Acer Aspire One back to form!

After giving up hope that my netbook is dead, my cousin has managed to fix it. So again, I am a proud owner of a netbook I can take with me anywhere. It's still not as powerful as I would like my primary machine to be; that's a lesson I have to live with. But I don't have to run out and get a replacement right away. But I must say, it is such a relief to not have to sit through stuttering music and videos. Not much more to say. Just wanted to update my situation.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest

If you have been following any news at all, I'm sure you are aware that one of our local police department is under the spotlight after the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. The arrest has somehow become a racial issue, and we have all heard from the supposed representative of all things racial, Rev. Al Sharpton. My issue is that there ISN'T a racial issue to begin with!

Let's breakdown the events leading up to the arrest minus any racial cues. A thoughtful neighbor witnesses a man attempting to wedge a door open. She calls the police. An officer arrives to find a man in the residence. What would an average person do? Duh. The officer asks for identification. Man in residence refuses and starts yelling. Officer attempts to calm man down. Man continues to yell. At some point, officer and man exit residence. Man continues to yell at the officer. A crowd builds; public peace has been disturbed. Officer arrests man.

Reading the simple facts, there appears to be nothing wrong with the arrest. The officer was in the process of investigating a supposed crime in progress. The man did not cooperate with the officer. The man then proceeds to disturb the peace. Open and shut case if you ask me. So what went wrong? Well, the man was Henry Louis Gates. He was black. Second part? The arresting officer was Sergeant James Crowley, a white man. There you go. State of the nation. A white officer arresting a black man better have overwhelming evidence or Al Sharpton will be on your a**.

Now, I'm no racist. I'm Asian, and I've dealt with racial crap throughout my life. I just have it easier because Asians are stereotyped to be weak, quiet, and really really REALLY good at math. Blacks on the other hand have a harsher stereotype. It sucks. But it doesn't mean we have to walk around with a chip on our shoulder. If I just broke into my own home, and a cop comes into investigate, of course I'll prove to him I live there. Go take my ID. Check the pictures in the house. I'll even identify what's in the fridge. Why the heck would I say things like, "This is what it's like to be an Asian man in America!" How does that help anything?

As law-abiding citizens, we are required to work with police officers. They are doing their duty to investigate crimes, even if it's stupid. That's what we pay them for. What would we rather Sgt Crowley do? Should he have thought, "Oh man, this guy is yelling really loud. I should leave and let things take it's course"? Of course not. He was answering a breaking and entering call. It was his duty to check it out and to verify identities.

I admit, I can get pretty heated when some idiot comes up to me and makes fun of my native language. I can be annoyed when people do the stupid slanted eyes thing. And I get embarrassed for the other person when they mistaken me for another Asian race. But I always try to take a minute and make sure if they've just made a horrible embarrassing mistake. You have to place yourself in their shoes and see what they were thinking. Take the stupid chimpanzee cartoon a few months back. Stupid Rev. Al Sharpton started this whole thing about the cartoonist making fun of President Obama. The TARP act was written by Pelosi and a chimpanzee just died. Where did President Obama fit in?

Maybe Sgt. Crowley should have slowly backed down. Maybe the arrest shouldn't have taken place. But Mr. Gates should've cooperated when asked by a law enforcement official. There was no need for yelling. No need to claim racial prejudice. And definitely no need for our President to claim the Cambridge Police "acted stupidly." In fact, I am ashamed President Obama has chosen to put himself into the issue like he did, especially since he admitted he doesn't have all the facts. He is our President; our face of the nation. He no longer represents one race or one friend (The President and Mr. Gates are friends, for those not in the know). Just as there is still racism in the world, we have to be careful not to let that turn into reverse racism. An officer cannot do his job if he needs to second-guess himself before he arrests someone.

I know this might be offensive to some, but this is how I feel. We are one world, one people. One. Stop all this race, class, gender nonsense.

Disclaimer: I am basing my thoughts on what I have read in the news and police report as of this afternoon. I may or may not have the full details of the Gates arrest, so please forgive me if I have interpreted things wrong.

Ball Square Cafe & Breakfast

This past weekend we made it to Ball Square Cafe & Breakfast for some...*gasp*...breakfast. We had previously gone to Soundbites next door on a recommendation, but I didn't like it. The atmosphere was just a bit too busy and the space too big for the service to manage. It felt more bar-like than a breakfast place. Not so with Ball Square Cafe!

I've been to Ball Square Cafe a several times now. First visit, the place wasn't hard to find. Right on Broadway near the Powderhouse rotary tucked in with all the other breakfast places and restaurants. Walking in, it's a nice cozy atmosphere with a brick wall on the left and a finished wall on the right. Just wide enough for three rows of tables it's not too big and not too small. We were told to sit wherever we wanted and service was very pleasant. We heard the specials right away.

Food came promptly, even if service isn't the speediest. Drinks are self serve, which gives it a slight at-home feel. Food is where this place shines. I've done the whole IHOP/Bickford's deal. Chain breakfast is so...commercial. And Polly's Pancake Parlor is a seasonal roadtrip. But this place is chic, cozy, and tasty. The omelettes are generous, the breakfast combos are filling. Even the diners can be attractive. It's not the regular gramas and grandpas like IHOP.

Ball Square Cafe only opens until 3PM, so definitely a breakfast place. They also serve lunch, but I'd stay away from the burgers. My friend got one medium-rare, but it looked dry and tasteless. Go for breakfast. And if you get an omelette, get the Tabasco Habanero sauce. It's got a great kick!

Behind in summits

I didn't do so well in the cardio area last week, but I hope to change that this week. Running hurts, but I know it's good for me. So gotta do it. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Chest/back/abs
Monday: Run
Tuesday: Shoulders/triceps/biceps
Wednesday: None
Thursday: None
Friday: Pushups/pullups, heavy weights
Saturday: None

You know, I was doing some thinking this past week. I made a goal for the summer to summit two of the forty-eight 4,000 footers in NH. But if I continue that very modest goal every summer, it'll take me 24 years to finish the summits. That's not something I want to do. To finish within 2 - 4 years, I need to do 8 - 12 summits a year. To achieve this with some semblance of a social life besides hiking, I would need to open up hiking into spring and fall as well. Otherwise, I'd be hiking every weekend in summer, which can be difficult if weather and/or social life is not accommodating. We had a horrible start to the summer season so far with nearly 4 weeks of rain, but it should be better now. I should be able to do at least two this summer and hopefully a couple more in the fall. But I need to get going and get this started.

I'm getting a bit closer to my current goal of 170.0 lb. I know my last weigh-in hit that mark, but unless I see that consistently, I'm not convinced. After 170.0 lb, I might aim for 165.0 lb with increased strength. This should give me a lean strong body with enough endurance to do the more taxing activities like hiking, biking, and running. As I've read somewhere, it doesn't mean crap if you can bench press 2 - 3x your weight if you can't do 40 pushups in a row. Being able to do that many pushups shows you have the strength and endurance to do something like, carry a kid on your shoulders out of a burning building. I want practical strength, not bragging rights.

I mean, have you ever looked at pictures of active-duty soldiers? Most pictures I see of Marines and armed forces are of men with lean tight bodies. They need to be strong, but efficient enough to lug their gear on long marches or last through a long battle. Another example? Rock climbers. Again, lean strong bodies. These are athletes that can out-pullup anybody...on their fingers.

Anyway, that's all for this update.


Last weigh-in:
170.0 lb