I just have a horrifying thought in my mind: One day, I may not need Windows anymore.

I can do my word processing in OpenOffice.

I can chat using Pidgin and call someone on Skype.

Facebook is web-based and works well with Firefox, which is available on OS X, XP, Vista, and Ubuntu.

I'm writing this right now in OpenOffice. What's the point for Windows to exist?

I did that once back in 2003, but Linux was not mature. I had the terrifying need of typing in Chinese, and making the input system to work on Redhat was not pretty. I tried to compile from source to no avail, so I gave up and went back to Windows, with Microsoft's evil laughter playing in the back of my mind, little old me head down, slouching my shoulders in deep disappointment and hopeless depression.

Now...it's an Add/Remove Program option on Ubuntu 8.04. Oh, sweet, sweet thought of just checking a box on a list. All the dependencies automatically determined for you. Installation? I felt like I was cheating versus all the fire hoops I had to jump for Fedora Core 5. Fedora was one sensitive beast: ready to bite your head off when you dare to install any non-standard packages, breaks down in pieces when you compile something that changes dependencies on the system. The horror, the horror...

I can't believe I'm writing this. That is so...geek.

Yeah, I remember you. I'm just wondering if you go by the same name today as when we were kids. I can tell you a few random things about us when we were kids, but you'll not remember any of it, while I'm the one whose stuck with the memory like an elephant remembers everything.

I remember that our science teacher's name is Mr. Patrone. He had these two quails, one male, one female. One day, the female quail got sick and died, and the male quail was calling for her, while we were in class. As kids, we were all laughing at the quail, not knowing the significance of him making that call. I don't think that we'll think it's funny anymore today if the quail would make that same sad call to his mate.

I remember Mrs. Wachs is our fifth grade teacher, and she enjoyed taking us to field trips. On one of our field trips, we were on top of the arch at the Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. I was afraid of heights, which I never overcome, and you were pulling me back from the edge because you thought I was going to fall over.

You like to gross me out during lunch time by mixing canned peaches with milk in the lunch tray. The lunch trays were Styrofoam back then. Now I'm thinking, maybe you want to experiment and find out how much liquid can that tray hold. I still don't understand why you want to do that everyday, though.

My question is, should I say your name out loud? Am I mistaking you as someone else? Do you still remember any of this? Do you think I remember you?

My coworker got me to do this very interesting exercise.  She asked me to name five qualities I'd like my (future) children to have.  I came up with the following:

1. Character: knows to do the right thing when situation hits
2. Loyalty: someone who has your back when shit hits the fan
3. Dedicated to work given no matter how tedious or stupid the work is
4. Tell the truth with love: constructive criticism, not personal attacks
5. Curiosity like an 8 year old: intelligence is useless without the desire to learn and discover

When I asked her about the next step, she said that's it...those are the things you look for in a mate.

Really?  But come to think of it, I do gravitate toward members of the opposite sex with those traits.  Whether or not there's more to the story after gravitation, well, that's another story.

Ros-Lehtinen hangs up on Obama. Twice. - Yahoo! News

Is Ileana Ros-Lehtinen a little paranoid?

Maybe.

On Wednesday, the Republican congresswoman got a call from President-elect Barack Obama, didn't believe it was him, and hung up on him. Twice.

According to Ros-Lehtinen's flack Alex Cruz, the congresswoman received the call on her cell phone from a Chicago-based number and an aide informed her that Obama wanted to speak to her. When Obama introduced himself, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said, "I'm sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks." Then she hung up.

Moments later, Obama tried again, this time through his soon-to-be chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.  

"Ileana, I cannot believe you hung up on the President-Elect," Emanuel said. And then--yes, you know what's coming--she hung up on Emanuel saying she "didn't believe the call was legitimate."

A short time later, Ros-Lehtinen received an urgent call from Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who informed her that she indeed hung up on Obama. 

So, Obama tried again and this time he was successful. (Phew!)

"It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me," Obama said. Ros Lehtinen responded by telling Obama that radio stations in South Florida always make these sorts of jokes. Obama said similar pranksters reside in Chi-town.

"You are either very gracious to reach out in such a bipartisan manner or had run out of folks to call if you are truly calling me and Saturday Night Live could use a good Obama impersonator like you," Ros-Lehtinen joked with the president-elect.

Ros-Lehtinen then congratulated Obama on his victory and pledged to work together on behalf of all Americans. She also asked Obama to call Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Albio Sire (D-NJ) to discuss Cuba policy.

Here's hoping they don't hang up on him.

聚散從來總有一個時候。

There's a time for reunion. There's a time for departure.

I write this so many times in my diary, but I think I'm starting to see it and feel it.

I thought 2005 was the full circle.  That was an illusion.  This is truly the full circle.

Same crossroads.

Same decisions need to be made.

Not really the same children, but the same pristine unpolluted love from children.

Let's hope I'm not as depressed as last time and shut myself away from society for 7 years handling this round.

4:42pm New York Times: 125 dead and 327 wounded

Time Magazine Pictures of the Week

For the past few days, President-Elect Barack Obama has been giving press conferences almost everyday.  All press conferences focus on only one thing: the US economy, and to some extent, the global economy.

On one hand, this is risky behavior.  Obama still has 54 days until inauguration.  He has no veto power, no power to sign executive orders, no other presidential powers to do anything to fix the economy as of this moment.  All he can do right now is to give as many press conferences as he can, or until everybody's faces turn red.

On the other hand, Obama is attacking the source of our economic problems head on: lack of consumer confidence.  Investors cannot wait to toss stocks like toilet paper, banks are terrified lending money to each other.  Bush has lied one to many times to make anyone believe him if he ever comes around to say the economy will recover.  Who should say something, anything to budge that lack of confidence even as little as one millimeter?

Obama seemed successful so far in inserting confidence in consumers.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average shouldn't mean everything when it comes to measuring the economy, but for the first time since the market plummet in September, DJIA has gone up.  There may not be enough days to tell whether or not his plan right now will work in the long run, but the effort really counts, especially after spending years staring at a president who do not bother to make an effort.

Stay tuned...

Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose.  - Evan Esar