busy girl thoughts

Somebody ran an iPod Nano stress test. http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

Apparently the reason they ran the test is that many critics commented that iPod Nano won’t do well because it’s so small and fragile, that it can be easily broken if you accidentally sit on it. I thought it’s pretty funny that the only attack they can come up with is that ‘oh, it’s too small. I couldn’t find it, and what if i sat on it?’

Check out the link yourself, it’s pretty hilarious. If you’re lazy to read the full post, they basically came up with the following plan to break the Nano:

To simulate everyday accidents that could result in a broken iPod, we came up with a few situations that we felt would ultimately leave the nano lifeless:

1. Sitting on the iPod nano
2. Dropping it while jogging (4-6mph),
3. Dropping at various speeds: 8-10mph (slow bicycle), 15-20mph (fast bicycle), 30mph (slow car), and 50mph (fast car)
4. Dropping the nano from various heights.

After the above steps, they FAILED to break it and Nano, although scratched up, was still playing the music. They were astonished and determined to figure out a way to destroy Nano. What did they come up with? They decided to run it over with a car.

The heart was still beating.

So they ran it over again. (not the most creative bunch).

Nano was still breathing and humming songs.

Finally,

In a final act of desperation, we decided to expose the iPod to a catastrophic event that would certainly destroy it. Lacking a really high place to drop the nano from, we decided the throw the nano as high as we could, say 40 feet into the air, and let it land—hard—on the concrete. Alas, the iPod nano finally gave up the ghost. In addition to the display showing nothing and the backlight being perpetually stuck on, the music finally subsided. The nano had journeyed to the Land Where Consumer Electronics Are Eternally Blessed.

Steve Job did a great job presenting Nano, especially at the moment when he took it out from the inner pocket of his jeans. Watch the webcast here.

The moment hit me again, this afternoon, when I was in Metropolitan Museum of Art, sitting in front of Vermeer’s “Woman with a Lute“. I was sitting down in front of the painting listening to the audio guide playing a piece of Lute music popular at that time. The melody was so simple and slow, compared with the contemporary top 40. Of course our popular music is a lot faster, louder, and more complex for obvious reasons. Simple lute or any acoustic instrument will no longer satisfy modern population’s appetite for music entertainment.

To appreciate this music, I tried to put myself in the ancient time. I gazed into the painting and imagine myself to be in it, sitting by the window, looking out, waiting for my lover’s return. Momentarily I was in a life that I was not constantly surrounded by sound and visual stimulation provided by mass media, the biggest noises would be a busy market, or galloping horses. I guess I could how it’d be one of the most beautiful harmony I’ve heard, at least comparing with the tunes sung by drunken men on the street.

This is when the moment hit me. I was concentrating so hard that for a nanosecond, I felt like I was “really” in the 17th century, hearing nothing but quietness, feeling the slowness of pace compared with NYC pace. Ever since I saw “Somewhere in Time” when I was a little girl, I’ve always had this fantasy of being able to time travel if I could just concentrate as hard as Christopher Reeve.

For a moment, I felt like I was there.

I’ve recently found this automatic water-proof lipliner, and it’s cheap as dirt! $4.89. I really appreciate it after I spent a whole afternoon at Sephora looking at every brand, looking for an automatic lip liner. A few brands have them, but i didn’t see any that had more than 3-4 colors and I didn’t like any of the colors. The price is outrageous too. They easily cost at least $18.

Prestige is sold in all major drug stores, and at Duane Reade they have 16 different colors. Toss your pencil sharpeners! They ARE automatic and TRULY water-proof.

I’m now in Princeton. Don’t blame me for not telling you. Here’s what happened.

We were told a few weeks ago that we’ll eventually move to Princeton mid or late september at the client site. The day after labor day weekend we started to clean up the New York in anticipation of the move. That was a Tuesday right? Tuesday afternoon we were told to book hotels and we’ll start at Princeton on Thursday. We were pretty much in shock since it was such a short notice. We hurried up and made the necessary hotel and flight arrangement, and I had to change my travel plan for the coming weekend as well.

As if the notice was not short enough. Tuesday night when I was having dinner w/ a coworker around 8pm, I got a call from another coworker, and we were told to show up the next morning, 9am sharp.

I didn’t know how to react to that but i didn’t really have time to think anyways. So we booked rental cars for the next morning and packed that night. I left in such a hurry that my laundry was still in the dry cleaner and i had to go back this Saturday to pick it up.

So, here I am, in Princeton!

I was surprised to find such an exquisite seafood restaurant in Princeton, NJ. Two hotel clerks strongly recommended it, and one of them said their seafood is shipped in daily so freshness is guaranteed.

The restaurant is on Nassau, the major route to the university area and where most of the restaurants are located. We saw a couple cute restaurants and cafes nearby. There was a noodle house on one side of Blue Point and a Chinese restaurant on the other. All of them are remodeled residential houses, so they have a small-town, home-made feel to it.

The menu has a southern flare to it. Like the special I ordered was Seafood Creole (gumbo/soup), and it tasted authentic, with full creole flavor and slightly spicy. It had chunks of seafood including lots of Seabass! The softness of seabass contrasted so well w/ the creole flavor, and the gumbo was so thick i ate it w/ a fork.

I tried my friend’s Catfish and it tasted traditionally southern as well. One thing on the menu that made me want to go back is Macadamia Nuts Tilapia, and also the fresh oyster bar w/ about 12 different kinds of oysters. I’ll continue the review in a separate post.

An interesting thing about Blue Point is it doesn’t serve wine. There’s a liquor store right next to it and customers just get the wine from next door and bring it to the restaurant. Hmmm, i think i’ll do the same next time. I actually prefer that since restaurants always charge premium for wine and we’ll have more choices.