A beautiful sunset along the Thai coast as I hitched a ride from Patong Beach back to Phuket Town. You can read about that story here.

Sometimes the smallest things can really create extreme disturbances.  My laptop charger (already the 4th one I’m on), isn’t the best of quality (that’s what you get for just a few bucks, I guess) and only works when pressed firmly into the laptop charging port, at a certain angle.  When it moves just slightly, it will stop charging unexpectedly.  Add on to that a battery that barely holds a charge now and this means that whenever I am using my laptop, it will shut down randomly without warning.  Very inconvenient, especially considering how it’s taking much longer to boot up nowadays.

Thankfully, I have a mother who is quite the handywoman.  She’s great at fixing things and given her engineering background, a small thing like charger circuitry was a small task for her.  Once it was decided that I couldn’t care less what the charger actually looked like, she set to cutting the cable that hard started to sever on my original charger.  She took the original head, connected it to a charger that hadn’t developed a frayed wire, and soon enough I had a brand new charger to use.  The head fit perfectly into the port now because it was from the original charger and not one of the cheap ones I had gotten as replacements.  No more spotty charging results!  Problem solved.  To think, I nearly dished out $70-80 for a new charger just to get rid of that annoyance!

When I was three and a half, I flew from China to meet my parents in Pennsylvania.  On the plane ride, I was with a family friend who had been tasked with babysitting me for the trip.  The one thing I remember from that time in my life was during the plane ride, when the lady had to go to the bathroom.  She took the airplane blanket we were using, opened it up, and draped it over me.  Hidden securely underneath, she told me not to move until she came back, or else the big, bad wolf would come and eat me.  Obediently, I huddled in my little cave, waiting for her to return.

A long time later, my little toddler self was getting antsy, but I was a good kid, so I stayed under the blanket.  As the minutes passed, I began to wonder if perhaps the wolf had gotten her.  What was  taking so long?  When she finally came back, I was so relieved to get my freedom back!  Turns out she’d gotten distracted talking to a flight attendant on her way back from her restroom break.  And here I’d thought maybe she’d forgotten me there.  Thank goodness, we were both safe and the wolf was nowhere to be seen!  :)

When I was young, I wanted to be a number of unusual things.  While other children were aspiring to be doctors, lawyers, artists, dancers, or some form of celebrity, I once had it in my mind that I wanted to be a school bus driver.  You see, I always had a penchant for sharing candy and snacks with my friends and I figured there was no better job that allowed you to give candy to kids than that of a school bus driver.  I wouldn’t have to deal with teaching and grading like teachers do, I wouldn’t have to clean up after messy kids like janitors do, and I wouldn’t have to deal with strange cafeteria food like the servers do.  All I’d have to do is pick students up in the morning and drop them off at night.  Meanwhile, I could have a lovely stash of treats that I’d give out for holidays and in certain special times like first and last day of school.

When I was in fourth grade, my teacher had an entire drawer of delicious candy.  When we got homework assignments and tests back, we’d find nickels, dimes, and quarters stamped at the top of our page.  Depending on how well we did for that assignment or test, we would find different increments of change stamped on.  We would  then tear off the stamped image and keep it in a bag or pencil case.  Then, one glorious day, Mrs. S would open up her fabulous drawer and allow us to “buy” the candy within.  Though I thought that would be fun to do, I didn’t like the other aspects of the job, like controlling unruly young kids and patiently teaching them a variety of subjects.  So, I decided that I would rather be the like school bus driver, who would give us candy on Valentine’s Day or for the winter holidays.  It’s all the fun without the grunt work!

Well, what an intense night it was, what with an electrical transformer exploding underground, shaking the buildings in the Glenrock meets Levering intersection.  Panda and I were happily enjoying our dinners when I swear, the entire building swayed a few feet and then snapped back to its normal position.  For some reason, I thought it was something like a dumpster that got rolled off the roof.  It certainly sounded like it, but the movement of the building only made sense in retrospect, when we found out that it was due to an explosion.  The boom was louder than the sonic boom we’d experienced back in August or so (then again, that sonic boom came from veeery far away).  At first we weren’t sure what to do and I peeked out the porch to hear car alarms going off.  Panda called up a coworker and then reported it to the police, who’d gotten wind of it just minutes earlier.

As Apartment Coordinator, it was his duty to make sure his residents were alright and go find out if we needed to be evacuated or anything like that.  So, we headed out to see what the commotion was all about.  I went straight outside to take pictures, hoping to practice my photography skills in the dark!  Out on the street, people were all gathered staring at the steam (and smoke?) rising from a manhole in the ground.  Let me tell the rest of the story with pictures… (click pictures for full size)

This is the scene we were greeted with not long after the explosion. The steam is rising from the manhole that got blown off.

You can see across the street all the people who gathered before we were all chased away.

The ambulance quickly found that nobody was injured, thankfully.

The ambulance soon gave way to the firetruck, which lent its hose to the efforts. Apparently there was a bit of a fire going on underground.

The police came and blocked off Levering at Midvale so cars wouldn't drive down towards the mess.

People kind of just stood around dumbfounded as they talked to each other trying to figure out what happened.

After the people were cleared, the firefighters huddled up to plan what to do.

The firetruck served a dual purpose of providing a hose and blocking off traffic.

I never saw what they used this hose for, but I guess they needed it underground to fight the fire the transformer set.

And so it wound its way down to the scene of the action.

A policeman on scene as watch guard, probably to keep pedestrians from getting too close.

I loved the backdrop of the skyline juxtaposed against the bright lights below.

Residents nearby were startled not only by the boom of the explosion, but their glass breaking!

Check out that massive crack, yikes!

The shards of glass that fell from above.

The bits that landed inside the room. Thankfully it was pretty concentrated!

The troublesome manhole, just a rectangular hole in the ground.

That's where all the trouble originated from...

Those lights were rather glaring, as they shone on the intersection.

We went back to the room after the hubbub and things were quieting down until the lights went out for us too (buildings on another street over had lost power with the blast)!

The firetruck with the bright lights seemed to have retreated and we were offered a darker view of our surroundings.

I thought it was cool how the lights faded away into near pitch-black darkness. You don't get that much in the city!

The emergency lights kept people from tripping in the dark.

The parking enforcement lady was brought out to guard this part of the road and redirect all traffic.

We went to get some glow sticks from the emergency supply closet and found some hatchets and axes!

We got the bag of glow sticks and began to distribute them.

We placed the glow sticks in strategic places in stairwells and hallways.

It looked like a news truck, but had no logo and nobody was reporting outside...

Cars not knowing what went on came down Glenrock only to run into the road block and have to turn around.

This is what Glenrock looks like when all the lights on the block are out.

One of the many buildings that found itself enveloped in darkness.

That glaring red sign that most people know about was dark for a rare occasion.

What a night it was!  I have concluded that I should definitely get a tripod to go with my future DSLR… but these night shots turned out so much better than they would have on a normal point and shoot.  :)

Check out the Daily Bruin article that came out just an hour after the event, then the one written after more information was gathered.

The past week has been really hard on me, as the pressure to get a job grew and my parents and I had a tiff over my sleeping pattern and job search, among other things.  So, it was an absolute blessing that Opportunity Green was holding a retreat over the weekend.  One of the Board Members owns Casa Barranca, a fabulous estate out in Ojai.  People who had contributed to the Opportunity Green Conference back in November were invited to either stay the weekend or swing by on Saturday or Sunday to hang out.  Tucked in the hills of Ventura County, in a gorgeously maintained house from the early 1900s, I got to spend my weekend relaxing, enjoying nature, and chatting with some really amazing people.

Delicious potluck to start off the weekend.

Friday night I arrived thinking I was late for dinner, but it turns out the days drag out so peacefully and slowly there that dinner hadn’t even been thought of yet.  I hung around the kitchen, talking to some of the people I hadn’t really gotten to know prior to the conference – we were all so busy, after all!  It was already completely dark outside when I pulled up around 6:30, so it felt like 11 when we eventually got around to preparing the food.  I think it was more like 7:30-8.  But that’s the thing about being far away from the city and its lights and noise; time stretches itself to its very limits and you discover how much can be done in just a few minutes, a few hours.  There’s a serenity about Casa Barranca that relaxes you and lets you forget that you have an inbox full of e-mails or that your favorite TV show is on.  In fact, there isn’t a television in the entire place, which I found to be one of the best choices they could have made.

That yoga studio was to die for!

The house itself is absolutely lovely and you should definitely check out the virtual tour on the Casa Barranca website.  Besides that, there are a bunch of little bungalows or “teahouses” sitting around the property and small cabins as well.  You can easily fit 30-40 people without ever feeling overcrowded.  When I got a chance to first see the grounds during the day, it was even better than I imagined.  The yoga studio sits perched at the top of a hill overlooking part of the valley below.  There’s no better location to get in touch with your inner spirit and truly experience some Zen.  Between that and the house lies a little orchard, teeming with citrus trees of all sorts!  Since part of the grounds is an organic winery, I think it’s safe to assume those fruits were organic too.  I meant to pick one to try, but was so distracted by the beauty that I forgot to.  There’s also a chlorine-free pool and hot tub, small field to frolic in, a koi pond, a hammock, and so many great vantage points!

A cute little shop in the middle of town!

The town is also a delight, with a main street that is lined up with little shops.  The Casa Barranca tasting room is right next to the ice cream shop (and thank goodness, because I got hungry pretty quickly and needed something to fill me!).  I felt slightly out of my comfort zone in their downtown, which didn’t have lights illuminating every inch of street.  When I was directed to the nearest ATM, I turned around too early because the lights stopped.  It seems that their town is so safe and quiet that they don’t need lights all over the place.  It was strange to be back in that type of place again, after years in the city.  At night when I went to sleep, I was struck by how absolutely silent it was out there.  It was completely dark as well, and laying there was such a tranquil experience.  The rest of the people had long since called it a day and were no doubt happily dreaming away in their respective beds.  I’m glad I had a roommate to share the space with, otherwise everything might have seemed too still.  But with another person in the room, I fell asleep easily as a long day caught up with me.

Can you believe it was only her first time teaching? She did a fantastic job and should totally be a yogi.

I slept in until 10:30 on Saturday, but was still able to enjoy a full day, complete with yoga, sitting out in the sun, chatting in front of the fireplace, going down into town to watch the Casa Barranca wine tasting (mentioned above), playing Spoons and BS, lots of opportunities to experiment with the ISO settings on my camera, an intense game of Jenga, and some hot tubbing.  It was really nice for the day to go on forever, since it allowed me to have a multitude of quality conversations with some remarkable people.  We talked about all kinds of random things, from what they do to what I want to do to what drives us and how we came to get involved with Opportunity Green.  In the mix was also random talk about crazy cat ladies and women who obsess over fake babies.  Sharing some of my ideas really helped me think about what it is I want from life and the like.

We came across some great vantage points and learned to be grateful for every bit of shade we got.

On the final day, I got up at 9:30 when I was told we were leaving for the hike.  About a dozen of us headed out along the trail, making our way up the path in the morning sun.  After awhile, those of us with long sleeves began to regret the decision and the few who brought water found themselves sharing with the group.  We met some wonderful people along the way and got to play a bit with their adorable dogs!  Two of the people staying at the retreat had brought their dogs, one of which came along for our hike (even though she’s 13!).  The trip was absolutely worth the huffing and beads of sweat that began to form, as we were rewarded with views of so much greenery it was hard to imagine life back in the city.  It was a great way to spend the morning before heading out in the afternoon.  Though physically I was tired from more physical exertion than I had done in months, it was a great feeling and my spirit was lifted after being there.

And for more pictures of the weekend… I’m quite proud that some came out looking nearly like a DSLR took them, or so I think!

I went to have some fun on the springy surface.

They tried to get a shot of me in the air, but the timing just wasn't right. I had a blast anyway!

Artistic pieces sit by the doors that open out to the view over the hillside.

The view that we saw as we did yoga in the studio.

The statue that sits to the left of the yoga studio entrance.

The fire pit situated right outside the yoga studio doors.

I wonder if the tree was shot at or got infected with bugs?

This pathway led up to one end of the house, where the kitchen is located.

Looking the other way down the path, you see more fruits that you could possibly eat!

Hidden amongst the green, orange, and yellow is this little gem, just barely clinging on.

These plants grew in a patch just outside the kitchen.

I love the colors of the Bird of Paradise.

It kind of looks like those 8-prong head massagers.

Take a look at that freshness!

There's something really fun about the dimpled texture of citrus fruits.

What a beautiful shade of purple! Absolutely gorgeous.

Jack, one of the dogs with us for the weekend.

Jazzy, the other dog hanging out with us.

One of the bungalows/teahouses scattered around the property.

Inside each were two single beds, a little desk, a fan, and heater.

A hammock was put at the edge of the hill, with a great view of the land below.

It was a hazy day and the sun began to sink slowly.

It soon became a brilliantly beautiful sunset. I love the details of the rocks in the distance.

It was so cozy, warm, and welcoming.

Everyone squeezed in to the bar for their share of the wine being sampled.

Many of these were tasted that night, as Casa Barranca generously shared their products.

Check out these awesome coasters recycling paper into a great new use! I think I remember reading they were from Vietman or Thailand or something.

Along the trail path were these funky leaves, complete with curling tendrils.

The kind of fence you used to hand make with an axe and nails.

Now that house is situated in a place with views in nearly every angle!

A random sculpture tucked away along the trail.

Such a pretty little puppy!

I was trying to capture how there was a perfect little paw print on her leggings, but the angle isn't quite right.

So many layers of hills!

We seriously expected some sheep to be grazing here. I thought we were continuing over this hill, but thankfully we cut down the mountain before then.

You can see part of downtown Ojai now.

Now that's an imposing wall to have for your driveway.

Back inside and we are made some fresh guacamole! I learned that putting bananas and avocados together makes them ripen faster.

There's nothing quite like freshly-made, is there?

There was this cool rooftop patio complete with lounge chairs for resting in!

The view of part of the backyard from the rooftop.

You can sleep here and feel like you're outdoors without the bugs!

Lines of vines of wine grapes! That's just too fun to say.

Jealous much?  ;)

Things have been very different for each generation of my family, especially on the marriage front.  I thought it’d be interesting to outline how it has changed from thoroughly Chinese and traditional to (eventually) entirely American and modern.  I’m counting from my great-grandparents’ generation through to my future children’s (and possibly even my grandchildren’s).  I guess five-six generations is what it takes to make the ultimate transition in terms of how the family will progress.

Starting off with my great-grandparents back in Communist China in the early years of last century, marriage was something that your elders decided.  Romantic love wasn’t really a familiar concept and whether you liked it or not, your future spouse was chosen for you by your parents.  In a way, being match-made was easier, since you didn’t have to find someone for yourself.  Plus, with the wisdom of their years, parents would generally match you up pretty well according to personality and wealth.  Think eHarmony, except substitute wealth for education in that case.

So one day your parents would strike a deal with his or her parents and a fortuitous date would be set.  Nothing with 4s and preferably with 8s.  You’d probably get really curious and nervous leading up to the wedding, wondering what your partner would be like, look like, act like.  Then the day would come and you would first lay eyes on this mysterious person you were destined to spend the rest of your life with.  After all the ceremonious duties were done, you’d spend your first night together, getting to know each other.  Over the years you would grow to love each other, or at least tolerate each other.  And you would propagate and continue the cycle for your children too.

Then came my grandparents’ generation, where things were starting to get a little less traditional.  Though your parents still chose your spouse, the two of you were allowed to meet before getting married and get to know each other a little.  Call it a supervised courtship of sorts.  As your parents did, you learn to love each other and build a life together.  By the time your offspring grow of age, rules have gotten lax and you let your children decide from a number of suitors you present to them.  With each, they get to know each other and court a bit before deciding if they like each other enough to commit their lives to each other.  The pressure of making the right choice started to become an issue, with this generation having the power to decide their own fates (within certain choices presented to them).  Now the concept of romantic love began to spread as young couples tried to figure out if they could love this person for the remainder of their years.

For my parents in particular, my maternal grandmother heard of my dad through the wife of a professor at the local university, which is where my parents both went to school.  My maternal grandfather was also a professor at the school and his professor buddy had my dad as a student.  Through the women talking, my grandmother learned that this young man was the professor’s star student and first in his class.  My parents were introduced to each other and my grandfather approved without ever meeting the man.  All he had to know was that he was a hard worker and an excellent student.  My grandmother, on the other hand, wanted to meet and get to know this potential suitor.  As the legend goes, she sat him down for an interview (probably mostly asking about academics and his professional future) and liked him as well.  My mom decided that of the guys she’d been introduced to, she liked this one the most, and so they were married.  Or something like that.

(More on my parents’ (and my) story in this future post.  Look for it in the following days.)

As for my generation, we’d moved to the US when I was young and I was brought up in a very Asian-American household.  I’d say my split was probably 60% Chinese, 40% American in my younger years, and now it has transitioned to 70% American, 30% Chinese.  It gives you a rough estimate anyway.  So for me, choosing a future spouse is mostly up to me, though my mom has certainly tried to introduce me to the sons of her friends and former classmates.  I get to pick him, but I still seek my parents’ approval and blessing.  If they don’t like him, I don’t know if I could go through with it.  Thankfully, they seemed to have liked Panda plenty at their first meeting.  :)  Also, at this point, love is very much an issue and the real thing driving my motivation.  Whereas before people learned to love, now I am looking for love.  Completely different priorities!

I anticipate that my children’s generation will do whatever they want without much, if any, say from me.  They’ll probably go chasing after their own fantasies and desires with little regard for my wishes.  But then again, I’d probably let them do their own thing and not try to interfere.  As for the generation after that, well, who knows how the world will be!  Maybe having a family will be so overrated that they chose not to procreate.  It certainly seems like more and more people I know are choosing to delay a family or throw that concept out entirely.  What’s important to us has shifted beyond recognition and I’m sure my great-grandparents would be utterly confused at the state of the world today.

And so, in five generations we went from no choice to complete choice.  In six we can go to no children, no seventh generation!  Yikes!  But hey, perhaps family values will make a comeback and the opposite will happen.  You never know.

Today was my 24th birthday and I got to spend it with Panda and my parents.  :)

I couldn't drive off without a picture first!

I got up early in the morning, surprising my parents, since  I love to sleep in.  Well, I had a date to catch!  Since Panda does not have his own transportation, I went out to pick him up so we could have lunch with my parents.  I was allowed a day of joyriding in my new car for my birthday, after which the car will be stored away until I get myself a job.  Call it sort of reward and encouragement at the same time.  I got a chance to set up the Bluetooth connection and made my first call with it to Panda.  He couldn’t even hear a difference!  Excellent.  Now I’ll never miss a phone call in the car since my music will automatically be muted for incoming calls.

Isn't that the smallest cone you've ever seen?

So we drove back to my neighborhood and I called up my parents to direct them to the local Souplantation.  I can’t believe we never knew about it before!  But you know, now that I think of it, it looks awfully familiar and I think it’s been there for a long time, but we just never knew about it.  So lunch was nice, with my dad and Panda doing most of the talking.  My parents really enjoyed Panda’s choice of restaurant and it was quite healthy and filling.  Plus, they had the cutest little ice cream cones!  By and by, it was time to part and for me to head off with Panda for the rest of the day.  We did a little strolling around the area before heading over to the dealership, since we’d noticed that the floor mats in my car were missing.

Look what we came across on our stroll!

With the paper mats in the way, we didn't notice at first that the actual mats were missing!

This fish must have been very hungry, since it spent the night trying to eat rocks.

The rest of the day was very chill as we hung out and enjoyed each other’s company.  For dinner, I had a hard time choosing, so we found something on Yelp that was near his home and headed that way.  Unfortunately, the place was closed for some reason, but thankfully, he had just gone to a nice Japanese place just down the street the day before.  We went there and had a nice time eating and watching the fish doing silly fish things in the tank in front of us.  Nice place and nice food.  To round out the night, we made a pit stop at cha for tea, my all-time favorite boba place.  They offer games there for people to play as they hang out, drink tea and boba, and munch on some food.  We’ve got a little tradition of playing Connect 4 there, so we sat down to a showdown.

All too soon we had finished our drinks, played many a round, and realized it was time to head back for the night.  I dropped him off and drove on home, enjoying the feel of the Corolla one last time.  I came back to dozens of birthday well wishes from friends on Facebook and a steadily growing number of votes coming in to help me towards winning a job interview for January 4th!  It’s great to have support and it’s been a fun way for me to earn my foot in the door for an exciting job.  With just one day left, I’ll do one final push and hope for the best.  I do believe I can stay in the Top 5 and earn an interview, but just in case I’m still working hard to ensure it’s taken care of.

In honor of the “numbers game” that my parents keep saying job searching can be, I thought I’d play around with some numbers myself…

1 lifetime:

2 parents

3 cats

4 countries lived in

5 states of residence

6 cars our family has owned

7 major relocations

8 cousins (and a step-cousin) I don’t get to see enough

9 jobs where I’ve earned money (3 internships without)

10 years old when I started documenting my life like the packrat I am

11 (and a half) places I’ve called home

12 grandparents, aunts, and uncles living in Asia (plus a step-grandparent)

13 years of keeping a daily journal

14 schools attended from pre-school through college (some simultaneously)

15 European countries traveled over a 5-week spring break

16, an eventful age: took driving lessons, attended Leadership Academy, went to Australia & Hawai’i, and moved to California from New York

17 (and a quarter) years’ worth of education thus far

18, the last landmark birthday (21 doesn’t count since I don’t drink)

19 affiliations with UCLA organizations throughout my college career

20 (intermittent) years in this country

21 major cities traveled to over that 5-week spring break

22 countries traveled to overall (not counting the 4 I’ve lived in for some period of time)

23 airports I’ve been through

culminating in 24 years of rich experiences!

I’ve certainly got a lot of stories.  As always, things in my life tend to be more exception than rule, so these numbers may be slightly off, depending on your criteria.  You get the idea though.

Oh how unpredictable car buying can be!  Yesterday I went with my mom to the Toyota dealership, set on choosing a Camry.  I, of course, wanted the hybrid, but since it’s quite pricey and it doesn’t make sense financially to get it over the LE, I had my reservations.  After all, I was out to make a responsible decision for me, my parents, our (mostly their) money, and the environment.  I wish I liked a Prius enough to get one, but I just can’t get over the odd shape and look.  Plus, I don’t want to have to deal with some bar thing blocking my vision in the rearview mirror.

So to humor me, the salesman (I’ll call him “Cary”) let me drive that around first.  I loved how silent it was and the little whoosh sound whenever you brake wasn’t too distracting.  Next up was the Camry LE, which was solid and nice, but didn’t thrill me.  The gas pedal on this one was far more responsive and it took me a few seconds to readjust.  We kept looking around at different models and Cary decided that I should drive the Camry S as well, just for kicks.  The sound system in that one is far superior and it comes with fun seats that make it cool and sporty.

After those runs, I still had no clear choice of preferred vehicle.  The hybrid was my dream, but too much money for its worth.  The LE was generic and a bit boring, but was the S worth an extra 2K?  The only thing I really liked on the S was the special fabric they use for the seats.  That certainly isn’t worth the extra money.  So, in an effort to satisfy my whim, we went looking for a silver hybrid with a moonroof (the one perk I reaaally wanted).  As we were driving up the parking structure, Cary casually mentioned the Corolla as he pointed out a Corolla S.  I was surprised that it looked quite nice, since I’d always been adverse to Corollas, thinking they were too small.  They are quite a bit cheaper though, so perhaps I should have thought of them earlier.  Saving money doesn’t hurt!

Since it looked pretty nice, I decided to try it out too.  Turns out they’ve changed the Corolla a lot in the past couple of years and the Corolla S was not only roomy enough, it came with the seats I liked!  So stylish.  :)  On the test drive, I felt a difference immediately, which was due to a smaller engine.  It’s louder and vroom vrooms a little when I accelerate, but otherwise it handled just like a Camry.  I felt more comfortable in it and it even made me feel cool, what with bluetooth and a fancy 6 CD changer with JBL speakers.  It has ample cargo space in the trunk and backseats that can be laid down for extra room.  I didn’t care much for the skirt or spoiler, but I guess they don’t hurt.  Oh, and of course it had my moonroof.

The same look of mine! As for the actual one, pictures to come...

You know the one thing I wanted that didn’t change?  The color.  Funny, since I went in thinking I’d get a silver Camry, but wanting to check out color options.  Instead the thing I didn’t think would change did and the thing I thought would probably change didn’t.  Life works out in odd ways, doesn’t it?  So my mom and I were happy and energized after taking the Corolla S for a spin.  We went home to update my dad on the new direction we were looking.  Then began lots of researching online for prices and I called up our insurance company to ask for quotes.  Then today, I got quotes from two more companies, compared, decided to stay with AAA, and in the mid-afternoon, it was back to the dealership.  After many hours of pounding through numbers and paperwork, we finally came upon an agreed price and sealed the deal.  I settled my insurance, they washed and gassed up the car, and I was on my way.  :)

Last week, the battery in my car key was dying and it chose to give out when I needed to unlock my car to get to a lecture.  Though I could open the car manually, it would set off the car alarm time and time again, which did me no good.  I tried to get in and just start my car, but it didn’t work and the engine wouldn’t react.  I called up Panda to try to figure out a solution and eventually decided to go back to my internship to see if the guys there had suggestions (or could possibly take me to a local shop to buy a battery).

I got a screwdriver to open up the casing and at least see what size the battery was.  One of the guys took it and decided he’d try something radical – he started to rub it vigorously on the carpet!  Trying to work on the static electricity generated to create a charge strong enough for it to work for just one more push, he went on for a few seconds, then quickly replaced the battery.  I pressed a button and the red light lit to indicate it was working, so he and the other intern started to yell at me to run to my car to unlock it.  Nervous and anticipatory, I ran out as fast as I could and cautiously pressed it when I felt close enough for it to work.

Miraculously, I heard the double-beeping that indicated my car was unlocked!  What a genius move!  I was really excited about it, since it was such a great application of the physical sciences!  It’s like when you take a potato to power something and it’s a really cool science experiment because it works and it’s so simple too.  In this day and age of technology, it’s great to see that there are still some less high-tech ways of solving problems.  It took a certain creativity to even consider the idea (which was borne of desperation).  As my tagline says, “because inspiration doesn’t wait,” after all.  Crazy, huh?  :)