ChapterTwo

To dodge traffic tonight, I went on 7 different freeways. If you care to know, they were 101N, 405S, 10E, 110S, 105E, 605S, and 91E. I don’t think I got home any faster since it was an extra 10 miles or so, but it beats sitting in stop-and-go traffic.

Tonight, on the way home, I saw a couple very inconsiderate drivers. I started wondering what REALLY cause road rage. What REALLY cause people to start tailgating, high beaming, and honking? Is it because people are stressed out? Is it because they are in a hurry? Here’s an interesting thought. Or is it because we regard the drivers on the road as CARS and not as other human beings?

We frequently get mad and frustrated with machines because we expect them to be perfect. Often times, we would openly express these frustrations verbally and/or physically. On the other hand, when we interact with other humans, we don’t expect perfection. In fact, we expect IMPERFECTION. And because humans have feelings, we often restrain the desire to openly express our frustrations. We even lie sometimes just so others don’t feel bad.

I think if everybody can view other drivers as human beings instead of some inanimate machine, everybody would be more calm and considerate on the road. What do you guys think?

350z in the garage

Originally uploaded by elyliu.

Here are some thoughts about my RAZR v3c after having it for 18 hours…

1. IT’S REALLY SLIM! Most times I have to think twice about whether or not the phone is in my pocket. I can barely feel it.
2. Battery life is not as good as my LG, but I think if I charge it once a day, I should be fine.
3. The speaker on the speakerphone seem strain at loud volumes. However, the person I am talking to cannot tell I am on speakerphone!
4. The phone actually feeds what you say back through the ear piece so you can gauge how you sound to the other person. The feedback is a bit weird at first, but it seems useful.
5. The camera is pretty awsome. See the picture it took on top.
6. I downloaded Doom 3D. It kind of sucked. Don’t pay for it, guys. The action is still a bit laggy. Cell phones can’t handle 3D action games…yet
7. vCast sucks. There’s nothing good on there.
8. I don’t like how the side buttons are on the “lid”. When flipped open, those buttons are a bit out of the way to get to.
9. I like how Verizon substituted Motorola’s menus with their own. It took me no time to get used to the phone.
10. I miss my tip calulator on the LG
11. It is a liiittle laggy sometimes. Other times, it’s faster than my LG.
12. Why can’t I delete the stock wallpapers?

13. iTap (Motorola’s predictive text entry) is a bit different than T9. It’s nice that it will try to predict the word you are trying to spell before you enter the entire word. I still need to get used to it. I kinda liked how I didn’t need to use the arrow keys when I typed on my LG though. The arrow keys (and the side buttons) are quite a reach when using the phone single-handedly.
14. I have a couple USB cables. They fit the socket on the phone fine, but they don’t seem to charge or allow access to the files on the phone. I think I need some syncing software.
15. I haven’t tried the Bluetooth yet. And I probably won’t anytime soon. I don’t have a pressing need to transfer files to my PC. Nor do I have a need for a Bluetooth headset now that I have speakerphone.
16. It has better reception than my LG. And it doesn’t even have an external antenna. Go figure. My LG used to have sporatic problems in the office. It worked perfectly fine today.
17. The keypad looks cool, but it feels inaccurate at times. Maybe I am just not used to it yet?
18. It looks cool …

So far, I am pretty happy with the phone. I am digging the camera, but I am not used to iTap or the side buttons yet.

Maybe I’ll have more thoughs on the phone later. It’s time to SLEEP! Good night, ladies and gentlemen. Oh, BTW, in case you were wondering what LG phone I’ve been referring to in this post, I was referring to the LG VX7000.

UPDATE: One more thing that I left out was the “reminder beep”. This can be a nice feature, but it can also be annoying. It’s nice that it beeps at you every couple minutes to tell you that you have an unchecked voicemail or text message. However, if you are taking a nap or doing something important, this could get pretty annoying. Why don’t phones have a blinking light for reminders anymore?

UPDATE: One thing I hated about my old Motorola was that the ear piece is not loud enough when I am driving top down. Sadly, the RAZR v3c is no exception. However, the v3c has speakerphone, so that’s how I am able to get around that. Oh, and one thing I discovered is that when you are watching a vCast clip, you can press the up arrow to turn the video 90 degrees on the screen. That way, you have a widescreen cell phone. Cool!

UPDATE: The verdict after owning the v3c for a week is…HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

UPDATE: The pictures from the phone can range from awsome to just OK. I don’t know what the deal is. Sometimes it just comes out blurry. Is it because it can’t focus very well? Oh, and Verizon wouldn’t let me email one picture. It was actually too big (322K). Could the camera have TOO MUCH DETAIL?

UPDATE: See my follow-up review…

HAD TOO MUCH COFFEE TODAY (well, technically, yesterday)! I CAN’T SLEEP!!!!!

UPDATE: With only 2-3 hrs of sleep, it’s gonna be a LOOONG day at work today….

UPDATE: I actually felt pretty good today. Go figure…

Ok, I have a dilemma. Hopfully you guys can help me decide what to do.

As far as I can remember, Verizon had bulky phones. As much as I loved Verizon’s reception, I was always tempted by the slimmer GSM phones. When my contract was up a couple monthes ago, I was pretty close to switching to a GSM company and get the RAZR. But in the end, I didn’t switch. I still opted for better reception than to have a cool phone.

I am glad that I stayed with Verizon because now they have the Motorola RAZR as well.

The dilemma is that the RAZR is $420 if you are not a new customer or a customer with an ending contract. I think there’s a $100 mail-in rebate out there and I can sell my current phone. With the rebate and ebay-ing my phone, I can probably knock it down to around $150. What do you guys think? Is it worth it? Here’s what I would get with the RAZR upgrade…

1. Speakerphone - This is awsome for waiting on the line with customer service and for driving. I really wished my LG has that feature
2. 1.3MP camerea - Check out this guy’s pictures on flickr. The camera is pretty good!
3. Ultra slim - perfect for guys because we don’t have purses to carry our phones
4. Stylish - no need for explaination here…
5. 3D games - I think this RAZR supports 3D games like Duke Nukkem and Need for Speed

(Lesser important factors)
6. EV-DO - I would have faster internet and the ability to watch Verizon’s vCast
7. USB - it uses standard USB cable to charge and connect to PC.
8. Crippled Bluetooth - Pretty much only supports headsets. There are some reports that OBEX is actually working though.

UPDATE: OMG! I JUST SPENT $450+ (including tax) on a phone! I’ll let you guys know how I like the phone…

It’s 37 minutes til Christmas! “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” to everyone who read this blog.

Oh, and I just had some Cristal tonight. For $400 a pop, I have to say I was expecting a bit more…

Quote from Tommy Lee…”Marriage is the leading cause of divorce.”

To save this video locally, right click this LINK and choose “Save as”
Originally seen at CastPost.

A M A Z I N G Lakers win tonight! Lakers blew away the 3rd best team in the league. We were winning by around 30 points for most of the 2nd half. At the end of 3rd quarter, Kobe Bryant had 62 points (yes, you read right. Sixty-two points) and the Dallas Maverics had 61 points. Kobe single-handedly out scored the entire Dallas team!

Kobe broke the Lakers record for the most points in a quarter. He had 30 points in the 3rd quarter. Kobe definitely could’ve broke the Lakers’ record for the most points (72 points), but we were winning by 30 points in the 4th quarter, so he shouldn’t and didn’t play.

I should be sleeping now, but I need to calm down a bit after this monumental event. Man, what a game…

My mom has a camera that she’s not using much. So now I am selling it on eBay. Currently it’s at $0.01 with no reserve. Check it out.