en-ushttp://phidong.com/ http://www.phidong.com/2008/05/got_my_scangauge_in.php In an attempt to get up to 35mpg in this time of insane gas prices, I purchased a Scangauge II; it came in today. :bowdown: Ironically I filled up my tank today to start calibrating the Scangauage and I was already over 35mpg for this tank. :hsugh: Oh well in for 36mpg :x: Set-up was extremely easy: plugged into ODB II plug under dash, find a place to put it and use the velcro tape to attach it. Still working through all the options and what not. I'll post updates as I use it for a longer period of time. :x: ... Wed, 28 May 2008 22:05:27 PST http://www.phidong.com/2008/03/im_back_from_japan.php Finally got back from Japan. :bowdown: I ended up staying there way longer than I expected and wasn't able to update the site. The entire trip was a blast! We got to explore Tokyo and a bunch of the little themed towns in the city. I didn't do a lot of shopping or photographing, but it was a nice relaxing trip. OK, just kidding. I've been back for quite a while now. I've just been too lazy to update the site. Some updates: I got a job (finally), I started to bowl again (more on that in a bit), and that's about it. I've been working since January and that's what I spend most of my time doing now, working for the man. :cool: The great news is that in my free time (when I have it) I have some money I can spend on my hobbies. :bowdown: Decided recently to buy some new bowling shoes after my previous pair ... Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:03:13 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/12/brb_going_to_japan.php I'll be back on Friday. :wavey: ... Sat, 8 Dec 2007 07:12:36 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/10/i_guess_you_could_call_me_a_fa.php Earlier this week woot had multi-colored Zunes for $99 (refurb) and since I missed out the first time around, I impulsively bought one. I really liked the feature set of the newly announced Zune 2's but I'm 99% sure I wouldn't pay $250 for one and since the original Zunes are getting Zune 2 software, this was the cheapest buy-in I will probably come across. :bowdown: So completely unplanned, I now own a Xbox 360, Windows Mobile phone, and a Zune. I guess you could call me a fanboy. Or maybe I just like deals. :hsugh: ... Sun, 21 Oct 2007 04:10:13 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/10/back_from_canada.php I am back from Canada! Overall the trip was very fun. We walked around and ate a lot! I managed to take some pictures but not a ton. I kind of approach picture taking pretty methodically so since I spent a week there, I scouted for the first week or so then began taking pics the second, lol. The trip was pretty cool though. It was a lot of fun exploring the city. We managed to do quite a bit while we were there. No polar bears, igloos, or moose, but still fun overall. We went to Niagara Falls, the museum, to the top of the second highest free standing tower in the world (it was first when we got there!). I went canoing, learned to swim, and ate sushi for the first time too. :bowdown: I basically did more in 2 weeks than I normally do in a month :rofl: so now I'm a little burnt out. Anyway ... Sat, 6 Oct 2007 22:10:43 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/09/brb_going_to_the_moon_err_i_me.php I will be flying up to Canada today. This is going to be my first time on an airplane :noes: To keep myself occupied during the eight hour flight, I'll be bringing my Nintendo DS and four new games: Brain Age 2, Harvest Moon DS, Worms: Open Warfare 2, and Drawn to Life. The four titles should occupy me for a good 2-3 hours if I'm lucky. :rofl: Anyway, I'll be up in Canada for two weeks so you probably won't see me online until the 27th. If you need to contact me, you can e-mail me at my gmail and if I'm able to pick up wifi somewhere I'll get it. I'm definitely not going to be data roaming :rofl: so it will be hit or miss. Anyway, have fun everyone. I'll try to bring back some sweet panos, but no promises. :hs: See you all in two weeks. :wavey: ... Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:09:42 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/09/new_phone_new_old_service.php My contract with T-Mobile came to an end in October last year. For the nearly two years I was with T-Mobile, I didn't have a single issue which was great but my plan was somewhat unspectacular as well. It was basically just 500 minutes a month and nothing else. So I decided to look towards other phones and other plans... iPhone maybe? :eek3: No. :hs: I decided to give Sprint another try. (I had been with Sprint for three and a half years before switching to T-Mobile) And the adventure began... To save a little cash, I decided to try to get in on a SERO (Sprint Employee Referral Offer) Plan. Nearly everyone who is on SERO goes through an adventure getting their plan together and the service working and I wasn't expecting anything less. After three weeks and over 14 hours on hold (seriously), my phone and plan seem to finally working correctly, knock on wood! :x: I got ... Mon, 10 Sep 2007 05:09:52 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/09/new_mouse.php My old MX1000 which I've had for almost two years now started having some strange issues with the scroll wheel. It got really stiff and wouldn't scroll down anymore (scrolling up was fine!) The battery life on the MX1000 also went down the hole so I called Logitech and without much hassle they shipped me out a new mouse. The MX1000 is discontinued now so they sent a MX Revolution instead, which is fine by me. It came in last week and so far I like it a lot more than the MX1000. The grip is a lot skinnier than the MX1000 and as a result is much easier to hold. The MX Revo has fewer buttons (no quick scroll up and down), but those never worked for me in my dual screen set-up anyway. :mad: The really cool part about the MX Revo is its scroll wheel. It has two modes: regular boring scroll wheel, and an incredible free ... Sun, 2 Sep 2007 09:09:56 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/08/washington_mutual_fraud_preven.php I got out of my T-mobile contract almost a year ago, so I was browsing Sprint SERO plans on Friday night. I finally decided on a plan that offered the same minutes but unlimited data and texting for even cheaper than I'm paying now. The only thing left to do was pick out a phone, which was harder than it sounds. I ended up picking the Sprint Mogul and with the phone in my cart for an hour or two as I talked myself into the purchase, I finally hit the submit button. The progress bar raced along until it hit a snag at Step 4. My card was declined. Sprint had gone down for maintenance an hour before so I patiently waited, rechecked my credit card information and tried again. Declined. There was no reason for my card to get declined. I've had a balance in the account for over four years straight now and a $300 charge wasn't ... Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:08:55 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/08/bay_bridge_qtvr.php About twelve weeks ago I took the EIT exam (Engineering-In-Training) and the results finally came in. I passed! Great news because it means I won't have to take the exam again (8 loooong uncomfortable hours!) and also because when I took the exam three months ago, they overbooked and made an announcement offering people the chance to postpone taking the test until this Winter. About fifteen people got up out of their seats and dashed towards the front door. I was not one of them. :fawk: [bar] I went up north last weekend with my parents. They kind of dragged me along. They told me we were going to San Francisco which I thought would be pretty cool. Turns out we just stayed in San Jose most of the time (and we were in the car the rest of the time, which SUCKED!) I did manage to unlock all of the tracks in Mario Kart DS though (hah @ ... Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:08:08 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/08/want_to_go_camping_with_us.php This will probably be as close as you'll get to camping with the Sigma 3! :hsugh: We are super exclusive after all. :mamoru: This panorama was taken inside the E after filling up for gas on the way home. It was a little tough to get the tripod level because some of the legs were resting on sleeping bags, backpacks, etc. As a result the panorama isn't totally level. It's also slightly noisy because I accidentally underexposed it. If only I followed my own tips! [quote][b]Tip #662:[/b] When shooting a panorama with artificial light, make sure the light source is off-camera. (and remember to shoot manual!)[/quote] If you can't see the pano above, you probably don't have Quicktime installed. Click here and install QT Alternative! :) ... Thu, 2 Aug 2007 03:08:52 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/07/big_sur.php We decided to break in (or just break?) Tim's new Element with its first big trip. Loc, Tim, and I left on Thursday morning with intentions of beating traffic. Getting up at 5AM wasn't a problem for me since I never got down. :hsugh: I saved most of the sleeping for the ride up, and consequently throughout the trip. Unfortunately for us, people don't change. Even though we got up early with good intentions, we lagged anyway and hit traffic, which was great for me because I was sleeping the entire way anyway. :rofl: We made BBQ Steak Stew, Spaghetti, Eggs, Hot Dogs, and Cheese Steak Sammiches during out 2 days and 2 nights there, hiked down to the "coast" where we caught two old people making out :naughty: and drove 40 miles past Julia Pfeiffer and 40 miles back to Julie Pfeiffer Burns SP to see the nearly non-existent McWay Waterfall. Then again, what better way to top off ... Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:07:40 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/07/update_i_am_still_alive.php Surprise! It's been quite a while since my last post (over two months to be exact :eek3: ) So I guess a small update is in order... I graduated :bowdown: Not a huge surprise, but despite taking 5 courses I managed to have one of my best college quarters ever. :eek3: I finished just 0.011 GPA away from making the Dean's List for a fourth time, which was a downer but my IP grade from the senior course bumped me into Dean's List for Winter quarter. Other than that, no really big updates. I'm currently on the job search and enjoying the precious time off that I have before I begin the next phase in my life. :hsd: July - The month for breakdown Xbox 360 #3 My Xbox 360 decided to fail (again) a couple weeks into my "vacation" (Maybe it was all those Forza endurances I was running non-stop). This time it was the disc drive refusing to ... Sun, 22 Jul 2007 03:07:43 PST http://www.phidong.com/2007/05/mondays.php :( ... Mon, 21 May 2007 14:05:49 PST