I would have posted pics when I got back except I was too tired and exhausted from snowboarding for about five hours straight. Bummer, I forgot to charge my camera so the battery ran out when we got to the top of mountains (hills). Nonetheless, here’s the pics. :-)

I started learn how to snowboard three years ago when RIT offered a PE class in snowboarding with a discount pass, so it was a good time for me to learn and use the deal. But I didn’t even snowboard once last year as I moved to DC, started my first real job and was basically in middle of everything that’s going on. Now I’m more settled this year and after living in DC for more than a year, you definitely want to get out of DC whenever you can. So, last sunday was a great time to be out of DC.

I was really rusty when I started the first run down the slope and I told Blake that I’d read in a mag that about 1 in 6 snowboarders get hurt and I sure hope I’m not gonna be that person. He said not to worry and just take your time as u build up confidence. As soon as he said that, he went off, zooming down the slope. I was like holy shit, he’s already gone! I gotta try and catch up. Down the slope, I fell or slipped a few times, not really used to riding the board in a long time and I felt like I was a beginner all over again. I told myself to be in control of my board and take my time without going too fast. Eventually, I was able to pick up and after a few runs, I became a lot better and able to stay with Blake but he’s way up on a different level than I am. I have a long way to go to become as good as he is. He can jump high while my jumps are a joke, barely lifting off the ground.

One big drawback about this ski resort is that they don’t serve alcoholic beverage! Instead, we got some coffee. And overall, the entire resort is pretty small but is the nearest resort to DC. There’s a bigger resort in Wisp, abt 3 hrs from here. I’m gonna snowboard as much as I can and get ready for Colorado later this year! :-)

Life’s too damn short. I’m gonna go snowboarding at Whitetail!!!

Will post again after I get back. Can’t wait!

Who would have thought that Swiss Army knife and Geekiness would mix? :-) The only thing it’s missing is a screwdriver. That would have closed the deal for me. Nearly all computer parts have screws.

Hmm, this is neat and looks promising…

answers.yahoo.com

Question: How old is the oldest man on Earth at the time being?

Answer: Emiliano Mercado Del Toro (Puerto Rico), born in Cabo Rojo on August 21, 1891, became the oldest fully authenticated man residing in the world on 17 January 2005 at the age of 113 years 149 days.

Currently living in Isabela, Puerto Rico, he is also the oldest living veteran, having been called up in 1918 by the US Army. A non-combat veteran, he was two months into training when World War I ended on 11 November 1918.

Someone is definitely right. “When in doubt, go.”

I’m glad I went to the Argonaut Bar despite the fact I went alone. Well, I realize there’s nothing wrong with that. Just go, and you might be surprised at what u’ll get.

I just learned that I may have a mild case of AHD or maybe a severe case at that but I hope not. Thanks, Blake, And hope we’ll go snowboard this weekend! Remember what I said: if we see a single snowflake falling, we go!

It’s funny. I did go to the GSA party last Saturday night and oddly enough, I felt somewhat alone there, although a good number of people went. But tonight, I didn’t feel alone, even there were less people who went but I happened to know more people personally and that’s what it made it worthwhile.

And I found someone who’s actually more serious at golf than I am and that’s gonna motivate me to play golf more often and be competitive.

Lastly but not least, I finally met someone who understands the myth that it’s completely untrue that someone who could hear doesn’t mean that s/he could speak well too. I’m one of those people.

:-)

Saw this on someone’s blog and thought I’d share with you guys. A good perspective on life and money.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? Well my friend, That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” said the Mexican.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings doing what you like and enjoying your friends.”

And the moral is: know where you’re going in life; you may already be there.

Monkeysphere. I beg you to click and read the article. It may be wordy and require a few brain cells to process it. If you get it, you get it. :-) Basically, everything is irrelevant unless it’s personal to you (by being in monkeysphere with you).

Some random thoughts:

I always try to remember Ben Franklin’s twelve rules and one of them is “Incentive is everything.” Want to see something done? You gotta give that person some incentive to do it. Most of the time, it’s money but it can be anything else (negotiating comes in play here) and everything can be an incentive, I mean everything, like sex. One example was that in the last few days, I had four people IMing me right out of the blue. They were the kind that rarely send me an IM or at least initiate a conversation so I immediately knew they wanted something from me. Sure enough, I was right. They were asking if I had heard about this apparently new money pyramid scheme – monavie. I told them I’m not interested and I heard nothing more from them after that. Again, incentive is everything.

Do you know that Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity not only applies to time or physics only but also to other things? Like a person is only blind WHEN someone else can see aka “In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.” Einstein’s theory simply states that one object has certain qualities when in relation to another. When I think about it, it’s really true. We can’t say this is the best camera we’ve used till we’ve tested others cameras first. Or this girl is really hot-looking after we’ve looked at other women. In a way, theory of relativity is just like comparing and contrasting—finding these qualities that one has and another doesn’t.

I love learning.

I gotta do this guide and banish Windows from this hard drive forever. :-)

Windows in your pocket.

In case you’re wondering why I bother to use Windows, well, there’s still some programs I need to use that isn’t available on Linux, like Sorenson’s Envision videophone program, NexTalk program to place TTY calls, and while I’m not exactly used to the GIMP program, I’m still using Fireworks to design websites. I know there’s a vmware but it’s slower and anything less than its optimal speed is intolerable.

The best part is that it’s portable, so when I go to see my parents for christmas, I just plug in my USB and start up the “mini” windows and do stuffs without messing up my parents’ computer. So I wouldn’t have to hear my dad saying, “What did u do with my bookmarks!?”.

Microsoft, Google still vying for AOL

Google and Microsoft are fighting over to get a deal with AOL that will allow them to tap their internet advertisements within AOL. Even though AOL is rapidly losing subscribers to a broadband service, it is still the largest internet service provider, so, whoever got the deal would be HUGE. Microsoft probably has the edge in money and is desperate to set off in internet advertisments but it’s Google that has the momentum and has an immediate credibility.

Moreover, Google is eyeing a deal with Comcast cable company, also for internet advertising plus possible other things like an agreement to put Google as a default search engine on the Comcast’s start-up disk, which was what they did with Mozilla Firefox’s default homepage – to the google search.

Now, I can see why Google is so insistent on getting information as much as possible, every data counts—doesn’t matter what they are and after building a huge wealth of data, they can go after the businesses and say we have the data, we have every possible data there is and we can help you make money off advertisements by the means of our data.

It’s only beginning.

Mom: Are you still at work?
Me: Yes, I am.
Mom: Do you know it’s snowing in DC area now?
Me: Really, it’s snowing hard?
Mom: The Weather Channel said around 1 to 2 inches of snow expected.
Me: Ah ok, I’ll stay here till 8 pm after traffic eases up a bit.
Mom: Ok, if there’s zero visibility outside, don’t try to drive. Stay at a motel.
Me: Mom! I’m sure it’s not that bad.
Mom: You never know. If it’s that bad in the broad daylight, imagine how bad it’ll be when it’s snowing.
Me: I’ll let u know when I get home.

An hour later and we’re on VP (videophone).

Me: I got home ok.
Mom: I can see that. Were the roads bad?
Me: No, it was just a wet road and there was not much traffic as I thought.
Mom: Ok good, I’m happy you got home safely.
Me: Yeah, oh, speaking of snow, could you send me my snowboard boots, gloves, goggle, and pants. I forgot to bring them back with me.
Mom: *shakes her head* ok, I’ll tell Dad to get them. Where did you put them?
Me: It should be either in the garage or in my closet.
Mom: Nothing new; can’t remember where you put stuffs.
Me: you know me.

Dad: Ok, I found them. So, do you want it to be fedex-ed or ground shipping through PO? (my dad works at a post office.)
Me: Uh, how long will the ground shipping take?
Dad: It’ll take abt 7 days.
Me: that long? could you make that in 3 days?
Dad: Ok, I’ll put it through first-class.

Wanna see how Google throws a holiday party? Look no further than here and here.

No, I didn’t go. :-(

And check this convo out with two IBMers after I gave her the link.

Pamela: wanna see google holiday party pixs?
Brian: nahhh. I don’t want to be envious of google employees
Pamela: http://www.xanga.com/GrowingGrass
Brian: strange party
Brian: looks like fun too
Pamela: airhockey, pp, billard. wow
Brian: yeah. ok. now you’re getting me a bit jealous of google.

:-)

It’s about time that someone has created a complete list of how much caffeine there is in every drink. AMP’s my fave energy drink—it has 112.5 caffeine.

Caffeine Content Chart. :-)