I made it out to Macworld today to check out the hype about the iPhone, Apple’s latest kick-ass cool gadget. And, yes, it is hella cool, slick and seksi. And i want one! When I can actually see and touch and playwidit…
When I finally made it onto the showfloor and made a beeline for the Apple exhibit, I was greeted with the iPhone rotating in its own case and being guarded by a “apple security guard”. Still, it is a beeyoutiful piece of industrial design and a technical tour de force.
That’s how the iPod component looks like
Here’s a closeup (sorta) of the back. The little dot in the corner is the 2MP camera that strangely, isn’t mentioned much…
The Star of the Show…
Timbuk2 wasn’t here this year (so no 28.75% off deal this year) but Crumpler was! They were serving beverages on request! Yeay! Buuurp…
It’s almost closing time!
iPhone (with 2G!!) debut at Macworld. A game changer, eventually
By now, everyone in the civilized world has seen the debut of the iPhone. This is the device that I’ve been waiting for. Quad-Band GSM. EDGE (tho HSDPA or UMTS would have been better), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. And your choice of either 4GB or 8GB storage. I pick the 8 Gig.
I am reserving judgement and curbing my techno lust until I find out a few things about it. I was able to speak to an Apple drone about the iPhone. I hit him with some questions. And as usual, the answers I got were slightly better than useless…
The 2 MP camera; is it autofocus or fixed focus? “erm, I think it’s autofocus coz it’s 2 MP.” FYI, the camera is fixed focus. Okieee…
Is the iPhone sold SIM locked since it’s going through Cingular (ugh) or is it going to be sold unlocked through Apple, similar to what Palm does with its Treo line? “We haven’t made that marketing decision yet”.
Skype client? “we don’t reveal that information”
I’d like to know these things before I throw down US$700 and commit myself to yet another 2 year period of indentured servitude (AKA “contract”). So the ultimate internet tool? Not quite yet. Still, that’s one seksi piece!!!
Crumpler is here and it’s staffed with Ozzies. Besides the accent giving them away, I asked about beer for bags and they had beer there! Burp.
Micro$oft is planning a new release of Office next year to match this year’s new PC office release. No info except that they’re “adding features”. I suggested to them that they bring offline messaging to the Mac Messenger client. Wonder if it’ll actually happen…
Surprisingly, Timbuk2 is not here this year. So no 20% off and no (pay your sales) tax deal this year. Booooooo!
Gov. Schwarznegger’s Inagural
The one memory that will stick out for me (besides the event itself) was the head freezing Sacramento morning cold! I forgot to bring a hat. I realized this as I was waiting in the queue to clear security to attend the swearing-in of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on 5 January.
Once inside, it was a full house as the Governator took his oath after the prerequisite speeches and entertainment.
And what’s is an Inaguration without a ball? I went with a bunch of frens. It was fun, albeit short. Only three hours of open bar? WTF??
Ando Momofuku
So who is Ando Momofuku?
Well, he’s the reason why hundreds of thousands of college students survived! He invented the process to make instant noodles in 1958 and had the brilliant (BRILLIANT!) idea to put his instant noodles in a cup in 1971. You know his company and you know his company’s big product, Cup Noodles!
So tonight I will have some Shin Ramyun (from the ROK) because it’s cold out tonight. Thank you Ando-san!
Hmmm. Maybe this is where Momofuku in New York got their name from? It would make sense…
Housecleaning
Chinese New Year is late this year, so I’ve got time to clean. As part of my “clean the closet out” project, I’ve been going through my old travel box, tossing out a lot of old receipts and outdated brochures.
Maps and stuff from my first visit to Chicago…
That was in 1998, shortly before my first overseas jaunt
Places i’ve visited and things i’ve seen…
There’s a lot of stuff from my first visit to the PRC here…
You sure collect a lot of stuff when you travel…
Believe it or not, a lot of this stuff went buh-bye…
…because I think that if you plan to return to a place to get to know it better, you don’t have to keep a lot of the stuff you wind up with!
Wienermobile
I woke up early this morning to drive some frens to SMF. I should mention that it was HELLA COLD this AM! This was parked next to my car.
I looked for the Honda sized car o’ ketchup to go with it to no avail…
How was 2006?
Well, 2006 could have been better in a lot of ways…but I DID do a lot of travel this year! I resolved at the beginning of 2006 to “go places I’ve not been before” and for the most part, I think I achieved that.
March 2006:
First visit to Australia; Sydney and the Hunter Valley. My first experience at backwards weather and driving on the wrong side of the road…
Different view of the Sydney Opera House
August 2006:
First visit to Nikko (world heritage site), Matsumoto (old castle and world’s biggest wasabi farm) and to Koenji (for the Awa-odori). Just some of the sites you’ll see if you make the effort to GET OUT OF TOKYO! I’m going to try to make it to Koenji each summer, schedule permitting from now on.
Awa-odori!
First extended visit to Kuala Lumpur and various parts of Malaysia. Surprisingly compact central city, best siu-yuk I’ve had in my life and a bargain vacation spot. Yup, that’s KL.
Street snack in Klang
November 2006:
First visit to Taiwan and to Taipei. Definitely on my “return visit” list to sample more nightlife (Luxy anyone?), food and to explore the rest of the island via High Speed Rail. Taipei to Kaohsiung in 90 minutes? Waaaaaaah!
Of cors that didn’t mean that I didn’t revisit some of my favourite cities on earth and visit places there that i’ve not been to yet!
On my last visit to Hong Kong, I discovered new restaurants, new bars and lounges and the joys of staying up all night to save HK$300 cab fare! How about Singapore? Meeting new frens, staying in new places and eating, eating and drinking! Each time I go back there it’s like meeting an old fren for the first time all over again. Ah yes, and that philosophy applies in triplicate each time I return to Tokyo!
Some places that I’d like to check out in 2007.
Hawaii: Yes, i’ve never done Hawaii properly. Yes, I know it’s closer to SFO than New York is. Enough!
Taiwan: It’s not just Taipei, ya know!
Thailand: Maybe not right away, but eventually…
Eastern Europe: Cold weather but supposed to be affordable and fun
Scandinavia: Like Eastern Europe, except not that affordable…
Japan: north of the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen. That means places like Akita, Takayama, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the like.
Australia: How about the rest of the country outside of Sydney?
Aside from the usual resolutions (eat better, lose 20 lbs, destroy my enemies), these are the places that I’d like to see this year. Wonder how many i’ll be able to check off the list next year?
New Year’s 2007
New Years’ Day and Eve are usually big holes in my memory mostly because of hangovers and football on New Years’ Day.
But thanks to technology, we can remember (albeit painfully) what happened on New Years’ Eve. I do remember getting a late start to the evening, squeezing three guys into my small small car and getting to the party around 2300. Right after they closed the doors because of capacity limits due to the Fire code. Bleah.
But it wasn’t too bad. We were shielded from the wind and we started our own party on the sidewalk with smokers who came outside for a puff as well as other late arrivals that eventually got in. We all got a great view of the fireworks outside while the people inside kanna see them! WAHAHAH!
We all finally got inside after midnight. But the best part, we didn’t have to pay the cover charge and drank gratis for the rest of the night! So there’s some consolation there…
This is how it looked like inside. It went on full force until 0200…
Some of us took the opportunity to dress up
The alleged theme (alleged because that NEVER gets observed at Asian Occasions here) was “period specific dress”. That meant dress up as a 70’s person or an 80’s person or what have you. We saw 70’s tuxedos with the ruffle-y shirt, one really tall skinny guy dressed up like Saturday Night Fever. Sometimes it was hard to tell what period in time people were dressed up as.
Can you tell which one is the 70’s lounge lizard and the 80’s swinger?
I went as a 30’s enforcer, except I forgot my violin case…and we dun usually smile lidat
Just some other partygoers that I posted for no specific reason…
Of cors, the night always ends with someone getting carried back to the car, and ultimately, up the stairs…
Drinking time: 100 minutes, 11 shots and drinks: Free, Getting carried to the car: Priceless!
New Year’s Day was all about football, a big brunch involving spam, bacon, lots of eggs, rice and brown gravy. And for some of us, sleeping off our hangovers. Happy New Year!
Invitation
New Year’s Eve is coming up. But for me, the real “dress up in a tux” event is six days later. See below.
Click on the picture to make it bigger (and easier to read)
There’s two events. One is the inauguration where a suit is appropriate. The other event requires black tie. Probably going to dat with frens, since my short list of dates I’d like to bring are *ahem* out of the country right now. Bleah…
Survey
Inspired by SassyJan’s results(are they REALLY accurate?), I decided to take this silly survey (click on extras then click on the box that says “What’s your Seduction Style”).
Sometimes these silly online surveys really nail it on the head! WAHAHAHAH
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