My Sleep Schedule

Got totally messed up over this weekend... XDD

Friday night was a Zelda marathon. By the time I went to bed, it was already 5 or 530 in the morning. Well, since it was Saturday and there wasn't any incentive to get up "earlier" (Chicago trip was postponed to probably 2 weeks later), I didn't wake up until 4:30pm - hmmmm, 12-hrs sleep, about right for a weekend.

However, comparing to the Saturday night, Friday night wasn't too bad. It was Petris' last weekend in Madison so we went to a Turkish restaurant for dinner (I ordered a chicken dish, served in a creamy sauce - delicious. Photo included of course, taken with my newly acquired N73). The dinner was later than usual, considering the fact that we didn't leave the West side of Madison until some time around 8:30 and the restaurant was a good 20 minutes drive (it's on State street in the UW campus). So by the time we were done, it was like 1030 already. The plan for the rest of the night was some board games in King Snort's place. A couple more stops and we finally arrived at his place around 1130p. Definitely a late start even to me. Ha ha ha...

Played a few new games (I think 2 rounds of 3 games), mixed a few Wii tennis in between. Unfortunately I didn't bring my controllers so we were stuck with 2 players instead of 4 (altogether we had 8 ppl though so we kept it short by doing 1 set matches). After a long night of festivity, it was 415 when i finally arrived home.

I should have gone straight to bed - but going to bed without checking the IMs, newsgroups, BBS, bulletin boards seemed so wrong (wakakaka). Besides, 5am = 7pm in Hong Kong, there were a whole bunch of friends on MSN - can't possibly skipped this opportunity to do some catchups.

So by the time i really went to bed, the sky's already lighted up. A look at the clock - 730a. Oh well, glad it's a weekend. :P

Mentioned earlier, my meal on Saturday night:


P.S. Jan 2007 is now officially the month of the most blog posts!

Back to Hyrule!

Doesn't look like anything will happen tonight - I guess it's a perfect time to go back to Link, Midna, and the land of Hyrule!

The New Channel is also up today. I am quite impressed with the interface and presentation. Unfortunately there's no HK-related news today.

*Update: Play time tonight: 6 hr 41 min; Progress? One temple - Sigh. This means that I probably have another 30 or 40 hrs to go before I beat the game.

BR

Um... I thought I was done with BR. Their last couple seasons didn't appeal to me at all. However, I was doing some window shopping last weekend and decided to go into the BR shop at the mall. To my surprise, there were a few items that I liked.

Being me, of course I didn't buy it - yet. I can't justified spending more money on clothes this month - not after my shopping trip back home last month/earlier this month. However, the end of the month is coming and next month is definitely another story. Ho ho ho ho ho...

P.S. I definitely need some sweater type of clothes - HK apparel may not be most suitable in the midst of a cold cold winter. :P

P.P.S Also found another shirt at A&F - but priced at $60, I need to think about it a couple more times.

Three Years in Wisconsin

So this month is the 37th month I lived in Madison - looking back, time really does fly by quick! My company has the tradition of giving those who's reached the 3 year mark a little roast in the team meetings. People shared funny stories and bought gag gifts for the 3yr guy. I had mine last Friday, and to be honest, it was too bad. (what a relief!)

I haven't brought back all the stuff home yet so i don't have photo for the gifts. However, I did bring the following item home:

 

3 years at Epic - it really didn't feel that long despite the fact that I've moved offices 4 times. First from CP to TDS as the company tried to bring all clinical teams into a single building; then back to CP because the main clinical products themselves now needed the whole TDS building, and finally Andromeda in the new campus in Verona. Still remember the first couple nights in Andromeda - since we were the only floor occupied (1st and 2nd floor weren't even done yet), supplies are rare, if not non-existent. Each night around mid-night (there was a deadline then), we would raid the other buildings and bring back much need supplies. Ah good time!

Since I started working for Epic, I've been working on the same product for six different releases. In fact, I think I am still the only full-time developer for my product (hee!). There are a couple releases where i am the one working on the various projects. Definitely a challenge trying to push "logs" through PQAs, but luckily that's no longer the case. Yippee!

Thinking about it, I think all the folks that was on the team either switched working on another product or left the company. Michael pretty much was the only "full time" personnel (but he's also working on another product as well) when Erica and I joined. The three of us comprised the main Dev, QA and TS for the application. So much fun working with them. Unfortunately both of them have left the company. The flip side is that Erica is still in town and Michael is working on the other side of the fence nowadays.

I am surprised too that I didn't get tired (mentally) yet. I think I am the kind of Gemini that needs new things constantly. Hahahaha... Overall, all I will say is that it has been a really good 3 years. =)

Dinner on Friday

Just posting two pics from Friday's dinner. The restaurant was Granite City. When I left for vacation last December, it was still under construction. I guess they opened up soon after I left.

The food is okay - nothing really stood out. I ordered a blackened chicken linguine, and the chicken was very salty. However, their portion was quite generous so I got to pack up the left over for later.

The Chardonnay I ordered, however, was definitely not the best I've had. It didn't have too much aroma or flavor. I think I won't be picking up this brand anymore.





P.S. I need to find a way to better make use of the NokiaLifeBlog that came with my phone. I like the fact that it tracks all the stuff that i did with my phone (e.g. there are entries for the text messages, photos/video taken, etc). However, i need to have those selectively synch up with Blogger. Once I figure that out, and get a data plan with my phone, then I think you can see more entries on this blog. ;)

It's a Wii, Wario...

I just bought my 3rd (or 4th depending on how you treat Wii Sports) Wii game - the amazingly hilarious WarioWare: Smooth Moves. So far I am having a blast with this game. Basically the game is a collection of micro-games, which are games that are even shorter than mini-games. Each game in Wario (except the boss stages) less a few seconds only, and requires you to use the Wii-mote in one of the many positions.

Mini-games and micro-games are one of the few genre of games that I like because they don't require me to invest tons of time to it. I can simply pick it up and play for like 10 - 15 minutes in between things. (However, my love of RPGs totally contradict this "pick-up-and-play" concept...XD) Besides, games like WarioWare and Rayman are perfect party games. Even when you are not playing, it's very funny to watch other playing.

And since we are on the topic of Wii, let see my up-coming Wii purchase plan:

Mid Feburary - Wii Play (I think they are doing that bundle package Nintendo had in Japan & Europe, meaning for $49.99, you can Wii Play, similar to Wii Sports, and a Wii-mote. Since the Wii-mote itself costs a hefty $39.99, you are really only paying 10 bucks for the game).

Early March - Mario Party 8 & Bust-a-Move Bash! My favorite puzzle game coming to the Wii, can't pass up on that! And as for Mario Party, please refer to the 2nd paragraph of this blog post. :P

Late March - Cooking Mama International Cook Off. Don't really know if this game is really releasing in late March. However, I had a lot of fun with the DS version of this game, so I think I will pick this Wii version up as well. In case you don't know, Cooking Mama is, well, another collection of different mini games. Bwahahaha

I was planning to get Trauma Center: Second Opinion too. However, since some one from work already bought this game, perhaps i can just borrow it. Heeheehee...

離家出走

雖然首歌係唔錯, 但係我好想同 Janice 講, 可唔可以唔好"罩"我. 我次次一聽到"別要管誰咒你"嘅時候, 我梗係聽到"別要管誰罩你", 跟住我就會好唔明咁諗無端事點會有人走黎"罩"你呢!?

另外首歌唔係太 K-able 啵 - especially 對於男仔黎講. 我諗冇幾多人可以唱到上 "天與地" 同 "不顧忌" 果兩個位~

P.S. 個 "嘅" 字好似終於出到喇啵~ Hohoho~

HK Post #2: Before the evidence disappeared

Looking at a friend's blog reminded me that I probably should mark this down before I throw away the score sheet... ho ho ho...

V 友人	Y 友人	Me	E 友人
45	37	0	11
45	80	30	20
51	102	41	20
93	102	64	68
107	106	64	93
184	106	73	174
203	129	73	183
203	174	104	207
298	211	105	207
306	217	108	207
313	226	121	207
339	235	121	211
359	269	146	211
451	277	148	211
461	291	148	328
461	375	158	387
467	397	158	408
532	430	158	415
551	446	197	415
		Won!

 

HK Post #1: 快要失踪了的蓮蓉飽

My family is a dim sum family (well, at least my parents are). I think 9.5 out of 10 days I ended up going to dim sum for either breakfast/brunch. In my past two visits back home, I noticed that one of my all time favorite dim sum gradually disappeared from the menu!



Out of the so many kinds of buns available in a restaurant, my favorite is the 蓮蓉飽. And when there's a choice, I definitely prefer 白蓮容 over 黃蓮蓉. However, I found out that not that many restaurants has this anymore. They still have the 叉燒飽, 奶皇飽, 菜肉飽, 流沙飽... just not my 蓮蓉飽! I remember when I was young, the most abundant 飽 you can find any day in the restaurant are 叉燒 and 蓮蓉. From time to time, you would hope that they would have something other buns other than these. (Of course with the introduction of 點心紙, there aren't many chance where you can see those "push-carts"). So it's kind of sad that I only had my 蓮蓉飽 twice while I was in HK. I already where I had the first one (probably 美心皇宫 in Shatin coz I think my aunt was there). The other is all the way in Yuen Long 大榮華 (where the above pic was taken - normally it comes in 3 but I already finished one before I remembered to take a photo). And amazingly these were 白蓮蓉飽 - Yummy! :9 Hopefully next time I go back, they would still have them.

Side Note: the other thing I always ordered is 碗仔翅. Luckily, this is a more available item nowadays. I would say 8 out of 10 restaurants have it. Unfortunately, not the restaurants in Chinatown. :P

Re: Interesting Question

In response to one of my friends blog entry. Basically the question is under what circumstances will your lady friends to your guy friends (ladies: interchange lady/guy)

My friend listed different scenarios detailing how she would handle the various cases. I am, however, a very lazy person. So my answer to the question is almost always. Don't you think it's troublesome to maintain different social groups? So unless there is a really special circumstances, I tend to "mix up" my friends so that know each others. Let them mingle by themselves and I can save the work of being the middle-man. Less work can't be bad... hee hee hee...

Case closed.

Mii Plaza/Parade

My Mii Parade head count kinda stuck at 46 recently - need more friend codes... however, I think someone is still waiting for their Mii Parade... hee hee hee~

On the other hand, my Mii Plaza is kinda sad - Sahana is the only lady Mii in the bunch. :P

Still haven't pick Zelda back up yet - mainly Wii Sports lately. I manage to beat the tennis "champion" the other day. Hohoho~~~ Put in Rayman early tonight - got stuck at the hog racing game... I'd rather do the FPS than this hog racing...Yikes!

Wario should be coming out this week too - I have high hopes for that game, largely because it's a collection of micro games and I can just pick up and play for a short period of time, like 15 - 30 minutes. However, from my newsgroup friends, it sounds like the game's selling a bit cheaper in HK... >_<

When the Saints go Marching In...

The New Orleans Saints that is...

* I probably should blog about my trip back home, but too lazy at the moment...hahaha~ *

So the N.O. Saints beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday and the Bears beat the Seahawks today, setting up a Saints vs. Bears matchup next week in Chicago. Um... difficult choice regarding who I should root for. On one hand, Chicago has been my "home town" in the States for some time; on the other hand, guess who's QB for the Saints? I guess I'll go for the N.O. since I kinda settled down in Madison already. XD

Though the same dilemma will come up again if Indy tops New England... Um...

*** Though Chicago has been my "home town", the place where I stayed the longest is still a little town in Northwest Indiana called (West) Lafayette... ;)