Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
温哥华的“华”化
刚来温哥华两个半星期，结果上班就已经两个星期了。再加上很多要办的手续，星期一到星期五基本就是没有闲暇的时间。周末了，自然就要去放松一下。人生地不熟，能去哪里呢？平日里没有时间做调查，临时抱佛脚也来不及。哎，又过了在网上GG,MM“拉帮结派”去“海皮”的年纪了。最后只好去Shopping Mall逛逛了。虽然说俺不好一个逛街，不过生活必需品总是要购置的。在路上的时候，猛然想起刚来时一个中国朋友特意推荐过一个叫“大统华”的华人连锁超市。既然是友人极力推荐，那还是要去探探究竟的。
经过漫漫征途，终于在Shopping Mall的底层找到了传说中的“大统华”超市。大温哥华地区华人之多，其实是众所周知的事情。其中又以温哥华市和Richmond市尤最。年初的时候因为工作面试来过一趟，也看了名声在外的北美第二大“中国城”。但和今天进入“大统华”超市的感觉截然不同。去中国城，就像是老外在深圳看世界之窗，而在“大统华”超市，就是南京人逛苏果的感觉。
我这么说主要有这么几个原因：首先是语言，基本只说华语，广东话居多，剩下的都是各种腔调的普通话，这其中当然也包括台湾人的“国语”。然后是货物，正宗“国货”，这里的国货是指就是那些在国内能买到的东西。据个例子，看到这里出售的美国黑人牙膏的包装盒上赫然印着“黑人牙膏”四个汉字。不知道如此“华”化是否必要:) 再者就是购物的方式了，和国内无太大区别，熙熙攘攘好不热闹。最后就是规模，基本和本地超市规模相当。相比之下，欧洲那些小豆腐块亚超里面还包括不少泰国，越南的物品，所以根本不能说是中国超市（其实人家也没说是中国超市，只是华人在外影响大，基本上亚超可以和中国超市画等号）。回来后，打电话给纽约的一位老友，说起这件事情，他也感叹温哥华给华人带来的方便，美国恐怕也只有三藩市可以媲美了。
虽然说“大统华”东西不少，可惜我现在居无定所，也都不方便卖。最后只好无奈的买了点方便面，方便粉丝，和期待已久的饺子回来。下面奉上照片一张，大家共欣赏。温哥华的“华”化，当然不只这一点，不过由此可见一般了。我想这也要归功于那些来这里投资消费和“富有”国人们。他们说，我们想要适合自己生活的方式和环境，于是他们就有了这样的生活方式和环境。。。。
经过漫漫征途，终于在Shopping Mall的底层找到了传说中的“大统华”超市。大温哥华地区华人之多，其实是众所周知的事情。其中又以温哥华市和Richmond市尤最。年初的时候因为工作面试来过一趟，也看了名声在外的北美第二大“中国城”。但和今天进入“大统华”超市的感觉截然不同。去中国城，就像是老外在深圳看世界之窗，而在“大统华”超市，就是南京人逛苏果的感觉。
我这么说主要有这么几个原因：首先是语言，基本只说华语，广东话居多，剩下的都是各种腔调的普通话，这其中当然也包括台湾人的“国语”。然后是货物，正宗“国货”，这里的国货是指就是那些在国内能买到的东西。据个例子，看到这里出售的美国黑人牙膏的包装盒上赫然印着“黑人牙膏”四个汉字。不知道如此“华”化是否必要:) 再者就是购物的方式了，和国内无太大区别，熙熙攘攘好不热闹。最后就是规模，基本和本地超市规模相当。相比之下，欧洲那些小豆腐块亚超里面还包括不少泰国，越南的物品，所以根本不能说是中国超市（其实人家也没说是中国超市，只是华人在外影响大，基本上亚超可以和中国超市画等号）。回来后，打电话给纽约的一位老友，说起这件事情，他也感叹温哥华给华人带来的方便，美国恐怕也只有三藩市可以媲美了。
虽然说“大统华”东西不少，可惜我现在居无定所，也都不方便卖。最后只好无奈的买了点方便面，方便粉丝，和期待已久的饺子回来。下面奉上照片一张，大家共欣赏。温哥华的“华”化，当然不只这一点，不过由此可见一般了。我想这也要归功于那些来这里投资消费和“富有”国人们。他们说，我们想要适合自己生活的方式和环境，于是他们就有了这样的生活方式和环境。。。。
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
First week impression about Greater Vancouver!
Since May 11th, 2007, I have been in Greater Vancouver for one week. The change from Europe to North America isn't that big and I got used to the life pretty soon. However, there is still something remarkable :D
Last Day in Germany: I had been hanging around for 2 hours at Frankfurt international airport before I get checked in. What annoyed me was the stupid questions that the clerk asked for securities :( BUT, I did get some compensation. After the check in, I was told that my seat is upgraded to business class, which far more comfortable than the economic ones. I did enjoy it and it was the first time in my life that I felt 10 hours flight is too short :D
Arrived in Vancouver: There is nothing new to me at the airport except the immigration office. I was told to see a immigration officer in order to grant my work permit. This task was easy and pleasant, but it took me 1.5 hours to wait in the queue. Plus the luggage claim, it took me almost 3 hours to get out of the airport. But the nightmare was not finished. As planned， I would pick up the car, which was rented by my company. But my credit card could not pass the machine and there is no other way around this. Finally I could only take the Cab to the hotel and ended the whole tiring day with a fast dinner at McDonald. Oh, forgot to say that I did successfully pick up my new cell phone, which I have online reserved one day before my flight in Germany, on my way. That impressed the cab driver a lot, and I told him that's called planning, which I have learned in Germany. :D
The following days in Greater Vancouver: In the next day, I had a very rich breakfast and then Bill a very nice relocation assistant came and picked me up for the settlement orientation. It was quite pleasure to work with him and we finished all the important settlement, like bank, social insurance number, drive license, jut in the morning. It was a great success :D Besides work, there was nothing special I did in the following days. Although living without a car in north America is hard, I haven't expected too much and everything ran smooth enough for my first week. BTW, I finally got the rental car, which is a Dodge Caliber, and here is a photo I found in the internet as a reference. Then the life became easier.
Life Style in Canada: The culture here is similar to US. People keep looking forward to any new stuffs. Compare to the culture in Europe, you can easily feel their strong creative passion to entertain their life rather than to enjoy what they used to have. Anyway, it's just different living style. I meant no criticisms. One more happy thing I found here is shopping. Typical huge american shopping mall offers everything you need. And because of its multi-culture, I can buy most of the chinese cooking materials by without going to special "Asia-Markt". The drawback is people can hardly taste a pure culture here.
Misc: There are still many things to say. However, I decide to left it for later stories. What I want to mention at the end of this story is the cities in Greater Vancouver indeed have marvelous views. :D
Last Day in Germany: I had been hanging around for 2 hours at Frankfurt international airport before I get checked in. What annoyed me was the stupid questions that the clerk asked for securities :( BUT, I did get some compensation. After the check in, I was told that my seat is upgraded to business class, which far more comfortable than the economic ones. I did enjoy it and it was the first time in my life that I felt 10 hours flight is too short :D
Arrived in Vancouver: There is nothing new to me at the airport except the immigration office. I was told to see a immigration officer in order to grant my work permit. This task was easy and pleasant, but it took me 1.5 hours to wait in the queue. Plus the luggage claim, it took me almost 3 hours to get out of the airport. But the nightmare was not finished. As planned， I would pick up the car, which was rented by my company. But my credit card could not pass the machine and there is no other way around this. Finally I could only take the Cab to the hotel and ended the whole tiring day with a fast dinner at McDonald. Oh, forgot to say that I did successfully pick up my new cell phone, which I have online reserved one day before my flight in Germany, on my way. That impressed the cab driver a lot, and I told him that's called planning, which I have learned in Germany. :D
The following days in Greater Vancouver: In the next day, I had a very rich breakfast and then Bill a very nice relocation assistant came and picked me up for the settlement orientation. It was quite pleasure to work with him and we finished all the important settlement, like bank, social insurance number, drive license, jut in the morning. It was a great success :D Besides work, there was nothing special I did in the following days. Although living without a car in north America is hard, I haven't expected too much and everything ran smooth enough for my first week. BTW, I finally got the rental car, which is a Dodge Caliber, and here is a photo I found in the internet as a reference. Then the life became easier.
Life Style in Canada: The culture here is similar to US. People keep looking forward to any new stuffs. Compare to the culture in Europe, you can easily feel their strong creative passion to entertain their life rather than to enjoy what they used to have. Anyway, it's just different living style. I meant no criticisms. One more happy thing I found here is shopping. Typical huge american shopping mall offers everything you need. And because of its multi-culture, I can buy most of the chinese cooking materials by without going to special "Asia-Markt". The drawback is people can hardly taste a pure culture here.
Misc: There are still many things to say. However, I decide to left it for later stories. What I want to mention at the end of this story is the cities in Greater Vancouver indeed have marvelous views. :D
Monday, May 21, 2007
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Rescue IBM ThinkPad T40 "Black" Display: Replacing its CCFL
I bought Lin a used IBM ThinkPad T40 from ebay about 1 year ago and it has been working very well. However, the display recently became reddish and Lin complained it always. Since it worked somehow and I thus put less attention to it. One day the poor display finally gave up his ghost and stayed in black.
After a simple analysis, I guess the problem was caused by the defect of backlight. Since the display became reddish in his last few days, I was sure that the CCFL of the LCD display is brocken. I should have done more detailed investigation but I had neither time nor mood to do so. Forturnately, I was right and the display is revived.
As a memo I documented the most important steps in my Wiki.QS by the title "IBM ThinkPad T40 CCFL Replace"
After a simple analysis, I guess the problem was caused by the defect of backlight. Since the display became reddish in his last few days, I was sure that the CCFL of the LCD display is brocken. I should have done more detailed investigation but I had neither time nor mood to do so. Forturnately, I was right and the display is revived.
As a memo I documented the most important steps in my Wiki.QS by the title "IBM ThinkPad T40 CCFL Replace"
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Easter:第一站Antwerpen
4月6日 Good Friday！早上5点多挣扎着爬了起来，匆匆的洗漱了一下，拎上前一天准备好了的行李还有补给和老婆一起扎进了我那辆93年的“别摸我”。调整好GPS，油门一踩出发罗！一路上开开停停，顺便吃个早饭，两个小时后进入了荷兰境内。德荷边境没啥特别的，一路开过，先看到一个大方牌，上面蓝底白字写着Niederlande并环绕着一圈欧盟的小星星。继续开进约500米，更大的一个蓝牌则醒目的标记着荷兰境内交通限速的规定，Autobahn后面赫然印着120 km/h，sigh小郁闷了一下。再往前就是一个大型加油站和餐饮中心，周围停驻了不少18轮大卡。没什么闲心看这风景，于是匆匆驶过这个冷漠的边境。
在荷兰境内没开多久就进入了比利时的境内，路况感觉比荷兰稍差一些。但就这样，比利时的朋友也很喜欢开快车，同样是120的限速，对比利时人来说恐怕就是个建议而已。从出发开始，近4个小时后终于抵达了Antwerpen。和大多数其他欧洲旅游城市相似，Antwerpen也传达着它那点缀着17，18世纪欧洲传统建筑的妩媚。在欧洲驾车旅行泊车是个问题，我们在约定地点周围转了20分钟才找到个限时2小时的停车位。等停好车已经过了约定时间半小时，于是赶快跑去火车站和Lihlii还有Danly他们会合。
见到两位朋友，着实开心，在短暂的问候之后，我们一行4人就开始了正式的比利时旅行。Antwerpen是第一站
Antwerpen-Centraal Railway Station本身就是一个景点。它始建于1895年，并被公认为比利时最精美的火车站，其有关资料可以查阅Wikipedia的介绍。 离开了中心火车站，顺着正前方的大街步行，不久就到了Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal（the Cathedral of Our Lady）即圣母大教堂。教堂前的广场算是典型的欧式风格，四周一圈布满了大大小小的咖啡店和餐馆，在加上在广场上驻足休憩的人们和觅食的鸽子，让人身子骨都懒了起来。时间关系我们没有进入教堂内部参观，我则因为停车时间快到了，而不得不在此和其他三人暂时分开折回去取我的车。途中竟发现手机失窃，很是郁闷了一会儿，好在最后还是和大家在约定的集合地点碰上了。其间发生一个小插曲，我在用老婆的电话打给O2公司要求冻结我的电话的时候，那位接线的老兄居然认为我要冻结我正在通话的这个号码，不知道是如何的逻辑:(
在和朋友再次会合后，我们又相继走马观花地看了Het Steen（literally: ‘The Stone’）和Town House并饱食了一份意大利式的午餐。在Het Steen前我们看到了传说中的恶巨人Antigoon的雕像，据说他后来被一名罗马勇士Silvius Brabo打败，并割下他的一只手抛入河中。而这一传说也成为了Antwerpen城市名的由来，因为Antwerpen源自荷兰语Hand Werpen（hand-throwing）即“扔手”。并且这个著名的传说也被以各种各样的形式在城市中重复再现和传诵，这其中就包括做成手形状的巧克力和饼干:D
Antwerpen的观光很快就结束了，一路上记录的照片可以在Gallery.QS上找到！
2819
在荷兰境内没开多久就进入了比利时的境内，路况感觉比荷兰稍差一些。但就这样，比利时的朋友也很喜欢开快车，同样是120的限速，对比利时人来说恐怕就是个建议而已。从出发开始，近4个小时后终于抵达了Antwerpen。和大多数其他欧洲旅游城市相似，Antwerpen也传达着它那点缀着17，18世纪欧洲传统建筑的妩媚。在欧洲驾车旅行泊车是个问题，我们在约定地点周围转了20分钟才找到个限时2小时的停车位。等停好车已经过了约定时间半小时，于是赶快跑去火车站和Lihlii还有Danly他们会合。
见到两位朋友，着实开心，在短暂的问候之后，我们一行4人就开始了正式的比利时旅行。Antwerpen是第一站
Antwerpen-Centraal Railway Station本身就是一个景点。它始建于1895年，并被公认为比利时最精美的火车站，其有关资料可以查阅Wikipedia的介绍。 离开了中心火车站，顺着正前方的大街步行，不久就到了Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal（the Cathedral of Our Lady）即圣母大教堂。教堂前的广场算是典型的欧式风格，四周一圈布满了大大小小的咖啡店和餐馆，在加上在广场上驻足休憩的人们和觅食的鸽子，让人身子骨都懒了起来。时间关系我们没有进入教堂内部参观，我则因为停车时间快到了，而不得不在此和其他三人暂时分开折回去取我的车。途中竟发现手机失窃，很是郁闷了一会儿，好在最后还是和大家在约定的集合地点碰上了。其间发生一个小插曲，我在用老婆的电话打给O2公司要求冻结我的电话的时候，那位接线的老兄居然认为我要冻结我正在通话的这个号码，不知道是如何的逻辑:(
在和朋友再次会合后，我们又相继走马观花地看了Het Steen（literally: ‘The Stone’）和Town House并饱食了一份意大利式的午餐。在Het Steen前我们看到了传说中的恶巨人Antigoon的雕像，据说他后来被一名罗马勇士Silvius Brabo打败，并割下他的一只手抛入河中。而这一传说也成为了Antwerpen城市名的由来，因为Antwerpen源自荷兰语Hand Werpen（hand-throwing）即“扔手”。并且这个著名的传说也被以各种各样的形式在城市中重复再现和传诵，这其中就包括做成手形状的巧克力和饼干:D
Antwerpen的观光很快就结束了，一路上记录的照片可以在Gallery.QS上找到！
WPG2 Plugin Integrated!
Great Success! After 2 hour struggling, the "WordPress Gallery 2" (WPG2) plugin is settled in my blog. You should now see a thumbnail of the images from my Gallery.QS.
Since I am not a skilled worker of web scripts, it took me a while to figure out how to correctly install and configure it. To help myself later and the people, who might have the same tough life as I, I documented my experience and some tips in my Wiki.QS :D
Since I am not a skilled worker of web scripts, it took me a while to figure out how to correctly install and configure it. To help myself later and the people, who might have the same tough life as I, I documented my experience and some tips in my Wiki.QS :D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
