The last piece of furniture (TV shelf) arrived last weekend, and I’m happy to announce that my move from North Point to Sheung Wan is completed! It’s been two weeks now and I am loving it every day:

• Much more space. Two bedrooms (one used for study/closet) and a proper kitchen.
• Walk to work. Only takes me 18 minutes to walk to office, all downhill plus the enjoyment of art galleries along Hollywood Road.
• Friendly neighbourhood. Excellent management by TWGH, door-to-door laundry delivery, plenty of eatery around and found out that many friends are close by!
• Close to my sister (Happy Birthday Peggy!). It only takes 10 minute to go up to Bonham Road.

There is a park nearby and I plan to take my new bike for a ride after I return from Shanghai next Tuesday. Now off for Latte Buffet at Cafe Corridor!

Back from a short 2-day trip to the Sheraton Huizhou Beach Resort with family over the past weekend.

Huizhou is the city where my dad works, so he somehow got to learn about this “new” resort and decided to try it out. Well, it’s really new. So “new” that half of the resort looks like a construction site!

There is no beach, no outdoor pool, no golf course, no tennis court … we couldn’t even go out to the garden because the trees all fell down after the typhoon.

Series of ridiculous things at the resort:

• A small pack of 4-finger Kit Kat in the mini bar in our room is priced at RMB 68!
• RMB 50 per hour for table tennis. Fine, but the table is placed right next to the indoor swimming pool. Imagine picking up the ball from the water after every rally. Additional exercises?
• RMB 400 per hour for mahjong. After negotiations, we got two hours for the same price. But still, this price is outrageous. For the same price, you get dinner included with the mahjong room in HK.
• Only one restaurant (InAzia) was open on Saturday, so we had to put up with the so-called “Fusion” dishes that were tasteless and overpriced (around RMB 150 per head). Luckily I picked a Hainan Chicken Rice.
• The air-conditioning throughout the whole resort was minimal, not sure if it was malfunctioning or they just want to save energy. Feel like a green house every where.
• RMB 680 for a 60-min so-so quality body massage in their Spa.
• RMB 100 per hour for tennis court, plus another RMB 100 for one can of balls (3). Of course I didn’t play, their courts were still filled with cracks and trashes.

Their “official opening” is scheduled for late September. I don’t really know how they could pull this off! At least their team of staff is well-mannered and helpful. Unless they offer me a free stay I wouldn’t consider going there again.

One thing I did enjoy: watching the Olympics on local CCTV channels. Professional commentary from top athletes - less all the nonsense crap we have with TVB/ATV in Hong Kong.

Hello from Stanley! After several hours of tennis, basketball, swimming and BBQ, we had a walk around the campus and now playing card games at the North House Hostel. The seafood at BBQ is tasty!

This weekend I will be going back to my mother school St. Stephen’s College with my sister and brother for the Annual Homecoming organized by the Alumni Association. We are all graduates of SSC so it’d be a lot of fun to go back and experience the school life again!

After a dim sum lunch today, we will go swimming and play badminton, followed by BBQ near the Chapel at night. Tomorrow I’d like to have a breakfast at my beloved “Dai Pai Dong” 泗益, and hopefully would be able to exercise more. I’ve never stayed in the hostel in school before so I’m really excited!!

We were so worried about the weather the night before the wedding, but none of us would have imagined that it turned out to be SO BAD. A record-breaking rainstorm brought chaos and caused widespread flooding and dozens of landslides throughout Hong Kong. Our morning schedule was delayed for two hours as a result, many of the crew, relatives and friends couldn’t get to Repulse Bay on time and a few didn’t make it at all.

Nonetheless, our prayers were answered. The Black Rainstorm Warning Signal changed to Red at 11 a.m., then very quickly to Amber by 11:30 a.m. As soon as we finished lunch, the rain miraculously stopped! There were only a few drizzles at the ceremony and the evening banquet was successfully held outdoor without any rain. Every one had a great time and we couldn’t ask for more! Thanks to every one who came and helped make this wedding possible! Once again, congratulations to Peggy and Ricky and I wish them the best!

Selected photos by photographer

(The rest of the photos will be available around two weeks later)

Great food, great night at Outback Steakhouse, Wanchai. Manchester United went on to win the Champions League Finals, it’s surely a day for celebration!

Just a month to go! Congratulations to my dearest sister! Check out their Wedding Website for details. The venue (Repulse Bay) is a fantastic one as I’ve just been there for a friend’s wedding last month. If the weather is fine (I pray it’ll be!), we’d definitely have a great time!

After winning the APEGBC Young Professional Award last year, my good friend Stella has made it to the cover of the Journal of the Association of Professional Engineers & Geoscientists of BC! Congratulations again!

The part about “cold-calling” engineering firms when she couldn’t find a job after graduation is interesting. I never thought that such a shy, mild-speaking Stella would do that!

For any one seeking for a job or pay rise out there, I believe there are two very important things you could learn from her experience:

“We knew she was very intelligent, but she came across as very positive and we were also looking for someone who would be loyal, and who could listen and adapt to the office culture.” - Jack Lee, VP of Operations & the interviewer.

“It is her enthusiasm which is amazing to me. She is always upbeat, even when doing things that may seem mundane to most engineers.” - Warren, the Mentor.

Being well-educated and intelligent is not enough. A candidate with a positive, committed and enthusiastic attitude is hard to come by. If one could show these traits, it’d be simply irresistible.

Download the story (PDF, 412Kb)

Determined to resist my dream phone until it comes to Hong Kong “officially”, I had no choice but to get another phone today after my P1i was lost yesterday. The feeling of being without a mobile phone was not too unfamiliar with my vast experience but still very hard to take. Note that I now live alone without a land line phone, so I was completely unreachable for a whole day until I got the replacement SIM card and new phone this afternoon.

What did I get? I was in a rush and didn’t have any mood to shop around. So I just went to a small shop near my home and got whatever SE model that fits my bill. My requirements: Sony Ericsson (best compatibility with iSync), Bluetooth (so I could sync/transfer files wirelessly), the best looking one below HK$2,000. So here it is - Sony Ericsson W580i (pink).

As I remember this is the first time I get a “pink” phone. Well, other colors (white/black) look a bit dull and this pink isn’t that cheesy (not Hello Kitty pink). Besides, it doesn’t cost more than the white/black ones.

When I returned home, the first thing I did was to pair it up with my Mac using bluetooth and launched iSync. Unexpectedly, it isn’t supported by iSync. I didn’t panic this time, because I am pretty sure that it could be synced with some kind of third party plugins. Just one google search landed me a few free plug-ins that make iSync play nice with W580i. Saved me US$3 with more purchase with Feisar. But heck, that US$3 saving can’t help much with my HK$3,700 P1i lost …

Last but not least, happy birthday to my dear friend Andrew! We had a great buffet at Cyberport tonight and it was so fun talking to THREE walking tennis databases at the same time!

Kung Hey Fat Choy! Wish every one a very happy New Year of Rat! 2008 is special, not only it’s a Olympic Year (hosted by our country), there’re also many celebratory events to come: my sister is getting married, my dad is turning sixty (yes, he’s a Rat!) and my little business is turning 5th!

It’s been crazy for the past two weeks, working my ass off at work but hopefully it’d bring fruitful results very soon. Although we lost in the WIF 2008 Pre-Selections the depression only lasted for a day. There’s so much to do and so little time to grieve!

Chinese New Year is a pretty routine business for me every year, except this year I no longer live with my family and there’s a lot of commuting to do. I do miss the old days when my dad woke me up in the bed with his red pocket money!

As usual, I’ve scheduled the rest of the time to catch up my work and play tennis. It’s so cold these days and I got myself an electronic under-blanket so that I could sleep well, finally. But that doesn’t help my freezing fingers when I type on this computer, any idea?