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.

If you search for my name in quotation marks, you will quickly realise that I’m an advocate of open-source software and Linux. Just look through my site. Since my background is business-oriented, my choice of software or systems ultimately depends not on whether it is open source, but on what provides the best fit, including ROI and total cost of ownership. With that said, I thought I would share an ironic situation.

It is 10:53 p.m., and I have just returned from Thailand. “What?” you may ask. Yes, Thailand. Ten days. I know I haven’t written much lately - anything lately - but what follows are a few stories from our most recent adventure. As my previous entry explains, I am working and living in Taipei. However, because I am going to my sister’s wedding, I am unable to attend school this term, which means I cannot hold a visa. I therefore had to leave the country from August 4 to August 12. So where did I decide to go?