You can tell a lot about a person by the way they answer a question, especially questions they are not prepared for.  Mrs. jigg and I are always talking about really random things and much of our "arguments" are usually over stupid things that really have no bearing on our relationship.  Sometimes, it gets really heated, but most of the time, it's just interesting to find out how different we are.

People who know me often say that they do not feel that me and my wife have anything in common.  And the reality is that we really don't.  Everything from Coke and Pepsi, Boston and New York City, and copyright laws versus freedom of information, we disagree on completely.

I don't know how other couples are, but I think our differences really keep us together.  For one, the relationship is never boring.  All our conversations could potentially be part of a Seinfeld episode.

Some people I know go out and seek people they find commonalities with.  I think that instead of common interests, people should just seek people with common goals.  It's really hard to share an adventure together if you're not going the same way and looking for the same thing.

On Saturday, a bunch of my friends did Spartan Race, one of those obstacle course type of races that I have become really popular. Last year, I did Warrior Dash, a 3.2 mile run that begins up a green on a ski lodge and then spend the next 2 or so miles zig-zagging downhill through these obstacle courses designed to slow you down. A week before Thanksgiving, I did Tough Mudder, a 12+ mile run through mostly natural obstacles like swimming a river and running through miles upon miles of mud.

I was not excited going into this race. I thought it was going to be much like Warrior Dash (easy) and the only thing I found amusing was that our team wore shirts and ties as our costume. I went as far as wearing dress shoes. If James Bond can do it, so can I.

The race totally owned me. Sure, I wasn't in the shape I was in as compared to the other two races, but I wasn't in bad shape. Sure, doing it in dress shoes were extremely difficult, but it would have been difficult regardless.

There were two things that made it different from the others. First, the race course was alternating between uphill and downhill pretty much the entire way so just when you thought you were going down and close to the finish, it would go back up with more uphill. Second thing were the obstacles themselves as they were extremely difficult. Some of these obstacles include running with a car tire, loading up 3/4 bucket of pebbles and carrying it uphill on a steep incline and then back down. Pulling a sled that's loaded with sandbags, traversing across a wall without falling and crawling through about 100 yards of rocks covered with mud, with dangling barbed wire that's hanging so low, it's impossible to get through without getting snagged. People were either getting cut up from these wires or from the sharp jagged rocks below the mud.

My time for Warrior Dash (3.2 miles) was like 40 something minutes. My time for Tough Mudder (12+ miles) was 2 hours and 50 mins. My time for this race (3.5 miles) was close to 2 hours (will find out exact time soon).

It really put me in my place. And while running through the whole thing, I desperately tried to keep my shirt clean. At least everything from the stomach up was clean, until at the end in the final obstacle where I got knocked to the ground and then tackled again, by three body builders.

It was a really humbling experience and it has reinvigorated me to push harder again and train. Surprisingly I woke up feeling not too bad--even going as far as tilling the backyard for my dad for his vegetables.

For anyone interested in doing these races, always prepare for the worst! Amongst our group of 11 people, I finished 9th. The person who finished first, beating me by at least 30-40 minutes was my friend's girlfriend. I heard she had the third best amongst the female racers. Crazy!

Update:  After picture!

I'm having the biggest trouble choosing who my groomsmen will be for my wedding this year. Although Mrs. jigg and I are already married, we still wanted to have our BBQ wedding. Part of the problem is that Mrs. jigg is only having three bridesmaids. Because of that, I shouldn't have too many more, so I'm thinking between 3-4.

Much of the problem is simply because I have a lot of really close friends, people who I can trust anything with. If I had to draw a line, there are at least 10-12 candidates and amongst them, at least two can be my Best Man. This brings me to my next problem--how do I choose only one?

One is my bestfriends who I grew up with. I was his Best Man at his wedding. The other is probably my closest friend in the past 10 years since we went to college and lived together. Believe me when I say, it's a really tough choice.

Invitations are going out next month so I should decide soon.

If you're married already, how hard was it to decide these things? How did you do it?

If you're not married yet, have you already decided already?

I don't really know much of what's going on behind the scenes of Facebook or Google, but as a consumer who uses products (just one product from Facebook) from both these companies, I have always had some kind of strange gut feelings for these two. Facebook is my opinion is evil--well, not evil as trying to take over the world and suppress mankind, but world domination in the collection of private information and using it for it's own purely capitalistic reasons. Google's motto is "Don't he evil." Although flawed in many things, I have a feeling that it's good--trying to make information accessible to anyone who has an Internet connection.

I always have this weird feeling that Facebook is trying to create this product where we voluntarily provide then with our own personal information and they exploit it. I try to limit as few personal things on it as possible, especially with their Terms of Service (that no one reads) that states that whatever information we provide on Facebook belongs to them. On top of that, the TOS also allows them to provide the information to others. Fact or Myth? Some due diligence will confirm that, but the way they market the product, I can't help feel like they are tricking us to provide them with what they want.

Google in the otherhand has provided product after product to help us make our lives easier and gain whatever information we need with just an Internet connection. I feel safe with whatever I provide to Google, which isn't much information at all. Sure, they have much of my life in the GMail service, but the information doesn't belong to them in anyway, neither stated nor implied.

It really feels like a good versus evil thing between these two companies. It could totally be the way the companies market themselves or how they deal with flaws within their system. Maybe I just don't feel that Facebook is on our side. I don't know what it is, but ultimately, who I trust.

Am I the only person who thinks about this or feels this way?

I've fallen into one of my handful of bouts of depression and it's suffocating.  I remember once, it consumed me entirely and I almost put a bullet in my head.  This is nothing like that--more of like an aftertaste than anything, but my body remembers it.  It remembers the pains and the emotions that swim and brew in my head, keeping me from thinking rationally.

Usually, it happens about a couple of times a year... sometimes for a few days and sometimes for a week or so.  I remember once in the past year or two where it lasted for about two weeks.  It was frightening because I thought I wasn't able to fight it.  Depression makes me feel weak, but I'm always hopeful that it will pass, as it always has.

I realized that no matter how sour my mood is, a good beer or a good Scotch really does the trick.  Not that it makes me happy, but it sort of lifts my spirit a little bit.  I thought coffee would do the trick as well, but after having a whole cup, my mood has not changed much.  And since I'm at work now, a beer or a Scotch is out of the question.  I also noticed that while eating good food makes me happier, it only works if I'm actually happy when I'm eating.  When I'm in a bad mood, I don't have much of an appetite.  I packed some cold cuts and some Monterey Jack Jalapeño cheese, which sounds delicious.  Unfortunately, I'm not hungry.  

When I'm in a bad mood, I feel like I should talk to someone, not necessarily about whatever that bothers me, but maybe just activity of talking will lighten my mood.  However, I realize that the worse I feel, the less I am confident that anyone can do anything about it so I just keep to myself.  When I'm in a good mood, I notice all the noises and sounds around me, but when I'm annoyed, I feel like my hearing is enhanced many folds and there's no way for me to block it out.  It's like someone put a hearing aid in my ear and cranked up the sensitivity--which further sours my mood.

Listening to certain songs also lighten my mood.  Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 always does it for me, yet since I can't play music at work, it's moot.

It's like bad weather we're having.  I just hope it passes soon.

What do you do when you're in a bad mood?

EDIT:

Thoughts of the day... "Pain is weakness leaving the body."

When you meet someone for the first (or first several) time, what do you look for in order for you to feel like you could be friends with them? Last week, my friend and I explored this topic over Mac 'N Cheese. Living in NYC, meeting people is easy, but establishing friendships might be a little harder depending on your wants.

For her, you have to be interesting. She has met too many people who bore her to death with the same small talk questions that lead nowhere. Nothing turns her off more than when she is doing all the work in leading the conversation. In her opinion, she wants to only be around interesting and fun people. Obviously, being trustworthy and dependable is important too, but before she learns this about them, she can't be bored.

I, on the otherhand feel differently. I always need to know if I can trust people first and if they are genuinely good people. I've come across very few people (maybe 2-3) in my life where I couldn't carry a conversation with. I think anyone can be interesting, as long as you find out what their niche is, conversation comes natural. During this time, I pay really close attention to what they say to me and how they say it. Although I've heard some pretty unbelievable stories before, I have some of my own as well, which always leads me to know that unbelievable stories can be true.

In order for me to not trust someone, I have to know that I have been lied to or deceived. Inconsistent stories usually do them in and I make mental notes of that.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what we value. Investing in friendships, just like any other kind of relationships take a lot of time and effort so it's not wrong to be picky in my opinion.

What do you look for when making friends?

This is my third or fourth year with allergies (I lost count) and I'm DYING. It haven't had good sleep in over 2 weeks! Three different kinds of meds aren't working for me (Claritin, Zyrtec, Allegra). As a last resort, I scheduled an appointment to see my father's doctor who does acupuncture.

My father has been doing acupuncture for his allergies for almost five years has not had to take medication at all. He occasionally uses eyedrops (Naphcon A, it works better than prescription!).

Acupuncture is an interesting experience. I would never have done it if my father didn't recommend it himself. Basically, the acupuncturist will put really thin needles into specific points in the body. Most of it didn't hurt, but there was one in my back that felt like someone hits your funny bone and you have a reflexive reaction. I felt 3 needles on my back, one by each elbow (closer to my forearm) and two on each side of my nostril. He then attached some wires to the ones in my arm and one in my back. There was a steady flow of current and my muscles just pulsed. This went on for like 15 minutes and that was it.

Supposedly, you don't feel any different after the first treatment and it takes till the third or fourth. Yesterday I felt a little better but last night, I was dying again. I just want to get this thing over with so I can finally sleep! The lack of sleep has turned me into a zombie at work.

Do you have allergies? What have you been doing about it? Would you try acupuncture?

One of the things I realized that I would have to deal with for the rest of my life is sometimes, sleeping without a blanket.  Mrs. jigg has this habit of being all over the place when we're asleep and even on our small full-sized bed, she can manage to swim from one end to the other, while I only take up about 2 feet of space (the width from shoulder to shoulder).  In the middle of the night, she'll pull the blanket away as she moves and keep on pulling until she all of it and I have none.

There are times when even when I do fall asleep, I wake up because I'm freezing my ass off, while she is all bundled up.  I try pulling some back but most of the time, my part of the blanket is tucked tightly beneath her body, like a cocoon.

Why not have my own blanket?  Well you see, when we visit my in-laws in Boston, we do have our own blankets and even then, she manages to pull mine off me sometimes.  I wake up with just a piece of my blanket, covering just my arm.  So you see, unless I staple or fasten my blanket to my side of the bed, she manages to find a way to get to it.

Granted, I would admit that this is happening less often now than the beginning, but I also noticed that it happens a lot more in the winter and rarely as much in the summer.  I guess part of being married is being able to share almost everything.  In our case, this isn't really sharing.  I don't mind it much because I can deal with the cold, but it's amazing how my wife can be unconsciously selfish, even in her sleep!

Do you have any problems, sharing your bed with your significant other?

Happy birthday to my beautiful wife!

Can you all drop by her blog and wish her a happy birthday as well? Thanks readers!

Click on this link!  --> Mrs jigg 

EDIT:  Go check out the awesome b-day gift I got for her!

Yesterday, after work, I drove to Jersey to finally put color on my tattoo. Mrs. jigg is NOT a fan of tattoos. In fact, she almost bursted into tears when I came home with my new tat last November.

Usually, we would pack our lunches the night before. If I'm busy, she'll pack it. Last night was one of those nights where I was a bit occupied. I actually didn't finish my session until a little past 11. I got home past 12 and Mrs jigg was really worried about me. Upon entering the kitchen to get water, I noticed dinner on the table, but my lunch box was unpacked. First thought in my head? "Uh-oh.... she's mad."

I used to think there was never a need to be passive aggressive. I was easy to talk to and I like it when people openly express themselves. That way, there's no misunderstandings. But what do you do when the person already does something you don't like? When you have already said what you wanted to say and they don't change their mind?

That's exactly what happened last night. I looked at my empty lunch box and felt terrible. But what could I have done? My koi was naked and needed coloring! I had to either give him some shading so it would definitely have required a second session regardless.

I guess being passive aggressive, Mrs jigg was able to openly express her anger without repeating herself. I guess the best I can do is keep my tattoos to a minimum.

Though I'd like to add that this morning, Mrs jigg began packing my lunch when she was done getting ready. I knew she was still a bit annoyed with me, but she knew that she got her point across. This marriage thing is getting more interesting by the day!

Are you passive aggressive?