我們香港是失了水準

"我們香港是失了水準."

某幫人物原來曾經'得'過? 陳樞機還是太厚道了.

無言. 此記.

The Day After Tomorrow

What Do You Do

Dad and Newton

What is the key likeness, besides being a man, between daddy and Sir Newton?

Well, disregard things that were not made known to me, or those that I don't want to make a guess... both of them were hit by Apple on the head.

ps Daddy wants an iPhone
ps2 He now uses bean's nano on plane (while he had been insisting to bring his discman and big head-/ear-phones for better music quality for ages)
ps3 Time to buy Apple's stock though it's up 50%+ this year...?

Change the World

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Singing in the Space

Tonite, w said ~

oh mine ... China's satellite is transmitting 30 songs during the 20 year assignment...

one of them is Teresa Deng's.

wonder if one is the national anthemn...

can you imagine...

our alien friends will come someday... humming our national anthemn...

... o wor...

歷歷在目

Crying in the Party
唱: 陳奕迅
曲: 黎小田
詞: 黃偉文
監: Davy Chan. CY. 陳奕迅

熱播的歌 忽爾靜了
場邊 一聲慘叫
好友都靠近了 你沒有被忘掉
觀眾 預了分擔 惡兆

大喝三杯 失控地笑
孩子 終於哭了
空氣的震盪裡 你沒說但心照
某個事情大概 不妙了

因一個人痛哭 哭崩派對舞曲
我也曾像這樣 青春大概相似
總有段情 落入這種困局

或有一天 當你大了
城府 開始深了
年輕的眼淚流光了
便掛念曾經這樣了

讓你哭泣 哭到倦了
重整 呼吸心跳
哭過吵過鬧過 你為愛做足了
再接下來就要 收拾了

是 所有熱情會乾掉 一發現已經成熟了

賣殘

今日分析員大sales見到我, 沒說什麼. 幾個鐘後call我劈頭第一句卻話見我好殘... 唉.
原來現在的sales是這樣sell客的.
咁, 既然你去BJ見我老闆, 幫幫口啊唔該.

Tiramisù

星期日. 不用做司機的日子等巴士. 原來相當hea...

然後等 ickup

btw, in case you are not aware, the Italian name tiramisù means "pick-me-up" (metaphorically, "make me happy").

無股道

星期五美股跌跌, 敝公司又跌回US$112. 雖則幾個月前已把手上的碎料賤賣掉, 升跌於我無關, 但始終希望w的option及n年前的貴貨有機到'定', 可惜.

報紙講什麼什麼'少年股神', 話嗰位浸大學生向母親借了7萬大洋, 一年多下來在股市專攻國內股票, 番了50番變咗350萬云云.
其實睇完個報導的感覺, 同話我知六合彩4,300萬一注中一樣 - "'嘩..." , 就咁. 在千千萬萬投資/機者當中可以在1年多之間番50番的, 機會率跟中六合彩沒兩樣吧. 據聞呢位同學確實做過啲功課下過啲功夫先去'投資'. 畢竟下過功夫交過學費的大有人在, 即使六合彩等玩意都有啲'科學方法'去(據稱)增加中獎機會. 效果如何固然沒有研究, 仍堅信彩數不可或缺就是了.

那晚吃飯, vjie話如果連我都入市的時候, 恐怕她都要徹退了. 嘩, 冇咁worse吧. 如果葉劉讀過寫過論文就曉得民主的話, 我'假假地'都1take過搞掂CFA Level 2 ga, 都可以話曉得做 financial analysis, 仲識什麼什麼 ethics 呀守則呀, 咁自己投資吓都 qualified 過好多人噃, 吓話...?

師傅仲離譜, 佢好朋友直情有點難以置信的"(失)笑"話我冇買股. 實情係, 我都好想, 但係仲未. 原因有好多... 包括, 家族遺傳(dad是絕種動物, 零投資, 好唔鍾意), 懶, 同埋固執. 見到個市咁, 真係好唔自在好奇怪. 以我僅有的認知, 實在說服不了自己在這個時候投下這個資; 除非係投機啦, 我又唔想又唔敢. 突然想起上星期某天經濟日報的一篇文章"太理性坐失良機" - 就是為何太理智(尤其最近)贏不了錢... hmm...

Anyway, 身邊許多人多多少少係呢一萬點裡頭都有進帳, 恭喜晒先. 咁, 做咗善事未先?

Listen to Eason Chan

http://www.umg.com.hk/chinese_detail.php?company_id=2&newrelease_no=893
Eason's new album comes in the above colors, 'limited editions' in cloth-tee or plastic-tee.
Bought a red-tee, cloth one.

CD One
1. Ma Lay O Pie Dui (瑪利奧派對)
2. Yeet Dou Siu Yeah Kuk (熱島小夜曲)
3. Seem (閃)
4. Yeen Cheung Wui (演唱會)
5. Wart Teet Lo Che Jarm (滑鐵盧車站)
6. Crying in the Party
7. Kwong Yeet Garp Ming (狂熱革命)
8. Been Sick Lung(變色龍)
9. See Doi Gui Lun (時代巨輪)
10. Mud Yeah Jeah (乜嘢啫)
Bonus Track: Hing Dai 兄弟 (國)

CD Two
1. Ma Lay O Pie Dui(Soul Seekerz Remix)
2. Yeet Dou Siu Yeah Kuk (Wideboys Club Mix)
3. Seem (Digital Dog Remix)
4. Yeen Cheung Wui (Junior Rotter Remix)
5. Wart Teet Lo Che Jarm (Wideboys Club Mix)
6. Crying in the Party (Soul Seekerz Remix)
7. Kwong Yeet Garp Ming (Junior Rotter Remix)
8. Been Sick Lung (Section Remix)
9. See Doi Gui Lun (Digital Dog Remix)
10. Mud Yeah Jeah (Section Remix)

踩新場

吃完壽司打完腊, 從海運驅車直駛新波場. 路還好找, 很快便到達. 可惜場地停車場已滿, 唯有泊在老友的屋苑. 原來都幾遠, 泊完車後足足走了20min才回到球場. hh還差點自欺欺人的以為近一點的足球場是目的地 (邊有咁著數!).
繼月前布有人忘記帶毛毛球事變 [http://amoozing.blogspot.com/2007/06/blog-post_26.html], 今日網球場上差點案件重演. 幸而今趟有金牌經理人提點, 才免於掃興於人前.

Lessons learnt:
~ 學習" 阿烏好穩陣, 凡事帶兩份"
~ 4, 5 號場還好, 只有兩個場並排. 2號場夾在1, 3中間很不方便, 而且充滿壓迫感.
~ 車泊美孚新邨商場最近
~ (hh specific) 記住著短褲
~ (烏 specific) 喪 'lam'
~ (烏 specific) 豹蝦龜熊介強關係圖

重點

那天, fa 話 MBA class 的 case study 沒有預備卻要 present, 於是臨急臨忙代表小組即席'重點' (powerpoint) 一番. 畢竟 million-dollar charts 是這些年來謀生技倆之一, lecturer 大讚做得好, 看不出沒有事先準備...

那天, 在電梯, 一位媽咪與小學生兒子輕談那份用 powerpoint 做的功課, 輕描淡寫像討論一道算術題一樣...

汗顏啊.

好記性

與 j 飯叙, 久久不能 recall 上次見面是何時何地... 就辜且當是差不多兩年的光景吧.
近事想不起, 遠事卻揮不去, 典型老人痴呆.
自以為記性還好, 誰不知 j更厲害. 居然記得n年前我講過的說話. 不是你提起, 我也忘了.
譬如經典的 door-to-gate ride, 原因我忘了, 又是你還記得. 還有我的十字架鏈...
可是, 很有信心下次我們見面時, 不會忘了這天, 因為j這天不太順利 (令我想起早些時買的那片子 A Series of Unfortunate Events) - 包括我們一見面, j就被畢打街那 HSBC ATM 戲弄, 錢出不來, '生死未卜', 還要過幾天到分行填form處理...

好了, 晚餐不錯, 在 bricolage62 (62 Hollywood Road), 另有姊妹店 Tribute 在 Elgin, 據聞是 fine dining. 食物不錯, 酒也不錯, 我們點了:
~ Romaine & advocado salad (with pinenuts too)
~ Roast duck spring roll (duck is tender and juicy, surprised! plus chinese mushroom)
~ Steak & frites (rib eye up to standard, shoe-string fries are superb, thin yet surprisingly not dire dry)
~ Mixed mushroom pizza (obviously hand-tossed, thin and crispy, actually resemble a great naan)
~ Flourless chocolate cake (rich but not too heavy, with fresh cream)
~ Pinto Noir, Shiraz, Castigalo sparkling
可惜地方比較淺窄, j忍不住笑說就像是 party for 10, 因為桌子都很接近.
投訴, w880i的相機好渣, 2.0 mega pixels無補於事. 冇計, 薄機的trade-off (還有弱speaker). 所以那些相不貼也罷.

ps 下次著8吋高跟鞋請早揚聲, 地點安排要配合ma...
ps2 祝 j早日走出沙漠/曠野

Face-On Facebook

Have you shown your face yet?

Lyrics, more or less ~
Facebook, Facebook, Facebook,
Facebook, Facebook, Facebook...
When I want you, as my friend
An email to you, they will send
Saying that you have a friend request
on Facebook, Facebook
When I want you, to confirm
My friend request, and determine
If you've ever seen me then you will say YES
Facebook, Facebook
I could then poke you
You can poke me too
Anytime night or day
Only trouble is FACEBOOK, I'm wasting my life away
I need you so, Facebook, I want you so
that's why whenever I stalk you sob because it's true
My Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook...
Won't you be my friend

笑話又一則

今個星期好似特別多笑話.
看來當奴要向 '曾經讀過"民主", 又在"民主"國家住過6 年' 的葉劉 (http://amoozing.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post_06.html) 請教一下什麼是民主.

Extract from RTHK - Chief Executive Phone-In, 12 October 2007
Host: I was struck by one phrase at the end of the policy address, towards the end of the conclusion, you say, we promote democratic development without compromising social stability or government efficiency, that kind of implies that democratic development does compromise social stability or government efficiency?
Donald Tsang: It can, it can, if we go to the extreme, people go to the extreme, and you have a cultural revolution, for instance, in China. When people take everything into their hands, then you cannot govern the place.
Host: But Cultural Revolution wasn't really an extreme example of democracy
Donald Tsang: What is it? People taking power into their own hands! Now, this is what it means by democracy, if you take it to the full swing. In other democracies, even if you have an elected person, then you overturn the policy in California, for instance, you have initiative number, number, number what, then you overturn policy taken by the government, that's not necessarily conducive to efficient government.

ps 翌日當奴補鑊聲明
「 昨日我在電台訪問中，有關文化大革命的言論是不恰當的。對此，我深感抱歉，並收回有關言論。香港市民深知民主之可貴，期望盡早落實普選。我和大家有共同的期望。我重申我會信守施政報告中的承諾，在任期內，盡最大努力解決普選問題。」
"I am very sorry that I made an inappropriate remark concerning the Cultural Revolution during a radio interview yesterday, and I wish to retract that remark. Hong Kong people treasure democracy and hope to implement universal suffrage as soon as possible. I share the same aspirations. I reiterate that I will honour my pledge in the Policy Address to do my utmost in resolving the question of universal suffrage in Hong Kong during my current term."

輸正晚報

理論上, 週末前要寫一寫當奴曾"新方向"施政報告個 brief, 吹吹implication, 俾啲'靈感'... 諸如此類.
飛罷整份報告(download version 54頁鬼咁大隻字似 font size 18. 最怕), 留白的地方多, 腦袋也跟着一片空白. 一如以往, 彈都無謂, 基本上… 沒什麼, 畢竟都預了虛中無實.
大題目應有盡有 (連"新香港人"都講得出), 冇的只是內涵. 服侍一個地方當然不容易, 問心俾我都冇本事做. 但在有捨有得當中有幾多腰骨, 有幾許誠意, 有沒有公義, 還是可以耳聞目睹一個大概的.
與其叫報告, 不如, 叫晚報. 茶餘飯後, 可有可無. 若然晚報, 時辰未到.
話時話, 新香港人, 今日你炒咗未?

ps 在"沒什麼"當中, 有印象的居然是這段落, 它的起首應記一功 ~
[71] The widening wealth gap is a global trend ("人地阿邊個邊個邊度邊度都係咁啦") ... I believe that to prevent the widening wealth gap from becoming a serious social conflict, it is important for the well-off to care for the disadvantaged. Enterprises should fulfill their social responsibilities (回饋社會是應該的, 但施政報告啊, 我期望你除了出口術鼓勵之外, 實際會做什麼?)... To translate this into action, the business community and professionals should actively volunteer to participate in charity work including promoting the development of social enterprises... (下刪xxx字) (同意 social enterprises 這個理念, 但執行上恐怕事必效益低而吃力不討好, 否則, 已成為聰明人的 enterprises了, 還留得了social嗎?)

Noise

Another example on 唔出聲都唔會話佢啞. I think James Tien consciously, intentionally made that noise though. But then, what the h Chow is apologizing? sick

South China Morning Post, 12 October 2007
The Civic Party may lodge a complaint against Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun after he said the MTR Corporation's chief executive "has to shoulder the consequences" for nominating a party rival in the district council elections.
Chow Chung-kwong is among those nominating Tanya Chan Suk-chong, who is competing with the Liberal Party's Mark Lin for The Peak seat.
Mr Tien said on Wednesday he was "very dissatisfied" with Mr Chow, whom he regarded as a friend with similar political ideals. Pointing out the Liberal Party's previous favourable views towards the MTR Corp in Legislative Council business, Mr Tien said his party would "take a closer watch" on the rail company in future.
"He should have political wisdom. He has to shoulder the consequences himself," Mr Tien said on Wednesday.
The Civic Party is considering lodging a formal complaint with the Electoral Affairs Commission.
Mr Tien said Mr Chow phoned him that night to apologise, admitted his "oversight" in not realising Ms Chan's opponent was Mr Lin, and promised not to canvass votes for her.
Yesterday, Mr Tien said that when he said "take a closer watch", he was only expressing his feelings.
"Which means that in the future anything being discussed in the transport panel or in the district councils {hellip} then on the district council front, there may be more opinions, since there were times [Liberals] particularly stood on your side as a personal favour. Now, since it seems you're not that friendly to us any more, then this becomes what I said yesterday, we will 'take a closer watch', as it were." He denied his comments amounted to a threat.
But Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah said Mr Tien was in danger of crossing a line. "Why should Mr Chow have to apologise? Is it because he fears retribution of some sort?"
Threats to vote, or not vote, a certain way are punishable with fines or imprisonment.
Mr Tong said: "A normal citizen shouldn't say these things, let alone the leader of a political party."
The Democratic Party said it may ask the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which monitors polls, to step in. Chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, said: "Mr Tien has damaged the fairness of the election by publicly threatening another voter for nominating a candidate." Civic Party leader Audrey Eu Yuet-mee criticised Mr Tien for being "unrepentant".

ps 田北俊隔日聲明
田北俊在兩位副主席周梁淑怡和劉健儀陪同下宣布：「反省之下，我覺得是失言，當時我是一時氣憤，我現在慎重撤回我一番話，亦向市民和周松崗先生衷心道歉。自由黨在立法會的工作一定公私分明，我們一如既往，以市民利益為重。」

唔該晒. 咪得把口呀. 雖然預咗. 心死了.

又到雙十

上勁歌唱半首歌要自備樂手伴奏嗎?
王雙駿英師傅acoustic伴着何韻詩... 其實是一份思念一份心意吧.
http://app.tvb.com/music/common/popupvideo.html?http://app.tvb.com/music/jsg/live/video/e20071011_video3_5526_b.asx
"有一些感情, 就好像木裡面的年輪一樣, 一生一世是不會淡化的. 好開心今晚 , 10月10日, 可以在這裡唱出這首歌."

ps 蝦講開午夜夢迥vs昨晚勁歌的'慘況', 痛心疾首啊

抱緊眼前人

情歸何處
唱: 梅艷芳
曲/編: 倫永亮
詞: 張美賢

夜有點涼 讓晚星將這漆黑天際 再燃亮
微弱聲浪 逝去的歌風裡迴盪 撲進我的心窗
沒有隱藏 為我的戀愛不止一趟 有期望
然後失望 我卻始終一個模樣
實在誰伴我 地老天荒

我在尋找 可依偎的胸膛
愛在何方 我笑我紿終希罕
仍然願意准許當天飄進夢鄉
為紀念曾經遇上 (為紀念曾經巧遇上)

夜那麼長 或間中嚮往孤身一個 去流浪
無論怎樣 到了天邊海角還是 會有我的方向
似戲一場 驟眼的相見相識相愛 更時尚
還是感謝 有過一刻將我燃亮
但是誰伴我 地老天荒


抱緊眼前人
唱: 梅艷芳
曲: 林子祥
詞: 潘源良
編: 倫永亮, Terry Chan

本應相愛 本應相襯
命裡註定同行卻未能
捨不得不愛 把不得一世
唯願抱緊眼前人

匆匆一世 深深一吻
就此以後無從愛別人
若只得今晚 可偷偷走近
誰又理得天鎖禁

愛你就算 將跌入永遠黑暗
但這一刻抱緊
多麼確實 無用再覓尋
浮沉人在世 快樂循環又傷心
但願愛得最動人

一宵的愛 一生的印
儘管最後如同過路人
捨不得不愛 巴不得一世
唯願抱緊眼前人 唯願抱緊眼前人

Live to Eat

oh well, mind you, among many traps...
~ Use a bigger spoon cause you to serve yourself almost 15% more food
~ Use a bigger plate cause you to serve yourself 25% more
~ Given a full gallon of orange juice, you intend to pour almost 10% more than when given a half-empty gallon
~ When given a bigger tub of popcorn to go to a movie, you consume 35% more
~ More colors of M&Ms ups your intake
~ You eat 28% more chicken wings when the waitress clears the bones from the table than when the bones piled up

Mr Right

公私要分明

隻私伙 Vista 新機, 搞一大餐都係 kick 住 kick 住. 噚晚要搞 internet banking 都係要出動隻 macbook.

暫時最最最唔 work 嘅, 就係同敝公司嘅 dialer, 直情狗咬狗骨. 簡單來說即是會斷絕來往 - 冇公司 email 冇 intranet 冇 database 冇 analyst news 冇 admin 冇 directory 冇公司IM...

居然, 有啲似冇咗 identity, 與世隔絕.

初聞此惡耗, 簡直晴天霹靂, 閙到飛起. 事關搞唔掂的話, 就要繼續帶住隻公司嘢出出入入, 鬼叫家中隻隻舊機(查實都係3年貨仔啫)都唔生性; 隻macbook就更加'高竇', 不屑亦不能做工用. 聽到我的'慘況', 香港老闆已經自動請纓要幫我班隻 XP 返來 replace 隻 Vista, so that 可以順利搞過啲公司嘢.

且慢... 有啲嘢好似搞錯咗.

點解要帶公司嘢返閨? 或者返到閨仲要chi住公司? 仲驚死蝕底帶少咗睇少咗, 真係好壞好壞的習慣(可惜, 畢竟已經6年...). Office 以外冇(need to) access to 公司嘢係天經地義(!?!?).

雖然, 講句公道說話, 可以用敝公司嘅私家 connection 係有好處. 話說在 BJ 睇蘋果睇 Google 全相睇CNN 等等都係靠佢先可以突破內地的'網鎖', 如果唔係... 又如果喺冇(免費) broadband 的情況下, 只要有電話線, 都可以 dial up 電話上網. 係超慢, 但起碼用得. 喺 BJ 機場無數 delay 的深夜, 都救了我好多次.

Anyway, 堅持... 住先... 搞唔掂唔會勉強, 最多咪冇...

Pantry Home

8月某日@ Home to Pantry
先 declare 漏相之食: 冬瓜盅, mini bacon croissant.
老闆親筆真跡 menu (L); baguette @ de Joel Robuchon (R)

Potato salad (L); duck breast salad with orange dressing (top), chicken caesar with grapefruit (bottom)

Swiss grill toy, pedal 狀物體並實是用來 grill cheese 的. 把 cheese 放在 'pedal' 上, 然後放進 grill 中間那層 (L); 有菜有肉 (更多躲在廚房) (R)

Avocado mango prawn salad (L); Tiramisu, creme brulee (R)

Home (moi) made ice tea

老闆本色I: Noah's Ark (L); 老闆本色II: 非常整齊 (R)

Where is How

Nowadays because of the Blackberry, cell phones... noboday asks how you are anymore.
They ask where you are.

美人豹

... (講多次)(遲來的)生日快樂!!!

找錯處

剛才看新聞, 葉劉話(大意) -
"我喺史丹福大學, 係正正式式上過堂學民主... 我曾經喺民主國家住過... 喺英國住過2年, 喺美國住過4年... 比好多口講民主嘅人更懂民主..."

咁講法... 葉太與民主相愛6年, 仲"讀"過添. 你呢?

查實佢唔出聲都唔會話佢啞(好明顯, 仲好大聲添)嘅啫.

而家我真係啞晒. 晒氣 (勞氣中)!

Happy Birthday

... to 傻婆萍

Vacate

Still have 2x days of leaves. Better spend half of them this year and save the remain for next year. Shouldn't be eating this miserably steamies from Maxim's - this is the first but also the last time I would eat it. No complaint though, 假手於人ma.

The Originals

現在的'復刻', 實在無日無之.
今晚等開飯, 逛着逛着, 又在 HK Records 出了血.
DG, Decca, Philips 經典錄音remaster reprint, 印象中去年已出街, 但選擇不多.
不經不覺到今時今日已增至250個albums, 真係揀得過.
真係抵 $120兩隻($68@). 雖然心水都已擁有, 但獨樂樂不如衆樂樂, 打算送人.

http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/webseries/?ID=theoriginals
http://www.deccaclassics.com/music/originals/main.asp

又又炒埋一碟

發覺自己 BigEater 的 postings 比較多, 雖然近來是少了. 原因之一固然是沒有如少俠般的'國際級' exposure [http://exibmer.blogspot.com], 就無謂見笑了. Anyway, 清舊電話之小發現 -

前Stormy Weather, 現 Stormies (Crow's Nest), 水準仍不俗. 敢說它的 mussel 和 clams 比 Belgos 好, 雖然跟法國的還差遠. Burger普通, 至愛肯定是 Langham 那家 Main Street Deli 的, 雖然貴30% (Citibank 那家 scaled-down 的 Main Street Cafe, 便宜一截, 未去試, 不無懷疑). 反而這個green apple salad 跟 blue cheese dressing 很夾, 生色不少.




爸媽過來晚飯, 先吃這個 Pizza Express, 再吃糖水. 媽說湯圓的湯底夠薑!

Simply Life - Green pea soup, chicken salad 都不錯, 那片baguette是驚喜, 氣孔大小不一, 相當正宗.

Mushroom linguine 正路, hot & sour chicken risotto有特色而且al dente, 肯定會encore.

某天大夥兒到鴻星. 這個原本應是沙茶嗲魷魚之類, 墊底的是番鬼spaghetti. 都話 pasta 其實係 Marco Polo 從中國帶回老家ga la.

亂糟糟的Pret lunch. 其實兩份petite太多(包), 一份又有點 mount mount 緊.

飯堂的新菜(怕且係兩個月前的'新'), 居然還記得個名堂 - 紅梅檸汁脆麥大蝦.

說穿了, 紅梅檸汁是個dip. 炸過的麥皮加強大蝦的口感.

口'立濕'. 永恆的 brie & thins. 卡樂B以外的至愛 chips, Baked Original. 愛泰昌的沙翁/蛋球, 蛋撻只是一般.

夜欄人靜

不特止. 鬼影都冇隻.
把車停在路中心也不礙了.


ps 因為換電話的關係, 掘出大量唔知做mud嘅相. 陸續有嚟.