China tsunami donation

China has pledged 60.5 million for tsunami.
Now, those pointed ugly fingers to China when
US pledged a stingy 35 million better
shut up or point to Japan, only 40 million.
As of today, the numbers are

1. 350 millions, US
   
2. 96 millions, UK
   
3. 60.5 millions, China
   
4. 40 millions, Japan
   

Now, rank the personal income for me.

Discrimination

One would wonder why racial inequity still exists in
JFK's home state?
Of course, as the talking heads at WRKO pointed out,
you don't actually have to do a Harvard study to know.
Just look at the rankings of favorite sports in bean town,

1. Baseball, the sucking Red Sox
   
2. Football or Hockey
   
3. Basketball
   

and the, you know what, percentages of each team.

The cheerful bunch

I tell you who are the most the optimistic bunch on the planet,
that's US consumers. I have my proof here.
Don't you know that the green bucks in your pocket is worth
less and less with each passing day?
I guess I should learn and stop being doom and gloom all the time.
As long as I don't go abroad, and it's too dangerous being an
American outside US soil anyway, why do I have to worry about
the depreciation of dollars?

Be stingy

We now know that US is not stingy at donation.
My only hope is US gets stingy at sending spams.
And see hypocrisy that /. bunch who cry out about China
being spam sources all the time remain silent on this piece.

It's good to be rich

Since 60 Causeway, Millis is only couple of miles away,
my family went there on Christmas eve to take a look at
"Today" show's "best Christmas display in the nation".
I guess no more holiday displays would wow me anymore.
I have visited a public park in Maryland displayed by
the local government and charged 10 bucks per vehicle
to visit. At that time, it looked spectacular to me.
Not any more. This is larger, better and free.

News about holiday decorations

Here, see how rich people in Sudbury battle it out.
Highlights includes

1. 325 hrs to put up
   
2. $3,200 electricity bill
   
3. $20,000 lights
   
4. 41,000 lights
   
5. $9,000 for outdoor circuit breakers.
   

Not to say, people living close to Medway don't have
holiday spirit, check this one out.
Oh, don't put out holiday decors if you live in a
poor neighborhood.

Red vs Blue

This morning, the talking head at the WRKO mentioned
something that I noticed a while ago. How is GOP/GWB
state red? Isn't red the color of communism? Shouldn't
the red and blue states be switched?
Anyway, having lived in "Red State" most of my life,
I am glad to be in a blue(bluest?) state for a change.
And please, please, don't remind me that I merely
moved from one people's republic to another.

Globe and Herald

Between the time Brad Bleidt's suicide attempt
and arrest, Herald is much more concentrated
on the whole WBIX fiasco than Globe.
Each day, Herald put out at least three stories,
ranging daily updates, Bleidt's character in
neighbour's eyes, to horror stories from investors.
Globe, however, is much quieter with only daily
updates. Even though, the two columnists for
Globe Business section are hosts on WBIX 9-10
AM program, and at least another two columnists
are regular fill-in host or guest.

Maybe envy played role there.

Those who got a bonus

It's that time of the year, to talk about bonus.
I have never seen it in my whole life. It's like a
legend, a myth, or a fiction to me.
So as I heard, some are actually getting such a
thing called bonus.
And I wonder if I contributed to those happy guys,
since I had several dealings with different types
of attorneys this year.

Here's to WBIX

WBIX 1060AM held a stock picking contest in October
and the grand winner would get two tickets to the
Pat game last night.
I am not sure if the grand winner actually got the
ticket or not, since WBIX was later involved in
the Bleidt fiasco and all staff were gone as of
Nov, 30.
WBIX used to be my radio station during commuting,
now I just flipped between WBZ 1030AM and WRKO 680AM.
WBIX is a classic example of what Lao Zi describes:
福兮祸所依, 祸兮福所依。
Roughly translated as
Fortune lies in the misfortune, and vice versa.

Here's a link to a brief history of WBIX.
I hope someone will fill in the blanks between Jan, 2001 and
Nov, 2004. Of course, the station is currently still in the
hands of Alexander Langer.

Even if the grand winner got the ticket, it's not
pleasant anyway. Just read my previous post.

Dynasty shakened

Boston Globe
"Hell was freezing over. Pigs were flying.
The Dolphins beat the Pats. Are you kidding me?"

Need I say more? Where is the always cool,
always calm, and never makes mistakes Tom Brady?

Tom Brady seems to be getting more and more
bold as he matures to be a veteran QB. Well,
that's never a good thing. As a QB under the
genius Belichick, one should know better.

Local business

Ok, I have to say that the virtue of local business is obvious.
Of course, local means the same town.
Northern Arborcare & Landscape Design of Medway, owner
Dave Dodsworth responded to my request for estimate and
came on Saturday to take care of things right before the
snow and winds came this morning.
Dave worked all day Saturday to remove four trees, including
one huge pine. He then came back on Sunday to clean up
the remaining sawduts and prune. He also either picked my
call or returned my call unlike other guys.
I am impressed by his work and would recommend him
to friends without reservation.

Update on other guys.
TreePro of Quincy would come, but price is higher.
TreeTech of Foxboro drops the estimate eventually last Friday
and the price is the highest.
Limb-it-less is of the same price as Northern, but can't say
for sure if they can come even on 10AM, Saturday, when
Dave showed up.
Oh, the fabrics of vibrant US economy, small local business.

So now I have it, the Northern Sign on the front yard along
the main road.

I don't understand it.

Go back to the tree issue.
TreeTech of Foxboro finally came last Friday.
I wasn't at home, but left a note describing my
problems. When I got home, I found the note
gone, but no estimate was left. I then tried to
reach the guy ever since and he did not return
a call.
It's beyond my understanding. The guy did come
to look at the trees, as my neighbours told me,
but he left no estimate and would not return my
call at all. Why did he come in the first place? He
must have too many gasolines in his car the he
just wanted to burn off.

More about Red Sox

I promise this is going to be the last rant about Red Sox
for a while. But I heard in the radio that Red Sox owner
is considering expanding the Fenway Park and the
application has been sent to the city already. The plan
calls for additional thousands of seats.
What the f*** is this? As if the parking, the crowd, the
traffic and the riot problems are not big enough already.
Repeat with me, move the f***ing statium out of downtown.
I will keep a Red Sox 05 schedule on my fridge to know
which day I should avoid Storrow Drive.

Pathetic local media

While I am at it, let's remember something about the
local media who is as pathetic as the Rex Sox.
1. When Yankees lost their chance to World Series 2003,
the local media were excited to broadcast the "Good
News".
2. Season opener of 2004, there was only one game and
Yankee lost. The local media were celebrating the fact
that Yankee is at the bottom of the league.

Of course, local media were furious when Pedro called
Yankees his daddy. And they are furious now because
Pedro heads for Yan..., oh, no, Mets, never mind.

Come on, don't think that Red Sox is an equal to Yankees.
No, they are NOT. Just count the World Series Champions
Yankees got during the 86 years of drought.

Patriots and Red Sox

Two championships in three years is nothing
compared to the one champion in eighty-six
years. You know what I am talking about.

I always have low opinions about Red Sox
for the following reasons:
1. They have a loser's mentality. They cannot
turn their attention from Yankees to the
current game they are playing. Unfornately,
the more they do that, the more Yankees
are ahead of Red Sox.
By contrast, Patriots always focus on the
current opponent and try to get a win out
there instead of worrying if Jets is ahead of
them.
2. The stupid location of Fanway Park. Move
the f***ing statium out of downtown. The only
time I would root for the Red Sox is when I
was stuck on Storrow Drive due to the game.
I hope they would win that night so that my
wasted time was not for nothing.

World Series of 2004 is just a one-year
wonder for Red Sox and Patriots is a real
dynasty in making. Unfornately, only people
like me who are out-of-towners can see it.

We said we will do it, the question is when

Limb-It-Less in Framingham is giving the lowest
estimate now and when I decided to go with them,
I was told that they would come after a couple of
weeks.
I know it's cliche by now. But in China, contractors
will come at any time that's convenient for home
owner. That means ASAP and yes, weekends and
holidays are included.

Grey Collar Worker

I called a bunch of tree services.
TreePro of Quincy responded and came as promised the next day.
TreeTech of Foxboro promised to come, but did not.
This is not the first time a contractor promised to come for an
estimate and then failed to show up.
Back in July, I called a couple of Electricians. One of them
promised to come each day for five days. I gave up on him
eventually.
Maybe the "grey collar" workers, as my parents referred to for
home-related contractors(Electricians, Plumbers, Landscape,
Tree Services, Appliance, etc), are really the ultimate safe jobs
in US in an age of outsourcing.
Of course, in China, "grey collar" workers are as insecure as
any other workers with different colors in collar.

Trees

After 50MPH winds last week and yesterday, a dead limb is
hanging over roof now. It is pointing down towards the
skylight. I called a bunch of tree services and look for
an estimate.
Trees are worth a lot in China. Ok, maybe just Shanghai.
I am amazed and dismayed to look at estimate of $1000+
for removing three trees and prune some branches away
from the electrical wires.
As my parents told me, if you give your trees to the
park in Shanghai, they not only removed them for free
and may even compensate you some.

Hello world

This is the begining of the begining.