Be Lucky Or Good
The man who said “I’d rather be lucky than good” saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It’s scary to think so much is out of one’s control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn’t, and you lose.
The Ultimate Question
“I looked down. Descent was totally unappetizing … Too much labor, too many sleepless nights, and too many dreams had been inverted to bring us this far. We couldn’t come back for another try next weekend. To go down now, even if we could have, would be descending to a future marked by one huge question: what might have been?”
- Thomas F. Hornbein, “Everest: The West Ridge”
Cloverfield: Surprisingly Better Than Good
As I walked into the theater, I knew it would be good. After all, it is JJ Abrams.
An hour and half later, as I walked out of the theater, I thought it actually was surprisingly better than what I had expected to be “good”! In fact, I totally enjoyed it! It was this dramatic, “Blair-Witch-Project” style that had me held my breath all the way through. And yeah, the best part was the un-Hollywood ending, which I’m sure will stay with me for a long long time.
There might be a million ways to make a movie suck, but only one or two to make it great. JJ made a great one, again.
From WM5 to WM6
Since the release of Windows Mobile 6 last February, there had been a ton of Samsung Blackjack users who were complaining about AT&T not releasing the ROM of WM6 - and I was one of them. Earlier this month, when I was attending CES ‘08, I actually talked with someone from the Microsoft Windows Mobile team regarding whether or not there would be a release, and the answer I got was a “no”.
So imagine my surprise and joy, when I learned today that AT&T has just released the ROM of WM6 for Blackjack users to upgrade their cellphones’ OS! I downloaded the ROM, hold my breath, and followed the detailed upgrade instructions - trust me, it was a fun experience to install Windows on a cellphone… Anyway, after about half an hour’s work, my Blackjack finally got a nice facelift. In addition to all the improvements over WM5 and the bundled Office Mobile, I’m also quite happy to find out that in WM6, Google Maps Mobile’s “My Location” function works, although it didn’t work at all in WM5. :)
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (End) - Great Salt Lake
The last day of my trip. I drove back to Salt Lake City from Bryce Canyon National Park. Surprise but quite happy to learn that I-15 had a speed limit of 75 mph…
Arrived in Salt Lake City at about 3 PM. Looked like there would be another two hours before sunset, so I went to Antelope Island State Park about half an hour’s drive north of SLC.
Winter Roadtrip to the American Southwest (11) - Bryce Canyon
Got up at 6:30 AM. Drove to Bryce Point to photography sunrise. It was 1F outside as shown on my car’s dashboard display. As I was putting my nose close to my camera when taking pictures, my breath literally got the cold air “froze” and turned into slices of thin ice on my camera body…
The first light on the horizon:
The amphitheatre was gradually lit up:
Photographers at work at Bryce Point:
