Butterfly Effect

I woke up today and opened my browser to surf the web like I always do. Then I realized I can't really open any of the regular chinese websites that I check. grrr!! At first I thought maybe there is a crackdown on chinese websites or something, cause you know how paranoid they are. But then I opened up google and found out THIS happened! I almost forget how internet gets from one continent for another. You think that a random earthquake in Asia can't possibly affect you in any meaningful way until you can't open up those 3 website that you check every day. I feel bad for the people over there. :(

ETA: yay, 1 inch of snow today. It better not freeze.

Pure Pwnage

Pure Pwnage: This link was sent to me while I was catching up with some old friends from college. It is a internet tv show made by some Canadian students that is a funny look at the life of a Pro Gamer, complete with a Ninja master, evil gamers, love and betrayal and lots of Pwnage. The filmmaker is a Phy student and the guy who plays the main character Jeremy is a real life pro gamer. Apparently this is pretty popular on the internet, after going through the website I realized that my next door co worker dude wears the "I pwn noobs" t shirt sometimes. Now I finally know why hahhaa. For all you lovely WoW people, there are some pretty funny stuff on Episode 6 and Episode 7.

More interesting gift ideas

This will also provide you with hours of amusement, if you can afford 400 dollar price and have stuff to feed it. There is just something perversely fascinating about putting two dancing barbies in there and see it go.

caught nasty cold bug today so feel kind of miserable. But yayness for 4 day weekend. Happy Holidays everyone!

interesting gift ideas.

spam sometimes gives one hours of amusement. I received this one today from Equifax that starts off with

"The holidays are almost here! If you're stuck for last minute gift ideas, why not give an Equifax Gift Certificate? There's still time to purchase this thoughtful gift for a special someone, empowering them to understand their credit health – it's the gift that keeps on giving."

Which seems normal enough until you figure out that Equifax is a credit report company. They give you your credit rating for a price. So really what does that say when you give someone a gift certificate from Equifax? That you are suspicious of their financials?

Granado Espada

Found an email in my inbox today that is a sign up for closed beta for Granado Espada. I almost forgot I looked at this a long time ago. It is a new Korean MMORPG that came out last year. I guess they are finally ready to introduce it to Westerners. Velius tells that it will probably end up being the same old grinding experience Korean games usually are. but but.. it looks soo pretty! Besides, what other mmorpg is set in the 17th century? we will see how it goes.

The Great Christmas Blackout of 2006 Part III: Shady dealings and Spending Money

One of the annoying side effects of spending all one's time at the mall is that one tends to collect various completely unnecessary things throughout the day. After spending two days at the mall, I have managed to "collect" a nice shirt, 2 pair of pants, one very pretty scarf and other unmentionables, not to mention the 3 movies I saw while M was out on her date. It is a good thing that power came back on cause I had my eye on that 200 dollar coat for collecting also.

Of course, no amount of collecting can possibly top the exorbant amount of money I spent in buying my dear car. I already had this dealer lined up and price almost bargained down last week. This Saturday was suppose to be the day the deal is done. I figure I should at least go take a look and see if they are open, and yes they are open and no they have no power. M at this time was incredibly stressed out about the car, more so even than me so she insisted on getting it over with. We sat down in the dark and cold dungeon..I mean dealership and started haggling with a new guy since the our old dealer couldn't make it. You'd think, sitting in an room without heat and light and no computers would make the process faster and painless but of course not. We ended up arguing back and forth over two hundred bucks for an hour before the dealer finally relented, pretending to tell us that we got a great buy and it only happened because of the blackout. Right... I have this bridge I can sell you too, a powerless one. Since the computer was not working, we had to do everything by real paper.. gasp.. As I was signing my purchase agreement, i noticed that my finger was bleeding a littel from being out in the cold and lacking moisturizers (note to self, put on moisturizer before signing away entire savings). So basically the piece of paper got smeared and I signed the sheet in my blood. The dealer seems remarkably unimpressed by it, they must see that alot.

So Saturday turned out to be the day in my life where I spent the most money all in one day.

Great Christmas Blackout of 2006 part II: catfight at Barnes and Nobles

It is hard to imagine what people did for fun in the 18th century, before radio, tv and of course internet. Fortunately our measly fireplace is still working (thank god for Gas). What can you do in candlelight? M gotten so bored she has taken up knitting, she is on her way to a pair of warm socks, just in time for Spring I think.

I dabbled a little on the piano like a good 18th century girl. It was all pleasant and quiet and ..... PLEASE BRING BACK THE INTERNET!!!

Having decided that cellphones needed charging, we decided to go to the only powered Barnes and Nobles in a 30 mile radius. When we got there, it seems everyone else had the same idea. Every single plug in there and the starbucks next door is taken (they were also giving out free coffee over there, very popular). So I watched like a hawk for an opening and AHa, there is one! There was a plug where there is only a charger with no phone attached. Well it is MINE. I just took off the charger and put it aside and plugged in my phone when this furious girl decided to come by and yell at me for removing her charging from "her" plug. Well Excuse me!! *Snap* (well that would have worked better if I didn't look 15 and totally nonthreatening). I calmly explained to her that she doesn't own the plug and I ain't taking my phone out. So after going back and forth a while, we agreed that I should have 10 minutes, I really only agreed to get her to go away (really). M, meanwhile, has already sneaked away looking for another plug, because of course she is infinitely more wise than me as she is fond of reminding me everyday. She found one by the bathroom in 2 minutes flat so we quietly stole away, I very evilly hoped that while I was gone, some other poor soul will find that plug and then having no idea of our 10 minutes arrangement, cellphone girl would have to give it up. muhahhahah!! *cough cough*. So that ends my cellphone battle.

The Great Christmas Blackout of 2006 Part 1: Stranded

You know that is how the news media going to word the headlines, either that or something along the lines of "post-apocalyptic experience in the NW". There is nothing like a good power outage to bring people the realization of our dependence on electricity. One wonders what will happen when something like a solar flare destroys the eletrcial grid of North American continent. Will life just halts? Something to think about.

We had a huge wind storm (didn't know such things existed) on Thursday, Dec 14th. The weatherman ranted about 40 mph winds. I went to bed like a perfectly normal day and woke up to .... nothing. No lights, no heat, no tv and most importantly no internet. I figure well, it will come back in a couple of hours (HA!). I decided to go to work. There MUST be power at work ( and internet). Fortunately, the bus came on time which is sure indicator of the normalcy of life. I decided to call the shuttle service at work just to check if they are open but they are perpetually busy. hmm... It also doesn't help that the bus had to make 5 detours around trees and down powerlines and skipped half its stop.

I started to get a little anxious but what can you do? I am on the last bus out so I am basically stuck until 6 pm at night where the bus starts running back towards my house in the boonies. I got to work, the first thing saw is this guy I know walking back towards the bus stop. He helpfully informed me that there are no power at work and to go home. Home, that place where there is no heat and no internet? Not to mention no bus. To add insult to injury I realized my cellphone battery is dead. So I am stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no phone, and can't go home either. What to do? what to do?

Well, like all good old Americans that are in a bind and need some place to go, I decided to go to the mall. There is gonna be light and heat at the mall! (and internet). So I hopped on the next bus (which is still running remarkably on schedule, hats off to them) to downtown Bellevue, where the biggest mall is. By then, I realized, that there is basically no power on the entire east side of county, so the trip to downtown Bellevue took 3 hours instead of 15 as we crawled through intersection after intersection without traffic lights. I must give another mention to how wonderful Americans are at following traffic rules. If this happened in China, this is what would have happened:

But instead, everyone moved in perfect calmness and order.

After three hours I am there!! I am saved.. except.. there was no power at mall, or downtown Bellevue for that matter except for this 2 block radius that amazingly, contained a restaurant, a movie theatre and some really expensive shops that nobody goes to! So I ended up watching The Fountain, which turned out not to be the romantic epic film with Hugh Jackman like they advertised but some weird psychedelic film about death and some tree. Highly disappointed.

I was finally able to catch a express bus home around 6 pm, of course everything is pitch dark by then, and I ended up calling M using the bus driver's phone. He took pity on me after seeing how have to climb through the dark hill for 40 minutes to get back to my 30 degree house so I can sleep. M of course has been at an office party all this time since they have power in downtown Seattle. grr. Just to end my perfect day, she arrived home 2 minutes after I climbed into my house and found a flashlight so I can show her way in. -_-!