In life we take many things for granted. One of them is the ordinary refrigerator we all have one in the house. When we get a new fridge, of course, a simple one, all we have to do is to plug it in and set the temperature. And voila!
Because they are so-well made, many of them last tens of years. I remember an old fridge our parents had years ago. Maybe it was a deliberate design to deter the kids. Its door handle gave out electrical jolts whenever we opened it to retrieve cold treats. And it needed a lot of power to run it too.
Today’s refrigerator neither emits dangerous shocks nor requires a lot of energy to operate. Inside it resides a mechanical gremlin who purrs almost nonstop to preserve our foods, and to even make ice cubes for us. Defrosting a fridge used to be a tedious process. But today, the electricity-run ice box can get rid of the built-up frost in its freezer automatically when needed.
The advanced technology used in manufacturing electrical appliances has certainly made fridge one of the most reliable household equipment.
However, in hot weather like the one we had over the past few weeks, besides air-conditioners and electrical fans, refrigerators are the other home appliances that had to work overtime. A scorching hot day causes us to visit our fridge more frequently than usual. Consequently, the little motor in the big box has to chug harder to maintain the preset temperature in the cooler section of the indefatigable fridge.
During these same hot summer days, milk in our fridge turned into curds many days before its “best before dates.” Then it was discovered that the cooler part of the fridge was not cold at all while the freezer on the top oozed out white foggy air when its door was open.
Fortunately, we discovered the mishap before anyone got sick from eating the spoiled food in the fridge. However, before calling the lonely Maytag repairman, we did consult the user’s manual as well as the manufacturer’s website. But we did not learn anything from there that will help our fridge hum happily again. However, when we were removing the foods from the fridge, we discovered the air vents in the freezer covered with ice. Since the effort to scrap the excess ice off the vents was futile, we decided to lower the temperature in the cooler, so it did not have to work too hard during the night before it is repaired the next day.
Unknowing to us, lowering the ice box’s temperature was the thing to do. A few hours later, our reliable fridge started humming again but with a softer tone. And the temperature in the cooler part was restored too. It appears so far the old-faithful has returned to its old glory.
This time, the experience with a mundane object helped us learn a practical lesson. We did feel bad on throwing away some foods that we thought were spoiled. We also realized that we must, in both summer and winter, give a pat or two to this big ice box to ensure it is working properly and is in good repairs. - Ayee
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Preauthorized Payments
This instance made me wonder the wisdom of signing up those preauthorized payment plans at the bank.
Many years ago, our friend got an early visit from the jolly Mr. Claus.
Like many other people, our friend had this bank paid all his bills. By a stroke of a pen, he gave his banker authority to use the money in his account to pay off his various personal obligations when due. This arrangement did save our friend a lot of times. It worked out well for years until one day when he noticed his telephone bills were a couple of months in arrears.
After many phone calls and personal visits to the bank, my friend was told without any explanation that someone else had been paying his phone bills in the past. It is apparent that payment had since stopped.
In this case, our friend was the unwitting recipient of these errant payments. We could not stop laughing when hearing of our friend’s good fortunate and asked him what he had done to deserve an early Christmas gift. But seriously, our friend could also be on the giving side of this foolproof banking arrangement. - Ayee.
Many years ago, our friend got an early visit from the jolly Mr. Claus.
Like many other people, our friend had this bank paid all his bills. By a stroke of a pen, he gave his banker authority to use the money in his account to pay off his various personal obligations when due. This arrangement did save our friend a lot of times. It worked out well for years until one day when he noticed his telephone bills were a couple of months in arrears.
After many phone calls and personal visits to the bank, my friend was told without any explanation that someone else had been paying his phone bills in the past. It is apparent that payment had since stopped.
In this case, our friend was the unwitting recipient of these errant payments. We could not stop laughing when hearing of our friend’s good fortunate and asked him what he had done to deserve an early Christmas gift. But seriously, our friend could also be on the giving side of this foolproof banking arrangement. - Ayee.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Moral of the Story Is . . .
It pays to listen.
According to one of America’s funniest men*, a golfing ledgend, Sam Snead, once earned himself a two-stroke penalty in a professional event.
I would think Mr. Snead a superstar in a mind boggling but popular sport called golfing. We all know winning a professional tour event is not a child’s play. But in his lifetime, Mr. Snead had won 81 professional tournaments. And quite a few of them were majors. I do not know if there is another professional golfer who had won more tournaments than Mr. Snead did. Definitely, it would take a very patient and dedicated sportsman to reach such enviable position.
But this three-time Master winner was very impatient with his caddy when competing in one particular L.A. Open. In that tournament, his unwillingness to listen to the caddy must have cost him aplenty. Instead of hearing what his caddy had to say, Mr. Snead interrupted his obliging adviser and hit his last approaching shot to the 18th hole with someone else’s ball. - Ayee
*I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This!”, Bob Newhart, 2006
According to one of America’s funniest men*, a golfing ledgend, Sam Snead, once earned himself a two-stroke penalty in a professional event.
I would think Mr. Snead a superstar in a mind boggling but popular sport called golfing. We all know winning a professional tour event is not a child’s play. But in his lifetime, Mr. Snead had won 81 professional tournaments. And quite a few of them were majors. I do not know if there is another professional golfer who had won more tournaments than Mr. Snead did. Definitely, it would take a very patient and dedicated sportsman to reach such enviable position.
But this three-time Master winner was very impatient with his caddy when competing in one particular L.A. Open. In that tournament, his unwillingness to listen to the caddy must have cost him aplenty. Instead of hearing what his caddy had to say, Mr. Snead interrupted his obliging adviser and hit his last approaching shot to the 18th hole with someone else’s ball. - Ayee
*I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This!”, Bob Newhart, 2006
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A Big Machine for A Small Job
Recently, I went to a neighborhood laboratory for some blood works. It was the same lab I visited about six months ago. With pleasant staff and efficient services, this testing office had certainly impressed me as a well-run services provider.
When I was there the first time, its waiting room was teeming with people. The room not bigger than an average size of a family dinning room was Spartan but functional. To register our presence, we pull a triangle-shaped paper tab from a small pear-shape red box on a metal stand. It is the same kind of device many businesses and medical clinics use to check in their clients.
My second visit to the same lab was a painless one too. In twenty minutes or so, I was called to sit facing the same big and bright windows. Before I realized what was taking place, the gentle technician had already got what she needed. And I was out there in about 30 minutes.
However, since my last visit to this lab, its waiting room has been enlarged to twice the size of the previous one. It has also acquired a new numbering machine. By its entrance now stands a tall and bulky black box. Apparently, this electricity-powered metal device has replaced the old manual one. A paper tab exactly like the one from that little plastic red box drops down as soon as someone pushes a large red button on the chest-high fixture. While the color of this new contraption matched the color of the chairs in the room, a large computer generated sign hung over the face of the machine may have ruined whatever the aesthetic appeal this new equipment has to offer.
I hate to be opinionated. But in the age of conservation, do we really need an electronic device to pull a little paper tab for us? - Ayee
When I was there the first time, its waiting room was teeming with people. The room not bigger than an average size of a family dinning room was Spartan but functional. To register our presence, we pull a triangle-shaped paper tab from a small pear-shape red box on a metal stand. It is the same kind of device many businesses and medical clinics use to check in their clients.
My second visit to the same lab was a painless one too. In twenty minutes or so, I was called to sit facing the same big and bright windows. Before I realized what was taking place, the gentle technician had already got what she needed. And I was out there in about 30 minutes.
However, since my last visit to this lab, its waiting room has been enlarged to twice the size of the previous one. It has also acquired a new numbering machine. By its entrance now stands a tall and bulky black box. Apparently, this electricity-powered metal device has replaced the old manual one. A paper tab exactly like the one from that little plastic red box drops down as soon as someone pushes a large red button on the chest-high fixture. While the color of this new contraption matched the color of the chairs in the room, a large computer generated sign hung over the face of the machine may have ruined whatever the aesthetic appeal this new equipment has to offer.
I hate to be opinionated. But in the age of conservation, do we really need an electronic device to pull a little paper tab for us? - Ayee
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Be Aware!
It looks like there is a new format that the SPAMmmers are using to invade our personal cyberspace.
In the past, my Internet Service Provider had done a good job on filtering junk mails. This is why I seldom had unwanted e-mails. But recently, I saw SPAMS started to surface. The ones I received now always included legitimate business names, like my IPS’s, in the subject line, to bypass detection, I think, whatever the security software has in place.
Remember in the old days when we first started e-mailing to each others. The number of junk mails I had in my e-mail account was insurmountable. Although it took a bit of times to delete them, it was rather easy to do so without any perceived risks.
But to delete unwanted e-mails now, I must click on them first before I can zap them. This makes me feel I may expose myself to the unwanted message whenever clicking on any of these intrusive e-mails. Of course, this becomes a concern for me.
Even though I realize whether they are SPAMS or not, there is no such thing as a secure site in the virtual world. I always consider e-mail the invention of the century. It takes over the indispensable role our telephone uses to be in our lives. Now instead of phoning our friends and family members, we e-mail them. I find it is a rather neat medium through that I can send not only words but videos to others without visiting a post office.
Besides, in a globalized business community, e-mail enables us to communicate with our worldly partners both efficiently and effectively. The e-mails are our words. They can be used as evidences in courts.
Therefore, it is so incomprehensible to me that someone would want to spoil the good things that e-mail has to offer. - Ayee
In the past, my Internet Service Provider had done a good job on filtering junk mails. This is why I seldom had unwanted e-mails. But recently, I saw SPAMS started to surface. The ones I received now always included legitimate business names, like my IPS’s, in the subject line, to bypass detection, I think, whatever the security software has in place.
Remember in the old days when we first started e-mailing to each others. The number of junk mails I had in my e-mail account was insurmountable. Although it took a bit of times to delete them, it was rather easy to do so without any perceived risks.
But to delete unwanted e-mails now, I must click on them first before I can zap them. This makes me feel I may expose myself to the unwanted message whenever clicking on any of these intrusive e-mails. Of course, this becomes a concern for me.
Even though I realize whether they are SPAMS or not, there is no such thing as a secure site in the virtual world. I always consider e-mail the invention of the century. It takes over the indispensable role our telephone uses to be in our lives. Now instead of phoning our friends and family members, we e-mail them. I find it is a rather neat medium through that I can send not only words but videos to others without visiting a post office.
Besides, in a globalized business community, e-mail enables us to communicate with our worldly partners both efficiently and effectively. The e-mails are our words. They can be used as evidences in courts.
Therefore, it is so incomprehensible to me that someone would want to spoil the good things that e-mail has to offer. - Ayee
Friday, August 5, 2011
Hooded Larks
The other day in the park, I saw a flock of small birds feeding on some bread crumbs. They with dark brownish feathers are the types of the birds we often see in our back yard and the shrubs around the cities. While foraging, the group chirped out some pleasant notes. But one of them stood out on its own. It did not join the others after the trails of broken-up breads. Finally, this timid bird got its picks and disappeared.
This little flying machine may not belong to this flock. It does look a bit different from the others in the group. There are some soft plumes like a paper fan sticking out from the sides of its wee head. They are not unlike the head dresses that many Catholic nuns wore in the old days. And this little bird with a habit-like hood got me excited. I thought I had come upon the hooded larks that were very dear to a thirteen-century saint from Assisi, Italy.
Because these hooded larks dressed like nuns, they symbolized what Brother Francis had preached: humility. Sister larks became very special to the most reverend saint in the Catholic church.
We all know Saint Francis of Assisi for the poor was akin to animals too. There were incredible stories of him negotiating a truce between a big bad wolf and the townspeople. So both the man-eating beast and its prey could live side-by-side in the same neighborhood peacefully. He once set free a live tench that was given to him into the water. And when Brother Francis spoke, the birds listened.
As it is told in God’s Fool*, during the last Christmas celebration before the humble Saint’s passing, Brother Francis was wishing the festivity in which the rich put on splendid feasts for the poor and other creatures would never end. For his love of the birds, he declared if he was to see the emperor, he would ask him to order grains be scattered on the roads on Christmas day for the birds, especially his sisters, the larks.
To my great disappointment, I never saw that hooded bird again. But the chance sighting of this little creature prompted me to revisit these brotherly interactions between the late Saint and many wildlifes around him. - Ayee
*From Julian Green's God’s Fool, translated by Peter Heinegg in 1985
This little flying machine may not belong to this flock. It does look a bit different from the others in the group. There are some soft plumes like a paper fan sticking out from the sides of its wee head. They are not unlike the head dresses that many Catholic nuns wore in the old days. And this little bird with a habit-like hood got me excited. I thought I had come upon the hooded larks that were very dear to a thirteen-century saint from Assisi, Italy.
Because these hooded larks dressed like nuns, they symbolized what Brother Francis had preached: humility. Sister larks became very special to the most reverend saint in the Catholic church.
We all know Saint Francis of Assisi for the poor was akin to animals too. There were incredible stories of him negotiating a truce between a big bad wolf and the townspeople. So both the man-eating beast and its prey could live side-by-side in the same neighborhood peacefully. He once set free a live tench that was given to him into the water. And when Brother Francis spoke, the birds listened.
As it is told in God’s Fool*, during the last Christmas celebration before the humble Saint’s passing, Brother Francis was wishing the festivity in which the rich put on splendid feasts for the poor and other creatures would never end. For his love of the birds, he declared if he was to see the emperor, he would ask him to order grains be scattered on the roads on Christmas day for the birds, especially his sisters, the larks.
To my great disappointment, I never saw that hooded bird again. But the chance sighting of this little creature prompted me to revisit these brotherly interactions between the late Saint and many wildlifes around him. - Ayee
*From Julian Green's God’s Fool, translated by Peter Heinegg in 1985
Monday, August 1, 2011
“Free Willy”( III)
A few nights ago on television, I saw three whale watchers risked their lives to save a humpback whale off the California coast.
It looked like the huge whale was already dead. When one of these three good people snorkeled to get a closer look at the lifeless body, he was surprised to see a distressed animal tangled in fishing nets was looking at him too. Sometimes, direct eye contact can be intimidating. But this one between a man and a beast put this near-death humpback at easy. It seemed to know that it was in good hands. It did not panic while its rescuers leaned over the edge of their boat to free it from some greenish nets.
Once the great whale was out from the deadly entanglement, before swimming away from its elated rescuers, it put on a spectacular show by jumping in and out of the water or breaching for umpteen times. Scientists said whales use breaching to communicate with others. So by frolicking in and out of the blue sea, this awesome creature was displaying its huge gratitude to three selfless lifesavers.
- Ayee
It looked like the huge whale was already dead. When one of these three good people snorkeled to get a closer look at the lifeless body, he was surprised to see a distressed animal tangled in fishing nets was looking at him too. Sometimes, direct eye contact can be intimidating. But this one between a man and a beast put this near-death humpback at easy. It seemed to know that it was in good hands. It did not panic while its rescuers leaned over the edge of their boat to free it from some greenish nets.
Once the great whale was out from the deadly entanglement, before swimming away from its elated rescuers, it put on a spectacular show by jumping in and out of the water or breaching for umpteen times. Scientists said whales use breaching to communicate with others. So by frolicking in and out of the blue sea, this awesome creature was displaying its huge gratitude to three selfless lifesavers.
- Ayee
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