1st post...

Ok, so I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but figured there is enough demand from my friends to create one to keep track of me, instead of posting sparse updates on facebook. I don't expect more than a dozen readers to follow me on this journey, but who knows where it will take me, and I'd like to share it with my friends.

Before we begin, some background information that might be helpful:

• My Mandarin Chinese is good enough to get around, but still very elementary, but that's why I'm over here in Taiwan. To get fluency to the point where I can use it in practical business/political applications.
  
• I'm staying with my Dad in DanShui, just north of Taipei, about a 40 minute MRT ride from the Taipei Main Station.
• The unit is fairly small, but has two seperate sleeping areas
• My dad and I have not lived together in any extended capacity since I was 13, almost 17 years ago
  
• My dad likes playing the accordian
• My dad has a new girlfriend
  

Now that you have some basic info about me, let's begin with some things that have been going on since I got to Taiwan last Wednesday evening.

Thursday, February 4th:
I stayed home all day, partially because of jetlag, partially because I was feeling a bit sick. I guess all that packing/partying/traveling had finally caught up with me from the previous 5 days. Since I confined myself at home, I decided to try and figure out how to connect my laptop to my dad's internet connection in his home. I was desperate to watch Lost, and wanted to use my laptop instead of my dad's.

I can't really read any Chinese, so figuring out the connection stuff from my dad's computer was a no go. Instead, I decided to boot my Macbook Pro into the Windows 7 install I had from my desktop, which I transplanted onto a external HD connection. Bad Idea Jeans. This wasn't the smartest thing, as I hadn't done that before, and it caused my Mac OS X install to not properly boot up anymore. Throughout the rest of the day, I tried doing as much tech support as I knew how to try and get it working, to no avail. ***On a sidenote, I was able to download and watch Lost (thank you bittorrent!), since Hulu/ABC won't let me stream from Taiwan.*** I went to sleep around 7pm, defeated and tired, and didn't wake up until 7am the next morning.

I'll continue the rest of the following days tomorrow, but for now, I need to get some sleep for an acupuncture session I have to try and fix my back. Supposedly the guy I'm going to is a miracle worker, and always has people lined up to see him. Wish me luck!