Asides
Newegg is Amazing
I buy all my PC parts and sometimes other electronics from Newegg. Newegg almost always has the best prices and fast shipping. Free UPS Ground shipping is available on many of the more popular products as well. I bought a WD 1TB hard drive yesterday at around 2pm with free UPS Ground shipping. I just got the hard drive today at 4pm. That’s a 1 day turnaround from site checkout to my door. Is that amazing or what? I did not pay for expedited processing and used plain UPS Ground shipping. The quick delivery is also because they have a warehouse in Edison, NJ so if the part is coming from there, it reaches NYC very quickly. But I find even coming from California, Newegg shipments tend be delivered very quickly. This is just amazing service considering their sales volume – my order shipped out the same day it was received. This is why I will continue to buy from Newegg.
Newegg’s actually planning an IPO. It’s a profitable company and has been growing in a highly competitive market. I’ve never shopped at a site where I’ve always experienced complete satisfaction with every purchase, in every aspect. If Newegg continues to run its business the way they always have, it should continue its success. That IPO looks mighty attractive.
Oscars… Who Cares?
Are the Oscars really relevant anymore? I was only interested in the opening jokes so Youtube came in quite handy for this. Does an Oscar-winning movie make you want to see it more? I saw Hurt Locker a couple months ago and didn’t really think much of it. I don’t get what the big deal about it is. Avatar was great eye-candy and the whole flying dragon thing was cool, but the plot is recycled, dead simple, and predictable. And there really isn’t a lot of meaningful dialogue in Avatar, despite it being frickin 2.5 hours long. I don’t know, when I think about the Oscars, I kind of just shrug my shoulders.
I haven’t seen a really great movie in a while. An awesome movie last year was Zombieland. I’ve never been into Star Trek, but the rebooted Star Trek was pretty entertaining.
Kim Yuna Wins Gold in Women’s Figure Skating
Well she just won the gold in women’s figure skating, scoring an unprecendented, staggering 228.56 (world record). She earned record scores of 78.50 in the short program on Tuesday and 150.06 in the free skate tonight. Her free skate program was flawless technically and of course she always gets exceptional marks for her artistic expression on the ice. It was nuts. I thought she’d hit high 130’s but wow 150! That’s insane. She only broke 200 total score last year and she was the first to do it. She just cleared 200 by nearly 30 points, beating out Mao Asada, the silver medalist, by over 23 points. Crazy.
She had the weight of an entire nation on her and she was already the biggest celebrity in South Korea and she just exploded into another stratosphere.
Kim Yuna Breaks Her Own World Record
Kim Yuna broke her own world record (again) in the women’s figure skating short program with a leading score of 78.50! And she did it after falling in practice and after Mao Asada, her main rival, put up an exceptional performance herself (73.78). Kim Yuna’s the best and she proves it again, that triple lutz triple toe loop was beautiful. The thing I like most about Yuna is that her performances are actually fun to watch, the choreography is great, and she puts a lot feel into it. A lot of the other skaters look like they’re just smiling and going through the motions until their big jumps.
The video below is from the Skate America competition back in mid November, but it’s the same short program she did in Vancouver tonight. Her last world record (76.50) was set at this event.
I’m Never Getting My Package
Are UPS drivers instructed not to attempt delivery if they perceive even the slightest danger or obstruction? We had a blizzard last week in NYC and since then, UPS has refused to deliver my package. On 3 separate days the status page for the package says “EMERGENCY CONDITIONS BEYOND UPS’ CONTROL”. After the first 2 times, I figured it’s because there’s piles of snow on the sidewalk blocking access by foot from the street. So I shoveled a clear path to my front door and made sure no parked car would block this foot path from the street. It’s not wet or slippery and the snow on the street was melted. So there was really no reason to cite any kind of “emergency conditions” because now they could easily get off the truck and walk to my door. But no, failed delivery a 3rd time.
Well it just snowed another 3 inches last night and I think it’s still going. I am never freaking getting this package. I’d walk out to the truck if I knew when they were coming. There was a reason this package was supposed to come before the previous weekend. And now I’m wondering when the heck I’m actually going to get it. When all the snow melts? That could take another week for crying out loud. Geez UPS guy, suck it up will you? Snow’s not going to kill you.
Chuck is Better Than Ever
So I finally caught up to the first 3 episodes from the new season of Chuck, and I gotta say it’s better than ever. There were several moments where I laughed out loud and I always take that as a sign of a good show, because most shows rarely make me do that. And the ratings were pretty good too so that’s a relief to Chuck fans. To think, Chuck was was in danger of getting cancelled last year. If you didn’t know fans organized a huge “Save Chuck” campaign and NBC listened by green lighting 13 episodes. But since NBC primetime is in the crapper, I read sometime ago that they’ll probably give Chuck a full season. If anything it’s just nice to look at Yvonne Strahovski.
New Year’s Resolution: Get More Sleep
I would say I’m failing miserably at keeping my new year’s resolution. In fact I’ve been on the verge of insomnia the last 2 weeks. It’s bad. Last night was the worse thus far. Need.. to.. sleep..
2010
Well, we’re already a couple days in but Happy New Year! One of my resolutions this year is to get more sleep on a regular basis.
I’m still in a holiday slump, not feeling like working even while the work is piling up higher and higher on my desk. The tennis season is back in session again so that’s good. Another diversion.
As a kid I always thought the year 20XX seemed so futuristic (20XX, not 200X). Like by then we’d have clean energy, flying cars, and cool gadgets. Now that we’re here, it’s not all that exciting. We just capped a decade where this country, as a whole, basically accomplished and learned nothing. Sorry if that sounds depressing. At least we’re starting anew (sort of).
Well, gotta run. Hope 2010 is great year for everyone.
Grooveshark Music Streaming
I discovered Grooveshark only last week and I’m loving the service. The interface is easy to use, full-screen, and very responsive. It’s easy to find music and their library is huge. The sound quality is also pretty good. Not as good as high bitrate MP3 but hey it’s good enough. These days I’m pretty lazy when it comes to manually building up my library. I can simply use their “Popular” playlists to find new songs I might like. They even have a “Radio” feature that tries to add songs you might like based on the current songs you have playing. I was even able to find some Korean songs, so their library seems pretty comprehensive.
101 Things to Do in NYC in the Winter
Check out TimeOut’s 101 things to do in New York City in the winter:
I love this city!