Sunday, February 18, 2024

The Unimaginable

After 32.5 hours of non-stop traveling – covering 3 countries and 6 airports, we’re finally home!!

What’s the chance of someone flying all the way to Cuzco, Peru but didn’t get to see Machu Picchu due to local protests blocking the access???

It happened to us!! The local strikes started on 1/28/24, two days before our scheduled date to visit Machu Picchu. The disappointment was enormous… Oh well, life is the art of imperfection!!

In the meantime, enjoy the video our tour guide made in January of last year. I initially planned to make a video just like this... Maybe next time.


 

Saturday, February 17, 2024

My Amazon Orders

Do you remember your very first Amazon order? When and what?

I do, and here are the first 2 books I ever ordered from Amazon -- I was so diligent, curious and devoted to my career 20+ years ago...

The first THING I bought from Amazon was our very first GPS. It has since provided me with total independence over the past 17 years -:))

Hard to believe how Amazon has fundamentally changed our way of life!! Again, I truly believe we are living in the history-making times.


10/11/2002: Biostatistics: A Foundation for Analysis in the Health Sciences (Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics)

12/9/2002: Understanding Health Care Outcomes Research

3/10/2007: Garmin nuvi 350 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Sunday, December 17, 2023

My Tennis Season

Last year, I played tennis outdoor from 6/7/22 to 11/26/22 for a total of 77 times. I considered it as my "tennis season."

This year, the season started early on 4/8/23, and it lasted all the way through 12/15/23, for a total of 158 times. I'm not sure if this is the END of my "tennis season". If it goes into 2024, how would I define the "season?"

Nonetheless, tennis is a THING for me now. Looking forward to the next season -- or the continuation of this season into 2024.
 
Happy Holidays to all!


 

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Social Media Diet

The email below reminded me of how disciplined I used to be... Wow, 20 days of ditching social media totally and completely -- how COOL is that!!

Well, I finally started my "social media diet" again -- first time since 9/10/2022. Not sure what happened to me over the past 14 months, but anyhow, it once again brought me back to my sanctuary -- the calm, peaceful and quiet world where you can really listen to yourself and reflect...

All of the sudden, I have so much more time too. Finally finished processing all the photos from Canada, Red River Gorge, and my backyard.

Attached are the photos from "my backyard" -:))

Naperville, IL
October 2023






On Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 08:39:58 PM CST, Pei Tang <tang_pei@yahoo.com> wrote:


Due to recent scandals in China, I've learned a new Chinese phrase called "社会死亡."  The English translation is "Social Death."  It means: to avoid the spread of the scandal, the person involved has been blocked from all social media channels. Therefore, socially, the person is considered "dead," as no one can find or contact him/her.

In my case, I have been practicing voluntary "social death" periodically over the past 7 years. The first time was the most dramatic. I spent a 3-day weekend (5/2/14 to 5/4/14) without a cell phone, a computer, a TV; without my car, or any other modern devices. I simply stayed home -- made tea, cooked meals, read books and walked around the neighborhood... It was a profound experience, with a lot of inconvenience, of course.

Since then, to avoid too much disruption in life, my "social death" experience has been limited to only shutting down social media for 1-2 weeks. Each time, I loved the serenity it brought to my soul...

Well, I just did it again for the past 20 days, which was the longest time of all. The calmness was incredible!!
 
Social Death is really not as horrifying as many have imagined. You live in your own world and mine your own business -- the simplicity of life is lovely. When you finally decide to reemerge, you'd realize that you haven't missed much after all. In my case, over hundreds of headlines and stories for the past 20 days, maybe only two things were note worthy: Omicorn and Inflation.

Omicron: I've gotten my booster shot, what more can I do?

Inflation: Here is my little strategy. The rest is out of my hands. Why worry???  Haha!

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Fall Colors 2023

Who is not chasing fall colors these days???

Red River Gorge
October 22, 2023


 

Friday, October 20, 2023

Let There Be History

Wow, I found this from 1996-7-19!! Thoughts?

1. I used to be so organized. Kept this nicely in a file folder -- for 27 years.

2. The world has changed so profoundly. We don't realize it until one day, when we look back... 
 
3. Never neglect the fact that we are living in a history-making time of humanity. Cherish life and be present!