"No problem. Please feel free to ask my wife and me any questions about caring for a baby. Take care," J said.

Some people say that ambition is capital for an individual. I agree. On the other hand, I would say that ambition is a sore.

What it is mostly depends on how one feels at a particular moment or at a given life stage.

The Huawei mobile WiFi routers are interesting.

See http://www.huaweidevice.com/worldwide/productFamily.do?method=index&directoryId=5009&treeId=3619.

However, with the omnipresence of free WiFi spots and 3G/4G network coverage, I wonder how many people in Canada constantly use it.

Mostly, trust is what divides Mainland Chinese suppliers from Western ones on a consumer's mind, I'm afraid. Or it will be so before long.

W. M. is busy with getting his little house into shape in his off-work hours.

Having seen so many boys and young men who appear to be addicted to video games, I can't help but think that virtual reality has already descended upon us long time ago.

During full-scale wars, impressment is often inevitable for civilians.

Diplomas have become increasingly pro forma, in this era of lifelong learning and the democratization of university education.

Actually many typical Chinese dishes are made by frying julienned vegetables. And they are delicious.

There's a fine line between being well informed and being an information addict.

The family names "Carpenter" and "Wright" have very similar meanings. Interesting.

I saw three small well-made see-through glass boxes hanging on a light pole in Montreal Botanic Gardens the other week.

At first I thought they were roosts for those sparrows who hung around. Then I realized they were feeders instead, after careful observation.

"Gee. Early birth, wasn't it? I'll pay a visit to your place later on," J said.

It seems that sangria drinks are for women more than for men.

Elegant look the implements of Japanese cuisine, I think.

Then, their eating utensils, i.e. chopsticks and spoons, are just as commonplace as the Chinese ones.

Within the activities of "buy low, sell high", there must be additive values.

Otherwise they would be sheer speculation.

To mart is to serve, if you will.

This probably is the fifth or sixth time that I look up the difference between the meanings of the words "glove" and "mitten/mitt". Duh!

I for one am observant of news. It's trainspotting or "trendspotting" if you will. :-)

Unfortunately for U. Q., the chickens will come home to roost.

Vintage music videos - Scorpions - Wind of Change

The lyrics are here:
http://www.lyrics007.com/Scorpions%20Lyrics/Wind%20of%20Change%20Lyrics.html

There appears to be so many food produces in China with improper additives in them that I for one become more and more reluctant to consume foods imported from China.

We have two swivel chairs - one is so-called manager chair, and the other task chair.

And the current condition of the flooring under the task chair is much worse than that under the manager chair.

I don't understand why.

Good now, French foodstuff really tastes superior.

Many a time, one's extreme sanguinity exposes his ignorance.

Sometimes I would want to smite the English language, if such a thing existed physically.

There are so many new words whose meanings have to be learned, and worse than that, there are so many new words I encounter every month!

Anyways, eventually I'm gonna kick ass. Release the kraken.

Is the notion just a visceral myth that China will become the No. 1 or 2 power in the world in several decades, which various people often claim?

We must keep in mind that things, as well as history, always don't develop linearly.

Music video - 春天里 - 汪峰

词：汪峰  曲：汪峰

The Labatt Bleue Dry beer isn't bad.

The competitive landscape of the computing devices sector, be they traditional or mobile, has been shifting tectonically, in quite complex manners.

The major players have been Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung.

Effectively, the traditional Taiwanese PC and phone makers are in great trouble, especially the possibly moribund Acer, I guess, although it appears to be marketing its computers aggressively in Canada.

In fact, it's been reported quarters ago that Acer had to sell some of its significant real estates in Taipei to offset some of its losses on its P&L statement. That doesn't bode well for Acer.

"Blub" is solely a British English word, while "blob" exists in both American English and British one.

And their forms are so simplistic and easy to be confused with each other.

A well written sentence

Billy dozed off first, and roosters were crowing somewhere in the distance when Saxon's eyes closed.

-Chapter II, The Valley of the Moon by Jack London

Naturally, seeing and being close to sunshine makes me feel sanguine.

About the flick Exiled

Intriguingly, the Jonnie To movie Exiled has only a Hong Kong box-office gross of HK$687,434 and merely a U.S. box-office gross of US$49,413.(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exiled#Box_office.) By contrast, the film won quite a few awards, including Hong Kong ones and international ones. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exiled#Accolades.) Plus, the particular Wikipedia web page has got a PageRank of 4, which indicates the web page, hence the movie itself, is important.

Anyways, I watched the flick months ago. And I must say it's not my cup of tea. It's largely only appreciated by experts, critics, and real buffs of movies, I'm afraid.

Time goes by quickly in the noises of the news about this and that social networking website coming up from nowhere.

About the novel A Christmas Carol

From Ten things you never knew about Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, we know:
1. The Dickens novel has been really popular.
2. Pirating others' work did exist in England. For instance, Parley’s Illuminated Library, an ephemeral magazine, pirated that novel of Dickens. It's only the laws and their enforcement which can prevent pirating.

Short video - North Korean military march

What a martial stalk by North Korean military women in the first half of the video piece.

Many stagnant businesses dream of turnarounds.

But it's always very tough to make turnarounds happen, unless you only want to split and sell business units, so to speak.

A crossing guard may be paid or a volunteer.

The Linux kernel rules the roost.

However, when people purchase Windows computers, they are NOT buying the Windows NT kernel, but they are buying the convenient access to all the useful applications available in the Windows ecosystem. For instances, OCR software programs, and audio and video editing programs.

The word "jump" has an obsolete meaning - "exactly", as an adverb.

I frown at information overload.

But what can I do?

I must keep relevant.

It's said that Bill Clinton is a power broker and kingmaker in American politics.

Why, and how?

It seems that McGill University's head is called "Principal", while Queen's U's head "Rector".

Confusing.

Only now I've known that Maritimes and Atlantic Canada are almost synonyms.

I for one don't like to see bad blood between teachers and the government over labor disputes.

Should all schools be privatized and all parents get monetary vouchers and then get to choose their children's schools freely? i.e. let the free market mechanism, instead of unions and the government, decide which teachers get paid more and which ones less?

It appears that many pundits have sanguinely predicted that we'll PROBABLY see an economic boom by the end of the current presidential term of Obama.

Facebook wants to parlay its success in desktop sphere into another one in mobile sphere.

Let's watch. Anyhow, I've always felt Facebook is a little stale. Maybe it's just me.

Having seen Canadian hi-tech firms smitten, or bought up, by competition doesn't leave Canadians sanguinity about the country's tech sector.

Nortel, ATI, RIM, ...

I had lost a certain prospect with a cost-driven project.

I never felt loss for that.

The parley between Israel and Palestine has been on the focus of world media, again and again and again.

See Israel and Palestine: Barriers to peace | The Economist.

风漫天，雪舞银蛇。

在这个雪夜，想起了姜夔的“夜雪初积”（《暗香》）。

The topics and discussion about iPhones and iPads have been taking a whopping chunk of web sphere.

However, Steve Jobs, who reputedly had single-handedly created the Apple legend and the cult around its products, ALREADY passed away. Are there sufficient reasons to support that Apple will go on dominating the world and the stock market capitalization?

Randall is a good name.

A kernel in any relationship is, trust or distrust.

If one is stuck in enjoying creature comfort, then he's hopeless.

I guess that's why some aristocrats are apt to somewhat despise nouveaux riches.

Busted has been the avouchment that essential oils used in aromatherapy are good for people's health.

"... aromatherapy oils are volatile oraganic compounds (VOCs), which are considered indoor air pollutants that can irritate the eyes, throat, and lungs."

"... spas that offer massage therapy using fragrant essential oils may have elevated levels of potentially harmful indoor air pollutants such as VOCs and ultrafine particles, according to an article in the journal Environmental Engineering Science." 

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2012/12/03/aromatherapy-soothes-stress-but-don-breathe-too-many-vapors-study/KlItTjOzvxFSHjhNGGLSQI/story.html

In this era of people earnestly combating environmental pollution on this Earth, why at the same time do some of them pollute indoor air that they themselves breathe in?

One has low monetary consumption doesn't necessarily mean he has low income.

A few ex-employees of Budget Rent A Car's certain Vancouver outlets have publicly avouched that there's been a fleecing scheme going on.

See Budget Rent a Car fraud claims probed by RCMP.

Ouch.

有的时候，英文比中文更有诗意，更美。

比如说，sundew (a.k.a. drosera) 要比其中文名称“毛毡（氈）苔”有意境得多。

Microsoft has been putting its weight behind pushing its disruptively unconventional Windows 8 operating system, as well as MS Surface tablets.

It's a very, very sensible strategy, IMHO. The Redmond giant almost desperately needs to pinpoint and grab new growth markets, even as its financial performance has been excellent.

It seems that while in my teens and twenties, I had felt melancholy generally.

By contrast, I've been feeling sanguine in my thirties.

Looking back, brilliant has been the usurpation of the market dominance of Nokia and RIM by Apple's iPhone and iPad, as well as Google's Android devices.

The management, as well as the shareholders, of Nokia and RIM must have lived with bitter regrets these years.

See what Mr. Michael Walkley said lately about RIM's stock rally at Canaccord Genuity says RIM shares are overpriced and puts a 'sell' on its stock.

And see how RIM's stock price has been miserably hovering around its sum-of-parts analysis value throughout this year of 2012 at https://www.google.ca/finance?client=ob&q=TSE:RIM .

Music videos - 后来 - 刘若英

後來
詞：施人誠 曲：玉城千春（日本） 編曲：王繼康

後來　我總算學會了 如何去愛　
可惜你 早已遠去　消失在人海
後來　終於在眼淚中明白　
有些人　一旦錯過就不再

梔子花 白花瓣　落在我藍色百褶裙上
愛你　你輕聲說　我低下頭聞見一陣芬芳
那個永恆的夜晚　十七歲仲夏　你吻我的那個夜晚
讓我往後的時光　每當有感嘆　總想起當天的星光

那時候的愛情　為什麼就能那樣簡單
而又是為什麼　人年少時　一定要讓深愛的人受傷
在這相似的深夜裡　你是否一樣　也在靜靜追悔感傷
如果當時我們能　不那麼倔強　現在也不那麼遺憾

你都如何回憶我　帶著笑或是很沉默
這些年來　有沒有人能讓你不寂寞

永遠不會再重來　有一個男孩　愛著那個女孩

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0igPuDjYUE

Work and life are two quite different kettles of fish.

貌似中国社会越来越直接了，多少真实的人间故事就走着 屌丝 和 黑木耳 的套路。

I was harrowed by what I saw in the portrait and description of the life of aging parents with developmentally disabled child.

Plastic dog kennels look better than wooden ones.

Restaurants in China should begin to adopt the Western notion and practice of customers giving gratuities to waiters and waitresses.

Or some similar form of profit-sharing such as that they get a percentage of the profits.

Alberta, Canada is alleged by some media to possess a proven oil reserve which is 7 times bigger than that of Saudi Arabia.

Someone in Canada must be happily thinking, "release the kraken!"

Although the world is changing increasingly faster and it has created information overload for nearly everyone, you still want to spend time to mark the trends.

Canada's vast energy reserve has been unleashed.

Will this country of 30 million people be blindfolded by that and then only focus on the energy sector? I don't think so.

't is, 'tis, and 'a

It's relatively easy to guess that 't is  and 'tis mean it is, while it's not so to guess that 'a means he.

The most common phenomenon during funerals is the family members break off in their public speaking.

It's moving, especially at soldiers' funerals.

Now I've become a safe pair of hands in the family kitchen.

But I'm confined in Chinese cooking.

Nearly everyone endorses innovation.

But not nearly everyone has the courage to make it.

Peace. Eventually green energies will illume the energetic sky of the human kind.

Since the beginning of the Great Recession, I for one don't like to hear yet some new troubling financial news assailing from yet another country.

Yet it happened almost every quarter.

And, oftentimes, there are other kettles of fish which are worrisome, such as the continuous rise of the obesity rate among North Americans.

Do American politicians especially like to play chicken?

Fracking oil domestically will set the U.S. free from foreign oil dependence.

That prospect is just too alluring for the country.

Is duel and competition among opposing political parties really necessary for democracy?

The winds have unkennelled winter.

A quote

"Tush, child, tush," said the old Frog, "that was only Farmer White's Ox.
-Fables by Aesop

To develop a deep sense of gratitude requires intelligence and wisdom, I think.

Do most rice kernels look very good? No.

Do they taste good with Chinese dishes? Definitely.

A man has to entreat at some point(s) in his life.

I'm not sure if the basmati rice from India we've been eating these weeks is authentic or not.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmati#Adulteration for the commonplace adulteration of basmati rice.

Roe vs. caviar

The other day, I saw a picture of one sort of Scandinavian "Salmon roe" dish in a posh Globe and Mail style guide. And later that day I saw a written promotional note with a "caviar" dish on it, on a wall of one small and inexpensive Chinese restaurant.

Documentary videos - Witness : To the Last Drop

After having watched the below two videos, I was awestruck by the vastness of Alberta, Canada's oil reserve, as well as the horrible pollution it will potentially unkennel, especially for the lengthy Athabasca River, which is about 1,200km.

Witness : To the Last Drop - Part 1

Witness : To the Last Drop - Part 2

It seems that some native Chinese inhabitants are sick at heart.

A liege is not a liegeman.

The former is a superior of the latter.

There are many things in life which are into the ground, if one wants to really achieve something.

He's a ground.

Scientists say brisk walking can extend one's life by 2 years.

Houses and apartments have been becoming increasingly dual-purpose, as more and more people work from home.

Dogs need to be kenneled and humans need to be sheltered.

Dog rights and human rights.

Canada's energy sector has been bidding foreign investors come and invest. What a phenomenon.

Overlooked should not be the supreme importance of curiosity, which adds zest to life.

While life unfolds for an individual, he understands it more.

And he understands how many headaches there are in life.

Sometime you think the service provided by a waiter or waitress doesn't deserve gratuities, but you still offer them to him anyways.

However, the restaurant probably won't see you again.

Are you fair to the waiter or waitress? Are you fair to the cook who might have cooked you an excellent meal?

In that sense, the waiter or waitress is sort of a salesperson, and he shouldn't have an entirely fixed pay for his work by the restaurant.

Currently I live dual life. One resides in the day, and the other in the night.

In both of them, I stare into the computer screen in front of me.