AhDoGa ---- "Pointy Nose"

Bhutan 2011

2011-04-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Bhutan, Chapter 1 - Food.

2011-04-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from Bhutan, where my wife and I enjoyed an 11 day tour.
In this post, I am going over the food we had.
One on the staples of dinning in Bhutan is a dish called Ema Dasi.. It is literally just chili and cheese. See photo to right.
Most of the local dishes in Bhutan are based on this theme.: Chilis and cheese.

Another staple there is red rice. Yes, the rice actually has a red tint to it.. The flavor is quite nice and the texture is lovely, when cooked properly. Some restaurants don't put it on the menu, opting for white rice from India or Thailand. That is a shame, because it is actually quite nice.
In the picture to the right, you should see Red Rice with deep fried spinach with cheese coating.

Most places think foreign tourists will not like spicy foods and shy away from local fair. However, if you let your guide or the restaurant staff know that you like spicy food, you may be in luck.. Or, in trouble... To the right is a great side that you can get at many restaurants, called Eazeh. It is sometimes similar to salsa. Every place makes it a little different, and often use a locally grown version of Sichuan pepper corn. It is great on the red rice, and our guide told us locals will often have than combo for breakfast. I will add a few more photos of Eazeh below.

More to come soon.

Earthquake in Japan affects memory prices

2011-03-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

One of my major vendors just sent me this in an email:

Good morning everyone,

I have just received the following message from my VP of purchasing regarding flash memory:

Because of the recent events in Japan it is getting extremely difficult to allocate memory and flash based products. In addition any products that we are able to get will cost us more. We will be more selective on what orders we will be allowing to go through.

Here is an official announcement from one of our vendors (Kingston):

“As I'm sure you have been following, the situation in Japan continues to worsen. According to analysts, over 40% of the world's NAND Flash is manufactured in Japan. Our communication with our supplier partners has been difficult to establish. As such, in order to avoid any speculative buying and ensure that we have product to support our customers, moving forward Kingston has implemented Daily Allocation globally.”

I’ve been advised to let all of my customers know about the probable and imminent price increase. If you foresee any needs for flash memory, please consider purchasing sooner rather than later to avoid product shortages and rising costs.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you,

Next dental ed course we are hosting at work

2011-01-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready for our next course at work. Gain Control of Your Practice and Income! by Sandy Pardue Class.

If you are in the dental industry, you should check it out.
See you there.
Dan.

Crazy Old Lady (inspired by life, but fiction)

2010-11-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to the local supermarket to pick up some groceries.
In the front of the store was an elderly lady struggling to get a cart out of the isle. I went over and said "excuse me, mam. Let me get that for you."
After getting her the cart, she said to me "You know, I don't care what some people may say, I think your people are great." I responded to her "On behalf of Jews everywhere, I appreciate that."
With shock in her aged eyes, she shouts out "You're a Jew! I thought you were gay! Get out of my way..." She walked into the store muttering some more slurs... I just stood there blinking. Amazed, I just didn't know what to think. Crazy old lady.

Fighter Of The Year

2009-12-06T14:54:00.001-08:00

Is George St. Pierre fighter of the year?
Vote here: http://fighteroftheyear.com/

Family Guy Clips that crack me up...

2009-12-03T00:09:00.000-08:00

And in the disturbing catagory:

Just plain funny:

Sequoia National Park 2009

2009-09-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Waste and Environmental concerns at Starbucks

2009-07-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

A personal report.

While I don't go to Starbucks on a regular basis, I do pop in once in a while for a latte on break from work. For the last two months, I have been paying close attention to the barristas and still can't believe what I discovered.

Wasted Shots.

Whenever they made a drink with an odd number of shots, they would simply let the odd shot run down the drain. Maybe you have seen their method? Each esspresso head has two spouts. If you have a drink with 2 shots, they place your cup directly under the head to catch one shot from each spout. If you only need one shot, they would place your cup off to the side, catching only one shot from one spout. You would think they would put another cup under the other spout to catch the stray shot?

NO. They calously and carelessly let the shot drain off into the sewers. This is a precious commodity that some farmer worked hard to grow, just tossed aside like trash.

Starbucks worked hard to create a new coffee culture in America, where people valued coffee. But what value does it have when it is in the sewer? I will tell you.

Caffeine in the wild.

Over the past ten years, I have noticed a sharp drop in the number of wild sewer aligator sightings in the LA area. I always thought this was due to a combination of public education about the dangers of releasing pet aligator infants and a great effort in animal control. However, the truth seems more insidious. Imagine if you will, a host of wild sewer aligators fed a steady stream of caffeine from a plethora of Starbucks dumping shots into the sewer all day long. These hopped up gators would have extremely hightened senses. Their senses are so hightened that nary a animal control agent could get within a mile of them. Granted, they are skinny and pale gators, but a danger non the less. Especially dangerous are the hours between Starbucks closing and opening the next day. Such a gator going through caffeine withdrawls is not a sight I want to witness in person.

Solution.

Whenever you visit Starbucks and see the barrista wasting a shot, ask them if they can catch that extra shot and put it in your drink. It will save a gator and make the American workforce that much more productive. And it might also increase the sale of anti depressant drugs and sleep aids.

Young Hawk Down

2009-07-08T00:43:00.001-07:00

North Hollywood, CA.

In a fit of depression over not getting a ticket to the Michael Jackson memorial at Staples Center today, a young hawk flew a kamikaze mission into the front window of a home in the Valley Village area of North Hollywood at approximately 7:15PM. The home owner dried to give aid but the depressed hawk refused her attempts to help, even threatening to "nip her finger off" if she didn't let the hawk die. Emergency services were called and a medical rescue worker was forced to call in a bird psychologist to talk the suicidal bird down before medical attention could be administered. The emergency workers were very concerned and mentioned this was the fifth such issue today.

"We new birds loved music, but had no idea they would react this way to Jackson's passing" said one medic.

"Birds have complex psyches and understand more about our world than most people realize", said the bird psychologist who was called to talk the bird down.

"We have been seeing a trend in bird suicide attempts since the King of Pop passed away. Most end in tragedy. Luckily, this bird has a good chance at recovery with the proper therapy and drug regimine.", said Sneznblo.

Sadly, this may not be the last member of our society drawn into depression so deep it renders them incapable of leading a normal life due to the undue media attention paid to the singer's passing. These are the uncalculable costs of the media circus that has been keeping us informed of ever minor detail possibly related to the unfortunate and untimely death of Michael Jackson.

DMH News service -

Tyrone Fong graduates the LAFD academy

2009-04-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

New Fire Fighter Tyrone Fong.

It's almost official.

Badged and all.

Smile!!!

Time Warner set to Screw customers??? Is it true?

2009-04-10T12:35:00.001-07:00

Just got this by e-mail.. Is it true???
People across the country are rising up in protest. Join them! By signing this letter, you’re telling your representative in Congress to step in and demand a thorough investigation of Time Warner before its scam comes to your community.

Time Warner’s plan couldn’t come at a worse time. Congress and President Obama have made access to an affordable and free-flowing Internet a focus of America’s economic recovery plan.

By curbing people’s ability to use new business and educational tools, watch Internet video, share pictures with family, and connect to new government services, Time Warner is using their market monopoly to cripple the technology millions of people need to be a part of the Internet age.

The company’s scheme would cost customers $15 per month for one gigabyte -- the equivalent of one 30-minute HD television show -- with a penalty fee of $2 for every additional gigabyte over the limit. This rip-off is designed to make customers think twice before switching off their cable TV and finding the shows they want online.

U-Bike Bicycle Rental Program in Taiwan.

2009-04-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

This is a cool news video produced by Eric Mah. After watching this, I just wonder if something like this would work in major metro areas in the states???

Funny News from The Onion - Bullet recall

2009-03-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

Did I mention HP sucks?

2009-02-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

OK. So I am in the position of managing a Dental Lab's IT dept. that was set up by the person who ran the place before me.
Anyway, the marketing dept. depends on an HP CLJ 3600 for creating all their monthly/weekly fliers and other mailers.
2 weeks ago, the printer went in to an endless calibration cycle. It kept up until, as per a forum post and the tech support agent on the phone with me, I pulled all the ink cartridges and the main board, booted up and waited for the error message and then replaced the components one by one. That got it printing again, but the colors were way off. Phone support was not able to help. Hours were spent with them updating firmware, replacing all the ink and doing cold resets one after another.
Finally, they scheduled a field tech to come out the next day. I was called on Thursday to be alerted the tech was not able to make it until Friday because some parts had not come in yet.
I expected the tech on Friday, and was not overjoyed when he never showed up. On Monday morning I got a call that the part was finally in and he would be there on Monday. nearly three hours of the field tech's efforts provided no improvement.
Tuesday saw more time on the phone, another 2 hours, discussing the issue with polite yet useless support folks with heavy accents.
I finally got message that 2 techs would be coming on Wednesday.
Sure enough, 2 techs worked for more than 2 hours and there was no improvement. The printer was still not printing colors correctly.
The following day, I was informed that 3 techs would be out on Monday to look at it. I argued for a replacement and was told it was not policy. We had even purchased the upgraded extended warranty from HP and they still refused to help up get back up and running in a timely fashion. I was transferred through 3 departments before I was finally told that they would process a replacement only if the techs on Monday could not fix the issue. Unfortunately, it would take 3-5 business days to get the printer. WTF? So, on Monday it turned out to be 4 techs and took almost 3 hours to finally fix it.
Now, not only was our marketing dept. down for more than a week, which cost us a lot, HP also wasted their own money. The printer in question only retails for about $500. Their cost to replace it would have been about $200. Instead, they sent a total of 4 techs out on 3 separate calls to replace almost every part in the printer while causing a customer to be down and unproductive for more than a week.
I warn all of you to stay away from HP and definitely stay away from their warranty service unless you get the 24hr replacement plan. Even then, it's more expensive than just buying a new printer.
Also, with the small laserjets, they don't work well with terminal services. Specifically, they don't redirect through remote desktop (RDP) connecting to WTS.
I switched out a couple HPs for Brother printers and the Brothers work fine.
After this very frustrating experience with HP, I can not recommend them in a business environment. It really hurt us to be down that long. I will be replacing our HPs this year. Sorry HP... You suck!

funny email forwarded by Witty

2009-02-11T20:19:00.001-08:00

This is probably a made up letter, but it's funny.. So I wanted to share it.:

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities :

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct . . . leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

UFC 94.. St. Pierre Vs. Penn.

2009-02-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

This will be a very quick note. I just wanted to bring up that St. Pierre is now sponsored by The Men's Warehouse.
So, next time you want clothing to make you look like a champ, think Men's Warehouse.

Danny and Ryan reunite with Poppy

2008-12-08T22:36:00.001-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

News Headline that made me laugh.

2008-12-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

Tell me what you read in to this!

From Yahoo News:

# Obama taps Clinton 4 mins ago

This could mean some very funny things. I was almost afraid to read the story.

Attemted Bank Fraud?

2008-11-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, not sure about this one. But, thought I would share, just in case.

We received an automated call saying it was from Washington Mutual about a possibly fraudulent charge on my mom's debit card. This was confusing since my mom doesn't have a card.
After pressing 5 (if you wish to dispute this charge or are not sure), we were connected to an operator (first clue).
The operator asked for my mom's card # or account #. Since she didn't have a card, I was confused and asked the operator to provide that information.
She could not, she asked for account info and social so she could verify the account.
I hung up on her. I don't like to give out such info when the call was originated from outside. So, I got the number off my statement and called in to Wamu. They looked up my mom's account and there was no history of a charge card for her, as I suspected. I asked the operator if the call we received could have been attempted fraud. She said it might have been, and that I did the right thing.
1. If it is an incoming call, don't give out account information. Make them provide it. If they can't, there is a reason.
2. Call your bank at the number listed on your statement or on the back of your card (if you have one).
3. Verify everything is OK.

In the end, the customer service rep. let me know there is not much they can do if the attempted phone fraud failed. There is more they can do if it is web related.
She said that in phone fraud, there is little they can do unless your account was actually compromised. Since our account was not, it's pretty much over.

So, I posted this as a reminder. Don't give out information to anyone who calls you! Thank them for the alert and call your bank at a number you know is correct, not one the caller gives you.

Good luck, and safe banking.

Facebook hell

2008-11-23T12:35:00.001-08:00

Well, I signed up for facebook at the urging of a friend a while back and now I have several friends. And with that, I get a constant stream of emails asking me to compare my friends or become a knight in a friend's realm or send them some karma points. Wow, when do these people sleep? I mean, WTF? I work, workout, spend time with my wife, mom, sisters, practice some programming, then I get to watch a show or listen to an audio book and by that time I only have a few hours to sleep.. I am not even counting in chores like dishes, shopping and taking out the trash!.
What ever happened to good old fashioned email? I mean, it's sad to think that email was a more personal and intimate form of communication than the norm.
I miss it. I wonder if there was ever a more personal form of bonding than email?
I seem to remember a day when I actually got together with friends for pizza and beer. Or, was that just a facebook game I played?
There is a bright side to facebook, however. A couple long lost friends, that I have not seen in a long long time, tracked me down on fb. I now know if they are married, have kids, what kind of music they are listening to and how they are doing in mob wars.
I may even get an email from one of them some day. Well, at least they posted photos.
Cheers.

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Symposium - LA

2008-10-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Please check out the pancan symposium listed here

In Memoriam - Joseph Hoffman

2008-08-09T12:21:00.001-07:00

Joseph Hoffman - July, 1919 through August, 2008.

My father had a great, full life. He was a devoted husband to his wife of 54 years, a loving and supportive brother to his 4 siblings and their families, and a father whose dedication to his kids can not be described by words.

As co-founder and president of Burbank Aircraft Supply, he made a name for himself in that industry due to his honesty, integrity and incredible work ethic.

After more than 15 years of retirement, we still hear from people in the industry who remember him with fondness.

In the course of his life, he traveled to many countries to help customers as much as he could. He learned a lot and, when he could, included his children in his work and travels.

He even let his children barge in on his weekly board of director's meetings (poker games), to enjoy the wonderful deli platters they would buy. He even let his son (me) sit on his lap and help him make corporate decisions (should I call or raise?).

His poker buddies often joked that they paid for the pool!

Dad was also a world class joker. I learned this when I was finally invited to join him and his "boosum" buddy Dick (the Bake) Baker for lunch. It was hard to eat with a belly in pain from laughter. The two of them would play off each other in a way more entertaining than any comedian I have seen. They could have put Burns and Allen out of business.

I was also fortunate to be invited to join him and my Uncle Eggy (Ed Vertel) in their quite inventive method of playing golf. You see, they figured out quite quickly that keeping score got in the way of having fun. So they created their own scoring method. This involved comparing the number of balls you have when you enter the course to the number you had when you left. If you left with more balls than you came with, that's points. Also, when you hit a bad shot, cracking the best joke about it would nullify the stroke, or something like that. We would always go to lunch after and laugh hysterically.

Both the Bake and Eggy left this world before Dad. They will be waiting for him, I know.

He had a tough fight toward the end, but maintained his sense of humor almost to the last week. Even when in pain, he would crack jokes and make us laugh.

He passed at home surrounded by love. My Mom, myself and my incredible wife, sisters Terri, Judy, Carol, Lori and Peggy made sure he was never alone. My sister's hubby's were also an incredible help and made Dad very proud of my sisters' decision making. My brother (I am dropping the "in-law" part) Marc, showed us how selfless he really is. I can't express my gratitude for being part of this family. My other brother (also dropping the "in-law" part) Luis has also been an amazing part of our family, helping my parents more than we ever thought possible for many years now.

My wife Zoe, what can I say... She built a relationship with my parents that I never expected. She was there with me to help in more situations than I could have asked her to. She is amazing.

But, no one, and I mean no one, showed the mettle of my sister Judy. After what she went through with the loss of her husband, the dedication and hard work she put in with my Dad was truly inspiring.

All of us did everything we could. And I mean that. Even Lori's and Carol's children put up with lost time with their mommies to let them help my Dad. The kids even came to visit and made my Dad soooo happy to see them.

My extended family in the area were also unbelievable.
A special thanks to cousin Yael and her husband Andrew for making time for us when they came to California, to introduce my Dad to their son Yoni.
Cousin Les and Debbie both stopped by. Leslie prayed with my Dad and held his hand even in a very bad time. Debbie made Chicken soup and brought baked goods.
It meant the world to him. It makes me feel bad that I so often neglected to keep in touch with you all on a regular basis. Something I hope to remedy in the future.

My love to all of you. And a special thanks to my Dad's younger brother Mort and his wife Auntie Aviva for traveling so far to visit while he was still alert. That visit put him in a good mood that lasted a week after they left.

If you knew my Dad, please feel free to leave a message or a story about him.

Thank you all!
Peace and Love to everyone.

In honor of my Dad, please to not send flowers. If you wish to make a donation to a cancer related charity or research fund, or to Doctors without Borders, please do so.

Poetry -- if you can call it that - A Spider On My Ceiling

2008-07-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

A Spider On My Ceiling

There's a spider on my ceiling now, as I lie in bed awake, twelve thirty-one
and he's yet to spin this web of evening sleep.

From wall to wall he searches long for that place he will call his home.

Frantically, in confusion and haste, he passes over a thousand sites where home could surely be made.

Still he searches on past night till dawn.

From weariness, his pace has slowed and his spirit seems to have faded.

He found his home in time to spin that final web, not to move again.

His body stands for that search that only ends when one escapes.

Daniel M. Hoffman
06/03/92

Handy tip for caring for sick ones.

2008-07-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, my dad is very sick right now. My sisters and I are doing our best to care for him at home, but run into many challenges, for which our health care team had no answers. One such problem was how to let my dad call us when he needs help. They only had a bed alarm that alerts you if the patient tries to get up. After thinking for a while, and trying a couple other unsuccessful ideas, I had a great idea.

I went to my local hardware store and bought a Heath Zenith Wireless Doorbell.
I taped one of the buttons to the safety rails of his bed. Instant hospital call button. It works a little too well.

I will post more later.
ADG