Blog

  • You Know You’ve Lived in China Too Long When…

    I found a group on facebook recently with this topic and it is so funny! Well it probably would be funny for the ones who lived in China. I’ve selected just a few very best ones in my opinion here:

    5. You smoke in crowded elevators.
    6. All white people look the same to you.
    8. You find state-employed retail staff helpful, knowledgeable and friendly.
    9. You no longer need tissues to blow your nose.
    12. You think that the heavy air actually contains valuable nutrients that you need to stay healthy.
    15. It’s OK to throw rubbish, including old fridges, from your 18th-floor window.
    16. You believe that pressing the lift button 63 times will make it move faster.
    17. You aren’t aware that one is supposed to pay for software.
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  • GPS Tracking – now you can spy on others!

    GPS Tracking – now you can spy on others!

    The dynamic development of modern technologies is not a surprise for anyone these days and things we regarded in the past as almost science-fiction or thought to be “technologies of the future” are quickly becoming parts of our everyday lives. One of this relatively new hi-tech things is GPS. For the ones of you who don’t know yet exactly what it is I’ll do a bit of explanation. GPS or Global Positioning System (which is pretty much explanatory) is a system through which certain special enabled devices can be located exactly through satellite system.
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  • Simpsonize yourself!

    Simpsonize yourself!

    This summer along with The Simpsons Movie and probably to promote the movie a nice online tool was launched. It allows you to render Simpsons like characters by providing a simple photograph. The tool is called “simpsonizer” and the action – “simpsonizing”. I’m not a big fan of The Simpsons but I always enjoyed watching these cartoons and I also enjoyed getting simpsonized.
    You can find this tool here – Start Simpsonizing!
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  • Who should pay the bill for Korean hostages?

    Who should pay the bill for Korean hostages?

    You all probably heard the story of 23 Korean hostages held by Talibans in Afghanistan. The good news that came in the end of last week about letting free the remaining 19 hostages was such a joy for me personally, since I was watching news about them everyday while in Korea for the past months and I felt truly sorry for them. I was also touched by the way the Korean media reported this event and by the way the whole country supported the families of the victims. And I just could not comprehend why would the Taliban terrorists choose Korean missioners as their targets. Well, apparently they did not choose them as targets, they just managed to get some foreigners and they did not care much about who they are and that the Korean government have no power whatsoever. They realized that later, when they demanded the release of Taliban members held prisoners by the Afghan government. (more…)

  • Office Boredom

    Office Boredom

    For all of you out there who spend most of their time in the office. Here are a few things to cheer you up on Monday. Some nice quotes for the start:

    • Making mistakes is human, but it’s against our company’s policy. (Anonymous)
    • Our company’s dressing code: always cover your back. (Anonymous)
    • A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer. (Dean Acheson)
    • Tell your boss everything you think about him and the truth will set you free. (Anonymous)
    • Leisure time is that five or six hours when you sleep at night. (George Allen)
    • Less important you are in the company’s structure, more they will miss you when you’ll be out of office. (Bill Vaughan)
    • Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas. (Paula Poundstone)
    • The one that smiles when the things went wrong already found someone to blame. (Arthur Bloch)
    • I’ve noticed that the persons that arrive late in the office are more cheerful than the ones waiting for them (E.V.Lucas)

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  • Manusa Roşie sau impresii electorale de la Chişinău.

    Manusa Roşie sau impresii electorale de la Chişinău.

    Credeam ca comunistii au venit cu o noua ideologie de a aduce staruri americane pe scena politica din Moldova. Asta a fost impresia cand am vazut Chisinaul impanzit cu publicitatea unui anume Jordan (la fel ca si baschetbalistul american renumit). Si mare a fost mirarea sa aflu ca “americanu” lor poate vorbi. Si nu numai ca vorbeste, dar vorbeste in limba Romana! Asta s-a intamplat de ziua alegerilor din 3 iunie cand a fost prins in public in momentul cand exercita dreptul la vot. Spre seara deja prin telefon la Moldova 1 in emisiunea lui Mircea a declarat ca deacum incolo va vorbi!

    Tabara comunista pare destul de calma si probabil crede ca daca candidatul lor la fotoliul Primariei a reusit sa iasa in turul doi fara a scoate nici o vorba in public va inchipuiti ce se intampla cand va vorbi?! Nu stiu insa daca vor lasa omul cu porecla “Manusa Rosie” sa vorbeasca in public pentru ca se pare ca intradevar se pricepe mai bine la manusi decat la vorbe. Un astfel de talent trebuie folosit! Tara are nevoie de oameni muncitori, ca dupa ce cu ajutorul comunistilor si a predecesorilor au facut sa fuga lumea din tara trebuie sa munceasca cineva, nu? Apropo, la moment cel mai popular banc in Moldova e tot despre oamenii care muncesc!

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  • 5 luni petrecute pe insula

    5 luni petrecute pe insula

    Timpul zboara! Multa apa a curs prin delta Raului de Perla (Pearl River) de cand am ajuns aici. Au trecut mai bine de cinci luni de cand am poposit pe meleagurile fostei colonii britanice – Hong Kong. Ma simt deja acomodat si cu siguranta voi duce dorul acestor locuri cand plec. In cateva zile ma reintorc acasa, la Chisinau.

    Culmea e ca de cand am sosit aici mi-am instalat conexiune broadband imediat, dar nu am mai ajuns sa public nimic din considerente de timp. La fel de fapt ca si in cazul calatoriei Tibetane pentru care am creat o categorie speciala si aveam conexiune nelimitata prin cartela CDMA in toata China, chiar si de la poalele muntelui Everest.

    Acum mai inchei un capitol din “calatoriele” mele asiatice. Mia placut mult acest oras si regret doar ca nu am avut mai mult timp la dispozitie.

  • My Last Cigarette!

    This morning I received an email from Cameron in Philippines with a link to a new “Shoeboat Shorts” production featuring myself. So, that is how I quit smoking! And that is my last cigarette…

    Thank you Cameron! I enjoyed the movie same as quitting smoking. 🙂 I see you’ve done a bit of research on Moldova too… Cheers mate!
    As for me now, it’s been over 4 months (113 days exactly) since I became a non-smoker. And I will continue to remain so. Thanks to Allain Carr and his book about the easy way to quit smoking and thanks to this post on foto.md forum.
    As for other things you can do with the money you would have spent on cigarettes – you can go to a racecourse and bet them all. Because that’s what I’m going to do right now. I have to go, the race in Sha Tin will start in 18 minutes.

  • In drum spre Hong Kong

    Ce sa fac? Fac bine!

    Sunt in aeroportul din Chongqing, mai am o jumate de ora pina la zborul urmator in Shenzhen si m-am oprit la o cafenea sa beau o bericica. Cam dulcica e berea aici in Chongqing, se numeste “Chongqhing Beer”, si nu merita nici o atentie! Asta probabil ca ultimele 3 saptamani si ceva am baut doar “Lhasa Beer” – “the beer from the roof of the world”! Care dupa parerea mea este una din cele mai buni beri din lume!!! Nu ma asteptam, sa fiu sincer, ca baietii montani s fie atat de priceputi la preparearea berii. Mai mult chiar, si asta o spune eu, au si vinuri foarte buni!!! Nu stiu cum o fac, dar sunt superbi tibetanii la preparat bauturi alcoolice. Si mancare gustoasa stiu sa faca. Bravo lor!

    Eu eram cat pe ce sa pierd zborul din Lhasa in dupa-ameaza zilei de azi. Asta din cauza domnisoarei de la check-in, care a decis sa inchida mai devreme. Am facut un scandal mare la aeroportul din Lhasa, o sa ma tina minte multa vreme baietii de acolo, dar pina la urma am nimerit si eu in avion. “China Southern” – cea mai proasta companie aeriana cu care am zburat pina cauma! Bine macar ca zbor acuma cu “Air China”, astia sunt cu mult mai buni!!! Despre intamplarea din aeroportul din Lhasa va povestesc alta data, ca acuma nu prea am chef.

    Cam atat de la mine pentru moment. Numai bine si NOROC!!!

  • End of Tibetan Trip

    I’m sitting in the “Music Bar” in Lhasa (the ones who’ve been here know this little cozy bar) right across Yak Hotel (the hotel I’m staying in). After our trip to EBC (Everest Base Camp) we came back to Lhasa, and now I’m the only person from our group left here. One by one they all left… it’s been 12 days now since I came from EBC. I enjoy Lhasa, I enjoy Tibet! This is one of these places you want to stay and do not want to leave, but sooner or later that must happen… and it will tomorrow.

    The reason I wasn’t writing anything in my “Tibetan Travelogue” is that on the train to Lhasa my computer just crashed, I think it was altitude seekeness. Really! First my hard drive seezed to work, and that was a real trouble, but when I managed to fix I found out that many other things don’t work either along with my CDMA internet card. I was allright with the high altitude, but not my laptop! Kiwi Dave’s iPod also seezed to work after the trip on the train to Lhasa. Misterious things!

    Well, anyway I decided to reinstall everything, I saved all my files on external hard drives and guess where I was installing the Windows? I am proud to announce now that my currently running Windows XP was installed on the bus during my trip through Tibet. The first part of instalation took part on Mt.Kanbala (4990m above sea level)! I wonder now how many OS’s were installed at same altitude. But the good thing is that ever since my computer is runing well. It is just me being lazy, could not find time to post some news… It is an amazing place here, you wouldn’t loose time for writing news.