After my first class today, Ras met me near campus for lunch. I wanted to try out a nearby “pho” place on Broadway and College Street - Pho Thanh-Long. I wondered how it would compare to Pho Van, which is a favorite for my family. We used to drive all the way out to 82nd in Portland, but we’re now lucky enough to have one close by. Upon opening the menu at Phot T-L, my response was a disappointed “oh” when I saw that they served chicken, as well as shrimp pho. I’ve never had chicken in my pho before. It’s called “beef noodle soup” for a reason, isn’t it? Plus, there wasn’t any option for tripe or tendon! Come one, if you can’t have the option of having thinly sliced pieces of cow stomach in your soup, can you really call it “pho”? I actually don’t order pho with tripe because it has no taste, but I do like me some tendon, and fatty beef brisket on top of that. After the dissapointment, I didn’t even look to see if they had my obligatory avocado shake that I usually order with my #1 large pho.

We then took a nice stroll towards the heart of downtown. Passing a travel agency, I suggested checking on prices to Korea because we’ll both be doing a winter camp. A one-way ticket to Korea in the first week of December was only $400! That’s a steal. I remember buying a round-trip ticket last year for $1100.

Passing Pioneer Courthouse Square, the “Holiday” tree was in the process of being erected.

We then went to Pioneer Square (a shopping mall) to get Ras’ new iPod shuffle.

Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet, but Christmas decorations are up all over town. The retailers are trying to milk the holidays for all it’s worth.

I hadn’t seen the iPod shuffle before, and was amazed at how small the thing was. Seriously, the thing is tiny! Ras thought about getting the iPod Nano because he’s got the Nike shoes where you can put a microchip in the sole and it will send information to the Nano about how far you’ve walked, calories burned, etc. He’ll only be using it while commuting on the MAX and working out with it, so I voted for the shuffle.

I wanted to post some pictures of my new toy - a 1GB Yepp MP3 player.  I picked it up at Technomart in Seoul yesterday, after my current MP3 player died on me 2 weeks ago. 

I wanted a flash player solely for the gym and the occasional 3 hour trip to Seoul.  Therefore, a compact and lightweight player was highest on my priority list.  I also wanted a quality player and money wasn’t a dominant factor.  I like pretty things, and sometimes pretty things cost money.  I can live with that.  Before going to Seoul, I had mentally decided on this Yepp model or the iRiver N11, which is really small and light.  The deciding factor would be how they felt in my hand.  I didn’t like the iRiver so much because the buttons were a little too small and you were forced to use the mediocre headphones that came with the player (due to its necklace/pendant style).  I wouldn’t be able to use my Sony earbuds, which help supress outside noise.

I bought the Yepp and haven’t looked back.  I’m really happy with it so far, even if CNET said it has a so-so battery life.  I think a 10 hour battery life is perfectly fine, especially compared with Ras’ iPod mini, which can now only hold a charge for 2 hours.  Ras also tinkered with the seven-band user EQ and everything sounds great.

Continue reading »

Ras bought this new phone about a week ago on campus, so you know he’s going to be in Korea for awhile.  $380 seems like a lot to pay for a phone when you’re in the States, but it seems reasonable for Korea.  When he took his old phone to the KTF store to transfer his old address book into his new phone, they couldn’t do it.  All the times that Ras used his cell phone to open beer bottles took their toll.  Somehow beer corrupted the circuits and the transfer of names could not be made.  He would have to transfer then manually  The salesman told Ras he shouldn’t let his dog lick his phone!

Ras’ phone is black.