Opt-outs

I’m not a big fan of direct marketing and spam… just get too much of it. So an article on the Motley Fool was helpful.

• FTC do-not-call or call 1-888-382-1222
• DMA do-not-call & do-not-mail ($5 processing)
• Credit Companies do-not-call or by call 1-888-OPT-OUT

Tenzin Gyatso

This weekend I spent most of Sunday morning at Rutgers University stadium listening to the Dalai Lama of Tibet give a speech on “Peace, War, and Reconciliation”.

The Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the previous (13th) Dalai Lama. So the search for the new Buddha of Compassion can’t take place until the previous Dalai Lama has passed away. In 1935, the Regent of Tibet went to a sacred lake and had a vision of the 14th incarnate, and two years later they found Tenzin. The two year old passed a series of tests and was enthroned in 1940. His discovery is very interesting:

The Rinpoche was wearing a rosary that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama, and the little boy of the house recognised it and demanded that it be given to him. Kewtsang Rinpoche promised to give it to him if he could guess who he was, and the boy replied that he was “Sera aga”, which means in the local dialect “a lama of Sera”. Then the Rinpoche asked who the leader was and the boy gave his name correctly; he also knew the name of the real servant. This was followed by a series of tests that included the choosing of correct articles that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama.

Besides enjoying a wonderful day, the Dalai Lama proved how important humor and humility are in life. He did not pretend to have answers to all the world’s problems, and made the observation that things are better off today then they were last century (i.e. WWI/WWII). We also don’t have the ever-present fear of MAD. Even I was half expecting some enlightened quick-fix to the world’s problems, but his perspective of education and understanding were still refreshing. (wiki for Lhamo Thondup)

iPod reset

I can see that this is actually pretty common, but still surprising when your iPod won’t respond to attempted charging, syncing or turning on.

Here are the brief instructions to reset a Mini:

1. Toggle the Hold switch on and off. (Slide it to Hold, then turn it off again.)
2. Press and hold the Menu and Select buttons until the Apple logo appears, about 6 to 10 seconds. You may need to repeat this step.

Professional Networking Tools

I have been using Plaxo for a few years now and it has been very handy on a couple of fronts as a contacts management software:

• Keeping track of friends who keep moving around the world
• Syncing my Outlook contacts/schedule/tasks between computers and also giving me access online

I don’t activly use the viral aspects of the service, in fact I find the “update all of your contacts” attempt on install really annoying.

Another Networking Tool with a Professional/Business slant is LinkedIn. This is very much a viral networking site where you add connections and get to see the connections-of-your-connections-of-your-connections. It very much leads to a desire to do all sort of random searches trying to find old acquiesces.

• Also works to keep address info updated
• Works as a dynamic resume
• Job Search & Networking

Beijing & Shanghai

How did you spend your summer vacation?

I was lucky enough to spend a week and a half in China for my MBA program in Beijing and Shanghai. Overall a fantasic experience except for the blazing heat and oppressive haze.

But to start are some of the photos from the trip. There were over 40 of us so a decent sized group.

Since I lived in Hong Kong for 6 months and Singapore for 3.5 years, I expect to add a bit more eastern stuff.

Banlangen Keli

Just returned from a week of classes for my MBA, and managed to catch myself a bit of a sore thoat. I’m not a big fan of the chemical remedies, and avoid them if I can. But I did get ahold of some Chinese herbal medicine that works wonders. Stuff is called Banlangen Keli and did wonders to pump up my energy and give some temp relief. Just add hot water.

Description - Brown granules. Sweet and slightly bitter in taste.

Ingredients - Radix isatidis (Isatis Tinctoria L.). Non-medical ingredients: sugar, dextrin.

Category - Non-prescription cold medicine

Indications - To remove toxic heat, counteract toxic effect, cool the blood, heal swollen and sore throat. Effective on influenza.

Dosage - Take orally. One to two packets each time, 3 to 4 times a day.

So I will either head to Chinatown to find the stuff or maybe get some online from HK for a buck and a half or from the States for 7.