Kauai useful infomation

These websites are more useful among tons. I have been delving into Kauai activities info these days. Some websites listed below provide genuine info which is what I am looking for.

Source: http://www.hawaiiwebdesign.com/kauai_activities.htm has categorized activities and listed price associated with each activity so you can compare the info here against your guide book
http://www.livekauai.com/ has web cam for each spot on the map
http://www.trykauai.com/ is similar to the first website but provides some personal touches
http://www.napali.com/ is detailed about Napoli coast
http://www.kauaimenu.com/ provides comprehensive restaurant lists by geography

Visa IPO

Many are talking about this IPO. On February 25 Economist issued an article about this IPO. I think it is a good article and so would like to share with you. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10753463&fsrc=nwl

Hikes in Kauai

I'd like to share what I have summarized. If you plan to have a Kauai trip, you can just grab what is available here. I am updating the info and should be able to finalize the list by this weekend.

1. The Kalalau trail: experiences the Napali cliff region
Trail Length: 11 mi one round.
Difficulty: Difficult.
Warning: for experienced hikers only

2. The Kukui Trail: goes into Waimea canyon and a big swimming pool at the end
Trail Length: 2.5 mi one round.
Difficulty: Difficult.
Elevation: 2240 ft.

3. Nualolo Trail
Trail Length: 3.8 mi.
Time: approx 3 hrs.
Difficulty: Difficult.

4. The Hanakapiai trail: leads to Hanakapiai Beach
Trail Length: 4 mi round trip from Hanakapi'ai Beach (8 mi round trip from Ke'e Beach)
Difficulty: Difficult.
Warning: this beach is far too dangerous for swimming, and the currents are so powerful that more than one unwary hiker standing in the surf at knee level has been caught up in a sudden and large wave

5. The Mount Nounou Trail, on Sleeping Giant Mountain in Wailua
Trail Length: 3.5 mi roundtrip.
Difficulty: semi-strenuous.

6. The Secret Falls: goes through a tropical jungle

7. The Awaawapuhi Trail: promises sweeping views and a trek through dense jungles and dry landscapes
Trail Length: 6.5 mi.
Difficulty: strenuous.

8. The Nualolo Trail: a good birdwatching place
Trail Length: 7.5 miles round trip or 10.75 miles round trip via Awa'awapuhi loop.
Difficulty: strenuous.

9. The Blue Hole: the best of Wai'ale'ale
Trail Length: 8 mi roundtrip.
Difficulty: moderate.

10. The Kuilau Ridge Trail: for a glorious view of the Makaleha Mountains
Trail Length: 4.5 mi roundtrip.
Difficulty: moderate.

11. The Opaekaa Falls

12: Polihale State Park

Source: http://www.hawaii-guide.com/index.php/kauai/list/category/kauai_hiking_trails/
http://kauai.hiking.info/kau_hikes.html
http://www.hawaiitrails.org/island.asp?island=Kauai
http://www.kauaiexplorer.com/hiking_kauai/ has reviews
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g29218-d102945-r4363340-Kalalau_Trail-Kauai_Hawaii.html has reviews

Top Things To Do in Kauai

For my own reference.

7. Visit Fern Grotto
6. Visit the Grand Canyon of the Pacific
5. Visit Kilauea Lighthouse
4. Visit Manawaiopuna Falls that was shot in Jurassic Park
3. Kayak in Wailua River
2. Watch the ocean spray up to 50 feet in the air in Spouting Horn
1. Access to Napali Coast via the Kalalau Trail, an 11-mile trail that crosses five different valleys and ends at secluded Kalalau Beach

Source: http://www.gohawaii.com/kauai/learn/introduction

Oprah Winfrey will be the guest speaker for commencement

Saw a news from Stanford. It said Oprah will be the 2008 commencement speaker. This year, the commencement as usual will be held at Stanford Stadium on Sunday, June 15. I wanna go since I never listened to any Oprah's speeches. Source: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/february27/oprah-022708.html

Microsoft Paint

This application comes in handy sometimes. But, it can be artful as well. Surprised, right? I surfed on YouTube yesterday and found this. Mona Lisa can be reproduced by Paint? Amazing and entertaining.

Heavenly plus Sierra

The past weekend was a ski weekend. Due to the storm, Tahoe had so much fresh snow. We 23 people met in South Lake, lived in hotel converted rooms, enjoyed Jacuzzi, and challenged ourselves in snow powder. The snow condition is the best that I have ever had. It was a bit dangerous to ski or to snowboard on the trails since the weather condition was not ideal (it snowed with gusts). We were brave. We were not hindered by the gusts. Instead, we were happy to see many people gone due to the scary condition. Why? Because we could have uncrowded trails. Heavenly was a nice resort. But, it was a bit flat. Totof and I passed the 1 PM lunch time meet. So, we continued to ski on Nevada side. It turned out it was a wise decision since Heavenly later on closed Sky Express. Sky Express is the main passageway for people to cross from California side to Nevada side. If Sky Express closes, then it means people on California side are stuck. California side is flatter than Nevada side. It is not too interesting if you need to ski on flat trails over and over. Next day, we decided to go to Sierra at Tahoe. It was my first time to ski on Sierra. Great condition. (perhaps the great condition was more due to the storm than due to the trail design) We had a great fun there. So powdery. Sierra's blue is filled with moguls. Quite bumpy. I would say the condition was closer to black than blue. I felt intimidated at the beginning. Overtime, I got used to it. My companions were quite good. In the end, we had five people skiing together: us, Laurent, Herve, and Fred. Two people skied and three people snowboarded. We took a black to close out the day. It was the best trail that I have ever skied on. So good, so challenging, and so fun.

Rock your body

This post is about golf. Not about Rock Band or Guitar Hero.
I like playing golf even though I am just a novice. I came across a tip about how to check your position from Golf Medic. If you are a golfer, you can let me know if what it says is correct. Tip page: http://www.golfmedic.net/archive/rock-your-body/

la Cariocca

This clip is part of a French movie. A funny clip with nice Trumpet performance.

When a game console is not just for gamers

Wii is used in UK schools in the hope that kids will take PE in cold weather and used in hospitals to help stroke victims recover. Not only that, Wii is also used to help wounded soldiers from Iraq war recover. Interesting to know that a game console can be used creatively. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7262770.stm

Morph - a new cell phone concept

Always exciting to learn something cool is going to happen. I did not have cell phone when I was little. At that time, I knew neither a cell phone would change my life style nor my life would rely on a cell phone heavily. But, I like this impact and I think it is a good impact. Ever since, I like to keep myself up with the cell phone news. I like to see what is going to be available. I like to see what concepts are going to be used. Today, I came across "Morph". This concept appears because we all want more cool features on our cell phones. Under current conditions, some materials cannot be bended when they are embedded to a cell phone. That's why cell phone's size or shape is restricted. Morph enables elasticity in devices so that these devices can be modified into different shapes to accommodate cell phone's design. In addition, Morph will enable cell phones to use solar energy to charge, to use sensor to provide more environment and health info, and to repel fingerprints on the screens. Cool? You tell me. Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206801722

The Best Mistake I've Ever Made

A friend forwarded some songs to me. I listened to the first song and OMG. I admitted that I was surprised by this voice. This song suits blue Mondays well.

Tahoe I am coming

This winter is a Tahoe winter. I go to Tahoe more frequently than any other winters I have had in California. Why? Because the snow condition in this season is fantastic. Every time I am in Tahoe, I have a vacation feeling. So relaxing, so serene. I can use thousands great words to describe Tahoe but I won't do it. I want you to experience it by yourself.

Microsoft opens up

It is interesting to see Microsoft decides to publish its software codes. I am not a programmer. I don't know how much impact this action will be to developers. But, what I do know is that I get frustrated with my Microsoft software sometimes. I recently was thinking of trying Linux - Ubontu. I think Linux enpowers users more than Microsoft. If you would like to customize something for your computer (of course you need to know what you want first), and if you want to avoid paying license fees, then Linux sounds more attractive for sure. By all meanes that open source does not equal to free license. But, with open source, application integrations will perform better. Especially for companies, since companies need to pay millions (or thousands) to have enterprise level license, the expense parts are not negligible. If Microsoft's applications and other applications cannot integrate well, then companies will have another noticible expense. But, how soon will companies see the benefit of the open source? In 2 or 3 years, perhaps.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7257411.stm

Dream On

Band: Aerosmith

As mentioned previously, Activiation is going to launch a special Guitar Hero version delicated to Aerosmith. To promote this special version, Guitar Hero allowed users to get a free "dream on" from XBox Marketplace. Just three days though. This song is quite popular. I didn't know I knew this song until I saw this video. If you are like me who is not a song savvy, just click on this clip and I am sure some memory will come back quite soon.

You can download user-created games on XBox

Microsoft did something amazing. For XBox 360 users, if you have created your own games, now you can upload them to XBox Live. Not bad, right? I notice that many creative user-created games have been broadcasted through emails or YouTube. Now, I don't need to wait to be surprised. I can just go to XBox Live and look into something fun. Also, I don't need to worry if the games will bring virus to my world. Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=182939

K2 One Luv

Soon I will receive this precious gift. I love ski very much. I cannot wait to try it on on this coming weekend. I want to see how much One Luv can help me advance my skills (or how often I will tumble due to the unfamiliarness)

Pink

Band: Aerosmith

I personally think this clip is intriguing. But, I am not sure if it would be appopriate to post this clip in here. Because a scene in this clip is about nudity. If you want to see it, click here. This clip has been viewed more than 1 millions time in YouTube.

Best places to live

You thought the bay area was one of the best places to live? Not now, but, in the future, perhaps. I always think the reports like this kind are amusing.

1. Middleton, WI
2. Hanover, NH
3. Louisville, CO
4. Lake Mary, FL
5. Claremont, CA
6. Papillion, NE
7. Milton, MA
8. Chaska, MN
9. Nether Providence, PA
10. Suwanee, GA

Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2007/index.html

A fun party

Due to the lately workload, I don't post articles as frequently as I did. Right, I am going to post a fun experience that I had on the early February. (I know I am late. But I promise I will not skip posting interesting experiences here) Servane and Jean invited us to their well-known lovely party. I brought Molin with me this time. Molin and myself went to the same university in Taiwan. She arrived here not long ago, just four months. Molin is a friendly and easygoing girl. I thought she would like the party and the party guests would like her. So, I brought her to the party. The party was as usual filled with nicely arranged and prepared food (liquors and drinks to fresh your talks, appetizers to start your conversations with others, desserts to fill the pauses in conversations). My French is not in advanced level (in intermediate level? in novice level?) So, I tended to mingle myself and Molin with French who speak English or American who speak French. In this case, conversations could go on and on and both parties could have fun. I had a good time at that night and hope Molin thought the same way as me. Servane shooted many pictures at the right or fun moments. To see pictures, click http://servaneleroux.blogspot.com/2008/02/party-time.html. Enjoy.

Wii Fit

Wii Fit will go on sale on May 19 across North America. Nintendo has launched Wii Fit in Japan. So far, about 1.4 millions Wii Fit have been sold.

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6186314.html

Squaw Valley plus Diamond Peak

Recently discovered that the combo of Squaw Valley and Diamond Peak is fantastic for 2 day ski trip. Totof and I spent the first day in Diamond Peak. Beyond our expectations, Diamond Peak has a great snow condition. I skied and Totof snowboarded. Both liked Diamond Peak's Great Flume and Lightning very much. Compared to other ski resorts, Diamond Peak is small. So, one day is pretty much enough. Second day, we drove some miles to Squaw Valley. So many people had mentioned it so that we really wanted to try it. Squaw Valley is a big ski resort. We totally could tell how proud Squaw Valley was. Like a British man, Squaw Valley doesn't say it aloud that it is proud of its snow condition. But, you can 100% sense the pride. How? From its map. On the map, Squaw Valley doesn't mark trails at all. It was my first time not to see any trails marked down on the ski map. Squaw Valley just marks its lifts by different colors and gives you a strong message that you can create your own trails around the lift. It is awesome. Among the lifts, we liked Red Dog and Squaw Creek the most. Siberia was fun to ski on. But, we just needed to pay 100% attention with it due to its steepness and moguls. A funny thing was that after Red Dog and Siberia, I somehow was super confident and suggested to take an advance route on Squaw Creek. First 1/3 was fine and good. Then, suddenly, we saw a mogul wall. Oh, what did I do. The wall took me at least 10 min. I completely chickened out. If someone took pictures of me before and after the mogul wall, these pictures should be quite fun to look at. First time to know the north Lake Tahoe is also quite fun to stay, to ski, and to enjoy life.

Fruit tart

Delightful. Delightful. Delightful. This was what I had in mind when I first tried Douce France's fruit tart. It looked delightful. It smelled delightful. It tasted delightful. I was happy to discover another good tart from Douce France. In my previous post, I said its raspberry tart was superb. In this post, I wanted to highlight its fruit tart. Healthy, not filled with sugar, light, and great for every age.

My Spirit Will Go On

Band: Dragon Force

Guitar Hero and internet bring this band to this continent. Dragon Force is a British band. However, I doubt if many people outside Britain knew this band before someone hacked Guitar Hero 2 and put "through the fire and flames" there. Of course, YouTube is also a great helper. If you search "through the fire and the flames" in YouTube, you will see this clip has been viewed by 2 millions people. The insanity (guitar part) has surprised and excited many people ever since. Guess the popularity of this song made Activiation decide to put this song in their November 2007 Guitar Hero 3 release. I came across "my spirit will go on" in YouTube. Not bad. You may give it a try.

Activision announces a new Guitar Hero

Activision is hot these days due to Guitar Hero and Call of Duty. It just annouced that a new Guitar Hero will be released in the future. Not only that, this new version will be delicated to one of my favorite bands: Aerosmith. To celebrate this good news, fans of Guitar Hero can download free Aerosmith songs online. This celebration will be only valid for three days - Feb 16 to Feb 18. So, plug your cable into X box, PS, and Wii.

Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina

If you don't mind watching how Miss Teen South Carolina answered questions; if you want to have some fun during the hectic work schedule; if you want to understand a bit on teens' mindset (not in general); if you want to see what is super famous in internet these days (this clip has been viewed more than 22 millions times), click on play button.

Champs Elysées

Singer: Joe Dassin

Not quite understand the lyrics. But, I like its melody. Somehow, with the music on, the atmosphere can become quite romantic.

Wonderwall

Band: Oasis

I don't believe that anybody feels the same way I do. Right.

Don't Look Back In Anger

Band: Oasis

New resolution

Anna Nalick - Breathe

Perhaps, I am desperate. So, I at sudden like this song.

Grey's Anatomy - Save me

If one day I become a surgeon

Grey's Anatomy - Never leave your heart alone

Don't know since when. But now I like listening to Grey's Anatomy. Yes, listen to, not watch. Some conversations are so real to me. Sometimes the background music is so right. This song is one of my favorite background music - never leave your heart alone.