Personal Dork Assistant

Sock City!

On those rare occasions when I browse the clothing racks, I've always wondered why the clothes came from so many different Third World countries: India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, etc. Turns out that there were trade quotas in place to give them a slice of the pie. However, those quotas are set to end alongside 2004. And guess who's setting up to be off and running in 2K5? If you thought the US-China trade deficit is bad now, just wait until the clothing quotas go away. It's surprising that only 16% of US clothing imports come from China, but that is sure to jump in a big way very soon. The combination of outside (but often Chinese) capital, cheap labor, and strong government support has created entire cities specialized towards filling each drawer in your closet: one for socks, one for ties, etc.

Datang produces an astounding nine billion pairs of socks each year - more than one set for every person on the planet. People here fondly call it Socks City, and its annual socks festival attracts 100,000 buyers from around the world.

Hey, they can promote these specialized garment-making cities as tourist spots, too. Sam's already said he'd hit International Necktie City (a.k.a. Shenzhou) and buy a zillion ties so he won't have to buy another Christmas present for the rest of his life. Not sure how Michelle would feel about that, but I'd wait until after the wedding before letting her know.

Sick Day

It was inevitable, I guess, with the new environment and the changing seasons. Caught a cold and had to take a day off last Thursday. Getting caught out in the autumn rain without an umbrella really can't cause colds, despite what everyone thinks. However, cramming into the convention center with 750,000 of your closest neighbors at the IT Month computer show probably could. Damn airborne viruses.

Migration Pattern

Typhoon in December, of course there's no global warming. Thankfully it turned away from the island once it touched the southern tip of Taiwan, so it wasn't much more than a windy rainstorm in Taipei. That meant David had to go in for overtime on a Saturday (after WJ called in from China on Friday to check on him), and I could go over to the GF's place. The rain put a damper on going out, but just spending time together was fine since haven't really seen her since going off to China.

Thought it would be a relaxed ride on the MRT on a rainy off-day. Nope, as the trains on the Blue Line was packed with folks out to play on a weekend afternoon. I was lucky I was headed away from the main commercial cluster, as the trains going the other way were packed tighter than anything at rush hour. And when I got to Taipei Main Station, the trains coming in from the northern suburbs on the Red Line were dumping off even more folks transferring to the Blue. So really, even on a weekend it seems like people are going off to work. At least there were no school uniforms to be seen on this day.