My Life - Part I: The Funk Mindset

For most of my life, I lived in a funk mindset. This funk mindset is hard to explain. It was like I wasn’t fully self-aware of my own thoughts and actions at any given moment. Almost as though I was under a trance or in a haze. If life was the act of watching T.V. (not what actually is on the T.V., but the act of watching it) then this funk would be like having the volume turned almost all the way down and assuming that what little you do hear fully represents what was going on, even though you can’t hear most of what is being said. Sometimes the funk is like I was a remote spectator to my own live. Other times, I knew I was in control of my actions, but had my options unnecessarily limited, as though I was wearing blinders when looking at the situation while it was happening. Other symptoms of this funk mindset were: the feeling of complete inferior anyone else around me; lack of self-worth; natural inclination to choose the least successful or most disastrous option available; and even when I was successful at something, I didn’t really feel as though I was the reason for my success. I only seemed to have full self-awareness when I was reflecting on events after the fact, usually when I was alone, often late at night in bed. I often acted or thought in ways that confused me upon reflection.
I entered into this funk sometime before 2nd Grade, I think. I can’t remember there being a particular event that triggered it. Maybe it gradually overtook me. I first realized something was wrong when I was a teenager. I didn't have it figured out yet, though. I had enough trouble just trying to deal with the adolescence. My acute awareness of the funk didn't happen till I was 24. I really didn't exit the haze of the funk completely till I was 28.

I'm 31

It seems a lot of people end up reflecting on life sometime around the age of 30 or 31. More than one friend of my ended up asking, "where did the time go?"
Well, for me it's a bit different. I've been aware of where the time went and it zoomed by me. I starting becoming aware sometime after I turned 25. The age itself wasn't the reason. Events in that year of my life are the cause. I have since realized that my level of selfawareness, selfworth, out look on life and emotional state mark the different periods in my life. I'll go more in to this soon.

Warning about Acura reliability

The Acura TL is having some serious reliability problems. I'm under warranty, so it's not costing me anything, but the issues are bothersome.

First, my transmission broke down after 37,500 miles. It started seriously slipping gears. I brought my car into the dealership on 4/14/04. At that time, the service agent admitted that they have seen 50 cars this month so far come in for transmission problems...and that was just one dealership!!!

Second, THREE interior parts have broken without any abuse whatsoever: The mirror swivel, and both front door interior side mirror covers. Even though these parts are not technically covered under warranty, the dealership has been very gracious in fixing these free of charge.

Given the number of problems that Acura seems to be having with 2002 and 2003 model years, I am now worried about the re-sale value of my car. I had intended my TL to be my long term workhorse car, but now I'm seriously considering trading it in for something more reliable within a couple of years.

You've been warned!

Artifacts of Evolution

I’ve got a few hypotheses about human evolution. The underlining hypothesis is that humans developed our large brain and self-awareness before evolution was completely done with the development our body plan. These are based on nothing more than observation, conjecture, and being a human myself. They were developed after considering lapses in the modern human body. It would be interesting to see someone explore these hypotheses.

Question: Why do we have Wisdom Teeth?
Hypothesis: Evolution provided humans which just enough teeth to get our ancestors through about 30 years of life.
Explanation: Wisdom Teeth provide one extra late life set of teeth to replace adult teeth lost due to harsh living conditions and tooth decay. The modern human generally do not have a need for this extra set of teeth.
In prehistoric times, humans had life expectancies limited to 30 years or so. Without dental care, our teeth tend to deteriorate rapidly in our adult life. Evolution adjusted to this attrition by providing one extra group of teeth. Prehistoric man relied on this extra set of teeth late in their lives. Maybe around 25 or so?
Observations: Many animals either have teeth that last roughly as long as their lives. Many hunter animals lose or damage teeth frequently do due the harsh nature of hunting. These animals either have teeth that rejuvenate, or that get replaced. For example, cats and dogs have teeth that grow throughout their life. Sharks are constantly growing new teeth to replace teeth lost during the hunt.

Question: Why do we get leg cramps?
Hypothesis: Leg cramps are part of a diminishing instinct to grasp items with our feet. This instinct is from a time when the body plan of prehumans was designed for tree climbing.
Explanation: Although there are certain medical causes for leg cramps at specific times, there seems to be an underlining cause to leg cramps at other times which go beyond the medical explanations. It is possible that instinct, which causes leg cramping, is an artifact of evolution that hasn’t quite died out yet, even though it is no longer useful.
Observations: Leg cramps can be triggered by things such as: our foot being in a tight space; while swimming; during sex; etc. Some monkeys appear to instinctively grasp branches with their feet while they are in trees.

Future questions to be addressed:

Question: Why do we require so much water for our survival?

Question: Why does our jawbone grow throughout our life?

My experience with the Acura TSX

Acura TSX

I had the opportunity to drive an automatic Acura TSX for over a week.

The Ride
I found that the ride is smooth and firm. It isn’t bouncy like the Toyota Camry. It isn’t rough, like the Acura TL Type-S can be when its tires are over inflated.

Performance and Engine
The 4 cylinder, 200-hp, 2.4L engine really makes this car move! While driving in city traffic, acceleration is quick and comfortable. Up-shifting is smooth but tends to be quick. In my experience with Acura, I have found that their cars try to get to the higher gears quickly. While driving on the highway, acceleration is very quick and even fun. Up-shifting is just right.

As with my TL Type-S, the engine is very quiet when compared to just about any other similar car. Trust me, it does make noise when accelerating. You just can't hear it from the interior of the car.

That SportShift
The manual shift override is fun to use when you are accelerating rapidly. But it isn't very useful at other times. I don’t mind using the override, but I’ve not found much use for it.

In automatic mode, you only have two choices: Drive and D3. I think that's kind of odd. You can shift lower with the manual shift override, of course.

Handling
Handling is sporty and nimble. I felt comfortable and in control during quick turns, sudden lane shifting and passing. I like the handling more than my 2003 Acura TL Type-S. Additionally, braking seems strong and stable.

Ahh, the Interior
The interior is very comfortable. I like the sleek, molded styling.
-Leather seats are standard, of course. They are very comfortable. The driver side seat is very adjustable with several electric controls. The shotgun seat has manual adjustments only.
-Channel up/down, mode and volume buttons for radio/CD changer are all right at under your left thumb on the steering wheel.
-Cruise Control set, cancel and accel-decel buttons are all under your right thumb.
-The controls for the Moon Roof are in a funny location, hidden behind the steering wheel on the dash.
-The standard radio/CD changer has nice big controls for easy use on the dash. The sound quality is very good, but not equal high-end sound systems.
-Climate Controls are just as easy to use with similar big buttons. There's separate climate control for driver and passenger.
-The adjustable armrest in the center consul has two compartments. The top compartment is a good place for papers. It also has change holders. The bottom compartment is very deep and has a 2nd power outlet. I love that!
-Extra touches include heated seats; a sizable extra storage compartment on the dash; and hand operated emergency break.
-For safety there is the driver, shotgun seat and side curtain air bags.

Styling
The exterior style has a modern crisp look. So far, it seems women really like the car’s styling a lot. I’ve been asked by more than one of my female friends if they could cruise around in the car. This could be a warning. That could mean this car is either a chick magnet or a chick car. If the car is received in the same way as a BMW M3, good for guys to own. If the car is received in the same way as the VW New Beetle, the TSX might end up being designated as a chick car. Who knows?

Quick Ending
I’ve had a pleasant experience with the Acura TSX. The styling, interior, handling and power make this a fun car to drive.

Selling DVD's on eBay

Some how I end up with extra DVD's for various reasons. I may replace an older version of a DVD with newer Special Editions. Columbia House may send me an extra DVD that they didn't get on the bill. Or I buy more than one copy of a DVD without realizing it. So what do I do? I sell them on eBay.

Selling used DVD's on eBay is pretty fun. I've sold every item. DVD's seem to be the hot item on eBay right now. eBay has made it particularly easy with their use of Muse, so you don't have to manually enter descriptions of the movies.

I'm not making any real money. For the most part, these are used DVD's. They arguably have value higher than for what I usually sell them. I've seen used DVD's sell for almost new prices in used DVD/CD stores.

One thang I recently discovered is the Media Mail rate is much lower for packages than standard rates. That means you can ship a DVD for $1.42. I get a 90 cent Certificate of Mailing to confirm the item was mailed. I can ship the DVD for $2.32. Most sellers on eBay try to gouge the customer by charging 5 dollars for shipping.

I've been experimenting with not even charging for shipping. So far, I haven't lost money on any of my recent transactions (not counting the market value of the used DVD). I'm not sure I can use this strategy when I sell new DVD's though. I generally need to charge for s/h to cover the difference of what I paid for the DVD and the selling price on eBay. It's prolly not worth it to sell new DVD's from my collection, unless I get them for free or at sever discount.

So, there's my thoughts about selling DVD's on eBay. :)

Big rush...

The big rush for me is past now here at work. There was a few days there where I was need to help with some efforts. With that behind me now, I'm faced with something I've avoided for years and years. All of a sudden I have multiple meetings scheduled, and 3 in just one day alone. (These are completely unrelated to the big rush work.) Well, my years of meeting free peace are coming to a close. Looks like I will again be dragged into the inefficiency of congregating in cramp rooms for hours on end. Oh well.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

This is a great movie. Highly recommended!!! I'm not going into details about the story cuz you just hafta watch it. I will say that Jim Carry is brilliant in this more serious role! Go see it!

This weekend

was a bit odd. For some reason I felt a complete lack of energy on Sat and Sun. I don't know why? I tried to get myself out to do activities to work my energy level up, but it's affect wasn't that stark. I'm feeling fine now. Really weird.

Commute and cheaper lunches

I completed my commute in just about 15 minutes today. That's amazing. This same commute used to take 35 minutes during the worst parts of the Internet Bubble period.

In other news, something I'm starting thinking about recently is how to reduce the cost of lunches. Yesterday, I had a full breaded and fried chicken lunch which I made myself. The total price for everything, including soft drink, vegetables and Hostess Fruit Pie, came in under $3.75. That's cheaper than McDonald's. Today, I made a sandwich for myself. With everything including fruit, chips and soft drink, the total price was under $1.25. Damn. I used to budget in $5.00 to $8.00 per day for lunches. If I can keep this up, it could budge at $3.50 per day and save about $25 to $85 per month.

Tasks and some stuff

I stayed with my sick g/f most of this weekend. On Sat, I did get a chance to take care of some badly needed errand type tasks. After see was feeling better, we went to see Starsky and Hutch. It is better than expected.
On Sunday, I finally bought a bike. I’m itching to get a chance to ride it now. J We also spent the afternoon in Los Altos. Very relaxing.
I hung out with Miriam Sunday night. Mostly just watched the Sunday night crime shows.
I feel like I was able to get a ton of tasks done this weekend, and had a chance to enjoy it with the people I care about too.

Just a quick message in support of Spain

I just wanted to write a quick message of support for my Spaniard brothers and sisters going through aftermath of this latest terrorist attacks. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I am proud of and admire today's massive and brave protests.

The 31st b-day

I just had my 31st b-day. It was a lot of fun. The plan of gathering at Gorden Biercsh in San Jose worked great. I wasn't sure how many people would make it, so I didn't want to get locked down to any reservations. My g/f and I got to GB early enough to get claim a couple of patio tables. Two of my cuzins and their b/f's showed up...with a couple of other new friends too. Miriam showed with her victim for the evening. Most amazing is that my roommate and his g/f and rock group buds showed up! We had a great time till about 11 when we headed to this bigass house party. I had a great time. I'm leaving out a bunch of details for particular reasons that public just doesn't need to know about. lol

Turning 31

Ok, I'm 31 today. Just a short note about that. :) Thangs have been going pretty good. Work is work, as always. I'm getting a chance to spend a lot of time with me friends. I've stopped blogging for a few days to get off my political trend. I don't mind venting once in awhile, but I can't go on and on about it and be happy from it. So I gave myself a break to get this blog off politics for awhile. :)

I screwed up my thumb last week, which prevented me from sailing on Sunday. That sucked. Instead I spent the day playing Civilization III. That is always fun. :)

It's the point of our system...

Isn't it the point of the American system to allow no one to go around dictating to others what they should or should not believe, including being free from institutionalized discrimination? Why is modern religious conservatism so bent on enforcing their religious doctrines and discriminatory ideologies on our entire population? Isn't this the action in line with the Taliban? If you think it can't go that far, wake up. We are actually still recovering from a period in our history where it was taken that far. Not many people alive today remember when it was a "sin" for a woman to show her ankles in public. There was a time when it was illegal for women and non-whites to vote. How about the 1930's when discrimination against minorities was so accepted that it wasn't unusual to see anti-Catholic, racist signs like "Help Wanted, Irishmen need not apply." These archaic times are still fresh in our history. Yet, some among us still feel the need to enforce their beliefs (which have origins from these archaic times) on to others. These people claim to be Christian, yet ignore Christ's most important rule: Treat others as you wish to be treated. Do hardcore Christians really want to have religious beliefs of Islam or Hindu thrust on them? Do they really want to have laws in place telling them who they should and should not marry? Prolly not...no, definitely not. So, Christians should stop trying to force their beliefs on the rest of us. Live your life as your choose in the Lord. Let everyone else live their lives as they choose, in the Lord or otherwise.

Gay Marriages and the Constitution

By trying to define marriage as only a union between a man and a woman, confusion between a rights issue is made with some modern persons understanding of ancient religious texts. Those religions do not address transgender or full sex change. They certainly do not address hermaphrodites. Let’s remember, not everyone is born with an identifiable sex. Some people born this way have their sex chosen for them by their parents and doctor at infancy, though their bodies do not always agree with the choice as they grow up. (What about cases where the wrong sex is chosen for them?) Others are left to grow up with organs of both sexes. Will these persons be allowed to marriage as nature intended, or forced to live a life nature did not intend? The question is really this: Are we asking the Constitution to define what it is to be a man or a woman? We’d have to define the sexes in order to ask the Constitution to limit the definition of marriage. But, really, you can’t ask the Constitution to define sex because nature herself isn’t all that clear about it all the time. By trying to limit the definition of marriage, you are creating a second-class citizen, not only of homosexuals, but also of people not born with our ideal form of man or woman.

For the rights of all to be protected and equal, we must either defend gay marriage –or- eliminate all the benefits afforded to all married couples. Otherwise, we risk becoming a society that puts ideology above natural reality. That didn’t suit the German’s to well in the years leading up to War World II, and it doesn’t fit well within our own system based on freedom and equality.

I realize the issue of gay marriages goes well beyond the argument here, but this argument is enough reason to stop the madness of trying to dictate limitations on the basis of sexual orientation.

Free hot dogs at the Oakland Yacht Club

The race this past Sunday was pretty good, but again, mistakes made thangs easier for our competitors. We missed a mark. We were able to get around it, and hold on to the second place, but other boats in our class did pass us. We could have finished second boat-for-boat, but we did cross the finish line just behind another boat. We still beat them with the handicap (cuz their boat is faster by design), but it always feels good to just finish before them, period. :)

V-Day

To start off the V-Day weekend, Miriam, another friend, my g/f and myself meet up at the Tied House in downtown San Jose for a drink, then headed out to the Beehive Club. Yikes. Kinda funny, I'm like bringing in three girls into this getto-ass place, being the pimp daddy an all. LOL We ended up at the Agenda, who's crowd wasn't much improved. I hope this was because it was V-Day weekend, cuz if its this bad all the time in downtown SJ, I'm prolly not going to bother going back for dancing. However, it was a fun night.
The next day was perfect. First, I told me g/f that we'd meet up at her place around 11am. It ended up being more like 1pm cuz it took me longer than I thought to get everything together. To get her out of her house (and save time too), I asked her to get the food for the picnic I planned. So I get to her place while she was out and placed the vase I bought her on the dining table with a picnic basket and wine. She shows up a bit later. I surprized her at the door with a dozen big red South American roses and showed her the vase. She loved it all. She surprized me with a sweet card and a nice present.
We packed up the food for the picnic and head to this park next to Freeway 17 between Los Gatos and Campbell. It was romantically sweet and simple. After we ate, we walked around a bit, then got back to the car and headed to downtown Los Gatos for this little movie theater that's never crowded. We got tickets for the 4:45 showing 50 First Dates. Then we walked around, window shopping for about an hour.
Finally, we got back to the theater, but they were late in opening the room, so she went to the restroom. The place was pretty empty at that point. A bunch of younger teenage girls showed up for the movie. When my g/f got out of the restroom, she caught a glimpse of some of the girls "trying to hit on me." (her words). I don't think they were really trying to hit on me, but it's just funny saying it that way. :) The movie was pretty good. The room was only about half full. It made for a more laid back movie-going experience perfect for an easy going V-Day.
We headed to her place to get ready for diner at Scott's Seafood at 9:30pm. Diner was very pleasant, with good food and great company. ;) Later that night we feel asleep in each other's arms.

Finally, after a couple of months a long requests, Blogger has fixed a problem with my site

Arg. For the longest time, some of my pictures hosted on in my blogger.com ftp space weren't showing up. In the past, blogger.com technical assistance has been great, but now tech support seems to be in over their head. I had to repeatedly state my problem in over five separate help requests before blogger.com finally realized the problem was at their end. Finally, I had to do my own experimenting to identify the problem before they were able to figure it out and fix it. Lame. If blogger.com wasn't so convenient, I'd move my blog to another site right now.

Update for Treo 600 Sprint PCS

Finally, SprintPCS has fully functional SMS messaging. About time! Treo600sms is no longer necessary. I've compare the native SprintPCS SMS application with and without Treo600sms. It works much faster without Treo600sms now. So, to all Treo 600 SprintPCS users, you no longer need Treo600sms or any third party software for SMS'ing. Yah!

Three days in Vegas is a long time

Nuf said. lol

Las Vegas Vacation II

January 28, 2004 to January 31, 2004

With Jennifer Lydecker, Alice Leung and Miriam Melo visited Las Vegas, NV, including Las Vegas Strip, Star Trek: The Experience: Las Vegas, Hilton, Quark's Bar and Restaurant, MGM Grand Las Vegas, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, New York - New York Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and Bellagio Las Vegas.  Original post/backup link.

I'm off to Las Vegas tomorrow!

Woohoo!

With this recent admission from the White House...

The White House is now backing down from it's claim that Iraq had stockpiles of WMD. As much as I didn't believe all of President Bush II's lines, I did believe some. None of President Bush II's statements about Saddam have panned out, and many have been refuted. Too many American and Iraq lives have been lost. U.S. Government credibility is shot to hell on the world stage. The lie that Iraq had WMD is too great to ignore. It's time to seek President Bush II's impeachment. :(

Essential Software for your Treo 600, update

To get the most out of your Treo 600, these additional software packages are necessary.

Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm OS : Enables your device to view PDF files. The package also has a program that allows you to print from several programs to a fax machine, among other things.

pTunes or Pocket Tunes: Plays MP3 files from SD Cards. You can install various skins to change its look too.

QuickOffice : Open, view and edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel native formats.

Snappermail : POP3 email software that handles file attachments. This software package also includes a program for handling and creating ZIP files.

TreoSMS600 : For SprintPCS Treo 600 only, this allows full SMS functionality. Why does Sprint not allow this without third party software right now? I dunno. But given the fact that SprintPCS's CDMA network has twice the speed of GSM networks of the other carriers, I don't mind too much. Update: Sprint has fallen even farther behind schedule on getting their SMS fully functioning. So I continue to just use this application with flawless execution.

VeriChat : Enables you to chat on AOL, Yahoo, MSN and ICQ instant messaging all at once. It also allows you to keep these IM sessions open on standby 24/7.

Skinner 2.0: Let's you change your dialpad and favorites screens with different skins.

mLights: Let's you control screen brightness and disable keyboard backlighting.

Useful Palm OS and Treo links:

Handango.com
Palmgear.com
Treo600essentials