Wow, it's the end of the March already. And I didn't blog at all this month. It's not that I'm losing steam with this online journal thing. It's because work has just been too hectic. I still have lots to do today, but I need to take a break. So here I am.

I read somewhere a little while ago that only 7% of internet users blog. That makes us a rarity doesn't it? Then of the 7%, only 2% blog daily. Oops, fell out of that elite group somewhere along the line.

Been doing a lot of hiking lately. Almost once a week. Almost. Not bad according to my track record. Would like to keep it up. But we'll have to see. Afterall, I'm a Gemini. One characteristic of a Gemini is that s/he is fickle. A Gemini jumps from one interest to another rather quickly. So who knows how long I'm gonna stick with this particular one?

Disclaimer: Political bimbo here is about to talk politics. I am the Jessica Simpson of politics, meaning I don't know jack about it but still I want to dispense my inflated two cents on it. So brace yourself for the following entry...

My applause to San Francisco for issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. This is another much needed step towards equality for all. But is it true that the mayor may have overstepped his boundaries in ordering this proceeding? If it is, then I rather he had not done it. It's one thing to allow equal rights to all. But it's another to go about doing it in improper ways.

Politics have never been my forte. I am in the dark about its workings. Hence I have no idea what the political, maybe even legal, ramifications are surrounding this event. But I do know that the game of politics has its rules and procedures, e.g. propose bills, get them passed, then execute them. As a civilized society, it is important for us to follow procedures such as these. Otherwise what's the point of having rules and regulations at all? So if the mayor did misuse his powers in inducing this event, I'd rather he follow the proper procedures. That may take much more time, effort, and money to accomplish, but at least we wouldn't be criticized for it. Opponents of this unprecedented event call this a type of "lawlessness and civil disobedience". That just takes away from the joy and pride that are associated with this worthy cause.

Babies, they're so delicate and fragile. My little niece, who's only 1.5 month old, went into the hospital last night. She has some sort of infection, either viral (less serious) or bacterial (can be serious). They took all sorts of fluids and blood from her for tests to isolate the main cause. But results won't be back for 2 days so they are keeping her in "urgent care" for a close watch until they know for sure what's going on. I went to the hospital to see her during my lunch hour today. My heart dropped when I saw her. First off, she has IV attached to her tiny little left hand. To hold her IV in place, the nurses made her a makeshift cast out of a tongue depressor and gauze. Casts don't even come that small but yet this small little soul needed one. Poor thing. Then on her other 3 limbs you could see the bruises and punctures resulting from all those needles poked into her. Meanies! Stop poking holes into my little TNT (her initials)! I know, I know. Stop being so squeamish. Those needles are necessary. How else would they know what's going on. Just hope the results come back good. Pray, pray, pray.

We don't know how she got this infection. We are guessing it was from the little party we had at home over the weekend to show her off to relatives. About 20 people came. Some held her, some didn't. Maybe she came into contact with this "bug" then. See how fragile babies are? Learn.

It's 5:48am on a Sunday morning. What am I doing online blogging at such a time? Am I such a geeky technophile that I jump at every opportunity to crack open my laptop and blog away on any stupid little thing that jumps to mind? You can decide for yourself the answer to this question at the end of this entry.

About 45 minutes ago I woke up from my sleep to some terrible coughing. Who's terrible coughing? Mine. I was coughing for such a long time that apparently I had even incorporated it into my dreams. In my dreams I was engaged in a deep conversation with someone but it was constantly interrupted with my coughs. It slowly became annoying to the both of us. The annoyance continued for a while before I gradually woke up and realized that the conversation was in fact a dream but the coughs weren't. I was, in actuality, coughing long and hard during my sleep for some time already. If coughing hurts one's throat, I think I may have done some serious damage to mine already.

I am going through a cold. Apparently I'm at the coughing stage of it. The cough-my-throat-out-like-I-no-longer-need-it-anymore stage. I don't have any medicine to take for this cold or for this annoying cough because I didn't to go to the doctor. One, I've been very busy at work. Two, I've always hated going to the doctors. They're no help most of the time anyway.

So I got up at first and rummaged through our medicine cabinet to look for some cough medicine. Found a bottle of Dimetapp. But it expired way back in Dec 2002. Yikes. Tossed that in the trash. Rummaging some more, I found nothing else. Then as I went to the kitchen to get a drink of cool water to soothe my throat, I found a bottle of what seems to be prescription cough syrup prescribed to my dad. That also expired. But only 2 days ago. Since it's in the kitchen rather than stored away in the medicine cabinet, I think my dad is still taking it. From that I decided this medicine is still good. I took 2 teaspoons of it as the direction says. Yes, the minty syrup soothed my throat down a bit. Then I went back to bed.

It's been 45 minutes since I took the 2-day-expired cough syrup. I'm still coughing and I can't get back to sleep. There's nothing on TV. My eyes are too tired to read. What else is there for me to do as I suck on a cough drop to calm down my cough before I wake up the rest of the house with it? This was when I whipped out my laptop to go online. When IE opened, I remembered I haven't been blogging much lately. A friend of mine, who apparently reads my mumbo jumbo regularly (I don't know why), had complained to me last week that there's nothing new to read on my blog recently. So here's to you my friend (you have to be if you're reading this).

So back to the opening question, am I a geeky technophile to be blogging at this wee moment of the morning? Or am I just a whiny cat who takes in every opportunity to whine about my ill situations? You decide.

Speaking of CNY, did you know that the Lunar calendar is at year 4072? Wow, that's more than double the western calendar. Amazing. If reincarnation exists, wonder how many cycle it's up to already. What version of Googi is this? Version 59.0 (estimating 70 years per lifetime/reincarnation)?

Hoping to cash in on a little CNY luck, everyone in my office, all the 10 of us, chipped in $5 each to buy 50 Lotto tickets. So if on Monday this office suddenly becomes empty with no one showing up to work, you all know why.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! I love CNY. It's one of the rare times of year when everyone in my family comes home for a festive dinner together. My parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, the whole clan. Since we do not live together and since we all have our own busy schedules, it's hard to gather everyone together on a regular basis. We don't even get together for "big" holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving. We say we want to but it never happens. But for CNY, we make it happen. It's no wonder CNY is my favorite holiday of the year. Now if only we can get the day off from work...

After the sad entry on Monday, let's change gears to a much happier piece of news. My new niece, the 5th so far, was born this morning. Yup, a New Year's Eve baby. She weighed in at a healthy 7lb 3oz. But she's a little short on the get go at 17.5 inches. But not to worry, she will catch up. This is my 3rd brother's 1st kid. Needless to say he is proud and gleaming with joy right now. According to him, every year the entire world will celebrate his daughter's birthday with fireworks. Ha! A very proud remark indeed.

Today marks a sad day in history. Popular Hong Kong singer/actress Anita Mui died of complications to the lungs caused by cervical cancer at 2:50am Dec 30 HK time. I am quite saddened by this piece of news. Ever since she announced to the public in September that she has cancer, she's been fighting the illness bravely. She vowed to continue living life to the fullest. Sadly her final days were short and few.

A strong and determined woman, she's made a tremendous life and reputation for herself. Besides winning numerous singing and acting awards, she had also won the love of many - her friends, her colleagues, and her fans. She will be missed by many, including myself. I had always admired her strength and determination. In a way, I see some resemblance of her in me. Though I never really idolized her, I always respected her. Goodbye Anita.

So I did it. I went to the "job interview" and politely declined the offer. They were very understanding. No feelings were hurt. No bridges burnt. All is good.

I have a job interview scheduled for today. I'm gonna go in as planned. But I'm not going in to fight for the job. On the contrary, I'm going in to decline the offer.

Why am I going if I don't want the job? Why don't I just call them and say I'm not interested? Why waste my time going there and their time seeing me? The answer is I don't want to come across as rude or wishy-washy. What? 3 months ago I wanted the job and now I don't? 2 days ago I wanted to speak with them about the job nature and now I don't? It's not that at all. It's all a matter of timing.

3 months ago when they first approached me about this pending job position, I felt insecure about my current job and would have accepted offers from prospective new employers. But as they took the 3 months to get approval from corporate headquarters to create this new position, my current company also went on with making plans of expansion and thus broadening my horizons here. Now I see new outlooks and challenges at this current job and am looking forward to tackling them. Therefore I have no choice but to turn down other offers that come at this time.

So...I'm going to the "job interview" today to ensure to them that my interest was genuine, to express regret that timing is not right to make this happen at this current point in time, to thank them for considering me for the position and for the well thoughts that I could be a good candidate. Hopefully I won't burn any bridges with them and they'll continue to consider me if and when other opportunities arise in the future. The world is round. It keeps turning and turning. But you might still keep ending up at about the same place with about the same people. It'd be wise to keep good ties with them.

Just as I'm starting to think life is getting too monotonous, along came acid reflux and a stomach flu to spice things up for me. One goes up along the system while the other goes down. What fun. Not!

I'm reading "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser. I have to say this is a very interesting book. It brings to light many things that exist in our nation's fast food industry which subsequently trickled down into and affected our nation's diet, pop culture, economy, and even landscape ("the malling of our landscape" as the book's description puts it). I'm less than half way through the book but already I am amazed by some of its points.

For example, did you know that the "natural flavors" and "artificial flavors" that go into our food items are manufactured at the same "flavor" plants that produce the scents in our hand soaps, shaving creams, deodorants, air fresheners, furniture cleaners...? Did you know that the difference between "natural flavors" and "artificial flavors" lies not in the nature of the ingredient (i.e. whether it's natural or artificial) but in the process by which the flavor was produced? The difference is so slight that a chemistry bimbo like me cannot comprehend. I was only naïve enough to believe "natural flavors" is better for me than "artificial flavors".

The book also brought to light that while fast food chains are receiving federal subsidies to hire and train underprivileged/less educated workers, their R&D staffs are constantly designing machines that are so easy to operate that no training is required. Anyone, without any skills, can easily operate those fryers and grills. Workers rarely leave the fast food industry with any more work related talent than when they entered. And since it is so easy to "train" new hires, fast food chains often favor the practice of letting go of more experienced staffs in exchange for cheaper new recruits.

The point of this blog, if there is any at all, is to endorse this book, which I think is an interesting read. By no means is it to lobby against the fast food industry, though the book does that innately.

The winds are really gusty tonight. I'm sitting here in my room, trying to read a book, but constantly interrupted by the forceful clattering of my windows. I hope my windows are sturdy enough to withstand the force. Someone please check on me tomorrow. Should the windows shatter and stab me to death, I wouldn't want to die unnoticed.

Beside the winds, the weather has also suddenly shifted cooler today. Much cooler. Is So Cal having cooler weather like we have here? If so, I hope it's helping with the firefighting efforts, although I don't see how strong winds can help. Too many lives and properties have already been lost to the fires. I wonder how the arsonists are living with themselves now. Knowing all the devastation they had caused, hope guilt eats them alive.

Wow, all these warm October days we're suddenly having. What a treat. Been taking advantage of it cuz I know these don't last too long in SF. But a couple of my coworkers, as superstitious as they are, aren't enjoying this weather as much as I am. It's not because they find the heat uncomfortable. Rather, they believe that these odd warm days coming so late in the year must signal a looming earthquake. Don't know where they got that notion. Don't know how scientifically correct it is. But what can you do? If it hits, it hits.

Red's account of the Southern California fires reminds me of the Oakland Hills fire in 1991. I remember one warm October day (not unlike today) in 1991. I was hanging out with my brothers in front of our old house in the southwestern side of SF. The air was filled with this charred smell, as if someone was barbequing next to us. There were also flakes and flakes of ashes floating around in the air. Sure enough, the ashes and burning smell came from the fires on the Oakland Hills. I was so awed by that. I knew from the news that the fire was big. But what's "big"? I had no concept of what "big" was until I saw the ashes floating on top of my head, a good 15 miles away from the source.

Change of subject.

I just bought an MP3 player so that I can listen to music while I work out at the gym. At first I was aiming to spend about $100 on it. But of course, after browsing at all the available models, I bought one for almost $200 cuz this particular model offers "so much more". So now I either have to go to the gym twice as much or work out twice as hard to justify this beefed up purchase. Yeah right. Ok, you guys can stop rolling your eyes now.

Yes, very well said Red. Totally sums up the matter of it all for us women in this regard.

Red, very well-said -- " Abortion is something most women want to avoid, it is a road no one wants to travel. It's not an easy road, but it should still be a road. "

Based on the crimes I see in the news lately, I think that maybe a lot of women should have gone through this road because society is now suffering from the children whom they brought to life but did not bother to teach.