I have a short list of things that I hope, at the end of my life, I can say without a doubt that I have pursued. This is a short list, and in my mind is only partially defined up until now. I have some more good thinking and reflection that I need to do on this.
I have a much longer list of things that I hope to do in life but have conceded that I may never do before I die. Everyone has this kind of list — run a marathon, see the Mona Lisa, swim with dolphins, etc.
On my long list of things I hope that I can do someday is... learn to play the erhu. Maybe I'll get my chance someday. Or who knows, it may just be another passing interest that will wane after a few months.
In the meantime, here is a good example of what I'd like to be able to do someday:
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
I Am PHOENIX
When I came back to Dallas, I was surprised with the advertisement from University of Phoenix saying "I Am A Phoenix." You can see the advertisement at www.phoenix.edu. I thought to myself, actually, since I love Phoenix so much, "I Am Phoenix."
So since I took the Photoshop class, but haven't had that many projects, I decided to make my own advertisement.
The funny thing is that although I do have a picture of myself in AZ in front of a bunch of cactus, the picture could not work; only this picture of me in Beijing worked.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
The Waiting Room
On Thursday morning, I brought a good friend to the hospital to get a procedure done. He wouldn't be able to drive home afterward, and so I waited for the two hours or so for him to go through the procedure and rest up to be able to head home.
The waiting room, while it did have coffee, had no wifi. And no cell phone service, unless I walked about 50 yards to another room and stood by the window. So there I found myself, for two hours... waiting. It was one of the best times of quiet that I've had all week. Sitting. Slowing Down. Reading. Thinking. Pra'ing.
The circumstances required me to sit and wait and just be still for a little bit. I would not have imposed these conditions upon myself - and yet the time was so good. Why do we so often hate waiting rather than embrace it?
On Thursday afternoon, I went to NTB to change the tires on Bethany's car. I also showed up with no wallet and no cell phone (silly me. But NTB looked up my account and allowed me to pay anyways.) That left me waiting in the NTB waiting room for 90 minutes, where there was no wifi, and I have no cell phone. That's two times of forced stillness in one day. It was another very refreshing time - and again, imposed upon me rather than self-imposed... which is too bad.
Waiting in stop-and-go traffic that you can do nothing to change. Waiting on hold for 40 minutes until a live customer service rep comes on. Waiting for the nurse to call your name so the doctor will see you. In our culture, we hate waiting, and we think to ourselves, "I've got things to do. Let's hurry this up. Come on..."
Or we can take the imposed time of waiting and use it to slow down, think, read, be still.
In some things, perhaps the Father imposes 45 minutes of waiting upon us. In other things, perhaps the waiting time is 4 months or 5 years. What will I do with that time?
The waiting room, while it did have coffee, had no wifi. And no cell phone service, unless I walked about 50 yards to another room and stood by the window. So there I found myself, for two hours... waiting. It was one of the best times of quiet that I've had all week. Sitting. Slowing Down. Reading. Thinking. Pra'ing.
The circumstances required me to sit and wait and just be still for a little bit. I would not have imposed these conditions upon myself - and yet the time was so good. Why do we so often hate waiting rather than embrace it?
On Thursday afternoon, I went to NTB to change the tires on Bethany's car. I also showed up with no wallet and no cell phone (silly me. But NTB looked up my account and allowed me to pay anyways.) That left me waiting in the NTB waiting room for 90 minutes, where there was no wifi, and I have no cell phone. That's two times of forced stillness in one day. It was another very refreshing time - and again, imposed upon me rather than self-imposed... which is too bad.
Waiting in stop-and-go traffic that you can do nothing to change. Waiting on hold for 40 minutes until a live customer service rep comes on. Waiting for the nurse to call your name so the doctor will see you. In our culture, we hate waiting, and we think to ourselves, "I've got things to do. Let's hurry this up. Come on..."
Or we can take the imposed time of waiting and use it to slow down, think, read, be still.
In some things, perhaps the Father imposes 45 minutes of waiting upon us. In other things, perhaps the waiting time is 4 months or 5 years. What will I do with that time?
Friday, February 6, 2009
Many Cities, Many Awards
So as you can see from Alvin's last post, we went to many cities: Reading, PA; Chicago, IL; Vancouver, BC; Seattle, WA; and Portland, OR.
I decided to give my own little awards to each city.
The Coldest City Award goes to: Chicago. We were outside in Chicago for about 15 minutes total and I thought my face could have froze off.
City with the Most Cantonese Speaker Award goes to: Vancouver. Seattle gave Vancouver a run, but Vancouver definitely takes the cake. I even tried to speak to a waiter in Mandarin, and she gave me a look like, "what foreign language are you speaking?; here we speak the native language, Cantonese." Vancouver also gets the cleanest subway award compared to Chicago's.
City Where Alvin and I Have to Play with the Most Kids Award goes to: Portland. We stayed at Alvin's sister's house where they had three kids under the age of 5. We also stayed at my cousin's house where she has two kids under the age of 5. One day Alvin's sister brought her kids to my cousins and so there were 5 kids under the age of 5. Good thing there were also 6 adults there. Portland also has really good sushi, but since I didn't have sushi anywhere else, I guess it can't win the award.
City with the Most Foreign Foods goes to: Reading, PA. I felt like every time we went out to eat we went to a diner or had diner food. One friend from the Northeast told us that Pennsylvania people consider they got a good meal when they have 3 meats (from 3 different animals) with 3 starches. But how about the fiber? Man, what foreignness! Where is the Chinese food? Where is the Japanese food?
City that Almost Feels like a Second Home goes to (of course behind our other second homes [which were our first homes] in LA and Phoenix): It's a tie! Seattle and Portland! I have been to Seattle 7 times. I have been to Portland 4 times. I have probably spent more days in Portland than in Seattle. I'm not sure.
I decided to give my own little awards to each city.
The Coldest City Award goes to: Chicago. We were outside in Chicago for about 15 minutes total and I thought my face could have froze off.
City with the Most Cantonese Speaker Award goes to: Vancouver. Seattle gave Vancouver a run, but Vancouver definitely takes the cake. I even tried to speak to a waiter in Mandarin, and she gave me a look like, "what foreign language are you speaking?; here we speak the native language, Cantonese." Vancouver also gets the cleanest subway award compared to Chicago's.
City Where Alvin and I Have to Play with the Most Kids Award goes to: Portland. We stayed at Alvin's sister's house where they had three kids under the age of 5. We also stayed at my cousin's house where she has two kids under the age of 5. One day Alvin's sister brought her kids to my cousins and so there were 5 kids under the age of 5. Good thing there were also 6 adults there. Portland also has really good sushi, but since I didn't have sushi anywhere else, I guess it can't win the award.
City with the Most Foreign Foods goes to: Reading, PA. I felt like every time we went out to eat we went to a diner or had diner food. One friend from the Northeast told us that Pennsylvania people consider they got a good meal when they have 3 meats (from 3 different animals) with 3 starches. But how about the fiber? Man, what foreignness! Where is the Chinese food? Where is the Japanese food?
City that Almost Feels like a Second Home goes to (of course behind our other second homes [which were our first homes] in LA and Phoenix): It's a tie! Seattle and Portland! I have been to Seattle 7 times. I have been to Portland 4 times. I have probably spent more days in Portland than in Seattle. I'm not sure.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Home.
It's been 3 1/2 weeks since we left Dallas for what would be a whirlwind trip around the northern part of the country. Here's the travel log:
1. 2009-01-11 Flight: Dallas to Philadelphia (1301 Miles)
2. 2009-01-11 Rental Car: Philadelphia to Reading (63 Miles)
3. 2009-01-24 Shuttle: Reading to Philadelphia (63 Miles)
4. 2009-01-24 Flight: Philadelphia to Chicago (676 Miles)
5. 2009-01-24 Flight: Chicago to Vancouver, B.C. (1761 Miles)
6. 2009-01-28 Car: Vancouver, B.C. to Portland (315 Miles)
7. 2009-02-02 Amtrak: Portland to Seattle (186 Miles)
8. 2009-02-03 Amtrak: Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. (157 Miles)
9. 2009-02-03 Flight: Vancouver, B.C. to Chicago (1761 Miles)
10. 2009-02-04 Flight: Chicago to Dallas (802 Miles)
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. For a grand total of 7085 Miles.
But, to be able to spend good time with close family and friends, it was well worth it.
Still, it's good to be home.
Monday, February 2, 2009
I am Sad for the Cardinals
Wow, what a great game. I was rooting for the Cardinals all the way. The last two minutes of the game was torture for me and I knew that I was emotionally involved by the way my stomach was feeling.
Yet at the end of the game, I was sad, but not too sad. It was not like when UCLA loses in the NCAA finale or "the game." Oh, the game. =( Yes, I am referring to the Phoenix Suns loss in game six of the finals in 1993. I replayed the KJ's shot in my head at least 100 times, and that night I even had a dream that he made the shot.
Still, I have sorrow for the Cardinals, but not a permanent sorrow. This sorrow came twice tonight since after the game, my cousin who was working came home and re-watched the game on his recording. I don't know why I put myself through the torture again.
By the way, to reply to AC's comment, Phoenician is the demonym (nickname) for people who live in Phoenix according to wikipedia.
Yet at the end of the game, I was sad, but not too sad. It was not like when UCLA loses in the NCAA finale or "the game." Oh, the game. =( Yes, I am referring to the Phoenix Suns loss in game six of the finals in 1993. I replayed the KJ's shot in my head at least 100 times, and that night I even had a dream that he made the shot.
Still, I have sorrow for the Cardinals, but not a permanent sorrow. This sorrow came twice tonight since after the game, my cousin who was working came home and re-watched the game on his recording. I don't know why I put myself through the torture again.
By the way, to reply to AC's comment, Phoenician is the demonym (nickname) for people who live in Phoenix according to wikipedia.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Useful Ideas
Once in awhile I have ideas for things that I think would be useful to the world, but I wonder if it would just be useful to me, or if it really is a brilliant idea that's useful for many people. I would imagine most, if not all, of my ideas fall pretty far short of brilliant.
Years ago, I thought about a kitchen gadget which is a clip-on spout for bowls. It would come in different sizes. Sometimes you do some mixing in a bowl, or you want to pour liquids from one bowl to another, but depending on the bowl and the size of the lip, stuff usually runs down the outside of the bowl. What about a clip-on spout with silicon/rubber seal to keep from dripping? Attach it to any bowl, do the pouring you need - sans mess and drippage - and then detach the spout and throw it in the sink.
I wonder if that's already been done. If not, I wonder if Oxo reads this blog. I guess we'll see in about 6 months. (Oxo, if you use this idea for product design, at least comment on my blog, ok?)
Now I'm wondering if there is a website out there for people to collaborate on providing information about specific SBUX locations. For example, if I'm visiting a city and I want to look for a Starbucks to work at for 3 hours, I want to know things like: 1) Is the store big enough, with lots of tables? 2) Are there outlets all over the place, or even one of those long tables with an outlet in the middle? 3) What are their store hours? 4) What's the atmosphere like (empty all the time, filled with teenagers, etc.)? 5) Are there soft chairs or couches for people to lounge, or is it just wooden chairs and tables?
Things like that.
Would this be information that is only useful to me? Or would others benefit from a website like this? If so, I guess I should get to work on it. And figure out how it would generate revenue.
I'm a coder, a pragmatist, an implementer. Not an inventor or a businessman. But occasionally, I wish I could know if my ideas were already-tried or brilliant, or at least good enough to develop further.
Years ago, I thought about a kitchen gadget which is a clip-on spout for bowls. It would come in different sizes. Sometimes you do some mixing in a bowl, or you want to pour liquids from one bowl to another, but depending on the bowl and the size of the lip, stuff usually runs down the outside of the bowl. What about a clip-on spout with silicon/rubber seal to keep from dripping? Attach it to any bowl, do the pouring you need - sans mess and drippage - and then detach the spout and throw it in the sink.
I wonder if that's already been done. If not, I wonder if Oxo reads this blog. I guess we'll see in about 6 months. (Oxo, if you use this idea for product design, at least comment on my blog, ok?)
Now I'm wondering if there is a website out there for people to collaborate on providing information about specific SBUX locations. For example, if I'm visiting a city and I want to look for a Starbucks to work at for 3 hours, I want to know things like: 1) Is the store big enough, with lots of tables? 2) Are there outlets all over the place, or even one of those long tables with an outlet in the middle? 3) What are their store hours? 4) What's the atmosphere like (empty all the time, filled with teenagers, etc.)? 5) Are there soft chairs or couches for people to lounge, or is it just wooden chairs and tables?
Things like that.
Would this be information that is only useful to me? Or would others benefit from a website like this? If so, I guess I should get to work on it. And figure out how it would generate revenue.
I'm a coder, a pragmatist, an implementer. Not an inventor or a businessman. But occasionally, I wish I could know if my ideas were already-tried or brilliant, or at least good enough to develop further.
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