder what 15 Australian years is meant to be…