Archive for May, 2009

Homestretch

Its that time of the quarter again. I’ve been here 11 times before and yet it feels very different this time around. For those that have no idea what I am talking about, I’m graduating and its the last 2 weeks of my quarter. While everyone(non-graduating seniors, etc) else is freaking out about the work there is to do, I feel strange…even relaxed.

I still remember the day I took my SAT, the day I got my visa, the day I set foot in Seattle (greeted by an immigration cop with a tactical M4 and sunglasses). I remember the first day at the international orientation, my first class, my first four-point-oh, my first job on campus, the day I got into my major, the first day I stayed all night in the labs(and where I lived, 2 years after that) and many many other things that I want to remember.

Sadly, its time to turn the page.

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Zune HD

Microsoft just announced their plans to release a Zune HD device later this fall and the hardware looks absolutely stunning.

zunehdzune-hd_hi-rez

black-zune-hd

The Specs:

  • HD Radio receiver
    • Find stations in your area at www.hdradio.com
    • Regular FM still works as well
  • OLED multi-touch screen
    • 3.3 inch screen, 16:9, 480×272 resolution
  • HD video out capabilities
    • Up to 720p using a HDMI A/V dock
  • Optimized internet browser for the device and touch
    • Tap to zoom technology,
    • Built-in accelerometer
    • Touch screen QWERTY keyboard
    • Significant browser customization based on IE
  • Wi-Fi enabled
    • Wireless streaming
    • Browse Zune Marketplace
    • Thanks to the web browser you can now connect to airport Wi-Fi and other sites that require a web page to login

The waiting game starts now….

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Mt. Si

Mt. Si was the second hike for me, this season. I clocked the best times that I have ever done for this mountain.

Uptime 1:45 hrs (non-stop hike to the top, 45mins to the creek)

Downtime  1:02hrs (this included some crazy downhill trail running)

I did make it up to the Haystack summit and it was quite a scramble. The scramble is definitely not for the weak of heart and quite dangerous. I think I might take up rock climbing pretty soon :)

haystack

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Snow lakes

This weekend kicked off my summer hiking adventures. The very first hike of the season was to Snow lakes in the Cascades, east of Seattle. You can get there by taking exit 52 on I-90 (from Seattle) and making a left at the stop sign onto Alpental road. You need to drive up to the parking lot where the trail starts. We had a pretty big group (13 people), mostly newbies to hiking. We were greeted by about 4-5 feet of snow from the very beginning and it showed no signs of letting up. You need to be careful this time of the year since a lot of the snow up top is melting, creating hundreds of streams under the snow which gives up pretty easily.

Most of us were wearing sneakers and didn’t really expect too much snow until we got to the summit. We crossed a couple of waterfalls on the way to the summit and this definitely needs some guts, given the current conditions. We never quite made it to the lake or the summit and turned around some 3 hours after we left, after one person on our team rolled his ankle. Here is what most of our hike looked like -

snow lakes

I would definitely not recommend this hike at this time of the year unless you have the right gear to tackle the snow and start out early. We started hiking at 1:15 in the afternoon and that was atleast a couple of hours later than we should have.

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I’m back!

I switched to GoDaddy from HostMonster over the past week and I’m never going back! Standby while I bring the site back up to speed…

Donations?

I’ve been debating this past week whether to let my ‘blog’ die or to lease it a new life for another year or two. Yes, it’s time for my hosting services to be renewed and given my current financial situation, its hard coming up with the money for it.

I’m currently making a list of pros and cons to help me make a final decision.

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Just kidding. I’m just lazy, have senioritis and no money(with no source of income). I will be back soon :)