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March 25, 2005
Tea in the US
I've finally run out of teas at my place to review. So, that means a load of tea buying is going to occur soon. I noticed that Stephane in Taipei read some of my reviews and had the following comment:
... you can see that in the US people almost exclusively buy branded teas... and are willing to pay good prices for few tea leaves.
That's an interesting observation, but speaking from experience as someone who lives in the US, I can say that Stephane's observation is only partially true. Sure, Americans buy mostly branded teas. By 'branded' I'm assuming Stephane means tea that's distributed by larger franchises. However, I think the number of people 'willing to pay good prices for a few tea leaves' is not that high. Let me go into more details on both of those observations...
Undoubtably, coffee is much more popular than tea in the US. Just go into a Starbucks, and you'll see that the ratio of folks ordering coffee over tea is quite high. It almost seems like tea is supplied as an afterthought at more coffeehouses. Don't even get me started about teahouses - there are not nearly enough of them.
Now, knowing what I said in the previous paragraph, you can see why there are almost no 'unbranded' teas being sold. How could someone hope to open a mom-and-pop tea shop selling generic teas around here and do a brisk business when many folks who think of drinking tea will just go to Starbucks? I'll bet in Taiwan, tea shops are plentiful. The last time I was in Taiwan, I didn't check for tea shops, so don't quote me on that.
I think many folks in the US have rather low expectations for tea. That is to say, tea connoisseurs are rare. Here, I routinely see folks order their 'venti, skim, caramel mocha with no whipped cream', but couldn't tell you the difference between black and green tea. Whereas coffee is more of a way of life here, tea is a cyclic fad. 'Quick! Buy some tea, I hear it has antioxidants!'
I think I only know a few people who are as interested in drinking tea as I am. These are people who like tea for its own sake and care very little about its health benefits. It's a lot of fun to talk to these friends about tea. These are also the only people I know who are willing to drop some dough on good tea. So, going back to Stephane's obsrvation about people in the US spending serious money on tea: I wish that was true, but it's not. If it was true, then perhaps we'll see more generic family-run tea shops popping up to compete with the larger distributors.
Posted by Kathy at 11:15 PM | Permalink
March 22, 2005
Where Will You Be On Yuri's Night?
Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut, was the first person in space. Space fans all over the world celebrate Yuri's flight anniversary on April 12. I don't know how long this has been going on, but I just heard about this event this year. The slogan for Yuri's night publicity campaign is 'Where Will You Be on Yuri's Night?'. I thought this was cute and kind of catchy. I know where I will be - celebrating Yuri's Night with a bunch of space fans in Washington DC, most likely. The link to Yuri's Night website is here.
Posted by Kathy at 09:54 PM | Permalink
March 20, 2005
More World of Warcraft
OK, so now I've played enough WoW to really have some comments about the gameplay. First of all, I think WoW is a great MMORPG. Compared to Star Wars Galaxies, it's actually a better game playing experience.
This is because SWG's environment rendering isn't as rich. For example, when running through Tatooine, the scenery was so ho-hum at times. Except for the occasional tumbleweed that pops up, I would sometimes see no creatures or buildings at all. The WoW environment is richly rendered. There's almost always some sort of creature camp or another off to the side of the main roads. There's also mining and herbalism things to gather as well. Granted, I wish that different items would be available depending on which city I'm in. For example, there should be different recipes in different cities, which would give me something to look forward to. There's just too much of the same items. I was pretty excited when a new area yielded new fish while fishing yesterday.
Oh the other hand, I thought SWG was far better at preventing leakage of game environment objects into eBay. Really, the fact that there are people who sell items from MMORPGs to others is not new. It's especially notable in EverQuest, so I've heard. However, I'm a big proponent of keeping gaming objects purely in the gaming world, and this 'outside trading' irks me to some degree.
I'm noting this because I heard that there are players who 'farm' high level areas in WoW, and make a lot of game currency in the form of gold pieces. They then turn around and sell those virtual gold pieces on eBay to other players that cannot wait to make their own living in the game. I've heard that most of the offenders who sell the gold pieces are based out of the People's Republic of China.
There are a couple of things I think that can be done to prevent this from happening. The servers are linked to the origin of the game. If you buy the game from the US, you will only be able to link to a US server. So, the answer isn't to separate the servers by country - that's already happening. What players are actually doing is buying copies of the game from say, the US, and logging into a US server to 'farm' for lucrative objects. There's probably a way for Blizzard to monitor and correlate actions of the players such that those people can be caught. For example, if some number of players team up constantly in a high level area, use macros all the time, then sell in the auction house, then a flag might be raised. However, I think this correlation would be a non-trivial task.
Another thing that might help remedy the situation is if prices were not so ludicrous in WoW. For example, buying a mount requires 80 gold. This is assuming that the player has already reached level 40 proficiency. First of all, reaching level 40 isn't that easy. It'll probably take me about two months to reach level 40, playing several nights a week, and at least one weekend day. I'm almost level 20 in the game now, with the mage, and still only have 5 gold pieces. As you can see, it will be a looong time before I get 80 gold pieces. So, I think 80 gold pieces for a mount is completely ridiculous.
To be fair, Blizzard has actually revoked accounts of those who are suspected to be 'farming' high paying areas in the game. Players who get quests to kill certain creatures would show up in the area and never have the chance because of these people who would squat there constantly. There were enough complaints that Blizzard decided to do something. But, who knows if the owners of the revoked accounts can just go buy another copy of the game?
Anyhow, that's my $0.02 for WoW so far. Great game, but needs some trimming.
Posted by Kathy at 08:55 PM | Permalink
March 15, 2005
What's Going On?
Still having a lot of fun playing World of Warcraft. I even have a new second character now. She's a human mage, and totally kicks butt. I'm going to level her up to be a fire/arcane spells mage so she can do maximum damage during combat. I created her to be very, very attractive, and am amazed as to how many comments I get from other players in WoW. For example, one male dwarf said 'Well well well, check out the hot hot hot human'. Haha. That's the beauty of MMPOGs. For all he knew, I could have been a big hairy guy in real life playing that character. Of course, I'm always somehow AFK when those comments come along.
On the other hand, I'm also preparing to give talks at two conferences in early April, so it's not all fun and games all the time. Both conferences are in early April, and are back-to-back. Whew! I will be presenting on Rider Worms and Honeyclients at GFIRST, and CUTLASS at NotACon. It'll be great to talk to other folks at the conferences. I'm looking forward to being there. If you're going to be at those conferences, give me a shout.
Posted by Kathy at 05:50 PM | Permalink
March 07, 2005
World of Warcraft
Yes, I started playing World of Warcraft recently. Since I used to play Warcraft III online, it seemed inevitable that I would play WoW as well. Let me tell you, WoW is awesome. I am playing as a night elf druid named Kerwinde. The night elf realm of Teldrassil is stunningly gorgeous. I am playing single for now, until I reach level 12, at which point, I will be joining up with some friends and playing in a group. I can't wait to get a mount and be able to shapeshift! I highly recommend this game.
Posted by Kathy at 10:20 PM | Permalink
March 04, 2005
My Officemate is a Pilot
I share an office at work with a cool guy who happens to be a pilot. I've been thinking about getting a pilot's license lately, so when I mentioned this to him, he kindly invited me along for a flight. Today was a good day to fly, so that's what we did.
Now, I'll admit that I was a bit nervous before we even got to the airport, but surprisingly, that nervousness went away by the time we finished the pre-flight plane inspection. I think it was his attention to detail and meticulousness in following the procedures that made me feel safer. We were flying in a Piper Archer II, in case you're wondering.
Anyhow, all things considered, I got to try my hand at flying the plane! Not taking off or landing, mind you, just doing some simple turns. That part was so cool that I don't even know how to convey that here in a mere blog. Before the flight, I was thinking that I'm asked to try out the controls, I would panic and send us in a huge dive down to the ground. When I actually took the controls, though, I was so totally calm that I surprised myself. This is a good thing.
How did controlling the plane feel? Well, kind of surreal. I felt a bit disoriented, trying to look at both the gauges and the ground below us at the same time. In a way, the plane fought my control a lot less than I expected it would, but in another way, it fought more than I expected too. I know that sounds confusing, but you'd really have to try it to know what I'm talking about. I was impressed by how my officemate communicated with the traffic controls people. He sounded so professional that I'm glad he didn't ask me to say anything to them. Haha.
Part of getting a pilot's license is being able to do solo flights. Before today, that prospect scared my very much. I'm glad to say that I feel a lot less anxious about that now that I've experienced first-hand a procedure of flight. It's not that knowing about a process alone makes things less scary, it's just that sometimes we're all most afraid of the unknowns.
Posted by Kathy at 08:55 PM | Permalink
March 02, 2005
Ghost in the Shell TV
I know it's been a while since Ghost in the Shell TV series came out, but I finally got around to watching the episodes. Wow, the episodes are awesome! Like Dominion Tank Police, Ghost in the Shell portrays slices of life as an elite police force, except with less silliness. However, if you like silliness, Ghost in the Shell TV episodes end with a clip of surreal silliness of Tachikomas, which you'll have to see to believe.
The characters in the TV series are the same as from the Ghost in the Shell movies, yet, they are sketched a bit differently. I think Kusanagi-san looks absolutely ridiculous wearing that getup in the TV episodes, but it's really classic Shirow artwork. Still, that outfit brings a new meaning to the term 'camel toe'. Anyhow, beyond that, the stories are really engaging. I found myself wanting to keep watching the next episodes continuously, until there's no more. Now, that, to me, is the sign of a great story. There's a strong element of whodunnit in these episodes, which is probably what keeps me interested. I highly recommend this series.
Posted by Kathy at 10:01 PM | Permalink
March 01, 2005
Berry Blast
Name: Berry Blast
Kathy's Rating: 5.5/10.0
Company: Adagio Teas
Origin of tea: China
Price: $7/5oz (~141.7g)
Tea form: Loose bits of fruit and spices.
What they say: A delicious blend of natural fruits and spices that brews up a mouthwatering cup of herbal tea. Entirely caffeine free, it holds a special appeal for kids and sweet-toothed adults. Yet contains no sugar or other sweeteners. The flavor is all natural, emanating from black currants, raspberries, elderberries, bilberries, hibiscus flowers and rosehip peels. Highly addictive; Please proceed with caution!
Preparation method: Pour boiling water over tea. Steep for 6 minutes.
Review: Earlier, in my review of Fruit Medley, I voiced apprehension about Berry Blast. So, I was prepared to find this tea unpleasant. Well, as it turns out, Berry Blast is a lot better than Fruit Medley, Strawberry Patch, and especially that icky Dewy Cherry blend. Not tons better, mind you, just somewhat better. This is because the taste is not nearly as tart as the other blends mentioned above have been. So, I was actually able to finish drinking the entire cup without puckering. If you're looking for a berry-based herbal tea from Adagio, this is definitely the best of the bunch.
Posted by Kathy at 10:55 PM | Permalink