Flat panel tv on each aisle?, Posted via Sidekick II by natech.

Wal-mart trying to be tech?

On the way to work this morning, I happened to see two hybrid cars rolling next to each other on the highway. Obviously, one was a Toyota Prius and the other a Honda Civic Hybrid. It occurred to me that hybrid cars are becoming more mainstream ‘cuz, like on the HOV lane , one in every 5 car is a Toyota Prius. It’s only going to go up with the gas price (although it’s being cheaper right now but $3.00 a gallon is going to be a fixture in the near future) and urban houses being ridiculously expensive, people are going to have a long commute to work. Anyway, while I was able to look at two hybrid cars at the same time, the new 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid is much better-looking than the Prius. Aside from being a Honda loyal owner, I really like the new look of the Civic and if you are going to get the car, you better be able to afford it (duh). So I was already thinking how can I get my hands on the new Civic. So, look at what I have here:

1. 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid MSRP: $21,850. I’ll negotiate for 20k, although that probably will be very hard due to high demand and stupid dealership markups.

2. Google’s Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Incentive Program: $5,000 cash.

3. Federal Tax Credit – $2,100 (that’s a CREDIT to you, not a mere deduction. )

4. Washington DC sales tax waiver and discounted vehicle registration – abt $1,000.

So, Estimated Final Price = $11,900. Plus if i sold my car for $13,000. Well, I’ll be damned, Who thought I’d actually get some money for getting a hybrid car? And not to mention, years of saving money on gas, which comes in thousands, not just hundreds.

mm-hmm….

Apparently, someone took a pic of this roadmap of Sidekick lineup. Looks like Sidekick III is identical to II except the mp3 player thing, which I don’t need. Then a new redesign in 2007 called a Sidekick NG that can play video.

Drinking ice water actually help you to burn calories. Really!

Let’s figure out exactly what you’re burning when you drink a 16-ounce (0.5 liter) glass of ice water:

* The temperature of ice water can be estimated at zero degrees Celsius.
* Body temperature can be estimated at 37 degrees Celsius.
* It takes 1 calorie to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius.
* There are 473.18 grams in 16 fluid ounces of water.

So in the case of a 16-ounce glass of ice water, your body must raise the temperature of 473.18 grams of water from zero to 37 degrees C. In doing so, your body burns 17,508 calories. But that’s calories with a little “c.” Your body only burns 17.5 Calories, and in the grand scheme of a 2,000-Calorie diet, that 17.5 isn’t very significant.

http://www.iconizeme.com/

Damn, I wanna do that but I won’t pay $50 for it. I gotta find myself a photoshop tutorial and create one!

Wow, someone has taken a scientific approach to examine if you really saved more with a hybrid car. The conclusion? hybrid cars are still too expensive, gas prices aren’t high enough (hard to believe, I know), and you actually save more if you bought an economy car (even better if you bought it used) than a hybrid, at least for now. The point of this? wait 5 years when hybrid cars become more mainstreamed, gas becoming more expensive, and when you are in market for a new car. The link here.

Oh yeah, anyone has seen this link? It’s awesome, you now can track who’s visiting your blog and how much traffic you get a day. Google is on a roll. And I can see it’s slowly developing into its own brand familar image, other than the google search. Google Analytics and Google College .

As we all use Google for our search stuffs—let they be a scoop on latest celebrites, cars, toys, games, even for research papers, and other countless things, but some have used Google more personal, like finding an instruction to perform a CPR, a Heimlich maneuver on a dog, or finding your father you never met before, as told at this link: Google User Testimonials. There is one funny story that one student actually cited Google in his research paper. :-)

Another one here that someone used Google Maps to prove that the street was two-way lanes, not one way street and his case got dismissed from the court.

Google is not only just for common people like us but help businesses too, like this. Using Google search engine help “the National Park Service, where website complaints declined by a factor of 20.”

Google also entered in a language translation competition with other companies participating like IBM, Cal Tech, U.S. Army laboratory, and came out first in accuracy. Tough translation from Arabic to English and Chinese to English.

Finally, as an employee for Google, I find this story funny. Yahoo employees sneak into Google for a free lunch.

I just got back here from jason lamberton’s wine n cheese party. All I can say is that 2008 Politics has begun and if you thought the 2004 Election was crazy, the 2008 is going to be even more insane. That’s cuz both parties are up for grabs. Everything is at stakes. What we have voted in 2004 might be different than we would vote in 2008. That’ll be the biggest debate ‘cuz that is a generation shifting; it’s our time to make the call. Secondly, if we ever agreed on anything, females will get the most attention. It’ll be Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party v.s. Condoleeza Rice of the Republican party. It’s gonna be one hell of a race, nothing like the 2004 election between Kerry and Bush.

However, in my final opinion, it’s gonna be the Democratic party, even though I might vote for the Republicans. Another debate at the tossup: who would come first? black president or female president? I think a white female president.

The 2008 Election has begun.

GM tumbles 6% to 23-year low

Ouch, I feel sorry for those shareholders. Better start buying Toyota and Honda stocks. Toyota Corp. is on pace to overtake GM’s status as the largest automaker. Toyota says they will put hybrid engines in all of their vehicles. When a 4runner comes out with a hybrid, I’ll be the first on the list. :-)

Now that the NBA season is back in a full swing, finally there’s something to watch during late nights. If you ever watched a bit of sportscenter, there was an outcry among the league about the new rule this year: players have to dress up in a suit. Quite naturally and expectedly, Allen Iverson was the first to protest. Even one player complained he will need stipends to help cover the suit costs, despite his minimum contract is $250,000 a year. The commissioner, David Stern, said the reason for this is to make the NBA look sharp and professional. Well, look at those pics and tell me what you see. If you’re looking for the best laundry product to use for washing jersey clothes go to OdorKlenz Sport detergent for work out clothes and they will give you what you need.

I think it’s working, don’t you say?

Oh my god, seeing this pic nearly made me go off…you know, down there. *panting* I already have a mini ipod and was actually satisfied with it, despite the new Ipod Nano. But this pic, holy shit, this is reason enough that I’m gonna go the next day and buy the Nano and this headphone!!

It’s not everyday that my alma mater, RIT, got mentioned in a national syndicated comic strip. When I first entered RIT, RIT was not considered as a first-tier like MIT, Cal Tech, etc. But it has been building and growing and this comic strip shows that RIT now shares the same list with other premier technical universities.

‘Geek-heavy’ RIT draws a few ‘Doonesbury’ chuckles

My dream chair, Posted via Sidekick II by natech.

Gotta have one of these in the future. =)

First one is the earliest pic I have although my family has more earlier pictures like baek-il, which is a celebration for babies that turn 100 days old, but they wish to keep it. I’ll need to fly back and scan more pictures.

Second one was when I arrived in America and ofc, as any proud happy parent, took me to my first photography session.

Third and fourth were the day I officially became a U.S. citizen. Now, I heard there is a new law signed by ex-President Clinton that all children who got adopted automatically became US citizens, as if they were born in the US. No need to wait for seven years to become one. The man in black gown I stood behind, I believe, was Governer Thompson of Illinois.

Last pic – my high school graduation.

Here are some pics of my Korean family when I visited in 2001. Cool fact: my sister is deaf.