I was laid off from work last Thursday, October 30th. I have a decent severance package and have applied for unemployment. I do want to take some time off, but need to make sure I use that down time wisely/productively.

Someone suggested I don’t take any time off. That I work to find something quickly then negotiate my start date.

I’ve worked for this group for over eight years, never having taken off more than a few days at a time. I feel I really need some time off!

I have a few projects in mind that I’ve been meaning to do.

That’s just what I needed. It’s been over ten years since my last visit there. I was with about a dozen friends back then. This time, the solitude did me good . I took the entire trip to reflect on everything that’s been going on. Introspection among the element of nature was just what I needed… a reboot.

I wonder what the circumstances were that ultimately decided that Stephen Colbert’s DNA would be launched into space?? If there was ONE human that can be cloned to represent all humans for an alient wanting to know about us, who would you elect?

Just offf the top of my head,… I’d say… Bodhidharma.

I bet 80% of Americans have had instant ramen at some point in their lives, but I’m sure 99.999% of us have never heard of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen (I never have). He passed away January 2007 at 96 and left behind a legacy of a favorite food/snack for millions of American college students, Asian kids and geeks sitting behind keyboards.

While I can’t back the numbers I spat out above, there are numerous inventions we use (or eat), but don’t know the origins of. Like,… who invented highlighters? Sharpies? Dry-erase markers/whiteboards? (I seem to have a theme going.)

It turns out she was lip-syncing to the voice of 7-year old Yang Peiyi, who apparently was not “cute” enough to be front and center. Thus a “cuter” Lin Miaoke was selected to sing. O.o This was done for the sake of “national interest,” said the ceremony’s music director, Chen Qigang. “The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression.”

Well how sad is that,… for both of the girls!?

Lin will deal with being “the one who lip-synced for the Olympic ceremony,” a la Milli Vanilli, at least for a while, and may never be taken quite so seriously. But at least she’s cute! But poor Yang, who must know that she’s “not cute enough” to take center stage so is hidden behind curtains to provide a beautiful voice for the one everyone’s cheering for. But at least now, people know that she’s the true voice.

If I had to be one of them, I’d rather be Yang who’s the true talent. I’ve always been the underdog, never able to take center stage and sometimes envious of those who can. But know where my talents are and work to improve them in hopes of being able to showcase them some day.

It’s a bit sad that kids had to be put in this situation, but I think it’s good that it’s out in the open and kids are quite resilient. they’ll bounce back quickly if they were even emotionally hurt by this.

And if that wasn’t enough, if you watched the show on TV, apparently, not all the fireworks you saw were real! A team of effects artists rendered 3-D fireworks for the TV broadcast to enhance the pyrotechnics because there was concern that they would not be visible enough on TV.

Kudos to them for doing a great job on the effects, but I’m a bit sad that they weren’t all real. They were so spectacular on TV and one particular explosion was so amazingly bright, I thought, “Wow,… what it must be like to site right under that. IT must be like daylight!”

That made me think about an email recently circulated that I forwarded around myself: Doug Copp’s “Triangle of Life” survival method. This method says in the event of a major earthquake, your best chance of survival is to lie down next to a large object like a couch or a car instead of underneath desks or staying in your vehicle.

Reason? The weight of collapsing structures is enough to crush a desk, thus crushing those underneath. The “safer” alternative is to lie next to a “large, bulky object.” If that object is crushed, you could survive in the void created next to the object… the “Triangle of Life.”

This is controversial. Many websites negate Copp’s claims (just Google “triangle of life” to find the articles). Copp stated,

Everyone who simply ducks and covers when buildings collapse is crushed to death - every time without exception.

Some see this tactic as life-threatenening; That the traditional “drop, cover and hold on” tactic will save you and that Copp’s method might only be useful in a pancake-style collapse, which we don’t see in developed countries like the U.S.

We come to my point. Just like anything in life, how you should react to a situation will depend on its context. If I’m in a light-framed, wooden structure with a glass ceiling, you can bet your ass I’m going to duck, cover and hold on. But, if I’m in a building in an underdeveloped country wtih large concrete slabs above and below and see flimsy tables and large, concrete planters, I’m headin’ for the planters and will lie next to them. Hell, if I’m next to a window and I’m only one floor up, I might just jump out of the window.

Be mindful of where you are and what escape routes you have. Not just for an earthquake, but for a fire, flood or bar room brawl. Note alternative routes. Again, based on the the situation, the fire exit might not be the safest way out.

Update: Here’s FEMA’s earthquake preparedness guide: www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_during.shtm. It’s one of the better guides I’ve seen; concise yet comprehensive.

Wise people think without talking; fools talk without thinking.

I find myself thinking a great deal. I feel there’s a lot to think about. However, I also find that I don’t talk when I should. That’s just my nature. And I admit it makes me feel “foolish” when I want to say something, but don’t.

Is there such a thing as a wise fool?

I drive a 2003 Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner Xtra Cab with an 18-gallon gas tank. I usually get between 250-260 miles out of a single tankful of gas before the low-gas light comes on.

I’ve read up and heard about a few techniques that seem to have helped me to get a little more out of a single tankful. I’ve managed to squeeze out over 20 extra miles out of my tank. Here are a few things I’ve tried:

• I don’t warm up the engine in the morning. I just turn the ignition and go. Apparently, newer models aren’t affected by not warming up your engine.
• When going down hill, I put the truck in neutral and coast.
• When driving on straight stretches of road, I speed up to just about the speed I want to go (right about the speed limit), put the truck into neutral and coast.
• When parking, I try to find a spot where I can park so I don’t have to back out. –> Reverse, stop, drive = a little extra gas used than just driving straight out.
• On freeways, I follow behind huge trucks that are going a little slower anyway, and that forces me to stay slower. Apparently, 55mph saves gas over going 65mph.
• I don’t try to maintain the speed limit when I’m going uphill. If I’m moving at a steady rate and I start to slow as I start to climb a hill, I don’t press down any harder on the gas. I just let the truck slow down and I still make it up the hill.
• I minimize my AC usage by opening my windows on surface streets. When I’m going faster than 50mph, I close the windows and use the AC. Supposedly, this is more efficient as driving more than 50mph with the windows open causes more drag on the vehicle and you’re better off using AC at this point.
• I roll through stop signs. Ok, I don’t always do this and I don’t condone it, but I’m conducting an experiment. A weak argument, but this was also a tip mentioned on the radio by someone conducting the same type of experiment (But he’s hardcore –> He takes his shoes off so he can get more sensitivity in his feet when pressing down on the gas). Gee,… the high price of gas is causing us to break laws. =/

All of this was just an experiment I conducted after my last refill and I was surprised at how much it worked. Now, I dind’t always follow the above points, since, well, I was just in a hurry sometimes, or it was too insanely hot and I needed the AC!

But I was still able to squeeze an extra 20 miles from my tank and at that point, my low-gas light wasn’t even coming on. I refilled today and am going to continue with my little experiment and see if I can get even more out of my tankful.

Perhaps it was just some strange manifestation in nature of our collective hearts upon learning of Sean’s passing? It was like the sky grew “sadder” as the news reached family and friends as the day wore on…

Rest in peace, Sean… We’ll all miss you so much…

Wow! What an episode! I have to admit, I’m quite the Lost fanatic. It’s the only show I’ve ever followed from season to season. Actually, it’s the only TV show I watch. Perhaps a little surprising considering the industry I’m in. I do watch Lost weekly, but I catch it on ABC.com. I wasn’t about to miss the real-time season finale, though! That’s when I remembered that I disconnected the cable from my TV four months ago when I rearranged my furniture. I never bothered to reconnect it.

I did some fiddling to get the cables sorted out and thoroughly enjoyed the finale! I had a hunch that it might be John Locke that died last season, but when they called him, “Jeremy Bentham” tonight, I wondered who this “new” character was. The sequence at the end revealed that “Jeremy Bentham” was in fact, John Locke.

The reason for calling him “Jeremy Bentham” became obvious given the events of the finale. I wanted to see how quickly this information would appear on Google. 30 minutes after the show, I haven’t seen anything appear regarding the episode when googling “John Locke” and “Jeremy Bentham.” I bet there will be tons of Lost-related results for this Google query very shortly, though!

BTW, when I googled “Jeremy Bentham,” I came across this Wikipedia article. Not surprising since many of the Lost characters are named after philosophers and other great thinkers. (i.e. John Locke, Desmond David Hume, Danielle Rousseau)

UPDATE: 1hr 15 min after the finale, this appears #7 in Google search results for “John Locke” and “Jeremy Bentham.”
Lost Season 4 Finale: John Locke is Jeremy Bentham: In Entertainment