Mar
30
Just a Cup of Hot Chocolate
Filed Under Musings | 4 Comments
I was in my kitchen last night making a cup of hot chocolate when I had a revelation.
But first, let me back up a little bit to touch on the finer points of the art making hot chocolate. If you’ve made hot chocolate from a powder mix, then you’ll know that it isn’t always easy to get the powder all mixed in. When you drop the spoon of powder into the hot milk, the outside of the clump of powder turns into this gooey mess that seals the milk away from the dry powder inside the clump. So to get it all mixed in you have to smash the clump and do all kinds of other strange contortions to expose the dry parts to the milk. Something that at first glance seems to be a simple process ends up being quite a bit more dramatic.
That’s when it occurred to me. There could be some deep philosophical meaning hidden in the art of stirring a cup of hot chocolate. (Plus I haven’t written anything on my blog in forever, so I could really really really use some new content!) Simple things being not so simple… or that powder hidden inside and protected by a layer of gooey mix… there must be some deep thought that could be connected to this. So I stood there mindlessly stirring that cup while trying to uncover the truth hidden beneath those mesmerizing brown swirls of chocolate.
But nothing came to me. It was late already, and stir as I might, my brain was just too tired to put together a coherent thought. As the last brown islands of hot chocolate mix surrendered to the swirling sea of milk, it finally struck me. I had my big revelation of the night.
Sometimes it really is nothing more than just a cup of hot chocolate.
Aug
16
Today is one those days…
Filed Under Musings | 4 Comments
Today is one of those days when I just can’t wait to get back into my car.
Why, you ask?
Is it because I secretly long to cast off these chains of routine and to drive off over the horizon with no destination in mind… to see where the winds of fate will carry me… and even if I am met with disaster and ruin, at least I would have stepped out from the mires of the here and now.
Mmmm… not really.
Or is it because I grow weary of toiling within this tangled weave of existence where not even the best planned threads run true for very long… oh if I could only escape to my car where the destination is clear and the way forward is as simple as pressing a couple of pedals and twiddling a wheel.
Mmmm… nope, don’t think it’s that either.
It’s actually quite simple… two words, really: Air condition.
Yes, air condition. Lately my car has been the only place where I can escape from the heat. Like any good cheap asian, I try really hard not to turn on the air condition at home. When I was younger I used to complain that my parents would never turn the AC on. But now that I have my own place and pay my own bills, I’m doing the exact same thing… if I’m not passing out from the heat, it’s not hot enough for the AC yet! (well okay, slightly exaggerated) And then there’s the office where I work at. The AC is on full blast, but it’s completely overwhelmed by the big fat server that’s pouring out heat in the back room. Trust me, 80 to 85 degrees is no fun for an office.
So that leaves my car. It’s the one refuge where I can turn the AC on and escape from the heat. Ah… blessed air condition… if my commute could only be longer on days like this…
Aug
7
Eeeks! Google’s Stalker-Cam (a.k.a. Google Maps Street View) is in Southern California now! And it’s sort of… ummm… how do I put this… oh, I know: It’s CREEEEEPY!!!
If that link doesn’t work, it’s this:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=34.075519,-118.440578&spn=0.012441,0.014613&z=16&om=1&layer=c&cbll=34.07224,-118.44079&cbp=1,260,0.5,0
That link goes to a view of the quad at UCLA. And no, I have no idea who that person in the middle of the picture is. It’s just some random shmoe that got in the way of that view of the quad.
It looks like Google hasn’t completed mapping out the Los Angeles / Orange County areas yet, so you’d better make sure you’re presentable when you’re outside… you never know when you might become that random shmoe that gets in the way of the view of something or another.
But even though I think it’s sort of creepy, I’m still curious to know if I got caught in any of the pictures. So… I’ll offer $100 for the first person that can give me definitive evidence of a Street View picture with me in it. No, seriously… Because I’m pretty sure I’m not on there! =) I figure if I was walking on the street I would have noticed a van with cameras mounted on the roof. But there is a small chance that I got caught driving next to it… I’m pretty oblivious when I drive. But you’re going to need a clear shot of my license plate for it to qualify as definitive evidence. Good luck! =)
Aug
3
Huzzah! I’ve been returned to the #1 spot on a Google search for my name. Thanks Google! They’ve now further earned my loyalty as a Google fanboy. =) I’ll remember this when it comes time to choose between an iPhone and the much-rumored gPhone.
I think the change might have something to do with recent alleged changes to Google’s ranking algorithm.
Anyway, I probably should start posting stuff here again so that I don’t get knocked off the top spot again. Lately I’ve been too distracted messing with my facebook page to pay enough attention to my real website. But the whole obsession with a new thing is wearing thin already, so I’ll probably waste less time with facebook now. (hah… we’ll see how that idea pans out…)
Jul
27
Fat friends make you fat?
Filed Under Musings | 8 Comments
There’s this research study that’s been showing up in the news recently. It’s about how having fat friends increases your chances of being fat. Here’s a news articles about the study:
Find Yourself Packing it On? Blame Friends (New York Times)
So was your first reaction the same as mines? I thought it was just so plainly obvious… a study of which was completely unnecessary. I mean seriously, all it boils down to is that your friends tend to influence your behavior. And there’s no good reason why this doesn’t include lifestyle decisions that influence obesity. Did we really need a research study to figure this out? A little common sense would have saved loads of research dollars (or perhaps pounds would be more appropriate in this case…)
So go find yourself some skinny friends! Maybe they will make you skinnier. That is if you care about that sort of stuff. I don’t particularly care… but I guess my opinion doesn’t carry too much “weight” on this issue. :-)
Jul
12
Blasphemy!
Filed Under Musings | 2 Comments
This is blasphemous! A bottle of two-buck-chuck is named as California’s best Chardonnay?!
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3372578
Oh well, to make myself feel better after this great travesty, I’m going to go swing by Trader Joe’s a buy a few bottles of Chuck. ;-)
But with all kidding aside, I’m of the opinion that a lot of this wine tasting “science” is just people trying to sound all cultured and classy with all these mysterious wine tasting words. I mean seriously, do I really want to taste leather or truffles in my wine? Mmmm…. nah, I think I’ll pass. Just give me something that I personally enjoy. That’s probably impossible to figure out from reading somebody else’s review… so I guess that gives me a great excuse to go try out more wines! ;-)
Jun
25
Almost died today… twice!
Filed Under Musings | 2 Comments
So I almost died today… twice in a row! What a day.
Well okay, so I didn’t really almost die… my car almost got hit twice today. Twice in the same intersection by two different cars running the same red light. It’s one of those funky five way intersections that people get confused by if the don’t drive through it every day. So I guess the first car got confused, and the second was just following without looking at the stoplight.
So anyway, lots of tire smoke and adrenaline and whatever, but thankfully nothing crashed together. Normally I would have some choice words about the stupid people in our society and the problems they cause… but I’m just so tired today that I don’t feel like ranting. Yah… I’m really really really tired when I’m not ready with a stupid people rant. ;-)
So instead of ranting, I’ll just leave you with a parting thought:
A kitten dies every time a stupid act is committed. Please… Think of the kittens!
Jun
5
Time Waster of the Day #2
Filed Under Musings | 6 Comments
I’ve got another great time waster! (I’m starting to notice a disturbing trend with what I’ve been posting here lately… :-) )
Go here to get the Democracy Player: http://www.getdemocracy.com/
For you gearheads out there, it’s a RSS aggregator combined with a Bittorrent client combined with a video player.
In plain English, it’s like Youtube… but less of a disorganized mess… and with fewer dumb videos of cats playing pianos. The idea is that it automatically downloads lists of (legally) free videos/podcasts/etc out there and organizes them into categorized lists/channels. Then you pick what interests you and download and watch them. And if you must, you can also search for Youtube videos and watch them or save them for later.
You can think of Youtube as something like the bargain bin at Kmart — it’s mostly full of crap, but once in a while you’ll find a gem. I’ve found that the Democracy Player at least has things categorized onto different shelves. There’s still crap on there, but at least now you’ve got a fighting chance of avoiding it.
One thing to note is that it’s not streaming video like Youtube, so you’ll have to wait for the whole video to download before you can watch it. So it’s best done where you have a fast connection… not that I’m suggesting that you try this at work or at a school library. Oh no, I wouldn’t advocate such gratuitous waste of what could have otherwise been a productive use of your time. But hey, those are still great places to try it. ;-)
So anyway, give it a try… It’s free, so what can you lose? Or you could always go back to watching your cats playing pianos. It’s up to you.
May
18
Time Waster of the Day
Filed Under Games | 21 Comments
Well that was a good waste of an hour. ;-) I came across this silly little Flash game that’s surprisingly addictive. You make a little maze to defend your desktop against little invading creatures. It’s actually more fun than it sounds! Check it out here:
I’m still tweaking my strategy, but here are my scores from my first few tries:
My Scores
May
17
Good Behavior
Filed Under Musings | 4 Comments
Normally I try to avoid giving any additional attention to celebrity news, but this one was too good to pass up:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/11/paris.hilton.ap/
So the old news is that Paris Hilton is going to jail (yes, I laughed too when I first heard about it). Now some judge is cutting down her sentence for good behavior. No surprise there… but the funny/ridiculous part about this is what they cited as giving her credit for “good behavior”:
Officials considered several factors in calculating the credit, including that she appeared for her latest court date, he said.
Huh? Since when did just showing up to court constitute “good behavior”? It’s what’s demanded of you! Otherwise the cops are going to come looking for you. Oh wait I almost forgot… this is Paris Hilton we’re talking about. Acting like a normal person qualifies as “good behavior” for her.
Okay I promise, no more silly celebrity news. Well… at least until something really outlandish happens. Which should take about a month considering the current state of society. ;-)