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.

This morning bro and I went to rent a car.  Approaching the Enterprise, we saw a white Nissin Altima.  We liked it very much.  It's a full size.  The Enterprise guy was very nice and advised us to rent walk-in for just 1 day and go home to rent online, which makes me entitled to something called "weekly rate" --- which is substantially lower than walk-in rental rate.

In the afternoon we went to Griffith Observatory --- quite foggy today.

In the late afternoon I requested to go to Hollywood --- somewhere I have never been to during my stay in the US (2002-2007), or at least I don't recall having been there.  I would deeply regret if I tell people I haven't been to Hollywood during my study in Los Angeles PLUS my the trip in my visit to LA in 2009!  So the current visit to the US gives me some chances to make up the "lost trips" to places where a foreign student in LA would normally go.

Today my previous worker visited me mom and dad during lunch. My bro later came home.

I asked her to bring me to a nearby AT&T store to open a cell phone. The store really has a good customer service, that's why it took me 45 minutes to wait in line for 2 customers ahead of me. I appreciate the staff's help, and it's fine for me to wait for that long, because in general the stores in general in America are willing and patient to help people.

In the afternoon mom dad bro and I went to Macy's to return bro's stuff. Then we went to the Americana in Glendale, a new mall that is more like the Grove near LAX --- an "outdoor" mall with a music fountain and much breezing. "Outdoor" is the keyword for mom as she will be agitated with stuffy, closed, indoor environment where she believed it would be easy to catch AH1N1.

I started writing these backdated Xanga before I lose my memories.

After a long haul flight, we arrived. It's my first time taking a long haul flight with my mom and dad. When they came to the US for their first time in 2006 (for me and my bro's graduations), they are on a half-empty flight, so each of them actually sleep horizontally across 3-4 econ seats. This time, my mom felt back pain when sleeping vertically, so she said to dad and I, "you guys go find other empty seats; I need to sleep on my back flat."

But this flight is all full.

Touched down in around 2pm. My bro picked us up. We went home and then headed out for dinner at Mei Mei Oak ("tasty house"). After that, I was so concerned with opening a cell phone prepaid SIM card (I have my 3G phone with me; just need the SIM card). The restaurant waiter told us that the amenities store next to them has a cell phone dealer, so bro and I went there. (Mom and Dad went shopping Kwong Wah groccery in the same plaza.) Approaching the dealer, which is a T-mobile dealer, I was disappointed because I know T-mobile no longer has the "$3/day unlimited calls" plan. But guess what? The dealer said there is!

... after several minutes checking with her colleagues, this dealer said, "sorry, T-mobile no longer has that plan...".

Bro and I left the store and get back to parents. I really need the cell phone to call up Meow and coordinate with LA friends. It's not just about making calls but is also a matter of receiving calls that I need a SIM card so badly.

But it's around 8-ish and it's time to go home...will check cell phone SIM card tmr...

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".

I must record my memory here.  This morning (Sunday) I was taking a Castle Peak Road minibus to church at around 8am.  The driver was so rude.  There were Passenger A, B, and C in the bus.

The happenings in sequences:

1. Passenger A requested the driver, saying "next bus stop please."  The driver did not acknowledge the stop request.  Passenger A shouted again, "next bus stop please."  The driver () was then agitated, retorting, "is it next bus stop?  Next bus stop, right?  Is that you want to get off at the next bus stop?  Next stop, right?  Is that right?" Passenger A was like .
2. While Passenger A was getting off, Passenger B ask, "is it xxxx Street here?".  The driver said, "not there yet."
3. Passenger C shouted, "stop at xxxx Street!"  (He was just rude, not a threat in any way.)  As he got off the minibus, Passenger C paid.  But the driver looked at the coins he got and () shouted, "HEY!!! give me the right coin!!!"  (meaning: Passenger C gave the driver some fake coins / wrong currency.)  An interesting point to note: Passenger C then get on back to the minibus and opened his wallet without saying a word, suggesting that he meant to trick the driver by giving fake coins / wrong currency.
4. As Passenger C got off the minibus after paying the correct money, Passenger B felt the threat and stood up, "oh I want to get off here too!".  The driver () asked  Passenger B, "ain't you going to xxxx Street?"  Passenger B's voice was trembling, "getting off here is fine too."

Everyone else was so stressful in the bus.  If you took any community/general health courses, the driver totally exemplified a Stressor.

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 just received the cell phone bill from PCCW.  In fact, I switched my cell phone carrier from PCCW to 3 with effect from 12 February 2009.  Before I picked this switching day, I called PCCW to check what the last day of my current contract is.  The staff said 12 February 2009 is the last day of contract.  So, a few weeks ago, I chose to switch it on 12 February 2009.

Now the phone bill said I have to pay HK$500 for the Early Termination Charge!!!  I called them rightaway.  They said the formal date on which the contract is over is 14 February 2009.

Then I claimed I checked with them on 24 January 2009, and the response I got was "the contract will end on 12 February 2009".

Anyhow, the representative said, "to maintain our good customer relations, I will waive this HK$500 Early Termination Fee.  However, the HK$12 Tunnel Fee can't be waived."  But think about it, cell phone plans are paid in advanced cycle.  Since I left this cell phone company already, why do i have to pay for Tunnel fee?

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.

We are switching cell phone plans to 3 again.

When we return to Hong Kong in May 2007, we first joined 3's plan. Then we switched to PCCW for a cheaper plan. Now we switched back to 3. 2500 minutes / HK$68 (inclusive of tunnel surcharge). That's 3G plan. Yeah!