ChapterTwo

Have you ever wondered whether or not you’ll get arthritis when you get older if you run too much? I know I have! Today, one article from Men’s Health calmed my fear. Here are a few key points that the article touched on…

- Humans are not mechanical systems. We are biomechanical systems. When our tissues break down, they rebuilds themselves. And they rebuilts themselves to be stronger than before.
- A study was done on 2 groups of 50+ year old runners. One group ran more than 20 miles a week. The other group ran just 2 miles a week. The group that ran more than 20 miles a week experienced 25% less musculoskeletal pain than the other group.
- The stronger the muscle and tissues around your joints, the better they will be able to support and protect those joints.

Looks like I have no excuse not to run now…:)

I just realized that when I don’t have a girlfriend, I accumulate a lot more pricey gadgets. When I do have a girlfriend, the spending on gadgets drop. Why is that? Is it because the girlfriends convince us how ridiculous our gadget spendings are? Or is it because we have less money to spend on gadgets due to the girlfriends? Combination of both, maybe?

Anyway, the latest toy I am eyeing on is a new watch. TAG Heuer’s Carrera chronograph is pretty hot (see right). The Porsche Design watches are pretty hot too. I just looked them up a few moments ago and they are pretty expensive. Maybe I’ll get a Porsche Design watch when I finally can afford a Porsche. (Mmmm, 997…droooool) I think the TAG will be a reward to myself if I can get a 700+ on the GMAT. GO ME!

Well, technically, I am not on Google Video. My video is on Google Video. Gerald is on Google Video.

Thanks, Jenn, for getting me the first set of these Cultimo magnetic toys. Credit must also go to Gerald for coming up with the creative ways to play with these toys.

Having a 3 hour accounting class after work is tiring.

The UCLA FEMBA (Fully-employed MBA) info session I went to last night was very convincing. I better get used to going to class AND working at the same time.

Tired…Good night…

If you have not checked out Google Video, you should. Google Video is a very well designed site. Here are a few reasons why I think Google Video has the potential to blow away the video store on iTunes…

1. Anyone can post videos on Google Video to share.
2. People can share their videos for free. Or they can make a couple bucks by charging a fee.
3. It is easy to find videos with the Google search.
4. Although they don’t offer as much hit shows as iTunes (yet), Google Video offers more content.
5. You can stream the videos.
6. No additional software required. All you need is your browser.
7. Google Video makes it easy to embed a video in your own site. They generate the HTML code. You just cut and paste! Below is a funny clip from Malcolm in The Middle regarding road rage. It is embedded using the code generated by Google Video.

There’s a few things that Google can add…
1. Support for tagging videos
2. Support to “save as favorite”
3. Perhaps Google can add a “blog this” feature similar to Flickr. It’s already pretty easy to embed a video in a blog with the auto-generated code that Google Video provides, but it can be made even easier. I am greedy…

I think I will be visiting Google Video a lot in the future…

Bugatti Veyron

Originally uploaded by elyliu.

The DSL at home was down all weekend, so I was not able to blog. Here’s the weekend update you’ve been waiting for! BTW, Verizon DSL SUCKS! DSL is still down at home and they are not sending a technician out til tomorrow. When my 1 year contract ends later this month, I think I will switch off DSL and go with cable instead.

Friday night, me and a couple coworkers went to the 2006 LA Auto Show. We didn’t make it to all the halls. We had a lot of fun. Because of Bill, we were able to get hands-on with the Maseratis and the Spykers. I have a new found appreciation for Maserati. On paper, Maserati’s numbers don’t blow you away, but when you sit in it, you start appreciating the details that the Italians put in it. Good choice, Bill. We also saw the Bugatti Veyron (see picture on top). It is the fastest production car ever made. The top speed of the car is 250mph. It has a W16 (2 V8 connected together) with 4 turbos producing 1001 HP. Oh, and the train rides going and coming back from the show were pretty awsome too. The cost round trip was $3 for the train ride verses $40 parking near Staple Center if we drove. We also met this cool guy named Winston. He knows Snoop and Miles Davis. Now, how often do you meet a guy that knows Snoop and Miles Davis?!?! Props to the public transit for cheap transportation and opportunities to meet interesting people.

I was not very productive Saturday. I spent the morning with Verizon customer support to get the DSL working. Obviously we were not successful. After that, I took my mom’s Camry in to get the door handle fixed. Either my mom grew some massive biceps or Toyota is starting to slip in build quality. I am thinking it’s the latter. The door handle plus some work on the A/C ended up being $370! OUCH! At least they washed the car and gave us a free coffee thermos. Later on, I set up the media center in our new kitchen, and caught the first half of the Lakers game. I never caught the second half (the better half, I’ve heard). I fell asleep at 9pm.

I woke up Sunday morning at 9am. Feeling refreshed from 12 hours of sleeping, I went for a 3 mile jog. Hopfully, I can start running more in the morning. I am getting out of shape! I spent rest of the day studying for the GMAT at Borders. At night, I had some delicious steak with my buddy, Donut, at Ruth’s Chris.

That’s my weekend!

I got 28 spam comments over the weekend. I guess that is good. My site is finally big enough to be on spammers’ radars. Yay for elyliu.com!

No traffic!

Originally uploaded by elyliu.

Overall, today was a pretty good day. It all started with a good, traffic-free drive to work. I thought I was going to be late to my 10am meeting, but I ended up getting there with 5 minutes to spare. And that’s including the time for me to get some coffee.

I was productive at work today. There was some swirl at work regarding which server this new DB should be on. It’s been swirling for about a week or 2 without anybody providing much answer. Today, I got a lot of traction with the issue. And it’s all sorted out now. Also, I finally delivered a Tea application that my colleague has been waiting for. Even though I got a lot of stuff done, I was not slammed with work today. It was a perfect balance between work and… the lack of work.

I was craving some Japanese curry at lunch today, but I couldn’t find anybody to go with. I ended up having philly mushroom cheese steak sandwich for lunch. It was delicious.

I met up with my friend, Linda, for dinner tonight. She was in my dorm freshman year. Although we text message each other from time to time, I don’t think I’ve seen her since graduation (2.5 years ago). We had Hurry Curry for dinner. Guess who’s idea it was. Ha! She just started teaching 3rd grade this past September. I think it’s awsome that she’s a teacher.

Do you guys feel weird when you have a friend that is a teacher? All through childhood, we treat teacher as a different category of people (or at least I did). But really, they are just like the rest of us. What a trip!

I also got a lot of personal stuff done today. The calendar and todo list on my RAZR have been helping me sort out my daily life lately.

This entry is getting quite long! I think I should shut up now… Ciao.

To off set the enormous amount of money I spent on my RAZR, here’s my old phone on eBay.

It’s a LG VX7000 for Verizon. It’s an awsome phone. It has a beautiful interal screen and an above average 0.3MP camera built it. It is just a bit bulky for my taste.

In a few days, I will post my ex-girlfriend’s phone on eBay as well. It’s the exact same LG VX7000. It’s not being used. Sigh, early termination charge sucks.

What detertermines the things that we like?

Do we prefer certain things because our body needs it? Or do we simply prefer them because we are used to it? If a person likes strawberries, does the strawberries provide something that the person’s body lack?

What determines the color we like to wear? What determines the types of people we are attracted to? What determines who our favorite singers are?

Are our prefereances simply dictated by our environment? The individualist in me hopes not… (Hmmm, is the individualist spirit fostered by a homogeneous environment? If everybody were completely different, would there still be “individualists”?)