Food for Thoughts

Whenever I was having toasts for breakfast, I often wonder why toasted breads are such a common fare on our kitchen table. The very first reason I can think of is that toasts are the simplest food to prepare. It is a very versatile one as well. The delicious way to dress a piece of golden-brown toast is endless. A working toaster is all we need to make perfect toasts any time of the day. The others, sliced breads, even the day-old ones, butter, and jams or jelly whichever we fancy, are easily accessible. Besides being tasty, they are inexpensive sources of many basic and beneficial nutrients such as carbohydrates and fibers. Toast is also portable and a good finger food. In the morning when we are late for office, we can always grab a piece of toasts and run. To sustain me till noon, all I need are a couple slices of well toasted and buttered bread with two eggs and a hot beverage.

Since I love to eat and always pay attention to nutritious foods, I did look into the health attributes of the lowly toasts have to offer. I find psychologically the burnt and crunchy surface of my favorite bread sates my need to chew. Lastly, the ubiquitous brown crumbs from the toasts also act as a friendly cleansing agent that sucks out any harmful toxin from my digestive tracts. - Ayee

Make Sure It Is Plugged!

Contrary to what I thought that it would never happen to an infrequent surfer of the cyberspace like me, this time last year, a virus contaminated my computer.

Of course, I felt violated and helpless as well. I cannot imagine some persons would deliberately mess up other people’s computers. This criminal activity is not unlike some uninvited strangers ransacked through our personal belongings. This incident made me feel even more vulnerable while using the computer.

Fortunately, there is anti-virus software we can install to protect us from the hackers. So in this case I was not as helpless as I thought. However, I was told before installing a new firewall in my computer, I must first get rid of the offending virus from the hard disc. If one has never had to evict intruders from his or her computer, the process to do so can be very onerous. To the credit of some smart engineers, they helped clean my desk top after my numerous calls to their far away call-center. My final call with an extremely patient techie lasted more than an hour. After at least two trying days, my computer was restored. But my task to prevent my computer from being infected again was far from over.

The protective program I installed last year expires soon. Although I was warned that installing a new anti-virus software can also be a frustrating business, I decided to do the installation myself. This time I was diligent and proactive. Before down loading a new spy ware to my computer, I asked family members as well as salespersons about the particular software I was about to purchase.

Since I had done what I could to prepare myself, I was ready for the upcoming challenge.

Before copying the new program, I removed the soon-to-expire program from the memory first. Then I made sure there was sufficient virtual space left in the hard drive. These steps seemed to be logical and easy. Therefore, the loading of the new program was a breeze except one unforseen glitch. With the new firewall, my computer could no longer get access to Internet. Certainly, it caused a havoc to me. So I had to call my ISP’s remote help-center. After nearly an hour long of probing, poking, booting and rebooting, finally, it was detected that there was a bad connection in my desk top. And you guess it! I was the trouble maker who plugged one of the ethernet cables into a wrong phone jack! - Ayee

Horse Business

Over the last few weeks, there were a lot of media coverages on a female racing horse. Due to their bigger physique, it appears that mares do not run as fast as their male counterparts. That is why the six-year at 1,200 pounds Zenyatta is so impressive. She made history in thorough breed racing. Her curriculum vitae, besides enjoying a strong and dark beer a day, include a record of winning all 19 races in which she had entered. Her jockey said of her a fierce horse on the track but a gentle soul off the course. Last week at Hollywood Park, California, she added another Breeders’ Cup pennant in her crowded trophy case. She finished her illustrious career with a second place in that race. Now, as I heard, she is to retire from racing to concentrate on motherhood.

The winning story of this special horse reminded me of the days I was at the oval.

There was a time when I thought rooting for the horses I had picked was fun. The fun doubled if the ones I picked also won. But after I read in the papers on what some ruthless horse owners did to their injured racing machines, sort of like boycotting, I quit betting on horses for good. The terrible stories of burning the stables down to collect insurance money on the dead horses are something I can never bear and tolerate.

Years ago, "60 Minutes" had a story on the US government’s Land Management Department. This government agency was allowed to round up mustangs in the West. Sadly, instead of getting the corralled creatures adopted to good families, many of them were shipped to slaughter houses in the most deplorable and inhumane manner. Since lately there was not many news on that government branch’s horse gathering activities, hopefully, the Land Management Department has since made their business a humane and caring one.

Now, Zenyatta have an extra Guinness for me! - Ayee