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Siri: Remind Me to Put the Gazpacho on Ice
While Siri is not perfect, I don’t view it as an embarrassment. I do blame Apple for the times when Siri cannot reach Apple’s servers. However, the voice recognition issues are understandable. When some people talk, all I hear is a jumble of words. So, imagine the task Siri faces when trying to understand everyone.…
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Washington Monument, Washington DC
The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. is a marvelous sight. Visible on arrival to Reagan National Airport, the monument greets visitors arriving at the nation’s capitol. At night, the monument is well lit. In the early morning, I was able to catch the sun’s rays lighting up the side of the Washington Monument. Walking around…
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Giant Panda at the National Zoo
The National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. offers visitors an encounter with rare Giant Pandas. We reached the Giant Panda exhibit shortly past noon on a warm Washington afternoon and I was concerned. After all the talk about Giant Pandas, the warm weather had me worried that our good friends would be huddled out-of-sight in…
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Cherry Blossom Festival 2012
2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Festival. Although I visited Washington, D.C. before the average peak bloom date, all the cherry trees around the tidal basin–save one–had already bloomed due to the unseasonably warm temperatures. Fortunately, the cherry trees along the Potomac River, as well as a few around the city, were…
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Apple Siri Lawsuit
I am really puzzled by the Siri lawsuit. In my experience, Siri has been an absolutely amazing–and almost magical–product. At first, I just asked Siri stupid questions. Not my fault really since I wasn’t entirely sure how Siri worked. The FAQ for Siri is really no help at all. However, as I’ve slowly figured out…
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Canyon de Chelly, Chinle, Arizona
After Monument Valley, I headed for Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle, Arizona. I stayed at the Holiday Inn, which was not far from the Canyon de Chelly Visitor Center. At the visitor center, I picked up a route map and headed off along the South Rim Drive. Since I had not been to…
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National Rice Cooker Non-Stick Pan
Rice cookers are truly the work horses of the Chinese kitchen: toiling each day behind the scenes and maybe even taken for granted despite their constant effort to optimally prepare a bowl of rice. Our National rice cooker has faithfully delivered thousands of bowls of perfect rice over the years. However, it was beginning to…
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Momofuku Cookbook
Last weekend, I found a copy of Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan at the local library. It’s part autobiography and part cookbook with plenty of color and colorful language. While I’ve never set foot inside a Momofuku restaurant, I have read or heard quite a bit about their famous pork buns, so I…
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Monument Valley Tour
During my stay in Monument Valley, I signed up for a scenic excursion with Monument Valley Safari. Our tour departed from the parking lot of The View Hotel. Now, this being my first visit to Monument Valley, I was not too sure what to except, outside of a view of the legendary mittens. Seeing the…
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Navigon iPhone GPS App Review
People living in Silicon Valley are spoiled. With 3G data speeds, I’ve been able to rely on Google Maps for most trips outside the daily commute. However, as the Arizona trip approached, I knew that one lousy data connection and I was going to be lost. With that in mind, I purchased the Navigon GPS…