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I’ll be on vacation in HK in a few days, so I thought it would be appropriate if I looked back at some photos from previous trips. Here’s my coverage of the Hong Kong Derby when I was last there in 2008:

2008 Hong Kong Derby gallery

My uncle brought me out to the race and it was a great day to watch horses out there, except I became really light-headed after spending too much time with chain-smoking race-betting junkies.

I think cell phones are an interesting thing. I never leave home without my Nokia N82. I’m actively using my phone at least a full hour a day (occasionally talking and texting, but a lot of web surfing and watching videos too). So when it comes time to consider an upgrade, its a big decision for me.

Recently, Nokia announced the N900, an impressive-looking device with “computer-grade performance in a compact size”. This latest device from Nokia seems like it would fit in nicely with my history of Nokia phones, starting from the 8290 when I first started driving, the 6230i I bought on a trip to HK after graduation, and the N82 that I bought during my trip to HK last year.

8290, 6230i, N82

As an aside, I no longer have to travel halfway across the world to buy the latest phone. The iPhone, first introduced a couple of years ago, has really changed the marketing of smartphones here in the US. The N900 has gotten some press among US consumers, while even with my N82 at first it seemed I was only one of a handful of users in the States.

There are really only two things that I thought about when I first considered the N900. My N82 already does everything I would expect from a smartphone.

The one thing that the N82 does not have, is 3G support for T-Mobile in the US. The N900, with the WCDMA 1700 band, is expected to have this feature. So, the first thing I thought about was, ‘Do I even have 3G service in my phone plan’? If I had to upgrade my phone plan (re: pay more $$/month), I probably would not consider a new phone. I gave the guys at T-Mobile a call this morning, and it turns out, I do have 3G in my $20/month “Total Internet Add-on”. Put down a check for Criteria #1.

The second thing I had concerns with is the size of the N900. I decided to make a cardboard cut-out, using the dimensions found in the technical specs, to determine how big the N900 is in comparison to my N82. The N900 is expected to be comparable in length to the N82, while a bit thicker and a little wider:

Doesn’t seem like it’s too much of difference, right? While all this was getting a little too subjective for me, I decided the real test was the center console of my car, where I often keep my phone when I’m driving.

In the console, there is this small compartment (“Not an ashtray”) that flips up and is the perfect size for my N82.

It is also felt-lined, and I like to think that it protects my phone nicely and is within reach while driving.

So, will the cardboard cut-out fit in the console of my car? “If it fits,” I told myself, “I’ll get the phone. If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

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So I’m a big credit card user. Ninety-five percent of all my transactions are paid using a credit card, which helps me keep track of my expenses and accrue cashback rebates.

It’s not surprising that I’m also a sucker for these novelty credit cards. In high school I used the Discover2Go card, which was a mini credit card that was perfect for grocery store credit card readers (where you swipe the card to the side) but useless for gas stations (where you insert the entire card into the reader, like an ATM machine). I also had a seldom-used smart card that had an embedded chip that stored passwords and other data.

I recently got a new contact-less keychain “payment tag” — the MasterCard PayPass through Citibank. It’s a translucent-blue tag with an embedded RFID chip that looks cool and works like a charm. So far, I’ve only been able to use my PayPass in a few locations such as Best Buy, McDonald’s, Wegman’s, BJ’s Wholesale, CVS, 7-Eleven and Office Depot, since not many places have the PayPass readers yet.

It’s definitely convenient that, with the PayPass, I don’t have to pull out my wallet or sign for transactions under $25. I’m hoping more merchants will use the readers.

There are several card issuers offering the MasterCard PayPass, including Bank of America, Chase, and Citibank.

Chevy Chase Bank was my first. I was still in high school at the time, looking forward to college. I needed to take my first step in financial independence and I knew Chevy Chase Bank was the dominant bank on campus. It was also pretty convenient that Chevy Chase opened a branch office that operated inside my neighborhood grocery store. So I’ve been using Chevy Chase for almost seven years.

I read a few months ago that Chevy Chase Bank was going to abandon its partnership with grocery stores and instead focus on its aggressive expansion through building stand-alone branches with Roman columns and drive-thru ATMs. Luckily for me, I never go the grocery store branches anyways and I bank exclusively through online banking and ATMs. I figure if its one thing in this economy I can rely on, its Chevy Chase Bank.

I was wrong.

Yesterday, Chevy Chase Bank announced that it had sold off my account deposits, along with over $40 million deposits of other customers that had happened to open a Chevy Chase banking account through their grocery store partnership. Provident Bank, another local bank in the Maryland area, paid a 3% premium to acquire my account. Here’s an excerpt from the letter I received from Chevy Chase:

There’s no way I’m sticking with Provident, as I hear bad stories about their service from my friend who has had an account there. There are so many Chevy Chase branches around me, they are probably the most convenient bank for my location. But then again, do I want to stay with a bank that severed our business relationship and pawned me off to some unknown third party? As you can see from the letter and news reports of the behind-the-scene deal, I wasn’t even given a chance to decide if I wanted to stay or switch. It seems like Chevy Chase felt like they could make buck ($1.26 million bucks, actually) by selling off their customers and shipping me down the river.

I called Chevy Chase Bank’s customer service today to say I wanted to stay. The customer service rep took down my info and said I should expect a call back. In the meantime, I need to do some research on my area banks.

Field Observations:

Fast Cars:

Tomorrow I will be going to St. Petersburg in Florida on some work-related business — attending the “World’s Fastest Spring Break Party“, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and Acura Sports Challenge of St. Petersburg.

This will actually be a number of “firsts” for me. This is the first time I’ve had to fly anywhere for work. This is also the first time for me flying on Southwest. I’ve also never been to a legal street racing event before. So, photos and recap to come….

Eric beat me to the Car Buying Frenzy of 2008 and bought a shiny new black Civic Si last week:

It’s a really nice car. Good-looking inside and outside. Quiet, smooth, and fast. Using my phone’s GPS (more on that later), I was able to create this graph of a test drive to the corner bodega:

Triple digits without breaking a sweat. Good stuff.

I replaced my trusty Nokia 6230i with a new phone, so here’s a look back at some of the photos I took:

Walking around Shanghai:

At the Great Wall of China:

Some guy blowing out both front tires of his rental Hummer before even getting out of the parking lot:

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Parking Lot of Chick-fil-A in Columbia where three minivans of the same color and model showed up:

Toaster Oven:

Cat at Window:

I don’t have much time left in HK, so here are a few highlights so far:

Golden Computer Arcade — Didn’t really buy much from here (yet), but I’ll head back there to grab a few last minute deals:

Ngong Ping Cable Car — Great views over Lantau Island:

Standing in line at the Louis Vuitton store — I did not buy anything here:

Inside the cell phone mall — I did buy something here:

Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby 2008 — Helene Mascot wins:

Clock Tower and Cultural Center at Tsim Sha Tsui:

View of Hong Kong Island:

Inside the Venetian Macau

I’m finally in Hong Kong. It’s morning here actually, and we’re probably going to grab some breakfast (dim sum) soon. Yesterday, my mom and I made the trek to NYC to catch our Cathay Pacific flight at JFK. Then, we promptly spent 16 strenuous hours on a plane (albeit on a newish 777-300ER with next-gen seats).

Traveler’s tip: Be sure to keep your passport up to date and complete your travel before six months prior to its expiration date. Problems may arise if you tread too close to the expiration of your passport.

Hong Kong-specific Traveler’s tip: Get an unlocked phone to use while you are in HK. Most phones sold in the United States are locked to your phone plan provider and some may use a different wireless band that is not supported here in HK (If you have a Cingular or T-Mobile quad-band phone, that’s a good starting point). There are ways to unlock your phone, or it might be a good idea to buy a cheap unlocked one for traveling purposes. While you are in HK, buy a phone SIM card (example, PCCW pictured below, handset sold separately) which lets you dial home to the States for cheap. It’s $0.25 HKD per minute for calls to the US. That’s three cents a minute USD. Insanely affordable. If you see “no number” on your caller ID at 3 in the morning, pick up. It’s me.