I’m thinking of a few places to explore this summer. Camping and hiking only. Hopefully I get enough people to go on the trip because it will be more fun. Here’s a list of places I’ve thought so far:
Filed by Tran Nguyen at 3:22 pm under Daily thoughts
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I had to attend Startup School conference at Stanford, and her tax season just ended. In need of a break, we decided a road trip to San Francisco for the weekend. Here’s some recaps:
CA-1 & Hearst Castle: Exciting, Adventurous (?)
Not surprisingly, CA-1 highway took us longer to get to San Francisco. But scenic areas, turnouts along the coast are terrific. Meadows, ocean, mountains, and the wood are what you see and drive through only on this road. We made endless stops to take photos of everything that we found great. Really don’t want to miss a piece of nature. We felt dangerous and scared sometimes when everything was getting dark and our gas tank allowed for a few more miles.
The only thing we didn’t achieve as planned was to visit Hearst Castle. The tickets to this historic castle were sold out plus our time was limited. Instead of that, we discovered a quiet pier with incredible view of the ocean across the road. And we couldn’t help triggering the camera.
Good: great turnouts and the like
Bad: bumpy and tough road that requires focus and attention; fill up gas tank or bring some extra as you won’t see any gas station till the end - plus once you find one, it’s ridiculous expensive.
Overall experience: 4.5/5
San Francisco - Golden Gate Bridge: Driving experience
Knowing where to go and how to get there is the key to survive in cities like San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. We never thought it couldn’t be that bad to drive in the city. But since our GPS borrowed from a friend stopped working for some reason, it was my terrible job to get to where we wanted - relying too much on technology is not good ;).
We planned to visit the Golden Gate Bridge and China Town Saturday evening after heading back from the conference. But 3-hour driving (including back and forth Highway 80 because of my mistake) and walking in the cold took us to neither place. One cup of Starbuck hot chocolate could warm us up a little bit to continue the walk. Finally, a China buffet about to close was where we rested and filled our hungry stomach.
Good: the city architecture and Golden Gate Bridge are worth seeing. We wish we could have spent more time at other places in the city
Bad: crazy traffic, expensive parking; watch out when walking at night
Overall experience: 2.5/5
Startup School - Standford University: Energy and enthusiasm - gigantic campus
What could we say when having an opportunity to listen to experienced and industry-respected genius ? We had great speakers with great presentations like Paul Graham (YCommbinator cofounder), Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder), Paul Buchheit (creator of Gmail), 37 Signals, and many more. I found a lot of energy and enthusiasm all over the room from entrepreneurs, techie people, and investors. All of us come here to share great ideas, to learn how to raise fund and manage capital, to deal with partners and employees, to serve customer, and to listen to our inner voice.
I really thank those who created such a meaningful event. Of course, I also want to thank my fiance whose career is not in the techie world but accompanied me and actually enjoyed part of the event - Love u.
We had a chance to discover a great campus. It has old architectures back to early 1900s. Part of the campus was rebuilt after a big earthquake which I forgot the year. The school looks old to some extent, especially the engineering and social sciences building. We intended to take a photo of the school sign but we had no idea where that sign is located.
Good: great speakers, thoughtful lessons
Bad: lack of seats. Official attendees (with name tag) couldn’t find a seat if coming late.
Overall experience: 5/5
Filed by Tran Nguyen at 2:20 pm under Daily thoughts
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Rumors said that Apple is replenishing its stores with an upgraded version of iPhone, 3G. First introduction of the phone last year supporting only 2G and 2.75G network was a big disappointment for every body who expected something real cool, real fast for their applications.
However…
iPhone sales has growth despite of the drawbacks. Overall iPhone’s customer satisfaction scored 79%, about 25% above the older fellow RIMM (source) . The story hasn’t ended yet. Apple’s been listening all the complaints but it has its own rule not to disclose anything [until Steve walks on stage and talks about something that can change the world]. But recent activities such as selecting Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. as its phone manufacturer or replenishing phone inventory at its stores within the coming weeks could be clear signs of an introduction of next generation iPhone.
Filed by Tran Nguyen at 3:49 pm under IT
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