Wordpress 2.0 was just released. If you don’t know what Wordpress is, you’re probably not a blogger so don’t worry about it. If you do have a blog and you don’t know what Wordpress is, do yourself a favor and download it.

I’m in the midst of upgrading, so please excuse the mess.

More Updates! – I’ve decided to give flickr a spin and am in the process of moving my photos over there as well… so the photos will be offline for a period of time as I make the transition.

Politics. It’s something I’ve never really had an interest in, nor is it something I ever intended to talk about on this blog. But here I am, about to discuss my political views.

For starters, I honestly don’t consider myself all that politically aware. The whole US political system is still very foreign to me (as was the Canadian system for that matter). I’m not quite sure why my interest in the subject has grown over the years… Perhaps it’s because I’m getting older and I now see the affect it has on my life. Or maybe it’s my increased consumption of The Daily Show, or the number of documentaries I’ve been getting from NetFlix (oh NetFlix… how I love you). Or, it could be the apparent act of god that allowed someone so inept to be voted into power TWICE. Whatever it is, I seem to be following US politics far more closely than I ever have.

I’m not a Democrat, Republican, Liberal or Conservative. I’m not fully left, nor am I fully right. I’m somewhere right in the middle… admittedly with a slight left lean. But describing my political orientation isn’t what interests me – It’s the sociological aspects of politics that keep me coming back for more. Quite frankly, I’m enamored with the administration’s ability to control the public, and appalled with the publics seeming inability to stop and question what it’s being fed.

How can massive groups of people have such blind faith in someone who clearly has no clue what he’s doing?

Why do so many people focus so intensely on “Support Our Troops!” instead of “Why Are We Fighting”?

How can people support a war that was clearly waged on lies, and why aren’t The Powers That Be being held responsible (I think the death of 30,000 Iraq people and 2,000 US Soldiers is a bit worse than, say, penetration with a cigar).

How can people so blindly believe what they see on TV, especially what it’s clearly not “Fair and Balanced®”

How can people not see the multiple conflicts of interest?

And so on… there are so many factors of human nature that fascinate me, and politics seems to be the vehicle at the moment. Remarkably, the closer I look at politics, the more similarities I see between it and organized religion. I’ve opened one can already, so there’s no need to open another… this topic will have to wait for another day. But don’t think it’s a coincidence that politics and religion are the two things you’re not supposed to talk about at the dinner table.

Anyway, getting back on track. This is by far the best news I’ve seen in a while:

Renewal of Patriot Act blocked in Senate
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, demanding increased protection of civil liberties, defied President George W. Bush on Friday and blocked legislation to renew the USA Patriot Act, a centerpiece of his war on terrorism.

What? How can this be? I thought this was for our own good? No?

Wait for it… I’m sure Fox News will be running this in the six o’clock news “US Senate Anti-American”.

Here’s to hoping we can actually stop the insanity, and get this country back on it’s feet.

So today was Jess’ first day at her new job. She’s a workin’ girl again. Welcome back, babe.

She’s working at an advertising agency called O’Leary and Partners in Newport Beach. I’ll let her fill you all in with the details, but I wanted to be the first to let everyone know how proud I am of her.

I love ya, and congratulations on landing this new job. I’m going to miss the lavishly cooked meals.

John Winston Lennon: October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980

So I’m back in North America again, and I’m happy to be back. I can honestly say that Hong Kong isn’t my cup of tea. While it was definitely interesting to visit, I’m not itching to go back. Perhaps I didn’t have enough time to visit more of the country, or maybe I needed a better guide book – but all in all, I wasn’t all that impressed. That said, here are some interesting observations.

1. The buildings are so tall and densely packed together, from the ground it actually feels like you’re walking around in one large indoor space. There was also a cloudy haze hanging low in the sky that defused the sunlight, making it feel like everything was lit from above by a single neon light. Yes, it was an odd feeling.
2. There are a lot of people there. To put it into perspective, you need to imagine that it’s the day before Christmas and everyone in the state of California is out trying to finish their Christmas shopping. At the same mall. At the same time. Walking in the same direction. Now, picture yourself at that very mall, trying to walk against the flow of people … and you stand about a foot taller than everyone else. That’s what it was like for me to walk down the street in Hong Kong.
3. Everyone seems to have a cellphone there – I know this because everyone hangs them on a string around their neck.
4. I saw 5 overweight people. Yes, I was counting.
5. Smoking is still very common there. In cabs, restaurants, hotel, busses… pretty much everywhere. You can’t avoid it. There’s a veritable atmosphere of cigarette smoke that lofted above the crowds – and being that I am at least a foot taller than most, I got to enjoy it firsthand. I now understand why a great number of people wear surgical masks. Actually, the best was when I saw a guy pull down his mask so he could light up a smoke. Classic.
6. Shopping appears to be the official pastime in Hong Kong. There are stores everywhere, and they were all packed with people. They don’t seem to have huge “shopping malls” as we know them here, but rather smaller “mini malls” – each with only a handful of stores. They do, however, make up the difference by having a different mini mall every other block.
7. The food is far more adventurous. I’m not sure what “bird nest” is, but it looked like a soup of sort. For dinner the first night, I had fish… but before it was presented on a plate, it was presented in a bag for my approval – flipping around violently, clearly pissed off that it was about to be steamed up. It doesn’t get fresher than that.
8. Hong Kong isn’t an architectural marvel. Sure, there are some interesting buildings there, but for the most part, it’s definitely quantity over quality.

So that was my trip. Hong Kong and back in 4 days.

So I’ve arrived safe and sound after my 15 hour flight. As the photo above reveals… I’m a bit tired. I’m going to stay up as late as possible in an attempt to get myself on HK time, even though my body is telling me it’s 6:30am and I should probably go to sleep.

It was a little touch and go when we arrived at the airport. We flew Cathay Pacific and apparently our tickets were booked as “employee class” tickets – which basically means we were standby. We get to the check-in counter, and of course our plane is getting close to the weight limit and they won’t know if we’d be able to board until everyone else has cleared. Everyone I spoke to said it wasn’t looking good, so I just assumed we weren’t making our flight. Luckily that didn’t happen, and we eventually got on.

While we were checking in, I had inquired if we could be moved to bulkhead seats, and unbeknownst to us, we were upgraded to business class. Sweet! You just can’t complain about free champagne, actual meals and a seat that fully reclines into a bed. I’m actually amazed how quickly the time passed – I ended up working for a good portion of the flight, watched a few movies and slept for a bit. It didn’t feel like 15 hours, that’s for sure.

So now I’m in Hong Kong. I’ve got a 2 hour presentation tomorrow at 2:30, and I’m free to explore until Sunday afternoon thereafter. I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do yet – I’ve got a guidebook and a few maps… that should be enough to get around. It looks as if the majority of signage is in English as well, so hopefully my exploration will be relatively painless. Regardless, you can expect to see a ton of photos when I return.

Speaking of which – Jess and I spent the Thanksgiving long weekend up in San Francisco. I managed to take 487 photos while we were there (thank god for digital photography) and have uploaded a bunch of them here if you’re interested.