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March 30, 2005

(Almost) Free Bagels @ BMW

At almost 12,000 miles my car finally got it's first service...for free. That's right! I'm not paying "nada". I'm getting the typical oil-change stuff: a few pints of fancy oil, a tiny oil filter, a tiny air filter, wipers blades (front and back) and tire rotation...woohoo! Oh, and let's not forget the free bagels, courtesy of Panera, and High-Speed internet access, courtesy of Comcast.

45 seconds later...

Wait...
I did pay for those items and I'm still paying for it every month I receive my car statement. Damn you BMW!

Posted by jachong at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

March 29, 2005

Rigo Tovar (1946-2005)

That's right folks. Rigo is now among Chico-Che, Cri-Cri and Nixon.

For those who doesn't know who Rigo was, you can read a little bit from him here. For those who DO know who Rigo was, well...maybe you'll be happy, maybe you'll be sad or maybe you'll close your browser and you'll stop reading all this nonsense.

Please keep reading if you want to hear 4 of his most famous tracks (quicktime required).

Boy if I love music!

		Oh! Que gusto de volverte a ver
		El Sirenito
		Mi Matamoros querido
		No que no

Posted by jachong at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)

More Water...

For the second time in one week we were pummeled with more rain and well...at this moment you know what does that mean...

The S.S. Essex leaves the dock.

Posted by jachong at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2005

Chungwon's Recital - Done

For almost one hour, we were delighted with an amazing performance. Chungwon's selections (pieces of Beethoven and Chopin) trully showed her skills at the grand piano. Everybody (myself included) were thrilled on how Chungwon took to its knees those B/W keys. Awesome job Chungwon! Congratulations again! (from all of us).

Posted by jachong at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2005

Easter Celebration - Done

Once again, great company, great food and one more Easter rabbit hopped out.

Posted by jachong at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2005

Chungwon's Invitation

This morning Luciana and I were delighted to receive Chungwon's recital invitation. We're sure is going to be an awesome performance! We'll be there.

PS(1). Unfortunately Bert-O will not be able to attend. I'm sure he will be stopped by Peabody's bouncer.

PS(2). Jiho (my geek buddy), I love your PHP variables at URLs. ;)

Posted by jachong at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)

11,111 miles

Or 17,881.42 Kms. driven. I don't think is too much for a one year and a half old car. Is it?

Luciana's car recently reached the 30,000 mile mark (or 48,280.31 Kms.)

Posted by jachong at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2005

A call for help

Friends and family help each other when they have problems, right? They support each other. Well, this is not the case, fortunately we're OK and we have great friends around us.

But lately my craving for technology has come up (again) and I'm feeling a void on my head, maybe that's why I feel light-headed...

Anyway. If you have $250 laying on your checking account and you don't know what to do with them, stop by your local electronics store and grab one of this "bad-boy gizmo" for me. Just be sure to call me AFTER you have it in your hands so I can prepare you a so-so coffee in advance to greet you when you come over to hand it to me.

PS.
If you hate to go to electronic's stores (like Luciana) don't worry. I can put a PayPal button on this blog so you can make the money transfer from your home or office. How cool is technology, huh?

Just don't forget that if you're PRETENDING you have one for me and you call over to prepare you the so-so coffee in advance and you arrive empty-handed, I will instruct Bert-O to tear you apart. You're warned.

Posted by jachong at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2005

As expected...

With today's rain (almost 2.5 inches on our area) our basement got flooded (again). Luciana and I are used to this type of event, at the beginning Luciana will freak out and I will be cool, now, Luciana doesn't freak out anymore and I still remain cool.

One of these days we're going to fix this...one of this days (when we have a little over $10K to spare).

In the meantime, Spring is here and gardening season is open! Woohoo!, no more indoor work for me! (Just kidding amore) ;)

PS.
Yes, the one in the picture is Luciana working out the squeegy.

Posted by jachong at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2005

Peek-a-boo

The Bert-O-cam now is incorporated into the blog. The pop-up option is still available.

PS.
Yes. I DO like to keep an eye on Bert-O from time to time.

Posted by jachong at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)

March 20, 2005

Sticky Business

With the arrival of Spring, Luciana and I decided to take out our tools to start working again on our house...I guess this is the beginning of the 2005 working-at-home season.

As my first assignment, I was in charge of removing the wallpaper from one of our bedrooms. Well, after removing wallpaper from other 4 rooms I can say that I have got some experience on doing it. So, if you find yourself on a similar ordeal, don't forget to get a bottle of the magical "DIF".

"Hands-down" when it comes to wallpaper removal! This product will ease your work and will also leave your sponge stuck at the wall for you to stare at it...

How cool is that, huh?!

Posted by jachong at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

Gallery Integration

Finally I'm done with the integration of our photo gallery into this blog...check it out!

I think it looks pretty neat...oh well, I'm just feeding my ego.

PS.
No more CSS for today.

Posted by jachong at 12:51 AM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2005

Car 181's 348-degree Virtual Tour

At NCSDO, the concept of creating or reviewing virtual tours for our clients have become a common task for Jiho and me, for that reason I decide to honor the car 181 with one...

Whoa! I'm dizzy already! Thank God it's Friday!

Posted by jachong at 07:02 PM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2005

Bert-O's Buddies

Chewy...


Maia...

more Maia...


and more...


Maia again.

Posted by jachong at 01:03 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2005

Server Update is complete!

That's right! everything looks OK.

Some new sections were added to the right column...and tons of Perl modules on the back-end.

I love CPAN!

Posted by jachong at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)

Server Update...8:58PM EST

So far...everything went fine. I will post at a later time once I confirmed all the data is on its place.

Posted by jachong at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)

Offline

Today @ 4:30PM EST.

The server require some major geek intervention.

Hopefully we will be back online @ 6:00PM EST.

If not, well...you'll get the idea of what happened.

Posted by jachong at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2005

Chungwon's Recital

Leave your HipHop Cds at home and get some training on how music should be performed.

When: March 28 @ 8:30PM
Where: Peabody Institute

Please R.V.S.P

Posted by jachong at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

March 13, 2005

Sagra de la Polenta - Done

A great "social-all-you-can-eat" gathering.

Thanks to Simone, Michael, Dolly(sp?), Bill(?), Jiho, Rosalyn, Karen and Ma. Rosa for this to happen.

Posted by jachong at 09:21 PM | Comments (1)

March 12, 2005

Socialization on the dog world

Dogs or puppies that spent most of the time without any contact with their similars grow up thinking that humans are the only beings around them which they can only interact. This was the case of Bert-O.

Bert-O hasn't had a chance to interact with other dogs due to the fact that he's still under his vaccination program, but on Saturday he had the chance to "socialize" (if I can call that "socialize") with other canine member (Machia, a 4 year-old Jack Russell).

Bert-O wasn't too excited. He was actually very nervous by the other canine presence, no jumping, no pouncing...until Macchia left his not-so-fun similar. I'm glad he's learning that he's not the only four-legged being. Indeed, socialization is not simple, not even for humans.

Posted by jachong at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

Bert-O's 2nd visit to vet

That's right, vaccines!

At 11 weeks weighting 13.5 lbs. Bert-O showed no fear for needles...

Although, he pooped in the middle of the Vet's parking lot and he threw up his breakfast on our way back to home.

Posted by jachong at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2005

From March 7 - 11

Nothing excited...the usual routines and Bert-O still enjoying his "discovering-phase".

PS.
Oh, and I made contact with my father after 13 years... (Man! I love google)

Posted by jachong at 10:17 PM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2005

New Photos

Updated galleries.

- Bert-O's 10 weeks
- Casota's March 2005

Posted by jachong at 05:53 PM | Comments (0)

Me-chew-shoes..me-like-shoes

People (or humans) usually pursue new goals, new objectives. Puppies chase bouncing tennis balls…but when that goal is reached, they will seek for bigger challenges.

Posted by jachong at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)

Identity theft?

What's wrong with this picture?

It's the desktop image of a 28 years-old 6-foot Asian-male. Yes, Jiho's

Posted by jachong at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)

Sagra de la Polenta! (Updated)

Rescheduled to:

When: Sunday, March 13 @ 1:00 PM
Where: 4000 Essex

Posted by jachong at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2005

Name-that-tune

Do "Pour some sugar on me" from Def Leppard turn you on? or "Woman del Callao" from Juan Luis Guerra make you jump?

Well, our online jukebox is now fully functional...

What do I need? (you might ask)

- iTunes or Windows Media Player.
- Download our stream and play it inside iTunes or WMP.
- Login into the Jukebox (From the "Links" section of the right column).
- Pick and listen to your favorite song (if you can find it).

Please feel free to write your comments! (although...any comments bashing out the 80's music will be immediatly deleted).

Posted by jachong at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2005

Dj_Burrito!

My 15 minutes of fame...

Be sure to have Quicktime installed before proceeding.
A little bit over a year, Apple released GarageBand. A program that for people like me (who skipped music class on elementary school) and professionals use to record/edit music right of their Macintosh. With this simple way of creatig music I decided to give it a try and well, here are the results:

Track 1		Intro
Track 2		Orange's Farm
Track 3		Motel Sahara
Track 4		Beat Machine
Track 5		Classical For Dummies
Track 6		I Left My Heart In Acapulco
Track 7		Uncle Jimbo
Track 8		Kolli The Happy Viking
Track 9		End Of My Kind But-No-So Close 3rd Encounter
Track 10		Mean Chick
Track 11		Jumping Mouse
Track 12		Sunny Caribbean
Track 13		Last Night Raid
Track 14		Around The Corner Of Cafe Madrid
Track 15		Pissed Cicada

My fan club...

Posted by jachong at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)

Fire-that-fox

Who doesn't remember this "heart-pounding" eighties thriller? I'm sure several people out there remember Mr. Eastwood stealing from the Russian comrades a supersonic plane that can be controlled with the mind...how about that for Eastern technology! (if you didn't see this movie maybe because you weren't born yet, try to grab a copy from your local Blockbuster).

Well, this entry is not about Mr. Eastwood's performance, is about "Firefox".

Firefox is not only a mind-controlled-super-fast-plane that I'm sure now is parked on Area 51. No, Firefox is also a web browser. A web browser? yes, a simple tool (or program) that everybody who roam the web these days uses. There are around 20 different web browsers out there, all have different purposes, some are tiny and simple for portable devices, like PDAs or cell phones, other are huge and complex, these last ones let you manage your personal contacts, emails, newsgroups. Others are just plain bad and ugly.

I do believe that a web browser should be only a program to browse the web, period. If you want to manage your contacts, check your email or brew some coffee right of your computer, there's better software outside the browser that can do a better job, believe me (but that's another story).

More than 80% of the computers in the world uses Windows on its different flavors (95,98, Me, 2000, XP, etc.) These OSes (Operative Systems) uses Internet Explorer at its core. Internet Explorer (PC version) is a great browser (don't get me wrong) when malicious code was not an issue. I'm sure you've heard how many times a Microsoft-targeted-virus has made havoc on some systems. Now, let me be clear. Not because you don't use Internet Explorer you're free of this type of threats. No, that's a different story.

Enough...

Bottom line:

- Internet Explorer without all the security patches (PC version) can download and run malicious code without your intervention.
- Internet Explorer with all the security updates will frustrate you because the browser will prompt you for a confirmation for every website you visit. This is just annoying!
- Download Firefox and roam the web without problems. Like when Mr. Eastwood roamed the streets of San Francisco with a .357 on "Dirty Harry".

Posted by jachong at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2005

Jiho's MacMini arrival

After several days of waiting, Jiho's new computer has arrived...poor computer.

Opening:


First Pull:


WTF?!


Oh...I've greasy fingers!


I'm going to mod you so bad...

Posted by jachong at 01:47 PM | Comments (2)

Jiho's tip of the day...

If you own one GSM cell phone, I'm sure you've heard about SMS and MMS. This way of communication is all over the place, computer software now can make the task of sending SMS right from your desktop.

Jiho's way to send a simple SMS:
**You'll need a Macintosh with OS X (if you don't have one, rush to get one, they are cheap! and your life will be simpler).

- Launch iChat (you'll need to have an account with AOL's Instant Messaging).
- Press "command+shift+n". A small window will pop up prompting you the address of the person you want to invite.
- In this field enter (within US) "+1(area code)(cell number)" and press "OK".
- Compose your short message and press "return".
- Boom! Your SMS is on it's way.

I haven't try to use this method to send SMS outside the US. I'm not sure if it works.

Unfortunately Jiho's tips sometimes only work inside the US territory.

Posted by jachong at 09:46 AM | Comments (1)

March 02, 2005

More office snacks

They just keep coming!

Posted by jachong at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

New habits

8:45 pm - Petsmart Rt. 40
Getting acquainted to new habits is not an easy task, take for example something very simple like...when you started to smoke cigarrettes (if you smoke, obviously) didn't you feel your throat sore when the night before you smoked like there's no tomorrow? Yes it was hard, but just for a few mornings.
Well, searching for puppy food is not that bad at all...the "bad" is when you realize how expensive is...like cigarrettes.

Posted by jachong at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2005

Office snacks

Tuesday's snacks!

Posted by jachong at 12:13 PM | Comments (2)

Bert-O's latest pictures

Bert-O's latest gallery is up.

Posted by jachong at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

February Gallery

A really small (and I mean really) small February gallery is up.

Posted by jachong at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

Eugene Evans

Owning a home require a entire new set of things (specially if you are coming from renting an apartment). You have to take care of a lot of uncommon things, like calling a technician in the middle of the night on a weekend if any of your appliances stop working; like the refrigerator or the A/C-furnace or if sewer water start coming out from the toilet like a Roman fountain. In winter, you have to take care of the snow pilled on your driveway from the "snowy" night before...here's where our friend Eugene comes to the scene. We met Eugene when he offered us his services as a "tree-vanquisher" for our rotten oak. On that sunny fall day he also offered us to be our "snow-defender", he will throw out our snow like a lion throw a gladiator across the arena. We agreed to see that encounter...but there's a catch, Eugene will only face the snow if we get more than 5 inches (you can't put a gladiator to fight a home cat on the arena).
Well, we have witnessed 3 matches so far this winter and boy let me tell you, seeing all that snow being thrown away (again, like our friend the gladiator) is awesome, he will even put the snow out of his misery with rock salt!

Unfortunately the admission ticket to this match is not cheap. $55.00 for a box seat.

If you're interested to witness this type of encounter on your own property, please feel free to contact me so I can forward you Eugene's (the lion) information.

Posted by jachong at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)