A little thing called Happiness

I used to think life is short and I should make each day count. Make each day a happy day. This has become my motto in life. So then I've learned how to make myself happy.

I discovered many different ways to turn my mood and emotions around, even when I'm bored, lonely, sad or at the edge of depression. Experimenting new recipes, zulupping noodles, traveling to exotic countries or find a good book to ready, while having coffee with cookies. These have always been little tricks to indulge myself and keep myself cheerful and happy.

Happy people can spread their joyful and happy spirit to others. I truly believe finding ways to make myself happy is doing my part to create a better and happier world.

To stay happy and healthy, I also avoid depressing people. There are way too many unhappy people in Hong Kong. They never stop complaining about the government, their career, their love life, their sex life... it's like a never ending list of complains. I find it annoying when people making complains without doing anything about it. These people are contagious, they spread this negative energy to the world like SARS, once it got started, it takes forever to control. So, I decided to avoid them in order to be immune from the negative spirit. At least, in this way, there are one less depressing person in this cruel and difficult world.

But recently, I'm starting to doubt about my definition of happiness. If life is short, shouldn't we be pursuing the kind of happiness that goes beyond our life? In this way, happiness is not only an indulgence to oneself, but to the people around you, with or without your presence.

This is probably the biggest lesson I've learned from my Mom, who has left us just recently. Of course, it's one of the most devastating thing that happened in my life. But the support I got from my Mom's friends, even some that I never met, really tells me what an extraordinary woman my Mom is.


My coolest Mom


She was definitely a happy person. Not that she never complained. I've heard countless complained about her job, about her marriage and about her worries. There were times that I was even trying to avoid her, because of so much she complained. But she would always find a solution to these problems, which sometimes was so challenging that it felt like a miracle.

When I was about to graduate from secondary school, I was dying to study overseas for university. My mom used to share with me how much she worried about not being able to help support my dream to study overseas. Though the family income was not be able to afford that, my mom still made me researched and applied for universities abroad. Back then Mom was stuck with a company that she worked for a decade and was about to restructure. But miracle happened.

Not only she found a new job that almost doubled her paid, she was also laid off right before she resigned. Therefore, she was able to get a much better paid job plus a huge compensation from the previous company. With all the extra liquidity, she didn't spend them on indulging herself with a new bag or shoes, she spent it on my education!!

I seldom see her indulge herself on anything. She seems to indulge herself into working long hours, into volunteering, into helping friends, and more importantly, into pursuing her dreams. With so much responsibilities, work and difficulties in life, she was still able to find her dream, which was opening a bookstore, and pursue it in her 50s. That's something that I admire the most.

Although the bookstore is still a small one, it is bringing a significant impact to not only the business partners that she worked closely with, but everyone visiting it. She was really happy and spreading that happiness, not through indulging herself, but help people to deal with realities and complains in life.

I'm very proud to have such a courageous and wonderful Mom. I wouldn't trade for anything from a different Mom. It's ashamed that my definition of happiness was so limited to myself. Wish I could get the strength and wisdom to bringing happiness beyond myself but to people around me, just like her.

Oracle is buying Sun! What's next?

This is the reason why I like working in the technology market. In the middle of the economic recession, there's still always exciting happen at the technology market. It's a market that never gets bored.

Oracle has been known for it's bold acquisitions. The company bought most of its major competitors in the business application market, People Soft, JD Edwards, Siebel, within 2 years. Then the year after, I remember seeing Oracle bought a company almost every MONTH! Do you see that happen in any industry? Some companies don't even close a major deal every month, let alone buying a company?

Well, after being in the industry for so long. I'm starting to get used to see these dog-eat-dog world . I don't get wowed easily anymore since Oracle's series of acquisition. But this latest announcement got my nose so close to the monitor, just to make sure I'm reading what I'm reading.

Of course, this deal was announced at one of the most interesting time of the market. There is probably never a better time to make major investment when the market is almost at its lowest deep. It is also announced in less than a week after IBM fail to close the deal with Sun. But what interest me the most from this announcement is that, Oracle is getting into Hardware business!

The enterprise software giant entering the hardware business could face with a lot of challenges. Can you imagine from managing developers to engineers? They could both be nerds, but the software developers are very different from hardware engineers. Also, hardware business involve managing manufacturing plants, components sourcing, distributions, logistics, managing inventory, which was never an issue for software companies.

OK, Maybe some people would say it's not surprising. Since the company announced its database appliance back in the fall, it is prepared for hardware business. All these challenges may even get Larry even more excited, because he just loves all the attention and spot lights he gets from making bold acquisition.

But I believe hardware is a retiring business. No matter how slit Netbook looks or how powerful is the Roadrunner (No.1 supercomputer built by IBM for US Department of Energy- http://www.top500.org/list/2008/06/100), I believe hardware is no longer a growing business. It will continue to exist, but eventually enterprises are not going to run data center at all. That's exactly what Cloud Computing or thin-client are all about.

The significance about Oracle getting into hardware actually proves my theory that hardware is passé. Sun has been struggling from its hardware-based business, margin is shrinking and growth has been stagnant. Apart from Sun, other hardware vendors major acquisition in recent years also indicates hardware can no longer be a standalone business: IBM bought PwC Consulting, sold its PC divisions and recently acquired Cognos, EMC bought VMware, HP bought ESD, all these indicates hardware vendors can only survive if it diversify its business into either software or services business. No hardware vendor will continue to survive in the market as a hardware vendor.

The only component that Oracle hasn't covered in the formula right now is IT services. My bet is Oracle's next bold move will acquire IT services companies. The question is, who is next?

Who do you think? Let me know.

Mal's best moments in 2008

Another year to pass... another year to start. It's time again for setting new year's resolution... that's what most people would say.

But I never like setting new year's resolution, or try to avoid that, because I could never make it. There's always something happened that either delay or changed what was planned. So instead planning for the future, I think it's more fun to look back the top 10 best moments in 2008. They reminds me how much I've achieved and help keep me going in 2009 :)


Best Wedding... ever!
I always find weddings are cheesy and boring, especially the Chinese style big banquet. It has always been very difficult to understand why would people turn their wedding day, supposed to be the most romantic day, into a big show. Wearing the monkey suite, greeting people that have not met for years (or have never even met before, because they were guest invited by the in-laws) and taking pictures that's never meant to be seen again, does not sound a bit romantic to me. Then comes the pre-wedding pictures slide show, shark-fin soup and toasting all over the venue, these all look just like a “show-off” to me.

Probably being single, has gotten me really sarcastic about weddings. But 2008 has given me new perspective about weddings. I had two very memorable weddings this year, all happened within one week. They were both my best friends, one was my buddy since secondary school and one was my roommate back at college days. These two weddings were surprisingly wonderful for me. Being so close with these two couples and their families, the whole wedding rituals become more meaningful. Happy Marriage for Nadia and Donovan, Katherine and Tomo! :)



Best Holiday -- Hokkaido
I love to travel. Every year I'd plan at least one exciting trip. In 2007, I went Morocco, learned Moroccan cooking and visited my friend Amy at Doha on the way back to Hong Kong. The year before I had a live-on-board scuba diving trip in Malaysia. That was my first live-on-board, the idea of being stuck in the boat for a 3 days with a whole group of complete strangers was not as bad as it sound. But definitely exciting when I spotted, not only one, but two 3-meter sharks!!

In 2008, I took the chance between jobs to take a week off to Hokkaido. Different from most Hong Kong girls, I'm not a big fan of visiting Japan. I always find it boring to visit Tokyo, even it has all the great food and nice shops. I'd always prefer my holiday to be something different from my daily city live.

Hokkaido was a perfect destination. Even better, I got a travel company and skiing buddy! Gigi, was the person to blame and praise. She suggested going to Hokkaido together and brought me the best trip of the year! We had the wonderful yummy crabs dinner and sushi breakfast, as well as the exciting snowboarding and relaxing in-room hot spring!! I still can't forget the great food at the Sapporo beer garden BBQ and cute little penguins at Asahiyama Zoo. Definitely want to go back there again some day :D



Biggest career move – Leaving Journalism
2008 is also a year that I've made the biggest change in my career. After 8 years of being a reporter, I left journalism and pursue a new career. It was a complicated and difficult decisions. I still don't know whether it was a good move. But it was a big step and I'm proud of myself to be able to bring that adventurous spirit in my career. Probably that's a safe way to say it, in case I blew my career.

It was not an easy transition to move away from journalism, which I think fit perfectly for my character. It was particularly difficult with the office environment and work schedule. People were nice, but they are “normal” in the new job. Journalists and writers could be wacky, but totally fun to hang out with :) Work schedule is also very different with the new job. No fixed deadline, made me feel like I'm never done with any project. But I'm getting used to all these and starting to enjoy my new job.

In addition, moving to this new job allows to see better how the entire IT industry works. Maybe it could bring me into other areas in IT, or who knows, bring me back to journalism with more expertise from the IT industry. Wish me luck la!

Best new toy – First MacBook
Being in the IT industry, I probably should talk a little about my gadget. First, I have a confession to make. Even I've been in the industry for quite a few years, I'm never a fan of gadgets. I'm just a girl that likes beautiful shoes more than cool mobile phones.

Yet, this year, I finally find a way to mix beauty and coolness. The answer is Apple! :) After months of consideration and a few calculation with numbers in my bank account, I've bought my first MacBook! It is the coolest laptop I've ever got! Glad that I've finally got rid of the bulky IBM and boring Windows. I can't think of anything else in the world can combine beauty and coolness. You can only say a gadget is sexy and beautiful, when it is a Mac :)




Best historical moment -- US Presidential Election I'm never a big fan of politics. But after meeting a new friend, whose dream was to become a politician, I started want to learn more about politics. On top of the influence from this new friend, the entertaining level at the US election in 2008 was also brought me great interest over politics.

As mentioned in my other blog entries, I think it's quite sad that many of us, non-Americans, find the US Presidential Election very entertaining. From the bright side, this probably arouse more people's interest over politics and understand the world better.

Of course, the significance of the 2008 US Presidential Election was not only entertaining. Seeing Barack Obama, the first African-American being elected as the US President was truly moving, even I am not black nor American. Though how much change is he going to bring to the country is yet to be seen, he certainly brought a change in attitude from how the world see the US. Finally, no more white trash at the white house!!


Most inspiring moment – Sichun Earthquake
2008 is a great year for me with all the good change and great things happened to me. Yet, it was not so great for China. Despite the success of the Bejing Olympics and Chinese astronauts visiting the moon, our country had a tough year. The snow storm early in the year and Sichun earthquake reminds me that there are still many people in China suffering and struggling for a simple living.

Actually, this is probably the first time I refer China as my country. Being raised in Hong Kong, a colony of Britain, I never see myself a Chinese citizen. It feels more like a Chinese ethnicity being outside the country. Even after 1997, I don't have a sense at all of being patriotic. It probably takes something more significant for me to recognize my nationality. Sadly, it was the Sichun Earthquake. May those who passed away from the disaster rest in peace and those injured and hurt recover in 2009.



Best meal – Can't choose!
I love food! Even my taste might change from time to time, loving food is something that never changed. So, a review of 2008 MUST include something about food :)

The problem is I don't know how to pick my favorite food of the year. There were so many good food and great meals, it was tough to choose one. Zulupping noodles at Pho 26, trying out the little BBQ seafood place and XinJiang restaurant at my neighborhood are definitely one of the many great meals.

But after so many great meals, I've learned in 2008 that the best meal comes with not only great food and nice environment. It was the great company that turned good food into a wonderful meal! In that case, the best meal of the year is probably my birthday dinner, when I had a few good friends to share the special moment with me. Small party, good food and wine, it was a fabulous dinner :)

I'm glad to have so many good friends in 2008 to share all the wonderful dining experiences with me!

zulup... zulup

Most nutritionists categories food based on the 4-layer food pyramid: 1) fat and sweets 2) dairy and proteins 3) veggie and fruits 4) carbohydrates. To me, the food pyramid has 5 layers and the additional one is, what else, Noodles!

I don't get the name NoodleGal for nothing. My last postings about noodles has received some good feedback. So, I decide to share more my experience of “zulupping” the best noodle shops in town.

Being single, living by myself and, more importantly, not making a lot of money, have brought me loads of opportunities to try out new and cheap noodles places around town. Trying out new noodle places is often highlight of the day, after staying long hours behind the computer screens.

To me, having noodles is a very personal experience. It's great to enjoy being alone and not to be disturbed. For those of you from Hong Kong, you might still remember this news a few months ago. An explosion happened at a noodle shop in Tai Kok Tsui because a bottle of insect spray was placed too close to the stove. The explosion injured five people, including some customers. If I were at the shop, for sure I'll be one of the injured, because I would be so busy zulupping noodles that I couldn't be bothered to run. Of course, provided the shop made good noodles ;-)

Unfortunately, my noodle experience have been quite limited around my neighborhood and area near my workplace. But, for a small area like Hong Kong Island, it has so much varieties of noodle shops that I don't need to go too far to find something I like.

I mentioned in last posting there are a few types of noodles are my favorite. Not only I love these noodles, there is a particular shop that I go to for each of them. So, here's the NoodleGal's favorite noodle shops:

Yuanan noodles
Yuanan is the southern province in China. It is known for its diversified ethnic groups, as well as its noodles. Also known as the “Cross-bridge Noodle”, it is a big bowl of hot soup filled with white rice noodles and variety of ingredients and spices. The best one I had was in Lijiang Yuanan.

In Hong Kong, the noodles have been localized with a smaller bowl and less spices in the soup base. But I still crave for the Yuanan noodles at this shop at Causeway Bay, whenever I'm around the area. “Kim Sai” has a spicy and sour soup base, with a variety of ingredients that you can pick and choose. All in a great deal of less than HK$25! The soup base could be spicy and sour. You can always ask for a lighter soup base. But why go for less tasty when you can get the best! I always left the place with running nose and satisfaction!



Laksa
This famous spicy noodles from Singapore and Malaysia has only been one of my favorites in recent years. I've tried a few shops in Central and Sheungwan. The Laksa tends to taste really good when the shop first opened, but it got worse after awhile. Only Pasar, I think have the most consistent quality.



Prawn Meen
Another famous noodles in Malaysia and Singapore is Prawn Meen. Different from Laksa, which uses coconut milk in the soup base, Prawn Meen uses prawn as the base of the soup base. You can choose to have chicken or prawns or both of them as the major ingredients. For having prawn meen, I'd only go for two places: Malay MaMa and Prawn Noodles Shop. I like the friendly environment and their super tasty soup base, which has the sweetness from the seafood, but not fishy at all.



Wonton noodle
If there's a Hong Kong cuisine, wonton noodle has to been one of the main dishes. Everyone from Hong Kong grow up with wonton noodles, so I'm not surprise everyone will have their own favorite shop. I was not a big fan of wonton noodle until only about six years ago, when I first live by myself in this big and pricey city. Wonton noodles from Jim Chai Kee (URL) become my favorite food, especially when I'm broke! The HK$12 (it used to be only HK$10) per bowl is still a wonderful deal for a quick and simple meal. Each bowl contains three huge wontons, with the size of a ping pong ball! The noodle also come in great texture, its solid and chewy texture, which is just the way what I like. I hate when the noodles are overcooked, because the texture becomes soft and soggy.

The pingpong-wonton

Apart from JCK, my latest favorite is Wong Chee Kee. It is not a local brand, it's a shop with long history in Macau and has recently opened in Hong Kong. WCK is the delicate version of JCK. The wontons are much smaller, but the size is perfect for a mouthful. The noodles are much finer, but still maintain a chewy texture. It is almost double the price from JCK, but totally worth when I want to treat myself a one fine bowl of wonton noodles.

One fine bowl of wonton!


Ramen
Japanese food has become most Hong Kong people's favorite cuisine. Sushi shops, ramen places are all over town. But too many of them have been localized, so I didn't have my favorite ramen place, until I tried those from Sapporo (URL).

That's probably the most authentic ramen place in Hong Kong. Authentic, in both the menu selection and service. It does not have a lot of collection, basically the menu is only a list of 4-5 types of soup bases. The shop decide your topics, which is mainly char siu, roast pork. The usual soup bases are miso, soy sauce and salt. But this place has the traditional soup base that I yet to find in any other ramen places in Hong Kong so far, that is butter. It is probably more Hokkaido style then Japanese in general. But I must say during cold winter, (HK's winter could be really chilly), seeing a think piece of butter melting in the salt soup base is the most comforting experience. Having a zip of the melting butter brings me instant warmth to not only my belly, but the entire body!
A bowl of hot warm soup that melts the butter!


The list of my favorite noodle places can go on and on... but it may change anytime. If you have any other places, you'd like to recommend, please do so! I need more incentive to explore outside Central and CWB :-) Of course, it's also great to hear from you guys!

NoodleGal

Carrie Bradshaw has a nick name for her IM account. All you Sex and the City addict of the TV show must know, it's "shoegal". Whenever she's down or upset with Big, she goes shoe shopping and that brings a smile back to her face.

Well, there's something else that does the same effect to me, as beautiful shoes to Carrie. That is Noodles! After a long day at work or some tough stretch from yoga class, nothing more smoothing than having a bowl of noodles.

Probably that's why I love my little nickname, noodlegal. I've got the nickname after a holiday with my friend, Deserie the shopgal. We went to Vietnam Ho Chih Minh (HCM) City a few years ago. It was one of those long-weekend trip to reward myself after months of stress from work. It was a perfect holiday for both of us, as we all got what we wanted. While Deserie spent most of the time bargaining for delegate and beautiful handbags and art pieces, I went to get my Pho Bo (beef noodles)... everyday!


My favorite Pho 24 in HCM City!

For most southern Chinese, particularly Hong Kongers, the daily carbo is rice. I grew up having rice everyday. But now my daily carbo has completely changed. In fact, I don't really have a regular daily carbo, but only weekly carbo, which consist of noodles, rice, bread. But noodles is definitely the most frequent one among the three.

I love all kinds of noodles, Cantonese Wonton Mein, Chinese DaimDaim Mein, Japanese Ramen, Vietnamese Pho, Thai Pad Thai and Indonesian Mei Gorang are just some of my favorites. Among them, Vietnames Pho has to be top of the list.


Ramen with Butter! It's the specialty in Hokkaido.

To me, noodles, especially soup noodle, is the most fascinating type of food! There are many different elements within a bowl of noodle: the soup base, the noodle, the toppings and the add-on (which are the herbs, spring onion and dried garlic). They can be mixed in different combination and create a total different experience, all out from that little spoon.

OK, I know it may sound a bit exaggerating for people that are not big fan of noodles. But the best thing about soup noodle is the mix and match I can create in every mouthful. In one spoonful, I could have some soup with the noodles, in the next spoonful I could mix the soup with toppings, without noodles at all, and in another spoonful, the add-ons with noodles, they all create a total different taste and texture.

I have a special routine when eating my favorite noodles. It always start with a spoonful of soup and the noodles would come second. Soup base is the most important element, it is like the signature of the noodle shop. No matter what kind of soup noodle it is, the effort the chef put into the stock makes a big difference to the bowl of noodle.

The second most important, apart from the noodles, is the add-ons. The spring onion in Wonton Mein and Ramen, the basil and coriander in Vietnamese Pho are as important as the noodle itself. They are like the Parmigiano in Italian pasta, it brings a whole new experience when added on the noodles.

Probably the reason why I love Vietnamese Pho so much is the importance of the add-ons. It's rare to find a good Vietnamese Pho shop in Hong Kong. But recently, I've discovered a great Pho shop, Pho 26.


My favorite Pho shop in Hong Kong and it's Pho Bo!


One of my favorite pho shop in HCM City is Pho 24 and I think this Pho 26 is even better!! The tasty soup base has an intense beef favor, combined with chinese herbs and lime, is one of the best soup base I've ever tried. Of course, most importantly, is the add-ons. They are very generous with the add-ons. The onion, spring onion, basil and coriander basically covered the entire bowl of noodle. It certainly was a great to myself after a long day of work.


I almost forgot to take the pix of my Pho :-p

US Politics Vs TV Series

I've been following the US election in the past couple months. This is not the normal me. The only site I'd visit religiously is my daily horoscope. But recently I've been following the US elections like... TV series.

Actually, I don't see much of a difference between the two. This is why:

1) The season basically starts in July and end in November. Not exactly the summer season, it's a good 4 month show. Btw, Season One, the Democrat primary election, that lasted for months before this. I wonder will there be a Third Season....

2) There is always a very funny character involve:
John McCain Vs Steve Martin



3) There is always a very serious character involve:
Barack Obama Vs Charles Philips (President of Oracle)



4) When the TV show becomes popular, Saturday Night Live will always make fun of it.

For full coverage check out here, it is really quite hilarious.


I think it is quite sad for Americans. We outsider seeing their presidential election as a TV series, an entertainment, rather than a serious matter. But I have to give them credit for generating interest of politics for people like me.

I didn't even pay attention to the Hong Kong Legco election until 2 weeks before that. (Though, the HK Legco election is a much shorter series, that last only for 2 months) At least I voted. The turnover rate for the once-every-4-year-Legco-election was only 45.2% this year. What I want to say is politics has never been a pretty alien topic for me, until early 1980s, when the discussion of Hong Kong's sovereignty began.

My encounter with local politics, or any kind of politics, in my entire has been a number less than Elizabeth Taylor's marriage. The first encounter of politics is probably when I was 10. I remember one day I discovered a stack of pocket-size lime green-covered books at my Dad's study room. The cover was plain, with simple black font. It says something like Hong Kong's Transition to Chinese Rule. That's the first green paper consultation published on the political system reform in HK.

The title resonated from terms I heard on TV about the transition of HK's sovereignty. So I flipped through it. There were words that I recognized, but they form phrases and terms that were incomprehensible. So I tossed it aside. A couple days later, in the study room, I saw my Dad holding those books in his in his study room. But with his head resting on the chair, glasses on, but eyes closed and mouth wide opened... snoring. That's my first encounter with politics!

So, I should thank the entertainment value that US Election brought, making politics a lot more interesting that I thought.

On top of these reasons, I do believe this US Election is set at a very controversial period. The on-going war in Iraq, the continuous disappointment and idiocy from the current US President, also the latest wall street crisis, these are rating the US in its worst credit for decades. People around the world are looking forward to find out, are Americans really that dumb, to get a comedian, whose partner loves her lipstick, to be the next US President.