Wheels and Spiels

My new website!!

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:46:59 +0000

Its my new website! Its called igloONotes.com. I'm pretty excited about it because there's lots of new things coming up!

A site for Students, by Students. Check it out!

www.igloonotes.com

A Deutsch Birthday

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:15:54 +0000

Who woulda thunk it? Another birthday, in another country. Last year if you might remember, I celebrated my birthday in Wuhan, China. It was great, being surrounded by people I had never met before in my life, yet having so much fun. I still remember the Chinese birthday song that the restaurant played. In Germany, I would be hearing Happy birthday in quite a few different languages!

In Germany, the biggest difference about celebrating Birthdays, or any special day for that matter, you have to bring the food. The day turned out to be a mixed bag of weather. My friend Weijun had planned to have a BBQ because it was the last time he would be seeing a lot of people. It turned out perfectly as it would be my birthday party as well.

I was sitting at work and the forecast was out for bright and sunny skies. come lunch time...the skies darkened and the heavens let go. It was really crazy! One second, it was bright and sunny, the next, the sky was pouring its guts out. It wasn't looking good for weather. Thankfully, the rain stopped, the skies cleared and it was on!

First stop was a friendly football game. We stuck with the same teams that we had previously...A Serbian, Iraqi and two chinese on one team versus a British, Mexican, Italian and Pakistani. After some hard fought points, my team prevailed, but only after losing the previous two games.

We all stopped by our local Rewe (grocery store) and bought some sliced up cow. Now we were ready for some grilling.

Adam stoked the coals and we all proceeded to pull out the chairs and bench, from inside the neighboring common room. Serdj had just bought a new camera at 25% off. Taking advantage of his new toy, he shot video of everyone saying a little something in German, then in our respective language. It was really cool because there were so many languages...9 if I remember correctly!

Then it was time to tell everyone it was my birthday. Prior to that moment, I had only told two other people that it was my birthday. I thought it was better as a surprise. I came crawling out the window, cake in hand and announced...Its my Birthday! sorta like that.

We all gathered round and the traditions began. Rather than just light the candles and say happy birthday, everyone tossed in their traditions. Luis from Mexico mentioned that you must put a ring around one of the candles. Once you do, the wish will certainly come true! Only one person knows my wish...

Last, but certainly not least was the kiss on the cheek from all the girls. A German thing I assume :)

The food was good, the friends were awesome and the atmosphere was a total mix of cultures. Another Birthday, Another country, many more memories.

AND....I have to say a big thank you to all my friends who sent me a Birthday greeting on Facebook. Not quite as good as meeting everyone, but its the thought that counts!

1 Month in Germany!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:43:53 +0000

So I've been in Germany for exactly one month. Boy how time flies.

I've used up less than half a bottle of laundry detergent, burned though my Macbook power adaptor, drunk quite a lot of water, drove 200 km/h on the Autobahn...

The list just goes on and on! The great thing is I still have 10 more months. Ten months! I've been to three different cities already and haven't even been out of Germany. I am really looking forward to my stay here. I feel like I've only scratched the surface. My job is okay too, the people are great as well.

I'm rather sleepy at the moment, hence my loss for words. From Germany...I'm off.

Go Karting in Germany!

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:17:00 +0000

Go Karting in Germany!
So today was my biggest day in Germany so far. It was for this reason that I brought my racing gloves from Canada. I was going to tear up the racetrack in Deutschland, the heart of motorsport and the birthplace of Michael Schumacher.

For weeks ahead of this day, it was always imbedded in my mind. 10 days left...9 days left...we're only a week away! Today, I could not stop thinking about the Kart race. I got up early in the morning to get to work and from the point I woke up, I knew it was going to be a special day.

On my breaks, I searched for Go-Kart driving tips and how to get a fast lap. You have to keep in mind that the last time I went Go Karting was about 5-6 years ago, in Canada, in go karts that were really quite slow. All my real racing skill has been derived form none other than...Gran Turismo 4.

In the game, I would always come out on top against my brother and friends. It is only recently that my brother has been able to beat me in an equal race. It's because he's starting to make less mistakes. Usually, I would handicap myself by either driving a slower car or using slower tires. Nowadays, I have to use the same car, same tires, but I try to keep Traction Control off to keep challenging myself to drive better.

A few years back, Rogers Video celebrated the release of Gran Turismo 4 with a city-wide competition. At the time, I didn't have a PS2 and so my main game racing skills were from Gran Turismo 2. I stepped in the store and picked up the controller to see how fast I could go.

I had never played the game before and it was a new racetrack for the game. With my Gran Turismo 2 skills, I beat the competition and actually came out first place with the fastest lap and fastest total lap time! It was really a good feeling to get a phone call fro Rogers Video about my win. Apparently, there was a kid that practiced in the store everyday for a week before the competition. I remember always thinking about one corner that everyone messed up on because they didn't brake early enough. Though, I thought the competition was a bit unfair. They let you choose your own car, and your own tires. Obviously, I chose the fastest car I knew, the Yellow Pennzoil JGTC Nissan Skyline. After 4 years, I still remember all the details...

So here I am, finally on level footing with people who have proven their speed around the racetrack. Adam, who I call the Michael Schumacher among the Praktikants (or interns) beat all his other colleagues in qualifying, set fastest lap and won the race. I had a defined benchmark, in an equal real racing machine.

We had booked the racetrack for a half hour among 10 of us. Right before we got on, there was a whole group of little kids on the track. the fastest lap was 45 seconds. The average lap is about 30 seconds! In no time at all, the kids were off and with our helmets strapped on, we were in.

I strapped on a visor'd helmet and pulled on my Trusty Alpinestars racing gloves given to me by my brother for my Birthday. Previously, they had only been used winter drifting sessions and 'fun' driving. Now, they were being used to race. I had also brought along my VW 'GTI' shirt in hopes of it gaining me 1 HP. Not seriously of course...

I took Kart number 10, fourth from the front. There was a 12 lap Qualifying session followed by a 32 lap race. My friend Adam went ahead, followed by Graham (the other Veteran) then Haidar, then me. I was raring to go.

Once the track marshall started up the engine, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my hands and feet. I was racing! I was a little cautious to start, as anyone would be when driving a go kart after 5 or 6 years. I had been reading a lot about how to drive a Kart fast, such as braking only in a straight line or else you'll spin the kart. I kept that in mind but after just a few laps, that memory had been relegated to trash.

This kart was fast! I could hear and feel the little engine burning up the fuel and propelling me into my dream. The steering was pretty light and the car was surprisingly easy to control. I found out that if you brake while turning, you really won't spin the car unless you really stamp on the brakes. I started feeling the rhythm, the flow...it was familiar.

It all dates back to my days of Super Nintendo. I would spend hours playing Super Mario Kart, trying to get the fastest lap around the track. Some way or another, I'd always end up beating my brother.

Things changed quite a bit with the arrival of Gran Turismo into our family. It was in Malaysia and my enthusiastic dad had just showed me a car game that had really realistic graphics, physics, and a large selection of cars. Minutes later, he bought the game, followed by buying the actual console. Yes...we bought the game before the Playstation.

I remember tuning up my Toyota GTO to over 900 hp, and having fun beating the computer into submission. We later bought Gran Turismo 2 and had our first experience with the Dual Shock controller. I spent loads of credits buying and tuning cars. My favorite car of the game was certainly the Suzuki Escudo Rally car. Despite having only a V6 engine, it made close to 1000 hp and could beat any car in the game. It was especially fun when I could pass the computer on the shoulder.

We basically skipped GT3 for the lack of a PS2. And then it all changed with Gran Turismo 4. I think however, my improved racing skills came with the purchase of one of my most expensive toys, the Logitech G25.

For those of you who don't know, the G25 is Logitech's finest force feedback steering wheel. With a leather steering wheel, a clutch, and a gated 6-speed shifter, it was as close as you can get to a real car, without the car. I really enjoyed racing the monster horsepower cars with traction control off, trying to wrangle the car to make a fast lap. The steering wheel would writhe in my hands, following every groove in the racetrack, and punishing me for every mistake I made.

My favorite track was none other than the Nurburgring. I would always want to drive the car as smooth as possible, synchronizing my steering inputs with that of my feet. Braking light, accelerating without too much haste, and making quick laps. I never thought in my life that I would live in a city only three hours away from the famous racetrack. But here I was...

It was my Gran Turismo driving that was coming back to me. I was back in the game, but in a real car, a Go-Kart; this track was just another digital rendition. After a few familiarization laps, I started braking late into the corners, diving into the turns and more than once, clipping the barriers. I was a bit ragged at the beginning, but nonetheless, it was fast enough to put me third on the grid, behind the veterans.

All I really wanted to do was to stick with them, and see what I could really do. The coolest thing about this go-kart track is the way everything is done. The start is just like a Formula 1 race. Once the five lights go out, its show time.

The first corner was rather undramatic. A simple left hander, followed by an S-turn. I followed the veterans into the turn and just tried to do my best and follow them. Boy were they fast! I was always thinking in my mind, how fast could you really be? Even though I was driving my kart off its wheels, I was falling behind. I wasn't that slow was I?

Thanks to a few yellow lights from spinning Praktikants, I was able to close up the gap and rethink my strategy. I started to examine how the veterans were driving. In actuality, they weren't doing much things different from me. So I did what I normally would in Gran Turismo and stopped trying to mimic my friends.

I was going faster, keeping up with the two and making some real progress. In the thick of it, it was us three, dicing for position, with the rest trailing rather far behind. I was quite surprised at myself actually... the rookie was keeping touch with the veterans!

"If you're trying to go fast, you're only going to end up going slow"

That was the words from 'Schumacher' Adam. It ran through my head, and that's how I needed to drive. On certain laps, I ran too fast into the corner, sliding, losing grip, and coming out slow. I could feel my laps were getting better and I knew where I needed to improve. My hands felt every little twitch of the front wheels and my right foot was the pulse of the car. It started beating to my rhythm.

Around lap 22-23, there was a bunch of back markers, racers that we were about to lap. This was really the only time for me to pass and pass I did. It was totally awesome! I had secured second place.

What came up next was both exhilarating and slightly scary. After running a close second to Graham, he slowed slightly, and I immediately passed him. I didn't quite know what think. On one hand, I was happy, but on the other, it was weird...and I soon knew why.

In my flurry of racing I totally missed the flashing yellow lights and yellow flags being waved. I must have scared the living daylights out of the track marshall on the track who, expecting slow karts, saw me and my other friend speeding right down at him. If he ever reads this blog...I am really sorry!!!

Not wanting to win while passing on a yellow flag, I tried to let Graham pass me, only for 'Schumacher' Adam to make a quick dive and pass both of us. Slightly stunned, I closed the door on my original place taker, and pulled out all the stops to try to win the race. I could feel it! On lap 31, I set my fastest lap of 28.882. Not only was it my fastest lap, I was the only racer to dip into the 28 second range. The asian rookie has got some speed!

And you know what else? I told my girlfriend that if I won the race, it would be for her. Since I didn't win the race, I dedicate my fastest lap to her. Yeah!

I finished second, set the fastest lap, and set the fastest speed trap time of 45 km/h. That figure shows you how late I tried braking into the corners! To show how fast the veterans were, our fastest laps were separated by a mere .3 sec. The fourth place runner was a further .4 sec. behind.

Being my first time on this track and my first time in a real Go-kart, I think I did pretty well! So what do you say...lets tackle the 500 lap challenge!

Life in Germany

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:53:05 +0000

What an exciting week!!
This week marks my third week in Herzogenaurach, Germany and boy has it been a good one. As many of you know, or have figured out from my previous blog posts, I am now in Germany doing a 1 year Internship with INA Schaeffler KG. Its pretty awesome what they do to make us fit into German life.

At the airport, they got one of the current interns to pick me up at the airport. After dropping me off and getting me acquainted with my immediate surroundings (the autobahn was all I was interested in) I was driven to the local Rathaus (city hall) and given my residence permit. My first meal in Germany was a Turkish Döner. Its basically a whole bunch of meat and veggies stuffed inside a Pita bread. Yummy, but not German.

First impressions of my home for a year:
1. There's no A/C
2. Its on the fourth and highest floor, with no elevator
3. It's HUGE!

And you know what else? I've always thought that living in a room with a sloping ceiling would be cool, and this is no exception. Though, the cathedral ceiling is not what you might expect. About a meter from the wall is when my head starts to hit the ceiling. So essentially, a third of my room is rendered useless. No worries though, my bed takes up that not-so-useful space so that's quite nice.

The Bathroom is also just as huge but the one place which should be big, the kitchen, is tiny. Its no bigger than a single cupboard to fit two heating elements and a sink with a fridge stuffed underneath.

I've already filled my closet and all my drawers of my things. Compared to some of my other friends, I got quite lucky with this room. Not only is it cool to live on top floor, but I share my washroom and kitchen with only one other guy. Best of all, he doesn't leave dishes in the sink and doesn't make a mess in the bathroom. In the morning, my room is filled with the very pleasant sun poking out through the sky.

The sky...
Compared to Beijing, well, I guess its not comparable. WIth only 20,000 people in this town, pollution is almost nonexistent, lending to a clear sky everyday. I was walking around one night and when I looked up, I had never seen so many stars in my life. Maybe it my location on earth but...wow. I could have stared up at the night sky all day.

The guy who had this room last was a very nice guy. I never met him but he left behind lots of nice stuff for me. First was the desk lamp, second was the fan in the room, and third was the umbrella. I haven't needed to use the umbrella yet, but I am sure the time will come.

So what have I been doing these past three weeks?

Protesting against Tibet
My floor mate had invited me to take part in an event with a chinese group in Nuremberg. I had no idea what I was going to do except that it was some political speech for chinese people. I wanted to meet some chinese people in Germany so hey, why not?

Nuremberg was a short bus ride and a train hop away. less than an hour and we were there.

You can imagine my surprise when I was promptly given a sign to hold up; I was protesting against Tibet.

Apparently, the Dalai Lama was making a speech in the Stadium we were protesting outside of. All I needed to do was faithfully hold up my sign and don't say a word. Actually, I quite agree with protesting against Tibet because they make themselves look like the innocent minnow being attack by the big Chinese dragon when in actuality, they do a little bit more. Plus, the Western media is WAY too pro-Tibet, causing everyone to believe otherwise.

When I was holding up my protesting sign, sometimes I couldn't stop laughing. It was really bad because this was a serious matter! My friend constantly reminded me not to laugh...

We then started to chant slogans like,
"One China, One Family"
"Dalai Lama, Stop Lying!"

This was also my first encounter with the German Polizei. They were there just in case our peaceful protest got out of hand. Thank goodness they were there or else we might have been mauled by some crazy Tibetans! Things started to get intense when the speech finished and the Tibetans started to come out. Us protesters were just being peaceful, changing our slogans and holding our signs. The Tibetans however started yelling at us and wanted to pick a fight, requiring the police to step in and create a human barrier of Germans between the Chinese and Tibetans. Call it the Great wall of Germany.

The Food
The only food that I could imagine eating here was Schnitzel. Just plain Schnitzel. Oh, and Sausages too. And bread.

I thought I would have a hard time surviving on just a small selection. I had been reading though, that there was a selection of about 500 types of bread. The first time I ate a sandwich, my jaws nearly cramped up! The bread was so hard...

I had eaten hard bread before but this was different. Eating a whole sandwich was really though. I actually had to slowly bite my sandwich so I jaw muscles didn't yell at me so much.

The cafeteria in INA Schaeffler KG is really really good. Everyday, they have a selection of four different meals ranging from 2.50 EUR to 3.20 EUR. A bowl of soup or a dessert is just .55 EUR. Everyday of the week, there's a different selection of food, even on a week to week basis there's different food. Through my three weeks here, I haven't needed to eat the same dish twice.

There's always a Geman style dish, an internaitonal dish (chinese, Indian etc.) and two others. One day, they served Kurrywurst (curry sausage) which was good, but not quite AMAZING as many of my colleagues had said it was. My boss even skipped his homemade lunch to eat Kurrywurst.

I have been cooking form myself in my little kitchen. My first meal was pasta and Basil Tomato sauce. Second was Curry and now...I'm still eating curry and rice that I cooked just yesterday. I haven't quite resorted to eating my instant noodles yet. I've only eaten two packs out of 12! I'm saving them for special occasions, read: My birthday.

Fundraising for the China Earthquake
The following week, I had joined my friend and the same chinese group to help raise money for the Chinese earthquake. I figured that it was the least I could do.

We went to Erlangen, about 30 minutes away and helped hand out flyers to people. In some ways, it reminded me how ignorant people can be. I mean, we were giving out little slips of paper telling people about the earthquake and I would say less than a quarter of all the people we asked actually took a piece. I guess I can understand a bit because most often, people with flyers in their hand are trying to sell something.

I was slightly saddened by the amount of people who didn't even care to listen to us. Oh well, that's life, and everyone has their own reason, be it legit or not.

Die Blau Nacht (The Blue night)
Along with a whole bunch of other interns, I went to the neighboring city of Nuremberg to enjoy a night of festivities. There's only a few things you really need to know. There's lots of beer, and there's lots of people awake late at night. Basically, the whole city and all the museums are open from about 6:00 to past midnight. Its pretty crazy how much stuff there is and we only managed to check out two museums.

There were street performances, beer, special lights on castle walls, beer, and lots of people, with beer.

There was a huge lineup of people outside one special store for beer, 1L bottles! I actually left before my friend returned with beer, which I guess was not so nice. Then again, it was getting really late already and I wanted to have a good sleep.

Oxygenating my room
I have always wanted to have plants in my house and imagine my surprise when I found a Bonsai! It was too god to pass up and so I bought it for 7.99 EUR. I have still yet to name it.

Two weeks later, I picked up a second plant. I call him Mr. Orange Pot. It was a deal I couldn't pass up. for only 1.99 EUR, it came with a pot and a collection of three different plants. I am still not sure what all the plants are though I am sure I will find out.

the cool thing about plants is that you can take care of them and watch them grow. Plus, you don't need to feed them any more than plain water. Mr. Orange Pot drank about a half bottle of water in his first meal.

My Garbage Find
Just a few days ago I started on my walk to work and along the way I saw a HUGE pile of garbage. There was shelves, a bed, a couch, toys and poking out from under all the trash was... a Playstation 2.

Now this isn't any normal PS2, this is a special edition Aqua-coloured PS2. Knowing an opportunity when I see it, I swiped it and brought it back to my room before heading to work. No cables, not controller, just a PS2.

As I was walking by the pile of trash for a second time, I was really tempted to wake up my friend to help my bring back some shelves and couches. However, it was 6:00 in the morning and I didn't really want to wake him up. I was hoping that there would still be a pile of junk when I came back from work but sadly, that same friend relayed the news that all was lost. The garbage men were clearing it as he walked to work.

So about this PS2. It was extremely dirty and was evidently used in a smokers house. When I gave the casing a wipe-down, the paper towel was yellow. SOOOOO Grose. If this is what smoking does to household stuff...imagine what it does to your body!

The fan in the back was also covered in a layer of thick brown dust. This PS2 was certainly abused. I was quite keen to pull the thing apart and see if anything was broken...it was in the trash after all. Apart from a few minor cosmetic scratches on the outside, it was almost in Perfect condition.

Prying open the casing showed huge amounts of dust. Everywhere. Not to mention that the PS2 and dust smelled really bad. I borrowed a toolbox from my friend who is an avid biker. I think the most useful tool in the box was an old toothbrush, which I used to brush away as much dust as possible.

I still couldn't figure out why this PS2 was broken. Everything pointed to it being okay. All the parts were fine...that's until I looked at the laser lens.

The lens looked to be tarnished in a layer of smoke dirt. NOW i think I know why it didn't work. I cleaned it up very carefully with a paper tower and proceeded to put it all back together.

I plugged it in with the cable it came with and...Bam!
The little red light on the front came to life. I was so excited! I gingerly pressed the power button and leaped for joy hearing the whirring of the fan and the flashing of blue and green lights.

It was ALIVE!! The disc tray opened and closed and even spun up a disk that I put inside. It was amazing that this thing even turned on! Now I feel like opening and closing the disc tray all the time just because its so cool to see this Garbage PS2 work! Now if only I had AV cables and a controller to test this thing out.

Well, I am now off to cut my hair...by myself. Wish me luck so that I don't make myself a bald patch!

Driving at 200 km/h on the Autobahn!!
By far the highlight of my travels so far. My friend was had borrowed the company car for the weekend and asked if I wanted a ride back home. Imagine my surprise when I jokingly asked for the key...and he gave it to me!

You have no idea how much I wanted to drive in Germany. On the Autobahn. For Germans, its just an everyday occurence, the highway. For me, its a fantasy. The pinnacle of driving, on the German autobahn where speed limits are non-existent.

The car was an Opel Astra wagon, turbo Diesel. Why we don't have cars like this in North America, I have no idea. I was originally going to just drive back home but instead, we took a little detour.

"Do you want to drive on the Autobahn?"
tenatively and nervously, "Yeaa...yea, I do"
"Are you sure you want to?"
"Of course I do!! I'm nervous, but yea, I want to drive. Lets go!"

So off we went. I was still rusty with driving a manual and compounded with my nervousness of driving in Germany for the first time, I stalled the car a couple times before I had even hit the Autobahn. But when I got there...it was one hell of a ride.

Coming off the on-ramp, I was already doing 120, making sure that the way was clear and I wouldn't be rear-ended by a porsche traveling 200 km/h. After quickly making it into the flow of traffic I picked out my spot and went into the fast lane.

For a few minutes, I was stuck behind a bus traveling 100 km/h. In Germany, its illegal to pass on the right side, so I sat tight and waited. There was about two other cars between me and the bus, but as the bus creeped into the slow lane, the cars in front accelerated and moved out of my way. I had nothing but a clear road ahead. Warp speed here I come!!

I stayed in 5th gear and planted my trigger foot to the floor. My senses sharpened, my muscles tensed and I gripped the steering wheel harder than I probably needed to. 130, 140, 150...that was already fast than I had ever driven, and there was a lot more open road! I kept going, scanning the horizon for any cars, listening to any words advice my friend might give me.

As I got close to a car in the slow lane, I lifted.

"You're fine! Just keep going!"

Alright then...

"Its nothing really, its just the same. You're going a little faster than usual, that's all"

Thanks.

I dared not take my eyes off the road, even to check the speedometer. I looked down for a second, 180 km/h.

I still had open road and a few seconds later there was only one number I could see, 200.

That was it. I had hit 200 km/h on the Autobahn! The only only other time I had gone that fast was in Gran Turismo 4. Thinking back, it really was not much different. The car felt the same, just that the world was spinning by a little bit faster.

I ceased my warp speed progression and eased back on the brakes, slowing down into the real world. Hey, that wasn't a dream...

Deutschland...Here I come!

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:43:58 +0000

May 14th, 2008
13:27
Location: Windsor Airport, Air Canada Jazz terminal.

Wow! I'm going to be heading to my fifth country in two days! That's if you include airports of course. But still, its been a pretty exciting time for me. One, leaving Windsor, family and friends for a whole year. Two, packing for one whole year and living on my own in a foreign country. I had experienced living on my own for a few months before, but this is quite different.

I am sitting in the terminal of a little Windsor airport. First time here and wow, it is so much esier to check in from a little airport rather than the usual international check in. And guess what? I see the Mayor of Windsor, Eddie Francis! I'm gonna try to get a picture with him. I'll be right back!

14:16
Location: Just past London, ON.

Tiny planes make for interesting rides. For one, you can see the tires and the whole landing gear going up and down so youll know if there's a problem. The ride, as I speak is quite a bit bumpier than what I'm used to on a 747. Although overall, its pretty cool! I've got leather seats.

I didn't quite manage to get a picture with Mr. Eddie Francis because he was very busy on his phone, surrounded by men in black suits. In a word, I chickened out. No matter though, I got a picture of him sleeping in the plane.

As I sat down, I greeted my fellow passenger sitting beside me. She's a nurse and she travels to and from Toronto every other week, so she's quite familiar of this plane I also met an older guy in the terminal who, of all places, is also transferring from Toronto to go to Germany.

And another interesting thing that I noticed about this plane... on the wall of the cabin, there's a very large piece of duct tape seeming like its holding the cabin interior together. I'd rather not think much of it because hey, it's duct tape!

In about 30 minutes I'll be touching down in Toronto Pearson airport, getting ready to fly on Air Canada's Boeing 777-300ER. Its got a TV in every seat and its an 8 hour flight! I wonder how many movies I can fit in before I all asleep. Well, the breeze is starting the toss this little propeller plane around like a ping pong ball. I totally wish I could show you the motion sensor readings from my Macbook! It's going haywire! Gotta land!

15:31
Location: Toronto Pearson airport
Tiny propeller planes...yea. They're not very comfortable. It was THE most bumpy flight of my life and I walked off feeling rather dizzy. I'm so glad I asked for apple juice instead of sprite, or else...

My flight leaves at 17:30 from Pearson Terminal 1. It's quite a nice terminal if you ask me. Free wireless internet and easily accessible power plugs. Its also a pleasant view of the Toronto skyline.

One thing I noticed while walking in is the large amount of chinese-canadians working here. Most interesting...

16:35
We're just about to board the airplane and you know what's really amateur? Air Canada announced to all of us, "This is a Boeing 777 aircraft and it is completely full. Please pay attention to your seat numbers so we can board you quickly" I've been on 747's that are usually full and they never have these announcements.

But I guess if it helps us board quicker and more smoothly then I can't complain. Haha...and I just got into a picture by a mom taking a picture of her daughter sitting next to me. I should have smiled at the camera but...I don't think I was the focus.

18:10
Delayed. Yup. Apparently this state of the art plane has run into technical difficulties. And you know what's worse? There's this potty mouthed woman sitting behind me.
" I'm sitting in this F***ing plane waiting for this F***ing thing to take off. This is just plain Bull S***. Just let off so I can get a smoke"
I'm thinking to myself, Lady...just sit there, catch some sleep and try to be a nice passenger. Worst of all, she's got her seemingly-teenage daughter sitting right beside her. Like Mother like Daughter as they say. I just took a quick glance at them and uh, they fit the words coming out of the mom's mouth.

To be honest, I've had a few delayed flights but its not usually the airline that I place fault at. Its annoying but the irate passengers can surely make it a whole lot worse. Sure, they have a reason to be upset but sometimes things just happen. Be happy they find the problem on the ground!

LADY...STOP ASKING FOR A SMOKE BREAK!!! I pity the guy sitting next to her, he's the coach of the swim team.

00:24
Location: Over Europe or the Atlantic ocean.
You know, I totally thought that a flight lasting 7 hours with personal video screens would be a lot more entertaining. But I have to tell you, Northwest Airlines International flights to asia have a MUCH better selection. The only movie that I watched on here was 'The Golden Compass' which, as far as I can remember was pretty good. I fell asleep somewhere near the end then woke up in time to watch the credits roll.

For some reason I was really tired on this flight. I wouldn't at all be surprised if it had everything to do with the little propeller plane I rode earlier. Maybe its the fact that I am so tired that I'm not quite enjoying this flight as much as I can.

Inside, there's mood lighting that reflects the time of day. As of now, which is 5:31 AM Germany time, the lights are a light blue. When I stepped on the plane around 5:00 PM, the lights were a scarlet red. Its a very nice touch.

The seats are also quite comfortable and the TV screen is really nice. It's a high resolution touch screen. Cool for the first few seconds, but it quickly turns into just anther everyday appliance.

The selection of videos and movies is not only dismal, but if I want to watch some news or sports on their respective channels, I have to watch a set of commercials!! Commercials!! Hello, I'm not on this flight to watch commercials.

There is another movie which I actually do want to watch but for some reason...I'm just not in the mood. 'I am Legend' starring Will Smith. After a plague turns all of mankind into nocturnal zombies, a lone survivor struggles to find a cure. Oooo...Zombies

The dinner was decent. I asked for Chicken and got a boneless Chicken breast with a side of Red Beets, beans, and mashed potatoes. I say decent because it filled me halfway and didn't sour my tastes buds too bad.

You know what's weird about this flight? I'm actually not sure how much I slept because I think I was just half-sleeping. You know that sleep when you're aware of things around you...yet you have no idea what's going on? I'm really regretting not bringing along the eye-covers my Dad got for me.

05:41 Germany Local time
Location: still above Europe somewhere
For some reason my row of seats always gets served after the row in front and behind. I call it staggered serving.

I've just been served breakfast. In a very nice container. It contains fresh apples. And a Muffin. And some 'Immunity +' yogurt. That's a new one for me, I guess they want to make sure all of us on the plane don't catch a cold.

Oh look, the lights are now a light purple!

06:22
I'm going to be landing soon enough so now I'm gonna forget blogging an fall asleep again. Wow...talk about sleepy! See you in Germany ^_^

09:47
Location: Frankfurt Airport, Germany.
The German language is not as rough as I expected. From everything I heard in Canada, I've always know that Germans seem to yell at each other when they talk . That's just not the case! When they talk rather slow, its not that bad on the ears.

They're pretty friendly too. Though, the security check was interesting. I was passed through the magnetic scanner, setting it off. I was waved into a booth and the burly security guard waved his magical magnetic scanning wand around all parts of me. He Checked my belt 'Beep!' Checked my Watch "Beep!" Checked my shoes "Beep!' Checked my legs "beep beep" Um...I promise you I do not have metal imbedded in my legs.

Germans like their sandwiches. Yup, its fact. There's booths filled with nothing but expensive sandwiches. I'm just hoping the pattern of overpriced airport food applies here.

Germans like their cars. That's also fact. There's rows and rows of German car magazines, tuner magazines, all written in nothing but German.*sigh* At least they've got a few english mags.

Overall Germany seems promising. There's lots of things to like and a couple to loath, everything is in German. Oh well, that just makes me want to learn the language even more! I sure hope that I don't have to work tomorrow because at the moment, I have no idea what is going to wake me up. No alarm clock!

Commuting out of China

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:11:35 +0000

February 12th, 2008
07:09
Location: Beijing Airport, Beijing.
You know what just doesn't make any sense at all? If you're carrying an extra battery for a laptop, you're required to stuff it into a plastic bag. A plastic bag? No bag is gonna do Jack if your battery is going to explode. Unless of course its a fire-retardent, air-tight, kevlar bag. You can tell that law was passed by guys in black suits who think explosions can be stopped by plastic bags.

So here I am, waiting for my 8:55 flight to Tokyo. There's a foreigner in front of me with another Macbook, a business man with a Thinkpad R-series and a girl in a blue shirt that's always looking around.

Oh, I'm also listening to a song from a CD that my Japanese brother bought for me. He was visiting me in Beijing and he was great to have around the family as he had lived with us for one whole year in Windsor.

I'm not going to be back here for at least a year. I'll definitely miss my parents because I won't see them for a long while unless they visit me in Germany. And I can't fail to mention my special girl who I've been missing for the past few weeks. Well, I guess Its not that bad. I do get to travel to Germany for a year and drive on the autobahn, rent a car and race on the Nurburgring, visit Paris, watch a Live F1 race or two...

February 12, 2008,
14:48
Location: Narita Airport, Japan.
So I've just got off the plane and am getting ready to get onto the long haul flight across the Pacific ocean.

I've been trying to hunt for wi-fi internet. wi-fi is abundant but there is no way to access it for free.Ick.

Since I have a two hour stop-over I decided to walk around here a bit more than normal. Its a really nice airport but just a pity that I usually don' t have enough time to stick around. Today, I have lots of time but I feel like I would rather just update this travel blog.

I visited one washroom here which was a real surprise. Its an individual washroom that could easily house a whole family. Inside, there's a toilet, a sink, a daiper changing table, and a sink/basin which I have no idea what it does.

To get in, its not a swinging door that you have to lock. There's a button on the outside which you press. Once you do, the door will slide into the wall, allowing access to your own private area. Once inside, just press the red button on the inside and the door closes informing others of your occupation. Ah! It's 3:25 and my plane is boarding, now!

February 12, 2008
17:00
Location: Somewhere above the Pacific Ocean
I'm right now sitting in seat number 39D. A great seat because I have an empty seat beside me and, its an aisle seat. So basically, I can get out of my own seat whenever I want and never have to get out for anyone. I know some people just adore the window seat for the spectacular views but after flying so much, the convenience of an aisle seat just cannot be beat.

I took a little nap while the plane was taxiing on the runway. It was a nice nap because now I am fully energized to do some work on my laptop. I have to work efficiently because I don't want to run out of battery power when I just come up with something good to write.

They're coming out with snacks now, the usual salted pretzels. The only thing that i am sad about is the removal of peanuts from airplanes. I am guessing its for the better of the passengers, or at least the ones with deathly peanut allergies. I don't think anyone would be happy to have someone die on their plane. The Chinese will think Taboo, the Americans will think lawsuit and everyone else will just be plain freaked out. I know I would be...

17:08
They've just given me a Customs declaration card that I have to fill out every time I take this flight. But before I get into that....

I just got my snacks! I asked For apple juice and well...it tastes like apple juice. I have to mention it because the apple juice on this flight is considerably different in sight from my previous helping. The american brand apple juice is a dark yellow colour and the chinese branded apple juice was a light yellow that looked like pineapple juice. Don't ask me why, and don't even ask me why I am mentioning this...

Now onto the inflight movies. The one movie that I missed from the last flight is actually going to be on this flight! 'The Great Debaters' as I've heard was a really good movie. From what I've read about it, I tend to agree. Time to figure out if they're all true.

On my flight from Tokyo to Beijing I watched Half of 'Just my Luck' and another half of 'The Negotiator'. I watched only half of the Lindsay Lohan chick flick because I had seen the first half on my flight to Beijing. The Negotiator...wow.

Even though I had only seen half, I need to watch the other half. It stars a very famous actor(who I forgot the name) who's job is a police negotiator. In the start of the movie, his partner is murdered and 'Danny' the negotiator is framed for his murder. Its a really cool movie because Danny is the Police Force's best negotiator and knows all the ins and outs of police tactics. After talking hostage takers out of situations all his life, he becomes one himself and fights to win the minds of fellow Police officers who have estranged themselves from Danny.

17:23
Ho boy, I'm now down to my last pretzel and I've finished my juice. My battery is doing okay, with 3 hours left of juice. In no time, I'll be back in Windsor, only to leave for Germany one day later!

18:16
Interesting...the people who sat next to me actually from Hong Kong and they asked my how to spell 'Crystal Bracelet' and 'Necklace'. They also asked what you call a combination of a dress and the top that goes with it...

But guess what? Just after writing this line I figured it out! It's and Ensemble! I hope so at least...haha. So yea, they're both from Hong Kong which almost made me ask if she happened to know my Girlfriend. But no, I decided against it only because tons of people in China ask me if I know so-and-so in Canada. I usually say, "I don't think so...but I'll keep an eye out'

Airline food tastes like cardboard? Um...who ever came up with that notion. I bet it had to be the domestic flights within the US. I however can vouch for the high quality food coming from Northwest Airlines caterer in Japan. The menu says, "Korean Style chicken with mixed vegetables and steamed rice"

Sounds appetizing don't it? It sure was! Not only was the main dish good, it was served with a side of fresh salad, chocolate cake, a warm bun and best of all, Sashimi! Raw smoked salmon would be one of the least expected dishes to encounter on an airplane. The sad fact is, most people on this flight will just toss it away.

18:35
Wow...all the lights in the plane have just blacked out, as well as the sky outside the windows, which is normal. What is odd is the flight from Detroit to Tokyo is its never night outside, we basically follow the sun. This flight, we're basically running away from the sun in Tokyo and catching up with it again in Detroit. Pretty crazy eh?

Well, that's about all for now. I'm looking forward to the next meal, Japanese style Fried noodles!

22:43
Location: Flying over Alaska
The Great Debaters was an awesome movie!!!
Now that the movie was out of the way, I decided to go for a little stroll around the aircraft, taking advantage of my aisle seat. In the back of the plane I met a very friendly flight attendant who had been working with Northwest since 1971!

It was cool because he's travelled to a lot of different countries and we shared our experiences of beijing. The last time he was there was in 1996. Back in those days, there were many more bicycles and the Silk market that I have come to know and love was just an alleyway compared to the now modern shopping complex.

Its was really cool chatting with him because I've never been able to chat with a flight attendant before. Its neat how they go about things and he told me one time he went to 6 countries in 12 days. That's quite the trip. He's also told me of time he was on a plane when a tire exploded while taking off. The explosion was so huge that it made a huge dent in the wing and all the metal in the wheel well was mangled. Somehow, it was a perfect landing and they even rolled right up to the gate.

Also sitting in the back of the plane is a whole crew of students from a University Korea. I haven't talked to them yet but I really want to because they're all part of the Formula SAE team, flying over to compete in Michigan against my University of Windsor! Maybe i'll be able to get some inside tips.

February 13th, 2008
04:22
Location: Detroit, Michigan, United States.
I am back home! Now I'm just waiting for my brother in the lobby of the airport. The rest of the flight was okay, the seats were not the most comfortable but What can you expect? I never did talk to those Korean students because by the time I had any energy left in me it was time to land.

I am REALLY looking forward to going home and just sleeping on my comfortable bed, away from all the noise, the lights, and everything else. I better get rested up for tomorrow because its my only day that I have to pack m stuff for Germany!

The International Traveller

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:53:09 +0000

Wow...its been a long time since I've blogged about... well, anything! You can tack the reasons onto the exam boards. I'm pretty sure I passed all my courses, which is a great thing because now I can fly off to Gemany knowing I don't have to wind back into a course that I would have totally forgotten how to do. I digress.

This is about what I've been doing since my last blog post; the review of my new camera, the Panasonic TZ5 which by the way has served me very very well so far.

First up on my list was my last week with my girlfriend before she headed off to Hong Kong. Bittersweet, for those of you who knows what its like to have a loved one fly across the world. Before I let her go though, we took a bike ride all the way to the Windsor riverside to watch the sunrise.

Yes, it was very early, and because it was April, yes it was cold in the morning. No matter, we had a sunrise to catch! We woke up around 4:45 and left the house at 5:45 ish to catch the sunrise which according to online sources, would rise at 6:31 AM. On my road rocket, I can bike from my house to the river in 30 minutes. With both of us on Mountain bikes, it would be slightly longer...

I didn't know exaclty how long, but 46 minutes was the EXACT time we needed. As we were biking down the riverside to get a better view, the flaming sun pierced the horizon directly in front of us. It was Kodak moment.

It was a perfectly clear day and honestly, I never knew the Windsor sunrise could look so beautiful. It was our first time seeing a sunset and it was moment that will be etched in my mind forever. My girlfriend and I standing there together, gazing into the rising sun...

Everything else that happened that week seems dull, but dull is a relative word just because my girlfriend makes everyday so much more awesome!

We had planned to go to the US to do some shopping and get an oil change at the local Toyota dealer as well. Little did I know, we'd be treated to a bit more than an oil change. In Troy, Michigan, there is a whole whack of car dealerships. You've got your requisite american dealers such as Ford, GM and Chrysler. Then on the side you've got Toyota, Honda and Mazda. If you looked a little bit farther you'll notice a small 'Aston Martin' sign. Then you've got a HUGE Hummer dealer (no less) and stuffed into a small dark alley is Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini and Maserati.

Feeling no shame, I walked into the Rolls Royce dealer donning jeans and a shirt. Armed in my right hand was my trusty TZ5 ready to snap pictures of the one car hiding behind the glass...a Bugatti Veyron 16.4.

AHHHH!!!! IT'S A BUGATTI VEYRON!!!

1001 hp
253 MPH
4 turbos
$1,100,000 (euros)

Slap me silly and splash me with water. It was a Veyron! the Hyper car of Hyper cars. I wasted no time in snapping as many pictures as possible and inspecting every inch of the car that I read about.
Those huge disc brakes? Yea, they're bigger than the wheels on my Matrix.
The Magnesium turn signal levers? Very pretty.
The 253 mph tires specially designed my Michelin? They've got little Michelin men all over!

The carbon fiber work on the car is just simply amazing. Who would've thought that you would see carbon fiber lining the wheel wells? There's no cosmetic carbon. If you see it, its there for a reason. Heck, most of the carbon is hidden.

They Veyron certainly brightened my day, but you could also say that the addition of a few Lamborghini's and Maserati's added to the equation. Oh, did I mention that I found my dream car at the Acura Dealership? It was a pristine condition NSX. Its my dream car because not only is it an exotic with Ferrari beating performance, its becoming quite affordable.

Off to Beijing
After a few hours of packing, I was whisked away with my mom and brother to the airport for our trip to Beijing, China. Flying an airplane would be a casual experience for me because I've done quite a bit of flying in my time. From all my trips, there's a couple things I can tell you:

- Airline food is not THAT bad. it does not tastes like cardboard and the fruits are actually fresh

- in-flight movies are not THAT old. I hate to say it, but I actually missed the one movie I was looking forward to seeing.

- Turbulence IS bad...but if you fall asleep before it hits then you're fine.

It was a rather uneventful flight across the atlantic. The view was pretty, but only if you could keep your eyes open long enough. After adjusting to the darkness of the cabin, opening the shade to glance outside allows the sun to attack your eyes until it leaves white spots...I do not recommend doing it for long periods of time.

Once we arrived in Beijing, I was greeted by none other than my former Japanese exchange student who had lived with us for a year waaay back in 2000. It was a really nice sight to see both him and my Dad, my Dad, who I haven't seen in a year and my exchange student who I haven't seen in four.

Xi'an
I was promptly informed that we would be travelling to Xi'an the next day, home of the 8th wonder of the world; the Terra Cotta Solders. We took an overnight train from Beijing and arrived in Xi'an in a timely fashion to be greeted by high winds, blowing sand and gray skies.

Our hotel was the 5-star Mei Hua 'International' hotel. I don't understand what it means when all these chinese hotels stick 'International' into their name. I guess it makes it sound better than all the others but in the end, there's really no difference. There is no 'International' in the hotel. Just Chinese people running things the Chinese way. The rooms were really nice and big though the janitors could learn a thing or two about cleaning. Thankfully, the sheets were clean.

The one really annoying thing about the service is when they make a mistake, they expect us to cover it up with a little extra cash. Hello??? Haven't they ever heard the slogan, 'The customer is always right?' In this case, we were totally right and they were awfully wrong. Our stay was booked online and it stated that Breakfast was included for a price of 30 yuan. Instead, they charged us 48 yuan because get this, we didn't inform them that we were going to eat there. Who ever informs the hotel they're going to eat at their buffet breakfast? Their excuses were really sad, trying to tell us that they wouldn't know if we were guests at their hotel or not.

But before all that happened, we enjoyed a very fun time checking out the Terra Cotta soldiers and all the surrounding tourist areas. We had bought a tour package with an english guide. The nice thing was the size of our tour group. We had a total of 7 people; A shy Japanese guy who always wandered off on his own, a cool Brazillian who studied in the Netherlands our tour guide and the four Wongs.

Our tour guide was really cool. She spoke pretty good english and also knew lots about the places we visited. The Terra cotta soldiers was really the highlight because you read an see so much about them, and now you finally see it. Here's some interesting facts that you may not know:

- The Chinese emperor of the time started the construction of the terra cotta soldiers just after he came into power and they were completed just before his death (what a coincidence...). The Chinese believed that when the died, all these soldiers (and chariots and horses and servants as well) would join him in the afterlife

- All the soldiers were painstakingly detailed and painted. Each craftsman would have to write their name on every soldier they made. If the quality wasn't up to scratch, the soldier would be smashed and the craftsman would be killed. Talk about quality control!

- After examining the weapons of the soldiers, they found that every weapon had a layer of chomium surrounding the metal. That means the chinese invented Chroming about 2000 years before it was discovered by the Germans.

Ah yes, if China hadn't run into so many roadblocks in its history, who knows what they might have created. Along with the terra cotta army, we visited the hot springs where the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had had recreation time, enjoying it with his lover, Lady Yang.

Beijing
12 hours later on a night train and we were all back in Beijing. Not to let us go without an interesting travel experience, the Chinese tossed a very stubborn woman in our way. When we got off the train we had to line up for taxi's if you thought lineups for amusement parks were long...you should visit china. There was an endless supply of people, with a seemingly endless supply of taxis. I am really glad that most people were law abiding citizens. But oh man...

We were near the final part of the line when all of a sudden a little snitch wedged herself into line right ahead of us. We saw it. The people behind us saw it, and the poeple in front saw it too. My dad yelled at her and all she did was look away, looking up and down the line as it she was looking for someone important. We kept yelling at her, shoving her out of our way but she stayed in line. But you know what's totally wrong?

I thought that maybe the security guards would do something, they are security after all. But NOOOOO. We informed them of our little pest problem and you know what they did? The youngians looked at us, looked at her, and kept walking. I already wanted to land a punch into this little lady, but now I wanted to take out that officer! To top it all off, we reached the end of the line and we informed the line master about the buzzard who had now been shuffled behind us. He took a quick glance at both of us, then pleasantly told us we could call a number in the case of someone cutting the line.
.....................................
'Nuff said.

After walking for three straight days, I was ready for a rest at home. And I tell you, there's nothing better than sitting down and doing nothing after a crazy holiday. Its even better when you open up your e-mail and find a message from your girlfriend, telling me how she's doing :)

Bargaining Madness in Beijing
Enough with the sitting, it was time to go shopping. The thing about shopping is that you need a purpose, a sense of direction. It is very satisfying when you can go into a shopping mall and know exactly what you want. I had a couple of things. First was a saddle bag ( a Jack Bauer bag as I like to call it) a new piece of luggage, some jeans, a shirt or two, and that's about it.

To get my bags I visited our trusty mall, the Silk Market. For the most part, the shop owners are very friendly, especially when they find out you're foreigners. Of course, opening prices are outrageous and you have to bargain down or they'll really gouge you of money. My saddle bag for example started at 580 yuan. that's about 80-90 CDN. A short time later (after my brother had told his life story to a very interested store lady) I walked away only 80 Yuan poorer.

I find one of the best ways to bargain is to put a smile on your face, set your price, and maybe give them a little bit more than you were expecting to pay. It makes you happy, it makes them happy, and hey, its a win-win situation. No hard feelings. For example, I was bargaining for a little gift for my girlfriend. I put on a smile, had a few jokes, and bargained totally in Chinese. Through the bargaining, they did mention how my chinese was not fluent, so they asked where I was from. They first guessed Japan (and quite a few others have greeted me in Korean too) but I happily informed them I was a chinese guy from Canada.

After my bargaining was at an end, they gave me an offer I just couldn't say no to. In addition to my main gift, they would give me a set of six Beijing Olympics keychains for only 10 yuan (that's about $1.20 CDN).
I could only surmise two reasons why they would throw in something else for so cheap,

a) They really liked me because I was so friendly to them and maybe they like Canadians or
b) I paid too much for my first item so they wanted to grab just a little more money from me.

They were pretty friendly, so I would rather think it was the former reason.

While at the Silk Market I was rather happy to run into a couple of Canadians from Vancouver. They were trying to buy an SD card and I noticed that they were having a bit of a hard time getting the thing to work in their camera. The store owners insisted that it would work but they tried two, and they didn't work. I decided to step in.

I think my fluent english caught them off guard a bit, after all who hears a chinese guy in China speaking fluent english without a chinese accent? I know I haven't. It didn't take much to convince them that maybe buying an SD card from China is not their best bet. I let them know that if they really value their pictures than maybe they should buy their SD cards somewhere else. They thanked me and off they went, no SD card, singing O' Canada.

Roads and their counterparts
Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari. Of course, if you're in Beijing you have to have your car in black. Black Audi's are as common on the Beijing roads as Honda Civic's are in Canada. Actually, combine that with Toyota Corolla's and Ford Focus's. No Joke.

If you've heard in the news about a new car just released, chances are you'll find them already on the Beijing roads. In any other country I would be ecstatic to see so many nice cars but in Beijing, It makes me cringe.

The roads are horrible, traffic is horrible and the drivers are not exactly the Michael Schumacher's of the world, though they always like to think they are. They weave in and out of traffic, cut you off, squeeze themselves into the tiniest places and force you to give way. If you give anyone just a car length of space, they'll squeeze in. The worst is when its at night. And raining. And having to dodge cyclists and pedestrians who expect you to get out of their way.

Yes, they cross the street when they want and cyclists swerve to avoid puddles, not even caring if there's a car speeding past him. Plus, the bikes don't have reflectors or lights.

When traffic gets jammed, it means traffic doesn't move. Taxi drivers turn off their car then go out for a walk. Sometimes its really weird why traffic just crawls to a stop, there is no apparent reason. But then again, the drivers don't have any common sense. Take for example one Truck driver (big semi) who missed his exit on the highway and thought it would be okay to reverse back to get to his exit. Its a wonder how there's not more accidents in Beijing. The way I see it, all the drivers here just expect people to get out of their own way but also don't mind giving way when the time comes.

So from all the things you've just read about Beijing's roads, why in the world would you want to drive a nice car when you know its only a matter of time before someone crumples your fender?

You see, my Dad lives in the 'Palm Springs International Apartments' (note 'international'). Its a very high class residence with loads of Ferrari's and Porsches, Merc's, Beamers...name it and its there. Even Bentley and Rolls Royce.

You could host an auto show down there. But you know what? Most of these cars have a thick layer of dust on them and barely move from their parking spaces. I can understand why they don't drive them, but then why buy them in the first place if you're not going to use it for what its for? In Beijing, you just cannot drive fast. 120 km/h is rare on the highway because the traffic is just so dense. On-ramps are no more than gaps in the dividers so that's a definite slow zone. The only car that makes sense to me is an SUV because on the roads here, size matters. In a big car, you have authority. That's why the buses drive like madmen.

My goodness, just sell your car and buy Gran Turismo 5!

The Olympic Stadium and the new Beijing Airport

Everything they've said about the Bird's nest and the Aquatic center is true. They're just massive structures of amazing complexity and uniqueness. The Aquatic center can only be appreciated when you're up close. Its truly an amazing structure.

Somehow, the birds nest manages to look natural without being too 'mechanical'. The aquatic center is a perfect complement thanks to its plain-at-first-glance design. Inside, the structure is actually modeled after the molecular structure of water. Its so strong that you could actually tilt the building onto its side and it would not collapse.

To get a sense of purely huge, I visited what is now the worlds largest building, the Beijing International Airport's Terminal 3. The underground parking is huge and the entrance connecting the parking garage to the main terminal is as big as a football stadium. Its just amazing how one can build such a monster structure...

In just a few days I'll be heading back to Canada then off to Germany! But for now, I'm gonna go watch my solar powered plant flap its leaves ;)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 review

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:58:25 +0000

Upon finding out I was going to be in Germany for a year, I promptly began my hunt for the perfect digital camera. A couple years back, my parents had bought a Canon Digital IXUS 430. It took really great pictures and followed me throughout my travels to China, Japan, and of course all those candid moments in between. My basic requirement was simple. A high optical zoom for shots of cars running around racetracks in Germany, and a shutter fast enough to capture them. Image quality had to be top notch as well as the video mode to record my own adventures of bombing down the autobahn at 200km/h. Finally, I had to be able to carry it around without fear of it being swiped by some street bandits.

The Casio EX-V7 filled the optical zoom requirement but after playing around with it, the pictures didn’t look that great and just the overall feel of it didn’t suit me. Sealing the fate of the camera though, was that my friend had just bought it. Totally uncool.

The Canon S3IS and S5IS were on my list. I found a smashing good deal on a used S3 through craigslist that almost made me buy it. I liked all the features, and the high zoom, but it was just too bulky for a traveller.

Then it all came down to the Panasonic TZ5 and the Canon SX100. Before even looking into the cameras, the Canon was a better camera because well, it was a Canon. My first digicam sold me on the brand and the image quality held up that notion. But I guess all good things come to an end and I was really disappointed. It was big, felt cheap with its plastic body, and just didn’t feel like what a Canon should feel like.

If you’re reading this, you probably know what Type of features the TZ5 has but the four features that won me over were:
- 10x optical zoom
- 720P video recording, with zoom!
- Mega O.I.S. Optical image stabilization
- Leica lens

I never got to see one in person but after fiddling around with its predecessor, the TZ3, I was sold.

First Impressions:
This is what a camera should feel like. It was solid, and the outer finish was akin to extremely fine sandpaper, something you only notice while holding the camera. It brought back memories of my first experience with the slippery-smooth iPhone. I didn’t drop it but I was sure nervous about smashing it on my first touch! The TZ5 is very comfortable to hold. With a rough plastic strip on the hand hold, it makes for a sure feel. The play and record buttons are all well placed, although I would prefer the menu buttons to be higher up. The zoom is located where it should be, rotating around the shutter.

The on-off button is also quite well placed except for the fact that when you slide it into you case, you can quite easily turn it on. I haven’t done it myself but I can see it happening. Maybe if they changed the switch direction from right to left (instead of left to right) they could avoid the problem.

Thankfully, the battery came half-charged, so I didn’t have to wait 120 minutes to charge it. The menu system was really nice to navigate. It was intuitive, and being the tech-savvy person I am, I didn’t even need the manual to figure out how things work. The 3” screen’s beauty cannot be described in words. At 460,000 pixels It rivals my 24” LCD and certainly beats my Macbook’s screen for clarity. Going back to my canon’s 1” screen makes me cry, even other competitors 3” low resolution screens pale in comparison.

Snapping the pictures
The first thing I find annoying is the fact that when you’re trying to take pictures, the image on the screen is patchy and fuzzy, like someone cranked the ISO to 1600. It is something you can’t change and you certainly can’t judge how the picture will turn out without first taking a shot. I was worried at first but once you snap it, all is well and the 2sec adjustable review of the picture brings it into perfect clarity.

Now on to the good stuff. The Image stabilization is an amazing piece of technology. Using only one shaky hand, I zoomed in to max, snapped a picture and it was crystal clear. Okay well, maybe my hand wasn’t THAT shaky, but think about my second test.

It was a very scientific experiment meant to break the tech and show its flaws. Lucky for me, I was going to be joining my fellowship later in the night for an Iron chef style cook-off. On my drive, I whipped out my camera and was able to snap clear shots of traffic signs at 10x optical zoom. Here’s the breaker; I was moving over bumps and potholes in the road at 50km/h, holding the camera in one hand and…turning the steering wheel with the other. At 1x zoom, looking at the screen while pointing the camera in front of feels like you’re in a videogame. Not all the shots came out crystal clear but the fact that I could even take one shot with near-perfect clarity is amazing. This is NOT something you should run home and try out with your camera. I even got the attention of one local who opened their car door at a stoplight and stared right at me because she thought I was snapping pictures of her!

While using the zoom, there is a button right beside the shutter called, ‘e.zoom’. Press it and the zoom will automatically extend to 10x. Press it again, and it will return to 1x. If you turn on digital zoom, the second press will extend it to 16x zoom, then returning back down the steps with every successive press.

The cook-off allowed me to test out the many scene modes of the camera in particular, the ‘food’ and ‘portrait’ mode. Overall, I was quite impressed by the photos, being able to take many shots with no flash, so as not to blind the chefs while chopping their onions. Most of the shots were one handed-quickies with not thought at all about the settings. Almost all the shots were shot with the iA (intelligent auto) mode. With the image stabilization, the shots were mostly clear, except when the chef was moving and everything on the table was not. When you’re in iron chef, standing still means you’re probably going to lose.

Face tracking on this camera will certainly appeal to the geeks within us. As you take pictures of groups of people, a box will appear around each face, up to 15 faces. Apparently, this will allow the flash to compensate and the Venus Engine IV will do its magic making sure that all faces are evenly lit. My pictures seemed to do justice to that theory too. But forget about the pictures for one second…this tracks people’s faces in real-time!! The only other time I saw this was while in my school principal’s office looking at a CCTV display. It was meant to track kids doing bad things, but instead locked itself onto an innocent looking garbage can.

After a whole day of shooting, video recording and playing back, the fully charged battery was exhausted. For extended video sessions, I would recommend getting another battery.

The (food)Menu
As with any menu, be it in a restaurant, a BMW iDrive, or in this case, a camera, if a menu needs explaining, you’ve got problems. I find that with many SLR’s there’s so many settings and when I just want to take a picture, I forget about all the fluff and stick it into automatic mode. Humans are lazy! That’s why we now have speed-dial on our phones and that’s also why man invented the automatic transmission. I loved my canon for its simple menu and adore the TZ5 for its user-friendliness. One thing that’s a problem for many cameras is the mix of cryptic icons that don’t mean a thing to me unless I read the manual. With the TZ5, you have an icon at the top and at the bottom, it tells you what you’re fiddling with. A simple, but very important feature.

There are two menus in the TZ5. A main menu to change every setting you want and a quick menu for one-touch access. The quick menu is accessible via a small button beside the screen. Just press it and everything you want pops up without blocking the whole screen. The ‘intelligent auto’ settings can all be turned on or off at your will. There’s intelligent iso, intelligent exposure, and the fully automatic iA picture mode. In the iA mode, the only settings you can change are:
- Burst mode
- Aspect ratio
- Picture size
- Colour Mode (Vivid, standard, natural, B/W, Sepia)
- Stabilizer

Image Quality
As you will notice by looking at some of the photos, there does seem to be a lot of ‘iso fuzz’ in the badly lit pictures. To some people, you’ll look at the picture and say, “Hey, that photo is crap!” To others, they’ll see the overall setting and say, “Nice Picture.” Plain and simple, for point and shoot cameras, this is hard to beat. The intelligent auto setting is extremely good for well-lit pictures (indoor or outdoor), but for badly lit settings, it will certainly require some tweaking. Take into account that almost all the pictures did not use a flash and were taken with usually one hand in a very hectic kitchen with lots of stuff going on.

Video Quality
Many of you are probably reading this because you want to know what the much touted 720P video is like. When you leave the default settings on, you may be disappointed. While recording, the camera is constantly trying to find something to focus on, even if its stationary. I was disappointed at first, thinking why in the world Panasonic would release a feature that was so flawed. But after tweaking a few things, I cracked it. It’s really a simple idea that many people haven’t figured out. Before you start recording, turn off continuous AF, and zoom in 10x on a distant object and focus the camera. Once you’ve done that, hit record, and all will be good. When you return back to 1x while recording, it will be just as clear as ever.

If you don’t feel like zooming much, the picture will stay focussed up to about 3x. For the average photographer, recording in HD is an awesome feature and considering that not many point and shoot cameras can record in HD, let alone zoom, I wouldn’t consider the focusing issues below average because well, there is no average. Nothing else in this market can compare.

The video quality really is astounding, At full 1280x720 resolution, it fills my Macbook’s screen and its perfectly smooth. Some of the colors don’t’ seem to be as vibrant as in the pictures, but this is motion video. Even at lower resolutions its still quite clear. One note, to record in HD, you need an SD card with a minimum write speed of 10mb/s.
Bad thing? The File sizes are obscenely large. A 4min 15sec VGA (640x480) video at 30fps will eat 344 mb. At this rate, it will finish off an 8GB SD card in 1 hour, 30 min. Recording in full 720P HD will devour the same SD card in 33min 50sec.In case you were wondering, though you can only record up to 2GB in one session, you can always start recording again right after it stops. 2GB in HD equates to a measly 8min 20sec.

One other knock off I have to mention is the really poor quality of the microphone. It seems unable to record good highs and has a constant hiss. I’m sure you can tweak it in Adobe Premiere. It reminds me of 64kbps mp3’s I used to download from Napster way back when. At least voices are distinctly different from bass drums. My solution? If you’re really into HD video recording, just buy a separate voice recorder and sync it up with the TZ5’s video in Adobe Premier. And if you’re REALLY into HD video recording, just buy an HD camcorder and stop poking fun at the TZ5.

The Perfect SD Card?
To store all your pictures and videos you’ll need an SD card that’s up to the task. I’ve read horror stories of people going on vacations and having all their pictures corrupted. Since I would be travelling quite a lot, I ponied up for the 8GB Sandisk Extreme III. Not only is it tested to withstand extreme conditions, its extremely fast and comes with a very handy micromate reader and case.

I also needed it to be fast to record HD video and the little Sandisk has speed in spades with its ESP technology. Don’t ask me what it means, but as long as it makes things fast, I’m happy with it. At least I know that ESP in cars does good things.
It transferred about 7.2 GB in less than 8 minutes. I don’t think anyone will ever need anything more.

Conclusion:
Overall, I am very happy with the TZ5. Although some pictures still turned out fuzzy (motion or iso fuzz), most of the pictures were top-notch. If you’re looking for AMAZING picture quality that will bug out your eyes on first glance, this camera may not be for you. But if you’re looking for a camera that will take great pictures, able of snapping them in tough situations, then you may want to consider the Panasonic TZ5. The addition of 10x optical zoom and HD video recording doesn’t hurt either!

And just a tip, pick up the camera on Amazon, they’re probably one of the cheapest out there and for the past few days, the price has been steadily going downhill, almost matching the TZ4!

Cameralabs.com did a pretty good video review:

Formula One, and the lack of

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 04:09:12 +0000

So this year's Formula One season is turning out to be one heck of a start. The reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonnen had a fuel problem and can only start from 16 on the grid. Robert Kubica of BMW grabbed a surprise 2nd on the starting grid after one heck of a high speed fumble, though this isn't the first time that I've seen him drift an F1 car.

I was able to catch the qualifying live with my friend, but the problem now is that I can't find a place to watch the actual race! According to my calculations, it should have started just a few minutes ago :(

I don't have Cable TV in my house and the only way I can watch it is:
a) Wait a few days until a download pops up on the internet, all the while avoiding the news
b) Wait one day so I can borrow a DVD from my friend who recorded the race.
c) raid someone's house right now and demand to watch the race
d) Wait until tomorrow afternoon and bug my girlfriend to watch it in her house.

I have to say, choice c) sounds interesting, but choice d) sounds the most promising. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to hope for the best and eventually watch the first Formula One race of the season! Go Ferrari!