Mother's Day 2008

I took some photos for church's mother's day event. I did not have a chance to work on the photos until today.

Dodgers Vs. Cubs

Just got back from a Dodgers baseball game. This is my first baseball games in couple of years. I had a great time. I went with couple of friends. I enjoyed couple of Dodger dogs and some nachos. The foods are overpriced, but it is part of the experience.


This is going to hurt..



Good friends






me

But the way Dodgers won the game 7 to 3.

Perfect Web Worker's Setup

I am sitting at Starbucks. I have my HP Mini with me with Sprint's Novatel Wireless U727 USB EVDO adapter with me. I am enjoy my time at Starbucks waiting for dinner while getting some work done. I am able check my e-mail with Outlook 2007, read my RSS feeds, fix couple of reports with Cognos and run some report over the web server. It is just perfect for a lazy Friday afternoon.



Now, I am able to accomplish most of my work using HP Mini with Sprint's EVDO. This setup actully raises an interesting question about processor power per watt verus productivity. Do you really need to get latest Intel Atom or Core 2 Duo processors in HP or Asus eeePC? Mini is not my primary computer. I have an Core 2 Duo desktop machine with dual wide screen monitors running in my office. For portable computers, I have a Dell Latitude D820 with T7400 processor and UWXGA screen, a Vostro 1500 laptop and a 2.2GHz SR MacBook Pro with 4GB of RAM and 320GB Hard Disk. I also have a 8GB iPhone, Samsung BlackJack II, AT&T 8525 and Blackberry Curve as my mobile devices.

Now I have HP Mini. The question is how much processoring power to you actually need to get things done. I use desktop or MacBook Pro or Latitude for all the heavy lifting, but those machines are also at least double the size and weight compared to my Mini. Do 30 seconds or 2 minutes actually make significant differences while you are mobile? This is a major shift in my thinking of mobile computing. Before Mini's arrival, I always want to have latest/fastest processor for my notebook/tablet PC/UMPC that I can get my hand on. Now with Mini, I can get things done with low power VIA C7-M processor. It probably took 2 to 3 minutes longer overall time for things to complete. Mini is 1/3 the cost of my MBP before all the upgrades ,weights about 50% less and 1/2 of footprint compare to my MPB. This is geting very interesting. I will post more thoughts later. Does 3 times the cost produce 3 times of productivity or efficiency for me? This is just become very intersting.

HP Mini Windows XP

I can't wait until HP comes out with XP Driver. I am going to try to reformat to XP. I will post my progress here.

Update 5:11PM
Ok after 2 hours of work. I got followed things to work on my Mini with XP.
WLAN (Broadcomm43xx)
LAN (Broadcom 57xx)
VIA C7 Graphic Card
VIA C7 Chipset
Keyboard ShortCut
Mouse

Not Working
Audio Device AD1984A High Definition Audio Bus

How to upgrade your HP Mini

I got couple of people asking me how did I upgrade my HP Mini. There are three screw holds behind the battery.

1st screw


2nd screw


3rd screw


after you pop the keyboard out

Upgrade on HP Mini Note 2133

Ok.. after I removed the battery, I saw three screws. I removed three screws. I was able to remove mini note's keyboard. I removed stocked 1GB DDR2 667 ram and replaced with 2GB DDR2 667MHz ram. Removing keyboard also revealed mini's hard drive. It is 120GB 2.5" Fujitsu SATA HD. Just happen, I have a 160GB 7200RPM 2.5" Segate SATA around. I just popped the drive out and replaced the hard drive. I checked the HP's website for Windows XP driver but found none. HP only has Vista driver for now. I am re-formatingto Vista. It is 12:16PM now. let's start the timer.

Update at 2:42PM
I got Vista Home Basic running. If you are trying to reformat your Mini make sure you attach your external USB DVD-ROM Drive on the USB port on the left side (powered one). For some odd reason, when I plugged into the right hand side USB port, the Windows Vista Installer will hang at Expanding File (0%) screen.

Update at 4:18PM
Got Vista Business Running. Running on Last HP driver update. Then Vista SP1.

Update 10:11PM
Took about 2 hours for SP1 to install and update. After many reboots, Mini sens to be more stable now. Some interesting observation, Firefox 3 Beta 5 uses less CPU cycle during the page loading and start up. Next, I am going to install Office 2007. Let's get the stop watch started.

HP Minin Note 2133 is here.

Ok. It is HP mini note 2133.
I ordered the $549 version with SUSE Linux Desktop.
Spec on HP Mini Note 2133

• 1.2GHz VIA C-7
• 1GB of RAM
• 120GB HD
• 3 cell battery
• 8.9"
• 2.6lb

Here is some of the unboxing photo.

















HP Mini Note next to Dell Vostro 1500









HP Mini Note stacked against Dell 700m, MacBook Pro and a Dell Vostro 1500





HP Mnin Note next to Dell 700m

Something is coming

I ordered this item on April 9th, 2008. This morning, HP sent me a shipment confirmation. It is coming. It weights 2.6lb or 1.3KG. I will have an unboxing video on Friday after I received the item. Have a great week. Check back later.

YP4C Retreat

Pictures are posted. Please click on the link to gallery.

Group Picture


Link to Gallery

Training

I ran 7.59 miles today as part my training for marathon.



YTD: 651.88 miles

Simple Lunch

I know this is not considered as cooking, but I have to start somewhere. I made this sandwich myself.

Sandwich

Salami (6 slices)
Smoked Ham (2 oz)
American Cheese (2)
Roman Lettuce
Onion
1/4 Avocado
Yellow mustard
Mayo
Chipotle Source (Tabasco Brand)
Multigrain Bread (toasted)

Other things on my plate
1/4 Avocado
Ambrosia Apple

200th Run

I had my 200th run today since Jan. 1st of this year. So far I have ran 644.28 miles, lost 45lb and lost 6 inches from my wist. I continue working toward to my goal of running a marathon sometime next year. I am getting ready to start training for Los Angeles marathon in March 2008.

Graduation Part II

Here are pictures from my master program's commencement ceremony.

Link to pictures

Special Thanks to:
God
My parents
Sister and brother-in-Law
My study group (Charles, Henry and Benny)
My MBA group(You know who you are...)
All my friends who encouraged and supported me to go back school
My company/boss/managers for their supports while I was going through with my under and graduate programs.

Eric

Running Shoes

While I was getting ready for tomorrow morning's five miles run, I picked up my running shoes and realized that I need buy a new pair of running shoes soon. This pair of shoes are only about five month old. I am going to start to shop for new running shoes. This is second Nike Air Max 180 II I went thought in last 11 months. 11 months and 587 miles later, I am going to buy my third pair of running shoes. Should I buy other brands? or should I stick with Nike? I had no problem with Nike shoes. Some friends recommend Adidas, ASCIS and Mizuno .

My running style:
Monday - Friday: 4-5 miles (50 minutes)
Saturday and Sunday: 6-7 miles
Surface: Treadmill and road

Alternative to Nike shoes:

While I was researching for new shoes, I found this holder for my Nike+ chip. This holder is made by a company called lacelid. You can find them at http://www.lacelid.com/. I am thinking to give it a try. I will post more information on it when I get one with my new shoes.

Good Night.

587 miles

My Wish List for 07

58 days until Christmas. It is counting down fast. I just saw this e-mail came across my inbox this morning. I am a self-admitted Apple and ipod/iPhone addict I love my ipod(s) and iPhone. I have 3 ipod(s) (5G 60GB, 2G Nano, 2G 8GB Nano) and an iPhone. I am so a runner. I use Nike+ with my 8GB Nano regularly. I started to use my Nike+ and 8GB Nano beginning of this year. The combination of Nike+ shoes and iPod is a an awesome invention. I use Nike+ to track my workout history and performance data. To date I run 587 miles this year. Anyway, back to this gift box from Nike. I think this is an awesome gift set.

Let's start the list now.

My List for 07
1. Macbook (black)
2. Canon 40D (Body only)
3. One week all expenses paid trip to NYC
4. Canon EFS 10-22mm
5. Canon EF 24-105 f/4 IS L

587 miles and counting

Graduation Part I

After two years of schooling, I finished my last graduate class on October 1, 2007. This I am done with my master program in business administration from University of Phoenix. I will be attending the graduation for Southern California Campus at Anaheim Convention Center this coming Saturday (Nov. 10) at 10:00AM.

View Larger Map

I will post the picture later..

Birthday Dinners

For last two days, I had two different birthday dinners. I had two friends have their birthdays in early November.

November 2

We went out to Open Sesame Grill in Belmont Shore. Open Sesame Grill is a Mediterranean/Lebanese Food. We got there around 6:10PM. The place was packed. We waited for about 45 minutes.

Appetizers: We ordered Spicy Hummus and Spicy Sauteed Zucchini. Both appetizers were good.

Entrees :

Sultan's Platter

Chicken Shawarma Plate

Lamb Kabob Plate

Final thoughts:
Entrees were great, but our chiken Shawarma was dried. I would not recommend that. Lamb Kabob and chops were perfect. Dersserts were ok only. We had Baklawa and Baklawa with ice cream. Save your money go to other place for desserts.

November 3

Couple of friends decide to get together to celebrate Vincent's birthday early. We went to BJ's in Arcadia.

Food: Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza




Most important picture of the evening




!!!Happy Birthday!!!

Pictures

I am back

Just got back from a two weeks vacation from Taiwan. I will be back to work on Wednesday. Check out my photos from the trip.

Link