triggering Action Potential

Girlfriend no more!

yes, it's true. I no long have a girlfriend. It is liberating. After 6 years of dating, I decided to part ways with my boyfriend status and move on. Of course, I continue to live with my ex-girlfriend in the house that we purchased. Now, some of you might think wonder why my ex-GF and I would continue to co-hab.

The answer is simple: I proposed. And she said yes!

in a way, being engaged is liberating. Isn't it ironic? :-)

Wham Bang!

What a storm we had yesterday. Strong enough to create power outage. And we still don't have power this morning! It does feel different living without electricity, considering so much of our lifestyle runs on electricity. It also feel strange driving through the town where no street lights were on--just the car headlights. I guess that's what the world used to be.

on the positive note: we did not get flooded.

hypothetically speaking...

In an experiment, can the data be right or wrong?
is there a right or wrong interpretation to a data?

Rain Rain Rain, I'm not singing in the rain....

It's raining, on and off, for the current month of August. And more rain is expected to fall in the Chicagoland. I can't remember a summer this wet, considering the dry spell a few years back.

Rain, while is good for the lawn, is bad for home repair. So I will most likely to be singing in the rain during spring, when rain will make the grass green. But for now, I wish the sun would shine.

What If?

In just about every situation that involves a decision, when looking at it from hindsight, one will always ask and rationalize. Then one will realize: Could've. Would've. Should've.

Questions for the day

1. Can a political candidate win without slinging mud at his/her opponents?
2. Can the business world have an altruistic philosophy?

One Heck of a Haul

A slight revision

In addition to the piano makers listed below, I might consider a Hamburg-Steinway.

Something about European pianos that make them stand out. Perhaps they have deeply rooted traditions. Or they don't really mass produce like Yamaha's or Young Chang's.

They have a certain flair. Not to mention the endorsements from the great composers/pianists of the 19th century--with the exception of the Fazioli, of course.

Looking forward

Yummy!

calamari, cleaned
white wine
chopped celery
black vinegar

Skillz or Pharm?

It's an age old debate: which of the two contributes more to superstardom in sports, skills or pharmaceutical interventions?

Many atheletes are found to take performance-enhancing drugs (very evident in cycling). But in the case of Barry Bonds, how much improvement is the drug adding to his baseball skills? I read that supposedly that some drugs can enhance vision acuity, reaction time, and of course, muscle power (at a heavy cost, no less). But hitting a baseball coming at 90mph that has lateral to vertical movements requires the skills. Abilities required for each sport are different. Would steriods help a NBA star shoot better, pass better, rebound better, steal better, or even, jump higher? Would a blood transfusion enhance the batting or fielding ability of a MLB player on game day?

In this advance age of technology, custom-designed drugs are just a step away, if not already available to the priviledged few. Many argue that Barry Bonds already had great skills, and most likely, the pharmaceutical enhancements gave him an edge over the competition. After all, that's what you really need to win, an edge. But I think regardless of having an edge, one must have the skills and the determination.

I have read many sport columnists over the past few days and the consensus is this: you don't have to like what Bonds did, but you have to give him his due.

After all, he is causing changes in the sports, for better or worse.

Negativity

Why is it that negative criticisms are easier to conjour and write? Why do some folks feel better when giving negative comments?

What is the best way to handle negative comments? What can be learned from negative criticisms?

Instant!

Fallacy

We error as human beings. That is our nature. But the world today requires objective opinions and decision-making. As human, we are governed by our emotional states, personal wants, our psychology, and physiology. We are, in fact, fallible to achieve non-biased opinions and thus a proper decision-making. Many things can factor into how we make our decisions--gut feeling, logic, weather, emotions, etc--but how can we justify that the decision we make is fair if we are not removed from all those factors that potential play an influence on our mind?

Perhaps what make us fallible are the thing that make us both strong and vulnerable.

Tool Time!

house repairs. That's what one does when one owns a house. We have made some major upgrades since the closing date in May. We decided to start with the garage so that we can use it as a locked storage besides being a carport. Over the past weekends, we successfully installed the garage door opener, which I would have gladly paid for the installation fee. But then again, it's the experience that's priceless. Also replaced the side door and it now awaits to be painted and weather-sealed. One major repair looming is the doorstep. Right now, there are just slabs of stones unevenly stacked up to the garage side door. We will have to build a new foundation (probably pour concrete) and make sure that the steps are not hazadous, especially in the winter and bad weather. A minor upgrade that will take place for the garage is the timer for the exterior lights. After that, we will install shelves and put in a deep freeze. Really, all the garage upgrades are for the deep freeze so we can get some more of that pork pork pork pork pork!

"What do I want at the end of my fork? PORK!"
--courtesy of Chipotle