I'm departing tonight for Hong Kong.  I'm gonna have to finish everything that is yet to be done in the US.

In the morning I returned my car with bro at Enterprise @ Eagle Rock.  The Enterprise guy reimbursed my bottle of coolant, which was purchased at the instruction/advice given by Enterprise technician when the previous rental car was having problem in Los Banos.  Concerning the rental car's problem, the guy also gave a pro-rata rental rate - discounting break-down day.  Then, the guy printed out a big big itemized bill, showing the rental rates, insurance, under age charges for all different cars I rented.  The rental rates and insurance were higher during the days around my bro's wedding as my family needed a bigger van on that special day.  I checked all items very carefully and found some discrepencies --- i.e. they claimed that for one of the 4 cars I rented, I did not return the car with the required fuel level.  They said they need 3/8 while I returned the car with 1/4 only.  But I argued that when I returned that car, the Enterprise staff did not warn me.  At last, they resolve to take away that under-fuel charge for me! haha.  I felt like a c lai.

Returning home at around 11am, we had lunch.  Tracy's mom cooked.  I was also finalizing my packing.  2 luggages.  I left some spaces for one of my luggages because....I wanted to go to Fry's and see if I could get a laptop home (HK).

After lunch, I went to Fry's with my bro (we rode on his car).  After much and careful consideration, I bought Compaq Presario CQ60.  Just about US$380.  One thing that it won over a US$300 e-machine laptop was its built-in Altec Lansing speaker.  (I know laptop's built-in speakers are not comparable but it's just cool to see its brand engraved above the keypad area.  It's just cool.)  The lid surface is a hard, glossy finish  --- much like a "piano wood" surface.  The lid surface is also imprinted with a "Compaq"-logo metal plate.  Nevertheless, for this kind of budget 16:9 laptop, I have to give up something --- I never bought anything in my life with an AMD processor!  I lost my "Intel-virgin" to this US$380 laptop...

That was about 15:30 when we finished the purchase.  I also asked the Fry's people to let me plug in the power and try --- just to make sure I can bring an OK computer home without the hassle to come back for an exchange...etc.  In fact, you know I don't have much time to come back for an exchange; in no time would have to be on a flight (at 23:55).

We bought McDonald's iced coffee on the way home.  This is the first time I tried the US' McCafe.  Hong Kong was rather a pioneer in launching the McCafe.  To this day, the US is not offering as much flavor as HK does.  And not all US locations have all the flavors published on its website.  At least the one near Glendale community college does not have ice mocha.  But anyway, a $1.99 iced coffee is well balanced in price and quality.  Content with that.

At night we ate dinner at home.  Again, Tracy's mom was cooking.

After dinner, my bro drove me to the airport.  We parked the car and he walked me to check-in as well as baggage-drop for security check.  There I saw my Torrance's friend Elaine and Jenny.  I kinda invited them to come to the airport so we can meet.  I regreted to have to met my friends last-minute at the airport, but I was happy to see them coming to meet me!  It's really funny to see some friends where we lived in the "dorm" in 2002 and survived --- now going in different paths; healthy; looking good.

OK.....departing for Hong Kong.  I was sitting with a nasty guy who seems to be on a flight for his first time.  Or the first time with Cathay Pacific; i don't know.  He seems to have no knowledge in flight courtesy!  He stretched his arms across the seat separator (i.e. armrest)!  He read his Financial Times and --- while I was asleep --- secretly put them in front of my seat!  The worst thing --- he kept coughing along the pacific.  I was so really scared!

Woke up ... we had continental breakfast as usual.  This time -  cuppucinno machine too:

We then go back to Yosemite's Glacier Point via CA-140 and then Glacier Point Road.  Glacier Point gives you a spectacular view of the Yosemite valley + various domes and falls.  We needed to park the car at the parking lot and hike a bit to Glacier Point:

Glacier point arrived.  As usual, NPS makes geology very accessible to layman like us:

Seeing Vernal Fall (left, lower) and Nevada Fall (right, upper) from here:

Also viewing down at the Yosemite valley:

(more coming up...big streets...driving on rural roads...)

We started our morning with Travelodge's continental breakfast.  Then we headed Lombard Street first.  Next, Chinatown for lunch.  We had 2 bowls of pordigees + some other dishes.  Then we toured almost the entire Chinatown, where we bought egg tarts from "Golden Gate".

We took Cable Car towards the east back to where we parked the car. 

Then we drive to the Palace of the Fine Art for some photos:

Then we take some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridges at the Yacht Harbor parking lot, which has a good view of the bridge.  Alas the weather wasn't too good for photos at that moment:

Then we start going to Angels City, CA --- the place we stayed for the night before entering Yosemite the next day.  On the way to Angels City, we dropped by Stockton for food.  To our surpise, we spotted a cinema showing Transformer!  So we the movie there:

Stockton is quite a big town.  After the movie, it's about midnight, and we started driving from Stockton to Angels City.  Roads are so dark:---

We arrived the motel at around 1am.  In fact, there's no night check-in staff --- the office was closed.  But they left an envelop showing Chung's name on it, and the key cards are there.  So we unloaded our bags into the rooms.

On the other hand, I kept finding the wifi password because the motel reservation said there was free wifi.  Chung and I failed to find any, so we resolved to sleep.  Chung always watched TV at motel and felt asleep midway...He is always like that.

My parents and sister's family will leave LA tonight.  This morning they were packing.  I went to bank with my dad at around noon.

At the evening we went to 稻香(Arcadia) for dinner.  Then, we returned home to pick up all luggages and go to LAX.  My brother, Nathan, and I all give ride to them to the airport.

***

For me, I'm going to SF + Yosemite at 4am next morning!

Last night we had Cyrus and Tracy's banquet.  We returned home and fit the wedding cake into the freezer.  Then we all get ready to sleep.

After worship, we went to Alhambra's Garden restaurant to eat.  Just as the old times --- wait wait and wait.  8 tables ahead of us.  But i'm used to this kind of life.  This is accurately the thing I like about here --- slow.  If I want fast, I can go somewhere else; but if I am not in a hurry, I like a leisure and slow pace activities.  Slowness makes you think more before you act, hence a better decision.  E.g. shopping slowly, writing slowly, or eat slowly in general gives you better results as compared with doing things in a rush.

The life in Hong Kong is too rush.

Then we returned home at around 3pm.  Mom and dad went to take nap.  My sister was supervising her kids to do homework amist the AH1N1 break.  I went to Glendale Galleria to do some shopping.  (Ever since I'm back to LA I did not have a proper leisure time to shop for myself.)

At night we went to University City's Hilton for seafoot buffet dinner.  Very good.  Almost all waiters/waitresses are speaking Chinese.  It has shark fin soup too.  We had this buffet dinner to celebrate both Tracy and Cyrus' dads (as well as their siblings' husbands/dads).

Dining in California style is good.  But you won't know what's "California style" until you're out of California.

I went to Huntington Library with my parents (bro is busy with wedding stuff).  We almost toured the entire place --- visiting most gallaries and most gardens.

In the evening I went to CBC for fellowship.  Today is a day of graduations (unfortunately I can't attend the ceremonies as I have family to take care...).  The graduations have not affected the attendance of the YF.  After the YF, I went to had dinner with Chung and Ava.  Talked until 1am and drive home.

I don't like Sunday night.  In fact, on Sundays, I do not enjoy going out after 6pm.  Reason? simple --- gotta work tomorrow!

I would rather stay home or play at home to familiarize myself with the Monday mood.

Tonight at around 10pm, I go to the Park'n Shop.  There are 2 Park'n Shops in Kowloon City.  I went to the farther one in Kowloon City Plaza, which takes only a few minutes' walk from home.  On the way to the Plaza, I saw almost all stores on the street were closed.  Comparing this to Saturday (same place, same time), half of the street were still doing business.  Therefore, all stores on Sunday night were telling you, "hey, get prepared for Monday."

Some colleagues of mine stayed up very late on Sunday night (i.e. 2-3am on Monday).  They said, "I just don't want to see Sunday going...so I just stayed up the night and watch all my downloaded shows."  As a result, they were very tired on Monday (and...throughout the week).

Anyway, I found a way to get myself adapted to the Monday mood.  I am fortunate enough to have a canteen/cafeteria at my work place.  I usually have breakfast there on Monday.  The 30 minutes I spent there actually helps my to get familiarized with the environment: looking out from the windows, I see my office building; and I saw other departments' colleagues eating in the same cafeteria.  Then, close to 9am, when I'm heading my office building, I won't feel like "not-ready-for-it".

話說上星期五老豆的desktop不能開機，知道火牛死了，所以星期六就去買個火牛。誰知不僅是火牛死了，連主機板都死了。

我想，這電腦都已用了四年多了，是時候去換了。所以同日下午我再次出去買主機板、CPU和Ram，其他機件會繼續使用。

組裝過後，重新安裝Windows。Windows說我不能啟動，說這product key已被啟動...，所以我不能進入Windows。那時是9pm了，我打電話去Microsoft的產品啟動中心。那個小姐說，我的Windows是OEM版，不能用在新的電話上，而換了主機板就是等同於換了"新機"。我回答說，我的Windows是從Microsoft的"盜版轉正版計劃"買回來的。CD盒是沒有說明我買的Windows是OEM版。

接著，小姐說，考慮到我只是用了1.5年，她叫我send封email給她解釋並請求容許我啟動Windows，連同Windows的正版label一起email給她。他們會考慮。

到了星期日，崇拜過後不久，Microsoft便打電話給我跟進，說我的請求已被批准，並給我指示去啟動Windows，真好！

有時正版軟件有正版軟件的"麻煩"，但是正版軟件能讓你心安理得地使用它，有事時也讓我可以明正言順以用家的身份打去Microsoft求救。這是盜版軟件不能給你的。

I bought a Motorola A3100 lately.  When choosing this phone, due consideration has been give to the following factors:

(1) I have not bought any phones since 2002, the year I went to the US.  Most phones I used are free phones.  Therefore, I saved quite a lot over the years;

(2) There are some Lai See from Chinese New Year that helps to ease the financial burden;

(3) My employer provides PCCW Wifi, so I can use it on the street/hotspots.  Having a phone capable for receiving wifi is crucial nowadays (e.g. check direction/bus routes, emails, etc).

(4) The aGPS will be will helpful.

(5) The Microsoft-Office-Mobile-equivalent will be good in case I want to do a document while I am commuting (i.e. 30 minutes on train).  Also the Microsoft Outlook, so I can draft at least 1 email on the way home.

(6) Anything that has the functions of (3) + (4) + (5) costs about the same.  Within the same price-tier, Toshiba's G810 is the cheapest, but it is really really old and its CPU is slow...etc.  LG is not stable as many testified.  HTC is rather expensive but same in specification.

(7) This is quite new in the market.  Price is moderate!

Last but not least: pre-loaded Opera Mobile 9.5; bluetooth ready; big keyboard on screen, like iPhone's; Live Messenger; miscellaneous things such as RSS reader, weather...etc.  Gift: USB charger, Toshiba microSD card, card reader.