Be Kind, proactively

Have not read an article that touched my soul so much for a long time.
Be kind, proactively, urgently. Help yourself grow into LOVE.

George Saunders Said it much more eloquently. Check it out here: http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/george-saunderss-advice-to-graduates/?src=me&ref=general

Resource Links

Houston
Houston Tomorrow: http://www.houstontomorrow.org/research/

Texas Music Festival: http://www.class.uh.edu/music/texasmusicfestival/season/index.html

Asian Society around Houston: http://asiasociety.org/video/education

Houston Mediterranean Restaurants:
1) Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet locates at Kirby: http://www.dimassisbuffet.com/locations.php.
2) GarsonHouston: 2926 Hillcroft Street  Houston, TX 77057; (713) 781-0400;  http://www.garsonhouston.com/
3) Fadis Mediterranean Grill: www.fadiscuisine.com; 4738 Beechnut Street, Houston; (713) 666-4644

Mobile Intent Index: http://www.intentindex.com/mobile/
related article: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-shows-intent-behind-mobile-internet-use-84016487.html

Pearland: 
Toastmasters: Wednesday mornings, 7-8am Pearland's Vic Coppinger YMCA Dr., Pearland, TX 77581
www.PearlandToastermaster.com, Tracey 713.854.1815
Debra Ham-VP Public Relationship; Jason Kimbrell - VP membership, Tracey Peterson - VP education, Kim Walker - President, Benjamin Wong - Treasurer, Roy Hamm - Sergeant at arms, Al Stryk - Secretary

Sunday, Sept. 9, 1-3pm, Target Archery. Resoft County Park, instructor: Marvin Hall, Camp Mohawk County Park 281-581-2319, Resoft County Park, 313 W. Mulberry, Angleton, TX 77515
http://www.brazoria-county.com/parks/Resoft/resoft.html

NASA Balloon Festival: start from 6pm, Friday, Sept. 28, going through the whole weekend, www.ballunarfestival.com
one day pass per car load: $10
three day pass per car load: $25

Lunar and Planetary Institute: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/space_days/
Sky Fest: Sept. 22nd, 7:30~9:30pm, observing the moon through telescope (Free). Flier: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/space_days/flyers/sep2012.pdf
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss/
map: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/areamap.pdf

Armand Bayou Nature Center: http://www.abnc.org/3rd Sunday each month, Dow Chemical of deer park sponsor free admissions

For Kids
Texas Governer's Science and Technology Champions Academy
hosts winners from ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair: http://emtsef.utsa.edu/

Best highschools: http://wku.edu/academy/
Climate and Energy Principles: http://cleanet.org/clean/literacy/index.html


Earth Exploration Toolbook http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/how_can_I_use.html
http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/chapters.html

Interactive maps for learning geographics: 

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/?ar_a=1&force_AR=True

All geography games: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/geographygames/

Education Portal Academy (http://education-portal.com/academy/course/index.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=1310112&hq_l=1&hq_v=z4fcca3854) 

Full scripts for all shakespeare plays: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/

China

China's atmospheric database: http://cdc.cma.gov.cn/shuju/index3.jsp?tpcat=SURF&dsid=SURF_CLI_CHN_MUL_MMON_19712000_CES&pageid=3

Android: Open handset alliance, started by google: http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/index.html
Android Tutorial: http://www.grokkingandroid.com/android-tutorial-adding-search-to-your-apps/

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/smartphone.htm

General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) is a wireless, packet-based communication service and until recently was the standard 2.5G protocol used in most smartphones.  One protocol that is faster than GPRS used in the U.S. market is Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE). EDGE can transmit data at more than three times the rate of GPRS (384 Kbps).

how to unlock an android cell phone:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-unlock-android-cell-phone.htm

how cell phones work: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm

how to detect if someone's stealing your wifi:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/how-to-tech/how-to-detect-stealing-wifi.htm

how bluetooth work: http://www.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth.htm

how bluetooth car steoreos work:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/automotive/bluetooth-car-stereo.htm

Computing Now: http://www.computer.org/portal/web/computingnow

web based writing and peer review: http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/Overview.aspx

Interior Deco:

Design and Fashion Styling: http://meganthology.com/
http://fromme-toyou.tumblr.com/post/25923840021/a-journey-and-a-dreamInterior

So many things to be thankful for!

8/30/12: Thank God that I have successfully finish the first week of the class! I'm adjusting the pace and think about what I can do now.

The new week started, and after a restful weekend, I feel truly energized for any challenges in the new week! Every moment I feel thankful, and want to write it down so that I won't forget about it.

Start from my husband: what a great husband -- not perfect, but great and getting better all the time! He really started to have his own initiative about household chore, mowing the lawn, clean up the laundry, plan for dinner, plan for his own travel, etc. And all these time, he has to endure my nagging and sometimes burst of angry remarks. He always rescue me when realizing I'm getting frustrated with kids, and ensure I have a quality rest when I'm on bed by taking the kids and the noise they generated out of the house. He's also taking care of our car, car maintenance, our finance, and house maintenance and more. He does all these in great grace, while working at least two other jobs. An obvious multitasker, though we always joke that he's single-thread system, dealing one thing at a time. :) Sometimes, I feel I'm spoiled and try my best to support him. Sometimes, I feel that he's not perfect yet -- and then laugh at myself of such unrealistic thought obviously from a spoiled brat. 

This morning, he helped Dan prepared his line while I was getting ready, for which I'm grateful. Everybody is happy. 

Movies I watch recently

1. Big Fish: I'm watching the movie Big Fish. Details of it can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Fish
It's a 2003 American fantasy adventure film based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Daniel Wallace.
The dad has been diagnosed with cancer and were released from hospital because he could not go through chemotherapy anymore -- in effect, waiting to die. The son is trying to find out exactly who his daddy was, since he was told many stories of his daddy by his daddy from his childhood. At first, he believed him. As he grew up, he felt all those tales about wonderful adventure cannot be true -- maybe his daddy lived a full life full of lies, not only for others, but for his daddy himself? With this question, he started to conduct 'serious' talks with his daddy. The more he dig into his daddy's real life, the more he realize how a great daddy he has and what a great man his daddy actually had always been. Eventually, he gave his daddy the best farewell he could. A little sweet and melancholy piece about life.

Very good! Would recommend to anybody who's older than 20 to see. I remember at that age, i not only started to doubt myself, but also about my parents capability, their view, and the whole world -- becoming cynical.

2. I love you Phillip Morris: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_You_Phillip_Morris

A 2009 romantic comedy-drama film based on the 1980s and '90s real-life story of con artist, impostor, and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Jay_Russell).
A news article about real Steven, now serving 144 yrs sentence in prison -- 23 hours solitude everyday: I love you Phillip Morris: a conman's story by Elizabeth Day:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep/06/steven-russell-elizabeth-day-jim-carrey

Esquire Feb. 2010, The Great Escapee: http://www.scribd.com/doc/44574829/The-Great-Escapee

I don't believe it: while searching for the actor in Amelia, who i believe also acted as Philip Morris, it is listed that he also played the story teller in Big fish (i.e., the daddy when he was young)! He is Ewan Mcgregor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewan_McGregor

Funny, Fascinating, unbelievable and unbelievably cunning.

3. Amelia: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_(film)
Amelia is a 2009 biographical film of the life of Amelia Earhart, directed by Mira Nair and starring Hilary Swank[2] as Earhart and Richard Gere as husband George Putnam, along with Christopher Eccleston[3] and Ewan McGregor.[4] The film has garnered predominantly negative reviews.

A good movie! Showing that Amelia not only as the first women pilot, but also as a graceful young women that knows how to achieve success in a totally man dominated world!

4. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted: 
Took Dan and Allison to the movie on Sunday. First time Allison watch a movie in a real movie theater and she behaved remarkably! And a 3D version of the movie nonetheless! The best circus performance I ever saw. Guess not much interest in real life circus anymore. :(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_3:_Europe's_Most_Wanted
"Released on June 8, 2012, it is the best-reviewed Madagascar film in the series, with a 75% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.[5]"

Old War Movies that we may watch (suggested by Trevor):

Battle of Britain – all star cast depicting the ordeal of the actual battle of Britain, including the scene of the German officers eating in their assigned seats after losing a lot of men:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064072/

Escaping Colditz Castle – the best video is the NOVA created one, no idea where to watch it though.  It’s the details of all of the escape attempts from just one POW camp, including fooling guards from fake German uniforms created from cardboard, building a glider from small pieces of wood and sleeping bags, and more weird stuff:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/naziprison/

Battleground – a pretty good movie about the Battle of the Bulge, I used to watch this about once a year in the 90s when TMC would show WWII movies on Armistice Day - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041163/

Guns of Navarone – a fake, but pretty good creation of what kinds of personalities existed in the war, this movie is similar to Patrick Leigh Fermor’s battles on Crete - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054953/

Great Escape – another movie about escaping a prisoner camp, but this time with some of the best actors of all time like Steve McQueen - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057115/

A Bridge Too Far – one of the best war movies; about the Battle of Arnhem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bridge_Too_Far_(film) 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075784/

Das Boot – a pretty life like movie of what serving on a submarine would have been like in WWI or WWII - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082096/

Der Untergang – the story of the German side of the last days of WWII, told by a German director http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/

Sergeant York – a movie about a real WWI soldier who still has the record for the number of prisoners captured alive in one day by one man - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034167/

Mashing up shakespear plays

Day 1 I went to the camp and met every one

my happiness project

To feel happy, it’s not enough to have fun with your friends, and not feel guilty about yelling all the time, and feel like you’re working in the right job; you also need to feel growth—a sense of learning, of betterment, of advancement, of contributing to the growth of others.

Edward Deci has previously written that the three key intrinsic motivations that help us be happy are good relationships with those we care about, being connected to a larger community, and a sense of personal growth.


Mutual Improvement: http://www.mutualimprovement.com/
A blog by the creators of 43 Things that mashes up ideas about personal development, happiness, statistics, emotions, neurobiology, cognitive science and all the things that make life worth living.

43 Things is the world's largest goal-setting community: http://www.43things.com/


Decided to start my happiness project from July this year. Will log the progress here.

Answering the following questions:

• What makes you feel good? What activities do you find fun, satisfying, or energizing?
Keep on working hard, having a good family. Not sure about what activities i find fun, satisfying, and/or energizing. Whenever I put myself out, I feel exhausted afterwards. However, some activity makes me feel good -- like working hard and/or playing hard. Other time-killing activity just makes me feel real bad about myself.

• What makes you feel bad? What are sources of anger, irritation, boredom, frustration, or anxiety in your life?
Uncertainty makes me feel anxiety -- I think too much some time, or most of the time.

• Is there any way in which you don’t feel right about your life? Do you wish you could change your job, city, family situation, or other circumstances? Are you living up to your expectations for yourself? Does your life reflect your values?

I have too high expectation of myself. I feel my life is really great right now. Have a good job, living in a very diversified, international big city, and have a great husband (though sometimes annoying :)) and two perfect kids! My current life reflects my value much more than before. Since I have really high expectation of myself, I tend to feel I could do better, etc. Though many others may feel I'm already doing really good. :( This is something I cannot control, however. Or can I?

• Do you have sources of an atmosphere of growth? In what elements of your life do you find progress, learning, challenge, improvement, and increased mastery?

I want to grow in my professional life, since I have the perfect job. However, there seems to have too much for me to do. I need more patience with myself, and my progress. The thing is I always want to learn new things, and along with it, more challenges just keep coming up. Need to focus more on increased mastery.

http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/
http://blog.sayan.ee/autobiography-of-benjamin-franklin/
Benjamin Franklin's Chart of 13 Virtues:

Temperance: Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation.

Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoiding trifling conversation.

Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself. Waste nothing.

Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.

Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly. Speak accordingly.

Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates

How it can be used:


An example scheme of employment for the 24 hours of a natural day.

Our summer vacation to Dayton Ohio

Xiaojing: Two days drive to there (June 30 and July 1), and one day driving back! Very tired when we arrived back home about 2am July 7. Enjoyed the whole trip very much! Will chronicle the whole trip day by day, hopefully with everybody's input too.

Based on what we planned, the route we took to drive there is: Houston -> Louisiana (Baton Rouge) -> Mississippi (stayed at Meridian for the night, a small town boarding Mississippi and Alabama) -> Alabama -> Tennessee (Nashville)-> Kentucky (Louisville) -> Ohio (Cincinnati, Dayton).

We got back from another route -- bypassing Alabama altogether: Dayton, Ohio -> Cincinnati, Ohio -> Louisville, Kentucky -> Memphis, Tennessee (I55) -> Mississippi -> Louisiana (Changed to I12 in Baton Rouge, then to I10) -> -> Lafayette -> Lake Charles -> Beaumont -> Houston (around 1:45am~2am).