Obsession with twngan

Before moving, people told me I need to be more careful with my properties in LA. I didn't pay much attention to that at the time. How bad could it be in a city, if I don't go to bad neighborhoods? It is not Detroit or New Orleans...

Now I found out. I parked my car in a plaza in Chinatown for a while. When I'm back, my car's antenna mast is gone. Someone has actually stolen that! Can you imagine? A quick check on eBay shows that a new one is around $13 shipped. Damn, I hate cheap people.

I am probably not going to replace it. My car radio and my iPod-to-radio thingy still work well. More importantly, what guarantees that it won't be stolen again?

It was just a bit of precipitation for the last two days, but still exciting. And it also made it not hot here.

I can't remember what was the last time it wasn't sunny here.

The only reason I moved to California is for California Stop. Well, not really, but it sounds good.

Looks like I have to be more careful. Recently, there is often a black and white waiting in my neighborhood. I have already seen someone got caught, probably for failing to stop at a stop sign...

Free lunch. Free dinner. In between? Free water fun from Raging Waters.

While it was fun at the beginning, after a few attractions, they start look like the same as you are pushed by water from one place to another.

Worse, I got myself burnt. Guess which part. No, it was my left sole. Turns out, walking on bare feet is a fatal mistake, as the sun heat the ground too much...

Labels: work

I bought a pair of new toys, the Bowflex SelectTech 220 Dumbbells today. While the gym in my apartment has dumbbells, many of them are missing, and I would use them more if I could do while watching TV. The price was unbelievable. These babies go for $199 in Amazon, but I found them in a local Sports Authority. While their web site says that they are going for the same price, they were on clearance at my local for $99.97. With a 25% off coupon I got from the web, it cost me just above $80. And I am also going to write a review on PriceGrabber to get an addition $5 rebate. They are great and convenient dumbbells, since they can go from 2.5 lbs each to 20 lbs at 2.5 lbs intervals, and the switching is as simple as turning a knob.

Labels: deals

Street View is fun. But most of the time that is it. Fun.

Until I finally found out a use of it yesterday. Like every other week, I found out my usual commute route is getting slow, so it was again time to look for alternate route. While I was trying to invent a new route by going through small roads, I was stuck at a point, needing to make a left turn from a small road to a major road.

Now the question is, is there traffic lights at that intersection? Since if not, during rush hours, it is next to impossible to make such a left turn (unless you start forcing people to yield to you). Street View comes to rescue. I am happy to report that I found a great route. At least until next week...

Am I? Just look at the stock price of Apple for the last 6 months. Bought at the lowest price since April and sold at the peak...

Of course, that's just because I didn't tell you the one stock that I lost money on.

I just did one this morning as part of the evil-turning plan and I didn't enjoy a bit.

First, it has to be in the early mornings due to time difference. Then I have to pay extra attention for the British accent. To make it worse, it is sometimes pretty hard to grasp what they think, since they don't necessarily show their stand or emotion in their tones. Fourth... well I hate to talk to people I don't know well anyway.

Labels: work

I declare that I'm officially evil now.

I spent some time this past week learning the patent procedure in my company and started mine. All I can say is, turning evil is a difficult process. First, you need to make some crap that stinks so much that no one has ever touched before. After that, you go and read some worse-than-crap patents that read worse than gibberish (since you know you don't need to understand gibberish). I spent like an hour reading one before deciding that it was something trivial. Then it comes to the worst part, where you actually write your own gibberish. And it wasn't even the application itself--it was only an application for application, subject to approval before the actual application...

But it's not like I have the option of not being evil. Patent applications are a part of my evaluation. Plus, who could resist the path towards evilness, when not only evilness is monetarily rewarded, but also the application to evilness is?

Labels: work

It has been a while since I laughed at a spam. I am usually amused at those crap, but not laughed.

The spam I got is in Chinese (I have been receiving a lot of Chinese spam from Taiwan lately). Its subject was "Danish [Lustful Nestle Coffee]." I guess I found it funny probably due to ignorance, but it looked like very weird combinations of words...

I'm taking back my taking back. My tummy has been hurting, and it must be because of the lunch...

Ok, I'm taking back what I just said. The Indian lunch, which wasn't great, had plenty of meat and was not as bad as I supposed...

You heard me right. And I can't believe I said that either. But that's true now.

I don't know who is behind these decisions, but lately, the food catering for meetings are just horrible. They keep ordering cuisines that I don't like, like Mexican, Indian, and Middle East. To make it worse, you don't get to know the cuisine before the meeting day, so it is hard to prepare something else. Why can't we have some more common food, like sandwiches and pizzas?

Man, it looks like I won't have lunch today...

Labels: food, work