Category: General

Tonight we watched the Miss Universe pagent, skipping insignificant portions with fast forward and 30-second skip, courtesy of Tivo.  Now typically the show is not particularly exciting, but each of us picked a contestant to root for starting with the final 15.   Jeffrey chose Greece, Grace chose Dominican Republic, Carol chose Venezuela, Karen chose Israel, David chose Peru, Freddy (David’s brother) chose Puerto Rico.  Unfortunately, none of us won as Canada took the crown.  The closest was Freddy’s runner up Puerto Rico.  His sophisticated hieuristic for making choices was … choosing the worst candidate, and while the rest of us dropped like flies, he made it as far as the runner up to Miss Universe!  Go figure.

While watching, we noticing celebrity resemblances.  I noticed that Grace, an Alias addict, may have subconsciously chosen Dominican Republic due to her close resemblance to Jennifer Garner.  Let’s put up pictures for comparison:

Miss Dominican Republic

Jennifer Garner

Carol made some associations herself.  She thought that my Mexico looked like Mariah Carey:

Miss Mexico

Mariah Carey

And that Miss South Africa looked like Celine Dion:

Miss South Africa

Celine Dion

Do you see the resemblance here?  I believe mine is the closest thank you very much. 😀

Not exactly world shattering news, however.  Any bum could have arrived at the same conclusion while snoring in their sleep.  I must say, though, that unlike The Apprentice where they had boring fillers with zero substance, the Idol finale drew my attention, for the most part.  Except for the rehash of the audition tapes, I enjoyed watching finalists such as Jessica Sierra come back. Vonzell sang beautifully, Bo and Carrie’s duet was smooth, and Simon’s segment was hilarious, even if partially serving as a therapeutic exercise for Paula’s scandal.

What’s next?  So You Think You Can Dance?  Will need to keep an eye on that one.

I’ve always had a fear e-bay.  What about the scams?  What if you bought a telescope only to receive a magnifying glass?  I’ve seen an e-bay entry where they sold an empty XBox Box for over a hundred!  You can spend the entire week tracking an item only to find out that you didn’t get the item because someone outbid you in the last few seconds.

Recently, though, I’ve noticed more and more acquaintances who frequently conduct transactions on ebay.  A coworker of mine bid on a gas pump used in a movie for over $1000.  I thought his mind went cuckoo, but he justified it with the fact that he can always recoup the cost by resell it on ebay.  I also know that olivetheotherreindeer regularly makes bead accessories and sells them on ebay, and Tim bought some nice Mariners tickets for much cheaper than the face value.

I decided to give ebay a try.

I got two Ichiro bobbleheads, so I listed one on e-bay.  So far so good.  I have an old shaver that I love but could not find the replacement blade and foil locally anywhere any more.  I found one on ebay.  They normally run $18-$25 in online stores, but I got one for $6.99.  We’ll see if it is delivered as promised.

If it all works, I may just have sweep through my garage to see if I can find some junk to sell.  As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!  🙂

Karen and I finished our own Star Wars trilogy marathon, starting from Thursday until today, one episode a day.  It wasn’t until today that I noticed something disturbing in the Return of the Jedi DVD.  This is the original scene I remember:

This is what I saw instead:

What the heck?  Since when did Hayden Christensen get in there, and with the evil eyes too!  Come on!  Stop trying to tweak things.  What’s with Anakin staying forever young next to the Old-Bi Wan?   And to top it off, the original ending music was replaced by another weak ending music. 

In watching this marathon, I noticed there are more holes between the prequels and sequels than my stinking socks!  For one, in the sequels, Yoda seemed to have trained Obi-Wan.  In the prequel, it was Qui-Gon.  In the sequels, it appears that Obi-Wan was also pretty old when trained, but in the prequel, even the baby Anakin was too old.  In the sequels, the emperor refers to the light saber as a Jedi weapon, but he himself used it as a Sith.  Also, in the scene when Luke asked Leia about her mother, they were both there and were both infants!  How could she have remembered anything?  Baby Force?

After watching everything, I must decidedly say that sequels kick the prequels’ butts.  I missed the great acting of Harrison Ford as the smarty pants with witty remarks.  By contrast, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman are as stiff as the bolts on the tires of my CR-V!  C-3PO beats Jar Jar the clown any day.  Oh, and there’s something about CGI that just subconsciously doesn’t seem as realistic as muppets.  The old Yoda, for example, just seemed more real even if it’s some little dude holding a Yoda head.

Still, Episode III does tie the prequels with the sequels nicely.

So after attending Shakina and seeing the kneeling prayer warriors, it brought me back to the question of the charismatics versus the conservatives.  Do we embrace the spiritual matters, or do we focus on faith alone?  Should we search our feelings, or do the feelings lead to the Dark Side?

During my high school years, one of the worship leaders at my church, Daniel, was “filled with the spirit” at a conference and started busting out in tongues.  He said he was overflowing with joy that he started crying, and this coming from a geeky computer major.  My first experience with such an event was when we had a fellowship night where some people from another fellowship came over for a “spiritual filling” night. Despite those people layed their holy hands and chanted some mombo jumbo in Greek (as if God spoke Greek better than English), I did not speak in tongues that night, but neither did Daniel.  So much for that.  I have been researching this topic since, but let’s analyze the pros and cons I’ve observed so far.

On one hand, if you accept charismatics, then you believe that the gifts still exist.  That means people still speak in tongues, have gift of healing, have word of knowledge, cast out demons, and prophesy.  As a result, people in charismatic churches tend to seek God more because God is more real.  They pray to God more often, humble at the feet of God, and are more sensitive to spiritual matters such as spiritual attacks.  They follow God with their hearts.  Admirable.

On the other hand, if the very Spirit that inspired the apostles still prophesy through people today, then it’s like a continuation of the Bible.  If anything it’s even more relevant than the Bible because it’s the Spirit Daily with today’s date, instead of back issues from thousands of years ago!  This is where heresy starts in many charismatics churches.  How can you tell between the true believer and the con artist?  Once they learn the lingo and put on the “Praise The Lord” tag, it’s hard to separate the sheep from the goats.

What I see in the conservative church is the opposite.  It’s all brains and not much heart.  Instead of coming to seek God for worship services, the sermon is the service.  Some people felt that if the sermons are dull, then they’re not being fed and they need to look for a different church!  Many people who serve also do it out of duty.  I’ve seen email sent with “It’s your Christian duty to…”  Many people who serve tend to use their own strengths rather than God’s, as sometimes they get so busy they have no time to pray!  And what about the silly little game of putting your thumb up for prayer before a meal?  “Oh no I really put up my thumb before yours!!  You just didn’t see it!  Okay okay, fine…  I’ll pray”.  It’s almost like a punishment!  Prayer is definitely not the same in the conservative church.

Before you still yelling at me saying “I don’t do that!”, I want to add a disclaimer that these are just generalizations and not everyone does everything listed above.  I attend a conservative church and am guilty for some of the items I’ve listed out, but I’m open to either side.

One thing’s for sure, if the Spirit of God is actively working today, I want to be part of it.

That’s the most I can say about last night’s Apprentice Finale.  I’m glad they didn’t ask Regis Philbin to turn it into another talk show, but it was 30 minutes filler and 29 minutes commercial.  The only thing deserving our attention was the part where Trump said “You’re Hired!”, which lasted the whole 2 seconds.  There’s no twist, no build-up, nothing.  I thought Trump would blindside us by hiring Tana, but nope!  Talk about a poor excuse for an extra episode!

Then again, the whole thing is a sham anyway, as the Apprentice really does engage more with the media than doing real work.  Trump has been quoted in Newsweek as having said, “It’s a little bit too much to ask someone to be the president of a $800 million building when they haven’t had that kind of experience”.

So does it really matter who gets hired?  Trump should have hired them both.  At least that’ll give the audience something to talk about.

It’s coming on Thursday and I can’t wait to watch the final episode!  Some fans, however, have lost their common sense waiting for this film by lining up since the beginning of the month!  While some have found their significant other in one of these geek lines, the prize for being the sillest must go to Sarah Sprague, who lined up at Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre.  There is only one problem with it–they’re not showing Star Wars there!  “Yeah we’ve heard that before,” she said, refusing to budge.  I’d hate to spend a month sleeping in tents, playing the same board games day in and day out, take showers with a towel and a bottle of water, and in the end, find out “Oops, wrong theatre!”

I have been a big fan.  The first time I saw Star Wars was when I was seven, when Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back came out.  I was a little shorter back then, and I remember walking next to my dad on our way to the theatre room when we passed by a cotton candy stand.  When I turned to plead my case for cotton candy, I realized next to me was not my dad but a stranger!  After some frantically searching for my family, I found my parents back at the cotton candy stand, purchasing some for us already.  What can I say?  All the long legs in motion looked the same to me back then…

I was way too young to watch the movie Empire Strikes Back, though, even at the rating of PG.  My recollection of the movie wasn’t much, but the scene of Han Solo getting processed into cryogenic storage would return in the form of nightmares.  My memory must have misencoded the movie, as the disturbingly realistic nightmares would compose of a dark space with cryogenic C3PO flying in the air, with eerily dim candles around.  I remember it to this day.

It didn’t deter my obsession for Star Wars, however.  After coming to the States, I watched Star Wars: A New Hope on HBO, and because I didn’t understand a word of that movie in English, my imagination filled in the conversations.  It didn’t deter me from my Star Wars craze, however.  I lived with my granduncle and many of the natives in his National Geographic magazines began holding light sabers thanks to my trusty erasers and my ability to draw light sabers with them.  It went downhills, however, once I started erasing eyes to make them glow, and eventually started erasing mustaches and Fu Manchu’s.

I was also obsessed with Darth Vader.  I simulated Darth Vader breathalizer by taking an empty jar and breathing heavily into it.  Darth Vader had the uncanny ability to breath and talk at the same time, so I resorted to recording the deep breathing and play it back as I talked into the jar.  My obsession didn’t end with the voice.  One time I saw the Darth Vader mask for sale at a grocery store and immediately fell in love!  Put on the mask, put on the Helmet, and voila!  Darth Vader.  I regretted not getting it though.  Recently I saw one for sale at Target for $40 that included a voice-changing device.  No more jars required!  I was soooo tempted to get one, but …  needed to tell myself budget minded.  budget minded.  budget minded.

There will never be another movie like Star Wars.  I can’t wait for the movie to come out, and hopefully, no more nightmares this time.  😎

On Saturday we watched the movie “Assault on Precinct 13”.  I loved watching Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus from the Matrix), who had the sedated composure regardless of circumstances, although I admit it was a little odd for him to be staring at the floor with twenty semi’s shooting in the background.  I highly recommend this movie for action movie fans.

Today is an anomalous yet awesome sports day, as both the Sonics and the Mariners won!  For the record, I never should have doubted the Sonics.  I admit I’m a big wagoner, as when they got demolished by the Spurs during their first two games in the second round, I thought they were mismatched and completely outclassed.  Tonight they have proven that they have a few tricks up their sleeves against Tim Duncan and his crew.  They have renewed my faith in them, for now.

Tonight, I dropped by Wendy’s for my last dosages of their free Junior Frosties.  As I approached the drive-thru window, the cashier remark, “Back again!”  Whoa, at this rate we’ll be on a first-name basis shortly!  By the way, my keen observations suggested to me that their Junior sized frosties are increasing in size.  Check this out:

At this rate, if I return tomorrow, I should expect:

Unfortunately the free frosty deal is over tonight, and I don’t want to find out how much that frostie would cost tomorrow!

Tonight after fellowship, we went to Oasis in downtown.  To the right of the cashier hangs a gigantic poster with the words “Slush” and “Made with real fruit!” and on the poster were images of various slushes, one of which is the Taro.  Today I decided to ask the cashier which flavors use real fruit, and guess what?  Very few.  What about Taro?  “Powder”.  Since I had no craving for any particular drink, I put on my imaginary adventure hat and ordered the first item on the special menu–Avocado.  She asked me if I wanted a little fudge on top.  Yes, I said (what do I know?)  Cha-Ching!  That will be $4.00 thank you very much.  Ouch.  When the product was delivered, it looked like fudge and it tasted like the fudge.  Yes I had a cup of $4 fudge in my hand, not including tax.

Oasis is definitely decending rapidly in my short Bubble Tea list…

Last night I invited Happyfish to a BBQ Apprentice party at my place.  We have a charcoal grill, mostly for the flavor, but starting a BBQ fire is always a hurdle.  So I googled the internet for some tips, and found:

Electric Charcoal Starter.  The testimonials on the internet seem to love this thing, so I bought one from Fred Meyer for $10.50 after 30% garden rebate.  The directions show that you lay down a layer of charcoal, stick the tool in there, lay another layer, plug it in for 8 minutes as it heats to above 100 degrees, remove the tool, and wait for 10 minutes as it turns grey.  The result should be hot charcoal with no aid of petroleum.  Sounds easy?  Well, after I removed the tool and waited, whistled, read the entire phone book, and jogged around Lake Sammamish, it still wasn’t ready!  On the other hand, Jeffrey brought his grill and relented to using the fluid, and in 3 seconds whoosh, the fire was up!  So much for the starter.  Well, maybe I should practice a little more before passing judgment on this ineffective device.

How about the Apprentice?  We’re seeing Tana remove her sheep skin and revealing a giant scorpion.  When the governor just sat around, she offered donuts?!  And how do you miss the flag of the United States of America?  Okay, for that one, I can’t help but wonder if Trump has little devious mischiefmakers purposely removing the US flag for “Reality TV”, as I recall from the first season, one of the teams found the sponsor’s sign in the garbage!  Also in this task, they printed the personal remarks about each candidate on the program?!  Inconceivable!  It’s difficult to imagine that anyone, even the Three Stooges, could have such a offensive oversight.

On the other hand, everything seems smooth sailing for Kendra.  Almost too much so.  Then again, her task was much easier and she had a better crew.  She didn’t need to deal with the governor and famous atheletes.  She just needed to keep her sponsors, PS2 and Best Buy, happy.  The tasks are so even it’s like comparing running a Grand Slam tournament and running a hot dog stand.  Still, we need to give credit to Kendra for doing a good job.  Personally, I still don’t believe Kendra is corporate VP material, as she is too emotional and could use some work in her overall presence, but with the deviousness of Tana, I have no choice but to root for Kendra.

And despite this seemingly lopsided win on the final task and the fact Kendra killed Tana in the boardroom, Princess Di and George still managed to utter “They both did a great job”, and “It’s going to be a tough decision”.  It’s as if the last hour of The Apprentice didn’t even occur!  Even if Tana were to push the governor into the pool, swipe Michael Phelps with the flag pole, and frentically yell “Fire!!!”, the outcome of this boardroom would still be the same.

Then again, maybe this is all a misdirection. While we’re bamboozled by all these edited clips, in actuality Kendra’s team actually backstabbed her the same way Tana did her team.  Maybe there were lots more mishaps than we saw.  I guess we will have to find out next week in the third and final installment of this overly elongated episode of The Apprentice.