I have wanted a garment bag for travel for a long time. A garment bag is a special kind of luggage designed to carry a suit. Normal hand carry luggage is too small for a suit unless you don’t mind making it winkles. The full size luggage is overkill for short trips and requires check in, which is not very convenient. Not to mention the risk of luggage could be lost by the airline. I don’t travel with suit very often, since most of my trips pleasure in nature. This time I am going to attend a wedding of my university housemate, so I have to bring along my suit. It seems a waste to buy a new luggage just for this trip. The good thing about luggages is that they are very durable. I am still using the same luggage I have been using since high school. It is over 10 years. If I have to take some business trips in the future, the new garment bag is not a bad investment provided that I got it on sales for half price today.

Blogging has became a worldwide phenomena that many people think it will bring disruptive changes to the media industry. I adopt a more technical definition of blogging, which is nothing more than a (CMS) Content Management System regardless of the content. All blog follow the same basic format with articles displayed in reverse chronicle order. Recently, I just found out that my friends at work read my blog and another colleague’s blog to confirm gossips at work. The people likes to compare the two different version of truth between our blogs. I am quite surprise by this finding because I don’t talk about gossips in my blog that much. The purpose of my blog is to express my opinions, although sometimes I have to fill in the background information before making comments. Writing narrative postings to record what event had happened is not my style. The other blog owner seems quite annoyed by the nosiness of the crowd. I don’t really mind. All the materials posted here are public information already circulating in the cafeteria. It is human psychology to find confirmation to whatever one believes. I guess by reading the same facts they already heard of earlier during the day, the crowd find a sense of security in the recycled information. I just wonder, after read the facts, how many of them also give my opinions some thoughts? Last night, I talked to the blog owner saying it would be fun if both of us fabicate some facts. Determining from the reading pattern of the crowd, the fabicated fact could very likely passed on as real fact, and that’s how a rumour starts. Too bad that the other blog owner thinks tricking the crowd is not very nice and refuse to collude.

I recieved a good news from my housemate back in Waterloo, he had just passed his thesis defense and becoming Dr. Ha. Congradulations! This year, I have two friends graduating from their doctoral degree. Dr. So I know back in Lasalle and this friend. Both of them do research in engineering, and both of them joined research lab of big companies. I guess only big companies can afford research lab, and only the cutting edge works of the research labs need Ph.D. Think about the work in my company, it is simpily a waste of talent for a Ph.D. I know a few Ph.D. at work, their work is pretty the same as everyone else. I bet if they didn’t go to grad school but join the workforce instead, they would have climbed higher in the coperate ladder by now. The market for Ph.D. is quite small in engineering, either research lab or teaching. I really admire those who have the courage and determination to studying Ph.D. I want to have a Dr. title too but this is really a stretching goal for me.

Independent Media HK is a non-profit organization aimed to voice alternative point of views in the society. The source of information of HK public are mostly controlled by big media companies. These companies increasingly assert self-censorship to control opposite opinions bowing to political pressure. A group of intellectuals create this internet platform trying to keep the spirit of free speech and let the journalist interact with the publics. The site is running as a meta-blog with dedicated columns by different ameture writers. There are many good quality articles providing a different point of views other than the ones from the big newspaper. Some writers are quite famous and have articles published by traditional media. When we read a piece of news, don’t just accept what is told as the fact. We should apply our critical thinking skill try to understand the right and wrong behind the news.

Their website of Independent Media HK is at http://www.inmediahk.net

I learnt balloon twisting from Vancouver school board many years ago and never used the skill once. Tonight finally I can apply what I learnt, so the couse is not totally useless. Tonight WCCCLC has 10th anniversary reunioin dinner and fund rasing. Somehow someone knows I learnt balloon twisting, so they ask me to help out. I also donated the bag of balloon I have bought for years, it is sitting in my closet anyways. I had forgot how to twist the more complicate things, but simple stuff is good enough for this kind of event. I reviewed a few designs before the dinner, the easier one such as doggy, bear, flower and hats. A friend came to the dinner early and found it very interesting. So I taught her the few easy and she help me out at the counter. I gave balloons to all kids coming to the dinner, the parent are free to donate whatever they feel like. Usually people pay $2-$5 per balloon. I found flower is the most popular design, espeically to little girls. Actually, the balloons are quite attractive to the not-so-young girls too. Many friends ask for one, they even request it in the colour they like. I have a good mood tonight, since I share happiness to everyone in the dinner through ballon twisting.