Looking forward to my trip in Cambodia. My hairdresser invited me to go with her family. I will be traveling with my hairdresser, her husband, and their 2 small children. Well, I won't actually be travelling with them. They will arrive about 3 days before me. I'll probably call them up and we'll probably do lunch or something and maybe take in some sights.
If my hairdresser did not invite me to Cambodia I would never go. I never think about this country. It's a poor country, dusty, and dirty, but charming like most SE Asian countries. They are taking a page out of Thailand's book and offering cooking classes, tours on elephant back, boating and the like. Like other parts of SE Asia hotels and food are cheap. Hopefully I won't spend much because I don't have much to spend, only working 3 days/week.
I'd like to work 4 days but it's been tough with the economy the way it is. I've been sending out resumes with little success. I still love the Pac NW. The laid back and relaxed lifestyle is so different than SF. They say CA style is laid back. Maybe it used to be like that, I don't think either Norcal or SoCal are laid back anymore. The pace of life is really fast in both areas and super competitive.
Hopefully I'll come into some money later in the year so I can build my Hackintosh. It's a regular PC but with a Apple Macintosh operating system. I'm not even sure if this will work or not, but there's little downside. If it doesn't work, I'll just throw Windows on it and that will be that. I estimate it will cost about $800 which is kind of a lot for a new computer, and I even have the case and everything. I just need some the processor, motherboard, RAM and some other things.
Already planning my next trip to Asia. Hopefully I'll have money to spend next year. I already have enough miles on United for another free flight. I plan to cancel this Mileage Plus card at some point next year so that I won't be stuck with the annual fee. I think this will be it for the United Mileage program, for me anyways. It was nice participating. I got just enough miles for Asia. From here on out it's all Southwest.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Vancouver
Just got back from Vancouver trip. It's about 3 hours because I have a Nexus card. It's like fast pass which allows me to blow through the border with minimal fuss. It also means I don't have to wait 3 hours at the border to get interrogated by border patrol. I love Richmond BC. The food there is so good. My fav shopping center there is Yaohan. I look forward to going back there each time and it's so good.
Friday, June 25, 2010
I just realized another plus to living in Seattle area: no bridge tolls! There's two big bridges, the 520 which connects Seattle to Redmond (that's a biggie), and the I-90 which connects Seattle to Bellevue.
On the minus side, there's no BART or good mass transit that goes across the sound, or lake, or whatever you call it. I don't know how the buses do it. When the 520 gets backed up everything gets backed up including the buses.
I learned that in WA state, allow radar detectors are allowed. Driving here is way different than in Bay Area. You aren't allowed to park within 30 feet of a stopsign or 15 feet of a fire hydrant. The cops usually don't enforce the 30 foot rule though, and the one cop I talked to said he usually would ticket if the person came within 10 feet or so.
There's alot more HOV (our version of carpool) lanes here than in Bay Area. Although, the east bay has more carpool lanes they seem to try to squeeze them in everywhere here.
On the minus side, there's no BART or good mass transit that goes across the sound, or lake, or whatever you call it. I don't know how the buses do it. When the 520 gets backed up everything gets backed up including the buses.
I learned that in WA state, allow radar detectors are allowed. Driving here is way different than in Bay Area. You aren't allowed to park within 30 feet of a stopsign or 15 feet of a fire hydrant. The cops usually don't enforce the 30 foot rule though, and the one cop I talked to said he usually would ticket if the person came within 10 feet or so.
There's alot more HOV (our version of carpool) lanes here than in Bay Area. Although, the east bay has more carpool lanes they seem to try to squeeze them in everywhere here.
Monday, May 24, 2010
One thing I noticed living in Seattle is that the people here are much more representative of what goes on in the rest of the country than in the Bay Area. The Bay Area is an extremely liberal place with a strong emphasis on big business and big ideas. Seattle area is more laid back with an appreciation for college sports, nature, and doing things the right way. There's more emphasis on quality than quantity.
The dentist offices I've seen are representative of this thought.
For example, I've met a dentist who only works 4-5 hrs per day. He tells me that he would rather do a really good job on the 3 to 4 fillings rather than do a crappy to mediocre job on 10 to 12 fillings. Of course the Bay Area is filled with dentists who do the 10 to 12. I never met any dentist in the Bay Area who chose to work so few hours. Many of the offices here have the hygienist only see 7 patients per day as opposed to the 8 or 9 in the Bay Area.
Because of the increased emphasis on quality, and the laid back atmosphere (there's nothing laid back about the SF Bay Area), people can connect with each other more. I was shopping at supermarket the other day and there was a guy by the door who said "good bye, have a nice day" and looked me straight in the eye. Nobody in the Bay Area ever looked me straight in the eye and greeted me goodbye like that. I still feel awkward when people do that around here which happens frequently. I just look downward because I don't know how to react. It's really sad.
I ate some bread and butter tonite for dinner. I used Tillamook butter to put on the bread. Tillamook is a small local dairy that makes butter and cheese. I don't EVER remember seeing small local dairy brand names anywhere in the SF Bay Area. It was always the same old "Challenge Butter" and whatever you find at Safeway. Even the smaller mom and pop grocery stores all carried the same stuff. I much prefer to try out and support the local vendors cause they have something the big dogs don't have, usually better taste, character, price, or whatever.
The dentist offices I've seen are representative of this thought.
For example, I've met a dentist who only works 4-5 hrs per day. He tells me that he would rather do a really good job on the 3 to 4 fillings rather than do a crappy to mediocre job on 10 to 12 fillings. Of course the Bay Area is filled with dentists who do the 10 to 12. I never met any dentist in the Bay Area who chose to work so few hours. Many of the offices here have the hygienist only see 7 patients per day as opposed to the 8 or 9 in the Bay Area.
Because of the increased emphasis on quality, and the laid back atmosphere (there's nothing laid back about the SF Bay Area), people can connect with each other more. I was shopping at supermarket the other day and there was a guy by the door who said "good bye, have a nice day" and looked me straight in the eye. Nobody in the Bay Area ever looked me straight in the eye and greeted me goodbye like that. I still feel awkward when people do that around here which happens frequently. I just look downward because I don't know how to react. It's really sad.
I ate some bread and butter tonite for dinner. I used Tillamook butter to put on the bread. Tillamook is a small local dairy that makes butter and cheese. I don't EVER remember seeing small local dairy brand names anywhere in the SF Bay Area. It was always the same old "Challenge Butter" and whatever you find at Safeway. Even the smaller mom and pop grocery stores all carried the same stuff. I much prefer to try out and support the local vendors cause they have something the big dogs don't have, usually better taste, character, price, or whatever.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Hiking
I've learned in the 1 year I have lived in Seattle area now that this area is the king of hiking. I joined Meetup.com and enlisted with a few hiking groups. I keep getting all these incredible hiking ideas in my emails but have only been able to attend one of them so far which went well and was very enriching for me. The other hikes I've done on my own. I still have not visited Mt Ranier which is supposed to be the pinnacle of all hikes in this area, nor have I done the hikes in Mt Olympia which is supposed to be really beautiful as well.
Within 1 hour drive there are so many hikes in North Bend. There are also some great hikes near town of Monroe as well like Serene Lake which I just did. There are so many forests and trees here. The weather has alot to do with the incredible hiking opps here. Because it rains so much ppl don't want to live here so it keeps population in check. With fewer ppl there are fewer trees removed and more hiking opps.
It snowed not far from here near Mt Ranier a couple days ago. The weather as a result was super cold today as well as the last few days. It's 44F now and 54F in SF to give an example. It reminds me of last year when I arrived on May 8. I drove past Snoqualmie and it had just snowed the day before. I noticed piles of snow on the side of the road and inquired about it. So I guess the next week or so we will still get snow before it finally starts to warm up.
It's weird because only 1 more month before the longest day of the year but it doesn't feel like it. It's been so cloudy the last month that we really haven't seen the sun too much. Only the last few weeks. Today I got to see the sun until 7:30pm. It was very nice. I know when the summer comes in a few weeks that there will be less rain and incredible amount of daylight. The twilights here are much longer than Bay Area. I'm still trying to figure out why.
As of today we could still get pretty good twilight around 8:30p and beyond. I know the Bay Area at it's best will get twilight till just past 9pm or so before it gets totally dark. Here during the longest day of the year we get twilight past 10p and then morning arrives like around 4:30a. It's ridiculous. When you add in the warm moderate weather, with gentle wind, it makes you want to spend all day and all night outside hiking or just lounging around. The summers here are really to die for.
Within 1 hour drive there are so many hikes in North Bend. There are also some great hikes near town of Monroe as well like Serene Lake which I just did. There are so many forests and trees here. The weather has alot to do with the incredible hiking opps here. Because it rains so much ppl don't want to live here so it keeps population in check. With fewer ppl there are fewer trees removed and more hiking opps.
It snowed not far from here near Mt Ranier a couple days ago. The weather as a result was super cold today as well as the last few days. It's 44F now and 54F in SF to give an example. It reminds me of last year when I arrived on May 8. I drove past Snoqualmie and it had just snowed the day before. I noticed piles of snow on the side of the road and inquired about it. So I guess the next week or so we will still get snow before it finally starts to warm up.
It's weird because only 1 more month before the longest day of the year but it doesn't feel like it. It's been so cloudy the last month that we really haven't seen the sun too much. Only the last few weeks. Today I got to see the sun until 7:30pm. It was very nice. I know when the summer comes in a few weeks that there will be less rain and incredible amount of daylight. The twilights here are much longer than Bay Area. I'm still trying to figure out why.
As of today we could still get pretty good twilight around 8:30p and beyond. I know the Bay Area at it's best will get twilight till just past 9pm or so before it gets totally dark. Here during the longest day of the year we get twilight past 10p and then morning arrives like around 4:30a. It's ridiculous. When you add in the warm moderate weather, with gentle wind, it makes you want to spend all day and all night outside hiking or just lounging around. The summers here are really to die for.
Monday, April 26, 2010
More Comparisons
Getting back to SF vs. Sea comparisons
Attended NAAAP http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=2655752138&ref=ts social mixer last month and helped out to clean up Chinatown in downtown Seattle. Turns out every month they have a mixer and they have a Chinatown cleanup sort of thing (I think). This was the second time in as many months I volunteered to clean Chinatown's streets. The people here are so much nicer and down to earth compared to San Franciscans it's not even funny. The difference is very VERY palpable.
So the last social mixer was in Bellevue at a Korean restaurant called 2AM. If you name a restaurant the worst thing you can do is give it a generic name like 2am because you just killed any chance of finding your restaurant easily on the web. Do a search on Google for "2am restaurant" and you'll get a listing of restaurants open until 2am in San Jose as your first search option.
Anyways, judging purely from body language and blatant stares from attractive females, I'd say the girls here are just as hungry for attention as the guys. I've never been looked over by so many females in my entire life in one night. I didn't meet any single girls on this night, but I still found the experience very enriching and enjoyable and I was the very last person to leave.
I'm actually truly looking forward to the next social mixer in May. I've actually built up a little bit of confidence living here in Seattle area. Yesterday I went hiking to Serene Lake: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/lake-serene
It's a very steep but rewarding hike. I went with a group that I met on Meetup.com. The leader was Jewel, a woman with two kids and a dog. Unfortunately our group was so fragmented I wound up hiking with Jewel and her kids (and dog) pretty much by ourselves the entire time. Everyone else went in front of us. We were the last ones down by a good 40 minutes.
I did get some nice shots of the Lake. It was all iced over so it wasn't the beautiful blue emerald color it should have been, but you could see little places here and there where the water was in fact blue in color where the ice melted away. There were little avalanches happening all during our hike. They sounded like gun fire or firecrackers in a row. "Pop", "pop", "pop", they would go. Little bits of rock and ice tumbling down the tall, almost sheer cliff. The place was very tranquil and peaceful. There was still quite a bit of snow at the top.
I wish I had brought my spikes (metal shoe clipons) so I could navigate over the ice without fear of slipping. I had purchased these spikes because it seems there is a lot of snow up in the hills of Seattle's backcountry. They are almost a necessity if you hike in April in the higher elevations. I'm actually starting to get comfortable hiking in the snow after brutal Mailbox peak. I'll never forget that hike, so steep and so icy, and crazy.
I'll try to get our leader to goto Ape Cave next time. It's a 3 mile long lava tube that takes 2 1/2 hours to get to. It's near Mt St Helens. It's a tourist attraction so it's not too dangerous but you do have to watch your step. Basically Ape Cave is a lava tube that formed a long long time ago during an eruption. Somehow the cave maintained it's shape and people like to explore it's long, dark, creepy innards.
Attended NAAAP http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=2655752138&ref=ts social mixer last month and helped out to clean up Chinatown in downtown Seattle. Turns out every month they have a mixer and they have a Chinatown cleanup sort of thing (I think). This was the second time in as many months I volunteered to clean Chinatown's streets. The people here are so much nicer and down to earth compared to San Franciscans it's not even funny. The difference is very VERY palpable.
So the last social mixer was in Bellevue at a Korean restaurant called 2AM. If you name a restaurant the worst thing you can do is give it a generic name like 2am because you just killed any chance of finding your restaurant easily on the web. Do a search on Google for "2am restaurant" and you'll get a listing of restaurants open until 2am in San Jose as your first search option.
Anyways, judging purely from body language and blatant stares from attractive females, I'd say the girls here are just as hungry for attention as the guys. I've never been looked over by so many females in my entire life in one night. I didn't meet any single girls on this night, but I still found the experience very enriching and enjoyable and I was the very last person to leave.
I'm actually truly looking forward to the next social mixer in May. I've actually built up a little bit of confidence living here in Seattle area. Yesterday I went hiking to Serene Lake: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/lake-serene
It's a very steep but rewarding hike. I went with a group that I met on Meetup.com. The leader was Jewel, a woman with two kids and a dog. Unfortunately our group was so fragmented I wound up hiking with Jewel and her kids (and dog) pretty much by ourselves the entire time. Everyone else went in front of us. We were the last ones down by a good 40 minutes.
I did get some nice shots of the Lake. It was all iced over so it wasn't the beautiful blue emerald color it should have been, but you could see little places here and there where the water was in fact blue in color where the ice melted away. There were little avalanches happening all during our hike. They sounded like gun fire or firecrackers in a row. "Pop", "pop", "pop", they would go. Little bits of rock and ice tumbling down the tall, almost sheer cliff. The place was very tranquil and peaceful. There was still quite a bit of snow at the top.
I wish I had brought my spikes (metal shoe clipons) so I could navigate over the ice without fear of slipping. I had purchased these spikes because it seems there is a lot of snow up in the hills of Seattle's backcountry. They are almost a necessity if you hike in April in the higher elevations. I'm actually starting to get comfortable hiking in the snow after brutal Mailbox peak. I'll never forget that hike, so steep and so icy, and crazy.
I'll try to get our leader to goto Ape Cave next time. It's a 3 mile long lava tube that takes 2 1/2 hours to get to. It's near Mt St Helens. It's a tourist attraction so it's not too dangerous but you do have to watch your step. Basically Ape Cave is a lava tube that formed a long long time ago during an eruption. Somehow the cave maintained it's shape and people like to explore it's long, dark, creepy innards.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Love the outdoors
I'm back! And I'm getting my full dental hygiene license, yay! Been a while. Been recovering from my late Jan ordeal, that is, my last licensure examination. I have been recovering. Until you take one of these exams you have no idea how stressful they are.
Hiked Lil Si and Mailbox few weeks ago and it was beautiful. The Seattle area has some of the best hiking anywhere. Too bad it rains so much, or I'd get out more often. It's simply not safe to hike in cold and raining conditions sometimes. Besides, there's no view to enjoy when you get to the top.
The number of outdoor outfitters here is insane. Thermarest, REI, Outdoor Research, etc. all have headquarters here. Some of the biggest names in the hiking clothing industry are in the Pacific Northwest like Arcteryx (Vancouver), and I guess you could include Nike (Oregon) although they're not really hiking per se. If you want a technical jacket or waterproof pants, Seattle area is THE place to be.
I did pickup waterproof jacket by Outdoor Research at REI (the Revel). It's ok, does keep water out, but it feels clammy against my skin when my skin gets a little sweaty. Not good for warmer weather, but then again, why would I need to wear a jacket when it's warm? I was hoping to use this jacket as an weather jacket but looks like it will be a little more limited to cold weather. I'm still happy with it.
Mom and Dad came over couple weeks ago and I made egg rolls and sushi for them. It was nice. They got to see everyone up here so it was good. Next trip back to Bay Area probably Sept.
Hiked Lil Si and Mailbox few weeks ago and it was beautiful. The Seattle area has some of the best hiking anywhere. Too bad it rains so much, or I'd get out more often. It's simply not safe to hike in cold and raining conditions sometimes. Besides, there's no view to enjoy when you get to the top.
The number of outdoor outfitters here is insane. Thermarest, REI, Outdoor Research, etc. all have headquarters here. Some of the biggest names in the hiking clothing industry are in the Pacific Northwest like Arcteryx (Vancouver), and I guess you could include Nike (Oregon) although they're not really hiking per se. If you want a technical jacket or waterproof pants, Seattle area is THE place to be.
I did pickup waterproof jacket by Outdoor Research at REI (the Revel). It's ok, does keep water out, but it feels clammy against my skin when my skin gets a little sweaty. Not good for warmer weather, but then again, why would I need to wear a jacket when it's warm? I was hoping to use this jacket as an weather jacket but looks like it will be a little more limited to cold weather. I'm still happy with it.
Mom and Dad came over couple weeks ago and I made egg rolls and sushi for them. It was nice. They got to see everyone up here so it was good. Next trip back to Bay Area probably Sept.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Vancouver
Went to Vancouver to see the Olympics. It was awesome. I didn't have $500 to see any events but I soaked in the vibe and an awesome vibe it was. There were tens of thousands in the streets. It gave me an idea of what they have over there which is a lot. Lots of Chinese people. Reminds me so much of SF. All the people here from Hong Kong, they all speak Cantonese. Great place to find a girl I thought. Or at least to have some fun. I'd like to get a Nexus card so I won't have to go through the border patrol.
Spent last weekend in SF. It was busy hectic. Every day meeting with friends, hardly spent any time with the parents. I was out every day pretty much. I didn't realize I had so many friends in SF. Wow. I gotta setup my next flight back cause I had so much fun.
My next door neighbors got back from Jamaica and they had the time of their lives. They got married there and stayed at Sandals which is all inclusive resort. I've never stayed at one of these before. Maybe I'll try it. They said it was good for singles. I know these places are expensive. I don't think it's worth it which is the reason I never stay there. I also don't have the money. They kept telling me I had to go there.
Gotta make sushi appetizer today for my Aunty's birthday. It's her 60th so I should put some efforts into it. Looks like another busy weekend for me.
Spent last weekend in SF. It was busy hectic. Every day meeting with friends, hardly spent any time with the parents. I was out every day pretty much. I didn't realize I had so many friends in SF. Wow. I gotta setup my next flight back cause I had so much fun.
My next door neighbors got back from Jamaica and they had the time of their lives. They got married there and stayed at Sandals which is all inclusive resort. I've never stayed at one of these before. Maybe I'll try it. They said it was good for singles. I know these places are expensive. I don't think it's worth it which is the reason I never stay there. I also don't have the money. They kept telling me I had to go there.
Gotta make sushi appetizer today for my Aunty's birthday. It's her 60th so I should put some efforts into it. Looks like another busy weekend for me.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Passed test
I passed my last WREB exam couple weeks ago. Now I'm burned out and need some rest and relaxation. Coming home in a couple weeks for SF's Chinese New Year Parade on Feb 27. Should be fun. Weather is dreary here as usual. Temps in the low 50's which is really warm for Feb. Jan supposedly set record warm temps being the warmest ever or something.
Work is going ok. Went to cousin Kenny's for Superbowl Sunday. I was nice (nay dumb) enough to buy pizza for everyone. Garlic Jim's is pretty good, but pricey. I really didn't care much for the game, though I did have the winner picked (Saints). There were way too many people rooting for the Colts and there was no way the Colts were going to run the Saints off the field. For one, the Colts never really blew anyone out during the regular season. In fact, Manning orchestrated what was it? At least 3 if not more come from behind wins in the 4th Quarter which means they were often down.
Also, factor in the fact that Dwight Freeney, their premier pass rusher wasn't 100% and that was a factor in the game. That's their whole M.O., give pass happy Manning the ball and sack the other team's QB. Well, if you can't sack the other QB then Manning can't get the ball. Brees's passing attack wasn't even that scary. All his completions were short to medium duration. He never completed any deep passes so there was no reason for the defense to be scared of the deep threat. All they had to do was stack everyone in the box to cut off the short passes. But unfortunately Indy allowed the most pass completions of 10 yards during the regular season which tells me that they will allow tons of short passes, but when it comes to the red zone or big time situations they generally don't allow the other team to score.
I think the Colts were probably a better team than the Saints overall, but not by much. And to think there would be a blowout I think is dumb. The Saints were damn good through the season. Their win over Arizona was underrated. Kurt Warner is a monster. To get through them and Minnesota speaks volumes.
Work is going ok. Went to cousin Kenny's for Superbowl Sunday. I was nice (nay dumb) enough to buy pizza for everyone. Garlic Jim's is pretty good, but pricey. I really didn't care much for the game, though I did have the winner picked (Saints). There were way too many people rooting for the Colts and there was no way the Colts were going to run the Saints off the field. For one, the Colts never really blew anyone out during the regular season. In fact, Manning orchestrated what was it? At least 3 if not more come from behind wins in the 4th Quarter which means they were often down.
Also, factor in the fact that Dwight Freeney, their premier pass rusher wasn't 100% and that was a factor in the game. That's their whole M.O., give pass happy Manning the ball and sack the other team's QB. Well, if you can't sack the other QB then Manning can't get the ball. Brees's passing attack wasn't even that scary. All his completions were short to medium duration. He never completed any deep passes so there was no reason for the defense to be scared of the deep threat. All they had to do was stack everyone in the box to cut off the short passes. But unfortunately Indy allowed the most pass completions of 10 yards during the regular season which tells me that they will allow tons of short passes, but when it comes to the red zone or big time situations they generally don't allow the other team to score.
I think the Colts were probably a better team than the Saints overall, but not by much. And to think there would be a blowout I think is dumb. The Saints were damn good through the season. Their win over Arizona was underrated. Kurt Warner is a monster. To get through them and Minnesota speaks volumes.
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