Bitter gourd

Last Saturday Jack and I went to this Indian restaurant in Sunnyvale, which was highly recommended by my picky Indian colleague to be the best Indian buffet in town.

We were very happy with the choices of food, despite having to wait for 30 minutes for the buffet to open. Jack's favorite, to my surprise, was tandoori vegetables. It was similar to tandoori chicken but had marinated crunchy vegetables instead of chicken.

We came across this tiny strips of fried green vegetable in the tandoori, which we had never had anywhere else, but Jack liked the taste. I tasted it, and to me, it was bitter, and I didn't like it at all. I told him I thought it was fried bitter melon, but Jack didn't think it was possible, because he disliked any kind of melon, not to mention the bitter ones.

I smiled. Deep down, I knew how bitter melon tasted like, because it was one of my favorite exotic green vegetables! Deep fried, tandoori flavor or otherwise, I know how bitter melon taste like.

I told Jack: why don't you ask the server what it is.

Jack seemed to be as curious as I did, so he said OK. He went to where the dish was placed and asked his question.

When Jack came back, he said: "It was bitter gourd." I laughed with satisfaction. Then he continued: "The first waiter didn't know what it was, so we asked the waitress, and she said it was bitter gourd. Then the Chinese lady asked if it was bitter melon, and the waiter told her, 'no, it's bitter gourd.'"

How does the saying go? "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Random

We are watching 27 dresses to test the Roku configuration.

Jack: is it interesting that New York has a Central Park and San Francisco has a ...
Ying interrupted: Union Square?
Jack: Golden Gate Park.
Ying: oh, Central Park is actually a park?
Jack: haha, Yes. :)
Ying: I always thought Central Park was like some kind of a square.

Smile

Allowed

Last night I watched the 10 o'clock news. While the advertisements were on, and I was dozing off, I was reminded that we have been in the middle of the holiday shopping season. It was actually refreshing for me to see Christmas shopping commercials, listening to Christmas music, watching pictures of snow and festive colors.

Usually between Thanksgiving and New Years, I would be totally overwhelmed by various holiday ads from different channels, and pulling my hair out. 

It helped that I just came back from a 3-week trip to the Far East. I have been reacquainting myself with my day to day life, while unmistakeably soaking in and appreciating every moment. It was as if my "cup" was some how being emptied, filled with my Asian experiences, then it was emptied again and now it was being filled again, slowly, happily and steadily.

Once in a while, it's nice to be able to choose to allow commercials to amuse me, instead of being frustrated by them. The question is, how do we "drain our cups" once a while, so that we can look at things, even possibly annoying things with a child-like innocence?

Missing

I have been missing myself lately.

I just came back from an international trip, and over the last few days, I had been exclaiming: how nice it is to be back!

It's nice to have clean toilets which flush properly. A toilet flush is like melody to my ears.
It's nice to be out and about where there is no cigarette smoke, nor people talking loudly.
It's nice to be able to plug in to electric outlets without worrying about destroying my gadgets.
It's nice to have Internet access at my palm using my beautiful new iPhone, without worrying about wifi availability.
It's nice to be able to drive myself to places in my own car.
More importantly, it's nice to be home!

While I'm shaking my Asia blues, I seemed to remember why I didn't make these trips more frequently. On the other hand, it's nice to be truly appreciative of what I have once in a while.

Jake's nemesis in the garage

Jake is our dark golden retriever. He is almost 5. He is fluffy, handsome, and happy. He has huge paws and walks like a tiger.

The first thing I hear in the morning is his happy tail sweeping around, hitting everything on its path. He would search around the house for the ball, his toys, or a shoe before getting his breakfast. His most favorite thing is fetching his orange ball over and over again.

Jake has a nemesis in the garage. See, our washer of three years, though a new model, shakes and makes loud noises when it's in use. Whenever I do laundry, Jake would stay at the patio, and barking nonstop at the garage. I figure he must be barking at the washer.

Today we did 3 loads of laundry, and Jake was very rowdy all day. We compensated the dogs with more milk bones and lots of love.

Flawless skin

One time I went shopping at Nordstrom, that is, in the days when I still had time to go shopping. I was riding the escalator down to the main floor, and saw a big advertisement sign hanging off the high ceiling, saying: flawless skin, and next to it a young model showing off her beautiful face.

It caught my attention for a flash of a second. Who didn't want flawless skin? Then I realized it was an advertisement for the Channel cosmetics. So to the cosmetics business, flawless skin means covering the flaws of the skin. For sure some products do a better job than others, and the effectiveness depends on the pricing.

I don't know about you, but to me, it is ironic and a tad manipulative.

Guy Ritchie overload

Last night we watched two Guy Ritchie movies back to back: "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" and then "Snatch."

I liked the "Sherlock Holmes" movies, but these two were Ritchie's debute movies, which helped him rise to fame.

As much as I enjoyed and appreciate them, watching two intense British gangster movies was challenging.

First, I had to sort out the who's who in different groups of intertwined activities, which involve mainly the top dogs getting rich via killing, gambling, and robbing ...

Secondly, unlike mainstream Hollywood gangster movies, in which characters don't talk much, except for Pulp Fiction, I guess, the Guy Ritche movies had a lot of dialogs. The British accent made it more difficult to follow.

Thirdly, these two movies are visually bloody and violent. At the end all the bad guys got killed, while those who innocently stirred things up walked away free.

At least these were my first impressions of these 2 movies after the double feature.

The stories are very tightly written, and the dialogs are interesting. I can see myself watching them again.

Movies and quotes

Some movies have more quotable quotes, substance, than others. Classic black and white movies have excellent dialogs! Some movies are full of quotes, so it's impossible to enumerate them. Here are some movie quotes off the top of my head. They may not be exact quotes, but you get the idea.

The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer

Tommy: I'm a square in Susan's social circle.

She said: He is like a heavy meal, it stays with you for a long long time.
He said: what about me?
She said: orange juice.

Susan: uncle Ted, let's dance.
Uncle Ted: Susan, I found your youth exuberance very tiring.

Susan: Oh, this is the most wonderful day of my life. I just want this moment to stay still.
Uncle Matt: well you can stay still after I seat down.

Dick Tracy

I have thought, I have a thought... It's gone.

An affair to remember

I'll just take my ego for a walk.

Gift shop

Have you ever wondered the purpose of a gift shop? This must be another one of those lifelong misconceptions: every time I go to a gift shop, whether its in a museum or in Chinatown, I always look for things for myself. It seldom crosses my mind that the purpose of a gift shop is for you to buy gifts for others.

That is one of the reason why holiday shopping is so challenging for me, I am always too busy looking for things for myself.

Perhaps if I keep in mind the purpose of a gift shop or gift shopping, it's help me be more focused and efficient.

Drawing the line on pain

I had a discovery yesterday after my yoga class with Jean, and I shared it with my physical therapist today despite the possibility of him getting upset at me.

I have not stop practicing yoga or going to classes since I had this neck pain. In my personal practice, I avoided poses that hurt my neck or shoulders. However, most flow classes include a few down dogs, chaturanga dandasana, and planks.

Lacking the insight, I kept doing those poses in the class. I even tried doing handstand prep two weeks ago. That's when I realized that certain yoga poses actually contributed to my slow recovery.

Yesterday's yoga class included handstand, but I took the option of doing legs up on the wall instead, and I came to child's pose on almost all of the down dogs. I felt so good and free after the class. Not only that I had a great practice with a good class and great teacher, I learned to better take care of myself!

I draw a line when it comes to pain. So no handstand or even down dog for me for a while. Luckily, I already have some good sequences without those poses.

Live and learn.

Business suit, lipstick and yoga pants

One of the weird things about going to technical conferences is, usually during breaks, when people race to the restroom, the women's restroom is almost always nearly empty, while our male counterparts are waiting in long lines. At least, those were the observation and amusement in the early days of my career.

I had the rare chance to wear my blue suit today for an event at work. It was so unlike me to wear a suit, I felt out of place. I rushed to work early in the morning, and barely had enough time to put on some lipstick before rushing into the building. I left my lipstick in my pocket, while reminding myself not to pull it out in front of respectable people.

After a long and eventful day - shaking hands with senior execs; getting a glimpse of the CEO, and yes, we did treat her like a queen at the lab -I went to teach my very first yoga class at a studio. It was a good class. Everyone came out refreshed, relaxed and beaming, which pleased me.

After class, I walked out of the yoga studio with my yoga outfit and business suit on top to keep warm. I was slightly embarrassed by the mix-matched outfit, but thankfully, it was very dark so nobody could see me that well.

What a day, and how I survived. Now it's time to let everything go and check out for the day.

It's the tea

Over the last 4 years, I've been going to my favorite yoga teachers evening classes at least once a week. It feel like going home and I feel safe in her class.

Once a while, I would email her to tell her how much I enjoyed the class, because I really did. For a few times I told her I was especially energized after the classes, and sometime even had a hard time falling asleep at night, and she was quite puzzled. I just thought it was some powerful yoga that I practiced.

Just recently I discovered the reason. Those times I has trouble sleeping after the evening class, I also went to have Chinese food for dinner and they gave me tea.

When I explained to my teacher and told her: "it's the tea, not yoga," She laughed and was relieved.

A four year mystery solved.

Two scoops and an extra sausage

Since I had my neck pain 3 months ago, my right shoulder became very weak to the point when it was difficult to carry anything or cook.

One evening we made Kung Pao chicken for dinner. As usual we put loads of vegetables in it to make it more healthy. We cut up mushroom, bell peppers, celery, onion, and chicken. With Jack's help, the preparation was a breeze.

I fully cooked the chicken, then put all of the chopped vegetables in the wok. Then it became too heavy for me to stir because of my hurt shoulder, so I assigned Jack to stir-fried the food, and I cleaned the dishes.

I told jack to go ahead and add the spicy sauce but "don't put in too much please." When I turned around, I saw that he put 2 extra scoops of spicy sauce in the food when I was not looking. He looked at me and smiled, and I said: "better put in as much as I want before she catches me." He nodded.

Another night, when we made pasta sauce, I told him to only put in one sausage because the ground turkey was quite a lot of meat. He put the second sausage in the sauce anyway when I was not looking. When I saw the sausage gone, I smiled and said to him: "you can say what you want, and I'll do what I want."  He smiled and nodded.

Isn't it fun when you can finish each other's sentences?

The shortest relationships

What do you think qualifies as a shortest relationship?

I have one in mind that we encounter almost everyday, but you may not think of it that way.

When I drive, I feel that my relationship with the other drivers on the road can be the short relationships.

Sometimes, the other drivers pass me to get ahead, and I learn to accept that, and gladly let them do so, because I don't want someone to be tailgating me anyway, especially on one-lane mountain roads.

Some other times, the relationship with other drivers can be quite harmonious. We keep our respectful distances, from the front to the back and stay away from each others' blind spots. We should be good drivers, keep both hands on the steering-wheel and be observant to the surroundings. At that time, driving can be pleasant and safe.

Defensive driving is like an art. It is an art to learn to deal with others within the society with many different personalities and from all walks of lives, and not being frustrated or hurt by others' ruthlessness. It is an art to accept and adapt to situations without getting oneself out of balance. It is an art to let go of one's ego and judgement occasionally. It's also an art to be able to recognize the smallest goodness and celebrate it.

Life is an art. How do we build healthy relationships and get rid of bad ones? It seems to be a life-long lesson, and we have our whole lives to practice and be better at it.

Quotable quote

I spent a few hours struggling to find, reset and consolidate my Apple ID, iCloud ID, and all the various passwords. The fact is, some of these IDs were rarely used, so I could never remember them.

At the end I was able to finally sync up all of my accounts, but I was quite annoyed for how troublesome it was.

 In my frustration, I said: "If you want to remember something, you better write it down." All of a sudden it sounded quite philosophical, so I chucked.

Syncing

As I sit here and wait for my new iPhone to sync, I can't help but remember about our encounters at the wireless store where I bought the iPhones from.

Last Sunday I suddenly decided that it was time to upgrade to the most recent iPhone.

We went to the wireless store and talked to the young Mr. J about upgrading. Mr. J was a very friendly and knowledgeable person, and he worked with us for a good hour. At the end, we bought two iPhones instead of one. White/silver for me, black/grey for Jack.

As we walked out of the store, I asked Jack: "Hmm, I wonder why he only talked to you?"

Jack said: "I was wondering about it myself. Even though you're the one that's buying the phones and asking the questions... It's kind of weird."

Feel-good movies

We watched two movies. The first one was "The Confession of A High School Drama Queen." It was cute and entertaining. Entertaining aside, one can only watch that much high school drama queen movie.

Then we watched "Under the Tuscan Sun." This one was the feel-good movie. "It stays with you like a heavy meal." This is a quote from "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer.

Inspiration or the lack of

When you are not inspired, is it because the lacking of blog-able ideas, or is it because you are holding back?

I know when I'm not feeling well, I don't like to write to amuse myself or anyone else.

When I am sitting in front of the TV, I forget all the blogging topics that came to me during the day. Today, most of my ideas came when I went swimming, and when I talked to Jack in the car.

Sometime if you just start writing something, which may not seem like much, your ideas may come back, or you may have some new ideas.

Just smile and take it easy.

Non-power food

Here is my definition of non-power food. It is something you eat, you intake calories and sugar, etc, but it is not filling. So you ended up putting a lot of stuff into yourself yet cannot get the fulfilled sensation or they may be filling but you end up regretting. Don't get me wrong, the food can be very delicious, but you just can't get the right nutrient eating it.

They are something like popcorn, French fries, and the petite palmeries I got from Costco.

Snack with a twist

Let me willingly do an advertisement for this app called "MyFitnessPal", because it helped Jack lost 30 lbs in 4 months, and we're very happy with it. It's a calorie counter for daily food intake and exercise.

In the effort of calorie counting, Jack figured out that a peanut is 5 calories, and 17 low fat mini pretzels are 110 calories. Now he counts his peanuts and pretzels when he snacks. I usually don't touch his snacks, because it's a little dry for me.

One day, Jack came into the office with a small bowl in his hand. I asked what was in the bowl, and he showed me.

He mixed peanuts and pretzels in the bowl, and it looked especially appetizing to me. So this is a snack with a tiny twist.

Thankful

Jack and I enjoyed watching "The Big Bang Theory", especially the first few seasons, which we thought were authentic and different. However, I was not impressed with the newer seasons, and I thought they really ran out of good ideas.

The debut of the first show in the 7th season was especially contrived. Oh well, it's still our first choice for sitcom until a better one comes along. Honestly at this point, I would prefer they end the show and start something new.

I am thankful that they didn't try to poke fun of Chinese nerds the way they did Jewish and Indian. Because the Chinese will actually be offended ... I would be mildly annoyed.

Meet The Croods

We watched "The Croods" last week night, and I liked it. It's an animation about cavemen and I always found human anthropology intriguing.

"The Croods" is a very creative movie as far as cavemen movie is concerned, we decided.

At first I was annoyed by the father Crood, because he was afraid of everything and was very protective of his family. He was afraid of anything new, different, and he was afraid of curiosity and adventures. That's how he kept the family, all 6 of them, alive, while the neighbors were all killed by different causes.

Then he and the family met this guy:Guy, who was one stage more evolved then them. Guy went on a journey with the family and helped them ran away from the earth's eruption and found safe grounds.

There were fantastic creatures and encounters along the journey.

I think the movie teaches us a simple yet powerful evolutionary lesson. Sometimes you may survive by hiding in a cave or stick your head in the sand, whatever, but if you do so, you stop growing and discovering, and may be forced into extinction.

Nick names

Here are the nick names we gave to some of the kiters before we got to know them:

Gray helmet guy
Sparkling helmet guy
Gray chest hair guy
Klaus Gerkin
The Sergeis

Nicer nick names are formed after we know these guys' names:

Blackberry Scott
Surgeon Mike
Pilot Dave / John / Kevin
Michigan Dave
Red truck Eric

When Harry Met Sally

We caught most of "when Harry Met Sally" on TV last night. I can't believe I have never seen it before. It was one of Meg Ryan's classics.

I was surprised that it was not the romantic story I expected. Their journey had so many iterations of ups and downs, and it kind of dragged on for too many years. I am afraid I am not impressed.

To be fair, I think I should watch it from the beginning.

Being Amy

In the post "iPad vs Amy", I mentioned "when Amy is not neurotic, she is really sweet." I think I can qualify that.

Amy is neurotic when:
There are thunder and rain storm;
There is firework;
She is leashed and people come close to her;
She is in the car and people come close to her;
There are kids around;
There are puppies around.

Well it's kind of a long list. Other than that, she is really calm and endearing. I love her, because she is my pup.

Qin vs Qing

One time a while ago over our morning coffee, I explained to Jack how Emperor Qin (秦始皇) was the first emperor who united China a long time ago by conquering the lands, uniting the monetary system and the language. That's one of the first lessons we all learned as school children in China. Without Emperor Qin, I suspect, China could still be divided as different kingdoms, with different cultures and languages. Just like Europe. That would be quite amazing.

Jack listened, thought of it for a while, then asked: "Emperor Qin, is it the same one as in 'The Last Emperor?'"

I said: "No, that's the Qing dynasty. Qin is not Qing (清)!"

Jack looked at me bewildered and confused, then we both laughed at each other.

Movie listing

Jack was scrolling down the listing of our recorded movies, and said: "Oh, triple X."

Without looking up, I said: "Oh, no."

Jack laughed and said: "yes, that's what I say when I see 'Eat, Pray, Love.'"

My exercise

J: What are you doing?

Y: My exercise.

J: A female exercise? Looking at yourself in the mirror?

Y: No, I'm doing the exercise my physical therapist told me to do for my neck. See?

I was attempting to move my head horizontally to the left without tilting the head. He could barely see it, because my neck was so stiff the movement was very small, and I had to stop when it hurt.

iPad vs Amy

Amy is my female golden retriever. She is eight years old. When she is not neurotic, she is very sweet. She likes to stretch out on the bed on her back, and let us scratch her belly.

Tonight when she was cuddling with me, I opened my iPad and started reading my emails and Facebook. Amy put her nose under my hand so I could continue to scratch her head. When that didn't work, she got closer to me and laid on my arm. As if she was saying, "when I'm here, why do you need that?"

You may think I give my dogs too much credit, but I think they deserve more credit than we care to admit.

Total Recall

Do you like the first "Total Recall" or the new one?

As much as I dislike Arnold as an actor and a politician, I like the original Total Recall better than the new one that was released in 2012.

Yes there are new graphic technologies and the idea of traveling through earth's core are intriguing. The especially casted beautiful people are certainly eye candy.

I feel awkward with the scenes where Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale were fighting and swearing. They said way too much "s***" and"f***" it's offensive.

Beautiful actresses with wavy hair are not suitable with the roles of warriors and fighters.

TGIF

It's Friday tomorrow, and I'm already emotionally ready for the weekend. People say Thank God It's Friday (TGIF), but I stop saying that.

I believe everyday I live is a day worth celebrating, and I do not long for the coming of the weekend to treat myself right. Day by day, week by week, that's how we get older, and pass through our journey, so why shouldn't we be happy and thankful everyday?

Lighter and brighter

Last Saturday the family went to 3rd Ave. in Foster City. After waking the doggies, Jack went kiting, and I went on a 5-mile walk along the bay side. It was a warm day, and I was quite hot and sticky wearing my long sleeve shirt and corduroy pants. Funny I gave up dressing according to the weather...

At the parking lot, I met my kiting friend Mr. M who just got off the water, and I asked how he was doing.

The always positive Mr. M said: "I'm doing great!" With a big wide smile.

I said: "I'm so glad to hear that." Truly, I wish I could say the same about myself. Mainly because I thought I saw some wrinkles between my eyebrows that morning, and it bothered me.

Sunday afternoon,  I went to Jean's Yoga workshop: Rock the Meditation. The class was wonderful. After class I gave Jean a big hug. I thanked her and told her I felt lighter and brighter! Coming to Jean's class made me feel like coming home, and I was missing it so much.

I met Jack at 3rd Ave. afterwards, and he asked me how Yoga was.

I said: "It was great!" I surprised myself by what I said and the way I said it. I smiled and felt kind of liberated.

To blog, or not to blog

When blogging ideas come up, sometimes there may be a lot of them all at once, you may not want to blog right away. Take note on those ideas, let them sit, sometimes it'll help you simplify your writing.

Wait for the right frame of mind to write, so that you can enjoy the process as well as the finished product. It may help to make the article more interesting.

Who's that?

Y: Who's that?

J: That's Handsome Bob.

Y: No it's not.

J: It's his voice.

Y: No it's not. It doesn't look like him.

J: Just imagine him with hair on his head.

Y: Oh.

The practice of making the right choice

I read books; I subscribe to email lists of the enlightened, wise ones; I learn, and I search. But how do I apply those wisdoms to my day to day life, be a better person, and live a better life?

There are many quotes of what we should do to be better, but how do we actually go about doing the right things when we are, at any moment, influenced by so many different conditions, limitations, emotions, conflicts, and so on?

Life, my friend, is not easy, but it's not impossible. It takes a curious and open mind. It takes courage of learning and trying new things, the courage of falling and getting back up, and the determination of not living in our own or our predecessors' shadows... (You are welcome to fill in the blank)

You may be equipped with many tools and tricks, and all you need is to make use of the right tool at the right time to do the right thing for yourself. Making the wise choice, so to speak.

Here is a simple example. Last Monday I worked at home. At the end of my work day, I had a choice of doing the following: watching TV and relax, doing yoga/kriya practice, laundry, or cook dinner. I chose to do kriya, which, for that day, turned out to be the perfect choice. I became more energized, positive and focused for the rest of the day. Previously I would have chosen to watch "restaurant impossible" or something like that.

How can one guarantee to make the right choice every time? That's the challenge, isn't it? But there is a quote I can give you: "Practice makes perfect."

Empty

No new notes from my notepad.
Can't think of anything blog-worthy.
Perhaps it's the effect of yoga, light weights plus swimming.
Or maybe because I am watching this scary movie.
"I have goosebumps, people!"

CC's baby

My kiteboarding friend Mrs. CC just had a new baby a month ago. As all young mothers do, she updated pictures of her new baby on Facebook 5 times a day, which are very cute.

One day when we were both working in the office, Jack said: "CC's baby looks the same!"

Additional baby story. 3-year-old Ms.A describes her 1-week-old brother N: "he is always in his pajamas."

My piggy bank

A few weeks ago Jack and I went on a day trip to Monterey bay aquarium. It was our annual trip.

As per usually we enjoyed the drive passing by scenic beaches, farms and flower patches. As we headed south toward Santa Cruz, the weather changed from cloudy to sunny, then as we entered Monterey, we drove into the cloudy area again. It was quit a trip.

We really enjoyed the aquarium. Not only that we visited all the exhibitions, I also watched a live musical about ocean animals, which I enjoyed.

On our way out, we stopped by the gift shop, as all good consumers do. Jack bought a long sleeve T-shirt with the aquarium logo, and he received a free gift, a pink heart-shape piggy bank with a penguin on it. Jack convinced me to buy a pair of silver earrings with the shape of the aquarium logo as well, and I also received my gift, the piggy bank. It's was quite ugly, and I couldn't decide what to do with two of them.

The piggy banks are still sitting in the boxes in our office. I have a plan. If I ever make any money teaching yoga, I will put my yoga money in my piggy bank, which is now sitting idle and empty.

Learn to make French toast

One day I asked Jack to teach me how to make French toast. He said ok and told me to scramble one egg while he finished up some work.

I mixed an egg the way I always made scrambled eggs. As promised, Jack came to the kitchen, and looked in the bowl and asked: "why is there black pepper in it?"

"Oh, I put salt and pepper in it by habit." I realized French toast was sweet.

"OK, i guess we will have to augment it," it didnt take me long to solve the problem, while trying to ignore Jack's laughter. I made a regular scrambled egg for breakfast instead.

Till now, I have not learned the proper way yet, but I enjoyed Jack's French toast this morning.

Tickles

As Jack walked by the office after his morning shower, I said imitating Sheldon Cooper's tone: "Leonard has gone to the office." I don't know why, but that's just what I was thinking of at the time.

Jack started laughing and he repeated: "Leonard ... has gone to the office," while waving his right arm to the right side slightly, just like the gesture Sheldon made in one of the older The Big Bang Theory episodes. Then we wondered why the new season of TBBT is going to start.

YogiAssistant, a new iPhone/iPad App for Yoga practitioners

As the final project for my Yoga Teacher Training, Jack and I created an iPhone and iPad app called YogiAssistant. It has a collections of over 100 Yoga poses, which are categorized in 7 general groups, and it enables the Yoga instructors or practitioners to create Yoga practices and share (sync) them with others via Bluetooth.

It is actually quite brilliant, and it only costs the price of a cup of coffee. It is by far the most complete, versatile and practical Yoga app I have ever used. Of course, I am biased. :)

When you take a Yoga private lesson, your instructor will help you sequence some poses as your daily practice based on your personal need. The poses are drawn in stick figures on a piece of paper, so you take it home to practice accordingly. With YogiAssistant, the Yoga instructor can sequence the practice by selecting the poses from the pose library, put them in the right order including how long a pose should be held, then send the practice to the student via the iPhone/iPad bluetooth. The student can play the practice like a webcast and follow it to practice the poses.

Personally I use YogiAssistant to sequence Yoga classes and my own personal practices, and it is handy as it has all of the poses at my finger tip.

It took us 4 months to develop the app, which overlaps with my teacher training. Yes, I'm very tired and still have a neck pain, but this is certainly the bright side of the story.

Here is more information about the app. I hope you'll like it as much as I do!
http://www.arbor-studios.com/YogiAssistant/

Summer Corn

This summer, corn is being sold in a California major grocery store in the price of 8 ears for $2. Or even 6 ears for $1. Even though over 80% of the corn in the world are genetically modified in some way, we still celebrate our cool and cloudy summer by eating the juicy and sweet corn on the cob.

Most people don't know how to choose corn without husking them. Jack thinks he is an expert, and I would say his "error" is 1 out of 8, which is not bad.

Here are 2 ears of corn we ate in a random summer night. Both of them are tasty.

Barbies and Kens

Back in college days, my first physics lab partner was a smart guy and has an interesting character. I'll call him Mr. H. At the time I met him, he already had an Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering from Hong Kong and worked in HK for a few years, which, to a simple college girl who was still trying to wrap her head around science and her own future, was a big deal. He went to university after migrating to San Francisco so that he could earn a BS degree in EE to get a better job.

Mr. H was honest and he spoke bluntly. I find it easy to be around people like this as it is easy to understand what's in their minds, and I can trust them. At that time I was still a pre-med student, but it was getting difficult for me to enroll in pre-med classes, because of the high demand, so I was contemplating to switch to EE or Computer Science (CS) major. Yeah, I had to pick one of the most difficult majors to study just for the sake of it. It turned out to be both good and bad depending on different perspectives.

One time Mr. H and I had lunch together, and we were talking about my major. He said something like this: "Well, people like us, not beautiful to be movie stars, we can't make money with our looks, so we have to work hard in school to get an engineering degree and have a chance to get a technical job to make a living." I thought to myself, "Well, thank you for your honesty Mr. H,"and quietly accepted his advice.

These days when I watch CNN, I look at the anchors and news reporters, Barbies and Kens, I call them. You can't get a job at a major news network and be on TV if you are not good looking. I think about fairness, but then I know that the universe eventually will balance things out one way or another.

When you feel weak, surrender

When you feel strong, do seva (volunteering).

This is a quote from Guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living foundation.

Last week I watched the tearful 28 years old Winbolden champion, Marion Bartoli, announced that she was retiring from Tennis. The reason, her body was hurting and she didn't want to play anymore. Since I had been in pain, I had an appreciation to her action, as it showed her strength to make such a life changing decision for her own well-being.

Movies we watch alone

In case you are wondering if I'm feeling better yet, I regret to say that my pinched nerve has moved from the left side of my neck to the right side since last Thursday, and the spasm is just as bad. It's like the nightmare is happening all over again. So, once again, I'm defeated and still have to continue my stretches and practice my patience. When I'm sitting down and try to do some work, my head feels like it's twice as heavy as it should be.

I just read from Dr. Timathy McCall's Yoga as Medicine, back pain will last 6 to 8 weeks, even if you don't do anything about it. I checked the calendar, and my neck pain happened at the end of July, so it makes 3 weeks now. Lovely, that means I still have half way to go. Not sure why it feels like eternity already. The good news is, this time, I had 2 massages from Jack, which were amazing, and Ibuprofen seems to be able to reduce the pain.

Yesterday I got home early from walking the dogs, and I watched Legally Blond. This is a feel-good movie for me, which I will not watch with Jack, as there is too much pink for him. So that got me thinking. What are the movies I watch when Jack is not around and vice versa?

Here are some examples:
Movies Jack watches when I'm not at home:

• Avatar
• Hunger games along with all its future sequels 
• Transformer series
• GI Joe
• Dune series
• Animatrix
• Movies with Vin Diesel 

Movies I watch when Jack's not at home:

• Legally Blond
• Down with Love
• As good as it gets
• There is something about Mary

A Costco receipt

The other night I picked up a receipt in the bathroom, and I took a look.

"Hmm.. When did we buy BioSilk, 2 packs of chicken and 2 packs of ground beef?" I asked.

"I don't know, what's the date on it?" Jack was also puzzled.

"Oh, it's from 2007." I read.

A human head is the weight of a bowling ball

The human neck has to carry the weight of the head, and it is prone to injury, yet there are not a lot of exercises one can do to speed up the recovery or make a stronger neck.

So my suggestion? First, take care and try not to hurt you neck. If you do hurt your neck in any way, then seek medical care.

A quick update about my neck pain. I went back to work last week and it has been very busy. I worked 7 days straight, and my neck pain did not improve much. I have been just barely hanging in there. These 2 days, I could finally turn my head to the left to talk to Jack without turning my whole body. My head still slightly tilts to the right side out of pain or habit. I did receive 2 long back massages from Jack, who used to be a masseur back when he was in grad school. We still have the massage table setup in the living room in front of the big TV.

Here are the exercises I do to care for my pinched nerve in the neck these days. I wish you will find this helpful.

At first you may feel very weak and tender, so you may not be able to do the full set of exercises, but try breathing deeply to help ease the pain and to focus your energy. Do what you can, and when it hurts, stop. Use smaller range of motion until your muscles get stronger and less painful. Inhale deep into your belly and exhale from your belly when doing these exercises, the slower the breath the better. Slowness and gentleness are the keys here, because you don't want to unintentionally strain your neck or shoulders even more. If you are in a lot of pain, you should not do too much work to stress your physical body.

This set of exercises will take about 15 minutes to complete, and you should try to do it once every hour, if possible. Be patient with the exercises and with your body.

1. Gentle head rolls
Roll your head from left to forward to right, while taking a full breath each time you drop your head slightly in different position. When your head lowers straight forward, hold it there for 3 full breaths, then inhale, exhale and roll the slowly head to the right on each breath. When your head drops to the right, hold there for 3 full breaths, then slowly roll it from right to center to left, and hold on the left for at least 3 breaths. (Please do this only under the guidance of your medical care provider)

2. Turn you head from side to side
Slowly turn your head from right to left on inhale, then left to right on exhale. Repeat 3 times. Gently turn your head to the right, hold for 3 full breaths, then slowly and easily turn it to the left side and hold it for 3 breaths.

3. Shoulder shrug
Shrug your shoulders up on inhale, then lower them down on exhale, and do so slowly. Repeat 3 times.

4. Shoulder roll
Slowly and gently roll your shoulders forward taking a full breath on each shoulder roll. Roll forward for 3 times, then backwards for 3 times.

5. Modified eagle arms
Use the left hand to hold the right shoulder so that the right arm is straight across the front body. Stretch the right shoulder lightly if it feels possible. Hold this for 3 breaths, then do the other side. Repeat if it feels good.

6. Seated twist and staff pose
Sit with right leg straight in front of you, and the left leg bend and cross over the right knee, left foot on the floor and left knee up. Gently turn your body toward the left, hug you left knee with your right arm. Hold this pose and take 2 full breaths. Place both legs straight in front of you, and place your hands on each side of your body for support. Straighten your body and your legs so that your upper body and your legs are in a 90 degree angle. This is the staff pose. Hold the staff pose for 2 breaths before doing seated twist on the right side.

7. Recline knees to chest
Lie on the floor. Hold your knees to chest with your arms. Mildly move the knees around from side to side, and feel the whole spine and back slightly push towards the floor. Hold for 5 breaths, then repeat for 2 more times.

Other helpful tips:
a. Try to sit on a hard surface such as on the floor with a folded yoga blanket, or a yoga bolster with your back straight. Keeping your spine and back straight may help ease the pain on the shoulders and the neck.

b. If you are in pain, try breathing deeply, inhale into the navel center and long exhale from the navel center while meditating or chanting your favorite mantra. This is a good chance to use these methods to help you relief the pain for the moment. I used the Gayatri Mantra, which is a Hindu mantra for removing obstacles.

c. Do not sit or lie down for an extended period of time during the day. Try to walk around, such as taking a walk or do light housework to distract yourself from the pain. When you notice that your body is stiff and in pain, then start changing the position or moving around.

Walking around with an attitude

If you see me walking around with an attitude these days, that's because I have a pinched nerve on my neck.

For the longest time, perhaps since I started going to my massage therapist in HMB around 3-4 years ago, I have had a stiff neck mainly due to stress at work and sitting poor posture. Finally last Friday, I got this pain in the neck that was so bad that I couldn't turn my head to the left at all.

My neck and shoulders finally gave in and failed on me. I felt like there was a nail planted deep in my neck that was pinching me constantly. The based of my head hurt. When I move my head, I could hear and feel the internal fibers squeaking like a machine that was out of whack. My right arm and shoulder were so weak that even the simplest daily task such as brushing my teeth hurt. I tried different types of pain killer but none could relief my pain.

I felt defeated and handicapped. When I woke up in the morning, my body was so stiff I felt like I was 30 years older. Typing or reading were totally out of the question. I couldn't even sit to watch TV for more than 30 minutes without agonizing pain. So I just putzed around with my head slightly tilted to the right, and not doing much of anything all week. It was by far the most unproductive week in my adult life.

I need to take a break now, but next I will write down the exercises I have done for my pinched nerve in the neck. I believe some of these exercises should be done daily to reduce neck pain and back pain.

Stay tuned.

Poppies blooming ... or not

Some weeks ago I mentioned that some flowers bloom when the sun shines and close when the sun sets. Here are photos of poppies I took in the same day, one around noon time when the sun was shining and the other before sun set.

Lavender plant grew

Bees around lavender plant. You may not see them but they are there. :)

Not that again

Like many people, when it comes to movies, I have a pretty strong opinion and can be quite stubborn. So don't be alarmed if I raise my voice or speak bluntly.

Today's topic is the movie: Inception. I only watched the movie once in the theater, and it was very complicated, so my memory and understanding could be quite misguided. Please forgive me if I misinterpreted parts of the story.

First, I applaud the film makers' attempt in making a movie about dreams, because everyone has very personal and intimate experiences with dreams that can be abstract and dynamic. I can also understand the needs to add exciting actions and state of the art special effects with complex plots to sell tickets.

To me the movie was unnecessarily over complicated. Someone seemed to have mixed challenging the audience with confusing the audience, and that's not funny.

What I am irritated about is the plot. It is flawed. This guy taking a team of people to take up this impossible task: going into someone's deep conscious to find the root of his psychological barrier and trying to temper it and his future decision making. They go into the dream within a dream within a dream... But at the end, he compromised the whole operation, and his team mates got shot, because he couldn't shake the memory and guilt of his dead wife, who kept destroying his operations by showing up in these dreams.

Huh? Really? And they expect people to buy it because they are entertained by the special effects and some pretty faces? So it's OK that they are totally confused?! Til now, I wonder if the film makers themselves knows what's going on in the movie.

Here's a more entertaining and simplified alternative, the South Park version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeg5zIUSvGU

Knife that is not sharp

One of my aunts in China told me a couple of interesting stories when I visited them a few years back.

One day she went to a store to shop for a kitchen knife. She looked at different knives but couldn't decide what to buy.

She pointed at one of them and asked the sales lady: "Is this a sharp knife?"

The lady said: "No, it's not very sharp." My aunt felt kind of weird, and left without buying anything.

Another day, she passed by a vendor who sold bread. She had some money in her pocket and wanted to spend it, so she asked the shop girl: "Is this bread fresh?"

The girl said: "It's not very fresh."

Irked

I usually don't wear any clothing with lace. Jack used to say: "Lace doesn't do anything to me."

This one day, I put on a pink lace blouse and I asked Jack what he thought. He took a look and said: "What's the function and purpose of lace?"

I smiled, and continued for him: "It irks me, I'm irked!"

We both laughed.

I forgot which movie I quoted this from, and Jack reminded me it was the man with one green eye in Bolt.

Gadgets and multitasking

This one night I went to the HK bistro close to the airport for dinner on my own after Yoga. I sat next the window on the single table, took off my glasses, so I could be just relaxed and enjoyed being there.

When my food came, this guy came in and sat at the single table in front of me. Since he had his back to me, I couldn't really see what he looked like, but it didn't matter. We each had our privacy and distance.

From what I could see and hear though, he had a wireless headset on and had not stopped talking on the phone all through his dinner. He was talking and eating at the same time. When I left, and as I walked by him, I also saw him playing games on his cellphone while talking at the same time.

I was quite amazed how gadgets took multitasking to a new level in peoples lives.

Bottle half full and cup nearly empty

Since college, I have been carrying bottled water with me to school or everywhere else I go. Back then I drink a lot of water in the attempt of curbing my appetite and keeping a good weight. The last few years, I've been carrying canteen bottles or traveling coffee mug to make less environmental impact. Nowadays I only drink as much water as I need.

Initially I fill the bottle full of water, but then ending up just drinking a few sips here and there, then leave the rest of the water in the bottle, and after a few days, I would throw it out to refill with fresh water, because "stale water is not good for you". Over the years I learned to finish the water in the bottle before refilling or refilling only half a bottle, so that I don't have the need to throw away water.

Recently we have added fresh coffee, tea and snack in the office as a pilot program for just this year. The office serves Peet's coffee, which is too strong for me. But fresh coffee is no doubt better than instant coffee, which to me, has some kind of sour taste. I learned from experience that usually just a little bit of Peet's coffee would be enough to wake me up. So instead of getting a full cup of coffee, then just drinking a couple of sips and leaving the rest to cold and eventually throwing it away, I learned to only take a little bit of coffee, like taking a shot of espresso, and enjoy the hot and fresh coffee as it is available.

It's good to remember the importance of consuming only what we need and be appreciative of what is available to us.

Distance and speed

When I drive, sometimes it's a good opportunity for observing and soul searching. Why do people tend to get in front of you when you are driving with the traffic speed? Why do some have the impulsive need to get into the healthy distance between you and another car, then slam the break? What is the point of compromising that safe buffer space, and then ending up in a line of cars at the light anyway?

On the road, sometimes the reason that other cars are in front of you is not because they are driven by better and faster drivers, but they just happen to be in that part of the road. So take it easy and be safe to yourself and everyone else around you.

Why did I get certified?

Everyone asks me: "Do you want to teach?"
And I'm like: "I can teach if being asked to." Usually it accompanies with a polite and almost apologetic smile, because I know this is not a very assertive answer that people expect.

There are many reasons why I wanted to certify as a Yoga teacher. One of the reasons is I love my teacher, Jean, and her style. I like to learn more Yoga techniques and philosophies with her. If you read some of my previous postings, you may find some references on how happy I was after her Thursday evening classes. I really like to learn how and why certain poses and practices can make such a transformation in people after only 90 minutes. I think if I can learn it and help others, it would be really nice.

Another very important factor was because of my mother. See, my mother has been pretty skeptical about whatever I did in my life and for that matter, whatever I told her ... haha ... isn't this classic? I found that since I got certified, when I told her something about a stretch that would be good for her, she actually took me seriously. To experience this makes the whole process totally worth it!

Isn't this what our lives are all about, to get the approval from our parents once in a while?

Updates wanted ... given

Today when I turned on the computer to work at home, I got at least 5 emails along the line of: "please give me an update as soon as possible, and if you need some help, please let me know." Amongst other emails.

I licked my right index finger, raised it in the air, and said: "The wind is due west." I don't know what it means, but that's the first update I can give to anyone at the time.

The hierarchy of relaxation

In a busy working at home day, the house can be cold and unforgiving, heater, hot tea or warm toast can not keep the body temperature up. At that time, taking a quick break to have a warm shower can bring immense rejuvenation and relaxation. It is not much, but it makes me feel human again.

The next level of  relaxation is getting a massage then hot tub and shower.

The next level is a mini spa day with massage, facial combo.

The next level is of course taking a few days off, just relax. Or try something new.

My needs can be so simple and inexpensive though. The key is knowing the right time to do what to bring the appreciative aha moment. This is for each of us to find out.

I don't get it

This morning one of our conversation topics, after cocktail shrimp recipe and salsa ice cream, was the movie Cloud Atlas.

The movie involves the same set of people, playing different roles in different planets, eras, ethnicities and genders, in different stories. The story telling is intertwined, and they are directed by different directors with distinct styles. There are very serious morals from stealing gold on a ship to futuristic killing scenes to cannibolism. You would think, ok eventually, they will tie everything back together, right? They do, but something about watching the one-eyed Tom Hanks telling stories to his dozen grand-children on another planet is not quite satisfying, despite the presence of his geogeous wife, Halle Barry.

At the end of the 3 hour long saga, I feel relieved and learn to admit that I don't get it, and be ok with it. We determine that this has been one big theatrical experiement that is not quite working out yet. Jack will watch it again and try to make sense of it, but I will avoid it if it's possible.

Puppy love

Jake is four and a half years old now, and we have been observing some changes in his behaviors and finding some new habbits.

Observation 1:
The dogs loves to lie right next to the kitchen door so that they can hear whatever is going on in the kitchen. Whenever I walk into the kitchen, I can hear the dog door in the garage flips open, flap, flap, flap 3 times, and after a few seconds Jake shows up in the patio looking into the kitchen window. He gives me the most inquisitive look for a moment, then he goes away, and the dog door flap, flap, flap 3 time. If I open the kitchen door, I can find him waiting for me right there at the door. Sometimes I am busy working in the kitchen and I ignore him, he would run back and forth from the garage to the patio four or five times, until I open the door to pet them or give them some treats. Of course there are times I don't open the kitchen door at all, and eventually he stops running back and forth. I usually feel guilty when I ignore the pup this way.

The milk bones are given away way too fast since Jake starts this routine. I wonder if Jake tells Amy: "I do all the leg work and you reap the benefits." I don't think dogs think this way, and that's why they can stay happy.

Observation 2:
Jake is a perfect retriever and he really likes to retrieve his orange ball. If I'm watering the lawn, he would put the ball right on the lawn in front of me and wait there until I throw it. If I am doing laundry, he would drop the ball in the laundry basket. One time when I was collecting cloths from the dryer, I found one of his many balls in there.  If I am sitting at my desk, he would put the slobbery orange ball on my lap, and when it rolled off of me and fell on the floor, he would pick it up and put it back on my lap. He could do this until the cows come home, or I give in and throw the ball for him. If he can't find a ball or a toy, he would just randomly bring us shoes or socks he found around the house. When I'm scratching Amy on her belly, he would put the ball on Amy.

Observation 3:
Usually we don't let the dogs in the bedroom at night for multiple reasons. First it is too hot for these fury dogs and secondly Jake can't stay off the bed, and he would be moving around the bed every so often to reposition himself. He really takes up a third of the bed. Sometimes I would wake up to feel the warm tongue of the dog or a wet toy in my face.

On the eve of this Fourth Of July, people were playing fireworks at their homes. Amy got scared and she was pushing the garage door to escape. Jack woke up to let the dogs in the bedroom. Amy hides her head under the bed to find shelter and comfort while Jake surprisingly obeys his order to stay off the bed. Though he was panting and moving around throughout the night. He walks around the bed and nudges us. If we have an arm out at the edge of the bed, he comes over and puts his nose right there for us to scratch him.

Consult the weather

Historically weather plays an important part in human's lives. Good weather enables crops to grow and it leads to harvests, while poor weather brings misfortune, disasters or famine.

In ancient times, the military who could predict the weather was likely to use it to diverse tactics to win battles.

Making ice cream takes 5 to 6 hours. Jack needs to consult the weather forecast ahead of time to find a day with wind condition that is not desirable for kiteboarding, so that he can stay home all day to make 8 gallons of ice cream.

Crunch time

Things to be done for my Yoga Certification: I have one book report for Yoga Nidra, 1 last final exam question #31, 1 observation, a final presentation preparation to be done until the last weekend which starts on Friday night. It's exciting but very taxing. I hope the rest of the week will be quiet at work.

Meanwhile, everything in the house is still in order, and everyone is surviving.

Detachment

As much as I like to think that I believe in passion and compassion, one of the important qualities I need to practice is detachment. Without which, passion and compassion could become overwhelming.

In Yoga, we say that we practice daily, yet we are not attached to the result of our practices. In fact, detachment is probably the hardest thing to learn. One finds it hard to be detached with his job, his possessions, his love ones, his body and knowledge.

For me, I first need to be detached from my blog. If I found out how, I will let you know.

Mood

I just realized that when I'm extremely tired, nothing can lift my spirit, not even blogging.

I should just go to bed.

If you build it, he will come

Have you ever watched the movie Field of Dreams? I think amongst all movie genres, baseball movies tend to have strong moral and inspiring stories. Probably I get this impression from Field of Dreams.

If you have not watched it, please don't read on, as I strongly recommend it and I don't want to spoil it for you with what I'm going to say.

I don't remember much about the details, so the story I tell maybe skewed. Anyway, here's the gist of it.

This farmer had a farm and he was growing corn. For a few days he kept hearing a soft whispering voice: "If you build it, he will come." This part was pretty eery for me, but rest assured, this is not a ghost story. It is an uplifting, positive story about the great All-American sport, and a father/son's dream.

For a few days, the farmer got clues, and found that his true loved was baseball. So he spent a lot money, and perhaps borrowed money, to make part of the farm into a baseball field. Everyone around thought he was nuts, cause there was no baseball players around the town, and everybody around were too busy working. This guy not only destroyed his family farm, but also spent all his savings doing a deed that had no return. The farmer ignored all the criticism and laughter and kept on with his mission.

When the baseball field was built, sure enough, for a long long time, nobody showed any interest of using it, and the farmer waited and waited.

Finally one night, some baseball legends came out of the corn field and started playing games on the baseball field. The farmer's late father also walked out of the corn field and played catch with him.

These days I kept thinking about this movie, because "Salt Scrub" is like my "Field of Dreams".

I am correcting a few important details of the movie here today, 6/15.

Brussels Sprouts

If you don't have a chance to come by to Half Moon Bay, let me give you an idea what you could have seen here these days.

The farmers are growing brussels sprouts now. They sow the seeds in patches, then water one patch at a time.

So you can see in one patch, brussels sprouts seedlings are just peeking out of the soil. In the next patch, the seedlings are growing bigger and stronger. There are many different patches, and the plants they are different in size. 

I do enjoy watching the brussels sprouts grow day by day, week by week. Whenever I admire the healthy and green plants in the farm, I can't help but remember the seedlings that we tried to grow at home, which did not survive.

Sunflowers

Do you know that some flowers open when the sun rises and they close up when the sun sets? Yes, wild flowers like poppies, for example, are like that. I found this intriguing.
Last weekend when we drove by the flower farm, I was aimlessly looking at the few sunflowers growing in the field, and then I exclaimed:

"Hey, aren't all sunflowers suppose to be facing the sun? Why are they facing different directions then?"

Jack wasn't sure either and thought it was interesting.

The next few days when I drove by the farm again, I paid particular attention to the direction where the sunflowers were facing. Last time I checked on them, most of them were facing one direction, but a few odd ones were facing the opposite direction.

There maybe a scientific or botanical explanation to this, but I just think it is very cute.

What's in this facial cleanser?

Ying: "May I suggest for you to try the new facial cleanser we got? I really like this. It's cooling."

Jack took a look at the yellow tube, and said: "It looks like the one I found for you at Target." He liked the brand Burt's Bees.

Ying: "Yes, try it once and if you don't like it, don't use it again."

Jack: "OK."

While Jack was putting it on his wet face, he said: "It's a little tingling, not really cooling, just tingling." I checked on the ingredients to see what brings the tingling/cooling sensation. I couldn't understand much of the ingredients, there were phrases with aloe something and bees something. A smart consumer always read the labels and check the ingredients. Finally, I found a chemical name: sodium chloride.

"Hmm, sodium chloride is salt, right"? I asked.

"Yes." Jack said, with his eyes closed and massaging his face.

I asked, "hey, why don't they just say salt then?"

"Because it's not food," he said in a nonchalant way.

Always... no, no... never... forget to check your references.

This is a quote from one of our favorite movies, Real Genius.

Hey guys,

There have been questions on if it's OK for you to quote anything from this blog. I don't mind you quoting my blog posts as long as you are not for profit. When you do so, please make sure to give me credit and source back to this page. If you are a for a profit website, please contact me separately to discuss. You may creating a comment and leave your email address and I'll email you back.

Thanks for your inquiries.

Happy blogging!
Ying

So you want to start blogging?

It's easy to get started, and you don't have to code HTML.

Use any existing services like blogger.com or worldpress.com. There must be a lot of other services out there that allow you to use rich text editors and provide multiple widgets for you to be creative.

Somehow worldpress sounds more prestigious, but the first site I tried was blogger.com and I thought it was acceptable.

In terms of how to tweet your posts out. One of the services is called hootsuite.com. It allows you to distribute your posting to multiple social media websites/services.

OK, I'm advertising, but I don't get paid by them. I just want to help out my readers.

Enjoy!

Safeguard your work on the web

I have a feeling this question can't wait, so I'll give a short answer.

Make sure to save your blog post once a while, like monthly or weekly, depending on how active you are. Blogger has a way to export your blog to XML, or allow import from XML. It's under settings->others. If you can't find it, just get more help from google search.

In terms of other Internet activities, remember,

• Don't trust anyone you don't know. If someone unknown to you send you and email with a link, don't click on it; don't extract or run any attachments from people you don't know.  If your friend send you an ambiguous message and tell you to click on a link, don't click on it unless you are certain about the purpose. Hackers have become very good (mean) on the way they trick internet users, so it's important to be guarded. There were some recent incidents these months when people hack email accounts and send phishing emails to their contacts.
• Always log out from your personal accounts before you leave the computer, or better yet, shut down the internet browsers you had been using. This is especially important if you are using a public computer. 
• Change your passwords frequently.

That's all for now...

Motivation

Dear Anonymous,

I believe this week has made a small yet significant milestone for my blogging journey. For the first time since the launch of this "Salt Scrub" in December 2009, I am honored to have received numerous comments on one of my blog posts. It is significant because until now, I didn't know anyone but myself had been reading my blog. I would like to thank those who followed me; who provided your support, encouragement and feedback. Please don't be shy and keep them coming. It is the best gift an aspiring writer can ever receive.

I am 1 month away from the completion of my 200 Hour Sri Yoga Teacher certification with Jean Mazzei and Brenna Geehan, so I won't be able to write more posts until July. I have 4 book reports to write and a final presentation to make by the end of June. Also, I have been sequencing poses, and hoping to do student teaching. With all that an a demanding full time job, I think I will keep a low profile, and try be focused.

Don't worry, I will be back.

Have a wonderful evening, and sweet dreams!

Ying

Dear Diary

Sad Dog Diary

Click on the link above, it is so funny!

Yahoo! doesn't take me seriously

I'm one of the early adopters of Yahoo! mail, and I can't part with it since most of my personal emails are on Yahoo! So everyday I check emails on Yahoo! mail and count on the Yahoo! to bring me the daily news. Over many years of the company's ups and downs, I still remain a royal Yahoo! user.

Ever since Yahoo! new CEO took the helm, and as they were riding the recent business analytic wave, Yahoo! has been analyzing its users' browsing habits to customize users' home pages.

To my disappointment, I found that the only headline news displayed on my Yahoo! home page are with topics such as,
"Who wears it better?"
"Mrs. Obama's new banks."
"Justin Bieber's [...]"
"[So and so] is pregnant."

You get the idea.

Seriously, I need to go to other news source to find true news of the day.

I scratched the last sentence as it sounded too judgmental to my taste. Sorry there is a problem of writing late at night, one tends to become too caught up with the ego.

Man crush

Last night we watched the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie for the nth time, and I found that Jack has a man crush with Mr. Darcy! The character portrait by Matthew Macfadyen.

Yes, I married a romantic.

There is nothing wrong with man crush, really. Like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory's crush with Leonard Nimoy and Spoke.

Jack refused to admit about this and told me to look it up. So here is what I found: Urban Dictionary's definition. So now Jack is not complaining anymore.

The speech I didn't make in my cousin's wedding

Last Saturday was my cousin Stanley's wedding. I attended the banquet at night.

It was a good banquet. There were entertainment, games and good food. The best man and the bride's brother spoke. I was not asked to make a speech, but if I were, here is what I would have said to the newly wed and the guests.

Stanley and I went way back. We went to the same kindergarten, and when we were kids, we hang out all the time during summer vacations. He was like my other brother. As you already know, Stanley was a smart kid. In our kindergarten, he was one of the 4 top troublemakers (四大天王), in fact, he was number 3. He was a very active boy, which was totally normal.

When he got older, school was easy for him, and he liked to read. After school, sometimes he would come to our apartment for lunch, and spend a lot of time reading, cartoons, novels, fictions, etc. When he was reading, he would put all his attention in it, and nobody could pull him out of it.

After we migrated to the U.S., we went to the same high school and college. We studied the same major in school, and we even went to the same company for internship. I am so happy to have a cousin like Stanley, especially when he helped me park my car or check my tires. Stanley and I worked together in Austin for a while, and that's when he proudly showcase his cooking: tomato, potato and tofu soup - this is a traditional Cantonese home-made soup for the summer.

I first met Brenda in Ashley (Stanley's sister's) wedding a few years ago. I thought Brenda was a very nice and pretty girl, so I called Stanley and said: "Why don't you ask Brenda to marry you already?" After a few years, they are finally getting married, so I am very happy for them.

From here on, Stanley will have Brenda to watch over him, and he to her. I wish you the best my dear cousin! I hope we can still hang out after you are married.

Spring Flowers

Beautiful flowers for the Spring! Every Spring I am amazed with the power of nature that can produce so many different shades of green. This year, with my new garden, I start to appreciate the different colors of flowers. Jack said I'm easily impressed, and perhaps I am.

How to clear your mind to find blog topics?

Today I received 6 comments for one of my 2010 blog post. I appreciate the comments from readers, whoever you are out there, I wish you well. Thanks for your support, and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the posts.

One of the questions to me was: how do you clear your mind and find topic(s) to write about? Here are some tips, which I graciously received from people or books in my path, which I will pass to you.

First, to help clear your mind, you should try to uncluttered your senses, they are: hearing, vision, speech, taste and touch. Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, titled "Silence", I simply stop listening to the radio or music CDs during my commute hours, and it releases some space in my mind and help me to be closer to my own self. Meditation and Kriya practice help too.

Secondly, it helps that I have a beautiful drive to work, which passes a nice surfer beach and drives around winding mountain roads. The scenery is different everyday depending on the weather. If you don't have a nice drive, then hang out in the nature once a while, and you'll find wonders in the way.

Next, don't forget to write down your ideas whenever you have them. Type it in your smart phone which you have access to all the time. Something someone said or done that make you laugh, happy, or feeling special would be something people like to read about, that is, if that's the theme of your blog.

Last but not least, practice, practice, practice. Write down whatever you have in mind, and just post it. Every time I read my blog post, I find something to correct or revise, and it's OK. Before you publish the post, though, it's a good practice to read the post out loud to find any obvious writing mistakes.

It dawned on me

Last night we watched the last Star Trek movie. At the end of the show, Spock's voice said: "space, the final frontier..."

All of  a sudden, it dawned on me, what if space is not the final frontier? What if there is something even beyond space that we couldn't even imagine?

Way back when, people used to think the earth was flat, and they thought all the stars, planets including the sun were evolving around the earth. The Chinese used to think China was the middle-land between heaven and earth. They were eventually proven wrong by modern technology.

I bet there is something beyond what we think of as the final frontier, there's got to be something else out there.

Remember, you read it from this blog first! :)

More on power foods

It is hard to break a habit, especially eating habit. These days I learned from some incidents, which allow me to recognized two things, one is what is a good breakfast for me; secondly, how to consume and appreciate power foods without feeling starved.

I usually eat my breakfast at around 10 o'clock, because that's when I am hungry. I don't like cereals at all, and i don't care for bread either, so my choice of acceptable breakfast is very limited, and thats why i skip breakfast more often than not.

This one day I drove to the office at my normal time, around 9 to 10, and I felt parched. I was hungry and I felt weak and tired. When I got to the office, I wondered where to get energy to sustain me all day. I drank half a cup of fresh coffee and ate half of a croissant. To my pleasant surprise, I was very awake the rest of the day. I was amazed that the food I ate could give me so much energy.

As far as the second lesson, I learned it over the last two months when I was taking weekend yoga teacher training. These are months of weekend all-day classes, which requires I learn how to pack food for my breaks. It's unlike lunch at work when I can just bring left over from last night, as we can't bring meat into the yoga studio. Also we can't eat too heavy, as we will do yoga asana from time to time.

At the first couple weekends, I just scrambled to get food from home, and it sometimes ended up not being enough. So over the months I learn to shop smart to prepare for the weekend. For a given weekend training day, I would bring one banana, one orange, a piece of bread, a cup of yogurt, a energy bar, and some nuts. Plus water, tea, and maybe coconut water. Keeping myself hydrating is most important. Good food with good yoga practices make me feel healthier.

A good advice

I received a good advice from a special person yesterday: when you are debating whether to do something which will require lots of energy and time, stop to think, and don't do it.

When in doubt

These two weeks, I had a break from my weekend Yoga Teacher Training, as we were supposed to use this break to work on our take-home mid-term.

Last Saturday, instead of working on my mid-term or going kiteboarding, I went to the mall after walking the doggies at the beach. I was like a little kid in the candy store, except that I was a woman with sandy shoes and a few credit cards in my pocket.

I went to five fashion clothing stores to check out the latest styles. I even tried out some cloths before Jack called me at five. Even though I was only at the mall for less than 2 hours and I didn't buy anything, I was very satisfied. I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to go to the mall for months. This was like a reunion with a dear old friend.

When in doubt, go to the mall.

Super Woman

At the tech company I work, there is an organization called Super Women Group. They run seminars, workshops and education sessions intending to help women grow in their career. I don't usually attend many sessions, although I received invitations and emails from them all the time.

It is not easy to be a working woman. Not only one has to perform well at work in a consistent basis, at home, she equally has to do her due diligence with daily cooking and chores. This weekend was one of those super woman days for me.

Yesterday I stayed home while Jack and the doggies went to the beach. I had to finish most of my Yoga Teacher Training mid-term, which it is due next Friday evening.

I started working on my mid-term a little after 12:30. I finished three quarter of the work around 4 PM. Then I took a short break and went to the local Italian caffe, as I wanted to get some cake for my birthday. All they had that I liked were tiramisu and creme brulee, so I bought one each. When I got home, I took a bite of the creme brulee, and it was so creamy and rich it made me happy. Around the time Jack and the doggies came back, I was two questions away from finishing my mid-term. It was a good day for me because I was able to review what I learned the last two months, cross referencing the class notes, manual and various books. I felt that if I had more time and energy, I would have done this earlier and I would retain more of the knowledge. In between of my studies, I also did the dishes and a load of laundry.

This morning I started early. I spent the first hour and a half sweeping, mopping, vacuuming the house down, as I have not done so for months since my house-keeper left the country. While I was cleaning up the house, I was moping over the fact that my cousins in Guangzhou had helpers to cook their meals, take care of their kids and clean their houses. Sigh, I was still getting the short end of the straw. After house cleaning I made eggs for the two of us, then I did more laundry and dishes. You know, dish cleaning is a never-ending task, and as long as you eat, you have to clean up after yourself, and that's why it is called a chore. After lunch, I worked on the last two mid-term questions including an essay question. Finally we left home to take the dogs for a walk/swim at around 1:30 PM.

We came back after an early dinner to celebrate Cinco De Mayo at El Torito. I did some more laundry, picked up the kitchen and water the plants, then finished the last bit of my mid-term.

As I walk around the clean house, I am so proud of myself for this productive weekend.

The smell of jasmine

It's a pleasant night tonight. As we got home we walked into waves of light fragrant of jasmine. We were wondering where the nice fragrant came from, and reminded ourselves the small jasmine plants were dug up by uninvited animal visitors. By the way, our older dog, Amy, had especial interests in those small rodents living underground, as one of her hobbies was to put her nose into the holes on our lawn. Finally Jack said the fragrant must be from our neighbor's yard.

We were thankful for the unexpected gift in this beautiful evening.

More on taking breaks

Yesterday I was talking to my co-worker about my weekend plan, and I told her I would be studying for my yoga training, she was quite interested.

The first thing and the last thing she said was: "I wish I could do yoga and stretching too, but I just don't have time."

Last year this time I would be saying the same thing. We are so busy everyday, even over the weekends, how do we find 20 minutes everyday to stretch? We have to work and even if we are not working, we are thinking about work. After work, we have to take care of every little thing at home, paying the bills, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and taking care of the family.

I am here to say, yes you can find the 20 minutes to do this important exercise, because it is good for you. You have to sleep and eat everyday, and you have to spend sometime for yourself and your body to relax and renew everyday.

I used to think that if I go to yoga class once or twice a week, it would provide all of my muscular stretches I need. I just realize that was not entirely true at this point of my life.

Block out 20 to 40 minutes a day. Preferably first thing in the morning, because then the benefit is available for you for the whole day. But you don't have to do it first thing in the morning. I try to do it before lunch, or any other time when I can take a break, as long as I don't have a full stomach or it's not too late in the evening. If you are at home, tell your love ones you need to be alone; if you are at work, be away from the computer, and go to a quiet and private room.

Of course you will have to learn from a teacher what to do when you are taking this break. To start with, I recommend Art of Living basic class: art of breathing. Of course, you may also take classes from a certified yoga instructor. The Art of Living classes are very well organized, that's why I recommend them.

The song that plays in your head

You know sometimes you have a song playing in your head, and you just can't shake it off? Today when I was doing cardio at the gym, I had Jingle Bell playing in my head. Actually my mind seems to favor Christmas song throughout the year no matter where I am. The other song that I play a lot is this Cantonese commercial song: Kikkoman soy sauce for steamed fish. How sophisticated is my little mind?

On taking breaks

Can you think of the last time you took a break during the work day?

I don't know about you, but for the longest time, I don't take breaks during my work days. Even if I'm taking lunch breaks or coffee breaks, I may still be talking to people, watching TV, or worse, browsing the web.

In fact, that's not a real break for your mind, you're just taking a break from what you have been doing and replacing it with some other activities. Your mind is still taking in information and processing it.

Since last year, I started doing Yoga, meditation and pranayama during my work breaks as a daily routine. These breaks are 30 to 40 minutes combine with light yoga, stretches and pranayama. I feel that after my BREAK, my mind is clearer, and I feel more awake and creative. My mind off-loaded a bunch of information, and I was ready to take in more. The need for coffee to stay focused is significantly reduced.

There are days when I can't afford to take those breaks, and I can feel a big difference. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and restless at night. Other times there are less impact but still I feel stressed out at the end of the day.

So doing a daily yoga practice, even a short on greatly improves my productivity, and is becoming a high priority for me.

Look, there is a pig

Today we drove by the boat launch. From a distance, I saw an animal running on the green grass. I pointed it out to Jack and said,"look, a pig!"

Jack looked, then laughed and looked back at me.

"Oh, Is it a fat dog?"

Jack nodded, smiling.

Since I saw "Hollywood Doc" on TV last week, where the doctor received a pig as a gift for helping the mechanic, more animals are looking like pigs in my mind.

Aloha to the winds and the waves

We are here. Vegging with the ocean waves, the winds and the bird chirpings as our natural ambience sound; the blue ocean and the lush tropical plants as our backdrop art.

I read when I want to or I write, or I just stare at the ocean for an exteeding long time with my mind wandering around nowhere specific.

This is the time to discharge my energy and recharge it with something fresh.

Our guests asked what was our plan for the day, and when would us be heading out. It took us a while to talk it through, but we could not come to any conclusion. We were so relaxed and didn't want to take up responsibilities of grownups such as planning and following a schedule. So after some serious discussions, we decided that we would just leave when we feel like it, and go wherever is right for the moment. May I also point out that this exercise started yesterday, and we had the same results.

Here we are, midweek. We went to a few places to visit, tour and shop. But my favorite thing to do is just being and doing nothing.

Movies

I do enjoy being pleasantly surprised by finding good movies while channel surfing.

I watched a few good movies the last few days.

I saw:

• Mr. Deeds goes to town - it was added to the top of my favorite righteous movies along with Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington", and "Twelve Angry Men" starring Henry Fonda
• Inside job - got my blood boiling with anger.
• Hollywood Doc - light romantic comedy with Micheal J. Fox. It was fun to watch and heart-warming.
• Overboard - Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel were such extremely goofy and funny pair. It's silly but cute. I enjoyed Goldie Hawn's great exaggeration of a snobby heiress.  It was very entertaining for when you just want something light.

Sick days

This week I had the worst cough and laryngitis I could remember. My throat itched, and it made me cough so bad that I felt like my throat was going to jump out of my neck.

 I had to cut my work schedule half and missed two events which I helped organized at work. Workout was totally out of the question. I tried different homeotherapy methods, but none of them help a speedy recovery. That's definitely the problem with the said science. I also took Vicks NyQuil which used to help but not this time.

I did what I could to work in the morning, and took it easy in the afternoon. My laryngitis got worse on Thursday and Friday after I took some expired cough syrup that was found in the closet, which did stop my cough significantly.  

Today I put my silver necklace with my jade back on, and I feel so protected.  I'm much better today, and even went have dim sum with my best friend.

Red Envelopes

Today I went to San Francisco Chinatown with my mom for the Chinese New Year street fair. We had a good time walking through the street fair and shopping. Here is a video I made for last year's street fair, which was cunningly similar to this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3B6R5s6T0

We bought a whole bunch of food and went home.

My mom asked me to help fill the red envelopes with money. These red envelopes are to be given to kids for good luck. This is a traditional Chinese custom for Chinese New Year. This is the first time I ever helped my mom with red envelopes and my second year to be giving out red envelopes. To tell the truth, I actually like the feeling, even though I had to give away some money. In our tradition, people who are married give red envelopes, aka lucky money, to kids and unmarried youth. In return, the kids would tell you lucky Chinese phrases, which could be translated to,

"Happy New Year,"
"I wish you will make a lot of money this year,"
"I wish you very best healthy and longevity."
...

It is a sign of separation of generations. Once you are married, you are an adult and independent.

Off the Chart

This one night I used elliptical machine number 2 to do my cardio workout, because it was the only one available at the time. I entered my age and weight into the machine to get the calorie count, and set the difficulty level to 6, which was my normal setting.

I was walking away with my speed averaging 6-7 miles per hour. I felt that the machine was heavier than usual, but I thought maybe I was a little out of shape, so didn't think much of it. 15 minutes in, I noticed that I was huffing and puffing. I was breathing out of my mouth so heavily that I was so self conscious about bothering the person next to me. I checked my heart beat and it showed 175 bpm. I looked up this number on the heart rate instruction chart that was printed on the machine, and guess what, it was off the chart!

I cooled down at 25 minutes and finished at around 30 minutes. I burned about 345 calories in 30 minutes. I was totally covered with sweat, and was just thankful that the workout was finished. I was not falling over yet, but it was a good workout.

Two days later I mentioned this to Jack, and he said: "Oh yes, number two machine is one of those heavy machines. It's probably poorly maintained" Great, so I may not be out of shape after all!

Power foods

Over the years, I have tried to get myself into a habit of eating healthy. I would start with consciously shopping for healthy foods and eating well, but after a week or so, I would fall back to the usual habit, and the healthy food would eventually rot. I never seemed to be able to finish the milk and the bananas before they went bad, even though I only bought small quantities at a time.

Healthy foods are just not that fulfilling or tasty. While yogurt and apples awesome snacks, the temptation of eating Cheetos or Lay chips is just too powerful to resist.

If we can train our brains to take pleasure in eating only healthy food and dislike unhealthy food, then it will be so much easier to keep a healthy diet. For example, I don't like to eat sweets, bread and fried food. That's a good start, right?

This week seems to be one of those healthy diet weeks. I drank a cup of milk everyday, and ate a banana before I headed out to the gym. This was the first time I didn't have to throw away spoiled milk or bananas as far as I can remember.

Today we went to Costco to get laundry detergent, and I picked up an 8 lb bag of cara cara oranges, a box of organic spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, low fat milk, banana, and peanuts. These whole foods are power foods!

Doesn't it sound like I am going to live such a spotlessly healthy lifestyle? We will see...