One More Way to Make Me Lucky!

"You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats."*

A Colonial American Proverb

From Catman of Parliament Hill, Great Cat Stories, Roxanne Willems Snopek, 2004

It must be my lucky day when I found this unusual quote from the stacks of books I helped recycled.  Following what it was suggested in this old saying, now I get another excuse to make friends with "strange" or not too "strange" cats.

This old proverb also reminded me of a cat I used to know.

Many years ago when I was still in school, I had rent a room near where my school and work place were.  During those trying student years at the rental home, I made friends with my land lord's Siamese cat.  In countless evenings when I was studying at home, Junior, would come to visit.  But this noble cat in a smooth brownish fur coat was never a bother.  All I had to do for him was letting him sleep in one of the drawers of my desk.  So he could make up the beauty sleep he missed when patrolling the "Palace" during the day.  When the study session was over, so was his visit.

Now in retrospect, I think at that time Junior must be my much needed lucky charm that I did not know I had.  Instead of cat furs, Junior's nightly visit brought me a secure and peaceful feeling that I had never sensed before.  With him snoozing in my desk drawer near me, the soft and constant purring sound from that makeshift cat basket made me feel safe and not alone thousands of miles away from my home.  - Ayee

Keep Mr. Alzheimer Away (II)

The following is what the Japanese people do to ward off dementia.*

1.  Start each day with a glass of warm water.
2.  Drink at least three glasses of fresh fruit or vegetable juice each week.
3.  Cook own meals.  Meal planning is a taxing matter that requires extra brain power.
4.  Always have some dark chocolate handy to enjoy during the day.
5.  Walk 30 minutes a day.
6.  Sit in the sun for 15 minutes per day.
7.  Keep body weight down to reduce the possibility of being diabetic or suffering hypertension.
8.  Avoid soda pops and any processed foods.
9.  Do exercises that induce perspiration.
10. Leave the CD player on with music or inspiring speech while taking a short break lying down or sitting.
11.  Include sliced raw onions in salads.
12. Do not have any food after 8/9 PM.

-   Ayee

*This is from an Internet posting in Chinese.  Author unknown.   

MAN ARRESTED FOR FEEDNG CATS!

I do not have all the details on this Internet posting.

According to the photo that came with this piece of the unsettling news, a squeaky clean 76-year old gentleman in the picture was in jail for feeding cats.  And one of the animal welfare groups is helping him fighting the laws.

It looks like this is another case of a good intention turned terribly wrong.  There must be a  good intention behind such a law that forbids citizen taking care of homeless animals, most likely the stray dogs and cats.  To me using the jaws of the laws to thaw the kindness of the other is not the "right"  solution.  Perhaps thousands of dollars needed to enforce the law can be spent on better care of the animals which  are currently  under the government's care.

We all know both private and tax dollar-funded animals shelters are inundated with thousands of lost and sick animals.  Based on what I saw on how some of the strays were handled, I think some of them would be better off remaining in the neighborhood to fend for themselves.  Furthermore, because the animal shelters are so crowed, I see nothing wrong when the public, like this senior citizen, took  the task in his own hands  to care for the neighborhood strays.  -  Ayee

To Keep the Slate Clean

New Year again brought me spring fever. I, like many other years, decided to de-clutter a bit. This year the first item on my bucket list was a used computer that I bought from my former work place. The computer with an operating system dated back to the early 90's did not have the latest bells and whistles. But it continued providing me with reliable services for several years. It also survived our moves to two new neighborhoods. Maybe it is for nostalgic reasons that I did not recycle it right away when I was given a new desk-top. Instead of recycling the old one I had, I stowed it away under my computer desk as a foot-warmer. Since it did not in any way take up extra storage space, I had left the old computer there until just a few days ago.

And there was another personal reason why I was not in the hurry to recycle this dated machine: 

Because I did not know how to empty the thousands of bytes and bits of information that I had saved in my computer’s hard drive.

I also do not know if it had actually happened to people who had given away their old computers or other smart gadgets without the due care, and became victims of identity-theft I did, however, hear someone enlisted a hammer to render their old machines useless. Since I do not like to smash things, and was not able to find help in books, for many years, I had passively waited for my Eureka moment. But that moment never come.

Luckily, once again my dear family members came to my rescue. And with a simple command* and a few strokes, my old computer became squeaky clean and ready to be recycled at our friendly neighborhood store. - Ayee

*In my case, I used "format c: " to do the job.

Fatigue makes us dangerous.

The other day I needed to get some blood works done.  I may have mentioned this lab before, like in the past, I always used the same neighborhood laboratory that was close by where I live.  Because of their friendly and professional services, I would have never thought of going elsewhere for tests that my doctor ordered.

On that dark and wet December morning around 8 AM, at the lab, I met a very haggard looking technician.  She in a cute smock appeared to be , if not more, as tired as a few of the patrons who were still in the sparse  waiting room.  To me, besides a good hair brush, she could also get a nap or two.  This tiresome young person could not even spare any energy to say a short hello.  I know how inept I was when I did not get a good night of sleep the night before.  And this tired person was going to draw the blood sample from me!

Although, I had never heard of someone got hurt when giving blood samples, I do have reservation on sharp syringe needles, blood, delicate vein and a sleepy lab technician.  Since there was only one other technician on duty, I was not able to find a way out to work with the other technician, I could only hope for the best, and let the matter run its own course.

After a few necessary words exchanged to confirm my identity, everything seemed to be going smoothly as it should be.  But before the routing procedure was about to end, in a few fleeting seconds, I could feel a painful jab before a small cotton ball was placed on the tiny hole in the fold of my right elbow.  And there was also some fidgeting going on when a disc-shape bandage was being placed to replaced the soiled cotton ball.  Because of the technician's unsteady fingers, the tiny round bandage was not rightly placed  either.

Now many days after my recent visit to the lab, luckily I have yet felt any harm that unexpected jab had done to me.  But this unusual and painful poking at my vein had convinced me that it is dangerous around tired and exhausted people.  -  Ayee

A Christmas Wish

Just spent another "60 Minutes" with my favorite news program.

Tonight, two of the three reports covered the grim subject of environment and cancer.

First, on the environment, the report showed ponds of  grayish  coal ashes on the river bank.  These soupy refuse was left behind by the energy generating plants that used coal to generate electricity.  The amount of the ash stockpiled by the pristine waterways is huge.  Now these unwanted  leftover may have leaked into the rivers in the beautiful North Carolina.

The second report was on the dreadful disease like cancer. I do not know if what the doctor from South Africa had  said  on chemotherapy was unusual.  But I did put on my listening ears, so I could  hear them. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong told the reporter that frequent low dosage chemotherapy treatment is more effective.  He said when higher dosages of chemo medicine are administered, the cancer cell run away from the cancer drugs.

Lastly, I am so gladly to see that tonight's edition of the news program  ended on a very soothing note. The crispy and blissful sound of a Stradivari violin put me in a mood to wish  all of us  a Christmas season that is as magic as the sound from these delicately handcrafted instruments.  Italian  are known for their artistic mastery.  That is why only Italian can produce a violins like the revered Stradivari. It looks like Italian are  also people with great and generous  hearts.    To return a favor to the forest that provides the fine woods for the violins,  they play music to the trees.  Good for them!

Of course,  a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year to all!

-  Ayee

A Cautionary Tale

Recently, by necessity, we bought a refrigerator. It is made by a well-known home appliance maker in the States. After it was delivered to us, we discovered the door to the freezer was at least 1/4 inch higher than the freezer. When we asked the seller to correct this misfitted door, we were told that now these days the fridges are made this way. Therefore, it cannot be repaired. The repairman did come around to see what he could do to correct the freezer door. He could not help us either. And he left us with the same comments that we heard before.

And the worst experience with our new appliance happened three months after we had it home. On that particular morning, when I opened the fridge for something, I noticed water puddles on the shelf as well as a big black gap that was at least a foot wide and maybe six inches high between the fridge door and the white soft plastic molding that is supposed to insulate and to configure the shelf space on the door. For unknown reason, this rubbery  seal or  "gasket" came off from the door.

To make a long story short, the manufacturer had since made good on its warranty and offered us a new fridge to replace the faulty one. The new one we got seems to be working so far except its freezer door again. I do not think I am a particularly fussy or a knit-picking person, . But when looking at our new fridge now, I cannot help but think of the problem this  particular manufacturer had with freezer doors. The freezer door of our new ice box is now about 1/8 inch higher than the fridge. I rest my case. - Ayee.