Origami

Did you know?

Some people gave up their careers in science to be an origami (paper-folding) artist.

The commissions for an artist could be as high as 20,000 dollars!

Origami designs could be done by softwares.

Origami artists can now make folds that are impossible in the past such as dinosaurs and ants in one piece of paper.

Wild Hogs vs Support for Bush

There was an interesting article on the wild hog population in the U.S in New Yorker. The author hypothesized that the number of wild hogs in a county or a state is a strong indicator of whether the said county or state voted for Bush in 2004. In other words, states free of wild hogs, mostly blue states, voted for Kerry while Red states, where wild hogs concentrate, voted for Bush.

One exception to this theory is Australia, where wild hogs outnumbers human population but Bush is not very popular. There, the rule does not apply overseas, the author concedes. What about the predictive ability of the theory? I am somewhat sure the population of wild hogs is expanding their base in the U.S.. Does it mean Democrats have to swallow another loss in the coming year? How confusing! at least for now. Polls are showing Hillary Clinton is leading in the polls by a wide margin. But who knows? There might be another recount.

Tidbits: wild hogs are delicious, according to the article; dog guys refer to hunters who use dogs to catch boars.

Life more complete--- a court appearance

Never imagined a law-abiding guy like me would have to go to a court for a traffic ticket, if anything, but again I would not have imagined having police sirens blaring behind my car just seconds after a U-turn.

Let me tell you what happened prior to my court appearance. It was an evening in July. After my tennis match, I thought I would go to Wal Mart to buy some stuff. It was a different road than I usually I was frightened to say the least at the time and had to wait in my car for the policeman who caught me, which seemed a long 30 minute. During that interval another policeman pulled over and started chatting with the first policeman, who I don’t know was doing all this while. The chat and laughs seem random and not relevant to the situation. I got sweaty from both my tennis, the hot weather, and of course the scare, hoping impatiently for the whole thing to be over. Finally the other police rode away and I sensed it was probably time to face my catcher. I waited and waited and it was still nobody at my window. I got impatient, stepped out of my car, and started towards the police car parked 10 feet behind mine, at which time I was shouted at to go back. Eventually a black guy came by the window and handed me a ticket. I was so nervous and I did not even ask why I got a ticket (there were no signs in sight, which I did not see at the time and was confirmed by my subsequent trip). Then he gave me another ticket when I failed to show a valid insurance card (I did not have the renewed card in the car).

Back to the court. The judge first dealt with housing docs such as occupancy permits and such and the trial cases would have to follow after. He called out people by the order of their last names and each of the defendants will go to the podium where the judge is seated. There is a court clerk who issues case forms and a sidekick judge who reviews some cases and sifts out the defendants who wants to plead guilty instead of going on trial. I took a New York with me, as I knew from the last time I came to get my insurance ticket resolved that I probably had to wait 2 or 3 hrs before my name was called.

Two hours later, I just heard the last few names on the housing docs called. There were still 20 people in the room. I got so discouraged. Do I have to waste the whole night to get my case, because my name would be the last to be called? I almost wanted to just pay the fine and leave, but I dissuaded myself. I had already spent some uneasy days and nights of worrying how the case will turn out and I was not going to give up at the last minute. Here comes the time when the cases became lively and I needed bury my head in the New Yorker articles. A black guy was charged with operating a car with illicit plates and unregistered vehicle while he stated that he was not the driver of the car but just babysat an infant, but would not bring the owner of the car to court to test on his behalf. A pregnant white woman was charged with not stopping at a stop sign. Her defense: she stopped, as the police statement showed, but just not long enough. She also tried to discredit the policeman by asking what color her vehicle was. Denying that her car was silver, as the police replied, she almost made me believe she had won the case. The police then said she did not have a valid insurance card at the time, which prompted the women into saying she now remembered that she was driving her mother’s car that day and it was indeed silver. But she still insisted that she stopped her car, as in the police’s statement, but not long enough. The sidekick judge cut in by saying it was hard for the court to trust her memory, since she could not remember which car she was driving and then want the court to believe she stopped. Then the judge declared the case closed by declaring the women guilty, at which point the defendant raised her voice by announcing the judge believed the words of the police against hers. She did not stop her distrust of the judge and the conspiracy as she grabbed the forms and stepped out of the court. The judge just had it and ordered her to get back into the court and shut up. Interpreted as contemptuous of the court, She was taken back and sat her in a chair at the front. As this happened, I sensed the realness of the court. And it was of note that none of the “not guilty” cases turned out what the defendants wanted.

I was lucky the officer who issued me the ticket was on funeral leave; I only had to pay the court fee and no conviction on my record, hooray! I was really relieved as I was paying the court fee, because no matter how strong a case I have (in this case there was no No-U-turn sign, but a police woman told me if the police thought you caused a congestion or danger, where the flexibility lies), I would have a hard time pulling off, as the trials I witnessed all proved unfailingly.

Miscellaneous thoughts

Played almost 2 hours of tennis and I lost in a tiebreaker (6:4, 5:7, 1:3). I had chances to finish in 2 straight sets when I led 3:0 in the second but then lost focus when it started drizzling. We kept on playing because the astroturf surface are pretty tolerant of a little rain. It was the best weather possible of all summer heat, since I was not sweating my head off. Just wish I had won and broke the streak of loss against Bill. I felt I hang tough on some points by bending very low to get through some shots, not panicking at the net ( I think I got a winner at the net, which is an improvement), and had some extremely lucky shots. My biggest problem is still my backhand, which was inconsistent if I was rushed and not in position.

Had a hair cut on Sat. As usual I requested the barber to cut it short all the way. As gray is making serious inroads on my head, I thought it would be best for me to have it really short. It sorta works this way and I feel better about myself this way. As my hair grows pretty fast and I don't prefer the long-haired look due to grayness or not caring for long-hair at all on men, I do have to have a haircut very often, like once a month.

I always thought that Americans get rich by investing in stocks. To follow their steps with full aspirations to becoming financially comfortable, I decided to take a look at my retirement allocations during the weekend. Some sectors (guaranteed, money market) are not doing well at all while some stocks I hold (SP500) are not holding up well against other stocks. Consequently I reallocated the distributions of my retirement savings and hopefully I will have a bigger return. I am also considering a non-retirement investment. Will have to talk to some experts at the investment company I am with first. After all money begets itself. It only makes sense to have a plan that produces more than just the regular 5% at the bank.

Weekend

I promised myself I would write something once a while at least. So here I am...

The weekend starts tomorrow. As usual no plans, which is not correct. I have emailed my realtor about seeing some houses tomorrow; he has not replied yet. I also plan to call Bill, my tennis partner for a while now, to play tennis. He is flying around the nation to promote his medical software business and we have not played much for weeks, so hopefully I'll get a match with him in the morning.

It is suddenly chilly from the Indian summer days unusual in the past month. It was unbelievably hot last Sat when I played tennis. Tomorrow is going to be such a change: only 60s and it may also rain, which is not cool.

Next Monday I am scheduled to appear in court for a traffic ticket. I almost wanted to pay the fine of 75 dollars in advance to not show up, but what the heck I will just go ahead and complete my life with the experience, as friends and alike will advise. I seriously doubt I am going to win but maybe it is just the idea of appearing in public that I am afraid of. Let's hope I still have the courage by the end of the week.

Go, Li Na

The 2007 Australia Open started this week. By the end of the first week, Li Na is the only Asian tennis player remaining; she made into the fourth round and will play Martina Hingis tommorow (Jan 21), grand-slam winner and the comeback success story last year.

Li Na is a good player trying to fight her way in the ranking. She ranks 16 now, her personal career best. With the performance in Australia Open, her ranking is going to improve further. Recently Li Na has been playing great tennis. Last week she came back from one set down to oust Dementieva, the Russian player ranking no.8. After that, she had a tight 3-set match against Kim Clijsters, the US-Open champion. Today she overwhelmed world n0-10 Safina, Marat Safin's kid sister in two easy sets. Since Li Na is not a top ten player yet, her matches in the Australia Open were not broadcast in U.S at all. So I am not really familiar with her game at all but I do follow tennis news and reports regularly (almost obsessively) and know that she has a strong forehand and move well. However, with the advance in Internet technology, I was able to watch the last few games between Li Na and Safina. It was almost hard to believe that Safina appeared to be the one scrambling to save the balls! I almost felt sad for her, as she could not keep up with the great-angle shots Li pulled off on her.

I believe one of the reasons that Li Na is playing so well has a lot to do with CTA's recent decision to have Li's husband Jiang Shan as her new coach. It was Jiang who persuaded Li to resume playing after Li Na abruptly retired from tennis a few years ago, following Li's dissatisfaction with CTA. Li said Jiang knew how to comfort her and she feels calm and can win games when he is present. This may sound exaggerated a little, but it does indicate Li counted on Jiang's presence a lot. So far this decision proved wise. Li Na has been very consistent in her game, which used to trouble her and ruin her chances to go further in a tournament.

Tomorrow she is going to play Hingis. She stands a good chance to blow past Hingis as her recent matches showed she overcame mental hurdles in tight matches and has started to believe in herself. In addition, Hingis is not good at handling power players like Li Na. But Hingis plays smart and her drop shots and sense of the game is superb. As long as Li Na plays her own game and keep her UEs down, the match is winnable. Maybe I will get to see her live on TV, as Hingis's matches are usually played on TV. Anyway, good luck, Li Na.

Office Birthday Party

We have an office tradition. Everybody's birthday will be celebrated, with the treat provided by a co-worker. Of course it is good etiqutte for the treat-maker to ask beforehand what the birthday boy/girl would like on the day of celebration.

Yesterday we actually had two birthday bashes, my boss' and another officemate. Not that the two birthdays fall on the same day; they are only close, so it makes sense to combine them and have double the fun.

My boss is a health devotee. She asked for carrots and dip. And she got that and more. Her treatmaker also brought broccoli, cauliflower, and celery, not to mention two dips. My officemate got canned strawberries and a fluffy kind of cake (actually taste good!). While enjoying the delicacies, one person asked my boss what she would be doing for her birthday. My boss matter-of-fact said she would be double up her workout that day. We were all shocked and amused at the same time; I then realized it was actually just my boss's style and it was none of our business to pass judgements on others' way of celebrating just because there is certain expectation on such ocassion.

Nobody said anything but smiling or guffawing until somebody blurted out "Are you really? Are you really going to do that?". My boss continued in her nonapologetic tone, 'I jogged in the morning and I am going to do bike exercises after work'. At this we all could not helping being amazed by the information.

When the turn came for the other birthday person to announce her birthday plans, she said, glancing my boss's way and almost in a defiant but nonthreatening tone, she would go to a bar, get a pizza, and drink a lot. The two plans juxtoposed together made such a contrast that we all had a healthy laugh out of it.