Hi friends, as April is about to go and May coming on the way, it’s time to update a bit what I’ve been doing lately.

I’ve been invited to blog at Spyshanghai.com lately although I’m not an active blogger there; Soraya, who is from London started the blog a couple of months ago and she and the other team members are doing great. Have a look there.

I’ve shut down my Xanga blog just before it approaches its 3rd anniversary. A bit cruel, isn’t it? I regretted what I did as Xanga is a good medium to get in touch with my old friends.

My project, Disappearing Corners which is started a couple of years ago in form of a small website hosted at freewebs.com, is on its way to become more well-known among enthusiasts who share the same interests. Visit the group site at Flickr.com and learn more about it!

I’ll later team up with a friend to take a large set of historical architectures photographs in Shanghai; hopefully we can share something wonderful with you guys.

This website will be revamped later this year and probably have a new name to mark its 2nd anniversary and—if I’m able to get a good job by the end of this year, I’ll probably organize a giveaway.

There are many things waiting for me to finish, so you won’t see me update too often. Keep in touch and shoot me an email if you’ve got something to say to me. Take care!

One of the best thing after work in Shanghai is a walk down the small streets behind the main avenues where our
office towers stand.

If you happen to work near Huai Hai Middle Road, then you should visit Nanchang Road, formerly known as Rue Vallon. There you will find a lovely old building sitting quietly, usually haunted except a few elderly who look after it during the day; the old Shanghai Science Hall.

There are only very few sources about this beautiful old facade, and it really took me some time to trace its origins. The whole story dates back in 1904, when the number of French population grew rapidly. The Municipal Council in the former French Concession commissioned a Sports Club for the French community in town. It is a 2-storey building of brick and concrete composite with a large tennis court with a total area of 500sqm. When the club was moved to a new venue, the present Okura Garden Hotel on Maoming Road in 1925, this building was converted into a school known as College Francais, or College Municipal Francais according to some sources. After liberation in 1949, it was assigned for a new mission, and became the headquarters of the Shanghai Science Hall.

I arrived at this haunted hall on a late afternoon and the old guard who was on duty told me I should come another day; he’ll turn on all the lights of the hall and show me its original grandeur……Hope he’ll keep his promise.

Note: I am still searching for the name of the architects who designed this building. The Chinese translation is 万茨 and 博尔舍伦. If you happen to come across their corresponding French names, please contact me. Thank you.

I’ve just received a few emails asking me how to make the NAVIGATION layer on top of this website and below’s just a very silly code to do it. I’m not an expert in Mootools and javascripts, so use it at your own risk

First, prepare an image like this:

(Some of my friends say it’s ugly Accept this criticism and will try to work for a better one.)

Then, go to Mootools and get the .js file.

In your header.php (for Wordpress people) and the HEAD section for others, add the following line:

Wordpress users
<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory');?>/js/mootools.js"></script>

Others
<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/mootools.js"></script>

Add the following code below the one mentioned above.

<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function() {
//Navigation Stuffs
		var navlink = $(’navlink’);
	var b1Toggle = new Fx.Height(’navcontent’, {duration: 200});
	navlink.addEvent(’click’, function(){
		b1Toggle.toggle();
		navlink.toggleClass(’navlink_’);
		return false;
	});
$(’navcontent’).setStyle(’display’,'block’);
}	
//–>
</script>

Now it’s time to create the content inside the “hidden layer”, in my example, I use this:

<div id="navcontent" style="display:none;">
Hello, I love Mootools! It’s lightweighted and good…
My bandwidth is limited so I need to save it for other things
</div>

The style=”display:none;” code is used to hide the layer.

Then add the button to the place you want it to appear.

<div id="navlink" class="navlink">
<img src="/images/navbutton.gif" alt="navigation" width="154" height="31" />
</div>

Note: The width is half the image size…

Things are messy and now comes our great friend CSS who’ll spice things up with style.

#navlink {
	display:block;
	cursor:pointer;
	text-align:center;
	overflow: hidden;
	width: 77px;
}
.navlink_ {
	text-indent: -77px;
}
#navcontent {
	background: #ccc;
	width: 100%;
	height:0;
	}

Try it out and let me know if you need further help or explanation……

I’ve been quite fortunate somehow, to meet people from all walks of life and personalities. Wealthy and poor, generous and stinky.

Until recently, I try to observe WHY some of them are getting richer and richer while some stayed poor all their lives.

In the end, I got a simple conclusion:

Spending money = EASY (That’s true for everyone, isn’t it?)

Earning money = HARD (Otherwise we’ll be enjoying our lives!)

Saving money = (extremely) HARD!

∴ Why not spend you time to think how to earn than how to save? Why not work hard to gain more wealth than to be mean to your family and yourself?

Let me know what you think.