Apps for NY trip

I'm heading to NYC tomorrow. Yay~~~ Excited to see the big apple again! I will be there on my own with my friends, who know as little about the city as me. Sadly, I can't count on them to show me around. But I'm not even worried, because I've found a fantastic iPhone application called NYC Way. 

It shows detailed information of subway, museums, free activities, restaurants, theaters.... even restrooms. How sweet! Basically, everything you want to know about NYC is just one click away. 

Another kudo for apple!

Looking for a creative T-shirt?

Check out threadless.com

My attention was drawn to threadless because of the hilarious T-shirt shown on the picture below:

This T-shirt, unfortunately, has long sold out, but there are many other creative, funny, cynical, funky ... ones for you to choose from on the website now. I'm sure you can find one that suits your mood the best.

The business model of threadless is different from other customerized T-shirt sites like zazzle.com. Zazzle.com prints out T-shirt first and then sell them on the website. However, Threadless publishes pattern designs instead of real T-shirts on its website and invites users to vote for their favorite patterns. Only when the votes reach certain number will the patterns be printed out on T-shirts, which will be sold online.

Threadless works with artists from all over the world and has built a loyal community of consumers.

Besides, knowing the preference of potential buyers, threadless can easily decide on the quantity of production, which is why its T-shirts are 20-50% cheaper than those on zazzle.com.

Newbie Driver

That's me!! I passed the driving test and got my driver's license yesterday! Yippee! First thing first, I want to thank my hubby for being such a patient instructor, for putting up with the scratches I added to his new car, for trusting my driving skills with his life :) 

In the US, people don't need to go to driving school to prepare for a driver's license - unlike China. After passing knowledge test, you can apply for Instruction Permit, which works as an ID card (you can travel domestically with it) and allows you to drive within the State with an experienced driver (over 5 years) sitting in the front seat.  How cool is that! 

You can then schedule a driving test - road test. Make sure to schedule it early, because waiting period is usually over 1 month. After around 25 hours of driving practice between Bellevue and Seattle, I was ready for the test.

I did my driving test at Bellevue DMV. The driving route is from 132nd Ave. NE - NE 8th St. - 126th Ave. - Parallel parking between two cars there & backing up from a corner there too - NE 2nd St. - 124th Ave. - Bel-Red - back to the DMV office. It took only 20 minutes in total.

I got deducted points from hitting the curb while parallel parking, driving too slowly :), turning a bit little too wide... but no violation of laws or dangerous actions. Just like that, I passed. 

Time to think about what kind of car to drive. Any suggestions? 

Soft cookie recipe

Raining, raining again in Seattle. I need something sweet to cheer up the spirit. How about some chocolate chip cookies?

I have tried dozens of cookie recipe since I bought my first oven in 2005. It was so tiny that I could only bake six cookie at a time. But we were in China, nobody baked at home at all. I was a baking pioneer. My first batch of cookies come out burnt and flat, but my dear friends Bonnie, Sosa & Xiaoliang were so supportive and encouraging that they even finished them up. My fellow workmates became my testing mice for the next several batches of cookies. Thanks buddies! I wouldn't figure out the following perfect cookie recipe without you! 

Here is my recipe.  

Preheat oven to 350F.

To make a batch of 12-16, you will need

1. 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3. 1/4 cup white powdered sugar

4. 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

5. 1/2 teaspoon salt

6. 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter in liquid form

7. 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

8. 1 large egg 

9. 1 cups (half a bag) semisweet dark chocolate chips

Mix all the dry ingredients (1-5) in a large bowl. 

Add liquid ingredients (6-8), mix with forks or simply your hands. 

Add chocolate chips and mix again. 

Make doughs into 1.8-2.0 inch wide, 1 inch thick cookie shaped ones, put them on cookie sheet and send them into the oven.

Bake for 10-12 mins. 

The cookies come out perfectly chewy outside and soft inside! Yummy! I just finished 4 in a row, I'm now happy and fat :) 

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mothers and mothers-to-be that I know. Hope you all had a wonderful one. Watch what this mom has to say about being a mom and see how much you agree. Enjoy it!

Print Screen on iPhone

Aha, big discovery for me. I can print screen on iPhone too!! Here is my screen shot. Perfectly professional, uh? :) You can do it by following the simple steps below: 

1. Make sure your your iPhone firmware is newer than Version 2.0. New iPhone 3GS builds in Version 3.0 already, so you don't need to worry if you have one. If you have an older iPhone, and you haven't updated for ages, go to Settings - General - About - Version to check. If your version is older than V.2, you can update it on iTune. Simply plug your iPhone on your computer and turn on iTune, it will ask you if you want to update. Just click on update. Follow the instructions on the computer screen, it's easy and quick.

2. When you're on the iPhone screen you want to print out, hold home key (the black round button at the bottom of the phone) and power button (the silver one on the top of the phone) at the same time. and then release both. The key is don't hold them both for too long, because that's the way to turn off the phone. Try a couple times, and you will get it.

3.  You will then notice iPhone screen flash white, you can also hear a shudder sound. Go to iPhone Photos, and your screen shot is stored in your photo gallery.

My iPhone Application Pick of the Week

Yelp - A website provides user reviews on businesses like restaurants, hotels, museums, doctors etc. It's the American version of da zhong dian ping.

Have you ever stood at the corner of the street, starving, but just can't find or can't decide on where to go eat. Then, you should download Yelp on your iphone. It allows you to find restaurants near your physical location. It of course pulls out Yelp reviews as well. After you open Yelp, you will find a button call Monocle on the right top corner of the screen. Click on it and activate Monocle. It's the coolest part. Monocle activates iPhone built-in camera and GPS. You just need to point your iphone to one direction the way you hold it when taking a picture. The restaurants just pop up like the pictures shown below.

With Yelp App, you get restaurants' reviews, details and even directions (go toward the way you point your iPhone) all at the same time. If you like it, download it. It's free. 

I used it last night, when my friend and I stood at 3rd and Pine. We were starving from a whole day of museum extravaganza. Yelp led us to an awesome Vietnamese restaurant called Long Provincial Vietnamese Restaurant at 2nd and Steward - Only two blocks away from where we were standing, but we would never find it so easily without Yelp. The restaurant has beautiful oriental settings (lanterns and bamboos),  and western influences (a fireplace and a jellyfish tank). The menu looked great. We ordered two draft beers, two phos and a spring roll dish to share, $35 in total. The food tasted really really good, but was a little bit too much even for two large appetite women, so you know how much to order.  Yippi!! 

I'm in love with Yelp app. Thanks Bill for your recommendation. It's my pick of the week.

Flame clouds

After a day of miserable drizzle, the sun surprisingly showed up at 7pm and set behind the Olympics at around 8pm. The glow of the sun lit up the entire sky, and turned clouds into flames. Maybe that's why in the Chinese culture we call them "Flame Clouds". 

I haven't seen such beautiful clouds for years because of environmental pullution. The last memory was when I was at elementary school. Our Chinese teacher took us out to watch flame clouds after school and told us fairy tales about them. Just when we were busy telling each other:
"oh, look, the cloud looks like a horse"
"I can see a phenix"
"It looks like a chicken to me"
...
 the teacher spoiled our excitement by annoucing our homework for the day- write a story about watching flame clouds. Bummer! We never understood why we had to put down every experience in words.

I just remeber an old saying about weather: Red sky at night: shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning: shepherd's warning.  Delight or not. We will know the result in a few hours.

Buyers Guide for Mac

Macrumors is such a great site. Despite its misleading name, it's a unbiased, user-based blog site that offers the latest Apple related news, user tips, and buying guidance.

If you debating if to buy an iPhone, a new Macbook Pro, or a i-Pod Nano, click on Mac Buer's Guide below, you will find your answer.

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/

Amazon Fresh

Just when I started to miss the cheap food delivery service from Sherpas and free grocery delivery service from CityShop back in Shanghai, I noticed a huge truck stopped by the side of our apartment building, grocery bags being delivered to the reception desk. Hah, who is this grocery angel? The side of the truck says Amazon Fresh.

First time I did was to google Amazon Fresh after I got back home.  Some keywords jumped into my eyes:

* Subsidiary of Amazon.com - brand recognition, meaning good quality & good service

* Same day home delivery (by 10pm) or pre-dawn next day delivery (by 6am)- confirmation of good service

* Free attended doorstep delivery for any order over $125 and free unattended doorstep delivery for any order over $75 - Answer to the most asked question - How much does it cost?  0!! :) $75 equals RMB510, which may sound a lot. But it actually not too hard to reach considering mushrooms are $3.99 per pound (less than one Jin), salmon is over $10 per pound, strawberries are $4.99 per pound, grapes are $3.99 per pound...

* No tips for the delivery guy - as a person from a non-tipping country, "should I tip" is my frequent question. It's great to know the customers are not obliged to tip.

* Quality assurance - Well, I believe in Amazon. That says everything.

BUT, how expensive are grocery items listed on Amazon Fresh? Are they more or less expensive then those carried by Wholefoods, Safeway or QFC?  There isn't a quick answer to this one, so I did some comparison myself. I would say Amazon Fresh is definitely less expensive than the regular price of Wholefoods. For example, Steelhead Salmon fillet is sold for $10.99 per pound, Wholefoods usually sell it for over $12. Even when on sales, this salmon fillet is about $9.59 per pound. Amazon Fresh actually offers 15% off if you choose automatic delivery and the price goes down to $9.35. Gala apple is sold for $1.99 per pound at Wholefoods, but $1.53 at Amazon Fresh & also eligible for another 15% off for automatic delivery.

I will surely give Amazon Fresh a try then.

Save on Seattle Attractions

Seattle has a bunch of museums which are fun to visit. If you have flexible hours like me, you can go when the entry fee is free. Here is the list.

SAM - Seattle Art Museum: $15

• First Thursdays: Free to all
• First Friday: Free to seniors (age 62+)
• Second Fridays, 5–9 pm: Free to teens (ages 13–19) with ID

Seattle Museum of Flight: $15

• First Thursdays evenings from 5-9 pm

SAAM - Seattle Asian Art Museum: $7 

• First Thursdays: Free to all
• Second Thursday: Free to all from 5-9pm
• First Fridays: Free to seniors (age 62+)
• First Saturday: Free to families

Olympic Sculpture Park:

• Free all year long. Woohoo.

Even if you don't have flexible hours, there are still ways to save money. Grab a yellow booklet called Seattle Premier Attractions at libraries, ferry boats or visitor's centers, or go to www.seattleattractions.com and download coupon book under great deals. 

You can get $3 off cruise,  $2 off Chinatown tour, $3 off Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum, $2 off Museum of Flight, $1 off SAM and Seattle Aquarium, and many other deals. Enjoy!

Where is spring?

Today was a sunny day, high at 15 degrees and low at 5 degrees. It was in my weather channel a winter day. I have been wondering for months where the spring is in Seattle, until I spent the day outdoor at Seattle Center, I have found the answer. It IS spring, and it HAS been spring since mid March, when trees start to wear a touch of green, when flowers peek out from the bark, when duck mom leads her ducklings swim in the lake, when it doesn't rain every day but every other day, when some impatient or hot-blooded Seattleites walk swiftly in the streets in shorts and t-shirts ...

I am so used to the 7-day speed-of-sound spring in shanghai (only 2-day and speed-of-light this year!!!) and almost forgot that the spring is supposed to last a quarter of a year - 3 months. We are luck to still have spring here in Seattle. Better enjoy it. Seattle Center is a great place to go. It's covered with beautiful grass, where you can feel free to walk, to sit or to lie down. The best of all, the entire Seattle Center is covered with Free-Wifi, so you can set up your work station right there. No excuse for home staying anymore :)

A side note: Iron Man II is coming up on May 7th. Watch it at IMAX theater at Science Center. Book tickets ahead of time, because they sell really fast. Get tickets, click here the link below:

http://www.pacsci.org/imax/comingsoon.html

 

Google Voice

I'm exploring cheap way to make international calls. I have always used Skype, and the rate is $0.024 per minute to call China. I downloaded Skype application on my iPhone, which allows me to call from my phone, instead of a laptop. It was truly handy dandy.

However, I just discovered today that Google Voice offers even cheaper rate at $0.020 for international call and totally free for domestic calls. Besides, text msgs are free as well. It can also turn voice mail into transcript and send to you through sms. How cool is that.

Right now, Google Voice is only available in the US, and is based on invitation only. If you are in the US, and have a google account, you can request an invite through your account.

Click on the link below for more information:

http://www.google.com/mobile/voice/

You can also go to Wiki to read more about Google Voice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice

Google rocks!

Google Picnik

Google acquired a great online photo-editing company call Picnik very recently. It's great that I met with the CEO Jonathan yesterday. He is extremely nice and smart, and he is the only person that sold two companies to Google. Wow.

I'm an ardent amateur photographer, and I edit photos all the time. I have been using Photoshop & Neoimaging. Both are advanced photo editing softwares and both need to be installed on your computer.  However, sometimes, I just want to give my photos a bit touch-up, and I don't want to install anything. Picnik is great. It's easy and fun to operate and easy and fun to share with other. 

I tried on Picnik, and I loved it. 

Here is the original picture.  

and here is Picnik touch-up. It took me only 3 mins!!

Isn't it great? Go to picnik.com and try out yourself!

Pricegrabber

Pricegrabber.com is a pretty good site to check for the lowest price of authentic new electronic items from officially authorized channels. For example, let's try my camera, Nikon D90.

You will find the prices vary from $759-$899, and dbuy.com offers the lowest price. There are reviews that you can check. You can then click on dbuy, and go to the site to buy directly.

You can try Apply Macbook, and you will find MacConnection has the lowest price at $989.99 + free tax + free shipping. 

I also tried iPad, but the prices came out ridiculously high. Maybe the product is still too new for the market. 

You can also compare prices of other daily items. For example, I'm thinking of buying a Mariner's woman jersey that I can wear to go watching Mariners play games.  FanEdge seems to have the lowest price at 64.99. Jeez... Too expensive. Time to try a non-authorized channel - eBay.

Art Star Craft Bazaar

I really wish there was such art bazaar in Seattle. Maybe there is, and I just haven't looked hard enough. This is such a fun event to meet creative people and find interesting artsy pieces.

I post this event here for my mom-in-law and sister-in-law who loves arts, and who are living on the east coast, and might be interested in driving up there. Here is the link to the art bazaar.


http://www.artstarcraftbazaar.com

The art pieces I thought most interesting are:

Maire Eife's unique Felt Jewelry

Lil Fish cute Children's clothes

 and Yummy & Company's state-of-art mini planter.

Origami Box

My drawers are a bit messy, with pens, markers, coins, clipper... flying around. Time to sort things out. I've been searching for cheap/free storing ideas, until I find Origami Box, which is cheap, almost free to make, and looks fabulous in drawers.

 

Aha, exactly what I need!

 

 You can even serve snacks & edamames in these cute boxes at a party. No dish clean, just toss. 

Here is the step by step instruction.  

1. Start with a square piece of paper (6 *6 inches). Fold the paper in half horizontally and then verically, so the creases look like this.	2. Fold the four corners of the paper toward the center point

3. Fold the top and bottom of this square into the center and open out again to create these creases.	4. Open out the top and bottom triangular flaps.	5. Fold the sides of the model into the centre, creasing well.

6. Fold down top corner of model and then open out again.	7. Fold down model in the other direction	You should now have 2 new diagonal creases like this.

8. Repeat step 6 & 7 at the other end of the model, so you have the new creases at both ends.	9. At one end of the model,Open out model along the creases you just made. This will raise the top portion of the model vertically.

10. Fold top of model over into the box. Its taking shape!	11. Repeat Step 9 and 10 at the other end of the box... and its finished! To make a lid, just make another box, but start with a slightly bigger piece of paper.

For more origami ideas, click on Origami Fun.