RIP Nissan Altima 1994-2008

So my car blew up today on the LIE highway while I was heading to work. Well perhaps "blew up" is a little exaggerated. It was more like caught on fire and created a HUGE amount of smoke which made it look like the car blew up.

That's right, the '94 Nissan Altima that we have is no longer ours and has now probably gone on to car heaven (read: stripped of its parts for resale by a scrap yard).

Today was the last day of the massive heat wave NYC's been going through. Two days ago on Sunday we changed the oil on the car. And while most us in the family knew the car was on it's last legs there was no reason to expect what happened this morning to happen.

I was driving on the LIE (at a snail's pace due to traffic) when I noticed some smoke coming from the front of my car. I first thought it was some exhaust from a truck in the front but then I noticed it coming from the outside of car's hood. So I thought it was overheating (though it didn't really make sense since the engine's temperature gauge was still at a decent temperature).

Nonetheless I turned on the heater full blast in an attempt to cool the engine down. I thought that was doing the trick since I didn't see smoke anymore. But 5 seconds later I still saw more smoke.

Traffic was still crawling and I could start to smell burnt plastic. I thought this is bad. I didn't have any shoulder to stop on and I was wondering what I should do. Luckily I came upon a merge area which gave me enough room to stop my car and see what was happening.

I turned the car off and even more smoke came from under the hood. I got out and was about to open the hood when I thought better and called my parents instead. I told my dad that I was stuck on the LIE and that the engine overheated. As they were telling me what I should do next, I thought to myself "An engine that overheats doesn't spew smoke. The only time when smoke would occur is--WHEN THERE IS A FIRE!".

So I hung up on my parents and immediately called 911 (this was the first time I'd ever dialed 911). I told them that my car was on fire and also that I was on the Long Island Express Way. I actually can't remember very much of the conversation except that I was calm and that I had trouble explaining exactly where I was on the highway. Somehow the dispatcher got my location and I hung up.

I looked at my car still not really realizing that it was on fire when I remembered "SHIT, my bogu is in the back of the car!" I knew that given the car's age we did not fully insure the car and I would be damned if my bogu went down in flames. Against better judgment I went back to the car (which was really smoking now) and grabbed my bogu from the trunk.

Yes, it was stupid. Yes I can replace bogu. And I would not do it again if this happened again. But given I was alone and there was no one there to stop me, I did it anyway.

So I stand there and start to take pictures when I hear sirens and I see a SUV fire vehicle stop by. I was surprised at the 911 response but in actuality he (Charlie) just happened to be heading to work when he saw my car. Charlie was nice enough to stay around and divert some traffic. Didn't really speak very much and told me what would happen in two sentences. Very matter of fact about it.

5 minutes later the cops come. I tell him what happened and he asks me to bring my stuff and sit in the cop car. Of course he asks whats in my Shinai bag and I tell him they're some wooden sticks I use for martial arts practice.

It was the first time I'd ever been in a cop car. It was nice actually of the cop to ask me to wait in the car which had the AC blasting. Pretty roomy in the back. And right between the driver and passenger seat was some heavy looking piece of artillery. It must've been a shotgun of sorts but it probably is only used when SUPER DEADLY force is needed.

In any case, the cop looks up my ID on the computer and make sure everything is legit (of course not without incorrectly bringing up some other person who had like 8 felony charges) and by then the fire trucks came.

Now the car is really on fire. I heard a pop from the car and though I didn't know what it was then I later learned it was one of my tires. The firefighters made quick work of the fire and when it was OK for me to come out and see the car, I was shocked to see how totaled the car was.

By that time a tow truck had come out and we went to some junkyard near Shea Stadium to dump the car off. Eddie who was the tow truck guy was a straight shooter cussin' type of guy. He was nice enough to just drop my car off at the nearest scrap metal joint. He didn't rip me off either and told me a thing or two on what to do in the future when this happens.

Couple of minutes later my parents come by with the ownership to the car and they hand it off to the scrap yard owner who takes it off our hands.

We then went for Dim Sum at East Buffet Manor.

All of this happened in 1 hour believe it or not.

And while I came out of this unhurt and not traumatized, I realize how lucky I was that everything happened the way it did.

• What if I didn't take the route I usually took (I took a detour today). I could've been stuck in a worse off place.
  
• What if I decided that it was an engine that was overheating and that turning on the heater would solve everything? Turning on the heater probably was making things worse.
  
• What if I decided to open the hood to check things out? The fire could've really turned up and I would've gotten knocked down.
• What if it was one of those days where I forgot my phone?
• What if the cops were jerks?
• What if there wasn't that volunteer firefighter there that happened to be going to work in my direction?
• What if there was no firehouse two blocks from where I stopped?
• What if that morning my I didn't tell my sister to use the Civic instead of the Altima??
  

The list goes on. I have to say I am thankful for having gone through this experience and that no one was hurt. Because it could've been bad.

But again thank god it wasn't.

Great Adventure is no longer great

I came back today from Great Adventure having had ridden ONE single ride the entire day. Yes that is right, what was thought to be impossible was possible. From 12PM till 5PM (when my friend and I called it quits) we rode only one ride.

(Luckily, it was HSBC family and friends day at Great Adventure and our tickets were subsidized by good ol' HSBC.)

The last time I went to Six Flags Great Adventure was probably 2 years ago. Seems so much has changed since then. And for the worst.

Here are the reasons why today was probably the last time I will go to Great Adventure for a long time.

1) There just aren't any good rides. There is only one ride that is ever worth going on at Great Adventure and that is Nitro. Hands down the best ride ever at Six Flags and one of the best rides I've ever ridden on in the world!

But after that everything is just shit.

You have the recent rides, KingdaKa, El Toro, and the new one, the Dark Knight Adventures, but all of them kinda suck. My friend and I didn't even wait 10 minutes on the Dark Knight Adventures when we heard some kids exiting from the ride saying "It's not worth your time. Get off the line." That was enough to convince my friend and I. El Toro is like the Coney Island rickety Cyclone coaster (still no where near as frightening). And KingdaKa is great--when it's working! Which brings me to my next reason.

2) The shit is always broken. Part of the reason why we ended up only getting on 1 ride was because EVERYTHING ELSE WAS BROKEN! We went to Kingda Ka, it was broken. Okay, let's try Superman the ride. Oh shit that's broken too. And get this, the attendant there has the nerve to say I know 5 other rides that are broken today. Probably "because of the weather".

HOLD ON!

First you said 5 other rides? How the heck is that acceptable? People are paying $60 to get in and over 50% of the thrill rides are down.

Second, they broke down because of the weather? You mean it was too hot? Dude, it's hot but it's gonna get hotter during the Summer. These machines better ship shape up or else you will see customer attendance drop faster than civilians in a drive-by-shooting.

3) SCEEVY WAYS OF GETTING YOUR MONEY. So there was a tiff just as we were about to board our only ride of the day Nitro. Apparently you can't leave bags on the exit side of the ride anymore. This used to be OK several years ago because they had cubby holes. You ride your ride and when you're done (hopefully if your bag is there) you can pick it up.

Okay so you can't do that anymore. Where can you put it? Well, the customer antagonizing geniuses at Six Flags decided to create lockers at the base of the ride for which you have to PAY $1 FUCKING DOLLAR! So you change your policy, in such a way that forces us to pay you?

That is just wrong. So bring someone that hates rides and pay them to watch your stuff if you ever go.

4) Lack of innovation. I know you can't make things happen without money but in the 3 or 4 years I've been to great adventure I've never seen really anything that gets updated around anything except for the (crappy) rides. Why doesn't someone make line waiting more pleasant? Is there nothing that people can do while they wait?

If anything they've been taking away things. For instance, the Freefall, which I think was one of the best rides ever was replaced by a picnic area! And also the gimongous boat water ride where you get soaked plenty was taken away. Why? Never again will I ever experience getting splashed with a wall of water while standing on that bridge.

I'm sure it's getting more and more expensive to run places like Great Adventure but at this rate if they don't do something to make this place better I can see less and less people going.

Or perhaps I'm too old for this place? Maybe.

Well in any case, I'll wait for the next biggest thing to come to this place before coming back.

Another Wedding

Last night, I went to the wedding banquet of a childhood friend of mine. I hadn't heard from him for several years and so I was surprised to hear a couple months ago that he was getting married.

Some observations from the banquet:

1. I don't like packaged weddings. OK. Let me make that more specific. I don't like Chinese packaged weddings. It's just too much of a production. From the MC's predictable script, to the food, to the tiresome singles games; it's just too fake.
2. I liked the glamor shot video that was presented during the banquet but it's too bad the company that produced it advertised at the expense of the bride and groom by displaying their logo throughout the ENTIRE video. I mean I'd rather have some grainy videos compiled by one of our friends of me and my wife rather than have some Steven Spielberg-esque video produced by some company who needs to use my video as a calling card for business.
3. The reluctance to participate in wedding singles games gets stronger as I get older. When I was 16-21, participating in them was pretty harmless. Now in my mid 20's, I just feel REALLY embarrassed to be doing this kind of stuff. I suppose it's because I'm at that "marrying age". Fortunately the groomsman agreed to my wishes to not being a part of the games. But still, I buried my head in my hands hoping he would not call me to the stage.
   
4. Make sure everyone likes the food at a wedding. To be honest, that seems to be the number one thing guests talk about the most. And make sure that your non-adventurous eaters get something that's acceptable for their appetite.
   
5. Going to weddings with your parents is not that fun. Bring a date. Even if it's someone off the streets.
   

And of course I say all this things because by the time I get married, money will be no object to me, and I'll be able to afford a bagillion dollar wedding. But it's nice to dream isn't it?

The highlight of the evening was catching my mom and father dance which they NEVER do. I have to say my dad is as goofy-looking on the dance floor as he is in real life (think Eugene Levy from the American Pie movies). Not that I'm a great dancer but if my dad passed any genes down to me, rhythm wasn't one of them. (Just kidding dad).

Okano...

I was going to write about a visit I made yesterday to a friend of mine from my kendo dojo who had cancer. We made the 2 hour drive down to Pennsylvania and though he was not looking too well, I and two other members did our best to cheer him up. Other members were planning on visiting him in the coming weeks as well. And we hoped to see him again in a couple of weeks.

This afternoon I found out he suddenly passed away.

I couldn't believe it. We were there yesterday. I was patting him on the back and helping him up so he could sit up. He was watching a video on a camcorder from a Sensei seminar. He drank some water. He was on the cellphone with his son, legs crossed like some big shot movie producer. I saw him crack a grin before we left.

But it was also the first time he said the words "Guys, this is bad. I'm dying." I remember how silent all three of us were when he said that. We stood up by his bed just staring. I'm sure all of us were feeling intense things at that moment. There was an intense silence. Words and actions failed. For me it was a helpless moment. It was a helplessness that could not be met in any other way except with silence.

I am glad one of the members went with us to see Okano yesterday. I think Okano has a very special place in his heart for her. I think her visits especially brightened up his day. I can't really say anything more concrete than that but, I could really see how comforting it was to have her in his presence.

If there was ever an inspirational human being, it was Okano. I mean, how could this old guy with half a lung beat the shit out of me every practice?

Okano was the first person who taught me what timing was all about. I learned it doing ai-kote men.

I strike
"Nope. Try again."
I strike again.
"You're not watching me. You have to watch me."
I look for his arms to move and then I attack.
"That's better. You were watching me this time around."

He taught me to not look for the opponent's hit but rather the opponent's intention of hitting.

I will always remember Okano for his fighting spirit and "never say die" attitude. Even during his moments of struggle, I know Okano was mentally just as tough as he was whenever I played him during practice.

And I think he was right when he said he will live longer than any of us. He is such a strong character that you can't help but keep him in your heart for as long as you lived.

Rest in Peace John. I'll make sure someone worthy gets the monkey pillow.

The Green Expo, An Inconvenient Truth

This weekend, instead of going to GMAT classes like I was supposed to, I hung out with a good friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a while. She was working a booth at NYC's first Green Expo convention at the Hilton in Midtown.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the "light green" person I said I was when I registered and bought my ticket. I should have said I was not green at all but I gave myself some slack by saying that I at least cared to attend the convention (OK so it was to see my friend but still).

There were a lot of people that showed up at the convention! I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people checking out the event. And there were all sorts of exhibitors. Some were utility companies demonstrating environmentally safe ways of generating energy (solar, wind, water). Many others were selling environmentally friendly products from food, to clothes, to face creams.

Here are the top booths that I thought were really interesting:

1) Cardboardesign (http://www.cardboardesign.com/): I was getting a little bored about 30 minutes into the expo when I saw this booth in the corner selling furniture and decorations all made out of recycled cardboard! Some of these were fun to play with, like the vases and pencil holders which kind of morphed into a shape based on the item it was holding (vase, pencils, plants). Others were just really cool like the tables and chairs which were as sturdy the aluminum chairs and wooden tables in my house. They also were made out of recycled cardboard. As tough as sturdy as the tables and chairs were, it would probably not be a good thing if I spilled a liquid onto the surface. Even so, a really cool concept.

2) Revolve (http://www.revolvebrand.net/): While sipping on my second box of organic chocolate milk (REALLY GOOD BTW), I saw this booth which was selling some shirts with some awesome designs. Also I saw a nice hoody that was kind of furry but was made from recycled plastic bottles. Don't ask me how the same plastic bottles I drink soda from turn into a nice feeling hoody jacket but I thought that was pretty cool too.

3) HSBC: Okay sorry, this is a shameless plug for a my friend's booth. But I learned a little about what "carbon foot printing" is and also about how HSBC is covering its own carbon footprints. Hopefully I'm explaining this correctly, but one of the causes of global warming is from the release of carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere which makes the atmosphere thicker and thereby traps heat caused by the sun. Anything that creates carbon is also creating a carbon footprint. And there are a variety of ways which carbon footprints are made. For instance, from HSBC trucks (why they would have them I'm not sure but this makes it an easy example). Let's say an HSBC truck creates a ton of carbon a year from operation. HSBC will offset that ton of carbon produced by the truck by planting a trees which will help absorb some of that carbon. But it just goes to show you that even big corporations are taking environmentalism seriously.

I learned a lot and while I'm not a "heavy green" yet, I'll hopefully edge towards a "medium green" having been to this convention.

Afterwards, I watched an "Inconvenient Truth", the documentary by Al Gore on Global Warming. I have to say for a guy who I labeled as a monotone talker and sleepy politician, he was an excellent speaker and presenter on Global Warming. I learned a lot from the film and found everything interesting. I especially found the consequences quite alarming too. There were two examples that stuck out for me.

The first one involved the melting of the polar ice caps. And in the video they showed a polar bear swimming looking for a place to land. Well if there are no ice caps, then, the polar bear has no where to go, and well if you have no wear to go, you'll eventually drown. Can you imagine having the land around you all of a sudden disappear into the water and having no place to go to for land? That is scary.

The second example showed maps of what the world would look like if Greenland melted away, causing the world's water levels to rise. Florida would have a large chunk submerged. The World Trade Center memorial would be submerged. Parts of Europe would be inhabitable. We'd have to redraw the maps of the entire world. Shocking.

It's definitely a must-see movie.

The Quickest Trip to Canada...Ever

I am tired. Really tired. So tired that I'm writing this without my glasses.

I just got back from what probably is and hopefully will always be the quickest trip to Canada ever. This past weekend I went to a wedding banquet for one of my cousin's from Georgia.

(Alan & Tran, if you are reading this I wish you both the very best and congratulations. I had an awesome time.)

This was quick because we got to Toronto on Saturday at noon and then came back Sunday. We drove for 16 hours and stayed there (I count this as time spent awake) for 12-14 hours. That's pretty quick.

I like these family trips though. It puts some money in the "Time Spent with Family" piggy bank and in general they're just fun; but in a dysfunctional sort of way. Every family trip together starts out like this:

1) We NEVER leave on time. And guess what? This was no different. A week before we were supposed to leave, our parents hammered into our heads that we had to leave no later than 3:30-4:00 in the afternoon. And of course on the day of, at 3:30 PM we're still packing, locking down doors, screaming at each other for stupid things. It was just great.

2) We Scream at Each Other for Stupid Reasons. Somehow everyone starts screaming at each other once we're in the car every 15 minutes to half-hour. And it's a chain reaction. My mom screams at me for coming too close to a car (when in fact I am NOT), my dad tells my mom to calm down, my sister laughs and makes fun of me, my mom yells at my sister for something else, and to infinity and beyond. And these mini-fights happen out of no where.

A nice silence can last for 10 minutes until all of a sudden my dad will (idiotically) bring up some trivial topic that causes my mom to get defensive and the screaming begins again.

3) Catch up on News. Which kind of means gossip. But this could mean friends, family, or the person that served us lunch that day. Anyone. So don't do anything bad to me or else you'll end up in "the news". (I am sure you are quaking in your boots right now).

4) We get lost. I don't know how but we always manage to veer off the correct path. We did better this time around but we still ended up having our "getting lost argument" (everyone screams at each other instead of figuring out where to go next).

Speaking of getting lost, this time around instead of using paper and pencil, we used the GPS I purchased last year to navigate us to Toronto. Of course no matter how accurate the GPS was, my parents wouldn't trust it. And thus a showdown ensued...

Garmin 330c GPS

VERSUS

My Dad's Illegible Crusty Written Directions (Crusty = Old)

Don't get me wrong. My Dad's directions have gotten us to Canada for however long we've been going to Canada. Of course we get lost every time (the worst was when we ended up crossing at the Detroit Michigan/Canadian border instead of the Niagara Falls border).

But it was an intense battle. The GPS was challenged at every turn and command by my dad who ruffled through his papers only to find that a) it matched with what he wrote or b) my dad's directions were wrong. For the most part, a) happened but b) happened too many times as well.

On the way back home, my dad gave up challenging the GPS and he let the Garmin GPS win. It was kind of sad. In some way, those papers were his pride and hard work. And now this boxed electronic the size of his fist can do the same thing faster and more accurately.

This trip is also momentous because I drove all the way there and drove all the way back. Which I think is a first. Usually I get help from my sister or my dad but this time it was all me. And I wanted it that way. There are few opportunities where I get to prove my manliness in front of my parents and given that I've all but dropped the ball on most of them this is one I could surely accomplish.

Random things about driving all the way:

1) Roadkill is every where. I wonder what it's like to have an animal hit your car? (Okay before you start dialing PETA I just want to say I hope it never happens to me).

2) I saw a turtle walk in the middle of the road. I hope it didn't get run over. I initially thought it was half a roadkill which was still alive and walking--like a zombie (scary).

3) Your neck gets stiff from staring at the road. Though this may be obvious, it wasn't to me until I got out of the car for a stretch.

4) There are some REALLY DUMB drivers out there. Which is scary because you and everyone else is driving so fast on the highway. I won't go into specifics but let's just say that I let it be known in my car whenever there was an idiot on the road.

Man, I am tired. This post ends here.

Using iTunes, Good Deed of the Day, Taking Care of Kid

I went to sleep at 2AM this morning. I should have been studying up until then but I decided to take a break and listen to some tunes on my computer.

I then remembered that my sister gave me an iTunes gift card for my birthday and I figured it'd be a good time to check out iTunes.

Now although I own an iPod-mini (2nd Generation - no colors) I never shop at the iTunes store. That's mainly because I'm too lazy to get new music. Which is bad if I ever want to become a world class DJ (don't worry I'm pretty far from it). But I'm slowly changing that.

I also never considered shopping on iTunes before because though some of their stuff is DRM free, a majority of it isn't. Which isn't a problem because I have an iPod but that means I can't spin it as a DJ (won't work on my Serato gear).

In addition, there's something called sampling bit rate which tells you the quality of the track. On iTunes, most tracks are at 128kbs. Which is fine for casual listening on your iPod and for the regular listener. However, I like to hear quality in my music. And (not that it's something to brag about) I can tell a difference between 128kbs and 256kbs. I think most people can if they listen hard enough.

128kbs is probably not desirable when you're in a club because the song doesn't translate that well coming out full blasting club speakers. The songs sound weak. And when you mix in other songs you've ripped at higher bit rates, you can REALLY hear the difference.

But I digress. Long story short. I don't like having 128 kbs songs.

So I wind up buying CDs so I can have the luxury of ownership (well within legal boundaries of course), and the luxury of ripping at whatever sample rate I wanted.

But I had to redeem my gift card and use it one day...so why not last night? I decided that I would not purchase any English songs because I could get them here in the States. Instead I figured that I'll beef up my Japanese song repertoire. I mean it's hard for me to find JPOP CDs here in NY and I'll be paying import prices so they'll be crazy expensive. And plus I need some new tracks to listen to.

Given I was in the US, the JPOP selection within iTunes was pretty limited. Even so, there was more in their inventory than what I had in my song bank.

I was in the store for quite some time and noticed a couple of things:

1. The Money Counter. When you redeem your gift card, a counter shows up in the upper right of your iTunes application indicating the amount you have left to spend. Which is really cool. It reminds me of a slot machine in Atlantic City. Only it doesn't go up (unless you put more in...which is how it works in AC as well).
2. I started buying and I couldn't stop. iTunes makes buying and sampling so easy and simple. You click on 10 things to buy and you've spent $11 dollars in 5 minutes. I told myself after each purchase, "OK...this is the last one for real...BUT I REALLY WANT THIS OTHER ONE TOO!!! *click*". It's like a kid in a candy store.
   
3. They come with the digital album cover for free. I knew this but I never had much use for it considering my iPod mini isn't capable of displaying it. But now seeing it on my computer screen, makes me a bit more appreciative on it. It is art after all. Apple please come out with that 3G phone soon.
   
4. 128kbs is not bad but it's not great. 128kbs isn't that bad. But I still wouldn't play the tracks in a club. I found one track that was DRM free by Utada Hikaru and I bought that for 99 cents. It came with a 256bps which I more than appreciated. I really hope other tracks come at that rate as well in the future because 128 really sucks.
   
5. Instantaneous Gratification. I only realized this just now but when you buy something and download it right then and there and own it--that is instant gratification! You can listen to it immediately. There is no CD to open. There is no ripping songs involved. You buy it, you got it, you play with it.
   

Overall, I am pretty happy with the iTunes store. And probably will giving more of my money to Mr. Jobs in the near future (3G iPhone please!).

On to my good deed. I was on the F train this morning during rush hour and happened to be fortuitously positioned near a seat where a passenger was getting off early. I sat in and about two stops later I saw this cute Asian girl and her mom (she was 4 or 5) and I let the little girl sit in my seat.

EDIT...like most of my posts. I was not able to finish this one. I'll leave the "Taking Care of Kids" topic for another time. I'm sure it'll pop up once again.