Today, I got my new cellphone and it is nice. For one thing the LCD on this one does not bleed like the old one. :D However, I still need to mail back my old broken one and get credit for it. I had to pay 300$ to get it.... Grrr.... Sprint better give that money back to me. :( I have the Samusung Upstage which is one neat little bugger. Except that the constant flipping of the phone to text stuff is starting to get annoying. XD
I also picked up a 17" Sony Trinitron Multiscan e200 CRT that someone was throwing away and it works marvelously. :D It will have to do while I wait for a good sale on those gorgeous 32" LCD screens. It is strange how when I picked the screen up I thought it was a 15". Either I have grown bigger from all the good food I have been eating recently or I forgot how 17" CRT used to look like. I can't believe I am still acting like a student and trying to save up as much as I can. XD hehe... I guess habits are hard to break. Well, granted, I got a big shock from my first paycheck. Half of it disappeared in random taxes. T.T And all the moving expenses are adding up. :( i don't think my first pay check is enough to pay rent. Urgh... Living expenses in California are so expensive. Oh well. I can think of it as doing a good thing. I recycled the CRT. Instead of landing in a dumpster, it sits here on my table, delaying its inevitable fate.
On other notes, I started reading books again. Those low tech method of information transferal. I started reading Fast Food Nation, while I wait for the arrival of my other books from Amazon. I wished there were a better way to buy things online. A centralized Walmart would be cool. :D
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
What doesn't kill me will make me stronger.
I am 26 now. It is starting to sink in, after 4 days. Despite my age, I feel that I still got so much more to learn, to experience. I will face forward with courage and not stress too much about every little things. I need to review the list of things to do in this lifetime. I need to be more open to new ideas, embrace new experience with enthusiasm, and learn from past mistakes.
I remember writing a list of goals long time ago, but for some reason I can't find it. Time to do an update. :D More of this to come.
I remember writing a list of goals long time ago, but for some reason I can't find it. Time to do an update. :D More of this to come.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Heaven on earth...
or for a geek.
Started work a week ago in sunny California. It is beautiful down here. I can't believe there are no clouds in the sky. I got an awesome road bike from a friend. Well awesome by my standards means better than the 100$ bikes you can get at Walmart or Canadian Tire. :D I spent over 100$ just fixing this bike to make it ridable. Who knew tubes for road bikes were so expensive or that you needed a special pump for them. XD
I also got a small cozy little studio in Mountain View, it is close enough to work that I can bike there under 20 minutes. :D Yay for California weather~
Oh yeah disclaimer here: All thoughts and comments expressed here belong to me and me alone. In no way does this reflect the views and opinions of my employer. yadda yadda. :D
The rumors are true: Work rocks! I can't believe I wake up every morning looking forward to go to work. I just wished living expenses in California weren't so expensive. I forgot a lot of things when I moved, so I ended up buying a lot of things. :(
Started work a week ago in sunny California. It is beautiful down here. I can't believe there are no clouds in the sky. I got an awesome road bike from a friend. Well awesome by my standards means better than the 100$ bikes you can get at Walmart or Canadian Tire. :D I spent over 100$ just fixing this bike to make it ridable. Who knew tubes for road bikes were so expensive or that you needed a special pump for them. XD
I also got a small cozy little studio in Mountain View, it is close enough to work that I can bike there under 20 minutes. :D Yay for California weather~
Oh yeah disclaimer here: All thoughts and comments expressed here belong to me and me alone. In no way does this reflect the views and opinions of my employer. yadda yadda. :D
The rumors are true: Work rocks! I can't believe I wake up every morning looking forward to go to work. I just wished living expenses in California weren't so expensive. I forgot a lot of things when I moved, so I ended up buying a lot of things. :(
Monday, August 6, 2007
Road trip complete
My 7 day road trip from Montreal to Santa Clara is finally complete. Some of the major or more memoral stops include:
- Montreal, QC, Canada
- Toronto, ON, Canada
- Waterloo, ON, Canada
- Chicago, IL, US
- Sioux City, IA, US
- Mount Rushmore, ND, US
- Custer, ND, US
- Casper, WY, US
- Salt Lake City, UT,US
- Salt Lake Flats
- Reno, NV, US
- Tahoe Lake, NV, US
- Santa Clara, CA, US
- Montreal, QC, Canada
- Toronto, ON, Canada
- Waterloo, ON, Canada
- Chicago, IL, US
- Sioux City, IA, US
- Mount Rushmore, ND, US
- Custer, ND, US
- Casper, WY, US
- Salt Lake City, UT,US
- Salt Lake Flats
- Reno, NV, US
- Tahoe Lake, NV, US
- Santa Clara, CA, US
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Travel logs - Taiwan Day 11
It is strange how I get to spend the most time online when I am at my Grandpa's place. I guess it has to do with the fact that there is nothing else to do here. I have a love-hate relationship with this internet cafe. I love the fact that it is so convenient and cheap (20 yuen/hour which is about 67 USD cents/hour). I hate it because a lot of the computer are old and decripit. Some of the equipment works half of the time including the internet. Also, people smoke like chimneys in here. Urh... I havent experience second hand smoke this bad since high school.
Since my last entry, I have spent some more time in Hsin Chu and Taipei; mainly Taipei. I ended doing all the touristy stuff. :) My friend Yen yu took me to see the Gu Gong Museum in Taipei. They have on display a large amount of ancient Chinese artifacts. I regret not knowing much about the history, because I don't think I appreciated the whole point of the exposition.
On one of the off days, my cousin took me to the top of Taipei 101 (tallest building of the world with the fastest elevator, as of today) and I got a crash geography lesson on the layout of Taipei.
I got to say that shopping inside 101 is kind of boring, most stores are either European or American, which makes it really pointless. Also, the price for most stuff in there was a lot higher than in Canada or the States. I got a chance to meet up with Annie and do some catching up. :)
As a more cultureal experience, my aunt took me to a Joshua Bell's violin recital at the National Concert Hall in Taipei which is next to Chang Kai Shek's Memorial. Listening to Bell play so well made me regret not taking my violin lessons more seriously. That guy played some mad fiddle. I
never knew human fingers could move that fast. My aunt is taking me back to the Concert Hall to listen to my cousin's concert. She is going to be singing and playing some chinese concert/musical. I can't wait. :)
Among other things, my sis took me to the night markets and I finally got to shop. I got to say that going shopping with a local makes it so much easier. My sis did all the haggling and I did the looking. :) It was awesome to finally meet up with her after two years. Funny thing about the night market, yesterday I went to another night market with my friend Yuen Yu and we got conned. It pissed me off at first, but then I laughed caused I finally eperienced something I never expereienced before. :) What happened was, the sales lady was trying to convince us to buy more from the store and we said we would if she could give us a deal. We try haggling with her, but she said she couldnt lower the price any longer, but could give us a gift for each person. However, after we paid, all she did was give us a VIP card. Totally useless for me since I was never going back to that store. haha. I guess the fact that I told her I was from out of the country made it easier for her to trick me. XD
Oh.., I almost forgot to mention the food I ate. How can I forget about the food? Taiwan is all about the food. I had some delicious Hunan cuisine, Grilled shrimp, veggies and ribs in spicy sauces. Really good. I also had a bunch of food at the night markets. Most memorable among them are: stinky tofu, lamb in medicinal stew, Pepper Cake. The stinky tofu was not bad, it tasted like fried spicy tofu. It didnt stink once I put it in my mouth. :) As for the lamb in medicinal stew, it was a lot better than I expected. My mom used to make me drink some weird medicinal stuff as a kid to make me stronger or something. I used to hate it. However, the lamb I tried out was delicious. Totally different from the stuff my mom used to force me to eat. Finally, my favorite new discovery in this trip was the pepper cakes I tried at the night market. It was so delicious. It tasted like a fried baozhi. :) MIAM
Since my last entry, I have spent some more time in Hsin Chu and Taipei; mainly Taipei. I ended doing all the touristy stuff. :) My friend Yen yu took me to see the Gu Gong Museum in Taipei. They have on display a large amount of ancient Chinese artifacts. I regret not knowing much about the history, because I don't think I appreciated the whole point of the exposition.
On one of the off days, my cousin took me to the top of Taipei 101 (tallest building of the world with the fastest elevator, as of today) and I got a crash geography lesson on the layout of Taipei.
I got to say that shopping inside 101 is kind of boring, most stores are either European or American, which makes it really pointless. Also, the price for most stuff in there was a lot higher than in Canada or the States. I got a chance to meet up with Annie and do some catching up. :)
As a more cultureal experience, my aunt took me to a Joshua Bell's violin recital at the National Concert Hall in Taipei which is next to Chang Kai Shek's Memorial. Listening to Bell play so well made me regret not taking my violin lessons more seriously. That guy played some mad fiddle. I
never knew human fingers could move that fast. My aunt is taking me back to the Concert Hall to listen to my cousin's concert. She is going to be singing and playing some chinese concert/musical. I can't wait. :)
Among other things, my sis took me to the night markets and I finally got to shop. I got to say that going shopping with a local makes it so much easier. My sis did all the haggling and I did the looking. :) It was awesome to finally meet up with her after two years. Funny thing about the night market, yesterday I went to another night market with my friend Yuen Yu and we got conned. It pissed me off at first, but then I laughed caused I finally eperienced something I never expereienced before. :) What happened was, the sales lady was trying to convince us to buy more from the store and we said we would if she could give us a deal. We try haggling with her, but she said she couldnt lower the price any longer, but could give us a gift for each person. However, after we paid, all she did was give us a VIP card. Totally useless for me since I was never going back to that store. haha. I guess the fact that I told her I was from out of the country made it easier for her to trick me. XD
Oh.., I almost forgot to mention the food I ate. How can I forget about the food? Taiwan is all about the food. I had some delicious Hunan cuisine, Grilled shrimp, veggies and ribs in spicy sauces. Really good. I also had a bunch of food at the night markets. Most memorable among them are: stinky tofu, lamb in medicinal stew, Pepper Cake. The stinky tofu was not bad, it tasted like fried spicy tofu. It didnt stink once I put it in my mouth. :) As for the lamb in medicinal stew, it was a lot better than I expected. My mom used to make me drink some weird medicinal stuff as a kid to make me stronger or something. I used to hate it. However, the lamb I tried out was delicious. Totally different from the stuff my mom used to force me to eat. Finally, my favorite new discovery in this trip was the pepper cakes I tried at the night market. It was so delicious. It tasted like a fried baozhi. :) MIAM
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Travel logs - Taiwan Day 2
I am currently in my Grandpa's little town, in the middle of nowhere. I arrived to Taiwan last night and spent the day in Hsin chu. My friend drove me down to see my grandpa. I barely spent one hour with my grandpa before I decided to drive to the town to get access to internet. I am an addict, I know. XD I am getting new pictures uploaded as soon as I find some time. :) One thing I found interesting so far is that how easily I can blend in. I kind of blend in until I open my mouth that is. XD haha.
So far my trip has been uneventful. I went to the Temple Night Eatery place in Hsinchu and had some Meat balls soup and also some fried meatballs in sticky rice. It is actually yummier than it sounds. I have been drinking a lot of different drinks, especially tea. It seems that everywhere I go, I end up drinking tea.
So far my trip has been uneventful. I went to the Temple Night Eatery place in Hsinchu and had some Meat balls soup and also some fried meatballs in sticky rice. It is actually yummier than it sounds. I have been drinking a lot of different drinks, especially tea. It seems that everywhere I go, I end up drinking tea.
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