Today and yesterday I spent cleaning up my room and car. I’ve dumped all the packaging I have accumulated in the car and room, sorted all the paper, and brought all the bottles and cans in for recycling. Got more than $5 for the bottles (5¢ each).
After recycling, I went to the Toyota dealership where I bought my car for a 6-month service. Because I only drove 2,900 miles, the service included only an oil change and general inspection. However, they took a long time to perform the service, so instead of paying $28, I got the service and materials completely free.
Now I’m back the office. Later today I’ll go to another boardgaming session in San Jose (30min drive from here).
March 29th, 2008 at 02:04
Posted by
epsalon |
USA, General |
one comment
This week I started doing stuff in my free time instead of staying home all day. It all started with me searching Google for information about the movie “Be Kind, Rewind.” That search popped up a link with showtimes in my area, so I decided to look around and see how much to movie tickets cost here.
So I browsed the ordering site, and found that tickets for the early screening cost $7.50. Not expensive, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, so I browsed out of the ordering screen. That popped up a message saying I could get the ticket for free. After a short signup on some other site I got my free ticket cupon (I’m a big sucker for free stuff). After going through all that work, I decided I might as well pay $1 for my “free” ticket and go see the move.
I went off directly from work to the theater in Redwood City: 20 auditoriums and lots of space, cheap and plentiful parking, and generally a nice place to be. As usual, I was about 15 minutes early, so I went into the theater and watched trailers before the movie. The movie itself was funny and enjoyable, and I didn’t feel weird watching it alone.
After the movie I felt like I wanted more, and wanted to see a more serious movie I heard good things about, so I went out to the cashier and bought a ticket for “Juno.” It was one of the best dramas I’ve seen in a while and I could really identify with the main character, even though my situation does not resemble hers.
That concluded that night out, but not my excursions for the week. Coming back to Google’s movies site, I noticed that an Israeli film called “The Band’s Visit” is showing in a small arthouse theater in literally on my way from work home. So I decided and go see the movie the next day. Even though I read very positive reviews about it on FishEye, I still think that Juno was much more moving. That said, I don’t think it was a bad movie.
Today is Saturday, and the day before Easter. I decided to finally do something I’ve been thinking of almost since I got here, and went to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, about a 5 minute drive from my home in Palo Alto. Admission is free and we got a nice tour of the exhibits. The docent has also shown us some of the exhibits in storage that are not usually accessible to the general public.
After visiting the museum I visited the museum website, and found out that they do not have a Dragon-32 computer and are seeking donations. The Dragon-32 was the first computer I’ve ever used (The 32 stands for 32 Kilobytes of RAM it has). We should still have a working Dragon-32 at home in Israel, and I would like to ask my parents if they are willing to donate it.
March 23rd, 2008 at 04:47
Posted by
epsalon |
Tech stuff, USA, Travel |
5 comments
A few days ago I have landed back in the US after a 10-day visit to Israel. It was really strange to be flying “back” but away from my friends and family and the home I’ve lived in since I was a child. Because both places are “home” to me, but it doesn’t feel like I’m going “back”, no matter what the immigration officer said.
When I arrived in Israel two weeks ago, I immediately felt at home, even though I haven’t been there for half a year. My house, my room, all stayed the same as if I have never left. I was surprised how quickly I have adjusted to the 10-hour jet lag and to being at home. The first weekend was spent mostly playing my suitcase-full of board games. The weekdays were mostly spent at the Technion, meeting old friends and research colleagues, though I didn’t do any new research. In the second Friday, we hosted a mini boardgame party in our house, and the next day I went to my brother’s house in the center.
In between all that, I managed to review 12 papers, do some family tech support, and realize that my backup HD is officially dead (I’ve placed an order for a new one).
Some information about my flights: On the EWR-TLV (Newark - Tel Aviv) leg, I was in a fully booked brand new 777-200, with personal touch-screens and on-demand video, much better than the channel-based entertainment personal system on the 767. Therefore, I was surprised to see that channel-based system on the 777-200 on the way back. Luckily, I had an encapsulated entertainment system called “a book”, that’s even allowed during takeoff and landing. The next leg (EWR-SFO) was on a brand new 737-800. The plane was so new that they didn’t install the entertainment system yet — not even audio or public TVs. On the plus side, the plane was almost empty and I took over a whole row in the back of the plane, and lied does while using my paper-based entertainment system.
Now I’m back at Stanford, trying to do some new research.
March 14th, 2008 at 00:23
Posted by
epsalon |
Frequent Flyer, Family, USA, Travel |
4 comments
