Locked up...

Today I changed my first lock ever. Yeah, it's a tiny bit crooked, but it works!!


It's surprising how good it felt to take the whole deadbolt lock apart, switch out the cylinder, put it back together, and actually have it work... well... it worked on my second try... the point IS that it worked. Hearing the click of the lock was like music to my ears. Felt like a manly man for a minute there... then I drank my purified water and texted on my iPhone and the feeling faded... my adventures in manly man land were over for this day. Back to drawing fine lines and playing with toys. Manly man land, I'll see you next time... something not too hard to fix needs fixin.

Mmm...

Walkin along 8th Ave in Brooklyn and came across this lovely site.



I first saw the raw chicken in crates out on the sidewalk. Then, noticed the nice man chopping them up right behind the crates... while on a cell phone. Skillz. No gloves, check. Dirty Rite Aid basket, check. Nasty rag, check. Still busy as hell, WINNING!!

There's my iPad 2!!

I, like many others, have been trying to get my hand on an iPad 2 since its release in the states. My initial tries were in DE where I arrived to find myself about 150th in line. That's not strange, I guess. But, what IS strange is that 95% (maybe 97%) of the people in front of me in line were Asian. How many non-Asians can you count in the picture below? I count one. Maaaybe, two. I would dare say that the rest were all Chinese. The strangest thing, there were old folks there sitting in chairs. I mean OLD. Gray hair, hunched over, silk clothes only type of old. OLD. But, of course, they can always be buying one for their kids or grand kids... riiight? Wink wink nudge nudge.

This image is of only one part of the line. The line goes around the corner and up the side I was standing on and out the door and along the building. I'm sure the non-Asians in line were wondering what the hell was going on. Apparently, according to some reports, some (if not most) of the Chinese in line were purchasing iPad2s and reselling them for a profit. Nothing wrong there, right? Who wouldn't want to make a little profit after sitting in line for hours on end? But, when you multiply that by thousands, you have a problem... for the consumers. Apple still makes the sale, but we the consumers are stuck chasing the dream.

Where do they go you ask? Well, as fast as they can walk out the giant glass walls of the Apple store they make their way into the hands of "Apple trafficers". And, off to whoever is above them. Then, packaged (it seems that they package it in roll alongs like the one seen above) and sent back to China for a crazy mark up. From what I understand, the trafficers offer those in line anything from $50 to $150 to stand in line and purchase the iPad2 for them. Little do the people in line know, the iPad2s then are sold for double (more for the 16G and less for the 64G) on the gray market in China. Even the covers and HDMI cables go for over double.

Looks like they made a drug bust, right? But, no, this is the tiny store in Hong Kong that just got their shipment in. I can't say that I agree with what's happening. And, I don't appreciate not being able to get my hands on a iPad2. But, I also can't disagree with people trying to make a buck. I don't know how legal what they're doing is, but if you could buy something and turn around and sell it for double, wouldn't you? If you wouldn't, you're not a very smart business person. In the end, I'm dissapointed that I have to see others wave their shiney iPad2s in front of me as they get their grubby hands on theirs. But, I also can't be upset because those that are getting it before me where either smart enough to buy online, crazy enough to wait in lines at 7:30am (or overnight in some cases), or insane enough to pay more than double. In other words, they worked harder than I'm willing to in order to get their hands on it. I guess I'll have to wait till after March 25th when the international markets are set for their releases easing the demand in the states and the iPad2s will again flow freely. I'm okay with that.

You can go to this article to read more. They even have a video. That's where I got my two pics that aren't mine. Interesting article.

Thunder....

Thunder..Thundercats! HOOooooo??


When I saw this I wasn't sure if it was a bad Thundercats bootleg or just some other logo... I'm still not sure. True, bootlegs are usually off, but this is even bad for a bootleg. Who looks at this and thinks "yes, that looks right"? And if this is some other cartoons logo, please let me know. I'd be happy to find out that it's NOT meant to be the Thundercats logo.

Nice package...

After a failed attempt to purchase a iPad2 we went and got some fast food because fast food makes it better...


...I got this ketchup packet with my meal. It's the first time I've seen it out in the wild. Pretty dang cool. Nicely done! Doesn't ease the not having iPad2 disappointment, but neat to see.

What's it mean?

This is what I got when I checked out my hourly weather this morning.



I hope I need the weather past 8am...

Only in Chinatown...

...would you find a bootleg of a bootleg. I am curious to try the place tho...

Fun with bubbles

Enjoyed a day out in Chinatown with friends... one of whom had a little too much fun... with bubbles...

Mmm...Nutella...

I wasn't going to have one because of diet guilt, but...


it's a Nutella frosted cupcake! What?!? I know, right? You cant not try one, right? So I did. Nice! I realize the cupcake isn't very photogenic... but it was quite the tasty morsel. Now I can add icing to the list of unexpected things I've tasted that is Nutella flavored.

Mmmm...?

Went for a random place on 8th Ave in Brooklyn. How bad could it be, right? We stumbled into a place like any other place on the ave, BUT it wasn't. This place was hardcore Fuzhou. Dirty, food dishes everywhere, dirty fish tanks, but this stood out to me...


Anything stand out? Yah, you won't see that at your local Chinese take out. With all that said, the food at the place wasn't too bad. But, we won't be back unless it's with my dad. My dad loves places like this. It makes him feel like he's back in the motherland.

Cha Chan Tang

Checked out a new place on Mott St. In Chinatown.


Named Cha Chan Tang meaning "tea cafe".


We ordered a tomato egg on rice, minced meat spaghetti, and a Hong Kong style milk tea. Not great. Not bad. It does fulfill the craving for "Hong Kong style" foods. Dishes are a little on the heavy side. Drinks are on the lighter side(not so milky).

Final thought, I'd bring people here. Tasty eats at a decent(average for Chinatown, cheap for outside of Chinatown) prices.

Mash up

Hey all, for those that checked out my non-art blogs from time to time, I've mashed them into one. I will be posting all things not art on www.chengsta.blogspot.com. Right now it's mostly posts about apt stuff because the site used to be my apt blog. More to come!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Xmas 2010

It's been a long time since I've posted something up on this blog. But, I thought it time to pick it up again. I figured this to be as good of a time as any. So, I'm starting it off with my Christmas gifts that wifey got me.


iPod Nano G6! This thing is awesome! Music, photos, clock face, FM tuner, and more! As a New Yorker, I've found this little gadget even more handy. Let me explain. One day, as I was wandering around picking up some last minute gifts, I entered a store pressing what I thought was a stop button on my headphones. I shopped for a bit and made my way to the subway. Next thing I know, as I entered the subway, the radio kept on playing. I came to realize that I didn't stop the radio, but instead paused it. Yes, pausing live radio. The Nano was recording the whole time I was in the store and therefore continued to play the whole time I was in the subway. For those of you in cities that have... more updated subway systems, the New York systems have no signals underground. So, having radio continue as I entered the subway was quite a pleasant surprise. Pausing live radio is only one of the many nice features on the Nano. If you've had an iPod and enjoyed it, I would definitely recommend the Nano.


And, with the Nano, wifey included headphones. These are the Tour series of the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. It came with all kinds of fittings and what not to make sure the buds fit your ears perfectly. And, the wiring is by Monster Cable and it doesn't get tangled up. Nice! I'm no audiophile, but I do like these headphones. Highs and mids are great. And, of course, the bass is deep and full. On top of all that, it has controls and a mic for use with the iPod and iPhone. This was the button I pushed in the story above. Needless to say, I'm enjoying the combo of these headphones and the Nano. If you like full sound and not the giant head gear DJ headphones, this is for you.

As many have been doing, I'm going to use the Nano as a watch. I've pre-ordered my wrist strap and it should come in... several weeks. Keep an eye out for it.

Happy New Years and may 2011 bring you all great things!

New toys!

Happy new year to everyone! So, I got some toys over the holiday and I wanted to share them with you. Yay, toys! Here we go.


If you've followed my posts, you know that I have a Canon G9. I got myself a wide angle lens. Canon makes one, but its HUGE. This is the Raynox HD-6600. It wasn't made specifically for the G9, so it does vignette. But, zoom in two clicks, and its gone. And, supposedly, it still covers more than Canon's own wide angle lens made for the G9. And, this lens is smaller and lighter than Canons. In the image above, the lens is attached to the Canon lens adapter.


My wife got me the Canon Speedlite 270EX for Christmas. Just what I wanted. I think its the smallest flash with a telescoping head available. Which is necessary to not make the G9 look ridiculous.


June also picked this item up for me. A Manfrotto monopod. I added the quick release head. Also, by Manfrotto. This really helps greatly with on the go low light shooting.


And, we picked these up in the last two months. I've been a fan of the Street Fighter series ever since I discovered the original arcade version. So, I had to pick this version up. Definitely worth checking out. And, of course, the New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Return of the side scroller. Awesome! Highly recommended. If were a fan of the original side scroller, you'll love this one.


And, finally, one of my friends picked these guys up for me. Lego dudes. Yeah, that's a ninja. Nuff said.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Hope you got as much cool stuff as I did. Have a great year!

Robo-pipes!

This structure you see to the left is a result of a ongoing problem with my sink backing up. Saturday night, June and I were sitting on our couch enjoying a movie. We heard a gurgle from the sink. I found it odd, so I took a look. Nothing. But, to be safe, I put the strainer in the drain thinking that would help block anything that might come up the sink. How foolish. A minute later we heard a sound like liquid forcing its way through a tight spot. I ran over to the sink to see brown water rushing into it. BLAAARGH!! So, after bailing out the nasty water to the bathtub, I raised hell with the management and board of our coop. A crew of plumbers came in and busted out a hole to the main pipes and snaked it out with a large electrical snake. And, installed this industrial level piping on my sink. It has a check valve which is supposed to only allow liquid to flow one way. Overkill? Maybe. But, whatever helps water to no come back into my sink is all good. But, to be safe, I purchased this little baby as well. I highly recommend this to anyone that has any problems with backing up pipes. This is made to plug up pipes that have grooves that are too warn away for a screw on stopper. You just place the plug into your drain and turn the bolt. As the bolt tightens, the rubber expands. This creates a air tight seal. They're sold in all kinds of sizes and pressure ratings. I don't think that backing up drains would have that much pressure, so you probably don't have to worry about that. This thing cost me $3.50. Not bad for peace of mind. I got it at my neighborhood hardware store. But, there is much more of a variety online. Now, you know. And, knowing is half... something something. :)

I hear...

...helicopters flying off to the back and to the right. Finally, I have my surround sound. You would think that an audiophile like myself would have been had my surround sound system by now. Alas, I am also frugal, so it took me a long time to justify to myself that I should spend money to have sound surround me. But, as I watched movies, the desire to hear things happen behind me grew stronger. So, I began with picking up the center channel for the clear dialogue straight from the tv and not from a stereo position. And, as the experience was a success, my desire for the full experience grew. My wife sensed this desire growing. Maybe, she just heard me say enough. Either way, she knew I wanted the two speakers to finish my surroundedness. So, for my birthday, she bought me the final speakers to fill out the rear sounds. How awesome is that? Now we watch our movies in glorious surround sound... or we will once I pick up the cables to pull back to connect the speakers. They're fresh out of the box in the photo above. I chose to go with the Bose speakers. I tested Bose sets at many sound rooms and found that this set delivered the fullest sound. Now, I just need a tv and apartment big enough to hold the sound... June?

LEGO me!

I've always been a fan of LEGOs since I can remember. I hadn't played with them since I was small. A little while back I got a job working on some minifigs for LEGO. As I worked on the project I was reminded of how much I enjoyed playing with LEGOs when I was young. And, as I had to get reference for the project, I picked up the coolest set I could find... that didn't cost me too much. So, I got this series called Exoforce. I think its one of the coolest sets they have. I had one robot in this series. I recently found out that LEGO is discontinuing this series, so I had to pick up another robot. I picked up Aero Booster. Above, you see the before.


Here is the after. This series is one of the favorite robot products out there because it brings together two of my favorite things. LEGOs and robots. The fact that its super possible is huge. If you have space, I would highly recommend looking into picking up one of these sets before they are gone forever.

Aaaaand we're back

So, here's the dealio. As you saw in the previous post, we were packing to move to our new place...supposedly. The whole thing fell apart at the last minute. Coops SUCK! If you can do a condo, go for it. The situation is too long to explain. In a nutshell, our management and coop board screwed us. And, we ended up having to pull out of the deal because the board demanded something of us that was not a part of the original arrangement. And, ever since we pulled out, we had been trying to get our downpayment back. If you've attempted to purchase a place before...and had it fall through, you know that this is the tough part. In our case, the seller had good reason to be mad. It would have been aimed at the wrong party, but he still had good reason to be mad. So, we were sweating. We didn't know if we would get our entire downpayment back. The process was started by a termination of contract letter with the request of the return of our downpayment. Then, we waited... and waited. And, waited some more. Our lawyer emailed and called several times to no response. Finally, about a month of this, we threatened to report the seller's lawyer to the bar association. All of sudden we get a response that our check will be Fed Exed to us. With next day delivery even. Obviously, that rat bastard never sent out the check in the first place. Anyway, its all over. We got our entire downpayment back. It's deposited and its in the bank. Thank goodness.

packing up!

So, in the last post, we were starting to tighten up our budget with trips to Trader Joes. And, now, we are have begun the process that we were saving for. Actually, we're coming to the end of the process, but this is the crucial point. Approval, closing, and moving. We're still waiting for our approval meeting and closing. So, we do not officially own our next place yet. But, we have to move whether we get our place or not. A tenant is lined up to move in on the 1st of Feb. So, we are starting to pack up our little studio in preparations to make our move. It's odd how we've been packing a little every night for about a week now, but it still seems like there is so much more to go. There's just boxes piled upon boxes upon boxes. Good thing we have a good source for boxes. We have some good office boxes. Large and small filing boxes. I love how sturdy these are. We'll probably continue to use these for storage in our new place. We also have office moving boxes. Larger even sturdier boxes for moving heavier items. Hopefully, moving the apartment is all we'll need these for. :P Well, back to packing.

V-budget

June and I are planning to buy a place. So, naturally, we are freaking out about money. In this freaking out state, we have decided to take on a V-budget. What is a V-budget, you ask? We have a friend named Vanessa. She is what some would call a cheap ass or others would call frugal and yet others would call very thrifty. Whatever you want to call her, she knows how to save a lot of money. She's in her mid 20s and already a landlord. Not too shabby. So, the V-budget is basically a budget that Vanessa follows. Her system is pretty complex. But, at the very basics, its spending $100 a week on food and common needs (bathroom goods, cleaning goods, etc). And, if you have anything left over of the $100, you roll it over into the next week. And, if you go over, you take it from your next week's budget. June and I don't really spend that much in the first place, so it really isn't that hard of a change. But, we've started picking up groceries from Trader Joes. It's actually pretty fun. It gives us something to do together and actually puts our kitchen to use. Plus, it gives us a sense of where our money is. So, anyway, Trader Joes is a great friend to the budget conscious.