Bank Deposits

As part of my new work responsibilities, I have to deposit checks at the bank. For my personal checking account, I can take a photo of the check with my smartphone to "deposit" checks. Maybe because there are more checks and larger dollar amounts, there is no such option for our business bank accounts. In fact, everything seems slow and inefficient.

Since our office is not in the safest part of town, I'm taking incoming checks to deposit near home. The closest branch is actually a small kiosk inside a supermarket, so not sure if they get a lot of business customers. Hopefully I didn't surprise the teller by dropping a six digit deposit into a 9 digit checking account on a Saturday.

Treasury

Our company's controller is retiring in a few weeks. Instead of replacing him, we're divvying up his responsibilities. As a result, I am now the Treasurer of the company. I signed a signature card for our primary bank account today, and soon my signature will be printed on over 10,000 checks a month.

I've never worked in a Treasury department before...

Asia Trip Day 11 - Taipei (November 2015)

Wednesday 11/4

First morning in Taipei. I found a Chinese breakfast place on the way to our first destination. Eating... this is the main reason to visit Taiwan.


First stop was a tour of the Presidential Palace. I registered online and we got a private tour in English. Our tour guide looked an office worker. He went to the same military college as my dad.


Shin Kong Life Tower, the 2nd tallest building in Taiwan after Taipei 101. Our Airbnb is next door to the building.


I researched a lot of beef noodle places in Taipei before the trip. My dad suggested we come to this place for lunch.


Yongkang Beef Noodle: the building is kind of ghetto but the food was good.


After lunch, we got some shaved ice at Smoothie House down the street


Nest stop, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall


The man himself


National Theater and Concert Hall


National Palace Museum. We had to meet my aunt for dinner so we were kind of rushed. We saw a few exhibits but didn't see the famous jade cabbage.


After dinner, we walked around Shilin night market

Asia Trip Day 10 - Osaka > Taipei (November 2015)

Tuesday 11/3

Another travel day, this time from Osaka to Taipei. Kansai airport is pretty far from Namba Station so we had to get up pretty early to catch our flight.


We took the 7am Rapit train to Kansai. It was designed to look like an anime character.


First ride in a 787 Dreamliner. The flight didn't feel any different but the large dimming windows were cool.

We arrived in Taipei and found our driver. I was going to take the high speed rail or an airport bus but decided on getting a van instead. Our driver's name was Double (as in 2x). We asked for an English-speaking driver but I ended up speaking Chinese the whole time. Like Japan, we stayed at an Airbnb near Taipei Station. The building was a commercial building so the "apartment" was kind of weird.


2/28 Peace Park


Longshan Temple


Waterfall inside temple grounds


The temple was pretty chaotic, very different from the temples in Kyoto


Afterwards, we walked several blocks to Modern Toilet, a bathroom themed restaurant. The food was so so but the kids wanted to eat here.




After dinner, we walked around Ximen for a bit, and bought some fresh shredded pork and pork jerky

Asia Trip Day 9 - Kyoto (November 2015)

Monday 11/2

Our final full day in Japan was spend visiting Kyoto. I had planned 3 or 4 stops and dinner in Kyoto but we ended up only seeing two temples and ate dinner back in Osaka.


Train ride from Osaka to Kyoto took about 45 minutes. This is the rapid (rapid express?) train on Keihan Railroad.


First stop: Kendonya udon restaurant


Yummy


Fushimi-Inari Shrine




Prayer gates


Deep-fried sweet potatos


Sanjusangendo Shrine. There were over 1000 buddha statues inside but we could not take any photos.


Dinner in a tiny one-man curry restaurant in Namba Station back in Osaka

Asia Trip Day 8 - Osaka (November 2015)

Sunday 11/1

We arrived in Osaka late Saturday night and was able to check-in to our Airbnb place without any problems. This apartment was a bit larger than the one in Tokyo, though it did not have a dinner table.

The next morning, we decided to skip Osaka Castle and headed to the Osaka Aquarium instead.


Hugh ferris wheel next to the aquarium


Aquarium exterior


Model of huge whale shark in the large tank inside the aquarium


We spent a long time in the aquarium. It was dark when we left. The ferris wheel was all lit up with animated lights.


Dontonbori


Famous crab restaurant


Sushi


We couldn't decide where to eat and ended up with take-out sushi, and some pork buns from a Chinese restaurant in Namba Staton


We also got some Portuguese egg tarts for dessert

Asia Trip Day 7 - Tokyo > Osaka (October 2015)

It's been six months since our Asia trip; time to finish posting trip photos.

Saturday 10/31

Today is a travel day. We are taking the bullet train (Shinkasen) from Tokyo to Osaka in the evening. Train tickets are actually pretty expensive. It would have been faster and cheaper to fly but the best fares were from Narita to Kansai which would add hours and lots of cost to the trip.

We checked out of our Airbnb this morning, placed our luggage in lockers at Tokyo Station, and went to see a few local sights.


Tokyo Station. It's our 3rd time through the station and I still got lost. It took forever for us to find enough empty lockers to store our luggage for the day.


Imperial Castle. After lunch, we went on a free tour of the East Garden given by volunteers in English. Here is their blog post for that day.


One of the tour groups. They broke us up into 4 groups. Their guide spoke perfect American English.


We left the tour after about an hour and took the train to Shibuya. There was a Starbucks nearby so we took a break. The workers kept coming over to tell us not to take pictures. I don't get why.


Shibuya scramble crossing. Lots of people crossing the street.


We then took the train one station to Harajuku Bridge. We were hoping to see people in crazy clothing but there was no one there. This is the Daiso on Takeshita Street (竹下通).


Fancy crepes


Heading back to Tokyo Station. Some had subway lines over 1km from each other.


Nozumi Shinkasen


Train interior. Top speed of the train was about 180 mph. Too bad it was dark so we could not see anything outside.

따끔

Sad song :(


따끔 (Sting) - MAMAMOO

English lyric I found online:

With only you missing from my life,
I thought I would be just fine
Similar to the feeling of losing a ring that I wore daily
But in the midst of meeting someone new,
Strangely I called for you
I really thought I erased all memories of you

You woo woo woo
What are you, that still,
I am full of thoughts about you

Once in a while when my eyes sting,
I know it’s just the wind blowing
But it feels like you are calling me and I cry
And when my heart stings like this,
By then I realize it is you who I still love

Woo~ I guess I got used to your warm hand
And how you stood to my left
While matching your pace to mine
Occasionally when I’m walking alone
The emptiness in place of your shadow alongside mine feels strange

You woo woo woo
You probably moved on and have forgotten all about me
But I can’t do the same, that is not easy for me

Once in a while when my eyes sting,
I know it’s just the wind blowing
But it feels like you are calling me and I cry
And when my heart stings like this,
By then I realize all of me still loves you

I’ve been doing great up until now, I have endured well
That’s what I’ve told myself

But when it gets too painful to tolerate,
what should I do then?
Thoughts about you may make me sting, but from now on
I will try my best to stay strong, all because it is you

ELSA

Eunji, Luna, Solar, Ailee

I don't think it's an "official" name for the subgroup but they should sing together more often. At least Solar got equal time for this song; the first time they sang together Solar didn't get any solo parts.



I've seen two out of the four in concert. Ailee was at a local Indian casino recently but I didn't get a chance to see her.

K-Hip-Hop

One of our analysts at work is a closet hip-hop rapper. It was on his resume when he applied and of course, we make him bust a rhyme during the interview, He hears me talk about going to K-pop concerts so he was curious. Instead of Girls' Generation or Apink, I showed him these two videos:


Sse SSe SSe - Yezi (feat. Gilme, KITTIB, and Ahn Soo-min)

They are some of the contestants on Unpretty Rapstar 2 on Mnet. I didn't watch much of it but heard is was rigged since some of the contestants already signed album deals with Mnet before the show, and of course they won... though the audience consensus was that the winner wasn't the best rapper. The show also starred Hyolin from SISTAR and Yubin from Wonder Girls. I'm beginning to like Yezi, and Soo-min is cute in the video.


Stand Up - Basick (feat. MAMAMOO)

I show him this mainly because of MAMAMOO. Anyway, I think the overall impression was favorable. He liked Basick but mentioned that it sounded a lot like Macklemore.

NEW2U Certified Pre-Owned

Who comes up with these names? Marketing MBAs? Anyway, after a few Twitter messages, T-Mobile agreed to send me a replacement for my dying HTC One M8. I have been with T-Mobile for 10+ years, including several years where I only needed a "home" phone number and would use ~5 minutes out of my 700 minute plan each month. The replacement phone arrived quickly and I have 7 days to return the old phone.

However, T-Mobile managed to send me a different phone. So instead of a HTC One M8, I now have a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S5. Both phones came out around the same time in 2014, and both were $650 new. Even though both are running Android 5, there are enough hardware and software differences that it's a pain in the ass to copy apps and data over to the "new" phone. I'm struggling to remember dozens of usernames and passwords, and there's no way to transfer chat/text history. Ugh.

Also the Galaxy S5 is slow. My HTC was a bit slow already but the S5 is worse. Here are some quick impressions:

- S5 is lighter and thinner, and has a replaceable battery. If I could replace the battery in the M8, then I would be posting this.
- The screen looks nicer than the HTC, and has a much higher resolution camera.
- Even though the battery is replaceable, it doesn't seem to last very long... and it comes with a USB 3.0 cable port.
- Sound quality is bad. The HTC had awesome speakers, but I guess everyone uses headphones to listen to music.
- S5 only came with 16GB vs. 32GB of on-camera memory. Good thing there is a micro SD card (I hate Apple).
- The refurbished phone came with free headphones! Surprisingly, the M8 didn't come with any. I have lots, but I like the cheap Samsung ones. I'm still using the set that came with my original Galaxy S9000.
- Already bought a new case since the old one won't fit. $11.99 from Amazon.

Again, beggars can't be choosy. Having a S5 is much better than no phone, or spending another $700 on a new one.

==========

One more thing: The S5 is supposed to be waterproof so in case you drop your phone in the toilet or something. To achieve this, the USB 3.0 charging port has a huge cover that is hard to open/close, especially if you don't have long fingernails. The obvious solution is to get an inductive charger back cover (or a thin insert) and charge wirelessly. I'll see how long I can deal with the fat cover for now.

==========

Well, I think I've copied everything I could off the old phone and reinstalled most of the apps on the new phone. I did a factory reset on the HTC and it's going back to T-Mobile tomorrow. Looks like I'm stuck with Samsung phones for now.

Taller Than You

Another MAMAMOO pre-release song. I think they're dissing each other about their heights.


1cm의 자존심 (Taller than You) - MAMAMOO

I met them at a fan concert a few months ago. They are shorter than they look in videos.

Crappy Smartphone

My first smartphone was a Samsung Vibrant (aka Galaxy S9000) and it worked well for several years. About two years ago, I replaced it with a HTC One M8. At the time, conventional wisdom was to get a Samsung Galaxy S4 or an Apple iPhone 5; I got the HTC to show some love for Taiwan. I also ended up buying a special case (dot view) and an external camera (HTC Re) for it.

Last weekend, I noticed that the phone was cracked along the edges, and the glass screen had a bulge in it. Most likely the internal battery went bad since the phone wasn't holding much charge either. Lithium ion batteries tend to heat up and swell as they deteriorate. I'm kinda pissed since the phone cost me $650 and only lasted <2 years, while several iPhone 4's and my OG Galaxy is still fine. The HTC phone still works but now I'm afraid it will catch fire or something when the battery finally dies. Debating whether to buy a battery replacement kit online (looks like it will take hours to open case and replace battery), or get a new (expensive) phone. Sigh...

Boob Grab

What's up with that? Fast forward to 5:10 in the video...

New MAMAMOO Single

I Miss You - MAMAMOO

Only audio so far. Not sure if they will release a MV when the new mini-album comes out later. No MV, but they performed the song on a few music shows.

Asia Trip Day 6 - Mt. Fuji (October 2015)

Friday 10/30

Another must see in Japan is probably Mt. Fuji. I had originally tried to plan my own day-trip to Mt. Fuji but due to time constraints, we ended up joining a guided tour. We bought the tour through Viator but I think several travel agencies sell the same tour organized by JTB. The tour was ~$100/person and included a nice Japanese lunch. We did have to get up early in the morning to take the subway to Keio Plaza Hotel near Shinjuku to get on the tour bus.


Our tour bus. One return option was to take the shinkasen to Tokyo Station, but since we wanted to look around Shinjuku, we stayed with the bus option.


First stop was the Mt. Fuji Visitors Center where we had 10 minutes (I hate these tours). It was still cloudy so we could barely see Mt Fuji.


Second stop was one of the 5th Stations partway up the mountain. Lots of people and very cold. This time it was more clear but the sun was behind Mt. Fuji so it was hard to take good pictures.


Lunch: this was probably the best part of the trip. Main course was some type of noodle cooked in a miso soup.


View of Lake Kawaguchi(?) from the restaurant. Too bad we couldn't see Mt. Fuji from here.


Boat ride on Lake Ashi


The boat ride was nice but very windy, and we still could not see Mt. Fuji


The final stop was supposed to be the Komagatake Ropeway, which would have taken us up the side of Kamiyama. Unfortunately, it was closed due to high winds so they let us into a small crappy aquarium next to the ropeway. Oh well...


After the bus dropped us off at the Keio Plaza Hotel, we walked to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office to visit their free observatory. We walked past a huge bicycle lot with individual racks and you pay at a machine. Much different from China where you give some random person to watch your bike and hope it's still there when you return.


I though about going to Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Skytree but ended up here because it's free. This is looking northwest-ish.


Southeast view. You can see Tokyo Tower in the middle of the photo.

For dinner, we tried to find something to eat at department store food courts. Typically these were in the basement levels and served cheap and quick meals. Since it was Friday night, it was super crowded and after wandering for 10 minutes, we decided to find a nicer sit-down place, and ended up at Wako in the Odakyu Department Store. It was katsu restaurant, very similar to Kagura in Torrance. I got the $20 pork cutlet set and it was excellent.