WiredAtom

At almost 19 months, Bryan has become incredibly innovative ways in dealing with daily issues using his problem solving skills. Here are a couple of examples.

A Whole New Game
Bryan has one of those multi-functional toy boxes that facilitates different types of learnings on each side of the box. One of the sides is an opening that allows Bryan to reach in to the center of the box to grab the blocks that he’d insert into the box from one of the sides. But he’s outgrown the box a while ago.

Just recently we bought him a complete set of colorful wooden alphabets to play with because he just LOVES solving puzzles and match shapes of blocks. At first we thought alphabets would be kind of challenging. But within a couple of weeks, he knew exactly where each alphabet goes without any help. And because we always sound out the alphabets when he makes a match, he already knew how to pronounce a few of the alphabets. After a while, the game got pretty boring for him.

So one day he decided to invent his own game with the two toys — he dumps all of alphabets into the toy box. So instead of picking alphabets at will by looking at them, he spiced up the activity by randomly picking out an unknown alphabet and tried to match that specific alphabet he just picked out!

WOW!

Making the Association
Bryan is at the stage where he wants to help himself to everything he eats. And we allow him to make a mess most of the time to help build his self-confidence and fine-motor skills. But one of the challenges has been finding a cup size that he can comfortably hold on to for maximum control.

While having pancakes at a restaurant one time, we noticed the cup used for syrups was perfect size for his tiny palm to comfortably hold on to. So we cleaned and washed the cup and replaced syrups with water. He LOVED the cup. And he kept drinking and asking for refills with it like an alcoholic at a bar. It was really funny to see.

So last night Grace gave him a small glass of milk to drink and experiment with using different types of utensils. At first he was happy with using a straw and different types of spoons. But then he realized one of his toys looks exactly like the syrup container he used at the restaurant. So he went and dug it out and started happily scooping milk out of the mug and drank with it. It was fascinating to see how quickly he made the associations on those objects.

I was reading The Codist blog when I saw an interesting stock chart. But instead of stealing his, I decided to make my own (bless Google Finance).

Michael Dell of Dell Computer once advised Steve Jobs to close the company and give the money back to the shareholders back in 1996…

Squint hard, you might be able to see Dell on the chart somewhere. See whose investors are laughing all the way to the bank now?

This gives me the more reason to believe that Murdza is really a mega-gabillionaire. He still goes to work just to hide his true wealth as an Apple stock shareholder like before the original iMac was even born.

Sometimes I wonder: Is it wrong to tell your friend the woman he’s marrying brings out the worst of him as a human being?

But I guess it’s too late now. She turned him into her long before they got married.

I’ve always found it amusing listening to BBC News whenever they have guests over debating on controversial issues. I like the fact that the journalists at BBC always ask tough questions and are never satisfied with politically correct answers. U.S. news reporters, in contrast, are always so careful about what they ask and how they ask it. And when they receive an answer that’s not really the answer they asked the question for, they tend to just let it go. Even NPR’s Jim Lehrer sometimes suffers the same problem.

But the Brits, oh no… The Brits will interrupt an interviewee if he wanders off topic and beat him until they gets something they think has answered the core of the question. BBC rocks.

WARNING: Endless ranting ahead.

I am not sure if any body’s noticed the deterioration in service from providers like FedEx and UPS in recent years. Ironically the USPS has become more and more reliable in comparison. I remember the days when it was just so easy to blame the USPS for everything…

But now, almost every other package I send and receive through those “premium carriers” is in danger of being lost. Not too long ago, drivers used to ring the bell and wait for someone to answer before leaving a notice on the door. And they almost never left anything of value by default unless explicitly asked to. However, it seems like both FedEx and UPS “conveniently” altered their policies, at about the same time, and decided that waiting for customers to answer the door takes too damn long. So now everything is assumed “signature not required” and can be left by the door. Some drivers don’t even bother to knock on the door or ring the bell to at least acknowledge the recipient that a package has arrived.

Technology is supposed to improve things, but as a customer, sometimes it seems to only make things more stressful when working with FedEx or UPS on package tracking. By far, in my experience, FedEx has been the absolute worst nightmare. To date, my record with them is: one lost package, one lost-scare and one missing package (as of today, they have NO idea where it is). Everybody just assumes that if something is not in “the system”, it doesn’t exist (much like if you can’t Google it, it’s not there).

I printed a shipping label using FedEx’s own online software (which is buggy; what kind of stupid email notification system assumes no dash exists in domain names?), and I dropped the package off at a local FedEx sorting center myself. But soon it became suspicious to me that the tracking number that FedEx had generated doesn’t seem to be valid for tracking. So I called customer service, whose system showed no record of such package (even though it is showing under my tracking history under my FedEx account on FedEx’s own freaking website). Then customer service transferred me to Internet department where they were supposed to know more about web-based tracking: Nothing there either. Then Internet services transferred me again to Billing, whose system, clearly pulling data from the same source, was also not showing the package being available. He then transferred me, guess where…., BACK TO customer service.

Again, no luck. So now I have a package that part of FedEx’s giant computer system knows about but is unable to find its whereabouts. Can they still be held responsible if the package was lost under such circumstance? Unlikely. Now, I haven’t read the fine prints in those long-ass end user agreements; but I have a feeling it’s written against me, the customer who’s paying for their very existence.

Then there are all kinds of different surcharges they add on to maximize their profits. For example, what the hell is a “fuel surcharge”? I mean, the freaking premium I am paying them to delivery my packages, isn’t that, in part, paying for their labor, time, expertise, and, oh, FUEL? And then they charge small businesses for using their website to print labels — HELLO? Isn’t that making everyone’s lives easier if their ground personnel don’t need to manually process each package? Shouldn’t all this be SAVING them money? So why are small businesses charged $11.50 for every week (or was it month?) that the online shipping label system is used? It’s just insane!

Now coming back to USPS, its website is not as fancy, and tracking information sometimes takes days to appear. But as soon as one gets used to those facts, the site is easy to use, reliable and has never failed me (yet). On top of that, USPS gets it — if I print a shipping label and ship via its online system, I actually get a small discount! Considering how much mail USPS processes, how much lower its fees are, and how much nicer its employees are (they always knock, ring and wait), it’s amazing UPS and FedEx are still making so much profit every year as much as they abuse and mistreat their customers.

Forget it… enough rant for today. The lesson here is: Multi-national corporations are inherently evil given enough market share, cash and power. Which is why publicly mandated systems that deliver services to the public under the law should always have a place in humanity — education, postal services, health care… etc. Anyone who’s trying to privatize them just aren’t thinking long term. Remember, corporations answer to investors and maximize profits, not to do what’s good for the general public, and certainly not to do what’s good for humanity.

Aw, damn it… I’ve got to end this here….

After having missed some valuable shots of Bryan doing amazing stuff, I finally decided to open up my checkbook for a more modern camera. Thanks to previous researches done by Michael and my cousin Alex, I knew exactly which camera to get — another Canon — Canon SD800 with built-in image stabilization.

Within 36 hours of the purchase from Amazon, the price of the camera dropped by $20 BEFORE it was even shipped! So I dug around to see if Amazon has a policy to match its own prices — no luck there. However, Amazon does have an unwritten rule on “price drop” policy within 30 days of purchase — they will refund the difference of the price for the same item within Amazon stores. Thanks to this bargain hunting site for the tip. And apparently there’s also a site dedicated to helping customers track their items purchased from Amazon complete with an email reminder feature (for free!).

Here’s a blurb from Amazon’s customer service department:

From: cust.service***@amazon.com
Subject: Your Amazon.com Order (#***-*******-*******)
Date: February 22, 2007 10:15:38 PM PST
To: ********@wiredatom.com

Thank you for writing to Amazon.com.

The discounts we offer for items on our web site do vary from time to time. I’ve checked your order, and found that we now offer a greater discount on the item than at the time you placed your order.

Since this item was shipped so recently, I have requested a refund of $20 to your credit card. This amount reflects the difference between the price you were charged and the discounted price. The refund should be processed in the next few days and will appear as a credit on your next billing statement.

You may view returns and refunds by clicking the “Your Account” link at the top of our web site, then clicking “Go!” next to “open and recently shipped orders.” Completed refunds will appear at the bottom of an individual order’s summary page.

I hope this solution is satisfactory. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com–we hope you will visit us again soon.

.
.
.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Serena
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com
==============================
Check your order and more: http://www.amazon.com/your-account

This was what I did to get the refund:

1. Use Amazon’s Return & Refunds Contact Form.
2. On the subject of the form, select “Refund Inquiry” and hit “continue”.
3. On this screen, there should be a list of eligible items for the inquiry. Check ones that you’d like to have the price difference refunded and click on “continue” again.
4. Then next in the comments box, simply tell them you’d like to get a refund in the difference in price… etc. Be nice though.

Within a few hours of my request, Amazon’s email came through and my refund was approved! This gives me yet another reason to shop at Amazon!

One related note: Buy.com used to have a price match guarantee with a similar (but not nearly as intuitive) process. But the company has since become a pain in the ass to deal with on almost everything (well, except the checkout). Unless you have a compelling reason to shop at Buy.com, my experience tells me to stay away from them…

Exciting times…

This afternoon we witnessed one of Bryan’s very first steps… freehand…. without holding on to anything!

He’s a bit of a “late walker” (according to some parents anyway; but we are not worried). So to see him taking this first steps was fun. We think he knows how to walk on his own (he’s proven that he can stand just fine as well), but he’s a little cautious about falling on hardwood floor (I would too). So we are letting him take his time with walking… Otherwise his other developmental skills are doing just fine!

Ah… joys of childrearing…

I think it’s the cutest thing when Bryan finds his own amusements.

When he gets bored with this toys, Bryan will find his books, cuddled with this bear, and “read” out loud. Well, okay, he can’t exactly read yet. But he will flip through the pages and identify things/animals that he knows and say the words.

It gives us a great sense of accomplishment and joy to see this little human being growing and absorbing all this knowledge in his brain. What surprises us the most is his ability to comprehend a lot of things we say without baby-talking to him.

Ah~, Such as the joy of childrearing.

In a move to push sales, the Devil Microsoft apparently is using an interesting tactic to dump Windows Vista on consumers…

Though I have no way of verifying this report, I am sure that in the coming weeks, I can expect to see systems, no matter how low end and ill equipped, are going to be shipped with Vista despite analysts’ warning on how little value it brings to the PC computing platform. On the other hand, I think this is also a matter of economics for most PC manufacturers. The more computers they sell with Vista pre-installed, the cheaper they can get Vista for in bulk. An since Vista is such a buzz word now, it helps to slap that OS on all shipping PCs to qualify for a cheaper volume rate from Microsoft.

I suppose this is another reason why Linux, by the virtue of economics, is doomed. It gives no incentive for PC manufacturers to ship systems with Linux when they can put on another copy of Vista to get better overall rates from Microsoft! Oh, the irony.

Where’s that cat from Apple again? I am ready for it…

Walking to the parking lot after my Java class today, I was a little surprised the back lot was actually jam packed at 9:00 PM on a weekday. People are really making themselves stay ahead by taking classes these days at the UCSC Extension.

And seeing a parking lot full of nice cars made me feel a little dispirited about where I am in life. I dragged my sorry-ass self to the car, which isn’t even mine (a loaner from Michelle), which was probably the only car on the lot older than 10 years. I sighed, opened the car door, and slouched in the seat for 10 seconds reflecting on our troubles with the immigration, unemployment and life. But thankfully, as I thrust my left foot into the clutch and turned on the engine, the sounds of BBC News on NPR took my mind away from it all.

Coming home to Bryan cheered me up though. How can anyone stay depressed in the presence of little angels?

I finally have some spare time to upgrade my aging Wordpress 1.5.x to 2.1. Good thing I waited till I really had the time to do it… because the upgrade literally punched a hole in time and sucked all that time out… The upgrade wasn’t terrible at all. The more tedious part was to get all the newer versions of plug-ins I use, test them and make sure none of them break anything. So far everything looks decent in Firefox.

I tried upgrading to 2.0 when it first came out. But it just blew up. So I figure anything with a “.1″ in its version name should worth the time.

Now back to more urgent matters — Java and other stuff.

One of the advantages that proponents of Java love about the language is garbage collection — the process in which JVM cleans up after your program is done partying and messing with your computer’s memory — free of charge. Th-unk you. Com’ again. Buh-bye.

Simplistically speaking, in comparison, C and C programmers typically need to clean up after themselves. The problem with that is, sometimes these parties get so wild that it makes the clean up afterwards impossible. That’s when “memory leaks” occur (ahem, Safari). The “parties”, of course, are the programs that rampage through your computer’s memory when they are having the time of their lives (which is not all that long). I mean, WHO likes cleaning up after parties, right? Think about it: Even if you try, there are bound to be spots where you just can’t get to or miss out from all the other cleaning you have to do YOURSELF. Java frees programmers from that headache by being in the business of memory salvation. Bless Java.

So here’s how it works… Whenever your Java program disposes something that it no longer cares for in your system memory, it’s considered trash, garbage, litter, junk, scrap, rubbish, Microsoft’s customers, whatever name suits your fancy, and is eligible for Java’s free garbage collection service. Did I mention enrollment is automatic, and it’s free? With small parties, Java only cleans up after your mess once in a while. But with parties in the size of Coldplay’s concerts, Java will do it a bit more frequently.

Well, I lied when I said it’s free. Com’on, nothing is free. You know that. Luckily, it costs in terms of system performance with all that bookkeeping and cleaning Java has to do. But it’s not really that bad if you consider the work Java’s done for you and the time and brain cells it saves you. I may be going out on a limb here, but I’d say the small performance hit your program suffers is well worth the price. And besides, with today’s qua-gazillion-megahertz computing power and memory availability, these performance hits are barely noticeable. It’s like being thrown at with a penny — of course it hurts. But just a little, and the pain only lasts long enough for you to realize that the sucker who threw the penny is now a penny poorer, and you are now a penny richer…

On a different note, the new Mac OSX Leopard is supposed to ship with a new version of Xcode that comes with garbage collection feature… Buh-bye, major memory leaks…