Family, Finances & Tech
Chris
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Homepage: http://chrischen.ca/
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Posts by Chris
Thomas at the Vancouver Aquarium
Nov 14th
We decided to introduce Thomas to the Vancouver Aquarium last April. He was a little young to really appreciate it, but we kinda wanted to check it out for ourselves too. Neither Alex nor myself had visited the Aquarium since elementary school. And what can I say but: “Things done changed!”
Needless to say, Thomas loved the exhibits, until it was snack time… then he had a mini-meltdown. But a couple rice crackers and a a bottle of milk later, he was good to go. We’ll definitely be returning in the Spring to check things out again. This time Thomas can run around and go nuts.
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- The famous killer whale carving
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- Say cheese
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- Hello Jellyfish!
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- Lemme in
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- Snack time
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- Giant turtle
Debt Sucks
Nov 12th
Debt sucks
Working in banking, part of my job is to extend various credit products (i.e. loans, lines of credit, and credit cards) to my customers. I’m not against debt, but the problem I’m seeing with most people who come into my office for credit is that it’s for all the wrong reasons. These days, people have forgotten (or never learned) what it means to save for something whether it’s big or small, instead they just get a loan. The best part is that they come in fully expecting to get the loan; without a credit history, with a terrible credit history, with little, to no assets, or simply based on the fact that they’ve been a customer since they were a kid.
Remembrance Day at the Tot Lot
Nov 12th
Thomas at the Tot Lot
Today was my second day off in a mid-week, weekend — if that makes sense? Of course, that means I’m working the coming Saturday 
It’s been a rainy past few days as Vancouver’s fall weather has really set in. But, we got a sunny break in the clouds around noon so Alex and I took Thomas out on his trike to the the Tot Lot for some fresh air and a chance for him to burn off some steam before his afternoon nap.
At about 17 months, the little guy is a non-stop fountain of energy! Any outdoor time makes life a little bit easier. Thomas was wet on the knees and covered in wood bits from crawling around — shocker!
We took a short walk after playing for a while, checked out the Sev for Dr. Pepper Slurpees, but they didn’t have the flavour. They’re quite possibly the best beverage out there. Next time.
Shortly after getting home, T-Bone went down for a sold hour and a half nap.
Mission accomplished.
TELUS ADSL2 Rocks My World
Sep 11th
For those of you currently on Shaw’s High Speed Internet, I’m sorry to tell you that your Internet connection sucks. Why you ask? Because Telus is testing its ADSL2 service, and I’m one of the lucky few in British Columbia to have a trial fibre optic connection going straight into my house.
This fibre line offers killer downloads of just under 25 Mbps (aka 25,000 kbps) and uploads of just under 5Mbps (aka 5,000kbps)!
What does this mean in the real world?
It means that I can download the full version of Windows XP SP3 (316MB) in about 2 minutes flat! It means that video streams start a second after I click play. It means my Net connection kicks yours in the www.balls!
In addition to this warp speed, I have Telus HDTV service running through my walls. The service is every bit as good as Shaw’s, and I’d venture to say it’s a little better because it’s IP based. This means I can surf the web on my TV (in limited form at the moment, but sure to be full-featured when launched to the mainstream market).
Unfortunately, you can’t get Telus fibre just yet because it’s in a trial phase and will be for a while still.
It sucks to be you! 
Telus Fibre Optics and HDTV in Vancouver
Nov 28th
My Telus TV review has been read and commented upon like crazy—it’s my most popular post by far!
To update that post, Telus has recently been working on installing fibre optic connections around my neighbourhood. My townhouse complex is currently being retro-fitted for their new 25Mbps service! It should be up and running by late December. I can’t wait for this insane bandwidth to run through my house. Not only will this rawk my Internet speed, but it brings with it a free HDTV trial period. I’ll share more details after it’s up and running.
My understanding is that I’ll receive new gateway hardware as well as a new set top box for my TV. However, the HD signal will only be available for one TV initially (crap!). But I’ll now be able to surf the InterWeb while watching two TVs without any slowdown or synchronization issues (sweet!).
Bring on the multi-lane Information Superhighway!
Review of TELUS TV
Jun 5th
I’ve been using TELUS TV for over a year now so I figured it’s worth reviewing as Canada’s #2 phone company gets ready to launch their HD service later this year.
The Free Trial
In early 2006, I had the fortune of being selected to participate in the free trial for TELUS TV (TTV). After being selected, a technician completed the installation within an hour because it only involved the installation of some additional hardware (two digital boxes, network switch, ethernet cabling) and some configuration in addition to my Linksys WRT54G and TELUS issued D-Link ADSL modem.
Initially, my TTV experience was average; It wasn’t much different from Shaw’s digital service. Picture quality, channel lineup, and the channel guide were very similar to Shaw Digital. However, being a free trial service I didn’t expect much in terms of reliability . That said, during the trial the picture would often be pixelated and freeze almost daily. The only solution was to reboot the digital box by unplugging the power. More about this in the Reliability section.
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