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| It's been over an entire year, and I've realized on this particular day of 10-10-10, that I've broken my promise to continue writing. Mark my words, this will change this time. | | |
| Wow - it feels nostalgic to be writing on Xanga again. I want to apologize for the lack communication on my part. Over a year has passed since my last entry and I thought it would be neat to return on 09-09-09. Nine is considered a lucky number according to my culture too, aside from 08-08-08. In fact, a few years ago, a man from Vietnam paid $11 million dollars for a number "9" car license plate. That's just plain silly in my opinion. In any regard, a lot has happened over the last year, and many changes have taken place. I feel like I have learned a lot and have grown on a number of levels.
In February of 2008, before Chinese New Year and around the celebration of the Tet festival, I went to see a monk to have him foretell my luck for the following year. Typically, I get good fortune telling - always positive or at least mildly optimistic. I was born in 1984, so I would be turning twenty-four years old in 2008, which led me to belief that my luck would even exceptionally better this year seeing how I had completed the zodiac twice and landed back on the year of the rat again. Therefore, I was anxious to go to the temple for my fortune reading. Little did I know that it was going to be the most challenging ordeal I have faced so far.
The monk explained to me that those born in the year of the rat faced a dilemma. Usually, they have good luck, but when the same year arrives, it would mean that the rat would have to face itself again. When that happens, changes will take place, but rats don't like to change so a series of unfortunate events will occur in order to force change because otherwise the rat will refuse to change itself. The monk said that these external factors can't be avoided because for once, the rat will have no control of the outcome and that is how change is going to be brought about. Basically, it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year!
In dismay and disbelief, I went home utterly confused. I told myself that it was a fluke and he gave me an inaccurate fortune reading. Besides, what if the monk was having a bad day? Monks are allowed to have bad days, I think. So, like a doctor's appointment, I went ahead and got myself a second opinion from a different monk. The result? He said relatively the same thing - it was going to be a tough year so prepare yourself for hardships ahead... Now I'm worried!!
The month of March approached, and I switched jobs. It was a cooler job , and I was making a little bit more money. I was preparing for state licensing exams in order to get ready for a promotion. That is why I decided against what the monk told me. I was happy and content so I shrugged off his warnings. Everything was starting to look great until... (to be continued)
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| The 2008 Olympics happens to start on my favorite series of numbers: 8 8 8
So this may be the most ridiculous entry I've written - simply because it's a personal quirk more than scientific reasoning. Why do I like the number 8 and why do I like three of the in succession?
Well, when I was young, people often asked me what was my favorite number. I thought that was a strange and trivial question. Who cares what number I liked? A number is a number and in that technicality they are all the same. But people were persistent on knowing your answer to this question, so I sat down, and logically picked one out.
The number 8 is symmetrical both horizontally and vertically if you were to draw a mid-line. If you turn it sideways, it becomes an infinity sign. I thought that was interesting. Plus, since I'm kind of a computer nerd, it follows the rule of 8-bit memory and computing, and it goes from there. People may think 8 bytes is insignificant, but those 8 bytes can add up when you get to gigabytes. Like how when you buy a 250GB hard drive, you only end up with 238GB worth of space. It's algorithm problem between interpretation and rounding off bytes.
Next, I liked three 8s in a row because it represents a neat pattern. The juxtaposition between a group of 8s in an odd number like 888 is more appealing than 8888 or 88888. To me, that's too many eights and people have to count and loses aesthetic features to it. Three 8s make it sound official for some reason.
Even though I enjoy Olympics no matter what day in lands on, I figured it'd be cool to make note of this special day and how i correlates to one of my favorite numbers. The three 8s are also in my e-mail address for those who know me.
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| After having written the Advanced Driving Techniques entry,
I realized that people can use some basic techniques to apply to daily driving
instead of exotic driving maneuvers. These
topics are relatively easy, but never taught in any driving courses – even
defensive driving classes. Believe me, I
have been to quite a few already.
The Race Line
I’m sure all of us have encountered a speed demon on the
road at one time or another. The truth
of the matter is that driving fast is not easy and the stakes are high. In my opinion, people who weave through traffic
at 60-70 mph are phony. If they really
have a need for speed, find a race track and try taking a corner at 80+ miles
per hour. Not so easy anymore, is it?
So how do racecar drivers do this while going over speeds of
200mph? The answer lies in the “race
line” which is a theory based on using as much of the road space as you can to
drive the straightest possible line through a corner. Many people like to attack the corner by
staying as close to it as possible.
However, that’s the worst scenario because that turn is the curviest
turn. Therefore, by keeping yourself as
far out from the corner as the road or lane lets you, the turn will become more
straight and require you to turn less.
Changing Lanes
From my experience, changing lanes is one of the most common
cause of accidents. The way I see it,
you can either change lanes defensively or change lanes aggressively. Defensively, you will pick a car, drive past
that car a bit, signal, and use the rear end of your car to wedge yourself into
the next lane. Over time, I have found
this to be tricky because sometimes, people won’t let you in or people will
honk at you.
Personally, I think changing lanes should be done
aggressively. Pick a car, check in front
of that car to see if there’s room for you merge into that lane, signal,
accelerate to pass that car, and then change lanes in front that car. Some people consider this “cutting someone
off,” but that only happens when there’s not enough cushion space. More on cushion space below.
One thing to note is other drivers may try to move into t
he
same spot you are aiming for, so check in front and the lane on the other side
of the car you picked out before moving in.
Cushion Space
Of course we all know to leave a cushion space to provide a
safe braking distance. There have been
times where I’ve encountered this particular cushion space scenario, and at
first it was confusing to me. After a
couple more incidents, I understood the mechanics behind adjusting to cushion
space.
Scenario: You’re
driving and you leave a cushion space of 100 feet in front of you. Another car changes lanes in front of
you. At that same time, the first car
stops, forcing the car in front of you to stop, but suddenly you have to brake
extremely hard.
Explanation: When the
car moves in front of you, it cut your braking distance in half (only 50 feet)
while you are still maintaining the same speed.
That is no longer safe, so when the car stops, you’re forced to stop
with only HALF the braking distance that you originally had.
To avoid this, when this happens, take your foot off the
gas, and prepare to brake. Just cruise
if nothing happens, but in the event you need to brake, you would’ve already
slowed a bit from cruising and ready to stop.
Big Trucks Can Be
Your Friend
When I first learned to drive, I was always told to stay
away from semi trucks because if something were to happen, the trailer would
kill me. Well, there is some truth in
that, but after learning how to drive one, I started to appreciate what they
could do for me.
A full load semi is about 60,000 to 80,000lbs (approximately 30-40 tons). With this weight, yes, it can
kill you if your car is underneath it. But a
truck that gets about 3-4 mpg, can only do so much in terms of maneuvering with
that amount of weight pushing the momentum forward.
If you’re wondering how they can help you, here are a couple
of ideas. First, you can cruise right
behind a semi at about 7-8 yards away on the freeway and the drag around the
trailer will pull you along with it. You
can save gas this way if you’re not in a rush and want to save some gas. People are concerned that 7-8 yards is not
leaving a safe braking distance (which is true), but usually big trucks can’t
brake as fast as you can due to its massive weight. So in essence, you could probably stop
sooner. Take caution and only do this
when there is light traffic.
Secondly, these big trucks can also help you avoid the
police sometimes. I know this sounds
bad, but my car is usually an eye catcher for the law enforcement, and even
though I’m not breaking the law, I’m suspicious enough for them to follow me
and wait for a mistake to happen. Big
trucks can create a huge screen to divide between you and the police
officer. By moving left across two
trucks, move up, then cut back in and slow down, you would have hidden yourself
pretty well. Just make sure you’re still
legal.
Avoiding Accidents
First, let’s talk about preventing accidents. Accident prevention derives from
two factors: the vehicle and the driver.
The vehicle should be kept in good operating conditions. Brake pads, coolant, tire pressure, tire
tread wear, and signal lights should be in good standing. As mentioned in the “Advanced Driving
Techniques” entry, the lack of proper vehicle care can result in harming
drivers.
Second, let’s discuss about avoiding accidents. We all know there are times when we need to
brake as fast as we can, but the trick is how to do it as safely as possible
while maintaining control of the car.
Well, this comes with practice.
Take the car to an empty lot, cruise at 40mph and stomp on the brakes
and your tires should squeal. If it
doesn’t, you may have ABS braking, or there’s something wrong with your brakes. You should practice doing this until the
tires are about to skid, but the tires are not locked. That is known as the OSP (Optimal Squeeze
Point).
Lastly, a quick bit about tailgaters. You know, personally went to court to argue
this point with the judge too, and his advice was lousy because I almost got
killed listening to him. I told him that
I speed up get out of the way of a
tailgater to yield to the driver to alleviate a dangerous situation. The judge told me that the way to get rid of a
tailgater is not to speed up, but to slow
down instead. So I tried that, and
it irritated the guy and he kept following me all over the freeway. Another time, I got honked at, flipped off, and had trash thrown at me. In short, it is
best to avoid a dangerous tailgater by getting out of
the way. Don’t irritate, don’t gesture,
and don’t brake. Just find a safe
opportunity to get out of the tailgater’s way.
Until next time, drive safely everyone.
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| Among the many experiences an individual can have through college, there are always a few stories that revolve around parties and alcohol. Some of the time, the stories relate to mistakes or accidents that happened while drinking. A friend might have drunk too much and started stripping while standing on the couch. A significant other might have “accidentally” cheated with another person while under the influence. Nonetheless, we hear a lot of ideas and information exchanged about alcohol. Advice given by others may apply to the particular individual, but it may not apply to you – or even worse, it may have adverse reactions. The purpose of this entry is not to endorse drinking in any way. However, it is an introduction to what goes on so that in the event that something does happen to you or your friends, at least you can be the semi-expert in the room. Mechanics Behind Absorption and Metabolism: When we drink alcohol, our bodies readily absorb it through our intestines, however, because the body cannot store alcohol, it has to be oxidized in order to get rid of it. Because alcohol is a toxin, the liver will act as the machinery behind detoxifying the alcohol. The first step in the metabolism of alcohol is the oxidation of ethanol (alcohol) to acetaldehyde with the help of special enzymes (alcohol dehydrogenase and NAD+). Second, acetaldehyde is then oxidized again to acetic acid (vinegar) in the liver. Finally with the help of the Krebs Cycle (aerobic process that is an ATP-generating system), acetic acid is reduced to carbon dioxide and water. For those of you who are interested in mechanics, then you’ll probably wonder how the body will cope with the extra NADH. If you oxide NAD+, a plethora of NADH will build up. In general, the excess NADH will be used for changing pyruvic acid to lactic acid, synthesis of lipids, and the electron transport chain to produce more ATP. Why do I get drunk if the liver gets rid of the alcohol? The reason why people “get drunk” is because they are intoxicated with acetaldehyde. Even though the liver converts acetaldehyde to acetic acid, the liver can only do so much and reach a saturation point. Ultimately, some acetaldehyde escapes into the bloodstream, and affects our mind and body. There has been some research that thinks acetaldehyde is the source that causes alcohol addiction. What is the Asian flush? In short, the Asian flush is caused by an insufficient amount of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (the chemical responsible for the breakdown of acetaldehyde to vinegar). Acetaldehyde affects the body more than alcohol, so the increased accumulation of it causes flushing (or erythema – dilation of capillaries) in the human body. The term “Asian flush” was coined because a little more than 50% of Asians have a special kind of alcohol dehydrogenase that breaks down alcohol into acetaldehyde very quickly. So quickly, that the liver has a hard time converting it to acetic acid. Therefore, that buildup of acetaldehyde causes flushing in Asians after 1-2 drinks. Some people have suggested that taking Zantec® or Pepcid AC® can help reduce the effects of the Asian flush. Reasons are still unknown, but it’s probably because it helps protect the lining of the stomach from being irritated. Along the same lines, some have even suggested taking Pepto-Bismol, however, since these medications are not proven to be completely effective, it is recommended not to try it. Instead, consider the next paragraph. How can I prevent getting drunk quickly? Considering that alcohol is absorbed into your body, the best way to slow down the absorbance is to eat food before drinking. By diluting the alcohol in your stomach with food, the liver will have time to detoxify. Typically, the fatty foods like dairy products and meats are better than a salad. That’s why they serve hordeuvres at parties. Typically, women are more affected by alcohol than men. Women usually have less body water, so their ability to dilute alcohol is less. Women also have less dehydrogenase, so most women cannot metabolize alcohol as fast as men. In addition, hormonal factors can affect a woman especially when she is near the beginning of her menstrual cycle. Birth control pills and increased estrogen levels will slow down the rate at which alcohol is eliminated from the body. Dude, why does my head hurt the next day? Many people have experienced the unavoidable hangover. Naturally, this happens when a person is dehydrated. Because water is used to help dilute alcohol, it will cause your body to become dehydrated. This is also true when you're camping in the mountains - the lower levels of oxygen will cause a nasty headache too - water helps. To help the hangover go away faster, you need to rehydrate yourself. Eat a decent breakfast to boost your low glucose levels. If you can, drink some Gatorade and water and let those electrolytes do their thing. A couple of hours later, take a Tylenol (acetaminophen) to help relieve the headache. Do not take Tylenol before you go to bed thinking that it'll help prevent the hangover. You will tax out your liver with the combined effects of alcohol and drugs. See the next subcategory for more information. Why is it bad to mix medication and alcohol? I’m sure many people know that medication and alcohol don’t go together, but not too many know why that is. Often times, we hear stories about a person overdosing on drugs or medications. Usually, the person took normal dosages of the drug, but the alcohol prevents the liver from breaking down the drug. Because the alcohol distracts the liver from breaking down the drug, the drug keeps its high potency, which eventually lead to overdose. Drug companies often know that your liver breaks down the drug before it reaches your body, so they make it with high potencies. However, your liver gives alcohol metabolism higher priority over everything else because it’s toxic. Therefore, the drugs will have a high concentration than usual, which ultimately results in an overdose. What comes first – beer or liquor? “Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear; beer before liquor makes you sicker.” There are a few variations of this warning, but it’s true. It is a good rule of thumb to always start out with a stronger alcohol like liquor then gradually step decreases to weaker alcohol like beer. That way your liver can initially handle stronger concentrations of alcohol, but throughout the night the concentration weakens. If you drink beer first and follow it with liquor, you’re essentially poisoning your liver more and more throughout the night. Often times, people will complain about stomach pains – when in fact, it’s their inflamed liver. So remember to start strong, but take it gradually downward. Party foul! When I did research on this, there were so many definitions! Originally, I thought it meant when someone drinks too much and they vomit. However, party fouls are more generalized to the lack of proper social behavior and interaction skills throughout the duration of the party. But apparently, I found a site that had five different levels of party fouls which included: vomiting, spilling beer, fighting, stealing, hitting, yelling, and cussing. What to do when someone drinks too much? In essence, alcohol consumption is putting toxins into your body. The more poison you ingest, the sicker you will become. How much alcohol you consumed is calculated by Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) levels measured in mass per volume. A BAC level of 0.05% is 0.05 grams of alcohol per 100 grams of blood or 0.5 grams of alcohol per 1000 grams of blood. Typically, when the BAC level is over 0.25%, it is very dangerous and immediate emergency action should be taken. Ranges between 0.35% or higher could result in death. So take notice that when you or your friends have difficulty walking, moving, or speaking - it's a sign that their BAC levels is about 0.20-0.25%. Anything above 0.30% will impair breathing and heart rate. When you feel that someone might suffer from acute alcohol poisoning, call EMS right away. Meanwhile, turn them onto their side so if they vomit, they won't choke. Don't abandon them or constantly try to wake them up. Monitor their breathing rate - anything less than 8-9 breaths a minute, prepare to do CPR in the even they stopped breathing completely.
So there it is – some of the basic things we all should know about alcohol. If you have things to add or found mistakes, please feel free to share. Drink responsibly and drive safely. | | |
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