"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.