Pintmaster

Tomorrow I will be dumber. Im getting my “wisdom” teeth out. Im kinda nervous because it’s a pretty gross thing to have four teeth yanked out. Not to mention I dont like the dentist. Im lucky that Liza Zuzek will be taking care of me afterwards and driving me to her place. I’ll have to stop to get ice cream on the way home. If I have general anesthetic, I will be pretty out of it until Sunday probably. Uh oh!

And, out of curiosity, my co-pay on my wisdom teeth is around $1100. How much did other people have to pay?

The little monster was found Wednesday 22nd November after being gone for 3 nights. He was under my neighbors house meowing when I came by. Now I can have a stress free thanksgiving knowing he is safe

My little cat milo decided to sneak out to party and hasnt come back. I noticed he was going mental the past few days and I have a feeling that there is a cat around that is in heat. He left last night somehow and I have left the garage door cracked open so he can squeeze back in, but he hasnt returned. Now he has been gone for almost 24 hrs. It will be below freezing tonight so I hope he is ok.

Milo, if you surf the internet, come home!

Ever wanted to use your iPod in your car? I did. In fact, a lot of people do. Quite a few cars these days are coming out with factory installed iPod integration. Others have a line-in input built in.

Background

If you’re not lucky enough to have one of these, there are a few more options. The one I used to use, and I think the majority of iPod in Car users use is the FM transmitter. After doing a lot of research a couple of years ago, I ended up picking the Monster iCarPlay Plus Wireless FM Transmitter. It was great when I moved to Houston in a UHaul, but we had to keep changing the station as we went across the country. Then, I used it for a while in my Saab 9-3 before replacing the factory stereo with a Sony stereo with a line-in. Chenging the stereo was messy and I had an ugly cable sticking out. Well, I used that until the engine blew in my ‘99 Saab at around 105,000 miles.
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Does sugar cause pimples?

I have a zit on my chin. I dont usually get zits on my chin except when I eat lots of sugary foods. Now, let me explore why this could happen. I think there are a few scenarios here that are causing the zit so before I completely blame sugar, let’s look at a few:

1. Sugar It’s the damn sugar!
2. Hormone imbalances make me crave sugar and also cause the zits - therefore attributing it to sugar is a logical fallacy.
3. Dietary Change It’s the other ingredients in the things that contain sugar (I’ve been eating ice cream, chocolate chip cookies and drinking coke).
4. Personal Hygiene - Has my personal hygiene been poor (NO! I still wash my face twice a day)

Alright, so looking at these few options, the one that makes the most sense is Dietary change. Assuming the amount of food intake stays the same, by eating more sugary / junk food, the less healthy diet means that the body is more prone to making evil zits. What do you think?

Last night, I came up with a list of things to live by. Im going to carry it around with me wherever I go and add to it when I think of something else. Here it is:

1. Only you have the power to realize your dreams
2. Bulletproof your ideas from the naysayers with guns
3. Think as big as you can. Your balls will have to catch up.
4. Make only the promises you are able to keep
5. Build the reality that you want, but remember you can only do it one brick at a time
6. Failure is when you screw up the same way twice
7. People will follow you into the depths of hell. Don’t be scared - plan accordingly.
8. Recognize your shortcomings and arm yourself with people who compensate for them.

Check out these scans of an article about Onmac.net that were in the japanese magazine Ascii. Does this count as my five minutes of fame? I wonder what the article actually says…

Translation:

The Man Who Opened Forbidden Doors

…??

Alright, so I was getting chubby before. I started working out - 5 - 7 times a week. I go to the gym 4 - 5, and play soccer 2 times. I started (as of last week) going biking one day a week too with a friend. Im feeling in great shape. But, it’s all about looking good in a bikini - or just at the beach.

Here are some shots (deliberately unflattering) of my progress thus far. I’ve lost an inch around the waist (damn pants are too big), my arms are bigger and I am starting to get definition. I am not quite at the flat stomach and rock hard abs stage yet. Check back in another month!

There is no surefire way to get over an ex boyfriend / girlfriend. When you break up, especially after being together for a long time, it is like losing a part of yourself. Do not fear though - it is not losing a part of yourself, it is just “like” losing a part of yourself.

There are a common set of 5 stages of grief that people go through during a breakup:

1. Denial
2. Anger / Resentment
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Denial

At this point, you cant believe what has happened and you are most likely overwhelmed by shock - half expecting things to go back to “normal”.

Anger / Resentment

This is when it gets nasty & you might be inclined to do or say things that you will regret to the other person. You blame the other person for causing the situation or wasting years of your life, or being so difficult. In many ways those things are necessary because essentially fighting with each other and causing hurt makes the break up easier to comprehend for each person.

Bargaining

Im not quite sure that this is next after anger. Apparently, this is where you will feel inclined to try to convince the person that you can change or they can change and you really should be together. The decision to break up feels wrong and it seems as though the solution is to get back together rather than stay apart.

Depression

It’s really quite straightforward. You feel down in the dumps, alone and withdrawn from the world. At this point, the loss is acknowledged and it takes time to deal with it and sort through the issues. This is when you will feel most alone in the world. But dont fret! the best is yet to come.
Acceptance

The breakup is now in your past. You’re able to move forward with your life. Hopefully at this stage, seeing the person doesnt send you backwards in to one of the other stages.

What else?

Now that you know the stages of grief, you can at least understand what you are going through. Some other things you may experience during grief is a sense of a lost identity. You need to rediscover and redefine who you are without the other person. It’s difficult and dangerous because its important to have stability in your life.

How to get through it

• Go to the Gym / work out - This is a fantastic thing to do when you are getting over a break up. Working out releases endorfins in the brain so you feel better than you ordinarily would if you were going through a break up (I am working out 5 - 6 times a week).
• Be more social - Hang out in coffee shops with a good book, make some new friends who dont know your ex, get out of the house!
• Generally get more busy - The less time you have alone to think, the less time you will be sitting alone thinking about your break up. Dwelling on a problem rarely presents a solution. The only thing to help with a breakup is time. If you can allow time to pass without overanalyzing the situation, it will help.
• Join a club, group or new activity - Increase the number of times you do an activity during the week. Take a cooking class. Join a book club. Do something you’ve always wanted to try. Go travelling!

All of these can help you take your mind off grieving for the most part but will allow you to think about it in moments - to process things without dwelling.

In this case, I am taking my own advice! I hope it works for you.

So you’re a geek & lets say when you go on a camping trip, or to a lan party, there are certain things that are must haves when you go! Well, this is a list of must haves to keep the women staying longer when you successfully get them to come over.

The Living Room

• Comfy sofa that is good for snuggling and watching a movie (blanket is good too!)
• DVDs that girls want to watch (go look at myspace profiles). They dont necessarily have to be ones you dont want to watch
• Nice artwork on the wall. You want to show you have taste!
• Decent T.V. and Stereo. Girls dont find it sexy to watch movies on your laptop.
• Interesting coffee table books - travel, architecture, art, something you are interested in

Refreshments

A woman isnt going to stay very long if she is parched or hungry. They, unlike guys cant live on beer and cereal alone. Have the following things available:

• Diet Coke, San Pellegrino (sparkling water), Fruit Juice
• Chocolate (good stuff), Mixed nuts & other snacks, Hersheys Syrup (for chocolate martinis and a whole lot more), Fresh fruit
• Champagne (have both cheap and good depending on the woman), Red Wine, White Wine, Good Vodka (Belvedere, Grey goose), Godiva Liqueur (for chocolate martinis)

The Bathroom

Everyone has to go to the bathroom eventually. Make sure yours is clean! If you pass that test, make sure there it has the following things to keep her smelling and feeling clean:

• Nice hand soap is a must. You may not wash your hands after going to the bathroom, but have some soap so she can
• Hand Lotion (smaller nice ones from l’occitane en provence will go over really well)
• Nice towels (both hand and bath towels - one for you and one for her)
• Mints, gum (this way if she has bad breath, she can be discreet about fixing it.

The Bedroom

If you’ve played your cards right and gotten this far. Here is what I would recommend

• Stereo for playing “mood music”. Get an iPod Hi-fi and have a playlist set up with your favorite sexual songs. Dont use your laptop, or play things through your xbox. Keep it simple so you can focus on her, and not the technology
• Candles - to set the mood and allow you to see if she prefers to turn off the lights
• Massage oil / bar - for a little fun
• Condoms - discretely within reaching distance from your bed (in case you get lucky)

This is just a simple list to get you started. Add some personal touches to each of these areas to let the woman know how unique and interesting you are. You want your place to be somewhere she is comfortable and where she feels like she gets insight into you.

Good Luck!

I bought a 2004 Honda Accord EX 3.0 V6 a couple of months ago before I was single. The payment on it is about 450 bucks. Now I am single, I got this stupid idea (from people at work) that I needed to buy a BMW 3 series. Now, the young and irresponsible me wants to buy a BMW 3 series. However, the responsible me believes that the Honda Accord was the right decision and it would be stupid to get rid of it.

A friend of mine suggested that buying the BMW may be an attempt (wrongly) to compensate for something I feel is missing from my life. I think this is the case. For some reason, I thought having a 3 series would make me more fun, exciting, attractive? to women. Well, that’s really retarded. I think that it is natural to feel that way because that is what society pushes on us.

Now I realize that although appealing to have a nice car now, I would much rather be rich later. There is a saying in texas: “Big Hat, No Cattle”. I’ve decided that many of the irresponsible youth you see at the hotspots in Houston are essentially “Big Hat, No Cattle”. As much as my young reckless urges tempt me to be irresponsible, I am glad I have not.

The car does not make the man. I am embarassed to have thought it had any impact. Cars are fun and a waste of money, but they are essentially tools, and at 24, I dont need to be wasting money changing my tool to get me from a to b

There is an article in “The Business Times” about my parents. Naturally I thought it was interesting.

I love this show. I dont want to see it canceled. Check out “Save Our Bluths” We at least have it for Season 3. Hopefully it will continue on past that. It is the most enjoyable 30 mins of television!

The wind has started to pick up now. It is raining on and off. It just feels ominous outside.

I decided to tape up the east and north facing windows with Duck Tape. I dont know that it will really do anything, but at least it makes me feel like I have done everything I could. It seems that the Hurricane is continuing on its path to make landfall at Port Arthur / Beaumont - about 120 miles or so from Houston. This looks a lot better for us, but not so good for those in Port Arthur / Beaumont. I didnt hear anything on the TV yet about them being evacuated, so I am not sure if most are still there. I visited a chevron blend plant in Beaumont about a month ago and there is not that much there… just a bunch of refineries, but the devastation to that area Im sure will be tremendous, just not as bad as a direct hit on Houston.

We had dinner a little while ago. I made chicken with spinach and asparagus. Im not sure when we will have our electric stove again, and am wishing that I had a gas stove other than my barbeque grill downstairs.

Everyone here is worried about the looting. I know nick had tried to get a shotgun. I would like to have one too. A couple of signs we have seen so far are “You Loot, We Shoot” and “Protected by Smith and Wesson” in front of peoples houses. I think it might be a good idea to put a sign outside as a deterrent to people to come in to our house.

All this waiting is really frustrating. Come on already Rita. We’re ready for you to come, if only because that means we are closer to you leaving.

It’s less than 24 hours until Rita makes landfall. I am typing this from our saferoom, the 2nd floor bathroom on the east side of the house - with no windows and not too much space. We have a large supply of canned and fresh food and water, a flashlight, candles, my cell phone, a walkie talkie to communicate with Nick, Kevin and Kim who are also riding out the storm and kennels for the pets. When tomorrow morning arrives, I am sure we will be awakened earlier by the howling winds, but right now I am planning to come into the safe room at 6:00 am, right around the same time the hurricane will make landfall.

Veronique and I planned to leave Houston, and even had the car packed. It took my colleague Erik from 4:00 am Thursday morning until 7:00 pm Thursday to get to Austin, and miraculously he made it on one tank of gas. The trip usually takes 2 1/2 - 3 hrs. When we saw the state of the roads on Thursday morning, we still decided to try and leave. We drove north to I-10, saw it wasnt moving at all and then decided to come back into the city. I got a big bottle of water from the office, took the backups out of the server and we went to Kroger. Thank you so much for being open on Thursday. Most of the other supermarkets were either closed or out of food, but the Kroger on W. Gray was open, the lines were long, but the fresh food was plenty, and there were enough cans of food too that you werent going to go hungry. So, we got our $200 worth of emergency food and made our way back to the house.

As of right now, there isnt much we can do except prepare a little, put breakables away if we can. I think we will take the dog for a walk in a little while, maybe see what is on T.V. tonight. Hopefully they dont cancel regular programs for hurricane coverage! Wish us the best of luck. I will try and post a message when the power goes out. Providing the internet stays up when the power goes down, I have a battery backup on the cable modem and the wireless router so I should be able to post from the safe room. Watch this space!

Oh yeah, we are using channel 7, security code 31 during the storm… if anyone has a radio and is within 10 miles, give us a shout.

It’s my birthday today, shared with Uma Thurman, William Randolph Hearst, Jerry Seinfeld and Dale Earnhardt. Happy Birthday us.

I recently broke my 3g Ipod 30 gb after dropping it on a corner on the tile floor in my apartment. I am now looking for an aftermarket enclosure for it. For your guidance - this one does not work. I have seen many people suggesting using it on Ipod lounge and the Apple support website but I havent gotten wind of any enclosures that work with the Ipod harddrive. If you know anything different, please let me know!!!

I received the following in my email:

Hi everyone,

Some of you may not remember me…and some of you may not know me
because I only attended SAS from 1998-2000…Those of you that
remember me — hi!

You may or may not already be aware of the 5-year reunion that I am
planning for this summer in Las Vegas. The tentative date that was
posted on SAS’ alumni website
(http://www.sas.edu.sg/sasalumni/alumni/alumni.htm) probably won’t
happen due to feedback that I’ve gotten. I’d like to propose either
the weekend of June 10-12 or July 9-11. If you are interested in
attending the reunion and have a preference for one of the dates,
please email me asap so we can get this hammered down and start making
transportation and hotel arrangements.

I imagine the reunion to be relatively informal. Mostly free time to
spend with friends and at least one group meal and/or night outing. An
alum from SAS ‘96 is a travel agent and is getting me group hotel
quotes, but if any of you have hotel contacts that could help, please
let me know. I think in terms of transportation, it’ll be easier for
everyone to take care of their own since we’ll be coming from all
over, some flying, some driving, etc.

So far I know of about 25ish people who are interested in this
reunion. I hope that more of you are but just didn’t know about it.
Please email me if you’re interested so we can get more accurate hotel
quotes. I haven’t even seen some of my good SAS friends since
graduation, and I’m sure I’m not the only one…so I really hope we
can get a good turnout for this!

I got this email list from the alumni office; I know it’s incomplete
and probably outdated, so if you could forward this on to any SAS ‘00
friends that you are still in touch with, I’d really appreciate it.
Special thanks to those of you who have expressed interest already! So
– spread the word, let me know of your preferences, and please don’t
hesitate to contact me with any questions or suggestions. Hope to hear
from you soon!

Take care,

Vicki Chen

My friend sold something on Ebay to Dawn Wingate of A1 Computer repair and Networking in Seaford Delaware. The auction went alright and she paid her money - less than 70 bucks. My buddy sent her the item by USPS parcel post. Since there is no tracking with that, he never received confirmation that it arrived. She put a claim in with Paypal before she ever spoke with him about any problems. Paypal settled in her favor during her dispute resolution without getting his side of the story. When contacted by email, she refuses to respond. When contacted by phone, she first claimed to not know who my friend was. He provided her the full information for the item in question, but she said she was not at work and did not know off-hand. He requested that she verify either way if she had received the item he sent. She never got back to him. Currently, he has a negative balance on Paypal (they have not responded to his email on the subject) and Dawn Wingate of A1 Computer repair and Networking in Seaford Delaware has not answered her phone again when he has called. If you live in Seaford, DE, or have ebay dealings with Dawn Wingate of A1 Computer repair and Networking in Seaford Delaware, sellers and buyers alike might be advised to beware! Sources saw that the Better Business Bureau might want a word with Dawn Wingate of A1 Computer repair and Networking in Seaford Delaware. It might not be prudent to cross to the other side of the street if one were to see Dawn Wingate of A1 Computer repair and Networking in Seaford Delaware.

I looked around today at a couple of apartments with Veronique and found a verrry interesting website -Apartmentratings.com We had had a lot of crime in the apartment building and decided that when our lease is up we are going to move out. We checked out the place next door which looks like it has more secure access to the building. We asked the guy upfront what the crime is like there and he outright lied to us and said there was none. Their review on apartmentratings.com paints a very different picture. We are leaning towards Montecito but havent seen it yet. It looks like what we need - without the crime, and hopefully without shoddy construction. Veronique likes 3000 sage, but I am very wary of their construction.