There was a little upturn at the corners of my mouth as I suppressed a smile when they finally ended the Lana character on Smallville. But.. a twist they threw in those writers.. they didn't kill off Lana! So then I was all tense when Clark went to see Chloe to tell about the 2nd chance he has received to change destiny. When Chloe promised that she won't leave Lana's side all night, I cried out "Nooooooooo, Chloe's going to die this time!".
But at the end it was Mr. Kent that got written out of the show. Whyy whyyy didn't they just leave Lana be.. whyy...
Interested in others' reactions, I logged onto the Smallville fan site KryptonSite and found that many others like me were happy/ecstatic/overjoyed/sang words of praise when Lana bit the dust. Unfortunately for us, it looks like we have to endure more episodes with the dragging Clana relationship.
We'll miss you Jonathan Kent!
(Hmmm.. maybe Clark will find a crystal again..)
God I love fan sites.. it's hilarious to read and for those of you who have never visited your fav show's site, try it one day. You'll find surprising detailed analysis, good writing, and the posts can be funny as heck.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Spock or Dumb and Dumber?
Ahh, it's nice to shower. Nice to be clean. While I was squeezing some whiteheads out of a stressed out/lack of sleep face, I noticed that I look vaguely familiar in the mirror. Then I realized I am a junior Spock! What the...
My bangs have not grown out fully yet.. it's almost .. almost to the eyebrow.. maybe give it another month. So with a fully blown dry hair, it was either Spock or Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber. Neither image is flattering to the ego.
My bangs have not grown out fully yet.. it's almost .. almost to the eyebrow.. maybe give it another month. So with a fully blown dry hair, it was either Spock or Jim Carey in Dumb and Dumber. Neither image is flattering to the ego.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Back To The Dungeon
Before I get on with my whining, I just had the strangest experience. So here goes, on my excursion out of my apt to do my rounds at the normal wee hours (visit the garbage dumpster, pickup mail from downstairs), I was fascinated by the trees lining or probably more like leaning at the back of the apt complex. These huge trees are all leaning over at least 35 degrees. Those things are going to go next time we have a big ice/snow/wind storm. Freaking apt complex landlord is too cheap to hire people to come and cut those things down before someone else's car gets crushed or worst yet injuries from falling trees.
So there I was looking up at the trees and then haphazardly swung my bag of garbage into the dumpster. Swooosh....... Thunk! It lands on the lid and then falls into the abyss. Before I can mentally congratulate myself for making the incredible shot, I noticed this brown object on top of the lid.
It's moving!!!
My brain finally kicked in and identified the "thing" as a raccoon with its back towards me. It turned its head around a second later and looked at me. We looked at one another and I started to apologize softly when I noticed it is breathing kinda fast.
"hey buddy.. i am sorry .. did i scary you? did I? ooh don't be scared, i am not gonna hurt chya"
I think I almost gave that poor thing a heartattack when I swung my garbage in his direction.
After taking about a minute break to calm its heart down, he kinda looked at me with the expression saying: "Jesus, there I am eating dinner and you.. *sigh*".
With that and one more look of dismay, it walked back to the hole in the fence and ended our encounter.
----
So on with my bitching.
Close to dinner time today I received 2 e-mails from work.
The first one is from the manager telling me that hey I am getting pulled back to the product team to help on the next release of the product doing configuration. At least they didn't have the nerve to assign me to some coding project.
The second e-mail was from my manager's boss, a partner of the company saying hey I support the decision to put you back in the dungeon and by the way appreciate everyone for their efforts!
If I weren't so busy trying to get this demo done for them I think the sailor in me would've came out in full force.
Now it's like a slow boil... bubbling.. bubbling.. tomorrow is when I'll find out the details of this sudden assignment.
This is what I despise as being a "consultant". Wait a minute, didn't they change my title to "IT Specialist"? Whatever, I am still getting pimped out. Regardless of your wants and preferences, you are sent off to wherever they dictate.
So to apply what I've been reading on roadtrip nation, I need to change my attitude and view this just another sign/confirmation that my current job is not the path that will make me happy and that it's time to get the ass moving toward the pursuit of happiness.
Monster.com here I come!!
I complained to friends and family already, and also co-workers. One friend in particular said that she refuses to say words of encouragement to me cuz she's been harping that for years. Instead the tactic will be reverse psychology. She said, "You are going to die alone and in front of a computer." Booohooo..... I don't want to die infront of a computer :(
My mom was a bit different. She said that tell them you can do the work but you won't be happy about it. When I told her about the publishing job posting on Monster the Virgo/extremely practical realist side of her came out and pointed out "do you know how much money you can make working only 40 hours on some of these minimum wage jobs? do you know how little money you'll actually be able to take home after all the taxes and deductions?"
But I held on strong, saying "well I gotta start somewhere." Wonder if Michael Dell would commend me if he heard those words.
6 hours till meeting time. Lovely.
So there I was looking up at the trees and then haphazardly swung my bag of garbage into the dumpster. Swooosh....... Thunk! It lands on the lid and then falls into the abyss. Before I can mentally congratulate myself for making the incredible shot, I noticed this brown object on top of the lid.
It's moving!!!
My brain finally kicked in and identified the "thing" as a raccoon with its back towards me. It turned its head around a second later and looked at me. We looked at one another and I started to apologize softly when I noticed it is breathing kinda fast.
"hey buddy.. i am sorry .. did i scary you? did I? ooh don't be scared, i am not gonna hurt chya"
I think I almost gave that poor thing a heartattack when I swung my garbage in his direction.
After taking about a minute break to calm its heart down, he kinda looked at me with the expression saying: "Jesus, there I am eating dinner and you.. *sigh*".
With that and one more look of dismay, it walked back to the hole in the fence and ended our encounter.
----
So on with my bitching.
Close to dinner time today I received 2 e-mails from work.
The first one is from the manager telling me that hey I am getting pulled back to the product team to help on the next release of the product doing configuration. At least they didn't have the nerve to assign me to some coding project.
The second e-mail was from my manager's boss, a partner of the company saying hey I support the decision to put you back in the dungeon and by the way appreciate everyone for their efforts!
If I weren't so busy trying to get this demo done for them I think the sailor in me would've came out in full force.
Now it's like a slow boil... bubbling.. bubbling.. tomorrow is when I'll find out the details of this sudden assignment.
This is what I despise as being a "consultant". Wait a minute, didn't they change my title to "IT Specialist"? Whatever, I am still getting pimped out. Regardless of your wants and preferences, you are sent off to wherever they dictate.
So to apply what I've been reading on roadtrip nation, I need to change my attitude and view this just another sign/confirmation that my current job is not the path that will make me happy and that it's time to get the ass moving toward the pursuit of happiness.
Monster.com here I come!!
I complained to friends and family already, and also co-workers. One friend in particular said that she refuses to say words of encouragement to me cuz she's been harping that for years. Instead the tactic will be reverse psychology. She said, "You are going to die alone and in front of a computer." Booohooo..... I don't want to die infront of a computer :(
My mom was a bit different. She said that tell them you can do the work but you won't be happy about it. When I told her about the publishing job posting on Monster the Virgo/extremely practical realist side of her came out and pointed out "do you know how much money you can make working only 40 hours on some of these minimum wage jobs? do you know how little money you'll actually be able to take home after all the taxes and deductions?"
But I held on strong, saying "well I gotta start somewhere." Wonder if Michael Dell would commend me if he heard those words.
6 hours till meeting time. Lovely.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Of Music and Career Advice
Reading does enhance one's view and knowledge. It's a shame most people don't have the time to read these days. Especially the kids born in this technology laden world.
Anyways, I digress. Going through the magazines before I drop it off downstairs in hopes others might want to read them, I found 2 really cool articles/websites. Before I get to those, I just want to do a plug for Fast Company and Business 2.0, two of the most time worthy magazines available on the newstands. The articles are well written and the info presented is unique and more thought provoking than your usual gambit of waiting area magazines.
I like listening to a pretty broad range of music. So for people like me, Pandora is pretty cool. You are able to create free radio stations by entering 1 of the songs you like. The company's algorithms then uses that one seed song to create a radio station of songs it thinks you'll like based on your first input. Best of all did I mention it's for free? It's a great way to discover other artists out there.
The other site/company is called roadtrip nation. There's a lot of informally conducted interviews of leaders on career advice and what it was that took them to get into the field they are in now. For those of us out there who still feel directionless, prehaps we can find some inspiration from those who have found their passion and made a career out of it.
Anyways, I digress. Going through the magazines before I drop it off downstairs in hopes others might want to read them, I found 2 really cool articles/websites. Before I get to those, I just want to do a plug for Fast Company and Business 2.0, two of the most time worthy magazines available on the newstands. The articles are well written and the info presented is unique and more thought provoking than your usual gambit of waiting area magazines.
I like listening to a pretty broad range of music. So for people like me, Pandora is pretty cool. You are able to create free radio stations by entering 1 of the songs you like. The company's algorithms then uses that one seed song to create a radio station of songs it thinks you'll like based on your first input. Best of all did I mention it's for free? It's a great way to discover other artists out there.
The other site/company is called roadtrip nation. There's a lot of informally conducted interviews of leaders on career advice and what it was that took them to get into the field they are in now. For those of us out there who still feel directionless, prehaps we can find some inspiration from those who have found their passion and made a career out of it.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Nokian WR-SUV 215/70/R16
I didn't win the lotto, but lately it sure seems like it buying things left and right. Like today, it was for my trusted Element, my only means of transportation (beside my legs). The treads on the stock tires are very close to the mark for replacement. My mechanic told me so last time as well. Yes I did the penny test to double check, and yep, time to get rid of the Goodyear Wranglers.
After scouraging the web and Element Owners Club forums, my top 2 choices of tires went to:
a. Nokian WR-SUV 215/70/16 ~$135/tire
b. Yokohama Geolandar H/T-S G051 215/70/16 ~$78/tire
Yah there's a steep price difference. Nokians almost doubled Yokohamas!! Tires these days are getting shee shee.. silica compound and directional arrowhead treading..siping
Winter has been light on snow thus far and there were several icy storms. But after the Thanksgiving trip back to PA, where I've seen at least 6 vehicle accidents, it was easy to justify shelling out close to $700 for a new set of all weather tires.
There's too much riding on those tires to regret getting the best for what I can afford to minimize risk in unplanned hazardous driving situtations. Esp when carrying precious cargo such as my family and friends, I don't ever want to mutter the words "I wish I had.. I should've gotten.. ".
So why Nokians? Well I've heard read nothing but rave reviews on them for their superior handling in rain, ice and snow.
No, I don't work for Nokian. I just like to do a lot of research especially before big purchases. So the call was made for 4 Nokians around 4:46 PM.
For those of you living in areas with a lot of bad weather, prehaps consider Nokians. Here are some articles I've found:
Real World Snow Tire Tests - 2002
Real World Snow Tire Tests - 2004
Nokian Tires
Canadian Driver - Nokian WR - Review
Element Owners Club - go into the forums and search for "Nokian"
Whohooo!! I'll get my new tires next week!
Hopefully riding with the Nokians, the white knuckle syndrome will go away whenever driving through foul weather.
After scouraging the web and Element Owners Club forums, my top 2 choices of tires went to:
a. Nokian WR-SUV 215/70/16 ~$135/tire
b. Yokohama Geolandar H/T-S G051 215/70/16 ~$78/tire
Yah there's a steep price difference. Nokians almost doubled Yokohamas!! Tires these days are getting shee shee.. silica compound and directional arrowhead treading..siping
Winter has been light on snow thus far and there were several icy storms. But after the Thanksgiving trip back to PA, where I've seen at least 6 vehicle accidents, it was easy to justify shelling out close to $700 for a new set of all weather tires.
There's too much riding on those tires to regret getting the best for what I can afford to minimize risk in unplanned hazardous driving situtations. Esp when carrying precious cargo such as my family and friends, I don't ever want to mutter the words "I wish I had.. I should've gotten.. ".
So why Nokians? Well I've heard read nothing but rave reviews on them for their superior handling in rain, ice and snow.
No, I don't work for Nokian. I just like to do a lot of research especially before big purchases. So the call was made for 4 Nokians around 4:46 PM.
For those of you living in areas with a lot of bad weather, prehaps consider Nokians. Here are some articles I've found:
Real World Snow Tire Tests - 2002
Real World Snow Tire Tests - 2004
Nokian Tires
Canadian Driver - Nokian WR - Review
Element Owners Club - go into the forums and search for "Nokian"
Whohooo!! I'll get my new tires next week!
Hopefully riding with the Nokians, the white knuckle syndrome will go away whenever driving through foul weather.
Friday, January 20, 2006
The Night Calls on Me
Maybe I am a vampire. I seem to be more awake and alive at night then when the shining and birds are chirping.
Got my new set of headphones today from Amazon and I love them! It's the Philips SBC HS500. After the discount, got them for around 8 bucks or so, what bargain. The bass is rich and strong, sounds great and they are comfy! iPod has been running for 3 hours now. Ears still feel fine.
Go Amazon.com reviews! This is a classic example that usually going with the crowd is the right direction. Masses rule, isn't that a saying?
Nah, I don't think I am a vampire cuz I am awfully sleepy right now. Maybe it's cuz I don't drink blood? Hmm maybe it's just my iron is low again. Is that the reason vampires have to drink blood? Thought I read it somewhere before, don't recall now.
I am pack rat. Cannot throw away things in my possession easily. Trying to sort out stacks of magazines but I have to go through each page first to make sure I read it all before turning it for recycling. Wonder how many others are like me?
Finally... 1 down, 40 more to go.
Got my new set of headphones today from Amazon and I love them! It's the Philips SBC HS500. After the discount, got them for around 8 bucks or so, what bargain. The bass is rich and strong, sounds great and they are comfy! iPod has been running for 3 hours now. Ears still feel fine.
Go Amazon.com reviews! This is a classic example that usually going with the crowd is the right direction. Masses rule, isn't that a saying?
Nah, I don't think I am a vampire cuz I am awfully sleepy right now. Maybe it's cuz I don't drink blood? Hmm maybe it's just my iron is low again. Is that the reason vampires have to drink blood? Thought I read it somewhere before, don't recall now.
I am pack rat. Cannot throw away things in my possession easily. Trying to sort out stacks of magazines but I have to go through each page first to make sure I read it all before turning it for recycling. Wonder how many others are like me?
Finally... 1 down, 40 more to go.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The Urges at Night
Wonder how many people out there have urges to fit everything they've wanted to accomplish during the day in the past week into 4 hours after midnight? I bet a lot.
Well my sleeping schedule is has gone to hell. Been working late hours again after coming back from vacation and it's screwing with my biological clock. I worked for 25 hours straight and then went to bed around 1 pm on 1/18/06. Ring.... rrrrrrrring!! The shrill woke me up. Grabbing the phone, I tried to make my voice sounded as professional as possible considering it was only around 4ish in the afternoon. I should be working. Instead I was in La La Land.
"Hello?" - yah great way to answer the phone
"Hey there? This is ******". Great, my big boss, a partner of the company is calling me to discuss PBC results. I was struggling to prop myself up from the bed while he rambled on about my 2005 PBC results. He said he knew I was pulling some late nights and so made it really short that or he had a billion others to call after me. In any case, I got a 2+. Whatever that means, maybe a bonus in coming who knows. I just wanted to get back to bed.
Finally, nature calls so I woke up around 9 pm on 1/18/06. Showered and ate something of substance not that the PJC sandwich was good 10 hours ago. But I gotta eat. I am human.
Between 9 pm to what.. 5 am now? I've tried to cram 1 year of overdue clean up into 1.. 2... now how many hours.. i have to use my fingers, god my brain has gone to mush.. dam those calculators and computers.. I can do this.. where's my clock.. 7 hours! Yes! 7.. finally got it.. good grief.
So for 7 hours, what the hell did I do!! jeeeze.. I thought I cleaned. But .. hmm sure doesn't look like it. Well I organized a lot of papers.. finally unpacked the 2 suitcases.. went through the bathroom reading pile. Yes don't deny it.. alot of you probably have your own stash somewhere. Time to put some more magazines in there.
Okay I got 3 hours to sleep before turning into a robot for the big blue.
Well my sleeping schedule is has gone to hell. Been working late hours again after coming back from vacation and it's screwing with my biological clock. I worked for 25 hours straight and then went to bed around 1 pm on 1/18/06. Ring.... rrrrrrrring!! The shrill woke me up. Grabbing the phone, I tried to make my voice sounded as professional as possible considering it was only around 4ish in the afternoon. I should be working. Instead I was in La La Land.
"Hello?" - yah great way to answer the phone
"Hey there? This is ******". Great, my big boss, a partner of the company is calling me to discuss PBC results. I was struggling to prop myself up from the bed while he rambled on about my 2005 PBC results. He said he knew I was pulling some late nights and so made it really short that or he had a billion others to call after me. In any case, I got a 2+. Whatever that means, maybe a bonus in coming who knows. I just wanted to get back to bed.
Finally, nature calls so I woke up around 9 pm on 1/18/06. Showered and ate something of substance not that the PJC sandwich was good 10 hours ago. But I gotta eat. I am human.
Between 9 pm to what.. 5 am now? I've tried to cram 1 year of overdue clean up into 1.. 2... now how many hours.. i have to use my fingers, god my brain has gone to mush.. dam those calculators and computers.. I can do this.. where's my clock.. 7 hours! Yes! 7.. finally got it.. good grief.
So for 7 hours, what the hell did I do!! jeeeze.. I thought I cleaned. But .. hmm sure doesn't look like it. Well I organized a lot of papers.. finally unpacked the 2 suitcases.. went through the bathroom reading pile. Yes don't deny it.. alot of you probably have your own stash somewhere. Time to put some more magazines in there.
Okay I got 3 hours to sleep before turning into a robot for the big blue.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Unattainable Love - Brokeback Mountain
I wanted to write a review on Brokeback Mountain, but there's tons of reviews out there by you know.. actual movie reviewers so I will save myself from embarrassment by not going into the cinematography or whatever stuff that I probably don't have merits of mentioning.
I will however post about how the film engaged me... isn't that what watching a film is all about? Connection with the viewer?
Ever the procrastinator, on the day of the movie, I got to the theatre during the previews. I was shocked to see the entire room packed like sardines. Finding a seat in the dark is not much fun. I never changed the battery for the mini mag on the keychain. Now that would've come in handy.
The 4 most memorable moments in the film for me were:
1. When Ennis and Jack separated for the first time after coming down from Brokeback Mountain. Ennis kneeling in an alley wretching and emotionally distraught after seeing Jack drive away.
I think that's a dreadful thing to go through, watching someone you love so deeply simply walk out of your life and for whatever reason there's nothing you are doing or could do about it. It's that ache that hits your right beneath the sternum. That gnawing feeling that just spreads until you can absolutely overwhelmed and have to do something, scream, cry, punch a wall.. something.
2. The moment Alma (Ennis's wife) opened the door ready to greet her husband's mystery friend Jack. Alma's reaction of shock, betrayal, and hurt when she witnessed her own husband, the man who she raised a family with, passionately kissing the so called fishing buddy at the bottom of the stairs.
Thank goodness I have never felt gone through this particular situation, and hopefully never will. I'd be mad as hell. But I think, it's the betrayal part that would haunt me, the infidelity and the lying.
3. The longest dialogue between Jack and Ennis toward the end of the film where us, the viewers finally see the strain and pain these 2 men have been enduring through out the past 20 years of their lives. Out came the famous lines:
Ennis: If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it.
...
Jack: God, I wish I knew how to quit you!
Ennis: Well, why don't you? Why don't you just let me be? It's because of you that I am like this! I ain't got nothing... I ain't got nowhere..
Love, or any kind of emotions that strong can be debilitating can't it? Sometimes we are so driven by our feelings we loose a part of ourselves, we compromise and give up part the individual goals in order to get somewhere .. together. But Ennis and Jack, they couldn't. Anyone can identify how Ennis feels if we just relate it to a serious crush. You are stuck on this one person, this one being that occupies your thoughts, enters your dreams, haunts your free moments during the day, and until that one decisive moment where you either get together or fall apart, you are stuck in that limbo place. Neither here nor there.
4. On the phone when Lureen (Jack's wife) finds out that the man on the phone is the long time fishing buddy her husband has been seeing all through out the years. That Ennis is the man that Jack is really in love with.
Beautiful, sensitive acting. That slight pause, the self-denying recognition of what she always suspect was confirmed by that short conversation. Yet, after hanging up the phone, tears wiped, Lureen went back to her routine, seemly unaffected by the long kept secret.
----
I love the guitar chords played throughout the film. The plucking seems to be done on heartstrings.
----
Visually, it's breathtaking. Ang Lee and his team have managed to take us back to a time where we do see blue open skies, majestic mountains and green pastures. I loved the sheep.
----
After the movie is over and we are all filing out of the showroom, through my teary eyes I can safely say that at least 80% of the audience in the room were couples over 50s. I was shocked again. This was not the demographic that I expected for this film. But after a while it made sense.
Although there's not a lot of dialogue in this film, it's more of what has not been said that left the deepest impression.
Reasons why I was engaged and appreciated the film:
1 - I think all of us at one point in our lives if we are lucky we meet someone who we can open up to and feel safe just being ourselves.
2 - The film successfully conveyed "unattainable love". A love that can't be carried out fully. The pain of not being able to be with that one person who has your heart and soul.
I will however post about how the film engaged me... isn't that what watching a film is all about? Connection with the viewer?
Ever the procrastinator, on the day of the movie, I got to the theatre during the previews. I was shocked to see the entire room packed like sardines. Finding a seat in the dark is not much fun. I never changed the battery for the mini mag on the keychain. Now that would've come in handy.
The 4 most memorable moments in the film for me were:
1. When Ennis and Jack separated for the first time after coming down from Brokeback Mountain. Ennis kneeling in an alley wretching and emotionally distraught after seeing Jack drive away.
I think that's a dreadful thing to go through, watching someone you love so deeply simply walk out of your life and for whatever reason there's nothing you are doing or could do about it. It's that ache that hits your right beneath the sternum. That gnawing feeling that just spreads until you can absolutely overwhelmed and have to do something, scream, cry, punch a wall.. something.
2. The moment Alma (Ennis's wife) opened the door ready to greet her husband's mystery friend Jack. Alma's reaction of shock, betrayal, and hurt when she witnessed her own husband, the man who she raised a family with, passionately kissing the so called fishing buddy at the bottom of the stairs.
Thank goodness I have never felt gone through this particular situation, and hopefully never will. I'd be mad as hell. But I think, it's the betrayal part that would haunt me, the infidelity and the lying.
3. The longest dialogue between Jack and Ennis toward the end of the film where us, the viewers finally see the strain and pain these 2 men have been enduring through out the past 20 years of their lives. Out came the famous lines:
Ennis: If you can't fix it, you gotta stand it.
...
Jack: God, I wish I knew how to quit you!
Ennis: Well, why don't you? Why don't you just let me be? It's because of you that I am like this! I ain't got nothing... I ain't got nowhere..
Love, or any kind of emotions that strong can be debilitating can't it? Sometimes we are so driven by our feelings we loose a part of ourselves, we compromise and give up part the individual goals in order to get somewhere .. together. But Ennis and Jack, they couldn't. Anyone can identify how Ennis feels if we just relate it to a serious crush. You are stuck on this one person, this one being that occupies your thoughts, enters your dreams, haunts your free moments during the day, and until that one decisive moment where you either get together or fall apart, you are stuck in that limbo place. Neither here nor there.
4. On the phone when Lureen (Jack's wife) finds out that the man on the phone is the long time fishing buddy her husband has been seeing all through out the years. That Ennis is the man that Jack is really in love with.
Beautiful, sensitive acting. That slight pause, the self-denying recognition of what she always suspect was confirmed by that short conversation. Yet, after hanging up the phone, tears wiped, Lureen went back to her routine, seemly unaffected by the long kept secret.
----
I love the guitar chords played throughout the film. The plucking seems to be done on heartstrings.
----
Visually, it's breathtaking. Ang Lee and his team have managed to take us back to a time where we do see blue open skies, majestic mountains and green pastures. I loved the sheep.
----
After the movie is over and we are all filing out of the showroom, through my teary eyes I can safely say that at least 80% of the audience in the room were couples over 50s. I was shocked again. This was not the demographic that I expected for this film. But after a while it made sense.
Although there's not a lot of dialogue in this film, it's more of what has not been said that left the deepest impression.
Reasons why I was engaged and appreciated the film:
1 - I think all of us at one point in our lives if we are lucky we meet someone who we can open up to and feel safe just being ourselves.
2 - The film successfully conveyed "unattainable love". A love that can't be carried out fully. The pain of not being able to be with that one person who has your heart and soul.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Bad Tree! Bad!
Spent a great afternoon with friends. It's just good to go out and socialize. Today a group of us went to a place in NJ called Duke Farms and got on the Display Gardens Tour. Pretty neat! It had a bunch of greenhouses set up and within each, a different type of garden is shown. There were the French, English, Chinese, Japanese, etc.. (well I don't remember the rest).
One gripe about the tour is that we went through too fast and weren't given enough time to really look at the garden. Okay fine, we weren't given enough time to take more pictures. There were a lot of weird looking flowers that would make great macro shots. Oh well.. next time have to find an outdoor garden in the spring.
When I got back to my apt, I saw that the wind tonight (20 - 40 mph winds) did its damage. One of the apt's trees snapped and landed across 2 cars. Thank goodness it's not my car.
Ouch! What a way to start off 2006.
This is the 3rd time a tree landed on cars at my apt complex since I moved here!!
This is the unfortunate scene from my window.
Not going to sleep easy tonight.
Oh ill wind! Blow the other way!
One gripe about the tour is that we went through too fast and weren't given enough time to really look at the garden. Okay fine, we weren't given enough time to take more pictures. There were a lot of weird looking flowers that would make great macro shots. Oh well.. next time have to find an outdoor garden in the spring.
When I got back to my apt, I saw that the wind tonight (20 - 40 mph winds) did its damage. One of the apt's trees snapped and landed across 2 cars. Thank goodness it's not my car.
Ouch! What a way to start off 2006.
This is the 3rd time a tree landed on cars at my apt complex since I moved here!!
This is the unfortunate scene from my window.
Not going to sleep easy tonight.
Oh ill wind! Blow the other way!
Friday, January 13, 2006
Day and Night
I just disconnected from AT&T vpn connection. Work finished. Sad it's 5:30 AM. Surprisingly I am not that tired, that's probably because I slept 12 hours the night before.
Mom finally contacted us a day later. Turned out her charger wouldn't charge the batteries so she was out of juice. Worried all day and night. But all that counts is that she was fine. So yesterday my bro ordered a new charger and it's on her way.
Guess my body won't get a chance to produce melatonin tonight. Another night lost facing the computer monitors. Recent alarming studies have revealed that proper sleep in the dark suppresses body's ability to produce melatonin which in turn decreases our ability to fight off cancer cells and thus increases our risk for breast cancer. Lovely.
From http://www.medical-library.org/journals2a/melatonin.htm:
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, melatonin also occurs naturally in some foods.
Young adults typically secrete about 5 micrograms to 25 micrograms of melatonin per day. In most people, secretion declines dramatically with age, a fact some researchers suggest accounts for the higher prevalence of meletonin.
Need to sleep more.
Mom finally contacted us a day later. Turned out her charger wouldn't charge the batteries so she was out of juice. Worried all day and night. But all that counts is that she was fine. So yesterday my bro ordered a new charger and it's on her way.
Guess my body won't get a chance to produce melatonin tonight. Another night lost facing the computer monitors. Recent alarming studies have revealed that proper sleep in the dark suppresses body's ability to produce melatonin which in turn decreases our ability to fight off cancer cells and thus increases our risk for breast cancer. Lovely.
From http://www.medical-library.org/journals2a/melatonin.htm:
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, melatonin also occurs naturally in some foods.
Timekeeping Hormone
Secreted only in the dark, melatonin provides a time-of-day cue to diurnal and nocturnal species. For some animals and birds, it also provides a time-of-year signal for migration, hibernation, and estrus cycles. Melatonin's secretion is one of hundreds of circadian, or approximately 24-hour, rhythms in bodily functions controlled by the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus, which comprise the body's master clock. Melatonin receptors have been found in the SCN, which is itself entrained by daylight signals received.
Young adults typically secrete about 5 micrograms to 25 micrograms of melatonin per day. In most people, secretion declines dramatically with age, a fact some researchers suggest accounts for the higher prevalence of meletonin.
Need to sleep more.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Cellphones
Got a call this morning from my mom. Or that's what I thought at first. Unexpected, it was from some lady at a convienence store where my mom supposely have left her phone in the bathroom? of all places.
So all throughout the day been waiting for her to call me back. It's her day off so I wonder if she even realized she has lost her phone.
It's amazing how much we depend upon cellphones these days. The little gadget that connects us to the rest of the world. It's like a GPS tracker, only without the nify GPS part. Well supposely, the police can track the GPS signal from your phone, but I have not had to resort to that yet.
It's close to 3 AM. Don't really feel like sleeping. At the back of my mind I worry. I worry if my mom is safe if she's sleeping soundly at the apt. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but I could've contacted the apt complex people and see if they can run and leave her a message at her door or something by a note. This unknowing where your parents are is very unsettling. A role reversal. Wonder if this is how they feel when we go on trips.
Hope my phone will ring soon with her voice on the other line.
So all throughout the day been waiting for her to call me back. It's her day off so I wonder if she even realized she has lost her phone.
It's amazing how much we depend upon cellphones these days. The little gadget that connects us to the rest of the world. It's like a GPS tracker, only without the nify GPS part. Well supposely, the police can track the GPS signal from your phone, but I have not had to resort to that yet.
It's close to 3 AM. Don't really feel like sleeping. At the back of my mind I worry. I worry if my mom is safe if she's sleeping soundly at the apt. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but I could've contacted the apt complex people and see if they can run and leave her a message at her door or something by a note. This unknowing where your parents are is very unsettling. A role reversal. Wonder if this is how they feel when we go on trips.
Hope my phone will ring soon with her voice on the other line.
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