Apology

Ok so in my last post I mentioned that I received some hot chocolate from someone. I also mentioned that it was Starbucks brand hot chocolate. However, it's actually from Second Cup. So I apologize for giving you incorrect information as well as apologize to the person that gave me the hot chocolate! You know who you are :)! Thanks for the hot chocolate from Second Cup!

As a side note, it's the end of the first month of the new year! Celebrate! Why? Why not!

Consumption

So I've noticed something very interesting. Well by "interesting" I mean interesting to me, I'm not sure about any of you. Anyways, I've noticed that I've been drinking a lot more hot chocolate than normal. I don't know why, I just love the stuff I guess. Though, I think I haven't had chocolate since... the year... I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure I haven't had the stuff since the middle of junior high. I'm not quite sure what got me back to the stuff though. Well it doesn't matter does it? As long as it stays delicious, I'll continue drinking it. One mix that I like the best is this one where I use one heaping teaspoon of this Nestle brand hot chocolate and another of this new Starbucks mint hot chocolate that I got fairly recently. So thanks to the person that gave it to me! (You know who you are!) Anyways, you get the mint flavor from the Starbucks one, and the creamy-ness of the Nestle brand! It's delicious!

Well that's all I really felt like typing about today!

Vancouver self defense

So I was reading in the paper that there's a new form of self defense that's being taught in Vancouver. As some people may have heard, it rains a lot in Vancouver, or at least it supposedly does. I can't say whether or not it does because I don't live there. Anyways, so the new form of self defense being taught, teaches people how to use your umbrella as a weapon against an attacker.

I don't know about anyone else, but I kinda thought that self defense with an umbrella would be pretty obvious. I mean, wouldn't it be used similar to a club or stick? Apparently not... it's to be used more like a sword! And not just any sword, a rapier to be more exact. In other words, you'll be stabbing your opponent with an umbrella. Interestingly enough, it has to be one of those umbrellas that have a point at the end. It can't be like the one I use where it's blunt at the end. Or at least that's what I got from the story.

The thing that bothers me the most about this story is where they teach you to stab. I can't say for sure if they teach you anything else, but from what they said in the paper, the people are taught to stab at the eyes, nose, throat and temple. The reason this bothers me is because of the fact that you'd be using a pointed umbrella. So stabbing someone in the eye could be really awful, same thing with the throat and temples. I dunno, maybe I'll google it or something.

As a side note, it was really cold today. With temperatures reaching -51 degrees celsius with wind chill. Brrr...

Better than poker

So I assume that most of you know what poker is. And when I say you know what poker is, I mean you have a general idea on how to play. Also that you know it is a gambling game. However, I have found an even better game to play. It also is a gambling game, but can be equally fun without the part with you losing money. This wonderful game is called Mahjong! Although, this game can only be played with four people, so I guess it kinda sucks if you have more or less people to play Mahjong. The rules are sorta complicated, but it's fairly easy to get used to them.

If I can, I really hoping to see if anyone I know would be interested, then I'll know whether or not I should buy a set of tiles. Until then, I can only recommend it. And just in case some people aren't quite sure what Mahjong is, I'll give a very brief description. As many of you may have seen, on your computers, there used to be this game where you have a bunch of tiles put together in some sort of manner, like a pyramid. Your objective was to match up tiles, that could be removed without moving another tile, or something along those lines... I never played it much. Anyways, Mahjong is played with those very same tiles. I don't know what that game was called, but I can guarantee it is not Mahjong.

Anyways, moving on with some basic rules. First of all you build a box-ish like structure with the tiles. Essentially everyone builds a wall that is about 16 or 18 (depends on how many tiles you have in your set, I think) tiles long and 2 tiles tall. You put the walls together to get your box. Then, after deciding who is first, you go in a counter-clockwise order and everyone takes 4 tiles at a time until everyone has 12 tiles. Once everyone has their tiles, the game starts. While playing it's pretty close to pick up a tile, and discard another, until you have a winning hand. Although, there's many more rules to the game than I have described, it would take a really long time to explain. If you are interested, you can either look it up on Wikipedia and hope that works for you, or you can let me know, if there are enough people interested, I'll buy a set, and I'll explain then.

Although, it may seem complicated, once you get the rules and learn how to play, it's a lot of fun to play.

Ninja Top 10 List

I don't really have much to actually say about this one. I just found a video listing the top 10 and giving a few reasons why. Wanna find out? Check out the link.

www.gametrailers.com/player/24269.html

So I tried putting a link, but if you saw this post earlier there wasn't anything. I'm not sure what happened so I'll just put the site, you'll have to cut and paste yourself.

Sushi is delicious!

It's true! I love the stuff! I used to get it fairly often with my friends... however, that slowly changed. Now instead of going out for sushi, we usually go for Vietnamese Noodles at a place called Pho So. Not that I'm complaining or anything, the food there is also very good. But still, I think I still prefer sushi!

Oh another thing I love is Dim Sum! But I guess I'll talk about that one later!

Yay food! It's delicious!!!...usually ^_^

I'm sure this applies...

So the first story that was on the newspaper that caught my attention for some reason had to do with pregnant women. Apparently researchers in California discovered that caffeine doubles the chances of a miscarriage in pregnant women! I don't know why this caught my attention, nor do I know why I would post about it. From what I can tell, I don't think any of the readers of this blog really need to worry about this kind of thing for awhile. I say that, because I'm pretty sure I know who the readers of this blog are, this doesn't really apply. But what I do know, is that this would mean that drinks like coffee, and one of my personal favorites, Coca-Cola, would be included in the list of drinks that would double the chances of a miscarriage. Enough of that topic, since it's making me a little uncomfortable.

Second story would be about a man that woke up in the middle of a wake. Doesn't sound all that interesting does it. Well what would you say if I told you that the wake was for the man that woke up! So this 81 year old man in a small Chilean village woke up during his wake. Apparently, his family had found him cold and limp, and decided that he was dead. So after the family found him, they decided to call the funeral home... not a doctor. In which, during his wake, the family was grieving his loss, when one of the family members was looking down, looked away, and when this person looked back, the 81 year old man was looking right back at him! So the good news, is the man is fine, and very not dead. On the other hand it makes the family look kinda foolish. Oh also, included in the article, apparently when he woke up he asked for a glass of water. Not that it's terribly important to the story, I just felt like including it.

On that note, of the 81 year old man waking up, I wondered, what would I ask for? I don't know, but what do you think you would ask for Mr. or Ms. person that is currently reading my blog? Please do leave a comment telling me what you think you would ask for!

Money and Cats

Alright so I figure, from a comment I received recently, I'm going to add a little bit on current events on each of my posts to keep friends that are unable to see the news or read a newspaper wherever they are can keep a little bit in touch with current events. Though I guess only one or two stories that really only interest me aren't too helpful but hey what do you want? I'm not going to post every article in the newspaper. That would take a lot of time. Not to mention the readers which would be you and any other people that read this, might not even read half of the articles I post up!

Moving on, I have two articles that I'm going to talk about today! Alright, first would be for all of you people that do online banking. For those of you that don't, you should still read about it if you do online shopping... maybe. Alright the article was about this new computer virus out on the net! Apparently, you get this Trojan Horse virus from any site that you visit that has been infected. Or at least that's the impression I'm under, since in the paper it simply told me that you can get it from surfing the web. Anyways, this virus is made so that when you go to a online banking site, or anything like it, which I think would include your online shopping since you use your credit card numbers and such, it allows the hacker to see your passwords and your card numbers. Supposedly allowing them to empty out your accounts of all of your money. I talked to my dad about this one after hearing it on the local news as well. He said not to worry too much. Mostly because of two reasons:

Reason #1: The virus supposedly can only get put onto your computer through sites that you download free software or actually download anything off the net. But I'm not too sure about that one, he also said something about active X, however, I don't remember what he said about that one, so I'll have to post about that one a little later. But please do be careful about where you go on the internet. Basically, don't go to sites you know you shouldn't be going to, I think those are most likely to be infected.

Reason #2: My dad told me the only reason why this virus made it onto the news is because, well its a very sophisticated virus. Simply in the way that the virus was put together and such. He even told me that it is likely that this virus is constantly being updated, which is one of the reasons why it was so interesting. However, by keeping your firewalls up, and ensuring your computer security is not being compromised by getting your virus scanners updated, keeping your firewalls updated and such, you should be fine.

Oh and as an extra note, my dad is in IT (information technology)at his workplace so I figure that the information he's given me is reliable.

Second story, would be about the recent animal abuse case. Alright so the story is about a cat that was put into a microwave and killed. Personally I think this is disgusting and the kids shouldn't be given any lenience when it comes to their sentencing. Anyways, the kids were 4 kids, 3 of them being 15 and the one being 13. They had broken into this house 2 times, and the second time they broke in, they took the family's cat, and microwaved it. The "teens" have been brought into custody and are faced with charges of unlawfully killing an animal, unlawfully causing pain or suffering to an animal, break in enter and theft, mischief and finally possession of stolen property.

One thing I found was odd about one of the charges was the unlawfully causing pain or suffering to an animal. I mean, there's a lawful way to cause pain or suffering to an animal? That's just weird. Killing I can understand, because of things like hunting, but causing pain or suffering, that just seems like it shouldn't be allowed in any case... unless it's self defense but I don't consider sticking something in a microwave as a form of self defense. I can't help but get the feeling that these kids are going to be let off the hook with something like a little bit of community service and having to go to some counseling. Which I think is ridiculous for what they did... what can you do about it other than complain?

Well those are two of the stories that caught my eye today, but I'm not going to post every story I found was interesting sorry! This post is long enough as it is! ^_^

Implementing a new system in the workplace

So I was reading the newspaper today and came across a rather interesting article. Well at least I thought it was interesting. Anyways, the article was about Microsoft. It would seem that they are developing a new software to monitor workers in offices. But the interesting thing about it, is that it actually monitors the persons health. This system works by using wireless sensors that are supposed to detect the employees heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement, facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure. Also it's supposed to be able to detect frustration or stress and offer and provide assistance accordingly. Another interesting fact would be that this technology is supposedly already being used by pilots, fire fighters and NASA astronauts. This was all from the newspaper and it is also possible that I made some mistakes in trying to recall what the newspaper had written!

So anyways, the article had addressed the whole privacy thing as well. Saying that it would be rather intrusive. I agree. They also mentioned worries of people getting, fired (or sacked, dismissed or whatever other term you would use) based on the computers assessment of your physiological state. Which I also would be a little worried about. However, I would like to address something else. What exactly would these wireless sensors be like? Will they be like cameras? If so how would they work? Or are all workers going to be walking around with sensors and such attached to them. To be perfectly honest, I think that would look really stupid. Can you imagine an entire office with workers with all these little sensors all over their faces, arms? I didn't mention their bodies because, well I don't think you'll ever see a worker in an office with his/her shirt off. I may even go as far to say, you will never see anyone topless in an office. Well that's all that I really had to say about this.

Speaking of technology though, I'd like to quickly mention something. The other night I went to visit my dear sister at her home along with the rest of the family. While we were there, she showed us a new keyboard that her roommate had purchased. It was so incredibly nice! I really want one. Mostly because it's nice, thin, wireless and when you type it sounds kinda like a laptop. Either that or just really quiet, unlike my current keyboard which is really loud and very clacky! Pretty sure I just made up a word or simply spelled it wrong. Unfortunately there is a problem with me getting one. Well maybe 2 depending on whether or not her roommate was right. 1st and most importantly, the keyboard itself costs a painful $300.00! $300.00!!! That thing is quite possibly more expensive than a Nintendo Wii! Luckily for the roommate, it was purchased during a boxing day sale for a third of the price. However, whether it will go on sale again is another question. Not to mention whether or not I'm willing to spend that kind of money on a keyboard. 2nd, this is less important but still, it has no number pad. I'm sure I could get used to it, but I'm not too sure how much I use the number pad anyways. I'm pretty sure I don't use it much but who knows, maybe I just don't notice it. But then again, this keyboard would actually make me want to type. But on the other hand, that's $300.00 I don't really have... ¯-¯

Am I a dork?

So I was talking with my friends after playing a little tennis and one of them brought up an interesting topic. Well not so much as a topic but more of a made a suggestion. The suggestion was that we play Starcraft. For those of you that may not know what Starcraft is, I will explain. Essentially, it is a video game. More specifically it is a real time strategy game. By the way, a real time strategy game is one that you take the point of view of a commander or leader of some sort. And you control numerous people on the ground from I guess a bird eye view. Usually these games involve some sort of war. So to recap, it is a computer game where you command soldiers in a war. Also when I say a real time strategy game, I mean that there is no such thing as turns so everything happens at the same time... I guess... I hope I both explained correctly and clearly. If not... I apologize. If you do however, want to correct me, please do so! I will give you credit and edit this post!

Anyways, so I installed the game, on my computer, and I found... I'm really bad at it! I keep losing over and over. I guess it means I need to practice or something, but I still enjoy it a lot. In fact I've been playing it much more than I used to. But does enjoying this kind of game make me a dork?

New Year, New Language!

This year I have decided that I will try to learn a new language. The language being one that I probably could have learned as a child but never did. That language is... *drum roll*... Chinese! Yup! I decided that I'm going to try to learn Chinese. The reason why? Well... why not? I think it would be interesting so I'm currently learning from my family. Well from the ones that actually speak the language. Unlike the others! You know who you are!!! However, every one of you people that don't know Chinese in my family, you seem to have learned another language that I can't speak, whether it be Spanish or Japanese! I guess you could say I've fallen behind in terms of languages.

So far, I've only learned very basic things. Such as simple greetings, counting to 10 and how to order food at Dim Sum. Which will be interesting to try someday when I gain a little more confidence in my ability to speak the language. Who knows, maybe after I learn how to speak the language, I'll learn to read and write. Wish me luck! ^_^

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone enjoyed their New Years Eves and also enjoyed New Years Day!

Best wishes for the new year and best of luck with anything you decide to do!

^_^