bun stuff

run kai run

2008-02-11T16:18:00.000+08:00

For my first (and only?) post in 2008, I'm letting you all (i.e. the 3 of you who have me on RSS) know that I added a little widget to the left that shows my Nikeplus profile. Nike+ lets you use your iPod Nano to track your run times, distances, and calories burned.

Notice that I managed to do 2.55km in about 15 minutes. In contrast, the top 5km time on the Nike site is 13:21! But hey, not bad for a first try eh?

OK looks like the profile is not showing up... apparently Nike messed up some coding so in the meantime you can see my record-breaking 2.55km run on this link

Hello?

2007-09-28T11:01:00.000+08:00

Anyone out there?

Serial Diver #1

2006-12-12T22:43:00.000+08:00

love the comedy at the end of the clip...

Medstars @Gold Coast

2006-12-01T23:59:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday (well, technically Monday morning) I had to pleasure of watching the Man U & Chelsea match with Mike & Helen. The pull-down screen was huge and easily the largest TV I've ever viewed a football match on (in my less-than-six-months of football watching experience). The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic, and it was a cracking match! ... or "the match was a cracker"?...

Anyway, here I am on the way to Gold Coast. They have these new buses which are fitted with all forward-facing seats. I've always wanted to ride in one and I finally got my chance.

Got off at a stop too late... but right across from Crossroads so took a moment to get this shot:

A healthy selection of beer at Medstars:

We were seated about 20 feet back... you can't really tell how big it is from the picture, but trust me, what a view it was.

I chose one of the two German beers available: Veltins. The beer was actually quite good, but next time I'll try out the other German bier. As Sal so cleverly pointed out... these are my trophies from the night!

When all was said and done, I boarded one of those scarily-fast red minibuses (red rocket?) and was lucky to have made it back to Jordan Road in one piece. By then it was nearly 3am and it was eerily quiet on the streets, and I had myself a mini-photographing session. Perhaps I'll save those shots for another post...

#2

2006-11-26T01:31:00.000+08:00

This was Gerrard's mid-week goal versus PSV, which all started with Reina's nice goal kick.

He scored again tonight against Man City, shame we didn't catch it on TV live but it should crop up on YouTube soon enough. I'm sure it was a cracker of a goal. (I'm trying to use cracker/cracking as much as possible now!)

Does the announcer say "ooooooooooohhhhh" or "goooooooooaaaal"?

Border Starbucks

2006-11-16T11:49:00.000+08:00

Earlier this week I was given the honor of traveling up to China... and then immediately returning to HK. On the HK side of Lowu, they've opened up a Starbucks... it must have been there for a while now, but I never got a chance to actually buy anything from there, until now...

A winning combination: Sausage Roll & Mocha Valencia!!

Shenzhen was literally within a stone's throw away!

Where else can you enjoy Starbucks straddling the border of HK and China? Unfortunately there's only one way to access this location, so the next time you come back down from the Mainland, be sure to check out the Border Starbucks!

GERRARD!

2006-11-02T01:54:00.000+08:00

FINALLY he scored his first goal this season...

clip is not in English but it's the best I've found on youtube so far. Besides, football is a universal language :)

ps. this is officially "my first Steven Gerrard goal since hopping on the Liv'pool wagon!"

6 minutes from '06

2006-11-01T21:44:00.000+08:00

While looking for Gerrard's goal against Bordeaux, I found this video compiling some of the best goals from World Cup 2006. Lahm & Frings in the opener, Gerrard's left foot, Joe Cole, Maxi Rodriguez just to name a few... all crackers!!!

Something Smells Fishy

2006-10-26T22:06:00.000+08:00

...because it WAS fish! This restaurant I went to tonight is famous for fish... they had a chef out by the aquarium tanks whose sole job was to slaughter the fish.

Overall quite yum, but you would enjoy it more if you were a fish fan-

bottom left: fish skin (yes! skin... an acquired taste). thick, "crispy" and chewy, with tons of garlic, cilantro, ginger, etc.

top left: deep fried fish balls (leng yue) with the clam sauce (greyish matter seen at bottom right corner)

top right: big pot of fish heads fried with ginger, green onion, ginger, garlic, etc.

We had three additional dishes after this... veggies, sweet & sour pork, and some steamed rice rolls.

Good meal overall, restaurant was a bit noisy ("China style") but would definitely go back again. Only downside? Make sure you carry lots of gum/mints or brush your teeth for 10 minutes afterwards!

My home...

2006-10-20T01:59:00.000+08:00

... for the next few days (daytime only).

It's been a while

2006-10-18T10:15:00.000+08:00

For the one (or two) who have refreshed me daily for the last two months, no doubt you'll know I've been slack and neglectful towards blogspot. A lot has happened during the past couple months... most notably over at the The Arcade: Sal, Michelle, and Ryan all had their taste of success, but one-by-one they made way for the eventual champion gua. (I had a brief stint on the comback trail, and now threaten mrpard's 3rd place with 6 trophies)

So... this morning I saw what I thought was a mis-print on a side of a bus:

Can't spot it eh? (I had the resolution on my 838Pro camera set too low.) The print said "www.harbour-plaza.com./hpme". I thought the extra "." after the com would throw my browser off, but little did I know - it works just as well with the extra period.

Don't believe me? Try it for yourself:
http://www.harbour-plaza.com./hpme
http://www.harbour-plaza.com/hpme

Is that amazing, or what? ;-)

One last picture that resembles a family portrait: a couple of weeks ago, some high school friends and I managed to get together and have dinner in TST. It's hard to believe it's been 10 years!

French Toast

2006-08-22T15:37:00.000+08:00

We have some of the best French Toast here in Hong Kong... between the peanut butter spread, sweet condensed milk, deep fried bread, I thought I had seen it all.

But this was a first... vegetables on F.T! Yes, the restaurant garnished it with green pepper, tomato, and onion.

I don't think my buddy ate them together...

O Canada!

2006-08-05T13:43:00.000+08:00

Sheer awesomeness - especially if you are Canadian. But like Simmons says, "if your goose bumps aren't getting goose bumps during this clip, then you might possibly be a cyborg."

How can you beat these fans? Seriously, how? Just an amazing clip. My favorite part is when they show the Ducks goalie laughing in sheer delight, like he's thinking to himself, "Crap, why do I have to play in Anaheim?"

Check out the latest Bill Simmons mailbag for more Youtube anthem videos. You don't want to miss them, trust me. (scroll to the bottom of the link)

Yuan

2006-07-29T22:25:00.000+08:00

The yuan is the basic unit of currency in China.

I had to travel to China earlier this week, which is never a pleasant experience because I need to wake up before 6:30am (cross the border by ~8am). For those that don't know me, I am the absolute antithesis of the "morning person", so it puts me in excruciating pain everytime I try to wake up that early.

Anyhow, once we were in the car travelling into "inner" China (in reality only 1.5 hours from Lowu, which is peanuts in the vastness of China), we noticed there were tons of scattered yuan bills on the road.

At first we thought they were counterfeit bills, but then we noticed Chinamen with huge smiles in obvious excitement picking the bills up. The yuan bills were just *there* -- laying on the ground, waiting to be picked up, scattered over 10-20km of roads leading out of Shenzhen.

We estimated roughly 1000 dollars worth and concluded that some evil person had obtained these fresh & crisp bills and decided to play a game of experimentation.

Here is an actual "yuan" bill we picked up.

He looks comfortable doesn't he?

What's happening over there?

2006-07-24T22:00:00.000+08:00

That was the view from my room last night and yes, it did turn out to be a mini-fire. No serious injuries reported, but only after looking at the photo carefully did I notice the building's power had gone out. Apparently as of this morning power was still out!

Hands

2006-07-14T02:11:00.000+08:00

Football players at the end of matches (or when they get substituted) like to clap their hands above their heads. Now picture hundreds of these hands clapping directly in front of you as you try to watch a concert...

... that's what it was like watching CP.

Didn't mind the 45+ minute wait so much, even though it was rather ridiculous the delay was approaching one hour... but the moment they came on stage, I knew there was trouble when everyone stood onto their chairs. This all happened within 5 seconds: 2 seconds to move from sitting to standing position, then another 3 seconds before everyone moved from standing to standing on chair.

When all was said and done, after 1.5 hours of standing, I felt exhausted physically - obviously due to not being able to sit - but also from my efforts in:

trying to enjoy the music. It was, afterall, COLDPLAY! (a band that we were prepared to fly to Japan to see)
1a. trying to enjoy the concert with sal and jerms - whose giraffe-like height definitely gave him an edge tonight!
moving my head left and right, peeking in between the spaces allotted by the couple in front of us. they liked to move/dance/sway back and fro.
thinking to myself every 5 minutes "is this really happening? we are standing on chairs? in a Coldplay concert?"

If everyone is going to stand, why have the chairs at all? I reckon the event organizers (Livenation) did not take this into account. Or maybe they DID and decided to sell everyone a seat anyway. Afterall, this is HK, where everyone expects to be given something tangible (e.g. a seat) after purchasing something. [on second thought, if Black Eyed Peas can have standing room, why couldn't CP? hmm.]

Would have thought the side balcony seats would fare better, but I've heard mixed messages from friends seated there. Overall, I feel we could have done just as well (if not better) with the $380 seats at the very, very back of the arena.

I also just learned that Chris Martin:

used disposeable cameras to take pictures of the crowd, then threw (the cameras) into the front rows
ran to the back of the arena during the encore's and had security chasing after him (!?)

Of course we saw none of this during the concert, nor had we the slightest idea that this happened.

Anyway, here are some pics of the night.

started full of expectation...

... but soon replaced by this view

side seats - did they really have a better view?

lighting effects were amazing

best view of THEM all night

best view of the stage all night!

Bottom line - I was fully expecting to be amazed and blown away, but instead walked away with my dreams shattered and a feeling that I was robbed...

Rimowa

2006-07-07T21:08:00.000+08:00

Have just finished a week manning a booth at the Summer Sourcing Show, where traffic is noticeably slower than the April or October fairs. Some say it's not worth going to such a small show... but my theory is that you never know, there just might be that ONE customer that gives you good business.

the SSS was "here"... can you find the turtle shell?

One of my favorite parts of the show is the live bands they have at the end of the day. They literally serenade you out as you leave, and the quality of music is always quite high. They should start setting up chairs and serving drinks!

live jazz band on the way out!

Back to football: I read an article by the funny and brilliant Bill Simmons -- on why he is a World Cup fan, but not a soccer fan. Here's one of his 10 reasons:

"If you're a Nazi war criminal who escaped the Allied forces after WWII, who do you root for tomorrow: Germany, who propelled you to the top of their system, or Argentina, who took you in and helped hide your crimes against humanity?"

(Here's the full article for those who are interested.)

If there's one thing I've learned this World Cup, it's this: football is awesome! Why the heck was I never interested in it before? I have no idea really, but I'm looking forward to receiving my new PSP (thanks sal!) so that I can play Winning Eleven and hone my skills and tactics. Someday, I may even tackle Championship Manager (no pun intended).

In addition, I am considering joining the approximately 3 million Hong Kong'ers who are into "club football" such as the EPL, Spanish or Italian leagues -- although with the recent scandals in Italy, I should probably steer clear of the latter for now. But how does one go about picking a favorite club? Do I just do it in a completely random process? Hmm. Since no one in HK ever talks about the Bundesliga, I am considering that as a starting point since my name... nudges me to do so.

Germany-Argentina in progress (you can't tell)
- what a match it was

same venue, daylight view. (Yes, that IS Janet Jackson!)

And finally, we get to RIMOWA. They have a branch near our work place: white interior, with several silver/aluminum suitcases in the window display, illuminated by a eerie blue glow. I never paid any attention to them, but they happen to be a German luggage/storage manufacturer.

I actually passed by one Rimowa store this morning inside the convention centre, and thought "who in their right mind would want to own such an odd-looking, high-class suitcase?" (in those exact words)

Ironic that after casually passing by the TST E branch this evening, I was instantly intrigued after seeing the following photo:

"I can be just like them!"
(exact thoughts)

When I next get the chance, I will be checking out a Rimowa. I never thought it, but endorsements do work!

PS. Podolski has been named this World Cup's most outstanding young player!

...

2006-07-05T05:33:00.000+08:00

So much for that theory :(

Italy were the better team in extra time, but to lose with 1 minute left... sigh. Heck of a shot by Grosso though.

The sun is coming out, that means back to bed for another 3 hours or so.

Extra Time

2006-07-05T05:01:00.000+08:00

Within the first 3 minutes of extra time, Italy have hit the post AND the crossbar.

If Germany should win, that would move us closer to the 54*74-1990 rule...

so-long Ronaldo

2006-07-03T13:02:00.000+08:00

Wayne's out to get revenge, and who can blame him?

I'll split him in two!

Monday morning

2006-07-03T10:09:00.000+08:00

Lonely lonely lonely monday morning
And I didn’t have no company
Alright alright yeah
Lonely lonely lonely monday morning
Informer dem pon every corner
Oh yeah yeah yeah alright yeah

2006

2006-07-02T05:08:00.000+08:00

And so it is set - the all-European showdown.

Germany-Italy
Portugal-France

Just remember: 54 x 74 - 1990 = this year's champs!

The Answer

2006-06-28T21:48:00.000+08:00

After racking my brain (occasionally) for the past couple of days, I think the answer is pretty simple.

The above assumes

a) we started with 6 tickets between the 3 of us (true)
b) the bar started with 80 tickets total (cannot be verified)

And there you have it: the chances were almost one-thousandth of a percent...

Statistics 101

2006-06-27T00:03:00.000+08:00

As TVUPlayer shows Italy and Australia in the sweltering heat in Kaiserslautern, I want to show off a little prize I got at a bar last night in TST.

(note the team that's front and center)

Just a normal nerf ball by any other standards... but what's funny is that my oldest sister Winnie also won the same ball. The bar had a "lucky draw" at the end of the ENG-ECU match (Beckham's free kick was just beeeaauuuuutiful, btw).

They drew 4 tickets in this order:

Avis - "grand prize" bottle of red wine (imported from Germany, of course)
Me - soccer ball
AVIS AGAIN! - he was denied his second-straight prize since he had just won one 90 seconds earlier
Winnie - soccer ball

Isn't that creepy? I mean, there were probably 40 or so people in the bar at the time... assuming each person had 2 tickets in the pot (from 2 alcoholic drinks purchased), then the probability of 4 consecutive draws from our table would be something like 0.000003%. I'm sure this can be calculated somehow from permutations and combinations, but I have retained absolutely nothing from my university stats/discrete math courses. Just goes to show, cramming is not healthy.

What's in a name?

2006-06-26T17:58:00.000+08:00

All the good names, i.e. xxxxxx.blogspot.com have been taken up, so that must mean I am 20 years late to the blogging party. So here I am, stuck with the name kaitech.blogspot.com a.k.a. bun stuff.

Kaiser is actually a German word that means "emperor" and is derived from the Roman word "Cesar". I don't have an ounce of German blood in me, yet I happen to have a strange attachment of sorts to all things from there, with the exception of giant German sausages.

Kaiser also means...

hospital from California (Kaiser-Permanente)
a bun (look up and to your right)
the devil (Keyser Soze)

So, for the World Cup... what better way to increase karma to the German team by writing about my "German roots"?

By the way, Germany's top two strikers, Klose and Podolski, are Polish.