tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66564732556259162232024-02-18T23:06:30.145-08:00xiaoqinXiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-8855444881311539422019-05-13T22:31:00.004-07:002019-05-13T22:33:52.805-07:00Cloud Storage Architecture<br />
A brief summary of cloud storage architecture:<br />
There are two types of APIs that distributed storage vendors provide:<br />
1. A file system compatible API, such as GFS, Hadoop HDFS, and Ali Pangu. To provide a file system API, the metadata servers are required as shown in the following pictures named as Master or M.<br />
2. An object store API or NoSQL API, such as Amazon S3, DynamoDB, Couchbase. Usually it doesn't need metadata servers and has a table that recording the shading information and this table is replicated at every node and cached at the client side.<br />
<br />
At the end of the game, it mostly uses the Ext2/3 file system at the Chunk Server or Data Nodes. Amazon never publishes its S3 architecture, it could build on top of volumes.<br />
<br />
The architecture details shown in the following graphs:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>2003 Google File System</b> first published at SOSP 2003. It is the icon of most modern cloud storage/file system.<br />
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<img height="376" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/GoogleFileSystemGFS.svg/1280px-GoogleFileSystemGFS.svg.png" width="640" /><br />
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<b>2011 Microsoft Azure: an more comprehensive paper about its cloud</b>. It is stream layer is quite similar to GFS by replacing extent nodes with chunk servers:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4tnGeduM9-gAOSr5IQ_1lRG5ELjEfdWUGfS2_ZQD33fqLfXqJmg-x4g0o4g-hyMCvbKevAAODjzGQpp3QKnb_730TO-ATHCHHHljANjMj7bOzrJqVbE3craKVlT71Gnb_lNI6MiOpLqg/s1600/azure_Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="811" data-original-width="1600" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4tnGeduM9-gAOSr5IQ_1lRG5ELjEfdWUGfS2_ZQD33fqLfXqJmg-x4g0o4g-hyMCvbKevAAODjzGQpp3QKnb_730TO-ATHCHHHljANjMj7bOzrJqVbE3craKVlT71Gnb_lNI6MiOpLqg/s640/azure_Untitled.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Both DynamoDB and CouchDB using consistent hashing:</b>a physical nodes has a set of virtual nodes. All virtual nodes are assigned a range in the ring. All the virtual nodes in the same color locate at the same physical node. One can replace the consistent hashing algorithm with simple modulo operation for simplicity. Consistent hashing is a probability model that gives high probability load balancing and the least data movements while scaling out. The modulo operation gives good load balancing only the system is doubling the number of nodes each time, but it is simple to manage.<br />
<img alt="Image result for dynamo db consistent hashing" height="375" src="https://d1o2okarmduwny.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2019-04-23-at-2.10.39-PM.png" width="640" />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-84919472855596153502017-05-29T21:36:00.000-07:002017-05-29T21:39:35.162-07:00Visting Pigeon Point Light HousePiaw missed the ocean view Jacuzzi at the hostel. Do we planned a trip to visit there. There are a few routes to get there. The one I like most starting from the intersection of 35(skyline blvd) and 84(La Honda Rd), following La Honda Rd to the south, then change to Pescadero Creek Rd.<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/07UzTxxh1ucCdLPnobGcMffSrzZxNRCE0QS8eMLBK37xPE76B7O_lXY5XLwZzT4ayyHNadJPRYqqMC4DEey7kv-wVZuZ3bWu5_DT1L46zPhAvY8PyQ7ACjGZUyNMg9k9pIDTP2xsJ2Cexp0fYiLlZTbH9YMYUtKcxsUrO8-6iycHJkp-cf0LK4dI_SbKfEaV9u6D-E969O8hhY8Mp2qUE-bqloCINkZjp3HYxOnE4T0toiFuOLlAdIa42aZVfeerXIOoCLh03se0n18XduE8b8OC1-4Jb6GsjTHwEK9_bEJG83YgCdZ5ceUnmO8JO6QZ_KPXX_yv2LjlxKS7LemIWi5aunuTcaHFGpgg82fcIg5Pnx0qBiMhbHT8MVmsZN8zjpkc1p4Ro2rqm2pWv4kdRGpSx6h_u1KGPnJyIIfo7JO_7a_yS0_U-ULZAzSl3tdQu2jJmojgCiR0MevkbM6-crGzYIWEjLUROJslHYRHTRPmn2_JGne_TUSm9w5an-DA9JqsXgAKmGVNDkfAtcf_LOG3xjf81KnUGZUnfrRKB0v4CtE6X-4xST0jr16iY5BJBhTCrU8Kb024oIkc3KuOdbb0lRAjqRrbZ_svt4l8BqyKOoagh54NmUUBWbM_UTZ7eR1gMDYeuCVIYx5esMSYJJ93ZI1rU4jvU43jx3Nkc2k=w1277-h719-no" /><br />
A lot of motorcyclists and cyclists start from the intersection. It is an unbeatable drive through the redwood forest. It is on my list to do a bike tour there soon!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIRTAOcGGSAG8N8dzRT0EcBN5Vv5QeIJZesARGPgjgHMMTWcs1qBH_67He9CiaLSmPoNssBqokfZmRbo-wMzFXJsB07qrSHRuZQasXcN28Tr0jF_Fhh12c1yo0Ao5ak_B0pvLpetjbB8c/w1277-h719-no/" /><br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/r5lV2dqo7Lc0nEPzWMm2v1p0WthQ4WTfNvQKWjGCeCPsvw0HBhLk5sC5cqGHLwz1vUqdlOwL8C1yqiAmvLY1A5nlU6IKlwR7EYQtWhwnFwdbajMEJgoJHLPmz8LsW0Zc5OPDn0S4p-j0fvrbec2qJE2Kvn_4v92WybKHjFlgBa0H9yufa5U61FSKUa982MWK2Nt8Wza0eW0YDzL12F7tKVM7zoIx2j-_kCkEJNlzjyIj9jR48g6t8wZRKT4gwmlasnYyZ6GcxG0EkFA9XFo00ektHc2fs97ZBUjFunN4sfu4oN4xNLcgA94mtduPmdAfYULGZrPjGYwHVksTDCzgQnJCKEshDVdYEcgHihq8Vyoaga2LObpHJ2xUncEhrVVphks8ChLOXtEoBKlrhZbwHaSMzMxHVvuWgbtR0iAO09UMp83gRqVJ4hV3tVdzWUfFrnFQOUBV63Yq27VhcYXk7P6cSyRd9gP3ZTjNPWjL-496WI5KnoD6uY4OUUnxB1aZ4tITDSeO2B3gdR9Av0EC7NgDtsv_id1K6IAnXXcIxQ6mTZFi5xjoT3ICxFMf6zowt5MLlWm4YfHi32goyqYyClU8oUWQra7xMQzaIyNp7uckxV8cErij6Y9rSnl52RaraTcbjb8l7QxXvF7kRKN_YOKhKDRka1QyZe_U5SiZjes=w1277-h719-no" /><br />
There is a little farm called Harley Farms Goat Diary along Pescadero. It is a sweet stop to rest and let kids play around. Another nice stop at Arcangeli Grocery Co - Norm’s Market. It has the best artichoke bread. There is a wonderful picnic area behind the shop too. And the beach is not that far from there. It needs luck to have a sunny clear sky though.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX6g6Dx-4eWF43MyluE5JDW-S0ocgx5MT5C8WlVB1fI-3s248tiCDdfHoRpkGILEk7v9f6-jKJeR_bGncbvpzl49WYdFr4oeAVXMorTP0djqxrfHxOdpwbxLqNg80KvAmz5m1elMeuwkY/w708-h1257-no/" /><br />
Don't forget to make reservation to use the Jacuzzi if you stay overnight at the hostel at Pigeon Point Light House.<br />
<br />
I have a previous post about visiting half noon bay. If you stay overnight at the hostel, you can go up to visit half noon bay on the second day. The related post is here:<br />
<a href="http://xiaoqinsiliconvalley.blogspot.com/2015/08/">http://xiaoqinsiliconvalley.blogspot.com/2015/08/</a><br />
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Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-40315342228199246542017-05-26T17:54:00.001-07:002017-05-26T17:57:02.721-07:00Hash or SortLast week, I read<a href="http://lemire.me/blog/2017/05/23/counting-exactly-the-number-of-distinct-elements-sorted-arrays-vs-hash-sets/" target="_blank"> a blog post </a>that shows to find the unique elements in an array, sorting an array is faster than building a hash table. At the first glance I thought, ya, the random memory access cost is high. But when I sat down writing down the simple formula for 1000,000 elements for nlogn, I could believe that random memory access could be 20 times slower than sequential access.<br />
<br />
I did remeasure the random memory access to exercise the cache miss penalty, it is 2 or 3 times penalty comparing sequential memory access. So why building a hash table is so slow?<br />
<br />
I redid the experiment with the following:<br />
Each element is 8 bytes.<br />
1. sorting the 1000,000 elements takes K time.<br />
2. the same dataset, building a hash table takes 2K time with std::unordered_map.<br />
3. after building the hash table, do a complete lookup, it takes 3/4K time.<br />
4. wrote my own hashtable similar to google dense hash, with % as the hash function, it takes 3/4K time too.<br />
5. optimized my hashtable function, replace % with bit operation &, it takes 1/2K time.<br />
<br />
So the poor performance of the hash claimed is the combination of poor implementation, poor hash function selection, and random memory access effect.<br />
<br />
The std::unordered_set really has poor performance at least for 8 byte objects.<br />
<br />
Next step, I will test the unordered_map performance with real (key, val) pairs with big val. <br />
<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-83295414465874445462016-01-13T22:51:00.003-08:002016-01-13T22:51:40.371-08:00Fun Program to Count 1s<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<div>
<pre style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;">int count_1_bit(char b) {</pre>
<pre style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">int tot = 0;</span></pre>
<pre style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">if ((b & 1) == 0) </span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">tot++;</span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> </span></pre>
<pre style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">if ((b & 2) == 0)</span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"> tot++;</span></pre>
<pre style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;">if ((b & 4) == 0) tot++;
if ((b & 8) == 0) tot++;
if ((b & 16) == 0) tot++;
if ((b & 32) == 0) tot++;
if ((b & 64) == 0) tot++;
if ((b & 128) == 0) tot++;</pre>
<pre style="color: black; white-space: pre-wrap;">return tot;</pre>
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<div>
}</div>
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#define __const_hweight8(w) \</div>
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((unsigned int) \</div>
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((!!((w) & (1ULL << 0))) + \</div>
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(!!((w) & (1ULL << 1))) + \</div>
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(!!((w) & (1ULL << 2))) + \</div>
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(!!((w) & (1ULL << 3))) + \</div>
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(!!((w) & (1ULL << 4))) + \</div>
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(!!((w) & (1ULL << 5))) + \</div>
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(!!((w) & (1ULL << 6))) + \</div>
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(!!((w) & (1ULL << 7)))))</div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
static inline unsigned int hweight8(unsigned int w)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
{</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
unsigned short res = (w & 0x55) + ((w >> 1) & 0x55);</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
res = (res & 0x33) + ((res >> 2) & 0x33);</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
return (res & 0x0F) + ((res >> 4) & 0x0F);</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
}</div>
Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-52162930078930103742015-11-08T22:11:00.000-08:002015-11-09T09:57:30.530-08:00Photo Processing ToyThese days when we travel, we get photos from phone, camera, friend's phone, and friend's camera. Each device has its own naming system, so it is hard to sort them according to the names from all devices. Luckily the picture files have metadata that captures the time when the picture is taken. I hacked down to the metadata and extracted both the time and the place the picture is taken. By setting date and place information into the pictures' file names, they can not only be easily sorted but also the places I have traveled are clearly shown up. While organizing my pictures, surprisingly, one camping place I thought in Santa Cruz Capitola, it is in Aptos in fact. So if you would like to know the exact place the picture is taken, it is really helpful.<br />
<br />
While I was searching a good app to mark pictures on the map, Intagram claimed it has the functionality. However when I tried it, it is such a lame product. Intagram doesn't use the pictures location information at all, instead it uses the location when the user is sharing the pictures. If one takes a bunch of pictures on the trip and later share those pictures when one gets home, the home location is used to mark the pictures on the map :(<br />
<br />
In this toy too, I also mark the places extracted from the picture in the map by scanning the pictures' GPS information. At the end, a nice trip journal map is generated. By clicking on the marker point, the picture taken there will pop up.<br />
<br />
To use the software, first install python and PIL library.<br />
Run the program with the absolute path of the album.<br />
The program will rename all pictures in the album with date and place information if those information is available in the metadata.<br />
At the end, a tripmap.html file is generated that can be viewed in a browser. All the places where pictures are taken will be marked on the map and by clicking the icon, the picture taken at the specific place will pop up.<br />
Example:<br />
/* B:\test is the absolute path for the directory of pictures */<br />
/* -rTrue means all the files will be renamed, if -rFalse, the files will not be renamed but a map of the trip with pictures markers will still be generated */<br />
python photo.py -iB:\test -rTrue<br />
<br />
The code locates at:<br />
https://github.com/xiaoqin2012/release_photo<br />
<br />
This is one output example from trip in Europe:<br />
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This is for the sailing trip from Victoria to Desolation Sound in Canada:<br />
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<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-10531785622030053832015-10-11T21:51:00.004-07:002015-10-11T21:51:37.394-07:00Visiting British Columbia Day 4: Sailing to Bowen IslandYer. There is a Bowen Island. Bowen says, "It is a giant island!". Believe it or not, go to check out by yourself. It is a pretty island. If Bowen wants to visit it again, I will do.<br />
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<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-80631585349345513192015-10-09T16:12:00.000-07:002015-10-09T17:29:58.335-07:00Be Cautious about the Storage used by Backup The files on my PC is massive and unorganized. It takes some effort to manage it. To do some cleanup, I wrote a simple program to find all the duplicate files and tested it with the camera roll folder at One Drive/pictures. I thought it should be a dummy test. What surprised me is the following result:<br />
total number of files: 33347, space occupied: 15.56GB<br />
total number of duplicates: 613, space occupied: 1.62GB<br />
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About 20% of files are duplicates even under the backup for the camera roll! My camera could not take pictures that could be exactly same. I inspect both the album on my phone and the camera roll folder on One Drive. The duplicates don't exist at the album on my phone at all, but the camera roll backup on One Drive does show a lot of duplicates. It must be something wrong with One Drive's backup protocol or a bug in the code. These duplicates are only picture files. I don't have an enterprise account. People need to be careful about the backup for the enterprise storage too.<br />
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Due to curiosity, I run the program for gdrive photo folder too. Gdrive photo folder doesn't have the duplicates. But I could not open/read gdocs and gsheets at all from the PC. If one day, you don't have internet access, the local gdrive does nothing useful at all!<br />
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The duplicate picture files on Camera Roll have the similar names like:<br />
one is DSC06220 1, the other is DSC06220_1. I guess it is caused by the intermittent network connection for my case as those files are random. It doesn't happen to all the pictures taken at the same time or same day.<br />
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It has a reason to keep the files accidentally with the same names. Like one changes the SD card of the phone and start to take new pictures, the names will be reused again. However the things can be worse if someone just get out the SD card, plug it back again, then one ends up all the duplicate files on One Drive. It should have done something smarter to inspect the contents or do a checksum to avoid to store exact same files/pictures.<br />
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If you are paying money for the backup storage, watch out for the space occupied by the duplicates. You can download <a href="https://github.com/xiaoqin2012/Deduplication" target="_blank">my code to check duplicates on windows from github</a>.<br />
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<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-90544895765492439472015-10-06T17:06:00.001-07:002015-10-06T17:06:16.679-07:00Revisiting Quicksort for Big DataQuicksort is one of the most used subroutines in applications.While browsing its implementations online, one thing troubles me. As the following example from <a href="http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Sorting_algorithms/Quicksort" target="_blank">Rosettacode</a>, it has the neat implementation. But how about all the numbers are same! It doesn't do anything wrong, but it just runs your CPU all the time by doing useless things :P.<br />
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<pre class="c highlighted_source" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: 1px dashed rgb(47, 111, 171); font-family: monospace, Courier; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 1.3em; overflow: auto; padding: 1em;"><span class="co2" style="color: #666666; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">#include <stdio .h=""></stdio></span>
<span class="kw4" style="color: #6666cc; font-weight: bold;">void</span> quick_sort <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span><span class="kw4" style="color: #6666cc; font-weight: bold;">int</span> <span class="sy0">*</span>a<span class="sy0">,</span> <span class="kw4" style="color: #6666cc; font-weight: bold;">int</span> n<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span> <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">{</span>
<span class="kw4" style="color: #6666cc; font-weight: bold;">int</span> i<span class="sy0">,</span> j<span class="sy0">,</span> p<span class="sy0">,</span> t<span class="sy0">;</span>
<span class="kw1" style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">if</span> <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span>n <span class="sy0"><</span> <span class="nu0" style="color: #009999; font-weight: bold;">2</span><span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span>
<span class="kw1" style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">return</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
p <span class="sy0">=</span> a<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">[</span>n <span class="sy0">/</span> <span class="nu0" style="color: #009999; font-weight: bold;">2</span><span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">]</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
<span class="kw1" style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">for</span> <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span>i <span class="sy0">=</span> <span class="nu0" style="color: #009999; font-weight: bold;">0</span><span class="sy0">,</span> j <span class="sy0">=</span> n <span class="sy0">-</span> <span class="nu0" style="color: #009999; font-weight: bold;">1</span><span class="sy0">;;</span> i<span class="sy0">++,</span> j<span class="sy0">--</span><span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span> <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">{</span>
<span class="kw1" style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">while</span> <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span>a<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">[</span>i<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">]</span> <span class="sy0"><</span> p<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span>
i<span class="sy0">++;</span>
<span class="kw1" style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">while</span> <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span>p <span class="sy0"><</span> a<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">[</span>j<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">]</span><span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span>
j<span class="sy0">--;</span>
<span class="kw1" style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">if</span> <span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span>i <span class="sy0">>=</span> j<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span>
<span class="kw2" style="color: #0000cc; font-weight: bold;">break</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
t <span class="sy0">=</span> a<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">[</span>i<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">]</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
a<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">[</span>i<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">]</span> <span class="sy0">=</span> a<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">[</span>j<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">]</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
a<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">[</span>j<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">]</span> <span class="sy0">=</span> t<span class="sy0">;</span>
<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">}</span>
quick_sort<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span>a<span class="sy0">,</span> i<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
quick_sort<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">(</span>a <span class="sy0">+</span> i<span class="sy0">,</span> n <span class="sy0">-</span> i<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">)</span><span class="sy0">;</span>
<span class="br0" style="color: #009900; font-weight: bold;">}</span></pre>
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It is not hard to fix the problem by counting the number of the pivot value. Just return when observing all the numbers are same.<br />
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While the data set is huge and the partitions are getting smaller with a few call of quick_sort, it has high probability that all the values in one small partition are the same. For some situations even worse, like sorting all the people in USA according to the age. If the input is an array of records in database systems, it is really costly by doing useless memory access/copies in nlog(n) scope!!! <br />
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Human's age are values from 1 to 100 something. If blindly using the quick_sort algorithms, it just eats the CPU and memory for no good. In many cases the keys to be sorted have just a few unique values like the age. In these cases, instead of using a nlog(n) quicksort algorithm, a hybrid hash/count sort can do a much better job by one or a few scans. First extract the unique keys from the input, sort/hash them, do a final scan by counting or rearranging inputs. One can do optimization by just doing one scan depending the situations.<br />
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<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-15211140182444203412015-10-02T14:25:00.000-07:002015-10-09T20:46:11.518-07:00Visiting British Columbia Day 3: Getting on the Boat at VancouverAfter a long day on bus, ferry, water taxi, finally got on the boat.<br />
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Having fun on the ferry.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zWE6xYGvDA2HTiuQAuiLxM2XDtXqYYCSC6NoUcyuXdnRONcP2xX6rkAIJvW0WkzSkMs-5GZcCHREWdNm1lpB7R01A2JWndyEEjN8vx8As8Vr5tSJj642mTh9Zsn2Sf0f1yHO1NHS3T0/s1600/DSC05154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4zWE6xYGvDA2HTiuQAuiLxM2XDtXqYYCSC6NoUcyuXdnRONcP2xX6rkAIJvW0WkzSkMs-5GZcCHREWdNm1lpB7R01A2JWndyEEjN8vx8As8Vr5tSJj642mTh9Zsn2Sf0f1yHO1NHS3T0/s640/DSC05154.jpg" width="424" /></a><br />
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Vancouver harbor view from the water taxi.<br />
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Giant Cargo ship<br />
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Getting on the boat finally.</div>
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<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-56690916485089820412015-10-01T17:42:00.003-07:002015-10-01T18:10:49.124-07:00Visiting British Columbia Day 2: Exploring Victoria<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;">We started off from the place we stayed and walked to Beacon Hill Park close by. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;">At the south side of Beacon Hill Park, we continued to explore the trail along the cost called Dallas Road Waterfront trail. The vista points on the trail have stunning views. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;">Starting from south point of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;">Dallas Road Waterfront trail, we walked to the harbor and piers. Around harbor there are a lot of beautiful classic Victorian mansions. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;">Tour De Victoria was happening on the day we were visiting. It looks a fun event. </span></span><br />
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Stroking around the downtown area. <br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;">At the late afternoon we had high tea at </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;">Empress hotel. It is worthwhile trying! The pier looks grand too at night. Don't miss it. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.8px;"><br /></span>Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-60607168409717747532015-10-01T15:00:00.000-07:002015-10-01T15:04:38.015-07:00Visiting British Columbia Day 1: Taking seaplane to VictoriaFlew from San Jose to Seattle.<br />
Flew from Seattle to Victoria by Sea plane. It was a great experience. Overlook of islands, mountains, harbor, and the ocean from the seaplane is grand.<br />
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We arrived Victoria at late afternoon. When we visited Butchart gardens, it was turning dark. I wish we had more day time to explore it as it is really pretty. The fireworks that only happens during summer season is great and beautiful too. Don't miss it if you come during summer and check out the time at the <a href="http://www.butchartgardens.com./" target="_blank">website</a>.<br />
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</a>Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-75250332825176270122015-08-16T14:23:00.001-07:002015-08-16T14:23:21.765-07:00Half moon bay day trip<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Devil's slide is the must see. I love Devil’s slide trail. It is a short coastal hiking trail with great view of pacific ocean. In spring, there are a lot of wild flowers that makes the trail much prettier. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEd_WOBl7CHOykUCy69UD2cdSuG1jwzWX4MWSmcK11qd7aAmOaIHGtC_VMH0IH2ffvzuKwCsXlMgGVhbf9sCkkJTMNo-qmGTRPZ9k-HFUT9Wc82yBHhj8EQvpKYNCxkVU3ZT0j_avyfBU/s1600/20140405_125636_Android.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEd_WOBl7CHOykUCy69UD2cdSuG1jwzWX4MWSmcK11qd7aAmOaIHGtC_VMH0IH2ffvzuKwCsXlMgGVhbf9sCkkJTMNo-qmGTRPZ9k-HFUT9Wc82yBHhj8EQvpKYNCxkVU3ZT0j_avyfBU/s320/20140405_125636_Android.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNQzcyIBr5jrj93rkctxDD4Df-v6RzdeR1vRDxc3bHDGmu2qxr_CRhqYJTxuxOHBh6wdM6RatXIZ-D7YBBIyQiG27bQ9qalfQUV4eHFmecUWSmaqnS50xu-EIK3PycMLLGauhaKQrI88/s1600/20140405-DSC00527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNQzcyIBr5jrj93rkctxDD4Df-v6RzdeR1vRDxc3bHDGmu2qxr_CRhqYJTxuxOHBh6wdM6RatXIZ-D7YBBIyQiG27bQ9qalfQUV4eHFmecUWSmaqnS50xu-EIK3PycMLLGauhaKQrI88/s320/20140405-DSC00527.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_MNlQ98S3LIW4-G3iCGQB3rO6gQv8glE5hL-JDG6NDJxazazi5u-5I439Cr9ybqpg_iIp-1P4DWlkiooi_J-CuvhfJEj9l9vuY2yPWdWqstf5ER8AMIJrIrF87L5eO_eMMHw2WcQYoM/s1600/20140405-DSC00512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_MNlQ98S3LIW4-G3iCGQB3rO6gQv8glE5hL-JDG6NDJxazazi5u-5I439Cr9ybqpg_iIp-1P4DWlkiooi_J-CuvhfJEj9l9vuY2yPWdWqstf5ER8AMIJrIrF87L5eO_eMMHw2WcQYoM/s320/20140405-DSC00512.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are a strenuous hiker, you can visit trails at McNee Ranch State park. It has gorgeous view of pacific ocean too. If the timing is right, one can see the whale migration that usually happens around January. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWJSYfWRB5CJfSoFvnSlx9LTz3MFW0Kvq5QeDxmbdSbHzc6Ma9r9ggxSJuDt05o0oEQ7SFQUW1vFLZBa5QT9j9N6JjSlLBDI7oVxHmaEOWKBzYkRbM_Gj1WluhDgu15tf3hookcdC6aqE/s1600/297241824361586844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWJSYfWRB5CJfSoFvnSlx9LTz3MFW0Kvq5QeDxmbdSbHzc6Ma9r9ggxSJuDt05o0oEQ7SFQUW1vFLZBa5QT9j9N6JjSlLBDI7oVxHmaEOWKBzYkRbM_Gj1WluhDgu15tf3hookcdC6aqE/s320/297241824361586844.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Overview from McNee Ranch State Park</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Monster chef is a great place for Japanese food. I like the sashimi and sushi rolls there. It is a pity that it is not open for lunch on weekdays. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLKkBlA2Am0_JoFGEPKZOtynQD1AgxVorm01NHYghs41XbSsgauGpg1YdB3dml6VIMpNONpQAPqNCz4YuVgdt3IsUAPXMz_7FhQx9TxMKZkONTXBD5_T5NLcAZ7TWPoebzFrA-njade4/s1600/DSC_3911+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLKkBlA2Am0_JoFGEPKZOtynQD1AgxVorm01NHYghs41XbSsgauGpg1YdB3dml6VIMpNONpQAPqNCz4YuVgdt3IsUAPXMz_7FhQx9TxMKZkONTXBD5_T5NLcAZ7TWPoebzFrA-njade4/s320/DSC_3911+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monster Chef<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 20.2399997711182px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The alternative is Gerkin’s Sandwitch close by or restaurants at the pier. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The pier is across street of monster chef. Don't forget to buy live crabs and live fish at the pier. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-T-IUQfRk1HXdoVgIpuOJfm8-qywHFC5Jf2B3Eu9Qjk1Z2yjNM51Nto5THBMj8WBh5n5anRGHGykYummPiyha1-t-0xSDcc44m3ckg6A_VOyn7ykBOhCiG-QBUZ4va2WU3fxfEPy5W9A/s1600/20140405_112154_Android.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-T-IUQfRk1HXdoVgIpuOJfm8-qywHFC5Jf2B3Eu9Qjk1Z2yjNM51Nto5THBMj8WBh5n5anRGHGykYummPiyha1-t-0xSDcc44m3ckg6A_VOyn7ykBOhCiG-QBUZ4va2WU3fxfEPy5W9A/s320/20140405_112154_Android.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gerkin's Sandwich place</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you has more time, you can drive down to pigeon point light house. It is a scenic route. The </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">pigeon point hostel is a cheap and fun place to stay overnight. Don’t miss watching the sunset.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The alternative plan could be:</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">visit pigeon point lighthouse first.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have lunch/picnic at norms market: the artichoke bread is really good. Usually we will bring home some too. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">drive down to visit devil’s slide</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">visit pier and have dinner at monster chef. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6666666666667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">weekdays. </span></div>
Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-26250680929783586942015-02-03T20:46:00.004-08:002015-02-03T20:46:47.808-08:00Pros and cons between options and RSUs.Living at Sillicon Valley a lot of people work for startups. From time to time, I run into people who are confused by the differences between RSUs and options and don't understand the conditions in which one is better than the other.<br />
<br />
For RSUs, one needs to pay income tax on it according to the share price on the date they are granted, For example if one is granted 100 shares on Jan 1, 2015 and the share price is $10, one needs to pay income tax for 100*10. The 1000 is considered as income. From now on, it just works as any individual stock. The cost basis is 1000, depending when one sells, one pays long term or short term capital gains or has losses if the price drops lower than $10 per share.<br />
<br />
For options, one can choose to exercise it or not on the granted day. One only pays income taxes when one exercises it. Note that Incentive Stock Options (ISOs), and Non-qualified Stock Options (NSOs) have different tax treatment under the alternative minimum tax (AMT) regime. Discussion of the differing treatments under AMT are beyond the scope of this blog post.<br />
<br />
Pros for RSU: it is guaranteed money if one sells right away when granted. In this way, it just works as a bonus.<br />
Cons for RSU: one may lose money on it if one doesn't sell it right away and the value drops to lower than the taxes one has paid.<br />
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Pros for stock options: one never really loses money on it in most cases, but may not be worth any penny either if the stock price doesn't increase.<br />
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At the first glance one always pay the income taxes on both RSU and options, but why do people working for startups prefer to have options than RSU?<br />
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One can do earlier exercise for options and end to paying long term capital gains instead of income taxes upon selling appreciated stock. Most startups offer the earlier exercise policy for options for earlier employees. Earlier exercise means the employee can buy the options at the strike price when he starts to work. In this way, as long as one holds the stocks over a year, one ends up to pay long term capital gains instead of income taxes.<br />
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For most highly paid engineers, the income tax rate for the part over $411k is around 35%, but the long term capital gains tax rate is around 25%. The after tax value of $4M in RSUs is $2.4M (with a maximum tax rate of 39%), with earlier exercised options one ends up with 3M. The difference is substantial here. Note that in California state income taxes applies as well.<br />
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Acknowledged the information to<a href="http://books.piaw.net/guide/index.html" target="_blank"> An Engineer's Guide to Silicon Valley Startups</a>. A great book for people who likes to work for Startups!Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-77892458582772565902015-01-20T21:19:00.001-08:002015-01-21T09:36:00.014-08:00Visiting Cancun<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{151}" paraid="63371140" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It was kind of last minute booking. As </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Piaw</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> used to tell me it is cheap in Cancun, so </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">I got the cheap flight first. However the hotel stay was very hard to get around Christmas and New Year time and the rate of the</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> hotel is almost</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> doubled comparing </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">to </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">other time</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. After trying to call a few hotels, I gave up. I just used bookit.com and made a reservation at Regina Vacation Club for the first 4 days including the new year eve. I bought a JW Marriott</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> package from Costco</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> for another 4 days. </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> The website information at bookit.com is quite confusing. I thought I had bought the all-in</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">clusive package. But when I checked in at the hotel, </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">people there </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">told me the package I bought </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">was </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">just for room no meals. Such a disappointment as I paid almost </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">the doubled </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">rate as JW Marriott to stay at Regina</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. Luckily I didn't book the whole stay there and saved some money. </span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Raintrees Regina Vacation Club</b></h2>
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{156}" paraid="1287922813" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">It is a great place for diving, especially to get diving certified. The wind is str</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">o</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ng, so we didn't do much swimming in the sea as Bowen still doesn't know how to swim. We swam in the swimming pool most of the time. </span></div>
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<b>Beaches around Hotel Zone</b></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcyDu1Kp-RWcHWTfkJJ_Vo0bRjFIkyu2gHBl5VSywrVj2kUFaGOxIG3S4GENpupDz1hI6h0JGIRsEy3Q9uXVYiIc_iUVFd4pQUrG5ATtWZN1PqWnrTPkvXS4thr184wKMPZDiZDOByO3E/s1600/10862627_10155033529465564_3089291187184877772_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcyDu1Kp-RWcHWTfkJJ_Vo0bRjFIkyu2gHBl5VSywrVj2kUFaGOxIG3S4GENpupDz1hI6h0JGIRsEy3Q9uXVYiIc_iUVFd4pQUrG5ATtWZN1PqWnrTPkvXS4thr184wKMPZDiZDOByO3E/s1600/10862627_10155033529465564_3089291187184877772_o.jpg" height="229" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Beach at JW Marriott</b></h2>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcNRDiiy2RNH7ze8FnIo01CgKRMZKcnUUGBH3k9b2jh4z4_OWB81vsUfTKnYSsvLb54Or-bIiz_TFnMz4wXf3zWbQi9s4ROHLY6jYNdegad7VwG814mDykpRwrlto3o4C1cbO_uAb4iM/s1600/10888705_10152666683468576_1949423420997539331_n+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcNRDiiy2RNH7ze8FnIo01CgKRMZKcnUUGBH3k9b2jh4z4_OWB81vsUfTKnYSsvLb54Or-bIiz_TFnMz4wXf3zWbQi9s4ROHLY6jYNdegad7VwG814mDykpRwrlto3o4C1cbO_uAb4iM/s1600/10888705_10152666683468576_1949423420997539331_n+(1).jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>At JW Marriott</b></h2>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHU1qkShghkCMjN7UHS91lh4cBNXHBWh46RKL2FOHKKUqWWwe_qph4OAxQiferfbQn_JDjqGD2FJ9Gq4LuHMXgS_HXGRkeWt_FLH7Furl-ZPrz0T8dFIzujdJAeGF311_ImHTqNWmdcbM/s1600/10915047_10155033565145564_2552546461694067294_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHU1qkShghkCMjN7UHS91lh4cBNXHBWh46RKL2FOHKKUqWWwe_qph4OAxQiferfbQn_JDjqGD2FJ9Gq4LuHMXgS_HXGRkeWt_FLH7Furl-ZPrz0T8dFIzujdJAeGF311_ImHTqNWmdcbM/s1600/10915047_10155033565145564_2552546461694067294_o.jpg" height="234" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Swimming pool overlook the beach at Hardrock Hotel</b></h2>
</td></tr>
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<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">We went to </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Xcaret</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> park for a day. It </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">was</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> a great trip for small kids. The underground river swimming was fun. Bowen enjoyed it a lot and I loved it too. </span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DxxGXOfSyqH0k0X21duWlprLghegz_MxbTX10ksfyFTV-SnTg0cLyfdHLWLm5YNn-sQHDd8ac6PImsVmkI87K9t27pkDcsRbA1vxaU2tp_31OIDW3ADBK9S1FD292obRyyaKppZ50-k/s1600/IMG_5580.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DxxGXOfSyqH0k0X21duWlprLghegz_MxbTX10ksfyFTV-SnTg0cLyfdHLWLm5YNn-sQHDd8ac6PImsVmkI87K9t27pkDcsRbA1vxaU2tp_31OIDW3ADBK9S1FD292obRyyaKppZ50-k/s1600/IMG_5580.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Big Turtle at Xcaret Park</b></h2>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTV13hDOlJR8bBEV2Pyub1TX4T2FATS6CAjlE8PnRYQ1QMxoMLzcBUr2fBHhpdFnsDuALPr_ImO-T3F6bRj-pkPavKyuQYVPzYRyWfH1R6oOTl-euBY93CMhcmT_SMesHNi0BH7TbmHg/s1600/10899992_10155016999030564_5190205785846313493_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHTV13hDOlJR8bBEV2Pyub1TX4T2FATS6CAjlE8PnRYQ1QMxoMLzcBUr2fBHhpdFnsDuALPr_ImO-T3F6bRj-pkPavKyuQYVPzYRyWfH1R6oOTl-euBY93CMhcmT_SMesHNi0BH7TbmHg/s1600/10899992_10155016999030564_5190205785846313493_o.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Character in the night show at Xcaret Park</b></h2>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Dmx1oxoaFPDzfLUN5F76ZcFDBuxNYDBrK9o_jNGkt99JQYFqgDgd0wWlK6o3-zw4BFIECGhWyOab2e-lNSrgmk3Rt2BOyD2AknMHFetwniCvWOkS0E2yCLTwwrLBP1au7EWQrd7jl_o/s1600/10917181_10155016998850564_333606998598016920_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Dmx1oxoaFPDzfLUN5F76ZcFDBuxNYDBrK9o_jNGkt99JQYFqgDgd0wWlK6o3-zw4BFIECGhWyOab2e-lNSrgmk3Rt2BOyD2AknMHFetwniCvWOkS0E2yCLTwwrLBP1au7EWQrd7jl_o/s1600/10917181_10155016998850564_333606998598016920_o.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Character in the night show at Xcaret Park</b></h2>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">My mom and I went to </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Chichen</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iza</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> for a day. It was a long day as it is a long drive from the hotel zone to there. When we got there, it was around noon. It is one of the great monuments for Maya culture. It is really sad that no any books or written materials </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> are </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">left that record</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> the history of the Maya culture. We can just get little information about Maya culture. </span><br />
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><br />
<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ugDoaEosyhulyrHCeLBGKdCYds2BAdZERziwkkskbcbUp-ZtD1tADHMddNwbc0W4E2U26Y1I66_pRZPmz04ssXVizwHSkGRLrAM40FgsxNovDf8DdgGXv6eYAFxNldCRd0Ti2EkepJQ/s1600/DSC_3796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ugDoaEosyhulyrHCeLBGKdCYds2BAdZERziwkkskbcbUp-ZtD1tADHMddNwbc0W4E2U26Y1I66_pRZPmz04ssXVizwHSkGRLrAM40FgsxNovDf8DdgGXv6eYAFxNldCRd0Ti2EkepJQ/s1600/DSC_3796.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1uFAGL2Ig_Ij9MiPNlgoxIpHZfGVWfv3y0k5DG2_JMz8bfV70f8egQUpr8THb6TFmAs_lOvXgA8Xf-725LS9TGRGPvkAjYtF2DXE-V30sqRbqKegP3r1x4vI6jyyEp1P1keDpB1qf4M/s1600/DSC_3800.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1uFAGL2Ig_Ij9MiPNlgoxIpHZfGVWfv3y0k5DG2_JMz8bfV70f8egQUpr8THb6TFmAs_lOvXgA8Xf-725LS9TGRGPvkAjYtF2DXE-V30sqRbqKegP3r1x4vI6jyyEp1P1keDpB1qf4M/s1600/DSC_3800.JPG" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{174}" paraid="1607251387" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Another unique thing one can do here is diving/swimming in </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">C</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">enote</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">. The water is a little cool in </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">C</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">enote</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, but it is really fresh and clean. Try it when you get there. The spa at JW Marriot is really great. Usually one can get one free spa for two day stay, use it. </span></span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><br />
<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixye3rGUa3taaEbgRT3tf2kO4aiaCj89rBIC8e7mdkgCI4_p-b-XeFSKKKlH-Mwz7Vzq5RuoaJTDyN9BBEFdx_rcD9nOYrwQhvS1E-7i33gJqVTv4S6sblaQTPlQN3SuS4vaJ2_WcXZck/s1600/IMG_51157698361309.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixye3rGUa3taaEbgRT3tf2kO4aiaCj89rBIC8e7mdkgCI4_p-b-XeFSKKKlH-Mwz7Vzq5RuoaJTDyN9BBEFdx_rcD9nOYrwQhvS1E-7i33gJqVTv4S6sblaQTPlQN3SuS4vaJ2_WcXZck/s1600/IMG_51157698361309.jpeg" height="320" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><h2>
<b>Underground water swimming at Xcaret</b></h2>
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{180}" paraid="927307695" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">I don't have plans to come back again though it is a nice place to relax and explore the beach.</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> Maybe one day I was so into diving, I may consider to come back to do those exotic </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">diving</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. </span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8GObAzV4D9s4R3_d9aPGpxjAiIWsSIvUhjqqzDxSHWb2BG7YOBksOd8Fl5sICQudf_Or58HEMkWznHaZal7NWRVEB_hEHfay-NxeUsD4GT5bmZYcJ7xj_4d4wjzkDL4u_OeqA3S1j_-8/s1600/IMG_5609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8GObAzV4D9s4R3_d9aPGpxjAiIWsSIvUhjqqzDxSHWb2BG7YOBksOd8Fl5sICQudf_Or58HEMkWznHaZal7NWRVEB_hEHfay-NxeUsD4GT5bmZYcJ7xj_4d4wjzkDL4u_OeqA3S1j_-8/s1600/IMG_5609.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx08XXnJjCj2W20WZ2_77tKKWyxxZ6w3-NUlKxRBjlduVwXNy_lP36sbpNWvU8P5fFXq1On5oEpnmvT-eR9apr070Ha8u65cnOLabkPw8N1Of-ahdgvsUSwa3bdsGisivPf7o6ilBLda0/s1600/IMG_5622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx08XXnJjCj2W20WZ2_77tKKWyxxZ6w3-NUlKxRBjlduVwXNy_lP36sbpNWvU8P5fFXq1On5oEpnmvT-eR9apr070Ha8u65cnOLabkPw8N1Of-ahdgvsUSwa3bdsGisivPf7o6ilBLda0/s1600/IMG_5622.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{184}" paraid="297141932" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">S</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ome tips and highlights:</span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><br />
<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Prepare some Mexican pesos and one dollar bills in advance to pay tours and food. Dollar bills are easy to pay bus tickets and tips. Some hotels like JW Marriot give a reasonable exchange rate, but most of places don't. Or bring a credit card with good rate and low transaction fees. </span><br />
<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Book direct flight if it is feasible as it saves time and the hassle to do custom at the transition.</span><br />
<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 8px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative;">
<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{193}" paraid="1015192035" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">If you plan to visit those theme parks or visit Cozu</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">mel</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">, stay 2 or 3 days around Playa Del Carmen</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">, as it is closer to both theme parks and the island of </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Cozu</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">mel. </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">The downtown of Playa Del Carmen is a very nice place to dine or walk around too. </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">It is worthwhile spending a few days at the Hotel zone area. It has the specular beach</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">es</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. The location around JW Marriot and </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">H</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">ardrock</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> is great. One can easily take bus to other places</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> around here</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">. It is easy to visit Isla </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mujeres</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Island too. </span></span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKHKyzT80shQrhb1pDefDUWl8AI-C3FN-SBEqoyzIyNL1B09oxLKFEe5xSlY_O8XcXwbOCH83EZCNmEJ-iH7OV9Nz050q8fXapr87Z1mkNR03f1F3L8uVfqcMxkZrdaYg3Mj0NjOpUwQ/s1600/10861071_10155033565330564_2551166298342904729_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKHKyzT80shQrhb1pDefDUWl8AI-C3FN-SBEqoyzIyNL1B09oxLKFEe5xSlY_O8XcXwbOCH83EZCNmEJ-iH7OV9Nz050q8fXapr87Z1mkNR03f1F3L8uVfqcMxkZrdaYg3Mj0NjOpUwQ/s1600/10861071_10155033565330564_2551166298342904729_o.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>The View from the room of JW Marriott</b></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbHc4fbrN4TOOaUySn2EiSOylyT0TFgoZYGSYX9TNQ7MX0UiSSBGLdTTaa-VSb_27irdVDuqdXeNYYmGfltye99Um5sKkARu37YC-V9BzVT4M7D4bi_ITfP0isS2goysy018vz4481Yy8/s1600/DSC03693.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbHc4fbrN4TOOaUySn2EiSOylyT0TFgoZYGSYX9TNQ7MX0UiSSBGLdTTaa-VSb_27irdVDuqdXeNYYmGfltye99Um5sKkARu37YC-V9BzVT4M7D4bi_ITfP0isS2goysy018vz4481Yy8/s1600/DSC03693.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Overlook the beach and the resort at JW Marriott</b></h2>
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<span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></span>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{208}" paraid="939535583" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The tour to </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Chichen</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iza</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> can cost from $50 to $100, I don't see the big differences between them. Talk to a few agencies to get </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">a </span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">better rate. Usually the agencies at downtown or shopping mall can give better rate for most of tours, like at La Isla shopping mall at hotel zone area or downtown of Playa Del Carmen. To visit Xcaret it is better to reserve taxi or take private tour instead of going with a big crowd as the pickup may take much longer time and one doesn't have enough time to play at the park. </span><br />
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<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{215}" paraid="2012107654" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To save money and avoid crowd, visit in Nov or Feb. Book the hotels in advance as good deals are gone fast. </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">mperior</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> has very reasonable price and convenient too as it has branches both at Hotel zone and Playa Del Carmen. If you want to go to a more luxu</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ry</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> resort, Hard rock is a good choice. You can drop me an email, I can give you the member access rate. Most hotels give credits or free spa f</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">or the stay, it is nice to use those credits to get diving certified. </span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h2>
<b>Sleeping bed at Mextreme Restaurant</b></h2>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Decoration hats at Mextreme Restaurant</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZOkJGxUGJX4cu8EiKe0uxdzu56ihlwuPMY-u0x9PjSFBMlK2fomK7_p8p5eqGfblGDdpxl_ZfD3s_vSr0zWz_EwSr_KPytcAJgVtjJe-I5mexUfg_alTwt2vMCC1UAt0CNYUDQtQzIg/s1600/DSC03747.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZOkJGxUGJX4cu8EiKe0uxdzu56ihlwuPMY-u0x9PjSFBMlK2fomK7_p8p5eqGfblGDdpxl_ZfD3s_vSr0zWz_EwSr_KPytcAJgVtjJe-I5mexUfg_alTwt2vMCC1UAt0CNYUDQtQzIg/s1600/DSC03747.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Coconut, pine apple virgin drink at Mextreme</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6L-XoVnuUI97jrJAoOwv2b9vk5_4hfaUTxBue3hygPzGeQXiwOUfPbdDfaaueqWFWkjLdCtHcxFLUKxmN6vVwvPyn3qIOBCRQ8GaRfplh2XxehXuNG-oh8iDt-sctDCfbVajOn85STY4/s1600/DSC03749.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6L-XoVnuUI97jrJAoOwv2b9vk5_4hfaUTxBue3hygPzGeQXiwOUfPbdDfaaueqWFWkjLdCtHcxFLUKxmN6vVwvPyn3qIOBCRQ8GaRfplh2XxehXuNG-oh8iDt-sctDCfbVajOn85STY4/s1600/DSC03749.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Delicious Tacos</b></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQYcLy5nxz2uT3qKVpMBEXYRbcJnSi2HRtZ8u9fDlKn1-nQjkbXGttgKsAlfCwSTXYmsp6ZTd2mSiodsBmgl-AW-Q457nBcuxZLEQSgZUtBwhyW41FrG7PGqJ6JogBcru44uxyAttp00/s1600/DSC_0267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQYcLy5nxz2uT3qKVpMBEXYRbcJnSi2HRtZ8u9fDlKn1-nQjkbXGttgKsAlfCwSTXYmsp6ZTd2mSiodsBmgl-AW-Q457nBcuxZLEQSgZUtBwhyW41FrG7PGqJ6JogBcru44uxyAttp00/s1600/DSC_0267.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="Paragraph SCX54144365" paraeid="{a1baccf1-4bd4-49ba-82ac-5a24135466ff}{225}" paraid="1463213852" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-size: 6pt; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Try the local authentic Mexican food, tacos are really good there. We went to </span><a class="Hyperlink SCX54144365" href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/mextreme-canc%C3%BAn" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; cursor: text; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mextreme</span></span></a><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> and </span><a class="Hyperlink SCX54144365" href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/pericos-canc%C3%BAn" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; cursor: text; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; color: #0563c1; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pericos</span></span></a><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">, both of them are great!</span><span class="TextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> The people are so nice and warm there. At </span><span class="SpellingError SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat-x; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mextreme</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; background-color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, my son fell asleep, they even provide a bed for my son to sleep. </span></span><span class="EOP SCX54144365" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-user-select: text; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </span></div>
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Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-61265048395552486482014-06-16T17:35:00.001-07:002014-06-25T13:42:21.187-07:00Decipher the Ancient Myth<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While playing with my App, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tigerparents.nut" target="_blank">Nutrition Tracker</a>, I gradually understand some old Chinese sayings, like "the more fish one has, the bigger one's brain is". Omega 3 is the required nutrition to have a healthy brain. The critical part in Omega 3 is DHA that is hard to be synthesized by human body. The natural food that contains high DHA is mostly fish. Although Salmon has been more popular than cod. According to the <a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964" target="_blank">USAD food nutirion database</a> and the calculation from Nutrition Tracker, for an adult, if one has 8 ounces of cooked salmon weekly, one doesn't need to take any supplement for Omega 3 at all. In another words, if one has two or three big meals with fish weekly, one will have enough Omega 3 to have a healthy brain. This amazingly explains the old Chinese myth I didn't understand before. This is a great book about how to cook fish: Fish:<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fish-Complete-Guide-Buying-Cooking/dp/0028631528/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=piasblo-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=&creativeASIN=0028631528" target="_blank"> </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 21px; line-height: 1.3;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fish-Complete-Guide-Buying-Cooking/dp/0028631528/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=piasblo-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=&creativeASIN=0028631528" target="_blank">Fish: Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking.</a> </span></span>Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-76348680845574823862014-05-25T14:51:00.002-07:002014-08-04T09:46:20.981-07:00New Release for Nutrition Tracker<span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Features in 0.7 release uploaded on Jun 15, 2014:</span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Export data. The diary can be exported to an comma separated values (csv) file for a physician/dietitian to review or analyze. The file is easily opened with Excel or other spreadsheet.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Log caloric intake and match to your activity level. This enables you to set goals for weight change.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-41ac6fb3-a6ee-99e5-71a9-160942f81a77"></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3. Easy input of food. Foods that you’ve already entered are now on the top of search results. Saves time entering data. </span></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Features in 0.6 release:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">1. Add the lookup feature. You can now lookup nutrition facts for a specific food.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">2. Missing nutrients are listed at the top of the nutrition report in order of decreasing priority. It’s now easy to figure out which nutrients you’re missing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">3. At the report output, click on the nutrition name, you can see the list of food with high value for that particular nutrient.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">4. Add DHA/EPA information in the report. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.850000381469727px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tigerparents.nut">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tigerparents.nut</a></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-c715ef37-355a-e954-d164-27c69d3668e0"><br /></span>Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-57664262681771786372014-05-22T10:17:00.000-07:002014-05-22T10:17:14.213-07:00The Alternative for Vitamin C Supplement.Vitamin C is a critical nutrition to our health. Few people know that a medium size of orange has enough Vitamin C as one daily vitamin C supplement pill has. Vitamin C can be used to alleviate the cold syndromes and shortens the cold period though it can not prevent to get cold. Vitamin C also can help recover the damaged skins by Sun exposure.<br />
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One day, one orange is enough for daily intake of Vitamin C calculated by <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tigerparents.nut" target="_blank">Nutrition Tracker</a> according the data provided by<a href="https://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=8964" target="_blank"> USDA</a>.<br />
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If one gets cold, one can have two or more oranges to ease the cold syndromes.<br />
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To get more information about the Vitamin C, one can read the long article here:<br />
http://health.cvs.com/GetContent.aspx?token=f75979d3-9c7c-4b16-af56-3e122a3f19e3&chunkiid=21522Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-74660530495428896222014-05-21T11:39:00.002-07:002014-05-22T08:11:20.860-07:00Pick points from Farmacology: What Innovative Family Farming Can Teach Us About Health and Healing.<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When I started to read the book,<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Farmacology-Innovative-Family-Farming-Healing-ebook/dp/B0089LOISW/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=piasblo-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=EALMVRNNNNK4ZXRB&creativeASIN=B0089LOISW" target="_blank"> Farmacolog</a><u>y: What Innovative Family Farming Can Teach Us About Health and Healing<span id="goog_512531841"></span><span id="goog_512531842"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a> </u> I could not stop. Thanks for my friend, Xi's recommendation. Every chapter shows a new aspect that we should watch over for our health and the current medical field have totally ignored. It not only tells the experiments and theories from farms or labs, but also gives us advice how to apply the principles into our daily life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The most valuable and intriguing point I got from this book is the new way of analyzing our health issues. Current medical field is using an isolation model to cure the diseases. But our body is a very complex system. Is the isolation method really sound? For people having the same disease, like diabetes, they get there due to different reasons, such as less exercises, poor diet, or poor gene. They should be treated differently. Being healthy is quite an individual thing and is highly correlated to how people live, the life style. This is fascinating to me. As I haven't seen any model to simulate human's living environment or life style with AI to diagnose the root cause of the diseases. Is it possible to build a model to cure some disease or all diseases with an AI model? It is an open problem for me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The book also gives some practical advice that are very helpful to apply in our daily life. In chapter 3, it gives toolbox for the stress reduction: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Join the flock that could be a club that shares your passions, a sports team, a spiritual group, volunteering. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Enhance your behavioral freedom and increase your sense of purpose. Take time to care for and pamper yourself, and exercise daily. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3. Play a tag and dust-bathes often. Doing exercises in a voluntary and enjoyable way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4. Get a good night's roost. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5. Put the right foods in your gizzard. Having cage freed chickens and eggs, more leafy greens, spices and herbs. This agrees with my experiments with my <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tigerparents.nut" target="_blank">Nutrition Tracker</a> project. As the more I play with it, I realizes that we can get most nutrition from natural food and leafy greens is the best. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">To the end of the book, it talks about aging and cosmetics. Most of time we are not aware that the cream we apply to our face or body contains chemicals leading to cancers. So examine your skin care products and stay away from <span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">hydroquinone, mercury, </span><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">steroid, retinoid, </span><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">alpha-hydroxy acids, mineral oils, parabens, phthalates, sls (sodium lauryl sulfate), vitamin E, and artificial fragrances. Try to use </span><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">hydrosols, like roman chamomile (anthemis nobilis), neroli (citrus aurantium), rock rose (cistus ladaniferus), lavender (lavandula angustifolia), rose (rosa damascena), </span><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">rose geranium ( pelargonium graveolens). </span></span><br />
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</span>Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-72878759212751672922014-03-17T10:37:00.002-07:002014-03-17T10:37:09.288-07:00How to Select After School Programs?<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #575757; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
I would put two key values on any after school programs. In fact not just after school, any school:</div>
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1. The kid is much happier while attending the after school program. The kid wants to come back again and enjoys it a lot. </div>
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2. The kid is very motivated after attending the program. They love to talk about what they have learned or share their stories. Then It is a good sign of the valuable program. </div>
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It is hard to know things first hand. As parents, we should talk to the kids and know their feelings. If we observe anything wrong, we need to go down and figure out the reasons. One can drop by the class to see what really happens in the class. Or one can talk to the teachers to see if they really care individual needs. </div>
Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-85158100281833620002014-03-17T10:34:00.002-07:002014-03-17T10:36:01.250-07:00Tech Innvators Who Went to Montessori Schoolhttp://www.businessinsider.com/tech-innovators-who-went-to-montessori-school-2014-3<br />
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<strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #575757; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Thomas Edison - </strong><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #575757; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">"I like the Montessori method," </span><a href="http://www.nps.gov/edis/faqs.htm" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Edison has been quoted</a><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #575757; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> saying, according to historians at the Thomas Edison National Historic Park. "It teaches through play. It makes learning a pleasure. It follows the natural instincts of the human being. The present system casts the brain into a mold. It does not encourage original thought or reasoning."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #575757; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #575757; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Famous Montessori graduates:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #575757; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">https://docs.google.com/document/preview?hgd=1&id=1iRuFD-ubKDs7hQhdXcQMYvH26EHTJVSXDdE3g9GIW00</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #575757; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Related books:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://alturl.com/7fqno" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Montessori from Start:The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three</a></span>Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-15227801681824082352014-03-17T10:32:00.000-07:002014-03-17T10:32:29.186-07:00A New SAT Aims to Realign With Schoolwork<span style="background-color: white; color: #575757; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/education/major-changes-in-sat-announced-by-college-board.html?_r=0</span>Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-59613409122796919622014-03-17T10:29:00.001-07:002014-03-17T10:29:50.366-07:00This Infographic Reveals How to Raise Happy and Healthy Kidshttp://lifehacker.com/this-infographic-reveals-how-to-raise-happy-and-healthy-1542169077?utm_campaign=socialflow_lifehacker_facebook&utm_source=lifehacker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflowXiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-40262141636484560992014-03-11T11:01:00.001-07:002014-03-12T17:28:51.562-07:00Parenting Skills: Respecting Children, Being Consistent, and Being PatientI used to doubt the effect of consistency with kids. After I have been practicing for a while, it really works like a miracle. I have been using the consistency with sleep training, goodbye hug/kiss, and dining time.<br />
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Sleep training is really hard for everyone. We started sleep training when our kid was 10 months old. He definitely cried. But we have been consistent with the routine, picking up him, comforting him, and putting him back into bed again. It took two weeks for him to understand the routine. Nowadays, he still cries sometime when it is bedtime. While I turn off all the lights, he walks into his room pretending to cry. He will ask for mom to pat him and stop crying in less than 1 minutes.<br />
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I used to sneak out to avoid to see my son crying. After I read some books, I started to say goodbye to him when I leave him. He cried for sure, but I kept doing it and also explained to him why I was leaving and when I would come back. One day, when I was leaving, he smiled and said "bye bye mommy, have fun!". It is really sweet.<br />
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Keeping consistent and respecting the children are the keys for successful and easy parenting. The little kids are very smart and more capable than what we have imagined. Just being patient. Sometime it takes a few days for you to see the effects. Sometime it may take months. Treat your kids with respects and consistency, you will get back the same thing.<br />
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Books recommended:<br />
Parenting Your Smart Underachiever With Consistency and Love: http://goo.gl/Cwqob5<br />
Marva Collin's Way: http://goo.gl/XII6Qf<br />
<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-11516448468967464692014-03-04T16:33:00.001-08:002014-03-04T16:33:04.683-08:00How to select schoolWe have visited a few elementary schools to decide which one to pick. I summarize the two thump rules:<br />
1. Must visit! Don't be fooled by the API scores. You must be there, see how the school is, how the teacher passes the knowledge, what is the teaching philosophy. There are three schools in our minds before visiting, Millikin Basics, Harker, and Argonaut. While visiting the schools' website, Millikin Basics looks really appealing, it has the highest API, has strong academic emphasis, and strict disciplines. My husband almost makes up him mind to send our kid to there. After visiting it, we feel a little disappointed, as I don't feel they care the creativity that much. They treat all kids the same. Then we had a visit of Harker. Definitely it has more rich curriculum and better environment. It pays more attention to individual needs. Argonaut environment is nice too. By watching a few classes there, I observer that the teacher not only teaches the basics, but also cares about the kids' interest. They let students write in Chinese in math class. I saw some homework is written in Norwegian. I would like that my kid has the opportunities to learn other languages and cultures. Argonaut does great job on that. After visiting these schools, Millikin is totally crossed out.<br />
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2. Select the school that matches the kid's personality and parents teaching philosophy. Some schools have fixed curriculum for all the kids. All kids are marching together at the same speed on all subjects. Some schools have flexibility to fit individual's needs and let kid learn at her/his own speed mostly.<br />
<br />Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656473255625916223.post-12906251786259864342014-03-03T10:46:00.002-08:002014-03-03T10:48:30.106-08:00Cubbie Bench: the nice replacement for bookself<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the kid starts reading, we have a lot of books. We have been searching for a bookshelf. Most of the bookshelves are high that is quite difficult for the kid to pick up the books. Also the kid likes to shake the bookshelf. It is quite dangerous. If the bookshelf crushes, it may hurt the kid. We saw this sample,<a href="http://goo.gl/1LRFSg" target="_blank"> cubbie bench</a>, at target. It is easier for the kid to access. It occupies less space. It is quite sturdy as it is low. It nicely transform the little space into a cozy reading area. We really love this cubbie bench:</span></div>
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Xiaoqinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09195606159749986123noreply@blogger.com0