If you plan on filling up your gas tank today, save your receipt and bring it straight to your nearest Jack In The Box because with your receipt you can get two free tacos! Click here for more info.

posted by che @ 9:26 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

I've been waiting for this and it's finally here! Fellow residents of California, get your FREE lipstick from MAC in the shade "California Dreamin'"! I waited for it, but I didn't get the email myself so thank goodness for all the forums for MAC fans :P All you have to do is print out the 'email' and bring it to MAC to redeem it. I was originally worried that I'd have to have an original email print-out, but it wasn't an issue at all. Just be prepared to give them your name since it's limited to one per customer. Also, I'm not sure if you already have to be part of their database, but it doesn't hurt to try anyway even if you're not. It's a cute shade of pink and a bit sheer so definitely wearable. I tried to take pictures of it swatched on my hand, but it didn't come out since it was so sheer but it does have buildable coverage. Try to get them while you can! I better go inform all my girl friends!

posted by che @ 8:32 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

Curry House is currently having their 25th anniversary special where they roll back the prices and menu to what it was in 1983! It's going on today and tomorrow so go if you get a chance! And just fyi, the Torrance and Little Tokyo branches aren't participating so don't go there :P I just got back from a nice cheap lunch and am satisfied. Mmm, curry at an inexpensive price :)

posted by che @ 12:51 PM [[ 1 comments ]]

posted by che @ 8:48 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

After thinking it over, I decided to purchase just the Canon G9 and not the Flip Video. I would have loved to buy both like originally planned, but I figured the video capture on this new point and shoot would suffice for now. I'll purchase the Flip when I feel the real need to. Besides, I needed to budget for accessories for the G9! :P

But anyway, I'm so excited! My new camera should be coming in in a few days. This will be a great addition to my Canon "collection" :P B calls himself a Canonite, but I joke that I'm more of a Canonite than he is! Hehe... I've bought 2 printers and 5 cameras all Canon, my favorite being my XTi (but maybe now my G9, too!). I don't use my Rebel XTi much mainly because of its bulkiness and other than the standard lens it comes with, I only have a macro lens that B bought me and nothing else. He has his own set of wide angle and portrait lenses for his own Rebel XT, but I'd rather have my own set :) I know I need to put it to good use but I lack inspiration and time. I don't even use my Holga much at all :( The G9 will be much easier to carry around and use when inspiration strikes! I can't wait to use it. B also reminded me about girlrobot's post about CHDK (Canon Hacker's Development Kit). I'm going to have to experiment with this!

posted by che @ 11:12 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

I got a nice award from work recently and initially I was planning to use it just to pay off some bills, but B encouraged me to use it to reward myself. Hmm... ok, if he insists :) I haven't completely decided what to get yet, but here's what I'm thinking about getting.

Flip Video Mino Series Camcorder


and

Canon PowerShot G9 12.1MP Digital Camera


Ooh, I'm so excited :D

posted by che @ 10:16 AM [[ 2 comments ]]

So it's been around a month or so since I've "traded" in my 160GB classic iPod for the 2nd gen 80GB Zune, and I have to say overall that I'm really loving my Zune. I've been too lazy to give a thorough review because there are a lot of little things to consider (but I forget about sometimes) so here's a quick and dirty review.

Pros:

- Interface: This includes GUI, buttons, etc. The Zune software is definitely much prettier than iTunes. I think there are some animated menus or what not but my video card is too lame to be able to see them. It doesn't have a scroll wheel, but the touch sensitive button works just fine. You can scroll up-down and left-right. I was a little disappointed with the classic iPod's scroll wheel's sensitivity (the old video iPod was much more responsive) so I don't mind not having this on the Zune. The software works well with auto downloading music information without telling it to, although there's times where it wasn't always correct. And if you're adding a folder to the library (like say your music folder), it really does detect immediately if new files were added, something which I couldn't get to work for me in iTunes. I always had to manually add files to my iTunes library. Also, the Zune screen is so much bigger than the iPod (not sure about the iTouch though), and you can choose the background on-device.

- The 80GB comes with premium headphones that work really well. I like these in-ear type headphones.

- It has an FM tuner with great reception.

- It plays more than just my .mp4 format videos. I had .avi and other formats that it picked up and I could actually play them on my Zune without having to convert the format. Furthermore, the videos play in landscape mode (love this).

- Like the iPod, it has an "on-the-go" playlist that you can add to on the device. Unlike the iPod, you can delete and modify the playlist on the device without the software.

- It's capable of wireless sync. I've tried this once and it worked beautifully, but I would probably only use it if I only needed to update a few files. I'm sure the transmit power is draining.

- It has a social network aspect. It's ok, but not of great use to me.

Cons:

- Interface: I didn't like how the Zune software makes it a little difficult to edit the id tags of songs.

- The battery life appears to be less than the classic iPod. Before purchasing the Zune I had read a review that says that the battery lives are similar. For me, I don't see this. My classic used to last days without having to recharge, but with the Zune I need to charge it every other day. I'm wondering if it's because of its standby mode. The iPod would actually shut off if it wasn't used for a while, but I haven't investigated if the Zune does the same or if it sits in standby. The battery seems to drain quickly especially if you play video. One annoyance also is that the battery indicator doesn't seem to always be accurate. Sometimes it says it's about half full but then shuts off. When the battery is low or dead there is no warning for shut off. It just turns off.

- It cannot be used as an external HD. Not a big deal to me because I never took advantage of this with my iPod. I didn't like lugging around the cable.

I think I covered most of the bases. I'll add more if/when I remember them :)

posted by che @ 9:29 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

Geeksugar's download of the day is FireNES and is potentially a productivity-killer! I'm an 80's kid so I have some favorite Nintendo games that I used to play that I sometimes miss. Now I can and in the convenience of my web browser! There are hundreds of games to choose from (including some foreign roms) and a lot that I have not even heard of. Phew... I don't even know what to do about having so many games at my fingertips :)

posted by che @ 2:45 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

I had to meet with an intern today and during the intern kick-off meeting the presenter, a self-proclaimed 'technical weenie', played the Dilbert video entitled "The Knack" which some of you fellow nerds and geeks have probably already seen. Here it is for those of you who don't know what "the knack" is.

Doctor: "I'm afraid your son has the Knack."

Dilbert's Mom: "The Knack??"

Doctor: "The Knack - It's a rare condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical, and other social ineptitude."

Dilbert's Mom: "Can he lead a normal life?!"

Doctor: "No, he'll be an engineer."

posted by che @ 1:58 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

I've been so busy lately I haven't had the time or energy to attend to this blog. So I thought I would throw in a few random updates on what's been going on.

- B and I got to review our wedding/engagement studio pictures last Friday and we're pleasantly surprised to see that almost all of them turned out great! The bad part is our package only came with 30 poses and we took almost 200 pictures. We managed to narrow it down to 60 and then to 50 of our favorite shots, but of course it came at a price. I'm so excited to see the designs they come up with. I really love this studio's style and after seeing how our pictures turned out, I have much more respect for the photographer. He really impressed me! We were initially worried because he would take only one shot per pose, but who knew he would nail almost every shot! We can't wait to see the photographer's picks for the site. I'll be checking here often!

- B and I took a private dance lesson recently. It was only 45 minutes but we managed to learn the rumba in this time. We could have learned more if the pace wasn't so slow, but oh well. I'm still not sure how I'm going to approach our "first dance" but we figured it wouldn't hurt to start with the rumba since our song ("Everything" by Michael Buble) is considered to be this genre. We didn't anticipate the lessons costing so much but I think we might be ok without them. I've always wanted to take ballroom dance lessons, but now I'm not sure when :)

- I finally got my car washed after several MONTHS. I don't know why but it makes me happy to see my car CLEAN from the inside out, hehe. I'm so happy I got the guy we did to dry off my car. He took his time and really cleaned it out. He even waxed it a little and dressed the tires... which I didn't pay for! Yay, my car is clean :D

- I'm finally done with the slew of graduations this year. No more sitting in the hot sun and having to take time off of work to attend. Congratulations to all the graduates!!!

posted by che @ 8:55 AM [[ 1 comments ]]

A coworker of mine had me borrow the movie "P.S. I Love You" because 1) he considered it to be a decent movie, and 2) he wanted to see if it would make me cry. For some reason, some of the folks at work (including B) have been trying to find a movie that will make me cry. It's pretty funny really. I'm not much of a crier at movies, and I honestly can't remember the last time I cried for a movie besides at "ET" when I was about 4. I'm also not a chick-flick type of girl either. I blame it on having a heart of stone :P Anyway, after watching the movie, I thought it was pretty good. It definitely had its funny parts, and Leonidas, I mean Gerard Butler, was so sweet he puts all men to shame. And for the record, NO I did not cry, hehe ;)

One of the little things I remember from the movie was when they were playing that "snaps is the name of the game, the name of game is snaps" game. I remember this game being played as a child, but I never got into it and figured out how to play. I did a search and discovered that they actually made a site for this game from the movie! Cute site :D After figuring out how to play, I played their online game. I think the last couple of questions were bogus because I totally knew the answer, but whatever. Try it here!

posted by che @ 4:04 PM [[ 2 comments ]]