I brought the car there the next day (location is less than 10 minutes away) and had it looked at by one of their damage inspectors. The guy clearly knew what he was doing because the first thing he did was go down and look under the car to check the metal reinforcement under my back bumper. I was going to mention this to him because the damage isn’t visible unless you look under but I didn’t even have to. Whole thing took about 20 minutes - for him to look at the car and write up his report.

Then they cut me a check right there on the spot and I was on my way home at 3:15 pm. So the WHOLE process of reporting the claim and getting a check for the damage took less than 24 hours. I mean, that is just impeccable service from Geico.

I’m so glad the other driver was insured by Geico (I am as well). Compare this with my incredibly poor, frustrating experience with AIG. Seriously, if you want to “save up to 15% on your car insurance” and get great service, go with Geico.

The guy behind me was following too close and hit me. No one was hurt and the damage isn’t too severe, although the collision felt like it would’ve been worse than it was. Basically my entire back bumper got displaced. His car didn’t seem to sustain any damage.

Then when the cop finished writing it up and was telling us the final details, a 6-car pileup happens right on the inside lane. Actually the 2 cars in the middle managed to not hit or be hit. They quickly drove off. The last car was clearly tailgating like crazy. The front of her car got completely smashed and there was blue fluid leaking out. At least the cop saw the whole thing.

LOOK PEOPLE, just don’t tailgate - I know this is really hard for some people to grasp but you don’t go that much faster. Keep 2 car’s distance and you’ll avoid most potential problems. In an accident, if you rear-end someone, it doesn’t matter what excuse you come up with or how slow/bad you think the person in front of you was driving. You’re always going to be at fault unless the car in front of you has broken brake/rear lights or something.

I really don’t have the patience to deal with ambiguities and games like that anymore - there’s just too much other crap to think and worry about. It’s likely I was reading too much into it. WOMEN, please just say what you want to say and ask what you want to ask. Seriously, they can never, ever give it to you straight. NEVER. They always have to dance around the issue. They try to get you to do what they want you to do, without having to directly tell you. Sometimes they think they’re being obvious when they’re really not.

But to all the happy couples, have a great Valentine’s day!

It’s really not like me to post something like this on my site but hey it’s Valentine’s and I felt like sharing.

In other news, I popped by Facebook for the first time in about 3 months, replied to a bunch of old messages (lol sorry!), and wrote on some walls. Damn, Facebook has really become a circus. Everything is just so cluttered and busy on people’s profiles. And I have all these weird requests like ’so-and-so wants to race you in his Ferrari’ and things like that. Uhm, what?

I also went back on AIM for the first time in about 4 months (maybe longer, don’t really remember). Reason is I never installed Trillian on my new PC and was always just too lazy. Well I finally did it.

Alright, I’m out. First ramble in a long time and probably the last for another long while.

Thing is a lot of people get by okay with 4-5 hours of sleep but I need 8-10 hours (preferably 10 hours) of sleep to feel 100%. That’s just how it’s always been for me. Over the years my body has made it clear that it wants 10 hours of sleep a night. So sleeping so little over a long period like this is getting pretty draining. And it’s hard to concentrate or feel motivated to do work when you feel sluggish.

I’ve been trying to get myself to bed earlier every night on a gradual scale (5am, 4am, 3am, etc.) but then I’ll either have trouble falling asleep or the next day I’ll jump right back to 5am. I don’t know a lot about the causes of insomnia but I do get periodic bouts of it 3 to 4 times a year. I think it’s mostly psychological. It’s cold now but I’m thinking about keeping up with jogging at the park; maybe if I tire out my body more it’ll be easier to fall asleep at night.

I haven’t been posting much lately mostly because I’m kind of busy. I had another wisdom tooth removed on Monday. This one required oral surgery because it was lodged underneath my gums. I’ve been popping ibuprofen (pain killers, Advil is ibuprofen) since then and there’s a bump on my cheek because it’s swollen. It looks like someone wacked me in the jaw or something.

I have to renew my Verizon Wireless contract soon - well, I don’t have to but I’d like to get a new phone. I’m on a Family Share plan with my mom and she needs a new phone too. I want to get the new LG VX8600 (this is basically the flip version of the Chocolate). Thin phone, good features. With New Every Two I can get it for $30. My mom likes the RAZR but it’s going to cost $50. I’m going to call them up and see if I can haggle 2 free phones out of them for signing a new 2 year contract. If not, there’s always Cingular. Do they want to get 2 years of monthly fees from me at an $80 cost or do they want to lose me as a customer? It’s up to them. I might even ask for 2 LG VX8600’s. Maybe the new KRZR. I don’t know how far they’ll be willing to bend over to retain me but we’ll see.

This also works for things like cable and Internet access. It never hurts to ask - just call up the company and tell them about competing services with lower fees and tell them you’re considering switching. Sometimes they will lower your fees or give you other incentives to stay.

Speaking of Verizon (landline service), someone over there called and was asking about why I had left them a while ago and described some new deals they have. I said I switched to a VOIP service called SunRocket and she sounded like she had no idea what I was talking about. Then she told me they have a new deal for unlimited local and long-distance calling for $36.99 a month. Uh, no, I’m paying less than $14/month ($199 for 15 months) right now for the same thing and includes call waiting, caller ID, and voicemail. I just told her I’m on an annual contract (not true since you can cancel SunRocket at anytime and get a prorated refund).

Yea this post kind of went no where and is somewhat boring. Whatever. My mouth hurts.

Thing is, there’s another one tooth that also requires oral surgery so I gotta go back to that oral surgeon. I remember he was a Cornell alum too.

Anyway, the whole reason I have to remove the wisdom teeth which I ought to have done a while ago is that they’re pushing on all my other teeth. Apparently that’s not good and if I leave them in there longer I might need braces eventually. In fact right now, I’m border-line in terms of needing braces. Let’s make it clear that I DO NOT want to get braces. I’m frickin 23 - how embarassing would it be to have braces for 2 years?!

I know coughing is a reaction caused by your body because it’s trying to get rid of the phlegm buildup in your throat. But for whatever reason, I can never cough it up, except maybe when I wake up in the morning. So basically I’m just coughing my butt off but it’s not producing anything. So might as well use cough drops to suppress it right? What’s the difference?

Yea, actually I’m about to step out to get another bag of cough drops and I do have a lot of work to tend to so, kthxbai.

Then this woman had the nerve to tell me she’d be right out, as if I was supposed to wait for her. Of course you can imagine the expletive-filled response I gave her. If it was a guy I might have gotten out of the car and done something about it. It probably wouldn’t be too cool to bitch-slap a woman across the face. I considered keying her car. And chewing up all the tapioca from my bubble tea and hurling it all over her car. But I found another spot, calmed down, and decided what goes around comes around. In fact she was of the ethnicity that believes in karma. So forget about her, who the hell is she anyway? Nobody, so no point making a big fuss about it - I was just really ticked off at that immediate moment.

The heat is all around you and not to mention the sun bearing down on you. At least it’ll start to cool down now. I’ve been really busy the past 2 weeks working on client projects but I’ve finished them all up. Now I can get a good night’s sleep again. Some new work coming in now, but I’m definitely not piling them all up during the same time again. There’s a lesson in time management and scheduling. Live and learn, whatever doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger and smarter.

Cancelled Verizon DSL and got Earthlink Cable
I also cancelled my Verizon DSL and have now signed up with Earthlink cable (likely resold Time Warner capacity since it’s offered on the TW website). It’s pretty cheap - $29.95/month for 6 months and $41.95 after that and it’s 3 times faster than DSL. My first year of Verizon DSL was up so the promotional price of $29.95 a month went up to $37.95. Either way, doesn’t matter if it’s cheaper I was switching anyway.

Rep Kept Trying to Convince Me Otherwise
What’s funny is that when I called to cancel the rep wasn’t overly pushy or anything, but these reps are trained to try and retain the customer so she was feeding me some bullshit. She was explaining to me how cable is not necessarily faster than DSL because DSL is a dedicated connection while cable is “shared” with the neighborhood. Okay, I already know that. Cable is still way faster than DSL on any given day even if all your neighbors are using the connection. Then she told me because the cable connection is “shared” you’re more susceptible to viruses?! Alrighty then, I think you’re just as vulnerable either way - it really comes down to what protections you have locally on your computer. And then she said I could keep my Verizon email address and emails if I switched to a dial-up account - I didn’t even know Verizon offered dial-up service, plus I NEVER logged into my Verizon email account.

Yahoo Launchcast?
Which reminds me, I wonder if my free premium Yahoo Music account will continue working now that I cancelled Verizon DSL. It was a new member feature that they started a couple of months ago when they partnered with Yahoo. That’s probably the only value I got out of it, besides being able to go online.

New, Awesome Router with Custom Firmware (from Newegg)
I picked up a new Linksys WRT54GL router and a 50′ cat5e cable from the always great Newegg. I actually ordered these separately because I didn’t think I needed a longer cable. Get this - Newegg seems to have some special distribution relationship with UPS so their standard ground shipping actually gives you a 3 day delivery guarantee - a lot of times you get this shipping free. Both of the items I ordered came out of their NJ facility and got to me the NEXT DAY. Seriously, if I can find it on Newegg I don’t go anywhere else. They are usually the cheapest or almost the cheapest, with the fastest shipping around. Newegg’s actually run by some Asian guys (I think they’re Taiwanese but I’m not sure) so kudos to them for running such a tight ship.

So yea, the great thing about this specific router is that it’s designed to support 3rd party firmware, which is kind of like the “operating system” of the router for you non techies. By installing custom firmware you can greatly enhance the functionality of the router and turn it from a $60 router to a $600 one.

I flashed DD-WRT on it and it’s working great. If you don’t need any specific, technical features, this probably wouldn’t benefit you. I can now set up advanced QoS (Quality of Service) rules so that if I’m using huge chunks of bandwidth downloading and a call comes in on my VoIP line, it’ll still sound clear because QoS will reserve a chunk of bandwidth for the VoIP data.

Anyway..
I’m still working through this Dunkin Donuts coupon book I have. The store opening on the next block is really coming along fast. They’ve already got all the signage up and the interior is mostly completed. I think they may open by or before the end of August. Alright, I’m out.

Nothing against my parents, but I really prefer my own private life. At first I was thinking it probably would be okay, but then I remembered parents scrutinize everything you do, or at least mine do, and I probably won’t be able to tolerate that very long after living on my own for 5 years. As for my business, I was originally considering staying in Ithaca for an extra year because I’m initially targeting local businesses in Ithaca. But I don’t think that a physical presence in Ithaca is absolutely necessary.

Domain Name Industry
I’ve recently gotten into “domaining” or the domain name speculation industry (also known as the domain aftermarket). For example, www.philhuang.com is a domain name. Domaining basically consists of buying good domain names that are likely to appreciate in value or be in some kind of demand, and then selling them with a markup. It’s kind of like Internet real estate. I have a small portfolio of domains right now, some are promising, and I’ve recently been able to pick up some good bargains on relatively premium domain names. Actually some of the domains I’ve picked up aren’t even for reselling, but rather for other ideas that I have. The good thing, the risk is relatively low because I can always sell them off at a higher value if I decide to not develop an idea.

TechCrunch Redesign
On a more arbitrary note, a prominent blog covering Web 2.0 startups and services, Tech Crunch, recently had a redesign. I loved the old design but this new one is horrible. It’s barely even a design. I could squeak this thing out in 10 minutes. It’s a lot more advertising centric now and a lot of people have criticized the owner for selling out and going against the spirit of Web 2.0. I’d have to agree. Sure, you can monetize the site, but to do it so blatantly and distastefully? Those boxes on the top right cost advertisers $7,500 a month. That’s $360,000 a year for all four slots. Wow.

I’ve Fulfilled All of My Resolutions
Yup. My resolutions pertained to fitness, business, and personal goals. First, I’ve really been getting more and more fit. I’m bulking up slightly, getting stronger, and really getting more lean especially my abs. And I’ve managed to get my weight down to 162~165 lbs. I can bench my own body weight now too. In terms of business, I’m actually generating some income. It’s slow going right now, but after I graduate, it’s full steam ahead. And I like to think I tell it like it is more often now. So yay.

Another Network Neutrality Video (Because it’s that important!)

P.S. If you post a comment that contains the name of a pharmaceutical drug, my blog will tag it as comment spam. I get so much of it now that I don’t moderate it anymore, I just do a batch delete.

P.P.S. Lately I’ve been really digging this song: O.A.R. - Love and Memories