Update 4/3/2009:
Another thing that can mess up a running iNap is alert from calendar event. If a calendar alert shows up on the lock screen and you slide to unlock the screen, this act will cause iNap to quit, switching to the Calendar app. As long as you do not unlock the screen, iNap remains active. I believe this should be the case as well when you get a text message with preview on.

After finding my destination, i was able to save it.

On the main iNap screen, i chose my destination.

There are about 10 sounds that i can choose from. I picked the “Fire Alarm” sound, as this was a sound that would have no problem waking me up. It is also possible to choose vibrate only.

As iPhone 2G has no GPS capability, i set the Alert Radius to 1 mile from my destination. Based on my experience with location feature of iPhone 2G, i can probably set the Alert Radius to be smaller.

The last thing i did was to set “Wake me up” to ON.

Either i was extremely tired or very trusting of iNap, almost immediately after i got on the bus, i fell asleep again. At about a mile from Seattle Center, iNap woke me up!

One caveat about using iNap is to turn off preview for text messages. If text message preview is on, it will disable iNap when you get a new text message.

Anyway, to save myself from embarrassment again, i had been thinking about writing a location-based iPhone app that will wake up me when it is near my destination. Because Apple does not allow third-party apps to multitask by running in background, it is impossible to create an Apple-approved app that will do what i want. I find it really retarded that the application has to be the active app on the iPhone in order to function properly. What happens if i get a call while the app is running? If i choose the pick up the call, the app is dead. I will have to relaunch it later. So i put off the idea of developing such an app on the iPhone, at least not until Apple changes it iron-fisted policy not permitting apps to run in background.

This week, i started taking the metro bus to work. Bus 30 takes me all the way from Queen Anne to 70th/Sand Point Way. It was a close call for me yesterday as i woke up less than two blocks away from my stop. I was not so lucky this morning. As usual, i fell asleep missing my stop and found myself waking up in an unfamiliar area. Turned out, metro bus 30 took me to the NOAA location for the Northwest region in Seattle, about 7 blocks away from my original stop. As the security guard boarded the bus to check for NOAA employee ID cards, i had to tell him that i missed my stop. So i walked in the rain for several blocks until i flagged down a bus.

Immediately after arriving at work, i decided that i really needed a location-based app on my iPhone. A little research on google pointed me to iNap, a basic iPhone app that pretty much does what i need. My original iPhone does not come with GPS so it uses cell-tower triangulation to determine my location and for most part, it has been quite accurate. So i purchased iNap, which costs $0.99. I will test it over the next few days to see how well it holds up in real life.

Scooter with a kid facing backward.

You can clearly see the kid sitting on a blue stool.

After using this hair dryer, your hair will not only be more “shining”, you can also slurp it up like a smoothy. (Seen in the lobby of a restaurant in Wuxi)

May be it is wise to consult a grammar book before putting this sign on all 20 shuttle carts? (Seen in one of the shuttle carts in Sanguo City, a studio created city)

Does one have to quack like a duck to eat at this “suack” bar? (Seen on the street of Suzhou)

I tasted the girly tomato and it was actually quite yummy. (Seen during breakfast at the Four Points Sheraton in Hangzhou)

The spell-checker must have been disabled on the day this sign was made. (Seen at the museum of beds in the town of Wuzhen)

China showcases its quatum leaps in space travel every two years at the Zhuhai aerospace show.

I’d like to see someone fly that self-propelled glider into the space.

As an appreciation for buying this wallet, the sales guy gave me a keychain, yes with yet another Chairman Mao’s face.

Father of communism in China in a plastic wrapper with a look-alike of the flag of the #1 exporter of capitalism. What a contrast!

airport –> hotel < –> work

The very first things i noticed after entering the bathroom in my room at the Fuzhou Lakeside Hotel were a few stacked packets of what i thought were condoms because of the large wordings in front of the packet that read “ONLY FOR MAN”. I was half right. The packet does contain a condom, as written across the top left corner of the packet in Chinese “comes with quality condom”, but i did not notice that until much later.

Flipping over to the back of the packet, and i kid you not, the exact description (including the original typos) is:

This product is specially designed for washing men’s genitals.

Ok, i have to admit that i was laughing so hard i almost dropped it into the toilet. This is no laughing matter because each packet of these genital-washing fluid costs RMB 10 (about USD 1.50).

As the pure Chinese medicinal preparation, it can quickly kill any kinds latent germs and pathgen.

I was kind of confused by what it is trying to say but on reading the Chinese portion of the description, apparently, they are trying to convey that “It is made purely with Chinese medicine. It can be used to kill germs, reduce itchiness, remove odor, moisturize and keep you healthy.” Ok, this is not so bad. But the next phrase completely floored me.

It’s suitable for using at home, on trip,or in swimming ,especially before or after sexual intercourse.

Wahahahahaha…….I totally lost it, laughing that is. Why would someone walk around at home with this applied all over his genitals? If your home is so unsanitary that you can contract STDs (i assume) just by walking around, may be having sexual intercourse should not be your highest priority. Gee, i can’t even go swimming without having to worry about what’s gonna happen to my ding dong? But fear not,

It can prevent any infectiousdiseases.

Holy cow! Take that all you wicked STD biyatches! What is that stuff made of anyway, concentrated sulphuric acid ??? What is this sizzling sound and a burning sensation that i am feeling now…In a bigger font at the bottom of the packet, this should allay any worries you have on losing a layer of your skin after applying this product:

No irritation to skin. Please use it at ease.

Now that is good to know. So how do i use it?

Directions: Use this product on and around the pudenda by massaging for 2-3 minutes, then rinse with clean water and wipe with a pasteurized wet towel .It can get a better effect to be used in bath.

What what what ??!! Pudenda? I have a pudenda ???!! According to the online Merriam Webter dictionary, pudenda is “the external genital organs of a human being and especially of a woman” and according to one of the definitions in the Urban Dictionary, it is also a slang for “Hot women, esp in large groups at social functions“. It made a lot more sense after i noticed a slightly different color but similar packet behind the first one i was looking at. This one is “ONLY FOR WOMAN”. The description at the back of the packet is exactly the same as the “ONLY FOR MAN”. The only difference is that it says “women’s genitals” instead of “men’s genitals”. It’s a relief knowing that i do not have a poon tang (Thanks to The Rock for letting me know about this phrase, and Eric – a former co-worker of mine – for shushing me and then explaining to me in a whisper what it meant after i yelled out to him at work “Hey Eric, what is poon tang pie?”).

Flipping back to the front of the packet on the “FOR MAN ONLY”, i noticed this at the bottom:

The 53rd of Miss World Final Appointed Products

What “Appointed Products”? It’s a little clearer after reading the Chinese part of it on top of the English one. It is trying to say “Official Product for the 53rd Miss World Pageant”. How does it help to sell it to men knowing that this product was applied to the pubes of all the female contestants (i assume all contestants in the Miss World Pageant are exclusively female)?

I wonder. Imagine the look on the poor bloke’s face whose air of invinsibility and immunity to STDs evaporated after going on a binge frequenting every known brothels in the neighborhood for a week and then wake up one morning to find rashes and what have you on his “frank and beans”. “It can prevent any infectiousdiseases” – please, the typo is a dead give-away.

Can’t wait to get home. Whistler here i come!