jigg's Xanga

Lost phone

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:30:03 GMT

I lost my phone Saturday night on my way back from Home Depot. I think it might have slipped out of my pocket and fell into the snow right before I got into the car in the parking lot. I honestly don't know and there's no way of finding it so the parking lot is free of snow now and Home Depot does not have an iPhone in their Lost and Found.

I'm pretty disappointed in myself for losing my phone. I have a lot of pictures and videos that I have not backed up in my computer yet. I have pictures of my God-daughters when they were just a couple of months old. Anyway, I just called AT&T and suspended my service. At the moment, I am phoneless, so I guess the best way to contact me would be email. I haven't decided whether to get another iPhone 3G-S yet because I would have to purchase it for full price ($400) OR just use a different phone. Either way, I'm putting off the decision for a while and I'm going to see how long I can go without a phone. It's going to be tough going back to the Stone Ages, but people survived back then and even though my life will be affected, I hope it will only be but a dent in the greater scheme of things.

So what happens now that I don't have my phone? Well, I can't call anyone and no one can reach me. I can't access email, text messages or take pictures/videos on the go. I can't listen to music since I don't have another mp3 player. I can't blog in the morning on my way to work. I can't surf the web and look up information. I can't use Google Maps to locate directions and even the simplest things like knowing what time it is at the moment would be difficult since I don't own a watch. I won't have access to the NYTimes in the morning either, which kind of sucks. I guess it's a good thing I'm already out of my Fantasy Football league since I can't access my team anymore. No more use of Apps, which made my life a bit easier.

Anyway, if anyone knows of anyone where I can get an iPhone 3G-S cheaper than $400 or an iPhone 3G cheaper than $300, let me know. I'm willing to buy used, depending on condition. Email me at jigg.xanga@gmail.com. Otherwise, I doubt I will be able to blog much so my semi-weekly entries on Mondays and Thursdays will probably not happen anytime soon. I'm not interested in Blackberries either so please don't suggest it. I only say that because it's more expensive getting the data plan on AT&T with a Blackberry than with the iPhone.

For anyone who has lost their phone--how does it feel and how long did you go without it before getting a new one?

White Elephant Gift Exchange

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:57:44 GMT

My entire group of probably about 12-15 people are doing the White Elephant aka Yankee Swap aka Thieving Secret Santa. For those who don't know what it is, it's a game where everyone brings a wrapped gift and eveyone gets a number. Person with number one gets to grab any gift (but their own) and open it. Person number two picks a gift, opens it and decides whether to keep it or switch with the first person. Person three opens a gift and decides whethe to keep it or switch it with person one or two--so on and so forth, until all the gifts are opened. Person number one gets screwed, while the last person can pick pretty much anything.

I've been doing this with my friends for quite a few years now and there are restrictions now:

-Minimum $40
-No DVD/CDs
-No Alcohol
-No MP3 players
-No gift cards

Since some people might be reading this entry, I can't talk about what I'm going to get. It's this Sunday and we're doing a potluck as well. Fun times.

At work, it's a lot easier. Rules are simple:

-Maximum $25
-No company products

So I thought long and hard--what would be a nice/fun gift for $25 or less?

Since the event is today, I doubt anyone at work would read this in-time. I decided to get $25 worth of Mega-Millions lottery tickets. Jackpot is $140 million dollars. What better gift than 25 chances at winning $140 million? I wonder if anyone at work will think it's whack. Well, too bad since I already bought them.

Have you ever done this event? If not, you should organize it with your friends. Definitely a lot more fun than Secret Santa.

If you are doing it, what kind of gift are you getting?

Is watching porn cheating?

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:58:01 GMT

During my drive back from Vermont Sunday night, we got into a conversation about porn. My friend was telling us how one of his coworker's wife doesn't allow him to look at nudity of another women--even on television. If they are watching an R-rated movie, she would reach over and cover his eyes if there was a nude/sex scene. How crazy is that?

Personally, porn isn't my thing, but if my girlfrend was like that and felt the need to cover my eyes whenever there was a sex scene in movie, our relationship would pretty much be over.

Being the only person in the car in a relationship, the question was directed to me--does my girlfriend think watching porn is cheating. I was 95% sure she wouldn't care if I did, but that might have been because she knows it's not my thing. So I asked her yesterday what her thoughts were. Her response: "Watching porn isn't considered cheating. It's just used as a release. It's cheating when you fall for the pornstar or something."

So there you have it, my girlfriend gave me a license to watch porn. The question is, why do some/many women feel that their significant others shouldn't watch watch porn? Is it because they are fantasizing about other women? How else are the guys supposed to learn the killer moves to please them? Kidding. There really isn't any legitimate argument other than that it's make believe and it's very normal.

So ladies, do/would you allow your significant other to watch porn? If not, what if they did? Would you really make them change? Change something that they have been doing before they met you? It's not like telling them to kick a smoking habit where it's actually bad for them.

Gentlemen: what would you do if your girlfriend made you stop watching porn? Would you listen to them and stop? Watch it behind their back? Break up with them?

I'm finally snowboarding!

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:03:06 GMT

In New York, I have encountered very few people who have never snowboarded. Though I'm sure many haven't, I cannot think of even one person off the top of head. After putting it off for years, I am finally snowboarding this weekend.

Many of my closest friends go every year and I am usually doing something else. I have always wanted to go, but snowboarding is expensive and since I was already tied down to many hobbies already, I didn't want to get involved in another one.

Finally last year, I put away some money from my non-existent bonus and began shopping for gear. I don't like renting things for one simple reason: it's a waste of money. Renting gear is like $80-100 each time, which means within 5 times, I could have gotten my own. I was sure that I would enjoy snowboarding so investing in my own equipment made the most sense.

I waited till they had sales at the end of last season. I asked a ton of my friends for reviews and suggestions. After much research I purchased a GNU MTX board and Union Force bindings. I paid like $200 for those two things combined.

When the sales happened again last month, I bought the Burton Freestyle boots for like $70. Including pants, jacket, helmet, goggles, board bag and protective gear, I spent under $500 total--everything new. Not bad right?

So tomorrow after work, I am headed to Killington in Vermont. If you have no idea where it is or how it looks like, google it. It's HUGE and beautiful. Supposedly, there's a lot of snow there already. I'll be going with three other friends and meeting up with another eight other friends.

I signed up for lessons so I could learn things the right way. Besides, I don't want to bother my friends and make them teach me. They paid to board and have fun, not babysit. My goal is to be able to keep up with everyone by the end of the season. So far, I signed up for this trip, another trip in January and hopefully one more trip in February. I also bought a Triple Play pass to a nearby mountain, so this could be potentially nine days of boarding.

I'm pretty excited now and I can't wait to hit the slopes. Have you ever snowboarded? I have only met one person who snowboards well that doesn't like it. Everyone else thinks it's awesome.

Edit: Jacket sold!

Chopsticks

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:23:32 GMT

While I was having lunch with my bestfriend at a ramen shop last week, she asked me a very peculiar question, "let me see you hold chopsticks." So without questioning, I held them out and she responded, "you hold it right."

She just came from a business trip in Thailand where one of the business associates there asked to see if she held the chopsticks correctly. I guess it's probably because she's from here, they wanted to see if she was "Americanized." The associate was impressed that she was able to hold it correctly. During her entire trip, she began noticing that most people around her didn't hold it correctly.

I would say that almost everyone I know in my generation holds the chopsticks incorrectly. Even within my family of like the 40-50 cousins I know (most of them are really distant), only 1-2 hold it correctly. In fact, even when I lived in Hong Kong, most people around my generation didnt hold their chopsticks correctly. I also think to my knowledge, most of my friends hold chopsticks correctly. I'm sure a handful do, but I really cannot recall who specifically.

I actually didn't hold it correctly till i was about 10. We had a cultural event in my fifth grade class and I remember doing some Chinese noodles and my science teacher at that time--Barry Kleinman effortlessly held it correctly. I felt ashamed that I couldn't even though I was Chinese. I went home and practiced. I remember that night during dinner, my hand was cramping because it didn't feel natural. I remember it taking almost two months before I was able to hold it without any issues. And now that I do hold it correctly, I cannot imagine a more effective way to use it. It's a lot more precise and practical.

I wonder what happened. A whole generation of people have lost a techique that has been passed down for thousands of years. Do we blame the previous generation for not teaching us the correctly? Both my parnts hold it correctly, but neither of them made any attempt to correct me or my sister's incorrect usage when we were growing up.

The real question is--Is it really important if we know how to use it correctly? In the greater sense of things, probably not. As long as you can use them, then I guess it really doesn't matter. But then again, if it's part of your culture, you should try to preserve it for as long as you can. I'm going to make sure my children hold it correctly (assuming we will still be eating with chopsticks).

Do you know how to hold chopstcks correctly? If not, how do you feel about it? If your family uses it, do they use it correctly?

Life easier with Gmail

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:42:10 GMT

Ever since I switched over to Gmail when it first came out many years ago, I wondered why everyone else is still using other email interfaces. The simplicity and user-friendliness of Gmail is really unbeatable. Grouping email conversations together kept things organized and making everything searchable makes emails easy to find. I can locate any email within a minute, even if it was from years ago.

Recently, however, I found a function of Gmail to make life even easier. Main email addresses are important in today's times. This is the same place where you store all your login information to sensitive banking material. You might use this email address for login information to your bills and utilities. You might want to go green and receive your statements via email, instead of getting paper mail. Whatever the case may be, this is something very important and may be vulnerable to hackers or even some weirdo contacting to you. People you have problems with might sign you up to spam and junkmail (though Gmail's spam filter is so amazing that I haven't seen spam since forever). Whatever the case may be, it is best to have multiple email addresses, each used for a different purpose.

I had two, but recently, I signed up for a couple more, each with it's own purpose. I use one as my main email, while a series of others to make myself more accessible and still be protected. I created one for Xanga, Facebook and a series of others for the online social networks. And then, I use Gmail to manage all of it. That's right. All my email is managed in one place altogether. I log into ONE email and I can see all my emails there without clicking around or logging off.

To do this, first you create all the email addresses you need. Be careful and don't create too many. Gmail will think you're creating emails for spam. Just create the important ones--one that you will now use for social networks, one for bills, etc. Then you go into your main Gmail account (sign up for one if you don't have one!) and goto Settings. There, you can add email accounts to control. It will send a confirmation email to each of those email addresses. One by one, log into those email accounts and follow the directions in the confirmation email. Then, goto your email settings and forward ALL emails to your main Gmail account.

When you do this, all email you receive will automatically goto this one place. You can open it there and respond with the email account that the email was intially sent to. You can compose emails with any of the email addresses you control, all with the simply click of a drop down menu.

The next thing you do is log back into your gmail account and define labels. Goto Settings and use the Filters option. Here, you will create a filter for each email address. The basic idea is, if you get an email to one of your other email addresses, you want to be able to identify it right away to avoid confusion. So if someone sends an email to jigg.xanga@gmail.com, a red label that reads "Xanga" will appear in the subject line. Play around with it and set it to any color you want, etc. These labels will appear on the left and they double as folders. If I clicked the red "Xanga" label, only emails from/to jigg.xanga@gmail.com will appear.

I changed all my contact/login email. Now, I can safely provide a contact email without providing my own private one. Try it! Post a comment if you have any questions or comments. I promise you that after all the setup, life would be easier and safer. Last thing you want is the email on your resume to become searchable and employers can find things about you.

Overparenting

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:25:09 GMT

Last week on my way to work, I was read this article in TIME Magazine, concerning over-parenting. The article discussed how parents these days are putting their children in bubbles and shielding them from all possible harms in the world. We all know that it's not possible to do that and in my opinion, actually harmful to the growth of their children.

In the article, they mentioned someone nicknamed, "The Worst Mother in America." Her name is Lenore Skenazy, a mother in New York who allowed her 9 year old son to ride the NYC subway home on his own, unsupervised. She wrote a column about it and when news got out, she received sharp criticisms for endangering the welfare of her son. After reading that part, I quickly googled her when I got to work and read for myself the story.

Basically, what happened was that her son always wanted to try to go home by himself and one day, she decided to allow him to do that. She gave him $20, some quarters and a metrocard. She didn't leave him a cellphone. She left him in Bloomingdales's on 59th and Lexington Ave and left. She didn't tail him and waited till he got home safe.

Was it really that dangerous for her to allow her 9 year old son to ride the subway and bus alone in New York City? Besides the risk of terrorist and nuclear attacks, New York City is probably one of the safest major cities in the world. The chance of being kidnapped and abducted is extremely unlikely. I grew up in Brooklyn and was able to ride the subway on my own when I was 10. This was almost 18 years ago, during a time where it was definitely less safe. Even in hindsight, I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. All my friends rode the subway alone.

When I was a kid, we always played outside--riding our bikes around and going to the parks to play ball. I realized that kids don't play on the streets anymore these days. Most kids usually just go over to each others' houses and play video games or surf the web together. A couple of years ago, I lived in an apartment where the landlord did not allow her 15 year-old son to go to the movies with his friends. When I was 15, I was all around New York City during the day and going to parties at night. I grew up in a time where there were many gangs--where you couldn't even look at certain people directly in the eye because they would come over and cause trouble.

Anyway, I'm sure that if I lived in a dangerous area of Brooklyn, my parents wouldn't allow me to take the train unsupervised. I'm sure Mrs. Skenazy knew that the route home was safe. She was teaching her 9 year-old son how to be independent and in case of an emergency, how to take care of himself and get home. Parenting is about being there and preparing your children for the outside world, not shielding them in a bubble and protecting them from it. Like the example I used in my email to her, I think parents these days are like Purell. People think using Purell is good, but in fact, it actually weakens your body's natural defenses against germs and bacteria. Parents are weakening their childrens' natural ability to take care of themselves in the outside world, not protecting them from every possible harm.

Obviously, I am just touching on the topic. Read the TIME article I linked, Lenore Skenazy's original article on letting her son ride the MTA (which I also linked), her follow-up article on the Huffington Post and if curious, even her blog, Free Range Kids. We might not all agree with allowing our children to ride public transportation alone, but I'm sure that if we took a step back, we would notice that children are not growing up the same way we did. Generally speaking, kids are more emo, have a greater sense of entitlement and less sense of independence. Can we blame them for this kind of behavior or should we direct the responsibility to their parents?

"Where's your girlfriend?"

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:29:15 GMT

My sister had a dinner gathering on Saturday for her son Henrik at a local restaurant. It's to celebrate the baby's one-month and over forty people were in attendence--mostly relatives. Of course everyone turned to me and asked me where my girlfriend was. Everyone was anxious to see who the girl I came out if dating hibernation for.

Coincidentally, my girlfriend already had plans with her friends for this weekend and couldn't make it. Her bestfriend was having a Thanksgiving get together, so I told all my relatives that. They were all disappointed and most of them would ask me for a picture of her. I quickly flipped out my iPhone and showed them a picture to quell their curiosity. After whatever comment about how she looked, they'd next ask when I was planning to get married.

As it turns out, most of the conversation that night was about how cute my nephew was and then the topics of marriage and children. I was obviously the catalyst of it, but surprisingly, the discussion all strayed away and it became mostly about the kind of weddings my generation have nowadays.

Most of the older folks agreed that it doesn't matter what kind of wedding it is. However, there were quite a few who still believed that Chinese people should have Chinese weddings. I was almost afraid to tell them that I had no intentions of having either Chinese or "America" style wedding. I started off explaining that I'd much prefer an informal setting of celebration and said I wanted to have a BBQ wedding.

The reaction was mostly in agreement that weddings are too formal and thus expensive. It was best to not go too crazy and spend too much money. One person told me that whatever I do, never come out of a wedding in debt, because that's one of the stupidest things to waste money on. Spend only what I can afford and if I wanted something bigger, I should save more. Debt because of a wedding would not be the best way to start a marriage.

Another relative suggested that I get married at City Hall first before putting a deposit down for the wedding. That way, "it's definite, because weddings can be called off." I found all this advice highly amusing and I just smiled at the thought of how my girlfriend would feel if she was here.

What was really funny was how my mom was in total agreement with some of the things that were said and proudly added that my sister didn't have a wedding and was able to put a downpayment on her condo. This is the same person who was "embarrassed" and "disappointed" that her daughter didn't have a wedding four years ago. Funny how people change so quickly.

Addicted?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:06:24 GMT

My dad asked me yesterday if I was "addicted to alcohol." This question came when he watched me pour my single serving of Macallan, realizing that I had also poured myself one the night before. I told him that I wasn't, but I liked to drink, especially to relax--especially when there's nothing to do. He compared it to his addiction to cigarettes when he was younger--citing that he usually smoked because he had nothing to do.

I assured him that I wasn't addicted and brought my glass upstairs to my room to finish Gran Torino. I don't know what it is, but there's nothing like a scotch and good movie to put the stresses of the world aside.

Though as I sat down, I wondered if I was really addicted. Maybe I'm not, but I will be or maybe I am and I'm in denial. Being really honest with myself, I love the taste of scotch, ales and petite syrahs. At times, I even crave for them. Yet, I hate the feeling of being drunk and I never consume much--a serving or two if I'm just trying to relax, or a couple of more when I'm with people. Not enough to be a cause of concern. Besides, I'm trying to save money now and I have cut my consumption to about 3-4 drinks per week, down from about 20. That's at least 80%!

I will admit though that I wish I was consuming more. I usually pour myself a double, but trying to keep things in moderation with only a single serving. The other day, I drove to seven liquor stores around Staten Island to try and find Macallan, 12 year. It took me over an hour and I don't know how much gas from my gas-guzzling SUV. But I finally found it and boy was it worth it.

I think long-time readers know about my unquenchable thirst for alcoholic beverages. Contrary to popular belief, I don't pride myself to be someone who loves alcohol, but it's certainly not something I hide either. The bottle of scotch is placed in the living room, so it's not something I hide from my parents. I even offered my mom some Sunday night since she enjoys recreational drinking as well.

My dad didn't lecture me or tell me that alcohol was bad for me. He was merely trying to gauge my level of desire to drink. I think it isn't to the point of concern yet. At least not until he signs for the 10 bottles of Stags Leap Petite Syrah (2006) that will be delievered today. We'll see how the discussion goes tonight.

Do you think I'm addicted? What are your thoughts on alcohol? If you like it, is it for the feeling or the taste? What's your drink of choice?

Apocalypse

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:34:19 GMT

I often ponder about my actions and choices in possible armegeddon/apocalyptic scenarios. If there was a nuclear war, New York City would be hit first and unless I'm making an unlikely impromptu trip to some small town in Wyoming, I'd probably die. If there was a zombie infestation, my chances of surviving might be a bit higher since I'm probably a bit more prepared for it. But what about events like a giant meteor the size of Texas crashing into Earth or if the Earth's crust decides to shift like in the movie 2012? Very few people would survive.

Can you really expect the governments to try and save people? If I was responsible for trying to preserve the human race, priority would first go to the smartest, most intelligent people on the planet--mostly scientists and other people of extreme higher learning. I might try and save some of the animals like in Noah's Ark, but what about artifacts? Should we try and preserve the Mona Lisa? I think I would rather house more books than art pieces.

One moral dilemma is whether the government is responsible of telling us that the end of the world is coming. And if I did have the priviledge to know such information could I keep it a secret? How can I look at all the people I love in the eye and not tell them? And if I could only save one or two people, who would I choose? It's not an easy choice since I love so many of my family and friends.

But what if I wasn't one of the priviledged and found out about the end of the world too late? I think I'd get myself a front row seat on Coney Island, on the beach and watch the tidal wave come in. It sure beats falling in a pit of molten lava or being crushed by a building.

What about you? What would you try and save? Who would you save if you could pick 1-2 people and if you knew the end was coming and there was no chance of survival, how would you spend your last moments.