Earthquake brings pictures

A notable earthquake occured at 4:35 pm today! I was walking in the neighbourhood with my cousin when it happened. He was reading Azumanga manga, while I occasionally read some parts he showed to me.

My first sensation of the quake was of a rather peculiar sensation coming from my feet. It's hard to put into words, but it was as if I was walking on a gradually rotating high-pressure air mattress. The next sensation was a rattling noise mainly coming from garage doors. At that point, I asked my cousin, "Earthquake?" "Nope, it's the wind."

About 2 seconds passed since I first felt the quake.

After that, street poles and buildings started to sway slightly. My cousin though, was too engrossed in his manga so he never looked up. While the earthquake was still going on, we walked passed by an elderly man who was staring at the buildings around him and at us.

To me, the quake lasted about 6 seconds. It might be longer though. My aunt and uncle were in the house at the time and so the earthquake seemed to be more intense to them.

My cousin was supposed to go to Shanghai today, but due to a 3 hour or so shutdown of most train lines and the highway, we couldn't get to Narita airport in time. So, now he's staying at an airport hotel with my aunt and will leave today (the technical 'today' instead of the colloquial 'today' meaning 'the period of time starting when I awoke and ending when I sleep') at 3:00 pm.

The earthquake gave me something to post about and so now I'll get my lazy ass up and post some pictures! They weren't well taken but they show what it's like here. Okay, here goes!


June, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and the household noisemaker. His eyes aren't supposed to be shiny like that in the picture. He looks and acts like he's really stupid, which makes him very adorable.


A picture of my cousin sleeping, taken early in the morning while I was still in jet-lag mode =)


The kitchen and dining room.


Bath/shower temperature control. It's great not having to adjust the temperature manually, although it's somewhat a skill by now =P


A painting by my cousin, Yoshikazu. He apparently didn't hand it in, so he got 2 (out of 5) in visual arts on his recent report card.


Yoshikazu diligently doing homework while I ninja him - Muwahahaha!


Getting ready to go to the airport, after the quake.

I'll post some pictures of my 2003 stay in Japan soon. Also, I'll take pictures of where I'll really be staying once I move in on the 26th, though I don't know when I can post them by (gotta get internet there). sleeeeepy...

First week in Japan

I haven't got around to blogging lately, sorry! Internet access has been a problem, but I have a temporary solution: leeching off nearby wireless networks! Wheee. So, 6 days until I move into my real apartment; I know the address now. It's 3-18-4 Higashi Hirayama, Hino-shi, Tokyo-to, Japan.

In 3 weeks or so, I'll receive a landing card and will get a bank account. That means in 3 weeks I can also get a cell phone and an internet subscription!

So, what's been up these days? Hmm..

I've been helping my cousin prepare for some kind of English recital competition they have annually between 30 private schools in Tokyo. It's a 7-line prose piece about the Mona Lisa. That and his English homework, which takes him like 3 hours to do. I help him with math too, although his school doesn't seem to give much math homework.

We also watched Azumanga together and he seems to like it :) I also watch a lot of TV, especially the volleyball competition last week.

It's pretty hot here, about 31 degrees Celsius, but the sun isn't as strong as it is in Canada.

Lately, I've been checking up on the American Solar Challenge.

That's about it. I'll put some photos up soon.

My first take on Windows x64

Windows XP Professional x64 went RTM (i.e. went gold, in Microsoft jargon) on April 25th 2005. For those with Windows XP Professional and a 64-bit capable system, you can order your x64 "upgrade" online. The reason for the quotes is because you must do a fresh install (it's evident if you think about it: 32 -> 64) rather than just upgrade on top of your existing install. Personally, I do fresh installs even when the option of upgrading is available.

I installed x64 yesterday. From installation to use, it feels identical to the regular 32-bit edition save the name. One might think this is fairly obvious, as the user interfaces and everything else should remain identical since it's still Windows XP, just that it's 64-bit. This is not true however; the x64 is built upon Windows Server 2003 code, not Windows XP.

Installation was fairly painless, but x64 did not install my graphics card (GeForce 440 Go) and audio chip (ADI 1981B). After searching around the 'net and settling for some beta release drivers, I finally got both these essential system to work. My laptop's fan seems to be going off a lot more frequently and some of the indicator lights act strangely. At least the video and audio drivers are stable..

Now, on a positive note, the performance thus far has been amazing. I used to run Guild Wars (GW) in 1280x800 on the lowest settings, and even then the framerate was less than adequate. However, now I run GW in 1280x800 on the highest settings and it's liquid smooth!

I was quite shocked: I expected a decrease in performance since GW does not support 64-bit goodness and instead is a native 32-bit application - meaning it has to be emulated. x64's emulator is named WoW64 no less =P. So far all my 32-bit applications have been running better than before, so this the first emulator I've seen that is more efficient at running applications than their native environment :) Keep in mind that I'm keeping the hardware capabilities constant.

Anti-virus software was a tad difficult to find for the x64 platform, but I eventually found one that had this funny registration message:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The free registration of avast! 4 Home Edition is performed by a robot which sends the message containing the license key to the email address you entered in the registration form.

Awesome, go robots! :P

Also, as I was looking for a new place to find torrents after the demise of suprnova.org, I came upon this site called "The Pirate Bay". The best part I've found about this site is their "Legal" section =P. Take a look when the mood is light.

Pictures of where I'll be working

I thought I'd follow the example of my last post and do some photoblogging. So, here are some photos of the workplace! :D

Map of the surrounding area:


Photos of the building, reception desk, lobby, and cafeteria:

Guild Wars PvP screenshots

So far I've mostly played in the random grouping PvP arenas. I've come to like the lower level PvP battles more.. it's more exciting somehow =P. Trouble is, you'll often be grouped with very low level people, like a level 4 in Ascalon Arena (which is 1-10.. but you should be at least 7 or 8). Those teams don't last long (once your team loses it is disbanded).

It takes a while sometimes to be placed in a great group, but when it does it's great :).

It's 2:30am and I can't sleep, so here's some pics taken in some of the Arenas. I don't want to lose a battle and screw over a good team so I don't take shots in the middle of battle (it freezes my laptop for like 2-3 seconds).

Other random screenshots will be here too. I think I'll use imageshack.us for posting pics of Japan too.

Pics:


First off, a very cool mob! Go Kratos! (He pwned me good but the party recovered)


Tomb of the Primeval Kings Missions:
(International, 8 players, goes to Hall of Heroes)

This arena is the toughest to win in. Some of the missions there have 6 teams from all over the world competing, and with 48 people it gets hectic real fast.


6 team all-out competition!


King of the Hill style match with 3 teams.


Competitive Missions:
(Random grouping, 4 players)


3 on 4 battles are very hard but sometimes are doable..


R/Me versus casters.. it's amazing. Especially when people don't see "Backfire" and cast themselves to death.


This was a very good team, probably the best so far. It's funny when people run from warriors while they're still bleeding.. you just chase them, chase them (maybe pull their monk away from the rest of their group) and they inevitably die.


I actually joined in the middle (same with Scraper), but Stalvys and Huck got to 50 consecutive wins on this great run. We parted ways amiably. This was about 10 minutes ago =)


Farming:

Well, enough of my PvP adventures. Here are some fun farming pics. I don't farm anymore, but it was great for a while. 19 hp farmzor monk!


And a prayer to providence (hey, I'm a monk!)


Well that's all. Now I'm sleepy..

Finally, Japan has the COE!

Just 16 hours ago I received this message from Epson in Japan:

Dear Mr. Wen Yuan Yu

This is to inform you that we have received your Certificate of Eligibility
(COE) from the Japanese Ministry of Justice.
Before sending the COE, could you please confirm your mailing address ?

As well, could you please provide us with your phone number ?

And also I would like to know which day you will arrive in Japan and also
start to work.
As to the day which you start to work for our company, please choose one day
on either 1st or 22st of August.

Regards,

Chiemi M.
*****************************************

SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
Software Engineering Planning Department
M. Chiemi
Email：M***Chiemi@exc.epson.co.jp

Going to Tokyo in July (yes, July)

Yeah, the Certificate of Eligibility and visa application process takes a while, so it looks like I'll be going sometime in July. Ah well, time to find something to do for another month!

Well at least I'm learning lots of Japanese before I go. I've got about 1000 Kanji down now (up from 500 in May) and sufficient grammar and vocabulary for JLPT level 2. I'll try for level 1 in December but I don't know if I'm gonna pass that =P. Time to learn another 1000 Kanji for level 1! >.<

On a side note I got into an awesome PvP group today. We had some rough times when a member left but we managed to win 3 vs 4 twice in a row! The game then provided for us another random person (he was pretty good too) and we managed to get famous in that place, the "Competitive Arenas". That's because we played so much that we faced the same opponents many, many times =D.

The thing that kills other teams a lot is when all 4 of their players go out of their way to kill me. I put on Protective Spirit (max dmg. taken is 10% of health) and a 9 arrow Healing Breeze and live. This basically means all their offensive power is being wasted. One group managed to learn and equipped some enchantment removals so that game was close (I died twice but our team managed to win). Finally, three of us had to go eat dinner and so we parted ways, everyone showering compliments. Best PvP team I've had so far. The team was comprised of a N/Me, a W/Mo, a R/E, and a Mo/Me (me).

I think I'll be updating this blog frequently while I'm in Japan. I need someplace to upload pictures to though.. I'll be searching for a free hosting site or something I guess. I'll probably end up using Imageshack.

Updated: Changed "June" to "July". Added stuff about my learning Japanese and some Guild Wars PvP info.

Exam Time is like...

Well, it has been exam time for 2-3 weeks or so and nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

Bao bought some new games that are 'different' let's say, from the usual console-type games. Donkey Konga is a game where you match beats on the screen with your bongo.. kinda like a drum game or something. Karaoke Revolution is, well, karaoke. It has mostly oldies, so I only knew like 1 song (Complicated, by Avril) when I first started playing. We all know at least 5 or more songs pretty well now.

Alan and I have continued to play inhuman amounts of WoW in the past few weeks (a rough estimate is provided on Bao's blog). And no, don't try this at home kids: it's bad for your social life, health, grades, and a ton of other stuff.

CSI is interesting. (Is it interesting compared to other TV shows?) Yes.
[Some sort of inside joke relating to how Alan defined 'good' when asked about his rice ;P]

And yeah, our Group Theory exam is in 12 hours and 1 minute. I hope we can cram for it tommorow!

Going to Japan

I haven't blogged for so long (too lazy and stuff..) but I should probably blog about this. I'm going to Japan to work for a year or so for Epson. I'm pretty excited :) It took the folks over at Japan a while to decide where I'll be working (there are 6 locations all over Japan) but they've finally decided that I'll be working in Hino! Hino (日野) is near Tokyo central -- in fact it is technically a part of Tokyo. I actually wanted to work in one of the smaller towns (like Beppu or Ueda) so that I'll be immersed in a fully Japanese environment, but I can't really complain about Hino either.. =P.

Here's a map of the software lab locations in case anyone's interested:





Betrayers of Kamigawa

It's coming out on Friday! Yay! This time no one knows anything about it, which makes it awesome (some would disagree).

I'm also practising daily for the SSBM tournament hosted by MathSoc, with Duy, Bao and Alan. MathSoc had crazy rules like all items and time/FFA, but they just changed it to some items and stock/FFA -- much better! I will play Kirby, one of the characters that isn't a character. So good...

Five Interviews...

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to", said the cat.

"I don’t much care where", said Alice.

"Then it doesn’t matter which way you go", said the cat.

Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Rage Against the (Vending) Machine

Today, after studying some CS241 with Alan, I went to buy some drinks from the nearby vending machines. I bought my apple juice for $1.75, which is normal... and then I went to buy Coke for Alan. So, I start inserting the coins... quarter, quarter, quarter -- then the machine got jammed!

I go back to Alan to tell him about his misfortune, and we end up going back to the vending machines. I tell him that it's jammed, but Alan, being a tad stubborn, wants to insert another quarter (a special one called "Wisdom").

Jason: "I wouldn't recommmend wasting another 25 cents Alan."

Alan: "Just let me try it."

Jason: "Okay then."

Alan: "Here goes Wisdom!"

*Machine eats the coin*

Jason: "Told you!"

Alan: "Oh no. Damn vending machine."

I decide to head back to studying. Apparently, Alan then decides to spend $1.25 on a can instead of $1.75 on a bottle. So, he goes to the adjacent can vending machine and tries it. After 75 cents, it also became jammed. Alan puts in a penny in an attempt to unclog it, and it worked! He inserts another quarter, and the machine jams again!

Alan then goes to another bottle vending machine and spends $1.75 on a Coke bottle. He comes back and tells me about the can vending machine and his bottle. Alan paid $4.20 for his Coke!

This reminds me of when I got screwed over by vending machines in high school:

*Jason deposits $2 into the vending machine*
*nothing happens*
*15 minutes later -- a girl walks by and buys a pop from the same machine*
*Jason decides that the machine now works*
*Alan and Raymond advise Jason that it's not worth it*
*being stubborn, Jason deposits another $2 into the vending machine*
*nothing happens*
*Jason feels rejected for the rest of the day*

Conclusion: Vending machines should be more reliable!

Xbox

Bao got an Xbox! He's also infinitely broke! :P Check out his blog for more info, hehe. I've tried Burnout 3, Battlegrounds, and Halo. Halo is just like the PC version, but with co-op play. Maybe co-op is worth the extra $45 :P.

So yeah... with midterms looming, I'm trying out Xbox games! w00t!

Also, I'm beginning to question whether the place I'm renting is worth the money. After all, I spend almost all my time elsewhere, only using my room as a place to sleep. Maybe I should *make* it worth the money by actually living there, instead of somewhere else :P

Hehehe :P :P :P.

Yeah, it's too late at night; I'm practically insane. Time to logoff...

Champions of Kamigawa Drafts

I played two drafts of Champions of Kamigawa (CHK) recently. I think CHK is a set with great mechanics! Of the two drafts, I would say the first was the most fun since all the cards were new to me (but not to others... you know who you are :P). The second draft was today and was pretty fun too. I opened three 'bombs': Kokusho, the Evening Star, Yosei, the Morning Star, and Kodama of the North Tree.

Cool points:
-I made a deck that highly resembled Alan's Samurai deck, and he made a deck that was a lot like my deck from the first draft.
-Isamaru is now known as "East Side Mario's" :D
-Keiga the Tide Star likes to eat removal (usually from its controller!), so that he can gain control of a creature =P

Thoughts:
-Thief of Hope is way too powerful within the block. Basically for every spell (you can make it that way) you cast you gain 1 life and your opponent loses 1 -- for each Thief you control! Is it the new Wild Mongrel?
-Glacial Ray is also too good :)
-Myojins don't seem to do much, but Dragon Spirits own!

Now, Alan and I are thinking of combining our cards to make an ultra-Red/Black and an ultra-Samurai deck.

Tales of Symphonia

That's the game I've been playing (along with Alan, Bao, and Duy) for the past two weeks. Actually, that's pretty much all I did during those two weeks (sleep, lectures, and eating time excepted) :P

Now, maybe it's time to get back to reality. We do have several other games lined up though: Warcraft III, Sega Rally 2 (old game, but you can sorta drift in it!! :D), and Missing Since January.

FMA 49 and 50 were really great! Loads plot twists and revelations... oooooooh! Can't wait until 51!

"Wahoo." - Presea, Tales of Symphonia

Got laptop back!

Yay! Now I can post stuff :D

Baaad Bad Weather

It seems like both East Asia and the Caribbean are having very stormy weather this season. Florida's been hit hard by Hurricanes Charley and Frances, and now Ivan has its sights on the poor Sunshine State. In Asia now, Typhoon Songda has been rampaging around in Korea and Japan, following Aere which has left Taiwan and China devastated two weeks ago.

More bad/unusual weather:

-snowfall in Alberta a couple days ago
-cold and wet summer here (mostly)
-unseasonally hot summer in BC

I don't know what my point is really. Maybe I'm running out of things to post about :(

Back to 'Loo...

It's time to go back to Waterloo, sigh :(

I have to pack up and leave again, after 4 months of memories in RH. Gotta buy some new furniture as well. IKEA, maybe?

Bought a 256 MB memory drive to help facilitate the transfer of files while in 'Loo (like anime :P)

According to an article on Wikipedia, not only statistics but also epidemiology, is like a bikini :P
"Epidemiology is like a bikini: what is revealed is interesting; what is concealed is crucial." -- Peter Duesberg (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Feb 1991)

My thoughts on DVD-RAM

I bought a DVD burner yesterday and some DVD-RAM media. Although I've read and heard some negative opinions about the RAM format, I wanted to try it out for myself. The DVD burner is a LG GSA-4120B, which supports every DVD format in existence right now (+R, -R, +RW, -RW, +R DL, and RAM) and the DVD-RAM media is manufactured by Panasonic (made in Japan!)

I primarily bought this drive for backup purposes. My first test for the RAM media was to transfer my backup files to it. It was pretty amazing! It behaves just like a hard drive: no DVD-writing software required, quick writing of small files, and no waiting for lead-in and lead-out before ejecting the disc. In fact, it took me some time to get used to it because it's so unlike -RW/+RW. Each DVD-RAM disc is basically a 4.26GB hard drive :D.

I do have two complaints about the RAM format though. The first is that it is slower than +RW in transfering large amounts of data (a 3x RAM speed is actually equal to only 1.5x because it uses write/verify and read/verify instead of pure write and read). The good thing is that I don't plan on using this for large transfers at a time -- the initial backup will be a large transfer and will take a while, but after that only small modifications need be made (you don't copy 30+ GBs of stuff onto your 40 GB hard drive everyday now do you? :P) My second complaint is its incompatability with most DVD drives. Few DVDs can read them and fewer still can write to them. :(

There are lots of good things about RAM too. The DVD-RAM format is highly reliable due to error-correction features built into every disc. It also sports >100 000 times rewrite capabilty -- each disc will last you more than 27 years if you rewrite it 10 times a day -- and is bootable to boot :P. This reliablilty mumbo-jumbo may not translate into real-life perfomance but I can testify that it's pretty darn good. I've used an Imation DVD-RAM disc from Roxio as my personal coaster for 3 months now, the disc going through steaming hot mugs on top and a rough wooden surface on the bottom everyday. It has endured much punishment, indeed: if a hot mug goes on top, it immediately curls up due to the overwhelming heat. I thought it was certainly dead, but yesterday I tried to see if it would still work with my new burner. Indeed it did! All it required was a re-format :D

I think DVD-RAM is a great format for computer (data) use. That was and still is its purpose after all. As for anime and movie backups, I'm sticking with -R/+R because I only need write-once capability and the fast speeds (like 8x +) are nice. I hope this post helps you choose a good burner (if you're actually looking for one) :D

An end to another term

The summer term's over... *sob*. Before I get all emotional, I just want to say that it was a great term at Roxio (though it's going to be Sonic soon) working along with Andrew, Dash, and Luc. They've finished their work terms already, but I still have 2 more weeks -- it buys me enough time to finish my report before I head back to Waterloo :P

The company farewall party was held on Friday 27th at Frankie Tomatto's, a famous Italian buffet restaurant with a remarkably renovated interior that really gives the feel of being in Italy. The floor was pretty slippery though. And the line-up for pasta was really REALLY long. Anyways, after lunch, us four co-ops played our last game of pool, foosball, and Starcraft... *sniffle*.

What was funny was that on the ride back to Roxio from the buffet, while talking about gas-guzzling SUVs, John (the supervisor of Luc and Dash) mistakenly said "SCV" instead. The big QA boss, Anat, was like "Huh? SCV? What's that?" to which John quickly covered by saying "Uh...yeah, it's a John and co-op student thing... yup..." :D We couldn't really contain our laughter... (Of course we don't play games during work, what are you talking about? :P)

Today, as I sit here typing up this entry, a new batch of co-ops from Waterloo have arrived. I've being putting off chatting with them - I still like our old group better :P

Oh yeah, the Midnight Sun's in Texas now, almost at the 9000 km mark (still very behind though, since they're 8900/19300 km and 24/40 days). Adam van Koeverden from McMaster University got 2 medals - a gold and a bronze in kayaking - but I'm sure anyone following the Olympics knows that already :D. The world record-tying win by Xiang Liu in the 110-metre hurdles was also pretty significant -- it marks the first win by an Asian athlete in sprint athletics.