Personal

Just as Mahjong helps elderly people prevent dementia, LeetCode keeps my mind sharp.

This is my confession – I overused spreadsheets for daily tasks.

Your display preference doesn’t always match the audience’s preference

2024 taught me the power of change.

Typhoon is a common phenomenon in Hong Kong, typically happening almost every summer. However, reaching Hurricane Signal no. 10 is a rare occurence. Recently, we had a chance to face such a severe situation. Last week, the weather forecast indicated that Typhoon Saola was approaching Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Observatory expected to hoist Gale or Storm Signal No. 8 at midnight last Friday. Everyone at the office was ready to have a work-from-home day the following day. ...

Time flies. Almost 30% of the year 2023 has passed. Do you still remember the resolutions you set at the beginning of this year? Are they still valid in your current situation? I was a recurve archer in the university team during my undergraduate years. As the regular training time conflicts with the rehearsal time of one of the orchestras, I gave up archery. Although that orchestra has been closed permanently for many years, I didn’t return to archery until 2 years ago. ...

Last September, my hairstylist told me he couldn’t serve me anymore because he partially lost his vision. Before meeting this hairstylist, I really had unwell experiences matching a hairstylist. I hate communicating with them. They threw me lots of unknown terminologies. Most results didn’t match my expectation. Having a hairstylist who had served me for 12 years, I didn’t want to find another replacement. Therefore, I decided to learn to cut my own hair. ...

The lockdown is coming to the final stage. Together with the economic downturn, many restaurants are gone. Many new restaurants are found. The city is now partially resumed. Even if you are willing to eat out, you will often find the meals become much more pricey. The meals are shrunk. In economics, it’s called shrinkflation. A few months ago, I went to a cafe for coffee beans. When I was queuing for checkout, I glanced at the meal order of a customer in front of me. 3 dishes of pasta with 3 drinks cost over $750. It didn’t make sense to me, given that some restaurants serve pasta with canned pasta sauce or, worse still, microwaved pasta. Why don’t I cook the same dish at home with a cost of perhaps 10 times less? ...