Xbox 360 or Wii

I long for Wii ever since its launch. I never got a chance to own a Wii since it is always out of stock in the bay area. Few days ago friends said they wanted to sell their Wii. The info came just at a good time. I just re-engaged myself in my living room project. In this project, projector, amplifier, and a game console are the foundation. With the foundation set, I can go ahead to planning the sofa and windows coverings. I before just assumed the game console would be Xbox 360. Reasons were simple. PS3 is good but its features are not for me. Wii is attractive but I don't want to fly to Mid West to get a Wii. Another issue with Wii is its resolution. If I get a Wii, then I will need a DVD player to ensure the image quality. So, it sounds like the only game console that fits my needs is Xbox 360. I thought so and never doubt this assumption. But things come to surprise me sometimes. I got a DVD player at an unplanned chance. And now, a Wii is just few miles away. Xbox 360 and Wii are tied now. Need some advice, perhaps both technical and practical advice.

Smile when you feel blue

I felt and feel blue today. Super blue. I went out to stroll since a stroll might do me good. I walked around and found some interesting paths. Not necessary short cuts but just explored the neighborhood. Outside the weather is sunny and yet windy. Tend to put hands in pockets. But, I somehow wanted my hands to taste the cool weather and the warm breeze so I forced my hands to stay out. Mind, cleared. Feet, set on stroll. I looked up, the sun was strong. Today should be a sunny day, why I feel blue? I strolled and tried to give the peace back to my mind. The mind strolled too. But not with me. At some points I was wonder where my mind was. On the way back, the mind path and the feet path collided. Fortunately they collided. I called my mind back. I squeezed a smile. Magic. The smile made my blue fades away. Not completely. But the smile has some magic power. Try to smile when you feel blue. My two cents.

Draining away

Started from yesterday, something was not right. Because the line was too long, because the burger was not prepared well, because the anime episodes turned to boring, or because Monday was coming? Maybe all of them or none of them. I went to bed before 10 since I felt tired but could not fall into sleep. Turned and tossed. After many hours I was awaken. Felt something. The stomach was not right. The mind was not in peace. I felt something was draining away. Not sure what. But just knew it. Today I felt super tired. So blue. The energy level is low. The happy level hits the red area. What is going on? Because?

Time to reward

Reward? Yes, reward my tummy. I changed. From a no-cooking me to a cooking-is-fun me. I got a training from my sister-in-law. She lived in Shanghai for some years and at those times a mama-san prepared this dish for her. She liked it a lot and asked the mama-san how to do it. Since then this dish has become her signature dish (she has many). The dish is so tasty so I asked her to teach me. The teaching was interesting and yet frustrating. Not only due to my poor cooking skills, the non-specified amount for each ingredient also complicates the teaching. I did my diligence and was so looking forward to practe. The first try was successful. I have tried this recipe twice with modifications and both results were super yummy.

What is needed
- Rice cakes: 1/2 package
- Cabbage: 1/2
- Pork: 1/2 lb
- Mushroom: 1/2 cup
- Carrot: 3
- Green onion: 2
- Rice wine: 2 tablespoon
- White pepper: 3 tablespoon
- Soy sauce: 2 tablespoon
- Oyster sauce: 2 tablespoon
- Corn starch: 1 teaspoon
- Oil: 2 tablespoon

On the show
- Cut cabbage, pork, mushroom, carrot to long and narrow pieces
- Marinate cut pork with the rice wine, corn starch, and soy sauce for 5 min
- Heat a big pan and add the oil in
- Cook the mushroom till it becomes golden brown
- Put carrot in
- Put cabbage in
- Put pork in
- Add 1 tablespoon white pepper
- Put green onion in
- Put rice cakes in
- Add 2 tablespoon white pepper
- Cook until the rice cakes become soft
- Add water if rice cakes resist to becoming soft after 2 min
- Add oyster sauce in the mix
- Turn off the heat after 30 sec

Then here is the easy and yet delicious dish. The portion above are for 4 people

Oh its name is

Name is such an interesting thing. Not for people but for objects. Have you ever had an experience in which you tried to explain a sales what object you wanted to see? You know its name in your language so you translate it to another language without a second thought. But the sales just could not understand the name coming out from you. You added some gesture and explanations. And still... frustrating shopping experience. Then you went home to check the name online and surprisingly found out the name in another language is so different from what you thought. Bleah. You think the people who gave the name to this object are weird. They just don't know this object. You don't agree with the name in another language. But you still want to have it. Ok, give in, memorize this new name and take off for your shopping. Aha, this time, you got what you want.

Edgy

Things go funny. My mind becomes unsettled. I become unnerved. Yesterday police stopped by. I was surprised to see them. They asked me if I knew a person. They said they came here to arrest this person. I told them this person is not at my place. They told me the person's previous address is my current address. They then showed me this person's picture. I looked at it at least 30 seconds long and yet could not tell whether I have seen this person. I guess when the race is different from yours, it is harder to recognize the difference among people. They kept asking me some questions. I asked a question back when they finished their inquiries. I asked what crime this person has committed. The police replied "burglary". Darn. I become edgy. A burglar lived in this house before? Well all my goose bumps are back

Fat attack

Consciously and unconsciously I touch my waist to see the fat level. Recently I found some attacks from fat. Well my diet habits stay the same. I exercise regularly. How come the fat is growing? Isn't my diet balanced? Is my exercise not enough? Do I need to reduce the sleep length? Don't tell me the fat attacks are normal as we grow older... The last reason I would like to believe.

Look to myself

Do you ever have this feeling? You look to yourself in mirror and yet you have a strange feeling. The one in the mirror does not match to what you thought you are. Because you are changing but the one in your memory has not been updated? Or somehow with no reason.

Poke

Could not believe that I gave that statement. His questions poked the scar. And I tried to look cool. I believe I gave out a false impression. The girl who said those sentences was not me. Why did I do so? I don't know. I could not express my thoughts frankly to people that I don't know well. Perhaps. I was in a defensive mode perhaps so too. I felt so uncomfortable yesterday ever since I spoke out those words. A strange day.

Stroll

Stroll becomes my new hobby. Quite into it these days. 15 to 30 min. Walk to the downtown or just wander around in the park. I used to walk a lot before I came here. The life style here does not require me to walk any more. Just drive, drive, and drive. It's convenient to drive around in a sense that you can go to where you want and with no rely on the public transportation. But, somehow, driving loses some fun compared with strolling. I picked up this hobby not a long ago. Stroll does not require any particular skills. No particular destination. I stroll as much as I like. Relax my mind. I just empty my thoughts. I walk around and observe others. Open up the mind. See how others appreciate life, enjoy life, and kill time.

My spare tire

You never know how it got you. It is always too late when you see it on you. Well. The spare tire has dual meanings as you know and here I mean the one around your waist. I successfully got rid of my spare tire two weeks ago. I thought it would not come back soon but, but, but, you know the drill. Darn, how come my spare tire loves where it was so much? There must be a way to prevent its coming back. There must be.

Big bang

Heard about this from NPR. I went to BBC to see more details. This type experiment is too complex to understand. Yet the ambition behind is admirable. Physics knowledge has faded away to almost zero left. But, I still remember some terms such as big bang theory. I read the BBC article twice but did not get much. Or maybe BBC reporter did not get much on this experiment either? The brief on this experiment sounds intriguing. Wonder if any program would try to shoot a film on how Cern operates the LHC. I want to see the magnets and the follow-up after the collision.

My lord

Based on the reviews on Internet, I picked Terro as my ant killer brand. I was glad I did not use it last week. Last night, I saw ants crawl and could not help wanting to terminate them. The feeling of seeing many ants occupying is terrifically horrible. I recalled I have Terro. So I was happily getting it out. I placed some Terro liquid on Terro papers around the attacked areas. I never expected this little liquid could be so attractive. The Terro papers (each of them is around 1 inch by 1 inch) were popular as super stars for ants. They communicated with each other and yelled "come quickly or you will miss it". The papers attracted ant army. Tens first, hundreds second, thousands third. They came from somewhere close by the exterior wall. I never expected so many ants living under the house or around the house. Each killer machine got hundreds of patrons. I don't know whether these killer machines would help me get rid of ants but with no doubt ants love them a lot. This morning I checked these killer machines. Still lots of live ants running around. Terribly bad. Bad ants. Bad ants.

A peach on the desk

It has been a week. The smell from it is subtle. It comes and goes. The light sweet smell somehow soothes me. I am not a peach person. But I like its smell.

Quick sand organization

That organization must be a quick sand. Quick to go in but hard to get out. Suck out all your energy and leave you at the bottom and you then will be suffocated. That organization was once the one I was thinking to go to. Until this noon. At noon I had a lunch with my favorite manager. She told me an shocking news. She wants to leave. She is a strong woman. Sharp and firm. Easy going in a way. She moved to that organization some months ago. I met her new boss and I know what makes up in that big organization. She should have a bright future in that organization. How come she wants to leave? After 10 min I knew why she made this decision. I felt sad for her. She lost some confidence. The person sitting across me was not the person I used to know. I knew something must have happened during the past 7 months. She helped me grow and I am so grateful that I had the chance to work for her. When I worked for her, we barely had a chance to have lunch together. After she moved on to that organization, we became more like friends. Not a boss direct report relationship any more. I was sad to see a torn her. She looked traumatized. We continued chatting and exchanged our thoughts. I suddenly realized that organization is a quick sand organization. I may have a bright future. But would the trying be worth it?

Hey oh yeah so long

The sleep was so long. Last night I have a great than ever sleep. In which sense? In a sense that I have a 12 hour sleep. Really? Correct. Not on purpose. I forgot to set up my alarm. I woke up once this morning and thought time was still early so I went back to sleep without checking the time. I laid on the bed comfortably and wondered how come this sleep feels longer than usual. I checked my cell phone and oh no. It was 10:16 already. I supposed to get up at 7:30. I have three meetings in a row from 10. So doomed. The worst thing was that I did not bring my work computer back. I did not have the extension numbers with me. So I was not able to call the meeting attendees that I would be late. I quickly changed and left. I drove fast on 101. Of course I called my manager first. Left a long message to reschedule a meeting. Then I called several other people and hope I could get a hold of someone. Guess no one really recognized my cell phone number. I redialed and got a person. Got two other phone numbers and if you happened to drive next to me and you would see a girl drove with one hand, held a phone with the other, busy dialing, driving, looking around in the car, pressing buttons, talking, and checking the road condition. When I arrived, I heard someone called my name. Strange. I parked my car in another building on purpose (I was ashamed to park in my usual building?) In addition, the time I arrived was abnormal. It was impossible to bump into any acquaintance at that time in that building. Oh, it was my favorite manager. I was surprised to see her and she was surprised to see me as well. We chitchatted a bit. Then I hurried up heading myself to a person's office since I was so late. Then surprisingly that person told me to come back at 11. Apparently she got my voicemail and moved the meeting. I was so embarrassed. I returned to my office. I was restless and yet felt so fresh. Thanks to the 12 hour sleep, my mind was not in a messy mode. I quickly decided what needs to be done and started spending my short morning running around buildings and checking emails. Hey oh yeah so long the sleep and so short my morning.

Coffee

My coffee has its own personality. Normally it is adorable. But today I saw its dark side. I like coffee. I was addicted to the caffeine and am trying to restrict my caffeine consumption to one cup of coffee everyday with three or four cups of tea. Today I gave myself a right to have two cups of coffee. The first cup was normal. Adorable. And yet the second cup was so bitter. Harshly bitter. I am quite sure I put the same ingredients and similar proportion. Could not explain why the results were like south and north. Warm south and cruel north. It seems like today my coffee tried to show its dark side personality.

Nightmare

Ants. I was so surprised to see ants this morning. But due to the time constraint, I did not look into what brought them to the living room. Tonight, I was more surprised, or said shocked to see an ants army. The army linked a nice wavy route across the living and kitchen. Quite a good shape but I did not appreciate it at all. I was freaked out. Absolutely. I was so hungry and was thinking to cook something nice for dinner before I was home. But this shock dragged me to a black hole and after 10 min I was exhausted. I at least killed 100 ants before I started cooking something. I did not want to stop but I knew it would be better to eat something before I started another killing. I took some ant traps. The ants found the traps and communicated with their comrades. I saw groups of ants gathering quickly nearby each trap. But still lots of individuals resisted to try traps. I challenged those individuals for 30 min. My dinner energy faded away. I was in a battle mode. Spotting enemy and firing. The non stop killing somehow triggered the stomachache. What a nightmare.