Marriage License by Norman Rockwell
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Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Does Time Really Exist?
Current Mood: Currently Listening to: Nothing right now
Have you ever wondered why sometimes we say "It's only Thursday?" and sometimes we say "It's Thursday *already*?" And when we say that, that other people don't seem to feel the same way?
I saw this show on the plane heading back from the Philippines. It absolutely fascinated me. The title is, "Does Time Really Exist?"
You start the show saying, "Pshh, of COURSE time really exists." By the end of the show, you realize that you really know nothing about time.
Arguments made in the show:
Time is the same for everybody vs. time is different for each person
Time is a physical reality vs. time is an illusion our brain creates to keep track of changes happening around us
Time is one dimensional (it moves as a line) vs. time is two-dimensional (it's actually a shape)
10 years after college, and I finally get:
why astronauts in outer space age faster than people on earth
how space relates to time
why our bodies wake us up just before the alarm clock goes off
how the concept of parallel universes (other versions of our universe existing at the same time) started
Some "Whoa, dude" moments:
Because our brain needs time to process everything that's going on around us, our awareness of the event is delayed by a few milliseconds. That means what we experience as "now" is actually a few milliseconds in the past.
Schizophrenia might actually be a disorder of time perception, that the schizophrenic's brain is unable to link an action to its resulting consequence.
Current Mood: Currently Listening to: Nothing right now
A friend of mine sent me a message saying I hadn't posted much on Facebook lately and hoped I was okay :-). October was just so packed with stuff I hadn't had time to post much at all... sorry about that. How busy was I? Well...
Start of October I went with a team to an instructional design seminar in Atlanta which sparked an internal training development project that I had to create handouts for in 3 days.
I had a little bit of a breather when Steve and I went to Gatlinburg for 4 days for a late anniversary getaway :-). We rented this gorgeous Victorian-inspired cabin (Steve liked it too, although he did mention that if he was single that that wasn't the kind of cabin he'd rent LOL). I also decided that since Steve and I don't really have too many pictures of us together (it's always either just him or me in our pictures), I decided that we'd hire a photographer for the trip. Chastidyi took awesome pictures, and her idea of us going to a nearby field to have a few shots with the Smoky Mountains in the background was just brilliant :-). It was raining a little bit at the time but I think that kind of weather helps create the smoky effect :-).
After we got back from Gatlinburg I flew out to the Philippines the next day where we piloted the stuff I made for the Cebu site. After the pilot project I flew back to Manila and pulled an all-nighter (or in the Philippines' case, an all-dayer :-)) helping finish a presentation for a client. I had to extend my stay a couple of days. I actually just got back to the US Wednesday night at 11pm...it was a long itinerary (MNL-NRT-SEA-DTW-BNA). I was so out of touch with the world that while I was in Narita and decided to check the news to see what was going on, I saw the headline about Gaddafi being buried in an undisclosed location in order to prevent vandalism and enshrining. I thought to myself, "Gaddafi's dead?"
The next morning back in Nashville I helped prep for my bosses' Halloween party which was Friday night. Steve and I were working the haunted hay maze and by request, I reprised last year's role as Sadako (the girl from Ringu) :-). Judging by the fact that this year I got hit 3 or 4 times by little kids with candy bags (one of them tried to yank the wig off my head and another one got a good solid punch in my gut), I'd say the costume still works LOL :-).
This weekend was the first true weekend I've had to myself all month :-). I decided to decorate the front of our condo for Halloween. Didn't take me long at all, and was pretty pleased by how it turned out :-). Steve posted the pictures on Facebook; I'll make sure to share it so you can see.
I also managed to start another blog entry...I just have to finish it and I'll post it soon. Amusingly enough, it's about time--and how little we know of it, scientifically speaking :-).
Man, it's good to be home :-). Things will still be busy, but I don't think it'll be as extreme as it's been this month. At least I hope not :-).
Links in case Facebook doesn't copy the a href codes: Victorian Cabin: http://www.hearthsidecabinrentals.com/cabin.php?id=175&mo=1011&go=#availability Chastidyi's Pictures: http://orangecloudcreativestudio.zenfolio.com/p92939195
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Steve and I spent the weekend in Nashville. Our mission: to find our next apartment for when we move in early January. We had started our search in the Franklin area, and on Saturday we identified an apartment complex (as a matter of fact we already filled out an application for it). However, after it was done, I kept fretting about it, even though it was the most logical choice: the other apartments were either in a neighborhood we didn't want to live in, or too expensive. This was in the middle. But it didn't feel like the perfect fit for us, you know?
So, on Sunday, which was the day that we were supposed to drive back to Memphis I asked Steve if we could take a look at a few apartments in Brentwood. Brentwood was the original neighborhood I wanted to live in, and was the closest match to the neighborhood we live in now (thanks to http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/neighborhoods/match/). But Brentwood is a MAJORLY expensive neighborhood. I figured that whatever rates we found in the Franklin area, Brentwood would just be even more expensive.
Turns out it's not.
This is going to be our next apartment: The Landings of Brentwood. Now THIS feels perfect. Not only is it in an awesome neighborhood, the rent is actually about the same for what we're paying now.
If you'd like to see the pictures full size, click here.
Visiting the Landings that day was very timely. They were running a special on the floor plan we wanted (2Bed-2Bath, 1002 sq.ft/93 sq.m), which was scheduled to expire at the end of that same day. The market price for the rent was $950/month, but because of the special it would be $840-890/month. Also most fees were waived, so all we needed to pay in application fees was $99. The thing that Steve REALLY liked, and what he said made it feel like the perfect fit for him, was that they had this rule: if your pets are rescue pets, then they won't charge you a pet fee for them. Katya and Jack aren't rescues, but it's nice that they have that rule. There is also no weight limit for dogs.
Now I don't expect it to be perfect. I've lived in an apartment for 5 years, I know there'll be occasional issues with maintenance and things like that. But that comes with any apartment complex. Steve and I wanted to find a place to live that was in a really nice, safe neighborhood where the rent was affordable and it was still close enough to shopping and a hospital. We found exactly that :-).
Now comes the chore of packing, and making all the other preparations for moving. But we feel really good that where we're going is just as nice (if not better) than where we are now. Considering we currently live in Germantown, that's saying a lot :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: the Vikings-Packers game Steve and I reserved Days 5 & 6 of our Disney World vacation as time for going back to theme parks that we enjoyed--that meant return trips to Epcot and Magic Kingdom :-).
Pictures of Day 5: click here Pictures of Day 6: click here
Steve and I had a fantastic time at Disney World. If you plan on visiting just the 4 theme parks, 6 days is perfect, because at the end of the 5th day we were starting to get Disney'ed out. We've gotten our fill of Disney and won't need to come back for a few years :-). Maybe for our 7th anniversary we'll take a Disney cruise to the Bahamas :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Symphony No. 41 in C Major (Sir Thomas Beehcam)--Mozart: Symphony No. 41 Two years ago Steve and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary at Disney Land and we had such a great time we promised ourselves that we would go to Disney World for our 5th :-).
And that was exactly what we did. From September 13 - 19 we were in Florida visiting Disney World for the first time :-).
Steve is also writing his blog entry as I'm writing mine so you may also want to check out his blog to see what he has to say about our vacation :-).
First of all I'd have to say that planning a trip to Disney World is definitely something that you want to do at least a couple of months in advance. I know that sounds terribly uptight, but there are good reasons for it: you have the opportunity to know about upcoming good deals (Click here to see the latest Disney World deals if you're curious). The deal that Steve and I took advantage of was "Stay at least 5 days and get the Disney Dining Plan for free." Looking back, that was the best deal I could ever have taken advantage of. But I'm getting ahead of myself :-).
The second reason why you want to plan your Disney vacation at least a couple of months in advance is that you need to make your dining reservations as soon as you book the trip.
"What?" you say. "I don't even know what I'm having for dinner tonight and I'm supposed to make dinner reservations for something that's two months away?" I thought the same thing. But it's true. And even then, when I started making reservations for dates two months away, I was getting results of "not available," even after searching for 2, 3 hours earlier or later. The Disney agents actually recommend that you make your reservations THREE months in advance.
So anyway, back to booking the vacation. We booked 6 days and 5 nights at a Disney resort, during a time when the free Disney dining plan would be in effect. The total came to $1,400. That's actually not bad, especially when you consider that that's for two people. So for $700, each of us would get:
6 days and 5 nights at a Disney resort
Admission to ALL FOUR major theme parks (we didn't really want to go to the water parks): Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios
Park-hopper option (which means you can go to two different parks in one day if you wanted to--I got it just in case. We didn't get to use it though, each of the parks was way too big, you didn't need to go hopping from park to park)
Free transportation to and from Orlando international airport, as well as free Disney transportation from your resort to all the parks. This means you don't even need to rent a car.
Free Disney Dining Plan
Trip insurance
There are different types of Disney Dining Plans available, but the one we signed up for included, for each day that we were there:
one table-service meal (i.e. sit down full-service restaurant),
one quick service meal (i.e. food court-type meal), and
one snack (ice cream or fruit, things like that)
Now what Steve DIDN'T know was that, as my anniversary gift to him, I was going to upgrade us from the Disney All Star Movies Resort (i.e. a "value" resort) to the Disney Caribbean Beach Resort (i.e. a "moderate" resort).
What I planned to do was wait for Disney to ship us the tags that we were supposed to attach to our luggage on the day that we leave. I was planning on surprising Steve by showing him the tags on the day that we were leaving (the tags specify which resort you're staying at so it'll be easier for the Disney luggage team to identify and sort your stuff). I even ordered a customized Lady & the Tramp anniversary card so I could put the luggage tags in there.
Unfortunately it didn't happen that way for two reasons:
The luggage tags never arrived (Disney was having trouble shipping them, and I also think it's because I booked the vacation too close to the departure date for the tags to fully process), and
I spoiled the surprise two days before we left. I couldn't take it. I had to tell him, it was killing me :-). Guess that goes to show you I'd be a TERRIBLE spy :-).
That morning I just went up to him and asked, "Do you want to know what your anniversary gift is?"
"Not really. I can wait."
Awkward silence.
"No really, you wanna know what it is?"
"Sounds like YOU want to tell me what it is :-)."
So I got our customized Disney World map (you can order one after you book your vacation) and asked him to open it.
I put an arrow-shaped post-it next to #13 on the list. He looked at me quizzically: he knew we were staying at the Disney All Star Movies Resort. "What about the Caribbean Resort?"
Then I pointed to map itself, where I put a "My Resort" sticker on the picture of the resort. He looked at it, and then looked at me.
"That's where we're staying?"
"Uh huh :-)."
I love that moment of dawning comprehension :-). He smiled widely and went, "All RIGHT!"
I've posted pictures with captions along with some video for each of the days we were at Disney World :-). Below is a slideshow, but the pictures are too small.
To see all the pictures full size (as well as the video), click here.
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now The last few weeks have definitely been busy :-). I was in Manila for about three weeks, almost the entire month of July, and things are always a little crazier in Manila. But that's not the biggest part of my update.
On my flight back, I had the fortune of getting upgraded to business class all the way home, which was awesome because I was a little extra sleepy during this particular return leg.
Fast forward to my landing in the US (this trip's port of entry was Detroit). It was a 12 hour flight, and I spent half of it sleeping. I was really comfortable. When I got up to get my luggage though, I had this strange "the-beginning-of-a-leg-cramp" pain in my left calf. I figured I must have slept wrong or something. I figured, "That's okay, making the trek through immigrations and customs will work the kink out."
It didn't. As a matter of fact, it didn't go away for a few days. I got home Thursday afternoon, and Saturday morning I still had it. That's when I started to worry that it might be DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis--or in layman's terms, a blood clot in your leg). I looked up DVT on the web, and I found a webpage that described how another woman (31 years old) was going through exactly the same thing: the cramping leg, but the absence of the other symptoms...and it still turned out to be DVT.
After I read that I woke Steve up and said, "After breakfast, can we go to the minor medical center?"
So we went to the minor medical center for my first diagnosis. After the doctor heard that I just came back from a long flight and had the cramping feeling, although she said the swelling was not as much as it would typically be for DVT, she felt it would be best for me to go ahead and head for the ER to get myself further evaluated for DVT. Further evaluation required an ultrasound, which the minor medical center did not have.
So off we go to the hospital. This was about 9:30am. Looking back, I'm so glad we went first thing in the morning. There were hardly any patients in both the minor medical center and the ER.
After about a 15 minute wait, I got looked at by an ER nurse, who then transferred me to a bed in the ER. While waiting, we took the opportunity for pictures :-).
Then the doctor came by and took a closer look at my leg. After examining me she said, "Okay, let's get you scheduled for an ultrasound and take a closer look at it. Sometimes it's not a DVT and just a little swollen." The way she said it though, it seemed like she felt it was DVT.
A few minutes later I get wheeled out to Radiology (I felt SOO guilty because the lady that was pushing and maneuvering my bed was much older than I was). I had my entire left leg scanned, and the radiologist said that she took some great pictures but can't really discuss the results. She wheeled my bed all the way back to the ER.
So Steve and I waited for another 15 minutes or so until the ER nurse comes in and says, "I've got great news for you! It's not a clot, the ultrasound was clear." I replied, "Oh that's such a relief! I was almost sure that it was." That's when the nurse said that she and the doctor were thinking it was, too, just based on all the circumstances. We were all glad that the ultrasound results proved us wrong.
I get a prescription for the pain, and was told to follow up with my GP after a couple of days. As I was limping out of the ER, the nurse asked me, "Do you want a wheelchair?" and I replied, "Hey, it's not a clot. I'm more than happy to be walking out of here."
Fast forward to a week later: pain's gone, but I'm still seeing my GP tomorrow for one last check. My GP thinks I tore my plantaris muscle, and I'm not really sure if that is what happened, but right now I'm just more focused on what it's not rather than what it is :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern via the Slingbox My original schedule to be in Manila was from April 13-25, and come back again the first week of May. But when I realized that schedule only gave me a week in Memphis before I needed to fly back, I just decided to stay that extra week in Manila and continue working from there. So I've been a little busier than usual (the pace is always busier at the Manila office) and haven't been able to blog so much.
But I have been able to do a few things that I enjoy: meet up with some friends, do some online shopping and play WoW ;-).
The first weekend I arrived, my college friends had a small dinner get together at Meyan and Joy's new home.
Robin made paella, Aldous brought a delicious chocolate cake, and I brought some flowers. It was a nice, relaxing dinner followed by some tv :-).
Another thing I was able to do was some online shopping while being here :-). I was doing an search for bedsheets for my parents. Search results included the usual comforter sets that are either printed or plain, and after looking at picture after picture they all start looking the same.
Then I found this in the clearance section at the Sears' website and just HAD to have it, it was so different:
Doesn't that just make you want to slide under the covers and take a nap :-)?
I ordered it online and Steve picked it up at the store the next day :-). I'm looking forward to trying it out when I get home :-).
It's the Noblegarden festival in WoW, which is the in-game equivalent of Easter :-). For a week you go hunting for eggs and turn them in to certain characters for in-game prizes :-). One of the prizes that I thought would be really cute to have would be the bunny ears. I collected enough eggs to get them for my death knight, and she just looks really cute with them:
Here's this death knight all decked out in armor, meant to spread fear and terror, and she's got bunny ears :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: La Tinaja--Strunz & Farah (Heat of the Sun) This weekend was the first really nice weekend in a month. It's been so cold the past few weeks that when the weather guy said it was going to be almost 70 this weekend I told Steve, "We HAVE to go somewhere outdoors this weekend. It would be a shame to waste the wonderful weather."
To my Filipino readers, imagine being in Baguio during one of the coldest times of the year. It's so cold and bleak and gray that you're almost miserable. Then, after 3 weeks of that, the weatherman says the weather is going to be like Tagaytay. You'd want to go out too :-).
So anyway, I was talking with my co-worker Diane and told her that I didn't know what Steve and I were going to do during the weekend. She made a fabulous suggestion: go downtown and play tourist.
I've been here since 2004 and I still haven't truly explored downtown. Isn't that sad?
Well okay honestly part of the reason is that Memphis's downtown is not the kind of downtown that you would necessarily call "family-friendly." The city government is trying to revitalize it, and you can see the potential, but it's still got a long way to go. Steve and I kind of get depressed just driving down there. Some sections, it's like a ghost town. Businesses are closed and boarded up, graffiti on the walls, things like that. It's very... gritty, in both the literal and figurative senses.
But I guess when you think about it, that's why the words "Memphis" and "the blues" often go together. It kind of doesn't make sense for Memphis to be known for the blues if you're surrounded by suburbia :-).
There are some pockets where downtown is great, though. Steve had said yesterday that downtown was such a study in contrast: you look to your right and you've got swanky houses and condos that must have cost millions of dollars, you look to your left and you've got warehouses you're afraid to walk past during the day, much less at night.
So anyway--playing tourist in Memphis. I figured our itinerary would be to visit one of the downtown museums, have lunch at one of the restaurants that tourists often go to, and then ride the downtown trolley, and that would be enough for one afternoon :-). We decided (okay *I* decided, but Steve liked the idea :-)) we'd visit the Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art, and then have lunch at the Blues City Cafe :-).
Me in front of the museum entrance...
which was practically next to one of the trolley stations--convenient :-)
The Belz Museum was amazing. The two sentences Steve and I said the most during the entire visit were:
"Look at the detail on this thing!" and "Man, how come we've never thought of visiting this museum before?"
Steve standing in front of a sculpture of running horses made entirely out of jade
Steve next to the male foo dog...
...and me next to the female
messin' with the Monkey King...
"No, no, your leg should be up higher, like this..." "He does look like Jet Li, doesn't he?" (Jet Li played the Monkey King on the movie The Forbidden Kingdom)
One of the many ceremonial robes on display
Close-up of the embroidery
Wow.
One thousand?
Close-up shot of just one of the tiers
Close-up of the base of the pagoda. Yeah they probably WOULD number a thousand...
Japanese Okimono
One of them close up
An eagle sculpture made of rose quartz. I should've put something next to it for scale, but you can see part of a door to the left of the sculpture's base
There were lots of bone and ivory sculptures on display. This was one of the most impressive ones.
Front view
Zooming in...
...and in...
...and in.
Animal sculptures (mostly horses) made of semiprecious stones
Here's a pair made of tiger's eye...
...and a pair made of jade and tiger's eye.
View from the other side
A jade carriage!
View from the back
"Look at the detail on this thing!"
Steve and the carriage
There were quite a number of these tusk sculptures, and they were really impressive. That's the tusk of a mammoth.
To give you an idea of the scale of one of these things.
This was one of my favorites. There was an element of perspective on the sculpture.
It starts out small at the top, because it's supposed to be farther away...
...then it gets bigger...
...and bigger...
...until you get to the sculpture's full size at the base.
This is when we were on the Judaic side of the museum.
Close-up of the torah
There were several neat bronze relief sculptures, too. The artist is world-renowned Israeli sculptor Daniel Kafri. This one is "Samson and Delilah."
"The Judgment of Solomon"
"Saul and David"
"The Sacrifice of Isaac"
This was one of the many large artworks on the wall, which, when you look at it closer...
...you see that it's paper cut art. We once did something like this for art class in high school, and I realized early on during the project that I had no patience for it, so seeing this level of detail was humbling :-).
I'm not very familiar with Jewish artwork, so this gallery was an incredible introduction for me :-).
After that it was time for lunch so we walked over to the Blues City Cafe, which was about a block and a half away, on Beale street.
After lunch we walked along Beale Street a bit, and came across the oldest general store in the South, and the only original business left on Beale Street: A. Schwab's general goods store.
Photo from Wikipedia
A. Schwab was definitely an experience :-). You walk in, and your first thought is: "Oh man, this place is OLD." You see it in the architecture, it's got that "really old house" smell, and you hear it on the floorboards when you walk around.
It's HUGE though. It's the kind of place that sneaks up on you and then sucks you in. You walk in and tell yourself, "Yeah, we're not going to be spending much time in here," but then you see things like toys from WAY long ago for sale, and really funny stuff like scented candles labeled "Bad Outhouse." There were three rows of neat crazy hats that Steve and I had fun trying on.
Photo from www.profprsites.com
There's definitely a lot of history in the store. Steve and I noticed two small, old drinking fountains side by side along the wall that you can tell had to have been about 50-60 years old. If you knew your American history, you knew why there would be two. At first I wondered why those fountains hadn't been taken down, but then I realized it was so people like me who weren't born during that time see what life was back then, and appreciate how far we've come.
One of the neatest sections in the place was a little "museum" of sorts where people were allowed to touch the items. I saw a cash register that I only ever really saw in old movies, and it was a treat to be able to touch one and play cashier for a few minutes :-)
Here's a video of Steve trying it out. I was asking him to tell me what he was punching in, but I don't think he heard me :-). Can you imagine how long it took to check out groceries back in the day :-)?
After spending a good 45 minutes in A. Schwab, it was off to ride the trolley :-). There was a Riverfront Loop route and it only cost us a dollar each :-).
Steve looking out the window during the ride
Me in the trolley
This is the Pyramid, an arena that can seat over 20,000 people.
In case you're wondering, "Of all shapes, why a pyramid?" It's because the city's name comes from the ancient capital city of Memphis in Egypt, which is along the Nile River. Memphis in Egypt, along the bank of the Nile : Memphis in TN, along the bank of the Mississippi.
It was a great way to spend a nice comfortable afternoon :-). Another weekend Steve and I will go see the Pink Palace and the Children's Museum of Memphis :-).
:-). We rented this gorgeous Victorian-inspired cabin (Steve liked it too, although he did mention that if he was single that that wasn't the kind of cabin he'd rent LOL). I also decided that since Steve and I don't really have too many pictures of us together (it's always either just him or me in our pictures), I decided that we'd hire a photographer for the trip. Chastidyi took awesome pictures, and her idea of us going to a nearby field to have a few shots with the Smoky Mountains in the background was just brilliant :-). It was raining a little bit at the time but I think that kind of weather helps create the smoky effect :-). 
Then the doctor came by and took a closer look at my leg. After examining me she said, "Okay, let's get you scheduled for an ultrasound and take a closer look at it. Sometimes it's not a DVT and just a little swollen." The way she said it though, it seemed like she felt it was DVT.
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