Recent Posts
Recent Posts Tagged With 'stuff'
Taxes and More Taxes!
Living in a highly developed country, like Canada or United States, I’m bound to pay a lot of taxes. Canada has a burgeoning public health care system, pegging the Canadian income tax up to 50% (and additional Goods & Services tax). Mea...
Shopping
When I go shopping, I go directly to the item I want, pay for it, and leave. I don’t care about the people shopping there. I don’t care to socialize in the store. With that said, I like to shop at both Walmart and Target. They have ...
Lunch Bits – Edition 35
We went to Chick-Fil-A today. It was a warm sunny day when we talked about: Broadband woes. Still not cheap. We suspected it was done on purpose, because they can just overcharge and we still pay for it. Kanye was a jackass. [...
Internet TV and Cloud Computing
Gartner has recently published the latest “Hype Cycle” diagram, outlining the latest trend of computing. I like this diagram because it reflects the people’s expectations of the technology they use – and it’s quite accu...
New Bicycle: Keeping Fit
It’s been 9 years since I rode a bicycle. In 1997, I got a Mongoose bike when I was still in Mountain View, California. It was an experiment to see if I could survive in this State, without a car. I lived less than 1/2 mile from work. A...
Shopping Spree?
The economy is down, and we’ve been encouraged (by the government, no less) to spend, spend, spend. It sure sounds tempting. A lot of things have dropped in price, especially big ticket items like cars, television, laptops, or furniture. I ...
Groovy Week
Last week, a lot of things happened. I got a lot of things done. Firstly, it was the week of my daughter’s 4th birthday. We had a lot of visitors in the house. We also made a special trip to Disneyland, so she can enjoy the night parade ...
Localizing
I often asked myself: What’s important in this world? There are just so many things going on, it’s difficult to keep up with everything. After a moment of thinking (probably less than 3 minutes), I’ve concluded that “my wo...
Laptop, Camera, and Toys, Oh My!
I finally got my tax refunds, and already I’ve been spending them on toys (consumer spending helps the economy, right?) Here are some stuff I bought recently to upgrade my electronics: Got a new laptop, a Toshiba Satellite U400-ST3301. It...
Nostalgia Technology
My parents have memories of using the 8-Track tapes in the 1960’s. My fond memories of recorded media were VHS video tapes and Laserdiscs. I watched the first Star Wars movie from a fuzzy video tape version back in the late 70’s. Wh...
Lunch Bits - Edition 29
We went to Islands last Wednesday. It was a warm sunny day when we talked about: The golf game at Dad Miller Golf Course. It was my annual outing for my friend’s birthday. We seldom play, so our progress is stagnant. Possibly going golf ...
Bustling Local Economy
With the mainstream media constantly touting economic recession, unemployment, and spending cutbacks, it’s easy to believe the doom and gloom. However, I just got back from the malls this afternoon and it’s so far from the reality that ...
Let There be Light!
Christmas is here! What a better way to celebrate the season by taking the time to put up Christmas lights on the house and the front yard. This year, I started to put mine up a week after Thanksgiving. I started with six strings of 350 clear ...
Lunch Bits - Edition 28
We went to Maggiano’s Little Italy, last Friday. I was a sunny day when we talked about: The lunch menu: Caesar Salad, Calamari, Chicken and Spinach Manicotti’s, Stuffed Mushroom, Eggplant Parmesan, Linguini with clams, Lasagna, Tirami...
Dollar Store Item from Nordstrom
I’m not about to point out Nordstrom is reducing their prices to become the next Walmart. Instead, I’m trying to note what someone said to me a couple of years ago. The idea was to get a Dollar Store item from an upscale department ...
Trying Out Fedora Core 10
Since I’m no longer running my own Linux server to host this blog, I have a spare machine to play with. Red Hat just released Fedora Core 10, I thought I try and upgrade my FC9 system, and see what changes they’ve made. As expected, I c...
My Dislikes of Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
I’m first to admit, when it comes to video games, I pick more bad games than good ones. With the Wii, I try my best to be very selective because the game console have titles specifically made for it. But it’s no exception. I sitll...
New Fridge
Well, my old fridge woes came back. The “old” GE fridge started to form icicles inside the freezer, and the main compartment would only drop temperature to 56°F1. I fixed it last year as my attempt to “save the environment̶...
Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10
I haven’t used Ubuntu Linux before, although I did try the Live CD more than a year ago. I started to install 8.04 two weeks ago in a Toshiba Tecra M3 laptop to replace Windows XP, because I was having virus issues. Choosing the right Linux...
Cloud Computing Hype
Ever since I attended the JBOSS World User Conference in February 2008, I’ve been getting a lot of junk emails from companies touting “Cloud Computing” technologies. It’s the latest buzzword in the tech industry. With big ...
Technology and Being Connected
My wife, kid, and I are pretty much the only ones in our family living in California. The rest of our families and friends are scattered in other States, Canada, and overseas. With current technology of E-mail or Instant Messaging, communication ...
Are We in an Economic Depression?
Some people point out that we may be in another economic depression. This is misleading because when I look around, people are still buying clothes, groceries, and new computers. People are still taking vacations and commuting to work. No one h...
Recession-R-Us
A lot of people are worried about the current economic recession in America. My wife and I are concerned about the value of our home. My family has been asking if I’m still employed. Friends and co-workers have been discussing their less ...
Lunch Bits - Edition 25
We went to various restaurants. The days were warm and sunny, when we talked about: Mechanical Engineering. The highest in demand major! Skype is a good VOIP app. It’s good for video chat too. Just need a webcam and one of these phone ...
Outage
Well, I just had an epic outage yesterday morning. Around 8am, my 650VA battery backed Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) was … interrupted! The battery, or something, died on this thing. It was a no name brand, I guess I got what I paid fo...
The Urge to Splurge
It’s quite amazing how much I want to buy stuff. I frequent sites like Amazon and Ben’s Bargains to see what’s new and on-sale that day. It’s not easy to hold myself back from buying any new junk that I see. When I was...
PC Build 2008: Part 2
I completed my PC hardware setup. Last weekend, I concentrated a good chunk of time to get the software up and running. My Operating System of choice now is Windows Vista Ultimate. I’m planning to upgrade my PC to 8Gb of RAM, so I’l...
PC Build 2008: Part 1
It has been at least 3 years since my last PC build. My rule of thumb is to build a new PC with at least twice the capacity at the same price. A lot has changed in 3 years so it’s pretty easy to find new parts with at least 2x the power. ...
Star Wars Decorated Room
Has anyone ever thought of decorating his (or her) room with a Star Wars theme? I certainly have. When I was a kid, I used to have Star Wars action figures lined up on the shelf near my bed. Then over the study table, I would stack the Star War...
DVDs and Me
I have been collecting DVD movies since 1997 when the format first came out. I was one of those early adopters who bought a US$450 DVD player and discs that cost $21 each. The difference in video/audio quality, compared to VHS and Laserdisc, was ...
