Archive for March, 2005

30
Mar

Holy Hail Batman!

By jjao 0 Comments
Categories: Musings

Yesterday I got my first taste of driving in a hailstorm. I was walking out of the office to the car when I noticed that the rain was bouncing off the pavement. Then I thought - "hey, thats not rain, thats hail!". I have previously only seen hail on the ground, not really when they were falling from the sky. A couple of things crossed my mind as I drove back home:

  • Ive heard that sometimes car dealers would sell their cars at a loss because of hail damage on their card. I was thinking - "whats it going to do to my head once I get out of the car?"
  • The tires were slipping every time I tried accelerating. This reminded me of those cartoons where somone would slip on marbles on the floor. It was probably the equivalent of that. Good thing the Mazda6 had traction control!

When I got to the hotel, I almost couldn’t even feel the hail on my head! So much for that scene in "The Day After Tomorrow"

28
Mar

Sci-Fi Musings on the Human Soul

By jjao 4 Comments
Categories: Musings

If you’ve ever seen an episode of "Star Trek", there is always a scene where someone is "beamed down" from the Enterprise to a distant planet or on board another ship. The concept of being "beamed down" is basically that you are disintegrated from where you currently are, "beamed" to the target location, and "assembled" at the target location. Now one time this, as well as other sci-fi scenarios got me thinking about the implications of this and the human soul:

1) Does the soul get beamed along with the rest of your dis-assembled subatomic bits?

2) If you were cloned, would God give the clone it’s own soul? Would you share a soul? Would it be soul-less?

3) If your body died and your mind got downloaded into a computer, would your soul migrate to the computer? If not, would your consciousness really just die and computer be just a simulation of you?

4) If you froze in a block of ice and was thawed out one thousand years later, would your soul also be frozen at the time?

5) If you were a good guy and got brainwashed into a bad guy, would your soul be also bad?

Sometimes I feel that I have too much time to think about hypothetical situations..

28
Mar

PSP: Here We Go Again

By jjao 0 Comments
Categories: Musings

I just saw my first PSP ad. For the uninitiated, PSP stands for "Playstation Portable". It’s basically a Playstation 2 shrunk to the size of a large PDA. It has a widescreen LCD screen for playing movies, and can also play music. It starts off at $250 and games are around $50 a pop. I figure movies would cost slightly less than DVDs. It is also the latest, and most insidious threat to my sanity.

For years I’ve been trying to avoid playing video games. Introduced to me way back in 1989, computer games for almost a decade had consumed my life, making me lose probably a year of college, and maybe a relationship or two. I blame it on my obsessive compulsive nature. After a long while, I realized that I had accomplished nothing during the years video games took all my spare time, and maybe a lot of time that I couldn’t spare. It probably also was the reason why I’m so paranoid of the thought of wasting time: I’ve wasted so much already, I cant afford to waste more. I’ve been video game sober for many years now, and like most alcoholics, my greatest fear is to be swallowed up again into a former addiction.

The PSP’s most enticing aspect to me is that of the concept of opportunistic gaming: you can play it whenever you got the spare time, like when waiting for a flight or on the plane. But then, I can already do a lot on the plane: catch up on my reading; do some work, watch DVDs on my PC, or even catch some Z’s. The PSP seriously threatens to undermine my efforts to make the most out of my spare time. Whether or not I resist purchasing a unit, watch this space. In the meantime, it’s on my Amazon wish list. *Sigh*.

28
Mar

If You Dont Remember It Who Will?

By jjao 0 Comments
Categories: Genealogy

In my last entry about this topic, I started the genealogy web page to track down the roots of my family. I didn’t know that it could be that hard. Of course I remembered my parents and my grandparents, but when I asked my folks who their grandparents were, or even what their parent’s middle names were, they didn’t know!

Would I end up like that when I was a parent? Forgetting my parent’s middle names? Forgetting my grandparent’s names? Is that how easy it was to forget your family history? Thats why I feel there is the need for myself to take action on this and document my family history. Its not an easy task as I soon found out.

First of all, not everything is on the web! This surprised me, as I thought everything that was ever printed was online. With hindsight it seems ridiculous to think about it, but some things like Philippine census documents in the 1900s for a small rural town would never have been converted to digital format.

I would’ve thought my maternal grandfather, having been a minor politician when he was alive, would have been well documented, with the very least having his birthdate and parents’ names online. Not so. The only real source to get this information would be to get to the census archives in maybe the Philippine National Library. Probably in microfilm form! Sound exciting, but I’m not flying out to Manila any time soon.

My paternal grandparents would prove even harder to trace. Orphaned early in life, my father has very few memories of them, and even if I could get their full names, the search would most likely end on the boat they boarded from China! The thought is slightly hilarious, but yes - at some point in the distant past, one of my paternal ancestors probably left his family in mainland China, got on a chinese junk, sailed to the Philippines, and married one of the locals!

This really is exciting detective stuff, if you could do the research. Until then, my only recourse is to keep on searching online for someone who may have done the research on the family tree. And to dig into the memories of my still living relatives. There is adventure in every family tree, if you search deep enough into the past.

But in the meantime, I will probably take on the role as the chronicler of the clan; because if I don’t, then the family story will fade into history. And when my future son asks me where we came from, what will I say?

28
Mar

How To Blog?

By jjao 0 Comments
Categories: Weblogs

Back in high school I was taught that there were structures ways to compose an essay. Usually you start with an introductory section, then a listing of discussion points, there was the body where you expounded on the topic, and finally the summary. But what about blogs?

Depending upon which blog I read, they could be trains of thought (brain dumps), full-fledged essays and articles, photo albums, even compilations of surveys. I seem to fall within the former, which I think is a better representation of your thoughts at that point in time, but who is to say which method is right?

I have just answered my own question when I started this entry. See you next entry.

28
Mar

NY Intl. Auto Show Here I Come

By jjao 0 Comments
Categories: Cars

It’s finally here: the 2005 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS). I’ve been waiting for this event since, well, the 2004 NYIAS. I made it a point to be in NYC when this happens. I can actually make it to the last 3 days, when most of the cars have been unveiled.

I read somewhere that, in a city of commuters like New York City, why is this the yearly stage for one of the largest auto shows in the world? I don’t know. But hey, I’m a New Yorker (albeit barely), and I’ve been waiting for this for months now.

In particular, I’m interested in seeing the new IS from Lexus. This will be the replacement of the 5yr old IS300, which is called the Altezza in Japan, and the IS200 in Europe. Interestingly, this model will be introduced the same time as its chief rival, the new BMW 3-series. I had told myself a couple of years ago that if I were going to buy a luxury car, it was going to be the new IS.

Seeing that my finances are going to be seriously diverted into more practical things in the next 3 years, it would seem that it would be a waste of time to go pay to see it, when I wouldn’t be buying it anyway. But like a kid in a candy store, you dont have to buy everything you see to get a rush.

28
Mar

Sleepless in Seattle

By jjao 0 Comments
Categories: Work

Here we go again. A couple of days ago I got invited to a conference call about a project in Seattle, WA. And of course after the call I was asked to pack my bags and arrive at the client site later that evening. The office wanted this of course, regardless of the fact that it was already lunchtime, that this was the first time that I had heard of such project, and that I was on vacation!

Eventually though I was able to bargain that down to arriving the evening of the next day. I tried flying out through Westchester County airport again, but there were no direct flights to Seattle, as HPN was a regional airport. It took a total of 1 connection, and 9 hours. A nonstop flight from JFK to SEA clocks in at 5 hours. OK, I’m not taking that flight again.

The budget was tight, and since the area was Microsoft country, the hotels were a bit steep. I got to a Fairfield Inn, the budget Marriott chain, and I got probably one of the lousier hotel experiences I’ve had in a while. Skinny foam mattresses, flimsy blankets, and a hard foam bed and I ended up, of course, sleepless in Seattle for the next couple of nights.

This morning I was trying to book my future flights, in the hope of getting better flights and better deals if I booked in advance. Good thing I caught myself, because I almost bought a flight between JFK and Chicago Ohare! It’s finally happened: I have finally gotten to the point that I don’t know what city I’m in.

27
Mar

Added: “Test Drives” Sideblog

By jjao 0 Comments
Categories: Cars

I just put in a sideblog about the cars that I’ve test-driven.. basically the rental cars that I get to drive for about a week, and maybe a few that I tried out from the dealer lot. Maybe this will help someone come to a good decision on which car to buy.

More and more I am convinced that I should be putting these thoughts to paper - when I look at my blog now, I couldnt believe the amount of content that I could whip out.

Alright, time for some shut-eye.

20
Mar

Getting My Feet Wet in Genealogy

By jjao 1 Comment
Categories: Genealogy

More and more I’ve started wondering about the origins of my family. I finally bit the bullet and started my own genealogy page! Check it out every now and then for updates.

19
Mar

The Condo is Back!

By jjao 1 Comment
Categories: Making Moolah

I got an email from the same condo developer that I backed out on back in my March 2 blog entry. The $360k condo that started of at $300k is now "only" $340. Pros and cons:

Pros:

  • Its "only" around $40k above what I was willing to pay for it
  • I can invest in it again!
  • I dont believe there is anything else to invest in at this time
  • This is my chance to get my feet wet!

Cons:

  • Its too pricey for the area. Half a mile away are comparable units that sell for $100k BELOW the unit the development is offering to me. And the zip code is a lot better.
  • Prices have gone down somewhat. It can still go down further.

As with all things, real estate investing is a calculated risk. Your opinions?

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