My computer specifications:

• Intel Core i5-4570
• 16 GB Memory
• Radeon HD 5770

I followed the instructions here, with these changes:

• Using video driver “fglrx-updates” (the tutorial talks about NVIDIA cards)
• Did not install TuxLoL
• Did not do anything regarding the “Maestro error” since it only applies to Optimus Notebook users
• Did not follow step 6 because I did not run into the problem for big item icon text for the item shop
• EDIT: Thanks to Ingvar’s comment, the installation progress for the game can be viewed like so: open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and execute:

tail -f ~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/LeagueOfLegends/drive_c/Riot\ Games/League\ of\ Legends/Logs/Patcher\ Logs/*.log

There are also other steps that I had to do, which I read from here:

• Click configure for the “League of Legends” entry in “PlayOnLinux” and find the “Display” tab and then choose the following options:
  • Direct Draw Renderer – gdi
  • Video memory size – 4096 (or something else depending on graphics card)
  • Offscreen rendering mode – fbo\0
  • Everything else on default
• Create a file called “game.cfg” in the directory “/home/your-username-here/PlayOnLinux’s virtual drives/LeagueOfLegends/drive_c/Riot Games/League of Legends/Config”. Below is what I have in my “game.cfg”:

[General]
EnableAudio=1
GameMouseSpeed=10
UserSetResolution=1
BindSysKeys=0
SnapCameraOnRespawn=0
OSXMouseAcceleration=1
AutoAcquireTarget=0
EnableLightFx=0
WindowMode=0
ShowTurretRangeIndicators=0
PredictMovement=0
WaitForVerticalSync=0
Colors=32
Height=1080
Width=1920
SystemMouseSpeed=0
CfgVersion=5.3.296
x3d_platform=1

[HUD]
CameraLockMode=0
MiddleClickDragScrollEnabled=0
KeyboardScrollSpeed=0.5000
ChatScale=50
ObjectTooltips=0
AutoDisplayTarget=0
ShowAllChannelChat=1
ShowTimestamps=1
ItemShopPrevY=39
ItemShopPrevX=106
NameTagDisplay=1
ShowChampionIndicator=0
ShowSummonerNames=1
ScrollSmoothingEnabled=0
MiddleMouseScrollSpeed=0.5000
MapScrollSpeed=0.5000
ShowAttackRadius=0
NumericCooldownFormat=1
SmartCastOnKeyRelease=0
EnableLineMissileVis=0
FlipMiniMap=1
ItemShopResizeHeight=0
ItemShopResizeWidth=164
ItemShopPrevResizeHeight=1080
ItemShopPrevResizeWidth=1920
ItemShopItemDisplayMode=1
ItemShopStartPane=1

[Performance]
CharacterInking=1
ShadowsEnabled=1
EnableHUDAnimations=0
PerPixelPointLighting=0
EnableParticleOptimizations=0
BudgetOverdrawAverage=0
BudgetSkinnedVertexCount=0
BudgetSkinnedDrawCallCount=0
BudgetTextureUsage=0
BudgetVertexCount=0
BudgetTriangleCount=0
BudgetDrawCallCount=0
EnableGrassSwaying=0
EnableFXAA=0
AdvancedShader=0
FrameCapType=6
GammaEnabled=0
Full3DModeEnabled=0
AutoPerformanceSettings=0
CharacterQuality=4
EffectsQuality=4
EnvironmentQuality=4
ShadowQuality=4
GraphicsSlider=6
paths=0

[FloatingText]
EnemyTrueDamageCritical_Enabled=1
EnemyMagicalDamageCritical_Enabled=1
EnemyPhysicalDamageCritical_Enabled=1
TrueDamageCritical_Enabled=1
MagicalDamageCritical_Enabled=1
PhysicalDamageCritical_Enabled=1
Countdown_Enabled=0
EnemyTrueDamage_Enabled=0
EnemyMagicalDamage_Enabled=0
EnemyPhysicalDamage_Enabled=0
TrueDamage_Enabled=0
MagicalDamage_Enabled=0
PhysicalDamage_Enabled=0
Score_Enabled=0
QuestComplete_Enabled=0
QuestReceived_Enabled=0
Disable_Enabled=0
Level_Enabled=0
Dodge_Enabled=0
Heal_Enabled=0
Special_Enabled=0
Invulnerable_Enabled=0
Debug_Enabled=0
Absorbed_Enabled=0
OMW_Enabled=0
EnemyCritical_Enabled=0
MagicCritical_Enabled=0
Critical_Enabled=0

[Volume]
SfxVolume=0.5
MasterVolume=0.5

Print Volume

This is the amount volume that the printer is able to print in.  Generally, the measurement is given by the three dimensions of a rectangular prism.  The thing to watch out for here is that just because a printer has a large print volume, it does not mean the printer can reliably print in all of it.  Say the design calls for a thin flat plate.  If the plate is too wide, then the edges of the plate will peel/warp during the print and the flat shape that was intended will be slightly curved.  To visualize what warping is, imagine a flat plate lying on the print bed as it is being printed.  Warping is when the corners of the plate start peeling off the base during a print.  Warping will be explained in a little more detail later on.

Resolution

This describes the accuracy of the nozzle’s positioning.  It is usually measured in microns or inches.  Clearly a smaller value means that the printer will be more accurate in its position.

Layer Thickness

Because the printer works by extruding layers of plastic, thinner layers allow for more fine details.  However, more layers means that the part will take longer to print (all other things being equal).

Print Speed

3D printing is generally a slow process, but a faster print speed could definitely help offset that.

Nozzle Diameter

A small nozzle diameter means that the extruded plastic will be narrow and thus allow for fine details.  It also improves the smoothness of the printed object.

Ease of Removing Parts off the Platform

Because during a print, the base of the part (ideally) should be firmly adhered to the print bed, one must take care when removing the part from the print bed.  In some cases, removing a part requires a little bit of force to pry the part off the print bed.  This application of force may affect the alignment of the print bed relative to the nozzle.  In lower quality printers this can permanently affect the alignment or require frequent re-calibration   Seeing how “rigid” the print bed assembly can help assess how the machine accuracy can be affect during part removal.  For example, if the print bed is mounted on really large support structure, then the affect of misalignment is less of a problem than a machine where the print bed is mounted in a smaller support.

Enclosure

Some printers enclose the part to be printed in a box and some don’t.  The reason an enclosure exists is so that the machine is able to prevent the part being printed from losing too much heat during print.  Loss of heat during a print negatively affects the adhesion of the printed plastic.  Also a larger temperature difference means the part will warp more.  Without an enclosure, heat is able to freely transfer to the ambient.  High quality printers generally have an enclosure.

Variety of Printed Materials

A common material to print with is ABS.  Other materials such as PLA can be printed as well.  The use of the particular material can be quite dependent on the application of the printed part.  The cost of material also differs.  It is worthwhile to determine what material will be printed.  In many cases, ABS should be sufficient.

Warping

This is probably one of the biggest limitations of 3D printing.  Because of the use of heat during print, it is natural for the part to shrink as it cools down.  The problem is that the shrinkage is not uniform.  Some parts of the model shrink more than others and most of the time it is very unpredictable.  While there are some general guidelines that designers can follow to reduce warping, there are definitely some machine features that are good to have to help reduce warping even further.  Because the nature of the way the printer prints is that plastic is extruded layer by layer, the plastic layer at the very bottom is the first to cool down.  Cooling down means shrinkage.  This also means that as the bottom of the model shrinks, the printer is still printing on top of a slightly shrunken part.  Sometimes the shrinkage can be so bad that the part pulls itself off the print bed.  When the part is no longer securely adhered to the print bed, the part may slide around and ruin the entire print.  Warping is the enemy of 3D printing.

Below are some qualities of a machine that help reduce shrinkage:

• Heated print bed – a heated print bed keeps the plastic hot during the print and does not let the base cool down as much as if there were no heated print bed
• Enclosure – described above

There are more ways to reduce warping that the designer can do, but that is outside the scope of this article.

Number of Nozzles

A lot of printers just have the one print nozzle, but there are some with multiple.  This allows printing with multiple colours or in some cases printing with a water soluble support material.  Generally, support material has to be manually removed from the printed part, but if the support material is water soluble, this saves a lot of the manual labor involved in cleaning up the model.

Nozzle Maintenance

Through extended use, the nozzle can become quite dirty, that is black gunk starts building up on the surface of the nozzle.  If one is not careful, this can clog the print nozzle.  It is worthwhile to find out how often the nozzle needs to be replaced.  There are also other factors that may result in the need to replace a nozzle.  This is a recurring cost of maintaining the printer.  Some nozzles are cheaper and more common than others and it is worth it to see how often the nozzle needs to be replaced and how much it will cost each time.  Machines may come with extra nozzles.

Lubrication

Over time, moving parts may have to be lubricated.  Printers should come with a maintenance manual to help instruct the user how to do this.  It is also helpful to know the cost of the lubricant and how often it will be required.

Machine Lifetime Cost

Aside from the cost of the machine, operating a 3D printer can also incur the following costs:

• Shipping
• Insurance
• Brokerage fees
• Tools for removing support material
• Currency conversion
• Sales tax
• Print material (recurring)
• Replacement nozzles (recurring)
• Lubricants for moving parts (recurring)

As it can be seen, the extra costs can be quite significant.

Conclusion

Hopefully this has given a good general overview of some of the considerations in buying a 3D printer.  Different people will value different things in the printer and hopefully this subset of possible considerations for buying a 3D printer helps people make a decision as to what to look for in a printer.

This guide presents how to mimic the system used in professional karaoke establishments at home.  The software this system uses revolves around a Taiwanese program called JetKTV.  Much of the content from this guide was drawn from Chinese language websites discussing the usage of this program (scroll all the way down for References).    There is little literature on this subject in English and so this guide presents basically an English version of the reference sites plus a few added notes.

The program used is in Chinese, so people who are not fluent in Chinese may have a hard time navigating through the software.  Those who are brave enough to continue or have a basic knowledge of Chinese with better English fluency may find it helpful to see English instructions.  The Chinese sites on this subject are also written for older versions, and the setup procedure for those older versions are slightly different.

Contents

• Proposed Setup
• Setting Up JetKTV2010
• Inserting A New Song
• Inserting A New Artist
• Testing
• References

Proposed Setup

The proposed setup of all the hardware (TV’s, amps, computer, etc.) is in the diagram below.

The computer will play the chosen Karaoke videos and transmit the video signal to the TV (via extended display like in a dual monitor set up).  The computer’s audio will go to an amplifier or a mixer, which is then transmitted to a set of speakers.  Microphones are plugged into the amplifier/mixer is well so that the speakers can also play the sound picked up by the microphones.  Depending on the hardware, the cables could be different (some TV’s may not have HD output etc.)The  computer is the source of all the signals transmitted to the other devices and must be set up with the Karaoke software.

Setting up JetKTV2010

The PC will use the following software:

• JetKTV2010 (link)
• SongMgr (optional – not helpful on English language PC’s – more on that topic later)

It is helpful to set up the software using a dual monitor setup.  That way, it is easier to test without having to go and plug the computer to the TV each time.

Unzip the contents of the JetKTV2010 program in a folder and open JetKTV2010.exe.  The GUI buttons are for searching through the database (by looking for the artist, song name, etc.) to find the wanted song. Once a song is selected, it will be added to the list of songs to play just like the software at actual Karaoke establishments. The video will play in full screen on one monitor and the song picker GUI will say on another monitor.  To close the program, click on the top left corner of the GUI (hidden button).

Some of the software features in addition to searching and adding songs:

• Skipping songs
• Fast forwarding, pausing, etc.
• Switching from one audio channel to both audio channels (alternating between vocal on/off)

This program reads from a database that contains the song names, artists, language, etc.   Therefore, it does not come with songs.  Songs must be downloaded separately and added on.  These can come from existing DVD’s or YouTube.  The next section will explain how to populate the database.

Populating the Database

The SongMgr program mentioned above can add/remove contents from the database, but there are problems with it when using it on English language PC’s due to problems in encoding some of the Chinese characters.  Even Microsoft AppLocale fails to rectify the problems.  The solution is to use Microsoft Access to open up the database file directly and make changes.

Adding one song can seem like a lengthy process at the first try, but it will get easier as one becomes more familiar with the system.

Inserting A New Song

To insert a new song, one must navigate to the table where the songs are stored and then add an entry to it.

1. Open Song.mdbin the JetKTV program directory
2. When prompted for a password, input “tmwcmgumbonqd” without quotes
3. Navigate to the table Tbl_Song.  This is the table that records all the song entries.

Below is an explanation of each column:

• Song_ID: numerical identifier for each song (the program lists them as 5 digit numbers starting at 10000)
• Song_Title: song title
• Song_Singer: each singer has a unique number associated with them (see next section)
• Song_Singer (2nd one): the name of the artist in text
• Song_Word: number of characters in the song name
• Song_Type: a number representing a language (Mandarin,Taiwanese,Cantonese,Hakka Chinese,English,Japanese,Movies,Cartoons,Other  in that order starting from 1)
• Song_Volume: song volume, but not sure what units they are in.  Default value is 70.
• Song_Channel: the audio channel that does not have the vocal track. (1-Left, 2-Right, 3-Both)
• Song_FileName: filename of the video without the directory
• Song_Path: the directory to the file (could use absolute pathing only, but unsure of whether relative paths work)
• Song_Create: the time that the song was added in
• Song_Count: the play count of a song
• Song_Juyin: the Zhuyin characters representing the song title
• Song_Stroke: number of strokes in the first character of the song name

Some of the columns can be left out, but that means that it will not be possible to find a particular song using the omitted information.  For example, Song_Juyin can be left out for those who dont use the Zhuyin system, and that feature won’t be used for song searching anyway.

To add a song, fill out the following information at the minimum on one row:

• Song_ID (must be a unique number and should have five digits)
• Song_Title
• Song_Singer
• Song_Volume (70 is the default)
• Song_Channel
• Song_FileName
• Song_Path

For the Song_Singer information, refer to the next section.

Inserting A New Artist

Artist information is stored on a different table called Tbl_Singer

1. Open the table called Tbl_Singer
2. Fill out an entire row to add a new singer (see below for the reference for each information column)

Below is an explanation of each column:

• Singer_ID: unique identifier for each singer (this is the unique ID that is to put inserted in the Song_Singer column in Tbl_Song)
• Singer_Sex: singer gender (0-Female, 1-Male, 2-Group/Band)
• Singer_Name: artist name in text
• Singer_Juyin: the Zhuyin characters representing the artist name
• Singer_Stroke: number of strokes in the first character of the artist’s name

Testing

One a song or two has been entered into the database, one can test it by opening up the JetKTV program and trying to pick a song.  It is working when one screen shows the video playing and another screen showing the JetKTV GUI.

One can also try clicking the button labeled “導唱” to test if the audio channels are set up properly (toggling it turns on and off the vocals).

The next step would be to plug in the computer with all the television components and then trying it again.  Once everything works, the system is ready.

References

All reference sites are in Chinese

[1] 動手打造窮人 KTV <http://www.jetktv.ktvdiy.com/> [Update 2022 October: JetKTV seems to be defunct]

[2] [影音相關] JetKTV 輕鬆打造免費 KTV 點唱機 (進階設定篇) <http://www.soft4fun.net/video-related/%E5%BD%B1%E9%9F%B3%E7%9B%B8%E9%97%9C-jetktv-%E8%BC%95%E9%AC%86%E6%89%93%E9%80%A0%E5%85%8D%E8%B2%BB-ktv-%E9%BB%9E%E5%94%B1%E6%A9%9F-%E9%80%B2%E9%9A%8E%E8%A8%AD%E5%AE%9A%E7%AF%87.htm#doublescr>

[3] 峰網誌 JetKTV-DIY電腦點歌機..軟體篇 <http://www.wretch.cc/blog/Linpy/4853370>

The day after going to Munich, some of my friends and I went to eat some traditional Japanese food.  We went to a restaurant called Tokio Dining (http://www.tokiodining.de) and at the time they had a deal (until the end of June) where the first 20 bowls of Miso Ramen served each day would be half price.  I actually went to this restaurant once before, but for some reason I never blogged about it the first time.  As I kept writing this, it sounded more and more like a restaurant review.  Either way, the food was so good the first time I went, I decided to go again.  It was the best Japanese food I’ve ever had.  And by Japanese food, I don’t mean sushi.

I’ve never had Japanese food in Japan before, but I’d say this place was the closest thing.  As we walked in, the chefs greeted us in Japanese, and if I knew how to reply in Japanese, I totally would have done that.  When we went in, we were the only people there and that usually says something about how good the restaurant is, but not for this place.

Jasmine Tea

Unlike Japanese restaurants in North America, they do not serve green tea to all their customers by default.  It might be a German thing where they like to charge for every drink – even water.  I ordered their Jasmine tea since it is one of my favourites.  They served it in a very traditional looking (at least to me) teapot with a teacup.

In addition to looking good, it also tasted good.  The tea had been steeped for the right amount of time for it to have flavour and yet not have taste that was too concentrated.

Edamame

My friend had this the first time we went and this dish was perfect for him because he is a vegetarian.  Edamame is a dish that has immature soybeans that have been boiled in water with a little bit of salt.

I tried a little bit and it was pretty good.  I can’t say that it’s super delicious or anything because I’m a huge fan of meat.  It was pretty fun trying to get the beans out of the pod though.

Takoyaki

The appetizer I had the first time I went was the Takoyaki.  It is a dish that has a ball-shaped pancake with grilled octopus meat as filling.  It is also served with Japanese mayonnaise, takoyaki sauce, katsuobushi (dried fish flakes), and green onion flakes.  The restaurant served it in a wooden boat shaped dish, which made it extra cool.

When I bit into one of the takoyaki balls, the pancake layer felt so soft and delicious.  The octopus part was even better, but I think I say that only because I’m a huge fan of octopus meat.  The sauce and the fish flakes made it even better.  As I’m writing this part, I’m craving more of it.

Ikura

Ikura is the Japanese word for roe, which are basically fish eggs.  The restaurant called it Ikura Oroshi and the word Oroshi apparently means a strong wind blowing down a slope (if I got the context correct too).  I guess it makes sense when considering how it was served.  It was served on a small mound of water chestnut with the caviar on top.  On the side of the mound, there were a few strips of sliced cucumber and I guess that would represent the wind.  I never realized how much sense the name of the dish made until I looked it up while writing this part.

The dish was really small, but that makes sense because roe is quite expensive to serve in large volumes.  When I bit into one of them, they just pop as my teeth sinks through the outer protective layer and when that happens juice comes out.  It had the coolest mouthfeel.

Miso Ramen

Our main dish was the Miso Ramen.  The noodles had a soup base made of miso (hence the name) and was served with a slice of pork.  It also had other ingredients such as bean sprouts, seaweed, half a boiled egg and corn.  All of that made the noodles so much more delicious.

The noodles were soft yet chewy in a way and that was perfect for my tastes.  Many people think that the instant ramen and this kind of ramen are similar, but their only similarity is that they’re both noodles with the same name.  They taste completely different.  Although the dish was kind of small, everything in it was so good that I ate all of it – even the soup.  While I was eating this, I faced a dilemma.  In Japan, it is customary to slurp the ramen loudly to show appreciation of the food, but in western countries nobody does that.  In the end, I just slurped it like how I normally ate noodles (something like in between the two extremes), while my friends were really careful about making any slurping noises.

Conclusion

Everything here was so good that I would want to go there to eat all the time until I get sick of it.  I never thought I’d be going out for Japanese food while in Germany, but I think this worked out really well.  On our way out, we said thank you to the chefs there in Japanese.

When I go back to Vancouver, I will try to find another restaurant that is on par with this if not better.  That shouldn’t be too hard since Vancouver does have amazing Japanese food.

For Easter weekend, the interns and I went to Greece. Instead of only going to the famous tourist areas like Athens, we also went to a city called Volos to check out the beaches they had there.

Getting to Greece

Typically, we leave early in the morning for trips, but this time we left during the night in order to make our morning flight to Volos, Greece at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. Originally, we all thought the airport was in Frankfurt, but apparently, it was a 2 hour bus ride. Apparently, Ryanair likes to use airports named after big cities, but the airport itself isn’t located in that city.

We started our journey by taking the U-Bahn to the Stuttgart main train station to catch the a train to Frankfurt am Main. From there we would take a bus to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. We arrived in Frankfurt at about 3 AM and during this time, we ran around the streets looking for our bus. Because of all these transfers, we barely had time to sleep. I think I only slept for about 4 hours intermittently. It was a good thing that not a lot of people took the train at night because this let us lie down on two seats and put our legs on the seats in front to sleep better.

After 2 train transfers, and a bus transfer, we boarded the plane. By now it was already morning. We were all still really tired. All we did was sleep. I’m surprised I still managed to fall asleep really well even with little kids and babies crying around me. I didn’t really get a chance to look out the window very much though. Although for the brief moments that I was awake, I managed to see the Swiss/Austrian Alps (I don’t know what our flight path was).

I left the house at around 11:30 PM, and arrived in Volos 10 hours later. If only we knew about the Frankfurt-Hahn thing, we would have tried to fly out of Stuttgart International Airport.

Volos

We checked out the town for a bit and stayed there for a night. This place isn’t very known among tourists going to Greece, so there weren’t a lot of tourists anywhere. We pretty much went to this place to check out the beaches.

We rented a car here so we could drive from Volos to Athens the next day. When we first got into the car we realized it was almost out of gas. We thought that it was normal to get the car with a full tank and return it with a full tank. While driving around Volos, we saw how the Greek drove. I’ve got to say that the drivers in Volos are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. I don’t know why, but nobody cares about driving on their own lane (lanes aren’t even painted most of the time). Nobody yields for pedestrians unless there’s a light. And while we were driving, people rode mopeds without wearing helmets and all they did was squeeze through spaces that cars couldn’t and cut off the cars. On the highway, they even drove on the shoulder.

After looking at the beaches, we drove up to the top of the mountain overlooking Volos, a site for archaeological excavation. It was supposed to be the ruins of a city from 5th century BC, but we didn’t really see any ruins except for some stones buried solidly in the grass. But what we did see was the most spectacular view.

In the evening, we tried Greek hard liquor called Tsipouro. The ones we got had 42% alcohol by volume. The taste of it was repulsive. I’ve drank hard liquor with a similar percentage of alcohol before, but those didn’t taste bad. The food they served with it was quite good though. I particularly enjoyed eating the octopus. Later on, we ate some more Greek seafood. We got to try other foods like ray-fish, squid, and cuttlefish. I’m craving some of that right about now.

On the Road to Athens

We all knew of the high oil prices nowadays so we thought it might have been more economical to take public transit from Volos to Athens. We asked about a car rental and after doing the math, we found that the two options were about the same, so we opted to rent a car. We drove the Opel Corsa for about 330 km from Volos to Athens. Little did we know, we had to pay tolls on the highway. The Greek also like to put up these mini-churches on the side of the road. On the highway, we could see these and they represent the people who died there.

For a while, we didn’t really know where we were going once we got into Athens. Once we arrived, we tried to find a suitable parking place for the car that was near a metro station. We decided not to drive around Athens since it would be very hard to find a parking spot. The car simply got us around Volos and to Athens. We stopped the car and asked people for directions multiple times. Out in the suburbs, not many people spoke English so communication was quite difficult. Although, on one occasion, one of the locals spoke Hindi, which one of us happen to know.

The first place we tried to park at turned out to be partially blocking a driveway so we had to move. While parking the car though, I opened the door slightly to look outside to check the spacing of the car to help the driver. At this moment, my phone slipped out of the car seat and onto the street. Luckily I realized my phone was missing as the car started driving away. I quickly got out and ran after some people on the street who picked up my phone. Luckily they were just walking away thinking about whether to keep it or not. I literally ran out of the car and called out to them saying, “Thats mine!” despite the fact that they might only know Greek and not English. If I had been even a minute slower, my phone would have been lost. Good thing the people who found it were nice enough to give it back. I was prepared to run after them.

After a huge sigh of relief, we found a new parking spot. We left the car near an apartment about 20 minutes by train from our hostel for two nights. Every now and then we’d think of the car and hoped that it was still there. Even if the lady who lived at the apartment said we could park there, we still weren’t sure if it would get towed or ticketed.

The Acropolis

Once we checked into the hostel, we walked up to the Acropolis, the location of the most famous landmark in Athens. Unfortunately, due to a restoration project, there was a huge metal crane in front of the Parthenon. I don’t know why, but landmarks I visit always seem to be under maintenance whenever I go there. But the good thing was that going up to the Acropolis was free because of Easter.

At the top of the Acropolis, there were a lot of remains of ancient Greek architecture. Among these was the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, The Erechtheum, and the Parthenon.

I don’t really know a lot about Greek history, but it seemed like these places attracted a lot of tourists simply because they’re famous. I doubt a lot of people have an in depth knowledge about the Greek culture. I’m sure a lot of people just looked at these ruins and thought they were just some old stones.

Greek Architecture around the City

Apart from the Acropolis, I also saw many other ancient Greek buildings. A lot of the Greek architecture was very similar because of their use of the columns, but it was still very interesting to look at.

It seemed like because it was Easter, a lot of the attractions that otherwise would have cost money were free. We would have had to pay to go see the Temple of Zeus.

Around the City

One of the things that was very peculiar about Athens is the amount of stray dogs on the street. I thought it might just be owners letting their dogs run around freely without a leash, but these dogs had no leash.

While we were walking around, a lady was walking her dog on a leash when the leash caught onto my friend’s leg. My friend, seeing this dog, decided to pet it. Unfortunately, that dog’s attitude isn’t same as what he’s used to in America. The dog tried to take a bite at his hand. Luckily, he moved his hand away fast enough before he got bit. The dog’s mouth was so close that its slobber got on his hands. The lady didn’t even apologize for it. It made us think that the Greeks weren’t very nice people.

Everywhere we went in the city, we saw tourists. In fact, there were so many tourists that I sometimes heard more people speak English than Greek. And as tourists, they were everywhere in the city center. There were tourists from all sorts of countries, but when it comes to interacting with the locals, it was either English or Greek.

Like in Paris, people tried to sell me things on the street. Instead of selling mini Eiffel Towers, they sold this toy tomato. When you throw it on the ground, it’ll splatter, but slowly go back to it’s original form. It looked so cool, but it seemed like something that would only be cool for about 5 minutes if I had one. A lot of people also tried to sell fake brand name sunglasses and purses. I’d laugh really hard if they tried to sell fake LV bags on the street in front of the LV store.

Apart from the old Greek buildings, we also hiked up to the top of a hill to check out the view from the top. There was also a church there.

I don’t really know why we went up to the top the hill in all the trips we take. It’s something that we always do. Try to get as high up as we can just to look at the bottom.

Christian Culture

Prior to visiting, I never knew the people in Greece were so Christian. Seeing that it was Easter weekend, I saw a bit of their Easter traditions.

At night, people held candles and all walked to a church. I don’t know what they did when they got there, but the walk attracted large tourist crowds wondering what they were up to.

Food in Athens

Since Athens is one big tourist trap, one can expect to see lots of restaurants selling overpriced food for tourists. But regardless of that, we got to try some really delicious, but probably stereotypical, Greek food. One of the things that confused me though is why they called their salad “Greek Salad” when just “salad” would have sufficed. Maybe that’s their way of getting tourists to try it.

People around the city were all grilling lambs for Easter, but unfortunately, I never got the chance to try some. I’m not missing it though, because I was never a fan of lamb meat anyway.

National Archaeology Museum

On our second day in Athens, we visited the National Archaeology Museum to look at the history of Greece. Luckily for us, we didn’t have to pay to get in because of Easter.

Unfortunately, a lot of the exhibits weren’t open so we didn’t spend a long time here.

More Beaches

Because we didn’t get enough of the beaches in Volos, we decided to visit a beach in Athens too. What surprised me here is the girl that decided to go sunbathing with her top off even though it wasn’t a nude beach.

At one point, we all sat down by the beach enjoying some beer. That the one of last opportunities for relaxation in Greece before we had go to leave the next day.

Going Home

In order to avoid traffic at the tolls, we woke up so early that we had to miss the free breakfast at 7 at the hostel. We all got up at 5 in the morning and by 6:30, we were on the road back to the airport in Volos. Despite getting a full night’s sleep, I somehow still slept for 3/4 of the car ride back.

On the drive home, we could see smoke coming from some of the houses. At first we thought someone’s house was burning down, but later we figured that it might have been people grilling lamb for Easter.

Later, we realized that we left way too early. We aimed to arrive at 11 am, but we arrived at around 9 am for a flight that departed at 2:15 pm. The airport in Volos was also in the middle of nowhere. We spent the next two hours doing next to nothing. During this time, I finally finished reading that book I started a while back.

When we returned the rental car, the amount of gas in the tank was in the red zone. We wondered if the car still had enough gas to go to the nearest gas station. It didn’t seem likely that there was a gas station anywhere near the airport. It was in the middle of nowhere.

We tried accounting for all the things that could make us late like looking for the right way to go, traffic jams, etc., and none of those things happened. For the whole trip one of my friends kept making fun of my other friend for making us all wake up early. In fact, he was so worried about being late that he thought we should skip coffee in addition breakfast. Skipping breakfast and not eating for 5 hours wasn’t very fun.

On the plane, I was bored out of my mind. My phone and iPod had all run out of battery and I was forced to sit there staring out the window. Even doing that was hard because I didn’t get a window seat. Because of my boredom, I took some random pictures.

We arrived at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport at around 4 in the afternoon, and from there we took the bus back. We all spent so much money in Athens that we all had just enough to get home. We didn’t think we’d make the 4 o clock bus in our original planning, so we arrived at the Frankfurt Hbf a lot earlier than expected. Getting to places early seemed like the trend of the day. We got there at about 6 in the evening, and had to wait until 9 PM for our train. By now I had been on the road for almost 12 hours. We ended up browsing through a bookstore and walking around town until our train arrived. After 17 hours, I finally got home.

More photos here

In addition to that problem, I’ve also encountered a multitude of other issues with this phone.  Many of which I thought I’d fixed with the firmware update.  Anyhow this is the list of issues:

• screen going black
• unable to make incoming or outgoing calls
• text messages received, but i do not receive any notification for (they just appear as a new message but there’s no popup saying “New Message Received”
• probably more that I don’t remember right now

I recall that since the firmware update, I’ve installed a few programs and changed some settings.  I have a feeling that this has to do with the settings that I changed.  I’ve had the software installed on my phone for quite a while and it has given me no problems.  The most recent app I’ve installed would be the Gmail app, but there’s no telling whether or not its the culprit.  I also changed the backlight settings, and added a few Internet accounts.   When I was in California, I changed the mobile networks from Fido to AT&T.  I changed it back a week ago when I got back and there was no problems.  I doubt the volume controls have anything to do with this.

I might end up doing a firmware reset.

1. Open up the command prompt (Start > Run > cmd)
2. Type “dir C: /p” and press enter.

Once that is done, the command prompt should output the number for you.