Friday, February 23, 2007

Eason at his first singing contest

I think that Eason's singing style back then is different from what it is now, more like Jacky Cheung's. I really like it when he sang Beyond's "Truly Love You" in the video :)

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Unprofessionalism

Yeah I am still pretty busy but I really would like to write this post before continue to deal with my own business.

Recently I feel that the astigmatism of my eyes are getting more and more serious so I decided to see an eye doctor. My primary care physician referred an eye doctor named Steven to me. You know one bad thing about having a HMO plan is that you're pretty limited to whatever your PCP refers you to see. But then PPO is just too expensive for me, so I've to live with it.

The office was actually quite clean and the machines that they used look professional. They were also pretty detailed on measuring my shortsightedness and astigmatism. After doing all those checkups, I asked the doctor how I can prevent my astigmatism from getting worse. I don't even remember what he said in the first time since the answer was very vague. So, when he came in the second time I asked him again

"Doctor, what're the causes of astigmatism?"

If I know the causes and they're something that can be controlled by me, I can certainly prevent the astigmatism from getting more serious right? So I assumed it is a natural question to ask.

However, the doctor seemed pretty irritated, as if my question was a stupid one. (Come on, I'm an idiot in biology) He didn't really say a word but just leaded me to a laptop, selected some movie clips and asked me to watch them myself. And off he went somewhere else, looked like he was in a rush.

Damn.

I paid to see a doctor, not to see some movie clips. I do admit that the movie clips were pretty good in illustrating what the biological cause of astigmatism are (abnormal shape of the cornea), but that didn't help me! I want to see what I can do/not do to stop it from getting worse, the human causes. And I'm pretty sure I can find out the biological causes through some googling or wikipediaing quickly. If the information can so easily be found on the Web, why the heck do I need to see a professional?

Any "expert" advice from a professional that can easily be obtained through Google is a waste of money and time. Google doesn't charge me a dime and it returns results in less than a second most of the time.

And then I was introduced a "saleswoman" who tried to convince me into doing a LASIK eye surgery with them. Obviously, doing LASIK for their patients is their main cash cow and they'd like you to make the decision the first time you visit them.


No, I didn't say that LASIK is a bad thing. From what I've read and heard, it really can eliminate your shortsightedness and astigmatism. But this is not what I really need! The main purpose of my visit is to stop my astigmatism from getting worse, not that I need to eliminate it since I'm okay with it now. And they assumed that I wanted to get rid of it and the shortsightedness.

I just hate how commercial they turn a clinic into. During my visit there, I didn't really feel that I was cared about, but my money. Come on, if you don't really care your patients' health/feelings but their money (like most of the doctors that I've seen before), at least don't let me feel that you think that way. Otherwise, why do you think that I would give you any business? Or you just assume that I'm a dumbass? (*__* )

I hate to say this but most of the unprofessional people that I've seen are Chinese. I feel so bad about it since I'm a Chinese too (Yeah I was born in Hong Kong, but still I'm a Chinese, I won't deny that fact). If you have heard of all those fake products in mainland China, you would agree that many Chinese people are selfish, greedy and would do whatever (like producing hazardous food products that can potentially kill people) to earn quick cash.

Please, Chinese people, be professional. Respect your job, respect your customers. (-___- )

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Very busy these days...

I'm very busy these days so probably won't have time to update my weblog for a while.. Thanks for your patience during this period.. Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers! (though it's passed already :P)

Monday, February 12, 2007

DDR - BRILLIANT 2U

This is one of famous DDR routines performed by A Team from Korea. It was very popular back in those days.. :P

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Game: Tontie

I was so into this online game before. It's simple and it becomes more and more difficult later on.

Tontie Ver 1.0

Hope that you enjoys it :)

Thursday, February 8, 2007

My weblog shouldn't be down anymore

A while ago www.alexweblog.com rendered that "Not Found Error 404" page quite often and Blogger support told me that they've "have reviewed and fixed several bugs on the new version of Blogger" around a week ago so I guess this problem won't occur again. If you do see anything wrong with my weblog please leave me a comment, thanks! :)

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

1-888-5-OPT-OUT

Capital One almost sends me a mail everyday asking me to get their credit cards because I can earn miles through their mileage program. It's like so useful to me as I travel by airplane every 5 years or so. It's annoying, it wastes my time, and it's bad to the environment (for wasting those papers, poor trees).

And I found that there's a number I can call to ask the three credit bureaus to stop giving my information to those credit card companies:

1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-5-678-688)

If you're afraid of giving out your social security number on the phone, you can refer to the following sites for the trustworthiness of the number:
Start saving some trees today!

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Eason - Every Tomorrow

A pretty old song by Eason. Everytime I listen to this song, I've a feeling that the future is full of hope. The lyrics was written by Mr. Lam Chun Keung. I always read his funny articles in Next Magazine until he passed away in 2003. Mr. Lam, hope that you're resting in peace as Eason said in the video, you'll be missed :)

Friday, February 2, 2007

Comparing With Others

I'm not sure about other countries, but in Hong Kong, parents like to compare their children with other ones. Not only do they think about it, they actually convey this idea to their children:

"Take a look at John, can't you see how hardworking he is? He always listens to his parents. If you're 50% like him, I can probably live longer."

Why would parents do that? Because they would like to see their children follow some good role models and behave well. This is a good intention. However, without caution, comparison is detrimental.


What harm does comparison do? Simply, it hurts people's self-esteem. When the kids are being compared, they don't hear that their parents want them to learn from others. Instead, they hear that they're not as good as others. How much does that hurt their confidence and self-respect? A lot.

This actually happens in the adult world also. In Cantonese, we refer to those men who're very submissive to their wives as "wife's slaves" (literally). Those "wife's slaves" are always insulted by their wives when they're compared to some other "successful" men:

"Look at you. Why're you so useless? Mary's husband is making $<huge_number> a month and you're making $<tiny_number>! The biggest mistake I've ever made in my life is marrying you!"

Well, how come only "wife's slaves" are insulted by their wives? How about other men? Other men won't have a chance to be insulted like this because they simply can't stand such a woman. Men who have nonzero self-respect won't be able to accept such a "comment".

Comparisons are not necessarily bad. If you want to learn from others, you probably need to compare your actions against theirs in order to come up with a plan as of what you should do. This is a good comparison since its purpose is to improve one's life. Furthermore, comparison also makes it clear where you stand among your peers. Only by knowing where you ability stand would you know that if you have good chance of succeeding in certain field.

However, exercise great cautiousness when you compare other people, since it can easily transform into a weapon that hurts your friends or, even worse, your beloved one's self-esteem. And if it's some attribute that one cannot control (like one's height or IQ), why do the comparison at all? (*___* )