busy girl thoughts

I’ve been fascinated with blogging for a while. My enthusiasm with the internet is not limited to blogging. Facebook, twitter, wordpress, open source software, stickam, or anything that has to do with WEB 2.0. A friend once asked why I’m into Web 2.0, and I couldn’t give her the answer.

I also spend a lot of time in the gaming society. I browse various video games forums all day long, eager to pass on tips and updates I learned with complete strangers. I patiently answer questions, no matter how repetitive or stupid they are. (Mind you most of the gamers are <18 years of age.)

I always think this hobby of mine is a complete waste of time. I’m better off doing _______ (fill in the blank yourself), I’d say.

But today I came across the transcript of a speech given at the WEB 2.0 conference. The transcript deeply moved me. It touched a spot in my heart that I’ve always suspected existed, but didn’t know where.

The article is long. Before you lose your patience and don’t see how Gins has anything to do with Web 2.0, allow me to summarize a little for you:

The author was once asked by a TV producer that where people find time to contribute to Wikipedia. He said

“No one who works in TV gets to ask that question. You know where the time comes from. It comes from the cognitive surplus you’ve been masking for 50 years.”

What’s a cognitive surplus? Basically it the brain power of people with ample free time thanks to peace, booming economy and modern technology. And what do we do with the free time? We watch TV.

So if you take Wikipedia as a kind of unit, all of Wikipedia, the whole project–every page, every edit, every talk page, every line of code, in every language that Wikipedia exists in–that represents something like the cumulation of 100 million hours of human thought.

And television watching? Two hundred billion hours, in the U.S. alone, every year. Put another way, now that we have a unit, that’s 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year spent watching television. Or put still another way, in the U.S., we spend 100 million hours every weekend, just watching the ads.

At the end of 20th century TV is the major source of entertainment. In the 21st century, some of us started using our energy on the net:

there’s an interesting community over here, there’s an interesting sharing model over there, those people are collaborating on open source software. But despite knowing the inputs, we can’t predict the outputs yet because there’s so much complexity.

The truth is, the majority of the work done, from blogging to open source software, will not have a significant impact to the society. To rub salt into the wound, most of these attempts will turn futile. Should we stop?

The way you explore complex ecosystems is you just try lots and lots and lots of things, and you hope that everybody who fails fails informatively so that you can at least find a skull on a pikestaff near where you’re going. That’s the phase we’re in now.

The author’s conclusion, to all of you fellow bloggers/web 2.0 contributors:

…ask ourselves, “If we carve out a little bit of the cognitive surplus and deploy it here, could we make a good thing happen?” And I’m betting the answer is yes.

Smart girls like to pretend that they are comfortable with their intelligence. When in fact, most girls would happily trade for an angel face, big boobs and average intelligence (um, sure, maybe slightly below average).

Smart girls would never admit it though. What they say instead is, ‘I wish men were smarter, or there were more smart men. And I wish men were not as shallow’. Translation: I wish I were dumber, and that way there’d be more intelligent men. And i wish I were prettier, so more men would notice me.

Disclaimer: I’m not saying smart girls are ugly, I for one am not. But a girl always wishes she were prettier and skinnier.

The first test challenges your ability to spot a fake smile. There are similar tests out there but this one has video playbacks, so you can see the smiles in action.
BBC Smile Test

This one is difficult. You guess the person’s mood by looking at his/her eyes only.
Mind in the Eyes

I get asked a lot what skin product I use. Here’s a list of prescription-only drugs that I’ve tried thru my dermatologists. They all work wonder, and are cheaper than expensive name-brands. Well, of course they work better, and that’s why they’re not available over the counter.

WATCH OUT, sunscreen HAS TO BE USED and reapplied daily when using any of the products below. And they shouldn’t be used during the day. Otherwise you’ll end up with more brown spots or other sun damages. Also, do not store them in the bathroom (too warm and too moist).

Bleach brown spots / freckles

Brand: Epiquin Micro 4% Cream
Ingredient: HYDROQUINONE

Anti-aging: reducing fine lines and wrinkles, reducing roughness and improving coloration; treat acne

Brand: Renova 0.02%
Ingredient: TRETINOIN (Vitamin A derivative, or retinoic acid)

Notes: Vitamin A family products work by increasing skin cell turnover rates. In other words, skin cells die faster, new cells are generated, and collagen is produced. Hence skin looks younger and firmer, skin-tone is more even, and all that good stuff.

Treat acne problems

Brand: Differin
Ingredient: ADAPALENE
Notes: Differin has gel and cream types. For my skin, gel is too harsh and drying, so I opt for cream.

Treat acne and psoriasis, anti-aging

Brand: Tazorac
Ingredient: TAZAROTENE (Vitamin A derivative)

Notes: Tazorac is very similar to Renova. Both are Vit. A derivatives, and work by increasing skin cell turnover rates. See notes above for Renova. Tazorac causes more irritation than Renova, and cannot be used by pregnant women. My personal preference is Renova, because of irritation problems.

Found this great article that explains different Vitamins’ roles in skincare.

My mind is always racing with ideas, and thus my attention span is getting shorter and shorter. During the day I usually have at least 5 tabs open in firefox, while running 3 things in the background, and listening music at the same time.

So I’ve been meditating, or trying to meditate lately. I downloaded a bunch of short meditation Podcast on iTunes. They range from 7 to 15 minutes, and I can do quick ones while at work. I just sit at my desk and close my eyes for a few minutes to slow myself down.

But even 7 minutes is hard. My thoughts are always flooding and my heart rate speeds up whenever an exciting thought or idea comes in.

Today at the 6th minute, I opened one eye to check how many minutes I have left. Then I noticed the tree outside my office window was swaying slowly with the mild wind.

The tree is deciduous. Right now it’s completely leafless and full of tree nuts hanging from the bald branches like Christmas tree ornaments.

On the tips of branches, I saw tiny baby green buds showing their faces for the coming spring.

The scene was so beautiful and it calmed me down instantaneously.

I kept my eyes open for the remainder of the podcast. For a few minutes I became the tree. I swayed with the fluctuating floods of thoughts. I just let them come and go without resisting. Underneath the busy brainwaves, my true and calm self, is slowly emerging. It’s growing so slow that you may not see it at all. But oh it is there.

I watched it 5 times. It never failed to make me lawl.

Mac vs. PC vs. Linux — South Park Style | Compiler from Wired.com

I had post here when I was searching for a good case that is aesthetically pleasing but not take the spotlight from iPhone’s stunning design. I settled with cheap iPod socks.

Now, 7 months have passed, how did iPod socks fare? How does my iPhone look?

I accidentally tossed the purple sock into the garbage at the Seattle airport.

Boyfriend hijacked the gray sock for his camera.

I still change the sock daily to match my outfit. Thank god I don’t have any purple shirt, but I sure do miss the gray one.

Some colors are getting really dirty. I’m considering tossing the in the washer and see if they’ll survive.

The socks don’t cover the entire iphone. There’s always a section about 0.75″ long that is exposed.

I dropped my iPhone without the sock at least 5 times (6~ 9 times to be precise), on the sidewalk, wooden floor, carpet and linoleum floor.

I’ve got lazy and sometimes I just put the phone in my purse without the sock on. It rubs against my huge set of keys, a pen, and some other stuff I don’t care to remember.

My iPhone looks IMPECCABLE! There are minor scratches on 3 corners of the metal frame (I think mostly from being dropped on the ground), but no scratch on the glass surface, and no scratch on the back. The part that is not covered by the sock looks the same as any other part of the phone.

I honesty don’t think iPod socks provide much protection. Most importantly, iPhone doesn’t need any protection.

I will still continue to use the sock. Not only does it look so cute, it provides nice friction when I hold the phone. I only dropped the phone without the sock on, because it gets slippery.

It’s such a great fashion statement. In company meetings, I see many girls with impeccable blow-dried hair, subtle yet beautiful makeup, well-tailored suits, and the cutest heels. As soon as they put their iPhones on the table with bulky masculine black leather cases… the record scratch sound goes off, music stops.

I’ve read this multiple times from different sources, so I thought I should note to myself and the readers.

This is taken from Dr. Kaplan’s site

When selecting a sunscreen, look for products labeled “broad-spectrum UVA and UVB” protection. The package should include a list of active ingredients. Look for physical sunblocks, such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. These ingredients work by actually deflecting sunlight away from your skin, and are much more effective sun protection than chemical sunblocks, such as Avobenzone, octocrylene, and oxybenzone.

To my horror, I realized my favorite hand cream, Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer SPF 15 (I know, facial cream for hands? But no hand lotion has SPF in it, at least not the drug store ones), contains only chemical sunblocks. I need to shop for a safer one.

Also as a side note, I have not seen any sunscreen that does not protect UVB since… 1995? Leave me a note if you see one. I don’t know how many times I heard sales ladies telling me, “our product is unique because it protects against UVB”, and I immediately thought they just repeated the sales pitch passed down from the 80’s. Even dermatologists warn me about sunscreens that only protect against UVA. It really bothers me how professionals don’t do a reality check once in a while to see how the world has evolved.

But then again, let me know if you are aware of a brand that has not kept up.

Friday night, home alone…

I’m so bored I whipped out my cell and started calling my old friends. I haven’t done that in a long long time. Now i spend most of my life in the cyberworld, and sometimes I feel like I’m losing the connection to the real world, that the cyber world is more tangible than the real one. I feel weightless, like a balloon let go by a child, quickly drifting away from the ground.

After talking to some of them, I feel grounded again. It feels good to be back.

I’ve decided to reorganize my blog. I’ve set up a couple of WordPress blogs on my own webpages. I’ll move most of the Geekie Stuff over and leave the girlie stuff here.

The reasons for the move -

1. I just want to play around with WordPress, and start writing plugins. This is my way of forcing myself to learn more about php and java scripting, and God knows what else.

2. I realize most of my readers are girls, and they are only interested in cosmetics. I’ll concentrate more on that side in this blog.

3. I swear I’ll figure out a way to export blogsome blogs!!! <— new year resolution #7

I’m planning to move my geekie stuff here like mentioned above. I’m considering merging some of my travel posts to the other travel blog, although I haven’t decided.

In the meantime, please pardon the occasional funky look of the blog. That means I’m trying to take things apart and reassemble them again.

From Mahalo daily, for those of you who don’t have time to watch the whole thing. It’s pretty fun! Mahalo Daily » Blog Archive » MD038 - The Steve Jobs 90 Minute Keynote (in 60 Seconds)

Today I downloaded a command “class-dump“, but had no frig’n idea how to “install” it. What I did was I downloaded the file, expanded it and double clicked on the executable Terminal file, and a Terminal window popped up showing the usage of the command, and automatically logs out.

I tried executing the command in Terminal, and I got the error message “-bash: command not found”. I moved the directory to where ‘class-dump’ is located, and tried to execute there, and it failed for the same reason.

I googled “install shell command” “install unix command” and tons of other terms, but nobody included a dumbed-down, step-by-step instruction on how to do it.

So here’s how I finally did it-
go to Finder, menu bar “Go to Folder”,

and type in /usr/bin.

Here you’ll see all other commands. Then just copy and paste the file in here. It may tell you that you do not have permission to modify bin, and if that happens, click “authenticate”, and type in the administrator’s (my, in my case) password. Then go back to Terminal. You’ll be able to execute the command from any directory. It’s that simple.

just for fun, from http://www.metro.co.uk

The giant Pacific octopus was given the toy for Christmas and has even learned to dig out food hidden in a secret box at the back of it.
‘He’s fascinated by it,’ said Matt Slater, of the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall. ‘He attacks the net we use to fish the toy out every time we try to take it away.’

Came across this video today.  The bird can do pretty amazing stuff, such as a Chainsaw! Unbelievably cute.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m pretty sad to see Gates go.

I think most of us take Microsoft for granted, and under appreciate Bill Gates.  No matter how Bill got where he is today, and how shitty Vista is, we can’t deny that he made the greatest impact in the 20th century and continue to influence the 21st.

I still remember how young and lively he was when I was little, and seeing his agile figure it reminds me how fast time flies (and how old i am).  While saying goodbye to him, I’m also saying goodbye to my younger days, and a big chapter in my life.

I was browsing on a game forum and one thread is about, "What are some big things that will happen in 2008 for you?" Lots of people jumped in and it seems everyone has a list of exciting things to come.

I was shocked to realize that there is nothing for me.  No joy, excitement, nor despair.  Just void.

Do I have any goal this year? no. Resolution? no.

I don’t know where I lost my passions as youth along the way.   

2008 will be the year of nothingness.

I’m proud to announce that busygirl is part of the blog action day.  It is an initiative by lighter footstep.  The idea is to have lots of voices on one topic, on the same day.  If you’d like to participate you can just click on the link and get involved.

I am an environmentalist.  Here are the simple things I do to contribute protecting the environment:

 - I try my best to use both sides of paper

 - limit the number of paper printouts 

 - I changed 2 lightbulbs in my house to the energy saving ones

 - I turn off lights and unplug chargers when not in use (almost obsessive compulsively)

 - I recycle all my batteries (target & wholefoods both take them)

 - I recycle or donate computer equipment, since they impose environmental damages 

I know I need to do more.  But at this point there are simply too many mixed messages and incomplete information.  For example, are hybrid cars really good? If my japanese car’s mileage is great, it’s probably as good as a hybrid car, since I’m concerned about the environmental damage the manufacturing process for hybrid cars cause.

There are a lot of websites that ask you to donate to green funds to offset your carbon fooprint.  This sounds like a wonderful idea.  But does it really work? Who are the recipients of my contribution?  What are they doing with the fund? Is my money better spent somewhere else?  But for those of you who’d like to contribute this way, this site is a good start.

For now, I’ll stick to simple things and try not to harrass my family and friends.  One tip I learned recently, is that cell phone chargers, when plugged in (even without connecting to your phone), drains power as well. So unplug it when you’re not charging.  Hey, it’s good for your electricity bill too.

 

Wired News - AP News

A small study links the type of bacteria living in people’s digestive system to a desire for chocolate. Everyone has a vast community of microbes in their guts. But people who crave daily chocolate show signs of having different colonies of bacteria than people who are immune to chocolate’s allure.

That may be the case for other foods, too.

So we are (in some way, at least) controlled by the little guys in the guts? We humans like to think we rule the planet, when in fact microorganisms are the fittest in most environments. I personally like to think that eating chocolate and prefer pepsi over coke is out of my free will, not the microbes in my guts.  And I’d also like to think I went to school, got a job, and maintined a healthy diet is for myself, not for the masters in my guts.

This research gave a new meaning to "gut reaction". 

<Photo credit: nature.com> 

All dermatologists will tell you sunblock is the best skin protector.  You can use the most expensive skin products out there, but if you don’t use sunscreen, dark spots, wrinkles and loss of collagen will forever be your best friends. 

But all my friends and myself hate using sunblock on the face.  We usually apply day lotion with SPF, but then we don’t reapply it throughout the day.  Now, the sunscreen will only last an hour or two, depending on the SPF and your skin.  Eventually even if SPF is high, the lotion simply wears off and your skin is NAKED under the sun.  Reapplying sunscreen is a pain though.  Sunscreen is usually thick, even the oil-free kinds, and how are we supposed to apply it when we have make up on? Don’t mention it clogs your pores and cause breakouts.

I’ve probably tried all sorts of facial sunscreens, from department store to drug store brands.  To name a few, I’ve tried Cetaphil, Aveeno, Oil of Olay from drugstores. And Lancome, Estee Lauder and Shiseido from the department store, just to name a few.  For a while I thought Shiseido Extra Smooth Sun Protection Cream SPF 38 is impressively light, and a lot of my friends use it.  With Shiseido though, I still didn’t reapply when I wear foundation.

But recently I found Clarins UV Plus Protective Day Screen SPF40 , and as soon as I used the tester I was blown away. It is the best and lightest, bar none.  It has a matte finish, and not greasy at all (the texture is more watery than any products I’ve used). The SPF is 40, which is strong enough, and oil free of course.  And it’s small enough for me to carry in my small purse. I’ve been reapplying it 4-5 times a day (I live in CA, mind you), even with powder foundation on.  I haven’t had any breakout from it. 

Crazy Apple Rumors Site » Blog Archive » CARS Announces New Books! This is too funny. I personally am sick and tired of people wanting get a piece of Apple pie, which is understandable, but at least have some decency to make up better reasons for it. Not be able to change the phone battery? Not be able to brick the phone? iPod is too loud? Give me a Br….

Take Control of Being A Whiny-Assed Apple Customer The Missing Manual for Dummies will show you, the whiny-assed Apple customer how to leverage your inherent ability to bitch, bitch, bitch. Whaaaah! The iPod’s battery runs out after five years! Whaaaah! Apple bricked my iPhone after I took a soldering iron to it and installed a bunch of crap I downloaded from a Nigerian web site! Sure, you already sound like fingernails on a blackboard to anyone within earshot, but how can you weasel your way up to annoying bloggers, members of the press and even Apple executives? Read the book!

I’ve been busy updating my facebook. It’s a lot funner than I thought it’d be, and I especially like all the applications we can add. I’ll be all set once Shutterfly adds an app.  One of the applications is Movies, where you add your favorite movies. Immediately I added about 50. After that I looked at my friends’ favorite movies, and none of them had more than 3. Then I realized that ‘favorite movies’ means ‘all-time favorite movies’, as one that you would watch over and over again, and should probably be your favorite movie for years to come. For example, many characters in romantic comedies claim that they LOVE Casablanca, and they would watch it and quote it throughout the movie. I never thought those people exist in real life. But I wonder if they do and I’m the oddball. I’m simply incapable of having a favorite anything. When people ask me what movies i like, I immediately access the region of my brain which is set up like Blockbuster. "Well, in action category, i like… for dramas, i like…, new releases, i like…" is my typical response. Same thing about my favorite color. I was watching "Stomp Yard" and the girl rejected a marriage proposal because her boyfriend didn’t know her favorite color. Hell, I don’t have a favorite color! It depends, right? Are you talking about a car (white, but depends on the model), clothes (depends on the style, and the color of eyeshadow I want to match at the moment, etc.), ipod (they’re all cute!)….? Not only does it depends on the subject, it really depends on my mood at the moment. Wait, I take it back, I do have some real favorites. My favorite sitcom - Seinfeld, favorite food - chicken legs, and favorite classic composer - mozart. The funny thing is most people I talked to don’t have a favorite food. That’s when they say, it depends on what category, the mood, etc. I love chicken legs so much that if I have to choose one food and give up everything else forever in my life, I’ll pick chicken legs (with skin) with no hesitation. Somebody should do a poll what category of "favorites" that most people have fixed answers to.

 
What’s your favorite?

This is too hilarious to pass up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRKIDdIaFyE

YouTube20-20zunePhone20ad

Foam Heads of Fury - Photo Essays - TIME

Photo collection of college mascots, on TIME.com

AppleInsider | Apple stirs controversy with iMovie’s ‘08 overhaul

Apparently the reason I was so impressed with the iMovie is that I’m not an advanced user. More experienced users are complaining that the new iMovie is lacking in features that the previous iMovieHD had, and that Apple should call this new program “iTube”. As a result, Apple offers free download of iMovieHD for those in need.

Note that installing iLife 08 doesn’t override the previous version of iMovieHD. It’ll replace it on the dock, but iMovieHD is still in your application folder.

Well, the new iMovie pleases users like me who just want to do youTube. I still have high hopes for it though. It shouldn’t be too hard for Apple to integrate the advanced features into iMovie, should it?

The new iMovie in iLife 08 completely blew me away. The previous version of iMovie was clunky at best. It took me 2 hours to create a 30-second video card for my mom with photos, video clips and background music. Voice-over was doable but not for the faint of heart. I had to first extract the original sound from the clip, and carefully align the voice-over on the timeline. The new iMovie (see demo) pretty much materializes our mental process when editing a movie. We can now easily skim video clips, arrange music and voice-over much the same way as editing photos. It’s worth checking it out.

After I activated my iPhone, my next issue is to find a good case or pouch to protect my iPhone from all the things I carry in my purse. Although PCWorld proved that iPhone screen is unscratchable, I don’t want the medal back to be scratched up by the keys. Most of the cases offered are targeted for male business users. Lots of black or brown leather with irremovable belt clips. A few vendors offer female-friendly designs by painting them over with hot pink. What is it with hot pinks? Do they have any female designers > 15 yrs old on board?

After browsing iLounge, macForum and tons of blogs, I narrowed down to iQase.com. I like the Side,  (watch YouTube) because it’s the easiest to remove. Ritz is good too cuz it doubles as a card holder, but because of the wrap-around, it’ll be hard to remove the phone as well. If I don’t remove the phone from the case when calls come in while I’m browsing, I’ll have to use the headset as the proximity sensor on iPhone is blocked by the case. Flip seems like the best compromise, but it’s out of stock.

While I was debating which ones to get, my boyfriend told me that tight skins or cases are not recommended for iPhone for fear of overheating. At this point, I thought maybe I don’t really like anything that’ll cover up the beautifully designed iPhone. After all, I just need something to separate the junks in my purse from the iPhone.

What about iPod socks? I thought. It’d be perfect. It’s cute, it comes in 6 different colors for under 30 bucks, and because iPhone is so slippery, I can easily squeeze it out of the sock for incoming calls. It turned out to be a nice solution. And I figured out if I put the iPhone in head down, I can easily access the home button and the slider easily by squeezing out the iPhone just a little bit. This way I don’t have to remove the phone completely in order to answer a call. Another good thing about the sock is that it’s so soft, I can feel the side and top button to adjust the volume, turn it on and off, and switch to vibrate mode without removing the phone as well.

 

After I found a good pouch for my iPhone, my coworker told me that he drops his cells all the time and need something to protect against that. The image of my scratched up old cell is conjured up immediately, and I just realize I’m a cell dropper myself. A few solutions I found online. There are clear rubber, silicone and arclic cases. But I don’t like hard cases as they are too bulky, and I don’t want silicone ones for fear of overheating. After some more research, I think I’ll get invisiSHIELD. Check out the stress test on youtubes: stress test, installation. It’s just 2 pieces of transparent film, one for the front and one for the back. It doesn’t cover up the beauty and yet provides superb protection from scratches and dropping. Mind you I haven’t got it yet, but I’ll post my review after I try it out. Oh by the way, don’t get inCase sports as it affect the screen sensitivity. See this test.

This is the funniest and cuttest youtube i’ve seen to date. Be patient and watch until the very end. That’s the best part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno

Today I learned how to create javascripts in the Shell environment. Mike Chamber’s webpage is really helpful. In this article he mentioned this file”.bash_profile”, which I couldn’t find in my OS X terminal. After some researching I realized this is something we create: create a “.bash_profile” file under the root directory (for OS it’s User/YOUR USERNAME/), and whenever you open a terminal window, it’ll automatically execute the commands in the file. At first I used the text editor to write Mike Chamber’s modified .bash_profile, but I had to use the “Vi” editor in Shell to clean up some random symbols created by my texteditor. And voila, it worked!

From now on, I can directly execute javascript commands in my terminal. Here’s mozilla’s resource page on Rhino.

Steve Jobs said in the town hall meeting the day before the iPhone launch day, that we shall forever remember this historic moment and tell our grandkids all about it. On June 29, 2007, I arrived at the Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara and joined the line an hour and half before the store open time at 6pm. The real reason that I wanted to go was I heard Steve Woz was the first in line. Allegedly he arrived at 4am that day on his segway scooter, wearing the iPhone T-shirt that says "the line starts here". He helped keep order by passing out number cards to early arrivals. That was just too funny and I had to leave work early and go check him out. Besides, it was free gelato day from noon to 4pm to celebrate the iPhone launch, so most of my coworkers were nowhere to be found after noon. So I got there, saw Steve Woz, clad in that white T-shirt, obviously unshaven (he never had the clean look anyway). There were 4 segway scooters neatly aligned by the door (probaby his buddies’). I was gonna go home but my boyfriend begged me to wait in line so he could lay his hands on the phone that night. There weren’t as many people as I thought. I thought there’d be about 1000 but there were only 500. I wasn’t too concerned about waiting for 2 hours to get in (with my PSP, 2 hours would feel like 20 minutes), but I didn’t know how long it’d take them to process orders for 500 people. 3 -4 hours right? Most people in line were in their 20s and 30s, in T-shirts, faded jeans, pale and unshaven, with macbook or macbook pro on their laps. Quite a few of them were high school kids. I couldn’t help but wondering if they saved up months for this, or their parents spoil them rotten, or they waited in line for other people on commission. I didn’t see that many girls my age. The guy in front of me called his friend and said "I thought I got here early!" I almost laughed out loud. Later his girlfriend showed up for moral support. I complained to them that I didn’t know why my boyfriend couldn’t wait for 2 days, before I realized I was complaining to the wrong audience. The guy said, "what’s your point!" and everyone laughed. His girlfriend gave me a sympathetic look. After the store opened, I went back in (the line was so long we looped outside of the mall) to check out the store. I saw a guy walking out holding his iphone bags up high, and everyone cheered and clapped. At first I thought he was somebody but couldn’t recognize him at all. Later I realized that the crowd did that to everyone. There was a large crowd outside the store not interested in buying the phones, but just wanted to watch the geeks in line. They really had nothing better to do I guess, but I suppose we did look like a bunch of idiots waiting in such a long line, when we could’ve easily ordered on line. The line moved rather quickly, to my surprise, and in less than an hour we were in the store. While we were still outside the mall, his little sister went to Jamba Juice, and I was joking that we’d probably get our orders at the same time. And it turned out we did. She came back a couple of minutes before we finalized the orders. The way they sped things up was that the employees had cordless credit card processors, so they scanned your credit cards as soon as you step into the store, and they would send receipts to your email address (to save paper they said). My boyfriend shopped there before so they had his email add on file. It happened so quickly I didn’t even know when he was done. BTW, no employee discount on iphones, but accessories are ok. When we walked out, the store clerks lining up by the door applauded and cheered. I didn’t know if I was supposed to smile and showed that I was a proud iPhone owner, even though I’m not? But if I don’t smile i’d feel bad for the clerks. Anyway, although unnecessary, I’m glad I joined the party. It was fun to chat with fellow Apple fan boys in line, and the store order arrangement was really impressive. I won’t do any review for the iPhone, since my boyfriend won’t depart with it the whole weekend. I can tell you this, he absolutely loves it!

I came across this story on Time.com, and I found it amusing. This was quoted as a sarcastic analogy for Israelis and Palestinians’ peace agreement. But I feel this mentality in the business world all the time. I also wonder if guys use this tactics when they tell their girlfriends that “yeah, we’ll settle down and get married in a year.”

Once, long ago in Russia, a Baron decided to expel all the Jewish peasants from his estate. The peasants pleaded with the Baron, but he sat there bored, petting his favorite wolfhound. After a few minutes, he waved them away. Just as they were leaving, a rabbi who had noticed how fond the Baron was of his wolfhound, said: “You know, we’re very talented at making dogs speak.” Intrigued, the Baron allowed the Jews to stay on for a year, to teach his dog how to talk. Outside the Baron’s castle, the Jews wailed: “Rabbi, how can you make such a promise? We’re doomed!” The Rabbi replied with a shrug, “Anything can happen in a year. The dog could die. Or the Baron could die. Who can tell?”

This past weekend we went down to Breakwater at Monterey bay to complete my PADI open water certificate program. Breakwater is also known as Coast Guard Pier. Most of the scuba dive beginners and night divers get their certification here for its calm water and gradual decent.

I hate to admit, but I’ve been worried about this trip as soon as the diving class started. I was relatively comfortable in the pool sessions but I was afraid I’d panic in the ocean and shoot up to the surface at the slightest discomfort. I tend to forget some of the prep procedures, such as turning on the air, connecting the tank to the BC. I’m clumsy at putting my fins on with one hand, and my mask keeps sliding off my face or gets tangled up in my hair. In class, my buddy was always 10 steps ahead of me and had to assist me just so we could hurry up and get into the pool; the dive masters in the class usually had all their eyes on me as though something would go wrong with me the moment they take their eyes off me, while the other three classmates roam around freely in the pool. Besides, I didn’t know what to expect when it comes to the water temperature at the ocean.

All my worries proved to be unfounded. The weather was nice over the weekend. It was sunny and around 60-70 degrees, and the water temperature was between 52-56. We started debriefing at 7am just so we can get good parking spots and don’t have to drag our gear too far. The parking fee is reasonable, at roughly $1 per hour. Most students will dive twice on Sat and twice on Sunday, but my group voted for 3 dives on Sat and 1 on Sunday. I didn’t like the idea too much, but my buddy and the other two classmates from Texas (we call them “the texans”), who all are excellent swimmers and in tip top shape, happily said to the instructor that “don’t worry about Rebecca, she’s outvoted.” Word of advice - bring your own friend to a scuba diving class! No just kidding. My buddy is a great guy and all my classmates are really nice and have a great sense of humor.

Back to the story. The dive masters warned us about the poor visibility at Breakwater, but I was still shocked as soon as I started descending to see that it’s pretty much in a milkshake condition. I could barely see my buddy 3 feet away from me. Breakwater has sandy bottom, and is packed with beginner divers who can’t control their positions and tend to kick up the bottom with their fins.

We breezed through all the drills (a few required drills in every dive). I don’t know if it’s because they’re easier to perform in salty water or because we’ve got plenty of practice beforehand. All of them felt as easy and natural as breathing. After we proved that we could perform the required tasks, we went on tours with dive masters. So during the weekend we went on 4 tours in total.

I saw decorator crabs .
They select pieces of seaweed and small animals from its habitat and fasten them to hooked setae (Velcrolike bristles) on the back of their shells, to camouflage themselves. I saw giant kelps ,
lots of other colorful seaweeds, and countless sea stars.

I didn’t see that many fish, but it’s not hard to guess that they want to steer clear of beginner divers. I imagine at any another dive site nearby we’ll see more abundant sea life.

Anyway, I really fell in love with scuba diving. The underwater world is so fascinating, and it’s really different seeing it with my own eyes than from the Discovery channel on HDTV. It’s quiet and dark down there, and I could hear nothing but my own regulator and the bubbles coming out. I also like the weightless feeling. The combination of senses and seeing these amazing creatures in their natural habitat is beyond words.

(photos are from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website.)

I didn’t have a very high expectation after watching the trailer. I thought it was a rental.  But then the review came out on rottentomatoes.com, and it got a surprisingly high score.

I absolutely loved this movie.  I’d say this is the best movie i saw this year.  The story line sounds simple: a newly promoted, nice-looking blonde had a one-night stand with a chubby stubby underachiever, an aspiring porn site entrepreneur, and she was… knocked up.

It’s the kind of movie that the story line sounds worse than it really is. It has so much more to it! I laughed until i was out of air throughout the movie, but most importantly, the issues the characters struggled with are deeply heart-felt.  The issues raised are commonly seen in movies, such as irresponsible men vs. responsible women, bored husbands vs controlling wives, stable family vs exciting life experience… What’s refreshing is how the characters react to the problems in this movie.  Too often we see movies that offer surprising but unrealistic twists that magically melt the obstacle, or present characters that have high enough EQ to solve the conflicts, or comedians who laugh everything off. In "knocked up" though, the characters pained through the struggles, tried to solve them but didn’t always work out. They tried to ease off the tension with humor which occasionally backfired.

One of my favorite scenes was that at the daughter’s birthday party, the father holding the cake was called by a friend as "..a bad husband", when he was kicked out of the house by his wife and went away to Vegas not too long ago, but just reconciled with his wife.  "I was expecting the story to take a down turn again, but he just paused for a sec, and happily walked out the yard singing "happy birthday" with his head up.  Hard to believe he’s the same guy that told his friend that

"marriage is like a real Everybody Loves Raymond, only that it’s not funny and it doesn’t last 22 minutes. It lasts forever!”

I laughed a lot and had tears in my eyes for a few scenes. Overall it’s witty but not pretentious, some jokes are dirty but not in bad taste.  There are a lot more important characters than shown in the trailer, so the story is richer than it seems.

It’s funnier than 40-year old virgin and it touches your heart. A must see! 

Although I didn’t have very high expectations of "Because I Said So" (Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore) to begin with, this move turned out to be over the top annoying.  I don’t know who wrote the script, but I assume he’s a man.  The women portrayed in the movie are all hysterical, yappy, shrill and stupid.  Not a minute went by without somebody spilling food, arguing with one another, or parading around half naked (Diane Keaton included). Basically, they’re all dislikeable nuts.

Avoid this movie at all cost. 

I complained about Starbucks’ green tea frappuccino in this post that it didn’t taste like green tea (or Matcha), but rather like some sort of bubble gum.

I finally learned the reason is that they add melon syrup to it. That explains my bubble gum association. If you ask them not to add melon syrup, it’ll taste more like green tea. And if you’re a matcha fan, I recommend asking for extra matcha. Now, if they ask you how many scoop, don’t ask for more than 1 because it’ll be way too powering even for my taste. And keep in mind I usually get venti so if you usually get tall, i wouldn’t recommend asking for extra matcha powder.

revised 10/9/07 

I wrote a macro to copy values from named ranges into arrays. In my first try I used a For..Next loop to read and copy values into arrays, and later I found out that I could just directly copy them from ranges into arrays. The only catch is that, when copying values from ranges, the values will be stored in 2-dimension arrays, even if your values are in a single-column (or single-row, multiple columns) range. Say if you have values from cell A1 - A10, values will be stored in arrays "ARRAY[1][1]" to "ARRAY[10][1]". Since I don’t know the number of values just yet, I declared dynamic arrays (Dim ARRAY as Variant, rather than Dim ARRAY[a][b] as Integer). Here’s the code (green fonts are comments, red are not in the actual code, but footnotes explained below):

Option Base 1
Option Explicit (Note 1)
Private NumArray1 As Variant, NumArray2 As Variant

Sub populateArray()
Dim myRange As Range, my2ndRange As Range

Set myRange = Range("NamedRange") ‘fixed range (Note 2)
Set my2ndRange = Range(Cells(2, 3), Cells(2, 3).End(xlDown)) ‘range size depends on user input (Note 3, 4)

‘Here we go, start populating data.  It’s [destination array] = [source array].value

NumArray1 = myRange.Value (Note 5)
NumArray2 = my2ndRange.Value

‘test the results 

Debug.Print "NumArray1[1,1] is " & NumArray1(1, 1) & ", & NumArray1[9,1] is " & NumArray1(94, 1)

Debug.Print "NumArray2[1,0] is " & NumArray2(1, 1) & ", & NumArray2[9,1] is " & NumArray2(9, 1)

End Sub 

Note 1: option base 1 makes all arrays start with 1, rather than 0.  Without specification, your first array will be stored in Array(0,0). In my example, my first value is in Array(1,1), 5th value is in Array(5,1), so on.

Note 2: one way to define a range is to use named ranges.  This is good if the cells are pre-populated and won’t change.  If the number of data cells will change, it’s better to use the next selection method.

Note 3: Range(A,B) selects all cells between cell A and cell B. Assume we don’t know the number of data cells, Range(Cells(r,c), Cells(r,c).End(xlDown)) is a good method.  This is just like click on Cells(r,c), and then press Control + Shift + down arrow.

Note 4 One thing about Cells(). It’s Cells (row, column), so Cell C2 is Cells(2,3), not Cells(3,2)

Note 5 I see in many web forums and how-to sites that implements for..next or other fancy loops to populate arrays.  It took me a while to figure out it can be as simple as this!

 

Sunblock good for skiing/snowboarding

Kiehl’s - All sport non-freeze face protector SPF 30, $16: Good for the slope.

Primers with sunblock

Smashbox - Photo finish SPF 18,$42

Sue Devitt - Microquatic blue anti-aging SPF 30 $48 Daily Sunscreen Wipe (sephora.com)

Shady Day Daily Sun Protection Wipes SPF 30 $9 (shadydayinc.com)

Being a taiwan-born Chinese, I’d never thought I’d experienced this much cultural shock in Chaiiiin@ (spelling changed for you know why). I anticipated a little bit since I’ve lived in the States for so long, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad. Shanghai was probably the worst part of the trip. It’s the first city we went. Although we arrived late at night so didn’t see the full extent of the traffic situation, I glimpsed what was yet to come on the ride from the airport to our temporary apartment. The apartment sits on an one-way street. The cab driver couldn’t find the beginning of the street so he decided to go in the opposite direction. Thinking back I’m surprised how well my mom took it. Later throughout the trip she never got used to the way people drove and would pinch my arm, screamed, cussed every time we crossed a street. Anyway, I complained to the driver and he responded, "don’t worry, at this hour there won’t be any cops. I won’t get a ticket." That was just a beginning. Quickly and painfully we learned that cars don’t stop for pedestrians even if you’re crossing a green light, right-turners are especially vicious; motorcycles don’t yield. It’s fine for most locals since they obviously all know chinese kung fu and can dance around the motorcycles, bikes, buses and trucks so fast you can’t see how they do it with human eyes. But a couple times bikes and motorcycles stopped mere 5 inches from my mom, and one time a cab stopped barely touching my leg. I’m still kicking myself for not punching a dent on his hood. The second shock is from the people. It’s probably too crowded a city that they don’t have a concept of lining up. And I’m not saying it to be cynical. Again, they DO NOT have a concept of lining up. I was furious the first time a couple stood right in front of me when I was waiting for the subway, and I said "you guys are really rude. Didn’t you see I was lining up here? Did you realize you just cut the line?" If you think i made too big of a deal out of this, you have to understand the Shanghai subway trains. I lived in NY for a while and if you think NYC trains are crowded, you obviously haven’t been to Shanghai. It’s so packed that when the door opens, people literally fall out of the train just like my comforters in the linen closet. People waiting for the train don’t wait for others to get off first before pushing their way in. So it’s essential to get on the train as soon as it arrives in order to secure a standing spot. Back to the story. I somewhat regretted when the woman turned around, cuz she’s actually pretty old. If I saw how old they were i wouldn’t have said anything. She seemed hurt by my comments, and replied, "what do you mean you’re lining up? why are you so rude? You’re not very polite" Then she grabbed her husband and went for another door. My regret disappeared instantaneously. I couldn’t believe she said I was the one was was impolite! I was a little puzzled by her attitude because she came across as well-mannered and well educated. After a few trips to the subway and other places, I realized people never line up for anything. Feel free to stand in front of anyone they won’t be offended at all. So the first few days I was irritated by all the things mentioned above, which is pretty much all day long since we walk around to sightsee and take trains to get around. But slowly I realized most people were very nice and patient, with the exception of subway ticket clerks- I wouldn’t be surprised if they recently migrated from NYC and used to work in NY subway stations. We also noticed that Shanghainess don’t get mad. Most people seem to be happy and carefree. They happily push other people out of their way when climbing onto the train, but don’t lose their temper when being pushed away. If you yell at them they curiously stare at you and just shrug it off. One afternoon when we were in Beijing sitting in the traffic caused by the mayor shutting down major arterials for his visit, my mom complained that the mayor shouldn’t come out during peak hours and cause the whole city’s inconvenience. The driver responded, "I’m afraid I have a different opinion. You have to think for the mayor. Do you know how busy he is? It must be really difficult for him to arrange his schedule. So whenever he has time to come out and see the city, we should all cooperate. A little traffic jam? not a problem!" I wonder if their attitude has something to do with communist education? People in Beijing are more orderly and pleasant.

Designers Rachel Wingfield and Mathias Gmachi incorporated programmable light-emitting materials in everyday linen. The result is wallpaper that illuminate different patterns corresponding to change of environment, and duvet cover that naturally wakes you up with gradual lights. http:\\www.loop.ph

I found this great social website for bookwarms. I was just talking to a friend today about how I’ve become such a bookwarm and mouse potato that I don’t have time to talk to my friends or socialize anymore.

LibraryThing.com is a free website for you to maintain lists of books you’ve read. You can review, rate, add tags to the books you’ve read, and you can see other users who share the same books as you do and see other people’s comments as well. If you have too much time you can record details about when you bought the book, started and finished reading.

Here’s a link to my catalog. Only a few books there now since I just started building. It’s by no means the total number of books i’ve read all my life!

I was reading this book “break the bamboo ceiling” which is about the problem asians face in corporate america world.

The author, an Asian American HR, recruiter and coach, pointed out that only 0.29% of corporate officers of Fortune 500 company are Asian women. Even in Silicon Valley, where Asian Americans comprise 30% of technology professionals, Caucasians hold 80% of managerial positions, versus 12.5% Asian Americans.

I, like most people, gave little thought about Asians’ problems advancing their careers. The stereotypes of Asians are they’re hard working and highly educated. Note that 44% of Asian americans over age 25 have graduated from college, the highest percentage for any racial gruops, compared with the 27% average for the US population. And according to feedback from recruiters and HR directors, there is significant representation of entry-level Asian talent in corporations.

Once I started thinking about it it’s easy to identify the reason. It’s so painfully obvious that I don’t need to restate here. But I think, and the book agreed, that most Americans judge your personality by your Asian face, and it’ll just require extra effort from us to break the first impression.

I’m starting to feel the bias when I’m climbing up the corporate ladder. Sometimes when I go to clients’ with a male staff, they’ll automatically address to him. I know it’s the combination of sex and race… I wouldn’t call it discrimination, but maybe natural reaction. I bet most people aren’t even aware that they do that. Like the lyric of my favorite musical, Ave Q, “everybody is a little bit racist…”.

I haven’t finished the book, but can’t wait to see what tips she provided to counteract the bias.

I finally got myself out of the New Jersey project, and am ready to start fresh in San Francisco. Since I was stuck in East Coast all this time, I gave myself two days to secure an apartment, a week to pack and 3-5 days to move and settle down.

I wasn’t sure if I was able to find an apartment in such a short time. Bay area is consisted with numerous neighborhoods and some I heard are not safe. But it’s not as simple as avoiding those neighborhoods. Most of the areas that are close to downtown are ‘mixed’, as in some blocks are nice and some blocks are ‘less nice’, so to speak.

Initially I wanted to stay as close to downtown SF as I could. The person that killed the thought was my boss, a PwC partner. Obviously he knows the best how much I make, and instead of offering a raise, he barked, ‘Are you out of your mind? You can’t afford it!! Move to East bay, and no, not the east bay that’s close to the bay like Oakland, but go over the hills and the valley to as far east as you could, like Pleasanton, it’s a mere 45 minute BART (bay area rapid transit) ride to the city.”

Riiiight. I thought. I’m not taking 45 minute train ride each way every day! So I started by looking into the part of east bay that’s close to water, like Emeryville and Lake Merritt. It’s less than 15 minute ride to the city. I went so far as to pay application fee for a tiny little studio in a gorgeous condo right by the bay, and the unit has a view of the water as well. I was pretty excited even though the rent was over 1000 and the kitchen was so small that I doubted if i could fit a microwave oven in it. Only a few hours later, I drove by the BART station and saw that the parking lot was so small that I didn’t think I’d ever get a spot past 7am. If I can’t park there, that means I can’t take the BART. How the heck am I supposed to go to downtown? How do people in this neighborhood go to SF? I bet you most people are students or local commuters, who don’t have to go across the notorious, always jammed Bay Bridges.

Then I started looking more east. I found an apartment complex that’s right by the BART station in Walnut Creek. Rent is about the same for a studio that’s slightly larger, but the kitchen is full-size and the best part, there’s washer and dryer in the unit.

After all, I ended up with what my boss suggested. Go as far east as you can. But hey it’s not bad, it turned out that the BART ride is ONLY 37 minutes, not 45! The 16 minutes i save a day is enough for me to take a quick shower huh?

All in all, for friends who might visit me in the future, Walnut Creek is my new home. Although it’s a bit far from the city, it has all the retailers that you can think of. Well, although I can’t name all the retailers, i’m convinced that wherever Tiffany is located, everyone else must be there.

Time for me to compare hotels in New York, mid-town area before my memory fades. I wish I had stayed in more hotels to do a really thorough comparison, but hey i’m not hotel.com. And compared with my friends and random people on the street, I probably lived in amazing number of hotels.

Best Hotel Gym

The best hotel gym-I gotta give credit to Marquis. It’s about 2000 squarefeet (I think), has at least 10 elliptical trainers, probably more than 20 treadmills (sorry I never pay attention to treadmills since I don’t use them), and a lot of bikes and a few stair climbers. The number of cardio machines is astonishing. If I have you blindfolded and drop you off in this gym, you’d never guess it’s a hotel gym. All the cardio machines have individual TVs on. It has more than basic weight training machines, and abundant choices of free weights. It even has a spacious corner padded area to do stretches and other floor exercises, supplied with yoga mats, medicine balls, resistence balls and other Reebok powered equipments. And it’s 24 hours.
W hotel The Court/Tuscan has a decent 24-hour gym. The Court and Tuscan are right next to each other, so if you stay in Court, you have to get out on the street in order to access the gym. Hey don’t ask me why they choose to have two hotels on the same block. One time a cab driver pulled up in front of Tuscan, refusing to believe W the Court is right behind him, and I had to drag my luggage back to the Court

Best Bed
Starwood’s Heavenly Bed is definitely the best. Westin, W and Sheraton are part of Starwood. Come to think of it, I don’t remember anything spectacular about Sheraton New York though. Having been traveling for so long, I really appreciate a nice thick, firm and well padded mattress and a comforter. Unlike traditional hotels that offer a bed spread covered with you-know-what, and washed once a month, Starwood give you a real comforter with washable comforter cover. Do they wash the cover is still a mystery. But Westin’s cover is white so I’m guessing they’re forced to wash it more often than once a month. There’s subtle difference between W and Westin’s comforters too. W’s comforters are as comfortable however the cover is somewhat slippery and they usually end up on the floor the next morning. Quite a nuisance.

Unique

Two thumbs up for Library Hotel. It’s not a chain, so the drawback is you don’t get hotel points, but they compensate that with better price and much better and personal services. The most interesting part about the hotel is that the floors and room numbers are organized by the Dewey Decimal System. For example, if you stay on the eleventh floor, the whole floor is Philosophy themed. Room #6 on that floor has books related to “Love” since it corresponds to 1100.001 in DDS. The first room I stayed was “Library Management”