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?