Sandy Adventures Park

Its great that there are more ways to encourage adults to participate and enjoy the outdoors. Recently, I went to a place in the Washington DC Metro area called Sandy Adventures Park. Basically, there is ziplining and obstacle courses all up to 50 feet in the trees.

Highly recommended and is a different experience from a typical day spent with friends.

Jamie Oliver Teaching Americans about Healthy Eating

I find it sad that Americans do not want to do anything about their health and obesity. Jamie Oliver went around showing American children what eggs, carrots, etc. were and the children were clueless in what these objects were. Its become sad that Americans have been eating only processed food like chicken nuggets and fish sticks. French fries constitute the vegetable intake for many Americans these days.

Do vegetable really taste that bad? I don't think so. Maybe its just the way Americans cook their vegetables.

Frustrated at Traffic

For those who get pissed off at being in an hour of traffic, take a look at traffic near Beijing recently.

Thousands of vehicles were bogged down Monday in a more than 100-kilometre (62-mile) traffic jam leading to Beijing that has lasted nine days and highlights China's growing road congestion woes. The Beijing-Tibet expressway slowed to a crawl on August 14 due to a spike in traffic by cargo-bearing heavy trucks heading to the capital, and compounded by road maintenance work that began five days later, the Global Times said.

It was said that the traffic would last until mid September. However, I'm sure that the government would do something about this. The road is a major artery for shipping goods and road construction seemed to bring traffic to a standstill. People took advantage of the traffic by selling food for higher prices.

This brings a new meaning to traffic.

China surpasses Japan to become second largest Economy

It was recently reported that China passed Japan to become the second largest economy in the world, right behind the USA. However, a better measure of the wealth of a nation is the per capita GDP. In terms of its per capita GDP, China ($6,600) is poorer than Poland ($14,000) and nowhere near Japan ($33,000). In fact, China is in about the same place as El Salvador, when its economy is considered in the light of per capita GDP.

Having lived there, the local citizens really do not care considering their lives have not really improved that much. Granted, the infrastructure is better than most countries especially in the large cities but the quality of life still is not very good. Because of the costs of living in cities such as Shanghai, many people spend their free time sleeping or watching tv, instead of pursuing other interests such as sports, photography, etc.

LG Rumor Touch by Virgin Mobile Review

After using the phone for 2 months, I think the phone is great considering the value and functionality. Just a few gripes with the phone but considering I pay $25 a month for 300 minutes  (no freebies) and unlimited web and texting, I can't complain. This phone/plan is obviously not for those who spend a lot of time on their phones downloading mobile applications. Note this is my second phone but Virgin Mobile sent me a new one. The first phone's screen wouldn't turn on anymore for some reason.

Issues with the phone:
1. When using the media player, all other functions cannot be used unless the media player is closed.
2. I haven't taken a lot of photos with my camera yet but for some reason I can zoom with the camcorder but not the camera.
3. The email + IM program closes after a while and only occasionally informs you when a new message has arrived.
4. Emails with attachments cannot be downloaded.
5. Youtube access is spotty.

I usually just use the phone to make phone calls, text and occasionally IM + email so this phone is sufficient enough for me. I use the web to surf if I'm bored but that is usually a rare situation. There is also Google Maps on this so I use it as a GPS from time to time.

Global warming

There was a tornado in the DC Metro area with some pretty impressive lightning storm. Rivers were flowing in the highway and this was nothing compared to what has been seen in the Gansu province of China and Pakistan. We need to step up the initiative to save the environment. Otherwise, we'll all be underwater from the ice caps melting.

Verizon Never Fails to Amaze

Yes with their poor customer service. Since the company is so silo-ed, I keep getting transferred between departments to resolve issues.