The turn of the century brought us photo websites which featured tagging, and then this revolutionary feature of tagging... just died out.
It should be brought back with a music site. I want to be able to listen to a song, hear church bells and then tag it 'church bells'. And I want to be able to search for 'gregorian chant' and then see a list of the 1,000 or so songs in the world which feature that in them.
Imagine... being able to get key board, flute, choir, monks... whatever you want. Search cross genre.
What Google did for searching the internet, another site could do for music. All they gotta do is enable tagging.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
I lost access to my email... fix it for me!
I've set up email for about a dozen people this year. Mostly because people have no idea what they are doing. "A computer, what's that for?"
Some of these people, I've set up their email clients THREE times!
Email programs need be simplified so that I can create a setup file and then say, "Here, just double click this."
Some of these people, I've set up their email clients THREE times!
Email programs need be simplified so that I can create a setup file and then say, "Here, just double click this."
So far
Spring Festival = Chinese New Year
Lots of fireworks the last few days. They go through the whole night with no hours of respite, even at times like 3 AM. They know when you're sleeping, and then BAM!!!
I went sight seeing with a friend from another city. It was nice. Watched a bit of a TV series called 'Taken', it's kinda like Steven Spielberg getting things right instead of flopping so horribly like he did when he made the 'Close Encounters of the _____ Kind' series.
Be sure to watch 'Eat Love Pray', it is one of the best movies I've ever seen. What makes it special is the philosophy and the life lessons in the movie.
For this week, I asked myself philosophical questions like, "What is love, really?" Could it be like an eight year old kid that loves his alcohol addicted loser-dad that never even makes time for him? Is it that moment when you hear someone go "mmh" during a kiss and then you just want to kiss them forever or more deeply than ever because that simply drove you nuts?
No kisses during my Spring Festival. That might have been a good thing. I'm confused, and a part of me doesn't want to be more confused than I already am. I'm not sure what's right for me to do. Being alone feels safe. A lot of people tell me that I should have a girlfriend (I hear this regularly). I think maybe I shouldn't. And that's that. It's just not a particularly good idea unless there's some reason that makes it a good idea to begin with.
Lots of fireworks the last few days. They go through the whole night with no hours of respite, even at times like 3 AM. They know when you're sleeping, and then BAM!!!
I went sight seeing with a friend from another city. It was nice. Watched a bit of a TV series called 'Taken', it's kinda like Steven Spielberg getting things right instead of flopping so horribly like he did when he made the 'Close Encounters of the _____ Kind' series.
Be sure to watch 'Eat Love Pray', it is one of the best movies I've ever seen. What makes it special is the philosophy and the life lessons in the movie.
For this week, I asked myself philosophical questions like, "What is love, really?" Could it be like an eight year old kid that loves his alcohol addicted loser-dad that never even makes time for him? Is it that moment when you hear someone go "mmh" during a kiss and then you just want to kiss them forever or more deeply than ever because that simply drove you nuts?
No kisses during my Spring Festival. That might have been a good thing. I'm confused, and a part of me doesn't want to be more confused than I already am. I'm not sure what's right for me to do. Being alone feels safe. A lot of people tell me that I should have a girlfriend (I hear this regularly). I think maybe I shouldn't. And that's that. It's just not a particularly good idea unless there's some reason that makes it a good idea to begin with.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Chinese spoons
I posted this in an expat forum.
Short story: I need a socket wrench with some fittings.
Long story: Three months ago, I returned to Nanjing and found that the room I had paid to be equipped with air conditioning had been given to another worker at my company. I had the living room floor in the dead of Winter.
As I sat under two blankets, a coat, thermal underwear, and a sweater... still shivering and unable to sleep due to it being too cold, I knew then that I might benefit from hiring an assistant and getting my own apartment.
A few weeks on the floor and I had an assistant.
Following that, a few weeks later, I had an empty place to live.
Things were looking up for me.
Of course, I often would sleep right at the office because it was a half hour walk to get home, and I'm not getting paid like a lao wai, I'm getting paid like a native. I'd rather smell funky and save ten kuai than lose another 300 kuai every month in order to pay to go to work and simply survive.
Another few weeks, and I was finally able to get a bike. (Note, it always takes a few weeks to get anything done in China, that's just how it is. That's why some people get frustrated.)
I knew that the bike needed some maintenance, so I said that to some people that might be able to help out.
It's three weeks later. The bike is unridable because the pedal falls off. And I'm back to sleeping in the office again. (The bike worked for like three days.)
Now it is Spring Festival. Everybody is gone. Might be looking at a few weeks again.
Yesterday, I decided I should get what is needed to fix the bike myself (at least do most repairs). This requires a socket wrench and a socket set.
I researched online for about two hours to try to find a map of Nanjing's bus system. That I did on my own just so that I can finally start to rely on myself more often. It's an example that show that us lao wai try, but often there's no resources that handle our needs. There's at least a decent guide about the bus system: http://www.nanjingnow.com/572/getting-around-by-bus/
Tomorrow, I will spend about two hours traveling to the nanjing railway station because I know I can get a map at that location. God help me if it doesn't show the bus routes on it, and instead only shows street names.
Back to my quest for a socket wrench: I finally just took the metro. Luck was with me, because I was able to find Wallmart almost immediately as I exited Xinjiekou.
But then, I went through the entire store and found that they do not carry socket wrenches.
Let is be known that Lao Wai try to be self sufficient. We honestly do. But we don't always speak Chinese, and that pretty much destroys us before we can even get started.
I have learned how to take the bus between home and work, so i haven't been sleeping at the office as much in an effort to stay warm at night or to save cash. However, I like to work when I'm awake, and home is boring because it's empty and there's no internet access. (We'll complain about internet access in another post where I'll detail why it's taken months and why it can sometimes be almost worthless to have someone as an assistant if they officially are there to benefit your work life.)
I like to work from home any time day or night (requires internet) and be able to travel between work and home in a reasonable manner at whatever hours I choose (requires bike because buses only run so late).
Lao wai have strange problems that are often easy to solve. Maybe you need a... spoon, but it takes three months to handle that need, and despite 8 hours of effort when ten minutes would work in your home country, you're still missing your proverbial "spoon". It affects your life, your comfort, your work efficiency. It damn near makes you want to go home.
My first spoon was a warm place to sleep at night.
My next spoon was a way to get there at any time.
My final spoon is a socket wrench to fix the second spoon because it broke.
Ultimately, this is my three month epic quest for a warm place to sleep at night.
I will now accept your pity and whatever may be thrown at me.
However what I am really hoping for is directions to a place that will unfailingly have a socket wrench.
Short story: I need a socket wrench with some fittings.
Long story: Three months ago, I returned to Nanjing and found that the room I had paid to be equipped with air conditioning had been given to another worker at my company. I had the living room floor in the dead of Winter.
As I sat under two blankets, a coat, thermal underwear, and a sweater... still shivering and unable to sleep due to it being too cold, I knew then that I might benefit from hiring an assistant and getting my own apartment.
A few weeks on the floor and I had an assistant.
Following that, a few weeks later, I had an empty place to live.
Things were looking up for me.
Of course, I often would sleep right at the office because it was a half hour walk to get home, and I'm not getting paid like a lao wai, I'm getting paid like a native. I'd rather smell funky and save ten kuai than lose another 300 kuai every month in order to pay to go to work and simply survive.
Another few weeks, and I was finally able to get a bike. (Note, it always takes a few weeks to get anything done in China, that's just how it is. That's why some people get frustrated.)
I knew that the bike needed some maintenance, so I said that to some people that might be able to help out.
It's three weeks later. The bike is unridable because the pedal falls off. And I'm back to sleeping in the office again. (The bike worked for like three days.)
Now it is Spring Festival. Everybody is gone. Might be looking at a few weeks again.
Yesterday, I decided I should get what is needed to fix the bike myself (at least do most repairs). This requires a socket wrench and a socket set.
I researched online for about two hours to try to find a map of Nanjing's bus system. That I did on my own just so that I can finally start to rely on myself more often. It's an example that show that us lao wai try, but often there's no resources that handle our needs. There's at least a decent guide about the bus system: http://www.nanjingnow.com/572/getting-around-by-bus/
Tomorrow, I will spend about two hours traveling to the nanjing railway station because I know I can get a map at that location. God help me if it doesn't show the bus routes on it, and instead only shows street names.
Back to my quest for a socket wrench: I finally just took the metro. Luck was with me, because I was able to find Wallmart almost immediately as I exited Xinjiekou.
But then, I went through the entire store and found that they do not carry socket wrenches.
Let is be known that Lao Wai try to be self sufficient. We honestly do. But we don't always speak Chinese, and that pretty much destroys us before we can even get started.
I have learned how to take the bus between home and work, so i haven't been sleeping at the office as much in an effort to stay warm at night or to save cash. However, I like to work when I'm awake, and home is boring because it's empty and there's no internet access. (We'll complain about internet access in another post where I'll detail why it's taken months and why it can sometimes be almost worthless to have someone as an assistant if they officially are there to benefit your work life.)
I like to work from home any time day or night (requires internet) and be able to travel between work and home in a reasonable manner at whatever hours I choose (requires bike because buses only run so late).
Lao wai have strange problems that are often easy to solve. Maybe you need a... spoon, but it takes three months to handle that need, and despite 8 hours of effort when ten minutes would work in your home country, you're still missing your proverbial "spoon". It affects your life, your comfort, your work efficiency. It damn near makes you want to go home.
My first spoon was a warm place to sleep at night.
My next spoon was a way to get there at any time.
My final spoon is a socket wrench to fix the second spoon because it broke.
Ultimately, this is my three month epic quest for a warm place to sleep at night.
I will now accept your pity and whatever may be thrown at me.
However what I am really hoping for is directions to a place that will unfailingly have a socket wrench.
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