Recent content by almon_IHB

back on the east coast, tipping is always a percentage of pre-tax amount. here the bills always go off the post-tax amount. is this a cali thing or the restaurant just trying to screw ya?

the night before my business trip to asia, my wife, kids and i were sitting in a chinese restaurant and i opened my fortune cookie: "You will find romance overseas." true story...

i need to remind myself to be thankful...paraphrasing the lyrics of the submarines: "Here I am with all the pleasures of the first world Laid out before me who am I to breakdown? Everyday I wake up,I choose Love I choose Light And I try, it?s too easy just to fall apart..."

Dicks is so way overpriced to begin with, i would still avoid it.

take the hydrofoil from hong kong to macau, soak up some colonial flavor

btw, i do not agree china is japan circa 1989. (1) different points on the export/consumption curve, (2) drastically different demographics trends. i believe japan f**ked up in the 90s, when it had several paths ahead and chose the status quo over and over; while china has only one good option...

lending in this way is proof that the chinese thinking and the obama thinking are alike -> spend your way out of a depression. don't economists often remind us that the great depression was washed away not by the new deal but by world war two (think of ww2 as massive govt spending via war bonds...

i try to think about the song "You, Me And The Bourgeoisie" by the Submarines every morning: "Here we are with all the pleasures of the first world Laid out for us who are we to breakdown? ..."

wow, thanks for answering...it's the type of situations that i would want my kids to be aware of (so they would appreciate what they have more), without actually seeing them in person. i was 12 when i left hong kong, so do not remember what neighborhoods surrounded the walled city. dumb...

I like the photo with Lion Mountain in the background...I grew up in North Point with the 8 of us in an 600 sq ft 3-bedroom (no typo) apartment in North Point Estate. My family always told me how lucky my sisters and I were, since the 7 of us (my little sister wasn't born yet) had moved from an...