Skiing at Kirkwood

Feb 24th - I left for Kirkwood ski resort at 5am with Philip and his friends, Paul and Jerry. We had a smooth ride all the way to the resort near Lake Tahoe and reached at 10am. When we reach the mountain, it started snowing, my first time I have seen falling snow. At the resort, I headed for my ski lesson after getting my gears. Getting use to walking in the ski shoes is the first uncomfortable thing you must overcome. After only learning how to wedge (slow down), my class took the lift up the mountain for our first ski, the graduation ski. And, boy, is it difficult to get off the lift. I never manage to get off without falling on all four the whole day. We were supposed to ski off the steep landing slope and get off the lift simultaneously. Other than that, skiing was awesomely fun. I skied till the lifts stopped at 4pm. My friends and I headed for our 3-stars hotel and went to a nearby casino hotel for a buffet dinner.

The next morning, I went with Paul to view Lake Tahoe. The snow was so heavy and wind was so strong that even at a few feets from the lake, I couldn't see anything further than the shore. The snow was being blown horizontally, that's how strong the wind was. My plan to learn snow boarding on my second day was dashed when my friends decided to head home at 10am due to the snow storm and we couldn't get to the ski resorts. Along the way home, the roads were either closed temporarily or traffic was slow moving due to avalanche and chain controls. We took 16 hours to get back home. Being stranded on the road for that long is really unbearable, I was surprisingly glad to finally see rain after 11 hours of falling snow and being stranded on the mountain roads. I reached home at 4am and left for work at 9am. I am looking forward to my next snow trip.

Shopping Tips

Sharing some shopping tips I learnt from Grace jie.

Feb 18th - After staying up late till 5am to wish everyone back home Happy Chinese New Year, I scanned the weekly ads for a good notebook offer, never purchase anything not on offer or without coupon. In the States, offers and rebates are daily affairs and it's President's Day that day. I finally found the one I had been looking for for weeks. A special edition white coloured HP Pavilion at only $599, Turion64X2, 120Gb harddisk, 1Gb DDR2 with an in-built webcam.

I went to El Camino, my favorite weekend street full of stores like Bestbuy, Circuitcity, Officedepot, Borders, Bloackbuster, Toyrus, Petsmart, Spicehut, In&Out, Sports Authority . I waited outside Bestbuy at 9.30am for the offer and the store opened at 11am. I intended to roam other stores before it opened, however there were 2 other guys waiting and we started chatting about notebooks, petrol prices and taxes, though my knowledge of them are limited. After chatting for a while, they asked if I am a Singaporean. They are not the only ones who asked throughout my stay here. It's amazing how others can identify my origin from my accent.

At 10am onward, a line began to form. When the store doors opened, we made our way in orderly, but suddenly a few guys from the back started running towards the notebook section. The guys with me started shouting for them to stop but they just ran ahead, everyone started running too. I managed to make my way to the front of the new line by telling those that cut my queue that I came before them and, surprisingly enough, they let me pass to the front, however the two that started the run were already paying for their notebooks. I am just glad that I managed to get omy notebook. The notebook really looks awesome and slim for a 15.4".

I went to the other stores where their star buys were all sold out. Good deals end fast. I tried out the most difficult trick that is to go for the last item on the shelf and complain about any defect to obtain a discount. For my attempt, the box of my item had a small tear, ha, I managed to get a 10% off after approaching the manager. The shopping culture here is based on trust, hence anything you purchase can be refunded for cash even if the item does not have any defect within 15-90 days depending on the store's policy. So if you see any good deal, grab it first and consider later.

Aquarium of the Bay

We visited the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39. Some night shots of San Francisco. We returned home by BART train at 9.30pm.

Fisherman's Wharf

After Chinatown, we went to Fisherman's Wharf where we saw the Alcatraz, prison island. We managed to view the Classic Motor Car and Naval Exhibitions, and Pier 39 which was covered with seals.

My New Year in Chinatown

Feb 17th - I spent my New Year with Zhaoning and his wife, Fang, at Chinatown and some other places near the bay of San Francisco.

Stevens Creek

Feb 10th - Went Stevens Creek with my colleague, Ding, and family. A magnificent place for sightseeing, even though it was raining today, making far sceneries foggy.

4 Weeks Home Alone

Jan 31st - Sending Grace jie and the kids at the airport.

'Fast' food I prepared for my meals.
Groceries from Safeway.