This is my first blog in 2006! Yaaaaay! Well, I have been a lazy ass and did not update my blog for a while. I got several complains why I am not updating the blog. It’s nice to know that people are actually reading my blog. Anyway, I have been staying at Marc’s place in Chicago for couple weeks and I am going back to Minneapolis next week. I hope my place is still neat and clean…

Since Marc is Jewish and does not do Christmas, we did nothing on 24th. Although Hanukah started from 25th, we did nothing. I saw a lot of programs about Jesus, and how much were historically accurate about him. I learned that Jesus was Jewish and Jews killed him. So, I told Marc that his people killed our savior, but he didn’t care. Well, I am not Christian, so maybe your savior!

On New Year’s Eve, Marc and I had a dinner with Priyada and Josh, newly wed couple. We went to El Tipico because we like Mexican foods! There was a band playing Mexican music (I think). After the dinner, we went to their house and played some games till midnight. We played Taboo and Uno. Marc and I teamed up against Priayda and Josh, and we lost horribly (on Taboo!). I hate losing games, so I was pretty upset. But, I did win playing Uno, and it was already 2006, so I was happy with my first victory in 2006.

I have been thinking about my new year’s resolution, but cannot think of any. I ended up getting B or better on all classes in last semester, so I am very happy about that. So, I supposed my new year’s resolution can be getting all A on all classes. But, it is very unrealistic, and it will just let myself down. So, I don’t wanna do that. Maybe lose 10lb and build muscle can be my new year’s resolution, but this is always in my mind, so I don’t have to remind myself, and this cannot be my resolution. Hmmm, maybe be nice to others can be my new year’s resolution. Well, I think I am nice enough, but it could be nicer if I am nicer to others. So, my new year’s resolution is “be nicer to others.”

After spending almost three weeks in Chicago, I finally made it back to beloved Minneapolis. As usual, the driving back to Minneapolis was kinda sucky, but as usual, I was playing sucky music in my car with maximum volume human can stand. I was fantasizing about laying on my lovely couch and watch some TV with junky foods. But noooooo! When I opened the door and entered the room, I couldn’t help noticing something seriously wrong. I looked up the ceiling for couple minutes and was thinking if I was still drunk or maybe too tired to see things right. Well, I did drink the night before, but I didn’t think I was still drunk. I was tired, but I wasn’t exhausted. So, I guessed I was actually in my room and looking at the part of ceiling was falling off!! Then, I realized the floor was all wet, and my TV stand and cable modem were super ultra moisturized (meaning, well, wet!). Fortunately, my couch was safe even though if I placed my couch 10 inch closer to the radiator, it would be dead! So, I was trying to assess the situation and realized maybe I couldn’t. I was pretty upset what I was seeing. I was okay with the ceiling falling thingy, but I was not okay with water all over the floor situation! I called the care taker dude and left message telling him I would really appreciate if he could call me back in very calm nice manner. Then, I called Marc, but he didn’t pick up my call which made me more upset. Then, I took several pictures of damaged area because I might need to call my insurance people. Good thing CSI is my favorite show! Then, I took out the mop and started cleaning the floor. I must say that the last thing you wanna do after long drive is to clean the dirty floor while the ceiling is falling. When I finished cleaning the floor, the caretaker dude called me and told me that the radiator broke because of the rust in the upstairs, and all water from the radiator cane down to my living room. It was two days ago, and the part of ceiling is still hanging from the ceiling. I am so moving out this apt as soon as my lease is up!

I guess bad thing happens simultaneously. Falling ceiling wasn’t the only thing I noticed when I get back. My computer was super dead. It kept crashing, and I did everything I could do, but I had to re-install Windows! My PC has two hard drives, so I switched the master hard drive to slave and slave hard drive to master. Then, I installed Windows, so I could save my data in old master’s drive. After spending too much time working on installing Windows, it wasn’t really worth the time. It crashed again! Well, my PC is pretty old, so I guess it’s about time to buy new computer. I have been thinking to buy iMac, and I think I am going to buy one. Seeing Intel based iMac made me want to switch to Mac. Well, I might change my mind though. Right now, I am thinking to buy either iMac or Sony Vaio FJ180 laptop. I wanna get FJ180 because I get to choose from five different color! I am so wanting to get green one cos it’s cute!!! Dell probably have better deal, but well, cannot say no to cute stuff!!

Everything is about how you perceive information. Probably you and I have different perspective of things. Today, I had to go to Asian grocery store to get some of ingredients for my dinner. Since my mom always tells me that I should eat more rice in order to maintain my health, I am obligated to cook rice and some vegetable with some kind of sauce. I was searching on the web if there were any oriental grocery stores in Minneapolis. According to citypages.com, I found an Asian grocery store (store remains nameless, so Chinese mafia doesn’t kill me) which is supposed to be the best Asian grocery store in twin cities area. The store was not far from where I live, so I drove there in this afternoon. Well, I suppose it’s all about perspective. I am sure the person who reviewed is White guy/gal. I assume that reviewers saw lots of Chinese characters in the store and thought “wow, that’s authentic!” The store did have tons of stuff, but they were mostly Chinese groceries. I only saw few Japanese products. Hmmmm, but the store was supposed to be the best ASIAN grocery store. Well, I don’t think so. The store even didn’t have natto (fermented soy beans….it’s delicious!!), or miso paste. I even couldn’t find short grain brown rice! Nonsense! I am sure Chinese people would like the store because the store had duck feet, pork tongue, and other fancy body parts and organs of animals. But, I am sorry I don’t eat pork tongue because I don’t eat meat and well, I am normal! Citypages.com also named the best sushi restaurant too. I am sure the restaurant has the best sushi (for White people!), and I am sure I am never gonna go there.

I really really need Microsoft Money. I actually have a copy, but it’s not in my apt right now. I left several boxes in Marc’s apartment because I was too lazy to load these boxes. After my PC crashed and re-installing Windows (well, it crashed again, and well, now it’s kinda working with super slow internet connection), I realized that I do not have any software I need. All Adobe & Macromedia software are in these boxes. Since I can access to these software at my office, I don’t care that much. But I really really need MS Money! Without this, I don’t know how to organize my monthly expenditure!! I guess I can buy 2006 version, but I have a feeling 2007 would come out soon. It is kinda ironic I have to spend some money to mange my money.

I think I am going to buy iMac. Although I don’t know how to get $1200, I will buy one. I kinda wanted to buy laptop, but I realized that I am not coffee shop laptop guy! Well, actually I hate coffee shop laptop people. Why? Because they just monopolize all the tables and chairs from 6am in morning till 10pm at night, and give “shut fuck up” look whenever I try to talk to my friends at coffee store! I mean they chose to study at coffee store, not library, so I usually talk extra loud around coffee shop laptop people. I shall name then CSLP! I don’t know how coffee stores handle these CSLP because longer they stay, coffee shops lose other customers. I usually don’t go in the coffee shop if there are lots of CSLP. Now, all coffee stores have WiFi connection stuff, so CSLP population keeps rising!!

Compulsively, I bought iMac today. As you might know, my PC is at the death bed, and I have no intention to savage him. I say it’s mercy killing! He has worked for me more than 5 years, so it’s about time for him to go. I was thinking to buy laptop, but, as you read from my last blog, I am not CSLP at all. I have my own PC in my office and all-mighty jump drive, so I don’t really need to carry around the laptop. So, I decided to buy new desktop. I could build from scratch like I did for my PC. I was thinking maybe I can re-use some parts from my current PC. However, since my PC is old, all my parts are just PCI, not PCI express at all. If I buy new chipset, I really wanna get new motherboard with PCIe slots. That case, I am not going to use my video card at all. So, if I have to buy new video card, I want to buy good one even though I am not really into PC gaming. If I am buying new video card, I wanna buy new sound card. If I am buying new sound card, I wanna buy new everything! Therefore, it would cost me more than $1500 to build new PC (w/o monitor). Also, Intel is making new chipset, so I kinda want to wait till new chipset comes out. Well, my point is that PC life-cycle is much faster than Mac life-cycle (I think). So, if I buy new PC, it will be old PC by next month. But, since new Mac doesn’t come out that often, I can just buy one now without worrying about new better Mac. And, mostly, I was just not happy with Windows. I will need to buy new software for Mac, but it shouldn’t be that bad. I can use educational discount and for MS Office, I can get it for free. I never thought becoming Mac user because I believe that Mac users are snob. They think they are so cool and super anti-Windows and just keep buying everything from Apple. I refuse to become artist/musician wanna be anti-Windows snobby Mac guy! It’s too bad MS stopped making Media Player for Mac...

I do consider myself as health conscious kinda guy. I do excise regularly and I eat healthy (most of the time). I do enjoy jogging and other physical activities. However, I do only enjoy these physical activities when I am ready to get sweat. Because I absolutely hate getting sweat, I try so hard to not do any activities causing getting sweat when I am not working out. Ironically, I am very sweaty guy, and just taking shower makes me sweat! I think my body is not good at regulating my body temperature. Yesterday, I had to make two round trips to ICD (institute of child development, fancy child psychology program at UMN). I had to check out articles for the child psy class and had to make copy of them. I made copy of all articles at Kinesiology department because I can use copy machine for free. Well, thing is that ICD is far from Kinesiology building! It’s almost both buildings are located in opposite side of the campus! Although it was pretty cold, I was super sweating from walking between these two buildings! I really don’t mind reading all these articles (well, amount of readings require for this class is kinda a lot), I really really did mind that the amount of effort I had to make in order to obtain these copies! Because there are so many articles, I couldn’t carry all of them! I guess I could look for PDF files online, but half of readings are from book chapters, so I had to check out these articles. By the time I got back to my office, I was all wet. You have no idea how mad I was!! Speaking of child psy class, I kinda understand why Kinesiology is considered as “second rated program.” Although I have degrees in both computer science and psychology aaand studied counseling, I was kinda uncomfortable in the child psy class because I am in Kinesiology program now. I am pretty sure I have more experience in developmental psychology than any other students in the class, so I guess I shouldn’t be intimidated by students from ICD!!

My anticipation for iMac is unbearable! I need it now!

Did you know long island ice tea does not contain any ice tea? I did not know that until I actually made one for myself yesterday. Every time I ordered ones at bars or restaurants, I always thought long island ice tea is ice tea with tons of liquors. Funny thing is that I kinda did taste ice tea whenever I ordered one! I think it’s a great research topic how many people taste tea in long island ice tea!

I was having a stomach ache all day today, and it wasn’t fun. I had veggie burrito bowl (and chips) from Chipotle the night before, so I am suspecting that that might caused my all day stomach pain. I was fine when I woke up, but after I had a cup of coffee, the pain started. I thought I just needed to go to poo, so I went to poo and produced good amount of stuff. But, even after I delivered goods, my stomach was still hurting. So, I pooed again, but still hurting. So, I pooed again! This time, I was getting pissed because one of the things I hate the most is to poo. I really think I am wasting so much time in the bathroom just pooing. I cannot believe how some people read while they are pooing. It’s just wrong. Anyway, I was pissed, but my stomach was still hurting. I figured if I waited for a bit, it might go away, so I just left my apt. However, my pain didn’t go away! I tried to poo at school, but nothing came out (which made me super pissed). I was kinda grumpy through the day because of it. When I thought about what happened the last time after I ate at Chipotle and I remembered that I did have same kind of stomach ache in the next day. I am not going to eat at Chipotle for a while! Or, well, I should know!!!

In this afternoon, I saw several people who were riding the motored wheelchairs. And, I wondered what happens if the power runs out. These people are having constant fear of battery running out situation whenever they go out...at least I think! I was telling that to Andy, and he told me that people would know how far they can go with their wheelchair. Well, maybe. But, if you are shopping or after having couple drinks, you might forget about it! Then, I came up with a great idea. I think if I create the company to pimp up the wheel chair, it would be super profitable! There are many people who require wheel chair. But, all wheel chairs are look alike. Pimping up the wheel chair is the best way to make a statement such as “hey, I am different!”

I am still waiting for my iMac!

So, I finally got my iMac today! Yaaaay! Well, it was a little bit early to get excited though. Last night, when I checked where my iMac was, it said that "Anchorage AK." I was thinking, "oh man, my iMac never gonna get here!" Then, in this moring, 8:30am exact, FedEx came. Yeah, I got my iMac. I was, of course, sleeping and almost did not get the door. But, I guess I am glad I did answer the bell. I did not know FedEx actually delivers that early! Crazy! Anyway, when I saw my iMac for the first time, I was like "oh geez, this is fucking cute." Yes, my iMac is cuter than my Sega Dreamcast! Cuter than Momo!! Ah, that reminds me I forgot to feed her today. Oops.

Although I wanted to keep playing my new iMac, I had to go to school. I didnt have a class today, but I had tons of stuff to do. I was telling about my new iMac to the professor I am working with, and he was like "where is it!? You should bring it in!!" Yes, he is Mac guy. He has huge 23-inch flat panel display (of course by Apple) hooked up with power book. In our lab, we have one G4 and G5 and another flat panel display, but no one is using them! I told him that I can bring a box, and he was like "oh thanks! Get out of my office!" Hahaha, I have better Mac than him!

After I came back from the school, I started transfering data from my PC. Well, I am still doing it! I asked Andy (tech guy in the department) to give me MS Office for Mac, and he did burn me one. But, I think he forgot to actually burn it! It was just empty disc!! I have Dreamweaver, Flash, and Acrobat, but no Office which I need the most!

Although I bought 17-inch iMac, the display is big enough which suprised me. But, one thing I am not used to is this mouse and keyboard short cuts! I think I am gonna buy "Mac OS for Dummies!"

I just cannot believe how much I love my iMac. I think I love this cute thing because there is virtually no wires! I just plunged in power cable, and that's it! it has built-in Wi-Fi thingy, and I have wireless router, so no need for bulky cable to hoop up with cable modem. It's just well designed machine. Screen is bright and crisp, no fan noise, and I guess it just works! Mac OS X is really easy, it's too easy for hard core Windows guy. I still don't get how come I can just trash application without messing with registry. I really don't get it! Transferring data from PC to iMac was easy too. My iMac really made me think how complicated Windows is. Amazing.

I was cleaning my room in this afternoon and realized that my apt is pretty specious! I was kinda neglecting taking care of my apt for a while and forgot how much space I have. But, my part of ceiling is still hanging from the ceiling! I hope it will be fixed soon...