Month: April 2008

Tech

So Long, Phone Jack!

Now with the new Network Storage device I purchased, I want a fast way of accessing my pictures and videos. Our typical wireless networks run at 54 Mbps, which is sluggish when it comes to browsing network data. There are times when I would wait my life away for that RAW picture to load, and it certainly can be frustrating.

Enter the gigabit network. The gigabet ethernet runs at 1000 Mbps, which is faster than the computer itself, but the only way I can connect the computers together is to run a forest of ethernet wires around the house, reminiscent of the college days when wireless was not pervasive and hubs were everwhere.

But then a light bulb turned on. I recall that my phone wiring was done using CAT5 cables, so why not rewire it for ethernet? With the cordless and cell phones, who needs phone jacks all over the house anyway? So I ran to the nearest Lowe’s and bought some modular jacks, in case I want to change the ports in the future. I unscrewed all the phone jacks and realized that there’s only a single CAT5 cable that runs throughout the house, which means I cannot have a central switch and there will need to be a switch for every room that needs gigabit access. For now, I just have one other room I need connection for, so I’m fine for now. After mapping out where the cable went, I began replacing the wall plates…

So now most of my plates are this simple, just a plain ol’ Ethernet jack for the gigabit network. The only caveat is that the house is wired with CAT5, but to access gigabit speeds, I need CAT 5e or CAT6 cables. Fortunately, they’re more specs than anything else, so at short distances, I can still access just about as fast as the computers can go. Now I can connect our laptops via gigabit ethernet when accessing the Network Access Storage device, and transfer at as fast as the hard drives/computers would go without running a ethernet cable along the hallways!

Kids

More Odelia Pictures

Hey look, I’m Tigger! Boing, Boing!

Oh wait, maybe superheroes are cooler. Here comes Supergirl!

Kryptonite?! Ok, I surrender!

A salute for all those men and women in the military…

Daddy and mommy said I need to start learning to pray…

And start learning self-defense. How about some Tai-Bo? Don’t mess with me!

Okay, gotta go. See you next time!

Home

The Treasure Hunt… For Rice

On Thursday we received phone calls from our moms urging us to blitz to the nearest Costco to stock up on rice because of the Thai fiasco, and it happened at the worst time as I had just dropped our last two cups of rice into the rice cooker.  Unfortunately due to some special circumstances, I was impeded from my Costco travel plans until Friday, and when I arrived, the rice section had vanished!  No more rice!  What happened?!  By this time, a bead of hot swet began rolling down my forehead.  Could this be it?  Is this the end of our Chinese meals?  Do we need to now opt for Spaghetti, Clam Chowder, PB&J Sandwich, and Spam? 

For dinner, I had to drop by Uwajimaya to get some fish heads (Karen’s favorites), and lo and behold, they had rice!  Well, $19 for 20 lb Thai Jasmine is definitely pricy, but if spending that $19 will bring back the savory Drunken Chicken and Pork Blood with Intestines, then so be it.  So I dropped one into my cart, along with the fish heads, and worked my way to the checkout stand.  The person in front of me saw my bag of rice and decided to get some as well, but his bag was $50 for 50 lbs.  But then his wife, whose innate Asian nature caused her to snoop around behind the piles, discovered a what should be out-of-stock bag of Shirakiku which was $23 for 40 lb!  Now why didn’t I think of checking between and behind the rice bags?  I’ve been witnessing these type of maneuvers with my folks, so it should have been second nature to me.  Have I been so Americanized that when I buy milk, I just pick the first one I see that expires the next day without looking at the date, instead of the last one in the back of the fridge that expires 2 weeks from now?

After I checked out, I decided to do a little treasure hunt of my own, and to my bewilderment, another Shirakiku was found!  I immediately loaded it in my cart, as the envious bystanders looked on, and returned to the checkout stand.  This was a Japanese brand, Calrose, and … no washing required?!  Okay that last part sounds a little fishy, but otherwise this looks legit.  Definitely not made in China.

So the morale of the story is, when the item you wanted is sold out, don’t just hang your head low and walk away.  Dig behind the stack or piles with fervor!  Better yet, comb through the entire store!  You never know if you might find that “last” hidden treasure hiding somewhere.

Kids

How To Calm A Baby Series Part II: The Curl

Previously, I demonstrated the Waltz method of calming a baby. While the method may be sweet and is a great bonding time with the baby, it’s not always practical. For example, it is difficult to be waltzing your baby around your bedroom at 3am in the morning when your eyes are blood-shot and arms are shaking from the lack of sleep, putting both the furniture and the baby in jeopardy. Fortunately, I have discovered another way of calming Odelia, and the method is: The Curl. In this demonstration, I only needed one set, but you may need to adjust the number of reps and number of sets.

Another method that works like a charm!

Tech

Home Media Storage

Have you ever lost a file you really wanted to keep? With so many Odelia pictures and videos, I needed some storage and backup solution that I can feel safe about. Many people store their pictures on just one computer, but if that hard drive crashes, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So I started with the 1TB MyBook Studio Edition. Initially everything worked fine, but unfortunately when used with the MacBook Pro, MyBook would fall asleep and never wake up, freezing up both itself and the MacBook. One time when this happened, I had no choice but to pull the Firewire connection, and the Pictures folder disappeared! Yikes! Good thing I had the original copy on another computer. It’s going back.

Next I tried a Thermallake external hard drive enclosure. The design was immediately alarming because it lacked a fan or ventilation openings, which can cause the drive to fail sooner. While this enclosure worked with the PC, it actually corrupted some files I touched when accessed from the Mac!

Finally, I decided to fork out a little more money and got a DLink DNS-323 Dual-Bay Network Access Storage and stacked them with two Seagate 1TB hard drives. It comes with a Gigabit connection, so I can access the files quickly or have it always available over wireless. Every night it backs up the primary drive onto the secondary drive automatically and incrementally. It saves a whole lot of hassle and gives me a peace of mind. Now I have 1 TB of backed up storage, a perfect solution! In addition, the DNS-323 is essentially a small linux machine that uses 20% of the power of a traditional computer, it provides the added bonus of being a iTunes server and a print server (USB port). After reading a dedicated web site on how to add plugins and hacks, I’ve learned you can add telnet, bittorrent, ftp server, appletalk, scheduled downloads, and more. Performance is also great.

So now I have a place I can store all the precious Odelia pictures and videos, all the Europe photos, and all the other goofy stuff I’ve saved in the past. And best of all, I have a peace of mind that if Murphy’s Law strikes one of the hard drives, my data is still intact. Looks like this unit is a winner, but only time will tell.

Update: I did some tests and noticed that this device is runs at 25 watts while active and 8 watts in “standby” mode. Definitely much better than the typical desktop.

General

Pampers vs. Huggies Diapers

When you have a child, the number of diaper choices can be overwhelming.  I recall standing in Target drowned in the sea of diaper racks.  Pampers or Huggies?  Swaddlers or Baby Dry?  Gentle Care or Snug N Dry?  Generic brand?  We tried consulting a few friends about this, and Olivia recommended Pampers Swaddlers after trying a few others and not liking them as much.  Christine, who did tons of research on the internet, got the typical internet result of comment overload where one swears by Pampers, another swears by Huggies.  One person would find the generic brands just as good but cheaper, but others warn about sticking with real brands or be prepared to swim in a lake of crap.  In the end, we decided to enlighten the world with yet another unscientific experiment by purchasing smaller packs of Huggies and Pampers diapers.  The three types that we ended up testing were Pampers Swaddlers, Huggies Gentle Care, and Huggies Snug N Dry.

 
Pampers Swaddlers (Left), Huggies Gentle Care (Middle), Huggies Snug N Dry (Right)

Because Odelia was almost 8 lbs when she was born, we did not get a chance to use anything but the Pampers Swaddlers for the newborn size.  It’s interesting that the Hospital Edition contains a yellow line that turns green when fused with pee, indicating a #1 has occured.  When we left the hospital, we continued using the Home Edition of the Pampers Swaddlers that Justine bought us, which is the same except the pee line.  These diapers were good, fitting snugly and held the thick fudge that came preinstalled in newborns.  Once the fudge was gone, it held the watery deli mustard equally well.


Pampers Swaddlers, Size 1

When we ran out of newborn size, we decided to start using Size 1 as Odelia is already at the lower end of the weight spectrum for size 1s.  The Size 1 Swaddlers seem thinner than the Newborn, but it may be due to the surface size of the diaper.  The extra net-like inner lining was nice, and it was the softest of the three diapers we tried.  We did experience one accident, but I attribute that to human error.


Huggies Gentle Care, Size 1

When we ran out of Size 1 Swaddlers, so we immediately started on Size 1 Huggies Gentle Care.  These diapers seem slightly smaller but more padded, and the design with Pooh and Friends is more lovely than the Sesame Street of the Swaddlers, which wins browny points with Karen.  However, within 24 hours, we experienced a pee leakage that escaped the diapers, through the new clothes I had just painstakingly picked out for her, and onto the blanket of our poor bed.  An examination after installing another new diaper indicated a breach, an opening around the legs, on the new diaper.  This may be because the Huggies material was harder, so it was easier to bend an opening around the legs, because we never had this problem with the Pampers Swaddlers.


Huggies Snug N’ Dry, Size 1

At this point we also opened some Huggies Snug N Dry, and immediately noticed the thinner padding, rougher material, and poorer construction.  If the Swaddlers were made in Japan, the Gentle Care would be made in Taiwan and Snug N Dry would be made in China.  The edges were stuck to the liners and the whole thing felt like a piece of wrinkled napkin with a toilet paper lining.  It seemed to fit more snugly, but after a crap fest, there still seemed to be smearing of sewage around the edges which was too close for comfort.

At the end of the day, we will be sticking with what works and can be trusted, which is Pampers Swaddlers.  It is clearly the Editor’s Choice.

Kids

How To Calm A Baby: Waltz

Spending time with Odelia has been very satisfying, as she is cute, energetic and sweet. On the other hand, spending time with Odelia can also be very trying, as the incessant cries can test the limits of human patience.

With Odelia, however, I’ve found one sure-fire way of calming her down, and it does not involve booze. Here’s my secret…

Works like a charm!