Boston Trip - Part 2

Only 1.5 weeks (9 days) until I leave for Hong Kong! Hm... I think I need to start packing this weekend. Let me finish writing about Boston though.

Sunday was a day where the forces worked against us. Started the day off with organizing a huge pile of state quarters. I stopped caring about these things after sophomore year or so. I think the combination of going abroad and using plastic for most things made it so that I had less contact with quarters. I do have a collection of international coins sitting in my piggy bank though so maybe one of these days I'll start a more serious collection.

We had brunch with Grace at the Canteen and talked about random stuff. At the end of it, she mentioned that she's training for a marathon. Maybe I should get back into this running thing. I definitely need to start working out more. I feel so sluggish these days.

Yalu and I had planned on going to the MIT 150 convocation. We decided that it would be okay to get there a little bit late but then the bus got stuck in traffic going over the bridge. We arrived at the Hynes Convention Center and found out from the security guard that the event is actually held at the Boston Convention center. I didn't know they were different things. We checked out the location of the Boston Convention center and agreed that it was too far away. I think the closest T stop would be the World Trade Center on the Silver Line. We had planned to meet up with some friends there but this obviously failed to happen. So we decided to look around the Zara on Newbury street. I was kind of tired and wasn't in the mood for serious shopping. So we ended up just going back to Yalu's place.

Dinner was another adventure. We decided to meet Xiumin and Helen for dinner. We wanted to pick a place where Yalu's dining miles would be accepted. After much debate, we finally found one. Again, the bus schedule was being weird so we ended up getting there half an hour before the scheduled time. It was fortunate that we did because we found out that the restaurant was holding a private party. So we ended up going to Royal East and made some last minute changes to the plan. I think I'm starting to figure out differences in Chinese cuisines. The places that my parents go to in Oakland are very Cantonese. The dinner menus are significantly different from some other Chinese places like Royal East. It's appalling to think that people lump everything into "Chinese food."

Monday. I didn't do too much in the morning. I felt really tired in the morning. I don't think I got over the jetlag during my stay. I alternated between checked email, read my book, and napped all morning. I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch but she didn't bring her cell phone so we didn't managed to meet up. I ended up wandering around Chinatown and picked up some snacks and lunch. On my way back, I stopped by the Galleria again and used my $50 gift certificate for BR.

Logan airport is nicely equipped with free wifi and lots of power outlets. The flight was okay. My TV had a connection problem and stopped working at some point. I didn't mind though because I had my Kobo to keep my occupied. And cable TV means too many choices. I usually just watch the Food Channel anyway. I really don't like flying. It's so uncomfortable. I should look into getting upgrades but that still doesn't make it any more comfortable when there is turbulence... Anyway, I've started this year off with lots of flying.

All in all, it was a good trip. It was really nice to see friends again. I actually didn't spend very much time on campus. It's still pretty much the same. It was CPW anyway and the pre-frosh are getting younger and younger!

Boston Trip - Part 1

Sitting at Logan airport once again. I'm making use of the free wifi to blog about this trip. I was kind of tired the whole trip so I didn't bother with blogging. It was a good visit though.

Thursday. I felt the effects of the motion sickness pill nearly the entire day. I went out for a walk in the morning around Harvard and found a good tea place to read. I went to Tealux and got one of their seven chai teas. I've been really interested in chai teas lately. I got a bag of chai tea at a tea place in SF but I found it to have too much ginger. The one I got at Tealux is supposed to have a lot more cinnamon. I think it was too strong. I also got a can of masala chai at Peets. It's okay. Not too spicy one way or the other. I wish I could have tried all of Tealux's chai teas.

I met up with a friend at the Japanese noodle shops in Porter Square. I would have never found these places if I didn't have an address. It looked like a university on the outside. We had ramen and it was okay. I think the ramen I had in Mountain View was better.

Friday. I met up with Greg R. in the morning at MIT. He's on an east coast trip and was also in town so we hung out for the day. We wandered around the campus for a little bit, failing to find the alumni center (they moved!). We decided to walk through the Back Bay and explore Boston. As we got near the Commons, Yalu called and said that she has time for lunch. So we had an adventure trying to walk to where she works. We got super lost and had to call her back several times. I think I could have been a more enthusiastic tour guide. I wasn't really into the tour-giving mode. We got some Vietnamese sandwiches in Chinatown before meeting Yalu at her workplace. We even got a tour of her office! Finally saw where she's working. Very cute corner.

Greg and I spent the rest of the day walking the Freedom Trail. We went on a tour of the USS Constitution but didn't make it to Bunker Hill in time to climb the thing . It got really cold and I was super tired by the end of it. I wouldn't have climbed anywhere. We then went back to Quincy Market to have dinner with Yalu and Mike. Massive planning involved in the this one. Yalu and I managed to do some shopping before and after dinner. I got a pair of pants. One of the goals of this trip was to do some work clothes shopping. No sales tax on clothes in MA! Yalu and Mike made me play Starcraft that night. We played 2 games.

Saturday was a massive shopping day. We started the day with brunching with another friend. We headed to the Cambridgeside Galleria right after and went straight to the shoes section at Sears. There was a sale on shoes so things were pretty cheap. We ended up buying 2 pairs of matching shoes. We bought 5 pairs of shoes between the two of us. I think  I only spent about $35. Then X joined us and we went through the rest of the mall. Shopping is really tiring. This is why there are food courts because they are necessary for refueling. After this, Yalu and Mike went off to play tennis at the Cambridge library and I took the bus to MIT to meet up with Ivy. I went to her room in Baker and we just chatted for over an hour. She seems to be doing really well. Very well adjusted to life at MIT, in the middle of the love-hate relationship with the school, feeling old by all the pre-frosh milling about because it's CPW, and just doing really well in general. I'm really glad I decided to stop by. Really wish more people from Oakland High would apply to MIT and keep a steady flow of OHS students to MIT.

Almost time for boarding so I'll finish writing tomorrow.

Arrived in Boston

My flight was delayed by an hour. The flight coming in was late. I kept myself occupied with reading so I didn't mind. Shortly after take-off though, we ran into some turbulence (mountain winds?) and it was really uncomfortable for a while. The plane wasn't shaking but the air that it was going through didn't feel smooth. Anyway, I was feeling really sick and managed to get a motion sickness pill out of my bag. I didn't take it before the flight because I didn't want to be drowsy. I didn't think I would manage to bend down to get it from my bag - that's how bad it was. I passed out after taking the pill and it was much better when I woke up, both the plane and myself.

I think I'm still feeling the effects of the motion sickness pill though. I should have just taken half a pill. I really need to get outside and get some caffeinated beverage in my system.

Boston for the next few days

Going back to Boston since graduating in June 2009. Taking a mid-day flight. I've always taken a red-eye flight going east because I lose hours going that way and I'm usually trying to save time. But red-eyes are very exhausting flight so I decided to avoid that flight and instead fly during the day. I think it will be a more comfortable flight. I can read and watch TV without having to worry about the lost of sleep.

I'm at the SFO International terminal because that's where Jetblue flies out of. Just saw an Asiana flight take off to Seoul. I found out recently that they are a Korean airline. And now there announcements for a Cathy Pacific flight for Hong Kong. It's too bad that Singapore Airlines and Cathy Pacific are not with the same airline alliance. I'm beginning to think that I should bank more miles with Cathy because they have a lot more flights out of HK. I've been trying to make a list of direct flights from Hong Kong and which airline flies where. I should really get enough miles with some alliance so that I can take advantage of these lounges. They seem like a great way to be pampered and get freshened up after long flights.

Random updates: kobo, seaonc, furniture

Just read this article about eBook devices infiltrating book clubs. I've never participated in a book club. I don't think I can handle being in one and talking about how a passage feels to me. I'm the type of person who goes for the whole picture. I don't spend time remembering and reflecting over the details. I read pretty fast but I definitely don't remember everything I read. Anyway, at one point in this article, someone talks about smelling the print and touching the yellow pages. One of the problems that I always had with old paperbacks is that they make me sneeze and my eyes itch when they are too old. I literally have to go outside and air out the book. Even then, I have to hold them at arm's length. Maybe I should have just gotten a newer copy.
http://www.mercurynews.com/books/ci_17776842?nclick_check=1

My Kobo crashed last night and I had to reset the thing to get it to open library books. So annoying. It's a bug apparently and they haven't fixed it. I guess this is what happens when you for for the cheaper version of things. Sigh... Anyway, it works fine now. I'm halfway through The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard). There was really not much happening during the first part of the book. It was all setting up the story, letting you get to know some people who ended up getting killed later on. But somehow, the author still managed to make it really interesting. Maybe because the audience is already attached to the main character and there is quite a bit of character development during this first part.

I went to a SEAONC dinner meeting today. It was their student night. Last year, they had separate sessions for the Berkeley and Stanford students. This time, they had both. There were a lot less Cal students though. I wonder if it was bad advertisement on their part. They are so much closer. But maybe that's why. It seems like their students all came on their own. Whereas the Stanford students had an organized carpool. I said hi to some familiar faces and met some new people. I got an extra HK sim card from a friend so now my visitors can use it to call me. I have a feeling I'm going to end up with a collection of sim cards and Octopus cards.

I was looking at HK furniture and home-stuff stores yesterday. I'm pretty excited to go shopping for furniture and appliances. I realized that if I really have to supply everything (as in, my place is just a room), the budget can get pretty tight. Here's it's pretty standard that even an unfurnished apartment will come with a fridge, stove, and oven. But there's no guarantee of such things over there. It might literally just be a room. I hope I manage to find a place to live with some overlap with my hotel. That way, I can shop for furniture, have it all delivered, assemble things, and then move in. Having to sleep on the floor next to unassembled furniture is definitely not ideal. I've already looked up names and addresses of furniture and homeware stores and have a plan of attack. Looking forward to making some big purchases.

New Credit Card

I started feeling a bit sick Saturday afternoon. I think I'm better now but still feeling a bit unwell. Hopefully I'll get better before going to Boston. Boston seems cold... I've booked a afternoon/evening flight to Boston instead of a red-eye. So I'll be sitting on the plane for 5-6 hours and awake. Good thing I have a Kobo now. I can definitely keep myself entertained. I've been looking forward to having some time to just read. I do wish that the Kobo had a note taking feature like the Kindle. Oh wells... I guess this is what happens when you go for the cheaper version of things. I still like the fact that I managed to get 2 Kobos for less than the price of one Kindle.

I finally decided on a new credit card last night. I was going back and forth on whether I wanted a cash rewards card or miles. Then I finally realized that what I need is a card with no foreign transaction fees. This limited my search quite a bit. I finally decided on 3 criteria, which I posted on facebook:

1. 0% foreign transaction fee
2. No annual fees (ever)
3. And a Visa or MasterCard

I got some suggestions but no one seemed to be able to find me a card that satisfied all the requirements. I'm beginning to think that most people don't read the fine line very well. I remembered when I applied for my very first credit card, I actually did  quite a bit of comparisons to find the best rates. I managed to find a card that had really low APR rates but I guess those don't really matter if you plan on paying off your balance every month. And that first credit card only had a limit of $250. I cancelled this after a few months. 

The card I ended up getting this time is the Capital One Venture card. This is a card that gets me miles that I can redeem with different airlines. I think this is probably smarter than getting a card with a particular airline. Anyway, we'll see how well it works in terms of getting me rewards. I also spent some time putting a picture of Snowball on my credit card. I hope that will turn out well and that I won't be embarrassed every time I have to use it...

Post graduation life updates

Post graduation life is not as relaxing as I would like it to be. I feel like I always have a long to-do list, like the one I published on my previous post.

Friday was a busy day for me. I went to a seminar at Berkeley hosted by the student chapter of the Deep Foundations Institute. The talks were aimed at students so I understood most things. But some of the talks were so general that I didn't feel like I got very much out of them. Not as many people attended as they had planned for though. Could be because they didn't send out a reminder email. I met the boss of one of my friends from Stanford. It's funny because the last time we talked, he had just met my former boss. Small world. I met up with a friend from MIT and we updated each other about our lives. Turns out, he's been doing research with a professor at the City University of HK, the university that is right next to my office. He might come for a couple of weeks this summer. We can hang out everyday! Then I went with another friend to the Oakland Art Murmur. It was interesting. I wish I had more appreciation for art. I want to learn to sketch better and faster. That was one of the things they were trying to teach us at the d.school summer thing. That it's necessary to be know how to sketch basic objects very fast and use that ability to come up with a storyboard or as a first design for a product. I should start a sketchbook. I saw this book Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice at a small bookstore in Berkeley.

Turns out more of my peers invest in stocks than I realized. With these online discount brokers, you can get started even with a small amount of capital. And people seem to be doing pretty well. It takes time and effort but probably worth it if you're getting 10-20% from these investments. I also realized that living in HK would make it very convenient for me to do trades. The market is opened from 9:30am-4pm Eastern time. And since HK has either a 11 or 12 hours difference, I can do trades when I get home from work. A friend of mine pointed out that this would be like a second job! haha.

I've lost some of the productivity that I had the first week I got into this though. Mainly because I've been helping my brother with a scholarship application. That kid needs to do his own work! Too dependent on getting help from other people.

I haven't made much progress into looking at Chinese philosophy. I think I need something that sends me a daily zen quote. Or one of those desktop calendars that has a daily Confucius quote. Then I can think about the quote throughout the day. It's too much to read an entire book. I feel like I can't absorb so much at once.

Currently reading SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. It's got some very interesting stuff, like the first book. I can't tell you what the first book was about though since it had such a big mix of topics. I think I've filed all that knowledge into different areas and don't associate them with one book anymore. I think the same thing will happen with this book. The topics don't relate well to each other. I draw a blank when I try to recall what the first book was about. It's entertaining though.

I have also just finished reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and downloaded The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard). Very entertaining series. I was hesitant at first because they are translated from Swedish. But they're very good. Reads very well. The first book had a murder mystery that involved this huge cast of characters. But the book did a pretty good job of introducing them and giving them unique personalities. I really don't like it when I can't tell characters apart.