que pasa

So, after being inspired by Mr. P's deck-of-cards workout idea during our conversation yesterday, I decided to try it out today. 

The deck-of-cards workout idea is that you use assign a certain type of exercise (and number of reps) to each card in the deck.   So like a King could be 2 x 100m sprints, a Queen could be 1 lap of 400m as fast as you can, a numbered heart could be that number of lunges, a numbered spade could be that number of push-ups... you get the idea.  Assign various exercises that let you work different muscle groups.  Then shuffle the deck, pick your first card, do the exercise, pick your second, do that exercise and so on. 

I thought it was a great idea because it creates a random element to the workout.  But I decided to start easy and simple.  6 pieces of folded paper, each with a specified exercise activity written inside.  I put a low number of reps of each exercise and told myself I would do 6 sets.  So I mix them up and start picking.  I even went to the running track at a school so that I would have a real exercise space to work out at.

I am very embarrassed to report that I didn't make 3 sets!  And that whatever I did took me FOREVER to finish.  I'm not even going to tell you how long I took to do what I did.  That’s how bad it was.  I'm not aching now, but I can feel some of the muscles I worked...  who knows what it's going to be like tomorrow?

So I whined about it to Mr. P, who very encouragingly said, "Imagine the feeling of satisfaction when you have progress next time!"  To which I replied, "Who says I'm going to??? If I do, you'll know how bored I am..."

The funny thing is, I think I actually might try this again and see if I end up getting back on a regular exercise routine.  Maybe, just maybe like ten years later, I might get to the point where I can use a full deck of cards!  LOL.  Anyway, we'll see…

So, if you try out this deck-of-card thingy, let me know how it goes for you.  But please remember to warm up before starting ok?

I received a forward containing some useful information on earthquake safety which I think can applied to all situations when you are fear that the place you're in might collapse.  As a Singaporean, I never had to deal with earthquakes or any natural calamities, so it's good to know such stuff.

===

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries.

I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn't at the time know that the children were told to hide under something.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the 'triangle of life'. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts; the larger the void; the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured.

The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the 'triangles' you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

*TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY*

1) Most everyone who simply 'ducks and covers' WHEN BUILDINGS COLLAPSE are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct.  You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created.  Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different 'moment of frequency' (they swing separately from the main part of the building).  The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads – horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

8) Get near the outer walls of buildings or outside of them if possible. It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked..

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper that paper does not compact.  Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Spread the word and save someone's life... The Entire world is experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

'We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly'

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my survival methodology to be correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul, University of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did 'duck and cover,' and ten mannequins I used in my 'triangle of life' survival method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and entered the building to film and document the results. The film, in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific conditions, relevant to building collapse, showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people using my method of the 'triangle of life.' This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of Europe, and it was seen in the USA, Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.

===

Update @ 30 May: Read the comments on this post too

I grew up loving this ready-to-eat noodle snack and I still do. I'd really appreciate it if you could bring some or send me some in a care package.



I bought this pack of 10 and finished it in 2.5 days.

Yes, I have to be so extremist. 

I AM A MAMEE MONSTER, HEAR ME ROAR!  AAAAARRRRRRR!!!!

Came back to Chengdu today. Apparently our building has been checked and deemed alright. But some apartments have cracks and people are worried. With the aftershocks (especially yesterday's 6.4), the courtyard has now turned into a camping ground.









Update @ 27 May: The apartment doesn't have any cracks. The office has some minor ones.  Slept like a baby in my 17th floor apartment last night.  Apparently for aftershocks are expected for 2 months following the quake but so long as these shocks are not stronger than the quake, the buildings that are still up today should be fine.

Update @ 28 May: The photo up there was taken only when the top right corner of the courtyard picture was filled with tents.  We had an aftershock of 5.x yesterday afternoon, so more people have come out to sleep in tents.  I have to admit, I still get a little worried when that happens, but I'm mentally more prepared now.

Update @ 30 May: There are now tents filling the circular part of the courtyard. 

The other day, I got a random call from a dating service.  She said she was from The Dating World and had gotten my contact from somebody and wanted to know if I was single.  That totally caught me by surprise actually but I couldn't hear the rest of what she said (I was in a noisy place) so I asked them to call back later. 

You know, when I say call back later, I mean like half an hour or so.  But she didn't.  But too late, my curiosity was peaked and I wanted to know who they were.  So when I got to the computer, I started googling The Dating World but couldn't find any company by that name.  At the same time I started googling "speed dating Singapore" too.

The background of this is that for the past 6 months, I have been telling some people that I want to go for some speed dating event.  I just want to experience what it's like and see whether I "make the cut", heh.  I wanted to go with a guy friend so that I would have a "safe harbor" in case things were really screwy, or a girl friend so that we could compare notes after that.  We’ve yet to start and I gradually forgot about it. 

But recently after I saw an NCIS episode that had attending a speed dating event as part of its investigations, my interest was renewed again.  So no, it's not that I've reached a point where I feel I need to put myself out there.  I just think this is one of those things you have to try once in your life, just for the heck of it.   

Anyway, the dating service called again a week later.  "The Dating Lost" I heard.  What a name, I thought.  Apparently one of my friends was a member and had referred them to me.  They wouldn't disclose who the referrer was though.  I did comment though, "Wow, I must seem so sad for him/her to think I need help…"  The girl quickly set up an appointment for me in June. 

But I came back earlier than expected because of the earthquake.  And since I was going to be in the area this week, I decided to change my appointment to the same day.  When I arrived, I filled out this questionnaire profiling myself and also some general characteristics of my ideal partner.  My consultant was a very pleasant girl and we had a chat about various things, essentially trying to get me to fill out the details of what I looked for in a guy.  She also tried to get me to talk about turn-offs, to which I replied, "Short stubby fingers."  (I know, I know.)

But because I had circled "Looking to expand social circle" as opposed to "Looking for steady relationship" or "Looking to get married in 1 year", that didn't exactly qualify me for membership.  The consultant explained to me the various packages (they apparently are very selective and only take certain types of people as clients) comprising 1-on-1 and/or group (8 or 24 people) events.  I thought the packages were pricey, but perhaps it'd be considered affordable to someone that want to "outsource" their social/love life to somebody. 

A local women's magazine rated this dating service pretty highly (4 out of 5) in terms of the service quality and guys met.  So I suppose if you have the money, perhaps you’d like to try this service out.  They're called "The Dating Loft" by the way.  (Yeah, my hearing, it’s so bad…)

I'm not feeling pressure to get attached, but I just like doing these "profile" thingys because they kinda make you think a bit, know yourself a bit better.  But if any of you find some speed dating event, let me know.  I want to try!

I liked Robert Downey Jr but now I like him even more.  Totally believable as Tony Sparks.  As my bro said, in most superhero shows, the actor takes on the superhero’s character/persona, but in this case, the actor is the superhero.  He brought his character to Tony Sparks.  And he looked really good too.

Great effects.  Great dialogue.  Very entertaining.  Gwyneth Paltrow works as Pepper Potts too - she does the nerdy/pretty/hot pretty well. 

And as per Jukebox's request, I shall now rate my movies with a watch-on-big-screen or wait-for-dvd indicator as well.  Iron Man, for it's special effects, should be watched on the big screen.  Don't wait till it goes to dvd.  But when the dvd comes out, it's a keeper.

I heart RDJ.  :p

For some strange reason, I stay away from books about Asia but this author was recommended to me by a good friend and I trust his taste. 

Thoroughly enjoyed the book, good writing, good story.  Makes you feel for the characters. 

I strongly recommend reading The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. 

You've probably seen a lot media coverage on the earthquake, mostly on the epicenter region. Thankfully, Chengdu is holding up reasonably well and there is no disruption of utilities. I hope you never have to go through the same thing.

Though my building was really swaying during the quake, I somehow managed to stay strangely calm and unafraid. I was worried, yes, but not freaking out. Perhaps it was because I knew that Jose would do everything he could to make sure we were safe and unharmed, but I think it was also knowing that Papa would take care of me.  My mom probably messaged everyone she knew in church to pray for my safety.

When the quake happened, we scrambled under the table (protect our heads), then crawled to the toilet (smaller ceiling span, less likely to collapse), scrambled to the elevator lobby (reinforced walls make this the most solid part of the building) and then down 18 floors of stairs to the ground. We could see the windows and roof antennas of the building rattling vigorously, and the dogs were going berserk barking away.

We spent the first night in the open air courtyard of our building in sleeping bags, the second night in a friend’s house (he lives on the 5th floor – easier to run out if needed). We left the city on the third night. Jose felt there was no need for me to take any more risk of returning to Chengdu so soon, so I have returned to Singapore for the time being. How ironic that I returned to Chengdu on Monday May 12 just in time to experience the earthquake only to try and get out asap.

Thank you for emailing and messaging me to check how I was doing.  Your concern is very much appreciated.

China has been really unfortunate that in what is supposed to be its year of fame (because of the 2008 olympics), it has also had a whole lot of bad luck/publicity – Darfur response (or lack thereof), Tibetan riots, HFMD outbreak and now the earthquake. 

It is good to be back in Singapore and be with family and friends again.

We are trying to get a flight out of Chengdu to Macau today.  If things work out, we should be in Macau by tonight.

Update @ 15 May: Have arrived safely in Macau, will stay a night or two.  Waiting for latest update from Chengdu government on status situation, likely to hang around here/HK for these few days as we are expecting some VCs to visit our project companies soon.  Also don't feel like travelling too much as I have been on the move for the past 2-3 days and just want to be in one place for a while.  Anyway, will play it by ear.  Am still contactable by mobile.  Thank you for your concern and prayers for me.  Please continue to pray for those still in the affected region. 

Update @ 17 May: At macau airport now, waiting to board flight back to singapore.  Decided to go home as parents are worried.  Latest news from Chengdu was that buildings are still up and government will gradually make their rounds around the tall buildings to assess structural integrity.  Some companies have already resumed operation.

Quick update.

1.  I'm alive and contactable on my mobile - get my number from jukebox or my bro (until my battery dies, but I will try to find power).  I will check email periodically, but not frequently.

2.  I'm glad to be staying with a friend who lives on the 5th storey as opposed to my 17th storey apartment.

3.  Can't get out of chengdu, flights canceled for the most part.

If you pray, please pray for the safety of those alive, rescue for those who are trapped, and peace for those who have lost loved ones.  Thanks