Smoking

The year 2008 is coming to an end. It has been a tough year for me due to some bad
decisions I made and some bad luck. The economy is struggling, and even though the start of a new year is not an immediate solution, it can't be a bad thing to think it's going to be a fresh start.

Many people, including myself, are trying to think of a good New Year's Resulution. I have come up with one of the most popular one of all ㅋㅋ. I decided to quit smoking.

I've been smoking for long enough, I decided to quit because of two main reasons. First, it's bad for your health(obviously), and second, because my close friend begged me to.

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health, but I thought it would be a good motivation if I actually looked up how bad it actually is for you. So, here are some facts..

- One cigarette immediately raises your blood pressure and heart rate and decreases the blood flow to body extremities
-Brain activity and the nervous system are stimulated for a short while and then reduced
-A smoker may experience dizziness, nausea, watery eyes and acid in the stomach while or after smoking
-Appetite and senses, such as taste and smell are distorted

-Shortness of breath
-Persistent coughs
-Yellow stains on fingers and teeth
-Changes in appearance such as facial wrinkles and rubber-like skin
-Bad smelling breath, clothes, hair, home, car, and everything around
-Decreased sense of taste and smell
-Weakened immune system compares to nonsmokers
-Possible impotence in men
-Women who smoke are less fertile than women who don't smoke

Other than the facts listed above, there are many more effects and dangers of smoking. Moreover, smoking not only ruins your health, but it also effects people around you in a negative way. I recall an incident when I went to my dentist, and he told me that my breath stinks(YIKES!!!). I always manage to brush my teeth before I go to see my dentist, but I guess that doesn't get rid of the disgusting(as my dentist put it) smell. Anyway, I know it's not going to be easy, but I'm going to try to keep my word and give up smoking for good.

Music and People

My friend's sister had a baby approximately 1 year ago. I go visit her and her baby once in a while, and I noticed something interesting. They always played the piano when the baby was sleeping. I thought it would bother the baby from going to sleep, but he(the baby's a son) looked comfortable.

She told me that music is good for the baby. I think she mentioned something about meditation, so on and so forth. Anyway, she told me there were numerous researches that prove her point, so I did some research of my own. The following information is from the internet, ㅋㅋ
T
he Mozart effect which gained a large following in the 1990’s claimed that listening to Mozart as a baby will make a child smarter. While this movement was short lived and there is little proof that it works there has been no denying that children who learn music will achieve higher in other aspects of their academic life. In earning music children learn to express their identities, gain confidence and develop sense of time and space. A research team at the university of Munster in Germany discovered that students who study music have more developed abstract reasoning skills which are closely linked to learning in the areas of science and maths.

It is my personal opinion that music is good for not only children, but for everyone. It can make you smile, and it can make yoy shed a tear. It is obvious that music is a vital part of one's life.

Joshua, play the piano more often, please!! ㅋㅋ

So cold the last few days..

As you may have noticed, the last few days have been very cold. I heard on the news that the flu is going around, and it's a nasty one. I'd like to share some symptoms and ways to treatments.

Rest is best

Until just recently, there were no specific medicines for flu. Most people got better on their own with simple relief for their symptoms. For example:

Rest The most important thing in flu is to give your body a chance to heal itself by resting. Lie down and sleep if possible.

Regular pain relief with aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen. It's important that children under 16 are not given aspirin because of the risk of triggering a rare but serious brain and liver condition called Reye's syndrome.

Keep well-hydrated with plenty of warm fluids.

Remedies for sore throat, headache and blocked nose.

Wedding

My cousin got married a few days ago.

I helped out by being the receptionist. It was a bummer that I didn't get to see the

actual wedding, but she thanked me afterwards, so it was all good.

Anyway, I found some funny jokes about marriage, so I wanted to share some.

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. The next week the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5.00 am for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he finally wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5.00 am."
The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9.00am, and that he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't woken him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed ... it said... "It is 5.00am; wake up."

A little boy was attending his first wedding. After the service, his cousin asked him, "How many women can a man marry?" "Sixteen," the boy responded. His cousin was amazed that he had an answer so quickly. "How do you know that?" "Easy," the little boy said. "All you have to do is add it up, like the Bishop said: 4 better, 4 worse, 4 richer, 4 poorer"

ㅋㅋ

Economy Crisis Worldwide-

I probably don't have to say much about this matter.

Seems like everybody's going down.

Coincidently, I am writing job applications these days, and I feel the impact of this crisis firsthand. To tell you the truth, it sucks…

Motorola is a company I'm interested in because of two reasons. First, I am using a cell phone produced by this company, and second, my close friend works there. My friend told me the company’s struggling, and I read an article recently.

Motorola posts $397M 3Q loss; more job cuts

Motorola posts $397M loss in 3rd-qtr, to cut 3,000 jobs

Motorola Inc. posted a hefty loss in the third quarter Thursday, citing the continued troubles of its cell phone division. The company will postpone the planned spin-off of the unit, and cut more jobs.

The maker of communications gear said it would get rid of 3,000 jobs by April, with about 2,000 of them coming from the cell phone unit. The company last announced 2,600job cuts in April.

Motorola lost $397 million, or 18 cents per share, in the July-September period. It had earned $60 million, or 3 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Sales fell 15 percent to $7.48 billion.

The loss included 23 cents of charges, mostly for restructuring costs. Without the charges, Motorola would have earned 5 cents a share, reflecting unexpectedly strong results in its non-cell phone operations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had on average expected the company to earn 2 cents per share on revenue of $7.82 billion.

For the fourth quarter, Motorola said it expects to earn 2 cents to 4 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected the company to earn 7 cents per share in the quarter, excluding items.

Shares of Motorola fell 29 cents, or 5.3 percent, to close at $5.17, even as broader markets ended up higher.

The job cuts are part of efforts to cut costs by $800 million next year, Chief Executive Greg Brown said.

Motorola sold 25.4 million cell phones in the third quarter, down from the 28.1 million it sold in the second quarter. The company had said it expected a slight decline. With an 8.5 percent market share, it lost the spot as No. 3 cell phone maker worldwide to Sony Ericsson in the quarter, according to research firm IDC. Nokia Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

For Motorola, "the loss of share continues to be extremely worrisome," said Rick Franklin, an analyst at Edward Jones. "This business continues to run without any wheels."

The cell phone unit lost $840 million, including a $370 million write-down of inventory. Revenue was $3.1 billion.

Sanjay Jha, who was appointed in August to lead the handset division, said the weak economy and stresses in the financial market were main reasons for the postponed spin-off. He said the unit would slim down its product portfolio and become a leaner organization.

Jha said the company had 20 major platforms for cell phones, making development unwieldy yet leaving Motorola with few products in the two categories that have been in demand this year: "smart" phones and very cheap phones.

He is pruning the portfolio to focus on three software systems: Windows Mobile, which Motorola already uses on a few smart phones; P2K, its own system, used on the Razr phone; and Android, a free operating system from Google Inc. Competitor HTC Corp. recently launched the first Android phone. Jha said Motorola will have one by the 2009 holiday season.

Designers at Motorola have been too focused on making "bright shiny objects," Jha said. In the future, he wants them to focus more on making phones easy to use.

The troubles of the cell phone division stem from its inability to produce a follow-up to a phone that was, for a while, the "bright shiny object" everyone had to have: the Razr phone.

Jha also said Motorola will pull back from the cell phone markets of Europe and parts of Asia, though Jha said China will remain a focus for the company, along with the Americas.

Motorola is not alone in seeing a decline in cell phone sales. IDC said Thursday that global handset shipments declined 0.4 percent from the second quarter to the third, even though the quarter normally sees a pre-holiday ramp-up.

Sales at Motorola's healthier units were essentially flat, and they boosted profits.

Home and Networks Mobility, which makes cable-TV set-top boxes, modems and related gear, saw its operating earnings increase 65 percent to $263 million, on $2.4 billion in sales.

Enterprise Mobility, which makes police radios and other communications equipment for organizations, posted operating earnings of $403 million, up 23 percent, on sales of $2 billion.

Max Payne

I watched a movie over the weekend. It hasn't hit the theaters in Korea yet, but I was talking to one of my friends on the messenger, and he told me that the movie "Max Payne" was the bomb!!

I remember playing the game when I was a kid, and since making popular video games into movies is kind of a trend these days, I thought I should check it out.

The star of the movie is Mark Wahlberg, who is also known for starring in movies such as "The Happening", "Shooter", and "Planet of the Apes" (which I have already watched). I'm not a HUGE fan, but I think he's got character.

Anyway, the story is based on the legendary, hard-hitting interactive video game, "Max Payne". It tells the story of a maverick cop determined to track down those responsible for the brutal murder of his family and partner. Hell-bent on revenge, his obsessive investigation takes him on a nightmare journey into a dark underworld. As the mystery deepens, Max (Wahlberg) is forced to battle enemies beyond the natural world and face an unthinkable betrayal.

Even if you don't know the video game, I think it's a good time killer. Maybe you guys should check it out too.

How to make lasagne

Yesterday was my friend's birthday. I'm not really good at picking birthday presents so I decided to make her something myself. She goes crazy over anything with cheese, so I made her one of her favorite dishes.

I went to Costco to get the ingredients. It took me an hour to shop and about 3 hours to prepare. She seemed surprised with my cooking, and told me it was delicious hehe.

Ingredients
9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 lb lean ground chicken (can substitute ground turkey or ground beef)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pints stewed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
Spices
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Brown ground meat in large dutch oven or 6 quart pan. Add chopped onion and minced garlic. Once meat is brown and the onion & garlic are translucent stir in stewed tomatoes and tomato paste.
2. Cook lasagne noodles according to package instructions. (I always add an exra noodle or two.).
3. While noodles are boiling, add spices to meat mixture. Continue cooking until meat sauce is thick, stir often.
4. Add sugar to meat sauce, Stirr well.
5. Remove meat sauce from heat and carefully stir in baking soda.
6. Prepare a 9 x 13 pan by lightly spraying pan with cooking spray and spread a thin layer of meat sauce on bottom of pan.
7. Lay three noodles side by side on top of meat sauce.
8. Spread 1/3 of cottage cheese on top of noodles.
9. Sprinkle one cup motzerella cheese over cottage cheese.
10. Spread 1/3 of meat sauce over motzerella cheese.
11. Lightly sprinkle parm cheese over meat sauce.
12. Repeat last 5 steps 2 more times.
13. Bake in pre-heated 350 degree over for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Let set 5-10 minutes before serving.