Teej's Secret Box

Yesterday Wii Fit - 40 years, 50 minutes.

Today Wii Fit - 31 years, no play for today.

As an aside, there’s one game I absolutely adores, and is taking quite seriously — Rhythm Boxing.  It is well paced, pretty diverse, and long enough for me to not have to “Press A if you understand that you will not stand on an edge of a cliff holding a cat on the leach surrounded by mice while playing this game.”

I can understand the need for Nintendo to protect their business interest by inserting disclaimers, but I think that lawyers are being overzealous here.  “Watch out!  You may lose your balance!”  Well, duh.  It’s Wii Fit!  You will lose your balance here or there.  Don’t tell me that every single time I ask you for an exercise that involves lifting a leg.  In fact, tell me the first time, and then just go direct to the exercise afterward (maybe with a little window saying, “Careful with your balance!”)  It disrupt the playing experience after the first few times.

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I got my Video Phone (VP) working!  Woot!  The TV was just delivered yesterday, and I spent the evening setting up my router for it, and got it going by chatting with a friend all night long.  That’s why there’s no blog posting — I was seriously chatting like a little teenager girl for hours.  That phone will be the death of me.

Do contact me if you want my number.  Also please do warn me ahead of time when you plans on calling — it’s in my office, and I would not be able to see the flashing lights here in the kitchen.  And please, do not sue the VP companies.

I would implore every readers who plans on traveling to read “Today in the Sky” blog on USA Today.  There have been some drastic changes in the fees charged for some major Airlines, including US Airways and United this week.  US Airways and United are adding a fee for the first checked bag, matching American Airlines’ fee.  US Airways are going further to charge for non-alcoholic drinks, not rewarding bonus miles for elite travelers, and adding a fee for redemption of miles for travel.  There is a good reason for those extra fees:

With the recent run-up in the price of jet fuel, US Airways says it spends nearly $299 per passenger just in fuel-costs on a round-trip itinerary — a figure that’s up from $151 just last year. “And that’s only for fuel, which even at current prices still represents less than half the airline’s costs,” the Republic writes. US Airways CEO Doug Parker is quoted by The Associated Press as saying “we need to get $650 on average just to break even. We’re nowhere close to that. Nobody in the business is close to that. This is a major problem.” Kirby adds: “That’s a telling number for why we and the rest of the industry have to radically restructure.”

Why isn’t Southwest doing the same?  They were lucky and had an interesting business plan.  They bought the right to buy fuel at a certain price in the future market, allowing them to pay an equivalent to about $50 to $65 per barallel, which is much lower than the $136 per barallel as a going rate.  So they basically shifted the gas price responsibility to some other suckers who sold them this rate back then.  Which means that they have a very unique advantage right now.  But this window of opportunity is so small.

There are rumbling that oil price are overinflated, and I personally believe you have the Feds to thanks for that (by lowering interest rates too aggressively despite warning signs of inflation.)  Basically, the feds weakened the dollar exchange rate due to this low interest rate (as it’s not attractive for foreign investors to invest in US funds hedged to the interest rate).  So in order to make money elsewhere, as oil is traded in dollars, oil prices rose as the exchange rate rose.  A healthy dose of fear, paranoia, and more completed this sad crisis.

Anyone who suggest an isolationist movement in any manner are only ignorant on this dynamic situation.  The Feds simply overdid it in response to the housing market, and in the process is ruining the airline industry.

Welcome aboard, and that’ll be a doorman fee of $5, please.

Wii Fit:  Age 41, Worked out 41 minutes.  Focused mostly on legs and arms.  As a result, my upper back is sore.

Of course, as it is in my nature to do so, I generally do not take pain medication.  It is one thing to suppress sharp pain such as after a surgery or something — it’s another to ignore the dull pains, and suppress it with medication.  I personally believe that being aware of the pains can help you focus on better maintenance of your own body.  Plus as a good old friend told me one time:  “Sometimes pains feels good, making you feel alive!”  He loves the pain he feels after a night of racquetball, simply because it’s his knowledge that he pushed his body a bit harder than usual, and his body is undergoing repair to make it go better.

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This whole health kick brings up a good question — are you taking any vitamins or minerals?  Any “power” juices such as pomegrates?  I am more focused on those that are self-prescribing these stuff without their doctor’s specific recommendation for good health.  My question is:  Do you feel better now than before taking those?

I am just concerned that with all of those modern era snake oil marketing, that many of us are taken in.  Did I say, “snake oil”?  Yes, yes I did.  Marketers are far more sophicated than ever, and yet depends on our naive gullability to sell us those stuff.  With people I know that does not eat a balanced meal, a multi-vitamin made a big difference in their health — but for many who do take their dark green salad (spring mix, for example) with their meat and pasta, I am sure it is overkill.

Yet we’re being sold on all of those stuff.  Primrose oil.  Fish oil.  B-12.  CoQ.  Fiber.  It is amazing that we apparently have so much of a “need” for all of this, as if a balanced meal is not enough for us.  Perhaps we’re being oversold on being too healthy?

This rant is brought you by reading Costco Connection with its excessive amount of suppliment advertisments.  I love Costco, but man, do they go out of their way to give us everything related to suppliments under the sun?  There’s one for grapeseed with whole grape in a tablet.  That’s right, it’s full of polyphenols and proanthecyanidins and all of those fancy medical terms, and if we don’t take it, we will die a horrible painful death! Or something.

Wii Fit - Age 41 (got out of balance on one of those “stand very still!” action), 40 minutes of mostly balance games and activity games.

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Hey, can someone give us a transcript of this video:  BMW GINA?  It’s a very cool video, but with so much dialogue I couldn’t follow.  THANKS!

Wii Fit - Age 32 - 34 minutes.

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This past week, I had the great luck in meeting up with my old classmates.  Donnie was two years behind me, and Heather was 4 years below in grade school.  It turns out that Donnie lives in Salt Lake City, and Heather was heading there for the weekend to work at her company’s headquarters.  Since I have never been to Salt Lake City, what better time to pay the city a visit than this past weekend?

I am so glad I went, for many different reasons.  I learned so much more about the history behind the Church of the Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.  I reformed wonderful friendships with Heather and Donnie.  I got to meet Shelly again, a classmate whom I have not seen since I was a kid as she was several years ahead.  I also got to appreciate two awesome restaurants, and explore a new city of my own.

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I met up with Donnie, Heather, and Shelly for dinner at the Tuscany Italian restaurant out near the mountains.  Donnie was joined by his wife, TC, and their beautiful daughter who is just starting to take her first few steps at 9 months of age.  The restaurant was top-notched.  Granted, it was not a luxury experience on par with the five stars restaurants, but it held its own against the competition.  Service was excellent, and the conversation flowed like unimpeded water.  Catching up on the years, it was a great experience.

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I also met up with Donnie the following day, and have him give me a tour of his church’s sacred grounds - the Temple Square. This location is home to the infamous Salt Lake Temple.  Lesser known for its location, but well known for its choir, Tabernacle is located next to the Temple.  Tucked to a corner, the Assembly Hall is a very lovely small church building built with the leftover stones from the Salt Lake Temple.

Donnie and I met up with several missionaries, including two Sisters (a female equivalent to the male’s Elders), some who knew ASL, and one knowing British Sign Language.  Whatever they may not know, they made it up with their eagerness to answer my history questions, including the purpose of having three sacred buildings on the same site.

It turns out that the Temple is meant for an individual or small group worship toward their God, not as a big temple auditorium like Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano.  Instead, that role is assigned to the Tabernacle, and the Assembly Hall’s gatherings are conducted by volunteers rather than ministers.  All three buildings serve unique purposes for LDS faithful.

There were several enlightening moments like that, and so much worth the exposure to understand this religion.  The rest of Salt Lake City was nice, including the Trax, something I know a certain friend would drool over if she is in town.

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Heather and I went to the Bohemian Brewery, a wonderful Deutsch pub.  It was so nice to eat traditional brats, although by Heather’s claims, it was not quite as traditional, as the appropriate mustard, Lowensenf, was not served.  Instead, the restaurant opted to use the close cousin’s version - Grey Poupon - due to its availability.  Considering how much I like Grey Poupon, I am quite curious about this particular mustard.

I had the unfiltered white ale called Bavarian wier.  Despite the label, it is not all that cloudy, which separate it from its peers.  It was extremely tasty, and I was only limited by the knowledge that I had to drive afterward.

Altogether, the brewery is an amazing find, and something I would strongly recommend to anyone who is seeking some traditional Deutsch fare.

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It is so much worth it to catch with your friends, as some of them may alter your previous naive opinion about them.  To be able to gain new respect and a few wonderful friendships are so wonderful.  I thank them all from the bottom of my heart for meeting up with me.

Note, you can see the complete photo album here.