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Success Story Renewing my Okta Maintenance Certification thru Examity

 The Okta Certified Professional certification had to be renewed every 2 years and my maintenance exam was due on July 30, 2023. I was confident about passing the exam because I had just completed an HRIS mastering project and Okta. However, the exam format was unnatural using DOMC (discreet option multiple choice), so I had to study and review a fair bit of material to prepare.  After studying a decent amount, I scheduled my exam for Tuesday, June 27, 2023. After hitting the next page, there was an error so I hit the back button and tried again. I was able to get it scheduled but didn't know that the exam date was actually scheduled for Sunday, June 25, 2023, for some reason. There was a confirmation email stating that but of course, I did not read it because I was focused on the Tuesday, June 27th date. I continued cramming until Tuesday but realized in horror that I was a no-show when I logged in 30 minutes before the exam at 10:30pm. If you have ever done offsite exams, you kno
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How to vacation correctly in Hawaii (for the cost-conscious traveler)

I just returned last week from a one week vacation from Honolulu, Hawaii. It was a great time for me and my family but it could have been cheaper, less tiring, and less stressful. Keep reading and you may find some of the advice here helpful for your situation if you are looking to go on vacation to this island paradise. I booked all my flights and hotel from Expedia because I like how the user interface allows you to move your travel time a day before or a day after to try and find a better schedule or cheaper cost. I also booked my car rentals through Expedia and they offer some generous discounts for booking flights+hotel package. I found the Hilton Hawaiian Village is always cheaper than most of the hotels on Waikiki and is a great location because it’s at the start of the strip and close enough to Ala Moana mall too. The flight was cheap if you leave from Seatac airport. I booked using parksleepfly.com hotel for a one-night stay at Surestay Best Western, and parked on their lot fo

High-blood Pressure Scare

My wife recently had an elevated high blood pressure. It was very unexpected as she was always showing me how low her readings were every time we checked together. I have always been the one constantly monitoring both cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar readings and am really surprised to find out that her readings went through the roof last week.  My mother-in-law just left for Toronto last Sunday after a summer full of family gatherings. My wife complained days before that she had constant headaches and took the customary Advil whenever she feels the onset of migraine coming or when her time of the month is near.  This time was different however. She said that her head felt like it was about to explode and she decided to check her blood pressure readings at home. The reading came back systolic 230 and diastolic 130. After seeing this, I immediately drove us to Surrey Memorial ER to get her checked out.  If you have ever had the opportunity to wait in an emergency room, you s

My Answers to the KP Engineering Fellow (Intern) Application

Here are the answers I provided to a fellowship application for engineering internship. I needed to provide a link in the application so I thought it would be best to include in my blog. What impact do you want to have on the world and why? I believe education is key to furthering any advancements we want to see in climate change, healthcare reform, renewable energy, etc. I want to be able to help the next generation find their purpose through professional and personal mentorship. I currently provide mentorship to my alma mater, students at University of Hawaii at Manoa and at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). I provide guidance to diploma students studying 2-year diplomas in business, web development, support operations. I also provided guidance to new immigrants looking to find jobs here in Canada. It started in university when I worked as a part-time math tutor to supplement my student expenses. I enjoyed helping fellow students pass their courses through tutoring. I

Student Story: A SUSE Scholarship in Cloud-Native Application Architecture

I was recently selected to compete in another Udacity scholarship challenge this time with SUSE to learn all about Cloud-Native microservices. As part of the challenge, we had to answer a few questions as part of the Student Story Program Yearbook. It's a requirement to be active in these community initiatives in order to be selected to proceed to phase 2 of the nanodegree program, so I gladly answered the questions below. In one or two sentences give us a BRIEF introduction of yourself. My name is Chromilo Amin and I'm from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I am a lifelong learner and believe that continuous training and re-training is the key to being relevant at your job in technology. I am disciplined enough having passed some certifications via self-study and have even loaded up on 15-credit semesters during University. I have taken many vendor certifications and many University or College degrees to further my career. There is an insatiable itch that comes with continu

Student Story: A Bertelsmann Technology Scholarship in Artificial Intelligence

As part of the Udacity Bertelsmann Technology scholarship, I was asked to write a student story to provide feedback on the overall experience. There were 3 questions on a Google form and these were my answers to those questions below.   Fast forward to July 2021, I was selected into phase 2 scholarship and have submitted all 3 projects for grading. I even submitted all the career services projects including Resume review, LinkedIn review, Cover-letter review, and GitHub review.  Make sure you don't click "Graduate" yet until you are ready because you will be kicked out of classroom chats so make sure you have said your farewells in advance.  What do you want the world to know about you?   Loving husband and father to two wonderful kids. My passion is academia and enjoy the journey of learning. I have accumulated many certificates, diplomas, and degrees over the years. Some from self-study, some from traditional brick-and-mortar schools, and more recently from online/dista

Tong Louie Family YMCA gym opens this Friday

My neighborhood gym is finally opening its doors at the end of the week. I am so excited because other fitness centers like Club16, Fit4Less, and AnytimeFitness have already opened their facilities. I can't wait to get back to my regular fitness routine and pick-up where I left off on my strength training regime. I received the welcome news via email last week with this statement and was asked to reactivate my membership which was put on pause from March to June. "We are excited to announce that we are reopening the Tong Louie Family YMCA on Friday, June 26th at 2:30 p.m." I filled in the reactivation web form on Friday and received confirmation today with details on what to expect. Gym visits are staggered to ensure physical distancing and only possible with advanced registration through the MindBody scheduling website  https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ . I didn't want to be the first at the door at 2:30pm and appear to be too eager so I booked a 3:30pm Fitness Flo