credit card fee realization...

So, Do you know how your credit card fee is calculated? I just figured it out!

We've been watching our credit closely and learning how to raise our credit scores (without paying lots of interest fees).
We bought a couch last week and I wondered how the credit cards come up with the seemingly random finance-charge so I found out something very interesting.
They charge a tiny interest daily (.04%) SO I wanted to know how much money we would be paying if we put the couch on credit for 1 month verses 1 day.
In other words: what would we save by paying the charge the day after the charge instead of at the end of the month.
TAKE A LOOK!...
$18.75 vs 63cents !

We're expecting

a new couch any day now. We're very excited and anticipate it's arrival. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we do know what color it is. Dark Grey (and very comfortable I might add).

GOOGLE READER: ok, i'm addicted

(click)to google reader! basically it looks like your email in-box but instead of mail you get the newest articles that your favorite websites post. I have a "design" folder with ~20design sites that I SHOULD be keeping track of as a designer but had no way to do it efficiently. Now i just tell it which sites OR search "gadgets" for instance and subscribe to the site "feed". Now i can skim through 100s of articles with photos and see what catches my eye. I can do proactive research.

it does local NEWS, you-tube, anything! Even your friends Blogs post to your "inbox".

There is a "SHARE" feature that you can show your friends what caught your eye.You have to start using it to get the full effect, but HERE ARE A FEW OF MINE:
(pictured is a super-thin and durable tyvek mailing-envelope wallet featured in the museum of modern art I tried to make one, but I want the designer's version)

Making Fun of Fonts

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

Design tool:

we have something like this... (but it only prints plastic but i have made plastic molds to make rubber parts)

Magic wheel (Gauswheel) = Awesome toy

Stares: good or bad?

Friday, July 18, 2008, 8:19:26 PM

i'm adding a photo:

So, we got all dressed up - me in my 3-piece suit with red tie and new faux-hawk she in her brown skirt & top with plaid heels and [hot] neck scarf with her hair all curled and looking absolutely gorgeous...

A good situation is when you open the door for your wife at a nice restaurant and, as you follow her in, you see that many of the men are looking at her... then of course they see me and avert their eyes = Good situation.

So it's strange when I open the door, let her step in ahead of me, follow her in, see the guys staring BUT then I am caught in an uncomfortable eye-lock with the row of gay guys standing at the bar = Good situation or Bad situation... uncomfortable either way.

Amy enjoyed it and laughed though. I just don't know weather to be flattered or not. So, backstory is that she loved Roy's restaurant in Hawaii and after hearing they opened in San Fran (http://www.roysrestaurant.com/), I made a reservation. we ate the appetizer canoe with yummy everything including these lobster pot-stickers. For dinner, the m academia crusted butter yellow tail and for desert- chocolate souffle and strawberry shortcake. yummy (BUT, we still love CreAsian better )(we found it on the way home from the temple) (better price and portions great presentation). http://www.creasianbistro.com/index.html

Farding Kills

Ok, so get this… It's "ride-you're-bike-to-work-day" so naturally I appeased Mother Earth by strapping my bike to the roof of my car and DROVE-my-bike-to-work… (Does that count?). So, now I'm driving down Winchester in the "fast-lane" on my way to work -Chomping on my yummy blueberry Cliff bar- when I pull up to a stoplight and tragedy strikes... almost.

So, I'm slowing to a stop when a sun-damaged, renegade Ford Mercury flies into my lane while turning left – heads straight at me – and then onto the center island – dodges around traffic-light and sign posts – all the while casually signaling a merge into the proper side of the street then jumps into the proper flow again. I'm unscathed, but on tomorrows commute, that woman will think twice about farding.

(look up "fard")

Eating Healthy-

This Salmon Burger recipe confused us- http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/epicurious/105602/salmon-burgers-with-spinach-and-ginger
274 kcal = low-cal meal? (yes/no)
We found that
1 kcal = 1 Calorie (big "C") = 1000 calories (little "c")
So, in fact, this recipe has 274,000 calories!
if that's not confusing enough... we Americans interchange Calorie with calorie and it's really only 274 "Calories"


AVOCADOS:
Amy has been awesome at making sure we eat healthy. I've never seen so much fruit in my life and she's always finding healthy recipes that she wants to try out. I don't know as much as she does and I definitely think that I know how to eat healthy- but in truth, she knows more and i slowly pick things up from her... slowly. For instance, I heard that Avocados were one of the fattiest foods so I avoided them for so long, but often indulged when making deli-sandwiches- one of my favorites. She says i was wrong and I trust her - especially since I saw the nutrition facts on guacamole. Needless to say, my naivety about nutrition and OUR desire to eat well together has often led me to be re-informed. I'm learning- In fact, i think i'll look up avocados now...

"Although they are fruits, avocados have a high fat content of between 71 to 88% of their total calories - about 20 times the average for other fruits. A typical avocado contains 30 grams of fat, but 20 of these fat grams are health-promoting monounsaturated fats, especially oleic acid." http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=5 (best link)

"It's true that avocados are high in fat -- one reason they've earned the nickname "butter pear." A medium-sized avocado contains 30 grams of fat, as much as a quarter-pound burger. That's why diet experts have long urged Americans to go easy on avocados in favor of less fatty fruits and vegetables. But now nutritionists are taking another look. They're finding that most of the fat in an avocado is monounsaturated -- the "good" kind that actually lowers cholesterol levels. Thanks to this new understanding, the U.S. government recently revised its official nutrition guidelines to urge Americans to eat more avocados." http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/avocado-advantage

"Between 70-90% of the calories in avocados are from fat. All avocados contain "monounsaturated" fat, the same kind of fat as olives. This type of fat may help lower cholesterol. Also avocados are high in beta carotene, fiber, folate (a B vitamin), fiber, and potassium (ounce for ounce avocados have 60% more potassium than bananas). To put the fat in perspective, per ounce avocados have less fat than lean beef, and a whole Haas avocado (the highest fat variety) has less fat than 3 tablespoons of Italian salad dressing. So, go right ahead and put some guacamole on your burrito!" http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/0656.html

Anyway- enough studying for today
As usual, Amy's right and i heard wrong.

Zoolander-sized phone through wireless power

An interesting article about wireless power. Basically these MIT students made one coil of copper wire to transmit "magnetic resonance" (MHz) 7 feet across a room to another "receiving coil" to power a light bulb. This works a lot like an opera singer breaking a wine-glass that is receiving energy from her vocal frequency- except instead of harmonics, it's magnets. The cool part about this is that, unlike current electro-magnetic power-transfer, the power of this "magnetically coupled resonator" travels great distances and doesn't RADIATE and get lost in space creating RADIATION that can harm [human] organisms. Instead the power that isn't gathered by the receiving unit remains localized with the sending-unit.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/7418/
What does this mean to you? how about never having to plug in your "feather-light/paper-thin" laptop that doesn't even need a [heavy] battery or cord! Cell Phones are pretty thin now, but you could literally have a Zoo-lander-sized phone here. Pretty awesome stuff!
One of my school projects was Starbuck's furniture that had a fold-out table for your laptop and the table-top transfered power to your computer. Great idea, but this technology will quell whole "fear-of-cancer" thing that comes with current inductive power-transfer.

fight for freedom!

Amy and I went to Volleyball with Almaden3rd ward (it's now something else(?)) and there were all of these GoodWill clothes COVERING the whole stage. We sorted through them and found her brothers some hideous SF 49er sweat-pants (tiger and snake-skin patterns), her some black-with-neon-paint-splash sweat-pants and -of course- myself the MOST AWESOME AMERICAN FLAG PANTS! (made famous by Rex Quon Do in Napoleon Dynamite- http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=558). Of course we wore them over our voleyball outfits as long as we could untill we got super hot... Now I love them as pajama pants and even wore them to Costco today for the 5th of July.

I love going to Costco because I don't have to dress up as much as I do when we go to Walmart. :D

(j/k)

CHINA Tour-day Photos

Well, as you may know, I was in China for a week- including a weekend.
So one day we toured a nearby Ancient water-town (with a leaning tower temple) and some botanical gardens. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Front gates of Suzhou- ancient water town

Suzhou- North temple Pagoda (Leaning tower of Pagoda)

This is when it started to rain.

Arches

Now it's pouring rain. (you'll see the tower is leaning towards us)

(Well, it's been there for 2500 years- why would it fall now?)

Taking a boat ride around the city moat.

random

Now it's a monsoon- even the mannequins are wading.

Joe had the women's attention... all they wanted was his money.

Talking Maynah bird

Later at the botanical gardens...

"hello" There's a little cliff and stream below me that wouldn't fit in frame.

beautiful architecture and landscaping!

of course they put us to work

in the rain the lily pads fill with water, tip over and pour off into each other. a very tranquil and poetic design.

Dragon scales

here's the picture we laughed about-
The group shot was funniest to Joe and I because – as I tell the
story- someone offered to take or photo so Joe and I stood in frame
(as far apart as men are supposed to stand away from each other) and our tour-guides/co-workers filled in the gap. Little did we know that
(even with my hand behind my back to avoid any "appearances") the
picture would still come out looking like 2 couples out on the town.
Far from the truth- needless to say- ESPACIALLY since the whole time I was thinking
"WOW look at that! I really really wish Amy was here with me!"

fasting helps jet lag

It's true- I tried it. You can help re-set your internal clock by waiting 16 hours to eat at breakfast time at your destination. You sort of trick your body into starting a new day at the right time. Listen to the research...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90769113

Only time f.or notes again.

How to say hi to someone in China.
Usually they just look at you like you're an ailien (especially if you're speaking their language)
However, when I was skating through town on my giant-wheeled Rollerblades and waving at the gawkers they'd say, "hey! helloello!"
I've always liked skating at night, but
I really like skating in China in the evening to see the neon lights, the interesting architecture and the strange looks i get.
BUT, the reason I like it most is that there are lots of fellow Rollerbladers- LOTS of them! they were the friendliest curious people out tonight.
Time to call my wifey :)

oh! i edited a bunch of photos and maybe i can post them soon.

"you are what you eat"

Hi Luv Bug, (Amy),

It;s funny that you wrote your blog about the "You are what you eat" show because (even though I have not seen it) I was telling the guys at work about it durring dinner. They found it amusing as I described it and the way it runs. I told them about the episode that you told me about where the man only ate meat and bread for a week and the host said, that he must be a stinky sick mess that likes to fart. well, i didn't go that far.

I tried to post this on your blog comment, but I think Myspace is one of the websites that China says we're not allowed to view. i'll post it later, or you can do it for me.
blog: http://allenwilsondesign.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

I love you so much! and miss you too. Allen

--
H. Allen Wilson IV
Industrial Designer & unicyclist
WAGIC Design

notes for stories to catch up on...

"In America (gesturing my hand down my face), We don't eat anything with a face"

speaking of the future-
When I land in SF, i'll be able to say...

"Hey, wow! I was just in China 20 minutes from now."

 

(even after a 17hour flight)

 

AND

Invasion of the boil coverd waitresses

AND

shopping in the city

coming soon

Jane (our tour guide): "You don't look like your passport photo. We thought you looked like Nicolas Cage."

Me: … that's nice to hear, since, in America, Nicolase Cage is a very ugly man.

 

While sitting at lunch- served whole fish and shrimp waving my hand across my face "In America, we don't eat anything with a face."

 

It was fun explaining fortune cookies to Chinese natives.

Monsoon makes tourism more fun.

Jumping off rocks -Slipping falling on my but in a puddle.

Lilly pads tipping and pouring off the rain.

 Fighting women restaurant owners.

Being asked if "this" was what you usually order in america… (because they tried to order dishes that you would like).

sick to my soul

Appropriate titles: written the night of an experience that will never happen again.

1. "Be in the world but not of the world"

2. "Job hazard!? More like Relationship Hazzard"

3. "Like a mormon in a w**re house (pardon my mandarin)"

4. "It's as innocent or as corrupt as you want to make it."

5. "When cultures collide"

6. "A really bad day at the office"

I suddenly found myself with my supervisor (thank goodness he was there to dance around like an idiot to act like he was having fun) with our China business associates in a dark room with a karaoke screen and, when the door opened again, I soon relized that THIS karaoke is NOT that same in China as in the US. To make a long TORTUOUS and ear-peircing story short, I found myself hurriedly grabbing my digital camera- not to take pictures of course, mind you, but to rather show to the evening-gown-clad women, the pictures of my wife and explaining "This is my wife, Amy, so no 'funny business' (with my fingers making quote marks in the air)". They were nice, understanding even, complimentary of how beautiful my wife was and they got the message and were hopefully, for ONCE in their work-lives, treated respectfully by someone. Of course, they probably saw our defensive positions – hands clasped and elbows on knees with eyes straight ahead- and thought Joe and I were either prudes, or just plain gay (pardon). But that's fine with me.

Now I have mixed feelings- I hate the idea of what I saw [which was actually cleaner than a beer commercial, but still highly uncomfortable] - or rather the "strongly impled" potential that I saw. I don't know what goes on there and don't even want to think about it.

I often like to think of myself as adventurous and willing to try different culture's exotic foods and also as able to view other cultures while still keeping my distance and standards, but this is one sad thing that I just rather not know about or have every had to see or bear… on the other-hand I'm thankfully that Joe took me under his wing and assured me that, although we need to keep good relations with our vendors, that situation can be "as innocent or as corrupt as you make it [so we'll make it innocent]. Anyhow, I thankful that's over and now (after a few days together) that my China business associates understand my standards by (by observing and asking questions about my different behaviors) and we've become friendly and understanding of our differences, we can dismiss any more uncomfortable situations- THANKFULLY!

--
H. Allen Wilson IV
Industrial Designer & unicyclist
WAGIC Design

Japan Airport (JAL) lounge

we're sitting in the posh JAL lounge at the Japan airport. My boss gets to because he's a frequent flyer. He wanted to show off the robotic beer pourer when a Scottsman asked about it.

the bathroom urinals are awesome. HUGE, in fact.

fish eye fun

We saw Amy's Friend Jo Anne and her B/F Eric on a trip to Fresno.
They're our artsy friends with the cool but somewhat dark taste in art (Haloween cartoon-like) and music (the rockabilly concert we went to had old rat-rods and such.)
Eric bought Jo Anne a fish-eye camera for Christmas-last.
click to see my ape-arms in the background

Me, in the news... (video clip)

Perfectly clear

I wanted to see how this blog thing works. Perhaps keep a log of my up and coming trip to China for business.

Perhaps while I am there i can write a blog about our Hawaiian honeymoon vacation and Amy's birthday get-away to Seal Cove, Moss Beach.
Let's see what I can post on these things...

here are some Photos of our engagement announcement taken by Amy's sister Michelle
(MLP Photography)...







note: Blogger posts 3 sizes of pictures: sm, md, lg.
In order to get them to display in your blog PERFECTLY CLEAR you need to save them according to size.
Sm =102 pixels wide 72DPI
Md =163 pixels wide 72DPI
Lg =400 pixels wide 72DPI (maybe quadruple for the click-on larger image (?) )
ALSO, and this is very important: If you don't use PhotoShop's "Save For Web" feature it will save with a very pink cast (RGB vs sRGB).
Now that I've figured this out... Here you go.