Came across this particular story on Reddit couple days ago. I still have it open on my browser tab to remind myself who and what we are.
You don't need a lot of money to be happy. You need a big heart and be happy, content with yourself.
Sometime in 2011, one evening, we decided to go to the mall. After a while, our daughter is hungry. The poor girl wants food, and she wants it now.
With our daughter on my arm, I order some chinese and then go up to the register to pay. I hand them my card but it's not working. The card won't go through. I told them I am really sorry, but I don't have any other card on me. I can't take the food. As I proceed to leave, my daughter starts jumping on my arm. She wants food. She's hungry. Seeing that, the Mexican lady on the counter just hands me the tray and tells me not to worry. I keep insisting that's not necessary. But she won't budge.
I come back with the tray on the table. Tell my wife the whole thing. My wife reminds me about my card being expired and the new card in my wallet. I go back to pay for it, but now she won't take the money.
To this day I am greatful for what she did. We will never forget her kindness. And whenever we eat out, we always try our best to pay back the service the cook, server and everyone in between provides us.Whenever we go out to eat, both me and my wife always pile up all the plates, silverware in one place to make the server's life easy. Most of 'em always appreciates the gesture.
Stealing Curry
Last night, I kept waking up on & off. Finally I just
got up, walked over to the kitchen, open the fridge and helped myself with my
wifes’ amazing beef curry. Beef curry and loaf of breads are my favorite. It was
hot, spicy but awesome.
I guess that was the underlying reason for me to not eat a
heavy dinner. I kept asking her if the curry was done while having dinner. She
was so tired she didn’t get the hint. Finally I gave up. And she thought I didn’t
like the ‘Khichuri’ she made. Ooh, can you imagine her hot beef with the
khichuri.
Sorta glad, I didn’t have it. For sure I would over indulged
with absolutely no regret.
After coming back to bed though, weird how thoughts can
enlighten us even in the middle of the night, all of a sudden I had an
epiphany. And it was about stealing.
You see, what I did last night can be framed more or less a
manner of stealing food while everyone is sleeping. But here at least I don’t
have to worry about my hand being chopped off. Even though it may truly suck
for the victim, but for the thief it is a mean to survive. The act of stealing
is a way for society to balance itself, ensure survival.
Just to be clear, at the moment I can think of three kinds
of thief.
1.
Habitual,
2.
Greedy, and
3.
Desperate.
And here I am referring to the desperate kind. A person who doesn’t have a job, haven’t been
able to find one for some time. If such a person gets caught rather than
cutting off their hand, we should save his/her dignity and try to help the
person anyway we can.
In conclusion, here is something that has been discovered
recently.
The Religious Dogma
It amazes me to meet people, to find people who believes it is upto the government to find & prosecute people who blogs against religion. In a democratic society, the government and religion are separate. That means, I as an atheist have the same right to express myself as a religious person does.
It is also sick to see the same people making the injuction, being gay is more of a state of mind and the possibility of finding a cure for it.
It is also sick to see the same people making the injuction, being gay is more of a state of mind and the possibility of finding a cure for it.
Hit the wall
Yesterday it was a
little windy and I geared for the longest so far I’ve ridden on the highway. About
18 miles on I-77. Needless to say, I was a little scared. However half the way,
I had to deal with traffic. My palms were sore from holding the clutch.
So, I got there a little before 6pm from work, took me about
35 minutes to get there. Hammy from CharlotteSportBikes.com were there waiting.
After a while Shawn S. showed up. After going over bikes and me making it quite
clear being a newbie, we took off. We rode
from Cornelius to Harrisburg.
It was chilly. My wrists were hurting, my chest felt cold. But
I didn’t mind the pain that much. I was more taken by/fixated on other things.
1.
Shawn S. is an amazing rider. I was in awe
seeing his skills. I was at least trying to pay attention to lot of things he
was doing. But he truly rides well.
2.
The roads had a lot of twists and turns. It was
not a ‘flat track’ (a new term I learned). That meant paying more attention on
my part to make sure I don’t lose the bike or something more major.
3.
The country side is amazing and beautiful. In between
watching Shawn ride and my own riding, I was trying to take in the natural
beauty, the big mansions and all. Since moving into Charlotte, we thought South
Charlotte is rich and beautiful. But this country houses/mansion will blow
South Charlotte in a heartbeat.
We stopped at the Harrisburg Family House for a grub. First in
I asked for a hot tea, cuz I was so cold. I was pretty darn cold throughout the
whole time. Both Shawn and his friends had good advice on riding and such.
I learned but haven’t mastered on how to pull the bike at
clutch point, cruising the bike and also the importance of gearing down rather
than clutching down on stops. Here’s a list of few things I learned and
remember:
1.
Finding the clutch point of the bike and being
able to cruise on 1st gear. A great tool when taking off of stop and
signal.
2.
The importance of gearing down rather than
clutching down on stops. As I’m approaching a stop or turn, to slow down put in
some gas, pull the clutch and gear down. The idea is to let the engine slow
itself down rather than wearing the break. It also serves another purpose. If I
had to veer off the road for possible hazard or continue to go, it would be
easier and safer to keep going rather than having to match the gear and take
off.
3.
Using the rear brakes less and front brakes more
when braking. Simply because front brake has about 80% stopping power than the
rear break. Also with front brake you have a pretty good idea how much you are
pull the brake and more control than the rear brake.
4.
Learning to enjoy the bike rather than just
riding in speed. I can totally relate to that with running. You have to give
yourself time & dedication to learn it rather than pacing yourself.
On my way home, I kept playing with these and noticed the
difference immediately. For instance, when braking since I would pull the front
brakes more; my body wouldn’t shift forward due to the speed.
Today I am beat up. I feel like I am hitting a wall. Possibly
since I woke up around 6am yesterday, went for a good pace 1 mile run and then went
riding for almost 2 hours. I didn’t get home till 10pm.
Riding on the Highway
Today for the first time I got on the highway to get to Toys
R Us on my bike. Initially I thought of riding on the streets but 9 minutes vs.
17 minutes, kinda hard not to jump on the highway.
It not like I haven’t been going over 60mph, but on the
highway you have road hazard and faster car, SUV and trucks. While it was a
little overwhelming at first, but especially on my way back I was more relaxed.
Number One, truckers tends to be more cautious and generous
to bikers than the average Joes. I suspect part of the reason being, a lot of
truckers themselves are riders. During the move every single trucker, loader I
met are riders. Thinking about it, sorta makes sense. After driving a big truck
for days on, it only makes sense to ride a bike rather than another box. It may
also be that, truckers know any accident with a truck and I don’t stand a
chance. I very well may not make even a dent on his truck, but I am sure will
be dead.
Number Two, thanks to me paying attention on the road. I
remember once seeing a biker in IA getting on the highway on his sports bike and
tuck behind the windshield, bending over. On my way to Toys R Us, I didn’t tuck
down and the wind was hitting me pretty hard and the bike too felt kinda
wobbly. If I tried to go over 60mph, it would be feel unstable.
On my back, I tucked more out of curiosity than anything
else and amazingly the bike is more stable. Make sense and I didn’t have any
issue going up to 70mph. Did miss my exit though and had to do a U-Turn at the
signal light.
Surpassing Desktop
My daughter has a lot of patience. I mean a lot. For a week
now, she has been asking about a princess phone. First we looked for her old
toy phone, but no sign of it anywhere. Chances are we threw it away during the
move.
So finally last night, we went to Wal-Mart looking for her
princess phone. Walked every aisles in the toy section, but just could not find
the princess phone. We did find one toy phone but it had a picture of a boy on
it so her reaction, this is not a princess phone. By then, I had a feeling that
she must be talking about the toy phones by the checkout line. I am also
wondering if and when she will throw a fit. But she doesn’t as we carry on to
buying groceries.
At checkout, mommy stays with the cart while I & she
walk through every empty checkout lane looking for her “Princess Phone,” nada. So, we leave me thinking to look it up online,
maybe Amazon??!!
So, this afternoon I check on Amazon for her princess phone.
Nothing satisfactory, but I am determined. As I am browsing through, I am even
thinking of buying a toy gun too. And that’s when I stumble on the “V-TechSlide and Talk Smart Phone,” very good review and rather cheap too. Going through
the comment someone mentions the phone being $3.00 dollar cheaper at Toys R Us.
So, I look it up on Toy R Us site.
During lunch I go to Toys R Us to pick up the phone. Being in
IT has its moment, as I am walking through the aisles looking for an associate,
trying to find the toy myself and getting frustrated I notice the associates
desktop with a pretty white company logo wallpaper. So, naturally for me at
least, I look up what kind of tower is it running on. A small form-factor Dell PC,
such a waste considering it only has access to the intranet.
Finally I find someone who is able to help. I describe the
toy but she thinks it’s out. Shows me where the last one was. I insist on the
basis the website says they have it in the store. She walks over to the very same
PC and starts looking for it. Shows me the V-Tech model phone she’s talking
about, and I tell her I am looking for a different one. I ask if she can look
it up on their website and that’s when I find out those PCs doesn’t have
internet access, internal only. And the connection is slow.
Finally we find the toy we are looking for. And now she
needs the item number to search the inventory. Alas she can’t click on any of
the link from her small form-factor Dell PC cuz it’s stuck. By now I have been
browsing my phone and look up the item number and show it to the guy who does
stocking. He comes back with a full box of the V-Tech Slide & Talk Smart
Phone and it has a picture of a girl holding the phone.
The time is here when smartphone & tablet are
surpassing, overtaking PC.
p.s. Interestingly Amazon has a 4.5 star rating of the phone while Toy R Us has a 3 rating of the toy.
White Girls with Big Butt
After finishing my 4 miles run I am stretching at the parking lot this morning when I hear two girls coming up behind me. Two girls walking towards the trail, talking with a obivous heavy southern accent. I ignore them and mind my stretching.
Alas, I was only able to ignore for a rather few second. As they pass by me, I notice their unual big butt, super big. What ever though, since I am not perticularly crazy about super big butts. The girls are heading towards the trail, they got the Nike shoe, Nike tights, Nike overall, it is all Nike....yay.
And then something else happens. One of the girl with a super big butt kicks the button of the pedestrian light, obivously noticing all the car waiting at the light and stairing. And after kicking the button, they just start crossing the road...Look out Kardashian wanna be walking....Who knows how long before they run quater mile??!!
It is annoying to say the least, seeing people without any consideration to others or any decency. You are too good to push the button with your hand, that you have to kick it? What about folks who will now push the button with their hand after you?
As we are eating up the environment around us, the least we can do is be decent, considerate. Or else we are doomed.
After getting home, as I am drying myself I felt of jolt of sadness today. Sadness for throwing away, losing all my running memoribilia, Pre posters, books, logs and all. Change happens with time, sometimes we like it and sometimes we don't. But life goes on.
Alas, I was only able to ignore for a rather few second. As they pass by me, I notice their unual big butt, super big. What ever though, since I am not perticularly crazy about super big butts. The girls are heading towards the trail, they got the Nike shoe, Nike tights, Nike overall, it is all Nike....yay.
And then something else happens. One of the girl with a super big butt kicks the button of the pedestrian light, obivously noticing all the car waiting at the light and stairing. And after kicking the button, they just start crossing the road...Look out Kardashian wanna be walking....Who knows how long before they run quater mile??!!
It is annoying to say the least, seeing people without any consideration to others or any decency. You are too good to push the button with your hand, that you have to kick it? What about folks who will now push the button with their hand after you?
As we are eating up the environment around us, the least we can do is be decent, considerate. Or else we are doomed.
After getting home, as I am drying myself I felt of jolt of sadness today. Sadness for throwing away, losing all my running memoribilia, Pre posters, books, logs and all. Change happens with time, sometimes we like it and sometimes we don't. But life goes on.
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