Samomatic

So this past weekend I attended my future landlord’s daughter’s wedding. Due to the rain the wedding was moved into the banquet hall with just chandelier light pointing up to the ceiling. I had left my external flash in Canada so it was very challenging to get the shots to come out.

Today Hong went out and bought some fresh beef and we grilled some burgers for dinner. These 1/2lb burgers are so thick, juicy I need to put them down for another reason in the ‘why I don’t want to be a vegetarian’ list.

I made sure to put in lots of veggies to make it a little healthier. haha. Finally I meet a burger that I can’t devour half of it in a single bite, this one I had to attack it from an angle! I must say it is up there with those burgers I had at Mike Purvis’ place during 1B.

Seiji and his ‘gigantus’ burger.

As many of you know, I have to take an online professional development course during my workterm called PDEng. Well the term is reaching the halfway point but we have only seen 2/8 modules and 1/5 assignments. I am not going to be happy if they cram in all in till the end…

Just scrolling in the marking rubric I found this and find it quite entertaining.

Ability to express a personal opinion on an ethical issue in a respectful manner
There is an art to presenting personal views so that a reader, who may not be initially in agreement with your opinion, will at least take your points into consideration when making decisions. It is very important to use a respectful tone at all times by avoiding overly contentious phrasing, and at the same time to not be so vague that you give the reader the impression that you do not have an opinion on the matter. Your must avoid the use of CRAP and DRIVEL when presenting your opinions and supporting evidence.

CRAP (Creative Rhetoric and Posturing) includes: excessive descriptions or broad generalizations that are not supported; provocations that do not have a basis in fact (often in the way of threats or insults).
DRIVEL (aka BS) includes: deceitful wording; nonsense; false or erroneous information put forward as fact; absurd or impossible schemes or solutions.

A slight change at the top, all the links are preserved just like before. If you have a problem with clowns, too bad!

After much planning and reading about New York, Randy and I decided to go visit the Big Apple. Right at 5pm we dropped our work and caught the subway to downtown Boston. We took the Fung Wah Bus (got to love the Chinese run businesses) which is half the price of Greyhound and is scheduled almost every hour of the day.
The bus ride was brutal, not because it is a Chinese-run business, but we had chosen to site in front of 4 twenty-ish ultra Air-Head girls that would not shut up. This girl wanted to be a fashion magazine designer and she told her friends about this machine that flashes ads in front of an audience. If their pupil dilates then that means they are interested (umm I can see lots of bright white pages in her future magazine).

At approx 1am, stepping out of the subway station into Time Square felt like the sun has just set. Big screens on buildings flashing, taxi screaming by, street performers making noise, carriages trotting along, and hot dogs stands grilling more meat. The street was filled with people and it took me a while to adjust to the honking, shouting, and motor noises. New York has quite an extensive subway system. The trains run 24hrs a day and it is the only city I know that people have to fight for seats at 2am in the morning.
Grand Central Station: Central Park: The FASTEST carousal! It’s even got seatbelts. These postcards are so old some colours have faded. Good deal for pranks *hem* Museum of Natural History (really cool):

Coney Island, a bit sketchy but still very fun. Too bad the freak show was closed. Walking across Brooklyn Bridge at 2am:
Ever had fried chicken and fries at 3:30am and then straight to bed? It kept me full for the next 14hrs!

Overall, New York is quite a crazy city. It is filled with lights, taxis, and people.

At first it was pretty amusing but after the novelty wears out it is difficult to find a place without them. The city is also flooded with tourists and they take pictures of everything. We were near the World Trade Center site and I saw this group of foreigners taking pictures left and right so I thought there must be something interesting, turns out it was just a truck shipping dirt away from the site.
The only time I felt unsafe was in Chinatown where the street was packed and both sides were lined with merchants selling watches, handbags, DVDs..etc.
When we got back to downtown Boston it felt strange to hear no shouting and honking on the street.

Americans love routines. They like to do the same job, eat the same food, hang out with the same people, watch the same shows…etc.
Even on their vacations they know exactly what will happen. They will be lying on a beach, have the chance to eat as much as they want, whatever they want, and whenever they want. No surprises.

Interesting facts: Every 6 hours the world loses rainforest the size of Boston.

Next time after you finish drying your hands with paper towel from the washroom unfold it and take a look at all the dry patches. Maybe you can try to take less paper to do the same job and save some trees!