(Yes, I know Japanese nuclear reactors have gone off and there are families even in HK and Singapore who have been Bloomberg chatting about hopping a plane to Aussieland if it gets worse. But I personally know little about Japan beyond what everyone else can read off the newswires – so instead here’s a blog post on it that I liked)
<Guiltily back to mundane stuff> My dad wants an iPad 2, so I’m waiting for it to come out in Hong Kong and asked some local friends to let me know any news they picked up on when I could start queue-ing online to buy it. Then yesterday morning someone told me Apple Daily had reported a Hong Kong student who was studying abroad in the States brought home 12 iPads for resale here – making a cool profit (unclear gross or net) of HKD 150,000.
(No this is not a typo. And btw doing this is illegal in China, but not Hong Kong.) There were apparently also 50 pieces snapped up within 2 hours in Mong Kok, at giant premiums. Chinese nationals accounted for more than half the sales and PLEASE tell me if that’s not what the article says because I can’t read the Chinese, I’m just reproducing what my local friend tells me.
“Why go to college,” my friend sighed.
Anyway speaking of reproducing, someone sent this Apple Daily table to me, it apparently shows the “fry” prices in HK, vs the original prices in the States (adjusted into HKD):
(Yes the 64 GB Wifi + 3G white iPad2 is going for more than double its original price. Mr Jobs is creating jobs – in Hong Kong, that is.)
Mr Gadget’s unboxing video of sexy iPad 2 may give a clue to the crazy “fry” levels…
This is the most spectacular “fry” since the middle-aged auntie who spent her morning free time queueing for the now-really-hard-to-get-in-sold-out-Hongkieland iPhone 4 at various Fortresses around Hong Kong until she made more than HKD 20,000 profit from (I think it was) 10 phones in a month. Hong Kong aunties love Mr Jobs too <swoon>
Take that iPad 2!
Rockstar gets equal mileage from the cardboard box my boots came in. (I am embarking on finally learning how to wear higher heels with my very first pair of 100mms.) Bike helmets are necessary safety measures when flying cardboard boxes.
Does technology help or hurt our kids?
I’ve got friends in both corners. On the one hand, a Singaporean family with a 4-and-a-half year old girl and 1 year old boy; the girl has an iPad, her parents say this is the world their kids are going to live and grow up in – with technology. On the other hand, a Malaysian family (living here) with 2 boys roughly the same age as Singaporean family, who feel pretty strongly about not letting their kids have a lot of technology – their older boy gets a pen and paper and isn’t allowed to play with his mum’s phone. He can draw some fantastic pictures – houses, scenery… I’m not sure how much little girl in Singapore with iPad draws, but she received serious writing lessons, so her penmanship is pretty awesome too.
As for 38 month old Rockstar, he gets pen and paper and laptops and iPhones. Sometimes he wants pen and paper, sometimes he wants the technology – frankly sometimes it’s just whichever buys his mother more time when she needs a moment. At any given time it could as just as likely be the one or the other. (He doesn’t get much writing instruction btw, I wanted him to scribble all he wants and he likes doing that on fogged up mirrors and magna doodle.)
Once a week… the Rockstar also gets about a half hour of video games at the Bel Air Clubhouse (I always bring him about a half hour before the arcade closes and they kick everyone out for cleaning, so there’s no way the time can run over).
Shock! Horror!! But I didn’t want to completely restrict anything because I thought its forbidden status might make him want it more – I grew up with classmates who had terrible relationships with junk food and video games. Their parents (by strange coincidence many of whom were doctors) were very restrictive about the “bad stuff” and the kids would hide food or find incredibly creative ways to get into arcades.
I’d rather Rockstar find no added fascination in the bad stuff – he’s been known to leave the games room before his 30 minutes are up, or turn down a second piece of candy because he’s “had enough.” To me this is a lot more valuable than me being able to completely restrict him from games or candy – because I won’t always be there to do so.
I continue to be annoyed at Kings who told him “all kids like ice cream” because before he said that Rockstar would never even finish a scoop of ice cream.
