Search within Lanny's blog:


Leave me comments so I know people are actually reading my blogs! Thanks!

Friday, July 05, 2019

Daily Battles, a New Category For My Blog

My dear readers, if you haven't noticed, I haven't posted any blog for a long, long time. Sorry for the long wait. The good news is that I have finally overcame myself and a lot of new blogs will soon be coming.

So why haven't I been blogging? One main reason is that life is so busy, and I have to fight many battles on different fronts everyday, which just eat away all my free time. Some of the battles are about being a responsible parent (teaching/fighting the kids), some other ones are about dealing with random life issues that just come up, such as flat tires, auto accidents, fixing various things in the home, taking care of aging parents, etc., etc. However, I have noticed that a great amount of my time are spent fighting technology glitches/failures almost on a daily bases.

On one hand, as someone who "lives in the future", I do have a lot more gadgets/devices/robots than a normal family, which does increase the likelihood that things break more often at my household. But on the other hand, I consider myself a skilled fighter in the tech realm. Even I have to struggle so much with technology today, it would be much more painful for other people who don't have my background and knowledge to deal with such technology failures. That's why I have decided to blog about these daily battles I have to fight, so other people who are fighting the same battles might be able to find something useful to facilitate their daily battles with technology.

Credit: GoComics.com

When looking at social media postings today, you probably have noticed that most people post more about their fun moments/achievements/happy time. That is a very skewed view of the reality, and psychologists have concluded that viewing such posts can increase depression and loneliness. I am going to change that! That's why I'll be posting about my struggles with my daily battles with technology and life in general. So reading my posts should make you happier, knowing that other people struggle too! And most importantly, it gives me a way to vent, so I can stay mentally healthy!

Credit: comicskingdom.com

So why am I blogging again? First of all, I am on vacation! This is a long deserved vacation, the only true vacation in the last five years!! Wife and kids are out of town for a Ping Pong tournament, and after I took care of many things/repairs/battles, I still had time to sit down, relax, and enjoy peace in my own house!!! But also, as I mentioned before, I need a way to vent; people can get info on how to fight similar battles; readers can gain happiness by looking at my sufferings; and it's just a good habit to write everyday!

Medium, as a blog platform, has gained a lot of popularity with its very clean and simple look and lots of people contributing. I actually thought about moving my blog to that platform. Then I realized that:

  1. All contents published on Medium now belongs to Medium, and
  2. After free trial, you have to pay $5/month subscription fee in order to keep reading.
So I am staying with Google Blogger, where my writing belongs to me and you can all read for free. I do like the simple and clean view of Medium though, so I tried to clean up my blog design -- one of my daily battles with technology! Well, I tried the best I could, but since my template is a super old customized one, which required a lot of html/css tweaking/hacking, and I didn't like the new templates, so this is the best I can do and what you get. But for your best viewing experience, I suggest keeping 150% zoom in. If you are using Chrome, that's CTRL+ (Command+ for Mac).

As always, leave me comments so I know people are actually reading this, which is the best encouragement for me! Subscribe if you like, and let me know if it doesn't work, and I'll add that to my daily battles list. LOL!

Oh yeah, I am translating again! Focusing on The Outcast and Smiling Proud Wanderer.

Disclaimer: I will not post about my daily battles with all the Alpha/Beta products/services my employer is currently testing in my house.

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Rest In Peace, Mr. Jin Yong

My beloved author, Mr. Jin Yong, the author of The Smiling Proud Wanderer, just passed away today at the age of 94. It is a sad day for all his fans around the world.

Thank you Mr. Jin Yong for the wonderful Wuxia worlds you created for us that not only entertained billions but also taught many about gallantry and virtue. Wish you peace in heaven where there's probably no hatred, no revenge, and no heroes.


Pen name Jin Yong (金庸), real name Zha Liangyong (查良镛), English name Louis Cha, 1924-2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Yong

As a tribute to Mr. Jin Yong, I will be resuming my translation of The Smiling Proud Wanderer today.

http://www.lannyland.com/wanderer/wanderer.shtml




My collection of the complete works of Jin Yong and Gu Long

Saturday, January 06, 2018

Heading to CES next week

Hey guys, for any of you that still reads my blog, I am heading to CES next week. If you happen to go there too and might want to chat, let me know.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

I am in Vienna

I am in Vienna attending the Human-Robot Interaction conference. Just wondering if any of my readers are from Vienna or are in Vienna right now?

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

New year new beginning and new resolutions

Man, I can't believe it has been almost four years since I last posted any blogs. Time really flies!

First let me quickly summarize what I have been doing for the last three years and 8 months:
  • The first year or so was eventful and also a year of harvest. During this year: 
    • I turned 40.
    • I also had two surgeries (never had surgeries before, correlation or causation?).
    • I received two Black Belts, one in Taekwondo, and one in Hapkido.
    • I successfully defended my thesis and officially became Permanently Head Damaged! It is worth mentioning that I actually completed and got my dissertation approved on New Years Eve inside a hotel right next to Disneyland. Then as a celebration, I took my kids to Disneyland that night and enjoyed the new year count down party and watched the new year fireworks show.
    • I found a job I love after many rounds of traveling and interviews.
    • I bought a bigger house and moved in.
  • Then the next three years or so, I focused on building two "intelligent" entities:
    • Sky, the intelligent smart home assistant for my work, and
    • Philip, my dumb personal home butler. Philip is really just my house, and also has a second name Jane. The name Philip came from a great Chinese Sci-Fi/Wuxia novel by Maoni, which I am also translating from Chinese into English. The name Jane came from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game Series.
And because I was so busy with life and the above, I didn't really
  • Translate, or 
  • Blog, or
  • Sleep much.
But since now that Sky and Philip are both in relatively better shapes, I am hoping to be able to get back to the two things I enjoy very much: translate and blog. As it is the Chinese New Year right now, I figured that I'll make a list of my new year resolutions:
  • I will try to sleep more and have better sleep quality. This is my top priority.
  • I'd like to get back into routine translating. After all, it is another one of my life goal: to win (kind of) the Nebula Award with my translation.
  • I'd like to blog more. Blog about technology, AI, machine learning, robots, etc. In the past I tried to write too much and keep the bar high for each blog. This time I am going to just go with the flow. Hopefully a short summary of my thoughts on things I read can still be good reading resources for others and inspire them to be creative. If you haven't noticed, Lannyland is the land of imagination and creativity.
  • I'd like to read more on latest advancements on AI and machine learning. Hopefully this also results in more blogging.
  • I'd like to also get back into routine exercising. I am a black belt! I should stay a black belt!
  • I'd like to also find some time to play the piano once a while. 
So Happy Chinese New Year to your all, wish you all a very productive new year, and wish myself good luck adhering to my new year resolutions!!






It's never too late to follow your passion and love.