Project Blog

Well, this is an interesting concept.

"Project Blog is here because we care and because we want to make a difference. On July 24th, bloggers from all around the world will be updating their own blog every 30 minutes for 24 solid hours all in the name of each blogger's favorite charity."

I am not sure if I can commit to an entry eveyr 30 minutes for 24 hours... and I probably won't be able to raise a dime. :) But I can post it here and maybe someone else will see it and sign up. :D

Renaming My Blog

I am seriously contemplating renaming this blog "Parsoni's House of Knickknacks." Might as well call it as we see it...

Antenna Balls

Falls into the knickknacks category, they too make me happy. And having lots of random pictures all over my blog obviously make me happy too. Here are some antenna ball pictures that I have came acrossed while I was trying to find a link to show you all what the Mickey Mouse antenna balls are all about. Perhaps there's a lesson behind all this.

There are these animal ones:



Find them adorable? Click here.

And there are these fishy ones. :)) Hubby doesn't know this yet, but he's about to see these in real life pretty soon :D

Knickknacks

I be damned. All these time I didn't know that "knickknack" is actually one word. Great, added the underscore in my email address for no reason.

Anyways, since we have a 4 megapixel and a 0.3/1.3 megapixel interpolated digital cameras, I've decided to abuse them.

Hubby bought me this christmas tree ornament on Sunday:



and also floating flipflop candles



Aren't they just adorable? And they are making me a very happy woman. Yeah, it doesn't take much to make me happy. :) Knickknacks, good food, a good movie (WITH NO ONE WHISPERING/TALKING BEHIND ME), and quality time with hubby will generally do the trick.

Yesterday I saw this humongous monkey on someone's patio as I was driving home from work. I then dragged hubby to come with me to take pictures of it. :D I hope the owner of the monkey doesn't mine, but it was facing the street.



I didn't notice there were a spider and a dog also. :D

What is Culture Worth?

So my friend B introduced me to one of his online friend in the area, hoping that I can have someone to hang out with in San Diego. This friend of his is also from Hong Kong, but man do I have a hard time carrying on a conversation with her. First off I am not sure if it's her English skill or general comprehension, I could have been speaking Greek to her and it wouldn't have made much difference.

Conversation was difficult:

"Who's your favorite artist (implied HK artist)?"

I don't know. I've been in the states for over 10 years, I honestly can't name a new singer from the past 10 years.

"Where's your family?"

Not that it's her fault or anything, but anyone who knows me know that I rarely ever talk about my family. It's a big no-no.

"What? Aren't you planning on teaching your kids Chinese (language & culture)?"

Ummmmmm. Nope. Had it been so important to me, I wouldn't have married a white guy to begin with.

And this is something that I never get. To some people it's really important to preserve their cultures and traditions even after emmigrating to another country. Well, first off, might not be fair for me to say this, if you embrace your culture so much, why leave your country in the first place?

Okay, regardless of that, I am sure some of them have legitimate reasons to leave. But I just don't think this whole idea of preserving your culture in another country is going to work out very well. For starters, rarely do I know a first generation ABC (American Born Chinese) who happily attended Chinese school. Base on my own lazy personality, I don't think it's fair to force kids to go to Chinese school on Sundays after the regular five days of school. And most of them can hardly write even their own names in Chinese, not that it's very important. I simply don't see the point. In all fairness. I do have an ABC friend who minored in Chinese in college and able to read and write some.

But have any one of you ever met a second generation of any ethnicity who can still speak, read, or write their "native" language? I haven't. Most first generations who emmigrate here will marry someone who speaks the same language and share the same culture, for obvious reasons. First generation born here will still tend to marry within the same race. From the second generation on, it's all fair game. At the end, we'll all be assimilated and resistance is simply futile.

Tuesday

Yesterday though wasn't as good of a day for me. It's one of those days that I just feel depressed for no obvious reasons. I interpret everything everyone say or do the most negative way possible and thinks that the entire world (with the exception of Hubby and couple close friends) dislikes me. And it just got progressively worse as the day went on. Luckily I snapped out of it today. :)

Happy Sunday

Sunday was one of the happiest day in my life. (No, I did not get married on Sunday. Those of you who had read this blog before will know that I am already married. Been married for almost year and a half and still in our honeymoon period. Hopefully that will stay that way for the duration of the marriage. :D) We really didn't do much on Sunday, but hey, I don't ask for much.

Hubby and I drove to Anaheim, but then decided against actually going into Disneyland so we went shopping in Downtown Disney instead -- I need a replacement for my Minnie Mouse antenna ball. (While I am trying to put a link here for Mickey Mouse antenna balls, I accidnetally found a bunch of cute ones. :( It's always when I try to add links to my blog when I get into trouble. I'll put some of the pics up later.)

Hubby also bought me a lot of knick knacks. I'm a true sucker for knick knacks if you haven't noticed yet. Just look at my email address.

Along with the rest of the knick knacks, I bought these two books.



Hubby was curious why I bought the Democrat one also, but I think one's got to listen to both sides, right? :D

This one we didn't buy but hubby and I happily browsed it at the store. Check it out.



Oh, and then we went to Alhambra and got me manga and my Chinese food fix. :)) On our way back home we talked about hubby's upcoming job opportunities and the next BIG (5/3/3) house that we are going to get after hubby's discharge from the Navy. It was a happy day. :)

On eBusiness

Two days ago I purchased an exercise equipment through Amazon.com. (Yeah, it's one of those things that can reel almost all women in but most of us won't really use once we got it, those.)

This one:



Apparently it's not sold directly by Amazon.com but one of their partners. What I didn't notice is that the expected delivery time was 2-3 weeks. TWO to THREE WEEKS?? And we are talking about the time before the item is being shipped out, NOT the time it'll take to reach ME! Are they shipping from India or something?

Get this:

Order placed: June 28
Estimated shipping date: July 16
Estimated arrival date: July 21 - July 27

You've GOT to be kidding. Do these people understand the concept of eBusiness? Most eBusiness nowadays ship with 48 hrs (usually 24, the 48 is mainly cushion). When you make a purchase from Amazon.com they always tell you 7-10 days but most of the time I received my items within 5 days -- except for the time when they messed out my order in which case the item never came.

Couple weeks ago I closed an auction on ebay on a Thursday and received on item the following Monday, and that was from NYC, the other side of the country.

I am not waiting an entire month for an item that's shipped within continetal US. If it's still not shipped out by next week, I am cancelling my order. Those who can't afford to have the resources of shipping out their items efficiently should not be doing business online, in my not-no-humble opinion.

Teen gets six years for fatal street race

That's it? Six-years for manslaughter? The maximum sentence is 10. It's almost worth it to drive recklessly down the street. He murdered a 20-year-old innocent man and all he had to pay for with is 6-years of his life??

The 20-year-old deceased has his future taken away from him, but the killer?

"The younger Ferreira told the probation officer he fears prison but would someday like to take over the family business and work on fast cars."

Mind you, something he likes to do. How that for fairness?

"The word is finally getting out that if you street race, you could kill somebody," [Blaine Bowman, prosecutor] said.

What? Huh? You mean they didn't know that before? What are they doing on the street then?

I am sorry if I am a strong believer of an eye for an eye.

I am also a strong believer of natural selection. Why waste our cops' time and our tax money to pull over people for not wearing their seat belts (unless, of course if the city/state can use the money)? In my opinion, before people obtain their driver licences, they should be shown pictures (preferrably the real scene) of what it looks like to die in an MVA (motor vehicle accident), then if they still want to drive seatbelt free, put their kids on their laps, or many other stupid things that you can or cannot name off the top of your head, let them. Help us clean out our genepool.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune

Movie: Paycheck

Watched Ben Afleck's PayCheck tonight. It's actually pretty good. It's been a while since I've seen a relatively decent movie. The first 5 - 10 minutes was almost cheesy. And we all know that "cheesy" is NOT a good word to describe a science fiction movie. If I have a longer attention span, I can write cheesy science ficiton any time of the day. But then it picks up, and the plot thickens more and more. Thumbs up for this movie. Directed by John Woo, no wonder some of the car-chasing scene looks so familiar. I grew up with those car-chasing scenes. XD

The BEST part about the movie? Nobody is whispering behind me. No annoying cell phones. No popcorn bag rustling sound. I can actually ENJOY the movie instead of battling my annoyance. Uma Thurman is in the movie too!


Paycheck
(Widescreen Edition)

It's Finally Happening!!!

All the anit-Bush propaganda that I sent my husband while he was underway, today he finally told me that I am slowly converting him into a Democrat! XD It's finally happening! All the hardwork and the debates are paying off! XD

AOL & Censorship?

I saw this blurb while I was over at Darwin Awards' website:

"Darwin's Diatribe
AOL, STOP YOUR CENSORS! The Darwin Awards newsletter is banned from AOL email boxes, even if you are a long-term subscriber. AOL Users--protect your right to subscribe. Tell AOL you want the Darwin Awards newsletter back! No more censorship, please.

22,000 AOL subscribers
want the Darwin Awards newsletter."

Now that is censorship by its truest definition. You can't receive these emails because we think it's "tasteless"?? Can you imagine if the media start censoring by the same standard? Half of the TV shows will be GONE! :D

Darwin Award?

Now here's someone worthy of a mention in the Darwin Award. He wasn't JUST driving in excess of 110-mph while racing another motorist and veering recklessly through traffic, nor was he JUST chatting on his cell phone. That's right, he was doing BOTH at the same time. Unfortunately his death was probably not spectacular enough to win him an actual Darwin Award.

A Book Worth Reading

Now here's a book which is probably more worthy of a read than Bill Clinton's My Life.



What the book is about:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's not every day that a top CIA counterterrorism official -- still serving in the government -- is allowed to publish a book that blasts the White House.

Well, I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it's #13 on Amazon.com's Sales Rank. I am too afraid to find out the rank for "My Life".

The Next Step

S.D. bishop won't ban politicians from sacrament

God forbid (figure of speech), a BISHOP who is sensible. I am waiting to hear Bishop Sheridan say that bishops who'd continue to perform sacrament for defiant politicans also won't make it to heaven...

At this rate, probably half the people in the religion won't make the to heaven. Rest be assured, Bishop Sheridan would.

I can't WAIT till stem cell research is legal here. Then the Roman Catholic will have to further rule out those who create the embryoes, those who works with embryonic stem cells. To take it a step further (seems like fanatics are usually quite extreme), anyone who works for a biotech company that performs stem cell research, entities/organizations that fund these researches. What about patients who benefitted from these researches? And their family? Hhmmmmm. I see a lot more debates for the Catholic Bishops in the future.

The Giant Wheel of Technological Advancement

I think there are many things in life once it started leaning heavily towards one direction, there's no stopping and there's no turning back, no matter who or how many of us do not want it to happen.

Take digital camera for an example. I am sure camera making companies aren't too happy with their initial arrivals. But the first few generations were probably too crappy to compete with a real camera. Then each generation that comes out becomes more sophisticated, and the lower end ones also continue to drop in prices. Can camera companies stop the trend of techncial advancement? No! If they want a piece of the pie, they'll have to jump in themselves also -- manufacturing digital cameras, photo printing paper? And digital prints and CDrom copies are now offered at film developing places. That's evolution.

Another example -- outsourcing. It's pretty ironic really. Us Americans have always wanted to telecommunte for work, when that dream is finally starting to come true, employers also realize that "if we are not going to have our employees come to work and sit here eight hours a day, why not hire someone in a different country for A LOT CHEAPER." I don't like outsourcing, most of the work I can do can and probably will be outsourced. So what? The government can try higher taxes for companies that outsource, or lower tax brackets for those who don't. I doubt that is going to deter a lot of outsourcing. Bottomline: Money is evil. Ultimately, companies want to make more money and consumers are reluctant to pay higher prices for work/end products done in US.

Embyronic stem cell research is another one of those things. I don't personally care for it. Though not religious, I still believe that life began when an egg is fertilized. (Religious folks will probably argue about "at which point does the soul enters blah blah blah.") Us Americans can dig our heels in; the government can ban stem cell researches, but the rest of the world are doing it. Is our society willing to lose our #1 place in the bioscience field? I think not. Stem cell research is doomed to happen in the US, it's just a matter of time.

Buying (pharmaceutical) drugs from the internet will also fall into this category. We can impose a lot of rules for pharmacists and doctors within the US, but it's going to be tough to tell other countries to NOT sell drugs to US. Once again, it's money we are talking about here. If a pharmacy/doctor can make money selling drugs to US, they will. I am sorry we lost the 18 year old boy who was taking Vicodin along with other strong drugs he obtained from the internet, but he was 18 years old, not 13. I'm sure he was well aware that he probably shouldn't be getting Vicodin off the internet with an online questionaire. We can try imposing tighter regulations, but I think the ultimate responsibilities lie within the users -- if you are going to bypass going to a doctor or even a pharmacists in real life, then you better do your own research of drug interactions online also. Or at the very minimum, call up a pharmacist anonymously to obtain more information about mixing drugs. Unless we shut down internet commerce, there's always going to be a way for people to buy prescription drugs online, with or without a prescription. Alternatively, we can have "Freedom Operation (fill in the blank)" until there are no longer other countries to sell prescription drugs to our citizens illegally. Why not? We have bigger guns, don't we? That's what we do, right?

Microsoft Patented WHAT?

The new patent is just one of many for the software giant. Since last year, Microsoft has been on a campaign to generate more money from its intellectual property, and in recent weeks the company has obtained patents for double-clicking, XML-scripting methods and a system for generating a to-do list from source code.

Double clicking!! Well, I guess it is a Microsoft thing, but stil, double clicking? Maybe Apple can patent right clicking also then?

DOOM III

WOOHOOO!!!! Doom III is scheduled (subject to changes) be released on the 13th of NEXT MONTH!!! I can't wait!!! :D

Gmail Invitations

I have a couple extra Gmail invitations lying around so if anyone is interested, just drop me an email or leave your email address in the comment section. Please be aware that its been known that Gmail invitation sent to Hotmail accounts have been bounced back and a couple friends of mine never received theirs that I've sent to their yahoo account. So if you are using any of the above email addresses, you take your own chances. First come first serve.

Bush loses advantage in war on terrorism?

Bush loses advantage in war on terrorism

Isn't it about damn time?

"Fewer than half of those surveyed -- 47 percent -- say the war in Iraq was worth fighting"

Just what's the percentage within that 47% truly understand that Saddam Hussein is NOT tied to the 911 attack? THAT is what I would like to know.

"Two in three Americans say the war has improved the lives of the Iraqi people, and a growing number of Americans say the United States is making significant progress toward a democratic government."

Huh? What have these people been smoking?

On Emails

I subscribed to the news alert on CNN.com and News.com. This is GREAT, wonder why I had never thought of it before.

Remember how during the OJ trial, a lot of Americans follow it day and night like it's the popular TV series (it probably is) and that a lot had withdrawals when it was finally over and they couldn't find something else to obssess their lives with?

I wonder if my reading one news website after another falls into the same abnormality category.

Speaking of which, my last and favorite POP3 email account has also been compromised. :( I was SO careful with it too. Any sites that even look even remotely suspicious I'll give them my yahoo email instead, but it's still compromised. Everyone knows that once you got onto AN email list, that's pretty much the beginning of the end of that email account. Worse of all, I am not getting JUNK emails, I am getting viruses. The mail server screen them out, but I get the original email, with attachment removed, AND a separate email from the mail server telling me that the attachment has been removed. So now I get TWO emails for each virus sent to me. Oh dear!

My previous POP3 ended up getting some 150 junk emails a day, and on a good day I get maybe two legitimate emails, if it's not filtered out. Finally I was left with no choice but to give up on that account. Now my favorite one too! I am bummed.

My Life - by Bill Clinton

There's what's acceptable, and there's what's not acceptable. His fling with Monica Lewinsky -- acceptable. His publishing a book about it -- not acceptable. I mean, even a president is just an ordinary man, and sometimes men stray. (Ask me again when my husband was the one who strayed, see if I still feel the same way. :) You are a powerful man, women are attracted to you, you slipped -- understandable.

Now writing a book about it is an entirely different story. Granted, it is a part of the great American culture to write a book and make a few bux on any subject possible -- man accused of murdering wife, wife was murdered, neighbor was murdered -- you name it. While there is nothing wrong with it, in my humble opinion, it is simple tasteless for a former president to stoop to this level.

Didn't I Call It?

Cops can demand ID, high court rules

Didn't I call it? (Blatant or Flagrant)

Can we say "abuse of power" and "racial profiling"?

White House Derby

I think this picture is cute, so I "borrowed" it from newsweek.com

Hubby's Quirks

Everybody has their own quirks, so they say. I have like about a
million of those. How my husband puts up with me is an mystery even to
me. :D I guess I am just one lucky woman. (True love, baby, that's
true love :) After two and a half years of being with my husband
(dating + married time), I've finally learned of his SECOND
quirk -- no squishing his bread!!

We went grocery shopping yesterday and bought three cases of sodas
(the new easy dispense packaging ones). I stack all three on top of
each other in the cart with the loaf bread next to them. As hubby
grabbed the cart from the side, the top case fell onto his bread.
Hubby frantically retrieved his poor bread from underneath the case of
soda. He said he can't put triangular bread into a toaster or to put
peanut butter on them when they are only 1.5" in height. I laughed so
hard at his reasonings tears were rolling down my face. It was even
funnier because he was totally serious about them too!! But I did
promise him I will try very hard not to squish his bread again in the
future when I could finally stopped laughing. :)

Athough it did cross my mind to purposefully drop a case of soda onto
his loaf of bread someday. XD

AIDS and Orphans in China

AIDS in China is quickly reaching an epidemic level. It is estimated that in a few years time, the severity will reach that of South Africa, if not exceeding it.

While I was waiting in my dentist's office, I read this article about this small town in China that infested with AIDS. It all happened when a while back, the government encouraged the residences to sell their blood in exchange for money so they can build houses for their families. Sharing needles have infected majority of the residences of this small farming community. Now that most of them have a better house to live in, almost every household has an AIDS patient. Among 3,864 residences, 1,800 had sold blood, so far 300 had died of AIDS and there are 450 known HIV carriers, majority of them between the age of 16-55 (click hereto view source, source is in Chinese). Along with the epidemic are an increase in AIDS orphans. Most of these orphans are freed of AIDS, but lost one or both parents. When I was reading the article, I would love to be able to adopt one of these orphans, preferrably an older boy. I am not even sure if one can adopt boys from China, but this was surely the first time I've ever considered adoption, from China.

The One I love, The One who Loves Me 我愛的人﹐愛我的人

I was reading this (Chinese) romance novel "The One I Love, The One who Loves Me" (我愛的人﹐愛我的人 by 梁芷珊). In the book, the author, through one of her characters said, "In everyone's life, there's a person whom you love, and one whom loves you. If they are the same person, then you are very lucky. If they are two different person, then you have a decision to make." I translated the meaning to my whitie hubby. After pondering for a couple seconds, he said he agrees with that remark and wanted to know how I feel about it. Well, I simply don't see myself falling in love with a person who doesn't love me. I can have a crush; I can be inflatuated, but I would not fall in love with someone prematurely. So I guess I am a lucky person -- the person I love will always be the one who loves me. :)

GPS Cell Phones

GPS, in my humble opinion, is yet another cool gadget that you can put in a cell phone. When I first obtained the Nokia 3650 phone, AT&T has a service (m-mode) that allows you to triangulate the location of your buddies -- not the exactly street and number, but the city he or she is in. It's like any chat service, you have first authorize the person to be able to look you up, and you'll get a message everytime someone look you up. I thought that was a cool idea, hubby and I had, of course, immediately added each other, though we never used it. It's just one of those cute things. J, our roommate/renter, immediately said, "Oooooh, that is just asking for trouble." Meaning for cheating spouse. To date I am still baffled that why a SINGLE male's first response to a brand new technology is: what if my wife caught me cheating. Perhaps it's just some kind of male pre-programming?

Nextel is now offering a service that, not only can you download the directions to a certain place onto your phone, but if you miss a street or make a wrong turn, it will automatically detect that you're off the route and calculate a new route to put you back on track.

Read article

Antipiracy bill targets technology

Read article

A bill that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah proposed that could potentially make Replay TV, DVD burner, or even VRC illegal. Same person also suggested last year that "copyright holders should be allowed to remotely destroy the computers of music pirates." Is this guy even NORMAL? Just wait till he sees his kids computer among the first to blow up. *Rolls eyes* Always love to hear these bills that can set US further backward in technology.

I have a suggestion, why not just ban the internet altogether? Let's eradicate the problem from the root! That way people can make as many copies as they want, but there will be no means to distribute them. No more peer-to-peer, no more ebay. Who cares if we are back to living in the fifties. By the way, he's Mormon, women are suppose to stay home and barefoot and pregnant anyway. It's the way God intended.

Technological issues should only be countered with more advance technology. Once we've decided to go backward in technology, we are just unleashing a monster.

Panda Inn

When we first relocated to San Diego, we noticed that there are just a lot more attractive males and females on the street of San Diego. Apparently, they also have a lot of good food. :~( And food has always been my weakness. Colleagues introduced me to Panda Inn, and despite the fact that they have salt and BLACK pepper (as opposed to white pepper) on the tables, their food are simple incredible. Yet another chain that's South Cal exclusive. :~( We'll be leaving San Diego in three months. :~(

Here's their mouth watering menu.

More on Movies -- Fahrenheit 9/11

An alleged Bush-bashing movie:

Fahrenheit 9/11

Read about why this movie is such a controversy.

I think we'll go watch this movie just because the conversatives were kind enough to bring this movie to my attention. :)

My Dentist

I've just had a good conversation with my dentist. By that I mean, I got to listen to her talk while she was working on my mouth. :( It's really said because I rarely meet a person whom I'd like to carry on an intellectual conversation with, but I couldn't talk! You see, before today she is just a good dentist, today she actually earned my respect. (Yes, I believe respect has to be earned. Just because you can legally put "M.D." behind your name doesn't really mean anything.)

She's originally from Burma, lived in TW for many years, so she can also speaks fluent Chinese (Mandarin), and of course now that she's in US, she can also speak English. There's a school of thought that if you raise your kids multilingual, it'll allow them to be able to think outside the box. Well, I can speak two languages, spent almost exactly half of my life in Hong Kong, yet I can barely think inside the box, let alone outside. I think to truly be able to think outside of the box, one would need to be exposed to very different cultures -- by that I don't mean going to a Chinese restaurant and ordering orange chicken. To truly gain an objective point of view, one sometimes would need to look at the issue from an outsider's point of view, i.e. what does Asia think about the war in Iraq? What about the Europeans? In the short 10 minutes that my dentist was in the office with me, she broadened my mind. It was a shame that we couldn't have a true conversation. :(

Did you know that they do not have private schools in communistic or socialistic countries? Despite many different people that I've asked, no one has yet to be able to give me a good picture of what communistic or socialistic countries are and how they differ from us. She seems to dislike the idea that people are not allowed to obtain better education even when they can better afford it. I thought on the surface it seems like a very good idea to balance out inequalities, with all the discussions about segregations that still exist in our school systems -- the differences in achievement level between different ethnicities. Again, I was unable to discuss with her why that is a bad idea.

She also told me that the gap between the wealthy and the poor widens more and more overtime. The governments do NOT like their citizens to have too much money in the bank. If you have too much money in the bank, they'll find fault with you and investigate how you obtain them. It's very sad that the entity that is suppose to protect their citizens are doing exactly the opposite.

Last but not the least, she said she is going to vote for Bush, even though she thinks the chances of him getting re-elected is slim. Of course I have to ask her why. I'd ask anyone who would vote for Bush with reasons other than the fact that they think Al Queda and Sadam Hussein are one and the same. She said, because when you are in a mess (war in Iraq) like this, situations tend to get worse when you switch the head person. Now that is an argument that has never crossed my mind. Knowing that she has seen and heard more, perhaps there are merits to her viewpoint.

Movie Trailer - Cellular

While we are on the subject of cell phones. Here's a link to the movie trailer Cellular. It reeled in before I was even half way through the trailer. :) So I refused to watch the REST OF THE MOVIE on the computer.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/cellular/

Sony Ericsson S700

While we are on the subject of cell phone, here's another cool one:

Sony Ericsson S700

It's a PHONE! No, it's a PDA! No, it's a Camera! No, it's ALL OF THEM IN ONE!

Woooooo. Can you tell I am just drooling over it? It's gonna be YEARS till I can afford one. :D BTW, it's "coming soon."

How about a tooth phone?

I found this when I was researching for my next cool, gadget-filled cell phone:



"A micro-vibration device and a wireless receiver are implanted in the tooth during routine dental surgery and sound is transferred from the tooth into the inner ear by bone resonance? converting digital signals to audio. Sound reception is totally discreet enabling information to be received anywhere and at anytime? whether it is City traders receiving stock market information in the cinema or spin-doctors sending information to politicians as they are interviewed."

Source: Mobile Tech News

Two problems that immediately popped into my mind: (1) Whenever a never model came out you'll need another dental surgery? and (2) A lot of folks out there -- scientist and layman -- and still leery about implanting radio transmittors into human bodies.

To Die For II

Oh my gosh!! I went with a couple of colleagues to the downtown Karl Strauss Brewing Company for lunch today (and no, none of us had any alcoholic beverages, thank you :p). Their food are to die for. We had firecracker boneless chicken wings, fried calamari, and their chop salad (an equivalent of cobb salad). I'm not a big salad eater but it's still a pretty good salad. The wings are GREAT. Great as in have its own unique taste -- a tad tangy with that Vietnamese hot sauce (if I remember I'll try to put a picture of it here later but most likely I will not remember). MMmmmmmmmm. And the calamari? It's by far the BEST calamari I've had in my whole life. And I grew up with calamari. It's completely rid of it's rubbery texture. It melts in your mouth yet somehow managed to preserve it's calamari taste. MMmmmmm. Extra delicious if you dip it in the hot sauce from the chicken dish. :) That taste lingered in my mouth for the rest of the afternoon. Must drag hubby there next time. :))

Green with Envy

I am green with envy over folks who can BLOG for a living. Wouldn't that just be the ideal lifestyle? Research the net for 2.5 hrs a day (or more!) and just make blog entries. Ahhhhh. I'd be in heaven. :) Next time I am "in between jobs" (待業) I should try that myself. :D Of course I am usually not very motivated to work on my own when I am not working at least half time. I'm the type who's only motivated when she has to squeeze time to get things done. :) (時間要擠才經用)

Here are the blogs quoted in the Time's article Meet Joe Blog written by Lev Grossman that I mentioned a few entries ago:

Drew Curtis's fark.com
Cory Doctorow's boingboing.net
Glenn Reynolds's instapundit.com
Ana Marie Cox's wonkette.com
Rebecca Blood's rebeccablood.net

Phone? Camera? Camera Phone?

For you information, I did not end up buying that video phone (Sanyo VM4500) from Radio Shack? Why? You might ask. Because if I am going to spend $200 on a gimmick, I better be jumping up and down in joy at least for the first two hours of possessing the item. I don't see myself being that way with the said video phone. I see myself bringing it home and putting it on the table -- just like I would any other cell phone. If it's lucky, I'll plug it into the charger.

The video part of it is cool, but I don't see myself using it. Nor would I honestly use the walkie-talkie feature, so most of the money is not going into gadgets that even interest me. I would love the camera part, but I can get a camera phone for $50.

The problem is, once I "upgraded" my phone, I am in for another 18 months before I am eligible for their rebate for purchasing a new phone. And I feel that getting lowest end of camera phone at this point is just wasting my long-waited out eligibility for the rebate. 18 months! Can you image that? I haven't even been married for 18 months yet! Essentially my phone company wants a committment from me that's more serious than the one between my husband and I.

Well, with the 1.2 megapixel camera phones around the corner. I think I'd just wait it out. I mean, my current cell phone is pretty beat up, but at least the phone part is still working. If I am lucky enough to wait out my two-years contract, maybe I can even switch to a different cell phone company. Like any one of them is better than another. Haha.

To further convince myself to NOT rush into another camera phone (I tried out the Nokia 3650 a year ago. Love the camera part, AT&T's connection SUCKED. The rep kept trying to convince me that it was NOT their connection but problems with the phones themselves -- my husband and I both have one. Well, guess what? The phone was crispy clear after I unlocked it and popped in an US$15 card into it), I bought myself this:

The Logitech Pocket Digital Camera
It's the size of a credit card and less than 1/2" in thickness! :D What more can you ask for for $50 (ebay)? And the picture quality is not too shabby either!




Credit: Logitech

Hubby showed me a different model that I could get for cheaper, but I passed on it even though it's cheaper because it's not as CUTE as the Logitech one. That's woman for you!

I just have another question. I saw this bid on ebay. How a seller can ask for $0.99 for the item but $59.99 for S&H can have 99% positive feedback is beyond me. I understand that he/she does list the S&H on the auction, but still, isn't that still borderline of a scam?

Day care and webcam

A colleague of mine told me that she sends her daughter to this slightly more expensive day care because they allow their patrons to check on their children via webcam. While it's a cool idea, it reminds me of the live cams you can find on the San Diego Zoo website:

Panda Cam
Polar Cam 9 AM to 4 PM PDT
Ape Cam 9 AM to 4 PM PDT
Elephant Cam 9 AM to 4 PM PDT

A new bad habit

Because I get distracted so easily, I try to leave IE open with sites that I intend to return to in the immediate future. Right off the bat you can tell that's asking for trouble. I ended up having more and more IE open, and never returning to any of them... then I need to reboot. Story of my life.

It's the end of the world as we know it

Apparently the world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012.

Say What?

I wonder why they don't just make it December 12, 2012 -- that way it would be written as 12/12/12. Why would that be the end of the world? I dunno. Why 9/9/1999? (Was that one of the dates the world is suppose to come to an end?) Why 12/31/1999? :D

Wednesday

Today started out a good day. Had lunch with a handsome dude who picked up the check!! (hubby) Then we went to look at Sprint cell phones at radio shack. I went straight for the most expensive camera/video phone. It costs $199 after mail-in rebate. You can take 15 seconds video clips with it, but the sales guy can't tell me without a memory chip, how many of these video clips it can store. You can also use this model as a walkie talkier much like Nextel. I think I know more techno lingo than the sales guy at Radio Shack. But that's not fair, after all, I've only spent the last three days web-surfing at work.

I am experiencing a very bad PMS. It doesn't help that both of my computers are dicked up in their own way. My desktop probably still has a spy ware or ad ware stuck in there somewhere, it takes forever for IE to load. Well, not forever, but slower than normal. I had my husband installed the dial up thingie on my laptop for when I lose boardband when he's at sea (back when we have DSL from pacbell, the connection goes down like clockwork twice a month, 2 days each time). Now the dial up connection box pops up everytime I turn on my laptop and sometimes when I try to connect to certain sites. Every little thing aggrevates me.

Hubby is a very, and I mean VERY, calm guy. I just WISH he'd know what it's like when you hormonal levels are off the chart and you just can't help but find everything annoying. Then, on hindsight, better let him put up with my temper than me having to put up with his. Perhaps it's a good thing he doesn't get PMS after all. :D

Reality TV Shows

As mentioned before, I am an reality TV show junkie. And summer is the heaven for us reality TV show junkies. :)) In addition to the regular Fear Factor, we also have Next Action Hero, New For Love or Money, and Last Comic Standing. I totally enjoyed my pre-recorded New For Love or Money last night.

First thing we notice is definitely that NBC is getting cheaper on this new series. Last year each of the girls that get to stay will get a necklace each round. The necklaces got progressively more expensive as the intensity went up and the girls get to keep the jewelrys. Then come For Love or Money II when they invited the girl, Erin, back with 15 bachelors. The bachelors were given a ring each at the beginning of the show, and they were asked to give them back as they were asked to leave. This obviously carried on to the New For Love or Money show. That should knock down the cost by quite a bit. :)

And the new show also has more twists. Nasty ones, which totally satisfy sadistic audiences like us. All in all, I am 100% enjoying the show while my hubby was rolling his eyes and scratching his head trying to figure out why it appeals to me so. :D

Monday night I also watched Next Action Hero before I drifted off to sleep. The downside of it was I had a dream that I was going onto the Fear Factor show. My partner and I passesd the prelimiaries and were going to the real show (in Vegas?). The actual thing was going to take place in-door. It was a company special episode so my partner was a coworker of mine -- a ficticious coworker that doesn't exist in real life. Towards the end I told her that, "I think I should let you know that I am afraid of height and I can't swim." :D

To Die For

When I read blogs written by Asians, I mean Asian Asian (Asians who are not overly westernized), I notice one thing in common in all of them (that I've visited so far) -- food. Every single blog has mention of food. And I don't mean a brief mention, I mean details, i.e. "today I went and tried out this new restaurant (name of restaurant), and we ordered blah, blah, and blah," followed by critique of each dish or sometimes even pictures. Or "today my wife made blah, blah, and blah." Or "my ideal man will try out all kinds of delicacies under the sun with me." So what's with Asians and their fooding habits?

Of course, we have the best food in Asia. :) Even my gwailo (white-boy) hubby said during our second visit to Hong Kong that he can live in Hong Kong just for the food. That's after I've introduced Mr. Montana boy to HK-style Korean barbeque, in the Mongkok area no less! :))

A coworker of mine said she used to not be able to remember the name "Togo" (a sandwich place in US), she always thought it's name is "To die for" or something to that effect. Well, food in Asia are, truly, to die for.

Best Friend

I am so happy that my best friend, Helen, who's in Hong Kong, is finally able to web-surf from work!!! :D Why do I care if she can web-surf from work? Here's the story:

I came (returned) to the states some sixteen years ago, back then long distance calls to Hong Kong was $1 a minute (way too much for a high school student, and STOP CALCULATING MY AGE!) so we can only communicate via snail mail. Can you imagine that? Takes five days just to deliver the mail, a few days to think over what to write, and another five days for the reply to get back to the sender. That's an exchange of ONE letter a month, if it doesn't get lost.

Helen, like many others, dislikes (intimidated by?) technology. Despite the fact that she has a computer for MANY, many years, she refuses to check/send emails on a regular basis, and internet chat was just SO out of question.

When long distance calls become less expensive, I had the luxuary to call her some twice a month... until her hubby comes along. Then getting hold of her became progressively more difficult (how typical :). After her shotgun marriage (?), came two shotgun (?) babies. And she has even less time for an old friend. Mind you, I am truly happy for her. I am not complainting (or am I?).

Of course, people also grow apart when you live in two different countries and at different stages in life (mother of two v. DINK). But it's still so, SO nice that after sixteen years, we can finally swap emails on an almost DAILY basis (5 days a week, sometimes 6). Our conversation can, finally, once again get pass "How are you?", "How's life/kids/folks/spouse?", and "gotta run, baby is crying." :)))

Horray to Helen's new found freedom! :)) (<--- my standard cop out conclusion for my blog entries XD) Oh, and she even registered for Gmail recently. Must be the influence of her techno savy hubby. :)

Indecision 2004

Here's an article on undecided voters found on Newsweek by Gersh Kuntzman. I like it a lot because it's funny. Even though the writer said he was not there to try to convince people one way or another, he is certainly anti-Bush, but that's okay. I am just another one of those people on the internet who only read opinions that resemble mine and I certainly like what Mr. Kuntzman have to say. Here's some snippets from his article:

"June 14 - Whether you're a liberal Democrat like me or a conservative Republican (you know, one of those people who annoy me), it's safe to say that you think this coming election presents the nation with a very clear choice: To dump Bush or not to dump Bush...

Now, if you don't yet have an opinion, I'm not here to persuade you to take one side or another. I merely want to argue that there is simply something wrong with you.

I'm not saying that one must have an opinion on every topic under the sun. But while it's okay to be undecided about some things (Should I have the chicken or the salmon? Should I see the summer blockbuster about the guy stuck in the airline terminal or the kids who fight villainous monsters? Should I wear these pants or do they make me look hippy?), this presidential election is not one of those things...

As Republican strategist Frank Luntz recently described the phenomenon: "If you're an undecided in Ohio,they'll come cut your grass and wash your dishes."

But who is this undecided voter? If you ask me, he's a moron, but if you ask a senior Kerry advisor, you'll get a more diplomatic answer...

So let's meet some of these undecided voters--and learn how depressing it is that these people are going to pick our next president."

Read entire article.

Visit Gersh Kuntzman's website.

Work Ethics

I am liking to write in notepad more and more. It's small; it's simple; it doesn't have all the annoying automatic features that MS Word has that drives me homocidal.

So I was talking to S yesterday at work when P overheard our conversation, which wasn't really much of a problem. The conversation was not confidential in the least, and we were talking in front of P's work station.

During lunch, P asked me if I was okay with S. I was completely baffled. Why not? I am actually quite fond of S. She radiates a very positive attitude for the most part. P explained to me that S can be crass when she is in her business mode. I didn't even notice! I am generally slow like that. And I don't mind people being crass when they are trying to get work done. It has to be fairly personal before I take things personally. As far as that goes, I give it a lot of benefit of doubts.

Basically I like anyone with good work ethics, crass, blunt, curt, totally irrelevant. Do what you need to get your work done. I absolutely hate sociable person with no work ethics. If you hate your job or would rather delegate your job, please don't even be here. I've seen my fair share of people like that at previous jobs. Not only do the rest of the staff have to take care of their share of work, their being there physically in itself is a burden. We are short of having to literally carry them around on our backs.

So be blunt. Be curt. Just get the damn job done.

Democratic Singles

So happy that I am all caught up with work so I can surf and blog again. :)) Life is good, despite the fact that weather is sort of crummy in San Diego today.

I accidentally came arcoss this site called DemocraticSingles.net today. Had I gone there instead of MatchMakers.com, I would never had met my Republican hubby. Interestingly enough, my lovely mother-in-law said she had and will never vote for a Republican.

THIS is an absolutely beautiful Blog

At least I think so anyway. It's a site with pretty pictures and great quotes.

Show me

Meet Joe Blog

Why are more and more people getting their news from amateur websites called blogs? Because they're fast, funny and totally biased

Read entire article

Cute clip

Show me cute clip!

Show me more

Filler Post

I tried to blog everyday but obviously I failed miserably at it. I have a ton of excuses, but let's not bore you all with those.

This is a filler blog to tie me over my writer's block. (Hush, Mike! Not a peep from you. You write for a living! It doesn't count! :P)

I discovered on Friday that this blog, Electric Bugaloo, send me more traffic in one day than what I usually get in a month. That is very sweet, even though all he was referring to was the usb ducks. :D

From Electric Bugaloo, I followed a link to Emotion Eric. It is a cute site... okay, by cute, I mean interesting. Check out his "Morning after Horror/Disbelief," "Hamster Dance," and "American Idol" looks!

For those of you who doesn't know what "hamster dance" was really referring to, click here. This is the original Hampster Dance site. This page used to be THE ENTIRE SITE. And they used to play the same melody as the one on Emotion Eric's site. You look at it long enough, the tune will get stuck in your head for days.

I've already said this is a filler entry. :) I also discovered this little game through the Electric Bugaloo site.

My Monday

"I hate Mondays." -- Garfield.

Today (technically yesterday) was off to a bad start. It's one of those days when you knew the universe was just out to get you. It's one of those days when everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Worse yet, it's not one or two major mess ups, but a series of tiny things that would ultimate drive you to the brim of insanity -- made 50 copies of a document, discovered a *minor* error. Fixed the error, only to realize that the last job was still stored in the copy machine, and the "interrupt" button means anything but interrupting. You can hit the button like it's a gameboy, but rest assured, it will faithfully finished off the original programmed job. I knew that was going to be the tempo of the rest of day during the first hour, and I was right.

Two urgent documents came in at 1640 (4:40 PM), both needed to be done "before the end of the day." Sometimes I think when they say "end of the day," they mean end of the day literally -- midnight. I don't mind overtime at all. That's one good thing about being hourly. Remember my 20-30 hrs shift job I had prior to this one? I am no stranger to overtime. I live for overtime. The only thing that made me antsy was the fact I wanted to be able to go home and record the "New For Love or Money" show before hubby called me to go see him on base.

We finally got a DVR (digital video recorded) through Times Warner. It is a lot less intuitive than TiVo, which I was more familiar with. I only navigated to the screen where they allow you to pick programs once. So I figured the best way is to program it during the day of the show, that way I can just scroll down the grid and get to what I want. (That's women for you. :D)

I am a reality TV junky, espeically when they get ugly. :D Blinky asked, "Why do you want to see people backstabbing each other?" That is the best part of reality TV shows. In my humble opinion, if an individual volunteered to go on national TV and humiliate himself or herself, I am all for watching it.

I mean, if any friend of yours (espeically your current partner) ever invite you onto the Jerry Springer show (they are still on-going, aren't they?), it's a very good time to drop this said person like a hot potato. Nothing good ever came out of Jerry Springer's show. Possible scenarios if you are a woman:

Man: "I have been cheating on you." (optional: With your best friend)

or

Man: "I am gay and this is my lover."

Possible scarnio if you are a man:

Woman: "You are not the father of my child."

Frankly if I was ever invited onto the show, I'd kick myself for being involved with this individual in the first place.

That said, I shall remain the reality TV junky that I am. :D I am too tired to finish watching the recorded show tonight, but there's always tomorrow. Next week, there's the stunt man reality TV show and "Last Comic Standing." Horray to network television!!

The Navy's Got a New Slogan!!!

"Kicking butt is mandatory.
Taking names is optional."

LOLOL. Hubby used to do recruiting for the Navy. Wonder if he knows of this new one. XD

I forgot to steal the banner while it was on my screen. :( They won't show it to me again. Boo!

Spaghetti Sauce

Marinara is my least favorite of all spaghetti sauces. It has no personality of its own. It's blend; it's vague; it's fuzzy. It's a sauce made out of tomatoes, a fruit that hardly has any taste in itself.

I like white sauce, strong, milk-ish, can be buttery. I'll pick it over marinara anytime of the day, nevermind that I have lactose intolerance.

Then there's pesto. Pesto is indescribably unique. It has the olive oil taste, and it has the pesto taste. It an acquired taste. Pesto has a statement to make: I am not for everyone!

Marinara is wishy-washy. You can't pinpoint what you don't like about it, nor can you pick out what you like about it. It's is the "nice guy" of speghetti sauce at best.

MouseRugs, CoasterRugs

I bought these coaster rugs yesterday. :) I am a sucker for knick knacks.

Click on it for a bigger image.

They are 3.5 x 5.5 inches in size and comes in sets of 4 for $19.95. I debated over and over again before purchasing them. :) I don't know what material the surfaces are made out of, but they feel like suede, which gives very good traction. They also have mouserugs of the same pattern! But I can't justify a fancy mousepad when my optical mouse doesn't even need a mousepad to begin with -- or so my husband says.

Visit the MouseRug webpage to see their other products! They have many pretty patterns to choose from!

Parsonii, the Singer

Ever since I was a kid I was told that I am unable to sing in tune. Well, only this one cousin always tells me that, but he also said a lot of other horrible things about me. Regardless, I grew up "knowing" that I can't sing worth a shit. Until I watched that one episode of "American Idol" where they showed the horrible auditions. It's amazing how people who are completely tone deaf can be under the impression that they can be American's next idol.* I never knew I could actually sing till I watched that episode.. :) But I digressed.

Overtime, I learned to sing loud and offtone, and quite frankly, plain obnoxious, on purpose. It's very fun and relaxing for the person who's doing it, but it tends to annoy the hell out of all those around you, especially coming from a grown, adult woman. If I wasn't the one singing, that would most certainly drive me nuts.

So one very fine Saturday afternoon, both hubby and I were home together. And I can't remember what he was doing -- either dishes or bills -- he's a well-trained hubby. :) And I was perhaps picking up around the house and was doing my sing loud and sing off-tone thing. I was happily singing Fugees' Killing Me Softly when hubby suddenly said, "Honey!!" Naturally I thought he was going to tell me to shut up because I was being very annoying or something to that effect. The words I least expected came from him, "What were you singing? You got the lyrics all wrong!" I was genuinely surprised, that's the first time I ever heard anyone commenting on my knowledge of the lyrics. "Shouldn't you be more concerned with the way that I was singing it?" Apparently I was singing, "Killing me softly with his arms" instead of "with his songs."

The same conversation took place a few more times over time, over different songs, of course. If I remember how else I mangled up other songs I'll write about it. I think I am just going to sing in Chinese from now on in front of hubby. :D I can mangle up the song as badly as I want and he'll never have a clue. Hahahahaha.

*That reminds me of a joke in Chinese: 世上有三種人:先知先覺, 後知後覺, 及不知不覺. 一個人能不知不覺到這個地步大抵也是一種幸褔.

iDuck

What we are going to buy in Hong Kong during our next trip but hubby doesn't know yet. (He'll find out when he resurface XD).




These are not just ducks that glow when you stick them on your computers. They are 256 MB USB storage!!! If you like gimmicks, do visit Dynamism.

And they even come in six different styles!!



And how evil, the come nicely packed in a box. :(



I wonder how I can convince hubby to let me "collect them all." :D

Presenting the Banana Tree House Logo!!!

Thank you so very much, Blinky!!!

So, what does everyone think? :)) (Other than the fact that the bananas are UPSIDE DOWN!)

原來香蕉也是一門學問 aka Tid-bits on Bananas

So my best friend Blinky is helping me create a logo for this site (anyone who'd help me create a logo will automatically become my best friend -- no questions asked, no background check required :D). I'd post our rough draft here, but I think I'd keep you guys waiting till the final draft is done. :) Well, we made a mistake (ok, *I* did) by showing the sketch to MIKE. MIKE who has a comment/opinion on everything! And Mike said, "Bananas grow with what we think of as their bottoms pointed up."

Imagine my surprise when it turned out that he is RIGHT!



Source: Stock Photography
Photographer: Fred Voetsch

Doesn't the picture just looks UPSIDE DOWN?

Blinky's comment when she first heard me quoting her Mike's comment:
"He wants the bananas to be realistic but the fact that there is a house in the tree doesn't concern him?"

Blinky's second comment after she discovered the above picture:
"I was disgusted by the fact that he was right..."

So we've decided to leave the bananas "upside down" even though it is, technically, incorrect. :) I never claim that this is an educational blog, have I?

Blinky has further discovered that a banana tree isn't a tree but a plant. And the trunk is not wood but a soft spongy stuff that you could cut down with a knife. (We sure learned hell of a lot about banana trees for two girls who were merely trying to draw a logo...)

So I guess it's really not possible to have a house inside a banana tree. *blush* I should have done my research before I named my blog. :) But that's what happens when one tries to be spontaneous... :)

I couldn't help but wonder HOW Mike, of all people, would know that bananas grow upside down. Is it one of those things that you learn in kindergarten but I somehow missed out on?

Reverse Discrimination?

I dislike working with a certain type of women. Have you ever worked
with some women who think they are princesses and that everyone at
work (both males AND females colleagues) should serve them on their
hands and feet? I had worked with someone like that before, and I
hated it. I am very happy for her that she has been daddy's little
girl all along and perhaps never had to wash a plate in their lives.
More power to them. Find a rich man and stay home, ladies. You have no
business at a work place. So many years have women fought for equality,
I think it's women like that that give us a bad name. If you have the
guts to stand up and ask for same pay, why shouldn't your employer
expect the same amount of work out of you? You can't have it both ways,
ladies. You can't ask for equalities but still expect special
treatment because of your gender.

My last job at the tissue bank with a fairly physically demanding one.
I had to respond to pages around the clock and get up to go to work at
all kinds of hours. And I do mean all kind of hours. The longest shift
I have clocked in was some 36 odd hours. (Yeah, it's not a job for
everyone, that's for sure. My slogan during this job? "Sleep is entirely
overrated.") With the exception of things that I can't
reach or I can't lift, I do not naturally expect my male colleagues,
who get pay as much as I do, to do more work than me. If I am tired,
I'm sure my male colleagues are just as tired as I am. Why do they
have to "go the extra mile" just because they are males?

I remember an "Ally McBeal" episode from a while back (of course it's
a while back, the show has been over for a few years now :). A woman
was suing the company (law firm?) for taking away her opportunity to
make partner because she became a mother. I believe the outcome in the
episode was that she won the law suit (to be policitcally correct?), which I don't believe it should be the case. She chose to become a mother and was no longer
able to put in 16 hours work like her male colleagues who will make
partner. That's a choice. Should a man opt to spend more time with his
family instead of spending all his waking moment at work, he too will
be disqualified to become a partner. Why should a woman, who chose to be
a mother AND to put in no more than normal hours at work, be allowed
special treatment. How is that fair to men, or women who chose not to
have kids?

Is Our Culture at Risk?

Today I had a great day at work, which might explain why I am obnoxiously happy right now and just want to ramble on to no end. A "great day at work" is defined by not much work and lots of internet surfing. Now before you accuse me of being lazy let me clarified that it wasn't me who was not doing my work, but that there was a lack of work. I even checked with two other branches in order to surf guilt-free. :D Now I am quickly going down that road of folks who get fired because they don't watch what they write in their blogs...

So I read on this article that was in yesterday's San Diego Union Tribune by the titled of Customized technology could yield life in a void by Don Fernandez, that technologies such as DVR (digital video recorder), iTune, and customed news email leave no room for "Happenstance. Chance. Coincidence. Kismet."

"Those concepts may be dying with each digital click.

Flipping through a magazine and thumbing across a fascinating story. Encountering a stranger with bold and diverse ideas. Hearing a song on the radio you would never expect to like, but now can't get out of your head...

Which leaves the evolution of our cultural cornerstones in question. Would we have jazz music, he asked, if such customizing techniques had been in place 100 years ago?"

So in order to give my best effort to perserve as well as to carry on our "culture," I'll try my darnest to hit random sites and bring them to you. :) Just like this saying that I've once heard, "I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something." :D

A Funny Blog

I really don't like to use other's blog entries as fillers for my own, but this one is just too funny to pass up. This is from ScreamingSeed:

It's Christmas and I'm walking to the railway station with a group of friends. I glance up at the forecourt roof, which is adorned with a huge inflatable Santa, an equally huge model polar bear and a nearly-as-huge plastic penguin.

"That's just stupid" I remark, "You'd never see a polar bear and a penguin in the same place like that - they're from opposite sides of the globe!".

My girlfriend Lisa turns to me and gives me this really strange look.

"What?" I ask, somewhat bemused.

She laughs at me and says: "So it's okay to have Santa and a penguin, right? - or Santa and a polar bear - just so long as it's not Santa and a polar bear and a penguin - that's just totally unrealistic, right?"

"Oh, I see what you mean...."

Suddenly the activity of staring at my shoes seems too long neglected as a pastime.

***
So if you like his stuff then go visit his site, that would make me feel better about transplanting his joke onto my site. :) But some of his blog entries are less funny than others. It also seems to jump between different time period of his life -- his girlfriend Lisa as we've seen above, his wife, he was 13-years old, he was in college -- so that kinda lost me there.