broom’s blog

昨天终于去shopping了一把。纽约附近最有名的outlet是Woodbury，不过离NYC有点远，相比之下Jersey Gardens就要近很多，加上我看了看这两个地方的网站，觉得Woodbury比较高端加女性向，我能买的那么几个牌子Jersey Gardens基本都有了，就决定去后者。这次还要多谢Ben开车带我去，要不然从布鲁克林公交地铁要换乘好几次才能折腾过去，考虑到回来的时候会拿很多东西还是有点麻烦的。

到了以后感觉Jersey Gardens算是那种介于Mall和Outlet之间的，布局方面是那种挺典型的上下两层的Mall，占地面积也很大了，不过不像那种超大的outlet那样每个商店一个独立的building那么夸张。里面的店基本都是outlet store或者factory store，打折还是挺多的了。

我最后好像一共也就买了三个店的衣服，因为从第一个店出来以后拖着一大包衣服就已经很难行动了……后来还是跑到门口把几包衣服放进车里，再回来继续逛的。我觉得对于我来说在美国这边买衣服比中国要简单很多，到一个店之后大概有以下几个步骤：

1. 找一两条尺码差不多的裤子和一两件上衣，试穿，确定这家的什么号码适合。这边的一大好处是裤子是有两个参数的，腰围和裤长；国内貌似普遍只有腰围，裤长要自己裁。另外一个好处就是对我来说这儿的衣服好像普遍比较合身一些，可能是因为美国人民都比较胖？
2. 到clearance区扫一遍，号码符合又不是太难看的就都拿出来就可以了，基本上试穿一下都是合适的。这个区的东西都是很豪爽的折扣再折扣，普遍很便宜。一件一件扒拉裤子找那个数字组合的感觉确实很像在“扫”，找到的话基本就会买了……
3. 其他的区转一转，打折比较多的款式也可以看看，我没怎么看都。。。普通价格的在城里也一样可以买。

后来买鞋的时候转了半天还是转到Reebok了，我觉得他们的鞋比较便宜。不过他们的deal很狡猾，是买一双第二双50% off，买两双的话第三双免费。这个deal狡猾的一点在于打折的都是最便宜的那双，一旦你打算买两三双，那么里面一般就会有比较贵的了，而且你要为这双贵的付全款，哈。理想的策略是买三双一样价格的，这样相当于6.7折，还凑合吧。我和Ben凑了凑一起买了三双，但是结帐的时候才发现，outlet store的精髓并不在于这个狡猾的deal，而在于它放在clearance那个架子上的东西其实还有别的折扣的……七七八八又折下来几十块钱，害得我们都白算了。

奇怪的一点是这个Mall好像没有护肤品，倩碧之类的牌子都没有，我找了半天也没找到。基本上就是衣服，珠宝，手表，香水什么的。另外一进门的地方就一个醒目的牌子用中文写着接受银联卡……

从这儿离开之后Ben带我去了一个Board Game Store，里面几十个老外宅男在很认真的战万智牌，旁边还有倒计时，是个小型的tournament。旁边一个桌子店主和几个人在开一个叫Three-Dragon Ante的游戏，还挺简单有趣的，我跟着玩了几盘，第一盘还不知道怎么玩的时候就beginner’s luck赢了一把，然后就没赢过了，最后一盘玩了个小trick成功了得了第二。那店里卖的东西很多，有我知道比较多的策略游戏，有很多万智牌，战锤之类的大坑游戏，还有漫画杂志什么的，看到了很多美漫，和日本的cosplay杂志。老外宅男的商店还是蛮有意思的。

今天跟朋友去中关村逛了整整一下午，买手机。简单总结一下结果就是最后她买了E71，我买了张街霸4的盘……

逛的店也不是太多，买了这么长时间的主要原因是某人的想法太多变了。最开始还以为只是E71和iPhone 3G二选一的问题，结果到那儿发现iPhone 3G黑色8G版本的4150价格还可以但她只想买白色的，白色的只有16G版本的，16G的要4900，这价格实在是有点贵了。然后依次考虑了三星的几款机器，多普达的几款机器，LG的几款机器……在智能机和非智能机，触摸屏和键盘，黑色和白色之间摇摆数次，最终还是回到了原点，买了Nokia的E71。不得不说E71之所以能成为街机，还是因为它各方面都非常强大的。

我买黑莓的意向则被严重的挫折了……因为被朋友告知1. 黑莓不是手机，2. 黑莓是老板机，3. 用黑莓要再配一个别的手机否则就会显得很没有life，4. 黑莓应该是几百块钱的。然后我主要想买的8320报价从1050到1850不等……如此巨大的差价让我非常胆寒。太苦了，要不就再坚持坚持吧，哎。

哦，今天还看到了Google G1的现货，报价3150。刷的是androidin论坛自制的汉化系统，开头还有很山寨的广告splash屏。问了一下现状貌似是有中文输入法，但是不能发送中文短信，看来还是纯玩家才会买的东西。另外G1的侧滑屏幕那个看起来很不牢靠的塑料连接架子，也让我觉得这东西是禁不起我折腾的。要不就放弃被严重b4的黑莓，等等android的别的机器？

My pretty little MP3 player – Creative Zen Stone - refused to work after the trip to Santa Cruz and half moon bay last weekend, probably because some sea water entered this poor thing. It’s sad :(

However, I heard shops in US are nice to customers and it’s easy to return things. So I went to Fry’s today, tried to return or exchange it. To my surprise, after looking at the receipt and serial number, the clerk accepted it directly and quickly, without any other questions. I felt a little guilty because I claimed this MP3 stopped to work by itself, so I didn’t ask for refund but exchange for a new one. I was satisfied with this type of MP3.

Xumin said she returned a lot of things in US. It’s really comfortable to do shopping here.

I’m going back to China so some shopping is necessary, for gifts of family and friends.

I have bought some stuff online, including ginsengs, some skin care agents from The Body Shop, and the Thinkpad. And I have got some small gifts here, which I bought passingly during travels. However, it’s far less than enough. My girlfriend gave me a small list with several make-ups on it, and more gifts are needed for some guys as I thought over.

So yesterday Xumin, the nice PHD sister, took me to do shopping. First we visited Stanford Shopping Center, which is a very nice large mall with beautiful streets and lots of good shops, in Stanford campus. At Macy’s we got a kind of cream of “ORIGINS” brand on my gf’s list, and a bottle of “Acqua Di Gio” fragrance a friend asked me to bring. Then I chose some chocolates mixing boxes in Godiva Chocolatier. There is an interesting shop called Sephora, in which you can smell numerous different brands of fragrance. And in Kiehl’s we bough some lip balms, said to be a kind of famous product of this company.

Our next stop is Gilroy Premium Outlet. After driving south for 40 minutes, a huge outlet appeared. So many people are shopping here, looks like in China :) Here I had a happy time because I bought some stuff for myself, haha. Surely there are some cosmetics outlet shops , but I didn’t find what I want in them. Let me count stuff I bought here: a Levi’s jeans pant for 20$, two Reebok sport shoes (for 70$ :D I finally finished my history with only one pair of shoes!!!), and a 4$ GAP Tee….

OK, this is my shopping trip. Though it couldn’t compare with some women’s shopping trophy, it still made me very very tired but happy :P

上次去Yosemite的时候发现裤子坏了，眼看这周末又要再去一趟了，赶快去Rei买了条他家的裤子。传说中的Waterproof/Windproof/breathable集于一身的神奇面料……加上上次败的那条TheNorthFace，嗯，真奢侈。riki买了双hiking的鞋，我们来拭目以待这个贱人会不会再去退掉。

这次再游Yosemite就有经验多了，打算第一天开车到Glacier Point，然后走Panorama Trail，这条路经过三个瀑布和著名的Mist Trail。第二天去Mariposa Grove看大树，这条路被yosemiteexplore评为五星级，和Half Dome，Upper Yosemite Fall，Mist Trail并列，不知道为什么，去看看。

接下来几个周末都排上了，这周去Yosemite，下周去旧金山看Bay To Breakers，下下周Memorial Day Weekend，去洛杉矶。不错，hoho

PS：别看我和riki这次隔了一个月就又跑去Yosemite，他有个同学在这边读了一年半，已经去了十五次Yosemite了，嗯……