Gender English.

 Stole this from fb:

Women's English:

Yes = No
No = Yes... Read More
Maybe = No
We need = I want
I am sorry = You'll be sorry
We need to talk = You're in trouble
Sure, go ahead = You better not
Do what you want = You will pay for this later
I am not upset = Of course I am upset, you moron
You're very attentive tonight = Is sex all you ever think about?

Men's English:
I am hungry = I am hungry
I am sleepy = I am sleepy
I am tired = I am tired
Nice dress = Nice cleavage
I love you = Lets have sex now
I am bored = Do you want to have sex?
May I have this dance = I'd like to have sex with you
Can I call you sometime = I'd like to have sex with you
Do you want to go to a movie = I'd like to have sex with you
Can I take you out to dinner = I'd like to have sex with you

I scientific study showed that women find different face attractive depending on where they are in thier menstrual cycle. for example, when I women is ovulating she will prefer a man with rugged, masculine features. However, when she is menstrating, she prefers a man doused in petrol and set on fire with scissors stuck in his eye and a cricket stump shoved up his backside.

Freight Forwarding.

No laptop for me.  My order was canceled by HP due to their company policy of not shipping to freight forwarding services.  Since I don't currently reside in the U.S., I need the package dropped off in Florida, where it will be sent to me via 4 Star Cargo to St. Maarten.  But since they won't allow the shipping method, I won't be able to get it until I go home.  I spoke to the lady and even attempted to find out about reordering it from the international HP site, but still no luck.

I guess I'll have until I get some in December to finally get the laptop of my dreams, which is still the HP Probook 5310m, in case you were wondering.  I figure the money and effort to find another route for it doesn't really make sense right now, since I'll be headed home in about 7 weeks anyways.  It will be a nice birthday present when I get home though.

I also attempted to finally get rid of the hair, but the salon was closed when I went.  So I grabbed some lunch at my place and I'll head back there in a bit to finally cut it.  I'm usually not a fan of a haircut 1-2 days after.  It feels very unnatural during that time.  I must not be alone in my thinking since they tell you to cut your hair a week before a big event like a wedding, so it must show.  The only time I like it is when the lady in Hollister cuts it.  It's the "supercuts" style place, but she does it better than anyone else I've had do it so far and I don't mind not having to pay a premium for a nice haircut, which means she gets a nice tip in return.

The World's Worst Eater

• Slurps up every bite.
• Smacks while chewing.
• Chews with their mouth open.
• Talks with their mouth full.
  
• "Ahh"s when they drink.
• Scrapes remnants into their mouth.
• Smacks their tongue with delight when they test food.
• Burps with no restraint.
  

Baboon Heart.

I read that today marks the 25th anniversary of the first animal heart transplanted into a human being.  The recipient was a baby with a major congenital heart defect.  The baby lived 21 days, which was longer than most infants (2-10 days) survive with the same defect.  This brings up some interesting medical ethics questions.  As a medical procedure, it's a pretty amazing feat.  To perform any sort of cross-species surgery must have been pretty daunting.  Oddly enough, it was done at Loma Linda University, the same place that does not have caffeine or meat products in the cafeteria.  I'm surprised they approved it.

I feel for animal rights activists, but this was one-time surgery and maybe brought about the preliminary information needed to start making artificial hearts, which is the method used now.  So as a whole, it might have been much more informative than the surgery itself.  From a medical ethics standpoint, I think that the likelihood of survival was quite low, but the information garnered in the process was probably invaluable.

Ethics in medicine will continue to evolve.  We will push the envelope in search of the next medical breakthrough, so it's important we keep it in mind during this process.  To bring up an example, I'm a proponent of stem cell research.  How the Conservatives figured that life begins at conception confuses the hell out of me.  How many zygotes survive outside the womb?  So how can you consider it to be alive if it cannot survive without complete dependence on another human beings metabolism?  Luckily, with Pres. Obama at the helm, more Federal money will be directed toward research with stem cells and maybe the U.S. will rise back to the top of medical research again.

Baby's Baboon Heart.

Sunday Morning.

Back in the library, my real first home.

Suprisingly, getting a decent amount of work done today.  I guess after wasting the last two days, I subconsciously want to get some work done on this wonderful day.

Sharks won last night and have another game tonight.  Two back-to-back wins would be nice.  I would also like to see Greiss play this season.  If they keep letting Nabby play, he's going to be tired in the playoffs and we've seen how that one goes.  They do play Philly today.  Looking back on it, Greiss should have played last night and Nabby should have played today.

Windows 7 is finally installed.  So far, I like it.  The install was long but bug-free (well done MS and Digital River).  I couldn't do a straight upgrade, so the upgrade I bought let me do a clean CD-free install.  It even saved all my old files and programs in a folder on the C drive, so I could access them after.  I saved the important stuff to be safe, but that was an impressive move on MS's part.

It was a little slow at first, but seems to have worked itself out after I installed the chipset driver.  I'm impressed that I only had to install 3 drivers as Win7 figured everything else out.  Firefox was my first install since I've been so impressed with it over the last couple of months.

My new laptop is on order.  I've decided to go with the HP Probook 5310m.  It came out on the same day as Win7 and it's exactly what I'm looking over; I was ready to order it after seeing a couple pictures and reading a few glowing reviews.  It's a business level laptop, so it might not have as many bells and whistles and some other computers, but it makes up for that in sturdy construction and subtle design.  It has a 13" screen, weighs less than 4lb, all metal casing, Core Duo processor, good battery life, and sells for under $1000.  Hell, it even has a linux partition that allows users to access the web from a powered down computer in 20 seconds.  It also keeps them out of Windows, which is a nice safety feature, lest they download something they shouldn't or if you're information is classified.

Thanks to the fact that I'm billing it to CA, but shipping it to FL (so it can be sent out to me), my order has been put on hold.  I'll be calling them on Monday to have it figured out and sent ASAP.

Privacy Notice.

I was added by a high school friend, who I have not seen since I graduated, on facebook today.  She solicited me, so I accepted her offer.  I clicked on her profile to find out a little bit about her current life.  I don't consider it stalking, but a passive updating, as it was she who added me.  Anyways, I clicked on her profile only to find out she has it completely blocked.  On her homepage is her name, profile picture, and a list of mutual friends.

So, what was the point?

If you're not going to share information, that's fine.  But what's the point in adding people you expect to keep all your information from?  Damn, now I've become curious to find out what she's hiding, since surely it must be something devious, no?  I haven't decided if this bothers me more on principle or because this is the first person (of 581) that has actually put me on full block.  Frankly, I don't think she's earned the privilege of blocking me.

I recently met someone who is consciously not on facebook.  He told me he once had an account, felt he spent too much time on it, and proceeded to deactivate it.  You don't meet many people without facebook accounts these days.  I applaud him; I think he's a better man than me.  I see its uses and its faults.  It can be a wonderful took for communication, but it also has removed a personal element from human interaction.  Basically, you can find out what is going on in a person's life without actually having in interact with them in any meaningful way.  Having our information stored by someone else could have far reaching effects later in life.

As I read once: it's not your facebook page, but facebook's page about you.  Makes you wonder about the ownership of online material.

UPDATE: Her profile is not blocked anymore.  I still stand by my assessment.

Firefox, my friend.

Did I mention that Firefox is awesome?  It has a built-in dictionary.  I've found out that I've been spelling words incorrectly the whole time.  Did you know surprise has TWO R's in it?  This I learned about a week ago.  It also makes you look less like and idiot when you're posting in a forum, which I clearly do too much.

The laptop debate is still on.  I'm looking for a sub-4 pound notebook with decent specs and good battery life.  I'm also looking for a typing friendly keyboard, which seems to be a lost art in the portable computer world.  With Windows 7 coming out, I know I can look into a lower spec notebook, since I won't need as much hardware to run it.  C'mon, Oct. 22nd!

Mondays are always rough.  The weekend is over and the school week has begun.  I actually made it to class on time this morning, which is always impressive for me.  I've also become a respectable signature forger.  This is completely unrelated of course, I just wanted to mention it for future reference.

I finally made it out to Bliss on Friday.  This is the "great" outdoor club on the island.  I put the adjective in quotes to imply its inconsistency.  The music was decent, but the dance floor is small and at one point, they stopped the music for 10 minutes to announce a group of DJ's for some reason.  They killed the mood and helped to expedite the end of my evening.  The highlight of the night would be hanging out in the VIP area.  It was nice to sit in a padded seat and relax for a bit.  How did I get there?  Well, I slipped under the velvet rope.

The GOP

Write this because of the circular argument I have with all the Conservatives on ValueMD.  I'm constantly having to battle with the "free market capitalists", who continue to support oligarchies that have taken away free market from the system.  Oddly enough, I used to think I was a Republican based on my socioeconomic level.  At this point, my social leanings put me far away from the GOP.  I can't support the the same party that endorses the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.  These are dangerous men, who will say anything to provoke their listeners.  The sad part is I am fairly certain they don't believe what they say, but there is too much money to be made for them to stop.  The GOP has gone beyond reasoning.

The problem is that they have also become emboldened.  They make remarks like calling President Obama an "enemy to humanity" at party conferences and a "liar" on the floor of Congress.  As much as I hated the policies of Pres. Bush, I never felt that attacking him personally was the way to go.  I think the GOP has lost all reason and has been reduced to the party of conspiracy theorists and fear-mongerers.  As Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks explains, the scary part is that out of all those people, you need just one person to do something really stupid and irrational.  Now, that's scary.

At the same time, the Democrats need to take a harsher stance against these transgressions.  You think the GOP would have simply asked for an apology if a Dem had shouted at Pres. Bush during one of his speeches to Congress?  No, they would have called for his head.  I think the Dems need to start taking a similar approach.

PK

Pakistan (PK) has begun an offensive in the northern frontier to root out militants.  This will be interesting because the government must balance an effective campaign with also appeasing the populous and preventing a mass uprising.  This is a difficult task, but one which was brought upon by bad governance in the country.  The PPP is a bunch of corrupt, money-grabbers looking to empty the coffers of PK.  There's a reason they ran Bhutto out of town the first time.  She lived in luxury outside the country and I don't trust her return was to take of people of Pakistan.  The irony is that they promised to bring democracy to the region, but Benazir and Zadari were the unelected self-proclaimed lifetime leaders of the PPP.

So with some sort of U.S. backing, I hope PK can drive these militants out of the region.  They've left them alone for too long and it's time to remove them.  Their support of the Taliban has only driven instability and violence in the country.  Since PK is a nuclear-armed country, it is in the interest of the world that PK succeeds in their campaign.  I may not agree with all of it, but if nothing is done then the ultra-conservatives will be able to slowly gain a foothold in the country and drive it further into violence.

And now a turn to simpler things.  I has my exams yesterday.  I've gotten one score back; so far, so good.  Still waiting on the other two (which I should be getting back today I think, assuming they pass them out at the same time as last block).  I'm looking for that nice little buffer that I can ride out through the semester.  It also allows one to take advantage of the short blocks to do well.

We went out for Degaulle's birthday dinner last night.  The place was really nice.  It's in Simpson Bay and puts you right on the water.  There was a beach that you could walk out to and watch the water.  The food was decent.  I'll have to thank Phuong for telling me to splurge a little bit.  I was content with getting a burger, but he reminded me that we had finished blocks and I should celebrate a little bit.  So what did I do?  I ordered the Mahi Mahi.  I'm not a big fish person, but I do enjoy a nice piece of Mahi Mahi.  It's not an overly flavorful fish, so it allows the sauces to stand out.  So, it was well worth it.

We made it out to Soggy Dollar, but no one was there yet.  The thing worth seeing was the $15 million luxury yacht parked right next to the bar.  It was pretty damn amazing.  There is "exotic car" rich and then there is "luxury yacht" rich, which is a whole different category.  It was worth checking out, but I was pretty tired towards the end of the night and came home at 11pm.  I watched the Sharks game for a bit and crashed by 12.

And I actually made it out to class this morning, which is more than I expected today.  Congrats to me.

Library Etiquette

Posted this on VMD and thought I'd pass it along.  I have also nominated myself as the unofficial library sheriff, since there are so many infractions going on, especially from the first semester class.  I don't think I'll actually enforce anything, but I still want the badge.  So here you go:


I thought I'd lay out some constructive ideas about how to make the library more peaceful and efficient. So here we go:

1. SEATING:

Most people sit in opposite corners of a table, giving each person the maximum amount of room to create a work space.

X X O
_____
_____
O X X

Referring to the diagram above, please sit in the O designated spots. In the highly unlikely event that every table has 2 people on it, please begin filling the table at opposite corners. When one individual has begun studying in a corner, please do NOT sit directly across or diagonal. This dramatically reduces work space for you and the other person. Sitting on the same side is also discouraged, although not as offensive.

2. FOOD AND DRINKS:

Please do not bring crunchy foods as snacks. The library has a strict (unenforced) rule against food and drinks in the reading room. Stick to canned or bottled drinks and soft snacks. If you must, please eat crunchy snacks in the hallway. Also, do not bring meals into the library and proceed to chomp down while studying. Step outside, enjoy your meal, then come back in. Trust me, your books will not run away.

3. TALKING:

This is not a group study environment. Please do not talk and minimize whispering. The ICM rooms are great places to engage in group studies; the reading room is not. A quick 1 minute low-voiced chat with a friend is acceptable, but don't drag it on for 5 minutes. If you have a tendency to speak to your friends while studying, try sitting at a different table or using Skype to keep a conversation going.

4. CELL PHONES:

If you have a cell phone, please put it on silent or have it readily accessible in case it does ring. One or two rings is acceptable, but I really don't want to the hear "All the Single Ladies" for 3 minutes because you left your phone in your bag while you stepped out. Please be more considerate.

If you do take a call, please wait until you've reached the door to start using your "outdoor" voice. Whoever is on the phone can wait 4 seconds for you to make it to the door. They most likely won't hang up on you and if they do, it probably wasn't that important anyways.

5. UNATTENDED ITEMS

I believe leaving your stuff to step out for an hour or two is acceptable, even if the library does not. There is no pressing need to pack all your items every time you go to eat or relax for a bit. That being said, seat saving is a malicious and selfish act. It puts you above others and ruins all good will in our society. A kitten dies every time you save a seat for yourself and then peace out for 6 hours.

Secondly, if someone steals your precious seat next to the window or your favorite painting, life will go on. But some people are neurotic, so I'll let that one be.


I hope you all have a wonderful and pleasant experience in the library.

Thank you. 

Landlord.

We met our landlord yesterday.  She's from NY, but has a couple of places in St. Maarten.  Apparently, she owned her own recording studio in 70's and worked with some of the greats of the time.  Then she owned a travel agency and sold that.  Now she travels with her husband and owns property all over.  She was telling us that she initially wanted a place in Jamaica, but was told she couldn't be the majority owner.  She also said they smoked too much ganja there.  So she came to St. Maarten because she wanted a place on the ocean.  And she got in before the real estate prices boomed.  Pretty interesting life.

My favorite time of the month is coming around.  You know, when my emotions are out of control and I'm in an irritable mood.  That's right, block exams!  So tomorrow I start reviewing and continue until Sunday.  We had another short (3 week) block, which means the next two are going to be about 4 or 5 weeks long.  I think my grades are inversely proportional to block length.  So short blocks work for me, since there is less information to cover.  The key is to do well on the first two and ride it out through the semester.

I think I miss home.  Time goes by quickly on the island, but it still seems like forever.  Funny thinking that I'm about 25% (5 months) done.  Now I'll just need to figure out how to make the other 75% go by faster than the first part.

My sister moved to Morgan Hill, which is pretty nice.  It'll put her closer to home, but I can still use it as a launching pad for my trips to the Bay Area and then I won't have to travel as far on my way home.  I think it's a win-win.  She'll be working with my father, which is a pretty cool and unique opportunity for both of them.  I'm sure my dad will be proud to have her around.  I don't know, but part of me thinks I might end up on Hollister.  It may not be such a bad thing; I like the small town atmosphere.  Maybe I'm just a small town boy at heart.

Alright, maybe not Hollister specifically, but south Bay Area would be nice.

Time Wasting.

I've been posting on VMD way too much.  I swear I've posted about 4 articles today on the health care and Republican fear mongering.  I should attempt to get some studying done.  In my defense, I did cover MCB and I'm 2/3 of the way through Biostats stuff.  Tonight, we're going to the casino to watch Cal romp on USC.  Gotta round the wagons for a UC team.  With UCLA losing to Stanford, my hope rides on Cal to win tonight.

The Sharks-Ducks game is tonight, so I'm gonna stream that one and watch my Sharks take them down.

Fill in the Blanks.

Alright, let's see if I can lay out the last week or so.

There is still a brown lizard in our apartment.  We've been trying to get him/her out, but no luck so far.  I saw it hiding in the pantry, so I brushed it out to the slider and finally got it outside.  I thought I had finally achieved my victory, but alas as I was leaving the house, I saw it scurry across the floor and hide under the couch.  It's a persistent bugger.  There was a mosquito in my room earlier today.  And since I won't knowingly allow one to bite me, I waited in the corner of my room and just watch the little bastard.  I stood next to the white walls, so I could see her coming.  And when she came... *clap*!  Took me 3 tries, but I got her.  Unfortunately, more have bitten me in the last 3 weeks than all last semester.

Our MCB professor is the most unauthentic apologizer I've ever met.  Throughout the lecture, he makes comments like I'm sorry this is confusing which is then followed by, well you're just going to need to learn it.  At one point he has if his slides were confusing, only to explain that there was nothing he could do about it.  I don't mind if you're stuff is confusing, but don't ask if you're not planning on changing it.

They came to replace our kitchen faucet, except they couldn't gather the right parts, so now we have no faucet for the night.  They are planning to come tomorrow to finalize it; I just hope they get it right.  I'm not exactly prompt on my dish washing, so I guess I won't be too inconvenienced.

And now I have to figure out what the hell happened to warrant a $300 utility bill!  When I lived by myself, I paid $60 in total.  No way our usage went up 5x.  We only run the A/C at night and we're not home often enough other wise.  And here I am trying to barely use the A/C only running it as warm as I can tolerate (which is like 80 F).  I guess they were right when they commented that GEBE (the local utility provider) sometimes just makes the bill up.  I actually might have to start watching over the meter.

Finding the motivation to study seeems to be getting harder and harder.  Don't get me wrong, I get it done, but I don't have the sense of urgency or fear of failure I had last semester.  I guess that could be a good thing as I feel I have a better understanding of the system, but it could also mean I'm just getting lazy.

Thai Savanh is finally open.  This might not make headlines around the world, but I'm excited to have (not entirely) authentic Thai food!  I miss their chicken Pad Thai.  My Asian friends tell me it's not the real deal, but who am I to complain about good food.  The same could be said for the local South Asian restaurants, but I'll reserve judgment since I don't have Mom's home-cooking available.

I also found a way to stream the Sharks games online!  That is freaking awesome!  The quality is not great and it freezes a lot due to the internet connection, but it's live Sharks hockey!  And that is where the excitement ends, because they had their asses handed to them last night.  They got a beat down from a "rebuilding" Avalanche team.  We looked a long way off from the President's Trophy winning team of a year ago.  The sad part was watching the fundamental lapses.  Not covering the 3rd man on a rush, not clearing pucks, losing battles to the puck, and just plain getting beat.  And Dany Heatley has no excuses.  He got the trade he wanted and the money he demanded, yet his back-checking is pitiful and he missed on a wide open net for a goal.

Don't get me wrong, they'll get it together.  But wow, they did look bad coming out of the gate.  But I was excited to see hockey in any form, and I look forward to watching more games.