Journal lingqi's Journal: Sept 1, 2004 1
Sept 1st, 2004 (0:49am)
This week I had reserved to used the test system from the time slots 5am to 10am monday morning, because for some reason the customer trusts the TDS8000 oscilloscope and it would be darn near impossible to get that scope during normal hours. I have no idea why they really "NEED" the data to be taken with a 20GHz sampling scope, when there is a perfectly good 3GHz scope that is already much more than what the setup calls for - especially since this was probably going to be data that will take forever to take but the customer will just look at and toss aside. But that's a whole 'nother story.
Anyway, hoping that I was going to be able to get some sleep and knowing that I was not the kind of person to wakeup 4am on monday to head to work, I renounced sleep altogether sunday and got to the office at ~2am. I figured that if I can get everything finished in a few hours, I would still have enough time to crash in the employee rest-room for a few hours before everything started.
I readied all my necessary boards and scope probes and headed to the tester room - and from afar I noticed something astray: the tester room light was still on. This was not good, I wispered to myself: and when I got in and turned toward the tester, two guys was still working on it! They had probably been debugging that device for the whole day (sunday, mind you) now, and their eyes showed this. 2am. Sunday. Despite the disappointment, there was really nothing I can do - so I asked them politely to change the interface unit to the one I need when they are done, and went to wait and do trivial stuff before. It was a lot of waiting. Those guys were not done until 2 hours late, at 4am when the east had already shown signs of the impending sunrise.
Japanese sometimes really do live up to their workaholics name.
-- continues --
Actually the trip to okinawa becomes somewhat mundane from the sea-kayaking forth... We visited the "famous" Okinawa aquarium, and then sort of strolled by Naha.
The aquarium was like most other aquariums except that it had a gigantic tank in which whalesharks and some of the biggest Manta rays swam freely. It was marvelous. In one of the corridors through a corner of the tank, frequently a figure several meters across would swoop by above, casting an alien shadow, and dashes off into the distance silently and with grace. Neither of the two whale sharks were as big as the one with which we dived, but nonetheless they were the biggest creatures in the tank and they roamed majestically.
The most interesting thing came at aronud closing time. one by one the reef sharks found spots near the window (like a ledge) and stopped, as if they had put on the show for one day and are tired and wanted to get some rest. More followed, and they squeezed for space on those few ledges. I am not sure why the cementledge, maybe because it is flat so it does not poke the fish? Some manta rays decided to rest on the ledge above the aforementioned tube as well, their thin long tails drooping across the curvature of the tube haphazardly, like fallen powerlines scatted about.
maybe it's because outside the windows is full of human activity during the day that the fishes stay away from it? or that they were conditioned or calmed by the quietness that follows our departure? I can only guess. However it does call into question the morality of keeping aquariums if it keeps its inhabitants on such alert status during the visitation hours.
Naha was, frankly speaking, the most disappointing part of the visit. It is a tourist city so there are many souvineir shops. Especially along the famous street called "international street," shops abound selling glassware (famous in okinawa), seashells, and aged wine. Of course there are also many t-shirt sellers but those are so common that they need no mention.
Walking along international street is not an experience all that rewarding, though some of its products do deserve mention. First of all is the assortment of handmade glassware that are so frequently found in okinawa. The abundance does not seem to affect the price, however, as they are mostly quite expensive. Stores lined with glass shelves display assortments of cups, ashtrays, beer mugs, and all sorts decorative and useful glassware. Unlike crystals that we think of that are exemplary examples of geometry cut to precise perfection, these are liquid and have mostly have an organic form. Colourful, they also exhibit different patterns and each one unique, telling its own story of how the creator's shaped itself and made it into a functional piece of art that it is presented.
The aged wine is also somewhat unique in that it has maybe 40% alcohol content. Honestly speaking, while japanese are considered heavy drinkers, their wine are almost never so strong. The best sake is usually around 15-20% alcohol at most, and have a sweet flavor. The strongest japanese wine I saw in a wine-shop that i frequent is 22%. Hence, the okinawa wine is killer for most Japanese, i think. Okinawa also have these wine in the botton of which lies the carcass of a snake. This kind of underlines the significant cultural difference between the tiny island and the main lands of Japan, no wonder as okinawa really was its own country for the majority of history. It is amazing how deep cultural roots go and how it permeates through time, despite assimilations and conquering.
Naha was, however, not all disappointment.
Following the recommendation of the guide book, we looked for this restaurant that sold pork-feet soup. It was not easy to find and we looked all over for it, walking by the street on which it should appear back and forth under the hot sun. Maybe it closed? But this book is this year's edition, and the restaurant had been in business for so long, why would it close like so?
Actually we were quite sure it wasn't closed. From our experience having one's restaurant appear in one of these official guidebooks almost guarantees excellent revenue stream. The restaurant we tried in Saipan was terrible and almost every customer there was holding the same travel guide as we.
In anycase, after walking past some poor little shack for the 5 time, the tiny sign above the rain ledge was finally noticed. The sign was about the size of a shoe, and not even Ronald McDonald's shoe.
We slide open the door and was greeted by a small space within. Therein was four tables that could seat a maximum of maybe 6 people comfortably. However, it matched with the "rostaurant shot" in the guide book. They must have used some serious wide-angle to take that picture, because the real thing is three times smaller than what the picture leads you to believe.
The pork feet, was, however, excellent. The old man who owns the restaurant makes this special dish and was telling us how it is actually very similar to a german dish and what not, but all I really did was just eating. The pork feet had been boiled a long time and all the gelatin falls off from the bones and is succulent to chew. I ordered seconds, and a small pile of bones appeared next to my bowl, much like how the scatterd bones in a monsters lair are depicted in cartoons and on TV. The old man peeks at me happily and with amusement... I guess usually japansee people does not take his cooking with such adornment. After all most japanese I talk to thinks that eating pigs feet is quite nasty. Their loss...
Their loss. (Score:2)