Time to Induce

Our little nugget is around 8 lbs.  Yup, 8 lbs, plus or minus, according to my OB/GYN.  I'm of relatively small  stature.  I'm almost 5 ft 3 inches if I wear thick soled shoes.  I was around 113 lbs before I got  pregnant.  So, my doctor, Evan, and I decided that the best action for me is to induce me early so that the baby doesn't get too big to give birth.  

I'm still shocked that our little nugget got so big.  I was barely gaining weight during the entire pregnancy.  I think I gained a total of 20 lbs.  Apparently, most of that weight went to the little being inside me.  Now, I have to mentally prepare for induction.

I'm not sure what is better, waiting for the surprise contraction or knowing that contraction will most likely start at a set time.  I am definitely starting to stress about the impending induction.  Well, not the induction itself, but the fact that this whole baby thing is real.  The massive stomach, the pain in my back, and the  hormonal cocktail coursing through my body don't make the baby thing real.  But, this, a set time to "get the show on the road", is real.

 

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Now I Wait

I am now less than 2 weeks away from my due date.  We decided that it's best that I don't make the daily nearly 2-hour long commute into work.    Today, I'm officially working from home while I wait for the "big day".  It felt strange to be working from home.  Not that I haven't done it before.  But this time it is not just for a doctor's appointment or taking care of something near our home.  I'm home getting ready for the ultimate transformation of our lives.  

The nursery is 99% complete.  All the baby clothes and linen have been washed and put away.  The babyseat is installed in the car.  There aren't too many things we can do to prepare for our new arrival.  But, mental preparation still need some work, at least on my part.  

I can feel and see her little feet pushing against my abdomen.  I know she's there and she will come out.  But, a small part of me wish that she stays inside.  As long as she's inside me, I won't have to prepare for her and take care of a brand new human being.

 

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Snap, Crackle, and Pop

More strangeness with my ever growing and changing body.  The latest one that freaks me out a bit is the popping my joints make.  These poping noises are most pronounce when I tries to rollover at night.  Now that I can't sleep my back anymore, I have to sleep on my side.  Since my body is not use to this new sleeping positions, I have to flip from one side to another pretty often.  

With my giant stomach, rotating from the left side to the right side is a concious endeavor.  I am practically fully awake when I rotate.  As I roll to my back, I hear "crack".  And when I finish the roll to the other side, I hear "pop".  The noise is so loud in my ears, I swear that my bones just popped out of their joints.  

 

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I was offered a seat

I was moved by a simple action by a fellow New Yorker.   It was raining pretty hard this past Friday.  So, Evan and I took the subway to Grand Central from work instead of walking.  The train ride is short, only 2 stops.  Evan and I stood in the train like usual since it was only 2 stops away.  As the train door closed and I grab hold of the pole to steady myself.  A young lady offer me her seat.  I kindly refused since I will be getting off the train very soon anyway.  I was touched by her simple gesture.  

I didn't think I was that pregnant to warrant someone offering me a seat, since I still walk from Grand Central to the office everyday, which is about half a mile away.  But, I guess at 8 months, I'm very pregnant in other people's eyes.

 

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New Baby Ultrasound

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Evan and I went to take our 3rd trimester ultarsound.  Our little nugget definitely look alot more human like now.  She is currently weighing in at 4-lb 8-ounces.  That sounds like a lot.  

I was so excited to see her little face.  I was able to see her eyes, her little button nose, her lips, and her little fingers.  Evan was just as excited as I was, but I think he wsa expecting more realistic pictures.  We are both anxious to meet her in a few weeks.  I can't believe that we are going to have a baby in less than 2 months!

 

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Google Chrome

I downloaded Google's new brower, Chrome for a test drive.  After four days of using it on my old work computer running XP and home laptop running Vista, I'm impressed.  I really like the lightweight and simple interface.  The browser started within seconds of me double clicking the short-cut on my desktop.  Compared to IE 7 and FF3, Chrome is very speedy on start.  I only encountered couple of problems with Chrome.  It didn't work so well when I tried to use it to log into my work computer from home using logmein.com's tool.  Other than that, all the other sites like facebook, cnn, google, wsj, etc. all worked well.

IE 7 and FF3 have been giving me problems for months now.  FF3 crashes every time I tried to quit the program.  And it bogged down my computer.  FF3 would dragged the entire computer down after about a cuple of hours of usage.  IE is just as bad.  I could get Flash to work after IE recommend that I restart the browser.  I installed and re-installed Flash several times and still nothing.  Very frustrating.  I don't want to spend hours at work trying to fix something as silly as that.

Chrome worked great, lightweight, I have no complaints.

 

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Journey, Heart, and Cheap Trick at Bethel Woods

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I finally re-lived my teenage years.  Evan and I went to a concert at Bethel Woods (the original Woodstock concert location).  

My friends and I use to dress up and lip-sync to Heart songs when we were 13 or 14 years old.  We collected magazine articles and stayed up late to watch Heart videos.  It was before the Internet, getting access to information on a band was not that easy.  Heart did all their great stuff, Barracuda, Alone, Never, and more.  They were awesome.  

I wasn't that into Journey when I was younger.  I knew couple of their songs.  But the story of the Journey's new singer is like the movie "Rock Star".  The band found him on YouTube singing Journey songs.  They auditioned him and apparently he was so good that they took him on as the lead singer.  I thought he sounds like Steven Perry.  He didn't quite have the presence, but it was still entertainng.

 

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Unexpected Root Canal

I woke up this morning with a terrible toothache.  I thought I was grinding my teeth durng the night.  As the day wore on, the pain continued.  After couple of hours at work, the pain was unbearable.  I relented and called my dentist, who was on vacation.  Luckily, his replacement can see me today. 

I went, thinking that they'll look, and give me antibiotics and send me on my way.  After some poking and prodding, the dentist informed me that I need a root canal because the nerve is shot.  I thought, root canal?  When will I have time for that.  That question was answer quick, the dentist started prepping me.  An hour later, I had a root canal.  He sent me away with prescriptions for antibiotics and vicadin. 

I guess if I'm going to have to have a root canal, an unexpected and surprise one is better than one that I have to plan for.  I didn't have a chance to worry and stress out about it.  Now that the novacaine is wearing off, my tooth is just slightly uncomfortable.  Otherwise, I think the ordeal will end fine.

 

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Guitar Hero Better

Well, I finally tried Rock Band. It took evan and I about ten minutes to set up the guitar, the drum, and the mike. The songs listed on the box could be interesting to play. After setting up all the instructment, we started the game.

Evan played the drum while I played the guitar. My first gripe is with the guitar pick. It doesn't have the click when I strike a note. I like the feedback from the guitar hero guitar.

The graphic was not as cool. I don't like the thin bars. I prefer the larger graphic bars on GH.

Well maybe I need to give Rock Band a few more try. But, my initial verdict is negative.

 

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I can have sugar

I'm relieved to get the call from my doctor this week.  My GCT (glucose challenge test) came back elevated, the nurse told me over the phone.  And, I'm slightly anemic, she said.  Okay, 2 possible non-normal incidents.  I have to start a iron supplement for the low blood count.  As for the elevated glucose count, I needed to take the 3 hour long GTT (glucse tolerance test). 

The 3 hour long GTT was boring.  I gave a blood sample early in the day after fasting from midnight the night before.  I swig down the glucose water as instructed.  I sat and waited for an hour until the next sample was collected.  I sat and waited for another hour for the next sample collection.   3 hours, I sat and waited.  4 samples altogether. 

My doctors nurse called me the day after and told me that the GTT result came back normal.  Phew.  I don't have to worry about that non-normal incidents.

WALL-EEEE

First, WALL-E is awesome.  I made Evan go see WALL-E with me on the first day the movie came out.  I read some very good reviews before we went.  I was still amazed at how well done and how much fun the movie was.  We walked out of the movie completely in love with WALL-E.

The next weekend, I insist that we go again.  I know... A bit much.  But I really loved the movie.  WALL-E made me think about love, relationship, excess consumerism, global warming... the usual big stuff.  After I watched WALL-E, I feel so lucky to have Evan to hold hands with every day.  And to have him by my side and be my companion.

I recommend that everyone go see WALL-E.  No one will be disapointed.

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She Kicks

I felt it.  I'm pretty sure I did.  When I lied down for bed last night, I felt a strange bubble in the lower abdomin.  The bubble moved from the right to the left side of my stomach.  I knew, I have been expecting it.  My little girl is moving inside me.  Now that I'm aware of it, she kept me up late, way past my normal bed time.  And I'm pretty sure that her little movement woke me at 5 in the morning.  Not something I do.  Well, I guess this is just another part of my life that have and will change with having a baby.

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Martha's Vineyard

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All the pregnancy guide books and website recommend that a romantic getaway is a perfect escape during the 2nd trimester.  Since we always took a summer vacation, we weren't going to skip it this year.  However, we didn't want to spend too much money nor fly anywhere.  So we picked Martha's Vineyard.  It's closed enough that we can drive to and far enough to feel that we were away.

The drive from our house to Woods Hole ferry took about 5 hours because we stopped at Mystic, CT.  I wanted to stop at Mystic Pizza to get a slice of heaven.  Yes, it was from the cheesy Julia Robert movie.  Mystic was very cute, the pizza was nothing special.  Many NY pizzas I had were better.

We decide not to take our car to Martha's Vineyard since most of the tour guides I read said that it's not necessary if we were not going to stay on the island for too many days.  And our Bed & Breakfast was only only about 200 yards away from the ferry dock.  So, we went car-less.

The B&B (Capricorn House) was very nice.  It was right across the street from the town beach at Oaks Bluff.  Our room and balcony had the best view of the ocean.   The B&B was very clean, comfortable, and definitely very romantic.  However, the room didn't have our usual distractions, no TV and no Internet.  We actually spent time together without interruption.  We even spent time reading our books.

We rented a moped to see the island.   The moped was a simple machine, but it was regulated to go no faster than 30 mph on flat ground.  It barely hits 10 mph going up a hill.  We actually reached 60 mph on a long and steep hill.  Evan called it the death-trap.  He didn't like the fact that every vehicle on the road passed us.  Stopping and going were unsteady.  Evan did not like the thing.  Instead of recreating scenes from the Roman Holiday, we looked more like the scenes from Dumb and Dumber.

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It's a Girl!

Our little nugget is a GIRL! The technician who performed the sonogram told us that she saw "girl parts". She seemed very confident that whatever she saw in the sonogram indicates that our little growing nugget is a girl. Now, we can start picking out little girl names and Evan is dreaming of the cute little girl that he will pamper and adore.

We got more sonogram printouts. The technician pointed out her spinal column, thigh bone, heart beat, etc to us. It was amazing to see our adorable creation develop so fast. We were even lucky to see her hiccup, at least we saw her mouth moved. However, the sonogram printout makes her head looked just like a skull. The technician assured us that it is normal. The baby will fill in and she will not look like Skeletor from He-Man.

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32 oz and hold

Who's bright idea is it that a pregnant woman has to drink 32 oz of water in one hour and not allow to pee. Today is our second trimester sonogram. The instruction given to me was, "empty bladder at 8am, drink 4 8 oz glasses of water by 9am, the technician will do the sonogram at 10am."

It's 9am now, I'm a few ounces shy of the 32 oz. The only thoughts in my mind are can I go pee and get away with it? Will the technician know that I cheated. Will peeing screw everything up? I think I'm leaking. And I seriously think that I'm going to pee all over myself on the way to the doctor's office.

With all these great medical technology and inventions, why can't someone figure out a way to do this sonogram without the modern day water torture.

2 hours later.....

Okay, I cheated. I couldn't hold the 32 ounces of water for 2 hours. I had to go. I drank more water after I peed to make up for the fluid that I let out.  Then, half an hour later, I had to peed again.  But, the technician didn't notice anything. I wasn't busted.  Everything worked.  I really wonder why I had to go through this painful ritual.

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Children and Parents

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Evan and I attended the first birthday for the son of our good friends, Myhong and Man. The party was attended by many of my friends whom I've known since high school. I haven't seen many of them in ages and it was great to see all of them again. I also haven't seen many of their children. Seems like everyone came with a baby. I, being a few months pregnant, am definitely the "newbie" in the crowd.

Looking across the room filled with people that I've known for nearly half of my life was revealing. I remember the teenage us, what school will we attend? The college us, we were unsure of our future but full of aspirations. The young professional us; the world was in ours to explore. Now, the parent us. Strollers replaced the ever-present backpacks 15 years ago. Small bundles of young lives absorbed our attention instead of the latest movie, bar, or restaurant. Our lives evolved. My pregnancy made me feel part of this evolution instead of wanting to "stay young" forever.

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Super-sized in Wal-Mart

Now that I'm barely fitting into my old cloths, we drove to our local Wal-Mart to see what I can find to fit my new ballooning body. Since I figured that I won't need anything too fancy for maternity cloths, I figure Wal-Mart quality should suffice.

Others have recommended that I look for maternity stuff that's labeled with my pre-pregnancy size. So, we went into the giant Wal-Mart, distracted by the kaleidoscope of stuff for sale, like usual. Finally, after about 15 minutes of roaming through the aisles, we found it. Several large racks stood under the sign "Maternity". I started going through the rack, I was completely shocked. Nothing was smaller than a size 10 or L (large). After going through 3 or 4 racks, I gave up. I was not going find anything for me in Wal-Mart. I'll probably have have to pay an arm and a leg for cloths that I will only wear for 6 months.

My search ended on a positive note. Not in Wal-Mart. There is a Motherhood maternity store in our local mall. I bought 3 slacks, 5 shirts for less than $150. Not bad.

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China's earthquake

The devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan provence occurred 3 days ago. All the major news outlets in the US and England reported the chaos and pain that befalled the people in my native country. I don't consider myself a chinese national anymore. I'm an American from China. The American part of me comes before the Chinese part. But reading, hearing, and seeing the sadness that blanketed the faces of people who look so much like me made the pain feel more real.

And today, I heard an NPR podcast about the mother and father who deperately searched for the 2-year old toddler that brought tears to my eye. I can hear her plead in a language that I was borned with. When the parents found that dead body of their little boy, the pain in their voices were tangible. No translator could have conveyed the same pain than hearing it myself and understanding every word in the mother's cry.

I wish all my distant kins hope and strength to live past this devastation.

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Pregnancy oddities

I have researched and read on dozens of websites and pregnancy books about things to expect when pregnant. I've read about icky stuff that happens to a pregnant woman that she has no conrol over. Heartburn, flatulance, queaziness, food aversions, etc. etc. However, I have yet to read anything as disgusting as what has happened to me twice already.

Uncontrolled urination. Yes. I've peed on myself accidently, twice! So far. That's right, so far. I have no doubt that I will pee on myself more times to come. Both times happened the same way.

Since my second trimester, I learned to empty my bladder before leaving work. Since my commute home is pretty long and the MetroNorth train bathrooms are pretty disgusting, I don't want to have to use their facitlies if I don't have to. I'm usually good until I get home. So, as I got off the train to walk to the car, I had to cough. As I approached the car, I let out a hearty cough, next thing I know, I felt wetness half way down my thigh. I looked down, my beige pants had 2 thin streams of water running down my thigh. I was horrified. How can it happen so quickly? The pee didn't trickle. It shot out of me, straight through my underwear, and went half way down my leg. The second time happened the same way, just 5 days later. Instead of a cough, it was a sneeze. But the resulting stream went just as far. My only consolation was that the car was only about 20 feet away and I can seek refuge in there without people knowing I peed on myself.

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13th Week Sono

One of the many tests during my pregnancy occurred today. We had to drive about an hour away to Yonker's Hospital for the sonogram and blood test.

During the appointment, we saw more more detailed sonogram of our developing nugget (our name for the baby). We can see the head, nose, eyes, hands, and legs clearly. It was awesome to see such detail. It was just 4 weeks ago that we saw a little being inside me that looked more like a stick figure than a real person. Now, we can see the distinct digits and limbs of my little being.

The technician told us that there's a 60% chance that our little nugget is a boy. Not much better than 50-50. We will find out the nugget's gender in a few weeks time.

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Bun in the Oven

Finally getting around to put pen to paper, or keys to computer.

We are pregnant! Yes, we have a bun in the oven. Initially tested with home testing kit and then confirmed by my OB/GYN. She was even able to show us an early sonogram of the little guy inside me. The picture can clearly make out his large head, his 4 limbs. Even though he's tiny, it is definitely unmistakenly a little humanoid inside me.

We did plan on it. We started trying when the new year arrived. For me, after seeing and playing the little babies in our family Christmas party stirred something inside me. I guess I didn't want to miss the chance of giving birth and having a child of my own. I'm not in my twenties anymore. The thought of missing my window for being a mother was more daunting than having a child that will prevent me from exploring the world. I will just have to see and explore the world with another pair of eyes. Young eyes and influential mind that I can guide.
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3 Hours of Delay

Count me as another frustrated traveler. I flew out of NY's LaGuardia Airport today to Chicago O'Hare. The original itinerary was, fly out of NY LGA at 10:35AM EST and arrive at Chicago O'Hare at 12:20 central time. But, that was the original plan...below is what exactly happened.

I arrived at LaGuardia at 9:30AM. A full hour ahead of my departure time just like the TSA recommended. Boarding was scheduled to be at 10:05AM. Around 10:20AM, we were told that there's a instrument issue that will delay us a bit. Eventually we boarded the plane at 10:30AM. Not bad.

But, when 10:35AM rolled around, we were told that technicians have to be call in to check on the instrument issue. After about 25 minutes, the doors were closed and we were about to push off. A few minutes later, we were told that one of the door sensors wasn't working. The sensor shows the door as open when it was closed. Of course we can't fly with a faulty sensor. The technician is called out again.

Another 30 minutes passed. The sensor fixed, we pushed off. However, we were 27th in line to take off. Ouch. After waiting for 45 minutes, the plane veered off from the take off line. Apparently, Chicago is raining, they issued a ground stop for planes heading there.

Another 45 minutes later, the ground stop is lifted, but we lost our spot in the take off line. Oh boy. We get back in line. Finally at 1:20PM EST, we took off. That's nearly 3 hours after the original itinerary. 3 HOURS!

I'm not sure who to blame, American Airline for having faulty instrument panel and door sensor, or LaGuardia for allowing 27 airplanes to wait for take off, or Chicago for issuing a ground stop for rain. I hope my flight home is much less eventful.

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Attacked by the Flu

I've been lucky in the last few years and escaped the wraft of the Flu virus. However, this year is when my luck ran out. Evan came down with the bug on Monday. I took care of him the best that I can. I was hoping that my strong immune system will protect me.

Two days later, while at work, I can feel my immune system losing the battle. My nose started to get stuffed up. My body started to feel achy. My head started to feel warm. And I started to feel chills. When I got home, I check my temperature and it was 102. I was officially suffering from the flu.

My temperature came down after 2 days. The cough is still lingering still, even after 7 days. The vicious flu interrupted our plans to go snowboarding in Vermont. The flu wins another one!

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10 Hours of Upgrade

On around Feb. 14, my 1-year old Gateway laptop running Microsoft Vista started to inform me that there are new updates for me to install. Being the anal computer user that I am, I always make sure that I have the latest updates and patches. So, I allow the computer to auto-update whatever it asked. For 3 days, I rebooted every time the computer asked. When I checked the update log on 2/17, I saw that none of the updates have been installed.

Reinstalling the 11 updates and restarting several times ended the same failure. All the updates failed. After couple trial and errors, I found that if I install the updates one at a time and restarting after every update, the update install fine. However, after each update, the system configures at shutdown and startup. So, every single update requires at least 15 minutes. One of the patch update took 3 hours. During the system configuration at startup, Vista said "System Configuring, Do Not Turn off Your Computer". So, I stared at it for about 30 minutes. Nothing happened. After the first 30 minutes, I walked away, and came back to check the progress. Nothing changed. I wanted to turn off the computer, but the big warning sign warned me not to.

So, I didn't. 3 hours later, it finally finished configuring. I still have 10 updates to go. Finally, after about 10 hours, it was done.

I can't believe Vista takes so long to update. I don't remember ever having so much trouble in the past with XP and Windows 2000. No wonder Vista is considered a failure. What a waste of my Sunday.

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Welcome Home, George II

George II is our new iRobot Roomba. He's George II because George I met a horrible and untimely end.

George I came to our house in the fall of 2007. He was a Red 4100 series Roomba (one of the cheapest ones). He was bright red and happy looking. Evan was a bit skeptical. This "robot" can just be another one of the many gadgets I bought and will eventually end up in the basement collecting dust with the rest of our stuff. We charged him up, and let him go. Our hardwood floor throughout the house was perfect for this lower-end Roomba. George went everywhere, cleaned up everything. We didn't have to do any vaccuuming work.

We clean out George when he got dirty. Other than that, he merrily did his job. Now, the tale of George's demise. One Saturday morning, I let George go and do his work while I went to the gym. When I came back 90 minutes later, George was stuck and dog puke was all over him. Apparently, our 90 pound great dane mix threw up and George kept cleaning. Which meant, sweeping and sucking all the dog puke into his brushes and dragging it all over the house. I spend an hour cleaning the floor and George, who was salvageable.

Two days later, we left for work and George was happily sent off to do his job. When we came home, we walked into the most putrid and disgusting scene. Feces everywhere; on the floor, on the wall, on the furniture legs. Our beloved great dane had diarrhea. He let it all our on a relatively discreet corner of the house. It would not have been such a big problem if it wasn't for George.

The happy worker that he was. He must have attempted to clean the poo. But instead, he covered himself in liquid poo. He then dragged the poo from one little corner all over the house bumping into furniture and walls. Leaving poo marks on every conceivable area. George was not salvageable. I was not going to clean his brushes of doggie doo-doo. I, unceremoniously dumped him in the trash bag with the poo-fill rags and threw him out. George was a good robot.

We missed George.... So we got the exact same model, and named him George II.

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Breckenridge, CO

Now that we are somewhat used to the high attitude with its "brisk" air, we are ready for the Rockies. Breckenridge is owned and operated by the same corporation that operates Vail, Heavenly, and other high-end ski resort. Therefore, the price for a daily lift ticket per person is pretty steep. $86 per day!

With that said, I have to say it was worth every penny. The first day, we hit mostly the blue trails after we got found out that the green trails are very mellow. The groomed blues are amazine. Long, wide, and empty. There was no risk of running into anyone. The weather was also perfect. Sunny and clear in the 20s, after a night a light snow.

The night-life was quite lively. Dinner at the Irish Bar near the Village Hotel. The mozzarella sticks could have fed and army.

The second day up the mountain was just as rewarding. We attacked the blacks and un-groomed trails. I love those because I can ride on days of powder. Skimming on water and riding on powder must be very close experience. I can only think of one word, AWESOME. The Rockies, after allowing my body to get use to the mile-plus high air.

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Mile High Adjustment

Our west-coast snowboarding trip was Breckenridge, CO. The last time I was near the Mile High City and its mountains were in early 2002. My friends and I drove there from NYC. I think the slow adjustment to the high altitude made my transition much easier to handle. This time, we flew there from NY. Denver, at about a mile above sea-level wasn't so bad. I didn't feel any adverse affect during the short period of time from landing, picking up the rental car, and driving out of the city limits.

However, when we reached Breckenridge, the thin air hit me. Breckenridge is 9,600 feet above sea level. That's almost 2 miles above sea level. The first 12 hours in Breckenridge was us wheezing after easy activities, such as walking to dinner.

The Village Hotel at Breckenridge was definitely prepared for sea-level-dwellers like us. They had a humidifier in the hotel. We had that thing running the whole time. When we left, the room had the humidity level of a swamp. More comfortable for us than the "brisk" mountain air.

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Cheat Neutral

The concept, if or when you cheat on your significant other, you log onto www.cheatneutral.com. Pay them a small fee so that they can give that fee to other non-cheating couples to continue not to cheat. This way, your wandering libido can help other faithful couples to continue to be faithful. And you can offset your guilt with just a small fee.

Okay, I found out after watching the first 3 minutes of the clip that this site doesn't exist. It's a project to convince the British government and the British masses that the concept of carbon offset is just as non-sensible as cheat neutral.

For those who feel guilty of driving the big SUV and not recycling, and want to do something. There are companies that will take your money and promise to plant trees in Third World countries so that you are absolved of the guilt. The entire monetary transfer scheme can be remove if you just not drive the SUV and recycle.

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Putrid MetroNorth

After moving out to the 'burbs from Manhattan, I'm glad to not have to deal with the NY Subway. Taking the MetroNorth for my daily completely and totally label me to be an adult. No more staying out late and just hopping on a cab and be home in less than 20 minutes, as long as I don't get off the island of Manhattan.

The MetroNorth on most days are fine. I get a seat 99% of the time. The people on the train don't usually look like that just escaped from Bellvue. The trains are usually clean and comfortable. Since the train have the toilets on select cars, some of those cars can get stinky from the patrons taking advantage of the convenience. But, today, the train ride home was just horrible. Less than half way into the ride, the entire car started to smelled like someone has just released himself 2 seats away from me. Even though I was seated at the opposite end of the car, the smell was terrible.

As the ride continued, the smell got worst. By the time I stood up to disembark the train, the stench was unbearable. I had to hold my breath to walk pass the toilet. My recommendation to the MTA, please clean the toilets. My monthly ticket cost $300+. With so many commuters paying such high price, spend some of that on the stinky toilet. And my suggestion to the riders who would do Number 1 and Number 2 on the train, please try to do them before you get on the train. Some people have to waft in your putrid scent for a very long ride home.

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$102 a Night

"Man must pay $750K to Spurned Husband" says the headline. (story). The gist of the story is, a Mississippi millionaire business man, Jerry Fitch, must pay the husband of the woman whom he stole away. The price tag, $750K. That amount probably won't make much of a dent in his bank account. Jerry Fitch probably loves her very much to pay that. I also don't question the spurned husband's action to seek revenge. The arcane law that allow a husband to claim monetary compensation for lost of a wife makes me ill. But, what really irk me is the price.

The law that allow this suit to stand is "alienation of affection". In other words, she stopped having sex with the husband, and she's giving it to another man. Now, let's calculate what that $750K means. Looking at the picture, she looks like she's around 40 years old. Jerry Fitch looks to be around 60+. Let me be kind and assume that both of them have 20 good years of sexual life left in them.

20 years = 7300 days

$750K / 7300 days = $102/day

So, assuming that she can have sex everyday for the next 20 years of her life, her performance is worth $102 a day. Not questioning her endurances or her skills, $102 a night is a bit low. If I'm being treated like an property and my worth is calculated by my "affection", I know my "affection" is worth more than $102 a night.

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Hillary wins NH

Barely. As of 11:30PM, Hillary Clinton is the winner of the Democratic primary in NH. I'm a bit surprised. Obama won Iowa, and he was expected to take NH too. Although I'm not a dem and I still haven't made up my mind, but I really don't like Hillary. I'm not sure if I'm for Barak, since I've been leaning GOP since I started voting. But, the GOP candidates are very lacking. A Mormon plastic doll, Evangelical who believes in Creationism, a Big City mayor that only have one platform, and a man who will be the oldest president to be sworn in if he wins. Not much of a choice for me.

Hillary's tears probably did help. I know women react to stress differently than men. I've welled up myself under stress in my professional life. But, can a president cry under stress? Well, whoever decided that Hillary should pull the crying card is a genius. Personally, I feel betrayed as a woman if the crying was just a ploy.

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