Rewards and Points

Drenched. That's how the entire North East Coast felt over the weekend. Rain, rain, and more rain.

Pride and Prejudice was the Saturday night entertainment. I have to join the nay-sayers. The movie gets thumbs down from me. It was long and boring. I fell asleep and possibly snored? The performances were flat and seemed a bit forced on Keira Knightley's part. Go back Keria! Go and make more Pirates sequels! I liked her better as a sword wielding lady than this dull character. This interpretation version of Jane Austen's book is sooo weak when compared to the 1995 Sense and Sensibility. What am I saying, it's weak regardless. With Ang Lee's direction and Emma Thompson's script, the dialogues in Sense and Sensibility came alive and the wit, the humor, and of course superbly executed by Emma Thompson. Bottom line, Pride and Prejuice --- Booo! Sense and Sensibility --- Yeahhhh!


Sunday afternoon I was tempted to go outside in my slickers to scrub the streak of bird poop off my Element until my cousin informed me that in the event I do get struck by lightening, she will not be collecting my body until the rain has stopped. After some careful consideration, I went back to working on the dam RSA portal server setup, and there I remained in my room as a prisoner tied by the 2 laptops for the rest of the night into the wee hours of the morning.

Which leads me to the subject of this particular blog entry. Rewards. What better way to break from work than to figure out how many reward points one has earned while swiping away? After reviewing all my credit cards, looks like Discover and Citibank Dividend Platinum are the winners in the point rewarding world right now. 5% back on gas, grocers, and drug stores.

Bye bye Chase.

RSA

Rational .. wait.. wait.. I know this.. "RSA", "Rational Software Architect". Fine, so I cheated.. anyways.. back to the coding grind again. It's definetely a shocker to the system to be coding again after a good 9 month of non-programming work. Blah.. first day I got the laptop with all the build environment shipped to me, I must have swore at least 200 times. I think I went from a sailor to like captian of the boat.

Black Cloud

Weather this weekend have been sweaty. That's one word to describe it. Sunny as hell (oxymoron there), but I see shadows wherever I go, black clouds hanging.

Father's day -- my dad is with my uncle in PA, my mom is in Louisiana, my bro in Hawaii, and I myself is in NJ. "4 people, 4 different places" as my grandma puts it. Grandma, in bed, not able to move due to injury from falling in the middle of the night 2 weeks ago. The phrase "I've fallen and I can't get up." will no longer be a silly TV ad to me. I've the image of my grandma hurt, silently calling for help in the middle of the night laying there cuz she really cannot move.

Black clouds.

I couldn't even think of what mental thoughts to jot down on the train ride home tonight. It's all so jumbled up here.

Music once again expresses what I can't in words: Elba by E.S. Posthumus.

Semester Bills

While watching "So You Think You Can Dance", yes, lovely program, I was sorting out the boxes of memories from my younger days. Tonight in particular I went through my past academic "stuff".

I am a packrat. I still got my elementary school report cards. Hey those are important!! If I ever have kids, I'll make them keep it as well and the only chance they'll get to throw them away is when they burn it along with me when I finally croak. Yah, I wouldn't want to be buried. Such a confined space. I would rather be spread into the ocean or sea or wherever, preferably somewhere with clean air and water. Take note future child.

Anyways, so I was talking about my inability to part with things. But tonight, I made some progress. Thank goodness for scanners! Whoever invented the scanner is a genius and perhaps the biggest packrat of them all. The mother of all packrats! the ancestor! the master! the legend!

Okie.. off my meds tonight.. so.. I digress again. I love scanning, scanning and filing all of it away in my computer, makes me so happy.

Here I am close to midnight scanning in my semester bills from college days.

It's a good day.

Hustle & Flow

Just finished watching Terrence Dashon Howard in the film Hustle & Flow. Great film. You got the non-typical protagonist of the story -- a pimp, and the supporting cast, mainly -- his hos. Pardon the language, but just going with the flow now. With these characters to start with how can the movie ever get boring?

We get a glimpse of what it's like to be DJay, even if just for a little bit. A man going through his midlife crisis, questioning "is this it for me?" Now that's a man I can relate to; a character all of us can identify with at one point or the other.

"It ain't over for me. No, it ain't over for me." DJay raps over and over. Everyman's got to have a dream.

It ain't over for me either.

Karoke in My Room

Now, I am sure everyone, even those that won't admit it to others, when there's no one else in the car with ya and the radio is up playing your favorite tune, you find yourself start with the humming. Then your foot taps along with the beat, next comes your fingers on the steering wheel. You gain that little bit of confidence (well since you can hardly hear yourself because the music is loud enough for the car next to you to name that tune even with the windows up) and the head start bobbing and then all of a sudden you hear yourself belting out that favorite line "I believe I can fly! I believe I can touch the sky!..." ehhh.. or whatever is on your CD at the moment.

It's a nice moment isn't it?

No one around to critic you on how off key you are or to suggest that you take a lesson before ever consider singing infront of children.

Anyways, I had those moments today. Instead of doing my work, well, I did some work, but mostly I was engrossed recording myself singing along with my fav songs.

Three tracks. I recorded 3 tracks last night. They sounded alright. I wouldn't be distributing them anytime soon.

DIY - Saved Some Money

I didn't save any money on my car insurance today but I did save some $$ by changing out the wiperblades on my car. Well technically only the refills for the blades.

Yah really nothing to brag about, but I do feel better about myself. Cheap therapy.

Whole process took me a good 30 minutes at least. Cuz I am slow and didn't realize the trick to it until I've mucked around for 15 minutes. Hopefully this set of blades refills will last at least another 3 years.

2 front refills = 6.38
1 rear refill = 3.19

Total cost = 9.57

Not bad, not bad at all. Now my little Element is ready for the rain.

Thanks H and A Accessories!

Researching Doctors

Why aren't there forums out there for people to recommend doctors in their hometown area? Huh?

Isn't it frustrating for everyone to figure out which docs are lifesavers and which ones might push you one step closer to the grave?

Okay fine, I might be a little dramatic, but seriously, I racked up some good hours each time I move to a new place or need a new doctor.

Maybe that'll be my money making scheme.. mohhhahahahaa... shh...

Anyways, so instead of working on work, I was doing searches on the web and then cross referencing the different search results to compile a PDF doc with comments on each docs. Yes, I am anal, and I am proud.

Here's the process. Since I have Health Net and their doc finder doesn't really provide details on where the docs went to school and what is their background, I had to do the following (Health Net! Pay attention!):

1 - Search for doctors in my area in Health Net
2 - Print search results into PDF
3 - Search for docs in my area in UnitedHealthcare
4 - Cross reference doctors in PDF file with the results from UnitedHealthcare and take down notes
5 - Search for docs in my area in Aetna
6 - Cross reference doctors in PDF file with the results from Aetna and take down notes
7 - Read over my PDF with notes and then decide which doctor to call up.

Phew!! You telling me!!

In addition, I also like to check to see if the medical doctors are listed in American Board of Medical Specialties or in American Medical Association.

Always good to know who's going to be looking over you or operating on you. Too many horror stories out there about weirdos with fake certificates pretenting to be some medical profession.

Ah, at least several hours of work is not in vain. Buys me some comfort in narrowing down the choices.

Oh yah, I finally remember why I am blogging about researching for docs.. cuz I need one to look at the mellon sitting on top of my shoulders. A month after I was attacked by an electrical pole (full story here) I am still feeling the slight bump, depression and what seems like a crack on my upper right portion of my skull. Figured I better get it checked out in case I am leaking brain fluid.

MOMA - Revisited

Finally met up with a long time college friend in the city today. America is so big and with everyone's schedule, meetings like these are hard to come by.

MOMA it was. Working for corporate America does have its perks -- free admission to some top museums. But not at the Guggenheim though! Cheap @#f@#$. I shouldn't be so harsh, at least I get in some places for free.

Snapped while waiting for friend to show up. Classic streets of NYC.




We went through the exhibitions pretty quickly. Neither of us think too deeply about what the artist was thinking when they created their painting, art, or sculpture. Art is too subjective for me. Some of those paintings hung on the walls look like chicken scratches to me. But I am impressed with all the artists who managed to have others acknowledge their work as "art".

Is it superb marketing? Knowing the right people? Or really 100% talent?

Who knows. I did find some pieces that attracted me visually.


Rene Magritte - The Empire of Light II



Yves Tanguy - Extinction of Useless Light




Barnett Newman - Vir Heroicus Sublimis



I don't know the painter, but the guy matched the painting.





Open Early
Open Late
Open 7 Days

Mohahahahaa!!! I rhymed! As I crack myself up reading outloud Commerce Bank's logo, my friend looked down at me and said "yo, you stupid".

God it's good to have friends.

Scrubbing and Washing in the Rain

June -- has been temperamental so far.

Humid, cool, thunderstorms, and sunny days. Today ranked in the constant downpour to scattered showers range. Someone up there probably heard my pleas for reasons to procrastinate further so they granted me water --- free water!!!

Cheap ass like me can't give up this grand opportunity to get a free car wash. What happened to all those handwashed car services? Now majority of them have those tunnels installed where your car is moved through the spray, scrub, rinse, and blow dry cycle.

Part of the process involves some human labor, but most of the work is done by metal equipment. [Robots are going to take over the world!!]

Anyways, I've always wanted to wash my car in the rain. Doesn't everyone? So I did a quick change into my wet gear:
- Children's Place yellow slicker (it's so cute!)
- sandles
- shorts

Armed with an umbrella and a towel, into the rain I went. Oh, I was out there for good 30 - 40 minutes, giving the Element a good scrub and wipe down. Getting to places ignored by the machines. I am sure all the neighbors think there's a crazy Asian living amongst them. Whatever, I enjoyed the activity.

It's a cleansing feeling. Just you, the car, and the rain. Oh yah, and the garbage can you forgot to bring in for 2 nights now.

Pitter Patter, down came the splatter.

A Fine Example of Idiocy

I've been waiting for my new Cingular wireless phones to arrive since the day I placed the order. You know how it goes. Place the order, wait wait wait for the order confirmation and the shipping tracking number. Get the number and click on the link to see the updated shipping status every 5 minutes..

Finally the phones have arrived! Being my usual anal self, I started going through all 4 boxes of Sony Ericsson z520a to make sure everything is there. Ah ha! I found one of the phones have a pretty big scratch on the bottom of the internal screen. Getting pissy I mumbled to myself "What is this? Is this like one of those phones that customers returned? How come the packaging folks didn't think about adding on a sheet of clear plastic to protect the screens?"

So the next step logical of an unhappy customer is to call up someone to complain.


"Hi, I just received my new phones from Cingular this morning and there's a pretty big scratch towards the bottom of the internal screen. Is there a way I can get an exchange for my phone?"

"Hi, yes, is the scratch on the plastic covering or on the screen itself?"

"The scratch is not on the external screen but on the inner screen which I don't see a plastic covering. Is there one? Oh wait... let me check."

[Sidebar: I swear I checked to make sure there was no plastic on the internal screen before I made the call!"]


"When the phones are shipped there's usually a cover on both of the screens."

[Then I lifted the little tab on the screen completely... viola!! Look at that!]

"Oh!! sorry about this, yes... there is a plastic cover sheet. I didn't see it before."

"It's ok, a lot of people call in with that problem."



Yes, I felt like an idiot for the rest of the day.

We Have No Beef

I was stunned when I heard Bush say the words "We have no beef with Iran." on CNN Live. The president of the United States of America said "we have no beef"? At least Tony Blair is a little more eloquent when he answered the press with "We have no quarrels.. ".

I don't know whether to applaud Mr. Bush for speaking his mind or say "for shame!" for speaking like that on an issue watched closely by the world.

Well have to give it to Bush. He's probably the first president in American history who has ever used the words "we have no beef".

Clouds & Music - Balm for the Soul

I think we all have one of those days that started out great and then out of nowhere, a mood killer event happens and the day just turned into crap.

Today was one of those days. So like the typical me, I retreated back to my invisible shell and shut the door tightly behind me. I might have even used some duct tape today.

I wonder if turtles ever wished they can have an extra flap? So that after they withdrew their head, from the inside they can push like this little flap of skeleton door and shut the hole so that pesky humans would not be able to poke them with various items. Perhaps.

After a good nap in the Element, by the way for those of you Element owners out there that haven't tried putting all the seats down flat and sleeping in the back, try it! The seats are amazingly comfortable. Prop open the skylight (so I won't run out of air), lay down and look up at the moving clouds, with the sun gently blanketing me with warmth - divine. Moments like this, what more can I ask for? Some people love chocolate, I love resting in my Element. Each to his own. Anyways, I digress. So, I was saying, after a good nap, I felt much more de-stressed.

Then came the discovery of AOL Radio with XM that came with the new AIM Triton. Pretty cool I have to admit. I was surprised there is a Movie Scores station. I guess music scores are more popular than I thought. I love music scores. Found a new album tonight - Veronica Guerin. I have not seen the movie but the station played the track "Conversations". It was hauntingly beautiful.

Music to my ears and clouds for my sore eyes. Maybe the turtle will come out tomorrow.

First Step

This morning, and literally this morning, 3:25 AM to be precise, I submitted my first resume to an employment agency after 6+ years out of college.

Whohooo! The feeling after finally pressing that Submit trigger came close to euphoric, as happy one can be at 3 in the morning. It was such a relief! More like I did it step! Well so far no response yet, but at least I didn't get one of those standard - "Thank you for your interest in our company. We have kept your resume in our system and will be contacting you if there are any openings that fit your profit."

So there's hope!

Import Planning Manager, that was the job title. The job description sounded pretty cool. Actually, I am quite excited by the prospect of working with home decor items and use my Chinese background to my advantage. Although, I have a feeling that one day I'll need to go back and learn how to write Chinese, esp Simplified Chinese instead of the Traditional words.

Just another job seeker in Monster, but one big step for little me.

人情

Mommy 說的對, 人情很難還.

佛言: 欲知前世因,今天受者是. 欲知來世果,今生作者是.

如果今世身邊得人都對你很好, 是因你前生修來的福, 還是他們欠你的?


I think it was this morning that I had one of those toilet dreams again. The toilets haven't came back to haunt my dream realm for a long time now. Not once in Taiwan. A long line, I was waiting in a long line outside of a bathroom in a public place. By the time I finally moved up to the front of the line, taking a look at the dirty toilets I decided to forfeit my position and say "Oh, forget it!" What was differen this time is that there weere probably 1 or 2 people ahead of me, but I gave up the chance to relieve my bladder even before I got to position number 1. So what does this mean? That I am giving up too early? That I am giving up without really making an attempt? Or is this about sex somehow? Freud says everything is about some unconscious notion leaning towards some sexual feelings. Something like that right?

VOIP - Voiceral

Voiceral should give me a free month of service for the free advertisement I am about to write for them.

Several days after getting back to the States, along with the dreadful thought of going back to work, a more imminent problem was at hand - phone service.

Including me, there are now 3 people in this house working from home and there's only 1 phone line. That won't do. So the search begins for a cheap but good VOIP solution. There was no way I am going to spend precious celly minutes for conf calls. Scouring over the sites and forums for reviews, finally found one that sounded like a good fit for me - Voiceral. The biggest draw for me was their $14.99 plan with unlimited calling to US, Canada + calls to landlines in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. So I figured, what the heck, doesn't hurt to try. Plus they have a 30 day guarantee right?


Shipping & Equipment
--------------------
Online, I ordered the service on 5/10/2006. On 5/15/2006 (there was 2 weekend days) I got the adapter kit consisting of a little silver plastic covered thing (about 3"x2.5"), a short telephone cable, a short Ethernet cable, 2 pieces of paper (directions and features) and the power supply. Following the simple directions, viola! Plugged that sucker in and hey look at that I can make calls!! Very portable.

Voice Quality
-------------
Get to the point right? How's the voice quality? Not bad actually. Some of the calls I made sounded to the others like I am in a conf room, a little bit of echo. But that was about it. Other calls sounded perfectly clear to me, very little breakups. I do notice a little here and there, but it's fine with me. Not too distracting at all. I've made local and long distances calls in the US and also calls to Taiwan. Pretty satisfied with the service so far.

Customer Support
----------------
How's customer support? I called the tech support on the first day when I thought there's something that's preventing my phone ringer to go on mute. Turns out that I dind't check the obvious - dam ringer volume was turne off on my phone itself - Doh, don't I feel like an idiot afterwards. Anyways, although no one answered when I called, I was able to leave a message. The tech support called me back within 2 hours. The response time is something Voiceral can improve in the future, but the tech calling back was pretty courteous so at least that's nice. Under normal circumstances, one probably wouldn't really need to call the tech support too often.

Summary
-------
So overall summary - for my first VOIP service provider, I am pretty happy with Voiceral so far. Hopefully what they advertise is accurate and that I do not incur any extra charges for making calls over to Taiwan, China, or Hong Kong.

By the way there is a $29 one-time setup fee and a $9.99 shipping/handling fee. I didn't see the one time fee until after I placed the order, but it's still cheaper than going with local phone carriers.

Hey if anyone is going to try Voiceral, I can refer you! I get a free month for referals. Of course, this is not the main reason I am writing a review on Voiceral. Just thought I share my experiences :)

Power to the blogs!

So Flat

"So flat", I thought to myself as I looked out my window down at Seattle.

As we fly closer to the Seattle airport, I can't help thinking about the difference between United States and China. If Seattle was in China, the housing around the water would certainly be at least 20 stories instead of the single family homes.

I am back.

The Day I Walked/Slammed My Head Into An Electrical Pole

If anyone asks me, "Name one of the stupidest things you have ever done.", I would answer right away with, "I walked/slammed my head against an electrical pole.".

Yes, I think all of us walked into things before. But when it's my turn to become a klutz, I do it 100%.

So the story goes.. after guma, guchung, and I got dropped off from the Karoke Bus at the corner of the street, we started walking home. It's a short walk, but the night was dark already. As we were walking, I see that guma had a bunch of our shopping bags in her hands. Turning towards her while continuing walking forward, I bent down to take some bags off her hands. Little did I know, the evil electrical pole was approaching fast. That sneaky thing. Continuing to walk forward, I turned while straightening and "KAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNGGGG!!!!" was the next thing I heard.

Houston, we have contact!

Here's an accurate portrayal, anatomically correct pictorial drawing for those who can't read good:



What I felt was my head bouncing away from a very hard thing. I didn't know what happened at that second for all I can see is black. Well cuz it's dark out AND also cuz the force at which I slammed my head into the pole severely bent my newly adjusted glasses, smushing it against my oily face.

Guchung who was at least 30 feet ahead of us, briskly came back after he heard the "KAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!" When questioned if I was okay, I was like "yah, I am fine."

My guma then sheepishly laughed and said "That was loud." Hahahaha...

Well I wasn't laughing when I felt that large egg hatching underneath the impact point later that night. No break of the skin, but the scalp was definitely red and it started to hurt.

"Dooh!!!!" Well, I've always had a thick skull. Hopefully no permanent damage was done, but it sure feels like I cracked it and indented it at the same time.

My brain!! My brain!!!

That night guma and I griped about the local government and their stupidity for placing an electrical pole in the middle (fine!) towards the middle left of a pedestrian walkway, esp with no lights. The discussion got even more heated when guma mentioned that electrical pole is no longer in service because they moved all the wires underground.

There was talk about filing a complaint with the local government by the time we headed to sleep.

Stupid pole!!

Two Meals

Overstuffed today.

I had plans to go see docs this morning about my recent breathing problems, but that all went out the window this morning, starting with my dad telling me to wake up cuz we need head out.

Scooted my ass off the raised platform, my make shift bedroom, and after some brush-ups, into the van and off we go. Where to? I had no idea until I got into the van. Guchung, pop, and I were invited to celebrate the birthday of my nephew. Sure, why not! But I would appreciate it if pop would've told me ahead of time.

Anyways, the company was great. I finally got to meet my other niece and nephew. Nice bunch of kids. The restaurant had a very earthy deco with wood tones and faux slate throughout the restaurant. I was like an tourist, snapping away, inside and out. The little courtyards outside are pretty. Even pop liked the decor. Enough to say take more pics so that we can show my brother what he can do with his yard.

The food was yummy as well. Italian cuisine was served. Interesting eh? Well these type of restaurants are the current fad here in Taiwan.

Within a year or so, the Taiwanese people will be coming up with some other way wine and dine.

After couple hours of rest, it's feeding time again. Off we went to a relatives house for din din. Dinner was good as well. The auntie can really cook. Saw more cousins there and listened to the older folks chat about family history, health, burial or cremation after death, and of course answer the questions about whether I have a boyfriend or not.

My standard answer is that, nope, I am not looking right now. Which is the truth. I have no idea where I'll be in a month. No need to stir the pot more.

Penis of An Armadillo

The penis of an armadillo is 2/3 the length of its body.



Well I would have never guessed.


Ouch.




Things one learn watching Discovery Channel. The armadillos need the length in order to mate with the female; to be able to reach underneath the female's armor.