I'm loving it!

I'm just about finished with the 2nd day in New York. You know, if there is one thing that makes New York different from any other cities, that's diversity. Obviously, being from Vincennes, this is a huge culture shock, but definitely a positive one.

Upon arrival yesterday, Tee has taken me to a Japanese restaurant (Isao Aoki, a Senior PGA player, was there). A very good way to start my stay in New York. We, then, drove around the City. I was just amazed by the sheer amount of people in Broadway in the middle of the night. The night scenery was beautiful, also. We didn't do much else until this morning.



This morning, Tee and I went to a driving range. We went to a Korean restaurant where I had a Snache Bibimbap. I normally don't like very spicy stuff, but somehow I like spicy Korean food. After getting our belly full, we cruised around a Korean town of Flushing. Many many people!! And white people are definitely the minority here. Here are some sights from the town:






We head to another kind of Japanese restaurant that specializes in 'Yakitori', a skewered chicken meat. For a excellent price, we got ourselves pretty full.




We then headed into the City again.







We finally situated ourselves in Flash Dancers, a premiere gentlemen's club... I ended up dropping more than $200 at the place. We had great time there. Diversity of dancers couch-danced for me: a Texan, Chinese, Puerto Rican and Venezuela-English. And everyone of them is wicked awesome!! You'll never get this diversity in Midwest.

I'm starting to hate Indiana-Illinois area more and more...

New York, Here I Come!!

I’m at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport typing this entry. I have no free connection to the Internet so I need to upload this later.

I’m on my way to New York to see Tee Sato, a friend from my high school and college years. I was his best man when he got married in Japan back in 1995 (I think). He since then got divorced, and has been living in New York since February this year. The last time I saw him was back in 1996 when I visited Japan. Neither of us are good at keeping in touch, usually consumed in our busy daily lives.

Thankfully, he got hold of me when he moved to New York, and now we are in touch again. While I was planning on going to Italy during this week, my inexplicable reluctance, lack of experience in planning a trip and busy schedules pretty much shot the plan to hell. Tee invited me over a week and a half ago, and I was able to get the plane tickets pretty quickly.

I have my new digital camera with me, and I plan to take bunch of pictures. If all go well, I should have a pretty good travel journal compiled by the end of this trip.

Hanging with Chi Chi

Ok, so it's been a while. You know, I lost my digital camera during my trip to Mexico, and I have been shopping for a new one since. I finally got a good deal in eBay, and it should be on its way here. Once I receive it, I should be more active with posting... Today, I would like to post a picture of me and Chi Chi Rodriguez.



From Left: myself, Mr. Okura, Chi Chi, Cameron Shoulders and Rick Guernsey.

This was taken at Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra Fund Raising Golf Tournament at Victoria Nationals in Newburgh, IN. Our company donated a few grand for the cause, and I was fortunate enough to be selected represent the company for this occasion.

Chi Chi had what they call a "Clinic", which is pretty much his one-man show. It was amazing what the man can do. It is hard to believe he is 70 years old. He can hit draw, fade, high, or low. He can land the ball wherever he wishes. He even attempted to collide 2 balls in mid-air: one hit in high fade another one hit moment later in low draw. They didn't collide, but man, did they come close!

We played one short hole over the water with him (that's where we got our picture taken). He is a very personable guy. Chi Chi and I talked briefly at the club house before he left. He had to leave soon because his wife was having some allergic reaction... weird...

By the way, this Victoria National Golf Club is ranked 22nd in the nation. It's a very prestigious course, and the houses along the course are unbelievably huge!! Many of them have cruisers parked in the lake in their backyard... yeah, cruisers, like big boats! I don't know what they do for living, but that's what I really need to be doing...

How did we do in the tournament? We tied for dead last...

Whoa... I can SEE!!

Those of you who know me know me with the glasses. I have been wearing glasses since when I was 16 years old, and my sight had gotten progressively worse over the years and I haven't been able to see anything without some corrective methods such as spectacles or contacts. Since I was deemed allergic to contact lenses, I've always worn the glasses.

Well, yesterday, I had a LASIK surgery at Wabash Valley Eye Center. What an experience! I was nervous as hell even with a dose of Valium they gave me. But the result has been remarkable. Let me take you through this one of the most interesting days of my life.

My appointment was at 7:30AM. I had my brother drive to the location since they would not operate on you unless I bring a driver with me. After I signed the consent forms (read: 'license to kill'), I was taken to the pre-op booth where an RN took my vitals. They game a hair net/cap which I thought was funny because I don't have much hair to move out of the way. A standard procedure, I suppose.

The RN would talk to me about all the precautions after the surgery, all of which I had already been made aware of during the last couple visits. She gave me a valium pill and some numbing eye drops, then left me to close my eyes and relax.

It took a while before the valium kicked in, but still I was really nervous. I could tell that my pulse was rushing, and my BP was definitely higher than normal.

Then another nurse came and said, "It's time!"

While I was looking forward to this day for so long, it felt like being taken to the gas chamber... I was going to start some meaningless chit chat with the doctor to just calm myself down, but when I saw the inside of the OR, I got a little overwhelmed and kinda clamed up.

The OR is a good size room with a operating chair and a huge machine over it. A few people were already working to prepare for my operation (I think... They had taken my glasses away by then).

They had me lie down on the chair. They gave me a rubber ball to squeeze on... I'm not quite sure why... perhaps to relieve my tension? Hmmmm... They, then, taped my eye lids and lashes down then placed this device on my eyes so that I won't blink during the procedure. I couldn't take a good look at the device, but it applied a pretty good pressure on my eyes. Not quite painful, but almost.

The doctors and the technicians then selected a plastic cylinder template that fits my pupils. This apparently is a template for cutting my cornea in a perfect circle. The doctor said "Suction on", then the tech replies "Suction is on". My vision faded to black except for the bright circle of light right in front of my eye.

I couldn't see the blade at all. I did see my vision distorted in a circular motion back and forth during the cutting process. No pain whatsoever. I was not as nervous as I had thought I would be, because I didn't see the actual blade. Doctor then "peeled" my cornea. Everything seemed out of focus then, understandably. I can hear the doctor and the techs saying "Hey, that's a perfect flap! Look at that!" Obviously, that's a good thing for me to hear, but I'm sure that's what they say with every patient. Imagine them saying "well, I guess that's got to do..." or "well, not as good as the last one, but I've seen worse..." I would freak...

With a continuous clicking noise, the laser treatment started. My job is to stare at the blinking red light for the duration. I'm still nervous because I think the whole thing would be messed up if I move my eye ball, but you don't realized until then how hard it is to keep your eye still. Fortunately, the machine can adjust itself to the "micro movement" of the eye. Maybe the laser treatment lasted for 15 seconds... maybe 30 seconds, but very quick either way.

The doctor replaced my cornea flap to a position with what looks like a plastic 'mini' spatula. My vision seemed be restored as soon as I got my cornea back.

Then onto my left eye. Exactly the same thing again. I'm less nervous this time.

They moved me out from under the machine, and helped me get up. I looked at the wall clock, and realize that I can see what time it is. Sure it's still kind of 'cloudy', but I can certainly tell many things are more focused. Wow...

After sitting me down for a several minutes, they discharged me. That was about 10AM, so I must have spent 2.5 hours at the facility. My brother was bored to death, he tells me.

I got home and went straight to bed. I was told to keep my eyes closed for 4 to 5 hours, and obviously, the best thing to do is to sleep. They provided me with these swimming-type goggles that I can wear while I sleep so that I wouldn't rub my eyes accidentally. How stylish...

After 1 hour of sleep, I woke up with some discomfort. Both of my eyes felt very irritated as some foreign objects had gotten in them. Perhaps the numbing drops had worn off. I could barely open my eyes. I managed to apply some artificial tears. The pain subsided within 30 minutes or so, and I was able to go back to sleep. This time for 4 hours straight.

When I woke up, my vision seemed even sharper. I could look around my bedroom, and I could swear I was still wearing my glasses. Awesome!

It's funny, because I still try to push up my glasses that are not there. My vision is still not completely stable, and when I feel the vision gets blurred a little, I try to reach for my imaginary spectacles. Old habit, but it reminds me how grateful I am to have my vision back.

I went back to the doctor today for 1-day check up. My right eye is 20/35 and left is 20/30. Not quite 20/20, but I may still get there. My vision is supposed to improve as the healing nears completion. I'm already legal to drive without my glasses now!! That itself is a huge milestone.

I had vacation days reserved for yesterday and today, so I don't even have to work. I'm sitting on the porch typing this entry. It's beautiful at 66 degrees. What a day to enjoy the new SCENERY, huh??

The Pope Is Dead

Pope John Paul II just died. Those who know me know that I'm not a Catholic or even Christian. For that matter, I'm most of the time, anti-Christianity. Despite the fact, I have been fascinated by the all the hypes that surround his death. I cannot think of any one person whose expected death attracts so much attention from all over the world. For the last day or two, all you see on the TV is about the Pope, his life, his impending death and what that means to Catholicism and the rest of the world.

As I said before, I'm not religious. I'm an atheist. I really don't care what would happen to the Christianity, Catholicism or any other religions. As far as I'm concerned, religions are waste of huge resources that humanity foolishly elected to commit. I am fascinated, however, WHY people are 'addicted' to supreme beings. Take the Pope for once: Being the Pope, he must have studied his religion to death (no pun intended). I would think that he would have reached a conclusion that religions are nothing but bullshit. Yet, he continued to attempt to lead the whole world into this nonsense. Maybe these religious stories are as good as "Matrix" movies: You know that it's just a story, but it COULD be true. Or maybe he has some ulterior motive outside his religion. Maybe he knows something that most of us don't.

Fascinating, I think.

Looong week

I had to work last Saturday, and my boss and I had to drive 4 hours to see the president of the company to report the profitability of our plant on Sunday. We had to drive back on the same day. That's 8 hours of driving on Sunday, and right back to work on Monday.

Today is Saturday. Since last night, we have been experiencing a problem, and I have been on the phone all day to get things worked out. It's 7:00PM, and I'm typing this at work. My weekend has been non-existent for a while, and I'm getting pretty exhausted. During the week, I have not been getting much sleep either. My face is breaking out probably because of my irregular life cycle and stress. I was really looking forward to resting this weekend, but seems like it's a lost cause now.

Hopefully, things will settle tonight and I will be able to sleep in on Sunday. Then again, I shouldn't get my hopes up. Disappointment is a cruel thing...

Slick & Smooooth

I have been keeping my hair very short since last Summer. I use an electric hair clipper to just buzz my head until I have a headful of stubs. I feels like a sand paper when you run your hand on my head.

Lately, I have been wanting to shave my head smooth, and today was the day that I decided to be slick.I used Gillette Mach3 Power razor and Edge shaving gel that I bought specifically for this occasion. I clipped my hair short first, then applied the blade on my head. Head shaving takes more getting used to that I imagined. It took me a while before I felt satisfied that my head is smooth all over. I swear, you would think that the hair keeps growing back while you are still shaving because you keep finding the missed spots.

To have a smooth-shaven head feels not much different from having the "buzzed" head until you run your hand across your head. Ooh, what a sensation! I don't even know how to describe it, but it is akin to a sense of liberation. When I slap my head, it sounds like a bare butt being slapped!! HeHe! I really can't tell you how different I look. I was hoping that I would get the Vin-Diesel look, but I don't think I was successful. When I go to work tomorrow, I would know.

I don't know if I will keep this shaven head. It seems more trouble than worth it. I would have to shave my head everyday, and shaving head takes too much time in the morning. My sleep time is really valuable, you know... I will give it a test run this week, and see how it will turn out.

Canada Picture

It's kind of belated, but I wanted to post a picture from my Canada trip.



It's just me in front of the Niagara Falls. It's not even a good picture, but it's one of the only few pictures that my boss took. You can kinda see the portion of the fall behind me.

From the Great White North...

Yeah, I'm in Canada right now typing this entry in the hotel room. This marks a few interesting milestones for me:

1. This is the first time I have ever connected to the Internet through a WiFi Hotspot.
2. This is my first entry that I write away from home (other than the very first entry: that was written at my parents' house).

My impression on WiFi Hotspot: it's way too expensive. I'm paying $11 for the right to connect for the next 24 hours with 500 MB data transfer limit. This barely lets you do much. Especially, if I'm connected in the hotel room, I would rather have a free, wired internet connection. I will have to watch my usage, really.

Anyway, I'm in Canada for a business. I'm staying at the Waterloo Inn in Kitchener, Ontario. Because I'm traveling with my boss (a VP of the company), we are getting a pampering VIP treatment from the host plant. They would drive us around, take us out to dine and wine, and they even arranged the hotel accommodation for us. The last time I was here, I had to do all that myself.

I wish I had a digital camera. My camera was lost during my last trip to Mexico. I am currently looking at getting one. One from Panasonic looks damn good, but expensive. Sony cameras' prices are coming down. I need a really portable good quality camera. I want to be able to post a picture on my blog sites wherever I am so that the millions of my potential readers will be able to keep up with my latest adventure.

Yes, it's cold here... The locals are telling me that it's gotten warm. I don't know how anybody gets used to this severe winter climate. I don't really like hot weather, but I guess I would take hot over cold any day.

You know I brought this notebook computer from work: the bigger, heavier one because I thought I needed this particular program for this trip. I found out that the program doesn't even work outside my office. They screwed up when they installed it, I guess. I'm mad because now I have to tote around this damn heavy computer all over the place for nothing! I could have brought my small Sony Vaio in the stylish Booq bag, and save some pain! Oh, well...

I'm gonna wrap up this entry before I end up yapping about nothing all night. I got an early morning tomorrow. Maybe I get a free connection tomorrow, then I will be able to post more, otherwise, you'll have to wait until Saturday night.

Electric Toothbrush

I use an electric toothbrush. I started using it a several months ago, and the result has been remarkable. The toothbrush is made by Oral-B and I paid about $20 at Wal-Mart. I can't find the exact model that I use anymore in the store or in the website, so they may have stopped producing it, but similar models still exist.

• The brush head should be small: it allows you to maneuver it better in your mouth so you are more likely to reach all surfaces of your teeth.
• The bristles should be soft: it actually brushes your teeth better (according to my hygienist). I used to use medium to hard bristles because the stimulation in my mouth felt better, but you can get used to the soft kind pretty quickly. With an electric brush, it's plenty stimulating anyway.
• The chargeable unit eliminates hassles: I guess it's not a requirement, but it IS convenient.

I use Crest Dual-action Whitening toothpaste. With toothpaste applied on the brush head, I turn the brush on in my mouth. I run the brush on each tooth briefly. I don't have to spend more time on each tooth than a few seconds, but I make sure that the outside bristles get into between the teeth as deep as possible by orienting the brush appropriately. It takes me about 3 minutes usually. The brush has a 2-minute timer (it vibrates intermittently for a second at the 2-minute mark), so I know if I'm on a right pace.

The visits to the dentist have been much more pleasant as my hygienist now commends me for my excellent oral hygiene. I only brush once a day in the morning and I swish with Listerine before I go to bed at night. I don't normally floss, but my hygienist doesn't even nag me about flossing anymore. I would like to think that the use of the electric brush is as effective as using the floss.

I've been lucky with oral health as I have never had a cavity in my life. I didn't go to the dentist for 7 years until a few years ago, but I only had the mild case of gingivitis which cured right after the visit to Dr. Whaley in Vincennes. With the electric brush, Plax and Listerine, my teeth now are whiter and healthier than ever. People actually comment on them! I definitely recommend my oral care method to anybody.