jjlin316's Xanga

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Tue, 20 May 2008 18:57:46 GMT

Crawfish Fest

To anyone who's interested, Crawfish Fest is going to be happening in less than 2 weeks!

If you are not familiar with it, the festival is like a smaller version of the New Orleans Jazz Fest. There's going to be lots of New Orleans music and food. Let's talk about the food first. The food should be very authentic as the vendors are all from Louisiana. As the name suggests, there's going to be lots of boiled crawfish there. Also, there's going to be crawfish bread made by the same guy that makes it for Jazz Fest. I've only had it once at Jazz Fest, and it was so good, I can't wait to taste it again. There's also gumbo made by Prejean's restaurant. The full menu is on the website.

As for the music, the big names going to be performing there are Allen Toussaint, The Radiators, and funky Meters ("Mardi Gras Mambo").

The location is at Augusta, NJ, which is about 1-1.5 hrs away from NYC and Central Jersey. They even have a bus that transports you from Manhattan. The price of admissions is $30, not including the food. This is somewhat pricey, but you'll be getting some really good authentic cajun/creole food and New Orleans music.

Anyways, we are planning to go Saturday afternoon (5/31). You are welcome to join us. Oh, and if you do decide to go, order your tickets online with the promotion code TULANE. Tulane University, my alma mater, will receive a $5 donation to the Tulane Rebuilding Fund.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:04:44 GMT

One

Can't believe it, my little baby turned one today! Time flies. It seemed like yesterday that he was just a little baby all swaddled up. Now he's already walking. Every stage seems to go by so fast. I'm glad we have a digital camera with video features to capture all these little moments.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:35:48 GMT

Don't Trust Google Maps

This past weekend we took a trip to Wegmans supermarket in Bridgwater, NJ. Beforehand, I looked up the address from Google maps. It seemed easy enough. It was just a few minutes north of the mall. As we were driving near where it's supposed to be, it didn't look like an area where we would find a supermarket. Nonetheless, we kept going for another few minutes. Still no wegmans. So I pulled to the side of the road and called them up for directions. Turns out it's south of the mall, not north, as the map has it.

This is actually not the first time I've been led astray by Google maps. There's been at least 2 or 3 other times where it's given me incorrect locations. Out of curiosity, I searched for the same wegmans using the other mapping services, including Yahoo, MSN, Mapquest, and AAA. All of them gave the incorrect location except for Yahoo. That actually didn't surprise me, as in the previous times where I've gotten bad maps from Google, I've also searched on Yahoo afterwards and found that it gave me the correct location.

So why did I still use Google maps after I've been burned before? Because I'm lazy. It's only a click away from Google and Gmail.

Here's my overview of the popular mapping services:

Yahoo - Best accuracy. Pretty looking maps. Best labels, includes county names.
Google - Great fast simple interface. Street view. Better user draggable routes implementation.
MSN - Pretty good looking maps. Unique bird's eye view (IMO much more useful than Google's street view).
AAA - Has AAA-only point-of-interests, including AAA ratings for lodgings. Can create TripTiks. Interface a little clunkier.
Mapquest - Used to be the best, but now other services has better features.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:13:22 GMT

Missing Lin's Bakery

I didn't even realize that today is Mardi Gras. So out of the loop.

While reminicing about New Orleans, I found this message on Chowhounds:

Longing for Lin's Bakery

Birthdays aren't the same at my house without the wonderful oriental cakes from the now defunct Lin's Bakery on Vets. Blvd. near Williams. I tried one of the whipped cream and fruit-filled cakes from Dong Phuong Oriental Bakery in N.O. East, but it just wasn't the same. A friend mentioned that they heard of an oriental bakery somewhere in Kenner that makes the cakes I'm looking for ... light yellow cake layered with whipped cream and sliced fresh strawberries, very light and absolutely delicious. Does anyone know the name of this bakery?

It feels good to see that there are others that enjoyed the cakes and really missed it. My parents made some awesome cakes back then!

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:25:17 GMT

Free Cookbooks

Here are two free great looking online cookbooks written by a couple of famous chefs in Seattle. The dishes are on the fancy side, but look absolutely delicious. The first book is great if you've recently gone apple-picking. If you make anything from these books, send some my way, will ya?

All About Apples by Scott Carsberg of Lampreia

Autumn Omasake by Tatsu Nishino of Nishino, who trained under the famous Nobu Matsuhisa.

Interesting Tibit: The design of the books are done by Jenny Lam, who designed many of the things in Windows Vista.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:25:25 GMT

What's under a cursor?

A friend forwarded this to me. Something light for your weekend...

Ever wonder what makes the cursor move on your screen when you
move your mouse? With a special magnifying glass somebody found
out.
http://www.1-click.jp/

Friday, June 22, 2007

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:06:20 GMT

The Wonder Years

Last night, I happened to catch the series finale and the pilot episode of the Wonder Years on TV. I liked the show when I was younger, but now that I have a son, I watched it with a different set of eyes.

I love this quote from the finale:

Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next you're gone, but the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. ... I remember a house like a lot of houses, a yard like a lot of yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. I remember how hard it was growing up among people and places I loved. Most of all, I remember how hard it was to leave. And the thing is, after all these years I still look back in wonder.

Looking back, growing up did seem to go by so fast. It's hard for me to think of the day when little Jeremy is all grown up. I want to treasure and hold on to these days when he's still just a cute baby. I hope that his childhood will be filled with many wonderful memories.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Thu, 17 May 2007 13:11:26 GMT

Joost

If you want an invite for Joost, click here. They are offering 20,000 invites on a first come first serve basis.

What's Joost? Well, it's a new way to watch TV shows online from the creators of Skype. It uses peer-to-peer technology to distribute high picture quality TV shows. Many TV networks have signed on with Joost, including MTV and Comedy Central. There's also many small channels like the Transformers and GI Joe Channel. The record label Nettwerk also has a channel. I wonder if they'll be showing Leigh Nash videos there.

If they ran out of invites, you can ask me for one.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:22:49 GMT

Golden Piglet

My baby learned to post!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:27:53 GMT

What's the 411?

The free directory assistance war is heating up even more. Microsoft just acquired TellMe, the leader in voice activated directory assistance. Up until recently, I didn't even know there were options for getting free directory assistance information. I've only heard the ads for 1-800-FREE-411. But it turns out there are others, and it seems like the big boys like Microsoft, Google, and AT&T are all getting into the ring.

Here's the list of free directory assistance services and my comments. I tested them out by searching for Target in my city.

1-800-FREE-411 (Jingle Networks) - Provides business, government, and residential listings. It's the only one that provides residential listings on this list. Have to listen to an ad though. Test: Bad voice recognition. Could not recognize Target.
1-800-555-TELL(8355) , 1-800-555-1212 (Microsoft) - You can get many kinds of information including news, sports, movie times, and weather from the first number. The second number provides only business search. They can also text you the phone number. Test: Could not provide me with Target's phone number, saying Target's numbers are not listed.
1-877-520-FIND (Google?) - Appears to be owned by Google. Provides business search without any ads and can call the number for you. Test: Recognized and found the number for Target. It also was able to provide me with the address and can connect me directly to the store. Very handy for when you are driving or when you don't have pen and paper nearby.
1-800-YELLOWPAGES (AT&T) - Only in a few cities for now. Contains ads. Not tested.

Overall, I like 1-877-520-FIND the best. Not only did the voice recognition work better, but also there's no ads and the ability to call the number for you is really handy. Hope they'll provide other types of information in the future.