ChinesePod- February 27, 2008 Wow, finally a site that has it all for us lousy Chinese speakers at ChinesePod. I found it via iTunes and it has it all and it is free. For instance, look at the most popular intermediate lessons, it has both an MP3 podcast you can download as well as a PDF with English, pinyin and simplifed chinese. And the vocabulary is pretty useful and real world. Thanks guys!http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/27/chinesepod_1.php Wyclef Jean and Keep Holding On- February 27, 2008 OMG, I just love Sweetest Girl by Wyclef Jean. it is terrific Hip Hop for those of you who like that kind of stuff. Check out the video I'm also listening to Avril Lavigne's Keep Holding Onhttp://tongfamily.com/2008/02/27/wyclef_jean_and_keep_holding_on.php Identity Theft, Fraud Alert and Credit Monitoring- February 25, 2008 If you are unlucky enough to have your wallet stolen, it isn't the $50 in it, it is that the thief can sell your identity on the internet to just about anyone. So, what can you do about it. First, you can place a 90 day credit alert for free, but of course every thief in the world knows that. So after cancelling all your cards and changing your bank accounts, you need a longer term monitoring system. These are really expensive for reasons I don't understand. Typically $80-$200 per month for...http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/24/identity_theft_fraud_alert_and_credit_monitoring.php REI Deals- February 25, 2008 Hey, if you are buying lots of gear, now's the time to do a few things. First, if you know an REI member, if you sign up this month for $20 fee, you get a 20% off for a non-sale item. So if you've been eyeing something that is $100, now's the time. Also REI Visa let's you save 5% on every non-sale REI purchase. It is also free and gives you a 1% rebate on other purchases. I've been using frequent flier credit cards, but if you have big dollar items, this can make some sense.http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/24/rei_deals.php Headphones- February 25, 2008 After our most recent trip, nearly all of our earbuds have simply died. Usually, the little cable breaks, so what to do if you need a lot of these and they take abuse. Headphones.com has some of the best reviews I've seen. It is how I originally got the Etymotic ER-6i and ER-4p and ER-4s. Sadly, I've lost one ER-6i and two have broken, so what are the best headphones now: Ten Best Headphones Most of these aren't practical for travel but the real winner seems to be the Shure SE310. It got 5..http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/24/headphones_1.php Cracking Airport- February 21, 2008 Well, this is sure confusing, I'm trying to get an older Snow Base Airport (not the Airport Extreme) to work right. Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5 comes with a new Airport Utility v5.2 to manage the Airport Extreme but not with the older Airports (code named Snow Base). In fact, this utility is really hard to find it is in ApplicationsUtilityAirport Utility, but won't find old wifi Airports. Instead, Larry R. says you have to for: Tiger 10.1 Download the old AirPort Admin Utility Version 4.2. This is.http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/20/old_apple_airport.php God Dag. Kan du saga det igen- February 21, 2008 Seems like everyone who skis is Swedish sometimes, so good to know from Speakswedish.co.uk some common phrases. I've no idea how to pronounce it, but "good day Sweden" seems like a good phrase to learn. When I was there, some other good ones are: SwedishEnglishjayesnejnotack sa mycketthank you very muchingen orsakyou are welcomegod morgongood morninggod formiddaggood midmorning 11-noongod middaggood noon timegod eftermiddaggood afternoongod kvalllgood eveningvalkommenwelcomehejdagoodbyegod...http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/20/god_dag_kan_du_saga_det_igen.php Total Eclipse on February 20-21- February 21, 2008 Thanks to Sandy, we learned that there was a total eclipse of the moon. What an amazing sight. It was clear and we saw the moon literally go from bright to dark red in 10 minutes and then back again. NASA has a terrific site that explains it and tells you exactly when and what is happening. We were right there at 7:45-7:50 and saw totality. There is even a javascript lunar eclipse explorer application that will help you figure out where the moon is. How cool is that. You can actually go as far.http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/20/total_eclipse_on_february_2021.php Whistler Fun Stuff- February 21, 2008 Beside skiing (did you get your Edge card), there are an amazing number of fun things to do: Sledding. They actually let you sled down when the lifts are closed. You can get it at Village Hardware Store. Sled at the base of Lorimer Road and then walk across the Bridge. "Tubing" is open at 11AM-8PM and is just a short ride up. Edge card holders get a 25% discount Meadow Park Sports Centre. This is a little bit of a drive, about six kilometers, but there is a pool with a river and also public.http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/20/whistler_fun_stuff_1.php Canadian roaming- February 19, 2008 If you get to Canada often then there are two options: If you have AT&T then get the AT&T Canada plan, they have a $4month plan where roaming in Canada is $0.59 per minute and any calls from the US to Canada are $0.19minute while and text messages to the US are $0.50 per message. You can turn this plan on or off, so essentially, if you do more than 10 minutes of calling at the $2minute roaming rate, it makes sense to sign up. Only draw back is Canadians have to pay international...http://tongfamily.com/2008/02/18/canadian_roaming.php |