About Michael Yuen

About Michael Yuen @yuenx

Michael is an outdoor enthusiast and a Cybersecurity Engineer with a 17-year background in IT Systems Engineering. He aims to live a life that is good and inspired. He enjoys being a parent, hiking, photography, food, technology, DIY projects, travel, mentoring, and building relationships. See his family's story.

15 Jul 2020

My Two-Month Experience With GrubHub

By Michael Yuen @yuenx|2021-09-09T22:37:12-07:00Jul 15, 2020 - Wednesday|General, Reviews|

Read: 12 mins.With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc with restaurants throughout the nation, food, grocery, and meal prep delivery services have increased in popularity, such as Uber Eats, Postmates, Door Dash, and GrubHub. Likewise, ChowNow and other services that help restaurants take orders with lower fees have also gained prominence as businesses try to find ways to maximize their profit margin to survive and avoid bankruptcy. GrubHub is one of the leading food delivery services and has established a partnership with Yelp, the most popular, crowd-sourced, business review service in the United States. I tried out GrubHub for two months, and what I learned was rather shocking.

13 Jul 2020

Review: Jackery SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel (Gen 2 vs 3)

By Michael Yuen @yuenx|2023-05-20T09:20:22-07:00Jul 13, 2020 - Monday|Product Reviews, Reviews|

Read: 8 mins.Jackery impressed me with their Explorer 1000 battery power station and its excellent customer service. I complemented it with two SolarSaga 100W solar panels for camping and in case we had a power outage. That was exactly what happened one day: we lost power for an ENTIRE day. Were the panels able to produce enough energy to get us through the whole day working from home?

12 Jul 2020

Power Generators: Gas vs Propane vs Battery Station (and Solar)

By Michael Yuen @yuenx|2023-10-13T17:21:44-07:00Jul 12, 2020 - Sunday|Do-It-Yourself, General, Travel|

Read: 11 mins.In an emergency, we could find ourselves stranded with no electricity in a World that is consuming much more power today than ever before. Just in the past year alone, the globe was hit with numerous fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and even riots! Solar panels were installed in our home earlier this year during the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in grid power staying shut for nearly the entire day while the family had to work from home and do distance learning. In this article, we look into generators and battery power stations to provide electricity, and look at the differences between gas, propane, and battery as energy sources.

10 Jul 2020

Review: Vastar Mini Electric Air Pump

By Michael Yuen @yuenx|2021-06-26T22:41:34-07:00Jul 10, 2020 - Friday|Product Reviews, Reviews|

Read: 4 mins.A tire can run flat at any time while biking, riding a scooter, or driving a car. For that reason, I have an $80 electric pump in my car's trunk that operates off the cigarette lighter plug, and a tall hand pump for bicycles that is inconvenient to pack into the backpack. One day, I came across an advertisement for this Vastar electric air pump -- a small, lightweight, ELECTRIC pump! Intriguing. I never knew compact ones like these existed! Naturally, I purchased one to see how it would do.

5 Jul 2020

Review: Rockpals 26 Quart Car Freezer/Fridge (RP-25L) (26qt/25L/25 Liters)

By Michael Yuen @yuenx|2022-07-19T00:06:49-07:00Jul 5, 2020 - Sunday|Product Reviews, Reviews|

Read: 13 mins.Those who have known me know that I really like the Rockpals 500W battery power station for its compact size, but ultimately gave it away after falling in love with the Goal Zero Yeti 500x. It was no surprise then when one of my former coworkers bought the company's car refrigerator/freezer last month, the 26qt Rockpals RP-25L, and asked for my opinion of it. At first glance, I really liked the look: solid black with accents of bright orange in a compact size. I told him that it probably was good based on my past tests with the solid battery power station. As it turns out, the car freezer is Rockpals' first one ever. Did it live up to my expectations? How did it compare to my Foho 54qt car freezer? I asked him if I could borrow it for a week for evaluation, only to find a serious issue (and workaround) with the product.

4 Jul 2020

Review: DvSport Sunshine Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board (iSUP) (WH305-10)

By Michael Yuen @yuenx|2022-08-03T01:37:17-07:00Jul 4, 2020 - Saturday|Product Reviews, Reviews|

Read: 6 mins.Ever since my best friend and I tried stand up paddle boarding (SUP) a few years ago, we had always wanted to purchase one but did not know whether we would enjoy it enough to buy one. Today, after having rented one many times, we decided it was time to own one but were unsure about whether to get an inflatable (iSUP) or a hard SUP. This review dives into the differences between them, and why I ultimately chose the inflatable, DvSport Sunshine.

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