Cancer Research Keeps Me Warm

It's freezing today. 15 degrees Celsius (59 degree Fahrenheit). To those in the US, that might not seem that cold but it's different in Taiwan. Buildings here either have no insulation or very little insulation. So if it's 15 degrees outside, it's 16 degrees inside.

Usually this means my hands are freezing, they're always the first to get cold. But not anymore. Many months ago I downloaded a program called Folding@Home. It allows me to donate my computer's extra unused CPU cycles to simulate protein folding. I don't really know what that means but from the Folding@Home website it says:

". . . when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious consequences, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes"

So I'm guessing the goal is to try to find out why proteins don't fold properly. This information could be useful in finding cures for many types of diseases.

What does this have to do with warming up my cold hands? Well, when I set my CPU to run at 100% high performance mode, Folding@Home basically turns my notebook computer into a the world's flattest space heater. Right now my CPU is running at a toasty 87 degrees Celsius (189 degrees Fahrenheit). The hot air it's blowing out the side and the now slightly heated keyboard keeps my hands nice and warm.

It's a Win/Win/Win situation. . . Win for disease research, win for keeping my hands warm, win for . . . . . .

Oh yeah, hopefully a win for getting me a new notebook soon. I'm hoping running the CPU at 100% utilization all day (and the CPU fan at max RPM all day) will blow something up in this old computer. Then it's new notebook time! :)

Pizza Night turned into Tonkatsu Night

This past Saturday, some friends and I went out to try a NY style pizza place. I was looking forward to it as I haven't had real pizza in a real long time. When we got to the place, we realized it was just a hole-in-the-wall/takeout type place. We had a group of 10 people, we would've needed a giant shoehorn to fit everyone inside. Oops, my bad. I should have did a little more research before choosing this place.

So we ended up going to some random Japanese Tonkatsu place nearby. While we were ordering, my friend next to me gets a call from another friend that's on his way to meet us but needs directions. The friend next to me gives out the directions over the phone, the friend on the phone then asks him what the name of the restaurant is. So the friend next to me flips to the front of the menu and scans the pages with his index finger for a few seconds, stopping near the top of the page. . . and then yells into the phone "The restaurant is called Menu!"

He immediately realized his mistake, but it was too late. We all burst out laughing.

After dinner we went to a tapas bar had some drinks/snacks, talked about random crap. . . reminisced about some of the wilder stuff we did back when nobody had a real job. How things have changed. . . I think we left the bar and headed home before 12AM.

Interesting Brand Names

Since I moved to Taiwan almost three years ago, I've noticed a few interesting brand names.

There's a brand of water called 多喝水 (duo1 he1 shui3) which literally translates into "Drink More Water." At first I was turned off by it. . . I was like, how dare a bottle of water tell me what to do! I'm an grown adult! I'm not going to drink more water just to spite it! But then I thought, well. . . maybe the bottle of water is looking out for my health. I mean water is better for me than soda or coffee. I'm so confused! What should I do?!?!

I ended up buying a green tea because it's cheaper. I don't know how that works. I mean green tea is just the same exact water but with flavor added. It's like ordering a plain pizza for $20 USD but if you decide to add pepperoni topping it becomes $10 USD. The beverage market is strange.

Anyways, back on topic. . .

I'm not much of a milk drinker so I don't usually pay attention to the milk section when I'm out shopping but this brand stood out. I have so many questions when I see this brand.

Who is Dr. Milker?!?!
Is he/she a medical doctor that spends his free time milking cows?
Or is this someone that got their PhD in milking?
Could you really tell the difference between milk from someone with only a masters degree in milking to someone with a PhD in milking?
Can you really get a PhD in milking?
Can you milk a cat?
I wonder what cat milk tastes like.


Then I think it's probably just some marketing person's idea. . . I'm thinking of starting my own brand of orange juice. . .

I'm gonna be so rich! Nobody steal this idea from me!


Oh yeah and my favorite brand name in Taiwan is. . .

*drumroll*

黑人牙膏 (hei1 ren1 ya2 gao1). This translates to "black person toothpaste."

What's even funnier is there's a cheaper toothpaste called 白人牙膏 (bai2 ren2 ya2 gao1) that translates to "white person toothpaste."


Yes, these are real products. I usually splurge for the black person toothpaste. Only the best for my pearly whites.

24 Days of My Life in Pictures

A few months ago, I wrote a post about a guy that took one picture everyday for 18 years straight to document his life. It inspired me to try it out myself.

It's kind of sad that I only did it for 24 days straight before I lost interest. It's much more difficult than I thought. . . to force yourself to take one picture that will forever represent that day in your life.

Here is 24 days of my life from end of May to mid/end of June 2008 in chronological order:

Random Bicycle Race with a Complete Stranger

I'm planning to sell my bicycle and buy one of those newfangled folding bikes. Actually, I've been planning to sell it for like 4 months but I've been too lazy to get off my ass and do anything. First I have to wash and prep the bicycle, then I have to take pictures of it, then I have to print out flyers, then I have to post up flyers everywhere. It's not helping that i think the bike is only worth $5000 NT which is only like $165 USD which isn't much of a motivation.

So anyways, I finally got to washing my bike on Saturday. Decided to go downstairs to the riverside park for a short easy ride to make sure everything is working okay. About 20 minutes into the ride, I pass some older looking guy, i'm guessing 50-60 years old. Then about 2-3 minutes later, he passes me back. At that point I was at nice-easy-ride speed. So I turned it up a notch and repassed him thinking that was the last I'd see of him.

A few minutes later, he flies past me. I mutter to myself "oh no you didn't old man." So I turn it up another notch but all I can do is follow him because there's too many other bicyclists and I can't pass. When traffic clears up I pick up the pace and pass him. I go pretty much as fast as I can for 5 minutes, never looking back, then i slow it down slightly when I'm confident that the old man is given up.

He still caught up and passed me! Except this time he was breathing much louder and sweating noticeably more. You could tell he was tired. If I was a bigger man I would've just let him win and give up. Let him have the satisfaction of beating me. . . but nope. I passed him again and I went as fast as I possibly could go. I was surprised I had anything left. I eventually slowed down and looked back about 5 minutes later and I couldn't see him anymore.

It felt good until I realized the following three things.
1. I'm slightly nauseous from riding so hard.
2. I only barely outran someone that's old enough to be my father.
3. I rode so far, I didn't know where I was anymore.

Go-Karts Round 2

From my last post about Hooters, I joked about breaking my hip:

I won't joke about that stuff again. I think I got my hip knocked loose on the go-kart track.

Yesterday, some friends and I decided to head back to the go-kart track that we went earlier in the year. Weather was perfect and we had a lot of good racing. Most of the people in the group didn't go with us last time so the first time around I lapped everyone like twice. But by the third session, huge improvement by everyone. I couldn't lap anyone and was even passed a few times.

This is probably why my hip doesn't feel so great today. On the last session of the day, since everyone was more consistent and competitive, we were spending much more time side by side. Coming into the hairpin turn we had three people going for the apex at pretty much the same time. I had a feeling this wasn't going to turn out well.

The first person that reaches the apex loses his rear end and does a 180 spin and comes to a stop in the middle of the corner exit. By that time I've already committed to taking the inside line since I have another car directly to the right of me. I slow down as much as I can but it's too late. BOOM!

Ouch. . . and then I see my friend who took the outside line speed away, waving his hand as to say "Cya!" to the both of us. What a great friend! I know who's gonna get brake checked the next time he's behind me.

I have bruises on my elbow, my ribs, and my hip. My whole upper body is sore and I'll probably walking with a slight limp for at least a week.

But looking forward to the next time we go back.

Hooters

Hooters. . . to me it's about as American as apple pie or baseball or NASCAR. So it's kinda funny that I lost my Hooters virginity in Taipei of all places. It's not that there weren't any Hooters around when I was in the the US. I remember in college there was a Hooters about 5 minutes from campus. I guess it was probably just a combination of a lack of interest on my part and the fact that I usually hung out with groups that usually consisted of more girls than guys.

What can I say, I have a strict "no sausage-fest" policy when it comes to social outings.

I'm kidding. . .

. . . for the most part.

So a friend was about to leave Taiwan and return to the States. Wanted to arrange a going away get-together. None of my friends could pick a place. . . the requirements was that it had to be open late on a weekday, serve food and drinks, and not be too far from everyone. We went to TGI Friday's a few days earlier so that was out. It was surprisingly hard to think of somewhere else. I ended up choosing Hooters. In hindsight, it seems kind of stupid to have a get together at Hooters for someone who'll be returning to the US. Kinda like taking someone to Macaroni Grill right before they leave for Italy. Lesson learned. It'll be stinky tofu and Taiwan Beer for the next person that leaves Taiwan.

Anyways, so how was the Hooters "experience" you ask?

The buffalo wings were pretty good but the entrees were bleh. I'm not much of a beer guy so I won't comment on the beer. Actually, I can't even remember what kind of beer I had. The waitress for our table sounded like Joey's manager, Estelle from Friend's. . . so sad that I instantly remember some random character from a long canceled sitcom yet sometimes I can't even remember what day it is. I'm getting old. My next post will probably be about me breaking my hip in the shower.

Back on topic. . . I'm guessing most people don't go to Hooters for the food or service, they go for the Hooters girls. They did a short performance. I'm guessing it's some kind of Hooters tradition? It involves two girls one cup. . . sorry, I mean two girls and about a thousand hula hoops. It was impressive how many hula hoops the girls could twirl simultaneously. I didn't know whether to applaud or take my dollar bills out. Then I realized I was in Taiwan and we don't have dollar bills. The smallest denomination paper currency is $100NT (equivalent to $3.10 USD). Way too much. . . so applaud I did.

Brief crappy camera phone video I took of the performance:



Hooters Taipei website: www.hooters.com.tw