We're going overseas in a while, and quite pathetically, I can't stand the thought of going more than a week without checking my emails, Google Reader, or this website. I have my trusty 4 year-old laptop that served me well throughout uni that I could take with me, but the 15+ inch screen and 3+ kilograms would make it a severe chore to lug around through airports and public transport.

The solution was me getting a very cheap and very tiny Asus EeePC. I got the 4GB Linux version for $299, and for the intended purpose it is ideal. It has a 7 inch screen and weighs just over 900 grams, and for general web-browsing, Open Office, and a few games thrown in, it's a fairly nifty machine.

There's really no need for me to put Windows on it: i think the built-in custom Linux OS more than does the job needed. We'll see how it goes, maybe i'll even blog while i'm over there.

The other big event in the past week was the start of the Beijing Olympics. I watched most of the opening ceremony before falling asleep after the athletes started to come out.

The ceremony was pretty spectacular and covered a lot of Chinese history, but i couldn't help but notice that the most part of the last 200 years of Chinese history was largely omitted. That was of course unsurprising, because barring the last 40 years, China has pretty much been repeatedly humiliated for most of recent history by the colonial Western powers and also Japan.

This is the first Olympics since we've been married, so i'm looking forward to actually following and watching it quite a bit.