After the fisherman's Wharf -The Revolving Restaurant

The revolving restaurant was fantastic!

Beautiful sunset, beautiful scenery, and beautiful view of the city!

Outside, waiting until the time of our reservation.

Scenery outside while waiting for our reservation.

The sunset behind the mountains is beautiful.
They had a mural outside and Keona is in front of it.

The view from inside the restaurant.
The photo insert is on the wall labeling rivers and different parts of the city
that are visible on that side.


Okay, turn it 90 degrees. That was how tall the restaurant was.

The elevator took us to the 120th floor. I think it is in meters. .. not quite sure.

at the Fisherman's Wharf With Nainai

The beach again... Danshui, Taipei, Taiwan

In the north of Taiwan city, Danshui.

Lover's Bridge (Valentine's Bridge)

On the Lover's Bridge

At the Ocean again

On a boat to get to the Old Road in Danshui.

First Time at the Ocean in Taiwan

The beach in Taizhong!

Daniel and Keona were digging for crabs and dug so deep! Keona shrunk!
Look how far the water goes up her calf!
Sunset... and wind blowing in Keona's eyes...

A small shrimp... we almost killed him

because he was out of the water for so long.

Sun Moon Lake, Taizhong

Abandoned Train, Taizhong

Taizhong Museum

chiang kai shek memorial

Pictures to come

Night Time

Daniel bought strawberries on a stick (and one tomato on the bottom) at the night market. Keona loved it! So sticky!

At the suspension bridge night market, we had dinner and bought a mango dessert.
Too much for Keona and I! Delicious nonetheless!

The bridge near the Suspension bridge at night.

Taipei Zoo

Today we went to the Taipei Zoo!
We saw Pandas, Kinkajous, Koalas, Monkeys, and many more animals!
We didn't even get halfway through the zoo, but will go again to go see some penguins.

Here is the koala....

And Keona looking like a Koala climbing on Daddy, no?

Taiwan University

The suspension bridge with flags.
Looking at beautiful orchids!

Keona with some pretty flowers at the University.

Carnival - Ferris Wheel

You can see how far the Taipei 101 is, and how high the ferris wheel is!
Keona riding on the Ferris Wheel.

Looking up at the ferris wheel from the ground! Whoa!

Keona in front of the ferris wheel!

Taipei 101

Keona with nainai


Photo at the 101 building!

Hair Clips - Keona

We bought hair clips for Keona - clips with the bow and a netting

with two bows to hold the hair in! So cute!

Traffic in Taipei

All of the mopeds lined up on the street.

Hardly any place to park if you have one!
Another picture with the mopeds parked.
Look behind the parked ones and you will see all of the drivers wearing their helmets waiting for the light to turn green.

In Taipei

We arrived safe and sound to Taipei, Taiwan on Thursday night, 10 p.m. ! Yay!
It was a long flight, and an hour drive back to home, but it was great to go to bed!!

Keona slept twice on the way to Tokyo, and slept the ENTIRE way from Tokyo to Taipei!

Still feel a bit jet-lagged and tired...

Hope to upload (more) pictures later today or tomorrow...

Fast Talk

So, I have purchased a package of magazines (I pay for 5 magazines at very low prices) and one day a few months ago I was receiving about 3 magazines per day (no joke). I thought, this can't be right. I was getting more magazines than I was paying for. Alas, the company said I was on their list of eligible customers to receive 8 for FREE! That's more than I am paying for. Apparently the magazine companies can charge more for the magazine with the more total circulation... So, what does this have anything to do with technology, you ask? Well, I received Fast Company (I never heard of, but am loving every issue of it!). In the May 2009 edition, there are about 10 pages of technologies that are in line with Kindle. "The Kindle is not the only way technology is changing--and saving?--book publishing." Among them are two that stand out:

1. Josh Hug, CEO and Cofounder of Shelfari, Seattle, WA. Adding a social component to reading books. So, there are conversations of what others are thinking, liking it or not, etc.
   
2. John Yoo, David Levithan, and Rachel Griffiths, The New Storytellers out of New York, NY. They created the children's series, The 39 Clues, weaving through 10 books, an online game, and trading cards. They reveal 10 clues in print and 29 online. They are interested in how kids deal with the virtual and the physical pieces. "The perceived gap between readers and gamers is just not that big." I want to find it!

The Digital Mom

Okay, so I was waiting in the doctor's office for Keona's wellness shots on Tuesday. I glanced at the magazines, primarily Pregnancy (which I am far beyond) but a title caught my eye from the May 2009 issue: The Digital Mom: 9 easy tech projects to brace yourself for baby (one for each month!).
So, Month 1 is low-tech - make a list of what you should and should not eat, print it out, and carry in your wallet. There are four websites to visit as well... So, combining information.
Month 2: Follow baby's in-utero development at whattoexpect.com, parents.com, and thecradle.com.
Month 3: pick your baby's name: thecradle.com/babynames/search (50,000+ baby names!), and nameberry.com.
Month 4: Join the blogosphere! Okay, so here it gets more ditigal - create a photo blog (typepad.com and blogger.com). Add a web gallery, and start a photostream on Flickr.com.
Month 5: Learn about new-mom resources in your area: themommiesnetwork.org, meetup.com, lilaguide.com, momslikeme.com, twittermoms.com, and yelp.com
Month 6: create a perfect playlist for your delivery! They say most hospitals won't let you use the plug-ins provided in the delivery room, but invest in the battery-powered iPod speaker docks.
Month7: Design personalized notes for baby gifts. Create Thank-You cards for use when you get baby stuff after delivery.
Month 8: Set up a high-speed labor notification system. This one is specifically using Twitter to update your loved ones when you go into labor.
Month 9: Create a newborn data tracker. Now that you have Twitter, you can write down when your baby eats, how often and what time they eat (so that you can accurately tell the pediatrician after lack of sleep!). Or print out a PDF file or iPhone app (trixietracker.com, $15/3 mo).

Facebook in Glamour

Glamour magazine, May 2009, has a snippet about Facebook and Your Love Life. They say that social networking may make you feel connected, but takes away from the in-person intimacy, says Gail Saltz, M.D., author of The Ripple Effect. Chatting with the opposite sex gives only an illusion of intimacy. The hormone released during affectionate touching, oxytocin, can be lost when destressing. That means that individuals who consistently destress on the comptuer will not feel as destressed in real life with their partner. The advice given: Enjoy the Web, don't live there.

So, in mainstream magazines dealing with personal health and relationship issues, this is starting to pop up. My prediction will be that in the coming months there will be articles published about the dangers of online intimacy and how it ruined some person's relationship in real life.