Chromilo Amin

This year my daughter was adamant that we travel together as a family because her brother was going to be in grade 12 next year. She thought this year would be ideal for everyone as they both are still younger and more willing to travel. I started looking as early as a month in advance and planned for a family vacation while celebrating my wife's birthday there at the same time. This post is about my trip to the  Grand Cayman Islands , what worked and what didn't work. Here is a map of the island from one of the tourists stores we visited; a view from the air at the start of our visit; and the hot temperatures recorded. I booked a rental car with  Firefly  and bought car insurance through  Expedia  because it was cheaper. I found out that the insurance was not honored by Firefly and if I opted out of purchasing further insurance on-site, they would have to hold $1500 of charges on my credit card. I ended up purchasing the additional insurance, invalidating what ...

I didn’t want to fix my car’s air condition system since it stopped blowing cold air close to 2 years ago now. I was delaying it because the initial quote I received was for $1200 after having spent about $200 for a failed compressor recharge at Vancouver Transmission Ltd. The pressure was not stable, so they said there was a leak and after running a diagnostic, they concluded it was compressor itself. They quoted about $1200 for the repair and that’s where I left it at because I couldn’t justify spending that much on a 2006 Accord with over 400K mileage. I realized how important air condition system was these past summer seasons when we were stuck in traffic headed to Seattle/Portland in 30 C heat. My family suffered through that trip and wife almost had a heat stroke. I decided to call my mobile mechanic to quote on the compressor replacement and recharge. It was much better at $550 and $175 to get it recharged at VAP Auto. Total would have been cheaper than taking it back to Vancouv...

 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, yo...

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...

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 emergen...

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 ...