a record of thoughts

The South Trip (Set 2)

140 Photos

The South Trip (Set 1)

87 Photos

INTRODUCTION

Before December begins, I should have used all my vacation days from work. It was the last two weeks of November. Usually, I spend my vacation in the overseas, but this year, I opted for a domestic trip with Frances.

I did not plan the trip ahead of time like I usually do things. Planning a trip most of the time does not work for me because things happen in between. I’ve been irking to go south this time, especially to Texas. It has been in the back of my head. Only financial burden and fear was pinning me down. That’s another thing why I don’t plan my trips; I get over the fear. So during the weekend when I picked up Frances from the airport (she came from Las Vegas, but originally from Vancouver, BC) I was thinking about the trip while driving. From there, I decided to do it. Face the music later. (more…)

I have had Verizon FiOS for more than a year now and as the service areas continue to grow, with the technology’s excellent service, I’m sure a lot have signed up for it. If Verizon provides you with an Actiontec modem/router then let me advice you to purchase another router because Actiontec will drive you crazy in the long run. I have 10mbps/3mbps down/up throughput and I download a lot as in I average 1GB/day (that’s a modest number). They aren’t illegal downloads per sé because they are distributed openly (KDrama). If I have more than 3 huge files in my μTorrent (or any other bittorrent client), others in my network wouldn’t have Internet access. That’s because I have NAT running and the routing table in Actiontec is not enough to handle huge amount of traffic. Therefore, overloaded packets are dropped giving my users nil resource. (more…)

There’s not much to say because I have pictures to show. Saturday morning we headed to Six Flags Great Adventure to visit the park (duh!) We started off with Wild Safari which is a basically a zoo. We weren’t allowed to leave the car, so the photos we took had reflections of the windshield and windows. I had to select a few to be published here.

Afterwards, we went to Hurricane Harbor. I didn’t ride any except the The Big Bambu and Reef Runner. The file was long in most rides that we lost interest so we spent the bulk of our trip in the Taak It Eez Ee Creek.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to Sicklerville, New Jersey to spend time with a family friend. There we spent the night and the whole Sunday.

Wild Safari, July 2008

28 Photos

Wild Safari, July 2008 (Set B)

59 Photos

Hurricane Harbor, July 2008

34 Photos

It’s Independence Day weekend and for those who will be staying home (like me) during the long weekend, I am recommending the films below. They are all foreign films (not if you’re Japanese or Korean). I have them as part of my tiny DVD collection. They aren’t new. They’re about at least 3 years old already and I’m guessing that most of my readers have not seen them yet. I’m a huge fan of martial arts films especially the ninja and samurai. That’s not the only reason why I’m recommmending them, however. These films possess deeper meaning. I have found those meanings in my own perception. It’s up to you to find for yourself.

I will recommend more films later on. (more…)

I have been having trouble with my Directv DVR lately so I had them replace the receiver. The first replacement, I had it setup properly and everything usual worked except for my YES Network. So I called technical support one morning before coming to work. It took us 30 minutes and she eventually conceded and sent me another replacement. Yesterday the second replacement arrived and I installed it properly. I was on the phone with a lovely technical support representative so I made sure everything worked before I hang up (I had the receiver activated and deactivate the old one). Still the YES Network was giving me an (721) error. Once again, we replicated the troubleshooting procedures that I underwent with the last technician two days ago to no avail. As I said, the current technician I was talking to was lovely because she was giving a small talk about how sorry she was for me missing the Yankee game. Basically, she knows my concern why I want the problem fixed. Then she went over the accounts (transcript) of my recent technical support conversation prior to speaking with her and she apologized because the previous representative shouldn’t have sent a second replacement because the receiver is fine. All I needed is a service call which of course going to cost me (extra revenue for Directv). She sold me on the protection plan that would help lower down the cost of a technician’s visit on Saturday. I was sold because she was lovely — it was an excellent support: covering all areas of troubleshooting while leaving no dead space time through decent small talk and she really cared for her customers. She did everything correctly. I was also sold because I was looking for the long term advantage of the plan. I don’t have to pay for remote control replacement because the remote control for Directv receivers are terrible.

In other note, I will be traveling for Canada in the last week of this month. I will be in 3 different provinces in 5 days. That would be an adventure for me. That also means I have to rush everything next week. I’m back programming again and hopefully it’s continuous. I should make use of my summer solitude…

I was watching Carlos Mencia again last night and he pointed out a good point about white people not able to say certain words to minorities. He said that the founding fathers of this great nation fought for their lives to gain such freedom; the men and women of America fighting for their lives to uphold and maintain such freedom, but that freedom is restricted nonetheless. It is true that words cannot physically hurt, so as long as freedom of speech is available, anybody should be able to say whatever they want. I have been living with this kind of principles: as long as I’m not physically hurting another, I’m entitled to whatever I want to do. That’s probably why I enjoy playing with people’s minds and emotions. Don’t get me wrong. I’m ruthlessly cold when I’m provoked. I have no guilt; no conscience.

Unfortunately, people (we really are primates) moralize the things we say and do. If you expect to feed your children affluently, then you better watch your words. Reputation plays an important role in the lives of people. Something I don’t have and don’t really give a rat’s ass about it.

A new Staples store  recently opened in front of our office building. Thanks to them I can easily get free WiFi. I don’t have to make too much effort and position my self accordingly in order to receive WiFi connection — the force is strong. Social networking sites are prohibited, but I don’t really care as long as I can surf the web fast and free. Messaging system is also prohibited, but I hardly do that. All I need is an access to Google and this site. Anyway, it’s a nice hot summer day. Thanks Staples!