2008 Year in Review

This was a rather unremarkable year for me. Since leaving college, I've lived in London, Tokyo, NYC, and Holland - all some very exciting times. Even when I was last in Virginia I had couple of goals I was working towards (Masters degree and Black Belt). Now I'm back in Virginia again and while life is good and comfortable, it's only ho hum. Perhaps because of that, the hardest part of the year was dealing with my addiction to travel. In an attempt to force myself to settle down a bit, I bought a house earlier this year. It was a rather impulsive move on my part (that's how I roll) but not necessary a bad one. Still, many times since moving into it back in March, I tortured myself with thoughts of galavanting the globe. There were many adventures I wanted to embark on still - all of which requires more than a week or two off here and there. It was only within the last month or so that I've come to accept that a settled life isn't such a bad thing and that I should make the most of it.

As I said before, the year has been good... or acceptable. I had enough out of town visitors and short out of town trips to occupy my time throughout the year. I also spent a lot of time with my family - more than I had been able to in the past at least. (One of the reasons why I like being here.) I tried Kung Fu and Ultimate Frisbee for a while. In the summer I hiked a lot locally. Trip wise, I got two good ones in this year - snowboarding in Whistler back in Feb, and one to see the National Parks in Utah and Arizona. Both trips were awesome. A lot of time was also spent this year playing board games, singing karaoke, and playing guitar hero.

All in all, I had very little to complain about, but something was missing. Since I'm not traveling as much as I used to, I think I needed a hobby. I finally found one few weeks ago and now I look forward to it all the time. It's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (& Mixed Martial Arts). It's a perfect compliment to my karate background. I've actually wanted to train in it a while now but hadn't found a school I liked. Now I found one with a good instructor. I could do this all day everyday. Too bad it's offered only 3 times a week tho. Anyways, yeah, so now I'm not going to want to go anywhere :) Oh, and I may go back to school (part-time) in '09, but more on that if it actually happens.

Well, there is one day left in 2008 now. Fortunately I have been surrounded by family and friends this holiday season. It's been rather busy, and my house is getting destroyed, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I am going into 2009 with high hopes for a better year.

Why Health Care is Expensive (?)

When I moved up to NoVA about a year ago, I started seeing an ENT doc to deal with my allergies and sinus issues. The doctor told me I had excessive wax in my ears and told me he'd clean it out for me. It was a 5-10 minute job scooping the wax out of my ears. Few weeks later, I got an "Explanation of Benefits Payments" from the insurance company and on it was a line item for "EAR SURGERY" w/a claim for 2-300 bucks by the doctor. I was thinking... surgery??? To get a ball of wax out of my ears?? This line item was on top of the charge for my office visit, which was forced upon me as a "follow-up" to the allergy drops I'd started taking some time ago. Again, it probably was a 10-15 minute discussion on whether or not my symptoms were improving. So for roughly a 20-30 minute visit, the service provider walked away with like $300. Since I only had to pay the copay, I didn't think twice about it. However, I then went to another ENT because I wanted a doctor closer to home. He talked to me about 10-15 minutes and then sprayed some numbing thing up my nose so he can look at my sinuses using a wiggly stick with a camera on the end. Guess what? Yep. Few weeks later I got another explanation of benefits from my insurance with a line item for "SURGERY - SINUSES". Between that and the "office visit", they claimed a charge of $570!!!!! They only got about $400 of that but seriously... surgery??? Now my dilemma is this. I'm starting to think insurance companies jack up their premiums because these darn doctors are exaggerating their claims. While I'd like to say something to the insurance company, I worry that if my doctor finds out I snitched on them, they won't give me the proper medical attention. So now what do I do? Anything? If any of you are a doctor and think these are valid charges, I'd like to hear an explanation. I'm also annoyed at the insurance companies for not doing a better job keeping the doctors in check. They're quick to avoid payment for treatments that are really necessary for some people, but they sure don't seem to mind overpaying for minor procedures (I'm not sure I'd even go so far to call it a "procedure"). Something doesn't seem right here.

Karaoke Party dot com

A friend just made my day yesterday by sending me this link to KaraokeParty.com. Karaoke is finally online!!!!!!! For those of you who know me, you know it's in my blood. My karaoke addiction started while in Tokyo and followed me to NYC, Holland, and now VA. Unfortunately, the American in me makes me a bad singer so I don't do karaoke bars. Instead, I go to karaoke booths with some friends or invite them over for karaoke at home. A karaoke booth usually will have a very good collection of popular songs and if you're lucky, a disco ball. They are all over Japan, and you can find some in NYC and in NoVA. At home, you can play Sing Star or Karaoke Revolution on game consoles like PlayStation and XBox. While it's better than nothing, the song choices are quite limited with these games. Another alternative is to make your in-home karaoke system. You can buy such systems, or build it free using Winamp and its karaoke plug-in. The tricky part is acquiring the media in mp3+g format. There are tons out there and now I have close to 3000 songs (tho most are ones I've never even heard of). Once you have that, connect your computer to your big screen TV, plug a microphone in, and you're in business!

Ok, now back to KaraokeParty.com - which could revolutionize karaoke in America. My theory as to why karaoke isn't as popular in the US is because most of us suck at it. I think the only reason why the Japanese are so good at it is because they do karaoke from the time they're old enough to talk. Once karaoke is popular enough in the US, we will all be born as karaoke singers! My point is, the website will bring karaoke into everyone's household - practically effortless and free. More people will begin singing, and over some generations, we will all be singing. The site doesn't have a very large collection yet, maybe ~200, but they are good songs and FREE! I suspect that once there's a following and their song collection grows, they'll resort to fee-based membership. So if you've never done karaoke, take advantage of the site now and give it a try!!

Obama: America's New Hope

My friend and I sat glued in front of the television all night today. We are both staunch Obama supporters and cringed as the polls started off with a McCain lead of 8-3. Results, however, quickly turned in our favor and we became more comfortable, yet still cautious of the possibility of an upset. We worried about a Virginia loss early on as the smaller rural precincts reported McCain wins. At the very end, Virginia finally came through blue, but by then it didn't matter. With the West coast States coming in blue, Obama won the Presidency with a landslide. An already ecstatic night was made even better with McCain's conciliatory speech, which was very gracious and moving. Unlike the ugliness of the 2000 and 2004 elections, this one was much smoother. Thank goodness, because our country really cannot afford to be divided right now. As McCain said in his speech, we need to unite to support our new President in the coming years to begin addressing the many problems we face in our nation. I am not expecting miracles out of Obama, as he faces challenges that would be difficult for any person to overcome. Yet, Obama represents new hope and inspiration for our country. I only wish we did not have to wait until January for him to take office. For tonight, I sleep looking forward to a better America.

The Vote is In

In anticipation of the large voter turn out, I decided to work from home today and go to the voting booth mid-morning. Conveniently, the elementry school where I was to vote was a 3-minute walk through the forest around the corner. Upon arriving through the back door meant to be the exit, there were 4 lines for people to get into. I got in the L-R line, unfortunately the longest. Still, I got my voting permit in like 5 minutes, and 5 minutes later I was done voting. Unlike most polling places, there didn't seem to be so many people at mine. Perhaps because of the off-peak hours, or maybe there are just too many immigrants who can't vote in my neighborhood. I do live in the ghetto afterall :P

Why I am Voting for Barack Obama

At the risk of receiving backlashes, I thought I would share with everyone who I am voting for and why. I am voting for Barack Obama because I truly believe he is the change we need in Washington. I do not see him as the lesser of two evils. I was initially concerned when my father, an Illinois resident, told me how corrupt the politicians from his state were. Since then, though, I have yet to see any indication that Obama himself is corrupt. I decided not to generalize and give him the benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, I haven't come across any of his policies that I disagree with. Below are my thoughts on some of the issues:

On Economy - Many McCain backers label Obama as a Socialist, crying that the government will take away their hard earned money to "spread the wealth." First of all, it is not as if your entire riches are being taken away. If you are on the wealthy side, you may be paying slightly more taxes, but you're still better off than someone who makes less. I do not wish to support those who are lazy and do not want to work, but there are people who work very hard and still need help. When my parents divorced, my unskilled and uneducated mother worked three minimum wage jobs to support me and my two brothers. Child support from my father barely helped. We barely got by thanks to the support provided by a church. She and my brothers ended up getting evicted while I was in college. If raising taxes slightly on the richest 2-5% would help reduce the tax burden on someone like her, I'm all for it. Not everyone is born smart or with advantages of being raised in an affluent community. Some just have bad luck. Besides, a group consisting of members who cooperate will fair better overall than that which consists of individuals who look out only for themselves. If our nation was a group, it only makes sense for the President to look after the well-being of the nation as a whole. Reducing poverty will benefit everyone.

On Foreign Policy - I agree with Obama that resources need to be reallocated from Iraq to Afghanistan, where terrorist acts are on the rise. We've already invested enough in rebuilding Iraq. It's time shift our focus elsewhere it is needed most. Our NATO troops who are there are also looking at the US to lead efforts there. If the US does not pony up, neither will the rest of NATO. Obama also is willing to meet with leaders of countries such as Iran without preconditions, unlike McCain & Palin. I do not understand the harm in having a face to face conversation with leaders of these nations. Rather, I don't think you can say you've pursued every course of diplomacy without doing so.

On Faith - Palin's extreme conservativeness seems to be her major selling point amongst her supporters. As someone who is agnostic, she is too far on the right for me. Obama on the otherhand, has done well not to mix politics with religion in his campaign. I am also very concerned that a McCain-Palin win would lead to Roe vs. Wade being overturned. I am very pro-choice and have no tolerence for someone who tries to tell me what I can and cannot do with my body - at least when the pregnancy is early on or if my life is in danger.

On Healthcare - This is one area where I'm not entirely convinced that Obama will do enough. However, I think McCain's plan only aims to help ease the burden on people's wallets without really addressing the fundamental issues in health care.

On Energy and Environment - The Republican candidates are too quick to want to drill for more oil. Prices may be high but we still have supply coming in. If we start tapping into our reserves now, what happens when we really need it? Obama has the right idea to focus on finding alternate sources of energy.

I am also voting for Obama because of his character. He is an eloquent speaker and played a lot cleaner campaign than McCain. He has the sophistication that the President of the United States should have. He is also smart. While he may not have had much executive experience, he has done his homework and is well-informed of the issues our country currently faces. He has laid out more details of his plans across all issues than McCain/Palin. I also think he will be better at keeping abreast of the issues while in office, and making policy changes as appropriate. McCain/Palin are more likely to get hung up on politics rather than doing what is best for the country. Their entire campaign seemed to surround entirely on Obama-bashing, with little backbone behind any promises on the issues. The more I hear about and from Obama, the more respect I have for him.

Speaking of respect, I was also very impressed with Biden at the Vice Presidential debate. He certainly new his issues very well and provided relevant answers to the questions. I think Obama chose wisely in his running mate. McCain on the otherhand, took a gamble in Palin and it is back-firing. He managed to stir things up initially in his favor, but as people got to know Palin, they are starting to realize her inadequecy to be President. She survived the debate, but only by changing the subject whenever a question didn't suit her. Couple that with her self-serving ways and you end up with this vision of her running our country to the ground like Marie Antoinette did to France. Even members of Palin's own party is calling her a "diva", and the only thing remotely good her supporters has to say about her is that she shares their view on faith (i.e. very conservative) and she is a fresh face in Washington. I, along with many others, would be very uncomfortable with her being literally a "heart beat" away from Presidency. I do have some respect for McCain, but he does not exude the strength and intelligence that I see in Obama. I don't see McCain as the exception to the idea that someone his age should be in retirement or semi-retirement. Being a Senator or a leader of another country is one thing, but the job of POTUS could be the most important, and thus most demanding, in the world. We've already seen how things around the world have gone downhill on Bush's watch. McCain should be enjoying the last years of his life instead of stressing over the mess he'll have to clean up once in office. We would be doing him (and us) a favor by not voting for him.

Having said all this, I'm no expert in politics. I've done my due diligence as best I could to stay abreast of the candidates and their policies and this is what I have concluded, in summary. I am sure some will disagree and you are entitled to your opinion, as am I. If you've already made up your mind about who to vote, this post isn't for you. This is for those who haven't decided 100% and want to hear other people's opinions. If you make a comment, feel free, but please keep it short and civilized.

Stop the Press! Day at the Hagerstown Music Festival

Yesterday I got to tag along with a friend to play press at the Hagerstown Music Festival. Couple other journalist wannabees also joined us to do exclusive interviews with lead singers of Sister Hazel, Carbon Leaf, and Everclear. My part in the whole ordeal involved pushing the record button on a video camera. I wasn't quite allowed to execute my video taking technique so I couldn't feel too special, but at least I got into the venue free with backstage access. Personally, I don't get too excited about meeting celebrities... unless it's Johnny Depp. What I really enjoy most about meeting these artists is seeing that they are just normal people. They nap like us, they fart like us, and they are about as down to earth as you or I can get. Then again, most of these people aren't that famous, so it's hard to say wether it would change them or not. Everyone I've met so far is really nice though.

So one of the important news with regards to Everclear, as far as I'm concerned, is that they got a new drummer, Tommy Stewart, back around August. If you've been following my blog, you'll recall how much I raved about the previous drummer, Brett Snyder. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't see him play again, but the new drummer isn't too bad either. Well, couldn't tell technically if he was any good but he is hot. Didn't really get a chance to talk with him much tho so I settled for a couple of looks and a smile. After throwing myself at Brett last time, I thought I'd show some restraint this time. But I should've at least tried to find out if he was single....

Ok, now to the important stuff. The main reason why we made this trip this time was so my friend can present Everclear with an award from Snowball Express in appreciation of the support they have shown our troops. Everclear has played for our troops on numerous occasions, and will again be heading to Iraq soon to play for our heroes there. Thanks Everclear, and a special thanks to the men and women who fight for our freedom.

Buyer Beware

My current roommate works as an intern at the Volkswagen HQ and told me an interesting story today. One of their dealership closed down yesterday and my first reaction was - bad economy, shit happens. Then he kept saying how he felt sorry for the customers and employees so I asked him about it. Turns out at least one of the customers had just put a $1000 deposit and a trade-in on a car that she was supposed to receive yesterday. Somehow the dealership managed to go bankrupt the next day and walked off with her money, leaving Volkswagen to deal with the understandably upset customer. All Volkswagen received from the dealer tho was the woman's trade-in car, which they returned. She is still out of $1000 and new car though, and Volkswagen also has not received their cars, or payments for their cars, back. They had to go secure the premises of the dealership to see what they can salvage from the lot. Meanwhile, customers who had the car at the service station are also screwed because they are unable to retrieve their vehicles while Volkswagen tries to straighten out this mess. Apparently, while my roommate was standing at the entrance to the lot, someone showed up saying it was supposed to be his first day at work. My roommate had to tell him he was sorry, but he has no job. So not only did the dealership owner screw over his customers, he couldn't even be bothered to tell his employees what was happenning. As of the moment, it sounded like they don't know where this guy is, but I hope he can be held liable.

Anyhow, if you are a car manufacturer, you better check up on your dealerships' finances. If you're a car buyer, don't put any money down unless you can drive out of the lot in your new car. As a matter of fact, this probably isn't a good time to be prepaying for anything.....

Sherman, CT

I have these friends with this huge, lake front house up in Connecticut that they were just dying to make better use of so I helped them out by making a visit. Even though I was there for a very short time, it felt like a mini-vacation. My friend took me on a little eco-tour around the lake on his kayak. We saw some wild life and also enjoyed the gorgeous weather along with the beautiful colors of fall. A good portion of the ride was spent chasing geese across the lake. I was trying to get some good take-off photos but it didn't quite work out.

After the kayak ride, we made a stop at the local Belgian chocolatier... yum. I indulged a bit, but was apalled at the price. I think the mark-up was quite high. A quarter pound (or roughly 100 grams) of chocolates was $17. I think I got a pound of chocolates for that price when I was in Belgium.

The next stop was Kent Falls State Park to check out the waterfalls. The falls were cascading, but went up quite high. We did a short walk up to the top and around the park.

The final activity of the day was a three hour hike on the Appalachian Trail to a beautiful viewpoint. My camera doesn't do the colors any justice, and it wasn't quite peak, but it has just been beautiful everywhere today. The day ended with fresh fish for dinner and a relaxing evening home. On Sunday, I had plans to meet up with couple of friends in New York City before heading home, so it was a really great weekend. The only problem was getting back into the groove on Monday morning....

Raven Rocks Hike

Yesterday I decided to check out Raven Rocks trail. I read about the trail somewhere, but didn't have much information except that it was on Pine Grove Rd. in Bluemont, and that it was 5.5 miles round trip with a great view. Well, turns out I needed to plan things a bit better. This particular trail wasn't marked at all, so we had no idea if we were at the right trail head. I had to call my brother and ask him to look up exact directions to the trail head. Once I was confident we were at the right place, I was a little worried that we were heading down instead of up. This time, I had to call another friend for trail description. Turns out it starts with a decent down a ridge and then goes up for 1500ft elevation gain. The trail is quite rocky and unremarkable, as they generally are on the East coast. The view at the end was quite nice tho. Plus, we were able to see a hint of color. Probably in couple weeks the colors will be at its peak. Can't wait.

Sky Meadow State Park

Today I checked out Sky Meadow State Park. It is about an hour South West of here in Delaplane, Virginia. The park boasts "incredible blend of pasture and woodlands" overlooking farms on hills. For a jaded person like me, there's nothing remarkable about this park or the view. Still, if you like to get out in the nature and want a change of scenery, it's not a bad place to go. The entrance fee is $4 per car on weekends.

There are several short trails in the park that you can piece together for an easy to moderate 2-3 hour hike. We chose to take North Ridge -> Ambassador Whitehouse -> Appalachian -> South Ridge circuit. Yes, you get to hike a piece of the Appalachian Trail. There are even signs pointing you to either Shenandoah or Harpers Ferry, depending on which way you are going. Made me think about doing that through-hike again. The only thing I have going for me is will power though. I still can't imagine having to hike while lugging all kinds of crap.

Gotta Swing

Since I'm not able to call myself a nomad lately, I thought I'd at least add dancing back into my name. So Friday night I attended hula night with GottaSwing.com. I got my first taste of swing dancing back when I lived in NYC in 2001 or so. I enjoyed it a lot back then, though I never actually took any lessons. As long as the guy could lead good, I could somehow manage - at least basic stuff. While I loved swing dancing, the crowd was always "older," so I never got into it too much. The crowd was the same last night - mostly older, with a few young folks about. Still, dancing is dancing. It's fun. Swing dancing events are always nice though, cuz it's so easy to ask people to dance. No one ever says no. They're not there for hook ups - they're there to dance. Having said that, I think there are quite a few singles there.

The venue that hosted Friday's event hosts a swing dancing event every Friday night. I think I may start attending them if I have nothing better to do. They also give lessons right here in Reston, so I might start taking them so I can get better....

Yard Work

I thought I would be doing a lot more home improvement type stuff after moving in, but I've been quite lazy about it over the summer. Now that fall is approaching, I am giving more thought to it. More specifically, I need to do something about my not-so-pretty yard. An initial quote from a landscaper was a whopping $4000!! Of course, this was going all out with nice flowers and shrubs on top of the general fixer-uping type stuff. Still, the estimator clearly did not realize that I don't live in a house that warrants a $4K yard. Anyhow, since he gave me some good ideas during his visit, I thought I would try some of this myself.

Last week was weeding and pruning of the backyard. My flower bed were full of weeds. It took me 3 hours!! While I was crouching-tiger-weeding-dragon, a friend of mine started sawing off branches and nipping bushes. Lucky for me he enjoys this stuff and was going all-out. I could see the sky out of my backyard again. Definitely a man's job. It would've taken me 3-hrs to prune one tree.

Today was mulching. I found out that a nearby park has free mulch! I was really excited about this, until I realized how much effort was required for mulching. Initially I grabbed couple of trash bags, filled it up with mulch, and stuffed it in my trunk. When I got back and dumped it out, it looked like nothing. When I had heard a friend of a friend had a semi-junk truck for hauling stuff, I managed to borrow it, along with my friend, to pick up the mulch. This was definitely a two-person job. You can't just dig into a pile of mulch with a shovel, so one person had to rake the mulch into the shovel which was held by the other person. It was a bit of an effort, but we filled most of the truck bed in about 20 minutes. Once home, we dumped the mulch in my yard and I spread it around. It still wasn't nearly enough mulch :( It covered one area, but I still had 3-4 more trees I had to mulch around. I reckon I'll need couple more trips, but I'm not so sure I can convince my friend to do this again, much less twice. I didn't mind getting sweaty and dirty since I got a good upper body work out. The truth is, though, that he did most of the hard work. Plus, it's my yard. I might have to suck it up and call a dump truck to deliver the next bunch of mulch.

On my list next is pruning of the front yard. Then maybe plant some ground cover in the front yard and some flowers in the back yard. I really should do something about the weeds on my lawn too. And redirecting the drainage. The list never ends. My advice to everyone: don't buy a house with a yard!

My 9/11 Story

Many people have not forgotten the tragedy that occurred in this country 7 years ago. Neither have I, and I don't think I ever will. I lived in New York City on September 11, 2001.

I got into the office at 9 am that morning. By then a few of my teammates had already heard about the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center. First thing they said to me when I walked in was "have you heard about the plane crashing into the World Trade Center?" At the time I kind of shrugged it off as an "accident." Nonetheless, we all congregated to the conference room to watch the news. As we're watching, the second plane hits the World Trade Center! It is obvious it is not an accident.

Shortly after, I returned to my desk to get the first of many phone calls that day. The two I received that morning were my friends from Japan asking me if I was okay. I was working in midtown, so I was nowhere near the area. I wasn't actually overly concerned for my safety at the time, and I continued to chat with my friend as if everything was alright. During the second call, I was interrupted by my manager who told me that we had to evacuate the building. They were sending everyone home. I didn't really give it much thought, just glad I got out of work that day. However, the enormity of the event came crashing down on me as soon as I stepped outside the office.

All around was caos. Everyone was in hysterics. A girl walked by me, talking on her cell phone about a "bomb" exploding. There was people everywhere - more than you would find on a typical day in the city. Except I felt so alone.... I had left the office on my own and now I wished I hadn't. Still, I continued to make my way down to 34th street to catch the train back to Bayside where I lived. As I walked down Broadway into Times Square, I saw a crowd of people watching the news live on big screen TV. I stopped and watched too. Then the first of the towers came crashing down - as if it were right in front of me. Holy shit was all I could think.

After a few minutes I continued down to Penn Station. Not surprisingly, all subway and train services were suspended. I walked back outside and could see every cab that went by was full. I was stuck in Manhattan. I tried to make calls but my cell phone wasn't working. Too many other people trying to make calls was overloading the networks. Now I really didn't want to be alone. I went back to the office to see if anyone was still there. No one from my team was around, but I did find someone I knew on the otherside of the floor. We decided to make a walk for it, together. Luckily, I had my gym bag with me that day so I changed into something more comfy and we headed out into the street.

I had no idea how far Bayside was from Manhattan, but I knew it was far. I didn't seem to have much choice tho, so I thought I would walk over the Queensboro bridge for starters. My friend was going to walk up North to catch the trains up there. We're not the only ones with the idea - everyone is walking. We stopped at Applejack diner for lunch, and then continued on. At around 60th Street, I realized that I had a friend on 86th Street. I decided I'd take the chance and walk over there to see if he was home. Better there than 12 miles, not to mention I didn't even know how to walk home. I parted with my companion and took off to my friend's. Lucky for me, he was home.

When I arrived my friend was watching the news. After a bit of a chit chat about all of this, he suggested we go play tennis. It was a nice day, weather wise, and there didn't seem any point in being glued to the TV. We went into Central Park and found a court pretty easily, although many other people were also playing. I was thinking "what a gorgeous day..." and then the Navy jets flew overhead, reminding me of what was going in our very own city.

We managed to kill couple hours on the courts. By the time I got back and showered, some of the trains were running again. I bid my friend good-bye and headed to the train station. I got home about 6:30 that night. Another colleague who lives near me said that he had just gotten home to after attempting to walk back. He ended up having to get picked up after half way through. I was glad I didn't try to walk home.

When I got home there were many messages on my answering machine. Several family and friends had called, sounding very concerned about safety. I finally realized after returning the calls that my company had an office in the World Trade Center. Apparently there were scrolling messages on TV giving viewers a number to call for each of the companies that had offices in the building. Ours was one of them. No wonder everyone was so freaked out. I felt bad that it took me so long to get back to them.

The days following the attacks were worse. As I stayed glued to the TV, I realized more and more the meaning behind all of this. Things were very wrong. Things were going to change. There was no work for us the next few days. The following week, I had a strong urge to be with family so I took some time off to head down to Virginia. People there had their concerns too, with the attack on Pentago and all.

While I had been very fortunate that I had not known any of the victims from that day, others weren't. A friend in the office had lost a good friend of his. Many others lost loved ones. Even worse was that some victims suffered in the burning buildings. Others jumped to their deaths. Many on the planes must have felt the similar fear of death also. For at least a few weeks the mood in New York was a solemn one. Morale remained low for a long time afterward. The country would never be the same again.

Here is my moment of reflection on the events of the day as I recall. May we never forget, and may such catastrophe never happen again.

Book Review: The Judas Strain

I'm getting into fiction a lot more lately. The latest is The Judas Strain, by James Rollin. It is like Da Vinci Code and Outbreak combined. The lead characters are agents of a covert organization and a secret organization, and then you have the man from Vatican City for a touch of faith. It's science meets religion but the world is at stake while a deadly virus spreads through the world. The good and the bad and the man in the robe must work together to solve a series of riddles following the path of Marco Polo. From the beginning to end, the story is action packed. I'm not so sure I'm satisfied with the ending, but when is anyone ever satisfied with an ending?

Lake Thoreau Boat Party

One of the nice things about living in Reston is that there are several lakes in town. When I first moved here, I rented a townhouse right by Lake Thoreau. I loved driving by it every morning and evening, particularly when the trees around it had changed colors in the fall. I also used to run around the lake for exercise. Although I have since bought my own place away from a lake, couple of my co-workers have lake front properties so I still make a visit to the lake on occasions. This weekend, however, was their annual boat party weekend. Most of the lakefront homeowners have these motorized rafts that they take out on the lake to hang out on. At this boat party, many of these boats would tie up together and have one big party - on the lake. There is also a band boat and a dance floor boat. Dancing wasn't quite easy on the boat tho. Every once in a while I would find myself thrown off balance if I happen to be on one leg when the boat rocks. And no, I wasn't drunk. (I decided to stay sober for this one after passing out at my own party last weekend.) Supposedly there is usually at least one person who goes overboard at this event. No laughing opportunity this year unfortunately (although couple of us were secretly betting one of our friends would be the first to go over board). Still, it was good fun with good food and music.

Potomac Heritage Trail

Today I joined the NVHC on a hike along the Potomac Heritage Trail. The trail begins in the parking lot of Theodore Roosevelt Island and goes North for 10 miles along the Potomac River. To make a reasonable circuit, we ended up cutting across the Chain Bridge just after 4 miles and took the C&O Canal Towpath on the other side back South, and across the Key Bridge to the parking lot. I think this is called the Key-Chain Circuit hike. The trail up is pretty rugged and lush with greenery, though there's no elevation gain. It has a nice view of Georgetown, is shaded very nicely, and even had a little waterfall. Not too bad for a trail practically in our backyard. Coming back was a little dull tho, since it was just flat and in the open. There were couple of parks along the way tho where people were renting canoes or kayaks. The whole circuit took just over 3 hrs, including a stop for lunch.

I Survived a Japanese Game Show

Over the past couple years while I lived in Holland, I had gotten accustomed to watching American TV shows on DVD or on the computer after downloading. Because you have at hand the entire season, you can watch the episodes in order one after another. How fantastic is that? In the beginning, it was hard not to stop after an episode or two. I could find myself watching a series all day long. Even after I had gotten more disciplined about limiting myself to one or two episodes a day to maintain a productive life, I was still accustomed to watching something while eating dinner. Now that I am all caught up on Heroes, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, 24, and House, I was looking for the next show to start watching. As I was browsing through abc.com's full episodes, I came across the title: I Survived a Japanese Game Show. I know it had to be cheesy as hell, but it was about Japan and Japanese game shows can be cool, so I figured, why not?

I was right on the money with the cheesy. The game show wasn't anywhere near as cool as MXC or Ninja Warrior. The games are designed to humiliate the contestants more than anything. The costumes are silly and the stunts are even sillier. The audience and the sayonara boys act retarded, and the signature Majide move is gay as hell. As for the contestants, the producers managed to find the most average folks to compete. Most of them are pretty likeable though, so by the third or fourth episode I had gotten attached to the show to follow the people. I suppose that is what all of the reality shows are all about. As lame as the show may be to those without appreciation for Japan, I still had some good laughs and enjoyed the competitive spirit shown by these ordinary people. Plus, it was a nice reminder of my second home. I think it's time for a visit again.

Book Review: Sole Survivor

The Sole Survivor was my first Dean Koontz book. Can't say I'm a big fan of his style. The book started off really slow. By the time I felt like I had gotten to something interesting, I had already gotten through a quarter of the book. In the middle half of the book, the plot unfolded at a snail's pace while the auther filled the pages with irrelevant details. The pace picked up in the last quarter of the book, and the story got more interesting as it got into paranormal activities. I wish I didn't have to skip over so many boring paragraphs though to get there.

Harpers Ferry, WV

Today I went to Harpers Ferry, WV for some hiking. The town itself is a national park and has historic significance- in industry, transportation, natural heritage, John Brown, Civil War, and African American history - which is best appreciated through visiting the museums or attending some of the events. However, the hike that we did also provided some insight into the efforts made by the Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War.

While Harpers Ferry itself is in West Virginia, the town is at the corner of where the Potomac river meets the Shenandoah River. On the other side of Potomac is Maryland, and on the other side of Shenandoah is Virginia. Hence, the 3 states meet where the two rivers cross. The hike we did was across the Potomac in Maryland Heights. There are couple of options here - a shorter route to a nice overlook of Harpers Ferry (see above picture) or a longer loop that takes you to a stone fort (tho there's not much of it left). If you combine both, you probably hike about 6 miles, plus the walk to/from Harpers Ferry. Most of the trail is shaded with little to see, except occasional wayside exhibits, which are really just explanations of what used to be there with not much to see. Still, you are walking through history.

On the way back from the hike, I really wished I had my swim suit. The river looked pretty enticing with the numerous people tubing on it. There's actually an outfitter nearby called Butts Tubing where you can rent a raft or tube to go down the river on. It looked like a lot of fun. You can even rent a tube for your cooler so you can picnic while tubing!

Earth, Wind, and Fire

Today I went to go see an Earth, Wind, and Fire concert at Wolf Trap. I'm not exactly a huge fan, but a friend who went last year said she had a good time so we decided to go together this year. Indeed it was a great concert. These guys were popular back in the 70's, so the fan-base is mostly people in their 40's to 60's. (We might have been the youngest people there that weren't mom & pop tag-alongs.) Of the original band members, only 3 are left. Still, they put on a good show and get every one grooving after 30 something years. Most people were up and dancing on several of the songs they played, particularly for the popular ones.

Even if you're not into grooving, you can sit back and enjoy some great R&B. The sound quality was great, and just being at a live outdoor concert, particularly on a cool summer night, is nice. The Wolf Trap venue is not particularly huge though, and much of the seating is in the 'lawn'. Seating in the lawn isn't bad though. I reckon it's better than the balcony seating. You bring your own picnic blanket so you can chill out with all the space you can acquire upon entrance. You have to get there couple hours before the show though for a good spot. Our show started at 8pm. We got there around 6 and people were showing up already. At 6:30 they started letting people into the site and within minutes, all the lawn space closest to the stage was taken up. The trick is to have the first person in take a huge blanket, run in, and claim a space forward and center. Lawn chairs are only permitted up until the show starts, at which time you have to take them down.

Oh, remember how as a kid you used to get those glow in the dark or flashing sticks and rings to play with at amusement parks and stuff? Well, now they have flashing, glow in the dark wine glasses for us adults :)

4th of July with Family

On 7/1, my two brothers and their family came up for a visit. This was a really big deal to me because in the 10 years that I've been away from home, they never visited. I lived in cool places too, like London, Tokyo, NYC, and Holland. They're just not much into travelling. Now that I'm in driving distance tho, they finally dragged their butts and their families up. One brother did make it over the holidays, but it's the first for the other, and so the first for all of us to be together at my place. What makes this even better is that I live in a place where there are things to do, unlike back where they live. So finally, we got to spend some quality time as a family.

On 7/2, we went to the National Zoo. I remember this zoo being a lot better 5 years ago when I last went. The food service there is awful and there were so many kids running around. I also don't remember having to pay $20 to park either. It was a hot day too, and all the animals were asleep and being boring. It was still fun, but I won't be rushing back there anytime soon.

The following day, I took them into DC and made them walk a lot. We checked out some of the memorials and museums. On Friday, the 4th of July, we had a BBQ at Great Falls with couple of my friends. We threw a frisbee around, and checked out the falls and all. We ended up skipping the fireworks since it was raining a bit, but had a good night playing games and watching House M.D. (my latest addiction.)

Despite my home being wrecked by the kids, it was really great having them around. So much so that I was quite bummed when they left today. It's too bad we don't all live closer to each other.

Book Review: Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air is "a personal account of the Mt. Everest disaster" by Jon Krakauer (author of Into The Wild.) When I first saw the title and subtitle, I figured the climbers get blown off the mountain by a storm. Actually, it's about the challenges of climbing at high altitudes where the air is considerably thinner. About two-thirds of the book details the climb up Everest before the disaster. Even in best of conditions, it sounded like a pretty harrowing ordeal.

Standing roughly 29,000 feet, Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth. Climbing it requires extraordinary skill, strength, and physiology. Many people have died climbing it. The higher you go up a mountain, the more climbers are prone to various forms of altitude sickness. Even if you do not get altitude sickness, with less oxygen to your brain, a person's mental and phsyical capacity is reduced accordingly, making one susceptable to poor judgment, cold, and injuries.

Acclimatization is an important process while climbing at high altitudes. While ascenting, climbers should rest periodically to get used to the thinning air. In the case of Everest, there are four camps above the Base Camp (17,600 ft). The acclimatization process on Everest consists of multiple climbs to each of those camps and back, each time ascending to the higher camp. Even then, staying an extended period of time above a certain height without oxygen will kill your brain cells. When making the actual summit attempt, perhaps couple of nights are spent at the lower camps while only one night is spent at the higher camps. On summit day, a climber will typically leave Camp Four just past midnight, with hopes of making it to summit by 1 or 2 pm at latest, giving them enough time for the decent back to camp before dark. That's a very long day of climbing - 15 hours or more - under the most difficult of conditions. Perhaps even after some sleepless nights in the camps below.

Imagine the challenges of climbing Everest, and then add to that a hurricane like blizzard. Some of the climbers get stuck in it on their descent from the summit. Some make it, some don't. From the very beginning, Krakauer does a great job of describing the various climbers who get involved in the disaster. It was interesting to read about the individuals' background, differences, and their performance on the mountain. In the end, it was not necessarily the strongest who survive. Sometimes luck or fate play a roll. Most times though, it's human factor. A simple mistake can lead to huge disasters, or a heroic deed saves lives.

Perhaps the one character who surprised me the most is of one who was left for dead - twice! This person was presumed dead and left overnight in a storm with no shelter in sub-freezing temperatures. Somehow the next day he regained enough strength and lucidity to find his way back to Camp Four. After other climbers helped him get comfortable, they yet again figured he would die and left him unattended during another stormy night where he suffered some more. Despite serious injuries from frostbite, he survived.

Climbing Everest crossed my mind only once several years ago when a friend told me about his desire to climb to the Everest Base Camp. By the sound of it, the Base Camp is fairly attainable (as long as you can cough up the expensive fees) so I thought... hmm. Few seconds later though, I figured I'd probably die and hadn't given it a second thought since. However, next time I'm in the mountains snowboarding and feeling cold, or struggling up some difficult hike, I hope I will remember the adversity faced by the climbers described in the book and gain strength from it.

Another Dancing Nomad - 2008

Back in 2006 I made a post about Another Dancing Nomad. He is back again, although there are a lot more people dancing with him this time (they're kind of in the way sometime):

Boycott Flying

I love to travel - but I hate flying. Once upon a time, being at an airport or on a plane used to excite me. Just the thought of going somewhere was enough to make any inconveniences worth it. Not anymore. Flying has become a serious hassle over the years. Post 9-11, the ridiculous amount of security put in place at most airports requires you to be at the aiport well before your flight if you do not want to stress over missing your flight. There are times when you get lucky and you manage to get to the gate within 30 minutes of entering the airport. It's not always the case, particularly on weekends or evenings. Standing in those mile long security lines, I've seen way too many people fret over their flight that has already begun boarding.

Then there's the whole "no liquid" thing. Talk about inconvenience. I don't want to have to go out and buy a travel bottle for every freakin' liquid I want to take on board. Even then, with the 10 bottle restriction, I am just barely going to be able to get my shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash, deodorant, body lotion, face lotion, sun block, foundation, and mascara in my carry-on. Oh, and since I can't bring a water bottle in, I pretty much have to suck it up and buy one in the terminal. Or wait for the flight attendant to bring you some. Oh wait. Some airlines are now going to start charging you for drinks on board.

In an effort to recoup fuel costs, airlines have started penny pinching. They've already started charging for second checked bags. They've also gotten rid of snacks on board longer domestic flights (but you can buy them for $5). Now there's talks of charging for the first checked bag and for drinks on board. Am I the only one who thinks the cabin air is dehydrating and that passengers should be allowed to at least get water on board? Besides, how much are they really going to save by these methods? Why don't they just bump up the ticket cost another $50 or whatever for these expected costs? I don't think a $50 difference is going to be a deciding factor in whether to buy a ticket or not. However, if you start tacking on additional costs for this and that, you're going to get a lot of peeved customers. I'm sure the airline customer service reps already have their handful with passengers complaining of delayed flights. Why add more reasons for customers to be pissed?

Let's talk about that first checked luggage. What's going to happen if you start charging passengers to check their bags? Bingo - they carry on. So what does that do? Makes a delayed flight even more delayed because passengers are spending more time trying to cram stuff in the overhead bins or flight attendants have to check bags when the overhead bins become full. I don't know much about flight dynamics, but should I also be worried about the weight distribution on the plane from a disproportionate # of bags in the cabin to the checked luggage compartment?

The final blow to us passengers after all the above is increased air fare. A friend of mine going to Japan had to pay $1500 to go - $800 for the ticket, and 700 !@#$% dollars in fuel surcharge. Yeah, ok - we have to pay for fuel. Still, given all this crap, there are more people flying today than ever before. Have you ever seen what the air traffic over US looks like on any given day? It looks something like this:

The planes are also fuller than ever. Remember those days when you used to get a full row of seats to yourself? I can't even remember the last time I had even a single empty seat near me. These days, I'm so unlucky to be surrounded by snoring jerks or some tall guy behind me complaining about me putting my seat back. (I just don't see why I have to be uncomfortable so the person behind me can be comfortable. Sitting on long flights kills my back. Stop your fucking whining and get a business class if you're too damn tall to fit in the seat. Otherwise, take it up with the airline - not me.)

Today I saw an interesting presentation on how the US airline industry earned an impressive NEGATIVE 14 billion in revenues over the last however many years. In addition to managing costs, some of the greatest challenges they face today is managing the air traffic. If the # of flights continue to increase as expected, air traffic control as it is today would not be able to handle the volume. So now I wonder, why don't the airlines charge more for the tickets than they have already? It's a simple supply & demand economics. Increase prices to reduce demand to supply. The people who really need to fly will pay the premium, while the people who really don't need to fly will think twice. I for one have already started to think twice and am going to boycott flying after I make my trip to Boston on Labor Day weekend (I bought my flight a while back.)

I'm sure there's some logic to keeping airline ticket prices (somewhat) low. Still, I think raising its prices more might do the industry some good. First, you get less people flying so you can cut the routes that really aren't profitable and also avert the future hazard of too many flights in air. What's even better would be the reduction of people at popular tourist destinations. Travel has gotten too easy so tourism picked up. I'm kind of sick of going places where there are tourists everywhere. Anyways, with increased ticket revenues, your bottom line might actually be in the black so you can start restoring some basic services to make customers happy, making them more inclined to fly again despite the higher ticket prices. Or, with the increased revenues, you might invest it on a new fleet of planes that are more fuel-efficient and more comfortable for those annoying big & tall people. Possibilities are endless.

Anyhow, to end this on a positive note for the airlines, I will commend their safety record. There were no air traffic related fatalities in the US in 2007. Or some similar statistic like that. Bottom line is that flying in the US has been pretty safe. Then again... nothing lasts forever. (Woops... so much for the optimism.)

Road Trip: Utah and Arizona

On June 5th, I flew out to Vegas to begin a 10 day, 1800 mile road trip around Utah and Arizona. The highlights were the national parks, namely Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Grand Canyon. My friend who came with me did an excellent play by play report with pics on our trip so I will just cheat and refer you to his site for details.

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For those of you into hiking, there are many great opportunities to hike in these national parks. They are best avoided in wet season though (such as when it's snowing) as often times you would be walking or scrambling over slick rocks. There are signs all over many of these parks warning you of the dangers of falling. In the summer, it is also best to avoid hiking mid-day. There are also signs all over the place warning you of the dangers of heat exhaustion. To make matters worse, the lighting on the rock formations suck when the sun is high above. For best lighting for photography, you want the sun early morning or later in the day just before sunset. Unless you are going to be in the canyons - then you want the light above. Unfortunately, I didn't plan for photography very well so don't expect too much out of my pictures

If you are into biking, Moab, Utah is apparently the biking capitol of the world (or US?). At the very least many biking opportunities were advertised around there. Also, while on our trip we saw several participants of the Race Across America. This is a crazy event where mostly solo cyclists race coast to coast from California to Maryland - in like 10 days. When I saw the first cyclist while driving across Monument Valley, I was wondering where he's coming from and where he's going. It was hot out, he was going mostly up hill, and the road streches for miles on end with nothing in between. We were getting tired just driving it. Just when I thought nobody could be this crazy, we passed several more crazies in Utah. A couple days later in Arizona, we saw few more crazies cycling up this pretty steep and windy scenic road that connects Sedona and Flagstaff (89A). I probably should be impressed, but all I could think is crazy, crazy, crazy.

Book Review: Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki is a book for those wanting to be rich. It was given to me by a friend when I told him of all of my dreams - none of which involved actually working. Rather, working would just get in the way. How can I take a two months pilgrimage in Japan, or backpack around South America for six months if I have to work? Naturally, I'm willing to give anything that might help me achieve these dreams a try. Reading this book was one of them.

The book provides an unconventional view on working and money. The typical attitude of those in my generation and past is "work hard to make money." Robert says, "let your money work for you." By properly investing the money you do have, you can accumulate wealth. Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. Still, he hammers in the point. Many people are "financially illiterate" and lack general accounting skills. Many more also lack the investing skills. The general problem is people are lazy and do not want to take the time to figure this out. They'd rather just go to work for 40 hours a week, even those who hate their jobs. For some reason they find it easier. Or maybe they think it's the norm. Or they are just very risk averse. At the very least, this book will encourage you to not think like the rest of us who are slaving away at our jobs. If you have dreams of becoming rich, or simply getting out of working for someone, I do recommend reading it. This book alone won't get you there, but it's a start.

Old Rag

Ever since moving here, all of my friends have been telling me about Old Rag. Today I finally got around to hiking the 8.8 miles to the Old Rag Summit (3291 ft). I can see why it is a popular hike around here - all of the rock scrambling makes it pretty fun. It starts off with about an hour and a half or 2 of moderate climb up the mountain. Consider this your warm up. It's best to take this part at a leisurely pace since you'll want your muscles and energy for the rock climbing that follows for the next hour or so to the peak. It's not real rock climbing, and it's not difficult for agile people, but pieces of the rock scrambling is tricky. You do not want to do this hike on a wet day, and shoes with good traction is a must. You will also use your hands a lot. If you have gloves, might want to bring them.

On the way up to the summit on the Ridge Trail, there are many places where you can catch a great view. The 4.5 mile return trip from the summit to the parking lot via the Saddle Trail is a bit uneventful though. At least it's all downhill so it's a good way to cool off, tho not necessarily easy on your legs.

Old Rag is about 2 hours from where I live. You can get hiking maps for Old Rag and other Shenandoah hikes on the NPS website here.

Blue Ridge Parkway

This weekend I went to visit my brother living near Charlotte. It's a 7 hour drive one-way but I decided to make it an even longer drive by taking the Blue Ridge Parkway part of the way. Of the 465 miles, I drove roughly a 100 of it on the way down, and another 100 on the way up. I covered just about all of the Parkway in Virginia from mile 0 to 200. It was an absolutely beautiful drive, with nice views from overlooks, as well as hikes and points of interest off the parkway. The best part was, there was absolutely no traffic on there even though it was a holiday weekend. Park rangers say it takes roughly 3 hours to drive 100 miles of the Parkway (at 45 mph speed limit), but I reckon I fared a bit better on the speed. I don't think the detour added too much time to the drive.


Once at my brother's place, we ended up taking a day trip out to the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC. We started off in a place called Blowing Rock around mile marker 300. There's a nice view there, but it's a bit of a rip off since you had to pay $6 to get in. There's a lot of nice places off the Parkway to see for free. For example, the Linn Cove Viaduct was pretty neat to see. It also had some nice trails around there. Finally, we ended the day at Grandfather Mountain, another over-priced tourist attraction on the Blue Ridge. This one was $12, but did have a lot more to offer. In addition to the views and trails you can get elsewhere for free, there's a scary swinging bridge you can cross to go see another view. There's also a nature center and animal habitat where you can see a bear (in case you don't get to run into one on your hikes), otter, deer, and Eagle. Despite the touristiness of it all though, it was a great way to spend time with my family. I'm sure we will be back on the Blue Ridge again next time I visit. I'm certainly looking forward to the fall foliage there.


Photos here.

Patience

For those of you who know me, would you describe me as someone who is impulsive? Or spontaneous? In either case, I've always known I've had very little patience. While a good friend used to tell me patience was his last virtue, I knew mine was long gone. When I want something, I want it now. In most cases it's not a huge problem. I went on couple of week long vacations to Mexico and Canada on a week's notice. Both turned out to be great trips. The offer on the house I recently bought was made immediately after the viewing and after only 2 days of looking in general. So far I'm happy and no regrets.

Once in a blue moon though, being impatient has put me in an undesireable situation. Although the risks are always calculated, it's hard to take into account the unknown and the irrationality of emotions. I've never been much into self-improvement, but I thought maybe it's time I learned to be patient. After all, good things come to those who wait... right? As I wrote this though, I thought in the back of my mind that those who wait will get hit by a bus tomorrow and miss out. I think I'm doomed to a life of impatience.

What do you think? Patience - is it good to have? Or overrated?

Hanging with Everclear in Hershey Park

On Thursday a friend called me up to beg me to drive her up to PA on Saturday. She is good friends with one of the band members of Everclear and they were performing at Hershey Park. She reassured me that we'd get in for free and have a place to crash. I haven't actually heard of Everclear until she told me about them some time ago. Apparently they were more popular in the 90's. Still, when am I ever going to get a chance to party with rockstars again? Plus, the drummer's kind of cute (pic on right).

We began our little road trip on Saturday morning. Around 1:30 we arrived in Hershey, PA. The roads were actually chocolate color and the street lamps all were shaped like Hershey Kisses! My kind of town :) Once there, we went to the Hershey Lodge where the boys had just checked in. I first met Josh, my friend's friend. He is the keyboard player of the band. He is a really nice guy. Actually they all are. They were all laid back and very nice to me.

They played two short sets at the park and we watched both. When they started playing, my first thought was - OMG, THE DRUMMER IS SO HOT!!! Maybe all drummers were hot, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of this guy. He played so energetically and looked like he was having so much fun up there. Also, I guess I am more of a physical person and just really enjoyed watching him move. Later on though, I got a chance to meet and talk to him, and turns out he's also a really nice guy. He's so cute in person too and has this awesome smile. Wow. Yeah, the concert's good too, but my mind couldn't get out the gutter.

After they finished signing autographs at end of their performance, the boys wanted to go on a roller coaster. I was lame tho and didn't want to go on one so I told them I'd hold their stuff for them. Luckily Art, the vocalist and the guy who pretty much is Everclear, also was not in the mood for coasters that night and kept me company. We went to go buy a pretzel while we waited and chatted a bit. When the boys were done they all checked out the photos and decided to turn back to their hotels (it was already late and close to closing). We joined some of them for drinks at the hotel bar a little while later and I had an awesome time rest of the evening.

Pictures here.

Btw, these guys just release a cover album called The Vegas Years.

As far as their hits goes, they include 'Father of Mine' and 'Wonderful'. Here is a video of Wonderful on YouTube (but Brett wasn't the drummer at the time):

My First Funeral

Couple weekends ago, I had a death in my extended family. The funeral was last Friday so I drove down to VB on Thursday to attend. It was my very first funeral. I've had a grandma and a good friend die on me in the past, but I was overseas in both cases and could not make the funeral.

While I personally was not very close to the deceased, it was so sad to see others who were. I felt particularly sad for the spouse, who I knew was very close to his wife. I found it difficult to hold back tears at the funeral. I can't even imagine what it would be like if it were someone in my immediate family. I wish all the time I lived closer to my family, but now I wish it more so. It is just too bad tho that my family is scattered. So while the circumstances were bad, the funeral helped bring my family together. It is not often both my brothers and I get together, so I was actually very happy I could make it.

Naturally, during my stay down there, lot of the conversation surrounded death. It's not something I think much about so I was horrified when I heard about how funeral homes try to take advantage of the grieving families. They're like, "Oh, you don't have money to pay for funeral? Does the deceased have insurance? Well then, you can just sign some papers and we'll take it out of the insurance payment." Next thing you know, they've spent all of your insurance money on the most expensive funeral ever. So don't go signing away your insurance to them if it happens to you!

Bull Run Mountains

Yesterday I went on another short hike with the NVHC. The weather was much nicer so we had a pretty good turn out for this one than last week's. We went up Bull Run Mountain near Haymarket, Virginia. Probably about 30 min from my home. This was only slightly more challenging than last week's. Maybe a 1000ft elevation gain and 4-5 miles round-trip. It only took like an hour to get up, but the view from the overlook was very nice. I think next week I will step up to a 10-mile hike with more elevation gain. The only problem with those is that they usually start really early :(

Karaoke Rules

Last night I organized a karaoke night for coworkers. While I had a great time (we were singing for 6 hours), there were some slight annoyances. So I thought I'd put together some general 'guidelines' for karaoke novices:

1. Don't come if you're not going to sing. If I was hosting karaoke at home, that's one thing. Come and be sociable if you like (just have a way home if you want to cut out early). But at a proper karaoke establishment, you're paying by the hour to sit there and suffer.
2. Don't hog the mike. Most people who say they won't sing usually do if the show up. Once they get a hold of the mike tho, it's hard to let go. I know the feeling. Still, other people want to sing too and if you queue up too many of your songs in a row, it's considered rude. To be polite, you should put in one song, and let some other people put in a song or two before you put another one. If you're going to put in more than one, at least have songs that are good sing-along ones.
3. Don't steal other people's song. If someone else puts in a song you want to sing to, that's too bad. They got to it first. Singing along is always good, but if your loud voice drowns out everyone else, try being a little more quiet at times. No one wants to hear the same person's voice song after song after song after song....
4. Stick to lively songs. Some songs are downers. Stay away from them. Unless you have an awesome voice and can do it really well. Then it's ok.

Repeat offenders will not get invited to future karaoke parties I organize.

Junk Mail

I hate junk mails. I have received that many before, but somehow when you become a house owner, you get tons of it. You get about 3 letters a day from some company offering you mortgage insurance. Then you get every sort of fliers on general home maintenance/improvement type services. Today I got a letter offering me an "official" copy of my deed for $70, even tho the letter itself clearly states I can probably get this for free from the government. Are you kidding me? To make matters even worse, the former owner of the house seemed to have been doing all of her shopping through catalogues. I get about 3 catalogues a day addressed to the former owner. What an unbelieveable waste of paper. I've already registered with DMA my preferences to not get junk mail, but I guess it hasn't kicked in yet. I'm tempted to put in a change of address notification to get important stuff sent to work, and have everything else 'returned to sender' or get rid of my mailbox. (Anyone ever try this?)

I should start keeping a tally of all the pros and cons of owning a house. This is a strike against ownership.

Burke Lake Park

Today I joined the Northern Virginia Hiking Club for a stroll around Lake Burke. It's probably one of their easiest hikes, but it's only 30 min from home and a walk around a lake sounded nice. There are few lakes in the town where I live, but this one is a bit bigger. There's a 5 mile trail that goes around it, as well as a work out station here and there. I might have to hit this place once in a while for a run. There are also volleyball nets, frisbee golf course, campground, fishing, and other things you can do in the park. It's a pretty nice park, tho entrance fee is a bit steep for non-residents ($8).

Book Review: The 4-Hour Work Week

Tim Ferris, the author of The 4-Hour Work Week lives my dream life. Not only does he not work much, but he spends his free time doing things I want to do: travel abroad to learn new languages, train in local martial-arts, and other fun things. (No wonder I bought this book right?) So the book is about he achieved what he calles the "New Rich" lifestyle. The "old" rich is slaving away most of your life to make lots of money so you can enjoy the last few years of your life. What kind of a life is that? This book gives you step-by-step instructions on how to free your time to do things you want to do while generating income to sustain your lifestyle.

The book starts off being pretty inspirational. Few pages in and I was ready to sell my house and become a nomad again. Then it went into some practical advices on how to be more effective and free yourself from work, whether you are an entreprenuer or employee. The least interesting sections to me were the ones on how you can automate income generation - which really involved setting up a business to sell a product of some sorts. Yet, it does get me thinking though. How bad do I want to free myself from work? What's easier? Becoming the remote employee who works from whereever he wants? Or the successful business owner? Probably the former for me, but I will give trying to become the latter some thought. The last bit of the book then goes into how you can travel abroad (most people's dreams). This was the least useful section since I've already done their so-called "mini-retirement" back in '03. (2 months USA road trip, bumming in VB for the summer with family, 6 months backpacking through Southern Africa, NZ, and OZ, and a final month long hang out in Japan.)

Speaking of mini-retirements, it's been almost 5 years now so I am probably due for one soon. However, given that my life since that break has been mostly surreal (2 years of grad school, 2 years living in Europe), I'm attempting to give the normal life I built here in Virginia a try. I must say it is quite nice having your own place to come home to and have a hobby you can do on a regular basis. Then again, is this better than the week I spent in Sydney hanging out on the beach every day? The days I spent in the Blue Mountains hiking all day, and then going for a swim to cool off at end? What were the toughest moments? Missing close friends and family.... Without them, I could be on the road indefinitely. The ideal situation for me would be to travel few months, and then back again for a bit. I have a few ideas in my mind to get me traveling again, but it might take a few years to implement. Meanwhile, I curse my desire to want it all and make my first mortgage payment tomorrow.

To get back on the subject, I'll end this post with couple of my favorite quotes from the book:

Doing something unimportant well does not make it important. I wish some of my bosses would read this one. There's nothing I hate more than having my time wasted. The book also suggests being productive, not just active. Don't invent things to avoid the important.

By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day. - Robert Frost. Need I say more?

DC Cherry Blossoms

It is peak bloom time for DC's cherry blossoms. I woke up at an ungodly hour of 5am so that I could be at the tidal basin in time for sunrise. The idea was to see the sunrise and enjoy the cherry blossoms without the crowd, but way too many people had the same idea. Not only were there too many people, but there were too many tripods I had to walk around. I didn't even get the kind of sunrise photo I was hoping for. (Maybe I should get a real camera some day.) Still, the cherry blossoms were absolutely beautiful and it was a gorgeous day to see them (despite it being a bit chilly).



The upside to being out that early was that there weren't many people at the other memorials and monuments in DC. After doing a walk around the basin, I walked over to Lincoln and back again to the basin for another walk around it with the sun a bit higher. By 10ish tho, the tidal basin and mall was full of people, even in the museums.

Pictures of the DC cherry blossoms are here. More info on the DC cherry blossoms and the festival are here.

The walk around DC today reminded me a lot of the beautiful cherry blossoms I saw in Japan back in '04. You can see some cherry blossom pictures from Japan here.

Dance War

Since I'm all caught up on Lost and there are no new episodes coming out on any of the other shows I like, I started watching Dance War. In this show 2 teams of dancers, led by Dancing with the Stars judges and coreographer Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba, compete against each other to win a contract. I haven't watched a show like this since Star Search, but I must say I was pretty impressed. These people can dance and sing - very well too. I am usually not one to sway over TV or movie personalities, but all of the guys on the show were pretty sexy when they performed. I especially liked Phillip and Zack. It's too bad ABC.com no longer posts videos of the show on-line. I didn't get to watch the finale....

How many Nomads does it take to Change a Light Bulb?

Today I faced another challenge. A light bulb in the laundry closet went out. This is no ordinary light bulb though. It's one of those elongated tube type bulbs. (Do they have a name?) Anyhow, the darn thing wouldn't come out. I did manage to get the bulb out of the socket, but there's this frame around the whole thing which I couldn't get it out of. The only option seemed to be to take the frame apart, but that seemed like too much effort just to change a light bulb. I wrestled with the bulb for a few minutes, turning it this way and that. Then I messed around with the frame and its interiors hoping that something would budge (w/o breaking it), and that I would not get electrocuted. It almost seemed easier to bust the bulb or break off its ends to get it out. Then again, that wouldn't help me get a new bulb back in. Anyhow, I didn't spend much time on this since I had just finished working out and was eager to eat dinner. I am feeling like a retard lately though. I am an engineer; I should be able to figure this stuff out. Now it's bed time, so I will tackle it again this weekend.

How Not to Buy Paint

The first thing I wanted to do after moving into my place a week ago was to change the hardware accessories in the main bathroom. I successfully changed the hand towel ring and the toilet paper holder. When it came to the towel bar though, I had a hard time finding a 22" towel bar. The old one was that long and I wanted to be able to put the new one right over where the old one used to be screwed into the wall. Seems like these days, all the towel bars are either 18" or 24" long. Damn it. Now it meant I had to fill in the holes left by the old towel bar and paint over it.

I figured out there's this thing called spackling which you can use to fill holes in the wall. So that got taken care of. The next thing was paint. It didn't look like the previous owner left me any paint for that room. Bummer. I went to my usual shop and picked up tons of those little cards to try to match the paint. Someone then told me that if I brought in a chip of paint from the wall, they can match the paint up for me automatically. How would I get a chip of paint tho? I had a hard time keeping flakes of paint I scraped off from blowing off my finger tips. Finally though, I found a small streak of paint on my tub that I could peel off.

I went into the store with my 5mm by 5mm 'chip' of paint thinking finally I can finish up this project. Well, the store clerk laughed at me when she saw the paint chip I brought in. In between laughs she told me it was too small. She needed something more the size of a silver dollar. I didn't know how to get a piece of paint that big w/o putting another huge hole in my wall. Apparently tho, that is what I had to do. The gentleman behind me kindly showed me his sample. He said to take a cutter and cut out from an inconspicuous place on the wall, like in the bottom corner behind the wall. Once I outline the edges, I should just be able to peel it off. I would then have to fill it in with spackling and paint over it. Disappointed the woman could not do anything with my chip, I walked over to the rows of cards and tried to match it up that way. After a while, I realized how stupid it was trying to match it that way and went home. I took another look at the stock of paint I did have hoping the color I needed would miraculously appear. On this second look, the Antique White didn't look so white after all. It looked more creamy. As a matter of fact, it was exactly the same color as the paint in the bathroom. Now only if I had bought a paint brush while I was at the store....

How Not to Change the Toilet Seat

One of the bathrooms in my new home had a really old toilet seat with cracked paint and all, so I decided I would change it. After all, how hard can it be? I started off by measuring the width and the length of the current seat and walked into Home Depot. (I'm not trying to make an advert for them, they are just the ones that are closest). I was initially worried that there might be different degrees of roundess, but to my relief there were just 2 types: the regular, and the elongated. Just to be safe, I asked a guy there how I would change a toilet seat. He pointed out that it was very straight forward and all I had to do was unscrew at the bottom. Sounds easy enough. So I go home with my new toilet seat and begin unscrewing, and all of the sudden the toilet starts leaking!!! To be more specific, it was my toilet tank. What I seemed to have done is unscrew the wrong screw - the one connecting the tank to the bowl. I didn't realize this at the time though so I freaked out and called up a friend who explained how to empty the tank. After all the excitement died down and I contained the leak, I gave up on messing around with it and left it at that. For the next 2 days I used the other toilet.

For some reason, in my mind, (leaky tank + old toilet seat) = (install new toilet) = (remodel the entire bathroom). I planned to remodel it at some point anyways. However, after my second over-the-phone estimate of nearly $10K to remodel my tiny-a** bathroom, I was appalled and decided I should do the remodeling myself. But not anytime soon. So that means I need to fix the tank. Not really sure where to begin, I started with the internet, and came across this video.

The video was only slightly helpful. I finally realized today the mistake I made only after taking a closer look. All I needed to do, it seemed, was tighten the bolt back onto the screw that connects the tank. Simple! That is, if you had any clue how to use a socket wrench. Lucky for me, I had this small but wonderful (admired by several friends) and hardly used toolbox left behind by an ex-bf so I actually had one. (Nevermind that I didn't know it was called a socket wrench at the time.) The wrench seemed to turn only one way so I figured I must tighten the other way. The bolt didn't seem to be getting any tighter so I thought, "righty tighty, lefty loosy - must be the other way." But how to get the socket wrench to work the other way? Took me a few minutes to figure out that this odd looking thing on the backside of the socket lets you set which way the wrench will turn. So now I go the other way. Darn thing still won't tighten. Then I realized the whole screw was turning with it. I had to stabilize one side and turn the other. Finally! Mission accomplished. Wearily, I turned the water back on and was pleased there was no leakage (tho the towel will stay under there for a few days to be safe).

Now that it's all said and done, it wasn't so bad. The biggest pain was trying to see under the bowl at the screw. I wonder how some of those big plumbers get back there in the tight spot. Anyhow, I have a long ways to go before becoming Ms. Home Improvement. Seriously though, if I can do it, you can do it. That will be the selling point of my book.

Kitchen Cabinet Refacing by Home Depot

This past weekend I finally moved into my new home and have already come up with a million and one things to do. The kitchen wasn't exactly high on my list of priorities, but I was approached by a dude in Home Depot who offered 'free' consultation for kitchen remodeling. Of course, I had expected a sales pitch, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to start getting ideas of what a kitchen remodeling would cost. I also requested a consult only for cabinet refacing since I didn't really see the need to tear out the whole kitchen.

To cut to the chase, the quote was roughly $7K (after I balked about the $8K). This included about 33 sq ft of refacing, new cabinet doors, drawers, and trimming. Their workers are also insured, and given the name recognition of Home Depot, I don't doubt that they would provide quality work at less than the price of their competitors. Then again, this was my first 'quote'. I wasn't about to sign-up for a remodeling job before I was even done unpacking. Also, I didn't really want to remodel just the cabinets. I want a new counter top and new appliances. The appliances are under warranty for a year so I don't expect to replace them before then. A new granite countertop would probably cost me another $3-4K (incl. installation). I'm not sure that I want to plop down $10K before I even see my first months of bills.

Home improvement is definitely on my mind though. Even if I don't do it now, I probably will remodel the kitchen at some point. My bathroom is a bit higher on my priority list tho. Not to mention all the other little things around the house that should be addressed at some point. So in the spirit of my new hobby, I have also signed up for couple of free classes at Home Depot. (I should probably rename this site to Life of Ms. Home Improvement or something). Hmm... I wonder if I could make money writing home improvement books geared towards women. Seriously, if a girl as clueless as me about home maintenance could do a kitchen project, anyone can. I guess that's assuming I can.... Hey, even if it takes months, if I can do the kitchen in $5K instead of $20, it could be worth it.

Now for those of you who are disappointed that I am losing my ways, fear not. All this is my grand master plan. I am going to make millions in my line of home improvement books. Then I will make loads when I go to sell the house because of these home improvements. Then I will start a line of travel books after I pick up traveling again. See?