Pygmalion Effect皮格马利翁效应

皮格马利翁是古希腊神话中的塞浦路斯国王，善雕刻。一次他雕刻了一座美丽的少女像，在夜以继日的工作中，皮格马利翁把全部的精力，全部的热情，全部的爱恋都赋予了这座雕像。后来，爱神阿佛洛狄忒见他感情真挚，就给雕像以生命，使两人结为夫妻。于是“皮格马利翁效应”成为一个人只要对艺术对象有着执著的追 求精神，便会发生艺术感应的代名词。

Arboretum stroll

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Movie)

Way too long, way too loud, way too redundant. This is the third time Scorsese has made this movie. The first two times were "Goodfellas" & "Casino." 

Amoretti Premium Syrup, Crema Di Caramel

Ever since we enjoyed our morning coffee, we always used French Caramel Cream flavored coffee beans from Sprouts.  Those great-smelling coffee beans come from one company: Volcanic Red, a Scottsdale-based operation with roasting facilities in Los Angeles.  They use the world's finest Arabica coffee beans, which in their opinion are those cultivated near volcanic regions — where there is rich soil, a tropical climate, and sufficient elevation so that the beans will grow slowly. Sprouts' coffee has been roasted within the last week or two, not like the stuff you might see on conventional supermarket shelves might be months old.

For the last trip to Sam's club, my hubby decided to try their Columbian Suprema coffee beans. In this case, we need to add on some flavor to it. Therefore, a new syrup is bought.  It is absolutely amazing. It is creamy and delicious with incredibly complex and scrumptious flavor. It came with attractive bottle and pump, looks nice enough. Best of all, it has all natural flavorings. We are so glad to decide to try this brand.

Hubby's new toy

Recently, he started trying different brands of cigars from his co-worker. He said it is only a leisure time hobby and promised he won't even inhale the toxin. Following the trial period, he even purchased a very elegant pipe. See how much he enjoys!

Elysium (2013, Movie)

It does start out well enough with a world divided in the late 22nd Century into a dystopian terra firma, populated by the poor and a space station world (Elysium) populated by the rich. There really isn't much of a story here. The action sequences are good, except for some shaky camera work at times.

Shamatha, Vipashyana and Mahamudra By Kalu Rinpoche

“In the usual approach to meditation, first comes the practice known as calm abiding, or shamatha in Sanskrit and Shine in Tibetan. In it we learn to remain tranquil, to leave the mind in a state in which thoughts and afflictions are pacified. Shamatha allows the mind to rest without distraction, peaceful and calm.

Next comes insight meditation, which leads the mind to recognize its own nature, to understand its emptiness, lucidity, and un-obstructiveness by direct experience. Mind recognizes itself by itself and finally reaches the experience of mahamudra….”

“The teachings and practices of mahamudra or dzogchen are the heart and quintessence of Dharma. They are the experience of non duality, the realization of emptiness, the fundamental nature of mind. This realization removes all the veils that obscure mind’s nature, the Buddha nature. Whatever life we might have led and whatever path we might have taken, if we reach this singular realization, we will have accomplished the consummate result.”

Get together lunch at Abbey Huang's house

With Abbey and Tony's hospitality, we spent a lovely afternoon at their cozy house at El Monte. Abbey is such a wonderful hostess with variety of delicious meal plus Tony's quick hands of washing dishes. We enjoyed Ethiopian coffee brewed by coffee chef Madaline with her specialty coffee machine. Not to mention my home-made low-cal cheese cake made me popular. Madaline and I were both intrigued by the couple's talented paintings and floral arrangements.

All and all, it's an occasion of such beautiful friendship for us to remember.

讓我們儲蓄友誼, 因為靠得住的友誼是今生最溫暖的一件外套。

Wish Desiree a beautiful B-day and Valentine's day

An e-card was sent to my little sister for her birthday on Valentine's Day: 
http://www.123greetings.com/send/view/02213614910057736177
Hi, sis,

You may not be "Innocent" but fit all the other qualities. I'm so proud of you for being an affirmative, determined human being, to pursue your own dreams. Do your best while still taking care of your families. Cheers and enjoy your day!

Here is her reply with such a beautiful song "I Knew I loved You":
http://www.123greetings.com/send/view/02718514813111715736
It's such a heartfelt feeling to get a card like this from u. Ur true encouragement does mean a lot to me. Thanks for being a constant supporter and great listener who's always there for me when I needed the most!

Valentine's Day quotation from Saint Augustin from about 400AD

"La mesure de l'amour, c'est d'aimer sans mesure."

(The measure of love is to love without measure.)

my Facebook movie

Here’s my Facebook movie. Find yours at https://www.facebook.com/lookback/

Happy Valentine!

"Say I love you with Valentines chocolate"

Saint Augustin from about 400AD
"La mesure de l'amour, c'est d'aimer sans mesure."
(The measure of love is to love without measure.)

My chocolate fudge recipes are so simple to make. This time I used variations for semi-sweet chocolate, bitter-sweet chocolate plus almonds, walnuts, cocoa power and whole bunch of dried fruits (mangoes, cranberries and blueberries). Yummy!

Tatung Rice Cooker sucks

The Tatung Rice cooker bit the dust after one year of service. A few days over one year and no warranty is covered! The problem is at the power plug.

Think about the old days that Tatung products were like steels which never broke. Remember the commercial: 大同大同國貨好, 大同電視最可靠, 大同冰箱式樣新, 電扇電鍋洗衣機. 家家愛用人人愛, 品質優秀最老牌....

The old days are gone. I cannot say the same thing about their products. They lost their credibility to me totally.

Sleep Apnea Diagnostic Study result

After a series of OSA (Obstructed Sleep Apnea) diagnostic devices testing, the result came back. I don't have OSA! I should be celebrating it, however, the technologist (that's how she calls herself) said with a stern face, "Go back to your doctor for the next step". I asked, "Any suggestions for me?" She answered, "Nope".

Surely, now I go back to square 1 problem, the fatigue and sleepiness during the day. Bummer!

Scenes at the Arboretum

膝蓋脆弱：「敲打腳尖」

膝蓋脆弱：「敲打腳尖」 

秋天，和朋友們一起打完高爾夫回家，從車上拿高爾夫桿的時候，一不小心跌坐在地上。這一跌，讓我親身體驗了「年過七十 膝蓋變得脆弱，腿部肌肉無力」 的說法。膝蓋脆弱，上下樓梯就會覺得吃力。偶然一次機會，去了丹學修練中心，一位老師讓我每天試著做二百次的「敲打腳尖」。敲打腳尖是一個非常簡單的運動，只要伸直雙腿，把兩腳的腳後跟靠在一起，兩腳的大姆趾互相碰撞即可。做二百次大約需要兩分鐘，剛開始做的時候，兩分鐘是那麼的漫長和無聊，但是既然下定決心，就一定要堅持下來，於是一有時間就會做。兩個月過去了，不但是膝蓋，就連腿部都感覺變得更有力量了，行動也變得敏捷了。以前 每次打 網球時，大腿和小腿肚都無法放鬆，還會經常抽筋，而且第二天兩腿會變得非常酸痛，不知道從什麼時候開始，這樣的症狀竟然消失了。 體驗到了敲打腳尖的效果，我就對敲打腳尖運動越來越感興趣了。據說 敲打次數越多效果越好，於是我就將每天的二百次增加到五百次，五個月後，又增加到每天的 一千下。現在是一天不做都會覺得不舒服。因為膝蓋問題才開始的敲打腳尖運動，現在不但讓膝蓋痊癒了，而且感覺身體也比十年前更健康了，排便正常了，臉色也更好了。遇到熟人，他們都會說：「您是有什麼好事啊？怎麼臉色這麼好看？」、「您最近吃什麼補品呢？」 七十多歲的人們聚在一起，不免要經常談到健康問題，每當這個 時候我都會告訴大家「敲打腳尖」運動。最近，這個運動在朋友間非常受歡迎，每天都會有諮詢電話打來，問的最多的問題是：「每天一千 個怎麼做啊？」。於是，我就將我的方法告訴了他們：剛開始，在嘴裡數著。過了一段時間，就開始用手錶設定十分鐘的時間，看看能做多少。在一般的情況下，十分鐘可以做一千 二百次左右。如今連時間都不計 算了，看電視的時候、看報紙的 時候、聽廣播的時候，只要一有 空就做，這樣下來，每天能做三 千次左右。 現在，周遭的朋友們都開始讚嘆 敲打腳尖的效果。我有一個朋 友，他晚上睡覺的時候，每兩個 小時就要上一次廁所，做了敲打 腳尖的活動後，每天晚上都能安 穩地睡上五個小時。還有 一個朋友做了之後，覺得自己的 頭腦比以前變清醒了，集中力提 升了，思緒變得敏捷了。 不久前，我開車去一個朋友家下 圍棋，離開 他家時忘記了帶眼鏡，急忙掉頭準備回去拿眼鏡，在十字路口等紅綠燈的時候，我發現自己竟然能清楚地看見對面街上的標誌 ── 以前不戴眼鏡是看不到的！ 於 是，從那時開始，我平時就不戴 眼鏡，雖然沒有特別去測量過視 力，但明顯覺得視力比以前好了 很多。 我做敲打腳尖運動二十個月來整 體的感受是：運動沒有必要做很多種，只要持之以恆地堅持某一 項運動，就一定會看到它所帶來 的效果。我的 身體、我的心情每天都在變得更年輕，希望我的親身體驗能對大 家有所幫助。

Half day stroll at the Huntington Library

Both of us are lame at photography. That's the moment a fully functional digital camera comes in handy. My hubby was so anxious to try out some of the settings of our newly purchased Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS-25. We used mostly the 'SCN' mode which embeds a few useful common settings. And a 'Panorama' setting was tried out but the results came out not expected.

Our new Panasonic Bread Maker

Got a new one after sister Desiree's footprint. However, I got a much basic one rather than the fancy super one she got. Prior to the purchase, one Hitachi maker was loaned to me by Shirley Lin for some experiments. One loaf of cinnamon raisin bread was made by the Hitachi maker. The drawback of such maker is the capacity. It only has two sizes available, regular and large. When I modified the recipe to an extent that the bread popped up the see-through window. The second try made it perfectly right.

Then the new Panasonic machine arrived. Since my hubby loves soft and fluffy bread, I tried the new 'Sandwich Bread' option as the first guinea pig. Surprisingly, it turned out to be beautifully gorgeous, plus super soft and fluffy as bought from the bakery. The beauty of such maker is that it can adjust the crust 'darkness', from light, medium to dark. I believe we're sold that this genius is becoming our 'Bread and Butter' daily toy soon.

White House Down (2013, Movie)

Simply put, the White House is overtaken by ex-military extremists with the intent of taking the President hostage to get access to the nuclear launch codes.  Apparently it only takes about 15 guys to overwhelm the entire Secret Service and security apparatus protecting the President, the White House and the Capital Building.  It offers very little that is new; and it takes itself far too seriously for an actioner with it's overt simplistic, cliche-laden with left wing political themes... political commentary - just does not mesh well into a heavy actioner such as this. Basically it had no real plot and was totally unrealistic.