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Archive for February, 2006
PWC Moneytree
Feb 27th, 06
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Hamachi
Feb 27th, 06
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Hamachi : Stay Connected. A VPN application that is freeware. Folks on the Network Magic forums like it.
Shannon Hale’s Goose Girl
Feb 26th, 06
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squeetus: books. Amazingly, this is a book that everyone in the family loved. We listened to it for six non-stop hours. Shannon Hale’s first effort and it is delightful. Ani is a little slow, but who wouldn’t love the ending. It is a retelling of a Grimm’s fairy tale and is a classic really.
D-Link Router Firmware Dies
Feb 26th, 06
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Talk about a strange problem. Today, everything got really slow. Called up Comcast and they pointed out a nifty tool called the Speakeasy – Speed Test. You plug a machine directly into their cable modem and it measure the real speed from a server. Here in Seattle, I got pretty close to the theoretical maximum (I’ve always thought that I was on a lonely segment and this confirms it). Got 5.1 MBps (wow!) and 355Kbps upload which compares with the 6MBps and the 384Kbps that they advertise.
Went a step farther and tried it via my D-link 624 router. Everything hanging but lights were OK. When I tried to use the web interface, the box was looking for a firmware reload! Wow, must have been too tough on the little guy. Anyway, fortunately had version 270 on a machine and the firmware reload took. As an aside, interesting to see the overhead that the router box adds. Got 4.4Mbps and 36Kbps upload, so there is definitely overhead in the router and then sometimes got 1Mbps and about the same for the upload, so tells me that all is not well with the router. I then started turning off PCs and it looks like I have the dreaded too many TCP/IP connections and this slows the router down.
Taking out all the machines and starting again, I got back to 7Mbps and 354Kbps, so the diagnostic is to:
# Direct connect one machine directly to the cable modem
# Run the Speakeasy speedtest
# Connect the router
# Check to make sure the web interface and the router is OK
# Run Speakeasy speed test again
# Reboot machines behind the router until you find the one that is slowing things down
Free McAfee for Comcast Users
Feb 26th, 06
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SECURITY – MCAFEE SECURITY MANAGER – Comcast.net. This has got to be the worst promoted thing in the world, but bascially you get the whole Mcafee suite of firewall, antivirus and other things are free if you have a comcast account and an email. Check it out. A nice value.
Get there before its all gone…
Feb 26th, 06
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Get there before its all gone…
- Review of: Elliot Bay Book Company
- By: Rich Tong
- Rating:
- Read review on Judy’s Book.
What a terrific place. A traditional locally owned bookstore. I highly recommend you frequent it before it really disappears. It like Powell’s in Portland are really unique institutions. The cafe downstairs is also wonderful and on a cold winter day, nothing quite beats buying a book and then heading for a coffee downstairs. Truth be told, I hit the Bailey Coy on Capital Hill much more often because it is closer and parking is easier, but if you downtown, Elliot Bay isthe place to be!
It is the antidote to Barnes & Noble in the same way that Greenlake Cycles is the antidote to Performance Cycle or the Bert’s Apple is to Safeway.
It isn’t the best, but it is convenient
Feb 25th, 06
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It isn’t the best, but it is convenient
- Review of: Zao Noodle Bar
- By: Rich Tong
- Rating:
- Read review on Judy’s Book.
OK, as I mentioned to Katherine, it ain’t the best place, but if you’ve got screaming kids and it isn’t crowded (nearly never) it isn’t too bad. After all, it is hard to ruin noodles, although truthfully, they do overcook them.
I’ll have to give China Village a try. Or go to Blue C Sushi close by.
Sun Peaks (Redux)
Feb 19th, 06
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Tong Family Blog: Sun Peaks Archives. Well we are here again at Sun Peaks and two years later, there are still no real reviews of restaurants. Heard that the steakhouse is busy and slow, but to recap the ones that are still open as listed in the official “Sun Peaks”:http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/winter/restaurants.aspx website which doesn’t seem quite right. We ended up deciding to try Bella Italia, Mantles and Baggio’s. Baggio’s is now closed and replaced by Bella Italias, so we’ll give that a try.
For lunch…
* Bottom’s Bar & Grill. Canadian Pub Style. (250) 578-0013. I wouldn’t go there for dinner, but get there at 1130AM for lunch and beat the rush. It is ski in so that’s the big thing. Chicken strips are great for kids and they get bottomless sodas, so a good place to go. The chili is OK and the chicken burgers are decent.
* Masa’s. This place is much larger, but still you should get ther early. Main issue is that the food is just OK. The rice bowls are OK. .
And for dinner which is very crowded on these long weeks, in order I’d recommend:
* Bella Italia. Enjoy fine italien cuisine in the heart of Sun Peaks Village. We went there three years ago, but it was terrific then. 250.578.7316 This is new and I think it is the replacement for Baggio’s which was a terrific place.
* Mantles. In the Delta Sun Peaks, it can be very slow, so go early like 5PM as they are quite slow in the kitchen.
* Mountain High Pizza. Pizzeria. The only one pizza place and the best is their take-n-bake. If you have a cpndo, its an easy thing for a party. You can get the to-be-baked pizza ahead of time. They don’t put too much sauce on and the chess is good. The pepparoni is the larger less salty kind. (250) 578-7275
* Powder Hounds. Continental. Quite slow, but not crowded if you get there promptly at 5PM. (250) 578-0014
* Mackers. 250-578-7854. Haven’t been there, but a “UK Club”:http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/resorts/gssg/resort.asp?intContactID=44592 recommends it and Toro’s below. But it doesn’t take reservations so beware.
* Toro’s. Don’t know if this is still around, but quite good for Asian. 250-578-7870. We haven’t been there but has been recommends
Finally a little lower are:
* Steakhouse at Sun Peaks Lodge. Heard from some folks it is slow if you get there at 6PM.
Then there are the many pubs:
* Mantles Restaurant & Bar. Casual/Upscale Pacific Northwest Cuisine. (250) 578-6000.
* Masa’s Bar & Grill. Canadian Pub Food & Dining. (250) 578-5434.
* Macker’s Bistro & Bar Casual/Canadian (250) 578-7894
Finally a place for grownups who aren’t too nungry but defnitely not for kids.
* Servus on Creekside. A touch of European Cuisine.
Pacific Northwest and European cuisine in a charming intimate atmosphere..This place is very slow. Only for grownups, not kids. (250) 578-7383
* Mackdaddy’s. Go dancing at the club 
Learning Chinese
Feb 18th, 06
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Iv’e ordered a bunch of Chinese language programs and texts. Wow, things have gotten wayt better than the old days of just learning from a book. Here are some of the tools and an early review:
* Rosetta Stone. This is the most expensive package at $300+ for Level 1 and 2. The program is really nice. Basically, it is a huge Flash applciation that drills you. Takes quite a while and the main issue is retention. Although I love playing a computer game for hours, I do think that the act of actually writing things down helps. So I’ve done two lessons so far and I think that it is really great for conversational, but not really for writing. Also, I can’t for the life of me figure out how writing input works. No documentation at all since the manual and help appears to be generic. It is not clear how to enter pinyin or how to enter simplified Chinese. It is also heavily copy protected, so I can only imagine what happens if the disk gets corrupted. I think you are out $300. Reminds me of the old days of Lotus 1-2-3 key disks.
* Schamers Vocabulary. Recommended on Amazon, I got all the top rated texts. This vocabularly thing is very valuable since it is practical. I do wish Rosetta started with more than here is a cat and here is a dog and here is an elephant. If you are going to teach the basics, we might as well be in the 21st century. Schamers does this, but is just a text, so back to the old school
* Yong Ho’s Intermediate Chinese. His Beginners Chinese is 2-3 week backorder on Amazon. This like Schamers is more useful in vocabulary. It also has an audio CD, so you can listen to it in your car or if you rip it on your iPod.
* Clavis Sinica