Adventurous Thinking

I remember the days where I used to go to school, whether high school, college or university and pull all nighters just to shove so much stuff in my brain so that I can be prepared for the exam the next day.

For those subjects, I was failing, I was amazed how much I learned in so little time that if I was this intense throughout the school year, I would have had 100%. However, procrastination and laziness were my biggest mental battles.

It is so amazing what the mind can do given intense circumstances, either fight or flight. Cramming for those exams were tough, though it made me feel good. Though I may have failed some subjects, the fact that I intensely studied and absorbed 3 months worth of material in 7 to 9 hours time amazed me and I felt as if I was superhuman. The high of getting at least a fighting chance at the exam made the cramming all the more thrilling.

After each semester when exams were over, I would try to ride the wave of intensity and see if I can continue to cram for next semesters subject at that time so that I don’t have to cram at the end. I guess, the lack of pressure mentally made my intensity fade and soon, it was back to procrastination.

There are times where I would force myself to cram just for the fun of it to see if I can accomplish an almost impossible feat. Looking at some cultures, I know that a lot of Chinese people that came to Canada from Hong Kong were already at University level when they were at Sophmore or Grade 10 level in Canada. I would be surprised how they would ace Grade 12 or Senior High school level exams with relative ease while not even lifting a finger.

I asked one of them why they didn’t study at all and get 100% or close to it. One student told me that they already took the subjects 2 or 3 years ago. I was amazed that they had implemented and educational system of cramming or at least accelerated level of learning in Hong Kong. And I know some Indians were educated this way. Reason being is that Hong Kong and India were British colonies once and so they were taught with the British system which was way ahead of Canadian and definitely American system.

I look back and see that wow, I have to start implementing that system with my kids but for now I have to start sort of cramming myself. As you see, I have been quite lazy and have been procrastinating with my student workshop and now I have to cram to get my workshop done before the start of the school. I have heard so many stories from parents and students of how unprepared they were and knowing the cost of tuition, being unprepared is like throwing or giving your money away.

So time to get into my cramming mode and see if I can do this. Not much time so you’ll hear back from me real soon. Wish me luck, cause the lady at the County Clerk office did, I guess with all business that get registered. Later…..

Today is July 7, 2007 or in numeric terms 7-7-07 or 7-7-7.

Supposedly today is a lucky day. For sure for those that actually win the jackpot with 7-7-7 in Casinos around the world, they can say that they were lucky on that day while millions more will lose millions of dollars.

But is there such thing as luck? Yes, I believe so. I was reading a book back in high school about Peak Learning I think or Mastering the Information Age and in one of those books, it stated that there are five types of LUCK. It was interesting but then I started thinking…

The more I thought, the more I pondered on LUCK and that there are more different types of LUCK. Actually, later on in life, I started dissecting the concept of LUCK and how there are many different factors affecting LUCK.

For example, being born in a different country is a factor, considering that if one country is a prosperous developed country then life becomes easy in many different areas such as basic needs, choices, and survival, while those born in war torn, or poverty stricken countries, it becomes harder to live yet alone survive.

Another example, time as being another factor in luck (and I have many topics on that), people who are born in different periods or generations For those born in the 1960s and 1970s we were raised with just the basic technology like TV and telephones. We didn’t have cell phones growing up and having an Atari was to be lucky for those parents that could afford it…and this is living in North America already. Those born in this 21st century will never know about using rotary phones, will be wondering how people lived without cell phones, and buying toys that most likely will need batteries (compared to those back in the days of manual kinetic energy toys — darn I should have kept my old wind up toys so that I could have dissected it and use that old technology for future energy independent toys), and the graphics of even the basic handheld games that cost just under $200 was 100 times better than some of the computers and the games back in the 80s and early  90s where the prices were over $2000.

There are many famous people on different sides of the issue. Some believe in it, while others don’t./

Those that don’t believe in LUCK.

Luck is not chance, it’s toil. Fortune’s expensive smile is earned - Emily Dickenson, poet

He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner - Benjamin Franklin

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self made men - EB White

Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity - Oprah Winfrey

Backboneless employees are to ready to attribute success of others to luck. Luck is usually the fruit of intelligent application. The man who is intent on making the most of his opportunities is too busy to bother about luck. - B. C. Forbes

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those that do…

Good luck reaches farther than long arms. - H.G. Bohn

Fortunes…come tumbling into some men’s laps - Francis Bacon

The two prime movers in the Universe are Time and Luck - Jurt Vonnegut Jr

I find that harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. - Thomas Jefferson.

Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience. - Dr. Laurence J. Peter, creator of the Peter Principle.

Then there are proverbs in different cultures that acknowledge luck.

Anything that can go wrong, will - Murphy’s Law

Luck never gives; it only lends - Swedish proverb

Good luck beats early rising - Irish Proverb

I was watching a 20/20 or Nightline documentary on LUCK and that made realize that there is more to LUCK than meets the eye.

Those that believe in Luck or don’t believe in it are still affected by it - Gerald Cabildo

There are other stuff to talk about whether numbers or objects and even places but as you can see…if there is so much discussions on different varieties of LUCK then there is a case that perhaps one cannot rule it out. That’s it for now….Good Luck!!!

I never thought I would see this day. I actually forgot about it. But I’m very excited that it’s finally here!!!

What is it? It’s a video game!

I don’t need fast cars, expensive jewellry, or other material things to get me excited. I am quite simple and low maintenance. But I do enjoy quality products and this is one of those quality products that I get excited about. Why?

First of all, it is not just an ordinary video game, it is a real time strategy or RTS game. This means that one has to use their thinking skills and really understand the game to really appreciate it. It is somewhat like chess where you have to plan out your strategy and also like Risk. This is however a more like the next evolution in strategy games with eye candy.

Secondly, it is a quick fast but yet exciting video game. Though it is quite violent but at least it’s not in real life. How can I describe it, like a futuristic army game where you command armies to go to battle though the difference is that you are playing with alien races.

Furthermore, the cinematic trailers and storyline to the game are rich and very interesting that makes gameplay all the more exciting since, each level of gameplay continues the storyline of the game.

Finally, it’s just that damn good…actually I’m referring more to Starcraft the original game since that’s that one I played countless hours on and had sometimes 10 hour marathons on the computer (back in the days - getting older now….). But don’t take my word for it. Starcraft seems to be a national past time in South Korea where it has evolved into a cultural icon, where the characters of the game are plastered on cereal boxes. As well, Americans get their asses kicked by playing their South Korean counterparts. It is just that serious in this country!

All I can say is that, its been a long time and now with Blizzards’ announcement as well as various cinematic and gameplay trailers, it’s hard not to get excited and be paralyzed with anxiety just waiting for more juicy news about this game and when it will finally arrive.

Thank God I’m not a Warcraft fanatic and I know that I won’t be as crazed about Starcraft as some Koreans as well as other players around the world will be when this comes out. But I’m just glad that it is finally here.

If there is one company that creates quality games - that honor goes to Blizzard and I know fans won’t be disappointed when Starcraft 2 comes out! I won’t be surprised if they come out with a Starcraft movie since they seem to have come out with a lot of movies based on video games. The cinematic trailers alone from Starcraft and other Blizzard games can become movies on their own right and if they ever decide to create exciting animated movies, I’m sure that there will be many that would watch movies that come from Blizzard.

I guess that’s just the geek in me…

Headline: Pope revises limbo view, hope for unbaptized babies

So the Catholic Church has been decided to take this rule out. How interesting don’t you think? Basically it seems according to old doctrine, babies that were not baptized went into limbo and not to Heaven.

It is interesting the amount of power any group of people can have over the masses and what they say dictates what many people believe in as well as how they live.

Just like when Copernicus observed that the Earth revolves around the sun, and Galileo found this conclusion to be correct that he went out and pronounced it. When he did that Galileo was ex communicated by the Catholic Church.

Until everyone realized later on that the Earth does really revolve around the Sun. 

Sometimes people are lead to believe things to be true because the people who gave the testimony are people who are in high places, respected authorities or highly respected institutions.

And as far as we have advanced since the days where our ancestors lived in huts or clay houses, it seems that our evolution of thinking hasn’t advanced as it should. It seems that people are still being swayed by popular opinion or by authoritative suggestion.

Just like the notion of daylight savings time and how now it affects everyone that need to adjust to it. I don’t understand why there is a need for it since people have lived with it before it was ever implemented.

Certain theories, laws, and doctrine seem to be held in high regard and accepted as truth when there really isn’t proof or any evidence that it should be accepted. Someone decided to think and say…."hey I have an idea for why things are the way they are and see if I can convince everyone about it."

Unfortunately, some of these things are still held true though is there really no evidence for it just speculation or imagination. Sometimes you wonder if there is really a truth to some of the theories or is there some form of manipulation by certain powers to direct our /thoughts into a certain direction so that we don’t even consider rethinking about the situation.

In this case…from the article about LIMBO.

Other areas are different religions that have their different interpretations of life and death. The worst being Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It seems that there are different points of view on which religion is right.

The worst is that within each of these religions, there are branches that are competing within themselves that theirs is the one that everyone should follow or else everyone goes to Hell.

Example: Judaism - You have the modern Jews, the orthodox Jews, Hassidic Jews, Torah Jews, Zionist Jews and ultra orthodox Jews just to name a few

Christianity - You have Catholics and the other Christians which include Protestants, Lutherans, Jesuits, Mormons, Quakers, Baptist, Orthodox, Born again, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Moonies, etc…too many to count

Islam - You have the Sunnis, Smilies, and Shiites, as far as I know.

Anyways, it seems that these three related religions seem to have a lot of bad history of fighting each other, other major religions, and worst of all among themselves within their different branches.

Basically, if you look at it seems that most if not all religions are major interpretations of events that have happened. It is men of power that have decided to direct religion based on their opinion, experience and education or sometimes their own personal desire.

One has to start thinking and wondering what is really the truth out there. How do we know some of these truths aren’t just fabricated lies that some people or people in power decided to keep repeating until it becomes fact or truth in people’s eyes.

Other topics which I myself question are:

1. The creation of the Universe - especially the Big Bang Theory and how everything started from a single point.

2. Theory of evolution and how man evolved from the ocean

3. Why with our advanced knowledge and technology, there are still close to 60% or was it more near 80% of the world’s population live in poverty considering that there are major religions out there that should be really helping these people out….by first of all going against bad and tyrant governments and people of power.

4. That we are alone in this Universe or have not been contacted by alien lifeforms yet many of the older civilizations have shown remarkable intellectual capability like the Pyramids of Giza and how the pyramids align with certain constellations or stars with a precision that is 99.99999% accurate especially with the basic technology that they had back then.

5. That there is no cure for cancer…but if you look at what causes cancer - pollution, stress, certain chemicals especially in our diet, radiation poisoning, etc that it seems to be a constant crusade to always find a cure while the number of cases seems to be rising. Before all this pollution and chemicals in our food, radiation, and other factors that came with our technology, it seems that cancer was probably fewer in our stages of civilization.

In the example of cancer, maybe we are thinking it all wrong and that certain things actually accelerate it like those I just mentioned and that is why more people are getting it. In order to prevent it we have to avoid consuming these processed foods, fatty foods, avoid toxic chemical wastesites, garbage landfills, excessive exposure to radiation, prevent contact with hazardous chemicals, and not get stressed. But unfortunately, people are directed to finding the cellular cause of the cancer and not really outside that realm which really is the true culprit of cancer.

It is like the problem with obesity and how it is growing in leaps and bounds in the US while advertising and food companies are advertising to the people that more is better, to supersize their meals, getting a good value by getting the larger portion, consuming manufactured artificial foods that have no nutritional value. To add to that, the advances in technology has made people become couch potatoes watching TV everyday, playing video games or surfing the Internet.

When did TV, video games and computers become affordable for every household and you’ll see an increasing trend of weight gain?

What I am trying to say is that what if a lot people aren’t educated in the truth they can’t tell the difference between the lies and the truth, then again what if many people have been distracted from the truth? What if they are educated to be spoon fed and not to learn how to think anymore except what is stated in the media?

All I know or have observed is that things are going the wrong way because some agenda has been pushed onto the people. One attitude is of instant gratification of getting it now and paying for it later. Unfortunately, this attitude can be seen across the whole spectrum of the Western society and many have paid for this lives, hardship, and other unfortunate events when adopting that attitude.

Of course this is just one attitude…there are countless others. One must learn to see what attitudes are being presented out there especially by the media, government and popular views to see that maybe certain or many attitudes are bad for the individual as well as for society in general.

The only problem is that when these attitudes or viewpoints are presented by well respected people, institution, or authorities, we sometimes accept them as truth and incorporate them into our daily lives without stopping to think and analyzing it. Sometimes we are so in a rush though most of the time in a daze that we just go with the flow.

One example, is signing contracts for either buying a cellphone or any purchase of an item or service, we accept as truth whatever the seller is saying because of their title, status or position or how they presented all the good things that go with the item or service without really taking the time to really read, analyze and understand the documents we are signing.

Though later on, when something goes wrong, we end up just hurting ourselves by losing a lot of money, getting scammed, or getting in such a big mess because we didn’t take the time to really think things out before getting into it.

Or maybe trying to analyze everything just gives us one big headache and so we go ahead and take our chances.

Anyways, I hope you can understand what I have said since sometimes, I like to pull things from different directions and viewpoints so people can get somewhat of a clearer and bigger picture to the argument I want to discuss.

As they say, change your attitude and you change your life.

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Goingtothepub 7.5, and Softball 3.6.

I can’t seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I’m thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn’t work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks,
Troubled User…..

_____________________________________
REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony/Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE! because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0!

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system!

Best of luck,

Tech Support

No I didn’t forget my password…not my work ones but other ones I do tend to have to waste precious time of my life trying to think about it…

It seems that in this age of computers and security, we cannot access certain things without passwords. Whether at our home computer, our work computer, our numerous personal emails, our work email, various programs we need for work, certain websites like Friendster or MySpace, banking or credit card websites, gaming websites, or things like ATMs, door security, or room security, etc.. it seems that you need a password to get in.

We are inundated (overwhelmed) with so many areas of access that require passwords. The worst part is that EACH password has a different criteria or rule to abide by.

One may as simple as basic letters

In the case of ATM or Bank Machines - numbers

Some may require letters and numbers (like the program I provide service for)

Some may require a capital letter, letters and numbers

More complicated one is having a capital letter, letter, number and a special character like (@#$%^)

That’s just the start…

Then there are certain rules of how the password should be

1. Can be anything

2. Has to be anywhere between 4 to 10 characters

3. Can’t have your name or common noun included as part of the password

Then there’s the issue of changing the password

1. Time of change is between three months, a year, never, or until you forget your password.

2. You can’t use the last password, the last six passwords or the last 12 passwords

If you forget your password, then that could be detrimental

1. Especially if there is a limit of incorrect tries before you get locked out

In the case of the ATM…your card may be kept in the machine and you have to either get it or request a new one by mail or you have to call a certain number or go to your bank to reset your password (of course you have to bring all necessary documentation with you)

2. Getting locked out of your work account, you need to call the Help Desk and have them reset your password. Unless it is easy as that, sometimes, you have to do extra steps like get your supervisor to request to reset your password for you which if your supervisor is on vacation, well I guess you are in deep, cold water…

3. For websites, you have to give out pertinent information as well answer a specialized question which you had thought up a while back (and hopefully you remember the answer) or else you won’t have a chance to ever go back in…

Depending on your role at work, you may just have to worry about one password and that is to your computer which you can access your email. I know certain positions ex. Unit clerks and nurses here that require to know at least four different passwords for the computer and three programs that they need to get patient information.

At my other job there are so many passwords for the different computers and different users that one needs a specific logon to work on a specific machine.

Then there’s my other job where I have to use a password to clock in, for use of a program, one to check out a company website, and one for training website..

I think with technology, it is becoming easier to do things but there are the hidden new burdens that come up and therefore one does not realize until it becomes unmanageable. The problem is if one does not have foresight or one does not see a trend building up, then one cannot really see the problem ahead and that’s when one becomes overwhelmed and becomes frustrated in trying to keep up with just managing passwords alone.

Of course, problems can be turned into opportunities. I know one of my jobs where I monitor(babysit) computers, they have a specific program just to keep the many passwords for the different computer servers so that one does not go crazy looking for it. Therefore that company who created that password storage program realizes that this problem of keeping passwords can be profitable if they develop a program to store passwords and find companies that know can benefit from it. I should have thought of that but someone else got to it first (and besides I can’t really program).

My advice…

1. List the different places where you use passwords

2. List the user names and passwords for each login you are going to use

3. Try to keep the same password throughout so that you won’t have to constantly think about different ones.

4. List those programs that require to change your password very frequently

5. Create preset passwords so that you know what to change your password to when the time comes

6. Make a backup of the list of passwords

7. Don’t make the password too complicated…something simple but not too simple

8. Know what to do if you forget your password or if you get locked out.

There’s always something interesting when I move around and talk to people or observe and listen during work. Usually, I work in my office responding to calls or people’s email regarding a particular software program that helps Psychiatric department staff (doctors, nurses, residents, social workers, etc) put their progress notes, assessments, treatment plans, discharge summaries and other patient chart information into the computer system.

It’s like a Help Desk position but it’s somewhat unique in that I also train people and help resolve problems for this particular software. It’s more an Application Support since that is my title.

Anyways, it is a unique position since I am the only person from my company that is in this location and the other co-workers that are part of this project are scattered throughout the city. I got lucky on getting this job but that’s another story…

Depending on how busy I am, I usually stay in my office responding my emails and phone calls or planning for the next training. It can get boring at my desk after awhile. I am situated in a very small office right smack in the middle of Psych Admin where the Directors of the department are located along with their secretaries and other Administrative staff.

There are over 400 users using the program so I am lucky to meet a lot of people and get to know many people from different backgrounds as well as different job roles.

It seems that there is always some sort of drama brewing on my floor which I try to alleviate with my sense of humor and just being there to listen. Ironic, since I am one of few guys on the floor surrounded by women and usually women always are the good listeners. There’s a lot of good and interesting people that work on my floor and of course a few bad apples which causes a stir among the other workers. Being a third-party consultant, I am sort of immune to the politics but indirectly involved in that I hear the women vent out on their frustrations. I don’t mind since I have become more analytical and observant when it comes to interpersonal interaction since eventually, I will encounter it more than once in my lifetime and of course most of the times during work. No matter what there will always be office politics at any job. I know not to talk bad about anyone unless they are really bad and just talk about their actions.

One of the my favorite sayings when the ladies start bickering about an incident is "I know nothing!". I hear but I don’t talk so that is my defence.

1. Someone on my floor got upset today because of another co-workers actions. She said "Gerald, I can’t take it any more in this @#$@ place". I’m usually the cheerful person but I can’t smile and say anything but just look and listen then I’m off trying not to stay too long to irritate that person as well.

2. My company co-workers are trying to explain to the main IT people how our program should be loaded and the IT person seems to want to do it her way and then complains that our program doesn’t work. Arrogance or she is to set in her rigid set of system of processes that she doesn’t try another person’s way…

3. From one of the Occupational Therapist working in Psych Inpatient, she told me during lunch that her student got drilled yesterday by one of the female doctors from the unit. Basically, the student is always late and it frustrates my friend who runs groups and has to be his mentor. My OT friend tells me his situation from before and I suggest that she say something to him but being nice that she is I guess she gets taken advantage of in that way. Well, to make a long story short the student got grilled by this doctor who did some research and found out that he came to the unit last minute and left his previous internship two weeks early before completion. The doctor deduced that his tardiness was why he left and that the other intership was going to fail him that is why he bailed out and took this assignment. I guess you don’t know a person unless you really know their history as well.

4. Moved over to some social workers eating lunch a group of older women who were talking about car accidents. One of them said that her son got into an accident by trying to avoid a car and when the car hit, for some reason some glass either got between the airbag and his face and cut his eye..at the moment he can’t see. Having this incident…he will not be deployed to Iraq which his mother said that sometimes certain things happen for a reason and in this case his accident may have prevented him from a worse fate.

5. One of the managers asked me to run a report for her which it really not in my job description but being fast and knowing what she wanted I assisted her since she can’t get reports on her computer. I told her when I go there to install the reports, I’ll call CSC to help if I am not able to install the reports.

6. One of the directors that’s a doctor asked me to help him with his computer another non job related work but since I’m helpful, I go and try to teach him how to delete his cookies and history from his Internet Browser.

7. Another co-worker introduces me to the new Billing Supervisor who I have to train next week on both programs which should be fun. Training gets monotnous sometimes unless I am able to have small talk with the people I train and if they are young, I let them fill out my surveys about what they weren’t prepared for in college and their experience there…I figure they are in front of me so why not ask them for some info to help my workshop. And of course no one says no…only a few say their still doing it…which is no problem for me.

This new co-worker replaces the co-worker I gave a testimonial to in my blog that died this year after she had an aneurysm.

8. Trained two Psych residents coming off a medical rotation and basically they asked me a few questions regarding the program and they were off.

9. Talked to a couple of PSYCH residents waiting for their exam marks and talked about meeting people and how I told them how according to some of the older single women and from my observation as well, some guys just don’t know how to socialize or how to interact with women.

I think this led to me saying about picking up clues from women and guys not even responding. Then one of the PSYCH residents said that it can be dangerous especially outside a work setting and that you may get in trouble. True to a sense and he brought up the point that there is a difference in being persistent and being obnoxious and I commented that also when pursuing someone there is a fine line from being persistent and being a stalker…and some of us justed chuckled. (small laugh)…

10. Saw one of the older social workers who asked me to help fix her laptop which I still haven’t found the right time.

11. Went back to my office and the co-worker that was angry earlier was a little calmer and more jolly.

12. Didn’t take any pictures today of any of the staff but I did take pictures of my staff which I started my first day today..

13. I just chatted with the Office coordinator and she chatted about her 16 room house or the 41 acre lot she had up in the Adirondacks in upstate NY.

14. Chatted with another co-worker who worked with me last year and how one of the co-workers who is coming back had a wedding which my family and another co-worker attended. See one of my pictures…

15. The new thing about showing your last paycheck and you can get a loan close to the refund you’ll be getting when your taxes are done is being shown in a commercial which I think I only saw once. Anyway, my coworkers said that a lot of people must have seen that commercial and came to get the loan yesterday. LOAN!! LOAN!!! not your tax refund but a LOAN with exorbitant rates. Makes a credit card look like a loan goldfish…

16. One of the guys came and was excited to get the money. I looked at his paycheck and looked at the taxes he paid and before I got him to sign anything, I analysed his income and tax payments and it looked like he was going to have to pay. I told him that he wasn’t going to get a refund this year based on simple calculations.

Ironically, he didn’t make that much money and wasn’t prepared for school but yet his mom was a Dean of some school. There must have been something wrong with the upbringing or the training that made the kid be in this situation. It kind of made me think about my kids and how I need to prevent this situation from happening. In a way, it kind of reinforced my need to work on my college workshop and I gave him some guidelines about approaching school and how to be prepared. Instead of doing taxes I ended up giving him some counseling advice which I love to do anyways.

That’s about it for today. Tomorrow is a new day and I get to train a new doctor, email a director to let her know when the best time to visit her house to check her computer that her son accidentally infected when going to a school website, eating lunch with the Inpatient staff at the main hospital and having one of the dietitians sign a new password form since she changed her name and I gave her a new login. For me everyday is an adventure and therefore I try to make it exciting. Maybe I’ll get some of the nursing students to fill out my survey since I know two of them from volunteering with the Breast Cancer walk. Hopefully their classmates follow suit…I have to finish uploading last year’s pictures then send it out to the staff.

That’s it for now…gotta start learning my Russian so I can know what some of the Russian residents are talking about.  Da svidaniya!

It’s that time of the year where everyone is setting out on their New Year’s Resolutions…I being one of them…and see what we can accomplish.

Most of us has some goal or goals in mind that we want to accomplish….and depending on our will and determination, we will accomplish them. However, the others will fall back into their old habits brought by the fact by distraction and usually it all comes from the mind!!!

The most important goal that anyone needs to have or to work on is training of their mind to stay focus, to feed it with positivity, to be able to handle any distratctions, obstacles, failures, and other issues that may divert one or hamper one’s attitude in accomplishing whatever goal that they want to accomplish.

I was bad at trying to accomplish my goals back in the days and sometimes even now. However, I don’t wait once a year…I usually set myself up for the 1st of any month or the 25th (since my birthday is on October 25). Or I would do a countdown and start with 25 days from my Birthday or 25 days before New Years Day…etc. Or use Chinese New Year to start over or some holiday. Well that’s one thing about me is that if I fail on any particular day. I will set myself up again.

One has to be realistic and have a feel for one’s will and level or spirit or mental focus. I was good at the start of the New Year and didn’t eat after it turned the 1st. However, when we went to our friends house to have lunch, I first was able to control myself with a very small plate and maybe a sample of two or three dishes…like the type of samples in those grocery stores…I was doing good until I guess at one point when I was sort of not thinking about my goal and someone came and brought a good dish then the host brought out the sushi…I caved in…don’t know why? Maybe because it was there and I know I wouldn’t eat it again for a while, or maybe because someone made and Unagi dish (eel) almost like a whole tray full of dragon rolls but more laid out lasagna style, or the fact that I couldn’t control my desire to sample the food I really enjoy…

Anyways, in the end I caved in and I think ate more than I even expected…yuck. I told my wife that maybe we should have left the party earlier that way I wouldn’t be so tempted.

I did make it up today by eating a small portion for lunch and dinner and working out at the gym. I guess I’ll have to start taking strategies from AA and other areas, and apply it to food since I don’t drink…

The best strategies are from my kids since they hardly eat and are hard to feed.

DIET STRATEGIES FROM KIDS

1. You don’t think of food, but constantly think the most important time is play time

2. You are not around food or since you have to get help to open the fridge and have some adult make you food, you can’t bother with the hassle.

3. Play when eating so that you take a long time to eat your food.

4. Talk when eating and talk for 2 to 5 minutes in between bites.

5. Be very picky about the food you eat

6. Snack a little before dinner so you are not hungry during dinner

7. Run around the house and stay active not sitting for more than 5 minutes at a time.

8. Drink lots of liquids.

9. Eat very slowly so that you’re mouth gets bored of the food

10. Eat very slowly so you’re food gets cold and it doesn’t taste good cold.

I have to start employing some of my kids strategies as I try to lose weight. What can i say…my wife is a very good cook. Luckily she is not great or else I’ll become the Pilsbury dough boy…

This is one of my main goals this year though like I said, always have more than one goal and have it in different areas like financial, social, personal, intellectual, spiritual, physical, etc….

Good luck on your goals this year and I’ll try to find some information on how to keep focused to accomplish your goal…don’t expect miracles to happen though. I just started going back to the gym and I expect to reach my former peak in a couple of years….slowly but surely…I’m not worried and I don’t want to rush otherwise…it will be disappointment or else catastrophe…

That’s it…so what are your resolutions this year?

Wishing you an exciting, fun-filled,
joyous, informative, social, healthy,
high spirited, stress-free, goal
achieving, prepared, financially
prosperous, and adventurous New Year!!!

Everybody has 24 hours in a day…it is
how we use those hours that determines
our successes and failures.