October 2004

BBC: “Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.

The three-foot (one-metre) tall species – dubbed “the Hobbit” – lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago.”

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The typhoon’s gone. The weather’s beautiful. What a letdown.

In other news, file this under the space elevator-esque ridiculously-ambitious-engineering-projects category: a trans-Atlantic tunnel through which a mag-lev train would take passengers, at a speed of 5,000 mph, from New York to London in under an hour. Is it an urban legend? Or could such a thing really work? I don’t know.

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We’re back from camping. It was fun.

Guess what? A sizeable typhoon (otherwise known as a hurricane) is heading our way.

Between earthquakes and typhoons, we got more natural disaster fun than California!

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We’re outta here for the weekend. Going camping in Maolin, a state park not far from here. (This’ll mark the first time I’ve ever driven a scooter to a camp site. Should be amusing.)

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Though it pains me–as an avid fan of the underachieving Atlanta Braves–to admit it, I’m happy for Red Sox Nation following their team’s improbable win over the Yankees to take home the AL pennant.

The excitement’s good for baseball, and some post-season joy is long overdue for my buddies like Benny C., Mike W., and Ed P..

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It’s been a few months since I updated you on the progress I’ve made learning Chinese. And there has been some progress–albeit modest.

Jill and I stopped taking our Chinese classes two months ago since we felt we weren’t putting in sufficient time studying outside of the classroom, and we were falling behind in the text book. But what little we did learn we’ve put to good work.

In fact, in the last few weeks, I’ve had a few very simple exchanges with locals entirely in Chinese. They go something like this; and they usually take place at a 7-11 or other convenience store.

Me: “nihao” (hello)
Taiwanese person: “nihao” (hello)
Me: “duoshaoqian?” (how much is it?)
Taiwanese person: “ee bai” (one hundred)
Me: (handing over my money) “ee ga daitze” (one bag, please)
Taiwanese person: “hao” (okay).
Me: “Shieshie. Dsaichian” (Thanks. Goodbye).
Taiwanese person: “dsaichian” (goodbye).

So there you have it, folks. The result of 8 months of immersion in a Chinese-speaking society. I can now buy items at 7-11 and speak a few words of Chinese (quite poorly). If this isn’t reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is…

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…one hell of a huge sunfish.

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We’re back in Kaohsiung. The weekend in Taichung was a lot of fun (even though the team performed poorly on the field).

Here’re a few links that’ve come to my attention:

–”NEW YORK (Reuters) — Brewer Anheuser-Busch says it will introduce a caffeinated, sweet-flavored beer for twentysomething club goers to compete with the flavored rums and vodkas gaining ground on the dance floor.”

–“Bin Laden is in China.”

–“archipela-D’OH!”

–”It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a bull moose hanging by its antlers from an electrical power line in the middle of the Alaska wilderness.”

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We’re taking off tomorrow (er, this morning?) for Taichung, where my soccer’s team playing in a tournament. Back at you come Monday, dear readers.

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