I couple months ago, I talked about balding. Today's topic is white hair. I guess white hair is better than having no hair... at least you can dye it black (or whatever your natural hair colour may be). It's scary to see people in your office the same age as you (still 26 for those counting) with hair going white. It just shows you how much pressure some of these engineers are under.

I noticed as I pointed out a white hair on B's head that it was slightly crooked, even though the rest of his hair (black) was straight. And then I thought to myself, "Self, is white hair always crooked?" I'm not sure yet. I haven't researched enough. But it seems like white hair always has a different texture. Often it's crooked, like I mentioned, more like as if it were really a pubic hair that climbed Mount Everest and turned white because of the cold.

Another question is, does white hair grow white? Or does it turn white as it dies and shivels up? I'm leaning towards the latter, but I guess I'd have to talk to my friend Google to know for sure.

Anyway, just another odd subject on my mind.

Why is "Kevin" such a difficult name for Chinese people to get? In particular people from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Why do so many people naturally pronounce it "Kelvin"? The thing is, there aren't even that many Kelvins out here!! I've met at least 5 or 6 Kevins here, and no Kelvins. So what gives?

Other times, they fool me. They do this thing where they start off good, with a "Ke" instead of "Kel". Then they kind of hold that on their tongues for an elongated "Kehhhhhhh", and just when I'm about to extend my hand to shake theirs and congratulate them on getting it right, they finish it wrong "Kehhhhhhh.... lvin".

There are few things more satisfying than...
...rubbing an itchy eye with the second knuckle of your index finger
...popping a ripe pimple
...burping or farting when you have a painful case of gas
...picking a healing scab

What else is super satisfying?

Am I complicated? I think I have a way of complicating things. In general, I prefer to have things done with completeness, because a little more upfront saves you a whole lot of headache down the road - maybe it was just the way I was brought up. In application, I have learned that it's not wise to expect people you don't really know to get things done properly. In that, you should read that you shouldn't trust people to get things right because the amount of incompetence in this world is stellar. So my concept is to provide as much information as possible to reduce that margin for error. For something that requires a list, I'll provide a spreadsheet - so you can easily see where all the numbers come from. Don't get me wrong, I'll organize it clearly so that the flow is evident. Organization is a self-claimed strength. But I think it complicates things dramatically for others, even if it is clear to me. Mainly because their minds aren't ready to receive data this way.

However, I like having complicated ways of looking at something. In my mind, it makes the overall result much better than if done "the usual way". If I were responsible for following specifications, there'd be trouble because I'd be guilty of constant scope creep. I'm nit-picky and I love it. I can complicate matters to make it better, and I'm proud of it. I'll do the same job as the next guy, but add a little twist that people will say "wow, nice job." I think it only takes a little.

I do my laundry at work. It's convenient since I spend at least 10 hours there every weekday. There's have a washer and a dryer, and all I have need to do is bring my clothes, my laundry detergent, my tea tree, and some Bounce if I have it.

Ok. It would appear that this posting is about cleaning. And it's not. It's about dirtying. And here's why...

Today, after my clothes were washed, I had to take someone's gym clothes out of the dryer to put mine in. As I removed his clothes, I noticed that his white underwear had a streak. Now, this makes me wonder about a couple of things:

1. Do most guys (and/or girls) have underwear stains? Because I've seen it on a couple people's underwears. I don't have them on mine, so that's why I wonder.


2. How do you get underwear stains anyway? Assuming the bumhole is where the dirty is, isn't there also a distance between the underwear at the bumhole? How dirty does it have to be to make that jump to the fabric? OR... is it from people who don't wipe cleanly and also like to give their pucker a little scratch from time to time?

An intriguing topic, I know.

I've been overcome with laziness.
Too lazy to write blog postings.
Too lazy to go out for lunch.
Too lazy to call home.
Too lazy to go to the gym.
Too lazy to do much other than what I need to do on a daily basis to survive.
Too lazy to get over the laziness.

I took a day off from work yesterday because I had a(nother) cold.

Remember when we stayed home from school when we were sick? Wasn't it great? I used to go to my parents' room and watch Sesame Street. In fact, I think I did that all the way through early highschool.

What do you do when you have a sick day off?

Sports writers and announcers alike love to use sports teams' names when reporting scores. Taking hockey as an example, you see headlines like:

"Canucks torch Flames"
"Canucks spear Sharks"
"Canucks fall prey to Predators"
"Canucks smothered by Avalanche"
... and so on.

But then you have some team names that aren't so "reporting-friendly", like the "Canucks". Really... how can you use that cleverly?

The only one I can think of is "Boston Bruins kicked in the 'Nucks".

Just wanted to add a few more comments from past recent blogs.

"Geoff"

• Geoff sleeps so much. He sleeps at lunch, like we all do. He sometimes takes a nap in the afternoon. And then he sometimes sleeps after dinner while waiting for his wife to pick him up (or to pick up his wife). His lethargy while awake actually has me convinced he's just sleepwalking/talking/working.


• He was at my desk once, and we were discussing something. Then he decided to explain his point (which was wrong) by drawing a diagram. So, he just takes any piece of paper off my desk and picks up a pen. Without saying a word, I snatched the paper out of his hands and gave him a sheet of scrap paper. I hope I made my point.


• Today, he was explaining some stuff about memory module timing diagrams to me. And he placed his hand down on a sheet of paper. When he lifted his hand, it was WET. Not damp. Not moist. It was WET. Like, as if he had spilled something on the sheet of paper. There was literally a shallow puddle of water/sweat (who knows?) on the sheet of paper. I have never seen anything like it.

Names
I recently visited a customer site, and got a few more good names.

Nokia [F]: yes, like the phone.
Nissan [?]: yes, like the car.
March [F]: yes, like the car "Nissan March".
Tendollars [M]: yes, like the bill. The guy just translated his Chinese name... but still, com'on.

No one questions the growing popularity of blogs. It's a good way of reading up on friends' and family's lives, seeing what's on their minds, and seeing how they're occupying their time. It's also a good way of killing time, both in writing and reading.

If I average about 2 - 3 blogs per week, at 15 mins - 30 mins per blog (we'll average down to 20 mins per blog), then I'm spending about 50 mins a week blogging. And then, I probably sync up with all the other blogs once a week, which would normally take up to 45 mins including commenting, if some people have updated their blogs. So, I guess I spend 1h30m - 2h each week on blog-related activities. More or less.

What about you?

[right away, I'm seeing my estimation being proved incorrect, as this blog has taken only 5 minutes.]