I recently planned our drive up the California coast using my wireless internet Stockton connection. There are a few things in California that I have yet to see. This past summer, my husband and I found ourselves with some time on our hands. We decided that we were going to spend a week driving up the California coast. I did a lot of research on the internet before we planned our trip. There were some things that I knew that I wanted to see, but also some things that I wasn’t familiar with that I learned about over the internet. I wanted to visit Big Sur and the Redwood Forrest. Something that I learned about on the internet that I wanted to visit was in San Simeon, California. It is the Hearst mansion. It was built by the media mogul in the early 1920’s. It is a truly impressive compound. One thing that is really impressive about it is all of the European artwork and architectural antiques that are housed there. Most everything that decorates the amazing mansion was imported to America and bought at auction houses in New York.

First I needed a drain claw home depot yesterday so I got one. Then a few months ago, we need a replacement for one of our living room chairs so we got this cool looking eggplant chair. That piece looked lovely in our living room. The dark shade really plays a good contrast on our lighter colored walls.

Now on to our cleaning stuff. I’ve been putting this off for too long. We haven’t had our carpet cleaned for a while and why I could just dial in one of those carpet cleaner services out there, I think in the long run, it would be wise just to invest in an electrolux carpet cleaner and just save some bucks and do the cleaning ourselves.

Then lastly, it’s time to de-clutter our tables and workarea. I bought some of these 3×5 envelopes to organize our receipts and bills and those small paper stuff that needs organizing. It’s nice to separate all these receipts into categories so it’s easier for me to have an envelope for entertainment receipts, car receipts, house repair receipts, shopping receipts..etc. Good for tracking how much we spend on each expense category.

A few months ago, we had an event in a local mall where we would show off some of the robotics projects we have. There’s one project from our friend Henry which is really a crowd favorite. It’s a robotic rover similar to the Mars rover.

The nice idea was that the batteries used were digital camera batteries. What we like about it is that such batteries have more capacity and therefore the rover can operate longer than the usual NiMh batteries.

To be able to “tap” into the terminals, what Henry used were screws. He lined up 2 screws so it lined up perfectly with the battery terminals, so the battery “sits” on top of these 2 screws which act as the positive and negative terminal. Then wires or connections come from those 2 screws to power the main board of the rover controller. Cool Idea.

Typically, a digital camera battery uses Li-ion which can store more energy per weight than nicads or NiMh. Typical Nikon EN EL9 batteries have 7.4V and has a capacity of 1000mAh.

We all know that there are risks to smoking. A lot of people have tried quitting smoking but their hands and lips aren’t ready for the sudden withdrawal of a cigarette. It’s a habbit and your body is still craving for that physical sensation of a cigarette. Fortunately, there’s a good way to “fill” in that crave, the electronic cigarette.

The e cigarette as fondly called by many is an electrical device that mimics the way a cigarette works. It has the same physical appearance, and it even has “smoke” or mist that you can inhale. I believe it uses some sort of ultrasonic device to vaporize a glycerin based liquid solution.

An electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, is an electrical device that simulates the act of tobacco smoking by producing an inhaled mist bearing the physical sensation, appearance, and often the flavor and nicotine content of inhaled tobacco smoke; though lacking its odor, and intended to omit its health risks. The device uses heat, or in some cases ultrasonics, to vaporize a propylene glycol- or glycerin-based liquid solution into an aerosol mist, similar to the way a nebulizer or humidifier vaporizes solutions for inhalation.

I think smokers who are serious in quitting, this electric cigarette is a powerful tool and serves as an inbetween device that they can use to attain that ultimate goal of not smoking at all. I have many friends that tried the abrupt approach of just quitting and they keep on coming back. However, with this device, they can gradually “phase out” their craving for smoking.

I’m also interested in Electronics Engineering.  In fact there’s this online videos of  MIT courses.  One of it is the 6.002 course in Electronics Engineering.   I’ve gone through the videos and I’ve learned a lot.  I was thinking if I’ll just go and learn online via those kinds of video.    That would be  a cheaper way to do it.  However, there’s a limitation.  Only a few subjects have online videos.

Another approach I was thinking is to get a  Free Application For Federal Student Aid http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/.        If granted,  that would save me a lot of money.     College tuition is no joke,  thousands of students have outstanding student loans which even 5 years after graduation, they’re still paying for it.   So any kind of aid is always good.

Some of my friends are asking me why am I considering studying again when I can just spend my time working and continue earning a decent income.   Well, for me, there are some things that I really really like to do.   One of it is becoming an engineer.    That’s sort of an unfulfilled goal.   It’s like,  if I have all the money in the world,  I’ll definitely go back and get an engineering degree.  That’s how I love that subject.

If you can afford it, try getting a pool fence too. A pool fence can prevent your kids from getting near the pool thereby lowering the risk of accidents. Of course that doesn’t mean that if you have a fence, you can do away with the safety cover. It’s always best to have both protection installed.

The lives of our kids is so much important than the cost of a pool cover. I just don’t understand why some pool owners aren’t getting one. If they can afford to have a pool, it shouldn’t be a big deal to invest in some protection. Well I just hope I won’t anymore encounter these news about kids drowning because of negligence and not having the proper protection.

I believe there are also some legislation about it. You might want to check your local laws.

I would also like to share a video I found in youtube about some good pool rules. If you’re a parent, watch this.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This just got in.  According to USGS,  a magnitude 8.8 has struck  Japan’s northeastern coast.     Watch the video at around 2 minutes,  a big tsunami was captured on camera.

Building were shaking in Tokyo for a couple of minutes and people has gone out to the streets, evacuating their office buildings and homes.     Time was about 6:24 UTC as per USGS.

A couple of days ago, there was also a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit Japan so this is a 2nd MAJOR earthquake in just a week.    Now, it was said that this earthquake is a bit shallow at only at a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast.

]]> http://pinoynets.com/2605/japan-earthquake-mar-11-2011-magnitude-8-8-video-tsunami-alert/feed/ 0 http://pinoynets.com/1734/livingroom-decoration/ http://pinoynets.com/1734/livingroom-decoration/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:06:27 +0000 admin http://pinoynets.com/?p=1734 It’s time again to do some living room redecorations.  It’s been 5 years since I bought anything for our livingroom.  One thing I would like to have a new rug.   I went to the trusty old google and type in cheap rugs and found this site selling some good rugs.   After navigating their site, I found this area full or clearance rugs.  Of course, as a person who wants to get the best things for the cheapest price,  I wanted to check out the bargain stuff first.

Out of all of the clearang rugs,  this two area rugs seems to fit my style and my living room.

This one above matches the color of my livingroom. I simply love the middle eastern style of rugs.  This one is made from 100% Pure Virgin New Zealand Wool and has 650,000 /PPSM (Points Per Square Meter).   It also has a circular rug with the same design.  Perfect for those round  coffee tables.

This one however is a premium rug.  Looks quite “royalty” to me.  This originally came from Turkey. It is brand new and 100% Poly Olefin.

After the rug would of course be a new living room set.   That is, if budget permits.     One thing I like about rugs is that for a small amount of money,  it has a huge impact on the overall design and feel of the space where you put it.

This is not the first time that Johnson had an accident because of skiing. In 2005, he also experienced an accident that led for him to be comatose for ten days wherein he has to learn everything again. He lost his ability to do some basic task such as walking, talking, and swallowing. He also had to learn how to ski again but the accident has never stopped him from being the top skier of the world.

With Johnson’s death many will surely miss his stunts and amazing tricks. He is one of the skiers that are never afraid to learn more than his ability.

Original News Source:

Last Tuesday, February 23, 2010, a shootout happened near the Deer Creek Middle School that leaves two wounded students. The suspected gunman, Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood, is already at the custody of the local police of the Littleton Colorado. Both of the students were immediately brought to the local hospital and they were identified as Matt Thieu and Reagan Webber.

According to Bruco’s father, he was already acting so strange for a couple of months now. Before the incident happened, he often caught Bruco talking to himself and yells too much when inside their house. He always complains that the foods inside the refrigerator are too loud and that they are all noisy.

The students of Deer Creek were fortunate that David Benke was around the area where the incident happened and stopped the gunman from shooting. Base from the police investigation, Bruco was a former student of Deer Creek but was not able to finish his studies there.

Original News Source: Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood