Category Archives: Technology

Savoring the Moments

As Kiddo grows, I am amazed at how quickly time is flying. For the last four years, Kiddo and I attended Early Childhood Family Education classes at our school district. The program is amazing. Not only do the parents learn from each other, but I met many of my friends through this community.

At the end of each school year, we have a little “graduation” ceremony, and I am grateful to have photos from all of them.

May 2009

May 2010

May 2011

May 2012

It’s so great to see them in sequence as Kiddo has obviously grown so much in her first 3-plus years of her life. In the coming years, I hope to take photos of Kiddo on the first and last days of each school year. Of course, that would mean I have to remember to turn on my camera. Ha.

Aside from holidays or birthdays, what are your “must have” memories to commemorate each year?

Facebook. Your High School Reunion. Every Day.

My 20th high school reunion is less than a month away, and I am so excited about it. I mentioned previously that I came from a super awesome, kick-ass, small private school. While I wasn’t BFF with everyone, I have fond memories. As the days get closer, I am psyched to hear from people who I haven’t seen in nearly two decades… or a few weeks (my friend, JMR was in town not too long ago for business and we got to hang out for a bit. Hooray!) Our class has a Facebook group page and it’s buzzing with activity. Admittedly, I post a bunch of stuff on it, but I am helping communicate information to our class, for example, how to register, etc. Continue reading →

The Replacement For Our 1st Gen Nano Arrived!

We sent in our broken iPod Nano (1st Generation) in mid-November, soon after Apple announced their safety recall program. It took a really long time before we actually received the padded mailer to ship it back; we received one in late December. Well, last week the replacement came! It looks like this:

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Preserve Family Memories

If you didn’t know, I’m Asian. Thus, many of the stereotypes you think of are generally true about me. My eyes are not slanted, but I remember wanting to lower my Honda Accord and put an oversized spoiler on it. For a moment. Then, I thought better of it. Not surprisingly, my family loves to have the latest and greatest in consumer technology. I remember my dad, standing behind a video camera during family gatherings and my milestone events, recording the moments. It was fun to have VHS tapes of these, but a year ago I realized that I hadn’t hooked up our VCR. It was time to figure out what to do about those family home videos.

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Why Didn’t I Think of This Sooner?

We celebrate Christmas at our house and Kiddo loves having the tree all lit up. Until this year, I never thought to connect the tree lights to a programmable timer. We only used the timers we left the house for vacation. Huh?

In case I am not the last person to figure this one out, here some benefits for doing this:

  • We put the tree in a really tight corner. Now I don’t have to crawl on my hands and knees and get under the tree to plug-in and un-plug the lights each night.
  • We save energy, since I forget to unplug the lights at night at least once a week during the month of December.
  • Kiddo knows exactly when it’s 4PM at our house and I don’t even have to tell her. :)
  • Even though we aren’t going away this year, the neighbors will assume someone is home.

Yahoo. A small but impactful lifestyle upgrade! We hope you’re having a great holiday season! :)

Ship Holiday Packages In Your Pajamas!

Happy Black Friday! I can imagine many of you are doing some Holiday shopping today. If you plan to send any gifts this year, I wanted to share a tip that my friend Sarah M told me about last year. There is a fascinating website that helps you avoid waiting in long lines at the post office! And it’s owned by the government. Go figure! Continue reading →

Recycle/Trade-In Old Electronics At BestBuy

Mr. J’s GPS hit a wall. It cannot hold a charge long enough to work. This is an essential gadget for him while he’s traveling for work, so I have a feeling Santa will be giving it to him for the holidays? He’s not a blue tape kind of guy. While I am grateful that there is something we can buy him for Christmas, I looked into how to responsibly get rid of our dying GPS. Here’s what I found out: Continue reading →

Junk To Treasure: 1st Gen iPod Nano Recall

Look in your desk drawers, closets, and junk piles to see if you have a 1st generation iPod Nano. They look like this:

These babies were sold in late 2005-ish it might be unlikely that you have one? You might have either thrown it away, recycled it, traded it in, or sold it by now. But it might be worth your time to look around because…. even if yours still works, Apple is recalling them because of a battery issue. Check this webpage on Apple’s site to see if you are eligible for a replacement. You will need the serial number. Your replacement will be sent six weeks after Apple receives the defective one and will come with a 90-day warranty. By the way, the replacement is a slick and shiny new, Nano. Nice, huh?

We have a broken 1st gen Nano sitting in our storage closet, because I planned to use it toward a 10% discount for new iPod through Apple’s iPod recycling program. If this broken Nano it is eligible for replacement, I am thrilled to save $130 instead of $13. Yahoo! Check your junk now!