$530 unsubsidized! I'm gonna faint now...

But I might still buy it anyhow...

How Much Does The Google Phone Cost?

Update:
Actually, if I do the math, it seems like $530 is the better option...
If I keep the phone for only 1 yr:
$180 phone cost + ~$85 ($79.99 + tax & fees) x 12 months service plan + $200 ETF = $1400
$530 phone cost + $70 (my current plan) x 12 months service plan = $1370

If I keep the phone for 2 yrs:
$180 phone cost + ~$85 x 24 months service plan = $2220
$530 phone cost + $70 x 24 months service plan = $2210

From Engadget:
10-min Nexus One walkthrough

Okay, so Jan 5 are you here yet?!! I need a new phone RIGHT NOW~~!!!

Update:
Reviews are starting to trickle into the intertubes...

Exclusive: Google Nexus One hands-on, video, and first impressions - Engadget

Nexus One Review - NexusOneBlog

EXCLUSIVE: Hands On Impressions Of Nexus One - fonefrenzy

Nexus One review - Engadget

Is Google Phone for Reals?

So rumors have been floating around that Google is coming out with a new phone. It just happens that my phone has been acting up these days and I was looking for a new one. I was actually this close to getting an E72, since it has pretty good reviews, and I want something with a decent camera. I've gotten so many compliments with the pics I took from my good old N95, that settling for a worse camera would be difficult now. The E72 looks like a good option, the only downside is it is on Symbian and it doesn't look like the OS has a very bright future. And being an anti-Apple person, the iphone is completely out of the question. Ahh... I hope the rumors are true, then this one might very well be my next phone. We shall wait and see.

Google Phone With T-Mobile Contract in January: Source - ABC News

Let's See How Long These Will Last...

When I was in HK, my friend told me about these nail color stickers/patches that you can just stick on your nails and it will look like you have real nail polish on. We were in Watson's one day and see them on sale for 50% off (HKD 34.5), so I grabbed 3 packs of these. They are actually made in the US and from the website it seems like they are available at Walgreen's. Each pack comes with 20 strips (so you can choose the perfect size for your nails), a polish removal cloth, cuticle stick, mini file, and looks like samples of the French manicure patches. The patch is like a soft film of plastic, you just stick it on your nail and get rid of the excess at the end and around the edges. Pretty easy to apply, and no more waiting for nails to dry and fear that it might get smudged. The site says it can last up to 14 days. Let's see if that is true. I'm liking them so far and would love to try out the Glitter/Shimmer ones if I can find them at Walgreen's. Sephora has something similar also so I might try those out later as well.



Update:
The last batch lasted about 10 days before I actually had to remove it, but there was noticeable cracking after just a few days. The polish did come off easily with the cloth that came with the package or any other regular nail polish remover.

Pics from Osaka/Kyoto

If you are not my friend on Facebook, here's a link to the pics I took in Osaka and Kyoto.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=178123&id=762834656&l=9c325f666e

L.A. County sheriff's deputies arrest 74-year-old tagging suspect

L.A. County sheriff's deputies arrest 74-year-old tagging suspect

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Watch Rihanna live if you have a Nokia

爆笑阿公

最近才補看完"光陰的故事". 裡面的阿公超爆笑(他也是"敗犬女王"裡那個很搞笑的廟祝)! 他叫陳博正, 剛在今年的金鐘獎憑"你是我的唯一"拿了最佳男配角!

6:20 阿公講英文(加台語)


4:50 一元一美結婚, 阿公冇著褲


2:26 阿公再講英文

最近成日聽Mr.!

成隻碟都好聽! 我最鍾意呢幾首:
1. 無謂再假
2. Everyone
3. 戰禍
4. 搖擺
5. 等不了

Annual SGV Fire

8/31/09:


8/30/09:


8/29/09:


8/28/09:


Seems like these wildfires in the San Gabriel Valley has became an annual event now. The Station Fire has spread to the north of Pasadena and this is the view of the fire from my balcony this evening. Thank God the smoke is not blowing this way today. A few days ago when the Morris Fire started burning, smoke blanketed the whole area and I was actually woken up by the burning smell the next morning. Yes, me woken up by a smell, imagine that!!!

Free Range Foie Gras - Controversy and Laws Surround Foie Gras Production - thedailygreen.com

Sorry, I know it is cruel, but no matter what, I still have to eat foie gras! Will this help? Or I should just move out of California before 2012!

Free Range Foie Gras - Controversy and Laws Surround Foie Gras Production - thedailygreen.com

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超爆笑版王妃MV

The 10 dumbest iPhone apps

Fortune: The 10 dumbest iPhone apps

So Microsoft counters right away... This is getting more interesting.

Microsoft makes big Announcement on Monday to counter Google Chrome OS?

http://ff.im/4WvjM

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Perhaps not a bad idea for netbooks.

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Marines' beasts of burden are again leading the pack - Los Angeles Times

Awww... That's cute.

Marines' beasts of burden are again leading the pack - Los Angeles Times

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歐洲"黑過墨斗"之旅

跟友人和她的妹妹去完歐洲旅行回來已差不多一個月了. 很多朋友都問旅途愉快嗎? 我說:「超黑仔!」(就是衰運連連的意思!) 友人寫下一個list. 以下是一部份的items:
1. 到米蘭, 下shuttle bus後, 問路人酒店在那裡. 那人二話不說便把我們的行李箱放到他的手推車上,叫我們跟他走. 到酒店後他要我們給他每件行李5歐元. 最終給了他10歐元了事.
2. 酒店櫃台硬要我們留下一本護照數個小時做登記. 需要那麼久嗎?
3. 酒店房間簡陋無比, 比大陸的酒店還惡劣. 和相片差天共地!
4. 到大教堂附近逛街, 友人被乞丐摸手臂!
5. 第二天打算到outlet, 找了老半天才找到巴士. 跟旅遊指南說的位置差很遠.
6. 生日那天自己把頭撞到玻璃門處. 腫了一塊!
7. 生日晚上本想到一家餐廳, 在餐廳外看見裡面有人但關門, 在門外等了很久那些人都不理我們!
8. 因姑姐過世, 要買eurostar到倫敦. 上網買票時"發瘟"買錯了時間, 花了一個小時想加錢改車票也改不了.
9. 在巴黎車站乘eurostar, 取票的機器不知道我的名字是怎樣寫, 試了很多遍也拿不到票, 結果要到counter取票. 排隊排了很久, 於是miss了我的班次. 工作人員還很不友善地說"你遲到了!"
10. 回到巴黎, 約了友人在outlet. 她們買錯車票, 本應5歐元的車票她們付了20歐元!
11. 從巴黎走的時候, 以為退稅counter是在過security之後. 誰知只看見一個沒有人的American Express/Tax Refund counter. 等了半小時, 再問了很多人才發現原來counter在外面! 於是再到外面辦退稅, 差點沒時間! 把退稅表格寄出後才想起好像沒有填credit card number! 希望還會有cheque收啦!

我們離開的時候, 那個list有17或18 items! 米蘭整個城市就像一間大黑店, 相信以後也不會再去! 巴黎我倒是挺喜歡的. 由於這一趟只有兩天, 沒有時間看清楚這個城市, 希望有機會能再去遊玩!

金曲獎

蕭敬騰拿不到最佳新人獎, 超可惜! 雖然盧廣仲創作是很行, 我也很喜歡他那首「我愛你」, 但是唱的話還是蕭敬騰比較好吧! 方大同也是很可惜沒有拿獎! 希望他們以後多加油囉!

死亡的恐懼

最近身體老是出毛病. 從三藩市回來以後就一直覺得好累, 然後上一個星期肚子痛得不得了, 原來得了腸胃炎. 才好了兩天, 前幾天又吐了, 接著是全身痲痺, 特別是一雙手, 還有一些難以形容的不舒服的感覺. 不舒服到我以為自己快要昏倒了. 看了醫生, 說應該沒事, 就回家了. 但不舒服的感覺一直持續, 痲痺的情況也沒有好轉, 而且好像在擴散, 我第一次覺得可能會就這樣子昏倒然後就掛了. 其實以前也有想過會有這樣的一天, 但恐懼還是現在才有. 因為害怕自己是中風, 於是麻煩了友人半夜帶我去了急診室. 生平第一次以病人的身份去ER, 也害了友人陪我在那等了四個小時, 很過意不去. ER的醫生做了各樣的測試也找不出原因, 於是便叫我出院, 然後找自己的醫生去安排照MRI. 出院的時候其實一點也沒有好轉, 但既然他們也沒什麼能做了, 也只好這樣. 因為沒有開車所以回了辦公室去. 老闆跟同事們都很擔心. 同事(也是很好的朋友)怕我一個人在家, 叫我去他家住了. 第二天痲痺的情況突然不見了. 去看醫生(自己的醫生放假, 這個是代班的)跟她說現在沒有痲痺了以後, 她就說"噢! 那可能就只是一個病毒罷了! 沒有必要照MRI." 我是不太喜歡她就這樣敷衍了事喇. 是什麼病毒? 為什麼有病毒? 病毒在那裡? 還會再發生嗎? 一句也沒說...
現在是沒事了, 但以後如果我有什麼事的話, 請代找Dr. Kim Le算帳! 也在此非常感謝友人們, 老闆, 還有同事的幫忙!

323

三月二十號的週末, 因為朋友到Mexico City去度蜜月, 叫我一齊去玩, 心想如果現在不去, 可能不知道甚麼時候才會去, 所以就去了. 雖然只是玩了一個週末, 但是可以到外面透透氣也是挺好的. 只可惜回來以後的星期一, 多年來我一直擔心會發生的事情, 終於發生了, 因為我至愛的祖母走了... 我到了美國之後, 我的家就幾乎只有我跟她, 所以我的心情是跟我同輩的表兄姊不一樣的. 當然她的兒女的傷心不會比我少, 也幸好大家都從外地趕過來. 畢竟有一點突然, 一大堆人在一起, 事情比較容易接受吧, 所以現在好多了.
同事送來的安慰卡裡, 有一位在上面寫了這一句: "A loved one dies only if you forget them! Memories of your grandmother will live on." 親愛的祖母, 主懷安息.

我的新玩具(My New Toy)

I finally took the plunge and bought myself a netbook. Just thought it will be good for traveling since my Sony laptop is really old and it's awfully slow. So time for a new one!
I got a Dell Mini 9 because I've used many Dell desktops and laptops and have always liked their products. The only thing I don't like about the mini 9 is the keyboard, but it's understandable why the keyboard has to be so cramped given the size of the netbook itself. I also bought the external DVD drive from Dell. The first time I plugged it in, the device can't be recognized. After doing some research, it seems like most people are having issues with the USB cable that is included in the package, so I switched to another USB cable and voila! Works like a charm now. The original spec of my mini 9 is 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 1GB RAM, with 8GB SSD. I did a little upgrading and changed it to 2GB RAM and 32GB SSD. Changing the RAM and SSD is super easy on the Mini 9, and it literally takes only 1 minute.



After upgrading, I then put Windows 7 beta on it. I downloaded the file on the internet, then googled and found instructions on how to create a bootdisk from a USB drive (although the left USB port somehow didn't work so I had to use the right USB port to boot). The installation process was not too painful. I forgot how long it took... the whole thing took an hr maybe. Most of the drivers were installed automatically. There are a few unknown devices shown under Device Manager. I followed the instructions of other mini users and reinstalled the JMicron driver, Synaptics Touchpad driver, and the Battery Meter/Wireless Switch (install from Mini 12 Vista version) from the Dell support website and the "unknown devices" went away. The only problem left now is to get the webcam working since the driver seems to have installed correctly but the software would not install the last time I tried. Windows 7 will definitely take me a while to get used to since I've never used Vista before, but seems like so far so good.

P.S. I downloaded the Google Pinyin method so I can type Chinese using Pinyin (Windows 7 comes with ChangJie, Quick, Phonetic methods, etc. but I don't know any of those).

Salt Cod Brandade! Yum!

This week and next week is DineLA Restaurant Week. Lots of famous restaurants are offering prix-fixe lunches and dinners at great prices. I went to Vertical last night and had one of the best dishes I had in a while (okay, besides that foie gras I had the other day at La Cachette-not part of the prix-fixe but I ordered it anyway). It's an appetizer called Salt Cod Brandade. Never had this dish before, so I didn't know what to expect, but me and my friend were very pleasantly surprised by it. It was not overly salty, and it blends perfectly with the crunchy bread. Soooo good! Google "Salt Cod Brandade" for recipes!

Not a good day to drive to SF