You guys are probably aware of the quake in Taiwan, but just in case you've been living under a rock, here's the gist of it:

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/27/apworld/20061227133451&sec=apworld

Basically, (for at least 3 weeks? hearsay) 'net access is utter bollocks outside of each country affected. I tried. Local sites work fine. Once you step out, though (webmail, IMs, google, forums, hell- anything), packet loss 100%, timeouts up the wazoo. I'm only here because the congestion on the alternate routes apparently eases up occasionally (translation: you get lucky). I'll probably not be posting anything else here for quite some time.

Not that I care if anyone cares, but I have... jobs... here and there and in case you're a project leader wondering where I am, here's your answer. Not much of one, but hey, I can't even open gmail so how the hell am I going to know about, let alone respond to, any mail I get.

It's close to new year's anyway, there are things that need to be done around the house. I got my security cam net running finally, w00p. Now I can monitor the area around my apartment 24/7 lol. Might put up a screenshot someday if I feel like it. Not that security is bad here (it's a gated apartment community), but anything extra is always good. We sprung for the solar garden lights a couple years back, and it was great - the perimeter is lit year-round at zero cost. Even the naysayers now are happy with it - there aren't ANY dark, hidden approaches to the place. Sure, you could probably scale the trees over from the residential housing side where we don't have lights, but that's a sheer 2-storey drop to the mini-valley garden - and there are lights down there as well. Not to mention the residential area itself is pretty well lit, and a lot of the houses there have dogs.

Plus, you don't need lights smack bang in front of your windows, which usually merely serve to dazzle the occupants and act as beacons for intruders. Think about it: what good is a light under your window doing? At best you get a couple meters' illumination - the far reaches of your garden are still dark and shadowy. On the other hand, intruders from far away get to see your place in sharp definition. However, a brightly-lit perimeter means that we the occupants see everything right up to the edge nice and clear, while we ourselves aren't blinded by it (plus it's not easy to sleep if there's a light right outside).

Oh well. See you guys in a couple' weeks. Unless I feel like making an attempt at posting here despite the awful lag.