building parking structures

saw a natgeo documentary on how a 28-story parking structure was built, and it was quite fascinating. they tried this new method where they built up AND down at the same time in order to save time. very cool!

church today

sermon today (trinity grace church in NYC) was quite good. it was about how people treat each other - what people in general do today, and what we should be doing instead. today, people compare and condemn each other. the first thing we do when we meet someone is make an opinion, then use fact to solidify any opinions,  and then emotion to build the relationship. that is where people usually stop. they don't move to vulnerability, then compassion and then finally brotherly love. it is the last three things that one needs to build a true relationship with another. and it is only on the last phase where you can GENTLY encourage people to do good and to support each other. 

key word here is "gently," because often times, we end up telling our loved ones to change their behavior by forcing down their throats. that only starts a vicious cycle of us telling them to "try harder" -> which leads to the person feeling "guilt" -> then eventually "failure" and then starting all over at "try harder" (there are four steps in total but i can't remember them all). 

the key is to gently nudge the person in the right direction, where it is done in a timely manner and a gradual change (as a reminder, you should be doing this once you have reached the love stage of getting to know someone, not the opinion/fact phase). and this is where i fail miserably. a lot of times, i literally tell others to "try harder" and just try to force change without taking into consideration that it will only fail. i need to be gentler, i need to show more love, and i need to do it to myself as well.

there's a lot more to the sermon that i don't remember and did not mention, but i figured i would write this out now before i forget everything else.

glee cast

they can really sing. like... really sing.

funny but disgusting line i heard today

"she's so hot, i would eat the corn from her poo."

First Earth Army Battalion

wow. very weird... the US Army sounds pretty innovative (and desperate).

http://www.firstearthbattalion.org/?q=node/125

tangents

they absolutely drive me crazy, especially when in a meeting. i hate HATE HATE them.

different people

want different things. trying to figure out each person's wants and needs is such a chore.

lessons from lincoln

thought this was pretty cool:
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2010/05/7-must-read-life-lessons-from-abraham.html



“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”
"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”
“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
“Reputation is like fine china, once broken it's very hard to repair.”
“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
“The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can…”

babies

babies can handle those automatic rockers at pretty high speeds. just like the viking rides at six flags.

the cheetah

not very good.

once again

my daily french phrase desk calendar predicts the future.

today's lesson: on dirait qu'il va pleuvoir... it looks like it might rain.

Gmail

don't ever get your gmail account hacked in to (not sure how you can prevent this). google's customer service is absofreakinglutely atrocious.

treating burns

the first you DON'T do is put ice on it. otherwise it rubs off your burn and exposes your second layer. ouch.

miyazaki movies

why are they so bad when dubbed with english, but so cute when you read the subtitles. is it just more acceptable to have japanese voices be so cute and english voices not?

Glee

just saw clips of them performing live on youtube, and have to admit, i'm quite impressed.

feeding animals at the atlanta zoo

at the atlanta zoo, they only eat apples... and the lions eat tiny pieces of ground meat... how boring.

belongs on the food blog but...

Alma de Cuba in Philly... amazing.

I miss my husband. Haven't really seen or talked with him all week.

The Dad's Garage board is probably the best board in the arts world.

Why do people micromanage so much

face problems

for me, they always occur all at once.

the taste of steak

according to a WSJ article today, the taste of steak is NOT determined by the fat or marbling. it's still a mystery what makes good steak taste good, but a lot of it has to do with what they eat, weight and age at time of slaughter. safe bet is to go with british or wagyu beef.

SNL

one subtle but noticeable difference between the older generation (as in, 90's and early 2000's) of the SNL cast and the current one is the reliance on cue cards. the older generation seemed to know their lines well enough to not have to blatantly read off cue cards the whole skit, never really making eye contact. the new generation only looks at cue cards.

what a boring lesson i learned today.

good quote

The downhill path is easy, but there's no turning back. - Christina Georgina Rossetti

change

aileen worked hard to get me to this point, but has managed to get me to eat and ENJOY fish, and WEAR contacts.


if that's not proof that people can change, i don't know what is.

cinco de mayo

what a big crowd this day draws at our building...random.

sunglasses

they all look pretty much the same to me, but when you find a cool pair and try them on, none of them look right. maybe it's because asians have no bridges on their nose.


same goes for watches. i think with asians, it's the small wrists.

pens

who know that so much craftsmanship can go into a simple ball point pen? and why am i a sucker for it?

filming car scenes in movies

saw a movie shoot from our condo today. not sure which movie. the scene was a car chase (we think). the coolest part though was the use of a porsche cayenne turbo modified to be a moving movie camera. it looked so freakin cool.... aileen will post pics of it later (got it aileen?).

in the meantime, here's a link to the company that makes it. pursuit systems. so awesome.

people changing with windows open

old people don't give a crap about it.