Stratovarius-Live concert in Taipei

January 2006
24 Taipei, Taiwan Taipei City Hall Family Theater
Yeah..what a great performance even thought the audience were waiting impatiently. Actually, the show didn't start until 8:30. I was almost sleepy at the moment. This is Stratovauius's first live concert in Taiwan/Taipei. "At first, I was kind of worried if they would play too many songs from their "disappointed new album", which I just took pains to finish it. To my surprise, they skillfully chose some of their master pieces, including the starter-hunting high and low, the fast speedy song "black diamond" and other old classics. Those songs did bring back a lot of memories.Timo Kotipelto's high-pitched voice still rocked the world!

TENNIS Magazine's 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era

This is a list of the 40 Greatest Tennis Players over the last 40 Years made up by TENNIS Magazine, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2005. Those with asterisks after their names were still actively competing at the time of the list's publication.

1. Pete Sampras United States
2. Martina Navratilova* Czechoslovakia/United States
3. Steffi Graf Germany
4. Chris Evert United States
5. Bjorn Borg Sweden
6. Margaret Court Australia
7. Jimmy Connors United States
8. Rod Laver Australia
9. Billie Jean King United States
10. Ivan Lendl Czechoslovakia/United States
11. John McEnroe United States
12. Andre Agassi* United States
13. Monica Seles* Yugoslavia/United States
14. Stefan Edberg Sweden
15. Mats Wilander Sweden
16. John Newcombe Australia
17. Serena Williams* United States
18. Boris Becker Germany
19. Roger Federer* Switzerland
20. Ken Rosewall Australia
21. Roy Emerson Australia
22. Martina Hingis* Switzerland
23. Evonne Goolagong Australia
24. Guillermo Vilas Argentina
25. Venus Williams* United States
26. Jim Courier United States
27. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario Spain
28. Ilie Nastase Romania
29. Lindsay Davenport* United States
30. Arthur Ashe United States
31. Justine Henin-Hardenne* Belgium
32. Tracy Austin United States
33. Hana Mandlikova Czechoslovakia/Australia
34. Lleyton Hewitt* Australia
35. Stan Smith United States
36. Jennifer Capriati* United States
37. Gustavo Kuerten* Brazil
38. Virginia Wade Great Britain
39. Patrick Rafter Australia
40. Gabriela Sabatini Argentina

Dream Theater 2006 Asian Tour

Sat Jan 21, 2006 Taipei, Taiwan Hsinchung Gymnasium

Kobe records the second highest single-game point total in history with 81 points.

TOP SINGLE-GAME SCORERS
1. Wilt Chamberlain, Phi. 3/2/62 N.Y. 100
2. Kobe Bryant, L.A.L. 1/22/06 TOR 81
3. Wilt Chamberlain, Phi. 12/8/61 (3OT) L.A.L. 78
4. Wilt Chamberlain, Phi. 1/13/62 Chi. 73
5. Wilt Chamberlain, S.F. 11/16/62 N.Y. 73
6. David Thompson, Den. 4/9/78 Det. 73
7. Wilt Chamberlain, S.F. 11/3/62 L.A.L. 72
8. Elgin Baylor, L.A.L. 11/15/60 N.Y. 71
9. David Robinson, S.A. 4/24/94 L.A.C. 71
10. Wilt Chamberlain, S.F. 3/10/63 Syr. 70

Thought of the day

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”~Joseph Addison
“You can never plan the future by the past.”~Edmund Burke

Shaq ends feud with Kobe

Listening to a legend-Shaq takes Russell's advice, ends feud with Kobe
One of the NBA's few interesting storylines came to an end on Monday night when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal made peace
(Posted: Tuesday January 17, 2006 10:10AM; Updated: Tuesday January 17, 2006 1:41PM)
Glad to know that Shaq and Kobe finally make peace with each other. What a smart move for Shaq! And that's what the spirits of great sports is all about: competitive on the court, but show some respects off the court. Indeed, there is no forever enemy/rival in a basketball game, for it's hard to say that one day your hater might become your teammate!

The mind of a millionaire

I took some tests on BBC's website today. The result of "What is your millionaire potential?" was as follows:
"Your score is: 15
You're in the middle group - score 9 - 16
You've got plenty of millionaire potential, but have some way to go if you want to be seriously rich. Are you prepared to make the necessary sacrifices? Can you be sufficiently dedicated - and do you want to be? Can you learn to use money more efficiently?"
(That means I currently don't have top-dollar millionaire potential, which I totally agree that. When I try hard to live balanced life, there must be something I can't concentrate on. So the big problem for me is that I don't have courage enough to make the necessary sacrifices. And most of the time is that I don't want to become what I don't want to be and also, I don't wanna give up something I've already own. Maybe the part of the reason is my personality type-according to the test I took on BBC.
Find out your personality type at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike
1.Search for meaning in their life and develop powerful insights
2.Are dedicated to helping others reach their potential
3.Think of themselves as gentle, peaceable and cautious
4.Others may find it difficult to get to know them
(Do I make a bad excuse again?)

And another test-to see if you can work your way to success.
The result is quite clear:
"I don't work like a millionaire."

Millionaire statistics
Revealing statistics from the Tulip Survey of self-made millionaires commissioned by Optomen Television:
On average they work more than a 60-hour week
Their biggest faults are being aggressive and abrasive
More than half come from poor or ordinary backgrounds
Most of them don't care what other people think of them
The majority said they were lazy or just very average at school
They prefer to drive Mercedes
Their favourite dish is roast beef or lamb
They say hard work has been crucial to their success
Almost all say they are happy with their life
Half spend less than £40 per head for dinner at a good restaurant
They prefer to buy quality cheaper clothes from high street chains
The majority spend more than £2500 each year on holidays for their family and they like to stay in five star hotels

(NO wonder I can't become a self-made millionaire.)

new year...

This "Dog" year begins with a bad start. I've got a cold right after the end of last year. The main part of the reason is the cost of having fun and staying up late for the year-end celebration. But somehow, I think, the trip to Taipei 101 building was still worthy. Just look at the the happy and exciting face of piggy, you know that every minute of the moment will become a good remembering memory.

Gee..it's 1/11 already,and I've seen two different doctors. The bad side effects of this cold is the terrible sleep at night while my constant stuffed nose occurs in the dead of midnight, which bothers Piggy a lot. Bad sleep can be also bad for the immune system. Daily work seems a long tiring torture especially when the stuffed nose cause mirgrain. Hopefully, this will end before sat, or attending to Alf's wedding ceremony will become a tiring event.