During Black Friday deals this year, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S23+ smartphone. My OnePlus 8 still works fine, but I wanted a phone with more storage and better cameras. Here are my impressions so far.
Author: TJ
My Third Car
After keeping my 2011 Toyota RAV4 for over 10 years and driving it all over the USA, I decided it was time to get a new ride. The RAV4 has been a dependable vehicle, but it is missing all of the modern goodies (doesn’t even have Bluetooth) and the gas mileage is actually not that great anymore thanks to the old 4-speed automatic. I had some time on my hands to shop for a new vehicle, and ended up buying a new 2024 Lexus RX350h. I wanted to go to a mid-size SUV/crossover, and I liked the look of the current RX. The hybrid powertrain of the RX350h delivers decent amount of power with great gas mileage, and Lexus has the reputation of being the most reliable luxury car brand. It’s definitely an upgrade in terms of features and comfort compared to my old RAV4 which I traded-in .
This is the first brand new car that I’ve purchased. It’s definitely a big purchase, but I’ve worked long enough that I don’t have to worry about being able to afford a new car anymore. So far, I’m still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles that come with the RX350h, and also how to organize some of the stuff in my car. The RX has roomier seats, but the cargo space doesn’t have the under floor storage that the RAV4 had. Hopefully this RX will live up to Lexus’s reputation for reliability and keep going strong for 10+ years.
Fall Foliage Trip to the Northeast, and Other Autumn Musings
It’s that time of the year where the fall leaves have been shed and the grey and rainy season is upon the PNW, but ski season hasn’t started yet. This means time for me to look back and post a few highlights from the autumn season. My main activity was taking a trip to the Northeast US for a family wedding and also to see the famous New York/New England fall foliage.
New Monitor: Pixio PX32U Wave
I got a new computer monitor. Not just any monitor, but a Pixio PX32U Wave 32-in monitor with 4K resolution and up to 144Hz refresh rate. Most importantly, it’s in pink! Why did I get a pink 4K gaming monitor? I won it from a sweepstakes. Here’s what I think my latest prize so far.
Samples of Summer
Fall is around the corner, so it’s time to post my highlights for the summer of 2024. Summer is hiking season, so I spent many-a-weekends in the mountains, and there are a few other fun activities as well. Here are the photo and video highlights:
TonyJiang.com Year 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My humble little collection of websites is 18 years old! If they were a person, they would be old enough to buy alcohol in several Canadian provinces lol. My websites still exist and as with the last few years, there aren’t many updates. I did fix up some CSS issue with the crabbing guide, and running into various issues with my WordPress sites while moving to a newer PHP version at my webhost. So a bit more than the usual nothing to report. No significant plans other than to maintain the sites and make the odd blog post here. Traffic and Adsense aren’t even worth mentioning anymore at this point, although I did realize that ads weren’t showing up on crabbing guide and Smash Bros. guide because the ad code was too old, so will be fixing that. Onwards to year 19 and a brighter future!
Simply the Spring
It’s now July. Half of 2024 is gone and a heat wave is on the way for the PNW. It’s time once again to post some highlights of my activities over the past season. My spring activities this year were mostly local activities, except for one trip for work. Work was busy this season, but I try to do something fun during the weekends and holidays. Here are the photo and video highlights:
Winding Down Winter
Once again it is time to post on this little blog about what I’ve been up to for the past season. This was an activity-filled winter for me. I went on a big ski trip to Colorado, drove all the way around the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, and did a bunch of other stuff. Here are the highlights with photos and videos.
At the top of Burnt Mountain within Snowmass Ski Resort. Hike to the top was short, but wasn’t easy given the slippery slope and doing it in ski boots while carrying my skis and poles (click to enlarge)
Read MoreTrip to Japan
After many, many years, I finally visited a new country. In my longest trip since forever, I traveled to Japan with some friends where we spent two and half weeks exploring Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. Here are my thoughts on the trip along with some photo & video highlights.
Accelerated Autumn
It’s almost end of the November and definitely feels like the typical winter out here in the Pacific Northwest. It’s time again to post about what I’ve up to during the last season. My major outing was a 2.5-week trip to Japan. Other than the trip, I didn’t do too much else, just two fall foliage hikes. Here are the video/photo highlights.
