America is a country of sports fans. The three biggest sports are gridiron football, basketball, and baseball. Having experienced the insanity of college football, I set my eyes on the NBA, attending the December 1st game between the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers at Oracle Arena in Oakland. For those unfamiliar with the nomenclature, California is sometimes called "the Golden State", and the Warriors are the local Bay Area team.

NBA teams play several times a week, adding up ...

I have set a goal of visiting at least 10 different states during my US trip. So far, I've made it to three, with plans for six more tentatively in the pipeline. Today I'm going to write about state # 2: Washington State, and its capital Seattle.

The home of Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft, Seattle is nestled between the Olympia mountains to the west, and the Cascade mountains to the east. A seaport city, the Pugent Sound winds north ...

One of the most exciting things about being a computer scientist and visiting the Bay Area is the proliferation of amazing technology companies. Berkeley and Stanford have exceptional computer science programs that supply and are supplied by the companies of the Bay.

Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, Stanford University is one of the top academic institutions in the world. With just 15,000 students on an enormous campus, the university feels incredibly spacious and well ...

I consider it a privilege to have been in California during the 2012 US Presidential Election.

California is strongly Democratic (as in the political party), and Berkeley is a liberal bastion in the Golden State. Add a strongly left-leaning student body and a convenient time zone, and you have the ingredients for a euphoric night.

The tension began around 5pm, as polls on the East Coast closed and the counting began. Naturally, Romney took an early lead due to the ...

I went to a talk by a self-styled "lifestyle entrepreneur" today. These people describe themselves as people who work in fields that fit with their lifestyle and preferences, be it to travel around the world, achieve moral or ethical goals, or find self actualisation.

One story he told really struck me the wrong way. He was describing how he was being introduced to the marvels of Chinese factory production in the mid-2000s, and how, having just read "The Four Hour ...

There are times when all you need is a hug.

Hug someone today. You don't know how much they might need it.

Last weekend, I went on a trip to the Contra Costa county, to the east of the Bay Area. Run by the Rotary club, the trip was designed to give international students a taste of country life in California, and how Americans who didn't dwell in the more urban areas made their lives. The day included visits to a nursery, a farm, a ranch, an olive oil plantation, and a historic preserved ranch.

The country areas of northern California ...

Booking flights is a painful process. Fares can vary wildly depending on your booking date, when you're flying, what time you're flying, and more. It's often tricky to compare lots of airlines at the same time to find the best deals - this can mean thousands of dollars of difference.

Flying from Australia means that layovers are often inevitable. Ensuring adequate transfer times (and minimizing overall layover time) can also be aggravating - particularly when there are multiple layover ...

I would describe myself as an amateur photographer. I like traveling, and much of the reason why I like traveling is to see new places and take photos. I get a kick out of taking great photos in amazing locations.

A few years ago my dad recommended a new camera to me: the Sony NEX-5. It packs a fully-featured DSLR into a body that is only slightly larger than a point-and-shoot camera. It has a great automatic mode that I ...

A few weekends ago, I went with a group of fellow international students to hire bikes and pedal around San Francisco. This was the first time I really explored the city and its western and northern most areas.

We spent around seven hours all up pedaling around the city, and saw many amazing things. We also experienced the fickleness of San Francisco weather: the conditions varied from brilliant sunshine to chilly overcast to icy winds as we ventured through the ...