We were going out for a farewell lunch for a former-classmate-present-colleague. It took a few trys to start the car as usual as it has been happening for a couple tmonths. We found a great parking spot in downtown but my car's engine kept running even AFTER I pulled out the car key! This was the 2nd time it behaved like this and I thought my solution last time was to drive a little bit more and the problem would go away... it didn't work this time. Then came the burning smell, and the smoke as we checked the engine. I couldn't even shut the window or lock the car because they are all electronic. Good thing this is downtown Monterey so I wasn't concerned about the safety of the car at all. We just kept going for lunch while I tried to call the insurance company to have the car towed. Then my cell phone didn't work. It would stay connect for about 30 seconds and then shut down. I tried my best to stay cool in front of everybody so as not to ruin their lunch. Well, to make the long story short I was able to get the car towed right after we finished lunch but I was forced to take a half-day leave but fortunately it is our class break so it's not a big deal. I am still waiting for the car dealer's call and I don't know when I'll get my car back at this moment. And my cell phone is totally fine after the fiasco that I guess it just can't handle stress. My lesson learned is a backup plan is ALWAYS needed whenever technology is involved that you never know when it would fail you. I moaned in pain every time I have to pay my insurance bill but I was so thankful for it today. And thanks to Xinyi for her cell phone while mine just wouldn't cooperate.
Wow, I'm so long-winded.
Ok, change of topic. I'm such a slow reader that often the movie of the book would have already come out before I'm even half way through reading it. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Da Vinci Code... now even for a non-fiction 1421. I learned about this book when I was invited to attend the Speech Day of my high school. I found it strange as the speaker was so enthused about the book and I checked it out briefly from our school library. The theory proposed by Gavin Mensies was Zheng He, the Chinese navigator reached America about a century before Columbus did. He suggested Zheng even circumnavigated the whole world. Now I found this PBS produced documentary in our school library that I could know what he talked about in one seating without reading hundreds of pages from the book. It's quite fascinating to see the journey but strangely the poor Mensies was ripped apart by the interviewer and scholars because of lack of "scolarly evidence" to support his view. Well, who knows? Weren't Galileo, Newton, and many more of the great minds mocked in the first hand?
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