Pixel Pushing Monkey

IM conversation of my friend asking me what I was doing on New Year's Eve. Well, it's really just me rambling on, but I do that a lot anyway.

I'm not big on new years celebration anymore.
my friends & I used to go up to Twin Peaks in San Francisco every year, years and years ago.. and watch the fireworks.

'til this one year, we all got sick
because it's super windy & cold up there on New Year's Eve
and that was the last time
of course, everyone also went their own separate ways
because we all deeply hated each other
deep inside...

No, not really... it makes a good backstory for some sort of a revenge epic involving former best friends who acquires super powers and then proceeds to destroy like... downtown Tokyo or something in their fights.

Oh, the things my friends put up with. Or something like that... (trying to figure out a clever thing to say to close this post....)

...

Me: I'm full of useless analogies today.

Tinu: You can be a writer!

Me: I am, according to my own blog.

Tinu: Haha.

There are many places that I would never volunteer as my destination, any countries with political instability, any countries without consistent supply hot water on demand, and any countries without reliable internet connections. On the other hand, there are places that are unavoidable, despite the harsh conditions. For example, the public bathroom.

The perils of the public bathroom is often absent in the recess of our minds, which I suspect is a form of primitive self preservation technique. Denial is obviously the most effective tool for curbing one's natural instinct to avoid dangerous situations. Despite my brain's better effort to mask the dangers, thus disallowing any confrontations of the public bathroom, I will put my own life on risk to address this series of life-threatening issues today.

(more...)

Within any office environment, there are always some very interesting social dynamics. Every department has corresponding personalities that one would expect knowing the stereotype. The people working in accounting department tend to be cautious and conservative, straight to the point with numbers and figures; but often seem to have a hidden wild streak to offset the hassles of rather restrained daily personality (These are most likely, the craziest and drunkest people at company parties). Engineers are often filled with plethora of trivial knowledge from all walks of life, and have a tendency to always drive meetings into levels of detail that it was not intended for. Designers are always somewhat aloof and odd in their ways, seemingly to harmonize on a different frequency than everyone else. In a politcally correct climate, we regard stereotypes as taboo, when in reality stereotypes are often established from years of factual observations.

(more...)

Here are some more pictures of my cute & adorable (and crazy) cat!  For no reason at all!

During the tedium of the work day grind, I have all sorts of weird IM conversation with my friends. While we're talking about what we had for lunch today, I brought up one of my minor annoyances with... I'm not even sure to whom this one would be directed.

Why do we have asian/chinese "chicken" salad? Our cuisine covered an entire spectrum of all sorts of dead animals, why "chicken"? Is there a perception that Asian people only eat chicken, or somehow the only ingredient that you can mash into a salad from the entire range of Asian cuisine is chicken? Why isn't there Asian barbecue pork salad? Asian fish salad? Well, if you really need to stay within the realm of poultry, how about Asian duck salad?

Of course, the mere fact that we have a certain salad created to cater to our culture is funny. I mean, growing up in Taiwan and all, Chinese people don't eat salad, ever. Salad is clearly not a part of our traditional palette. So first we have our named tagged onto a type of food we don't make, then have it limited to only one type of meat.

There is one possibility I have yet to consider though, maybe all Asian chicken salad strictly forbid the use of any other type of chicken excepted the ones imported from Asia...

Wow, that's a whole 'nother mess of complications.

Another miscellaneous test for a WordPress plugin, with a cute picture!

I <3 George W. Bush

And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it.

"This business about graceful exit just simply has no realism to it at all.

You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war President. No President wants to be a war President, but I am one.

You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror

The Complete Bushism - By Jacob Weisberg

...That's often the mantra of many consumer product companies. It's not just about finding an unfulfilled need in the marketplace, but creating a new need in the market. As devious as it sounds, the reality is that if you break down "need" to its most simplistic form, our lives would only be able survival on the bare minimum of food and water. For example, television was a "created need", and for the most part, is it now an ingrained part of our daily lives.

However, for every created need, there are a dozen of "WTF were you thinking?" I think this qualifies as one of them:

iCarta: Stereo Dock for iPod® with Bath Tissue Holder

I realize the product is a bit on the old side. I ran across a picture while browsing TUAW, and couldn't resist posting it here. Since the product has been released for almost a year now, I'd like to see how many of these they've actually sold.

I swear I've been dreaming about getting these shoes since I was like.. 8 years old or something. No power lace yet, but at least we're... hrm... half-way there?

Via my favorite gadget blog.. Engadget:

Smart sole, adjustment shoe.. etc...