Yes, this is the next generation of my old phone, the Nokia E61i. The E71 is slimmer, smaller and a lot faster than the E61i. I contemplated long and hard about this over the iPhone and concluded that I did not want/need to pay the extra $40 per month. Though I did end up getting the $20 data plan.
This phone is replacing my old phone (obviously) and my iPod Nano (4GB). The good thing about these Nokia phones is that they take up to 8GB microSD. My biggest complaint about this phone is the 2.5mm audio jack. I will need to pick up an adapter to fit regular size 3.5mm headphones.
If you would like something nice and spiritual each month, send me an Email; Fr. Joseph Dwight: josephdwight57@gmail.com.
If you would like to see the other web sites and articles of Rev. Joseph Dwight, click on the photo.
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Painting found in the choir at the Angelicum, Rome.
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This is what Christmas is all about...
Better bundle up - the goose bumps will freeze you!!! I think I need to read this every year at Christmas.
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Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving.
It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible.
After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn't in much of a mood to read Scriptures. But Pa didn't get the Bible, instead he bundled up again and went outside. I couldn't figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn't worry about it long though, I was too busy wallowing in self-pity. Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. "Come on, Matt," he said. "Bundle up good, it's cold out tonight." I was really upset then. Not only wasn't I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see. We'd already done all the chores, and I couldn't think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this. But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one's feet when he'd told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn't know what.
Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn't going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up this sled unless we were going to haul a big load. Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him. The cold was already biting at me. I wasn't happy. When I was on, Pa pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. "I think we'll put on the high sideboards," he said. "Here, help me." The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high side boards on.
After we had exchanged the sideboards, Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood - the wood I'd spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all Fall sawing into blocks and splitting. What was he doing? Finally I said something. "Pa," I asked, "what are you doing?" You been by the Widow Jensen's lately?" he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight. Sure, I'd been by, but so what?
Yeah," I said, "Why?"
"I rode by just today," Pa said. "Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They're out of wood, Matt." That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for another armload of wood. I followed him. We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it. Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a big ham and a side of bacon. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his r ight shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand. "What's in the little sack?" I asked. Shoes, they're out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped around his feet when he was out in the woodpile this morning. I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a little candy."
We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen's pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn't have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to saw into blocks and split before we could use it. We also had meat and flour, so we could spare that, but I knew we didn't have any money, so why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us; it shouldn't have been our concern.
We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door. We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, "Who is it?" "Lucas Miles, Ma'am, and my son, Matt, could we come in for a bit?"
Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all. Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp.
"We brought you a few things, Ma'am," Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it. She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out one pair at a time. There was a pair for her and one for each of the children - sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last. I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn't come out.
"We brought a load of wood too, Ma'am," Pa said. He turned to me and said, "Matt, go bring in enough to last awhile. Let's get that fire up to size and heat this place up." I wasn't the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and as much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too. In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks with so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn't speak.
My heart swelled within me and a joy that I'd never known before, filled my soul. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference. I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people.
I soon had the fire blazing and everyone's spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn't crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. "God bless you," she said. "I know the Lord has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us."
In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I'd never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true. I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it.
Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get. Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes.
Tears were running down Widow Jensen's face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him and didn't want us to go. I could see that they missed their Pa, and I was glad that I still had mine.
At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, "The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We'll be by to get you about eleven. It'll be nice to have some little ones around again. Matt, here, hasn't been little for quite a spell." I was the youngest. My two brothers and two sisters had all married and had moved away. Widow Jensen nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother Miles. I don't have to say, May the Lord bless you, I know for certain that He will."
Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn't even notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, "Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn't have quite enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that, but on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand."
I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Now the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen's face and the radiant smiles of her three children.
For the rest of my life, whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life.
It's been a year since we officially launched TickerHound! It's been a year of sleepless nights, antisocial weekends and caffeine induced coding sessions. It was/still is a hell of a ride and I love (almost) every single moment of it. This is by no means the end - far from it! Like Wayne said: "we're just getting started!"
Here are some memories, lessons, highlights:
Outsourced Indian firm: getting the project back from them with most of the code - a couple thousand lines or so - in ONE file. We had to take it apart and pretty much redo the whole thing from the ground up.
The Crash: the site crashed 15 minutes into the launch. We should have cached like I suggested; I should have stepped up and made us cache. We've gone a LONG way since then. We're now on an auto-scaling architecture at RightScale, leveraging Amazon Web Services (EC2/S3/SQS).
Workspace: our apartments to Starbucks to SunShine Suites. Upgrades at SunShine: the small dark cubicle space (4th floor) to the slightly bigger, brighter but noisier and smellier cubicle space (6th floor) and finally to the nice 3 cubicle space by the window.
Hired Help: I want to thank everyone who's pitched in and contributed. Good or bad, we wouldn't be here without you.
Lou: Our third official hire. With him on board, we took TickerHound to the next level. The first time Lou was meeting us, he was late. He was late because he missed the bus. He missed the bus because he passed out on top of a sugar silo in Montreal the night before.
TickerHound Members: we definitely wouldn't be here without you. You ARE TickerHound. Thank You!
Software: I no longer get laughed at by the tech community for using DreamWeaver. I'm usually using Eclipse and sometimes VI.
Hardware: I still get laughed at for having my variety of gadgets: curved keyboard, logitech revolution mice, laptop coolers, headphones, monitors. At the center of it all: my MacBook Pro - still trucking!
Wayne: Thanks for fishing me out of the menial 9-5 job (no disrespect to my last job, nine to five business casual is just not my thing). It's the most fun I've had working. There's no other way to do it. "It's your world squirrel - I'm just trying to get a nut"
TickerHound (Wayne, Lou and me) are in South Florida for two weeks to do meetings.
We got a pimping condo: big kitchen, hot tub, hd flat screen, high speed internet... the works. The TickerHound mobile (rental car)... not so much. It's a Dodge Magnum (I didn't want to drive the Celine Dion car; Pacifica).
I'm not really complaining considering I took this picture when it was about 20 degrees in New York (yes, I did check the weather, just so I can rub it in my friends' faces)
Dinner impossible night: I had to make food for 5 people but only had enough material for 3. Starter: Almond Crusted Goat Cheese on Salad of Arugula. Main: Rigatoni with Meat Sauce
Used everything on hand. Added an appetizer and used white bread crumbs and cheap wine to stretch the sauce.
Lou and I grabbed our cameras and drove down to South Beach for a day trip.
Seriously, the following conversation occured right before me seeing that... Me: This beach is frickin empty! Where are the topless chicks? Lou: I don't know what they're doing over there but we should be part of that action.
One more with boobies
Obligatory shot of palm tree and coconuts
This guy loves the water.
We sat at a cafe type thing along Ocean Ave. and sucked down giant fruity frozen drinks while waiting Chris to drive down for dinner.
We had dinner at Nemo (sorry, didn't bring the camera with me so no pictures). Nemo had one of the best Chilean Sea Bass I've ever had: crisp on the outside, perfectly cooked all over, great sauce. After dinner Chris took us to The Florida Room in the basement of the Delano hotel to check out the live band. The Fox Brothers Band was playing some wicked latin jazz.
We woke up and met with Mr. Chen around 8AM. He took us to the tour company and bought us tickets to the a tour of the Great Wall at Ba Da Ling - just in time to get on the bus. As the bus was chugging along, we decided to read our tour book. The book warns about side trips to locations such as medicine shops and jade factories. Simon wakes me up as the bus is pulling into a parking lot. Shocked that I had slept for the whole 3 hours, I asked if we’re there already. I soon find out that we are only about an hour and a half into the trip. As we’re getting off the bus, I asked the tour guide what this was. She answers enthusiastically: jade factory and lunch.
// pictures to come After a short tour of the jade factory and the jade shop, we were directed to the eating area in this fairly big complex. We sat down next to some of our fellow Great Wall tourists to have a family style meal. This was the worst meal ever. I was reluctant to eat a couple of the dishes as I did not even think about popping a squat anytime soon.
The next stop was the Ming tombs. After seeing the tombs in Egypt, the Ming tombs weren’t too impressive. To be fair though, China only dug up 1 of 13 tombs.
Two more hours on the bus brought us to the Great Wall at Ba Da Ling. There are many entrances to enjoy the Great Wall. Ba Da Ling is the most touristy. Dan and Sindy went to Simatai, a more remote spot along the wall. There is a giant Hollywood styled sign with the Olympics logo and slogan smack middle of the most visable spot. I have mixed feelings about the sign: it effectively ruins all and any shot around it but it also makes me damn proud to be Chinese.
I’m glad we didn’t go to Simatai. Simatai meant 4 hours of hiking through steep and rough inclines and stairs where as Ba Da Ling was only about 1 and a half. Some of the inclines were probably around 30 degrees.
The Great Wall surely is great. It stretches on and on and on along with the mountains. I did way too much walking the past few days to hike any more than the 1 and half hours. We made through about 3 towers before we had to get back to the bus. Of course, my bad knee gets busted on the way down. Simon took a video of me walking down some stairs with much difficulty as an old man whizzes by me. It got bad enough that I had to hold on to Simon's shoulder to make it pass the stairs by the vendors past the entrance to the wall. The same calm bus driver who took us to the Great Wall drove like a maniac back to Beijing. It was so bad that I woke up to a bunch of people puking on the outskirts of Beijing. Strange enough it didn’t smell.
The bus arrived back to the tour company about 20 minutes early. When I called Mr. Chen, he was already waiting at the KFC across the street. The restaurant where we’re having our dinner wasn’t too far away, so we started walking through the busy Beijing street in the middle of rush hour. Mr. Chen took us to the Quanjude located on Chienmen Street. Quanjude is the oldest Beijing duck restaurant in Beijing. Chienmen (front gate) street was just redone to reflect its former glory. It was so new that 90% of the store fronts are vacant.
Mr. Chen came to Quanjude an hour before we arrived to get a ticket for seats so we wouldn’t have to wait. The hospitality is indescribable. Mr. Chen informs us that another friend of my dad’s is joining us for dinner: Manager Wong (yes, that was how she was introduced and that was what I called her). Manager Wong came with two of her nieces. One of them had the jellyfish hair cut that Lori told us about. Manager Wong is also from Fuzhou. Simon and her briefly conversed in their dialect.
We had a feast: everything duck from skin to offal as well as a few other kinds of animals.
The coolest part was the restaurant gave us a card telling us the number of the duck they served us: 1.15 billion + 360,948
After dinner, Manager Wong and Mr. Chen took us to a massage spa where we were treated to 3 hours of foot and full body massage. As it turns out, the owner of the spa was also a friend of my dad's (go figure).
We took a bunch of slow shutter pictures in front of the Forbidden City on the way back to the hotel. At 11PM: Tiananmen square is closed/fenced off, the underground tunnel to cross the street is filled with the slumbering homeless and the sidewalk in front of the Forbidden City is empty save a few Liberation Army guards and policemen.
A good way to end our last night in Beijing I suppose.
Everyday at sunrise, there’s a flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square. Thinking back, Simon and I really should have joined Dan and Sindy on the Great Wall tour on day 3 – they went to a more remote part of the wall and we would have gotten up at the same time anyway. We got to Tiananmen Square at about 6:45AM, 20 minutes before sunrise, and were already too late. There was already a mass of people standing waiting for the flag to rise. We were about 7 rows of people (and growing) behind. 5 minutes before sun rise, a column of the People’s Liberation Army marched out from the Forbidden City.
Flag-raising Ceremony on Tiananmen Square from Simon Tung on Vimeo. At the exact time of sun rise, the national anthem started playing and the flag started rising. It was a little anticlimactic as I thought people around us would burst into song when the anthem started playing. After a round of pictures around Tiananmen Square, we headed into the Forbidden City. The Odwalla bar we had didn’t quite hold us over so we went to the fast food joint right outside the first gate. We had some congee that ate like watered down grits and some steamed pork buns. The Forbidden City ticket office doesn’t open till 8:30. We watched the troops practice marching till then.
The Forbidden City is palace after palace. The ones towards the front have been better restored than the ones in the back. We finished walking after about 2.5 hours and headed back to the hotel. On the way back, we discovered a supermarket in the basement of the hotel building. We shopped around and picked up some freshly made dumplings for lunch.
After a short rested we decided to check out the home of Prince Gong and the Hutongs in the area called Houhai. Once we got to Houhai, we were offered rides on the tricycles. We talked the price down to 70 from 180, giving up the ticket to the house of Prince Gong. Our “tour guide” took us into the Hutongs.
Our first stop: traditional courtyard house in a Hutong. We also made another stop to check out the outside of the Bell Tower – from the outside. Houhai is an area where the converted Hutongs into a bar and shopping area.
We went back after the tricycle tour to pick up some souvenirs. Found some opium pipes, the haggling game begins: the price tag says 380, I asked how much in Mandarin, he told me 125. I got it down to buying 4 for 250. On the way out, they wanted me to buy more stuff and offered a carved mask for 300. I didn’t really want to get it so I told them a ridiculous price of 50. They ended up it giving it to me for 50 on the way out.
Our time in Beijing has passed by pretty quickly and the food opportunities are dwindling. There was one more meal I needed to squeeze in as a favor for Wayne: hotpot. There’s a sauce for hotpot in Beijing called majiang that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. I had to try it in Beijing so maybe we can duplicate it. It is now 3:45PM. I talked Simon into making hotpot a snack as we hopped into a cab and headed to HaiDiLao (海底捞), a restaurant recommended for hotpot (food blog post to come).
Hot Pot in Beijing from Simon Tung on Vimeo. I most definitely over ordered: ½ spicy Sizhuan ½ medicinal broth, variety of meats, variety of vegetables. The waiter told me the majiang sauce was made of sesame paste and peanut butter though I am sure there was more ingredients in there. I forgot to order the fresh hand made noodle.
After our “snack” we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel to change and clean up before meeting up with a bunch of friends for Beijing duck dinner. Of course, we hit traffic. It was so bad that the taxi driver suggested that we get off and took the subway.
We were about 15 minutes late. Lori, Diana, Sindy, Dan and their friend from the hostel (whose name I forgot) were already there. Lori asked the waitress to give us a demo on how to eat the duck. The duck was mindblowingly amazing: the skin – crispy, the fat and meat – juicy, flavorful. It makes me sad that I can’t get it back home. Oh yea, the pine fish was pretty good too. We had a dinner conversation about how I hardly take pictures of people. I forgot to take pictures of people during dinner. We called it an early night as we have to wake up pretty early the next day for the Great Wall expedition.
Azabu Sabo, as quoted from their website "follows an original teahouse philosophy and serves authentic Japanese desserts and unique cuisine". They are especially known for their Hokkaido Ice Cream (Hokkaido again!), being the first to introduce it to Singapore. Azabu Sabo has a wide menu, but I will only be focusing on their desserts today!
Azabu Sabo typically has two types of outlets: a dine-in restaurant, and a kiosk that sells only desserts on the go. Dining in provides the benefit of a comfortable atmosphere to indulge in heavenly Japanese cuisine. Here is a list of where you can find Azabu Sabo in Singapore: http://www.azabusabo.com.sg/howtoreachus.htm
This is one of the best places in Singapore to find Japanese desserts, in my opinion. The desserts sold here are not very cheap, but they are worth the price when you take your time to savour the authentic taste of the food.
Matcha Daigaku Imo (Caramelized Sweet Potato & Japanese Rice Cake with Green Tea Ice Cream) for $8.80
I was reading a review of Azabu Sabo on another food blog (http://eateatenate.blogspot.com/2008/08/azabu-sabo-hokkaido-ice-cream-aside.html), and decided I disagree with the rating they gave the Caramelized Sweet Potato and Japanese Rice Cake with Matcha Ice Cream. I personally had this (at the same venue, even), and it was a unique dish altogether, one with an addictive flavour, with a nice smooth blend in taste between the sweet potato (it was chewy instead of hard) and caramel. Combined with the green tea ice cream, it was heaven. Perhaps the dish served to them was not cooked thoroughly? I hope they might actually do give it another chance.
I end this post with well wishes for you to have a pleasant dining experience at Azabu Sabo, and picture to get your stomach rumbling.
Green Tea Kakigori / Soft Ice Cream with Green Tea Sauce & Red Bean Paste (we added dumplings) for $9.80
