Kit Kai's Tech Blog

Next day, we woke up late... So we head off to the hotel restaurant for breakfast...

A sculpture at the water front

Then we head off walking along the harbour front, shopping. Yf Olde Curiosity Shop contains many interesting things, including mummies... Yup... mummies... Some cowboy was shot and was mummified... And there was a story about the other mummy too... but I didn't buy it, so I didn't even bothered to take pictures... ;p

But, I did however bought lots of pressed coins... Anyone want to guess?

My last trip, I made four, from the Experience Music Project... This time, as I went from place to place, there are lots of these machines... So much that I gave up making each and every design... As of now, I have bought 19 pressed coins!!!

Anyway, it's time to get on the habour cruise...

Leaving the habour

Space needle, on the right side is the newpaper office

Some grain loading or unloading operation... The structure is very old, as old as the space needle (if i remember correctly... :p)

Fishing boats

Canadian immigrants... They come over to feed on the fish to gain lots of weight and return to attract their mate...

Coast guard

Huge cranes that load and unload containers

More photos from the cruise can be seen here.

After the cruise, we went for our lunch... Actually we planned to be on the top of Space Needle before sunset. But the problem is, the sun goes to sleep so early... It's 4:30pm only, and the sun decided to go home... hence we stayed on, and I got this shot, which isn't very nice though... :(

Sunset at waterfront...

Later on, we just walk about at downtown seattle. There are teenages performing street dances, trying to get people's attention...

I also noticed horse carriages on the road... Later I found out that because it is holiday season, you are able to board them for $25!

Anyway, after a while, my colleague went back to the hotel. I continued walking around as I desperately need a pair of gloves before I go up to Space Needle.. Well, the reward I get for not going back early is... I get my gloves, AND I get to play XBOX 360!!! :)

After the underground tour, we were really very tired from the flight and the day's activities... We decided to head back to the hotel to rest... But darn, the roads are closed again, with a very bad jam! I was sitting in the car, dosing off every seconds, even though I'm supposed to be the navigator... Suddenly, FIREWORKS!!! Too bad, my hand wasn't steady... and the road we were on don't have a full view...

This was what I really wanted to see for this trip. I've read in tour books that they literally build the current city on the one that was burnt in the 1800s... I was expecting to see ruins, and ruins I see, but not quite what I've expected... Kind of disappointed...

Anyway, the tour started with a hilarious background information / history of Seattle...

Then, we broke up to four smaller groups, and Gill began to bring us around... Man, she is talented for this job.

I won't tell you exactly which building we went below...

Anyway, she started off with this old picture, explaining away all the historic details...

Then she showed us the remains of a toilet, lifted about a meter above the ground, because of the sewage that could be swept back by the tide...

A look at the abandoned ground floor

Now, we are moving off to the next site...

Take a look at this corridor... The wall on the left is actually the exteror wall of the building. The wall on the right is actually the retaining wall to prevent the soil that was used to raise the street level up from exerting any pressure on the building which would otherwise cause the building to collapse under pressure...

Here, Gill was role playing with us. Her hand was the puppet for the city authorities, while our hands were the merchants... What we were role playing? Pay the ticket... ;p

At yet another site, she was using the old picture to explain where we were and other stuff.

As we moved on, I found some abandoned furniture, in a huge abandoned basement (first floor)

Here, we were standing below a walkway with purple glass above us. She was explaining that the glass is purple because of the maganese added into the glass to make the glass clear in the first place... Ironic huh? The fun thing was, whenever someone walked above us, we shouted "HELP". She was saying, there was once someone actually bent down and see if he could help... ;p

At another site, Gill was showing us the old water system... The amazing thing is, the system was built using pipes made from wood!

As we are heading to the final destination, there were lots of big equipments, left over of an elevator as they argued over using hydralics elevators or pulley elevators... duh...

And soon we reach the gift shop...

Like what the title says, I think this place is pacific plaza. If not, it is one of the shopping malls nearby... We were hungry and cold, after watching the parade, so we went to look for foooooooood... Did I mention the food in seattle is superb? ;p Anyway, we were wondering around, looking for food along the streets. One thing was food was difficult to find, and we end up in Pacific Plaza. People crowded together at a few places in the shopping mall. Curisority got the better of me, and I started to walk towards the crowd. All of them were admiring the candy "structures" that was on display, something I would never see during thanksgiving in Singapore!

Don't really know how to describe them, except they are beautiful... AND delicious... ;p Take a look yourself.

On the top floor, there was a restaurant.

There, I had the most unique meal so far! On the plate, there are two, what you call that... portion? servings? Anyway, two of them... Each consist of two slices of cheese, each measuring about 10 cm. Inside was filled with lobster meat, and some other ingredient... When I bite, the meat was sooooo fresh and sweet... It's a big serving, and its too good to waste any of it...

Finally reached Red Lion hotel at 5th avenue... Check in was a breeze, and soon we were in our room on the 9th floor facing 5th avenue...

Looking out of the window to see if we have a nice view, we saw this and this.

I immediately grab my jacket and my camera and rushed downstairs... How can I missed this opportunity! The minute I step through the main door, I'm greeted with very cold wind and rain, but it aien't going to stop me... I spotted an empty space near the road, and my trigger happy finger started doing its work. I'm going to highlight some of my best or interesting shots (for my amateur standard). You can view the rest of the better shots here.

This guy decorated his instrument with a chimey...

One good shot.

Students doing stunts...

Another good shot.

Can our MPs do better than her? AND enjoying what she did?

One of the students gave me a Starbuck Holiday Blend.

This is the last shot I get to take... Nope, its not because its out of memory, or its out of battery. The next shot I snapped, the shutter remained open... I switched off the camera, and the shutter shuts. When I switched it on again, the shutter immediately opened. Immediately, I suspected that rain water render it a bit crazy... I ran up to my room and used hair dryer to see if I can dry the water... No luck... Soon, the parade ended, but my camera still dun work... Panic, I tried to access the internet, but I didn't know that even though the wireless is free, I have to go to the front desk to get an ID. Rushed down and up, searched the Internet, but it didn't help... I tried different ways, and it remains the same... After a while, I almost wanted to give up, but I tried switching on again for the last time... And it worked! Thank God man...

Anyway, enjoy the photos...

I was at in one of the electronics shop when more than 5 fire engines whizzed pass the store. Shoppers all wondered what happened, especially during this festive mood. I was hoping nothing bad happen...

After dinner (technically its supper, as it is already 10 pm) I was lazing on the bed. On the TV, the news is reporting about an accident that happen to the monorail... The train looks familiar, and then I realise, it is the monorail in Seattle!!! The red train hit the blue train at a turn... Both of them are stuck together now... Just last year, the train caught fire, and was closed for 7 months... Since then, the ride wasn't very smooth... Microlau, guess we should have took the train during the summit man... No idea whether it will reopen this time...

This flight was slightly more comfortable than my last, as I'm taking North West... It comes with more room space for my legs, AND on demand personal entertainment. However, the service was slightly less fantastic. The air crews are chatting away, and you can easily get away with not buckling your seat belts during take off or landing... ;p But if you have a need, they certainly will help you with a smile. That's what matters huh?

Anyway, during my flight to Narita, I saw this... which I of course took a snap with my trusty D70 (Spoke too fast... you'll know what happen in my next post.) See if what you are thinking is what I'm thinking... Do drop a comment... :)

This time, I went through the custom without any questions! Only after taking my prints and photo, before she started asking two questions! Which I can tell, its just for fun...

After taking the train to the main hall, I noticed this funny plane... Wonder which airline was that... ;p

After 16 hours in the air, I finally reached Tacoma. On our last trip, the three of us went to get ourselves a bottle of drink or a magazine, in order to get some small changes. All of us only have 100 bucks from the money changer... The casher wasn't happy to see the third person coming to buy a small item with a 100 dollar bill... But you know what? As I passed by the same shop, I noticed a machine... Money changing machine to get small change!!! Duh...

Soon, we get collected our car, and began to drive towards Ave. 5, where our hotel was... But something is wrong... Ave 5 near Pike street was closed. We got to turn left on Pine street. On Ave 6, I snapped this picture, and continue driving around. Very soon, we discovered that all the streets leading to our hotel was closed!!! We have no choice but to park at the next nearest car park, and make our way to the hotel.

When we checked-in into our room, I found out from my colleague that he made a mistake with the booking of flight. He booked a day earlier than usual, and we sure are glad he made that mistake... Why? Find out in my next entry... ;p

Today's flight is the first flight I ever had in my life till date that takes off with a heavy rain. The flight was delayed for about 10 min as the thunderstorm is directly above Changi Airport. Soon, the plane began to make its way to the start of the runway, and immediately set its engine to "full blast". As I look out of the window, the force of the air behind the engines literally blow dry the runway, and you get the similar water effect where the engine of a speedboat is, except that it is many many times larger. The rain drops soon began drawing horizontal lines on the window...

Blessed is me, cos I didn't really experience much turbulence again. :) Wanted to get some work done during the flight, but didn't have the mood. Just too excited to see Seattle again. ;)

In a few hours time, I will be bidding Singapore good bye as I would be heading off to Seattle for a workshop. I know that Seattle would be much colder than the last trip I had with other MVPs. Tristan Lim was sooooo kind to accompany me to get a winter clothing. I really hope I could see snow... ;)

Anyway, if you are able to get your hands dirty with Office 12 Beta 1, and have feedback which you would like the product team to hear, do drop me an email. I'll pass it on to the product team.

See ya in two weeks time!

I'm going to wear the dreaded green uniform for the next two days. Though it can be fun, reservist was never fun for me because my unit's organisational ability sucks big time. I could never forget the fact that by right, booking out time was the best time, but for my unit, it never failed to get my blood boiling. That's how bad my officers' organisational skills were.

I'll be the polar bear in this video tomorrow... :(

Exerpt from their tech support newsletter...

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K2.net 2003 Hotfix released on November 15 to support SPS SP2 and WSS SP2
A hotfix for K2.net 2003, to support the new SP2 Service Packs for WSS and SPS, is now available for download to customers and partners. It is recommended that all customers using SP2 for SPS or WSS install this new K2.net 2003 hotfix as soon as possible. Modifications in the Microsoft Service Packs do impact the K2.net 2003 SharePoint Event Templates and installation of the K2.net 2003 Hotfix is necessary.

The Hotfix is available in the Downloads section of the K2.net Customer and Partner Portal at http://portal.k2workflow.com.

K2.net 2003 Service Pack 3
Service Pack 3 (SP3) for K2.net 2003, due for release early in CYQ1 2006, will also fully support and be compatible with the Microsoft SPS SP2 and WSS SP2 releases. SP3 for K2.net 2003 will contain Active Directory updates made by Microsoft as well as other product improvements, like full support for SQL Server 2005 and VS.NET 2005. More information on product improvements and benefits of K2.net 2003 SP3 will be provided in subsequent Technical Bulletins.

Watch the video here... When we suffer because of system crashes, Microsoft employee suffers with us!

Extend or improve, whatever you call it, I just stumbled across this list of iFilters that you can install to allow Microsoft Indexing Server to index more files! There are Msg iFilters, Zip iFilter (which is not new), RAR iFilters, and even WMA / WMV iFilters! Check this out here!