Kindle Fire HD is the best tablet for hikers

Kindle Fire HD is a hiker's tablet. Why?  Because of the loud speakers with it.

I hiked in Mission Peak today, carrying my Fire HD device as a music player.

There are several reasons that Kindle Fire HD is the hiker's best tablet.

* The Dolby-enabled stereo speakers output great music.  It is clear and can be heard with couple of meters.
* The music playing can last as long as 60 hours with a full charge.
* It is lighter than a lot of external speakers, and you just need one device so a group of hiker can enjoy music together.
* It is cheap!

I decided to take my Kindle Fire HD with me for my hiking trip from now on.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083PWAPW/ref=sa_menu_kdpt3

How to become a Dropbox Guru?

How to become a Dropbox Guru?
I just become a Dropbox guru. Don't ask me what is a dropbox guru. Pls google it. I just know that they give me 48GB space for free for 24 months. Let me tell you how-to based on my own experience. 

After my dropbox account registered, I installed the client on my pc, mac, ipod, and android platforms. I liked their facebook page, twittered, and registered the mailing list. What I think also important is I've successfully invited several friends join in dropbox. I had shared a lot of potos with friends. All happened within 3 months. I feel that I became a promoter of dropbox recently. Well, I just want to earn more free spaces and it worked pretty good. I don't know what's their algorithm of determining the guru status. But there is one thing for sure, you have to become a heavy user of dropbox and share some stuff. It makes perfect sense from a business perspective, to keep the loyal and savvy users. Smart dropbox.

Now, I'll upload and share more stuff on dropbox for the next two years. After that, I maybe become a pay customer, as I am be locked with so much stuff on it. So, dropbox will win another customer then. There are so many players in this cloud storage market. I''ve used dropbox, Google drive, and Amazon drive. I believe dropbox is still the No.1 player. And I especially love through guru title!

hotwire sucks. Hot rate is a hoax.

I've been a hotwire customer for couple of years, booked many hotels, and cars via the hotwire website.

It works like priceline if you want to get a deal.
You are guaranteed a price and they will provide the hotel/car info only after you paid.  So, basically, you have no way to know  in advance for the hot rate product.

Sometimes, you are surprised with the final product they booked for you, but sometimes, you will be very disappointed with their final product.

There is one trick and it sucks with the hot rate.  You are unable to change/cancel/refund any service you booked with hot rate!!

I've recently booked a car for 7 days 3-4 weeks before my trip.  However, my trip was changed a bit and I need the car for 3 days earlier.  I called Hotwire and they basically denied to do anything for the extension of my car booking, even though I'd like to pay extra or standard rate for the extra 3 days.  They told me that I can book another car for 3 days, but I have to go back to airport, return the car and pick up the same car again.  There is no way to just extend my previous booking.

I called the car rental company, Hertz, as well and explained my needs. They also said that the hotwire hot rate contract cannot be changed.  I have to do the return and pickup in the middle of my trip, which is impossible for me.

I am so mad and sad about their service.  The hot rate offiered by Hotwire is actually not very cheap compare to the rate you can get from the car rental company directly.  They just play some trick, advertising a looks-very-low price, but you have to pay extra fee/tax.  And in total, it is not much a good deal anyway.
And what sucks is you can't do any change with this booking and you paid in advance before your trip!!

Hotwire's business model sucks because they tricked their customer into thinking their rate is good.  Once you realized that, you no longer want to be a hotwire customer.  You don't want to be abducted by their ridiculous terms and tricky price.  Also, the customer service guy is very rude, just tell you, "that's our policy, we are very strict about our policy, byebye". They hung up the phone before I want to hung up.

Okay, Hotwire, good luck with your stupid strict policy.  In this business world, lucky we have so many choices. I am leaving this tricky and strict policy and we are free to choice our services now.

One last comments, it is better to book the trip/flight/car through the company's website or phone directly, as you are their real customer and they will take care for you.  To book the trip through the agency, you are abducted by the agency and no one will take care of you in case of any help you needed.

Life in Silicon Valley is different from Vancouver, Canada

I moved to Silicon Valley from last September.  Almost 5 months till today.

Life in Silicon Valley is very different from my life in Vancouver, Canada.

1. living. There is no life without a car in the US. The public transit is not comparable to Metro Vancouver, where we had skytrain and many bus services. Unless you are living and working close to BART, I heard that the public transit is almost unusable for daily commute. I am renting right now. The rental is expensive than Vancouver and the house is also pricer. However, compare to the income, I'd say the house is a bit more affordable than Vancouver.  A recent report claimed Vancouver ranks #2 in the world in terms of 'in-affordability' and San Jose ranks lower though.  It's not a ranking you want your city get into. :-)

So, the first task for me is to get a car here.  I have posted a detailed blog previously about Canadian buying cars in the US.

However, once you have got a car here, the life is much easier now.  The highway system is very developed and it's easy to driving around a lot of places in 15-20 minutes, excluding the rush hour.


2. working. As I expected, the working culture in Silicon Valley is very different from working in Vancouver.  Everyone is super busy here and the projects are carried over in a fast-pace.  Even though people are working in a big company, you have to work hard like in a start-up.  That's the spirit of the Silicon Valley, as Steve Jobs depicted, 'stay hungry, stay foolish'. Most of the engineers, even engineering managers/directors will work till very late every day and overtime in the weekend.
Albeit I somehow expected this, the hardworking and fast-pace project did surprised me initially.

3. environment and weather. No doubt, SV has one of the best weather in the US, let along Canada. I can enjoy sunshine still December.  From February, the sun is shining again. The temperature is mild in the daytime and a bit chilly at night.  Remember, it is winter here.  I don't know how good it can be in Spring and Summer.  Noted the sun is very intense, although it is not hot here.  I came to Canada in Christmas, and my wife found me darker than before even though I wasn't white at all. No wonder, California is called "the heaven of outdoor". With the fabulous weather and many national parks close-by, it is almost impossible not to go outdoor. It's one of the best features I loved California.

4. social. I met a lot of local people from the hiking/running events. Most of the people here engineers, no wonder. I found more outdoor people here than in Vancouver.  I was talking about Chinese guys. Many local events, like alumni, geek group, hiking group, etc. If you are outgoing and willing to meet new friends, you won't be disappointed.

Birding in the Bay area

I went to the shoreline baytrail to watch bird today. It's my first official birding experience and I enjoyed it.

We've found: willet, pintail, american avcocet, coot, sandpiper, red tail hawk, seagull, northern shoveler, cavanasback, blackneck xx,

A lot of birds were found today, a unique and unprecedented experience.

99个宋词常用语 密码在手三秒作诗赋词

99个宋词常用语 密码在手三秒作诗赋词

网友制作的宋词高频词汇和数字代码
1 空 21 一笑 41 深处 61 一片 81 不是
2 东风 22 黄昏 42 时节 62 桃李 82 时候
3 何处 23 当年 43 平生 63 人生 83 肠断
4 人间 24 天涯 44 凄凉 64 十分 84 富贵
5 风流 25 相逢 45 春色 65 心事 85 蓬莱
6 归去 26 芳草 46 匆匆 66 黄花 86 昨夜
7 春风 27 尊前 47 功名 67 一声 87 行人
8 西风 28 一枝 48 一点 68 佳人 88 今夜
9 归来 29 风雨 49 无限 69 长安 89 谁知
10 江南 30 流水 50 今日 70 东君 90 不似
11 相思 31 依旧 51 天上 71 断肠 91 江上
12 梅花 32 风吹 52 杨柳 72 而今 92 悠悠
13 千里 33 风月 53 西湖 73 鸳鸯 93 几度
14 回首 34 多情 54 桃花 74 为谁 94 青山
15 明月 35 故人 55 扁舟 75 十年 95 何时
16 多少 36 当时 56 消息 76 去年 96 天气
17 如今 37 无人 57 憔悴 77 少年 97 惟有
18 阑干 38 斜阳 58 何事 78 海棠 98 一曲
19 年年 39 不知 59 芙蓉 79 寂寞 99 月明
20 万里 40 不见 60 神仙 80 无情 100 往事






It's easy to write your own poem, just choose some random number and select the word from the list.

For example,


网友习作
《清平乐·圆周率》π=3.1415926……
（1415）回首明月，(一看就是抒情诗)
（9265）悠悠心事空，(果然，貌似失恋了)
（358979）故人谁知寂寞。(触景生情)
（323846）风吹斜阳匆匆，(回忆那天下午的艳遇)
（264338）芳草平生斜阳，(平生见过最美的太阳和芳草，都是因为那里有你的身影)
（327950）风吹寂寞今日。(到现在就剩我自己)
（288419）一枝富贵年年，(好花美丽年年开，好景宜人不常在)
（716939）断肠长安不知。(我的思念远方的你可知道)

（注：诗词后为网友配的说明）
《如梦令·根号二》=1.41421356……
（414213）深处时节千里，
（562373）消息当年鸳鸯。
（0950）归来今日，
（488016）一点无情多少。
（8888）今夜，今夜
（724209）而今时节归来。
 

Canadian Buy Car in the US

I just came to the US from Canada since Sept. 2011 and I bought my first new car at the end of Oct. with 36 months 0.9% car loan. It's an Acura TSX 2011 model with technology package.

It's not an easy process to get a new car in the US without a credit history, even though I have a good credit history in Canada. I did a lot of research myself and my friend had recommended a company to me for newcomer to the US buy/lease cars in the US.  http://www.lionleasing.com

However, I didn't use the service provided by lionleasing as I felt it is too expensive.  I decided to try something myself.  Lionleasing would be my last resort.

Based on my own succeeded experience, I'd like to provide some info to other new comers. My own experience is based on the assumptions below.

1. You are coming to the US for working, with a valid working/TN visa for couple of years.
2. You plan to buy a new vehicle, maybe an older model, like 2011 at the end of the 2011.  Usually car dealers would like to clear their inventory at the end of month/year.
3. You can put about 3-5K downpay.

I did the following things to buy the new vehicle. It's all based on my own experience, and there is no guarantee that they will work for you.

1. Get your SSN, social security number.  You can get your SSN as you are coming to work here.
2. Have your offer letter/working contract.
3. Contact several of your local friends, with their name, phone number, and addresses ready.  They will be your reference.
4. Prepare your paystubs, local bank account statement, phone/utility bill, apartment/house leasing contract.
5. Do your own research on the vehicle, and choose a model/make within your budget.
6. Okay, now you've done all your homework, you are ready to negotiate with dealers.
7. Send Internet quote request via some big websites. I recommend the us news website. http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/.  Choose the car and send quote request via the websites.  You may choose several dealers to start, either local or not too far dealers.
8. Usually, after you send out your quote request, you will be contacted by dealers via email/phone.  Don't answer the phone, just use email to get some quote, the OTD (Out of the Door) price, with specified year/model/color/optional packages.  After you got the first round of emails, you just wait and you may send some thank you letter to dealers, to let them know that you are interested in their cars.
9. Dealers will send you follow up emails.  You may wait or further clarify some points with them.  Like the leasing/loan interest, down pay etc.  No need to mention that you are from Out of the Country. They will give you good rate assuming you have a good credit score in the US.
10. Next, you have to be patient.  You may reply some email once a week, keep the dealers know that you are still in the market and you may ask for some better price.  Usually, after a month or so, dealers may give your some promotion discount.  If you feel the price is within your budget, you got to tell them your concern that you were from Canada and you are really interested in buying the car but no credit history, blah, blah.  Car dealers now know that you are serious and you tell them you want to close the deal by the of the month.
In this stage, you have to be candid and clarify your concern with dealers.  You may make several phone calls with them.  Dealers who want to close the deal will work with their financial department or store manager to get you some feedback.  Be sure to get the official email telling you that you can get a low rate for a loan/lease.
11. Then, you'd rent a car and drive to the dealership to inspect the car and buy the car.  I recommend Friday night, as dealers will be super busy on weekend usually.  Once you get there, with all your preparation, you ask them to give whatever they promised.  Usually, it is hard to negotiate the price at the dealership, as they know you really want to close the deal there.  Since you have already negotiate the price before you go, you are pretty much set on the price.
Then, you get the deal done.  If you have no car insurance, you can ask the deal to pick you up on Saturday morning and you can get the insurance on Saturday morning. For extra service package or options, you showed your interest to the financial manager, but you only choose what you want.  Once you said, "No. Let me think another night". You will be there on the weekend to pick up the car and buy the extra stuff.  The financial manager will give a huge discount on the frills. You decide if you want to buy or not.
12. Okay, on Saturday, the deal salesman will pick you up and you can drive your car home.

Hope my experience will be useful for Canadian buying cars in the US.