A Hospital Visit

Some time ago I visited a friend at the hospital. Let's call him Harry.

Harry was diagnosed with colon cancer around 2 years ago. For a 30-year-old who led a very healthy life and, compared to myself, an exceedingly clean diet, this was out of all expectations. My grandpa smoked all his life and died of lung cancer, but since Richard Doll discovered a causal link for that, it was a sad thing to know but also it wasn't a surprising revelation; on the other hand, for someone as young to have diagnosed colon cancer, the news was really out of the blue. Under such looming shadow, though, for the last two years he seemed to have fought the illness very well. His photos were showing him in a healthy state and he was leading an active social life.

One day, his friend called to say he had suddenly fallen into a critical condition and was now at the hospital. It didn't sound right, so I suggested if I could pay him a visit.

When I went to visit him, alas, I was completely taken aback.

There he was, lying in bed. He was extremely thin, to the point where only a thin layer of skin covered the jawbone. Teeth showed malnutrition, by the fact that at this point he would vomit every single thing he ate. His arms were connected to the numerous tubes for his only means of nutrition and various chemicals. He was breathing through an oxygen tube. Instantly he reminded me of my grandpa.

There were already his folk and a few other visiting friends present. We exchanged small talks with each other, cracking jokes sometimes. He was tired, but was in good spirit. He would listen to what we say and would utter a few words in response. One can tell he really made an effort to do so because he would run out of breath after each sentence. We sensed this and ended up doing most of the talking ourselves. The mood was sombre.

After a while, a priest arrived. Harry is a Christian and the priest would come every few days to see how he's doing. The priest came to his bedside, he sat up and the priest read passages from the Bible whilst holding his hand. He would then ask Harry and see if he was taking them in fine. Harry would respond, but there was only enough breath for him to say a few words each time. A few stories were told, and we all listened attentively. We sang praises and a friend picked up his iPhone and recorded the singing. It was a happy hymn with a lively tune.

We all stayed for the priest. We had a good time and we all laughed when he told us interesting stories, but it was obvious Harry was just way too tired, having got up for nearly half an hour by now. So we ended the session with prayers and we all prayed together. After some encouraging comfort words, the priest said his goodbye, and so us friends did the same as well while his family continued to tend for him. His mum picked up the iPhone and she played the hymn back to him.

Outside the room, one of the friends broke down and started sobbing uncontrollably. Another friend went on to her, hugging her and comforting her. We were all standing there silently, faces looking down onto the floor. By now there was not an eye amongst us that remained dry. No one had said anything. We all knew why.

The hymn continued to play at the background, everyone's happy voices contrasting.

400lbs Squat Threshold Passed!

Today is a good day to remember - squat at (45+45+45+25+25)x2+45=415lbs x 6 sets!

Satisfied :)

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
求知若飢，大智若愚。

Nature Walk 2

Britain Burning

Bad news never seem to go away in the summer of 2011.

First there was the shoot-out at Norway. Then a horrible train crash at Wenzhou in China. Looming behind all this was the unpromising economic prospects at Europe and the US, with the S&P unhelpfully dousing oil on the already raging fire.

And now, we see looting and rioting in the UK.

The green and pleasant land is now in an inferno. Shops get burnt down, countless cars set to flames and vandalised. The police didn't seem to know what to do with the sudden surge of violence and vandalism..., hey, haven't we seen all this in Northern Ireland before? It's London gone Londonderry. And Bristol. And Liverpool. And Gloucester.

Gloucester?! The Cotswolds is not the sort of place one expects a riot surely?!

But they just don't think England proper required the NI treatment. "Those bl**dy Irish. That's the only language they understand! We English of course are more civilised and better brought up...". Oh yeah.

The social discontent in the UK, as we can see in these few days, is way bigger and more serious than we had all been thinking. Offenders are now as young as 11 and certainly not confined to the minorities - many are white and seemingly well-brought up. From the way ministers were called from their Italian villa or Spanish beaches hurrily back to the UK to deal with the crises (yes, plural - the economy is not in a good health either), they have gravely underestimated the seriousness that a small protest in Enfield would unfold into. This latent hatred against the society has now spilled out in full. It is a big mess - and those in government will have a grave task to try to sort it out at a now much nastier situation.

A bit like the Europe economy in a sense. The PIIGS are up in their sty, streaking for more food, threatening to mess up the Farm if no more feed is coming. The oxen are complaining: they work harder and save more feed for the farm, why it is that the PIIGS get what they want by just sleeping around? But, it seems like, to keep the Farm strong running as a whole - with an idealism of 'Animal Brotherhood' - you just need more and more feed for them, although one can't exactly see how or when these rather stoutly souls are going churn out good profits.

The oxen will not like it. What is there one can do without paying more? Not much - unless, the Farm is disintegrated into two. But then, the Farms will become much weaker. The PIIGS will surely be left on their own and probably start a decade-long economic 'famine'; the oxen will take a bad hit too as people simply lose trust on the products of their farm as well; and how frail is the idealism of Animal Brotherhood!

Would anyone do that? I'm not too sure. Maybe we could all hope the PIIGS would stop lying around and start working properly. This, I'm even less sure about.

So what's the way out for this? I'd really hate to say so but, we seem to be revisiting the world as it was in the 1930s. The recession. The unemployment. The unfair society. It was when ultra-nationalists like Hilter would have his chance to stand up and make his voice heard. And we all knew what happened when someone like him took control over Europe...

This we must stop at all costs. Let's hope it wasn't the 1930s again.

I hope you're not reading this with Internet Explorer

Hahaha! This is such an attention-grabber in the seemingly-never-ending browser war:

Internet Explorer users have 'below-average IQ'

OK people. We've all heard how Internet Explorer (IE) was vulnerable to script attacks, how webapps using ActiveX sucked ("I don't have IE and I can't run this?..."), crappy OS integration (not that one has the choice!) etc etc... But I have to say, IE has gone a long way from those dark, old days. The IE nowadays (ver 9.0 as of today) isn't that bad. At least to the ordinary Joe Smith behind the computer, it's a very useable browser.

Simple. Gets the work done. Font doesn't look as smooth as Safari but, hey, that's no matter.

That brings out an important point. Joe Smith is most likely an ordinary folk and not a computer geek. He will just use what is tossed onto him by Microsoft, i.e., IE.

By this logic, since there are more ordinary folks - who, we can safely assume, will have an averagely lower IQ than computer geeks, who has skewed IQ scores [or they're not geeks!] - using IE, IE users will have an averagely lower IQ score. This does not take anyone with high IQ to figure out (but alas! I can't tell if this is true for newspaper people... :p)

By saying IE users have lower IQ, one misses a crucial point. IE is still a far more popular browser than the others. If only Linux geeks would use Lynx, I'm sure Lynx would top the IQ charts since Linux people, really, are very smart (this I tell from personal experience ;-)

So the only reason for this trivial news is the juicy news value. Newspaper people have a beefy story that sells so they don't mind publishing it; Microsoft haters like a field-day on basically any anti-M$ matter so they won't mind coming out to bask under the glorifying 'computer-is-free-for-all' sun and condemn IE to the gutters. Everyone else would just laugh at the age-old "IE is stupid" slogan.

There are truly many other things that matter, people. Laugh all we can, but please, do move on when the light is out.

*********************************************************************************
Update 2011.08.10: This non-sense is actually a hoax! Blah... what a surprise.
*********************************************************************************

Nature Walk 1

The Nutter Around Us

On July 22nd 2011, Anders Behring Breivik made world headlines. Described as 'the worst atrocities after WWII' being committed in Norway, he confessed to detonating a bomb in downtown Oslo and shooting youngsters in a nearby island camp.

Taking away human lives, no matter in what form or in what manner, can never be justified. No words really can describe such sickening, maddening deprivation of young, innocent souls in such enormity.

In what was conceived as an act of a person with 'extreme right-wing' views, however, some very chilling facts should be observed beyond a simple mask.

No doubt he is a nutter. A completely out-of-the-world but, unfortunately, heavily-armed nutter. But he is also an intelligent and educated nutter. According to reports, he has a business degree, an agricultural business (perhaps, in retrospect though, this could now have been a disguise for him to purchase fertilisers as explosives), and led a somewhat normal life. And only now did we discover his 1500-page 'manifesto' on his right-wing views which may explain his motives. It probably would take weeks, if not months or at all, to comprehend what went on in his mind. News reporters and criminal psychologists would likely come up with a full alloy of stories.. maybe he wanted the attention of the whole world? Or he thought that, by such an act, that he would leave his name forever on 'something big' like Hitler? How about believer of the 'Armageddon'? And judging from history - a sadly long list including Dunblane, Oklahoma, 9-11 etc. - this trait is going to continue to live amongst us.

Now that is really a very, very worrying situation.

If a somewhat normal person, who is a native in his country, led an active social life, had had good education, exhibited no traits of extremist views but still has the mind of undergoing such atrocities, indiscriminately and against his own people, the society at large is at a huge risk.

That is, the risk of the unknown nutter.

Anyone of us could have been Anders Breivik. Unless one has the X-men ability of Prof Xavier who can read minds of any given unknown stranger, there is virtually no way at all to tell who will be the next madman detonating the next bomb, shooting the next gun shot (obtained, most likely, legally), performing other inhuman and despicable acts to innocent human lives.

When the nutter around us could have been you or me, how on earth could we find security?

The answer would truly be hard to find.

When Good Incentives Turn Bad...

In an effort to combat excessive use of disposable plastic bags, Hong Kong supermarkets charge 50 cents for each plastic bag used, supposedly to promote 'Bring-Your-Own-Bags' and discourage usage on plastic bags with the ultimate objective to reduce the volume of landfills. In response to this, organisations dish out sturdy, re-usable plastic bags, most often for free and imprinted with adverts and slogans. People are supposed to bring them out at shopping and to reuse them.

Alas, in the highly sophisticated commercial, impulse-driven market such as Hong Kong, this hope is probably too optimistic.

Today it was reported that overall raw material used for plastic bags increased by 20-30% due to the fact that more re-usable bags (which use 20-30 times more plastic than disposable ones) were produced. Since a lot of them are free, people often have more than 30 such bags at home; and what would people do if there're just too many of them? Yes, to the landfill again, all those extra plastic.

An interesting lesson to see how a good incentive can come back to haunt us all.

July 1st in Hong Kong

July 1st in Hong Kong is a rather busy day.

At 8am, government officials, tourists, school boys, as well as protesters who wish to join in but were barred 4 or 5 blocks away, stand at the Golden Bauhinia to see the flags of Special Administrative Region (SAR) and P.R.C. go up. The national anthem is passionately sung by a young choir from, usually, a very known elite school (a.k.a. "DBS"). Helicopters flies the flag over the harbour. Everyone is patriotic, spirits are high.

Later in the morning come the celebrations from 'patriotic' organisations. And what a lovely bunch they are: decorated cars, families, all flag-waving, came out in scorching heat to 'celebrate' this birthday of the SAR. They are all supportive of the government; no-one was unhappy; joyous all along! Don't we all owe, they say, our prosperity to this government, led by the Chief Executive with the support of the great motherland? The kids don't particularly look willing, having been dragged out of bed on such a great extra holiday at around 7am but, hey, if your father's company asked you to come and you still want food on the table the next day, you just don't refuse, right?

The best show came in the afternoon. Year after year, the Civil Human Rights Front organised a march for Hong Kongers to express themselves, in whatever slogan, with whatever agenda. It was here you see a plethora of groups - migrant workers, Falungong, gay activists, the after-90s... any group imagined will almost be represented. Everyone surely has some rights deprived, one way or another right? Now is the time to come out and be counted! See for yourself the photo and see if you spot any group that you support.

And if these are not enough, you can always join, at your own risk, the protests that linger well into the evening by certain radical Legislative Councillors. The party goes on until 3am sometimes, so you can leisurely finish your dinner before coming around for the fun!

Alternatively, it's nearly always sunny on this 1st day of the 2nd half-year, The beach is always there for you!

Into Nature

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Oxfam Trailwalker in Hong Kong and I'm glad to be able to participate in it!

For those of you who may not know it, Trailwalker started as an endurance training event for the Gurkas back in 1981 in Hong Kong and has since evolved to become the top fundraising event for Oxfam and the leading hill-walking event of the town. The trek follows closely the Maclehose Trail in Hong Kong, starting in Sai Kung and breaking off at Tai Lam Chung, where it will finish off in Tai Tong.

The trail measures around 100km and, back in 2004 when I last joined, my team members and I spent a good 39 hours to finish it! (OK, it's not that quick... but that's because we had a very good time at support points en route!)

One downside of this event, probably, is that it is an endurance game and, as such, goes contrary to my current mass-building regime. I assume I will lose around 6-8 pounds after the event! Oh dear... that may actually give me second thoughts on whether to join in or not.. But since I am the leader it is adamant I stay on for the team to exist. I hope I don't get too lean afterwards!

For Facebook fans, you are most welcome to join us here; and I hope to see you in one of our many practice walks!

Gym Log 2011-06-24 (4 of 4)

Machine Leg Press (kg)(90,130,170,190,200) (another max out. oh dear.)
Squats (135,225,305,325,305)
Inclined Row (25,50,75,100,100)
Seated Row (45,65,75,85)
Lat Pulldown (45,65,75,75,75) (I think I'm getting tired since I can't move up...)
Biceps Curl Cable V-bar (kg)(12.5,21,28,35)
Barbell Biceps Preacher EZ Curl (45, 45, 65, 65)

So here it is, a typical cycle for me.

As you can see, my regime consists of a division between free weights and machines; but mainly I follow a rough pattern which includes the following key elements (one key note to make: do remember to include lots of stretching in between any of these exercise):

• Do core moves on the lower body (squats, deadlifts etc) first. Mainly there are two reasons: firstly the legs are usually not the sort of parts one wants to do (I'm no exception in this!) - by doing lower body first, I can have no excuse later on in the session to ignore these fundamental moves. Secondly, working on these core muscles could give the body a great stimulation; the body will shift into 'workout' mode and one actually could feel more energetic!
• After the core, lower-body muscles have been worked on, the major upper body parts (pecs, back) will be next. The body, having now been stimulated, is now ready for a more substantial test, which also means it is a good time to work on the big muscles. This is also the part people aim at when they set off gym for the day ("today it's my chest day", "i'm doing my back"... etc.), but it is adamant that you don't ignore your lower body! That's why I always put lower body first.
• When you're done with the core upper body (3-4 types, 4 sets each type, 8-10 reps each set), your body should start to feel a bit exhausted. You can now start to think about the small muscle groups. This is also called "isolation exercises" because, well, these moves isolate your arms, shoulders, neck, abs, calves etc. Go to any gym and take a look on what most guys are doing, you'd find that the isolation moves are the ones that most guys do - bicep curl, tricep push, abs machine... you name it, someone inside the gym is bound to be doing it right now! But it is important that, when one goes to the gym, one actually targets the whole workout and not only these moves!! That's why you should push these things to the back of your regime.
• At the end of these isolation exercises, if you're new to working-out you should start to collapse with lactic acid build-up just about on every body part you've worked on. Well done then! You could now wind down with some light stretches, or, for myself at the very last, the abs curl - it's nice to lie down on the machine after a strenuous workout!

This is just a general concept - of course you should 'follow' your body and do what is best for you! For example if you're already tired after the upper body moves, my advice would be to wind down from there.

For those of you who only read the summary, just remember...

1. Large, core muscles first for stimulation;
2. Major body part you'd like to work on;
3. Arms/shoulders etc ('minor' body parts or isolation exercises)
4. Lots of stretching in between!!

As for number of repetitions, aim for 8-10 repetitions in a set, 3-4 sets per body part. The rule of thumb is, if you can do 10 (without cheating!) it's time to go up a notch or two. For real effective muscle growth stimulation, though, go two notches up and do around 6 reps - make those reps count! - but make sure you do it in the right form and not injure yourself!

Have a good training and work hard - real hard! You'd love it.

Checking Your Cheques

It's been some time since I wrote a cheque. That lovely piece of promissory note. When you write one, it makes you feel like a king, empowered with cash to distribute to whatever bill you need to pay; and when received, makes you feel elated with the prospect of money coming into the account - "The money is mine! Miiiineeee!" - despite that, it may only be for $10 or so.

So I read with amusement that the UK, birthplace of modern cheque and clearing systems, is considering abolishing it.

If this idea really flourishes, the only paper-based payment system would be cash. But cash has a few problems - it's bearer-only, no trace of source, no destination of funds, and it'd take quite a bundle to pay a million dollars in cash (although I can't imagine anyone doing this. But hold on... mainlands love to do that in Hong Kong when they buy properties, so maybe the practice is well and alive). The argument is for abolishing the cheque, on its face, is the need to combat fraud and promote a quicker electronic commerce; but of course, as we all know, the real reason is to do with saving costs in the clearing system which, for the clerks, is quite a boring job in the bank, I can imagine.

What will the future be if cheques were to be abolished but we would prefer not risking on parting with cash to the unknown oblivion? How does this affect our daily lives? In that case... governments will need your account number if they want to credit you, while hopefully you remember to update that when you shift banks; you can't pay a 'person' anymore - you only credit an account number; as a shareholder, the company will only need to know me as '098-7-654321' (not real, in case you wonder :D) when they paid me dividends instead of 'Mr Anthony Y K Yuen'; small companies (like decorators, plumbers) will become slaves to credit card companies, suffering indignantly at a 3-5% (or even more) charge when they take plastics, whilst remembering with fondness the good old days when it was possible to pay with the then-abolished but free-to-use cheques.

Will all this come to us one day?

Gym Log 2011-06-22 (3 of 4)

Smith Machine Squat (bar=10) (100,190,280,330,280)
Seated Machine Squat (45 degrees) (540,630,720,810,810)
Inclined Press (95,145,155,145)
Bench Press (135,225,245,225)
Machine Fly (90,180,200,220,200,160)
Shoulder Press (kg)(25,39,46,53,46)
Abs (4x25)

All reservoirs are equal but some are more equal than others

In the USA...
Eight million gallons drained after man urinates in the reservoir
(Source: The Telegraph)

Meanwhile in Singapore...
Remains of body found in Bedok reservoir but authorities insist water is 'safe to drink'
(Source: Stomp SG)

Gym Log 2011-06-20 (2 of 4)

• Deadlift (135,175,205,215)
• Seated Machine Squat (540,630,720,810,880) (NB: 880lbs is 18x45lbs + 2x35lbs. But this probably is not true stress since the load travels vertically whilst legs travel at 45 degrees. I'd guess 50% load perhaps, but it's interesting to see people staring at me whilst I was on 880)
• Calf Raise (5,10,12,14) (I don't know what those meant on the machine. Perhaps it's x10?)
• EZ Bar Curl (45,65,75,85,85)
• Machine Bicep Curl (12.5,17,21,28,35)(kg)
• One-hand curl (7.5,10,12.5,15)(kg)
  
• Machine Side Shoulder Raise (75,105,135) (This one I've maxed out already. Need to find another one somewhere...)

Gym Log 2011-06-19 (1 of 4)

I've been hitting the gym, on-and-off, for around 8 years now (judging from the length of my membership at California Hong Kong). But like most people in the first few years of training I didn't work hard enough, didn't eat a lot, didn't eat right, and the results... well.

So from the last year or so, I thought if I don't get myself tightened up I may just as well not do it. Why go to the gym otherwise if it wasn't for chiseling the body I've always dreamt of?

So now, serious gym time is called for. I'd blog more on that, but for this entry, I just want to put in some numbers in perspective.

I usually don't keep gym logs - being trained in engineering and computing sciences I remember numbers quite well in my head - but for the benefit of fellow readers and as a track to my progress (and when I came back to look at these in a few months/years time) I'd start having them here. Some notes to go along:

• Numbers are in pounds (lbs).
  
• For most movements it's a 4-6 sets of 8-10 reps, first one to warm up, last one to exhaust and to be the heaviest set where I do just about 6 reps, which is usually where I'd hit failure on that move.
  
• For squats, deadlifts, bench press etc the standard bar of 45lbs is used. So the number 135 means 2x45lb plates, one each on both sides (obviously!) on the bar.
• Some of the names below are W.I.P.; I may change them as and when I find out about their exact descriptions. Squats, however, are just good-old squats, bar behind neck and get down with it. Nothing fancy on this one.
  

So the first record comes to this:

• Squats (135,225,275,305,325)
• Inclined Bench (95,135,155,185)
• Machine Fly (90,180,220,250,305). The last one actually exhausts the whole rack.

(I expect to post around 4 for a complete cycle. The fifth one will just repeat the first..)

So here goes. Similar logs will be much neater in the future!

p.s.: oh today I went for a 60-mins bodycombat class with my good friend Sunny on the podium so I didn't do a full weights workout. But a lot of sweat on that one though. Good job Sunny!

The summer diet

So summer is in! Usually at such hot weather, that would mean cold lemon tea and tubs of ice-cream in front of the TV at night to soothe the heat.

Not for me this year. At least, I try not to do too much of that.

The summer diet for me this year has only one goal - for me to get leaner and look good. OK I admit I never look that bad to start off with (tsk tsk, yes I hear you... OK, I'm no star, is it better?), but like they say, there's always room for improvement, or perhaps, room for that layer of lard around my tummy to go somewhere else - anywhere but there! - when I'm out swimming or at a boat cruise!

So having read around the Internet (thank God for that. In the days when I was at school I probably have to pop down to the local library) I have found some consensus on how to eat to get lean. The commonly-agreed formula seems to be a diet that has:

• High protein - lean beef, eggs, lean chicken, tuna...
  
• Low carbohydrates - rice, bread, cereal...
  
• High fat - healthy types like olive / flaxseed oil...
  
• And you need to eat every 2-3 hours.

So here I am, trying out this new way to feeding myself:

Beef with broccoli. I usually cook two/three portions in one go to save time!

In fact, truth be told, I jumped the gun and by today, I've tried a few days of low-carbs already; yet this is not without its price:

• With increased energy expenses at the gym, I now seem to go hungry easily. No, actually I feel hungry almost right after I finish a meal!
• In the Chinese culture where the staple diet remains firmly on rice, it's really difficult to go to a restaurant or a cha chaan tang and not get something starchy.
  

The only way around this is probably more home cooking.

Ah the good old kitchen. So I shall see you more often!

But I am going to tell you another truth. Despite you seeing me at the gym all the time, I'm lazy. Oh yes. So eating-out is a frequent occurrence. How, with the above observations, can this be done?

That I shall find out in the days to come...

Picking up the pen again

Now that there's more time reading around the Internet after my LLB exams, I rediscovered this forgotten side about me.

I actually do keep a blog.

The digital world is an interesting species. The dominant beast metamorphoses from ICQ to MSN to Twitter to Facebook. At this age (The Year 2011) it seems there's nothing but good old FB, which actually is quite enough to get us all going - really, who doesn't have a Facebook account these days?

But I remember there's more to this. Not one-liners but essays, in plain English.

When I read blogs from other people, I would always check on how well they write. I believe a good portion of one's intellect can be reflected upon his writing, and I always admire people who can express their ideas in a logical and coherent way. Such texts are really a joy to read. And if the author adds a dash of humour or jokes to spice it up, wow, I'm probably going to fall in love with him/her.

Now.. before you check on how well I write... I must say I'm still a novice in blogging. It'd be much easier to write something you feel about, something you like, something you know a lot. But since (for now) I don't have a set topic, I write as ideas flow inside me. They may look real random, which actually will defeat my point that good essays should be 'coherent'...But isn't it the point? I believe that, the more I write the more my writing should improve, or at least that's what I hope for! So I hope you would see the better of me very soon.

So now, if you were following my feed and my name suddenly jumps up (indicating I've written something new, like this post) - do not be alarmed. I'm slowly (but hopefully steadily) merging back into the blogsphere.

Do enjoy reading my entries as much as I enjoy writing them!