alek davis: personal blog

May 23, 2007

Photo galleries

Filed under: Photos — Alek Davis @ 9:20 pm
Tags: , , , ,

Here are some of my personal photo galleries:

2009
Summer (2009): Some random summer photos.
Tahoe (2009): Family trip to lake Tahoe.
Vika’s Birthday (2009): A couple of photos.
Diversity Day (2009): Annual Diversity Day at Intel Folsom campus.
Tennis (2009): A short tennis practice in the park.
Old Sacramento (2009): Trip to downtown and Old Sac with friends and family.
Family (2009): Family photos.
Victoria (2009): Photos of Vika (and us).
Accident (2009): The remains of our beloved Mazda Protege after Alexa got into an accident.

2008
Christmas (2008): Family and friends around Christmas time.
Family (2008): Family photos.
Friends (2008): Some photos of friends and family.
Baby Victoria (2008): First shots of Victoria (from birth to recent photos). [Private *]
Intel Diversity Day (2008): Intel Diversity Day celebration in 2008 (at Folsom campus).
San Francisco (2008): Day trip to San Francisco with family and friend.

2007
Family (2007): Family photos.
Friends (2007): Friends and family.
Intel Diversity Day (2007): Intel Diversity Day celebration in 2007 (at Folsom campus).

2006
Family (2006): Random family photos.
Friends (2006): Friends and family.
Sacramento (2006): Some family photos from Sacramento downtown and Old Sacramento.
Santa Barbara (2006): With Julie in Santa Barbara.
San Diego (2006): With Julie in San Diego.
Los Angeles (2006): With Julie in Los Angeles.
Wedding (2006): Some photos from the wedding album.

2005
ESL Class (2005): Julie’s ESL class.
Intel Diversity Day (2005): Intel Diversity Day celebration in 2005 (at Folsom campus).
Fort Ross (2005): With Russian-speaking Intel friends at the annual cultural event.
Seattle (2005): Business trip to Microsoft.
Family (2005): Random family photos.
Monterey (2005): Weekend at Monterey with friends.

2004
Russia (2004): Some photos from sabbatical in Russia; mostly trip to Saint Petersburg with Julie and Sasha.

2003
Christmas (2003): Friends visit on Christmas and New Year; trip to San Francisco.
Yosemite (2003): Trip to Yosemite.
New York City (2003): Vacation in New York.

2002
Mono Lake (2002): Weekend at Mono Lake by Yosemite.
British Columbia (2002): Vacation in Canada (British Columbia, Alberta).

2001
Italy (2001): Trip to a friends’ wedding in Italy (Positano, Sorrento, Capri, Rome, and Florence).


* This is a private photo set open to friends and family only. If you are a friend or family member and want to see the photos, send me a message with your Yahoo! ID, and I’ll give you access (you may need to create a free Yahoo! ID if you do not have one).

Shopping for books (and other media)

Filed under: Shopping — Alek Davis @ 3:04 am
Tags: , , , ,

Comparison shopping is one of the best Internet offerings. The following sites can help you find the best deals on books:

BookFinder searches for new, used, rare, out-of-print, international books and textbooks.
BookPrice offers comparison shopping for books, CDs, DVDs, and games.
CampusBooks specializes in new and used textbooks; advertises average savings of 61%. Here you can also sell your own textbooks.
Campusi finds the cheapest books, CDs, DVDs, games, computers, and electronics.
CheapBooks provides price comparison for textbooks and books.
DirectTextbook looks for textbooks.
FetchBook… well… fetches books.
TextbookLand is yest another site that you can use to find the best deals on textbooks. [My latest experience with this site has been shaky. It could not find a book that other sites found and returned a few server errors when retrieving info for a book I selected. Not recommended for now.]

If you’re interested in sharing/exchanging CDs/DVDs/books check these sites:

chanceXchange is a free service where you can trade unwanted CDs, DVDs, and books for the things you want.
Swap Tree is an excellent site where you can trade CDs, DVDs, and books (also for free). I’ve used it for a few DVD exchanges and was quite satisfied.

May 20, 2007

Improve your English skills

Filed under: English — Alek Davis @ 6:06 pm
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If you are interested in learning and/or improving your writing skills, read this short article:

How to Use English Punctuation Correctly

Do you know that such phrases as “Would you please send us a duplicate copy of that invoice” and “Are you kidding me” do not end with question marks? If you don’t, read this article:

How to Use Question Marks Correctly

Here are several other articles that I also found helpful:

How to Correctly Capitalize and Punctuate
How to Use Generic Pronouns

How to Use Apostrophes
How to Avoid Colloquial (Informal) Writing
10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals
That vs. Which

This Web-based tool can help you find clichés in your writing:

Cliché Finder

The following Web site is a great resource of writing tips:

Daily Writing Tips

If you are learning English (or know someone who is learning English), this article provides several good recommendations:

How to Learn English
English Language Difficulties

English learners who are struggling to understand regular TV and radio news, may like online news reports offered by Voice of America. They provide both the videocasts and transcripts, and their reporters speak slo-o-owly:

Voice of America: News

Here is a classic reference book which is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer:

The Elements of Style

To build expand your English dictionary and help feed the hungry, try the online game:

Free Rice

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