[Blog] To Switch or Not To Switch?

Should I switch over to the Blogger Beta now? or I should wait until they force us to do so? (Are they going to force us to switch?)

That’s just about the whole blog, switching to the new (and improved?) Blogger system. But I guess I should really decide on what I should do with this space, as currently the reading rate is still very low and the reply rate is next to zero.

On the chinese website I did before, I faced the same problem. I just don’t know how to get more people to come to read my stuff, or even just to visit and get the page hit number goes up. I know it has everything to do with the content, but how can they judge if it’s good (or bad…) content if they don’t even come here to read it? (or view it…whatever.)

Anyway, just fed up at work, that’s all.

Oh, to the people (or person) that is subscribed to this blog, please take the link of your RSS feed program. Because once I did the switch, Blogger will repost all post here and will probably flush your RSS feed list. (It probably won’t affect anyone anyway, I guess people just comes by and read it once in a while.)

P.S.
– fed up at work, cuz some “temp" here is just being rude/dumb/stupid/crazy/ignorant.
– I guess I should update the template.
– using IE7 now, and this page won’t show up right…
– FF2.0 seems better, but the IE poison is so deep in my vein…
– how’s the censorship here in blogger? none what-so-ever? anyone knows?

[Cooking] Kimchi Chinese Chives Pork Liver Stir-fry + XO Sauce Bean Shoots

Wednesday night, no one at home again!? Oh well, gotta cook my own dinner again, but last night dinner already used up everything in the fridge. Fine, a trip to the supermarket then, after all I have decided what to cook tonight when I was at work. A quick stop to the nearest SM and I’m all set.

Watched a Japanese tv show long time ago, in the show they showed a dish that is full of vitamin B, which can help to boost up your stamina/vigorousness?? Anyway, it sounds perfect for me, because I’m always tired.

Kimchi Chinese Chives Pork Liver Stir-fry

Ingredients:
Kimchi (one bowl, actually it’s I have left with.)
Chinese Chives (cut into about 1 inch in length.)
Pork Liver (use about half of it should be enough, but I don’t know what should I do with the rest, so I used all of it. oh, don’t slice it too thin, 1cm should be good.)
Pork meat (wanted to get some belly meat, but the pre-sliced ones are all gone, only the big block is there. So I ended up using the ones for Hotpot.)
Korean Hot Sauce, Sesame Oil and some Szechwan Peppercorn.

1. Heat the Oil in the pan, add Liver and Meat in it.
2. once the color of the liver changes, add Chinese Chives and Kimchi.
3. Crush the Peppercorn and add a little is enough, it’s to get rid of the smell of the liver.
4. add the Hot sauce in, but it’s quite sweet and very easy to burn, so mix it with little water before adding it in.
5. once the sauce thickens, serve it up~ (Liver can’t cook for too long, remember that.)

A dish full of meat and intestine, gotta have some vegetable, add some “fiber", or else…

XO Sauce Bean Shoots

Ingredients:
Bean Shoots (not those Bean sprouts, it’s green.)
XO Sauce (LKK Brand. quite expensive, and I could have cook it myself, the ingredients ain’t all that special anyway.)

1. Add 1 Tbsp of the Sauce (with the oil) into the pan and heat it up.
2. rinse the Bean shoots, and add it in.
3. stir-fry it a while, add some water and cover it to cook for a minute.

That’s it~ if you don’t really want to fry it, you can cook the bean shoots in boiling water and then mix in the sauce before you serve.

Cooking for one person is not easy. If you make one dish, it seems not enough. But if you cook two dish, there will be left overs. Gotta think of a way to change this.

P.S. – Spent whole day at work reading comics.
– I know DN released long time ago, I know I’m not “IN"
– I wish I have one.
– PIII 733 @ 133Mhz is pretty good, it should able to run W2K.
– 128Mb of RAM sucks. but for NT4 should be quite good already, right?
– C72606

[Cooking] Kimchi Chinese Chives Sliced Lamb Stir-fry + Shrimp Omelette

No one at home on Tuesday night, guess I’ll have to cook my own dinner then.
Found some Kimchi, some Chinese chives. Defrost some sliced lamb meat from the pack ready for hotpot, dig up some sauces, and so, a dish is decided.

Kimchi Chinese Chives Sliced Lamb Stir-fry

Ingredients:
Kimchi (approx. 1 bowl)
Chinese Chives (cut into about 1 inch in length)
Sliced Lamb (since it’s already sliced to use in hotpot, just defrost it and set it aside)
Green Onion (can be cut similar as the Chinese Chives, or chopped into fine pieces)
Korean style hot sauce (depending on the sweetness of the sauce, approx 1 tbsp)
and some Oil (Sesame seed oil or Vegetable oil)

1. Add some oil into the pan. once the oil is heated, add the Sliced Lamb.
2. Cook until the meat fully changes colour. (Brown or No more red is seen on the surface of the meat) Add the Chinese Chives.
3. Add Kimchi, Green Onion and the hot sauce into the pan. (If the hot sauce is too sweet, add some chili powder and soy sauce to adjust the flavour)
(Add a little bit of water to the pan if it’s starts to sticks to the bottom, but don’t add too much or else it will become a stew.)
4. Mix everything together, it’s done when everything is well heated.

Done! This should be enough for one person. (or more than enough?!) But since I’m cooking anyway, and I found that 1 dish only is “just too bland". So I decided to cook another dish, with the de-shelled de-veined shrimp and egg.

Shrimp Omelette?

Ingredients:
Shrimp (approx. 15 pieces, shell removed and deveined)
Eggs (5 should do it, less if the eggs are big)
Japanese soup base (or was it really flavoured soy sauce?) that is flavoured with bonito flakes (or some simple soy sauce would do)
Shallot (a little is enough)

1. Heat some Sesame oil, and put the shallot and stir-fry them for a while.
2. Shrimp goes in.
3. Eggs, Beat them up! Add some soup base(??) and mix well. Add them into the pan when the Shrimp changes colour. (Let the eggs starts to set and make sure they coat the Shrimp.)

All Done!

The reason why I wrote this post, was because if someday I have to be the “cook" of the house, I would have some kind of reference. If I don’t write these down, I’ll probably forget about them the next day or so.

P.S. – Took me more than 2 hours to write this.
– Haven’t updated for quite some time.
– Wii are good, PS3 is just too expensive.
– should just sleep more.
– anyone still uses Windows NT 4.0?
– C72506.

Big Bug in Google

This is probably the biggest bug ever in Google Map and probably the biggest bug ever existed on the surface of Earth.

Click the link below to have a look. (Beware of Bug!)
Google Map Bug

Pretty scary, eh?

If Google Map got edited or for whatever reason you can’t see this, please click the below link to view the screen shot in my flickr account.
http://static.flickr.com/85/259508344_b7ba148ad2.jpg

The Departed – What? The Retarded?

As you read the title, you would go “WHAT?!" and probably think that I’m retarded (If you happen to love the film or the Director) or I’m actually sane (If you love the original movie – The WuJianDao / Infernal affairs.)
Well, this post is not to discuss what my current mental state is. I’m here to talk about this movie. The Departed.
I’m not saying Martin Scorsese has anything to do with the word “retarded". NO! This word just came to my mind when I first heard about the name of the movie. I was like “huh?! Retarded??" and thinks what are weird name for this Imported version of the movie.
After I read the comment on IMDB, the user Alwood said:

Please don’t make negative comments like some of the aforementioned people have been doing if you haven’t seen the film yet! I have seen it, at a press screening last week. Not only is it the best film of the year so far, it marks a return to form for Martin Scorsese, and ranks with the likes of GOODFELLAS as being one of the best in his canon of films.

I’m a fan of the Hong Kong film, INFERNAL AFFAIRS, upon which this is based. While THE DEPARTED keeps the basic structure of the original, it is very much its own movie, so much so that the screenwriter, William Monahan, didn’t even watch the original film while adapting its screenplay, thus enabling him to infuse the script with his, and Scorsese’s, respective visions.

All the actors are first-rate (yes, even Leo, for all you DiCaprio bashers out there), and turn in some of their best performances to date. THE DEPARTED is sure to garner a host of Oscar nods, if not wins, including (hopefully) Scorsese’s long-overdue statuette for Best Director. Plus, with actors like Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin playing supporting roles, that says a lot about the quality of the film they signed up for! THE DEPARTED is tough stuff, not for the faint-of-heart. That said, it is a must-see for adult viewers who long for intelligent, gritty stories to grace our movie screens once again.

Well, I personally don’t know how good Martin Scorsese or William Monahan are. Then again, this post is not to discuss about William Monahan(may be not even Martin Scorsese). But just a little note, by not watching the original and goes ahead to “translate" the story is just wrong. Since you are working off from someone’s idea, why not watch it and make sure you can improve on it? Or may be trying to make an exact duplicate and then say:"I didn’t watch the original and it just happen that I wrote the same thing." Yeah, right. It’s just the same as “I didn’t copy XXX’s homework/test/exam/assignment/etc. , it just happens that we did the same thing/mistake/error/etc." Yeah, right. I’m sure teachers from all over the world has heard something like that before in their long long teaching career.

The main reason that triggers me to write this post is that, after watching all the available trailer and related material on the movie’s website, it gets me thinking. Just how much did Leonardo DiCaprio or Matt Damon or Mark Wahlberg knows about the original movie. Did they know that the ORIGINAL idea was from the Hong Kong movie Wu Jian Dao (Infernal affairs)??? And has anyone of them ever got a chance (or willing) to watch the original?! Or they are all so f***ing arrogant that everything that is from America is the best, even if they copy?!
(Now, don’t come and shout at me saying I know nothing…yet.)

If not, why they all praised Martin Scorsese? To the extent that even they know it’s a next-to-exact remake of the original, they still say that he is great with his idea and all that? It’s just my feeling after watching the trailers, and compare it bit by bit with the original.

If you have watched or going to watch the original and the “The Departed", I’m sure you will find alot of the details are the same. Just one of the many things, in one of the scene, Leonardo’s character’s hand is in a cast. The cast will get broken to check to make sure Leonardo isn’t hiding some recording device in it. This is exactly the same as the original. If Martin Scorsese is so brilliant, why can’t he think of something good to replace that? Oops, that’s because Martin Scorsese is just the director, not the writer. No wonder they can only from someone’s idea. Well, then why would they all say Martin Scorsese has such a great idea to come up with this movie? I’m confused.

[FOOD] ICHIBAN @ New Kennedy Square

Let’s not talk about blog for a change. (YOU ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT!)

Back in July, I have attended a wedding of someone. Got so damn drunk and couldn’t drive home. Well, of course I didn’t drink and drive. I’m not that stupid. Getting myself killed is fine, but what if I hit someone or something? No No No…. {>_<}

Woke up the next day early(like 7 or 8am), and still feels a little bit dizzy. Sat on my bed and watched TV for a few hours, and then the hunger kicks in. Oh yeah, you will feel unbelievably hungry after you are drunk, and especially you threw up everything, including the lunch you had before you get drunk. (I wonder, how can I threw up so much?!)

Anyway, since I got some red pocket from the wedding, I decided to use them all up for lunch, hopefully this will help me recover. After checking how much money I got from the red pockets, and to compensate myself for not eating good food at the banquet. (Well, the banquet doesn’t have any good food IMO, so that’s why I drink so much wine.)

$40, What can I have?! Hmm… an idea comes to mind. Since it’s july, it’s summer time; Traditionally in Japan, people would eat BBQ Eel for ENERGY! Which is something I needed at the time. But just a BBQ Eel rice bowl doesn’t seems enough to compensate me for what happened, and it’s probably just $10, what am I gonna do with the rest of the money?! I have to get rid of it. (HEY, it’s not the money that you get from a funeral!! You don’t have to spent them all.)

So I ended up with: a box of BBQ Eel rice(big pieces of BBQ Eel, nice~), a box of sashimi (I believe they have 9 pieces? They are thick and fresh and tasty!), and a bento box with many things. Inside the bento box, it has 2 large shrimp tempura, some veggie tempura(sweet potato, cauliflower, zuchini, and mushroom?!), a small piece of deep fried item(I think it’s some veggie and pork meatball?!), and 7 or 8 pieces of charcoal grilled beef ribs!! (also rice and soup and salad.)

Of course I didn’t finish everything in 1 shot. Some of the stuff actually became my dinner for the day. For less than $40 you can have all these food and the quality is really good. They would actually give you more side dishes if you dine in there. (I was too dizzy and thinks that I better stay home for it.)

Ichiban is actually all over Toronto, and they are operated by different owner and their menus are different too. This particular one is located inside the plaza at the southwest corner of Kennedy Road and Highway 7.

Address: 8360 Kennedy Road, Unit B2, Markham, Ontario.
Tel: (905) 474-3677
Fax Order: (905) 474-1575

Let’s Blog – Yeah!

Spent all day (well..8:30 to 3:30…I would say that’s one day already) at work, trying to get my other blog working. Earlier today, one of my many blog server did something stupid and pixxxx off alot of people. Lucky for me is that I was “going to" pay for the membership fee there. So instead of fighting with weird minded blog server operator, I spent time working on getting a new blog to function better than the old one.

Life isn’t easy as we all know about it. I actually skipped lunch (I don’t plan to eat lunch anyway), and I totally forgot to get a glass of water. Hmm…I’m too into this blogging thing. Orz…

After a few hours trying out the Blogger beta service, I found that it’s not user friendly at all. (or I’m not a good user in some sense?) Why doesn’t it have a few more template for us to choose? and these template here now, are they made by the Blogger team or just someone from outside being nice and put some there? If it’s the latter, I wish Blogger team should work on some basic template. Ones that has nothing on, just simple title + sidebar + blogpost. (or may be title + left sidebar + Blog post + right sidebar??) May be a step-by-step wizard, guild people through setting up all the different things on the blog.

Well, may be it’s time for a Blogger for dummies book. (or it’s out there already? I don’t go to book store. =_=|||)

Lazy Lazy Me

Joe Normal
13 % Nerd, 21% Geek, 34% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.

This is not to say that you don’t have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you–we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren’t much of an outcast.

I’d say there’s a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.

Congratulations!

If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback!

Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you’re interested in any of the following:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Professional Wrestling

Love & Sexuality

America/Politics

Thanks Again! — THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Blogger – Helloooo~~ Anyone~~~~???

While reading this blog, found this song. Don’t know if anyone will actually come here and read this and listen to it. Anyway, here it goes.
This band from UK makes it,
http://sprites.org.uk/

powered by ODEO

Lyrics

I started a blog which nobody read.
When I went to work I blogged there instead.
I started a blog which nobody viewed it might be in cash but topics include….
George bush is a evil moron
What’s the story with revolving doors.
I am in love with the girl that doesn’t know I exist.
Nobody hates preppies any more.

– Musical Interlude –

I started a blog. But nobody came.
No issues were raised. No comments were made.
I started a blog which nobody read.
I’ll admit it wasn’t that great. But if you must know here is what is said…
100 of my favourite albums.
200 people I can’t take.
400 movies I would like to recommend.
10 celebrities, four of whom I might assassinate.

– Musical Interlude –

I started a blog. I sent you the link.
I wanted the world to know what I think.
I started a blog but when I read yours it made me forget what I had started mine for.

Jeff Cheung – Be Your Man (Mandarin)

While reading some blog during work time, (yes, I spent about 8 hours a day to read blogs all over the world.) (what 8 hours? you don’t work 8 hours a day. =_=) I read about this song. So first thing to do after work, I found this song and listen to it. OMG, it’s really touching and no wonder it’s called the “the most romantic marriage proposal song of year 2006″. Since I heard that there is a MV (Music Video) for it, so I go over to YOUTUBE and look for it. Here it goes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8ApSvyF8QY

If you don’t understand Mandarin, too bad. I tried to make a translation of the lyrics, but I don’t know how to translate the 2nd line. Oh well. Anyone wanna give it a try? (I did give it a try, but it sound so ridiculous, so…)