Easy said than done

This is a certain truth to the phrase "easy said than done". Often times, you watch someone who are an expert in the arts, like sewing, calligraphy writing, drawing, photography and cooking. These people generally makes their area of expertise looks like a 1, 2, 3 types of work and I do not think it is that case most of the time.

I like to go to home depot alot, it's really a "manly" place (just kidding). I watched some of the people demonstration tiles or cutting woods in angles. They are definitely demo in a 1,2,3 fashion, but when you go home and tried to do the same; no way you will get the same results. Most of us knows the truth behind the 1,2,3 works; it is practice after practice. Nothing in this world is ever easy, you will always have to work at it one way or another. You seen some of the dieting commercials, eat this and chew that, you will then lose X number of lbs. C'mon, I say just stick with the eat right and excercise idea, you will save lots of money that way.

The old fashion statement, hardwork and practice is the key to success. There is no such thing as Free lunch.

Post Elections...thoughts

Most of us are really never too sure about the decisions we make. What car to buy; whether to start having kids; what to eat for dinner; where to go on our next vacation, etc. We just been through a major Election for the President of the United States. This is a decision of switching power from one belief system to another belief system, hence Democrates vs. Republicans. The question remains, did we select the right belief system? Did we put the right person to carry us through the next four years? Did we truly thought it through when we went to the poll?

I think politics is POLITICS. I believed the presidental candidates are the best salesmen in the world, feeding us lies or just saying right things to make us feel good. For many years, we listened to the salesman pitch, "I will do A, B, C, and D"; but after the elections, it's already too late. I will be happy if the President-Elect kept at least one promise; I think that's an accomplishment.

I also believed this is mostly our faults. We put the person in charge based on our short-sighted needs and not looking at the long term affect. As we elected Bush, so we also elected Obama. I strongly believed we will be in the position as the Bush days. You heard everyone screaming "not another four years"; well, I think people will be surprised in the next four years.

Tools..lots of them

I once met a coworker and good friend. We went to Sears and did a bit of manly browsing. Yes, guys do that too. We walk to the tools section and I know he has more tools than lots of people that I know of. He pick out a wrench of some sort and brought it. I ask him, what is with another tool? Don't you have a collection already? He chuckled and said, you will always need a tool; a tool for different purpose and function. So I said, ever thought of a universal tool that does it all? He said in respond, one day you'll see.

I have my own house and prior to fully living at my house. I never have thought of tool usage at all; I guess if you are never home, what is there to fixed. I was dead wrong. I work locally now and I have been home everyday for the past 2.5 years. Let's say I stop by Lowes a lot these days looking at tools. I realized how right was his comment. I can always use additional tool for home fixing. Although I may not know of all the names to all my tools, but I am so glad they were there when I needed them. More tools the merrier and guess what I am getting for Christmas this year.

Walk the walk...

This is probably the simpliest lesson but hardest to practice. I am forced to learn this lesson of making promises and keeping them. My children are quite forceful, especially my daughter. Whenever Sarah approaches me with the cute smile and hugging mode, I know I am in trouble. I know she wants something from me. This is my most difficult part of being a Dad, saying no to my daughter when she ask for toys that you know it is a waste. The best part is that she said "Please" daddy. Hmmm....
Many times I have delivered on my end of the promise, but there are times I cannot. The guilt on my end and the disappointment on her face breaks my heart. I realized we can't always give our children everyhting they want But if you promised; it is better to keep than make excuses. Just think of the number of times your dad didn't keep their promises. Ah..to even think of it means you have not forgotten, so expect the same results from your kids. The phrase "what comes around goes around" makes lot more sense now. Isn't it?

Challenges of Life

The phrase "sometime you feel like a nut" seems to apply well in my life. I am guessing most people are similar to my situation. You work all you life since you graduated from college or before college and you enjoyed most of those times also. Life changes as I got married and having children. It is different, there seems to be a different purpose to my life now and more than ever in comparison to the good old college days. The word "Responsibilities" comes to mind and lots of them. By accepting the two new roles, husband and dad; I find that my priorities needs to be shift in a 360 degree matter. For example, from time to time, I am thinking my time is my time; I can't waste it to spend playing with my kids and talking to my wife (single life thinking). There are days I just want to pack my backpack and "head south". Such selfish thinking and I am ashamed. This is an area which I need to work harder myself to correct my selfish thoughts. My families is my number priorities and there has to be no other replacements. With this note, I can't seem to understand some of the hard working folks including myself, we put so many hours in the office in hope to move up and "show" our self that we are more than capable. At the end of the year, you got the 3.5% raised and you are thinking the time you have stolen from your families is only worth 3.5%. What a shamed! The worst is that the times lost with your families far more outweighs than 3.5% and there is no way to gain it back. Unfortunate and Sad!

Perhaps this is just my thoughts echoing, but for the sake of families, may want to think twice before you begin moving your families down on the priority list.

Chinese Autumn Feast

Today is the Chinese Lunar calendar celebration of the Autumn feast. It's a celebration of family unity. Different Asian culture celebrate this day in their own respect. Most Chinese look forward to this day because it's also "moon" cake day. Not the best stuff on earth, but pretty darn good cake. Moon cake comes in many favors, but I enjoy the simple one, egg in the middle with lotus surround (Yummy!). Anyways, this day is also call Aug. 15, a month behind the western culture. As far as my understanding goes for this day, it also reminds the Asian culture of the blessings of a great harvest.

My parents celebrate this day with cakes, home style bakery and fruits. They also light incense to thank their god for this blessed day. Different Asian culture celebrate this day in their unique ways, but generally the same type of procedures; cakes, bakery, moon cake, fruits and candies.

This is one of the many culture celebration which I think is literally unique to our background. I am Cantonese, therefore my parents keeps it simple. My wife is TaiSanese (probably spell this wrong) and they celebrate this day very differently. Regardless, there is no other Asian celebration that I know of is as defined this day. Even Chinese new year is not as unique Autumn feast; Chinese is almost universal meaning it's the same everywhere, just a bit more fireworks than NY.

Wow..Kids grow up fast!

I have hear this comment many, many times and by many people. "Cherish them now because they grow up fast" This is one of those comments which I don't think much of it when my wife and I had our first baby. We always thought time stand still for us. Seems like no ending to diaper changing, bottle feedings and waking up in the middle of the night. Very long, long exhaustive time. Then we had #2 and #3 and we still feel like time stand still for us. From time to time, we ask each other when will the kids grow up and out the door.

Recently, my wife and I sat down and try to pick out pictures to decorate our house. It really hit us hard how fast our kids are growing up. We saw their baby pictures and 1 year old pictures; we are wondering where did the time go. They are so adorable (not that they are not now). Don't take wrong, my kids are not that old, 5, 4, and 2 years old. It seems like yesterday when I held my daughter and sign her to sleep. Wow..they sure grow fast. Another wise saying I heard in the past, "time does not wait for anyone, you can only waste time".

Joy of children

There are many blessings in a person life, it's just that we as human beings stop counting them. Each morning when we can wake up, it's already a blessing and if going to work after waking up, that's double blessing.

The day I married my best friend (my wife) brings tears to my eyes, joyful tears that is. I am thinking this is going to change my life. Little do I know, the naive thoughts of that moment was blown away by the birth of my little girl . She really change my life, can't get enough of the diaper changing. Ah...the unforgettable times. As I look back at some of the pictures (guess that what parents do), I said to myself, wow how fast did she grew and the joy she has given to me, real joy, the type that gives meaning to "Daddy's little girl". My daughter always seem to cheer me up after a long day at the office, it's like she has a radar for Daddy stress.

I actually have 3 children, my daughter is the oldest, almost 5 follow by 2 boys, 4 and 2. Not to neglect the other 2 rascals. They are also a bundle of joy as well. They are so unique in turns of personalities, behavior and actions. My oldest son is the sensitive one for whatever the odd reason, I think he takes after me and maybe a bit of mommy. The youngest is all muscle, probably a future pro wrestler. I am really thankful for them, as often I dread changing their diapers, but compare to the joy they have brought me over the past years. I really can't complained. One of the many advice from any older parents "Enjoy them now, they will be college before you know it". I really believe it and it's a great advice.

Labor Day 2 Cents

It's been a lag on my part to keep my blog rolling. My hands had been tied up a bit from my work place, it's kinda hard if you have to carry another person's load on top of your own already heavy load. Your days are going too fast and frustration are up the roof. This is my labor day for the past two years with my current company.

I am not sure how many people look into the reasoning for Labor Day. Most people are like me (probably) think it's another long weekend and WOOoooo....another day off. I got a bit curious on when did Labor Day started and why. Interesting enough, President Cleveland sign this day officially in 1894 as Holiday. Thank God someone kept their promise. It's really hard to imagine politician keeps their promised these days. All of them are looking out for number one. (Themselves) Labor day got pushed when in 1892, the union workers took an unpaid day to support this holiday. Got to love them, just wish they stop striking so much and get the highway built faster. Labor day lands are generally lands on the 1st Monday in September, sort of an unofficial closing of the summer and kids get back to school are a long holiday weekend. Kinda neat way settle the mind for the young ones. That about it on my 2 cents.

Remember When...

I want to declare that I am not that old. My memory goes back as far as 1982. Only 26 years ago. I am sure if you are reading my blog, there is a good chance you are dated further back than 1982, "smiled". You know who you are. For whatever odd reason, the thought of the past came across my mind today. Not sure if that has anything to do with my kids which I still don't believed my oldest kid is almost 5 years old. When people tell you time sure goes by fast, believe them. If not at the moment, wait till you have kids. I was a skeptic, now I am a believer. Where did time go?

I remember there is such a place as Penny store. It's a store where a penny means something. Here is a little list I can remember from 1982, thus my topic "Remember when..."

1. We can use the term "the value of a dollar". You may hope that the dollar store spare the tax.
2. When jobs are plenty. Jobless is an impossibilities. Today, you are lucky if you have one.
3. Gas is at 99 cents. Think how far you can go.
4. Cars are a luxury. Now most people have at least 2 cars.
5. When kids respect their parents. Today you kids are coequal with you even though you pay the billed.
6. Atari game was awesome. Now, Wii.
7. 2400 Baud rate modem is considered high-tech. Today a 56kps modem a shame. FIOS anyone?
8. Computer games are a lot simpler. Does Pac Man or Centipede still exist? Ah..classic games.
9. Life decision are easier to make. What will I eat today vs. what will my kids want to eat today?
10. College degree guarantees a job. Well...it's no longer what you know, but who you know.

The world has change a lot and fast over my 26 years. Can you imagined what you kids life will be like in the next 20 years? More importantly, will there be another 20 years to go?

What IF??

There are many mysteries which human always wonder about and extremely curious if they exist or not. The fact that many experts have talk about it, witness has seen it, some PhD wrote about it; it must be true like the Bermuda triangle. I am sure it exist, it is just not exact since no ever come back from the Bermuda triangle or has them?? Hmmm….

I like throw in a couples of what if to ponder about, take it as a grain of salt or it may be facts. Hmm..what if..

1. Green tea is good for you. The Chinese claims that drinking a cup a day helps to slow down aging and increase blood circulation, thus enhance longevity. The Japanese also drinks Green tea, claiming the amount of antioxident contain in Green tea can counteract mercury in the Sushi they eat. Well, I have not met a Chinese guy/gal that live to be 125 years old (high standards). But what if?

2. We are alone in this universe. Lots of alien theories and many, many movies and witness. They must be right, right? We have many experts who are friends with alien, met them for drinks; of course they can recognized false eyewitness, liars a mile away. What is so difficult to believed we may be the only race existed in this universe? What if we are alone?

3. The government is lying to us. As any common sense citizen, we had a nosed that can smell fishy government when we see or heard one. These days, we hear lot more of it. Most of us are getting numb to some of the lies, others find it more amusing each day. What if it’s true that the government is” screwing” us all while feeding lies to us at the same time.

4. God is real. Has anyone thought about life after death? Most of us probably thinking at the day we fully closed our eyes. That’s it. What if, there is life after death and God does exist. Wonder what your last words will be? Hmmm…I must be dreaming, someone please pinch me. Too late!

5. Your parents are right, sometimes. Most of the times, your parents are clueless. They don’t keep up with time, extremely outdated. How can they know whether this guy/ girl are right or wrong for me if I feel so right at the moment. What if your parent does have a nose for wrong type people? Imagine the misery they can save you. Hmm…WHAT IF?

Secret to Rubber Necking

I want to be as realistic as possible in my blogs. Taking the everyday things that we see and challenges we faced. I guess most people faces rubber necking traffic, we just get so use to the grinding haul feeling; it becomes us. In another word, we just don't care any more; almost second nature. Today I have finally had enough time to think it through on secrets to becoming a good rubber necker.

Here are few of my thoughts:

1. When the incident is on your side of the road, slow down from going from 70MPH to 10MPH otherwise, you'll missed the whole show.

2. When the incident is on the other lanes and there no chance you'll see any of it; you need to slow down again from 70MPH to 10MPH, otherwise, you can't tell what the other guy on the closer lane is stiring at.

3. When the incident is on the far, far side of the opposite lane going in opposite direction. You gotta let go of the gas. You need to bring the speed from your 70MPH down between 5-10MPH or you'll really missed the show because it's so far away.

4. Best one, When the incident is closer to your lane on the opposite lane going opposite direction. As Emeril would say, take it down a notch from 70MPH to 10MPH. Otherwise, you can't tell if the cop is giving a ticket or helping the person out.

By the way, while you are doing all these ticket items, don't worry about the other fifty or so people waiting for you to move your ass. They don't need to get home after a long day of work, what's another hour anyway. It's only a 10 hour day, they can handle another hour. They are just jealous they can't get a front row seat to watch the incident. Look! It's a tow truck with flashy lights, who is he towing???

My Cooking tools

Cooking is really about combining the right ingredients to produce a special result that appeals to your sight, taste and smell. If you are thinking that it's about the meat or vegetables, we can argue that point till tomorrow morning after Dim Sum, then lunch, then over "high-tea", and dinner; we'll still be debating the same point. Anyways, I just want to show some of the ingredients I like to use in my cooking site, simpleasiancookings.com if you have not checked out by now.


The first item is the cooking wine. There are few brands out there and as I mentioned in my earlier blogs can produce different aroma when combined with different ingredients. Here are the two cooking wine I used most often, ShaoXing and Taiwanese Cooking Michu. Generally I used the ShaoXing for beef marinate and the Taiwanese for everything else. Why? You may asked. I find the ShaoXing enhances the flavor of the beef. Odd, but true. Taiwanese cooking Michu gives meat a better taste. Odd, but true.


I use the following ingredients for extra flavoring. Be aware that adding any ingredients with slightly more or less can change the results of the dish. Odd, but also true. If you over spiced any meat during marinating process, when you cook, I guaranteed it will not be the same. That's why when you watch TV chef making the meals; seems straight forward, but when you try to do it, there is a different. Why? You didn't do it exact and you are not supposed to. As long as you come closed, you can achieved a similar result. That is good already. If you are cooking homestyle, then you definitely will product different results, from my earlier blog again. Control the flame or different flame level from stove also is a factor to the outcome.


I used the following measuring items. Straight forward. Nothing rocket science in measurement. I like Rachael Ray on the "eye-ball" concept. Sometimes it's all about "eye-balling". Don't get over anal about how much you'll put in. As I mentioned earlier, you result will be different, just get closed. Think of cooking TV or recipes as a guidelines, you'll probably be less critical that way.
Style foam cups works miracles in measurement. Keep on cooking, you can only get good at it.

An Overlooked Architect

One of the beautiful architect in Manhattan that many people seems to take for granted. I often look at this design, the level of detail that was involved put me in awe. It has a dome like feel if you stand in front of it. Sometimes, I look at some of the pictures in Italy; it has a similar architect. That is very cool. The other cool part is that they did some work around it to further beautify this architect. There was a point in time you can only view this from a distance. Again, as a New Yorker in Manhattan, I have taken this architect for granted.

If you look to the right hand side, another building that has been there for long time, at least over 20 years of history. The Confucius Plaza is a magnificent building, almost like a guiding needle. If you think about it, when you get lost in Manhattan, just look up and find the direction of the Confucius Plaza. This same theory probably applies to the Empire State Building also.

If you ever visit Manhattan, take a look at these two structures, they are pretty impressive and amazing to look at.

Manhattan Bridge - 99 Yrs old

From the opening day in December 31, 1909 to now, the awesome bridge that connects Brooklyn to New York City is 99 years old. 100 years is just around the corner. The bridge houses much of the truck traffics, but also a very convenient connection to Manhattan from end to end.

This awesome bridge also carries the NYC subway in the middle lane. In the recent year, a walking/biking path has been created on the side of the bridge. If you are afraid of heights, then it's probably not for you and if not, it's worth the walk.

I grew up watching this bridge go through "face-lift" from my apartment building in lower Manhattan. As a kid, I don't think too much of it because the paint was peeling, it's got graffiti all over the places and the homeless lived on the edge of the bridge. Let's say the bridge was not a bit impressive to look at. That was 20 years ago, today, money was put to clean up, repainted lane improvements. It is not quite the same bridge that I saw when I was a kid. It's very nice, the essence of the bridge is still there. I have nothing against the homeless, but they didn't quite go well with the bridge look.

First Flower Garden

My family (wife and kids) finally settled in NJ in the past 2 years; we lived in NJ for 6 years. My wife and I are not into gardening or landscaping, although we enjoy looking and "wowing" over other's landscape beauty. We grew up in New York City and there were not alot of landscaping in the area; sure there are parks that looks very nice. It's not the same in comparison to the elaborate landscaping we see in NJ area, some are really outrageous.

The reason I used the term "settled" is that we are actually comfortable living in NJ or perhaps getting use to the lifestyle. We knew that whenever we go back to visit our family or going to church; how uncomfortable we are with parking or the dicomforting idea of walking. In NJ, there are not a lot of walkers, but lots of drivers. This is my wife's first attempt to plant a flower garden. I remembered how she drag my butt to Lowe's and get these flowers. The flowers were smaller then, we didn't want to spend too much money on an area where we have no idea what to do. I was definitely a skeptic and making fun of my wife that the flowers will not last a month. Boy, was I wrong!!! She watered and cared for these small flowers and today, I am writing to give her all the praise. It is a beautiful garden for the first trial run. It also means that next year I'll be really poor. It is really encouraging see such results when she has the determination to make it happened. I guess never give up or ignored the doubting husband and your garden will be accomplished.

Control...the flame

I want to be as frank as possible for this opening thought. If cooking seems or is a chore to you, then you might as well just order take out. I am guessing it's better than your cooking anyway and you didn't have to waste your money buying the ingredients.

I like to a do bit of comparison on this note. The journey in life versus learning to control the flame in cooking.

Most of us are generally are good at managing parts or all of the aspects of our personal life; for example: career, direction of life or when to get married. These are within our control circumstance and time determination. From time to time, it may get out of control, but we can straighten it out eventually. There are times where we have to juggle multiple issues at the same time; it seems difficult at the beginning but at latter end, the steps will become second nature.

In my opinion, the hardest part about cooking is not putting ingredients together. It's cooking the ingredients without overcooking, undercooked or even burning the food. Just like life, you don't just cook one items at a time. If you are following my cooking site recipes (SimpleAsianCookings.Com) and uses 30 minutes per dish; preparing 3 dishes will take 1.5 hours which is not practical. Generally, you cook one dish and start preparing another. The challenge is watching the flame or managing the flame so as to not overcooked the 1st dish while preparing the second. This is a tough and it is hard to offer a good suggestion where every one's stove is different (you know who you are with "Viking" stove). I can offer a bit of guideline: 1st, understand your flame, how hot and fast the flame gets (this will help you on when to turn it down) 2nd, start on high then medium flame (for slow cooking) and lastly, start from low to high (for searing). Proper control on the flame can change the outcome of taste in food.

You have heard practice makes perfect, it's true. I stop counting the numbers of time I burned something, it's really embarrassing when you have guest. The encouragement is for any incident, there is an opportunity to learn a lesson. So watch the flame and control the flame as practice your Asian cooking. Feel free to leave your thoughts.

My Two Cents on External Hard Drives

This is another one of those question someone asked me. I don't think it's really that difficult a decision on which type or brand to purchase. Perhaps I worked them often enough to be second nature in my mind. I'll keep it simple on the options to look for, unlike the Best Buy person I met awhile back who gave all sorts of suggestions; at the end of that conversation, I still did not make a decision the type of drive to buy.

I have brought these three brands of external hard drive so I'll give you my experience and what I think is the best so far. The first is the Seagate brand, then Western Digital, and finally Maxtor. The specification I look for are RPM (drive speed), usually the faster the better. Most of these drive run at 7200 RPM, so pick drives that are 7200 RPM and higher is a good selection. Second, make sure cooling is sufficient. So the question is how do you tell; the easiest way for me is looking at the design of the external drive cover. Do the cover seems to give sufficient ventilation? Is it a metal of plastic cover? I believe a metal type of cover disperse heat better than plastic, but it gets really hot. Oh, by the way, a feature I noticed on some drives will help is automatically shut off when you shutdown your computer. Very neat feature.

So far my Seagate lasted longer than my Western Digital. I had a Western Digital failure a while back and good things it's within the year of warranty. Definitely no Maxtor, I had really bad experience with these brand. I had two in the past and they both "crashed" on me and recovering data was a pain. I would recommend going with Seagate which I brought two years ago and it's have not giving me any problem yet. The recent Western Digital are not too bad also, they have incorporate the automatic shutdown feature which I like alot. There you have it.
I hope my opinion is easy to understand, I don't want to throw all the technical jargon's which is easy but it leave you with a "so" what question. Here are two sites I check for prices on drives and other items: www.pricewatch.com and www.slickdeals.net

Man-made waterfalls

Recently I have been driving through chinatown a bit more, especially toward the east river side. There has been many improvements made. There is the walking, jogging and biking path build or make. It looks really nice and welcoming. Last week, I noticed a waterfall near the east river area. I really shouldn't be looking too much while driving, but I have confirmed while looking out the window from my mother-in-laws place. I thought it was really cool and whoever came up with the idea must be bored. Here is a picture of it. I may not be a architect or somebody who is artistic, but I don't see the full purposed of this waterfall. It does spark curiousity and 30 minutes of stare and wow-ing over it. Obviously I had to take a photo of the waterfall just because it looks pretty awesome. That's it. Unfortunately one stare was more than enough. What do you think?

Cooking tips #1

The last note I wrote on this is not to be afraid to cook. How bad can it be? Right? I want point some minor items to think about when you cook cantonese food. One, it's always better to marinated over night, but if you are short on time, 15 minutes for meals is good given that you have to marinate with your hand (obviously wash them first). Two, for home cooking, stir fry is the quickest way to get meals on the table; remember to preheat first, then turn to medium flame after oil is added. You don't want too much splatter over your stove, been there, done that. That's all for this two tips. Stay tuned for the next.

Transitional Lense, Is it worth it?

I was talking to a friend today and she works in a eye glasses store. I asked her if it's worth to purchase transitional lens for it's flexibilities to turn into sunglasses under UV sunlight. I read some of the marketing material on transitional lens. Generally the marketing gears toward how much it can protect your eyes and the fact that it's 100% UV protection, so on and so forth. Is it really worth getting the transitional lens? I am still not too sure. Another question I posed to her is how does the transitional lens work meaning how long will it take to transition from dark to light? She said about 6 minutes or so. Hmmm....6 minutes is a bit long? Don't you think?

I work for a professional IT support environment. Imagined having you eye glasses transition from light to dark when you need to visit a user. It is really inconvenient to wait 6 minutes for the lens to transition back to clear. I can understand how cool it is to get into your car and "Bam", you got sunglasses. Well, to keep it brief, I got a decent clip that costed about $30 and it's lasted me for a while. Spending over $300 to get some cool lenses and convenient, what a price tag. Don't forget if your eye prescriptions need to change each year which means you have to get another transitional lens. Please feel free to put in your two cents. Love to hear your take on this.

Is Driving a Privilege?

Driving has always been a privileged and not a right. At least that's what your Dad will tell you, but when you are in your youth, like 30's; it really doesn't matter it's a privilege or right, I got my license so Back Off!

Recently, I have noticed lots and LOTS of accidents on the highway and unfortunately the truth states that most of the accidents are the younger folks and not the elderly. Why is that? Is it the excitement of going at 90 mph on the highway? Oh, how I know how that feels like, blood rush and sweaty palms. The phrase 'young and stupid' seems to come across my mind. What's the rush is the question I asked whenever I see an accident where the front of someones car glue to another car's back bumper. So dramatic and yet it must be really painful, physical and financial.

I am in my mid 30's also and I really don't get it. I thank God each and every day that I don't get into the types of accident I see each week. Slow down please, what's the rush? Is not your life worth it? Do you expect pity from other drivers? Heck No! First, you slow down traffic by getting everyone into rubbernecking; secondly, you damaged another person's card, and thirdly, you just "jack" your insurance up.

One life to lived (literally), don't wasted on a bad car accident. Final thought, driving is a privilege and not a right. Slow down Please!

The Diamond 4 C's

Most of us are familiar with Diamonds. Mainly they cost an arm and a leg. I wouldn't buy them as a collectors item to be lock up in a beautiful crafted box. What's the big deal about diamonds anywhere, to us guys, it's the price and to the ladies the bigger the better.

Diamond are the hardest natural mineral known today, it can cut other minerals with no issues. It has a hardness of 10 and can only be cut by other diamonds. That's all the technicals I like to share about the diamonds.

The 4 C's is what I want to talk about here. What is the 4 C's?? What's the big deal? Well, the 4 C's are Cut, Clarity, Colour, and Carat. These are the standards for looking at a diamond. Cut refers to the shape of the diamond, such as round, oval, princess. Clarity are measured in I, SI or VVS; these grading defines how brilliant a diamonds shine. Colour, hmm..generally diamonds are colorless which is probably the best one; they do have colour distortion to some level so assumed. Carats..how many do you like?

Which car is more fuel efficient?

As gas rises, most of us get real concern about gas and when is the next jump on the prices. Many company offer employees to work from home once a week which is great. It definitely help out the wallet alot. The average gas price these day range $3.75 - $4.00 dependently on where you lived. The gas price around my area is about $3.85 and if you pay cash, it's $3.75. Yes, you can persummed I am just referring to regular and not the premium, I feel sorry for the ones who required premium gas. I fill out my 14 gallon tank and it cost me $56. That's crazy.

The point leads to this, I need a more fuel efficient car that gives me more milege on the highway. I compared three smaller engine car and they are pretty fuel efficient: Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, and the Nissan Versa. The following is the specs of each car for year 2008 with the sports model:

-----------Honda Fit: ---------------Toyota Yaris:--------------------- Nissian Versa:

HP --------1.5L I-4 109 --------------1.5L I-4 106--------------------- 1.8L I-4 122

Trans-----5-spd man w/OD (Std) ----5-spd man w/OD (Std)---------- 6-spd man w/OD (Std)

Milege------- 28 City/34 Hwy -------------29 City/ 36 Hwy -------------26 City/ 31 Hwy

ABS -----------Available ----------------Available -------------------------Available

Tank -----------10.8 gal.----------------- 11.1 gal. --------------------------13.2 gal.

Price ------------$15,270 (MSRP)-------- $13,225 (MSRP)--------------- $12,980 (MSRP)

Based on the short list comparion ,there is definitely a gas saving opportunity. I thinks these three looks pretty nice and I am sure you have seen them on the road. These car price in compare to the Hybrids is much less. I think if you are looking for a car that gets you from A to B and vice versa, these small cars are great.

Firewire vs. USB

Someone at one point ask me of this question on these peripheral devices, mainly what's the differences and which one should I get. Let me give the highlights to similarities and differences so you can decide what is best for yourself.

In general, most of us utilized USB 2.0 devices which is the successor of USB 1.1. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus which in my opinion is much more common than Firewire. Perhaps the marketing for the firewire is less agressive or the general public are less familiar with Firewire. Firewire are for geeks anyway, not the normal public users.

Alright, let me explain the similarities, both USB and Firewire connects to your motherboard either build in or through serial bus. Secondly, USB and Firewall supports hot swap meaning you can unplug and plug in devices without having to restart your computer. Thirdly, they are backward compatible devices with previous version. As I mentioned earlier, USB is at version 2.0 and Firewire is at 800; translation, USB 2.0 can hand 480Mbps versus the 800Mbps (predecessor is 400).

The differences, Firewire kicks the USB butt when working on a single device, it can sustain transfer speed of at least 41MBps. Just like I mentioned, if working on single devices, but if multiple devices hangs on, speed will go down for Firewire. The USB on the other hand is build with a Master & Slave concept, which means that it is capable of managing data priorities as needed. Second difference is that USB can host up to 127 devices if you joined a couple of USB hubs together (max @ 5 hub level) and the Firewire is limited at 63 devices. Third differences is the distance between the two, USB can go as far as 80 ft versus the Firewire (Firewire 800 only) can go as far as 1000ft with a repeater. If you are thinking why can you use a repeater for USB, well the technology is not there for USB.

I would recommend to use Firewire for high speed data transfer and video, for the rest, go with USB. Hope this note helps.

Asta La Windows Vista, baby?

Technology is really a great creation. Constant improvement of technologies is the greatest of creation. The human mind, where will it end? I recently read a couples of articles regarding Windows Vista and it replacement to be, Windows 7. It really seems like yesterday Windows Vista was released and barely warm the shelf of consumer stores, like Staples, Best Buy or any where that sells. I can almost feel their pain knowing the future of Vista will be replaced.

Imagine a sales guy said to you two years back, OK, maybe a year and half ago, raving on the how cool; how secure; how fast Vista may be and shortly after two year, it is possible that next year, it will be replaced. I don't know about you guys, I installed for a month, play with it and quickly revert back to Windows XP. I can assure you that I am really into technologies, but when it takes more to get my job done, maybe this technology is not for me.

If you watched the many commercials from Mac where the Mac vs Vista competes. I thought those were the most precise commercial ever done between two competitors. Windows has pushed too quickly on Vista where lot more test needed to done from the enterprise level. Some articles mentioned that much success came out of Vista, but my guess there is far more failures and complains which probably outweighs the success.

Final thought, lets hope whenever Windows 7 going to be release, please take their time. There is really no rush. I think most of us are still trying to recuperate from the Windows Vista pain. 2009 is the plan year, but lets hope this will not be the case. So far, no preview of the product yet; it's a good sign.

Revamping Route 1

I live close to Route 1 and over the years, traffic is pretty congested all the time. I am guessing the reasoning is that Route 1 runs through many of mall strips. Two of large malls are there, Menlo park mall and Woodbridge mall, not to mention Best buy is opposite of the Woodbridge mall. In the past year, more and more chain restaurants are coming up, like Bone Fish, Famous Daves, Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory and recently they put a Betting racetrack. It seems like there is no end to the congestion.

Today, things are looking up. As I drive down route 1 to Pennsylvania, I noticed lots of activities going on. They expanding the roads for extra lanes and redirecting the routes to make access easier. They also improved some of the u-turn routes which is great. So far, I am loving it; a little painful right now with the constructions, but it's all good. I can see the end of congestion with these great improvements. Oh, I am told they put in cameras on some of the lights; not sure why if traffic moves pretty slow these days. I am guessing it's not for speed trap but for safety.

With the improvements of these Route 1, I just hope it's enough. Another observation I noticed is the attractions of more dealerships, Like Honda which I didn't noticed before, it's not like Honda is a big deal, but it is just interesting how Route 1 is evolving more and more city like.

Glasses versus Contact lens

I am basically glasses for life. I remember I started wearing glasses at my latter part of my high school year. At the time, it seems like the coolest thing; I guess it makes you look smart or geeky, however you want to put it. I was fine with wearing glasses for the first year, then I realize it's a pain in the neck. Whenever I play sports, especially basketball, I always seem to break a pair. Luckily then they started to have the hard 'heavy' plastic frame one for sports. For many years, I hated wearing glasses; anyone remember the real big round type. They were Ugly and heavy. Now they have the feather weight type and designer frames.

Ah..the age of the contacts came about. I have never wear them myself, I could not get over the idea of poking items into my eye. I have friends wearing them and they constantly have to keep their contacts moist with drops. What a hassle, I thought. When I saw them play sports with them, it was great. Then the thought comes about the what if someone knocks me in the eye, will the contact break and damage your eye. I guessing probably not, but the thought was enough to say no to contacts.

There is probably convenient to both, but I think you'll agree that you get more selection from glasses than contact lens.

Cooking 101

I find that the hard part about cooking is unwilling to try new ideas. Cooking is an art or possible a science. When you think about it, your initial step is to consider what to eat; usually that is the hardest part of the process. Obviously you don't want just anything, otherwise you'll go take out. After you make your selection on the type of food and no matter what you pick out, it will pleasant to the eye, the Art. Then comes the ingredients. There are so many ingredients out there, just look at your own collections of ingredient. I am sure it's not a small collection. This will be your Science; combining the different ingredients will produce different flavor and results. Also, the amount of each ingredients combined will also make a difference.

If you have watch the movie from Disney, Ratatouille. There is a section where Remy and his brother got struck by lightening. The combined of the two ingredients and the comment from Remy was "WOW". It is just like that, great food and cooking comes from a trials and errors process. Don't be Afraid!

Day out with kids continues . . .

For this little note, I'll be the salesman for the aquarium. This view is taken from the opposite end. It is gorgeous, color and architect. I am really surprise about the other area of NJ. I guess it's like NY or any other states, if you have not been there; you don't know what you are missing. Although I have to post a bit of info that is not true to the pictures. You have be warned. If you have been to NY aquarium, it's lot like that; I would be a bit on the nervous side if walking around the area by myself.

O-kay, back to the salesman side. The aquarium area is pretty scenic. Lot like NY city hall area except less people. Very easy and accessible park lot right across aquarium, it's $9 for parking if you are interest. The price for the aquarium is approx. $19 for adults and $15 for kids 2 and up, obviously Free for 2 and under.

Here is a great view of the clock tower. Almost prison like, I guess that is reason I took this shot. I will be posting a bit more pictures of the area and, of course the aquarium. Oh, in case I fail to mention, you can bring your own food. There is a cafeteria inside and it's "mucho" expensive. If I only knew, I could have save $30 on 2 kids meal and philly cheesesteak. I know what you are thinking, $30???? Next, was it a good Philly Cheesesteak you may asked. Absolutely... how can I put this nicely, NO! It was terrible. Brings back memory of high school cafeteria food. The mini nuggets was too bad, I had to snatch a couple of pieces from my kids. I was really desperate after a bad cheesesteak. I needed the pick me up nuggets. Smiled.

Look at that fish, Joseph said. Sarah can attest that is a nice looking fish. Paul on the hand, thinking what fish? I could bearly reach.

If my memory don't escape, it some sort of tropical silver fish. Anyways, let's move on. Shall we.

Almost my favorite part of the whole trip. I have alway been a "chicken" at touching these sea

animals. This time, I have to show my kids I am the tough man on campus and after much assurance from the person stating that these little sharks do not bit. I quickly grab one by the tail, swing it around and toss it back to the water...Nah...just to see you are still with me. We are only allow to touch it with two fingers on any part of the body. Take a wild guess which part I quickly touch...I know you would would think the tail, right? C'mon give me some credit here..acutally I did touch middle of the body close to the tail. So it's not the tail. Oh, ye of little faith.

I cannot resist this one. It speaks for itself. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't catch anyone getting a dosage of the warning. Although I did see a lady standing there for 3 minutes. Yes, I was counting, but there was no bird there.

I finally had to do it, feed one of my kid to the shark, although Joseph may be a bit like the mini chicken nuggets I ate during lunch in comparison to JAWS. Joseph was actually pretty brave on this one, he is the only one willing to step up and take this picture for me. The other two were a mile away, I am guessing having this photo moment right outside the Shark tank didn't really help. I was at least proud for one kid, I guess 1 out of 3 kid enjoyed all the features of the aquarium is not a bad odd.

Oh, how can I leave out the finishing touch of a family photo. The following shot was taken by a professional at the aquarium, I guess that is why she make the funny face after the shot. She looks like she wants a do over. Hmm...wasn't exactly scenic enough where the kids wants stay for a do over.

My first crack at taking a panorama shot. The Fuji S1000fd has the ability of taking 3 shots and combining them into one. I am thinking what better place to try this feature out than at the aquarium. What do you think?

What kind of PC do I need?

I had this question ask of me many times. I am buying a computer, what should I buy? My reply is what are you using it for? By answering this simple question, you can get a good idea what will be in your description for your computer. If you are just surfing the web, then CPU and Memory is probably not a important factor. If you are looking for gaming and are willing to spend a little bit more, a decent graphic card is what you'll want to put the bucks to.

If you are using your pc for photography or number cranking, then you'll want to spend a bit on memory and processor speed. Hard drive in general is not big deal, but since the development of the solid state drive, which I am quite impressed. For general user, a 100 Gb drive is sufficient, but if you are a MP3 geek; I would recommend getting one of those small handheld size hard drive like Western Digital or Toshiba, they are at least 320Gb in size these days.

What type of CPU you may ask? Intel or AMD? Well, I am a big fan of both. I have had both brand and I noticed Intel to be more stable than AMD. Intel have been the "universal" standard, therefore most application will play well with the chip. AMD is not a bad processor either, although not universal, but it's been picking up waves and making a name for themself. Benchmark to faster for AMD.

How much memory? Well, this is a tough question. There are so many brands and type and speed. This is usally not a choice if you buy your PC from Dell or HP. You will get to select the size, 4 Gb of memory is not expensive these days. If you can afford, pick a faster speed one, it does make a difference.

Day with the kids

It is the most exciting part of being a Dad. A time that is precious and cherish when you can spend a day with your kids. It really does not matter where you go or what you do. Your kids will appreciate the fact you are there and taken them somewhere.

I had the pleasure of taking my kids to the aquarium in NJ. It my first time going to Adventure Aquarium. It's a a pretty large facility if you have not been there before. There are many interesting animals and weird fishes to look at. Some are quite amazing, especially in the way they blend themselves in with the environment. There is a shark touching (smaller one) section which is pretty cool. Although my kids freaks out even looking at them.

There is a stadium-like viewing looking at a giant fish tank, very impressive. The boys love it, they get a see a couple huge sting-rays, and many other large fish. Yes, there is a impressive shark tank which I didn't get to see. My little princess got all freak out and ran the other way, it was hilarious, maybe next time.

Overall a very nice place to take the kids for a day trip. Did I mentioned it's very scenic around the area? Bring your camera.

3G or No 3G?

Consider this piece a follow up on the iPhone, part 2. There are lots of neat feature to the phone and price for the phone is much lower than the previous. Apple make it that way so you can own an Apple hardware? The idea of the taking the first bite and you are hook forever. Well, I guess it is possible. The iPhone does look sleek, slick and titanium looking; you can serve the web faster, view your photos in a more crisp display.

For the business, you a built in cisco VPN (woo.hoo) and build custom apps to integrate into the iPhone,oh boy, I hope someone bring back the game Centipede. :-) WiFi capable and GPS available for a service fee. What's not to like? Check out the price plan below.

UNLIMITED Data (Email and Web Browsing), Visual Voicemail iPhone 3G requires qualified voice and data plans.	Monthly Cost
Data Plan for iPhone When using iPhone for access to personal email, web browsing, or consumer applications such as games.	$30
Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone When using iPhone to access corporate email, company intranet sites, and/or other business solutions/applications.	$45
Unlimited Text Messages	$20
1500 Text Messages	$15
200 Text Messages	$5
"Pay Per Use" Text Messages	$0.20 (per text if no plan selected)

Data pooled plans are not available for iPhone.

By the way, there is an upgrade plan also. So, if you already own one, chances are you can get the upgrade.

My new camera

FujiFilm S1000fd

Simply amazing quality pictures under $200. It's a 10.0 megapixel camera, 12x optical zoom, SDHC/XD, palm size lightweight, 2.5 screen display and the list goes on. This one has a panorama feature which is pretty darn kool if you want to combine shots. What can I say, I am loving it so far, can't stop snapping pictures around the house. I posted a super-macro picture of my wife's mini garden flower. Quality is terrific and at 10 megapixel, very very nice.
My previous camera is also a Fuji which is pretty good also. It a decent quality camera with 6.2 megapixel which is no comparison to the S1000fd. I have not had bad experience with Fuji camera yet. The biggest sales point for me was the fact the shutter speed on these camera are good. I play with Kodak, Nikon, Canon and there seems to be a bit of lag in the shutter speed. The worst is probably Kodak; seems to amaze me coming from a photo company. Obviously there are other qualities in a camera needs to be mentioned, such as the Lens. Its not Leica lens, but I am not paying Leica prices either. It Fuji's finnon lens, not too sure on the exact detail about fuji len. Overall, not too bad on the color output, don't you think?

Oh, the software that came with the camera is not too bad either. Easy to install and use, almost dummy proof. Did I mentioned it's under $200? I can't get over it price and performance combination.

iPhone 3G Specs

Features:

• World mobile phone with UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, • 2100 MHz) and GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
  Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) and Bluetooth® 2.0 + EDR
• •Visual Voicemail
• •Rich HTML email client with support for viewing Microsoft
• • Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, JPEG, and iWork email attachments
  Push email, calendar and contacts through support of Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync
  Support for IMAP and POP3 mail servers
• Mass delete and move of email messages
• Safari web browser with support for Web 2.0 standards
• Maps with GPS
• •App Store
• •Intelligent QWERTY soft keyboard
• Chat-style SMS text messaging
• Integrated 2.0 megapixel camera
• Widescreen iPod with touch controls
• 3.5-inch widescreen multi-touch display
• Built-in VPN client supporting Cisco IPSec, L2TP/IPsec, & PPTP protocols
  WPA2 Enterprise wireless networking with 802.1x authentication

Power and Battery*:

• Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery

• Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter

• Talk time: Up to 5 hours on 3G, up to 10 hours on 2G

• Standby time: Up to 300 hours

• Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G, up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi

• Video playback: Up to 7 hours • Audio playback: Up to 24 hours

I Couldn't Resist

Bill Gates of Heaven or Hell SCREEN SAVER?

Well, Bill," said God, "I'm really confused on this one. I'm not sure whether to send you to Heaven or Hell! After all, you helped society enormously by putting a computer in almost every home in the world and yet you created that ghastly Windows. I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm going to let you decide where you want to go!"
Mr. Gates replied, "Well, thanks, Lord. What's the difference between the two?" God said, "You can take a peek at both places briefly if it will help you decide. Shall we look at Hell first?" "Sure!" said Bill.
"Let's go!" Bill was amazed! He saw a clean, white sandy beach with clear waters. There were thousands of beautiful women running around,playing in the water, laughing and frolicking about. The sun was shining and the temperature was just perfect!
Bill said, "This is great! If this is Hell, I can't wait to see Heaven!" To which God replied, "Let's go!" and off they went. Bill saw puffy white clouds in a beautiful blue sky with angels drifting about playing harps and singing. It was nice, but surely not as enticing as Hell.
Mr. Gates thought for only a brief moment and rendered his decision. "God, I do believe I would like to go to Hell." As you desire," said God. Two weeks later, God decided to check up on the late billionaire to see how things were going. He found Bill shackled to a wall, screaming among the hot flames in a dark cave. He was being burned and tortured by demons.
"How ya doin', Bill?" asked God. Bill responded with anguish and despair. "This is awful! This is not what I expected at all! What happened to the beach and the beautiful women playing in the water?"
"Oh, THAT!" said God. "That was the screen saver".

The Garden

After this morning horrific traffic. I feel a need to make a note on the GSP traffic pattern. For those who do not take the GSP, there are 5 lanes for the most part. You would expect no traffic issues. I mean the GSP should be free flowing at 80mph, how is it that each morning I am going between 40 to 65mph. What is the deal?? Oh, yes; the peak hour you may say. That is just "crap", peak or non-peak; 5 lanes is more than enough to move along and not cause traffic slow down.

So difficult to understand this. I am assuming some Engineer has done their homework when building the GSP since they are getting pay top dollars. I would completely understand if trucks were involved, but no. No slow moving vehicle. So, what's the deal??

I am not sure about others drivers, but I am constantly annoyed with the traffic pattern and so much time is wasted sitting in the car. I can wasted my time doing other things, like cutting my grass.

Stop with the tomatoes

This is my first attempt at blogging. I thought what is the best way to talk about the Salmonalle in tomatoes issue, Blogging! Since the whole "big bang" with salmonalle, more and more claims are coming around the corner claiming issues, like Salsa. Last year, we have spinach. This is so typical, anything to make the public get concern about the food they eat. Folks, eventually we'll just starved since everything we put in our mouth is poisoned. Stop the nonsense and cook those tomatoes. Just think, what will they come up next? Will my diet coke be next? That will be an all time upset.

Look at them tomatoes. What person is in their right mind can denied these delicious and gorgeous red ones.