The good life

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , ,
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I really enjoy the way my life is going right now.  At this moment, I’m saving the most money I ever will – I don’t need to pay rent (staying at Panda’s for free), don’t need to pay for my brand new car or this year’s insurance for it (present from parents), don’t need to pay for parking (Westwood streets aren’t crazy crowded over the summer so street parking gets me by), don’t need to pay for my phone bill (covered with the company plan), and now I don’t even need to pay for health insurance anymore (payment was lowered to be completely covered by the company)!  Now how great is that?  All I need to worry about is food and gas.

Plus, Panda is still here and hasn’t left to work far away so I get to see him.  I am independent and don’t have any kids or pets to think about and take care of.  It’s pretty great, this sort of freedom that allows me to save up money in my 401k and still have plenty to spend each month.  Now if I could just get an intern to help me alleviate some of my workload, I could be pretty stress-free too!

I’m not looking forward to next month, when things will change as Panda moves back home and so do I.  We’ll get to see each other less and my commute time will double and can nearly triple.  So while it’s still August, I will enjoy it as best I can.  Work has been making me tired though!  However, I do at least quite enjoy what I do and want to go in each day.  In fact, I haven’t taken a vacation day (and I’m the only one in this time period not to take time off).  Next month I’d like to attend the Opportunity Green conference, so maybe I’ll my first days off for that.  Until then, I’ll be making the best of the good life I’m living.  🙂

“Elephantnip”

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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You know how catnip makes cats go crazy (in a good, happy way)? Well, this tree apparently is just as good-tasting to elephants as catnip is to cats. When I went elephant-riding, my elephant tried to break off some to eat, but that was a sturdy branch.

elephant catnip from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Decorated license

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , ,
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license plate decorated with sticker strips

I've seen a couple of people who take the extra tab from their annual sticker and place it on their license plate too. Looks like this car's been through many a year!

The trap of logins

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , ,
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There are so many sites that require signing up for an account and creating a login that I have a spreadsheet just to keep track of them all.  It kind of sucks to get stuck in this trap of login after login, especially when you’re not on your personal computer and can’t always remember the usernames and passwords you use.  It’s hard to create a standard set to use too, since each site has different requirements on length and complexity of the username and/or password.  Plus, if you always use the same one, if someone hacks into one, that could compromise all your accounts.  It’s a bit of a lose-lose situation.

I’ve also found that people are very averse to creating accounts, which is why it often comes with an enticing prize, like a chance to win a cool gadget.  I suppose the nice thing is that many tap into Facebook, so you can sign in using that account, but then comes the issue of compromised privacy.  Now the company knows your Facebook account and can find out more information about you, since you have to agree to share some of your personal information with them to connect using Facebook.  It’s a battle of convenience vs. privacy.

It can get overwhelming because SO MANY sites want you to sign up with them and unfortunately, it’s often unavoidable if you want their service.  Can’t they just use that fingerprint scanner some computers have and send the scan to the site so I can be let in without typing out all possible passwords I use?  In the future, I expect someone to invent a faster way for our identity to be confirmed and access to be granted to these sites (in a quick, painless, electronic way).  For now, I guess we’ll all just have to put up with creating a slew of usernames and passwords.

Air hockey spinning top

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We somehow decided to try spinning the air hockey paddles as tops and they turned out to be really good! Note how well they self-correct and save themselves from spinning out of control multiple times. Maybe top tips should be round instead of pointy.

stable top from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

I’m tempted to put some water in the center. Wouldn’t that be cool?

air hockey top from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Strange LA weather

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mgm building shrouded by marine layer

At night in LA, there is often this marine layer that comes in and gives everything a foggy feel. Makes the entire night sky a sort of glow.

Outdated: receipts

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , ,
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I hate receipts.  They take up space in my purse, clutter up my wallet, and rarely get looked at afterward.  I have more than I’d ever like of ones I’ll never use and never can find the one I need when I want it.  Why bother?  I mean, initially they were a good idea, but now that technology has developed so far, it’s time for an electronic receipt to automatically send to your credit card and/or email account.  No waste of paper, still keeps a record, and it’s so quick and easy to keep them on file electronically!

Plus, the benefit of being able to organize them better and make them searchable will make retrieving that receipt you wanted so much more convenient.  You can file by company name, by price, by date, by category… the possibilities are aplenty!  I can’t believe we’re still relying on paper sheets that get lost, turn black with heat, and generally are never put to the good use they were designed for.  It’s time to update this habit and digitize the entire process.  So one of these days I am going to start a company to take care of just that.  Until then, don’t steal my idea!  😛

Crystal cabin delight

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , ,
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When I got my very own crystal cabin going up to Ngong Ping, I couldn’t resist lying down on the ground and enjoying the feeling of floating (kinda).

lying down in crystal cabin from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Monitor upgrade

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two monitors side by side

Guess which one I traded for which?

Long day

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: ,
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Well, today started off kind of rough with a bunch of things I needed to take care of.  For some reason I was feeling really cold and shaky as well, which didn’t help my concentration.  I also realized that I really couldn’t find my voucher for a set of beauty services (a hair cut, hair coloring, manicure, and microdermabrasion) that I had bought at a steeply discounted rate.  Bad news, since I hadn’t even used the microdermabrasion, which is the main reason I bought the thing.

Then Panda came online from the East Coast, where he is for a couple of days and he had a rough day.  He didn’t really want to talk, which made me sad, because all I wanted to do was hear his voice.  It made me sad that he was unhappy and not fully enjoying himself over there.  It was also frustrating because he couldn’t tell me all the details of his day.  So not only am I far away, I have to be distanced in other ways too.

When I returned to campus, another counselor was using Panda’s room for meetings with students, so I spent my time in the lounge and occasionally the hallway.  Things can get awfully lonely though, and all I wanted to do was rest and chill.  The hours dragged on slower than they ever have and I found conversation where I could.  I didn’t even have an appetite to eat most of my dinner.  It’s been a tiring day.

At least towards the end I had some fun hanging out with The Legend and some other counselors.  Now my legs are achy and I just want to rest, but all I can think about is whether or not the salon will still let me get the service on my voucher if I can’t find it anymore.  🙁  I’ve checked my desk at work, my car, the room, and emptied out my purse multiple times.  No luck.  My last hope is that I somehow took it out while at home one weekend.  It’s really not likely though, yet I haven’t a clue where it could have gone.  How unfortunate.

And tomorrow is an early day.  I’ve got to get up an hour earlier than usual.  At least soon Panda will be back.  🙂

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