Joining the gadget revolution

My first post from my new used iPhone 3G. I started shopping for a new phone a few weeks back. I forget what prompted me to try. Oh yeah it was the fact that I started using SMS more regularly. Using SMS was due to the convenience of communicating at a club. So example, you've just been thrown out, u can now text ur ppl to come and fetch u. :)
Anyway, this is slow compared to my blackberry but it will do. I can see how this enables u to blog while on the go.


Sent from my iPhone

Hong Kong

I'm in Hong Kong now. It's 3:22 AM Sunday morning. Days become nights and days become blurry in the haze of travelling half-way around the world. I'm travelling with mom and Elaine (sister). They are sleeping right now.

We left for Pearson around 9:15 PM on Sep. 24th. My uncle drove us to the airport. We checked our bags and waited for the boarding call. My feelings about the trip is mixed. The intent was to travel to Asia alone, or at least with a friend who was interested in going and finding out later why we went. But that changed because I was afraid to go alone and because all evidence suggests that I couldn't handle it on my own (language being the principle defficiency). I have to admit that I'm defficient in many ways but there's nothing like a trip with yourself to expose them to the light of day.

We travelled Economy class with Korean Air. Mom asked around and we eventually settled on these flights. A very nice flight. Cheap seats and beautiful flight attendants. That's all I need to say. Red-eye flight so we left Pearson at 11:50 PM Thursday and arrived in Seoul 1:10 AM Saturday. Mostly uneventful. You try and sleep, you eat and then you try and sleep some more. If it weren't for our hostesses I would prefer to wake up in Seoul and have no recollection of the trip. The girls wore a beige jacket over a beige skirt, teal blouse with a scarf tied at the neck. Very elegant. Some wore short sleeves some wore long sleeves, some wore pants, most had their hair tied back but one had her hair short and cropped. Quite a variety. However, they all had their hair accented with a hair clip that looks like the traditional chopsticks. I enjoyed it.

We got to Incheon International Airport at 1:10 AM (local time). We exited the plane and walked to Gate 21 which would take us to our next flight (only our next flight was 6 hours away). This was the perfect chance to catch up on some sleep. I slept maybe 2-3 hours on the flight. But in Incheon it was 1:10 PM (Toronto time) and I was wide awake. With so much time on our hands your instinct is to explore. There were phones, washrooms and closed shops at the airport, a free public internet hotspot and an information desk. Mom and I walked up and down this part of the airport once or twice saying hello to some of the people we met on the flight. With nothing else to do (and not sleepy at all) I got online to see how I could entertain myself. Logged into MSN Messenger and began conversations with Americo and then Martin. Americo was still at work (sucker!) but Martin Kim (is a guy whom I met at D-Link Networks a few years ago) was free. We kept in touch, he left for Seoul in 2007 looking for better work. Well, since I was in Seoul (technically Incheon) I decided to contact him. He was surprised to hear that I was in Seoul. It was like 3 AM at this point but 3AM wasn't so significant compared to the 2.5 years and thousands and thousands of miles between us.

I'm having an aside moment :) Litmus test. Friendship. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to get reacquainted, Martin and I. We jumped right in. He took off from his place in Seoul (I believe he said Non Hyeon) grabbed a taxi and travelled like 40 km to see me. Very cool. All I had to do was exit through immigration, fill out entering Korea form as well as a customs declaration form and then I was in the arrivals section of the airport waiting for Martin at McDonald's.

Anyway, Martin got to the aiport around 5 AM and we talked for a few hours. I was happy to see him. Martin, like myself is single with no attachments. So for him, as well as I, going out at 3 in the morning because a friend calls you up one day is an excellent way of getting to know someone and becoming reaquainted. I know, for me, I didn't feel quite so alone in Asia. We talked about work, women and life since D-Link. He's working for Alcatel-Lucent as a sales-engineer. It was great catching up. It was like old times. In fact, it didn't feel like time passed all that much (not that 2 years is a big deal). He was the same, I was the same, only the location has changed.

We talked til 7 AM and then I had to leave. I'm gonna try and fly back to Seoul during this trip. I know that Elaine and mom haven't expected this little turn of events but I feel that it would be personally an excellent option. A friday/saturday weekend would be ideal (for Martin as well as myself). We can hit some of the nightspots and see what Seoul has to offer. Martin says that I'm more interested in women than he remembers of me (we talked mostly geekspeak in Toronto). It's a part of our reality now. They change everything.

So mom, Elaine and I boarded KE603 bound for Hong Kong. 3 hours flight. We landed at 10:40 AM local time. I watched a movie on the flight that I didn't get a chance to finish. I'll have to download it when I get back to Toronto. It's called "The scam". A Korean film. We passed through immigration and then located our bags and met up with my uncle. My uncle drives an S500 Mercedes Benz. Boy was it smooth. We rode to Shatin (where my uncle, aunt and cousins live) and we got settled in my cousins flat. Had dimsum and then I had to crash. I was so tired. I really didn't sleep much on the flights and without sleeping at the stop-over I was a walking zombie. I slept for an hour or 2 and then got up for dinner with my uncle/aunt/cousin/mom/Elaine. Came back to the flat and crashed again. For most of Saturday it's been a blur.

My Benz 2

Here are more pictures (these came from the delearship).



I picked up the Benz on Tuesday August 11th. Finished work at 5 PM. And got myself to Union Station, bought me a ticket for Clarkson Station. and took the Go train to Mississauga. It was raining at the time and it appeared to be a bad day to pick up the car. I was surprised however that the rain quickly cleared and the sky turned blue by the time my buddy picked me up at Clarkson.

It was pretty simple buy (as I mentioned before). When I got there we had to settle the financials. I gave them the bank draft. They gave me another bill for the fines/plates/plate permit. I paid them using my Mastercard. Blah blah blah.

After finalizing the transaction I jumped in the car and I gingerly drove it out of the lot. I was trying to get comfortable but I had to get used to the idea that this was my car.

My Benz

It hasn't hit me yet but I'm a new proud owner of a Mercedes Benz!

Ripped off images from the Internet. My rims look the same as these!

Funny, but it's my first true car. I've driven other cars in the past, see my previous post, but I've never chosen one with my own money.

The deal was struck yesterday afternoon. Americo and I went car shopping early in the morning of Saturday August 8th, 2009. This was really our 3rd time looking at cars. The first day we went to the closest dealer (in Etobicoke) and the following visit (July 25) I made an offer on a Volvo S40 2001. It was a clean car and attractive. The price was really right so it seemed like a no-brainer. Unfortunately it turned into a can-I-trust-you. Eventually I had to walk away.

Our second day out, Americo and I went to a dealer out in Mississauga. I compiled a list of C240 Mercedes Benz that I was considering and we decided to visit a few. We only got to one place. It was half way between Americo's work and my work. There wasn't really anytime after work to look at cars, but we tried. This time we met a friendly guy who showed us the showroom. All the cars were indoors. What a difference it was. There's such a wide variety of people in the automobile resale industry. You can meet some really classy gentlemen and some really slippery dealers. And the cars, unfortunately, really do reflect the salesperson.

Our third day (Aug 8) I bought a car. We visited like 5-6 dealers. 2 of them were ok, the others were pretty slick. It was a gut feeling (Americo felt the same way as I did) but I knew I wasn't going to buy anything from them. Basically, we went back to the dealer that I met on my second day and bought the car that they showed me. Weird but I almost walked away from it at the beginning. You see, I was under the impression that I was looking at a C240. But when we went back the second time we learned that the car was in fact a C230 Kompressor. Believing that I wasn't interested in the C230 I was ready to walk away. But this other sales guy (owner) suggested a test drive. I gave the C240 a test drive already (next door to this guy) so I knew how it handled. So I didn't think there was anything to gain from driving a smaller car (C240 has a 6 cyl. engine, C230 is a 4 cyl. with turbo).

What a difference! The C230 was just peppy. It wanted to run. And with Americo egging me on I put the pedal to the medal and it was fantastic. Hehehe, I was having so much fun. I never felt a car feel so strong, responsive and in control. The turbo engine made the car sound like a futuristic spacecraft with wonderful (easy) acceleration in the 2000 RPM to 6000 RPM range. Americo and I got the car to 150 KM/h on the entrance ramp to the 403. I loved driving the car. It was so much superior to the C240 that I quickly realized that I couldn't consider it (C240) any longer. My intention was to buy a cruiser ... but I didn't realize a cruiser could be so sluggish. Perhaps it was just the C240 that I drove. But it was like night and day. And since the C230 had the amenities that I wanted, i.e. sunroof, heated seats, cool rims, I thought that I would make an offer for the car. 5 minutes later we closed the deal.

Car shopping

Started shopping for a used car. We experienced some funky behaviour on our Toyota Camry 2 weeks back which prompted us to look around.



1. the windshield wiper fluid stopped spraying around the time that I came back from my mechanics around end of May.
2. light bulb on the driver side (front) stopped working (July 13) and started working again when I had it checked out (July 16).
3. I started the car to get it checked out (July 16) and the car started pumping out white smoke out of the muffler.

Because of these, my sister and I decided to begin looking for another car.

I started with the Automart. Located a sweet Volvo S40 2001 for a really good price. After further investigation and a visit to my mechanic I decided against buying the automobile.



It's really too bad because the car was beautiful. But there was enough reason NOT to purchase the car. And I learned alot from dealing with them. My only advise is trust your people. If your going to trust the advice from anyone, trust your people.

Car shopping (checklist)

1. Any liens on the car?
2. Any accidents (causing structural damage)?
3. Take the car to your mechanic.

If your paying in cash a good start for a price discount is to subtract the tax. It's a wise move (which I learned from my buying co-pilot). Standard costs that go into buying a used car are:

1. D.O.T. - $350
2. Admin fees - $150
3. Safety test (and repairs) - $300
4. Emission test - $50

These were the standard costs on top of the listed price for the car.

So I'm still in the market for a used car. My first choice was to buy a Mercedes. I've got over 10 years of driving experience and in that time I've driven a Chrysler Reliant (1985), Honda Civic (2003) and a Toyota Camry (1988). I want to try a luxury vehicle. My co-workers at work are telling me that I should go for the car of my dreams. It's the time. "In a few years you may be married with kids and that opportunity won't be coming back soon". It makes so much sense. When I found the Volvo (practically the first car I saw) I considered it a purchase in which my sister and I would share (since we'll be parking it at her place). It's a good thing it didn't work out because I'm not sure my sister would want it after I move out. So in that case I really should shop for myself. And the car that I've been wanting to buy is the Mercedes Benz.

New York New York

I'm writing this 3 days after returning from New York. Getting back to my day-to-day means that I can't remember much of the experience any more. It's just not as vivid.

Let me start from the end and work my way back.

We left Long Island (near the Baldwin railroad station) around 10:25 AM. It was sunday and Americo just finished playing his Bronze medal game (the Ottawa Barbarians didn't make the Gold medal game because of the goals-for tie-breaker). After the game we were basically ready to go. We drove out of New York taking the I-385 north of Manhattan. There was a delay as a bridge was closed down due to a fire on Friday. Once we got onto the bridge that was available we were off to the races. It was a nice drive. We took I-81 through New Jersey and then back to New York state. We drove to Syracuse then near Rochester. We hit Buffalo on our way to the Lex bridge and discovered that the way at the bridge was 2 hours long. We decided to head back and go to Peace bridge instead.

The way back was pretty irritating. GPS is pretty cool when the girl knows where you want to go. But after we started backtracking she was just getting on my nerves telling me where to go. What's a guy to do when your GPS is giving you bad directions!? Jeesh.

We got to Peace bridge but before we got on we stopped to get some cheaper American gas and to switch drivers. Funny thing is when we got to Buffalo the clouds were hanging over the city like a plague. But driving through New York, and driving to Toronto (after Buffalo) was a pleasure. Strange I know.

Actually, driving to Toronto wasn't a pleasure. The sky was clear but the road was blocked. Stupid accidents along the QEW meant that our projected time of arrival for 8:53 PM turned into 10:26 PM.

Washington DC

I'm on my way to New York. My friend Americo asked if I'd like to join him. He's playing hockey at a tournament there. So we're driving.

We left around 10:10 AM on Thursday morning (had to rent the car and load it). It's been an easy drive so far. Blue skies, open road. Driving can get tedious. When I 16 years old, Americo and I couldn't wait to drive out to the States and see what we can find and do. The first time we went to down to the States we got turned back at the border because I didn't have official papers. Next time, I made sure I got my passport and a few months later we tried again. This time we were through and we crossed the border sometime in the morning. It was an interesting experience at the time (as you could imagine). We crossed Peace Bridge and then you were in downtown Buffalo. Downtown Buffalo isn't too pretty. So I remember we were eager not to spend too much time there, we didn't want to find any trouble. But that trip ended with us spending 2 hours at the border (coming back) as they took some time stripping down our car looking for drugs. It's funny in hindsight but at the time it was a little nervewracking. They interrogated us separately. We were guilty of trying to cross the border without declaring our purchases. Kids.

Old memories. We crossed the border easily yesterday. Followed Americo's GPS and we were driving along I-79 South route towards Pittsburgh. Somewhere before Pittsburgh I took over the driving and I drove the rest of the way. Poor Americo, I took a washroom pitstop, but Americo didn't need to go. I took over the driving at around 3:30 PM and I drove the next 4.5 hours. Americo was hurting by the time we got to Washington DC. :)

If you check out google maps you can see our route. We had a few missteps along the way. We had to get off the I-76 (exit 57) to get some gas but when we tried to get back onto the highway (trying to avoid the toll of the I-76) we found ourselves going westbound on the I-376 heading towards Pittsburgh! We lost maybe 30 minutes on this venture. It pushed back our projected time of arrival to 8:23 PM. Steadily we made the time back. We arrived in Washington DC at 7:53 PM. All-in-all it was a 9 hour drive plus the 1 hour for washroom, food and gas break.

From 8 PM onward it was a rush to take in the National Mall before it got dark. Americo preferred to stay with the car, so I jumped out and took in the sights. I walked toward the centre of the park, orienting myself to the pier of the Washington monument. The first thing I found was the White house christmas tree. It was undecorated (of course) with a plague containing a picture of President F.D. Roosevelt and his christmas tree. It situated the tree to the White house. So I turned around and there it was.



At this distance the impression is the same impression you would get from a postcard (or from television). The view wasn't so impressive as it was secure. We were separated from the building by a road way which cordons off the building from uninvited visitors. Surrounded by the national mall (with no vehicular access) means that security is high with visibility from all directions (from the vantage point of those protecting the site).

I took my few pictures and then I started off in the direction of the Lincoln memorial. Given that the White house and the Washington memorial makes up 2 of the triad I knew that the Lincoln memorial had to be to left of the White house. I walked to the west street and spoke to a southern gentleman who directed me to Constitution Ave. and a walk toward 22nd St. I jogged there.