This past weekend was my first weekend alone in Taiwan, and I had no idea what to do ("What ever should I do?", said little Kevin).

Saturday, I took the Speedster out for a spin. Just 10 minutes down the road, there was a Nova, a building of small and mid-sized boutiques selling consumer electronics, mainly computer products, MP3 players, and digital cameras. I shopped around looking at the odd this and that, compared a few prices, and such was my day. In the evening, I made the choice to go to a McDonald's not 5 minutes ride from home. I got a Spicy Chicken meal, and as the documentary recommended, I "Supersized" it for about 20 cents CAD. Along with me, I brought a book by Timothy Ferris, "The Mind's Sky: Human Intelligence in a Cosmic Context", a book that was awarded to me in Grade 12 for excellence in Mathematics (yippee). For some reason, I never cared to read it, so there it sat on my bookshelf until one day I decided to move to Taiwan. Anyway, I stayed in the cool air-conditioned climate of America's top fast-food restaurant for two hours while kids banged away at the bright yellow, red, and blue plastic playground. And such was my day.

Sunday, I rode off on my Road-Warrior to Hsinchu City, a city as boring as it is old and ugly. Haha, well, it's not quite so bad. Downtown is much like any part of Taipei, less the cleansiness - with every street lined with shops and/or restaurants. I spent a good three, four hours walking the streets, window shopping, and consulting my map. In one particular bookstore, I saw the biggest spider I had ever seen in person and non-captive. The body was roughly an inch long, and about as wide as a quarter (Canadian, not US) and each leg extended roughly 2 inches out. Holding my left leg from shaking, I kept my cool. Anyway, there was no reason to fear it since it appeared slightly injured (or drunk) as it stumble across the bookstore floor before being BASHED with a broom and brushed away for disposal. Anyway, big spider. I ended my Sunday with a trip to Chung Hwa nightmarket and with a little more reading.

I started my four-week weekly Verilog course Monday evening, and it was a pretty barable 3 hour crunch of information. The professor seems very well qualified, having worked at GTE, AT&T Bell Labs, and then becoming a professor and doing consulting. With the Powerpoint slides all in English, it wasn't hard to follow the Mandarin lecture. He says "Exclusive OR" as "Excusi OR"... teehee... reminds me of EuroTrip. Anyway, I digress. I finished Ferris's book last night, and decided that while he brings up some interesting points, it's mainly a book of ramblings - as he admits right at the start.

Okay, lunch is over.