Anonymous

After school, I picked up my packet from Amazon at the post office. I felt it was a better post office than that of Arizona..., and then I went to a city which I've never been before. I like to eat cheap food at Target these days. For my "dinner", I ate a Chicken "Breakfast Wrap at Starbucks", too.

By the way, what I want to jot down today is an article and news on the web.

Anonymous, the famous Internet hacker (cracker), seems to get the Internet down at the end of March. If it's possible, a huge trouble would occur all over the world. But it's also very interesting.

Different customer service

I went another Verizon shop in order to confirm my phone's problem. This time, staff called Verizon and made sure what was going on with my phone. It's better service than the Verizon shop I went earlier!

Anyway, I looked for some Japanese restaurant but only shops I found was closed or missing on the place where Google map showed.

I went BestBuy to upgrade the modem of the cable Internet. Did I spend a lot? Probably, yes, but it's necessary.

At the evening, I attend a meeting of the international club. A student from Vietnam presented a speech about Vietnam culture. It was interesting but very long presentation, so I was about to fall asleep... A History professor who is the Viet man's acquaintance was also at the meeting, then she talked to every international student.

Bowling

Some beautiful blossoms bloomed on campus these days.

On Saturday night, we went the night bowling, which is the bowling of black-lighting, in Modesto. There were so many people. We played two games in two hours. I was bad but it was fun :)

Arithmetic mean

The average height of 100 boys in a school is 6 feet.


Q. Which statement is absolutely correct?


1) There are 50 students who are shorter than 6 feet, and there are 50 students who are taller than 6 feet.


2) The total height of the 100 students is 6 * 100 = 600 feet.


3) If the students are divided into 3 groups: (A)4.5 - 5.4 feet, (B) 5.5 - 6.5 feet , (C) 6.5 - 7.5 feet , the greatest number of group is (B).




This is a test for Japanese college students in order to check their fundamental academic skills. The fact is that Japanese college students who took this test couldn't get correct answer. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which is a Japan's ministry, reported that 24% of  Even 5% of students of the University of Tokyo, which is famous for the highest educational institution in Japan, got wrong answer. I was shocked when I heard this news.
By the way, the correct answers are 1) No, 2) Yes, and 3) No. The original problem is written in Japanese, and 6 feet was 163.5 cm.


This fact means that only 76% of college students understand what the average is. It is a sort of serious problem in Japan because they are expected to be business people in the future of Japan. If some of them really do not understand the idea of the average, they might not only be a good business people but also be suffered from some social activities.

Get my haircut

A class was canceled, so I got a one day off.

I went to the DMV in the morning in order to confirm the procedure of my drive's license, but as soon as the DMV opened, a staff came out and said "The system was down. It might recover in 30 minute, 5 minute, or half a day. I can't even guess." I thought that what I need to do didn't need the system stuff but she said that I need to came after tomorrow, and then I left soon.

In the next place, I went to Verizon shop to ask someone to see my phone's problem that the auto back up system doesn't work. A staff dealt with my problem but she eventually couldn't fix it. Only thing she suggested was that I replace my phone with a new phone, which means I lose all apps. Also, she recommend me to call the Verizon customer support though... What the hell support is it? I don't like to call the customer support because I've never taken a good customer support in the U.S. over the phone. I don't believe such customer services because they have never solve my problem on the phone. That's why I came the Verizon shop all the way! I stopped thinking and left there.

After such irritated events, I headed to Modesto for two purpose. First, I decided to get my haircut. My friend recommended a barber in Modesto. It was in a shopping mall, which is not a building-type center but there are just lots of shops in an area. I walked around in the mall to find the barber but I had trouble finding for long time. Finally, I found the shop by asking a postman, but the shop was being closed until 15 minute later. When I went there again, the staff said I need to come back three and half a hour later because I did't have appointment. So I booked and left to Starbucks to spend time for a while.

At Starbucks, I ordered Caramel Apple Spice. This was the first time for me but luckily it was nice.

As dinner, I went to Jumbo Buffet that is a Chinese buffet restaurant in Modesto. When I arrive there, every member had already been there and done. I ate a fake sushi and some dumpling.

Finally, we visit my friend's house, which was huger than expected, and watch two movies. First one was Tucker & Dale vs Evil, a 2010 Canadian comedy horror film. It was so funny even though there were so many　dead bodies and gory scenes. Another one was Drive. It not only was a quite exciting story but also looked like an European movie. It's very aesthetic.

Hmm, it was nice day.

Taco Truck

There is the potable Mexican restaurant called Taco Truck. Because some my friends say "This is the best Taco Truck in this city!," we went there as the Local Night, which is the weekly eating out event of our club. I ordered Burrito Supreme that most of my friends ordered and recommended. It was awesomely good!! I think it was the best Burrito ever in my lifetime. Basically, I don't like Mexican food so much but this Burrito changed my mind. Food and sleep make me happy.

Review 1st exam

I received the result of the exam that I took this week. I got 95% while the highest 100%, mean 67 %, and median 64% in the class. I was a little bit surprised because I expected average score is much higher. Anyway, I'm keeping A so far.

Soccer

I have not go to a gym since I was in Arizona... I joined a soccer game that was at a huge soccer field near our campus. I felt that I was too old to keep running during a game but there was a guy who is my age, so it was not good excuse. I was about to get a cramp in my leg. I should exercise more...

Because there was a homecoming event on campus, I also stopped by the lounge where the party was being held. At the time, there were few people, so my friends and I decided to go another place for dinner. We went to Ono Hawaiian BBQ that is, I think, a Japanese-Hawaiian restaurant. I ordered the seafood mix, and it was very nice!!

ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้

Today, I found an interesting article which mentioned about a unique chalacter "ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็." A letter of ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ include 37 letters in terms of the computer input character.
Also,  ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้  is another set of the unique characters. My Thai friend said this is "the representative in parliament" but they don't usually use it.
Anyway, it's really interesting.

Kabob Place

I joined dinner as Local Night of the international club. This time we went to  Kabob Place. It was O.K. I wish I could get more source though.

Tutoring

I take tutoring twice a week. Basically, tutors are students who are English major.  My tutors are both really nice!! One leans Italian, another learns Japanese, too. Awesome!!

Chinese New Year Festival in San Francisco

On Saturday, my international club went to San Francisco to see Chinese Festival. We drove to BART Station which is on the freeway to San Francisco from Modesto. *BART = Bay Area Rapid Transit

We parked our cars at the station, and then we used the train to San Francisco downtown. Because we arrived at the downtown right afternoon, we went to lunch at China town. There were so many people who might be tourists.

We found a Chinese restaurant and enter. I expected to eat a dim sum, a sort of Chinese foods, but eventually I ate a chicken dish without rice.

After lunch, we walked around the downtown for a while, we assembled a observation point along the street of the event that was suppose to hold a parade. It was getting cold but many people came to the watching place.

The parade stared from 5:30 pm and ended 8:30 pm but we left before ending to go to dinner.

Our dinner was the Indian curry restaurant. There are so many shops and restaurants around the place. I ate a chicken curry and a lam curry sharing with my friend. It was better than expected. But two member of our group were vegetarians including a Indian guy. They didn't eat anything.

It was after midnight when we came back to our city. But we have another party at a Saudi guy's home until early morning.

Changing Tires

My car drove over 67,000 miles. General tire's endurance is 65,000 miles ( I think). I changed two back tires last month before leaving Arizona. I finally decided to change two front tires, too. The tire shop that I used was Discount Tire which my friend used before in Arizona. I found America's Tire which is in the same group company of Discount Tire, so I went to there. Also, I changed the wheel cover because two of four wheel cover were missing (I don't know why and where though...). Because I cleaned my car up by myself when I filled the gas (there is quick cleaning tools at a gas station in the U.S.) after changing the tires, my car became pretty nice as if it was new! I'm ready to go to Chinese New Year's event in San Francisco on this weekend.

Zaibatsu

There was an international club's event called "Local Night," which is to go restaurant located in our city. This time we went to a Chinese restaurant. The name of the restaurant was Golden China, but I went to Golden Dragon first by mistake. Anyway, the foods was pretty good! I got full enough.

After dinner, we chatted in front of the restaurant for a while. In the conversation, an American guy whose major was History talked about "Zaibatsu(財閥)." I was surprised because it was a Japanese word and a kind of business term so only people who study business are supposed to know this term. Although I know that the word of "Zaibatsu" became an international business word because my major when I was in university was Business Administration and learned it at a class, I thought it is not so common word, especially for general American people.

Again, I thought that many international students know Japanese culture but I do not know other country culture so much... On the other hand, another American person, who teaches English for young international students, said that most of international students are more familiar with English grammar than some native speakers because native speakers has not studied own language so long time even though they speak without problem.

I thought those points above are one of culture exchange.

Invente a product

I need to invent a new product as an assignment of Marketing class. Also, I need to prepare presentation. But I have not come up with anything good idea yet...

I had a meeting with my group of the Marketing class. Actually, I was worried about the meeting with American because I was a only Japanese. But, eventually, they were so friendly. I was relieved.

We came up with an idea of a future watch. It looks unrealistic though...

Cactus meal

I found a piece of cactus at a grocery store. Because I'm kinda person who challenge anything new whenever it's found, I bought it.

But I had no idea about how to cook it. When I asked a way to cook to my friends on Facebook, a Mexican friend told me Nopales that is a Mexican home-style dishe. But I searched another way on Google, I though I just stired fry.

This is the cactus and my work :p

Also, today is the day of the super bowl, one of the biggest sports event in the U.S., so most American people watch TV in the evening. Why the super bowl is so popular is not only the exciting game but also there are many interesting TV commercials during the game. I heard that the budget of its TV commercials are highest in a year. Yes, that's why there is a huge event in the half time of the game, which must be spent a huge amount of money. It was Madonna's live show this year and was very good!!

Meeting for Chinese New Year Festival trip

The international club had a meeting at noon on Saturday. Some Chinese student  s brought a Chinese food because the theme of this meeting was about a trip of the Chines New Year's festival in San Francisco. The food was awesome! They also explained about the festival with Power Point slides. A guy showed a small red envelop, which is like "Otoshidama" of Japan. The envelop is used for putting money inside and is for children in China as a gift of Chinese new year.

There were two new comers at this meeting, one of who were studying Japanese! Oh, finally I met a student who studied Japanese.

Event of Business Forecast Report ~ Hookah

I attended an event held by MBA department, the title of which was the special Business Forecast Report for the San Joaquin Valley. It was a event spoken by a  Business Economics professor of our university. However, I was not able to even understand of the contents because this event provided lunch for audience and I ate a pizza during lecture. I was so sleepy... 


After the event, I attended a class, and then I joined another event held by international club. It was called "international coffee social hour," which is conversation time among international students with coffee and cookies. I expected it would be just one hour but it was eventually two hours.


We got together at a hookah bar named Fire Temple again after dinner. This was the first time for me to try a hookah because I hadn't known how to do it even though I had seen it several times. We choose some flavors of hookahs such as Double Apple, Watermelon, and Strong Peach. Anyway, I didn't feel anything so much, but it was an interesting experience.

Grizzly Rock Cafe

As a dinner meeting of the international club I'm belonging, I went to Grizzly Rock Cafe, which is a typical American food dining and bar, and met the members again. I ordered "The KODIAK with cheese" that is a huge hamburger filled with fore patties inside. Anyway, it was so huge. I felt I ate meats for a week. One of the member who is from Iran talked about History and roots of stuffs with another American guy whose major was History for a while. It was really interesting.

After dinner, we move to a frozen yogurt shop located near our campus. We talked about conversion between Fahrenheit and Celsius. A Norway girl found out a formula that Celsius is Fahrenheit -32 then it's divided by 1.8. This topic was so excited, I don't know why tough...

Popularity of NAVER JAPAN LINE

One of my friend, who lived in Japan, added me "LINE," the smart phone app made by NAVER JAPAN. This app is really hot these days, especially in Middle East, in South East Asia, and in Japan.

After just register your phone number, you can chat or talk over LINE on the 3G network (I guess they use VoIP technology like Skype). However, this service is extremely heavy for the mobile network, so each mobile carrier companies in Japan have to deal with it by increasing the number of network servers and the broadband networks themselves. Actually, Docomo, the biggest mobile carrier in Japan, faced a network accident, which is like a connection disorder, for a while last month. At that time, many customers were not connecting the network that Docomo provided. It meant LINE had literally many customer as active uses.

To digress, a interesting thing is that NAVER JAPAN, which is a subsidiary of Korean company "NAVER," provided English version of LINE and it became popular among people in Middle East. Even though "Sticker" that is a sort of cartoon image icon of LINE is typical Japanese design, this trend implies many people like it and use over the world.

Some IT analysts wonder "How do they get profits?" I guess they haven't havd profit yet, nay, their business model has been only "free" without advertisement so far. Because LINE has been downloaded by 15 million people, they can start new business targeted for those users. I think they wish they could start profitable business with LINE before mobile carriers regulation.