The lunar new year is this Sunday.  All you married peeps, remember my red envelope!

Gung Hay Fot Choy!

My 60+ year old office admin told me she "can't live without a tv".     That's something my youth kids used to tell me!

Anyways, she's been offering her used television set to me.  I guess she knows how much I love The Unit.  The Unit uses a great running/jogging/marching cadence remix as its theme song.  It's a hard to hear all of it, so they day I fixed my parents computer I used Closed Captioning & Google to figure it out the words (link):

Even though the show is based on the elite Army unit codenamed "Delta Force", "Twenty-Seven" apparently refers to the "1st Battalion of the USMC's 27th: Delta Company" (that's the US Marine Corp).  [me_less can you check for me?]

Now if it only would warm up outside so I can go running. 

To my fellow singles, Happy Singles' Awareness Day!  Yes, it's your very own day -- so go out and celebrate the joys of singleness!  Haha.

My friends tell me I enjoy being single too much.  What can I say?  Life is good.  Not perfect, but very good.  I'm not one for lacking things to do, see, experience and learn.  It's not to say that I don't want to be in a relationship, it just hasn't happened yet.  So in the mean time, why waste time and stop growing as a person?  [Brotherly advice:  Unplug the television and get off that sofa!]

A few weeks ago MSN had an article about being better off as a single.  It comes somewhat close to my own observations about being single.  [Obviously when reading through it one needs to use biblical discernment (and it goes without saying I don't endorse everything in the article) ]  I found the last bullet particularly noteworthy:

Life experiences are a potent teacher, especially "the ringer" ones.  Definitely been through the dating ringer once in my life.  Though it was a long time ago (and by the way, the old saying "time heals all wounds" in this case was and is fortunately true) it made much clearer to me what I want and don't want (and I already had a reasonable idea of them at the time).

Okay, for my disappointed, bummed out single brothers & sisters I'm gonna risk sounding like a talk show host, "Your single self is great!"  Haha.  Okay, lets not get egotistical.  Remember we're still imperfect people in an imperfect world, but you get my point:  The single-life ain't so bad.

Well, to my married friends especially the married guys, I hope you remembered V-day today (Valentine's Day ... Bah Humbug! )   or it's the doghouse for you!

P.S.  I see that I used Single's and Singles'.  In fact the website uses those two and 'singles' on their frontpage.  Also note they say the day was moved to tomorrow, February 15th.  A friend invited me to a S.A.D. party for tonight but I already had prior plans with Primetime, of course, who knows with the weather outside.  Things are to refreeze this evening with the low 30's temps.  Don't you want to be on the Beltway Skating Rink tonight?

P.P.S.  Ambassador Primetime is cancelled tonight.  Be safe should you feel brave (or stupid, it's a fine line between the two) enough to be out celebrating V-Day or S.A.D.

In case you haven't heard, a Consumer Reports taste test reveals MickeyD's beats out Starbucks!  Sorry Baotze's CS, Dunkin (and Burger King) lost to McDonald's as well.

The common complaint about Starbucks (which was echoed in the article & by Baotze's CS)) is its burnt & bitter taste.  I'm surprised by the winner as my question about McD's is "how long is the coffee sitting on the burner?"  Excessive burner time can burn the coffee as well.

Anyways, with an adjustable setting conical burr-grinder and a coffee maker with a vacuum sealed carafe (and thus, no electric burner needed) we can make a great tasting coffee at work.  Yeah, we're a bit fanactical about our work coffee. 

So, based on Sir_Jame186's & Sarah's (and reviewers') positive comments I watched Rocky Balboa at the University Mall Theatre near George Mason University for four bucks.  (Definitely a great deal since UMT is a second-run theatre.  Wasn't the movie released on Dec. 20th ... barely a month ago!  Whelp, I'm not complaining because I found it still showing for full (over)price at a first-run theatre.)  Stallone did a great job taking an improbable idea, a fight between a young champion boxer and an ex-champ in his late fifties, and crafting a story of loss, heart, family, friendship and respect for one's self and for others.  And the Rocky Balboa character has to be on the most respectful, kindest, and down-to-earth persons shown on the big screen.  Anyways, if you don't take the movie's fight situation too seriously, I think you'll enjoy the storyline.

Hoping to see Letters from Iwo Jima soon ... but it's not released as widely as I had hoped to find.

Listening: Best of Hiroshima by Hiroshima.

Looking for a way to spawn lively group discussions in your singles ministry?  Well, then talk about singleness & dating and especially the differences between men and women!  It never fails.  Last night I stopped by ABC Primetime for the viewing and discussion of part 2 of Tommy Nelson's Song of Solomon message.  I had actually gone through the study some years back, and wanted a refresher.  And the discussions were lively last night as in years past.

It was funny to hear many of the same old questions brought up last night.  Some things just never change.  One sidebar question was on 'how to treat a sister-in-Christ well without her thinking you're interested in her (when the guy isn't)?'  One the gals (I couldn't see who it was) replied guys should not be presumptous to think a girl would think that.  After that comment the guys suddenly shot up in their chairs, inching forward, ready to reply to it.  Yes ladies, it does happen!  And guys are frustrated by it.

Interestingly enough, a young sister-friend of mine IM'd me a few weeks ago with a question about being friendly to guys.  She was told by one of her girl-friends that she should not be outgoing to guys (i.e., guys-in-general).  It's strange but many Christian women think that it is better to be cold and unfriendly to a brother-in-Christ in response to his friendly gestures.  I hear that complaint often from men.

My response to her was that (1) she should not change who she is (i.e., a friendly, outgoing, and conversational person) and (2) her friend's idea isn't scriptural.  We're called to be brothers and sisters in the faith.  Our Lord says in John 13:34-35, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." [ESV]

The Apostle John repeats the idea in 1 John 4:20-21:  "If anyone says, " I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." [ESV]

Remember our Lord is telling us the body of Christ is a spiritual family.  And ladies: your brothers-in-Christ are, well, your brothers in Christ!

Listening:  Dvorak: Piano Trios by the Ahn Trio

With regard to the general discussion about tv addictions and 24 (not there's any relation to the two), as Nat tells it there was a birthday celebration for Erica last night.  What Nat didn't say was that just as she was bringing out the birthday cake with the candles lit, 24's fourth episode starts.  Guess which birthday girl sticks out her arm and tells everyone to stop cuz her show is starting?     Haha.

Good thing for that cake's candles, 24 has a 1 minute recap before starting!  24 Addiction, it's for real.  And it's gonna bring Fox lots of advertising dollars!

Admit it, you/us DC folks are thinking it.  I know you are ... with weather this nice, global warming is actually good thing.  Just admit it, you're thinking it.  (I've already heard one friend say it.)

Listening:

• Avalon by John Tesh
• Illuminate by the David Crowder Band
• Unplugged by Eric Clapton.

I guess some folks hadn't heard I still don't have tv.  I still get a lot of surprised reactions.  My old youth kids would groan they "couldn't live without tv!"

Whelp, going on about 11 years now.  It's not because of money ... people -- my folks, the office secretary-- have offered their old sets ... not having one is all by design.  It's too easy to get addicted to it, and I rather use the time to read, play tennis, or try to keep in touch with people, and -- yeah -- read the occasional blog. 

Of course, I do watch television from time to time.  Tonight we celebrated Baltimoron's birthday (Happy Birthday!) and we watched the third & fourth hour of 24.  Gotta admit, it's good stuff.  I remember watching the first season with my pop.  He turned out to be a fan then.  It was good bonding time when I visited.

Anyways, the people watching tonight seemed very satisfied.  Even Shyeah seemed pleased.

Oh, Stand to Reason's Melinda Penner talks about "the issue of moral clarity and complexity in relation" to 24.  (HT: Justin Taylor)

If I had a tv, I would probably follow:

• Battlestar Galactica (I saw Season 1 and the first half of Season 2 on DVD ... incredible writing.  And an Asian-American as a Cylon ... who woulda thunk?)
• The Unit  (Ho-Uh, sir!)
• 24 (Jack is back.  How does he get around Los Angeles traffic in a hour??)
• House (Can he get any crankier?)
• CSI, Law & Order, or maybe Numb3rs.  (Geeks with badges, that could be me!)
• Good Eats with Alton Brown (food science)
• America's Test Kitchen (more food science)
• Yan Can Cook!  (The brother can cook ... love the accent as well)
• The news.
• Travel shows.

The best cable series on DVD, Band of Brothers.  Basically I like shows that either inform me, or shows that solve a problem or mystery.

Saturday a friend showed me parts of the dance-based storyline movie, Take the Lead, which reminded me of both the Japanese and American versions of Shall We Dance.  I found the SWD-Japanese version richer with the main character's development, while the American movie version had a more satisfying (dare I say, more romantic) ending.

In the ending of the American version we find Richard Gere's character wooing his wife back with typical Western grandiose flair at a department store while in the Japanese version we find the husband's lack of romantic sensibilities had to be subtly assisted by his daughter (and done without the public demonstration as seen by Gere's character).  In the former it is not the particular large-scale act that I find pleasing but rather it was the actual effort of trying, while I was slightly perturbed by the latter's stereotypical portrayal of another Asian man's romantic inabilities.

Furthermore I am also wondering if I prefer the Japanese version due to familiarity with my Asian culture's Confucian-based workerbee/office-drone's sense of duty towards work & providing for one's family while preferring Gere's ending due to my (hopefully?!!) more American romantic sensibilities.  Hmm.

So what of other American vs. Asian rendition of movies?  Anybody seen The Lakehouse (with Sandra Bullock & Keanu Reeves) or the Korean version Il Mare (Siworae) (with actress Jun Ji-hyun and that The Lakehouse was based off)?  (Reviews turned me off the Lakehouse, and I haven't found Il Mare yet.)  Are there similar movies I should consider?