Millionaire Calculator

Check out this millionaire calculator from CNNMoney.com. You tell it how much you have, how long you will save and at what rate, and you find out when your nest egg will hit 7 figures.

I plugged our numbers in and Lediya and I will be millionaires in 10 years and 6 months (adjusted for 3% annual inflation). We'll be millionaires at age 40!

The calculator assumes the rate of return at 9%, which is close to the average historical return for a 60% stock and 40% bond portfolio mix.

When will you be a millionaire?

The Pilot's Wife

Just finished Anita Shreve's The Pilot's Wife. It's an insightful tale of loss and betrayal.

As the story opens, Kathryn, a pilot's wife, has been told that her husband's plane has crashed and there are no survivors. The book follows Kathryn into the numbing, silent, surreal world known to those who suffer loss. Memories of her happy marriage engulf her and paralyze her, but she begins to cope with the help of a kind man from the pilot's union. In the second half of the book, Kathryn pieces together clues left by her husband that lead to shocking revelations about him, and eventually, the healing process begins.

I don't usually read these type of books but it was a very fast read (it took me three days) and was thought-provoking.

All-Weather Case

Just bought an all-weather case for our new digital camera, which I featured in this posting. We'll now be able to use the camera in conditions and situations such as whitewater rafting, snowboarding, snorkelling without having to worry about the camera getting messed up, unlike my previous Sony camera which suffered the brunt of my fall in our Park City trip.

First test for the case: our weekend getaway to Lake Tahoe in a couple of weeks. I plan to take the camera up on Heavenly to take pictures and shoot video.

Descanso Gardens

Lediya's father is in town this weekend so today we took him to Descanso Gardens in the city of La Canada-Flintridge. It was a beautiful day to go check out the spring bloom.

Set on 150 acres, the land was originally owned by publishing magnate E. Machester Boddy, who founded and edited the Los Angeles Daily News. The gardens have several different areas that feature different flowers and vegetation, the most notable being the International Rosarium.

The blooms that we saw today were tulips, lilacs, crabapple, cherry blossoms, camellias, daffodils, and California wildflowers, among others.

It was a nice way to spend a sunny spring Saturday afternoon. Check out more pictures here.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

I'm now playing the second installment of the Prince of Persia trilogy, Warrior Within. Again, picked it up for $15 from eBay after selling Sands of Time. The Prince is now more mature and can wield dual weapons. It's a great game, not as good as Sands of Time though. Still a bargain!

The Lincoln Lawyer

I'm currently in the middle of Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer. It's an ingenious legal thriller that is very fast paced and a definite page-turner. If you like the legal thriller genre, this novel won't disappoint.

Little India

Yesterday evening Lediya and I checked out Little India in the city of Artesia. It's the second largest Indian enclave outside of India itself (the largest being in London).

We had dinner at Ashoka Indian Cuisine. We had only eaten Indian food once (on our honeymoon trip to London) and were thus unfamiliar with the food. Our waiter recommended the Ashoka the Great combo, which is a good introductory sampler to Indian cuisine. It had lentils, spinach, garbanzo beans, lamb curry, yoghurt to temper the heat, and basmati rice. We also ordered two chicken dishes: chicken tikka (grilled or cooked tandoori style) and chicken masala, a spicy chicken curry dish.

The meal also came with naan, a traditional unleavened bread.

It was an excellent meal for a very reasonable price ($25 total for the whole thing, including tax and tip).

Most Clutch Player in the NBA

Who is the most clutch player in the NBA, statistically speaking? (If you're thinking Kobe Bryant, it's not even close).

This website analyzes just that, defining a "game-winning opportunity" as: 24 seconds or less left in the game, team with the ball is either tied or down by 1 to 2 points.

Why use this definition?

1. With 24 seconds or less, then it truly is a "last possession" situation potentially
2. With a margin from tied to down 2, the team can take the lead with a made basket (including 3's)
3. By excluding a down 3 situation, we don't have the "gimme two point buckets" that defenses will sometimes yield to the quick bucket/intentional foul strategy option you often see exercised.

You'll be surprised who is on the list.

Video from DVR to DVD

Thanks to this step-by-step tutorial at Sourceforge.net, I was finally able to extract the video recordings from the DVR and burn them onto DVD. And, it's all free! All you need is a 6-pin to 4-pin IEEE-394 (FireWire) cable to hook up the DVR (in my case, it's a Motorola HDTV dual-tuner DVR, model # DCT-6412) to the PC. From the PC you can then burn the video onto DVD (you can even make anamorphic widescreen DVDs in 720p!)

This is great because if there's an awesome show that I recorded, that means I can preserve it on DVD instead of the show being stuck in the DVR.

Cool Web Sites and Tools

From PC World:

1. ScanR - Point your 1-megapixel camera phone at a whiteboard, and get a cleaned-up PDF of the image.
2. Kosmix - Promising new search site targets health, travel, and politics.
3. More TV - Download at your own risk, but TED - the Torrent Episode Downloader - is terrific at finding torrents of your favorite television shows.
4. Madehow - Illustrated and understandable explanations of the manufacture of products.
5. Amazon connect - Keep tabs on blogs by your favorite authors.

Little Tokyo

We had lots of fun at Little Tokyo yesterday. First, we checked out the Isamu Noguchi exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum. Isamu Noguchi was a Japanese-American who produced a groundbreaking body of work that encompassed multiple disciplines to break down the barriers between sculptural art and functional design. In addition to the Noguchi exhibit, the museum also has a permanent piece on the Japanese-American experience, mainly with forced internment and assimilation.

After the museum we went across the street to the Little Tokyo Village Plaza to check out the shops and snack stores. We bought some freshly baked Imagawa Yaki (sweet red-bean pancake sandwich) and some mochi from Mikawaya Bakery. Both yummy with some hot green tea!

The Kite Runner

I'm currently reading Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, a work of fiction that was published in 2003.

It follows the story of Amir, the privileged son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul, and Hassan, the son of Amir's father's servant. As children in the relatively stable Afghanistan of the early 1970s, the boys are inseparable. They spend idyllic days running kites and telling stories of mystical places and powerful warriors until an unspeakable event changes the nature of their relationship forever, and eventually cements their bond in ways neither boy could have ever predicted. Even after Amir and his father flee to America, Amir remains haunted by his cowardly actions and disloyalty. In part, it is these demons and the sometimes impossible quest for forgiveness that bring him back to his war-torn native land after it comes under Taliban rule.

An excellent read, highly recommended.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I'm currently playing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the first game in the new Prince of Persia trilogy. It was the 2003 Game of the Year. Awesome game so far and a bargain at $12 from eBay.

It's got everything: puzzle solving, cool fighting combos, and a great storyline.

Na Leo Pilimehana

Na Leo Pilimehana, which in Hawaiian means "the voices blending together in warmth," is a trio of women from Hawai'i who have been together for 20 years writing, producing, and performing island and contemporary music. We went to their concert last night at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. It was a great show. They performed several songs from their recently released album Feel the Spirit and several of their more popular songs from the past such as Pocketful of Paradise, Local Boys, I Miss You My Hawai'i, and Friends.

We both love Hawai'ian music and listening to Na Leo's music just brings you back to the islands, relaxing on a white sandy beach while watching the golden sunset.

Firefly Dreams

Ichiban Utsukushii Natsu (literally, "The Greatest Summer") is a Japanese film that was released in 2001. We attended a free screening at CSULB yesterday courtesy of the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden.

The film, which was renamed Firefly Dreams for U.S. audiences, is a quietly beautiful independent film directed by John Williams. The nostalgic unspoiled scenery of Japan is a backdrop for the emancipation struggles of a rebellious urban teenager. The film provides a glimpse of contemporary Japan, exploring the difficult themes of aging and youth, rural and urban life, and the complexities of relationship through culturally specific symbolism, "mind to mind" communication, and exquisite cinematography.

We highly recommend this movie to those interested in Japanese art and culture. English subtitles.

Amazing Race 9

One of our favorite TV shows, the Amazing Race, is back on the air for a 9th time. We love this show because of the fast and exciting pace, the different places the teams visit, and the variety of the challenges. Lediya and I actually sent in an audition videotape for the third season. Check out our streaming video here. (Windows Media Player 10 and Internet Explorer 6 required)

Definitely check out the show, which has won three Emmys in the row for best reality series. It airs on Tuesday nights at 10 pm ET/PT.

#1 Song On This Date In History

Click here to find out!

The #1 song on the day I was born was "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" by Rod Stewart, whatever that song was.

The #1 song on our wedding day was "Confessions Part II" by Usher. I actually know that song.