College preparation

6/21/2020
WeChat seminar
5 new high school graduates from Raleigh area who got accepted to top colleges share their tips of college applications. Most of them from Enloe high school (a NCSSM magnet school), and two of them go on to NCSSM.

1. One of the students talk about building the good relationship with teacher by talking to them after class and also ask them a lot of questions by showing the interests to the class. This needs to remind both kids. He also teaches for 3 years either volunteer or something.

2. Consider NCSSM is one of the option for our kids.

3. One girl who got into MIT is a swimmer. Melody Wen, she has future time. I could have asked her that if the swimming helps with her college application and if she continues to swim for MIT swim team.

My Memo of learning iPhone photography

iPhone model: iPhone 6S plus
Learning hours: 20 hours
So far learned: 6 hours

Learning approach:
a. Copy the great work and take one photo a day.
b. Learn the post-editing tool: Snapseed (3 hrs) and Camera + App
c. focus one hour a day, so I need to require this skill in Feb.
d. Obtain the tools: tele-lens, gorilla-pod,
e. Post on the wechat/flickr to receive the feedback.


Graduation: Take 5 good photos on each category:
Scenery View: 5 (1)
Architecture:  5 (1)
Nature: 5 (1)
People: 5 (1)
Event: 5
Action: 5
Night view: 5 (2)


Tools I need to purchase:
a. Tri-pod/gorilla pod, iphone mount
b. tele-lens, wide angle lens.
c. Camera +, slow cam for being able to manually adjust the shutter speed and aperture.


The tips I learned from youtube:
1. iphone has a long exposure effect without 3rd party apps.
2. You use a white board on the side of the subject and it can reflect the light when you take the still picture.
3. As a photographer, you want to present to the people the angels that they don't normally see. So try to shoot with some unusual angels.
4. When you take a night view photo, decrease the exposure can make the picture clear without grainy.
5. Focus on the high light of the object in the low light.
6. Use tripod for long disposure shot and remote or earphone.
7. When you wear earphone, use it's volume control as the shutter button, you can get closer to the people as they would think you are listening to the music.
8. It's recommended to use HDR mode at night time to reduce grainy.

Try something new for 30 days

1. Take a photo a day. 

2. Give a compliment a day.

3. Speak to someone new every day.

4. Keep a thought journal.

5. Write your dreams down every morning for 30 days.

6. Spend five minutes meditation every day.

7. Learn something new every day.

8. Talk to Parents every day.

9. Cook or bake something new each day.

11. Keep a laughter journal. Write down one thing a day that made you really laugh hard.

12. Go for a 15 minute run every day

13. Do 50 sit-ups a day.

14. Write down a positive thought a day

15. Before you go to sleep, think about the best thing that happened to you that day for five minutes.

16. What have you always wanted to do but never have? Spend 30 days writing down ideas for accomplishing your goal.

17. Give up bitching for a month or saying anything negative about people.

18. Write a book in a month with help from National Novel Writing Month

19. Wake up at 6am to meditate every morning

20. Face a new fear a day — talk to a stranger, push yourself put of your comfort zone

21. Learn to love yourself just a little bit more each day. You deserve it.

22. Watch a film a day

23. Take a photograph of your food every day — it might force you to prepare nicer looking meals.

24. Plant a flower a day — in your garden or just in random places.

47. Take up a new interesting hobby —photograph, piano

50. Text, write, message…people you care about and tell them why they’re important to you.

53. Learn a new instrument in a month — the ukulele, cello, flute — whatever takes your fancy.

57. Create a postcard sized piece of art each day and have a work of art to display at the end of the month.

60. Read about a different period of history every day.

62. Do one thing each day that makes you feel inspired.

64. Revamp your house in a month and learn one upcycling trick a day.

65. Learn a new word every day.

68. Do an hour of exercise a day.

72. Learn to lucid dream in 30 days

74. Spend 30 days being a vegetarian or vegan

81. Read a chapter of a book idea

86. Be positive for 30 days — even when things go wrong, look only for the postives.

87. Try out polyphasic sleep (sleeping multiple times within 24 hours).

90. Spend 30 days eating (healthy) raw food meals.

92. Feel beautiful in your own skin every day.

93. Create a bucket list of 30 items in 30 days.

94. Write down something you love about your partner／daughter every day and give them the list after your month is up.

95. Read a poem a day.

96. Write a poem a day.

97. Dance every day — whether you’re good at it or not.

99. Sell 30 things you don’t need, use or wear anymore and see how much money you make at the end of the month.

100. Spend each day being as ‘present’ as possible and making the most of simple acts and routine tasks. 

Disney Magic 4-night Bahamas cruise review and tips

Preparation:

Booked the trip 3 months in-advance. Avoid the spring break peak time.

We'll be driving 8 hours from Charlotte, NC to Titusville, FL. Make sure your vehicle is in good condition. DH changed two front tires and changed the oil of the car before the trip.

I made Beef-jerky for DH to eat in the car. He loves it and it's spicy to keep him awake while driving.

I downloaded 30 eposides of TV shows to the iPad for kids to watch in the car so they won't be too bored on the road.

I downloaded Disney Cruise Apps to the cell phone. It's very useful guide to use on the cruise.

DH booked the hotel a week ahead online. It's $156 a night at Marriott Hotel @ Titusville, FL. We might get a better price if we book earlier.

Inform school teachers about vacation and asked if they can give them the next week's homework earlier. The Chinese teacher did. AIG reading teacher gave Emma last reading assignment earlier because it's the end of grading period. Next time I could inform them 2 weeks earlier if it's close to the end of the grading period so teachers could give them the test earlier then they won't get an incomplete grade.

Review:

Food:  5-star

We ate our breakfast & Lunch mostly on Cabanna's buffet except the debarkation date you have to go to the assigned restaurant to eat breakfast. We love Cabana's buffet. Plenty of food choices. I would say it's even comparable to the food that served at our assigned restaurants.

Breakfast: oatmeal topping with lots of nuts, seeds and dried fruit is my favorite. Sometimes they even serve smoke salmon slices.

Lunch Buffet you can eat good amount of seafood choices: stone crab, snow crab, shrimp, cod, mahi mahi, salmon, snails etc. My favorite is the desert. Not too sweet, it's made in a bite size, top with fruits.

We ate one lunch at Castaway cay by the beach. They served  hot dogs, burgers, drinks. It can not compare with the food on the ship but still meet our expectation.

On Deck 9, there are several places serving the foods through out the day. You can get them whenever you feel hungry. Pinocchio's Pizza place serves thin crust pizzas. They are wonderful snacks, kids love them!

 Daisy’s De-Lite near the AquaLab family pool area serves breakfast, lunch, and early evening snacks. You can get fresh fruit, salads, sandwiches, wraps, cookies and Bagels from there.

You can get ice-cream, soda drinks, coffee, teas all for free. The smoothie($6) and the wines you have to pay for it. I can tell kids would rather eat at Deck 9 than those fancy restaurants. 

Tips: You can order whatever you want for the dinner. You can order two main courses if you like two of the menus. You can also order from adults' menu for your kids, doesn't have to go with children's menu. On first day's dinner, my in-law got seabass  on her menu and she said: I wish I could have this on my last day and the waitress brought her seabass on her last day's dinner even it's not on that day's menu.

 

Total cost: $3000

Cruise $2300, tips: $200, gas: $100, hotel: $200, miscelleous (souvinier): $100

Reading notes of "a girl's guide to manners"

Good sports:

Don't show off when they score.
Congratulate one another on their good play.

Doors:

Hold doors open for older people...
Saying "thanks" is a way to return the kindness when someone holds a door for you.

Good impressions

Stand tall

Hold your head up, pull your shoulders back. Talk in a strong voice. Walk like a girl who's ready to meet the world, and you'll begin to feel like one. You'll find that others will see you that way, too.

Make eye contact

Look people in the eye. It shows that you are friendly and honest. It also tells others that you are interested in them and in what they are saying.

Say hello


Use names
Greet people by name. It shows that you care who they are, which makes them feel good.

I had a bad Car accident and things I learned

On Friday afternoon around 4pm, I planned to take kids to Costco and on the way I'd drop by library to return/borrow books. When I was approaching the traffic light at Stonecrest, the light turned green and the car line were moving slowly but then stopped again due to the traffic jam so I hit the brake to slow down the car. All of sudden I felt the force from behind pushing my car into the car in the front and all I heard was two loud bang sound before I realized what happened. I got hit by the car behind me causing me hit the car in the front!

Lesson learned: Avoid the rush hour. Don't go out unless you have to. The more traffic, the more accidents. Don't ever take your eyes off the road, even just a split second.

I was in shock at that moment. The driver behind me got out of the car to talked to me and the driver in the front, he politely apologized. We all pulled over to the parking lot around the corner. The driver of the front car was a tall guy in his sixties. He had two dogs in the car too. Somehow he didn't think it's needed to call the police. I wasn't quite sure so I called my husband and he suggested me always call police to file the report. So the gentleman (the driver at fault) called police. (I learned here that if no injury occur and the accident happened in the rush hour, you might have to wait 2 hours to get the Police come). Fortunately, it only took about 20 mins for police to come. While waiting for the police to come, the driver at fault showed us his insurance card, so I took the picture with my iPhone. Later I learned I should gather their phone numbers too.

Police asked some information and handed each of us the accident report. The driver in front actually drove someone else's car. (Maybe that's why he didn't want to call police?)

The policeman noticed the fluid was leaking out from the front of my car and he told me I need a towing service. I didn't expect it was that bad that I couldn't drive my mini-van any more. I called my insurance company, they helped me locate the towing service near me. The driver at fault was a nice guy. He stayed there with me until my husband came. Turned out his car also needed to be towed. The old guy in the front car left, his car had the least damage so he still could drive his car.

After the mini-van was towed, we decided to get the rental car right away. We went to airport to rent a car from Hertz. Later on I learned if you call insurance company first, they will arrange the rental car for you and you don't need to pay it out of your pocket and reimburse later.

The mini-van was towed to Honda dealer, the 2nd day they called and asked if they can start the repair. My DH asked them to wait for the adjuster. The mini-van was 10 years old, so we didn't carry the collision liability. That means we have to deal with the other car's insurance company ourselves. It was a pain in the ass. It turned out our car was total so we have to negotiate how much the other car's insurance company will have to pay. The negotiation coming back and forth for several weeks. They tried to cheat us by pulling some invalid comparable cars data. My DH did a deliberate internet search for the car value himself.  We finally settled a price that we can accept, about $5700. A friend of my DH was a car dealer who buy and sell the cars from auction. He found a same year Honda Odyssey for us with some upgrade features: leather seats, DVD, GPS. (We barely used the last two features but leather seats are good)

When we got the replacement, we added the collision insurance to this car so we don't have to deal with the negotiation in the future.

30 days of meals

沙茶鸡翼，菠菜，酸辣汤，pecan pie

I messed up with the salt for pecan pie, it was 1/4 tsp, but I added 1tsp. It tastes a bit weird but still eatable.

红烧肉蛋，Broccoli

我不知道怎么才能把红烧肉颜色做得漂亮点，Brocolli炒得清脆点。