Day 31: 2014 Year of the Horse (Chinese New Year!)... & Let's Take a Break

Happy Chinese New Year!  It is the Year of the Horse!

I really don't have much to say today except that it is a new beginning of the Lunar Calendar.  There are many websites that provides information about Chinese New Years, so to rewrite it all would be a daunting task for me.

Being in the United States and not close to a city with a Chinatown, my parents have modified how to celebrate the New Year.  We have mainly the meal before New Years Day to close the year and a New Years dinner to open the year.  I have learned to clean the house before New Years day to get rid of the bad luck of the previous year and not clean on New Years day so we do not sweep the good luck away.  I think that's about it.  

And let's take a break!

When I first propose writing a blog every day, I didn't know what I was getting into.  I wrote a lot of great topics but I also wrote very short blogs saying, "I'm tired!"  And indeed, I have been struggling every night recently to find something to write about.  So, if this is allowed, I would like to take a break, maybe a week, and regroup my head.  Thank you all for being my audience!  I will be back. ;-)

Day 30: Hong Kong Humour vs. British Humour... Go!

Once in a while, I often wonder what the differences are between Hong Kong humour vs. British humour.

Hong Kong and Great Britain share about over 100 years together.  Britain established a trade harbour in Hong Kong, war happened, and the UK took over officially in 1898.  Not only goods were exchanged, culture were exchanged as well.  But not all things translate and are the same, like for example humour.

I think I had the privilege to watch a variety of different TV shows and movies growing up.  I watched a lot of American shows (since I grew up here) but my parents exposed me to Hong Kong shows as well as some British shows.  It was much later when I was in high school and college that I started watching British comedy as they were made available first on PBS and later BBC America.

Humour, to me, is a bit hard to separate in my head on the various types.  I think being exposed to mainly 3 cultures of comedy, my mind and head tends to laugh at anything, literally.  But humour can differ between each culture and plays on the current events, news, and trends in that country.

Much of British humour is sarcastic, dry and witty.  Deadpan is another word for it.  For example, someone could make a joke or say something but have no facial expression or tone changes in their speech.  The joke could be sarcastic or it could be a pun which has a "punch" to it if you get it.  Through that, you find the dry witty humour run across most genres of British comedy (situational, slapstick, absurd).

Hong Kong humour, however, is not always sarcastic, dry, nor witty. However, they have their own "witty" through their language and a humour called "mo lei tau".  Literally, it means, "have no heads or tails" and figuratively "nonsense talking" or "silly talking."  The comedy plays on their language and culture and trends.  I think maybe the best American sitcom to compare is Seinfeld.  Seinfeld is pretty much a "show about nothing".  A lot of Hong Kong's shows in some cases is a show about them talking about whatever and nothing at all.  Often times, my dad is left saying, "This show doesn't make any sense."

While they may share the same taste for tea and spices, it seems humour is very localized to their language and local cultures and trends.  However, Britain certainly has a greater influence around the world just because Great Britain has conquered a lot of countries around the world and spread English along the way.  Although Hong Kong may have borrowed a little bit of British "non-sense", I think in a lot of ways, there are no real similarities between the two.

Day 29: Snowmaggedon Part 2!

As typical of the South, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools closed today and a few businesses and companies went on a 2 hour delay over not even an inch of snow. Part of it is that there were not enough trucks and salt to go around all the roads, so it was quite patchy with ice this morning in some areas.

I had the pleasure of sleeping in but it threw my schedule off a little bit, leaving me sleepy most of today at work.  Coupled by the fact that half the office was empty/full with very little phone calls and email technical difficulties, I was about to take solace under my desk and just sleep.  That wouldn't be productive.

What I find interesting today in the news is the situation that happened in Atlanta.  It seems as though in less than 3 hours, the whole city of Atlanta went into gridlock on Tuesday during the "snowmaggedon".  One thing that really amazes me is that the city of Atlanta had had this problem before several years ago.  The mayor said that they have employed a lot more trucks and vehicles to plow and salt the roads.  Yet, still, Atlanta went into a state of chaos.  This is what happened:

1. Almost 12pm on Tuesday, it started snowing in Atlanta.  Previously, weather forecasted that the system will move south, then east of the city, missing the main arteries.  However, by very early Tuesday morning, the forecast changed showing that the weather pattern has shifted and moved the snow NORTH of the city.  In any case, Atlanta is going to see snow IN THE CITY.
2. About, oh, 3pm, when school was about to let out, businesses and government decided to leave work early.  So, everybody in all 5 or 6 counties surrounding Atlanta left work, school, and everywhere else.  This caused the gridlock.
3. On top of that, because the city was working on a very earlier forecast of the weather, they didn't expect to see this much snow, thus didn't respond in time or appropriately (salting roads, etc) before everybody was leaving work and school.  
4. Thus, all of hell broke lose and froze over, vehicles were stuck and stranded on the roads, kids had to spend the nights in schools, people had to find shelter elsewhere at retails and strangers' homes, and the National Guard had to go out and rescue the kids still on school buses out in the middle of these icy roads.

What amazes me is that CNN and The Weather Channel are both located in Atlanta.  Two very professional news teams.  I mean, I depend on The Weather Channel for my daily forecast and temperature and most of of the time, the Weather Channel is pretty accurate.  Why it failed Atlanta is beyond me.

GA-DOT.  If Georgia is anything like North Carolina, it must be very limited on the budget for proper snow handling.  Seriously.  We see snow once every 6-12 years.  It's not like we see 6 feet of snow every year.  it does help (a little) that GA did send people up to the north to study how people handle the snow.  But how it really works in the South might be different.  The snow part is not really innate in our brains.  So, it's not like we say, "Hey, even though the weather is a little wonky, let's go ahead and salt everything just in case."  Inexperience has played a factor in the downfall of this event.

I remember in the winter 2005 (January), something similar happened in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill.  I was working at a bakery at the time, so my morning commute was quite early.  I remember the weather being really cold and remembered that it started snowing that morning.  I didn't think anything of it, as sometimes these snow flurries will just come and go.  As the day progresses, the snow turned into freezing rain/ice/hail/sleet, and just about anything that is ice.  2 pm came around, which is the end of my shift anyways, and I left work.  About this time, I had heard that all of Wake County, Durham County and Orange County schools was let out early.  With that, parents who work in the Research Triangle Park, Downtown Raleigh (pretty much, the government of North Carolina), NC State, UNC, and Duke, the hospitals, etc, went out to pick up their kids.  All 3 counties gridlock.  At least with the Triangle area, it is not nearly as many people as Atlanta, so kids were stranded only 8 hours in buses.

The #1 lesson learned about snow in the South.  Please be forgiving.  Due to our inexperience, we will never get it right as this is not a yearly occurrence for us.  Just live with it.  And if the DOT or anybody is out there doing their best to keep us safe (attempted salting of the roads, plowing, etc), please keep the hell out of the way and please pray for those who are out there trying to do their best.  (Don't be like this lady.)  It's freezing.  It's dangerous.  They have thoughts and feelings and families too.

The #2 lesson learned.  If snow is brewing and starts from the South, just shut everything down and not go to school and work.  Forget it.  Stay home.

The #3 lesson: If you can, and if there are incidents where there are major issues with roads and travelers are stuck, lend a helping hand.

Day 28: Snowmaggedon!

Today marks the day of a fun event.

It snowed in Charlotte!  It was lovely to watch.  I wasn't home but taking breaks from work, I went to the some of the windows at work and watch it fall.

If you have lived in the South before, snow is not a usual event that happens every year.  If I could explain the weather patterns in the South... I would.  My best explanation is that the South is a meeting point between two jet streams.  The jet stream in the north is a polar jet stream and the jet stream is a tropical stream (sometimes we say it's the Gulf Stream).

Most of the time, these streams do not intersect and usually push one way or the other.  During the winter months, although mild to cold, the polar jet stream will swoop over the South.  During winters with warm to mild climates, the Gulf Stream will push through with warmer wet air and may cause a wetter winter than most.

In a rare event, usually once every 9 to 12 years (note, almost the same times as the solar flares), the two jet streams "crash" into each other so that a snow event may occur in the South.  If the jet stream from the Gulf collides with the polar jet stream, voila.  Snow!  In other words, if it is snowing in Atlanta, it's will snow in Charlotte!  And it has to be below freezing for the snow to stick on the ground.

However, if the Gulf Stream is weak and stays in the Gulf, and polar jet stream and weather dumps snow in the Appalachian Mountains (moisture from the north), it will not snow in Charlotte.

Anyways, enough of the science.

Usually, when snow occurs, all hell freeze over.  Literally.  I mean, you are talking about either school delays or school being let out early.  Some companies may ask the employees to leave early.  Since snow doesn't occur much here, the NC DOT don't always employ enough trucks and equipment for preparation of the snow.  While main roads will be clear sometimes (note: sometimes), secondary roads may remain snowy and icy.  In many cases I've been here and there's snow/ice, there are grid locks and many accidents all around.  But usually after one day, the snow melts and everything goes back to normal.  For me, that's about enough snow for me.  ;-)

Day 27: Top Gear

I don't always know what I am going to write about every night.

But tonight, while watching the BBC show "Top Gear", I thought, "I'll write about Top Gear!"

I'm embarrassed to say that even though I majored in Mechanical Engineer, I don't know much about cars.  I know basically how the engine works, and what sounds cars make and should make and shouldn't make, and I pretty much know that if anything in my gauges sounds an alarm light, I take the car to the mechanics.

Pitiful, isn't it?

Anyways, back to Top Gear.  I think the only thing my Mechanical Engineering major helps me with is that at least I understand part of what's going on during the show.

There are two formats for the show.  Most of the show talks about racing cars and the specs of each cars.  Usually, they are comparing 2 or 3 cars or trucks or SUV's, what their main function is (racing, hauling stuff, family taxi), and sometimes a race occurs on a track.  Sometimes, the show also invites a celebrity who could be British, European and even American.  Said celebrity will then also race against maybe a professional or one of the three host.  Or, maybe they do stupid things to the car, like "car rugby" or the vehicles get rigged up for something (like limousines racing around London and trying to clear double round-abouts).

But my favorite episodes usually deals with the three hosts (Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond) racing in some country.  I get to see them race cars, each with a car, of the same built (like a Volvo, Volkswagen, and BMW) but also with that, I get to see the countries they are in.

The first show had the three racing across Africa.  Seeing them put cars on a raft to go across a river was quite amusing.  It's almost like watching MacGyver rig up a boat out of toothpicks.  They finally found their way to the source of the Nile River, which was pretty cool.

The second show I'm watching right (at 10:21pm Monday) is showing the three race across Boliva in their 4-wheel drive vehicles.  I think the show convinced me to get a Range Rover if I'm ever living out in the rugged woods.  It is very entertaining how they solve problems getting around natural obstacles, up and through the mountains on the dangerous Yungas Road, and watching a bunch of Brits driving on the right side of the road (not the left side).  Do they get confused?  Maybe not, considering they have to go everywhere around the world.

What I enjoy most is their experience traveling around the world.  I always want to travel around the world...