What is it with vacation and food?

I was on vacation last week, so I wasn't able to post my weekly update. That just means there's double the information in this update! I had a relaxing time during my vacation, but I didn't use that as an excuse not to do anything. I fit in my mini-workouts in the morning after I wake up. I'd say I did more than I normally do. But there is a downside to vacation...food. And man, did I have my fill. Arby's, Cici's, Whataburger, authentic Mexican, buffets, Cambodian, Vietnamese... Whew! Needless to say, I retrogressed in terms of my weight goals. Oh well. Main thing was being able to recharge and destress. Mission accomplished.

Monday: Pullups (8), Squats (40)
Tuesday: Calf raises (90), pushups (45)
Wednesday: Lunges (20)
Thursday: Squats (40), calf raises (90), pullups (8)
Friday: Dynamic pushups (20), squats (40)
Saturday: Shovel, move dining table
Sunday: none

Vacation week:

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 10)
Tuesday: Calf raises (90), elevated pushups (20, 20, 20, 20)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 10)
Thursday: Calf raises (90), elevated pushups (20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20 - I was watching TV)
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 10)
Saturday: Calf raises (90), elevated pushups (30, 30)
Sunday: None

Last weigh-in:
178.5 lb (2.5 lb gain over vacation!)

Almost there...

So after two weeks, I've finally moved all my stuff to the new apartment. Through it all, I lost many hours of sleep, exhausted my body, caught a mini-cold, and had quite a bit of anxiety about getting it all done. I barely kept up with my mini-workouts, but luckily, moving and cleaning provides quite a bit of caloric burn.

Monday: Move large items
Tuesday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45),
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (25 each)
Thursday: Calf raises (75), pullups (8)
Friday: Pullups (5)
Saturday: None
Sunday: Move last bit

I was surprised to find out that I did manage to lose some more weight. I am a bit closer to my goal of 175lb. What will I do when I get there? Maybe set a goal for body fat? More trips to the gym? Who knows?!

Last weigh-in:
176.0lb

100th post!

Wow. Can you believe this is my 100th post? I know. Not really that exciting. But how about getting $215 worth of pans for $60? That's pretty exciting huh? Well, don't say I don't hook you up:

Calphalon One Nonstick 8" and 10" Fry Pan Set

I bought these myself from the Williams-Sonoma store at Burlington Mall. I saw them then the deal, and I knew I had to have it. I guess I can give my crappy $10 pan away now. Mmmm...Can't wait to try them out.

Who says our children "isn't" learning?

If you live in Mass, you guys need to check this out:

Mass. students outperform peers on international exam

We've apparently posted some pretty impressive scores worldwide. So...go MA!!

Moving week

Well, I started moving this week, and I am exhausted. I'm surprised I fit in as much mini-workouts as I did. I very glad I did a two-week overlap between my old and new apartments. I'm also very grateful for all the people that helped me move, paint, and clean. I got a bit more to go, but I should be done moving. Then it'll be off to unpacking. Anyway, here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40), moved boxes

Tuesday: Calf raises (75), lunges (20 each), pushups (45, 45), moved boxes, cleaned bathroom
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), moved boxes
Thursday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45), neutral grip pullups (8), painted
Friday: neutral grip pullups (5)
Saturday: Bring new furniture up three floors, painted
Sunday: neutral grip pullups (10), side raises (10, 10, 10), reverse fly (10, 10, 10), chest dips (10, 20)

I didn't have much time to do weigh-ins, but I fit in one.

Last weigh-in:
178.5lb

Sneaky, sneaky Apple

Just browsing my regular news feeds and noticed Apple is quietly recommending installation of anti-virus software. After years of poking fun at Microsoft Windows for its weakness, they succumb as well. Check out the Slashdot overview.

Thanksgiving workout update

Oh, man. What a week. After one birthday dinner the week before, I had another one right before Thanksgiving. Then, of course, the big Turkey Day. Oh man. Sooooo much food. To help counteract the increase in caloric intake, I tried to fit in more workouts:

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), kicking exercises, front raises (10, 10, 10), bent-over rows (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10, 10, 15), biceps curls (10, 10, 15), shrugs (20, 20, 25)
Tuesday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45, 45)
Wednesday: Hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10)
Thursday: Hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10), calf raises (75)
Friday: Side raises (10, 10, 10), bent over raises (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10), squats (40), diagonal raises (3x 10 each), low-weight hammer curls (20), low-weight biceps curls 20), compound shoulder/arm routine (10)
Saturday: Dips (10), calf raises (75), pushups (45)
Sunday: None

Still haven't made it to the gym, and still haven't added in the cardio. To make up for this, I try to limit my rest between sets when I work out at home. This allows me to keep my heart rate elevated so I can stress out my cardiovascular system. Not the best alternative, but it'll do.

Last weigh-in:
178.5lb (pretty good for the amount of food I had)

My Acer Aspire One

I don't believe I've mentioned this, but my new primary computer is the 6-cell Acer Aspire One. As small as it is, this little buddy packs quite a bit, and I'm quite satisfied with it. What I love the most about it is the ultra portability (2.2lb) of this thing. It is tiny! And the battery life is AMAZING - 5.5 hours. Sweet huh? Here's a picture of it on my old HP:



You probably think the keyboard is way too small, but it's actually fine. Not as small as the other netbooks out there. My only gripes about it would be the glossy exterior and the hard-to-press track pad buttons. Other than that, I don't feel like I'm missing much from a full-fledged laptop.

Here are the specs:

Intel Atom 1.6GHz
1GB DDR2 SDRAM
160GB HDD
8.9" LCD
Ethernet
Wireless LAN
Webcam
USB ports
SD/MMC/xD/Memory Stick PRO
VGA out
Windows XP (no more Vista for now!)


And just to avoid the hassle of any warranty issues, I bought a 3-year warranty with Square Trade. I even bought the Accident Protection Plan, in case I drop the thing. Total cost of 3-year warranty with accident plan: $70.00. If anything happens and it can't be fixed, Square Trade will cut me a check for what I paid. Done.

Ideal driving according to...me

I've been meaning to express how I feel about the way people drive for quite awhile. Usually, when I've been out driving and noticing what people do. I've been driving ever since I got my license way way back. And ever since I got my own car, I have pretty much driven every day. Needless to say, I have quite a few hours under my belt. Now driver's ed was great and all, but they don't really teach you much about efficient driving.

Like most people, I was quite the crazy driver when I was younger. But after some interesting experiences, I mostly pride myself on trying to be a smooth and efficient driver. Whether this includes using the brake and gas pedals only when needed or timing traffic lights and turns, I like to put my passengers at ease. A carsick passenger resulting from my driving is a sign of failure. Braking hard is a sign of failure. Braking more than twice in a span of 3 seconds is a sign of failure.

I like to be always aware of the driving situation all around me. I check my 3, 6, 9 quite often during a drive. Which brings me to my first rule for all efficient driving: Check ALL your mirrors frequently. Don't just check it when you're changing lanes. Don't just check it when you're backing up. Check it routinely. Know that you have a way out if something funky happens in front of you. Know that you need to adjust your driving depending on who's behind or next to you.

This brings up a second rule: Don't be a righteous b*st*rd. If you're driving in the passing lane of a highway (there is no fast lane, but one can argue someone is passing all the time), and you see someone driving faster than you behind you, don't think, "Oh look, a crazy guy speeding. I'm already going pretty fast, so I'm just going to stay in front of him and block him." This only leads to two things: traffic and road rage. Best thing to do is, move over one lane. Let the "lunatic" through, switch back. Not only have you kept your place in line, the highway has become more efficient.

Another rule: Don't tailgate. Not only is it dangerous, but tailgating invariably leads to you tapping your brakes a lot. This will cause the person behind you to brake, probably because he was following you at a distance that he thought was fair, not knowing you were tailgating. The person behind him might brake because he sees brake lights. You can see where I'm going with this. You tapping your brakes can cause traffic behind you. I know, I know. Why should you care about traffic behind you. Well, next time you sit in traffic. Think that it might have been less bad if people timed their acceleration and deceleration accordingly and used their brakes only when needed. This is why I say using your brakes twice in 3 seconds is probably a failure - a failure in judgment. Remember, when you're going highway speed, letting off the gas will slow you down a bit. Apply gas only if the situation calls for it and if it will prevent an accident or dangerous situations.

I have tons more thoughts on driving, but I guess the most important rule is to drive safe and practice defensive driving. Keep in mind that the above rules are my thoughts only and not the absolute word. You are responsible for your own actions and resulting consequences.

The eating begins...

Some more sporadic mini-workouts again. November is always a pretty tough time since I have a lot of stuff happening. Had a pretty huge dinner Sunday night for a friend's birthday. I had to order the steak (after some filling appetizers), and I paid for it. Thanksgiving was pretty tough too. I'll recap that week later.

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)

Tuesday: Hammer curls (10), Biceps curls (10), calf raises (75), pushups (45)

Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)
Thursday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45, 45), front raises (10, 10, 10), bent-over rows (10, 10, 10), shoulder press (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10, 10, 10), biceps curls (10, 10, 10), shrugs (20, 20, 20), ab work
Friday: None
Saturday: hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10), pushups (45)

Sunday: Side raises (10, 10, 10), bent-over raises (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10)

The one good thing is that I'm trying to do a minimum of 20 curls per day. Hoping that little bit in the morning will condition my arms a bit. I figure if I'm doing pushups 2-3 times a week, I should at least do some curls.

Last weigh in:
178.5lb

Workout update

I'm late with this update. Work has been quite exhausting with the large workload I have. Year-end is coming too, so the internal audit is looming over my head. In any case, I've still been trying to keep up with my mini-workouts. I try to make an effort to squeeze in some other stuff at home as well. I haven't made it to the Y yet, but I hope to. Cardio is so far behind, so if I do hit the gym, the focus will be cardio and swimming.

Monday: Lunges (20 each)

Tuesday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45, 26, 20)
Wednesday: Squats (40)

Thursday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45, 45, 10), diamond pushups (20)
Friday: Lunges (20 each), squats (40)
Saturday: Hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10), side raises (10, 10, 10), rear lat raises (10, 10, 10)

Sunday: Hammer curls (10), biceps curls (10)

I do seem to notice some visible changes. Of course, there should be since I was up to 187.0 lb. But, I do seem a bit leaner. I don't have a way to measure my body fat, but it's definitely lower than before. I also seem to be reaching my side goal of prepping my legs for ski season. The squats, lunges, and calf raises definitely help. I'll probably add in some hops and jumping squats later to add some dynamic stress.

Last weigh in:
178.5lb

The ordeal is over

I haven't had much time to write about this due to my ever-increasing workload, but I think my HP ordeal is over. I had finally received my replacement laptop after 4.5 months.

So what good came from this? HP sent me a superior laptop compared to my dv2415nr. They sent me a dv4t equipped with a Pentium Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, 250GB HDD, blah blah blah. Still Windows Vista, but the improved specs seem to handle it pretty well. I just need to send in my old one now.

The bad? Well...

1) Had to send my laptop to the repair center four times.
2) Out of the four times, my laptop was repaired to its original condition ZERO times
3) Out of the four times, I've had half my RAM taken away and then had my dual-core Turion replaced with a single-core.
4) Regular tech/customer support stinks.
5) Executive case manager support stinks (Although after I contacted the BBB, a higher executive case manager called me and the case moved smoothly after that)

To be fair, if you stick around long enough, someone high-level enough will eventually call you and your case will eventually be closed. I guess my suggestions would be to have patience, escalate the case along in a reasonable matter, and try to keep temper in check. I appreciate how HP eventually solved my problem, but this whole thing has left a sour taste in my mouth. I cringe when I see ads and articles about HP now. Will I buy HP again? Maybe, but not for a long, long time.

So to sum it up: Thanks HP for replacing my broken laptop, but you still stink.

Visiting cousin means FOOOOD!

Not that great of a week. Barely finished my mini-workouts. Barely squeezed in an additional workout. Then I entertained my cousin who came up to visit. And visiting cousins usually mean food, food, and more food. I think I gained 2lbs just from the past weekend. Craziness. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40)
Tuesday: Pushups (45), lunges (20 each), calf raises (75)
Wednesday: Pushups (45), squats (40), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 10, 6), chinups (10, 10, 6)
Thursday: calf raises (75), pushups (45, 20, 20, 15), ab work
Friday: Squats (40)
Saturday: None
Sunday: None

At the minimum, I need to finish my mini-workouts. I can't let those slack. Then I need to complete some additional full workouts. It's quite tough.


Last weigh-in (after weekend binge):
180.0 lb

New determination

I went to NY over the weekend and saw my cousin there. He has informed me that he is at 8% fat. Boy, seeing him has given me new determination. Not necessarily to aim for 8% fat, but I have a Y membership and I should put that to use. So I hope to hit the gym in addition to my mini-workouts. I hope to get back to doing some cardio. And I hope to practice my swimming. Here's the breakdown for last week:

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 10, 5), chinups (10, 10, 5), 90-degree-grip pullups (10, 10, 5)
Tuesday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75)
Wednesday: Squats (40)
Thursday: Lunges (20 each), calf raises (75)
Friday: Pushups (45, 45), squats (40), lunges (20 each)
Saturday: Pushups (15 prior to heading out for the night)
Sunday: Pushups (20 difficult reps after a 4-hour drive home)

Friday night I weighed in at 176.0 lb prior to dinner. After this weekend of drinking and eating with my cousin, I doubt that's still the case. So I'll update the weight next week after getting back some consistency.

Final saga?

Well, I got my laptop back on Tuesday. I brought it home, opened the box, and read the tech notes. It appeared they replaced the motherboard with the processor and then restored the OS. Crap. That meant I had to do a full Carbonite recovery plus any software reinstalls. Fine, whatever. I'll deal with it since it appears they fixed my laptop. I pay the annual Carbonite fee for this purpose anyway (worth every penny by the way).

So anyway, last night I'm on my machine and chatting with my cousin. Re-reading the notes, it appears the processor they put in is different than what my system came with. Instead of a Turion 64 X2 TL-56, I got a Turion 64 MK-38. I'm thinking, "Wow, maybe they upgraded me." So I did a quick search, and lo and behold it turns out it's a slower chip. The MK-38 is a single-core chip at 2.2 GHz. The TL-56 I had was rated 1.8 GHz, but being dual-core, it's faster than the MK-38. So imagine that. HP fixed my laptop, but still left me worse off. It's like taking your V6 car into the shop and coming out with a V4. What a disappointment.

Well, today I called my executive case manager. He asked if I got my laptop. I told him I did, but explained the processor situation. He checked his notes and the original specs of my machine and agreed that I have a slower chip now. He told me that he promised me a replacement if this repair went wrong, so he put in an order to send me a brand-new laptop that is comparable or better. He explained that it'll get to me in 14 days and that I would need to send the current one back. Fine with me. This case manager seems very nice anyway, so I made the arrangements, and now it's a waiting game. So pretty soon, this whole fiasco may well be over. I can't wait.

Even though this seems to be ending on a happy note, I can't help but feel like I have a sour taste in a my mouth from all this. Would I recommend HP? Take a guess.

Good food, good company

I finally made it over to my cousin's to get a taste of his crepes, which he started making ever since his return from a study-abroad trip to France. We went to get some groceries and went over to his place to do some prep work. I don't know why, but I like cooking. Well, I love DIY in general, but cooking is pretty awesome. You got the preparation aspect (I love mise en place), the assembling/cooking, and then you get instant gratification of your creations. How cool is that?


Anyway, we went about prepping our ingredients. We bought ingredients for savory crepes as well as dessert crepes. We also saved some fruits for a chocolate fondue later. My cousin also bought a loaf of Italian bread to accompany the brie I bought, so I couldn't resist and set that up at the center of our table.

My cousin took care of cooking and assembling the tasty crepes. We did ham, cheese, and mushrooms.

Overall, it was a nice night with good food and good company. Although I might have filled up a bit too much.

Broke 180lb

A bit late with the workout update. I had to attend to a personal matter. But here's the workout breakdown:


Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), BBS (2x30lbs)
Tuesday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75), elevated pushups (25, 25), wide pushups (20, 20), triangle pushups (10, 10)
Friday: None
Saturday: None
Sunday: None


On the bright side, I think that easy week I had the week before helped my body recover a bit more. I finally broke through the 180lb barrier. Hope to reach 175lb soon.




Last weigh-in:
179.0 lb/182.0 lb

Crick in the neck

Didn't have a good week last week. I didn't do any mini-workouts Monday, because I had the day off. Then the rest of the week, I was just so bogged down by the extra work I have. Too tired and stressed to try. But I still pushed myself to do the mini-workouts at the minimum. What added to it was that I woke up Wednesday morning with a nasty crick in the neck. Maybe I slept wrong or whatever, but it hurt enough that I didn't want to do any shoulder or back exercises. I was afraid I might pull it since it was already tight. I was able to do some pushups, but not as much since I was tired:

Monday: none
Tuesday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75), elevated pushups (25, 25), staggered pushups (20, 20), ab work
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)

I guess I did make up for it by assembling an IKEA loft bed for my sister on Sunday. It took about three hours, but I felt pretty accomplished. Tried to help out with some house cleaning, but the dust got to my lungs and irritated it plenty. Had to take a double dose of albuterol to calm the bronchial tubs down a bit. I woke up with a little wheezing this morning too, so I had to take another dose.

Didn't really weigh myself this week, but my diet was mostly the same, so I'm assuming I weigh the same.

Case escalated!

I didn't have time to write about this before, but my HP laptop case has been escalated. Whether through BBB's efforts or not, an Executive Case Manager called me personally and left a voicemail. When I called him back, he told me he was taking over the case from Steven, my previous case manager. He reviewed the case and told me that with the amount of repairs my laptop has gone through he has no problems with replacing the machine. He saw that I had a fourth repair schedule and that the box was already shipped out, so he told me to send it to the repair center one more time. He gave me all his contact info and told me to call him once I receive the laptop back. He wants to know how it went good or bad.

So this is good news. It's been four months, but I'm glad something is happening. I mean, I don't really care if they fix it or not. I want a workable machine. So if they fix it, I want an extended warranty. If they don't, then I'll accept the replacement. Once this HP fiasco is finalized, I'll review my computer situation and go from there. I just can't wait for all this to be over.

Workout updates

I've been busy at work, so no background this week. Here's the workout updates:

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), BBS (2x30lbs)
Tuesday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (75)
Wednesday: Squats (40, 20), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 10, 3), chinups (10, 10, 5)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75)
Friday: Squats (40)
Saturday: lunges (20 each), chest dips (30)
Sunday: Pullups (10, 10, 5), chinups (10, 10, 5)

Last I weighed, I got the same results:
180.0lb/182.0lb

Got some cardio in

So I had intened to go to the Cambridge Bow Tie Bike Ride on Sunday. But instead, I wound up breaking two tire valves on two separate bicycles while I was pumping air in the tires. After attempting to go to a bike shop to get replacement parts and finding out we were two hours early for their opening time, we settled on a quick hike instead at the reservation near my home. The "quick" hike turned out to be 7.72 miles when we missed a connecting trail. What a day.

Anyway, the week was pretty good, I suppose. I was able to squeeze a BBS workout in one day and some pushup variations in another. I had a couple of bad eating days, but I'd like to think the long hike took care of that. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40), parallel pullups (5), lunges (20 each)
Tuesday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (75), BBS (3 sets of 10 w/2x30lbs), chest flies (10, 10)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 6), chinups (10, 10), hammer curls (10)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75), elevated pushups (20, 20), diamond pushups (10, 10), staggered pushups (20, 20), wide pushups (20, 20)
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), parallel pullups (8)
Saturday: Pullups (10, 8), chinups (10, 10)
Sunday: 7.72 mile hike

Last weigh-in:
180.0?/183.0? (I really didn't get a good weigh-in that was consistent with how I normally weigh-in. I think it's the same as last week)

Sparkling red wine?

I was out with some friends a couple weeks back. After a filling dinner, we stopped by Finale's by Park Plaza to grab some desserts and drinks. While checking out the wine list there, we came across a sparkling red wine. It was the Imperial Star "Black Bubbles", a sparkling Shiraz. Now I don't love wine, but I do like it. And I've never had a sparkling red wine. According to our server, it would not only be carbonated, but chilled as well. That sealed the deal. We ordered a bottle with some other drinks and dessert.

The bottle came to the table and our server distributed the bottle among the glasses. I took a sip and boy was I surprised. The wine was delightfully chilled and the bubbles leaves a refreshing feeling in your mouth. It was unlike any red wine I've ever had. I'm not sure if it was because it was chilled or because of the bubbles, but the Shiraz didn't have that acidic cut that most red wines have. It felt light enough to go along with our dessert.

So next time you go to Finale's, go ahead and try the "Black Bubbles" out.

Okay week last week

It was an okay week last week. I managed to keep up with my mini-workouts at work, but I slacked over the weekend and didn't really get to do another BBS routine. I was out most of Saturday with friends then was busy with some DIY work on Sunday. Plus I was recovering from drinking on Saturday night at a get-together for a friend's sendoff.

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (15 each), front raises (8, 8, 8), bent over rows (10, 10, 10), shoulder press (10, 10, 10), biceps curls (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10, 10, 10), ab work
Tuesday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (75)
Wednesday: Squats (20, 40), lunges (20 each)
Thursday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (75), dips (20)
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)
Saturday: Chinups (10, 5), pullups (8, 3)

I really need to get more workouts in outside of work, especially on the cardio area. Weather's getting colder now, so running outside would soon be difficult (cold air and mild asthma does not mix). I'm supposed to be getting back to the Y soon, so hope to continue cardio and possibly aquatics there. We'll see.

Current weight:
180.0/183.0 lb

I cracked

So the BBB thing is supposedly in progress. But my cousin makes a very valid point. I don't think a large corporation like HP will really care what BBB says about them. A bad report would be like a speck of dust compared to the volume of business they do. So I gave in and called my case manager last night.

I gave Steven the updates of my four-beep situation, and he setup another repair order. He did tell me it might be longer this time because the repair center is in Houston and they still don't have power or water yet. I've waited three months; what's another week? I'm holding Steven to what he said too when I first spoke with him. He told me that they will keep repairing my laptop till it's done. So I'm going to keep calling him until it's resolved. I need this HP situation resolved. I won't stand down.

I cancelled my Acer Aspire One preorder too. I don't want to buy another machine until this HP thing is resolved. And I'm not sure if the Aspire One is where I want to go. So, it's more waiting. We'll see what happens October 8 too. That's the deadline BBB gave for HP to resolve the complaint. I kinda doubt anything will happen.

Just cranking away

Last week was okay again in terms of working out. I'm having a really difficult time fitting in cardio as you can see. In fact, I barely fit in any workouts as it is. I'm only relying on my mini-workouts during work, before I go out, or before I head to bed. I really need to work harder at squeezing some runs in and some quality workouts in too. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (15 each)
Tuesday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (75, 75)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (15 each), side raises (8, 8, 8), rear lat raise (8, 8, 8), front raises (8, 8, 8), bent over rows (10, 10, 10), shoulder presses (10, 10, 10), biceps curls (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10, 10, 10)
Thursday: Pushups (40, 45), calf raises (75)
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (15 each), parallel pullups (4, 4), chest dips (25)
Saturday: chinups (10, 8), pullups (8, 5)
Sunday: side raises (8, 8, 8), rear lat raises (8, 8, 8) <--started a BBS circuit, but didn't finish

I did some more plumbing work on Saturday. A faucet I replaced had a leak, and while looking for the leak, the washer on the old hot water supply valve broke, clogging the hot water line. Since they were soldered on, I had to saw off the supply valves (did the cold water one while I was at it). This was no easy task as the cabinet was really cramped, and I only had a couple of inches of room to move the saw. Then I had to file away the old solder, and that took awhile. Then I found the "leak" and fixed that. It was a long day of work, but I think I resolved it. Or at least I hope I did. Anyway, all that labor got my arms and hands really sore. I can see how some contractors have the arms they do. They're always "working out"!

Anyway, let's see how this week goes in terms of trying to fit more workouts in.

Last weigh-in:
180.5/183.0

Don't need to be a hacker to hack an email account

I'm sure most of you have heard that GOP vice-president candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo account was "hacked" into. Well, apparently the hacker didn't even need to resort to actual hacking. The hacker with help from the group he belongs to used Yahoo's password recovery feature. It's a pretty standard one. You set security questions and answer them. Once correct, it lets you in and you can change your password. Palin used questions that referred to her birthdate and where she met her husband. Quick searches on Wikipedia and online yielded the answers.

So what's the lesson? If you are famous or just pretty active in the online community (Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc.), try not to use questions with answers that can be researched quickly. My favorite strategy is to pick a random question like "What is the name of your dog?" and answer it with a totally unrelated word. So the name of your dog could be "Lemon Herb Roasted Chicken" or something equally ridiculous like "Your mama". That should do the trick.

In this day an age, you can't be too careful with your online security!

Contacted the BBB

So I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I haven't heard back from my case manager Steven. Emails to the PR guy only result in replies stating that he will contact HP and see what happens. Repairs to HP don't amount to anything. Meanwhile, I'm left sitting without a reliable workable laptop for nearly three months! This is just ridiculous.

I find it unbelievable that:

1) HP cannot fix my laptop after three trips to their repair center
2) My laptop came back from its second repair without half the RAM
3) My laptop came back from its third repair with a loose RAM chip in the memory compartment (I would compare this to a surgeon leaving forceps in your body)
4) HP sends a cardboard box each time I send my laptop back even though I told them I have the old boxes. So environmental impact for sending a laptop back that HP can't repair: three large cardboard boxes, six pieces of foam, three large plastic bags, three smaller boxes to hold accessories, and labels. And keep in mind that HP has no problem paying to ship my laptop to and from SIX TIMES overnight via FedEx, pay technical support gosh-knows-how-much per hour to not-repair my laptop, pay phone support to pickup my calls and not help me out, but won't refund or replace my laptop.
5) HP support is HORRENDOUS. They never call when they are supposed to. They read from a script. They don't really understand the torment you are going through. THEY. JUST. DON'T. CARE.
6) Through all this and many more with others (Google "HP Sucks"), HP is still the #1 computer manufacturer/seller. Amazing. CEO Mark Hurd must be doing something right for the shareholders. I suppose if I were to buy stock, why not buy HP? They have horrible customer support/service and still remains #1!!! They're at $48.41 a share today, up $3.08 from yesterday!

I hope the BBB does something. I'll try to call Steven again too, but I feel he's just going to make me send the laptop to them, have their repair center "fix" it, send it back, and then I'll open it to find that it's not been fixed. What a wonderful cycle to look forward to.

Chinups are goooood

It was an okay week last week. Didn't get to do any cardio, so that sucks a lot. I was hoping to squeeze at least two runs in. I hope I can do better this week.


Monday: Squats (40), lunges (15 each)
Tuesday: Pushups (40, 40, 40), calf raises (60)
Wednesday: Squats (20, 40), lunges (15 each), side raises (6, 6, 6), bent over rear lat raise (6, 6, 6), front raises (6, 6, 6), bent over dumbbell rows (10, 10, 10), shoulder press (10, 10, 10), biceps curl (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10, 10, 10)
Thursday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (60)
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (15 each)
Saturday: Chinups (10, 7), pullups (8, 3), chest dips (5, 15, 5), biceps curls (10), hammer curls (10)
Sunday: Pushups (40, 40)


I did manage to start my chinups/pullups routine again. Used my heating pipe in my living room. Might have been a bit much for my right shoulder. It's a bit tight, but seems to be more about soreness from the exertion than an injury. The tightness is on the outside rather than inside. Stretching it helps too, so I'm not worried about it. My back is a bit sore too, but it's because I haven't done chinups and pullups for quite a while. Those bathroom pullups just aren't the same as using a horizontal bar/pipe.



I'm noticing some slight changes in my body. I feel more compact, but I really doubt that much changed. Just a bit. I hope to continue my cardio and look to add in some more core work. I'm thinking I should do Ab Ripper X 2-3 times a week. Ab Ripper X is part of Tony Horton's P90X program. It's a pretty good routine for the abs, and I've never been able to do the complete workout with the reps they do. In fact, I've never went through 90 days of P90X. Maybe I'll do that in the winter when it's cold outside and when I'm sure my body is healthy again. I did a couple weeks before and P90X is intense.


Here's the update:
181.5/183.5 (no change)

Will he call?

So after my call last night, I tried what the HP rep told me to do. I opened up the memory bay and moved the 1GB RAM stick to the second slot. Closed bay, reinstalled battery and hit power. The laptop lighted up and I heard my optical drive initialize, then the drive initialized again, and again...and again... I forced the laptop to power off (hold power button). This time I took the 1GB RAM out and put the two 512's in, one in each slot. Hit power. Same thing. Infinite loop. Took the 512's out and put the 1GB in the first slot. It booted up fine (as I expected since I hadn't turned it on from the night before). After a while of surfing, it froze up again. Forced power off and rebooted. Four long beeps again (the HP rep explained this meant a memory issue). This is the fourth time.

The question now is, will my HP case manager call me today. He supposedly received a message and an email from the other guy that "helped" me out. The other question is, what if the "solution" did work? Is HP satisfied that they solved my problem by moving my RAM to the non-defective slot? What does this say about their level of customer service? It seems to me that all HP cares about is making machines that barely last their 1-year warranty while making as much money as possible. Their customer and technical support sucks. Their "repairs" barely make it past their 90-day warranty, which I still find ridiculous. I know you can't extend the full warranty that much, but HP can't even guarantee their own repair for 1-year? Can't they just extend the warranty on the area they repaired?

I'm not the only one that doesn't like HP. Go ahead, Google "HP sucks". You'll get results about issues from way back up till today. So it's not a fluke. I'm surprised they're on the top of the list for top US computer manufacturer's.

All-in-all, I've spent way too much time on this issue. If Steven doesn't call, I'm going to do what I said last time and involve some consumer advocacy group, most likely the BBB.

Will it never end????

So for the third time since my laptop came back, it froze last night. I wasn't doing anything intensive. Just surfing. I powered it down and tried rebooting. Same four beeps and then nothing. Boy, is HP really getting on my last nerves. So I called HP...again.

I called asking for my case manager Steven. He had left for the day. So I spoke with this dude. I explain my issues which include how HP sent my laptop back with a loose memory chip and how my computer freezes periodically. This guy suggests plugging the 1GB RAM in the other slot to see what happens. He also suggest I try the two 512MB sticks (I told them I received extra RAM). He then told me he will leave a message and email Steven to have him call me back tomorrow.

I guess I'll go home and try the whole other slot thing. As I've said before, I've tried the 512MB in the second slot with the 1GB in the first slot. But I guess mixing the RAM could cause it not to boot. I'll try the 1GB in the second slot. If that doesn't work, I'll try the two 512's. If it works great. If it doesn't, well I guess HP has to do something about this huh? Even if it does work on the other slot, I think I deserve two workable slots in case I want to upgrade right? Seems fair.

We'll see. In the end, whatever HP does to solve this whole fiasco, I'm not keeping this laptop. I'm just waiting for my Acer Aspire One to ship now.

Budweiser no longer American?

This is pretty old news. Anheuser-Busch, one of the US's largest breweries was taken over by In-Bev, a foreign brewery that brews Stella Artois and Beck's. It was a pretty big deal when that deal was announced. A lot of people were pretty annoyed that another US company is being taken over. Well, some people are suing to try to have that deal blocked. It makes some sense.

In a time where people are paying more attention to the economy than ever, this is a time to try to keep businesses. With this takeover, we are funneling even more money away from the US. We don't export much anymore. We're importing more than ever. Then we have all those outsourcing/offshoring jobs. We have a lot of manufacturing in China. I mean, what do all these moves sound like? Sounds like the big business men padding their wallets without any regard to the bigger impact they are making on the others and the US economy.

I'm not saying that blocking this deal would solve our economic crisis right now. There are so many factors that pushed us into this situation. I have no idea how we are going to fix this. It just sucks to lose a large US corporation. But then again, what do I care, I drink a lot of imports and drive a Toyota. But my Toyota was assembled in the US. Does that count?

Still crossing my fingers

I've had my HP laptop back for about a week now. I've been using it everyday to make sure the it's not going to do something and die on me again. So far it's acceptable. There were a couple times where the machine froze. Rebooting only resulted in the machine beeping at me 4 times (looked it up; something about system timer or 64K something). But letting it sit for a bit fixes the problem.

HP hasn't contacted me since I got my laptop back. Nor did the PR guy that told me he would contact me too. Some response, huh? I think I'm going to call my case manager anyway. Remember how HP shipped that extra RAM? Well, I plugged one of the 512's into the second memory slot and guess what happens? The system won't boot. I know they made me "whole" again in their eyes by giving me a stick of 1GB RAM, but I think I would like to have two memory slots that work. I mean, unless the RAM they gave me were different types.

I spent some time last night "optimizing" Vista. Took out silly programs from my startup menu. Went into the graphics part and disabled silly effects like fade/slide windows when minimizing and maximizing. That eats up memory that I can't afford to lose. I disabled the Sidebar awhile ago. It was just flashy; I barely used/referred to it. I also found out why my system was slow around 1-2AM sometimes. Turns out Vista Defrag was scheduled to weekly at 1AM on Wednesdays.

I pre-ordered the Acer Aspire One yesterday. I stopped by Microcenter on Monday to check out the 120GB model so I could test the keyboard and make sure I was really okay with the size. It was pretty decent. Screen wasn't too crazy small, and I was able to run Windows Media Player, MS Word, IE, and Mozilla at the same time. It seemed okay. I mean, I won't be doing anything crazy at home with it either, so it should be fine. I just have to wait for it to ship now.

Back on Invisaligns

So I picked up my set of Invisaligns today. This is the "refinement" part of my treatment. After my initial treatment, I couldn't close my jaw all the way (the front teeth made contact before the molars did). So I have 22 weeks of wearing aligners 20-22 hours a day. Yay... After that, it's a lifetime of wearing retainers at night. Double yay...

I did notice that this set is different than the ones I had before. The "buttons" they put on your teeth to hold the aligners on are much bigger and more rectangular. I had a bit of trouble removing them for lunch today. I thought I would break them before I removed them. I must say, this set fits much tighter, but that could be because they're moving my teeth again.

The plus side of wearing aligners again is that it limits my snacking. When you have to remove aligners and afterwards brush your teeth, floss, and rinse just to eat a snack, that snack just isn't worth it. My initial Invisalign treatment helped me cut down snacking. Wound up losing 5lb! So this might drop my weight a bit too. I can't really drink anything besides water either. If I want to drink anything else, I have to do the same ritual of removing my aligners, then cleaning before putting them back on. Another plus side is, I feel like I'm wearing a mouth guard 24/7. Try knocking out these teeth!

"Rehabbing" the shoulder

So last week was all about bringing shoulder exercises back in with a reduced weight. Exercises that heavily involved the shoulder joint (side and front raises, bent over rear lat raise, shoulder press) were performed with 10lb dumbbells instead of the usual 30-pounders I used. After one workout with 10lb dumbbells, I was able to up it to 15-pounders the next workout. I want to slowly keep adding until I'm back to pre-injury state. Seems to be going well. Every now and then I would feel some tightness, but nothing to crazy. While this was happening, I started to add more pushups and up my mini-workouts a bit.

Monday: Side raises (10, 10, 10), front raises (10, 10, 10), bent over rear lat raise (10, 10, 10), shoulder press (10, 10, 10)
Tuesday: Squats (40), lunges (10 each)
Wednesday: pushups (30, 30), calf raises (45), 20 min run (1.67 mi @ 5.01 mi/hr)
Thursday: Squats (40), lunges (10 each), side raises (10, 10, 10), bent over rear lat raises (10, 10, 10), front raises (10, 10, 10), shoulder press (10, 10, 10), bent over rows (10, 10, 10), biceps curls (10, 10, 10), hammer curls (10, 10, 10)
Friday: pushups (35, 35), calf raises (60)
Saturday: 19 min run (1.67 mi @ 5.30 mi/hr)

As you can see, I was able to start running again. I haven't ran in the longest time, so I picked a loop near my place. It's a short loop, but with two laps it's not so bad. I need to bring my cardio endurance up anyway, so starting slow is good. I opted for running instead of biking, because it burns more calories and it's easier than going to my parents' place to grab my bike.

What I did too over the weekend was change some plumbing fixtures. Let me tell you it's quite an arm workout removing those old faucets with the stuck nuts. Working on your back in cramped areas doesn't help either.

Well, that's the update. Here's the current weight:
181.5/183.5

Oh look, a survey!

Guess who I just got a survey from??? HP!!! I am sooooooo gonna have fun with this.

Well, it's back.

I got my laptop back from HP on Wednesday along with another box with a stick of 512MB RAM. I opened the laptop box and pull out my system. I read the sheet attached and again, no description of what actually happened and how it was fixed. I check my AC adapter and my battery. Still here. Then for some reason, I decided to shake my laptop. There was a rattling noise. I opened up the memory compartment and I find two sticks of RAM in there - one in the slot, the other just freely hanging out. If I had booted up my laptop, I could've fried the whole thing. Nice one, HP.

Anyway, I check the loose RAM. It's a stick of 512MB. I pull out the installed stick and see that it's a 1GB stick. Now I'm confused. I now have an installed stick of 1GB RAM, a stick of 512MB RAM that was hanging out in the memory bay uninstalled, and a stick of 512MB RAM that came separately. HP must have some serious organizational and communication issues. I'm also wondering why they installed one stick of 1GB RAM. Is it because the other slot is defective? Why won't they just tell me what was wrong with my laptop?

I boot up the system and it actually works. After a quick stop at System Restore, everything looks normal. I didn't play around with it that much, since it was late and I was tired. My landlord's internet is down anyway, so I didn't have any desire to stare at my desktop. I hibernated the system and now it sits in the corner of my coffee table.

I suppose my thing with HP is over. Who knows? I'll spend some more time with my system over the weekend and see if the issue will pop back up again. I never heard back from that PR guy or HP after my email. The only thing this whole experience has taught me is that HP stinks. My laptop has been supposedly repaired, but it still stinks. I have a feeling that at day 91, it'll stop again and HP won't repair it for me anymore.

The good thing about this whole ordeal is that it's taught me how little I use a computer at home. I find the main things I need a computer for are photo storage, music storage, internet usage, and email. I migrated some of my important functions to solutions online (Google docs for documents, online finance software versus MS Money on my system, etc.). So, my next computer doesn't have to be a powerhouse. I'm thinking a netbook. I like how it's ultra-portable and still offers a lot of what I need. After looking around at some of them, I think the Acer Aspire One is pretty nice (I already eliminated the HP Mini-Note because of this whole HP mess. Learning something HP? Brand loyalty is very important.). I've read up on the Asus EeePC, the MSI Wind, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, and even the Lenovo one, but the Acer Aspire One seems to give me what I want for a decent price; it even runs XP (no more Vista!). The one I looked at would set me back $399.95 on Amazon, so it could be cheaper elsewhere. I don't know when I would buy one, but at least I kinda have an idea what I want.

We'll see what happens as I use this HP crap a bit more. I hope it lasts a bit longer until I scrounge up some money for the Acer. So cross your fingers. I know I'm crossing mine.

Can't run? Walk!

Last week was a pretty good week for me. I did my normal mini-workouts and added some upper body exercises that didn't heavily involve the shoulder joint too much. I was able to add some walking too, which was pretty cool in the sense it was something extra and it was nice to just walk around the area. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: squats (30), lunges (10 each), 45 min walk (2.34 mi @ 3.13 mi/hr)
Tuesday: pushups (20, 20), calf raises (45), 60 min walk (3.59 mi @ 3.59 mi/hr)
Wednesday: Walk total 4.72 mi in dress shoes during errands at average of 3.04 mi/hr
Thursday: pushups (20, 20), calf raises (45), 55 min walk (3.26 mi @ 3.56mi/hr), coffee table triceps dips (to test shoulder stability and to stretch - 10, 10), biceps curls (5, 5, 5), hammer curls (5, 5, 5)
Friday: squats (30), lunges (10 each)
Sunday: pushups (30, 20), situps (40), coffee table triceps dips (15), biceps curls (8, 8, 5), hammer curls (8, 8), bent over dumbbell rows (8, 8, 8), 1 hr bike ride (8.25 mi)

Again, I was able to start my upper body exercises again. Mostly exercises that didn't involve the shoulder too much - pushups, curls, dips. I normally do 40 pushups at once, but wanted to start easy with my shoulder, so I split it up 20, 20 on Tuesday and 30, 20 Sunday when I felt a bit better. The right shoulder tightened up a bit here and there, but no real pain. Doing the dips helped since it stretched it out a bit. I did the curls more because I wanted to make myself feel good about missing so many opportunities for an upper body workout.

The walking was very nice. It was nice to be able to do some sort of cardio. Not the most intensive, but having it pretty regular was good. Hope to up it to running soon. One thing I did find out with all this walking is that walking long distances in dress shoes is not a good idea. I had Wednesday off to attend to an insurance appeal and to run some errands. Figured I skip the T and walk around everywhere except to go home. Boy did that hurt.

I also had a pretty good bike ride Sunday afternoon with my cousin. I started a bit too fast, but did better with pacing after letting my cousin lead. I hope to do that route here and there. My cousin and I wanted to do some of those organized bike rides, but we would definitely have to train a bit for the longer ones.

Anyway, this week I'm going to rehab the shoulder. Instead of the 30lb dumbbells I normally use, I'm going to start off with maybe 10-pounders until I'm sure the shoulder can take the strain. I hate to get back to working out only to hurt the shoulder again. Better safe than sorry, because if I hurt the shoulder, that would be 2-3 weeks before I can do anything. Here's my current weight:

Weight fully geared before dinner: 182.5 lb
Weight fully geared after dinner: 184.5 lb (I'm sure I didn't eat two pounds of food; it's probably a combo of food and water)

I weigh myself this way, because that's how I originally weighed myself at the time of the bet. Fully geared just means clothed (minus shoes) with all my "gear" - keys, cell phone, knives, wallet. My gear usually adds 0.5 lb to my weight. I weigh at about the same time to ensure further consistency. So, considering I weighed 187/189 at the start, we're looking at a 4.5 lb loss. Nothing too crazy yet, but I have about two months left in terms of the bet. Relatively speaking, my weight now only amounts to a 2.4% loss.

HP, HP, HP...oy

So I've sent my laptop in earlier this week for a repair. As I've said before, this will be the last time I give HP a chance to repair it. Last night I got an email from Derrick, who had commented on my blog before. I suggested he go through HP's normal customer service and asked him to update me. Well, HP gave him a new laptop. A 14.1" dv4t. So yeah, I'm annoyed. So annoyed I emailed the PR guy that emailed me. I want a refund. Let's see what they do.




Hello J.P.,

I obtained your email address from a comment you left on my blog (http://truparad0x.blogspot.com/search/label/hp%20stinks). When I first received your comment, I was surprised at how my blog was able to reach HP's PR firm. At the time, I received a response and thought things would be fine. When I did speak with executive support they pushed me back to a case manager.

The case manager was pretty helpful at first and arranged for a free repair plus the stick of memory that HP had taken from me. After waiting two weeks and still not seeing my RAM, I called the case manager again. This time, I just told him I wasn't pleased with the service nor the two-month time frame without my sole computer (that I do my finances on, my budgeting, my emailing, ...pretty much my life). I asked for a refund and told him I would send the laptop to him. He told me blankly that HP was not responsible for loss of data and time and that a system buyback was not an option at that point. I asked him how he would've felt if he was out of a computer for two months. He repeated coldly that HP was not responsible for loss of data or time. He can only offer a repair.

As you can see, I was pretty frustrated and annoyed. But seeing how he won't give me a refund, I conceded to the repair. I asked him what would happen if after the repair my laptop's issue resurfaced (on my blog, I was able to connect to other HP customers who had issues resurface several months after a repair). He told me the repair was guaranteed for 90 days; after that it would be considered an out-of-warranty laptop. I was surprised at how incapable HP saw their own repair team to guarantee their own repairs for a measly 90-days. Three months? I was out of a laptop for 2/3 that time.

To make matters a little more unbearable for me, one of the people who read my blogs had the same issue with the same model. He thinks HP made a defective product. Anyway, I suggested he contact a case manager before writing to the CEO (even with my bad view of HP, I wanted him to go through the normal chain of customer service before escalating). He just wrote to me to let me know that HP replaced his laptop with a different 14.1" model. But here I am, two and a half months without a workable, dependable machine.

As I told my case manager, even if they do repair my laptop, I'm not confident enough in HP to believe my laptop will continue to work. And apparently after 90 days, I would be sh*t out of luck. That's why I asked for a refund. Why keep repairing it? This is the third repair. Either the repair center can't do their job or the machine is obviously defective.

Anyway, I wrote to you because I feel you might actually care about this and could help me in some way to get my refund. My laptop is currently with HP repair.


Sincerely,




[Dan]

Know your limits

This past week, I had been "resting" my tweaked right shoulder. I determined that it probably is my rotator cuff as certain rotations hurt, while "normal" shoulder movements just felt weird. Having come from a background of lifting and working out, I knew that in my compromised state, I would risk further injury by working out. So I opted to avoid all upper body workouts last week. Here were my mini-workouts:

Tuesday: squats (30), lunges (10 each)
Wednesday: calf raises (45)
Thursday: squats (30), lunges (10 each)
Friday: side kicks (10 each), front kicks (10 each)

I did some rotations Saturday night to see how my shoulder felt, and I could hear clicking in my shoulder. So it seems like that whole joint is kinda loose. Normally, for any pulls or other types of "major" soft tissue injury, I wait a minimum of 2 - 3 weeks before attempting to workout again. But besides the clicking, the shoulder feels decent. I decided that this week, I would do heavily shortened versions of my normal workouts and see how it goes (instead of 3 sets of 10, I would try 3 sets of 3). I'll probably start on my chest workout first since it's not as involved as my BBS workout. The BBS workout can come later in the week.

I haven't been able to fit any cardio in last week. I've been trying to get some biking in, but scheduling got in the way. Hoping to do better this week. We'll see how it all goes.

American or Chinese?

With all this hubbub of the Beijing Olympics, I can't help but contemplate my nationality and ethnicity. Being born and raised in Boston, the law and myself considers me an American. But with parents and grandparents that still heavily associate and identify with the Chinese people, things get...tricky, especially when issues involve USA and China.

For example, I was watching the men's and women's gymnastics. I rooted for the USA team. But I can't help but feel this nagging feeling that quite a bit of Chinese people in American were rooting for the Chinese team. This reminded me of the time I went to a Celtics game many years back. It just so happened my brother bought tickets to a Boston-Houston game. As we were going up the stairs to our seats, people passing by would ask if we were rooting for the Celtics. We were pretty confused. Who else would we root for? However, by the time we took our seats and the game started, I saw exactly why we were asked that. Half the center was filled with Chinese people. They were rooting for Yao Ming.

Every Olympics, the press invariably focuses on the medal count. These Summer Games were about how many medals USA would get versus China. Again, I would root for USA to get more. But when I went home for dinner this past weekend, I heard my family saying that China got quite a bit and they were pretty happy about it. I know I'm Chinese, but I just don't see the point of rooting for or siding with someone just because of their blood. I mean, these same athletes are part of a country where a lot of controversy had surfaced (faking performances, possibly violating the age requirement, protests). I like Chinese people and all, but I'm not a big fan of China. I was born American, and I feel great pride when the National Anthem comes on. Heck, I would think even nationalized citizens should feel that way. Why else be nationalized and swear an oath of loyalty?

I guess everything boils down to race and the issues that still surround it. Most of the time I forget I'm Chinese. I forget that to bigoted people that I am different. They see a yellow face and they think, "Oh, he's not American." But America shouldn't have a single face. To me America is a pot of stew. Many different ingredients, but together, very delicious. I don't like to choose between my nationality and my ethnicity. I like to think that as an Asian American, I add a diversity and different strength to all that is America.

But I guess if it ever comes down to it, I would bleed red, white, and blue.

HP Makes Money, Leaves Customers in the Dust

So apparently, HP's profit rose to $2 billion. Too bad they scrimped on customer service along the way. My situation with my laptop hasn't improved much. After waiting 12 days for my stick of 512MB RAM to come, I called my case manager last night. He looked up my case and told me to send in my laptop; he will let the repair team know to put in the RAM there.

I'm up to my neck with this HP crap. So I told Steven that I want to forget the repair and want HP to refund my money. He tells me that the repair is the only option at the moment and that buying back the laptop is not on the table. I explain that I have been out of a computer for two months. I ask him to consider what it would feel to have his computer out of commission for two months. He tells me blankly that HP is not responsible for lost time, data, etc. He reminds me that the repair is the only option right now. I ask him what would happen if they do manage to repair my laptop, but it fails again. He tells me that there will be a 90-day warranty on the repair. That's how confident they are in their repair. Ninety days.

While sitting on the phone fuming. I decided I should follow the standard protocol for now. Then when I escalate the issue to a third party (*cough* BBB *cough*), I can say that I've tried all I could with HP's support system. I really am not confident in their repair center, but I tell Steven that I will send in the laptop and see what happens. My system booted for a bit early this week, but last night it stopped again. Sometimes it boots again with the how discharging static buildup crap.

So what's the lesson, class? Buy Dell. Buy IBM. Heck, convert and buy Mac. But don't, DON'T buy HP/Compaq.

And make that snappy!

So last week, my friend and I made it into Davis Square to try out Snappy Sushi, a chain of sushi restaurants. We walked in and I was a bit weirded out by the giant wood table to the right where they serve customers. I opted for the bar hoping for a sushi bar experience. We ordered a tuna tartare (recommended by my friend), some nigiri, and a chirashi that I'd been craving for a couple years (pretty long time, but other places were charging $13-20 for a bowl of rice and fish while Snappy charged $9.99).

The decor of the place was pretty nice. It was modern colors and had a zen-like atmosphere. Wait/host staff was young and diverse. I looked behind the bar and was pleased with what appeared to be a Japanese head chef. His assistants were Hispanic, but what do you expect in Davis Square. Sitting at the bar, I was hoping the head sushi chef would at least acknowledge me, but no such luck. It was pure show to have the chefs there. They were just part of the assembly line and did not provide the sushi bar experience that I like at Chung Ki Wa in Medford Square. No biggie, I've only been to a couple of places where you can get that experience, so I don't expect it.

Anyhoot, the quality of the sushi was very nice for the price. I didn't get any makis, but the nigiris were well done. The tartare was interesting for a sushi place. It was pretty much tuna on top of tempura crumbs on top of avocado. It was a good play on texture, but I got most of the flavor from the crumbs. The chirashi was good, but you can't really mess up chirashi. It's sashimi on rice. The one big difference in this place was that they use brown rice for their sushi rice. It gave the sushi a slightly different taste, but the texture wasn't different at all. They cooked the brown rice very well; I would've preferred a little bit more sushi vinegar, but it was still enjoyable.

Overall, the sushi was presentable, tasty, and a pretty good deal. I would definitely come here again for pretty decent sushi for a good deal.

Gotta keep an eye on my shoulder

I had a pretty good week last week in terms of fitting workouts in. I did mostly mini-workouts at work, but they were pretty effective:

Monday: Squats (30), lunges (5 each)
Tuesday: Pullups (8, 6), calf raises (30)
Wednesday: Squats (30), lunges (5 each)
Thursday: Pushups (40)

At home I managed to do some railing chest dips (20, 10), heating pipe chinups (10, 10), and heating pipe pullups (3) on Wednesday. I also did a BBS workout at home while watching the Olympics Thursday night. Only problem is I tweaked my shoulder during my improvised chest/triceps workout last Sunday, August 10. I thought I was fine, but during my BBS workout I felt something in my right shoulder. Don't know how to describe as it's not a pull or a sprain. I guess I would call it a nagging. So I decided to rest up over the weekend and not do anything till at least today or tomorrow. Didn't really succeed in that because I wound up playing some games and tossing a football around during a friend's birthday BBQ.

So with this tweaked shoulder, I have to be very careful with my workouts. Well, that's if I want to risk it this week at all. With it tweaked, it is a lot easier to pull it. I had this feeling before. I could probably just skip BBS workouts until it feels better, but then again chest workouts include shoulder exertion too. We'll see.

I also have to watch my diet. I ate pretty badly over the weekend. Need to be more controlled there. Need to cook more and eat out less. Tough to change body composition if I'm only working out.

Mob mentality blows

Apparently, people in Montreal hates the police as much as some people in the US does. A fatal shooting by the Montreal Police sparked riots where dozens of people were arrested and an officer was hot in the leg. Too bad the neighborhood where all this happened is called the "Bronx of Montreal". Now I don't know exactly what happened when the fatal shooting occurred. And I don't think anyone will except for the people involved, the officers, and witnesses. And I know there are police officers that abuse they're power a bit much. But what I hate about hearing things like this are the people who take advantage of certain situations and do certain bold things that they wouldn't do otherwise.

Say this guy is stepping up to you. What are the chances you will start something? Probably slim, unless he crosses the line. Now say you were with 5-10 of your buddies. Makes it much easier to say something you normally wouldn't right? What annoys me about this is when people take it to extreme. People who think they are really tough because they got their "crew" with them. Or people who do things because no one is looking. I really hate that. If you are not brave enough to things alone, don't do them otherwise.

Take the riots in Montreal. It sure is easy to attack police officers when you grossly outnumber them. And I am so sure that the mob takes advantage of the fact that the officers won't use lethal force on mobs because THEY have to be the responsible ones. I mean, have you ever seen those police videos on TV where hundreds of people attack dozens of police officers? It's insane. Sure, the Montreal Police MIGHT have acted out of line with the fatal shooting. But we don't know what happened. Let the board investigate. Let due process take place. These people have this skewed view of police and brutality that they jump at anything to punish them. And if any civilians are hurt, guess what happens? "Police use excessive force" or "Police brutality injures civilians" It's really bullsh*t. We give so much crap to the people who risk their lives serving the public. Then when something happens, we run to them for help.

I hate it when a group of people mug someone. I mean, they're such cowards for outnumbering someone. You can't be tough if you can't do it alone. I hate it when people do things when they know they can get away with it. You know, the people on internet forums who are so tough. Or the people who shout insults at you from a moving vehicle. Or kids who throw Gatorade on your car because they think no one is looking only to sheepishly apologize when I run out and confront them for it. Oy!

I'm not even sure if this post is coherent anymore...

Another war coming?

Don't know if anybody else has been following the Russia-Georgia conflict, but it is not ending anytime soon. There's supposedly a cease-fire agreement, and Russia has claimed they have ordered a halt to military operations. However, Georgia is still reporting attacks inside their country. I just saw a headline for three sunken ships too. This is pretty crazy.

The US and Europe are continuing telling Russia to stop, but reports indicate we don't have much to threaten them with. Russia apparently is pretty self-sufficient, so most we can do politically is take them out of G8 and boycott their events. But you never know, next thing you know, the superpowers are going to butt in with military forces. It's not looking too good.

I also just read an article stating how this might jeopardize our access to the International Space Station (ISS). If you don't know already, NASA is grounding the space shuttle fleet in 2010. We have an agreement to allow us access to ISS via Russian Soyuz spacecrafts, but that expires in 2011. After that, the ISS will be in sole control of the Russians. That doesn't sound good either.

Oy...

How long can you hold on?

On Pandora:
Radiohead - "True Love Waits"


Ever press the palm of your hand to the faucet and then turn the water on? Most times you can stop the water for a brief second before it sprays in your face. Even if the water flow was just a trickle. Ever grab a handful of sand at the beach and hold on really really tight? You can never keep it all in huh?

I feel like things are like that in life. You can try to get a hold of things, try to keep them the way you want to. But you can't stop an unyielding force, no matter how small. It just eventually builds up and goes everywhere. Try as you might to control things, to correct things. It never works if you're pushing against the flow. Take having too many people in one living space. Friction will occur. It's inevitable. What can you do? Keep being the middleman and mediate things? It may be natural to keep solving problems, to keep fixing things. But sometimes it's just plain broken. Or take someone that is leaving. Can't hold them back. No way. Just gotta let them go.

Blegh. Mindless rambling...

What RAM?

I went home briefly last night to pickup my sister for dinner. As I walked in to say hi to everyone, I looked through my mail. I saw the box for my HP repair shipment, but I didn't see anything else. No sign of my 512 RAM. To be fair, my case manager did say the box might show up first. And I didn't check with anyone at home to see if there was something else that came. So when I go home again, I'll check the house to be sure. That RAM better show up!

The longer this HP case goes, the more I'm finding out how HP's technical support is lacking for a lot of customers. I wrote earlier that Googling "HP Sucks" will give you quite a bit of reading material for bit. There's even a guy that went so far as to "review" sales of HP laptops with "HP Sucks". He must have had a horrible experience. I also got a comment on my previous HP post from a guy that's having a similar issue with his laptop. Apparently, he will be asking for a refund.

Where does my laptop stand? Well, I spoke too soon last time. I thought it was sporadic and booted once in a awhile. But now it doesn't boot at all again. Nothing. I've tried charging the laptop. I've tried HP's "discharging static buildup" method. Doesn't work. So I've already decided that this repair will be the last. If HP can't repair it, I will ask for a new laptop or a refund (with HP's reliability, I think I want the refund). I know the case manager said he will keep repairing it until it's fixed, but economically it's more efficient for HP to just refund me my $700 (they're lucky I bought it on sale). I mean, how much is it to keep sending a laptop back and forth? How much is it to send me the boxes to ship my laptop to them? How much is it to have their repair guys keep looking at it and not repairing my laptop? HP can refund my money, and they don't have to deal with this laptop anymore. Case closed.

But let's just see what happens with this repair. Then again, who's to say how long this repair will last? What if it breaks down later on? Oy. Why can't we buy a laptop and have the faith that it will last until it becomes obsolete? Oh right, you can if you bought a Dell...

Dumbbells are a man's best friend

I haven't been back to the gym since I went with my brother. It's silly, but I do try. I have a gym bag that's packed with all the gym essentials. To be fair, I did try one day, but I wanted to buy a lock first so I can change there. I have a lock already, but I forgot the combo. Don't you hate when that happens? Anyhoot, I wound up spending an hour looking for a lock (I wanted the spinning rings type from Master Lock). By the time I got a lock, it was late and I went home to prepare for work the next day.

Last week was much better. I had a swimming lesson on Monday. That went pretty well, but I learned that goggles are really nice to have. I like keeping my eyes open, but for the rest of the night after the lesson, I couldn't see farther than 5 feet. It was either the chemicals from the pool water or that my eyes tried to hard to focus underwater so it was stuck that way. Thursday night, I couldn't make it to the gym, but I have some nice dumbbells at home that I can set to up to 40lbs each. I did a BBS workout at 30lbs. That was actually quite nice. I did three sets each of side raises, bent over raises, front raises, bent over rows, shoulder presses, biceps curls, and shrugs. I could do more with for the rows, presses, and shrugs, but I hate adjusting the weight mid-workout. Those screw thingys bug me.

Last night while watching the US womens team qualify at the Olympics, I was motivated to work out so I did an improvised chest work out. Did some elevated dynamic pushups, pushups, diamond pushups, and wide set pushups. Then I did some chest flies, triceps extensions, and threw in some situps. I took it easier near the end, because I started too hard with the elevated dynamic pushups and irritated my right shoulder. But it's fine now.

Overall it was an okay week. I didn't make it to the gym, but because I had dumbbells at home, I was able to get some decent workouts in. Also, I was able to fit some mini-workouts during my bathroom breaks at work. Obviously, I didn't do any cardio, so I need to focus on that a bit more this week if I could. I also need to hit the gym more so I can get heavier weights for my chest and back workouts. Ever since starting to workout around early high school, I favored my arms more, so my arm size is a bit disproportionate to my torso.

In other related fitness topics, ski season is coming up (I know that's not until end of November, but if you know me I think way ahead for skiing). I'm pretty excited about that. I had a decent run last season with four trips, but I'm hoping to make it out to the slopes a bit more this season. Trying to save some money now so I don't have to stretch myself to buy lift tickets. Fitness-wise, I'm going to do a lot more leg work during my mini-workouts at work. At this point I usually do body weight jumping squats, lunges, and calf raises for the next few months. This way by the time ski season starts, my legs are kinda ready for all those ski turns. If you don't ski, going down a long trail is like doing squats nonstop for a few minutes. Pretty exhausting.

In general, I'm hoping I'll be down to "fighting" weight by November 1, 2008. I currently hover around 187lb; I was as high as 189lb at one point. I'd like to get back to 172-177lb. That's about 10-15lb weight loss. I think that will come naturally as I increase my workouts and tweak my eating habits a bit. I should get back to doing chinups and pullups too. I used to do sets of 10 every other day when I had a pullup bar. Now I have a heating pipe in my living room that gets quite hot during the winter. Haha. But no pain, no gain!

HP actually called me

Believe it or not, I got a message from a Hewlett-Packard (her words) representative. She was calling from the Executive support area. I called her back with the order # she gave and she transferred me to a Case Manager. After speaking with him for a bit, he ordered a stick of 512MB RAM and asked if I needed anything else. I told him that I want my laptop looked at again as it decides when it wants to boot. I told him it appeared to not boot when it's plugged in. He arranged that and gave me his contact info. I expressed my concerns about the system being out of warranty, but he assured me that he will keep repairing it until it is fixed for no charge.

So far, this emailing the CEO thing was a good idea. Not to speak ill about off-shoring resources, but it was nice to speak to a representative that sounded like he was in the United States. Customer support is very important to consumers and I hope manufacturers in general understand this and stop off-shoring or outsourcing customer/technical support. As I've said earlier, Googling "HP Sucks" shows you how many people would not buy HP because of horrible customer/technical support.

Speaking of calling technical support, Woot.com was selling an HP Compaq laptop today. Clicking on the comments showed how many people are not pleased with HP/Compaq support. One of the posters even stated that systems shipped to retailers are considered "disposable" and support for these machines are directed to off-shore resources. For HP, you can tell when they have you call 1-800-HP INVENT. The poster goes on to say that the commercial systems have in-state support, as commercial systems are usually for businesses and manufacturers cannot afford to lose any business because support drove them away. I'm not sure if what the poster said is true, but it does make sense. If I were to piss someone off, I rather piss off one lonely guy than a guy or corporation that purchases in bulk. But it would make even more business sense to not piss anyone off at all!

Anyway, let's see where this next step goes. I just want my computer to work like it did when I bought it one short year ago. And yes, it was on sale when I bought it.

HP saga continues

Logged into Blogger today and saw a comment from some HP PR agency. They offered to connect me to the appropriate personnel to help with my issue. It's nice to know it's attracting people who seem to care. On the other hand, I still have not heard from a real person from HP regarding my email to the HP CEO.

Last night, while using my laptop, the power ran low. I plugged in the AC adapter and continued. Soon after it froze and wouldn't boot up. I tried it again this morning with the AC adapter unplugged but still no go. I'll let it sit till tonight and see what happens, but I'm not confident at all about it. You know what sucks though? I am out of warranty now. So even though I started with this in late June when I was still in warranty, HP never fixed my problem and won't fix it now without payment for services. How nice. I would think this is still the same issue, but who knows how they do business. But the one-year warranty worked out for them, didn't it?

Wanna know something else that's interesting? Google "HP sucks". Have you ever seen that many forums and comments about HP's technical support? Wow. And they're not good either.

Hey look, a response from the "CEO"

Got a response to my email to the CEO of HP:


On behalf of Hewlett-Packard we apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing.Your message has been forwarded to our Customer Escalation team who will review your case.
If there is more you would like to add, do not hesitate to call the HP Executive office in Palo Alto, California, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM pacific time by dialing 1-800-756-XXXX, option #X

Sincerely,



CEO Customer Relations



I feel so loved...

Letter to HP CEO, Mark Hurd

I found an "Email the CEO" section on the HP website. Here's my email:


To Mr. Mark Hurd:

I am writing to express my frustrations with the support I have received in regards to my HP Pavilion DV2415NR laptop.

Around June 18, 2008, my laptop ceased to boot up. I located technical support on the HP website and submitted a repair request. Arrangements were made and I shipped my laptop to the HP repair center. There was a delay, but I received my laptop July 14. After taking it out of the box, my laptop still did not function. In fact, it was as if nothing was performed. I tried to read the paper that was included, but all it said was "replaced mlb" followed by gibberish which I assumed HP support would understand.

I located the number for support and called. I spent an hour on the phone explaining my situation to three HP representatives. Each seemed only specialized in one area, so I spend much of the time on hold for someone that could help me. Eventually, another trip to the repair center was arranged and my laptop went out again.

I received my laptop pretty quick this time on July 25. To my surprise, it booted up. However, it was slow. After it finished booting, I clicked on computer properties out of curiosity and noticed I now had 512MB of RAM. I shipped it to HP with 1GB! I reluctantly called HP support again and explained myself to three separate HP representatives again. This time I spent less time on hold. I spent a total of 10 minutes on hold, 2-5 minutes of talking, and 43 minutes of listening to silence while the representative "documented my case". I'm not quite sure how long it takes to type out "customer laptop was shipped to HP with 1GB RAM, but was returned with 512MB RAM", but I think 43 minutes is unreasonably long.

At the end of the call the representative told me a supervisor would call me within 24 hours, even though he told me earlier he would have a hardware representative to ship out the RAM. The call was on July 28, 2008. It is now August 5. I have not received a call, nor have I received my 512MB of RAM. This experience has left me with a slower system, and an overall lack of confidence in HP or my HP laptop.

It is to the point where I will no longer recommend HP to any of my friends and family anymore. I came from Dell systems thinking that HP is good too. I liked what HP did with they laptops and their emphasis on the entertainment experience. I even defended HP when my company IT consultant stated that "HP sucks...except for their printers...and maybe their servers". Now I'm not so sure I would do the same anymore. How can I recommend a company whose systems fail so much in one year? My friends' Dell systems are 3+ years old with no issues! How can I defend a company whose support is horrendous and slow? Each time I call, I reference the case number on the paper that was shipped with my laptop only to be chastised by the staff that it was not a case number. I spend an hour on each call and speak with multiple representatives. Why can't a technical support representative serve more than one area?

All I ask now is to be made whole. I want my 512MB of RAM back. I want another year of product support as I don't trust my laptop to survive another year. That's it. I won't ask for a refund, though my friends have suggested I do. I made a mistake in purchasing an HP, I will live with it. But I won't sit idle if something has been taken from me.

I hope other HP consumers have had better experience.

Sincerely,


[Dan]




I even had to shorten it because the form would only allow 3500 characters. I wonder if this would even do anything?

For all posts relating to this wonderful HP experience, go here.