Today was rough. For reasons still unknown to me, I decided to “have some fun” and take the ferry back to Taiwan. What was I thinking? I’ve taken several ferries before, some for extended periods. Little did I know this was going to be a particularly bumpy ride. I started playing cards near the top of the ferry, but soon realized that sleep would be a better idea. Somehow I wandered below to my cabin, grumpily crawled in, closed my eyes, and tried to sleep again at 11:00 a.m. Luckily I could, and I essentially forced myself to sleep for the entire trip. Having realized that I am not a sea person, at least not willingly, I was as happy as could be when I arrived back in Keelung.

I like most standards, I can’t deny it. One thing that I find too humorous is the amount of sites that are not valid, even sites that claim they are. One tool in my box is HTML Validator, an extensioin for Firefox. A nice little icon appears in the lower right, indicating whether a page is valid, not-so-valid, or really-not-so-valid. Makes it easy to check your own sites, and others.

I woke up, had my complimentary breakfast, and took the shuttle to the port. I waved as we passed Rita’s house and left with great memories of the little island. The small commuter ferry took me back to the South Island, where I waited for someone from the guesthouse to collect me. After waiting a while longer, I called. The woman asked how many of us there were. When I said two, she replied, “Sorry, I only collect groups of four or more. But you can rent a moped for five hundred, and I will bring it to you.” She would not collect us, but she would come out if I rented a moped. Frustrated, I stubbornly walked to the bus station rather than take a taxi and waited again. Fortunately, I could sit …

Today we awoke much later than normal. After stretching and tidying the room, we walked downstairs to the little coffee shop that served as the headquarters for our guest house. Breakfast and coffee were once again included in the price. We paid for our room and ate a muffin filled with egg and vegetables. When our coffee arrived, the woman announced, “I made his really strong, since that is how an American’s Americano should be,” or something similar. After breakfast, we began our mission for the day: getting an ice cream cone from 7-Eleven. The main complication was that the 7-Eleven was in a village on the opposite side of the mountain.

I awoke to the sound of two alarm clocks and voices in the background. The good feelings from the previous day were still with me, and I slowly crawled out of bed. After quickly packing, I descended from my loft to find breakfast, included with the stay, waiting at the table. In keeping with local tradition, the soup carried the flavour of rice wine, or some other strong liqueur. I ate quickly, since my 7:00am ferry surely wouldn’t wait. The hostess gave me a ride to the harbour, where I bought my ticket and left the South Island.

Between Taiwan and China lies the Taiwan Strait, an area frequently discussed by policymakers. The strait contains more than water: it is also home to a chain of islands with a diverse and interesting history. The plane, a small aircraft carrying fewer than 50 people, leaves Taipei for a short flight east. Everyone receives a newspaper and, almost in unison, turns to the sports page to read about Wang’s success in Major League Baseball. The newspapers are soon folded away, and we begin to descend. I look expectantly out the window, but the runway materialises only at the last moment. We land on a small airstrip tucked among the hills, and I immediately begin absorbing the island’s atmosphere.

The MRT isn’t particularly interesting. I mean, I sort of felt like a kid again the first time I rode it, much like riding a bus or an escalator for the first time. The first few trips are interesting, but eventually you just wish teleportation would be invented already. But today was different! After transferring at Taipei Main Station, I continued to the Yellow Line and headed out to Taipei County, where I live. Behold, doors! Just like the Brown Line, or Hong Kong! I always feel a little nervous when the train comes speeding through, waiting for someone to stumble or bump me toward the tracks. Well, no more fear: half-height platform doors are being installed. Yay.

Nailed it: 869, with about 740 needed to pass. It wasn’t too difficult, although some questions seemed technically questionable. For example: to stop an attacker from sniffing a network, what is the correct action? The intended answer was “implement a switch.” That ranked just ahead of another questionable answer: “implement WEP to secure your wireless router.”

I’m about to take my Security+ exam, and I don’t quite know how I feel. I think I am prepared; I don’t know what else I would study. Almost everything seems like common sense, and I am beginning to recognise the idiosyncrasies in how the questions are phrased. I hope.

After a long flight to LAX and another across the Pacific, I’m back in Taipei. Life has settled down, I’m studying several subjects, and beef noodles are on the agenda for almost every meal. I returned with good memories of Atlanta and a new site design, this time with a glossy look. As for the teddy bear in the corner, that was a request from home.