Author: Ruel

Day 155: ChromeFan

MacBook and Chromebook getting along.

MacBook and Chromebook getting along.

I forgot to celebrate an anniversary a few months ago. Thankfully, it wasn’t anything important, but it was something I wanted to note: it’s been two years since I bought my first Chromebook. When Samsung released their Series 3 Chromebook in late 2012, it received excellent reviews and the $249 list price was a game-changer. Not only was it half the price of an iPad, it had a full keyboard, it was lighter than a MacBook Air, and it featured a boot-up time of less than 10 seconds.

That price was what got me to buy it in the spring of 2013. While I love Apple products, they’re overkill for typical everyday use: checking Facebook, browsing the web, listening to music, and streaming movies can be done on machines that are a fraction of the price of an iPad or MacBook. If you’re a professional musician or filmmaker, then Apple is your go-to, but I believe that the majority of users waste a lot of money on laptops that aren’t being used to their full potential. It’s like buying a Ferrari when you live nowhere near the Autobahn.

So the Chromebook fit my needs, both professionally and financially. I easily made the transition to computing in the cloud, but what surprised me the most was the Chromebook’s durability. It’s over two years old and it’s my everyday computer. I’ve dropped it twice from my bed and it’s still going strong. It’s been my second-best technology purchase in the last few years.

My best tech purchase? Without a doubt, the Chromecast. A few months after I got my Chromebook, I couldn’t resist the lure of another inexpensive Google product. While I missed out on the free three months of Netflix for early purchasers, I’ve redeemed quite a few offers that Google occasionally adds to the Chromecast Offers page. From free movie rentals to free months of unlimited music, my purchase price of $35 has been paid for multiple times over the last two years.

Today, I scored a free month of UFC’s Fight Pass. Much to my wife’s chagrin, that’s 30 days of unlimited UFC fights.

Day 154: Triple Crown

My favorite horse racing game

My favorite horse racing game

It’s hard to believe that no horse has won the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. That’s 37 attempts and no winner; the closest was Real Quiet, who lost by a nose in the heart-breaking 1998 Belmont. I’ve got my fingers crossed that American Pharoah can break through this Saturday. I’m not a horse-player anymore, but I still follow the Sport of Kings on occasion, especially during the Triple Crown season and the Breeder’s Cup.

Pictured above is a horse racing game my parents gave to me and my brothers after Affirmed joined the exclusive Triple Crown winners club. We loved that game and it had the same thrill for us as watching the real thing. We would name each of the game’s six horses before every race: Affirmed and his nemesis Alydar were regular names, while Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid, and a few others made it onto our little racetrack.

It’s currently listed at $99.00 on ebay, so unless I make it out to the track and hit a few exactas or trifectas, the game will remain on my wish list for another 37 Triple Crowns.

Day 153: Backgammon

image

Backgammon is a game I fell in love with over the last few years. I tried to play it as a teenager, but it just didn’t click with me. It was around my 40th birthday where I taught myself how to play, thanks to the excellent GNU backgammon online game and a few books by backgammon legend Bill Robertie.

I skimmed through Robertie’s  books at the library, then bought his 501 Backgammon Problems. I studied it while playing opponents via Yahoo’s free online games. However, it wasn’t until I started using GNU that my game started to improve quickly. GNU’s tutor mode is essential to learning basic moves and strategy, and I was able to hold my own against more experienced players.

My Toys R Us set pictured above is still in great shape and even though I don’t play as seriously or as often as I’d like these days, when I do, it’s a reminder of how much I love this game.

Day 152: APA Heritage Month Reading

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese

Although Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month just ended, it’s easy to experience APA arts and culture throughout the year. Professor Timothy Yu posted a terrific list of Asian Pacific American/Canadian fiction (all published pre-1990) and I’m looking forward to making my way through this list; I can personally recommend the works of Carlos Bulosan, Maxine Hong Kingston, Joy Kogawa, and Bharati Mukherjee.

Here are a five more that I would add to the list of recommended books about the Asian-Pacific Islander experience. I’ve included a few non-fiction titles as well and linked to the Goodreads pages.

1. Big Little Man Eye-opening look at the perceptions and experiences of APA men, especially Filipinos.

2. Ghost Month Murder mystery set in Taiwan’s night markets.

3. Everything I Never Told You Coming-of-age mystery set in 70s middle America.

4. The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker Thought-provoking collection of essays by former White House speechwriter Eric Liu.

5. American Born Chinese Outstanding graphic novel of the immigrant experience.

 

Day 150: Google Photos

image

I like the new Google Photos. A lot. The search feature is fantastic; it’s great how my photos are now grouped by topic as well as date.

Tonight I found the above photo under the “Golf” heading. I did not create this heading; thanks to the magic of Google Photos, my photos were scanned and put into the appropriate group. This was one of the better golf shots I hit this year; I love this tee shot at Roosevelt because you’re firing right at the Griffith Observatory. Thankfully, Google Photos has no proof of my next shot, a shanked approach that ruined any chance of birdie.

Day 149: Summer Craving

image

Every year around this time, I crave mango ice cream. Summer is getting closer, but my craving comes from an unlikely source: the Los Angeles Lakers.

I’ve been to the last eight Lakers championship parades, dating back to  when Magic Johnson led a rally in front of the old city hall. I was at the Forum when Pat Riley made The Guarantee. I was on Figueroa and 7th for the ShaKobe years.

After a few of the parades, my brothers and I made it to Little Tokyo for lunch and dessert. We’re fans of a little nondescript ice cream shop tucked away in the Japanese Village Plaza. They serve a delicious mango ice cream and it always tasted the best on warm June days, especially after a parade.

Day 148: Google I/O 2015

Google Photos

Google Photos

The big news from today’s Google I/O was the Google Photos launch. In short, the Photos part of Google+ is now a separate entity called Google Photos. I played with it earlier today and it’s terrific. The best part? The free unlimited storage for your photos and videos. Yes, Google one-upped Flickr, right when I was thinking about taking advantage of Flickr’s free 1TB of storage.

One thing that flew under the radar, though, was news about Google+.  Google’s Vice President of Streams, Photos, and Sharing Bradley Horowitz talks about Photos and Plus here. In short, Google+ isn’t going anywhere, much to the chagrin of those who call it a ghost town or worse; reading between the lines, it seems like Plus will be streamlined and re-focused on what it does best, which is connecting people of common interests. I don’t think it’ll ever take over Facebook’s place as the default social media network, but of course I said the same thing about Myspace years ago.

Day 147: Happy Hours

image

My buddy Ricardo and I put together an Unofficial Yelp Event tonight and it was a blast. A dozen of us Yelpers enjoyed craft beers at the Hamilton Family Brewery in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and chowed down on some snacks that my wife and I brought: salt-and-vinegar cracklings and chicken empanadas. There were plenty of laughs and good times during our two hours at the brewery; hopefully this is the first of a regular series of events.

Day 146: A Moose in the House

There's a Moose in the House

There’s a Moose in the House

My wife picked up a copy of There’s A Moose in the House at Barnes & Noble. It was in the clearance section, so she only paid two bucks ($9.99 list price) for a light and entertaining card game.

The theme, artwork, and object of the game are funny. You are trying to fill your opponent’s house with moose by playing moose cards onto empty room cards. There are also door cards to close empty rooms to keep the moose out and “moose trap” cards that remove moose from a room, leaving it available for another moose to enter. After the deck is exhausted, moose in your house are counted; the player with the fewest is the winner.

It’s a simple game and takes about 15 minutes to play. The instructions are a bit longer than necessary and somewhat unclear until a run-through or two. After a few warm-up games, you’ll be giggling as you and your opponents try to bring rampaging moose through each others’ homes.

We liked the game, but I doubt it will be part of our regular rotation of games. It might play better with more players; it was okay with 2 players, but up to 5 can play and I think our nieces and nephew will enjoy it. Still, I can’t think of many better ways to be entertained for two bucks.