Saturday, December 20, 2008

[開箱] Rip off power block

In an unfortunate mixture of bad luck and stupidity, I had to get a new power block for my MacBook...

很漂亮的手提袋,很有質感,可惜MIC...orz (塑膠袋這種簡單又輕便的東西還要進口啊?)
果然Apple Store裡面的東西100% made in China


出現了,只是個充電器,包裝卻意外的漂亮;漂亮包裝的代價:貴到哭妖orz

左邊抽出一個小抽屜,第一個看到的是包裝精美的說明書。有清楚的圖示說明如何接上延長線、收線的小耳朵怎麼用(為什麼買整台電腦就沒有說明)。

分層,白豆腐在下,延長線在上

為什麼接縫這麼大(囧),我原本那組裝很棒的阿...
看底下標示是三星(Samsung)在廣東生產的,該不會經過三星加持組裝品質變爛了吧?

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Hectic holiday travel: East to West coast in 2 days

It has been a totally crazy week, collected the last batch of my experiment data Monday morning, took an exam in the evening, and then worked on slides for my lab presentation way into the night. On Tuesday, did last minute changes to the slides and then did the presentation; and after that needed to fix up all the stuff I haven't written into my lab note. Then on Wednesday, capped off my rotation with my PI, went to a seminar, did last minute Christmas gift shopping, and then started packing two hours before setting for the holidays. And all that busy mess lead to even more hicups along the way...

So I headed out to the 30th street station around 3pm to take the SEPTA R1 regional rail to the airport. 30th street station is huge, and the SEPTA platforms are kind of hard to find. Turned out that they are hidden behind all the Amtrak platform entrance and ticket offices. Somehow people decided that train tickets to airports should be priced higher then other trains. SEPTA implamented this by defining the airport to be at the highest priced pricing zone; also, all airport tickets are rush hour rates no matter what time you go. But even after all those premiums, taking the train is still much cheeper then taking airport shuttles, such as lady liberty.

The 30th station platform actually looks pretty nice, it has an old-styled look to it. There was an electronic display that showed the next trains comming and if it's on time. Turned out that display was fluctuating between "on time", "late 1 min" and "late 2 mins" every few seconds...... whatevers, it's all approximations.

Interestingly, all the pillars that don't have other stuff beneath it (ie. right over people's heads) have rows of spikes installed on them. Maybe to prevent birds from pooing on passenger's heads; or maybe someone did get the "avian potty treatment" and complained or sued.

Here comes the train. The terminal is elegant, but the train it self is ugly and utilitarian. Unlike in Kansai, Japan, where the airport train is especially clean and beautiful (partly justifying the airport train fee premium), This R1 train is just as ugly as all the other lines.

The interiror consists of also utilarian rows of seats. The cars are not clean, but not too dirty either. Maybe about on par with the trains in Taiwan 10 years ago (臺鐵十年前的整潔度). I was expecting something worse... (as dirty as the SEPTA trolleys), so I guess I was pleasently surprised.


The South street bridge. I thought they were going to just bomb it down, but seems like they are doing it slower. Maybe bombing stuff down is more Hollywood style?


The last station before getting to the airport. All suburban stations are just un-manned platforms, this one doesn't even have ticket vending mechines.


The airport is just around the corner


And here I am at the airport train platform of terminal D. The departure terminals are just across the railroad overpass.

Where do you get to see revolving doors other then at the airport? The airport look much different then what I saw last time, as it's mostly covered in wooden boards for renovations.


Check-in lines are a little too long for comfort. At first I thought it might just be because of the Christmas holiday crowd, but then I started worrying about the check-in cut off times. Check-in closes 45mins before the flight, and I got there just 1hr prior to the scheduled time, as this has always been fairly early judging from past experience. And then I started hearing that every single flight that day was delayed due to fog, so I won't have a problem with the check-in cut off. Turns out the long lines are because agents have to work out every single person's connections, as people are not going to make the connections when the first flight is delayed 2hrs. And of course, no one's happy about the connection mess-ups, so the lines were hardly moving.

They started processing the people without connections first, and then taking the time to take care of us mess-ups. Eventually, I made it up there, and was presented with the "official story":
My flight from Philly to Houston was delayed 2hrs because of bad weather in Houston, and our plane was supposed to come in from Houston. (Will, looking at that whole row of "canceled" Southwest & USair flights, I guess "delayed" means I at least have a chance of getting some where...) So I was presented with 2 options: 1) return to the Philly airport the next day at 3 in the morning for the next flight out that can make a connection to California, 2) fly out to Houston on the delayed flight anyways, and betting my luck on the connecting flight also being delayed; if not, stay in Houston for the night and continue the journey the following morning. I asked for transfering to even later flights so I wouldn't need to catch a 4am flight, but was told that all the later flights were fully booked until the end of the holidays (how sweet? to think of it, I don't know if this is just a lie to keep things simple on the agent's side...).

I made some phone calls before making a decision. For a moment I thought that I might be stuck in Philly until next year. Luckily, I got a friend in Houston who's willing to take me in for the night, what a relief! So I told the agent to just cancel my original 2nd flight and rebook for the next day, I don't believe I'd be so lucky that the 2nd flight would also delay, and besides, I got this chance to see a good friend, a chance that presented it self in one of the utmost bizarre way.

So I checked in, got my boarding pass and entered the waiting area with 2 hours to kill. Remembering that the international departure terminal is much nicer then the messy and crowded domestic terminals, I walked over looking for a place to relax. Walking from terminal D all the way to the international terminal A, the domestic terminals of this airport seemed much better this time around. It look completely renovated into a something more along the lines of a mall. But I went on, and found a seat in terminal A that's next to an outlet. I pulled out my notebook, and rummaged through my backpack... "Oops, where's my MacBook power adaptor?" I couldn't remember if I packed it into my bag or may it be dropped when that TSA officer was going through my pack looking for that liquids/gels ziploc bag I forgot to pull out? I ended up walking all the way back to the TSA check point. Sure enough, they did not see a missing white power block. And I remembered that my 3.5-year-old MacBook battery only holds 1hr of juice. Okey, my trip was just elongated into 2 days, which pushed back my original plans, and I am stuck in an airport for 2 hours with a computer on my back that couldn't provide me the needed entertainment for time-kill. Oh, not to mention I have to get a new power block for the rest of the holidays, given it's an Apple, must be at rip-off prices.


A long night stranded at the crowded airport. Without the powerblock, I didn't want to pull out my MacBook, but still had time to kill. On the good side, my Clie TH55 PDA was still as reliable as it was for all those years, and it connected nicely to the Philly airport free WIFI. I was up and running with my email and Facebook in a second, while a girl shareing the same power outlet with me never made got a usable connection on her Dell notebook. Meanwhile, a quick check on Continental's website showed that my original connecting flight was still on time 1.5 hours after I checked in. I figured I made the right choice, and smiled.

The flight wasn't as packed as it should be, seems that there's a fair amount of people who canceled because they could not make the next connection. Somehow, through all the mess, I forgot to have dinner, and was having a stomach ache. Snack sized cheeseburgers and salad were served on the flight, which did help a little. I had a father and his kid sitting next to me. The toddeler was so cute that it made me fall into that deep thinking mode, wondering when would I have a family...... But I was not left in wonder-land for long, as the kid somehow found it amusing kicking me continuously. The father looked apologestic, but didn't want to be mean to his child, so it ended in a cycle of kicking and the father pulling the legs back, and the legs struggled free and started kicking again.

When landing at Houston, the fog outside was downright amazing, it seemed that visibility was less then 10 meters. I can totally understand the delay now, but also amazed how we could still land perfectly with radar assistance. Once I got to the baggage clam, a fire alarm sounded and there was an automatic anouncement telling people to evacuate; yet I see no one, absolutely no one evacuating.

I've only been to Houston twice on grad school interviews, and now the city already seems oddly familiar to me, somehow I could still make out a sense of what is where in the dark. From what I've hear from my friend, Houston sounds, in a way, to be a funner place then Philly. It's easier to get good food, it's closer to the sea, there's good shrimp and crab fishing at near by Galveston, and there's a very amusing culture of Texans and Latinos. And best of all, everything is very cheap. On the other hand, everything is so far away and there's not as much night life as Philly.


The next morning, it was still very foggy in Houston. But it's still tolerable for driving and my flight mannaged to take off smoothly.

Breakfast was nice on the plane, with a good book (Sarah's key) and good music. The food was rather simplistic, but it's been so long since I last had a breakfast this relaxing. I liked Continental for being the only domestic carrier to be serving free food and keeping the planes clean, and I really am enjoying it.

The snow caps in SoCal was still as stunning as it was. I have this very nice girl from San Antonio sitting next to me on the plane, who was so excited about comming to the Inland empire/LA area, and was constantly asking all sorts of questions about the area (the weather, scenery, ...etc). Once the snow covered mountains came into sight she was frantically taking picture after picture after picture. Somehow, all the people I've seen from San Antonio were very excited about trips and outings, and the excitment was amazingly contagious. (Why I always manage to have a much more enjoyable conversation with girls I don't feel attracted to is way beyond me)

Ahh, the sun shine, the cool dry air, a feeling much missed.


And of course, Puff welcomes me back by taking over my coat momentarily.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Amazingly messy holiday travel

I was going to fly to SoCal today. It is foggy here in Philly, and the weather said to be worse in Houston, where I make a connection. Flight out of Philly delayed 2hrs because it delayed when comming here from Houston; not going to make the connection. The lady suggested that the connection flight might also be delayed, and wanted me to try my luck. The other option is to come back to the airport 3am tomorrow, all later flights are full...

Oh, oh, in all this mess, I realized that I either lost my computer power block, or I left it at home. Fabulous!
(good thing my Clie TH55 PDA is working great)

Monday, December 08, 2008

French real world Mario Kart


Who'd think he'd throw real banana peel, and it has absolutely NO effect on others :D

Thursday, December 04, 2008

My new roommate?!

It is true that I am starting to think it would be nice to have a roommate, but this is not my idea of a "roommate"...

(taken on auto mode, using infrared night shot)

I have always made sure to keep everything that smells good in the fridge, and usually avoid keeping the trash in the house for too long... But, with no food, this little guy seems totally happy with having my phonebook for dinner.

The good part: it's a mouse, not a rat. The bad part: it looked exactly like lab mouse, just as cute too, making me not in the mood to call the landlord for pest control. Oh well, I guess I can just keep my home food-less and as inhospitable as I can, hope he decides to move out soon...

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Free Coffee at Seminars

Sure, they are watery, somewhere between tasteless and bad tasting, but there is a good side: they still make warm drinks in the winter, and they are so thin that they don't leave stains on your shirts after spills.

Had a little spill today, and can't find any trace of the stain after I got back home, how's that?

Saturday, November 22, 2008

[お笑う] 聯合報 | 國民黨增設五位副主席


其中重點:「國民黨副主席總數高達八人」。

天阿,為什麼台灣的政治新聞總是好像綜藝節目一般的惡搞又搞笑?黨主席玩人海戰術有比較會比較強嗎?再算個榮譽主席連戰,這下有 黨主席*2 + 副主席*8 共十人的領導團隊,是這樣嗎?

這下我們執政黨走諧星路線,在野黨自願泡沫化...... 整個政壇簡直都在搞笑

edit:
上一篇說可以組棒球隊,這一篇說是八仙過海...... 國民黨再搞笑下去大概演藝圈的都不用混了

腹筋返し〜!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

期中考太high啦~!

考前教授把大量考古題含正確答案放在課程網頁上給我們練習,考試open book,任何資料都可以帶。

結果考試第一題跟考古題完全一樣,一字不漏,只有排版變了 囧rz

既然open book,當然就很大方的把考古提拿出來抄啦......

抄完再三比隊友沒有陷阱,恩沒有

這種送分方式簡直比神奇調分公式還神奇,可以選擇性只給有唸書的人加分XDD

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Two windows, two worlds

今天在家跟Actin cytoskeleton奮鬥時,猛然抬頭一望,看到這景象...

(without flash)

(with flash)
Cloudy on the left, sunny on the right :)
真是陰晴不定的天氣阿,不小心就給我抓到這有趣的景象。不過之前在北106縣道看到的「一躲下雨中的烏雲在晴天中像我飄來」更酷,只可惜那次既沒帶相機,而且還急著躲雨,上演「雨簾在後面追著我跑」的戲碼......

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

內心話不能隨便說出來阿...

不知為何今天早上一直回想起這件事...... 明明是好一陣子之前的事了......

某天,在逛街買衣服時,剛好碰到一位同學也在逛街
這位同學長得一表人材,今天穿得特別帥氣,手上還很帥氣的拿著兩件我光看到價格就不敢碰的衣服,看起來是要買了。
同學曰:喔,來介紹一下,這是我女友。
(心中OS:喔原來你死會啦......


!!!


咦,短胖、大餅臉、厚唇...... 噗...

不對,不可以笑,是一表人材強者我同學的女友阿,還頗有禮貌的...

囧)

我:ㄜ......你好!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

UNIQLO 小敗家紀錄


自從在札幌逛過UNIQLO之後,完全就是上癮了,當下決定下次到日本一定找個有UNIQLO的城市。於是,這次有機會到New York玩,完全衝著New York有UNIQLO就去了XD

這邊好看的衣服真的不多,不過我的確也對衣服有點挑就是了。為了防止衣櫥被「間隙牌」、「香蕉共和國」、「香港腳」這三個品牌佔滿而缺乏多樣性,所以有機會當然要衝UNIQLO啦!

紐約UNIQLO SOHO旗艦店店面正面看起來很不起眼,小小的門面。走進去卻大得誇張,簡直可以開半家家樂福的面積了。跟一般歐美店家的陰暗沉穩不同的,走明亮多彩風格,門口兩側就兩面挑高的牆擺滿有如64色SKB喜洋洋彩色筆一般多顏色的喀甚米爾羊毛衫。擺明就是要告訴美國人說「我是來自日本的怪咖」!

除了顏色以外,店內的品項、風格、款式都很多彩多姿。整個店面逛起來很舒服而新鮮。不過有個小缺點,它一樓是男女裝混雜擺放,要自己去辨明哪個區塊是男裝、哪個區塊是女裝。另,大致來說價格都還算合理,但打折明顯不像在札幌那樣的大方,另我有些失望。老實說,UNIQLO在日本自家是大眾品牌,所以會打價格戰;在這卻是異國風,當然就少了些打價格戰的必要性了。

UNIQLO最特別的就是他們的T-shirt啦。他們有一系列很日本風的T-shirt走漫畫風格,而我最喜歡的是走傳統水墨畫風格的,也只有這個,因為太有東風文化特色了,就算原價我也給他敗回來了...

極簡風精美紙袋、T-shirt一件跟收據。聯美國這邊開的收據都特地打日文ウニクロ (uniqlo),大概是特地強調來自日本吧。印象中日本的收據上頭是打英文的UNIQLO標誌阿。

吊牌上有說明每件T-shirt上圖樣的來歷。這次挑的是UNIQLO找上芸艸堂把復刻版北斎漫画搬上T−shirt的。之前在日本逛UNIQLO時,芸艸堂系列的就已經是我最喜歡的了。
嘿,我也可以在美國買M size的T-shirt耶,看來就算賣到美國還是日本的尺碼標準。


正面照,網站上說是「拿著武士刀的天狗」嗎?


背面照,這次是「狒狒,住在山中,會吃禽鳥猛獸」。真是有趣的解釋啊XD

恩,到頭來,跑那麼遠找UNIQLO只買了這件。本來還有很多想買的冬季保暖衣物,結果UNIQLO都是用高級的羊毛(羊毛衫卻比人家合成纖維的便宜,真強大),全部都只能乾洗。這窮人沒錢乾洗,結果都不敢買了......

Saturday, October 25, 2008

New Mexico Pinon Coffee ~ testing conditions

昨晚終於狠下心到Trader Joes敗下的這灌咖啡。本來想說ground coffee很怕很快就壞了;但又一直找不到喜歡的磨豆機,於是就很久都沒買咖啡。不過這隻咖啡在TJ's的試喝實在是太香了,讓我驚訝這種預磨裝罐還用美式drip coffee還可以煮出這種品質,一掃我對drip coffee的壞印象。於是想說,用法蘭絨手沖一定會更棒,就忍不住敗下去了。

(什麼是法蘭絨手沖?可以看這裡

試了三次,發現這咖啡很「性格」,condition不好抓。首先,在試喝時的印象是它有濃烈的奶油香,然後有細微的酸甜;但因為試喝是drip coffee,缺乏油脂感是料想中的事。

不過回家手沖
第一次:
一匙半的粉(茶匙,還沒買咖啡匙)+半杯水
-> 水太多,水味過重

第二次:
兩匙半的粉+半杯水
-> 水溫太低,帶微酸的鹽水味 (最悪だ!)

第三次:
三匙的粉+半杯水(這是是等完全滾之後的水馬上下去)
-> 香味終於出來了,微酸微甜都有,還會在舌根後方帶出一點甜甜的後勁。油脂感還是稍弱,有空還要再試試看;但手沖時,沒有看到明顯的油脂泡沫在從粉中浮出,也許這本來就是一隻"low fat"的豆子XD 咖啡冷一點之後,香味馬上消失,鹽水味越冷越強烈。總之這是一隻越燙口感越棒的咖啡,而香味消散的非常快。一般咖啡本來就要稱熱喝,這隻更急迫一點,沖完要在不燙口的前提下儘快喝完。下次在沖泡前把水溫再拉更高試試看好了。

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

New Aluminum MacBook anouncement and implications

Apple just announced the new generation of MacBooks today, and there are many pretty interesting points I'd like to share here.

First of all, from the product announcement event video, it is once again apparent that Steve Jobs is getting thinner and older. Many people are worrying about his health and what this means for Apple, which was pretty much a company that thrives on his charisma. However, it is also apparent to me today, that Steve is gradually taking back stage and leaving more and more work to the others. Mostly, today's star of the event was not Steve as he always was; instead, as today's focus is more on the new design and manufacturing process of the aluminum unibody structure, the spotlight is clearly on Jony Ive (Senior Vice President of Industrial Design). It seams to me, that today's Apple is much different then what is was 5 years ago, in product design, company development and many other ways, and it seams to me that Steve is gradually handing down the power leader ship to the other in the company.

Second, the changes today unifies Apple's product line even farther. Metal & glossy black glass brings together the iMac and the iPhone/iPod touch, the iPods (although more colored) , and now the MacBook family. Even the iTV and windows in Leopard looks similar. This leaves the AirPort/Timecapsule, Mac mini and the Mighty mouse as the other major products in white plastic land. It might be quite logical to move over at least the Mac mini in the near future.

Third, the new unibody is amazingly technological advanced with high precision. This has 2 major implications.
  1. Since Apple products are now 100% made in China, and the first leaked photo of this unibody is also from China, this means that Apple is exporting high precision CNC to China. I am no engineer so I don't know to what degree of advance CNC processes does this require. But I have heard in the past that the US govenment has rules in place for providing CNC technology to China in fear that they transfer the technology to military applications such as missile manufacturing. I don't know if the rules are still in place since China now already have the technology to go outer space anyways, but it still is a very intreiguing thought to it.
  2. Apple has previously mostly focused on software and exterial design, now they are moving into industrial technology innovations (as previously mentioned, showing that Jony Ive might be taking center stage). This makes the computer market much more exciting. Previously, the only company highly advertising their engineering technologies was Sony, who went from plastic cases to ultrathin magnesium cases and then, more recently, carbon-fiber, the pinnicle of this development being the Japan-only Vaio X505 extreme. Sony is now building most of it's Vaio ultra thin product line out of carbon-fiber. In fact, Sony came out with it's own unibody aluminum casing on the recent Z series (months before Apple's new MacBooks), but they sandwitched that unibody aluminum palmrest/keyboard frame in a carbon fiber bottom and screen casing. But we all know the media has always loved Apple (especially Engadget) and Apple is much better at advertising these things; while Sony keeps a rather low profile. This is farther shown in the product designs it self: Apple made the product exterior all aluminum showcasing this technology blatantly on the outside; while Sony kind of hid it inside carbon-fiber casings with a coating that looked more like conventional plastic. Yet, what matters here is that Apple has entered a field that Sony had held to it self for years, and with this much fanfair, might be forcing other manufacturers to innovate in one way or another on their casing designs, too. Because Sony Vaios had been too low profile in this regard, it is fair to say that Apple is actually the one to make this technology have a real market changing impact.
And one last clearification. The new Nvidia graphics chip in the MacBook makes many think it's finally got an independent GPU. Well, looking at the architecture in the anouncement, what they actually did was swap out the Intel chipset and plugged in an more powerful Nvidia chip. Is it more powerful, yes; but it is an integrated chip, it still uses your main RAM memory, not dedicated memory as with a real "independent GPU".

Well, so those are the interesting thoughts. What does all that mean to me as a consumer? Not much, my first generation MacBook is still going strong and I see no reason is switching, nor to I have the dough to make the purchase.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

ぜつぼうした!

まあ〜たぶん、じょしのことは三、四つ月くらいの知り合いの前に、好きはできない。どんな寂しいもしょがないな。

やっばだめた、俺orz

Sunday, September 28, 2008

[開箱] Banana Republic BLACK WALNUT Eau De Toilette

Banana Republic 這個週末很低調的全店30% off, 都沒有貼廣告喔!

平時它們的東西都貴到爆,除了T-shirt以外,大約都是$50以上,大致來說就是我可以接受的範圍的2~3倍以上。昨天給我好不容易翻到一件清倉又好看又size合的襯衫(清倉貨通常80%以上都是L以上那種太大的),結帳時才知道可以額外30% off,很爽,所以今天又去敗家啦!(其實是paper念到悶了,囧)

結果全店唯一低於$20的襯衫昨天被我收走之後,剩下的都是30%off之後還是太貴的東西T_T 乾脆來玩玩小包裝古龍水好了。

買兩個就打七五折了,然後再另外30%off, 最後一罐約$5,還不錯^^ 包裝還滿有質感的說。

外層玻璃紙很好拆
...
...
...


喂!這包裝未免太誇張了吧?

玻璃罐很有質感啦,加點分回去好了... 可是,沒有噴霧嘴,瓶蓋打開是個洞,再扣分!

原來紙箱上很小的照片是真實比例阿 = =|||
上半金屬質感部份跟玻璃的間隙好大...... 瓶子組裝品質還真有點糟糕,Made in USA果真老美隨性作風


跟原來在用的比較一下,老GAP 15毫升,右邊心買的只有7.5毫升,價格差不多orz
好吧,Banana Republic的香味的確成熟了點,看來以後出門要看場合換味道了,畢竟價格有差XD 那像Guess、CK 之類的高級品牌咧?等有緣帶女伴參加高級酒會再考慮入手吧,區區一個窮酸研究生大概不會有那種機會吧,哈哈(目前只要有Seminar with free pizza就很高興了...)。

等等,古龍水開箱怎麼沒有形容一下香味?很抱歉,敝人大學指考國文不及格,不會形容啦!

Barszcz czerwony (Polish red Brosh soup/波蘭甜菜湯)

On a visit to the Polish town just north of the Olde city part of Philly last week, a Polish friend introduced me to a lot of Polish foods. I thought, hmm..., interesting stuff, so I brought home a soup pack that she told me is "closest to authentic Polish taste". Well, here it is, looks like some funky red soup to me, mmmmm... weird looks are what make it interesting. Feeling adventurous? Here we go!

My friend said it's made of red beat roots (甜菜), called brosh, I guess. She said it's slightly... spicy. That kind of red looks more sweet then spicy to me, but unexpected looks are all the more intriguing to me. Cool, I don't understand a word on the package, except that I know the soup is of a popular global brand (Knorr), commonly known as 康寶 in Taiwan. But it's made in Poland, and it should taste Polish, and that's all that matters.

To avoid the soup being nothing but flavored H2O, I chopped up some onions and green onions. Some how my instinct tells me that onions would be just the right addition to European soups :P

Hmm... it's really, really red... (自言自語:「是色素嗎?不,一定是花青素!哎呀,都一樣是一堆苯環啦!......越想越可怕,不管了,煮了它!XDD 」)

Ooooo... that is one bloody pot :D

However...

It tastes... amazing, it's sweet (I guess I threw in so much onions that it's turning into sweet onion soup), tangy, and slightly sour. It feels a little creamy in the mouth, too. Should have got some bread to go with this, this is so nice ^^

Now I am a believer, this thing is awesome! ほん〜どうまい!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Trip to Atlantic city

Well, I'm a little lazy right now, but have typed parts of the story in each photo info at Flickr, so you are welcome to move on there to see it.

[開箱] Cateye HL-EL210 5x LED bike light


In a strange mood this afternoon, didn't feel like doing anything serious, so wondered off 2 miles away to Performance bikes at Penn's landing. I walked in without intending to buy anything in particular, but I sure do need some gear (like brake pads, spear innertubes, headlight, tool pouch, gloves......) that I didn't bring over from home. To my pleasant surprise, they had a midrange Cateye LED light on sell, 50% off an original price of 30 bucks! That's even cheeper then the cheepest low-end light in the store! Never saw this good of a deal, and so good it was, it seemed to be all sold out, and the rack was empty. But luckily someone took one and missplaced it one the gloves rack, where I fetched it up.

Surprise, there is still stuff made in Japan.

The main light, looks pretty sleek. There's 5 white light LEDs in there.

Let's open the lower compartment, and other then the handle bar attachment, there's batteries in the package, cool!

Here's a close up of the additional stuff.

Hay, the free Toshiba batteries are alkaline! Cateye really is packing some good value in that small package.

The battery compartment. Once you inserted the batteries, getting the batteries out once again is as easy as praying open an oyster.

It's fairly bright, not the best, but a nice balance between brightness, battery life and price. As with most LED lights, the light color is some where between white and blue.

Now I'm better equipped for night riding.