Reading Time: 2 minutes Sometimes called 科学上网 in CHN Mac: VPN Prime – Unlimited Proxy 4+ iPhone, iPad VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy 4+ Both are free, and both have add-ons that are available for purchase. I verified them on my trip and they work for the most part, iPhone app sometimes takes a few tries to get going. The Mac app works out of
Reading Time: 2 minutes Our younger daughter turned to 10 the day before yesterday. And our older daughter is about 4 years older, so basically I have been a dad for a bit over 14 years. Being dad is not an easy job. Last few years are getting a bit more challenging, as my older one is becoming a
Reading Time: 6 minutes Since pandemic, I have been back to China twice, last year in the spring break of school year 2022/2023, which was the 1st time I visited China since pandemic, when the PRC (People’s Republic of China) just relaxed in-bound travel in Jan 2023, and I booked ticket on Jan 29, 2023 via Expedia.com – refer
Reading Time: < 1 minute 航空公司 发现加航🇨🇦的loyalty member (Aeroplan)在飞机上用微信，手机短信等是免费的。不用花钱或点数买inflight WiFi：感觉又赚了一个亿[捂脸]。航空公司其实很难赚钱：成本在那里，固定成本和浮动成本等。但是另一方面愿意额外付钱的客户不多：比如说inflight WiFi, 比如说duty free product sale等等。股神巴菲特也说过类似的话：我估计他老人家在上回pandemic 那次卖了航空股以后就不会再玩航空公司的股票债券了：他老人家今年有93或94岁了。|| 我个人觉得纯从商业的角度出发，信用卡公司的商业模型business model 比航空公司好太多：她们基本上就是高速公路和谷歌的收买路钱的方法。不过在中国大陆感觉支付宝和微信支付基本上打遍天下无敌手，Visa 和万事达两大巨头基本上可以洗洗睡了。前两者的对商家来说成本比信用卡低太多。Alipay 和WeChat Pay 在香港也很拼，有不少商家也开始接受人民币的微信支付/支付宝。不过香港的payment 有点复杂：感觉基本上是八达通Octopus, 信用卡💳包括digital wallet Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Alipay, WeChat pay等；还有出租车也就是的士🚕和地铁🚇需要的港币现钞。我用CS debit card 直接在银行的ATM机上取了些港币现钞。感觉在大陆用现钞的地方比香港少很多，基本上微信和支付宝都可以搞定。|| 离港上飞机之前有个小插曲，紧张程度有点类似于我上次工作中play as tech lead for production release：中间也出了点不大不小的问题，好在最后在超级队友的支持下，有惊无险。我感觉自己还是在这些大大小小的事情中，不断学习，提高自己[微笑] 中国好还是美国好 我被问到的一个常见的问题是：中国好还是美国好？我觉得各有千秋吧。比如说火车：美国的火车客运还停留在中国的绿皮车年代，中国的高铁确实挺牛。Amtrak 没有固定位置: no assigned seat 💺 on Amtrak – reminded me of southwest air the $luv
Reading Time: 2 minutes Things to pay attention when we are over 50 (I borrowed this paragraph from a high school classmate in mailand CHN) 我来说几句吧，不妥之处请大家指正：1. 一定要有医保，有能力的可以适当配点商业保险 2. 同学们都巳年过半百了，各种慢性病会慢慢出来，应该学习一点医学常识。个人建议关注以下几个（微信）公众号： 丁香医生/ 菠萝因子/ 营养师顾中一 Below is my own cooking Exercise 锻炼身体：running, jogging, and walking 跑步，慢跑，走路 are all good. Many other good cardiovascular exercise 心血管运动 include cycling, swimming, and tennis. Take your
Reading Time: < 1 minute 在2019年之前，我大概有二十年没有割草了。从1998年一月到1999年七月，我住在罗拉的美国大学生的兄弟会(Wikipedia fraternity; interestingly I joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity (Epsilon Nu chapter) which is shown in the image when you do google search). 我在兄弟会的时候割过几次草。兄弟会有duty, 翻译成中文大概是值日值班的意思，我的任务里有不少是洗碗，偶尔也有割草。兄弟会是汽油的传统割草机：会有汽油的味道。印象最深的一次是大概是98年的夏天，兄弟会后面有较大的草地，我们一开始没有割草，后来发现有（不太友好的）邻居把我们举报了。马路对面的美国邻居是较友好的，我印像中他叫Bob May, 他告诉我们这个事。后来我们兄弟会有能力的美国小兄弟，去租了一个可以坐上去的割草机，把后面的草给割了。 我2000年十月份来圣路易斯以后，一直住公寓和康斗(Condo, 相当于买下来的公寓), 就不用担心割草的事。一直到19年夏天，搬到现在的独门独户的房子。 我一开始在亚马逊上买了这个 Greenworks 40V 16″ Cordless (Push) Lawn Mower，用了几年，效果还可以。一直到去年（2023年）春夏天，第一次割草时感觉很卡，割两下就熄火Shutdown. 我想两百多块的钱，用了快四年，也值了本了。正好在Costco 看到这个马力大的 Greenworks 80V 21″ Gen 2 Self-Propelled Mower, 还打折，就跳了。事后想想，打折的东西要稍加小心，也许有坑。 后来发现确实有坑：这个割草机的好处是马力大，也有自推的功能。她的缺点是一个电池基本上是坏的，还有她在草较长的时候也同样熄火。最近我联系了厂家，换了个电池。但是总的来说，她家说充满电一次可以割 0.75 acre 是达不到的。我家的院子大概是 0.28 acre,
Reading Time: < 1 minute 好像有个说法，人生在于折腾。 Zhihu: 人生的意义在于折腾 晚读 | 人生在于折腾，而不是年纪轻轻趋于平静 (新黄河 via qq.com) 我想对年轻人来说，这个基本上是适用的。比如说前几年流行的创业，我们年轻时（大学毕业时，九十年代初）去南方，广东，深圳等。With some exceptions, of course. The main thing is we all need to listen to our body – doesn’t matter whether one is young or old. We want to avoid things like below Another death at BoA (X)? A 25-year-old Bank of America credit trader died
Reading Time: 2 minutes I talked about American Healthcare System I 美国医疗系统之一 and American Healthcare System II 美国医疗系统之二。Recently due to my older daughter’s ankle injury, I learned a bit more about the medical bills. We had two visits at Shriner’s hospital near the BJC at central west end: the initial encounter (encounter as in medical billing) and the followup
Reading Time: 3 minutes Dealing with my 14 y old: the new retainer got lost in a week. See: I was smart that I bought the “retainer insurance” 🙂 If the opportunity arises, I would buy the “iPhone insurance” too (remember why I bought iPhone 15 : long story short, she accidentally broke her iPhone XR (which was passed
Reading Time: < 1 minute I am used to stay at hotels when I visited Shanghai, from the Home Inn or the like back in the days, to more fancier or western brand hotels, now that I have a family and kids. I never thought that I would stay in hotels when I go home and see my parents. But
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