yikes, it's been for the better part of the week, but i can't fall asleep. it's really annoying. i'm writing right now because i can't fall asleep. my sleeping schedule has been a bit messed since last week. but you'd think with a couple of early mornings, and sleeping early, i'd be able to get back into the cycle. but i can't, i'm stuck here, in no where land, not completely awake and energetic, nor am i able to sleep like everyone else. i am very annoyed.... maybe something's on my heart because it does feel heavy... then again, maybe it was just the coffees i had this afternoon.
well, i am going to try and do something productive.... or maybe just watch a movie... but yeah... looking forward to tomorrow, a friend is visiting town... i'm really excited about that :)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Phew! It's over for now!
Wow, just finish my last assignment. man, I haven't hit such a wall writing so much in the past 3 weeks. I probably 'read', or skim 30 journals or chapters of a book, probably glanced over 30+ that were not of use, wrote 3 papers on ethics in globalisation, Japan's post-war catch-up strategy, and sustainable engineering development plan for Cornwall. Probably typed about 12,000 words, and they each essay just got less coherent as I just lost it. Have you ever got to the point where you read and nothing makes sense, you re-read it 5 minutes, later and it makes complete sense..... only to forget it in 15 minute, and then you read it, and it makes no sense again.... the best part is, it is my OWN writing. Can you imagine me looking for papers I've read to reference? Man, this was tough, i couldn't keep the information in my head and just type.
Anyway, projections, globalisation, B, stratregy policy, B-, engineering development, C..... yeah, not my best work.... But I am done... literally, just completed like 5 minutes ago. I stayed up all night to finish the paper, but the assistance isn't in yet, so i'm stuck in the office waiting... but i'm assuming that she'll be in soon, so that i can go home :D
Anyway, a couple updates, after comin back from Geneva, i had this craving for fondue... ummmm.... :D to my surprise, i made some good fondue! Well, i didn't do anything, i bought a chunk of gruyere from Tescos... such a nice store once you get aquainted, and then i just put some garlic in, melt the cheese in low temp, and dipped some fresh french baggettes... it was pretty good! Oh, almost forgot to mention, had a gerwurtzraminer with the fondue....FANTASTIC!
The other great thing that happen in the week was that I finally gave up looking for the brown pair of shoes which i've been looking for all year! The shoes here are either not the right style, or they are too expensive. Mostly, they are just not the right style, and for those who know me, you know how darn picky i can be :P Anyhow, as i was shopping for shoes, the nth time now, i had a eurika moment! I realise shoes here don't exactly go "on sale" like they do in Canada, they just disappear off the shelf when they don't sell, and they have sales like 3 times a year to get rid of their stock. Anyway, i realize that the prices weren't really going to go down unless i get really lucky. At the same time, the sun was out, it was really getting warm, and I've been getting off the brown/fall colour mood.... i kinda wanted the bright summer colours! On top of which, i realise that I've always wanted a pair of converse, but never bought them cause i thought they were too expensive , something like $70 CDN for the black hightops. Anyway, with the exchange rate somewhere between 1.8-1.9, and the fact that these converse NEVER go on sale either in Canada or UK (really effective marketing), and that they are £34.99 here... Not to mention that i found out Schuh, a shoe store here, hehehehe...... gives 10% discount to students! So, i paid £30 including tax for my new shoes! yah! say high to the rest of the shoe family taylors....
Anyway, projections, globalisation, B, stratregy policy, B-, engineering development, C..... yeah, not my best work.... But I am done... literally, just completed like 5 minutes ago. I stayed up all night to finish the paper, but the assistance isn't in yet, so i'm stuck in the office waiting... but i'm assuming that she'll be in soon, so that i can go home :D
Anyway, a couple updates, after comin back from Geneva, i had this craving for fondue... ummmm.... :D to my surprise, i made some good fondue! Well, i didn't do anything, i bought a chunk of gruyere from Tescos... such a nice store once you get aquainted, and then i just put some garlic in, melt the cheese in low temp, and dipped some fresh french baggettes... it was pretty good! Oh, almost forgot to mention, had a gerwurtzraminer with the fondue....FANTASTIC!
The other great thing that happen in the week was that I finally gave up looking for the brown pair of shoes which i've been looking for all year! The shoes here are either not the right style, or they are too expensive. Mostly, they are just not the right style, and for those who know me, you know how darn picky i can be :P Anyhow, as i was shopping for shoes, the nth time now, i had a eurika moment! I realise shoes here don't exactly go "on sale" like they do in Canada, they just disappear off the shelf when they don't sell, and they have sales like 3 times a year to get rid of their stock. Anyway, i realize that the prices weren't really going to go down unless i get really lucky. At the same time, the sun was out, it was really getting warm, and I've been getting off the brown/fall colour mood.... i kinda wanted the bright summer colours! On top of which, i realise that I've always wanted a pair of converse, but never bought them cause i thought they were too expensive , something like $70 CDN for the black hightops. Anyway, with the exchange rate somewhere between 1.8-1.9, and the fact that these converse NEVER go on sale either in Canada or UK (really effective marketing), and that they are £34.99 here... Not to mention that i found out Schuh, a shoe store here, hehehehe...... gives 10% discount to students! So, i paid £30 including tax for my new shoes! yah! say high to the rest of the shoe family taylors....
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Easter Tomorrow!
It's Easter tomorrow, i really miss my friends at home whom are able to help me reflect and focus on the importance of the day. Miss you guys at home.... I really wish there was a sunrise service group for me to be apart of.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Geneva and Avoriaz
http://picasaweb.google.com/hkwong05/GenevaAvoriaz#
This past weekend, I was in Geneva. It was such a nice small city, I can see why it's always ranked top 5 city to live in the world. It reminds me of Vancouver a lot, there are mountains, water, and skiing all within an hour away. There's John Calvin's home church here, and also, i just found it to be a city where you can just BE, instead of finding something to DO. Check out the grandpa playing ping-pong with his grandson, as the grandma watches. Oh it's such a nice weekday morning thing to do.
Got to visit a friend's place this weekend, it was really nice to catch up with him and talk a little ice hockey, music, and what God's done in our lives. Anyway, Geneva is definitely a desirable place to live, literally, a tiny center with all different ethics live together, while maintaining their culture and roots. It was quite nice to see everyone mixing and mingling... lots of asians :D speaking chinese, french, and different languages.... It was really nice to hear all the different languages together.... kind of makes me wish I can speak different languages.
Anyway, there was still some snow left in the Alpes, we went to Avoriaz on Sunday. Man, I am rusty on the slopes... none the less, it was beautiful, nothing like gliding through the midst of something so magnificent. It's not unlike Whistler, except a lot more skiers than boarders.
Gorgeous, just absolutely gorgeous.
Anyway, spent the Monday in Geneva, man, this engineering error is so.... mesmerizing, it's like over a 100 meters tall i think (that's like 50 stories high, in a city where there is no high-rise), and it there because of an engineering mistake... how do you like that? we got creativity, even if it's just a mistake, and probably consumes unimaginable power. Anyway, it's so pretty to see the water go where the wind takes it, and at the same time, the force and danger in the water pressure to shoot up 100 meters, flexible, yet strong, piecing, but beautiful.
BTW, I can't afford anything in Switzerland... the lowest bill they give out is a 100 Francs, a shramwa is like 12 Francs.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
England's West Coast
So I had my class road trip to Cornwall (West coast of England). It was quite touristy, we stayed in a town call Newquay, and it was quite a surfing town. We saw Jack Johnson there, (no we didn't, but the people in the hotel told us Jack Johnson was here, and hung out one night at the Walkabout, an Australian bar). Anyway, I never knew how far you can drive one direction in the UK. I always thought the UK isle were small... but i think we did like 8 hours of driving.... (puke!)
So, we visited Woking on our way to Newquay, and it was quite interesting and encouraged to see a city coucil take on the role of providing electricity and heating for its community, the most notable differences between crowned Thames Water (subsidary of Woking city council) vs a company like British Petrolium would be the underlining mission, Thames is there to provide power and heating for the people, even when it is cutting into their profits such as providing monitors for consumption, having a cap on utility bills, and even matching private electricity prices. While BP would seek to maximise profit for their shareholders, forcing them to act even when it might seem gray such as shutting down a customer's power when they don't pay. Anyway, it was neat to see that this was going on.... But I must say however, after seeing such a corporately responsible and relatively sustainble practice, i wasn't enticed by it...
Out on the west coast, Cornwall, we visited the Eden Project. Very neat, they basically regenerated from an old pit, which was created by extracting china clay from the ground. Anyway, these old pit sites were an issue because they were just "there", and developers needed to work with them to regenerate these areas of Cornwall. Anyway, the Eden Project was a bio-dome project, to create basically the Garden of Eden without the animals... just one kind of homosapeians, and well, actually birds live there too now. Anyway, it's just a wonderful project that turned a large pit into several gardens, a mediterrian, tropical, and UK weather type gardens. It was a really neat project as they tried to be at one with nature, aiming to be waste neutral, and really reusing as much as they can, taking the cradle to cradle approach (Where products thrown away are taken apart, and completely reused) very literally. Anyway, the garden was Beautiful.
We did a few more things while our class was out in Cornwall. But to be honest, it was just a really good time to hang out with a group of friends that we've bonded so well over the past 6 months. We did a open-mic at the Walkabout, some people tried surfing, and we just walked barefoot on the beach, climb caves, did clockwheels, learned yoga and breakdancing. (umm... seems really unrelated, well, it makes sense in my head :D)
Oh, coming back, we hit TRAFFIC! seriously, when there's an accident here on the motorways, traffic doesn't move. And worst, the M25, main route from London going north- which we would need to get on to get back to Cambridge, was CLOSE! -eeeewk... i think it took us 10 or 11 hours to get back. I think i was getting motion sickness when i got home, sitting on my chair, in front of the computer, completely motionless. And the worst part is, i will be back on the bus in 5 hours, off to Stansted Airport for Geneva. I mean i look forward to it, but another hour bus ride, waiting at the airport, and then an hour 30 plane ride... oh boy....
Pictures from Cornwall
http://picasaweb.google.com/hkwong05/Cornwall#
So, we visited Woking on our way to Newquay, and it was quite interesting and encouraged to see a city coucil take on the role of providing electricity and heating for its community, the most notable differences between crowned Thames Water (subsidary of Woking city council) vs a company like British Petrolium would be the underlining mission, Thames is there to provide power and heating for the people, even when it is cutting into their profits such as providing monitors for consumption, having a cap on utility bills, and even matching private electricity prices. While BP would seek to maximise profit for their shareholders, forcing them to act even when it might seem gray such as shutting down a customer's power when they don't pay. Anyway, it was neat to see that this was going on.... But I must say however, after seeing such a corporately responsible and relatively sustainble practice, i wasn't enticed by it...
Out on the west coast, Cornwall, we visited the Eden Project. Very neat, they basically regenerated from an old pit, which was created by extracting china clay from the ground. Anyway, these old pit sites were an issue because they were just "there", and developers needed to work with them to regenerate these areas of Cornwall. Anyway, the Eden Project was a bio-dome project, to create basically the Garden of Eden without the animals... just one kind of homosapeians, and well, actually birds live there too now. Anyway, it's just a wonderful project that turned a large pit into several gardens, a mediterrian, tropical, and UK weather type gardens. It was a really neat project as they tried to be at one with nature, aiming to be waste neutral, and really reusing as much as they can, taking the cradle to cradle approach (Where products thrown away are taken apart, and completely reused) very literally. Anyway, the garden was Beautiful.
We did a few more things while our class was out in Cornwall. But to be honest, it was just a really good time to hang out with a group of friends that we've bonded so well over the past 6 months. We did a open-mic at the Walkabout, some people tried surfing, and we just walked barefoot on the beach, climb caves, did clockwheels, learned yoga and breakdancing. (umm... seems really unrelated, well, it makes sense in my head :D)
Oh, coming back, we hit TRAFFIC! seriously, when there's an accident here on the motorways, traffic doesn't move. And worst, the M25, main route from London going north- which we would need to get on to get back to Cambridge, was CLOSE! -eeeewk... i think it took us 10 or 11 hours to get back. I think i was getting motion sickness when i got home, sitting on my chair, in front of the computer, completely motionless. And the worst part is, i will be back on the bus in 5 hours, off to Stansted Airport for Geneva. I mean i look forward to it, but another hour bus ride, waiting at the airport, and then an hour 30 plane ride... oh boy....
Pictures from Cornwall
http://picasaweb.google.com/hkwong05/Cornwall#
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