Jason's Blog

Which twin is older?

2011-11-03T14:51:00.000+08:00

Here's an exchange my wife and I have with strangers all the time that I can't wrap my head around.

"Are they twins?"
"Yes"
"Which twin is older?"

Seriously, they're born on the same day (unless one is born before midnight and one after midnight). One is not older than the other.

Let's say you share a birthday with a friend. You were born at 10am while he/she was born at 3pm. You don't consider yourself older than your friend, right? You're simply the same age and share a birthday. You're not 5 hours older than your friend.

Ok, I get that the real question is "Which twin was born first?"

To be honest, who was born first or second has zero relevance. This makes the question odd and intrusive (coming from a stranger).

Being the first born twin doesn't mean that one is larger, stronger, more mature, or whatever. It just means he/she came out first. It's like being the first user to post a comment on Internet articles. It doesn't make that comment any more relevant than the second, third, fourth, or a hundredth comment.

From a biological/medical/physiological point of view, it makes even less sense.

In a vaginal birth, the baby that's closest to the bottom at the moment of birth will be the first-born. In a c-section, the baby that's closest to the top will be the first-born.

This means that the question now becomes "What was the position of your babies in the womb at birth and what was your delivery method?"
Isn't that a bit personal and, quite frankly, none of anyone's business?

Now, I'm not the type of person who likes to create conflict. So I've developed a peaceful strategy for dealing with the question "which twin is older?". I just alternate my answer every time I get asked. Today, Aidan's older. Tomorrow, Ethan's older. The day after, it's Aidan's turn to be older again.

It's funny how despite who I say is older, the response is always "Yes, I knew it. He's definitely the older one. He looks so much wiser."

Twins Blog - Oct. 24, 2011 - "Fine"

2011-10-28T09:44:00.001+08:00

The boys are approaching their first birthday. And I find it frustrating that I still can't answer the question "How are the boys doing?" which just a simple "Fine".

Truth is, they're not fine. Ethan is fine. Aidan is not really. So, they are not fine.

Aidan has some obvious developmental delay. He shows lots of spastic and reflexive behavior. We're told by several medical professionals that it's not too bad. Nobody can comfortably give us a diagnosis other than "developmentally delayed". At this point the diagnosis doesn't really even matter. It doesn't affect the treatment plan or outlook. Using an aggressive and frequent schedule of therapies, we hope to get his development back on track.

Ethan, on the other hand, is the typical cute baby. You know those babies you see on commercials and ads? He's one of those. Just happy all the time. A couple of months ago, he learned how to roll over and he's been doing that non-stop ever since. Lately, he's been able to maintain a sitting posture. He loves to bang things together, put them in his mouth, etc. He's very crafty in that he hides his pacifiers around his bed. We would always find 4 or 5 of them just laying around.

Samsung Galaxy S II - Tips & Tricks

2011-07-08T15:51:00.000+08:00

Pinch at the Calendar's month view to go into year view.

Pinch twice in the stock browser to see your other windows.

With the TouchWiz launcher, pinch at the homescreen or app drawer to go into thumbnail view.

With the TouchWiz launcher, navigate the homescreen or app drawer by tapping or swiping those little dots on the bottom.

In the call history (log) or contacts, swipe left to send SMS or swipe right to call the person.

Tap and hold the notification bar until the bottom shade disappears. This should take about 1 second. Then swipe laterally to adjust screen brightness.

Press Home + Power button to take a screenshot. Root not required!

Go to about:useragent in the stock browser to amend the user agent string. Note that the change only applies to the current window/session.

Go to [Settings > Accessibility] or [Settings > Call > Call answering/ending] to toggle on "The power key ends calls". You may also toggle on "Answering key" here to use the Home button for answering calls but that's a personal preference.

Go to [Settings > About phone] and spamming the "Android version" with taps will give you an Easter Egg.

In the Calculator app, slide down the number pad to reveal previous calculations.

Hold the Menu button to bring up contextual search (equivalent of pressing the Search button on other devices).

Press the Home button twice to bring up Voice Command.

Hold the Home button to bring up the 6 most recent apps as well as shortcut to the Task Manager.

In the Camera app, press the Menu button and tap Edit shortcuts to have quick access to up to 4 settings.

In the Camera app, use the volume rocker for digital zoom.

While watching a video with the default video player, press the Power button to lock the screen while keeping it on.

In the Camera app, you can tap the screen to focus on an area other than the center. Alternatively, you may frame the object you want to focus on in the center, tap and hold the on-screen shutter button and then move to reframe the shot to your liking. The focus will lock. Release the shutter button to take the shot. I find this to be faster than using tap-to-focus.

Pressing *#0*# in the phone dialer will bring up LCD test.

In the Email app, pinch to collapse all emails by date.

With the Samsung Keyboard, if you enable "Keypad sweeping", you can access punctuations by swiping laterally across the keyboard.

Personal app recommendations to improve usability.
Dolphin Mini. The stock browser supports hardware acceleration which helps with rendering speeds. But Dolphin Mini is no slouch in this area. I think the ability to permanently set the user agent string and to go full-screen greatly improves the browsing experience.
LauncherPro Plus. Fast and smooth animations. Useful and elegant looking widgets. Highly customize-able. I just find it better in every way than the Touchwiz launcher.
Widgetlocker Lockscreen. Allows you to place homescreen widgets on your lockscreen. Just like in HTC Sense 3.0, allows you to launch applications from the lockscreen.
SugarSync. Auto backup all your phone's photos taken with the cam to the cloud and have that auto sync with your PC.

Samsung Galaxy S II Review

2011-07-08T15:46:00.000+08:00

3 words are used to describe the Galaxy S II on Samsung's product page: Vivid. Fast. Slim.

It's hard to disagree with Samsung. The screen is brilliant. Performance is blazing. And the device is so light and thin it is jaw dropping.

Check out the official site for specs and features.

The device has been reviewed by many tech sites and bloggers already. So I'll try to keep from repeating things that have been combed over already.

Aesthetics

How thin and light the device is can't be overstated. You would almost begin to wonder if this was really a functional smartphone.

It's large in hand. Using this device with one hand is difficult at best.

There's no notification light. This won't bother people coming from another device without a notification light. But for those that are used to having a notification light, this omission is glaring.

Back battery cover feels extremely flimsy. Exercise caution when removing and attaching it. But this becomes a none issue once it's actually on the device. Also, it's been shown that the battery cover can actually be bent pretty far and still retain it's shape.

A common criticism is that Samsung phones feel cheap due to the amount of plastic used. Aside from the screen, most of it is indeed plastic. However, it certainly doesn't feel cheap. The device doesn't creak or flex. It feels very solid and high quality in hand.

Super AMOLED Plus screen is brilliant. Blacks are true blacks. Colors are saturated (maybe over-saturated to some). However, whites look more like grays. But it's not too noticeable without a side by side comparison. Pixel density isn't as large an issue as I thought it might be. Text look plenty sharp. I struggle to make out individual pixels.

Standby/Power button is located off to the side rather than the top like it is for most devices. This makes sense given the size of the device. The location on the side makes it accessible with one hand. There's a setting that allows you to set that button to double as a call-end key which is nice.

As much as I like this button configuration, it does take time to get used to. It's easy early-on to accidentally hit the volume rocker as you squeeze the device to hit the standby key (and vice-versa).

The location of the light sensor seems awkward to me. It's located on the device's top left. Most people would rotate the device counter-clockwise to get into landscape mode. But if you do that (especially when typing), your left hand will likely cover the light sensor. If you have auto brightness on, your screen will suddenly dim.

On a related note, the light sensor is extremely sensitive. Slight changes in ambient luminosity will trigger drastic screen brightness changes. For this and the above reasons, it make sense to disable auto brightness. I personally just set it at around 30%.

Performance

The phone is fast, but then you already know that. I had a quick hands-on with the HTC Sensation which is also a 1.2ghz dual core beast. The Galaxy S II definitely feels faster than the Sensation. Where the Sensation occasionally has the rare lag, the Galaxy S II simply does not.

In my HTC Desire review, I had mentioned that it was fast and smooth. The Galaxy S II, brings new meaning to fast and smooth.

Onscreen keyboard

Comes with Swype. I won't cover that since everyone knows how awesome Swype is. The following applies to the Samsung keyboard.

The predictive text is very good. It's on par or better than HTC's keyboard. The 4.3" screen allows you to type really fast even in portrait mode.

In IM apps like Google Talk, the Enter key is replaced by a dedicated key for emoticons. This is a minor annoyance since I'm so used to hitting the Enter key to send my message rather than hitting the "Send" button located on top.

If you turn on predictive text and start typing, a bar above the keyboard appears that shows you what the keyboard thinks you're typing. Rather than being an overlay, it shifts everything onscreen up to accommodate itself. When you hit the Spacebar, that bar disappears and everything onscreen shifts back down. This repeats when you begin typing your next word. So, what happens when you're typing full speed is everything onscreen just keeps shifting up and down. As such, you'll need to keep your eyes on the keyboard or else you'll just end up dizzy.

The predictive text sometimes kick in when you don't want it to. Eg, when entering email addresses occasionally.

Browser

Going into tabbed view by using the pinch gesture requires you to do it twice. It's nice but, personally, I'd rather just hit the Menu key and tap "Windows". Usually, I'm zoomed in on the web page when I want to switch to a different window. If I want to do the gesture to get to the tabbed view, I need to double tap to zoom out and then pinch twice. Seems more convenient to just do the 2 taps.

Speaking of browser tabs, you can have a maximum of 8. That's a huge improvement over HTC's 4.

In the Touchwiz homescreen and app tray, there are a couple of dots along the bottom that you can swipe to navigate quickly between the pages. These same dots appear in the browser's tabbed view. But you can't swipe along them like you can in the homescreen and app tray. Not a big deal, but it would have made sense to make this feature consistent across the UI.

The notification bar is always on top when using the browser. Would have been nice to be able to hide the bar, but it's not in the way most of the time. It's only in the way when you go full-screen on Flash content.

The toggle to disable mobile website view is missing. A workaround would be to change the browser's user agent via about:useragent. But this change doesn't stick. It only applies to the current session.

Text does not dynamically reflow according to the zoom level. It only reflows at one zoom level, which is the double-tap zoom. Workaround would be to adjust the "Default zoom" in the browser settings to suit your needs.

Browser is fast. Checkerboard patterns rarely appear and in the instances that they do, they last only for about a fraction of a second. On my HTC Desire, the browser starts to get choppy if I enable javascript and Flash. But even with those 2 items enabled, the performance is outstanding on the Galaxy S II.

Adobe Flash performance is great. With the HTC Desire, I was able to play the Flash-based game Plants vs Zombies but animations were choppy and screen presses were not always properly detected. On the Galaxy S II, the experience is much more playable and enjoyable.

Other Software

There's plenty of videos on TouchWiz and the various preinstalled applications, so I'll try to just briefly touch on a few items.

You can have up to 7 homescreens. Unless you root, the main one is always the one on the far left. The homescreens don't loop. That is, you won't be able to get to the far right homescreen from the far left by swiping once. You navigate between the homescreens by either swiping one by one, tapping the corresponding dots on the bottom, or sliding the dots. You can also do a pinch gesture to get to thumbnail view.

The application tray is side-scrolling. The applications are not in alphabetical order and there's no way to quickly sort them other than manually moving them around (unless you root). The layout is eerily similar to iOS. Navigation is done in the same way as the homescreens.

If you integrate your contacts with Facebook, the contacts' Facebook profile picture will be used. However, the photos appears heavily pixelated. Also, the photos sometimes default back to the Google Contacts photo. I can't seem to figure this out.

A few observations on the included widgets:

-There are several widgets which can be resized to show more or less information depending on your needs.

-With all the various clock widgets, tapping them does nothing. It would make sense to have it direct you to the clock application.

-There are 2 widgets named "Agenda". The first one on the list only shows calendar items on the local calendar, not your Google Calendar which is just silly.

-There are widgets for AccuWeather.com, AP Mobile, and Yahoo! Finance. When you tap each of these widgets, you are taken to their respective applications. Yet, these applications are not available in the app tray.

Music Hub appears to only work in limited regions. Unfortunately, it's not supported where I am.

Social Hub attempts to consolidate all your social networking feeds in one area like HTC's Friendstream. While it supports more sites than Friendstream, it's not very practical to use. Most would simply prefer to use the dedicated apps for Facebook, Twitter, etc. It does include a native IM app that supports Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, and Yahoo Messenger. It gets a bit confusing if you sign in for Google Talk since there's already a dedicated app for that.

Readers Hub is just a portal to access PressDisplay, Kobo, and Zinio. Not much to get excited over.

Game Hub allows you to download game demos which tries to get you to pay full price after it gets you addicted.

Polaris Office is included which allows you to edit Microsoft Office documents. Most people would be more than satisfied with it. It integrates with Box.net which does offer Google Docs integration if you pay a subscription fee. Because of this, I personally prefer Docs-to-go which integrates with Google Docs after just a one-time fee.

Samsung Apps is just another app store. I see no reason to use this over the Android Market.

Misc

A problem with AMOLED screens is that it's impossible for the user to know if the screen is off or it's just displaying black. When you power off the device, the screen goes black for a moment and then it vibrates just a bit to let you know that it's done powering off. Nice touch.

Boot up time is impressive. It took about 15 secs for a cold boot.

Upon charge completion, the screen turns on and the device emits 2 beeps to let you know. I wish it didn't do this.

Conclusion

+ Huge 4.3" Super AMOLED plus screen is gorgeous; Pixel density is surprisingly not an issue.

+ Fast performance throughout.

+ Solid build quality while still being amazingly thin and light.

+ Excellent camera and video capture

+ Substantial amount of internal storage with either 16GB or 32 GB

- Battery life is below average.

- No notification light
- No dedicated hardware camera key

At this moment, it's hard to argue that there's a better handset other than the Samsung Galaxy S II. It's just that simple.
If you want something that's fashionable, get the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc.
If you absolutely can't live without HTC Sense, get the HTC Sensation or EVO 3D.
If you're on a budget but want to get in on the high-end Android scene, get the LG Optimus 2X.
If you're impressed with the docking capabilities of the Motorola Atrix, then get that.
If you're into the Apple craze, then get the iPhone4.
But if you want the absolute best smartphone, there's only one choice and it's the Samsung Galaxy S II.

Twins Blog - Jun. 27, 2011 - "How are the babies?"

2011-06-27T16:37:00.000+08:00

It has now been exactly 2 months since Aidan returned home to join Ethan.
Friends and family always ask "How are the babies?" to which our default reply is "They're alright."

Actually, they are alright. Not everything is rosy, though. But considering the circumstances, I think we were dealt a pretty darn good hand to play.

So, what's the real answer to "How are the babies?"

They're alright. The boys are nearly 7 months old now but they're smaller than full-term babies at 7 months. They do however, compare more favorably with 4-month-olds which is probably more fair since they were 3 months premature.
Against all odds, the boys:
1. Don't have any signs of ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity ). The overwhelming majority of babies born at 28-months have at least stage 1 ROP.
2. They were never effected by NEC (Necrotizing enterocolitis). It affects nearly 10% of all babies born less than 1500g. Mortality rate is over 50%. We've personally witnessed several babies in the NICU pass away from this condition. Each of our boys weighed about 1kg at birth. This coupled with the fact that each of them had multiple episodes of distended bowels (ie, possible early indicator of NEC) left us nerve racking for the first few months at the hospital.
3. They never developed meningitis. The boys combined for 5 incidences of fever while in the NICU. Each time, spinal fluid needed to be extracted and tested for meningitis. Thank god the tests never came back positive.

But are they alright in that they're the picture of health and development? Not exactly since there are still hurdles to overcome. But they're alright and it's really all we can ask for.

Twins Blog - Apr. 26, 2011 - "Welcome Home, Aidan"

2011-04-26T09:31:00.001+08:00

On April 25 (Easter Monday), the hospital notified us that we may bring Aidan home on hospital leave. That is, we need to bring him back the next morning so the doctors can examine him when they do their rounds. He's not officially discharged, but it was better than nothing.
At around 4:30pm, Aidan finally came home. After 143 days in the hospital, he finally felt the warmth of family.
We brought him back to the NICU this morning, but it's likely he'll be officially discharged later today.

(Aidan on the left, Ethan on the right)

10 situations that are only possible in TVB dramas

2011-04-14T16:59:00.003+08:00

1. The Elevator Baby Delivery
Pregnant woman plus elevator equals elevator failure and emergency delivery.
Reality: See here for details. This one deserves it's own little piece.

2. The Ankle Sprain
A female character suffers an ankle sprain while chasing/running in the street. It's not just a minor sprain too. It's a major sprain where the person requires assistance just to stand.
Reality: It's impossible for someone with any motor-skill coordination to suffer a major sprain just from running on smooth pavement. You might trip and scrape yourself, but never to the point where it's difficult to stand.

3. The Rubber Burn
Cars always slam the brakes and burn rubber when they stop. I'm not even referring to chase scenes. I'm just talking about regular pedestrians driving casually.
Reality: It's as if the effects guy gets paid a commission every time he uses that screeching sound bite.

4. The Homemade Takeout
If the breakfast scene is at home, the characters always have homemade congee, fried noodles and fried dough for breakfast.
Reality: I can understand homemade congee and maybe fried noodles. But there's absolutely no way that people fry their own dough at home for breakfast. It's just too much effort and not practical.

5. The Concussion-caused Amnesia
Every concussion injury leads to retrograde amnesia (ie, loss of memories formed before the injury).
Reality: Concussions are fairly common. If all concussions lead to amnesia, a lot of professional sports athletes would be wandering the streets wondering who they were. Besides, even if the concussion lead to amnesia, it's more likely to be that of anterograde amnesia (ie, inability to create and save new memories).

6. The Imaginary Restaurant
Characters always meet at a particularly weird non-existing type of restaurant. The entire restaurant consists of small square tables that can only accommodate a party of 2. The lighting is usually dim. Upon sitting down, a waiter (usually dressed very formally) approaches and asks the person what they would like to have. If the fictional restaurant is meant to be a "cafe", the waiter would specifically ask what they would like to drink. The answer is usually coffee. If the fictional restaurant is actually meant to be a restaurant, the main character wouldn't even look at the menu. They'll always have the "set lunch".
Reality: The type of restaurant described simply doesn't exist. There's no other way to put it. There's no restaurant that primarily serves beverages in the format described. And there's no restaurant where there's only 1 set lunch. There has to be at least a choice of appetizer, main course, and drink.

7. The Scenery Shift
In a conversation between two characters (usually romantically involved), one of them might say something like "We need to talk" or "I have something I'd like to say to you". The content of what needs to be said is usually dramatic enough to warrant a change in scenery. Suddenly, the scene shifts to another location which might be miles away.
Reality: Either they teleported there to continue their conversation or they commuted there in awkward silence.

8. The Broken Glass Cut
An item shatters (usually glass). The first person to go ahead and pick up the pieces always gets cut. Always. Seriously. Always.
Reality: In my experience of cleaning shattered messes, it's pretty difficult to cut yourself unless you purposely take a sharp piece and squeeze into it like an idiot.

9. The Imaginary Hospital
Medical surgeries take place in a hospital that can't be found in the real world. If a character requires surgery, the character's family/friends wait directly outside the operating room. There's always a couple of benches but the hallway is always empty except for the family/friends. The door to the OR always has this box with the words "Operation Room" on it and it's always lit from the inside with a fluorescent tube. The light switches off to signal the end of the surgery, the family/friends stand up and the surgeon comes out accompanied by one or two nurses to discuss the outcome of the surgery.
Reality: This type of hospital doesn't exist. Every hospital hallway is always crowded with people and staff. I've never seen that "Operation Room" light indicator in any hospital I've been to. And surgeons never immediately address family/friends right after the surgery.

10. The Incompetent Car
Cars routinely malfunction and break down while being driven. There's only two types of problems. One is a brake malfunction which usually leads to an accident (often crashing into a light pole or road sign). The other type of problem is when the engine sputters and white smoke emit from the hood. Oh, and every single male character is a mechanic. They always pop the hood as if they know exactly what's going on.
Reality: Cars just don't fail that easily. Every car goes through annual inspections to ensure that they are still road-worthy. The brakes are one of the main parts of the car that is heavily inspected. I'm no expert, but the "white smoke from the hood" issue appears to be the radiator overheating. The radiator is also heavily inspected and is routinely flushed. Besides, the radiator never just suddenly fails. There's a temperature gauge on the dashboard that warns the driver of any problems ahead of time. (In fact, I knew someone who drove around a 10-year-old car for months with a leaky radiator. Every hour or so, he would need to refill the radiator with tap water. That car's engine never failed.)

(Bonus)
11. The Unfocused Accident
Characters have dramatic things happening in their lives and often, the show producers would like to illustrate that a character is mentally preoccupied with something. Perhaps the character is deciding how to reject a marriage proposal from a millionaire or if she should arrest her fiancée who is a crime boss. The only effective way to show a character is unfocused is to have her handle a knife and food. She would stare straight ahead while chopping carrots or peeling an apple. She will inevitably cut herself with the knife. This is the only way the audience would know that she is unfocused.
Reality: This is just like #8. You really have to be an idiot to cut yourself with a knife. This just doesn't happen to adults.

Pregnancy and the Elevator in the world of TVB dramas

2011-04-14T16:58:00.000+08:00

A common criticism of TVB dramas is that they're basically all the same. They follow a predictable plot. They're full of cliche lines. And they're all played by young aspiring (ie, bad) actors/actresses.

Most importantly, they don't portray the real world and there's no better example of this than the dynamics between the elevator and the pregnant woman.

In the TVB drama world every time a pregnant woman steps into an elevator, the following is true 100% of the time:

1. Shortly after the elevator doors close, the elevator fails due to some technical glitch or power outage.
The probability of getting stuck in an elevator is once in a lifetime for a person using elevators on a daily basis. In other words, this just doesn't happen as often as depicted.

2. The pregnant woman suddenly cringes in pain, her water breaks, and goes into emergency labor where the baby has to be delivered right away.
Labor typically lasts several hours, sometimes days. But on TV, the water breaks and the woman sits down in a pile of sweat in about 5 seconds. This is then followed by 15 seconds of panic to hype up the drama. Then 10 seconds of pep talk. About 30 seconds later, the woman is ready to start pushing.
By the way, the woman is usually in her late 3rd trimester of her pregnancy when she enters the elevator. But this doesn't really matter. She could very well have just conceived the night before and all of this would still happen.

3. A protagonist assists with the delivery of the baby.
The protagonist is never a doctor. Yet, he/she seems to know exactly what to do. He/she just puts his hand between the woman's legs, implores her to push, and then catches the baby as it comes out. Labor is that easy, eh? Makes you wonder why we even need doctors and medical equipment?

4. The baby and mother always turn out alright despite the unsanitary conditions and the inexperience of the protagonist.
Nobody's hands are washed/sanitized. The elevator floor is dirty. There's no clean water supply. Yet, there's no risk of infection. If a woman really experiences such an emergency labor, I'm willing to bet that there's at least some sort of complication with the baby and/or mother. Yet, this is just never the case.

5. Only after the delivery of the baby can the lift doors be possibly opened.
This is like a rule chiseled in stone. Never will you see firefighters pry open the doors during the delivery of the baby. It could be the most epic grueling labor in the history of mankind lasting several hours (breaking rule #2). But by the time the doors are opened, the baby is already neatly wrapped in a mysterious towel of unknown origin. Where did the towel come from? How was the umbilical cord cut? What about the placenta?

6. The father is never in the elevator.
The father character is never the main protagonist. So if he's in the elevator, our protagonist doesn't get enough screen time.

7. The dramatic event sparks a relationship between the protagonist and the romantic interest.
The elevator doors open. The baby and mother leave with the paramedics. The protagonist and the romantic interest character looks and nods at each other. Somehow the experience changes them and they have a new found respect for one another.

Any more that I missed?

Twins Blog - Apr. 10, 2011 - "Cake"

2011-04-10T22:08:00.001+08:00

Today is day 128 in the NICU for Aidan. There's still no end in sight but it does feel like we're at least heading in the right direction. Aidan is still on nasal cannula but the settings are minimal (ie, 0.5 liters per minute flow at only 21% O2 concentration). Apnea episodes still come and go but they're happening much less frequently and he recovers much more rapidly with fewer assistance.

Ethan recently went for his 2nd immunization shot. The doctor warned us that from his experience, babies tend to cry really loud because this shot hurts more, compared to the previous one. Ethan cried for about 45 seconds for the 1st shot. This time, he wailed for just about 15 seconds. It was cake.

A couple of recent shots. (We like dressing them this way; long sleeve inside with short sleeve outside.)

Twins Blog - Mar. 27, 2011 - "This was nothing"

2011-03-27T21:57:00.001+08:00

They reduced Aidan's oxygen supplement levels to about 30%. A few weeks ago, my wife and I would take this as good news. But now, we can't help but think that this is just a ploy by the doctor to make it seem like he's doing work. It's complete BS, of course. Adjusting the oxygen levels is as simple as putting a note in the chart to instruct the nurses to do so. It doesn't do anything about his apnea episodes. He only had 1 episode over the last 24 hours and didn't need to be bagged. But our hopes aren't up because last week, there was an instance where he didn't have one for over 24 hours only to have multiple episodes the day after, and the day after, and the day after, etc. We'll still be pushing the doctors for treatment plans and tests until they exhausted all options or until Aidan outgrows the apnea himself.
On a lighter note, Aidan has been very alert and adorable the last few days we came to visit. He looks very much like Ethan except for a few differences: a birth mark on his left temple, he has less hair, and his hair is more curly. Most of their expressions are fairly similar.

We took Ethan for his immunization shot yesterday. A few items of interest to note:

We watched as the doctor inserted the syringe needle into Ethan's thigh and we didn't really feel anything. We didn't cringe or felt sorry for putting our child in pain. We just looked at each other, smiled and shrugged. It may sound like we were being emotionless parents but it's just that we've seen much worse when Ethan was still in the NICU. This was nothing. Ethan still carries the battle scars from numerous IV sites where multiple catheters was left in place for days. This doctor made a single insertion and the needle was in&out in 2 seconds. Seriously, this was nothing.
Ethan took the shot like a man. That's not to say he didn't cry or feel any pain. He cried when the syringe was inserted obviously because it was uncomfortable. But the volume was tolerable. We've heard him scream louder at home when he's hungry. The crying continued for less than a minute. By the time I had him back in my arms, he was quiet and happily sucking away at his pacifier as if nothing happened. I've seen children at age 1 or 2 take shots and then just wail all out for 10-15 minutes. In comparison, my boy is less than a month old adjusted.

Twins Blog - Mar. 24, 2011 - "Trust"

2011-03-24T23:52:00.002+08:00

Ethan is just too cute and adorable at home. We can't wait for Aidan to finally join him. I think we've finally gotten the hang of caring for Ethan. Adding Aidan to the mix should be pretty seamless. It wouldn't be exactly doubling the workload. We'll just be doing everything twice.

Aidan is still experiencing the occasional apnea spells. Every time we go visit him, we ask the nurses how many apnea spells he's had in the last 24 hrs. These days it's usually between 3 and 5. So, we're still praying for his apneas to go away and stay away.

A revelation hit us in our last hospital visit. A nurse pulled us aside and cryptically suggested that we make an appointment to see Aidan's attending doctor. The message came as a shocking surprise but at the same time, it was clearly evident: Aidan was not getting the medical treatment he deserves.

We had trusted our doctor and it was clear that this trust has been abused. Aidan has been off the vent and suffering from apneas for a month. There were no interventions during this time. About three weeks ago, we asked the doctor for his treatment plan. His response was basically "wait-and-see". It's a fact that apneas tend to just go away on their own, so we accepted this response at the time. We also suggested that perhaps it may be reflux but he brushed it aside saying that it was unlikely. Again, this was almost 3 weeks ago.

Just a few days ago, the nurses informed us that diuretic drugs were prescribed after the doctor personally witnessed one of Aidan's apnea episodes. We didn't think too much into this at the moment but now, it's clear that this was a reactive response and I have reason to believe that the prescription may not even be appropriate.

The next 24hours were truly hectic. We requested an emergency meeting with the attending doctor. Then we were told that the attending doctor was unavailable and that the on-call doctor would be able to see us. So, we agreed but demanded that a more senior doctor was present. We were told the senior doctor was unavailable. So, we decided to consult the hospital's social workers to see what action we can possibly take if we're unsatisfied with the doctor's medical treatment. But apparently, we contacted the wrong department and they subsequently led us to the hospital's public relations officer who handles complaints. We told them that we're not here to complain but we did express our frustration to them. We asked if we can request a different doctor or even move to a different hospital because we have reason to believe that our current doctor is incompetent. It didn't seem like we were able to accomplish much because they kept telling us that we need to meet with the doctor first. So we asked if they can send someone to join our meeting because we felt that a 3rd party needed to be present. They said no but suggested that we ask the head nurse of the NICU to join the meeting.
Shortly after, we received a phone call saying that the senior doctor has agreed to meet with us along with the on-call doctor. Clearly the public relations officer tipped them off which was to our advantage. We arrived for the meeting and asked the head nurse to join us. She agreed. The tables were now set. As Han Solo would say, "This is where the fun begins."

A couple of highlights from the long meeting:

The doc kept going on and on about Aidan's underdeveloped lungs. In less colorful language, my wife basically told him to shut up and stop blaming everything on his chronic lung disease. CLD is such a general condition that you can use it to explain everything.

I asked him what are they doing about his apnea. The doc insisted that it's not apnea and that it's a behavioral thing. I called his BS and told him that it is apnea because he's not breathing. That's the definition of apnea. Before his rebuttal, I told him, "Ok, you say it's behavioral. What are you doing about his behavior?"
The doc said that they were monitoring Aidan's stats and adjusting his oxygen supplementation accordingly. He also said that Aidan's condition is fairly consistent with what similar preemies experience. This was complete crap and we need to look no further than Ethan's condition. I told him that means they're taking a wait-and-see approach and this was not acceptable at this stage. My wife asked them why they were not proactively trying to determine the cause of the problem and then specifically targeting the cause with the appropriate treatment.

I then asked "Shouldn't you be running all sorts of whatever-tests?"
Perhaps trying to poke fun at my lack of medical terminology the doctor actually asked me "What whatever-tests?"
I counter with "You're the doctor. You tell me!"

The next part is just fun. The doctor goes ahead and mentions several possible tests that they can conduct but seems to suggest that now was too early a stage to warrant them. We knew that was BS. We did our research and knew exactly what those tests were. After he was finished, we basically said something along the lines of: "Ok, all those tests you just mentioned? Do it."

Then it seems he was trying to buy some time by saying, "Ok, but I'll have to consult with this doctor and that doctor before I can run those tests."
We responded with, "Ok, go set up those meetings. Consult them. Do whatever you have to. But do it now"

Towards the end of the meeting, I told him that I would like a another meeting a week from today to followup on everything discussed. His initial look and response was that of "Seriously, is that necessary?". But my and wife and I stared at him with dead serious eyes to let him know that the request was not a question. Game, set, and match.

It's just utterly ridiculous that we needed to push the doctors for treatment. I thought ethics were one of the first things that's taught in med school.

10 habits of Hong Kong drivers that boggles the mind

2011-03-23T11:51:00.005+08:00

In no particular order:

1. Sabotage the effectiveness of the seatbelt.
This really applies only to taxi drivers. I've never seen a HK taxi where the driver's seatbelt is properly worn. It's always worn too loose with the help of a wide assortment of tools. I've seen the following items used to keep the seatbelt loose for the driver: binder clips, bag sealers (ie, those things that you use to seal an opened bag of chips), folded pieces of cardboard, tape, safety pins.
He's essentially not wearing the seatbelt at all. It's just draped over him. In an accident, it would probably be a choking hazard (if he's not thrown through the windshield).

2. Flash emergency lights when hard braking.
I suppose the driver's intent is to warn the car behind so that it doesn't slam into him. But the logic just doesn't make any sense. If the car behind is going to rear-end you, blinking yellow lights at him won't do anything. Besides, every car already comes with a feature that warns other drivers when brakes are deployed. They're called brake lights. If the driver behind isn't pay attention to your brake lights, they sure are not paying attention to your emergency flashers. How's this for an idea? If you want to minimize the risk of someone rear-ending you, don't hard brake.

3. Flash turn signals when going through bends.
Turn signals are meant to notify other drivers of changes in directions of your vehicle; not changes in directions of the current road. Steering left through a bend is not the same as making a left turn. It's not like you have the option to go any other direction. It's like telling the drivers behind "Hey, the road is bending left. Rather than driving my car off the road and down the cliff, I will be following this bend. I just thought it would be good to let you know that."

4. Flash turn signals midway through a lane change or a turn.
Why bother? This is like calling someone 29 minutes into your appointment to say you will be 30 minutes late. Don't even call. There's no point. You've already pissed someone off, so you might as well just show up.

5. Shift to neutral and apply hand-brake when stopped.
I suppose the driver's intent is to save fuel. This is an ineffective habit and is often used in combination with numerous other fuel-wasting behaviors. For example, hard braking, hard accelerations and tailgating.

6. Fail to shift back to drive and release hand-brake prior to stepping on the gas pedal.
This poor habit just damages and shortens the lifespan of the transmission and brakes. If you're going to practice the ineffective habit of shifting to neutral and applying the hand-brake, the least you can do is to be able to properly reverse your actions to get the car moving again.
On a related note, I've seen some drivers shift to park as an alternative to shifting to neutral and applying the hand-brake. They do so even in stop-and-go traffic. I can't even imagine the type of wear-and-tear their transmission goes through.

7. Occupy two lanes for the longest possible time while changing lanes in stop-and-go traffic.
I can't even rationalize why people do this. When changing lanes in slow moving traffic, either do it by steering hard into direction of the lane you want to switch to or don't do it. Why do people think it's ok to merge gradually into a lane when it's obvious that they're just holding up both lanes unnecessarily.

8. Line plush dolls across rear window.
I don't mean one or two plush dolls. I'm talking about the entire cast of Winnie the Pooh and all the variations of Disney's Stitch. If it's a woman behind the wheel, this gives off the impression that she's childish. If it's a man, it makes him look like a sissy. In terms of safety, it compromises the driver's ability to see through the rear window.

9. Line figurines across the dashboard, often right on top of where the airbags deploy on the front passenger side.
Again, I don't mean just one or two of those bobble-head things. I'm talking about every single McDonald's Happy Meal toy ever made. First two sentences of #8 applies here as well. In addition, people who do this are just putting themselves at risk. In an accident, I can foresee two deadly possibilities. The driver/passenger may ram their head against the figurines. Or the airbag will deploy which will launch the figurines as high-speed projectiles in random directions at everyone inside the vehicle.

10. Flash the right turn signal when entering a roundabout.
The car is steered to the left direction when entering a roundabout; so why does the driver think flashing the right turn signal is appropriate?
In fact, why flash the turn signals at all? #3 applies here as well. There's only one direction to go. It's not like it's possible for the driver to enter the roundabout going counter-clockwise against the flow of traffic.
Perhaps the driver wants to signal to the cars already in the roundabout? If they flash the left signal, it won't be visible to cars already in the roundabout; so they flash the right signal. But it's not necessary to signal to the cars already in the roundabout! Your car is not invisible. They see your car. They know you're looking to enter the roundabout. It's not like they see your car and think to themselves "Hey, there's a car at the entrance to this roundabout. But he's not flashing his turn signal. I guess he's just parked there enjoying the show."

Obviously, not everyone on the road in HK do these things. But enough of them do (especially taxis) to be enough of an annoyance. Are there any more that I missed?

I could use a new phone...

2011-03-17T23:10:00.000+08:00

I've been the proud owner of an HTC Desire for about a year. It's been a great run, but I think it's time I could use a new phone. A few aspects of the HTC Desire that has grown a bit long in the tooth:

AMOLED screen
The screen displays perfect black. That's about the only good thing about AMOLED. Initially, I figured that AMOLED would mean better battery performance, but the difference is negligible. Colors appear to be overly saturated. I think I would prefer a Super LCD screen on my next device.

1Ghz CPU & 576MB RAM
The 1Ghz Snapdragon is plenty fast. But there's a couple of instances where I longed for better performance.
1. Adobe Flash: Displaying Flash content just makes the browser lag. Flash works which I appreciate, but I'd appreciate it more if the experience remains smooth.
2. HTC Sense: There's no problems with the versions of HTC Sense designed for the HTC Desire. But I'm currently running the newer version of Sense that was made for the HTC Desire HD. There's occasional lags here and there. Nothing that breaks the bank but of course, it would be good to do away with the lags. Understandably, the Desire HD has 768MB of RAM. For my next device, I probably won't settle for anything less than dual-core 1Ghz CPU & 1GB RAM.

512MB ROM
512MB just didn't cut it even a year ago. The paltry internal storage was a compromise I was willing to make a year ago. Today, not anymore. I will no longer settle for anything less than 16GB internal storage along with microSD expansion slot.

WVGA resolution (800x480)
To this day, WVGA is still a good resolution for smartphones. That being said, I wouldn't mind qHD (960x540) for my next device.

2-point multitouch capacitive screen
This is a very well-documented and serious flaw of the HTC Desire (along with the Nexus One). The screen just doesn't recognize more than 2 touches on the screen. If one touch point ever crosses the axis of the 2nd touch point, the accuracy of the touch points become erroneous. This doesn't really affect things like pinch-to-zoom. But it does make gaming very frustrating. My next device must have a "true" multitouch screen.

Mechanical hardware buttons
I initially considered the mechanical buttons on the HTC Desire as something advantageous it has over capacitive buttons, like those found on the Nexus One. They were, until they started to break down. Currently, my Search button requires substantial pressure to activate and the paint around my Back button has peeled of so bad that the icon is unrecognizable. Capacitive buttons for my next device please.

Twins Blog - Mar. 16, 2011 - "You can do it, Aidan"

2011-03-16T22:57:00.001+08:00

Poor little Aidan is actually larger than Ethan but is still on the nasal cannula while going through several episodes of apneas and bradycardias every day over the past few weeks. There's not much that can be done. We're told that Aidan just needs to "outgrow" his As & Bs (as they're known).
As & Bs are very common in preemies but it doesn't make them any less scary to witness, especially for parents. The infant's face would suddenly turn purple. Reviving the child generally involves physical stimulation like striking the foot. If that doesn't work, the Ambu-bag is used. It literally feels like the baby has died for a moment before being brought back to life. I'm sure that statement makes no scientific sense, but it really does feel that way.
Fortunately when we visited Aidan on the 15th, we were told that he has not had a single A&B episode in the past 24hrs.
On the 16th, he had a single apnea episode. But his blood oxygen concentration levels looked much better than several days ago. Our fingers are crossed in hopes that he's in the process of outgrowing his As & Bs. In other good news, Aidan is pretty good at oral feeding; that is, much better when compared to when Ethan started.

Ethan has now been home since the evening of Mar 13 and he has been more adorable than we ever imagined. A couple of things we noticed about him:

He's very used to noise since things get quite loud in the NICU.
He sleeps through much of the day, waking only during feeds, changes, baths, and occasionally random periods where he would just look around.
He likes to be held for a while after each feeding session. If we try to put him down after we burped him, he'll cry to be held.
He especially likes the baby room which we wallpapered and floored with some colorful patterns.
Sure, it's been just a few days, but he doesn't appear to just cry for no reason. He doesn't even cry if he has a poopy diaper. The only reason he would cry is because he's hungry or he wants to be held.
He loves to be talked to. He would listen intently with his eyes opened. When I run out of things to talk about, I just count to him.

Twins blog - Mar. 14, 2011 - "Welcome home, Ethan"

2011-03-14T19:50:00.001+08:00

After exactly 100 days, Ethan is finally discharged from the hospital last night!
Needless to say, we're ecstatic. Yet, Aidan remains in the NICU so we're not fully out of the clear yet.

Twins Blog - Mar. 7, 2011 - "Apneas and Bathtime"

2011-03-07T23:09:00.006+08:00

Huge advances for Ethan lately. His feeding tube was removed and he's been feeding orally exclusively for the past few days and getting quite good at it. Previously, he would be winded after a meal. Just yesterday, he finished the bottle and not only was he not winded, he seemed to want more!
We also bathed him for the first time in the NICU (Not his first time being bathed; just our first time bathing him). He seemed to like being in the warm water. He certainly didn't like being taken out of the water where it was cold...

Aidan is still on nasal cannula. His progress continues to be a tad behind Ethan. He would still suddenly stop breathing and would require the NICU staff to use the Ambu-bag to revive him. This happens about once a day. We're told not to worry about it much as babies tend to outgrow this tendancy.
Aidan loves being held, seriously. He has always been very fussy inside his incubator when he's awake. He'll be twisting and turning, pulling on anything within reach. But once held, he'll be calm and quiet. Everytime we put him back into the incubator, he'll cry and squirm about again.

Twins Blog - Mar. 5, 2011 - "Together at last"

2011-03-05T22:31:00.003+08:00

Today was the first time since birth that our twin boys got together!

Their beds are situated in separate areas of the NICU (so that the staff doesn't mix them up). I was bottle feeding Ethan at the time when a nurse asked me to leave the area because they had to perform an x-ray on a baby nearby. I asked playfully whether I can take Ethan with me. To my surprise, she said okay. So, I brought Ethan over to Aidan's bedside, where my wife was at, so the brothers can finally meet!

Twins Blog - Mar. 2, 2011 - "Now is the time"

2011-03-02T22:15:00.002+08:00

Today is our boys' due date. That is, it's been almost 3 months since birth but their adjusted age is 0 right now.

Here's Aidan:

and Ethan:

Aidan's color doesn't look as well as Ethan's. It takes a while after babies ween off the ventilator for their color to look more "normal". Ethan has had a head-start but Aidan will soon catch up.
For the first time since birth, we've held Aidan for the first time. Another milestone checked! Our fingers are crossed for them to keep progressing!

Twins Blog - Feb. 28, 2011 - "Bye bye vent 2"

2011-02-28T22:46:00.006+08:00

Recap of events

Weight
Over 5lbs each now. Aidan looks particularly chubby.

Breathing
Ethan was breathing without any assistance whatsoever until just recently when he contracted some sort of bacterial infection. They put his nasal cannula back on but it's on extremely low flow. It will likely come back off in a few days.
Aidan was on CPAP for quite a while. It was an awkward stage. Babies generally don't like CPAP. The apparatus has to be pressed up tight against the nose making it uncomfortable and the hose greatly restricts movement. Back when Ethan was on CPAP, he didn't like it but he was too small and weak to do anything about it. Aidan is now large enough and strong enough to be able to consistently (and constantly) tear away from the nose-piece. He doesn't understand that the only way to get rid of that nose-piece is to keep it on!
Fortunately, he's on nasal cannula since Feb 28. This marks the first time in a long time that we have 2 comparable pictures of the boys taken on the same day.

Misc
For a few days Ethan was removed from his incubator and placed in a bassinet wrapped in blankets. We were free to hold him as much as we wanted during visiting hours. We also got to try to bottle feed him. First time didn't go too well. But soon enough, he downed nearly half his bottle before tiring out.

On Feb 21, Ethan moved into another ward which is "less intensive" (as opposed to neonatal intensive care unit). But I guess he didn't like it there because his bowels became distended. As a result, he required multiple IVs inserted back into him. And they placed him back inside an incubator (probably because it's more convenient due to the imminent IV lines).
A doctor attempted to insert the IVs but was unsuccessful for over an hour. Ethan literally had wounds on multiple sites on each of his limbs from this. I had full intention on filing a complaint on this idiot, not for his incompetent skills, but for not requesting assistance after failing numerous times for over an hour and for keeping my boy cold outside his incubator during the whole time. A meeting with his supervisor calmed us down enough to have mercy on that moron.
But seriously, that imbecile just gives the paediatrics staff a bad name. If it were not for my wife insisting to spare him, I would end his medical career right now. Nonetheless, we passed our complaint letter privately to that idiot's supervisor for him to deal with it (as opposed to letting the hospital deal with it).

On Feb 22, they moved Ethan back to the ward he was in initially ie, the "intensive" ward. We're told he's alright and that it's just that he's probably too tired to poop. The NICU nurses shared with us a very odd observation regarding preemies. Most of the time, an infant would either be great at breathing and poor at digesting or great at digesting and poor at breathing. It's rare for a preemie to excel at both feats at the same time. This is certainly the case for our boys. Ethan has got the breathing part, but just not very good at the digestion. We're told Aidan digests everything they put down his feeding tube and poops just fine. But he's still working on the breathing part.

On Feb 27, Ethan had a mild fever and his eyes looked glassy. This means yet another spinal tap to rule out meningitis. This would be his 2nd one. Aidan has had 3 of them already.

There's not much news for Aidan other than he's progressing steadily. We actually would prefer if Ethan was just as newsworthy as Aidan is. In the NICU, no news is good news...

Twins Blog - Feb. 18, 2011 - "Gaining separation"

2011-02-18T16:13:00.005+08:00

Feb. 13, 2011
We had our first try at bottle feeding Ethan today. It was a humbling experience and at the end of it, my wife and I were left feeling like we've completely failed at parenting.

What's so hard about bottle feeding, right? Hold the baby, put the bottle in his mouth and he'll happily feed away, right? Not with preemies apparently.

He would suck on the bottle but then couldn't handle the swallowing part as milk would gush out from the sides of his mouth. A few minutes later, he would finally suck and swallow, but would forget to breathe. His whole face turned horrifically blue.

In 15 minutes of bottle feeding, Ethan took in about 5ml while choking back up about 10ml. He was then tube-fed the rest. Sigh...

Feb. 15, 2011

A couple of days ago, Aidan regressed from CPAP back to the traditional vent because of some sort of infection. Today, he's back on CPAP for another go.

Feb. 17, 2011

2 huge milestones for Ethan. He's taken out of his incubator and seems to be just fine regulating his own body temperature. Most importantly, he's taken off the nasal cannula. For the first time ever, he's breathing efficiently on his own without any aid. Now, he just needs to work on feeding!
Aidan is still hanging out in his incubator with CPAP. But he has shown substantial improvement in all areas. I'm estimating he's probably 2 weeks behind Ethan in terms of progress.

Cleveland Cavaliers - 55?

2011-02-09T18:03:00.003+08:00

55.

First thing that I associate that number with is the number of points Michael Jordan scored against the Knicks in his comeback game. This number could soon have a new association.

If I was a fan of the Cleveland Cavs, I would shudder at the mention of the number 55.

It's not because of the game on Jan. 11, 2011 when the Lakers decimated the Cavs by 55 points and then Lebron made that karma tweet. (That along with James' dropping 38pts on them in their first matchup has to be the low points of the year.)

It's just that they're currently on the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history at 25 losses in a row and they have 30 games to go in the season. This means they have the potential to push this streak to 55.

While I understand that there's always going to be bottom dwellers in the league, you never want to see a team get deflated like this. I'll be rooting for the Cavs to somehow get a win. All this losing is just depressing. Unfortunately, it seems like loss number 55 in a row is in the rear-view mirror of these guys. That is, it's closer than it appears.

Update: It appears the Cavs won't reach 55 losses in a row after their win against the Clippers. The season doesn't get easier though. Hope they have the guts to tough it out.

Twins Blog - Feb. 7, 2011 - "Are we there yet?"

2011-02-07T23:21:00.001+08:00

Recap of Events

Weight
Almost 4 pounds. They're really starting to pack it on now. They're fed about 40ml every 3 hours. No problems with digestion.

Breathing
Ethan is off the vent and on nasal cannula. They use it to supplement additional oxygen to him. He started with 30% and it gets dialed down daily. Once he hits 21%, he won't need it anymore. (ie, ambient oxygen concentration is 21%)
Aidan is still on CPAP. But he's not struggling with it. He'll also be off the vent soon in another few weeks.

Behavior
Neither of the boys have any more IV lines connected to their limbs, so they're free to move their arms and legs around. Previously, the boys had all their limbs occupied with IVs which was definitely not pleasant.

Aidan is now less sensitive to loud noises. He still prefers quiet but he won't overreact to sudden alarms and crying anymore. He likes having his hair gently stroked while light pressure is applied to his abdomen area. He doesn't like having his foot held, but if you insist on not letting go, he eventually submits. He certainly hates his vent tube which restricts his head movements. But at least he doesn't extubate himself as often nowadays. It's probably because of the vent tube, but he seems to be a very sleepy baby. We'll see if this behavior persists when the vent goes away.

As soon as the vent tube went off, Ethan quickly showed his inquisitive personality. He'll touch and grab anything within reach. If we're by his side, he'll show us a variety of facial expressions. It's just brilliant! If no one is visiting him, he'll either sleep or explore his incubator with his hands. Perhaps it's because of his feeding tube, but he likes to make a face as if he's whistling. For whatever reason, he likes to place both his hands on his face.

As mentioned in a previous post, we've finally held Ethan in our arms. He appeared very confused of the world outside the confines of his incubator. It was funny as he maintained a very puzzled expression during the whole time. As soon as he was back in his incubator, he was back to old self, making weird and cute faces.

Both of them are now capable of crying but they only do so on rare occasions. I wonder if they'll stay this way even when they come home.

Today is day 66 at the NICU. No signs of PDA (patent ductus arteriosis), jaundice, brain bleeds or ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). Relief! Bad news are now a rarity in our last few visits and we're finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It seems likely that Ethan will be coming home first and Aidan will need an additional couple of weeks.

Twins Blog - Feb. 6, 2011 - "Hold me"

2011-02-06T21:39:00.002+08:00

Today, my wife and I celebrated our 1-year marriage anniversary by splurging at Spa L'Occitane. We each had a body massage and facial done. After a couple hours of relaxation, we were back to our daily routine in preparing for our visit to the NICU.

(This "daily routine" takes quite a toll on the body. Lots of things to bring and pack every day. Eg, milk, diapers, wipes, etc)

Upon our arrival at the NICU, we were greeted with a reminder of why all our efforts were worth it. We were able to hold baby Ethan for the very first time.

He still had his nasal cannula attached along with various other monitoring equipment, but the nurse was able to route them out of the incubator to accommodate us. My wife and I were pretty much speechless as we have been hoping for this very moment for as long as we can remember. I'm not sure how to describe the moment. Remember the ending of that episode of Friends where Marcel (Ross's monkey) ended up in the hospital after swallowing some Scrabble tiles? Marcel reaches out and grabs Ross's finger. It's like that, sort of...

Being the terrible parents that we are, we almost neglected Aidan today. He's still on CPAP, but he's definitely showing improvement. The vent settings are being lowered daily. At this rate, he'll be off the vent and on nasal cannula in about 2 weeks. Then, we'll finally be able to hold both our boys!

Twins Blog - Feb. 4, 2011 - "Bye bye vent"

2011-02-04T22:54:00.001+08:00

A pleasant surprise awaited us at the NICU today. For the first time, Ethan is off the ventilator! They've attached a nasal cannula to supplement some oxygen for him, but he's completely breathing on his own. This is the first time we've seen an entire shot of his face.

Aidan is still on CPAP. But he deserves a break. He did just recently go through surgery. And he's in an area of the NICU that's particularly noisy. Hopefully, he'll soon follow suit and we'll get to see an unobstructed view of him for the first time!

Twins Blog - Jan. 31, 2011 - "Between those NICU walls"

2011-01-31T21:53:00.004+08:00

The NICU is a very unique place. It's a melting pot of emotions. Each infant is going through something different which means each respective parents have their own unique set of feelings. Fortunately, the average person would never see the inside of a NICU. But just to share what's going on in there, here's a list of typical emotions felt in that miracle room.

Shock
Usually this happens to parents who see their child for the first time. Society has imprinted into our minds the image of a newborn. When these parents see that the image of their child differs so much from what they're expecting, it just sends a wave of shock through their system.

Guilt
Often after all the medical stuff are settled into the parents' mind, guilt sets in and they start to ask themselves things like "what have I done to deserve this?" or "did I cause this?"

Helplessness
In some ways, feeling helpless may be the worse. One particular child in the NICU suffers from a condition where he can't move. I don't know the name of the condition but it's a nerve condition rather than orthopedic and extremely tricky to treat. His mother comes every day to massage him and move his limbs around. The child never even flinches. The emotionless expression on his mother's face is just heartbreaking.

Despair

After a doctor/nurse presents negative news to parents, it just feels like everything is falling apart. We've been through our share of this. But even when it happens to someone else, we actually feel it too. I've overheard a nurse tell a couple that their child might not make it through because of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). I could literally see their wills shatter before my eyes as both of them were reduced to a crying mess of tears and their speech becomes incoherent.

Hope

It's empowering to parents if the doctor/nurse have positive news to report. That's why it's always important to get daily updates even though this puts you at risk of hearing negative news. Every bit of improvement adds to the "we just might make it through this" feeling.

Joy

There are babies who are off the vent, out of the incubator, and are fed via bottles. They have parents who come to feed them, burp them, cuddle them, and play with them. Their faces are just beaming as they use baby-talk and tell their child about how life would be when they get to carry their bundle of love home.

Twins Blog - Jan. 27, 2011 - "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to..."

2011-01-28T17:57:00.002+08:00

We heard Ethan cry for the first time today. He's been pulling out his vent tube everyday. Sometimes, twice a day. So they put him on CPAP which freed his throat to enable him to make noises! Needless to say, it was music to our ears. Sounded like a tiny little kitten. We're told that we should rest as much as possible because once the boys come home, their crying will be non-stop. In response to that, I say bring it on. I would rather be annoyed by constant crying than be worried about their ventilators and feeding tubes, etc.

Aidan is still on the vent. But he's improving steadily. That is, the vent settings are decreasing everyday. Hopefully, it won't be long before we hear Aidan's cry.

Life after birth of the boys

2011-01-23T09:38:00.003+08:00

Diaper changing.
Baby sleep patterns
Feeding the baby.
Bathing the baby.

These are some typical things that parents worry about when they have a child. Oh how we long to be concerned with those things right now. But that's just looking too far down the road. Our boys were born 3 months premature and will be in the NICU for quite some time. Since their birth, here's a sample of things that we worry about everyday:

Heart murmurs, brain bleeds, blood pressure, body temperatures, meningitis, pneumonia, spinal taps, ventilator settings, red blood cells count, blood transfusions, whether or not they're digesting, blood oxygen concentration levels, etc

It's enough to drive anyone mad. You know those parts that you tend to skip over when reading pregnancy books? You figure that it's just talking about things that won't happen to you, so you jump ahead to the "normal" stuff. I had to go back to read those sections because it's actually happening.

"When are the babies coming home?"
That's the question we get asked a lot and it's awkward for a two reasons.
1. The truth is we don't know. The doctors don't know either. Each child is different and there's just no timetable that can be given to us. Some babies spend a month in the NICU, others are there for over half a year. There's just too many variables at the moment. In order for the boys to come home, there are a couple of things they must be able to do:
-Breathe efficiently on their own. That is, they have to ween off the ventilator.
-Regulate their own body temperature. That is, they have to be able to keep warm outside the incubator.
-Feed. That is, they have to be able to take a bottle. For a full-term infant, this comes as a natural instinct. But for a preemie, this is quite a task since feeding is actually a complex synchronization of sucking, swallowing, and breathing.

2. One would assume that having the babies come home from the NICU would be what we're longing for. Sure, that's the ultimate goal but for now, we just want the simplest of things:
-We want to be able to see our babies' faces. We've never had an unobstructed view of our boys' faces. The vent tube is always on them.
-We want our boys to meet each other for the first time. As of now, our boys have never seen each other. Their incubators are situated in different sections of the NICU.
- We want to be able to hold our babies. Since they're attached to the vent, various monitors, and IV tubes, we've never been able to hold them. The most we can do right now is to reach into their incubators and wrap our hands around them.

Twins Blog - Jan. 19, 2011 - "Going under the knife"

2011-01-18T22:54:00.022+08:00

For a while, I've been logging every single detail of each of the boys' conditions. I've discovered that this just wasn't practical. It places too much emphasis on daily changes rather than overall progress. For babies in the NICU, daily fluctuations are not very significant. They may look alright today, but then will plummet tomorrow, only to rebound the following day. Expecting daily incremental progress is unrealistic. We now fully understand why the NICU is described as a rollercoaster ride (ie, up and down) or a tango (one step forward, 2 steps back)

So, rather than focus on daily changes, I'll just recap every few weeks.

Weight
They're now about 3.5 pounds each. Their growth rates were really slow in the first month, primarily because their bodies were struggling with things like breathing and circulation. We've noticed just a few weeks ago that the boys finally look like they're really starting to grow. Each of their bodies look significantly larger than before and their color looks much better.

Patent Ductus Arteriosus
Both the boys were diagnosed with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) which is very common in preemies. Short bio lesson:

While the baby is inside the mother's womb, the ductus arteriosus is a blood vessel that allows blood from the heart to bypass the lungs and travel to the rest of the body. The baby gets its oxygen from the mother so, the blood doesn't have to go to the lungs to pick up oxygen. When the baby is born, this blood vessel is suppose close so that the blood from the heart would get to the lungs. This often doesn't happen with preemies. As a result, this places additional stress on their heart and lungs to work harder, hindering development of other organs. When a doctor hears a heart murmur with a newborn, it's usually because of PDA.

Ethan was diagnosed first and we had quite the scare. He was put on a 3-day course of NeoProfen. The ductus closed after the 2nd day of treatment and hasn't returned since.

A few days later, Aidan was diagnosed with PDA. He had just started to digest milk but because of the drug NeoProfen, he wasn't allowed to have any more milk during treatment. His ductus just would not remain closed even after a second round of drug treatment. Surgery (ie, PDA ligation) was our next option. Fortunately the procedure went smoothly. Prepping for the surgery and post-op procedures were actually more extensive than the surgery itself. Still, that was the scariest and most anxiety-filled moment of our lives.

Pneumonia
Both the boys were also diagnosed with pneumonia, which is also very common in preemies due to premature lungs and the use of the ventilator. There's not much that can be done other than giving them a steady diet of antibiotics. Fortunately, both of them has shown significant improvements on this front.

The pneumonia caused both boys to have a slight fever at one point. In order to rule out meningitis, the doctors had to perform a spinal tap on the boys. Prior to doing so, they need the parents' approval. This was yet another scary moment for us.

Jaundice
Another common condition that the boys suffered from was jaundice. For this, they were given UV light therapy. This was on and off. It just seems very random. They would need it one day and not need it the next, only to need it again the following day.

Feeding
Both the boys are fed through a tube that goes directly into the stomach. They're supplemented with IV nourishment. Both appear to be able to digest fairly well, considering the circumstances.

Behavior
Both the boys have developed an attitude that has become infamous among the NICU staff. Neither one of them likes to be fiddled around with. They don't like having their temperatures checked. They don't like having their diapers changed. They don't like having their blood drawn. Every time a nurse or doctor has to work on them, the boys' blood oxygen concentration would worsen and their ventilators would have to be dialed up. But if it's quiet and they're left alone to sleep, their breathing improves significantly.

Neither of the boys likes having tubes and wires stuck on them everywhere. There are 4 sensors on each of their chests that are held in place with just a piece of tape. These get yanked out easily with their bare hands. Ethan is always yanking on his ventilator tube that goes down his throat. Fortunately, this is held in place quite securely. Aidan does the same and in one instance, he succeeded in dislodging it. A team of staff had to revive and retube him. So, nowadays, the nurses like to wrap them in blankets to keep them from tampering with their equipment.

Ventilator
Both boys are still on the vent to help them breathe. Weening off the vent is a major obstacle for the boys.

Ethan used to flail about quite a bit inside his incubator. A baby that moves is always better than one that doesn't. But this does expend energy that would be better used to develop his lungs. Every time after one of his flailing episodes, the nurses would have to turn his vent up. Fortunately, he appears to now understand that flailing about is not very fun. He's much more calm now and as a result his vent settings have gone way down.

Aidan seems to be very sensitive to noise which is not great if you're in the NICU. There's always some sort of alarm going off. He makes wild movements with his limbs when there's a lot of noise. Lately, we've been able to calm him down by placing a bean bag on him and covering his ears. His vent settings have also shown improvement.

Today is day 46 at the NICU. It has been an emotionally draining experience for us. Each setback hits us like a ton of bricks. Positive progress is few and far between. But we have come to learn to take the hits in stride while celebrating each tiny victory along the way, regardless of how small it is. At this point, we're not even hoping for the day the boys can come home. That's too far away. We're just hoping for the boys to get off the vent. That way, they can be held by mom and dad for the first time. And they can see each other for the first time. (They're incubators are actually located in separate locations in the NICU, so they've been apart since birth. This was done so that the hospital staff doesn't mix them up.)

Obi-wan Kenobi vs Darth Vader...yawn!

2011-01-17T15:19:00.001+08:00

Remember that duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader on the Death Star where Obi-Wan sacrificed himself to allow Luke to escape?

That was such a slow fight. I've always thought it was because Obi-Wan was such an old man. However, there were several duels in the prequel trilogy that involved older combatants where the speed of the fight was far greater.

According to Wookiepedia, at the time of their duel on the Death Star, Obi-wan was 57 and Vader was 42.

Qui-Gon Jinn was age 60 when he perished at the hands of Darth Maul (age 22). (Phantom Menace)

Dooku, age 80, defeated Obi-wan (age 35), severed Anakin's arm (age 20), and dueled with Yoda before escaping. (Attack of the Clones)

Dooku was age 83 when he lost his duel to Anakin Skywalker (age 23). (Revenge of the Sith)

Palpatine was age 63 when he killed Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, Kit Fisto, and Mace Windu (age 53). (Revenge of the Sith)

Sir Alec Guinness, God bless his soul, was a brilliant actor. But that duel on the Death Star was quite underwhelming.

Twins Blog - Jan. 3, 2011 - "Made it through first month"

2011-01-03T22:36:00.003+08:00

Our boys one month since birth. The only way we can tell them apart in photographs is by recognizing the stuff in the background...

Aidan.

Ethan.

Twins Blog - Dec. 22, 2010 - "Self-extubation"

2010-12-22T22:48:00.003+08:00

After a particular event last night at the hospital, I'm confused as to how I'm suppose to feel. Aidan decided that the ventilator tube that's helping him breathe was uncomfortable. Surprisingly, he was strong enough to dislodge the tube by gripping it with his hand and then twisting his head away from it. Not surprisingly, he wasn't ready to breathe on his own just yet. Nurses had to spend half an hour reviving and retubing him. Sigh!

Twins Blog - Dec. 21, 2010 - "Being cute. That's what we do"

2010-12-21T21:59:00.002+08:00

A few shots of the boys 19 days after birth. They're still very tiny but they're hanging in there. Just need more time to grow.

Here's Ethan. Just sleeping in this shot. Both of them likes to stretch around a lot. When he stretches, he flicks his tongue. Ethan particularly likes to use his free hand to play around with his tubes.

Here's Aidan. He was sleeping but just happened to open his eyes to peek at us here. Aidan likes to raise his hand and blows bubbles while stretching.

Twins Blog - Dec.14, 2010 - "Please be ok"

2010-12-14T21:35:00.002+08:00

Aidan
He looked a bit better than yesterday.
He's given a bit of milk but not digesting any yet.
Diagnosed with pneumonia which the doctors will treat with antibiotics.
Back on blood pressure drugs.

Ethan
Hanging in there. Not much difference from yesterday. Which means, he's doing just fine!

Twins Blog - Dec. 13, 2010 - "Under the weather"

2010-12-13T21:13:00.003+08:00

Aidan
No more heart murmurs! But will need to wait for further examination by cardio guy.
Unfortunately, he's now feeling a bit ill. Similar to how Ethan was several days ago. Similarly, he underwent a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. Poor baby...
Still no milk today.
Breathing fluctuated wildly again today. Ventilator went up to 95% before settling for 40%.

Ethan
Digesting milk very well. Up to 10 meals a day with 5ml per meal.
Ventilator dialed down to 21%.

Twins Blog - Dec. 12, 2010 - "Save us"

2010-12-12T21:07:00.003+08:00

Ethan
Started digesting milk today! He did it faster than expected. Aidan needed several days of feeding before he finally started digesting.
Breathing not as well today. Respirator dialed up to about 30%.

Aidan
Still no milk today because he is still on the heart medication. Today is the 3rd and last day of treatment. The cardio specialist will examine him to see if the valve closed properly.
His breathing fluctuated wildly during the visiting hours. The nurses had to adjust his ventilator from 30% up to 45% before settling back on 35% when we left.

Twins Blog - Dec. 11, 2010 - "Could use a hug"

2010-12-11T22:26:00.005+08:00

Aidan
Ventilator dialed up from 25% to about 30%. Not significant enough to start worrying.
Weight dropped a bit, but it's because he's not had milk for the last 2 days because of the heart medication.

Ethan
Still a bit drowsy.
Started having milk again today. Not digesting, but it's good nonetheless.
Ventilator also dialed up.

We stayed there almost for the full 4 hours of visiting hours today. We took turns at each child so that there's very few moments that one of them is alone. We brushed their heads, held their legs, and let them grip our fingers. Just a couple of quality hours of bonding.

Can't wait to give them a hug. If anyone in this world needs a hug, it's them. But can't get ahead of ourselves. Just got to take it one step at a time.

Twins Blog - Dec. 10, 2010 "...Two steps back"

2010-12-10T22:53:00.007+08:00

Ethan
Not feeling well. Drowsy looking and temperatures fluctuating.
Lumbar puncture (spinal tap) done to see if he is suffering from meningitis. We won't have the full lab results until a week later. But preliminary results, which are 90% accurate, should be available 3 hours after the test. We were told that we would be notified if there's anything serious. It's now 6 hours since the test, so I take this as good news...
Respirator back in his throat so that he may relax and recover from his illness.
No more milk for now.

Aidan
Heart murmur found today. Started in same treatment as Ethan previously. This means no more milk for now.
Very tiny bit of swelling in right hemisphere of brain. Often goes away on it's own. Will be closely monitored.
Breathing not as well as yesterday, again.

Fortunately, we were able to bump into the 2 doctors looking after our boys during visiting hours. Neither of them sound particularly concerned. Everything that's happening is well within their expectations.

Twins Blog - Dec. 9, 2010 - "Thriving"

2010-12-09T22:27:00.003+08:00

Ethan
Started having milk today.
Took a poop by himself.
Ventilator dialed up a bit.
Some sort of minor infection by his eye. Eye drops regularly applied.

Aidan
Finally started to digest milk.

Twins Blog - Dec. 8, 2010 - "One step forward..."

2010-12-08T22:23:00.002+08:00

Aidan
Not much change for Aidan today.
He no longer requires the UV light therapy.
He's still not really digesting milk. The doctors will likely give him more serving per day but cut down on the quantity per serving.
He's still on the respirator but it no longer pulsates.

Ethan
Great news for Ethan today. His heart murmur is gone! Relief!
Another good news is that his respirator is now connected to his nose rather than directly into his throat. This means his lungs have improved to the point where they can afford to use this less efficient method to assisted breathing.
(Edit: What I was trying to describe here is CPAP)

Twins Blog - Dec. 7, 2010 - "Incubators"

2010-12-07T23:01:00.008+08:00

Ethan
After a day without the UV light therapy, his jaundice worsened. So the light is back on.
Today is the 1st day since he was started on the cardio drug. Full treatment period is 3 days. We'll have to see how he responds to it.

Aidan
Still not taking the milk very well. But that's to be expected and they'll keep trying to give it to him.

Good news for both the boys today is that they're now inside a plastic incubator box rather than being enclosed in cling wrap. Being in the cling wrap box allowed doctors and other medical staff to have a larger space to work on the babies. So, being moved to the incubator means they don't require as much medical attention, which is good. Plus, it allows us to get clearer shots of the boys!

Twins Blog - Dec. 6, 2010 - "Ups an downs"

2010-12-06T23:49:00.004+08:00

Ethan
The doctor tried to reduce the dosage of his blood pressure meds, but it appears he's not ready for that yet. So, they maintained his normal dosage.
There used to be a machine that pulsates his lungs to assist his breathing. That's no longer required.
He also no longer requires UV light therapy for jaundice. Presumably, his liver is developing.
Heart murmur is still there, indicating that there's an major blood vessel in the heart that's underdeveloped. A cardio specialist prescribed a drug that will hopefully stimulate the growth of that blood vessel. If he doesn't respond to the drug treatment, he may have to be transferred to Queen Mary Hospital for surgery. This would be the worst case scenario.
He's able to have a couple ml of milk at first, but because of the cardio drug, he has had to stop.

Aidan
He started having a bit of milk yesterday, but his body was having trouble absorbing it. But they'll keep trying and eventually, he'll take it.
He was taken off the blood pressure meds yesterday and his blood pressure is still stable.
Aidan still has the UV light and pulsating respirator thing. Hopefully these 2 things can go off tomorrow.

So, each of the boys have their strengths and weaknesses. Ethan has the stronger lung but has the heart complication. Aidan has the blood pressure under control and is working on digestion but his lungs still has some ways to go. But obviously, a majority of our concern rest with Ethan's complication. We can only hope that he responds to the drugs so he wouldn't have to go under the knife...

Twins Blog - Dec. 5, 2010 - "This is where the fun begins..."

2010-12-05T21:56:00.005+08:00

As parents, the best we can hope for is for the boys to made gradual and steady improvements. However, as we found out today, this hope is unrealistic. As with all preemies, it's a roller coaster ride in the NICU. There are days when things improve; and then there are days when there are setbacks.

The setback for today concerns Ethan. The doctor heard a heart murmur. The murmur may be an indication that a major blood vessel in the heart may not be developing properly. This may cause circulation problems. I use the word "may" because things are just not very certain at this point. The doctor will re-examine tomorrow morning and if the murmur is still there, a cardio-specialist will be consulted. This is actually relatively common in preemies. Fortunately, it's a condition that can be treated with drugs.
(Edit: The condition is PDA)

On to the good news...

Ethan's lungs have improved to the point where he was taken off the ventilator for a little bit today. However, he seemed to struggle so they put him back on. Nonetheless, this is a good sign.

Aidan's blood pressure has stabilized to the point where he no longer requires medication for it. He's also allowed a couple of milliliters of milk to give his digestive system a workout.

Twins Blog - Dec. 4, 2010 - "Risks"

2010-12-04T23:27:00.007+08:00

I've had a brief chat with the doctors yesterday. I didn't hear anything really unexpected. It's a premature birth and I understand there are certain risks that accompany it. Nonetheless, it's much scarier hearing a doctor say it than from reading it from a book.

1. Lungs not fully developed. So, they'll require a respirator for the time being.

2. Blood pressure is too low. This will be treated with medication.

3. Risk of multi-organ failure. The doctors will be monitoring the babies' urine & excretions. I've watched enough Grey's Anatomy to know that urine & excretions are indicative of liver health which is often the first to go in multi-organ failures...

4. Some preemies will suffer from brain swelling. It will often happen in the first 4-5 days, so these next few days are critical.

Anyway, today is Day 2 since birth and the boys are doing better than yesterday. Both have had their ventilators toned down, providing about 25% oxygen concentration (ambient air consists of 21%). They were at 100% right after birth and at about 50% yesterday.

On to the interesting stuff!

Here, mom is watching over Aidan. Each of them is inside a case enclosed with cling wrap. The hose on top is from a humidifier. This keeps the baby's environment warm and moist so that their delicate skin doesn't dry out.

Sorry, the moisture made it impossible to get a clear shot.

Here, mom is speaking to Ethan.

Ethan's cling wrap was recently replaced which made getting clear shots much easier. Here, we see him open his eyes for the first time. (Opening of the eyes doesn't actually have any significant meaning physiologically. But it did help us, as parents, form a psychological bond to the child.)

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Dec. 3 2010 - Week 28 - "Birth"

2010-12-03T10:42:00.002+08:00

We had hoped that the twins would be born no more than 1 month premature. But the boys felt like coming out today (3 months premature) and there's really nothing anyone can do about it. So here we go!

Dec. 3, 2010

1:45am

Water broke. Ambulance dispatched.

1:50am
Contractions intensify; spaced about 2-3 min apart.

1:55am
Ambulance team arrived.

2:15am
Arrived at hospital.

2:25am
Examined by OBGYN.

2:45am
Went into delivery; fully dilated; too late for Cesarean-section and epidural.

3:05am and 3:07am
The boys were born two minutes apart. (We're trying not to let out who's older...)

Since they're so premature they need to stay in the NICU for a while. For the time being, they'll need a ventilator to breath and will be fed intravenously. At this point in time, they're not out of the clear yet. We'll just have to hope that they've got strong wills to live.

Anyway..

Here's Aidan Cheung. He's blowing bubbles. Silly boy. I bet he decided to come out early just to do that...

And here's Ethan Cheung. He's got a pretty good grip...

Mom is doing well. Because it was a natural birth, she appears to be recovering fairly rapidly. That's all for now!

What's the deal with WhatsApp?

2010-11-29T14:55:00.005+08:00

So many people give high praise to this app as if it's the greatest thing since sliced-bread. Here's how WhatsApp is advertised on their website (www.whatsapp.com)

WhatsApp Messenger is a smartphone messaging app which allows you to exchange messages with your friends and contacts without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is cross platform and available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Nokia (beta) and yes, those phones can all message each other! To send and receive messages, WhatsApp utilizes your existing smartphone internet data plan: 3G/EDGE (or Wi-Fi when available)

So, I don't understand what's the appeal?

1. It advertises itself as a cross-platform smartphone messaging app that utilizes your data connection so you don't have to pay for SMS. Every smartphone platform already comes built-in with such an app. It's called email.

2. Let's be honest with ourselves. WhatsApp is an instant messaging application. Every smartphone platform has apps for the main instant messaging applications already (ie, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Yahoo, etc)

3. WhatsApp uses your mobile phone number as your user-ID. An instant messaging service provider has no business knowing your mobile number. So, there's actually a privacy/security concern here.

4. WhatsApp is in trial mode for Android. So it's currently free. But it costs US$1 for the iOS and this will certainly be the same for Android soon. Why pay for an app when you already have the functionality native on your device? Who would ever pay just for an instant messaging app? There's not even a desktop client!

In response to the comments:

Using your phone number is the reall clever bit. It means you can instantly see all your friends who also use it instead of having to find out their usernames. It is only an IM app but it's useful because so many people do use it across all platforms.

Like I said, using your phone number is a privacy risk. How do we, as users, know what the guys at WhatsApp are doing with all this information? They can be selling it to telemarketers for all we know.
If WhatsApp is useful only because so many people use it across all platforms, then it will never be as useful as email. Email is used by everyone and it's supported on more platforms.

Alot, if not most of the Mobile IM clients are not always on (i.e., working in the background), you need to sign in to WLM or Yahoo! Messenger. WhatsApp is always working in the background therefore you get the message exactly when it is written. Thats a huge selling feature!!

Yes, for all IM clients, the user has to sign in. Having to sign in is not a flaw. It's an option the application allows the user. You also have the option to sign out. Also, most IM clients include the option to automatically sign in. (Strange enough, you don't have the option to sign out of WhatsApp.)
With Windows Mobile or Android, once you sign in with your IM client, you just leave it in the background. As long as you don't reboot your phone, you are always signed in. I can't say the same for iOS though. So perhaps, this application is really for iOS users because they can't multitask properly?

I still fail to see how WhatsApp is better than email, which:
- is also instant.
- has no limitation on the type of attachments.
- is a native feature to every smartphone. You don't have to pay for and use a separate application.
- doesn't even require you to "add" a person. Just begin typing the recipients name and every smartphone will autocomplete the field for you if you have that person's email in your contact list. If you don't have the person's email in your contact list, just type the address.
- is not only cross-smartphone platform; it is truly cross-platform. Email can be accessed on smartphones, dumbphones, and computers.

Update
I'm getting multiple comments with various insults over this. They're not published because they're simply not constructive. The main purpose of this article is not to say that WhatsApp is terrible. I'm just trying to say WhatsApp is redundant and I find it odd that people are paying for what's essentially an application that provides you with a functionality they already have. So if anyone has an opposing view, then please, let's discuss because I would be interested to know why exactly is this app so popular.
From the comments so far, I respect the following reasons for using WhatsApp:
- Your contacts list is not populated with email addresses.
- You like the IM-style of WhatsApp but don't like to sign in to other IM apps.

Update #2
Wow. I just realized that WhatsApp on Android is free for the first year and then $1.99 per year thereafter. There's a subscription fee and there are still people who use this? It's just appalling to me that people will pay an annual fee for instant messaging.

Update #3
Lots of comments flooding in about how Whatsapp is better than email because of the IM nature of the app. Ok, I get that. Look through the comments and I've conceded that IM is better than email when it comes to chatting.
The reason I initially use email as a point of reference is because email is native to every single smartphone. There's not a single smartphone that doesn't support push email. If you have to open up your inbox to refresh it to see if you have any new emails, then you've set up your account the wrong way. So if you want to send and receive messages or files instantly, you don't need a third party app for it.
But if IM is your cup of tea, why not stick with Google Talk or Windows Live Messenger? There are numerous reputable IM cients available for free. Why support these guys over at Whatsapp?
Also, the previous argument against using other IM apps is that they drain battery. Not anymore. Both Android and iOS support push messaging background services. In fact, Whatsapp uses the same service.

Update #4
Commentors, please stop comparing Whatsapp with SMS. Whatsapp is not SMS, is not emulating SMS, and has nothing to do with SMS.
Can it replace SMS? Sure, but so can every other IM client out there. And they're free, more secure, and more fully featured.
Is a $1.00 one-time fee or a $1.99 annual-subscription a lot of money? No, not at all. But it's all relative. Consider what you're getting before paying for it. If everyone else is offering the same (and better) product without charging for it, what's the logic in paying for an inferior alternative?
It's like if your neighbor bought an ambulance and decided to announce to everyone that he's going to offer ambulatory services. He'll charge you a few bucks and bring you to the nearest hospital. Sure, it's not a lot of money. But why not just call 911?

Darth Vader is a Wimp

2010-11-26T18:10:00.000+08:00

It used to be that Darth Vader was a bad-ass. He defined the scary villian role. The American Film Institute lists him as the third greatest movie villian ever. His unmistakable breathing sounds and heavy footsteps were enough to cause shivers down people's spines.

But his character started to lose a lot of credibility after The Empire Strikes Back...

Bad-ass moments

From A New Hope
"If this is a consular ship, where is the ambassador?!"
In this early scene, Vader shows his superhuman strength by easily holding up Captain Antilles by the throat with one hand.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
In this memorable moment, he casually Force Chokes an Imperial soldier just for talking back to Vader by simply pinching his fingers together.

"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master."
Here, Vader just stood there as if Obi-wan played right into his hands. You can almost hear Obi-wan mutter "oh crap!" under his breath.

"Your powers are weak, old man."
This quote was shortly before Vader delivered the death blow to Obi-wan.

From The Empire Strikes Back
"You have failed me for the last time, Admiral."
These were the last words an Imperial Admiral heard before being Force Choked to death because he inadvertently came out of lightspeed to close to the Hoth system.

"Apology accepted, Captain Needa."
This was Vader's response to Captain Needa's apology for losing the Millenium Falcon. Oh, and Vader also Force Choked him to death.

"We would be honored if you would join us."
Lando betrayed Han by bringing him before Vader. Han shot at Vader with his blaster. Vader simply held up his hand to deflect the shot and Force Pulled the blaster from Han. Pwned.

"Perhaps you think you're being treated unfairly?"
This was Vader's response after Lando suggested that they had never agreed to hand over Han to Boba Fett.

"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
Vader had previously agreed to let Leia and Chewie stay in Bespin but he subsequently ordered Lando to hand them over to him. Lando is just being toyed with the whole time.

"The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet."
Here, Vader taunts Luke prior to their first duel, suggesting that Luke is simply just not good enough to beat him.

"You are beaten. It is useless to resist. Don't let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did."
As Vader predicted, he severs Luke's hand and defeats him.

From The Return of the Jedi
"I hope so, Commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am."
Vader is angry at the slow construction progress of the 2nd Death Star. Upon learning that the Emperor will be paying a visit, the Commander suggested that they will double their efforts.

Wimpy moments

From The Empire Strikes Back
"What is thy bidding, my master?"
So all this time, Vader was just a pet under the control of Palpatine?!

From Return of the Jedi
"Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don't know the power of the dark side! I must obey my master."
Again, this just confirms that he's a slave.

"It is... too late for me, son. The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your master now."
This was kind of like Vader admitting impotence to his own son.

"You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me... Tell your sister... you were right..."
Talk about letting all the air out. This had to be the most disappointing moment in the Star Wars saga. We finally get to see the man behind the mask and he's just an fat, old, bald dude.

From The Phantom Menace
"I can't do it, Mom. I just can't do it."
9-year old Anakin was just a momma's boy...

"Are you an angel?"
Seriously?

Actually, every line uttered by Jake Lloyd as 9-year old Anakin Skywalker just tarnishes more of Vader's legacy.

From The Attack of the Clones
"So have you. Grown more beautiful, I mean. Well, for a Senator I mean."
Smooth talker, eh?

"Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi's life. So you might say, that we are encouraged to love."
What?

"Excuse me, I'm in charge of security here, milady."
Anakin tries, unsuccessfully, to wrestle control of the situation from his future wife, Padme.

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth."
The all powerful Lord Vader has a soft spot...

"From the moment I met you, all those years ago, not a day has gone by when I haven't thought of you. And now that I'm with you again... I'm in agony. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you- I can't breath. I'm haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating... hoping that kiss will not become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me... what can I do?- I will do anything you ask."
I feel sorry for Padme. This has to be the most uncomfortably awkward moment ever...

"You're going to pay for all the Jedi that you've killed today, Dooku."
Unfortunately, Anakin just doesn't have the skills to back up his words and loses his arm in the process.

From The Revenge of the Sith
"You are so... beautiful."
Another smooth line by our powerful Dark Lord of the Sith...

"What? How can you do this? This is outrageous, it's unfair."
What a brat...

"I will do whatever you ask. Just help me save Padme's life. I can't live without her."
Ok. There are two wars going on. One is between the Republic and the Seperatists and the second is between the Jedi and the Sith. Anakin is a Jedi Knight serving the Republic. He decides to prioritize his dream of his wife dying ahead of these 2 wars? That's a bit iffy isn't it?

"You underestimate my power!"
Apparently, Obi-wan knew exactly how capable Anakin was. Immediately after this line, he completely sliced up Anakin's limbs.

"Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she alright?"
It's just very odd hearing Vader say this with his mechanical voice...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Of course, how can I leave out the most memorable line of the movie. Like father, like son.

From The Force Unleashed
"I've trained you well, but you still have much to learn."
Vader was wrong as he gets completely owned by Galen Marek. His helmet gets sliced off and suit is all busted up.

From The Force Unleashed 2
"As long as she lives, I will always control you."
Let's recap. A couple of years ago, Vader lost to Galen Marek in all aspects of battle. It was obvious that Galen was superior in both lightsaber combat and in Force abilities. Now, Vader loses to Galen again (albeit a clone). Galen is holding Vader as captive. Considering the circumstances, Vader's words just don't really hold up.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Nov 7, 2010 - Week 24 - "3D scan"

2010-11-07T22:15:00.001+08:00

Our first baby portrait!

This is a 3D scan of one of the twins! The doctor couldn't get a good shot of the other one, unfortunately. He was a bit camera shy at the time!

Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith: An odd observation

2010-11-07T15:23:00.001+08:00

I was re-watching Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and noticed something in the duel between Count Dooku versus Anakin Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi that I've not heard mentioned before.

Did Palpatine assist Dooku by augmenting his Force attacks?

I noticed that everytime that Dooku used a Force attack, the camera cuts to Palpatine who seems to be reacting ambiguously.

The 2 Jedi Knights attacked Dooku together at first. Dooku was able to fend off the attacks but it was obvious that Anakin and Obi-wan had the advantage.

So Dooku Force-pushed Obi-wan away so that he can focus on Anakin. Notice the camera had cut to Palpatine immediately prior to the Force-push.

Obi-wan quickly tried to re-engage Dooku. Dooku held off Anakin by kicking him against a wall and then simultaneously used Force-grip to choke and levitate Obi-wan. Again, the camera had cut to Palpatine immediately prior to this. This time, Palpatine's reaction is very odd. He gave a yelp.

Then Dooku viciously hurled Obi-wan against a wall and proceeded to use the Force to collapse the balcony on top of Obi-wan. This time, the camera cuts to Palpatine after Dooku's usage of the Force. Palpatine's expression appears to be a little strained.

Why would Palpatine assist Dooku in the duel?
Palpatine is unconcerned with Obi-wan. He wants Anakin to kill Dooku and replace him as his apprentice. Perhaps Palpatine wants Anakin to prove himself by defeating Dooku one-on-one. So, he helped Dooku to easily take Obi-wan out of the picture.

Why it makes sense that Dooku needed asssitance?
Dooku was a powerful Force-practitioner. But Obi-wan Kenobi was no chopped liver either. He was one of the more powerful Jedi Masters. I find it quite strange that Kenobi would allow himself to be Force-pushed aside or Force-gripped like he was a padawan. It seems to make more sense if Dooku had his Force attacks augmented by Palpatine's own powers.

Some observations 7 days after the start of the 2010-11 NBA season

2010-11-02T14:48:00.001+08:00

Bulls look legitimately dangerous.
Derrick Rose (33.5 ppg, 5 rpg, 6.5 apg, 1 spg, 1.5 bpg)
Joakim Noah (16.5 ppg, 18 rpg, 1.5 spg, 2.5 bpg)

Jason Kidd refuses to be washed up yet (Age 37, 11.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 11.7 apg, 2.33 spg).

Baron Davis is washed up (Age 31, 10.3 ppg, 3 rpg, 5.7 apg, 3 TO, 32.4 FG%, 11.1 3FG%).

Year by year, Rajon Rondo is earning respect. (10.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 16.7 apg, 2 spg)

Spurs core players are still running strong.
Tim Duncan (15 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2 bpg)
Manu Ginobili (22.5 ppg, 5 apg, 2 spg)
Tony Parker (16.5 ppg, 6.5 apg, 1.5 spg)
Richard Jefferson (17 ppg)

Why is Daniel Gibson playing 30min a game?

Where's Michael Redd?

Is Tracy McGrady's career already done? (Age 31, 0.7 ppg, 1.7 apg, 2.7 rpg, 16.7 FG%)

LeBron James is averaging 6.3 turnovers per game! Does anyone care?

The Magic's 3-point accuracy is just 25%. That's not going to get things done.

Wow, John Wall is quick.

Ronny Turiaf is averaging 2.67 blocks per game in just 23.3 minutes per game for the Knicks.

Darko Milicic is still in the league and is even the starting center for the Timberwolves. I don't know why that's funny but it is.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are fast becoming the most interesting duo to watch.

The Lakers appear to be head and shoulders above the rest of the league (including the Heat). Too much talent, too well coached, too much size and length, and Kobe's championship drive is unmatched by anybody alive.

Blake Griffin is the real deal (16.7 ppg, 11 rpg).

Greg Oden is a bust. Unless he gets back on the court and starts producing right away, he'll forever be linked with names like Kwame Brown and Darko Milicic. If I were him, I'd rather be associated with guys like Michael Olowokandi. At least the Kandi-Man had one memorable play (ie, being dunked on by Amare Stoudemire). When I think of Oden, I just picture him on the bench.

Chris Paul is back to reclaim his throne as the best point guard in the league. Deron Williams and Rajon Rondo are great, but CP3 is on a whole other level.

Luis Scola? I knew he had skills but I can't believe how he's schooling his defenders for 27.3 ppg and 14 rpg. His offensive skills resemble that of an undersized Tim Duncan.

Maybe Yao Ming should just continue to rehab rather than playing 24min a game and skipping back-to-backs. It's a little sad watching him play this way.

Lebron James: Triple-double season? Not even close.

2010-11-01T10:31:00.004+08:00

So, I've read that this year is suppose to be the year Lebron James may average a triple-double for the season.

These articles all look at past stats and current trends in their analysis. But looking at these can only tell so much. Now that the season has begun, we have a better picture of what to expect.

To be on pace for a trible-double average, James needs to accumulate at least a total of 10 pts, 10 reb, and 10 ast per game.

Over 4 games, James is at 62 pts, 16 reb and 17 ast.

Quick math shows that he's behind by 24 reb and 23 ast. That's off by a huge margin. Label me a pessimist but there's no way Lebron averages a triple-double in a season.

Also, when I think of a triple-double, Lebron isn't even the first player to come to mind. Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul are the guys that I think of who are likely to get a triple-double on a nightly basis. A look at their stats shows that they're actually closer to a triple-double average than Lebron James.

Lebron James

Over 4 games, he's at 20.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, and 5.7 apg

Rajon Rondo

Over 3 games, he's at 10.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, and 16.7 apg

Chris Paul

Over 3 games he's at 17.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, and 11.5 apg

So if Lebron James, can't duplicate Oscar Robertson's triple-double average, then perhaps he can challenge the Big'O's other record, the top spot in total triple-doubles?

Nope. He won't even crack the top 3.

Lebron currently has 34 triple-doubles over 7 seasons. That's about 4.86 per season.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I'll assume he plays 20 full seasons while keeping up his current pace of collecting triple-doubles (this is highly unlikely which just strengthens my point). This will give him about 97 triple-doubles over 20 seasons, moving him past Wilt Chamberlain for 4th place.

3rd place is occupied by Jason Kidd with 105 over 16 seasons. To match him, James will need to increase his current triple-double production by about 12%.

2nd place is occupied by Magic Johnson with 138 over 13 seasons. To match him, James will need to increase his current triple-double production by about 65%.

1st place is occupied by none other than Oscar Robertson with 181 over 14 seasons. To match him, James will need to increase his current triple-double production by about 133%.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Oct 28, 2010 - Week 22 - "Getting large"

2010-10-28T22:39:00.004+08:00

Made a scheduled routine visit to the hospital to check up on the twins. We're ecstatic to know that they're doing just fine. (No ultrasound pics, unfortunately)

They used to be oriented vertically. That is, one was on top of the other. But now, it seems that they've shifted and they're now laterally right next to each other. I've noticed this last night when I saw that my wife's belly suddenly seemed wider and more boxed shape.

Also, the part of the placenta that was detached was the uterus wall is now fully healed and firmly attached! Yay!

One of the twins appear to be larger than the other. But the difference is within normal range, so there's nothing to worry about. Each baby has roughly the same amount of amniotic fluid in their sac, so that's reassuring.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Oct 24, 2010 - Week 22 - "Maternity shots"

2010-10-24T22:31:00.006+08:00

We decided to do our maternity shooting ourselves rather than paying professionals. It's not too difficult to mimick professional effects with a decent photo-editor. And doing it ourselves makes it more personal. Plus, we can do the shooting whenever we wanted.

I've a bunch of ideas for shot poses but they require an indoors studio environment which we just don't have. I'll have to see if I can find a shop that would sell me a large piece of white fabric for cheap (to use as backdrop).

In the meantime, my wife and I decided to have some fun and went outdoors for a couple of shots.

My PC is finally piracy-free

2010-10-20T14:51:00.001+08:00

A year after it's release, I finally made the jump to Windows 7 on my desktop. I've been using Windows XP ever since 2001. Skipped the Vista upgrade because of all the negative press around it. Other than getting a more modern and refreshed OS, this represents a significant move for me in terms of ethics.

I've made an internal pact with myself: No more piracy.

Back in the day, I didn't believe in purchasing software. I would buy hardware but I didn't believe in paying more money just to use the hardware. It just didn't seem fair.

Even to this day, it's a bit painful to shell out the HKD 1,550 for Windows 7 Home Premium. But since that's the only piece of software that I need to pay for, it's easier to swallow. For everything else, I'll stick with free and or open-source alternatives. Most work just as well, if not better. If I add up the cost of all the commercial software counterparts, the savings really add up.

Photo Editing
GIMP vs Photoshop
Cost of Photoshop CS5 is USD 699

PDF creator
CutePDF vs Adobe Acrobat
Cost of Adobe Acrobat X Pro is USD 499

Office Suite
OpenOffice and Google Docs vs Microsoft Office
Cost of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 is USD 149.99

Optical Media Creation
InfraRecorder vs Nero
Cost of Nero Multimedia Suite 10 is USD 99.99

Antivirus
AVG vs Norton
Cost of Norton AntiVirus 2011 (for one year protection) is USD 39.99

DVD Video Player
VLC vs WinDVD
Cost of WinDVD 2010 is USD 39.99

7-Zip vs WinZip
Cost of WinZip is USD 29.95

By staying away from the commercial stuff, I saved USD 1,557.91 (roughly over HKD 12,000). Suddenly the cost of the OS seems minuscule. For the first time, all my computing needs are satisfied while keeping a clear conscience.

MiLi Power Miracle HB-B20 Review

2010-10-15T11:46:00.000+08:00

Mili advertises this as an "External Power Bank for Digital Products". This is essentially just an external battery. You charge it and it will charge your other devices. If you tend to wander away from a power source for long periods of time, this will come in handy for charging your mobile devices.

Here are the official specs:
Capacity:2000mAh Input: 5V-0.5A(Max.)
Output: 5V-1A(Max.) Charging time:5.4 hours
Self power consumption Time: Up to 5000 hours
Product Dimension:86(L)×48(D)×17(T)mm
Package Dimension:198×110×24mm
Inner Box Dimension:400×208×120mm,15pcs
Carton Dimension:431×415×255mm,60pcs
Gross Weight:10kgs/22.05lb

Here are the Product Features as advertised by Mili:

External battery for iPhone*, iPod*,Mobile Phones and other digital products.
Small, convenient, easy to use, high capacity.
Use USB cable to charge MiLi Power Miracle.
4 LED power indicators.

Other than the device itself, it comes packaged with the following:

USB cable that allows you to plug different types of tips to support multiple devices.
It includes tips to support proprietary ports from Apple, LG, Samsung, and Nokia. It also has tips to support the universal standards of MiniUSB and MicroUSB.
Microfiber pouch.

The device itself. It's just a battery brick. It's small and light. It's about 3/4 of the size of my HTC Desire. There's a single button on the face of the device flanked by 4 LED indicators. Pressing the button will light up the LEDs to indicate how much charge is left. Each LED indicates 25% charge. On the bottom of the device, there are 2 ports. One is an output port which will accept a normal USB. The other port is for input which will accept MiniUSB. There's nothing else on the device. The rest of the device has a shiny plastic finish.

Charging the battery. In order to use the battery, it must first be charged. To do this, you need to plug a MiniUSB cable into the battery with the other end connected to a power source. If you're going to do this as intended by the manufacturer, you'll plug the MiniUSB tip into the provided USB cable. Then plug the MiniUSB end into the battery's input port while the other end goes into a PC's USB port. As noted in the specs, this can take over 5 hours to charge.
I personally use a Blackberry charger which ends in a MiniUSB tip. The other end goes directly into a wall socket. This shortens the charging time to under an hour. It would have made sense for Mili to include a wall charger.

Charging your device with the battery. Plug the USB end of the provided cable into the output port. Use the appropriate tip for your device and just plug it in. The charging process begins automatically. Simple and easy.

I've tested the battery with an iPod Touch and an HTC Desire. Works wonderfully. It seems to provide enough juice to charge each device up to 2 times. I like how the provided USB cable is coiled to keep everything neat and compact. The rate at which the battery charges my devices was quite impressive. It's on par with directly charging my devices via AC/DC. You can continue to use your mobile device while charging via the battery with no ill-effects. It will charge faster than you can discharge it through your usage.

The Good

Easy to use.
Support for multiple types of devices.
Compact and light.
The provided pouch is quite nice. Handy for preventing you from losing all those connectors.
Inexpensive. I purchased it for HK$280 (roughly US$35)

The Bad

Mili should have provided a wall charger. Charging through a PC's USB port is simply too slow.

More camera gear: Nikkor 35mm f/1.8

2010-10-13T11:13:00.002+08:00

I told myself I was not going to get more camera gear. But gosh darn it, I couldn't resist.

I got myself the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lens.

Reason? It's relatively inexpensive; and I wanted to shoot without flash with indoor-lighting. The use my SB-400 speedlight to bounce the flash was great. But there are times when I just don't want flash. I figured my babies would appreciate being shot without flash as well.

While it's certainly significantly better in low-light conditions compared to my 18-55mm, it's still a thousand times better when used with flash.

The sharpness with the 35mm is remarkable. I also appreciate that it's much more compact than the 18-55mm. This is definitely a lens that I should have bought a long time ago. Unless I want to shoot at a wider angle, the 18-55mm lens is going to be on the back-burner gathering dust.

Here's a test shot with the 35mm (resized 25%).

Here's the same shot with my 18-55mm set at the same focal length.

Gadget Retrospective

2010-10-13T00:07:00.008+08:00

What type of gadgets did you use to carry back in the day? Ever looked back at them and think to yourself, "Wow, I can't believe how I used to think that was cool"?

Here's my trip down memory lane...

Late junior high years. I used to have a Sony Discman D-133. I thought it was terrible even back then. There was no memory buffer, so the audio would skip all the time. I remember I had to wrap a towel around it while I kept it in my backpack for shock-absorbing purposes. It had a tiny display which wasn't back-lit. It was overall ugly enough that taking it out to change tracks was embarrassing.

Early high school. I upgraded to a D-135 which had ESP (electronic skip protection). Basically, it buffers some of the audio in flash memory so that it can continue the playback even when the device was moved. This feature was pretty ineffective in my usage. I use to keep the device in my backpack and the audio would skip every time I stepped off a curb or went down more than 2 steps. To make matters worse, the ESP feature just absolutely kills the battery. It uses 100% more power than normal. Because of this, I hardly ever turn on ESP. It'll skip anyway, so I'd rather have long battery life. Oh, and the thing was a brick.

Later highschool years, I used to have a Sony MZ R-55 MiniDisc player/recorder. I used to love the thing. But now, the limitations of it are apparent.

Each disc was limited to 80minutes of audio which is stored in an uncompressed format. It would have made much more sense if it allowed for mp3 format. That way, you would be able to store 700 minutes of audio per disc.
The ability to record music digitally was a big deal back then. Previously, you would only be able to record analog via cassette tape. However, getting digital media on MDs was a hassle. They record in real-time so it was slow. And you had to have the proper equipment (ie, optical cable & CD player that supports optical out, etc).
Tagging music. Another big deal back then was the ability to label the audio tracks. But you had to do this manually one by one using a dial on the player. It was such a hassle but for some reason, I had put up with it.
Formfactor. The device was bulky. Display was small. Buttons were small. Battery performance was acceptable if it was used only to playback audio. Once you use it to record, battery dies down after 2 or 3 hours.

Right when I started university, my R-55 ended up dead. I moved back to the US; in my attempt to charge the device, I forgot about the voltage requirements and fried the thing. I then switched to the MZ-E80 MiniDisc player. By then the MiniDisc days were numbered as the MP3 format started to take over.

For most of university, I had this on me most of the time: Creative MuVo TX MP3 player with 256MB of flash storage

Actually, this is one of my favorite gadgets I've ever had for the following reasons:

Long battery life even though it runs on a single AAA battery (about 12hrs).
It has a built-in mic which I used to record lectures.
It's ridiculously small and light.
Has a backlit display.
It doubles has a USB flash memory drive.
No wires or cables.

Even if I subject it to today's standards, it's not that bad. The only things you can really fault are:

Lack of rechargeable battery.
Insufficient storage capacity at 256MB. (But hey, flash memory was a lot more expensive back then)
Tiny display

So, that's it. By 2006, I switched to iPods and then eventually smartphones.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Oct 12, 2010 - Week 20 - "Kick"

2010-10-12T22:50:00.001+08:00

I felt one of our babies' kick for the first time. My wife has felt the occasional kicking for a while now. But it's the first time for me. Feeling for it wasn't easy. I decided to just lay my hand on my wife's belly until I felt something. Several minutes passed and my wife asked me

"Are you really just going to keep your hand there the whole night?"

To which I responded

"Yes, of course."

A couple minutes later and it happened. Just for a split second, I felt a tiny pulse against my palm. That was it.

Ask any expecting father this and he'll agree. It's not easy caring for your pregnant wife and preparing for the arrival of your kids. Add your day job to the mix and it nears unbearable. But along the way, you are presented with reminders that at the end, it's all worth it. That kick I felt was one such reminder.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Oct 8, 2010 - Week 19 - "From innie to outie"

2010-10-08T13:44:00.001+08:00

Everything was fine in last week's hospital checkup; and everything continues to be fine in this week's doctor checkup.

In fact, the doctor has advised that strict bed rest was no longer required. Also, our visits no longer need to be so frequent. For a while, it was every 2 weeks. We'll revisit again in a month. This is great news! (both physiologically and financially!)

On a humorous note, my wife's bellybutton has gone through an interesting transformation. It used to be an innie. Now, it looks like it's transitioning into becoming an outie. It currently resembles a miniature pocket of a marsupial. We're pretty sure she can hide an almond in there.

Public posing on Hong Kong Police motorbikes

2010-10-04T11:41:00.000+08:00

A funny bit of news in the paper today. Please see here and here for details.
Here's the quick & dirty rundown:

Hong Kong Police were out conducting crowd control on the evening of Oct 1 (National Day).
Members of the public decided to pose with the police for photos.
Members of the public even mounted the police motorbikes for photos.

Whether or not this is acceptable is up for debate. But here's an excerpt taken from the South China Morning Post article.

A police spokesman said officers were on crowd-control duty at the time and the force required officers to be "lenient and pragmatic" to suit the festival atmosphere. He said officers were allowed to take photos with the public upon request, but police would look into the situation where some people sat on police bikes.

Hmm, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that after careful deliberation, the police would not find themselves at fault for this...

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Sept 30, 2010 - Week 18 - "Anomaly scan"

2010-09-30T17:04:00.002+08:00

Another week, another visit to the doctor. This time, we've headed to the public hospital, Queen Elizabeth. So unfortunately, the doctors here don't provide us with pictures from the ultrasound scans to take home.

Anyway, we were not expecting anything unusual. But fortunately, we were right on time to be able to conduct an anomaly scan. It's basically just a prolonged and more detailed ultrasound scan. The doctor checks every aspect of the baby to see if there's anything odd.

We've not had much luck with complications but this time, it went very well!

Babies' length were normal.
Size of their heads were normal.
Both had normal brain development.
Size of abdomen normal.
All facial features accounted for.
No cleft lips.
Each heart had the normal 4 chambers.
All arms, legs, fingers, and toes were accounted for.
Lungs, stomach, and kidneys were accounted for.
Both spinal cords looked normal.

We had another confirmation that they're boys...

Apparently, the fetal movements that my wife was experiencing are Braxton Hicks contractions. We're told it's completely normal.

Nothing of note to worry about. Finally. Thank goodness.

Seriously, are there safe-haven laws in Hong Kong?

2010-09-30T11:25:00.000+08:00

On Sept. 28, 2010, a 26-year-old woman abandoned her newborn baby girl in the toilet of a Mong Kok motel room. The baby was discovered by motel staff at around 1pm. She was rushed to the hospital for treatment but was certified dead by 2:30. (Source)

Stories like this seem to be a weekly occurance. Considering that there's probably much more unreported occurrences, it's just horrifying.

This child's life just began. Then shortly after, it was snuffed out. Life is resilient but not when being drowned in a toilet bowl.

We all came into this world as babies for a chance at life. Aren't we all entitled to that chance?

Dreaming of DRM-free days

2010-09-28T10:12:00.000+08:00

DRM (Digital Rights Management). I hate it. Anyone who purchases digital media will have their own story on how DRM is nothing but an inconvenience. Ironically enough, DRM doesn't appear to be an inconvenience to people who pirate media, which are the ones it's suppose to be targeting.

Here's my DRM story.

I've recently begun purchasing digital media off of Apple's iTunes Store because I've found a way to do so without a US credit card (yay!)

Anyway, I bought a Katy Perry album. The files were in an AAC format which is just fine since my HTC Desire lists that as a supported audio format. I'm aware that Apple has started to sell non-DRM music a while back. So, I didn't hesitate to think that it might not playback on my Android device. As expected, the files transferred over and played back just fine. I didn't have to deal with tagging or assigning album art because that was done automatically. It was cheaper and more convenient than actually buying the physical CD. So, there's no reason I'm ever going to buy another CD.

Then I decided to catch up on my Grey's Anatomy. I've stopped watching midway through the 6th season. Previously, I would just download pirated versions which would be available right after they air. But I've never felt comfortable about it. When the DVD box set would be released, I would purchase those. But if I relied on those, I would always be a season behind. Anyway, I bought one episode off the iTunes Store for US$1.99. I transferred it over to my Android device and it wouldn't play. Damn file was DRM-protected.

Here are my options if I want to watch the video on my Android device.

1. Play the video and use video capture software to encode a non-protected video file. This takes lots of time and the process is lossy (in terms of video quality).

2. Use a DRM removing software. I'm sure this is as illegal as pirating.

3. Download a pirated version.

It's just ridiculous how it seems that I'm better off downloading a pirated version. Let's do a comparison:

Pirated videos: It's free and there's no restrictions on how I can use it. I can play it on any device. I can burn it to a DVD and play it via a DVD player. It's illegal.

Purchased video off the iTunes store: It costs money and I'm restricted as to what device I can play it on. I can only play it on a computer which is registered with my iTunes account and any Apple device I sync it with. I can't burn it on DVD. I can't play it on an Android device. If I strip the DRM in order to play it on my Android, it's illegal.

The people of Hong Kong are the most arrogant in the world

2010-09-27T14:21:00.000+08:00

How awesome is this? A Philippine columnist saying HK is arrogant. Isn't there a written law that says "If your country's police incompetence killed some tourists, you can't insult the tourist's country"? With all the crap coming out regarding this hostage case, you could write an entire manual that describes what not to do during and after a hostage situation involving international tourists. The following text in italics and indented is taken straight from his article.

Why can’t the Aquino government put its act together?

Here’s comes Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Malaca? Communications Group saying the Chinese government would have the first priority in getting the results of the investigation of the special fact-finding committee on the Luneta hostage-taking crisis.

But Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the committee’s chair, says the Chinese government and the Filipino people, through the media, will be given the results of her committee’s investigation at the same time.

Carandang’s statement that the Chinese government would get the De Lima report ahead of the Filipino public created a stir.

Some lawmakers – notably Senator Joker Arroyo and House Minority Leader Rep. Edcel Lagman – questioned the decision of the Aquino administration in giving the De Lima report to the Chinese government first and later to the Filipino public.

It now turns out it was Carandang, without consulting President Noy (Benigno Aquino III), who made the decision to have the Chinese government get the De Lima report first.

It shows that the Aquino government is composed of several fiefdoms, all acting independently of one another.

* * *

The Aquino government is stepping out of bounds in overly appeasing the Beijing government and the Hong Kong administrative regional government by having them receive the De Lima report first over the Filipino public.

How, when, and to who the government decides to release the report is irrelevant. The fact that there appears to be any discussion at all about this just comes to further show the incompetency of the national government. They don't know how to prioritize. Just release it simultaneously to everyone! Who cares?

Haven’t we collectively asked forgiveness for the ineptitude of our police and security officials?

Nope. Listen to the Manila Mayor and the Vice-Mayors. None of them has admitted any fault in this. To this day, they believe that their actions were correct. Look at the President smiling on camera at the crime scene. Look at the civilians smiling and posing in front of the crime scene the morning after.

Haven’t we humbled ourselves by practically kneeling down before Mainland China and Hong Kong and being lectured by their people?

When you mess up, you need to be lectured. So, having messed up, you need to suck it up and take it on the chin.

What more can we do to appease them?

* * *

In trying to appease the Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong people we’re making other countries trample upon our dignity and pride as a nation.

We are feeding on the Hong Kong people’s arrogance by our seemingly servile stance towards them.

Other countries are trampling upon your dignity and pride as a nation because of all the classless acts of blaming everybody else for what went wrong!

The people of Hong Kong are the most arrogant in the world.

Tourists from all over the world have complained of discourteous restaurant servers and department store clerks.

I'd love to see some supporting evidence on how people in HK are the most arrogant in the world. Is there some sort of list that someone compiled using some complicated formula to find an arrogance score for each city? Also, is there a single city where 0% of tourists complain about restaurants and shops?

Several years ago, I approached a Hong Kong policeman standing at a street corner in Kowloon district to ask for directions.

I didn’t know how to get to a restaurant where I was to have an appointment.

The Hong Kong policeman shouted at me and shooed me away.

I don't need to look at the police manual to know that it's not in the cop's job description to give directions to tourists. Some do it anyway, but that's overstepping their boundaries. I'd rather have rude cops that can effectively protect the community than polite cops that throw glowsticks into a bus taken hostage.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble described the Hong Kong Police Force as "one of the finest and most professional police forces in the world" (source)

FBI Director Robert Mueller III said, "The citizens of Hong Kong are protected and served by one of the finest Police departments in the world. Hong Kong's law-enforcement officers are honest, sophisticated and highly professional, and have made this one of the world's safest cities" (source)

Discourtesy toward foreigners seems universal among Hong Kong people.

Anywhere a tourist goes, he invariably meets discourteous or arrogant Hong Kong residents who never smile.

I was asking for the price of a pair of glasses at an optical shop in Hong Kong when the clerk said I shouldn’t be asking if I didn’t have any intention of buying.

Just seems to me this guy is BS'ing his supporting evidence. A lot of people find store clerks in HK to be overly courteous to the point that you have to ask them to stop hovering. If his experience was true, then he must have either been either acting like a douche-bag or he was in a really bad part of town.

Also, this guy is suppose to be a columnist? What kind of writing style is this? Each sentence is its own paragraph. When he wants to further separate each "paragraph", he uses three asterisks? It looks like I'm reading the thoughts of a rambling 5-year-old.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Sept 24, 2010 - Week 17 - "Getting better"

2010-09-24T14:32:00.002+08:00

Something my wife noticed this week. The babies occasionally move around. When they do, one them will bulge out from my wifes abdomen. It's very odd. My wife says it's only happened a couple times and it doesn't hurt. Doctor says that it happens with twins but that we should call him if it happens frequently.

Not much change since last time except that the babies are now larger and the chorionic hematoma has continued to shrink in size.

On to the scans...

1. This shows what's left of the chorionic hematoma (blood clot). The size has shrunk about 20% since last week.

2. Twin on top, 11.71cm long.

3. Twin on bottom, 12.56cm long. Their sizes are similar enough to be normal.

4. The arrow is pointing at the manhood of our boy on top.

5. Same for our boy on the bottom. Jeez, how embarrassing for them...

HTC Desire experience - Custom ROM

2010-09-24T14:10:00.000+08:00

A day after rooting, I've taken another step forward in modding my Android device. I went ahead and installed a custom ROM (ie, LeeDrOiD).

I went through all this trouble with rooting and flashing my device; and for what? Just these 3 tiny reasons:

1. Battery indicator showing 1% increments - This feature should be standard on all devices. Without rooting, I would have to install a separate app to achieve similar functionality. I use to use Battery Indicator which shows the battery reading in the taskbar. But it's in addition to the default indicator; it doesn't replace it.

2. Access to paid apps in the Android Market - When I decided that I wanted access to paid apps, I didn't actually have something in mind I want to purchase. I just wanted the option to do so. The HTC Desire already has most of the apps I ever need preinstalled. For most of everything else, there are free selections readily available on the Android Market. To date, I've purchased just 3 Android apps.

Beautiful Widgets: I bought this several months ago when I was in NY and I had access to paid apps (legitimately). I use this only sometimes. I switch to this when I use alternative launchers which doesn't include HTC Sense widgets.

Documents-To-Go: Sure, it's expensive at US$9.99. But this is definitely worth it if you want to do any office document editing on-the-go. I bought this a day after I bought my phone. Thankfully, you don't need access to paid Android apps to buy it. You just download the free version off the Android Market and then pay at DataViz's site to get a registration code.

Fruit Ninja: First app I purchased after rooting and using Market Enabler. Just a silly casual game. It's cheap and fun!

3. Ability to install all apps to microSD - I find this to be a bit overrated. I find the internal memory capacity just fine for my use. After installing all the apps I need, I find myself still with about 20-30MB free. But I see how this can become a problem for some who needs a ton of apps. Now with all my apps moved over to the microSD, I have about 90-100MB free. But I now have to seriously consider getting a larger capacity card because my 8GB card is about 70% full with all my media and apps.

Can't say anything else about the custom ROM. It's suppose to perform better but I can't really tell from day-to-day use. But performance was never really an issue on stock ROM. Apart from the above 3 items, I just need stability. As long is it doesn't crash on me, it's fine.

McDonald's Rant 5 - Sausage McMuffin & Filet'O'Fish

2010-09-24T14:02:00.000+08:00

See here for the other rants.

I suppose this is less of a rant but rather a curious observation.

Why is it that these are the only McDonald's food items that are sold throughout the entire day? Filet'O'Fish is a lunch menu item and yet, it's available during breakfast. Sausage McMuffin is a breakfast menu item and yet, it's available during lunch. Who chose these 2 sandwiches? Why these 2? Why not the Big Mac or the Egg McMuffin?

(This applies to Hong Kong McD's only)

McDonald's Rant 4 - Commercial

2010-09-23T13:50:00.000+08:00

See here for the other rants.

My wife and I were disgusted by a recent McDonald's TV commercial here in HK. Video link here. The basic rundown of the commercial goes like this:

Family of 4: Mom, dad, son, and younger daughter.
Commercial opens with the son playing alone with his train set. His little sister interrupts him by taking the train off the tracks. He shows his dissatisfaction by telling his sister to stop. The mom sticks her head out from the kitchen and tells her son to yield to his sister.
Son tries to show Mom a drawing he made. Mom is busy feeding her younger daughter and tells her son to go away to play by himself.
The whole family goes to a park. Both mom and dad focus on their daughter while their son sits alone on the bench sulking. They then look over to their son and realize what they must do.
They all go to McDonald's where the dad orders a Big Mac meal for his son.
His son shows surprise and enthusiasm (because he's supposedly only expecting a Happy Meal?)
His dad implies that he's getting a Big Mac meal because he's grown up and no longer a child.
The son happily celebrates getting his "grown up" meal, having completely forgotten how his douche-bag parents treated him like dirt just moments ago.

So, here's what I took away from that commercial:

The parents completely neglected their first-born child with the arrival of a new baby.
Instead of spending more time with their son, they decided to buy him out with a Big Mac meal.
So now, the son is suppose to feel ok with that because he got a Big Mac?

McDonald's seems to be claiming their food is more important than parental care. If so, all parents should forget about giving their kids attention, encouragement or hugs. Just buy them all Big Mac meals. If you really want to show your love, super-size them.

Finally rooted my HTC Desire

2010-09-22T10:57:00.000+08:00

Back in my Windows Mobile days, I would be flashing new ROMs every other week or so. But ever since the switch the Android, I've not tinkered too much with my phone anymore. Mostly, it's because the device works just fine right out-of-the-box. That's not something you can say about Window Mobile devices...

Anyway, I've finally decided to root my device. It's not because I want to flash custom ROMs. It's just because I want to access the Android Market for paid apps. Currently, Hong Kong is not in the list of countries that Google has approved for paid apps. Using unrEVOked, the entire process was a breeze. It took about 10 minutes (8 of those minutes were for waiting for the downloads and reboots). There was very little user input required...

I then installed Market Enabler and voila. Done. I can now finally purchase apps from the Android Market.

This seems to be something that everyone must do. It's just too easy. It doesn't hard reset your device, so all your data is intact. There's really no reason why not to do it.

Over the next few weeks, I'll finally look into custom ROMS...

McDonald's Rant 3 - McNuggets Sauce

2010-09-22T10:56:00.000+08:00

See here for the other rants.

Here in HK, if you order McNuggets, the server gives you the default sauce. That is, sweet & sour sauce. They have several sauces. Sometimes, they have promotional periods where they offer special sauces. But even in normal days, they at least have barbecue sauce and mustard sauce as alternatives.

(Why they don't normally have honey mustard sauce is beyond me. They only have it during special promotional periods. At those times, they call it the Singaporean Honey Mustard Sauce. I have no idea how honey mustard is related to Singapore.)

So why is it that they assume that everyone wants sweet & sour sauce? Is it because we're Chinese and they feel we have to use a Chinese sauce for our McNuggets? If so, why not give us oyster sauce or soy sauce? Or perhaps they should just take McNuggets off the menu all together and replace it with McKungPao Chicken!

Ok, I'm not really being serious when I'm implying there's a racial issue to all this sweet & sour sauce business. Anyway...

Try asking for an alternative sauce to the sweet & sour. Rather than just giving you the alternative sauce, the server will replace the sauce they've given you. Even if your order was a take-out and the sweet & sour sauce is in your paper bag under 2 sandwiches with a bunch of fries, they will use their grimy hands to dig out that sauce before giving you the sauce you requested.

Good luck trying to get extra sauce. I can't verify this since I've never asked for more sauce. But apparently, they actually charge you for it.

The Manila Hostage Case - Still nobody with the guts to admit fault

2010-09-22T10:53:00.000+08:00

I told myself that I wasn't going to write about this story anymore. But it seems every time that someone relevant speaks up in the Philippines, it does nothing but cause more disgrace to their troubled reputation.

Yesterday, an inquiry report was released which is essentially a transcript of what transpired on that day. It lists out what happened, what went wrong, and who are to be punished. You may download the report here. (Source)

I've never seen these types of reports so I'm not going to judge the contents of it. Everybody already knows what went wrong and who's at fault. But there are a couple of things that just really stands out to me like sore thumb.

1. They seriously couldn't produce a nicer cover page with images that aren't blurry? The image I used on top of this post is from the report cropped at 100% zoom.

2. Have a look at page 4. Is that the norm for these reports? The entire page contains just a quote from the hostage-taker. I felt like this was the beginning of a thriller novel. See image on the right.

3. Check out the signatory page (ie, last page). The report was signed off by the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and 3 members of the investigation committee. Noticed what Vice Chairman Robredo scribbled next to his signatory? It reads:

"did not participate in the deliberations on the determination of accountabilities of the parties cited."

If his statement is true, then why did he sign off on the report? Why is he even on the committee, let alone the Vice-Chairman? How did he contribute to the report? (Perhaps he's the one responsible for photoshopping those images on the cover page?) It sounds like he's scared that the parties at fault will come at him for revenge. Or he knows there's something fishy about the report and he doesn't want to be liable?

Anyway, today's article in the South China Morning Post highlights some reactions of those identified as accountable for that tragic event.

The following is from the article regarding Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim:

...he hit out at an inquiry report that recommended he and his deputy be punished over last month's tragedy.

Lim was near to tears yesterday as he repeatedly slammed a table with his fist during a press conference he called to contest recommendations of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee (IIRC).

"Only the police would put their lives on the line in such situations and we get this," said Lim, a former Manila police chief. "The vice-mayor's and my inclusion, and even the negotiator, on the list of those found culpable by the IIRC is too sweeping and totally lacking in factual and legal basis," Lim said.

The Mayor of Manila is essentially pouting like a 4 year-old girl. I'm surprised he didn't stomp his feet and say "It isn't fairrrrrrrrrr!" Also, here's the "factual basis" he said is lacking according to the report:
He [1] failed to activate the the city's crisis management committee, [2] was absent from the command post at the most critical time (he was at dinner), and [3] ordered the arrest of the hostage-taker's brother.

According to the article, the Mayor

admitted that "we bungled" the crisis. But he said suspended Manila police chief Rodolfo Magtibay, the ground commander during the hostage taking, was more to blame.

This isn't the first time he threw the police chief under the bus. See here. I'm just surprised he did it again.

He said he was willing to be jailed as long as they spared Manila Vice-Mayor Francisco Domagoso "because he has no fault here. Me, I'm ready to face charges. We can't do anything because sometimes that's how the ball bounces".

When the leader is incompetent, the 2nd-in-command has the authority and responsibility to take action. Therefore, the Vice-Mayor is at fault even though he didn't do anything because he's suppose to be doing something! Also, that's how the ball bounces? Considering that 8 people died, that's just not something appropriate to say.

Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno also said he did nothing wrong and vowed that if Lim was jailed, he would join him. "I don't really understand why we, who managed to rescue nine [hostages] are being sanctioned," he added.

Wow. (Firstly, how many Vice-Mayors are there?) This guy should be jailed just for producing that idiotic utterance. He needs to get his facts straight. They didn't rescue nine hostages. The gunman just failed in murdering those nine hostages.

Moreno was cited by the inquiry for not taking Mendoza's demands to the Department of Justice, whose headquarters was just minutes away from the site of the crisis, as the gunman had requested. Instead, he traveled to the Ombudsman's office three hours away.

It's just shocking. The stories of stupidity of these so-called leaders are just shocking.

The Philippine radio station accused of preventing a negotiator from contacting Mendoza also rejected accusations that it contributed to the tragedy.

Aquilino Pimentel, lawyer for Radio Mindanao Network, criticised the official inquiry's call for three of its staff to be prosecuted for holding phone interviews with the hostage-taker. "The interview by [radio reporter] Michael Rogas gave the hostages an extra few hours to live," Pimentel told the station.

You would think that a lawyer would be educated enough not to say something that inappropriate. But alas, his decorated law degree doesn't protect him from the wave of stupidity washing over all the other Philippines top officials.

McDonald's Rant 2 - Napkins

2010-09-21T09:10:00.000+08:00

See here for the other rants.

In many ways, my rant regarding the ketchup packets also apply to napkins. No matter how much food you've ordered, by default you only get 2 pieces of napkins. You could have ordered 3 trays of food and unless you've asked for more napkins, you only get 2 pieces.

But actually, the amount of napkins you receive should be the least of your worries at McDonald's. Pay attention to how you've acquired those pieces of napkins and you'll see what I mean.

1. The person handling the cash register is the one responsible for placing the napkin on your tray. That same person is responsible for handling the money which is incredibly dirty. And since that person is trained to give you 2 napkins only, each napkin has made contact with his/her filthy fingers. Wait, it gets worse...

2. If the orders gets backed up, the servers sometimes review what's outstanding for each tray. And each time they review a tray, they use their hands to tap on your piece of napkin. So if you think about it, your napkin has already been used by the time you get to it. Wait, it gets worse...

3. Let's assume your order is a take-out. When they've completed packing your order into the paper bag, they use all five fingers to grab your napkin and receipt and toss it into your bag. Congrats, your napkin has just been soiled further. Wait, it gets worse...

4. If your order is a take-out, sometimes they don't even give you a tray. They place your receipt on top of your 2 pieces of napkins and just place it on the counter. If there's a line, your order gets moved across the counter to make room for the next. That means, your napkin has now been used to wipe their counter clean.

Just remember this the next time you use that harmless looking napkin for anything...

McDonald's Rant 1 - Ketchup Packets

2010-09-19T22:00:00.004+08:00

I'm feeling rather antsy these days because of my wife's pregnancy. So I'm going to start a couple of posts on rants regarding McDonald's over the next couple of days.

Using just 1 minute searching on Google, I was able to find that I can buy a case of a 1000 ketchup packets for US $32.79. That's less than HK $0.30 per packet. Consider that a fast food chain as large as McDonald's would certainly buy in bulk and that price would surely be lower.

Then why is it that by default, you never get more than 1 pack of ketchup if your order contains fries here in Hong Kong? You always have to pop the question:

"May I have some more packs of ketchup please?"

By "some more", you would expect at least 2 or 3. Definitely not 1. Then why is it that the server keeps only giving you 1 more? It's just a waste of time and effort because then I would have to ask them for more again and they have to get me more again.

What's worse is sometimes they respond to your question with another question:

"How many do you need?"

That's the most stupid thing. Firstly, it's rude. Secondly, with the effort they made by asking the question and then waiting for my response, they could have filled my entire tray with ketchup packs. For this very reason, I never answer this question. I just repeat my request for "some more" packs of ketchup.

This whole thing just makes the restaurant look cheap. While McDonald's is certainly no 5-star restaurant, you would think they can afford to generously give away ketchup packets.

Maybe the next time I get asked how many packets of ketchup I need, I should say something like this:

"I'm not sure. I usually use about a pea-size amount per piece of fry. I think that will burn through about 1 packet of ketchup for every 10 fries. How many fries do you reckon there are on this tray?"

New and improved HTC Sense

2010-09-17T12:00:00.000+08:00

1. Recent apps now appear in the notification shade. Seems a bit redundant to me when you can get to the same list by holding the Home button.

2. Maps. Offline mapping. Just brilliant.

3. HTC Sense in landscape. Meh. I think I'm in the minority for not feeling excited about this. Sure, it makes sense to have your homescreen in landscape mode if you're using a qwerty slider. But for those of us who uses a slab device, this is just meh...

4. Changes in the Mail application. I hope they changed more than just adding a "compose mail" button when viewing the inbox. currently, the HTC Mail application is not bad so, I'm eager to see what improvements they can manage.

5. Fast boot up. Videos are all over showing how the Desire Z and Desire HD boot up in just several seconds. I have my doubts on this. Seems to me that the devices are just waking from a deep stand-by state. I'd like to see the battery pulled and reseated before booting up to see if it's the real deal.

6. Changes in Camera application. The current HTC Camera application is very basic. I hope the revised version has more tools (ie, templates, stitching, continuous shots, etc).

7. Status updates in caller ID. Meh, this was available since the release of the Wildfire and was included in the official Froyo update for the HTC Desire.

8. Changes in customization. You can now rearrange entire screens which is nice.

9. HTCSense.com. This appears to be HTC's cloud-based service. Seems interesting. I hope this service will be free. Allows you to:
Remotely ring your phone.
Remotely lock and wipe your stolen/lost phone.
Backup data (contacts, call history, messages, etc)
Sharing and editing multimedia. Not sure how this is going to work.

See here for some screenshots.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Sept 16, 2010 - Week 16 - "Mind over matter"

2010-09-16T21:13:00.004+08:00

Another week; another visit to the doctor's office. A serious complication was discovered last week. We're back to see if it has subsided.

In the days leading up to the visit, my wife has come to accept that there's really nothing she can do to help the babies other than resting and eating more. She's accepted my suggestion to try to periodically visualize her placenta and uterus healing. Most importantly, she has to truly believe that they will successfully heal. Mind over matter. Sound crazy? I'm sure it does. But if you want validation, look no further than the numerous studies on placebo effects.

Anyway, the ultrasound showed that the blood clot has (thankfully) shrunk significantly in size. In this picture, the clot is indicated by the dark horizontal line in the center of the shot. The risk of complication is still there, but at least this time, we have reason to be optimistic.

Anyway, here are what our babies looked like today! They're both just a bit over 10cm long.
First is the twin who has decided to reside on the bottom of mom's uterus. In a vaginal birth, he would probably be born first.

This is the one on top.

Kevin Durant - Much Respect

2010-09-15T09:42:00.003+08:00

I've never watched Kevin Durant play prior to the FIBA World Championship semi-finals game between USA and Lithuania. Meanwhile, I've watched Lebron James play numerous times. In just one game, Durant has done two things that Lebron has not. He led a team to a championship on the professional level and he's earned my respect as a basketball player.

On the professional level, Lebron James has never lead a team to glory. He's never won an NBA Championship. He's won an Olympic Gold Medal back in 2008 but he was clearly not the leader of the team; Kobe Bryant was.

Kevin Durant, on the other hand, was the clear leader on this World Championship team. His teammates deferred to him. He knew what his team needed from him and he executed. He risked his reputation by taking over the team. He knew that he would be the one to blame if Team USA lost but did it anyway because he had the courage and the heart to do so. This is something that you can't say for Lebron James (Remember, his kick-out pass to Donyell Marshell?).

Heart is difficult to measure. So I won't continue to question James' heart in the game. I'll question his skills.

In all my time of watching Lebron James, here's my breakdown of his game:
- He has excellent court vision primarily because of his height, he simply sees over the defense.
- He has never developed a post-up game. He has no back-to-the-basket moves.
- The way he gets to the rim is he just drives hard and powers his way through the defense. I've never seen him use deception on his moves.
- No change of speed moves.
- His perimeter shooting has improved but is unreliable.
- He's able to get perimeter shots off because of his length; not because of quickness or deception.
- His defense is over-rated. Uses his hands more than he uses his feet.

In my one game of watching Kevin Durant, his game was just beautiful to watch.
- Like James, he can see over the defense and makes excellent passes.
- He's 6-10 but naturally plays the 3 spot and prefers to operate on the perimeter. But when he's put on the low block, he has shown he has some nice low post moves (ie, shoulder fakes, spin, hooks, etc)
- He's tall but he handles the ball like a guard. His dribbles are low, wide, and most importantly, blindingly fast. Several times I see him with a live dribble walking up to the defender and he just simply shook him back several feet with just a couple of dribbling moves.
- He gets to the rim with finesse. The defender never even touches him because he faked him so hard that he's out of the picture.
- He has a beautifully clean shooting stroke for such a tall player. Very effortless even when far out on the 3pt line.
- Durant likes to use his step-back move to set up his jumper. And he sells the fake very nicely. Each time he does it, he successfully creates space between him and the defender to get a clean look. James also likes to use the step-back. But every time he does it, the defender is still right up on him and the only way the shot gets off is because of James' length.
- I've not seen enough games to comment on Durant's defense. But with his speed and length, he's definitely no slouch.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Sept 11, 2010 - Week 15 - "News keeps getting worse"

2010-09-11T13:52:00.021+08:00

My wife has been at home on bedrest for the past week since released from the hospital (for the 2nd time). Today's doctor visit was meant to just be a checkup on the progress of how the removed growth was healing.

I had expected to just hear the doctor say something like "Ok, everything's fine. You're good to go back to work but take it easy."

Unfortunately, like I said before, we just can't catch a break...

The babies look ok. But the doctor discovered a space in the placenta (known as chorionic hematoma). The space is filled with blood which is apparently slowly oozing out, causing the daily spotting my wife has been experiencing recently. The space is small enough to not cause distress to the babies at the moment. But it's large enough to be a significant concern. (ie, It has the potential to act as a wedge between the placenta and uterus. If it grows in size, it will completely tear the placenta away, essentially cutting off the babies' nutrient source.)

The tone of the doctor seems to be suggesting that we should prepare for the worst case scenario...

The doctor advised that it's extremely unlikely that my wife can return to work until after the pregnancy. My wife is ordered on bedrest and progesterone treatment. We'll visit the doctor in a week's time to reassess.

There's no proven effective treatment for something like this. All we can do is hope for the best. Fortunately, my wife is not experiencing any pain or cramping (which are common symptoms of an impending miscarriage) and there are plenty of cases where it just natually heals itself.

In these shots, that large black spot shaped like a banana on the left is the site of the chorionic hematoma. Horrifically, it's nearly the size of the baby's head which you can see on the right...

Anyone else sick of President Aquino's blame game?

2010-09-10T17:03:00.000+08:00

The Philippines really just need to take ownership of what happened in the Manila hostage event and just stop trying to defend their actions (or inactions). None of their arguments are valid and just makes them look irresponsible in the international community. Some main quotes taken from today's South China Morning Post article:

Philippine President Benigno Aquino yesterday used a televised interview to rebuke the Hong Kong government over a letter from Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, which he described as "insulting".

Aquino said the letter took issue with his government's handling of the hostage crisis. "We were being told, in very minute detail, what we were supposed to do,"

"I decided not to respond to the official letter from the Hong Kong government, that in my view was insulting. [Instead] I conveyed through the People's Republic of China government that maybe sending that letter to me was not right. I did not like its tone."

Tsang's office said the chief executive had written to Aquino on August 26 "in a respectful and polite manner" thanking him for his government's assistance but also setting out issues he hoped the "independent, professional and comprehensive investigation" would explain. These included the processes of the hostage operation, details of negotiations, considerations behind police operations, the reasons why Philippine authorities could not make promises on the hostage-takers' requests, and the causes of deaths and injuries.

The letter may or may not be insulting. But even if it is, isn't it justified? The 8 Hong Kong tourists were killed in the Philippines by a Filipino hostage-taker because of the Philippines police force's inadequacies. Is the HK leader not entitled to be enraged? Aquino doesn't like the HK government's tone. Tell anyone here in HK that, and they'll tell Aquino where he can stick the tone up.

Tsang may or may not be telling Aquino what they were suppose to do in very minute detail. But even if he was, isn't that justified? Nobody knew what to do in the entire event. They initially thought the tour group was from Korea. The rescue was idiotic. The aftermath was chaotic with the media, general public, and medics storming the scene. They mislabeled corpses. They accidentally gave HK officials the cell phone of the gunman. They allowed HK officials to collect bullet casings from the scene but then stopped them at customs when they were leaving the country. Nobody knew what was going on and that is the fault of the country's leader.

"Maybe I'm wrong to tell you this. But I decided then that while someone wanted to quarrel with us, we wouldn't fight back in order not to widen the rift."

Here, Aquino wants to sound like he's doing the mature thing by taking the high road to avoid confrontation. Unfortunately, everyone knows this not to be true. He's not "fighting back" because he has no legitimate defense. Everything that can possibly go wrong during the rescue operation did indeed go wrong. Everything that can possibly go wrong after the failed rescue operation also did indeed go wrong. There's absolutely nothing he can salvage to turn into a positive point.

Philippine political strategist Billy Esposo said there was a dimension to the issue that many people were missing. "Have you noticed that China is not really pressing the issue?" Only Hong Kong was doing so, he said, because its local leaders had to reflect the sentiments of their people. Such an insulting letter, he said, "in other situations could even provoke a war".

Wow. Is this guy implying that the event is not a big deal because China is not taking a more proactive stance? Did his statements even get filtered through that brain of his before being uttered out his mouth?
On a more humorous note, speaking of war, I wonder if the Philippines national army soldiers are just as well-trained as their SWAT.

Referring to the phone call from Tsang on the day of the hostage crisis, Aquino said it had not been expected that day. "Let's clarify. If a Philippine governor suddenly demands to speak with President Obama or Hu Jintao, that would probably not be allowed," he said.

Wow, he's essentially saying the following:

He's too much of a big-shot to take Tsang's call because Tsang is only the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (ie, local leader) while he's the President of the Philippines (ie, national leader).
Tsang should have followed protocol by escalating to President Hu Jintao who would then contact Aquino.

It's obvious that nobody was in charge of handling the Manila hostage situation. So now, nobody is taking ownership of the blunders while everybody is taking turns blaming everybody else.
SWAT blames lack of training and equipment.
Mayor of Manila blames his Police Chief.
Police Chief blames the media and the hostage-taker's brother.
The President is now blaming HK's Chief Executive?

Am I being unfairly harsh because I'm Chinese or are the Philippines officials really this moronic?

Not going to tell our twins who is "older"

2010-09-09T15:17:00.000+08:00

We're not sure how prevalent this is but we've decided not to tell our twins (or anyone else) which one is "older". Neither of us believe that coming out of the womb first constitutes one being "older" than the other. In fact, it's completely irrelevant; therefore, it shouldn't have a bearing on how their lives are led.

In short, we just don't want them to boss each other around and claim they're entitled to do so because of who is "older".

Anyway, we'll have to see if this is even possible. Not sure if their time of birth is stated on their birth certificates. If it is, we'll have to ask the doctor if it's possible to have them be identical.

(We might finally tell them later on in life. Perhaps on their 21st birthday...)

Looming problem for Hong Kong - birth rate

2010-09-07T18:15:00.000+08:00

Ask anyone in Hong Kong about the most pressing issue that's bothering them about the city. Here are the answers that you'll likely hear:

Property prices are ridiculously high
Non-democratic government
Inadequate education system
Worsening air pollution

Here, I'd like to point out another problem. Low birth rate. There are occasional mentions in the media about our aging population and how people are having less children, having children later in life, or perhaps not having any children at all. But I never came across any concrete figures and statistics. Apparently, it's pretty bad and even I was shocked by my own findings.

Hong Kong is ranked last (223) globally in Crude Birth Rate (CBR). CBR is the average annual number of births per 1,000 persons at midyear. Hong Kong's score is 7.42. In comparison, even China which has strict population controls in place, scored 14.00 (rank 151). See here for source and scores of other countries.

In Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Hong Kong is ranked second to last globally (222). TFR is the average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to a given fertility rate at each age. Hong Kong's score is 1.02. Only Macau is ranked lower with 0.91. See here for source and scores of other countries.

For those who thought that an aging population is not something you will face in your lifetime, think again. It's coming at us faster than you might believe.

Overpriced products that we buy

2010-09-07T13:52:00.000+08:00

Came across an interesting read from MSN Money today about products that are obviously overpriced and yet, we as consumers still buy them. Some main quotes taken from the article:

1. Movie popcorn
Average markup of movie theater popcorn is a whopping 1,275%.

2. Greeting Cards
The markup is between 100% and 200%.

3. College textbooks
College textbook prices have skyrocketed 186% since 1986, and these expensive volumes of knowledge now account for 26% of the overall cost of college.

4. Bottled water
45% of bottled water comes from minicipal taps.

5. Printer ink
At $30, a 42-milliliter cartridge of black printer ink comes out to 70 cents per milliliter. On the other hand, the Red Cross charges $200 for 500 milliliters of blood, which comes out to 40 cents per milliliter.

6. Brand-name fashion
Often marked up 500% to 1,000%.

Thoughts on 2010 iPods

2010-09-02T16:54:00.096+08:00

Ah, September. Another refresh of Apple's iPod line-up. Does anyone still use one of these things? Back when it wasn't standard for phones to include a music player, I had an iPod Nano. A couple years back, I wanted to try out iOS so I got a 2nd-gen iPod Touch. Now, my Nano is used by my mom. My iPod Touch stays at home where it only gets used sparingly for games.

iPod Touch

Made for people who want to use iOS but don't want an iPhone. But there are a couple of things Apple left out which is understandable since they probably don't want it cut into their iPhone sales. It doesn't use the new industrial design of the iPhone4. It still has a curved shiny back just like the previous gen iPod Touch. While it has a rear camera capable of capture HD video, it's not a 5MP shooter like on the iPhone4. It captures stills only at 960x720. While I've shown a distaste to the iOS as a smartphone platform, I think it's perfectly fine for a digital music player.

iPod Nano

This is essentially an iPod Shuffle with a touchscreen and up to 16GB of storage. This one seems the most interesting to me. Would be great as a running device. It seems to also have Nike+ built-in. I wonder if Apple would finally decide to give up on using their proprietary dock connector. It just seems very out-of-place on such a small device. Micro or mini USB would have made much more sense.

iPod Shuffle

I never understood the Shuffle lineup. I didn't think it made sense to use a music player without a display right from the start, so there's no way one of these things was going to appeal to me. Then last year, they removed all the buttons from the device and touted it as a feature! This year, they put the buttons back. To me, seems identical to the Shuffle 2 generations ago. It's just very archaic; 2GB storage and no display? Just doesn't make much sense to choose this over the iPod Nano.

I really wonder just how far Apple is willing the push the limits on the design of the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I honestly think that they've hit a wall. I'm not talking about software here. Here are the hardware designs that Apple seems to just refuse to change about those 2 products even though it's evident that they are restricting usage behavior.

3.5" screen
Compared to competitors, this is just too small. Considering the amount of wasted space on the bezel, this is just not acceptable.

Lack of hardware buttons.
On the iPod Touch, you have buttons for standby, volume rockers, and home. The same applies to the iPhone except it also has a switch for toggling between mute and ringer. Seems like they're trying to do too much with too little buttons. You have to use the home button for everything. There's so much space on either side of the home button that it just seems odd not to put more buttons there...

Dock connector
Everyone got the memo about microUSB except Apple...

Non-removable battery
This is just not smart and I can't believe people still put up with it. I can accept a non-removable battery for my music player but definitely not for my smartphone.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Sept 2, 2010 - Week 13 - "Throw us a bone please!"

2010-09-02T13:47:00.004+08:00

Back at the hospital again. We just can't catch a break. My wife was released from the hospital yesterday. But this morning, we're back. The boys are still fine. My wife is still fine. Doctor says that perhaps the wound from the removed cervical growth may just be flaring up.
Prognosis? Antibiotics, another shot of progesterone, bed rest, and lots of fluids.

Update: After a stay of two nights, my wife was once again released from the hospital on Saturday, Sept 4.

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Sept 1, 2010 - Week 13 - "The journey continues"

2010-09-01T16:54:00.009+08:00

More ultrasound scans! The twins are doing just fine. They're roughly 8cm long now. Their tiny heartbeats have slowed down to 160bpm since last time. This time, one was more active than the other. Perhaps the other one was taking a nap...

Here's one of the boys.

Here's the other one.

This picture is showing their two heads.

This one is of one of them with his legs up in air. The arrow is pointing at his...thing...

Mayor of Manila speaks about the hostage situation

2010-09-01T12:00:00.001+08:00

It's amazing what's coming out of the mouths of the Philippines officials about the hostage situation. Everyone watched on live TV how every step taken in the rescue went wrong. And now, every attempt to defend the actions are backfiring.

Here are some things that Manila mayor, Alfredo Lim, has said according to today's article in South China Morning Post.

Regarding the opportunity for snipers to take down the gunman in the afternoon:

"I think that was a mistake, the failure to take that opportunity [to shoot], but at that time he was already releasing some of the hostages and no harm was being done to them."

He said earlier that as a general rule, a hostage-taker was not shot if he was not hurting the hostages. "But there is also a rule that if a clear shot could be given ... and no one else would be hurt, the negotiator has to take advantage of that opportunity."

How idiotic is that "general rule"? Isn't it too late already if he was hurting the hostages? Do they have to wait until it's too late before taking action? Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.

Lim also denied that he ordered the arrest of Mendoza's brother, Gregorio, the event that spurred the gunman into his killing spree. "I said to handcuff him, not to arrest him," he said

Alright, Lim didn't order the arrest of Gregorio which spurred the gunman into his killing spree. Lim ordered the handcuffing of Gregorio which spurred the gunman into his killing spree. What a relief now that that's cleared up.

He (Lim) also insisted that as chairman of the city's crisis management committee, he was just a consultant to the rescue operation, which was led entirely by city police chief Rodolfo Magtibay.

Wow. Way to avoid responsibility and throw your police chief under the bus.

Lim also rejected suggestions that he ordered the operation be conducted by the Manila police SWAT team while 20 highly trained commandos from the Philippines' elite police units stood idle nearby. "I never said don't use the Special Action Force ... what crazy person would say that when the SAF is fully equipped," he said, without explaining why the force was not deployed.

If he was aware that this Special Action Force was ready to be deployed, then he has the responsibility to order them to be deployed. Not doing so represents failure on his part.

At that time, about 6.45pm, he had decided to leave and told Magtibay that "this will probably take you until early morning to resolve. Have patience, wait for him to tire and maybe he will release the hostages".

This is just ridiculous. The time was 6:45pm. The city is in the international spotlight because of a high-profile hostage situation. The mayor decided to leave? What event did he have to attend that's more urgent? Also, his strategy is to "wait for him to tire" and hope that "maybe he will release the hostages"? How is this guy still in office?

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Aug 29-30 - Week 13 - "Threatened abortion"

2010-08-30T13:46:00.001+08:00

Threatened abortion. Never heard of this? Neither have I. Amazingly, I've read through 4 pregnancy books and none of them has mentioned this situation.

It's when the woman is showing of symptoms of a miscarriage while not actually in the process of a miscarriage. It may be a sign of an impending miscarriage or it may be nothing at all. Apparently, up to 20% of pregnancies are affected by this. Most go on to carry out a normal pregnancy. Here for more details.

Anyway, my wife is now in the hospital. She's doing well and the twins are just fine. She's staying there for bed rest and precautionary purposes. What led her to the hospital is a long story...

Sunday afternoon
Massive bleeding prompted us to rush to the hospital ER. Ultrasound scan showed both twins to be fine. Heartbeats were fine and they're both moving around. Doctor diagnosed it as a threatened abortion. Told us there was nothing for him to do. He scheduled us to meet with Obstetrics in the morning. We requested my wife to be admitted overnight for observation. The request was denied.

Sunday evening
Not satisfied with the prognosis, we visited St. Theresa Hospital, a private institution. Initial reaction from the doctor was surprise. She was shocked that public hospital ER didn't admit my wife. Another ultrasound scan was done. And again, it showed the twins to be just fine. A cervical exam showed a benign growth in the region. In 3 seconds, it was removed. As if on cue, the massive bleeding turned to slow drip. We're told that it will take some time for the slight bleeding to stop because of the now exposed blood vessels that were feeding the benign growth. Eventually, the wound will clot and bleeding will stop.
Hospital stay was deemed not necessary since we seem to have found and treated the problem behind everything.

Monday morning
Paid a visit to the OBGYN at Queen Elizabeth. The slow bleeding has not ceased completely yet. In our third ultrasound scan in less than 24hrs, the twins were shown to be again, just fine. They admitted my wife to stay at the hospital for precautionary purposes and observation.
Letter of complaint was sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Pao Gasol vs Tim Duncan

2010-08-28T10:07:00.000+08:00

Yahoo! Sports has come up with a list of the top Power Forwards in the NBA. It's only for the upcoming season, not an all-time list, so the list has Pao Gasol ahead of Tim Duncan.

Whether or not Gasol is better than Duncan is up for debate. But I feel that recently, people have forgotten the brilliance of Timmy and instead have been fawning over the mundane production of Gasol.

Duncan is 4 years older than Gasol and is unmistakably on the downturn of his career while Gasol has just hit his prime. But to put things into perspective, try to flash forward 4 years from now and ask yourself this: Can Gasol even come close to matching the same accolades that Duncan has?

Here's what's in each of their NBA trophy cases:

Pao Gasol
NBA Championships (x2)
Rookie of the Year
All-Star appearances (x3)
All-NBA Third Team (x2)
All-Rookie First Team

Tim Duncan
NBA Championships (x4)
NBA Finals MVP (x3)
NBA MVP (x2)
Rookie of the Year
All-Star appearances (x12)
All-NBA First Team (x9)
All-NBA Second Team (x3)
All-NBA Third Team
All-Defensive First Team (x8)
All-Defensive Second Team (x5)
All-Rookie First Team
All-Star Game MVP

One Double Stroller or Two Single Strollers for Twins?

2010-08-27T15:09:00.000+08:00

We're torn between choosing to buy a double stroller or two single strollers for our twin boys. Here are the pros and cons of each that I can come up with. Am I missing anything?

Pros of a double stroller

Lighter and less bulky than two single strollers.

Allows one parent to do the pushing while the other parent is free to roam (ie, open doors, pick up dropped booties, etc)

Less expensive than two single strollers of comparable brand/quality.

Cons of a double stroller

May be too wide for certain places, especially here in Hong Kong.

The boys will outgrow the double stroller sooner than a single stroller.

Pros of two single strollers

Better maneuverability.

Longevity; it will take longer for each of the boys to outgrow a single stroller.

Cons of two single strollers

Heavy and bulky compared to a double stroller.

Both parents will be fully occupied in pushing the strollers.

More expensive than a double stroller of comparable brand/quality.

(I'm leaning towards a double at the moment...)

Smartphone feature wishlist - HTC Desire

2010-08-27T12:06:00.000+08:00

I'm very satisfied with my HTC Desire. But like everyone knows, there's no perfect smartphone. There's always a feature or two missing. Here's a couple of things I wish the HTC Desire had.

Screenshot-taking ability
Requires root access which is quite silly. This is the only reason I'm considering rooting my device. It may be the best thing I've ever done. Will have to see how that goes!

More homescreens
7 Should be more than enough. But apparently, homescreens are like closet space. You can never have enough!

Dedicated dual-action camera hardware button
Pressing the optical pad to activate the camera shutter almost always results in blurry pics. For now, I'll have to settle for pressing directly on the on-screen viewfinder. I wonder if I'm able to somehow map one of the volume rocker keys to do the job...

Longer battery life
Current battery life is barely adequate. Unfortunately, battery technology is lagging behind.

Better video capture capability
Out of the box, the Desire can capture video at 800x480 (WVGA). After the official OTA 2.2 update, it can capture at 720p. I've found that WVGA captures were barely passable with good lighting. With inadequate lighting, framerates dropped and quality is horrible. 720p captures are no different. Instead of crappy video at 800x480, you now have crappy video at 720p.

Use HTC Sense widgets in conjunction with other launchers
I prefer using LauncherPro. But because HTC Sense widgets are tied to the default launcher, I can't use them in LauncherPro. This is the only reason I've not switched over to LauncherPro full-time.

Dedicated call-end hardware button
It would be much more convenient to be able to hit a physical button, hit standby, and slide the device back into the pocket without looking at the screen to verify that I indeed ended the call.

True multi-touch screen
The screen on the HTC Desire is limited to 2 touch points. That's fine for zooming and for typing. But being able to register more than 2 points is crucial for gaming. I'll try to explain in Nintendo terms. With the HTC Desire, you can instruct Mario to run to the right. Using your left thumb, you push the virtual joystick to the right while as the same time, you press the virtual B button with your right thumb. Things get tricky when you try to run and jump at the same time. You cannot hold the virtual B button while pressing the virtual A button. Along with the virtual joystick, that would mean you have 3 points of contact and the device will not register the presses and you will inevitably fall to your doom.

This Sunday won't be a day to remember for Hong Kong people and Filipinos

2010-08-27T10:04:00.001+08:00

South China Morning Post reported today that there's going to be demonstration on Sunday. I can't see any good coming from this. This is going to turn ugly. I sincerely hope I'm wrong about this...

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Tens of thousands of marchers are expected to flood Hong Kong streets on Sunday in a demonstration organised by the main political parties to demand justice for those killed in the Manila hostage tragedy.

The march from Victoria Park to the Legislative Council building will be the climax of an outpouring of collective grief and anger in the city at the Philippine government's handling of the tragedy, following a series of protests, petitions and remembrance activities.

Organisers told police they expect 50,000 marchers but the turnout could be much higher. They said they did not expect the march to have a racial element but some have called for restraint because foreign domestic helpers and religious groups will hold their own day-long remembrance in nearby Chater Garden.

Update: Wow, I'm surprised at how peacefully the whole thing went. Nobody got into shouting matches and there were no violent clashes. I've underestimated the abilities of our citizens to stay rational.

Manila Hostage Event - Aftermath - various quotes

2010-08-26T10:09:00.003+08:00

Inspector Santiago Pascual - member of the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team who was relieved of duties because of this incident. (source)

Asked why snipers had not shot the hostage taker during the afternoon, when he was standing exposed in the doorway talking to negotiators, Santiago said: "It is unlawful for us to shoot the person when he is doing no harm to his hostages."

Comment: So, according to Santiago, the hostage-taker was still protected by the law even though he was heavily armed and had hostages. The hostage-taker's life was prioritized ahead of civilians. Perhaps it's because of his twisted thinking that he is now relieved of duties.

Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz - Philippine National Police spokesman (source)

Cruz said the tidal wave of anger being directed at the police was unfair. "They [the critics] are all in the gallery watching. They should try being in the line of fire and let us see how they react."

Comment: The general public should not "try being in the line of fire" because we are suppose to be protected by Cruz's men, the police. Furthermore, the police should not be "reacting" in the first place. There should have been a plan and that plan should have been executed. Unfortunately, there was no plan and now, the police have effectively caused the death of innocent lives.

Mei Jianming - Mainland criminologist; associate professor at the Chinese People's Public Security University in Beijing (source)

"The Manila hostage crisis was a typical kidnapping and relatively uncomplicated. However, the amateurish and lackadaisical response by the Philippine police led to the abject failure of the rescue mission."

Lorraine Badoy Partosa - Manila resident (source)

"This country shames me so. I would like to hang my head in deep and utter shame because I am a citizen of a country so rotten, [where] unspeakable tragedies like these are possible."

Comment: It's unfortunate that this event has raised racial hate issues. I sincerely hope that we can all see the truth, which is not every Filipino is to be blamed. They are mourning with us and we have no reason to associate them with their country's incompetent police force.

4 things that the Philippines National Police should take from this recent incident

2010-08-25T15:33:00.001+08:00

I watched the whole fiasco once more thanks to the amazing thing we have known as the internet. Here's are 4 things that the PNP should do right now considering what happened.

1. Get a rubber grip handle for their sledgehammer so that it doesn't fly out of their hands when they use it.

2. Request for more equipment. They were so desperate they were using everything they found in their pockets. Including glowsticks! Did these guys just come from a rave?

3. Request for better equipment. If you want to use rope, get a decent piece of rope. ANY decent piece of rope will do. But the rope they used was apparently so cheap, that it snapped when they used it to attach to a car to try to tow apart the front door of the bus. Face palm!

4. Know the anatomy of a tour bus. There are 2 exits. The main door up front and the emergency hatch towards the rear on the side. Consider entering through the emergency hatch before throwing your sledgehammer and glowsticks and snapping cheap rope uselessly for an hour.

Zhouqu Landslide - update

2010-08-24T15:33:00.001+08:00

Here's a couple of quotes from Professor Chen Ningsheng about the Zhouqu landslide that left 1785 dead or missing. He's a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment and specializes in mudslide prevention.

"The building quality of these dams was so bad. They were too flimsy to hold the massive avalanche of rocks and mud rolling down from the hills."

"Given the millions of yuan we spent on these projects, the quality of the dams was certainly substandard."

"Apparently there are some problems with the design. For instance, I can't find any sign of auxiliary dams, which are normally built beside the main dams to support them - though it could be that [the auxiliary dams] were completely destroyed by the mudslides."

This just reeks of embezzlement by government officials.

"I certainly hope relevant government departments will look into this and launch an investigation."

Label me a pessimist for this, but from precendence, this isn't going to happen and even if it does, nothing will come of it. The government knows who is at fault (themselves). An investigation will just mean that the government will get someone to act as the scapegoat so they can act like they did something. Remember what happened with the melamine-laced milk powder case? Someone took the fall. And now, there's still melamine-laced milk powder out on the market.

"Some of these structures had been there for 10 years. We wouldn't be able to find out who was in charge of the project at the time."

Wow. I had to read this sentence a couple of times because I kept thinking I was reading it wrong. Note that I'm not blaming Prof Chen here. He's just stating the facts. The fantastic part of this statement is that he's implying that there are no reliable records dating back just 10 years. I can understand if it's 100 or even 50 years. But damn it, 10 years! No one can find out who built a friggen dam just 10 years ago?!

Manila Hostage Event

2010-08-24T10:10:00.006+08:00

Seems like something out of Hollywood. By now, everyone in HK knows about the hostage situation that took place last night in Manila, Philippines. It ended in bloodshed with 8 hostages and the gunman perishing.

Surely, there's going to be some backlash against the Filipinos for this. It's not fair, but it's inevitable. I have no problems with the Filipinos. I've been to the country twice. I find them exceptionally friendly. It's the government and the law enforcement that should be the target of anger over this.

Anyone watching this on TV has to agree that the entire situation was poorly handled. A couple of thoughts kept going through my head:
"Is there any planning or coordination?"
"Oh my god, did these idiots even receive proper training?"

The reason I have these thoughts? Here we go...

1. There's a hostage situation. Do we even know what the gunman wants? The news kept saying he wants his job reinstated. Why don't they just agree to whatever he wants? It's not like words are legally binding in a hostage situation. If he wanted to become President of the United States, just say yes! Secure the hostages and then arrest the guy!

2. Look at this picture on the right. Even the cameraman had a direct line to the gunman. Surely, a sniper could have taken him down right there! Why was the shot not taken? Sure, the gunman didn't kill anybody yet. But he was heavily armed and he was holding hostages. That means the hostages must be secured by any means necessary, even if it means taking down the gunman. Oh my god, this just frustrates me! Just take the damn shot!

3. There was about an hour where the police surrounded the bus and tried to break in. This is where my frustration just boiled over and the Filipinos should all be embarrassed to know that they're protected by these buffoons.

They used hammers to try to break the rear window and side windows. It was not effective because the windows were very high up and the hammer wielder just couldn't muster enough force because he was too short by about 2 feet. Why don't they get a stool or something? Drive a car there and stand on the hood! Instead, he just looked like a helpless child trying to get to a cookie jar on the top shelf.

They used the same hammer to try to break the front door down. They succeeded in breaking the door windows but the flimsy looking door was still intact. At that point, I stood up and screamed "Crowbar! Use a crowbar to pry the damn door open!" Amazingly, they decided tie a rope to the door and use a car to yank the door off. The rope promptly snapped.

At one point, they threw a gas grenade into the rear of the bus, only to have it thrown back at their faces.

After a while, they were finally able to open the emergency exit hatch and started to enter the bus. The speed at which they were doing so was ridiculously slow. They fired at the gunman who instinctively fired back. As a result, the 2 officers inside the bus retreated. The speed of the retreat was 50 times faster than their entrance! In other words, they hauled ass! Then, guess what the other officers outside the vehicles were doing! Nothing other than laughing. Yes, seriously.

4. A bus is not a very secure spot for a hostage-taker. There are windows everywhere. So everything is in clear sight. Knowing this, the gunman drew down all the shades. What about the front windshield? Why can't a sniper just shoot through the front windshield at the gunman?

5. Surely it would be advantageous to be able to see what's going on inside the bus. The shades were drawn but are you telling me that a cheap piece of fabric is going to stop you? Just line up 3 or 4 cars on one side of the bus with their high beams on. You'll be able to clearly see any movement inside the bus from the other side.

6. They brought lunch to the bus at the request of the gunman. Why not drug the food with a mild sedative to knock everyone out. Sure, there's a risk of allergic reactions but isn't that a risk you would be willing to take to ensure everybody's safety?

7. No media-blackout? Apparently, the gunman can watch every single move the police made on the tv inside the bus!

8. Check out the picture here. I don't care who this guy is, but he needs to be fired. He approached the dead gunman, confirmed that he's indeed dead, and then he started smiling and waving his hands to give the all-clear signal and to tell everyone to come over. And I mean everyone! That is, cops, ambulance, media, bystanders, everyone! Of course, he needed everyone to come over because that will only help in getting the injured survivors off the bus. Hoards of useless people will never impede progress...

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Aug 23 2010 - Week 12 - "Bring on the baby blues"

2010-08-23T15:07:00.002+08:00

Just came back from Queen Elizabeth Hospital. We had another ultrasound scan. Our last scan was not that long ago. This scan was just so that the hospital can see for themselves that they're dealing with monozygotic twins here (since the nurse didn't believe us a couple days ago!). So, we were not really expecting much of anything.

The doctor examined the womb and the placenta shape. She determined that they're most likely monozygotic (which is exactly what we told the nurse a couple of days ago!).
The babies were measured. They're now 6cm long which is just about right for their gestation period. We saw them move around. At that point, it was mostly just more of the same since the last scan.

Then, surprisingly, the doctor presented a question. It was a question we didn't expect until several more weeks later. And it was a question that we desperately wanted to know the answer of.

"Would you like to know the sex of the babies?"

We looked at each other for just a split second before responding simultaneously "Yes!"

Our gut feelings were confirmed. In Feb next year, my wife will be giving birth to identical twin boys!

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Aug 21 2010 - Week 11 - "Hospital visit"

2010-08-21T20:51:00.002+08:00

Made a visit to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Aug 20 to arrange for prenatal/delivery/antenatal care. We went during lunch. My wife said that I didn't have to accompany her and that she can handle it herself. But I went along anyway. Main reason is because I didn't want people to think she's a single mother!

Registration was simple enough. We just had to provide ID, proof of address, and our doctor's recommendation letter. We noticed on a sign that the hospital was fully booked for deliveries up to October. Our babies are due for February, so we breathed a sigh of relief.

We scheduled a mid-wives booking clinic for the next day on Aug 21. It's meant to be for informative purposes only. They talk to you about Down's Syndrome and perform a blood test. And they give you some information on the hospital and on breastfeeding. Since we already conducted the blood test and Down's screening, we didn't have to go through that again.

The nurse we met with asked if we knew whether our twins are monozygotic (ie, identical) or dizygotic (ie, fraternal). Since our private doctor told us she was 90% certain they're monozygotic, that's what we told the nurse. But she doesn't seem to believe us, so she scheduled us for an ultrasound for Aug 23 (Monday).

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Aug 17 2010 - Week 11 - "OSCAR"

2010-08-17T20:04:00.004+08:00

My wife is clearly showing a bump by now. Today, we went in for an OSCAR test (stands for One-Stop-Clinical-Assessment-of-Risk and it's for accessing the risk of the child having Down's Syndrome). See here for some info on what's actually done. Currently just awaiting results of a blood test. But so far, everything else checked out just fine. (Update: blood tests checked out fine too. The twins are classified as low risk for Down's; probability is 1 in 10,000)

Each baby is now over 5cm long. That's nearly twice as large as they were 2 weeks ago! (We're advised by the doctor that their size is pretty good.) They were very energetic during the ultrasound. They kept waving their hands and feet, twisting and turning their bodies! We were able to make out their spinal cords, brains, and other various organs. Their hearts were beating strong at about 190 bpm which we're told is normal. Their heart rate will slow down as they grow.

Funny moment of the day!
The doctor used the ultrasound transducer to look at one twin before going on to the next. When he shifted to the next twin, that twin was positioned such that he wasn't able to get a clear picture. But suddenly as if on cue, the baby twisted and positioned itself perfectly for the ultrasound. That twin is going to be quite the photogenic one!

On a more serious note, we now have to plan for where we're going to have the babies delivered. We've made a booking at a private hospital. But we're advised by 2 separate doctors that we should make reservations as a public hospital as well. This is because the facilities as a public hospital is better equipped to handle twins. And if the twins are delivered premature (which will happen more often than not with multiples) at a private hospital, it's going to cost a fortune...yikes!

Why did the Zhouqu landslide happen?

2010-08-16T12:33:00.004+08:00

There's been a lot of coverage recently on the landslide in Zhouqu, China. 1,700 people are either dead or missing after the tragedy.

The news coverage all seem to be in heavy praise for the leadership of the Communist Party in directing their massive rescue and recovery efforts. There are impressive photos and videos of hoards of soldiers with shovels digging and carrying out survivors. Truckloads of supplies are being directed to the area. Certainly, it's good to see this type of effort and response from the federal government. But hang on...

Why did this event happen in the first place? What the government wants the media to report is that record rainfall and the Sichuan earthquake (for loosening the geological structure) is to be blamed. See here for details.

The following are quoted from an article from the South China Morning Post dated 16 Aug 2010.

"Two years ago, geological experts recommended the town be moved because of growing safety concerns that were almost impossible to eliminate."

"...the ministry listed Zhouqu, in a valley between two mountains, as a key site prone to landslides. There can be no question, therefore, that the authorities were fully aware of the growing danger, yet they did nothing."

"...the risk had been exacerbated by reckless development leading to erosion and ecological damage, such as a rash of dam-building and logging, which deforested the mountainsides for 20-odd years until 1998. Since then, it has continued in defiance of a central government ban."

"The excuse of lack of funds to relocate Zhouqu, while real enough, raises complex questions about the nation's priorities. Surely, with all the money that is being spent on the Shanghai World Expo, or on the high-speed rail network, some can be found for urgent measures to protect people's lives. Co-incidentally, with the raised profile of the threat to Zhouqu two years ago, Beijing launched a four trillion yuan economic stimulus package to counter the global financial crisis. Government officials around the country lavished money on infrastructure projects, including their own pet schemes. Sadly, saving Zhouqu was not one of them, though the cost of making a start on it would have been a drop in the bucket."

"an explosion at a Henan coal mine last June that killed 49 workers. The mine probably should not have been operating, after a gas leak killed 12 men two months earlier. But official pressure and hush money was used to cover up the accident. Transparency and a proper inquiry could have saved a lot of lives."

So, where is the backlash against the government? 1,700 lives were lost because of government inaction. Why is nobody upset over this?

Let's compare this with Hurrican Katrina. Or even the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane was an act of nature. The oil spill was because of BP, a British company. Yet, the United States government took massive criticism. I'm not saying the US didn't deserve the criticism; they certainly did. But my point is, why is China able to walk away from this looking like the good guy when it's obvious they shirked their responsibilities?

As former US President George W. Bush would say, "China, you're doing a heck of a job."

What can my smartphone not do?

2010-08-13T14:05:00.001+08:00

I’ve blogged about how the Apple iPhone can’t do this and can’t do that. Here, I'll talk about what my smartphone, the HTC Desire, can't do.

To up the ante, I'm not going to compare the HTC Desire to the iPhone. Doing so wouldn't be fair to the Apple fanboys. I'm going to put my smartphone up against a computer running a desktop OS (desktop, notebook, or netbook running Windows, Linux, or OSX).

Here are the things the HTC Desire can't do when compared to a full PC.

I can't buy movie tickets online at The Grand Cinema website. I can buy tickets at every other Hong Kong cinema site except that one. None of the other smartphone platforms can do so either.
There's no optical drive so I can't access optical media.
Even if I have DVD files, I can't play them because I'm not aware of a DVD player software for Android. The DVD files would first have to be encoded. This brings me to the next item...
I can't encode video on my HTC Desire. First, there's no encoding software for Android. Second, I can't rip source files from a DVD. Third, CPU is not fast enough. My quadcore desktop CPU that clocks in at 2.5ghz still needs about 40 minutes to convert a movie. Several years ago, my Pentium 3 that ran at 1Ghz took about 6 hours to convert a movie. I don't want to imagine how long a mobile 1Ghz processor would take.
I can't plug in USB devices (ie, flash memory drives, peripherals, etc).
I can't perform elaborate photo editing. I can still do basic things like resize, rotate, and crop. I can even edit things like brightness, contrast, and saturation. But I can't do layers, extracting, etc.

That's all. That's the best I can come up with. The first item is the only really disappointing one. The others are things that you wouldn't ever expect a mobile device to do anyway. Can anyone else come up with some more things?

By the way, there are a couple of things that my smartphone can do that surprises even me.

Edit and create PowerPoint presentation. Even the official Microsoft version of PowerPoint on Windows Mobile was view-only. However, I can only edit text. I can't insert images and I can't even edit the slides' styling.
Access the full desktop-version of my HSBC online-banking web site. The iPhone browser can't do it. I couldn't do it even if I spoofed the browser-agent in Windows Mobile. This means, I can pay bills, transfer funds, and manage my investments while being nowhere near a computer, bank branch, or ATM.
Play Flash-based web games. I'm not talking about simple stuff. I'm talking about games like Bejeweled and Plants vs Zombies.

Convince me I need an iPhone. I dare you.

2010-08-10T08:33:00.008+08:00

Why is everyone out to get an iPhone these days? Even before the 4th-gen iPhone was announced (or leaked), everyone wanted one. They wanted one without knowing what it was going to look like or what new features it was going to have. Everyone trusted Steve Jobs to deliver.

Now that new iPhone is here, even more people want the new device. It just boggles my mind how Apple does it. Let’s imagine that I know nothing about the iPhone. Here’s what a conversation between me and an Apple employee would sound like.

Apple: Hi, can I help you with anything?

Me: Hi, I have a smartphone already; it’s the HTC Desire which runs Android. But I just heard that you guys have an iPhone4 that just released.

Apple: Yes, that’s right.

Me: It seems everyone wants one. So perhaps you can tell me why I should buy the iPhone4?

Apple: Well, it has got a Retina Display which makes everything appears super sharp on screen.

Me: It does look sharp…compared to previous iPhones. But it’s hardly sharper than the WVGA display on my phone…

Apple: Well, it has a front facing camera for FaceTime.

Me: That’s interesting, but I’ve had phones with front facing cameras since 2006 and I’ve never had the urge to make video calls over 3G.

Apple: But FaceTime is new. It allows you to make video calls only over WiFi.

Me: Isn’t that less convenient than 3G?

Apple: Right…anyway…We have this other new feature. If you double tap the home button, you get access to your most recently used apps. We call this Multitasking.

Me: Sorry, that’s not very impressive. My PocketPC back in 2001 could multitask just fine.

Apple: You can organize your apps into something we call Folders. And you can set an image as a background on your homescreen. We call it Wallpaper.

Me: Have you been living under a rock? Folders and wallpapers have been around for as long as I can remember!

Apple: You can shoot video in 720p and take still pictures with the 5MP camera with LED flash.

Me: The quality of the videos and pictures are impressive, so you got me there. Anyway, let me ask you some questions.

Apple: Sure.

Me: What happens when I receive an SMS or email while I’m using the device?

Apple: You get a popup with options to read the message or dismiss it.

Me: What if I don’t want to read it yet but I don’t want to dismiss it either because I’m sure I’ll forget to read it if I do?

Apple: Sorry, you'll have it read it right away.

Me: Can I save email attachments?

Apple: Yes, if someone emails you some pictures, you can save them directly to your photo gallery.

Me: But what if the attachments are not images?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Can I send emails with attachments that are not images?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Can I download files from the browser? Let’s say I want to save a pdf file I found on the web locally. Can I do that?

Apple: Sorry, no, but the browser is very fast and text is crisp on-screen.

Me: The browser does look nice. But those top and bottom bars seem take up a lot of space, especially in landscape mode. Can I get rid of those to get full-screen browsing?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Can I send and receive files via Bluetooth?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Ok, I’ve heard enough. Let’s recap. What am I impressed with?

Apple: The quality of the recorded videos and photos?

Me: So, you’re telling me that is worth HK$5000?

Apple: Uh…yes…would you like me to help you preorder the device?

Me: Seriously? Your device can't deliver on features that are basic mundane tasks. I'm not asking for out-of-this-world things. I'm not asking the iPhone to be able to microwave my dinner and then feed it to me.

Apple: Well, if you order now, we can give you a free case so that the cellular radio works properly.

Me: What?!

Twin Pregnancy Blog - Aug 4 2010 - Week 9 - "First signs of movement"

2010-08-04T18:01:00.009+08:00

Some slight spotting triggered some panic and consequently a premature revisit to the doctor. Fortunately, our concerns were unfounded. Both our babies were doing just fine. In fact, they've grown tremendously since last week. They're just over 2cm long and we could clearly make out their heads, arms and legs. They're facing each other inside. We even caught a glimpse of each of them moving around! I can't really describe what we were feeling at that point. It was very euphoric. Seemed as if time stood still and nothing else in the world mattered anymore...