10/29/00: A Geek, Life in Perspective

Hi,

This past weekend I watched an award winning from China called "King of
Masks" (Bian Lian). I highly recommend it. It's about an old street
actor's relationship with his adopted grandchild.

I just bought my plane ticket back to NYC for Christmas and New Year. I'll
be in NYC from 12/19 to 1/6. I look forward to meeting up with all of you
who are in NY/NJ/CT. I just hope that it's not too cold.

Steve Lee and I revised our Leisure Planner website. We have updated our
business model away from B2C to target hotels and wireless companies. We
aim to power personalized leisure recommendations to their end users. We
created a simple restaurant recommendation prototype, based on a hotel in
Pasadena and one in Long Beach. If you have some time, please take a look
and let me know what you think. The link is:

http://www.leisureplanner.com.

This week's thought provoking question is: "If you could bring back any
past leader of your country to run the country again, who would you want?"

This week's humor was forwarded from Anna Man. (OK, both Steve and I
acknowledge that we're geeks.) The puzzle is from "The Ideal Problem
Solver". Finally, the inspirational piece was forwarded from Kelly Chu.

Enjoy!

-Josh.
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How To Tell if You're a Geek

You tend to save power cords from broken appliances.
You once took the back off your TV just to see what's inside.
A teacher ever wrote, "I don't fully understand it, but it looks like an
'A'" on your paper.
You've used coat hangers and duct tape for something other than hanging
coats and taping ducts.
You rotate your screen savers more often than your automobile tires.
Your I.Q. is a higher number than your weight.
Your toddler asks why the sky is blue, and you try to explain atmospheric
absorption theory.
You ran the sound system at your senior prom.
Your wristwatch has more buttons than a telephone.
You can type seventy words a minute but can't read your own handwriting.
You know what "http" stands for.
You own one or more white short-sleeve dress shirts.
You still own a slide rule, and you know how to work it.
You can name six "Star Trek" episodes.
You have a functioning home copier/scanner/fax machine, but every toaster
you own turns bread into charcoal.
You have a habit of destroying things to see how they work.
People groan at the party when you pick out the music.
You have more friends on the Internet than in real life.
You thought the real heroes of "Apollo 13" were the mission controllers.
You think that when people around you yawn, it's because they didn't get
enough sleep. You spend half a plane trip with your laptop on your lap...
and your kid in the overhead compartment.
You've tried to repair a $5 radio
Your laptop computer costs more than your car.
Your four basic food groups are caffeine, fat, sugar, and chocolate.
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Puzzle: Glasses

Six normal drinking glasses are standing in a row. The first three are
full of water; the next three are empty. By handling and moving only one
glass, change the arrangement so that no full glass is next to another full
glass, and no empty glass is next to another empty one.
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LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the
country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They
spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a
very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the
trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father
asked. "Oh Yeah" said the son. "So what did you learn from the trip?"
asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a
creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they
have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have
the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have
fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but
they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they
have friends to protect them.

With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks,
dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't
have. What is one's person's worthless object is another's prize
possession. It is all based on one's perspective.

Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty
we have instead of worrying about wanting more. Take joy and appreciate
every single thing you have, especially our relationship with our heavenly
father, our families & friends...

Hey guys...let's all - just call on the Lord and give thanks...for
everything and for each other.

Have a great day in Jesus. With HIM you can make it!

"I may walk slow, but I never stop walking for Jesus.."
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Last Week's Puzzle Solution: Handshaking
(Courtesy of Phil Lin. Jeff Couture also sent in a similar solution).

The wife shook 4 hands.

Label the people involved as follows: Ps, P0, P1, P2, ..., P8. Ps =
psychologist, P# = the person that shook # hands. We want to show that P4
is the spouse of Ps.

P0 did not shake hands with anyone.

In order for P8 to have shaken 8 hands, P8 must have shaken hands with
Ps,P1,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6,P7. The only person P8 did not shake hands with is
P0. Therefore, P0 is the spouse of P8.

Similarly, P1 shook only one hand and that hand belongs to P8. P7 shook 7
hands, and they must be: Ps,P2,P3,P4,P5,P6,P8. (P7 could not have shaken
hands with self, P0, or P1). Therefore, P1 is the spouse of P7.

Continue this argument, one finds that P2 only shook hands with P7 and P8.
P6 must have shaken hands with Ps,P3,P4,P5,P7,P8. Therefore, P2 is the
spouse of P6.

Similarly P3 is the spouse of P5. That leaves P4 who must be the spouse of
the Ps.