Category Archives: United States of America

Coolest Hackerspace in Seattle

Posted on April 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Metrix Create:Space Hackerspace in Seattle, Capitol Hill

One of the best things about Seattle is how amazing folks gather to invent, create anything and everything in great community like spaces.

While hackerspaces are quite common these days, Metrix: Create Space in Capitol Hill, Seattle, USA beats the rest for its 3D printers set up.  I can’t really tell you why I am so fascinated with 3D printers in a single sentence. I had dreams about 3D printers even before they invented or developed 3D printers and it grew into quite a reality!

Unfortunately only had the luxury of spending a few short minutes looking around as I had a five hour drive to Oregon. Wish I could participate or learn more of its workshops.

FYI:

Hackerspaces are community spaces where people gather to invent, create , socialise, mostly technology based projects.

Metrix Create:Space Hackerspace Seattle 3D Moulds

3D printer! So want one of these!

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Posted in 1. By Countries, Pacific NorthWest - Seattle & Oregon, United States of America

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And the Winner of the Coffee Hunt is …

Posted on April 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Best cappuccino in the Coffee Crawl of Pacific NorthWest USA

It has been a very frustrating hunt for the best coffee in the Pacific Northwest of America.

I visited Seattle to do a coffee crawl and was left disappointed. Seattle is apparently the coffee capital of USA, however they like their coffee pretty weak or over-roasted and pretty much flat aromatic. My coffee crawl brought me to the original Starbucks in Pikes Market before they turned mega huge, to Belltown, the hip part of town, right up to Capital hill, the hipper part of town to Roy street, the IT hip part of town. Still no good coffee to be tasted.

The next place was Portland, Oregon where Stumptown coffee right near the Portland Saturday Market was the runner-up. The Stumptown coffee at Division Street wasn’t that good with their single origins coffees. A few more cafes, which I had been too sad to even mention here.

After all these hours of driving around, drinking around the two cities, guess what?

The better coffees are made in the city of Olympia, Washington, where almost every corner of this tiny town has a coffeeshop or two with pretty high standards. This has been my home for 3 weeks! Imagine what I have been missing.

So the winner of the Pacific NorthWest Coffee crawl is :

Batdorf & Bronson for their cappuccino! This was judged 8/10 because all their drinks are double expressos, and not diluted to more than 4oz of water like everyone else. This is how the typical italian cappuccino should be done. The coffee had its fruity aromatic tones, well brewed with short frothy hot milk done perfectly!

If you are ever that crazy to fly all the way to Olympia, Washington,

here’s the address.

Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters
200 Market ST. NE
Olympia, WA 98501

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Posted in 1. By Countries, Food Crawl in USA, Pacific NorthWest - Seattle & Oregon, United States of America

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It’s Brrrr Cold in Eugene Oregon USA

Posted on April 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

Temperature in Eugene Oregon during Spring March 2011

I drove five hours down to from Olympia Washington to  Eugene, Oregon, to visit friends whom I met in Guatemala a few years back. Eugene is home of the original hippies and the author of One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey’s LSD Acid Bus.  Eugene is also home of the founder of Nike

Eugene, founded by Eugene Skinner (great choice of not naming the town his last name) is quite a comfortable sized town filled with very groovy people. My friends who retired here have been slowly turned hippie-fied. Perhaps its Eugene’s vibes that was getting to them.

It’s quite a cold morning, quite winter-ly weather for me, coming from the tropics. I have been getting really cold temperatures from Seattle, Washington down to Oregon.  This is suppose to be the ever erratic Pacific Northwest USA Spring weather! Rain, wind and cold!

Eugene also holds the annual Oregon State fair.Where supposed aging hippies as well as the newer versions gather and dance around to celebrate the dying days of hippy-ism, if there is such a word. I shall be back to this lovely town soon.

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Posted in 1. By Countries, Pacific NorthWest - Seattle & Oregon, United States of America

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United States Visa Waiver Changes from 12th January 2009

Posted on September 22, 2008 | Leave a comment

U.S once again changed their travel visa requirements. Singaporeans and other Visa Waiver Nations who use to be able to travel to U.S.A without a travel visa would need to apply for online waiver authorization prior travelling.

Got this email via my frequent flyer program.

Department of Homeland Security Introduces Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for Visa Waiver Program Travelers

Effective January 12, 2009, for travel to or connecting through the U.S., the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will require all Visa Waiver Program (VWP) nationals to obtain an electronic travel authorization prior to boarding. This new authorization is known as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA.

Nationals of the following countries are currently eligible to travel under the VWP:

Australia Ireland Portugal
Austria Italy San Marino
Belgium Japan Singapore
Brunei Liechtenstein Slovenia
Denmark Luxembourg Spain
Finland Monaco Sweden
France The Netherlands Switzerland
Germany New Zealand United Kingdom
Iceland Norway

Exempt from the ESTA requirement are:

  • * VWP nationals who are U.S. residents
  • * VWP nationals who hold a visa for a specific trip to the U.S.

The DHS is now accepting voluntary ESTA applications through the ESTA Web site https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov. Currently, the site is available in English only, but additional languages will be available in October 2008.

VWP travelers are not required to have specific plans to travel to the United States before they apply for an ESTA authorization, but it is recommended that an ESTA approval be obtained as soon as a VWP traveler begins to plan a trip to visit the United States, and no later than 72 hours before departure to the United States.

There is no cost for the application and once the application is submitted online, in most cases, ESTA will respond with an almost immediate determination of eligibility for travel. If approval is not granted prior to check-in, boarding may be denied. Passengers may experience delayed processing, or denied admission at a U.S. port of entry. At this time it is not fully known what role carriers will play in ensuring the customer has obtained ESTA approval.

  • Approval will be valid for two years or until the passport expires, whichever is earlier
  • Once ESTA approval has been granted, it is not necessary for the VWP national to obtain approval before each trip within the two years (unless a new passport is obtained)
  • An ESTA is not required for Guam or Saipan
  • An ESTA may be denied due to: overstays, previous criminal history, issues associated with a prior visa
  • Receipt of ESTA is not valid for travel

More information may be found in http://www.CBP.GOV/ESTA.

ESTA applications are available at the ESTA Website https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov.

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Posted in Travel Visa Info, United States of America

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