parking in Japan

I found a funny picture on pbase.com. It says in Japan by its law you can't register a car without proof that you own or rent a parking place. Excuse me sir, by parking place, what do you mean? Does this one count?

convenience fee

"convenience fee", the second funniest term that I have heard or seen this year, only next to "American refugee" which I heard in a comedy talk show. Today I go online to pay my water utility fee of the last week, about 4 bucks. Then it said that if want to pay by credit card, a convenience fee of 3 dollars will be charged to my account. What? I was not convinced. Sometimes I have emotional problem. How could machine charge for money? This must be a scam! or even worse it might be a pyramid scheme!!

It is so not convenient.

miss snow

church on Sunday

This morning I went to an American church. well, American church, this term sounds funny, I mean, I don't go to the Chinese church any more, after some careful considerations. Some people feel more identity of themselves when with same kind of people, some others feel more identity around different people. I am the second kind, so I decide to go to an American church just 2 blocks away. Took a shower, have a breakfast, walk to church, worship God and make friends. Very simple. This afternoon they have a Christmas carol and a college student party in the evening. I need some relaxation before a whole busy week starts.

my work

mac rules

Now I believe Apple Inc makes the best computers. They make computer into electronics category, not machines. You power it on and use it, it is that simple. Forget about virus, memory leak and check your hard disk during reboot. I don't hate Windows, actually it does a good job for computer game industry, but a lot of people do. Some of these people turn to Linux for the control which Linux systems give to them. Once you touched Linux, you have entered another side of the computer world, called "open source". That means everything is free under Linux, but installation of software is pain, pain and pain. If you go to some freelance websites, you will find a lot of people are paying for some scripts to help install software. Simply put, Windows is good for personal pleasure, but not the best solution for business server; Linux is vice verse. Mac balances both worlds, after it switched from PowerPC CPU to Intel CPU and installed Linux kernal under its own Mac OS. That means its user has access to the whole world of open source, while enjoy the convenience and multimedia functions of a traditional Mac. I like the new imac, which integrates a whole computer within a monitor, at a price just above $1000. Impressive. But, when determining which computer to buy, more often than not people will consider its function first, style comes only after that. I wish Apple could use the money earned from ipod, iphone and stock market to develop some more killer functions of electronics. For example, I want to talk to blog, not type, is it possible? Another request, for Google, could you buy a satellite from government and provide cheap satellite internet connection at a cheap price? say to beat the nazi comcast, who charges installation fee? 

nothing important

My present boss got his phd in University of Minnesota in the 90s, Aerospace Engineering department, same as me. Yesterday and today, one of his college buddy came to our lab for a small conference, who works for a rocket science firm in Minneapolis. oh I miss Minnesota, when I saw the news about the snow storm on TV. "That's so sweet" I thought. Yes it is, 75 degree down here doesn't feel like Christmas. I am ready for a big snow!

We got a 6 million dollar project about hurricane. 6 million is a big number in the name of science, but it is a tiny amount in the name of politics. Everyone talk like politician during the meeting. Too bad only the indian lady and me are the only slaves doing the scientific sexy research, to make it even worse, she is pregnant, which means I am the only labor worker in our group. These days after work my legs are shaking due to too much coffee and not enough sleep. I am ready to be self-employed! what? don't believe me? say it again, I am ready for a full-body massage!

Can't believe Georgia is running out of water, should bring some from Minnesota down to the south..

tired

need sleep badly

peopledata.com

peopledata.com

where can find every details about you! 

Well, don't get scared yet, it can't find out the most recent information, at least that's the case for me. The search found my previous cell phone number and home address, but since then I have moved 3 times .. hah, I guess I have moved too fast for the software to catch up. What about you?

"cups" coffee shop

My friend google map told me that there are only 2 starbucks in the whole city, and the closest one is 6 miles away from my place. So I have to switch from my favorite coffee shop to a local force, "the Cups" coffee shop. It has broadband internet, great!! A cup of small coffee is only 1.22 dollar, compared to Starbucks' 1.66. I am sitting in it right now, typing on my computer. There are alot of students here, and I guess most of them are from Belhaven college, a school very close by. I will come here often.

This morning I went to a chinese church. The experience was fine. I learnt a message: don't forsake anything God grants you, for example your name as the oldest son. Yes Lord, I can throw away anything that's earned by me, but dare not throw away those given by you. Only you can take those away. My name as the oldest son of my parents, my name as a husband, and my name as a research associate, these are given by you, not by my own effort. Amen.

This afternoon I went to a christmas carol. Good experience. Good sign I begin to make friends.

Jemima 1 yr old

happy B-day!

keyboards are disgusting

get in my apartment, kong fu style

Everyone loves "no hassle", you want a stable car, a fast-boot computer and, uh, go into your living place without difficulty. Well, the last one should not be a problem which you should take for granted. However, today I had problem getting in my apartment. 

10 pm I was at the door of my apartment, after unlock every locks, the door is still tight. After trials and failures, I called the landlord emergence number, which lead me into an automated answering machine. I have to throw my last bet: putting down my bag, I backed up several steps, and jumped-kicked the door. "Click", the lock seemed like not uphold anymore. And yeah I got into my apartment. What's the reason for that? The lock was offset a little. 

I think I need a friend here, in case I am really locked out and need a place to stay. I don't want to go to my boss and ask "can i get the hotel bill reimbursed because I was locked out of my apartment". Or, I can live in my car, totally. A hospital parking lot will be a good place, if it is free, since it has water and restroom and you can hide. 

second life

Today I have a feeling that I actually growed up, at the age of almost 26. Today TV CNBC has news about a computer game "second life", which caught my interest since not my computer games go into news section of a big TV channel. 

Check this out secondlife.com

It's a 3D cyber-world which you actually live there: you buy clothes, pay bill and can actually get a full-time job in the game. You are paid by $L which you can cash out into US dollars, that means you can open your business and make money. Indeed, a lot of people has done that. Many big real companies have settled "branches" in the game, like Nissan has put their new Sentra in the game. You can buy land, build home and sell it like real business. Besides all these jazz, to be honest a big part of people join the game for cyber-sex related stuff.

Wait, I still don't get it. Why people spend so much time in a fake world for fun? Is the real world really this boring? I believe I have spent too much time fucking my computer, so I just walk away from this game. 

If I have a second life, I want to be a trader who make trades of future commodity, stocks and forex, while playing poker. That would be fun.   

second day, already tired

This monday I went to the court house and got a plate and tag for my car. An interesting thing is that they don't accept credit card/check, only upfront cash. After 5 days down here south, I notice that there is less trust between people here than Minnesota, for example, banks don't make money orders. The banker told me, "only after we get paid, you can take out cash." My landlord told me, 20 days after rent due, my belongings will be thrown to street. hey, in the cruel city here, I can survive, can you?

Then from 10 to 9 I stay in my building which is in the middle of nowhere. My boss was originally from Iran, my coworker is an Indian lady, I am Chinese, so we are a little asian team. Maybe I shouldn't emphasis race too much. After the 2nd day at work, I am tired, mostly because of the Mac machine I am using. It is a Mac using an Intel 64bit CPU, which most of the software don't support. For example, installing a data plotting software requires installing five other software first. While many people hate this, a lot of people just obsess with it. There are two kinds of people who loves using Mac: those who love tweaking and those who love paying for service. 

This blog is becoming wordy, mostly because I don't have a digital camera. I want a very good one like Yuejian's.

this is great

The first day at work was great, I got an office, a Mac computer and a Macbook for my use. I took the Macbook home, to find there is a wireless internet hot spot in my bedroom. So I am using this free wireless internet now, maybe it is the apartment's public wireless. Thanks God I don't have to go through the process of setting up cable anymore. Surfing internet on my bed is one of my best past time. I saved 60 bucks per month for the internet, instead the bill goes into parking at school. Now I hate everything which goes like "per month", just hate it. Einstein said "the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest". Ok enough, or I will sound like a loser. Now I live like a loser, but I am really not. There are websites paying you 8 bucks for you to eat at fast food stores and for your review of the store. This is called "mystery shopping". I can drive 30 miles for a free lunch, can't believe my life style in Jackson?

Damn Google

Guys, got to check this out ..

http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

I googled "cable internet free installation", this is what I found, a toilet connected internet using a flush technology. I was excited at first thinking google does a great job to provide internet service, only later on to find..

I hate comcast for charging installation fee, I hate DSL for having to have a home phone service. Maybe I will bring my computer to my office and live there..

nonstop

There is an old computer downstairs in my hotel. It is better called an "internet terminal" instead of a computer, because it doesn't have anything other than "internet explorer". Even so, I have sticked to this computer for 4 hours nonstop. hmm, I think a $200 dollar computer can feed me very happy. What did I do online? Oh a whole lot of important stuff. like checking NASDAQ index of the stock market, foreign currency exchange ratios to make sure everything is ok, read blogs, facebooks, emails..

Financed a 2006 car. Kia optima Lx V6 2.7L. only 20 Miles per gallon in cities. Because I am gonna only drive 5k mile/year, so I was intentionly looking for something new and relatively high mileage. I will finish the title and plate on Monday, and it needs extra keys, home depot!

My GPS told me I had arrived in my destination

So I guess I am in Jackson right now, as my GPS said so. It better be right this time. It's so hot here, am I in south America? (double check my GPS), ok I am in Jackson. Here we go.

My luggages didn't come with my flight, so they are delayed. I felt like winning a lottery. They will arive in my hotel in about 20 minutes. I have rented a car, been to the dealership and decided to want something REALLY CHEAP as i am.

I got an crappy apartment right behind a luxury-looking apartment. Big contrast actually begin to make me want to live somewhere nicer.