It's Surfing Time

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw so many people doing wind surfing. It's the first time I saw the so called "parachute" surfing. The surfers were moving at such a fast speed that I felt dizzy just by looking at them. I also worried if they would smash into each other. One thing is for sure, this sport is not for me.

At Aptos State Beach

Did a mini road trip to try out D800E. The resolution of this camera is amazing, but it also requires super accurate focusing. A tripod is a must now. The weight difference started to show after I carried it for a while. Compared to D3X, it's a fun camera!

A Break after Homework

Julia Child is a cat fan! Consider she found her true calling after 40, it is inspiring.

The best selling erotic novels on display. According to the Taiwanese news media, after 5 minutes of reading E.L. James you'd have the urge to make love. Does that explain why I didn't see anybody read them in the bookstore?

Our local bookstore is dog friendly. This lovely shepherd dog is a frequent visitor.

Finished my machine learning homework and felt I needed a break, so I rewarded myself with a bookstore visit (and a physical book quota). The intense learning I had done recently forced me to review many things I had learned in college. It also evoked some excruciatingly unhappy memories: the self doubt, the low confidence, the feeling of being a failure, things I had to unlearn one by one in the next 20 years. 

Beating Inflation with Your Old Math Textbook

I am studying machine learning which requires some math so I went to dig out my old math textbooks from the storage. (It had been almost 20 years since the last time I set my eyes on them.) I went to amazon to check if there's kindle edition available. To my surprise, I found the price of one of the textbooks I bought 20 years ago had almost tripled. Even used one cost twice the original price. It's almost like the price of gold. Wow, I know knowledge is invaluable, but who would think your old math textbook can be gold.