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How to Fix your Car A/C on a Budget?

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...
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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, yo...
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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...
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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 emergen...
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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 ...
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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...
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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 on...
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