The problem with AJAX

AJAX is the buzz on the web these days and as you know, it's supposed to allow a site to retrieve some XML data from some place and use it to render a part of a web page without having to load the entire page. And XML data is just everywhere on the web, most easily found as a feed, like RSS. So there I was thinking of pulling the RSS feed from my blog and then using it to build a dynamic list of entries to put on my site. Sounds cool doesn't it? So what's the problem?

Well, it's actually more of a limitation that a problem . The limitation is that the RSS feed must be on the same domain as my website, since cross-domain XMLHttpRequests are not allowed for security reasons (I haven't read up on this but since all the browsers out there restrict this, it must be a bad thing).

So is my idea shot down? At times like this I usually turn to Google for the answer; this time the answer came from Google, literally, in the form of another one of their nifty APIs. Since Blogger is part of Google, it's no surprise they have APIs for everything including flushing the toilet! What's surprising is how easy it was to use, all it takes is one line and one callback function to render the data, really slick.

Anyways, the page that I was reading is this one http://code.google.com/apis/gdata/json.html Specifically I used the JSON-in-script method to list my latest blog headings on my site now =)

Bridge to Terabithia

Saw an ad for Disney's upcoming movie, Bridge to Terabithia at the gym this morning. It's another one of those fantasy tales for kids like Narnia and Eragon. I actually would like to see this one though, and why is that? Well, I read this book way back in grade school, and even now I distinctly remember that I liked the story a lot. In fact, I still remember the story quite well, which is rare considering how lousy my memory is. I guess the book really left an impression. The movies comes out on Feb 16.

Peking duck flavoured pretz?

One of my colleagues bought some Peking duck flavoured pretz sticks to work to share today. First time I ever had peking duck flavoured anything (except for peking duck flavoured duck of course). It was weird munching on those sticks because it really tasted like peking duck! Guess they really can artificial flavour anything... Peking duck flavoured breath mint anyone?

Han Il Kwan Dinner

(thanks Ka for the pic)

On Saturaday, I went to dinner with my high school pals at a Korean restaurant called Han Il Kwan. The food was good, the company was good, I really had a great time. Thanks everyone for the enjoyable evening! After dinner we even went for dessert at Times Square and continued chatting. This sure brings back memories of high school times. Gosh, I've known this bunch for 10+ years, it's a shame we don't get together as often because of work, life, and everything in between. But that's also what makes the times we do spend in each other's company all the more treasurable. Looking foward to the next gathering.

To Friends!

The next big box

Here is the next big box I got my hands on, yup, it's the MG Strike Freedom which I've posted about before. I got it a couple weeks ago (thanks to my good pal Edward who delivered it from HK), but it's been sitting in my closest since. I am kind of lazy to paint it, and I want to try something different this time, like this no-paint technique I read about on Danny's site a while back. Trouble is it looks a bit complex and the guide is in Japanese. I need to find a good translated guide and maybe practice on some cheap 1/144 model first.

On a somewhat related topic, I just posted 2 more albums covering the transformation of the YF-19 to Gerwalk mode, here are the links:

Transformation
Gerwalk Mode

Finally!

Two weeks ago, I set out on this (rather foolish) quest to get the best weapon in Final Fantasy XII (henceforth refer to as "that damn spear"). For those who don't know, that damn spear is suppose be in a treasure chest in a certain part of the game, and it has a *1/1000* chance of appearing. 1395 attempts and many, many... many painstaking hours later, that damn spear is finally in my hands. Finally seeing that damn spear appear after 1394 failed attempts was definitely a sweet moment and as you can see I even took a picture of it:

And Keith sir, I have to thank you, I think your luck rubbed off on me when you wished me good luck today on MSN... haha =)