pacho source code

This weekend we hosted a small BBQ party at our new apartment. We served some homemade Chinese-style ribs with a healthy portion of fruits and salads. Unfortunately, I forgot that there are folks that cannot or do not pork or beef, for religious or personal reasons. Fortunately, there was enough other foods to satisfy these guys. :P I respect these people very much, but I feel sorry for them because I feel that they are missing out. As an ethnic Chinese, I eat just about anything and everything. Food is great! I love to taste all that different cultures have to offer. On Sunday, we went to the LA Sister City Festival. There we got a chance to see and taste what a select 21 cultures had to offer. We didn't get a chance to eat much as we had some leftover ribs for lunch not too long ago. But, we had sample some El Salvadorian food. Yummy pupusas! Anyway, all this talk of tasting new foods, got me thinking about the times I have tried to introduce my non-Chinese friends to Cantonese dim sum. Many people will ask what's in a particular dumpling or grimace at the sight of chicken feet on the table... Anyway, life is short. If you can't travel all over the world, the least you can do while you're here (esp LA) is to taste as much of life as possible!

Just came home after a visit to the dentist office. I supposedly had two small cavities, which they took care of this morning. While getting local anesthesia applied, I felt a weird connection to the laboratory animals that scientists work with. The main difference here was that I knew why I was getting the procedure, kind of like informed consent. Until the day we can directly communicate with them, the laboratory animals don't know what's going on. I imagine that they must be scared every time they get drugged and poked with needles. You can always tell a newbie from an "experienced" animal. The newbie doesn't squirm when he is put into the anesthesia chamber. However on later return visits, the animal will try to break free the moment he catches a whiff of the gas. ... Okay, I digress. My point is that the physicist's role in medical research should be to help make the lab animals' sacrifice as productive as possible. This includes providing as much comfort to it during the experiment as possible and the data gathered as valuable as possible. This includes development of new instrumentation and methodolgies that make new or improved measurments. This of course is to be extended to the people level, where patients and their doctors are given as much information as possible. One of the most excruciating times for a cancer patient is during the early stages of diagnosis where no one knows the extent of the disease. A primary lump is felt, but has it spread? As cheesy as this sounds, knowledge really is power.

A couple of weeks ago, my co-workers and I were going to have lunch with my wife. But after a few raindrops and a threatening sky, I called Junko and told her about the potential rain. Knowing that she left the house without an umbrella and not wanting her to catch anything walking in the rain, she agreed not to venture out to meet us. Was I being paranoid? After lunch, there was no rain... I wonder if this will carry on after the baby is born...

I've been forgetting to post a plug for a radio program on NPR called "This I believe". People are asked to write "essays about their most fundamental and closely held beliefs". This is a revival of a 1951 series. So far there have been 5 essays, from Isabel Allende (on service), Colin Powell (on openness), John Updike (on faith, democracy, and writing), Norman Corwin (on kindness), and Errol Morris (on truth).

This past weekend, we and a couple of friends went on a hike at Malibu Creek State Park. We had a lot of fun. We crossed a partially submerged bridge (pictures) that suffered damage from this winter's storms. There were lots of flowers and birds (even a Great Blue Heron)! At the end of the hike (~5 miles in 3 hrs), my pregnant wife had outperformed the rest of us! We took our tired selves to a nearby Greek restaurant, Taverna Tony, which was open on Greek Easter. Good eats, the octopus appetizer is best we've had! Live music and belly dancing on Friday and Saturday nights.

Does anyone know what this ant is called? It's big and furry!
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