Posted on 5 February 2010 @ 15:16 in Stress Busters
As I write this, FedEx Panda Express is less than two hours from its destination at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. On board are two VIPs (very important pandas) – Tai Shan, a 4½ year old giant panda male sub-adult from the National Zoo, Washington, DC, and Mei Lan, a 3½ year old giant panda female sub-adult from Zoo Atlanta in Georgia.
Mei Lan’s final destination is the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre, while Tai Shan’s another 2½ hours away at the Bifengxia Panda Base.
Both were born in the United States, but under the panda loan agreements signed by their respective zoos, they have to return to China after they turned 2. Tai Shan’s already had his time in the States extended by 2 years, and Mei Lan’s was possibly delayed by the May 12 earthquake in 2008.
For me, their return to China is actually good news as they will be closer to me and easier for me to visit. We are now in the same continent (hence the title of this blog post, because they’re almost here … well, okay, they’re already in Asian air space, but I digress).
For my panda pals in the States, especially the ones in the DC area, it’s a different story. Many of them have known Tai Shan since the day he was born, and some of them have visited the zoo almost every weekend, and possibly public holidays, to see him and his parents. With his return, many of them will never see him again.
The farewells began in early January, with a 4½ birthday party for Tai Shan on 9 January (he was born on 9 July 2005), and officially ended with another party on 30 January. It was on that day, or maybe a day earlier, that the Zoo announced his departure date. It was only 4 days away! The Zoo also announced his last public viewing day would be Wednesday, 3 February. Many of my friends made it a point to visit him as much as possible on those remaining days.
The travel itinerary included flying FedEx Panda Express to Atlanta, Georgia, to pick up Mei Lan, and then continuing to Washington, DC, to pick up Tai Shan.
Due to his immense celebrity status in the DC area, the Washington Post provided “live” online coverage of the departure from the Zoo, which included a police escort to the airport. I hadn’t planned on watching, but I did. I was also “chatting” with my panda pals on the Pandas Unlimited forum. Pandas Unlimited, which was started in 2006 on the Flickr site to share all things pandas, has evolved to become Tai Shan’s fan club.
I started watching after he’d been moved into his transport carrier. But I saw the carrier being loaded on the FedEx truck and the truck driving off to go to Dulles International Airport. There were close-ups of him in the transport carrier, and I was impressed by how calm he was. The National Zoo’s panda team had trained him well. Of course, it also helped that there were lots of treats to keep him occupied. Food is always so comforting, especially when you’re travelling.
With the FedEx truck pulling out of the Zoo, the Washington Post “live” coverage ended but picked up about 45 minutes later at the airport. By now, one of the PU members had discovered that CNN was also covering the departure from the airport “live” on its website. I continued watching on CNN for the rest of the “live” coverage.
Emotions ran very high on the PU forum. Many of my pals were distraught over his departure, and were comforted that the forum provided a place with others who understood and did not laugh at them.
I found myself affected by the coverage and the discussion on the forum. It really was so emotional. Even after the plane took off (the moment the front wheels lifted off the ground will always remain in my mind), my pals hung around to chat and share about their memories of Tai Shan. Then someone posted that they saw in an online news article that we’d lost the adoption bid for Tai Shan.
Soon after the announcement that Tai Shan would be leaving for China, the group had decided to adopt him through Pandas International. In less than a week, group members had donated sufficient funds for a one-year exclusive adoption (US$5,000/-). By the time of his departure yesterday, the group had raised more than US$15,000/- for three years’ exclusive adoption. The group admin team has been talking to Pandas International on the possibility of a lifetime adoption (US$50,000/-) and seeking a timeline to complete the collection of the necessary funds. But always, at the back of our minds, we knew a big corporation can adopt him for life. And now one has.
So on top of his departure, here was the disappointment that we wouldn’t get to adopt Tai Shan. Fortunately, there’s a Plan B. The funds collected will be used towards some form of enrichment for Tai Shan at his new home.
And now the plane’s about an hour away from Chengdu. I’m getting goosebumps on my arms!
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Posted on 29 January 2010 @ 12:37 in Gadgets, Health
Except in this case, it wouldn’t have helped. The manufacturer had expected the buyers to buy the complete kit, so that everything would work together.
About a week ago, I’d bought a Nike+ Sportband to help with my morning walks. While it won’t help me walk better or more often, it is a cool gadget that’s a few steps up from my previous pedometer and handphone.
The Sportband is one part of a two-piece kit that is worn on the wrist and has a detachable electronic counter (like a pendrive). The other part of the kit is a tiny sensor (Nazley describes it as the height of a stack of three 50 sen coins) which goes inside one of the shoes. After calibration, the sensor communicates information to the counter on the wrist (the most important being distance) which is unplugged after each workout and plugged into the computer to send the information to the Nike Running site where the user has previously set up an account.
There is actually a third part to the two-piece kit. Actually, it’s more like an accessory. It’s a pair of Nike+ shoes that has a slot in the inside sole of one of the shoes to place the sensor during workout.
Before buying, I’d checked with my cousin’s son who has been using the gadget for a while. He said the shoes were not compulsory, the sensor works fine with any workout shoes, just slip it inside one of the shoes. And that was where the problem laid.
Because Nike expected everyone to buy the special Nike+ shoes to complete the kit, they did not include information on how to place the sensor inside a regular pair of shoes. The first time I used the Sportband and sensor, it showed I’d walked a measly 0.34 km. I knew that was not right, as I’d previously mapped the route online and saw that it was 0.7km, which I walk 4 times. The second time was even worse – 0.02km!!
Had I purchased a faulty sensor?
So I went to the Nike forums and did a search. And found that I was not the only user with a “faulty” sensor. I found that it was not the sensor that was faulty. The problem was in the way the sensor is placed in the shoe.
Apparently, this was a problem Nike had not anticipated because someone from Nike participated in one of the discussions (yes, there was more than one discussion) at the Nike forums and helped to figure out what was wrong.
This is how the sensor should be placed in a non Nike+ shoe:
parallel to the road and face up, with the Nike Swoosh logo “facing the sky”
I’m guessing that this placement problem never came up with the proper Nike+ shoes. I’m guessing if a user had placed the sensor “upside down” in the slot, it would not have been a perfect fit, so the user would’ve simply taken it out and placed it correctly. After all, there are only two ways to place the sensor in the slot – the logo side facing upward or inside the slot.
So, after finding the solution on the Nike forums, I placed the sensor correctly this morning and recalibrated it with the recommended 0.4km walk. I then did my usual walk and was glad to see the distance toting up nicely as I walked. By the end of my walk, the distance shown was an encouraging 3.94km.
To stop the sensor from slipping and sliding inside the sock, I’d placed a bit of Blu Tack on the bottom of the sensor and stuck it to the top of my right foot before putting on the sock.
No more problems. Well, not exactly. I’d like to get a holder for the sensor. Nazley has a DIY holder, but I’m a lousy DIYer so I googled and found various products. All well and good, except they’re not available in Malaysia. I know, because I’d gone into four sports shops (including Nike Women) at a shopping mall to ask, and all I got in return were funny stares like I’m not from this planet.
Now I need to figure out how to get one from the States.
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Posted on 19 January 2010 @ 21:44 in Stress Busters
Wolong Panda Centre
12 September 2007
During my first panda volunteer trip – Wolong in September 2007 – I had gone into the Kindergarten Yard 1 to meet my adopted panda cub, Yoong Ping aka Feng Yi*. After playing with her (more like chasing her and trying to get her to pay some attention to me), I was told my visit was over. I asked to have my picture taken with her. This was an “official” portrait taken on a bench, either side-by-side with the cub, or with the cub on my lap. I’d seen such pictures on flickr and wanted one with her, even though there were already all these “play” pictures of me trying to hold onto her while she tried to crawl or run from me.
I was told I couldn’t have that “official” portrait with her because she was not allowed to leave the yard. I was told if she was let out, she would continue to crawl away from the door, resist all attempts to stop her, and literally not look back. Instead, I was offered another cub to sit on the bench with me.
This other cub, named Lang Lang, was the exact opposite of my adopted cub. While she had kept trying to crawl away from me, he just sat next to me on the bench, hardly moving except for his paw and mouth. What kept him quiet was the piece of wowotou (special steamed bread made with a mix of flour, including bamboo, and other nutrients) in his paw that he kept putting in his mouth. He just sat there, munching and dropping crumbs all over his belly while I cuddled him, played with his ears and even held his paws. This close-up of my gloved hands cupping his paw came out of that photo session.
*I’d named her Yoong Ping in memory of my parents and niece, while her official name is Feng Yi. Read more about my first visit with her here.
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Posted on 17 January 2010 @ 15:07 in Family
Usually, whenever I visit mother, she would either be in bed, or in her easy chair right beside the sliding door. I would walk right up to her, put my face close to her and say hello. Sometimes, if I spoke slowly and clearly, she would respond. I would touch her hand, caress her face, and feel happy that she does not pull her hand away. That, to me, is a sign that she recognises me.
It was a little different during my first Saturday visit of the new year with her. I’d arrived a little late. She had already had tea and was sitting in a wheelchair in the living room, with my sister on the sofa next to her. The sliding door was wide open, and I stood there for a short while, looking at her. My sister was looking at her, too, for some reaction.
Mother was looking in my direction. She looked like she saw me. She looked like she recognised me because, as she sat looking at me, she kept looking at me, and a big smile came on her face.
Wow, what a wonderful new year present from mother! Even my sister was happily surprised.
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Posted on 10 January 2010 @ 14:28 in Notebooks
I finally wrote in my 2010 planner (a “converted” large Quo Vadis Habana notebook). I mean with ink. Before this, I was using a pencil to write in the planner.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to use this for the rest of the year. I found myself thinking I’m glad I only marked up the first three months of weekly pages. I’ve been feeling intimidated by its smooth white pages. I also didn’t much care for the size (I liked it initially, equating bigger size with more space to write in) which I have found hard to “grab and run”. There was also the rubbery cover that I still haven’t got used to. (Confession – I found myself missing the Moleskine’s rough cover and rough, off-white pages, so I took out a previous year’s M home-made planner to hold and caress.) Plus I’m still not used to the too big space between the lines.
I’d earlier personalised the cover with a sticker.
I guess it wasn’t enough.
But now it’s all good. I’m keeping the 2010 planner to use for the rest of the year. The change came when I broke the surface of the first set of weekly pages with ink. The previous pencil markings were tentative (and timid) attempts at claiming ownership. Now, I own my 2010 planner. I’m not intimidated by its white pages anymore.
Here are the two pages for the current week (4 – 10 January 2010).
The weekly layout is the change I mentioned in a previous post.
Reviewing the above week also helped me work out the process of using the pages from now on.
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Looking forward, items will be pencilled in on the right “notes” page of the relevant week |
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If there’s a date to an item, it will be pencilled into the relevant page slot on the left “planner” page |
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During the weekly review, ink will be used to write in comments (completed, next action, etc.) |
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As with previous years’ planners, different coloured inks will be used for the different areas of my life (purple – personal, blue – work, brown – family, red – ultra important, etc.) |
I’m glad I got the usability problem sorted out within the first full week of the year.
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