LIN WANG(林旺), A LEGEND OF TAIPEI ZOO

(the model of Lin Wang)
(Lin Wang, an Asian elephant died at age of 86)
(Lin Wang, photo taken on March 10, 2002)

I have not been to Taipei Zoo for a while even though it is not far away from my home. Today was quite a nice day for going out, so I went to Taipei Zoo again. The most impressive thing is seeing the model of Lin Wang; he is a legend of Taipei Zoo.

Lin Wang was captured by Chinese army from Japanese army in Burma in 1942. After WW II, Lin Wang took a long journey with army back to China, then moved to Taiwan in 1947. In 1954, General Sun Li Ren decided to give Lin Wang to Taipei Zoo instead of keeping him in army; that made the start of Lin Wang's life in Taipei Zoo.

Lin Wang was always the most popular star and a part of most people's memory (of course a part of mine) until he died at age of 86 on Feb. 26, 2003. To remember this legend and super star, Taipei Zoo spent 14 months to make the model of Lin Wang and to bring it back to be a part of this zoo again.

A GIFT FROM MY BROTHER-IN-LAW AND SISTER-IN-LAW

(cockpit in detail)

I got a gift from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law; it is a classic Ferrari Le Mans racing model car from ixo. They bought this model for me when they visited Italy this year.

When I knew them, they were just little kids at age 7 and 6, and now they are college students. During their exchange student life in Europe this year, they found a nice shop selling the collector model cars, so they decided to buy one for me. It is so nice to feel their thoughtfulness and I really enjoy having this model car with everything in detail.

TAIWAN HIGH SPEED RAIL

(THSR 700T at Taichung Station)
(700T leaving Taichung Station; red light on tail car)

Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is a great achievement in Taiwan's history; making the traveling in Taiwan more efficient. It is my second time to take THSR for business purpose; I like it because it can save me 50% of traveling time than ever.

In fact, I have some kind of connection with THSR, because the company of my previous job was the contractor of some of THSR's core electronic systems, such as data transmission, telephone and clock. Though these systems had some delay during test, now they work fine and give no trouble to THSR. I am proud of my previous colleagues who were working for this project; it was really a disaster and big challenge to them.

A YOUNG F1 DRIVER, SEBASTIAN VETTEL

(Sebastian Vettel interviewed at BMW booth during Malaysian F1 GP 2007)

Last week during the wet race of Japanese F1 GP, Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Toro Rosso crashed into the car of Red Bull's Mark Webber when safety car was leading the race. This made both of them lost the chance to be on the podium. Although both of them said it caused by Hamilton's weird driving style, FIA did not give Hamilton any penalty. Here is the interview of Sebastian on F1 official web site.

Sebastian is another rookie in F1 race this year, the replacement of Scott Speed of Toro Rosso. When I saw him in Malaysia this year, he was still a test driver of Sauber BMW and looked like a kid from your neighborhood. Now he has approved he is a qualified racer after few races. I think he has the potential becoming another good driver in a short term.

FARM LIFE IN OLYMPIA, WA

(the house on the farm)
(horse "Cola" and cows)
(a calf with a funny face, became tasty burger later)
(a new borned calf)
(Tobby and Trooper)

After graduated from GC, I moved to Olympia, WA. to live with my female cousin's family and study in Saint Martin's College (now the Saint Martin's University) for MBA program. Because my cousin and my cousin-in-law bought a quite big land to build their own house, warehouse for their business, and had a farm for fun. At that time, they had 4 horses (sold 3 later), around 10 cows, several chickens, and 2 dogs.

It was quite an interesting experience for me to have this kind living environment. So besides going school, working at the warehouse, I also took care of these animals. It was fun to take care of these animals. The horse "Cola" was my favorite; he liked to follow me behind or kicked the warehouse to remind me bringing he dinner. Of course, I rode him sometimes.

I also could not forget the calf with a clown face. Cousin-in-law asked me to offer it better feed for few months, then had it butchered during Christmas time in 1994. We spent almost one year to finish all the beef. That was the best burger I had ever had!