Weekend Update

Sharon Part 1
I got a phone call from Sharon on late Friday morning saying she had received her box of candy. She also said she wasn’t going to share it with her evil boss. I guess things are not happy at work for Sharon.

Sharon was upset at the fact that I sent her a large box. I said that she could always save a bunch for me. I think her reply was something along the lines of “I don’t think so.” Sharon admitted that she was going to be a nice person and share the box with some of her coworkers.

I also asked her if she had mailed the photo she had taken to me yet. No, it was still on her desk because there were interruptions at work and she was unable to get it mailed. I am beginning to wonder if the photo exists or not. Maybe I will get it for a Christmas gift.

Day 69
It was Day 69 and nothing had happened up until I left the office. I left the office early today because I did not want to kill myself on the drive to school. Since it was a Friday and it was afternoon, I’m going out on a limb and say that nothing happened in the afternoon.

Wall Street Journal
It is always interesting to see what you can learn about life by reading the Wall Street Journal.

On Friday, I learned that Korea has become a major destination spot in Asia for cosmetic surgery. For some reason, many Asian do not care for their appearance and want to have a more Western look, especially with the eyes and nose for young women.

Personally, I have always liked the Asian appearance. But, what do I know? Probably not very much when it comes to this subject.

Vivian the Office Assistant is an Asian American. She and I had a discussion about the topic. She felt those who were getting the surgery were fools. She felt that the results of the surgery may not last long enough or you may end up with an old face and very young looking eyes. She said that look is perfect on Halloween but during the other 364 days of the year.

I think I agree with Vivian. I suppose this also means that when I see an Asian actress on television or in a film I ought to assume that some of her beauty came from a surgeon’s knife and stitching.

School and the Professor
I had my dissertation prospectus class on Friday night. The drive was not too bad for a change.
We started off by going around the group with everyone saying where they were in their project. Some of the students were saying their dissertation topics and they demonstrated they had not learned a lesson from an earlier class.

One of the first things we are taught is to pick a small topic; smaller is better when it comes to a dissertation. One woman wanted to write about “using emotional intelligence in management.” I think one could write on that subject from now until the next Ice Age; this assumes, of course, that emotional intelligence is a valid scientific technique and not some pseudo-science made up by some half baked authors to sell some books and get on the lecture circuit for a year or two.

I described my topic as being a twig on a branch of a large tree. I said my universe for study consists of only 670 institutions. Our professor said that was a good job of narrowing the topic down into a really workable area.

I felt really good.

Then, we were talking about writing research hypotheses later class. One woman, sitting next to me, suggested a potential research hypothesis but the professor sort of said she had missed the point.

I volunteered a hypothesis and the woman sitting next to me snickered at it. The suggestion worked perfectly for the professor because it met all of his needs to illustrate the point and it lead into his next set of comments on independent and depended variable.

The woman sitting next to me was not snickering any more.

Doug and Chuck Go to Morton’s with Amy the Server
Technically, we didn’t go to Morton’s with Amy; she was already working there when we arrived.

I got there early for our reservation because class ended early. I told the receptionist my name and that I was way early for a 9:00 PM reservation. I also restated my request for Amy to be our server and I said we would be willing to wait past our reservation in order to have Amy as our server.

The receptionist said, “Really?”

I said, “Of course, Amy is well worth the wait.” Then, I smiled like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. [Cue Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit song now.]

We got seated almost on time and that was good. Amy was our server and that was even better. She greeted us with a line that sounded like, “and how are my boys tonight?” It was the start of a wonderful dinner.

We promised to behave ourselves and eat responsibly and we did do just that. We had taken photos of Amy with each of us and I gave her a copy of the photos. I think we were the first ones to do that for her.

Amy asked where Sharon was tonight. We said this was boys’ night out. Sharon was also busy with some of her high school friends. I said Sharon was having dinner but it obviously was no where near close to what we were about to have tonight.

Amy spent a lot of time at our table during the evening. I guess her other table were a bunch of deadheads and losers. During one of sessions or stops at our table, Amy mentioned that she loves sweets and chocolate in particular.

This got me to thinking about getting something for Amy for our next dinner that will be in November. I will order some absolutely yummy chocolate candy from Ethel M. for Amy. The Princess says Ethel M is the best candy she has ever tasted.

Doug and I started talking about Douguary already and planning the tradition end of Douguary Dinner at Morton’s. Amy was there when we were talking about Douguary and she looked confused until Doug explained that Douguary was his birthday.

Actually, Douguary is a month long celebration of all things Doug that is held in the month of February each year. There is a similar celebration in May called Chuckay. Chuckay is a month long celebration of all things Chuck.

Some of our friends think we are crazy; our true friends just say that is Doug and his Dad.

Nice Guy Chuck
I was a nice guy at dinner. I ordered a take home roast prime rib dinner for Doug’s mother. I was surprised that Morton’s still had one dinner left by the time we were got there.

Sharon Part 2
Sharon has been urging me to but a digital camera. I have put the purchase off since the regular 35mm camera she bought me years ago still works fine.

On Saturday, I broke down and bought a Sony digital camera with 4.1 megapixels. I think it is more than what I can use but the price was compelling. I saved about $100 or so. It has a three step zoom lens system and Carl Zeiss lens optics, always a benchmark of quality.

The camera came with 32mb of built in memory. I added another 256mb of memory so now the camera can hold around 150 photos that are fairly detailed.

The camera comes with a user manual and a user CD. I think next weekend I will learn how to use camera. The nice thing about a digital camera, Doug says, is that you can delete any unwanted photos immediately and there is no developing to deal with and trips to the camera store. Our my major complaint is that I take about half a roll at an event and then I have to wait for months until I finish off the roll before I can see the photos. Now, I can have instant photo gratification, assuming, of course, the photos are worthwhile.

DVD Planet.com
Doug met me at DVD Planet for a DVD purchase. Since the store only sells DVDs, there is nothing else to buy there. I had three films that I wanted to buy and picked those up. The three are an eclectic collection of HONDO, LAND OF THE DEAD, and LIFEBOAT.

I also picked up THE EAGLE [silent film with Rudolph Valentino], BLADE RUNNER, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, and AUDITION.

AUDITION was Doug’s suggestion. I’m not sure if his suggestion was based as a warning to me about getting involved with young Asian women or if it was to point out a really good horror film. I’ll have to ask him about that some more.

No one can accuse me of playing favorites in my film selections.

After I came home, I watched AUDITION and ALEXANDER NEVSKY. Doug was right about AUDITION as being a scary psycho-drama that generates enough tension through a confusing, at times, flashback based plot. It is a great film for this time of the year or anytime you need a good solid to the bones scare.

ALEXANDER NEVSKY is Eisenstein’s great classic film. It is clearly propaganda; it shows the Russian people defeating invading German knights in the late 14th century. The Russian victory marked the beginning of the modern Russian state. I can see how some of his battle scenes in this film have ended up in other films, some from Kurosawa.

The Original Tommy’s Hamburgers
Doug and I went to the Original Tommy’s Hamburger for lunch. Doug has always said there are no bad times to go to Tommy’s for lunch, dinner, or at any other time when you are hungry.

I wasn’t hungry so I had a Number 2 combination which consists of a medium drink, fries, and a double Tommy’s burger [two slices of beef, two slices of cheese, chili, tomato, onion, and lettuce]. It was just perfect on a breezy, coolish [for Southern California] day.

Doug had the same except that he usually has chili fries but forgot to mention that change to the counterperson. So, he ended up with regular fries. He did admit that the regular fries were not bad and were actually very tasty.

The Immortal Yi Soon-Shin
The last episode was Episode 104 on Saturday night.

It was the last battle of war with the Japanese invaders. It was the fitting way for a warrior to pass on. Yi died in battle from a bullet wound, much like Lord Nelson did at Trafalgar in 1805.

Both Nelson and Yi were wounded by a marksman.

Both men died after the battle was won and victory was complete.

The Japanese forces were defeated, actually destroyed, because they fell for the bait that Yi had laid for them. The Japanese fleet was numerically larger than the combined Korean and Chinese fleets. In any fleet engagement, size matters unless the larger fleet in unable to maneuver and bring its greater power to bear on the smaller enemy.

The Japanese fleet was separated in three groups. Yi’s combine Korean and the Chinese fleet was able to attack the Japanese fleet in a piecemeal battle. This meant the Japanese were outnumbered in each individual encounter.

When you add in the elements of surprise, leadership, and planning, the outcome was a forgone conclusion. The Koreans launched their attack from darkness giving them the complete element of surprise.

The Japanese were thrown into confusion by the Korean use of long range [for that day and time] rockets. The rockets were fired from a long range and plunged into the wooden Japanese ships with frightening results. For the most part, the rockets did not explode but they did not have to explode to sink a Japanese ship. Their high ballistic speed gave them the kinetic energy to go right through the underwater portion of the ships they struck. This lead to immediate and uncontrolled flooding and the Japanese ships sank like rocks, taking their crews with them.

Yi’s nemeses, Wakazaki and Konishi, predecease him as they lose their fleets and men to the Koreans. They were played expertly by the Koreans and they paid the price for being overly optimistic.

Even the Chinese admiral came out of the fight a hero. He finally decided to fight with the Koreans, his supposed allies. He was able to return to China with his fleet intact and no significant losses to explain to the Ming emperor and claim part in a naval great victory. He had thousands of Japanese heads to present to his emperor. He had helped protect China from Japanese invasion. Apparently, presenting the emperor with the heads of his enemies was a way to gain favor. All he had to do was pick up the Japanese bodies from the waters and cut off their heads.

The battle that Yi’s fleet fought kept the Japanese out of Korea for just over 300 years. The Japanese returned in 1905 after they defeated the Russian empire.

The series had a very satisfying conclusion. But, one wonders what would have happened to Korea if Yi had survived the battle and gone on to influence the government. I would guess that Korea would have progressed farther and become a major economic power in the region, much like the nation in today.

Cinema and the Rest of the Weekend
I had planned to go to the cinema and see GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK today. I decided to stay home instead.

I got some reading done and I did some downloading. I am downloading files on business management and leadership for my friend Wu Shuyen who lives in Hong Kong. I will also make a copy of the files for Sharon as well because I am Nice Guy Chuck.

That was my weekend gentle readers.

Be well and stay happy.