Big Ticket to Boston?

With Kevin Garnett going to Boston to play with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, will the Boston Celtics win the Eastern Conference? I don’t know, but I think they will get to the Eastern Conference Finals next year (against Miami). Although the C’s now have 3 All-Star players, they don’t really have a proven PG that can help get the ball into those players hands. And with this trade, the bench is now depleted, so there are still some questions that need to be answered. The Twolves definitely got the shorter end of the stick here. They should’ve just traded KG for Amare Stoudemire straight up in June.

black currant juice

I found a place nearby that sells black currant juice/nectar. Was introduced to this earlier in the year and tastes good (kinda tastes like grape juice but not as tart). It’s supposedlygood for you, too. Hard to believe black currants was banned in the U.S. until recently.

Today I went back to the store and was bummed out to learn that it hadn’t restocked their black currant juice/nectar inventory yet (i bought out the store’s supply last week…). So I went online and bought 12 packs of black currant juice for (1 L each), with shipping and handling, came out to be about $3.12 per package or liter, which is cheaper than what I can get at the local store here ($4.30 per L total), go figure. I plan to drink 1 or 2 cups a day.

picking up tells from smokers

I had a conversation today with someone on the topic of MBWA (Management By Walking Around) and found it interesting that one could pick up ‘tells’ on certain people and situations by observing how some people smoke during their cigarette breaks. Let me break this down to you:

Nothing against smokers out there (but it is a disgusting habit that can cause lung cancer) but there are three main types:

1. The “Dang, why can’t this be pot!” smoker. This person is usually all fidgety and can’t stand still while they smoke (translation: most likely to have big problems at work and/or at home). Also, pay attention to how they’re holding their cigarettes and puffing.

2. “Look everyone, i’m too cool for school (oh, i mean work)”. (translation: “look everyone, i’m rather insecure and will impress my boss with anything other than smarts/skills”). This type of smoker I’m sure we’ve all seen before outside of malls and movie theaters.

3. the “thinker smoker”. This type of smoker actually derives inspiration from, well, smoking. You usually see very slow movements and/or tend to stand still and they’re usually looking upwards (not just when exhaling). Of the three types, this is the only truly confident one. But their confidence isn’t so much related to smoking as it to their thinking abilities.

Maybe all of this is common knowledge already and I just found out (for the record, I’m not a smoker)?

NBA games fixed? You don’t say!

Anyone surprised about this? I’m not the least bit surprised. I’ve seen some horribly called games over the years, a la the 2007 Suns-Spurs series, the 2006 Heat-Mavs series, 2002 Lakers-Kings, to name a few. You’re dealing with human nature, greed, money, desperate times (when people who bet ‘on credit’ sink into debt). I would not be surprised one bit if the 2006 Super Bowl (Steelers over the Seahawks) was fixed. You’re talking about about the biggest game there is (for betting, at least).

Some have said that the refs who fix games don’t necessarily pick one team to win, but can influence the over/under only. I would argue that while it’s not likely that the refs purposely decided a game in favor of one team (too risky as it’ll blow their cover), he or she can change the outcome by calling some fouls in the fourth quarter (for the over/under) and let the free throws decide the game. The ref has no control whether the player will make his free throws, but if he wants the total points to go over, he will call fouls against the team with the worse free throw percentage so that the higher free throw percentage shooters get to the line. The better teams tend to have better free throw shooters, so it’s in the gambling refs best interest to have the better team go to the line. So that, my friend, is how a ref can change the outcome of a game. Which can explain the parities between the good teams and the bad teams. In other words, the bad teams in the NBA are not as bad as they look. They just don’t get the calls.

on race and gender

I came across an Asian/Asian-American woman’s blog recently where she describes some racist/ignorant stuff that she’s had to endure. I’ll admit that before I read this, I thought that Asian women tend to not have these types of experiences, at least when compared to their male counterparts, since in anthropological terms, women historically tend to be fetishized as commodities and usually are not perceived as “threats” to society like minority men tend to be viewed as. This is evident in the racist practice of seemingly ‘welcoming’ the females while casting off (or replace ‘cast’ with ‘kill’) the males, which was rampant during Christopher Columbus’ day.

The other way to read her blog entry is that this must be a real rarity for her (to have to deal with ignorance or racism) that it’s a big deal for her whereas most Asian/Asian-American males probably have gone through that a million times before, that it’s simply not worth writing about. But I still believe that on the whole, Asian/Asian-American women in the U.S. have it a lot easier and experience far less racism than Asian/Asian-American males.

Tonight I bought an Elliott’s Amazing Orange Mango Juice Cocktail drink the bookstore cafe and under the cap it read:

“Music is Love in search of a word.” – Sidney Lanier

As much as I like the above quote, I can’t help but think that Lanier said this only to be remembered by posterity. To me, music is an abstract concept, dimensionless yet is omnipresent. Can take on any form and can be anywhere and everywhere at the same time. It is an angel and a devil, rolled up in one.

Well, at least the bottle cap got me thinking… Funny that the best musicians in history have always seemed to struggle with love. (btw, by “musicians”, I’m not talking about pop singers or rappers, but the really gifted instrumental/classically-trained musicians). I think it’s because musicians tend to be such idealists that precisely at the moment that they “feel” it, they see it for what it is. A prime example would be Brahms…

Maintaining proper ‘balance’ in life isn’t easy, as I’ve learned. I’m pretty busy now, with the new projects at my work and having to start studying again for my retake. And I haven’t played the piano in months, although I’ve had many opportunities to do so, probably I’ve mistook playing piano for a potential distraction to my work and studies, when in reality, spending some quality time on the piano on a regular basis would’ve been somewhat therapeutic and helped me achieve more ‘balance’ that could help in my work and studies.

So I’m going to learn some more Chopin pieces (Waltzes) and maybe a Rachmaninoff Prelude (Op. 23, No. 7?)–or the Moment Musical No. 4?

I figured if my entire day is spent solely on maintaining my own existence (repeat daily), then that’s not a life I want to live. I think musical endeavors, however big or small, can help with one’s search for meaning in the screwed up world that we live in.

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Boeing unveiled their new 787 Dreamline airplane today. A plane that’s made of carbon-fiber composites. But what does this mean for air travelers? Well, according to Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney, “the 787 will bring about a ‘dramatic improvement in air travel: to make it more affordable, comfortable and convenient for passengers, more efficient and profitable for airlines, and more environmentally progressive for our Earth.’”

I wonder if it will be ‘more affordable’ for these airlines or for the consumers or both? I don’t know why it would be cheaper for passengers to fly on these since the entire airline industry is desperately finding ways to increase their margins. Also, notice that nowhere does the above mention improvements in safety.

paying attention to breathing

Life requires oxygen (well, except for anaerobic organisms). So it goes without saying then that to bring music to life, it needs to breathe. It’s not enough to note the rests and where the phrases begin and end, in the musical sense, but physiologically, the musician needs to pay close attention to his or her breathing while playing. This is one major area that I can improve in, and I’ve had piano professors comment on my this.

Working on breathing Lose Weight Exercises is not easy and requires a lot of discipline. My musical phrasing can benefit from breathing more optimally and it can explain why I feel that my performances, while decent, are usually not my best showing. Without being trained in optimal breathing, the adrenaline will tend to overwhelm and you’re so conscious on not screwing up and at times, forget to just play. You also forget to breath and as a result, your hands get stiff and the music sounds as if it were played by an automaton.

Once I improve my breathing, I can then start working on proper balance…

Currently listening to: Sergei Rachmaninoff – The Complete Recordings (10 disc set)

on comparing the U.S. healthcare system to France’s

Michael Moore has this new Sicko documentary on the U.S. health care system (compared to France). While I haven’t seen this movie yet, I’ve read a column in the Businessweek article that pretty much sides with Moore’s thesis–that the French system is probably better.

What the article doesn’t mention (and I hope Moore’s movie does, but highly doubt it since it would sort of go against his argument) is that on the whole, obesity is not as big a problem in France as it is here in the U.S. So it’s likely that the French socialized healthcare system wouldn’t necessarily be better for Americans, since a lot of U.S. cases are related to being overweight (heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc) and are, for the most part, preventable.

Also, most of the countries that have ‘model’ health care systems are countries with a much smaller population such as France, Canada, and the U.K. In general, with a smaller population, things are easier to manage.

Until sales from fast-food chains drop significantly and the government starts regulating the pharmaceutical industry, i can’t see how our healthcare system will improve.