Shopping time....well, almost...

This month I am broke so have to wait till next month (only 15 days till pay day!) And since I won't be back to HK this summer, I'll have to settle for getting my summer clothes here in the States - which pretty much will fall back to jeans and tees only. One can seldom go wrong with this combo. Though I have to say that sometimes it's rather difficult to find the right cutting and size. "S" is definitely not the most popular size here. :P

It's also unfortuate that Bauhaus' internet store isn't ready yet, otherwise I might pick up something from there as well. I start liking the brand since the last time I went back to HK. The style/cutting is quite unique so I don't have to worry about seeing other wearing the same outfit. :)

I also noticed that I am more willing to spend money on clothes while I was in HK. Is it because of the currency (USD $1 roughly equals HKD $7.7 for those who don't know the exchange rate)? Maybe somehow I convinced myself that it's okay to buy more expensive stuff while on vacation? No problem forking over HKD $300 for a shirt in HK; but paying USD $40, I'll probably pass.

Oh, another thing to mention is that Banana Republic has relinquished its top spot on my list (now that spot remains open). I used to like this brand a lot, but lately (well, for the past couple seasons), I just couldn't find any I really like.

P.S. Looking for sleeveless hoodie online... if you see one, let me know...

A Rainy Easter Sunday

...which makes it a perfect day to sleep in. Actually I was only awake for 5 or 6 hours so far today. Temperature-wise, it's getting a lot warmer recently - finally start to feel like spring/summer.

I Need Ideas!

Just realize that I need to send back a reply to one of my co-worker's wedding invition. I don't think I'll be going to the ceremony/banquet - just because I probably don't know anyone there (i think there'll be some i know/recognize from work, but not close enough that I can "hang out" with during the whole thing). However, I do intend to get them a gift - so if you have any ideas, drop a comment here or IM me. =)

First Holiday Coming Up

Since New Year's Day fell on a Sunday this year (one extra day added to my vacation days, so no complaint), this coming Friday will be my first day off this year. Technically speaking, it's not a "day-off" since we only have 1/2 day for Good Friday. Regardless, that's better than nothing.

Still no plan for the "extended" weekend yet. I thought about going down to Chicago to get a haircut. However, Vicky's busy with company convention stuff and Eric needs to work & couldn't drive up. So I don't know if there's anything to do. :p

Belinda mentioned that there is a soccer tournament in Lafayette this coming weekend, but driving all the way to Purdue seems a bit far (~4.5 hrs) - not to mention that I am kinda broke right now (as usual).

Bummer~ let see if anything comes up over the next couple days~

Misc. Updates Part I

It's been a while (again) since my last update - so let me just put up some random things in here.

Things once again start to pick up at work and pretty much can only get busier till the end of June...oh the joy~

Four of the six buildings in the new campus is now occupied - include the 1st and 2nd floor of the building that my team's in. That cuts down my hike from the parking garage to my office dramatically - if I can find a parking space close to the elevator that it. It finally started looking like a "corporate headquarter" now. Unfortunately, the inner court is still pretty barren (though "Lake Epic" is always a sight!) at the moment, since there are still constructions going on with Building 3 (Commons building) and Building 5. It'll be nice to see what whole thing looks like once the construction/landscaping is done.

Just for fun, I grab King Snort a few weeks ago to take some pictures of the arts they "moved" from our old campus. I have to admit some of them are quite funny. Here are a few of them:


Got a couple more, probably should get a Flickr, but simply too lazy to do so... :P

緣份

緣份緣份，只可惜有緣未必一定有份。。。　

--- 講完

Discover is getting inpatient

Heeheehee...

Got this in my mail today from Discover:

It has come to our attention that you have not made any recent purchases with your Discover Card. Use you Discover Card and receive a 0.0% promotional APR on every new purchase you make between 3/1/06-8/25/06.

which is kinda weird because normally when I get somthing from the credit card companies (except their monthly statements), it's usually, "...your APR has been increased by X%..." So this notice was quite a surprise to me.

To be honest, I really can't remember when was the last time I used my Discover Card. With an APR of approximately 25%, you can't really blame me for not using it. Besides, I never bother with activating the new card they sent me so the current one I have is not usable.

Maybe some time in the future, I will once again charge things to my Discover account. Unfortunate, now is not the time. Hohohohoho~

Next Toy

*** Updated ***
The SZ models are out of stock at SonyStyle.com... @@"

vs 

Time to think about my next toy, and I am debating whether I should get a TV or a laptop. I've even picked out the model that i really like. Both are from Sony (not a big surprise since I'm a big Sony fan) and either one of them will cost me an arm and leg.

If I am getting a TV, I'd probably wait till the end of this year or maybe early next year to get it. The reason being that I need a TV to play Nintendo's next generation console (CodeName: Revolution). Unfortunately, since Revolution doesn't support HD, I really can't justify getting this $2699 TV except for the fact that I can brag about owning one of Sony's best line.

On the other hand, I can't really think of a reason to get a notebook either - except that the idea of going into a Cafe with WiFi and being able to surf the net/blog always intrigue me. Of course I don't need the newest Sony to do so, but hey, it looks trendy with a Sony VAIO.

The other good thing about getting the laptop instead of the TV is that I can use my company's loan program (24-month no interest loan) to pay for it. If i am going for the TV, i kinda need to wait after my trip back home and assess the damage - meaning i might not have the cash.

Oh well, at this point, I am fairly sure that something Sony's coming my way! Just don't know what yet.

P.S. Originally I also planned for an iPod and a new DC. Darn the IRS.

Rant about Xanga and MSN Messenger

I never liked Xanga - and don't think I will grow to like it as well. It is very frustrating when you want to leave comments on a blog that's hosted by Xanga - mainly because they required you to sign-in to Xange first. I only want to leave a message on my friends' blog, and pretty much that's all I want to do with Xanga. Another thing that I don't like about Xanga blog is that they don't have RSS/Atom feeds. For all the other blogs that i frequently visit, I subscribe to their RSS/Atom feed so that I don't have to manually visit their site just to find out that nothing has been updated since I last visited. I can't believe that Xanga doesn't support this! Maybe they do and it's just my friend who hasn't turn on this feature. For those who use Xanga blog, please let me know - i am really curious.

* Speaking of RSS, I am going to try my luck again soon in convincing Sales that RSS is a good feature in our product - we'll see how that turns out *

On to MSN.

For those who still IM me, you'd know that my default IM is still ICQ (btw, ICQ has a new IM call ComPad, but currently only available for registration if you do not live on this planet - I mean, they block registrations from: Israel, Vatican, Italy, Germany, Russia, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Norway, Turkey, Sweden, UK, Netherlands, Austria, Australia, Belgium and Denmark).

Where were I? Oh, MSN. Today I took the brave step in installing MSN Messenger 7.5. The UI has too many stuff that I will never use so I found it cluttering. Tabs? Don't use them. The toolbar below my e-mail & message? Don't think I'll be using them eitehr. I like ICQ because it gets the job done. I am not interested in all the ten billion funtions that'e embedded in the application. I just want a UI that would allow me to do simple IM with my friends. Plus the fact that it has ads at the bottom of the app - there probably is some hack out there in the WWW that remove the ads. I believe I hacked my ICQ to remove its ads too - makes it not very appealing to me at the moment. However, if you'd like try IM me via MSN, it's uarzen@yahoo.com.

This concludes my rant of the day.

Memories

Tonight outside Woodman's (a supermarket in town for those of you not in Madison), I saw 4 guys, which I believe are UW students by just the way they looked, loading their groceries into their car. I think they already filled two of their three carts, but the whole trunk is packed - AND they still have one more carts to go! I didn't stay to see what they end up doing with their last cart (since the temperature's sub-zero), but I presume that they'll have to hold on to those in the front.

This scene reminds me of how my friends and I did grocery during our Sophomore year at Purdue. It was our first apartment - located conveniently next to the campus (across from the University parking garage). However, the biggest problem was that none of us had a car at that time.

Hence, doing grocery was a "big deal" for us. We normally would do it every other Friday evening. First calling a cab to "China Garden" for dinner. Our other choice would have been KFC or Taco Bell. Since I was part of the group, you pretty much can be sure that no one is getting Taco Bell.

Afterward, we casually walk to the Wal-Mart/Marsh on the other side of the "street" - a 4-lane State Road 26 main artery in the town of Lafayette) - and began our shopping fun. When we are done, we would call a cab again to get back. Since there was four/five of us each time, i remember each time we would pack - wait, i think a better word is "stuff" - the trunk of the cab. (Of course, Eric and I consuming a case of soda every 2 or 3 days probably didn't help much to the situation). Loading/Unloading was always fun since we can't really walk back into the store and return the stuff just because "We can't fit them in the cabbie's truck".

The whole adventure would normally take us all Friday evening - so when others are out partying on Friday nite, we are busy trying to figure out whether we should stuff the meat into the trunk first or holding the cases of soda with us in the front.

P.S. Situation improved a bit in the 2nd semester when Peter brought his "dependable" car from home. More story on that later~